Jazz heard voices but couldn't help think they were all a dream. She forced her eyes open, which, considering there was a sharp pain shooting in her head, made lifting an eyelid a rather large effort. There was a haze over everything that Jazz saw, and when it cleared, she saw Ginny and Luna leaning on one another on a couch asleep, wrapped in a large wool blanket, and Harry sitting in the chair next to her bed, his head in his hands. Seeing him like that made her want to reach out and pat his head, rub his hand and assure him she was all right.
"Oh my God! Jazz! You're awake!" Jazz widened her eyes with more effort than she thought she had and stared straight into Jackie's worried honey colored eyes that held concern and a smile in each pupil. Jazz noted how Jackie's eyes had been reddish on the edges, and realized she might have been crying. "Baby girl, you've scared me half to death! You're causing me to age faster than Mother Nature!" Jazz started to laugh, but it gave her body too much pain, and she sighed with a smile instead. She swung her gaze around the room, taking in the flowers next to her bed, a bright purple "Get Well Soon!" bear with a box of candies sitting in its lap, and a photograph hoisted up on its legs of herself, Ginny, and Luna, all giggling and hugging one another happily. Sadly, the picture was taken with a Muggle camera, and the photograph did not budge. She couldn't help but wonder what all these people, other than Ginny, Luna, Harry, and Jackie were doing there. Ron didn't even seem to like her, but if Luna was here, then of course he would be. Neville and his girlfriend also sat around the room, looking at her amazedly. Jazz was going to ask what's going on when Jackie was staring down at her, big puffy eyes fully coated with the best making up Jackie did.
"Babe, Madam Pomfrey says you're doing wonderfully. Says you had a terrible pass out and that you sort of stopped breathing. You're breathing now, so can I assume you're feeling better now?" Jazz had forgotten how much she liked Jackie being around. She had always been more of a best friend than a mother, which always made her seem much younger than she really was. After the revelation of this year, it didn't seem right to call her mom anymore. Now how to break it to her seemed to be unimportant.
"I'm pretty sure I'm okay, Ja-…I'm sure I'm okay." Jazz sighed when she saw Jackie's eyebrows furrow deeper. "Um, you guys, you can stop staring at me like that. I'm fine. Really." Harry moved away from the bed, closer to the exit area, as if he were running away. "So when did you get in?" Jazz inquired to Jackie as she motioned for help to sit up a bit in the loose bed sheets.
"As soon as possible. I only got to Hogsmeade, but as soon as I was there I flew up here as fast as possible. D'you know McGonagall came to my work to tell me about you? I was terrified when I saw her. I thought something terrible…but thank God, you're just fine. My baby's just fine." Jazz watched as Jackie began to tear up, wiping her face and grooming Jazz at the same time.
"Of course I am, Mom. I'm perfectly all right…just in a lot of pain." Jazz closed her eyes as she took a deep breath.
"Oh yeah, Madam Pomfrey also said you escaped your near death experience with a few cracked ribs – somehow you broke them when you collapsed. But you're good anyways." Jackie hugged her daughter as Ginny and Luna got up and hovered on the other side of the bed.
"I'll come back later, all right?" Luna said, giving her a quick hug. "Me too," Ginny said, her eyes big and puffy. "Get some rest, will you?" You're starting to lose your appeal," Luna teased playfully.
"Thanks. I'll work on that," Jazz whispered and she sighed. Harry still stood in the corner, his eyes resting on her with what seemed relief. "I'm fine, Harry. I promise. Stop worrying." 'I swear it, I'm okay. Do I really look that bad?'
"You're fine. I know." Harry crossed the area between them and leaned over her head and kissed it lightly before walking with Luna and Ginny out the Hospital wing.
"Sweet boy," Jackie said, watching him leave while hugging the teddy bear next to Jazz. "Good taste, Jazzy girl. Good taste."
"Well I try," Jazz replied with a weak grin. "Are you okay? Because you don't really look it."
"Oh well thank you, little girl. I appreciate the compliment," Jackie replied, voice thick with sarcasm as she tossed the teddy Jazz's way.
"Always welcome."
"So, how's your year been, sweets? Anything interesting happen?"
