*(A/N)* Heeeellloooo! Alright, this is gonna be interesting, considering I've just finished up a Geography project, and my mind is set on Geographical Thinking. I make no sense, I HATE GEOGRAPHY! Gak! I just realized this is part 20! Anyone expect that this would last this long? I'm gonna have to make a 20 club or something!
Chloe Patil at Hogwarts: part 20
Jack Lawson ripped the letter in his hands viciously.
It was the second day of Christmas Break, and he was home. He'd arrived at the breakfast table early that morning to find a letter waiting at his place. The family eagle owl, Hades, had arrived early. He'd torn it open eagerly, hoping it would be from Chloe.
As it turned out, it wasn't from Chloe. It was just about her. A girl he hardly knew from Slytherin had written him quite the letter, revealing a certain secret Chloe had kept from him on the night of the Ball. He'd spoken to her. She'd assured him there was nothing going on between her and...Draco. Well, obviously not! Harry Potter, Jack had always known there was a reason that none of the other Slytherins liked that cocky little runt!
"Jack." His father greeted him formally, entering the dining room.
"Hey," Jack answered vaguely, still tearing the letter up, determined to make the pieces so small they wouldn't be visible to the naked eye.
"What's that you've got there?" His father asked.
"A letter." He answered quickly.
"Not planning on keeping it?"
"Hell no! Uh, I mean..." he trailed off, looking down quickly at the reproving look his father was giving him.
His father, however, chose not to respond other then that to the remark.
"Jack, son, you know about my..." He trailed off, pointing towards his forearm.
"Oh, the Dark Mark? Yeah, I know. You got called off the other day, didn't you?"
"Well, yes. The Dark Lord has, well, a certain mission for me. It involves anyone with students at Hogwarts. It involves you, Jack."
Jack cleared his throat. "Um, alright. What is it?"
His father looked deeply relieved. "Thank you. You do know that by participating, the Dark Lord will honour you among his followers?"
"Sure." Jack answered, not really aware of this at all. Lord Voldemort's follower...
"He needs students to track down Potter's every move at school and weakness. Can you think of any of his weaknesses right now?" His father asked seriously, grabbing Jack by the shoulders, forcing him to look his father in the eyes.
Jack gulped and shifted his eyes to the pile of paper that had once been the letter. His father followed his gaze.
"What was on that letter?" He demanded.
Jack coughed, still unsure of his response. Chloe could be considered as a weakness of Potter's, yet if he told this to his father, he risked putting Chloe in danger. He thought long and hard, concentrating on the betrayal he felt by her. Then, taking a deep breath, he told his father the whole story.
"And this is the whole truth?" Mr. Lawson asked seriously, hope shining in his eyes.
"Y-yes." Jack stammered. He watched as his father relaxed in his chair, grinning from ear to ear.
"This will please my Lord profoundly." He announced. Jack slumped down in his seat, unsure as to if he'd done the right thing.
~*~
"Giiiirrrrlllls!" A shrill voice called up the stairwell. "Come on down, your grandparents are here!"
Chloe rose to a sitting position, listening as Padma rushed out of her room and stampeded down the steps. Chloe wished she could offer such an enthusiastic greeting. She got up and dragged herself down the stairs, watching Padma hug her grandparents with vigor.
"And there's our Chloe!" Her grandmother announced adoringly, clasping her hands.
Chloe plastered a fake grin on her face and walked into her grandmother's awaiting arms for a big hug.
"And where is Parvati?" Her grandmother asked warily, a fake cheery tone, and a smile to match Chloe's.
"Who cares?" Chloe cried brightly, receiving odd looks from her grandparents, and reprising looks from her parents. Chloe turned from them, and gave her grandfather a hug.
"Ahh, there we are!" Boomed Chloe's grandfather as Parvati emerged from the den. Chloe watched as her sister walked towards them, not even bothering to smile.
"Hey." She nodded her greeting as she passed, disappearing into the kitchen.
Chloe couldn't help but be amused at the look on her grandmother's face. Her parent's faces shown with embarrassment.
"Let me help you with your bags..." Her mother said, pulling out her wand. She was trying desperately to cover up the awkward situation.
