PREVIOUSLY ON ACCIDENTAL MAGIC:
Read previous chapters for previous information.
A/N: Let's be honest. I just want to get through to the good stuff…
Well, nothing fun in this chapter, but I figured I'd keep them all the same. Besides, there's plenty for another chapter next time… ^_^
Chapter Ten
Come and prove your worth.
Her initial thought was what's going on? The voice was so persistent, though, and each time she attempted to stop it from coming through, it grew louder.
Come to me, child. Bring forth your talents. Prove yourself ahead of your sister, ahead of the friend you both share.
Oh yeah? Why should I?
To outstep their shadows, of course. They both loom farther than yours. They've reached new points, overcome more obstacles... Prove to yourself you're better, more than they. Prove them, too.
And that was how she'd ended up at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, staring into the darkness through the trees. In the distance, she could vaguely hear the sounds of voices, the sharp whizzing of spells, and the explosions of what sounded like firecrackers.
I should see what's going on.
Somewhere deep inside herself, she knew it was a bad idea. That part of her attempted to tell her no. That she should go back.
But she was curious.
She followed the sounds through the forest, forgetting about the winding path and allowing the pull of the voice in her head (which was at this moment silent) and the noises ahead of her in the forest guide her to her destination.
Sirenity reached a clearing that she immediately recognized. She even spotted the rock she'd sat on a few weeks ago when she and Kismet had stumbled upon Jayden. Yes, this was that same place.
Though instead of a redheaded sister lying in the grass with their brunette friend, Sirenity found cloaked figures illuminated in the bright light from the full moon. They seemed as still as statues, gathered in a perfect circle, none hidden in shadow. In the center, there was a tall being, strolling slowly around the gathered, pausing here and there to speak in a low voice that carried only enough to pick up the sound, though not enough to distinguish the words.
Friends, thank you for joining us, the voice that was silent a moment ago, entered as quickly as it had the first time that afternoon. You may each step forward. Show us your bravery for coming.
Immediately, Sirenity's left foot shot out from beneath her, her legs working of their own accord to pull her toward the circle of people. For, she could see now, they were actual people, despite the stillness with which they all possessed.
As Sirenity looked around, others began to appear from behind the shadows of the trees. The new ones were all wearing Hogwarts robes, and all appeared to be 5th years, at least. The youngest was short enough to have been a 3rd year, but she was sure she'd had a class or two with that student.
Most bizarre was that each of her fellow students was a Slytherin, including one Draco Malfoy who was standing two people down from Sirenity.
She began to scan the crowd for Kismet, but couldn't find her familiar looking friend.
"Ah, there we are," the man in the middle of the circle stood tall, sweeping his arms out as if to welcome the newest members. "You've all been chosen carefully to be given the opportunity to join my forces of Death Eaters. I am, as you've surely recognized, Lord Voldemort..."
Sirenity stood still as she listened to the remainder of the speech, most of it about muggleborns and blood-traitors.
-X-X-X-X-X-
"Bryar?" Jayden called into the darkness. Her wand was lit and held in front of her, though she couldn't see much past the small glow. A little behind her, Kismet had drawn her wand as well, and though it was lit, Jayden couldn't make out her friend's profile. Must be a darkening spell.
"Jay, we need to get more light in here. Could be a trap," came Kismet's whispered words.
"Fine. Lumos maxima!" cried Jayden, brandishing her wand in front of her; toward what she thought would be the middle of the room. The tip hit a wall, however, with a small thunk.
"Wait a moment," Jayden called back to Kismet, walking forward and feeling the surface with her hand. "It's made of wood." She felt along the wall, walking toward her right, and found a small opening. Continuing past that gap, she found another wall facing the same way.
"Well, what is it, Bitch?" Kismet asked with annoyance tingeing her voice.
Jayden ignored the question and continued into the gap, feeling her way around until she was able to form an answer for her friend.
"It's... It's a hallway. I think."
"A hallway, you say? Great, let's go save lover-boy." In the light-blue wand light, Kismet's face showed her reluctance to continuing in the dark with no idea as to what could be lurking inside this strange, appearing-out-of-nowhere room.
"You can always stay, you know. I know you aren't afraid, but Bryar is my friend, so I understand if you-"
"Just shut up and let's go."
With a shrug, Jayden followed the brunette head in front of her, holding her wand high so as to give her friend maximum light.
After three sharp turns, a right, a left, and then another left, Kismet came to a halt.
