Chapter 10-Hogsmeade Encounter

Leo walked with a group of boys he hadn't talked to in ages. All of them being Slytherins, none of his Gryffindor friends cared to join him.

"So, Leo, been meaning to ask," Scorpius started as his friends chatted separately in front. "How's that paper going?"

Leo brightened ten shades on the blustery afternoon day. "Actually really good. I think we might have our first issue by the end of the month. I can't wait for—"

"Right, right," he nodded. "That is good news, but listen, you know anything about that Frieda girl?"

Leo raised his eyebrows. "Frieda? Yeah, we're modest friends. More of acquaintances, really. You know, talk here and there. Not really close, why?"

"So she's a third year?" he asked, ignoring the question.

"Yeah. Why? What's going on?"

"I think she's got a crush on your friend Albus."

Leo knitted his eyebrows. "You do? They're friends now, yeah, but I don't think—"

"Merlin, she's annoying, you know?"

"I guess she can be."

"I mean, like, isn't she full of herself, though?"

"Scorpius, what happened?"

"Frieda…" He lowered his voice, looking over at the rest of the group, not paying an ounce of attention, and leaned in closer to Leo's face. "You ever think there was something wrong with Frieda?"

"Wrong like how?"

"Wrong like she's not like most people. She just loves learning about the filthy little muggles, talking to them and embracing their odd little habits. Encouraging other people to. And haven't you noticed her remembering things no witch has any business remembering?"

Leo paused there, staring at Scorpius for a moment. He hated to think that anything was wrong with Frieda, but the fact of the matter was, he had to agree with Scorpius. Something was off about the girl. No one else seemed to notice it, or maybe they were just hiding it like Leo, but she paid attention to things he never expected her to. Not to mention, he hadn't noticed before now, she was the only girl he had ever considered a friend. She didn't bother him like the others, though perhaps that was just because she was three years younger than him.

He kept walking, not trying to catch up with the group on their way to the Hogs Head. He didn't want them hearing this. "Who else have you told?"

"Just you," Scorpius promised. "This kind of thing I didn't want to spread around."

"This kind of thing? What do you think it is, exactly?"

"I don't know, Leo. I just—"

"Stop telling lies, Scorpius! If you want to let me in on something, you've got to tell me everything. I'm going to be a journalist, remember? I'm good at seeing half-truths."

Scorpius's eyes darkened. "Forget it for now. If I get something more to go off of, I'll tell you. I just thought—Forget it." He ran to catch up with the others, leaving Leo wondering about what exactly Scorpius thought and why he would bring it to a boy he barely talked to anymore. Ever since he and Albus had gotten closer as friends, Scorpius hadn't done much more than acknowledge him in the hallways. So what was his game? Why tell him, of anyone?

Leo ran to the opposite side of the group from Scorpius as he sorted out his thoughts. When they entered the Hog's Head, the warm atmosphere enveloped him in the sweet smells of butter beer and biscuits and all thoughts of Frieda dropped from his head like a scuba weight. He sat at the table and enjoyed listening and contributing to the boisterous conversation. It was hard to not feel a bit sleepy in such an atmosphere where the food began to weigh down his stomach and the drink, his mind.

Eventually, the conversation drifted towards Zabini's new girlfriend, the eloquent and beautiful Natasha Patil. Leo, along with everybody else, couldn't seem to fabricate within their minds how she'd fallen for a bloke like Zabini who, if no one's here to hear, was about as much a looker as a hedgehog.

"So, Leo," Sean asked. "What about your love life?"

Leo rubbed his head. They just loved to tease him about this because they knew it made him uncomfortable. "Still no one, guys."

"Lies!" Crab declared. "I seen him staring at someone the other day."

"Perhaps I was daydreaming."

"About snogging her?"

"Cut it out. You know I don't do girls."

"No one 'doesn't do' girls, Mate. Something's up with you."

"Perhaps he doesn't swing that way," someone mentioned.

"Perhaps he doesn't swing either way," Crab grinned.

"Forget it." He hated this. Why didn't they get it? They were all a bunch of idiots. All women ever did was lie and manipulate and let their pride get in the way everything. The last thing he ever wanted to do was have one clinging to his arm. If his nightmare was that, the ideal dream was using his wand to cut the girl's arm off her body so he'd be free. Free from that suffocation he saw so often with 'happy' couples.

"Oh, I get it," Crab mocked. "Just want to wait for the girls to chase after you is that it? Coward. You're not a Gryffindor!"

"Guys! Would you get off it? I don't do women! No girls now or ever are going to chase after me."

A pair of hands slammed down on the table, surprising the entire group, none of which had seen the girl come up to the table. Leo's eyes followed the arms to a face he scarcely thought he'd ever see. One belonging to Carina Honeycomb.

"Get up," she ordered, staring directly into his eyes. "Now."

He paused there, unmoving for a moment. "Carina?"

"Follow me or I swear you'll regret it." With that, she ran out of the Hogs Head to the hoots of Leo's table.

"Go get her, Wespurt!" Zabini hollered as Leo ran after her into the cold.

He skidded to a stop when he saw her waiting directly at the entrance. She grabbed his hand and sprang forward, dodging into an alleyway, crouching low, pressing a finger to her lips, and craning her neck around the corner as she leaned her body against the brick wall. He leaned over her to look around the corner just in time to see a group of several goblins turn the corner. The girl turned her head up and rose, pushing her face so closely towards his; she could've kissed him easily. It straightened him out. Hand clenched tightly in her fingers, she pulled him forward to walk briskly down the alleyway. "My name is Carina Honeycomb," she said, scanning the street before heading out, "though I expect you already know that."

