It was after Dinner when Jake and Hermione walked back into Gryffindor Tower. She and Jake had remained at the secret staircase that led up to the Fifth Floor for longer than she expected to. No one had bothered them, but some ghosts did float by them, completely unaware of or unconcerned with Jake and Hermione's presence.
He felt better, getting all of that out into the open, and it was even better that Hermione was there to hear it. The both of them had kissed passionately for a few seconds after deciding to finally go up to Gryffindor Tower with how late it had gotten.
Upon walking into the Common Room, Angelina hurried over to him, "Jake, thank you for your efforts to have Crabbe get the same punishment. Professor McGonagall had caught on to what you were trying to do... I'm sorry it didn't work in your favor... but at least equal punishment was handed out."
"Yeah... sorry about that..." he said quietly.
"No, it's okay... you tried," Angelina smiled sadly, "but since Harry is banned-"
"I know... I'm going to be the Main Seeker now..." he sighed, "Well... I'll try to end the matches quick enough so that we still have a shot at winning the Quidditch Cup, because whoever you get as replacement Beaters won't be up to Fred and George's standard."
"Yeah..." Angelina went quiet for a moment, "I think... I think I'm gonna go to bed..." She tried to laugh, but it came out dry and forced, "maybe when I wake up it'll all be a bad dream and we won't have played Slytherin yet..." Angelina slumped up the girl's staircase, Katie and Alicia not far behind her.
Jake had just noticed that the Golden Snitch was in the Common, zipping around frantically as Crookshanks hopped from surface to surface in desperation to catch the Snitch, "Maybe if Crookshanks catches it, he can be the Main Seeker?" He tried to joke, but just shook his head at his own foolishness, "I'm gonna go to bed too... I'm exhausted from... well, Hermione knows," he said to Harry, who gave her a curious look.
"I promise you, it's not what you think," she said, sitting down next to Harry, "Night, Jake."
"Night, Hermione," he said and went up to bed. He fell asleep not long after his head hit the pillow.
*******
Jake awoke the following morning feeling the complete opposite of well-rested. He still forced himself awake and out of bed, finding to not be the first one out this morning. It would seem Seamus and Dean had gotten up before him. It wasn't a big deal to him, just an observation.
He went down to the Common Room, which was empty, and a book floated from inside his pouch and onto the table, opening to the first chapter. It was a book he'd forgotten to look in, and honestly wasn't sure if it would even help after how much time had passed, but it was worth a reread to see if it would. And since it was Sunday, he could spend all day reading if he had to.
He was about halfway through Chapter Three when Hermione came down, her being the next person besides him, "Morning," she said and sat across from him, but when he looked up, she was dressed to go outside.
"Morning, you going out?" He asked. His eye stopped glowing red to talk to her.
"Yes, Hagrid came back yesterday evening, and Harry, Ron, and I went to see him," she quickly recounted all that Hagrid had said, including the fact Umbridge showed up.
"So you're going to see Hagrid again this morning to try and get a plan for his curriculum?" He asked her.
"I'm going to try, yes," Hermione said and stood up.
"I don't see you succeeding, given that it's Hagrid, but I wish you luck," he smiled and went back to reading. Hermione then left and Harry and Ron came down about an hour later to go to breakfast, and came back afterwards to work on their piling up homework.
They didn't bother to ask Jake for help, who had skipped breakfast, though it may have had something to do with the fact he was flipping through the book without his hands, and they figured he would hex them if he was disturbed.
It was just before lunch when Hermione came back to Gryffindor Tower, having spent the entire morning at Hagrid's, "Well, I tried..." she said dully, sinking into the right side of the couch Jake was sitting on. Hermione then pulled her wand out and gave it a complicated little wave, which caused the tip to be bursting with steam; she then pointed it at her robes and shoes and socks, drying them up slowly as she held it there, "He wasn't even there when I arrived... I was knocking for at least half an hour. And then he came out of the forest, leaving long tracks in the snow."
Harry groaned, the Forest was known for keeping dangerous creatures in there, creatures Umbridge was likely to completely disapprove of, "What's he keeping in there? Did he say?" Harry asked her.
"No..." Hermione said with a huff, "says he wants it to be a surprise. I tried to explain about Umbridge, but he just doesn't get it. He said nobody in their right mind would rather study knarls than chimeras - oh, but I doubt he seriously had any," Hermione said upon seeing the looks on Harry's and Ron's faces, "but apparently it's not for lack of trying. He says Chimera eggs are incredibly rare... I don't know how many times I told him he'd be better off following Grubbly-Plank's plan, but he wasn't listening... he's in a bit of a funny mood, you know? Still won't tell me how he got those injuries..."