"What is it?" Jayden asked, straining her ears only to hear silence.
"I hear… crying?"
Jayden leaned forward slightly, concentrating on sound. After a few heartbeats, she heard the faint weeping of a woman.
"I hear it too," she whispered.
Kismet began to walk once again, this time at a more brisk pace. Jayden, with slightly shorter legs than her companion, had to take quicker strides to keep up. "You know, this is supposed to be my rescue mission."
"It still is."
"Then why are you leading?"
"You're slower than I am."
"I am not!"
"Are too."
Jayden took a deep breath; she knew what Kismet was doing. She also knew it happened to be working. Still, she had to remain focused on the task at hand.
"Do you hear that?" she asked suddenly, placing a hand on her friend's shoulder. Kiss halted as well, becoming still beside her. "There it is again, do you hear it?"
"It sounds like somebody's laughing. So now we've heard crying and laughing. What kind of weird place is this anyway?"
They continued the search, waiting intently for something to happen. They'd taken a few more turns, and after a while, Jayden had lost count of the way they'd come. Luckily, there weren't any other options, just the one long hallway that seemed to go on endlessly. When the sounds of laughter had died down for a time, the two nervous girls began jogging, the wand light creating strange shadows on the walls, shaking as the hand that held it jostled as well.
Finally, they'd reached an end.
A dead end.
"AAARRGHHH!" cried Jayden, angrily pounding the wall in front of her. "Just tell me where he is, already!"
As soon as the words left her mouth, the room began to change. The hallway that they'd been standing in seemed to widen. Jayden caught a glimpse of a circular room with three bodies in it, before a wall erupted in front of her, cutting off her vision. She turned to Kismet to ask whether she'd seen the figures and the room, but found yet another wall where her friend had been moments before.
"Kismet!" she cried, hitting the wall again, wishing to get through. "PRUDE! Answer me!"
-X-X-X-X-X-
"JAYDEN, YOU BITCH! WHERE THE HELL DID YOU GO!"
Kismet was pissed. Again. She had just caught a glimpse of what appeared to be Black's shoulder-length hair when the hall she'd stood in with Jayden had returned. This time though, there was no Jayden.
She swore as she held her wand in front of her, turning quickly on the spot.
"Kiss me, Kismet. Kiss me, Kismet. Kiss me, Kismet. Kiss me, Kismet. Kiss me, Kismet…"
"Oh…kay. What's going on?" She wondered aloud as she began to walk away from the dead end. The voice was still singing, but grew faint as she crept down the corridor.
Then, Kismet heard the sobbing again, louder than before; a door appeared in the wall on the left. Reaching for the handle, Kismet hesitated. The crying sounded familiar enough, but—
She strode through the door, prepared for the worst. What appeared before her, however—
"Grandma?" she breathed, watching as her dear grandmother sobbed on the ground.
"How dare you speak to me!" her grandmother screamed, suddenly turning to Kismet and rising to her feet as tears poured from her wrinkled eyes. The older woman's shaking hand raised to point a single finger in the direction of her granddaughter, her eyes slightly glazed over as she glared. "It's all your fault! You've been with those Mudbloods again, haven't you! You've gotten him killed!"
"What? I—no! Grandmother, please!" Kismet cried, willing to fight back the tears forming in her eyes.
"DON'T YOU BEG FOR MY FORGIVENESS, GIRL! YOU WILL REGRET WHAT HAS HAPPENED TODAY FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE, I'LL SEE TO IT! MY HUSBAND IS DEAD THANKS TO YOU CONSORTING WITH THOSE FILTHY—"
With a crack, her grandmother's form was turned into a familiar boy with his glasses knocked askew, a bloody gash embedded into his forehead. With a puff of smoke, the dead James Potter vanished. It was a boggart all along.
"Vangley?" a soft voice called. Kismet hurriedly shook her head to let loose the fear that had gripped her momentarily, turning slightly so as to look into the eyes of Sirius Black.
"I knew it," she said, her voice still wavering. She cleared her throat and pointed her wand at his chest. "I knew this was all some prank. Tell me where Jayden and Bryar Wood are before I do something only you will regret."
Black had the decency to look ashamed, "I'd no idea…" He shook his head. "They're fine. Jayden is probably with James at the moment and Wood was never in any danger. We just sent those to Jayden for the prank."
Kismet shook with barely controlled anger. "Do you realize what you've done? This wasn't just a prank! She's been worried sick all morning. She blames herself for what she'd thought could've happened."
