Chapter - i
a tale
- by duarte, jude
I saw Liliver sitting on the bottom stairs, with her back towards me. Without a sound, I came up to the staircase. She was reading a book. Without the usual hustle of students mingling about, and the soft warm glow of the lamps in the evening light, made everything seem eerily calm. As I began my descent, my footsteps echoed slightly. Without turning back, Liliver who was seated in the middle of the stairs, scooted towards the wall. It wasn’t until I began sitting beside her, did her attention waver and her eyes land on me. Her eyes went wide and her mouth opened in an inaudible gasp. I suppose she wasn’t expecting company here. Or maybe, she was shocked to see my face.
“Oh my-- fuck!…….Jude?”
“Yes, yes it’s me. Calm down.” Unable to bear her scrutiny, I turned my face to the other side. Her hands griped my shoulder as she tried to look at my face again. “Are you okay—look at me! What happened to your face? Are you hurt? Jude? Who did this?”
After it seemed that she had made a considerable effort to calm down, I turned back and faced her with the huge reddish-brown hue splattered across the left side of my face, around my eyes and check and slightly grazing the bottom of my chin.
“It’s not a wound. It really isn’t”
“Then what--?”
“I’ll tell you. It’s a long story. And..” I took a deep breath and gulped something down. “ …I also need your help. Liliver.”
She closed the book she had let fall from her hands on the stairs. Carefully, she kept it on her lap and folded her hands atop it. Her eyes met mine. She nodded. Ready to listen.
“I honestly don’t know where to start. I don’t know how it began. Maybe it’s coz of Locke or perhaps, that old blabbering Slughorn or--” my voice cracked, “maybe it was..it was me.”
“Its alright Jude. Tell me. Bit by bit. Where do you want to begin from?”
It once so happened that Professor Slughorn decided to teach the class about love. About Amortenia and some other potions – you know the ‘class’. But what would that bachelor know about it? That git. Only if he hadn’t said it.
“Amortenia has been known as one of the most well-known, powerful and fool proof love potions in the world. However, another such magical ingredient deserves a mention, which has been recently added to the curriculum. Found in Asia and Africa, it is typically known as Lawsonia Inermis or henna. Henna is a herb, when correctly brewed, can be used to find out if two people love each other”, he said, “Or not”. His eyebrows were drawn down. Slughorn it seemed, was speaking from experience. He picked up a small green stem lying on the table. It had short, slender leaves.
“This is the plant from which, to make Henna, its leaves are ground into a fine powder.” He explained.
I would not claim to be a genius or an innovative thinker. Literally, the entire fucking class seemed to have had the same idea at the exact same time.
But I would claim to be quite resourceful when it comes to knowing the right person to approach to get the job done.
I went to Roach and Ghost. Oh I’ll call them that! They were their secret-code names they claimed, which seemed pretty fucking ridiculous to me. One’s dead and the other’s a…very lovely species. How hopeless is that? But yeah. I get what they were after. So I shall respect that.
Also I wanted to get my work done.
And after a few days, Roach presented a small white clay pot to me. It had a round ball attached to it as a handle. I lifted it open. The inside was painted a shocking green. It had a fine green-brown powder. A faint whiff reached my nose. I brought the small pot closer and took a sniff. I was taken aback! Wow. I leaned down for another--
“Stop smelling it like a druggie you dumb shit.” Roach hit me on the back of my head. He took the pot back from me and closed it shut.
“Part of their magic is also their smell,” Ghost explained. “So we have to make sure that not much of it is lost.”
“Oh.” I said, rubbing the back of my head. I do dimly remember professor talking about it. But I still had to hold back my urge to hex Roach.
“So,” Roach began. He pulled out the chair next to me and sat down. We had picked up an empty classroom to make our shady deals. “About the payment”, he said, turning towards me.
