Chapter 4: Running the Mile

*A fair warning that there is talk about violence in this chapter. If you wish not to read that PM me and I will sum up the chapter for you or you can simply not read the last half. You'll be able to tell when it's about to get intense.*

(Hugo)

The trip was hectic. People running into each other, screaming and yelling and arguing. It took five minutes to break up the fight between Fed and James about God know what. But that was normal. The not normal thing, the thing that was bothering everyone, was the one person who was supposed to bring order to this crazy family.

Grandpa Weasley.

It wasn't the same without him, it really wasn't.

I didn't really know what to do. I was already packed. My stuff was in one of the many cars borrowed from the Ministry. So I just sat on the steps and reflected on life.

One of the main things on my mind was Sarah Victorian. Lily's social enemy. Also my current crush. I had told Lily once, while playing a game of truth or dare, but I don't think she knew I was serious.

Being third years we were finally allowed to legally go to Hogsmeade. This would be my chance to ask Sarah out. But… she was so perfect. Perfect light brown hair, beautiful brown eyes, a soft innocent face. I could understand what Lily disliked about her, she was the daughter of a rich family. She acted a bit snobby at times but in all honesty I found it cute.

Suddenly a figure plopped down beside me. It was James.

"There's something I learned something on the weekend," James began. I might've made a joke about James hating learning except he sounded so serious. So I shut my mouth and listened. "Until now I haven't been sure what to do with it. Now I realize there's no way I can justify keeping it from you, Hugh."

"What is it?" I asked.

James didn't say anything for a second. "I'm not going to just tell you this Hugo. I need to know if you want to know this."

"James just tell me." My cousin was starting to scare me. James was never serious. Especially around me.

"What I'm about to tell you might- no, it will hurt you. Badly. But the hurt of not knowing… that might be worse. And no matter what you can't tell Lily."

"What? Why?"

"Because she can't know. Not yet. Promise me you won't tell her until I say you can."

Under regular circumstances I would never agree to that. But the look of James' face, he was pleasing with me, begging me. So I said, "Okay."

"Grandpa Weasley… didn't die from a heart attack."

"How'd he die?" I whispered nervously, and eagerly at the same time.

"It was staged to look like a heart attack. But there were traces of magic!"

"Traces?" I repeated. "From what spell?"

"I don't know the rest Hugo. But you want to hear my guess? You know how the parents didn't let us come to the funeral? I think that's because there was no body to burry. They didn't want us finding out."

"What do you mean?"

"There were traces of magic. But they don't know which spell. Which could mean two things. Either the spell is so old, so rare, that they didn't know what it was. Or they couldn't do any further searches because the body is gone."

It hit me. "You think whoever killed Grandpa Weasley has his body right now?"

James nodded solemnly. "I'm sorry, Hugo. I really am. But… we were closest to him and I didn't feel right knowing and not letting you know."

"But… why? What's the point of snatching the body back?" I just didn't get it. And James was right, it was better knowing, but how helpful was knowing when I didn't understand?

"I dunno who or why, Hugo. I really don't and I promise you if I find out I will tell you. And then I will kill that person."

"Thank you, James," I said quietly.

"No, problem, but uh…" James stared at me for a minute. His gaze made me nervous. There was way too much concern in his eyes, maybe even a little bit of pity.

"Why're you staring at me?" I asked, not unkindly.

"I know out of the family we're not the closest… but sometimes it's better when you're not too close… so if you ever need someone to talk too know I'm here for you okay?"

I was positive he was talking about my outburst at the wedding. I really didn't want to talk about it. Lily had brought it up a few times but I just brushed her off. The problem was I didn't know what had happened and I didn't want anyone worrying about me.

But maybe that's exactly what James meant. We were cousins but we weren't as close as Lily and I were. The only thing we shared was all those times it had been me and James against Lily and Albus in Quidditch. Perhaps he wouldn't judge me and worrying about me the same way Lily would.

