Chapter nine: What went on before
Ebony closed the door to her bed room behind her and let out a heavy sigh as she flopped onto her bed. It wasn't a sad or pensive sigh like usual. This was content, and light. She was tired beyond belief but could not even imagine sleeping. Her heart raced and she could feel her pulse pounding in her wrist. She enjoyed the sensation so much that she let out a full laugh that she was sure would be audible to any one in the mansion, no matter how big it was.
It would have been easy to say that she had never felt this way before, but Ebony knew that was a lie. She didn't remember when she had felt this way before would have been more accurate. For, as she constantly reminded herself, she didn't remember much of anything past five months ago. Usually, this thought would have perplexed, or depressed her, but now it didn't seem to matter any more. She wasn't really interested in who she had been before Grimmuald place. She was Ebony to Sirius and that was all that really mattered. And as far as she was concerned, she could stay Ebony for the rest of her life.
"Ebony Black" She muttered to herself as she reluctantly crawled under the covers to her bed. A bit redundant maybe she thought. Still, it has a lovely ring to it. And with this thought she happily drifted off to sleep.
.. She was soon back in the corridor again. This time she didn't try to turn back as she was forced to the door at the end. She waited to hear the laughter and see the green light but they never came. Instead she found that there was a light coming from the wide open black door, almost inviting her inside. She moved closer to the door and passed through it.
When she did, she found herself not inside a black room, but what looked like some kind of theater. All around her she could hear people hurriedly shouting things about setting curtains or bustling about carrying strange objects. Her body seemed to know her way through this theater even if her mind had no clue where she was. She instinctively ran past a crimson curtain that led to a stage where she could faintly hear the sound of music being played. She hurried up to a large board which had tacked to it a list with names of different people. She picked up a pencil under the sheet and scrolled down the list to find the name Elsman, Janie. She placed two initials next to the name and ran further down the hall where just before she reached a set of stairs, she ran into a middle aged man with balding hair.
"Janie you're late." He said to her as she hurried past him and kept up the stairs "I know Charlie." She heard herself call back to him. But how did she know him? And what was the name that he had called her? "For God's sake it's opening night!" He yelled to her as she continued to hurry up the stairs. "Look! It won't happen again okay?" She called back. She was sure she heard the man she seemed to know, say something else but she didn't pay attention. There was more bustling and scurrying in the small corridor just after the stair well. She also noticed people around her who were dressed in very odd clothing. She immediately headed down this hallway and walked straight into a room with a small drawing table. On the drawing table there was some kind of chest. Ebony opened it to find every sort of makeup product imaginable. There were face powders, eye shadows, and lipsticks, as well as wax to make your ears and nose seem longer and several long brushes to give you wrinkles. She immediately seemed to know what to do. She took a bottle labeled "Fair foundation" opened it, poured a little on her front two fingers and rubbed it onto her face. Once she was done, she inspected herself quickly in the mirror before applying, rouge and eye shadow to her face as well as mascara and dark eyeliner. Last of all she picked up a small black face powder and spread it on to her cheeks, giving her a slightly grungy appearance. She checked the mirror once more and then looked at the clock, which had been placed on the wall next to her drawing table. The clock read 7:45. This seemed to worry her. She heard herself sware under her breath as she nearly sprinted to a rack packed with clothing.
She grabbed a very tattered looking skirt, blouse, belt, and red cap from one of three outfits. She was about to undress when to her apparent shock the door opened to reveal a tall slightly mousy looking boy with parted brown hair. He was wearing a black sort of overcoat and a very tight looking ruffled tie about his neck
"Aaron what the bloody hell are you doing in here?" She heard herself ask in a frantic sort of voice. This was another person she seemed to know. But how could she? The young man, who she knew, simply smirked.
"Just thought you might like to see this." He said. His voice did sound slightly familiar. "What?" She asked sharply. "Very interesting mention of the show in the paper this morning." He said as he showed her a small clipping from a newspaper.
"If your talking about those idiots in the times, I've already read it." She said barusquly turning away from him. "Well, then you don't mind if I call you Ebony then do you?" He said in a very sarcastic tone. She felt herself frown immediately. Although she wasn't sure why.
