The Ties That Bind

The Ties That Bind

Part 1, The First Rise

By Laura ([email protected])

Chapter 9: Starting Somewhere

I'm going to start adding timing to the storyline, as such:

Hogwarts, Marauders Timeline

Jessica is in her Second Year

It is January, and school has just restarted after Christmas Break.

And here we go...

"In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: It goes on."

~Robert Frost~

Not even Gary Rum bothered to hide the fact that he kept peering nervously at the doors to the Great Hall. All of the professors were peering.

"She does know that she doesn't need to attend dinner tonight, right?" Stephen asked the headmaster.

"Yes, Mr. Medley, but she insisted," Dumbledore replied patiently.

Stephen sighed.

* * *

She stood beside the stairwell, cloaked in the darkness. Dumbledore had placed her in a room near the entrance of the dungeons. Even though he hadn't said it, she knew it was because of the proximately to Gary. If she needed someone to talk to, he wanted someone nearby that she would feel comfortable to talking to. As she watched the kids enter the Great Hall, she thought to herself with a smile, that move was so Dumbledore.

This thought was followed by a frown. He still thought she was worth it. Worth saving.

Jessica's ears caught the laughter first before she saw the five boys of the Gryffindor dorm descend the stairs. She backed into the darkness a step for fear that James would feel her near. She knew he would respect her space within the building of Hogwarts, but she was still nervous about confronting him. How much did he know? What did he think?

Before Jessica gave much thought to that, she noticed a swirl of dark, red hair. Jessica stumbled backwards in the frantic effort to hide.

Once she was sure Lily was gone, Jessica took a deep breath. It was now or never. She stepped out of the darkness and started towards the Great Hall with a single-minded determination.

She brushed by people, heard the whispers, felt the stares and the pointing, but she kept going. It wasn't until she walked up to the Slytherin table that she stopped. Where should she sit? Where was it safe? Everyone turned to her as she surveyed the table. She gulped.

Suddenly, in the noise and the visual pain of everyone looking at her, she saw something. It was Bertie Magal. She had scooted over and patted the seat next to her. It would be between her and Narcissa Black and across from Rabastan Lestrange. On Rabastan's left was Severus and on his right was Lucius. Could Jessica do this?

Jessica looked at Bertie's encouraging face. The shy girl was trying to offer a place of solace. She didn't know that the only place Jessica had in the living world right now that was safe was the spot next to her brother in the Hospital Ward. But Jessica knew that she had gone too far to stop now. She walked forward and took her place.

The meal started soon afterwards, and Jessica struggled to participate in the conversation as she tried to rustle up an appetite for the food she was putting on her plate.

"It was a pearl necklace," Narcissa was saying, describing what her father had given her for Christmas. "Very expensive," she purred.

When she got done going through the rest of her gifts, she turned to Jessica. It was an attempt to talk to her that no one had tried since Jessica had entered the Hall, so that had to be commended. But the question was rather tasteless.

"So what did you get for Christmas, Jessica?" Jessica looked back at her plate intently, Narcissa not taking long to realize what she had asked. "Oh, I'm sorry, Jes--"

"It's alright," Jessica said, but she didn't answer the question. Father had gotten her the latest set of dictionaries on spells of dark magic. They would be thrilled, and that was the precise reason Jessica didn't want to say it.

Rabastan made a point of changing the subject then. Unfortunately, he changed it to Voldemort.

"I heard that he's going to start using his symbol with other attacks," he whispered excitedly.

Jessica wasn't looking at anyone but her plate. The topic was making her sick. He had succeeded. She was a killer. But he still didn't trust her. That meant something, right?

Jessica would never forget the look on her father's face as she said the words. His shock and surprise, then horror just before the spell hit him. Then he was gone. Even before he hit the floor, he was dead. And Jessica had been the one to kill him. No matter what Riley said, he couldn't change that fact. She was a murderer.

"I think that was so cool he started using the symbol when he did. What a way to make yourself known," Narcissa said.

"But Potter doesn't even know it was him," Bertie whispered.

"Oh, he will," Narcissa said haughtily. "I think it's funny that that moron doesn't know."

"He doesn't know anything," Lucius added.

Narcissa gave Lucius a flirtatious smile. He merely nodded at her.

"Father says that Potter called that old bat Moody in," Lucius announced.

Rabastan chuckled. "Oh, he won't find anything."

The others nodded. Jessica kept looking at her food, swallowing the bile in her throat. She felt what she had already eaten threatening to come back up.

"I heard why you did what you did," Rabastan suddenly whispered across the table to Jessica. She looked up at him in surprise, not remembering right away which story of the truth he was referring to. Then she remembered that he only knew one of the stories...that was if Tom hadn't told him the other story. But, why would he? Unless Rabastan was the school spy...could he be?

"He's right proud of you, probably." No, Rabastan wasn't the spy, Jessica thought to herself.

She pulled herself back to the conversation as Rabastan continued, "I can't believe your father would have had the nerve to turn his brother in. I mean, didn't he have a sense of loyalty? We pure bloods have to stick together, us Death Eaters even more so, right? But you're one of us, Jessica, aren't you? I don't need to tell you this. You've proven yourself now."

Jessica's hand flew to her mouth as she felt herself start to throw up. She got up and ran out of the Great Hall, praying she made it to a toilet in time.

* * *

From down the table, Jeff Rin watched the scene play out. He didn't know what was said and, personally, he didn't want to know. When Jessica Ziners ran out of the hall, he got up and started after her, calling the female Slytherin Prefect down.

When Jeff exited the Great Hall, he saw Jessica entering a door on the other side of the Entrance Hall. He jogged across the way and got into the next hall in time to see her enter into the girl's loo. Jeff waited outside the loo for five minutes, figuring that he would give her time to do her business, before he knocked on the door.

"Jessica?" He called, a bit uncertainly.

No response.

Jeff knocked and called again. When he still received no response, he knocked another time, but instead of saying her name, he said, "If you don't respond, I'm coming in!"
"Go away," came a quiet return call.

"No," Jeff said and opened the door. He closed his eyes as he walked in. "I'm opening my eyes now, so you better be descent."

He heard her crawl somewhere to his right, so he opened his eyes and looked to his right. There, bunched up beside the toilet was Jessica. She had part of her robe covering her face, but he could see her back shaking as she cried as silently as she possibly could.

"Ahh," Jeff said, feeling his heart break at the sight, but unsure of exactly what to do about it. He went up to Jessica and kneeled, putting a hand on her shoulder. "I know, I know," he said. He didn't say, 'It's going to be okay,' because if there was one thing he had learned in the past month, it was that those words were the last thing that would help someone in this state. "Let's take you back up to the Hospital Ward. Dinner was too much too soon."

Jessica just nodded before using her robes to wipe at her face. "They're not going to be out there, are they?" She mumbled.

"Not many yet, I'm guessing," he said as he helped her stand up. "I'll hex them if they say anything to you," Jeff said with a smile in his voice.

Jessica gave him a weak smile in return.

They went out of the loo. Jessica was looking down as Jeff led her to the Entrance Hall, so she didn't see Professor Rum at the end of the hall. Rum gave Jeff a questioning look. The 16-year old nodded before gesturing with his head that Rum should make himself scarce before Jessica saw him. The professor looked relieved before he did as asked.

