Hell Have No Fury

by thehelpinghand

I am Aileen Potter, Daughter of the Sea, Granddaughter to the Goddess of Love. I am the Champion of the Great Goddess Hecate. I am the eyes that see and acknowledge all that lays before me. I am the torch that burns like a beacon in times of darkness, pain and sorrow. I am the protector of the weak, innocent and just. And this…this is the story of my life MAJOR EDIT 20/06/2018

21. Chapter 21: Evidence x2Ed

Chapter 21: Year three: Evidence

After the attack on the Fat Lady, talk about Sirius Black escalated for the next few days. No matter where Aileen went, she always heard a minimum of three conversation about Sirius and how he got into the castle. After the first day, the theories on how he managed it became wilder to the point of impossibility. For example, she heard a theory from a group of Hufflepuff's saying that Black could turn into a flowering shrub. Although turning into something wasn't an impossibility, turning into a flowering shrub would mean that Black had an accomplice willing to move him about the castle and in transfigure him since he wouldn't have any conscious thought as a plant.

The canvas containing the Fat Lady was taken down so that it could be repaired. In its place was the canvas of Sir Cadogan who was normally located in the rarely used south tower, only seen by lost Divination students. Cadogan was a terrible guard for their common room and no one was happy about it because he spent most of his time challenging people to duels and he changed the password a minimum of twice a day without informing anyone. Normally the seventh year prefect set the password and it would remain for the following week or two before being changed.

"He's a complete lunatic," Seamus complainedangrily to Percy, the only prefect willing to actually talk with the students,on the second day of having Cadogan as a guard. "Can't we get anyone else?"

"None of the other pictures wanted the job," Percy answered,pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration as he fought off a headache. He had no doubt that there would be other students coming to complain to him but there was nothing he or the other prefects could do about it since the decision had been made and they couldn't overrule their head of house when they didn't have a solution to the problem. "Frightened of what happened to the Fat Lady. Sir Cadogan was the only one brave enough to volunteer."

Unlike the rest of the house, Cadogan was the least of Aileen's annoyances and growing problems. She had been annoyed when she was punished by not being allowed to Hogsmeade, now she was beyond that and constantly trying to keep her temper as she was closely watched and followed throughout the day. Teachers who normally wouldn't look her way outside of class, were suddenly finding any excuse to walk with her in the corridors, and Percy (acting, Aileen had no doubt, on orders from his mother) followed her everywhere like a guard dog. The only reprieve she had (from Percy, at least) was at Quidditch practise because Percy trusted Fred and George to keep her – and their little sister – safe.

Too make all the ridiculousness worse, Aileen was summoned to McGonagall's office a couple of evenings after Halloween. When Aileen arrived, it was to find McGonagall sat at her desk, looking at Aileen like someone had died.

"There's no point hiding it from you any longer, Potter," she said in a very serious voice. "I know this will come as a shock to you, but Sirius Black -"

"I know he's after me," Aileentiredly cut across her professor. She didn't know why it had taken two months and an attack for someone to decide she needed to know she was a target, but it was something she was going to bring up with the headmaster during the Christmas break and he can then bring it up with his staff if he wasn't the one to order this information silences. "I overheard a conversation while I was staying at the Leakey Cauldron."

Professor McGonagallappeared quitetaken abackthat Aileen was aware and hadn't shown any signs of stress or fear in the last two months. Any normal student who had been told that they were a target of a mass murderer would be seeking help from the adults around them or, at the very least, showing strain. However, Aileen wasn't normal and she had known Voldemort had been trying to kill her since the end of her first year. Even ignoring the fact that she wasn't sure Sirius was after her, she didn't see the point of worrying about adding one more person to her list of people who wanted her dead (it currently had Voldemort, most (if nor all) Death Eaters and her Uncle Zeus (even if he didn't know she existed) and most likely her uncle Hades).

"I see!" McGonagall said after a moment of observing her student. "Well, in that case, Potter, you'll understand why I don't think it's a good idea for you to be practicing Quidditch in the evenings. Out on the field with only your team members, it's very exposed, Potter -"

"Professor," Aileen cut across McGonagall once again. "During every Quidditch practice my dog, So̱ti̱ría, is there. If there was anyone there who shouldn't be he would be able to, at the very at least, alert us. We are on brooms and I am more than capably of dodging spells. And if that isn't enough, the combined knowledge of the team will be enough to defend ourselves with until a teacher arrives." Aileen spoke calmly, not letting her anger and frustration with her teachers show since it wouldn't get her anywhere. "Besides, what are the chances that Black will actually attempt to attack me while I am flying in the air on a broom that travels at too fast a pace for a spell to hit unless he is very good which is unlikely to be the case after twelve years in Azkaban in which he would have lost much of his co-ordination without treatment?"

Professor McGonagall had no response to this.

The weather worsened steadily as the first Quidditch match drew nearer. Undaunted, the Gryffindor team was training harder than ever under the eye of Madam Hooch – who McGonagall had insisted on attending the practises once she had pulled self together after Aileen left her office. McGonagall said she felt better with a one of the teachers watching the practise and not just So̱ti̱ría who was taking is guarding duty very serious (he didn't like leaving Aileen's side when she had to return to the castle).

To make matters worse, during the final training session before the match, Oliver came barring unwanted news.

"We're not playing Slytherin!" he told them, looking very angry. "Flint's just been to see me. We're playing Hufflepuff instead."

"Why?" chorused the rest of the team, they had developed their strategy to face Slytherin and not Hufflepuff who used completely different tactics. It was very underhanded for a team to pull out at the last moment since both of the teams who would then be playing would be at a disadvantage since neither team was training to face each other and in the case of the new team playing, they wouldn't have been training as hard because they weren't expected to play for another month.

"Flint's excuse is that their Seeker's arm's still injured," said Wood, grinding his teeth furiously. "But it's obvious why they're doing it. Don't want to play in this weather. Think it'll damage their chances..."

There had been strong winds and heavy rain all day, and as Wood spoke, they heard a distant rumble of thunder. Aileen wandered why Zeus was so angry because normally they didn't get thunder storms until mid-December. She hope he was angry about something in their world as opposed to him learning something about her father that she knew he was keeping secret (namely her and her brother).

The day before the match, the winds reached howling point and the rain fell harder than ever. The lake turned uneasily and Aileen felt a deep pit of anger in her stomach; anger that did not belong to her. It seemed something had happened to anger her father, and because of her connection with the ocean she was getting the backlash. Her thoughts the day before seemed to be biting her in the ass – whatever had angered Zeus did indeed have something to do with her father. Hopefully that had nothing to do with her since she didn't want to die by lightening.

It was so dark inside the corridors and classrooms that extra torches and lanterns were lit. The Slytherin team was looking very smug indeed, and none more so than Malfoy. "Ah, if only my arm was feeling a bit better!" he sighed as the gale outside pounded the windows.

