(A/N) Bonjour, bonjour. Anyone have any idea on what Olé means?
Chloe Patil at Hogwarts: Chapter 22
Jack gulped, wondering once more what on Earth he was doing in this room. It was dark, and the air seemed to be chilled with the presence of evil. The only light given off was that coming out of a small fire in the fireplace to the direct opposite of him. Facing the fireplace, away from him, was a deep red, high, winged-back chair. The only hint that someone was actually sitting there were the long thin arms resting on the sides.
"Come closer, boy." A sharp, cold voice said. The inhabitant of the chair was speaking to him.
Jack cleared his throat, feeling himself hesitate. Did he really want anything to do with this man? He gulped a couple times, then began to walk over slowly.
"Turn my chair, Wormtail." The man ordered. A balding man with beady eyes came around to do as he was told.
"Jack," the man said as he was turning. Suddenly Jack found himself face to face with the most feared wizard of his, even his father's, time. The thought was astonishing, he was actually being acknowledged by the evil Lord Voldemort himself. He was, well, ugly. A pasty white skin tone emphasized his blood red eyes, which were now staring at Jack intently.
"You've helped me a great deal already. The information given by you has built my plan, and will aid me in full restoration. Harry Potter must die, and because of what you've told, he will. I will assure you, he will not slip from my grasp once more." An evil grin spread across the Dark Lords face. Jack would've backed away in repulsion had it not been for his father's warnings beforehand. Nothing angered the Lord more then less than total devotion from his servants.
"Now, you must get back to the school immediately. Begin phase one. The girl, what is her name?"
"Chloe." Jack answered shakily.
"Chloe. Has she any enemies? Convince them to become her allies once more, become friends with her friends. You yourself have to become very close with the girl, but I warn you boy, do not let personal feelings overwhelm you, she is vital to me. Keep your priorities straight and you will be among my most honoured Death Eaters."
Jack nodded, showing that he understood.
"Very well. Lawson!" He called out. Jack's father stepped up, clearing his throat.
"Yes my Lord?"
"Get the boy back to school immediately, tell Dumbledore there's a family emergency of some sort."
"Yes my Lord." Mr. Lawson repeated, stepping back into the shadows.
"Now, after you've returned to school, you will receive more information of what is yet to come. For now, do as I've told you. Wormtail, chair." Voldemort said in a dismissive tone, telling Jack that he was done. He and his father left the room silently, the screeching of the turning chair following them out.
~*~
Chloe milled the morning away in the kitchen, sitting at the table eating cookies, reading her Charms book, petting her new owl. It had arrived last night, a present from her Uncle Roger, who lived by himself with his mounds of gold. It was a brown tawny owl, with hints of grey in its soft feathers here and there. Chloe named it Tangerine for no apparent reason. She herself had never seen a tangerine, but she liked the color. As she was thinking about her owl a tapping came from the window in the kitchen. Chloe turned her head quickly, and to her surprise saw a large snowy owl. She got up and opened the window with some struggle to let the creature in.
"Hello," she cooed softly, steadying it on the table as she took the letter from its beak. Before reading it, she brought the owl water and food, and put it in Tangerine's cage to rest. The writing was unfamiliar, and she tore it open, hoping desperately that it wasn't from who she thought.
Dear Chloe, it read.
Christmas at Hogwarts was pretty bad, seeing as I got your letter on Christmas Eve. It didn't really, er, brighten my day, but I'm sure you didn't mean for it to end up that way. I'm sorry Padma feels that way about us, but I do understand how you have to pick her over me. I can't fully understand how this decision must have been for you, being an only child and all, but I have a general idea.
No, i'm not mad at Padma, or you either for that matter. It's not your fault, and I can see how Padma would be upset. I thought the only reason she actually went with me was because she didn't have anyone else to go with, so I didn't really think she'd care this much. I guess the fact that you're her sister makes all the difference. Maybe she'll get over this whole thing eventually and we'll be able to talk at least.
Well, I'll see you later, I'm starting to get on Ron's nerves as it's Christmas morning and I'm sitting at my desk instead of mulling over the gifts I got.
See You Later
Harry
Chloe finished the letter and sighed. So that was it, everything was over. She carried the letter up to her room right away so that none of the prying eyes of her family would spot it, cursing her miserable life the whole way there.
