Ch. 4: A Strange Talk

Daphne met up with me in various spots in the school, giving me the flask and making sure I drank its contents. I stopped asking her where she got it, since she wasn't going to tell me anyhow. I was starting to get concerned for her, but thought better to not intervene. If she was getting away with it, she was getting away with it.

The night of the moon was not as dreadful as the last. I curled up in the private room in the hospital wing and slept quietly. Madame Pomfrey was astounded.

I missed the Quidditch match, though. I found out later from Alicia and Katie, who were filling me in on details.

"It was a mess!" Katie exclaimed, looking over at Alicia.

"Yeah. Dumbledore was pissed off, that's for sure. You should have seen Wood's face when Harry fell off his broom."

"Harry fell off? What happened?"

Alicia huffed as she put her hands on her hips.

"The dementors came into the stadium."

"They're not supposed to do that," Katie added. "I can't believe you were sick, though, Chi. But you probably would have hated getting all wet and stuff."

I swear these girls think I'm gay or something.

"Eh, it would have been fine… So, who won?"

"Hufflepuff. Diggory caught the Snitch just as Harry passed out. He wanted to call a rematch, but they won fair and square…."

"Even Oliver said it," Alicia muttered, looking downtrodden. "According to the Weasley twins he's still in the shower, drowning himself."

I nodded and watched as Hermione came into the common room, avoiding my eye.

"But Harry's broom got smashed to bits…." Katie went on to say, regardless if I heard or not.

"Really?" I asked, half-hearing her anyway.

"Really. Right into the Whomping Willow."

"Mhmm…"

"What?" Katie followed my gaze and saw I was watching Hermione unpack her bag onto two tables. "Oooooh…."

Alicia giggled.

"Looks like someone has a fancy," she whispered to Katie who giggled as well.

"Shut up," I muttered, leaving them to their giggle-fest. I went over to Hermione's table.

"Taking enough classes?" I asked, stupidly. I probably have asked her this before.

"No. I'm not." She looked up at me and bit her lower lip. "I… I have a lot to do, Chiron. I would not like to be bothered."

"Oh. Well. Alright."

I turned and walked away, avoiding going back to the girls. That was the first time she had ever blown me off like that. Shrugging it off, I went down to lunch.

The next few days were a complete bore. Even the next few weeks were boring until Christmas holiday came around because than I got to go home. Daphne and I boarded the train, she sat with Ginny Weasley and I went to sit with Taeryn, Alicia, and Katie in a compartment.

We arrived into King's Cross Station. I said my good-bye's and Happy Christmases to them and waited for Daphne to get off the train. Once she was by my side, we went in search of Mum.

At long last we found her, waving her arm in the air hailing us down. Daphne ran over to her whereas I just simply walked. Mum let go of Daphne as I approached. She gave me the stare down, a look I knew very well and tried to avoid at all costs.

"Why having you been writing, mister?" she asked, folding her arms, still giving me that hard look.

I shrugged.

"Nothing interesting going on."

She didn't believe me for on moment. Sighing heavily, she picked up Daphne's bag. We followed her out of the station and went home. (By Portkey, of course.)

The familiar smell of home filled my head as I went up to my bedroom and laid my trunk on the floor. I fell on my bed, exhausted from the trip, only to sit up again when I heard giggling from the next room. Getting up and checking it out, I found the door to the room that Jess had been staying in over the summer ajar. I peeked around to find two girls in there: the dark ginger on the bed and the black-haired one on the floor.

"Fancy seeing you here," I said, getting both of their attention.

Suzi turned around and jumped at the sight of me, running over and giving me a tight hug.

"It's been so long!" she cried, nuzzling into my shoulder. I gave Jess a look who shrugged in return.

"It was only August," I explained calmly, patting her head.

"I know!" She let go and observed me. "Did you get taller?" She tilted her head to the side in curiosity.

"Just a bit, probably."

She smiled.

"Well, it's good to see you. Your handwriting gets hard to read, sometimes, y'know?"