Jeff got Jessica to the Hospital Ward without further incident, but before they went in, Jessica asked him, "Why are you helping me? I thought I was one of the bad guys."

Jeff thought over his answer for a minute before responding quietly, "I was so intent on hating everybody after my father died, including myself. I hated that I didn't say anything. I forgot that the reason I hadn't ever said anything was because I was a prisoner inside the Slytherin House. If I spoke, being murdered wasn't entirely out of the realm of possibility. It took this really annoying Second Year to make me realize that I might not be the only prisoner. And I can't expect others to sacrifice their loved ones for my father that's already gone."

Jessica's eyes went to her feet before she looked back up at Jeff. "You can't tell--"

Jeff quickly shook his head. "No matter how much I want to, I won't. This is something I understand more than you think."

"You can't defend me either," Jessica responded quietly. "You'll become a target."

Jeff searched her face before asking, "Exactly how important are you, Jessica?"

Jessica looked back at her feet.

Jeff shook his head. "I shouldn't have asked that. Sorry."

She shrugged. "That's fine."

Jeff looked at his own feet for a minute before asking, "You're still not free, are you? I mean, other than still being a Slytherin, you're still not free."

Again, Jessica didn't respond to him. He looked up to find her eyes still on her feet.

"We'll one day be on the same side, Jess. One day," he said quietly.

She shook her head even though her eyes remained on her feet. "Not that long ago," she said almost wistfully, "I dreamed of becoming an Auror like my Uncle Danny."

"I'm studying to become an Auror," Jeff replied. Jessica glanced towards the door, and knowing that she probably wanted to go lie down, he grabbed her shoulder. "One day we'll come for you, Jess. One day."

Jessica gave him a sad, disbelieving smile before saying, "I promise you, Jeff, if I can manage it, I'll one day deliver to you the man that delivered your father."

With that, she disappeared into the Hospital Ward.

* * *

Riley read over the document again. His mind played over what he had seen on Christmas, how the office had looked, what came out of the wands. His eyes fastened back on the document. Madeline Ziners had hid her money from her husband.

His mind wasn't fully grasping the idea yet, though he knew it to be on the edges of his brain. Suddenly, he walked out of the office Andorra had loaned him for this investigation. She had wanted it separate from the Dark Operators joint offices because of Daniel. Riley couldn't get use to the new office and all-together didn't like it, but he understood his boss' reasoning, so he used the office.

Riley walked to Andorra's office and gave a light knock.

"Come in!" She yelled.

He walked in, happy to see that no one else was around. He wanted to keep this contact with Andorra - and its contents - as quiet as possible.

"Miss Dumbledore, I need your help on something," he said after shutting the door.

"What is it I can do for you, Riley?"

"I would like to look at the file on Madeline Ziners death."

Andorra's smile fell from her face. Other than that, she didn't move.

"I want to keep this really quiet, because I obviously don't want rumors to fly about only a mild nagging suspicion I have, but..."

"You don't think..."

Riley shrugged. "There was something I found in Jeffrey's office that's starting to make me wonder."

"We would have caught on to something suspicious if she was murdered," Andorra said.

"Not if the murderer had a significant understanding of what we would have been looking for. Jeffery Ziners was a bright man. He could pick up on that stuff. Also, the surprise and shock of Maddie's death would have hindered any investigator because we all knew her. And then there was the depression." Riley sighed. "Anyway, I don't even know yet. I just think I need to look into the possibility. It might explain a lot about this current case."

Andorra still looked hesitant. "Look, Riley, even if you're sure, bringing this up would not only upset Daniel, but the kids."

Riley closed his eyes and took a deep breath before he opened them and nodded. "I need to look at it. I just need to."

Andorra gave Riley a searching look. "You have to be sure you want to wade in this pool with Daniel," she said quietly.

"Those kids need me right now more than Daniel does." After a pause, Riley added, "Daniel needs someone a lot right now, but I'm not that kind of friend."

Andorra caught on to the other meaning of his words and raised her eyebrows at the boy. The corner of his mouth jerked up in a teasing smile before he asked, "Will you get the file for me? I don't have that high of clearance."

Andorra nodded. "Yes, I will. I'll wait until later tonight. The night guard won't think it unusual to see me go to the file room, and he won't question me on it. I'll leave it on your desk. In the new office."

Riley nodded. "Thanks, Miz Dumbledore."

* * *

*Dear Jessica,

To say that things have changed would be an understatement. You have no idea how sad I am that you had to be driven to do what you did. I don't blame you. I understand. I had wondered if your father was abusing you. I just wish something had been done sooner.

To quote you, wrap your arms around yourself and give yourself a big hug. It's a long distance hug from me!

My parents wanted you to know that they are not mad at you either. It's okay about Dad's business. He'll find another investor. He'll be fine for awhile going solo though.

Repeat the long distance hug twice. Consider that hugs from them.

Are you going to be playing in the Quidditch match in January?

Your Friend,

Lily*

* * *

Rohan slowly unwrapped Casey's right leg. The boy watched him intensely as he and his sister stared at Rohan's hands. Rohan had wrapped the boy's legs to cut down on the swelling. He knew that when he unwrapped the legs, gruesome cuts would be revealed. It wasn't long before the first one was unveiled.

It ran from his mid-thigh to his knee and covered in a deep red welt. Casey's fingers immediately went to it. Rohan barely stopped him in time by grabbing the boy's hand.

"Not yet. Let me touch it first."

Rohan let go of Casey's hand, and it dropped to the bed. He finished unwrapping the leg. Cuts zigzagged all the way down, several on the lower part of the leg. They may have lessened as they ran up the leg, but they got bigger. Rohan was use to such sights, but the boy was not. His eyes never moved from his legs. Rohan was silent as he wrapped his hands around the lower part of Casey's leg. Rohan noticed that one of his hands could wrap one and half times around the boy's ankle. *Too small*, Rohan thought to himself. Rohan bore witness to injuries this severe on people twice the age of this boy and thought it was too young, despite Rohan's own young age. But it still bothered him when it was on 22-year olds. This was an 11-year old boy who didn't even intentionally put himself in danger. Rohan's eyes moved back to Casey's. The boy's eyes were on the biggest of the scars, the one Rohan had unveiled first. Rohan's eyes moved up to Jessica. He was surprised to see that she wasn't looking at the scars at all but at him.

As if sensing the question, her frown still in place, Jessica said, "I've gotten a good look at those scars already. I'm wondering what in the hell you're thinking about doing. Why did you unwrap his leg?"

In response, Rohan's hands started to gently massage. "Tell me when it hurts, Casey," he said, intentionally ignoring Jessica.

"It hurts already," Casey said. "But I'll let you know when I can't stand it."

Rohan massaged Casey's leg, right up to the top of the last scar and started wrapping it up again. The whole process occurred in silence, with the exception of the occasional gasp from Casey. Rohan had never looked directly at Jessica the entire time, though out of his peripheral vision he had noticed her. Her eyes had remained deadlocked on Rohan and his actions except when Casey gasped; every time that had happened, she had made as though she were going to move - likely to pounce on him, Rohan guessed - but stopped herself when Casey would sit back again. *It's like she was having her own internal war*, Rohan thought to himself as he started unwrapping the second, equally injured leg.

