Title: The Truth
By: PreHarris
Disclaimer: Everything you recognise belongs to JK Rowling, Bloomsbury, and Warner Bros. Everything you don't is mine.
Rating: PG-13
Summary: When a habitual liar is briefly forced into honesty – what he says could wreck his friendship. He has to get into the girls' dorms to apologise. The problem is- how?
A/N: This story came about as a cure for writer's block. silvercrackle kindly gave me the plot bunny and vampydora did some great beta work. The story is in three parts – this is the first.
Chapter One – Downstairs
There were three stages most people usually went through upon meeting Jack Dillion. The first was "Realising that Jack spoke absolute rubbish." The third, "Wanting to beat Jack into a bloody pulp", was the stage his pursuers were currently at.
Over the last eight years Jack had really honed his talent for sprinting away from angry people. He was almost a corridor ahead of them…if he made a sharp, unexpected left up ahead, and then dived into the library, they would think he had gone on to the Gryffindor Common room and take a sharp right to cut him off at the staircase before it changed on the hour.
He pushed himself forward harder, made a sharp left, and then it was just a matter of throwing himself through the library doors before they got to the corner and hexed him.
He pushed himself through the door with unexpected relief, and then made a beeline for the potion section, which had the heaviest books and the highest bookcases to hide behind.
Madam Pince glared at him for his mussed robes andloud panting, but he sauntered on regardless, waiting for the sound of the door moving behind him.
There were voices raised outside, probably debating where he had gone. For extra precaution he crouched low and gently slid two thick books from the shelf. It was a narrow squeeze but it would leave just enough room for him to crawl through and hide behind the row of books. He pushed himself through and straightened out flat in the dust. Once the two books were back in place, no onecould know he was there.
Several people had entered the library, one stopped to murmur something to Madam Pince, but he heard footsteps as the rest moved around with a more determined footstep than normally heard in the library.
There was a click of low heels heading towards the potions section; he calculated quickly who that narrowed it down to. They weren't Pince's flat shoes, but they could be Leanne Moon's – a girl who was last seen chasing him down a corridor…oh, about thirty seconds ago.
The shoes moved closer, they were directly in front of him. He tried not to breath and screwed his eyes shut in the dark. If he'd wanted to risk making noise he would have been murmuring "Go away, please, please go away…"
"Have you seen Dillion?"
It was Frankie Packers, who had been several feet ahead of Leanne Moon just seconds ago.
"No, I think he's gone up to the Common Room."
Jack could have whooped – not only because Frankie was discreetly calling his gang out of the library, but because the voice who had just spoken was wonderfully, marvellously familiar.
He pushed the books in front of him apart slightly, just enough to wriggle a hand through, and snatched the ankle that was gliding past. There was a yelp, a whisper of apology to Madam Pince, and then a face appeared in front of him.
"Jack?"
With blonde hair, a cheeky grin, and a growing bust, Penny Daly's body and personality held quite a lot of romantic interest for Jack. She wasn't every student's dream girl, but she liked him, flirted his socks off, and usually got told off for talking in lessons more than he did. The thought of her had sustained Jack through many chases such as this.
"Hi Catfish," he said. It wasn't a particularly suave greeting, he realised with an inner groan, but she smiled anyway.
"Hullo Trouble. We have to stop meeting like this."
"Help me out of here will you?"
She obligingly moved several of the heavier books and pulled him out of the gap. He stood, wheezing in the dust, and attempted to brush the remainder off of his robes. Penny sneezed.
"That was close, wasn't it?" she said, brushing her nose. "Normally you make it to the Common Room before they corner you. Are you unwell?"
"I'm very sick," he said in his best deadpan voice. He tried not to glance down to her chest as he spoke. He tried not to. She was his friend and he wasn't entirely sure she knew that he fancied her.
"I bet you are. Watch yourself though – this flu bug is everywhere. Pomfrey is beside herself."
They rearranged the books, picked up their bags, and wandered out into the corridor.
