"Wonder who the new Defense
Against the Dark Arts professor is?" Hallie Benica asked her best friends,
Troy Reinfield and Daniel Kiplang, as they walked in the Great Hall towards
the Ravenclaw table.
"Dunno," Troy replied.
"Hey, look! There's Susanna! Let's go talk to her!" He pulled Daniel's
hand and they ran off towards Susanna Spinnet, leaving Hallie alone to
find some of her fellow fifth years. Hallie looked around, seeing if anyone
else had come in yet. She, Daniel, Troy, and a Gryffindor third year named
James Fanta were in the first carriages to arrive before a downpour started.
Now, most of the carriages passengers were trying to push them out of pot
holes that had evolved in the road after the old groundskeeper, Rubeus
Hagrid, had passed away fifteen years ago after injuries sustained from
Voldemort's third rise to power. Lord Voldemort had finally been defeated
completely; spirit, soul, and body destroyed, killing thousands of wizards
in the fight, and filling Azkaban again over the top with people supposedly
giving him information and his tens of hundreds of new Death Eaters. Hogwarts
had been nearly destroyed in the battle.
"Hello, Hallie," a voice
said. Hallie spun around quickly, then sighed. It was only the Transfiguration
professor, Professor Spinnet. "Have you seen Susanna around? There's someone
I'd like her to meet."
"Last I saw her, Troy and
Daniel were chasing after her, so she can't have gone far."
"Thank you, dear." Professor
Spinnet threw back her long, dark brown hair, and walked off. Hallie walked
on, looking at her reflection in the marble floor below her feet.
"I wish I was as pretty
as Susanna." Hallie sighed. "Then maybe I'd get boys chasing after me."
She looked closer down on the clean marble floor. "What's wrong with me?
Is it my hair?" She pulled out a string of her dirty blonde hair. "My glasses?"
Hallie thought about what she looked like without glasses and figured she
looked better with them. "My face?" Hallie ran her hand over her chin,
feeling small little zits along the way. "That must be it."
"Uh... hi. Could you point
me towards the Head Table?" Hallie looked up. There stood an older man,
around thirty, with sleek, dark black hair. He smiled, showing his pearly
white teeth. His robes were a sheer dark blue, and he was tall and was
very manly built. Like those Muggle models she always saw in Muggle magazines
Hallie saw whenever she was staying with her father. "Oh, sorry. I haven't
introduced myself, have I? I'm Isaac Cambren, the new Defense Against the
Dark Arts professor. I've only been here a week, and they just put up the
tables this morning. Mainly, I've been getting my lesson plans ready, and
office, chambers, and classroom set up. Quite a bit of work, if I may say.
Haven't been able to play Quidditch for the time I've been here."
Hallie was shocked he was
so cordial to her, and shocked he played Quidditch. "You-you play Quidditch?"
"Of course!" he replied
with a smile.
"Wow, me too! I play for
my house team. I'm Ravenclaw Keeper," Hallie said with pride.
"That's really great. Now,
um, the table?" Professor Cambren asked.
Hallie smiled and blushed
a vivid red. "Oh, sorry. It's right over there." She pointed to the place
where Susanna and her mother were arguing over something. Once he was far
enough away, Hallie sighed. "I really have to get some bubotuber
pus from Madam Pomfrey," she said softly, running her hand over her face.
Then, Hallie got interested in
what was happening. Susanna's mother had her hand's on Susanna's shoulders,
and was saying something sternly to her. Hallie tilted her head a bit to
see if she could read their lips better. Susanna broke free of her mother's
hold with a twist of the shoulders, and ran over to Hallie.
"Hi, Susanna," Hallie said,
stilling looking at Professor Spinnet.
"Hey, Hallie. What's up?"
Susanna asked.
"Uh, nothing-"
Hallie was cut off by the
great oak doors swinging open and kids pouring in. All were soaked to the
bone and were dragging in even more water. Little first years were looking
around in awe at the Great Hall as Professor Spinnet ran up to them. The
other students were pulling drenched cloaks around themselves, walking
to the appropriate house tables. She watched the first years being led
off, remembering oh so well her first year at Hogwarts. As soon as the
students got situated, Headmaster Flitwick stood up, his large pile of
assorted books that he was standing on hidden by the tablecloth. The former
Headmistress, Minerva McGonagall, had died two years before. Hallie looked
around at the Ravenclaw table and saw Troy waving at her and Susanna to
come over. They took a seat on either side of him.
