The Alexander Chronicles Year 6: The Darkness Falls
Chapter 4: The End of the Holidays.
…
It didn´t take long for the aurors to call in the mediwizards to attend the injured. Alex however was being treated by his mother.
"Look I be fine mum."
"If that stabbing curse had hit different then you wouldn't be." Cyrina said.
Alex looked at his mother. She had cried, and now she was trying not cry in front of him. "Mum it wasn´t your fault. It was just an ambush."
"I should have made sure that you were safe." Cyrina said as she conjured some bandages for Alex´s shoulder.
"But you were helping Selene, Ginny and a bunch of innocent children." Alex said.
"I am just glad that you have decided not to fight on the front line." Cyrina said. "Just promise me that you will train so you can defend yourself." Alex just nodded as Sirius, Harry, Draco and Selene came to them. Cyrina looked at Sirius. "Do you have to stay?"
Sirius nodded, "Yeah I am sorry, but they need you help here. But I have a Ministry car for you and Tonks will escort you home,"
Cyrina just nodded, but Alex could see that she wanted Sirius to come with them.
…
There had been a few casualties in the Death Eater attack. It had mostly been people, which have been out doing their shopping. Kids and their parents getting ready for another year at Hogwarts. It made Alex angry. How could people be so evil so they could kill an innocent child in cold blood? It had been one child that had been killed. He had been eleven, and would have begun his first year at Hogwarts on September 1, if his life hadn´t been taken away. Despite all that death, the Daily Prophet had called it the first unsuccessful Death Eater attack. Alex snorted, maybe it had also been the Death Eaters goal to capture Harry or something, but they properly also wanted to spread even more fear. And they had been very successful on the last part.
Alex suddenly hissed in pain. "Ow!"
Selene was at the moment, administering ointment to Alex´s stab wound on his right shoulder, which was still healing as well as the wound on his head and hand. The slice on his right arm was healed easily, but there was still a scar.
"Stop being such a baby." Selene said. "You mum have said that you this so you wound can heal properly."
Alex nodded. Selene had luckily come out of the attack unscathed, so had everyone of Alex´s other friends. "Yeah I know."
Selene glared at the door. "I wonder what they are talking about?"
The kids were shut inside the living room, as there was an Order of the Phoenix Meeting in dinning room.
Harry and Ron had wanted to attend, but Sirius, Cyrina and Mrs. Weasely had told them that they were young to attend.
"Properly the attack in Diagon Ally." Alex said.
"And about my brother and mother." Selene said looking at the ground. "About what they did."
Alex gave Selene´s shoulder a squeeze. "I am sorry Seli. I can´t imagine how hard it is for you."
Selene nodded, "yeah, but they have to be stopped."
…
Sirius signed as he dropped the Prophet on the table. "They are getting bolder attacking in broad daylight and with so many aurors present."
He looked up and around the table at each of the Order members that were in attendance of this meeting. Most of them were here, a few were unavailable.
"This couldn't have been some random attack either," Mad Eye Moody blurted out. "No doubt it was an attack on Potter!"
"I don't think Mr. Potter was the primary target of this attack," Dumbledore said.
"Then who was?" Remus curiously asked. "I mean, was there a primary target?"
"Not just one target Moony," Sirius answered with a solemn look towards Cyrina.
Remus followed Sirius´ gaze and looked at Cyrina as well. "They were after you?" He asked softly.
Cyrina nodded, "Well I think they were mostly after my son. However, they want me dead as well, as my unborn daughter and Selene. I have suspected it for some time, and Severus have just confirmed my fears. Silan and Corvidae wants my son and me dead.
"Because of what Alex did to your brother?" Bill Weasley asked.
"No because if our lineage. " Cyrina said.
Your lineage?" Fleur repeated. "What does that mean?"
"My family is related to Slytherin on my mother's side." Cyrina said. There were a few murmurs around the table. "We don't know why all of a sudden or how. But both Alex and Selene are able to speak and understand Parseltongue. I wouldn't be surprised if my unborn daughter will be able to speak it as well
"What does that mean?" Hagrid asked.
