CHAPTER 24 – LIFE AFTER HOGWARTS
Dear Jude,
Howdy there! How are you getting along with ol’ Snape? Pretty good, huh? I suppose that getting at each other’s throats is your idea of a happy marriage. Lotsa luck!
Cedric and I came across Bill Weasley today. Those dragons he was studying are simply magnificent! They are so large, almost a size bigger than Fluffy. And the fire, woah! You can make a barbecue for 10 families using that fire. Interesting! Speaking of Fluffy, I spotted Norbert somewhere in the distance. I think he has a mate and a few kids of his own. Fascinating sight. Tell Hagrid for me that they are doing just well. I even took a picture of him. There are 2 copies. Give one to Hagrid. He’ll like it.
We’re still traveling around the globe. I’m happy to announce that Cedric and I are in Norway, home of Norbert the Norwegian Ridgeback, studying a new species called The Sludges. Their habitat is just right in the deep edges of the sewage (gross, but true) and we’ll be studying them very closely for some time. Wish us luck!
I always believe that both of us are going to succeed in publishing the true facts about magical creatures and the species of the unknown. I know we will, unlike some cheat like Gilderoy Lockhart. So look out for our 1st edition. You’re gonna love it! We’ll be traveling to Dominica next after we’re done with the Sludges.
I know you’ll take good care of my Cyril and Henrietta, so I won’t ask about him too much. Tell him that his baby sister’s doing just fine and will be due next fall. Lotsa love to you and the people of Hogwarts! Ta ta!
From your friend BECKA
Dear Jude,
Hello, Jude! Glad to see my letter? I bet you are. It’s been a long while since I wrote, what with all the business and everything. But I’m doing pretty fine, really
Guess what? I’m pregnant again! My dear Slipper is going to be a father again! Don’t tell Chris yet. He’s easily jealous, just like his father. I just went to a medi-witch and she said it could be another boy again. Haven’t I have enough boys yet? First it’s Talos, then Chris, and now this. They sure can be a handful sometimes.
Slipper and I are managing the apothecary really well. Business has been good, mostly because I make the best potions for the wizarding public. Stock’s been pretty good too, so if you and Prof. Snape need anything for the lab, be happy and feel free to order from me. I might give you a discount.
So how’s Becka? Got her letter yet? I know I got it. I wish I could go around the globe with her but the apothecary’s just fine. I’m still into making potions for our fellow wizards and witches, and also for the first-years-to-be of Hogwarts. Diagon Alley is just the perfect place to set up businesses. I could even sell some of my unwanted Muggle junk for extra income! He he!
Remind the kids to take their vitamins and don’t go about cursing people. But then again, kids will be kids. Let them have as much fun as they want, so long as they don’t get expelled. Send them my love.
Your loving friend, RACH
Jude smiled as she put the letters into her collection of other letters in a large box. It was the 3rd time she enlarged that box in order to add in more and more letters from her girlfriends.
Her studying days were over, but her life in Hogwarts hadn’t. She and the others had graduated with flying colours and became Top Students of Hogwarts for the Year, first in Hogwarts’ history to have that much Top Students. They even received a medal for saving Hogwarts and the whole witchcraft and wizardry nation from the wrath of Voldemort for now.
Jude’s awakening was a shock and surprise to Hogwarts. Madame Pomfrey almost had a heart attack when she saw Prof. Snape coming in with Jude in his arms, alive and kicking, beaming at her. She then burst into tears of joy as she fed Jude with the Skele-grow concoction. It tasted really nasty but Jude wouldn’t want to spend her whole life on a wheelchair.
Prof. Snape sent an owl to Hagrid to tell him about the good news. He was overjoyed and started running around the castle spreading the news, his heavy footsteps thumping away like mad. Peeves helped by gliding in and out of every house dorm and upsetting anything that might go bang, yelling, “The Black Witch’s alive! The Black Witch’s back!”
Many refused to believe it at first and yelled at him not to joke about the dead (although he was the dead), but when Hagrid started banging at the dorm doors and hollering about Jude, everyone rushed out to check it out.
Becka and Rach were the first to arrive at the Hospital Wing, followed by Harry, who was carrying Jude’s baby, and the gang, Draco Malfoy and the Hawkins siblings. They all fussed about Jude, hugging her and crying happy tears. The whole castle of Hogwarts rejoiced that night, including all the staff of Hogwarts, and the next morning, when the Skele-grow finally took effect, she received the warmest welcome during breakfast at the Great Hall.
All and all, the trio finally completed their 7th year and during the graduation ceremony, their parents came to Hogwarts castle see them. Jude visited Tony’s grave which was situated inside the Forbidden Forest after the graduation ceremony. She laid a few forget-me-nots on the grave and kissed his tombstone, thanking him for sacrificing his life for her and apologizing to him for accidentally murdering his parents.
Cedric was there to see Becka graduate and two days after the ceremony, he sent her an owl inviting her to join him on a quest to study creatures of the unknown throughout the globe. And she did. Taking her daughter Henrietta with her, she packed her bags, said her goodbyes to her parents and started her journey with Cedric. Romantically, they were married in France and had a son in Germany named Cyril Diggory.
Rach didn’t go very far. Being trusted of independence by her parents, she took Talos along with her to a number of potion houses and magical shops to practice and enhance her potion-making skills. She even did a self-study on the ancient runes of the world and knew almost all the ancient languages from the four corners of the earth by heart, including Elvish and half-creature talks. Becka always asked her to translate anything that she found during her journey throughout the globe.
Finally she opened an apothecary shop of her own at Diagon Alley, selling anything from potions to elixirs to potion ingredients. She, after many attempts, finally found the permanent spell and potion (that has to come together to take effect) to make Slipper into a real human. Slipper changed his name to Matthew Roberts Lee, but Rach still liked calling him Slipper. After a few years being together managing the shop and all, they were wed in spring and had Chris 2 years later during winter.
What about Jude? Well, she furthered her studies as a medi-witch. Draco came to her to propose to her, wishing that she would marry him and be his wife, but Jude told him the truth about her love towards Prof. Snape, shattering his heart into a thousand pieces. She came back to Hogwarts to become another member in the Hospital Wing. At first, Madame Pomfrey wasn’t too thrilled to have a colleague in her workplace when Prof. Dumbledore informed this to everyone in the staff meeting, but when he called Jude to come in and say hello, she changed her mind immediately. She welcomed Jude warmly and became the best of friends in the Hospital Wing.
Prof. Snape hadn’t change a bit when she came back to serve Hogwarts. Apart from a few unnoticeable streaks of white hair, everything in him stayed the same. And the way they have their conversation hasn’t changed a jot. Prof. Snape still gave her cold remarks and cynical answers and Jude still tried to sweet-talk or reason with him and loud-mouthed him occasionally. By then, all of the staff knew about their relationship and the love hidden behind their arguments. Draco had actually enrolled himself into Hogwarts as the new DADA teacher in order to see Jude everyday and hoping that one day she would come back to him. He may be jealous at seeing Jude and Prof. Snape bickering at each other for all they care, but he refused to give up hope. He was determined to make her his wife and no one else.
You don’t get this type of loyal man everyday, you know.
Finally, after a few years in Hogwarts, Prof. Snape proposed to her. He dragged her all the way to his private domain a.k.a. his room and said directly to her in a cold, stern voice “I want you to marry me” and kissed her deeply, catching her by surprise. He must have gathered a lot of guts to do this because before he kissed her, she saw his sallow face actually blushing like mad. The rest that happened in Snape’s domain…well, you get the idea (saucy hot blushes ensured).
They were married in the castle grounds, conducted and joined together by Prof. Dumbledore himself. It was a joyous occasion and everyone, including the students and ex-students of Hogwarts (except Draco), cheering and waving out sparks and confetti from their wands. A year later, at the end of summer, Jude and Prof. Snape became the proud parents of twin girls named Severia and Severee Snape. Her son Kiaran was the happiest of all.
Jude was pretty famous in Hogwarts, and it goes the same with Rach in Diagon Alley and Becka almost across the globe. She was cheerful and friendly to all her fellow students. Sometimes they would come to her and complain about her husband’s unfair attitude and she would laugh it away and comfort them. She even put her Divination practice to use, only to caught by her cold husband and be lectured on. The students found it hard to believe that this husband and wife had such different characteristics yet able to stay married for so long. At other times, she drew comics and asked her Muggle parents to help her mail it to the publishers for extra income.
The children Chris, Cyril, Severia and Severee, Talos, Henrietta and Kiaran enrolled into Hogwarts together and became the best of friends. Seeing them together often reminded Jude about her school days with her girlfriends.
“Mummy, Mummy! We are going to Honeydukes to buy some goodies to watch the Quidditch games! We need money!”
Jude smiled as she filled the twins’ and Kiaran’s pouches with money. Kiaran, Severia and Severee were her prized jewels. Both the twins had long flowing black hair and dark eyes like their father. No crooked noses, though. The other kids came in to usher them to hurry up. Chris inherited his mother’s blue-black hair and intelligent looks while Cyril had the same brown hair and silver eyes of his father.
“Be careful now, kids,” Jude reminded. “Don’t go…”
“Running into trouble. We know!” The kids said in unison and giggled as they got onto their brooms and left. Jude shook her head and smiled weakly. Kids will always be kids.
Slowly the sky darkened. Thunder boomed at a distance, coming closer. Jude could feel the aura. The familiar dark aura.
So evil.
So sinister and dark.
Voldemort.
Prof. Snape rushed into the Hospital Wing. He felt the aura as well. The Death Eater’s mark on his wrist was burning pretty bright. He took Jude’s hand and whispered, “He’s here. The Dark Lord is back.”
“I know, Sev,” Jude replied, worried. “I felt it too.”
“Looks like he had replenished his strength again the last time we defeated him.”
Jude nodded. Then she realized something and said, “Sev, the kids! They went to Honeydukes just now! Go and bring them back, quick! Please, Sev, I fear the worst!”
“Don’t worry, Jude. I’m on it,” Prof. Snape assured her and left the Hospital Wing. Moments later, she saw him riding the broom and disappearing into the horizon. Jude hunted her briefcase and took out her slightly modified crystal ball.
“Time to call Harry and the Witches,” she muttered as she hovered her hands around the crystal ball, closed her eyes and concentrated.
What happens next? Well, that’s another story for you to think…
Saturday, July 7, 2007
The Ones for The Boy Who Lived-Chp23
CHAPTER 23 – THE OTHER SIDE OF SNAPE
An atmosphere of sadness and grief hung over the Hospital Wing. It was so thick, you could cut it with a knife. Jude laid lifelessly on the bed, bandaged from her breast-down in white.
Becka and Rach huddled together, holding their babies and sobbed. Cedric held the duo close to his chest, consoling them. Harry gazed at Jude sadly. Hermione buried her face on Ron’s shoulder, letting out muffled wails, while Ron cried silent tears. The Hawkins siblings also cried. Prof. Dumbledore took off his glasses and mourned with Prof. Lupin. Prof. McGonagalle blew her nose. Sirius joined in the mourning from his bed. Hagrid bawled like a baby.
“Boo hoo hoo hoo hoo! Ma’am Lucius lil’ lassie’s dead! What am I goin’ to tell da ma’am? She’ll be so sad!”
“It has to be done,” Prof. Dumbledore said quietly. “It is our obligation to inform any news about their children to the parents. If you can’t tell her, then I will.”
“Such fine lass!” Hagrid sobbed and blew his nose with a loud honk. “She’s so young, yet so fine! I hasn’t got more time to know her! Boo hoo hoo hoo hoo~!”
“Stop crying like that! You’re making me even more miserable!” Becka snapped at Hagrid. Rach held her baby closer to her chest like a prized treasure.
“So-So-Sorry, lass. I kin help it!” Hagrid blew his nose again. “It’s-It’s just so sad, letting da lil’ girl leave us like this.”
“Shall we conduct the burial here or let her parents take her back to be buried?” Prof. McGonagalle asked, her voice shaking a little.
“Better give her to Tanya,” Prof. Dumbledore replied, putting his half-mooned glasses back on. “We have to respect her family’s wishes. They might want to conduct the burial themselves.”
“No, she can’t be dead.”
Everyone spun round to see Prof. Snape advancing towards Jude’s bed in an abnormally calm way. He had her son in his arms. He held out a hand and stroked her dark-brown hair, fingering the silver streak in the middle, much to everyone’s surprise. Prof. Dumbledore put his hand on his shoulder.
“Severus, let her go. She’s dead. You heard what Poppy said…”
“She’s wrong. Light can’t be dead. She just can’t be. She’s so cheerful and bright and happy all the time. She had a really cheerful conversation with me yesterday. Now she’s…no, that’s impossible! She’s still alive! She just doesn’t know how to wake up from this dream!”
“Poppy’s a trained, experienced medi-witch. She can’t be wrong,” Prof. Lupin cut in, trying to pacify his colleague. “You know it yourself too. You know how the Witches’ life span is shown.”
“By this streak of silver hair?” Prof. Snape said as he raised the silver streak. “That doesn’t prove anything! It could be something else, something that made her suddenly change. It could be…”
“Stop it, Severus. Accept the fact. She’s gone. Let her go,” Prof. Dumbledore tightened his grip on Prof. Snape’s shoulder a little. Prof. Snape slumped, his tunnel-dark eyes locked onto Jude’s calm, serene face. His breath trembled as he let it out slowly.
“This…This is not fair…Light, she…she had brought so much riot, so much havoc and surprise in my class. There’s never a dull moment when she’s around…I…I can’t believe I’m saying this but…I really enjoyed having her as my student.”
Everyone stared at him in astonishment. They never knew that the famous cold and calm Potion Master of Hogwarts would admit everything that was bottled up in his heart.
“She’s a walking accident-prone. She always had a way of making her situation brighter. I always gave her a hard time, but she always pulled through. She…She did so much for me…She tolerated my attitude, listened to all my orders, never complained much…She sacrificed so much for Hogwarts…Why…? Why did she have to…?”
Prof. Snape couldn’t continue. He dashed away from the bed and out of the ward, taking the whining baby with him. They didn’t give chase. They knew that Prof. Snape, the ever cold and proud professor, needed some time and space to let it all out.
“So, Hagrid. Are you going to tell Judith’s mother about this?” Prof. Dumbledore asked the gamekeeper, who was still blowing his nose on a large hanky.
“I’ll try,” Hagrid sniffed, drying his eyes.
“Thank you, Hagrid. And, Poppy,” Prof. Dumbledore called the medi-witch who was sitting at a corner in the background wiping her tears, “you take Judith’s body and put her into the Cold Room until everything’s said and done.”
Madame Pomfrey nodded. With Prof. Lupin’s help, she carried Jude into a room which was situated at a secluded place in the hospital. She opened the door and Rach and Becka could feel the cold mist emitted out slowly. They placed Jude on an icy, metallic bed in the middle of the room and shut the door tight. Madame Pomfrey remembered the last time she used this room was to keep the used-to-be-dead Cedric Diggory. Becka and Rach placed their hands on the cold door, trying to feel if her slightest aura was still there.
None.
“Goodbye, Jude. We’ll miss you.”
With Cedric’s arms still around them, Becka and Rach slowly left the silent Hospital Wing.
Everyone mourned for Jude that night. The whole castle was silent as death. The Slytherin dormitory was the quietest of all. Two lives lost from Slytherin: Tony Brixius and Judith Cecelia Light. Draco hid in his dorm and cried on his bed for hours, and he cried the most bitterly of all the Slytherins. He really loved Jude so much.
Nothing could be more miserable.
“Severus, certainly not…”
“Poppy, please. I’ve never asked anything from you. Please do me this favour.”
“But, Severus, surely you’re not thinking about…I will most certainly not do this! This is insane!”
Only a candle was lit, so the only thing—or people—were two silhouettes, one belonged to the cold, shoulder-length haired, crooked nosed and tall Severus Snape, and a fairly thin and short medi-witch Poppy Pomfrey.
“What if Albus starts asking questions? What if Hagrid told her mother about the news and then comes back here to find her body missing?” Poppy asked in a mixture of fear and worry. “He’ll howl the place down for all he cares! You know how he treasures Tanya Lucius’ daughter!”
“That I have taken care of,” Severus replied in a precise tone. “You take this letter to Hagrid and I ensure you he won’t howl, not in a million years.”
“I don’t know, Severus…” Poppy said doubtfully as she led Severus to the Cold Room. Severus stood his ground.
“This is my only wish, Poppy. Do it.”
Poppy nodded and opened the door of the Cold Room. There Jude lay: naked, bandaged, cold and lifeless, in the middle of the room, on the metallic bed. Severus came towards Jude and picked her up in his arms.
“Please be careful. Dead bodies are always fragile once they’re out under room temperature,” Poppy warned.
Severus gave her a sideways look. Poppy closed her mouth—she almost forgot that she shouldn’t mention the ‘D’ word about Jude in front of him.
“Come, Light. To where you’ll be safe,” Severus whispered to Jude’s ear as he carried her silently out of the room and out of the Hospital Wing.
Hagrid dipped his quill into the ink and started scratching on the parchment. He occasionally let out a soft ‘Boo hoo hoo’ or a loud sniff, obviously still grieving for Jude. Fang whined as he laid his head on his master’s knee, trying to comfort him. Hagrid noticed and stroked him.
“This is hopeless, Fang. I av’ no ‘art to tell Ma’am Lucius about her lassie. Jude is a fine lassie. She could summat be like her ol’ man—I mean in the good side—if she ‘ere still livin’. That bum of a You-Know-Who! It’s all his bloomin’ fault! He killed his own poor lassie!”
His complaints were cut short when an eagle owl came in with a letter in its beak. Hagrid fished out a dead rat to feed it as he took the letter. Slowly he opened it and read it. Gradually his sodden eyes widened with glee. His long face slowly creased into a smile, then a grin. Then he flung the letter high in the air, crumpled the parchment he was about to write to Jude’s mother and threw it out of the window. He cheered like a maniac, taking Fang by surprise. Fang hadn’t have time to react even.
The old gamekeeper’s heart was filled with joy and hope once more.
Severus walked silently down the dungeon hallway and went through twists and turns until he reached a dead end. He took out his wound and chanted, “Alame titaricus solicis…” And the spell dragged on. No sooner he ended his chanting, than a wall gaped open like a yawning mouth. In the open wall emerged an oak door gleaming with polish. Severus put his hand on the handle and muttered a password, “Black Witch.”
Almost immediately, the door handle allowed itself to turn and let him in. a very strong whiff of coldness surrounded him as he closed the door behind him. Icicles were formed at every corner of the room and Severus was breathing mists. The only furniture available in the room was an old canopy bed like the ones in the students’ dorms. It was also frozen with frost and icicles. Even the bed sheets felt as hard as solid ice. Severus advanced towards the bed and stroked Jude’s head.
Jude seemed as serene as ever, like nothing in the world can ever wake her up from her endless dream. Severus sighed. He didn’t mean to write the letter of lies to Hagrid but it was the only way to keep Albus from questioning any of the staff and spread suspicion everywhere around Hogwarts. In the letter, he told Hagrid that he was conjuring up some potion to try and revive Jude back from the dead. He told Hagrid to tell Albus that Jude’s mother came almost immediately as soon as she heard about Jude’s death and took her away without further notice—just fro an excuse until he has done with the potion. He urged Hagrid to keep it a secret as he wanted it to be a Hogwarts surprise.
God knows what a pack of bull he had written. It’s impossible to bring someone back to life, not even if you chanted a million spells. Black Magic might do the trick but it only lasts for a given period of time. After that, Jude might turn into a zombie or some sort—an undead. He couldn’t explain why. He just wanted to keep her, to see her, to have her for as long as possible. He even used a freezing spell to freeze the room in order to do so.
“Wake up, Light. It’s me, your most loved teacher Severus Snape.”
Jude, of course, didn’t reply. Silent as ever.
“Come on, Light. Wake up. Get up and hug me. You’re good at that. Wake up and say nice things to me. Wake and hold me in your arms. Come on.”
Severus knew this was stupid, but he did it all the same.
“You always had a crush on me. You always thought that I’m unfair, that I’m always against you, and that I’m always oblivious to your feelings, yet you still loved me. True, I might be what you say I am, but I never said I hated you. You bring so much racket yet so much joy to my class. You dared to do things even Potter wouldn’t do.
“I don’t hate you. I…care about you. I may not show it all this while, but I do care about you. It’s just that…I don’t want to ruin my portrayal as a Potion Master in front of everyone. I’m always worried about when are you going to make another explosion or flip another jar of ingredients. I’m constantly on guard in case you start going up in flames. I often do things behind people’s back. It gets old.”
He fingered the pendulum that still hung around Jude’s neck. “Remember this pendulum? I gave it to you during Valentine’s Day. I have sacrificed my pride to let Filch’s cat bring this to you. What else do you want? Why won’t you wake up?
“You want me to love you, isn’t it? You want me to return your love, isn’t it? I’ve told you, we’re not meant to be. You’re a student, I’m a teacher. That’s where we stand. Don’t you understand? We can’t love each other. You’re the Black Witch, the Chosen One of the prophecy, and who am I? Just an insignificant Potion Master with no powers from the beyond…”
No matter how much he talked, there was still no response from Jude. Severus’ heart sank.
“Do you want me to let you in a secret? The day you were born, I was there to help. The moment you were out into this world and the minute I saw you, I’ve decided there and then that…I will marry you and make you the best wife ever. Madame Snape. Do you like it? It sounds ridiculous but…I want to marry you…I want…”
Severus trembled, trying to hold back the tears as hard as he could. He had never cried—not since he escaped from the tyranny of Voldemort into the welcoming arms of Albus Dumbledore. He swore to himself never to cry for anybody, and the years with the Dark Lord has trained him to be a cold, expressionless man. No mercy, he remembered Voldemort telling him. No one in Hogwarts could move him, except Albus who was almost a godfather to him. He was stationary, standing tall and proud among his colleagues. Unmovable, unbreakable.
But now everything has changed. This night, after almost a week of keeping Jude in the room, he cried. He could feel his icy cold tears trickling down his sallow cheek. Tentatively, he advanced towards Jude’s cold body and placed his lips on hers, kissing her tenderly.
No response. Jude still didn’t open her eyes. This was not a scene from Sleeping Beauty—it’s totally childish and cliché—but Severus couldn’t help feeling that there might be hope in doing so. Now all hope was gone. He had to admit the fact that he constantly denied for so long.
She’s dead. Gone. Forever.
Severus buried his face in his arms and sobbed like never before. He had never felt so sad before in his life.
It was a terrible feeling.
Jude opened her eyes slowly and blinked. She tried to calculate how long she has been sleeping but finally decided against it. Why the details? She’s awake, and that’s all that matters.
Then she remembered the fight, the pain as her spine shattered, and Prof. Snape’s eyes as he gazed into hers. She felt cold. She noticed that everything around her was frozen, forming icicles. She tried to move to see what’s going on but then realized she couldn’t get up without her spine. She laid her head back onto the pillow and shivered, her naked body suddenly covered with goose pimples. She began to wonder where her baby boy was.
