Please just be a nightmare.
The unsettling scenes replayed in her mind – the altered personalities of her friends, the strange interactions, and the distorted reality of Slytherin's common room.
A nightmare, she told herself, attempting to shake off the lingering unease.
"You alright? You're looking at us like we don't belong here," Marlene chuckled, breaking the remnants of Jayce's unsettling reverie.
"So, what's our plan for today?" Lily asked, her eyes sparkling with a mischievous glint.
"What plan?" Jayce raised an eyebrow.
"You know, what're we gonna do when we skip class?" Lily asked.
"Who are you and what have you done with the Lily Evans I know?" Jayce walked closer to Lily, who would never even think about skipping class.
"Stop getting so poetic. I'm gonna do something so extraordinary today that James will have no choice but to fall in love with me," Lily exclaimed.
"What?" Jayce gasped. "No choice?"
"What?" Lily repeated.
"Are you guys pranking me?" Jayce crossed her arms.
"Why in the world would we prank you?" Marlene asked.
"It's just... you're not acting like yourselves," Jayce explained.
"You probably just had a confusing dream. Go get dressed, and we can carry on with our classes," Marlene waved her away.
"Classes?" Lily huffed. "You can go study, nerd. Jayce's coming with me to beat up that beefy Gryffindor. What was his name? Snivellus?"
Jayce knew something was wrong. And that it had something to do with the box Dorcas had dropped last night.
Normally, under incredulous amounts of pressure, anyone would crack. But, she was sorted into Slytherin for a reason. Despite being utterly and disgustedly confused, Jayce kept a straight face.
"Whatever Jayce's doing, she better start with clearing her mind because she's not acting like herself," Marlene said, placing her hand on Jayce's shoulder. Oh, honey, it's you not acting like yourself.
"Right, well, I'll go get ready. Um, I've got important things to do. You guys carry on." Jayce declined all the offers presented to her.
"What?" Lily stood up, crossing her arms as she fumed at Jayce. "You promised that we would go prank Snivellus today."
"Sorry, Red. Promises are meant to be broken," Jayce forced a smile before running out of the dorm.
Where? She didn't know. But, she knew she couldn't spend another moment there.
"Isn't the bathroom the other way?" Marlene asked, fixing her tie.
"Dunno, but she's acting weird," Lily shrugged, laying back down on the bed.
Meanwhile, Jayce had successfully managed to get out of the Slytherin Common Room.
What was even more shocking to her was that she couldn't recognize a single person in Slytherin. They were all students from different Houses! And it seemed everyone else found her odd as well as they stared at her disheveled hair and clothes when she ran, hoping to find Dorcas or just somebody that was themselves.
Then, suddenly, she remembered something else and came to an abrupt stop.
The third person! Who was the third person?
Before she could do anything to answer her own question, her eyes laid upon a sight she would never expect to see: Remus harshly snogging a random Hufflepuff while James had his face in a book.
This was definitely out of her hands now.
Next to James was Sirius, who looked blatantly disgusted at Remus and disappointed at James at the same time. Surprisingly, he looked fairly... normal?
. . .
That's it. He was the third person.
He was the one that yelled 'get out!' before all the black energy was released from the black box. How could Jayce not recognize that voice? As the remnants of the nightmare faded, Jayce couldn't shake the feeling of lingering discomfort.
"SIRIUS BLACK!" Jayce yelled at the top of her lungs before charging at him. She wasn't sure if he was changed or not, but Hell, she wasn't going to leave out any possibility.
Sirius turned away from James and Remus to look at where his name was being called so loudly.
Then, his eyes widened and a wave of relief washed across his face.
Once Jayce reached Sirius, she examined him up and down, but before she could say anything, Remus pushed the girl off of his lap and walked confidently over to Jayce, biting his lower lip.
Jayce visibly cringed.
"Hey, gorgeous." He winked.
Jayce gasped.
Sirius's jaw dropped.
James couldn't care any less.
"Can I take you out tonight?"
But, before Jayce could aggressively reject him, Sirius spoke.
"No, you may not." He jumped in, his jaw clenched. Jayce immediately turned to face Sirius, forgetting about Remus.
"Oh my God, you're unaffected?" She whispered.
Sirius was fuming at Remus but quickly faced Jayce after she had spoken, his eyes softening as he nodded. "Thank Salazar."
She breathed in relief before jumping on Sirius and engulfing him in a tight hug, which he immediately returned as he too was very glad to see that someone was being themself.
The fact that this was their first interaction after so long was almost forgotten at this point. All Jayce felt was happy to see that she wasn't alone in this alternate world.
