Soul of the Enemy

By Willow Spirit

Disclaimer: I only own the plot. Everything else belongs to the wonderful J. K. Rowling.

A/N: Thanks for the reviews. In other news, I just spent my first day substitute teaching yesterday; 13 and 14 year olds. Let's just say that by the end of the day I was thanking my lucky stars I was actually getting paid for it. No more unpaid work as a student teacher!

Chapter 4: Journey to the Library

It is common knowledge that when Albus Dumbledore makes a prediction, it usually comes true. And his latest prediction was no exception. It first started as a tentative whisper, and then by Thursday it had snowballed into a full-blown rumour.

The story was utter gossip about the "escaped mental patient" now living in the hospital wing. The mystery girl came all the way from St. Mungo's itself. And no one was allowed to visit her, except Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley, and Hermione Granger. Of course, that fact wasn't so strange since most of the students in Hogwarts though they were kind of crazy themselves. It made sense, didn't it? Crazy people like the company of other crazy people…right?

As it was, all other students were banned from the hospital wing, unless it was an emergency. Luckily there weren't too many accidents or spells gone haywire. Jane was given lots of space and privacy in her little area of the infirmary. It was indeed 'her' little area, since she started to accumulate a large number of items.

Harry had brought her a vase filled with wild flowers. He hoped that they would cheer her up. He couldn't quite tell, though. She wore her poker face while he was presenting them to her. Jane also had a good collection of books, as suggested by Hermione. Harry had brought her a few, but Hermione had picked most of them out. There were books on fairy tales, action packed adventures, even one about Quidditch. And of course, no book collection could be complete without a copy of Hogwarts: A History.

Jane was getting better and better everyday. When Harry came to visit her mid week, he found her already sitting up in her bed. She was propped up on her pillow, reading one of the adventure novels. Gone was the shy, timid girl who hid beneath her sheets. Now Jane never hid her face from Harry. She still wasn't too out there with her emotions. But Harry was getting very skilled in reading subtle differences in Jane's famous poker face. A slight pull at the corner of her lips meant a smile. A faint narrowing of her eyes meant a frown.

The weekend came and went in a heartbeat. Harry, Ron, and Hermione had to wait patiently for the next weekend to roll around again. It was awfully difficult for them to visit Jane during the week. Their schoolwork was the worst it had ever been. After all, they were studying for their NEWTS at the end of the school year. If they thought the professors had gone mental over OWLS, they knew now how wrong they had been.

Harry even found it hard to spare a few minutes to go see Jane. But luckily for him, Friday was on their doorstep in no time. He still had a lot of work to do, like doing research for his latest Potions essay, but he still was going to stop by to say a quick hello.

Harry slipped inside the hospital wing and nearly dropped his school bag in surprise. Jane was sitting on top of her bed, and she was fully dressed. She wasn't wearing that ugly, plain hospital gown any more; she was wearing 'normal' clothes. Her black trousers were loose fitting and very comfortable looking. She also wore a blue, fitted t-shirt. To top it all off, she had a black cloak wrapped around her shoulders, probably for warmth.

Wait a minute…? Harry couldn't figure out where she had gotten the new clothes. Then it suddenly dawned on him that they were the same clothes she had been wearing when she first arrived at Hogwarts. Of course, they had been extremely wet and dirty at the time. It looked like Madame Pomfrey had cleaned and mended them for Jane.

"Wow," was all Harry could say as he crossed the infirmary floor. "You really look…different in normal clothes. I mean, it's not a bad different or anything. You were probably just tired of wearing that nasty hospital garb all the time."

Harry sat himself down in his usual chair. At first, he couldn't remember what he was going to say. The sight of Jane in regular clothes had completely thrown him off guard. Then his mind finally began to work again.

"Uh, yeah. So not much is going on with Ron and Hermione. Ron says hi, by the way. We actually got in some Quidditch practice the other night. It was only about twenty minutes but it felt really good to get out there for a while. Kind of cold, though, being January and all…"

So Harry continued to tell Jane all about the past few days. It was something he always did whenever he visited her. Sometimes he didn't know what to talk about, so he just told Jane about stuff that was happening around school. It wasn't quite gossip, it was more like he was reading a newspaper story to her. He was keeping her informed.

Time was flying by, and soon half an hour had passed. Harry realized that he had to get to the library pronto if he was going to get any research done. As much as he hated to do this, he had to say goodbye to Jane.

"Look, Jane," Harry said. "I'm really sorry, but I have to get going. I've love to stay and chat longer but I have this Potions paper to write. Believe me, I'd rather be here than in the library. Snape will have my head if I don't finish this essay on time."

