Chapter 29

Once she had said yes to Nyla, the second half of the year sped up so fast. Time really flies, even in the magical world. The exams came and went, and Joanna was certain she did well enough to confirm her a spot in  the ministry once she graduated. Though Joanna and Tom had made up, they were merely on ‘hello’ terms, and slowly but surely, they grew apart. Joanna could not see how she could support Tom as an auror-to-be, and Tom did not want to associate himself with anyone that had to do with the ministry; but they did not see each other as enemies, rather the friend that was once close.

Finally, the year came to an end and as Slytherin, once again, took the house cup, the mixture of groans and cheers made Joanna wish the year could have ended later. Hogwarts was like the home she never had, and even though she had to go through the ups and downs, she made friends whom she loved dearly, that would have included Tom if she wasn’t so unsure about how she felt about him.

Once the ‘Goodbye and good luck’ speech was given by Professor Dippet to the graduating class, the night ended with hugs and wishes among the seniors. Some of the juniors stayed back in the great hall to say their goodbyes, as the following day, everyone would be boarding the Hogwarts express and most of them wouldn’t see each other for a while. Joanna was sure to thank the teachers first, and when she came face to face with Professor Dumbledore, her prediction of what he would say came through.

“I’m glad you’re taking up the Auror job. It’s a very good career,” Professor Dumbledore said with a smile.

Joanna merely returned the smile and nodded. She wasn’t so certain if it would be a good career, considering all the battle scars one would collect over time.

Finally thanking all the teachers, who ended saying the same thing about her job offer at the ministry and how she did rather well without failing a single subject, she naturally headed up to Tom.

Since she knew she wouldn’t be seeing him again she thought that an appropriate goodbye should be said.

“So, I heard you’re the top of the class again,” Joanna said, diverting Tom’s attention away from a junior who kept smiling at him without saying a word.

“Yes, I did. You did pretty good yourself,” Tom immediately replied, turning his back against the junior who narrowed her eyes at Joanna before storming off.

“You have an admirer.” Joanna chuckled.

“Annoying,” Tom said as he rolled his eyes.

“Well, what are you planning to do?” Joanna asked, out of curiosity.

“I thought of coming back, to teach.”

“Teach?” That surprised Joanna.

“Yea. Defense against the dark arts,” Tom said.

“Defense against the dark arts?”

Wasn’t Tom for the dark arts? Not against the dark arts? Joanna thought to herself.

“You look shock. Why?”

“I just thought… I mean… it’s not really you to-“

“It’s an interesting subject,” Tom said with a smile. A smile that hid his ulterior motives, but Joanna didn’t bother to pry.

“Well, all the best!”

“You too,” Tom said.

“I’ll see you around,” Joanna added, before she headed towards Annoria, who had been calling her over for the last one minute.

…..

One year into her training at the Ministry of Magic, Joanna was finally promoted as an official Auror. She was assigned to a team and her first so called mission was to track down a wizard who was putting spells on muggles to do his biding. Once that mission was over, another one came, followed by many many more. It’s strange how some wizards loved abusing their magical abilities, even on harmless animals. Most of them were rather disturbed and Joanna was sure she have not met the worst of the worst just yet.

With all the work, Joanna realized that she had not spoken to her friends for months. This auror job is taking up a lot of my time, Joanna thought, as she sat down one night just to reply the letter Annoria had sent her three months ago.

Hoping to catch her breath, the following day, Joanna requested a one month leave, which was supposedly the unclaimed holidays she lost over hunting down crazy wizards. Once it was confirmed, she wrote another letter to Annoria, hoping to meet up.

Annoria must have been extremely free or jobless as her owl returned quickly. Two days after that, they met at the Three Broomsticks and recollected the days where Joanna took Matilda up on a duel.

“I thought you were going to kill her!’ Annoria said, laughing at the memory.

“I thought so too. Wow, I miss those days.” Joanna indeed missed those carefree days.

“Your job is pretty demanding huh?”

“Who knew animal cruelty would fall under our jurisdiction,” Joanna replied.

“Seriously?’

“If the animal was used for dark magic that is. So, what are you doing now?”

“I’m working in Gringotts.”

“Is it not busy? Aren’t Goblins rather demanding?”

“No, not really. I handle most of the paperwork, but it’s not something magic can’t do by itself.”

“That’s good.”

“You know what I heard? Tom was offered jobs in the Ministry of Magic. Is it true?” Annoria continued, clearly wanting to do some gossiping.

“I don’t know. I’m rarely in the office. Who did you hear it from?” Joanna was now curious on how Tom was doing.

“Friends of friends in the ministry. But they said he turned them down, for whatever reason. He disappointed a lot of people.”

“Tom never liked the ministry, it would be against his secret oath or something to work in it.”

“But that’s just a waste of talent. I heard he’s working at Borgin and Burkes now. YOU should pay him a visit.” Annoria failed to hide her smile.

“You should come along with me,” Joanna casually replied.

“I don’t like Knockturn Alley. It’s creepy. But you should go, I mean, you haven’t seen him in a while, and he could have only gotten more handsome than he was before,” Annoria teased.

