Ahahahahaha. It's been almost a month since I've posted.
I'm sorry about that, I've had this chapter done for a while and just completely forgot about it. Oops. Well, here it is now! Enjoy.
"Come on," Brooklyn urged, tugging my wrist through corridor after corridor. It was the evening of the twenty-seventh, the Sunday after Christmas, half an hour after dinner. I hadn't met her in the hall like she'd wanted me to. Instead, I had ignored her plea from Friday afternoon and had been in the commons reading Lanie's Restricted Section book of the week, Advanced Potion-Making by Libatius Borage. It was our textbook but this one was different, with messy writing scrawled through all of the pages and something about belonging to a Half-Blood Prince on the back cover. It had many spells in it, probably ones this Prince guy had invented- ones like Sectumsempra, which had no description except the words "for enemies" . I vaguely remembered something about a Half-Blood Prince from our unit on Harry Potter in History of Magic class, but the book was too interesting to go look up who he had been. We hadn't found anything useful towards the border spell and taking it down yet, despite the number of books Lanie and I had gone through. The week before had been Marguerite Scroggs's Border Charms and Caging Hexes, and the week before that had been Powerful Curses and Counter-Curses: Version X by B. K. Keckilpenny, and the week before that had…
I tore my mind away from the books, and how Brooklyn had burst through the common room door and dragged me into the corridors, and focused on sprinting after her. Through classrooms and hallways we ran, up staircases, and around the school until finally we found a door in front of us.
I glanced behind me. Covering the huge wall opposite the door was a tapestry depicting a barmy old wizard trying to teach a few unhappy-looking trolls to... dance?
"The Room of Requirement," I voiced in awe.
Brooklyn nodded. "A bunch of fourth-years have been getting together here for a while now to talk, rebel against the headmaster, and just generally have fun." She was being careful, I noted, to keep her voice very low so that only I could hear. You never knew what Damien was doing. "I think Nick started it, although I'm not quite sure how he knew about the Room of Requirement. As far as I knew, you and I were the only two who learned about it in first year, right?"
I shook my head. "No, Nick knew too. He followed me to it once and must have figured out how to open it much like I did. So why am I here?"
"Aly, we have to show him- show them all- that's you're good, not the evil hag they think you are," Brooklyn pleaded, tears welling in her eyes once again. I'd seen Brooklyn cry more this year than I had seen her cry in our entire lives. "If I could distrust you after knowing you for your entire life- Aly, they've only known you for three years, imagine how they must hate you! Nick and Nathan most of all."
"Nathan has a right to," I mumbled. It had been a nasty breakup the previous year. "And you're only five months older than me- not even."
"Nathan's using this whole thing as an excuse to hate you, true," Brooklyn agreed, ignoring my second comment. "But my point was that you're coming to tonight's meeting whether you like it or not." Then she pushed open the door and pulled me into the room.
It was a big space, capacious, with a high arched ceiling like a church. Candles arranged in circles throughout the room flickered golden, the only light source I could see. Arranged in heaps along the walls of the Room of Requirement were plushy cushions, although some of the stacks towered high and unstable while others were compiled of just one or two pillows. It made it look like the collection had been raided, and as I looked toward the center of the spacious room, I discovered why.
A large group of my classmates were sitting in a circle, some actually sitting, others lying on their stomachs, all supported by cushions. Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws and Slytherins alike were there, boys and girls- Lea, Lorie, Conor, Nick, Nicole, Rossalene, Steven Dickens (who was a Hufflepuff, but a really smart one), both pairs of twins (Matt Garza and Johnny Gonzalez, who had been split at birth and who had rediscovered each other in our first year; and the Strait girls), Lanie, Shawnee, Will, Polly, Leja, Brandon, and many more. All sat there like they'd been best friends all their lives- all looked comfortable, and as happy as they could be while sharing a castle with a murderer.
That is, until someone spotted me.
Conor pointed and said, "Look." One word, and all turned to me. One word, and all of the relaxed smiles and lazy postures grew stiff and frosty. One word, and I was being glared at by almost everyone in the room.
Except, that is, for Rossalene and my six dorm-mates. Six of those seven jumped up and broke out in grins; Polly, oddly enough, just looked confused. Rossalene, Lanie, Lynne, Millie, Helen, and Shawnee rushed over to me, preparing to hug me, no doubt.
"What's she doing here?" growled a gruff voice.
My friends parted to reveal Nathan, who was closest to us in the circle. He stood to face us, eyes stony and hard.
"Vawdrey, you brought a spy," he hissed. "Why?"
