"What the fuck are you doing here," Jessica hissed.
It had only been a few short hours since she last saw Draco, but the rage that engulfed every inch of her veins boiled as though this had been a long-life enemy. She hated him with the every inch of her being. Yes, when she had left him at Hogwarts Jessica had felt sorry for him, but now knowing that he had lied to her about her past as well, or had even told Pansy and Theo to sneak the photo to her to torment her further - she hated him.
"Not going to give me a welcome kiss," teased Draco, "oh well that's a shame."
Jessica could tell Draco was still putting on a front, fuelled by what punishment he would get if he didn't do whatever he had come here to do. George was restraining Fred so she put herself between the two boys, hoping it would cause Fred to keep his cool.
"The only part of me that will ever kiss your face again is my hand when I slap it," Jessica snapped. She raised her wand with the intent to defend, "now all of you leave here before I put a deep cut in your neck. I won't hurt you but I will if you want to hurt Harry."
This made Draco give a dark, husky laugh. Pansy and Theo sniggered, but were a second behind. They were still just following his orders like little scared sheep.
"Oh Jess, see that's the naive little humour I miss with you," said Draco. He seemed confident Jessica wasn't going to actually curse him because he took a step forward. "We're not here for Harry..." he continued, a cocky smirk on his face, "we're here for you. That little Potter thing is just a distraction until the Dark Lord gets here."
Fred struggled even stronger and it was getting increasingly harder for George to keep him restrained. "You're going home with nothing but a fat lip," he threatened.
"Would still be better looking than you though wouldn't we," Theo teased smartly.
Jessica bravely stepped forward, keeping Draco, Theo and Pansy all in her sight but Fred and George safely behind her. "Where does he want to you take me?" She asked.
"Home of course," Draco smiled.
Jessica laughed at this notion, Draco really had some front saying that, "a home with you lot isn't a home for me."
It was Hogwarts, with her actual friends.
"Ah...," pondered Draco. His face turned arrogant, as if he was much smarter than her, that he knew something she didn't. "...are you sure about that?"
Jessica's eyes quickly flashed to Pansy, who was ever so slightly moving to not alert Draco's attention. Pansy slowly opened her blazer lapel to reveal a pocket inside, with the top of a diary poking out. Then it all made sense as to what Draco was saying.
"I know where I come from," Jessica stated, "you have no hold over me now or ever again. I know I'm a black, I know my father was a death eater at a time in his life. That does not make me one of you and that does not make you my home. You're all cowards who aren't strong enough to go against your parents even though you know it's wrong."
"Actually it does make you one of us," Draco said, "see you were literally made to be one of us. You were promised to serve him before you even had a heartbeat. You're coming with us and fulfilling the promise your parents made, even if we have to make you."
"Over my dead body," said Fred, finally struggling out of George's hold and breaking out towards Malfoy. He was too slow though, blinded by rage, as Draco cooly shot red sparks at him that made Fred stumble back clutching his arm in pain.
"Have it your way," said Draco.
Whilst Fred regained his composure, George and Jessica levelled up together to create a force against the other three, using expelliarmus to try and get them to drop their wands. Pansy, Theo and Draco started firing sparks out of their wands and it turned into a five-way duel. After a few minutes Fred got better, and against George's wishes, starting firing attacks towards Draco. One spell knocked Draco's wand arm so far back that it almost broke it clean off. He wasted no time making up for what he had missed.
"Fred!" George warned as he blocked a shot from Theo, "defense only, he's not worth it!"
"Yes he is," Fred replied as Jessica conjured a confringo charm to put a wall of fire in-between them. She didn't want to admit it but she didn't like seeing Fred this way. Draco was a boy fuelled by his fathers hatred, and she didn't want Fred to turn dark just like him just because he had let his hatred fester up too much too.
"Just come with us Jess, Auguamenti!" shouted Theo, water puring out of his wand to destroy the fire, "it doesn't have to be this way."
"Oh shut up Theo," George replied as re-fueled the fire, "no one wants to hear it."
"I don't know what you meant by giving me that photo but we are NOT friends," said Jess,"it was just another way to torment me wasn't it, cause me even more pain!"
She didn't mean to do it, she had just gotten so angry. Her necklaced was at breaking point and it sent shockwaves towards Theo and threw him backwards, his back hitting against the wall with a great thud. He was knocked out instantly.
"Shit," Jessica muttered. As much as she was angry at the Theo, she never wanted to hurt him.
"Nice one," Fred smiled as he appeared to get more and more into the violence that was being created. He fired a shot at Pansy which misfired and hit the skim of Draco's shoulder instead.
"Jess what the hell!," Pansy shouted at Jessica, "we were helping you and that's how you repay us?!"
