"But I have to ask you before I continue, not to interrupt me. I only
want to relive this once," Amanda said, lifting her head to look at
Jessica, who nodded mutely, unsure of her own voice. Amanda took a deep
breath, looked back down at her hands, and continued with her story.
"One of the people in the hoods knows about our plan. I think it was a man, but I'm not sure. Well, anyway, he somehow found out about it. He reported it to the leader of the hooded group, and the leader, who sounded like a woman, said to intercept them. So, the man came to the Gryffindor Common Room to wait for the Aurors to show up. He must have performed some invisibility spell so that people couldn't see him. Well, I'd suspected that something was wrong, and he noticed. So, that one night a few weeks ago, he came to our door. It was initially you he was after. He was going to kill you, then come after me…but I suppose this just cut his workload in half. He kidnapped me and performed that invisibility spell. I'm guessing he knew some kind of secret passage, because the next thing I knew, we were on top of one of the Astronomy towers. He put me on his broomstick and took off. We flew for nearly five hours, when, finally, we reached this awful…vile place. There were bodies all over the ground. I'll never forget it. And there, I was forced to do random odd jobs. Collecting potion ingredients and such. Until finally, about a week ago, I found out. This group had intercepted the four Aurors you tried to contact, and…and…oh, Jessica, they killed them! They're dead! Then, the night before they released me, I overheard two of them having a conversation. They were saying that the only reason they had taken me was because I was a descendent! If you, Harry, and I were to combine our powers, we might have been able to replace the Aurors they killed! I'm sure they wouldn't want me knowing this, so I ran away before they noticed I was within earshot. But, Jessica, there's another bad aspect of this story. When they were taking me away, I saw something," she seemed to be struggling to get the words out now, "They were bringing in another person. A girl…"
Jessica's stomach clenched. "Did you get a good look at her face?' she asked in little more than a whisper.
Amanda shook her head. "No, but they all seemed strangely excited about it. As though the key to their plan was in the capturing of that girl…"
Jessica felt her throat close. She looked down at her hands, a hot surge of tears burning the back of her eyes.
Amanda didn't notice this.
"We're going to have to tell Harry and Ron," she sighed, leaning back.
"Yeah," Jessica managed to say.
"So, what's happened here since I've been gone?" Amanda asked her, sitting back up, "Anything good?"
"Dance," Jessica squeaked. "I mean," she said, clearing her throat, "There's going to be another Ball…A Spring Ball. We have to go dressed in muggle, I mean our, dresses and such. It's on May 7th…you need a date."
"Really? So the are going to have one? That's odd…," Amanda sighed, "Do I have to get a date though?"
Jessica nodded. "But don't worry. I think Ron wants to go with you."
Amanda flushed slightly. "Really?"
"Ya, you were there, you heard him," Jessica said cautiously before she realized what she'd said.
"What?" Amanda asked shocked.
"Sorry," Jessica mumbled, "It's just that…" she paused for a moment, trying to think of how she was going to say this. "Well," she said, looking at Amanda inquisitively, "Do you remember that Faith girl we saw then night you disappeared?"
Amanda thought for a moment. "Oh…her," she said as though the very word put a bitter taste in her mouth.
"Yes…her," Jessica said, choosing her words carefully. "Well, you see, the day after they took you, I was in the Common Room talking to Ron and…well…you came back."
"I did not!" Amanda said bewildered.
"Yes you did…but it wasn't really you. It was Faith. She must have taken something from you, because she made herself Polyjuice Potion so that she looked like you. Harry and I noticed something was wrong right away," she added hurriedly, "But there wasn't much we could do. Until finally, we told Hermione and Ron about our suspicions. So, Hermione swiped some Veritaserum, and it changed her back to Faith. We were just about to find out where you were, when McGonagall and Snape burst in on us. So now," she finished, sighing, "Me, Harry, Ron, and Hermione are on impending expulsion."
Amanda sat staring at Jessica with her mouth hanging open.
"How could she have made that potion, though?" she asked.
Jessica shrugged. "She's in a higher year, all she had to do was ask a teacher…"
"No, not that," Amanda said, waving her hand impatiently, "I mean, how did she get enough from me to keep the potion going for that long?"
Jessica was startled. "I don't know," she admitted.
Amanda sighed, leaning her head to one side. "Well, I think we should just get back to bed. I don't see how we can concentrate when we're so tired. We'll tell the others about it tomorrow, ok?"
Jessica nodded, turning around and putting out the candle. She laid back down and stared at the ceiling. She wasn't tired at all, quite the opposite, her mind was buzzing with hundreds of unanswered questions.
The next morning, Jessica woke early. After getting dressed, she glanced out the window. The sun had only begun to rise, which led her to believe that it was still relatively early. She thought for a moment about waking Amanda, but, recalling the previous night's conversation, decided to let her sleep. The morning chill was still in the air, so she slipped a sweater over her shirt before walking out in to the Common Room. Much to her surprise, the room was not empty.