Oliver Wood kept hurrying up to Aileen between classes and giving her tips despite the fact that Aileen flew the Seeker position better then Wood could comprehend as he had once comment when she pulled of a diving sloth-barrel role (as the team had named the move). The third time this happened, Wood talked for so long that Aileen suddenly realized she was ten minutes late for Defense Against the Dark Arts, and set off at a run with Wood shouting after her, "Diggory's got a very fast swerve, Aileen, so you might want to try looping him -"

Aileen skidded to a halt outside the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, pulled the door open, and walked inside.

"Sorry I'm late, Professor. I had left my defence book in the tower." Aileen spoke softly, not even faltering when she noticed it wasn't Professor Lupin who looked up at her from the teacher's desk but Professor Snape.

"This lesson began ten minutes ago, Potter, so I think we'll make it ten points from Gryffindor. Sit down."

"Of course, professor." Aileen quickly moved to her seat. "Will Professor Lupin be okay: did he go and see Madam Pomfrey last night?" Aileen asked as she sat down.

"It's nothing life-threatening," Professor Snape answered, looking as though he wished it were. "As I was saying before Potter interrupted, Professor Lupin has not left any record of the topics you have covered so far -"

"Please, sir, we've done Boggarts, Red Caps, Kappas, and Grindylows," said Hermione quickly, "and we're just about to start -"

"Be quiet," said Snape coldly. "I did not ask for information. I was merely commenting on Professor Lupin's lack of organization."

"He's the best Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher we've ever had," said Dean boldly, and there was a murmur of agreement from the rest of the class. Snape looked more menacing than ever.

"You are easily satisfied. Lupin is hardly overtaxing you - I would expect first years to be able to deal with Red Caps and Grindylows."

"Professor Lupin informed us that he was using the first half of the year to teach us what we had not been taught in the last two years." Aileen spoke softly. "He has notes in the top draw of his office desk but I think he keeps it locked."

Professor Snape paused and looked at Aileen with narrowed eyes. A flash of something passing before his eyes too fast for her to identify before he continued with what he had been saying. "Today we shall discuss -" He flick through the textbook, to the very back chapter, which he knew they hadn't covered yet. "- werewolves," said Snape.

"But, sir," said Hermione, seemingly unable to restrain herself, "we're not supposed to do werewolves yet, we're due to start Hinkypunks -"

"Miss Granger," said Snape in a voice of deadly calm, "I was under the impression that I am teaching this lesson, not you. And I am telling you all to turn to page 394." He glanced around again. "All of you! Now!"

With many bitter sidelong looks and some sullen muttering, the class opened their books.

"Which of you can tell me how we distinguish between the werewolf and the true wolf?" said Snape.

Everyone sat in motionless silence; everyone except Hermione, whose hand, as it so often did, had shot straight into the air.

"Anyone?" Snape said, ignoring Hermione. Aileen raised her hand as well. Professor Snape narrowed his eyes but motioned to Aileen.

"There are many differences between the Weres and a true wolf. The first differences is that a Were will only transform the night of the fall moon, otherwise they are a normal human being. While on the night of the fall moon the Weres differs from the true wolf in several of their physical futures. A true wolf is similar to that of a large hound because hounds are decedents of the true wolf. However a true wolf has longer, more powerful legs, longer ears, bigger feet and a narrower chest compared to their domestic descendants. On average they range between 3-4 feet tall and from head to tail they are 4-6 feet. A Were has a long snout, small, rounded ears, golden eyes, little to no fur, broad chests and can stand up to two feet taller than their human forms. This means some Weres can reach up to 7 to 8 feet."

"Mostly correct however your description is not complete."

Aileen got very little sleep that night. She spent it sat on the window sill listening to the sounds of the thunder rumbling overhead, the pounding of the wind against the castle walls, and the distant creaking of the trees in the Forbidden Forest. Aileen knew better than to think the match would be cancelled; Quidditch matches weren't called off for trifles like thunderstorms. Nevertheless, she was starting to feel very apprehensive.

At about six o'clock she showered and changed before heading down to breakfast. Aileen had just started on her second cup of tea when the rest of the team had turned up.

"It's going to be a tough one," said Wood, who wasn't eating anything.

"Stop worrying, Oliver," said Alicia soothingly, "we don't mind a bit of rain."

But it was considerably more than a bit of rain. Such was the popularity of Quidditch that the whole school turned out to watch the match as usual, but they ran down the lawns toward the Quidditch field, heads bowed against the ferocious wind, umbrellas being whipped out of their hands as they went.

The team changed into their scarlet robes (Aileen made sure that she had her wand and dagger secured to her person and that her glasses were spelled to repel the water) and waited for Wood's usual pre-match pep talk, but it didn't come. He tried to speak several times, made an odd gulping noise, then shook his head hopelessly.

Seeing that Oliver wasn't going to say anything and the rest of the team looked nervous Aileen took it upon herself to help motivate the team. "Guys, we are facing the Hufflepuffs. They have probably been training to face the Ravenclaws and not the Gryffindors and since their first match isn't until January they probably weren't training as hard as we were. We've been out on that pitch nearly every day for the last two months no matter the weather. We couldn't be more prepared if we tried. We are good. We've got some of the most well organised and synchronized Chaser that I have ever seen. Beater that don't miss their mark. A keeper who's probably a shoe in for the professional league. I've not lost a Snitch yet, and I don't plan on starting now. So stand proud because we are going to go out there and beat the Hufflepuffs. Who's with me?"

"We are!" the team cheered and Oliver gave her a thankful smile before beckoning everyone to follow him.

The wind was so strong that they staggered sideways as they walked out onto the field. If the crowd was cheering, they couldn't hear it over the fresh rolls of thunder. Much to Aileen's relief that was no lightening in the sky – not yet anyway.

The Hufflepuffs were approaching from the opposite side of the field, wearing canary-yellow robes and looking as nervous about this game as the Gryffindors had done in the changing rooms. The Captains walked up to each other and shook hands; Diggory smiled at Wood but Wood now looked as though he had lockjaw and merely nodded. Aileen saw Madam Hooch's mouth form the words, "Mount your brooms." Madam Hooch put her whistle to her lips and gave it a blast that sounded shrill and distant - they were off.

Aileen rose fast, but her Nimbus was swerving slightly with the wind – her slight form acting against her in such ferocious winds. Cedric would have the advantage in this whether since he was larger than her, and a decent weight while she was small and underweight.

Within five minutes everyone was soaked to their skin and frozen. Aileen flew around the pitch, keeping an eye out for the snitch through the heavy rain while trying to learn the pull of the wind so she could fly with it, as opposed to against it. She lost track of time. It was getting harder and harder to keep a secure grip on her broom as the wind picked up and the temperature dropped some more.

With the first flash of lightning came the sound of Madam Hooch's whistle; Aileen could just see the outline of Wood through the thick rain, gesturing her to the ground. The whole team splashed down into the mud

"I called for time-out!" Wood roared at his team. "Come on, under here –

They huddled at the edge of the field under a large umbrella.

"What's the score?" Aileen asked having missed most of the game.

"We're fifty points up," said Wood, "but unless we get the Snitch soon, we'll be playing into the night."

"I'm not as heavy as Diggory – this wind has nearly unseated me a couple of times." Aileen explained. "But I'll see what I can do."

"Okay, team, let's go for it!"

