CHAPTER 9: Aislinn Njass
February and March passed very slowly and full of wanderings and grief for Draco. He felt that Piper was his soul mate, and now she was gone. None of the other students, except for Aislinn, knew about Piper's death until after the ceremony that took place a fortnight after her death. Draco and Aislinn were about the only ones crying at the Slytherin table. Aislinn told him that Pansy had bribed many of her friends not to feel sorry for him.
When Draco walked in the Great Hall, it was decorated with black draperies and tablecloth over the house tables. Draco noticed that these were the same ones used as last year when the dark Lord Voldemort had killed Cedric Diggory, from Hufflepuff.
Dumbledore stood up and waited for the whisperings to die down.
"Good afternoon everyone. I suspect that some of you might all ready know that one of our students had passed away. I would like to apologize to those who knew Miss. Piper Haliwell. From my understanding, Miss. Haliwell was murdered. I will not lie to you, she was indeed stabbed in the back by, I suspect, some one at Hogwarts. " said Dumbledore, but he was cut off by Ron Weasley, whispering quite loudly that it was Voldemort.
"No Mr. Weasley, I do not think it was Voldemort." said Dumbledore.
"Oh." said Ron, looking very red in the face.
When the feast was over, Draco and Aislinn went back down to the common room. Her and him had become friends over the passed couple of months. Draco had persuaded Aislinn into talking to him, asking her various sorts of questions, her answering him politely.
"Okay, let's go over this one more time. So you just found her there.with no one around?" said Aislinn, trying to sort out the facts.
"That's right. I wish I knew who murdered her, then they'd be sorry." said Draco through clenched teeth.
Aislinn nodded, understandably.
"Hey, that afternoon when you were looking for Kaelan, did you see anyone come out of that corridor?" said Draco. Aislinn shook her head.
Ugh right now, I sure wish animals could talk, thought Draco.
* * *
The evening classes were going to pass slowly, Draco could tell. After all this time, he was still busy thinking about that incident. He was walking to Divination when he heard two voices coming from the girls' restroom. The door had an 'Out of Order' sign on it. Draco pushed the door a bit to listen in on the conversion.
"Why don't you just tell him that you're still here?" came a girl's voice.
"I'm scared." came another girl's voice Draco thought he recognized.
"After all this time?" said the first voice.
"You'd be too if you had a wonderful life, then all of a sudden someone just decides to kill you.." said the second voice.
"Welcome to my life, or I should say death." Said the first voice.
Draco thought that these might be ghosts talking. He looked at his watch, two minutes until his next class, he better be going or else Professor Trelawney will give him detention.
He climbed up to the tower where Divination usually took place and settled himself on the couch in the back of the room. The whole place smelled strongly of cinnamon and burned his nostrils. Professor Trelawney came out from behind a midnight blue curtain and stood in front of the many Slytherins and Gryffindors.
"Welcome my students. Madame Hooch has asked me to remind the captains for Slytherin and Gryffindor to meet in the Quidditch field at promptly seven o'clock this evening. Now, let's get to my lesson plan I have for today." said Trelawny.
She flipped through some papers and pulled one out.
"Please take out See into the Future by Sabrina Coleman. I imagine all of you bought that book, seeing that it was on your list of supplies for this year?" Said Trelawney, looking at them behind her spectacles, "Mr. Malfoy, would you please be so kind as to read from the top of page twenty- nine, on The First Crystal Ball Convention of 1723?"
"Err.okay.. 'The First Crystal Ball Convention, held in 1723, was divided amongst two groups. The two were named The Gazers and The Starlighters. The groups, however, were made up of witches, not wizards. Since wizards believed it was not a sport to interested in. The many wizards were afraid their wives would become so devoted to the study, that they went on strike. Crystal gazing was banned from that point. "' Until the Ministry of Magic Minister Pavlov Krilnuk stated that Crystal Ball gazing was just an activity the women were exploring. It has no harm whatsoever, and that the activity should not be banned from knowledge. Therefore, Crystal Ball gazing was indeed rethought of in the year of 1829.'" Draco finished and looked back up at Trelawney, she had a smile on her face.
