CHAPTER 9 – A CHANGE OF TRADITION
“My fellow students, we are going to have a bazaar.”
The trio almost choked in their breakfast. Harry and his gang were surprised beyond words. The rest of the students looked at Prof. Dumbledore questioningly. The staff of Hogwarts stared at him as if he had just announced that they were going out to war.
“Yes, my fellow students and members of the staff,” Prof. Dumbledore confirmed his announcement, “we are going to have a bazaar next weekend and I hope that all of you are able to participate.”
“Begging your pardon, sir,” Prof. Flitwick voiced out, “but what exactly is a…bazaar?”
Everyone nodded and asked him the same question. Prof. Dumbledore held out his hands to quiet them down before explaining, “A bazaar, as the Muggle-born and half witches and wizards know, is a small selling spree where you sell things to the public to raise funds for the school or certain organizations. For your information, our schools’ budget is running quite low and the Ministry’s hands are too tied up to bring their attentions to us. So what I propose is to have a bazaar, set up a few stalls and sell our things to the public so that our school budget will be more satisfactory. Hopefully, we’ll have enough to sustain the school of its equipments, especially the potions lab.”
Jude lowered her head, quite embarrassed. To think that she had already burst a lot of cauldrons and messed up loads of potions, who knows how many potion ingredients she had wasted.
“Now you can team up with anyone you like, whoever you like. And you can think up of something to sell. No two stalls can sell the same thing, so you kids have to be creative now. Make sure you have come up with a stall that is interesting and money-making. That’ll be all. You can start thinking about it after your breakfast.”
Everyone began their hot discussion at once. The Great hall was quite noisy than usual. The trio was just excited about this whole thing. They gave eye-contact indicating that they were definitely going to get together and sell something out of the ordinary. Harry and Ron groaned, thinking about the great opportunity for the twins Fred and George Weasley to sell their prank products. Draco and Tony, of course, had their minds made up to do a stall together with their sweetheart Jude. Everyone had plans of their own.
“Oh yes, our teachers, including yours truly, are also going to participate in this bazaar, so if there is anyone who wants to team up with your teachers, feel free to do so.”
Now everyone was stunned. The staff really stared at Prof. Dumbledore as if he just asked them to jump from a cliff. Jude turned and eyed at Prof. Snape eagerly. How nice would it be to team up with him during the bazaar! Even if it means selling ridiculous potions, weird elixirs and what not, she would do it.
Sadly, she had forgotten all about her pact with her friends.
“Light, come here please. You too, Malfoy and Parkinson.”
Prof. Snape called Jude, Draco and Pansy to his desk after Potions class. Curious, the three of them walked towards his desk. Prof. Snape waited until everyone has left before getting to the point.
“Do you know how to converse in Japanese?”
Jude was surprised at his question. She didn’t know whether to just ask him why or roll over the floor and laugh like a mad woman.
“Well, do you, or do you not?” Prof. Snape repeated his question, the icy tone brought her back to reality.
“Uhh, yes, yes, of course, sir. Just enough, sir,” Jude tried hard not to scoff.
“Good. And Draco, I understand you have a talent in handling money.”
“Yes, sir. I can calculate almost anything by a glance.”
“Alright, then it’s settled. We are going to do a Japanese food stand and I want you to assist me.”
This time, Jude could not help herself anymore. She fell onto the floor and laughed until her sides ached, much to Draco and Pansy’s horror. Prof. Snape glared at her coldly.
“And what is it that makes you so amused, Light?”
“I-I’m s-sorry, sir,” Jude got back up her feet, trying to speak right after a huge fit of laughter, “it’s just that…HAHAHAHA~~ I cannot imagine you handling a – HAHA – Japanese stall…hehehehe…You don’t seem to fit the character…hehehe…HAHAHAHA~~!!”
“You’d be surprise, Light,” Prof. Snape said as he collected his books, his eyes glaring venomously at Jude. “I’ll be informing you about the stall later this evening. Be punctual and do not let this news out, especially you, Light. And that’ll be 4 points from you.”
“Sorry, sir. I’m really sorry,” Jude apologized, but still couldn’t get over her laughing. She waited until Prof. Snape was really out of earshot before rolling back on the floor again to laugh her lungs out. Pansy huffed and left the potions lab. Draco groaned and helped Jude up as soon as she stopped laughing.
“You are a walking disaster, Light, you know that?” Draco grumbled as he helped Jude to gather her books and passed them to her. “You just cost us 4 points again, and you actually laughed in front of a very dangerous teacher.”
“I sorta have a knack of getting myself into trouble,” Jude grinned as she wiped her laughing tears away.
