"I am sorry you want me to what?"
"Look. I have very little patience with you right now. Take a pinch of the powder throw it into the blasted fireplace, step in and speak clearly. "
Blaise stood up from the chair he had watched the exchange from. "I have a brilliant idea. I will demonstrate." And indeed, he did just that.
After he left, Draco gestured for Jean to go next. She bit her lip before stepping forward and tentatively picking up some of the strange powder. "Hogwarts Headmistress' Office!" Then she was gone, swirling through the colors and noise before falling with a thud onto a wooden floor at Blaise's feet. He hoisted her up.
"You never were very graceful." As he helped right her, he brushed some of the ash off her shoulder before she swatted him away.
Suddenly, she could feel someone directly behind her. She looked up into Draco's silver eyes. He lingered there, just a hairs breath away. She could smell his expensive cologne that made her think of walking through a forest covered with freshly fallen snow before curling up with a book by a fire.
Blaise cleared his throat, and Draco left her side so quickly it was as though he was never there. He walked around the office, looking around. "Where is she?" He asked after a moment.
Blaise motioned towards a door. Jean took in her surroundings in a stunned silence. While her eye usually would have been drawn to the multitude of books, the number of portraits on the surrounding walls alone was enough to occupy her attention. Each occupant of the painting seemed to be sleeping, but she could have sworn a few of them murmured to one another.
After a moment, the door Blaise had motioned to opened, and a severe-looking woman in emerald green robes appeared. She eyed Jean only briefly before focusing her attention on Draco. "Do you think it wise to talk here?"
Draco's emotionless face betrayed nothing. "No."
"Yes, well. The others should be arriving shortly. Mr. Zabini will you accompany her down to his office?"
"Yes-" Blaise began.
"Wait, you are going to have her walk all the way thru the school?" Draco demanded.
"I can hear you!" Jean stated as she became aware they were going to be discussing her most likely.
The woman peered at Draco over her glasses, ignoring Jean. "What exactly are you proposing as an alternative?"
Draco paused. "We meet in the staff room and discuss it there. Leave her here."
"She won't be shielded from exposure in this room."
"There are a number of things in my office I would prefer kept away from curious hands."
"You are both crazy. If you are going to be discussing things about me, I demand to be present." Jean crossed her arms across her chest.
The woman pursed her lips. "Very well, both offices are out. Mr. Zabini, take her down to the Come and Go Room. It is not too far from here this year, so you should be able to take her there with little incident."
Blaise nodded and began to lead her away. Jean continued to protest until Blaise whispered in her ear. "If you make this easy I will find out what they say and fill you in later."
She considered him for a moment and realized she was not getting anywhere as the other two people in the room were ignoring her completely. "Why should I even trust you?"
"Because right now, what other option do you have?" He looked at her smugly before pushing her gently towards the door that headed down to the rest of the castle.
After they had walked for a while, Blaise came to a stop in front of a wall. In the middle of a corridor. "Could you please tell me what is going on?" Jean said as she watched him pace back and forth. Blaise seemed to be counting to himself and then repeating the process a little further down the hallway every few feet. "Would you please stop that."
"I'm trying to get the right spot." He said to her.
"What for?"
He grumbled something indistinguishable under his breath.
"Well, whenever you are finished I would love an explanation. You can pick a place to start. Maybe why you lied to me? Or how you know that man? Or what is going on? Or say, I don't know, why there was a ball of fire in my hand!"
"I know it is near impossible for your darling, but I would appreciate it if you could be quiet, for just a moment."
Jean rolled her eyes and looked around the empty corridor. She squinted and could have sworn she saw a flash of hair hide around the corner. But no one ever emerged.
"Come on," Blaise said getting her attention again, as he ushered her through set of double doors that had not been there a minute ago.
"What is this?" She asked as she stepped into the room marveling at the site before her.
Blaise scowled as he looked around. "I asked for a place that would make you feel comfortable and distracted…But this is not what I expected. At all."
They had walked into a library. Ahead of them, there was a round sitting room that had a large fireplace, leather armchairs, sofa, and a long table with chairs. Above them was a domed glass ceiling that allowed sunlight to shine down through the tree branches several stories above them. There were windows that stretched from floor to ceiling with seat cushions on either side of the fireplace. A spiral staircase went up to the next two floors of shelves that looked down on the sitting room. All three floors expanded to both the right and left with long corridors filled with shelves of priceless books. Small study nooks and window seats continued every so often down the halls. The décor was a mixture of ornate classical finishings and some modern touches. It was expansive and cozy at the same time.
