AN: After the last two chapters being smaller I decided that something longer was in order. Hopefully the quick update will make everyone happy. I hope you all enjoy, R&R –Richard S.
Picking and Choosing (Tales of Hogwarts Romance) Chapter 28
The room was surprisingly less horrifying when she wasn't cold. Hypothermia was one of leering beasts that could turn an unhealthy situation into a situation that leaves you dead. Ever since Sir's son had come, she had carefully taken out the jacket whenever she had a chance. The girl could hardly bare to take the coat back off whenever she thought she heard shuffling on the stairs. Her days seemed more exhausting now, she always felt tired in the warmth of young Sir's jacket, but she had to be even more attentive. The girl had to listen, just inches from the door, straining her ears for the sound of a house elf or Sir himself.
She heard the clanging sound of the doorknob at the top of the stairs. The girl launched herself from her spot by the door and slid the jacket off, stuffing it quickly in an alcove of brick in the wall. She had clawed the spot out with her bare hands, scraping through the layers of plaster and paint that the east wall had been fully covered in. Her nails were still caked in chalky filth, but the dried plaster had at least sped up the coagulation in her nails, so the bleeding subsided quickly. She nimbly headed back for her normal spot on the floor, and waited.
Sir came through the door moments later; she knew it was him when the door slammed against the stone wall behind it as it was opened. She shuddered lightly as Sir stood in front of her. His eyes were blazing with furry, and at the same time, she felt like he was happy to be just where he was. His lips curved into a smooth, thin smile. She could recall now how much his son's lips looked the same when he smiled, it made her gag. She swallowed the bile without hesitation, though her throat audibly hissed in pain. Sir's thin smile stretched further as he snatched the girl's throat and pulled her to her feet by it. She was still heads shorter than he was. She stared intently at his hands, he usually didn't speak as much as he did point, or force.
"We had a talk last time…Now I think you should do what we agreed." His voice was quivering with excitement. She nodded,
"Please Sir…I-I W-want you to…" But she couldn't finish the sentence.
"You want me to what?" His patience was waning already.
"Please…I don't know what to say, p-please, just tell me what you want me to say." She begged him. His smile dissipated instantly. She closed her eyes just in time for the back of his hand to strike her face. She stumbled back a step but then recovered and stood to face Sir head on again.
"I know that you enjoy the things I do, so ask for them. You're just a sex crazed little slut so don't play coy with me." She nodded and took in a deep breath of preparation for the thorough breaking of her spirit.
"Sir, I want you to…I want you to be in me…" She waited, hoping the words were enough for him, she hadn't exactly gone through classes on terminology, and she was sure that no words as dignified as sex were going to appease this man. She approximated that she had been here for more that two years, so it was only logical reasoning that she hadn't learned about much of anything in those years. How could he expect her to have a sudden expansive vocabulary of aggressive sex terms?
"I said beg, don't think that I would give you something you want so quickly." She looked up into his eyes with a pleading desperate expression.
"Please! Please Sir, do whatever you want! Just please do it now!" She was frantic.
"Fine then, I'll give you want you want so desperately, you disgusting whore." He grasped both of her shoulders and shoved her to her knees, efficiently breaking open the skin of both knees on the hard floors. She gasped at the pain but held still.
Sir unzipped his pants but didn't move to force the girl to her back. He just grinned again.
"I have a special surprise for you today, because you want me so badly…you do want me don't you?"
"Yes Sir, very much! Please!" The words were like poison to her mouth, but dignity and pride had died long ago in this place. She had nothing but survival instinct left.
"Then open your mouth." She closed her eyes; he was in her mouth moments later, choking her brutally. It took less than a second for the thought to form, just enough time to remember that she had someone who would try to help her in this house. Her jaw clamped down, not hard, but hard enough. She knew she would most likely be caught, so she had to be sure that she didn't do any permanent damage, if she did…she would never put her new coat on again, or see young Sir.
Sir had shoved her head away already by the time she finished her thought; and she was already heading for the door. Her plan had a flaw. The door was closed, and heavy enough that it took her a good forty seconds to get it open. She stopped just outside the door, more flaws in planning. She had to think about which direction the stairs where in. By the time her foot was on the first step he had his hands around her throat. She screamed.
"Illy! ILLY! Wake up." Harry shook Illy violently. Her eyes fluttered open.
"Wha? Harry?" Illy felt horribly disoriented, she had been having the dreams as usual, but now Harry was inches from her face, skin clammy, white, and a cold sweat breaking out over his skin.
