Chapter Seven
Over twelve hours later, the entire student body was still under constant supervision in the Great Hall. Overnight, the long student tables had been pushed to one side to make room for the students to sleep. Professors Danvers and Michaels summoned hundreds of sleeping bags into the Great Hall and enchanted each and every one of them to feel as comfortable as the four-poster beds in the house Common Rooms. Students from different houses mingled, excited to be together for the night. If it weren't for Liz's disappearance hanging over them, the night might have felt like a giant sleepover. As it was, everyone in the school adored Liz, and so the mood quickly mellowed when night fell and there was still no trace of the bubbly, universally-loved Hufflepuff girl.
The following morning, Chloe woke up to find Professor Vegas kneeling over her with a bowl of steaming porridge.
"Sorry, dear, did I wake you?" she asked kindly. Professor Vegas flipped her long red hair over one shoulder and settled the porridge bowl on the stone floor beside Chloe's leg. "Breakfast is served. There's not much choice, I'm afraid. Moving the tables disrupted the enchantment tying the Hall to the kitchens. But I sensed you'd be happy with a bowl of porridge. I added a sprinkle of cinnamon, just the way you like it." She tapped her forehead with a mischievous grin. No matter what the other students said about the Divination teacher and her unorthodox teaching practices, Chloe had always felt that Professor Vegas, although much older than her, was something of a kindred spirit. Though Chloe knew from the professor's sly grin that she'd sensed Chloe's preference for cinnamon through keen observation rather than her supposed psychic abilities, Professor Vegas undoubtedly did have an inner eye. She saw things that not everybody in the school saw, things that Chloe believed to be real.
"Professor?" Chloe found herself asking as Professor Vegas turned to leave. "You don't happen to know anything more about what's going on, do you? I mean… about Liz. Have you sensed anything different recently?"
Professor Vegas frowned. "You know divination doesn't work that way, dear. I wish it did. But…" She hesitated, as if choosing her words carefully. "Professor Adams might have mentioned something," she confided in a hushed whisper. Professor Adams was the young, beautiful new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. She'd been hired precisely for her ability to detect Dark Magic and teach students to recognise the signs. "There's an aura of secrecy spreading throughout the castle. And if Hope – I mean, if Professor Adams has sensed it, it's not a good secret. If she's right, things haven't been right for some time now." Professor Vegas shook her head and smiled. "But I don't know why I'm telling you all of this. You're an excellent Divination student, so you must realise better than anybody else your age how pointless it is to dwell on such things. The future is hazy – there are a thousand different outcomes and no matter what myself or Professor Adams might sense now, it has no bearing on the future. Besides, this has nothing to do with Liz. Nothing to fret over. I'm sure we'll find her soon."
Chloe nodded. Professor Vegas squeezed her shoulder reassuringly as she stood, but behind her smile her eyes conveyed her worry. Even the teachers were scared.
Chloe thanked Professor Vegas as she left, wishing she had a mirror as she sat up and snagged her fingers through the blonde and red streaks of her hair. She'd accidentally dyed it during one charms lesson when she was supposed to be changing the colour of an apricot on her desk. Everybody had complimented her on the accidental charm, so she'd left it. Now though, she had a terrible case of bed head. Although looking around the hall, she saw she wasn't the only one.
She'd just finished her bowl of porridge when she caught sight of Rae. She'd almost forgotten yesterday's fight but now it rose back to the forefront of her mind. Although she knew she hadn't been in the wrong, Chloe felt the urge to walk up to her and apologise. She hated being on bad terms with anybody and Rae was her best friend. What if Rae had gone missing, rather than Liz? What if that argument had been the last words spoken between them?
She stood; brushing her fingers once more over her hair in an attempt to flatten it she began to make her way across the hall to Rae. More people were awake now and she had to curve her way around groups of students to reach her. She lost sight of Rae for a while and when she next looked forward, something stopped her cold in her tracks. Rae wasn't alone.