"She's not a spy," Brooklyn replied, stepping in front of me. I felt a rush of gratitude sweep over me as my best friend stuck up for me. "If anything, she's a spy for us. Aly's the one who's been passing us information about Damien and his followers. You can thank her for all of the lives that have been saved."
Nathan stabbed a finger at my chest, eyes like lasers burning into me. I'd never seen him so angry, not even after our ugly breakup. "So we have you to thank for Lindsey and Carter and Sophie- for Arthur, for Margaret! I bet you decorated those trees from Friday night." He shoved Brooklyn, who had been loudly protesting, to the side. "Shut it, Vawdrey. You think she's our spy, but she's his. You've endangered us all by bringing her here." Something shifted in his eyes, and for a moment he was the same brokenhearted boy he'd been the year before, when I'd caught him after Charms class and told him I couldn't date him anymore. "I don't want to kill you," he whispered, so quietly that only a few of us could hear him. Then he raised his voice, tones becoming steely and solid. "But killing you is the only option."
"Wait!" Lanie cried as he pulled out his wand, ready to strike me down. I shivered like a coward, not knowing where or how he'd learned a killing curse but not at all doubting he would use it on me, unsure what to do.
Maybe it's the best option, letting him kill you, a little voice whispered in my head. Die now, and you won't have to worry about Finley or Brooklyn or Nick or any of them. It'll all be over in a flash of light.
I wasn't a Gryffindor for a reason. I was a sniveling coward, and I knew it. But in my heart, I also knew that a quick, easy death at the hands of my ex-boyfriend wasn't the way I was going to go. If anything, I was going to go out fighting this year, and I was sure as hell going to take some baddies down with me.
I moved quickly, but Shawnee moved faster. She'd been trained in Muggle fighting techniques since she was a small child. With a flick of her arm and a kick that just looked like a blur in my vision, she knocked Nathan's wand to the floor. It skittered across the tile, and Nathan dove for it, but the heel of a boot landed on top of the ash stick before he could make a grab for it. The boot was Brooklyn's.
"Make a move, and I'll snap it," she warned, anger fiery in her eyes. "I don't take kindly to being shoved and being told I'm a stupid liar."
She glanced out at everyone else, sitting in stunned silence. "Aly's not a traitor," she repeated. "Or a liar, or a spy- whatever you may think. Any objections?"
There were none.
"Good," she said, kicking Nathan's wand back to him. "Now, what's on the agenda for today, Nick? Something fun, I hope." She plopped down on the cushion Rossalene had vacated with an exasperated huff.
Nick, holding a scrap of parchment in one hand and a quill in the other, was dumbstruck and staring at me. Conor, who was next to him, jabbed him sharply in the ribs. Nick started, nearly kicking over the pot of ink on the floor in front of him. "What?"
"What are we doing today?" asked Rossalene as she fetched two new cushions and pushed in between Brooklyn and Ana, leaving me to sit on a plush blue cushion with gold tassels between my two best friends.
"Oh. Uh…" Nick glanced down at his parchment. "Truth or Dare, but we have to take roll first. Mari?"
"Here," Hufflepuff Maria "Mari" Bird chirped, sandwiched between Niamh Trevett (her best friend) and Kayla.
"Lorie?"
"Here," Lorie mumbled from across the circle.
On and on the list went. I was surprised by how many fourth-years were there- some forty-odd, at least. Only twice was the ritual of someone's name, and then the word "here", interrupted. Once, when Eli Lupin's name was called. The room was silent- most of us glanced around; Polly shifted uncomfortably; until finally Brandon- one of Eli's roommates- said, "Eli's been missing for a while now. A few days, at least. Either he's dead or he's sick."
Gasps met Brandon's words as slowly, each of us realized that the white-haired, quarter-werewolf boy had indeed been missing since- since even before Christmas!
"Even before that, he was skipping classes," Brandon added, hope creeping into his tone. "Maybe he's just sick? I tried visiting the hospital wing, but Madam Pomfrey barred the door and told me to stay out."
"Hopefully," mumbled Leja.
Dejected looks passed over all of our faces. If Eli wasn't sick and in the hospital wing, he was dead. Another one lost. And one of our own this time, one of our peers- bright, laughing, prankster Eli. His best friends- Brandon, Johnny, and Matt- looked especially heartbroken.
I saw Nathan sneak an untrusting glance at me, then look away.
The second time was right after Leja's name was called. Nick scribbled something hurriedly on the parchment, looked up at me, and quietly said, "Aly?"
"Here," I replied, strength infusing into my voice as Nick's turquoise eyes met mine in a kind way for the first time in months.
When the last name- Alexandra's- had been called, Nick stood.
