Hogwarts: The Legacy

(c)2005 by Josh Cohen. May not be reprinted, except for personal use. The Potterverse was created by JK Rowling, and remains her property. I\'m just borrowing it for a little while.

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ELEVEN: THE JANUARY FEAST

Warning: contains no sex.

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The January Feast was never an exciting event at Hogwarts. It took place on Sunday night at six, and since all students were asked to be back at Hogwarts by five, it was always well-attended. But no one was really happy to be there. It meant the end of holidays and the beginning of term. It meant the end of sleeping in and the beginning of alarm clocks. It meant the end of nighttime revelry – usually – and the beginning of homework-filled evenings.

To Jason Goldman and Dina Patil, it meant a return to the way things were. They met up in the Ravenclaw common room; Dina had taken the Hogwarts Express, while Jason had Flooed to Hogsmeade and been walked to Hogwarts by his father. Almost like magic, they saw each other – Jason as he left the boys’ dormitories, Dina as she left the girls’ – and gravitated together. Jason reached out his hand and Dina took it, a slight smile on her lips.

“I missed you,” she said in her whispery voice.

“I missed you also. America was less than I expected it to be.”

“Oh, so that’s where you went?” This was Christopher, who’d just arrived. “No wonder all my owls came back with their messages.”

“What’d you want?” Jason asked.

“Help with Morrigan’s essay. What did you expect?”

“It was rather peculiar,” Dina said. “I barely managed to complete the two feet. My mother doesn’t have many books on Transfiguration theory.”

“Nor do my aunt and uncle, and my cousin Rachel seemed more interested in partying than anything else.” An involuntary flush colored Jason’s cheeks; he counted himself lucky that Dina didn’t notice it. But Christopher did, and he gave Jason a look that said “we’ll talk about this later”.

Dina, Jason, and Christopher met up with Alison at the Ravenclaw table. Just as Jason was sitting down, though, Professor Granger tapped him on the shoulder.

“Mr Goldman, could you join me for a moment?”

Jason looked askance at her, then glanced at his friends for a moment. “Have I done something wrong, Professor?”

She shook her head. “It’s not that. I just wanted to ask you about something. Could you join me in the anteroom, please?”

“Yes, Professor.” He shrugged at the others, who were waiting for the food to appear – Professor Snape seemed as though he was poised to make a brief speech, as he had at the Halloween Feast. Most of the students were thrilled beyond belief that Snape wasn’t nearly as verbose as Professor Colwyn had been.

Whatever the speech was to be, though, Jason didn’t get to hear it. Professor Granger led him into the anteroom and waved him to one of the seats, then left through the other door. Jason sat down on the edge of the chair’s velvet-upholstered cushion, wondering just what it was the professor wanted from him.

He didn’t have to wait long. A minute later, the other door opened and Professor Granger returned, followed by her husband – Mr Malfoy, Jason remembered – and a girl so beautiful she very nearly took Jason’s breath away.

“Mr Goldman, you remember my husband, Draco Malfoy?”

Jason got to his feet and shook Malfoy’s outstretched hand. “Sir,” he said noncommittally.

“Mr Goldman.”

“And this is our daughter, Caroline Malfoy.”

Jason turned and looked more carefully at the girl. She definitely looked like Mr Malfoy, but not at all like the professor. Still, genetics often favored one parent over the other – Jason looked mostly like his father, except for his hair’s tendency to curl when it got too long; that was entirely his mother’s fault. And he also had her nose. “Miss Malfoy,” he said politely. Caroline offered her hand, and in a moment where all thought deserted him, he bent over, took her hand, and brushed his lips across her knuckles. “A pleasure.”

Caroline’s translucently-pale skin flushed slightly, a fine blush of pink that came and went almost too quickly to be seen. “Mr Goldman.”

“Please, call me Jason.”

“If you would please sit down, Mr Goldman,” Professor Granger said quietly.

Jason tore his eyes away from Caroline and sat back down. “Professor, what am I doing here?”

“I wanted to ask you a favor, if I could.”

“Certainly, Professor. I’ll help if I can.”

“You really do have him eating out of your hand, don’t you?” Malfoy said out of the corner of his mouth.

The professor reached back and swatted his knee, then grinned at Jason, a quick flash of teeth. “Caroline has been living with her...” A pause, and then Professor Granger’s voice became more strangled. “With her grandfather. But he passed away this winter, and she’s going to be attending Hogwarts now, and living with us in the summers. I wanted to ask if you would help her get acclimated.”

“Is she in Ravenclaw House?”

Jason noticed Mr Malfoy turn what was probably a “what?” into a cough.

Professor Granger shrugged. “The Sorting Hat hasn’t placed her yet. But even if she isn’t, could you help her, please?”

