The Battle for Peace

Chapter 3: Weird Concoctions

Ashley walked slowly through the halls of Hogwarts. It was a great target; earlier at breakfast when the Daily Prophet arrived, it reported that when You-Know-Who struck, he would most likely attack Hogwarts.

As much as she would like to have a normal final year at Hogwarts, she knew it was not possible. This was the time when Voldemort would most likely strike this year. It saddened her, especially when she thought about Harry's fate. She knew now that she was almost completely over what they had, but she still had a right to worry about him. As a friend, she reminded herself, just a friend.

Thoughts like these running through her mind, she didn't notice someone was walking in her direction until they collided.

"Hey!" she exclaimed, rubbing her head where they had made impact.

"S-sorry," said the stranger. "I was looking for the Head Girl." Ashley winced at the pain, but soon it was gone. She looked at the person.

"Which one?" she asked. "There--" she stopped. "Have we met before?" she asked; the person standing before her looked strangely familiar.

"Are you Ashley Halliwell?" he asked. She nodded, furrowing her brow. Where have I seen him before? "I'm Aaron. I think my brother treated you this summer." Ashley did not recall this, but the memory soon flashed in her head.

FLASHBACK

He had dark brown hair that fell into his eyes. His eyes were blue and he looked really young.

"I'm Jeremy Keaton."

*

"I wouldn't know; I'm no Healer," he explained.

END OF FLASHBACK

Now that she thought about it, this guy had the same eyes as that "Healer-in-Training" had.

"Yeah, I guess he did," she replied, slightly shocked. "Is he here?" Aaron laughed.

"No. Let me guess: he told you that he was still at Hogwarts?" When she nodded, he laughed some more. "He's been out of Hogwarts for a while; he just likes to fool with the students if he ever has to treat one," he explained. "So, how did you end up there anyway?"

She did not tell him. One of the most important rules to abide by during a war was "Nice guy or not, don't trust him." She stuck to her morals and told him it was a spell gone wrong. He barely believed her, but let it pass. He asked her what she meant by "which one?" and she explained that this year there were two Head Girls.

They talked about unimportant things; the curriculum, the Houses (he was in Ravenclaw), things like that. Later on, they knew a good deal about each other, but not too much. Unknown to her, he didn't trust her either.

"I'm sorry about my brother. He can be a bit pretentious at times," he said.

"I never would have guessed," she remarked sarcastically. He chuckled. "Well, I have some things to do. It was nice to meet you," she said, putting out her hand. He shook it.

"Yeah, you too." She smiled and left. A few minutes later, Adrian came out of his hiding place.

"So, what do you think?" he asked. Aaron turned to him.

"Let me make this clear to you mate: she's smart and pretty. She's way out of your league," he answered, walking back to the Ravenclaw Common Room.

~~~~~~~

Ashley walked back to Gryffindor Tower, shaking her head at what had just happened. So he has a brother, she thought to herself. It's a little strange, but I think I can live with that. We're not even in the same House! She sighed mentally. But it would be nice to have someone to talk to. Then a thought struck her. Where's Adrian?

"Kavorca," she said to the Fat Lady.

"Something on your mind, dear?" the Fat Lady asked. Ashley smiled.

"Just some everyday things. Nothing to worry about," she said. The Fat Lady nodded and swung open, allowing her to enter.

She walked up to the seventh year girls' dorm. There, she heard sobbing, very familiar sobbing. Jazmine, she thought frantically. She opened the door and burst into the room, searching for her friend. She looked over towards her bed and saw something that tore her heart in two.

Jazmine was on Ashley's bed, clutching a letter in her hand as tight as humanly possible. Her wand and shoes were on the bedside table, along with a red ribbon, which had probably sealed the letter. She was crying, occasionally letting out a cry of anguish. Ashley ran toward the bed, rubbing small circles on her best friend's back.

"What's wrong, Jazz?" she queried. Jazmine said nothing; only brought up the letter and thrust it into Ashley's free hand. Ashley read it, dreading what she was about to find out.

Jazmine,

You had better sit down, honey, because this will come as quite a shock to you.

It seems as though your mother and father were out driving to pick up your sister from school yesterday. I, that is to say, the rest of the family and I don't really know what happened. All we know is that they never even got to see Tiffany that day. They vanished without a trace.

Now, Jazmine, you know that we are living in Dark times. It is very unlikely that they were just kidnapped or got lost. The police have told us that there is no trace of them, and we have even called the Ministry to help us.

Should the unthinkable happen, and your parents are unable to be with us anymore, there is a spell on this letter: if there is to be a funeral, the time and place will appear at the bottom. If we still have no news or your parents are safe, nothing will happen yet. I don't want you fretting over this letter every few seconds, so just check it once or twice a day. Hopefully, nothing will happen.

With all my love,

Aunt Selene

Ashley looked toward the bottom of the letter and tears welled in her eyes.

The funeral of Abby Marie Davis and Robert Davis is to be held on Saturday, September 16^th, 1997. The burial of Abby Marie Davis and Robert Davis will be held on September 17^th, 1997.

