Dun dun dun duuuuun!
Le gasp! Can you believe it? I've updated! I know, neither can I xD
Anyways, I hope that you enjoy this new chapter, all you who are still reading! I would like to thank all of you who have favorited, alerted and, of course, reviewed. Hence, WillowBranch616, Purple Pizza and sxglow I thank you very much for giving me inspiration to keep writing!
Any of you peeps excited for the new HP movie?
Enjoy!
The Who – Baba O'Riley (1971)
There was a moment of silence between the trio as the house elves bustled around them. Then, Jack threw her head back, laughing uncontrollably. Fred and George exchanged glances, shrugging at each other in an identical way. The small witch kept laughing, though, her eyes tearing up. She slowed down after a while, wiping at her eyes.
"Wait-" Jack asked, still smiling. "You're not serious, are you? You're pranking me, no?" The small witch took another moment to compose herself, shaking her head in disbelief. The twins exchanged another glance, communicating with their eyes silently.
"No." Fred said finally, turning to the girl. "We're as serious as McGonagall."
"Even more serious than Minerva, mate." George added helpfully. Jack frowned.
"Vampires?" She repeated incredulously. "Impossible. Hogwarts is the safest place in Great Britain. They wouldn't dare do something against Dumbledore." She reasoned. "Besides, the Wizarding world is at peace with the Vampire community. It has been that way for nine years."
George nodded his head, shrugging afterwards. "Peace, sure. But, does it really make sense to look for the rarest demon, unproven in existence by wizards, and then blame it?" The redhead argued.
"So what? How were most creatures discovered unless they were sought out?" Jack returned, her eyes flashing with competitiveness.
George smirked. "So you want to prove that they exist, don't you?" Fred opened his mouth to interject, but Jack was faster.
"No!" She jumped up, which didn't do much, since she was rather short. "I just want to stop the nightmares and the attacks in the castle! Believe it or not, I care about something else than my pranks and Quidditch!"
"Knight-" Fred attempted to interject again, only to be cut off by his twin this time.
"Why aren't you open to anything other than a demon as the creature then?" George questioned, leaning on his hands in amusement.
The young witch opened her mouth, and then closed it, her nose scrunching up. Jack slowly sat down, staring at the book (by Giuseppe Costello the Third) in the middle of the table. "I don't know." She slowly replied, her tone calm. "I figured, since we found what fits, we need to find a way to get it away from the castle."
"But, this creature, the Alp, it's similar to a vampire, no?" George wasn't giving up. Jack nodded. "Great, then. We will tell you what we think, and go from there?" He looked at his twin, who was busy stuffing his face with cookies. Fred rummaged through his pockets and then pulled out a small, leather-bound book. He placed it above the 'Demonic creatures if the New World and how to Defeat Them'.
"What's that"? Jack asked, scrunching her nose as she reached forward. In a quick motion, Fred slapped her hand away from the book.
"Well, it's a book."
"I can see that." Jack rolled her eyes.
"It's Vasilescu's book." George said, grinning wide once more.
"Why do we need Vasilescu's book?" Jack frowned.
Fred sighed. "Think about it. Who is the only person who has come to Hogwarts, new, whose magical parents we can't confirm?" The wizard asked, joining his brother in smiling. "Honestly, I don't know how we didn't figure it out earlier, mate."
"You didn't have my brilliance with you, Forge." His twin joked.
"You think that Professor Vasilescu is a vampire?" Jack asked, raising her eyebrow. When the twins nodded in sync, she smiled. "Why in the world would Dumbledore employ a vampire? Couldn't it be one of the students?"
"Every wizard gets his letter of invitation to Hogwarts by magic." George replied quickly in a know-it-all voice.
"As soon as their magic begins to show, they are marked to get a letter." Fred continued, smiling.
"It's impossible to be invited to study at Hogwarts if you've got no magic." The two finished, happy with their knowledge.
"But, why Professor Vasilescu?" Jack questioned, her hand running to brush her long bangs back. "Couldn't it be one of the other Professors? Or someone from Hogsmeade?"
"I'm sorry that you like her, Jack, but have you ever seen her using a wand?" Fred asked. "Or eating, as a matter of fact? I've seen her patrolling the halls at all times, and she would have first class of the morning, as if she hadn't been awake all night."
Jack shook her head, staring at the small, leather-bound book. Truly, Professor Vasilescu never used a wand. Jack had never even seen her having one in her possession. Then again, not all Professors used their wands. The small witch tried to imagine each of her teachers. McGonagall often untangled messed-up transfiguration or dealt out punishment with it. Snape never wrote on the board by hand and always vanished the twins' potions with his wand. Professor Sprout had demonstrated spells numerous times. Obviously, Flitwick's wand was practically a part of him. The farther she went the more teachers she had seen using magic. But, not Vasilescu. Not even once.
