The One Who You Fear

Chapter 2: Getting Situated at Hogwarts

"Password?"

"Dragonfly wings, I mean dragon wings."

At last he found something that answered to his password. Jack had been searching for forty-five minutes for the Gryffindor common room. It was hard enough trying to retrace his steps, since he wasn't paying attention where he was going when he was with Ron.

Jack sat down in one of the squashy chairs in the common room and stared into the fireplace. He thought about the division between these magic people and mortals. It struck him as awkward. Aku had magic powers, and he did not hide it. Then there was that wizard Jack met not too long ago who turned him into a chicken for no reason. But then there was that rug storeowner. His magic was more secretive. If Jack hadn't shown him the scroll the Woolies had given him, the shopkeeper may have never shown him the "Light of Eternity."

But then it occurred to him. Jack had heard rumors of a people who used magic. They comprised one of Aku's most powerful and dangerous forces. The people in this school seemed safe enough, but could they be this regime Jack knew that one day he must face? But these are terrified of Aku so much that they feared to say his name, so perhaps they were enemies of Aku. But that boy, with the lightning bolt . . . No, it was a coincidence, it had to be. Jack stared at his sword in the dancing firelight. His thoughts continually mulled over this issue, and the more he thought of it the more troubled he became.

After about an hour or two, he heard sounds in the common room again. Classes must have finished for the day. The common room was full of activity, and Jack couldn't think anymore. So he just sheathed his sword and looked in the fireplace. He didn't want to interfere.

"Oooh!" someone squealed. Jack turned around. He thought someone was in trouble. Not seeing anything out of the ordinary, he turned back to the fireplace. He didn't notice two girls eyeing him like a hawk.

"Professor Trelawney told us at the beginning of the year that my dream about the runaway cow meant we'd meet a handsome stranger, didn't she?" the girl who squealed said to the other.

"Let's go!" the other said. They quickly took a seat in the empty chairs and scrutinized the visitor.

"Hey there," one said. "I'm Lavender."

"Hello," Jack said softly.

"And I'm Parvati," the other said, flashing a grin.

"Greetings. Nice name."

"Thanks. It's the name of a goddess, you know."

"Yes, from India."

"Do you like my name?" Lavender asked.

"It is a nice color."

"What's your name?" Parvati asked.

"Jack." Jack was trying really hard to avoid eye contact with either of them.

"Well, that's a nice name," Parvati said.

"Thank you."

"So, what brings you to Gryffindor?"

Jack stuttered a little while. He wasn't sure how to answer this question.

"Excuse me!" a very aggravated voice said behind him. Jack turned to see a girl with bushy brown hair and an annoyed expression looking at him. "Can I study here? I need quiet, like this was a library." She glared at the two girls.

"All right, all right, we're leaving," Lavender replied. She touched Jack's hand. "See you later, ok?"

"Yes. OK. It was nice talking to you."

As Parvati and Lavender walked out, Hermione continued to frown at the newcomer. "I need that chair. This is where I usually study."

"Oh. My apologies." He stood, gave her his chair, and sat in an adjacent chair. Jack continued to watch the fireplace, but then he decided to look closer at this girl. She wore a gold badge, like Ron's, so she must have been another prefect. Another one? Well, Ron did say something about other prefects. The girl was reading from a huge book called The Standard Book of Spells Year 5. Ever so often, she scribbled something with a quill. She noticed Jack was looking at her, and she glowered back at him. Jack turned back with a sigh.

He heard a paper fall. The girl was so rapt in studying her book she didn't even notice. Jack picked it up and held it out to her. She still didn't see. Finally Jack noticed her name written in the top right corner. He smiled. It had been a long time since he heard that name, and it was one of his favorites. "Hermione!"

The girl cringed. She snatched the paper and growled at him, "It's Her-mie-ownnee!"

That was different. "I heard that names in Athens at the Greek theater. It was pronounced 'Hair-me-own-ee.'"

"Well, I'm not Greek, aren't I?"