"Truth or Dare," he announced. Looking around at all of us seated in a circle with our undivided attention on him, he asked, "Who wants to go first?"
There were some murmurs and whispers before Lea stood up, sweeping her stick-straight blonde hair off of her shoulders. "I'll go, if no one else will."
She turned to her friend Liana, a huge grin on her face. "Li, truth or dare?"
Liana regarded her solemnly. She was a quiet girl, generally, but laughed a lot. "Truth," she finally decided.
Lea's smile grew to that of a lion's about to pounce, and Liana seemed to regret her choice. "Liana," the queen bee purred, "is it true that you danced with Art at the Christmas ball? And-" she leaned in close- "that he kissed you?"
The room exploded into oohs and catcalls, and Art rose, red-faced, from where he had been sitting between Will and Eric. "That's two questions!" he protested.
"I'll just answer the first one," Liana murmured. "Yes, we danced at the ball."
Lea smirked. "It's okay, Li." She cast a sly glance at Art, whose face- normally the color of caramel with leafy dark freckles splattered across his nose- still resembled a ripe tomato. "I've already got both of my answers."
"Oooh!" Will exclaimed, thumping his best friend on the back as he sat down. "Lucky, mate!"
"Go, Liana," Nick prodded, nodding at her.
Liana tucked a length of her wispy, shoulder-length black hair behind an ear. "Um… Millie. Truth or dare?"
"Truth," Millie answered.
"If you had to pick one boy in this room to date-"
A groan arose from the male population of the Room of Requirement.
"No more girly stuff," Brandon moaned.
"Who cares, anyway?" Nate grumbled.
Will grunted his agreement. "Do something fun. Do a dare!"
"I'll take a dare," Tamsin volunteered, standing quickly. I hid a smile, remembering the redhead's affinity for dares from our first year.
Liana looked lost. "I don't know what to dare you," she mumbled.
The boys of the room took on the challenge, shouting out things they wanted to dare Tamsin to do. Seeing that she was unafraid of anything they could think of, they just made the dares as ridiculous as possible.
"Steal us a cake from the kitchen!"
"Climb to the very top of the highest pillow stack!"
"Run about the castle shouting EAT DUNG, DAMIEN!"
Tamsin dismissed them all. "You just want cake. Too easy. You've got to be kidding- that could get me killed." Nonchalantly she flicked away dares like pesky flies, until Aleyn stood up.
Except for Polly, Aleyn Prince was easily the shortest person in the room. He had floppy light brown hair in a bowl cut, greenish-blue eyes fringed in dark lashes, and was a pretty quiet kid. His mum, Chelsea Prince, had written many books and was a very famous historian and Hogwarts graduate- Hufflepuff, just like her son. Aleyn didn't like to be thought of as Chelsea Prince's son, so to all of us he was just Aleyn- the short, funny guy who was really bad at Potions.
So when Aleyn held out a beaker full of an ugly purple liquid, the room hushed immediately.
"This is my attempt at a Shrinking Solution from our review class just before the holidays," he declared. "Professor Fourier let me keep it so I could figure out what went wrong. Because it's purple. And it should be green. As you all know, when it's brewed wrong it could be poisonous." He took a deep breath. "Tamsin, I dare you to drink it."
There was an immediate uproar as most of the people in the room cheered in agreement. A couple of people looked worried when Aleyn said the part about it being poisonous, but he pacified them by taking out a bezoar and explaining that he had this in case anything went wrong.
Tamsin had looked excited since the very moment Aleyn had started speaking. She vaulted over a few cushions and snatched the vial from him. Uncorking it, she took a sniff, and her face showed no emotion as she raised the glass to her lips and began to gulp down the vile-looking concoction.
"Chug! Chug! Chug!" A few of the boys started up a chant (how juvenile). It slowly spread around the room as Tamsin drank. When there was not a drop of the thin murky liquid left, she handed the beaker back to Aleyn and grinned. Only, it didn't look like she had any teeth.
No… that wasn't right. I squinted. Her teeth had shrunken to tiny white nubs!
Pop! Tamsin's left arm disappeared- no, it shrank! Pop! Her legs. Pop! Her right arm. Pop! Pop! Her head and-
A cloud of yellowish-green smoke filled the room. Everyone started coughing, especially those who had weaker lungs. When the smoke had cleared away, everyone became silent. Tamsin was gone- disappeared.
"Where'd-" someone began.
"Wait! Look!" Niamh shouted, adjusting her thick black glasses and crawling forward. She scooped something up off of the ground- a tiny person with red hair.
Tamsin had shrunken until she was about as tall as my hand!
