This chapter is longer then some, as a reviewer kindly pointed out my chapters are annoyingly short. I'll try to do better but can't promise anything. Enjoy!
Voldemort was once again livid, Wormtail had not returned and it was already two days into November.
"Can anyone tell me what happened to Wormtail?" he asked his followers in a deceptively calm voice, although his eyes betrayed just how angry he was.
Silence rang through the graveyard as all were to afraid to be the one to give their lord the bad news. Finally after what seemed like hours, one timid voice form the back of the crowd spoke up.
"Please my Lord, it would s-seem that Wormtail was…" the young rookie trailed off, momentarily flustered by the Dark Lords red eyes boring into his, "We found out only h-hours ago that…" taking a deep breath he quickly spit out the rest of the news. "Wormtail failed in destroying Sirius Black and instead died himself."
The whole group tensed waiting for the explosion they were sure was to come. Several seconds later they realized that the Dark Lord had yet to start dishing out punishments, and were confused.
"My Lord?" Lucius Malfoy asked confusion and relief evident in his voice.
"So…" Voldemort seethed barely keeping his anger in check. "Wormtail failed. I suppose it was to be expected. He always was worthless and pathetic. Garbe?"
Garbe stepped forward and shook his head regretfully. "It would seem that Dumbledore has added extra protection to the castle. He enchanted the entire grounds to alert the whole school when an Animagus is on grounds. I haven't been able to get near the place let alone kidnap the girl."
Fury seized Voldemort's entire body as he whipped out his wand and moved it threateningly from one person to another, watching in satisfaction as they flinched and involuntarily stepped back.
"So both Potter and Lock are safe, Wormtail is dead, and Black knows we're after him." He recapped staring his Death Eaters down as they nodded. "And we are right back where we started." More nods this time more hesitant, "You may all leave, I'll call you when I have another route of action. Malfoy! Garbe! You two stay."
Once the others had left Voldemort turned to his two most trusted followers, "Potter has lived despite our efforts and the week of the rebirth is quickly approaching. I don't care how you do it or when, but get rid of Potter. And the girl, she could prove quite dangerous as well, both must die. Garbe, leave, I must speak with Lucius."
Garbe nodded and disapparated (sp?) with a pop.
"My lord?" Lucius questioned.
"Lucius, I believe its almost time to enlist your son into the ranks." A cruel sneer spread across his snake like lips as he added, "And I have the perfect assignment for his initiation."
November passed into December fairly quickly for Harry and his friends, and before they knew it Christmas was only a few days away.
Gryffindor had had their first Qudditch game against the Slytherins and had once again come out on top winning by 200 points.
Much to the surprise of everyone though, Draco just didn't seem to care that Harry had once again bested him. In fact all the fighting spirit that had once made Draco who he was seemed to have completely vanished. No longer did he insult the other students, nor did he talk back to the teachers. And he completely ignored all the Slytherins these days' always seeming to be deep in thought as if trying to make a difficult decision.
Harry had noticed the change immediately after Draco had received a letter the second week into November. The cool confident and cruel Draco was gone only to be replaced by the quiet, emotionally closed off Draco of today. The sudden changes in Draco had Harry slightly worried about the Slytherin. He had the terrible feeling that Draco was involved in something very bad. And decided that even though he never liked the platinum haired boy, he would try to help him anyway he could.
Jessica had gotten over what had happened with Wormtail (to the relief of many) after a week of brooding and deep thinking. Although Harry and the others knew she would never entirely forget they also knew that she wouldn't dwell on what had happened either. The talk she had with Greg had really helped her put things in perspective. Harry would forever be grateful that she had saved Sirius' life, but he couldn't help but regret that the truth about what had happened to his parents had forever died along with Peter Pettigrew.
Sirius, after his near death experience, had resolved to spend as much time with Harry as possible. They talked about many things, some serious others just completely ridiculous, and grew a lot closer. But whatever the subject both Harry and Sirius found that they were just happy to be in each others company.
The first Hogsmeade trip had come and passed without a hitch, much to the surprise of Harry and the others. The only problem had been Harry's date with Cho, which hadn't ended as well as he would have hoped.