Jess rolled her eyes and adjusted her glasses.

"You're just dumb, Suze."

Suzi turned around and glared.

"Oh, shush, Jess. No one cares."

"You're right." She smiled. "No one cares."

Jess and I laughed as Suzi stormed over to Jess and messed her hair.

"There."

"You two are such idiots…," I muttered, turning around and leaving. Suzi protested at my back as I went downstairs, but I ignored her and walked into the kitchen.

"So," Mum started as she stood in front of the stove, a wooden spoon in her hand. "Why exactly have you not been writing? I had to make Suzi in detention write to you."

I shrugged as I opened the refrigerator, searching for something to eat.

"As I said, Mum, nothing interesting going on."

I shut the door and looked at her. Her hazel eyes glared at me. She could see through my lying.

"Tell me," she ordered, crossing her arms.

I took a deep breath and rolled my eyes, a hand absentmindedly going to my hair.

"I've been getting sick a lot," I said, giving her the half-truth.

"And that's what you've been telling your professors and your friends, right?"

I glared back.

"Has Daphne or Suzi told you?" I could feel my anger rising as she casually shrugged it off.

"No. I read between the lines, Chiron John. Now. What has been happening? And don't you dare lie to me, child," she warned, brandishing the spoon at me.

I balled my fists as I told her. She stood there and listened to me tell her what had been happening. I know I wasn't going to be able to hide it from her for very long. Either Daphne or Suzi would slip up and tell her.

Jess had awkwardly walked in at the moment I finished telling Mum that I think the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher was the werewolf. She stood there and stared at me.

"Really? I could have told you that…," she said quietly. Mum looked at her.

"D'you know his defence professor?"

Jess looked away from me and then at Mum, her expression fallen.

"Yeah, I do… I… haven't gotten any letters from him at all…. I figured he was too busy to write…." When Mum's look became more confused, her eyebrows raised, Jess added, "He's my godfather. He went to go teach there this year…."

"Lupin's your godfather? Really?" I asked, confounded.

"Lupin?" Mum asked in my direction more than anyone else's. We both looked at her. She seemed lost. After licking her lips and recomposing herself, she shooed us out of the kitchen since she likes to cook in peace.

Jess and I vacated to the living room, where we both sat on the sofa. Awkwardly, I turned to Jess. I had to know.

"Is he a werewolf?" I asked softly so Mum couldn't hear us in the kitchen.

She nodded slowly.

"I never thought it was important to tell you… I mean, I didn't think you would have problems. Your sister and Suzi told me you generally don't transform…."

"Generally, I can control it. Something I think most werewolves would be jealous about it if they ever knew. "

She nodded again, looking at her hands.

"Suzi and I got into it a few weeks ago, just so you know. I mean, we're fine now, obviously…," she said quietly, changing the subject.

"What am I a shrink or something now?" I asked, mostly to myself. She glared at me. "Okay, so what happen?"

"She began telling me about her dad and how she believes that he's innocent…. I had to tell her that he wasn't…."

"Did you tell her why?"

"No… I just told her that he was a murdering prat. She went off on me. Didn't talk to me for a week or two. We resolved to the point where we don't talk about it. Ever. I think she still may be mad at me."

"Well, of course. I'd be pissed off, too, if someone was telling me my father was a murderer and I had put him in high regards. Wouldn't you?"

She shrugged.

"Dunno. He killed my parents, so I don't know how I feel."

"He… killed your parents?"

She sighed and put her glasses back on. She looked at the fireplace, her eyes lost in memories.

"He was their Secret Keeper," she started, her eyes now downcast. "No one knew that he was a servant of Voldemort. And he told Voldemort and Voldemort killed them."

"How did you find all this out? Did Lupin tell you?"

"He was friends with them. It was the five of them, he said. Him, Mum, Dad, Sirius, and Peter Pettigrew." She swallowed.

"Didn't he kill Peter Pettigrew, too?"