"Listen James I don't really know what happened back there. Just that I blacked out for a second… except it was really blacking out because it wasn't black. It was dark and then there was a bright red light and I woke up with Goosebumps feeling cold."

James nodded and didn't say anything for a moment. "If it's any consolation that happens to me too. You'll be okay Hugo. If you need anyone to talk to again… about anything I'm all ears."

"Thanks, James. I'll keep that in mind."

James nodded again, he was about to turn away before he looked at me again. "Hugo?"

"Yeah?" I replied.

"I'm sorry… for everything." His hazel eyes held the gaze of my brown ones then he smiled sadly and left to continue packing.

"Where is he?" she asked over and over again. "What if he didn't come?"

"Relax, okay?" I said somewhat annoyed though also a tad worried myself. "We asked Marlo to look after him. If he wasn't okay, Marlo would have told us."

"Yes, but-"

Lily didn't finish her sentence because at that moment she saw Jacob. She bolted in his direction and I followed. Though I would never admit it I might've been just as relieved as her to see him.

Jacob was standing watching us with a grin on his face. Lily crashed into him and I could tell there were many things wrong. For one thing Lily's hands wrapped all around his body and then some. There was no way he was a healthy weight. Though he was smiling I could see him wince as she hugged him. And he was definitely leaning on one leg more than the other.

"Uh, Lily, Uncle Harry is calling you," I lied.

Lily gave Jacob a squeeze and ran off in the direction of Uncle Harry.

"Hi, Hugo," Jacob said warily. It seemed he wasn't sure whether I had got rid of Lily so we could have our own reunion or if I had wanted to chastise him.

"Jacob, what happened to you?" was all I said.

Jacob was good at hiding his emotions. But for some reason he didn't try. Perhaps that was how desperate he was to tell someone.

"He did things, Hugo. He beat me up more than usual. He starved me. And…" Jacob took a big breath, "He locked me in the closet for days."

It seemed like there was more that he wanted to say but at that moment Lily came back.

There was something about Jacob that seemed to make my cousin go crazy. It was like her brain melted to mush whenever he was around. She looked like a little kid who had just met their favorite movie star.

She acted like that for most of the train ride. Towards the end she had become more normal. But that was only because Louis and Liam came in and the former had started to make fun of her.

It was a relief when we got to Hogwarts. It felt like returning home. Not that I didn't love my actual home.

Jacob seemed really anxious. He had been looking through the line of first years boarding the boat.

I leaned close to him and whispered, "Your sister?"

He nodded but did say anything further. That only made me curious. Clearly by the expression he was wearing Jacob and his sister didn't get along.

It was only a half an hour later before we were sitting in the Great Hall waiting for the sorting to begin.

"Your Dad's not here," I whispered to Frank.

"I know," he whispered back. "He's not coming until a little later. Urgent business he had to deal with."

"Doesn't the headmaster have to be here for the sorting ceremony?

"Yeah, but Dad's not the Headmaster."

"Then who is?"

Frank didn't have a chance to answer my question because at that moment tiny Professor Flitwick stood.

"Welcome to Hogwarts!" he squeaked. "First off I would like you to welcome our newest teacher Mrs. Malfoy!"

There was a round of very confused applause. Mrs. Malfoy? Was that Lucius' wife? Or his sister? Draco didn't have a sister did he?

"And we'd like to welcome our new caretaker Mr. Bower!"

"What happened to Mr. Hippo?" shouted a voice from the Gryffindor table that was surely James.

"I am proud to announce that Mr. Joe is our new History of Magic teacher."

Now there were quite a few voices of protest. I could see Fred and James standing on the benches yelling their protests as Alice tried to pull them down.

"My brother is an idiot," both Roxanne and Lily muttered under their breaths. They looked at each other and quickly looked away.

It was sad. Just over a year ago they would've laughed and shared stories about James and Fred' idiocy that we had all heard a hundred times. It was repetitive, but that's what I liked about it. It was familiar. It was almost like a foreign world since Jacob had been brought into out lives.

