FHB: Chapter 13

“Friends?” Lucius paused and with slight hesitation before he continued, “sure.”

“Great! Well as a friend, I’m encouraging you to do your prefect duties,” Tanya replied with a small smile.

“Right,” Lucius simply said as he awkwardly waved Tanya goodbye.

Of course, Lucius didn’t return to his duties but straight to the common room instead. Friend or not, nobody told him what to do. As he lay in his bed that night, he found himself wondering what being friends really meant. By the time his eyes shut, he still did not have the right answers.

The following morning came as fast as the end of Quidditch season. Slytherin took the Quidditch cup with Hufflepuff not too far behind. The Slytherins found no reason to rub salt into the Hufflepuffs’ wounds, so they jeered at the Gryffindors instead. Slytherin and Gryffindor were always rivals, and many being friends with each other made no difference.

Lucius who went along with the celebration still did not understand the meaning of friends. He was too proud to ask and he decided that it was best if he continued pretending not to have any. When those around him asked about Tanya, he simply said he was being nice to her for the sake of her intelligence. After all, O.W.Ls was nearing and Lucius was not the best at every subject.

As the months flew by, Lucius found himself studying more than he usually did. Tanya had encouraged him to work hard instead of cheat his way through, and he had no idea why he thought it was a good idea to do as she suggested. Clearly, after days of pouring over boring Divination Lucius realized it was a bad idea.

Jumping from the armchair near the warm fireplace, he headed to the older group of Slytherins gossiping at a corner.

“Interesting conversation,” Lucius merely said.

“Er, yes. Would you like to join us?” a male student replied.

“No.”

“Then how can we help you?” a female student asked.

“Slytherin was second to Ravenclaw last year in the Owls outstanding grade. I want to know who helped,” Lucius answered.

“Helped? Well, we studied,” another male student said.

“Everyone in this group did not study. The ones that actually did are asleep now,” Lucius replied.

“We didn’t use a memory spell if that’s what you’re wondering.”

“I’m not wondering. You’re telling me,” Lucius went straight to the point.

There was a moment of hesitation, but it didn’t last long.

“We bought the papers before hand,” the same student replied in a lower voice.

There were only a few people in the common room that night and Lucius wondered why he was whispering.

“From who?”

“You don’t know him, but I can introduce him to you. You have a trip to Hogmeads coming up, right? I can sneak out to join you,” the student suggested.

“Sound good,” Lucius simply replied. He patted the boy on the shoulder before heading up to his room.

On the day of the Hogsmead trip, Lucius headed out with the usual boys. A lot of the students decided not to go, as they preferred staying indoors to study, but Lucius went mainly to find a way to make him breeze through a few of the subjects he was struggling with.

Surprisingly, as Lucius and his posse settled down in the Three Broomsticks, he saw Tanya entering with her friends. Tanya was behind in her studies, so she must have caught up being that she was out. As he watched her, the Slytherin boy that promised an introduction came walking in.

Lucius did not wait for him to walk over as he headed to him instead.

“Let’s make this quick,” Lucius said.

“Of course,” he replied and went straight to the stairs.

Lucius took one look at his fellow housemates and gestured for them to remain seated. Once he and the other student were on the first floor, the student pointed to a man in a suit at the table near the window.

“He knows you’re coming,” the student said.

“Good,” Lucius replied and thanked the student with a nod.

Lucius swaggered to the table and took a seat. The man acknowledged him with a fake smile and said, “So, how can I help you?”

“I need papers…owl,” Lucius said.

“One paper does not come cheap.”

“Money is not a problem, and I only need a few.”

“Oh? If you’re so clever, why don’t you just study?”

“I don’t need you to tell me what to do.”

The man chuckled and said, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you. I’m just trying to do business here.”

“So how much for a paper and when can you deliver?”

“20 galleons, 13 sickles, 13 knuts. And I’ll deliver tomorrow if you pay today,” he replied with a sly smile.

“Fine. If you cheat me, you will pay for it.”

“Oh, I’m not the cheater here.”

Lucius narrowed his eyes before paying the man and informing him on the papers he needed. When the deal was done, he did not stick around and headed straight for the stairs. That was when he bumped into Tanya.

“Hey,” Tanya greeted.

“Hello,” Lucius replied as he edged towards the steps.

She looked at him and then at the man in the suit. Casually, she asked, “Who is that man? What were you paying him for?”

Lucius’ head screamed at him to cook up a lie, but he had a strange urge to tell the truth, as though lying was just going to make things worst. It now came down to what he was going to say to the only friend he had.

To Be Continued…

(Leave a comment below or vote on whether Lucius should lie or tell the truth!)

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Chapter 31

Joanna hesitated. Honestly, she wanted to hear him out, but her inner voice was telling her to leave. Not wanting to take a step forward or backward, Joanna planted herself on the ground and waited to see if he insisted.

