It Was Probably Green

Chapter 2

The scalding water poured down her back. Jude let out a scream and tried to dodge out of the way.

"Oops," came a voice from the other side of the shower curtain, "sorry I forgot to tell you that I was going to flush."

"This whole place is fucking nutters," Jude muttered and tested the shower spray to see if had returned to a bearable temperature. "Magic coming out the arse, and they can't even fix the crap plumbing."

Twenty minutes later, wearing last year's robes over jeans and a faded Manchester United t-shirt, Jude was sitting at the Slytherin table, trying to eat fried eggs and find her schedule at the same time.

"Wow, I can't believe we have Defense Against Dark Arts first," Fama said, sitting down next to her.

Jude almost choked upon hearing this news, and had to wipe a thin spray of yolk off her schedule, which she had just managed to fish out her jeans pocket. She hoped she could keep herself from staring at Mad Eye Moody the entire lesson in horror.

Laura came into the Great Hall surrounded by a cluster of Hufflepuff first years. Passing by the Slytherin table, she saw Jude and hurried towards her, smiling.

"Jude, I can't believe we're starting classes already."

"Hmm, I wonder if you'll have that same smile this time next year," Jude teased. "So, it looks like you're fitting right in," Jude said, gesturing to the young Hufflepuffs Laura had come in with. "What did I tell you?"

Laura rolled her eyes at her older sister. "Yes, you were right. Are you happy."

Jude laughed.

"I don't know how I'm going to make it through a whole day of classes. The whole house stayed up so late last night, welcoming all of us. It was so great. I met lots of new people."

"Don't worry. Things'll quiet down and you'll get more sleep tonight."

Laura gave Jude a little wave good bye and walked over to the Hufflepuff table.

As Jude reached for a pitcher of steaming chocolate, the morning flight of owls came streaming into the Great Hall. Jude was surprised when an owl dropped an envelope near her plate, but not nearly as surprised as when she opened the letter and read its contents.

Dear Ms. Madley,

We have received intelligence that a Summoning Charm was used at your place of residence yesterday morning at seven minutes past ten.

As you know, underage witches are not permitted to perform spells outside school, and further spell work on your part may lead to expulsion from said school (Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery, 1875, Paragraph C).

Notice of this violation was originally sent to your place of residence yesterday morning; however, your sudden departure has led to the rerouting of this notice to your educational residence.

Enjoy your school year!

Yours sincerely,

Mafalda Hopkirk

Improper Use of Magic Office

Ministry of Magic

"What on earth _" Jude started to protest, until she realized exactly what the letter was referencing. Her Mum's wand, the stupid summoning charm . . . Jude couldn't believe she was going to start the school year in trouble.

Looking down at the bottom of the letter, Jude saw that a copy had been sent not only to her mother, but to Professors Snape and Dumbledore. "Oh no," she groaned, covering her face with her hands, "this is not going to be pretty."

Fama looked over her shoulder and saw the letter. "Oooo, what did you do? Were you using beauty charms over the summer? I always ask my cousin to do my charms when I'm in Italy. She's twenty-one, but she still remembers how horrible it is to be young and unable to do magic over the holidays. One night, when I was going to meet Fabio, she performed this charm on my hair that made it sparkle in the moonlight."

"Er, that's nice," Jude said, but was more than a little annoyed that her friend was turning Jude's problem into an opportunity to talk about her stupid boyfriend.

Still talking about Fabio, Fama began gathering her things together, so Jude used a piece of toast to wipe up the last of her egg. Upset as she may have been about her friend's insensitivity, she didn't want to end up walking to class alone.

* * *

When Alistair Moody came clumping into the classroom, Jude was determined not to stare at him. But when he informed the class that instead of learning from their textbooks he was going to teach them curses and countercurses, Jude (like the rest of the students) couldn't help but gape.

"Well, Madley, you must be thrilled about this. We know how long you've been waiting to learn some good curses," sneered Tom Schrecklich, one of the Slytherin boys, at Jude.

