Chapter Seven

Jackie had a blinding wave of pain rock through her head. She clutched one side with a hand as she rose a little unsteadily to her feet. Black spots danced across her vision, and voices began filling her head. A man lying on pavement, dirty and bloody. Shoving a wand into her hands with a little bundle. A pain in her chest and then a park.

A house sliding out from houses, a man dressed in fine but worn suits, heads on a wall, a dark room. An old man, with blue eyes, another with a fake one. A man cleaning her running shirt, and a man pointing a wand at her, dark and unkind. Jackie gasped, stumbling slightly.

"Y-you!" she gasped pointing the stun-gun at him. He raised an eyebrow, almost mockingly. It was all coming back to her now, in flashes, glimpses of conversation. Jackie held the side of her head, blinking the pain away. "You took my memories! Y-you're working with them!"

As she spoke his gaze turned cold, and he advanced on her as she let out a frightened shriek. Jackie was pinned to the wall, his body pressed against hers and his arm pressed into her throat. He glared at her, watching her closely.

"Severus Snape," she breathed. She had met this man before. He was the one responsible for her lost day. He took her memories away. He, he did this. "You're on their side . . ."

"How can you remember?" he snapped. His voice held a hint of disbelief in it. "I made sure to take those memories away, I gave you new ones."

"Well they didn't work," she replied brazenly.

He backed away from her, frowning. His wand was still pointed at her, held just under her chin without touching it. "It's not possible."

"What was I supposed to remember, then?" Jackie asked, her hand curled tightly around the taser. She felt slightly . . . brave. Jackie liked that he was so thrown off by her- this- whatever was happening. She couldn't help the sarcasm that entered her voice.

"Being home ill," he sneered. Jackie let out a huff, laughing.

"I'm never sick."

"You rejected a memory." His brows rose.

"Do they know what you did?"

He frowned at her, the tired lines on his face deepening. Jackie knew he didn't know to what she was asking. She didn't care, he was with them.

"Dumbledore. Remus."

"Of course they do," he replied coldly.

"I don't believe you."

"Dumbledore told me to Obliterate your memories, you were never meant to remember," he explained tightly. Jackie pressed her lips together, thinking over his words. Nothing he had said to her- nothing he had ever done could tell her if he was being honest.

"You're a liar."

The change that same over Severus was instantaneous. His face went from cold, blank and removed to rage and anger filled. He advanced on her again, but this time Jackie was prepared and before he could pin her to the wall again, crackling electricity filled the air. His body shuddered, eyes widening. The wand in his hand clattered to the floor before his own legs gave out beneath him.

Before his eyes rolled up he gave her a look of utter disbelief and utmost contempt. Jackie stood, taking in the silence and the sound to two passed out men, breathing. She raised the taser. She, has just tasered two people, in her own home. Two . . . wizards. She. Had. Just. Tasered. Two. Men. Almost as if in a daze she stepped over the two passed out men and into the hall. Numbly she went to her living room, set the taser on the coffee table and sat down across from it. She rested her elbows on her knees, covering her mouth with her hands.

Two passed out men in her bedroom.

In her flat.

Her eyes strayed to the hallway, then back to the taser. Perhaps it would be safe to go tase them again, just to be safe. She really had to thank Tom for it, she never thought she would have to use the Christmas gift. Blimey, and she had thought about tossing it. Jackie was never getting rid of it. Never. She picked it up and set it on her leg.

With her other hand she began tapping her thigh, glancing at the hallway and biting her lip. What was she to do now? What would she do if they woke up? It wasn't like they would fall for it again, let alone be willing to have her tase them. Perhaps they would be disorientated enough to not realize what had happened to them at first. But they scared her, especially the one, Severus Snape.

She was sure he wouldn't hesitate to kill her if given the chance. His eyes just held that predatory gleam in them. Calculating the best means get the kill. Her tapping only increased and she shot to her feet. What was she to do? What could she do? Jackie bit her nails, not something she usually did (a gross habit she often judged others for) and slowly walked back down the hallway. She stood in the doorway to her room, staring at the two men.

Might as well tie them up.

Just in case.

Going to the closet in the hallway, she took out a couple of scarves, making her way back to her room. She didn't have rope, never had the reason to have rope before, now she wished she had some. With the first she tied Mulciber's hands behind his back, taking his wand and placing it on her bed. Then she gagged him, and tied his feet together. Looping her hands under his arms Jackie began to drag him out in down the hall to the spare room.

Kicking open the door she left him in the middle of the room. With a breathless sigh she turned and went back to her room and began to bind Severus's wrists together.

Began to.

But never finished.

