Chapter 6
Nivea took Jaguar to a muggle restaurant in America.
Jaguar spent a great deal of the extent of the meal pondering how the hell they had reached Seattle, Washington in such a short amount of time. It was mind boggling when she thought too hard about it. Despite living amongst wizards and witches for the entirety of her life, Jaguar had never seen much magic actually performed… And the magic she had seen was normal things… Charms to turn lights on… To apply makeup and fix hair… To cook… She supposed that it must be possible to jump across space… To a city thousands of miles away… It seemed like very difficult magic, especially since Nivea has uttered no spell and used no wand. Still, obviously it could be done, since it had been done. She really tried hard not to dwell on things like that.
The building Nivea drove up to was called the Space Needle. It was a building of average height, but of a very unusual shape. Jaguar had never heard of it before, but now that she had been inside it, she knew that she would never forget about it. The Space Needle, as Nivea said, was supposed to be the shape of a spaceship… Jaguar thought it looked very futuristic.
When they ascended in the high-speed elevator to the top, Jaguar clung to the glass side and peered out over the expansive city. Jaguar only knew what the attendant in the elevator told them… She let the words wash over her as she gazed out.
"The ascent to the top of the space need will take approximately 40 seconds," the short blonde woman said in a pleasant voice, smiling around at all of them. She mentioned that Seattle had a relatively small population for being a major American city, but it covered a wide area. She pointed out some landmarks when Nivea whispered something that Jaguar didn't quite catch, and the woman noticed her accent.
"Where are you from?" she said.
"Oxford, England," answered Nivea. "Seattle is much lovelier, I must say."
The woman practically preened. "I've been told that Seattle has one of the most beautiful skylines in the world."
"Oh yes," said Nivea. "I quite agree! Don't you, Jaguar?"
Jaguar nodded, a bit nervous and dry-mouthed because she had never been in such a tall building before, although other buildings nearby were even taller. The elevator stopped, and a few other passengers moved aside to let Jaguar and her aunt pass through.
The first shock Jaguar got was that the restaurant was moving. It was slowly spinning in a 360 degree circle to give eaters a full view of the city. Nivea caught hold of Jaguar's hand and led her to the reservations desk.
Disgruntled at the fakeness of Nivea's conversation with the elevator attendant, Jag followed along silently.
"Nivea!" a man exclaimed. "Let me show you to your table!"
Nivea smiled and kissed the man on his cheek. She had to stand on her tiptoes to do so, as the man was extraordinarily tall.
"Is this your girl? She's beautiful!"
Jaguar didn't like the way the man looked at her, so she scowled.
Nivea was silent for a moment. Then, "Oh! No no no," she laughed. "Jaguar is my sister's daughter!" She prodded Jaguar. "Say thank you!"
Jaguar frowned and mumbled something.
"Jaguar? What an unusual name!"
Jaguar growled softly. She absolutely hated it when people made a remark about her name. The reason she went by Jag most of the time was because Jaguar was such an odd name… And her last name was Brazil, which made it even worse. Oftentimes, Jaguar had wondered what Monica had been thinking as she named Jaguar.
The man pulled out a chair for Nivea, while Jaguar pulled out her own chair across the table. A minute later, the man brought them menus as Jag stared out the window at the city. The rotation of the Space Needle was slow, so there was no danger of dizziness. It makes one full rotation around per hour. She took the menu wordlessly and stared at it. Yuck… Seafood…
Nivea orders a large coffee, and some sort of seafood platter. The food was semi-expensive (though not to Nivea), but not exceptional. The presentation was excellent, but it was a bit bland and overly spicy. Jaguar spent most of the meal quietly eating and sipping her rootbeer while Nivea talked on and on about herself (her favorite subject), and the time she had spent at Hogwarts.
"…Only I dropped out for two years when I was 15… And when I returned for my 7th year, the other girls ostracized me and all of the males were madly in love with me… But no one really liked me. Susan and Monica had already graduated, and I just didn't fit in at all. I was the most popular girl in school. And also the least… I hated it there. So I dropped out again, and went straight into Auror School. I took my NEWTS, bien sur…"
Jaguar kept staring out the window. For inexplicable reasons, she felt furious at her aunt. Nivea seemed to be waiting for something. Jaguar eventually turned to face her, and asked, "Why?"
Niv tilted her head to one side.
"Why did you drop out?" Jaguar asked, a bit irritated. "God… Who drops out?"
Niv chuckled good-naturedly. "You sound just like all of my friends and family. Monica was especially angry. She hardly talked to me for years… I mean, she had to see me… But she never wanted to."
"Why did you drop out?" Jaguar asked again.
Nivea's mouth opened delicately as though she were about to say something. Then it remained open as doubt flashed across her face. After nearly a minute, Nivea closed her mouth and smiled sadly.
"Someday I will tell you," Nivea answered.
"What did we need to celebrate?" Jaguar asked after a minute or two of silence.
"You," said Nivea simply. "Or isn't that enough?"
It wasn't enough, but Jaguar didn't press, since Nivea had put on a huge pair of black sunglasses, and seemed to be asleep.
The rest of vacation passed quickly.
Jaguar wasn't speaking to Sirius still, although she talked to Lily once in awhile. Every time she saw him, her heart twanged just a little. She knew that she would never see him without that feeling. They had been friends for far too long. In a way, she would always love him, but that didn't mean that she liked him. Besides, she was practically a grown up! What use did she have for a best friend? Adults didn't have best friends! Of course, Jaguar conveniently "forgot" that Susan and Monica had been friends for life.