Jude's face burned, and she slid down in her seat. Her first year, after weeks of listening to Gilderoy Lockhardt, the silly pratt who had been their Defense Against Dark Arts professor, ramble on about his exploits, Jude had raised her hand and asked if they were actually going to learn dark magic. The other students had been scandalized and had made fun of Jude for weeks. When the professor pointed out that practicing dark magic was illegal, Jude had wanted to explain that she didn't know that there were laws against dark magic, but she didn't want anyone to know about her non-magical childhood. Instead she just let them laugh.

Luckily, the professor didn't seem to think anything of her question. That Lockhart fool didn't seem to think much at all, Jude recalled. All the same, she didn't want that whole mess dragged up again.

"What's that you said, Schrecklich?" Moody's voice boomed out from the front of the room.

Tom, clearly afraid of getting in trouble, tried to shift attention away from himself by telling Moody about Jude's old question to Lockhart. The whole class turned to stare at Jude.

Moody fixed both of his wild eyes on Jude and said, "So girl, you want to learn dark magic, do you?"

"N-no," Jude stammered, feeling her stomach falling somewhere around her knees. "I just though that -- uh, well, if we are supposed to learn how defend ourselves against dark magic, it might help to, um, know more about it."

Moody looked at Jude very closely and then said: "Exactly!"

The students, including Jude, looked stunned.

"Do you think that a dark wizard is going to tell you before he puts a curse on you and then give you time to run to the library and look up a countercurse?" Moody asked while pacing rather wildly in front of the class. "Of course not! You have to learn the countercurses now, and then be CONSTANTLY VIGILANT."

When Moody showed them the three forbidden curses on a bunch of spiders, Jude was shocked. No one had ever told her that you could kill someone with one spell. She wondered about this while Moody lectured on the curses for the rest of the lesson.

Obviously Jude knew that You-Know-Who had killed people, and she assumed he had used magic, but she never thought about how simple it was. To think how excited the papers get about some bloke having a gun, she thought, not only can you kill someone with a wand, but you could make them do anything you want with that Imperio curse.

When class was over, Moody asked Jude to stay behind. "What's your name, girl?" he asked once the other students had left the room.

"Ah, Madley. Jude Madley."

"So Schrecklich gave you lip for asking about the dark arts did he?"

"Er. . ."

"Wonder if he ever asked his father about his own dark arts education?" Moody asked, presumably rhetorically. "Well Miss Madley, since you seem to be more eager than the rest of the students, I have a book that you might be interested in."

Moody reached into a desk drawer and pulled out a musty book. The faded silver lettering on the cover spelled out the words: Historie of Dark Magick.

"Um, thank you. Thank you very much!" Jude said.

Jude walked out the door feeling happier than she had in years. Even though she had received reasonably good marks in Defense Against Dark Arts (a class where her silly wand hadn't given her any trouble), she rarely spoke in this class or any other. Between the way her classmates had reacted when she asked that question and her fear of someone discovering that her father was a Muggle, Jude had kept mainly to herself her first year. She hadn't really made many friends, and she felt like a real outsider, even with students in her own house.

To have Moody say that her ill-fated comment two years ago was correct made Jude feel unbelievably vindicated. Now a teacher was taking an interest in her ... maybe her luck was changing.

Unfortunately, her good mood didn't last for long. A prefect was waiting outside of the classroom for her. The prefect had a note, telling Jude that Professor Snape was waiting for her in the Potions classroom.

When she arrived in the dank dungeon that served as the Potions classroom, Jude's stomach was heaving _ in part from nerves and in part from a terrible smell. Professor Snape sat behind his desk, a smoking cauldron in front of him from which the horrible smell seemed to be emanating.

"Miss Madley," Snape began, fixing Jude with a disapproving stare, "I received a notice from the Ministry of Magic this morning, informing me of you breach of the laws against the underage use of magic. While normally such a violation would be addressed solely to a student's parents, since you returned to school shortly after the violation, it seems that I have been notified as well."

Snape paused, as if waiting for an answer.

"Er . . . okay," was all Jude could manage, as she was trying to breathe through her mouth to minimize the smell coming from the cauldron.

"Well," Snape continued, "before I decide upon your punishment, is there anything you have to say?"