"Good, now we are going to do a group activity where I will pair each Gryffindor with a Slytherin. " Trelawney informed them.
Some people groaned, others, like Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil from Gyffindor house, shrieked with delight. "Well I'm glad some of you will enjoy my lesson plan. Now when I call your names, you will get with that person and sit yourselves at one of the tables." continued Trelawney.
More groans, these ones came from Draco. He looked at Potter and Weasley sitting on the other side of the room, Granger not amongst them; she had quit for Arithmancy, or so Draco was told.
"All right. Mr. Potter and Miss. Parkinson. Mr. Malfoy and Mr. Weasley. Miss. Njass and Miss. PouPea." and so the list went until all Gryffindors and Slytherins were paired up.
Draco was siting as far away from Weasley as possible. He was refusing to sit at the same desk with a Mudblood loving fool.
"Mr. Malfoy, come sit with your partner! I doubt you will get a decent grade in this class if you do not obey my wishes!" ordered Trelawney. Draco got up from his spot on the couch and went to sit across from his partner. From the look on Weasley's face, he didn't want to be paired up with Draco either.
"I want one of you to gaze into the Crystal Ball and tell me what you see. Now be calm and patient, it might be a few minutes before you actually see something at all." went on Trelawney in her misty voice.
Draco looked into the ball in front of him. All he could see was smoke circling all around in ringlets in the small ball. Then as if out of nowhere, Draco saw a face forming out of it. The face was misty and was hard to tell whom it belonged to. Draco could tell it belonged to a girl; the very large olive shaped eyes, the freckles..
"Mr. Malfoy? Mr. Malfoy please share with us what you saw." came Trelawney's voice.
It broke his concentration completely, and when he turned back to the smoky ball, it was just as clear as it had been when he sat at the table.
"I - I didn't see anything." Draco lied.
Trelawney looked at him in disbelief. He wasn't about to let everyone in the room know what he saw, especially the Gryffindors.
"Very well then.. Now I want the rest of you to gaze into the future. And please try to see something. That's the whole point of this activity. If you want something, you just let yourself have it!" said Trelawney, a bit of disappointment in her voice. She then ushered the rest of the class to look again.
Weasley looked into it this time and Draco saw his eyes widen. He pulled away from it, his eyes still wide with shock and beginning to water.
"What is it Weasley? Saw your family finally getting rich?" sneered Draco.
"Shut up Malfoy." said Weasley.
"Why should I? Just because I haven't been criticizing you enough this year, doesn't mean you can suddenly do it now." said Draco.
His comeback didn't come out the way he would've like it o because he was still busy thinking about what he saw in the Crystal Ball..
Draco's next class, Double Potions, was a disaster. Professor Snape was in a particularly nasty mood and made them all write twelve and quarter inches worth on 'Why the Love Potion is only sold in Dark Arts stores?'
"I want this done at the end of class. Miss. Parkinson, stop chatting to your friends and get to work." said Snape.
He glanced at all of the Hufflepuffs and Slytherins, then sat down behind his desk.
Draco was relieved when he finished his assignment just in time for the bell to ring. He looked over his paper; all scribbles.
Oh I sure hope he can read this, thought Draco.
He stood up, threw his book bag over his shoulder, turned in his assignment, and walked out the door. Aislinn was waiting for him by the entrance to the dungeon.
"Hey." said Draco. "Err.I have an idea on how you can find out who murdered Piper." said Aislinn.
"Really? How?" said Draco, a wave of excitement rising in his voice.
"Well, it's pretty dangerous, not to mention complicated.but it's the only thing I got.then again.." Aislinn trailed off. "'Then again' what?" said Draco, urgently.
He grabbed her by the shoulders, his eyes pleading for her to tell him.