The day up to the point of Harry meeting Cho had passed with tension between Harry and Jessica, and when it was time to go to Hogsmeade Jessica had disappeared without a word to any of them. Harry couldn't help but think about what Sirius had told him, and he had to admit it did make sense as to why he hadn't been looking forward to this date with Cho.
Their walk to Hogsmeade was uneventful, as was their trip around the Hogsmeade stores. Cho had been content to rattle on about inane things while Harry was deep in thought over a certain spiky haired girl. After what seemed like hours to Harry he had suggested they head to the Three Broomsticks for a Butterbeer. Most of their time in there had been spent with Cho again talking and Harry 'listening' (although his mind was definitely not on Cho's subject about her favorite lip gloss), as they sipped their drinks and munched on peanuts.
"Harry, are you even listening to me?" Cho had asked a little peeved at her date's inattentiveness.
"Hum?" Harry had asked startled out of his thoughts, "Er…yeah sure… you were talking about…Potions?" was the first thing that came to mind.
Cho glared angrily, "What is your problem Harry James Potter. Have you even listened to a word I've said all day? Merlin, you can be such a clod sometimes."
Harry had turned angry, "Well excuse me. I'm sorry if I had more important things on my mind then what color you look best in, or how you should wear your hair." He had snapped rolling his eyes and slumping back in his chair.
It was no surprise that things had escalated from there and more words were exchanged between the heated pair. And in the end Cho had thrown her drink in his Harry's face and stormed out saying she never wanted to seem him again. 'Always the Drama Queen,' Harry had thought at the time.
The news of the fight had spread through the Castle faster then the news of the Mystic Knight roaming the halls. Ravenclaws and Gryffindors squared off both saying their respective house member had been in the right. Add that to the Gryffindors fierce rivalry with the Slytherins and there wasn't a moment in the following two weeks that wasn't filled with fighting, or hostile activity in the halls and classes. Hufflepuff refused to pick sides preferring to let the others fight their own battles.
Luckily, before things got out of hand, Harry and Cho called a truce and everything pretty much went back to normal; except for the occasional barb or two.
So now Harry was seated in the Gryffindor common room thinking about the last month and a half while his friends talked joyously about the upcoming holidays.
"The whole Weasley clan is going to be home this year." Ron was saying as he leaned back on the couch. Hermione was on his left while Ginny was on his right, Harry and Jessica took up the two armchairs. Gazing to his best friend he noticed Harry's far off look. "You alright, mate?"
Broken out of his reverie the boy in question looked up, "Er…yeah, I was just thinking about the last few weeks."
Ron, Hermione and Ginny all nodded sympathetically, they knew his thoughts were mainly on his disastrous date with Cho and the events that followed.
Ron, seeing Jessica flinch slightly after the subtle mention of Cho, decided to get back to lighter topics, so moved back to what he had been speaking of before.
"So as I was saying everyone is goona be home this year. Charlie and Bill are coming in for the full two weeks of vacation and Percy is joining us as well. Although he'll only be with us the last week, as his boss at the Ministry Of Magic won't allow for anymore time off."
(AN: If you could all please forget everything about Percy and his job in book four it would be greatly appreciated. I just couldn't resist dissing Percy a little. Sorry in advance to all those Percy fans out there. Cheers!)
Harry looked slightly startled, "Percy works at the Ministry? You never mentioned that."
Ginny giggled as Ron snorted somewhat angrily, "Ron and my brothers don't like talking about it much. Percy tends to act a little snobbish whenever his job is brought up."
"A little," Ron spat, "He acts like he's the bloody Queen of England."
Jessica leaned forward in her seat as she raised an eyebrow, "And what does he do, exactly?"
Ginny's smile lit her whole face and even Ron smirked as she told them, "He delivers mail."
Harry and the others roared with laughter for a good few minutes before Hermione managed to calm down enough to speak.
"H-he delivers mail! How can anyone be conceited about that?"
"Well," Ron said with a full blown smile, "apparently he's the only one in the post room that has been deemed fir to hand deliver Fudge's mail personally. So he believes he plays an incredibly important part in the running of the Ministry. But apparently dad heard that Percy's co-workers refused to deliver Fudge's mail anymore because he a git, so they made Percy take him his mail. Percy thinking a great honor was being bestowed upon him, immediately took the job, and seems to be enjoying it. So now he acts like a great buffoon every time someone brings up his work or the Ministry of Magic."