*~*
"Family emergency you say?" Jack heard Dumbledore ask his father.
"Yes, Laine's fallen ill, I have to put all my time and energy into her health. We've both agreed Jack will be better off celebrating the rest of the holidays with his friends. Christmas hasn't been very Merry around our place lately." His father said with a forced laugh.
"Yes, well, it cannot always be perfect, can it? Please send Laine my best." Dumbledore replied cautiously.
"Thanks, I surely will. I'll send you an owl later." Jacks father said to his son with a meaningful look.
"Sure Dad." Jack replied. "See you."
With a nod, his father was gone.
"Well then, you'd best be going to your common room, I'm sure you'll give everybody a surprise being back." Dumbledore said, looking at Jack intently with his light blue eyes. Jack felt almost sure that Dumbledore could read his mind, making him feel quite uncomfortable.
"Sure Professor. Thanks." He walked away, through the corridors and dungeons, heading towards the common room. He entered, looking around. There was only one person there, Malfoy.
"Hey Malfoy. Thought you were home for the holidays." Jack said curiously.
"Yeah, well, I could say the same for you. Life at home has been...trying. Father thought it best for me to come back to the school."
"Same here. Mom's sick, Dad's going nuts trying to get her well again, I'm bored as hell." He replied, flopping into an armchair, leafing through a magazine someone had left there.
"You shouldn't have done it, Jack. I know." Draco said firmly.
"You don't know anything. What are you talking about anyway?" Jack replied without looking up.
"My Father told me, Jack. Don't pull your stupid mind games. You're putting her life in danger just because you're bitter about some little incident at the dance. It's pathetic."
"So what, you going to interfere or something? I bet you don't even know the half of it." Jack said, his voice hot with anger.
"I know EVERYTHING. You've gone to the Dark Side, Jack, and you're not coming back. Chloe danced with Draco, Chloe snogged with Harry, oh why doesn't she like me anymore?" Draco said in a mocking tone. "She won't pay attention to me, I'll get her killed. Great plan, Lawson."
"She won't die Draco. We don't know that for sure." Jack replied in a dismissive tone. "You do know that if you tell her anything you'll die, right?"
"Of course I know, I'm not stupid. I've known that since I was little, my Father reminds me all the time. You see, he's been involved in some important things, much unlike your sniveling wimp of a Dad." At this Jack jumped up, his eyes flashing with anger.
"Shut up Malfoy, or I'll kill you myself."
"Oh, I don't plan on dying, but I will keep an eye on you and Chloe both, Lawson." Draco said, turning and heading out the door of the common room.
Jack contemplated on following him, maybe to bash in his head, but decided against it. Draco was a pain in the ass, but he could be of some use later on. He sat in an armchair instead, closing his eyes, trying to steady his breath and pulse, which was throbbing. He had just begun to calm down when a group of chattering girls entered the common room. He glanced over, then rolled his eyes and sat back. It was the group that Chloe hung, or used to hang, around. He realized that these girls were probably the first step to getting started on the Dark Lord's plan. He was trying to think of a way to approach them, when they gathered in chairs just across from him.
"Hey Jack!" One of them said brightly.
"Oh, uh, hey." He replied, nodding his head in her direction. "Roz, right?"
"Yeah." She answered with a smile.
"Thanks for sending me that letter earlier about Chloe." He said, an idea coming to mind.
Roz reddened. "It's no problem. I thought you had a right to know, Chloe had mentioned the two of you weren't fighting anymore."
"Oh, well we sure aren't friends now!" Jack answered, putting out what he considered to be the old Lawson charm. "But I have a plan to get her back, if you guys are interested."
They all leaned forward, looking at him intently. "What is it?" Jessika asked, obviously intruiged. Jack knew her, he'd seen her around. "I mean, we're all mad at Chloe too," she added, gesturing towards the other girls, "Making out with some Gryffindor, I could barely handle the concept of her being friends with them, but now she wants me to accept her going out with one? That's taking it a step too far, don't you think?" The other girls nodded in agreement.
"Definitely." Jack answered firmly. "Listen, all you have to do is be nice to her for a bit, alright?" The girls looked outraged. "No, listen!" He added, smiling coyly at the big one about to open her mouth. "I have it all planned out, even got some people from the...outside involved. Just trust me, alright?"