Though Rohan had gotten the occasional moment alone with Casey, they had to pretty much be either sneaked by Jessica or Jessica had to be pretty much bodily removed from the room. *Well, not quite*, Rohan thought to himself, *but nearly*. But here was the interesting thing - Casey didn't appear to need her protection. Anytime Rohan attempted to question the boy, he was quiet and *extremely* guarded in his answers. He was also a bit craftier in his answers than his sister was. To make this an even more intriguing situation, Casey never seemed angry about his sister's need to protect him. They definitely weren't the normal brother and sister.

Rohan chuckled silently to himself as he glanced at Jessica. Definitely not normal.

He frowned back at Casey's leg as he massaged. They weren't even the normal abused kids. Rohan's eyes on Casey's scars, he thought to himself, *it was as if they were conditioned to handle this kind of torture and not say a word. And trained not to complain.*.

But their abuser was dead.

Rohan's gaze moved back to Jessica's.

*Wasn't he?*

* * *

Riley looked over the gruesome photos.

Riley remembered the day Madeline had died. The Dark Operators had only been in operations for a year. He had known Maddie longer though, having been taken under Daniel Montgomery's wing long before that. One day, Daniel and Riley went up to the house on the hill to speak to Madeline about her newest project, one that would have been hopefully helpful to the Dark Operators in their newest case. A house elf had answered the door and explained to them that Mistress Ziners was missing, as well as the two kids. Jeffery and the other house elves were looking for them. Jeffrey came up, and soon Daniel and Riley volunteered to help in the search. It was Riley that had heard the sobs coming from Maddie's laboratory. Jeffery quickly let them into Maddie's underground workplace. They discovered Jessica and Casey on the floor, giving each other a grip of death as they bawled their eyes out. Madeline was lying on the ground, her bleeding still fresh. The laboratory had the appearance as if it had just exploded.

Madeline's body was gruesome. It was mangled and cut up.

Jeffery was looking for his wife and kids, Riley thought again. His mind went over that. His manner had been frantic and worried. He was ashen faced and a bit sweaty. He had had the appearance of a man worried to death. He had every one of their over hundred house elves searching. Would not a man that had just murdered his wife be worried that the house elves might find some incrementing evidence? Well, if they were his house elves, if they found something, they would only report it to Jeffery and Jeffery alone. That would not have worried the man. But half those house elves held an allegiance to the Montgomery side. But a man that had just murdered his wife would not hesitate to let the house elves know that he would think nothing of murdering them.

Riley looked at the report on how the room had been found. He got to the part of the magic spells found on the room. It was your basic set of spells to keep your secrets from ever exiting the lab. He read them and found nothing that seemed out of the ordinary.

Riley sighed as he looked over the report again. He was not going to find anything here that wasn't by-the-book reported. He needed something that was not in a textbook. He needed to look at that room again.

He got up, file in hand, and went to Andorra's office again, praying she was still as receptive.

* * *

It was the second day school had been in session. Jessica was in their morning Potions lesson. Professor Rum was pacing about the room, lecturing about the uses of a potion...or something. Jessica wasn't quite sure as she hadn't had the will to pay attention to classes lately. She was sitting next to Rosemary Mavea, who was sketching 'I love Rabastan' on the edges of the parchment that she should have been taking notes on.

Jessica sighed, her hands out in front of her, her fingers moving all about in a random fashion as she sat in the front of the room. She glanced over at the Gryffindor side. Lily was busy taking notes. Remus Lupin was as well. Sirius Black was doing something, but Jessica was sure it wasn't notes. James Potter's eyes had been wandering about the room, but they suddenly looked at hers. He nodded, as though he were trying to point something out to her. She didn't get it however and shrugged before turning to her other side as Rum started a pace down the aisle on her left. As Rum walked past her, he surprised her by reaching over and putting his hand over her fingers and pushing them into the table before moving on. The action had been so nonchalant that anyone that might have wondered for a second what Rum was doing moved passed it in the next second. But Jessica had realized with a sound of a soft thud what she had been doing. A book that was sitting on the table in the front of the room had been doing a small dance, barely imperceptible to anyone not looking directly at it. Jessica had been moving it with her fingers.

She sat on her hands for the rest of class.

* * *

"Let's just hope no one catches us," Andorra said as she used the key to open the door to the house on the hill. She had used the key so as to try to keep someone from tracking their movements through Andorra's or Riley's wands.

"Let's get in and no one will," Riley replied.

Andorra pushed open the door with a heavy grunt. The two went inside quickly and shut the door. Andorra locked it as a house elf came up to them.

"You is not suppose to be in here," the elf said, giving them a nervous look.

Another house elf came in. He looked at the two and grabbed the first by her arm. "Theys can be in here, Ritty. Master is gone. We follows Master Montgomery's orders until Master Casey and Mistress Jessica come back. Master Montgomery says we cleans the house, no more, no less."

Ritty still looked nervous as he looked at the two. The second gave Ritty a pull in the other direction.

"Sorrys," the second said before the two disappeared.

Andorra shook her head with a sigh before she said, "Now, I wasn't the investigator for Madeline's accident. It was that man, Ben Hammond."

"The one that works for Derrick Reimer now?"

"Yes, and unfortunate for this theory in your brain, he was one hell of an investigator, but after that scare in Alaska, asked to be transferred to a desk job."

Riley shrugged, adding that fact to his list of facts about the oddities of Madeline's death. It didn't make the 'facts disproving Maddie's death' list though. He saw Ben's request for a transfer kind of odd. But, you never knew...

"One for your theory is that Jonathon Ziners had just become Secretary the year before."

Here, Riley merely nodded. *That* fact he remembered. Daniel hadn't stopped complaining for months about that.

Riley closed his eyes as he pictured that day in his mind.

*What's wrong, Jeffrey?* Daniel had questioned.

*Madeline, the kids. They're missing. I've searched the house. For two hours. I can't find them.*

Daniel had thrown Riley a worried look before he nodded at Jeffrey. *We'll help you look*, Daniel said, and he and Riley had started off.

"When we started the search for Madeline and the kids, the three of us split up. Daniel and Jeffery took the east, me and the house elves the west. I had searched for thirty minutes before I heard the whimpering that led me down to Madeline's laboratory."

"Where had you gone before then?" Andorra asked.

"I just opened, shouted their names, and shut the doors of most of the west wing," Riley replied, his eyes still straight forward, and though his eyes were open, he was five years back, reliving that day in his mind's eye.

"Were you heading to the laboratory to check it as well when you heard the kids?"

Riley shook his head and started forward, in the direction of the lab. "You don't check an Unspeakable's lab without them hovering over you, Andorra," Riley said with a smirk over his shoulder at his boss. "They are paranoid, just like us Aurors." Andorra rolled her eyes at him. "Anyway," Riley continued, "I had figured that that had already been checked because of Madeline's liking to work in her own laboratory."

Andorra nodded. She and Riley had to stop in front of the statue that blocked the entrance to Madeline's lab. Riley stared at it.

"How do you propose we get in, genius?" Andorra asked with a wicked grin his direction.

Riley didn't look at her as his mind went through the possible passwords.

"Morsmordre," a house elf whispered to Riley as he walked past. It was the older house elf from earlier.

Riley looked at the elf in curiosity before he turned to the statue in utter confusion. It was moving out of the way.