“Which is why I find it very attractive,” Draco said, wrapping his arms around her waist.
“Now this is not funny anymore,” Jude said as she tried to pry herself away from Draco, but Draco’s grip was stronger.
“Just a little kiss, Light, come on.”
“You know, Draco, I guess I’d better be going. It’s lunch time and I’m really hungry…”
“It can wait now, can’t it, my little Dark Angel?”
“Dark Angel? You make me sound like a vampire or something. Come on, let me go!”
“No. Not until I get my kiss.”
Jude groaned. Of all people, it had to be Draco who has an obvious crush on her. Why couldn’t it be Prof. Snape instead? She saw Draco’s lips going closer and closer to hers. Quickly, she shifted her face aside and let his lips touch her cheek. Well, better than being robbed of a virgin kiss now, isn’t it? Draco opened his eyes in surprise.
“There, you kissed me. Can I go now?” Jude said as she grabbed her books and headed out of the potions lab, leaving Draco alone in the lab gathering his own books. Draco smirked as he watched her disappearing out of sight.
“She is definitely mine.”
Hogwarts was unusually bright and cheery that weekend. There were stands upon stands selling all types of goods available. The twins Fred and George were, as expected, were selling dozens and dozens of prank products, which was quite a best-seller among kids. Harry, Ron and Hermione teamed up with Rach and Becka instead and sold Muggle products: from Becka’s handmade cookies and Rach’s fizzy drinks she owled her folks to send in to old unwanted toys and other gadgets. Too bad they were unable to sell electronic devices or their stall would be a better-seller than the twins.
Perhaps the best-selling stand was Prof. Snape’s Japanese food stand. Jude and Pansy became his helpers while Draco became the cashier. Prof. Snape, surprisingly and funnily, was the chef himself. He surprised everyone with fast chopping techniques and the swift yet perfect way he served the dish. No one has ever eaten Japanese dishes before and they were curious to try it out. Many laughed when they saw Prof. Snape wearing an apron with a big, bold Chinese word ‘YU’ (fish) on it, but when he actually threw up a live fish fresh out of the aquarium, chopped it into pieces in the mid air and caught them in the dish arranged in perfect order, their laughter turned to admiration and couldn’t help letting out an ‘Ooh’ or an ‘Ahh’. There was once where he even chopped a few capsicums, threw the knife up high, turned around to fry something, then caught the knife in the mid air and continued chopping the capsicums. Jude, Pansy and Draco were surprised themselves, especially Jude who underestimated Prof. Snape’s ability. Her love for him had just increased to 105%.
Besides being amused and entertained by Prof. Snape’s art of cooking, Jude and her housemates themselves have provided some ‘entertainment’. Whoever have received their ordered dish have to pay to Draco, and Draco was required to give him/her a cup of green tea. But Draco was so busy counting his money that he often forgot to give them their tea, and Jude and Pansy had to yell at him constantly to remind him to serve them tea. The customers couldn’t help laughing at them.
Draco, the cashier, lived up to his promise. He could actually count the money within one glance and could tell if someone has paid him more or less. He could even give the customer the exact amount of change without much effort. That was another thing that surprised Jude. She came up to him and looked at how he went.
“That’s very impressive, Draco. You really can count! You really live up to your rich family’s name.”
“Malfoys are very calculative people. That’s what makes us interesting. Glad you liked my talent,” Draco said coolly and stole another kiss on Jude’s cheek. Needless to say, Ron and Tony (who was selling potions and elixirs) who saw them glared at him darkly.
“Did you see that?” Ron said angrily, almost breaking a pencil in two. “The nerve of that Malfoy! Kissing her in public!”
“I didn’t know that Jude and Draco are a couple,” Becka grinned slyly at Jude who was slapping Draco on the shoulder. “That naughty girl! She should’ve told us about it, or we wouldn’t be too upset about not having her in our stand.”
“Her private life is none of our concern, Becka. Just let her be. You better watch out Ron before starts breaking our pencils, or we won’t have any business.”
“I’m kind of curious about Prof. Snape,” Harry stroked his chin thoughtfully. “I mean, look at him go! I have no idea he could do that, and I definitely have no idea he could cook! Let’s go and check it out!”
“I’m with you!” Ron immediately volunteered, followed by Rach and Becka. Hermione had no interest in going. Before Becka could go with her friends, outside the crowd, she saw her mystery prince, Cedric Diggory! She immediately abandoned her group of friends and rushed towards him. He took her hand and led her to a secluded corner.