Pansy ran over to Theo to check if he was okay. He was still breathing, but he wasn't waking up. Jessica felt a ball in her throat and started to come over nauseous.
Draco, who although in combat wasn't dumb or hard of hearing, was listening to their conversation.
"Help?" he hissed as he encanted levicorpus at Fred to lift him off his feet and hang him upside down. Fred was obviously getting too much for him to handle on his own. "What does she mean help? What photo?" he continued as he stared Pansy down.
George immediately turned to help Fred out of the curse Draco had put on him. Jessica, not wanting to fight anymore after what had happened to Theo, embraced the break in firing spells to catch her breath. "How do you think I know?" she asked Draco, "you little minions slipped my baby photo into my diary like you told them too."
"I certainly did not," Draco snapped. He looked at Jessica as if she was crazy, "I've never seen anything like that exist."
"Don't lie," Jessica retorted, "was probably part of your whole plan to get me back wasn't it, to remind me of my family ties to you all. Draco did you really have to be that desperate and low, I gave you a chance to be good back at the tower and you could've taken it!"
Draco turned to Pansy as Theo slowly started lifting his eyelids, regaining consciousness. "What is she talking about?" Draco demanded, "what did you give her?"
"Your family aren't the only ones with family airlooms Draco," Theo said earnestly, "or secrets. She deserved to know."
Draco looked so annoyed that Pansy quickly cut in, "he means we thought this would be a good tactic, to get her emotional and want to know more - so she would come back to us for answers."
Draco seemed unsure that Pansy was telling the truth about Theo's intentions. Jessica glanced down at Theo and saw all of his bravado taken away, he was just Theo now. It reminded her of the time when she he was convinced that he was her friend, the only one in Slytherin that got her at times. Jessica started to doubt whether Pansy and Theo had done given her the photo maliciously, or if they really had gone behind Draco's back to help her be aware of her past.
During this moment of mourning of what their friendship could've been, George had helped free Fred and both of them were back to standing straight.
"Aw are we finding out that being prick doesn't mean everyone has to do what you say," Fred taunted Draco, "gonna go cry to mummy about it?"
Draco looked pissed at both Pansy, Theo and now Fred. His non-wand hand folded into a fist, and his lip became snarled. Everything was unravelling around him, and he was losing control.
"Fred don't," Jessica spoke under her breath, but Fred was too fired up. He hadn't been in a position to let out his fury on Draco before. George, who had always been the more calm one, just shared a glance with her.
"Or is Voldy going to crucify you for not being able to take down a teenage girl?" Fred taunted again. His veins were pumping in his forearms, exhillerated by being able to let out his many years of built up frustration.
He had done it. Jessica knew all too well Draco's insecurities about his father, how he had only wanted to prove himself. To remind him of his failure to live up to his fathers expectations was a sure way to get the worst of Draco. Fred knew what he was doing.
"You know you Weasley's never do learn to shut up when superiors are talking," Draco spat as he slowly turned to face the three of them. He raised his wand, and spoke with distain, "crucio!"
It all happened so fast. There was a quick flash of red light and suddenly Fred was lying on the ground, withering around on his back and screaming in pain. Jessica and George immediately ran down to him, not knowing what to do and panicking. Neither of them could speak, there was no curse or spell to cure this quickly. Jessica's heart broke right onto the floor of the ministry. She was pretty sure George's did too.
"Draco what did you do," said Pansy, fright trailing her voice from the other end of the hallway, "you know we can't do those curses here are you mad?"
"Maybe I am," Draco replied shakily, his gaze not moving from Fred's trembling body, "now go get her whilst her bulldog is down, we'll speak about what you two have done later."
As the inventor he was, George started to mumur any healing spells he knew to try and give any sort of pain relief to Fred that he could. He couldn't do any right as his speech was limited due to the anxiety of the situation. Jessica was in complete shock. She had seen him get crucio'd in her visions of course, but she thought she had successfully changed history by avoiding it under Umbridge. She felt utterly useless.
"No," said Theo, now more alert but still sat on the ground.
Jessica felt a sudden wave of cold slam against her chest, it was as if someone had taken an icicle and pierced her body with it. She looked down and the eye pendant on her necklace was glowing a frosty white.
"What did you say?" Draco asked.
Her vision became cloudy and within a second everything went dark as a new vision came to her.
"I said no!" Theo shouted.
Jessica stumbled to find balance, landing a hand on Fred's chest. Everything focused and went still. Even Fred.
Jessica was at Grimmauld Place, in the hallway next to her bedroom. The paint was fresher, a luscious dark green, and nowhere was dusty or broken. Everything was brand new and in pristine condition. A little too pristine...