"Thanks." Riley said to the elf, but the little creature didn't turn as he went into the next room.

"Strange elf," Riley whispered to Andorra.

"Nervous elf," she corrected as she glanced at the entrance to the room in which the elf had disappeared. "He's nervous about helping us, but he already knows Jeffrey's dead if he's taking orders from Daniel. Who is he scared of?"

Riley gave her a thoughtful look before he shrugged. He started down into the laboratory.

The stairwell was dark, cold, and a bit moldy from having been abandoned after Madeline's death. Riley had to move a few cobwebs out of the way as he and Andorra traversed the path that Riley had made with Daniel and Jeffrey truly not that long ago.

"Madeline didn't have a lot of dangerous spells protecting her laboratory like most Unspeakables. According to Jeffrey, that was because the kids frequently came down here, and Madeline was nervous something might happen to them if they came down without her knowing," Riley explained as they finally ran into a heavily cracked wall.

Andorra smiled. "Again, your genius would come in ever so handy here."
Riley smirked. "Don't think I really didn't think about this," he said with a chuckle before bringing his wand up to the door. He tapped the wall in a similar fashion one would to enter Diagon Alley, but this was a different pattern. The wall split in half and each half proceeded to fold in on itself. Riley threw Andorra a smirk. "Same pattern as Salem's Alley she once told me," he said, speaking of the alley that served those going to The Salem's Institute.

They entered the laboratory. Contrary to the old, decrepit stairwell, this was pristine. The house elves had obviously cleaned it after the removal of Madeline's body.

As the two looked around, Riley took notice of the fact that the place still held a distinctive Madeline quality. It was neatly kept, containers of all shapes, sizes, and makes were on counters, on shelves, in cupboards. Some containers actually contained things, some remained empty. Various tools littered the shelves, the counters, and the cupboards around these containers, most of whose uses Riley could only began to guess.

There were two large cauldrons along the east wall, and one large, lone table on the south side of the room. Where there should have been a matching set on the north and west sides, there were not. The table that had once lain here had been broken in half, Madeline's dead form clumped in the middle when found. The cauldrons had been shattered. One had contained the deadly potion the Unspeakables had surmised after testing the residue on the broken pieces of the cauldrons and on the table. They had no idea what it was exactly, or what it was suppose to do - Madeline had kept no notes on the potion. Even after pulling in a few experts from other countries - including Gary Rum, an old friend of Madeline's and a professor at Hogwarts - the Unspeakables could not identify the potion or its intended purpose. They did know that it contained a few Muggle compounds, which, after a few tests, were discovered to make an explosion when in contact. Then there were a few others - these magical compounds - that, when mixed together, caused the skin to dry and shrink, effectively causing the cracks they had found on Madeline's body. Why she was mixing such compounds together baffled everyone involved with the case, including her husband.

Madeline had been such a cautious person, Riley knew. This had been the adamant argument on Daniel's side, and everyone knew it. What had been going through her mind that day, people asked. Was she trying to commit suicide? She had been acting unusual for a number of years, seeming to lapse into a deep depression. When Casey had gotten into an accident a mere six months before her death, her depression took a turn for the worse. While her depression had contained manic episodes, it was the normal depression. But when Casey had had his accident - reportedly in Madeline's lab and from one of Maddie's projects - she had taken a turn, becoming almost...well, for lack of a better word, dark. She almost had this obsessive determination that, as Riley had heard it, was most usually associated with the Slytherins from Hogwarts that go bad. Just before her death, there were those that questioned whether Madeline had hurt Casey on purpose. Of course, everyone shut up about that after Madeline's death.

Did she commit suicide, Riley wondered as he looked around the lab. What was going through Madeline's mind as she was down here working that day? It couldn't have been an impulsive action because the ingredients in the potion were not ones that an Unspeakable kept in their lab just by chance. Madeline had to have thought it through.

Casey's accident, Riley thought, in light of recent events...could it have been Jeffrey rather than Madeline that had done it? Might it have been something that Madeline had done in order to earn Casey a beating that nearly took his life five years ago as the one that had similarly almost taken his life about a month ago? Could Madeline have killed herself in a misguided thought that that would help the kids?

Jeffery had been such a loving husband, but that changed when Maddie died. He became distant with the kids...stricter...

Riley's eyes surveyed the lab again. What was he expecting this room to tell him? He closed his eyes. He remembered Jeffrey having to go before them, to unlock the door to the lab, being one of the very few knowing which spells would let him in Madeline's laboratory unharmed. When Riley opened his eyes after remembering that clearly, he didn't see the pristine room. This time, he saw what he had five years ago. Potion over the walls. Cauldron pieces littered the floor. The table in two, Madeline's dead body in the middle, her front half reclining on the side farthest from where the cauldron had sat, her lower half reclining on the other side. She was still covered in fresh blood. The kids sitting on the floor, hugging each other for all they were worth, sobbing as they looked at their mother.

And suddenly everything in Riley screeched to a halt.

* * *

Jessica waited after Potions as Professor Rum had caught her before she left and asked her to wait. She remained sitting on her hands as the last kid walked out.

Professor Rum was putting some of the supplies he had used during his lecture away. Instead of turning to her when he finished, he turned and walked to the back of the room to shut the door. When she heard it snap shut, she said, "I didn't realize I was doing that."

"I'm aware of that, Miss Ziners," he said in a tired voice as he walked forward and placed himself in front of Jessica, leaning his behind and back against the table in front of her, crossing his arms.

"Thank you for catching me," she said lamely, avoiding eye contact.

He was silent for so long that Jessica looked up at him. He was looking at her searchingly. "I noticed that the other Slytherins are treating you cordially," he said when he had her eyes.

*Oh, no. Of all the people to turn against her, not him, anybody but him*, she thought. She looked away.

She knew what he was thinking. If the Slytherins were treating her nicely and not ostracizing her, then that meant that they were pleased with what she had done - killed a man that had been financing Lord Voldemort. If they were followers and servants of Voldemort, and Jessica had killed the man helping advance their lord and master's campaign then truly that meant that Jeffrey had really been doing something against Voldemort and that Jessica had killed him in order to help Voldemort. Though that was the story that she wanted the Slytherins to believe, she didn't want Gary to believe it. She didn't want Gary to even know it. But he had figured it out. And now he was questioning her. He was questioning whether they were on the same side or not.

Jessica took a deep breath. This was a friendship that she had cherished almost as much as her friendship with her brother. Gary had understood her. He knew what it was like to come from where she came. To be raised by evil people. To be trained for something you didn't want to become. Gary understood this. She didn't want to lose his friendship because this was the only person other than Casey that she had been able to trust for her whole life.

But Jessica knew that it was better to let go of this friendship sooner rather than later.

She looked back at Gary, trying to make herself look guilty. "Yes, they seem to have understood why I did what I did."

She knew that while non-Slytherins would have interpreted that sentence one way, Gary, as a former Slytherin, would understand it a different way and that was the way Jessica wanted it understood.

Gary sighed. "Jessica, if there is one thing you should have learned by now, it is that you cannot lie to me. I was not thinking what you obviously thought I was. I was wondering what particular reason was behind it."

Jessica couldn't bite back the smile of relief but managed to hide it quickly. She looked back at her books before deciding to shove them back into her bag. "You've known me long enough to know I would not answer that question," she said in an almost teasing voice.

