CHAPTER TWENTYTWO
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE WAS KIDNAPPED" Jeal screamed at Scorpius as Scorpius, Albus, Fred, Dani and Jeal got closer to the Kaiser home.
"Malfoy don't scream" said Albus looking around to see if anyone was looking at them. They were walking down a muggle park which led to the Kaiser home in a muggle road. It was dark outside with people were outside playing with the snow and children running around, sweethearts walking hand in hand and they were all looking at Jeal frighted by her sudden outburst. Really, they didn't need to to be scared by a 16 year old girl with red highlights on her black hair looking ready to murder you.
"Don't tell me what to do Potter" Jeal said in disgust, hating it when people told her what to do. Everyone sighed. She was impossible; how did Mike put up with?
"Shut up Jeal" Scorpius told her and she didn't argue and afterwards, no one said another word. Fred and Albus had told them the story of what had happened earlier. Dani and Jeal were shocked and happy at the fact that Lily and Scorpius were going out and had been for a while, but mostly mad because they had not known about it. Scorpius didn't bother explaining himself, not wanting to talk about the events leading up to where they were at the moment.
"Why are we all going to Mrs. Kaiser's home. Why can't only one of us go, tell her and then go meet up with the rest who will be looking for more clues? It doesn't take a long time to tell a person 'Hey your daughter was kidnapped, but don't worry I'm all over it'" asked Jeal as they kept on walking.
"Because we think that Mrs. Kaiser might have some answers for us" Scorpius answered her question.
"Why would you say guy's think that" Whoa, Jeal was slow today. Maybe she was too shocked and had not yet absorbed all the information in.
"Because, you know how Janika wrote 'help' in German" Jeal nodded. "Well we were wondering why Janika would write it in German when she could do it in English. Easier for us who don't know a single German word to understand rather then look the word up for it's meaning. She left this note because she knew of the attack beforehand and I think she wrote it in German for a reason" Scorpius said as they got out of the park. Looking around, Scorpius saw the house direction and went to it, looking at the wood plate making sure it was the right house. It was. Going up, Scorpius knocked, but didn't get a response. Again, he knocked and this time, he heard a womans voice telling him to wait. The door opened and revealed a middle age woman her face plain from makeup and yet resembling someone in a older version. Janika, she must be Janika's mom.
"Hello" the woman said slowly as to ask why this kids were in her front porch? "What may I do for you?" Scorpius nodded his head in greeting.
"Hello, are you Mrs. Kaiser?" the woman shock her head and Scorpius felt some disappointment. He had hoped that by going to Janika's home, he might find out something. But now he didn't have a lead.
"I'm sorry ma'am for – "
"I'm Mrs. Jaeger, but I used to be Mrs. Kaiser" the woman said, looking at them weird. "How is it you know of me?" and Scorpius sighed and smiled. Stupid, he had completely forgotten that Janika and Travis were step-brother and sister. Did that mean something?
"We are your daughters friends. My name is Scorpius Malfoy, and this two are my sister Jeal and Dani with out other friends Albus Potter and Fred Weasly" Scorpius told the woman, introducing the others to her.
"Malfoy, Potter and Weasly. Why, my daughter sure can make some famous friends. Come in please" and Scorpius wondered what she meant by his family name being famous? They walked in to a spacious living room.
"Would you like something to drink?" the woman asked as she poured herself some tea. Scorpius shook his head.
"No we are here to inform you that Janika was kidnapped earlier" Scorpius said, his voice clear getting to the point. The woman dropped her pot of tea she was pouring and it broke into piece upon contact with the smaller cup and the table. The women looked at them with disbelieving. eyes
"Thats impossible" she stood up glaring at them "I just talked to my daughter. She told me she was going out with some friends." Scorpius looked at her, wondering if she was telling the truth.
"Really" Scorpius decided to go along with it. "Then I must apologize for that mistake. But we do know that one of our friends got kidnapped and Janika was with her sometime around it, so either both got kidnapped like we think, or only one and Janika is roaming around free like you say" the woman sat down and nodded.
"Mrs. Jaeger, what time did you daughter appear before you?" Jeal asked.
"Well she had left earlier at about 2 P.M..." The time Lily had disappeared. "...but then she came back at around 5 P.M. to tell me she was staying at a friends house" the woman said.
"What was the girls name?" Jeal asked, leaning close to the woman.
"Jani said that the girls name was Lily or something. All I remember is that I was a flower name" the woman said sounding like she was disgusted with people who's name was after a flower.
"Mrs. Jaeger, tell me does your Janika own earring that are very important to her?" Albus asked. The woman shook her head completely taken off guard by the sudden question of Albus and taken off subject about the flower.
"No, Janika hates earring. She has her ears pierced, but she hates them. She doesn't even own a pair" the woman said, wondering where this was leading too.