"Damn, you got her already?" Remus groaned. "Pity."
Sirius and Jayce ignored Remus's words as they embraced each other, not wanting to let go of the only person who hadn't changed. Jayce inhaled the scent of Sirius's hair, which was an unusual, but beautiful combination of leather and grapes. She had never noticed how much his presence had made her feel like someone understood her. After all, he too was just like her once.
Sirius, on the other hand, was just as relieved to see his friend. After spending so much time with her, she became someone important to him. Perhaps on the same level as James, except he felt more understood whenever she was around. They were so alike, yet their problems differed in a way that only they could solve each other's problems. But, since (not very) recent events, he had found that the Slytherin had been avoiding him. But, now wasn't the time to discuss all that.
Slowly, the two pulled away from each other as Sirius placed Jayce down on the ground.
I'm so glad to see you.
Jayce was ecstatic to be in the presence of Sirius, but she knew they had to hurry, or else she would have to deal with her friends not being themselves for a longer time.
"We need to talk." She said, turning serious.
"Yes, we definitely should." Sirius agreed, the cheerfulness draining from his face as a stern look replaced it.
"Re-"
"Not here." Sirius cut Jayce off, discreetly glancing at Remus and James. They can't talk in front of them.
"Right, let's go to an isolated corner." Jayce nodded, grabbing Sirius's wrist to lead him somewhere else.
"The hallway by Minnie's class," Sirius suggested as the two ran.
Once they were alone, Jayce's curiosity and confusion exploded.
"Remus and James, they're affected too?" She asked.
"Yeah. And they weren't even Gryffindors. James is a flippin' Ravenclaw and Remus walked out of the Slytherin Common Room this morning! Slytherin!" Sirius exclaimed.
"Being in Slytherin is not the problem. The problem is that all our friends are not acting like themselves and we're the only ones who can help them!" Jayce stated. "Not to mention, I'm still a Slytherin."
"It's not just our friends. It's the entire school." Sirius mumbled. "The only ones normal are probably you and me."
"What about the teachers?"
"I dunno, let's go check," Sirius suggested as the two took off to the Great Hall just as quickly as they had gotten to.
"Do you know anyone else that's normal?" Jayce asked.
"No," Sirius grunted. "You have no idea how glad I am to see you though." He suddenly said, and Jayce shot him a weird look, remembering a flash of the night they kissed. "You know, since you're all normal and stuff." He added.
"Right. Well, anyway, I think I do have an idea." Jayce nodded, changing the subject while keeping an eye out for any teachers.
"What about you? Know anyone that might be normal?"
"Yes." She answered. "Dorcas. I was planning on talking to her and stuff-"
"Dorcas was there too?" Sirius asked as if him being there by the Vanished Stairs was an established fact.
"Yeah. I went there for her." Jayce said. "But, I don't understand why you would be there."
"Remus told me that you were gonna go to the Vanished Stairs, so I went as well, hoping to fix stuff between us," Sirius whispered the last bit. "And despite not doing that, I'm still very glad I went, or else you would have suffered on your own." Jayce didn't know how to respond to what Sirius had just shared with her, so she just hummed and ignored him. "You know- oh, there's Minnie." He said, pointing to the entrance of the Great Hall.
There was McGonagall, looking completely normal. She was even leading a couple of Gryffindors into the Great Hall.
"She seems to be normal. Let's go talk to her." Jayce said as they jogged over to the head of Gryffindor.
"Hey, Minnie, just casually wondering if-"
"Ten points from Gryffindor for inappropriately addressing a teacher, Mr. Black." McGonagall cut him off. Sirius's eyes widened as he turned to Jayce. McGonagall was strict, but she never minded being called Minnie.
"I was just-"
"Sorry, Professor." Jayce interrupted, pushing Sirius out of the way. "He's feeling a little ill. Poisoned, I believe. We were just on our way to the Hospital Wing."
"Is that so?" McGonagall raised an eyebrow. Jayce nodded eagerly and put on her best serious face. "Well, in that case, ten points from Slytherin as you've failed to control your friend." And with that, McGonagall turned her back to the students and walked away, leaving both Jayce and Sirius with their mouths hanging open. Sirius was going to go after her, but was stopped by Jayce.
"We have more important things to do rather than stalking McGonagall." She reminded him.
"She's never acted like this. Not even to me." Sirius mumbled, disappointed in his favorite teacher's behavior. "Not to mention, we've lost house points!"
"That's not the problem because now we know everyone's changed." Jayce turned back to Sirius, biting her lower lip anxiously.
"We really are on our own now, aren't we?" He sighed.