Beside her, smiling genially at whatever Rae was saying stood Professor Davidoff.
Chloe gaped. For some reason, this felt more like a betrayal than any of the horrible words Rae had spoken yesterday. As Davidoff turned to leave, he caught sight of Chloe and tipped his pointed wizard's hat towards her. She shivered. Rae noticed her, then. Her smile faded, but she walked the remaining distance between them.
"Hi," she said frostily.
"Hi," Chloe managed. Now that they were face-to-face, she couldn't remember why she'd wanted to apologise to Rae. Surely Rae should be apologising to her!
She'd always thought that Rae had been chosen for Gryffindor because she was unafraid to voice her opinions and didn't care what people like Tori thought of her. But now Chloe saw that there was bravery too in betrayal. No coward would have the guts to look her best friend in the eye just moments after conversing with the one person she'd been warned to stay away from.
Chloe opened her mouth to speak – she had no idea what she planned to say. But at that moment, Rae's eyes widened as a shadow fell over them both. "Um… Chlo –"
"Chloe," said a deep voice behind her. She jumped and span on her heel to see Derek Souza looming over her. His mouth twitched.
"Skittish as a kneazle," he said in amusement.
Chloe snorted. "With everything that's happened in the last few days, can you blame me?"
Derek's barely-there smile faded. He gestured for her to follow him to a corner of the hall currently unoccupied. She nodded and then turned back to Rae as he disappeared back into the crowd. "Sorry, I really should go talk to him. Be back in a few minutes."
Rae was gaping at her. "Chloe," she hissed. "That was Derek Souza. What does a guy like Derek Souza want from you?"
Chloe was about to spin an excuse, but unfortunately, Beth, Kari and Miranda chose this moment to join their conversation.
"Derek Souza?" Miranda tittered. "What's this about our dear innocent Chloe and Derek Souza?"
Chloe blushed from the roots of her hair to her chest. "It's n-nothing. We're f-friends – "
"Ew," said Beth. "Chloe, is that why you were asking about him last week? Are you… d'you like Derek Souza?"
Chloe's eyes widened as she attempted to splutter a response. Kari snorted. "Of course she doesn't. She's just leading him on because she likes his brother. Simon Bae. Haven't you noticed how she's been trailing after him for weeks now?"
Chloe gaped, speechless. She'd never thought that Kari could be so cruel. How could her friend think so little of her? How could something as simple as a guy noticing her fuel such animosity between them?
Rae said nothing. Chloe didn't know why, but that hurt most of all. Even after their recent fight, with all the awkwardness between them now, she still expected her best friend to stick up for her. But now that the shock of seeing her with Derek had passed, Rae wouldn't even look her in the eye.
Chloe lifted her chin and straightened. "We're just friends," she said again. "I need to go see what he wants. I'll be right back."
She ducked into the crowd before they could respond, making her way past a group of Slytherin boys. When she looked back over her shoulder, she could see Beth, Kari and Miranda gossiping at full speed, their heads bent towards each other.
They were talking about her. Maliciously. Behind her back.
Tears welled in her eyes. It was bad enough that they'd teased her to her face. She could deal with that – she'd expected it to some degree after the last time she'd brought Derek up in conversation. But the idea that they were talking about her now – or that they'd talked about her behind her back before – hurt her more than she'd expected it to. None of them had visited her in the hospital wing yesterday. She could imagine them discussing her nervous breakdown in hushed whispers. Shame evolved into anger as she turned away from them and strode towards where Derek stood waiting.
"What's wrong?" he asked immediately when she drew near. "Has Davidoff –"
Chloe shook her head and swiped at the tears in her eyes. "It's nothing to do with Davidoff. It's just… my friends… they think we're…" She trailed off, still embarrassed even through her anger.
Derek's frown didn't change. Of course. Why should he care? He didn't have any friends. Rumours followed him everywhere he went. He probably thought it was stupid to cry over something someone had said behind her back.
"W-what was it you wanted to talk to me about?" she asked, pulling herself together.