"Well," Flitwick said a bit bitterly. "That was a warm welcome. Anyway, let us welcome our first years and let the sorting begin."

Teddy led the first years into the Great Hall and the hat began to sing. I didn't listen to the song. Instead I looked at the row of first years.

"Care to bet on which house is called first?" Liam whispered from behind me at the Hufflepuff table.

I grinned. "Gryffindor or Ravenclaw," I said.

Liam smiled back. "Prepare to lose a galleon my friend."

Teddy was called the first name, "Axel, Mary."

"RAVENCLAW!" The hat shouted almost immediately.

I grinned even wider as Liam swore under his breath.

Sooner than I expect I heard, "Cadler, Jasmine!"

Jacob couldn't seem to decide whether he wanted to watch his sister or look down at his empty plate. It seemed Lily was trying to comfort him but was failing miserably.

The hat took a long time with its decision. After about two minutes I heard Jacob whispering under his breath. I thought he was saying 'Gryffindor, Gryffindor.' But after another minute I realized he was saying 'Not Gryffindor, Not Gryffindor.'

The students in the Great Hall were getting annoyed. The sorting took nearly five minutes before the hat shouting "Gryffindor!"

Everyone in the entire hall cheered simply because she was finished. Everyone but Jacob. He just sat there shaking his head.

I tried to ask him what the deal was between them but he just whispered, "I owe you an explanation, but not now."

"Finnegan, Theodore."

I looked up to see my friend being sorted.

The hat didn't take long at all before it decided "Hufflepuff."

Theodore grinned nervously as he took his seat. Luke Thomas made room so Theo could sit beside him.

There were more names called. A couple new Gryffindors to join Jasmine. Some Hufflepuffs, quite a few new Ravenclaws this year. A lot of new Slytherins.

Emily and Katie Thomas joined Ravenclaw to their brother's shock.

And with Xavier, Phillip being sorted into Gryffindor the sorting ended.

"And that concludes our sorting," cheered Flitwick. "There are a few things I'd like to say but it can wait until after you eat."

I devoured everything in sight. And I couldn't help but notice that Jacob was the opposite. He hardly ate anything. I knew why, you can't eat a lot after being starved, it would make him puke. But Lily wasn't really helping him by trying to shove more food in his face.

Luckily for him Flitwick began speaking. "I hope you all enjoyed the food but now it's time to get serious. As most of our older students know the Forbidden Forest is off limits. Any student who goes there will receive detention."

James, Fred, and Josh grinned. Flitwick gave them a pointed look. "Also several items from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes have been band, please see the bulletin board outside Mr. Bower's office for the complete list. Now I will you to direct your attention to professor Bryson."

Professor Bryson the Muggle Studies Teacher and Head of Hufflepuff stood. "Welcome back to Hogwarts students! I have an announcement. As you know every year we do a muggle activity. Last year we had the play which was a huge success. This year we've decided to do a school wide game of Assassin."

There was looks of confusion from the half bloods and pure bloods and looks of excitement from the muggle-borns. Personally I had heard of the game but couldn't remember it fully.

Bryson shushed the crowd and continued. "It will take place tomorrow evening. In order to prepare, classes will not start until the day after tomorrow."

At this all the students clapped enthusiastically except maybe a few Ravenclaws who looked crestfallen.

"That's all for now. You are dismissed. First years follow your prefects to the Common Rooms."

When we stood up I gave Jacob a pointed look. He understood that it meant I wanted to talk to him tonight, he nodded and walked away.

"Hey, Hugo."

It was sort of stupid but the voice almost made my heart stop.

You're an idiot Hugo. She said hi. It doesn't mean anything. Just be a normal human being for once.

I smiled. "Sarah, how are you? We haven't talked in like forever."

"I know. How's your summer been?"

"Good, good," I said politely because you didn't tell your crush that all you could think of over the summer was you dead Grandfather. And how there was a small hope he might be alive. "How was yours?"