"You can always look for her.in spirit form." said Aislinn.
Draco let go of her.
"But what if she's not a ghost?" said Draco.
"She should be.. I mean I read some where that a person can only become a ghost if they weren't killed by a curse." Said Aislinn.
"Are you sure?" said Draco.
"Yes, well at least that's what the book said." answered Aislinn.
Draco sighed heavily.
"Well we can always ask the Bloody Baron. He knows every ghost in this ruddy place." said Draco. Aislinn nodded slowly.
"Wait.I don't get it, why'd you say it could be dangerous and complicated?" said Draco.
"Because some ghosts can be dangerous. I don't know. Some of the books I've read lately, when some people die tragic deaths or are ripped away from those they love the most, they sometimes end up being dangerous." said Aislinn.
"Oh.. Well let's just hope Piper's not like that." said Draco.
He looked at his watch; ten minutes until seven o' clock.
"Uh, look I have to get to Quidditch practice. Maybe we could ask him when it's over, or tomorrow even?" said Draco.
"Okay, can I watch?" said Aislinn.
"Of course." said Draco.
He then looked at her; she was doing some sort of dance; her hands were clenched into fists and she was shaking her arms, her face in smile. "I'm afraid to ask, but what was that?" said Draco, bewildered.
"My Happy Dance." Aislinn replied shyly.
She widened her eyes and looked at him, then blew a bubble with her gum.
"All right.. Come on, I'm going to be late." said Draco.
They ran out into the Quidditch field. Aislinn went up to sit in the stands, and Draco hurried to get his Firebolt. When he did that, he went back up onto the field.
"Hi every one. Well.err.I guess I'm the new captain then.. Hello Madame Hooch." said Draco.
Madame Hooch, the Quidditch coach, was coming their way. Draco and the rest of the Slytherin team walked over to meet her.
This was going to be harder than he imagined. He looked at Aislinn in the stands; she gave him a thumbs-up.
"Good evening everyone. Today is not so much as practice, so I will guarantee you that you do not need your brooms. Mr. Malfoy, here are the dates for the Quidditch matches and the names of people on this team and the other Quidditch teams," said Hooch. She handed him a piece of parchment with information on it, "As you can see, the first match is going to be held against Gryffindor on the thirty-first of March. I encourage you to practice hard if you want to win this year. Also, the Gryffindors have a new Keeper, they will be training tomorrow afternoon. That is just some information you should know."
"Who is it?" said Draco.
"Pardon me?" said Hooch.
"Who is the new Keeper?" Draco repeated.
"It's Mr. Ronald Weasley," answered Hooch, "I'm not sure, but Mr. Potter is training Miss. Granger right now for Chaser. Considering the fact that they need another one.. They also have two new Beaters; Seamus Finnigan and Bert Reynolds. Since we are on the subject, you need a Beater, Mr. Singrom has informed me that he quit."
When practice was over, Draco put his broom away and ran fast up to the stands to meet Aislinn. He got a good idea and hoped it worked.
"Aislinn! I need to ask you some thing." said Draco.
"What?" said Aislinn.
"Are you any good on a broom?" said Draco, hurriedly.
"I'm not really sure.. Maybe, why?" said Aislinn.
"How would you like to be Beater on the team?" said Draco.
"Well I'm not really comfortable being in front of a lot of people, but I guess.sure." said Aislinn, looking quite unaware.
"Great. Err.can we meet here tomorrow to practice?" said Draco.
"Okay. Do I need a broom?" said Aislinn.
"Yeah, I'll let you have one of the Nimbus two thousand-ones." said Draco.
He was so relieved. Last year Pansy Parkinson had tried to get a position, luckily Marcus Flint, the last Slytherin captain, hadn't let her on.
"So.are we still going to ask The Bloody Baron?" said Aislinn, swaying her head from side to side.
"Yeah, lets go now. What's up with your head?" said Draco.
"Nothing." said Aislinn, smiling.
Draco rolled his eyes, I have one weird friend, he thought.