"Good evening students, and welcome to another wonderful year here at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. First off, we have an eager bunch of soon to be first years waiting to be sorted. Please come up, sit on the stool, and put the hat on your head whenever you are called. Then, once the hat sees which house you will be in, sit down at your new house table," Flitwick said. Professor Spinnet came up, carrying the three legged stool, the Sorting Hat, and a scroll with the children's name on. She sat the stool down, sat the tattered hat upon it, and stood over to the side. A wide rip opened in the hat, and it began to sing-
Once upon a time ago,
When I was newly sewn,
There were four creators of Hogwarts,
Their names are now well known.
Brave Gryffindor, a heart of gold,
Patient Hufflepuff, not that old,
Sly Slytherin, cunning indeed,
And Ravenclaw was a beautiful seed,
Choose which house the students
would go in.
But then the thought came up,
What would happen when a duel they
didn't win?
They enchanted me to have some brains,
So that took care of all of their
pains.
And now I take look in you,
Your thoughts, hopes, secrets, and
dreams,
And put you into the house which
won't make you blue.
The room burst into applause.
"Not up to it's usual standard, now is it?" Daniel asked Troy, Hallie,
and Susanna.
"No, not at all," Troy
replied.
"It sucked, to say the
least. Remind me again why I clapped." At that, Daniel stopped clapping.
"Mum said it's been depressed
lately. She and Flitwick can't figure out why," Susanna commented.
"How can a hat be depressed?"
Daniel inquired.
"Don't ask me. I'm just
telling you what she said."
"-RAVENCLAW!" A small,
black haired boy came and sat across from Daniel.
"What is that kid's name?" Hallie
asked Troy. He usually listened to the sorting names. Hallie and Daniel
were catching up on gossip whenever the sorting was going on.
"Dunno. I was talking to
you." Troy turned to the boy. "Hey, dude, what's your name?"
"Bruce Falconer," the boy
replied.
"Ah, nice name," Daniel
said.
In the end, Ravenclaw got
eight new students: four girls and four boys. The golden, shining plates
filled with food. When everyone had completely stuffed themselves, the
plates magically cleared and Flitwick stood up.
"Once again, I would like
to say welcome to another exiting year at Hogwarts. First off, we have
some announcements. First off, the new Head of House for Gryffindor will
be your Transfiguration mistress, Professor Alicia Spinnet! For the first
years who don't know, the old Head of House for Gryffindor was Hermione
Granger, but over the summer she got a job offer at the Ministry. Yes,
and now the elder students must be wondering who their new Defense Against
the Dark Arts master is. I'm very proud to present to you, Professor Isaac
Cambren!" Flitwick motioned for Cambren to come up, but he didn't notice.
He was staring at Professor Spinnet. Professor Spinnet was smiling out
at the children, oblivious of the fact he was entranced with her. She turned
her head to her right to see Cambren staring at her.
"Ahem, Isaac, I believe
they want you up there," Professor Spinnet said quietly. Cambren bushed
a vivid red and stumbled up to his feet. He gave a small little wave and
sat back down, most of the hall still clapping.
"Yes, um, thank you Professor
Cambren! Now, since were are all full, I believe it is time to go up to
your nice warm beds. I hope to see you all in the morning, and good night!"
Flitwick sat back down and leaned toward Professor Cambren. Hallie looked
closer and could tell Flitwick was saying something sharply to him.
"Did you see the way Cambren
was looking at your mum earlier?" Troy asked Susanna as they walked up
to the Ravenclaw tower.
"Yeah..." Susanna trailed
off.
"What if they get married?
Would you call him dad?" Troy inquired further.
"TROY!" Hallie yelled,
punching him playfully. "You don't ask stuff like that, genius. It's personal."
Susanna gave Hallie a small
smile of thanks and continued up the stairs.