"No, we can still go find Dorcas," Jayce replied.
"Like, now?" Sirius asked.
"Yes." Jayce nodded. "Skipping class isn't new for you, so we'll be fine."
"But, what about you?"
"I can skip class if I want to, Black."
"Are you sure?"
"Unless you have anything else on your mind other than finding Dorcas and fixing this mess, yes," Jayce stated, tapping her foot impatiently.
"By other things you mean stuff like hanging out with our friends?" Sirius grimaced.
"Yeah, I didn't think you would like that. Let's fix this fast. We can start by finding Dorcas."
"Okay." Sirius took a deep breath. "Let's go inside." He pointed to the Great Hall. "And we can find Dorcas. She's usually sitting all by herself."
"Sounds like a plan." Jayce agreed, pushing open the doors to the Great Hall.
The Great Hall was flourishing with food and conversation as usual. Not one teacher was in sight and the students were minding their own business. Jayce and Sirius couldn't spot any of their friends and boy, were they thankful for that.
"I see her." Sirius suddenly said, gesturing to one of the front rows of the Great Hall. There sat Dorcas, her food untouched, as she nervously looked around.
"Let's get this over with." Jayce huffed, taking large steps over to the Ravenclaw.
"Wait." Sirius grabbed Jayce's wrist, pulling her back.
"What?"
"We have to be careful. We don't know if she's changed or not. Not to mention, if we start verbally attacking her and blaming her for starting this mess, then she won't help us." He said, releasing Jayce from his grip.
"Black, I didn't know you had a brain in there," Jayce responded, relaxing a little.
"Of course, I do." Sirius quickly said as the two made their way to Dorcas.
"Well, you barely use it." Jayce teased, easing the atmosphere out without knowing.
"I use it all the time," Sirius replied. "It's you who doesn't."
"We're not doing this here," Jayce grumbled, turning serious again. He was referring to that night, wasn't he?
"I'm just saying, it was you that ignored me for days, not the other way around," Sirius mumbled. Jayce halted and faced Sirius, who also stopped in his tracks.
"How does that make me brainless?" She crossed her arms.
"You were trying to run away from your problems. And if it weren't for this, you'd probably still be avoiding me."
"Black, you can't just expect me to run to your arms as if nothing had happened. We snogged, for Salazar's sake!"
"Yeah, but avoiding me? That was such a dick move, Selwyn." Sirius scoffed.
"We. Are. Not. Doing. This. Here."
"Then, where?" Sirius raised an eyebrow. "I want to patch things up right now-"
"We can't. Not now." Jayce responded.
"Why not?" Sirius persisted.
"Because, Black, you can't just barge in and demand instant resolution. It's not that simple," Jayce shot back, her voice rising with each word.
"Oh, so now it's my fault? I'm the one complicating things?" Sirius retorted, a sarcastic edge to his tone.
"Don't turn this around on me. You're not exactly Mr. Perfect in this situation either," Jayce fired back, her frustration matching his.
Sirius took a step closer, the tension palpable between them. "Maybe I wouldn't have to be if you'd just talk to me instead of avoiding everything!"
"Talk? You want to talk?" Jayce challenged, her eyes narrowing. "Fine, let's talk about how you never take anything seriously, how you act like it's all a joke!"
"Oh, so now I'm the problem? Surprise, surprise!" Sirius scoffed, his tone biting.
Jayce's patience wore thin, and she pointed a finger at him. "You know what, Black? Maybe I needed a break from your drama. It's exhausting!"
Sirius clenched his jaw, his eyes narrowing as he shot back, "Drama? You're the one who's been avoiding everyone, acting like you're too good for it all!"
I'm not ready. I'm not ready to let you go. I'm not ready to conclude our relationship. I'm not ready to talk to you. I'm not ready to realize. I'm not ready.
Finally, Jayce inhaled sharply, not wanting to talk to the boy and forget about the real reason why they were there.
"Just, please, Black." Jayce turned away from him. "I can't think straight and I just want to get our friends back. After that, I promise, we can talk it out."
Sirius pursed his lips and stayed silent for a moment.
"I feel like if we get it over with now, then we can-"
"Get it over with?" Jayce scowled. "You think it's something that can be discarded just like that?"
"No." Sirius fumed. "If we talk it over and fix our problem first, then we can focus on saving our friends."
"Oh, that sounds great, Black. You know, let's just waste time and discuss our own problems while our friends are stuck acting like insolent fools!"
"You're not understanding-"
"Oh, I'm not understanding?" Jayce raised her eyebrow. "I'm sorry I don't speak idiocy."
"You're avoiding our problem-"
"No, I'm not. I'm saying we should talk about it after we fix this mess."