February and March passed very slowly and full of wanderings and grief for Draco. He felt that Piper was his soul mate, and now she was gone. None of the other students, except for Aislinn, knew about Piper's death until after the ceremony that took place a fortnight after her death. Draco and Aislinn were about the only ones crying at the Slytherin table. Aislinn told him that Pansy had bribed many of her friends not to feel sorry for him.
When Draco walked in the Great Hall, it was decorated with black draperies and tablecloth over the house tables. Draco noticed that these were the same ones used as last year when the dark Lord Voldemort had killed Cedric Diggory, from Hufflepuff.
Dumbledore stood up and waited for the whisperings to die down.
"Good afternoon everyone. I suspect that some of you might all ready know that one of our students had passed away. I would like to apologize to those who knew Miss. Piper Haliwell. From my understanding, Miss. Haliwell was murdered. I will not lie to you, she was indeed stabbed in the back by, I suspect, some one at Hogwarts. " said Dumbledore, but he was cut off by Ron Weasley, whispering quite loudly that it was Voldemort.
"No Mr. Weasley, I do not think it was Voldemort." said Dumbledore.
"Oh." said Ron, looking very red in the face.
When the feast was over, Draco and Aislinn went back down to the common room. Her and him had become friends over the passed couple of months. Draco had persuaded Aislinn into talking to him, asking her various sorts of questions, her answering him politely.
"Okay, let's go over this one more time. So you just found her there.with no one around?" said Aislinn, trying to sort out the facts.
"That's right. I wish I knew who murdered her, then they'd be sorry." said Draco through clenched teeth.
Aislinn nodded, understandably.
"Hey, that afternoon when you were looking for Kaelan, did you see anyone come out of that corridor?" said Draco. Aislinn shook her head.
Ugh right now, I sure wish animals could talk, thought Draco.
* * *
The evening classes were going to pass slowly, Draco could tell. After all this time, he was still busy thinking about that incident. He was walking to Divination when he heard two voices coming from the girls' restroom. The door had an 'Out of Order' sign on it. Draco pushed the door a bit to listen in on the conversion.
"Why don't you just tell him that you're still here?" came a girl's voice.
"I'm scared." came another girl's voice Draco thought he recognized.
"After all this time?" said the first voice.
"You'd be too if you had a wonderful life, then all of a sudden someone just decides to kill you.." said the second voice.
"Welcome to my life, or I should say death." Said the first voice.
Draco thought that these might be ghosts talking. He looked at his watch, two minutes until his next class, he better be going or else Professor Trelawney will give him detention.
He climbed up to the tower where Divination usually took place and settled himself on the couch in the back of the room. The whole place smelled strongly of cinnamon and burned his nostrils. Professor Trelawney came out from behind a midnight blue curtain and stood in front of the many Slytherins and Gryffindors.
"Welcome my students. Madame Hooch has asked me to remind the captains for Slytherin and Gryffindor to meet in the Quidditch field at promptly seven o'clock this evening. Now, let's get to my lesson plan I have for today." said Trelawny.
She flipped through some papers and pulled one out.
"Please take out See into the Future by Sabrina Coleman. I imagine all of you bought that book, seeing that it was on your list of supplies for this year?" Said Trelawney, looking at them behind her spectacles, "Mr. Malfoy, would you please be so kind as to read from the top of page twenty- nine, on The First Crystal Ball Convention of 1723?"
"Err.okay.. 'The First Crystal Ball Convention, held in 1723, was divided amongst two groups. The two were named The Gazers and The Starlighters. The groups, however, were made up of witches, not wizards. Since wizards believed it was not a sport to interested in. The many wizards were afraid their wives would become so devoted to the study, that they went on strike. Crystal gazing was banned from that point. "' Until the Ministry of Magic Minister Pavlov Krilnuk stated that Crystal Ball gazing was just an activity the women were exploring. It has no harm whatsoever, and that the activity should not be banned from knowledge. Therefore, Crystal Ball gazing was indeed rethought of in the year of 1829.'" Draco finished and looked back up at Trelawney, she had a smile on her face.