His dark eyes snapped open suddenly, and it took all Jackie's self control to not leap back and scream bloody murder. Which would have been the thing to do, especially when he twisted around and grabbed a hold of her wrists. Jackie gasped as he pulled her towards him and glared at her.

She was dead.

Oh, so very dead.

"What do you think doing?" he growled, squeezing her hands tightly. Jackie gasped, twisting her wrists as his grip became painfully tight. But he didn't let up and her voice was strained when she replied.

"Tying you up," she managed, watching his lip curl in disgust. "I didn't want the both of you to wake up and- well, attack me."

Severus rolled his eyes. "Where is Mulciber?"

"Gagged and bound in the spare bedroom," Jackie replied, growing increasingly terrified at the thunderous look on his face.

"You're lucky, girl," he ground out. "There would be nothing to stop them from killing you and your friends. If you had just accepted the memory none of this would have happened."

Jackie frowned. "So this is all my fault?"

"Yes."

What?! She did nothing wrong, and they were the ones who sought her out, she wasn't looking for trouble. In fact, she hated trouble. This whole . . . situation was something she usually tried to ignore.

"You attacked me," she pointed out, despite the sour look on Severus's face.

"That is beside the point."

Right.

And she was a circus performer.

Severus shoved her away roughly, sending her back against the edge of her bed. As he picked himself up off the ground she reached for Mulciber's wand, curling her fingers around the cool wood. At least she would have something to protect herself with. Not that she knew how to use it. Were you just supposed to tell it what you wanted it to do? Or was there some special 'abracadabra' word?

He straightened and turned to her, looking down his nose at her crouched form. "You've made things incredibly difficult, not only for you but also myself. I will have to stay behind of course, while you leave this place."

"What do you mean?" Jackie asked rising.

Severus growled at her. "You will be leaving this place, you daft girl! It is no longer safe for you. Dumbledore will no doubt set you up at a safe house."

"Wait." She shook her head and gave him a wide eyed look. "You mean I have to leave."

"It would be best not to return."

"I- I- I can't leave!" Jackie cried suddenly. "I have a life here, a job, friends-"

"Which you will lose even if you do stay, it's not safe," Severus told her, enunciating each syllable carefully as if she was slow. "They will kill your friends, and you, if you stay."

"But-"

"Are you listening girl?"

Jackie glared at him. "My name is Jackie."

Severus narrowed his eyes at her, not even bothering to say he was sorry or to ask for forgiveness. Not that Jackie was expecting him to. Everything he looked, acted, and expelled just reeked of a man who was overbearingly proud.

"I have to make sure my friends are okay," she went on stubbornly.

"The Order will send someone to make sure they are safe, they won't remember a thing," he told her.

"I don't even get to say goodbye?" she asked shocked. Severus's upper lip curled and he scoffed.

"You want them to live?"

"Of course I d-"

"Then you have to leave, no heartfelt goodbyes, or tearful farewells," his said voice dripping with disdain as he said each word. Jackie snapped her mouth shut, hurt that he would say such a thing. It was rude and mean and heartless.

Tom and Lucy were her world. Her family.

But she did want them to live, wanted them to stay safe and have a family together. Not worry about someone kicking down the door . . . Jackie sighed.

"Fine," she said in a disgruntled voice.

He said nothing as he swept from the room and down the hall. Jackie dashed after him, surprised at how little sound he made as he entered her living room. He said a word, express- expell- expect- expecto patron- no that wasn't right at all.

Patronly?

Patron . . . Patronus!

Expecto Patronus!

Her eyes went wide as a silvery mist slid out of the tip of his wand and took the shape of a doe. She was so transfixed on the image that she missed the entirety of what he had said to the doe, and blinked back into reality when it disappeared through the walls.

"What was that?"

"A patronus," he said in a clipped tone.

"What's it for?"

"Many things!"

Jackie snapped her jaw shut, glaring at him as he stood gazing about her living room. His dark eyes roamed over every piece of furniture and lamp in a calculating manner. Not that Jackie minded. She rather hated the somewhat dated furniture and old bobbles that littered the room. She just didn't have the will to get rid of anything or move anything. They weren't hers to begin with.

"Do you have any family pictures?" he asked suddenly, and Jackie realized why he had been looking so closely at her things.

"One, why?"

"Show it to me."

Jackie turned away from him walking to the bookcase by the door that was filled to the brim with books. The only object on the shelf that wasn't a book was a small, little frame, covered in dust so badly that you couldn't even see the picture behind the glass. She made a face of annoyance, mimicking his words, before snatching the photo and marching back to Severus.

She shoved it into his hands with little ceremony.

