DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING JK ROWLING OR ALPHAVILLE DOES!
CHAPTER THREE
The next morning Harry and Ron made their way down to breakfast, making a sad attempt to be jovial. Both were worried that something had gone wrong in the night that they hadn't known about, or that the day before had all been a dream and Beth really wasn't there. But, as they made their way towards the Gryffindor table, they saw Hermione waving them over and Beth sitting next to her. She was still pale, but she didn't look quite as tired and she was even smiling a little. Ron waved back and sat down between her and Hermione. Harry sat on the other side of Hermione.
"Hey, Beth," he said. "How're you feeling?"
"Better," she said gratefully.
"You looked awful yesterday," Ron said. "I-I mean, you always look good, but just not so much then. You look much better now. You look very beautiful. Not that you don't always," he caught himself as she watched him with a smile that said how much she really missed him. He blushed and turned away as she turned to the girl beside her who was asking her a question. He and Harry leaned into Hermione.
"How was last night?" Harry asked in a low voice.
"Did she wake up at all? Have any nightmares? Was she all right?" Ron whispered frantically.
"She was fine. She was a little freaked when she woke up, but that was all. Once I convinced her that she wasn't still in Azkaban, she was fine," Hermione whispered back.
"Good," Ron said, and leaned back to smile at Beth.
Ginny looked at Harry from a little ways down the table meaningfully. When everyone got up to go to their first classes, Harry excused himself and went over to Ginny.
"Ready to start back up again?" Harry said.
"Yes. And I have just the plan for today. When do you have Divination?" Ginny asked.
"Last," Harry said skeptically.
"And Beth has Choir then, right?" she persisted.
"Yes," Harry affirmed.
"Make Ron walk alone with her to Choir. Grab your Invisibility Cloak at lunch and we'll follow," Ginny said.
"You're a genius!" Harry exclaimed.
"Thanks," she said, and suddenly blushed.
"Well, bye then," Harry said awkwardly.
"Bye," she said and walked away.
He thought about her as he ran to catch up with Ron, Beth, and Hermione. How she had changed from the shy little girl she had been the first time he had seen her on Platform Nine-and-Three-Quarters when he was about to get on the Hogwarts Express for the very first time ever.
Harry soon caught up with the others and was swept away in his classes and making sure Beth was getting along alright. But he could not forget Ginny's plan, and so at lunch he went to get his cloak. The rest of the day passed smoothly, and soon Hermione was hurrying off to Arithmancy.
"Plan on sleeping in the common room tonight," she said to Harry and Ron. "Snape hasn't given her any more of that potion."
Harry nodded as she rushed off and he turned to Ron and Beth as she walked back from talking with Neville.
"I'm going to hurry and get seats in Divination," Harry said to them.
"That's fine," Ron said. "I'll walk you to choir, then, if you don't mind Beth."
"I don't mind at all," Beth smiled, and they turned and walked off. Harry felt a tap on his shoulder.
"Did you remember to get it?" Ginny asked as he turned to face her.
"Yep," Harry said as he pulled the cloak and draped it over them. "Let's go."
When they reached Ron and Beth, they were just approaching the stairs leading to the Choir room. They were laughing at something when Beth tripped over a stair and fell.
"Are you all right?" Ron said as he sat on the stair next to her and began to pick up her things.
"Yes," she said uncertainly. She stared at him openly.
"What?" he asked.
"I missed you," she exclaimed as she threw her arms around him. He held her until she pulled away a little, and then, to Harry and Ginny's surprise, he gently touched his lips to hers.
"I missed you too," he said.
She gently touched his face. "This isn't just some sick joke the dementors are playing on me to make me happy so that they can bring me crashing down is it? This is all really real?" she asked him, looking worried.
"Of course it's real," he said as he kissed her again and helped her back up to her feet. She blushed as they walked up the remaining stairs and he carried her things.
Harry looked over to see the biggest smile on Ginny's face. He reached over and took her hand, a surprising warmth filling his whole body. He was just about to pull Ron's move when they heard someone coming down the hallway. Glad that they were still under the Invisibility Cloak, they watched Draco Malfoy stomp past with a crumpled paper in his hand. He threw it behind him as he walked on. Harry and Ginny ran over to it when he was gone. Harry flattened out the creases and they started to read:
Draco,
I regret to inform you that you will need to stay at Hogwarts for the remainder of the year. If you should experience any more trouble with Potter, Maywing, and their friends, please contact me and I shall bring it up with Dumbledore.
The meeting with the leader of the Muggle terrorists went very well. He has agreed to our terms and all of the still faithful supporters who still go free have agreed to take part. We shall have both force and magic on our side; the school will fall.
Lay low and give no hint that you know what is coming.
Lucius Malfoy
"What does this mean?" Ginny asked Harry, wide-eyed.
"I don't know. But I'm taking this straight to Dumbledore," Harry said with determination. "You should go to class. You're late." Ginny nodded and ran off. Harry ran to the phoenix statue that sat guarding the entrance to Dumbledore's office. He began naming off all the sweets he could until Dumbledore himself stepped out to see what the problem was.