Suddenly, she heard a series of faint breathing. She turned her head and blushed when she saw Prof. Snape asleep beside her bed with his head propped up on his arms. That restless look. ‘Poor Prof. Snape,’ she thought. ‘How long has he been asleep? It must be very uncomfortable.’
She reached her handout and stroked his hair (lacking of grease) and touched his face. Pale as usual, she started tracing his face from the forehead. When she reached his crooked nose, he sneezed. Jude pull her hand away in disgust and complained silently, wiping her hand on his sleeve.
“Eew! Gross! Sneeze somewhere else!”
Prof. Snape opened his eyes almost immediately. He gazed in disbelief at Jude who was griping and wiping her saliva-stained hand on his sleeve. He slowly brought himself closer towards her and touched her face. Jude looked at him straight in the eye and smiled, “Hi, Prof. Snape.”
Then, without warning, Prof. Snape seized her and hugged her tight. Jude was quite taken aback but she let him hug her. They were like that for goodness-knows-how-long. Time seemed to freeze between them but none of them seemed to care.
Finally Jude broke the ice, “Sir, you can let go now.”
“I…I thought you’re gone…” Prof. Snape’s voice was trembling.
“I thought that too. But…I think I heard your voice, and the others’. There’s a beautiful place out there but…I came back. Sorry it took me such a long time.”
“I…thought…I lost you…”
“I’m back now, aren’t I?”
Prof. Snape nodded, still hugging Jude. Jude pulled his head slowly to face hers and placed her lips on his, kissing him deeply. For once, Prof. Snape actually returned her kiss. It was quite a long time before they finally parted.
“I love you, Severus.”
Prof. Snape didn’t answer. He just held her close, not wanting to let her go. He feared that if he ever let go, he’ll lose her forever. He inhaled her hair deeply, feeling her skin in his own arms, savouring the feeling of her cheek against his.
It felt like heaven for the both of them.
“My Witch,” Prof. whispered to her ear. “My precious Black Witch.”
Jude smiled. She knew what he meant.
An atmosphere of sadness and grief hung over the Hospital Wing. It was so thick, you could cut it with a knife. Jude laid lifelessly on the bed, bandaged from her breast-down in white.
Becka and Rach huddled together, holding their babies and sobbed. Cedric held the duo close to his chest, consoling them. Harry gazed at Jude sadly. Hermione buried her face on Ron’s shoulder, letting out muffled wails, while Ron cried silent tears. The Hawkins siblings also cried. Prof. Dumbledore took off his glasses and mourned with Prof. Lupin. Prof. McGonagalle blew her nose. Sirius joined in the mourning from his bed. Hagrid bawled like a baby.
“Boo hoo hoo hoo hoo! Ma’am Lucius lil’ lassie’s dead! What am I goin’ to tell da ma’am? She’ll be so sad!”
“It has to be done,” Prof. Dumbledore said quietly. “It is our obligation to inform any news about their children to the parents. If you can’t tell her, then I will.”
“Such fine lass!” Hagrid sobbed and blew his nose with a loud honk. “She’s so young, yet so fine! I hasn’t got more time to know her! Boo hoo hoo hoo hoo~!”
“Stop crying like that! You’re making me even more miserable!” Becka snapped at Hagrid. Rach held her baby closer to her chest like a prized treasure.
“So-So-Sorry, lass. I kin help it!” Hagrid blew his nose again. “It’s-It’s just so sad, letting da lil’ girl leave us like this.”
“Shall we conduct the burial here or let her parents take her back to be buried?” Prof. McGonagalle asked, her voice shaking a little.
“Better give her to Tanya,” Prof. Dumbledore replied, putting his half-mooned glasses back on. “We have to respect her family’s wishes. They might want to conduct the burial themselves.”
“No, she can’t be dead.”
Everyone spun round to see Prof. Snape advancing towards Jude’s bed in an abnormally calm way. He had her son in his arms. He held out a hand and stroked her dark-brown hair, fingering the silver streak in the middle, much to everyone’s surprise. Prof. Dumbledore put his hand on his shoulder.
“Severus, let her go. She’s dead. You heard what Poppy said…”
“She’s wrong. Light can’t be dead. She just can’t be. She’s so cheerful and bright and happy all the time. She had a really cheerful conversation with me yesterday. Now she’s…no, that’s impossible! She’s still alive! She just doesn’t know how to wake up from this dream!”
“Poppy’s a trained, experienced medi-witch. She can’t be wrong,” Prof. Lupin cut in, trying to pacify his colleague. “You know it yourself too. You know how the Witches’ life span is shown.”
“By this streak of silver hair?” Prof. Snape said as he raised the silver streak. “That doesn’t prove anything! It could be something else, something that made her suddenly change. It could be…”
“Stop it, Severus. Accept the fact. She’s gone. Let her go,” Prof. Dumbledore tightened his grip on Prof. Snape’s shoulder a little. Prof. Snape slumped, his tunnel-dark eyes locked onto Jude’s calm, serene face. His breath trembled as he let it out slowly.
“This…This is not fair…Light, she…she had brought so much riot, so much havoc and surprise in my class. There’s never a dull moment when she’s around…I…I can’t believe I’m saying this but…I really enjoyed having her as my student.”
Everyone stared at him in astonishment. They never knew that the famous cold and calm Potion Master of Hogwarts would admit everything that was bottled up in his heart.
“She’s a walking accident-prone. She always had a way of making her situation brighter. I always gave her a hard time, but she always pulled through. She…She did so much for me…She tolerated my attitude, listened to all my orders, never complained much…She sacrificed so much for Hogwarts…Why…? Why did she have to…?”
Prof. Snape couldn’t continue. He dashed away from the bed and out of the ward, taking the whining baby with him. They didn’t give chase. They knew that Prof. Snape, the ever cold and proud professor, needed some time and space to let it all out.
“So, Hagrid. Are you going to tell Judith’s mother about this?” Prof. Dumbledore asked the gamekeeper, who was still blowing his nose on a large hanky.
“I’ll try,” Hagrid sniffed, drying his eyes.
“Thank you, Hagrid. And, Poppy,” Prof. Dumbledore called the medi-witch who was sitting at a corner in the background wiping her tears, “you take Judith’s body and put her into the Cold Room until everything’s said and done.”
Madame Pomfrey nodded. With Prof. Lupin’s help, she carried Jude into a room which was situated at a secluded place in the hospital. She opened the door and Rach and Becka could feel the cold mist emitted out slowly. They placed Jude on an icy, metallic bed in the middle of the room and shut the door tight. Madame Pomfrey remembered the last time she used this room was to keep the used-to-be-dead Cedric Diggory. Becka and Rach placed their hands on the cold door, trying to feel if her slightest aura was still there.
None.
“Goodbye, Jude. We’ll miss you.”
With Cedric’s arms still around them, Becka and Rach slowly left the silent Hospital Wing.
Everyone mourned for Jude that night. The whole castle was silent as death. The Slytherin dormitory was the quietest of all. Two lives lost from Slytherin: Tony Brixius and Judith Cecelia Light. Draco hid in his dorm and cried on his bed for hours, and he cried the most bitterly of all the Slytherins. He really loved Jude so much.
Nothing could be more miserable.
“Severus, certainly not…”
“Poppy, please. I’ve never asked anything from you. Please do me this favour.”
“But, Severus, surely you’re not thinking about…I will most certainly not do this! This is insane!”
Only a candle was lit, so the only thing—or people—were two silhouettes, one belonged to the cold, shoulder-length haired, crooked nosed and tall Severus Snape, and a fairly thin and short medi-witch Poppy Pomfrey.
“What if Albus starts asking questions? What if Hagrid told her mother about the news and then comes back here to find her body missing?” Poppy asked in a mixture of fear and worry. “He’ll howl the place down for all he cares! You know how he treasures Tanya Lucius’ daughter!”
“That I have taken care of,” Severus replied in a precise tone. “You take this letter to Hagrid and I ensure you he won’t howl, not in a million years.”
“I don’t know, Severus…” Poppy said doubtfully as she led Severus to the Cold Room. Severus stood his ground.
“This is my only wish, Poppy. Do it.”
Poppy nodded and opened the door of the Cold Room. There Jude lay: naked, bandaged, cold and lifeless, in the middle of the room, on the metallic bed. Severus came towards Jude and picked her up in his arms.
“Please be careful. Dead bodies are always fragile once they’re out under room temperature,” Poppy warned.
Severus gave her a sideways look. Poppy closed her mouth—she almost forgot that she shouldn’t mention the ‘D’ word about Jude in front of him.
“Come, Light. To where you’ll be safe,” Severus whispered to Jude’s ear as he carried her silently out of the room and out of the Hospital Wing.
Hagrid dipped his quill into the ink and started scratching on the parchment. He occasionally let out a soft ‘Boo hoo hoo’ or a loud sniff, obviously still grieving for Jude. Fang whined as he laid his head on his master’s knee, trying to comfort him. Hagrid noticed and stroked him.
“This is hopeless, Fang. I av’ no ‘art to tell Ma’am Lucius about her lassie. Jude is a fine lassie. She could summat be like her ol’ man—I mean in the good side—if she ‘ere still livin’. That bum of a You-Know-Who! It’s all his bloomin’ fault! He killed his own poor lassie!”
His complaints were cut short when an eagle owl came in with a letter in its beak. Hagrid fished out a dead rat to feed it as he took the letter. Slowly he opened it and read it. Gradually his sodden eyes widened with glee. His long face slowly creased into a smile, then a grin. Then he flung the letter high in the air, crumpled the parchment he was about to write to Jude’s mother and threw it out of the window. He cheered like a maniac, taking Fang by surprise. Fang hadn’t have time to react even.
The old gamekeeper’s heart was filled with joy and hope once more.
Severus walked silently down the dungeon hallway and went through twists and turns until he reached a dead end. He took out his wound and chanted, “Alame titaricus solicis…” And the spell dragged on. No sooner he ended his chanting, than a wall gaped open like a yawning mouth. In the open wall emerged an oak door gleaming with polish. Severus put his hand on the handle and muttered a password, “Black Witch.”
Almost immediately, the door handle allowed itself to turn and let him in. a very strong whiff of coldness surrounded him as he closed the door behind him. Icicles were formed at every corner of the room and Severus was breathing mists. The only furniture available in the room was an old canopy bed like the ones in the students’ dorms. It was also frozen with frost and icicles. Even the bed sheets felt as hard as solid ice. Severus advanced towards the bed and stroked Jude’s head.
Jude seemed as serene as ever, like nothing in the world can ever wake her up from her endless dream. Severus sighed. He didn’t mean to write the letter of lies to Hagrid but it was the only way to keep Albus from questioning any of the staff and spread suspicion everywhere around Hogwarts. In the letter, he told Hagrid that he was conjuring up some potion to try and revive Jude back from the dead. He told Hagrid to tell Albus that Jude’s mother came almost immediately as soon as she heard about Jude’s death and took her away without further notice—just fro an excuse until he has done with the potion. He urged Hagrid to keep it a secret as he wanted it to be a Hogwarts surprise.
God knows what a pack of bull he had written. It’s impossible to bring someone back to life, not even if you chanted a million spells. Black Magic might do the trick but it only lasts for a given period of time. After that, Jude might turn into a zombie or some sort—an undead. He couldn’t explain why. He just wanted to keep her, to see her, to have her for as long as possible. He even used a freezing spell to freeze the room in order to do so.
“Wake up, Light. It’s me, your most loved teacher Severus Snape.”
Jude, of course, didn’t reply. Silent as ever.
“Come on, Light. Wake up. Get up and hug me. You’re good at that. Wake up and say nice things to me. Wake and hold me in your arms. Come on.”
Severus knew this was stupid, but he did it all the same.
“You always had a crush on me. You always thought that I’m unfair, that I’m always against you, and that I’m always oblivious to your feelings, yet you still loved me. True, I might be what you say I am, but I never said I hated you. You bring so much racket yet so much joy to my class. You dared to do things even Potter wouldn’t do.
“I don’t hate you. I…care about you. I may not show it all this while, but I do care about you. It’s just that…I don’t want to ruin my portrayal as a Potion Master in front of everyone. I’m always worried about when are you going to make another explosion or flip another jar of ingredients. I’m constantly on guard in case you start going up in flames. I often do things behind people’s back. It gets old.”
He fingered the pendulum that still hung around Jude’s neck. “Remember this pendulum? I gave it to you during Valentine’s Day. I have sacrificed my pride to let Filch’s cat bring this to you. What else do you want? Why won’t you wake up?
“You want me to love you, isn’t it? You want me to return your love, isn’t it? I’ve told you, we’re not meant to be. You’re a student, I’m a teacher. That’s where we stand. Don’t you understand? We can’t love each other. You’re the Black Witch, the Chosen One of the prophecy, and who am I? Just an insignificant Potion Master with no powers from the beyond…”
No matter how much he talked, there was still no response from Jude. Severus’ heart sank.
“Do you want me to let you in a secret? The day you were born, I was there to help. The moment you were out into this world and the minute I saw you, I’ve decided there and then that…I will marry you and make you the best wife ever. Madame Snape. Do you like it? It sounds ridiculous but…I want to marry you…I want…”
Severus trembled, trying to hold back the tears as hard as he could. He had never cried—not since he escaped from the tyranny of Voldemort into the welcoming arms of Albus Dumbledore. He swore to himself never to cry for anybody, and the years with the Dark Lord has trained him to be a cold, expressionless man. No mercy, he remembered Voldemort telling him. No one in Hogwarts could move him, except Albus who was almost a godfather to him. He was stationary, standing tall and proud among his colleagues. Unmovable, unbreakable.
But now everything has changed. This night, after almost a week of keeping Jude in the room, he cried. He could feel his icy cold tears trickling down his sallow cheek. Tentatively, he advanced towards Jude’s cold body and placed his lips on hers, kissing her tenderly.
No response. Jude still didn’t open her eyes. This was not a scene from Sleeping Beauty—it’s totally childish and cliché—but Severus couldn’t help feeling that there might be hope in doing so. Now all hope was gone. He had to admit the fact that he constantly denied for so long.
She’s dead. Gone. Forever.
Severus buried his face in his arms and sobbed like never before. He had never felt so sad before in his life.
It was a terrible feeling.
Jude opened her eyes slowly and blinked. She tried to calculate how long she has been sleeping but finally decided against it. Why the details? She’s awake, and that’s all that matters.
Then she remembered the fight, the pain as her spine shattered, and Prof. Snape’s eyes as he gazed into hers. She felt cold. She noticed that everything around her was frozen, forming icicles. She tried to move to see what’s going on but then realized she couldn’t get up without her spine. She laid her head back onto the pillow and shivered, her naked body suddenly covered with goose pimples. She began to wonder where her baby boy was.
Suddenly, she heard a series of faint breathing. She turned her head and blushed when she saw Prof. Snape asleep beside her bed with his head propped up on his arms. That restless look. ‘Poor Prof. Snape,’ she thought. ‘How long has he been asleep? It must be very uncomfortable.’
She reached her handout and stroked his hair (lacking of grease) and touched his face. Pale as usual, she started tracing his face from the forehead. When she reached his crooked nose, he sneezed. Jude pull her hand away in disgust and complained silently, wiping her hand on his sleeve.
“Eew! Gross! Sneeze somewhere else!”
Prof. Snape opened his eyes almost immediately. He gazed in disbelief at Jude who was griping and wiping her saliva-stained hand on his sleeve. He slowly brought himself closer towards her and touched her face. Jude looked at him straight in the eye and smiled, “Hi, Prof. Snape.”
Then, without warning, Prof. Snape seized her and hugged her tight. Jude was quite taken aback but she let him hug her. They were like that for goodness-knows-how-long. Time seemed to freeze between them but none of them seemed to care.
Finally Jude broke the ice, “Sir, you can let go now.”
“I…I thought you’re gone…” Prof. Snape’s voice was trembling.
“I thought that too. But…I think I heard your voice, and the others’. There’s a beautiful place out there but…I came back. Sorry it took me such a long time.”
“I…thought…I lost you…”
“I’m back now, aren’t I?”
Prof. Snape nodded, still hugging Jude. Jude pulled his head slowly to face hers and placed her lips on his, kissing him deeply. For once, Prof. Snape actually returned her kiss. It was quite a long time before they finally parted.
“I love you, Severus.”
Prof. Snape didn’t answer. He just held her close, not wanting to let her go. He feared that if he ever let go, he’ll lose her forever. He inhaled her hair deeply, feeling her skin in his own arms, savouring the feeling of her cheek against his.
It felt like heaven for the both of them.
“My Witch,” Prof. whispered to her ear. “My precious Black Witch.”
Jude smiled. She knew what he meant.
The Ones for The Boy Who Lived-Chp22
CHAPTER 22 – THE FIGHT TO THE DEATH
Jude closed her eyes as she waited for the blow. But it didn’t come. She opened her eyes and saw Becka and Rach pouncing on him, trying to pry him away from the wand. They had quite a struggle. Jude looked everywhere to see where did Becka leave her baby—she wasn’t holding it—and noticed that Cedric has it. How he managed to get it in such short time, she was yet to figure it out.
“Fools! Get off me!” Voldemort growled and aimed the wand at himself. “Expelliarmus!!”
As expected, the duo got flung off by Voldemort, including the evil wizard himself. The duo was sent flying in the air 3 feet away from Voldemort. Voldemort growled as he chanted a spell and shot it at the duo, but was countered by Jude’s own spell from behind. He was infuriated.
“I am going to kill you once and for all! Even if you are my flesh and blood!”
“Bring it on, Voldemort,” Jude replied, gesturing challengingly at the Dark Lord, who was nowhere near happiness.
The battle began. Though cornered and being zapped at and even being lifted high up in the air and being flung at, Voldemort was still standing strong. He returned Harry and the Witches’ blows twice the power they gave him. Cedric didn’t join the fight—he had to protect Henrietta—but once a while, he zapped at the incoming Death Eaters and Pettigrew. Jude was lifted almost near to the sky and dropped with a loud smack on the grassy earth below. Becka was pinned to the ground with the Body-Bind curse and she could almost feel her bones cracking with the invisible weight pinned on her. Harry was flung over and over again across the tombstones until he coughed blood. Rach’s body was slashed from head to toe with only one swipe of Voldemort’s wand.
“Ha ha ha ha~~!! You can’t defeat me! I’ve lived through the years even when Harry has turned me into spirit form! What can he and his puny little sidekicks do to me now that I have a full body? Ha ha ha~~!!”
With a wave of his wand, he lifted the Witches high in the air and pinned them onto a huge oak tree really hard. So hard that the trio almost choked. Sparks crackled dangerously as Voldemort raised his wand with his spidery fingers and smirked evilly. He chanted out a charm and sent the blow flying towards the trio who were closing their eyes shut.
The blow didn’t reach them. They opened their eyes and saw Sirius Black on the grassy floor, red with his own blood. Sirius was gasping for breath, his arms close to his chest as if holding back the intense pain. It seemed like Voldemort has broken off every possible bone he had on his body.
“Sirius!” the trio yelled and went to him as soon as they felt the pressing impact on their body eased.
“Don’t mind me!” Sirius gasped, wincing as he spoke. “Your safety’s what most important.”
“How touching!” Voldemort said sarcastically. “Too bad it has all gone to waste now, isn’t it, Sirius?”
Voldemort didn’t wait for a reply. The trio charged at him full speed ahead, yelling as they brandished their wands. With one swipe, Voldemort sent them flying again through the air. They were caught before they fell to the ground: Becka was caught by both Harry and Cedric, both of them using either hand, Prof. Lupin caught Rach and Prof. Snape (surprisingly) caught Jude.
“Stop this insanity, Voldemort!” Prof. Snape hissed. “You’ve done enough damage to the Witches now!”
“Who are you to order me, traitor? I should’ve known you would betray me for that old man Dumbledore! Playing spies for both sides! You call yourself a Death Eater? Pah!” Voldemort spat as he raised his wand threateningly above his head. “Out of my way, Severus, if you want to live!”
“I saved her twice from your bad seed implanted in her mind,” Prof. Snape said coldly, not moving an inch, “and I’ll save her again for all eternity. This is my destiny in The Ones’ prophecy.”
Voldemort laughed a long, cold laugh before glaring at Prof. Snape’s face with his red serpentine eyes and hissed, “Then I shall have to change that.”
Prof. SNape didn’t see that one coming. Voldemort jerked his head a bit and sent him skidding across the grass far enough away from Jude, making him hit a tombstone. Then he returned his gaze at Jude and made her freeze on the spot. She couldn’t move.
“How did you like the power I have given you in inheritance? That was a wonderful gift for you. You have the potential to be my heir, to be the greatest witch feared by all others just like they feared me. But the stupid prophecy has ruined everything I had to offer you! My legacy is ruined because of this! I never should’ve had you in the first place! You turned out to be a disgrace! Now let me finish what I should’ve done 14 years ago!”
A flash came from his wand, shaped like a spear. It was so fast that neither Jude had the time to counter it with her wandless magic nor Prof. Snape had the reflex to get up and rush forward to her. Jude stayed rooted on the spot, waiting for the flash to stab her cold…
Slowly she realized someone was in front of her, blocking her view. Blood trickled from his back, staining his robes. Jude gasped. She recognized that golden long hair, that fair skin, everything.
“Tony!!”
Slowly Tony fell. Jude caught him. His sparkling green eyes met her own glowing green eyes weakly. Tony coughed, blood coming out of his mouth.
“Looks like…I got here on…time…”
“Tony! You’re not supposed to be here! You’re on that tower! You…”
“I escaped…knocked down…the elf…and flew out off Hogwarts…and apparated... here…” His chuckle was cut short by more bloody coughs.
“Hang on, Tony!! Don’t die!”
“I forgave you…a long time ago… I love you…Judith…Always…”
Silence. Tony was gone. Jude could feel his spirit slipping away like sand in her palms. He had a contented smile, as if having fulfilled his destiny for her. Jude suddenly felt cold.
“All my lessons left to waste,” Voldemort sighed, as if he was throwing away a piece of useless garbage. “Emotions are always man’s weakness.”
“How could you…!” Sirius gasped. “You talk as if he’s nothing but a broken toy! You…You tried to kill Harry when he’s only a year old…You even want to kill your own daughter!! What kind of wizard are you?!” At that point, manhood tears trickled out of Sirius’ eyes. He could be emotional at times.
“An ultimate wizard,” Voldemort replied coldly, uncaring. “A wizard who knows that there is no good or evil, only power. I am that power!”
Anger began to burn in Jude’s soul. It was searing hot, an anger she had never felt before. It wasn’t that kind of hate she felt when her friend Hannah betrayed her; it was something more than that. Her eyes glowed greener as she laid Tony’s head slowly down onto the grass and stood up to face Voldemort. Voldemort looked up. He was quite shocked to feel such sudden aura on Jude. Jude clenched her fists, cracking them.