Harry chuckled and shook his head, you could always trust the Weasley's to lighten up your mood, and today was no exception.
"Anyway," Ron said trying to get back to the subject of Christmas, "Mom wanted me to ask you if you want to join us at the Burrow for Christmas this year. She's already invited Lupin and Sirius so they can join you."
"Uh, sounds good to me but…" Harry said thoughtfully, "Truth be told I hadn't thought much about the holidays, I just assumed I would stay here as always. But let me talk to Greg and I'll get back to you."
Ron's only answer was a smile and nod.
"What about you, Jessica, what are you doing for the holidays?" Ginny asked turning her attention to the quiet girl.
"You know…a little of this and a little of that." Came the vague reply as she shifted somewhat uncomfortably.
"Are you going home to your family," Hermione pressed eager to get something out of the secretive Gryffindor, "assuming you have one." Catching Harry's sharp look she quickly defended herself, "Well it's not like she ever mentioned them is it? All these months and I haven't heard a word about her parents. Have you?" she challenged when Harry shook his head in exasperation.
Before he could say anything, realization dawned on him, "Actually, I haven't. I just always assumed that she did. You do, don't you? Have a family I mean."
Jessica sighed, "Define 'family'." She mumbled barely audible. Seeing their looks she elaborated a little, "Everyone has a family at one point or another in their lives."
Harry threw his hands in the hair with exasperation, "What the hell does that mean?"
The others were equally confused but chose to remain quiet as they pondered what Jessica had said, trying to decipher the cryptic message.
Jessica shrugged her face emotionless, and Harry sighed and rubbed his eyes, only when he saw the slow smile spread across her face did he realize she was just teasing him. He gave her a fondly exasperated look that clearly asked for her to stop the crap and be honest.
She laughed sadly her initial amusement at their frustration gone, "I don't really talk about my family, it's been tough the last seven and a half months. But yes, I have a mom and dad, and I had a little brother named Jason."
"Had?" Harry questioned gently. Considering the time line, he realized the answer must have had something to do with her expulsion from her old school. "Did something happen last year at Beauxbatons? Something to do with your brother and your expulsion?"
She sighed and sunk down in her chair, "My brother's first, and only, year at Beauxbatons was last year," she started refusing to look at any of her friends, "Merlin, he was so excited, all he would talk about the summer before was all the things he would learn, all the stuff he would see, people he would meet…" she took a moment to collect herself, aware of the concerned eyes of her friends on her. "We had a new potions professor that year, as the regular one, Professor Dracken, took the year off to deal with 'personal issues' as our Headmistress, Madame Maxime, said. The new guy, Professor Alban Fox, was as clueless about potions as Gilderoy Lockhart was about Defense Against the Dark Arts. But he was apparently the best Madame Maxime could find in the short notice Professor Dracken gave her. Besides the job shouldn't be that hard should it, I mean all he had to do was follow the lesson plan Dracken left him, and copy the instructions for the potions onto the blackboard from the books Dracken left." She snorted disdainfully, looking at each of her friends in turn, "But Fox was too much of a moron to be able to do anything right, and copying down the proper instructions proved to be too hard for him. All throughout the beginning of the year there were accidents in the potions lab. Just small things here and there, singed eyebrows, faces covered in huge warts, people turned different colors. But I knew that if something wasn't done someone was going to get seriously injured. But I never said anything, just thought as long as I was careful and got my instructions straight from the book, it would be ok. I told Jason to do the same thing, which he agreed to. In fact almost every student in the school started doing it, knowing the dangers of some of the ingredients they decided not to take any chances. And the accidents in the Potion's lab ceased"
Getting up from the chair she was in Jessica walked to the window and looked out into the Forbidden forest, which looked even more ominous when masked in the unforgiving darkness of night.
Taking a deep breath, to calm herself, she continued her story, "About Two months before the end of the school year my brother and the others first years were in Potions class. The potion they were making had Monksbane in it, and for some godforsaken reason, Fox had told them to add some dragons blood as well. You know as well as I do what happens when those two ingredients are added together."
Hermione nodded thinking back to her notes, "When Monksbane and Dragons blood are mixed together they combine into an explosive substance with highly acidic qualities. Placing a mixture of the two on or near anything hot will cause a huge explosion."