"Illy are you okay?" She couldn't tell if he was crying, but his voice was shaking like he was. He was clearly terrified.
"I'm fine Harry, why are you shaking me?"
"Illy, you were screaming, you woke us all up. We didn't know what to do, we couldn't wake you up! What one earth were you dreaming about?" Illy's mind leapt into motion, her groggy instincts giving way to trying to come up with something to say. Enough people knew about her dreams as it was, she didn't need to tell everyone in the damn school.
"My fall…sometimes I dream its happening again. It always frightens me some."
"Oh, okay…" He seemed relieved and nodded to everyone to lay down again, they did so with silent horror stricken looks still painted on their faces. Harry embraced her suddenly, crushing her small body against his. "Do you want to sleep next to me for the rest of the night?" But he left no time for her to answer. He was already unfolding his blanket so that it would cover both of them. "Here, just come lay down." Illy nodded, slipping back into her sleepy daze. She slid comfortable into his arms, resting her head on her pillow again. Harry was snoring in moments, but she took the time to silence her own voice before nodding off.
"What am I supposed to do now? Rip out your teeth? That would take care of the problem, you'd never bite me again bitch!" Sir started pulling fiercely on the girl's front teeth. But he let them go and shook her like a rag doll. "Or should I just make sure you never run away again? I think knowing your place might encourage you to be grateful for what I let you enjoy." He dropped her limp body to the ground and kicked her in the ribs. She could hear the small crack; he only broke one this time. The house elves usually fixed broken ribs. He walked around her still body and reoriented his foot. A violent, solid force shook her face. She could feel her teeth shift in her mouth, and the coppery taste of blood followed. She tried to clamp her jaw tightly as the shock wore off. She could do nothing though, the pain was too much, her jaw felt shattered, her teeth were now in her mouth loosely, and her nose was a different shape all together. Her whelping squeal shook her body. Blood pooled like thick syrup in combination with her snot and saliva. The thick warm liquid stuck to her face and worked its way through bits of her hair that were stuck between her cheek and the floor.
"Shut the fuck up!" Sir let his foot rest over her mangled face. "That mouth is nothing but trouble, and you'll need to keep it closed!" He shifted some of his body's weight to his foot, making her gasp in pain. She could feel the bones in her face reorienting under the pressure. He removed his foot and smiled. "That should fix your nasty biting problem."
"Now to make sure you don't go running off again." Sir walked to the door and pulled it open with ease. He returned to the girl and grabbed her by her leg, letting her head bounce lightly on the stones of the floor, leaving the thick blood mixture to pass more thoroughly through her hair. He put one of her legs in the way of the door, like a jamb. He swung the door fully open. The realization of what he planned to do hit her,
"No please Sir, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'll never do it again, please, please don't!" The door came smashing against her leg. The crack reverberated through her body. She lifted her head from the ground to look at the damage, the thickness and angle of the door way seemed to prevent the break from snapping the bone totally, there was blood, but more than anything there was just unbearable pain. She passed out after a few seconds of delirious intake of Sir's laughter, the pain was too much.
Illy shot up from her bed, the dream was the worst she had seen in the respects of torture. She instinctively un-silenced herself and immediately began to feel her face for any deformities or fractures. Upon finding that her face was fine she then checked her leg. It too seemed whole. Normally she wasn't so eager to check for damage, some mornings she didn't even feel that she had to, but this was different, it was somehow worse. She glanced at the floor around her, everyone was gone except for Harry, who was just waking up. She felt guilty, she had undoubtedly been the cause of his rousing; she guessed that the absence of witnesses was his doing, but she could only speculate as to his plans behind the disappearances.
"Did you sleep better this time?" He asked after he let out a loud yawn.
"Yeah…a little bit I did…" She smiled sheepishly. He was in a calm mood. That was good.
"You still look tired, d'you want to sleep a bit longer?" He asked, softly pulling her back into his arms, where she had spent the night. She was stiff in his grasp, but did her best to convince herself she needed to remain calm and not do anything that he would make her regret. She was trying to think about Harry as she usually did, but Draco's warnings were ringing in her ears.
"No, I think I should get up, I want to see everyone off." She turned in his arms to face him with a bright smile. He let out a small laugh.
"Illy, it's still early, we don't have to leave for hours, and really we're not even leaving so why worry about it? Everyone just went down to get some breakfast."
"Ginny's leaving, and my friends…" She mumbled. Harry ignored her and reached a hand around the back of her head. She tried to fight his hand as it pulled her face closer without being noticed. Harry's brow furrowed and he used more strength.