She heard Professor Rum give a soft chuckle. "That I have. I would like to discuss something else however," he said, causing her to look back at him.

Gary surprised her even further at his actions. He leaned down so he was leaning on the table in front of Jessica. He grabbed both of her hands and looked at them. She stared, fascinated by the contrast of her small, smooth, warm hands being held by Gary's large, gnarled, cold ones. "These are unusual hands, Miss Ziners. Wandless magic is a precious gift, no matter how weak it may be. While they cannot perform complex spells, the spells they can perform, when used in a certain fashion, can cause just as much damage. Just to think, to not need a wand all of the time..." He looked up into Jessica's eyes. "Miss Ziners, you have something here," he nodded towards her hands, "something here," he pulled a hand away from hers to tap the area just above her heart, "and something here," he tapped the side of her forehead. "All three can be amazingly dangerous when used in the wrong fashion. With you, Jessica, I'm worried that this," again, he tapped the spot above the heart, "used in conjunction with this," he tapped the side of her forehead, "and this," he nodded towards her hands again, "may get out of hand. You are a passionate young girl, full of a temper." Jessica smirked, causing Gary to smile as well. "Yes, but that may not always be a nice thing for you, especially now. Remember, control is of the utmost importance. You will be without your wand for the rest of the year. You will become restless. School with a wand doesn't challenge you enough. School without a wand will bore you silly, I imagine. You must not let these," he nodded towards her hands, "be controlled by this," again, he tapped the spot above her heart. "Use this, Jessica," Gary said with a sigh as he tapped the side of her forehead.

Jessica shook her head. "I'm not good at that," she said, hoping that the blatant truth would make him laugh a little.

He shook his head. "I won't let you get by with that now. You proved to the world on Christmas Day that no matter the situation, you find it possible to use this," he tapped the side of her forehead, "effectively, in even the direst of situations. And you use it well, Miss Ziners. You use it well."

Gary stood back up. "You are dismissed, Miss Ziners," he said as he turned back to his table and supplies.

Jessica finished packing up her stuff and was by the door, her hand ready to open it, before she spoke next. She turned to Gary. "Why do you believe in me?" She asked, her voice quiet.

Without turning to her, Gary said, "Why did you make friends with Severus Snape?"
"He looked like he needed a friend, and I needed a friend."

Gary's head had turned a little to hear her answer but stayed that way to reply, "You look like you need someone to believe in you, and I need someone to believe in."

Jessica didn't know what to say to that, so she opened the door. "Bye, Professor," she called.

"Bye, Miss Ziners." She was almost over the threshold when Gary turned back to her. "Oh, and Miss Ziners."

She stopped and looked at him.

"Mind the hands not just with your temper. Mind them when you are bored in class."

Jessica smirked but nodded. "Yes, Sir," she said and left.

* * *

He couldn't believe he hadn't thought about it before now. He shook his head in disbelief.

"What is it?" Andorra asked.

Riley chuckled with the enormity of it. His eyes still on the floor where he stood, the same spot he had seen the children five years before, he said, "The doors were shut."

"What?" Andorra asked in confusion.

"The doors were shut. The children sat in here for two hours. They weren't covered in the potion, so they weren't in here when the potion exploded," once it started to shift into place, Riley couldn't stop talking, "They were missing for two hours. That was Jeffrey's accident, and we never caught it." Riley looked at Andorra finally. "You're five and seven; you find your dead mother, what are you going to do first?"

"Cry," Andorra said, slipping into the role of devil's advocate easy. Riley had a new theory, and they had to make sure it wasn't fool's gold.

"You're five and seven, how do you know she's dead? When I found my dead mother, I thought she was sleeping."

"Madeline was covered in blood," Andorra pointed out.

Riley nodded, conceding that point for a short distance before pointing out, "Your mom's got an owie. You're not going to cry right away. You're going to get Daddy for help."

"If Jeffrey was abusing them then they didn't trust Daddy."

"At least they would get an elf. If not an elf, they would try to help. The kids would have had blood on them. They didn't. Daniel checked them over thoroughly."

"They might have accidentally helped the death along," Andorra said.

"I think they would have tried to still help her."

"Let's say she did commit suicide. She ordered them not to help. They would have obeyed her."

"Madeline wouldn't have done that," Riley objected.

"A depressed person is not a predictable person, Riley."

Riley conceded that point before saying, "But two hours..."

"You still don't have a case," Andorra said with a frown.

Riley nodded and looked away in thought. "There's got to be something," he murmured as he examined the wall again. "Two hours...two hours...it's there, in the two hours...Jeffrey couldn't find them for two hours..." Suddenly, Riley looked up, and Andorra knew he had it.

"What is it?" She asked when he remained silent.

He turned to her with a smile. "You said it. Just before we came down here, you said it. Was I just about to check the lab when I heard the kids? It's right there, in two."

"What is it?" Andorra asked when he stopped.

"Even a man that was told he couldn't enter his wife's lab, with as frantic as Jeffrey was, I imagine he would have done so. For two hours, he did not check. And neither did the house elves."

"And what's number two?"
"Madeline's potion exploded, and Jeffrey never heard it. On top of that, an Unspeakable always puts a sound barrier on their lab. But I could hear the kids crying. And there was no sound barrier on the list of spells removed from the lab."

Andorra nodded. "You do have the makings for a case," she said with a sigh. "Not the best case in the world, but a case none the less. But we need motivation. It could have been a case of passion, but..."

Riley shook his head. "I don't think it was."

"Then the motivation?" Andorra asked.

"Jessica."

* * *

Daniel Montgomery made another restless pace of his spacious apartment. He hit the wall again with the palm of his hand, remembering gratefully in hindsight that he had long since put a sound barrier on the walls of his apartment. The reason had been two-fold - because of the security nature of his position and because he was prone to hitting his walls.

His mind went through Christmas Day for the thousandth time. He wasn't sure what bothered him more - his blindness to what had been happening or his pain at having to fight Jessica for her own life. What would drive a 12-year old to premeditate the murder of her father? Watching her little brother's life drain out of him, Daniel said in answer to his own question.

Daniel sat down with a thud, leaned forward, and put his face in his hands. Something had just hit him. Five years ago Casey had almost died in a lab accident. Six months later, Madeline had died in a lab accident. What would drive a 12-year old to premeditating the murder of her own father? Watching her father do onto others.

Daniel got up and resumed his pacing. No, no, no. He would have noticed. Just as Jessica and Casey were connected, so had been Madeline and Daniel. Why hadn't Madeline spoken to Daniel in their head, where no one would have been none the wiser? He could have helped her! Damit, he could have helped her.

Daniel bit down his sob. He had done his paces in grieving, in frustration. He wasn't going to go through that again. He needed to help Jessica and Casey now that he knew about what had been going on.

Jeffrey, the little fuck, had been using his niece's and nephew's unique conditions as an excuse to abuse them. Madeline had probably been getting abused too. The little fuck should be a happy dead fucker, otherwise Danny would kill him right now, and he wouldn't make it a slow business.

He hit the coffee table again in frustration, and his important personal documents went flying about the room. Daniel moved his hand, saying an incantation under his breath to gather all of the papers. He looked down at the new, neat pile. These were his important personal documents that he tried to avoid looking at. They had a copy of his will, Maddie's will, and Jeffrey's will as well. Right now, he was making an attempt to locate the will of his deceased brother-in-law.

