She wanted to run away.
Jane went back to class a few days later. As she predicted, the rest of the student body skirted around her, avoiding her as much as possible. They whispered discourteous things behind her back, and if she ever caught them, their faces would turn red and they would run away, afraid she would curse them. The school was in such an uproar, it almost seemed that she, Harry, and Draco were at a tie for Hogwarts attention.
She actively tried to avoid Draco Malfoy, skipping any classes she might have with them, which were four – so she assumed. The thought of ever seeing that boy again drove knots in her stomach. She couldn't face him after she took his father's life, and almost his own. Jane single handedly just about ruined his life, she supposed. She didn't know what he was like, or his life. She'd only heard the rumors.
And good God, were rumors flying everywhere. Hermione was right, most of the school thought she was brave for fighting eight Death Eaters alone (that fact was solid.) The Slytherins and a few Ravenclaws, however, gained a reason to hate yet another Gryffindor. It wasn't just Pansy being cruel to her anymore. It was the entire house. They all wondered why she hadn't been expelled yet, why she hadn't been taken to Azkaban yet. They presumed correctly that she used the Killing Curse, although the only people that could prove that theory were dead.
Jane was starting to lose it again. This fearful attention she was receiving was getting to her nerves fairly quickly. She was perfectly fine just slipping into the crowd and being like everyone else. Now she was only lucky enough to find time when people weren't looking at her. She wanted to escape, run away from Hogwarts and back on the street. More than likely Dumbledore wouldn't allow that, and security around the castle was too heavy for her to run off into the night. If she were ever to leave, it would have to be during the holidays, when students were allowed to return home.
"Jane, you have to go to Potions. You've skipped it for the last two months, and if you skip any more, you're going to get into big trouble,"
Jane gave Hermione a look.
"Well, more trouble than you already are," she corrected.
"Fine," she huffed, "Fine, fine. Whatever. I'll go,"
Perhaps brewing could get her mind off the current epidemic.
Hermione and Jane entered the dungeon class room to find it filled with smoke and a mixture of . . . exceptionally pleasant scents. She could smell peppermint, her pillow, rain, and . . . something else. A scent unknown, but she fell in love with it after one whiff.
"Come on in, come on in," a loud, gruff voice sounded. As the smoke cleared some, the silhouette of the professor came into view, waving a large cloth around, "Just a little accident, nothing to worry about. My last session had a little predicament. One of them spilled their Amortentia potion onto the fire,"
"Amortentia?" Jane inquired, "Is that why I smell -?"
"Whatever attracts you? Yes," Hermione answered.
The girls walked into the smokey classroom, coughing a bit as they moved. Jane halted and made a break for the exit.
Because sitting at the Slytherin table was Draco Malfoy.
"No you don't," Harry and Ron stopped her at the doorway. For some reason they decided to stay her friends as well. Ron grabbed her shoulders and spun her around, forcing her to go to the table the Gryffindors sat at. Earnie Macmillan was currently in the hospital wing, so there wouldn't be a seating issue.
"No, I can't -" she protested under her breath.
"You're going to have to deal with it," Ron told her, "You knew you were going to have to face him sometime. Might as well do it now,"
The second she sat down, the Slytherins went into a flurry of crude comments. Jane inhaled deeply and took the slightest peek over her shoulder. Draco was not partaking in the tales. He sat slumped over in his chair, fist in his cheek and fingers drumming rapidly on the table. It looked like he had better places to be than here.
After managing to flush out the smoke, Professor Slughorn stood before her, examining the student that has been missing for months, "Now who might this lovely child be?"
It felt rather disgusting to be called lovely by a man who simply . . . wasn't.
"Jane Rodgers, sir," she introduced.
"Ah, the one who's disappeared off my role call for a certain extent of time," he acknowledged, "Well, it's nice to finally meet you,"
A Slytherin was hit by a series of coughs that he blamed the smoke on, but Jane distinctly heard the words Blood Traitor Assassinbetween hacks.
"I thought we'd take it a bit easy today and brew the Forgetfulness Potion," Slughorn broadcasted once the class was in session.
Hermione's hand shot in the air, "Sir, we already learned to make the Forgetfulness Potion. We did it for exams in our first year,"
"Yes, Professor Snape informed me on that. However, this is a stronger and more precise version of the Forgetfulness Potion. Depending on the few absolute ingredients you use, you can control the length of memory loss. You will find the instructions and ingredients on page 243 in your textbooks,"
The class was divided into predetermined teams within their houses. Jane was partnered up with Harry while Ron and Hermione were to work together - they weren't too happy about that. Jane, however, had no problem being placed with one of the two smartest kids in the class.
Jane went to open her never-been-used potions book before as Harry set up the pewter cauldron and started the fire.
"Wait, let's use my book," he suggested. Jane shrugged and picked up his copy instead, flipping to the proper page.
Forgetfulness Potion (Advanced)
Effects:Causes memory loss for a certain amount of time.