"I remember a flu bug like this," said Jack. "It hit my Primary School – St. Birklestock's – people dropping like flies…you don't want to know what happened to the PE teacher…"
Penny chuckled.
"Well okay…it involved him getting so potted on the drugs they gave him he stood up at assembly and announced his love for Miss. Patterson – our nice but ancient Geography teacher. I heard they got married later on actually…"
It was total rubbish of course. Jack loved telling stories, but in the absence of any interesting ones he tended to make them up. He wanted to be cool and exciting, and when he told stories he could slip on that persona and be the coolest person in the school until someone tried to attack him. Without the stories he just stammered and mumbled. Penny knew he talked crap – but he was absolutely certain she liked him anyway. He hated to think what she'd say if she saw the real him.
"Were you a bridesmaid then, Trouble?"
He threw an arm around her shoulder and leaned in conspiratorially. "I look very fetching in Lavender silk I'll have you know…"
"Really?" she said. "I had you down for Pink Taffeta myself."
He pulled his arm away reluctantly, casting a boyish grin her way. "Let's face it…I look great in anything."
"That's what they all say at the sleepovers," she said. "Really, if you were even remotely likable as a person, you'd be quite a catch. Bit of a pointy nose, but the grin sort of goes with it."
She didn't see his rather dopey smile for long because she started sneezing again. When she had recovered she looked at him with an odd expression.
"Look Trouble, I mean, Jack…you know we've been friend for ages?"
"Yeah?" he said. Could this possibly be it? The moment when Penny Daly asked Jack Dillion out? The end of a beautiful friendship and the start of a fantastic snog?
"Well, I was thinking…"
"Dillion!" both turned reflexively to the voice. Frankie Packers was bearing down upon Jack. Leanne Moon, Yolanda Wicks, and Kenny Crestburn were right behind Frankie. Penny started sneezing again, and, with an apologetic look at Jack, staggered off up the corridor.
"Hello!" Jack called out jovially. He started surreptitiously searching the corridor for escape routes, but without much luck. He either had to go past them or dive up a flight of stairs where they could easily hex him from behind. "How are we on this fine afternoon?"
"We are…what was it…oh yes…fifty points down today!" snarled Leanne Moon. "Down because you kept banging on about absolute rubbish in lessons all day."
"Not to mention twenty yesterday, and sixty the day before," added Yolanda Wicks.
"We can't make points as fast as you loose them," growled Frankie. "If you loose just one more point for this house this year I swear I will hex you so hard you won't remember your own name."
"Right, check, no more points." he said with his fingers crossed.
"And you better go do your homework, because our points better be back were they were before you ruined it," said Yolanda.
"Right. Get points back."
"And," added Frankie, with the air of someone who's about to hand out just desserts, "we've got a little something to help you remember."
Jack realised that they wear about to pounce and turned to flee. His superior racing skills got him up to the third step, before Leanne, who was pretty light on her feet, tackled him.
They each grabbed a limb. Jack's wand was in his bag and, pinned to the stairs, he could only struggle as a tiny bottle of potion was tipped into his mouth.The liquidwas warm and smooth and tasted faintly of oysters. It slipped down his throat before he could even try and spit it out.
"This," said Frankie, "is a potion very similar to Verisatium…only it only lasts for one question. It's not quite as hard to get hold of…we could definitely repeat this if you like."
Frankie sat back and gestured for the others to let go of Jack. His limbs felt sleepy – he didn't think he'd be able to get up, let alone run away.
"What should we ask him?" asked Frankie to Leanne. "It's got to be something good."
"Ask him what his most embarrassing habit is," suggested Kenny.
"Ask him if he wets the bed," said Kenny gleefully.
"We can't do that," snapped Leanne. "If he doesn't then it's a perfectly good question wasted."
"What then?" demanded Frankie.
Leanne grinned and stepped up to Jack. She leaned in closely; he wanted to choke on her sugary perfume.
"Hi there Jack," she said with fake kindness. She reached out and smoothed his hair off his head like a mother with a fussing child. "Now…I'm going to ask you something okay?"
