D/C: I never get to own anything fun like a multimillion dollar fantasy world.
Ch. 19: By the Name of Dumont
He was delirious. His brain had finally managed to dissolve into mush. His ears had fallen off, something was wrong with his hearing or his mental clockwork. Harry hovered there a handful of feet off the ground staring blankly up at Cho.
"What?"
"If you ask me to be your partner for the promenade," Cho repeated with a grin. "I wouldn't say no."
Dan Davies called to her as the rest of the Ravenclaw team poured onto the pitch.
"I gotta go," she said over her shoulder, a bemused smile on her lips, as she zoomed towards her teammates. Harry watched her go, letting the words seep into his brain.
"What?"
Eventually, it hit him and a large grin plastered itself upon his face. With heart suddenly painfully full and spirit considerably lighter than it had been in weeks, he flew from the pitch and right up to the castle doors on his Firebolt. Cho didn't hate him, she didn't resent him, and he'd even get the chance to take her to the spring promenade…Cho Chang. He dismounted and sprinted up the marble staircase towards Gryffindor tower thinking he had to tell Ron and Hermione. He refrained from singing out his good fortune to a group of second year girls who looked at him with raised eyebrows as he swept past at remarkable speeds.
"Insula Gilliganis," he panted to the Fat Lady upon reaching the portrait hole.
"Right you are," she said swinging the portrait open. Harry clamored through it, tripped on his robes, and found himself sprawled on top of Ron.
"OW!" Ron groaned pushing him off.
"Absolutely graceful, Harry," Hermione said helping both he and Ron to their feet. "How'd your talk with Cho go?"
"Cho—," Harry gasped, unable to keep the grin from his face. "She doesn't hate me! She asked me to the ball—or rather—said I could ask her, and that she wouldn't say 'no', and god, she was actually worried about me!"
"I think it went well," Ron said matter-of-factly as he and Hermione shot amused glances at each other.
"And she looked right at me and was real—,"Harry continued pushing a hand through his untidy hair before pausing and narrowing his brilliant green eyes. "Wait a second, how'd you two know I was talking to Cho?" A look of realization dawned on him as he glanced around the room and saw Angelina, Fred, and George waving to him, none of whom looked remotely prepared for a practice. Nearby Seamus flashed him a thumbs up from a table where he was playing chess with Dean.
"You all devised this scheme?" Harry breathed disbelievingly. "You all tricked me onto that pitch on purpose so that I'd meet up with Cho?"
"Actually it was mostly Jade's idea," Hermione said. "We're just accomplices."
"Took her the most part of the past few days to get it going," Ron added. "Ever since she convinced Cho she and you needed to have a talk. I think Jade just wanted to give you two a nice little opportunity."
"Jade," Harry breathed, eyes dancing around the room until he spotted her sitting sloppily in an armchair, poking at a handful of gobbstones. He marched over, Ron and Hermione right behind him.
"Finally," she said not looking up from the marbles in her hand as they approached. "Took you long enough. So how'd it go?" Harry didn't say anything, just stood there, face completely devoid of any emotion. Suddenly a very happy, crooked grin appeared on his face.
"Really, really, really well," he exclaimed. "I—thanks." Jade didn't answer and Harry turned to look at Ron and Hermione for help. Hermione prodded him hard in the ribs, conveying the fact that he should apologize.
"Jade," Harry started again. "I've been really horrible and…and mean—,"
"Don't forget childish," she inserted.
"—And childish, but I'm very truly sorry, and I hope I can make it up to you. I've wanted to apologize for days now—,"
"Oh, I know," Jade replied matter-of-factly.
"And if it weren't for you—," he paused and raised an eyebrow. "What?!" Jade was grinning at Ron and Hermione who both looked as if they were trying to stifle snorts of laughter.
"I stopped being angry with you since the brawl in the Entrance Hall," Jade explained.
"But you were avoiding me!"
"What's the fun in getting an apology if I can't torture you a little?" Harry looked incredulously from her, to Hermione, to Ron.
"Don't look at us," Ron said in defense. "It wasn't our idea."
