Part 14: A Warning

It was Tuesday and Death’s End (our GREAT band) practiced at least two more times; one in the afternoon and one in the evening. We were hard preparing for the Christmas Ball on Friday. Christmas was this Saturday. Also, the boys and I were fast becoming best friends. Nothing romantic, although Aaron’s staring at me was getting really annoying. I wasn’t going to pursue him or anything. No, I was Harry’s, and I wouldn’t be stealing kisses with Malfoy anymore, too.

When was he ever come out with his feelings for me? I mean, I’ve seen the way he looks at me (it gives me a major case of butterflies). And I know I look at him the same way, but the two of us seem silent in the whole “telling each other our feelings” thing.

But I barely lingered on that prospect because my mind was so busy with everything. I reminded myself that I kept forgetting to tell Dumbledore about the arrangement with our band.

And I finally got to that that very evening. Professor McGonagall took me to see him, stating the pass word loud and clear for all to hear (very wise). I hopped onto the spiraling moving stairs that twisted up to Dumbledore’s office. I was in awe; this was so cool!

The stairs halted to a stop; I climbed from the stairwell and onto nonmoving stone ground. I was about to raise a hand to knock, but the door swung open by itself.

“Come in, Drea,” welcomed a grandfatherly voice.

Dumbledore sat in front of Fawkes’s stand, petting him gently. He beckoned to me to join him. I swept over the stone floor and joined him, stroking Fawkes tenderly.

“Professor, I--”

“I know why you are here, Drea. And I approve of your entertainment idea.” He looked down at me through his crescent moon shaped spectacles. “But there is something else I need to talk to you about.”

“Yes?”

“A force is in this school. I have sensed it. It’s in someone close to you. I fear that you will sometime soon be faced with danger.”

I pursed my lips at this. I knew who he was talking about. It confirmed my suspicions about Orin. He was dangerous. I knew that he had changed, but I didn’t know about what aspect of him had. He just chose a different side than me was all.

“I know who. It’s my cousin Orin.”

“Yes, I know him.”

“But…what evil force could he--? Oh…God.”

I gritted my teeth. I already knew what it was. The dreams and Orin. It all added up.

“Professor…it’s…Lord Voldemort.”

Dumbledore didn’t say a thing. He instead began to stroke Fawkes gently. Fawkes ruffled his feathers at his touched, soon relaxing at it.

“Drea…you may go. You have my permission.”

Dumbledore walked away in thought. He sat down at his desk and looked down at its surface. I took that as a hint and departed down the moving stairs. Instead of returning straight to the Ravenclaw Common Room, I went in search for Orin. I consulted with the Hufflepuff table, but the few who knew him said they hadn’t seen him in days.

I ripped around the castle, asking anyone who possibly knew him about his whereabouts. They all replied the same as the rest; they had no idea where he was or that they hadn’t seen him in days.

I returned to the Hall and found Harry.

“Drea, hey--”

“Harry,” I said, “I need to see you. Now.”

“What about my friends?”

“Bring them too if you must. I need to talk to you.”

So, we found an empty classroom where no one would overhear us.

“Drea, what is it?” Harry asked.

“It’s about my cousin,” I said frantically. “He…he’s serving Lord Voldemort.”

Ron whimpered pathetically, but the rest of us ignored him.

“How did you find out?” asked Hermione.

“Voldemort was sending me…visions. Dreams. He told me.”

“Did you tell Dumbledore?” asked Harry.

“Yes. He knew that there was something awry in Hogwarts, anyway. He told me. Spoke to me briefly about it. I tried finding Orin, but no one knows where he is.” I looked with needy eyes at Harry. “What am I going to do? He’s going to try to get at either you or me. I just know it.”

Harry took my hand in his and gave it a squeeze. I squeezed back. It was enough reassurance to keep me hopeful in this dreaded situation.

“Well, we can’t do anything right now,” said Hermione. She looked at me with a comforting glance. I returned it with one of gratefulness. “It’s best that we keep our guard up if we see or hear anything strange.”

“Right,” both Harry and I said in unison.

I looked at him with affection. He returned it.

All I can say is that things were getting heavy.

 

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“One, two, three, four!”

Aaron tapped his drumsticks together, counting out the beat.

He began to drum slowly and softly; Dale and Heath picked up the beat with their guitars; Blayne started on the bass; Lex tinkled out a haunting tune on his keyboard.

I hummed along, catching the rhythm. I sang and the boys played a haunting tune that resonated and flickered around gently.

“Can you see? Can you feel? How can you possibly know my pain after all these years? Once we were one…now we are two…divided apart by betrayal and loneliness…”

I drawled on with the randomness of lyrics. I sang what the song felt like.

Come again, come again, feel the pain…soon Hell and Heaven will be together again…come again, come again, my dear love…know the pain from up above…”

We stopped soon after that.

“What do you guys think? We making progress?” I asked them.

Aaron shrugged. Blayne, Dale, and Heath nodded boredly.

“I think we are,” added Lex. He smiled friendly-like at me. “We certainly flow better than the last few times before. We’re getting to know each other’s styles almost exactly. Soon we’ll fit together like a puzzle.”

I grinned at him.

“Exactly.” 

            “Hey,” said Aaron, “you get permission from Dumbledore yet?”

            “Yeah, he says we can. Thankfully. I didn’t want this band to go to waste.”

            “But even he didn’t say we could, we could’ve still continued it,” said Dale.

            “Man’s right,” chimed in Heath.

            “Well…maybe,” I considered. “I’d probably be too busy with other stuff to continue it.”

            “Like fixing your hair?” quipped Heath. I could tell he was only teasing me in a pleasant way.

            “Yes, if you must know! Hair is a very important attribute,” I joked. “If I didn’t  do it everyday, I’d probably die!”

            Dale snickered at me; Lex smiled; Aaron smirked. This guys were already becoming good friends with me. We all got along real well. Truth is, I guess if Dumbledore didn’t approve of our band, we’d still be rocking.

 

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            After our last practice for the day,  I felt exhausted from the day’s events. Excitement towards the Christmas Ball bubbled up through my skin. All the girls were getting dates, talking about dresses and what kind of matching jewelry that they were going to wear to it.

            And that totally awakened the plain fact in my mind that I didn’t have anything to wear yet! No matter…I could fix that in a jiff. I pictured myself in my red lace corset and short black skirt. A red headband like thing would hold back my long black hair, which would be in a high ponytail.

            I smiled.

            “Flaxen bottom,” I said to the portrait.

            It swung open and allowed me into the Ravenclaw Common Room. I ran up the stairs that led to the girls’ dormitories. I rummaged through the trunk that held all of my clothes. Finally, I found and arranged the outfit that I had pictured in my mind. I smiled yet again, picking up all my clothes that were strewn all over the stone floor in my search.

            I placed the last piece into my trunk and collapsed onto my bed. Without changing into my PJs, I fell asleep in my corset (uncomfortable, but sue me! I was tired) and skirt. My boots were lying on the floor on their sides at awkward angles. For once, my dreams were empty as I slept deeply. The night carried on, but the evil that lurked in Hogwarts was just beginning to awaken.

            Soon, I knew, it would strike. And unexpectedly.