Jazz thought about the question, letting it penetrate her soul before answering. She sighed, lifted her hands to play with the toy beside her, a blue stuffed dog named Rufus, her favorite from home, before she finally said, "I met my sister."
Jackie froze for a moment, then asked as if confused, "Sister?"
"Jules," Jazz continued. "She's about 9 years older than me. I look just like her, with and without the glamour." She waited to watch this information sink into Jackie before continuing. Looking down at her covers and fidgeting with the trim of the sheets she went on. "I saw my mother, too. And father. They were both rather charming looking. Funny, I look just like them too. She even had my eyes. Not the brown, but the silver. I didn't see them for long. It was in a flashback. But for that split second that I saw them…it was like…like I was still 4, still innocent, and still had a Mom and Dad and sister that loved me.
"I know that's insane because I've had you since then, and believe me, I've never thought you were anything less than my mother and my best friend…but there was always this…this feeling, just knowing, knowing that something was missing…you know?" Jazz glanced back up at Jackie, to see her trying her hardest to not fall into a pool of tears collecting in her eyes.
"I always figured you'd find out somehow…I guess I was just hoping it would be…I don't know…later…and from me…I suppose Uncle Al told you?"
"Well…yeah, actually. He told me the first day I got here. I didn't think you knew." They both checked each other at the same time, and could hardly suppress giggles. Jackie began snickering so hard she was thrown into a fit of coughing which seemed to be as painful as Jazz's headache. "Mom – Jackie – ugh! Mom, are you okay? Mom? Mom?"
"I'm fine, I'm fine," Jackie managed between coughs. After a few minutes and many gulps of choked water, Jackie finally calmed and eyed her daughter. "Don't you stare at me like that, I am just fine…I'm just getting over pneumonia, that's all. The healer helped me get over it a few days ago; he just said that I'd suffer from some coughing fits for a while. No big. Back to you." Jackie snuggled closer to her daughter, holding her hand the entire way. "Listen to me, okay? It doesn't matter to me whether or not I gave birth to you or not, because I raised you. I miss your parents very much, they were good people, but I love you much more. And I do not regret taking you in for a second. I just wish you didn't have to feel as if the world weren't different."
"I can remember them sometimes now, a time in the park walking a dog, a time when Dad and Mom are taking me to a dance performance Jules did, but they weren't there for me. It's hard to miss something that wasn't there when you skinned your knee falling off the bike or the night you cried because your first date was a bust. I didn't have them to share anything like that with, but I had you. I don't feel any different…I just wish I had gotten to know them, you know?"
"I know." Jackie stayed closer to her until Madam Pomfrey came back and whisked out a bottle of some green goop that was supposedly her medicine. "Oh, am I lucky I'm not you," Jackie had quipped with a laugh as Madam Pomfrey circled Jazz like a hawk, making sure she swallowed every once of the green medicine.
"Miss, why is the medicine so…gross?" Madam Pomfrey just frowned in reply and stuffed more disgusting known liquids into Jazz's mouth. 'Yuck.'
'Ha ha,' Harry thought back. Jazz was caught off guard by his thoughts and jumped under the covers.
'Harry. I didn't think you could…'
'Of course I can…how are you feeling?'
'Like rubbish, really. You?'
'I'm fine…but I'm not the one who passed out. You scared me. I thought…'
'I know. I'm fine, promise. But I'd better start sleeping or talking to my mom otherwise she'll know something's up. I'll talk to you later.'
"Hey, Jazz…one more thing…I love you.' And with that, Jazz's mind was blocked away from Harry's thoughts. She smiled faintly, looking at nothing as Madam Pomfrey stalked off with the rest of the medicine.
"Jazzy girl?" Jackie spoke softly, watching her daughter with sharp eyes that kept darting around Jazz's features, looking for a sign that something was wrong. "You okay, there?"
For the first time that day, Jazz smiled big, happily, and said to her mother with a skip in her voice, "Yeah, I'm great. I'm feeling better already."
OK you guys! There you go! I know it kind of sucks (this chapter) but the good news is that I can work on the other ones…YAY. Hah and these will be published and all that…and hopefully they will be as good as I imagined they would be.