"My character's name is EPONINE. Just because those idiotic journalists are too stuck in their own insane trivium to so much as read the program of a show they're writing about doesn't mean that you can go -"
"Okay, okay, I was only joking. By the way, What are you doing tonight?" She rolled her eyes at him and responded very cooly.
"Nothing that you'd be interested in. Now would you please get out of my room?" "Why should I?" The boy said with another smirk. He moved to sit down in one of the chairs and put his feet up on the dressing table. As soon as he did however, Ebony, or Janie, or whoever she was, walked over to him grabbed him by the shirt and nearly through him out the door. She slammed the door behind her and began to move back to the rack when she heard the boy say. "See you on stage then EBONY." As soon as he said this she took off her shoe and threw it at the door. She sighed heavily and put on her, was it a costume? She wasn't sure of anything anymore. Obviously this was some shadow of the life she had lead before she landed in Grimmuald place.
Once she had changed she moved back to her dressing table and opened one of the doors. Inside she fond a book bearing a slightly faded illustration of a phoenix in red and gold. Above the illustration was the title: Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix. So this was where she had read Harry's name! She opened the book to a marked page and had no sooner begun to read when there was another knock on the door. "Come in." She said exasperatedly. "Five minuets Jane." Said an older man who had peaked his head through the door. "Thanks Otto." She said with a sigh as she began to close her book. Otto suddenly looked down at the book in her lap. "How many times have you read that book?" He asked her in an interested sort of voice. She could now hear a faint hint of a foreign accent in his speech. "Five." She answered as she got up to straighten her skirt. "It's only been out a week hasn't it." He said now staring rather fixedly at her. "Since last Friday, well, Saturday technically." She was now putting a last touch of powder on her cheeks. She heard the foreign man give a small "hmm." before he said "Three minuets now, you'd bettered get down there." And with that he left the room. She didn't follow right away. Instead she opened the book in her lap to read the last sentence on the page: 'And then from right behind them a drawling voice said, "Very good Potter now turn around, nice and slowly, and give that to me."'
She had very little time to think as she read this. What did this mean? if this book, or whatever it was, told the future then maybe Harry really was in danger. She began to read more when she heard a voice from down the stair well yell
"places for scene 11!" She shut the book and hurriedly walked out of the room, back down the stair well and into a small space to the right of the stage. When she got there, she seemed to be very out of breath and she heard her stomach give a low and some what painful growl. Obviously the people near her had heard it to because a young woman wearing a black dress and brown curls whispered, "Janie are you all right?"
"I'm fine" she answered. "Just a bit hungry." The girl in the black dress suddenly became very stern
"Janie what have you eaten today?" She asked sharply.
"I'll eat when I get home." Janie whispered defensively. "Stop acting so maternal."
Soon she walked onto the stage. She stood at the edge, lights blaring in her eyes. The theater on the other side of the stage gave the distinct aura of being packed up to the balcony with theater goers. She saw the boy who had been in her dressing room across the stage from her. She immediately crossed to him. He opened his mouth as if to say something to her, but instead he sang, " Hey Eponine what's up today, I haven't seen you much about." There was the name again. Eponine, not Ebony. She gathered that this was the name of the character she was playing. So if this was her "stage name" was Janie her real name? She heard herself sing back to the boy "Here you can always find me in."
It was not until she began to sing that she realised just how bizarre her situation was. She had lived five months with out a clue as to who she was, then all of a sudden her past was thrust upon her in a dream. Now she was singing words and melodies that her head didn't remember on a stage she had no memory of ever being on. And what if she never woke up from this dream? What if she went on the rest of her life trying to put together pieces of a broken puzzle? She continued to sing various lines of songs she didn't remember. Then finally she left the stage and headed up to her room. She sat in her chair and began reading her book again. Her mind was racing. Would this book tell her if Harry and the others were indeed in trouble? She had heard herself say that she had read this book five times. Did Janie know what was going to happen already? She had not read more than two words when The old man whom she had called Otto came into the room again.
"They'll want you down stairs again soon." He said. "Allready?" She asked incredulously. Otto smiled and nodded. "Everything does seem to go quickly on opening night doesn't it?" Ebony or Eponine or Janie rolled her eyes and began to close the book again. "So how did you take Sirius's death?" He asked suddenly. Ebony felt as if she had been plunged into a tub of ice water. Janie frowned and lowered her head.