"I . . . suppose not."

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "I'm English."

"Yes," Jack nearly whispered. He tried not to bother her anymore.

Time was getting away. The sun was low in the sky. Jack was getting tired.

"Is he still just sitting there?" he heard a voice say.

"Looks it," another replied. "Hermione's down there with him."

"You sure he's alright?"

"Neville, he's harmless. He might be a little mental, though."

"Well, if he's going to be with us for a while, we might as well meet him."

"Do you think he really faced--?"

"Not for a second."

It went quiet for a while, and then a large hand clapping him on the back surprised Jack. "Hey, Strong Man!" Jack thought this was a challenge and prepared himself. But when he turned around, he saw another young man with red hair smiling at him. He looked like Ron somewhat only older.

"Uh, I am called--"

"Jack! Yeah we know, Jack Samson, like that really strong guy in the Bible. I'm Fred. This is my brother George." Fred jerked his thumb back to another young man who looked exactly like him.

George waved. "Our little brother Ron told us some about you."

Jack saw a pretty good crowd of boys with them, including Ron, Dean, Neville, and the dark-haired boy.

"Hey Jack. You probably know my friend, Harry," Ron said indicating the dark-haired boy.

Jack shook his hand. The boy looked rather unpleased, and he did not like Jack glancing up at his forehead.

"So you're name's Jack, is it?" Hermione said with a snort. "How do you pronounce that in Greek?"

"She's like that sometimes," Ron muttered in Jack's ear. "She's been like that even more frequently since the new library regulations. Hermione, this is the new student Dumbledore said was coming."

"Oh!" She reached out her hand. "Hermione Granger, Gryffindor prefect, at your service. I'm sorry, so much has been going on lately, and I was intently studying, I must have lost my head there. I do get rather ticked off when people mispronounce my name."

"I understand."

"So Jack," George said sitting down, "Did you really take on You-Know-Who?"

"What?" Jack asked.

"Ron told us that you've been against You-Know-Who," Fred explained.

Harry shook his head. "He means Vol--"

"Oh, you mean The One Who You Fear."

"Yeah. I like that." Ron punched Harry's arm. "See Harry. He has a cool way of saying his name without actually saying it."

"Humph," Harry snorted.

"Harry's been up against him too, you know," Dean said quietly.

"Has he?" Jack remarked.

"Yeah, it's a rather famous story. You-Know-Who killed his parents when Harry was just a baby. He tried to kill Harry too, but . . . "

Jack wasn't listening to the rest. He was trying to picture that in his mind. He saw masses of people in the wilderness yelling angrily. Aku appeared to them. "What is the meaning of this? Why are you not working?"

A younger-looking Dumbledore yelled his answer, "We have discovered the truth from the very jewels you have wanted us to mine. We have magical powers. We oppose you, Aku! You can not make us work for you anymore."

Others of the wizards yelled similar things as well, saying that they will teach their children to fight him and that he could do nothing against them.

"Nothing? Do you really think so?" Aku chose a couple at random with a baby in their arms and with a swish of his hand blew them away. The parents didn't survive, but by some miracle a baby's cry was heard.

Jack was moved. He blinked back a tear and patted Harry's arm. "I share in your grief. Even though my tale is not as harsh as yours, we have both been hurt by the terrors of his evil."

Hermione closed her book and looked at Jack with a new interest. "So you have?"

"Yes. He is my sworn enemy."

Harry scoffed.

"So, tell us about it," Ron urged.

That was going to be difficult without revealing the truth, but Jack decided to try. "Some years ago, he attacked my village. I learned as much as I could to defeat him, and when the time was right I challenged him. I was so close to conquering him, but then he used his dark arts to send me far from my home to a place I do not know. All I seek is to return home, but such a magic is difficult to find."

"Hmmm," Hermione said thoughtfully.

"What kind of tragedy is that?" Harry cried throwing his hands up. "You can use Portkeys or Floo Powder to get home. In fact, I bet your old enough to Apparate by now."