“Yes,” I sighed. The payment. I became tired just by thinking about it. But what can I do? I was extremely proficient in my business. That was my way of making my own buck. Now, that’s all people ask of me. What can I say? I’m extremely good at it. One of the best at my trade.
“Look, I’ll add in a few extra hours if you can do one more thing for me.”
“Really,” he leaned forward, looking interested. “What will I have to do to get more of a few of your precious, extra hours?”
I looked him in the eye. “I need you to do one thing. I need you to make the connection with the one this is meant for.”
He burst out laughing. I swear I saw Ghost smirk.
“Well, Miss Duarte. I bet we already know who this is meant for.”
“Yes. Yes I bet you do.
It’s for Locke.”
“Jude.” Liliver looked at me incredulously. Trying her best to keep the judgment out of her face. “Why??!”
“Ah—see-”
“So this is what it is? Henna? You planned to test it on Locke? Why?”
“No! I hadn’t meant it. For me I mean. It was for Locke and Taryn.”
“They’re dating…aren’t they? And how did it end up on youuu?”
“SO that’s the THING, Locke is a colossal dick--
One night, I strolled across the empty corridors, fulfilling my prefect duties. That day, it was with Frand, the prefect of Gryffindor house. Things had significantly improved for me and Taryn ever since I was elected prefect of Slytherin house. It had taken some time for the house to accept my authority, though.
I liked walking with Frand. She was in fifth year, one year my junior. She’s pretty chill, she was chill with me even before everyone else was. Today we were chatting about her new boyfriend. That’s when she asked me if I was seeing anyone lately. Her sly smile and the accompanying giggle suggested she’d heard something.
“Nope, not really. Why’d you ask?”I tried my best to keep the bitterness out of my voice.
“Ohh,” she seemed taken aback with my blunt response. “Well..it’s just that I had heard about it from a few people. They said that…they saw you and Locke at Madam Puddifoot’s-”
“When?”
“At the Hogsmeade trip we had last week?”
“Ohhh.”
Something suddenly dawned to me. It made me eager for the stroll to end. I wanted to go to bed. It must have shown on my face.
“I’m sorry I shouldn’t have participated in such mindless gossip, it really isn’t my business--”Frand had more to say, she looked really sorry. But I cut her off before that. The stroll was over. I wished her goodnight and left.
“According to the gossip Frand heard, both of them went on a date last week. But, I never told you this… But I too was dating Locke.”
“What!?”
“Yes..it had began at the start of the month…two-three weeks. But it was so sudden, and wonderful, I couldn’t bring myself to tell you. But then....all of a sudden he broke off with me. No explanation, no reason, no arguments.”
“That git! And he goes off to date you sister?”
“Also”, my face burned , “The Hogsmeade trip was on Saturday.”
“So?”
“Locke had officially broken up with me on Monday, the week after.”
The shadows on Liliver’s face had become darker. Her hands clenched into fists. She was too angry to speak. And then she spoke. With many descriptive adjectives for Locke.
“So that git was two timing you both! Do you know since when he’s been doing it?”
“So I asked Taryn since when they were dating and… he’s been two timing us since the beginning.”
“Oh my- fuck- what!?”
“And..and you know-- ”, my voice starting cracking, “do you know what I feel so fucking dumb about?” That watery feeling was soon replaced by a flame. It ignited somewhere deep inside my heart. “I was there. I was there! When he was on a fucking date with Taryn, I was right there, in Hogsmeade!”
“So? Did you tell Taryn about this?”
I laughed. My life was a joke.
I was seated in the library. See, there’s a corner in which I always sit, it can be pretty dark at times, and there are no windows and shelves surround that desk. Many don’t even notice that there’s a table there. When I first sat down there, I felt abandoned but free. Tears had streaked down my cheeks and I was too embarrassed to go to my dorm. I had pulled out a chair and took down a book from the shelf to read. Though I couldn’t really pay attention to what I was reading, I had felt safe and content over there. No one unwanted would come to disturb me.