Jason looked over at Caroline, who was sitting on the couch next to her father, her legs crossed, her hands folded over her knee. She was wearing a long, sea-green dress with long sleeves, and it clung very provocatively to her slender form. “I...” Jason paused and collected himself. “I suppose I could do that, if Miss Malfoy doesn’t mind.”

Caroline appraised Jason, then said, “I don’t mind. You can call me Caroline.”

“All right. Caroline.”

“Well, then,” Mr Malfoy said, “that’s settled.” He got to his feet and held out his hand to Caroline, who took it and pulled herself upward.

“There’s just one other thing,” Professor Granger said.

“What’s that?”

“Caroline has asked,” she said, looking hard at her daughter, “that during the school year, I treat her as any other student. Also, that no one knows she’s my daughter.”

“Why?”

“Why don’t you want people to know Professor Stein is your great-aunt?” Professor Granger asked mildly.

“There is a certain logic to your position,” Jason said. He was a little flustered; not even Dina knew yet that Professor Stein was a member of his family.

Professor Granger got to her feet. “We’ll sort Caroline, and then she’ll meet you in the Great Hall.”

“I hope you get into Ravenclaw, Caroline,” Jason said.

“It would make things... easier.” This was her father speaking. “And now, Mr Goldman, if you would...?”

“Oh. Right then. Sir. Professor. Caroline.” Jason turned and left through the door that led to the Great Hall. Everyone was eating and talking; he must have missed the speech. But then, Professor Snape’s speeches were so short that if ears could blink, half the student body could have missed it almost completely by accident.

“What was that all about?” asked Christopher through a mouthful of roast chicken.

Jason sat down across from him, next to Dina. “There’s a new student who’s going to be starting here. She was living with her grandfather, but he died. Professor Granger asked me to help her out for a little while.”

“Why you?” Alison sipped at her pumpkin juice; Jason frowned at his own glass and pushed it away, grabbing for the water pitcher instead. He never could get into pumpkin juice. “Why not someone in her own house?”

“I have no idea.” Jason drank half the glass of water in one go, then set about to creating his dinner plate – a couple of slices of roast beef, mashed potatoes, peas, and gravy over all of it.

“Maybe she likes you,” Christopher teased.

“Excuse me!”

Even Dina stared at Christopher in a horrified fashion. “Professor Granger is married,” she said softly. Her right hand was still holding Jason’s left – no one had caught them holding hands in the common room, and when Christopher had come in, they’d let go – and her fingers fluttered against his when Christopher said that. “I highly doubt that she would jeopardize her marriage and her job by having an affair with a student, especially one so young as Jason.”

“There, see?” Jason scooped up a bit of potato and ate it before taking his hand out of Dina’s so he could cut his meat. “No chance.”

The meal was nearing its end when Jason felt someone standing behind him. He looked up – noting Christopher’s stunned expression – and then turned around. “Caroline. Hello. Care to join us?”

She gave a gallic half-shrug and, as soon as Jason slid a bit to the side and gave a genial push to the shoulder of the first-year sitting beside him, sat next to him on the bench. “Your hopes have been fulfilled. I’ve been sorted into Ravenclaw, although the Sorting Hat seemed to have a desire to put me in Gryffindor.”

“Were your parents in Gryffindor?”

Caroline shook her head. “My father was a Slytherin. I think my grandfather might have been a Gryffindor, but he never said.”

“What about your mother?” asked Alison.

Caroline colored, but shook her head. “Don’t know.”

Jason shook his head and seemed to remember something. “Right. Caroline, this is Christopher Talmadge – don’t call him Chris – Alison Tanner, and Dina Patil. Everyone, this is Caroline Malfoy.”

“Excuse me!” snapped Christopher. “You mean to tell me that you’re one of them?”

“No,” Caroline said with plenty of aplomb, “I’m one of mine. And as you may or may not know, my father was with Harry Potter when he died at the hands of the Dark Lord, so if you plan to hold my family name against me, please make sure I know it right now.”

“Christopher,” Jason said firmly, “Caroline wasn’t even raised by her father. She only just met him.”

“And my grandfather wasn’t a Malfoy, either, so I’ll thank you to keep your own counsel,” Caroline added.

Christopher flushed. “I’m sorry. It’s just that the Malfoys have been at odds with my family for generations. It’s a learned response.”

“Unlearn it.” Jason’s amber-brown eyes were hard. “Now.”

Christopher nodded. “I’m sorry, Caroline.”

She nodded back, but it was clear in the set of her spine that she wasn’t quite ready to accept his full apology just yet.

Dina’s fingertips touched the back of Jason’s hand, and he looked at her. Her dark eyes seemed to be imploring him to do something, but he didn’t know what it was.

