Chương 15: Reflection and Revelation
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Chapter 15
Jake was sitting by the shore of the black lake. Blaze, his baby phoenix, was sitting in his lap snoozing. A few weeks ago Jake's entire world had changed after he'd met those four hero assholes and been flung back in time to magical high school. He basically went from an ordinary kid with nothing to his name to the descendent of some super powerful ancient king! Jake was not too afraid to admit to himself that he was too arrogant and that his magical knowledge might have been a tad bit lacking. Jake didn't know what depressed him more, the fact that he had almost died to the dragon, the fact that he had to be saved by someone who had some unironically really cool ice magic. Or maybe it was the fact that he was acting so boastful just like the other champions and ended up getting spanked for it in front of the whole school…
Jake's momentary pity party was interrupted when he heard footsteps behind him. He turned around and saw Harry, Ron, and Hermione approaching. Jake gave the three of them a wave. "Hey guys," he said with a tone that was somewhat lacking in his usual confidence.
The other three hadn't known Jake long, but they could clearly tell that he was upset. "Hey Jake," Harry waved to Jake, "you shouldn't be too down. That entire fight with that Dragon was absolutely crazy after all!" Ron beside him vehemently nodded in agreement.
"That's right," Ron interrupted with an excited tone, "that was the coolest fight I've ever seen in my entire life! You were just throwing explosive spell after explosive spell, and that horntail was just taking them right in the face and raining fire right back down on you. It was epic, man, truly the stuff of Legends!" Ron said enthusiastically.
Hermione spoke up, "Well… while your battle was impressive, Jake. It was clear that you were wasting a ton of magic, not only with all your bombardas which barely did any real damage to the dragon other than breaking its scales, but THEN you went and blocked the dragon's fire breath with a standard Protego! Not even a protego maxima!? Who does that?" She exclaimed. "That's like trying to stop a freight train with a kitten."
"What?" Jake said in confusion.
"Never mind," Hermione shook her head. "That was a bad analogy, but you get what I was saying! You should have learned better spells before you went into the match, and because you didn't, you almost died when that dragon's tail impaled you. I was absolutely terrified," Hermione said with some concern. She hadn't known Jake Gremory for long, but she absolutely did not want to see anyone she knows die like that, especially a decently nice guy like him! She had a few conversations with him in the common room, and he'd always listened to her and never tried to cut her off or stop her explanations short for being a know-it-all like other students did…
Jake just gave them a small smile and let out a sigh. "It doesn't matter because, in the end, I didn't win that fight," Jake explained. "Someone interfered and saved me. I ended up failing the first task," Jake said in sadness. "One round in, and I've already blown the tournament..."
"That's not true," Harry spoke up. "You were actually passed out at the end, so you missed the judging. They actually awarded you 25 points out of 50 for this first round. They said that it was true that somebody interfered and killed your dragon for you, but it was also true that somebody slipped something called a Berserker potion to the horntail right before your fight started, which apparently made it a whole lot stronger than it should have been," Harry explained. "So, in the end, it kind of evened out, I'd say."
Ron and Hermione nodded along. "That's absolutely true," Hermione said. "Professor Snape actually went in front of the microphone at the end and explained to the whole audience what the Berserker potion was and what it did. It was absolutely horrifying! The moment that the dragon ingested that potion, it was already destined to die. And yes, it was technically possible that it would have died fighting you as well… BUT there's a chance you would have just knocked it out, and then the horntail would have been able to live! Either way, this competition has already proved to be far too barbaric for my liking," Hermione continued on. She had originally thought Quidditch was super violent, but this tournament was gearing up to turn into a horrifying blood sport, and she was not a fan, not at all. She also wasn't a fan of every wizard cheering so vehemently for, what should have been, obvious animal cruelty! Except for Harry facing the dementors, those things could go to hell for all she cared.
"I don't know what Hermione's on about," Ron said, "but all of those fights, minus Harry and the French guy, were super amazing! Krum really showed that he was the man when he fought off three trolls at once with a broken arm!. And that French Veela electrocuting herself to defeat the Kelpie took a lot of balls, even though, you know, she's a girl and she doesn't have any ba—"
"Alright, Ronald, we get it," Hermione interrupted his vulgar explanation.
"What we're trying to say and why we came out here was to try and cheer you up, Jake," Harry said.
"Yeah, and so what if you're in last place right now," Ron said, once again dampening the mood, "there are still two more challenges to go. You could still win this. Although you'll have to beat Harry here! My man is in first place, and he got a perfect score of 50 points when he took out those three dementors instantly with his wicked stag Patronus!" Ron said as he bragged for his best friend. He knew Harry was too shy to brag for himself. What are friends for, right!?
Harry just waved him off. "We said what we came to say, so we'll be heading back now," Harry said calmly.
"Yeah, maybe you should come along. It's kind of sad watching you out here by yourself, just hanging in front of the lake. Plus, you know, I'm kind of nervous being this close to the water right now, especially after what happened last time," Ron said, his voice taking on a bit of a nervous tone. He remembered that those mermaids were pretty pissed off from that explosion the other day, and Ron, Harry, and Hermione were the ones who got blamed for it by them! He was actually kind of peeved that Jake was just sitting by the lake nonchalantly because he basically got away scot-free...