For the first time in several weeks, they all walked to the Great Hall together. Lavender and Parvati exchanged whispers as they sat down, obviously trying to conjure up reasons for the newly subdued tempers. They greeted those nearby and when the food appeared before them, their meal happily commenced. Ron spoke contently about his renewed respect for sleeping, as he was now free of morning practice.
"I think a little discipline and lack of leisure is good for you," Hermione said, gracefully sipping from her goblet.
"Speak for yourself," Ron said indignantly.
"I thought you wanted to be a Beater next year," Harry interjected. "Morning practices aren't going to disappear you know."
"Ron believes in wishful thinking," Jade inserted with a grin.
The plates cleared and Harry walked Hermione, Ron, and Jade back up to the common room, waving to Cho on the way up the marble staircase. He fetched his broom once more and joined Angelina and the rest of the team for their actual practice session.
Angelina released them early, thoroughly elated that Seamus had more than returned to his former Keeper glory, and pleasantly surprised by Harry's renewed enthusiasm for snitch hunting. Showered and dressed he returned to the common room to find Hermione, Ron, and Jade pouring over a chess board….Jade and Hermione versus Ron.
"Okay, are we sticking with plan A or B?" Jade murmured to Hermione.
"Plan B," she answered from the corner of her mouth, her brows knitted.
"Right, that's the one where we move the queen and bishop out early."
"No. But Shhhhhhh! You'll give away our strategy!"
"Sorry." Jade sat silent a bit as Ron yawned smugly at them. "We should just move out the king."
"That's reckless!" Hermione hissed.
"Sorry to intrude," Harry said announcing his arrival. He leaned his broom against an armchair nearby and plopped down into it.
"Oh you're not intruding, Harry," Ron said as Hermione and Jade ultimately decided on a move, directing their queen diagonally across the squares. "We're just finishing."
"What are you talking about?" Hermione asked raising an eyebrow. "We've just started this game." Ron commanded his chosen piece forward.
"Checkmate." Jade and Hermione simply gawked at the board as their king threw down it's minuscule crown. Harry couldn't resist chuckling, quite amused.
"Two more victims to the treacherous four-move checkmate," Ron sighed dramatically, commanding the pieces back to their respected positions. "Brutal game, chess."
"I think I hate it," Jade said simply standing up and stretching. "Got the time, Harry?"
"Yeah, it's nearly nine," Harry replied glancing at his watch. Her face fell.
"Blast, I'm going to be late for my detention with Professor Lupin."
"Professor Lupin?" Ron queried. "That can't be too bad."
"It's pretty bad," she replied making her way towards the entrance hole. "I've got cage cleaning duties. Those grindylows are considered dark creatures because of their wicked bowel movements." Harry and Ron sniggered as Hermione rolled her eyes. "You'd think they have a diet of swamp fungus."
"They do have a diet of swamp fungus," said Hermione pointedly. "Wait, I'll walk you part way."
"Where are you off to?" Harry asked.
"I've got a date with hoards of dusty records," Hermione replied adjusting her Prefects badge. "My detention with Filch."
Shortly after the girls left, Ron and Harry involved themselves in a massive game of Exploding Snap led by the Weasley twins and Lee Jordan. An hour into play, and the crowd was singed and snorting with laughter as Harry (under Ron's encouragement) bewitched the logo to read "Exploding Snape". Neville turned out to be the closest thing to a winner as he successful maneuvered through the game retaining most of his eyebrows. In celebration, George set off some "improved" Filibuster Fireworks.
After most of the decks were destroyed (save several surviving cards still reading "Exploding Snape" on the backs) and the room had somewhat cleared of the smoke and sparks, most of the Common Room's numbers began to dwindle as nearly all of the Gryffindors began to disappear up to their dormitories.
Harry and Ron had a pleasantly lit corner to themselves, and they sat amusedly talking about girls who had suddenly looked very enticing this year, quidditch games they wished they could go to, and bizarre freak accident they hoped to see involving Malfoy. As they spoke Ron flipped through Flying with the Cannons for the millionth time while Harry started a letter to Sirius whilst they waited for Hermione's return. The letter was getting lengthy as he hadn't received or sent a proper parchment of correspondence since January, and as it was March, he had lots to fill in his godfather with. Harry was worried because of this lack of writing, but understood that the frequency of their correspondence had always rather been on the low side, as being on the run constituted one's avoidance of public post offices.