"You're only saying that to buy time so you can run away again."
"I was running away?" Jayce gritted through her teeth.
"Yeah, in case it couldn't get through your thick skull." Sirius scoffed.
"Black, just wait-"
"No, I can't wait, Selwyn. You haven't exactly been helping much. I want to do this now so I don't have to be worried about you ignoring me after we find some cure." Sirius crossed his arms.
"Are you saying I'm gonna go against my-"
"Selwyn, Black."
Jayce and Sirius turned away from each other and saw Dorcas standing by them. She had come to them while they were busy arguing.
"Dorcas, we were actually about to come to you." Sirius's tone changed to a more relaxed one within a matter of seconds.
A wave of relief washed over Jayce seeing Sirius change the subject. At least she didn't have to deal with this right now.
"I figured," Dorcas responded. "Are you guys, you know, you?"
"So, you didn't change." Jayce breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank Salazar."
"Right, well, first off, I still believe it was wrong of you two to sneak up on me like that last night, but I'm glad you did it because if you didn't, I'd be-"
"We get it." Jayce rolled her eyes.
Careful, Jayce. Your attitude is showing.
"Is there a way to return everything to normal?" Sirius asked.
"I hope so, I-"
"Don't exaggerate, Meadowes, just say yes or no." Jayce huffed.
"I-I think so. I-" Her eyes met Jayce's intimidating ones. "Yes. There are words on all sides of the box. I didn't read it. But, I think if we read that, we might get a clue."
"Good, let's go," Sirius said.
"We'll need our wands." Dorcas immediately stopped him.
"Why? We're just reading stuff." Sirius said, pulling out his wand.
"Yes, but the place we're going to isn't a safe place." Dorcas bit her lower lip.
Sirius rolled his eyes, his impatience growing. "What's the worst that could happen?"
Dorcas sighed, trying to explain, "It's a magical place, and without proper protection, things could go wrong. We might encounter magical barriers or traps."
"I don't care about magical barriers. We're wizards and witches; we can handle it," Sirius retorted, dismissing her concerns.
"You should care, Black. Ignoring magical precautions is reckless, even for you," Jayce interjected, her tone stern.
Sirius turned to Jayce, irritation evident on his face. "Don't lecture me, Selwyn. I know what I'm doing."
Jayce crossed her arms, her eyes narrowing at him.
"Clearly, you don't, or you wouldn't be so eager to rush into something you know nothing about."
Sirius bristled, his patience wearing thin. "I'm not afraid of a little magical danger."
Dorcas shook her head, frustration evident in her expression. "This isn't about fear, Black. It's about being responsible and not making things worse."
"Oh, so now I'm irresponsible?" Sirius scoffed, his temper flaring.
Jayce stepped closer, her voice sharp. "Yes, you are when you act without thinking. This isn't a joke, Black."
Sirius shot back, "I don't need you to tell me what's a joke and what's not. I can handle myself."
The argument escalated, the tension thick in the air as they clashed over the best course of action. Each word fueled the flames of their disagreement, leaving an uneasy atmosphere hanging over the trio.
"I was actually planning on asking you what the Hell you were doing in a place like that." Jayce suddenly turned to Dorcas. "I didn't even know that place existed."
Not wanting to deal with another argument because clearly, Black and Selwyn both seemed to enjoy arguing with one another a lot, Dorcas decided to step down a little.
"It's one of the Cursed Vaults," Dorcas replied.
"No way." Jayce and Sirius simultaneously. The Cursed Vaults were sealed off rooms in the castle, each known to hold a curse that would unleash if tampered with. Of course, they were declared to be just hoaxes made to scare children.
"Yeah, I know. Everyone thinks they're myths. Yet, they're real. But, I wish I wasn't the one that discovered one. Look at me, I'm suffering the consequences."
"Was the one you discovered the Ice Vault?" Jayce questioned. Dorcas hesitantly nodded. "I thought so. It was oddly cold there."
"We should go and fix it right away," Sirius stated.
"What about extra clothing? It's cold." Dorcas suggested.
"We can use heating charms." Jayce waved her away.
"Yeah, that makes sense." Sirius agreed as if they weren't just arguing.
"Okay, then, follow me," Dorcas stated as she started to lead the other two to the Ice Vault.
The trio made their way, passing by many familiar students that seemed like strangers. Hogwarts looked exactly the same as before, but it didn't feel the same. It had a different feel to it. Soon enough, they were climbing the stairs of the Vanished staircase before running over to the Ice Vault. While it may have taken a short time to get there, they felt like they had been running for ages. The desperate need to get their friends and everyone back to normal kept increasing every single moment.
