Disclaimer: Yup, as you all must know I DON'T own this. All of the wonderful characters (with the exception of Jamie and her little friends) belong to the talented J.K. Rowling. Oh yes, but I do own the plot *reminisces about the plot owning dance*. *Grins* hehe, good times, good times. Well then, off to the story, shall we? J
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The Song in the Locket
Chapter 4: One Problem too Many
"Missing?!?" Jamie cried out at the information she just received.
"That's right" Lavender responded. Even though she was quiet unnerved about the situation, she still felt a tinge of happiness at knowing something others didn't. This is why she and Parvati had gotten their well deserved titles, the gossip queens.
Jamie, however, wasn't at all happy at the news. It was only the third day back at Hogwarts and things were already going amiss. By now Jamie was almost used to the strange things that happened each year, of course always having to do with Harry. But for something to happen so soon, and to be much more associated with her, this was quite frightening.
"I cant believe it!" Jamie said shaking her head.
The girl that was missing was a Gryffindor. It was her first year, and Jamie tried to recall her face from the first day when the sorting was taking place. She was a nervous girl, very small and pale. Jamie was surprised that this girl belonged to the Anson family. At first the news didn't strike Jamie as important, but then again, Jamie had other things on her mind that night.
The Anson family was a very high and noble blood line. All of the witches and wizards that came from that family were famous aurors, or leaders, or head of something. An Anson had even helped in the search for Jamie's father at one point. Jamie had always imagined the Ansons to be big and strong, and proud, but little Olivia didn't fit this description. Just the same, the news that an Anson was missing from Hogwarts would be big, and Jamie hoped that Lavender was wrong, for Hogwart's sake.
"What's going on?" Hermione asked as she walked through the door into the girls dormitories.
Even though it was early in the morning, Hermione was in the common room rereading 'Hogwarts, A History' for the millionth time. When she heard all of the noise coming from the girl's dormitory she made it her job to go up and quiet them all down. Typical Hermione behavior.
"Olivia Anson is missing!" cried Lavender.
Jamie watched as the annoyed, mature look on Hermione's face turned to shock, then back to the mature look, as she reasoned the outburst.
"How do you know she is missing?" Hermione asked.
First off, she never really believed anything that Lavender or Parvati had to say. This of course was because they were almost always wrong. Secondly, Lavender had always enjoyed making up some horrible news to tell Hermione, just to see her run around franticly, practically pissing in her pants. Well this time, Hermione Granger wasn't going to fall for it.
"We looked everywhere" Parvati jumped in, cutting Lavender off. Parvati had been standing there the whole time in silence, waiting for her chance to jump into the conversation. Now that she had it, she wasn't going to be silent again.
"She never came back to the common last night. She isn't in her bed, or the bathrooms. Why, we even started looking around the school, but she's nowhere to be found!" Parvati said in distress.
"Hogwarts is a big place. She could be anywhere" Hermione said reassuringly. "We shouldn't jump to conclusions like that."
"Well, think what you want," Lavender said, smiling at Parvati who was standing there with her mouth open ready to speak. She had successfully silenced her.
Despite all that, Hermione couldn't help but be worried once she saw the terrified look on Jamie's face. Maybe this time it wasn't a joke. Maybe Lavender and Parvati were serious! Hermione didn't want to take any chances. She knew the only proper thing to do was tell an authority that maybe someone was missing, or lost in the castle most likely. And if they were playing a trick all along, they would tell her before she went to a teacher anyway.
"I suppose we should tell Professor McGonagall" Hermione said, waiting for the girls faces to crack up in laughter shouting "Ha! She fell for it again, it never gets old"
Instead, she received nods of approval.
So it wasn't a joke! Hermione thought, her whole body suddenly tensing up. All she could do now was tell a teacher, and hope that this was all some big misunderstanding.
Finally beaten, Hermione turned around to leave, with Parvati and Lavender close behind her. Hermione was thinking that by the end of today she would be laughing it off at dinner, after finding Olivia in some obvious place in the castle that Lavender and Parvati hadn't bothered to check. She needed more evidence than the gossip queen's words. But she still wasn't calm.
Hermione had been there for all of Harry's escapades, except of course for last year. She knew that something had to happen this year, no matter how much she dreaded it. Strange things seemed to happen every year ever since Harry had entered Hogwarts, and that was probably no mistake.
A sense of foreboding passed over Hermione and Jamie alike, as they reached the door. Bad things were coming, and there was no way to stop it. Hermione turned around to look at Jamie and a sense of understanding passed between them, followed by an unwelcome shiver. Hermione nodded slightly to Jamie, and passed through the door with Parvati at her tail, chattering away about the situation.
Lavender turned around just as she reached the door and looked back at Jamie.
"You coming with?" she asked.