He had already written about his anxieties about upcoming O.W.Ls and end of term exams, the past quidditch game, his good luck with Cho, along with his fight and its resolve with Jade. He paused, wondering if he should include the strange dreams…wanting to know if any of it actually happened…whether his mind was capable of such fully dimensional, unconscious images.
"You think so, Harry?" Ron asked whipping him from his thoughts.
"Sorry?"
"I just said 'Maybe this upcoming Promenade thing won't be so bad if we go with partners we'd actually have fun with'."
"Oh yeah, sure," Harry quickly replied, rereading bits of his letter.
"What is it?" Ron asked curiously. "Writer's block?"
"No I just…" Harry said vaguely before grinning and rolling up his letter. "Nothing. Just wondering if I made it long enough. Me wanting to give Pigwigeon a hard time and all."
"You want to send it now?" Ron asked getting up. "Pig's hanging around in our dormitory tonight. We should get rid of the git if we want any sleep later."
"Actually—," Harry started a bit awkwardly but was saved from declining when Hermione, covered from head to foot in chalky dust burst into the room.
"Harry, Ron!" she gasped hurrying towards them, engulfed in what looked like a gray cloud. Ron sneezed rather uncontrollably as she reached them, covering his nose and mouth with one hand and fingering her now dust-covered hair with the other. She brushed his hand away, looking at the two with wide eyes.
"Look what I found!" From her pocket she extracted a folded page and unfurled it under their noses sending Harry into a hacking fit from the dust that rose from the paper. Eyes watering, he took it from her.
"I found it while I was reorganizing the Records of Prefects," she explained.
"Hermione! You've just vandalized school property!" Ron exclaimed amusedly despite the look of urgency on her face. "I'm in shock as to what to say!" She scowled at him as if challenging his sarcasm. It wasn't the first time after all…
"Just look at it," she insisted pushing the page closer to Harry's face. Across the top of the paper was a date written in a scrolling script, making the record fifteen years old. Below that were two photos: one a handsome boy no older than themselves with neat blond hair and piercing gray eyes, the other a girl with curly gold locks and the same eyes, which peered pleasantly from a round face, behind oblong frames.
"The girl…" Harry breathed. "She isn't Professor Dumont…is she?"
"The resemblance is uncanny," Ron muttered peering at the page from over Harry's shoulder.
"Look at her name," Hermione pointed out.
Harry's eyes traveled down to a list of information under the girl's photo. It read 'Darcy Price'. Ron choked and pointed at the name written under the boy's picture. It was the Ministry official, Logan Price.
"She's not his sister!" Harry exclaimed looking from the names to the photos, seeing the eerie resemblance of the two teenagers.
"More like his twin," Ron noted pointing out their identical birth dates printed below.
"But then why is her name Dumont?"
"She isn't married, is she?" Ron asked taking the page from Harry's fingers and examining it closely.
"She hasn't got a ring," Hermione said. "But never mind that. They were the only students to transfer out of Hogwarts that year…. in fact they were the only students to transfer and not return to the school in over a century. Filch told me when he caught me looking at it. They transferred out of Hogwarts, the safest place in the world during Voldemort's heyday, when hundreds of students struggled to find a way in."
As Hermione spoke, Harry read the rest of the information listed below each picture. Both were Prefects, Gryffindors, and students with top marks fifteen years ago. He trailed down the list of achievements, the classes taken, the request for transfers…and then the reasons for transferring…
"Family tragedy and mental trauma," Harry read quietly. Then he remembered the words of Price as they waited before the gargoyle that guarded Dumbledore's office. It must be hard for you…my parents were killed by powerful magic too.
"Their parents were killed that year they left," he said remembering the broken look of the young Ministry Head.
"I'm willing to place my bet on that," Hermione replied. "But I'm curious as to why they hate each other…do you remember how coldly Dumont regarded Price when we accidentally stumbled upon that meeting last November? And why would they not want the fact that they are related—are twins—to be known? And don't you think it strange that—"
"—That they could be so against each other yet have the same convictions about Jade," Ron completed quietly.
