Dark Secrets

Chapter 39:

***Jen's POV***

A year.

It's been a whole year since the last time I saw Draco. They sent me to Beauxbatons after Draco handed me off to Lupin. I haven't seen any of my friends, or any familiar face for that matter, in a year. All I was told was it wasn't safe at Hogwarts and I'd be safe here. I had begged them to let me at least visit my grandfather's grave but they said that my grandfather's grave will be the first place Voldemort would look for me and we couldn't risk it. So we flew on broomsticks for who knows how long before we made it to Beauxbatons. I asked them why I had to hide while everyone else risked their life; I told them I didn't want to hide like a coward. All they said was it wasn't safe for me to go to Hogwarts when it's being overrun by Deatheaters. They told me that Voldemort would just capture me again. I told them I didn't care; I didn't want to hide, that I'd rather be a prisoner then do nothing.

Obviously, I lost the argument.

The only thing I got Lupin and Tonks to promise is they'd keep me updated. Every day they send me a letter telling me if anything's different and how everyone's doing. I haven't gotten one letter about Draco though. Of course I've asked, but they didn't know. Draco was on the inside, unreachable. The only thing they can tell me if he's alive or not. I have no idea how he's handling under the pressure or if Voldemort has hurt him or anything. Knowing that he's alive keeps me sane but not knowing how he's doing keeps me up at night.

I miss Hogwarts so much. Every day I find myself comparing Beauxbatons to Hogwarts and it makes me miss Hogwarts even more. But from all the letters I get from Lupin and Tonks I learned that Hogwarts isn't the same. It's overrun with Deatheaters and Snape is the headmaster. The bastard who killed my grandfather is running his school. Just thinking about that makes my stomach tie in knots.

Plus, it's horrid here. The grounds are absolutely stunning and all but it's all too unfamiliar. I've gone to Hogwarts my whole life, I'd sometimes go to school with my grandfather when I wasn't old enough to go there as a student. Hogwarts was a home away from home for me. And now I get thrust into a new school in a different country without warning. Not only that, most of the girls are too nice and prissy and the guys I've met are either super shy and awkward or gay. The differences between the two schools was astounding and I wasn't used to it. I didn't know how to act, didn't understand the social culture and I would always stand out, no matter what I did. I missed the familiarities of Hogwarts.

And Merlin, I miss Draco. I've even resorted to drawing him. I haven't drawn in ages, I never had the time, but here I find myself with too much free time to fill in. My half of the room is filled with my drawings of him. My roommate, Juliette, is always asking about him but I always tell her the same thing, 'I love him, but once I see him again I'm going to kick his ass.'

I'm still beyond pissed with him that he handed me off to hide from the war while he stayed. I didn't need to be protected but ever since my grandfather died that's what everyone seemed to be doing. My grandfather was a great man and a lot of people think that they're doing him a kindness after death by taking care of me. I'm a bloody adult damn it (I turned eighteen in October)! I don't need to be treated as if I am a child. But no one cares what I think.

It's now May and I'm sitting in the dining room for breakfast with some of the sort of friends I had made this year. The dining room is a lot different than the Great Hall at Hogwarts. The room is filled with small circular tables instead of long bench tables, and the tables have silk tablecloths and we have so many useless utensils on the table, it's ridiculous. The grand room is filled with sparkling chandeliers and the floor was made of blinding white marble. And instead of owls dropping off your mail to you a house elf dressed in a suit comes around and gives you your mail on a silver platter. I still haven't decided if that's disturbing or cute.

I was poking at my eggs when a house elf gave me my mail. One letter. I took it and said 'merci' before he walked away. I tore open the letter. This is the only thing that I look forward to at this place. I scanned the letter and my heart dropped. There was only on word sprawled on the letter. WAR.

My heart stopped. I was both relieved and scared. I've been planning on how I was going to get out of here when the war started but now I'm having second thoughts. I have no idea what I'm going to find when I get there. It will take me a few hours to get there and I might just be going to a massacre. I shook the thoughts out of my head. I've waited a year for this and I'm not going to back down now. Everyone I know is going to be at the war and I'm not going to just leave them. I'm going to help them.

I stood up from my table and walked out of the dining room. I heard Juliette calling after me but I wasn't listening. I started walking towards my dorm then I was running. Walking wasn't getting me anywhere fast enough. I ran into my dorm and pulled my packed suitcase out from under the bed. I've been packed for months now, waiting for this day. I shrunk the suitcase so I could fit it in my pocket and ran back downstairs. The dining room was emptying, everyone heading towards their first classes and everyone saw me. Madam Maxine yelled at me that 'ladies do not run in dresses' but I didn't listen. I'm done with their strict rules. I ran outside and I heard the teachers going after me.

I was now standing in the middle of the courtyard with all the student body and teachers surrounding me.

"What do you think you are doing" Madam Maxine asked in her thick French accent.

"Leaving." I answered simply then whistled.

"What nerve you 'ave." Madam Maxine scoffed and walked towards me. "You can not just leave, who do you think you are?"

"Dumbledore's granddaughter." I answered simply then I heard a squawk.

Everyone looked up in time to see Buckbeck land next to me. Everyone gasped and stepped back.

"Don't you dare get on that...that thing." Madam Maxine ordered. "If you do you are expelled."

"Too late, I already withdraw myself from your school. Bon voyage, chiennes." I said.

I tried to climb on Buckbeck but it was nearly impossible with this dress on. I grabbed fabric and ripped a slit on either side up to my waist so I could actually move my legs. Everyone around me gasped as if I had insulted the queen of England or something and I rolled my eyes. I got on Buckbeck and Madam Maxine started yelling at me in french but I was already flying away. With Buckbeck's feathers in between my fingers I lifted up my other hand and pulled the stupid blue ribbon out of my now blond hair. They made me dye my hair blond because my multi-color hair was a 'distraction to the peace at Beauxbatons.' I rolled my eyes at the memory and coaxed Buckbeck to go faster. I've got to get to Hogwarts before it's too late. I smiled, even though I was going to a war, I was finally going to see my friends and Draco again.