"What are we going to do? What are we going to do?" A girl's extremely anxious voice floated past Jessica's ears.
What on Earth…she wondered. Pushing a piece of hair out of her eyes, she advanced in the direction of the voices slowly.
"Well, we don't know for sure what happened to her," said a different girl's voice.
"How can you say that?!" cried yet another girl's voice, "It's perfectly apparent what happened! She must have run off with that Potter!"
There was a long silence.
"We don't know that for sure," said the second girl a little more firmly, "And I don't think we should jump to any conclusions…We'll just say that she wasn't feeling well, and stayed in bed instead of going to lessons."
"But what if they ask about her not going to the hospital wing?"
There was another long pause.
"We'll tell them that she was too sick, and we're going to get Madame Pomfrey after lessons and bring her to our room."
Jessica took another step forward. Three girls were sitting in a close circle, talking quickly and nervously. She felt her stomach drop as she realized that the girls speaking were Parvati, and Lavender. She didn't recognize the third girl, but there was no doubt in her mind…these were Hermione's dorm mates.
"Excuse me," Jessica said, doing some quick thinking.
All three of them looked up, and turned stark white.
"Hello," Lavender said in a forced cheerful voice.
Jessica decided to skip the formalities. "Who were you talking about?" she asked softly.
Lavender looked quickly at Parvati, who's eyes widened to twice their normal size.
There was a long moment of silence, each seemed to be thinking hard.
The third girl sighed. "We might as well tell you…it was Hermione."
Jessica felt as though someone had knocked the air out of her. She was suddenly light-headed, and felt as though she was going to be sick. She walked weakly over to a chair and sat down slowly, trying to compose herself.
"She was missing from the dorm last night, but we didn't really think anything of it…until she still wasn't there this morning," Lavender was saying, but Jessica wasn't listening.
"We think she's with Harry," Parvati finished. Jessica nodded, but the sick feeling in her stomach was still there. Hermione wasn't with Harry, and she knew it.
Jessica stood up and managed a weak smile.
"Excuse me," she said in an oddly constrained voice, "But maybe you'd like me to go and see for sure. I mean, if you girls want to be sure and all."
"I guess so," the girl she didn't recognize said, "Go ahead, we'll probably be down at breakfast when you get back. Just don't tell anyone about it, alright?"
Jessica nodded again and started toward the boy's dormitory staircase.
"One of the people in the hoods knows about our plan. I think it was a man, but I'm not sure. Well, anyway, he somehow found out about it. He reported it to the leader of the hooded group, and the leader, who sounded like a woman, said to intercept them. So, the man came to the Gryffindor Common Room to wait for the Aurors to show up. He must have performed some invisibility spell so that people couldn't see him. Well, I'd suspected that something was wrong, and he noticed. So, that one night a few weeks ago, he came to our door. It was initially you he was after. He was going to kill you, then come after me…but I suppose this just cut his workload in half. He kidnapped me and performed that invisibility spell. I'm guessing he knew some kind of secret passage, because the next thing I knew, we were on top of one of the Astronomy towers. He put me on his broomstick and took off. We flew for nearly five hours, when, finally, we reached this awful…vile place. There were bodies all over the ground. I'll never forget it. And there, I was forced to do random odd jobs. Collecting potion ingredients and such. Until finally, about a week ago, I found out. This group had intercepted the four Aurors you tried to contact, and…and…oh, Jessica, they killed them! They're dead! Then, the night before they released me, I overheard two of them having a conversation. They were saying that the only reason they had taken me was because I was a descendent! If you, Harry, and I were to combine our powers, we might have been able to replace the Aurors they killed! I'm sure they wouldn't want me knowing this, so I ran away before they noticed I was within earshot. But, Jessica, there's another bad aspect of this story. When they were taking me away, I saw something," she seemed to be struggling to get the words out now, "They were bringing in another person. A girl…"
Jessica's stomach clenched. "Did you get a good look at her face?' she asked in little more than a whisper.
Amanda shook her head. "No, but they all seemed strangely excited about it. As though the key to their plan was in the capturing of that girl…"
Jessica felt her throat close. She looked down at her hands, a hot surge of tears burning the back of her eyes.
Amanda didn't notice this.
"We're going to have to tell Harry and Ron," she sighed, leaning back.
"Yeah," Jessica managed to say.
"So, what's happened here since I've been gone?" Amanda asked her, sitting back up, "Anything good?"
"Dance," Jessica squeaked. "I mean," she said, clearing her throat, "There's going to be another Ball…A Spring Ball. We have to go dressed in muggle, I mean our, dresses and such. It's on May 7th…you need a date."