Later, Harry had added their finds on Dumont and Price to his letter to Sirius, placing it aside as he still questioned whether or not he should include summaries of his dreams. However, when the letter was put away, his thoughts drifted back to the strange case of the on-hand substitute and the young Ministry Head. As Ron's snores began to mingle with the steady sounds of slumber from their dorm mates, he thought about how impossible it seemed for a brother and sister to part their ways so violently. He, who had no one for most of his childhood, had more than once, longed for a sibling to share the pains of being alone with, to eliminate the hollowness it bred entirely. How much brighter those days under the cupboard would be, just a little more cramped with the company of someone of common blood…of common tragedy. He knew he was lucky though to have Hermione and Ron by his side, Sirius to constantly worry and care about him, as well as the gentle guidance of Hagrid and the wisdom of Dumbledore. But if loosing his parents so young that he could not even remember them was so difficult, how much more painful was it to loose them after knowing their character…their love? And if they were stripped away from you, why would you cut ties with the only other person that could possible share that pain…a sibling?
For a long time he thought of these things until at last, the fingers of drowsiness inched their way around his brain. He fell asleep, dreaming of his own parents.
A soft humming floated to Harry's ears through the fog: a beautiful sound yet neither heavenly nor remotely remarkable. The aimless tune called to him, pulling him towards another possible instant in his parent's lives. The fuzziness began to clear and he saw his mother dressed in muggle dungarees, humming a pleasantly lilting melody to a baby in her arms, as she sat beneath a willow tree. Little arms reached up from the bundle to grasp at her fiery hair as his father approached from the back door of the comfortable house, nestled in Godric's Hollow. Harry nearly forgot to breathe as he slowly walked towards the smiling couple. Unhurriedly, he knelt before them, eyes transfixed on the two people he had never known.
"He's getting so big," Lily noted tickling the giggling, baby Harry.
"Strapping lad if I do say so myself," James added humorously. "He already looks like he's built for quidditch. Right Harry? You ready for your own broomstick?" The baby grinned toothlessly and Lily laughed and pushed her husband away.
"How 'bout teaching him to walk before you train him to play for England?"
"Codswallop!" he said with a mock frown, poking Lily in the ribs. "You don't need to know how to walk to fly!" Harry didn't even realize he was laughing along with his parents who couldn't even see him, and before he could truly bask in the moment, the image changed to another pleasant day…this time a cozy Christmas before a fire, his baby self tinkering away at some oddly shaped blocks. Another image, a chilly autumn on the veranda where baby Harry was fast asleep as James and Lily spoke and sipped butter beer. And then…
"To Lily and James Potter! May both of you have a pleasant retirement at your ripe old age!" A handsome, young Sirius raised his glass in a toast. It was the dream showcasing a small party gathered beneath a tree including Peter Pettigrew, Lupin, Dumbledore, a very familiar-looking couple, and the Potters, each with their own glasses raised.
"You have served honorably," Albus Dumbledore said, clinking his glass with the Potters's, dressed in the comical Hawaiian shirt.
But served what? Harry thought.
"May you partake in the peaceful lives you both so deserve…and may your child be spared James's horrifying hair." The last time Harry had seen this image, it had ended here, but tonight, the scene continued to play.
"I can't believe you two are retiring on us," Lupin said good-naturedly.
"They won't be retired for long," Sirius insisted sipping from his glass. "They'll be sick with boredom and begging to come back to the field, you mark my words."
"Not on your life," James laughed. "We'll be getting the Longbottom's company in the world of retirement before long, right Frank?" Lupin and Sirius raised eyebrows at the familiar looking couple Harry had noticed earlier.
"We'll be one Longbottom more in a matter of months," Frank announced kissing his wife. "And soon our savings will provide us a nice old folk's nest, just like Lily and James here." The small crowd cheered and congratulated them as Harry's eyes suddenly widened with the beginnings of an epiphany. Those were Neville's parents…Neville's parents, who were now trapped within their own minds at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies…Neville's parents who were tortured to the point of unmatched pain and broken sanity…Neville's parents who were—,"
Harry awoke with a start, unaware of any of the drowsiness that had swept him away to his dreamland. And in the end we chase dreams for answers, Price had said to him, the words now reverberating inside his head as he grasped at answers in his own dreams.