"They are the heirs of Slytherin," Minerva answered. "Similar to the Dark Lord himself. And it's obvious that he would like to be the sole heir himself."
"Which is why there was attack on Cyrina and her family," Remus said. "Since they aren't on his side like Silan is then they have to be eliminated to unsure Voldemort´s supremacy."
"But luckily my son was able to fend off his cousin and aunt long enough for me and the others to show up," Sirius told the Order. "He saved his mother and friends and couldn't be more proud of him."
"Yes, however something has to be done." Dumbledore said. "Having another Slytherin line stand up to Voldemort is very valuable."
Cyrina nodded. "Yes, but please focus on Alexander and Selene."
"You also need to be protected Cyrina." Remus said. "You are also impotent."
Dumbledore nodded. "I agree. Cyrina I would like for you to go under the Fidelius charm. Alexander and Selene will be protected at Hogwarts. We have added much security to the school."
Sirius and Cyrina shared a glance and Cyrina nodded. Sirius then looked at Remus. "Money old friend."
"Of course Padfoot."
"We will also need someone to keep Cyrina company." Mrs. Weasely said. "I will of course volunteer."
"You can count on me as well." Agatha Greengrass said.
"I don´t want to be a bother. As long as my son is safe."
"Honey. If we don´t do this, then I don't Alex will go to Hogwarts." Sirius said.
Cyrina nodded, "Yes but-"
"To be honest I could use the company. The house is very empty now. You would actually do me a favour." Mrs. Weasley sniffed a bit, and dried her eyes. "So as I said you will be good company."
"Yes, and I am sure we can find something to chat about." Agatha, " and I have some healer training so I can help when your child arrives. Beside we can´t start planning Daphne and Alexander´s wedding to early." Agatha whispered the last part, making Cyrina laugh.
"Sounds good," Sirius contented. "You can all take turns keeping Cyrina company."
Cyrina looked at Mad Eye. "Alastor, I know it is a lot to ask, but you are one of the most experienced duellers I know. Could you take some time to teach my son?"
Mad-Eye nodded, "Aye of course. I trust it is okay with you Albus?"
Dumbledore just nodded.
…
"Well, next week is off to Hogwarts," Ron said, putting away his chess set. "Wonder what will be in store for us this year."
"We get a new professor, obviously," Hermione commented. "Hopefully this year, we'll proper Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher." Harry looked up, wanting to say something, but then thought against it.
Alex knew what Harry would say given his relationship with Snape. However, Alex didn´t really care. It would be a Hogwarts without Blaise. A school without his best friend. Alex was also a bit worried. Silan had really wanted to kill him. Alex knew that he would kill Silan in a heartbeat if he had the chance. It worried him. He had already taken three lives, and while the Adrian had been difficult to handle then the last two had been surpassingly easy. Did it mean that was going dark? Alex had thought that with Daphne had his side then she would have enough light to overshadow the darkness inside him, but what if it wasn´t enough?
A moment later, the door opened.
"The meeting's over," Nymphadora Tonks greeted. "Your mothers say that lunch dinner will be ready soon."
"Dora!" Selene exclaimed, running over to hug the older woman. Tonks hugged back, the two leaving the room in conversation.
"I didn't know they were close," Hermione said to Alex who shrugged.
"Well they have talked a lot since Seli came to live here. I think that she is pretty happy about having a big sister."
"How are you doing?"
Alex shrugged. "I don´t know. I guess I be fine." He lied.
…
A week had gone by. There was another attack from death eaters in London. Many muggles had been killed in the attack. Muggle police chopped it down to a gas explosion, making it a freak accident. But with the dark mark overhead, wizards and witched knew better. The evening before leaving to Hogwarts, Sirius brought all his children into the sitting room to talk.
Alex, Harry, Draco and Selene all sat in the sitting room as Sirius was in the centre of the room with his arms around his back. "Alright, kids," he began. "I would like to explain to you all about the security detail we will have tomorrow morning for our journey to the Hogwarts Express." Alex and Harry sighed in annoyance. "We are going to be using Ministry cars, and there will be Aurors waiting at the station for us."