"Yeah. His finger was found. That was it. Nothing else. And now Sirius Black is roaming free through the country. He's probably at Hogwarts…"

I looked away, biting my lip, wondering in all reality why she was telling me all of this.

"He tried to break into the common room on Halloween," I said after a moment's silence. "Scared the Fat Lady."

She looked at me finally, her hazel eyes wide.

"Was he caught?"

"No. He ran off before we got up there. We were at the feast…. He slashed her portrait to bits, though."

She didn't respond to that at all, only gave me a look. I sat quiet as well as she thought.

"What was he after?" she asked barely in a whisper. "I thought he was going to be after Harry."

"Potter? Why would Black be after Harry Potter?"

"Because he would be angry that he didn't get to kill him…. And that Harry stopped Voldemort." She looked lost as if this was all bringing back painful memories.

"So… how old were you when Voldemort killed them? It had to be before Potter stopped him, right?"

She shrugged.

"Technically. You know, I met him once. We were seven. Remus and I were on our way to the beach in the south and we stopped somewhere in Surrey so I could run around. Car rides were never my thing. We stopped at a small neighbourhood park. He was hiding behind some bushes. I found him. I didn't know who he was until I saw the scar." Her eyes narrowed. "And I asked him how he got it… You know what he told me?"

I shook my head, realizing it was a rhetorical question.

"He told me he got it in the car crash that killed them. I went along with it, until I got punched in the face by his cousin for talking to him." She stroked the scar that was on her lip. I had been wondering when she got that. "Twelve stitches."

"What did your godfather do?"

She shrugged.

"We went home. Asked me why a boy would punch me and that I shouldn't have been causing trouble. I cried, of course. I told him that I had been talking to Harry…."

"Was he mad at you? Or what?"

"We just didn't talk about it much afterwards. Every now and then I'd bring it up or something. Remus just didn't want to talk about it. I don't blame him. I sometimes wish he had never told me any of it. That I could have been kept in the dark."

I nodded, still not knowing what to really say. I also had no idea what she was getting at with all of this, but I thought better than to ask her anything. We sat in silence as Mum was humming in the kitchen, the smell of dinner wafting into the living room. Jess folded her arms across her chest and leaned back sighing heavily.

"I just don't know what to do," she confessed quietly.

I watched her. The sweater she was wearing brought out the red in her hair definitely. But I had a feeling, somewhere, that she was still hiding something.

"So, back to my original question," I started, rubbing the back of my neck. It was still hurting. "Black turning them over had to be before the time Potter stopped You-Know-Who, right?" It had just dawned on me then that she had been calling him Voldemort.

She looked up at the ceiling, still lost. After a solid seconds she finally answered.

"Yes."

As I opened my mouth to respond she continued:

"He doesn't know I even exist. Most people, I presume, think I'm dead or that I didn't exist to begin with." She gave me a sad look. "He's the reason why I'm not at Hogwarts."

I raised my eyebrow. There could be a lot of "he"s. I just had to assume who it was though. And it didn't make sense.

"How come Potter would be the reason why you're not at Hogwarts?" I had to ask, confused.

She shrugged shortly.

"Just is, I guess. I've been asking the same question for three years now. And Dumbledore's response when I was eleven didn't help any." The way she said Dumbledore's name stung a little. She said it with just that slight about of sarcasm and malice.

"What was that about then?" I pressed on, wondering if it was still safe territory.

"Didn't want me in the way," she grimaced, standing up finally. It was a signal that the conversation was over, I collected. She looked at me.

"Thanks for letting me talk to you," she said quietly. "It felt nice to talk about that with someone who will actually listen to me banter about."

I nodded.

"Anytime, Jess."

And with that, she left me alone in the living room. I heard her climbing the stairs and begin joking loudly with Suzi. That was probably a side of Jess I would only see, I thought, as I heard the two of them laughing. Suzi could never take things seriously.

I stood up and turned to face the door to the kitchen only to find Mum standing there, leaning against the doorframe, her face downcast and her arms crossed.

"I knew she looked familiar to me," she said sadly, a small smile going to her eyes.