Chapter 11

When James finally stopped acting like someone pissed in his cereal, it was a month after what happened in DADA. Jude had suspected it was because he saw that Emma had now come around to hanging out with Jude again and hated being alone.

That's what he told himself, at least. James never told him his reasons and Jude was much too happy to care what they were. He was just glad he had his friends back.

"So what have you two been doing these past few weeks?" James asked, stabbing his fork into a link of sausage. He glanced at the two, raising an eyebrow, "I mean, I haven't done much myself. I just stood in the dorm most of the time. I have been practicing my spells though."

Jude nodded, poking his food, "I've been doing that too. It hasn't really come along well lately. Especially after what happened." He glanced around, finding some kids in their year turn around quickly as if he hadn't already felt them staring.

James rolled his eyes at the other students, "Forget about them. They're just scared that someone's better than them at DADA."

An involuntary smile made its way onto Jude's lips, "Thanks, mate."

Emma shook her head with a heavy sigh, "I don't understand why they're still making a big deal out of it. It's not like it was you-know-who related."

"They just want something to gossip about," James mumbled as he took a sip of his juice. "That's what my aunt always says."

Jude frowned slightly, "Still, I just hate getting all these stares as if I'm someone famous. I don't know what happened in DADA and I don't think I ever will since no one knows about my family except Lazarus."

"And he's gone," Emma stated after her initial flinch.

James shrugged, speaking after he swallowed some of his food, "We can't be too sure." He rolled his eyes when he saw his female friend's glare, "You can't really believe he was gone that easily, can you? With all this time I had alone, I was thinking about it and how it seemed really suspicious. And now I believe Jude when he says that he thinks this Sherlock Smith is working with him."

"I just wanna say that I didn't technically say that," Jude cut in, setting his fork down. "But I do believe he's still out there. There's no way someone like him is just down for the count after that. I stabbed him in the stomach, yes, but don't you think he would've been able to, I don't know, find a way around that."

"Exactly," James nodded. He then furrowed his brow thoughtfully, "Wait, mate, he stabbed you and you were bleeding. Wouldn't that mean that he got at least some of your blood for whatever he wanted? If he needed all your blood to bring back old Voldy, what would only some of your blood do?"

Jude's eyes widened in shock; he hadn't thought much about that. He almost forgot why Lazarus was so dead set on getting his blood. Before he could reply, he was interrupted by three newcomers. He turned to find Jared sitting next to James who glared at the boy, and Leon sitting next to Emma who suddenly had a pink hue on her cheeks.

He glanced behind himself to find Carlos shuffling his feet nervously. He opened his mouth to speak but Carlos cut in before he could, "Porter, can we…can we talk?"

That wasn't how Carlos would usually talk to him. Whenever Carlos saw him, he was always energetic and a little too enthusiastic. Jude never had friends until James and Emma, but Carlos seemed like a fan of sorts who was always happy to see him. A part of him was glad someone cared enough to smile so widely at just seeing him, but another part wished the boy would just calm down if he ever wanted to have a conversation.

Now it seemed like the time for them to have it.

Jude glanced at James and Emma, the latter giving him a nod while the former was busy glaring at his roommates. The blue eyed teen stood from his seat and followed Carlos out of the Great Hall and to a hallway where no one else was since mostly everyone was either in their dorms or in the Great Hall.

Carlos exhaled shakily, wringing his hands, "I'm…I'm sorry, Porter, for what happened in DADA a month ago."

The paler male shrugged, hoping to end the conversation quickly if it was going to be on that subject, "It's fine, Curry. You didn't know."

"But I did," Carlos said almost harshly, his eyes filled with worry and shame. "My mom told me about these things called trigger warnings. It's when-"

"I know what they are," Jude commented lightly. He had a few of them when it came to anything close to fire when he first started Hogwarts and it later turned to anything Lazarus related.

Carlos nodded, inhaling as he continued, "I figured. But I knew smoke had to be some kind of trigger since your parents died in a fire."

Jude turned to him slowly, his eyes wide in slight panic, "How do you know about that?" The only people who knew about that were James, Emma, Neville, Hannah, Mr. Potter, Mrs. Weasley and Lazarus. The latter finding out from his own means. Others only knew his parents died.

"Adams told us," Carlos murmured, scuffing his feet on the ground nervously. "He found out from Emma."

"That so?" Jude felt his eyebrow twitch. He sighed heavily, shaking his head and putting a hand on Carlos' shoulder, "It's fine, Curry. The smoke didn't remind me of my parents' death. It reminded me of something else, but it wasn't your fault. I've just been really paranoid these past few weeks."

He was surprised when Carlos stepped closer and wrapped his arms around him, holding him tightly in his embrace. He blinked, awkwardly patting his back, "There….there?"

Carlos pulled away with a grin, "Thanks, Porter. I really needed to talk to you. It was hard having so much tension."

"Right," Jude stated, swiftly turning on his heel and walking away.

While he was one to show affection, he didn't really count Carlos as a friend he could freely share hugs with. What the hell was that about?