"I-I want to go get some breakfast Harry." He seemed to think about leaving her alone but decided against it in the end.
"They're bringing something up for you Illy." He pulled her face so close she could feel his sharp breath on her lips. She put her hands onto his chest forcefully, putting a fractional amount of distance between them.
"I'm not comfortable with this Harry!" He ignored her and pushed her hands back down to her sides. His eyes closed and his face inched forward. She panicked as he moved closer, racking her brain for a good excuse.
"I have to go see Draco!" Harry's eyes opened and his grip released, his mood had changed instantly. His eyes were livid, as she pushed the blanket off of her body.
Illy moved quickly from her spot on the floor next to Harry towards the door, almost running headfirst into Ron, who had just returned from the great hall with a pile of toast and a banana.
"Where'r you going in such a hurry?" He asked, slightly bothered by her flustered behavior.
"To her other man!" Harry snapped from across the room. Illy just pushed past Ron, who was tailed my Hermione and stormed towards the staircase. She could still hear everyone talking through the portrait as she descended the staircase in a hurry. In her rush she almost got stuck in a false step, but pulled herself out with a banister and continued towards the next set of stairs, loosing their voices in the distance.
As she started on her second flight of stairs she realized that running off to Draco right now probably wouldn't be a good plan, he would manage to get the story out of her and then he would probably try to kill Harry and a large fight between houses would ensue based solely on the fact that she couldn't keep her moth shut, and neither of her male friends could control themselves. She shook her head to clear the though of war breaking out in the halls from her mind, she needed to find somewhere else to go.
"Harry, what just happened?" Hermione asked in a scalding tone. "When we left everything was fine, what did you do?"
"Nothing Herm! I didn't do a thing! She just up and ran off saying she needed to talk to Malfoy." Harry was now outwardly pouting and inwardly plotting. His mounting frustration with Draco's attempts at wooing Illy had reached a pinnacle, and her loyalties to him were nothing shy of infuriating.
"So's she dating that jerk?" Ron asked indignantly.
"No she's not, and if it wasn't for him she would probably be dating me. He's just trying to get her because he knows I really care about her." Harry's explanation softened Hermione's expression, just as he had hoped that it would.
"Harry, I'm sure that she really does just want to see him off, and even Draco wouldn't take someone you love just so that he could."
"In Illy's case he would. Have you seen the way he looks at her?" Ron turned to Hermione before stuffing a piece of toast into his mouth.
"Well…he's just protective of her, they are really close friends."
"You don't see Ron looking at her like that." Harry quipped.
"But…well…I suppose you're right. But don't be too harsh Harry." Hermione's concerned tone calmed Harry just slightly.
"Jacky!" Illy called to him just before he went into the great hall. "Come take a walk with me…please!" He smiled at her knowingly and locked arms with her when she reached to bottom of the stairs before heading towards the door.
The lawns were dusted in sparkling snow and a majority of the trees on the grounds were now barren as the duo walked towards the lake, hand in hand, looking expectantly into it's thinly iced over surface, as though it could solve their problems. A crack formed across the icy barrier, followed by a tentacle breaking through the ice and grabbing at a deer that had braved the lake. It slipped beneath the water with no sounds of anguish or surprise. The scene seemed oddly natural and almost humorous to Illy as she took a seat on a log.
"So, what happened?" Jackquinn inquired as he sat next to her.
"Harry tried to kiss me…and I had another bad dream…and I told Harry that I had to leave so that I could talk to Draco…and I woke everyone up screaming on accident."
"Nice bit of 'and's in there huh? Tell me about Harry first."
"Well last night they woke me up because I was screaming and Harry sort of drug me under the blanket with him so that I could sleep better, but when I woke up things were a bit awkward. He had managed to get everyone to go down to breakfast and leave us alone together. So, then h- "
"Have I ever told you I think he's really creepy?" Jackquinn interrupted with a thoughtful smile.
"Don't interrupt, it gets creepier…He tried to kiss me," Illy shuddered visibly at the memory, "and I kept giving him reasons why I wanted to leave, or why we needed to get up, but he just kept making excuses and getting closer to me. I even tried to tell him that I had to go and see everyone off but by that point he was so close to me that I was starting to get a little bit scared," Illy strained to explain the situation, all the while feeling guilty on some level about being on Draco's side concerning Harry for once. "he was really freaking me out with how pushy he was being-"
"Harry Potter was about to rape your ass, I'd get freaked out too, stop sounding so guilty about it."