“You’ll pay, Voldemort. You’ll pay!!”
So saying, she sent out a greenish aura on Voldemort, flinging him backwards. Voldemort almost choked when his body hit the same oak tree the trio hit upon in the first place. He surged back upright, only to freeze on the spot by Rach’s bluish aura, ice climbing up to his waist. He struggled to move, but in vain.
“You…That’s impossible…! I’m indestructible…!”
Jude turned to Becka and Rach. Their eyes met each other, creating an understanding, a bond that only The Ones can form between themselves. They nodded in acknowledgement. Then, as if they have been doing it all their lives, Rach and Becka closed their eyes and laid their hands on each other’s shoulder: Becka on Rach’s and Rach on Jude’s. They concentrated their powers they have been trained for all this while, bringing them up to their hearts and centralizing them onto their palms. Harry saw what they were doing and took out his wand, sticking the tip onto Becka’s back and concentrated with all his might, channeling the power he had from his lightning-bolt scar to the trio. Soon, their powers came in line.
“Chant with me, NOW!!”
They followed Jude’s order. Automatically, they knew the words and chanted a long verse of spells they never thought they knew.
“Omne nomen eraserit magos et maleficos striis magicae entia socia mortis hunc Daemonem (By the name of all the wizards, witches, warlocks and magical beings unite, send this demon to his death)!!”
“Voldemort, begone!!!” Jude yelled, releasing the power she had received from The Ones and The Boy Who Lived.
There was a huge blinding flash and a bloodcurdling yell. Sounds of tearing, slashing and cracking were throughout the whole graveyard. Death Eaters were also yelling, including Pettigrew, and began to scamper about for cover, screaming bloody murder. Becka, Rach and Harry fell backwards by the impact. Jude was thrown up and hung in the mid-air. A streak of her hair, starting from the middle, became silvery white. Her robes tore. Everything went into slow motion.
First her robes tore into a thousand shreds, revealing her naked body. Then her back burst, fragments of her spine and blood flew out at all directions in crimson red. Her spine actually shattered like a glass smashed onto the ground. Her blood—large amounts of it—splattered aimlessly, staining her whole body. She choked, more blood gurgled out of her throat and mouth, not to mention her nose as well. She fell back slowly.
Her nightmare has come true, in a way. She was falling, falling fast like nobody cared where she would land…
Strong arms caught her. Cold, tunnel-dark eyes gazed at her, filled with emotion. Those familiar eyes filled with worry and fear for her life. She saw herself—bloody, naked, and cold— in the arms of Prof. Snape, her saviour, her teacher, her love. Just like the first time she met him at the playground.
“Light! Be strong, Light! Don’t let go of yourself!”
“Voldemort…?” Jude breathed, blood oozing out of the corner of her lips.
“He’s not dead yet, but you have broken his body. He is in the spirit form once more, just like the first time he encountered Potter,” Prof. Lupin explained triumphantly. “He won’t be bothering us for a long, long time. You crushed his body so bad, even his spirit is unrecognizable.”
“Yeah! You did it! You all did it! Yayy for The Ones and Harry Potter!” Obviously Sirius hadn’t lost his spirits despite being badly hurt.
Jude smiled. She clutched as tightly as she could onto Prof. Snape’s robe, not wanting to let go.
“Don’t worry, Light. Madame Pomfrey will cure you in an instant. Be strong, Light!” This was the first time anyone had ever heard him giving encouragement like this.
“Severus…” Jude whispered weakly. Slowly she closed her eyes. Her clutch gradually loosened and fell to her side, dangling lifelessly. Everyone gasped. Prof. Snape’s heart sank.
“No! No, Jude! Don’t die!” Becka began to burst into tears before flinging herself onto Cedric’s arms and cried. So far, Cedric managed to stop himself from running away like the rest of the Death Eaters. Cedric held her close.
“Oh, Jude! You dimwit, don’t fail on us now!” Rach couldn’t help crying as well as she shook Jude’s shoulder in vain.
“Jude! You’ve gone this far! It’s not fair! Prof. Lupin, Prof. Snape, Sirius! Please do something!” Harry begged from one grown-up to another but none of them made a move. They just stood there, unable to get over the shock and disbelief.
Prof. Snape sank to the grass. Arms and hands trembling, he brought Jude close to his chest. The blood on her back reddened his hands and stained his sleeves but he paid no heed. Her heartbeat was untraceable. It’s gone, stopped, nowhere to be found. Her whole body was cold, as cold as ice. His whole body trembled as he held her closer.
Finally he let out a scream so loud that not even anyone in Hogwarts had ever heard him did before.
Jude closed her eyes as she waited for the blow. But it didn’t come. She opened her eyes and saw Becka and Rach pouncing on him, trying to pry him away from the wand. They had quite a struggle. Jude looked everywhere to see where did Becka leave her baby—she wasn’t holding it—and noticed that Cedric has it. How he managed to get it in such short time, she was yet to figure it out.
“Fools! Get off me!” Voldemort growled and aimed the wand at himself. “Expelliarmus!!”
As expected, the duo got flung off by Voldemort, including the evil wizard himself. The duo was sent flying in the air 3 feet away from Voldemort. Voldemort growled as he chanted a spell and shot it at the duo, but was countered by Jude’s own spell from behind. He was infuriated.
“I am going to kill you once and for all! Even if you are my flesh and blood!”
“Bring it on, Voldemort,” Jude replied, gesturing challengingly at the Dark Lord, who was nowhere near happiness.
The battle began. Though cornered and being zapped at and even being lifted high up in the air and being flung at, Voldemort was still standing strong. He returned Harry and the Witches’ blows twice the power they gave him. Cedric didn’t join the fight—he had to protect Henrietta—but once a while, he zapped at the incoming Death Eaters and Pettigrew. Jude was lifted almost near to the sky and dropped with a loud smack on the grassy earth below. Becka was pinned to the ground with the Body-Bind curse and she could almost feel her bones cracking with the invisible weight pinned on her. Harry was flung over and over again across the tombstones until he coughed blood. Rach’s body was slashed from head to toe with only one swipe of Voldemort’s wand.
“Ha ha ha ha~~!! You can’t defeat me! I’ve lived through the years even when Harry has turned me into spirit form! What can he and his puny little sidekicks do to me now that I have a full body? Ha ha ha~~!!”
With a wave of his wand, he lifted the Witches high in the air and pinned them onto a huge oak tree really hard. So hard that the trio almost choked. Sparks crackled dangerously as Voldemort raised his wand with his spidery fingers and smirked evilly. He chanted out a charm and sent the blow flying towards the trio who were closing their eyes shut.
The blow didn’t reach them. They opened their eyes and saw Sirius Black on the grassy floor, red with his own blood. Sirius was gasping for breath, his arms close to his chest as if holding back the intense pain. It seemed like Voldemort has broken off every possible bone he had on his body.
“Sirius!” the trio yelled and went to him as soon as they felt the pressing impact on their body eased.
“Don’t mind me!” Sirius gasped, wincing as he spoke. “Your safety’s what most important.”
“How touching!” Voldemort said sarcastically. “Too bad it has all gone to waste now, isn’t it, Sirius?”
Voldemort didn’t wait for a reply. The trio charged at him full speed ahead, yelling as they brandished their wands. With one swipe, Voldemort sent them flying again through the air. They were caught before they fell to the ground: Becka was caught by both Harry and Cedric, both of them using either hand, Prof. Lupin caught Rach and Prof. Snape (surprisingly) caught Jude.
“Stop this insanity, Voldemort!” Prof. Snape hissed. “You’ve done enough damage to the Witches now!”
“Who are you to order me, traitor? I should’ve known you would betray me for that old man Dumbledore! Playing spies for both sides! You call yourself a Death Eater? Pah!” Voldemort spat as he raised his wand threateningly above his head. “Out of my way, Severus, if you want to live!”
“I saved her twice from your bad seed implanted in her mind,” Prof. Snape said coldly, not moving an inch, “and I’ll save her again for all eternity. This is my destiny in The Ones’ prophecy.”
Voldemort laughed a long, cold laugh before glaring at Prof. Snape’s face with his red serpentine eyes and hissed, “Then I shall have to change that.”
Prof. SNape didn’t see that one coming. Voldemort jerked his head a bit and sent him skidding across the grass far enough away from Jude, making him hit a tombstone. Then he returned his gaze at Jude and made her freeze on the spot. She couldn’t move.
“How did you like the power I have given you in inheritance? That was a wonderful gift for you. You have the potential to be my heir, to be the greatest witch feared by all others just like they feared me. But the stupid prophecy has ruined everything I had to offer you! My legacy is ruined because of this! I never should’ve had you in the first place! You turned out to be a disgrace! Now let me finish what I should’ve done 14 years ago!”
A flash came from his wand, shaped like a spear. It was so fast that neither Jude had the time to counter it with her wandless magic nor Prof. Snape had the reflex to get up and rush forward to her. Jude stayed rooted on the spot, waiting for the flash to stab her cold…
Slowly she realized someone was in front of her, blocking her view. Blood trickled from his back, staining his robes. Jude gasped. She recognized that golden long hair, that fair skin, everything.
“Tony!!”
Slowly Tony fell. Jude caught him. His sparkling green eyes met her own glowing green eyes weakly. Tony coughed, blood coming out of his mouth.
“Looks like…I got here on…time…”
“Tony! You’re not supposed to be here! You’re on that tower! You…”
“I escaped…knocked down…the elf…and flew out off Hogwarts…and apparated... here…” His chuckle was cut short by more bloody coughs.
“Hang on, Tony!! Don’t die!”
“I forgave you…a long time ago… I love you…Judith…Always…”
Silence. Tony was gone. Jude could feel his spirit slipping away like sand in her palms. He had a contented smile, as if having fulfilled his destiny for her. Jude suddenly felt cold.
“All my lessons left to waste,” Voldemort sighed, as if he was throwing away a piece of useless garbage. “Emotions are always man’s weakness.”
“How could you…!” Sirius gasped. “You talk as if he’s nothing but a broken toy! You…You tried to kill Harry when he’s only a year old…You even want to kill your own daughter!! What kind of wizard are you?!” At that point, manhood tears trickled out of Sirius’ eyes. He could be emotional at times.
“An ultimate wizard,” Voldemort replied coldly, uncaring. “A wizard who knows that there is no good or evil, only power. I am that power!”
Anger began to burn in Jude’s soul. It was searing hot, an anger she had never felt before. It wasn’t that kind of hate she felt when her friend Hannah betrayed her; it was something more than that. Her eyes glowed greener as she laid Tony’s head slowly down onto the grass and stood up to face Voldemort. Voldemort looked up. He was quite shocked to feel such sudden aura on Jude. Jude clenched her fists, cracking them.
“You’ll pay, Voldemort. You’ll pay!!”
So saying, she sent out a greenish aura on Voldemort, flinging him backwards. Voldemort almost choked when his body hit the same oak tree the trio hit upon in the first place. He surged back upright, only to freeze on the spot by Rach’s bluish aura, ice climbing up to his waist. He struggled to move, but in vain.
“You…That’s impossible…! I’m indestructible…!”
Jude turned to Becka and Rach. Their eyes met each other, creating an understanding, a bond that only The Ones can form between themselves. They nodded in acknowledgement. Then, as if they have been doing it all their lives, Rach and Becka closed their eyes and laid their hands on each other’s shoulder: Becka on Rach’s and Rach on Jude’s. They concentrated their powers they have been trained for all this while, bringing them up to their hearts and centralizing them onto their palms. Harry saw what they were doing and took out his wand, sticking the tip onto Becka’s back and concentrated with all his might, channeling the power he had from his lightning-bolt scar to the trio. Soon, their powers came in line.
“Chant with me, NOW!!”
They followed Jude’s order. Automatically, they knew the words and chanted a long verse of spells they never thought they knew.
“Omne nomen eraserit magos et maleficos striis magicae entia socia mortis hunc Daemonem (By the name of all the wizards, witches, warlocks and magical beings unite, send this demon to his death)!!”
“Voldemort, begone!!!” Jude yelled, releasing the power she had received from The Ones and The Boy Who Lived.
There was a huge blinding flash and a bloodcurdling yell. Sounds of tearing, slashing and cracking were throughout the whole graveyard. Death Eaters were also yelling, including Pettigrew, and began to scamper about for cover, screaming bloody murder. Becka, Rach and Harry fell backwards by the impact. Jude was thrown up and hung in the mid-air. A streak of her hair, starting from the middle, became silvery white. Her robes tore. Everything went into slow motion.
First her robes tore into a thousand shreds, revealing her naked body. Then her back burst, fragments of her spine and blood flew out at all directions in crimson red. Her spine actually shattered like a glass smashed onto the ground. Her blood—large amounts of it—splattered aimlessly, staining her whole body. She choked, more blood gurgled out of her throat and mouth, not to mention her nose as well. She fell back slowly.
Her nightmare has come true, in a way. She was falling, falling fast like nobody cared where she would land…
Strong arms caught her. Cold, tunnel-dark eyes gazed at her, filled with emotion. Those familiar eyes filled with worry and fear for her life. She saw herself—bloody, naked, and cold— in the arms of Prof. Snape, her saviour, her teacher, her love. Just like the first time she met him at the playground.
“Light! Be strong, Light! Don’t let go of yourself!”
“Voldemort…?” Jude breathed, blood oozing out of the corner of her lips.
“He’s not dead yet, but you have broken his body. He is in the spirit form once more, just like the first time he encountered Potter,” Prof. Lupin explained triumphantly. “He won’t be bothering us for a long, long time. You crushed his body so bad, even his spirit is unrecognizable.”
“Yeah! You did it! You all did it! Yayy for The Ones and Harry Potter!” Obviously Sirius hadn’t lost his spirits despite being badly hurt.
Jude smiled. She clutched as tightly as she could onto Prof. Snape’s robe, not wanting to let go.
“Don’t worry, Light. Madame Pomfrey will cure you in an instant. Be strong, Light!” This was the first time anyone had ever heard him giving encouragement like this.
“Severus…” Jude whispered weakly. Slowly she closed her eyes. Her clutch gradually loosened and fell to her side, dangling lifelessly. Everyone gasped. Prof. Snape’s heart sank.
“No! No, Jude! Don’t die!” Becka began to burst into tears before flinging herself onto Cedric’s arms and cried. So far, Cedric managed to stop himself from running away like the rest of the Death Eaters. Cedric held her close.
“Oh, Jude! You dimwit, don’t fail on us now!” Rach couldn’t help crying as well as she shook Jude’s shoulder in vain.
“Jude! You’ve gone this far! It’s not fair! Prof. Lupin, Prof. Snape, Sirius! Please do something!” Harry begged from one grown-up to another but none of them made a move. They just stood there, unable to get over the shock and disbelief.
Prof. Snape sank to the grass. Arms and hands trembling, he brought Jude close to his chest. The blood on her back reddened his hands and stained his sleeves but he paid no heed. Her heartbeat was untraceable. It’s gone, stopped, nowhere to be found. Her whole body was cold, as cold as ice. His whole body trembled as he held her closer.
Finally he let out a scream so loud that not even anyone in Hogwarts had ever heard him did before.
The Ones for The Boy Who Lived-Chp21
CHAPTER 21 – OFF TO SAVE THE DARK WITCH
Everyone gathered at the field: Jude, Rach, Prof. Snape, Prof. Lupin, Sirius Black and Harry. They made sure that they had eaten their fill before they met for today—they weren’t sure whether they will make it out alive. Everyone had their brooms ready for this occasion.
“Ready, Witches?” Prof. Snape asked.
“Just a second, sir,” Jude said as she dug through her robe sleeve and revealed a baby ankle lace made out of stars and moons. She handed it to Rach, who in turn squealed in delight.
“This is so beautiful! Are you actually letting my Talos have it?” Rach said as she marveled at the lace. “You should save it for your Kiaran!”
“Oh, never mind. My Kiaran already has my baby ankle lace, the one with bells and hearts. I got this a long time ago, and when I knew that we’re going to have kids, I owled to my Muggle parents to get it out of my jewelry box back home.”
“It’s gorgeous! Where did you get it?”
“It’s simple, really. My Muggle cousin who has a brother that has a crush on a girl next door whose boyfriend is in the swim team and has a nephew who had a 5-year-old sister who got a favourite teacher who is actually the big brother of my 19-year-old uncle whom I had an itsy-bitsy crush on. Well, he gave that to me as a birthday gift and I’ve been keeping it ever since. He still thinks I’m his little baby niece, can you imagine that?”
“I can see how complicated your family tree is,” Rach replied with a sweat drop.
“Are we ready yet?” Prof. Snape cleared his throat irritably, getting the girls’ attention. The girls nodded sheepishly.
“How would you know how to find the Dark Witch, Severus?” Prof. Lupin asked.
“By the mark,” Prof. Snape showed his Death Eater mark. “When it glows like this means that we have to gather together on a meeting. If we follow it to where the location is, we may get to see Voldemort.”
“Great! Now I can kick both Voldemort and that wretched Pettigrew’s ass!” Sirius rubbed his hands with glee. He had been waiting this moment for too long to back away now.
“Black, I don’t remember asking you to join us. But if you insist on sending yourself to suicide, I won’t stop you.”
“No way am I going to miss a good fight with that Voldemort and let you have all the fun!” Sirius snarled like a dog at Prof. Snape. “You just watch out if you don’t want to be killed by your so-called ‘Dark Lord’!”
“Alright, alright, guys, stop bickering already,” Prof. Lupin said, the girls giggling and Harry sighing in the back ground. “We have a girl and a baby to save, remember?”
So, without further ado, our heroes mounted their brooms and flew high into the sky and out of the protective boundary of Hogwarts Castle.
The group found themselves in a very dark and sinister-looking graveyard. Jude shivered and huddled behind Harry; she still didn’t like the dark although there are a lot of companions among her. Bad experience when she was a kid made her pretty phobic towards the dark.
Prof. Snape signaled everyone to hide in one corner while he waited outside and blend in with the rest of the Death Eaters, pulling the hood over his head. One by one, the Death Eaters apparated in sight. Jude saw Lucius Malfoy, who was unhooding himself, among the Death Eaters. Altogether there about 10 Death Eaters present.
“Damn! Even Crabbe and Goyle’s old men are there!” Sirius hissed in contempt. They were hiding behind the tallest, widest tree they could find. Prof. Lupin hushed him.
“Keep it down! You don’t want to blow our cover now, do you?”
No sooner he said that, than a tall, menacing figure apparated into view. It was no other than the Dark Lord Voldemort himself. Sirius growled deeply in his throat at the sight of him. Jude was awed. This was the first time she caught sight of her real father. He was obviously very evil indeed: with his eyes as red and as treacherous as a serpent (more like a Basilisk, maybe) and his not-so-human face. He had very lack of hair and his skin was quite scaly. He looked more like a mutant snake than a wizard. Jude found it hard to believe that she came from this bad seed.
Voldemort towered over his minions proudly with Pettigrew by his side and revealed Becka and her baby Henrietta in her arms from his huge robe. Jude wanted to rush up to her and save her immediately but was held back by the others just in time before any of the Death Eaters saw them.
“My faithful servants, I am glad that you are all present,” Voldemort’s hissing menacing voice sent shivers to anyone who heard it. “Here I have before you The One that was prophesied to bring down our little organization: The Dark Witch and her heir, the seed from which came from The Boy Who Lived!”
The Death Eaters muttered disapprovingly at Becka and her baby. Becka cowered towards Cedric, who was standing right behind her. Cedric wrapped his hands around her, consoling her through her ear softly. Harry had a good look and was as shocked as the grown-ups to see Cedric alive, with a completely different eye colour than the last time he seen him.
“Oh Merlin, Cedric’s alive! He’s actually alive!” Harry tried to suppress his excited voice.
“You’re damn right!” Sirius replied. “That old git actually excelled in magic, that I got to admit.”
“What are we gonna do?” Rach asked in panic. “If we don’t go out there now, that creep is going to turn Becka and her baby into barbecue sauce! Or toads, if he’s kind enough.”
“Severus will give us the signal,” Prof. Lupin replied. “Don’t worry, girls, he knows what he’s doing.”
“Yeah, right. If he doesn’t pitch in on us!” Sirius said grudgingly. “You can never trust an ex-Death Eater like him.”
“My faithful servants, it is now time to do what is necessary to do in order to keep our group alive,” Voldemort announced as he took a dagger that was handed to him automatically by Pettigrew. “I have a spy working for me in the grounds of Hogwarts. He proved to be worthy and faithful, but unfortunately he hadn’t had the guts to kill my daughter and her child, my grandson,” he spat that word out, “so to speak. He failed when he had the chance. Now we would like to see if any of you have the guts to cast the first blow. Severus,” he handed the dagger to Prof. Snape, “would you do the honours?”
Prof. Snape took the dagger and advanced towards Becka who was cowering in Cedric’s arms. ‘Why did he specifically choose me?’ he thought. ‘I may be his most favoured follower in the past but…this was going too easy…’ As he raised his dagger high above his head and was ready to strike, he became hesitant. Should he continue and really stab her so that Voldemort would continue to trust him and that he would be able to continue becoming both Dumbledore and Voldemort’s spy? Or could he just cut Becka a little bit so that Jude will not be angry and blame him, or even end up killing him? He didn’t know what to do. He just kept his dagger raised above his head.
“Why are you hesitant, Severus?” Voldemort’s voice hit him icily on his ear and through his thumping heart. “Are you afraid that you will hurt your pretty Black Witch’s heart?”
So saying, he swished his wand towards the tree the gang was hiding and zapped it, burning it into dust in an instant. The gang gasped in horror that their cover was revealed. They brandished their wands, ready to fight. Voldemort chuckled deep in his throat.
“I knew all along that you people are behind there! You think I wouldn’t come here unprepared now, do I? Death Eaters, my faithful servants! Get them! Bring the Witches to me, alive!”
Soon, there was a lot of zapping and swishing of wands and struggling between them as the grown-ups, and a little help from the kids, try to get at the Death Eaters’ throats. Harry, Jude and Rach made a dash towards Voldemort. Voldemort smirked and hissed at his two henchmen, “Get them, my servants. Destroy them!”
“With pleasure, My Lord,” Cedric and Pettigrew said in unison. Cedric brandished his wand at Harry while Pettigrew swished his sliver hand at Jude and Rach. They were horrified as they found out that everything Pettigrew touched with his silver right hand turned to dust in an instant.
“This is not good, Rach!” Jude exclaimed as she ducked away from Pettigrew’s incoming hand.
“Obviously not!” Rach replied with a ‘Duh’ tone.
“Any ideas, genius?”
“Not this time around, man!”
“So are we gonna attack him the old-fashion way or the new way?”
“Definitely a little bit of both!”
Jude and Rach used their wands and used the levitation spell to levitate him in the air, and then used their wandless powers to knock the shit out of him. They ran over to help Harry battle Cedric. Sparks and fireworks rained around them and sounds of zapping and voices of spells chanted filled the entire graveyard. It really was like war: Hogwarts vs Voldemort.
