The Adventures of the Junior Phoenixes, Part 3: The Pendant of Death

Chapter 16: Into the Woods

Chapter 16

     The van ride home was full of frivolity among the students. They stopped in Byron and picked up some more supplies for the dinner that Mrs. Figg had been preparing. They also stocked up on junk food, both Muggle kind and Magical kind. Lucas bought some Cauldron Cakes for himself, Dan, and Jace while Moonstone picked up more Exploding Bon-Bons.

     Rain Fox, however, was quiet. She sat in the far back of the van with Teller. Teller was quiet on his own. She kept her wits about her, but so much was running through her mind. Shade had always talked about how he was an orphan and was raised through the foster system. He was one of the smartest and cleverest wizards she had ever known. How in the world did he not know that his mother was alive as a patient in St. Mungo’s? He had to know, she thought to herself. She racked her brain and it only made her more confused. She knew that her mother had known about Easter and the pendants, but she still had trouble wrapping her mind around the idea that Shade’s mother was still alive; that he was not an orphan. He didn’t know, right? He couldn’t know, could he?

     “You’re mumbling to yourself,” Teller said to Rain Fox.

     “What?” Rain Fox asked with a startle. “What did you say?”

     “You were mumbling to yourself,” Teller observed. “Making sure you weren’t talking to me.”

     Rain Fox leaned closer to Teller and tapped him on the shoulder. “I have a question.”

     “My name is Teller,” he said emphatically, “Just Teller.”

     “Not that, Teller,” she said, waving off, “I need to ask you something about Shade.”

     Teller looked at her with his strikingly blue eyes. “What do you want to know?” He wore a look of curiosity.

     “How long have you known him?”

     Teller sat back and thought for a second. “I’d say since he was in training when he started out with the Aurors. I didn’t really know him when I was at Salem. I was in Putnam as a Sixth Year while he was a young Third Year in Bishop. He was quiet at first. But I was so busy with studies and Pre-Auror training under the Iron Bull that I never really paid attention to the kid. Except on the Quidditch Pitch. Him, Jinx, John Hardstone, Griffin Thornback, Rider DeVine, Meadow Lions, and Ravenus Rouge were all on the team. They were the first team in a long time that were all from the same year. They were pretty darn good. Other than that, I learned about him when he came on as an Auror-in-training.”

     “What do you know about him?” she asked.

     “I know he was tossed around when he was a kid. He went to Hogwarts a couple of years before he got sent to Salem. He was in Bishop, he didn’t have any family, and liked Salem a lot. He moved there after he got hired on as an Auror. He lives in the Morning Glory and wears way too much black. Him, Jinx, and Hardstone were all good friends. Other than that, not much.”

     “Nothing else?” Rain Fox asked.

     “He was teacher’s pet,” Teller said.

     “Master Wolf’s?” Rain Fox asked.

     “His, too,” Teller said, “But he mostly hung around Master Bullavin.”

     Rain Fox nodded. “So other than all that, nothing else?”

     “What are you asking me for? What is it you’re hoping I would say?”

     “Nothing,” Rain Fox said. She leaned back to her side of the seat. “Just nothing.”