A gentle chiming broke the silence. Professor Snape had stood up again, and the Great Hall went silent very quickly. “Before dessert,” he said, “I would like to announce a new addition to Ravenclaw House.” His voice seemed less-diffident than usual; Jason guessed it was because Professor Granger was his friend. “Caroline Malfoy will be joining the third year Ravenclaw students. I would ask that you make her feel welcome. That is all.”

He sat back down, and with a cavalier wave of his hand, the dessert trays supplanted the dinner ones.

“That was awfully nice of Professor Snape,” Alison said as she sliced off a piece of blackberry cobbler.

“Yeah, really.” Christopher was still embarrassed, and it showed in his voice.

Caroline just stared at the staff table. No one knew who she was staring at.

No one except Professor Granger, who felt those dark-gray eyes boring into her from almost twenty yards away.

Back in the Ravenclaw common room, Jason asked Alison to show Caroline where the dormitories were. She seemed happy to do so – in fact, Alison’s effusiveness appeared more than Caroline had been expecting – and Jason and Dina climbed the ladders to their alcove. Christopher had hung back, away from the other four, his ears still burning at how quickly his friends had closed ranks on him in that moment at the feast.

Jason and Dina sat next to each other on the couch, holding hands. Dina related the stories of how her mother and her aunt – Parvati, a model Jason had heard of but never known much about – dragged her around London, into shops and boutiques, when all she really wanted to do was spend some time at home.

Halfway through the litany – and it was a litany, even when delivered in Dina’s whispery tones – Jason chanced to put his arm on the back of the couch. When he let it slide down just enough to be resting on Dina’s shoulder, she started, but didn’t pull away.

Of course, he reflected later, attempting to kiss her might have been a bad idea.

“What are you doing?” she asked, indignant. Dina had shot to her feet and stepped as far away from Jason as she could while still remaining in the alcove.

“I... I’m sorry, Dina. I just thought...”

She folded her arms tightly across her chest. “What did you think? That I wanted you to kiss me? How did you come up with that, exactly?”

Jason slumped down on the couch. “I’m sorry, Dina,” he said again. “I just... I like you. A lot. I wanted to kiss you, that’s all.”

“Jason, I told you when we started this that I wanted to take things slowly, and that I wanted to be the one to initiate the next step. You agreed!”

“I’m sorry!” he shot back. “Maybe I got tired of waiting for you to initiate and decided to try it myself. Is that such a crime?”

Dina’s mouth compressed into a tight, thin line.

“Look, Dina, I didn’t mean to hurt you, and I certainly didn’t want to upset you. If you don’t want to kiss me, that’s all right.”

“How can I be sure?” she asked. “You seemed so content to simply be together and touch our hands to each other before the holidays. Did something happen to you in America?”

Jason was unable to stop the startled look on his face, or the blush that suffused his cheeks.

“What. Did. You. Do.” Each word was bitten off.

“I’m sorry, Dina, it didn’t mean anything, I swear!”

She just stared at him, tears welling in her dark eyes. “Tell me!” she snapped, her voice sharper than he’d ever heard it. “Tell me what you did!”

In a very small voice, Jason said, “there was a girl at a party my cousin had. She’d been drinking. I’d been drinking.” Dina appeared thoroughly disgusted. “She wanted to kiss me. I let her.”

“Is that all?”

He wasn’t going to lie to her. He shook his head.

“She did something to you, didn’t she?” A nod. “Something...” and Dina’s voice dropped low, “something sexual in nature.”

Jason nodded, once, a quick jerk of his head.

Dina looked like she was going to throw up. “Don’t talk to me anymore,” she said, her voice dull.

“Dina, wait! Give me one minute, that’s all.”

She stopped at the opening in the floor, the one that led to the ladder down. “One minute.” Dina still looked nauseous.

“Dina, I’m really sorry,” Jason said. “It didn’t mean anything, and right after it happened, I felt horrid about it. I really did. I was hung over, I had just woken up, she was right there...” He realized from the expression on Dina’s face that this wasn’t getting through to her, and he started getting angry. “What were we, anyway?” he grumbled. “Were you my girlfriend? Were we just friends? I had no idea! I thought of you before it, and I thought of you after it. But when I wanted to take the next step with you, you acted like I made you ill just thinking of kissing me! How’s that supposed to make me feel?”

Dina opened her mouth as if to say something, but Jason overrode her.

“Look, Dina, I like you. A lot. You’re a great friend, and I really think you would make a great girlfriend. But you can’t lead me on like you’ve been doing. I needed to know where I stood, and I thought I stood a better chance showing you how I felt.”

“Obviously,” Dina said, slightly mollified, “it didn’t work.”

“No. It didn’t.”

Instead of leaving the alcove, though, Dina sat on the other couch, her hands tightly-clasped between her knees. “Jason, I’m sorry that I overreacted, and I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you where I wanted our... our relationship, I guess you could call it, to go.”

