~*Chapter 7*~
Shady Implications
As the days went on, things got easier. Jinxes between Gryffindor and Slytherin were so commonplace in the big scheme of things that one hot-headed duel wasn't a big enough deal for most of Slytherin to be mad about it forever. Evaine and her friends held onto their grudge, but everyone else was busy with schoolwork and Quidditch tryouts.
Dustin was both surprised and pleased when he got tapped as a Beater for the team, while James took over as Seeker. Al went down to watch their first practice with Felicia to provide moral support, though he had an additional ulterior motive. It was one of the few chances he got to see Vincent. For though James was once again speaking to his brother, he and Vincent still slipped away most evenings with Roxie and Fred.
Overall Dustin did a fair job, though he was so nervous about making a fool of himself in front of the team and his friends that it made him overly cautious and clumsy.
"Maybe we shouldn't come next time," Felicia mused after practice as they waited in the stands for Dustin to return from the team's tent. "I don't think he appreciated having an audience."
Al nodded distractedly, eyes on the tent flap. He was hoping to catch Vincent before James could rush him off.
Felicia straightened her scarf a bit. It was only the beginning of October, but the temperature had already dropped noticeably by mid-afternoon. "Say, did your brother ever actually apologize to Lily? For, erm, how he acted after the Sorting, I mean."
Al rubbed his hands together and blew on them to stall. The truth was he had not gotten around to asking James about it because he didn't want to get into another argument. He'd planned on asking Lily directly instead, but he rarely saw his sister. Whether it was because of Evaine or Hugo's friend Robert, she hadn't tried to join Al and his friends again for lunch on the weekends. She seemed to be caught up in her schoolwork; the few times he saw her, she was usually in the library with her friends surrounded by textbooks. It occurred to him for the first time that she may be feeling the strain of trying to get out from under the shadow of her family, just as Al had. And it was probably worse for her, he thought unhappily. Not only did she have two big brothers, one a Quidditch star and the other a prior contestant in the Hogwarts Marathon, but she had to overcome the stigma of being the first Slytherin Potter.
"I don't know," he finally told Felicia honestly. "I hardly ever see Lily nowadays."
Felicia gave him a disapproving look. "You need to talk to James about it. Remember that Christmas when you and James were all prickly and it made everything awkward? What if Lily and James are like that during the Carnival?"
"I'll talk to him when I get a chance," Al grumbled, avoiding her eyes, still staring down at the tent.
"How about Scorpius? Zabini hasn't seemed very pleased with your work lately. Is... is Scorpius still not helping you?"
"No, he's not," Al snapped, irritated at the mere thought of the other boy. "Lily must have explained what happened that day by now. I mean, I assume she has; he hasn't been as snotty as he was right after the thing with Evaine. But he's still giving me the cold shoulder. Which isn't a huge difference from how he normally is, the troll-faced git. I don't know why I'm surprised."
Felicia opened her mouth to respond, but just then the tent flap opened and Olivia ducked out, followed closely by Roxanne and Oscar, a short second-year who had shown some truly impressive flying moves during the tryouts and landed himself as a Catcher. A moment later Dustin emerged, looking a little less glum than when he'd gone in. Felicia and Al made their way down the stands to meet him.
"Good job today," Felicia said, giving an encouraging smile.
Dustin returned the smile a little tremulously. "Thanks. I didn't do that great, but Olivia says I just need some confidence. She says I'll be fine by game day..."
Over Dustin's broad shoulder Al spotted James and Vincent coming out of the tent, deep in conversation. He was trying to think of a way to tactfully excuse himself when Dustin blurted, "She was just being nice, I just know it. I'm going to fail big time in the first game, and they're all going to regret ever letting me on the team!"
Startled by the outburst, Al hastened to reassure him. "No, mate, c'mon. Olivia wouldn't have let you on the team at all if she thought you didn't show promise. I heard her talking in the common room with Fred after the tryouts, she said you have good aim and a really strong swing." He glanced past Dustin again, but James and Vincent were already leaving the Quidditch pitch and trudging uphill towards the school, still talking. Al gave an internal sigh. There was no way he could politely run after them when Dustin was so upset. He looked back at Dustin and was horrified to see the bigger boy looked on the verge of tears.
"Uh- Dustin," Felicia stammered, looking equally alarmed. "Al's right, Olivia knows what she's talking about-"
"It's not that," Dustin said, sniffing loudly. "It's just... I'm not used to having friends. Not like... real friends, I mean. But you guys have been so great to me. I keep waiting for you all to get tired of me."
Al and Felicia exchanged helpless looks.
