Listen to Your Heart
Chapter 3
About a half an hour later the Weasley twins came back in the compartment.
"Hey again Jazzi." Fred smiled. They both waited for her response, but found none. They walked in and looked at her a little bit closer. They smiled at eachother. She was asleep. They both made little 'aww' faces at eachother. George leant in and shook her shoulder gently.
"Jazzi... Jazzi.. Jazzira!" he shouted and she woke with a start.
"Wha... huh?... Hi." she said as she looked up at them. "What's up?" she sat up and rubbed her eyes groggily. Fred and George chuckled at her.
"Well, sleepy head, we're about five minutes from the castle. I suggest that you put on your robes." Fred said. She looked at them and saw that they were both in their uniforms.
"Oh, yeah I guess I should." she said. She pulled out her trunk and removed the massive bag of catfood. She looked at Fred's raised eyebrow. "What?" she asked
"What do you need that for?" he asked.
"Well. I kind of have a cat, you know." she laughed and moved the trunk over. She had stashed Suri behind it so she wouldn't make too much noise. She pulled the carrier out and showed them the sleeping kitten.
"Oh. Ok. That would explain it." he laughed. She took out her robes and pulled them over her head, fastening the ties. She pulled out her brush and let her hair down from the ponytail she had put it in earlier. The boys gasped.
"What?" she asked with a raised eyebrow of her own.
"Your hair is... is.. purple." George said with his mouth open.
"Uh... yeah, it is. Didn't you see it when it was up in the ponytail?" she asked.
"It looked brown in the ponytail." said Fred.
"Oh... Well, my hair is purple, guys." she said with a smirk. The boys nodded and laughed. She pulled the brush through her hair and sat down, re-packing everything. The train stopped.
She looked out of the window and gasped at the sight.
They were by a large river, behind which stood the massive castle of Hogwarts. It was nighttime so the dark background, the stars, the bats, and the full moon behind it cast an eerie glow to the castle grounds.
"It is so beautiful." she breathed out.
"Welcome to Hogwarts Jazzi." Fred said softly and smiled at her. She turned from the window and smiled back.
"The school back home was nothing like this." she said. "It was a plain old building. It wasn't a place that the students stayed at either. It was a school where you went in the morning, left in the afternoon, and came back the next day. Absolutely nothing like this." George smirked.
"Well, as my brother said, 'Welcome to Hogwarts'. It most certainly isn't like any other school." he smiled.
They crossed the lake in a small boat like the rest of the students. When they got up to the doors, a woman called out her name.
"Jazzira Snape? Is Jazzira Snape in this group?" an older woman in a strict bun and square spectacles and green robes walked over to where Jazzi, Fred, George, and some other students were standing.
"I'm here." Jazzi said and raised her hand. The other students they were with stared at her with wide eyes. Whispering among eachother about wether she was related to the much-hated professor Snape or not. The woman smiled at her.
"I am professor McGonagall. It is a pleasure to finally meet you, dear." she said. "Now, you and I have to go and speak with the headmaster, then I will take you down to the Great Hall where the rest of the students will be, and then we will sort you into your house." Jazzi nodded.
"Yes ma'am." she said and followed her into the castle. She stood off to the side as professor McGonagall told the rest of the students to go on into the dining hall. The professor led her to a large stone gargoyle.
"Sherbet Lemon" she said clearly and to Jazzi's surprise, the gargoyle moved to the side to reveal a spiral staircase. "This is headmaster Dumbledore's office." she said as she took her up the staircase and knocked on the door.
"Come in" said a male voice.
Jazzi walked in and saw an elderly wizard sitting at a large desk strewn with papers. She smiled as she saw his long white beard on the desk as well, the tip of it touching the floor on the other side.
"Its wonderful to finally meet you Ms. Snape." he said and extended his hand.
"Wonderful to meet you too sir, and please, just call me Jazzi." she said as she shook his hand.
"I must say that the news of your parents' death has saddened me greatly. They were students here many years ago. Tis a pity indeed." he gave her a sad look. "Now that we've had our introduction, I believe it is time to head down to the feast and have you sorted." he smiled and walked down the stairs, leaving Jazzi and McGonagall to follow.
The Great Hall was spectacular. Banners hung over each of the four long tables, and the large crest of Hogwarts was on a huge tapestry on the wall behind the professors' table. She saw all of the students sitting at their tables talking excitedly to eachother. Dumbledore spoke.