"Great. My father took me and my sister all around the world. We visited every continent. Man, it's beautiful, the world that we live in."

That's why I liked Sarah. She was so down to Earth. But it was what Lily hated about her. In Lily's opinion she was fake, and stuck up. I could see it I suppose, she bragged, but she didn't do it on purpose and besides everyone has flaws.

I smiled to myself as I remembered the conversation Alice and I had in the summer. Nobody's perfect.

"I know. It's amazing how many things are around us. And the differences and similarities in the different cultures of the world."

And we just stated chatting. Talking about interesting things, the world, the geological aspects and the cultural aspects of it. That led to a conversation on war.

"I just don't understand it," I muttered. "How can muggles just fight like that? So violently. For no reason."

Sarah kicked a pebble as we walked. Somehow we had ended up outside, I don't really remember when. "Well, it's the same thing we do isn't it? We fight over what? Blood status? Just that their fighting over the colour of their skin and we're fighting over the 'cleanliness' of our blood."

She was right of course. But it was weird when you really thought about it how stupid the reasons for all these deaths were.

"It makes me want to make a difference, you know?" Sarah's voice was suddenly firm, and determined. "I'll work as hard as I can to make sure that I do something that will change this world."

I looked at her. "You're going to be someone special one day Sarah. I just know it. Everyone will know the name Sarah Victorian."

She grinned. "Well I suppose it does have a nice ring to it?"

It wasn't until half an hour past curfew that I arrived back in the Gryffindor Tower. Sarah and I had spent almost a full two hours talking. It was great. And I didn't make myself look like a total loser. It was like she actually wanted to talk to me.

I was walking up the stairs to the dormitory when it hit me. I opened the door quickly and saw Frank already asleep in his bed and Jacob lying staring at the ceiling with his curtains opened.

"I'm a horrible friend," I whispered, so not to wake Frank.

Jacob shook his head. "No. You gave me time to think."

I sighed, relieved that Jake wasn't mad at me for forgetting about the talk we were going to have. "Time to think about what?"

"That talking is a very bad idea." Jacob turned and faced the wall.

I didn't say anything for a minute. I had to push him, he couldn't deal with whatever he had going on alone. But it felt like I was invading his privacy by forcing him to talk with me.

Slowly I walked towards his bed. "Jacob, I know I wasn't the nicest to you last year. I was just jealous of you hanging out with Lily so much. I'm sorry for that. But I want you to know I'm still your friend and I've been told I'm one heck of a listener."

"I… I dunno if I can. Hugo, I don't want to relive it."

"Jake," I said so quietly, so gently. "I won't make you talk but would you rather let it all go with me by your side or have it haunt your thoughts and deal with it alone?"

When he didn't reply I touched his shoulder. "Sometimes the bravest thing you can do is admit you're scared and admit you want help."

Jacob stayed silently and with an internal sigh I began to rise. But then so quietly I almost didn't hear it, "I need help."

I smiled. "Good. See, all you need to do is admit it and then suddenly you're not alone."

Jacob shook his head slightly. "You might be here reliving it with me, but the original pain is still there and there's nothing you can do about that."

I didn't know what to say to that, but somehow the right words came out of my mouth without me really thinking about them, "People say time heals the deepest wounds. I disagree. The pain will always be there but if you ever want it to lessen you have to be willing to let go of it."

For the first time Jacob looked into my eyes. "He humiliated me."

I didn't have to ask who 'he' was. "Tell me how."

Jacob didn't speak for a minute. He looked so… fragile. He looked younger than fourteen as if we were travelling back into the past to when this all started.

"When… when he found out I was a wizard he resented me. He… he wanted to make me pay. So… he, he made me feel worthless. Made me feel like being a wizard was a disease."

"We have all night. Tell me everything," I urged.

