Chapter 19—Without You
Without you I'm not okay
And without you
I've lost my way
My heart's stuck
In second place ooh
Without you
--Dixie Chicks "Without You"
Sirius opened his eyes slowly before instantly shutting them again. A bright light seemed to be hanging directly in front of his face, and it burned his eyes tremendously.
"Jessica," Sirius called hoarsely. Sirius heard moment from his side, and he tentatively opened his eyes which began to adjust to the blaring light (which was actually off to a corner).
"Sirius, you're awake," he heard a male voice say before a mop of black hair flooded his eyes.
"Yes I am Harry. Why am I lying here? And where is Jessica and Moony?" Sirius asked beginning to rise from the bed he was lying on.
"Well you were hit with a Stunner and Remus brought you back," Harry said nervously.
"Is he alright?"
"Just fine."
"Good," Sirius said adjusting his body into an upright position. "Where's Jessica? Is she alright? She's not hurt is she Harry?" Sirius questioned beginning to get panicked from the way Harry avoided his eyes.
"Well…"
"Harry where is Jessica?" Sirius asked with a stern voice.
"Sirius we don't know where Jessica is. She was taken by Fin and Cassiopeia." Harry said softly.
Sirius closed his eyes tightly, trying to block the entire world away. "Harry if this is a joke it's not a very funny one. In fact it's down right—"
"Sirius it's not a joke. Jessica is gone, but we'll find her." Harry said with sad eyes as he looked at his Godfather.
Sirius felt as if he were drowning. He tried to grasp something that would save him, but the only thing that could save him was currently beyond his reach.
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Jessica felt as if she were going to throw up. Her entire body felt as if it had just been sucked through a tiny straw and then forced back through.
"Can't hack magic Mudblood, huh?" Cassie asked cruelly.
Jessica looked at her with hard eyes. "If my blood and I are so worthless then why do you waste you precious time with me? Why not just ignore me oh great bloody one?" Jessica asked sarcastically, trying to mask her fear.
"I waste my time with you because the Dark Lord wants you. Why he would is beyond me, but I don't question him." Cassie said with a sneer.
"Really because it sounds to me as if you are questioning him," Jessica said.
"Are you questioning me Cassiopeia?" a cold voice called behind them. Jessica felt a chill pass through her; she looked at Cassie and noticed that she had become unnaturally pale.
"N-no, my Lord I was just making conversation with the Mudblood." Cassie said shakily.
"Hm…so it would seem," the voice said chillingly.
"I brought her to you my Lord, j-just as you asked."
Jessica stood still throughout the entire exchange, hoping that the owner of the cold voice would look over her.
"My dear Jessica how nice of you to join me," the voice said, "well turn around and let us see one another, don't be rude. Cassiopeia you can let her go, she won't be going anywhere."
Jessica closed her eyes tightly and then opened them once again while turning around to meet the person who initiated her kidnapping.
A gasp caught in Jessica's throat, threatening to choke her. The man, if he could even be classified as such, was the very embodiment of grotesque. His pasty white skin shone brightly in the moonlight, his bizarre red eyes blinked slowly at her, made even brighter by his white skin and the moonlight. His nose could hardly be defined as a nose a human being possessed, for it was only two miniscule slits. And because of all of these things Jessica knew that this…thing was not, and could not be a human.
Jessica desperately wanted to run and cower somewhere in a corner. She wanted to be back in Sirius protective arms, and feel his calming heartbeat against her chest. 'Sirius please save me,' she thought mournfully.
"Why hello," the thing said with in a would be cheerful voice. "I do not believe we have been formally introduced," he said circling around Jessica. "I am Lord Voldemort, and that would make you Jessica Huxtable."
Jessica's eyes snapped to his chillingly red ones, and she immediately felt a strange sensation. It felt as if someone, or something, was moving around in her mind, pushing softly through memories making her relive them in her mind's eye.
"Ah…I can see you still have Black—he spat the name—in your head, we'll have to work on that because you are, incase you had in doubt, mine."