The woman attended meals in the Great Hall, Jack had seen her sitting on the far left, almost in front of the Gryffindor table. She often talked to Professor Snape or Professor Quirrell, the Muggle Studies teacher. But, true to the twin's word, Jack had never noticed the pale woman eating anything.
"You believe me, don't you?" Fred spoke up, causing Jack to connect their gazes. There was another minute of silence between the three, before the small witch spoke.
"I do."
Fred and George had decided to keep Vasilescu's book in their dormroom, much to Jack's dismay. She had, instead, argued that it would be safest to return the item, as to not make them suspicions. But, now that there were three of them in the group, they couldn't simply shout in each other's faces. No, they would call a vote and she had gotten outvoted ever since. After all, they were twins.
But, it wasn't just that that had made Jack's mood drop into a dull vortex of blacks and greys, with no silver lining in sight. Ever since their little 'team widening and discovering' moment, she had been the only member of their little group sitting in the library, and then the kitchens, into the odd hours of the night. It seemed like Fred and George had rekindled their friendship, brotherhood or twinship, whatever they called their bond. However, they had been absent.
Jack had found, a couple of days later, after the twins landed in detention with Snape, that they had simply been planning another prank. She didn't know why, but the small witch was more than bothered by that fact. She finally realized, after spending a full Herbology class glaring at the twins plus Lee, that she was jealous.
Despite her frequent irritation at the twins' antics, she found them fun. Intriguing. They reminded her of her father and his group of misfits which he called a team. Of course, Fred and George were much more childish and destructive, while Dragon tended to be more on a perverted side. However, there was something which was similar. It reminded Jack of home, while still being wildly new. She wanted to be and stay a part of it.
But, the twins didn't just hang out with anyone. Sure, they were friends with loads of people, but they didn't hang out with them. Rather, it was either the two of them, or with Lee. For some reason, Lee Jordan had gotten the 'special exemption' benefits and Jack was more than jealous. She'd luckily recognized the feeling after the third time she'd had an urge to punch the poor boy. She hadn't acted on it, though. Professor McGonagall had given her a long, meaningful stare, as if she had known Jack's intentions.
So, the small witch settled for glaring at the trio whenever they were together, despite the fact that she really had nothing against the black wizard. She simply needed an outlet for all that jealousy. On the other hand, Angelina and Alicia were pretty sure that she liked one of the twins or Lee, which was absolutely ridiculous. They had solved that issue in their first week of school. Jack did not fancy them. Any of them.
But, the young witch wasn't so lucky for those two to be her only problems besides schoolwork. No. There was something else. It had appeared one morning, like an absolute atomic bomb into her peaceful, breakfast time, that Jack really hadn't known how to deal with it.
She walked into the Great Hall, immediately spotting Angelina and Alicia and heading over. There were some looks and whispers following her, but the witch had gotten used to that a long time ago. When you were the only child of a Quidditch legend, you tended to be the topic of a lot of conversations, not to mention magazine and newspaper articles. Jack never really cared about either of those, except in the sense that she didn't want to be called Dragon's daughter in them, but rather, by her name. Nickname, even better.
"Hey." She greeted, plopping down next to Alicia who was immersed in reading the Daily Prophet. "Anything interesting?" She asked when her friend seemed quite focused. In fact, seemingly too focused to reply to her greeting.
As Jack piled her plate with pancakes and syrup, Alicia looked up, giving her a sad, almost pitying look. The Dragon's daughter quickly glanced across the table, seeing Angelina quickly look away and into her food awkwardly.
"What's wrong?" Jack asked, getting worried.
"Just give her the paper, Alicia." Angelina instructed. "It will hurt less if it's simply done fast. Like a fall from the broom." Jack couldn't see in any way how a faster fall from the broom would be better than a slower one, but she did take the offered paper. As soon as she flipped it, she saw the giant title on the first page, along with a picture.
Bachelor of the Wizarding world? Or not?
It read in bold, big letters. Underneath it was an image of a familiar man. His slanted eyes were smiling, crinkling in the corners as he turned towards each camera for a photo. The grin never left his face. His hair had grown, Jack realized. She would have to cut it for him when she got home, the witch absent-mindedly noted, attempting to, rather unsuccessfully ignore the rest of the photo.