Jake simply shrugged. "I don't know what you're talking about, but sure, I'll come along and head back to the castle with you guys."
The four of them started their trek back to Hogwarts. However, on the way, they were interrupted by a surprise guest standing in the path. It was none other than Serafall.
"Hi, everybody," Serafall smiled kindly. "Do you three mind if I borrow Jake for a bit? He still owes me a date, after all," she said with a wink, causing the three younger teens to blush.
"Well, actually, we were already on our way up to the castle. We have some plans, you see, and you're more than welcome to jo—" Hermione's rant was interrupted midway as Harry clamped his hand over her mouth. He chose this moment to finally step up and be a real bro. Jake smiled to himself at the revelation. 'They grow up so fast!'
Ron simply nudged Jake on his side with his elbow, wearing a smirk on his face as he wiggled his eyebrows at him. Jake scoffed.
Jake passed over the sleeping Blaze in his arms to the still disgruntled Hermione and asked her to deliver his bird to Luna while he went on ahead with Serafall.
—-----------------------------
Jake was surprised that Serafall wanted to have their little date now, but he considered it a welcome reprieve from what went on yesterday. He tried to convince Harry and the gang that he was fine, but the truth was he was definitely a bit shaken up. He literally had a giant spike run through his torso! That kind of trauma tends to linger for a while. Glancing at Serafall, who was just casually walking along next to him with a small smile on her face, Jake rapidly shook his head a few times, trying to banish the negative thoughts. He was on a date with "the prettiest girl he'd ever seen, after all!" Jake still couldn't believe he had actually said that part out loud in front of the whole school...
As they continued wandering nowhere in particular together, Jake was about to ask Serafall if there was anything in particular she wanted to do. Maybe visit that Hogsmeade place he had heard so much about from all the older Gryffindors trying to give him their "experienced" relationship advice. Before Jake could speak, though, Serafall grabbed his hand!
Grabbing his hand, Serafall glanced at Jake's face and smirked slyly. "Aaahhh, you're actually blushing from some wholesome hand-holding," she teased him.
Jake sputtered out in indignation, "No, I'm not!" he exclaimed. Not that she believed him.
"Sure you aren't," Serafall teased with a smile. However, that smile quickly turned into a serious expression on her face. "Jake," she said his name in a tone that meant no nonsense, "it's high time you and I have a talk," she said.
"Oh," Jake sputtered out again, "I mean, we're only on our first date, and I don't really have any protection on me." Jake completely misread the situation... "I wonder if there are spells for that, though."
"There are," Serafall nodded in confirmation, "but that's not what I was talking about!" she said with exasperation. "Now, come on and follow me to somewhere we can speak in private." She didn't allow him a chance to respond as she, still holding his hand, she just continued to drag Jake by his arm towards the Forbidden Forest. Jake noted to himself that she was surprisingly strong for such a short-statured girl! He couldn't break her grip at all!
Eventually, she had dragged him along right past the boundary of the forest entrance and into the woods. Surprisingly, they eventually made it to the same clearing that Luna had originally led Jake to, where he met Blaze for the first time!
"Hey, I've been here before," Jake said aloud.
"I know," Serafall confirmed, shocking him a bit. Did Luna tell her? He didn't know they were even friends, and Luna didn't particularly seem like the type of girl who went around spilling information about her friends.
"You're probably wondering how I know," she asked, to which Jake nodded. "It's quite simple, really. I've been investigating you for a while now, Jake. You clearly don't have any real control over your demonic power because you've been leaving faint trails of it all over this school and pretty much anywhere you go. To any other supernatural being out there that has even the slightest sensing capabilities, your lack of control basically makes you shine like a magical beacon." Dhe explained with an exasperated tone towards the red-haired teen.
Hearing the word "demonic" from Serafall set Jake on edge. 'She knew he wasn't human?' The only one who was supposed to know was Dumbledore!
Serafall saw the look of panic on Jake's face from having his little secret heritage "exposed" to her. She could have gone with the whole long explanation about her also being a devil and yada yada, but instead, she chose the easy way... Serafall flared her magic power as her pair of devil wings sprang from her back.
*Swoosh!* Jake's body naturally responded to her flare of demonic power as his own devil wings sprang forth from his back. He looked behind himself in shock at the pair of bat-like wings that were sprouting from his back. Then he looked on at Serafall in shock as he saw an almost identical pair extending from her back as well.
"You... You're also a devil." He stuttered out in surprise.
"Indeed, I am, Jake," Serafall replied smugly. "And I'm not just any random devil either, but we'll get into that later. I was actually sent here on a sort of secret mission to investigate you," she stated, shocking Jake.
Jake wondered why she would bother investigating him... Who was he kidding? There were tons of reasons why! Luckily for him, she decided to tell him.
"There are a few reasons I was sent here to investigate you," Serafall explained to him.
"A few reasons?"
"Let's start with the top reason! I know you're a time traveler!"
-end chapter-
A special thank you to my Hero Team Patron(s): William G.
Read chapters ahead of time at p.a.t.r.e.o.n –> FiveStarTomato
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