“Look, I’m sorry alright. I was just… suspicious,” Tom quickly said.

“Of what?”

“Of aurors. They like sticking their noses up in everything.”

“I told you I’m off duty,” Joanna immediately responded, clearly upset at the assumption.

“That’s what they all say.” Tom paused just as the waiter arrived with their food.

“Please sit back down,” Tom added.

Joanna hesitated for a moment before she returned to her seat.

Dinner went on fairly well as Tom suddenly showed interest in her life. He kept the questions going and gave no room for Joanna to ask any. Maybe he didn’t want to be asked, Joanna thought as she left for home that evening. Tom had volunteered to accompany her home, but she declined. His sudden gentleman act reminded her of the times they had back in Hogwarts, and she found herself secretly wishing they had not lost any part of that friendship.

The holidays went on and Joanna found herself bumping into Tom more frequently at Diagon Alley. He even asked her out for a second meal and a third. Before she knew it, she was certain they had obtained that piece of friendship that only she could have with him.

“I once caught a man who was killing innocent muggle girls and drinking their blood,” Joanna said.

“If immortality is what he seeks, unicorn’s blood will do the trick,” Tom replied.

“I don’t know if that’s any better.”

“Better than killing girls, am I not right?”

“Since when did you care about sparing lives?” Joanna asked jokingly.

“I never did. I’m just saying that unicorn’s blood works better and faster.” Tom’s casual reply told Joanna he had dwelled his years in the dark arts. His knowledge was beyond her years of training, and it made even the senior aurors look uneducated.

“Where did you learn all these?”

“My knowledge comes from experience.”

“You killed a unicorn and drank its blood?”

“No, I know someone who did. But he failed to complete the process, and he was never really immortal or mortal in the end.”

They were seated by the fireplace of the tavern, and throughout their conversation, Tom never took his eyes of the flickering flames.

“Horcruxes are better,” Tom muttered to himself.

“You have all of yours done?” Joanna blurted out what was on her mind, and immediately regretting of wondering so. She knew that if she knew too much, she would have to do her job and stop whatever dark magic he was playing with.

“Don’t answer that,” Joanna quickly added.

“I wouldn’t. I’m not stupid.” Tom finally took his eyes off the flames, and the once tall flames went into hiding under the wooden logs, occasionally peering above.

“What did you do to the fire?” Joanna was watching the fire too, and the sudden lost of boldness in the flames was odd.

“I did nothing to the fire,” Tom replied as he sunk deeper into the red velvet arm chair.

Instead of following after him, Joanna leaned towards the fire, telling herself she did not just imagine it all. Just then, the flames made a sudden rise, higher than it did before. Joanna immediately shoved herself back into her seat, and when she turned to Tom, he merely smiled.

“You did that!” Joanna exclaimed. The empty tavern at one in the morning made her exclamation sound like a shout from the rooftops.

“Hush now, there’s no need to shout,” Tom replied, still smiling.

“How did you do that?”

Tom did not reply. He simply kept his smile.

“Tell me!” Joanna insisted.

“I didn’t do that.”

“Liar. I know you did.”

“You can’t prove it,” Tom said.

“You could burn this whole tavern to the ground if you wanted to. I’m sure you could.”

“You have great faith in my abilities. Aren’t you afraid I may be the next evil wizard to send the world into mass hysteria?”

“I don’t think your ambitions are that heinous.” Joanna found herself answering like her innocent 17 year old self. Had she not matured a day from all the bad wizards and witches she had encountered?

“Unfortunately, your youthful innocence blinds you.”

Tom’s statement plummeted Joanna’s thoughts into a dark vortex of self evaluation. Indeed her innocence was blinding, but only to his dark side, which she feared.

“Enough talk. I want to show you something,” Tom said, after the ticking sound of the grandfather clock became too monotonous to bear.

“Show me what?”

“You would have to come home with me to see it,” Tom replied.

“Go home with you? Can’t you just summon whatever it is here?”

“If I did, I would cause some hysteria, and that’s not what I intend on doing. At least not so soon.”

Tom stood up from his chair and waited for her.

Should she follow him home? Joanna was curious on what he wanted to show her, but it was really late and going home with him might not be the best idea.

“I won’t hurt you. You should know that by now,” Tom added, as she stretched out his hand for her to take.

To Be Continued…

(Leave a comment below or vote on whether Joanna should follow Tom home or go home!)

Chapter 25:

Joanna hesitated for a moment, as she looked at Annoria who was shaking her head and tugging at her hand to leave. But instead of heading out the front door, Joanna walked towards the back. Annoria quickly tried to stop her but Malfoy butted in before Annoria could say anything.

“What are you doing?” Malfoy said, as he hurried up to them.