"Punishment?!" Jude exclaimed. "I shouldn't be punished. We were running late, and I had to help my Mum _"

"Your mother was aware that you were performing magic on the summer holidays?" Snape interrupted sharply.

With a terrible sinking feeling, Jude realized that to provide an excuse for using magic could get her mother in serious trouble. She made one last attempt to avoid punishment: "No, I was, umm, I was just trying to help out."

"I see," Snape said, looking less alarmed. "Well, although your intentions may have been good, the laws against the underage use of magic are very explicit. You may not use magic outside of school for any purpose at all. Is that clear."

"Fine," Jude said, but sounded petulant even in her own ears.

"In order for you to appreciate the magnitude of your transgression, I expect an essay on the laws against the underage use of magic. It must be at least eighteen inches long, and I want it completed by the end of this week."

"Yes, professor," Jude said, realizing that the project would take hours.

"Very well then," Professor Snape said, pouring some of the foul-smelling liquid from the cauldron into a beaker. "I am happy that we were able to settle this without deducting any points from Slytherin House. And I hope that I will not see you in here again on a discipline related matter."

Jude muttered her assent and rushed out of the classroom, before the smell from the cauldron made her get sick all over the floor.

Jude took a moment to collect herself in the hallway. The sense of nausea faded as soon as she left the smell behind her, but she was still upset by her meeting with Professor Snape.

* * *

Strange, Severus thought to himself, I never realized how much she looks like her mother.

Shaking his head, as if to erase his suddenly clear vision of Cassandra smiling directly at him from across the room, Severus Snape turned his attention to the cauldron on his desk. No sense in acting nostalgic after all these years . . .

* * *

Although she didn't really feel like eating, Jude thought that some tea might settle her stomach, so she headed to the Great Hall. Jude sat down next to Fama and pulled the enormous two-handled teapot towards her. Using both hands to pour herself a cup of tea, she felt a tap on her shoulder and turned around.

One of the Slytherin Fourth Years, Jude knew her name was Pansy, was standing behind her with a smirk on her face.

"Dear me," she said, "I didn't know that that they let Mudbloods into Slytherin?"

Panicked, Jude checked her robe. Was her t-shirt showing? How did this girl find out about her? Everyone at the Slytherin table stopped eating to stare at Jude.

"It seems that this Mudblood must have sneaked in by mistake. Her father is a Muggle," Pansy proclaimed to the entire House.

Jude had, as usual, noticed Draco before sitting down at the table for a meal. He was sitting just a few seats away from her, and the thought that he was listening to this horrible girl say nasty things about her made Jude hopping mad.

"Why don't you sod off," Jude said, imagining a slow, agonizing death for Mandy Carbunkle, "Besides, someone who has only one Muggle parent is a half-breed, not a Mudblood. Really, you should read up on your disparaging terms."

Pansy didn't seem impressed by Jude's cutting remark. She just glared at her and said: "Half-breeds aren't welcome here either. Look around. None of the other Slytherins are half-bloods. I didn't even know that the Sorting Hat could let one in."

Jude was furious. Why would this girl try to humiliate Jude in front of the whole school? Pansy was pretty, and her family had wads of money. Jude couldn't think of a single disparaging retort.

Then suddenly Jude remembered some of the office gossip that her mother had related at dinner one night. Apparently, Mr. Parkinson recently had to file some paperwork related to his claim that he had been under the Imperio curse at the time he was a follower of Voldemort. "Really. So you can't think of a single Slytherin who had a non-magical parent?" Jude asked Pansy, hoping the girl would back down, but Pansy just smirked at her. "Well. . . WHAT ABOUT YOUR DAD'S OLD BOSS!" Jude shouted.

Jude barely noticed the scandalized looks on the other student's faces. She just grabbed her books and pushing her way past Pansy, stormed out of the Great Hall.

* * *

Jude spent the lunch break in the library reading the book that Moody had given her. She didn't want to go to her next class, but she knew she couldn't skip the first day.

They'll forget about this, just like they forgot about my question about dark magic, Jude thought to herself. I just hope that it doesn't take as long. Students in her class had teased Jude for weeks after her question in Defense Against Dark Arts -- an experience she wasn't eager to repeat.