Joanna laughed as Annoria winked her eye at her. Should she pay Tom a visit? Or should she just scrape the idea all together?

To Be Continued…

(Leave a comment below or vote on whether Joanna should pay a visit or ignore the suggestion!)

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Chapter 20:

“Fine,” Joanna said as she hurried down the stairs to the kitchen.

Once she took her mother’s misplaced wand, she turned to Rose, who was merely smiling at the kitchen doorway.

“So where shall we do it?”

“Hang on, whose wand are you using?” Joanna quickly asked.

“My mother’s spare. You see, we have-“

“Whatever, lets go,” Joanna interrupted as she headed out through the kitchen exit.

She didn’t know why she had agreed to do it, but she felt a surge of adrenaline, rushing through her veins, and she knew she could beat her cousin anytime.

Out in the freshly mowed lawn, Joanna took ten paces away from her cousin. It was a good day for a swim in the nearby pool, but all Joanna could think about was making her cousin suffer when she loses her pride.

“Are you sure about this Joanna?” Rose asked without a hint of sincerity.

Joanna smiled in return and bowed in response. Seeing her reaction, Rose did the same and immediately went into her dueling stance, with her wand overhead, ready to cast the first spell.

And though Joanna knew her cousin would never play fair, she failed to see it coming when sparks flew and she was disarmed.

“Hey! I wasn’t ready!” Joanna shouted as she stared from her cousin to her mother’s wand, lying twenty feet away.

“Go get it,” Rose said as she raised her eyebrows.

“Don’t you dare make another move,” Joanna said, as she hesitated to go for her wand.

“I won’t,” Rose replied with a smile.

Joanna knew she couldn’t trust her cousin, so she made a dash for her wand, but before she could reach it, a spell hit her so hard, that it sent her flying further from the wand, and into a Rose bush.

“Oh look, you landed on my turf.” Rose laughed as she hurried over.

“Let me help you,” Rose added as she offered her hand, but Joanna pushed her out of the way as she stumbled out.

Her skin started to sting as the thorns in the bush pricked her more than once.

“I’m not dueling anymore. You don’t play by the rules,” Joanna said, trying to get up.

“No, you don’t get to choose. A duel ends when someone doesn’t get up anymore.” Rose shoved Joanna on her back and pointed her wand right at her face.

“What are you doing?” Joanna quickly asked.

“I learnt a spell in school. It’s famous in duels but I haven’t gotten a chance to use it yet. Oh, don’t worry, I know how it works, so I won’t mess it up. And since we ARE in a duel, I am just dying to try it out.”

“What? Don’t do anything you would regret,” Joanna said as she moved backwards, away from Rose.

“Crucio!’ Rose shouted, and before Joanna could even blink, a pain unlike any other rose from her spine and into every vein in her body.

The pressure in her veins felt as though it was about to burst and the stinging feeling on her skin became far more excruciating, as though the little pricks were tearing itself wider.

Joanna could not even say a word as hot tears flowed from her eyes, and her screams muffled in the grass as she rolled around, trying to make the pain stop.

But just went she thought she was going to die, she faintly heard someone else joining them, and a second later, the pain stopped and everything faded to black.

When Joanna finally gained consciousness, she was in her room, and the sky was already dark. Joanna wondered if the experience was just a nightmare, but when she saw the pricks on her hands and arms, she knew it wasn’t. Trying to sit up, she sent herself right back to sleep as she blacked out again.

Joanna woke up in intervals. One moment it was day, the next it was night. When she finally found enough strength to pull herself up, the clock by her bedside ticked 3a.m.

Thirsty and hungry, Joanna slowly got out of her bed and headed down to the kitchen. It took her so long to reach the kitchen as she had to focus on pulling her legs forward to walk. When she finally sat down by the kitchen table, she drank a whole jug of water and swallowed half a loaf of bread without even chewing.

She felt very much alive and her mind started racing with questions. Who was it that saved her? And what happened to Rose?

Just then, she heard someone walk into the kitchen from behind her.

“Looks like you’re finally up.” The familiarity of the voice calmed her wildly beating heart immediately.

Tom took a seat next to her as he continued, “Feeling better?”

“I think so. What happened Tom?” Joanna quickly asked.

“I’ll tell you in the morning, right now, you should get back to bed.” Tom said as he offered his hand.

“But, I’m not tired,” Joanna said.

“It’s three in the morning. You should go back to bed. Let me take you.” Tom didn’t wait for her reply as he took her hand and led her back to her room. Once she was in bed, Tom wished her goodnight and left.

Joanna silently waited to hear Tom’s bedroom door close, but oddly she didn’t. Immediately, she got up and quietly hurried down the hallway to peek down the stairs.

In the dimly lit hall, Joanna saw Tom pulling a cloak over his shoulders as he headed towards the door.

Where was he going? Joanna silently asked herself. And then curiosity set it, should she follow him or go back to bed?

To Be Continued…

(Vote or leave a comment below on whether Joanna should stalk or go back to bed!)

