So, in hindsight, people were stupid and blind. Jay came to this conclusion after everyone -with the exception of Neville of course- believed that Charlie had killed the bloody snake. They actually believed that the boy who had panicked so badly that Jay had to knock him out to prevent being eaten, had killed the snake.
Both Neville and Jay watched in morbid fascination as everyone praised Charlie for his heroic deeds. Neville was wheezing in a corner by the end of the headmasters speech, and Jay wasn't far behind. They both got death stares from the entire student body when they were laughing when the headmaster spoke of how the snake was killed. Something about Fawkes the phoenix coming to help, along with the sorting hat and the sword of Gryffindor? How does the man even come up with that ludicrous an amount of bullshit?
Anyway, Jay was grounded.
Well, officially speaking. Unofficially speaking there were three criminals being treated for broken bones, curtesy of the black phoenix.
She wondered if they were ever going to connect the dots of her ever increasing height, and her only showing up in school vacations. Probably not, seeing as also everyone in the ministry seemed to believe the story about Charlie and the snake.
Oh well, it wasn't as if what she was doing was illegal. Besides using magic outside of school that is. But then again the worst thing that could cause was her being kicked out of school and have her wans broken. So all in all, not that horrible.
But anyways, grounded. Because she put herself in danger and could have hindered her brother in his heroism. She was very tempted to pull out the sword she'd used just to see the looks on heir faces. But she refrained. It actually worked in her favor.
But then a minor disaster happened.
Peter Pettigrew escaped from Azkaban. And then things got worse. She would say that her parents were trying to keep her in their vision was what was the matter, but it was much worse.
Not even a month after the escape of Pettigrew, she started having dreams. Jay almost never had dreams, and if she did, the memories of them were soon after waking up gone. But not now. She dreamed of Pettigrew, a small figure with a wheezing voice and a big snake. Like clockwork, every night, she would appear as the snake. Nagini was its name. Was her name. Jay woke up in a sweat soaked bed, shivering and white as a sheet when Nagini ate and elderly man. She swore, she cloud still taste the blood on her tongue from where the man was decapitated.
It didn't stop when she was awake either. Once, she looked in the mirror, and she had blood red eyes.
It wasn't possible, but it was happening.
When Severus came over, much to the spite of James, she asked in private if he knew of someone named Nagini.
"How do you know that name?" Severus asked in a hushed tone. "Jen, I need you to be honest to me, how do you know that name?"
"I read it somewhere." Jay lied flawlessly.
Severus didn't want to talk anymore after that.
Days later Jay decided that in order to get answers, the answers she desperately needed, she had to delve into magics she previously didn't dare.
And what a better place to read up on dark magics than the Black library. She knew Sirius didn't really care for the place, and while it had been used as a headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix in the previous war, Jay had only been there once. She had been kept a close eye on, since the house was full of traps. Now though, while the fidelius charm was still in place, Sirius had not kept up the alarms and traps. In his reasoning, why would he waste his time on it? He hated the place, and if he had his say, he would have burned the place to the ground decades ago.
Which worked out perfectly for Jay. She found herself stacked away in between massive piles of books, reading as fast as she could. There were some truly horrifying spells and curses to be found in the books. She found more ways to turn a man inside out, boil them from the inside, etcetera as she thought was possible. There were few spells she would actually ever use, and they were mostly the counter-curses. She did have to take a break after she saw a very graphic picture of a curse being used. The outcome was what one would think a person would look like after a good dozen or so shotgun blasts to the torso and face.
After reading countless books, after days of sitting still and reading at maximum speed, she finally stumbled upon something interesting. It was in a book about cursed objects that there was a mention of something that came close to what she was looking for. Namely, ways to store memories in objects. She found the referenced book with ease, a simple summoning spell and the thing smacked in her palm.
The previous book was a goldmine, but this one, she could hardly understand anything. From what she could tell, it spoke of many ways to accomplish this feat. She needed a translation. It appeared to be some form of ancient Hebrew, a dialect long forgotten. To an non native speaker, it was little more as gibberish. While she had translated Hebrew before, this was one dialect she'd never seen before. But unlike last time she needed Hebrew translated, she knew just the lady for it.
