Chapter 18:

Intruding

Jessa and Taryn were chatting away in their dormitory, readying for the Halloween feast when one of the prefects came into the doorway.

"Everyone has to go down to the common room. Now."

They shot each other a look and proceeded up the stairs to the common room. Professor Snape was standing there, looking at all of them as they gathered to hear the unexpected announcement.

Was it her imagination, or did Snape's gaze linger on her just a moment?

"We are going to the Great Hall. Now."

Without any debate or further explanation, he escorted the entire house of Slytherin to the Great Hall. She was surprised to see every student present.

"The teachers and I need to conduct a thorough search of the castle," Professor Dumbledore told them. "I'm afraid that, for your own safety, you will have to spend the night here. I want the prefects to stand guard over the entrances to the hall and I am leaving the Head Boy and Girl in charge. Any disturbance should be reported to me immediately. Simply send word with one of the ghosts."

Then Jessa watched in amazement as he casually waved his hand and the tables and benches flew to the walls, stacking neatly, and hundreds of purple sleeping bags filled the floor.

She glanced around, trying to find her brother. Taryn was already moving towards her own. But a hand wrapped around her wrist before she could take another step. She jerked around to find Draco loosely holding her wrist with his good arm.

"You might not want to go near him right now."

Her brow furrowed. "Why not?"

"Let's grab some sleeping bags and I'll explain."

"Er – alright. Thanks," she agreed, dragging a sleeping bag over to where a majority of the Slytherins were setting up.

"Rumour is Sirius Black broke into the castle and just tried to get into Gryffindor Tower. He's most likely after your brother."

"I don't understand. Who's Sirius Black?"

" 'who's Sirius Black?' " exclaimed Zabini; he stopped moving his sleeping bag to stare at her. She ducked in head in response.

"Muggle-raised, remember?"

"He's a notorious mass-murderer. He's most famous for being a double agent for the Dark Lord. For giving the Dark Lord the location of a safe house, which led to the killing of some of those who opposed and fought against him."

"Alright. So if he's a follower of the Dark Lord, he might want to kill Harry."

"He's leaving something out," a voice said behind her. As Jessa looked up, she missed Draco's sharp look.

"The safe house he revealed was your house. He's the reason you don't have parents," Parkinson added in.

"Didn't think that important enough for me to know?" she asked, turning back to her friend.

"I didn't want to scare you," he admitted, shooting another glare at his childhood friend.

"I think someone's going soft."

"Shut it, Parkinson," Zabini snapped. "Ignore her, Potter. Just stick with Malfoy and me. And Puecy. You'll be safe enough with us."

The day before the first Quidditch match of the season, Oliver Wood pulled Harry aside.

"Slytherin tried backing out of the match tomorrow, using the excuse their Seeker's arm is still injured."

"He's faking it at this point! There's nothing wrong with Malfoy's arm!"

"I know," Wood agreed. "But we can't prove it. They were almost allowed to pull out."

Suddenly, Harry had a sinking feeling he knew where this conversation was headed.

"Fortunately for us, Slytherin has a reserve player."

"Jessa," Harry supplied.

Wood nodded. "I know she's your sister, but – "

" – I won't let her stop me or get in my head. Though I would give the rest of the team a heads up."

"I plan to. It's the least I can do – at least we know of the Slytherins, she'll play fairly."

And Fred and George won't aim as much or hit as hard towards her, Harry thought. Just like him, they'd do their job, but when choosing reactions and techniques, well…they were all more likely to go just a bit easier if Jessa was playing as opposed to another teammate – especially Malfoy.

"Thanks for the heads up. I won't let it get to me. Promise."

"Good man, Harry," Wood stated with a sound clap on his back.

The day of the match, Jessa woke up to find it was utterly miserable outside. Nevertheless, she heaved herself out of bed. In the Great Hall, she forced herself to eat a bit of toast. She was nervous enough in normal weather – this was only her third actual game; second playing Seeker.

By the time she had reached the locker rooms, she was already drenched and freezing. She couldn't see through the raindrops coating her glasses.

"Potter!"

Confused, she crossed the room where Adrian Puecy stood, looking as though he'd arrived not much before her.

He pointed towards her glasses. "May I?"

She shrugged and handed the slippery glasses over to him. Once he'd dried them off, Puecy took out his wand and tapped her glasses. "Impervius permanens."

Handing them back to her, he gave her a small smile. "Perks of being teammates with the older students; we know more spells."

She nodded. "Thanks."

Half an hour into the match and everyone was miserable. She was drenched to the bone and freezing. Even with Adrian's charm, she could barely see, let alone find the Snitch. Hell, she could barely tell where any of the players were, nevermind what team they were on.

Somehow, she got the briefest moment of luck when she heard a brief "buzzing" by her ear. She caught a glint of gold. Jessa tried to make her hands work as she frantically chased after the Snitch, desperate to catch it and let them all go get warm.

And then, even with not being able to hear much over the roar of the wind and rain, an eerie silence fell around her and across the stadium. The cold permeated deeper, dread filling her. Swirling black movement caught her eye and Jessa glanced down.

Dementors were swarming the field, heading straight for two direct points in the sky; though it was an uneven split as most headed for where she presumed Harry was. Spots flashed grey and burst green behind her heavy eyes. Pain lanced through her left palm. She screamed and her already-slippery hands lost control of the broom as her body unwillingly succumbed to the pain and the dread.

Jessa blinked as she tried opening her eyes, only to be met with starch, bright light. She groaned, feeling like she'd been run over by a heard of elephants. Her whole body felt heavy. As she tried to raise a hand and locate her glasses, she realized her left palm and wrist were wrapped.

Someone cleared their throat near the end of her bed. She looked up and blinked at the blurry forms near the end of the bed. It came closer and Jessa felt an arm slip behind her, helping her to sit up. A hand was holding out her glasses. She gratefully took them and slipped them on.

Standing at the side of the bed were the Weasley twins; still in uniform from the match.

"How are you feeling?"

"Alright, I suppose. Is Harry here as well?"

They nodded. "He woke up about ten minutes ago."

"I remember seeing the Snitch and then feeling cold and heavy. I know Dementors were on the pitch, but what happened?"

They exchanged a sharp glance. "They swarmed upwards, targeting you and Harry."

"Dumbledore was bloody furious."

"He and Madame Hooch helped as you fell – "

" – so you didn't smash every bone in your body."

"Right," she paused, trying to take it in. "Did either team win?"

"No. It was too hard to see, but – "

" – looked like either of you might've – "

" – when the bloody Dementors came and froze our insides, too."

"You alright, then?"

A bit shakily, they nodded.

"Not pleasant – "

" – but nowhere near as bad as you."

"Speaking of, what happened to your hand?" Fred finally got around to ask. Given her headache, the back-and-forth of Fred and George's speech was a bit dizzying.

"Dunno. Whenever I'm near a Dementor, it burns. As if pulling me back to – to that night."

"That night?"

"The scar on my palm matches the one on Harry's forehead," she explained.

They gaped, but as one of them (George?) went to speak again, Fred nudged him in the ribs. They looked behind them before turning back to her, clearly noticing something she didn't.

"Looks like you have company."

"Oh. Er – well, thank you. For checking on me, I mean," she replied.

"Anytime."

"Feel better."

They gave her a smile as they went to leave, though those smiles quickly turned into glares as they passed by the incoming to Slytherins; Draco Malfoy in particular.

"Hey Jessa. How are you feeling?"

"Okay…you came?"

"Of course, we came. It's what friends do."

"Especially, in Slytherin."