Hallie looked into the
crackling fire in the Ravenclaw common room. Troy and Daniel had been ignoring
her ever since they came and saw Susanna. Susanna had always been their
friend, but they never chased after her like they did this year. Her mother
also seemed more stern. She never said anything sharply to Susanna, but
just a few hours ago she was more than likely yelling at her. For
what? Flitwick seemed more timid, too. Something was wrong. Hallie didn't
know what, but she was determined to find out, whatever it was. All of
a sudden, the curtains ruffled as if a wind was blowing through them. Hallie
gave a little shiver of fright and walked over to the silk blue curtains.
She felt under them to see if the window was open. It wasn't. She dusted
her hands and ran up to bed.
"Now for your assignment,
three weeks from now I want a two foot report on your family's history.
Write letters, look in books, do anything you have to to find about your
wizarding history. If you are Muggle Born, choose a famous wizarding family
to do it on. I expect to see it on my desk three weeks from now, and you
are excused!" The only ghost professor, Professor Binns, and the only professor
that had been at Hogwarts for over fifty years, said.
Hallie gathered her things
and walked out of the classroom, ignoring Daniel and Troy's shouts to wait
for them. She reckoned she could beat them at their own game. There were
other people in the fifth year than Troy, Daniel, and Susanna. Everyone
of them seemed to have their own cliques and groups and weren't interested
in Hallie joining their group. Hallie threw her backpack over her shoulders
and started down the hall to Defense Against the Dark Arts.
"Mum, may I ask you a question?"
Susanna Spinnet asked her mother as she sat reading a book one Saturday
afternoon.
Alicia put her finger in
the book and looked up at her daughter. "Yes, dear?"
"Well... um..." Susanna
stumbled upon her words. "Can you tell me about your family?"
Alicia took a deep
breath in, pulled her bookmark in her book, and leaned forward in the chair.
Then she looked at the ceiling for a moment and back at her daughter. "What
do you want to know, Susanna?"
Susanna gave her mother
a long, hard look to see if she was serious. Then she said quickly, "Who's
my father?"
Alicia sighed and
noticed a lump in her throat as she swallowed. "He... he..." She rubbed
her hands across her face. "He was a very nice man, and I believe he would
be a good father."
Susanna wasn't pleased
with this answer. "What happened to him?" At that, Alicia started crying.
"Oh my God... Mum... I didn't mean to make you cry! I'm sorry, I really
am!"
"Oh, sweetheart, it wasn't
you. It was your mother over-reacting," Alicia apologized. Then she began
crying again and Susanna grabbed her parchment and left.
"Have you started on your
essay for Binns yet?" Susanna asked Hallie as she sat down to breakfast
Monday morning.
"No, not yet, but I plan
on owling my mum this afternoon and asking for background information on
her family. How about you?"
"Mum went all weird on
me whenever I asked her for information. Maybe I should just get it out
of the library. The Spinnets used to be a famous wizarding family, back
before You-Know-Who rose for the third time," Susanna answered.
"Wasn't your grandfather
Minister of Magic?" Susanna nodded. "And your uncle Max was a Chaser for
England, wasn't he?" Susanna nodded again.
"I guess one of them would
have to be mentioned in some book somewhere. Maybe I should just owl Uncle
Maxwell and ask him. Ah, well." Susanna bent down to find a quill in her
bag and some parchment. Her hand reached around and only found some parchment.
"Oh, no. I must have left my favorite quill and ink bottle in my mother's
room!" She pulled her bag over her shoulder and left.
Hallie sat for a while
pushing sausage around her plate, but not really eating it. Why would
someone be upset that their father and brother were famous in the wizarding
world? She thought. I wouldn't. Hallie was a half blood,
her father being a Muggle and her mother being a witch. They had separated
when Hallie was 11. Her father was a Muggle stockbroker, and her mother
worked for the Ministry of Magic. When her family was together, they lived
a Muggle-Wizarding cross life, doing some things the Muggle way, and some
the Magic way. Hallie didn't like it that way, and her parents figured
it could never work out, and separated. Her mother was never going to become
Minister of Magic, and Hallie would probably end up working for the Ministry
when she came of age. She was often jealous of the better kids at Hogwarts,
the kids whose parents were both wizards, and had top jobs at the Ministry.