~~~~~~~~

Hermione sat with Ron in the Gryffindor Common Room discussing when their first date would commence. Then they stopped, because a very worried-looking Harry had just entered the Common Room. Ron glanced at Hermione, both thinking the same thing: this was not good.

"Great! I found you!" he exclaimed, hurrying over to where Ron and Hermione were seated. "I need to ask you guys a few questions." They tried to smile, but it was forced. Ron spoke first.

"Sure, mate. What's on your mind?" he asked.

"You first, Ron," Harry said. "Your first crush was Fleur, right? And it hurt when she turned you down, but you do get over something like that, right?" he asked in a rush. Ron nodded.

"Yeah. I mean, since it's your first, it hurts, but there are other brooms in the shed," he replied. Hermione rolled her eyes at the poor comparison. Somehow, "there are other fish in the sea" seemed more appropriate.

"Hermione," he began, turning to her. She jumped at being addressed but regained her composure. "What has she said about me? I'm over her, she's over me, but is she still mad?" he queried. Hermione stuttered her response.

"She's not really--I wouldn't say--she's not mad, Harry. And the important thing is that you're over her," she answered. Seeing Harry's face, she realized that she emphasized the wrong word. What was with her lately when it came to those two?

"Hermione," Harry and Ron prodded. Hermione kept her mouth shut in fear of letting something slip. They kept trying to force it out of her, but Hermione stood her ground. Finally, after five minutes, she stood up. She bellowed at how annoying they could be, and if they wanted to know what Ashley thought about something, that they should ask her. They were not children anymore; they should no longer be playing messenger. She stomped out of the Portrait Hole, leaving everyone to stare at Harry and Ron.

"Well? Go about your business, not ours!" Harry screamed. Everyone hurriedly went back to what they were doing. Harry sighed.

"Still want to be Head Boy, Ron?" he asked. Ron grinned.

"Nope. Being Quidditch Captain is a lot more fun."

~~~~~~~~~

Ashley unclenched her hand, letting the letter fall to the floor, wrinkled. Jazmine looked up at her after a while. Her eyes were red and puffy, and she had marks on her face from scratching it. She put her hand on Ashley's arm.

"It's not true, right, Lee?" she asked, helpless. Ashley slowly turned to her and shook her head.

"I'm not sure, Jazz. But I think this is real," she answered. Jamine began to sob all over again. Ashley sat on the bed and held Jazmine close to her.

She couldn't believe it: they were dead. Abby was like a mother to her, and Robert was the older brother that she never had. Whenever she had been bored or lonely, she would go over to Jazmine's house. There, they had so much fun messing around with everybody. It was her second family, and now it was broken.

"I'm here for you, Jazz. No matter what happens, I will be right beside you," she said. Jazmine sniffed.

"Thank you," she whispered.

~~~~~~~~~

The following day (which was Sunday) Jazmine broke the news to Patty, Adrian, and Ana. Silence followed this revelation. The four of them (and Ashley) had been so close to Jazmine's parents that it was hard to believe that they were gone.

"I'm sorry," Patty consoled, standing up and giving Jazmine a hug. Ana sat there in her seat, letting the tears fall silently. Adrian was leaning against the wall, still trying to comprehend what happened.

"I think Voldemort did this," Jazmine announced. Adrian scoffed.

"No doubt about it. Your mom was a Squib and your father was a Muggleborn. On top of all of that, you are friends with--you know," he stated.

"I want revenge," Jazmine said, throwing a pillow across the room. Ana ducked; it hit a picture of Rowena Ravenclaw, who fell to the floor, complaining at being woken up. Ana muttered a spell and the picture was placed back into its original position.

"What are you going to do?" Patty asked. Jazmine shrugged.

