Chapter Two: A Close Call
Chanteau hummed as she walked down the bright street of Dodds Avenue to her house. Today had been a good day.
She had gotten to talk with her two best friends from Salem, meet with another good friend, and also ran into several people from France she had known well. Yes, she thought, today had been a good day.
Still, she had her hand around her wand as she walked past a dark alley in the recesses of Dodds Avenue, one that gave off emanations of seemingly evil energy. One time when Seth had come over to visit and they had walked past here, he had blasted the street with several hexes on reflex. She had a good reason, she supposed, to be wary of the place.
Mostly because of Seth's reaction. Seth was one of the best students in Salem at Defense Against the Dark Arts, and exhibited several strange and rare anti-dark innate magical qualities. Only a few of the higher-grade students were as gifted in Defense Against the Dark Arts as he. Even Professor Caelyn Coko, the Headmaster of Southeast Salem, had asked Seth his opinion on several Dark Art issues.
There was that Caelyn was about as crazy as Seth and Madison, which wasn't very reassuring to anyone who didn't know either of the three very well. Those who did knew that Salem was in good hands.
Chanteau remembered when someone in their house had mentioned that there was a very fine line between brilliance and insanity. She had groaned at this.
Not because she was insulted or anything similar, in fact, everyone in the room had taken this as a complement. Everyone in the house of Gente was crazy to some degree or the other, but none more so than Seth and Madison. Chanteau had groaned because she knew of the impeding arguments about the meaning of that phrase.
And she had been right. Seth and Madison talked about nothing else for the next few days, and got almost no sleep. They had, however, come to an agreement on Friday night, and spent the next twenty-four odd hours sleeping. Chanteau was kind of glad at this; she had grown quite tired of listening to the two debate the subject.
This, however, almost caused them to miss quidditch practice. The two had been accepted on the team in the middle of the year as beaters when the previous two had both transferred to a foreign school. Chanteau had snuck up to the boy's dormitory and woken them up at the last moment, in a rather embarrassing manner.
Though the pair usually put on pajamas after their showers, they were so tired from debating that they had forgotten, or just decided not to, put anything on over their boxers. Chanteau blushed when she remembered the first thought that had come to her mind.
Both of them were well-muscled, more so than she would have thought for people who rarely engaged in physical activity, and Madison more so than Seth. Madison had under his bed a forty-five pound lifting weight that he lifted three sets of thirty every night. He said it came in handy over the summer when he wasn't allowed to use magic to lift things.
Thankfully the boy's dorm was empty but for the three of them, or there would have been quite a commotion. Madison and Seth both woke up at the same time and had both used the full body bind spell on each other, completely on accident. Chanteau, blushing the whole time, had whispered the counter jinx and had fled from the room. There had been no mention of that incident since then.
Thankfully.
Chanteau had been brought out of her reminiscing when she heard something down the dark alley, and then something like a cry of help. Her heart, always being more generous than Madison's or Seth's, told her to go to the aid of the person she had heard. Her curious side, partly gained from Madison and Seth, told her to go as well. These two combined were much more powerful than her cautious side, which had dwindled greatly due to Madison and Seth.
She drew out her wand and moved silently, like Madison and Seth had taught her, down the dark alley. She was upset to find that the alley was infested with rats, but was not about to turn back with the cries for help growing louder.
Chanteau rounded a corner in the dark alley and came to the source of the cries for help. It was a small child, and by the strange bend in the child's leg was probably unable to walk. Chanteau walked over to the boy and said, "Everything's going to be okay."
The response was not something she was expecting. In a darkly evil voice the child responded, "Not for you." The boy's form twisted and shaped into the form of a Demost, a very dangerous and evil magical creature, one that could shapeshift.
Had she not had quick reflexes she would have been dead. But she did, and yelled out: "Petrificus Totalus!" while the creature was in mid jump. She jumped backwards as the creature landed on the ground. As it started to move again she started to run.
After a few seconds she heard the Demost coming in fast pursuit. She pointed her wand over her back and yelled, "Petrificus Totalus!" again, but missed this time. When she had cast the spell her attention on her path had wavered, and she tripped over something. "Damn it!" She whispered.
Before she had met Madison and Seth she had been a nice girl, and had never cussed. That changed after being around the two for a while. Of course, nobody would have cared of her cussing in her current situation.
Chanteau whirled around to her stomach and kicked out, catching the scaly creature in the stomach. In response is clawed a gash into her leg, causing her to withdraw it, and pounced again. She brought her wand up, but the Demost moved faster and pinned her wand arm down, slashing into her wrist at the same time.
She struggled as the creature pinned her down with four of its arms, but was not match for the Demost. After it had pinned her down, she could do nothing but yell for help. The fifth arm of the creature came up and stabbed into her cheek and tongue, silencing her.
Then it raised the fifth claw and prepared to stab through Chanteau's neck. She caught it by surprise, and brought her head forward to slam it into the creature's scaly face. She immediately brought up her wand, not remembering that she required her tongue fully functional to cast spells. She was oblivious to the fact that blood was flowing out of her lips and down her throat.
This didn't matter, however, as someone yelled, "AVADA KEDAVRA!" and a bright flash of green light lit up the alley. A man with shimmering black robes came out of the shadows and pulled the Demost off of Chanteau. He looked with undisguised pity down at the young girl and waved his wand. Several of Chanteau's wounds disappeared, including her tongue.
The man helped her to her feet, quickly noting her wand. Chanteau supposed that the man would be attractive had he been younger.
She wanted to cry. For a moment she had thought she was going to die, and that always unnerves the person. Her even more so, at her young age.
The man sensed this, and asked, "Would you like to forget this?" Chanteau nodded immediately. Of course she would, she wouldn't want to ever have to face something like that ever again, and she didn't want to have to deal with such a horrible memory.
"Ready?" The man asked. Chanteau nodded, on the brink of tears. "Obliviate," The man said, and Chanteau forgot everything after going into the dark alley to search for a person crying for help.
A man was suddenly standing beside her, though. And she seemed to be wounded. Her face screwed up, like it always did when she was confused. The man standing next to her said, "You tripped and almost fell on me. Be more careful next time."
Chanteau looked a little taken aback, but recovered quickly and nodded. "I would stay away from here in the future," The man said, his shimmering black robes flowing around him as he left the area. "What's your name?" She called to his back. "Cada," He answered.
By now Chanteau had ceased her sobbing and was talking with only the merest hint that this had affected her at all. Madison however, looked a bit confused at the story.
"How can you remember this if Cada erased your memory?" He asked. She looked at him solemnly from her place beside Seth, waiting for him to come to the logical conclusion. "A dementor." Seth supplied after a few moments of silence. Madison nodded, and said, "I see…"
"Is there anything you want us to do?" Seth asked. Chanteau shook her head and wiped the last of her tears from her eyes. "I just needed to tell someone." Madison and Seth both nodded, understanding completely.
"When and how did you come across this dementor?" Madison asked. Chanteau chuckled, an action the other two were relieved to see, and said, "That is a story for another time." Madison and Seth smiled, remembering the times she had told them that. To date, she had never kept her word on it.
Chanteau stood, and the two followed her lead. "Where to?" Seth asked. Chanteau shrugged. "Let's go see if we can find anyone from school," Chanteau supplied. The pair nodded. Seth replaced his book, but Madison said, "I'm buying this one."