By Sweet 16 Movie Buff!
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"Hip, hip hooray. Hip, hip hooray . . ." Toby bounded into the dormitory and with a little vault flipped on her back to lay on her bed.
Carly eyed her warily, setting aside a bottle of nail polish, "What are you so happy about?"
"Oh, you'll see," she smiled and continued to hum to herself, her fingers conducting the tune.
Jillian and Carly shared a worried glance before shrugging; Toby was being Toby and would keep her secret until she saw fit to reveal it. Carly returned to painting her nails and reading the thirty-second chapter about animagi for her Transfiguration paper. Jillian absently stroked Chocoball as he slept, before returning to the piece of parchment before her.
The edges of the parchment were embossed with ornate symbols, symbols Jillian had used to seal in the peak-proof and anti-cheating spells. Sirius had not given the second scroll of paper to James, but to Jillian as a means of communication for them now that Mitra had come back. She ran the scarlet plume along her chin before dipping the tip into the red ink and answering Sirius's question scrawled on the parchment.
'What's going on?' was dashed in his hand across the top of the paper.
'Toby', she wrote back. 'She's happy about something, but she won't say why.'
'Maybe, she's planned something for April Fool's tomorrow', appeared upon the page.
Jillian smiled. 'What? Do you and James have something planned all ready?'
'Come on, Jilly. We've had this planned since the second week of first term. Snivellus isn't going to know what hit him.'
Her smiled faded a bit at the mention of Snape. Neither had forgotten that morning in the hall. 'Anything different about him?'
She could almost see him shaking his head. 'Still the sneaking, sniveling git he's always been. Well . . . he has seemed a bit more withdrawn than usual. Doesn't try to hex James as much as he used too. It's almost like he's reminding himself there's something worse in store. James swears I'm bleeding cracked though.'
Jillian sighed again and wrote quickly, 'Nothing's crazy anymore. Did you see the Daily Prophet this morning? Fifteen different raids, all the victims splayed out Mandala style in a circle of their own blood. They're saying it's a new cult within You-Know-Who's supporters; the real fanatical sector, you know.'
'Which reminds me . . . Regulus became a Death Eater. Mummy and Daddykins must be oh so proud.'
'Don't sound so bitter, Sirius.'
'Bitter? Bitter about what? Who wants to be family with a bunch of pureblood separatists? I don't.'
'I was just teasing.'
'Well, I was ruddy serious.'
"Jillian what are you smiling about?" Carly asked so suddenly that Jillian jumped, the 'D' she was forming, jerking sharply upward. "You don't have anything written yet."She shrugged, "Um, just thought of something funny, that's all."
"Uh-ah."
Sighing, Jillian turned back to the parchment. 'Look, Sirius, I've got to go. Carly's gonna start jumping down my throat if I don't start this animagus paper for McGonagall.'
'I'm sure that will only take you two minutes to finish. Need I remind you, you spent most of your Christmas holiday with one; just keep talking. What were you saying?'
Shaking her head, Jillian scratched, rather sloppily, 'Bye, Sirius.'
'Bu - '
With another reluctant sigh, Jillian swiped the plume of the quill up the page, erasing their conversation.
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The next morning at breakfast, Toby was looking rather anxious. She hadn't touched her oatmeal and blueberries, and in her haste to cool it she had drowned it in too much milk. When the owl post finally arrived, she nearly choked on her pumpkin juice.
Jillian rapidly pounded her on the back, "Bugger, Toby, what's gotten into you?"
Toby rose slightly in her seat, craning for a better look at the Gryffindor table, "Did it come? Ahhh . . ."
With a maniacal chuckle, she presently sat down and took a bite of a piece of bacon, "Excellent, a Howler. Couldn't have planned it better myself."
Carly's brow suddenly furrowed, "Toby, what did you - "
Before Carly could even finish, a thundering voice tore through the hall, and quite audibly began to scream, "MITRA CHANDRA SUDHA! YOUR PARENTS LET YOU FLAUNT ABOUT WITHOUT A VEIL AND THIS IS HOW YOU REPAY THEIR LENIENCY? YOU OUGHT TO BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELF! CONSORTING WITH BOYS IN THAT MANNER BEFORE YOUR MARRIED?! UNEXCEPTABLE! ABSOLUTELY APPALLING!"
"TOBY!" Carly rose abruptly from her seat, looking appalled herself. A torrent of hardly less than flattering terms came out of Carly's mouth, but Mitra's grandmother drowned her out.