“Hey, Cedric, stop fighting against us!” Harry exclaimed as he dodged a disarming spell. “You don’t want to do this! You don’t want to hurt Becka!”
“I’ve waited too long for this moment to destroy you!” Cedric snarled, his silver eyes gleaming with hate. “I died because of you, and I had to be what I wouldn’t want to be—a Death Eater—because of you! I hate you enough to kill you!”
“That’s one grudge you don’t see everyday,” Jude muttered as she aimed a Body-Bind curse on him, which missed him at about a few inches.
“I am going to kill you to pay for what you have caused me if it’s the last thing I’ll do!” Cedric laid a Body-Bind curse on all of them and waved his wand high above the air and chanted, “Avada keda…”
“STOP!! Don’t do this, Cedric!”
Cedric gasped when he saw Becka standing right in front of her friends with the baby in her arms, glaring at him warningly. How did she get out of Voldemort’s grasp, they had no idea. The fact is she was there and she was in danger of becoming a dead witch.
“Get out of the way, Rebecca. This is my fight! I have to settle this!” Cedric snarled, the wand dangerously between her eyes. Becka refused to budge.
“Don’t do this, Cedric. You know perfectly well that if you kill Harry, the whole world will be in turmoil.”
“I don’t care! The world is none of my concern. I’m settling the score he owed me last year. This is between him and me, Rebecca! Now back off!”
“Then you have to kill me first,” Becka said determinedly.
“Have you gone mad?! Get out of there, Becka! Get out of the way!” the three who were bound under the Body-Bind spell yelled almost in unison.
“You were never angry at Harry and you never will be,” Becka took a step closer towards Cedric. “You know it’s not Harry’s fault you died. You know perfectly well that your death has nothing to do with Harry. It’s Voldemort you want, not Harry. You know all that.”
Cedric’s hand began to tremble as he struggled in whether to fulfill his revenge and sacrifice his love or not do it at all. Harry was there, right in front of him, ready for him to kill, ready for him to blast with the Avada Kedavra curse he had died upon. Slowly, he realized that there’s no reason for revenge at all. Why was he taking revenge on Harry? What was there to kill for? He remembered being revived by the Dark Lord and being told again and again that Harry was the cause of his death. Was it really anything to do with Harry? He had no reason to hate him at all, not one bit. They have been friends in Hogwarts enough to trust each other deeply. Why would he want to kill his friend?
Slowly, Cedric dropped his wand and buried his face in his hands. Becka chanted a counter-curse on Harry and her girlfriends before rushing towards Cedric.
“What have I done? What monster have I become?” Cedric muttered in horror. “I am so sorry, Harry. I’m so sorry…”
“It’s alright, you’ve been misled, that’s all,” Harry replied, patting his shoulder.
Out of the blue, Voldemort glided towards them and snarled, “Traitor! Now you will all die!”
Voldemort swiped Becka and her wailing baby with one hand and, with the other hand, sent Harry, Cedric and the rest of the Witches flying a few feet away from him with just one swish of his wand. Jude regained composure immediately and ran towards Voldemort to save Becka and her baby, only to be stopped in her tracks by one of Voldemort’s spell.
“Cut the crap, Voldemort!” Jude growled, the colour of her eyes began to glow in anger. “Let Becka go!”
Without warning, Jude found herself shoved at the navel and, the next minute, lying on her back with Voldemort’s foot pressing painfully on her chest. Her breasts hurt badly; she was new to the mother’s milk issue and it kinda ached to the touch. Voldemort let out a low chuckle.
“Now is that the way to speak to your father? After all, I’m still kin, you know.”
“You…don’t deserve to be…my father!” Jude struggled to speak under his pressurizing foot.
“Is that how Tanya disciplines you? I think I’d better change that.”
Jude was quite nervous when Voldemort took out his wand and pointed it directly at her forehead.
“Say your prayers, my precious daughter. You’re going to need it!”
Everyone gathered at the field: Jude, Rach, Prof. Snape, Prof. Lupin, Sirius Black and Harry. They made sure that they had eaten their fill before they met for today—they weren’t sure whether they will make it out alive. Everyone had their brooms ready for this occasion.
“Ready, Witches?” Prof. Snape asked.
“Just a second, sir,” Jude said as she dug through her robe sleeve and revealed a baby ankle lace made out of stars and moons. She handed it to Rach, who in turn squealed in delight.
“This is so beautiful! Are you actually letting my Talos have it?” Rach said as she marveled at the lace. “You should save it for your Kiaran!”
“Oh, never mind. My Kiaran already has my baby ankle lace, the one with bells and hearts. I got this a long time ago, and when I knew that we’re going to have kids, I owled to my Muggle parents to get it out of my jewelry box back home.”
“It’s gorgeous! Where did you get it?”
“It’s simple, really. My Muggle cousin who has a brother that has a crush on a girl next door whose boyfriend is in the swim team and has a nephew who had a 5-year-old sister who got a favourite teacher who is actually the big brother of my 19-year-old uncle whom I had an itsy-bitsy crush on. Well, he gave that to me as a birthday gift and I’ve been keeping it ever since. He still thinks I’m his little baby niece, can you imagine that?”
“I can see how complicated your family tree is,” Rach replied with a sweat drop.
“Are we ready yet?” Prof. Snape cleared his throat irritably, getting the girls’ attention. The girls nodded sheepishly.
“How would you know how to find the Dark Witch, Severus?” Prof. Lupin asked.
“By the mark,” Prof. Snape showed his Death Eater mark. “When it glows like this means that we have to gather together on a meeting. If we follow it to where the location is, we may get to see Voldemort.”
“Great! Now I can kick both Voldemort and that wretched Pettigrew’s ass!” Sirius rubbed his hands with glee. He had been waiting this moment for too long to back away now.
“Black, I don’t remember asking you to join us. But if you insist on sending yourself to suicide, I won’t stop you.”
“No way am I going to miss a good fight with that Voldemort and let you have all the fun!” Sirius snarled like a dog at Prof. Snape. “You just watch out if you don’t want to be killed by your so-called ‘Dark Lord’!”
“Alright, alright, guys, stop bickering already,” Prof. Lupin said, the girls giggling and Harry sighing in the back ground. “We have a girl and a baby to save, remember?”
So, without further ado, our heroes mounted their brooms and flew high into the sky and out of the protective boundary of Hogwarts Castle.
The group found themselves in a very dark and sinister-looking graveyard. Jude shivered and huddled behind Harry; she still didn’t like the dark although there are a lot of companions among her. Bad experience when she was a kid made her pretty phobic towards the dark.
Prof. Snape signaled everyone to hide in one corner while he waited outside and blend in with the rest of the Death Eaters, pulling the hood over his head. One by one, the Death Eaters apparated in sight. Jude saw Lucius Malfoy, who was unhooding himself, among the Death Eaters. Altogether there about 10 Death Eaters present.
“Damn! Even Crabbe and Goyle’s old men are there!” Sirius hissed in contempt. They were hiding behind the tallest, widest tree they could find. Prof. Lupin hushed him.
“Keep it down! You don’t want to blow our cover now, do you?”
No sooner he said that, than a tall, menacing figure apparated into view. It was no other than the Dark Lord Voldemort himself. Sirius growled deeply in his throat at the sight of him. Jude was awed. This was the first time she caught sight of her real father. He was obviously very evil indeed: with his eyes as red and as treacherous as a serpent (more like a Basilisk, maybe) and his not-so-human face. He had very lack of hair and his skin was quite scaly. He looked more like a mutant snake than a wizard. Jude found it hard to believe that she came from this bad seed.
Voldemort towered over his minions proudly with Pettigrew by his side and revealed Becka and her baby Henrietta in her arms from his huge robe. Jude wanted to rush up to her and save her immediately but was held back by the others just in time before any of the Death Eaters saw them.
“My faithful servants, I am glad that you are all present,” Voldemort’s hissing menacing voice sent shivers to anyone who heard it. “Here I have before you The One that was prophesied to bring down our little organization: The Dark Witch and her heir, the seed from which came from The Boy Who Lived!”
The Death Eaters muttered disapprovingly at Becka and her baby. Becka cowered towards Cedric, who was standing right behind her. Cedric wrapped his hands around her, consoling her through her ear softly. Harry had a good look and was as shocked as the grown-ups to see Cedric alive, with a completely different eye colour than the last time he seen him.
“Oh Merlin, Cedric’s alive! He’s actually alive!” Harry tried to suppress his excited voice.
“You’re damn right!” Sirius replied. “That old git actually excelled in magic, that I got to admit.”
“What are we gonna do?” Rach asked in panic. “If we don’t go out there now, that creep is going to turn Becka and her baby into barbecue sauce! Or toads, if he’s kind enough.”
“Severus will give us the signal,” Prof. Lupin replied. “Don’t worry, girls, he knows what he’s doing.”
“Yeah, right. If he doesn’t pitch in on us!” Sirius said grudgingly. “You can never trust an ex-Death Eater like him.”
“My faithful servants, it is now time to do what is necessary to do in order to keep our group alive,” Voldemort announced as he took a dagger that was handed to him automatically by Pettigrew. “I have a spy working for me in the grounds of Hogwarts. He proved to be worthy and faithful, but unfortunately he hadn’t had the guts to kill my daughter and her child, my grandson,” he spat that word out, “so to speak. He failed when he had the chance. Now we would like to see if any of you have the guts to cast the first blow. Severus,” he handed the dagger to Prof. Snape, “would you do the honours?”
Prof. Snape took the dagger and advanced towards Becka who was cowering in Cedric’s arms. ‘Why did he specifically choose me?’ he thought. ‘I may be his most favoured follower in the past but…this was going too easy…’ As he raised his dagger high above his head and was ready to strike, he became hesitant. Should he continue and really stab her so that Voldemort would continue to trust him and that he would be able to continue becoming both Dumbledore and Voldemort’s spy? Or could he just cut Becka a little bit so that Jude will not be angry and blame him, or even end up killing him? He didn’t know what to do. He just kept his dagger raised above his head.
“Why are you hesitant, Severus?” Voldemort’s voice hit him icily on his ear and through his thumping heart. “Are you afraid that you will hurt your pretty Black Witch’s heart?”
So saying, he swished his wand towards the tree the gang was hiding and zapped it, burning it into dust in an instant. The gang gasped in horror that their cover was revealed. They brandished their wands, ready to fight. Voldemort chuckled deep in his throat.
“I knew all along that you people are behind there! You think I wouldn’t come here unprepared now, do I? Death Eaters, my faithful servants! Get them! Bring the Witches to me, alive!”
Soon, there was a lot of zapping and swishing of wands and struggling between them as the grown-ups, and a little help from the kids, try to get at the Death Eaters’ throats. Harry, Jude and Rach made a dash towards Voldemort. Voldemort smirked and hissed at his two henchmen, “Get them, my servants. Destroy them!”
“With pleasure, My Lord,” Cedric and Pettigrew said in unison. Cedric brandished his wand at Harry while Pettigrew swished his sliver hand at Jude and Rach. They were horrified as they found out that everything Pettigrew touched with his silver right hand turned to dust in an instant.
“This is not good, Rach!” Jude exclaimed as she ducked away from Pettigrew’s incoming hand.
“Obviously not!” Rach replied with a ‘Duh’ tone.
“Any ideas, genius?”
“Not this time around, man!”
“So are we gonna attack him the old-fashion way or the new way?”
“Definitely a little bit of both!”
Jude and Rach used their wands and used the levitation spell to levitate him in the air, and then used their wandless powers to knock the shit out of him. They ran over to help Harry battle Cedric. Sparks and fireworks rained around them and sounds of zapping and voices of spells chanted filled the entire graveyard. It really was like war: Hogwarts vs Voldemort.
“Hey, Cedric, stop fighting against us!” Harry exclaimed as he dodged a disarming spell. “You don’t want to do this! You don’t want to hurt Becka!”
“I’ve waited too long for this moment to destroy you!” Cedric snarled, his silver eyes gleaming with hate. “I died because of you, and I had to be what I wouldn’t want to be—a Death Eater—because of you! I hate you enough to kill you!”
“That’s one grudge you don’t see everyday,” Jude muttered as she aimed a Body-Bind curse on him, which missed him at about a few inches.
“I am going to kill you to pay for what you have caused me if it’s the last thing I’ll do!” Cedric laid a Body-Bind curse on all of them and waved his wand high above the air and chanted, “Avada keda…”
“STOP!! Don’t do this, Cedric!”
Cedric gasped when he saw Becka standing right in front of her friends with the baby in her arms, glaring at him warningly. How did she get out of Voldemort’s grasp, they had no idea. The fact is she was there and she was in danger of becoming a dead witch.
“Get out of the way, Rebecca. This is my fight! I have to settle this!” Cedric snarled, the wand dangerously between her eyes. Becka refused to budge.
“Don’t do this, Cedric. You know perfectly well that if you kill Harry, the whole world will be in turmoil.”
“I don’t care! The world is none of my concern. I’m settling the score he owed me last year. This is between him and me, Rebecca! Now back off!”
“Then you have to kill me first,” Becka said determinedly.
“Have you gone mad?! Get out of there, Becka! Get out of the way!” the three who were bound under the Body-Bind spell yelled almost in unison.
“You were never angry at Harry and you never will be,” Becka took a step closer towards Cedric. “You know it’s not Harry’s fault you died. You know perfectly well that your death has nothing to do with Harry. It’s Voldemort you want, not Harry. You know all that.”
Cedric’s hand began to tremble as he struggled in whether to fulfill his revenge and sacrifice his love or not do it at all. Harry was there, right in front of him, ready for him to kill, ready for him to blast with the Avada Kedavra curse he had died upon. Slowly, he realized that there’s no reason for revenge at all. Why was he taking revenge on Harry? What was there to kill for? He remembered being revived by the Dark Lord and being told again and again that Harry was the cause of his death. Was it really anything to do with Harry? He had no reason to hate him at all, not one bit. They have been friends in Hogwarts enough to trust each other deeply. Why would he want to kill his friend?
Slowly, Cedric dropped his wand and buried his face in his hands. Becka chanted a counter-curse on Harry and her girlfriends before rushing towards Cedric.
“What have I done? What monster have I become?” Cedric muttered in horror. “I am so sorry, Harry. I’m so sorry…”
“It’s alright, you’ve been misled, that’s all,” Harry replied, patting his shoulder.
Out of the blue, Voldemort glided towards them and snarled, “Traitor! Now you will all die!”
Voldemort swiped Becka and her wailing baby with one hand and, with the other hand, sent Harry, Cedric and the rest of the Witches flying a few feet away from him with just one swish of his wand. Jude regained composure immediately and ran towards Voldemort to save Becka and her baby, only to be stopped in her tracks by one of Voldemort’s spell.
“Cut the crap, Voldemort!” Jude growled, the colour of her eyes began to glow in anger. “Let Becka go!”
Without warning, Jude found herself shoved at the navel and, the next minute, lying on her back with Voldemort’s foot pressing painfully on her chest. Her breasts hurt badly; she was new to the mother’s milk issue and it kinda ached to the touch. Voldemort let out a low chuckle.
“Now is that the way to speak to your father? After all, I’m still kin, you know.”
“You…don’t deserve to be…my father!” Jude struggled to speak under his pressurizing foot.
“Is that how Tanya disciplines you? I think I’d better change that.”
Jude was quite nervous when Voldemort took out his wand and pointed it directly at her forehead.
“Say your prayers, my precious daughter. You’re going to need it!”
The Ones for The Boy Who Lived-Chp20
CHAPTER 20 – DISCUSSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
For the next few weeks, Jude and Rach stayed in the Hospital Wing tending to their baby. Harry did the honours to give the babies their names. He named Jude’s baby Kiaran Slytherin-Potter and Rach’s baby Talos Ravenclaw-Potter. The gang, namely Ron, Hermione, Darren and Angelica came to visit them occasionally. Draco also had his share of visiting.
After their few weeks’ rest, they moved back to their teachers’ room. Jude was glad to be back in Prof. Snape’s domain. She had taken out a bottle of Carlsberg (which she secretly sent an owl to her Muggle bartender cousin to get some) from her luggage bag, waved her wand at them to make them cold and swallowed a few gulps of the bitterish alcohol. She belched in satisfaction.
“Ahh~ The feeling of being able to burp out after a good swig, now that’s life!”
“Light, what are you drinking?” Prof. Snape entered the room. He was quite surprised to see her having Kiaran in one hand and a bottle in another.
“Carlsberg. Muggle beer. Wanna try one, sir?” Jude asked, handing a bottle to him. Prof. Snape snatched both of the bottles away from her hand.
“You know you are not supposed to drink alcoholic beverages! Your baby hasn’t even finished weaning yet!”
“Come on, sir. Just a swig! It won’t hurt anybody now, would it?”
“The answer is still no,” Prof. Snape said indignantly. “As long as you are still under-aged and still breast-feeding your child, you are not entitled to drink this.”
“Well, I hate to see them go to waste now, wouldn’t I, sir?” Jude looked up at him with those puppy eyes.
Prof. Snape stared at the bottle he was holding and finally took a swig out of it. He almost choked after drinking about a mouthful of it and his sallow cheeks actually went red immediately. He wanted to ask what was in the drink but Jude answer for him.
“42% alcohol made by the finest, purest grains available. Cool, huh?”
Prof. Snape sat on the floor abruptly. Jude found it hard to believe that a grown-up like him couldn’t take alcohol like her. To think that she would only feel a little woozy after about 4 bottles of beer and that she was about 22 years younger than Prof. Snape, yet he got woozy only by one swig.
“Are you alright, sir?” Jude asked. “Need any help?”
“I am perfectly alright,” Prof. Snape said indignantly. “And for your information, Headmaster Dumbledore has orders to let you, Yearne and Potter go with some of us on a mission to save Levi.”
“Save Becka? You mean as in come in battle with Voldemort?!” Jude exclaimed.
“You know exactly what I mean,” Prof. Snape took another swig of the beer and hacked in the process.
“But-But-But…we can’t battle with Voldemort now, can we? I mean our job is to have these kids, not fight with Voldemort…”
“Why do you say that? Are you afraid of facing your father?” Prof. Snape suddenly had his face near Jude. His breath smelt of Carlsberg. He was beginning to go drunk.
“Well…no, but…”
“You think your task is just to have Potter’s child? You thought wrong, Light. Your task is more than that!” Prof. Snape practically began to drain the beer before he continued, “You have to protect his heir, keep them safe until the day comes when they are ready to kill the Dark Lord. You have to be by Potter’s side in order to battle against him. You are his so-called Soldiers of Fortune, Sidekicks, Warriors, whatever!”
“I didn’t know that…” Jude said hesitantly, trying to keep her face away from his alcoholic breath.
“Now you do know! You girls and that wretched Potter have everything way too easy, yet I have to suffer the most. We all have to suffer because of your existence! Do you know how much I detest you?!”
“Um…sir, I think you’re drunk,” Jude pushed him away. “I think you should go to bed…”
Prof. Snape pulled up his robe sleeve and showed her the Death Eater mark on his wrist, “I want to be rid of this mark! I want to be free from the Dark Lord’s grasp! As long as your father’s alive, I will never be free! This mark will stay on my hand and I will be marked as a Death Eater for life! I want to be free from his tyranny! I want to live a normal life, teaching you dunderheads all I can offer! My life is nothing with this hideous mark on me, you understand that?”
“Yes, sir, I get the point…Please, your breath stinks,” Jude tried to push him further away but Prof. Snape continued to advanced towards her.
“I want to be free. I want to be rid of this cursed mark. I want you…”
Prof. Snape’s lips were closing in towards her own. Jude blushed. Was he actually going to kiss her on his own intentions? Was he, drunk as he was, going to share tonight with her? Jude closed her eyes, waiting for him to claim her lips…
A few moments later, she felt a sudden weight on her knees. She opened her eyes and was disappointed to see that Prof. Snape actually fell asleep on her knees. Looks like she didn’t get her wish that easily after all. She sighed, finished what was left of the Carlsberg bottle he just drank and dragged him back to his bed.
After finished feeding her baby Kiaran, she, too, sneaked up beside Prof. Snape on his bed and slept.
“You have just got to be kidding me! You, Jude and Rach are actually going to go out there and fight that You-Know-Who?!” Ron exclaimed in horror. “You’re saying that you guys are going out on a suicide mission!”
“Come on, Ron. We are not going to go there on our own,” Harry chuckled. “Prof. Lupin and Sirius will be there. And, sadly, Prof. Snape too.”
“Wow, that tongue-lashing, cynical teacher is also going?” Angelica said in exaggerated trepidation. “Now that’s a bad call for you, Harry.”
“Jude can’t just go! What about the baby? Who’ll take care of the little Kiaran?” Ron was still unsure.
“If you want, you can take care of him for us,” Harry replied.
“You sure?” Ron was all smiles. Harry nodded.
“Oh, oh, can I take care of Talos?” Angelica asked hurriedly.
“Be my guest.”
“I am so glad! I can take care of Jude’s child!” Ron said with glee. “I may not have Jude’s heart, but I still have her kid close to me! I just hope that Becka is really OK out there.”
“Do you have any idea that hanging endlessly on unrequited love is a total waste of time?” Hermione suddenly voiced out after being silent for sometime before walking away to the girls’ dorm. The others were quite surprised at her sudden attitude.
“What’s her problem?” Ron asked. Everyone shrugged. Neville, who was listening to their conversation all this while, said his opinion timidly.
“Maybe she’s been jealous all along since your obsession with the Dark and the Black Witch.”
“Are you saying that…Mione has a…a crush on…?” Ron started to blush.
“I’m just suggesting. It’s quite obvious, you know,” Neville replied before turning back to his Herbology text book.
Ron slowly got up and walked towards where Hermione just went. He saw Hermione sitting on her bed reading a book she borrowed from the library. He walked towards her bed and sat down beside her, asking, “Hey, Mione, you OK?”
Hermione didn’t answer, but she put down her book and glared at him with a pair of sodden red eyes. Ron gasped slightly. He was surprised. It was very seldom to see Hermione actually cry.
“Mione, are you crying?”
“No,” Hermione replied indignantly, brushing the tears off her eyes.
“Yes, you are. Tell me what’s wrong. Is it something to do with me?”
Hermione’s eyes started to well up again before saying, “Did you know that I…I have a liking towards you ever since we first met? You are so oblivious to everything that you don’t even notice my existence! I tried many ways to make you at least like me but you just treated me like some kind of smarty-pants!”
“Well, you have always given me the impression of a smart-alec…” Ron replied but was cut short by Hermione’s slap on the shoulder.
“Then why did you think I let myself be seduced by Victor Krumm? Why did you think I was terribly attracted to Gilderoy Lockhart? I wanted to get your attention! I wanted you to be jealous! I wanted you to notice me! Guess it only lasted for a temporary moment! And why do you think I was angry when you said that you have a crush on that Rach and Jude? You are so blind!”