Daniel's long fingers grabbed the documents, brought them to his lap, and started through them. He was merely skimming but something on the fourth or fifth page caught his attention, and he backed up. His eyes recognized it, but his brain refused to acknowledge it for a minute.

* * *

"What do you mean 'Jessica'?" Andorra asked with a frown.

Riley looked back at his feet, remembering the kids again. "These kids were placed in here, both before and after the murder I think. It was a warning to them. I think Jeffrey made them watch her die. A hypothetical," Riley said before turning to his boss. "Jessica is seven years old. She knows that something is wrong. Maybe she witnessed a beating, or received one herself. Her mother, who is not only depressed but scared to death for the lives of her children, is not out from under the watchful eye of her husband *ever*. Jessica was never a stupid child. She figures that her mom won't be able to tell on Daddy, so Jessica plans to take it upon herself. But she doesn't do it right away. She's got to wait for the perfect time. In the meantime, something is going on between mother and daughter....maybe a secret communication of sorts. Maybe Jesse told her mom that she was going to tattle on Daddy, but Daddy finds out. As a punishment....or maybe a warning, Daddy beats the innocent party - in this case, Casey - but doesn't kill him. If he kills him, he runs the risk of making the other two angry enough that he'll lose control. Just beat Casey enough to let them know who's master here.

"But the thought of telling someone is still on Jessica's mind. She waits. Her brother heals. Still she waits. Then she decides that she's going to do it, but somehow, Daddy finds out. Maybe in that secret communication. Or maybe in some other way. He decides that this time, he can't let them go unpunished permanently. There needs to be a permanent reminder to Jessica. Meanwhile, his wife has a will leaving a lot of money to him. She is expendable, especially if you look at the fact that Casey is still in the picture. He is the one that Daddy uses to maintain control on Jessica. Jessica's the older sibling. She's willing to get the beating to protect her brother, and, if the time would have presented itself, she would be willing to order her brother to go to Uncle Danny, even at the cost of her life. Casey wouldn't have liked it, but he would have obeyed. So, Daddy needs Casey to control them both.

"So, Daddy kills Mommy in front of the kids. 'Do you still want to tell Uncle Danny?' I can imagine him asking the kids. And just to really drive the point home, he locks them into her lab for awhile, just so they can sit and stare at her dead body. And he makes sure Jessica knows that Mommy's death was her fault.

"In the meantime, he sets up Mommy's 'accident'. The potion on the walls. The shattered cauldrons. Thinking about it now, it makes sense that the ingredients made no sense at the time. They weren't suppose to. They only served the purposes of explaining the injuries on Mad--" Riley stopped mid-sentence as he took a rough breath. "The Cruciatus Curse. Madeline's injuries. They were identical to Casey's." Riley didn't seem to process Andorra's reaction as he shook his head and continued, "Um, but, so you set the room up to look like an accident, remove the sound barrier so that someone searching for the kids will hear their cries. Then you frantically search the house. I imagine that Jeffrey would have eventually gotten Danny up here, but our coming was his blessing at the time."

Riley took a deep breath and looked around the room again before he looked back at the spot where the kids had once sat.

"Five years later. It's a good time frame to wait. You wait for your wife's money. You go to get it, but low and behold, you can't get it out. Upon research, you find that your wife had another will made up. This one forbids you from getting the money. You're pissed off. Then Casey's ever untimely clumsiness comes into play. He breaks a statue, and he breaks his father's last nerve." When Riley paused, Andorra gave him a soft smile and a shake of the head.

"That's a little far-fetched, even here, Riley. Madeline had a second will? We would have to find it."

"We already have it."

* * *

Daniel pulled the papers on top of it back, and his brain started to process his recognition of what he was looking at. It was his sister's writing. He put the papers that had been on top of his sister's discovered letter on the coffee table. It was a note his sister had written and clipped to some other papers.

Dear Daniel,

First thing you should know is that I'm sorry. For what, you might ask, and the quickest answer is, for everything. For never listening to you and marrying Jeffrey, and then for never telling you after I married him why that was a bad idea. I'm also sorry for ever giving him a second chance. If there was one mistake worse than ever marrying Jeffrey in the first place, it was ever giving him that second chance. He promised and like a fool, I trusted him. By the time I finally ever admitted to myself the error of my ways, it was too late. Casey was born, and now I wasn't just fighting for my life, but the lives of my kids and the lives of anyone I ever cared about. I could not speak anymore. All that was left to me was to fight in any and every way I knew how. I'm sorry that I never spoke to you, but if I had, you would never have lived long enough to help me. What Jeffrey wanted, he got. If he wanted my cooperation, he got it, whether I wanted to cooperate or not. I could not even speak to you in our special way because he knew. Don't ask me how, but he knew.

But I fought him as best I could. There was something that Jeffrey never accepted, something only great wizards or witches ever figure out, something only few ever realize in life. The mind can be as strong as the wand if one knows how to use it. So this is the tool I used, and if my dear children are alive by the time you are reading this, dearest Danny, then not only did I use my mind well, but I taught my children to do so as well.

I know that if you are reading this, I am not with you anymore. At the time I wrote this, I knew that I would more than likely not survive the year. Of the three, I was the most expendable. I don't know what would be worse to wish and desire. To live to help my children, only to see them die before me and live with that pain, knowing that it was my fault, or to die before my children and not have the pain but to leave them all alone. I have wished both and to death, I probably wished both.

In my desire to fight Jeffrey's every wish without causing harm to my dearests, I took something from Jeffrey that he desired greatly. In this, I may have put you in harms way, but also in this, I have given you a position to help. It is true that you did not know it at the time, but I hope you appreciate it all the same. The documents attached to this letter make up a second will of mine, being 100 per cent legal, 100 per cent fool-proof, and being dated later than the first, making this the only valid will. In this, I am taking and making sure Jeffrey never has something he greatly desires from me - my money and my possessions, including and above-all, my books. If I die (which I most likely will) before Jessica and Casey are of age, these items will go to you to keep safe until they become of age. This, something that I hold profoundly important, is something I am completely trusting you with. I know you will not let me down.

Whatever happens, Daniel, whatever happens, know that it is not your fault. It is mine. It is solely mine. And whatever happens between you and Jessica and Casey, they never knew to trust anyone but each other - especially Jessica. I daresay that she never fully trusted me. She has her brother's life in her hands, and no matter what happens, they will never be able to trust anyone but each other. It is not a matter of you gaining their trust, as I'm sure they would never hesitate in giving it to you in any other situation. Realize that even at whatever age Jessica may be now, she is more an expert at her life than you are. One day I pray to God my dear children will be safe enough to tell you, to trust you fully, but until then, please don't pressure them into anything they don't want to do or can't. They need to know that you will be on the other side, waiting for them, waiting for that one day when they're free from my mistakes. Until then, give them a hug from their Mama.

Love You,

Maddie

Daniel's eyes stayed on Maddie's name for he knew not how long before he pulled his eyes back to the top to read the letter over again. It would be awhile before he managed to pick up the letter to reveal a second will, one which gave everything that had been in Madeline's name to her kids. If she were to die before the kids were of age, the will said, Daniel would be the guardian of their inheritance. It then listed an enormously long succession of people who would be the guardian if the one before it wasn't able to. Jeffrey's name was no where on the list.