Aileen took to the air once again. She needed to be even more careful now because lightning had started flashing across the sky. Luckily for her, it did not appear to be targeted which meant Zeus was not aware of her presents in his domain. Her father had most likely reported about what had angered him the night before or they were arguing it out.

Aileen had just turned to head down to Wood's side of the pitch when a flash of lightning illuminated the snitch. Quickly, without even thinking to look where Diggory was, Aileen shot forward, her Nimbus responding to her touch. She was within five feet of it when the Snitch shot up and she followed, Diggory joining the chase. Together they darted across the pitch, doggedly following the snitch.

Aileen finally pulled ahead of Diggory just enough to stretch out her hand and capture the snitch. However the moment the snitch was safely within her hand something caught her notice. Something that made her blood run cold.

"DEMENTORS!" Aileen shouted, hoping to warn the teachers of their presence. Aileen noticed Diggory pull back and fly towards the teacher's stand while Aileen turned and flew towards the teams who had continued playing. However the Dementors where swarming in the hundreds and many of them split and flew towards her and Aileen was forced to swerve and go the other way in an attempt to lead the Dementors away from her friends. Her vision had started to go black, she could hear screaming in her ears and not even the rain that surrounded her could help.

Aileen dodged around a group of Dementors that had flown in front of her but suddenly there was a flash of lightning right in front of her. Her broom caught fire and she was sent flying, towards the ground and the Dementors that waited hungrily for her. Aileen's vision went black, not able to cope with the pain, shock and memories.

"Not Aileen, not Aileen, please not Aileen!"

"Stand aside, you silly girl...stand aside, now..."

"Not Aileen, please no, take me, kill me instead -"

"I told you to stand aside…"

"Not Aileen! Please...have mercy...have mercy..."

A shrill voice was laughing, the woman was screaming….

"Lucky someone was able to catch her."

"I thought she was dead for sure."

"But she didn't even break her glasses."

Aileen started to become aware of her surrounding's, there were voices talking. Close by from the sounds of it. Her body ached like she was healing from a particularly severe beating and her head felt all fuzzy.

"That was the scariest thing I've ever seen in my life."

Aileen's eyes snapped open. She was lying in the hospital wing. The Gryffindor Quidditch team, spattered with mud from head to foot, was gathered around her bed. Ron and Hermione were also there, looking as though they'd just climbed out of a swimming pool.

"Aileen!" said Fred, who looked extremely white underneath, the mud. "How're you feeling?"

"What happened?" Aileen asked, slowly pulling herself up.

"The Dementors kept following you, and then just as Dumbledore cast a spell…" Fred said looking extremely worried.

"Your broom got struck by lightning," said George. "You fell what must've been - what - fifty feet?"

"We thought you'd died," said Alicia, who was shaking.

"Someone must have cast a spell to slow you down," Angelina said.

"But no one saw who did it, the teachers were too busy trying to get rid of the Dementors and get the students inside." Ginny spoke up from where she was being hugged by Percy. Both of them looked extremely pale.

Hermione made a small, squeaky noise. Her eyes were extremely bloodshot.

Aileen frowned at that. If she had fallen fifty feet then she should have died, the impact with the ground shattering her bones and possibly pulverising her organs.

"Where's Oliver?"Aileen asked, blinking as she looked around her friends to find the captain missing.

"Still in the showers," said Fred. "We think he's trying to drown himself."

"Why?" Aileen asked confused.

"Because this is the second time you have been injured and still captured the snitch. However, this time, you could have died." Katie spoke up.

"Fred, George, since I'm going to be hospital bound for a few days, would you mind pranking him from his funk?" Aileen asked, turning her attention to the twins who both smirked and saluted her.

"Most gladly." They said together.

After ten minutes or so, Madam Pomfrey came over to tell the team to leave her in peace.

"We'll come and see you later," Fred promised her. "Tell you everything we have lined up for Oliver."

The team and Percy trooped out, trailing mud behind them. Madam Pomfrey shut the door behind them, looking disapproving. Ron and Hermione moved nearer to Aileen's bed.

"Dumbledore was really angry," Hermione said in a quaking voice. "I've never seen him like that before. He ran onto the field just before you fell. He whirled his wand at the Dementors. Shot silver stuff at them. They left the stadium right away...He was furious they'd come onto the grounds. We heard him -"

"Then he magicked you onto a stretcher," said Ron. "And walked up to school with you floating on it. Everyone thought you were..."

His voice faded, Ron and Hermione looking at her anxiously.

"I'm alright," Aileen said smiling softly at her friends. "Although I would like to know who caught me so that I might be able to thank them." Aileen added as an afterthought.

They sat in silence for a minute before Hermione spoke. "Aileen, the lightning strike didn't actually hit your broom… but…when you fell off, it got blown away," said Hermione hesitantly. "And it hit - it hit - oh, Aileen - it hit the Whomping Willow."

Aileen's eyes widened at that. She had hoped that there might be a chance her broom had survived, but if it hit the Whomping willow then the broom did not stand a chance – despite the protective magic she had coated it in as well as what came standard with a broom (she was paranoid after her first game).

"Professor Flitwick brought it back just before you came around," said Hermione in a very small voice.

Slowly, she reached down for a bag at her feet, turned it upside down, and tipped a dozen bits of splintered wood and twig onto the bed. From what she could see there were several pieces of lightly scorched wood but because it had not been hit directly the broom would have survived the lightning – although she imagined the spell integrity would have been damaged.

Madam Pomfrey insisted on keeping Aileen in the hospital wing for the rest of the weekend. Aileen spent her time putting her broom back together and reading. She knew that she should have just let Madam Pomfrey throw the broom away but it was the first boom she ever had – it was a symbol of the first time she felt free – and although it was broken she wanted to keep it. In memory of those times.

She had a stream of visitors, all intent on cheering her up. Hagrid sent her a bunch of earwiggy flowers that looked like yellow cabbages, and Ginny Weasley turned up with a get-well card she had made herself, which sang shrilly unless Aileen kept it shut under her bowl of fruit. The Gryffindor team visited again on Sunday morning, this time accompanied by Wood, who had been turned orange with green hair. Ron and Hermione left Aileen's bedside only at night and for lessons.

Rom and Hermione stayed so that they could cheer her up but they did not know the actually reason she was worried. The Dementors had come near her twice and this time she had nearly died. She didn't know why they seemed fixated on her but she needed to find a way of fighting them. She did not like the weak, overwhelmed feeling she felt every time she was around them. She vowed to find Professor Lupin and ask him to teach her the spell he used to repel the Dementors.

It was a relief to return to the noise and bustle of the main school on Monday, where she was forced to think about other things, even if she had to endure Malfoy's taunting. Malfoy was almost beside himself with glee at Aileen fainting and spending a week in the infirmary. He had finally taken off his bandages, and celebrated having the full use of both arms again by doing spirited imitations of Aileen falling off her broom (conveniently forgetting the lightning) until he was caught doing so by a teacher and given detention and lose of house points. That same afternoon was their defence class.

