Loneliness in Difference

Chapter 12: MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

The spiral staircase was probably the most daunting part of Jakob's trip. It was clear to him that Luke and the others had already arrived at the Headmistress' office since the entrance was open. His leg was still in pain but it wasn't as bad as it had been the day before so he had thought he could make it to her office without any help. He wasn't quite as positive anymore.

Jakob let out a sigh and slowly began to climb the steps.

When he reached the top his leg ached and he was out of breath. He discovered that it was a lot easier to climb steps with someone's help. He hopped up a few more steps and over to the door leading to the main part of the office. The door squeaked open and he peeked inside.

"Jakob!" Cecillia cried when she saw him.

Jakob nodded at her, Luke, and Adelaide and then to the Headmistress. He moved into the room. Luke climbed out of his chair and offered it to Jakob. He accepted the offer happily and eased into the chair.

The office was the same as Jakob had remembered it on his first visit. Not one of his best memories, mainly because of the amount of anxiety he had been dealing with at the time, but it was one of his better ones. The sorting hat sat on one of the Headmistress' several bookcases, the sword of Gryffindor sat in its glass case directly behind her, and the last time turner was tucked behind several books. Luke and the others had most likely not noticed it except Adelaide may have. If Jakob had to bet one of them had noticed he would put his money on Adelaide. Not that he really had any money left from his monthly allowance since Christmas was the next day.

As for the rest of the office, it was pretty dull. Books lined her shelves and the ones that didn't fit were placed on top of the others. The Headmistress had a few different gadgets hidden around the room and Jakob found it amusing to try and find all of them.

"Now that all of you are here I'll begin." Headmistress McGonagall said. "Even though they're not in any danger at the moment the Slytherin's condition may take a turn for the worst. As of now, they're showing no signs of recovery. If this was a normal situation Hogwarts would have been shut down. However, because so many lives are at stake the ministry has let us stay in commission as long as we can figure out, and deal with, whatever is going on by the end of the school year. I would like the four of you to lead any operations and resource gathering that take place in this matter. From my experience, mainly from when Mr. Potter and his friends were at Hogwarts, no matter what I say you'll act anyway. It's much safer if I grant you the help you need."

"Excuse me, Headmistress," Cecillia said, "but I was assuming we'd be receiving a punishment for acting on our own." Luke turned and looked at her in disbelief. Jakob assumed he was angry she had brought that fact up.

"Because of the gravity of our situation, we don't have time to worry about that. If you feel like you need to be punished consider what I just told you as such. Getting back to what I was saying, when you're searching for information we will have to stick inside of Hogwarts for now since we've run into a slight issue." She pointed to the window where Jakob could see white dust falling from the sky.

"The snow is late!" Adelaide hissed.

Jakob stared at her. "She was grumbling about it all the way here," Luke told him.

"Snow is the second best thing to colorful leaves from the fall," Adelaide said. "I'm fine with a small break in between the leaves and the snow, but when all the leaves have died two months before the snow, that is unacceptable."

"And I thought Cecillia was melodramatic," Jakob said exasperatedly.

"Excuse me," Cecillia said, "I am far more dramatic than she will ever be. After all, my middle name is-"