Sirius sighed. "I didn't think it would hurt anyone. I never meant to startle you, either—"
"I'm perfectly fine," Kismet growled, taking a step toward the Black boy. "You'll tell no one, especially Jay, about this. Got it?"
Sirius gave her a hard look. "I won't if you don't," he said, nodding his head to the empty space where the boggart had been.
"Fine. I'll keep quiet your little crush, Black," she spat, glancing around her. "By the way, if this was my 'prank', what was Jayden's and Siren's?"
He cast an annoyed look at her, she assumed because of the crush jab, then said, "Jayden's was mostly the Bryar thing, but James said he had something extra in mind for her. Sirenity's supposed to be headed to the Forbidden Forest at this moment—don't worry, she's got both Remus and Peter tailing her, she'll be fine. They're just going to throw things at her again," Kismet smirked at the image.
"Sirius!" the muffled voice seemed to be coming from somewhere inside Black's robes. He shuffled inside his pockets for a time before pulling out a small hand mirror.
"Peter," he said, speaking into the mirror, "How are things going? Where's Remus?"
"Sirius! You and James've got to come quick! Something's happened!"
Kismet crossed quickly to stand beside Sirius, looking at the pudgy boy as well. "What's going on, Wormtail," asked Sirius calmly, though Kismet thought she saw something flash in his eyes.
Peter looked up at Kismet in surprise, then with a determined expression turned back to Sirius, directing his words at his friend.
"It's Sirenity. She's with Voldemort."
-X-X-X-X-X-
"DAMNIT!" she swore, sparks shooting from her wand accidentally. Taking a shaky breath, she flexed her arm muttering, "Merlin, Jay, keep it together." Her eyes darted around the small, square room she now stood in. No doors, no windows. The brick was the same as in the hallway she'd just been in, but there was no escape.
Suddenly exhausted, she crumbled to the floor in a tired heap, her legs stretched out in front of her. Can't think if I'm tired, after all, she thought with a scowl. If this is a prank, those Marauders are dea-
She stood quickly, her wand raised in front of her. She'd thought she heard-
A crash sounded from the other side of the wall behind her, followed by a muffled umph! She shuffled toward the sound, slowly and cautiously.
As soon as she reached the wall, a wooden door appeared with the handle just where her hand was. As it turned, she raised her wand again.
"Expelliarmus!" cried a voice. Instinctively, Jayden rolled, hastily bringing up a shield. Her knees shook, certain this was no longer a prank.
A figure emerged from the darkened doorway. She hadn't noticed the door opening and briefly wondered why that was. Briefly because soon after she stood again, the figure had a wand pointed in her direction.
"Hello," said the figure in an indistinguishable voice. "Care for a friendly duel?"
"Friendly?" she scoffed, unable to see who it was. Everything was too dark, and she didn't recognize the person's voice, though it sounded distinctly male. That did not help her already increasing temper any. . .
"Of course," he said, stepping away from the door and toward the center of the room. "First, we bow. Surely they taught you that where you're from?"
Her heartbeat quickened. He couldn't possibly know she was from a different time.
"Alright, I'll play your stupid game," she almost growled. "But first, you'll tell me where my boyfriend is."
He laughed. "Rest assured, Jayden, your boyfriend is in no danger. This is just for fun."
The first spell was cast by him, and she immediately brought up her shield already expecting the blow. Recognizing the tickling hex, she retaliated in kind.
"It's no fun if you copy my spells, darling," said the figure as he responded with a stunner.
Spinning away from the red light, Jayden cried, "Reducto!" She was aiming for the wall, but at this point, she didn't mind if she hit her opponent.
"Tantellegra!"
"Avis!"
"Flippendo!"
"Locomotor Mortis!"
"Rictusempra!"
The last one got through Jayden's defenses, and she fell to the ground, laughing. "Damn... you..." she said between breaths. "Finite Incantatum!"
He'd approached her by this time, his wand trained upon her chest. "Do you concede?" he asked softly.
She growled, shaking her head no slowly. Then, quick as a flash, she kicked her legs out and hit his ankles. He fell to the floor beside her, and she quickly grasped his wand. He held tightly as they rolled around, neither wanting to get ground. His glasses had fallen from his face, and she reached out with the heel of her shoe and smashed the lenses.
"Hey!" he cried, finally gaining the upper hand. Flipping her onto her back, he held her wrists by her head. She'd gotten hold of his wand just after snapping the glasses, but she was still pinned down.
