Author is not posting anymore. Author is gonna hide from butlerphan666.
Just kidding.
Anyway, what can I say? I can't tell you whether you're right or not because then, I'm spoiling all the fun for you, am I not? Hehe this is afterall under the genre: mystery/action/romance. So all you can do is sit back and enjoy whatever evil plot I've planned for you muahahah!
Chapter 26: Old Suspicions
As Janieve crept up the winding stairway to the Gryffindor tower later that evening, her mind was a million miles away.
"Sauerkrauts," she whispered to the Fat Lady. The Fat Lady who seemed to her noted her solemn swung the door open for her without a word, which Janieve was grateful for. She was in no mood for small talk.
When she climbed through the opening into the common room, six pairs of Gryffindor eyes met hers. She halted.
They probably want to know what happened to Hermione. Sighing inwardly, she spoke, "Voldermort got her." A few gasp were heard.
"We know," Neville said softly.
Janieve looked at him puzzled.
"Harry had another of those visions just now," he added quietly.
"What? What did you see? Where is she?" Janieve asked Harry hurriedly.
"Shouldn't we be asking you that?" Ron cut in.
Janieve snapped her head back to face Ron.
"What are you talking about?" she demanded. She looked around at everyone else who all had straight faces on. She suddenly had an idea what Ron was talking about.
"So what does Voldermort want from Hermione?" Ron said sarcastically.
"Ron, that's enough," Harry snapped.
"No it's okay. I'm sorry Ron. It's my fault," Janieve said.
Harry's jaw dropped and he turned to stare at Janieve.
"So it was you!" Ginny exclaimed. "We trusted you!"
"I'm sorry," Janieve said morosely, "It should have been me. It was my broom."
"Wait," Harry said suddenly, "so it wasn't you who set Hermione up?"
Janieve was the surprise one now. Her surprise was however, quickly replaced by anger. "What do you mean so I wasn't the one who set Hermione up?" she asked. Her voice got louder she was almost shouting when she said, "Did you guys actually think I was the one who sent Hermione to Voldermort!"
Ron snorted. "Come on, cut the act," he said derisively.
"I can't believe you'd actually think such a thing of me," Janieve told him.
"Not everyone here is called a Lestrange," Ron said.
His words stung her, but probably not as much as what was about to come next.
She looked around for support but found none. She looked at Harry pointedly.
"You don't think I did it too, do you?" Janieve asked.
"What?" she barked at him when he remained quiet.
Harry shrugged. "You've been acting kind of weird recently. Always disappearing and all."
She could not believe her ears.
"Hermione trusted you. We all did."
This time it came from Ginny.
Janieve drew in a deep breath to compose herself. Her lips trembled dangerous but she was adamant not to show any sign of weakness.
"If you really trusted me," Janieve said, "I wouldn't be standing here with all these accusing fingers pointing at me. If you really trusted me, you'd be worried for me because it had been my broom. It might have been me that Voldermort was after. But apparently I'm still Janieve Lestrange to you, not Janny."
She gave Ron, Neville, Seamus, Dean, Ginny and Harry one last look each before climbing up the stairs leading to the girls' dormitories.
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Harry hardly slept a wink last night. Between feeling worried for Hermione, he found himself debating Janieve's position. Did she really work for Voldermort, as what Narcissa Malfoy had warned Harry about? Or could it be Voldermort's plan to make Janieve looked like the culprit of Hermione's captivity? Perhaps Voldermort had let Harry had that glimpse of Hermione looking lost in an old creepy room on purpose. He wanted Harry to suspect Janieve. But why? Why did Voldermort want to sow discord between them? It doesn't make any sense. Or had it been exactly Janieve had predicted. Voldermort had actually wanted to transport Janieve but Hermione had touched the portkey instead. If that was the case, then what again do Voldermort want from Janieve?
Harry rolled to his side and stared at the photo he had taken with Janieve merely weeks ago. Her black bambi eyes twinkled with a tint of purple. The violet colour had slowly faded out over the months.