"Otto, you didn't have to bring that up did you? I've had a bad enough day as it is." She felt like saying "What! No it's not true! He was fine when I fell asleep!" until she remembered that she was not in control of her own actions in this dream.
"You are about to read it again are you not?" Otto asked. There was a slightly odd intensity to his voice.
"I know. After I read it the first time I nearly vowed that I wouldn't read the rest of the series. That didn't last long, but still, talking about it doesn't exactly put me in the best of moods."
Otto let out another "hmm." before he left the room as he said "about two minuets."
She sighed another deep sigh, and stuffed the book back into the drawer. Her head felt as if it were on fire. Could Sirius be dying while she was dreaming? If she already knew he was dead was there any way to stop it from happening? Would there be time if she woke up? She headed down the stair well trying to ignore the increasing hunger and slight faintness she felt. She got back to the curtain and walked over to the boy with the brown hair who was about to follow a large group of people off stage. She whispered something in his ear and then pulled him back off stage in the opposite direction. Now she felt fainter, worse than before. She wasn't sure if this was out of worry for Sirius or out of hunger. She had heard herself say that she hadn't eaten all day, and she certainly felt like it.
"'You okay?" The boy asked. She frowned. For a moment she felt as if she was going to faint. She took a deep breath and her senses came back to her.
"I'm fine." She heard herself say. All though she still didn't feel fine. She half wished that she had fainted. Maybe then she would be able to wake up and perhaps even have time to save Sirius.
"Come on. We're on again." The boy said still staring at her. They walked back onto the stage. She couldn't think about what she was singing, not that she remembered any of it. All she wanted to do was to wake up at Grimmuald place and stop Sirius from doing what ever stupid thing he was about to do. There were a few more moments when she felt as if she were going to faint again and was furious with herself when she failed to do so. Soon the stage was crowded back with actors as it had been when she had first walked onto it. Apparently this was the largest musical number of the show. She continued to sing not really listening, feeling particularly faint, when she heard herself sing it. "Tomorrow we'll discover."At that moment everything went black. She would soon be back in her bed at Grimuald place.
She became frustrated again when she woke up, not in her attic bedroom but in a small room filled with card board and various other items. As she opened her eyes she saw several men and the girl in the black dress standing over her. "Janie, are you allright?" "What happened?" Janie asked. Why hadn't she woken up? "You fainted." She looked up to see the man who she had called Charlie when she first got to the theater. "Kinda funny really." Said the brown haired boy who was wearing a slight smirk. "Arron." The girl in the black dress said sharply "Well it was." Arron retorted "Will you be able to finish the show?" Charlie asked her. "Yeah sure." Janie answered trying to smile. "'just need a little rest that's all." "I'll take you up to your room." Otto said suddenly. She hadn't even realised that he was there. "It's no problem I can do it on my own-" But even as she tried to stand up she felt woozy again "Can't risk another fainting spell." Said Otto as he picked her up. He carried her in his arms as the girl in the black dress and the boy called Arron followed in his wake.
When they reached her room, Otto placed Janie (or Eponine?) in the chair by the dressing table. The girl and Arron stood in the door way. "Are you sure you'll be okay Janie?" The girl asked apprehensively "Don't worry Marie, I've got the entire intermission. I'll be fine by the second act."Janie said. "Well if your sure." She said and she left the door way. The boy named Arron made sure the girl in the black dress was gone before he said "No matter what she says it was still funny watching Janie Elsman faint. If you don't watch it people'll start to think your goin' soft." He said half laughing. "Just get out!" Janie said exasperatedly. "See you then, EBONY." He said as he ran from the door as if he was expecting her to through something at him. Otto was now the only one left in the room besides her. He produced a slightly tattered black cloak and laid it over her. "Rest now." He whispered gently before he left the room. She laid her head down on the table and closed her eyes.
Janie woke up with a start. She was back at Grimmuald place. She placed her hand on her head. The musical Le Miserable, the London apartment she shared with her best friend Marie, and the book, the fith instalment of the Harry Potter series. And Sirius. She remembered now. She remembered everything.
