Something was going to happen, something bad.
Jillian sat in the library nervously trying to finish a project that Professor Snape had handed out. She felt spooked and paranoid and kept looking behind her. Something was going to happen. She could feel it.
Nobody else seemed to be able to, though, and it was bothering her when they kept giving her strange looks. She used to be invisible and now she was the center of attention. Thinking about it, she considered the latter worse than the former. Wishing she could sink back into her former, ignorant self, she put down her book and sighed.
Jillian glared the door and wondered why Peter hadn't come in to bug her yet. He was usually so prompt about such things like this, but it had been an entire week after Christmas vacation and he still hadn't so much as waved in the hallways. It was starting to make her angry that he was being so stupid.
She glared more fiercely at the door and thought, If he doesn't walk through that door in twenty seconds, I swear I'm going to go find him even if it means ambushing the Slytherin common room!
Twenty, nineteen...ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, one-half, one-third, one-quarter, one-eighth, zero!
Jillian stood up, ready to find Peter, hold him down, and explain every single detail of what she'd heard. Something was going to happen, and she didn't want to be the only one who knew that.
She stomped toward the door when it suddenly opened and, speak of the devil, Peter walked in.
Jillian sighed in relief. She hadn't really wanted to go into the Slytherin common room again. It was creepy.
"Peter!" Jillian cried and was immediately shushed by ten people. She rolled her eyes and stalked toward him. He had a strange expression on his face that made her hesitate, but she was too scared of Kilicus to be frightened of a look.
"Where on earth have you been! I haven't seen you in days!" She hissed as soon as she was close enough for him to hear.
"Uh, it's been really busy with classes and...things." Even Peter cringed at the lame excuse.
Jillian looked down, "Listen, I don't care that you don't like me anymore, but we need to talk about Kilicus. I heard..."
"Wait, I never said I didn't like you anymore."
Jillian gave him an exasperated look. "I'm not exactly the stupid type, but that's not important right now, what I'm trying to say is that I heard - "
"Maybe we should do this in private," Peter whispered, looking behind her. Jillian turned and saw Professor Kilicus over by one of the tables, fingering through a book.
She froze.
Her eyes wide, all she could do was stare at Professor Kilicus as she felt the feeling grow stronger. Something was going to happen, but what? What could he be planning? Was he trying to do something to the school? What if he was going to kill somebody, or everybody, or...
"Jillian!" Jillian ignored Peter, still staring at Kilicus, and, suddenly, he looked up and caught her gaze. Her breaths began getting short, and her whole body began to shake. Kilicus gave her a curious look and put the book he had been looking through down. He started toward them which made Jillian freeze up even more, and the only thing she could think was, Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no.
"Jillian!" Peter turned her around forcefully, and Jillian blinked, coming out of her daze. "Oh, no," she whispered.
And she fainted.
Upon waking, the first thing Jillian saw was Peter's face. "Omigosh, Peter, I have to tell you something. It happened over Christmas when you were with your parents. You see, I didn't mean to, but..."
Peter cleared his throat, and Jillian turned to stare at Professor Kilicus. "You were saying, Miss Cole."
"Uh, uh, I was just saying that, uh, I didn't mean to, but I, uh, broke your, uh - "
"Cauldron," Peter broke in.
"Yes, your cauldron!" Jillian smiled at Peter gratefully for the excuse.
Professor Kilicus nodded and rubbed his chin. "Are you feeling all right, Miss Cole. I believe this is the second time you've been in the Hospital Wing."
"Yes, well, I'm accident prone."
"But you've never been in here before, Miss Cole," Madame Pomfrey interrupted.
"Yes, well, I guess it just came out this year. I must have grown too much, and I trip over myself and find myself in the worst possible situations now." Jillian gave Peter a glare while saying it. He grinned back, and she sighed. At least they were back on good terms.
"Well, now that you're all right, Miss Cole, I have some business to attend, too. Try not to, uh, trip over yourself anymore." Professor Kilicus gave her one more curious, searching look before sweeping out of the room like some lord. Jillian looked up at the celing and whispered, "Finally he leaves!"
"What was that?" Madame Pomfrey questioned.
Jillian blinked at her. "Uh, nothing. Just letting out a sigh that someone caught me and I wasn't seriously hurt, and now I think I can go because you know how they give us so much homework now, and I have tons to do, and, well, yeah." Jillian said this so quickly that all Madame Pomfrey could do was blink and pretend that she had understood her.
"Well, yes, dear, I believe you can leave. I could find nothing wrong with you, so off you go."
Jillian pushed the blankets off of her, got off the bed, grabbed Peter's hand and walked quickly out of there.
As soon as they were in an empty classroom, Jillian turned and said, "Well, that was close. You could have told me he was in the room. Broke your cauldron - is it even broken? Why would I even use your cauldron?"
Peter grinned, "Yes, it did actually break, and it was the first thing that came out of my mouth, so I guess you'll just have to live with it."
"Hmph, yeah, well, now that you can't avoid me" Jillian let out a little, evil laugh "you have to listen to everything."
Peter gave a little wave, and Jillian explained everything. As soon as everything had been said, she slumped against the wall, feeling better. Now someone else knew, and she could stop worrying. Peter had a better handle on things anyway.
Peter was rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "Hmm, well, nothing's going to happen for a while."
Jillian gave him a surprised look. "What do you mean, nothing's going to happen? Did you not hear what I just said?"
"Yes, and I think that nothing is going to happen."
"Yes it is, I can feel it. Something is going to happen, and it might be soon. Don't you feel it, too?" Jillian gave him a hopeful look, but he only shook his head.
"Dang! Does this always have to happen to me? I want one thing, and the other happens, and if the thing that I want to happen or know will happen happens, then I don't want it to happen anymore."
Peter gave her a confused look. "What? I have no idea what you just said."
Jillian shook her head at him. "You know the sad thing? Neither do I."
They stood there in silence for a few minutes before Peter finally stepped over and leaned against the wall with her. He gave her a little push with his shoulder and said, "Hey, everything will be okay. It's not so bad."
"Sure. All that happened is that some sort of wizard terrorist is planning something that I now know a little about, and I can't do anything because I'm too young and too inexperienced." Jillian gave him a sarcastic look, "Right, it's not even that bad."
"Hey, it could be - "
"Don't even say it."
"Worse."
"Now you've done it. It's going to get worse. Something bad is going to happen, and you've cursed it to make it worse."
Jillian leaned her head against the wall and groaned. She turned toward Peter and shook her head. "Oh well, we can't do anything right now anyway." She smiled at him. "Thanks Peter - for all you've done. It really means a lot to me that you don't think I'm crazy."
Peter stared at her and nodded. His face suddenly got serious as he said, "Jillian, you don't mind, do you?"
Confused, Jillian asked, "Don't mind what?"
Peter took a deep breath and whispered, "This."
And he leaned in and kissed her.
Ha! I've left you hanging! Hmm, I wonder what will happen. Hope you liked the new installment, and if you didn't, well review anyway. J/K Sorry it took so long, but I've kind of had a lot going on. I'll work on the next chapter so you guys aren't left hanging for too long. HEHEHE! Bye.