"We're not going to get tired of you, Dustin," Al said firmly. "Don't be silly."
"Come on." Felicia put her hand on Dustin's arm and steered him towards the castle. "Let's go in and sit by the fire in the common room where it's warm."
He followed meekly enough, spending much of the walk back asking Al for Quidditch tips. The seats in front of the Gryffindor fireplace were taken, however. There was a big clump of students gathered together, talking excitedly.
"What's going on?" Felicia asked curiously.
Andrew's head popped up from the crowd at the sound of her voice. Spotting the three of them, he waved them over. "Listen to this! It's unreal."
They made their way over and Al caught a glimpse of the Daily Prophet spread out on one of the coffee tables. He couldn't make out the headline, but it seemed to be what everyone was so interested in. "What's going on? Did someone else go missing?"
"What? No. Worse." Andrew leaned in, eyes wide and said in a stage whisper, "Dementors."
"What!" Al felt his heart give a frightened jump in his chest. They'd covered Dementors in Defense Against the Dark Arts his previous year, but he knew his father had faced off against them more than once. He rarely spoke of them, perhaps not wanting to frighten his children, but Al knew they had always deeply bothered his father. "Impossible. No one's seen them since-"
"Since a couple years after the war," Andrew finished for him. "Right. People just assumed they moved on or even died out without a prison full of people to suck dry."
"The Aurors drove them out of Azkaban and hunted them down," James said, and Al noticed for the first time that Vincent and James were also hovering over the newspaper. James glanced up and met his brother's stare, his expression grim. "Our father was part of a task force that went looking for them. That was ages ago, before either of us was even born."
"There's no spell what can kill a Dementor," an older boy scoffed. "You can drive 'em off, that's all. Mark my words, they may have slunk off, but they're still out there somewhere."
"Wait, wait," Felicia held up her hands, looking puzzled. She only knew of the Dementors from class, so was more curious than horrified. Perhaps she'd seen them as some sort of boogeymen, just one more creepy oddity in a world of magic she didn't yet fully understand. "What happened with the Dementors? Was there an attack or something?"
"A sighting," said a seventh-year, eyes skimming the article. "In some backwater little village. It hasn't even been verified yet. There were only a couple of witnesses, but neither knew the Patronus Charm. It's what's making the Ministry so skeptical. How they managed to escape, I mean. Plus they were both a bit old and one's a known drunk, so..." He shrugged. "It's probably nothing."
"I hope so," Vincent said with a shudder. "Dementors... geez. It can't be real."
"It isn't, no way," said a girl beside him. "No one's seen a Dementor in years. They were probably just drunk or.. or looking for attention."
Whether it was true or not, Al hoped his sister wouldn't hear the news. She had been quite frightened by some of Harry's stories, even when he'd glossed over many things. What little he'd said of the Dementors had given her nightmares once. If she thought they might be back, she would be petrified.
Al jerked his head at his brother and moved away from the crowd. James reluctantly followed.
"Think we should write Dad and see if it's true?" Al asked quietly. "It'd be nice to know if it's all a hoax. You know Lily's going to be upset when she hears about this."
"Yeah, I'd like to know myself. Vincent and I were heading back out, we just came here to put our brooms away. I'll send him a quick note."
Al resisted the temptation to ask what they were up to, because he recognized his opening. "Have you spoken to Lily at all?"
James glanced away quickly. "Haven't had the time."
Al forced himself to keep his tone mild. "You really hurt her feelings, the way you reacted to her landing in Slytherin. I think she'd feel a lot better if you apologized." When James just scowled, he added ruthlessly, "She cried loads after the stuff you said to her."
That, at least, seemed to get through. James winced, hunching his shoulders defensively. "I'll talk to her if I see her," he finally gave in.
Figuring that was as best as he could hope for, Al stepped aside and let James hurry back out of the common room with Vincent.
Harry wrote back two days later, assuring his children that the Dementor sighting had most likely been nothing at all. Neither witness had been able to describe what they'd seen outside of "big" and "dark", and the Ministry had officially dismissed the matter. This greatly relieved Lily, who had in fact heard of the supposed sighting not long after Al had.
As the time for the first Hogsmeade visit drew near, the days seemed to ooze by, with all of the third-years dying of anticipation. Dustin seemed especially eager; with his first Quidditch match also fast approaching, he was desperate for the diversion.
Scorpius continued to ignore Al, looking more and more tense by the day. Perhaps because they were both doing so bad in Potions. Lily was still too busy with schoolwork to spend much time with any of her family, and still staggered down the halls yawning, her eyes puffy from lack of sleep. And James, Roxie, Vincent, and Fred continued to sneak off on their mysterious business at least two times a week.