"Good, now we are going to do a group activity where I will pair each Gryffindor with a Slytherin. " Trelawney informed them.
Some people groaned, others, like Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil from Gyffindor house, shrieked with delight. "Well I'm glad some of you will enjoy my lesson plan. Now when I call your names, you will get with that person and sit yourselves at one of the tables." continued Trelawney.
More groans, these ones came from Draco. He looked at Potter and Weasley sitting on the other side of the room, Granger not amongst them; she had quit for Arithmancy, or so Draco was told.
"All right. Mr. Potter and Miss. Parkinson. Mr. Malfoy and Mr. Weasley. Miss. Njass and Miss. PouPea." and so the list went until all Gryffindors and Slytherins were paired up.
Draco was siting as far away from Weasley as possible. He was refusing to sit at the same desk with a Mudblood loving fool.
"Mr. Malfoy, come sit with your partner! I doubt you will get a decent grade in this class if you do not obey my wishes!" ordered Trelawney. Draco got up from his spot on the couch and went to sit across from his partner. From the look on Weasley's face, he didn't want to be paired up with Draco either.
"I want one of you to gaze into the Crystal Ball and tell me what you see. Now be calm and patient, it might be a few minutes before you actually see something at all." went on Trelawney in her misty voice.
Draco looked into the ball in front of him. All he could see was smoke circling all around in ringlets in the small ball. Then as if out of nowhere, Draco saw a face forming out of it. The face was misty and was hard to tell whom it belonged to. Draco could tell it belonged to a girl; the very large olive shaped eyes, the freckles..
"Mr. Malfoy? Mr. Malfoy please share with us what you saw." came Trelawney's voice.
It broke his concentration completely, and when he turned back to the smoky ball, it was just as clear as it had been when he sat at the table.
"I - I didn't see anything." Draco lied.
Trelawney looked at him in disbelief. He wasn't about to let everyone in the room know what he saw, especially the Gryffindors.
"Very well then.. Now I want the rest of you to gaze into the future. And please try to see something. That's the whole point of this activity. If you want something, you just let yourself have it!" said Trelawney, a bit of disappointment in her voice. She then ushered the rest of the class to look again.
Weasley looked into it this time and Draco saw his eyes widen. He pulled away from it, his eyes still wide with shock and beginning to water.
"What is it Weasley? Saw your family finally getting rich?" sneered Draco.
"Shut up Malfoy." said Weasley.
"Why should I? Just because I haven't been criticizing you enough this year, doesn't mean you can suddenly do it now." said Draco.
His comeback didn't come out the way he would've like it o because he was still busy thinking about what he saw in the Crystal Ball..
Draco's next class, Double Potions, was a disaster. Professor Snape was in a particularly nasty mood and made them all write twelve and quarter inches worth on 'Why the Love Potion is only sold in Dark Arts stores?'
"I want this done at the end of class. Miss. Parkinson, stop chatting to your friends and get to work." said Snape.
He glanced at all of the Hufflepuffs and Slytherins, then sat down behind his desk.
Draco was relieved when he finished his assignment just in time for the bell to ring. He looked over his paper; all scribbles.
Oh I sure hope he can read this, thought Draco.
He stood up, threw his book bag over his shoulder, turned in his assignment, and walked out the door. Aislinn was waiting for him by the entrance to the dungeon.
"Hey." said Draco. "Err.I have an idea on how you can find out who murdered Piper." said Aislinn.
"Really? How?" said Draco, a wave of excitement rising in his voice.
"Well, it's pretty dangerous, not to mention complicated.but it's the only thing I got.then again.." Aislinn trailed off. "'Then again' what?" said Draco, urgently.
He grabbed her by the shoulders, his eyes pleading for her to tell him.
"You can always look for her.in spirit form." said Aislinn.