Hallie sighed and popped a sausage piece in her mouth.
Troy walked up. "Seen
Susanna?" Hallie shook her head. It was a lie, and she knew it, but
she didn't care. "What about Meadow?" Meadow was one of Susanna's friends.
Meadow was a Gryffindor, and not that pretty, but people seemed to like
her because she was Susanna's friend. Hallie shook her head again. "Fine,
then." Troy took off.
Hallie sighed again. She
looked at the toast stack, thinking if she wanted a piece or not. Then
the idea hit her. "I'll ask Professor Spinnet for an interview! Then I
can get information on her family for Susanna, and I'll be one of Susanna's
closest friends, and Troy and Daniel will like me again!" Hallie exclaimed
to herself. She grabbed her bag and headed to Charms.
Fred Weasley sat in his
cell in Azkaban. He had been here for over fifteen years, now. Basically
every happy memory he had ever had in his entire life was stripped of him.
The Dementors stayed happy for weeks after Fred came to Azkaban.
Fred tried to remember
what he looked like before Azkaban. He was stocky, like a Muggle football
player, but weighed a lot less than them, and was a bit shorter. Fred remember
that he had freckles, and felt his face, then looked down at his fingers.
They were covered in dirt, not just from his face, either. His once short
red hair was down past his shoulders now. Now he was skinny, and most of
his muscles were gone. Fred's freckles could not be seen because of the
dirt on his face. His fingers, rough from always holding a Beater's club,
were scarred and scratched from his many escapes to leave.
One of the few things left
from the way he looked fifteen years ago was his wedding ring. The only
thing about it now, was it was too big for his skinny ring finger, and
also covered in dirt. Now he kept in on his index finger. Fred remembered
his wife. She was the most beautiful thing in the world to him. He remember
his wedding day well. The Dementors would never get that, he promised himself,
so he only thought about it when the Dementors weren't near.
Fred's mind then came to
the thought that he had thought of so often: His trial. Fred ran his fingers
through his hair, trying not to remember it, but the thought kept coming
back...
"Fred Weasley, were
you ever, or have you ever been associated with the Dark Lord, Voldemort?"
The judge was one of his closest friends: Harry Potter.
"No, I haven't! I haven't,
I swear! I was framed, I tell you! It was my brother-"
"Silence!"
"No! It was all-"
"Another word and the
Dementors will come and take you away!"
Fred slumped down in
his chair, tears beginning to fall down his face. He would never know his
child, he knew all was lost then. Fred moved his head to look at his wife.
His arms, legs, chest, and neck were all tied to the chair tightly. She
was crying. Silently, but crying all the same. Her father's arm was around
her, holding her, whispering it was all right. He swolled, feeling a lump
in his throat. He should have been at home with his wife right now, taking
care of her like a good husband should, not tied up to a stone chair at
a War Crimes Trial. Fred would probably never see her again, and his last
memory of her would be crying. She was the love of his life, and he didn't
know what he would do without her. For him, and for many others, Azkaban
was worse than death.
"The jury has come back
with their verdict," Harry's deep voice said. He looked over the paper.
"And Fred Weasley, you are condemmed in Azkaban for life for charges of
Muggle killing, Wizard killing, Muggle torture, Wizard torture, and following
the ways of Voldemort."
A scream could be heard
throughout the hall. Fred could see his wife on the floor, crying and screaming.
Her father and brother picked her up.
"I love you!" Fred shouted
at his wife.
She wasn't paying
attention, but her father was. "I'm sorry," He said softly and looked away.
This was when Fred broke
down. He was carried sobbing uncontrollably and thrown into his cell.
The fifth year Ravenclaw
girls dorm was empty Saturday afternoon right after lunch. Hallie had come
up to practice what she was going to say to Professor Spinnet. She decided
she would go to her first thing tomorrow, right after breakfast.
"Hi, Professor Spinnet,
do you mind if I ask you a few questions?" Hallie looked in the mirror.