"So long as he doesn't show us a Manticore... after the one we encountered in our First Year, I have no desire to ever see one again," Jake said.
For the rest of the day, Jake continued his reading, and still hadn't found the answers he sought. He was starting to think the answer for his injury didn't exist, given how long he let it go for. There was one thing that occurred to him to try, though.
It was during dinner time when he tried it out, because everyone else would be busy with food, he'd not get interrupted by anyone in the D.A. He walked up to where the Room of Requirement was and thought to himself, 'I need something to heal acidic damage to skin and muscle tissue days after the damage was done.' To his surprise, a door appeared in front of him. He carefully walked forward and opened the door, walking inside to a dark room with just one light on.
The room was large, and even with Visio per Noctem , he couldn't see in the darkness. This wasn't ordinary darkness, this was...
Advanced darkness...
He calmly walked forward to the only light, which was an overhead light, that was cast over a small wooden table, a small jar sat upon it. It looked like he could fit his hand in the jar, though. His eye glowed red as the lid to the jar was twisted off and set gently beside it. Based on what he knew of the Room of Requirement, it wasn't going to trick him and give him a more damaging substance.
Nevertheless, he carefully and slowly lowered his hand into the liquid. The second his fingertip touched it, he jerked his hand back, just to be safe. When it registered that the feeling was soothing, he lowered his entire hand down into the liquid. He felt calm and content as he soaked his hand in the jar. He watched his hand through the jar as the skin formed back where it belonged. It took five minutes to fully form back, and he put his other hand in the jar to watch as the same thing happened.
When both his hands had their skin back, he decided to test something. He clapped his hands together, hard, but when the pain was minimal, he sighed contently, "Such relief..." he smiled and left the Room of Requirement, the door disappeared after he closed it behind him, and he went down to the Great Hall to get a little bite of dessert for the last half hour of dinner.
His late entry didn't go unnoticed by anyone and the spot on Hermione's left was immediately made vacant so he could sit beside her, "Jake?"
He looked at her and smiled, the usual buzz of chatter returning, "Sorry I'm late, I was busy taking care of something," he showed her his palms, and she gasped upon seeing them unharmed.
"You healed them?" She asked quietly.
"I did, I used the Room of Requirement for it," he got a couple of things that piqued his interest.
"That's brilliant..." Hermione said, looking at the table as she smiled, "really brilliant."
*******
The following morning, Hagrid's reappearance at the staff table didn't go unnoticed, because Hagrid was a half-giant, and his size made him impossible to miss. His return was not greeted by enthusiasm from all students. Some, like Fred, George, and Lee, all sprinted up to him, roaring with delight to wring Hagrid's enormous hands. Others, like Parvati and Lavender, were less than thrilled and exchanged gloomy looks.
Jake could understand, because Grubbly-Plank's lessons were not with risk of serious injury, dismemberment, or death. He couldn't recall reading about an incident where a student died in Care of Magical Creatures, but that was beside the point. Hagrid did have the more interesting lessons, though, he couldn't say they weren't.
The following day, early Tuesday afternoon, they headed down to Care of Magical Creatures with varying degrees of apprehension, heavily muffled against the cold as they marched.
To the Gryffindor's satisfaction, Umbridge was nowhere to be seen as they trudged through the snow, Jake and Ron having an easier time than most due to their longer legs. Hagrid was waiting for them at the Forest Edge and Jake saw that he had some bruises, but instead of being purple like bruises were, they were tinged with green and yellow, and Hagrid had lacerations that were still bleeding a little bit. Hagrid was also carrying a half of a dead cow over his shoulder.
Upon seeing the class, he greeted them, "We'll be workin' in here tehday," he said and jerked his head back into the forest, "Bit more sheltered! Anyway, they prefer the dark..."
"What prefers the dark?" Jake heard Malfoy ask from behind them. "What did he say prefers the dark - did you hear?" He figured he was asking Crabbe or Goyle.
Jake remembered the last time Malfoy was inside the Forest back in First Year, and he was a scared bitch then too. After what happened at the Quidditch Match, he was glad Malfoy was afraid.
"Ready?" Hagrid asked happily to his class after they stopped in front of him, "Right, well, I've bin savin' a trip inter the forest fer yer fifth year. Thought we'd go an' see these creatures in their natural habitat. Now, what yer studyin' today is pretty rare, I reckon I'm probably the on'y person in Britain who's managed ter train 'em-"
"And you're sure they're trained, are you?" Malfoy asked loudly, the panic in his voice even more pronounced, "only it wouldn't be the first time you'd brought wild stuff to class, would it?"