Jessica nodded, smiling slightly at Hermione's vast knowledge. "Right, even the first years knew this. And they refused to add such a combination together, pleading with Professor Fox to recheck the book and its instructions." She shook her head sadly, "But Fox believed he was right, after all, the accidents had stopped and he believed it was because he had gotten better at his job. So, wanting to prove to the students he was right, he grabbed a bottle of Dragon's blood and dumped it into Jason and his lab partner's cauldron. Unfortunately the cauldron was already simmering over their burner and the result was terrible. Fox was blasted into the wall at the far end of the room, but remained relatively unharmed. Jason and his partner, Chris, d-died, and half the class was burned by the acidic substance created by the mixed ingredients…"
"Then what happened?" Harry asked softly, wanting nothing more then to hug the distraught girl, but was unsure if he were allowed to.
Jessica turned back to her friends tears evident in her eyes. She swiped her eyes angrily and continued, "When I, and the rest of the school, had found out what happened I was pissed. And my rage at Fox," here she spat his name as if something had crawled in her mouth and died leaving a bad taste behind, "overwhelmed me and I went to the hospital wing looking for him. I found him already patched up and talking to Madame Maxime and our Transfiguration teacher, Professor Fritz. He was insisting that he had not been at fault, that Jason and Chris had added the Dragon's blood for 'kicks'. Madame Maxime had already talked to the class and knew he was lying and told him as much. Knowing that he had been caught in his lie, he said it wasn't his fault that she had hired him, even after knowing he didn't know that much about Potions. That was the last straw, and I attacked him, first with my words then with my fists. Madame Maxime and Professor Fritz had to drag me off of him before I killed him." She paused and rubbed her eyes tiredly, "Madame Maxime didn't blame me for what I did, and surprisingly neither did Fox. I think he didn't press charges because he didn't want to admit he had been beaten by a fourteen year old girl. But rules were rules. I had attacked a teacher, even if he was incompetent, and I had to be punished. So she did what she had to do, she expelled me. I'm actually grateful for that, it got me away from that school and the bad memories of what happened there."
Stunned silence followed Jessica's lengthy admission, none knowing what to say. Hermione and Ginny were both weeping slightly and even Ron and Harry looked close to crying.
Jessica didn't need them to say anything; just having told her friends had helped her greatly. She felt like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders, and was eternally grateful for such good friends. Even she and Hermione had become closer after the events of Halloween, and didn't fight anymore like they used to. Which pleased Jessica greatly; Hermione was an important part of Harry's life and she owed it too him to try and be nice to the brunette. She was also pleased to note that Hermione was a good friend once you got to know her, and was looking forward to becoming better friends with her.
Feeling completely drained both emotionally and physically, she bid her quiet friends goodnight and headed up to bed.
Draco Malfoy sat on his bed in the fifth year boy's dormitory of Slytherin contemplating the dilemma that had seized his mind a few weeks ago.
He could go to his father and explain the problem. Almost immediately he knew this was an impossibility. His father was too tightly woven with he who must not be named, and Draco knew his loyalties lied with the dark lord alone.
Snape was another option, but again Draco dismissed this idea. Snape would go straight to the muggle loving fool Dumbledore, and Draco needed a bit of subtlety when dealing with his problem.
His friends were definitely out of the question. As he had found out the hard way in DADA class, they were not his friends at all. This was made evident when they had not helped to try and dislodge the Lethifold that had tried to kill him.
That left him with only one choice. As much as he hated to admit it, Draco knew he could be trusted and he knew how to keep a secret, but what Draco wasn't sure of was whether or not he would help him. All the Slytherin knew was that he had to try. He had to put his pride aside and approach him, asking for help.
So finally the pale haired Slytherin decided to talk to him after the Christmas Holidays. And with a solution in mind Draco laid down and had the best night's sleep of his life.
AN: If you could all please forget everything about Percy and his job in book four it would be greatly appreciated. I just couldn't resist dissing Percy a little. Sorry in advance to all those Percy fans out there. Cheers!) there you go another chapter. What do you think? Your reviews keep this story going. I'll post next as soon as I can. I've decided to try and write a page a day. Cheers!