Jamie shook her head, then added, "I think I'm going to rest up a bit before breakfast." She knew Lavender would demand a reason, so she provided the most plausible one she could think of.
"Alright then, I'll see you down in the Great Hall" Lavender said waving. Then she smiled and walked out of the dormitory, leaving Jamie in there alone.
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Jamie waited for the door to close, and the familiar patter of feet to grow ever lighter as the group reached the bottom of the staircase, before she sat down on her bed and sighed. She waited for about 10 seconds to see if anyone was coming back, then quickly took the locket out from under her shirt.
She slowly twisted the metal around in her fingers, examining the piece of art, before she reached behind her back and unlocked the clasp.
It lay still in her hand, almost as if it were alive, but dared not move. This necklace held so much mystery, and so much evil, Jamie thought to herself. The chain dangled over her fingers, giving it the illusion of a snake winding its self over a sea of rocks.
Jamie looked it over, and ran her fingers over the locket itself, careful not to touch the clasp that opened it. When she first held this locket, it had seemed perfect. Smooth to the touch, glistening in the light. Now Jamie felt bumps, and dents. The ruby didn't seem as attractive, and locket itself seemed old, and withered.
There is something wrong with this locket! she said to herself over and over again.
Then it hit her. She knew what she had to do. She didn't want this locket anymore. It was dangerous. The only way was to get rid of it. She slowly stood up with her hand outstretched. She even half hoped that all the problems that happened today would go away once the locket was gone.
Jamie glared at the locket for a second, taking in what she hoped to be her last sight of this wretched necklace, before closing her hand around it and raising it up in the air. She took a deep breath, and closed her eyes, swung her hand in the direction of the floor. But her hand stopped all of a sudden about midway down.
What happened? Jamie thought as she opened her eyes. She couldn't throw the locket down. It was as if some kind of force was stopping her. No, Jamie realized, It wasn't some magic force. It was herself!
"No" Jamie said out loud, to whomever or whatever, she didn't know. For all she cared she could be speaking to the locket itself.
"No" she said again, and closed her hand one more time. This time when she threw her hand down, the locket flew out of her grasp and bounced on the floor, making a loud clunking noise.
Now this was a metal locket, and metal doesn't break that easily, so Jamie walked up to it and stomped on it. She stomped numerous times before realizing that she had somewhat deformed the locket. Then she picked it up, walked over to the window and tossed it out.
Jamie might have been able to make the locket vanish by using some kind of magic spell, but that most likely wouldn't have worked. And in any event, the locket was gone now. Out of her life for good. Or so Jamie thought. In truth, the locket lay misshapen at the edge of Hogwarts castle, still very capable of causing great evil.
Jamie dusted off her clothes and walked towards the door. She reached for the handle when a wave of guilt passed over her. It was guilt, mixed with a little pain.
Why did I throw the locket out? She yelled, mentally slapping herself. It was so pretty, and it did no harm to me. She said again.
Wait! Jamie's other half argued. What about when you opened it, wasn't that scary, you woke up on the floor in the library sweating.
Maybe that was something else that caused it. How do you know for sure it was the locket?
Because I know! She said with a tone of finality in her voice. But her new half, the one she never knew before, didn't give up that easily.
Soon the room started spinning, and Jamie began to feel empty, as if she had thrown a part of herself out of the window with the locket. Her dark half started taking on a form of its own. Jamie not only felt empty now, but split in two.
Suddenly she was in a strange room, and before her stood two figures, one dressed in white, the other in black. Upon closer observation, Jamie realized that both the figures were her. The sole difference between them was that the one dressed in black had straight hair which hung lose past her shoulders, while the other one had her hair pulled up loosely and tucked into a bun.
Jamie sat there in silence as the two figures began to fight. Everything was blurry, and she wasn't sure where she was.
Every time Jamie tried to speak, she was silenced. Now, she felt as if she had been cut out of her own conversation. Her two sides had grown so strong that they had split apart, leaving Jamie completely empty.
All she could do was sit and watch Jamie fight with Jamie. She sat alone, knowing that whoever won would take control of her body, making the choices for her from now on. But the half that lost would be there too, waiting for the chance to rise up and take control again.
After what seemed like hours, Jamie's vision began to get clearer. She realized she was lying on her bed in her dormitory, breathing very hard. Her head ached, but now at least the empty feeling was gone.
Slowly Jamie stood up, smiled slightly, and walked toward the door.
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Allrighty then! That's the end of that ;) I finally got around to finishing this one *grins* Hope you like it.
Thank you to everyone who has been reading my story, and if ya'll review, I'll be more than happy to mention everyone of you in my next chapter
Sadly I haven't been getting many reviews. *Pouts* I need to know that some people are reading my story. It would make me feel better. So please, please please please please PLEASE! Review. You don't know how much it means to me. Thanks. OH, and if ya need help, the review button is right down there, yup, the little pretty blue one. ;)
