Breakfast the next morning was different for Jillian. Everyone was whispering around her, and the few word that she could catch were things like, “Kirsten’s sister is trying to curse Lucian” or “Did you see all that snow she melted?” It was all very annoying.
Jillian finished her toast quietly, trying to become her usual invisible self, but no one else seemed to want to cooperate, so she finally just left the Great Hall. She still had a few minutes before class, so she wandered around the halls, not sure where she wanted to go.
She walked down the corridors, lost in thought, when she accidentally bumped into someone. “Sorry,” she started to say, but she was too startled to finish the apology. Standing before her with an apologetic smile was Professor Kilicus. Jillian felt a shiver of fear make its coarse up her spine. She did not want to be in the hallway with this man.
“I’m sorry, Miss Cole, I wasn’t watching where I was going. Excuse me.”
Jillian could only gape as he waited for her to reply.
“Are you all right?” he asked when she only stood there quivering.
Jillian blinked a few times, nodded and turned to sprint down the hallway. When she had gone down a few twisted hallways and was out of breath, she leaned against a wall and smacked herself on the forehead.
“Stupid, stupid, all you did was stand there!” she ranted at herself. “Now he’s going to suspect something. Stupid, stupid, STUPID!”
“Interesting conversation you’re having, Miss Cole. Is there supposed to be someone else here to listen.”
Jillian gasped and spun around to confront, once again, Professor Kilicus.
“I-I was j-just berating myself be-because, um, I - ”
“It’s all right; you don’t have to explain it to me at all. I think I know what’s happening here.”
Jillian gulped and squeaked, “You do?”
Professor Kilicus nodded and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. Jillian winced when he waved his arms around and said, “I know you aren’t good at Defense Against the Dark Arts, but that doesn’t mean you have to be frightened of the teacher.”
Jillian nodded, relieved that he hadn’t really figured out what was really going on.
“I want to you help you, though, Miss Cole. Why don’t you come to my classroom tonight, and we can discuss what we need to do to help you with this class.”
Jillian gasped and shook her head, “No, Professor, I promise I’ll try harder. I don’t need extra help!” Especially at night, alone, with you, she added silently.
“Nonsense! You come to my classroom at, let’s say, 8:00 tonight, and let’s see what we can do.” Before Jillian could protest more, he was down the hallway and into a different classroom.
Jillian close her eyes and wished that she could talk to Peter. All of the sudden, there was no wall behind her to support her, and she fell backward onto something soft. Jillian yelped and opened her eyes. She was laying on a bed, and standing before her in only his robe, Peter was gaping at her.
Jillian gaped right back and asked, “How in Merlin’s name did I get here.”
“I could ask you the same question!”
Peter pulled his robe around him tighter and cleared his throat. Jillian turned bright red and said, “Um, where am I exactly, then.”
“In my room. You’re lucky none of the others were in here! Now what did you do?”
Jillian shook her head, and carefully go up off the bed. “You mean, I’m in Slytherin House? How did I get here!?”
Peter put his hands out before him. “Whoa, don’t ask me. I didn’t bring you here!”
Jillian shook her head, and ran for the door. She seemed to be running a lot lately. She opened it just in time to run into another Slytherin. He blinked at her curiously, but she brushed past him and ran out and down the stairs. Whoa, this is nothing like the Gryffindor common room, she thought as she came to a stop. How was she supposed to get out?
Peter ran down the stairs after her, and grabbed her arm. “Wait,” he hissed in her ear, “we need to figure out what’s happening.”
Jillian shook her head. “I, um, need to get to class. I’ll talk to you later.” She noticed that there were a lot of heads poking out of rooms to stare at her. Someone even yelled, “Hey, Peter, where’d you get the girl?”
Jillian’s face burned and she turned to Peter desperately. “How do I get out of here?!”
“However you got in,” he answered.
“I don’t know how I got in!”
“How could you not know?”
“I just don’t, okay, so help me here. Please, Peter, I really do need to go to class. I don’t like to be late, like you Slytherins,” she said, almost as though she were above them.
Peter stepped back in alarm. His face turned hard. “The door’s behind you.” Jillian bit her lip, wanting to say something. She hadn’t meant to act like that! Darn! Jillian turned and faced a wall.
“Um, this is a wall.”
“Really?”
Jillian turned and glared at Peter. He shrugged and went to the wall, and did something to make it open. Jillian nodded her head curtly in thanks and walked out of the Slytherin Common Room.
As soon as the wall closed behind her, she started to run. She felt close to tears, and she didn’t know where she was. She had never been in this part of Hogwarts, and she wanted to get out of it. She kept running until, at last, she found her way to the Great Hall. She let out a sigh of relief.
Suddenly, the door opened, and Kirsten walked out, her eyes red and tears running down her face. “Thanks a lot, Jillian. Lucian is going out with Jenny Green now. Why do you have to ruin everything!”
Jillian gaped at her as she shuffled down the hall. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. She closed her eyes tightly, trying to hold back tears. Why was everything going wrong. Panicking sounded like a good idea at the moment!
Sorry it took so long for this chapter to come out. I've been very busy. As you can see, the story is coming close to a climax. It probably won't be for a few more chapters, though, so keep reading. Oh, yeah, we're trying to make a website. Ask Ezzcomo since he's making it, and support us! This is going to be fun!