Dumbledore's Nephew

Attack of the Faye

Chapter 4

"Jemma?" Jesse said, trying to shake awake her roommate. "We're gonna miss breakfast. Come on!"

Jemma grumbled, then turned over. Jesse's scream would've been heard by the whole house, if anyone else had been there. "Dumb Chang. Never shake awake somebody when they don't have their bloody makeup on yet." She stood up and went to the bathroom to put on her makeup. When she came back, she kicked Jesse in the side until she woke up.

"What happened?" Jesse asked, her eyes sliding in and out of focus.

"You passed out when you smelled Samantha's socks," Jemma said. Jesse, barely being conscious, accepted this without a second though.

"Jemma, you've got really cool hair. Do you think you could do my hair like that?" Jesse asked, standing up, and rubbing her side where Jemma had kicked her.

"No!" Jemma barked. "I mean," she said calmly, "the Chinese don't believe in wearing their hair like this, remember?" As Jemma spoke aloud, she also thought the words, so that Jesse thought it was her conscience, too.

"Oh yeah, silly me. I forgot." Jesse licked her dry lips. "Got any chap-stick?"

Jemma pulled out a tube of chap-stick, opened it, and handed it to Jesse. Jesse applied it to her lips, then here eyes snapped into focus, with the pupils shrinking dangerously. Her normally blackish-brown eyes, glowed silver for a moment.

"We're gonna get her today?" Jesse said, in an evil voice.

"Yes. That's why you must find out the password, understand?" Jemma asked.

"I understand, master. You will have Jack wrapped around your little finger in no time," Jesse replied.

"Perfect. He is so cute. Okay, I'll have Bluebell follow you. She's one of the few faeries with the common sense to become invisible on an important mission like this. Alright?" Jemma said, grinning maliciously, and rubbing her hands together, greedily.

"Of course, master," Jesse replied, as a bright blue faerie flew down from the ceiling, touched Jesse's shoulder, and faded from view.

"You have your orders, Bluebell. Serve me well." Jemma left the dorm, closely followed by a girl and an invisible faerie.

***

"Morning, Qing, morning Amelia," Jesse said, walking over to the Gryffindor table, and standing next to where her sisters and Jack were sitting. "Can I ask you a favor?" she asked. "I lost my Transfiguration book, and I've got a class in fifteen minutes. Could I borrow one of yours?"

"Oh geez, Jess, I'm sorry, but we don't have ours. They're back in the dorm. Can't you borrow from one of your roommates?" Qing-jao asked.

"Oh, but Qing, I can't! McGonagall said if we come unprepared she'll take fifteen points each! Oh please, couldn't I just dash up to your dorm with you, it'd only take a minute, right?"

"Well," Amelia said, stretching out the word. "It's not like she's going to tell anyone. Are you?"

Jesse shook her head. "Never! I just really need that book. Oh please, I don't want to be the reason we lose all those points!" Jesse looked as if she was about to cry.

"Okay, okay," Qing-jao said. "Come on, we don't have a class for an hour and you've only got twelve minutes." Standing, she and Amelia--followed closely by Jesse--made their way out of the hall.

"Something fishy is going on," Jack said to himself.

Yep, a voice in his head said. And it's going to be very funny for me when I get to see Qing-jao and Amelia's mangled bodies. And he heard a high-pitched cackle.

Not today, he thought back at her as he rushed out of the hall.

Easy there, Jackie. You're getting far ahead of yourself. All of a sudden, Jack wasn't able to control the movements of his body. He found himself walking floors away from where he wanted to go and into an unused classroom.

"Here you are, Jackie. And what a handsome young man you are," and as Jemma walked into the room he realized how beautiful she really was.

"Well thank you, Jackie. I am beautiful aren't I?" she fluffed her hair.

Yeah, and you're a fart-eating daughter of a--

Ooo, testy. Not wise, Jackie.

Don't call me Jackie.