"Will Dora be there?" Selene curiously asked.
"No she have another mission." Sirius said, "but you will see her soon." Alex knew that it meant that Tonks was at the Hogwarts security detail.
"What about you and mum?" Alex asked.
"What do you mean?" Sirius asked.
"Dad you told me that my mum was a target as well."
"Your mother will go under the Fidelius charm."
Alex looked at his father. "Just mum?"
"Yeah well Mrs. Weasely and Mrs. Greengrass will keep her company."
"What about you?"
"I will be busy with the order, but don´t worry I will check up on her as well." Cheek up on her? It almost sounded like that Sirius wouldn't be home. It sounded like how it had been when Cyrina had been pregnant with Alex. "Alright, that is all. Enjoy your last night of freedom!" Sirius said. The kids stood up, leaving in different directions.
The next morning was a smooth departure to King's Cross-station. The ministry cars were waiting out on the street when everyone had exited Alex´s home. "Bye kids," Cyrina waved from the door. "Please write to me, Alexander, I need to know how you're doing!" Alex nodded and ran to his mum hugging her.
"Be safe okay?"
Cyrina nodded, as she hugged her son back. "Yeah that goes for you too."
"Mum I," Alex hesitated.
"Don´t worry about me Alexander. Just go and have fun at Hogwarts, but be safe."
"I promise, and I promise to write"
"You'll let us know when the baby comes?" Selene said to Cyrina who nodded.
"Of course I will," she replied.
Alex smiled, big brother it still sounded weird.
…
Once they had arrived at King's Cross station, two grim-faced bearded Aurors in dark-muggle suits were standing at the Barrier, obviously waiting for them. "Quickly, through the barriers," Sirius ordered, waving them to the barrier. "Harry first, then Alexander, and then the rest of you." One of the Aurors dragged Harry by the arm through the barrier. Alex was dragged, to his annoyance, next through the barrier, and everyone else followed after them.
And then, they were on the busy platform of nine and three quarters, but it was not as full as it was last year. As some of the parents had pulled their children out of school because of the upcoming war. Sirius bid everyone goodbye and watched his children board the train.
"Shall we get a compartment?" Draco suggested, lifting his trunk onto the train. "Put our stuff away and then head to the Prefect's meeting?" And so they did so, meeting Tracey and Daphne along the way. After having placed their stuff in the compartment. Alex, Daphne and Draco left Tracey by herself and left for the prefect's meeting.
Once they entered the compartment, Alex wasn't surprised to see that Hermione was already there. He smiled at her, when he sat next to her. Hermione smiled back. Draco and Daphne sat together. Daphne sat next to Alex grabbing his hand. Alex looked around seeing familiar faces and new fifth year prefects. He looked towards the front to see Ravenclaw girl that he didn´t recognized as Head Girl and to his annoyance, Cormac Mcglaggen as Head Boy.
"No how did that idiot get Head Boy?" Alex whispered to his friends.
"He gets pretty good grades." Hermione informed. "And some of the teachers like him."
"He's manipulative," Daphne whispered. "He only pretends to be some good boy, but he is one of the most pigheaded boys."
"Alright, attention prefects," Cormac called out. Everyone quieted down, turning his or her attention to the Head prefects. "Welcome to another great year at Hogwarts. To those who don´t know who I am then I am Cormac Mcglaggen, and this is Jennifer Trigg." Cormac pointed at the girl who gave a friendly wave.
"There's going to be a few changes to this year's security. First off, new wards had been put up by the Ministry. There will be Aurors guarding entrances, exits, and secret passageways. Others will be patrolling corridors through the entire day and night. We will still be doing our patrols as well, so don't get lazy!" Cormac and Jennifer began to explain the normal and boring regulations of being a prefect, mostly for the new prefects who were coming in. And then it was over. "Right, let's see," Cormac said, standing and looking at a clipboard he had. He looked up, his eyes falling on Alex. "Granger and Black, you two will start the patrols, followed by Malfoy and Greengrass." He smirked. "That is all. Dismissed."