They all looked at him murderously, but as they were quiet, it was obvious they were thinking things over.
"How do we know we can trust you?" One of them asked suspiciously, finally speaking up.
"Listen, Chloe dumped me, a fellow Slytherin, for some little Gryffindor runt. I'm kind of mad." He said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Which it was, he was infinitely mad at her. "Come on, Roz, Jessika, you guys trust me, right?"
The two of them sighed simultaneously. Roz was tapping her foot, while Jessika rolled her eyes. "Yes." Jessika admitted, a bite of exasperation in her voice. "Yeah." Roz answered in the same way.
"Great then!" Jack said grinning. "Don't worry, our friend Chloe will go through a horrific experience. I promise..."
"And all we have to do is be nice to her?" Ashley, the girl he'd gone to the dance with, asked.
"Sure, just don't mention the dance, the kiss, anything. If she brings it up, just wave your hand dismissively and tell her its all over."
"She's not dumb, Jack. She'll get suspicious." Roz said dubiously.
"Er, then, just say you don't really care anymore, you've thought about it and gotten over it. Honestly you guys, you've lied before!"
"Alright, you'd better be right, Jack." Jessika said warningly.
"I am!" He said, getting up and heading towards his dorm. He grinned all the way, his plan with Voldemort was going just as he wanted...
~*~
Chloe couldn't believe it. It was January 3rd, already time for her to get back to school. The Hogwarts Express was leaving at 11:00 am, as usual, and her mother was in a frenzy trying to get her girls ready to go back. Chloe was torn between wanting to stay home and wanting to be at school. She was dreading her first conversation with the girls in her dorm...
"Chloe, are you nearly ready? It's quarter after ten!" Her mother called from downstairs. Chloe looked around her room one last time.
"Yep!" She hollered back. There wasn't really anything she wanted from her room that hadn't been packed already.
Soon the whole family was packed into their car, making another trip to King's Cross Station. The ride there was unusually quiet and dreary, with just a few remarks by the girls' mother about brushing their teeth and pointless things that they knew to do anyways. It was raining outside, and Chloe watched the droplets fall down her window. When they arrived, their trunks were hauled onto a trolley, and they ran towards the station, Parvati and Padma shrieking in the rain.
Once inside, Chloe shook herself off of excess water, wringing the droplets out of her hair. Everything seemed to be passing in a blur, one minute she was hugging her parents good bye, the next she was sitting on the train, not even realizing she'd gone through the barrier. She was lost in her thoughts, in sort of a weird daze. The rain from outside was still tapping against her window, and the lack of sunshine made it very dark inside the compartment. The heater to the side of her blew warm air all over. All in all it was very comfortable, and Chloe found herself drifting asleep.
~*~
"What do you want me for? You're not going to get away with this, they'll come for me!"
"My dear girl, I sincerely hope they do. Soon it'll all be over, you'll see." The man's voice made Chloe feel sick to her stomach.
"What do you mean? TELL ME."
"Patience is a virtue to be learned. Perhaps a little lesson? Crucio." He said lazily, pointing his wand at her face.
"AUUUUGHHH!!!" Chloe screamed, bolting upright. She was shaking all over and breathing rapidly. She looked around. People had entered her compartment while she'd been sleeping, and they were all staring back, bewildered.
"Chloe," Padma asked cautiously, "Are you alright?"
"F-fine." She stammered, still glancing around nervously. "When did you guys come in here?" She asked nervously, desperately hoping to change the subject.
"A while ago," Padma said, still looking Chloe over strangely, "You were asleep, have been for nearly two hours now."
"So we're almost at the school?" Chloe asked. She'd be relieved to get to Hogwarts, somehow she felt safer there. Which was bizarre, as she didn't really have a reason not to feel safe.
"Yeah, get into your robes." Parvati answered. Chloe nodded and began rummaging through her trunk for them.
"Hungry?" Some guy asked. Chloe didn't know him, but accepted a Pumpkin Pastie from him gratefully. As she ate she thought about the dream. She didn't know why she was shaking, it was, after all, only a dream, wasn't it?
*(A/N)* Oooh, a creepy dream! Review s'il te plait, reviews entice me to write! Sorry this has been so darn long getting out!