Anyways…I was sitting there and going through my lesson for the next day. When a boy came up to me and shyly handed me a note “Wh-“ Before I could ask anything, he bolted off. As I watched his retreating back I opened the note –
SOS. Come fast, second floor corridor
- Ghost
I abruptly closed my books and bolted out (walked fast not ran, don’t want to get in trouble with Ms. Marrow), my books, parchment and ink stuffed haphazardly in my bag. A thousand dreadful thoughts filled my head. I wondered if Garret was in any trouble. He was a thin, tall guy with sandy hair and clever eyes. Though on the surface he did not seem like much, he really could hold his own. It was my fault he was asking for help, I suppose since he called me, me and my stupid, stupid plan…
When I reached the corridor, I kept walking but halted as something did not feel right. The corridor was…empty. Sure enough no students would be there but… Where was Garret? Where was Van? I walked slowly across the length. My heart hammered in my chest. All instincts told me to run. But..I cannot..
“Oh, there’s youuus!” Is what I heard before Peeves somehow came in front of me and threw something on my face. “Thank youss!!” He cackled before he zoomed away as quickly as he came.
“PEEVEEESSS!!” I wiped that stuff from my eyes and stomped my foot. “Come BACK YOU SHI…” I stared at the brown substance that was on my hands now. It was something cool to touch and contrary to what one would assume with its brown appearance, it almost smelled, I brought my hands closer and took a whiff..it smelled…FUCK.
The smell of dread had not fully settled yet when someone called out my name. I turned back and saw Locke and Taryn, holding hands walking towards me. I considered making a run but..I turned back, there was just a classroom behind me and they were near the stairs. As they came closer I could see their flushed faces and the slightly rumpled clothes. The sight made something vicious coil into my stomach.
“Jude..Are you okay?” Taryn asked me, a frown creasing on her forehead.
“YES…why would you ask that?”
“Oh my god Jude!” Locke did a good job of looking even more concerned than Taryn herself.
“It’s nothing, it’s nothing” I waved my hands with a nonchalance more fake than Locke’s concern. “Let me just…” I took out my wand from my robes and muttered ‘scourgify’. Nothing happened…”It was just Peeves being a little shit..that’s all..” I said trying to keep the conversation going. I tried again. And again. Nothing happened.
Both of them just stared at me as I tried my spell again and again. “Oh..OH.” Locke starts, coming closer and staring at my face. “I'm afraid”, he continued gravely “you won’t be able to scourgify this.”
Before I could just run away, he said, “It is Henna, if I’m not wrong.”
“What?” Taryn exclaimed.
“And you say”, a smile tugged at his lips, “Peeves threw it on you?”
I didn’t know what was happening. Locke wheeled around to face Taryn again, who was now in a daze. “Oh dear. I was so afraid it wasn’t true...” He took her hands in his own.
“What’s true?” I asked.
Locke looked at Taryn but it seemed that she was not going to speak anytime soon. “I found Garret trying to discreetly apply Henna on me. Well it’s understandable that many girls would like to know if I have feelings for them or not…but I hadn’t expected him to do something like that. In an attempt to sow discord between the two of us..He asks Peeves to throw it on you? He tries to sabotage us like this?! I had given him a firm talking to. It’s really sad he did not listen to me. ”
“How would you know that Peeves did it on his bidding? For all we know, he just found it lying somewhere and decided to throw it on me!”
“Well, it is certainly possible that Peeves might have found it lying somewhere.” Locke agreed. “But..think about it, Jude. I know he’s your friend and all but I did find him with a pot of Henna. He admitted it was for me and to dispose of it in such a careless way…Or worse..to use it on you like this…” He turned and wrapped his hand around her shoulder, quite similar to the way he had held me once.
“Besides..And I don’t wanna say this…because I don’t wish to upset you both (Taryn’s close to him too), but I’ve heard rumors that he does any work, no matter how shady, for an appropriate price. There are two-three people with him as well. It’s a whole group.”