As Harry got up to leave, Jane also slid off her hospital bed. She took one step in Harry's direction, like she wanted to get his attention. Well, she didn't have to work too hard to get it. Harry nearly froze half standing up he was so shocked by her being out of bed. He had never seen her leave that bed at any time during his visits.

"What?" Harry asked, slightly amused. "You don't want to come with me, do you?"

Jane nodded her head ever so slightly. Her eyes were fixed on his with a hint of fierce determination.

"Well…" Harry didn't know what to say! "It's only the library. Not the most exciting place in Hogwarts, you know. Are you sure you want to come? Are you ready to go out there?"

Harry nodded his head towards the infirmary doors. He knew the rest of the school was potentially dangerous for Jane, especially in her condition. But Jane just gave Harry this look, and he knew she wouldn't take no for an answer.

"Okay," Harry said uncertainly. "Let's go see Madam Pomfrey. She might be willing to let you leave but I won't make any guarantees. She's pretty stubborn when it comes to her patients. And I have to warn you, it can get kind of scary out there in the school. We have our own resident bullies, gossips, stalkers, and anything else you can think of. Trust me, I've directly encountered all of them myself. They're not a cheery bunch."

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After much negotiation with Madam Pomfrey, Harry was finally able to take Jane away from the hospital wing. To be honest, Harry thought it was a wonderful idea. Jane had been locked away in the infirmary for nearly two weeks now. No wonder she was feeling a little stir crazy. She definitely needed a change of scenery.

There weren't too many students in the library, since it was a Friday afternoon. Students rarely started their work so soon on the weekends. This worked out to their advantage. Harry and Jane were able to find an empty table far away from anyone else. They both sat down and Harry pulled out his Potions research.

It was not going well. He had to find a list of ingredients for a complicated potion. The only problem was, he had no idea where to look. As Harry tried searching through his textbook for any clues, Jane quietly got up and started browsing through the nearby shelves.

When Harry finally looked up from his book, he saw that Jane had returned. She had brought a book back with her and was now totally absorbed in it. Harry had to squint to read the title, but once he read what it was he was obviously impressed.

"Advanced Transfiguration: Skills and Techniques for Human Transfiguration," Harry's eyebrows rose in surprise. Apparently Jane was very smart, just like Hermione had said. "Wow. That's NEWT level material, Jane. Some people can't even manage it. You have to be really good in Transfiguration to do it."

Jane lifted her eyes for a brief second, only to shoot Harry a semi-annoyed look.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to say that you weren't good at it. It just surprised me. But since we're talking about difficult subjects, you wouldn't happen to know much about Potions, would you? I can't seem to find the right information I need."

Harry was half joking when he asked Jane the question. He didn't expect her to lean over the table and grab his textbook from him. She silently skimmed over the page in question before give a final little nod. She plunked the book onto the table and soon disappeared into the bookshelves.

A few minutes had passed and Harry still hadn't moved a muscle. He was so curious as to what Jane was up to but he just couldn't bring himself to budge. Suddenly she was back, bringing with her a very old and beat up looking book. Jane slid into her seat and placed the book carefully on the table in front of Harry. He stared at the title of the book.

A History of Medieval Crime Fighting

He instantly opened the front cover and flipped to the very back. There in the index was what he was looking for: the ingredient list for the Truth Potion.

"I don't believe this!" Harry looked from the book to Jane in awe. "I've been looking everywhere for this. I couldn't find it anywhere and Snape was being such a prat. He wouldn't let us search the restricted sections for our essays. I never would have thought to look in here. You're amazing, Jane!"

Jane shrugged her shoulders a bit. Harry thought she was being overly modest but he could see a bit of pink creeping into her cheeks.

So the two of them sat there together, Harry working on his essay and Jane reading her books. Every minute or so, Jane would furtively look at Harry over the top of her book. Harry didn't seem to notice the way she studied him. He was too involved in finishing his essay. At one point, Jane even opened her mouth as if she was going to say something. But she hesitated, and promptly shut her mouth again. Jane's eyes returned to her book, and stayed there for a good long while.

Harry could tell it was getting late. Lots of students were beginning to leave, indicating that it was time for supper. He was feeling quite hungry himself, though a part of him didn't want to go. He really enjoyed sitting with Jane in the peacefulness of the library. It was very comfortable and he liked her company. The fact that she didn't talk made her very different from Ron and Hermione. Still, it made Harry wonder what kind of person Jane was. What would she be like if she were to talk?