Too bad that they would probably be sorted into the same house… But Jaguar knew that as time went by, she would feel less and less sad. The way she had with Kestrel, her cat. Kess had been the best cat in the universe, and Jaguar had spent hours everyday talking to her. They had been born around the same time, so Jaguar had never imagined life without Kess. Even though even Sirius thought it was odd that she talked to her cat, Jaguar could have sworn that the cat replied to her, although the language they used was not English. Kestrel was one of Jaguar's best friends. Jaguar had loved that cat with all her heart.
One day, when Jaguar was 7 years old, Kestrel had been outside, when the neighborhood children had spooked her into the street. A muggle car full of teenagers came tearing through the neighborhood right at that moment, crushing Kestrel under the wheels.
Jaguar, who had been standing in her yard, saw it happen.
She screamed with more anguish than anyone who witnessed the event had ever heard or would ever hear again.
"Is that your kitty?" one of the teenagers, a heavyset girl with bad acne, asked.
Jaguar threw herself down beside Kestrel.
"Oh, Kess!" she has sobbed. "Don't die! Please don't die!"
But the cat wasn't moving. She whispered, Jaggie… I'm sorry. I love you…"
Jaguar moaned and stroked the cat's fur softly. "Kestrel… I love you too… What am I going to do without you? You're the best cat ever…"
You'll find another cat… And you'll love it as much as you love…me…You'll see…Kess' voice grew fainter, and Jaguar sobbed harder.
"No!" she yelled. "No! Oh Kestrel, I love you so much! Don't leave me! PLEASE DON'T LEAVE ME!"
I…can't…help it…
"There are no cats like you! You were the best cat ever!"
I…love…you…
"KESTREL! No! NO! No… No, Kestrel. No, please… Don't leave me… Come back! COME BACK! COME BACK! I need you!"
Goodbye…
And she was gone. Just like that. Some stupid, irresponsible children had stolen Jaguar's best friend from her.
She nearly exploded with fury, screaming at the teens, cursing them for life.
They tried to apologize, offering to bury Kestrel, and to buy her a new cat, but Jaguar didn't want a new cat. She wanted Kestrel, more than she had ever wanted anything before. She hated them all. She hated all people. She hated Monica for not being home, and Susan for not coming outside until it was too late to heal the cat. She even hated herself for letting Kestrel sit outside with her, and for not knowing magic.
She screamed so hard that the car exploded. Jaguar picked up her cat, and watched as one of the teenagers was devoured by the fire… Her loose magic had done that. She saw another have a heart attack.
Crying out to the Goddess, Jaguar pointed at the fat girl who was remaining, staring in shock at her friends, and at the small, dark haired girl who was holding her dead cat. For a moment, she wondered if the rumours were true and there really was a coven of witches living in the sinister looking mansion.
Then she forgot all about the mansion, as the girl seemed to glow… She looked like an angel as she drifted down the stairs.
"You'll be sorry…" Jaguar whispered. She suddenly opened in mouth and screamed in rage. "You are going to suffer the way that I am suffering. Go home, fat girl. You don't want to miss the funeral."
The girl looked panicked, and ran away as fast as her short legs would propel her. She glanced back at the burning car, and the dead friend lying beside it. She ran faster.
Susan Black had stopped, astonished. There was nothing she could do for the two dead teenagers. She could tell even from where she stood. And Jaguar didn't look…right… She apparated straight to the Ministry of Magic.
Jaguar saw, as though in a dream, the fat girl reaching her home, and finding her mother made into a pincushion by every sharp object in the house, her father's head roasting in the oven, while his body slept peacefully on his bed, her brother drowned in the swimming pool, and her little sister missing all of her limbs. The fat girl screamed and screamed and screamed. And when her voice ran out, she continued to scream silently, her facial muscles working. Tears streamed out of her eyes for a long time, but when they stopped falling, she continued to stand in her house, her hands on her cheeks, unable to concentrate on anything except oh my God, they're all dead… THEY'RE ALL DEAD! All the while, her mouth worked up and down, her eyes painfully wide.
Finally, she collapsed to the floor, and forced herself to grab the phone, which was horribly close to her mother's body. She couldn't force any words out. A choked sob escaped her throat, and then she was crying again.
The investigators who arrived at the macabre scene said that they had never seen a more gruesome crime. It made no sense at all, and would have been nearly impossible to carry out without a whole crew of criminals. The only surviving member of the family, a young girl named Sashi was adamant that one of the witches had killed them all. They wrote that off as being delusional.
The wizards who arrived at the scene to investigate knew at once that the murders had been done by magic. They also believed that a crew of people must have done it… Or they would have believed that… Except for the fact of the deaths that had taken place in front of Jaguar's house.
Nivea Cortez had arrived at the scene almost immediately. She insisted that the two deaths had been accidental, and definitely not caused by magic. No one believed her, until they surveyed the scene for themselves. It was just too suspicious. These deaths had to have been caused by magic. Everyone knew it! But the evidence testified to the opposite. The head of the investigation made a statement to reporters that Miss Cortez had altered the evidence to save her niece. The next day, he arrived at work to find out that he no longer had a job.
When Jaguar Brazil was questioned, she did not remember any of it. Under hypnosis she could reveal nothing. Even under vertiserum, she could only remember her kitty dying, then standing in her yard, holding Kestrel, shielding the cat from the world with her body, and screaming something at the fat teenage girl that was going to regret it or something, and running inside the house.
Although the inspectors were very suspicious of Jaguar Brazil and Nivea Cortez, there was nothing they could do with such evidence. Jaguar was never even arrested.