“Cedric! What are you doing here out of the crowd? You should be joining us! Come, let me take you to Harry Potter. I’ll show him that my encounter with you was real!” Becka was about to take him into the crowd but Cedric resisted.
“No, Rebecca. I cannot go there.”
“Why not? You’re missing all the fun out there!”
Cedric looked down to the solid floor, not answering her.
“What they said was true, wasn’t it? You’re already dead and you’re a ghost.”
“I…I was dead. Well, sort of,” Cedric muttered uneasily.
“What do you mean, sort of?”
“I…Well, I was dead last year on some accident. Then…I was revived again.”
Becka had her hands on her hips, “It wasn’t an accident. Harry told me about you. You were with Harry when an evil wizard appeared. That wizard killed you. He murdered you. I don’t call that an ‘accident’.”
Cedric sighed and leaned on the wall, sliding down to a sitting position. Becka sat beside him.
“Never mind about your past. I need some answers, Cedric. Why did you tell me that my friends and I are not living with our real families?”
“Because this is true. Your parents are true wizards and witches of this world. They were born and bred here and they’ve studied in this school when they were teenagers. You are their true children.”
“But if I’m, I mean, we are our true parents’ true children, why are we living in the Muggle world? Why are we not here just like everyone else in this world?”
After a momentary silence, Cedric said, “It’s for your own safety, Rebecca. It would be perilous for you to stay here when the Dark Lord is at large.”
“Dark Lord?” Becka looked at him questioningly for a while, then lit up and said glumly, “Oh the so-called ‘You-Know-Who’, huh?”
“How do you know about him?” Cedric was surprised.
“Everyone’s been talking about him!” Becka flung her hand dramatically. “You-Know-Who this, the Dark Lord that, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named! I’m getting sick of this! They talk about this evil wizard but they don’t exactly tell me who the heck he really is! They won’t even tell me his real name!”
“It’s not surprising. Judging by the way the Dark Lord’s damages to the world, it’s scary for them to even mention his real name.”
“Who is this guy anyway? Surely you know of him.”
“I’m sorry, I cannot mention his name yet. You’ll find out about it in time.”
“Not you too! Humph!” Becka huffed and turned around, her back facing him and her arms folded across her chest. Without warning, Cedric took her in his arms and planted a long kiss on her forehead. Becka blushed slightly redder than her maroon hair.
“You’re making this really hard on me, Rebecca. Please don’t be angry. I hope I could tell you about who the Dark Lord really is, but I’m not allowed to. Not yet, that is. Please bear with me.”
Becka noticed a tattoo—or a burnt mark, to be exact—on Cedric’s left wrist. It was a shape of a skull with a forked tongue and it seemed pretty menacing indeed. It was like a real miniature skull on his wrist. Becka pointed at the mark and said, “Cool tattoo, Cedric. It’s quite impressive! So life-like, so…alive!”
“Glad you liked it,” Cedric smiled as he hugged her closer to his chest. She didn’t notice the glow on Cedric’s silver eyes as he stroked her long maroon hair.
“20 Galleons for this dish?? You have just got to be joking!” Ron exclaimed out loud. He, Harry and Rach finally made it through the crowd and was reviewing the menu and its prices. Prof. Snape wasn’t at all offended—or so it seemed.
“If you do not wish to pay that much, you can try something else,” Prof. Snape said as he cut up some lettuces for Jude and Parvati to mix in the okonomiyaki (Japanese omelette). Ron grumbled and scanned through the menu again for a more inexpensive dish.
“I would like to try this dish,” a voice as cold as Prof. Snape called in the midst of the crowd of customers. There was an air of majesty and power in his voice that everyone made way for him immediately at the sight of him. Jude craned her neck to see who it was. He was a middle-aged man, but his face was flawless. He had long blonde hair that run past his shoulders, tied neatly with a black ribbon. He had the same gray unkind eyes like Draco Malfoy. He had the same black, sinister robes like Prof. Snape and Jude could see that he was quite a bad seed. In other words, he looked like the evil side of Legolas in LOTR.
“Father!” Draco was surprised to see the man appearing in school. Jude was surprised too. She felt as if she was staring at Draco Malfoy 20 years later.
“Lucius,” Prof. Snape nodded at him. Lucius nodded back.
“I would like to know what makes this dish so…pricey. Amuse me, Severus.” The way he spoke made Jude cringe. It felt the same as the first time she met Draco. Like father, like son.
