B.Q Book Four: The Black Queen's War

Chapter 30: Meryton

"Hey, Jen? I need you for a strange conversation."

Jen blinked in befuddlement at Justin's sudden and unprompted announcement. "I think I may be in one already. What brought this up? And with whom? And why? And… Actually, let's stick with those questions first."

He grimaced slightly and glanced up at the front where Flitwick was answering some last-minute questions. "I… I just need you to trust me on this one."

Well, then. She leaned back slightly and gave him a serious look. On the one hand, Justin was one of her 'court', the very people whom by definition she should be able to trust. On the other, that need for blind trust did not exactly fill her with confidence. What was the root of this secrecy he was entangled within? "You're sure you can't tell me."

"It's not that it needs secrecy, exactly. It's more that I, well…" He shrugged. "I need you to go into this with an open mind."

Not the answer she was expecting. Not at all. That, of course, was piquing her interest more than was probably healthy, but nonetheless she gave him a nod. She did trust Justin. If he thought it was that important that she withhold immediate judgement, then she could give him the benefit of the doubt.

He smiled in relief, and then both of them were stuck watching the clock for the last few minutes before the last class of the day was finally released. Her bag was swiftly packed, and soon they split from the rest of the seventh-years heading for their dorms and dinner to take a turn down yet another unused and unfamiliar corridor.

By the Baron, she would love to see what Hogwarts looked like when all its rooms were filled. Or had the Founders perhaps been overly optimistic when building the castle and thus put enough space in that even now, a thousand years later, the student body was still not large enough to need all the rooms given to them? It was an interesting thought, and one she might need to try interrogating the Grey Lady or the Bloody Baron about at some time or another.

They stopped in front of an unremarkable door, and Justin shot her an expression both warning and pleading before he opened the door. Her sonar revealed the identities of the people within a split second before her eyes did, and she turned back to her friend. "My mind is still somewhat open, but it's going to close if I don't get an explanation in short order."

Only two people were inside the room, both of them seated at a table for four. Her eyes met Sally-Anne Perks, the Badger giving her a weak smile in return, and then they drifted over to Neville Longbottom. Why did he, the last of the Longbottoms, want to meet with her? He and his grandmother despised her for claiming Bellatrix as her mother. Her first thought was that this was a setup, possibly a duel of some kind, but were that the case she would have expected him to have Weasley or perhaps Finnigan as his second, not a random Hufflepuff. Yet there was no hint of anyone else in the room besides those two, not even a void where a couple of Lions could hide beneath Death's cloak.

It was the total strangeness of this situation that was keeping her here. This did not fit with her reading of Longbottom's personality.

Justin nudged her into the room and to the table. "So, er, here you both are," he said in an awkward voice. "Neville, I think you had something to say to Jen?"

…No. This had better not be some kind of intervention. If Justin was trying to get her and Longbottom to kiss and make up, she was going to be looking for a new friend to fill her circle.