"If Snape's teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts again, I'm skiving off," said Ron as they headed toward Lupin's classroom afterlunch; he had gotten in trouble for punching Malfoy moments before Professor Flitwick had stepped in and given Malfoy detention for bullying. He had had enough of dealing with Slytherins that day and wanted to avoid Snape after punching 'his favourite student' as Ron put it. "Check who's in there, Hermione."

Hermione peered around the classroom door.

"It's okay!"

Professor Lupin was back at work. Aileen frowned in worry when she took in his appearance. There had been two incidents in the last two months were he had come to lesson pale and with bags under his eyes, but that was nothing to his appearance now. His robes were hanging from his frame a bit more than normal, like he had hardly eaten in the last week and he had deep shadows beneath his eyes.

Despite how his health was still obviously suffering, he smiled in greeting as the class took their seats. The third years took this as their cue to explode into a jumbled mess of complained about Professor Snape and his behaviour over the two lessons he had covered while Professor Lupin was recovering.

"It's not fair, he was only filling in, why should he give us homework?"

"We don't know anything about werewolves -"

"-Or Vampires -"

"- two rolls of parchment!"

"Did you tell Professor Snape we haven't covered them yet?" Lupin asked, frowning slightly as he picked up that the class was taught vampires and werewolves in the classes that Professor Snape had covered.

The babble broke out again.

"Yes, but he said we were really behind -"

"- he wouldn't listen -"

"- two rolls of parchment!"

Professor Lupin smiled at the look of indignation on every face, particularly the student who was horrified about the amount of homework that professor Snape had assigned.

"Don't worry. I'll speak to Professor Snape. You don't have to do theessay on vampires and I will ask for the one on werewolves to make sure it is marked fairly considering your lake of foreknowledge of the subject."

"Oh no," said Hermione, looking very disappointed. "I've already finished it!"

They had a very enjoyable lesson. Professor Lupin had brought along a glass box containing a Hinkypunk, a little one-legged creature who looked as though he were made of wisps of smoke, rather frail and harmless looking.

When the bell rang, everyone gathered up their things and headed for the door, Aileen among them, but –

"Wait a moment, Aileen," Lupin called. "I'd like a word."

Aileen doubled back and watched Professor Lupin covering the Hinkypunk's box with a cloth.

"I heard about the match," said Lupin, turning back to his desk and starting to pile books into his briefcase, "and I'm sorry about your broomstick. Is there any chance of fixing it?"

"I can put it back together but the damage was too extensive, even if the tree hadn't broken it to pieces. My broom won't be able to take to the skies again."

Lupin sighed. "They planted the Whomping Willow the same year that I arrived at Hogwarts. People used toplaya game, trying to get near enough totouchthe trunk. In the end, a boy called Davey Gudgeon nearly lost an eye, and we were forbidden to go near it. No broomstick would have a chance."

"Professor, the Dementors appeared at the match," Aileen began.

Lupin looked at her quickly. "Yes, I know. I don't think any of us have seen Professor Dumbledore that angry. They have been growing restless for some time...furious at his refusal to let them inside the grounds...I suppose they were the reason you fell?"

"No, I nearly got hit by lightning, but I doubted I would have been able to hold on much longer, they had been closing in on me when the lightning hit. But Professor, I was wondering if you could teach me how to fight them?"

"I don't pretend to be an expert at fighting Dementors, Aileen - quite the contrary..."

"Please professor, I could barely stay conscious when one Dementor was near me and I nearly died during that Quidditch match. I can't keep going like this – not if they continue to guard the school."

Lupin looked into Aileen's determined face, hesitated, then said, "Well...all right. I'll try and help. But it'll have to wait until next term, I'm afraid. I have a lot to do before the holidays. I chose a very inconvenient time to fall ill."

Two weeks before the end of the term, the sky lightened suddenly to a dazzling, opaline white and the muddy grounds were revealed one morning covered in glittering frost. It seemed that whatever had angered her father and Zeus had passed and they'd calmed enough to let Khione do her thing.

The castle, like every year, had started taking on its normal festive buzz. Professor Flitwick had already demonstrated the use of several different charms in his lesson while decorating the room with lights that took on the appearance of real, fluttering fairies. Between classes and homework, students were excitedly discussing their plans for the holiday.

Just like the year before, the Weasleys and Hermione were staying at Hogwarts. Each of the them used different excuses, but Aileen wasn't fooled. They were staying to keep her company and she couldn't say she wasn't grateful since she liked spending her Christmas with her friends. However, she did feel bad for Mr and Mrs Weasley who wouldn't have all their children together, nor would she be able to sneak away to meet the headmaster as easily (she refused to take her friends down to the chamber).

To everyone's delight, there was to be another Hogsmeade trip on the very last weekend of the term to allow the older students to do their Christmas shopping without parent supervision.

"We can do all our Christmas shopping there!" said Hermione. "Mum and Dad would really love those Toothflossing Stringmints from Honeydukes!"

Aileen arranged to spend most of the day with Madam Pomfrey although she made sure to put three hours aside to be out with So̱ti̱ría. She had not had the time to spend with him after the Quidditch match and it made her regret promising that So̱ti̱ría wouldn't enter the castle. These days she sees him for a couple of hours once a week when she visits Hagrid and she always allowed him to watch their Quidditch matches and practises.

On the Saturday morning of the Hogsmeade trip, Aileen bid good-bye to Ron and Hermione, who were wrapped in cloaks and scarves, then turned up the marble staircase alone, and headed towards the Hospital Wing. Snow had started to fall outside the windows, and the castle was very still and quiet.

"Psst - Aileen!"

She turned, halfway along the third-floor corridor, to see Fred and George peering out at her from behind a statue of a humpbacked, one-eyed witch.

"What are you doing?" said Aileen curiously. "How come you're not going to Hogsmeade?"

"We've come to give you a bit of festive cheer before we go," said Fred, with a mysterious wink. "Come in here..."

He nodded toward an empty classroom to the left of the one-eyed statue. Aileen followed Fred and George inside. George closed the door quietly and then turned, beaming, to look at Aileen.

"Early Christmas present for you, Aileen," he said.

Fred pulled something from inside his cloak with a flourish and laid it on one of the desks. It was a large, square, very worn piece of parchment with nothing written on it.

"I take it the parchment is charmed?" Aileen asked, gently running her hand along the surface of the paper that felt so familiar to her.

"Most heavily," Fred commented.

"What does it do?"

"This, Aileen, is the secret of our success," said George, patting the parchment fondly.

"It's a wrench, giving it to you," said Fred, "but we decided last night, your need is greater than ours."

"Anyway, we know it by heart," said George. "We bequeath it to you. We don't really need it anymore."

"And what does it do?" Aileen inquired curiously.

"Explain, George."

"Well...when we were in our first year, Aileen - young, carefree, and innocent -"

Aileen snorted. She doubted whether Fred and George had ever been innocent.

"…well, more innocent than we are now - we got into a spot of bother with Filch."

"We let off a Dungbomb in the corridor and it upset him for some reason -"

"So he hauled us off to his office and started threatening us with the usual -"

"- detention -"

"- disembowelment -"

"- and we couldn't help noticing a drawer in one of his filing cabinets marked Confiscated and Highly Dangerous."