"I don't belong to anyone!" Jessica shouted back heatedly which caused his eyes to darken.
'Whoops, maybe I should have kept that little tidbit to myself,' she thought as she watched the thing.
Voldemort chuckled lightly which did nothing to relive Jessica's fears, "My dear girl, in time you will see what you truly are and what your powers can really do for you, and then you will be begging me to train you and to have you as my own. And I will be a gracious Lord and grant you your wishes. Until then, I would not mistake my kindness for weakness because the consequences will be dire."
Voldemort walked from towards the prone form standing near the wall. "Ah, Mr. Fin, how stiff and hollow you are. Shall we show her your true nature?" Voldemort asked the statuesque man.
"You see my dear, the man you believe to be your boyfriend—"
"Ex-boyfriend," Jessica corrected softly.
"Fin is my alter ego. You see he is my more…how shall I put this…ah, my more handsome side. I could never have wooed you dear girl had I looked like my reborn self. And by this you can see my graciousness for I did this for your viewing pleasure. And soon you shall return the pleasure to me. No my dear," Voldemort said at seeing Jessica's horrified face, "I shall not change your appearance because it is already pleasing to me; although, you could stand to lose a few pounds."
Jessica's face changed from horrified to affronted at the suggestion that she was fat. 'I'll give him fat.'
"No you shall fulfill my carnal desires, for I assure you that I do have them. But before we get to that, I am going to school you on Black, the man who claims to love you so much. But I wonder if he has told you everything there is to know about him," Voldemort said haughtily.
Jessica looked at him suspicious eyes because she knew what he was doing; she was no fool.
"Sirius loves me and I love him. No matter what. The things he has kept from me aren't important."
But even as she said this, she knew it wasn't true. It did matter that he kept things from her, and the look in Voldemort's eyes told her that he knew that she wasn't being entirely truthful.
"I think they do matter, but we will discuss this further at a later time. Now my dear you need to rest, so I will see you tomorrow. Cassiopeia, take Jessica to her room."
Jessica felt uneasy as she followed Cassie silently towards her quarters. She wasn't sure what this Voldemort character had in mind for her, but she knew that it wasn't anything good.
Cassie led Jessica into her room, and immediately left without a word. Jessica's eyes flew to the door when she heard what sounded like a bolt being placed onto her door. She then heard a confusing string of Latin.
She rushed to the door and tried to pull it open, but it did not budge. But Jessica would not be deterred so easily. She continued to pull and tug on the door until her arm was sore and limp. Jessica slid to the floor while fighting back tears.
'I will not cry, I will not cry, I will not cry. Sirius told me to be strong, so I will not cry. I need to figure out a way to get out of this.' Jessica thought to herself as she swallowed the tears that threatened to swallow her.
'Okay. How are you going to get out of this one Huxtable? Had you just stayed at Sirius' house you wouldn't be in this predicament.'
'You know yelling at yourself isn't going to get you out of this anytime soon, don't you? What you need to do is think of a way out!'
'How can I get out? How can I get out?'
'You could always orb.'
'I could do that couldn't I?'
'Yes you could.'
'Okay here I go!'
Jessica closed her eyes and concentrated on her magic and felt it beginning to form within her. She felt it well inside of her as and she let it take off. Jessica's body contorted into a ball of silvery blue light which sailed through the air and right into the wall, hard, sending Jessica painfully into the floor.
"Ow," Jessica said picking herself up slowly and moving to the tiny bed in the corner of the drib room.
"This is going to be harder than I thought," she sighed while lying on the bed.
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REVIEW, PLEASE (sad puppy dog face given).
REVIEW REPLIES FOR THOSE WHO DIDN'T LEAVE A WAY FOR ME TO CONTACT YOU:
J: What the sentence means is that Sirius returned from the Veil at the age of 28, not that he fell through the Veil at 28. It was meant to suggest that the Veil is like a time portal which reverses the person's age. I hope that you get a chance to read all of the chapters soon, and I look at every review I get. Thanks for the review, and sorry for the misunderstanding.