Jillian groaned as the sun came up and started shining on her face through the curtains of her bed. She squinted her eyes open partially and wondered why. Why had she thought that trying to find out what happened in the Black Forest was a good idea. It was horrible!
She rubbed her head as she sat up and yawned loudly. The other girls were getting up, too, and they were all looking at her strangely. Jillian stopped in mid-yawn and narrowed her eyes. “What?” she asked finally.
One of the girls burst into giggles, quickly followed by the others. Jillian scowled. She really didn’t like being laughed at. She stood up indignantly and asked again, “What?”
One of the girls answered through her sputtering laughs, “Maybe -- you should -- look -- in the mirror!”
Jillian’s eyes widened in cartoonish horror, and she ran to the mirror. She gasped at the sight of her new face. New meaning she had an entirely different face. Instead of the brown eyes she usually had, they had turned red with small blue dots. She had red eyes! Evil! And instead of her usually dark brown hair, purple hair was shooting up from her head like Frankenstein's bride. There were also some bluish-green dots breaking out all over her skin like acne except worse, and her teeth had turned an amazing shade of maroon. Maroon! She hated that color!
Jillian gaped at herself, and gaped, and gaped some more. Finally, it registered that this was actually not a dream; this was a living nightmare!
She screamed.
Her shrieks attracted several people to come up and investigate, but this only served for her to scream more and pull a sheet over her head. This didn't exactly muffle her continuing shrieks, though.
Jillian was finally pulled out from under the sheet by the reassuring hands of Professor McGonagall.
Jillian stared at her, horror filling her eyes. Her mouth opened to asked the Professor a question, but instead of saying anything, Jillian fell away into a dead faint.
Professor McGonagall had quite a job of getting Jillian to the Hospital Wing and settling her in. By this time, the whole school had learned about a Gryffindor girl -- nobody actually knew her name because none of her sisters wanted to claim they were related to her -- was in the Hospital Wing because she was changing into some type of freakish monster.
Madam Pomfrey spent the entire day trying to understand what was happening to Jillian, and Jillian -- still in shock -- only sat there in a daze, her screaming done.
How could this happen, she thought. What could have made me get spots?!
These question kept going through Jillian’s head while people started visiting the Hospital Wing just to get a glimpse of her. Madam Pomfrey finally had to pull a curtain around Jillian because so many people had turned up to see her. Jillian didn't seem to notice all the people, although the school was turning her into some sort of celebrity.
When night had finally fallen, Madam Pomfrey had given up and all the other teachers came to study her. Jillian felt like some type of guinea pig as the Professors prodded her and asked her question about the night before.
Jillian told them about everything except the part about hiding in the Black Forest to see if she could get another glimpse of the persons she had see two nights before. That would have caused too many questions that was sure to get her into even more trouble than she was in now. When they finally gave up, Jillian fell into bed, grateful that Professor McGonagall had given her leave from detention. Now Peter would get a turn to feed the dragon.
Jillian was pulled from her deep sleep by someone shaking her shoulder. She moaned and turned over mumbling, “Leave me alone. I’ve had enough trauma today!”
When they kept shaking her shoulder, she turned and growled, “What!”
Peter was standing there, grinning at her like an idiot. Jillian gasped, pulled a sheet over her head, and whispered through it. “What in Merlin’s name brings you here. Get out! Now!”
Peter pulled the sheet away from Jillian’s face only to find that Jillian had covered herself with her hands. He sighed and said, “I wanted to know if you’re all right.”
“I’m fine, now go out,” she mumbled through her hands.
He smiled and countered, “Then why didn’t you go to detention?”
She opened a small gap between her fingers and used it to glare daggers at him. Her new red eyes certainly had an effect on Peter. His mouth dropped open in shock. “Fine, I’m not fine. Now go curse yourself and leave me alone!”
Peter shook his head in surprise and clucked his tongue teasingly. He took her hand away from her face and put a small vial there, whispering, “Drink it. I'm sure you'll be normal by morning.”
Then, he left.
Jillian sat up and studied the potion carefully. She pulled off the stopper to the vial and took a sip. It had no distinct taste, almost like water, so she drank the whole thing. It had a funny aftertaste like an extremely sour grapefruit, but was better than the time she accidentally swallowed some Polyjuice Potion and turned into Professor Snape. That had been bad.
She felt sleepy after drinking the potion and fell asleep almost instantly, thinking, At least I can't have any worse dreams than today's nightmare. Hopefully, that will be over tomorrow.
When Jillian awoke again, it was still dark. She was wondering what had awakened her when she heard hushed voices outside the door to the Hospital Wing. She sat up quietly and pulled back the curtain to take a peek. About three or four people were standing in the shadows just outside the slightly open door.
Peter must have left it open on accident, she thought as she strained to hear what they were saying. Again she could only catch a few words, so she got out of the bed bravely and tip-toed toward the door. When she was only a few feet away, she could hear the voices more clearly.
“You have to do it, Viktor. We can’t wait forever for you to make sure the coast is clear. Dumbledore will find out soon, and it needs to be done before he can act!”
She heard another voice whisper back furiously, “If you don’t want Dumbledore to know, then why did you want to meet in the school!?”
She leaned closer as they started an argument about meeting places when, suddenly, there was a loud creak. Jillian stood frozen in place as the voices stopped. The men were turning toward the door to the Hospital Wing, which Jillian had accidentally pushed forward slightly in her excitement to hear some of their plans.
The men were getting closer to the door when there was the sound of footsteps down the hall. Three of the men disappeared suddenly, leaving one man to stand before the Hospital Wing. Jillian peeked out of the doorway and watched a light coming down the hallway. She recognized Professor Snape as he walked toward the last shape still in the shadows. This was the first time, she was sure, that any student had ever felt so glad to see Professor Snape.
Snape stopped and looked at the last person before asking, “What brings you down these corridors so late at night, Professor Kilicus?”
Jillian barely stifled a gasp at the name of the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. She stepped back quitely as Professor Kilicus answered, "Nothing, Severus. I was just looking for my, um, wand. Yes, my wand."
"Maybe you should look in your rooms. I am sure it is no where near the Hospital Wing," Snape replied icily.
Professor Kilicus nodded, gave a nervous laugh and looked suspiciously from rigt to left. "Yes, I should be going then." He cleared his throat and turned to go down the hall.
Before he made it two steps, Snape stopped him by saying, "Oh, and, Viktor, maybe you should search your robes more closely. Your wand is in your back pocket."
Professor Kilicus froze and turned to look at Snape. Snape was staring at him intently as he stood there. Professor Kilicus cleared his throat and said, "Um, yes, I must have left it there and didn't notice it." He laughed nervously again and practically fled down the hallway.
Professor Snape stood outside the Hospital Wing for a couple seconds, staring at the place where Professor Kilicus had been standing. "Hmm." He murmured as he poked around the hallway where the Professor and his earlier companions had been talking. When he didn't seem to find anything, he left as quickly as he had come.
As she stumbled back into bed, Jillian heard a few shuffling steps as if someone else was walking away. She lay there, staring at the ceiling in shock. Professor Kilicus? How could he be --
Jillian stopped the thought as a faint memory came back to her. She was riding a broom, when, Peter started asking her about Professor Kilicus? She remembered that night! Ooh, she was going kill Peter tomorrow!
Author's Note: Hope you liked this chapter. The story can now begin. HAHAHAHAHA!!!!! Sorry, this story took so long to post, but it kept getting rejected, and it takes a while to revise it.