Dragon's arm was wrapped around the shoulders of a vaguely familiar woman. She was slim, with dark, long shiny hair and quite stern features. But, she, too, was smiling at the cameras, a genuine expression which Jack hadn't seen her make before, one of her hands playing with Dragon's fingers.
It was Zita Webley, the newest addition to the Ballycastle Bats Quidditch team. The only woman that had worn high heels and a fancy dress to their Christmas party. She was there, next to Dragon, looking like she had him on a leash.
Jack's eyes practically zoomed in on their intertwined fingers, seeing something that she couldn't believe. "Oh Hell no!" The young witch jumped up, slamming the Daily Prophet onto the table and the storming out of the Hall. Her next destination was the Owlery.
"I suppose that it's better that she didn't actually read the article?" Alicia asked reluctantly. She re-opened the Daily Prophet to page six and continued reading the Dragon article. "They do say some pretty nasty stuff about her mother."
"Rita Skeeter is a daft cow." Angelina agreed. "Maybe we could send her some dung?" Alicia gaped at her friend, who usually wasn't much of a prankster. "What?" Angelina asked. "I've been hanging around those Weasleys for too long."
Alicia laughed. "But, the dung actually isn't such a bad idea…" She said.
"Now, who are you lovely ladies planning on sending a letter full of nature's fertilizers?" The twins had arrived to their table, smirking identically.
"We would be, as always, delighted to offer our services in any dung shipping." The other redhead spoke, his smirk widening.
It wasn't until Jack missed Charms that Angelina and Alicia actually got a bit worried. They knew that their friend's temper was quite a bit like quicksilver. She would get angry, bottle it up and then explode. However, that rage would cool off in a matter of seconds. So, they usually just ducked the first blow and were completely fine.
Neither of them really understood what Jack was going through, though. They had discussed it even before the small witch had seen the Daily Prophet. Alicia's parents had gone through their number of marital disputes, but they had never gotten even close to separating. After all, they had two children and loved each other dearly, as they were Hogwarts sweethearts.
Angelina had a bit of a different situation. Her parents were so close, not only because she was their only child, but because their families disapproved of their relationship. While her mother's side was rather eager to meet the Muggle ways of their new in-laws, her father's parents considered magic a taboo that should not be named in any occasion. However, neither set of grandparents had ever gotten in the way of their child's happiness, allowing them to be married, but not without any complaints.
"We shouldn't have shown her that." Alicia worriedly bit on the end of her nail, rushing in front of Angelina towards the Gryffindor common room.
"She would've found it anyways." Angelina brushed her friend's concerns off, grabbing her elbow and preventing her from going ahead. "It's not like it's some random person, you know." The Quidditch nut gave a small shrug, speeding up after her worried friend. "It's Dragon bloody Knight. It was bound to spread like wildfire."
Alicia turned, sending her perfectly cut hair flying in a circle. "I don't get it." She said, frowning. "I mean, I get that Dragon is a Quidditch legend and all that. My mum is nuts about his old games, has all the tapes." The first year headed upstairs once more. "But, won't this simply blow over? Like all the rest of the stories?"
Angelina puffed out an annoyed sigh. "I'm doubtful." She said, skipping a step, and then another, to keep up with the other witch. "Dragon is a white whale."
"A what?" Alicia almost stopped at the strange wording.
"A white whale." Angelina giggled. "My mom calls him that, too, by the way." The two witches turned a corner, changing direction so that they could get to the moving staircases which led to their common rooms. "It means that he is not only an eligible bachelor, but he is also a nice man and with a child. That's like a double bonus, ergo, a white whale for all of them ladies looking for the perfect, wealthy husband."
Alicia frowned as they finally reached the moving staircases. "But, Dragon's never been married, right?" The girl asked as they waited for the stairs to move to the desired position.
"Not that I know of." Angelina nodded. "Then again, he is usually pretty good at hiding his personal life. Believe me, I'd know." And Alicia truly didn't doubt her for a second. She knew that her friend was a little more than obsessed with Quidditch and famous players. She knew their dates of birth, favorite colors, spouses and number of marriages, along with other, completely useless trivia. "He managed to hide Jack's existence until she was three. The first picture of her came like a stampede of angry hippogriffs onto the Wizarding world."
"You're joking! He hid Jack until she was three years old?" Alicia gaped. The staircase stopped and the two of them got off, heading for the common room once again. "That's insane." The young witch shook her head in disbelief.
"You're telling me." Angelina agreed. "When I met Jack, I thought that she was going to be a stuck up nutcase." Alicia gave a disapproving look. "Hey, she turned out pretty good with all things considered, alright?"