"Interesting" Albus said, looking at the broken shards of the cup and pot. What had Albus heard exactly? Scorpius would ask later.
"Mrs. Jaeger, how does Janika get along with her brother?" Dani asked. The woman looked sad.
"Travis seems to care for her. They met each other when he was only 13 and she 10. But for some reason, Janika would always be scared of him, no matter how gentle he was with her"
"So you like your step-son?" Dani asked. The woman nodded.
"He always took care of my daughter and he was just a really good son you know. Smart, good looking, always looking out for others, many admirable things that I always wanted in a son but could not have. Why did – " Dani interrupted the woman who didn't seem to mind all the questions being asked or being interrupted.
"Why did you daughter move with her father instead of staying with you?" The woman looked like she was about to cry.
"She moved back to her father because she said she missed him and wanted to be with him. But I think she was mad at me for remarrying and just didn't care about my new husband or son"
"And she moved back here because...?" Dani asked.
"Her father remarried and I guess she didn't like her"
"Where was you son at this time?" Dani asked.
"He had already moved out. He had a small apartment in London but then he moved to the school to take over his dad's job" Dani nodded, gathering all the info she had gotten and trying to come up with something.
"That would explain that strange meeting" Jeal said in a shocked voice to Dani and Dani nodded. Scorpius wondered what they knew and was going to ask them later. As far as Scorpius could tell, Janika didn't like Jaeger at all, which was not a surprise because when you saw his true form, you wouldn't like him anymore. Scorpius had in a way already guessed as much considering whenever Scorpius and Janika happened to cross paths with Jaeger, Janika have her head down and her face scared. But Scorpius had wanted to wait before asking her. But the earring? All Albus had said was that Janika had lost an important earring that belonged to her, and yet here her own mother was telling them about Janika disliking earring and not even owning a pair. The whole thing just kept sounding weirder and weirder. He needed to talk to the father, see if he knew anything.
"May I talk to your husband?" Scorpius asked. The woman looked at him in shock. Then she narrowed her eyes in suspicion.
"Why?" the woman asked.
"Because I have a feeling that he might know something that you don't" and the woman glared at him and stood up.
"How could you say such a thing. My husband has just woken up by a coma, how could he possibly know of anything that has recently happened" Scorpius got up to, towering the woman surprise at this new revelation. How come Janika had never told him her father was in a coma? All she had ever said was that he was sick but always scared. Scared of what Scorpius wanted to know"
"When did the coma occur?" the woman still glared at him, not trusting him.
"A week after school started..." the week that Scorpius had punched Jaeger for insulting Lily. The woman continued "...he seemed better, getting out of bed and walking around. Then all of a sudden he fell down into a coma". Some weeks later Scorpius had found out that Jaeger got to stay the reminder of the year only because his father had gotten worse with no chance of coming back. Jaeger was behind his own father's coma, Scorpius was sure of that. But to make sure...
"Who found your husband when he fell into the coma?"
"Travis, he was visiting and was updating his father of what he had taught the students at Hogwarts and what his father should do when he returned when all of sudden Travis screamed that his father had fainted"
"Where were you at the moment?" and the woman thought about this for while. She shock her head.
"I was downstairs in the kitchen brewing some tea" Scorpius nodded, seeing the pieces come together.
"May I talk to your husband?" Scorpius asked again.
"I told you already why would my – "
"Because he knows something. I'm sure of it" Scorpius interrupted and that shut her up, looking at him with wide eyes. Then she narrowed her eyes.
"Fine, but just to tell you, he can't talk and don't expect him to. Follow me" and with that, the group of people followed behind the woman. To Scorpius, he kept getting a feeling that Jaeger was behind all this somehow and Janika had been a pawn in his hands. Scorpius had always known not to ignore his feeling, even though he sometimes tried hard against them, but this was not the times to be doing so. They went into a big room very well lite. Scorpius glanced at the bed and saw Mr. Jaeger lying there, his face white and shallow. Scorpius went up to him, looking at him.
"Hello Mr. Jaeger" Scorpius said, the man looked at him.
"Can you hear me?" no response.
"If you can, blink your eyes once." Mr. Jaeger blinked and Mrs. Jaeger gasped. Good.
"Can you move you neck?" and Mr. Jaeger blinked twice, so no. It seemed he had lost a lot of his mobility if he couldn't move his neck. What kind of curse was this?
"Mr. Jaeger, I need to ask you some question regarding you son. They're a simple yes or no questions so one blink for yes, and two blinks for no. Understand?" Mr. Jaeger blinked once, and again Mrs. Jaeger gasped. Scorpius looked at her, her hands over her mouth staring at her husband with teary eyes. Okay start with something easy.