She looked through the book, wishing she had known some of these curses when that pretentious fourth year had been humiliating her. I could have hit her with a forgetfulness spell, she thought to herself. If she couldn't remember that her family was worth more money than God, maybe she would forget to be such an arrogant bitch. Jude looked down at her own crumpled robes. Someone with her sort of money probably thinks someone like me is a total pushover.

"Jude," someone whispered.

Jude looked up and saw Laura looking at her.

"What's wrong with your robes?" Laura asked, clearly having "heard" the tail end of Jude's thoughts.

"Er, ah nothing. I mean they could probably do with a good press," Jude tried to act light-hearted.

"I heard a rumor that you got into an argument with some girl in your house. She was making fun of you about Dad."

"Yeah, well it's no big thing. Mandy Carbunkle must have told people that Dad is, you know, not magical."

"Mandy Carbunkle?" Laura looked confused. "I told people last night when we were all swapping stories. They must have mentioned it to someone in your house."

"You said what! Laura, why would you tell them that? Don't you know how people around here feel about non-magical people?"

Laura narrowed her eyes. "Jude, I can't believe that you didn't want anyone to know. I heard that some people in Slytherin were prejudiced against Muggles, but, honestly, I thought that you would know better."

Laura gave Jude a disappointed look, but Jude was unwilling to make peace.

"Well, at least you could have asked me if I minded _"

"Minded what?" Laura shot back. "If you minded me dispelling a lie that you have been telling everyone for two years. I never thought that you would lie about this, so why would I ask?"

Laura gave Jude another disapproving look and stormed out of the library.

Gol', Jude thought, this day has been getting worse and worse. They say that when things look especially bad there is nowhere to go but up, but that's not true. There's always more down.

Jude dragged herself out of the library and up to the tower for her first Divination lesson. After climbing through the trap door, Jude settled herself at a table with Fama at the back of the classroom, hoping not to attract any attention.

Of course, that didn't work.

Ten minutes into the class, after Professor Trelawney had paired the students up to read tealeaves, she appeared suddenly behind Jude's chair.

"Miss Madley, isn't it?" she asked in her unnaturally quiet voice.

"Er, I mean yes."

"The gift of Sight is strong in your family. Tell us what you see."

For the third time that day all eyes were focused on Jude. She felt herself beginning to perspire. A little teasing in class, even open hostility at lunch had been bad enough, but Jude certainly didn't want to reveal to her classmates that unlike her mother or sister Jude didn't possess any special gifts.

Trying to think what her vivacious friend's future would likely hold, Jude began her bluff: "She will live in a warm land, have many friends, a loving family, and a truly happy life."

Without even glancing at the leaves in Fama's cup Professor Trelawney gave Jude a knowing smile and said: "But of course."

When she turned to the next group of students, Jude heard the Professor say, "Such a gift. Just like her mother."

Oh no, Jude thought to herself. How am I going to keep up this charade for the entire year?

Luckily Professor Trelawney spent the rest of the lesson helping other students, so Jude was able to flip through her textbook, trying to learn all she could about tealeaves.

Fama was very impressed with Professor Trelawney's deference towards Jude. Even after the lesson was over, she kept asking Jude what else she could see in her future. Would she marry Fabio? Would they live in Italy?

"I'm, ah, not sure, Fama. Tealeaves aren't the most accurate predictors. Maybe later in the term we'll do some palm reading and I'll be able to see more."

"Oh, wonderful!" Fama gushed. "You'll tell me all about my future won't you?"

"I'll certainly do my best," Jude said, telling herself that it wasn't technically a lie.

Jude thought about skipping dinner, but since she hadn't eaten anything since her hurried breakfast, her stomach wouldn't let her hide out in the dormitory with the book from Professor Moody. I just hope that no one says anything else about Dad, Jude hoped silently.

By the time Jude and Fama sat down at the Slytherin table for dinner, it was clear that no one remembered Jude's outburst at lunch. Everyone in the school was buzzing about Draco Malfoy's unfortunate incident with Professor Moody.

A ferret. How terrible! Jude thought.