"Don't tell me -" said Aileen, starting to grin as she realised were their conversation was going.

"Well, what would you've done?" said Fred. "George caused a diversion by dropping another Dungbomb, I whipped the drawer open, and grabbed - this."

"It's not as bad as it sounds, you know," said George. "We don't reckon Filch ever found out how to work it. He probably suspected what it was, though, or he wouldn't have confiscated it."

"And you know how to work it?"

"Oh yes," said Fred, smirking. "This little beauty's taught us more than all the teachers in this school."

George took out his wand, touched the parchment lightly, and said, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

And at once, thin ink lines began to spread like a spider's web from the point that George's wand had touched. They joined each other, they crisscrossed, they fanned into every corner of the parchment; then words began to blossom across the top, great, curly green words, that proclaimed:

Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs
Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers
are proud to present
THE MARAUDER'S MAP

It was a map showing every detail of the Hogwarts castle and grounds. But the truly remarkable thing were the tiny ink dots moving around it, each labelled with a name in minuscule writing. A labelled dot in the top left corner showed that Professor Dumbledore was pacing his study; the caretaker's cat, Mrs. Norris, was prowling the second floor; and Peeves the Poltergeist was currently bouncing around the trophy room. And as Aileen's eyes travelled up and down the familiar corridors, she noticed something else.

This map showed a set of passages she had never entered. And many of them seemed to lead –

"Right into Hogsmeade," said Fred, tracing one of them with his finger. "There are seven in all. Now, Filch knows about these four" - he pointed them out - "but we're sure we're the only ones who know about these. Don't bother with the one behind the mirror on the fourth floor. We used it until last winter, but it's caved in - completely blocked. And we don't reckon anyone's ever used this one, because the Whomping Willow's planted right over the entrance. But this one here, this one leads right into the cellar of Honeydukes. We've used it loads of times. And as you might've noticed, the entrance is right outside this room, through that one-eyed old crone's hump."

"Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs," sighed George, patting the heading of the map. "We owe them so much."

"Noble men, working tirelessly to help a new generation of lawbreakers," said Fred solemnly.

"I know these names," Aileen murmured, her finger gently tracing them.

"Really, from where?" the twins looked like they might ponce on her.

"They attended Hogwarts about twenty years ago, at the same time as my father." Aileen answered remembering the stories she had found.

"Do you know who they are?" George asked.

"I'm not sure, I have an idea but I don't want to tell you encase I'm wrong." Aileen answered.

"Right," said George briskly, understanding the logic behind what Aileen had said. "Don't forget to wipe it after you've used it -"

"- or anyone can read it," Fred said warningly.

"Just tap it again and say, "Mischief managed!" And it'll go blank."

"So, young Aileen," said Fred, in an uncanny impersonation of Percy, "mind you behave yourself."

"See you in Honeydukes," said George, winking.

Aileen leaned forward and kissed them both on the cheek. "Thanks." Aileen whispered to them both with a wicked smirk making them both blink in shock and turn red.

After a moment they left the room, both smirking in a satisfied sort of way.

Aileen sighed and placed the parchment gently into her bag before continuing on to the hospital wing. She knew that the twins wanted her to go to Hogsmeade however she had a lesson with Madam Pomfrey to attend. As much as she would like to visit the village, her want to heal others was far more pressing.

When Ron and Hermione returned later that day they were both quite pale and worried. They had overheard a conversation between the Minister, Professor McGonagall, Hagrid, Flitwick and Rosmerta (the owner of the Three Broomsticks). Apparently they had been discussing Sirius Black and the fact he was Aileen's Godfather. How he had not only betrayed his best friends but also murdered another. He killed his friend in such a violent way that there was only a finger left.

Aileen frowned once they had finished talking. If Sirius Black had blown up Pettigrew then there would have been more than just a finger left. The teeth and most of the bones would have survived as would various pieces of skin. If the blast had been big enough to essentially incinerate Pettigrew than it would have killed more than twelve muggles as well as Sirius Black himself. There was something terrible wrong with this story and Aileen's doubt at Sirius's guilt was just growing.

The next day the majority of the school had left for the holidays. Aileen spent the morning finishing of the finally touches to her book on law and then sent it off to Mr Tonks. He would read through it, checking for any errors, and then go to the publishing agency and go through the same process as the last time.

She went down to the common room to find Hermione finishing of her homework and Ron munching on some peppermint humbugs.

"Good morning," Aileen greeted them.

"Morning," Ron nodded.

"Good morning, I was wondering when you were going to come and join us." Hermione commented.

"Sorry, I got distracted," Aileen shrugged carelessly.

"Do you want to go down and see Hagrid, it's been awhile since all three of us went down?" Hermione asked.

"Sure," Ron agreed with Aileen nodding her consent.

So they got their cloaks from their dormitories and set off through the portrait hole ("Stand and fight, you yellow-bellied mongrels!"), down through the empty castle and out through the oak front doors.

They made their way slowly down the lawn, making a shallow trench in the glittering, powdery snow, their socks and the hems of their cloaks soaked and freezing. The Forbidden Forest looked as though it had been enchanted, each tree smattered with silver, and Hagrid's cabin looked like an iced cake.

Ron knocked, but there was no answer.

"He's not out, is he?" said Hermione, who was shivering under her cloak.

Ron had his ear to the door.

"There's a weird noise," he said. "Listen - is that Fang?"

Aileen and Hermione put their ears to the door too. From inside the cabin came a series of low, throbbing moans.

"Hagrid!" Aileen called, worry coating her voice.

There was a sound of heavy footsteps, then the door creaked open. Hagrid stood there with his eyes red and swollen, tears splashing down the front of his leather vest.

"You've heard?" he bellowed, and he flung himself onto Aileen's neck.

Hagrid being at least twice the size of a normal man, this was no laughing matter. Aileen wince slightly at the sudden weight, but was able to adjust his grip and heave the larger man back into his cabin. Hagrid allowed himself to be steered into a chair and slumped over the table, sobbing uncontrollably, his face glazed with tears that dripped down into his tangled beard.

"Hagrid, what is it?" said Hermione, aghast.

Aileen spotted an official-looking letter lying open on the table. "What's this, Hagrid?"

Hagrid's sobs redoubled, but he shoved the letter toward Aileen, who picked it up and read aloud so that the other two could find out what was wrong:

Dear Mr. Hagrid,

Further to our inquiry into the attack by a Hippogriff on two students in your class, we have accepted the assurances of Professor Dumbledore that you bear no responsibility for the regrettable incident.

"Well, that's okay then, Hagrid!" said Ron, clapping Hagrid on the shoulder. But Hagrid continued to sob, and waved one of his gigantic hands, inviting Aileen to read on.

However, we must register our concern about the Hippogriff in question. We have decided to uphold the official complaint of Mr. Lucius Malfoy, and this matter will therefore be taken to the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures. The hearing will take place on April 20th, and we ask you to present yourself and your Hippogriff at the Committee's offices in London on that date. In the meantime, the Hippogriff should be kept tethered and isolated.

Yours in fellowship...

There followed a list of the school governors.