He opened his mouth but she slapped a hand down over it before he could speak. "Don't talk until I tell you to…we don't was the potion wasted. Just nod."
Jack felt himself nodding sleepily as though she'd sung him a lullaby.
"Now," she said, "what is the one thing about yourself you would hate the entire school to know about?"
Frankie whooped. "Yes! Brilliant!"
"I…" he croaked. "I think…I"
"Yes," Leanne soothed, lifting his head up and stroking his hair. "Take your time, go on…"
"I think I'm in love with Penny Daly."
The words had splurged from his mouth before he even knew what he was going to say. He almost physically reeled in horror.
The other student's reactions were far less sedate. Leanne dropped his head and threw back her own with a great peal of laughter. Yolanda was shrieking herself, and Kenny and Frankie were alternatively howling and guffawing.
"That ugly little blonde girl!" shrieked Yolanda. "She's got all the intelligence and depth of an iceberg!"
"Only an iceberg's prettier!" cried Leanne.
Jack pulled himself into an upright position. Watching in horror as four fifteen year olds broke down over a crush as though they were six. He wondered what they'd do if he mentioned 'boobies'.
"Those are probably the only true words you've ever said to me," chortled Frankie. "And what words they were…"
The group picked up their things, Leanne and Yolanda still crying with laughter, and stalked off leaving Jack slumped on the stairs.
"Is that what truth gets you, huh?" he called after them coldly. "Well, you've won me over!"
Jack was still sitting on the steps when Tony turned up and hour later.
Tony, like Penny, had somehow not passed through the normal three stages of meeting Jack. They had somehow got stuck on 'knowing Jack talks rubbish and liking him anyway'. Jack was still unaware as to how he'd prevented scaring them off.
Tony was athick-set Gryffindor who could spot a lie a mile away. He was a sensible lad who came from honest stock. He himself never lied and saw little point for it. For some reason this gave him a knack for knowing when someone was telling porkies.
His reaction to lies was simple – he ignored them. Jack could spend an hour going on about the time Grindelwald had him over for tea and Tony would turn around and ask about the latest Quidditch match without even acknowledging Grindelwald's silver goblets and bad taste in cutlery.
"I've been looking everywhere for you," said Tony kindly. "It's nearly curfew." He sunk down onto the step next to Jack. "I'm not going to lie to you of all people," he said. "It's bad."
"How bad?"
"The entire Common Room is still talking about it."
"Oh," said Jack. "That bad."
Tony pulled two Chocolate Frogs from his bag and handed one over. "I must say, that was some honesty," he said.
"I didn't do it on purpose," snarled Jack. "They…"
"The potion," said Tony quickly. "They're still talking about that too. I wonder what McGonagall would say if she found out?"
"Honesty," grunted Jack. "When I tell the truth, I really tell the truth, don't I? Even I didn't know that I loved her…I just like her smile…I didn't know it was more than that…"
Tony squirmed as all teenage boys do when their friends mention the L word.
"I could give them a detention?" he offered. "Or I could go to McGonagall."
Jack shook his head. "They said they'd do it again if I got any points taken because of me…I think that means if I get points taken from them too."
Jack's mouth suddenly felt dry. "Does Penny…er…what did she say?"
Tony shrugged. "I dunno – she's not in the Common Room – no one's seen her."
Jack groaned and rubbed his face with his hands. "The whole school's laughing at her…I bet she hates me. She's probably in her room crying."
"Not hate," said Tony reasonably. "She might be a bit upset though."
"Oh yeah, just a bit," groaned Jack. "I've got to apologise before it gets any worse."
There was giggling behind them, several girls walked down the steps. One of them made a kissy face at him.
The boys watched them go.
"It's even worse," said Jack.
"I said everyone was talking about it," said Tony.
"Yeah, but those girls aren't in our house. They aren't even in our year!" Jack half shouted. He screwed up the Chocolate Frog wrapper and snatched up his bag. "I've got to apologise to Penny."
Tony picked up his own bag and followed him. "Why? It's not your fault you fancy her."
"Yeah but it's my fault everyone hates me enough to find it funny, I've just got to see her."