"My good students, it is a pleasure to have another year with you, and a first year with our first years." he smiled as the students laughed lightly. It was obvious that they loved their headmaster. "Now, it is time for the sorting!" he shouted and a long line of students filed into room through the massive double doors.
As all of the names were read and the line of students finally ended, leaving Jazzi to stand by herself, Dumbledore said "And now for our newest student, who will be starting her sixth year here at Hogwarts, miss Jazzira Snape." Jazzi walked up to the stool, aware of all of the students whispering to eachother. She laughed as she heard Fred and George shouting "GO JAZZI!" She dared a look behind her to see Snape looking rather irritated. She turned back as the sorting hat was placed on her head.
There was a pause as his voice filled her head, speaking in riddles she hardly knew the meanings of, then another pause and he shouted "GRYFFINDOR!" she smiled as she stepped down from the stool and made her way over to the table decorated in red and gold. She laughed loudly as Fred and George ran up to meet her, gave her hugs, and dragged her over to where their friends were sitting.
"Let me introduce you to our friends." said Fred. He pointed to a dark-skinned girl sitting to his right. "This is Angelina Johnson. She's a chaser on our quidditch team."
Angelina smiled and said "Good to meet you! I saw you knee Flint in the goods back on the platform this morning and thought that I had to meet you once we got to the school. Bloody brilliant!" Jazzi laughed and immediately knew that they were going to be good friends.
"This is Alicia Spinnet, another chaser." he said as he pointed to a girl with long blonde hair and grey eyes. Alicia said "Welcome to Gryffindor. Anyone who hurts Flint is a friend in my book." she said and smiled. Jazzi smiled back.
"Where's Bell? I didn't see her on the train either." Fred said, looking around the table.
"Kat's really sick." said Angelina. "Won't be coming to school for another month or so. But she said that we should go ahead and get a replacement for her for the first few quidditch matches."
"Ah. Hope she's feeling better." said George. "She's our other chaser." he explained to Jazzi. She nodded and hoped she got to meet her when she came back.
"That third year down the table is Harry Potter, he's our seeker." he grinned at her expression of shock. She had heard the stories about him and how he defeated Voldemort. Being from America, she wasn't frightened to speak his name. They hadn't had as many problems with him back in America.
"Now, you know George and I," continued Fred. "We're the team's beaters." Jazzi smiled and nodded again. He pointed to an empty space across from her. "That was supposed to be Oliver Wood, our captain, but it seems he's disappeared."
"He's skipped to the loo." said Alicia with a smirk and Jazzi giggled softly. "Ok, so, where are you from exactly? You're accent definitely isn't from the UK." she asked Jazzi.
"Well im from the U.S. actually." she said with a grin.
"Oh? What part?" Angelina asked.
"Arizona." Jazzi said, a smile on her face.
"Oh, Hell on earth?" asked Alicia with a smile.
"So you've heard of it." said Jazzi with a laugh. "Well heat-wise it could be hell on earth. Otherwise, it was perfect for me." she finished, her smile was a little sad.
"Well you'll see it again on holiday, cheer up!" said Angelina with a grin. Jazzi smiled back, but didn't feel like sharing her 'story' again so she just left it there.
"Ah! There he is!" said George as a boy with dark brown hair walked up to the table. "Jazzi, this is Oliver Wood, the captain of the Gryffindor quidditch team. Ollie, this is Jazzira, she's Snape's niece." he said and pulled a face. Oliver's eyes widened.
"I am so sorry for you." he said sincerely, though there was a hint of laughter in his deep brown eyes. Jazzi noticed that his accent was Scottish. She looked back up at him and swallowed softly. She noticed that he was quite attractive, the accent was an added bonus. She gave him a friendly smile which he returned.
"It's nice to meet you, Oliver." she said.
"Good to meet you as well." he said as he held out his hand. She placed her hand in his and he kissed it softly. She blushed. Fred rolled his eyes.
"Scotsman..." he said laughing, causing the others to laugh as well.
"Yeah. You know it." said Oliver with a wide grin, causing more laughter. They hushed as they saw Dumbledore take the podium once more.
"I believe all of you are now thoroughly stuffed. Remember that you have classes starting tomorrow morning so get some sleep. Good night." and he stepped back down to talk with the professors.