Alex sighed in annoyance, and left with Hermione to begin the patrols. There wasn't much to see in their patrol, except for a group of first year Slytherins playing with a fanged Frisbee, to which Hermione confiscated. The duo passed Harry's compartment, which was filled with Ron, Neville, Hannah Abbot and to Alex´s surprise Cho.
Hermione sighed in annoyance. "What do you think of Cho?" she asked Alex.
Alex shrugged. "She's alright, I guess," he answered. "I don't know her a lot, so there's not much to judge her on." Which was a truthful answer. "Though I'd be careful with her taste in friends as one of them did sell us out to Umbridge. So I really that Harry doesn´t take her back."
"Well, I'll see you later," Hermione said. Alex bid his goodbye as she entered Harry's compartment. Alex left to find his compartment, but once he entered, Draco and Daphne had to leave to do their patrols.
"Sorry," Daphne said, giving an apologetic smile, kissing him briefly on the lips , and then leaving. Alex sighed, sitting across from Tracey. She was reading a book on advanced spells, intriguing Alex. The two began to talk about the book and trading advanced spells.
"I just really want to arm myself with the best spells," Tracey told Alex. "Those Death Eaters won't know what hit them! Back at the Battle, I was so pumped, and I wanted to take as many of them out as I possibly could. And I did, until the Aurors and the Order arrived, whisking me away."
Alex´s eyes flickered and he lowered his head. The battle at the Ministry, it was terrible, and now as he was sitting across Tracey he couldn't help thinking about Blaise. He missed him so much. Blaise had been great. A great friend and a good person. He had deserved so much better then to die as a sixteen years old in a dark room at the Ministry. He should had been with Tracey. Alex knew how much he had loved her. They should have been together. Blaise should be sitting across him right now holding Tracey´s hand.
"You know I don't blame you for Blaise's death, Alex." Tracey said softly
"What?" Alex said, raising his head. He was surprised how shaky his voice sounded. He had cried. "I didn't say - "
"I know, but you were thinking it," Tracey interrupted, "Look it is not your fault. It was our choice to be there. We knew the risks. I don´t blame you."
"I am sorry Trace." Alex said as the tears ran down his face. "It happened so fast. T-the killing curse, it came so fast. Blaise he saved me."
Tracey grabbed Alex´s hand. "I know, but it still not your fault."
"I miss him." Alex said. "I miss him so much."
"I miss him too." Tracey said. "He was fantastic, and I know he considered you his best friend."
"Still I wish that I-"
"You did do something, and I am so grateful for it."
"For what?" Alex inquired.
"You might not have been able to save Blaise, but you made sure that you avenged him." Tracey said, her eyes brimming with tears. Alex stared into those eyes. They may have been covered in tears, but those brown eyes were full of raging fire. Alex nodded, hoping that the death of Blaise wasn't going to change Tracey into some kind of killer. Like it had changed Alex, but he hoped that Tracey was stonger.
Tracey´s head turned away when the compartment door opened. Alex turned to see a second-year boy entered looking nervous.
"Yeah." Alex asked.
"Uh I uh." The boy began. "I wa- was supposed to deliver these two letters to you and Tracey Davis." The boy handed Alex two letters. Alex accepted the two parchments, and the young boy quickly left. Perplexed, Alex handed over Tracey's parchment that was tied with violet ribbon. They untied and read them at the same time.
Alexander
I would be delighted if you would come join me for a bite of lunch in compartment C. Professor H.E.F. Slughorn.
"Who is Professor Slughorn?" Tracey asked.
"Our new teacher," Alex said. "Harry helped Dumbledore recruit him."
Minutes later, the duo entered Compartment C. Alex noticed they were the only invites to this little party.
"Come in, Come in," Professor Slughorn greeted, waving them in. Alex and Tracey entered, and sat down in a couple of empty seats across from Slughorn. Alex´s mother had told him of Slughorn and he had seen pictures . The potions professor had of course aged and now had a silver, walrus-like moustache instead of a blood. His underbelly had grown a bit, but other than that he looked the same; a little bald friendly man.