“And I’m sorry I moved too fast, and that I did something with that girl in America.”

The skin over Dina’s knuckles was too dark to turn white when her fists clenched, but it was a near thing. “Let’s not discuss that again.”

“All right.”

Dina paused to think; Jason watched her face and let her do so. Eventually, the warring emotions he could see in her face must have resolved themselves. Her voice was back to its whispery normal level when she said, “I don’t think we should continue our relationship.”

Jason’s face fell, and Dina reached out across the low table to touch his hand. “I don’t mean our friendship. But I might be a bit stiff around you for a while. I mean, we should be friends. I like you, I really do. But not boyfriend-girlfriend. If I’m going to lead you on like I’d been doing, I don’t think I’m ready for that kind of relationship. I’m sorry, Jason.”

He half-smiled. “It’s all right, Dina. I understand.”

She held out her hand. “Friends?”

He shook it solemnly. “Friends.” They let go of each other and Dina stood up. “I’m going to go up to the dormitory and see how Caroline is getting along. If I know Alison, she’s probably overwhelmed the girl by now. She did that to me on my first night.”

“Go on, then. I’ll see you tomorrow at breakfast.”

Dina climbed down the ladder, leaving Jason alone with his thoughts.

It was several minutes later when Christopher came up. “So, what did you do in America?” he asked glibly, as if they hadn’t just nearly had it out in the Great Hall.

Jason shook his head. “I really don’t want to talk about it right now.”

“Come on, mate,” he said, sitting in the couch opposite Jason. “What’d you get up to over there? I hear those American girls have no inhibitions whatsoever, and that they go wild over English boys.”

Jason shook his head again. “Not now, Christopher. Please.”

Christopher eyed Jason. “You did something. I know you did. You always get closemouthed when you do something wicked.”

Jason looked straight into Christopher’s bright-blue eyes. “Not. Now.”

Christopher caught what was going on. “Dina dump you, then?”

“How did you even know about us?”

He laughed. “I’m not completely dunderheaded, Jason. I’ve seen you holding hands. What happened?”

Jason put his feet up on the couch, turning so the armrest was supporting his back. “I tried to kiss her.”

“And she dumped you for that?”

“Not exactly.” Jason scrubbed his palm over his face. “We decided to call it quits together. She was vexed at me because of something I told her, and because I tried to kiss her. I was vexed at her because she wouldn’t tell me what we were or where we were going.”

“Still friends, I hope,” Christopher said as unemotionally as he could.

“So do I.”

Christopher shrugged and stood up. “Come on, let’s go up to the dormitory. Julian says he nicked a half-bottle of firewhiskey.”

“I’d rather not, if that’s all right. I think getting drunk got me into this in the first place.”

“You got drunk?”

Jason nodded. “In my aunt and uncle’s house, no less. The American wizards don’t seem to care so much if their children get their hands on alcohol, so long as they use it in the house and don’t try to fly brooms afterwards.”

Christopher sighed theatrically. “Oh, to have been born an American.”

Jason got up. “You’d hate it. No one in Atlanta cares a bit about Quidditch.”

Christopher shrugged. “To get it on with an American girl, I might be willing to give that up.”

Jason stared at Christopher in mock-bewilderment. “As if anyone could give up Quidditch.”

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Notes:

The phrase \"There is a certain logic to your position\" comes from one of my favorite novels, How Much For Just The Planet by John M Ford.

Thanks to LJS and ffk for their reviews.

ffk, I\'m focusing on Ravenclaw because they seem to get short shrift. Hufflepuff got spotlighted in Book Four with Cedric, and except for Cho Chang and Roger Davies and Padma Patil, we really don\'t know much about the Ravenclaws. They\'ve always interested me. When I started writing \"Untitled Ravenclaw Story\", I picked Ravenclaw because it would be easy to insert an OC without difficulty. Plus, I rather fancy myself as one. Remember, the qualities that get you put into a house aren\'t the only qualities you have -- Hermione is smarter than all the Ravenclaws, but she\'s a Gryffindor. Neville is a hard worker, but he\'s not a Hufflepuff. Crabbe and Goyle, while extremely loyal to Draco, aren\'t in Gryffindor even though they don\'t seem to have a whole lot of Slytherin ambition.

That\'s also why I\'ve tried to muddle the house distinctions a bit. And when you see what I\'ve got in store for the Gryffindors between Chapters 20 and 30, you\'ll see why I didn\'t want to focus on them.

More to come when I get around to adding it. But don\'t worry; I\'ve written up to Chapter 22, so it\'s not like I\'m going to run out of things to say anytime soon. Meanwhile, check out Julie\'s Story, a piece I wrote this morning. It\'s PWP, and not Harry Potter.