The Slytherin murmured in agreement, and a couple of Gryffindor did too.
"Of course they're trained, they pull the Carriages after you disembark the train. A wild creature wouldn't do that," Jake said, having caught on to what Hagrid had planned for them. Everyone but Harry, Hermione, Neville, and one of the Slytherins, looked at Jake like he'd gone insane.
Hagrid gave him a thankful smile, "Alrigh' follow me!" Hagrid said and led them into the Forest.
Only Jake followed without hesitation. Hermione followed when she saw Jake was, then Harry and Ron followed her, and the rest of class followed after that. They walked for about ten minutes until they reached a place where trees stood so close together that it was as dark as twilight around them, and no snow on the ground at all. Hagrid dumped his half of a cow onto the ground and stepped back to his class, turning to face them.
"Gather roun', gather roun'," Hagrid said encouragingly. Some of them were jumpy and their eyes darted around, as though waiting to see what was going to jump out at them. "Now, they'll be attracted by the smell o' the meat but I'm goin' ter give 'em a call anyway, to let 'em know it's me."
He turned and shook his head to get the hair out of his face and gave an odd, shrieking cry that echoed through the dark trees like the call of a monstrous bird. Nobody laughed; most of them were too scared to make a sound. Only Jake was naturally calm, and Hermione was calm only because he was.
Hagrid gave the shrieking cry again. A minute passed in which the class continued to peer nervously over their shoulders and around at the trees, waiting to catch the first glimpse at whatever Hagrid was calling for.
He was about to call again, but he stopped himself the moment he saw one walking out to them.
Jake looked and smiled at the sight of it. He looked at Harry, who had a wave of relief washed over his face. A pair of blank, white, shining eyes were growing larger through the gloom and a moment later, the dragonish face, neck, and then skeletal body of a great, black, winged horse emerged from the darkness. It glimpsed around the class for a few moments, swishing its long black tail, then bowed its head and began to tear flesh from the carcass with its pointed fangs.
Jake heard Ron whisper, "Why doesn't Hagrid call again?"
Most of the rest of the class wore the same confused expression that Ron had, and were looking everywhere but the winged horse mere feet from them. Only two others in class could see it besides Harry and Jake; a stringy Slytherin boy standing just behind Goyle, who was looking at the horse with distaste, and Neville, who was transfixed on the swishing tail.
"Oh, an' here comes another one!" Hagrid said proudly as a second one came up through the thick, dark trees, folded its leathery wings close to its body, and dipped its head to gorge on the meat too, "Now... put yer hands up, who can see 'em?"
Harry happily put his hand up. Hagrid nodded to him.
"Yeah... yeah, knew yeh would, Harry," Hagrid said in a serious voice, "An' you too, Neville, eh? An' 'course Jake can see 'em, an'-"
"Excuse me," Malfoy said in a sneering voice, "but what exactly are we supposed to be seeing?"
For an answer, Hagrid pointed to the cow carcass on the ground. The class only had to stare for a few seconds for a few of them to gasp, and Parvati ended up squealing in terror. It was simple to understand, seeing flesh get torn off by itself and then disappearing must have been disturbing.
"What's doing it!?" Parvati demanded in a terrified voice as she ran behind the nearest tree, "What's eating it!?"
"Thestrals," Jake answered. Hermione smiled; she already knew they were Thestrals based on what Jake said earlier, but it was a relief all the same to know that's what they were.
"Ten points ter Gryffindor, Jake," Hagrid smiled, "Hogwarts has got a whole herd of 'em in here. Now, who knows-"
"But they're really, really unlucky!" Parvati shrieked, "They're supposed to bring all sorts of horrible misfortune on people who see them! Trelawney once told me-"
'She's still in contact with Trelawney?' Hermione scoffed in her mind.
"No, no, no," Hagrid was chuckling, "tha's jus' superstition, that is, they aren' unlucky, they're dead clever an' useful! 'Course, this lot don' get a lot o' work, it's mainly jus' pullin' the Carriages, like Jake said, unless Dumbledore's takin' a long journey an' don' want ter Apparate - an' here's another couple, look-"
Two more horses came quietly out of the trees, one of them passing very close to Parvati, who shivered and pressed herself closer to the tree, saying, "I think I felt something, I think it's near me!"
"Don' worry, it won' hurt yeh," Hagrid said patiently, "Righ', now, who can tell me why some o' yeh can see 'em, an' some can't?"