If Janieve had been the one Voldermort wanted, Harry thought, then wasn't she in a lot of danger? In his heart of heart, he definitely did not believe Janieve was a traitor. Or did he not want to believe? He pondered. Maybe a bit of both. Janieve may be quite stubborn at times, but there was nothing bad in her, albeit her parentage. But that was a different matter altogether. Harry also did not want to believe that the girl he had shared such intimacy with, both physically and spiritually, could have been playing him.
When morning came, Harry finally came to a decision – to apologise to Janieve.
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"Just think about it Ron. If she had wanted to harm Hermione, she could have done it without our presence. She could even have made Ginny's broomstick the portkey and planned for Hermione to take it so she wouldn't have been made the suspect. There are too many things that don't make sense here," said Harry.
"The only thing that don't make sense here is," replied Ron cynically, "how did that traitor had you bewitched? She doesn't have Veela blood in her does she?"
Harry sighed exasperatedly. He had been debating in circles with Ron the entire morning and Ron's stubbornness was irritating Harry no end. How could he get this in his best friend's head?
"Ron, I know you're worried about Hermione but I need you to be rational about this," Harry said.
"You are confused because you are infatuated with that Lestrange woman. Her mother killed Sirius remember?" Ron said loudly.
"Why are you talking about this? They are two separate matters," Harry replied even loudly.
"They are not separate matters! It all runs in their blood! They are all evil! Look what they did to Neville's parents!" Ron yelled angrily.
"It wasn't Janieve's fault! You know something about you Ron? You always jump to the conclusion and think you're right about it! But the truth is you don't know anything at all! You were the same during the Triwizard competition! Start growing up, WILL YA!" Harry shouted back, his veins visible along his neck.
"If you think you're so goddamnit mature, then stop talking to me!" Ron huffed.
"Fine!" Harry barked.
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"Lestrange."
Janieve spun around. "Malfoy," she said tonelessly.
"Is it true, what they're saying?" he asked.
"Excuse me? I don't think I know what you're talking about," Janieve said.
"That you're working for the Dark Lord and that you sent that mudblood to him?" he asked.
"So what if I did?" Janieve replied, fuming. How dare he come and provoke her first thing in the morning. It was bad enough having her friends accusing her but having Malfoy rubbing it in her face? It had to sap every ounce of her energy to stop herself from jinxing him.
"If you did, then I want to congratulate you for such a good job. It's about time someone got rid of that filthy mudblood," he said that carelessly but Janieve could tell he was surveying her with interest.
Janieve narrowed her eyes at him with dislike.
"I didn't know you had that in you," Malfoy said, somewhat impressed, "You should have been in Slytherin."
Janieve was about to correct Malfoy's misconception about Janieve working for the Dark Lord but thought the better of it. It should not hurt to have a resourceful person like Malfoy on her side now. In fact, it could prove useful if she played her game well.
"The hat did consider putting me in Slytherin," Janieve said, choosing her words carefully, "but of course I had to persuade it otherwise. It was my only chance to get close to Potter."
"You're a good actress," Malfoy said and Janieve thought she had blown it. But he went on to say, "You had me fooled. I thought you were indeed smitten with scar-head."
"Of course, that's only why the Dark Lord thinks so highly of me," Janieve said haughtily. Janieve knew that Malfoy was prohibited from becoming a Death Eater because his father thought he was not ready and Janieve decided to use that knowledge to play to her strength. Perhaps, she could make him reveal Hermione's whereabouts.
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Harry could not believe his ears. He felt the ground beneath him spun and his visions swum. Janieve had admitted to Malfoy that she was indeed working under Voldermort's order. It couldn't be true. But that was exactly what she had said. She had no reason to lie about it.
Harry grabbed the wall for support. He felt like throwing up. The girl he had loved had been putting on an act all this while. He had been used and he had thought he was the luckiest man on this earth. Was he sick?
No, he wasn't. She was. She had been the liar. She had through unscrupulous means forced herself in Gryffindor and into Harry's world. Harry had accepted her so readily, trusting her with his friends but she had turned around and betrayed his trust.
A wave of guilt knocked Harry over. He had led that sheep in wolf's clothing into his life. He had placed Hermione in danger because of his own stupidity. He had just fallen off with his best friend because he had been too blind to see. All because of Janieve Lestrange.
But it won't happen again, Harry vowed to himself, it won't.