But Al noticed most of these things peripherally. He was caught up in his own studies, and was still getting used to having two additional classes, which meant more homework. Outside of class, he found all of his time devoted to homework, taking a breather with his friends, or occasionally taking Dustin down to the Quidditch pitch for some extra practice, much as Vincent had done for him their previous year.
And then, finally, the weekend before Halloween, the first Hogsmeade visit was announced.
As all those with permission slips milled about excitedly in the courtyard, waiting to show their slips to the apathetic caretaker, Rose threaded her way through the crowd to where Al and his friends were stamping their feet in the chilly air.
"I promised to go wander around with Helen first," she said quickly, tugging on her woolen gloves. "But I'll meet up with you guys at the Three Broomsticks for some butterbeers in an hour or so, all right?" Giving them a wave, she hurried off towards a tall Ravenclaw girl.
"Permission slips," came a wheezy voice. Al turned. Eustace Fogworth, the caretaker, was standing behind him, his spider-like hand stretched out. His sad basset-hound eyes barely seemed to register Al at all; his gaze kept wandering as if he were looking for something else to do or trying to remember if he'd left the stove on.
Al and his friends handed over their slips, which disappeared into his voluminous faded robes, and they stepped aside to let him shuffle on to the next group.
"For a caretaker, I don't really see him around much," Felicia tutted. "You'd think he could find something to do, what with Peeves making messes all over the place."
"I usually find him in some corner napping," Andrew said with a grin, chivvying them onwards. "C'mon, c'mon, let's go. Your uncle's got another shop set up in Hogsmeade, right, Al? I barely got to take a look at Diagon Alley. My parents didn't trust me not to smuggle something back to school."
They scrambled aboard a carriage and took it down the long winding road to Hogsmeade, and Andrew led them straight to the Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes shop. Felicia and Andrew had a blast moving through the crowded shop, laughing at the ridiculous pranks, but Al quickly lost interest. He'd been in his uncle's shop numerous times in Diagon Alley, and as this particular shop was tended by his uncle's friend Lee Jordan, whom he barely knew, he found himself lingering by the window, watching students bustle by.
He was just wondering if the suggestion of visiting the Shrieking Shack might be enough to pull Andrew away when he spotted a familiar skinny figure stride past, shoulders up and head down against the brisk wind.
"Want to go somewhere else?"
He turned, unsurprised to find Dustin lingering nearby. The boy didn't really seem the type to pull pranks.
"Um, actually, there's someone I want to talk to really quick. I'll be right back. See if you can try and convince the others to wrap it up." Without waiting for a response, he wiggled his way through the crowded customers and hurried outside. Looking around, he spotted Scorpius turning down a side street. He jogged after the other boy, but slowed when he heard raised voices.
Trying to keep his steps quiet, he crept up to the corner and peeked down the street.
The only things of interest on this particular street were the owl post office and a pink building with a sign that read "Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop". Both seemed like odd destinations. Then Al realized who was making all the noise. Scorpius had come upon Evaine and the older boy that Vincent had jinxed.
"He's a disgrace," Evaine was saying, her expression decidedly unfriendly. "And so are you if you're taking his side." Al was surprised by this; she had always seemed to hold some sort of respect for Scorpius before.
"I've told you, I don't know what you're on about," Scorpius said coldly. "You should get your facts straight before you go accusing people of-"
The big boy stepped forward aggressively, cutting Scorpius off by jabbing a finger in his skinny chest. "Don't give us that. Everyone knows he turned tail and ran back when it mattered. Once a cowardly traitor, always one."
"Touch me again and I'll jinx you into next week," Scorpius spat with a show of backbone that Al couldn't help but grudgingly admire. He addressed Evaine again, ignoring the boy looming over him as if he wasn't even there. "Whatever you and your pals are up to, I couldn't care less. I'm here to study, nothing else."
"You're playing guard dog to Potter," Evaine snapped. It took Al a moment to realize she meant Lily. "And the little cockroach keeps popping up in places she shouldn't, asking stuff that isn't any of her business. You reign her in, or I will. I don't trust her. Slytherin or not, she's still a Potter. She hasn't proven she's one of us yet. And since you keep acting like her pathetic protector, I don't trust you either."
"I just think it's pathetic," Scorpius retorted, throwing her own insult back at her, "for Slytherins to pick on their own. Especially first-years. If you ever expect her to fit in with our House, you need to quit acting like a Gryffindor's snuck into the dungeon."