Maybe it was something in my tone. But something in Jacob's eyes changed like he was suddenly determined to prove he was strong enough to do this. Strong enough to face his bother even if it was just mentally. "My life was never easy. But once I discovered I was a wizard both my parents and Jonathan made it absolute hell.

"When I told him my father took off his belt and whipped me. I was only seven! But he didn't stop. He kept going and with every hit he made sure I knew that this- being a wizard- was nothing to be pleased about. That this means I am worthless.

He left me on the floor covered in blood, crying. But… magically the blood, the scars just disappeared. But the pain didn't. I could still feel it but there was no proof it was there."

Jacob looked up for me as if he wanted my approval. I nodded, silently telling him to keep going.

"Well, that was the last straw for my Dad. He decided then and there I wasn't to live in his house anymore. But Jonathan begged him to let me stay. I never heard the whole conversation. I thought it was because my brother loved me but that was not it. He just wanted to use me.

"One of the first things he did to me was cause a wasp's nest fall on my head. I couldn't escape and I endured sting after sting. After that my parents reluctantly sent me to the hospital. They told the doctors that I had accidentally disturbed the wasps and they attacked me. I was confused and Jonathan had told me no matter what to not tell the truth. So I didn't. I let them believe the lie. And… well my life went on like that for a while. Jonathan would do something horrible to me, and then I would go to the hospital and recite whatever lie Jonathan told me to."

Jacob stopped. He put his head in between his knees and didn't look up. I put an arm around him.

"Hey, it's okay."

"It's not okay though," Jacob continued his head still hidden. "Because maybe if I told the truth, maybe I would have been free. But once I was old enough to understand, to understand that my parents didn't love me and my brother was a sadistic sociopath… it was too late. Because he wasn't so bad at one point. He was just learning. But then he got older and he began to develop one hell of an imagination."

Jacob stopped again. He was hardly breathing. And… I don't know how I can explain this but I heard the tears in his breathing.

"Don't be ashamed to cry."

Jacob looked up at me then and I noticed his blue-green eyes were shining with tears. "I once told Lily I never cried after the time my father had killed the dog I brought home from school .That was a lie. I never cried for emotional reasons after that. But Jonathan could always make me cry. He did horrible things to me."

He turned away again and this time I knew it was because he was embarrassed. "Jacob, you can tell me," I urged. Then suddenly it dawned on me. "You never talk about this because you don't want to see that look."

Jacob looked at me. "You don't want to see that look of pity in their eyes when you tell them what a horrible person your brother is." Then I smiled wryly. "I promise I won't make you feel better."

Jacob smiled back, it was a small sad smile but it was still a smile. Then he continued,

"Well it didn't get really bad until I was around nine. My sister had told me that she discovered she was a wizard. I was worried sick for her. But she didn't seem to understand. She was thrilled, she thought our parents would understand. For some reason my brother was never interested in her. He sort of made sure she didn't even know about what was going on. She was so young, after all, it wasn't hard to trick her."

This was what I had been curious about. I knew Jacob was abused, he had told me that himself, though this was the first time he had gone into such detail, but he never explained his relationship with his sister.

"So once my bother found out she was a wizard… he took it out on me. I'm not sure if she told him I knew or if he just found out himself but that's when it started to get bad. Jonathan suddenly had a new power over me. And it was Jasmine.

"He'd beat me and if I threatened to tell anyone he'd told me he'd kill her. And so that's why I never told. He… he had the one person I cared about in his hands.

"So I did whatever he said. Usually my day consisted of doing all of Jonathan's chores, sometimes he even got me to do his homework-"

I almost laughed. "Isn't your brother like five years older than you? Why did he want a nine year old doing his homework?"

Jacob smiled a little too. "I dunno. I guess it was just another one of his ways to make sure he knew that he could do whatever he wanted. Make me do whatever he wanted. What was worse was what he did to me afterwards. After I'd walk my sister home from school Jonathan would ask me how my day went. It became a routine. He ask, I'd reply 'It was bad' and he'd say 'well it's about to get a whole lot worse.' That's when he'd hurt me. It hurt so badly. Then the he'd lock me in the closet and leave me in there all night, sometimes for days if it was a weekend."