Chapter 4:

Joanna pointed her wand at Tom, “Expelliarmus!”

It caught Tom by surprise as his wand flew out of his hand. Disarmed, Joanna walked towards him as Tom backed up, reaching for his wand.

“Let me see it and I won’t hurt you,” Joanna calmly said as Tom picked his wand up.

“Funny, I was about to say the same thing.” Tom smirked.

“Oh? Let’s see you try.” Joanna wasn’t sure what she had asked for, but her adrenaline was rushing and it was the excitement she didn’t have for quite some time now.

“I would, but I don’t think you’re a match at all. It’ll be rather mean to pick on a weaker student, wouldn’t it?”

Joanna chuckled. “You sound like Malfoy right there.”

“The only difference is that I’m not Malfoy. And you don’t know what I’m capable of.”

“And YOU don’t know what I’m capable of,” Joanna replied. She felt as though she was talking to herself, who was typically the only one who actually stood up to her.

“Well then, let’s see. Ladies first,” Tom said with a bow.

Joanna thought briefly about waking up the Professors, but she immediately brushed the thought aside. She wasn’t going to give up the chance to prove this boy wrong.

“Incarcerous!” A bright yellow light escaped Joanna’s wand and the moment it hit Tom, ropes twisted around his body.

“Incendio!” Tom quickly said and the ropes were set on fire just before they could tighten around him. Within seconds, they disintegrated, with its ashes collecting on the ground in a circle around him.

“My turn. Impedimenta!” Tom waved his wand at her.

Joanna saw the green spark flying and quickly muttered, “Protego.”

Tom didn’t wait as he threw another spell. “Stupefy!”

“Protego.” Joanna defended again. He gave her no chance for an offense.

“Petrifucus Totalus!”

“Protego!”

“Expulso!”

Joanna dodge the last spell as it hit a nearby door, shattering it into a million pieces and sending splinters everywhere.

“Did you just try to blow me up?!” Joanna yelled.

Just before she could throw a spell at him, she heard footsteps. And when their eyes met in the brief moment of panic, he waved for her to follow him.

They ran down a hallway and entered the first door they saw. It was a small, cramped up store room.

“Great,” Joanna muttered under her breath. She was about to say something else when Tom placed his hand over her mouth.

His perfect timing saved them from being caught as the sound of footsteps were accompanied by shadows, passed by the store room.

But after the shadows were gone and the sound of footsteps died off, Joanna blurted out, “You tried to blow me up!”

“Yes, I was pretty aware of that.”

“You’re crazy!” Joanna kicked his sheen and Tom yelped.

“I could have died!” Joanna continued.

“You look very much alive to me.” Tom shrugged as he exited the store room.

“What were you thinking?” Joanna followed after him, lowering her voice.

“I was thinking of blowing you up,” Tom answered bluntly and started walking.

Joanna, unsatisfied with his answers, followed after him. And when she gave his arm a sudden tug, the book fell onto the floor. Fortunately, she reached for it before he did.

“Bloody hell,” Tom muttered.

“Goodnight,” Joanna said as she quickly walked in the opposite direction.

“Wait, we can read it together,” Tom called out to her softly.

“I’ll read it alone,” Joanna said and tried her very best to disapparate correctly this time.

It must have somehow worked as she landed on her back in the Hufflepuff common room. She quickly got up and checked if she had any missing limbs, and to her surprise, she was still intact.

The common room was quiet and empty. Everyone was pretty much asleep and Joanna saw no harm in reading the book right there and then. With that, she settled down on a couch by the fire place and started reading.

She had finished the book pretty quickly and had a full hour of sleep before she had to clean up and head to the great hall for breakfast.

That morning, Joanna tucked the book under her cloak and followed Annoria to the great hall. Annoria, who kept hassling for a reason why Joanna wasn’t in bed last night, kept a suspicious expression throughout breakfast. But that didn’t bother Joanna much.

Breakfast ended with Tom no where in sight. Joanna was half glad she didn’t see him, but he was only missing at breakfast because during Charms, he turned up and sat right next to her.

“Where’s the book?” Tom whispered.

“It’s with me,” Joanna replied, eyes still fixed on the Professor in front.

“Give it.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, why do you want to make a Horcrux?” Joanna boldly asked.

“It’s none of your business.”

“It’s very dangerous. People die trying you know.”

“I don’t really care. Now please give it,” Tom said, sounding a bit annoyed.

“My uncle died trying,” Joanna said as she leaned forward, looking attentive to the lecture.

“Your family… are into the dark arts?” There was a hint of interest in Tom’s voice.

“My mother’s side of the family, but most of them are dead anyways,” Joanna casually answered, as though it was no big deal.

“Well then, if you could be so kind to hand me the book, I would greatly appreciate it.”

Joanna hesitated. Her aunts and uncles were mostly dead or about to die. The dark arts messed them up pretty good and Joanna wasn’t sure if she should give Tom the book. He could die. And it wasn’t magic a 16 year old should be playing around with.

To be continued…

(Leave a comment below or vote on whether Joanna should give the book to Tom, or attempt to destroy it!)