Jude looked around for Draco, but he wasn't at the dinner table. Someone mentioned that he had been hauled off to see Professor Snape. Apparently, in addition to being transfigured into a rodent and bounced around in front of the school, Draco was also going to receive detention.

Jude felt sorry for him. Unlikely as it seemed, Draco Malfoy appeared to be having a worse day than she. Well at least everyone has forgotten about my father, she thought and reached across the table for a heaping platter of roast turkey and vegetables.

* * *

Jude sat bolt upright in bed. She'd had another one of those dreams again. This one wasn't as bad as the others. There were no dead bodies or people in hooded cloaks. It had started out pleasantly enough: She had been standing in front of a large mirror, wearing the most beautiful robes and jewels she'd ever seen. Her hair, instead of pulled back in a band, was piled on top of her head and hung down in curls by the sides of her face. Her spectacles were gone and her face looked different - a little older, definitely more beautiful. It was only when she had reached up to touch her beautiful hair that the dream turned bad. She saw a black mark on her arm. It was just like the mark that had been in the paper after the Quidditch World Cup. It was Voldemort's sign. Why was it on her arm?

Two dreams in less than a week. This is getting scary, she thought. Maybe I'd better owl Mum and ask her how to interpret dreams. I can always tell her it's for Divination class...

* * *

Having been wakened by her dream in the early hours of the morning and unable to fall back asleep for some time, Jude awoke to the even more hateful than usual noise of the disembodied gong that sounded every morning. Her first year, Jude had wanted her mum to send her clock-radio to school so that she could listen to some music to wake up in the morning, but her mother had explained that non-magical appliances didn't work at the school.

Crap school, Jude thought as she got out of bed - not an unusual thought for her in the morning.

At breakfast, the older students were still sniggering at Draco, who was quietly picking at his food. He seemed to be ignoring all of the jokes that the older students were making at his expense, but Jude was quite certain that he heard each one.

All this house loyalty nonsense is a sham, Jude seethed, we're just as quick to turn on each other so long as there is no one else to see. She tried to catch Draco's eye, but he never looked up from his plate.

Jude's foul mood lasted until the beginning of Transfiguration. After collecting the summer essays, McGonagall put the class to work, transfiguring scarab beetles into pillboxes.

Jude pulled her new wand from beneath her robes, barely resisting the urge to run the fragrant wood under her nose. The thrill of holding her new wand reminded her of the day she had bought it.

Standing in the shop in Diagon Alley, Jude had felt a wonderful rush as she picked up a slender cedar wand. It was the first wand that the old shopkeeper had taken from his shelves. She had admired the smooth and fragrant wand as soon as she had seen it in its box. Jude had been so happy to see the bright shower of sparks burst from the tip, she almost missed the shopkeeper's odd look.

"Well, Miss Madley," he said, "I'm glad to see that this wand finally has an owner. It has been waiting for you on this shelf for two years."

Jude had flushed when she realized that the shopkeeper knew her name without her telling him. She hadn't given her name when she entered the shop because she didn't want him to know that she was shopping for a wand two years later than almost every other Hogwarts student. In fact, Jude had waited until dinnertime, hoping to avoid the steady stream of first years and their parents parading through the shop to purchase their first wand. Still, the wizened old man seemed to know everything about Jude.

Sitting in class, Jude thought Even the humiliation of having the old shopkeeper know my family couldn't afford to send me to school with a new wand doesn't matter now. After all this time -- "Finally, I have my own wand."

"That must be nice," a voice next to her whispered.

Realizing that the last bit of her inner dialogue had actually been spoken aloud, Jude turned to see a freckled face smiling at her. It was Ginny Weasley, the younger sister of the trouble-making twins who had created so much homework for the entire school.

"Er - yes, it is," Jude admitted. Feeling a sudden rush of honesty, she continued "My old wand wasn't - um - bought for me, and it didn't work very well."

"Oh, I know what you mean," Ginny said, "I had one of my brother's old wands until last summer. They work so much better when you pick them out in the shop."

Jude looked at the girl. She had heard some of the students in her house make snide comments about the Weasley family's near poverty. While it was nice of the girl to be friendly, Jude thought it odd that Ginny was being so open about having to use a hand-me-down wand. It certainly wasn't the sort of information that Jude would normally share with someone else.