"Shut up Jacky, you're making it worse" She complained. "…Anyway, I finally came out and told him that I was uncomfortable, but he completely ignores me! I don't understand how he could just go on like I hadn't even told him to stop, but he did, so I pushed him away. I mean I physically put my hands against his chest and tried to make him stop!…He just grabbed my wrists and kept trying to bloody kiss me! I couldn't think of anything else I could say or do, and I panicked…So finally I told him that I needed to talk to Draco. Then he just sort of let me go. It was eerie, you should have seen the look he gave me, he was furious but he just let me walk away, and said something to Ron and Herm about me running off to my other man. I couldn't believe it…" Illy dropped her eyes to her feet and leaned on Jackquinn's shoulder.
"So wait, you're surprised at what part of this?" His voice was sarcastic and entirely unsympathetic.
"Jacky, you are so unhelpful right now!"
"Well, I'm sorry but I'm kind of having problems of my own…"
"Like what, pray tell?"
"It's just that…Dolan has a new girlfriend…sort of…its some weird guy thing, but the point is that I was…well…"
"Jealous?" Illy guessed dryly.
"Yeah…it was weird. You have to understand that I wasn't even jealous when Clause was screwing around with other people. But this was different. I just wanted to walk up to that bitch on his lap and punch her front teeth in and yell 'Hands off my man!'" Jackquinn jumped up suddenly in an animated display of his proposed reaction.
"I never would have thought that you'd be jealous before him." Illy chuckled in amazement.
"Well what do you expect? He tells me that this is about Christian and then he runs off and starts snogging that bimbo in the common room right in front of me! Stupid hussy!" Jacky was now shouting and his cheeks burned red, but Illy couldn't contain herself.
"Calm down!" Illy was actually finding the scene so comedic that she had forgotten entirely about Harry and had started laughing at Jacky. He frowned at her, clearly irritated with her attitude regarding his boy troubles..
"It's not funny. I really don't know what this means?"
"It means that you, my good sir, have fallen for a pureblooded, snot nosed, rich, Slytherin, homophobic, gay, who can't come to terms with his sexuality on his own."
"Great, that makes life easy now doesn't it?" Jacky plopped back into his seat with his arms crossed and his lip pushed out as though he were a child pouting.
"On the plus side he didn't try to molest your mouth." Illy grinned at him.
"Yeah but Christian is too important to him…and I don't think he realizes that this won't be like a normal boyfriend girlfriend thing. I'm not just going to do what he says because he's the boy. I mean sure, I'm younger, but I know more about these things than he does and who knows if something like my being domineering will throw him off entirely?"
"It'll be fine, you just need to tell him…and break up with your boyfriend. That might be what started his whole girlfriend jealousy game he's playing at."
"You don't think that he's really jealous of me and Clause do you? We were nothing to envy as far as a relationship goes."
"What do you mean 'were'?"
"I broke up with him two days ago…he was with that bloody drummer again." Jacky mumbled the last part, as though it was unimportant and irrelevant.
"Oh…I didn't realize."
"Don't worry about it, it's honestly best. I was sick of him any way. And Dolan is a better kisser." He smiled and licked his lips dramatically.
"Good to know, the next time I want to fantasize about gay men I'll be sure to pick Dolan over Clause." Jacky laughed and looked down at his watch.
"We should start back. Tell me about your dream." He took Illy's hand and helped her from the log.
"Oh…that. The girl just tried to get away, and it didn't end well. He kicked in her teeth and crushed her leg in a door…but she did bite him when he tried to force her to give him oral. So I guess that's a plus or something right?" Jacky winced at the thought.
"I don't know who endured more pain on that one…So it woke you up screaming?"
"No, Harry woke me up. My own screams don't bother me anymore. I just usually remember to use a silencing charm and I didn't."
"I see…shit, my mums are here, I have to go." Jacky sighed and pointed to the two women ahead, who had arrived with a ministry escort.
"I'll walk you." Killious offered as they climbed the hill ahead.
Jackquinn's mothers were gorgeous. One was tall and tan with black hair that reached her waste. Her big brown eyes sparkled lovingly as she looked down at Jacky while he walked. She was a bit thicker than her wife, but not fat. Illy could see the makings of a small belly beneath her floral print dress. The long-sleeved article was made of thick yellow fabric speckled in peach colored flowers that contrasted with her skin. She smoothed her skirt and tightened the white bow that had been tied to the front of her dress. She kissed her shorter partner and smiled again at Jacky, as though she was about to burst in anxious excitement. The other woman was probably a head shorter than her counterpart and sixty pounds lighter, with wispy blond curls and pale skin. They looked like harlequinne's of one another. She wore a low cut red silk top that basically put her breasts into a picture frame to showcase them. Her thick black jacket looked to be the only thing of substantial weight on her. She couldn't have been more than one hundred pounds, and she looked like she was freezing in her tight black business pants. She too smiled, but it was a bit more strained. Illy could tell she wanted to get out of the cold, or maybe just off the grounds.