Ebony closed the door to her bed room behind her and let out a heavy sigh as she flopped onto her bed. It wasn't a sad or pensive sigh like usual. This was content, and light. She was tired beyond belief but could not even imagine sleeping. Her heart raced and she could feel her pulse pounding in her wrist. She enjoyed the sensation so much that she let out a full laugh that she was sure would be audible to any one in the mansion, no matter how big it was.
It would have been easy to say that she had never felt this way before, but Ebony knew that was a lie. She didn't remember when she had felt this way before would have been more accurate. For, as she constantly reminded herself, she didn't remember much of anything past five months ago. Usually, this thought would have perplexed, or depressed her, but now it didn't seem to matter any more. She wasn't really interested in who she had been before Grimmuald place. She was Ebony to Sirius and that was all that really mattered. And as far as she was concerned, she could stay Ebony for the rest of her life.
"Ebony Black" She muttered to herself as she reluctantly crawled under the covers to her bed. A bit redundant maybe she thought. Still, it has a lovely ring to it. And with this thought she happily drifted off to sleep.
.. She was soon back in the corridor again. This time she didn't try to turn back as she was forced to the door at the end. She waited to hear the laughter and see the green light but they never came. Instead she found that there was a light coming from the wide open black door, almost inviting her inside. She moved closer to the door and passed through it.
When she did, she found herself not inside a black room, but what looked like some kind of theater. All around her she could hear people hurriedly shouting things about setting curtains or bustling about carrying strange objects. Her body seemed to know her way through this theater even if her mind had no clue where she was. She instinctively ran past a crimson curtain that led to a stage where she could faintly hear the sound of music being played. She hurried up to a large board which had tacked to it a list with names of different people. She picked up a pencil under the sheet and scrolled down the list to find the name Elsman, Janie. She placed two initials next to the name and ran further down the hall where just before she reached a set of stairs, she ran into a middle aged man with balding hair.
"Janie you're late." He said to her as she hurried past him and kept up the stairs "I know Charlie." She heard herself call back to him. But how did she know him? And what was the name that he had called her? "For God's sake it's opening night!" He yelled to her as she continued to hurry up the stairs. "Look! It won't happen again okay?" She called back. She was sure she heard the man she seemed to know, say something else but she didn't pay attention. There was more bustling and scurrying in the small corridor just after the stair well. She also noticed people around her who were dressed in very odd clothing. She immediately headed down this hallway and walked straight into a room with a small drawing table. On the drawing table there was some kind of chest. Ebony opened it to find every sort of makeup product imaginable. There were face powders, eye shadows, and lipsticks, as well as wax to make your ears and nose seem longer and several long brushes to give you wrinkles. She immediately seemed to know what to do. She took a bottle labeled "Fair foundation" opened it, poured a little on her front two fingers and rubbed it onto her face. Once she was done, she inspected herself quickly in the mirror before applying, rouge and eye shadow to her face as well as mascara and dark eyeliner. Last of all she picked up a small black face powder and spread it on to her cheeks, giving her a slightly grungy appearance. She checked the mirror once more and then looked at the clock, which had been placed on the wall next to her drawing table. The clock read 7:45. This seemed to worry her. She heard herself sware under her breath as she nearly sprinted to a rack packed with clothing.
She grabbed a very tattered looking skirt, blouse, belt, and red cap from one of three outfits. She was about to undress when to her apparent shock the door opened to reveal a tall slightly mousy looking boy with parted brown hair. He was wearing a black sort of overcoat and a very tight looking ruffled tie about his neck
"Aaron what the bloody hell are you doing in here?" She heard herself ask in a frantic sort of voice. This was another person she seemed to know. But how could she? The young man, who she knew, simply smirked.
"Just thought you might like to see this." He said. His voice did sound slightly familiar. "What?" She asked sharply. "Very interesting mention of the show in the paper this morning." He said as he showed her a small clipping from a newspaper.
"If your talking about those idiots in the times, I've already read it." She said barusquly turning away from him. "Well, then you don't mind if I call you Ebony then do you?" He said in a very sarcastic tone. She felt herself frown immediately. Although she wasn't sure why.