With a quick glance at his watch, Harry started putting away his things into his bag. "Sorry, Jane," Harry sighed. "I think we should get going. We don't want to miss supper. I wouldn't want you to eat cold hospital food."

Jane stood and walked side by side with Harry as they started to leave the library. "So, Jane, I didn't realize you were into such challenging subjects," Harry teased. "And here we were bringing you easy books to read. Hermione will be so pleased to hear that you enjoy scholarly type books. You'll have a mountain of them by your bedside the next time she visits you."

Harry was stunned beyond belief when a hand landed on his shoulder and pushed him playfully to the side. He stumbled and turned his head to look straight at Jane. She was wearing a very innocent expression on her face. She refused to look at Harry.

"Well, well!" Harry didn't bother containing his surprise. "Looks like someone here is a mischief maker. I knew there was a real person in there somewhere." Jane never missed a step. "Oh, you're good, Jane. You're brilliant. But you can't fool me. I know you pushed me. So come on! Try it again! See if you can take me on! How about a duel, huh? Come on, we'll go back to the infirmary and find your wand. Then we can hex each other to death. Come on, it'll be so fun!"

Jane tried desperately to keep a straight face but it wasn't working too well. Harry could see the corner of mouth twitch, despite her valiant effort. She tried to walk faster but that only made Harry try harder.

"So what are you, afraid?" Harry tried to run around her as they walked. "I bet that's it! You're a chicken! You're just a little 'fraidy cat. I am so disappointed! I'm telling you, I was really looking forward to getting pounded. It would have been a blast, no pun intended…"

"What on earth are you doing, Potter?"

Harry instantly skidded to a halt. 'Oh, no. Not him! Not now!' he thought as he tried to keep his cool. He turned around and was nearly face to face with the one person who always had to be the party pooper: Draco Malfoy.

"What's your problem this time, Malfoy?" Harry glared at him.

"You, as always," Malfoy snapped back.

"Well, then, I suggest you run and hide before your problem starts to get pissed off!" Harry tried to move so that he was standing between Jane and Malfoy. He had hoped to keep her hidden but unfortunately it wasn't working.

"Who's that you got there?" Malfoy peered around Harry so he could get a better view. He frowned as he looked at her face. "Who are you? I don't remember seeing you around here. Tell me your name."

"She's nobody!" Harry exclaimed.

Malfoy quickly glanced at Harry and saw how panicked he looked. Then Malfoy returned to the girl. After a moment's thought, a slow, devious smile began to creep over his face. Harry wanted to groan out loud. Malfoy had figured it out.

"So…" Malfoy looked very much like a wolf eyeing a sheep. "This is the crazy girl from St. Mungo's. No one said anything about her being so good-looking. And here she had poor pathetic Potter as a bodyguard. How about it, love? Want to come with me for protection?"

Harry instantly stepped backwards in order to shield Jane from Malfoy. He was surprised to find that she was now beside him instead of behind him. Jane was gazing at Malfoy, complete with her poker face. Harry had no idea what she was doing. That is until she took a few steps forward and was right in Malfoy's face.

Harry was a split second away from leaping forward and grabbing Jane away from Malfoy's reach. But then Jane turned her head and looked at him. Her face was still blank though something deep in her eyes said 'trust me'. So Harry relaxed slightly but still remained ready.

Jane turned back to look at Malfoy. He was kind of confused. He had no idea what this girl was doing. She was just staring at him with her colorful green eyes. It was like she was examining him. Her eyes wandered all over his cold, pale face. She noted any mark or freckle that marred it. Then her eyes traveled down to his shoulders and then his torso.

Finally her eyes rested on his 'area'. Malfoy's face started to burn red with embarrassment, especially when Jane tilted her head to one side and squinted her eyes like she was looking at something really, really tiny.

"What are you playing at!" Malfoy's embarrassment quickly turned into anger. Jane, however, didn't seem to notice. She calmly raised her eyes to look Malfoy in the face again. She gave him this look that was totally indescribable, then turned around and walked away. As she passed Harry, she reached out, took his arm, and guided him away with her.

They left Malfoy standing alone in the hallway…feeling very small and insignificant.

Harry was in a dazed wonder. "I cannot believe you just did that!"

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A/N: You know what to do…review! It was also brought to my attention that the word 'pants' actually means something different in the UK. In North America it means something entirely different. I knew that too, I should have known better! So I changed 'pants' and made it trousers to avoid any future embarrassment.

Next Chapter: Harry gives Jane an ultimatum. Jane does something that completely shocks Harry.