Alex looked at the other guests. Harry was there, looking bored, sitting next to Slughorn. Neville was sitting next to him along with Ginny. On the other side of Slughorn was Cormac, look smug as ever, and next to him was Ravenclaw, Marcus Belby. Alex head the door open behind. His heart skipped at bit as he saw which girl it was. There staring right at Alex was Daphne, who then smiled at one another.
"Welcome welcome to my little lunch," Slughorn said to everyone. "I believe everyone knows everyone." He gestured, waving a hand around. "If not, this is our chance to get to know one another!" Slughorn began to pass around some cold Pheasant. "Now, as I was saying to young Belby, that I had the pleasure of teaching his Uncle Damocles," he continued, passing around a bread basket. "Outstanding wizard, outstanding, and his Order of Merlin most well-deserved. Do you see much of your Uncle, Belby?"
Unfortunately, Belby had just taken a large mouthful of pheasant; in his haste to answer Slughorn he swallowed too fast, turned purple, and began to choke. "Anapneo," said Slughorn calmly, pointing his wand at Belby, whose airway seemed to clear at once.
"Not . . . not much of him, no," gasped Belby, his eyes streaming.
"Well, of course, I daresay he's busy," said Slughorn, looking questioningly at Belby. "I doubt he invented the Wolfsbane Potion without considerable hard work!"
"I suppose . . ." said Belby, who seemed afraid to take another bite of pheasant until he was sure that Slughorn had finished with him. "Er . . . he and my dad don't get on very well, you see, so I don't really know much about . . ." His voice tailed away as Slughorn gave him a cold smile and turned to McLaggen instead.
"Now you, Cormac!" Alex rolled his eyes. "I happen to know that you see a lot of your Uncle Tiberius, because he has a rather splendid picture of the two of you hunting nogtails, I think, in Norfolk?"
"Oh, yeah, that was fun that was," McLaggen said smugly, "We went with Bertie Higgs and Rufus Scrimgeour - that was before he became Minister, obviously -"
"Ah, you know Bertie and Rufus too?" beamed Slughorn, offering around a small tray of pies. "Now, tell me..."
Alex was watching Slughorn speak with them, noticing his eyes beaming when others spoke of someone well-known or influential. Slughorn knew a lot, but the only once that were here because of their actual skills was Tracey and Ginny. Alex was there because of his relation to Slytherin, Harry was there because of the chosen one title, and Daphne had been because of her father´s business. However they were also invited because of what happen last year.
"And now!" Slughorn began, looking at the other teens in turn. "Infiltrating the Ministry, fighting off Death Eaters! All with the Chosen One leading you! And look at that, Slytherins and Gryffindors working together! Potter and Black back at it again for a second generation!" Alex and Harry shared a bored glance.
"Oh, and the rumours!" Slughorn said a bit too giddily. "The juicy rumours of the Chosen One, and of a Prophecy!"
"We didn´t hear a prophecy," Daphne said.
"That's right," said Ginny staunchly. "All this 'Chosen One' rubbish is just the Prophet making things up as usual."
Slughorn nodded. "Yes of course." Slughorn continued to tell stories of all the famous persons he knew. Trustfully Alex was a bit impressed. Slughorn knew some prominent healers, and it would be useful to have them as contacts. Maybe this Slug Club would be useful even if it was very awkward.
"So that was weird." Tracey commented as she, Alex and Daphne were heading back to their compartment. Harry, Ginny and Neville had left to find theirs.
"Well Slughorn knows a lot of people. His connections would be very good for our future carriers." Alex said, making Daphne look at him.
"True, but he does it for himself. Slughorn really wanted was to get connected to well-known people."
"I know." Alex said. "But he could still be useful."
Alex, Daphne and Tracey quickly entered their old compartment where Draco was sitting reading a letter.
"Hey," Alex greeted.
Draco quickly hid his letter in his pockets and gave a small but stained smile. "Hey, so what did Slughorn want?"
Alex was a bit puzzled on how strange Draco sounded, but he was properly just a bit upset that he was the only one which hadn´t been invited.
…
Chapter end
…
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