"Tatiana! Michelle!" Jacky squealed in delight as he embraced both of the women with a strong hug. They laughed a smiled back.
"We 'ave mizzed you so mooch!" The blond exclaimed. This must have been where the escapades to France came from.
"I have been counting the days when I would see my little Jacky again!" The brunette was starting to tear. The family was obviously close. They looked at Jacky like he couldn't have belonged more if one of them had given birth to him themselves. Illy felt a pang of jealously. Her own parents even looked like her and appeared totally normal by sexual orientation standards, but they could barely hug her, and here was Jacky, black as the night in comparison to the blond, and clearly not a child they could have possibly produced, and they were crying with joy when they saw him. Jacky stood back from the women and pulled Illy closer by her hand.
"Michelle, Tatiana, this is Illy, she's my dearest friend here! We're going to abduct her a bit this summer." Jacky smiled and presented Illy to the women. The blond shook her hand immediately,
"I am Michelle, eet iz so nize to meet you. We are 'appy zat Jackeey iz making friendz 'ere." The brunette was less swift to accept Illy's presence at the reunion.
"You must be Tatiana…" Illy tried, but the woman was silent.
"Mum please, she's not going to bite you. She's been great to me, she's even stuck up for me to the other kids, please be nice." Jacky pleaded and the woman finally, reluctantly, shook Illy's hand.
"Tatiana bakes and Michelle runs the bakery's finances. So they send me packages as a duo." Jacky explained.
"I see, in that case I think that I should be your new best friend, your pastries are amazing." Illy's compliment finally encouraged the woman to give a large smile.
"My love, she iz so shy sometimez, and she iz alwayz worried zat our Jackeey will be 'urt or boolied." Michelle explained as she walked towards the ministry escort.
"Well, if anyone lays a finger on Jacky I'll bust 'em up." Illy joked and made dramatic gestures as though she were boxing someone. "I'll see you soon okay? Have a good Christmas." Illy pulled Jacky in tightly for a hug. "Send Dolan an owl, please." She whispered in his ear before letting him climb into the carriage that his parents had arrived in.
"I'll see you Illy." He smiled and waved to her. Illy watched the carriage take off before heading back for the school, with little hope for a less than chaotic day.
She looked back towards the castle, sighing at the walk ahead of her; she might not even make it back in time to see anyone before they left. Jacky's side trip had taken her towards Hagrid's and the fresh snow was a pain to walk through. She stuffed her hands into her coat's pockets and started to trudge.
She had made it only a few feet from the forest when she noticed a group of dementors ahead. Draco hadn't let a soul in the school go without telling them about Harry's fearful reaction to the beasts, which made her hesitant to go anywhere near them. But she had little other choice, so she hooked widely to the left of the pair and continued to walk slowly. She did her best not to dwell on their presence, as her paranoia seemed to be convincing her that one of them was headed directly for her, but distracting herself by looking at the bits of foliage poking through the snow wasn't very effective. In fact, upon looking again she could swear that the dementor was now swiftly closing the distance between them at an alarming rate.
Her skin began to feel tight and warm, making her stomach gurgle lightly in reaction. She clutched it to try and keep it quiet, but it seemed to be of no use as the dementor was only a few feet away at this point. Her legs suddenly began to feel anxious, a feeling that spread through her entire body in a matter of seconds. It was as though all of her skin was crawling with tiny insects that were pushing her to move. She felt like the needed to roll around in the snow or take off running just to cool herself and release the antsy urges. The dementor stopped one foot from her now motionless figure and oriented itself so that if it had eyes it would have been staring directly at her. She froze, the once hot feeling was now burning up her skin, but some of the anxious compulsion had actually died down, in fact she could feel her stomach calming. The dementor lingered a moment, as though it was confused by her presence. After a few seconds that seemed to be more like hours passed, it floated by her slowly. Its tattered cloak brushing her cheek lightly as it passed. Illy's desire to run came back, and now she chose not to ignore it. She took off towards the castle; resisting the urge to look back over her shoulder for fear that another dementor would catch up with her, and not be quite so lenient or oblivious, whichever it was.