Draco let go of her.
"But what if she's not a ghost?" said Draco.
"She should be.. I mean I read some where that a person can only become a ghost if they weren't killed by a curse." Said Aislinn.
"Are you sure?" said Draco.
"Yes, well at least that's what the book said." answered Aislinn.
Draco sighed heavily.
"Well we can always ask the Bloody Baron. He knows every ghost in this ruddy place." said Draco. Aislinn nodded slowly.
"Wait.I don't get it, why'd you say it could be dangerous and complicated?" said Draco.
"Because some ghosts can be dangerous. I don't know. Some of the books I've read lately, when some people die tragic deaths or are ripped away from those they love the most, they sometimes end up being dangerous." said Aislinn.
"Oh.. Well let's just hope Piper's not like that." said Draco.
He looked at his watch; ten minutes until seven o' clock.
"Uh, look I have to get to Quidditch practice. Maybe we could ask him when it's over, or tomorrow even?" said Draco.
"Okay, can I watch?" said Aislinn.
"Of course." said Draco.
He then looked at her; she was doing some sort of dance; her hands were clenched into fists and she was shaking her arms, her face in smile. "I'm afraid to ask, but what was that?" said Draco, bewildered.
"My Happy Dance." Aislinn replied shyly.
She widened her eyes and looked at him, then blew a bubble with her gum.
"All right.. Come on, I'm going to be late." said Draco.
They ran out into the Quidditch field. Aislinn went up to sit in the stands, and Draco hurried to get his Firebolt. When he did that, he went back up onto the field.
"Hi every one. Well.err.I guess I'm the new captain then.. Hello Madame Hooch." said Draco.
Madame Hooch, the Quidditch coach, was coming their way. Draco and the rest of the Slytherin team walked over to meet her.
This was going to be harder than he imagined. He looked at Aislinn in the stands; she gave him a thumbs-up.
"Good evening everyone. Today is not so much as practice, so I will guarantee you that you do not need your brooms. Mr. Malfoy, here are the dates for the Quidditch matches and the names of people on this team and the other Quidditch teams," said Hooch. She handed him a piece of parchment with information on it, "As you can see, the first match is going to be held against Gryffindor on the thirty-first of March. I encourage you to practice hard if you want to win this year. Also, the Gryffindors have a new Keeper, they will be training tomorrow afternoon. That is just some information you should know."
"Who is it?" said Draco.
"Pardon me?" said Hooch.
"Who is the new Keeper?" Draco repeated.
"It's Mr. Ronald Weasley," answered Hooch, "I'm not sure, but Mr. Potter is training Miss. Granger right now for Chaser. Considering the fact that they need another one.. They also have two new Beaters; Seamus Finnigan and Bert Reynolds. Since we are on the subject, you need a Beater, Mr. Singrom has informed me that he quit."
When practice was over, Draco put his broom away and ran fast up to the stands to meet Aislinn. He got a good idea and hoped it worked.
"Aislinn! I need to ask you some thing." said Draco.
"What?" said Aislinn.
"Are you any good on a broom?" said Draco, hurriedly.
"I'm not really sure.. Maybe, why?" said Aislinn.
"How would you like to be Beater on the team?" said Draco.
"Well I'm not really comfortable being in front of a lot of people, but I guess.sure." said Aislinn, looking quite unaware.
"Great. Err.can we meet here tomorrow to practice?" said Draco.
"Okay. Do I need a broom?" said Aislinn.
"Yeah, I'll let you have one of the Nimbus two thousand-ones." said Draco.
He was so relieved. Last year Pansy Parkinson had tried to get a position, luckily Marcus Flint, the last Slytherin captain, hadn't let her on.
"So.are we still going to ask The Bloody Baron?" said Aislinn, swaying her head from side to side.
"Yeah, lets go now. What's up with your head?" said Draco.
"Nothing." said Aislinn, smiling.
Draco rolled his eyes, I have one weird friend, he thought.