The next day was a rainy one. While there were many people hurrying their way through the alleyways, Jay was not hurrying for anything. The rain smacked on her hood, making an irritating amount of noise. She made her way to deep into the ally, until there were no more people to be seen. Not even the prostitutes that usually stood around the buildings for a smoking break were out in the stormy weather.
In the deserted ally she took a turn many would have passed by in an instant. There were a few little stores in the narrow ally. Jay focused on one. The shop owner was an old lady. If one would ignore the eyes in jars on the shelves and the dead ... creatures?.. on display, Jay would rank the place in between a hell hole and an absolute dump.
She rung the little bell on the counter and an ancient woman showed up.
"Yes dear?"
"Lady LaCroix? I find myself in need of a translation." Jay spoke softly, but with confidence. The lady might act sweet and harmless, but something about her set Jay on edge. And if there was something she'd learned, it was to trust her instincts.
"Well, let's see it then." She woman held her hands out, expectantly.
For a few seconds Jay made no move. "I will pay you the fee for your silence about this transaction."
LaCroix gave a smile with way to many teeth. "Finally onto the darker things, are you dear? The fee is 2 galleons per 100 pages, and anything above 500 pages is 1 galleon per 100 pages. For a silent transaction."
Jay silently handed the 14 galleons over. After the vow was made to ensure the old woman's silence, she handed the book over. While the translation could be done elsewhere, it was an open secret that LaCroix was by far the best. She certainly wasn't the cheapest, but her business came from the fact that she had no problems making a vow. The last thing Jay needed right now was to be arrested for illegal magic. It would make quite the headline in the prophet, though.
Within an hour the translation of the book was finished. Jay had spent her time browsing the many books within the store. Unsurprisingly, there were a few books Jay had already skimmed or read while looking though the Black library. Only the ones on display here were much less old.
Just as she was making her way out, two aurors came in, and of course it had to be James and Sirius. Jay immediately pulled her hood way down and skidded behind a closet. She kept quiet as the pair started to drill LaCroix with questions. While she was not actually doing anything illegal at the moment, she was quite sure the book and translation in her bag were illegal to own. And if she gave them a reason to search her, she would be in deep trouble. The unregistered wand strapped to her wrist was not good either.
When they both turned their backs on her, she skidded down a bit further to the door. The next time they turned, she bolted.
"Hey!" She heard Sirius yell. "Stop right there!"
Yeah. No.
She bolted through the ally at max speed, James and Sirius gaining on her. If she could help it, she'd rather not hex an auror. That would be bad. Even if she really, really, wanted to hex the both of them.
She took a sharp right and could hear both of them cursing as they skidded to a halt after almost running past the entrance. She looked behind her and could see that she now had enough distance to do what she did best. Climb.
She jumped on a stack of boxes and lunged herself into the air. Jay grabbed onto the railing of a small balcony and pulled herself up. The second she was on her feet again, she leaped onto the railing and onto to the opposing roof. Without her normal gloves, getting a good grip on the stone ledge of the roof was tricky. She managed, though not as fast as normal. When she looked down, James and Sirius were looking up at her in shock. And just then her hair decided to fall out of her braid. The blond lock made an appearance and immediately Jay jumped backward to avoid it being seen by both aurors. She didn't know if she was successful in avoiding it.
Over the wet rooftops she quickly made her way back home.
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
"James, did you see that too?"
"I think I did. Was that who I think it was?" James asks shocked.
Sirius turns to look at his best friend, more serious as he'd been in years. "I think so, mate."
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
The last thing Neville had expected was Jay showing up in his window frame asking for an alibi.
Because lying to aurors? That was quite the charge if he was caught.
So of course he did it for her, after agreeing to a vow to negate any truth spells.
He had to admit though, the diplomacy lessons had helped with the lying. After all, once James and Sirius showed up on his doorstep, he smoothly assured them that they had been in the park together to help him with his vacation homework.
Both aurors left confused at the airtight story the both of them had webbed between them in the few minutes Jay was at his house before disappearing to her house again.
Neville was curious to what lead to the shitshow that happened, and was eagerly awaiting Jay's return for the explanation. She owed him that much.