I saw a tear slowly slide down Jacob's face. I did my best not to show any pity and it seemed to work because Jacob didn't tell me to go away, he just kept talking.

"I developed a severe fear of small spaces. It even took me a while to get used to sleeping in this bed, with the curtains the way they are. And he would always use that fear against me. If I didn't do exactly what he said, it was the closet for me.

I think I stopped being able to handle it when Jonathan showed up at my school one day. He shoved me in a locker… and locked it. It was an unused area on the third floor so I didn't get rescued until near the end of the day. When I did get let out I was crying… a lot and basically having a mental breakdown. That was the first time Jonathan had publicly humiliated me. I was nine and nine year olds are pretty mean. My entire class teased me. And I just couldn't get over it.

"Jonathan noticed that to. And for him it was just another way for him to manipulate me. He started embarrassing me constantly. Once he made me wear a dress to school. One day I said I wouldn't listen to him anymore, wouldn't let me embarrass me at school. And you know what happened after that?"

It seemed like Jacob actually wanted me to respond so I said, "What happened, Jacob?"

"It was the first time he hurt my sister. He locked me in the closet but he made sure I could listen. Made sure I could hear her screams." He looked down and I heard him sniffle.

"The thing is I almost felt like she deserved it. She was always so careless and every time she did something wrong it would affect me. I would get the beating, trying to protect her. I thought after that maybe she'd understand what I went through every day and be a bit more considerate.

"But she wasn't. It just made her hate me. And I hated myself. But… I just couldn't do it anymore. Couldn't live like this when I knew I had an escape. That's when I went to Hogwarts. I was there, I had all the freedom I could want… and I gave it up. Just for her. I couldn't be there knowing she was home alone with him. So I went back home. She didn't care though, never forgave me. Not for getting her beaten the first time and especially not for leaving her alone."

He paused for a very long time. It was only after two whole minutes he spoke again, "This summer was the worst one since I started Hogwarts," he whispered. "Usually Jonathan would take me to the hospital after he broke all my bones but this time he just let me live with the pain. And since I had no medical treatment my injuries were worse than usually. I kept blacking out when he'd try and attack me. I guess it's not as fun for him when I'm not screaming and struggling. So… he just locked me in the closet for a whole month, Hugo, a month!"

There was so much venom in his voice so much hatred but beneath that badly hidden was the fear. The sheer terror of the memory. It made me want to hug Jacob and tell him everything would be okay but I knew that was the exactly what he didn't want.

Instead I just asked, "How did you survive?"

"I… I didn't really. Jonathan brought me food and water every once in a while but besides that I never saw sun. I'm not really sure how to explain it. It was like I was already dead. Like there was no life outside the tiny closet. I almost forgot what living was like. All I knew was…" Jacob swallowed "was the fear I was feeling."

It might've been the first time I had ever heard Jacob straight out admit he was scared. The brave Jacob, the fearless Jacob had finally admitted that he too was scared.

I shook my head. "It's… it's not stupid Jacob. Don't… don't look ashamed like that. There is no reason to feel ashamed because of fear."

"No," he agreed hesitantly, "But there is shame in being too weak stick up for yourself."

"There's shame in picking on someone who can't stand up for themselves. Your brother should learn that. But there is no shame, only pride, in being able to face him for so long."

Jacob thought about that for a minute before he smiled a little. "I guess you're right."

"Tell me Jacob, what made you keep going all those years?"

Jacob shrugged. "I'm not even sure. I guess it was mainly for my sister. I knew if I wasn't there to be Jonathan's punching bag then it would be her. And… I just couldn't let that happen." He paused. "But I did. You know I don't blame her for hating me. I left her, Hugo. There's nothing she could have done deserved that. Nothing."