"WHAT DECENT MAN WILL TAKE YOU FOR HIS WIFE NOW?! EVEN IF THIS SIRIUS BLACK WERE TO GO ABOUT PROPOSING PROPERLY, YOUR FATHER WOULD NEVER ALLOW HIM! HE HAS BLATANTLY IGNORED THE PROPER RULES OF COURTING . . . YOUR FATHER HAS HAD TO BREAK OFF SEVERAL OF THE ENGAGEMENT TALKS AFTER HE RECEIVED THAT OWL! YOUR MOTHER HAS TAKEN ILL AGAIN; SHE WAS SO STUNNED BY THE NEWS! YOU ARE NOT TO TALK TO OR EVEN SO MUCH AS TOUCH THAT BOY AGAIN!"
A sudden stillness filled the Great Hall as Mitra's Howler finished and tore itself apart. Carly, too had finished her rant, and was seated once more at the Ravenclaw table, albeit breathing heavily and glaring daggers at Toby for one of the foulest retributions in history.
There were muffled sobs coming from the Gryffindor table. Jillian watched guiltily as Mitra ran down the aisle and through the entrance doors of the Great Hall, a buzz of whispers following her out.
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"Toby, you're despicable," Carly snapped vehemently when Toby opened her mouth to say something. "I'd sooner you had turned her into something unpleasant than doing that to the poor girl."
Jillian, Carly, and Toby strode briskly along the corridors amidst the throngs of whispering students. Mitra Sudha's Howler was the news on everyone's mind. People wondered how Grandmother Sudha had even found out about Sirius and Mitra and Rebecca Inkle (Mitra's Gryffindor third-year friend) had quickly laid the blame on Jillian. Unlike the last time she had been the center of the rumor mill, Jillian was acutely aware of the glances and dirty looks people were throwing her as she passed. And to her disgust, some of the Slytherins were acknowledging her for a 'job well done.'
"I didn't even tell you half the stuff she said about Jillian!" Toby exploded, apparently oblivious, or just uncaring, about the eyes following them. "Trust me, she got exactly what she deserved."
"You humiliated her in front of the entire school!"
"Williams!" someone shouted from behind them. James sauntered up at that moment and slung an arm around Toby's shoulders. "So was it you behind that Howler?"
"Yeah, Potter, what's it to you?" Toby asked warily.
"When they said McKee here was the mastermind, I knew that Toby Williams couldn't have been far behind the scenes. Bloody brilliant! And you're not going to get in trouble for it?"
"She can't," Carly said bitterly, shooting Toby another glare, "Mitra's grandmother sent the Howler, Toby can't be blamed for it."
"I think we've got another Marauder on our hands, Hogwarts," James announced grandly to the hall.
"Wicked!" Toby skipped with excitement, then stopped, suddenly realizing she didn't know what a Marauder was. "What's a Marauder?"
"Wicked?" Carly's voice came out strangled, "What's wicked? Humiliating that poor girl?"
"Poor girl?" James snorted, "That poor girl, as you call her, is a strangling little toerag that had Sirius wrapped around her little finger for so long she wouldn't let anyone near him! Not even me."
"No one deserves to be denounced like that. No one," Carly shot back bitterly.
"How's Mitra taking it?" Jillian asked suddenly.
"Erm . . ." James scratched absently at the back of his neck, not looking at her. The look he wasn't giving her spoke mountains in four words: she absolutely hated Jillian.
"Oh lovely," she murmured dryly.
"I didn't think you had it in you, McKee," purred a voice to her left.
Jillian stopped dead in her tracks and turned. Lucius Malfoy and Bellatrix Black leaned again a pillar, watching her with glowing eyes filled with mixed amusement and hesitant respect. In an instant, Carly and Toby grabbed Jillian's arms to stop her from doing something stupid.
Bellatrix chuckled softly, "You've managed to ruin two lives in one letter, well done."
"I didn't do anything," she spoke every word deliberately through clenched teeth. Her muscles were twitching to grab her wand and hex them both to hell, but Carly had her arm pinned.
"Anything?" Lucius laughed, "Mitra Sudha is whimpering in the second floor lavatory."
Her every limb shook when she realized that they were right for once in their miserable lives. She had as good as done this to Mitra by not stepping in and telling Toby to back off. The fact that for once in their miserable lives they were better than her made Jillian hate them even more. Angrily she shrugged off Carly and Toby's hold and spun on her heel.
"Where are you going, McKee?" Bellatrix's voice cooed, "The greenhouses are that way."
Jillian didn't answer. She just kept walking towards the stairwell to the second floor.
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"Mitra?"