"It is not that simple," Jack answered.

"He's right," Hermione answered. "Harry, let's talk about this later."

Harry didn't acknowledge her and frowned at Jack. "I don't buy your story, Samson, and I don't appreciate your emulating me." Harry stomped out of the common room.

Ron called out to Harry, but his friend didn't answer. "What's his problem?" Fred asked.

"I don't know. He really hasn't been himself lately," Ron shrugged. "Well, who's ready for dinner?"

The whole team headed for the portrait hole. Jack remained at the fireplace. "Coming, Strong Man?" George asked.

Jack shook his head. "I'm not hungry."

"Well, alright."

*****************

At dinner, it was quiet around the Gryffindor table. Harry was still sulking in his grumpy mood, and it only intensified when Neville mentioned Jack's story.

"Look, I don't want to talk about that again. He's plainly just trying to pretend to be me."

"Don't be so sure," Hermione answered. "After hearing his story, I strongly believe Jack is suffering a really traumatizing problem. He was the victim of Exilio."

"What?" Ron asked.

Hermione scoffed. "I still can't believe you boys didn't read International Curses and Countercurses. Voldemort, oh get over it Ron, can show up at any time, and he can do anything!"

"And I keep telling you," Harry retorted, "if Voldemort's going to show up--"

"Don't say that name!" Ron practically yelled.

"--he'll only use Avada Kedavra, or whatever that weapon he's looking for, and we'll all be dead. Besides, Governor Undertaker has everything under control."

"Honestly, how is restricting students to one hour in the library going to protect us? Anyhow, Exilio is the Exile Charm. It's used in countries that don't have maximum-security prisons quite like Azkaban. In most places, though, it's an Unforgivable Curse. I don't think it's been performed in England since Merlin's day, though. It's very complicated. It's a combination of a Confundus Curse and a Bad Luck Curse and an Apparation spell. When the curse is performed, the one who is cursed is apparated to several countries over, sometimes on the other side of the world. They are confused and can't remember the way back. The location becomes unplottable whenever they try to look it up on a map. Every time they try to use magic means of getting there they only get farther away. Even Muggle means of travel won't work. Usually when they try trains, automobiles, airplanes, or ships, the mode of transportation breaks down or even crashes. It really tears up the victims on a psychological level, especially when they are exiled from their home. They come to a point when visions of home haunt their every moment, and they feel like the whole world is their prison."

Harry tried to picture that. He could see Jack magically wrestling with Voldemort in a dark alley until Jack managed to corner Voldemort. He pointed his wand at Voldemort's heart and said, "Surrender!"

Voldemort looked back in desperation until he smiled a little too smoothly. "Samson, I sincerely apologize for what I have done to your home."

"It's a little late now."

"I understand, but I can make it up to you. You will never see your home again." Voldemort was secretly grasping his wand.

"You are the only one who will leave here and never return."

"I disagree. EXILIO!"

A ray of golden light shot from Voldemort's wand and illuminated Jack. "What trickery is this?" He was disappearing before his eyes. "Voldemort!" he yelled before he completely vanished. Voldemort only laughed cruelly.

Dean's voice brought Harry back to reality. "You know, he did seem rather confunded."

"There is a way to counter that curse," Hermione explained, "but few people know how. I bet Dumbledore knows it."

"But that doesn't sound like Voldemort!" Harry said. Ron cringed again. "Why would he just exile Samson when he could use the Killing Curse?"

"Maybe Jack also found a way to avoid it, and he wants to keep it secret," Ron suggested.

"I doubt that," Hermione said. "Jack did say he was close to defeating Voldemort--Ron, get over it! Maybe he was kinda scared that Jack might kill him first."

"No," Harry shook his head. "Something still isn't right.

"This story sounds plausible," Dean whispered to Seamus. "You think they'll fall for it?"

"I hope they will," Seamus said. "If anything else lets out, we're done for."

"Well, we gotta get going," Ron said. "Need to patrol the hallways, you know."