"That first week after school started, did you feel well enough to go back teaching?" Mr. Jaeger blinked once. Good. That explained part of Scorpius conclusion.
"Okay, next. Did you tell your son about you health being good enough for you to go back to work?" Mr. Jaeger blinked once. Next, and this might be the confusing part.
"Did your son come visit you today?" and Mrs. Jaeger got up and yelled...
"What, Travis never came and Janika was the only one to visit him today" she said getting mad. Scorpius ignored her. "Did he?" again he asked. Mr. Jaeger blinked once. Scorpius heard Mrs. Jaeger shout 'what?' but otherwise ignored her. Scorpius was getting closer and this one was going to be a hard question.
"Mr. Jaeger, did your son put a curse on you to put you into a coma ?" Mr. Jaeger looked at Scorpius not blinking once, and Scorpius heard Mrs. Jaeger hiss. Scorpius wondered what Mr. Jaeger was thinking? It seemed like some sort of pain overcame his face, but impossible to tell since he couldn't move his face muscles. Then Mr. Jaeger blinked, and only once. Mrs. Jaeger gasped and quite sobs overcame her. Scorpius felt sympathy for her. So much for the perfect son.
"Mr. Jaeger, could you tell us what curse he used?" Albus said, as he stood next tot Scorpius. Mr. Jaeger just looked at him and again Mrs. Jaeger hissed. She changed emotion easily it seemed.
"How could you ask such a thing? Don't you see, he can't talk, how can you ask him such a question that doesn't require a no or yes?"
"No he can't talk" Albus said, looking at the woman with a smooth face and a calm voice.
"But he can write" said Albus as he pulled out a piece of paper and reached around Scorpius to the side table and grabbed a muggle pen alongside a book.
"See, his hand is twitching. The spell thats on him is wearing off and he's getting his mobility back." Scorpius smiled. Albus was pretty smart, he had to give him that much. Scorpius hadn't noticed Mr. Jaeger's hand and never would of come up with the idea of asking him to write down the spell.
"Mr. Jaeger's?" Albus asked again as he put the pen in Mr. Jaeger's hand and the book with the piece of paper below his hand. He started to write slowly. When done with it, Albus took the paper and looked at it while Mr. Jaeger's breathing was hard.
"Tief schlafen" Albus said, frowning at the words as he read a German curse. He turned towards Mrs. Jaeger. "What does that mean?" and Mrs. Jaeger shook her head.
"I don't know, I don't know. I'm not German myself, but my ex husband and Mr. Jaeger here are. I just married German men" the woman said, sounding somewhat guilty. DAMN. Scorpius thought, and he heard Albus mutter the same word. It was going to take a while to figure out what the curse was exactly without a German dictionary.
"Tief schlafen" Scorpius heard Dani mutter. "Tief d...d... deep schlafen...s...s...sleep. Deep Sleep" And Scorpius turned around and looked at her. Of course, Dani, Jeal and Lily were taking German class, they were bound to know some German words.
"The curse was Artus" Albus said quietly, looking at Mr. Jaeger who nodded.
"Are you sure?" Scorpius asked and Albus nodded. "Damn, I should of known, but I couldn't remember the curse for a coma."Albus turned back to Scorpius and was about to ask him something else when Jeal stopped him.
"Wait"
"What Jeal?" Scorpius asked. Jeal looked between Mr. Jaeger and Scorpius, her eyes filled with worry.
"I...I overheard Jaeger talking to...to... to someone and he said something about a plan and moving on to the next stage. Then Jaeger was asked if there were any problems and he said no, except that his step-sister kept on crying and it was really annoying..." Mrs. Jaeger gasped loudly "... and how it soon it would be resolved. Then he left in a hurry, saying that he couldn't be gone for long" Jeal said.
"Why didn't you tell us earlier" Scorpius yelled at her. Jeal whimpered.
"We didn't know. We didn't give it much thought really till now. We just thought it was a strange conversation between Jaeger and grandfather Lucias" and when Albus heard 'Lucias' he growled and Jeal covered her mouth. Scorpius stood in shock.
"Why is he involved in this?" Albus asked, his voice cold and hard. Dani stepped forward.
"We don't know" she said in a strong voice "but afterwards, our grandfather left today earlier saying he had some business to do" and Scorpius nodded, remembering that. Did his 'business' involve Lily and Janika? Albus growled but then he turned back to Mr. Jaeger.
"Mr. Jaeger, do you know where your son could be? Hiding possibly?" Mr. Jaeger blinked once. "Can you write it down" and he blinked once again as Albus put another piece of paper under his hand. He started to write.
"Creepers Cave" Albus said reading the words out loud. Mrs. Jaeger's gasped.