"My character's name is EPONINE. Just because those idiotic journalists are too stuck in their own insane trivium to so much as read the program of a show they're writing about doesn't mean that you can go -"
"Okay, okay, I was only joking. By the way, What are you doing tonight?" She rolled her eyes at him and responded very cooly.
"Nothing that you'd be interested in. Now would you please get out of my room?" "Why should I?" The boy said with another smirk. He moved to sit down in one of the chairs and put his feet up on the dressing table. As soon as he did however, Ebony, or Janie, or whoever she was, walked over to him grabbed him by the shirt and nearly through him out the door. She slammed the door behind her and began to move back to the rack when she heard the boy say. "See you on stage then EBONY." As soon as he said this she took off her shoe and threw it at the door. She sighed heavily and put on her, was it a costume? She wasn't sure of anything anymore. Obviously this was some shadow of the life she had lead before she landed in Grimmuald place.
Once she had changed she moved back to her dressing table and opened one of the doors. Inside she fond a book bearing a slightly faded illustration of a phoenix in red and gold. Above the illustration was the title: Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix. So this was where she had read Harry's name! She opened the book to a marked page and had no sooner begun to read when there was another knock on the door. "Come in." She said exasperatedly. "Five minuets Jane." Said an older man who had peaked his head through the door. "Thanks Otto." She said with a sigh as she began to close her book. Otto suddenly looked down at the book in her lap. "How many times have you read that book?" He asked her in an interested sort of voice. She could now hear a faint hint of a foreign accent in his speech. "Five." She answered as she got up to straighten her skirt. "It's only been out a week hasn't it." He said now staring rather fixedly at her. "Since last Friday, well, Saturday technically." She was now putting a last touch of powder on her cheeks. She heard the foreign man give a small "hmm." before he said "Three minuets now, you'd bettered get down there." And with that he left the room. She didn't follow right away. Instead she opened the book in her lap to read the last sentence on the page: 'And then from right behind them a drawling voice said, "Very good Potter now turn around, nice and slowly, and give that to me."'
She had very little time to think as she read this. What did this mean? if this book, or whatever it was, told the future then maybe Harry really was in danger. She began to read more when she heard a voice from down the stair well yell
"places for scene 11!" She shut the book and hurriedly walked out of the room, back down the stair well and into a small space to the right of the stage. When she got there, she seemed to be very out of breath and she heard her stomach give a low and some what painful growl. Obviously the people near her had heard it to because a young woman wearing a black dress and brown curls whispered, "Janie are you all right?"
"I'm fine" she answered. "Just a bit hungry." The girl in the black dress suddenly became very stern
"Janie what have you eaten today?" She asked sharply.
"I'll eat when I get home." Janie whispered defensively. "Stop acting so maternal."
Soon she walked onto the stage. She stood at the edge, lights blaring in her eyes. The theater on the other side of the stage gave the distinct aura of being packed up to the balcony with theater goers. She saw the boy who had been in her dressing room across the stage from her. She immediately crossed to him. He opened his mouth as if to say something to her, but instead he sang, " Hey Eponine what's up today, I haven't seen you much about." There was the name again. Eponine, not Ebony. She gathered that this was the name of the character she was playing. So if this was her "stage name" was Janie her real name? She heard herself sing back to the boy "Here you can always find me in."
It was not until she began to sing that she realised just how bizarre her situation was. She had lived five months with out a clue as to who she was, then all of a sudden her past was thrust upon her in a dream. Now she was singing words and melodies that her head didn't remember on a stage she had no memory of ever being on. And what if she never woke up from this dream? What if she went on the rest of her life trying to put together pieces of a broken puzzle? She continued to sing various lines of songs she didn't remember. Then finally she left the stage and headed up to her room. She sat in her chair and began reading her book again. Her mind was racing. Would this book tell her if Harry and the others were indeed in trouble? She had heard herself say that she had read this book five times. Did Janie know what was going to happen already? She had not read more than two words when The old man whom she had called Otto came into the room again.
"They'll want you down stairs again soon." He said. "Allready?" She asked incredulously. Otto smiled and nodded. "Everything does seem to go quickly on opening night doesn't it?" Ebony or Eponine or Janie rolled her eyes and began to close the book again. "So how did you take Sirius's death?" He asked suddenly. Ebony felt as if she had been plunged into a tub of ice water. Janie frowned and lowered her head.