As they got out of the hallway, Hermione whispered to Ron, "You know, it doesn't make sense."

"What?"

"The whole thing with Jack being here. He's much too old to be a student, and if he'd really been up against Voldemort, why haven't we heard about it until now?"

"Hermione, I know you've been practicing saying that awful name, but you remember what Dumbledore told us."

"That also doesn't make sense. It doesn't sound like something Dumbledore would say. Plus, if Jack really has been up against Voldemort, why is he so squeamish about speaking his name that we can't say it to him?"

"He's not too squeamish. You heard what he called You-Know-Who. I think that was pretty cool."

"It sounded arrogant to me."

"You reckon he's a member of the Order? One we haven't met yet?"

"Probably. If he is, it's amazing he hasn't been attacked yet."

"Maybe he's here to stop whatever's causing those attacks."

"Maybe."

"Do you think it really was the Exile Curse?"

"It makes perfect sense to me. Why?"

"Because that thing I saw on his back, well, it doesn't look like a wand."

**************

Jack stayed at the fireplace, still thinking. It was quiet for a long time. Jack nearly nodded off until he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Jack, I presume?"

Jack turned to see an elderly woman in an emerald cloak. Seamus was standing beside her.

"Yes."

"Professor McGonagall. I'm the head of Gryffindor. Mr. Finnigan here has something to say to you."

"Hey there, mate," Seamus greeted. "Surely you're not just going to camp out here."

"I have no other place to go."

"Well, you do now. Professor McGonagall and I were talking. See I had a bit of a disagreement with Harry around the top of the year, and I've been uncomfortable rooming with him. So tonight, I'm finally transferring to a new dorm room. You can have my bed."

"Thank you, but I am fine here."

"Oh, but Dumbledore insists," Professor McGonagall said sharply.

Jack nodded. "Very well."

"Mr. Finnigan will lead you to your room. I wish you a pleasant evening."

Jack bowed. "Thank you." Professor McGonagall didn't seem prepared for that. She gave him an odd look and left the room.

Seamus took him up to the dormitory and showed him his bed. He got his trunk, wished Jack goodnight, and left. The bed was rather nice, complete with curtains. Jack fell asleep the moment he got in.

"Seamus is hardly ever this quiet," Jack heard when he woke. It was Ron's voice. Jack could see streams of light coming through the curtains, so he knew it was time to get up. Ron smiled when Jack opened the curtain. "Oh, Jack. I didn't think you'd ever get out of the common room."

Harry, who was sitting on the bed next to Ron's, didn't look too thrilled. "We better get ready. Class is in about an hour."

That was a problem. Jack still didn't know what classes he had.

"Talk about class later. First breakfast," Ron said.

Jack was hungry this time, so he followed Ron and Harry to the Great Hall. He looked in amazement at the floating candles and the enchanted ceiling. The food was good too.

Ron laughed and pointed at a table across from them. "Look at that! Malfoy's sleeping like a baby again."

Jack saw a table over a young man with blond hair leaning back in his chair and snoring. Two enormous boys beside him were pushing the young man and trying to get him to wake. All they succeeded in doing was having him land headfirst into his bowl of oatmeal. Ron and Harry both laughed.

"I just wish it would cost Slytherin more points," Harry said. "Whenever anybody else falls asleep in Potions, Snape takes of tons of points and makes an example of whoever's napping. But whenever Malfoy falls asleep, Snape just talks over his snores!"

"Oh, you better believe it's costing Slytherin points!" Ron laughed. "Every time in Transfiguration or Defense against the Dark Arts, those teachers are merciless."

Jack's attention was no longer on the sleeping boy. Just beyond him, Jack saw a short, Oriental girl with a quizzical expression on her face craning her neck and trying to get a good look at something. "Who is that?" Jack asked Ron.

Instead of answering, Ron said, "Hey Harry, I think she's at it again."

"Oh." Harry turned around and waved. "Er, hi Cho!" he called.