"But..." she said, looking at her husband "...but thats a dangerous abandoned underground cave in the forest below the Zugzpitze mountain in Germany. It's high and deep in the mountains and it's filled with many creatures who wouldn't think twice before killing you and some say thats even filled with dementors" she said, looking extremely scared.
"MY SISTER MIGHT BE THERE AND I WILL RISK NOT RISK LOSING HER" Albus screamed at the woman, looking straight at Mrs. Jaeger's eyes with determination in his eyes. "Alright, let's go" Albus said regaining his composure. Scorpius looked at Mr. Jeager who was looking at him.
"Thank you Mr. Jaeger, this must be painful for you, telling us what your own son did" Mr. Jaeger blinked once, a tears sliding down his cheek, and when he blinked again, he didn't open them, going down the darkness of sleep. "Recover soon Mr. Jaeger" Scorpius told him as he grabbed Mr. Jaeger's hands to shake. Mr. Jaeger squeezed Scorpius hands and Scorpius returned the pressure.. They turned around to leave.
"Wait" Mrs. Jaeger said. They stopped. Now what? Mrs. Jaeger looked at her husband who was holding her hand."Travis is not my husbands son" Everyone was taken aback "When Travis found out about it, he said he look for his real father. We don't know if he ever did find his real father. I don't know if this information is useful, but I hope it is since you already know everything about him that we do" Albus nodded.
"Thank you both" Albus said and walked away, Scorpius and the rest following hearing Mrs. Jaeger weeping behind them. Once outside the house they stopped.
"What next?" asked Fred.
"We apperate close to forest border where the cave is" Albus said.
"Yeah" Scorpius agreed.
"But wait, we can't apperate" Jeal said, her face smeared with tears.
"I never said you were coming with us" Albus said as he walked down the street towards the now empty park.
"But why not?" Jeal asked.
"Because I need somebody to go back and tell my dad. He won't like it, but I can't wait for him to make his decision. And anyways, he'll come faster if he knows we're there already"
"But we can be useful" Albus stopped and turned around to face Jeal.
"HOW? Both of you can't apperate, you can't perform magic without getting in trouble with the Ministry of Magic. So what use are you to me?" Albus said angrily.
"Albus" Scorpius said, grabbing his shoulder. Albus calmed down. Albus was really holding much of his anger back and seemed to be getting less impatient.
"Just do as I say, if you don't then we're really going to run into trouble. All I'm asking you is to go tell my dad while Scorpius, Fred and I go to the border of the forest to spy for a while, wait for my dad and brother and others before attempting anything" Dani nodded seeing the good reasoning behind Albus plan. Dani grabbed Jeal arm and started to pull her along.
"That sounds for the best, let's go Jeal" Dani said but then let go and walked forward to hugged Scorpius.
"Be careful" Dani whispered in his ear. Scorpius nodded. She let go of him, then turned around to join Jeal.
"Dani?" Fred said. Dani turned to look at him and before any one would of guessed what he was up to, Fred kissed Dani. Everyone was in shock especially Dani as Fred let her go, her eyes wide with shock, her face all red from embarrassment. Fred chuckled and pushed Dani towards Jeal and Dani walked up to Jeal on obvious unbalanced legs.
"Wait" someone said. Dani spine seemed to stiffen at the command. "Tell my dad that we are at 'Valerian Case'" Albus said with laughter in his voice as he too noticed Dani behavior, and all the guys were chuckling quietly as Dani nodded, not asking questions and pulling a still shocked Jeal with her down the street on their way to the Potter house. When they were out of site, Scorpius turned to Albus, everyone sober again.
"Ready?" Albus asked them.
"I never been there" Scorpius told Albus.
"Me neither" Fred said. "How are we suppose to apperate there?"
"It's okay, I will apperate for the three of us. I been there before" Albus said.
"You sure?" asked Fred and Albus nodded.
"Call you brooms over, we're going to need them" and all three did, their broom flying high in the air and then lowered to them.
"Ready?" Albus asked again.
"Yeah" and with that Albus apperated with Scorpius and Fred following his 'space' leading to Zugzpitze Mountain in Germany.
AH. So hard to come up with conclusions and how everything happened and was planned out and how it was found out. So much to write and yet I still don't think I got through with explaining everything clearly. So I think that at the age of 17, you are allowed to apperate and perform magic outside school, I think. If it's wrong, then lets just say it's right okay?I hope everyone was able to get it, and just to say, I sorta pulled this out of the hat, trying to come up with a reasonable clues and conclusions. So I used the whole 'space' concept here again, black hole or just a hole of space that can take you anywhere like the movie 'Jump'. To those, I changed the geography. I made Zugzpitze Mt. a remote mountain not the like it really is and a forest somewhere below the mountain. And again, my bad to those German's if I spelled or said 'deep sleep' in German wrong. :)