"Otto, you didn't have to bring that up did you? I've had a bad enough day as it is." She felt like saying "What! No it's not true! He was fine when I fell asleep!" until she remembered that she was not in control of her own actions in this dream.
"You are about to read it again are you not?" Otto asked. There was a slightly odd intensity to his voice.
"I know. After I read it the first time I nearly vowed that I wouldn't read the rest of the series. That didn't last long, but still, talking about it doesn't exactly put me in the best of moods."
Otto let out another "hmm." before he left the room as he said "about two minuets."
She sighed another deep sigh, and stuffed the book back into the drawer. Her head felt as if it were on fire. Could Sirius be dying while she was dreaming? If she already knew he was dead was there any way to stop it from happening? Would there be time if she woke up? She headed down the stair well trying to ignore the increasing hunger and slight faintness she felt. She got back to the curtain and walked over to the boy with the brown hair who was about to follow a large group of people off stage. She whispered something in his ear and then pulled him back off stage in the opposite direction. Now she felt fainter, worse than before. She wasn't sure if this was out of worry for Sirius or out of hunger. She had heard herself say that she hadn't eaten all day, and she certainly felt like it.
"'You okay?" The boy asked. She frowned. For a moment she felt as if she was going to faint. She took a deep breath and her senses came back to her.
"I'm fine." She heard herself say. All though she still didn't feel fine. She half wished that she had fainted. Maybe then she would be able to wake up and perhaps even have time to save Sirius.
"Come on. We're on again." The boy said still staring at her. They walked back onto the stage. She couldn't think about what she was singing, not that she remembered any of it. All she wanted to do was to wake up at Grimmuald place and stop Sirius from doing what ever stupid thing he was about to do. There were a few more moments when she felt as if she were going to faint again and was furious with herself when she failed to do so. Soon the stage was crowded back with actors as it had been when she had first walked onto it. Apparently this was the largest musical number of the show. She continued to sing not really listening, feeling particularly faint, when she heard herself sing it. "Tomorrow we'll discover."At that moment everything went black. She would soon be back in her bed at Grimuald place.
She became frustrated again when she woke up, not in her attic bedroom but in a small room filled with card board and various other items. As she opened her eyes she saw several men and the girl in the black dress standing over her. "Janie, are you allright?" "What happened?" Janie asked. Why hadn't she woken up? "You fainted." She looked up to see the man who she had called Charlie when she first got to the theater. "Kinda funny really." Said the brown haired boy who was wearing a slight smirk. "Arron." The girl in the black dress said sharply "Well it was." Arron retorted "Will you be able to finish the show?" Charlie asked her. "Yeah sure." Janie answered trying to smile. "'just need a little rest that's all." "I'll take you up to your room." Otto said suddenly. She hadn't even realised that he was there. "It's no problem I can do it on my own-" But even as she tried to stand up she felt woozy again "Can't risk another fainting spell." Said Otto as he picked her up. He carried her in his arms as the girl in the black dress and the boy called Arron followed in his wake.
When they reached her room, Otto placed Janie (or Eponine?) in the chair by the dressing table. The girl and Arron stood in the door way. "Are you sure you'll be okay Janie?" The girl asked apprehensively "Don't worry Marie, I've got the entire intermission. I'll be fine by the second act."Janie said. "Well if your sure." She said and she left the door way. The boy named Arron made sure the girl in the black dress was gone before he said "No matter what she says it was still funny watching Janie Elsman faint. If you don't watch it people'll start to think your goin' soft." He said half laughing. "Just get out!" Janie said exasperatedly. "See you then, EBONY." He said as he ran from the door as if he was expecting her to through something at him. Otto was now the only one left in the room besides her. He produced a slightly tattered black cloak and laid it over her. "Rest now." He whispered gently before he left the room. She laid her head down on the table and closed her eyes.
Janie woke up with a start. She was back at Grimmuald place. She placed her hand on her head. The musical Le Miserable, the London apartment she shared with her best friend Marie, and the book, the fith instalment of the Harry Potter series. And Sirius. She remembered now. She remembered everything.