Okay, this was starting to get annoying. You'd think after three hours, those guys would have stopped chanting, but guess what? They didn't.
Jillian sat in her chair, feeling uncomfortable, really ticked off, and ready to cry or shout at the drop of a hat. The Evil Man was still sitting next to her chair, but now he had a hat over his eyes and seemed to be sleeping. Jillian wished for a moment that they had knocked her out again so she could feel blissful nothingness. She was not so lucky. She had to sit in this hard chair, her arms ties behind her back, and her head about ready to split open from their continuous words. She really should have felt more scared - after all, they were going to kill her, obviously, but she couldn't quite wrap her mind around the concept of being dead. It was like her mind had set that aside as a possibility, but it probably wasn't going to happen.
Weird.
There was a pause, and Jillian blinked from surprise. They had stopped chanting? Did that mean they were done with whatever and were now going to kill her and destroy the school? Smoke began to fill the room at an alarming rate causing the Evil Man to wake up, cursing (which made him even scarier) and Jillian to start having the worst coughing fit in the entirety of her life.
"Is it done?" The Evil Man called.
Coughing, one of the men answered, "It just has to sit for a few hours, then we should be able to continue."
Jillian groaned and leaned her head as far back as it would go. Really, they should have started this months ago. Couldn't they have at least started before capturing her? It was unfair that she had to sit through it all when they were going to kill her anyway. Couldn't she have some last minute regrets to fill? Like, she really wanted to visit her family, maybe get more involved or something. In fact, she really wanted to visit the library again, and maybe read that book on Vampires one more time. There was also the stables with Seinte to read her a story or scratch her under the chin - after making sure her magic muzzle was in place so no flames couldn't come out of her mouth. Then, she could go to ever single one of her favorite reading spots, take a trip to the Owlery and mingle with some real brains. Maybe after that, she could go find Peter and tell him things she never thought she'd be able to tell anyone, and kiss him in front of the entire school just so they knew that a Slytherin and a Gryffyndor could actually date, or even love, each other.
Jillian was overwhelmed with regrets. Her vision was going blurry again, but this time, it wasn't because she was afraid she was going to die, it was because she was afraid she wouldn't be able to live anymore. She even missed Snape, which told just how far gone she was. Jillian let her head fall forward to stare at her lap. She really had let everything pass her by thinking she could never be more than just invisible. But in reality, it had been everything else that was invisible to her.
Taking shaky breaths, Jillian got herself under control. The men had taken the cauldron out of the room, leaving her alone with her thoughts. Sad thoughts, regretful thoughts.
Wait a minute! Jillian lifted defiant eyes to glare at the door the men had left through. I can't just sit here. I just figured out I'm not invisible, and here I am, crying like a baby because I won't be able to do all these things. When the going gets tough, the tough get going, right?
Jillian looked around. Like she was going to let these stupid terrorists keep her from kissing Peter again. She had to find her way out, get to the headmaster, to Peter, to anyone, and she had to stop these people if it meant her life. She would stop being a sniveling, invisible git and turn herself around into the heroine that she could be.
Okay, evaluation time. The men were out of the room - probably for a long while since they had to do something or other with that smoky cauldron. They had tied her hands and feet to this chair with a magic rope that you couldn't slip out of - that probably meant you couldn't cut it either. Making sure there were no figures in sight, Jillian used all her strength and started to wobble the chair toward where the cauldron had been. Although the smoke from the cauldron had filtered in the room for that brief moment, most of it had somehow escaped in only a few minutes. She was guessing there was some type of chimney that let the smoke out.
Ah-ha! Look who was RIGHT! Jillian looked up at the very long and dark chimney above her and did a little victory dance with her head. She scooted forward more and stared up, suddenly deflated. Okay, way out, and yet no way out. How in Merlin's name was she going to get from point A (the Floor) up through point B (the Chimney) and out to point C (preferably somewhere with Peter or some teachers).
Okay, think, Jillian! There has to be a way.
Jillian closed her eyes and thought. Was there some way she could do magic without a wand? Suddenly, a picture came to mind - her in Peter's room. She grinned at the thought now, though it had been confusing at the time. How had she gotten there? She tried to think back further. What exactly was she thinking to get her into Peter's room and not anywhere else? Why had she been thinking it?
Before she'd appeared there, she'd...just closed her eyes and wished she could see Peter!
Jillian closed her eyes and said, "I wish I could see Peter."
When she opened them, amazingly, she was still sitting beneath the chimney. Growling, she said, this time silently, I wish I could see Peter!
Again, nothing happened. Jillian could hear footsteps now, and she closed her eyes thinking desperately, Please, just take me to him. I don't know how I did it before, just do it again.
Taking a deep breath, Jillian felt a sort of twinge then heard gasps all around her. Cautiously, she opened one eye and looked around her to see about a hundred students all sitting at tables in the library with open books and mouths.
"Uh," she started, then spotted Peter sitting right in front of her with a shocked and concerned look on his face. She was still in the chair, tied up, which was probably why he looked worried, but Jillian didn't care about that right now. Bursting into tears of relief, she yelled, "You stupid git, I can't believe I had to go through all that just so I could realize how much I actually love you."
And, darn it, it ends again. Now, that took forever for me to get out, and I feel ashamed because I have no good excuses to all you good people who have taken the time to read my story. You have no idea how much I love all you guys. Thanks for reading and reviewing - you give me hope for my story. I'll try out a new thing where I actually write the story faster so you don't have to stay hanging for too long.