"Really? So the are going to have one? That's odd…," Amanda sighed, "Do I have to get a date though?"
Jessica nodded. "But don't worry. I think Ron wants to go with you."
Amanda flushed slightly. "Really?"
"Ya, you were there, you heard him," Jessica said cautiously before she realized what she'd said.
"What?" Amanda asked shocked.
"Sorry," Jessica mumbled, "It's just that…" she paused for a moment, trying to think of how she was going to say this. "Well," she said, looking at Amanda inquisitively, "Do you remember that Faith girl we saw then night you disappeared?"
Amanda thought for a moment. "Oh…her," she said as though the very word put a bitter taste in her mouth.
"Yes…her," Jessica said, choosing her words carefully. "Well, you see, the day after they took you, I was in the Common Room talking to Ron and…well…you came back."
"I did not!" Amanda said bewildered.
"Yes you did…but it wasn't really you. It was Faith. She must have taken something from you, because she made herself Polyjuice Potion so that she looked like you. Harry and I noticed something was wrong right away," she added hurriedly, "But there wasn't much we could do. Until finally, we told Hermione and Ron about our suspicions. So, Hermione swiped some Veritaserum, and it changed her back to Faith. We were just about to find out where you were, when McGonagall and Snape burst in on us. So now," she finished, sighing, "Me, Harry, Ron, and Hermione are on impending expulsion."
Amanda sat staring at Jessica with her mouth hanging open.
"How could she have made that potion, though?" she asked.
Jessica shrugged. "She's in a higher year, all she had to do was ask a teacher…"
"No, not that," Amanda said, waving her hand impatiently, "I mean, how did she get enough from me to keep the potion going for that long?"
Jessica was startled. "I don't know," she admitted.
Amanda sighed, leaning her head to one side. "Well, I think we should just get back to bed. I don't see how we can concentrate when we're so tired. We'll tell the others about it tomorrow, ok?"
Jessica nodded, turning around and putting out the candle. She laid back down and stared at the ceiling. She wasn't tired at all, quite the opposite, her mind was buzzing with hundreds of unanswered questions.
The next morning, Jessica woke early. After getting dressed, she glanced out the window. The sun had only begun to rise, which led her to believe that it was still relatively early. She thought for a moment about waking Amanda, but, recalling the previous night's conversation, decided to let her sleep. The morning chill was still in the air, so she slipped a sweater over her shirt before walking out in to the Common Room. Much to her surprise, the room was not empty.
"What are we going to do? What are we going to do?" A girl's extremely anxious voice floated past Jessica's ears.
What on Earth…she wondered. Pushing a piece of hair out of her eyes, she advanced in the direction of the voices slowly.
"Well, we don't know for sure what happened to her," said a different girl's voice.
"How can you say that?!" cried yet another girl's voice, "It's perfectly apparent what happened! She must have run off with that Potter!"
There was a long silence.
"We don't know that for sure," said the second girl a little more firmly, "And I don't think we should jump to any conclusions…We'll just say that she wasn't feeling well, and stayed in bed instead of going to lessons."
"But what if they ask about her not going to the hospital wing?"
There was another long pause.
"We'll tell them that she was too sick, and we're going to get Madame Pomfrey after lessons and bring her to our room."
Jessica took another step forward. Three girls were sitting in a close circle, talking quickly and nervously. She felt her stomach drop as she realized that the girls speaking were Parvati, and Lavender. She didn't recognize the third girl, but there was no doubt in her mind…these were Hermione's dorm mates.
"Excuse me," Jessica said, doing some quick thinking.
All three of them looked up, and turned stark white.
"Hello," Lavender said in a forced cheerful voice.
Jessica decided to skip the formalities. "Who were you talking about?" she asked softly.
Lavender looked quickly at Parvati, who's eyes widened to twice their normal size.
There was a long moment of silence, each seemed to be thinking hard.
The third girl sighed. "We might as well tell you…it was Hermione."
Jessica felt as though someone had knocked the air out of her. She was suddenly light-headed, and felt as though she was going to be sick. She walked weakly over to a chair and sat down slowly, trying to compose herself.
"She was missing from the dorm last night, but we didn't really think anything of it…until she still wasn't there this morning," Lavender was saying, but Jessica wasn't listening.
"We think she's with Harry," Parvati finished. Jessica nodded, but the sick feeling in her stomach was still there. Hermione wasn't with Harry, and she knew it.
Jessica stood up and managed a weak smile.
"Excuse me," she said in an oddly constrained voice, "But maybe you'd like me to go and see for sure. I mean, if you girls want to be sure and all."
"I guess so," the girl she didn't recognize said, "Go ahead, we'll probably be down at breakfast when you get back. Just don't tell anyone about it, alright?"
Jessica nodded again and started toward the boy's dormitory staircase.