"Where are we going?" he asked quizzically.

"The graveyard at the opposite edge of the Forbidden Forest. They won't look there for a while. At least I hope not. If they have something to track us…" As she talked, her voice smoothed out, becoming less harsh, but just as urgent.

"They?"

"Quickly. I can't. Not here. You've got to answer my questions first."

"Hold on." He yanked her back in the middle of the road so they came to an abrupt halt. "Tell me what's going on, now!"

She turned back to him, hair a raven's color black; her eyes a cold abyss to match. "Leo Wespurt, I have long known our true meeting was inevitable, but it cannot happen here. There are people who'd like to see you with a knife in your belly."

The way she said that made him shiver uncontrollably. She must've known somehow it would have this effect because she used the opportunity to spring forward into a pace just below running where her feet skimmed the pavement as they went. She gracefully careened around shops, dodging in and out of doorways, not at all bothered by the human attached to her arm, struggling to find his footing. Whoever she was, she knew how to sneak around. He had to give her kudos for that. He'd never seen someone trek so quietly. They moved so swiftly and urgently without noise or sidelong glances; he was sure as he was breathing that not a soul in the busy area noticed them. It was as if they were traveling through a glass channel that split the air so the wizards on either side walked and stared straight through them. It was an odd feeling, being completely unseen. It'd never happened to him before. Finally, they scrambled into the woods, past hundreds of gravestones and the Battle of Hogwarts memorial. She flung him against a large stone so the breath was knocked out of him and he slid to the frozen ground.

"I'm sorry!" she said. "Are you okay?"

"What in the name of Merlin was that all about?!"

"Goblins," she replied, towering over him in an ice-cold statue of darkness. "Now, show me what you've got."

"What I've got? I don't—"

"Sure you do. The Living Pearl. Where is it?"

"The Living Pearl? I don't know what that is, let alone have it!"

She kneeled down in front of him, looking deep into his eyes. He felt his skin prickle and heartbeat race with that stare, so raw and lifeless as time, beating forward, a life waiting to end. "I know you've been keeping it secret, but I promise I'm here to help. Please tell me everything. From the beginning, if you can."

"Listen, girl. I have no idea what you're talking about. I haven't been keeping anything a secret." Which wasn't really true, the more he thought about it. His summer, Albus's crush, Lorcan's reaction to his tea readings, Rose, Albus, and Patricia entering the Forbidden Forest, and now Frieda.

The girl's eyes examined his face carefully before squinting. "You really don't know what you've got?"

"I haven't got anything!"

"You do," she said. "You just don't know it." She took out her wand and pointed it at him.

"AAAAH! Yeah! Yeah, sure, yeah, I've got something! Merlin, just don't hurt me, woman!"

She lowered her wand to give him a light smile, showing a light glow in her eyes for the slightest moment that reminded him of the sunrise. Her hair colored brown and reflected the sunlight filtering through the trees instead of absorbing it endlessly as a void. "I won't hurt you," she told him. "I promise." Then she raised her wand towards him and said, "Reveal your secrets."

She pocketed her wand and Leo sat there expectantly. Kind of anticlima—A light shot through his jacket, making it look as if his stomach was glowing. He lifted his shirt and stared at his abdomen. At his belly button, a glowing white light was there as if he'd just gotten some sort of magical pregnancy. Then, without warning, the light dissipated and went out. "Wha-What did you do?"

"I did nothing, but show you what is there. Attached to the inside layer of skin, there is the Living Pearl."

"The Living Pearl?"

She sighed, sitting cross-legged before him. "The Living Pearl is a goblin relic that enables its user to have enhanced natural abilities. It has been lost for centuries until you picked it up."

He covered his stomach and sat up to look at her. "No I didn't."

"You must have. You have it inside you. The goblins have been after that pearl for decades. Once they found out you had it, they had only to wait until you were unprotected by Hogwarts' charms to find you and remove the Living Pearl for themselves."

"How do you know? Wait, is this why you've been avoiding me? What did you do with my bird?!"

"Lovey is safely with your father."

"Did he send you or something? I'm so confused."

"I promise you, the feeling is mutual."

"You seem to know enough."

"Enough to keep you alive, at least. When we get out of Hogsmeade, you'll be temporarily safe, but the goblins will eventually find a way to get to you. I wish I could've prevented you from coming here in the first place. I just couldn't find you."

"Who are you?"

"Carina Honeycomb."

"No, but really."

She looked at her hands. "I can't tell you that."

"What?"

"I wish I could. I really do, but…"

"But what?"

"But the little lady's not inclined to tell you, now is she?" He whipped around to see a gnarled nose of plastic, skin coated in boils.

"Yes, that's quite rude, ain't it?" another voice said as a team of four goblins circled them.

Leo was about to rush to his feet, but the first goblin kicked his nose so the bones cracked and he fell to the ground in a fit of pain. "Leo!" the girl shouted. He felt her rush to his side and place a hand on his chest. "Are you alright?"

When he brought his head back up, blood poured into his hands. Through the red, he saw the goblin point a knotted finger from which light pointed directly into his stomach like a sniper rifle. The girl grasped his shoulder, knowing four goblins could easily overpower two adolescent wizards. "Now, if you please," the goblin smiled as his three associates pointed elongated, dirty fingernails directly at Leo. "Hand over the Living Pearl."