Derek scratched at his arm, eyes darting in every direction before he spoke. And he says I'm the skittish one, Chloe thought as she watched him.
"It doesn't look like we'll be let out of here anytime soon," he said in a quiet rumble, so quiet that Chloe had to lean closer to hear him. "I spoke to my dad. In times of heightened security, it's standard procedure to lock us all in the hall until the Headmaster declares the school safe. Most of the teachers are still refusing to believe that Liz is gone and until Professor St. Cloud returns to the school, we can't leave. It could be days before that happens."
Chloe bit her lip. "You mean… you believe that Liz is g-gone?"
Derek shrugged, still scratching absently at his arm.
Chloe scrutinised him carefully. His cheeks were flushed but beneath the bright spots of colour he was ghostly pale. His too-long dark hair clung to his forehead with a faint sheen of sweat. She frowned.
"You're sick," she said. Without pausing to think her actions through, she reached up and touched his forehead with the back of her hand. He flinched, eyes widening in surprise – almost as though he was unused to simple human contact, she thought with a pang of sympathy. But he didn't draw back.
"I'm fine," said Derek as she frowned up at him. "Really. It's just a 24-hour thing. It'll be gone tomorrow."
"You should see Madam Levine," Chloe insisted. "At least get a temperature-lowering potion. You've got a fever."
"I'm fine," Derek said again. It sounded as though he was biting back a snarl. Chloe decided to let the matter drop, but made a mental note to speak to Madam Levine about Derek's fever when she next saw the nurse.
"So, since we're not leaving this hall anytime soon," Chloe said, steering the conversation back to safer ground, "maybe we can continue our conversation from yesterday here." She looked up at him expectantly.
Derek pulled his sleeve down and nodded. "Right." He sat down on the cold stone floor and Chloe did the same. "What do you want to know?" he asked.
Chloe raised her eyebrows. She hadn't thought Derek would be so open with her. Perhaps he really did trust her now. Perhaps he was just tired of keeping so many secrets from the rest of the school.
"Everything," she said honestly, but when the corner of his mouth twitched in another almost-smile she added, "Let's start with what Davidoff himself is up to. Why is he collecting students with hereditary abilities like ours? What does he want? Why is he trying to cure our… powers?"
Derek's brow furrowed at the word powers, like he didn't think it applied to him. But he raked a handful of black hair back from his forehead and spoke in a low voice, so as not to draw too much attention from the bleary-eyed students around them.
"Davidoff's a half-blood," Derek began. "His father was a wizard. A Healer. His mother was a skilled physician. I think Davidoff's attempting to combine muggle science and magic to create a new kind of Healing. And he's using students with abilities or conditions that supposedly can't be cured as test subjects."
Chloe gaped. "Is that even possible?"
Derek shrugged. "I've been researching. Davidoff knows what he's doing. Is it possible? Maybe. Is it legal? Definitely not. Davidoff's not a licensed Healer. And the muggle and magical worlds aren't supposed to mix."
"Which is why Davidoff's working in secret, testing his potions on students," Chloe realised. "Because he can't present his experiments legally. And if something were to go wrong… well, we're still learning magic. Accidents happen all the time in Hogwarts. If we told anyone that it was Davidoff's fault, the teachers would all just think we were too embarrassed to tell the truth."
Derek nodded. He looked surprised that Chloe had caught on so quickly.
"Who else is Davidoff meeting in secret?" Chloe asked him now. "That night in the Hospital Wing, you told me there were others. Who are they?" Rae flashed into her mind, but she dismissed the thought. She didn't want to think that Rae might have been lying to her for weeks now. Then again, hadn't she been lying to Rae for years too? Maybe they were both to blame for their current fallout.
Derek shrugged his shoulders again. "Don't know. Davidoff hinted that there were more but you're the first I've found." His eyes darted across the hall again. "They could be anybody."
Chloe gulped, her eyes flitting over the sea of faces too. All at once she felt exposed and drew her wand from her pocket, casting a quick silencing charm over their corner of the hall.