Neville's parents who were Aurors. Crouch Jr. disguised as Moody had told him so.
He breathed in sharply, reaching for his glasses, snatching up the rolled letter to Sirius and fumbled to dip a quill into a jar of ink. We chase dreams for answers. Harry hastily scratched out two sentences across the bottom of the parchment.
Were my parents Aurors? Is that why they died?
* * *
Several days later, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Jade were lounging in the courtyard during break, awaiting the bell signaling the start of their Defense lesson. Potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts earlier in the week had once again been a flurry of undeterminable directions as neither Snape nor Lupin was present, meaning Dumont had charge of both classes. She only managed to direct the students somewhat successfully in a preparation of a very weak euphorium draught (it's effects couldn't cheer up a child with hoards of candy at a carnival). Today, after just escaping Charms, they spoke of Dumont's uncanny ability to fall short in instruction.
"Amazing how lacking she is in the common sense department," Ron said stopping himself before he could drag the conversation any deeper into Dumont's connection with Price. All three of them had agreed that Jade didn't need to be further reminded of the fact that there were people at Hogwarts that wanted her out.
"But when it comes to demonstrations in Defense Against the Dark Arts," murmured Hermione. "She's absolutely brilliant. She's not a great teacher…but she must be incredibly intelligent to focus her spells so."
"I kind of hope Snape comes back soon, though," Jade admitted. "I actually want to learn something in Potions for a change…considering O.W.Ls are right around the corner." Ron and Harry groaned. "At least I've got this to prepare for the Defense exam." With a grin she pulled out the batter study guide Dumont had given her, the curious splash of browned crimson flashing on the cover.
"You got it back," Hermione said.
"Yeah," she replied opening the book. "Professor Lupin gave it to me last night, said he was sorry about keeping it so long."
"Anyway, Harry, have you gotten a reply from Snuffles yet?" Ron asked after several minutes of complaining about the up and coming O.W.Ls. Harry suddenly adverted his eyes from his friends, concentrating on a scuffmark on his shoe.
"No," he replied. He hadn't even told Hermione and Ron about his dreams. Mostly because he felt they were lacking in importance to anyone other than himself, but now more and more because he didn't want to voice his fear that the dreams meant nothing. And the revelation of his parents' careers…what if they were wrong? He was saved from further questioning when Jade spoke, eyebrows knitted as she flipped through the study guide.
"That's queer," she said running a finger down the Table of Contents. "Refresh my memory and tell me what comes after twenty-three?"
"Twenty-four?" Harry said inquisitively.
"That's what I thought, so why is chapter twenty-five after twenty-three?" Hermione took the book from Jade and glanced down at the page, Ron looking curiously at it over her shoulder.
"It looks like there's a chapter missing," she muttered flipping through the book. "And so are the pages that accounted for it."
"That's odd," Jade said. "I could have sworn I marked that chapter. It was after I just got it…I swear chapter twenty-four was about Manifested Powers and Dark Existences."
"Maybe you looked at it wrong," Harry suggested.
"Yeah, maybe."
The bell rung, signaling the end of their break and they departed towards their Defense class, Jade stuffing the book back into her bag.
They entered the classroom and chose seats near the front next to Neville, curiously glancing at what looked like a large pile of wooden swords on Lupin's desk. Their professor was in conversation with Dumont when the bell rang.
"Good morning," Lupin said, Dumont pleasantly beaming at them. "Our lesson today deals with the very point of Defense Against the Dark Arts. I trust we all know where the heart of this class lies?"
"In one of those tanks by the window?" Ron quipped. Lupin grinned and shook his head as Dumont chuckled beside him.
"Thank you Ron," he said. "Anyway, in case it was never mentioned, the heart of learning Defense Against the Dark Arts is frankly…defense." The members of the class stared at the two instructors, several with raised eyebrows. "Let me elaborate. You have spent most of your first three years discussing Dark creatures and history, but from your fourth year on, the time is spent on actual methods of defense. One must learn to use their magic as armor as the time may one day call for it."
"Are we dueling today?" Hermione asked excitedly, flipping to a chapter on blocking spells.