Jack saw Cho smile and saw her mouth say, "Oh, hi Harry." But as soon as Harry turned back around, Cho started again to look around in that strange way. He started to wonder if she was trying to look at him.

"Viktor! What are you doing--?" Jack turned to see Hermione. "Oh, it's you."

"Good morning, Hermione," Jack answered.

"Uggh! It's my, not me!"

"My mistake, I apologize."

"Alright."

Suddenly, owls started flying into the hall. One brown-feathered owl landed in front of Jack.

"Why hello there!" Jack greeted, stroking the bird's feathers. "Rather late for you, is it?"

"Samson, its leg," Harry said annoyed.

Jack saw a piece of paper tied to its leg. "Oh." Jack took it. "Thank you. Would you like something to eat?" He handed the bird a piece of meat. The owl hooted and flew away.

Jack took a look at the parchment. He silently read to himself:

Jack,

Here is your schedule. I've selected most of our courses that do not require a wand. You may observe, and you may possibly participate if you desire. I would advise that you pay attention. Though you are not a wizard, I believe you are in a special situation, and what these classes have to offer may help you in your travels.

Enjoy,

Albus Dumbledore

Jack looked at his courses in interest. He failed to see how the actual Care of Magical Creatures would aid him, but the knowledge of what they were may help. He had heard of the many things Potions could do, and he had been curious.

"What is DADA?" he asked.

"Defense Against the Dark Arts, of course," Harry muttered.

"Oh, the course with Umbridge."

"Yeah. It's been a big joke this year. It's horrible."

Jack shuddered when he read the next course. "That awful word."

"What?" Hermione looked over his shoulder. "Oh, Muggle Studies. I took that a couple of years ago, but I dropped out. I regret it now. They're talking about how Muggles interpret wizards and magic this year."

"Don't feel ashamed about the word Muggle," Ron said. "Hermione's Muggle-born, and she can do magic better than any of us."

"But surely there are better words." But before Jack could get into an argument, he saw the next subject and nearly dropped the paper.

"Divination!"

Ron, Hermione, and Harry all snickered at Jack's enthusiasm.

"Is that not the ability to see the future?"

"Well, it is, but--" Ron started to say.

"Taught by a true sibyl as well," Jack remarked.

"Don't get too excited," Hermione warned. "You're just setting yourself up for a big disappointment. She's a fraud, and we all know it."

Jack paused for a moment. Then he said, "When I was about your age, I got in line to see a very powerful oracle. I waited for two days, but then the time came for me to resume my journey. I spoke with others who had seen her or were waiting to see her. Many did say she was a fraud, but they all admitted that she showed them some wisdom and revealed a part of them that even they did not know. To this day, I regret missing her, for I am sure there was something she would have told me that have been worth knowing. Thus, as long as she does not obtain her powers from evil, I will give this sibyl the same chance."

"All right," Hermione shrugged, "but don't say we didn't warn you."

"It's not like she's going to do much anyway," Ron said. "She was put on probation some time ago."

Jack didn't hear. He did a double take at a large man who took his place at the staff table. "Who is that?"

The three students looked up. "HAGRID!" they said together. Fred, George, and a young African man with dreadlocks screamed in delight and ran from their table up to the gigantic man to shake his hand.

"He's one of our favorite teachers," Hermione explained. "He's been gone since the first of the year. Dumbledore had him on a special assignment from which he just returned."

"He . . . reminds me of someone I know," Jack said quietly.

"Whoa," Ron said. "It's hard to find anybody like Hagrid. He's one of a kind. Hey look! You're having Care of Magical Creatures with us. You'll get to meet him!"

"Good."

"Good?" a voice said. Lavender was standing behind Jack. "No, you missed out on the good teacher, Jack. It's a shame you didn't have Professor Grubbly-Plank with us."

"Yeah," Parvati added. "She's a decent teacher. At least in her lessons there's not a risk that someone gets their heads ripped off." Lavender and Parvati laughed.

Jack just smiled secretly to himself. He didn't want to say it aloud, but he was pleased. It sounded like a challenge.