"Harry, what's going on?" he asked as he ushered him in. Harry carefully explained how he had seen Draco throw the paper while he was in the hallway, leaving Ginny and the reason they were in the hallway out. Dumbledore asked no questions, however, when Harry handed him the paper. He sighed after he was done and sat down. "I was afraid of this, Harry," he said gravely.
"What?" Harry asked. "Afraid of what?"
"Lucius Malfoy has gotten the Death Eaters who have escaped judgment to join him in an attack on Hogwarts, as revenge for the destruction of Lord Voldemort. What I didn't expect, and what he has apparently done, is enlist the help of Muggles who can provide deadly artillery." Dumbledore shook his head. "I'd heard rumors of this, but never anything concrete." He looked at Harry. "This means that the school will have to be placed under surveillance, for no one knows when the attack will come. Except maybe for Mr. Malfoy," he said. "Keep an eye on him, will you, Harry?" Harry nodded. "Oh and how is Beth doing?" Dumbledore asked.
Harry smiled at the thought of Beth and Ron on the stairs. "She's doing well," he replied.
"Good," Dumbledore said. "Now you should go write to Sirius and I shall go talk to the teachers." Dumbledore lead him out of the office and soon he was running to the Owlery. The letter to Sirius took the rest of the Divination's time and when he went down to meet Ron, Hermione, and Beth, they were all already in the common room.
"You should've told me you were going to skip Divinations," Ron said crossly. "I would've come, too. Saving seats, yeah, right," he snorted.
"I didn't meant to skip," Harry said, and he explained everything that had happened exactly as he had to Dumbledore; that is, leaving out that he was with Ginny and they were spying on Beth and Ron.
"Blimey," Ron said when he was done.
"What's going to happen now?" Beth said in a scared, little voice.
"We're all just going to need to be a little more careful," Harry consoled her.
"In other news," Hermione said, steering the conversation away from these scary thoughts, "I think we should all sleep down here in the common room tonight!"
"We can do that?" Beth asked.
"Yeah," Hermione said cheerfully. "What do you think?"
"I think it's a great idea. As long as Ron and Harry are alright with it," Beth said with a smile.
"Yeah!" Harry said enthusiastically.
"It'll be loads of fun!" Ron agreed, and they went to dinner discussing things to do.
When they returned from dinner, they broke apart to gather their things in their rooms. However, they soon reassembled in the common room. They played Exploding Snaps and ate candy and laughed until they were so tired that they couldn't even sit up. Ron fell asleep in the chair closest to the couch where Beth had made her bed. Harry and Hermione had pulled over two other chairs and now sat across from Ron. Hermione had drifted off and Harry could see her head bobbing and Beth's small sleeping figure in the firelight and he could hear Ron's gentle snore and he was so comfortable and happy that he just closed his eyes to enjoy the moment…
Beth's screams rattled the inside of Harry's head as he sat up quickly. He saw Ron open his eyes as he ran over to Beth and he heard Hermione behind him.
"Let me go!" she yelled as Ron and Harry tried to pin her arms down. "No! I don't belong here! It wasn't me! Put me back where I belong! It wasn't my fault!"
"If she keeps this up," Harry said as he tried to stop her hand from reaching her face, "she's going to claw her face off."
"I think that's what she's trying for," Hermione said sadly.
Finally they restrained her enough to wake her up. As soon as she did, Ron embraced her as she whimpered into his shoulder.
"What did they do to you?" Hermione wondered aloud.
"They thought I killed my father," Beth said quietly once she had calmed down.
"That's impossible!" Hermione exclaimed.
"I know. But they thought that, since I can fly, I'd just flown out a window, killed him, and flew back all before dawn," she explained.
"What kind of evidence would support that, though?" Hermione exclaimed, still shocked.
"Apparently they found feathers all over there. Although my feathers were always all over there," she admitted.
"But to just put you in Azkaban for that…" Hermione said, dumbfounded.
"I know," Beth said. "The thought of my innocence was the only thing that kept me alive while I was there. The dementors wouldn't allow me a single happy thought. They took every single one that I didn't hide away," she said sadly.
"Did you have nightmares there, too?" Ron asked her.
"Oh, yes. They got so bad. Finally, I had to give up sleep for two weeks at a time, just for the few minutes of dreamless sleep that came before the nightmare would start," she answered him, "But, when I was sure there were no dementors around, I would think about you three, or Dumbledore, or Hagrid, or Snape. I'd have to stop quickly before the dementors would come rushing in, but it heartened me so." She smiled at them. "This is the only place I've ever really belonged."
"Why would you think of Snape? And Beth, what happened at Beauxbaton that you had to drop out?" Hermione asked cautiously.
"At Beauxbaton, they found my wings. I was the object of constant ridicule. When I was attacked by a couple of other student, my father pulled me out," Beth said, tearing up a bit at the mention of her father. "As for Snape, he's my godfather. He's quite wonderful, actually. Really," she said to Harry and Ron's doubtful expressions.
"I think we should get back to sleep," Hermione yawned.
"Alright," Beth said uncertainly.
"I'll stay here with you," Ron said bravely. Beth smiled, and the last sight Harry remembered was of Beth fast asleep on Ron's lap, her head on his shoulder and him asleep with his head on hers. She had fallen asleep with a small smile on her face, and not one of them awoke before morning.