I can do whatever I want, Jackie. You, my dear, are under my control.

Her smile was sickeningly sweet, as he felt himself walking towards her. "No," he shouted, "stop it!" He struggled, trying to stop walking. Jemma laughed at him, and had him stop just inches away from her. He couldn't have moved if his life depended on it. Which, in fact, it did.

"You know, Jack," she breathed in his ear, making the hair on the back of his neck stick up. "Most guys would flip at the chance you're getting. Very few mortals get to do this sort of thing with a faye-speak. Let alone a faye-speak who's in Lord Voldemort's inner circle."

"What do you mean, 'mortal'?" he was stalling for time.

"Stalling now, are we, Jack? That's alright. We've got all the time we need." Jemma snapped her fingers and the door locked, and he knew she'd somehow done a spell--without her wand--that was exactly the same one that Poppy had performed on her office. "When I say mortal, I mean, we faye-speaks don't die. We just keep living. And we can keep on producing children as well. I'm the five hundred and sixty-fourth child of my mother. She probably only knows my name because only fourteen of us are faye-speaks. We're rare, and my closest faye-speaking half-sibling is over a hundred years old." She played a manicured fingernail up and down the side of his face. An infuriated look came up and he struggled.

"You realize struggling is pointless, dear Jack, now don't you? Or are you as stupid as your uncle?" she whispered this all quietly.

"My uncle isn't stupid. He's the most brilliant man alive."

"I beg to differ," she snapped icily. My mother gave him the opportunity to become her husband just over a hundred years ago. He refused." She stared into his eyes, and her own turned silver. "Hopefully, the third generation will be smarter."

Jack struggled against the grip of the spell she'd put on him. "You'll never get away with this. What do you want, anyway? To kill every single pretty girl at Hogwarts, huh? You know, you'll get caught long before then, you realize that, don't you? Besides, why would good, old Voldie want you to do that, anyway? I mean, come on, nobody's stupid enough to--"

"Silence."

Jack stared her right in the eye--not that he had a choice. Her eyes turned from silver to violet, to a deep chocolate brown. He tried to stifle his thoughts.

Trying to hide your thoughts from me? You do think I'm pretty, don't you? Jackie, you realize that resistance is futile. You think my eyes are pretty? Well how swe--you cow!

What? Oh, you're unhappy that I like your eyes 'cause they look like Hermione's? Of course!

But she's ugly! She's despica--

Don't say that about Hermione, or I'll find some way to get out of this spell. I'm a Dumbledore. I'm resourceful. Hermione Granger is the kindest, most wonder--

Enough. Come here.

"What," he said aloud, "you have to ask now?"

"Shut up."

"Oh no! The faye-speaker has commanded me not to talk! I cower in fear!"

Watch it.

"I'll watch what I want to watch, thank you."

You know, being a faye-speaker has it's advantages, Jack. We can call on the wee people, we can make people do our bidding--at least the weak-minded, and we can control peoples bodies. There's one thing we've never been able to do, however.

"What's that? Achieve intelligence higher than that of a chimp?" Jack asked.

No, Jack. To control other people's thoughts. Sometimes, listening to other people's thoughts can be quite unpleasant. Especially when they're like you. But the fact you're so handsome makes up for it, not to mention how powerful you are.

"Whatever you want, I won't give it to you."

Oh really. What if it's something that I can give to you.

"Again, amazing," he said, looking awed.

What?

"You can actually sound like you have intelligence higher than that of a--"

Silence.

But I'm not saying anything, dear Jemma. A very important detail which you overlooked.

I hate you.

Then why are you keeping me here?

Frankly, I'm starting to wonder if you're worth the trouble.

See! I'm not worth it! Now I can go, right?

You misunderstand, Jack. If I let you go, I have to kill you.

Never mind, Jemma. I'm worth it. Just look at me. Aren't I a cutie?

Jemma somehow made him spin around. "You are pretty cute. And you've got a great butt."