“You…You did it all…for me?” Ron couldn’t help being touched and so foolish. All this while she was trying to make him notice her and yet he blew it all away by some fruitless obsession to a girl—two, in fact—that has her heart for someone else. He came near towards Hermione and hugged her from behind.
“Go away, leave me alone. Go to your dear Witches!” Hermione tried to shake him away. “You don’t care about me. You never will be!”
“I’m sorry, Mione, I’m so sorry. I promise I will never ignore you again. We can start over again,” Ron whispered to Hermione’s ear. Hermione burst into tears even more as she hugged Ron back.
Meanwhile, Harry was still discussing about his soon-encounter with Voldemort. Angelica asked, “Don’t feel nervous about the coming battle? That recent attack at the Quidditch field was really pretty scary, you know. Jude actually survived the lightning blow. That’s creepy!”
“The creepier thing is that Cedric is actually alive!” Neville said, not looking up from his book. “He was supposed to be dead, yet he was brought back to life by that You-Know-Who! I wonder what his girlfriend Cho Chang would think.”
“Come on! Cho Chang would be horrified!” Angelica replied. “Besides, that Tony did say that he and Becka are already an item, she wouldn’t want to go back to him now, would she?”
Harry remained silent at this point. It wasn’t easy but, after Cedric’s death, he tried to help Cho Chang to cope with her feelings as much as he could. He had no intentions to seize the opportunity to make Cho Chang like him back, but somehow, their chemistry has sort of clicked together and they were pretty much in a girlfriend-boyfriend term. As Harry said, words spread fast in Hogwarts, yet when Cho Chang found out from the word of Tony’s story about Cedric being alive and having the hicks for Becka, she didn’t react the way Harry was afraid she would.
“You’re going to go out to a death-defying battle,” Angelica brought Harry back to reality, “and you’re not going to spend some time with your girlfriend? Go and talk to Cho Chang! Come on!”
Without another thought, Harry got up quickly and walked out of the common room.
Rach sat on her sofa bed, stroking Slipper with one hand and holding Talos with another, feeding him. She still felt a little bit awkward about having to open her blouse and exposing her breast to the baby but she had to do it—after all, he was her own flesh and blood, as in spiritually.
“I can’t believe it, Slipper. I’m 14 years old, a 2nd year in Hogwarts, and yet I’m actually becoming a mother all of a sudden. Too much too soon, you know! I don’t know if I can handle this! And to top it all up, I’m going to go out on a mission with Jude to save Becka. Who will take care of Talos for me?”
Slipper wound himself around Rach’s waist, giving her an encouraging squeeze.
“You’re right. I guess I’ll have to count on Madame Pomfrey to baby-sit Talos for me, or get Darren to help me do it! Oh, I just love making a slave out of everyone. I’m not too nervous about this mission—I’m pretty ready—but I’m suddenly becoming a worried wart over Talos here.”
Slipper slithered round and round Rach’s waist playfully.
“You think it’s what they call ‘motherly instincts’? Man, I haven’t even get to experience a mid-life crisis yet!”
Slipper hissed, making a sound like a snake-laugh or some sort.
“You will help me check Talos too now, won’t you?”
Slipper cocked his head, letting it touch her arm, meaning, “Yeah, sure.”
“I know I can always count on you,” Rach said as she kissed Slipper’s scaly forehead. “I love you, Slipper.”
Slipper hissed back, licking her cheek with his tongue in his way of kissing her.
For the next few weeks, Jude and Rach stayed in the Hospital Wing tending to their baby. Harry did the honours to give the babies their names. He named Jude’s baby Kiaran Slytherin-Potter and Rach’s baby Talos Ravenclaw-Potter. The gang, namely Ron, Hermione, Darren and Angelica came to visit them occasionally. Draco also had his share of visiting.
After their few weeks’ rest, they moved back to their teachers’ room. Jude was glad to be back in Prof. Snape’s domain. She had taken out a bottle of Carlsberg (which she secretly sent an owl to her Muggle bartender cousin to get some) from her luggage bag, waved her wand at them to make them cold and swallowed a few gulps of the bitterish alcohol. She belched in satisfaction.
“Ahh~ The feeling of being able to burp out after a good swig, now that’s life!”
“Light, what are you drinking?” Prof. Snape entered the room. He was quite surprised to see her having Kiaran in one hand and a bottle in another.
“Carlsberg. Muggle beer. Wanna try one, sir?” Jude asked, handing a bottle to him. Prof. Snape snatched both of the bottles away from her hand.
“You know you are not supposed to drink alcoholic beverages! Your baby hasn’t even finished weaning yet!”
“Come on, sir. Just a swig! It won’t hurt anybody now, would it?”
“The answer is still no,” Prof. Snape said indignantly. “As long as you are still under-aged and still breast-feeding your child, you are not entitled to drink this.”
“Well, I hate to see them go to waste now, wouldn’t I, sir?” Jude looked up at him with those puppy eyes.
Prof. Snape stared at the bottle he was holding and finally took a swig out of it. He almost choked after drinking about a mouthful of it and his sallow cheeks actually went red immediately. He wanted to ask what was in the drink but Jude answer for him.
“42% alcohol made by the finest, purest grains available. Cool, huh?”
Prof. Snape sat on the floor abruptly. Jude found it hard to believe that a grown-up like him couldn’t take alcohol like her. To think that she would only feel a little woozy after about 4 bottles of beer and that she was about 22 years younger than Prof. Snape, yet he got woozy only by one swig.
“Are you alright, sir?” Jude asked. “Need any help?”
“I am perfectly alright,” Prof. Snape said indignantly. “And for your information, Headmaster Dumbledore has orders to let you, Yearne and Potter go with some of us on a mission to save Levi.”
“Save Becka? You mean as in come in battle with Voldemort?!” Jude exclaimed.
“You know exactly what I mean,” Prof. Snape took another swig of the beer and hacked in the process.
“But-But-But…we can’t battle with Voldemort now, can we? I mean our job is to have these kids, not fight with Voldemort…”
“Why do you say that? Are you afraid of facing your father?” Prof. Snape suddenly had his face near Jude. His breath smelt of Carlsberg. He was beginning to go drunk.
“Well…no, but…”
“You think your task is just to have Potter’s child? You thought wrong, Light. Your task is more than that!” Prof. Snape practically began to drain the beer before he continued, “You have to protect his heir, keep them safe until the day comes when they are ready to kill the Dark Lord. You have to be by Potter’s side in order to battle against him. You are his so-called Soldiers of Fortune, Sidekicks, Warriors, whatever!”
“I didn’t know that…” Jude said hesitantly, trying to keep her face away from his alcoholic breath.
“Now you do know! You girls and that wretched Potter have everything way too easy, yet I have to suffer the most. We all have to suffer because of your existence! Do you know how much I detest you?!”
“Um…sir, I think you’re drunk,” Jude pushed him away. “I think you should go to bed…”
Prof. Snape pulled up his robe sleeve and showed her the Death Eater mark on his wrist, “I want to be rid of this mark! I want to be free from the Dark Lord’s grasp! As long as your father’s alive, I will never be free! This mark will stay on my hand and I will be marked as a Death Eater for life! I want to be free from his tyranny! I want to live a normal life, teaching you dunderheads all I can offer! My life is nothing with this hideous mark on me, you understand that?”
“Yes, sir, I get the point…Please, your breath stinks,” Jude tried to push him further away but Prof. Snape continued to advanced towards her.
“I want to be free. I want to be rid of this cursed mark. I want you…”
Prof. Snape’s lips were closing in towards her own. Jude blushed. Was he actually going to kiss her on his own intentions? Was he, drunk as he was, going to share tonight with her? Jude closed her eyes, waiting for him to claim her lips…
A few moments later, she felt a sudden weight on her knees. She opened her eyes and was disappointed to see that Prof. Snape actually fell asleep on her knees. Looks like she didn’t get her wish that easily after all. She sighed, finished what was left of the Carlsberg bottle he just drank and dragged him back to his bed.
After finished feeding her baby Kiaran, she, too, sneaked up beside Prof. Snape on his bed and slept.
“You have just got to be kidding me! You, Jude and Rach are actually going to go out there and fight that You-Know-Who?!” Ron exclaimed in horror. “You’re saying that you guys are going out on a suicide mission!”
“Come on, Ron. We are not going to go there on our own,” Harry chuckled. “Prof. Lupin and Sirius will be there. And, sadly, Prof. Snape too.”
“Wow, that tongue-lashing, cynical teacher is also going?” Angelica said in exaggerated trepidation. “Now that’s a bad call for you, Harry.”
“Jude can’t just go! What about the baby? Who’ll take care of the little Kiaran?” Ron was still unsure.
“If you want, you can take care of him for us,” Harry replied.
“You sure?” Ron was all smiles. Harry nodded.
“Oh, oh, can I take care of Talos?” Angelica asked hurriedly.
“Be my guest.”
“I am so glad! I can take care of Jude’s child!” Ron said with glee. “I may not have Jude’s heart, but I still have her kid close to me! I just hope that Becka is really OK out there.”
“Do you have any idea that hanging endlessly on unrequited love is a total waste of time?” Hermione suddenly voiced out after being silent for sometime before walking away to the girls’ dorm. The others were quite surprised at her sudden attitude.
“What’s her problem?” Ron asked. Everyone shrugged. Neville, who was listening to their conversation all this while, said his opinion timidly.
“Maybe she’s been jealous all along since your obsession with the Dark and the Black Witch.”
“Are you saying that…Mione has a…a crush on…?” Ron started to blush.
“I’m just suggesting. It’s quite obvious, you know,” Neville replied before turning back to his Herbology text book.
Ron slowly got up and walked towards where Hermione just went. He saw Hermione sitting on her bed reading a book she borrowed from the library. He walked towards her bed and sat down beside her, asking, “Hey, Mione, you OK?”
Hermione didn’t answer, but she put down her book and glared at him with a pair of sodden red eyes. Ron gasped slightly. He was surprised. It was very seldom to see Hermione actually cry.
“Mione, are you crying?”
“No,” Hermione replied indignantly, brushing the tears off her eyes.
“Yes, you are. Tell me what’s wrong. Is it something to do with me?”
Hermione’s eyes started to well up again before saying, “Did you know that I…I have a liking towards you ever since we first met? You are so oblivious to everything that you don’t even notice my existence! I tried many ways to make you at least like me but you just treated me like some kind of smarty-pants!”
“Well, you have always given me the impression of a smart-alec…” Ron replied but was cut short by Hermione’s slap on the shoulder.
“Then why did you think I let myself be seduced by Victor Krumm? Why did you think I was terribly attracted to Gilderoy Lockhart? I wanted to get your attention! I wanted you to be jealous! I wanted you to notice me! Guess it only lasted for a temporary moment! And why do you think I was angry when you said that you have a crush on that Rach and Jude? You are so blind!”
“You…You did it all…for me?” Ron couldn’t help being touched and so foolish. All this while she was trying to make him notice her and yet he blew it all away by some fruitless obsession to a girl—two, in fact—that has her heart for someone else. He came near towards Hermione and hugged her from behind.
“Go away, leave me alone. Go to your dear Witches!” Hermione tried to shake him away. “You don’t care about me. You never will be!”
“I’m sorry, Mione, I’m so sorry. I promise I will never ignore you again. We can start over again,” Ron whispered to Hermione’s ear. Hermione burst into tears even more as she hugged Ron back.
Meanwhile, Harry was still discussing about his soon-encounter with Voldemort. Angelica asked, “Don’t feel nervous about the coming battle? That recent attack at the Quidditch field was really pretty scary, you know. Jude actually survived the lightning blow. That’s creepy!”
“The creepier thing is that Cedric is actually alive!” Neville said, not looking up from his book. “He was supposed to be dead, yet he was brought back to life by that You-Know-Who! I wonder what his girlfriend Cho Chang would think.”
“Come on! Cho Chang would be horrified!” Angelica replied. “Besides, that Tony did say that he and Becka are already an item, she wouldn’t want to go back to him now, would she?”
Harry remained silent at this point. It wasn’t easy but, after Cedric’s death, he tried to help Cho Chang to cope with her feelings as much as he could. He had no intentions to seize the opportunity to make Cho Chang like him back, but somehow, their chemistry has sort of clicked together and they were pretty much in a girlfriend-boyfriend term. As Harry said, words spread fast in Hogwarts, yet when Cho Chang found out from the word of Tony’s story about Cedric being alive and having the hicks for Becka, she didn’t react the way Harry was afraid she would.
“You’re going to go out to a death-defying battle,” Angelica brought Harry back to reality, “and you’re not going to spend some time with your girlfriend? Go and talk to Cho Chang! Come on!”
Without another thought, Harry got up quickly and walked out of the common room.
Rach sat on her sofa bed, stroking Slipper with one hand and holding Talos with another, feeding him. She still felt a little bit awkward about having to open her blouse and exposing her breast to the baby but she had to do it—after all, he was her own flesh and blood, as in spiritually.
“I can’t believe it, Slipper. I’m 14 years old, a 2nd year in Hogwarts, and yet I’m actually becoming a mother all of a sudden. Too much too soon, you know! I don’t know if I can handle this! And to top it all up, I’m going to go out on a mission with Jude to save Becka. Who will take care of Talos for me?”
Slipper wound himself around Rach’s waist, giving her an encouraging squeeze.
“You’re right. I guess I’ll have to count on Madame Pomfrey to baby-sit Talos for me, or get Darren to help me do it! Oh, I just love making a slave out of everyone. I’m not too nervous about this mission—I’m pretty ready—but I’m suddenly becoming a worried wart over Talos here.”
Slipper slithered round and round Rach’s waist playfully.
“You think it’s what they call ‘motherly instincts’? Man, I haven’t even get to experience a mid-life crisis yet!”
Slipper hissed, making a sound like a snake-laugh or some sort.
“You will help me check Talos too now, won’t you?”
Slipper cocked his head, letting it touch her arm, meaning, “Yeah, sure.”
“I know I can always count on you,” Rach said as she kissed Slipper’s scaly forehead. “I love you, Slipper.”
Slipper hissed back, licking her cheek with his tongue in his way of kissing her.
The Ones for The Boy Who Lived-Chp19
CHAPTER 19 – THE BIRTH OF A NEW HEIR
Jude and Rach just finished their dinner at the Great Hall. Harry also finished his and he braved himself to walk towards Jude’s table. Draco looked at him in annoyance.
“What are you doing here, Potter? This is the Slytherin’s table, you’re not supposed to be here!”
“I’m just here to discuss about certain things, if you know what I mean,” Harry replied as he took Jude’s arm. “Come, Jude. I need to ask you something.”
Draco was about to protest when Jude laid her hand on his arm, her eyes gazing at him, giving him a Let-me-go look. Draco resisted for a while before he sighed and let her go. Somehow he couldn’t resist Jude’s temptation. Jude was taken to his table. Rach was also sitting there.
“What is it you want to ask?” Jude asked Harry as soon as she sat down.
“Have you both felt anything yet?” Harry got straight to the point.
“Felt what?” Jude and Rach asked in unison.
“You know…anything wrong? Any pain? Any contraction or…” Harry tried to make it less obvious for other people.
“Oh, you mean that thing,” Jude began to comprehend. “No, I don’t feel anything yet.”
“Neither do I. Why do you ask?” Rach replied.
“Nothing. It’s just that you three were pregnant at the same time, so…if you were to feel anything, that means Becka also might feel something,” Harry replied worriedly.
“You mean if the time has come, Becka would have to give birth at that idiotic Voldemort’s domain?!” Jude lowered her voice when she mentioned the name ‘Voldemort’.
“I’m afraid so,” Harry nodded. “Tony did say about Cedric having hicks for Becka. I hope he won’t be cruel enough to kill her. Hopefully she’ll be in good hands with him.”
Becka was sitting alone in a dim room with only a few candles to light the place. She couldn’t believe that Tony was actually the spy for Voldemort. She even found it hard to believe that Cedric was a Death Eater for Voldemort and made her into one of them. Becka glared at the mark on her hand and let out a huff in contempt.
The door of her room was unlocked. She turned around and saw that it was Cedric carrying a tray of food inside. She growled, “What are you doing here?”
“I just came to get you dinner,” Cedric replied as he put the tray on the table. He came near Becka and tried to hold her in his arms but Becka resisted.
“Go away. I hate you. You betrayed me.”
“Rebecca, I don’t like this more than you do, but this is the Dark Lord’s orders.”
“Oh, and I suppose you followed his orders like a dog because you’re grateful that he brought you back to life. That’s typical!”
Ignoring Becka’s resistance, he hugged her close to his chest and whispered, “Don’t be angry with me, Rebecca. The person you should hate is Harry. He got you into this.”
Becka pushed him harshly away, “How could you?! He didn’t do anything to hurt me!! You yourself didn’t mind when he made me pregnant! I did it by my own free will! I have no reason to hate him!!”
“Maybe you don’t, but I have,” Cedric’s silver eyes gleamed in contempt.
“What…?”
“If it weren’t for him, I would’ve been alive! It’s because he’s The Boy Who Lived, he was often the target of the Dark Lord. Yes, the Dark Lord had killed me, but if Harry hadn’t existed, if only he had just died when the Dark Lord tried to kill him, all this problem would’ve just went away! I would’ve lived until now and have a normal life! It’s all Harry’s fault I was killed!!”
“If Harry hadn’t existed,” Becka said, moving further away from him, “you would’ve died all the same, along with the rest of the wizarding world. There wouldn’t even be a Hogwarts anymore.”
Cedric glared venomously at Becka and hissed, “Well, that’s not my problem now, isn’t it? Maybe it would’ve been better that way. My misery wouldn’t be so great like now!”
So saying, he stomped out of the room and locked the door. Becka rushed to the door and tugged at the door handle. No avail. It was locked from the outside and it was immune to the Alohomora spell. She looked at the food on the tray. It smelt really nice. She wanted to ignore it, but her pregnant situation wouldn’t allow it. She had to eat. She had a baby to feed.
Jude carried the tray of food all the way to the towers of the West Wing. She saw one of the house elves carrying the tray and asked him where he was taking it. When he said it was for Tony up at the West Wing, she took the tray and lied to the elf saying that there has been a change of orders.
As she reached the West Wing, she used her power to detect Tony’s aura and find which room he was. She saw a flash of the image of the Death Eater’s mark when she touched one part of the wall and opened the latch of the door. She felt a minor flash field going through her body when she came into the room, as if it was meant for people to go in and out except Death Eaters like Tony. Tony looked up and was surprised to see her.
“What are you doing here, Judith? Where’s the elf that usually send my meals?”
“A change of plans. Besides, I want to check out to see if you’re OK,” Jude said as she laid the tray of food on a table that had seen better days. “You’re still my friend.”
“Friend,” Tony snorted. “Yeah, right. You’re just here to gloat at my pathetic situation right now.”
“No, I’m not.” Jude replied indignantly as she went close to Tony. “I really am here to see if you’re OK. Hmm, at least you’re just dirty. No bruises and all.”
“Why are you doing this?” Tony glared at Jude with hate.
“Like I said, you’re my friend. You look weak. Did you even eat? Let me feed you…”
Tony pushed her away and yelled, “I don’t need your pity! Get out of here and leave me alone!!”
Jude was unperturbed. She walked over to the table and got the plate of pumpkin pie. She forked a small piece and fed it to Tony. Tony slapped the fork away, growling like an angry dog. Again, Jude slapped him, but much lighter this time. And before Tony could do anything harsh on her, Jude planted a kiss on his forehead, stopping him in his tracks.
“I may have rejected you, but I still have enough friendly feelings towards you to do this. Now, will you be a good boy and eat?”
Tony finally gave in and nodded. He couldn’t lie to himself. No matter how angry he was to her and how much hate he felt for her, his heart still had a small inkling of love for her. He didn’t protest when Jude offered to feed him. Somehow he felt blissful all over again, just like during the first time he fell in love with her.
Suddenly Jude stopped feeding him. She dropped the fork she was holding and clutched her chest in pain. Tony came to her and asked, “What happened? Are you alright?”
“I…I don’t know…I think I have some sort of…heartburn…” Jude groaned.
Tony laid his hand on her chest and said, “Judith, I think it’s time.”
Rach was in the Hospital Wing, her hands tied onto the bed railings. She was tossing and turning, groaning in pain. She felt the heartburn when she was studying in Prof. Sinistra’s room and Prof. Sinistra rushed her immediately to Madame Pomfrey.
“Where is Judith? She should be experiencing the same thing by now!” Madame Pomfrey exclaimed. “Don’t tell me Severus is trying to do this on his own!”
“What is it?” Prof. Snape asked when he entered the Hospital Wing after hearing the news. “What about me?”
“Isn’t Judith with you?” Madame Pomfrey asked.
“No, Light is not with me. I thought she was with Yearne all the time.”
“She’s…not with me…” Rach protested. “She’s already…gone somewhere…after dinner…I haven’t…seen her since!”
“Did she say where she was going?” Prof. Snape asked.
“She…said something…about meeting…someone…I don’t know who…OW! Damn it, it hurts!”
“That fool!” Prof. Snape hissed as he quickly left the ward. Madame Pomfrey quickly attended to Rach.
“Alright, Rachel. It’s going to be alright. We’ll just have to start without her.”
“Take it easy, Rebecca. I’m right here,” Cedric coaxed Becka as he tried to hold the struggling Becka in his arms.
“Go away! I don’t need your help! Oww~!” Becka whined in pain.
“It’s alright, Rebecca. I’m here. Just hang in there…”
“I hate you, damn it, I HATE YOU!!”
“Shh~~ Everything is going to be fine,” Cedric hushed her and rocked her to and fro.
“It hurts, Cedric…It hurts…” Becka finally burst into tears as she clutched Cedric’s robes tight.
“Oh shit! OH SHIT!! I’m gonna die~~!!”
“No, Judith, you’re not going to die. Just hang in there and don’t move too much!”
Jude was lying on Tony’s thighs and Tony was holding her down as hard as possible to keep her from tossing and turning too much. Jude felt as if there were thousands upon thousands of sharp knives cutting her inside her body. She started crying and whining like a child who lost her mother.
“Shh…It’s going to be alright. Just hang in there and try not to move.”
Jude grasped Tony’s wrist tightly and sobbed. She never felt so much pain before in her life. It was excruciating, like she was undergoing a slow, painful death, like a surgery without anesthesia. Tony continued to hush her and coax her, ensuring that everything would be fine. Slowly she felt her abdomen getting warmer and warmer until it actually felt like burning fire. She opened her sodden eyes and saw her abdomen glowing like an inferno. It glowed a very bright green, like a green fluorescent light. The heat began to increase until Jude couldn’t stand it anymore. She let out a bloodcurdling scream that filled the whole tower. Tony quickly tore part of his sleeve and stuffed it into her mouth, gagging her and muffling her voice. He didn’t want to risk people coming up.