"Oh," said Ron. "But you said Buckbeak isn't a bad Hippogriff, Hagrid. I bet he'll get off."

"Yeh don' know them gargoyles at the Committee fer the Disposal o' Dangerous Creatures!" choked Hagrid, wiping his eyes on his sleeve. "They've got it in fer interestin' creatures!"

A sudden sound from the corner of Hagrid's cabin made Aileen Ron, and Hermione whip around. Buckbeak the Hippogriff was lying in the corner, chomping on something that was oozing blood all over the floor.

"I couldn' leave him tied up out there in the snow!" choked Hagrid. "All on his own! At Christmas."

Aileen bowed to the proud hippogriff and only once it had inclined its head did she approach and sit at its side. Gently running her hand across his feathers, pulling free several loose once and straightening those that had been ruffled. She was soon joined by So̱ti̱ría who lay down on her other side, obviously wary of the hippogriff.

"You'll have to put up a good strong defense, Hagrid," said Hermione, sitting down and laying a hand on Hagrid's massive forearm. "I'm sure you can prove Buckbeak is safe."

"Won' make no diff'rence!" sobbed Hagrid. "Them Disposal devils, they're all in Lucius Malfoy's pocket! Scared o' him! Ad if I lose the case, Buckbeak -" Hagrid drew his finger swiftly across his throat, then gave a great wail and lurched forward, his face in his arms.

"I'm one of the students that Buckbeak attack, the only one that he injured. Surely the fact that I don't care will mean something?" Aileen frowned.

"No, it will be nothing. They don't care especially since its Malfoy's son…" Hagrid muttered sadly.

"What about Dumbledore, Hagrid?" said Aileen.

"He's done more'n enough fer me already," groaned Hagrid. "Got enough on his plate what with keepin' them Dementors outta the castle, an' Sirius Black lurkin' around."

"Listen, Hagrid," Aileen said softly, "you can't give up. Hermione's right, you just need a good defense. You can call us as witnesses -"

"I'm sure I've read about a case of Hippogriff-baiting," said Hermione thoughtfully, "where the Hippogriff got off. I'll look it up for you, Hagrid, and see exactly what happened."

Hagrid howled still more loudly. Aileen and Hermione looked at Ron to help them.

"Er - shall I make a cup of tea?" said Ron.

They stared at him.

"It's what my mum does whenever someone's upset," Ron muttered, shrugging.

At last, after many more assurances of help, with a steaming mug of tea in front of him, Hagrid blew his nose on a handkerchief the size of a tablecloth and said, "Yer right. I can' afford to go ter pieces. Gotta pull meself together..."

Fang the boarhound came timidly out from under the table and laid his head on Hagrid's knee.

"I've not bin meself lately," said Hagrid, stroking Fang with one hand and mopping his face with the other. "Worried abou' Buckbeak, an' no one likin' me classes -"

"We do like them!" Hermione said at once.

"So do the older years. They much prefer your lessons to the old ones." Aileen agreed.

"An' them Dementors make me feel ruddy terrible an' all," said Hagrid, with a sudden shudder. "Gotta walk past 'em ev'ry time I want a drink in the Three Broomsticks."

Hagrid went quiet for a moment, staring into his tea. Then he said quietly, "Thought o' jus' letting Buckbeak go ...tryin' ter make him fly away...but how d'yeh explain ter a Hippogriff it's gotta go inter hidin'? An' - an' I'm scared o' breakin' the law..." He looked up at them, tears leaking down his face again. "I don' ever want ter go ter Azkaban."

Aileen, Ron, and Hermione went to the library the next day and returned to the empty common room laden with books that might help prepare a defense for Buckbeak. The three of them sat in front of the roaring fire, slowly turning the pages of dusty volumes about famous cases of marauding beasts, speaking occasionally when they ran across something relevant.

"Here's something...there was a case in 1722...but the Hippogriff was convicted - ugh, look what they did to it, that's disgusting -"

"This might help, look - a Manticore savaged someone in 1296, and they let the Manticore off - oh - no, that was only because everyone was too scared to go near it..."

Three days before Christmas, at just after five, Aileen was stood in the entrance hall with Dumbledore. He had finally gotten everything arranged with the goblins and they were due to arrive with their curse breaker who had just finished his last assignment.

"Ah, Aileen, it's good to see you." The headmaster greeted her with smile.

"Good morning headmaster." Aileen greeted in turn.

"I'm sorry about how early this meeting is, but the goblins only have today and they wanted the extra time to ensure they didn't miss anything." The headmaster said apologetically.

"It's alright, I'm used to getting up early." Aileen waved the headmaster's apologise away. She had already been up for an hour, it didn't bother her at all to be leading the goblins to the chamber. "Bill?" Aileen asked in surprise when she spotted who had joined the conjugant of goblins.

"Merry Christmas, Aileen." Bill greeted in amusement.

"Sorry, wasn't expecting you to be the best curse breaker the goblins had since you're so young." Aileen said in apology. "Merry Christmas to you, as well." turning to the goblins she offered them a bow in greeting when they finished their conversation with the headmaster.

"Aileen, if you could lead the way since you never told me which bathroom the entrance is in?" The headmaster asked, with his eyes twinkling merrily.

"Oh course." Aileen agreed, not remotely repentant that she had kept that information from the headmaster.

"What can you tell us about the chamber?" one of the goblins asked.

"Quite a bit, I'll have to give you access once we get to the main part of the chamber, there's a blood defence on the door and it's easier if I just let you through instead of trying to break the ward." Aileen began.

"How does the access process work?" Bill asked, pulling out a note book to make notes.

"There's a snake guardian on the second door, I need to place my hand in the centre and speaking parseltongue, give the names of everyone I'm giving access to and their title." Aileen explained, she had learnt how to add people after discussing the chamber's defence with Salazar.

"How did you figure this out?" Bill asked with a frown.

"I've returned to the chamber, to clear up the cave in a make sure that you aren't killed." Aileen shrugged.

"That was a very dangerous thing to do." The headmaster abolished.

"I've been in the chamber once and the only thing that harmed me was the basilisk. Since I'm now the heir, I figured I was safe." Aileen shrugged.

"You're the heir?" one of the goblins asked.

"By magic, and I think the secondary blood line but I will have to test that at your bank over the summer." Aileen answered before pushing the door open to the girl's bathroom. "This is the entrance." Aileen motioned to the sink.

Bill stepped forward immediately and started rapidly casting spells over the sink which glowed in response. After nearly five minutes of testing, Bill stopped and started writing in his little book.

"Well?" One of the goblins asked impatiently.

"Salazar Slytherin warded the entrance very well." Bill answered, not looking up from his book. "With six years and a parselmouth, I might have been able to break the wards without completely destroying Hogwarts, but there are so many wards here and they are tied in with what I think are the main Hogwarts wards. So unless I wanted to bring down Hogwarts wards, the protection is flawless."

"How did you learn the passwords?" Bill asked once he had finished writing, turning to Aileen curiously.

"It's just open in parseltongue." Aileen responded in amusement. "Salazar wanted his decedents to be able to access the chamber and a complicated pass phrase would have been easily forgotten."