"All I know is that it will be something drastic," she replied.

~~~~~~~

It was Monday, the first day of classes. For quite a few seventh years, it was their first N.E.W.T. Potions Class of the year. They all groaned, except for the Slytherins, who hoped to see Snape lash out at the other Houses. The other Houses in questioned smirked at this. Snape hadn't made one nasty remark about anybody, much to Slytherin's dismay. It seemed that the upcoming war had changed him, and no one understood why.

Ashley had asked Jazmine if she was going to make it to class. Jazmine assured her that she would; she had asked Madam Pomfrey for some Stress Reliever, and she was doing okay now. Ashley smiled, but still told her that if anything was wrong to take it up with the Headmaster. Normally, Jazmine would have objected, but since the first day she had come to Hogwarts, she held a deep trust and respect for the Headmaster. Professor Nable, the Headmaster at the Salem Witches Institute, was nothing like Dumbledore. For this, Jazmine was glad.

"Are you sure? That's stuff's not permanent, you know. Eventually, you are going to have to deal with this. We all are," Ashley remarked, her hand on Jazmine's shoulder. Jazmine nodded.

"Don't worry, Lee. I'll deal with it. Just--just not today," she said.

They started walking to the Potions classroom. Normally, it would take them only a minute or two to get there, but since they knew they would start walking and talking, they left fifteen minutes early. They soon found that it was a good thing they had, because someone ran up to them as they were outside the door.

"Hey," Aaron said. Ashley smiled.

"Hi," she greeted. Jazmine smirked.

"And who is this dashing young man?" she asked, mimicking the old lady they use to watch on TV. Ashley elbowed her in the ribs and sniggered.

"I'm Aaron," he answered, shaking her hand. She smiled.

"I'm Jazmine," she said.

"I know. Adrian has told me a lot about you," he said. Ashley frowned.

"You know Adrian?" she asked. He nodded. "I haven't seen too much of him lately. What's he up to?" Aaron was about to reply when Jazmine shook her head and narrowed her eyes from behind Ashley.

"Go on in, Lee. I just need to ask Aaron something," she prodded, pushing Ashley into the classroom. She then turned to Aaron and sighed.

"What?" he asked. She shook her head. "Does that mean I'm not getting an answer?"

"Did Adrian send you to ask her out?" she asked. He shook his head. "I know he likes her, but she's going through a rough patch right now." He furrowed his brow.

"Did she break up with her boyfriend or something?" he asked. The look she gave him said, "Right on the money!" He sighed. Breaking up with someone was hard. She needed something to help her get through it. On top of all of that, though, he could not believe Adrian would ask her out; he probably thought they were still together, which still was pretty low.

"Tell Adrian not to try anything and start being a better friend before he even considers asking her!" she pleaded. He looked at her but assured her Adrian would get the message. She sighed with relief and went inside the classroom.

~~~~~~

Running as fast as he could, Harry made his way towards Snape's N.E.W.T. Potions Class. Finally, with only a minute to spare, he made it. He got everything out of his bag just as the bell was ringing. Professor Snape strode in through the door, abruptly shutting it. His saying was, "If you're not going to come to class on time, don't expect to be let in."

Poor Ernie MacMillan, who always missed his first class of the day, was rarely seen inside the classroom. Miraculously, something had always come up to make him late for Advanced Potions. Today was no different; there he was, outside the door, pounding and pushing, trying to get in.

"Today," Snape began, "we will brew the Pepper-Up Potion. It is, like all potions you have learned in this class, very complex. I will assign you in pairs and you will strive to make this concoction perfect," he instructed. Nobody even let out a groan. Remarking on the amount of work or stress because of it caused a penalty, and everyone in the class would suffer. For the not so bright students, the extra amount of work piled on top of the original would cause them to groan and thus be given more. It was an endless cycle that ended with the seventh years in the room.

"The instructions are on the board," he announced, waving his wand. Handsome script appeared on the board, informing all of the precise instructions.

"Like they'd be on my arse," Aaron stated sarcastically. Snape glared at him.

"Ten points from Ravenclaw, Mr. Keaton. Potter and Davis," Snape sneered, putting them in pairs. Jazmine scowled deeply, scooting over to the very edge of her seat. Harry rolled his eyes and sat down next to Jazmine. "Halliwell and Keaton."

"Let's get started on this thing," he told Jazmine. She just started putting ingredients into the cauldron, not paying attention to Harry. He grabbed her hand, and she jumped.

"What is your problem?" he asked.

"You are my problem," she growled. "As a matter of fact, you are every person in Gryffindor Tower's problem." Harry did not understand what she was talking about, but he had an idea.

"Forget it, all right? Let's just get this over with," he sighed.

"You're over with a lot of things," she muttered. He ignored her.

Without Neville to cause problems, the class usually went on smoothly. The only problem was that Jazmine would not let Harry do any of the work. Even though Snape kept a close eye on everyone, he would still find some way to blame Harry for not participating. But Jazmine was stubborn when she wanted to be; he never even got to lay a hand on the ingredients.