"Thanks," he replied sarcastically. Suddenly, she let go of him, and he could move on his own. "Thanks," he said, this time actually meaning it. He ran to the door, knowing it was useless. "Now, on to the next matter," he jiggled the handle. "You let me go, now."

"Let me think," she put her hand on her hip, tapped her foot, and said, "no."

"Okay, then let's move on to the next, next matter. Stop Jesse and whatever's helping her."

Jemma had a shocked look on her face, which she tried to hide by a smirk. "Yes, there is a faerie with her. I picked a smart one, now didn't I." All of a sudden, he was under her control again, and he was floating in the air towards her. "Finally," she breathed as Jack found himself wrapping his arms around her. "Having fun?"

"Frankly," Jack replied, with as much sarcasm as he could, "no."

"Sarcasm! Wow, the schoolboy uses sarcasm to his superiors?"

"Superiors? And by the way, sarcasm is a last resort. I can't hit you with a ruler."

"Ouch, that really hurt," she mocked being shot in the stomach. "Now kiss me."

"No," he said, trying to break away from her, but unable to.

"Oh no, he doesn't love me? He loves the little, Chinese bastard with the same name as his mother?"

Jack got a ferocious look on his face. "That's it, you're gonna--"

But Jemma silenced him with her lips, and he closed his mouth as fast as he could. It only lasted a moment, and Jemma broke it off, a large smile on her face. "You're good, did you know that? For a twelve-year-old, I mean."

"Well, how old are you?" he asked sarcastically, "Fifty?"

"Actually, yes. That's the age we start school. So we can get a taste of the world first. We just grow at a slow rate until we hit puberty. Around fifty-one or fifty-two. Next year, I'll be a blossoming beauty."

"Lots of people are prettier than you."

Like who? Your precious Hermione? He heard the venom in the faye-speaker's thought.

And Qing-jao.

Qing-jao should be dead by now, Jack.

She isn't. And you know it.

Jesse's working on it.

Well, if Jesse's still alive, then she's prettier than you. Amelia as well. All three of them are identical.

Jesse's next, Jackie.

Don't call me Jackie. And I won't let you.

The faerie has orders to turn on her after the other two are dead.

Jesse will defend herself, and the others aren't dead. You were just too stupid to realize that she was as pretty as the others, weren't you?

Too bad that a faerie's more powerful than an ickle firstie with about a month's worth of training, isn't it?

None of them are dead.

Hermione's after Jesse.

Is not.

And then your precious little Sammie.

Oh puh-leeze! You aren't going to do any of this stuff, and you know it. Besides, Sam's way too...I don't know. But you won't do this stuff.

He saw her forehead starting to sweat slightly. I will, too.

And what about Ginny?

Her again? Fine, I'll kill her, too.

What next, you'll kill every handsome or beautiful boy or girl at Hogwarts, so we'll be the most gorgeous couple in the wizarding world?

Yes, as a matter of fact.

And what about the ministry, and Voldie, oh wise faye-speaker?

They're no match for a faye-speaker, especially in the state of disarray they're in, and Voldie, as you call him, is wrapped around my little finger.

There are faye-speakers working for the ministry.

And how would you know, little Jackie?

How would I know? I've been living with the most powerful wizard in the world for four years, Jemma. I'm not a stupid pretty-boy like you seem to think I am.

I picked you because you're a smart pretty-boy. And you've got power. Lots of power and influence.

Oh, so you're already working for Voldemort?

You said his name!

Uh, yeah. Why wouldn't I?

Never mind. Yes, as a matter of fact, I'm working for Him. [pause] Aren't you going to say anything.

No.

Testy, aren't we. [pause] Fine. I have ways of making you talk. Or think. Or whatever.

See, once again, this proves that you don't have the in--

Silence, Jack. Frankly, I would've been just as happy if you'd kept your mouth shut.

My mouth is shut. How stupid are you faye-speakers?

Stop it.