"Thank you dear." Mrs. Patil answered vaguely, her eyes still on the kitchen door.
A few hours had passed since her grandparents' arrival. They and Chloe's parents were talking in the living room. Chloe was trying to avoid the room as much as possible, and instead headed towards the den where the Muggle invention, the television, was. The shows amused her, and they were oddly satisfying. She almost turned back when she saw Parvati curled up on the couch, but decided not to let her sister ruin what she wanted to do. She slumped into a Lazy Boy chair, looking at the screen.
"This is so incredibly stupid, I may kill myself so that I don't have to watch it." Chloe announced after 5 minutes.
"Go ahead, you'll be doing all of us a favour." Parvati responded, not taking her eyes off the screen. She picked the remote control off the table and placed in on her lap.
Chloe rolled her eyes and pulled out her wand. "Accio Remote." She said lazily. The remote flew across the room, landing gracefully on the arm of her chair.
"Smart move, you'll be in trouble now. You can't use magic you know!" Parvati exclaimed.
"That's during the summer you twit!" Chloe shot back, "Anyone ever tell you that you couldn't use magic during the Holidays?"
Parvati looked at her for a while, then turned back to the screen, unable to come back with anything.
"That's what I thought." Chloe said as she changed the channel to an old game show.
"Oh, and this isn't stupid?" Parvati questioned sarcastically.
"Nope." Chloe answered simply.
Parvati jumped up and left the room in a huff, missing Chloe's grin. Chloe looked into an enchanted mirror on the other side of the room.
"Is that enough? Have I gotten her back?" She asked her reflection.
"I think NOT!" Her reflection answered back snottily.
"My thoughts exactly." Chloe said smugly.
***
It was three days until Christmas. Three days until Chloe could officially emerge from her room. She was grounded for being 'intentionally cruel to her sister.' Her parents didn't know half the story, they didn't realize what Parvati had done to evoke such cruelty out of Chloe. So what if Chloe had enchanted the snow outside to keep piling up behind Parvati as she shoveled the neighbour's driveway? And so what if she'd levitated every single thing in Parvati's room, then refused to undo the Charm? And SO WHAT if she'd deleted every single one of Parvati's favourite channels from the TV? How was she supposed to know that her mother enjoyed those channels as well? They didn't understand. Not at all.
Chloe was contemplating over this for the billionth time when a rapping at her door shook her from her thoughts.
"Yes?" Chloe asked, expecting her mother. It wasn't, it was Padma.
Her sister entered the bedroom, then closed the door behind her. "That's quite the uproar you created there." She said with a smirk. Chloe shrugged.
"I tried my best." She answered simply. "Are you talking to me now?"
"Only to straighten a few things out. Once you've completed your end of the deal, then we can talk."
"Great." Chloe mumbled.
"Now," Padma began, sitting down on Chloe's desk chair. "Have you told him?"
"Him meaning...Neville?" Chloe asked hopefully.
Padma looked at her in disgust. "Of course not, you dolt! Look, if you're not going to be serious about this whole thing then it's off, you've chosen the guy. No big deal, I just thought that your sisters meant more to you then that."
"That goes two ways you know." Chloe informed her dryly. "Do you really want me, your little sister, to be this unhappy?"
"When you decided to kiss Harry, did you even think about your big sister, and how upset it would make her?" Padma retorted. Chloe shifted uncomfortably, not saying anything. But her actions spoke more then her words ever could.
"That's what I thought. Now tell him, before Christmas, or you might as well not do anything at all."
"Oh, and that'll make his and my Christmas ever so Merry!" Chloe said sarcastically. Padma just shrugged.
"I'm as mad at him as I am at you!" She said hotly before leaving the room.
Chloe sighed deeply, then walked towards her desk, picked up some parchment and a quill, and collapsed on the floor, dreading the letter she had to and was about to write.
Dear Harry, she began,
how's Christmas at hogwarts? it's dreadful here, I'd give anything to be at school right now.
beware the wrath of padma patil. she's found out about us at the ball, and she is NOT happy by any means. In fact, she's furious. If it wasn't illegal, she'd probably be planning my death right now.
we have, however, made a deal. I have to go through with it, it's my only hope of getting her to speak to me ever again. It involves pretty much banning you from my life. I can't speak to you anymore after this letter. she's making me pick between you and her. It's quite the weight on my shoulders, but I've reached a decision.