"She is a bit of a nutter sometimes, though." Alicia giggled.
"Indeed she is." Agreed her friend just as they neared the Fat Lady. "Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus." The girl spoke without skipping a beat and the portrait opened. The common room was almost deserted, with only a couple of students sitting in the comfortable sofa chairs next to the fireplace. Of course, due to the warm weather, there was no fire in the hearth, but it was still a popular, habitual, spot for the wizards. Not to mention that the chairs in front of the fireplace were the most comfortable.
The two witches climbed up the stairs to their room and before they could enter, the door slammed open. "You are a right twat! You know that Knight! Twat!" A book flew at Sarah Miller's head with quite a bit of strength. "You daft cow! What if you had hit me!?" The popular witch was outraged.
"Get out!" Jack's voice, hoarse for some reason, screamed out, another book flying. The door of their dorm slammed closed and reopened a little, staying there swinging. As Sarah stomped down the staircase, pushing the two girls aside carelessly, Angelina and Alicia exchanged worried glances. The Quidditch nut bent down and picked up the thrown book 'Vampire Clans and Covens by Wilma Clearwater' and gave her friend yet another questioning look, raising her eyebrow. That was a library book. Jack did not throw books. Especially not library books. It was not that she was just a fan of reading, it was that she had suffered Madam Pince's wrath more than once.
"A bit of a nutter?" Suggested Angelina in an attempt to relieve the tension. The other witch rolled her eyes at her black friend, not even bothering to hide her annoyance at the ill-timed humor. Angelina really had been spending a bit too much time with the twins.
"Jack?" Alicia asked, pushing the door of their dormroom open. "Is it safe to come in? Or are you gonna go all You-Know-Who on me?" The two witches entered, only to see a complete mess. Jack's stuff was torn, thrown around the place in complete rage. The witch herself was sitting in the corner next to her bed, huddled, holding her knees in tight. She was shaking. "Jack?" Alicia slowly neared the girl, bending over, not touching her.
When she received no answer she turned to her friend, who gave an awkward shrug. Angelina placed the thrown book on Jack's bed, sitting on the covers next to the tome. She was looking mighty uncomfortable, her eyes going from Jack's hunched form to Alicia's worried eyes. When the other witch gave her a Help me kind of look she shrugged once more, as if saying How.
"Jack, love, can you tell me what's wrong?" Alicia tried once more, this time extending her hand and touching her friend's arm. The small witch jumped at the contact, recoiling. She still didn't raise her head. "Jack, love, can you please look at me?" The first year tried once more, her voice a soft, soothing whisper. Angelina rolled her eyes in the background.
"I'm fine." Jack murmured into her knees. "Go away." She said next, her arms tightening around herself. Alicia and Angelina shared another glance. The former was really looking for help from the latter, because, as good of a friend that she was, she had no idea how to deal with the situation at hand.
"Jack." Angelina finally spoke with a strong voice, not bothering to whisper. "We aren't going away." There was another moment of silence in which Alicia gave her a rather disapproving look. "Who trashed your stuff? I'll go hex them." The black girl continued, attempting once more to relieve the tension in the room. "I learned a pretty nasty spell from the twins yesterday." Alicia tossed her friend a look which clearly spelled Shut it.
"I'm fine." Jack murmured once more into her knees, not moving. The three girls sat there for a while, in silence. Alicia was lost, trying to solve the situation somehow in her head. Angelina, on the other hand, was a tad uncomfortable, seeing as she wasn't quite familiar with these kinds of situations. Jack was silent, still, the only sounds in the room her occasional sniffing.
"Is it the Chaser woman? The Thunderbird, or whatever they are calling her?" Alicia tried once more, hoping that her friend would come out of it. "Because, you know how your dad often has flings. Surely, it's nothing serious. When you get home for the holidays, he'll be there, with Sherwood, waiting for you." The witch attempted to remember everything that Jack had told them about her family and use it to soothe the upset girl.
"No, he won't." The small first year finally looked up, her eyes blotchy from crying and her nose red and running. "He won't. He finally found the one." The girl laughed with absolute sarcasm at the word.
"The one?" Alicia asked gently. "I'm sure that it's not like that. After all, your father would most definitely ask you what you thought of her first. He loves you very much, Jack."
The shorter witch laughed once more, an empty, eerie sound, before sniffing due to a new wave of tears. "Yeah right. She was wearing mom's ring!" The girl finally burst, screaming. Her voice was hoarse, undoubtedly from shouting so much. "Mom's ring! That was my ring! She left it for me!" Jack screamed out, her head falling back into her knees. "Not some bloody stepmonster!" Another long scream was let out into her legs, muffled, yet still resounding throughout the dorm.
