Cursed: The New Order of Merlin Book 2

5. Keep your scarf on

Once back in the dorm, Colin shut the door behind them and sat down next to Jack.

"Hi," he said, bouncing on the bed. "I barely got to say hello to you and you disappeared. You're not getting away now."

Jack looked between his roommates in bewilderment. Were they playing a joke on him? "What?"

"Your sister was at the Welcome Feast," Merlin said, "looking for you. Were you hiding from her?"

Jack shrugged with one shoulder, wondering why they cared.

"That's what I thought," Merlin mumbled to himself and sagged down on his own bed.

"You never told us what happened with your sister," Colin cut in, keeping Jack's arm in a secure lock. "You left us in the dark like everyone else and we let you because we could see that you needed space because we are your friends, but then, you got so quiet. It's scary how you changed. I know that it's all because of whatever happened with Elsa, you never told us what that was, and now, she came back and everyone is asking us questions since you're nowhere to be found and we know nothing and..."

Jack stared at a dark spot on the floor, focusing on keeping the forbidden chest in his mind from opening. He forced himself to think of something else to tune out Colin's babble. The fairy colony came to mind. He should visit them. If he brought his father with him, they would probably throw a party in their honor. What type of music did fairies listen to? Did they create instruments out of forest materials? Or maybe they had some kind of magical instruments? He never found out what type of magic they could do. He imagined an orchestra of hundreds of fairies, using luminescent little bells, whose music created a magical jingle in his ears, tickling his brain in all the right places.

A loud snap made him flinch. Someone had just clapped in front of his face. He blinked, coming back to reality.

"Can't even talk to you," Colin grumbled.

"Are you done?"

"If you had listened, you'd hear that we're worried about you." Merlin unravelled his scarf in jerky movements.

Colin did not release Jack's arm yet. "Merlin, keep your scarf on. We're not done."

There was such determination in the small boy's eyes that Merlin obeyed.

"I'm sick of this, Jack," Colin exploded. "All year you lied to us—lie after lie. Do you know what it felt like to find out from Ravenclaws that you lived with McGonagall? Ravenclaws knew all along because Elsa told her friends. Why keep something so simple from us?"

Jack shrugged and tried to reclaim his arm. "It wasn't a secret. It just never came up."

"Yes, it did!" Colin pulled on his arm while Jack struggled against the hold, "but you always found a way to avoid the subject like with everything else. And you lied about so much stuff. Important stuff! I feel like I know nothing real about you. Are we your friends or not?"

Though he was a small boy, his grip was strong enough to hurt.

"Let go!"

Colin reluctantly released him and his shoulders sagged.

Jack wished he had not come back to the dorm. He could've stayed at the feast longer. Mr. Lupin was a much better company than these two.

"I give up." Colin grabbed his pajamas and disappeared to the bathrooms, slamming the door after himself.

Jack stared at a floor stain in silence, awaiting Merlin's interrogation, but it never came. When he finally looked up at him, he found his friend equally lost in thought, wrapping his crimson and gold Gryffindor scarf around his fingers and unwrapping it anew. His expression was sad and tired. He gave up on Jack as well, didn't he. Was he losing his friends? They never pushed him for answers this hard before. Hearing these complaints come from Colin somehow made it worse. He didn't know it mattered so much, they would write him off.