"Yes, but not conventionally. I think Professor Dumont here might be able to explain today's lesson."
"Oh right," she said suddenly pulling herself straight, sending her glasses askew in the process. She fumbled with what looked like a leather sheath at her side and at last, with a firm pull, a silver sword was extracted from its protective confines.
"This—," she said swinging the sword over the heads of several girls who squealed and ducked the passing blade. "—Is Deus Deceptor, my trusty sword." The girls peeked over the edge of the desk with fear as Hermione cast Ron and Harry a worried look. Lupin however didn't look strained in the least by Dumont's possession of a potentially deadly weapon.
"Now in order for a person to be quick-witted in dueling," she said, taking the simple, cross-shaped hilt in both hands. "They must duel with reflex-like movements. This is where the swords come in. I've found through my studies that one trained to duel first by swords, can better control the direction and potency of their hexes."
"A demonstration then?" Lupin said stepping forward and asking everyone to get up from their seats. With a wave of his wand, the desks were pushed against the wall. He then grabbed a rusted sword that was leaned up against the chalkboard, smiling broadly at Dumont. A cool breeze from the window lifted a bit of the brown and gray hair from his forehead. He swung the sword in a fluid circular movement, throwing it up and catching it left-handedly.
"Whoa."
"Wild."
Murmurs of excitement rolled through the students as they sat on the desks, watching the two professors exchange cordial words while crossing their swords. The sharp look of concentration had returned to Dumont's face as she took the first swing, making Hermione gasp. Ron and Harry cheered as Lupin made a quick forward movement, involving what looked like a complicated turn.
"Now, if you'll pay attention," he was saying as he blocked a swift stab by Dumont. "You must watch your opponent's chest, right between the shoulderblades. The arms can fake, whereas the chest can't…that's easy to forget when wand dueling." He lunged forward knocking another stab from her aside. She danced away and attacked again with swift accuracy. The metal clanged from the sharp contact, and Harry and Ron began to cheer louder with much of the class, as if they were viewers at a medieval tournament.
"It's my turn," Dumont hissed so dangerously, Harry stopped cheering and raised his eyebrows at Ron. As Ron returned the confused look, the woman professor pounced violently so that her's and Lupin's swords were crossed, Lupin's face suddenly twisted in consternation.
"Enough," Lupin said firmly, so quietly that only Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Jade heard as they were nearest the dueling pair. With a simple spin of his weapon, Dumont's sword clattered to the ground at their feet. Her chest was heaving and there was a bit of a crazed look in her eye…it was then he could see clearer than ever her similarity to Logan Price. It happen so fast, Harry wondered if he saw it at all, but all of a sudden she was smiling brilliantly, clapping and thanking Lupin for the duel. Lupin didn't look as if he noticed anything peculiar, thanking her in return as he began to hand out wooden swords.
"Simple blocks today," he announced, pairing them up. "Use both hands, just as we've demonstrated." Ron and Harry ended up together and despite any of their ill feelings toward Dumont, they grinned at each other. In what other class were they ever going to get the chance to sword fight? Lupin handed Dumont back her sword and they demonstrated a handful of basic blocks. Without much insistence, the class began.
"You swing like a girl," Ron commented with a grin as Harry swung his wooden sword at him.
"You can't swing at all," he replied smugly as he ducked a blow from Ron. They couldn't help dissolving into laughter as Parvati squealed and took a running dive behind one of the desk.
"Come back!" Jade said. "I'm not going to hit you! I'm just going to swing at you a bit!"
"Jade, how about working on those blocks?" Lupin interrupted, coaxing Parvati back into the ring of duelers. Hermione cast her a look and blocked a blow neatly from Lavender. The rest of the class went as so, and perhaps it was a good thing it eventually ended early, as it began to get rowdy near the end of the hour, when Harry and Ron managed to snap each other's swords.
"That can't be good," Harry said wide-eyed examining the hilt in his hand.
In the end, the class reluctantly returned the swords, begging for another lesson in weapon dueling…except Parvait who had exclaimed that Jade was a madwoman with a stick and demanded a new partner.