"Comb your hair!" The mirror
barked at her. Hallie was looking down at the piece of parchment she had
written all her suggestions on and jumped, startled.
"Stupid magical mirror,"
she muttered, and grabbed the brush that was sitting on her dresser. "Of
course I had to get the magical one." She sighed at her luck and went over
to Susanna's dresser as she threw the brush back down.
"Hello Professor Spinnet.
How are you today? I have this project for History of Magic, and was wondering
if I could ask you a few questions." Hallie thought about how this sounded.
"Ugh, stupid." She threw the piece of parchment in the trash can and headed
down to the library.
Hallie looked over at the
staff table as she walked into the Great Hall alone for breakfast the next
morning. Professors Spinnet and Cambren weren't there. "Where is she?"
Hallie whispered to herself. "She needs to be here!" Hallie sighed. "Guess
I'll have to find her."
Hallie walked down the
hall towards the teacher's chambers. She knew were they were since she
had been there before to see Professor Flitwick her second year to see
if she could borrow one of his books for the summer. All Hallie had to
do was find Professor Spinnet's. "Cambren, Issac," Hallie read the names
off the oak doors to herself. "Ah, Spinnet. Here we go." Hallie knocked
lightly on the door. "Professor Spinnet? Mind if I have a word with you?"
She waited a few moments. "Professor Spinnet, are you there?"
Hallie tried the doorknob.
It was unlocked. She walked in, looking around. There wasn't much light
in the room, only what came from the part of the window that wasn't covered
by the dark red curtains. Hallie walked a bit farther, hitting her foot
on a large chair that had the same color upholstry as the curtains with
dark blue robes draped over it. Hallie let out a little gasp, and took
a step back. "Those robes are Professor Cambren's!" Hallie exclaimed quietly.
She walked in a bit farther and found Professor Spinnet's deep green robes
thrown by the closet, with other various articles of clothing thrown around
the room. Hallie's hand was shaking as she walked up towards the four poster
bed. The dark red curtains around the bed were closed, except for the one
closest to Hallie that was partially open. Hallie took a few more steps
closer to the bed and saw Professor Spinnet's dark brown hair laid across
a man in the bed, which Hallie saw was Professor Cambren. A dark red comforter
was pulled up over both of them. Hallie gulped and scurried out of the
room, pulling the door closed behind her and rushing down the hall back
towards the Ravenclaw common room.
Alicia Spinnet lay awake
in her bed. Issac hadn't woken yet, and she didn't want to wake him. She
felt guilty about last night. He's probably dead by now, though,
she thought. But, then why didn't she get a deathbed visit? She remembered
her father telling her that Barty Crouch went to see his son on his deathbed,
and her father was a high-ranking Ministry offical then. Alicia pulled
open the curtain and got out of bed. She kicked her robes from yesterday
away and rumaged through the closet for some robes to wear and silently
went out the door into the hall.
Alicia decided she had
to look for her daughter. She straightened up her hair as she walked down
the hill. Susanna shouldn't know what was going on with her and Issac,
Alicia decided, but she had to come clean about her family. But she didn't
want Susanna to hate her father. Maybe she shouldn't tell her at all. Alicia
stopped infront of the statue of Boris the Bewildered, infront of the Prefect
bathroom. She smiled, remembering her seventh year...
"Angelina, I don't think
I should be here. Do you know how much trouble I could get in for being
here?"
"Alicia, shut up for
once in your life. You don't follow half the other rules, why should you
start now?" Angelina said sharply. "Lemony." The door creaked open slowly
to reveal the Prefect bathroom. They walked in, and the door shut. You
could hear a small 'click' as the door locked again.
"Wow," Alicia said quietly
in amazement. She dropped Mrs. Norris and pulled off her robes to reveal
her black bathing suit. Mrs. Norris ran around anxiously, pawing at the
door to get out. Angelina started turning on some taps so warm water would
come out.
"We don't want bubbles
and stuff, right? Then Filch would know where Mrs. Norris got her bath,"
Angelina asked.
"Yeah, but what if she
tells him who took her for a swim?" Alicia replied.