"When you're ready, Aileen." The headmaster said, amusement clear in his voice at the shocked look on Bill and the goblin's face at such a simple passwords despite the astonishingly strong wards.

"Open. Stairs." Aileen ordered. She had learned when speeking with Salazar that the pipe was charmed to turn into stairs on request, and she figured that the goblins would appreciate the time to examine everything.

Bill cast something on his little note book which had it and the quill hovering, prepared to take notes. "I'll go first, then Aileen so she can lead the way. Headmaster, if you could stay with Aileen encase we unexpectedly trigger something? Master Sharpclaw, if you and the others stay at the back?" Bill took command.

"Of course, master curse breaker." The goblin who had asked Aileen questions accepted his orders.

"Of course, dear boy." The headmaster agreed, drawing his own wand in preparation, not the least bit concerned with taking orders from someone ten times his junior. Bill had more experience in warding and curse breaking then he did, and he understood the need to protect his student first.

Bill lead the way down the stairs, torches that Aileen had fixed, lighting themselves as they went so that no one had to waist magic casting lumos. Bill was casting his detection spells as he went, and his book was recording his results to go over later. When they reached the bottom, the goblins looked around in approval at the way the tunnel had been carved and the detailed mosaics that made up the floor.

"There is a degrading preservation charm on these tunnels. However someone has gone through, casting a strong structural support charm." Bill observed once they were gathered at the bottom.

"The preservation charm on the main chamber is intact and I've strengthen in but I didn't know how it work or how to recast the one in the tunnels so I left it be. When I came back a second time, I had to cast the support spells because there had already been one cave in." Aileen explained when Bill turned to her questioningly.

"There's a secondary ward set around the tunnels, independent of the Hogwarts's wards, originating from about a mile north east of our location. That ward holds the preservation charm, a charm to keep the tunnel intact, one to keep vermin away and a final one to activate what appears to be a capture ward for anyone who enters the tunnel with ill intent. However, they are almost completely gone." Bill listed off his findings.

"So it's safe to proceed?" Sharpclaw clarified.

"For now." Bill agreed as they began the trek down the tunnel, Bill casting as he went.

"This was where the cave in was." Aileen stopped the group when they were about five feet from the only bend in the tunnel.

"There's a rune here." Bill frowned, carefully casting around the area and not letting anyone proceed. Suddenly he paled and span to face Aileen with wide eyes. "When the tunnel collapsed tell me where the three of you stood?" he demanded.

Aileen frowned in thought. "Lockhart was stood were the headmaster is now."

"Headmaster, don't move." Bill order sharply. "And you and Ron?"

Aileen shifted a pace to the left. "Ron was stood here." Aileen answered. She was now next to Bill who immediately took a step back looking warily around them. "Stepping forward one and a half paces Aileen stopped. "And this was where I was."

"Curesbreaker, what's the problem?" one the other goblin's asked.

"This is the next line of defence." Bill pointed at several runes in the wall that Aileen had never noticed. They were just in line with were Ron had been standing, which explained why Bill stepped back. "If anyone who wasn't an heir stepped passed this point, the whole tunnel is rigged to collapse. You were fortunate Aileen, that when Lockhart attacked he stopped Ron and himself from advancing and only brought down a weak section of the wall."

"This wasn't mentioned in the books. How are you getting passed it then so I can key you into the wards?" Aileen questioned.

"I think you need to key us into the wards first." Bill answered after casting some more spells which coped the runes into his book so he could look over them more carefully. "This wards hasn't degraded and I don't have a weak to cast the cancellation circle and drain the localised magic as I normally would do if I faced something like this without other curse breakers."

"Are you suggesting the girl goes on without a guard?" One of the goblins demanded. He was the most heavily armed off the lot and Aileen assumed the warrior guard.

"She's the heir of Slytherin and has passed through unharmed multiple times." Bill snapped back. "Unless you would like to stay here for a weak or pull another two curse breakers in and wait four hours, having Aileen key us in is the only option."

"I now I'm safe, so I'll go key you in. But I need names and titles." Aileen re-joined the group and pulled some parchment from her pockets.

Once she had the list of names, she left the group. She felt Bill's and the headmaster's eyes on her as she left. Neither of them liked her going off alone, no matter the fact that they knew she had entered the passage unharmed before.

When she reached the door at the end, Aileen placed her hand in the centre and read the list of names instead of asking the doors to open. By the time she re-joined the group, six minutes had passed.

"Okay, you're all keyed in." Aileen announced.

"We shouldn't have to worry about traps then, but I'll make sure to have everything documented for future use." Bill told them, retaking the lead.

When they finally entered the chamber of secrets itself, Aileen heard both the headmaster and Bill breath in a shocked breath as they stared at the basilisk.

"You killed the beast with a sword?" Goblin worrier Gripshaw demanded.

"Yes." Aileen answered bluntly.

"There aren't any traps in the chamber." Bill told them, his voice slightly thick.

"Then get harvesting." Sharpclaw ordered the other eight goblins who had accompanied them.

"There are teeth and shed skin in the next part of the chamber. And then there's also the library." Aileen reminded Sharpclaw.

"Fangtooth, Dripblood, you are to accompany us to the next chamber." Sharpclaw called to the eight goblin's as they began unshrinking tools and crates.

"Lead the way," Bill ordered.

Aileen led them to the statue of who she had learnt was Salazar's grandfather when she asked about the difference in appearance. Bill cast his usual spells before giving Aileen the go ahead. Once she had opened the door, Bill entered first, still casting. It took him nearly five minutes of clearing the area and going over every bit of magic that he could detect before he deemed it safe for anyone else to enter. Fangtooth and Dripblood immediately got to work while Aileen led the silent headmaster, Sharpclaw and Bill to the library.

"There are just preservation charms on the library." Bill reported.

"Have you taken any books?" the headmaster asked, when he noticed gaps in the shelves.

"Yes. I took anything written in parselscript. I'll translate them and send them to you. I've also taken out a couple of darks books on Salazar Slytherin's request and I won't let anyone else see them." Aileen answered confidently.

"Salazar Slytherin?" Bill questioned before the headmaster could.

"Yes. He had a portrait here." Aileen motioned to the wall were he used to hang. "He asked for me to remove him. Once I've found the other founders, they'll come to a decision about whether they'll allow themselves to be hung in public. For now, he would like to remain secret."

"If they decide they don't want to hang in public, perhaps you can suggest the headmaster's office. I – and I'm sure my replacements – would benefit greatly from their expertise?" the headmaster request, choosing not to question Aileen's judgement on the books. She had shown herself to be mature beyond her years.

"I'll mention it." Aileen promised.

Sharpclaw left to help the other goblins, while Aileen, the headmaster and Bill began to place the books in boxes. They had to do it one by one to ensure that the preservation charms were holding on each book and they also wrapped them in cloth to further protect them. While they worked, Aileen and Bill talked.

Christmas eve, Aileen continued with her normal routine and once everyone was asleep she headed down to the lake. For the first time since the end of second year she submerged herself in the calming waters and just allowed the currents to take her where they wanted for a while.