* * *

"It was on Jeffrey's desk, right on top of everything, the day he died."

Andorra's mouth opened but nothing came out.

Riley kept silent for a minute as he paced, but finally he shook his head in frustration.

"There are just two things that are unexplained." Andorra said.

"Someone else was in the study before the accident is one of the unexplained things. Jeffrey appeared to have had something of a beating, and some things were shattered in the room. It couldn't have been either Jessica or Casey. I know that much from their wands. So someone would have been there." Riley shook his head as he tried to keep up with his own thoughts.

"Jeffrey was angry. Jessica and Casey were easy targets." Riley sighed before glancing at Andorra with a sigh. "What's the other unexplained thing?"

"The kids," she replied. "Why have kids in the first place? And why, even if they were accidents, why let them live so long? I'm sure they got to be in the way a lot of the time." Andorra shrugged. "But there is always the possibility that Jeffrey had some sick fascination with beating them. Maybe he got off on it..." Andorra looked down as she trailed off.

Riley shook his head. "There is that. We're going to have to go to Jessica for that one."

Andorra gave a sarcastic snort. "That's a conversation someone will enjoy having."

Riley smirked and nodded. "I greatly look forward to." He said sarcastically. He sighed and glanced around the room then one more time. "Well, I think I got what I came for."

"Probably more than you came for," Andorra added.

Riley ignored her and started back out of the lab, closing the door after Andorra. The two walked in silence out of the secret area of the house and were partway to the door when Riley suddenly stopped. Andorra turned and started to ask what the matter was when she noticed the look on his face and shut up. She knew the look of an Auror that was putting something together in his head.

Riley slowly did look at Andorra. When he finally spoke, it was to whisper, "I know why Jeffrey wanted Madeline's money, and I think know where his injuries came from."

* * *

"Potter!"

Marcus looked up from the table in the strategy room with a smile. Finally, some good news on his case.

Alastor Moody entered the strategy room and looked around. "Crouch said you requested me," Moody muttered, "but he didn't tell me it was out of sheer desperation." Moody was commenting on the state of the room. When they opened a strategy room for a case, you could tell the state of the case by the appearance of the room. The case was going well when you had parchments covering the walls, books and parchments stacked up in every corner, and torn parchment was usually strewn across the room. Except for the forensics report on the table, the list of names of those who had been in the Ministry the night the minister died posted on the wall, and a small pile of the files of some of those on the list of names, the room was empty of books, parchments, and everything but the table and one empty file cabinet.

Marcus sighed and nodded. "It is desperation, Alastor. I hope I didn't take you from anything too important."

"Nothing's more important right now than finding who killed Rin," Moody growled, the determination in his voice being one of the very things that caused the bad guys to quiver in fear in the presence of this man or upon hearing his name.

Moody walked over to the list of names. "This is pathetic, Potter," he said. "What murderer is going to leave his name behind?"
Marcus stifled a snort of laughter. The old beast was baiting him. Moody had always thought Marcus a bit too young for his position, so he was always testing him. It had gone from the point of annoying to amusing. Marcus respected this man, so he went with the test.

"Sometimes the most obvious is so close that we chose not to see it. Of course, the murderer might not put his name down, but he might do it thinking that we would ignore something so obvious."

Alastor looked at Marcus out of the side of his eyes for a second before starting around the room again. He suddenly, however, landed his hands on the table on the other side of Marcus and looked at the forensics report. He turned it around so he could read it right side up.

"I was in a pub last night, a wizarding pub up by Manchester, you know." Alastor spoke at he looked over the report. "The bartender. If he sees something I might find an interest in, he tells me. In return, I ignore some of the things he does."

Marcus nodded when Alastor glanced at him.

"Anyway," Moody said, looking back at the report, "last night, he says to me that there was a group of wizards in there the night before. They were all wearing thick dark robes. Obviously, that's not what tipped him off. It was the fact that their hoods remained in place after they entered. They were intentionally hiding their faces. This is not unusual for this pub as these are the types of crowds it attracts. But this group, the bartender said, was definitely planning something that he thought I might have an interest in, so he gets one of his barmaids to kind of stick close by during their stay in the pub. Their tones, he said, were very hushed, so she was not able to pick up on anything really that interesting. There was one thing though..."

Moody pulled a scrap of paper from his robes and set it down in front of Marcus. It was a drawing of...no, it couldn't be. It looked like the same thing Marcus had seen in front of the Minister's office just before they discovered his dead body, but this was much clearer. The drawing was of a skull, a snake crawling out of its mouth.

Marcus glanced up to see Moody watching him very carefully. When he had Marcus' eyes again, he said, "I heard about what you saw, and thought you'd might have an interest in this. They referred to it as the Dark Mark, named after their Dark Lord."

"Voldemort," Marcus breathed. He nodded towards the picture. "That's what I saw in front of the Minister's office."

Moody nodded.

"So it was Voldemort that killed the Minister," Marcus said, "but that doesn't answer the most important question."

"How did he get in here," Moody said. Marcus nodded.

* * *

It was the next morning when Riley's investigation took a unique turn. The young Auror had just arrived to his office when, before he even got to the door, he had to stop. Daniel was standing outside it, Andorra in tow.

"What's this?" Riley asked, with a nervous glance at Andorra. It had been just last night when Riley had made his brilliant logical deduction. He hadn't counted on seeing Daniel this morning. With Andorra. She didn't tell him, did she? No, Riley thought to himself. She wouldn't have. So what did his team leader want? He didn't look agitated. Just tired. And defeated. Riley didn't like that last thought.

"Riley," Andorra said. "Daniel found something interesting. We need to have a meeting."

Riley kept his look on Daniel the entire time Andorra spoke, but he did spare her a glance when she finished. His gaze went back to Daniel though. Daniel, his boss, his mentor, his best friend, looked more tired than Riley could ever recall him seeing the man.

Riley nodded, his eyes on Daniel the entire time. "Okay. Let's go into my office."

And when that meeting finished, Riley was never more sure he was right.

There was one last leg of this investigation left. Riley made arrangements to visit Hogwarts the next day.

His investigation would be paused when he arrived.

* * *

The next morning, half a world away, Jessica Ziners sat in Madam Pomfrey's office alone. She was waiting for the Healer that was to speak with her and check on her mental condition. She was sitting still, thinking of ways around the questions without making the Healer think she was psychotic. *Placating was the key*, she thought to herself. But not enough that they knew what she was doing.

Jessica jumped and looked intently at the door when the door knob moved. And in walked the one man that she least wanted to have her session with.

"Hello, Miss Ziners," Rohan Figg said as he walked in and sat at Madam Pomfrey's desk.

"Hi," she said quietly, never taking her eyes from him.

Rohan intertwined his hands on the desk in front of him and smiled at her. "How are you doing this morning, Jessica?"

"Fine. Can I go?"

"No. How did dinner go last night?"
"I almost threw up because they started talking about Christmas Day. Basically, I felt like the world's worst person because I murdered my own father, but that, too, shall pass in time, as the saying goes. Can I go?"

"No," Rohan said and started to open his mouth to ask his next question before he burst into laughter. He moved his hands then, and his posture went from straight to slouched and comfortable.