"Is this it?" Sirius was the first one to talk when Dorcas stopped in front of the icy door they had all seen last night.
"Uh-huh." Dorcas nodded, looking around. "If you guys find a black box-"
"There it is." Jayce pointed to the ground where the black box was lying as if it had done no damage.
"That little shit," Sirius grunted. "Let's go beat it up."
"No!" Dorcas held out her hand. "We have to be careful. Remember what happened last night? The curse was released just because I dropped it."
"I don't remember." Sirius shrugged. Dorcas and Jayce shot him a look. "What? I wasn't there, I just walked in."
"You two weren't together?" Dorcas's eyebrows crashed together. "Then, what were you doing out there, Black?"
"I was trying to talk-"
"That's personal. What matters is that I tried talking to you, but you got me into this mess." Jayce cut him off, making her way to the black box without sparing Dorcas or Sirius a glance. "We'll be good as long as we don't drop it, right?"
Jayce felt bad. Meadowes was probably just as anxious as she was, but Jayce still let her annoyance get the best of her.
"I think so." Dorcas joined beside her, kneeling down to examine the box.
"Well, what's it say?" Jayce asked after a minute had passed by.
"Not sure." Dorcas squinted. "It's in a different language."
"Let me try." Sirius offered as he gently picked the box up.
"Black, be careful-"
"I know this language." Sirius suddenly said. "It's in Latin, one of the ancient languages of our world. My mother always read shit like that, I didn't think it'd be useful one day."
"Great, so read it." Jayce clapped.
"I will, but it's just..." Sirius flipped the box around and observed it for some time. "There's a sentence on the front and one on the back. They're both awfully different and I don't want to read the wrong one."
"Um, maybe try reading the stuff on the front?" Dorcas suggested.
"Okay-"
"No, wait," Jayce said. "How do we know it's the right one? It didn't take much for the curse to be activated, so it might be hard to deactivate it."
"She's got a point." Sirius agreed. "I don't wanna mess this up."
"We don't have a choice, do we?" Dorcas pursed her lips.
"She's right too." Sirius looked back at Jayce.
"I mean, if you're so sure, then go for it." Jayce shrugged.
"Well, it's a fifty-fifty chance," Dorcas said. "We can only guess."
"Okay. Front of the box it is." Sirius looked back at the box, taking in a deep breath. "You ready?" He asked the two girls, but his attention was focused on Jayce.
Yeah, we gotta save the world!
"Yeah." Jayce nodded hesitantly. "Let's get this over with and bring back our friends."
Oh, good. Something simple.
"Alright." Sirius looked back at the writing before reading it out loud.
. . .
Nothing had happened.
Although the place looked the same, Sirius felt something change. He felt a shift in the atmosphere, almost as if something was switched.
"Is everyone alright?" He turned to Dorcas and Jayce, who were rubbing their eyes. "I don't know if-"
"Shut up, Black." Dorcas's voice was piercing cold.
. . .
"Excuse you?" Sirius raised an eyebrow.
"Why would you say something like that?" Jayce butted in quickly, her voice high-pitched as she latched herself onto Sirius's arm.
Sirius's eyes widened as he looked at Dorcas and Jayce. They looked exactly the same as they did before, but something was different. He was getting different vibes from both of them and their posture, their expressions, even their voices, and the way they spoke- everything was different. Oh, please don't be what I think it is.
"Ugh." Dorcas rolled her eyes. "Get a room. And why in the world am I dressed in Ravenclaw colors?" She asked, disgusted as she looked at herself.
"What is-"
"Honey, let's get out of here. She's trouble." Jayce whined, trying to pull Sirius away.
"What's wrong with you?" Sirius yanked his arm out of Jayce's hold, dropping the box during the process, and looked her up and down.
"What's wrong with you?" Dorcas sneered.
"Both of you!" Sirius backed away.
"Whatever do you mean?" Jayce blinked. "We've always been like this."
"Yeah, you've always been this lame and-"
"Shut it. Both of you." Sirius demanded. "What's going on-" Then, his eyes landed on the box he had dropped while pulling himself away from Jayce. "Oh, God."
"What is it, sweetheart?" Jayce's sickeningly sweet voice interrupted his realization.
"Ew, take this somewhere else." Dorcas pretended to gag.
Sirius ignored the appalling versions of the girls as he made his way to the box.
Oh no.
The curse had spread on to Dorcas and Jayce now. This quickly? Jayce and Dorcas were normal less than a minute ago. He needed to help them. He was their only hope.
And unlike before, he was all alone now.