Jude continued to scream and tossed her head like a mad dog. She wanted to toss and turn to get rid of the pain that was killing her but Tony held her down. No matter how she struggled, Tony was much stronger. Her abdomen glowed even brighter, lighting up the whole tower. It was even brighter than any light bulb can ever make. The pain gradually subsided but the glow still remained.
“Give it a push, Judith. Just give it a little push,” Tony whispered to her ear. Jude did as she was told. She held Tony’s wrist hard and pushed. The pain finally lifted itself from her body and the glow subsided.
When she opened her eyes, the tower was dim once more. In the glow’s place was a small baby, wailing as the air entered its lungs. Jude wept happy tears as she took the baby who was lying on her stomach close to her chest.
“Oh my God, Tony, I…I have a son…! I have a baby boy…!” Jude exclaimed weakly.
“Thank Merlin you’re alright,” Tony sighed in relief and kissed her forehead. “He’s beautiful…”
“Light?!” Prof. Snape burst into the room in the nick of time. He saw Jude lying on Tony’s thighs with the baby in her arms and quickly picked her up in his arms. He glared venomously at Tony and hissed, “I warned you that if you ever lay a finger on her, it’ll be the death of you!”
“Prof. Snape, no! He helped me with the baby! He didn’t do anything bad. I came up here by myself,” Jude defended Tony.
“You know perfectly well that you’re not supposed to be here, Light! You have been a fool long enough!” Prof. Snape snapped at her.
“I’m sorry…”
“Come away, and I do not want to see you coming up here again,” Prof. Snape carried her out of the room and latched the door with a spell, leaving Tony all alone in there.
“Yes, sir.”
Rach gave it a push like Madame Pomfrey instructed. Her efforts were answered with a loud wailing of a baby. The pain and the blue glowing finally came to a stop. Madame Pomfrey smiled and said, “Congratulations, Rachel, you have a healthy baby boy.”
“Damn. I’m actually a mother now,” Rach smiled weakly, gasping for breath. Her voice was quite rash after shouting in pain quite a long time.
“Yes, you are, Rachel. Your son would like some milk now, if you may.”
Rach blushed as she turned to one side. She pulled her shirt up and let the baby feed on her. Rach asked in surprise, “I’m not really pregnant as in physically. I didn’t expect to have any milk.”
“Oh, but you do,” Madame Pomfrey replied. “That’s the only thing physical that has changed in you ever since you have this baby. You’ll just have to live with it. Ah, there’s your friend now.”
Rach turned to see Prof. Snape coming in with Jude and the baby in his arms. He laid her on the bed beside Rach’s and Madame Pomfrey checked her and the baby thoroughly. The duo asked each other about the sex of their baby and they were surprised to find out that both their babies were boys.
“Time to have the baby weaned now,” Madame Pomfrey said. Jude blushed and waited until Prof. Snape has left the ward before unbuttoning her shirt to feed her son.
“I really, really hope that Becka is in good hands with Cedric,” Rach said as she fed her son.
Jude couldn’t agree more.
Becka opened her eyes. She must have passed out due to fatigue. The pain was gone. And she remembered a very bright red glow and her pushing before she lost consciousness. She tried to sit up but she felt herself being pushed back down to bed.
“Don’t move, Rebecca. You’re still tired.”
It was Cedric’s voice. He sounded kinder than he was when he snarled at her the last time. Just like the old Cedric she used to know. She lay back in bed.
“What…What happened to me…?” Becka breathed out her words.
“You just gave birth, remember? You just gave birth to Harry’s child.”
“Is it…Is it a boy or a…?”
Cedric came to her with a bundle in his arms, “It’s a girl. You have a baby girl.”
“Oh my God…” Becka burst into happy tears as she held the little baby in her arms. Although the room was dim, she could still make out the features: she had Harry’s eyes and her beautiful maroon hair.
“What are you going to name her?” Cedric asked.
“Henrietta. Henrietta Gryffindor-Potter,” Becka replied after a momentary thought. Cedric leaned over and kissed Becka’s forehead.
“Good work, Rebecca. You did a great job.”
Becka turned around, ignoring Cedric and tending to her baby. Cedric turned her back to face him.
“My love for you is still true. I still love you and I always will.”
So saying, he laid his lips on Becka and kissed her deeply. Surprisingly, Becka didn’t attempt to fight him away.
Jude and Rach just finished their dinner at the Great Hall. Harry also finished his and he braved himself to walk towards Jude’s table. Draco looked at him in annoyance.
“What are you doing here, Potter? This is the Slytherin’s table, you’re not supposed to be here!”
“I’m just here to discuss about certain things, if you know what I mean,” Harry replied as he took Jude’s arm. “Come, Jude. I need to ask you something.”
Draco was about to protest when Jude laid her hand on his arm, her eyes gazing at him, giving him a Let-me-go look. Draco resisted for a while before he sighed and let her go. Somehow he couldn’t resist Jude’s temptation. Jude was taken to his table. Rach was also sitting there.
“What is it you want to ask?” Jude asked Harry as soon as she sat down.
“Have you both felt anything yet?” Harry got straight to the point.
“Felt what?” Jude and Rach asked in unison.
“You know…anything wrong? Any pain? Any contraction or…” Harry tried to make it less obvious for other people.
“Oh, you mean that thing,” Jude began to comprehend. “No, I don’t feel anything yet.”
“Neither do I. Why do you ask?” Rach replied.
“Nothing. It’s just that you three were pregnant at the same time, so…if you were to feel anything, that means Becka also might feel something,” Harry replied worriedly.
“You mean if the time has come, Becka would have to give birth at that idiotic Voldemort’s domain?!” Jude lowered her voice when she mentioned the name ‘Voldemort’.
“I’m afraid so,” Harry nodded. “Tony did say about Cedric having hicks for Becka. I hope he won’t be cruel enough to kill her. Hopefully she’ll be in good hands with him.”
Becka was sitting alone in a dim room with only a few candles to light the place. She couldn’t believe that Tony was actually the spy for Voldemort. She even found it hard to believe that Cedric was a Death Eater for Voldemort and made her into one of them. Becka glared at the mark on her hand and let out a huff in contempt.
The door of her room was unlocked. She turned around and saw that it was Cedric carrying a tray of food inside. She growled, “What are you doing here?”
“I just came to get you dinner,” Cedric replied as he put the tray on the table. He came near Becka and tried to hold her in his arms but Becka resisted.
“Go away. I hate you. You betrayed me.”
“Rebecca, I don’t like this more than you do, but this is the Dark Lord’s orders.”
“Oh, and I suppose you followed his orders like a dog because you’re grateful that he brought you back to life. That’s typical!”
Ignoring Becka’s resistance, he hugged her close to his chest and whispered, “Don’t be angry with me, Rebecca. The person you should hate is Harry. He got you into this.”
Becka pushed him harshly away, “How could you?! He didn’t do anything to hurt me!! You yourself didn’t mind when he made me pregnant! I did it by my own free will! I have no reason to hate him!!”
“Maybe you don’t, but I have,” Cedric’s silver eyes gleamed in contempt.
“What…?”
“If it weren’t for him, I would’ve been alive! It’s because he’s The Boy Who Lived, he was often the target of the Dark Lord. Yes, the Dark Lord had killed me, but if Harry hadn’t existed, if only he had just died when the Dark Lord tried to kill him, all this problem would’ve just went away! I would’ve lived until now and have a normal life! It’s all Harry’s fault I was killed!!”
“If Harry hadn’t existed,” Becka said, moving further away from him, “you would’ve died all the same, along with the rest of the wizarding world. There wouldn’t even be a Hogwarts anymore.”
Cedric glared venomously at Becka and hissed, “Well, that’s not my problem now, isn’t it? Maybe it would’ve been better that way. My misery wouldn’t be so great like now!”
So saying, he stomped out of the room and locked the door. Becka rushed to the door and tugged at the door handle. No avail. It was locked from the outside and it was immune to the Alohomora spell. She looked at the food on the tray. It smelt really nice. She wanted to ignore it, but her pregnant situation wouldn’t allow it. She had to eat. She had a baby to feed.
Jude carried the tray of food all the way to the towers of the West Wing. She saw one of the house elves carrying the tray and asked him where he was taking it. When he said it was for Tony up at the West Wing, she took the tray and lied to the elf saying that there has been a change of orders.
As she reached the West Wing, she used her power to detect Tony’s aura and find which room he was. She saw a flash of the image of the Death Eater’s mark when she touched one part of the wall and opened the latch of the door. She felt a minor flash field going through her body when she came into the room, as if it was meant for people to go in and out except Death Eaters like Tony. Tony looked up and was surprised to see her.
“What are you doing here, Judith? Where’s the elf that usually send my meals?”
“A change of plans. Besides, I want to check out to see if you’re OK,” Jude said as she laid the tray of food on a table that had seen better days. “You’re still my friend.”
“Friend,” Tony snorted. “Yeah, right. You’re just here to gloat at my pathetic situation right now.”
“No, I’m not.” Jude replied indignantly as she went close to Tony. “I really am here to see if you’re OK. Hmm, at least you’re just dirty. No bruises and all.”
“Why are you doing this?” Tony glared at Jude with hate.
“Like I said, you’re my friend. You look weak. Did you even eat? Let me feed you…”
Tony pushed her away and yelled, “I don’t need your pity! Get out of here and leave me alone!!”
Jude was unperturbed. She walked over to the table and got the plate of pumpkin pie. She forked a small piece and fed it to Tony. Tony slapped the fork away, growling like an angry dog. Again, Jude slapped him, but much lighter this time. And before Tony could do anything harsh on her, Jude planted a kiss on his forehead, stopping him in his tracks.
“I may have rejected you, but I still have enough friendly feelings towards you to do this. Now, will you be a good boy and eat?”
Tony finally gave in and nodded. He couldn’t lie to himself. No matter how angry he was to her and how much hate he felt for her, his heart still had a small inkling of love for her. He didn’t protest when Jude offered to feed him. Somehow he felt blissful all over again, just like during the first time he fell in love with her.
Suddenly Jude stopped feeding him. She dropped the fork she was holding and clutched her chest in pain. Tony came to her and asked, “What happened? Are you alright?”
“I…I don’t know…I think I have some sort of…heartburn…” Jude groaned.
Tony laid his hand on her chest and said, “Judith, I think it’s time.”
Rach was in the Hospital Wing, her hands tied onto the bed railings. She was tossing and turning, groaning in pain. She felt the heartburn when she was studying in Prof. Sinistra’s room and Prof. Sinistra rushed her immediately to Madame Pomfrey.
“Where is Judith? She should be experiencing the same thing by now!” Madame Pomfrey exclaimed. “Don’t tell me Severus is trying to do this on his own!”
“What is it?” Prof. Snape asked when he entered the Hospital Wing after hearing the news. “What about me?”
“Isn’t Judith with you?” Madame Pomfrey asked.
“No, Light is not with me. I thought she was with Yearne all the time.”
“She’s…not with me…” Rach protested. “She’s already…gone somewhere…after dinner…I haven’t…seen her since!”
“Did she say where she was going?” Prof. Snape asked.
“She…said something…about meeting…someone…I don’t know who…OW! Damn it, it hurts!”
“That fool!” Prof. Snape hissed as he quickly left the ward. Madame Pomfrey quickly attended to Rach.
“Alright, Rachel. It’s going to be alright. We’ll just have to start without her.”
“Take it easy, Rebecca. I’m right here,” Cedric coaxed Becka as he tried to hold the struggling Becka in his arms.
“Go away! I don’t need your help! Oww~!” Becka whined in pain.
“It’s alright, Rebecca. I’m here. Just hang in there…”
“I hate you, damn it, I HATE YOU!!”
“Shh~~ Everything is going to be fine,” Cedric hushed her and rocked her to and fro.
“It hurts, Cedric…It hurts…” Becka finally burst into tears as she clutched Cedric’s robes tight.
“Oh shit! OH SHIT!! I’m gonna die~~!!”
“No, Judith, you’re not going to die. Just hang in there and don’t move too much!”
Jude was lying on Tony’s thighs and Tony was holding her down as hard as possible to keep her from tossing and turning too much. Jude felt as if there were thousands upon thousands of sharp knives cutting her inside her body. She started crying and whining like a child who lost her mother.
“Shh…It’s going to be alright. Just hang in there and try not to move.”
Jude grasped Tony’s wrist tightly and sobbed. She never felt so much pain before in her life. It was excruciating, like she was undergoing a slow, painful death, like a surgery without anesthesia. Tony continued to hush her and coax her, ensuring that everything would be fine. Slowly she felt her abdomen getting warmer and warmer until it actually felt like burning fire. She opened her sodden eyes and saw her abdomen glowing like an inferno. It glowed a very bright green, like a green fluorescent light. The heat began to increase until Jude couldn’t stand it anymore. She let out a bloodcurdling scream that filled the whole tower. Tony quickly tore part of his sleeve and stuffed it into her mouth, gagging her and muffling her voice. He didn’t want to risk people coming up.
Jude continued to scream and tossed her head like a mad dog. She wanted to toss and turn to get rid of the pain that was killing her but Tony held her down. No matter how she struggled, Tony was much stronger. Her abdomen glowed even brighter, lighting up the whole tower. It was even brighter than any light bulb can ever make. The pain gradually subsided but the glow still remained.
“Give it a push, Judith. Just give it a little push,” Tony whispered to her ear. Jude did as she was told. She held Tony’s wrist hard and pushed. The pain finally lifted itself from her body and the glow subsided.
When she opened her eyes, the tower was dim once more. In the glow’s place was a small baby, wailing as the air entered its lungs. Jude wept happy tears as she took the baby who was lying on her stomach close to her chest.
“Oh my God, Tony, I…I have a son…! I have a baby boy…!” Jude exclaimed weakly.
“Thank Merlin you’re alright,” Tony sighed in relief and kissed her forehead. “He’s beautiful…”
“Light?!” Prof. Snape burst into the room in the nick of time. He saw Jude lying on Tony’s thighs with the baby in her arms and quickly picked her up in his arms. He glared venomously at Tony and hissed, “I warned you that if you ever lay a finger on her, it’ll be the death of you!”
“Prof. Snape, no! He helped me with the baby! He didn’t do anything bad. I came up here by myself,” Jude defended Tony.
“You know perfectly well that you’re not supposed to be here, Light! You have been a fool long enough!” Prof. Snape snapped at her.
“I’m sorry…”
“Come away, and I do not want to see you coming up here again,” Prof. Snape carried her out of the room and latched the door with a spell, leaving Tony all alone in there.
“Yes, sir.”
Rach gave it a push like Madame Pomfrey instructed. Her efforts were answered with a loud wailing of a baby. The pain and the blue glowing finally came to a stop. Madame Pomfrey smiled and said, “Congratulations, Rachel, you have a healthy baby boy.”
“Damn. I’m actually a mother now,” Rach smiled weakly, gasping for breath. Her voice was quite rash after shouting in pain quite a long time.
“Yes, you are, Rachel. Your son would like some milk now, if you may.”
Rach blushed as she turned to one side. She pulled her shirt up and let the baby feed on her. Rach asked in surprise, “I’m not really pregnant as in physically. I didn’t expect to have any milk.”
“Oh, but you do,” Madame Pomfrey replied. “That’s the only thing physical that has changed in you ever since you have this baby. You’ll just have to live with it. Ah, there’s your friend now.”
Rach turned to see Prof. Snape coming in with Jude and the baby in his arms. He laid her on the bed beside Rach’s and Madame Pomfrey checked her and the baby thoroughly. The duo asked each other about the sex of their baby and they were surprised to find out that both their babies were boys.
“Time to have the baby weaned now,” Madame Pomfrey said. Jude blushed and waited until Prof. Snape has left the ward before unbuttoning her shirt to feed her son.
“I really, really hope that Becka is in good hands with Cedric,” Rach said as she fed her son.
Jude couldn’t agree more.
Becka opened her eyes. She must have passed out due to fatigue. The pain was gone. And she remembered a very bright red glow and her pushing before she lost consciousness. She tried to sit up but she felt herself being pushed back down to bed.
“Don’t move, Rebecca. You’re still tired.”
It was Cedric’s voice. He sounded kinder than he was when he snarled at her the last time. Just like the old Cedric she used to know. She lay back in bed.
“What…What happened to me…?” Becka breathed out her words.
“You just gave birth, remember? You just gave birth to Harry’s child.”
“Is it…Is it a boy or a…?”
Cedric came to her with a bundle in his arms, “It’s a girl. You have a baby girl.”
“Oh my God…” Becka burst into happy tears as she held the little baby in her arms. Although the room was dim, she could still make out the features: she had Harry’s eyes and her beautiful maroon hair.
“What are you going to name her?” Cedric asked.
“Henrietta. Henrietta Gryffindor-Potter,” Becka replied after a momentary thought. Cedric leaned over and kissed Becka’s forehead.
“Good work, Rebecca. You did a great job.”
Becka turned around, ignoring Cedric and tending to her baby. Cedric turned her back to face him.
“My love for you is still true. I still love you and I always will.”
So saying, he laid his lips on Becka and kissed her deeply. Surprisingly, Becka didn’t attempt to fight him away.
The Ones for The Boy Who Lived-Chp18
CHAPTER 18 – ENEMY AT THE GATES
“What?! Rebecca has disappeared?!” Prof. Dumbledore exclaimed.
“I’m sorry, Albus. I didn’t know she would sneak out. I didn’t even realize that she left. I’m so sorry…” Prof. McGonagalle apologized profusely.
“No time for that now,” Prof. Lupin urged. “We have to look for her now. She might still be in the premises.”
Jude and Rach, who overheard their conversation, also joined them in their search. They searched from one place to another and even checked the dungeons. When all places were checked but there was no sign of Becka, Jude decided to use Max for a change. She let him smell her shoes and ordered him to track down the scent. Max took them all the way to the Quidditch field where they found Tony lying on the grass unconscious. His robes were torn to shreds and his back was not a pretty sight. It was exposed, and I mean fully exposed to the bone. It was as if someone ripped his back skin apart, revealing his muscles and tendons and everything. He was immediately rushed to the Hospital Wing where Madame Pomfrey sprinkled some brick-coloured dust onto his back. The duo could see his new skin crawling up his literally bare back.
“What happened?” Jude asked, but Tony’s face looked as if he was close to death that she decided not to press it further. She noticed the slash scars and burns on the rest of his body, which proved that he was an ex-Death Eater. Madame Pomfrey shooed them out of the Hospital Wing and continued her work in bandaging his back.
“It looks serious,” Rach commented.
“Serious? He looked like Fluffy just had him for a midnight snack!” Jude exclaimed.
“Fluffy? Who’s Fluffy?” Rach looked at her surprisingly.
“Hagrid’s Greek 3-headed dog. About this big and this tall,” Jude replied, using her arms as a measurement.
“You gotta be kidding me!” Rach said in disbelief.
“You can check it out if you want.”
“As a matter of fact, I will. Take me to him.”
When Jude took her to the prohibited third corridor and showed her Fluffy, Rach froze on the spot. The huge, giant 3-headed dog sniffed and growled at her. Jude went over to pacify him.
“There, there, Fluffy. It’s alright. We’re here to visit. She’s a friend. That’s a sweetie pup.”
A small rumble came out of Fluffy—a sort of dog-purr—as he rubbed his 3 heads onto Jude’s palm. Rach still remained at the same spot, quite taken aback by the humongous ferocity of the canine.
“How did you actually make friends with this…beast?” Rach asked.
“I, uh, sorta skipped Prof. Snape’s class a few times and during my free time, Hagrid introduced me to Fluffy.”
“Fluffy? That’s one big irony if I would say so myself.”
“The more vicious the animal, the nicer the name. That’s what Hagrid told me.”
As the girls played around with Fluffy, Hagrid appeared with three large dog bowls dragging behind him on a trolley. Hagrid smiled and said, “Aye, lassies! I see ye bin friends wi’ ol’ Fluffy ‘ere, eh?”
“Hi, Hagrid!” the girls said in unison.
“It’s very rare to sees ol’ Fluffy ‘av any friends. He gits lonely ‘ere sometimes. He’s only got ol’ Hagrid ‘ere fer company, ye know. He’s very hostile to ‘em students.”
“I bet,” Rach agreed. “Just look at how he sucks up on Jude.”
“That’s because I handle dogs a lot, unlike you being obsessed with your Slipper! You oughta marry that serpenet if you love him so much!” Jude replied with a grin.
“Maybe I should, you dogface!” Rach scowled as she blushed. That was exactly what she intended to do anyway.
“Speakin’ of snakes, is dis snakeskin belonging to yer lil’ snake, Rachel?” Hagrid asked as he held up a long snake skin he took out from his bushy coat.
“Yes! Absolutely!” Rach exclaimed as she took a look at the snakeskin. It definitely was that earth colour her Slipper had. “Where did you get it, Hagrid?”
“I found it on me way tuh ‘ere. I wuz cleaning de spectators’ benches at de Quidditch field when I sees this snake skin. Then ye girls suddenly appeared at de field wi’ dat golden-haired boy lyin’ on the field. Funny I didn’t sees him coz he was right der. Must be me age…”
“Thanks, Hagrid!” Rach said as she dragged Jude back to her room at Prof. Sinistra’s domain. Jude was surprised at her sudden behaviour.
“What is with you, Rach? If there’s something in your mind you can just say it!”
“I’ve read stuff about your father being a Parselmouth, you know, as in having the ability to talk to snakes,” Rach said as she said the password to the wall, revealing Prof. Sinistra’s room.
“Yeah, so?” Jude was getting confused.
“Whatever your father had, you must have inherited some of it. You can talk to him about last night. Slipper! Slipper, where are you?”
“Why would I want to talk to your snake?” Jude wrinkled her nose.
“Try to recall. Hagrid said that he found Slipper’s skin at the Quidditch field—Slipper, come here—so he must have been there last night for some reason!” Rach stooped to pick up the python. “He must’ve seen something last night. He might know who kidnapped Becka!”
“By gosh, you’re right!” Jude said as she took Slipper and put him around her neck. “OK, I just learnt how to do this—Harry taught me—let’s see how it works.”
Jude started to hiss and slur at Slipper, talking to him in Parseltongue. When they finished their conversation, Jude’s face became dark and her eyes were screaming murder.
“So…what did he say?” Rach asked.
Jude didn’t reply. She got up abruptly and ran out of the room. Rach didn’t have time to ask questions. The only thing she could do was follow Jude from behind.
Tony was quite taken aback when he saw Jude storming into the Hospital Wing. He somehow knew that his secret was discovered. He was ready for it. He had been waiting for this moment a long time.
“How could you do this? How could you be in alliance with Voldemort and help him kidnap Becka?! You’re a Death Eater all along!!” Jude’s eyes blazed green with fury. Harry, who was visiting Tony, was taken by surprise.
Tony grinned and showed his Death Eater mark on his wrist to her, “That’s right, Judith. I am in alliance with the Dark Lord. I was chosen by the Dark Lord to keep an eye on you Witches for years now! I’m not an ex-Death Eater. I never left the Dark Lord. I’m a Muggle-born, born and bred at your birthplace in Asia after my parents migrated there from Scotland. I have been watching you girls ever since you have developed your powers, Judith. Did you know how long that is?”