“I’m giving your girlfriend the duel she wants,” Joanna replied.

“She’s not my girlfriend,” Malfoy replied and said nothing else as he opened the back door for both Joanna and Annoria to exit.

The back alley was rather abandoned at that hour of the day. The sun was at its highest and it wasn’t the best time to be strolling down the streets.

“So, will here do?” Matilda asked, sounding very much like Rose at that moment.

“Where ever would do,” Joanna replied casually as she headed up to Matilda and gave a bow. Not even bothering to see if Matilda did the same, Joanna turned and placed herself 20 feet away across Matilda.

As Joanna went into her dueling stance, Matilda quickly asked, “Wait! Who’s your second?”

“I don’t need one,” Joanna repled, immediately waving her wand and throwing a spell at Matilda, who barely managed to block it.

“Hey! I wasn’t ready!” Matilda shouted.

“The duel started a while ago. Unless you don’t know the rules, you shouldn’t challenged anyone.” Joanna threw another spell, making Matilda stumble backwards. Her housemates immediately caught her before she fell over.

“I didn’t challenge you!” Matilda threw a spell in return, and Joanna blocked it off with a wave.

“Then you shouldn’t point wands when you don’t intend on using them,” Joanna replied as she sent 3 more spells. Sparks of red, blue and green flew towards Matilda and as she screamed, she ran behind her housemates, shoving them forward as she did.

Three of her housemates took the spells as they were caught off guard. One flew backwards, knocking over a few Slytherins like a bowling ball. Another had his legs tied together, and as much as he tried to balance himself, he joined the pile of his friends on the ground. The other girl screamed as boils started appearing on her hands and face.

When Matilda saw it all, she immediately demanded, “Where you trying to kill me?!”

“That is the common intention of a duel. No other rules were set, right?” Joanna replied as she walked towards Matilda.

“Joanna! What are you doing?” Annoria asked, with desperation in her voice. Then turning to Malfoy, which Annoria rarely did, she said, “Stop her!”

“Me? You gotta be kidding. Clearly, home school paid off,” Malfoy replied as he remained where he stood, by the back door of the Three Broomsticks.

“Joanna! Don’t!” Annoria shouted, as Joanna was closing in on Matilda.

Matilda’s housemates were already backing away, leaving Matilda to fend for herself.

“Guys! Help me!” Matilda commanded as she dared not to take her eyes off Joanna.

“If we did, we would be breaking the rules,” one of her friends replied.

Matilda then attempted to run, but Joanna managed to cast a leg locking spell before she could, and Matilda fell to the ground instead. She screamed in pain as she landed on her shoulder, and when she tried to prop herself up, Joanna flicked her wand and sent Matilda’s wand 10 feet away from her.

Immediately looking up at Joanna, Matilda stammered, “Ple-please. I’m, I’m sorry o.k?”

“Looks like we have a stammer,” Joanna said, and she could have sworn she heard a few of the Slytherins laugh. They probably never liked her at all.

“You know, when I was being tutored at home, I learnt a spell.” Joanna slowly squatted down beside Matilda. “This spell is not illegal yet, and most people use it in duels. It’s called, the Cruciatus curse. Have you heard of it?”

Joanna immediately felt like Rose, when she threatened to use the Cruciatus on her. But Joanna felt better than Rose, as Matilda deserved it. She was a gossipy, back-stabbing, nosy girl, who gained attention through the false rumours she spread all over school.

“Do you know what it does, Matilda?” Joanna asked as Matilda’s eyes widened.

“Joanna, don’t!” Annoria said, as she ran up to her and pulled Joanna to her feet.

“If you don’t stop your nonsense, Matilda, you will feel how it’s like being cruciated,” Joanna gave a final warning, and walked off.

As she headed past the exit of the Three Broomstick, Joanna saw Tom standing by the doorway. She didn’t know how long he had been standing there, but she decided she didn’t want to know.

After the duel, Joanna told Annoria she would be going home. She also apologized if she scared her, and justified her actions by saying she was only doing it to warn Matilda. But deep down inside, she wasn’t sorry at all, because it felt good.

That night, as Joanna was lying on her bed, an owl swooped into her room, through an open window. It landed at the foot of her bed, and with the little light that came from the moon, she noticed the seal on the letter. It was a letter from Hogwarts.

At that very moment, Joanna was afraid that the duel had reached the ears of Professor Dippet, and so she hurriedly took the letter from the owl and tore it open. But the first sentence immediately drowned her fears, as it stated that her father has informed the school that she can return to Hogwarts if she wishes to.

Why her father did not just inform her himself, she did not bother to dwell over. The question that really bothered her was whether she really wanted to go back, or remain home schooled.

To Be Continued…

(Vote or leave a comment below on whether Joanna should go back to Hogwarts or remain home schooled!)