Jessica's face remained as serious as it had been since Rohan entered. Her face never once flinched when he broke out laughing. "You think my throwing up is funny?"

Rohan shook his head. "Absolutely not," he said through snorts of laughter. "You are, Miss Ziners."

"And why am I funny?"
Finally sobering, he said, "You know all the correct answers, Miss Ziners, don't you? You know exactly what I'm required to hear, and you give it to me. But a tip for next time."

When he didn't continue, she asked, "And what's that, oh wise one?"
Rohan leaned forward conspiratorially. "Don't finish off every answer with 'can I go?'."

"Can I go?" She asked, still serious. Rohan smiled, but when she didn't, he frowned. She smiled.

"Don't ever try to be funnier than me, Mr. Figg," she warned.

Rohan laughed. "I'll remember that." He leaned back, putting his hands behind his head. "So, how have you been accepted by the other little snakes?"
"You were a Gryffindor," Jessica said in response, her grin there but small. She then shrugged. "They're kind of avoiding me. At least I don't have to share the dorm with them. Gets me out of answering the kind of questions they would ask in private."

Rohan nodded. "True. Classes been going alright?" He asked next.

She nodded.

"Are they stressful?"

She shrugged.

"They would be, even without what happened."

Rohan looked at the desk for a second before he asked, glancing back up at Jessica. "Are you up to talking about what happened on Christmas Day?"

She looked away, concentrating on what she had planned. She forced herself to cry. When she got a sniff ready, she glanced at Rohan before looking to the ground. "Not really," she said in a small voice. It was hard to act at hiding crying while, in actuality, you were pretending to cry and trying to make sure the other person noticed it. Rohan gave a hefty sigh before getting up. "Okay," he said before pushing himself to his feet. "You pass for today, Jessica. I'll see you in a week," he said. Jessica looked at him curiously. He seemed mad.

He left without looking at her.

* * *

Riley was walking up the stairs to Dumbledore's office when he ran into Rohan Figg. Riley knew Rohan from when Rohan had lived with the Dark Operators in America for a few weeks as part of his training. Riley had gotten to know Rohan pretty good during that time and had learned to respect and like the young Healer.

"Hello, Rohan," Riley greeted.

Instead of a similar return greeting, Rohan stopped and looked at him. "Riley Haderson. You're not here to see Jessica Ziners, are you?"
Riley didn't respond.

Rohan, use to the techniques of Aurors, rubbed his eyes and walked past Riley. "Walk with me a bit," he said.

Riley caught up with him and matched his stride.

"She's playing games now. I was just in with her for her weekly meeting. I asked her if she was willing to talk to me about Christmas Day."

"And what did she say?" Riley asked when Rohan didn't continue.

"Started to cry."

"And you think she's playing games?" Riley asked quietly, a slight edge of annoyance entering his voice.

Rohan gave him an unamused half grin. "The fact that the crying was a put-on was what gave her away. She was pretending to cry and pretending to hide her pretend crying. I knew it was a set-up when she checked to see if I was looking. The real Jessica, I imagine, wouldn't have looked at me at all. She wouldn't have wanted anyone to know that she had been crying."

Riley shrugged.

"So," Rohan continued, stopping and looking at Riley. "I don't want you talking to her tonight."

"Look, Rohan, I've known Jesse since she was born. She knows not to play games with me."

"Riley, with you, the crying won't be a game. You'll push her, not just because of your investigation, but because of the mere fact you know her. You'll walk away hurt, and she'll walk away with a lot more."

"What do you mean, 'a lot more'?"

"Jessica's in a state of unpredictability right now. I don't know what I mean by 'a lot more' except that none of the people who care about Jessica will like it."

Riley looked away in frustration. "Rohan," he said, his brown eyes coming back to him. "You know as well as I do, I need to talk to her sooner rather than later. Otherwise, she will start to either lose the detail in her memory or find the time to change the parts of the story that don't suite her."

"Personal opinion here, Haderson, but I think the part of the story that doesn't suite her is impossible to change."

Riley didn't respond.

"As her Healer, Riley," Rohan continued, "I'm telling you to give her some more time." When the Auror looked away angrily, Rohan stopped and turned to him. "If you don't, Riley, you may *never* hear her side of the story."

The Auror gave him a curious look, his features still tense with anger.

"If it suits her purposes, Riley, she may lapse into a silence and take the story of Christmas Day, 1972, to her grave," Rohan explained before heading to Dumbledore's office, never looking back.

* * *

"She seems sad."

Gary didn't comment.

"Why is that, Gary?" Stephen asked, not up for Gary's games today.

"Why do you insist that I know what every Slytherin thinks?" Gary threw a glare at Stephen. The two were sitting at the teacher's table in the Great Hall eating lunch.

"You know *how* they think," Stephen said, fairing rather well under Gary's glare.

"They think like teenagers," Gary replied, looking back over the crowd of students. "Some happy, same unhappy, none predictable."

"You know Jessica Ziners better than most. She seems sad."

"She's dealing with a lot right now. She's depressed, just as any Gryffindor would be," he replied.

"But, again, you do know Miss Ziners the best."

"In the time I've known Miss Ziners," Gary said, "the only thing I've discovered is that no one will ever be able to figure out what goes on in that temperamental head of hers."

Stephen glanced at Gary but chose to remain silent for some time. When he spoke, it was so quiet that Gary almost didn't hear.

"Then how can you be so sure she's on our side?"
Gary glanced at Stephen to see that the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor was looking at him. Gary looked away and over the crowd of students again. "Miss Ziners is a good soul amongst a crowd of dark, greedy souls. She is struggling against something that's been bred into her by people she's known all her life. It's all she's ever known. And unless you grew up in that kind of environment, you have no idea of the power it holds on you. Miss Ziners is tired of it right now, and she wants nothing more than to give up. But she's not going to because a part of her, a part she's trying to ignore right now, a small but still strong part of her is telling her she has to persevere because there are people waiting on the other side for her that need her as much as she needs them."

Gary stood up to take his leave, but Stephen's voice stopped him. "But you didn't answer my question."

Gary paused a moment before looking down at Stephen.

"Surely you know the answer to that, Stephen."

He slowly shook his head.

"Hope, Stephen. Hope."

With that, Gary started to leave.

"We can't run our lives on the hope of another's actions."

Stephen's words effectively stopped the Potions Master. He turned to Stephen. "You are more of a Slytherin than you think you are, Mr. Medley," he said quietly.

"No, I'm a realist. Slytherins live in a fantasy world."

Stephen knew that he had touched a nerve when Gary started to approach him again. The only teachers still at the table - McGonagall and Flitwick - were down at the other end. They had stopped though now to watch Stephen and Gary.

"Tell me, Stephen, is it fun living in a world where the Ministry's laws mean something and your parents don't care if you become an Auror or a teacher or any of those other professions you good people go into? Is it fun living in a world where you don't usually witness a crime until you're a teenager at least and your parents don't idolize and scheme up ways to follow or free those that the rest of the magical world fears?

"Slytherins and others like them don't live in a fantasy world, you annoying little gnome. They live in a reality the likes of which you have no perception of."

Gary backed off. "Go back to your little world, Stephen, and stay out of mine." With a swoosh of his robes, Gary turned and left the Great Hall.

To be continued...

The chapter finished off within a week of the beginning of school.