Jake raised his hand, as did Hermione, but it was Jake who Hagrid called on, "The only people who can see Thestrals, are ones who've seen Death."
"Tha's exactly right," Hagrid beamed at him, "take another Ten Points ter Gryffindor, now-"
" Hem, hem ."
Jake closed his eye and breathed slowly. Umbridge had arrived. She was standing a few feet away from Harry, wearing her Green Hat and cloak that she wore in Snape's inspection, her clipboard at the ready. Hagrid, however, was looking at a Thestral, thinking it was sick or something, as Hagrid had not heard Umbridge's annoying fake cough.
" Hem, hem ."
Hagrid stood up straight and looked around to the source of the sound, "Oh, hello!"
"You received the note I sent to your cabin this morning?" Umbridge asked in a slow, loud voice. Jake immediately picked up on why, and he continued controlling his breathing, else he'd cause her to expand and explode into a bunch of slimy piles of slop all over the forest and students. She was talking to Hagrid like that because he was half-Giant, and therefore, Umbridge assumed him to be slow and stupid, "Telling you that I would be inspecting your lesson?"
"Oh yeah," Hagrid said brightly, "Glad yeh foun' the place alrigh'! Well, as yeh can see - or, I dunno - can yeh? We're doin' thestrals terday-"
"I'm sorry?" Umbridge asked loudly, cupping her hand to her ear, "What did you say?"
Hagrid looked a little confused, "I'm guessing you can't see them?" Jake asked her rhetorically, "we are studying Thestrals today, is what Hagrid said."
Jake regretted speaking, because Umbridge used his response to jot down in her clipboard, muttering as she spoke, " 'Has... to... have... students... speak... for... him... due... to... his... dialect...' "
'You short fucking Toad...' Jake spat in his mind.
"Well... anyway..." Hagrid turned back to his class, slightly flustered, "erm... what was I sayin'?"
" 'Appears... to... have... poor... short... term... memory...' " Umbridge muttered again. The only reason she was muttering as loud as she was in this class was because of her extreme prejudice against Hagrid, and didn't care if he could hear her or not. One look at Malfoy showed that his face was one of great exuberance; he looked like Christmas came a month early.
"Oh yeah," Hagrid said, throwing an uneasy glance at Umbridge's clipboard, but valiantly plowed forth, "Yeah, I was gonna tell yeh how come we got a herd of 'em. Yeah, so we started off with one Male an' five Females. This one," he patted the first horse that had appeared, "name o' Tenebrus, he's my special favorite, firs' one born here in the forest-"
"Are you aware," Umbridge said loudly, interrupting him, "that the Ministry of Magic has classified thestrals as 'dangerous'?"
Hagrid chuckled, "Thestrals aren' dangerous! Alrigh', they might take a bite outta yeh if yeh annoy 'em-"
" 'Shows... signs... of... pleasure... at... the... idea... of... violence...' " Umbridge muttered and scribbled on her clipboard again.
"No - come on!" Hagrid said, starting to look anxious, "I mean, a dog'll bite yeh if yeh bait it, won' it - but thestrals jus' have a bad reputation because o' the death thing - people used ter think they were bad omens, didn' they? Jus' didn' understand 'em, did they?"
Umbridge, however, did not answer; she finished writing her last note, them looked up at Hagrid and said very loudly and slowly, "Please, continue teaching as usual. I am going to walk-" she mimed walking, Malfoy and Parkinson having silent fits of laughter, "-among the students-" she motioned to the class, "-and ask them questions." She pointed to her mouth to indicate talking.
Jake breathed in for four seconds, then breathed out for four seconds. Umbridge was getting on his very last nerve, and he was doing everything he could to not get angry and lash out.
Hermione, however, began whispering angrily, tears of fury in her eyes, "You hag, you evil hag! I know what you're doing you awful, twisted, vicious-"
"Erm... anyway," Hagrid said, clearly struggling to regain the flow of his lesson, "so - thestrals, yeah, well, there's loads o' good stuff about 'em-"
"Do you find," Umbridge said in a ringing voice to Pansy, "that you are able to understand Professor Hagrid when he talks?"
Just like Hermione, Pansy had tears in her eyes, but hers were tears of laughter; indeed, her answer was almost incoherent as she tried to suppress her giggles, "No... because... well... it sounds... like grunting a lot of the time..."
Jake stopped holding back a little, "Then please, Pansy, allow me to unclog your ears so you can hear Hagrid as clearly as every Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw can."
Umbridge turned to him, "That'll be Ten Points from Gryffindor, Kidd."
"Your reduction of Gryffindor's points matters little to me," he shrugged and just eyed Umbridge detestably.