"Deny it. You're not
even supposed to be here, so you could say that. I could just lie and say
I was at Quidditch practice. Or we could all be at Quidditch practice.
You could just tell the boys and Katie if anyone asks what they were doing
to say they were at Quidditch practice with us."
The taps shut off and
Alicia climbed up the diving board with Mrs. Norris in her arms. "It would
be cruel to throw her off, wouldn't it?" Angelina nodded. Alicia came to
the edge of the board and sat down with Mrs. Norris on her lap. Mrs. Norris
put her claws into Alicia's chest and tried to climb up onto her shoulders.
*OW! Damn cat!" Alicia pulled her off and threw her in.
"Alicia!"
Alicia dove in after
Mrs. Norris. Mrs. Norris popped right back up out of the water and gasped
for air as she dog paddled toward the edge of the bath tub. (Or pool, since
it was pool sized and deep enough to be a pool.) Angelina jumped off the
edge and Mrs. Norris got sent off course. Alicia swam towards Mrs. Norris
and grabbed her with one hand. With the other she pulled herself in towards
the edge and set Mrs. Norris down. She was dripping wet, from her long
tattered tan tail to her scrawny head and meowed pitifully. Alicia and
Angelina were in a fit of giggles and pulled themselves up out of the water,
laughing harder as they dried themselves off and pulled back on their robes.
Angelina opened up the
door and Mrs. Norris took off like a rocket. The girls headed back up towards
the Gryffindor tower, laughing the whole way there.
Hallie sat in the library flipping through books looking for any history of the Spinnet family. She had decided she wouldn't tell Susanna about what she had seen in her mother's chambers. However, Hallie was still determined to find some history about the Spinnet family. Susanna would be so greatful to her, and they would become best friends. Troy and Daniel would want to spend all their free time with her again, and all the boys would be asking her to dances... Hallie's mind went off into her fantasy life for a few minutes until someone tripped over a stack of books lying on the floor and knocked her back into reality.
"Sorry!" the small first
year Hufflepuff stuttered, stacking Hallie's books back up.
Hallie went back to searching
through books. She opened An Updated History of the Wizarding World
and
flipped to the table of contents. The book showed all magical happenings
from the past twenty-five years, beginning at the second rise of Voldemort.
Hallie decided something about the Spinnets must be somewhere in this book,
and flipped to the back of the book. She scanned the through the rows,
beginning at Z since she started from the end. A name popped out on the
page to her. Weasley. She had heard that name before. Her finger
went over to the S row, and she decided that she would look at the Weasley
entry after she found Spinnet. She found the entry and flipped to page
244, the first page listed under Spinnet.
Hallie found the name Spinnet,
Alexander on the page and read the entry out loud to herself. "Alexander
Spinnet was Minister of Magic from 1996 until his death. He was the father
of the acclaimed Maxwell Spinnet. Maxwell played Quidditch for England
until his father's death, when he retreated away from the public eye and
began doing research on prosecuted Death Eaters. Alexander also fathered
another child, Alicia Spinnet. Alicia suffered personal tragedy as her
husband was found to be a Death Eater for the Dark Lord Voldemort after
his third uprising. She now teaches at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and
Wizardry." She took a deep breath and thought for a minute. Was the reason
Professor Spinnet got upset at Susanna was because her husband was found
to be a Death Eater? Could she not bear the shame? Hallie re-read the page
and found that there was a footnote telling her where to find more history
on the Spinnet Family.
She turned to the page.
Hallie read over it quickly, and saw the name Weasley once again. She began
to put two and two together. Professor Binns was the one she heard the
name Weasley from. They had been studying Voldemort's third uprising, and
had went over some of his Death Eaters. Professor Binns had mentioned that
he had taught Fred not too horribly long ago, and how he could never believe
Fred was a worker for Voldemort. Professor Binns mentioned that his family
was one of the most important things to him, and how he couldn't see Fred
doing something like that.
Hallie closed the book and decided that she and Professor Binns were to have a little chat.
A/N: To be continued later. I have 10 months of work into this, but I don't want it to never be posted. Please, please, please review! If you want more Alicia Spinnet reading, try Taking Tufts of Hair (From Alicia Spinnet).