Politely Jillian rapped on the door as she opened it at the same time. She could hear muffle sobs coming from somewhere within the lavatory. The girl's bathroom on the second floor was always an ideal spot to weep your eyes out, because no one ever used it. It was rather difficult to relieve oneself when Moaning Myrtle was moaning about something.
"Mitra?"
"She won't tell me what's wrong," Moaning Myrtle pouted as Jillian paused before the stall where the sobs were loudest, "She just keeps crying. Rather unsightly isn't it?"
Jillian decided better than to retort and asked again timidly, "Mitra, are you all right?"
"Who, who is it?" she blubbered.
"Jillian McKee."
There was a stretch of silence, then broken by Mitra screeching, "YOU!"
The stall door flung open and Jillian leapt back. Mitra stood bracing herself on either side of the stall door, glowering at Jillian with tears streaming down her face.
Maybe it was a bad idea to come, Jillian's mind said hesitantly, taken aback by the savage look on Mitra's face. Merlin, was she in for it.
Swallowing a lump in her throat, Jillian continued, "How . . .how are you feeling?"
"How am I feeling?" she echoed, her voice rising with every word. "How am I feeling? Humiliated thanks to you. How could you have written my grandmother?"
"I didn't write your grandmother. But it is almost every inch my fault as yours." Oh, wrong thing to say Jillian, she told herself, as Mitra's face turned an even darker shade of red.
"My fault? If you weren't such a jealous slut, none of this would have happened!"
Jillian stiffened, being called jealous and a slut were two things she usually wasn't and wouldn't tolerate. Deciding to be civil, she beseeched, "Let me explain - "
But Mitra had had enough of talking. She whipped out her wand and before Jillian could even bring up her wand, Mitra had shouted an incantation.
Jillian's knees cracked painfully and seemingly twisted about themselves. The loss of her balance soon ensued and she fell to the floor, her head connecting with the grate and the world falling into blackness.
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The first thing Jillian became aware of when she came to was a certain throbbing in her legs. The second was voices around her.
"Attacking her when she didn't even pull out her BLOODY wand, I'm going to throttle her - "
"Miss Williams if you cannot control yourself, I will have to ask you to leave," Madame Pomphrey said patiently.
"Sorry, Madame Pomphrey," Toby mumbled.
Jillian felt the nurse prodding her knee, pressing firmly in a circle around her kneecap, much to Jillian's pain and displeasure. A little whimper escaped her lips and Madame Pomphrey looked up to see Jillian balling the pillow in her fists, "Now, now, it's just a bit of swelling. Drink this."
Gratefully Jillian excepted the cup of amber liquid she held out for her and gulped it down, ignoring the vile taste of the potion. For an instant Jillian felt a trickling sensation flood her throbbing knees and the pain eased. "Thank you, that feels better."
Madame Pomphrey nodded, setting the potion and a small shot glass on the bedside table beneath the shadow of two dozen roses, "Every hour on the hour, drink a bit and the swelling will go down."
"Thank you."
James and Remus parted so that the old nurse might get through, but soon filed into her place. Jillian looked around to see Carly and Toby hovering at the foot of the bed beside a large mountain of candy. A redheaded seventh year with amazing green eyes, Lily Evans, sat cross-legged on the bed to Jillian's right, Remus and James flanking her on either side. Peter sat at the head of the bed on her left.
"What . . . what are you doing here?" she asked, looking at each of their smiling and kind faces. She'd thought that everyone hated her after that scandalous debacle in the Great Hall the other day.
Carly grinned, "We are your friends, Jilly."
"But . . . the Howler . . ."
"Miss Perfect, don't worry, you're off the hook," Toby assured, patting her ankle; Jillian yelped.
"TOBY!!!!!!"
"Sorry, I'm sorry," hurriedly she backed away from the bed.
The redhead grinned, "Toby confessed to Mitra's Howler to the entire school, yesterday."
"And I have five days detention with Professor Mortensen for that," she grumbled, snatching up a box of Bernie Botts Every-Flavored Beans and cracking it open.
"Well if you hadn't stood on the house table and busted out singing 'Respect', maybe it would have just been two days," Carly rebuked curtly.
"How else was I supposed to get everyone's attention?"
Shaking her head and smiling, Lily continued, "People felt rather guilty about how they had treated you, so they sent you this."
She motioned to the candy, cards and flowers around them that spanned every flat surface possible. Jillian smiled, but then blinked; she still didn't understand, "I think this potion is messing with my hearing, could someone – very slowly and in one syllable words – tell me exactly what happened, please? After I lost consciousness, if you would."