Hagrid got some of his momentum back, "Yeah, good stuff about thestrals. Once they're tamed, like this lot, yeh'll never get lost again, 'mazing sense o' direction they got. Jus' tell 'em where yeh wan' ter go, an' they'll take yeh there!"
Umbridge then directed her next question to Jake, "So you can see the Thestrals, correct, Kidd?"
"That's right," Jake answered.
"Whom did you see die?" She asked, and she was completely unprepared for his answer.
"My adoptive father as I killed him by strangling him, mere seconds after he shot my adoptive mother," he said in a clear, cold voice. Shivers went down every human spine around them, except for Hermione's.
Umbridge had noticeably taken a couple of steps back, unable to speak to him again. She turned to Hagrid, "Well, I've gotten enough... you'll receive your inspection results within ten days..." Umbridge seemed to dare not speak negatively against Hagrid again in front of Jake, because at that moment, she had a feeling of fear she never felt before.
Jake watched as she left, the feeling of murderous intent in his mind not leaving.
As they were walking back up to the Castle a half hour later, the Slytherin, minus Pendragon, had all rushed ahead of Jake, wanting to desperately get away from him after what he said in class.
"That was amazing, Jake, truly amazing," Ron said after shaking off his feeling of fear minutes ago.
Jake, however, didn't say anything in response.
"Jake?" Hermione spoke his name, having calmed down herself from her previous fury against Umbridge.
Still, Jake said nothing. They walked to the Greenhouses, ready for whatever Sprout had in store for them.
He quite honestly wanted to forget the day even happened.
*******
December arrived in an avalanche of snow and homework, particularly for Fifth and Seventh Year students. Jake and Hermione became more busy with their Prefect duties as Christmas approached. They had been called upon to supervise the decoration of the Castle, to watch over First and Second Years spending their break times inside due to the bitter cold, and to patrol the Corridors in shifts with Argus Filch, who suspected that the holiday spirit might show itself an outbreak of Wizarding Duels. Jake also had his homework done well ahead of everyone else, attended Quidditch Practice three times a week, and held D.A. meetings with the other members once a week.
Hermione was quite honestly amazed by him.
Because members of the D.A., all of them but Jake, were going home for the holidays, there was obviously no point in holding meetings over the break.
One evening before the Christmas Break started, Hermione was sitting in the warm, cozy Common Room with an opened letter beside her. It was from her parents, and despite their divorce, they were willing to set differences aside for Christmas. Hermione had smiled and written a reply to them, and their next reply was the one sitting beside her.
Jake had walked into the Common Room about twenty minutes after Quidditch Practice ended, exhausted from all the stuff he had to do in the month of December. He didn't show his exhaustion, though, and sat down next to Hermione, leaning back into the couch, "Evening..." he said quietly.
"Evening, so I got a letter from my parents," she mentioned.
"What did they say?"
"They are willing to be civil for Christmas," Hermione said, "and... you're invited to stay with us, if you want?"
He leaned up and looked at her, "Hermione... I - are you sure?"
"Of course I'm sure," she whispered quietly to him, "You're the single most important person in my life-"
"But Christmas is a time for family, Hermione..." Jake said quietly as well, "I'm not family..."
'Not yet you aren't.' "Well I already asked them if you could stay, and they said yes," Hermione said, getting a triumphant smile on her face.
"They did...?"
"Of course, I wouldn't have said you could if they hadn't said yes," Hermione smirked at him.
"Are they absolutely sure? I feel like I'm just going to be intrusive..."
"Jake, don't be ridiculous, you aren't intrusive, and my parents trust you immensely," Hermione said to him.
"Well... alright then... I'll go home with you for Christmas," he said with a smile.
The way he said it caused her heart to flutter with excitement, "Okay," she smiled back and almost lost her self-control by snogging him right in the middle of the Common Room.
The day after was their final D.A. meeting before the break, and Harry and Jake had gone earlier than usual to the Room of Requirement to see that hundreds of decorations had been strung up. It wouldn't have been so bad, but Harry's face was all over the place. Jake couldn't stop his laughter long enough to help Harry take them down.
Harry had only just gotten the last one with his face on it down from view when Luna walked in, "Hello to you both."
"Hey, Luna," Jake said, having calmed down enough to speak coherently.
"These decorations are nice, did you both hang them up?" She asked in a dreamy voice.
"No, it was Dobby the House-Elf," Harry said.
The Three Gryffindor Chasers, Angelina, Alicia, and Katie all showed up not long after, "Jake, did you tell Harry?"