That shocked a laugh out of me as Tiny Tamsin scampered up Niamh's arm and perched on her friend's shoulder. "This is awesome!" she chirped. I flinched. Tamsin's somewhat rough voice had transformed into a high and reedy trill- it almost hurt my ears just listening to it. "Thanks, Aleyn!"
Aleyn shrugged, but shyly smiled.
"Blimey, I think you just created a new potion, mate," congratulated Noah Docherty- Aleyn's best friend- thumping him on the back. They made quite a pair, super-tall Noah with his fluffy blond hair and small Aleyn with the darker mane. "Quick, write down your recipe and slap a copyright on it before the Ministry steals it, yeah?"
"Shrinking Solutions are supposed to make the drinker younger, though," argued Bryony Joyner, an overly freckled Hufflepuff who was sitting by her best friend Cheryl "Cher" London. Cher was a Slytherin, but that bothered neither of them.
"That's why it's a new potion," explained Nathan with an air of superiority. "It's-"
Cher glared at him, and he shut up.
"Tamsin, it's your turn," said Nick, reminding us all that we were in the middle of a game, not stare-at-Tiny-Tamsin time.
Tiny Tamsin eyed everyone from her seat on Niamh's hair (somehow she'd gotten up there without anyone noticing, and I silently agreed that Niamh's fluffy bed of short dark curls looked way more comfortable than her bony shoulder). Finally, she pointed an itty-bitty finger at a cluster of boys across the circle from her- a cluster which included Steven, Brandon, and all of the Ravenclaw boys. "Brandon," she chose. "Truth or dare?"
Brandon didn't hesitate. "Dare."
Tamsin grinned a smile that seemed too big for her small face. "I dare you to…." She paused for dramatic effect and tried to pitch her voice lower, but it didn't work. "Kiss Elysa."
Nick and Nathan, who had always been good friends with the flirty girl, looked like they were chewing on Sour Strawberry Apple Strips (a favorite of Shawnee's). Elysa smirked, and Brandon looked interested. Probably half of the boys in the room wanted to kiss Elysa Scrope, really. Tamsin had pretty much just handed the rich, spoiled Trotter boy a gift.
They met in the middle of the room, Elysa smiling coyly, Brandon half-blushing in anticipation. Brooklyn next to me rolled her eyes and groaned. Not only did she hate pretty much anything girly- watching anyone kiss was probably torture for her- she'd loathed the Trotter brothers (Brandon and the two-years-older Seamus) since before she could walk.
I smiled halfheartedly and patted my best friend on the back. Whoops and catcalls interrupted my motion, and I turned back to the circle to find Brandon and Elysa full-on snogging. I gagged. It looked like they were eating each others' faces.
"That can't be comfortable," I whispered to Brooklyn, who tried to stifle her giggles.
"Get a room, you two!" a girl's voice yelled, and the couple broke apart.
Nick looked like he was suppressing the urge to kill someone. "Brandon, your turn."
"Ask Elysa if you're a bad kisser," one of the boys hooted. A group of them burst into snorts of laughter.
Brandon ignored them, turning slightly purple. "Kayla," he decided.
"Dare," the taller of the Strait twins announced immediately. Kayla swept her thin brown shoulder-length hair behind her ears, looking like she could do anything. It was the same look she'd had on the Quidditch field in our second and third years.
"I dare you…" Brandon glanced around the room, no doubt looking for inspiration. He ran a hand through his short dark hair. "Hmm. I dare you to… change your hair to a different color and keep it like that for a week."
Kayla grinned triumphantly. "Easy peasy. Quick Color-Changing Charm should do the trick. Where's my wand?" She dug in her pockets.
"Where do you think he got that idea from?" I murmured to Brooklyn.
"Eli, probably," she suggested. "Haven't you seen his hair wildly changing colors from time to time? His hair was turquoise at the feast, remember? It's-" She coughed. "It was almost like he was a Metamorphmagus, like his father." She bit her lip.
It must be difficult talking about her House-mate in the past tense, I sympathized in my head.
"Here we are," Kayla proclaimed, whipping the slender chestnut stick with a tassel on the end that made it look like a broomstick from the inner pocket of her dark robes. "What color should I make it?"
"Yellow!" advised a few of the Hufflepuffs.
"Green," shouted Grace Liu, one of Brooklyn's roommates (she was also pretty much the reason I no longer had a crush on Conor Mathieson).
"Pink!" Lea suggested.
"Black," advocated Cher, who (despite being really nice) was rather Goth.
"Just pick a color," grumbled Pedro Fitz-Lewis, a short and skinny Hispanic Gryffindor boy.
"Purple," Kayla selected. Pointing her wand at her own hair, she clearly stated, "Colovaria!"