"D'you think Liz could've been one of Davidoff's subjects?" she asked when she turned back to Derek.
He hesitated, but said quietly, "Yeah. Looks that way, doesn't it?"
Chloe's heart thudded in her chest. She wasn't paranoid, then. Derek shared her suspicions. She didn't know whether to feel better or worse about that. Her mind was reeling with all the new information she'd been given.
Derek started rummaging around in his bag and, with another glance at the students around them, pulled out an old leather-bound volume. He held it out to Chloe.
"Um… thanks?" Chloe said, taking the book warily.
Derek rolled his eyes. "I spoke to my dad yesterday. Got him to take this from the library while he and the other teachers were searching for Liz. Something you said about your condition…," he paused and rubbed the back of his neck, stalling. "Well, I figured out why Davidoff's so interested in you from what you said about Peeves, but I got the sense that you didn't know much about your abilities, so…" He shrugged again, cheeks reddening slightly. Chloe stared. Was Derek Souza… blushing?
She was stunned by his thoughtfulness, but as she glanced down at the book she felt her blood run cold. Her fingers traced the title: Necromancy.
"Derek –," she began but at that moment somebody tapped her on the shoulder and she let out a squeal, jumping as she turned to see a very confused Simon looking down at her.
"Hey," he said. His eyes flicked uncertainly between Chloe and his brother, as if he was trying to work out why on earth they were talking to each other.
Chloe opened her mouth to reply but Derek mumbled, "The spell," under his breath. Of course. Simon wouldn't be able to hear a word they were saying. Hastily, she withdrew her wand again and muttered the counter-spell, aware of Simon's eyes watching in confusion.
"Hi, Simon," she said breathlessly as she tucked her wand away again. "I was… we… your brother and I were just…"
"Huddled away in a dark corner of the hall, whispering about an old book under the cover of a silencing charm," Simon finished for her. Chloe felt herself blush, but Simon attempted a smile as he sat down beside her. "If I didn't know any better, I'd be jealous. Isn't this the second private conversation in less than a week? I didn't know you two knew each other so well. What's going on?"
Derek had said nothing since reminding Chloe about the silencing charm, but now he spoke. "It's okay," he said gruffly. He looked Chloe straight in the eye. "He knows."
Simon's attempt at a light-hearted grin wavered. "Uh… I know what?"
Derek closed his eyes and let out a small sigh that said he really hadn't been looking forward to this conversation. "You know… what I am. And what Professor Davidoff is up to."
Chloe gaped. All this time she'd thought Derek was the only one she could speak to about this and Simon, a boy she'd thought she knew well and whose company she enjoyed, knew too? And Derek hadn't told her?
Simon seemed to be having just as much trouble coming to terms with this revelation. He leaned slightly away from Chloe, openly gaping.
"You…" he said, and then he turned to Derek. "She's the one? The girl you said you caught Davidoff speaking to? And you didn't tell me?"
Derek looked away, like he didn't want to meet his brother's eyes. The look on his face… it was the most emotion Chloe had ever seen from him. She'd judged him wrong. No matter what people said about Derek Souza, he really did care for his brother, she realised. Derek Souza was far from heartless.
"I didn't know for sure," said Derek quietly. "And then I didn't want to tell you because I knew it would get you even more caught up in this. Davidoff's not interested in you. If he were to walk back into this hall right now and see the three of us talking you'd only be drawing attention to yourself."
"You think I care?" Simon snorted. "Bro, you're the one in danger." His eyes flickered back to Chloe. He didn't look quite so wary of her now. "And you too, I guess."
Chloe nodded. "Sorry. I couldn't tell you."
Simon reached out and took her hand. "It's okay. I know what it's like to keep secrets from friends. I've got Derek as a brother, after all."
Chloe nodded, but couldn't speak. A boy was holding her hand. Holding her hand! She just hoped her hand wouldn't go clammy, but surprisingly she didn't feel butterflies and her heart continued to beat steadily.