"Tell me what?" Harry asked as he turned to her.
"No, completely slipped my mind with all else I've had to deal with this month," he said.
"We finally got two new Beaters," Angelina said, "Andrew Kirke and Jack Sloper," although there was absolutely no enthusiasm in her voice, "they aren't brilliant, but they're better than anyone else who showed up... and obviously Jake has taken over as Seeker full-time."
"But I still only show up three times a week," Jake said, "if I wasn't a Prefect in Fifth Year, it'd be no problem to go every day of the week."
Soon everyone had shown up, and sat down, waiting for Harry or Jake to talk, "Okay," Harry said, "So I discussed with Jake, and he agreed that since this is the last meeting before the Break, we should just refresh on things we've already learned instead of attempting something new."
"We can practice in pairs," Jake said, "We'll do ten minutes of the Impediment Jinx, then break out the cushions for Stunning Spells."
They all divided up obediently, Hermione having gotten used to hitting Ron with Spells, and the room became full of intermittent cries of Impedimenta . For the entire minute one was hit, their partner would look around aimlessly until it wore off to be hit as well.
After ten minutes passed, Jake waved his hand and cushions appeared for them. Because the room was small, they all couldn't safely practice the Stunning Spells, so they divided evenly for this practice.
When the time was about up, Harry talked to them, "That's good, very good," he said, a look of pride on his face, "when we get back from the holidays, we can move onto bigger stuff - maybe even the Patronus Charm!"
"Didn't Jake also take anti-Dementor lessons with you, Harry?" Dean asked.
"Yeah, he did," Harry said.
They all looked at Jake, his face unchanged, "Why didn't you say so when we first met?" Susan asked him.
"Because me being able to cast the Patronus Charm is not impressive," he answered.
"Nonsense!" Fred and George said excitedly.
"Can you do a Corporeal one like Harry?" Katie asked him.
"Jake could actually do a Corporeal Patronus before me," he admitted.
"Go on, cast it for us, please?" Hannah asked him.
He sighed and pulled his wand out. He wouldn't need any specific memory, but he did think of when he and Hermione rekindled their love for each other. He raised his wand and said, " Expecto Patronum !"
This was the first time someone other than Hermione would be seeing his Corporeal Patronus. The Alligator jumped from the tip of his wand and swam around the room, before coming to a slow stop beside him, hovering just a few inches off the ground. It was massive looking compared to how it was last time he cast it, but he had never cast it in a room, so it probably just looked larger than it was.
A wave of oohs and awes was heard among everyone, proof in front of them that he could cast a Corporeal Patronus. Hermione was looking at him, smiling that he was getting the recognition he deserved for being able to cast one too.
"Go on, Potter, cast one too," Jake said mischievously.
Harry suddenly looked like he would rather be elsewhere, "I-I don't-"
"Go on, I don't want to be the only one since I know I'm not the only one," Jake said insistently.
Harry fumbled a bit for his wand, but he was able to cast his Patronus no problem, and a Stag came out from Harry's wand. Even more oohs and awes were heard.
"This is what we'll have you try to cast sometime in the next term. Not everyone can cast a Patronus, and even fewer can cast a Corporeal one. If you have a villainous, wicked heart, you can't cast one. Everyone here is of pure heart, pure enough at least that you'll be able to cast one," Jake said.
"Wh-What happens if you try to cast one with a w-wicked heart?" Neville asked.
"You don't wanna know, trust me," Jake said.
"Well, that's all we have time for tonight," Harry said, his Stag disappearing, "We'll see you all next year."
Jake dispelled his Alligator and was approached by Hermione. They walked out of the Room of Requirement ahead of Harry when they saw that Cho was hanging back as well, "It's cute, isn't it?" Hermione asked him.
"I guess," Jake said, not wanting to think about it.
"What do you have against it?" She asked, looking at him.
"Cho, she - she's got an agenda... I just don't know what that is..." He said, looking at the floor as he spoke.
"Are you sure?" Hermione asked, "she seems sincere about liking Harry..."
"I dunno... maybe I'm just paranoid for him..." Jake looked at Hermione and sat with her in the Common Room.
"I think you're wrong," Hermione said, "besides, Cho... she's just got a lot on her mind." He was sure she did and wasn't going to dispute it, but he couldn't help feeling like something was off with her.
It was half an hour later when Harry arrived, and it was just Hermione, Ron, and Jake there in the Common Room.
"What kept you?" Ron asked from his place on the hearthrug, trying to finish his Transfiguration homework, as Harry sunk into an armchair.