Ingredients:2 drops Lethe River Water,2 Valerian Sprigs,4 Mistletoe Berries
Timing:Add these ingredients for desired memory loss time
1 lump Petroleum Jelly (10 minutes)
3 dashes Cinnamon (30 minutes)
2 pairs Fairy Wings (1 hour)
1 Hellebore + 3 Snakeweed (4 hours)
4 Newts + 1 Snake fang (1 day)
5 Tubeworms + 3 drops Vinegar (3 days)
7 Wartizome (1 week)
14 Wartizome (2 weeks)
8 Spiders + 2 Sardines + 1 lump Pus (1 month)
3 pairs Fairy Wings + 3 Snakeweed (6 months)
9 dashes Cinnamon + 6 Wartizome + 2 drops Urine + 4 Spiders (1 year)
"We were assigned to do the three day one, right?" Harry asked as the fire got going.
"Yeah, so we need tubeworms and vinegar,"
The Half Blood Prince had written over this potion recipe as well. For example, where it said to gently heat the Lethe River Water for twenty seconds, the time was crossed out and replaced with forty-five seconds. Instead of crushing the Mistletoe Berries, the previous owner said to put them in the cauldron without so much as a dent.
"Do you want me to follow the . . . suggestions?" she whispered. Harry glanced over the directions before nodding silently. Jane nodded back and went to chop the tubeworms in half. When she was finished with that task, she didn't put down the knife. Instead, she stared at its sharp blade. It hypnotized her so completely.
Just a little cut,the voice wished, Just a small one. It won't hurt anything.
She held the knife to her wrist over a blue vein.
"Jane?"
Jane came out of her trance and glimpsed at Harry. She blinked a few times and set the knife down as subtly as possible. Then she picked up the textbook and acted as though she were rereading the instructions, while she listened to the conversation around her. Slughorn hollered encouraging quotes, Ron and Hermione worked awkwardly, Terry Boot and Anthony Goldstein bickered on how many times to stir the potion, Su Li and Stephen Cornfoot happily chattered, and the Slytherins sustained their false accusations of her.
A piece of scrap parchment slid towards her.
Are you okay? – H
Jane looked at Harry before writing down her reply.
I'm fine. – J
You look nervous. – H
I'm not. – J
Harry snuck a look at Draco as Jane stirred the cauldron. He scribbled a few words down and passed the parchment over.
Is it because of Malfoy? – H
She looked down at the knife again.
Just a tiny cut,the voice begged.
When no one was looking, especially Harry, Jane slipped the knife into her robes. Then she took up the quill and wrote back to him.
I'm fine, Harry. – J
Harry gave her an irritated look, but dropped the subject, and they went on with their work. Harry added the last two ingredients into the cauldron while Jane stirred.
"Now we just have to let it brew for fifty-one minutes," Harry informed.
Jane let go of the spoon and rubbed her hands over her arms for warmth. Goosebumps had risen on her medium toned skin and could not be warmed by the fire. The weight of the knife in her pocket became increasingly noticeable with every second.
"Jane, you look like you're going to pass out," Ron noticed.
"Did your cold heart finally get to you, Rodgers?" Theodore Nott muttered to her. This earned a few snickers from his fellow house members.
"Time's up!" Professor Slughorn called, "Let's see what you've got."
The Slytherins all did well on their potions, considering they were told to make the hardest ones. Boot and Goldstein's potion was too watery, and wouldn't likely make you forget what you had for breakfast that morning. Li and Cornfoot, who weren't paying any attention to what they were doing, put the wrong combination of ingredients together, their potion being a complete dud. Ron and Hermione received top marks for their perfect attempt, only because Hermione did all the work.
"And now, let's see what Mr. Potter and Ms. Rodgers have cooked up for us,"
Their potion had come out with a frothy potency and turned a creamy color because of the tubeworms. It was impossible for these facts to give off whether they concocted their brew correctly. Everyone else's potion was different in strength and hue as well.
As the teacher examined their work, Jane's ears picked up Theodore Nott's snuffling voice, "Watch this, this is gonna be great. Blood Traitor Assassin will never know what hit her,"
"Ah yes," Professor Slughorn huffed contently, "Gather 'round, everyone. Gather 'round," the rest of the class crowded around their cauldron, "I do believe Potter and Rodgers have made the best three day Forgetfulness Potion I've ever seen. Perfect potency and everything,"
Out of the corner of her eye, Jane saw something in Nott's hands. A beaker, and he was ready to throw it. She nudged Hermione and Harry to get their attention, then discreetly motioned to the Slytherin boy.
When Nott threw the heavy object into the pewter cauldron, they were ready. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Jane ducked underneath the table as the potion splashed. Three of the Slytherins did the same, snorting beneath their own table, but extremely disappointed that Jane was not in the line of fire. The people above them screamed as they were drenched. Professor Slughorn managed to get out of the way before the potion touched him. The lucky ones stood once the commotion died down, careful not to touch anything.