I have to pick her, harry, she'll hate me forever if I don't, and she's my sister. please, please understand. you don't know how hard this has been! If you want, you can write me back this once, I'm sure there won't be a problem, but if you're mad and don't want to, I'll understand. please don't be mad.
don't be mad at Padma either, ok? It's not her fault that I'm in the mess I'm in. It's not anybody's fault but my own. I could have thought of her, I could have stopped it.
I'd better go, if I write anymore it'll be even more senseless then this and you'll be completely confused. believe me, I'm confused just thinking it!
Talk to you later (she erased this after rereading it, as she wouldn't be talking to him later...)
love,
Chloe
Then, biting her lip, she folded the letter, and carried it to Padma's room. After knocking on the door, she entered.
"Can I borrow your owl?" She asked glumly.
"Yep." Padma answered, then she gave Chloe her first smile in days. Chloe didn't return it, she just picked up the owl and went back to her room.
"Stop it, Eros!" She scolded the squirming owl. After a bit of a struggle, she managed to tie the letter on securely. "Just take this to Harry, ok?" She asked warily. The owl hooted in response. Chloe opened her window, allowing the cold winter winds to enter her room. Then she set the owl off, watching it struggle through the falling snow and high-paced winds, but eventually disappearing.
Even after she couldn't see Eros anymore, she still left the window open, staring out into the purely white world, thinking, but not really acknowledging any of her thoughts. Eventually her mother came in, asking if it felt cold in the house to Chloe. When she saw what her youngest daughter was up to, she dragged her away to the bed, then forced the window closed. Chloe looked around her, noticing that her bed was full of snow.
A quick flick of her mother's wand fixed that. After drying everything that had been touched by snow, she came towards Chloe, feeling the girl's forehead.
"You know, Chloe, I can't help but be worried about you lately. Are you feeling alright?" She asked, alarmed.
"No." Chloe answered in a far away voice. "I don't think I've ever been worse, actually." She reconsidered these words. "Well, I've been worse, but this isn't too great."
"What? What isn't too great?" Her mother asked gently.
"Never mind." Chloe answered vaguely, laying down and looking at her ceiling.
Her mother looked at her daughter with hurt eyes that Chloe didn't see. "Well, whenever you feel like talking, I'll be here. If you need anything, just ask, dear."
"Yeah, sure."
Then her mother left, closing the door softly behind her. The second she left, silent tears began to pour out of Chloe's eyes, running down, into her ears. It was quite the uncomfortable situation, but she didn't care. She was angry, frustrated and sad, all at the same time. She was angry at herself. Why had she made that silly promise to Padma anyway? What frustrated her was that her sister had taken her seriously. She hadn't even tried to find a different way to resolve the problem. Chloe supposed she was angry at her too. She was sad for obvious reasons. She and Padma would never be the same, she and Harry would definitely never be the same. She had an angry mob of so-called 'friends' waiting for her back in the Slytherin Dormitory.
Yes, life wasn't going to be too pleasant for Chloe after the Holidays. She took back her comment in Harry's letter, she was infinitely glad that she wasn't at school.
Feeling it was too quiet in the room, Chloe walked over to her vanity and flipped on the radio. She examined pictures and things as the music of Clara Stormwing played, it was her new hit "Burnt Orange." Chloe hummed along, even though she detested the song.
Suddenly, in a surge of inspiration that may have been brought on by the listed colours in the song, Chloe decided that her room had been purple for too long. She picked up her wand, and turned the walls the first colour that came to mind. It just so happened to be neon orange. Her bed, she turned fluorescent pink, the ceiling neon green, the floor?
"Black." Chloe decided. So it was done.
Her formerly lavender drapes were now a vivid blue, and her desk and vanity a burnt orange. It clashed horribly and hurt her eyes, but it made her smile.
"Chloe, lunch is ready. Mom said you can come down." Padma said, entering her room without knocking. Her reaction to the room was almost instant. First, she covered her eyes from the intensity of the orange, then she uncovered them and simply gaped.