They were in luck – sort of – when they reached the common room. The Fat Lady was not in her frame and as it was nearly Curfew nobody came out. They were forced to wait outside until she returned.
This was practically a good turn of events for Jack – who had not fancied going into the girls' dorms with a room full of laughing students watching on.
Tony took a rather dimmer view. "It's freezing out here. She's not supposed to leave her frame before Curfew. I'm going to talk to the Head Boy about this."
When The Fat Lady returned (staring rather haughtily at Tony, who seemed to want an apology) the Common Room was practically empty but for one rather fat girl from their own year who was sitting in the corner with moon charts and a bag of Honeyduke's sweets.
"Hello Deborah," said Tony kindly. Being a prefect he made it his business to know every student in his year – although he was by no means as good at it as Penny.
"Who's she?" muttered Jack. He had a few essays to be getting on with and was hoping dowdy Deborah would go up before he had to go up the girl's steps.
"She's nice," whispered Tony. "Bit boring, but nice. She's in our year," he added reproachfully.
"Why is she still down here?"
"She doesn't have any friends, she just sits and does her homework or reads her books. She usually stays up late."
"How late?" hissed Jack, trying to concentrate on finding out about an obscure Goblin Hoard.
"Late late."
If Deborah had heard them she made no comment and so Jack screwed up his badly blotted homework and chucked it onto the fire.
"I don't care if she sees, I'm going up now," he said.
"See what?" said Deborah, who couldn't fail to miss that.
"I am going up to the girls' dormitory to see my friend. Is that a problem?" asked Jack, slipping into his cocky persona for the first time since before that gang had jumped him.
"The one you fancy?" said Deborah softly.
Jack gaped – he'd just gotten a good look at what his life was going to be like. He could be the coolest, most incredible Wizard in the world. He could moon You-Know-Who should he ever return, marry a Veela, win the Wizarding and the Muggle World Cup, and it wouldn't matter because all his peers would remember was that he fancied Penelope Daly.
"Well…I…mean yeah," he stammered. He tried to pull himself back together again. "You got a problem with that?"
Deborah shrugged. "Not really." She went back to her Astronomy homework leaving Jack feeling extremely foolish.
He straightened his robes, briefly ran his fingers through his hair, and then headed up the steps.
He reached the fifth step before the stairs gave way and became smooth under his feet. He slid downwards and landed heavily on the carpet. There was a loud 'pop' and, over his shoes, he now wore a pair of oversized blue high heels.
"That's funny," said Deborah. "Normally it makes a loud Klaxon noise…I suppose it can't do that at night though with everyone sleeping."
Tony tugged one of the heels of Jack's foot and held it up with a snort. "Dumbledore's got a sense of humour – you have to give him that."
"Oh…it goes all the way back to the founders," said Deborah helpfully.
"So not only did they decide to mortify boys when they tried to get into the girls dormitories…they envisioned girls of the future would be wearing sparkly blue shoes too?" said Jack acidly. He got to his feet and kicked off the other shoe. "They're clearly more powerful than previously thought."
Deborah stared at him with large reproachful eyes and then went back to her homework.
"I've got to get up there somehow!" Jack half whined. His cool persona was almost gone. He couldn't even really remember what it was like to have it.
"Wait to tomorrow," shrugged Tony.
"The whole school will know by then!"
"The whole school knows now," said Tony.
Jack slumped into the chair opposite Deborah and shook his head slowly. "I need to talk to her before then. Just to say sorry."
That wasn't entirely true, he couldn't help but think. He did want to say sorry for all the embarrassment, but there was also a small part of him that remembered the way she'd been looking at him before Frankie Packers had pounced...
So, that was the end of chapter one. Anyone who has written an original character in this fandom knows how hard it can be and how much prejudice there is against them. If you made it this far I'd love to hear your thoughts – even if it's just to tell me you got this far and like/hate it. Was Jack a Gary Stu? Did you dislike Leanne Moon as much as you were supposed to? Did the plot thrill you or kill you? Any comments or constructive critisism are extremely welcome.