Oh, am I annoying poor little Jemmie-wemmie?

"Stop!" she shouted, flicking a hand in Jack's face, who found himself being smashed against the wall behind him. Pressed up against it tightly, with a grimace on his face, his eyes pierced her very soul, and he finally spoke.

"You do realize that there's no benefit in killing me, don't you, Jemma?" Jack stated this with calm and serenity written all over his face and filling his voice.

"Of course. I never said I would, now did I?"

"It was insinuated."

"But if I killed you, I wouldn't be able to do this." Jemma strode forward, and he struggled, stuck up against the wall. "You'll just love this." She pulled his head down--since he was taller than she was, and kissed him, he forced his mouth closed for as long as he could, and it ached from being clamped down so hard. "Fine," she muttered, moving her mouth away from his mouth. He started to take a breath of relief when she started to kiss his neck.

"What is with you!" Jack cried.

"What do you mean, Jackie?" she asked, pulling away from him.

"Why are you after a guy who's nearly forty years younger than you? That's just sick! I'm twelve, for heavens sake. TWELVE!"

"Because, until next year, a man my age would think I was your age. Besides, I like younger men." She twisted--with her finger--the long piece of hair near the front of her head.

"You're nervous," Jack said calmly, as she slowly let him slide down from the wall.

"Don't say that," Jemma retorted icily.

"Why not, Jem? What'll you do, kiss me? I don't care. It's not like it hurts."

"I'll do this," she twisted her finger as fast as she could, again and again, around the piece of hair. Jack found himself spinning with the hair like a top, and jumped up in the air to float.

"This is great! Could you go a little faster? This is the best! It's like those muggle rides with the chairs, except you don't need the chair!" He gave a whoop as he spun.

"Oh, I give up on that one," she muttered, stopping as he dropped to the ground with a thud.

"Could've warned me. Would you do that again?"

"No. Look, I'm tired of this. I'll just use a regular, old, memory charm, with a wand, so you have a chance to stop me. Go get your wand, Jack."

Jack walked backwards to where he knew his wand had landed. Then he said, "Uncle Albus, thank God you're here!" and he started towards Jemma.

"Oh please, like I'd fall for tha--" and then a voice from behind her said:

"Petrificus totalus," and she went as stiff as a board. The look of rage on her face was easy to see.

"Well thank you, Uncle Albus. Just in time, too. She was about to erase my memory. Did you know she was a faye-speaker?" Jack inquired to the tall man with silver hair, who was closely followed by Minerva and Severus.

"It was somewhere in her file, but was overlooked. That's a bit of a nasty cut, there, Jack," Albus replied.

Jack put his hand to his forehead, where a large gash had started to drip blood down the side of my face. "Hadn't noticed it. I only noticed the blood dripping from the back of my head. Boy, it's cold. You okay, Professor Snape?" he said, seeing that the man had gone--if possible--paler than usual.

"I just...don't like blood, is all." He looked nauseated.

"Ah. Bloodphobia, or whatever it's called...Minerva, I mean, Professor McGonagall, do you think you could lead us to the Hospital Wing, I'm starting to feel a bit dizzy, and I might get lost." He held his hand firmly to his forehead, but the blood oozed between his fingers.

"Of course," she replied, coming out of the room. "Albus," she said, "what are we going to do with her?"

"Expel her of course, I can't believe she got in with all our new security measures. Look, she's even got the dark mark!" he pulled the faye-speakers sleeved arm up, and the mark became visible.

"Come on, Severus, Jack. Let's get there before you lose any more blood." Minerva swept out of the room, followed by Jack and Severus.

"Oh God!" Jack shouted, pulling his hand away from his forehead and splattering blood on the floor of the stone corridor. "Qing-jao and Amelia and Jesse! Professor, she sent a faerie to kill them! Quick! I have no idea how long I was in there! They could already be dead!" He made a mad dash for a set of stairs, and he figured he knew the way.