Angelina and Alicia exchanged another glance, the former giving a Well, at least she's talking vibe and the latter simply looking exasperated by the whole situation. "Jack, love, you don't know that." Alicia tried to reason with the distressed witch. "You know that Rita Skeeter is a daft woman. Surely, there's no truth to her story?"
"But, why is she wearing my mom's ring then?" Jack peeked over the edge of her knees, her splotchy cheeks making her look rather pathetic. But, it seemed like she was waiting for Alicia to give her any kind of a story, no matter how ridiculous, just to prove her suspicions wrong.
"Maybe she has a similar one?" The young witch suggested, taking Jack's hands into hers. "Perhaps, she even has the same one. Are you sure that that one is your mum's?" For a moment, there was silence in the dormroom. Angelina looked even more uncomfortable.
"I'm pretty sure that it's my mom's." Jack finally said.
"But you're not sure?" Asked Alicia, more to re-affirm the absolute silliness of the situation. Jack shrugged, still looking just as pathetic as before. "Can you mail someone and ask them about it? Your dad?" The first year continued to attempt to solve the problem. When her friend shook her head dejectedly, she tried once more. "What about Sherwood? You said that he was like a big brother to you, no?"
"I… I guess I could mail him." Jack croaked out, a couple more tears streaming down her cheeks. Alicia reached forward, wiping the drops off with a small smile.
"There we go." The young witch said. "All better. Shall we write that letter now, or when you clear your head a bit?" She asked. The two looked around the room, searching for Jack's writing supplies. Unfortunately, the whole room was in chaos. Books, quills, ink bottles, clothes and feathers from one of the pillows were strewn everywhere.
"I think that I overreacted a tad." Jack said in a shaky, throaty voice. Then, she started chuckling. Alicia and Angelina joined in, the tension from the air finally gone. "We can just write Captain Sherwood later." The girl giggled, pushing herself up and off the floor. Alicia stood as well, helping her shaking friend onto her bed. The three witches lay back on the mattress, letting out a simultaneous sigh. "I'm sorry guys."
"Nonsense." Alicia protested with a snort. "What are friends for?" After a moment of comfortable silence, the girl piped up again with a groan. "Oh, I really don't want to go to Transfiguration now."
"Agreed." Angelina shocked them both with her words. She was usually the one that made them do their schoolwork and attend class. "I vote that we raid the kitchen instead."
"In a little bit." Jack said softly. "I'm beat." There was another moment of complete silence.
"On the bright side," Angelina commented in a rather cheery tone. "I think you scared the life out of Sarah Miller, if it's any consolation." And the three witches descended into another bout of uncontrolled laughter.
That's all folks! If you liked it, leave a review?
Interesting trivia for this chapter:
- If anyone has seen the TV Show Castle, he is one of my main inspirations for Claude Knight (Dragon)
- Angelina studies the most in the girl trio, but Alicia has the best grades
- If I needed to pick an actress for Jaqueline, appearance wise, it would have to be Dakota Fanning (but with brown hair)
That's it from the annoying, slow author and onto the wonderful reviews!
WillowBranch616: I am so glad that you are enjoying my story! I am a terrible author that often loses inspiration and abandons her babies xD Hopefully, I will gather my wits enough to finish this and then make a short pause before the sequel :P
Purple Pizza: Thank you so much for the lovely review! I must admit that I have read it a couple of times during my lack of inspiration days, as I am crazy like that :P
Yessss, thank you for noticing the Harry the Calamity of the Wizarding world thing xD I mean, sure, there may not be a You-Know-Who incident every year, but there can be some drama which has nothing to do with Harry, right? I have read quite a few fics which have just the romance, despite the fact that they start in first year or third year… C'mon people, use some imagination! Hopefully, I will do good until the end of the story and live up to the expectations :) (I am by no means the best plot-maker hahahaha)
Kidnapped? Interesting…. Perhaps… Not in my plans so far, though :P
Jack and Charlie were absolutely not planned, but it was simply an opportunity there for the taking. The girl is obsessed with dragons, for Merlin's sake! Of course that she would fancy our future Dragon Keeper :P Man, can you imagine the family dinners later? Awkwaaard!
Vasilescu? Is she a vampire now… Hehehehe who knooows xD
I'm so glad that you like my choice of shipping :P I really like how Jack turned out… It's gonna be a blast when they are older :D A literal blast hahahahaha
Hope to hear from you soon!
Sxglow: I'm glad that you are enjoying the story :D Sorry for the long wait on the updates!