"What have you DONE?" She gasped.
Chloe couldn't help it. She burst into gales of laughter.
*~*
"DRACO!" Bellowed the familiar voice of Lucius Malfoy.
Draco groaned. "What?" He asked groggily, checking his alarm clock. Nine in the morning, what was his father thinking?
"Get down here," was the answer.
Draco rolled out of bed and headed out of his room and down the hall, the thick carpet padding his footsteps. The cool marble of the staircase nearly froze his feet, and he began to wish he was wearing something other then his boxers. He walked into the dining room.
"Do you know what time it is?" He asked his father with disgust. His father looked at him.
"Good Lord, boy. You could've gotten dressed." He conjured a housecoat, which Draco pulled on.
"Sooorry," Draco said in mid-yawn. "I was under the impression that this would be an emergency of some sort. Why couldn't you have waited until after noon?"
"Never mind that." Lucius said brusquely.
"Well, what do you want? If this is just some sort of father/son talk, I'll go back to bed, thanks."
"It's nothing of the sort," Lucius began, a look of disgust on his face at the thought, "I want to know what you know about Chloe Patil."
"Why?" Draco asked cautiously.
"She's involved in the Dark Lord's plan this year. I need to accumulate information on her." Lucius replied.
"No Dad, there's got to be another way." Draco said, alarmed.
"Why do you care about her? She's from a Ministry family and she's got ties to the Potter boy." Lucius told him sharply.
Draco looked at him, confused. What ties? "I don't think you know what you're talking about. Maybe you're getting old or something." He said quickly.
"Frederick Lawson came in this morning with that news. His son swears it to be true. Perhaps you don't know as much as you think."
"Or Lawson's lying." Draco said simply.
"I think not. Lawson's too scared of the Dark Lord to lie. His powers aren't superior by any means, he needs someone who'll keep him safe, and our Lord is just the person." Lucius said with a bite of impatience. "If he lied, he'll die. It's as simple as that. As will you and I, Draco, if you mention this to anyone. Lord Voldemort gives no mercy to traitors. I've warned you before."
Draco gulped. He was still confused. He was also, and he'd never admit this to anyone, scared. He didn't know what to do or think. Why was Chloe so important to the plan? What if she got hurt, or died? One thing was for certain, he wouldn't be getting back to sleep this morning.
*~*
Chloe was FREE! She could just jump for joy. It was Christmas Eve Day and her term of grounding was finished. Her mother had seen her room, and was not pleased by any means, but there wasn't much she could do. As long as Chloe didn't mind living inside what looked like a fun house, her room would stay that way. Secretly Chloe was getting a bit sick of it, but that didn't matter as she wouldn't be in there quite so much. She'd received quite the scare the first morning she'd woken up to those colours, the first thing that came to mind was a pumpkin.
Parvati was gone for the day. She was obviously desperate for money, as she had agreed to babysit for the DeLong's. Their kids were brats, nicely put. Chloe preferred to think of them as the offspring of the devil. The first and last time she'd babysat for them, well, she didn't like to think about that. It was an all around horrible experience. Chloe, however, was off to bigger and better things. She had just realized that morning that she had no gifts bought for anyone in her family, and her mother had agreed to take her to Diagon Alley to shop.
Chloe had already sent off the owl carrying Ginny's, Roz's and Jessika's presents. Ginny was her friend, Roz, even though they were fighting, was still her friend. They'd make up...eventually. She'd considered keeping her gift to Roz, but she'd bought her cheerleading pompoms that changed colours from a shop in Hogsmeade, and she didn't want them. She'd drawn Jessika's name earlier in a Christmas exchange thing between her and her dormmates.
Eventually she and her mother made their way to Diagon Alley. Chloe was amazed at how different it looked with snow. Their first stop was the Menagerie, where her mother had to buy more owl food. Chloe was about to buy Parvati a great ugly grey rat, when her mother stopped her.
"But she said she wanted it!" Chloe explained.
"Parvati hates rats!" Her mother answered.
Chloe didn't answer, she just trudged alongside Mrs. Patil until they reached the next stop.