And never say that I am not a patient person, the fact that I did not punch Locke then and there itself is solid proof.
“I never thought Garret would do something like this,” Taryn admitted.
I looked at them both. I cannot let this fox tarnish the name of my friends. So I decided. “It wasn’t Garret’s idea,” I said.
“What?” Taryn asked.
“I was the one who asked him to do this….It wasn’t his idea.”
“WHAT?!!” Both of them said, together. Taryn surged forward and took me by my arm. “What do you mean?”
Her grip was a little tight. I turned my face to look her directly in the eye. “It was I, who asked them to use Henna on Locke.”
“Why? Why would you do that Jude?” Taryn asked, her face contorted in a mixture of fury and hurt.
Locke gave an awkward laugh. “Really, I get that they are your friends, Jude, but you needn’t take the blame for them.” Taryn agreed with him but something in my expression made her go silent. She let go of my arm. I stared Locke right in the eye. I just know how much this fox was enjoying this.
“Why?” She asked, her voice really quiet, drowning under that fake politeness that she uses for people whom she is friends with but particularly does not like. A lump had formed in my throat. I turned my gaze down. “Why must you do this, is it really so difficult for you, to see….” Her hand came up and pushed my left shoulder “…..Me happy? Is my happiness. Really so hard for you to digest?”
“Taryn no—you’ve got it all wrong I—“
“Oh shut the fuck up Jude. Just cause you are the prefect does not mean you could do anything thing you want! Leave something good for me too!”
“What?” It was my turn now to be shocked. Is this what she thought it was about? A reply perhaps was stuck in my throat and refused to come out. Taryn turned towards Locke and said to him, in a much nicer tone, “Let’s go dear. I suppose she has nothing more to say.” They both turned away and started walking.
“Wha-wait! WAIT! Fuck- Taryn just WAIT!”
She finally turned back, her eyes narrowed in slits. She said to Locke, “Dear, would you give us both a moment?”
Locke grimly nodded. He gestured towards me discreetly and said, “Sure Taryn but are you sure, you’ll be ahh..safe?” After Taryn had reassured him, she came back and stood in front of me, with her hands on her hips, she willed me to speak.
“I’m sorry Taryn, I really am, but you must understand”, I took in a deep breath, “I hadn’t meant it for me and Locke. I had meant it for you and him.”
She huffed. “Really. Honestly that does not make me feel any better. You need to come up with better lies.”
“No! I swear I’m not lying Taryn!” I shook my head, “I really meant it for you both…because I was worried.”
If anything, her frown became worse. “Worried?” She asked very quietly. “Whhyyy, you think I’m lacking in such decision making? You think I’m dumb?”
“No! Taryn..I really wish for you to be happy…I’d be really happy if that’ll be the case. You know how Henna works right? If the two people who apply it have genuine romantic feelings for each other, it leaves behind a brown-red mark. I merely wanted to be discreet and check it. Because ahh, some things made me believe that his intentions may not exactly be pure towards you. I merely wanted to confirm it. ”
“Ohh. How? Pray, enlighten me.”
“It’s really hard for me to say this but…Locke had been two-timing us.”
“No he hasn’t. I know. He’s only dating me.”
“I know..I hope so..but before…until last week, he was two timing…us, both.” Something really awful and heavy in my chest, it seemed had been wrenched out from my chest. The process really hurt, but I felt lighter nonetheless. I gulped and waited for the blow to register.
But nothing would have prepared me for what she said after.
“So?” She asked.
“So? SO? What do you mean so—did you understand what I meant??”
“I did Jude. I knew.”
I did not like what her reaction implied. “Wha-what do you mean?”
“I knew it when he was dating you, Jude. But he was only pretending to do so.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yes. And in the end, he chose me. So I’m really not as clueless as you take me to be. I. Knew. All. Along.”