Jude slapped Tony real hard, squarely on his cheek, until the corner of his lips bled. Madame Pomfrey slowly inched her way out of the Hospital Wing to report this to Prof. Dumbledore. Tony licked the blood off his lips and said, “You’ll have to do better than that, Judith. The Dark Lord is best at torturing people. This is child’s play.”
“How could you?! How dare you?! I trusted you!! You’re…You’re my best friend!”
“Friend?” Tony laughed bitterly. “That is a foolish movement. Emotions are always weaknesses of man. Nevertheless my love for you, Judith, is true. Well, it used to be.”
“Bull! If you love Jude so much, you wouldn’t be doing this! Betraying her, betraying us, betraying Hogwarts! Entering here as a spy! You got some nerve!” Rach snarled, her eyes also beginning to glow blue.
“Do you think I would be stupid enough to fall in love with an archenemy? Well, unfortunately, I have become a temporary fool, but not anymore!” Tony replied with a smirk.
“Why are you doing this, Tony? Jude is your friend!” Harry said as he moved towards Rach’s side.
“You call someone who killed your parents a friend?! Get real, Harry, you hated the Dark Lord down to the bone for killing your parents! You should know how I feel!!”
“I don’t know your parents,” Jude replied. “I didn’t kill anybody.”
“Oh, you didn’t!” Tony waved his hands sarcastically. “What do you call killing off a whole bunch of innocent people in the playground? I was there, Judith. I saw you going all freaky and you murdered my parents right in front of my eyes!! You killed without mercy, damn it! If it weren’t for Lucius Malfoy, I would’ve become your victim too!!!”
“Lucius Malfoy?!” Harry exclaimed. “Draco’s father?! He’s still with Voldemort? That dirty rat…”
“The Dark Lord took me in. He trained me to be cold and heartless and to show no mercy. He gave me the assignment to watch over you, to spy on you for many long years. The year you got your letters from Hogwarts, I reported it to Voldemort straightaway. Lucius helped me enroll into Hogwarts. He had been a good help. The Dark Lord borrowed my body so that he could pitch into Hogwarts to get a closer look at our dear Witches.”
“The same way he did with Prof. Quirrell!” Harry exclaimed again.
“Exactly. Finally when I came to you face to face at the Hogwarts Express, I swear I wanted to kill you there and then. But you saved me from choking, and I found myself being a fool and fell in love with you. I hoped that once you’re on my side, the Dark Lord would spare your life and make you into a potential Death Eater. But no, you have disappointed me. The Dark Lord was right; emotions are foolish things! You broke my heart and I wanted you to pay! That’s why I sort of ‘swept you off your feet’ that night you rejected my confession. I was hoping you would break your neck, but the Dark Lord actually turned you into inferno.”
“So it was you who constantly send her on fire!” Rach growled in contempt.
“Not me, it was the Dark Lord. He could be murderous sometimes,” Tony grinned evilly.
“You never loved me! You only wanted my body, not my heart! You’re just like Voldemort!” Jude shouted at him, only to be replied by Tony’s evil laugh.
“What about Becka? Why did Voldemort want her?” Harry asked.
“Do you remember Cedric?”
“What about him? He’s already dead last year.”
“On the contrary, Harry, he is very much alive. The Dark Lord brought him back to life and he has now become one of us. It seems that he had his hicks with Rebecca. The Dark Lord wants to keep her until she gives birth to your child and then kill it in front of her eyes before killing her too! Cedric hates you, if you want to know. He practically blamed you for dragging him into the mess with Voldemort last year and got himself killed!”
“It was…It was an accident! None of us wanted to be there more than Voldemort wanted us to!” Harry replied.
“Unfortunately, Cedric doesn’t feel this way. The Dark Lord is not taking any chances of letting the prophecy come true. After he has killed Rebecca, he’ll be after you!”
Without warning, he pointed his wand at the girls and Harry. He smirked and said, “The Dark Lord said that I’m on my own now, so that means he has given me the chance to fulfill my revenge on Judith. And if I get to kill Rachel and Harry in the process, he might make me his trusted right-hand man. I’ll be able to kick off Pettigrew from his stand! Oh, by the way, Judith my sweet, thanks for the memories.”
They couldn’t think of any plan. If they were to reach out for their wands, they would be killed for sure. Yet if they don’t do anything, they’ll be killed for sure anyway. Tony laughed wickedly and started chanting, “Avada…”
“Expelliarmus!!”
The girls and Harry turned around. Prof. Snape has used the disarming spell just in time. Tony was flung backward and hit his head on the bed, knocking him unconscious. Prof. Lupin rushed over to take him out of the ward. Prof. Dumbledore sighed and said, “Remus, put this child under dorm arrest. The Ministry will deal with him later once I’ve contacted them. Place him in the towers at the West Wing.”
The kids sighed with relief as they gathered themselves together within the grown-ups. Jude felt herself being dragged close to Prof. Snape’s chest with one of his arm and was asked, “Are you alright?”
“Uh, yeah, I’m OK. No bones broken or anything,” Jude replied, blushing a little.
“Good,” Prof. Snape replied before letting her go abruptly and walking away.
Jude didn’t know whether to be happy or sad at Prof. Snape’s sudden attitude.
“What?! Rebecca has disappeared?!” Prof. Dumbledore exclaimed.
“I’m sorry, Albus. I didn’t know she would sneak out. I didn’t even realize that she left. I’m so sorry…” Prof. McGonagalle apologized profusely.
“No time for that now,” Prof. Lupin urged. “We have to look for her now. She might still be in the premises.”
Jude and Rach, who overheard their conversation, also joined them in their search. They searched from one place to another and even checked the dungeons. When all places were checked but there was no sign of Becka, Jude decided to use Max for a change. She let him smell her shoes and ordered him to track down the scent. Max took them all the way to the Quidditch field where they found Tony lying on the grass unconscious. His robes were torn to shreds and his back was not a pretty sight. It was exposed, and I mean fully exposed to the bone. It was as if someone ripped his back skin apart, revealing his muscles and tendons and everything. He was immediately rushed to the Hospital Wing where Madame Pomfrey sprinkled some brick-coloured dust onto his back. The duo could see his new skin crawling up his literally bare back.
“What happened?” Jude asked, but Tony’s face looked as if he was close to death that she decided not to press it further. She noticed the slash scars and burns on the rest of his body, which proved that he was an ex-Death Eater. Madame Pomfrey shooed them out of the Hospital Wing and continued her work in bandaging his back.
“It looks serious,” Rach commented.
“Serious? He looked like Fluffy just had him for a midnight snack!” Jude exclaimed.
“Fluffy? Who’s Fluffy?” Rach looked at her surprisingly.
“Hagrid’s Greek 3-headed dog. About this big and this tall,” Jude replied, using her arms as a measurement.
“You gotta be kidding me!” Rach said in disbelief.
“You can check it out if you want.”
“As a matter of fact, I will. Take me to him.”
When Jude took her to the prohibited third corridor and showed her Fluffy, Rach froze on the spot. The huge, giant 3-headed dog sniffed and growled at her. Jude went over to pacify him.
“There, there, Fluffy. It’s alright. We’re here to visit. She’s a friend. That’s a sweetie pup.”
A small rumble came out of Fluffy—a sort of dog-purr—as he rubbed his 3 heads onto Jude’s palm. Rach still remained at the same spot, quite taken aback by the humongous ferocity of the canine.
“How did you actually make friends with this…beast?” Rach asked.
“I, uh, sorta skipped Prof. Snape’s class a few times and during my free time, Hagrid introduced me to Fluffy.”
“Fluffy? That’s one big irony if I would say so myself.”
“The more vicious the animal, the nicer the name. That’s what Hagrid told me.”
As the girls played around with Fluffy, Hagrid appeared with three large dog bowls dragging behind him on a trolley. Hagrid smiled and said, “Aye, lassies! I see ye bin friends wi’ ol’ Fluffy ‘ere, eh?”
“Hi, Hagrid!” the girls said in unison.
“It’s very rare to sees ol’ Fluffy ‘av any friends. He gits lonely ‘ere sometimes. He’s only got ol’ Hagrid ‘ere fer company, ye know. He’s very hostile to ‘em students.”
“I bet,” Rach agreed. “Just look at how he sucks up on Jude.”
“That’s because I handle dogs a lot, unlike you being obsessed with your Slipper! You oughta marry that serpenet if you love him so much!” Jude replied with a grin.
“Maybe I should, you dogface!” Rach scowled as she blushed. That was exactly what she intended to do anyway.
“Speakin’ of snakes, is dis snakeskin belonging to yer lil’ snake, Rachel?” Hagrid asked as he held up a long snake skin he took out from his bushy coat.
“Yes! Absolutely!” Rach exclaimed as she took a look at the snakeskin. It definitely was that earth colour her Slipper had. “Where did you get it, Hagrid?”
“I found it on me way tuh ‘ere. I wuz cleaning de spectators’ benches at de Quidditch field when I sees this snake skin. Then ye girls suddenly appeared at de field wi’ dat golden-haired boy lyin’ on the field. Funny I didn’t sees him coz he was right der. Must be me age…”
“Thanks, Hagrid!” Rach said as she dragged Jude back to her room at Prof. Sinistra’s domain. Jude was surprised at her sudden behaviour.
“What is with you, Rach? If there’s something in your mind you can just say it!”
“I’ve read stuff about your father being a Parselmouth, you know, as in having the ability to talk to snakes,” Rach said as she said the password to the wall, revealing Prof. Sinistra’s room.
“Yeah, so?” Jude was getting confused.
“Whatever your father had, you must have inherited some of it. You can talk to him about last night. Slipper! Slipper, where are you?”
“Why would I want to talk to your snake?” Jude wrinkled her nose.
“Try to recall. Hagrid said that he found Slipper’s skin at the Quidditch field—Slipper, come here—so he must have been there last night for some reason!” Rach stooped to pick up the python. “He must’ve seen something last night. He might know who kidnapped Becka!”
“By gosh, you’re right!” Jude said as she took Slipper and put him around her neck. “OK, I just learnt how to do this—Harry taught me—let’s see how it works.”
Jude started to hiss and slur at Slipper, talking to him in Parseltongue. When they finished their conversation, Jude’s face became dark and her eyes were screaming murder.
“So…what did he say?” Rach asked.
Jude didn’t reply. She got up abruptly and ran out of the room. Rach didn’t have time to ask questions. The only thing she could do was follow Jude from behind.
Tony was quite taken aback when he saw Jude storming into the Hospital Wing. He somehow knew that his secret was discovered. He was ready for it. He had been waiting for this moment a long time.
“How could you do this? How could you be in alliance with Voldemort and help him kidnap Becka?! You’re a Death Eater all along!!” Jude’s eyes blazed green with fury. Harry, who was visiting Tony, was taken by surprise.
Tony grinned and showed his Death Eater mark on his wrist to her, “That’s right, Judith. I am in alliance with the Dark Lord. I was chosen by the Dark Lord to keep an eye on you Witches for years now! I’m not an ex-Death Eater. I never left the Dark Lord. I’m a Muggle-born, born and bred at your birthplace in Asia after my parents migrated there from Scotland. I have been watching you girls ever since you have developed your powers, Judith. Did you know how long that is?”
Jude slapped Tony real hard, squarely on his cheek, until the corner of his lips bled. Madame Pomfrey slowly inched her way out of the Hospital Wing to report this to Prof. Dumbledore. Tony licked the blood off his lips and said, “You’ll have to do better than that, Judith. The Dark Lord is best at torturing people. This is child’s play.”
“How could you?! How dare you?! I trusted you!! You’re…You’re my best friend!”
“Friend?” Tony laughed bitterly. “That is a foolish movement. Emotions are always weaknesses of man. Nevertheless my love for you, Judith, is true. Well, it used to be.”
“Bull! If you love Jude so much, you wouldn’t be doing this! Betraying her, betraying us, betraying Hogwarts! Entering here as a spy! You got some nerve!” Rach snarled, her eyes also beginning to glow blue.
“Do you think I would be stupid enough to fall in love with an archenemy? Well, unfortunately, I have become a temporary fool, but not anymore!” Tony replied with a smirk.
“Why are you doing this, Tony? Jude is your friend!” Harry said as he moved towards Rach’s side.
“You call someone who killed your parents a friend?! Get real, Harry, you hated the Dark Lord down to the bone for killing your parents! You should know how I feel!!”
“I don’t know your parents,” Jude replied. “I didn’t kill anybody.”
“Oh, you didn’t!” Tony waved his hands sarcastically. “What do you call killing off a whole bunch of innocent people in the playground? I was there, Judith. I saw you going all freaky and you murdered my parents right in front of my eyes!! You killed without mercy, damn it! If it weren’t for Lucius Malfoy, I would’ve become your victim too!!!”
“Lucius Malfoy?!” Harry exclaimed. “Draco’s father?! He’s still with Voldemort? That dirty rat…”
“The Dark Lord took me in. He trained me to be cold and heartless and to show no mercy. He gave me the assignment to watch over you, to spy on you for many long years. The year you got your letters from Hogwarts, I reported it to Voldemort straightaway. Lucius helped me enroll into Hogwarts. He had been a good help. The Dark Lord borrowed my body so that he could pitch into Hogwarts to get a closer look at our dear Witches.”
“The same way he did with Prof. Quirrell!” Harry exclaimed again.
“Exactly. Finally when I came to you face to face at the Hogwarts Express, I swear I wanted to kill you there and then. But you saved me from choking, and I found myself being a fool and fell in love with you. I hoped that once you’re on my side, the Dark Lord would spare your life and make you into a potential Death Eater. But no, you have disappointed me. The Dark Lord was right; emotions are foolish things! You broke my heart and I wanted you to pay! That’s why I sort of ‘swept you off your feet’ that night you rejected my confession. I was hoping you would break your neck, but the Dark Lord actually turned you into inferno.”
“So it was you who constantly send her on fire!” Rach growled in contempt.
“Not me, it was the Dark Lord. He could be murderous sometimes,” Tony grinned evilly.
“You never loved me! You only wanted my body, not my heart! You’re just like Voldemort!” Jude shouted at him, only to be replied by Tony’s evil laugh.
“What about Becka? Why did Voldemort want her?” Harry asked.
“Do you remember Cedric?”
“What about him? He’s already dead last year.”
“On the contrary, Harry, he is very much alive. The Dark Lord brought him back to life and he has now become one of us. It seems that he had his hicks with Rebecca. The Dark Lord wants to keep her until she gives birth to your child and then kill it in front of her eyes before killing her too! Cedric hates you, if you want to know. He practically blamed you for dragging him into the mess with Voldemort last year and got himself killed!”
“It was…It was an accident! None of us wanted to be there more than Voldemort wanted us to!” Harry replied.
“Unfortunately, Cedric doesn’t feel this way. The Dark Lord is not taking any chances of letting the prophecy come true. After he has killed Rebecca, he’ll be after you!”
Without warning, he pointed his wand at the girls and Harry. He smirked and said, “The Dark Lord said that I’m on my own now, so that means he has given me the chance to fulfill my revenge on Judith. And if I get to kill Rachel and Harry in the process, he might make me his trusted right-hand man. I’ll be able to kick off Pettigrew from his stand! Oh, by the way, Judith my sweet, thanks for the memories.”
They couldn’t think of any plan. If they were to reach out for their wands, they would be killed for sure. Yet if they don’t do anything, they’ll be killed for sure anyway. Tony laughed wickedly and started chanting, “Avada…”
“Expelliarmus!!”
The girls and Harry turned around. Prof. Snape has used the disarming spell just in time. Tony was flung backward and hit his head on the bed, knocking him unconscious. Prof. Lupin rushed over to take him out of the ward. Prof. Dumbledore sighed and said, “Remus, put this child under dorm arrest. The Ministry will deal with him later once I’ve contacted them. Place him in the towers at the West Wing.”
The kids sighed with relief as they gathered themselves together within the grown-ups. Jude felt herself being dragged close to Prof. Snape’s chest with one of his arm and was asked, “Are you alright?”
“Uh, yeah, I’m OK. No bones broken or anything,” Jude replied, blushing a little.
“Good,” Prof. Snape replied before letting her go abruptly and walking away.
Jude didn’t know whether to be happy or sad at Prof. Snape’s sudden attitude.
The Ones for The Boy Who Lived-Chp17
CHAPTER 17 – THE KIDNAPPING
“Hey, what subjects are you going to pick?”
“I dunno, what about you?”
The trio held their parchments on their laps, trying to decide which elective subjects to take for their third year. It was a pretty short list, with only 5 subjects, but the trio was still wracking their brains trying to decide.
“I, for one, am taking Divination,” Jude said, ticking that subject. “No point wasting the crystal ball. I just love venturing into the unknown!”
“I’m definitely taking Arithmancy and Ancient Runes,” Rach declared. “I love to study ancient languages and counting.”
“I dunno,” Becka went undecided. “Care of Magical Creatures sounds OK, but all these subjects seemed difficult yet interesting, except Muggle Studies. No way am I taking that!”
Finally, after much wondering and pondering, Jude decided on Divination, Ancient Runes and Care of Magical Creatures. Becka finally chose Care of Magical Creatures and Arithmancy. Rach stuck to her original decision. They signed their parchment and sent an owl to Prof. Dumbledore’s office.
“Guys, look, look! Look what I got!” Becka squealed as she took out a box she put under the table. Jude and Rach craned their necks and squealed in delight as well. There were 3 kittens: one was pure black, another was pure white and the last one was black with white on its feet, tip of the tail, ears and a shape of a white diamond on its forehead. All of them stared back at them with glassy blue eyes.
“Kawaii-ne!” Jude giggled as she picked up one to cuddle. Rach also took one. “I suppose they’ve done weaning?”
“Almost,” Becka replied proudly. “One of my juniors was shocked to find her white Persian cat missing. She was in a glum for days. Salem also constantly disappeared to goodness-knows-where and only returned during bedtime. Finally we decided to follow Salem to see where he went and we both found him and the Persian cat in a very dark corner of the common room weaning 6 kittens!”
“Interesting!” Rach said admiringly. Of course, the Ice Queen that she was, she didn’t tell anyone about her plans on searching for a remedy to make Slipper human. No way was she going to get him a mate. Slipper belongs to her and her alone.
“My Max had a hitch on one of my juniors’ Doberman dog,” Jude said grudgingly, “and that rascal got that bitch pregnant. My junior was horrified. He insisted on me paying a fine sum of penalty. Could you imagine him asking me to pay 30 Galleons just because of Mother Nature’s natural grace? The nerve of him!”
“So did you pay?” Becka asked.
“Nope. Draco helped me out by somewhat blackmailing the junior. So the junior finally relented by telling me to take all the puppies away as soon as they’re born. He is so bored!”
“Looks like Draco still has a hick on you, even when you are so over-ratedly pregnant,” Rach commented witih a sly grin.
“Excuse me! I’m not the only one over-ratedly pregnant here! You guys are also into this, remember?!”
“Hey, girls! Anything interesting you’d like to share with me?” A voice called them from behind. The ever familiar (and famous) Harry Potter.
“Good morning, Harry,” the trio said in unison.
“Quidditch seasons is here again. Interested in joining?”
“Um…F.Y.I?” Becka cleared her throat and pointed at her abdomen. Rach and Jude did the same.
“Oh, sorry. I forgot,” Harry replied sheepishly. “Well, there’s always next year.”
“How many more months, Harry?” Jude asked. “Of course, we don’t feel any bulge, that’s good news, but the whole thing is just dragging and dragging like heck! We’re tried of being over-protected by everyone, especially that fussy ol’ Madame Pomfrey!”
“Including you!” Becka said, pointing at the awkward Harry.
“Don’t worry, girls. I may not be sure about the whole thing, but when it’s time, I’m sure you’ll be in good hands.”
“That’s what we’re afraid of,” Rach said, a hint of ‘Duh’ in her tone.
The Quidditch game was, again, a big hit. Everyone was enthusiastic, especially the trio. They cheered madly at every game the teams score and every Bludger the team players managed to escape and hit. And most importantly, the exhilaration when the Seeker gets the Snitch.
But their fun was short-lived. Weird things kept happening on the field. The Bludgers suddenly went wild and almost broke a player’s leg and skinned many others. The Quaffle came alive and attacked the players. Even the Golden Snitch deliberately made itself found and bit the players fiercely.
Yes, it actually bites.
The last straw was that the sky suddenly turned dark—like a thunder storm coming—thick with evil. Everyone gasped. They recognized that evil.
It was the evil of Voldemort.
Thunder boomed. Lightning flashed. Showers of fatal, treacherous lightning came down and struck the Quidditch teams and the spectators, focusing on the trio. Everyone panicked and ran to seek refuge in the castle. A strong invisible force pinned the trio down. Jude was able to counter it and was heading towards her girlfriends to save them when all of a sudden, Jude was struck by the incoming lightning. Jude yelled in pain before collapsing to the ground. By then, the force has lifted itself from Rach and Becka.
“Jude! Jude, oh no, Jude! Don’t die!” Becka cried as she tried to shake Jude awake.
“I’m fine. I’m not dead yet. I just can’t move right now…” Jude said slowly. “Am I still alive?”
“Duh! Obviously you are! You scared us…” Rach was about to help her up when she heard a stern call.
“What are you girls still doing here?!” It was Prof. Snape, risking his life through the showering lightning bolts towards the trio. “You dunderheads will be killed! Get inside the castle this instance!”
Hagrid was behind him, and with one swipe, he picked up Jude by the waist and hobbled along behind Prof. Snape leading the other two back into Hogwarts castle. Jude groaned slightly—she was hoping Prof. Snape would carry her in his arms.
Everyone gathered at the Great hall. Rach and Becka were ushered inside towards the staff’s table. Jude was taken to the Hospital Wing straight away and, to Jude’s dread, Madame Pomfrey got shocked off the roof again and fussed at her all over. Prof. Dumbledore announced to everyone to stay in their dorms for the rest of the day. Prof. Dumbledore then took the other duo and Harry to the Hospital Wing to check and see if Jude was alright.
“You OK now, Jude?” Rach asked, feeling her forehead for a temperature.
“Yeah, I suppose. I thought I was a goner.”
“Are you sure?” Harry asked, worried. “That was one hard blow. Any normal wizard or Muggle could get killed.”
“I’m perfectly a-OK,” Jude reassured them. “No biggie, really. Although I am surprised of being able to survive.”
“Then…is the baby…?” Becka asked, feeling even more worried than the others.
“The child is alright. He really is a fighter, that baby,” Madame Pomfrey replied, then turned to Jude and said, “It’s a boy. I used a spell to see it.”
Everyone sighed in relief.
Prof. McGonagalle and Prof. Snape stepped into the Hospital Wing. Jude blushed and looked away from him. Her heart still thumped at the sight of the cold, shoulder-length haired professor—she didn’t want him to see her blushing.