Both were breathing heavily, and Jayden thought it odd that she wasn't able to see him still, even though they were this close. He leaned down slowly, his hot breath blowing across her cheek as he whispered in her ear. "I asked, do you concede?"
Not wanting to fight anymore, she nodded yes. She already knew who he was anyway, and Bryar was fine, that was the important part.
"Good," he murmured, his voice husky. "May I have my wand back?"
"Not until you explain what all… this… was about," she whispered, not knowing why but not wanting to ask in a normal tone. Her heart was pounding madly in her chest, and the only thing she could think was that it was fun.
He leaned back as though to study her, though she knew he couldn't. She felt the weight on her arms shift as he moved his body to fit onto hers. She knew what was coming, she knew she could stop it, too. But she also knew she wasn't going to.
Closer, and closer, until finally, after all this time, James Potter's lips crashed onto hers. Her next coherent thought was about how warm those soft lips were, and how good it felt to have them moving against hers. She could feel tiny electric shocks in the places where their bodies met. She ran her fingers lightly along his cheeks, tracing his face and following his temples into his hair.
All too soon, he pulled away.
"Good explanation," she whispered, still feeling oh-so-warm inside.
"Well I-"
The room began changing again. The two teens hurriedly stood, picking up their wands and James's broken frames. He cast a quick repairing charm on the glass and then slid them onto his face. Jayden, unable to shake the warm feeling, took two quick steps away from James and wondered what she'd see this time.
-X-X-X-X-X-
Jayden watched quietly as the walls around the room began to dissolve, morphing slowly into a much larger room. This was the circular one she'd gotten a glimpse of before she had lost contact with Kismet. Now that the room was back, so was-
"Sirius?" she asked, her eyebrows furrowed. "What are you doing here?"
"Pulling the poorest prank I've ever had the misfortune to be a victim of, I imagine," said a voice behind Sirius. Jayden peeked around the taller Gryffindor to find a very disgruntled Kismet Vangley.
"Kiss!" cried the redhead, flinging her arms around her friend. For a second, Kismet rested her hand on Jayden's shoulder.
"Alright get off now," said Kismet, pushing her friend away and pretending to brush off her robes. "We've got to go, by the way. Siren's in trouble."
Jayden's eyebrows shot up, "Because of the Marauders?"
"No, Volterdart, apparently," said Kismet, unknowingly mispronouncing the most feared wizard in history's name. "He's supposedly a very dark activist wizard who believes in pureblood supremacy. Right now, she's listening to a rant about it. But Peter and Remus are keeping an eye on her."
"But what's Volter-whoever doing here at Hogwarts?" asked Jayden. "And why's Sirenity with an activist?"
Sirius had overheard. Breaking away from his conversation with James, he bounded over to the two girls with a grim expression on his face. "She's been entranced by er," he glanced back at his friend, "by us. We're not sure how Voldemort got through, but Remus seems to think it may have been the same thing, on a different frequency."
"HANG ON," cried Jayden, infuriated, "You mean my sister is with some purist fanatic because of you!"
Sirius took a step back, holding his hands in front of his chest, "We had no idea Lord Voldemort would be using a frequency spell to contact students."
"Well, how did he even get on the grounds! Aren't there supposed to be wards up all over the place?" At this point, Jayden was shrieking and she wasn't sure if she'd stop.
Sirius and James shared another glance. Jayden rolled her eyes and looked at Bryar, not wanting to see the she's crazy stare the Marauders were sharing. Surprisingly, Bryar was the one that spoke up, "The wards extend, but the gates don't cut through the forest. The centaurs would raise hell if that happened."
"Fine. Why wouldn't the wards warn Dumbledore then? He's the Headmaster. Surely magic-"
"He may already know," James cut in. "Voldemort is an evil wizard, there are rumors that he may even be immortal. As powerful as Dumbledore is, there's a chink in every armor."
"Don't freak, Jay," said Kismet calmly. "Remus and Peter are keeping an eye on the situation until we can get reinforcements down there to check it out."
Sirius hesitated before answering, "Actually, it's getting dark out..."
"Yeah, it is. So?" asked Kismet.
"Well," said James wincing. "Remus has to get to shelter before nightfall. We only have Peter out there as of now."
"Excuse me! You have Peter Pettigrew keeping an eye on my sister while she's with a psycho!"
"Fine! Just fine!" shouted Jayden, turning abruptly and heading to the materializing door.