Harry didn't answer immediately, and all three of them looked over at him, "Are you alright, Harry?" Hermione asked softly, looking over the quill Jake had gotten for her as she wrote a letter.
He gave a half-hearted shrug, "What's up?" Jake asked, looking up from one of Merlin's books, "What's happened?"
He was still reluctant to say anything. Before he had the chance to, Hermione took it out of his hands, "Is it Cho?" She asked in a business-like way, "Did she corner you after the meeting?"
Harry nodded, but it looked like an automatic gesture. Ron snickered, but stopped under a glare from Hermione, "So - er - what did she want?" He asked in a mock casual tone.
"She-" Harry began, but he stopped suddenly. He cleared his throat and tried again, "She - er-"
"Did you and Cho kiss?" Jake asked like it was nothing.
Ron sat up so fast, his ink bottle flung ink everywhere, but it went untouched as Ron sat up, staring avidly at Harry, "Well?" Ron demanded.
Harry looked between all three of them, looking at each of their expressions carefully, then nodded.
"Ha!" Ron made a triumphant gesture with his fist and went into a raucous peal of laughter that caused Hermione to huff and return to her letter. "Well?" Ron asked after he calmed down, "How was it?"
"Wet..." Harry said.
Jake gave him a confused and concerned look.
"It's because she was crying..."
"That bad of a kisser, mate?" Ron asked.
"Dunno..." Harry seemed to consider Ron's words, "maybe I am?"
"I don't think you are, Harry," Hermione said, still scribbling away in her letter.
"How do you know!?" Ron asked sharply.
'Don't stab yourself, Ron,' Jake thought to himself, 'why would you care anyway?'
"Because," Hermione paused again in her writing, "Cho spends half her time crying these days," Hermione said vaguely, "She does it at mealtimes, in the loos, all over the place."
"You'd think a bit of kissing would cheer her up then, wouldn't it?" Ron asked, grinning.
"Ron," Hermione started in the most dignified voice she could manage, "you are the most insensitive wart I have ever had the misfortune to meet."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Ron asked indignantly, "what sort of person cries while someone's kissing them?"
"Yeah," Harry started, but his tone was slightly desperate for Hermione's answer, "who does?"
"Neither of you understand how Cho's feeling at the moment, do you?" Jake asked them.
"No," they said together.
Hermione laid her quill down, sighing, "Well, obviously, she's feeling very sad, because of Cedric dying. Then I expect she's feeling confused because she liked Cedric and now she likes Harry, and she can't work out who she likes best. Then she'll be feeling guilty, thinking it's an insult to Cedric's memory to be kissing Harry at all, and she'll be worrying about what everyone else might say about her if she starts going out with Harry. And she probably can't work out what her feelings toward Harry are anyway, because he was the one who was with Cedric when Cedric died, so that's all very mixed up and painful. Oh, and she's afraid she's going to be thrown off the Ravenclaw Quidditch Team because she's been performing so badly."
A slightly stunned silence greeted the end of Hermione's speech, but Ron then said, "One person can't feel all that at once, they'd explode..."
"Just because you have the emotional range of a teaspoon doesn't mean we all have," Hermione said nastily and picked up her quill again. She looked at Jake and noticed he had been exceptionally quiet.
"She was the one who started it," Harry said, "I wouldn't've - she just sort of came at me - and next thing she's crying all over me - I didn't know what to do..."
"Don't blame you, mate," Ron said with an alarmed look at the thought of being in Harry's spot.
"You just had to be nice to her," Hermione said, then looked up anxiously, "You were, weren't you?"
"Well," Harry said as his face started to heat up, "I sort of - patted her on the back a bit."
Hermione inwardly cringed, "Well, I suppose it could've gone worse," she said to Harry, "Are you going to see her again?"
"I'll have to, won't I?" Harry asked, "We've got D.A. meetings, haven't we?"
"You know what Hermione means, Harry," Jake said for the first time in a bit.
"It's fine either way," Hermione said, getting invested in her letter once more. She was glad Jake never asked her who she was writing to, "You'll have plenty of chances to ask her."
"What if he doesn't want to ask her?" Ron asked.
"Then there will be other girls, or guys, if Harry finds out he doesn't like girls," Jake said, earning some glares from Harry and Ron.
"Besides, Harry's liked her for ages, haven't you, Harry?" Hermione asked him.
Harry didn't answer, and Hermione was too busy writing her letter to put any more effort in asking again. Ron had a question for her, though, "Who are you writing a Novel to, anyway?"
"No one," Hermione said quickly, "just writing down information that might be useful," Hermione said, hoping Ron believed her.