When I responded I spoke softly, "Nothing you did made you deserve that. I hope you know that."

"Sometimes I feel like I should still be there. Like I don't deserve to be here after I left her all alone with him. I don't even know why I did it really, and whenever I do think of something the reason's never good enough."

"Jacob…"

"No, Hugo, I'm serious. I honestly felt reluctant coming back. I deserve to be punished-"

"You've been punished enough in your life, Jacob."

"I'm a horrible person. And what's even worse is that I blame Jonathan for it. I don't deserve you or Lily or Roxy-"

"If Lily heard you say that she'd slap you," I interrupted.

For the first time Jacob gave a genuine laugh. "I guess you're right."

"Listen, I can't say I understand what you're going through but at least now I'm aware of it. Now I can help you. And right now you need to talk to your sister."

Before I had even finished my sentence Jacob was protesting. "No, absolutely not."

"And why is that?"

"Because…"

I smiled. "Are you scared, Jacob?" I taunted.

Jacob glared at me in a playful way. "No. But you don't know my sister. She's tough. There's no way she's forgave me yet and she might very well hex my ass into next year if I approach her."

My smile widened. "So you're telling me that not only are you scared, but you're scared of a first year? Boy, wait until I tell everyone. The great Jacob Cadler scared of a first year girl."

Finally Jacob grinned too. A real grin. "You better watch out Weasley. I could hex your ass into next year."

"Not so sure about that Cadler. I could beat you any day, any game, any time."

Jacob though for a second. "Care to bet on that?"

"Name it."

"Tomorrow's game of Assassin. Whichever one of us loses first…" suddenly Jacob's grin widened. "Hugo, have you ever heard of 'running the mile?'"

I laughed. "What's that? Let me guess something to do with running around the castle looking stupid?"

"Yep. Something a bunch of Jonathan's friends did when they got drunk at our house one time. They would dare each other to run around the block in dumb looking costumes."

"So the winner gets to pick a costume that the loser has to run around the castle in?"

"Yep. What do you say, deal or no deal?"

I knew this was a horrible idea- after all I didn't even remember what Assassin was- but it had cheered Jacob up, so I ignored the voice in my head telling me not to accept. "Deal."

A/N: Hope you enjoyed that chapter!

1: Again I can express how sorry I am for updating so late. I've never told you guys this (mostly cause there's never been any point) but I have really thick, curly, and for lack of better term, black people hair. (Not to be racist or anything!) and so I was up for like 36 hours straight trying to brush and braid it. Not fun. So this is liek teh first opportunity I've had to actually edit this chapter. Oh, and the next chapter will be updated on November 20th. Or around then at least.

2: I hope the with Jacob talking to Hugo scene wasn't too intense. And while I was proof reading it i noticed something. Hugo and Jacob were really friendly. Like a little too friendly if you know what I mean. But I just want to make it clear that neither of them swing that way, they're just good friends. Okay? I don't mean to cause any problems and I don't hate but in my story those two will never be together. Anyway, I hope it wasn't too much detail on Jacob's life before Hogwarts. Believe it or not I cut some things out, worrying you might find it too intense.

3: Question of the chapter: What fandoms are you guys a part of? And in case any of you don't know what fandoms are it basically means what book(s)/movie(s)/tv shows (s) do you guys read/watch and love with a passion. for me it's Harry Potter (duh), Mortal Instruments, Percy Jackson, Gone, Twilight, and Maze Runner for books and Criminal Minds and Supernatural for Tv shows.

Is James right about Grandpa Weasley? What was the flash of red light Hugo saw during his black out? Will Lily ever stop obsessing over Jacob? What will happen between Jacob and his sister? Why did Jacob chose to open up to Hugo? How will this effect their friendship? Who will win the bet?

"It has been said 'time heals all wounds.' I do not agree. The wound remains. In time the mind protecting its sanity covers them with scar tissue and the pain lessens. But it is never gone," Rose Kennedy.

-Monkeywoman14.