“All students have been sent to their dorms. The Great Hall is totally evacuated,” Prof. McGonagalle, as Deputy Headmistress, reported to her superior. Prof. Dumbledore nodded.
“I’m sure you’re aware that what happened just now is neither ordinary sorcery nor bad weather. He’s finally found out about the Witches’ whereabouts.”
“But even if he knew about where we are,” Rach said, “he would never enter Hogwarts! He couldn’t even step into Hogwarts! The book on Hogwarts’ history said so.”
“Unless we have a spy or an accomplice working for him. A Death Eater, perhaps,” Harry secretly eyed at Prof. Snape.
“Or maybe Voldemort has become so strong, he could penetrate the castle within seconds!” Becka said in dread.
“Alright,” Prof. Dumbledore decided to take charge of things. “Suppose Harry’s right. Maybe there is a spy among Hogwarts, maybe not. I shall go and see to this matter personally. The point is we have to ensure the Witches’ safety.”
“I suggest we move the Witches to our own dormitories. It is not safe to let them go back to their own dorms anymore,” Prof. Snape suddenly suggested. Everyone, except Prof. Dumbledore, looked at him as if he had lost his marbles.
“Very well,” Prof. Dumbledore nodded in agreement. “Girls, you are going to live in your house teachers’ room for the time being. You’ll be safe with grown-ups around you.”
“But I don’t want to live with Prof. Flitwick!!” Rach protested. “He may be nice, but I don’t fancy living in the same room with him!”
Prof. Dumbledore chuckled and said, “Very well. You can stay with Prof. Sinistra then.”
Rach clapped her hands with glee.
It has been 2 weeks since the trio has been living with their teachers. They were adjusting pretty well with their new surroundings, except Jude. It was the first time for Jude to step into Prof. Snape’s domain. Everything was as dark and as sinister as he was. Jude couldn’t help feeling awkward every time she entered his room. The first time she came, Prof. Snape gave her so many ground rules, like ‘Don’t touch this’, ‘Don’t move that’, ‘Don’t sit there’, ‘Don’t let your dog on anything’, etc, etc…
“Are you expecting me just stand here and don’t move?”
“If you are capable to do so, I suppose you should.”
Jude scowled at him and said, “Very well then. I will do the exact opposite of everything you say, if that’s the attitude I have to face every time I enter this room.”
So saying, she ran towards Prof. Snape’s bedroom and jumped onto his grayish-blue bed, tossing and turning around as she let her whole body have the feel of the soft, fluffy bed. When Prof. Snape gave chase, she got off the bed and got herself a drink from Prof. Snape’s jar and glass on his table. She even rushed to his bathroom and tested the running water from the eerie gargoyle-shaped tap he had. She rushed to his shelves of books and flipped through almost every book he had there. Finally she went into his office which was attached to his room by a secret door on the wall and looked at all the potion ingredients he had on his shelf. Prof. Snape stormed into the office and grabbed the jar of silverweed she was holding.
“If you ever step into this office without my personal permission and touch my things, I am going to…”
“What?” Jude looked at him as if he was just an insignificant other. “You’ll put a curse on me?”
Prof. Snape glared at the unmoving Jude venomously before letting out a sharp huff, saying, “If there is nothing else you want to do here, I shall have to ask you to leave immediately!”
Jude let out a sweet smile and said as she left the office, “That wasn’t so bad now, wasn’t it?”
That night, when they were about to turn in, Jude was ordered to sleep on the sofa bed that was opposite the grayish-blue bed of Prof. Snape. He threw her some old, but still intact, blankets for her and retired to his own bed. Jude stayed on the sofa bed for quite sometime until she heard the faint breathing of Prof. Snape asleep on his bed. Slowly she sneaked out of the sofa bed and let Max the dog take her place. She hushed the dog, tucked him in and crept as silently as possible towards Prof. Snape’s bed.
When she was about to climb up the bed, Prof. Snape suddenly sat up with his wand pointing dangerously at her throat. Jude gasped and froze in the midway. Prof. Snape let out an exasperated sigh and growled, “What do you think you’re doing?”
“I just wanna sleep with you. That sofa bed was quite uncomfortable,” Jude replied as she slipped into his blanket.
“Get out, Light. You know very well you’re not supposed to be here.”
“No,” Jude said indignantly as she brought the blanket over her. She closed her eyes and refused to budge. Prof. Snape actually had to use the Wingardium Leviosa spell to get rid of her.
That was the first night in Prof. Snape’s room. The next nights to come, she tried to creep up to Prof. Snape’s bed again and again, but to no avail. He always shooed her away with the levitation spell. Finally, at the second last day of the first week, she succeeded. Prof. Snape did wake up to find her sleeping beside him and wanted to use the spell but in the end, he got tired of it. He let her be.
Jude, half-asleep as she was, could have sworn she felt Prof. Snape’s arm around her.
The night was calm. The trio slept peacefully at their respective house teachers’ rooms. As usual, Jude would climb up to Prof. Snape’s bed and lay down to sleep beside him. Only Rach and Becka had no complaints about having a sofa bed as a place to sleep.
Suddenly, a soft mellow music echoed through the moon-lit sky. It was the tune of a flute, playing nice and slow, like a song from the horizon. It was obviously directed only to Becka because she got up from her sofa bed automatically and yet Prof. McGonagalle didn’t stir. She walked out of the room, her eyes glowing red. Salem woke up when he felt himself slide off Becka’s tummy and tried to grope at her in vain. The trance she fell into was too deep.
The music brought her to the Quidditch field. A dark figure was standing there, waiting, playing the flute. If Salem were to follow her, he would’ve recognized the smell of that figure, including another smell. A smell of evil.
Pure evil. Pure venom.
The figure stopped playing. He put down his flute and waited until Becka regained her consciousness. The clouds moved rapidly by a strong gust of icy-cold wind. Becka came back to her senses and look to see where she was.
“This…is the field. What am I doing here? Have I been sleep-walking? Weird…”
By then, she noticed the figure’s presence. The moon was covered by the dark clouds. She squinted her eyes to see him better but she could only make out his shape.
“Who are you? What are you doing here? What am I doing here?”
The figure didn’t reply. He just stood there in silence. Slowly, someone else appeared, descending himself to the ground from above. He passed his broom to the first figure and walked towards Becka. He held her down. Becka recognized this grasp. It felt like…
Before she could make sense of it all, a grayish-black mist emitted from the first figure’s back. It stood tall and mighty, like a huge Eiffel Tower of Paris. Becka gaped as it continued to tower over them and tried to cower away, but the person holding her had a much stronger grip. All of a sudden, the ‘mist’s’ eyes popped open, glowing red. Like serpent’s eyes. The mist continued to form into a shape of a middle-aged man.
Those eyes rang a bell. Becka staggered backwards, “Vol…Volde…”
“Get the Dark Witch. Now,” A deep rumbling came from the man. He stretched out an arm with spidery fingers and gave the figure a slight shove. The figure dug out his wand from his robe sleeve and advanced towards Becka. As the moon slowly reappeared from behind the clouds, Becka could see the people who tried to get hold of her. She looked behind, then looked to the front. She gasped and stammered, “You…It’s you…!”
The figure waved his wand at her and immediately, the mark she got on her left wrist began to burn like hell. She tried to scream but the figure that first held her down clasped his hand over her mouth. Becka’s eyes burned red for a few seconds as the mark on her hand glowed like a burning coal. Slowly Becka fainted and fell into the figure’s arms. He picked her up and sat her beside him on the broom. Voldemort let out a devilish laugh.
“My Lord…What are you going to do with her?” the figure with the broom asked.
“What do you think I want to do with her?” Voldemort asked with a hint of evil in his voice.
“But you promised…”
“Emotions are always a weakness. Have you forgotten that? Isn’t this what you wanted to get back at Harry?”
“But I…” the figure held Becka closer to him.
“Come away. We’ll discuss this later.”
“My Lord…” the other figure breathed as he fell on his knees. He seemed weak after the ordeal of letting Voldemort who was attached on his back out into the open.
“You will not die. I promised you your life now, haven’t I? You’re on your own now.”
Voldemort materialized a broom from his hand and flew away with the other figure out of Hogwarts ground. The weak figure fell onto the ground like a fallen tree, gasping silently for breath.
“I’m sorry, Rebecca…I had to do this…”
Under the moonlight, his golden long hair shone.
“Hey, what subjects are you going to pick?”
“I dunno, what about you?”
The trio held their parchments on their laps, trying to decide which elective subjects to take for their third year. It was a pretty short list, with only 5 subjects, but the trio was still wracking their brains trying to decide.
“I, for one, am taking Divination,” Jude said, ticking that subject. “No point wasting the crystal ball. I just love venturing into the unknown!”
“I’m definitely taking Arithmancy and Ancient Runes,” Rach declared. “I love to study ancient languages and counting.”
“I dunno,” Becka went undecided. “Care of Magical Creatures sounds OK, but all these subjects seemed difficult yet interesting, except Muggle Studies. No way am I taking that!”
Finally, after much wondering and pondering, Jude decided on Divination, Ancient Runes and Care of Magical Creatures. Becka finally chose Care of Magical Creatures and Arithmancy. Rach stuck to her original decision. They signed their parchment and sent an owl to Prof. Dumbledore’s office.
“Guys, look, look! Look what I got!” Becka squealed as she took out a box she put under the table. Jude and Rach craned their necks and squealed in delight as well. There were 3 kittens: one was pure black, another was pure white and the last one was black with white on its feet, tip of the tail, ears and a shape of a white diamond on its forehead. All of them stared back at them with glassy blue eyes.
“Kawaii-ne!” Jude giggled as she picked up one to cuddle. Rach also took one. “I suppose they’ve done weaning?”
“Almost,” Becka replied proudly. “One of my juniors was shocked to find her white Persian cat missing. She was in a glum for days. Salem also constantly disappeared to goodness-knows-where and only returned during bedtime. Finally we decided to follow Salem to see where he went and we both found him and the Persian cat in a very dark corner of the common room weaning 6 kittens!”
“Interesting!” Rach said admiringly. Of course, the Ice Queen that she was, she didn’t tell anyone about her plans on searching for a remedy to make Slipper human. No way was she going to get him a mate. Slipper belongs to her and her alone.
“My Max had a hitch on one of my juniors’ Doberman dog,” Jude said grudgingly, “and that rascal got that bitch pregnant. My junior was horrified. He insisted on me paying a fine sum of penalty. Could you imagine him asking me to pay 30 Galleons just because of Mother Nature’s natural grace? The nerve of him!”
“So did you pay?” Becka asked.
“Nope. Draco helped me out by somewhat blackmailing the junior. So the junior finally relented by telling me to take all the puppies away as soon as they’re born. He is so bored!”
“Looks like Draco still has a hick on you, even when you are so over-ratedly pregnant,” Rach commented witih a sly grin.
“Excuse me! I’m not the only one over-ratedly pregnant here! You guys are also into this, remember?!”
“Hey, girls! Anything interesting you’d like to share with me?” A voice called them from behind. The ever familiar (and famous) Harry Potter.
“Good morning, Harry,” the trio said in unison.
“Quidditch seasons is here again. Interested in joining?”
“Um…F.Y.I?” Becka cleared her throat and pointed at her abdomen. Rach and Jude did the same.
“Oh, sorry. I forgot,” Harry replied sheepishly. “Well, there’s always next year.”
“How many more months, Harry?” Jude asked. “Of course, we don’t feel any bulge, that’s good news, but the whole thing is just dragging and dragging like heck! We’re tried of being over-protected by everyone, especially that fussy ol’ Madame Pomfrey!”
“Including you!” Becka said, pointing at the awkward Harry.
“Don’t worry, girls. I may not be sure about the whole thing, but when it’s time, I’m sure you’ll be in good hands.”
“That’s what we’re afraid of,” Rach said, a hint of ‘Duh’ in her tone.
The Quidditch game was, again, a big hit. Everyone was enthusiastic, especially the trio. They cheered madly at every game the teams score and every Bludger the team players managed to escape and hit. And most importantly, the exhilaration when the Seeker gets the Snitch.
But their fun was short-lived. Weird things kept happening on the field. The Bludgers suddenly went wild and almost broke a player’s leg and skinned many others. The Quaffle came alive and attacked the players. Even the Golden Snitch deliberately made itself found and bit the players fiercely.
Yes, it actually bites.
The last straw was that the sky suddenly turned dark—like a thunder storm coming—thick with evil. Everyone gasped. They recognized that evil.
It was the evil of Voldemort.
Thunder boomed. Lightning flashed. Showers of fatal, treacherous lightning came down and struck the Quidditch teams and the spectators, focusing on the trio. Everyone panicked and ran to seek refuge in the castle. A strong invisible force pinned the trio down. Jude was able to counter it and was heading towards her girlfriends to save them when all of a sudden, Jude was struck by the incoming lightning. Jude yelled in pain before collapsing to the ground. By then, the force has lifted itself from Rach and Becka.
“Jude! Jude, oh no, Jude! Don’t die!” Becka cried as she tried to shake Jude awake.
“I’m fine. I’m not dead yet. I just can’t move right now…” Jude said slowly. “Am I still alive?”
“Duh! Obviously you are! You scared us…” Rach was about to help her up when she heard a stern call.
“What are you girls still doing here?!” It was Prof. Snape, risking his life through the showering lightning bolts towards the trio. “You dunderheads will be killed! Get inside the castle this instance!”
Hagrid was behind him, and with one swipe, he picked up Jude by the waist and hobbled along behind Prof. Snape leading the other two back into Hogwarts castle. Jude groaned slightly—she was hoping Prof. Snape would carry her in his arms.
Everyone gathered at the Great hall. Rach and Becka were ushered inside towards the staff’s table. Jude was taken to the Hospital Wing straight away and, to Jude’s dread, Madame Pomfrey got shocked off the roof again and fussed at her all over. Prof. Dumbledore announced to everyone to stay in their dorms for the rest of the day. Prof. Dumbledore then took the other duo and Harry to the Hospital Wing to check and see if Jude was alright.
“You OK now, Jude?” Rach asked, feeling her forehead for a temperature.
“Yeah, I suppose. I thought I was a goner.”
“Are you sure?” Harry asked, worried. “That was one hard blow. Any normal wizard or Muggle could get killed.”
“I’m perfectly a-OK,” Jude reassured them. “No biggie, really. Although I am surprised of being able to survive.”
“Then…is the baby…?” Becka asked, feeling even more worried than the others.
“The child is alright. He really is a fighter, that baby,” Madame Pomfrey replied, then turned to Jude and said, “It’s a boy. I used a spell to see it.”
Everyone sighed in relief.
Prof. McGonagalle and Prof. Snape stepped into the Hospital Wing. Jude blushed and looked away from him. Her heart still thumped at the sight of the cold, shoulder-length haired professor—she didn’t want him to see her blushing.
“All students have been sent to their dorms. The Great Hall is totally evacuated,” Prof. McGonagalle, as Deputy Headmistress, reported to her superior. Prof. Dumbledore nodded.
“I’m sure you’re aware that what happened just now is neither ordinary sorcery nor bad weather. He’s finally found out about the Witches’ whereabouts.”
“But even if he knew about where we are,” Rach said, “he would never enter Hogwarts! He couldn’t even step into Hogwarts! The book on Hogwarts’ history said so.”
“Unless we have a spy or an accomplice working for him. A Death Eater, perhaps,” Harry secretly eyed at Prof. Snape.
“Or maybe Voldemort has become so strong, he could penetrate the castle within seconds!” Becka said in dread.
“Alright,” Prof. Dumbledore decided to take charge of things. “Suppose Harry’s right. Maybe there is a spy among Hogwarts, maybe not. I shall go and see to this matter personally. The point is we have to ensure the Witches’ safety.”
“I suggest we move the Witches to our own dormitories. It is not safe to let them go back to their own dorms anymore,” Prof. Snape suddenly suggested. Everyone, except Prof. Dumbledore, looked at him as if he had lost his marbles.
“Very well,” Prof. Dumbledore nodded in agreement. “Girls, you are going to live in your house teachers’ room for the time being. You’ll be safe with grown-ups around you.”
“But I don’t want to live with Prof. Flitwick!!” Rach protested. “He may be nice, but I don’t fancy living in the same room with him!”
Prof. Dumbledore chuckled and said, “Very well. You can stay with Prof. Sinistra then.”
Rach clapped her hands with glee.
It has been 2 weeks since the trio has been living with their teachers. They were adjusting pretty well with their new surroundings, except Jude. It was the first time for Jude to step into Prof. Snape’s domain. Everything was as dark and as sinister as he was. Jude couldn’t help feeling awkward every time she entered his room. The first time she came, Prof. Snape gave her so many ground rules, like ‘Don’t touch this’, ‘Don’t move that’, ‘Don’t sit there’, ‘Don’t let your dog on anything’, etc, etc…
“Are you expecting me just stand here and don’t move?”
“If you are capable to do so, I suppose you should.”
Jude scowled at him and said, “Very well then. I will do the exact opposite of everything you say, if that’s the attitude I have to face every time I enter this room.”
So saying, she ran towards Prof. Snape’s bedroom and jumped onto his grayish-blue bed, tossing and turning around as she let her whole body have the feel of the soft, fluffy bed. When Prof. Snape gave chase, she got off the bed and got herself a drink from Prof. Snape’s jar and glass on his table. She even rushed to his bathroom and tested the running water from the eerie gargoyle-shaped tap he had. She rushed to his shelves of books and flipped through almost every book he had there. Finally she went into his office which was attached to his room by a secret door on the wall and looked at all the potion ingredients he had on his shelf. Prof. Snape stormed into the office and grabbed the jar of silverweed she was holding.
“If you ever step into this office without my personal permission and touch my things, I am going to…”
“What?” Jude looked at him as if he was just an insignificant other. “You’ll put a curse on me?”
Prof. Snape glared at the unmoving Jude venomously before letting out a sharp huff, saying, “If there is nothing else you want to do here, I shall have to ask you to leave immediately!”
Jude let out a sweet smile and said as she left the office, “That wasn’t so bad now, wasn’t it?”
That night, when they were about to turn in, Jude was ordered to sleep on the sofa bed that was opposite the grayish-blue bed of Prof. Snape. He threw her some old, but still intact, blankets for her and retired to his own bed. Jude stayed on the sofa bed for quite sometime until she heard the faint breathing of Prof. Snape asleep on his bed. Slowly she sneaked out of the sofa bed and let Max the dog take her place. She hushed the dog, tucked him in and crept as silently as possible towards Prof. Snape’s bed.
When she was about to climb up the bed, Prof. Snape suddenly sat up with his wand pointing dangerously at her throat. Jude gasped and froze in the midway. Prof. Snape let out an exasperated sigh and growled, “What do you think you’re doing?”
“I just wanna sleep with you. That sofa bed was quite uncomfortable,” Jude replied as she slipped into his blanket.
“Get out, Light. You know very well you’re not supposed to be here.”
“No,” Jude said indignantly as she brought the blanket over her. She closed her eyes and refused to budge. Prof. Snape actually had to use the Wingardium Leviosa spell to get rid of her.
That was the first night in Prof. Snape’s room. The next nights to come, she tried to creep up to Prof. Snape’s bed again and again, but to no avail. He always shooed her away with the levitation spell. Finally, at the second last day of the first week, she succeeded. Prof. Snape did wake up to find her sleeping beside him and wanted to use the spell but in the end, he got tired of it. He let her be.
Jude, half-asleep as she was, could have sworn she felt Prof. Snape’s arm around her.
The night was calm. The trio slept peacefully at their respective house teachers’ rooms. As usual, Jude would climb up to Prof. Snape’s bed and lay down to sleep beside him. Only Rach and Becka had no complaints about having a sofa bed as a place to sleep.
Suddenly, a soft mellow music echoed through the moon-lit sky. It was the tune of a flute, playing nice and slow, like a song from the horizon. It was obviously directed only to Becka because she got up from her sofa bed automatically and yet Prof. McGonagalle didn’t stir. She walked out of the room, her eyes glowing red. Salem woke up when he felt himself slide off Becka’s tummy and tried to grope at her in vain. The trance she fell into was too deep.
The music brought her to the Quidditch field. A dark figure was standing there, waiting, playing the flute. If Salem were to follow her, he would’ve recognized the smell of that figure, including another smell. A smell of evil.
Pure evil. Pure venom.
The figure stopped playing. He put down his flute and waited until Becka regained her consciousness. The clouds moved rapidly by a strong gust of icy-cold wind. Becka came back to her senses and look to see where she was.
“This…is the field. What am I doing here? Have I been sleep-walking? Weird…”
By then, she noticed the figure’s presence. The moon was covered by the dark clouds. She squinted her eyes to see him better but she could only make out his shape.
“Who are you? What are you doing here? What am I doing here?”
The figure didn’t reply. He just stood there in silence. Slowly, someone else appeared, descending himself to the ground from above. He passed his broom to the first figure and walked towards Becka. He held her down. Becka recognized this grasp. It felt like…
Before she could make sense of it all, a grayish-black mist emitted from the first figure’s back. It stood tall and mighty, like a huge Eiffel Tower of Paris. Becka gaped as it continued to tower over them and tried to cower away, but the person holding her had a much stronger grip. All of a sudden, the ‘mist’s’ eyes popped open, glowing red. Like serpent’s eyes. The mist continued to form into a shape of a middle-aged man.
Those eyes rang a bell. Becka staggered backwards, “Vol…Volde…”
“Get the Dark Witch. Now,” A deep rumbling came from the man. He stretched out an arm with spidery fingers and gave the figure a slight shove. The figure dug out his wand from his robe sleeve and advanced towards Becka. As the moon slowly reappeared from behind the clouds, Becka could see the people who tried to get hold of her. She looked behind, then looked to the front. She gasped and stammered, “You…It’s you…!”
The figure waved his wand at her and immediately, the mark she got on her left wrist began to burn like hell. She tried to scream but the figure that first held her down clasped his hand over her mouth. Becka’s eyes burned red for a few seconds as the mark on her hand glowed like a burning coal. Slowly Becka fainted and fell into the figure’s arms. He picked her up and sat her beside him on the broom. Voldemort let out a devilish laugh.
“My Lord…What are you going to do with her?” the figure with the broom asked.
“What do you think I want to do with her?” Voldemort asked with a hint of evil in his voice.
“But you promised…”
“Emotions are always a weakness. Have you forgotten that? Isn’t this what you wanted to get back at Harry?”
“But I…” the figure held Becka closer to him.
“Come away. We’ll discuss this later.”
“My Lord…” the other figure breathed as he fell on his knees. He seemed weak after the ordeal of letting Voldemort who was attached on his back out into the open.
“You will not die. I promised you your life now, haven’t I? You’re on your own now.”
Voldemort materialized a broom from his hand and flew away with the other figure out of Hogwarts ground. The weak figure fell onto the ground like a fallen tree, gasping silently for breath.
“I’m sorry, Rebecca…I had to do this…”
Under the moonlight, his golden long hair shone.
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