There was a loud bustling as everyone stood to go to their dormitories. Jazzi was pleased to know that she was sharing a room with Angelina and Alicia. She found that all of her things had been placed near her bed, which was off to the side, half of it against the wall. She heard meowing and looked under her bed. Seeing that Suri was still in her carrier and was getting quite agitated, she decided to let her out for a little while.
"Ohmigod!" she heard Alicia squeal. She turned around and saw that she was on the floor cuddling Suri. Jazzi laughed and went into the bathroom that Angelina just walked out of. After showering she pulled her hair into another ponytail and put her pj's on. She walked back out and saw that both Alicia and Angelina were on the floor playing with her cat. She chuckled and shook her head. She put her clothes and robes into her trunk and sat with them.
A moment later, she heard scratching at the window. She gasped and grinned when she saw Orion, Damien's owl, hovering outside with a letter tied to his leg. She scrambled to the window and pulled it open. Orion hooted happily and flew into the room. He held out his leg and Jazzi untied the letter. It read:
'Jazzi,
I hope you made it to the school ok, and hope you've made a friend.
Looking forward to when you can come home for Christmas,
Or some other holiday. At least we can owl eachother until then.
Very lonely here without you. I wish you could come back sooner.
Every time I go by your house and see the 'sold' sign I feel like crying.
You better come home for the holidays
Or i'm coming over there.
Until then my lovely girl,
Damien.'
P.S. The band misses you, they give their regards and hope you come
back soon. We'll always have a seat open for you at the club. Come back
home Jazzi-girl.'
Jazzi felt tears come to her eyes as she read it, she missed him so much. She looked into the envelope again and saw a photograph. She took it out and a tear wound its way down her cheek. It was a photo that her parents had taken of them a week ago, before the accident. It was a picture of Damien with his arm around her shoulders smiling like an idiot, and her with an arm around his waist, snuggling into his side. She was blonde then, and his spiky brown hair was ruffling in the breeze. They hadn't dated, but it still seemed to other people that they were in love, and maybe they were. She sniffled. Alicia and Angelina stood up and hugged her. She smiled softly at them and put the photo on her night stand.
She sat on her bed and took out her quill and parchment.
'Damien,
I'm looking at the photo you sent.
My eyes are watering.
I don't know if I'll be able to visit during the holidays.
Serverus is in charge of me now, according to the Ministry.
Something tells me that he won't let me come back.
Yelling at him might help but I really don't know.
Otherwise, I'll try my best to come back to you.
Until then, I'll be thinking of you always.
Jazzi'
P.S. Tell the rest of the band that I'll be coming to one of your
shows soon, even if it kills me!
She sniffled and looked at the picture once more. She turned it over and saw his handwriting:
'I love you, I hope you know that. The gift I gave you the day you left should remind you of that every time you wear it. It cost nearly all of the money I had saved up for the last four months, which is a lot. Take care of it, sweetie. I know that you're unorganized most of the time. Haha.'
Her eyes widened as she remembered that he had slipped something into her pocket when he was saying goodbye. She rushed to her trunk and dug through it. She found the pair of pants she had been wearing when she left with Serverus. She reached into the pocket and pulled out a short silver necklace. It was a simple chain but the charm on it was the complete opposite.
It was a tiny dark blue crystal heart no bigger then her fingernail, with a tiny diamond in the middle of it. Her eyes filled with tears as she looked at it. She carefully clasped it behind her neck and walked to the mirror on the wall, the shade of the heart matched her eyes. It was a very short chain, so the charm barely hit the center of her collarbone. She held it gently and closed her eyes tightly, warding off anymore tears that threatened to rise.
She sniffled again and looked at her two new friends, smiling.
"I'm ok you guys." she said. "It's getting late and we have classes tomorrow, we should get to bed." Angelina and Alicia smiled at her.
"Actually we were planning on hanging with the guys in the common room before bed, you don't wanna come?" Angelina asked.
"Nah, I think I'll pass. I'm kinda tired. Tell them that I'll see them tomorrow, okay?" she smiled at them again.
"We will, Jazzi. Goodnight." Alicia said as she blew out the candles and walked with Angelina down into the common room.
Jazzi walked back over to Orion and tied her letter to his leg. She gave him a cracker from her bag and brought him back over to the window. He nibbled her ear affectionately and hooted as he flew off.She sighed as she walked back over to her bed and crawled under the warm comforter and slowly drifted off into sleep.