And so went the afternoon. Chloe was amazed when 2 o'clock rolled along, and her mother announced that they had to go. She'd bought various things here and there, and by the end of the afternoon she had something for everyone. Padma, a quill that turned ink green, her sister's favourite colour and a book about fun Charms. Parvati, the same pompoms as Roz, and some lip gloss stuff (In an egg flavour. Her mother had missed that tiny detail). Her mother and grandmother, some sort of cookbook, her father, socks. He ALWAYS asked for socks. Her grandfather was getting a tie. Just a plain, old tie. One year Chloe had tried to buy him one that flashed gold and black, and her grandmother had returned it. She'd bought Candace and Beverlie blue and purple bracelets with twinkling gold sparkles. She was especially proud of those. She'd gotten something similar for Ginny, only it was a necklace.
When they arrived home, Chloe lugged her bags up to her room, dreading the tedious task of wrapping everything. She'd become used to closing her eyes when she opened the door to her room and letting her eyes adjust slowly. Her mom wouldn't let her keep her door open, the walls gave her a headache.
~*~
Harry and Ron sat in the Common Room playing Chess. For once in his life, Harry was actually winning. Hermione was sitting beside them reading some gigantic book whose name Harry and Ron didn't care to know. They, the twins, Ginny, the Creeveys and a few first years remained for the Holidays. The twins were busy levitating and then flying eachother around the room, Colin was snapping photos, Ginny was also reading, but glancing up now and then to see what was going on. The first years were just watching, amazed. A sudden rapping at the window caused George, who was steering Fred around the room with his wand, to look over.
"Oh, an owl!" He exclaimed, just as Fred whipped by shouting "Wheee!"
He turned, and began to struggle with the latch, attempting to let the owl in. He didn't hear Fred calling,
"Uhh, George, I'M HEADING FOR A WALL!"
George managed to open the window to let in the owl at the same moment that Fred crashed straight into the wall closest to the entrance of the Boy's Dorms. The spell was broken instantly, and Fred came toppling down, landing with a thud.
Ginny and Hermione leapt up to help Fred. Harry and Ron did nothing, they were so absorbed with their game that they hadn't noticed what was going on.
"Oi, Harry! Owl's for you. Oops! Sorry Fred!" George called out, going over to investigate the damage he'd caused.
Harry got up and brought the owl back over to the game.
"Who's is that?" Ron asked curiously.
"No idea." Harry answered. He took off the letter attached to its leg and began to read. He could feel a pit form in his stomach.
"Who's it from? Your move." Ron said.
"Yeah, sure." Harry said, putting down the letter and moving his piece.
"What's it about?" Ron asked again.
"It's from Sirius, he'd like for me to try and send him some Butterbeer." Harry said, shrugging his shoulders.
"Ugh. I don't even want to think about Butterbeer after seeing that kid throw it up at the Ball!" Ron said.
"Yeah, me either!" Harry agreed, clutching his stomach. Neither of them noticed another owl come in through the still open window.
The new owl landed on Colin Creevey's head. Colin took it off, and looked at the letter tied to it's leg.
"It's for you, Harry." He said, bringing it over to his hero.
"What? Another one?" Harry asked curiously.
"Maybe Sirius heard the Butterbeer story too, and now he doesn't want it anymore." Ron suggested after making sure Colin was out of hearing range.
Harry laughed. "Yeah, maybe."
He opened it up, not knowing what to expect. He was quite delighted when he saw it was from Chloe, but as he read on, another pit, an even bigger one, began to form in his stomach. He stood up.
"Uh, I have to go. I think I'd better answer this one." He said miserably, leaving Ron behind.
"But you're winning!" Ron called out.
Harry didn't care. Sure he was about to win his first game against Ron, but at the moment, writing Chloe back seemed more important.
Ron began to pack up the game, wondering what could possibly have been on that letter that was so darn important.
*(A/N)* Awww, Merry Christmas Harry. I feel so bad doing that to him!
Who wants to be a part of the 20 club!?!?!?! Hehehe, I'm so glad you guys have stuck with it even after twenty parts. 21 will be out next week probably....Volleyball is taking over my life!
Wow, this is a long one!!!
You know, I don't think I've done a Disclaimer since part four.
Why start now?