"My goodness!" he heard Minerva cry, closely followed by the thud of Professor Snape falling to the ground. "Oh dear. Ennervate! There's no time, Severus! Come on!"

They reached the portrait hole in what seemed like no time, to see a bright blue faerie attacking the three girls with bluebell flames.

"Step back, girls!" Minerva shouted, and they dodged out of the way as Minerva cried out, "Ophelius Renactus!" and the faeries flames fizzled out, leaving it helpless.

"Oh drat, you witches make things so not fun. I'm never working for one of those dumb faye-speakers again!" the faerie said in an unbearably high voice, and pouted, with crossed arms she hovered in the air, and Minerva magiced her into a cage that appeared out of nowhere.

"Are you guys okay?" Jack asked, as he ran towards the girls. Jesse was bawling, and being comforted by her sisters. Qing-jao's left cheek was burned badly, and it was turning a ghastly purple, and Amelia's robes had a large hole near her right knee, which appeared to be bleeding profusely.

"Oh yeah, we're fine, Jack!" shouted Jesse in between sobs, the cut on her left cheek had blood flowing freely from it. "I nearly killed my sisters! Everything's just GREAT!"

"It's alright, Jess, it's not your fault," Qing-jao murmured to her, patting her on the back and wiping blood from her sister's cheek.

"Yeah, it's that wench, Jemma," Amelia said, a murderous look on her pretty face.

"Yes it is, just like it's my fault about Gwen. Jack, what happened to you?" Jesse cried, looking up from her hands and stemming her flow of tears.

"Had a bit of a run-in with Jemma. Good-for-nothing-rotten-daughter-of-a-" he looked over at his teachers, "cow. It's nothing, just a little blood."

"Jack," Qing-jao said calmly, moving over to him and pressing her hand to his forehead for a couple seconds. When she pulled it away there was a puddle of dripping blood all over her hand. "That isn't a little blood. You've lost so much blood, you're starting to look like Professor Binns."

"Well," he said, wiping the blood of Qing-jao's hand with a handkerchief from his pocket, "at least I don't have a purple burn on the side of my face, or a great gash on my leg, or a cut on my cheek. Come on guys, we need to get to the infirmary." Jack aided Qing-jao in helping her sisters stand. Amelia and Jesse both promptly passed out, and Professor Snape--nauseated as he was--magiced up some stretchers to put them on, and they started to walk to the infirmary, Jack and Qing-jao lagging behind.

"So what'd she try to do to you?" Qing-jao whispered, gripping his hand tightly.

"Get to me to go over to Voldemort, obviously. And she tried to kiss me. Ugh! I'd never want to kiss a fifty-year-old servant of Voldemort!" he whispered back.

"Jack, you don't look so good," she murmured, placing a hand on his forehead again.

"I'll be fine, but that burn is starting to make your face turn purple," he whispered in her ear.

"Jack, I hate to be such a bugger, but, you had better catch me," she said softly, and fell into his arms with a soft plop.

Jack maneuvered her into a good position, lying across his arms, her legs hanging, but supporting her head. He continued to walk until Minerva looked back.

"Good Lord, Jack! Come, let me put her on a stretcher! I can't believe they all passed out!" Minerva cried.

Jack shook his head. "No, it's my fault they were in this mess in the first place. I'm going to carry one of them."

"But you're so weak, Jack, you at least need some--"

"No, Minerva, I won't let you," he replied, firmly, head set straight forward, and not daring to look anywhere but at the back of Snape's head.

They were walking down the Defense Against the Dark Arts corridor, and all of a sudden the bell rang, and a large group of Gryffindor fifth years piled out, stopping dead in their tracks to watch the procession. They were followed out by Professor Delacour, who was saying, "What is zis? Oh dear!" and she ran out into the hall. Jack saw Harry, Ron, and Hermione, trying to fight there way from the back to see what was going on. He heard whispers coming from the students, buzzing around like bees.