"Go ahead," Ginny whispered, "give it a try and see how much easier it is."

Jude hesitated for less than a moment before passing her wand over the beetle and saying the incantation: "Locularis!"

The beetle stopped moving. Leaning down, Jude could see the hinges on one side -- she had done it! The beetle had been transformed from an insect into a tiny black pillbox. It usually took her more than one attempt to work a spell properly, especially on the first time. Jude turned to Ginny and smiled.

"Wow - that was great!"

Ginny grinned at her, "Sure makes a difference, doesn't it?"

* * *

That evening in the library Jude marveled at the fact that Ginny had been so friendly towards her. Not that students from different houses weren't ever friendly towards each other, but Slytherin and Gryffindor students were notoriously antagonistic. And Ginny Weasley wasn't a particularly outgoing person -- at least, not that Jude had ever seen.

Pausing over her volume of "Wizarding Regulations - A History," Jude realized that all she knew about Ginny Weasley was that she had almost killed all of the non-magical born students at Hogwarts during her first year.

Two years ago, Ginny had somehow opened the Chamber of Secrets, loosening a giant Basilisk on the school, which had hunted down students whose parents weren't magical. Exactly how Ginny had opened the Chamber had never really been explained. The little official explanation that had been given was simply that Ginny had been enchanted by a powerful dark wizard, and she wasn't responsible for opening the Chamber. But darker rumors about what did while she was enchanted and whether she had actually been enchanted had flourished for quite some time at the school.

Jude remembered one rumor that Ginny had been enchanted to act as a love slave to any Seventh year student who was willing to drink the blood of a chicken. She had never really believed that rumor, but chicken blood and feathers had been found around the school during the time that the Chamber was opened, so she, like a lot of other students, had kept her distance from Ginny Weasley.

In fact, as Jude thought about it, she couldn't recall ever having seen Ginny spend much time with anyone. Sometimes she would hang about with her older brother Ron and his friends, and anyone could see that Ginny was mad about Harry Potter, but Jude didn't think that Ginny was really part of their close group.

Turning back to the volume in front of her, Jude read the short passage describing the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery:

Passed in 1875, the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery placed Britain among the ranks of several European countries restricting the use of magic by minors. The Decree allowed the use of magic only during the academic year, which was defined in the famed prosecution of Malefacio Malfoy to include the immediate travel necessary to and from school.

Flipping pages in the book before her, Jude was dismayed to find that the short passage was the only reference to the restrictions on underage magic. Oh bother! Jude thought with no small amount of annoyance This will barely fill two inches of parchment. How am I ever going to finish Snape's rotten essay.

Looking at the passage again, Jude decided to look for books discussing similar restrictions in other countries. And if that isn't enough to finish the ruddy assignment, I can look for more information about this case. Jude looked at the name again, Hmm . . . a Malfoy.

Hours later Jude had gathered enough information to fill the required length of parchment. The essay was actually an inch and a half longer than required. Jude had found a series of books comparing magical laws in different jurisdictions, and was able to describe in detail the different restrictions on underage wizardry in different countries. At the end of her essay, she noted that England's restrictions on the underage use of magic were some of the most severe (aside from Sweden, where they seemed to regulate everything!). While she did not explicitly try to justify her use of magic before the beginning of the school year, Jude did point out that England had prosecuted students who performed magic just outside of the barrier to the Hogwarts Express, while allowing magic on the platform -- she hoped that Professor Snape would see that the Ministry's enforcement of the laws against underage magic, though consistently applied, drew rather arbitrary distinctions.

Jude yawned and looked around her. The library was nearly deserted. One Gryffindor fourth year, Hermione Granger, occupied a table in the corner, surrounded by textbooks. Two Ravenclaws were whispering as they gathered up their things, and Madame Pince was casting impatient looks at all of the remaining students. Jude rolled up her essay for Professor Snape and stuck it inside of her satchel. Rubbing her neck, which was sore from all of the time she had spent hunched over her books, Jude wondered How do those Ravenclaws do this every night?

Stifling another yawn, Jude left the library, wanting nothing more than a good night's rest.