"What's the book?" Simon asked, nodding his head towards it.
"Uh… it's nothing," Chloe muttered, shoving it hastily into her satchel. She didn't want Simon to know what she was just yet. Necromancy… whatever that encompassed, it didn't sound good. She glanced towards Derek, but he was looking at her hand in Simon's. She looked away.
"So this is what you were discussing in the Hospital Wing on Thursday?" Simon asked.
Derek nodded. "I've just been filling Chloe in."
"Oh!" Simon's eyes widened. "About tonight? How're you going to – "
"Simon." Chloe jumped. Derek's voice was a low warning growl. He shook his head vehemently.
Simon looked embarrassed. "Sorry." He glanced sideways at Chloe. "He hasn't filled you in on everything, then?"
Chloe shook her head slowly, watching both brothers. "What's happening tonight?"
"Nothing," Derek said so emphatically that Chloe stared. He ducked his head and said gruffly, "I've spoken to Dad. Told him everything." He looked up, speaking only to Simon. "It's fine. Dad'll help me leave tonight and he's looking for proof to vindicate Davidoff while the rest of the school is searched."
Simon looked relieved. "Good. I'm so tired of keeping this from Dad."
Chloe tore her hand from Simon's and crossed her arms over her chest. "So, neither of you are going to explain to me what's happening tonight?"
The brothers looked at each other. Simon reached for Chloe's shoulder. "It's nothing, really –"
Chloe pulled away from Simon, getting to her feet. "No. Something's happening tonight and if it involves Davidoff, it involves me." She looked at Derek. "I thought you'd decided to trust me."
The boys had both gotten to their feet now, too. A few other students were looking their way with curious expressions.
"'Course I do," Derek said, and Chloe felt a jolt of surprise. She hadn't been at all sure that Derek did trust her but he said it as though it was obvious that he did. "But this doesn't involve Davidoff," he continued, "and it doesn't involve you."
Chloe's eyes narrowed. "You're lying."
"I'm not."
The intensity of Derek's gaze melted Chloe's annoyance. Whatever it was that he was keeping from her, he clearly meant it. He didn't think it concerned her. But he'd spoken about leaving. It involved him. She wanted to help.
"Derek –" Chloe began, reaching out to touch his arm. But he stepped back and grabbed her wrist before she could make contact. She gasped. Derek's grip was frighteningly strong. Too strong. She tugged her arm away as he mumbled something that might have been an apology.
"Woah." Simon, whose eyes had been flicking back and forth between Chloe and Derek for the last minute, chose this moment to step in. He yanked his brother back by his robes. "Chloe, it's not his fault," he explained in a rush. "Guys like Derek… he doesn't know his own strength… he just –"
"Simon, stop," Derek said. He was looking at the floor, hands in his pockets.
Chloe's wrist was burning. She looked down and saw a faint red mark already rising to the surface. Derek had only grabbed her for a second but it was still enough to leave a bruise.
"I- I have to go," she mumbled. "Th-thanks for the book." Simon started to protest, but Derek held him back. He looked up at the same moment that she glanced towards him one last time. His eyes seemed apologetic, but Chloe wasn't sure that she could spend another second with him, knowing that just one moment ago he'd been close to breaking her wrist with a single touch.
She fled back to the safety of the Gryffindor side of the room, clutching her arm. Her whole body was trembling.
Derek was an intimidating student. Everyone steered clear of him. But even when he'd stood over her bed and threatened her in the Hospital Wing, she'd never truly been scared of him. Not until now.
I have to find out what he is, she realised. I have to know what else he's keeping from me. As soon as possible.
She stole one last glance in Simon and Derek's direction as she made up her mind.
I'm following him tonight.
A/N: Yes, the next chapter is the one that a lot of you have been waiting for! As always, reviewers will be given a preview. And I don't like to play favourites… but long reviews will grant you a much better preview than a one-word review. Just sayin'. ;)