TPS Part 7: Jasper's Response
It was Ms Dunbar. There she stood, a rather small girl with a round face. Her brown hair hung a bit shorter than her shoulders and were slightly wavy, perhaps due to her persistent playing with it.
She kept twirling her fingers in her hair as she tried to meet his gaze. "Yes Ms Dunbar? Is there a problem? They didn't hurt you again did they?"
Dunbar quickly shook her head and looked back at her friends for support which they clearly gave in the way of a wave and a push. "I-" she cleared her throat "I want to thank you. You didn't have to do that." She started mumbling "Even if everyone says you did it because of my father-" Onyx put up a hand to stop her.
"No need to thank me. I've never understood why some need a reason to act with decency to each other." He gave her a wide calming smile "I simply helped a pretty girl get off the ground. You had no reason to be down there so I offered to help. I hope you haven't gotten into trouble because of it."
Fay Dunbar stood there blinking, confused about what he had said. She was worried he'd gotten hurt later because of her but he seemed worried it was the other way around. Her friends were whispering fervently behind her until Onyx took a glance at them. "Next time you come to me for a chat, I'd appreciate some privacy. But if that's all, I'd like to get back to my studies."
Dunbar got back to planet earth "Of course! Perhaps we can get together and study some time, I've heard you're brilliant." She laughed it off as a joke but he just answered "Sure." before getting back to his book.
Dunbar joined her friends and the whispering was intense as they left the library, much to the delight of madam Pince. Onyx was glad to have gotten a person to perhaps study with in the future, but didn't think much of it as he got the last few details of the particular shield charm he was studying.
Two hours later he had finished his personal studies. A couple of jinxes and a highly adaptable shield were the fruits of his endeavour. Now he only had to practise them somewhere in the dungeons. He went down to the dungeons to meet up with Zabini to do their homework but was stopped by Malfoy right before he got into the common room.
"Don't think I don't know what you're up to Grey." Onyx raised an eyebrow at the smug boy "I know you're trying to state your claim for control of our year and any other year it might have worked. But this year I'm here. With my connections and my name I can trump you in every category. You're just making enemies by pushing back, why not just lie down and join the sheep?"
Onyx sighed. Malfoy was obviously scared he'd lose his position as the most influential boy of their year. He had read somewhere that the house itself selected the prefects from the most influential people in the year. Perhaps those power plays had already started, but Onyx hadn't made his claim yet.
"Don't worry Malfoy. I'm not going to disrupt your plans. If I've read your personality correctly, you'll do that yourself eventually. I'll just have to wait around, and grab the opportunity when you give it to me."
With those words Onyx brushed past him and went into the common room. He instantly walked up to the people he wanted to do his assignments with "Zabini, Moon and.." he looked at the third person "Nott."
A small smile shone on his lips as he asked them "How about we do our assignments together? If I understand correctly you've gotten the upcoming assignments from the other houses, right Zabini?" He nodded. During the day he gathered what assignments had been handed out in the classes they hadn't had yet from the Ravenclaws.
Without waiting for confirmation, Onyx took out his charms book. "Then let's do this!" Moon seemed slightly happier than before he got there and he could even see a tinge of excitement in the eyes of Nott.
A few hours later they were done with everything for the week. That would mean that they were free the other days to do whatever they wanted. Onyx suggested they'd make this a regular occurrence as soon as he found a good study and practise room around the dungeons, but that was a mission for tomorrow.
It was time for sleep. After saying goodbye to two of them, he and Zabini walked down the stairs and went to bed.
The day after, Onyx once again went out for a run. Just before he went out the door however, he was stopped by Rufus. Rufus insisted that he didn't just run out there, as if there was danger associated with the door.
Onyx took the warning to heart and brought up his wand. When he opened the door nothing happened, but as soon as he walked through it, a spell was fired from the doorframe. Onyx only just managed to put up his shield to protect himself.
He was a bit annoyed at how this was handled. That spell could have just as easily hit Zabini, and that's where he draws the line. Let the spells hit him, not those who associate with him.
After walking through the door a couple of more times with his shield activated to make sure the spell wouldn't fire again, he went out of the castle and let out some steam. Neville joined him after a couple of minutes and they ran together for a while once again.
The breakfast wasn't nearly as interesting and Onyx hoped he'd quickly settle into a routine here. The first class of the day was Defence Against the Dark Arts, or DADA, with the lions. As soon as the class started, Onyx felt that wrong feeling once more.
It was Harry. That disgusting bond he felt on the train was active. A lot more active than he expected and then he realized. The bond seemed to be between him and the teacher. Each time it activated, Harry's head seemed to hurt as he kept grabbing his forehead.
He now made up his mind that he should seek help from his great grandfather. He had hoped that the bond would disappear once the school nurse found it, surely she didn't miss something like this? If she did, Onyx wouldn't trust her with his own injuries.
All throughout class, instead of writing notes on the class, Onyx formulated his letter to Jasper to properly explain how wrong the bond felt. He really didn't want to be anywhere near this if possible.
If anyone knew how to handle it, it would be Jasper. After working like 40 years as a curse breaker, he should be able to recognize most things. Right after class he gave the letter to Rufus, who was told to get it to an owl instantly. The fox ran quickly through the halls. Hopefully he'd have a response at lunch.
The next class was not important in Onyx's mind. It was magical theory and he already knew it all anyway so he spent the class worrying about the response he wanted to get at lunchtime. When that time finally arrived, he was visibly worried when he saw Jasper's black owl fly into the hall.
The people around him had noticed that something was wrong and so when he got a letter, Zabini looked at him hoping he didn't need support and Moon sat a bit closer to him just in case.
He started reading the letter.
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Dear Onyx,
That sounds like a larger problem than you can handle yourself. Hand the second part of this letter to your school nurse and we'll see if we can sort out a scan of sorts. I hope we can figure out what bothers you this much, I can only assume it's not good considering the victim.
With love,
Jasper
PS. I'm glad you ended up in the snake pit. Hope you'll enjoy the challenge. I was supposed to be there, but was told it wouldn't be easy for a muggleborn student.
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