Evaine scowled, but Al could tell she was mulling over his words. "Just stay out of our way," she said finally. "And tell that idiot girl to mind her own business." She pushed past Scorpius. "Come on, Sean. The others will be at the Three Broomsticks by now."
"In a minute," the big boy grunted.
Evaine shrugged and kept walking- right towards Al. Looking around desperately, Al spotted a stack of crates outside a shop and dived behind them. A moment later Evaine passed him by. As soon as she was far enough down the street, he hurried back to the corner of the building, peeking down the side street once more.
The two boys were having some sort of quiet, intense discussion that Al couldn't make out, though Sean's face was blotchy with anger, and Scorpius looked very tense. It probably had something to do with the fact that Sean had drawn his wand at some point. He wasn't aiming it at Scorpius yet, but he was holding it in what looked like a very tight grip.
"Enough," Scorpius finally said loudly, cutting off whatever Sean was saying to him. "You really think I care what you think of me, Dumford? I'm not standing in the way of your stupid little club, so-"
"You're with us or against us," Sean barked, jerking up his wand and holding it inches from Scorpius's face. "I don't care what Evaine says. You had better figure out if you're a coward or not, and I mean quick, or—"
Al didn't realize he'd decided he was going to act until he'd yanked out his own wand and stepped into view. "Petrificus Totalus!"
Sean went rigid as the spell hit him, then slowly toppled over and fell like a lump of unmoving wood.
Scorpius jumped, startled, and whirled around, already reaching for his own wand. He saw Al and scowled darkly. "Potter, what in blazes d'you think you're doing?" he snarled.
"He was about to jinx you!" Al took a few steps closer, eyeing Sean's prone form warily. He wasn't sure how long the spell would last. "What was that all about, anyw-"
Scorpius seized his arm in a hard grip and dragged him back out onto the main street. Al was so taken off guard he stumbled twice and finally had to stash his wand clumsily back in his robes to keep from accidentally jabbing himself or Scorpius with it.
Scorpius continued to haul him along until they were mostly hidden from view behind a huge advertisement stand set up outside a robe shop. As soon as he came to a stop, Al wrenched his arm free.
"Let go of me. You're welcome, by the way."
"I didn't need your help!" Scorpius looked furious. "You'd better pray he didn't see who jinxed him, or I'll strangle you myself. You think I need the others thinking you're jinxing Slytherins on my behalf? With all the crap that's going on now?"
"What crap?" Al asked quickly. "What were they talking about? What's Slytherin up to? And why-"
"It's none of your business, Potter! Keep your nose in your own House's affairs."
But Al was not to be deterred. "They were talking about Lily. She is my business. I mean, I'm really grateful you're still sticking up for her, even if you've been a prat to me lately, but-"
"You started a duel with a bunch of Slytherins."
"With Evaine and those idiots!" Al waved a hand back towards the alley. "That Sean guy and his other big friend. And I didn't start it, I tried to stop it! Which I'm sure Lily has already explained to you. I can't believe you're still going to get onto me about that after that oaf just threatened you."
Scorpius glared at him for a long moment, then finally some of the hostility bled from his face. "Fine. So maybe you tried to stop it. It doesn't matter. Evaine's gunning for you big time now. And half of Slytherin's going to take her side. Things are getting... tense with certain families."
Al's stomach dropped. He had to bite his tongue fiercely to stop the words that tried to leap out. Families. Evaine's uncle was supposedly in Azkaban for being a Death Eater; who knew if her parents leaned the same way but had just been more cautious? And everyone knew the Malfoys had been Death Eaters, defecting only at the last possible second to save their own hides. Harry's good word was all that had kept the family from a stint in Azkaban, and many had resented him for it. Was Scorpius implying there was some infighting amongst the Slytherin families? Death Eaters against everyone else? Or just purebloods?
Scorpius glanced over Al's shoulder. "Just stay out of it," he hissed, then turned and hurried away.
"Al!"
He turned at the sound of his name. Dustin, Andrew, and Felicia were hurrying towards him.
"Is everything all right?" Felicia's worried eyes flashed towards Scorpius's retreating form. "Was he picking on you?"
"No. Nothing like that." Al hastily waved it away. He was not sure if he should speak of the implications Scorpius and Evaine had made, much less who he should confide in just yet. "Let's go to the Three Broomsticks and see if Rose is there yet. It's getting pretty chilly out here."
The other three exchanged unhappy looks, obviously wishing for more details, but finally Dustin turned and led the way to the cozy little pub that they'd all heard so much about.
