It's here! The official repost of Black Revelations! To new readers, welcome and I sincerely hope you enjoy. Don't forget to review!
To old readers: In spite of what that last author's note said... Please forget EVERYTHING you read the first time around. Over the last several months this story has evolved so much and it is not quite the same story you once read. The premise is mostly the same, but a lot of major details are not.
I think that's all I have to say, so enjoy! :)
Chapter 1
The scarlet steam engine stood before me, families and students gathered around it. Owls hooted to one another and cats wove in between their owners' legs. Some parents said tearful goodbyes to their children, mostly those of seventh years. The first years were easily noticeable due to their wide eyes and expressions of awestruck wonder. It was a scene I should have had memorized by that point, but I still loved the image of Platform Nine and Three-Quarters on September first.
"Alyssa, remember what we talked about on the way here," my dad told me sternly.
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. I loved my parents, really, but sometimes it was like they didn't trust me.
"I know, Dad," I answered. "'Don't get detention again.' I think I've got it by now."
"We mean it, dear," said Mum, giving me a look. "We don't want to hear from the school because you broke the rules again."
"Honestly, it was once! Merlin, I hex Black one time and you'd think I told people that I enjoy kicking puppies or something. He so deserved it!"
"Not the point." Dad sighed. "Just stay out of trouble, all right?"
"All right." My eyes caught a glimpse of fiery red hair to my left. "I think I see Lily. Bye, Mum! Bye, Dad! I'll write to you!"
Mum managed to pull me into a hug just before I bolted off. "Have a good term. We'll see you at Christmas."
I waved to them as I pushed through the crowd. For a moment, I lost sight of Lily, but then found her again and decided to have a little fun. She always did startle easily.
Lily was speaking with her parents when I approached. I locked eyes with Mr. Evans for a moment and held up a finger to my lips. The corner of his mouth pulled up the tiniest bit, and he winked so subtly that I almost missed it.
Slowing my pace and trying not to make any sound at all, I crept up behind Lily and thought quickly. A smile slowly spread across my face. I rose up on tiptoes, since she was a good five or six inches taller than I was, and put my mouth right next to her ear. "Mrow."
As expected, she jumped about a foot in the air and made a kind of noise that was somewhere between a yelp and a squeal. I barely stepped back in time to avoid getting a mouthful of red hair as she whirled around to face me, reprimand already forming on her lips. But I smiled innocently and waved.
A huge grin replaced her frown. "Alyssa!" She enveloped me in a bone-crushing hug. I laughed and hugged her as well as she said rather quickly, "Oh my Merlin, I can't believe you've been gone for three months and I've missed you! How long have you been back? How was Germany? Most importantly, did you bring me anything?"
"Oh, so that's where your priorities lie," I teased her. "Fine. I've been back for about a week and a half; Germany was fine, but I was ready to come back a month ago; and yes, I brought you some chocolate."
Lily pumped a fist. "Yes! I love German chocolate!"
"As nice as it is for you two hooligans to be together again," Mrs. Evans commented, smiling warmly. "I think it's time for you to get on the train. It's five minutes to eleven."
Lily checked her watch. "You're right, Mum. Love you both! See you at Christmas!" She hugged both of her parents and stepped back.
Before we left them, Mrs. Evans held me back and wrapped me in her arms as well. I smiled at the gesture. They'd told me once that they considered me a surrogate daughter, and they truly meant it. They never failed to write to me on my birthday and invite me over during the holidays, and that was the best feeling ever.
"You're welcome over any time as well, honey," Lily's mum told me. "Write us anytime, you hear?"
"Yes, ma'am!"
I then shared a quick embrace with Mr. Evans, and Lily and I were running to the train. Seconds after reaching our compartment, the train began to move. Barely on time, as usual.
"You'll have to tell me all about your trip," said Lily as we sat down.
"The only notable thing is that I probably gained ten pounds just from my grandmother's cooking," I said, making a face. "That's going to be a pain to work off. But other than that, it wasn't really anything special."
Lily rolled her eyes. "Well, it's not special to you because you lived there for so long."
"Yeah, I guess so. Oma still isn't happy about us moving here, you know; she tried to get us to stay another week, but I had to come back to get my school things."