"Really? Because I've watched you off and on for the past half hour, are you sure it's not someone you know?" Ron asked. Hermione hesitated for a second, and Ron took the opportunity to talk again, but it wasn't in a friendly tone, "You aren't writing to Viktor Krum, are you?"
Hermione looked at him with vitriol, "Don't be fucking stupid, Ron!"
"Then who?" Ron asked back hatefully.
Instead of answering him, she turned to Jake and spoke in a shaky voice, "I'm going to bed, good night," she rolled up her parchment and went up to her dorm room.
Jake watched as she went to bed. He knew better than to try and stop her, at least with Ron and Harry still there. He turned to Ron, and glared evilly at the red-head, "Way to fucking go, Weasley," Jake stood up, and Ron started to fear for his life, "Give me a good reason why I shouldn't paint this school with your blood..." his voice was menacing.
"I-I-I'm sorry, I-I didn't mean t-t-to get s-so angry with her," Ron said, stuttering horribly.
"You're fucking right you didn't, Weasley, you're on thin ice already, I'd tread more carefully if I were you, or Angelina's gonna have to find a new Keeper, again, and I'd really hate to put her through that," Jake said and closed his book, going up to bed as well. He was asleep before either of them came up to bed.
*******
Jake was sitting in the Room of Requirement, waiting for Hermione to show up. He had everything perfectly ready for her arrival, their date was set to be perfect. He had gone down to the kitchens earlier that day and asked the Elves in there to fix a specific assortment of foods around Five o'clock that afternoon and to have it ready by Seven o'clock that evening. They happily agreed.
He had the layout of the room all set perfectly; the setting would be a romantic high-end restaurant, without the other people and obligation to dress properly for it.
When he had asked Hermione to join him for dinner that evening in the Room of Requirement, she happily agreed. Naturally she would have had to skip dinner to be able to eat, but she didn't seem like she would complain about it.
It was five minutes till Seven, and he was a bit anxious. This was a moment he'd been waiting for since Third Year. He was going to say damn it all and he had full plans to ask Hermione to be his girlfriend.
He was brought out of his thoughts when Hermione walked into the Room of Requirement, and she was looking as beautiful as she ever did. She looked around the room in awe, "Jake..." She spoke his name, he loved when she spoke his name, "this is amazing..."
"Not as amazing as you, Hermione," he said, causing her to blush.
"Such a romantic, aren't you?" She asked as she slid into the seat across from him.
"Yeah, only for you," he smiled and asked, "are you hungry?"
"I'm starving since you had me skip dinner," she tried to pout and glare, but it came off as adorable.
"Then allow me to remedy the situation," he said and waved his wand.
Food appeared on the plates in between them, "Jake, this looks wonderful, I'll be sure to thank the Elves for their hard work in making this date spectacular."
"I'm glad you don't hate me for getting the Elves to fix this for us," he said, scratching his cheek bashfully.
"Well, like you said, we have to work slowly to help them understand they deserve freedom, so I can't be mad at them for doing what they are happy to do," Hermione sniffed the food, "this is making me extra hungry."
"Then help yourself, Hermione," he smiled and they began to eat.
After the food had been eaten to the heart's content, Jake had the restaurant scene disappear and it was replaced with a night time park setting. Anything beyond the walls was blurred slightly, showing it as impassable. "You really know how to lay down the foundation for a romantic scene, don't you?"
"Well... ever since I confirmed to myself that I did in fact love you, Hermione, I'd been working on trying to be good at romantic situations, but that failed, so I decided to go about it naturally," he said and looked around, "I don't think I did too badly."
Hermione turned him to face her, and she looked into his eye, "You did absolutely perfect," she pulled him down to kiss her, and it was everything he loved to feel when kissing her.
He heard a screaming in the distance, which was weird, because they shouldn't have been able to hear anything. He stopped kissing and looked around, but saw nothing out of the ordinary.
He turned back to Hermione and he fell backwards, she looked exactly as his Boggart had when it showed her. Her skin was a sickly gray and was peeling off with open sores pouring puss. Her hair was falling out and her teeth were rotten and decayed.
Before it could get any worse, he managed to wake up from his nightmare to find out that it was Harry who had been screaming. Harry had been on the floor when McGonagall came in with Neville leading her.
Jake was still in a daze from his nightmare, and caught some words about Harry attacking Arthur Weasley, and being a Snake. Jake would've normally dismissed such a thing if it had been anyone else, but it was Harry after all.
He heard McGonagall clearly when she said, "I believe you, Potter," she had said curtly, "put on your dressing-gown - we're going to see the Headmaster."