He supposed that at certain times, it was a good thing she was handling the ingredients; his eyes kept gazing over to Ashley. She was sitting there, with her partner, discussing something. Their potion was almost done. It was starting to boil and become the purple it was supposed to be, whilst his was only just simmering. He tried to get eye contact with her, but she never even turned in his direction.

At the end of his tether, he grabbed both of Jazmine's hands, stopping her from adding the final ingredient (essence of belladonna). He had to add something to the potion or they both would fail.

"Let me do something," he whispered. She glared.

"No way! Just let me finish this," she hissed. She jerked her hand, almost spilling the belladonna.

"We'll both fail if you don't let me do something," he argued. She said no. They fought for the tube so hard that all of its contents spilled into their cauldron. Immediately, the potion bubbled and sizzled until...BANG! It exploded its contents all over Harry and Jazmine, not to mention a good portion of the classroom. Big globs of dark purple sludge had landed almost everywhere, including Professor Snape's hair.

Snape, shaking with rage, turned quickly on his heel (he had been helping Malfoy with his potion) and headed straight toward the few Gryffindors that were there. Harry chanced a glance at Ashley and saw that she was shaking her head at them both. The boy next to her was trying desperately to hold back a grin. Snape didn't seem to find the situation so funny, though. He pulled a bit of the sludge from his greasy head and displayed it to everyone.

"As with all potions," he began, "too much or too little of a certain ingredient or ingredients can cause the concoction to alter purposes, which can sometimes be fatal. Other times, the chemical reaction can cause an explosion, as is what happened here. Too much of a certain ingredient--essence of belladonna, I presume--" he stated, examining the goo--" did not enable the moonstone and bezoar to interact correctly. Everything jumbled, and therefore caused the eruption that you have witnessed and unfortunately been a part of. Now, I will spare the class, as this explosion was too meager to have been because of everyone's stupidity.

"But only if," he whispered dangerously, " the culprit discloses whom he or she is." He glared around the entire half of the room that wasn't in Slytherin.

Harry was about to raise his hand when someone else spoke.

"It was me, Professor," Jazmine announced. Snape turned towards her and raised an eyebrow. "I wasn't thinking clearly when Harry handed me the vial to add the ingredient. I'm sorry, Professor," she explained.

"Thirty points from Gryffindor, Miss Davis. And four feet of parchment on why belladonna must be handled carefully. This is a delicate art; I advise that you either pay better attention or do not return," Snape sneered.

"Yes, sir," she replied. Harry stared at her in awe. She raised her eyebrows and smiled slightly at him.

An hour later they left the classroom. Harry hurried to catch up with Hermione when he discovered she was with another group of girls. They were talking in hushed voices, so Harry pulled out his Invisible Extendible Ears (courtesy of Fred and George Weasley). He kept quiet and listened closely.

"There they are! I think he's up to something," one girl stated.

"He seems like a nice guy," Hermione said. Patty scoffed.

"Please! He may be smart enough to be in Ravenclaw, but he's bad enough to be a Gryffindor," she told them. "I heard that he has a motorcycle."

"What's a 'moto cycle'? Parvati asked.

"I'll explain later," Hermione replied.

"Anyway," Patty continued, "I heard that he has one. And my dad told me that he got his brother in trouble with the Ministry, but only because they look almost alike. It must have been something really bad to be taken up with the Ministry."

Harry looked in the direction they were looking and saw Ashley and some guy standing there, talking and laughing. He looked at her and asked her something. She smiled and nodded. She lightly touched his arm before walking away. Harry felt his blood boil. I thought she wasn't over us, he thought.

"Well, she's moving on quite nicely," Hermione stated nonchalantly.

"Or maybe she's just stringing him along," suggested Parvati. The girls shrugged before parting to different classes.

Harry just stood there, rooted to the spot. He had gathered from Hermione that she still hadn't gotten over him yet. That was yesterday; now, only a day later, she was making a date with some guy. He just didn't understand women. They were so complex, and they never told you what exactly they wanted. (A/N: Men have instincts; they should know something. If not, then they're... not that bright, to put it simply.)

These thoughts kept running through his mind as he hurried to catch up with Jazmine. He needed a logical explanation as to why she did what she did; he sure couldn't think of one. (A/N: Apparently, they aren't that bright. To any male readers: my bad, sorry. But Harry's pretty daft here.)

He caught up with her as she was heading outside for what he presumed either Herbology or Care of Magical Creatures.