It was Remus who spoke up, "Moaning Myrtle flooded the pipes so that someone might come and find you. Professor McGonagall did and brought you up to the Hospital Wing, where you've been incapacitated."
"One syllable words, Moony, not six," James corrected. Peter began to count out his hands the syllables in 'incapacitated' to everyone's amusement.
"How long have I been here?" she asked.
Remus, his eyes still twinkling, went on, "Three days. Toby confessed to Mitra's Howler the second day you were here and, I think, a vast majority of the student body felt rather sorry for the way they had judged you, so they sent you tokens of their apology. Mitra, from what I've heard - "
"Still hates me doesn't she?"
"'With the fire of a thousand suns,'" Sirius quoted with a laugh from the door. Seven pairs of eyes turned towards him, and Jillian felt her heart give a feeble flutter; he didn't look angry with her. But then again, that hadn't meant anything in the past.
Jillian's head fell back on her pillow, resigning to the inevitable, "If you're here to kill me, Sirius, could you please wait until I'm out of bed?"
"Who said I was going to kill you?" he asked with a frown, sauntering over and straddling a chair.
"I can explain."
"Too late," Lily and James chorused, then grinned at one another.
Jillian was still gaping at Sirius, as he opened one of her Chocolate Frogs, "Don't you hate me?"
Sirius shook his head, "Nah, I'm quite relieved actually. Enjoying my new found freedom."
"Amen to that, Padfoot," James laughed, awarding him a quelling glance from Lily.
"Besides," he went on, his lips twitching in a smile, "If I remember correctly, it was Madame Sudha that forbid us to ever date again."
"But if I had stopped Toby before she sent that letter - "
"Miss Perfect, I would have sent it anyway. I never really did like Mitra," Toby insisted, then added thoughtfully, "I think it's because she flies too much like a girl . . ."
Jillian's welcoming committee went into fits of laughter, even Sirius to Jillian's confusion. He caught her gaze and smiled. She weakly smiled back.
Remus took his cue; "Perhaps we should leave you to finish the story, Padfoot."
"But - " Toby began but Carly forcefully took up her arm and began to drag her towards the door.
"Come along, Toby, we've got homework to finish."
But - "
Remus and Peter soon left, waving good-bye and wishing her a swift recovery. Lily, who had apparently come along to keep James company, smiled at Jillian before looping her arm through James's.
James clapped Sirius on the shoulder, "Glad to have you back, Padfoot."
"Glad to be back, Prongs," he grinned up at his best friend. James and Lily politely shut the door behind them, leaving Jillian and Sirius alone.
"Why are you here?" Jillian asked at last
"I heard there was free chocolate in the infirmary," he joked, taking a Chocoball from the bedside table and offering it to her. Jillian shook her head. Batted down by the look on her face, Sirius admitted, "I came to see if you were all right."
"Well, I can honestly say I've felt better," she flopped her hands weakly at her sides, motioning to her aching knees.
He smiled, shaking his head, "What were you thinking?"
"To set the record straight," she mumbled, fidgeting with the fold of the blanket.
"I can always tell when you're lying because you fiddle with things," he said, putting his hand over hers. "Seriously, Jillian."
She gnawed on her lower lip thoughtfully, thinking carefully before she answered. He was being earnest, she knew, but she didn't quite have an answer for him. Maybe it was to prove to herself that she was a good person, or to prove to Mitra that she was a good person. Maybe she had hopes of salvaging Sirius's relationship with the girl, and keeping their friendship intact. She really didn't know; it could be any one of those things.
"No one expects you to be a bloody saint, Jilly. Just remember that the next time you decide to do something stupid. Now move over," Sighing, Sirius nudged Jillian over and slipped into the hospital bed with her, keeping the blankets between them. He slung one arm across her stomach, and curled the other under his head.
She eyed him curiously, his face so close to hers, "What are you doing?"
"Getting some sleep," he grumbled, eyes all ready closed. "I'm tired."
She saw the dark shadows under his eyes and realized he did look amazingly exhausted. Gently she pushed a piece of hair out of his face, watching as his features relaxed.
"Bad dreams?" she breathed quietly.
"You have no idea."
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Madame Pomphrey decided to release Jillian that Friday depending on the condition of her knees, which had slowly begun to mend. At her request Carly and Toby brought her work and notes she had missed. Thursday found Jillian working on copying Remus's History of Magic notes and working on her Potions essay at the same time.
"Did you put her up to it?" asked a voice as Jillian finished flourishing the 'F' at the beginning of her paragraph, causing her to jump. The reaction was not at all good for her knees as they banged her lap desk.