“Taryn, are you sure you should be dating him, then? If he can do shit like this, why did you not dump his ass the moment you had the chance?!!”
“Oh, why should I?” Taryn’s face was blotched red her voice close to a scream, “He chose me after all!”
“Ohh, wel--“
“And I understand your anger Jude”, she takes a deep breath and pastes a smile on her face, “I get that you may be jealous. So I will not hold that against you. It must hurt. I forgive you.”
“Are you serious? Have you no self-respect? Well, thank God he did not choose me then. I’d literally rather die!”
“How. Dare. You. Just cause I got something for once means—means you’ll act like this?”
“What do you mean Taryn?” I waved my hands exasperated.
“You always get everything! You are the prefect of Slytherin, for God’s sake! Just let me have something, just this once. Who gave you the right to interfere in my relationship like this? And please stop assuming I’m so dumb. Do not. Interfere in my life like this. Ever again” She scowled at me. I think she was gonna cry. She turned around and left, she did not look back even once.
I stood there for a long time. Later, when I went to the prefect’s bathroom to wash off the Henna, my eyes fell on the mirror. And in the mirror, I saw that mark, on my face and hands. I no longer knew what to do. So I decided to find Liliver.
Liliver clutched my hand. We sat quietly for a while. Then she asked, “I thought you did not go to Hogsmeade that day? You had told me you were tired?”
“Yeah..I was so stressed out by my work. I thought I would stay back and study. But then I decided to go. I went a little later than the others.” We were both enveloped in heavy silence when I remembered something.
“You know…”
“Yeah?”
“Over there, the strangest thing happened.”
So, I went to Honeydukes, you know, with a singular purpose. In the new candy ice-cream counter they opened, there’s this flavor I really like. You know. I told you Splish Splash, its called, that bright blue one. I was gonna buy a box, and come back. Also, you know how its not veeerry popular, right? Cause it’s so sour? Even you told me ice-cream shouldn’t be this sour…Anyways, I went to the counter in the corner. It was manned by a girl, who looked two-three years older than me.
“What would you like?” she asked.
“A Splish Splash ice-cream box”, just as someone next to me said, “Splish Spash.”
I turned around, a laugh bubbling in my throat, where it perished before its birth.
Because I realized:-
- There was only one box of the said ice cream.
- The other person was Cardan Greenbrair. (with his black hair and those dark, sharp eyes and that fucking…smile, man, it makes me wanna puke.)
The three of us were frozen in time, it seemed. Then Greenbrair took out a few coins from his pockets and placed them on the counter. He looked at me and grinned. It amounted to roughly the same price as the ice-cream. Not breaking eye contact, I took out the exact money, down to the last Knut, and placed it on the counter. I narrowed my eyes at him.
Both of us the stared at the poor girl behind the counter.
“Grimma dear, surely…,” Greenbrair began.
“Since I came here first—“, I started at the same time.
“Stop, please!” Grimma, I suppose, said. Both her hands were on her hips. Greenbrair and I were naughty children irritating an irritated mother. She then takes half of Cardan’s money and half of mine and places the box on the counter. Her gaze steely, she proclaims, “Now you may decide.” Thus leaving both of us and going off to attend to other customers, apparently.
“Oh wow!” A glint had appeared in Liliver’s eyes. She clapped her hands together. Eagerly, she asked, “Did you have a duel?”
“What? Nooo.”
“Oh.” She seemed a little disappointed in me. “Then what?”
I smiled, warm and fuzzy with the memory. “We had a gamble.”
Greenbrair and I sat down at one of the dirty tables at Hog’s Head. He had produced a bag of Bertie Bot’s Every Flavour Beans, which he hadn’t gotten at Honeydukes apparently.
“This is a special bag I brought from Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes.” He looked really smug, “It has all the worst possible flavours of the beans. You name it – ear wax, vomit, earthworm, booger…It’s. All. There.”