After lunch, where they shared their experience to especially jealous sixth and seventh years who had seemingly missed out on such Defense fun, Harry lead Hermione, Jade, and Ron to Potions. They seated themselves in the middle of the class, hoping to blend in with the surrounding Gryffindors. The bell rung and a figure in a billowing cloak swept into the room, dark circles making his eyes seem sunken.
To Harry's dismay, the newly returned Potions Master stopped beside him in the aisle.
"For you, Potter," he said in a punctuated hiss, dropping a letter in front of him. Then, leaning so close to Harry's ear his sour breath burned, he added, "If you open it in my class, I will read it out loud so that every student will know." Snape walked to the front of the class and swung around, the cloak creating a swirl of black clouds.
"What are you all waiting for?" he said his low voice reverberating through the dungeon classroom. "Invitations to get your cauldrons prepared?" With quick haste they all prepared their cauldron for potions work. Snape gave them instructions, but not without first deducting ten points from Gryffindor because Seamus had forgotten his book.
"Hoping Snape would be back, eh?" Ron muttered to Jade who was sitting beside Hermione across the aisle.
"I never denied I have brain damage," she insisted, working on skinning a shrivelfig.
"What did Snape give you, Harry?" Hermione asked quietly from the corner of her mouth.
"A letter," Harry whispered back. "I think it's from Sirius." At the moment, he was happy Snape had returned because he had returned with a letter from Black. Harry was dying to open it, but refrained for fear Snape would keep his word.
Well into their assigned Erumpent potion, Dumont appeared in the classroom, her glasses flickering in the torch fire. Snape looked up from his paper work, appearing bedraggled and irritated by her presence. She smiled unconcernedly and made her way towards him, casting a glance at Jade as she passed.
"Just wanted a word," she explained before lowering her voice so that only she and Snape could hear. Dumont pushed several bits of parchment towards him, and several times cast inconspicuous glances at Jade.
"What?" Jade hissed to no one in particular. "Is there something green in my teeth?" She was slicing her shrivelfigs now, not even realizing that her knife didn't even graze the pear- shaped vegetable. Hermione, Ron, Harry, and she continued to watch the professors in their conversation.
"What are they talking about?" Hermione muttered.
"Whatever it is Snape doesn't look happy," Harry replied quietly.
"He's never ha—," Jade was whispering. "OUCH!" Her knife dropped with a clatter as blood poured from the slit webbing between her thumb and forefinger. She winced, staring at the stream of blood making its way down her forearm in fascination.
"A dunderhead move, Cordonnier," Snape said dangerously standing up. Before he could fully erect himself however, Dumont had practically flown to Jade's side, roughly grabbing her bleeding hand.
"Let go," Jade said surprised.
"But…" Dumont breathed shallowly, her eye's fixated and strange as she swept her fingers through the crimson trickle on Jade's hand, examining the fluid on her fingertips. Hermione was trying to pull the girl's arm away, attempting to place a crumpled paper towel over the cut, but Dumont resisted.
"Darcy," Snape said warningly stepping up behind her. At last, Dumont blinked, her face relaxing, and she hastily pulled herself away. Hermione, Harry, Ron, and Jade were staring at her in disbelief. Harry began to wonder whom the records Hermione had taken referred to by the words "mental trauma". Could it be that the young woman who stood before them was crazy? The way she had just reacted, Harry thought, it was neurotic…yet it was just how Price reacted to Jade's tears several months before. He looked towards Snape, expecting some sort of reprieve for Dumont's behavior, but the Potions Master only stared at the puddle of blood that had formed between some skinned shrivelfig and porcupine quills. The silence was nearly suffocating, the scene frozen in that awkward position; Dumont staring at Jade, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and she staring back at the young Professor, Snape examining the blood, and the rest of the class watching them with wide eyes.
"You better see the nurse," Dumont finally muttered with a final glance towards the slit skin. "It looks deep." With that, she extracted her self from the classroom and disappeared from the dungeons.
A/N: Thank you all, for being incredibly ab-fab! I appreciate your stopping by and especially reviewing :) Thanks to those who have done so numerous times before, as you are the reason I am just so damn happy right now! Thanks to Nataly who has been a wonderful resource for sword fighting. Everyone take care, and see you next chapter!
Cheers!
~jess (agent 99)
p.s
My profile's been updated! Yay!