"Minerva! What 'as 'appened?" she looked from Snape, to the stretchers, to Jack--who was still pale and bleeding and carrying Qing-jao--and then to Minerva and her students.

"Nothing at all, Professor, just had a little tousle with a nasty little bugger up near the common room. Must have been let in by Peeves for a joke," Jack said, with his eyes telling her that she needed to follow and not ask any more questions in front of the students. He saw Harry, Ron, and Hermione finally reach the front of the crowd, and Hermione gasped audibly as she rushed towards Jack.

"Oh God, Jack, what happened? Are you okay? What's going on, here?" she cried. Harry and Ron dashed forward as well, and Jack gave Minerva a pleading look.

"Mr. Weasley, Mr. Potter, Ms. Granger, and Fleur, would you please follow us to the infirmary? There's quite a lot we need to talk about." The four nodded and followed, all of which were looking confused.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione surrounded him quickly. Harry spoke first, "Nasty cut there, Jack. Is Qing gonna be okay?" he looked very worried as he glanced down at the girl in Jack's arms.

"Yeah, she'll be fine." He looked to make sure they were out of earshot of the students. Then he whispered, "she was just attacked by the minion of a faye-speaker, is all. I was attacked by the old, wench, herself!"

"What?" Hermione shouted. Minerva and Fleur looked back at her, and she smiled, saying, "He was just telling me that he had a crush on someone, and I was a little shocked, right Jack?"

Jack nodded quickly and gave a small smile, to avoid suspicion. "Geez, Herm', ever heard of a thing called 'vow of secrecy'? And I do not have a crush on anyone!" he replied indignantly as soon as the Professors had turned away.

"I beg to differ," snickered Ron, looking down at Jack.

"What do you--" he looked at the limp body in his arms. "Oh, please, Ron! I'm just carrying her! It's not like she's gonna wake up and say, 'Oh my hero!' and kiss me, or something!" he replied indignantly.

"Looks pretty bad to me, Jack," Harry smiled at him.

Hermione smiled, too, then she bent down and whispered in his ear, "I've got to talk to you later," and she looked down at the girl in his arms. "Alone."

As they approached the infirmary, Minerva rapped smartly on the door, shouting, "Poppy! Emergency! Hurry! Open up!"

The form of a rather stout nurse came to view as she came and unlocked the door. "Just finishing up an exam on Sam, real quick, here," she muttered, not even looking at all the people piling into her beloved hospital wing.

"Auntie, don't bother with me, look at them!" Sam cried, looking at all the people with a mixture of awe and horror.

"Well why should I," she turned and looked and gasped, "Good Lord, thank you, Sam! Minerva, Fleur, get them all on a cot, including Severus." Just then, the potions master dropped down on the floor in a dead faint.

Jack carried Qing-jao to the bed next to Sam and set her down delicately. Her face was purpling even more than it had been before, and Jack climbed into the bed next to Qing-jao's, and the two next beds were filled by the remaining triplets, then Professor Snape in the last bed.

"I don't even want to know what happened," Poppy muttered.

"Poppy, I need you to just fix this cut, and wash me off real fast, I've got to go talk to Uncle Albus," Jack stated promptly.

"Oh but Jack, with all that lost bloo--" but on a look from Minerva, she nodded, and did what Jack said.

"Bless you, Poppy." He jumped up and kissed the short nurse on the cheek. "Come on you Terrible Trio, we've got to go see a man about some lemon drops," and with that, he bounded out the room, closely followed by Harry, Hermione, and Ron.

A/N: Thanks for reading, I'll have more chapters up, soon. Hope you're enjoying, so far. I'm trying not to make them too long, but I think it's rather better if they're long, because then I don't have to put up with complaints that it's too short.

Thanks to Kimmy--my lovely beta-reader--thanks to the FAmods, and thanks to the great J.K., who gives us such an amazing subject to write about. Thanks for reading, guys, and next comes another chapter of DN!