Prof. Snape signaled Jude and Pansy to move all the tables and chairs away so that he could place the main table in the center. He then took out a large live lobster as big as a salmon out of the aquarium and put it on the table without getting himself wet or pinched. He then took out a huge mallet and, while the lobster was still alive and kicking, whacked the shell, cracking it like someone would crush a walnut. Everyone, including Jude, Pansy and Draco, winced as they heard the loud cracks of the shell. It felt as if their bones were cracking and falling into pieces. Only Lucius remained calm and collected throughout the whole process.
It was eerie to see that the lobster was still alive, clipping its pincers furiously although its shell has been cracked real badly. Swiftly, Prof. Snape grabbed the tail of the lobster and flung it in the air. He took out his chopping knife and chopped the lobster in the mid air. He held out the plate that was given to him by Pansy and caught the lobster. The lobster pieces fell chronologically in order and formed its original lobster shape. A few seconds later, the shell split open, revealing the fresh, juicy flesh inside. Everyone oohed and aahed at the spectacular performance. Prof. Snape decorated the dish and passed it to Jude and signaled her to take the payment.
“20 Galleons, sir, for the performance,” Jude said timidly. “Please pay it to the cashier.”
Lucius stared at Jude for a while before advancing to his son. He took out the bag of Galleons without any protest. Draco thanked him, gave him his green tea and, quite suddenly, pulled Jude towards his side.
“Father, this is the girl I’ve been talking about,” Draco said as he wound his arm proudly around Jude’s.
“I can see that,” Lucius replied as he stared at her again with his cold gray eyes. He leaned forward to Draco’s ear and said, “She looks unreasonably thin for her age.”
“She is not thin, Father. Her figure in her country is considered perfect,” Draco whispered back. “I’m sure that she’ll be the perfect member of the Malfoy family.”
“You better see to it that she does. Your mother has very high hopes for her to carry down the heir of the Malfoys, and she is a very important asset to us.”
“Do not worry, Father. She’ll be you and Mother’s perfect daughter-in-law, and my perfect wife.”
Lucius nodded and walked off to take a seat to enjoy his lobster. Jude took hold of Draco’s collar and hissed, “What did you just say to your dad? Is it about me?”
“Sort of. But it’s not for you to know yet,” Draco smirked, his gray eyes flashing a sort of cunning look. Jude was about to ask him further when Prof. Snape’s cold voice cut her short.
“Light! Malfoy! No talking during working hours! Come here, Light, and help Parkinson with the dishes!”
Jude glared at Draco suspiciously before running towards Pansy and Prof. Snape to attend to the other customers.
The bazaar was officially over. Everyone gathered at the Great Hall with their earnings for the day. Prof. Snape’s group was, of course, the group that earned the most. The Slytherins cheered for Prof. Snape, much to the other houses’ disgust. Prof. Dumbledore stood up with a glee written across his face.
“Thank you, thank you, one and all, for supporting this bazaar ceremony. I hope you had a lot of fun today. I know I did. I’m happy to announce that we have enough money to cover up all the expenses of the school. I assume that you haven’t eaten properly for the whole day now, have you not?”
“NO~~!!” the students’ voice echoed throughout the whole Great Hall.
“Then without further ado, let us all dine!”
Everyone tucked in like hungry wolves. They seemed as if they haven’t eaten for days. After a few mouthfuls of food, Harry realized that someone was missing in their Gryffindor table.
“Ron, Hermione, have you seen Becka?”
“No. I thought she was with you,” Ron said, stuffing a pancake into his mouth.
“No, she’s not. I haven’t seen her throughout the second-half session of our sale. Hermione, did she come back when we went off to see Prof. Snape’s stand?”
“No, she didn’t. I didn’t even see the tip of her nose ever since she went with you guys to Prof. Snape’s stand,” Hermione replied, her eyes beginning to show a little concern.
“That’s strange. It’s as if she had disappeared into thin air!” Harry stroked his chin thoughtfully as he popped a pumpkin cupcake into his mouth.
“You don’t think that she’s…?” Ron was already starting to worry.
“That’s impossible. Vol…I mean, You-Know-Who could never penetrate here. This castle is quite protected from his threats and attacks.”
“Then where could she be?” Hermione asked.
“I don’t know. I just don’t know…”
Becka woke up to find herself in her dorm. She sat up groggily, trying to remember how she got here. She recalled huddling in the arms of Cedric Diggory. Then she kissed him. She actually sacrificed her virgin kiss to him. Slowly she remembered falling asleep in his arms, until she found herself here.
“Yikes! Have I been…?” Becka checked herself. Lucky for her, she didn’t feel any pain or soreness between her legs. She sighed in relief. She was willing to give away her virgin kiss but she wasn’t ready to give up her virginity, that’s for sure.
She didn’t realize that a mark was beginning to spread on her left wrist.
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