"Jazmine!" She turned at the sound of her name. She frowned slightly, so slightly that Harry hardly noticed it, when she saw him. When she looked at him, Harry swore he saw a trace of sadness in her eyes, but he then dismissed it and thought his was mind playing tricks on him.

"Yeah?" she asked.

"Why did you do that? It was the both of us who caused that back there. What possessed you?" he inquired. She sighed.

"You'll never win if she thinks you're stupid," she replied. Harry frowned, but before he could say anything else, she was gone. If she thinks I look stupid, he thought to himself. Who?

Oh, he realized.

Aaron had asked her if she could help him with Potions; he wasn't quite back into school mode, and feared that he was going to fail. Typical Ravenclaw, she thought to herself, smirking. She couldn't do it tonight though; there was a Prefect's meeting in the staff room. Hermione and I will be giving orders. Wow.

Harry will be there, her conscience told her. She groaned. What, you don't want him there?

Obviously, she thought. I'm not ready.

Let me get this straight, her conscience began. You dumped him, want to be just friends, but yet you don't want to be in the same room with him and, on top of everything, you still love.

Lust, she argued, but even she was unsure of what it was. At age sixteen, as the author has undoubtedly explained before, people get the misconception that they have fallen deeply in love with someone. Normally, Ashley would have planned things out better; possibly, they could have said, "I love you" after about six months, not two. The fact that everything had moved out of control scared her out of her wits.

She remembered how all of this came about, from the beginning to the present.

Ron always wrote her letters about what happened at school; the adventures he always had made her extremely jealous. He also told her about his friends, Harry and Hermione. One summer, he sent her pictures of them to get an idea of what they were like.

Harry seemed like a scruffy boy at thirteen; his eyes were the most striking green she had ever seen and his hair reminded her of a hedgehog. She felt power and strength radiating from his photo. But she really liked Hermione's picture.

Hermione's picture was of a thirteen-year-old girl with bushy hair. Bushy hair that was just like Ashley's. She sensed intelligence, sophistication and independence from Hermione, and a strong sense of self. Hermione was like the Hogwarts version of herself, except, in Ashley's opinion, Hermione was much prettier.

Though Hermione's hair was bushy, it was a nice brown, while Ashley was battling with the red hair she had inherited from her father's side (who was Molly Weasley's brother). The bushiness made it worse; Ashley's hair would be all right in the morning, but would puff up by the time it was afternoon. Her brothers teased her about hitting puberty too early; she was already marked with acne. What made all of that worse was that she was the chubbiest kid in class.

Ron always told her that Hermione was so organized it was annoying. Ashley was the messiest person in the world, and tried very hard to mimic Hermione's neatness. One day, though, she realized that Ron would show Hermione and Harry a picture of her at eleven, just before Ron went off to Hogwarts for his first year. The thought scared her.

Almost downright begging, she asked Ron not to show his friends a picture of her. He said that he wouldn't if it meant that much to her, but then told her that his mum had a picture of her somewhere around the house. Ashley prayed that no one noticed it.

As you know, she began her transformation one summer, the summer of '94 to be exact. She was entering her fifth year at the Salem Witches' Institute (they began schooling at the age of ten, so she was fourteen), and decided that the old her would no longer stand. The bangs she had hated so much (her sister used to have bangs, but they looked good with her straight hair) were pulled back with the rest of her hair. She struggled to lose weight and lost twenty pounds, leaving her looking slender but not bone thin. With her sister's expertise, she changed her entire wardrobe. While flipping through a magazine, she found a way to darken her hair with coffee, and managed to learn to control her mane.

A new her arrived at school.

After enjoying the attention (though she would never admit it, she knew there were a few people who would stare at her), Dumbledore came to America for a visit and had a conference with her parents. He explained to them that she was a part of a prophecy, and that Voldemort would try to get a hold of her to stop it. Fearing the whole family's safety, her father sold their own home and bought one in England close to the Weasleys, securing a job as some sort of agent for Muggles. Ashley was to go to school in England, under the watch of Dumbledore and the Weasleys. She was going to Hogwarts.

Long story short (because the rest of the story is up until this moment), Ashley thought everything was going to be okay from now own. Then...

BOOM! A boyfriend.

BOOM! Attacks from Voldemort.

BOOM! Seeing someone she knew die in front of her for her.

BANG! She broke up with her boyfriend.

BAM! She witnessed the power of sadness once more as the closest person she had to a mother was killed.

Voldemort was destroying her life, the life she tried so hard to change. She had to fight and stop him. The problem was, Harry was supposed to stop him.

She was supposed to help Harry.

The Harry she broke up with that summer.

The Harry that was the other Head alongside her and Hermione.

The Harry she didn't want to face.