"It's incredible," Jean whispered as she looked around her unsure of where to start. Something about it made her ache, but she could not put her finger on why. Was it just the sense of wonder at the knowledge before her? Must be…
Blaise studied her carefully. "Jean, does this look familiar to you at all?"
"No, I have never been here before." She ran her fingers along the binding as she neared the closest shelf.
"Hmm…" Blaise looked around.
As she took it all in, she barely heard Blaise mumble under his breath. "Of course, your bloody happy place is the Malfoy library. Because that is not incredibly twisted or anything."
"What is it? The Malfoy library?"
Blaise looked caught off guard. He probably did not expect her to actually hear him. "It's just some place…" He finished lamely. "Ok, well I'm going to go dry off. I'll be back." It wasn't until he was walking away Jean noticed for the first time the way that his expensive shoes still squished as he walked.
Jean wandered down the aisles of the bookshelves looking through all the titles. There were so many to choose from. The ranging subjects including everything from familiar tomes on philosophy to mysterious titles about magical potions. As she wandered through the shelves, she nearly forgott everything else that had been going on until someone poked her in the back. She yelped and was promptly shushed. It appeared she was alone, but suddenly she looked down to find James, Fred, and Dominique from the day before looking up at her. "What-" They shushed her again. She lowered her voice, "What are you all doing here?"
"We are here for you," James told her triumphantly.
She looked at them puzzled.
"Dominique saw you being dragged here by Mr. Zabini. We have something to show you." Fred said he looked back over his shoulder. "But you have to come with us. And get out of this room. Trust me, you want to see it."
Jean looked around for Blaise. On the one hand, she realized even if he was finished freshening up, it may be a while before he would know she was gone.
But he was her friend for years. These children she had only met yesterday. She was also torn about leaving the library…
So far today though she had only found more questions than answers and her current trust in Blaise was iffy at best. He brought her here to distract her from everything that was going on outside. She bit her lip. The children looked at her so hopefully. "Well, all right. I think the entrance is back this way." She said quietly.
"We came in over here," James motioned down the hall to a small door in the wall. She looked one more time back the expansive library before climbing through the small door.
When they came out, they were in a different part of the school than she had previously seen. James pulled a large piece of paper out of his robes which came alive after a few mumbled words. She felt a smile dawn on her face as she realized it was a map of the castle. She watched over his shoulder as Fred and Dominique tried to help him find the best passage back.
Turning to Dominique, Jean asked, "Where is your brother? Louis was it?"
Dominique nodded before stating rather dramatically. "Alas, we lose another Weasley to the other houses." Fred snickered as he heard her remark.
"Yeah, wanker ended up in Hufflepuff. Can you believe it? But Teddy took him under his wing, so I guess he might still be all right. Thank Merlin it wasn't Slytherin. None of us have been sorted there yet."
"They aren't all that bad," Dominique said back with a slight flush on her cheeks.
James looked up at her and smirked. "Yeah? Anyone, we know?"
Dominique punched his shoulder in response. He seemed to take that as his clue. Jean watched he mumbled some more words and the ink drained from the page. They headed off down one of the corridors.
Dominique stopped them all after a moment, "Wait! The cloak!"
James shuffled his robes again a pulled out the silvery cloak and tossed it around Jean's shoulders. She lifted her arm to look at it only to realize she could not see anything where the rest of her body should be. "What—" she began.
Promptly all of the boys shushed her again. "It's an invisibility cloak," Dominique said quietly.
"We can explain later! We have to go, now." James said and looked around the corner before waving for all of them to follow. After a few pauses to avoid being spotted, they took off in a dash down the hall and as they ran, the hood slipped back revealing Jean's floating head. They approached the portrait of a very large woman.
"You! What are you doing here?" The woman in the portrait said pointing at Jean.
"Flobberworm," James said quickly. He jumped up and tried to roughly pull the hood back down before Jean had the chance herself.
The woman in the painting scowled at them. "No adults are supposed to be allowed access."
"Flobberworm! You have to let us in!" James replied. Fred began to anxiously glance around them for anyone that might be coming down the hallway.
"I will not stand for this!"
"Flobberworm, flobberworm, flobberworm!" James shouted in exasperation.
"Fine! But I don't appreciate being treated this way!" And the portrait appeared to swing forward of its own accord. Jean pushed her questions to the back of her mind. Of all the things that have happened today, she was not sure talking portraits ranked high on the list. They stepped up and into a room that quickly fell silent staring at the odd posture of the three children.
Fred stepped forward, "Ladies and gentlemen of Gryffindor, we present to you…"
James blindly grasped until he caught the fabric of the cloak and pulled it off of her. "Hermione Granger!" He proclaimed. Cheers echoed in the room as everyone rushed forward.
So, there was a chance that following the children was not the best choice.