When I was little, maybe about three or four years old, my parents had moved our small family to Germany. They had never told me why, and I hadn't ever thought to ask either; I assumed it was so we could be closer to our extended family. And then when my older brother Andrew finished school and decided to work with dragons in Romania, that gave us even more reason to stay. But when I received my Hogwarts letter on my eleventh birthday, I had begged my parents to go. They didn't want to send me at first, but I guess my pestering got under their skin and they finally agreed. We moved back to England that summer. Expanding my English vocabulary and doing well in school was a challenge for that first year, but here I was five years later in the top ten of my class, and I couldn't be happier.
The compartment door slid open, and two of my other roommates walked in. Alice Prewett and Marlene McKinnon were best friends much like Lily and I were. The four of us got along pretty well, which couldn't be said for everyone, but it worked for us. The only one missing was Brooke Moore, and that would have made up the Gryffindor sixth year girls, but Brooke didn't talk to us much. I wasn't sure why; she seemed to be pretty nice, if a little shy, and I couldn't remember any of us ever doing anything to seriously offend her. Honestly, it was like she avoided us and we had given up trying to communicate with her. Maybe I should change that this year, I thought.
Lily stood up as Alice and Marlene took their seats, telling us that she had to go to a prefect's meeting and that we'd finish talking about my trip later.
"And I expect my chocolate when I get back!" she told me as an afterthought, disappearing into the train corridor.
o0o0o0o
When we got off the train, the platform was already packed with students pushing towards the carriages. I wished I could take the boats with the first years just so I wouldn't have to see the thestrals that pulled those carriages. But I wouldn't want to leave Lily to face it by herself.
I worried about her. After she'd had such a bad year last year, I didn't know how she was going to handle it this time around. It'd only been a year. I could still see the pain in her eyes. But when I looked back to Lily, she'd cast her eyes to the ground.
I turned back around and tried to keep up with Alice and Marlene while keeping a hand on Lily's sleeve. Marlene ran ahead to claim a carriage for us and waited patiently for us to catch up.
"You lot are slower than a flock of flobberworms," she teased when we reached her.
As she and Alice bickered over the flobberworm comment, I glanced over at the thestral in front of our carriage. It snorted and bobbed its reptilian head. I could see each one of its huge ribs underneath its glossy black coat. Its milky white eyes stared off into nothingness.
As Lily was about to climb into the carriage, a third year rushed by. In his haste, he accidentally bowled into me and sent me stumbling. Throwing out an arm to balance myself, the tips of my fingers brushed the thestral's mane.
My entire body went cold. A pit opened up in my stomach. Oh no, I thought. As the third year hurried on his way yelling his apology, Lily turned to see where I had gone. Her eyes widened. "Alyssa?"
I fell to my knees with a loud gasp.
"Alyssa!"
I couldn't see, but I could smell the smoke. We hunkered down in a back alley, gripping our wands and wondering what we should do. I heard the screams. My heart pounded.
"I'm gonna get a look at what's going on," one of my companions whispered.
"Ian, no–"said the other, but Ian was already gone. I heard his footsteps getting quieter as he put distance between us.
"Lily, stop!"
"I have to find him!"
The screams had all but stopped, but one more suddenly rose up, louder and more heart wrenching than the others preceding it.
"Alyssa!"
I couldn't breathe.
"Alyssa!"
My eyes snapped open and I gasped, filling my lungs with coveted oxygen. Hands gripped my shoulders. Panicking, I tried to escape, but the fingers gripped tighter.
"Ow– Alyssa, stop it! It's me!"
Slowly, my mind cleared enough to recognize who was speaking to me. It was someone I knew, someone I was comfortable with…
"Come on, snap out of it. It's Lily; now open your eyes."
Lily. Right.
My muscles relaxed and I blinked my eyes open, coming face to face with wide green eyes and a furrowed brow. My vision began to clear, and Lily sighed.
"I hate it when you do that," she muttered.
I held a hand to my aching head. "Yeah, me too." I stood on shaky legs. Lily held a hand out to support me, but I waved her off.
With one last worried glance, Lily climbed into the carriage. I got in after her and settled back into my seat.
"Are you all right, Alyssa?" Marlene asked from the seat across from me. "You look a little pale."