Her tresses turned a very disgusting and unappetizing shade of puce.
This sent most of our peers into giggles, and Kayla frowned. "What? What?" she asked, trying in vain to hold a lock up in front of her face. "I can't see it!"
I fished my hand mirror out of my bag. The Gryffindor girls had given it to me as a birthday gift in our first year (long story), and although I had hated the bronze thing at first- with all of its sapphires and its inscription, Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure- I now carried it faithfully in my bag every day.
Offering it to Kayla from where I sat in the circle, I recommended, "You might want to try again."
Kayla hesitated. She probably still didn't wholly trust me, and rightfully so, but she plucked the mirror from my grasp and offered me a forgiving smile. "Thanks, Aly." Then she grimaced as she realized what color her hair had become. "Yuck! Colovaria!"
This time the strands turned light lilac, and we all cheered and applauded as the newly purple-haired Kayla handed my mirror back to me, bowed, and took her seat.
Then Kayla chose Polly, who had looked supremely uncomfortable since I had arrived, and asked her (for the short sandy-haired girl picked truth) who she considered her best friend at Hogwarts. Polly answered "Lanie," which made me frown. Ross and Polly had grown up together, and I knew that Polly had other friends at Hogwarts too- at the very least, there was a sixth-year Gryffindor girl named Kit Causey whom I'd often seen hanging out with Polly. I wouldn't consider Lanie Polly's best friend at Hogwarts. Why had she said that?
I shook it off. You're just jealous that she didn't choose you, a little voice whispered inside my head.
Polly, looking more mischievous than I'd ever seen her, at that moment asked Lyndsay (who surprisingly went for truth) if it had been awkward dancing with Nick at the ball. Lyndsay laughed out that it had been slightly uncomfortable, but that romance was "o'er an' done wi'," as she put it, so it had just been like dancing with a friend.
Lyndsay selected Nick, no doubt going to ask him the same question, but the former Seeker (arrogant as ever) chose dare. Lyndsay could have easily pulled the old I-dare-you-to-answer-this-question trick, but my friend just didn't roll like that. She simply smiled contentedly and asked the room, "'Oo shouted aet th' bit abou' Damien eatin' dung earlier?"
Conor sheepishly raised a hand.
"Ah like i'," Lyndsay praised. "Nick, ah dare ye tae go outside an' carve EAT DUNG, DAMIEN-" she pronounced dung like doo-ng- "entae th' corridor wall."
Nick produced his English oak wand and disappeared into the hallway.
Lyndsay crept over to me. "Aly, ye can save 'im if Damien catches 'im, righ'?"
"Probably," I said, although I wasn't at all convinced that I could.
She smiled brightly. "Good! Would'nae wan' tae be responsible for th' death o' another student." She proceeded to scoot on back to her spot.
We waited with bated breath for what seemed like hours. Really, however, it was only four and a half minutes before Nick eased himself back through the door, a euphoric grin on his face. "Done," he chimed triumphantly. "Now it's my turn!"
"I want to see," protested many a person, including Aleyn, Nate, and Mari.
"When we're done," someone soothed. "It's Nick's turn."
Nick scanned the circle, but he had a decisive air about him, like he'd known who he was going to pick since the beginning. "Aly," he said at last. "…Lyss."
The rarely-ever-used-anymore nickname he'd given me in first year lifted my spirits. He hadn't called me Lyss since the end of our first year. No one had ever called me Lyss, except for Nicholas Justice.
I lifted my chin. I liked a good dare as much as the next person, but I knew what I had to choose. There was only one option for me. "Truth." Let them see that I am not a traitor or a spy. Let them see that I have nothing to hide. Let them see that I have been theirs, not Damien's, from the beginning.
"Are you working for him?" Nick asked. Five simple words. No one needed to know who he was. There was a pleading glint in his eyes, and I knew in that instant why he had asked that.
Brooklyn had vouched for me.
All of my friends had stuck up for me.
But never once had I actually told Nick, or any of them, that I was on their side and not Damien's.
"No," I said, putting all of the strength and truthfulness I could muster into my voice. "I'm working for all of you. I always have been working for all of you. And together, once you decide to trust me, that is-" I shot a pointed glance at Nathan- "together, we will take him down."
Ooh, I had fun writing this chapter. Some of you might say it's not important, but it is. Wouldn't you want to take a little break from life if you were stuck in Hogwarts with Headmaster Damien looking for an excuse to kill you all? I know I would.
And I'd like to welcome some new people into the Salinger Year family! I hope your experiences are as good as mine have been- you know who you are. Welcome!
Anyway, leave your comments below! (Sorry if the chapter was a little long, by the way.)
~atrfla