His brows rose as he looked from the dusty frame and then back at her. His wand was out again and he was muttering another word she did know. Srugde- scum- scour- scourgify. Scourgify?

Scourgify.

Whatever that meant. But the dust instantly disappeared and the sneer reappeared on his face.

"What a happy little family, you and your parents."

"That's my sister."

He paused, giving her a blank look, or at least what she thought was a blank look as a frown tugged his lips. Jackie didn't offer any other excuse or explanation. She really didn't want to talk about it. Not at all. Especially not with him. And now didn't seem like the right time.

What was she supposed to say? 'Oh, that's my dead sister, there's no pictures of me because my mum never bothered after she died?' He would only make fun of her anyways. Sneer and say something derogatory.

"This is the only picture?" he asked again.

"Yes."

He grunted and waved his wand again, and the frame vanished. His eyes rose to meet hers, a challenging look in the black depths as if daring her to say something. Jackie didn't care, she wasn't attached to the picture anyways. Perhaps if she wasn't in this situation she would have minded and demanded that he give it back.

"We don't want them finding your parents or sister and using them as leverage against you," he went on, moving back down the hallway. Jackie followed closely at his heels as he entered her room again. "Pack, you will not be returning."

Jackie heaved a sigh, pulling a suitcase out of her closet. Throwing it on her bed she began to throw clothes in it, not even bothering to pack neatly; her nerves were so frayed at this point that she hardly cared. This was all so wrong, not even supposed to be real. Magic was a child's fairy tale. Not - this.

When she was done, zipped the cover closed, she looked expectantly at Severus.

"Now what?"

A loud CRACK filled the air and Jackie jumped, a noise of surprise leaving her lips. Severus shot her a glare and left the room, his cloak billowing out behind him. She followed hesitantly a moment later, pausing as she looked into her living room where a man now stood.

His hair was brown, graying, and he wore a shabby suit. She instantly recognized him and stepped out so that he could see her.

"Remus?"

He blinked at her, shock sweeping across his face before he turned to where Severus was silently standing. "You never told me she remembered."

"Should I have?"

"I don't understand," Remus went on, ignoring the sarcasm in Severus's voice. "That spell is absolute, no one remembers what they're not supposed to remember."

"Then why did I?" Jackie asked, worry creeping into her like an uninvited guest.

Remus looked at her, brow furrowed in thought.

"Why did you?" he murmured, voice becoming soft as he lost himself in thought. Severus growled, placing his hand on the small of her back and shoving her towards Remus. Jackie stumbled slightly, a cry leaving her lips as she dipped towards the floor. Had it not been for Remus snatching her, she would have face planted. Jackie shot Severus a dirty look, but he wasn't looking at her.

His wand was out and her suitcase was levitating down the hallway towards her.

"You could at least try to be more patient, Severus," Remus admonished lightly, making sure she was solidly planted on her feet. He took the handle of her suitcase once it came to a stop at their feet.

"I will not tolerate bumbling fools," Severus snapped, another flick of his wand sent the wand in Jackie's hand flying into his free one.

"Hey!"

"Mulciber will want this back," Severus went on, completely ignoring her. "If a muggle were to take his wand, he would be killed."

Remus hummed, but no words left his mouth. Jackie forced the air out through her nose, trying desperately to keep her own mouth shut. He could have at least politely asked, instead of magicking it out of her hand. Magicking. Was that even a word?

A low moan came from down the hallway and Jackie's eyes nervously snapped to the darkened hallway.

"You need to go," Severus told Remus. "Dumbledore will know what to do with her."

"You're not coming?" Remus asked with a crease in his brow. He had placed his hand on her arm, tightening his fingers. Jackie was sure that if she did try and run she wouldn't be able to.

"There will be questions if I am not here when Mulciber wakes."

Remus nodded, though Jackie could detect the small relaxing of his shoulders, like he was relieved almost. She wondered why. Though, she wasn't about to complain. Severus was welcomed to stay at her place, any distance from him would be welcomed.

"Take a deep breath," Remus murmured quietly to her as Severus turned to the hallway.

Jackie looked at Remus, her eyes searching his face questioningly.

"Why?"

"Just do it," he replied. So, she took a dramatic deep breath, held it, and waited. Jackie didn't have long to wait before there was a CRACK! and her living room disappeared.

Still working on the other fanfic and school started. I know that my updates have been below par. But I am CRAZY busy. This chapter has a lot, so let me know it something doesn't make sense. Jackie is childlike in her understanding of the wizarding world, so she will be a little slower about what's going on, compared to Severus, Remus and other witches and wizards.

Thank you to my amazing reviewers and readers, I know I'm not the greatest at updating this story. And thank you for sticking with it!

Read and Review!

~filimeala