Su Li, Terry Boot, and Draco Malfoy were soaking with the Forgetfulness Potion.
"Oh dear!" Professor Slughorn blabbered, "Oh my!"
Draco shook the potion off him as best he could, glancing down at his clothes with repugnance. He closed his eyes for a moment and his face pinched up.
"Malfoy? What's wrong?" Blaise asked.
"N-Nothing. I'm fine," he said, yet he sank onto the closest table he could find. The other two did the same, holding their heads in their hands with a slightly pained look.
"My head," Boot groaned.
"That would be the effects of the potion working," Professor Slughorn explained, "A slight headache as the memories temporarily disappear,"
"How much time will they have lost?" Hermione asked.
Draco lifted his head a moment later, wearing a slightly dazed expression. He glanced around the room, at the cauldron next to Harry with a beaker in it, the creamy potion staining the floor and walls, and his clothes once more. His features turned disgusted once more, and then angry. He directed his gaze back to Harry.
"Potter! What have you done! You wait until my father hears about this!"
"Several months," Slughorn answered.
Jane killed Lucius Malfoy on an April night, eight months ago.
The difference between Draco now and the Draco before his father died was astonishing. This Draco Malfoy believed himself to be superior in every way possible. He was a pureblood. He was a Slytherin. And he was very wealthy.
For the next three days, he walked the halls of the castle like he owned them. This boy exuberated confidence. He was manipulative, powerful, and he knew it. Draco could charm any girl, any student, any teacher he wanted, and if his charm didn't work, he always had money to back him up.
Jane found this confidence to be quite exciting.
But Draco Malfoy was a bully, and narcissistic, and arrogant. He boasted about his family's influence on the school and the ministry.
"Father and the Prime Minister are to have lunch on the twelfth. He wants to run some ideas by him that he thinks should be laws,"
He was vulgar in humor, showboating for his house as he mercilessly terrorized students he thought beneath him.
"Longbottom is a humiliation to pure bloods. The git can't even preform a simple spell or brew a potion without screwing it up. Why they permitted that poor excuse for a wizard into this school, I'll never know,"
And you know what else? Jane was back on Draco's flirting list. On the second day of his amnesia, he saw her walking out of Charms class and a wolfish smile appeared on his lips. When he leaned in close to her, his hand resting on her shoulder, "Did you use Relashio? Because there are sparks between us,"
Pansy appeared at that moment and gave Jane a sneer worthy of Draco himself. She snatched his hand away from her, "Malfoy, you don't want to flirt with someone as disgusting as that," and she dragged him down the hall. Jane quietly followed them and hid around the corner.
"Blimey Pansy, what is your problem? She looked damn fine to me,"
"For one, I'm your girlfriend, two, she's a Gryffindor, and three . . . Malfoy, that girl killed your father,"
"What? No, my father is alive. I saw him just before we got on the train,"
"No, he's dead. He was killed a few months ago,"
The rest of the conversation passed in a low whisper that Jane couldn't hear. But from his tone she could tell he didn't believe a word she said, and after that Pansy wasn't seen near Draco until he regained his memory.
As the time went by, she noticed that Draco didn't exactly have any friends. He had minions, fan girls, or acquaintances. No one to support him fully. Crabbe and Goyle followed him like the mindless brutes they were. Pansy poured herself over him, and he lapped up the attention, and Draco could never control Blaise, but was often found in his company.
Jane observed the major personality change the morning of the fourth day after Potions class. The dauntless leer and presumptuous swagger disappeared completely, and his boasting and bullying ceased. Instead of strutting through the halls, he skirted through them. Dark circles formed under his eyes, and his skin turned an even paler color. Draco reverted from a pompous jerk to a quiet, plotting young man that seemed to be drowning. The events of the last few months came back to him heavily.
"I never noticed how much he's changed," Hermione said, "It's sad, really,"
"Very sad," Jane agreed.
"Malfoy hasn't changed," Harry insisted, "He'll always be a slimy prick," and Ron agreed wholeheartedly.
Jane missed the confident boy.
Draco woke up in the morning expecting a letter from his mother and father. Instead, he received a pounding in his head and a nauseous stomach. He pushed the sheets from his body and ran for the window.
"What's wrong with me?" he groaned after wiping his mouth. A layer of sweat covered his body, and it felt like something was trying to force its way into his head.
He was in his sixth year.
His father wasn't alive, like he thought. His father was dead.
A girl his age named Jane Rodgers murdered him.
Jane Rodgers was at Hogwarts.
The Dark Lord had ordered him to kill her.
He was a Death Eater.
No . . . no, he wasn't . . .
Draco made sure no one was in the sixth year boys' dormitory before yanking the sleeve of his shirt up. Sure enough, a large, black skull with a snake protruding from its mouth was burned into his skin. A stone of terror dropped in his stomach and he leaned out the window again.
He was a Death Eater.
He had to kill someone.
And for the first time since he received the Dark Mark, Draco was scared.