Chapter 21

Sunday passed peacefully (for the students; Jack having been called on the mission), as did most of Monday. AJ didn't show up and that made Jack worry about his new, young friend.

Poor Albus had a time of trying to alleviate Jack's worries, but, interestingly enough, Daniel seemed to catch on to his best friend's mood, even without knowing the whole story, and strove to make him feel better.

In fact, Daniel may have been the reason that three chocolate bars had mysteriously appeared on his keyboard…

In either case, by the time lunch on Monday rolled around, AJ had finally shown up a bit worse for wear.

"Everything alright?" Jack questioned as he munched on his sandwich, glad that she was unharmed.

"I suppose," she sighed as she poured herself some pumpkin juice. "One of my friends broke up with this girl he'd been seeing for awhile and I had to make sure Ian didn't commit suicide by car crash." She shook her head, "Ian's driving is a rollercoaster ride on a good day and I seem to be the only one who can stand it on a bad."

"Well, as long as you're still around," Jack grinned at the put upon look on her face.

"Don't be too sure," she told him, appropriating a handful of chips for herself. "Last time Ian broke up with someone, I ended up in the Emergency Room with a concussion, a broken rib, and don't get me started on particulars…"

Jack winced. "Interesting friends you have," he commented, inwardly grinning at the reference to himself as well.

"Believe me," she smiled vaguely. "You have no idea."

***

Tuesday started out on a gloomy note.

For some reason, all the students didn't feel cheery or happy at all.

"What gives?" Ron complained as he scanned the somber Hall. "No one's happy today."

Harry scratched the back of his neck as he looked at all the sad faces as well. "I wonder why."

Hermione gazed thoughtfully at the plate in front of her and her brown eyes lit up. "I think one of the teachers might be feeling this way. The castle is making everyone sad."

"It can do that?" Ron was impressed, even though he, as well as others, should have known that it was magic, after all.

"Well, it's rare, but not unheard of."

Harry sipped on his pumpkin juice as Hermione continued, "It says so in Hogwarts, A History. ("Figures," Ron muttered to an amused Ginny, who had tuned in.) When the Founders made the charms that surrounded the castle, they accidentally put another spell that enabled the school to tie into the feelings and emotions of certain individuals. No one's really had this happen for a long time," Hermione concluded thoughtfully. "I wonder what made it change."

Just then, Professor Wright appeared at Neville's elbow, causing the startled Gryffindor to spill his juice all over the table. Instantly fixing it with his wand after apologizing, Wright said, "Has anyone seen Professor O'Neill today? I need to go over some details with him about some defense history."

After a chorus of negative responses, Wright nodded and went off to ask another group.

Harry stared after him, uncertain of this ominous feeling that he suddenly felt. "I don't much like him," he admitted to the others.

"Don't blame you there, mate," Ron nodded before heaping a bunch of apple slices on his plate. One of the things that Harry had come to discover in the years that he'd known the redhead was Ron's love for apples. The result, Harry supposed, of living near an orchard his whole life.

"Yes, I can tell," Hermione daintily poured a glob of maple syrup on her pancakes. "I've noticed you glaring at him sometimes."

"I do?" Harry was surprised. This was news to him.

"Sure," Neville piped up from beside him. "Thought for sure you were going to do him in."

They talked a few more minutes before heading off to class. While ignoring Malfoy and his group, Harry caught sight of Jack talking to Albus, a dejected air about him.

'I wonder if everything's alright,' he thought, getting swept out with the others. He bumped into an equally dejected AJ, who looked like she'd been crying.

"AJ?" Harry herded her into a corner, out of the way. "Is everything alright?"

"As well as it can be, I guess," she sniffed and wiped her eyes with her left hand, glasses dangling from the right. "Personal stuff."

"If you're sure…" AJ nodded. "Alright, then. See you later?"

"I'm sure," AJ smiled weakly at him.

"Oh," Harry said before he left. "Does Jack know about your 'personal stuff'?"

"What do you mean?" she wondered.

"He's not happy, either. Just thought you knew," Harry shrugged as Hermione came back and dragged him off, but not before giving the distressed older witch an encouraging hug.

AJ watched the pair as they left. "That's a friend for you," she said to the Grey Lady as she floated past. "Always wanting to know if they can help you feel better. Even if they don't know the story."

The Grey Lady acknowledged her with a smile and left her alone as the main hallway slowly emptied.

AJ rubbed her temples tiredly. 'Yup,' she thought as she headed back to the Broomsticks. 'A good friend.' Her gaze turned thoughtful. "I wonder if Jack has any friends like that," she wondered aloud. She paused. "He must have. I can't see anyone like that not having that kind of friend. Although," she mused, "he does remind me of another friend of mine. If only I could figure out how…"

***

After Defense, the Trio was sufficiently worried about Jack. The Headmaster ended up covering the lesson, which wasn't all that much to worry about.

It was actually a word search with the types of creatures and things that they had learned about from the past four years. Hermione thought it was great fun, unknowingly sharing that same view with Draco Malfoy.

The blonde Slytherin didn't care much about it at first, but managed to get into the adrenaline rush of trying to find a word before one of his other housemates, who decided to make it a sort of in-house competition.

Ron didn't know what to make of it and Harry enjoyed the blank state of mind with nothing but finding a certain word to fill it.

In the time they had for lunch, Hermione, as was custom, ventured into the library, while the remaining members of the Quidditch team gathered to decide when to hold the tryouts for the open positions.

Expecting her until bedtime, Harry and Ron were surprised when Hermione showed up just in time for dinner, saying that she was starving and that the rest of her assignment could keep until tomorrow.

Ron raised an eyebrow before shrugging. "If you say so."

At dinner, Harry was glad to see Jack a little happier and roaming between tables with a cup of what smelled and looked like hot chocolate in his hands.

Stopping next to him, Jack greeted them with, "Good day, campers. What're you lot up to?"

"Nothing of interest," Harry told him.

"It must be something of interest," Jack shrugged. He brightened. "Hogsmeade weekend is coming up soon."

"Oh, yeah," Ron nodded.

"Are you going, Professor?" Hermione wanted to know, hair in a plait.

"Only if you start calling me 'Jack', Missy," he countered. "I get enough of that at home. One of these days," he announced, "I'm going to make Carter stop calling me 'sir'."

"Good for you, Professor," the blonde Ravenclaw dreamily told him as she passed. Harry recognized her from when he first heard about the Lady.

"Hey, er, Jack," he remembered, "have you ever heard of the Lady?"

Jack was thoughtful as the Trio looked on with interest. "Now that you mention it… A good friend of mine has seen her quite a few times. Though, Ricky says that you can't really tell what she looks like. I've never seen her, but I've heard plenty of stories. Stop by sometime and I'll tell you a few of them."

***

AN: I am so sorry about the delay. I wasn't sure if I wanted to do something else with this chapter or not.

I tried putting a prank in here, but I think that might have to wait. At least until the Quidditch tryouts. (grin)

Hyper

December 5, 2008