"I'm fine. A third year ran into me and I… hit my head on the side of the carriage," I lied.
I'm not sure if they bought it, but Lily swooped in to save the day, changing the subject. I closed my eyes and let my friends' voices tone down to a dull drone as we trundled up to the castle.
I didn't know why I had those blackouts. I didn't know why I relived the most terrifying moment of my life. It had only happened a few times before, and it was always the same moment in time, but with varying degrees of clarity. There was always some kind of trigger, I always panicked when I came out of it, and I hadn't yet figured out how to stop it. Maybe there wasn't a way to stop it.
No one knew, besides Lily, and even she had found out by accident. I hadn't told my parents, or my roommates, or even my cousin Hestia, who was only a year above me in school and who I usually trusted with this sort of thing. So far I thought I'd done a pretty decent job keeping it secret, but if it happened during class… Well, that would be it. Everyone would know I was crazy.
Fantastic.
A finger sharply prodded me in the side, and I jerked awake. Rubbing my blurry eyes, I realized I must have dozed off.
Quickly, I followed my friends out of the carriage and paused for a moment to take in the breathtaking beauty of Hogwarts. Its many turrets and towers beckoned to me, and I smiled.
The Great Hall was already teeming with students. We found four seats near the middle of the table, two on each side, and rushed to claim them. I caught my cousin's gaze in passing, and Hestia threw a wink at me before turning back to her friends.
"I wonder if I'll get my chance this year," Alice commented, a rosy tint coloring her cheeks. "With Frank, I mean."
Lily grinned. "I've heard sixth year is a good year for new things."
"Maybe Black and Potter will grow up and leave us alone!" I spouted hopefully.
Pause.
"Nah, I take that back," I amended. "That will never happen."
"On the bright side, we only have to deal with them for two more years," Marlene said.
"Two years too long," Lily grumbled.
As if we had summoned them by simply speaking about them, the self-acclaimed Marauders sauntered by our seats. As that incorrigible dog Black passed by, he said, "All right, Jones?"
To which I replied, "Go to hell, Black."
"See you there," he shot back.
Some things never changed. That had been our signature exchange since third year. Outside of that, we hardly spoke. Every now and then we threw an insult or a hex across the common room, but we generally stayed out of each other's way… Well, except for that one time last year when I screamed every profanity under the sun– in English and German, thank you– at him in the middle of the corridor and hexed him all the way to the Hospital Wing.
Professor McGonagall wasn't too pleased with me, but hey, it was a bad week. O.W.L.s and all that.
I hated Black as much as he hated me, and that was how it would stay.
o0o0o0o
Up in the dormitory, I listened to my roommates' chatter as I got ready for bed. My headache had only gotten worse as the night progressed, but I knew it would be gone come morning. Sleep couldn't come soon enough.
The door squeaked open. "Oh, hey, Brooke!" Alice said to the newcomer.
I looked over to Brooke's bed, which was to the right of mine, and for the first time noticed that our quiet roommate had not yet come up to bed. She was usually the first one here.
"Hello," Brooke muttered, pushing her dirty blonde bangs out of her face. Ducking her head, she scuttled over to her trunk and dug around in it.
"How was your summer?" I asked, trying to make polite conversation.
Clutching some clothes to her chest, she straightened. "Um… it was fine."
"Did you do anything special?"
She shook her head, and I noticed that her eyes fell just south of mine. "No, not really."
Vague answers, short sentences, and minimal eye contact. That was Brooke Moore in a nutshell. She reminded me of a jittery rabbit, the way her eyes constantly moved, the barest touch causing her to jump.
When I didn't respond, Brooke took her things to the bathroom and closed the door. I shook my head. She certainly was a character.
After telling my friends goodnight, I blew out my candle and crawled into bed. I pulled the covers up to my chin and breathed deeply. This, this was home. I relaxed, and as I let sleep pull me in, I told myself that it would be a great year.
I do love a good first chapter. Updates will be weekly, as of right now. I'm just starting college and I still don't know how much free time I will have.
You can check/follow my blog for updates on the writing process at (remove spaces): amqfanfic . tumblr . com
Please leave a review and tell me what you think!
~AMQ