“What was the original purpose of buying it?” I asked.
“Oh..Valerian had asked me to bring a bag of Bertie’s.” He leaned forward, and dramatically placed his hand near his mouth and whispered, very loudly, “only he hadn’t specified from whereee.”
I scoffed.
“I suppose I’ll have to reseal it”, he said, thoughtfully. One of his hands was crossed on his chest, the other was placed under his chin. He wore a loose white t-shirt that day, and black jeans. Though it was not very bright, he seemed to glow a little. His hands were lean. I wondered how—
He placed the bag on the dirty table. The bartender with his useless rag watched us intently. So the gamble was such, we each had to take five beans one by one. If any of us displayed a slightest reaction to the taste of the disgusting beans, we would lose immediately.
And so it began.
ROUND #1
Greenbrair
Flavour: ???
Reaction: None. (Glint in eyes, wider smile)
Jude
Flavour: ear wax
Reaction: None (Effort to curb vivid image of eating actual ear wax)
ROUND #2
Greebrair
Flavour: ????
Reaction: None (smile becomes sharper)
Jude
Flavour: Booger
Reaction: None (mild churning in stomach)
ROUND # 3
Greenbrair
Flavour: ?????
Reaction: None! (smile almost turns to a grin, how??)
Jude
Flavour: Earthworm
Reaction: ….None. (churning intensifies)
ROUND #4
Greenbrair
Flavour: ??????????
Reaction: None. (smug smile)
Jude
Flavour: Rotten Egg
Reaction: None—gag reflex activated
Winner – Greenbrair
Owner of Splish Splash Ice cream -- Greenbrair
Cardan bursts out laughing as I promptly spit out the bean. “Wha-wha-“ he asks between peals of laughter , “What flavor?”
“Rotten Egg”, I sighed and stood up from the table. “I guess its yours now.” I looked mournfully at the box. Greenbrair got up too, and stood next to me. He shook his head, making a disappointed noise. “What?” I demanded. Then, he leaned further in, his breath lightly brushing my cheeks from his height. “So you are just going to give it up? Just like that? I’ve never heard of such honour from slytherins. You belong to Gryffindor. Ah but you are so dumb Duarte.” He smirked and in the light of his comment, he almost looked cruel. I opened my mouth for a retort, when he continued, “Just like them, you are soo dim.” Without missing a beat, very quickly, he added, “And honorable.” That last part took me by surprise and almost seemed like a compliment. For some reason, I could not bring myself to give a reply. Or even look at him for that matter. I stared stubbornly at the leg of a chair on the table adjacent to ours. “How about.. I give you a chance to change the rotten taste in your mouth?” He asked.
I leaned in closer, biting my bottom lip. “Oh..and how do you propose we do that? I have quite a few…ideas.” Cardan looked a little taken aback. His pale cheeks were the lightest shade of pink.
“You fucking cheat!” I cried, quickly grabbing the box and rushing out the door. I did not see Cardan anywhere on my journey after that.
“Wha-dumb! Dumb! Whyy would you do that?” Liliver looked so mad. Why?
“Oh…oh, see when his breath hit my cheek I could distinctly smell a minty scent. At first I thought they were mints and all but something wasn’t right. Greenbrair, who’s akin to a pampered prince, did not give any reaction at those disgusting tastes, when I did? His Highness, who’s lips haven’t touched a single bite of even mediocre food?”
“AHh..Ah I get it, I think I do.”
“Right, yeah. He had already eaten WWW’s taste dissolver, the smell was akin to it. His taste buds were rendered useless for a while. That’s why he could win the bet.”
“You know what?” I said. “This remids me. I want to eat the ice-cream. Come- let’s go Liliver.”
She got up and lightly dusted her skirt. We both walked to my room. Hidden carefully among my belongings, I procured my great prize. I offered some of it to Liliver and happily began to eat the rest. Both of us seated on my bed and I basked in her comforting presence.