Mitra was standing at the foot of her bed, eyeing Jillian with a mix of dislike and amusement. Biting back a gasp of pain, Jillian forced herself to reply evenly, "No. Toby's a big girl, she doesn't need me to tell her what to do."
"Did you ask her to do it?"
"No," she repeated firmly. Once she was certain she could speak without her voice straining, Jillian elaborated, "But it was just as much my fault. I should have put a stop to it - "
"Did you know about the letter?" Mitra demanded coolly, raising a delicate brow.
"No, but - "
"Then there's nothing you could have done," she shrugged, slipping her pack onto the floor and sitting primly in the bedside chair. "Sticks and stones, hun. You've been humiliated and so have I, so we're square. I don't hold it against you."
"Are you all right, though?" Jillian asked after a moment.
Then to her surprise, Mitra flashed her a twisted smile; "I should have known."
"Known what?"
"Sirius doesn't usually fancy malicious bitches. He likes his girls sweet and strong, like you, like me. I shouldn't have believed what Chelsea and they were saying about you. May I?" she indicated a bag of Chocoballs and Jillian nodded mutely, aghast.
"You didn't spread those rumors?"
"No," Mitra shook her head in disdain, "Rebecca's doing. If I had I would have come up with something better."
At this Jillian laughed, a good hard laugh, which Mitra rewarded with a befuddled, amused look. "What's so funny?"
"Nothing," she panted at last, "Nothing; just something Toby said. Not about you, but about the gossip. It's uncanny how you two think alike."
"Oh," Mitra nodded, popping a chocolate into her mouth.
"May I ask a question?" Jillian asked, digging into the bag. "James . . . James said once that you wouldn't let Sirius out of your sight, not even to talk to him. Why?"
"Well," a slight blush rose on the girl's cheeks, flattering to the warm tones of her skin, "You know how Sirius is. He's just too good to lose. Zoey, she kept saying we were a match made in heaven, that we were meant to be together and it got to my head. I didn't want to lose him, not to anyone. How did you ever handle it?"
"Handle what?"
"Him. The other girls, always staring. It made me so angry, but you never seemed to care."
Jillian shrugged, "I guess it was because we never got serious about one another."
"You seemed serious for one another," Mitra said with a smile.
Jillian merely shrugged again. Then noticed the bag of Chocoballs was half gone, "You fancy Chocoballs as much as you fancy Sirius?"
"Um?" Mitra cocked a questioning brow, her mouth full.
"The bag's half gone."
"Oh, I suppose so," she laughed. Then she glanced at the clock, "I better go, lunch is almost over."
"Thanks for stopping by," Jillian said with a smile, all ready resuming to start her essay once more. Mitra nodded again to her and shouldered her pack before gliding out of the infirmary.
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SIDE NOTE . . .
There, I hope that makes Mitra less of a bitch, but still keeping intact with her character from Chapter 3. Please let me know what you think.
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AN EXTRA DISCLAIMER . . .
Ha-ha! The Pirates of the Caribbean reference I have hinted at has come about! :)
Anyway, the line's tweaked a bit, but when Mitra says, "Sticks and stones, hun. You've been humiliated and so have I, so we're square," is originated (albeit roughly) from when Jack says, "Sticks and stones, love. You've saved my life; I've saved yours, so we're square."
It's at the beginning when he's just saved Elizabeth from drowning, been arrested, and used her to escape. Remember? Originally, I wasn't going to have a POTC reference (sorry, Moon Burst!), but I had to slip one in somewhere because its such a great movie.
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THANK YOU TO ALL OF MY WONDERFUL REVIEWERS! YOU ALL MEAN THE WORLD TO ME!
Moon Burst – Thank you so much for giving me your livejournal link so I could read what you've written. I know you're looking for constructive criticism, but I couldn't find anything that needed fixin', because like I said in my comment, I absolutely LOVED that chapter! Update soon, will ya please? Please, please, please, please with cherries, and whipped cream, and chocolate syrup on top?
Nicky Black – Okay, so do you see now why Sirius was with Mitra? She didn't spread the rumors, is indeed sort of a cool person though certainly not Jillian's friend, and was giving Sirius a little bit of ass on the side. However, if that doesn't satisfy, I'd like to say that eventually Sirius would have broken up with her, because this relationship is based on one I've seen (not first-hand however. I have NEVER had a boyfriend).
YAY! I'm so glad we'll finally get to meet her mum and get to know more about your character. It really is a good story.
kat-firefly – I hope you enjoyed your holiday and welcome back. :)
Kirie Himuro – All will be answered in the next chapter. You'll probably be able to put two and two together after you read it. ;)