A few minutes later she felt the power of her father begin to form in front of her. Aileen's eyes snapped open and the moment her dad had stepped of the current he had formed around him to reach her she launched herself at him and held on tightly. Not daring to let go. She had missed him greatly.

"Hello, little one," Poseidon said smiling as he returned the hug. "It has been a while since you visited the lake." He observed.

"Yeah, everything has been so busy. I barely find any time for myself these days." Aileen admitted, finally pulling back.

"Indeed, I received the basilisk skin while I was in the middle of a meeting. Zeus was most shocked." Poseidon chuckled remembering the look on his families faces.

Aileen giggled as well. "Did you tell them who sent it to you?" Aileen asked.

"No, they are simply under the impression that I have a half-blood on the way to camp and he faced the basilisk." Poseidon answered his eyes dancing cheerfully.

"What happened to have angered you earlier?" Aileen asked worriedly.

"Oceanus, he attempted to attack one of the smaller groups under my protection."

"I take it you have dealt with him?" Aileen asked, angered that the old titan would dare try and attack her father's people.

"Indeed it will take him a while to cruel back together." Poseidon smirked.

The rest of the time they spent together was used discussing more pleasant topics. Apparently Poseidon had revealed to his son that Aileen existed and Triton would like to meet her. Aileen smiled brightly at this piece of information, she always wanted a big brother (she already had a little brother even if he was not aware of her existence). Just before Poseidon left he gave her a gift. It was a breath taking hair clip that would transform into a bow.

"I've never tried using a bow before." Aileen admitted, holding the beautifully carved bow in her hand. It was made mostly from elder wood but she also noticed some veins of red oak as well. It fit perfectly in her hand but was slightly to long for her but Aileen was sure that would change when she grew.

"Normally my children are not good archers, the only exception to this rule was Orion. However, I believe that this will help you. I have seen your aim, it is precise and deadly. Your hand eye co-ordination is also far better than any of my other children. These things should help you here."

"Thank you," Aileen allowed the bow to return to its clip form and slipped it into her hair.

"You are most welcome," Poseidon smiled and they shared one last hug before Aileen returned to the surface.

On Christmas morning,Aileen got changed into a pair of black jeans and a long sleeved green shirt. Over this she pulled the Weasley sweeter she had gotten the year before. It still fell to below her bum but Aileen didn't care because they were warm and comfortable.

She didn't have to bring the presents down to the common room this year because it appeared as though the House-elves had caught onto her tradition. Aileen took a seat at the windowsill, sipping at her cup of tea while she waited for Ron, Hermione, the twins, Percy and Ginny to wake up and join her.

When the Weasley and Hermione had arisen Aileen took her spot on the floor and began passing around the presents. Hermione had received the complete trilogy of the Lord of the Rings from her parents as well as some cloths. Some custard chocolate from Ron and a Weasley jumper with mince pies from Mrs Weasley. Hermione's jumper was grey with white patterns around the shoulders. Aileen had gotten Hermione a collection of books from R. L. Stevenson and a new watch.

Ron had gotten a sweater, maroon, from his mum and chocolate frogs from Hermione. He had also got presents from each of his siblings: a Chudley Cannon scarf from Charlie, a Chudley Cannon's uniform from Bill and a Chudley cannon's book from Percy (Bill had told her they had co-ordinated) while the twins had gotten their little brother a book on the dangers of Quidditch and why it is so fun. Aileen had gotten him a gift voucher that meant he got 35% of one item from the Quidditch store, valid for the next three years. She had also gotten him a large selection of muggle sweets.

Fred received a sweater from his mum that was blue with a golden F on. Bill and Charlie had compiled their money and brought a book that had muggle prank ideas listed within (including step by step instructions). Aileen had gotten him an advanced, step by step guide for the animagus transformation as a further instruction from the basic introduction to the art that was in her gift the year before. She also included a book on starting a business with a note that they should write a proposal for the joke shop.

George also received a sweater from his mum that was blue except it had a golden letter G on. Bill and Charlie had again combined their money to buy a very old, complex book on charms and how to combine them with potions to get a certain effect. Aileen had brought George an advanced book on potions that makes the processes simple and easier to remember. It also included a list of interactions between ingredients that could be used to help him create a new potion.

Ron, Percy, Lee, the Quidditch team and the twins other friends brought sweats and prank items but addressed it to both of the twins as opposed to individualising their gifts.

Percy received a green sweater with a purple P on and he had also gotten some homemade mince pies (to be shared between all the Weasleys). He also received something from his girlfriend that he refused to open in front of his brothers. Aileen brought him a copy of her book on law and the revision guides for history (he had decided to continue the subject in NEWT years and Aileen hoped her guides would help him get the O he desired instead of the EE he had gotten at OWL level), Charlie sent him a book on laws across Europe and Bill sent him a book on the history of the ministry and how it first formed (they had been in discussion about what to get Percy and decided to all get something around where Percy wished to go in life).

Ginny received a red sweater with a violet G on from her mother; various sweats from her friends and a brand new dress from Aileen that had the girl squealing in joy and jumping on Aileen to give her a hug. From Luna Lovegood, Ginny received a pair of homemade earrings that matched the dress Aileen had given her.

Aileen received a scarlet sweater with the Gryffindor lion knitted on the front and also a dozen home-baked mince pies, some Christmas cake, and a box of nut brittle from Mrs Weasley. She immediately replaced one Weasley sweater for the other, getting a pleased smile from the elder Weasley boys. She had gotten a book on the founders from Hermione, new gloves from Ron and a beautifully carved box from Hagrid. From Luna Lovegood (a second year, Aileen had gotten close to her since she was being bullied by the Ravenclaws and Aileen attempted to put a stop to it the year before, and succeed in doing so that year by getting the headmaster to interfere) Aileen had gotten a three year subscription of the Quibbler, a beautiful painting of Hogwarts and a scented candle set. The Twins had gotten with Bill and Charlie to get her two advanced healing books she had yet to buy. Percy had brought her a photo frame like his own, with one of the sections containing a picture of the Weasley family.

With everyone's presents open Fred, George, Ginny and Hermione took their things up to their dorm rooms to be put away. Percy left the common room to meet up with his girlfriend, while the twins promised to return everything to his dorm room (after Aileen made them promised not to prank anything). Before Aileen could bring her own gifts upstairs, she noticed there was a final package under the tree that hadn't been opened and it had her name on it.

"What's that?" said Ron, having still been pilling up his dispersed gifts and so hadn't left the room yet.

"I'm not sure," Aileen carefully pulled the package towards her and opened it to reveal a magnificent, gleaming broomstick. Ron dropped his Cannon's scarf and jumped off his chair for a closer look.

"I don't believe it," he said hoarsely.

It was a Firebolt, identical to the dream broom Aileen had seen every day in Diagon Alley. Its handle glittered as she carefully picked it up. She could feel it vibrating and let go; it hung in midair, unsupported, at exactly the right height for her to mount it. Her eyes moved from the golden registration number at the top of the handle, right down to the perfectly smooth, streamlined birch twigs that made up the tail.

"Who sent it to you?" said Ron in a hushed voice.

Aileen looked away from the broom and started to go through the wrapping paper. There was no card – not even a note like Professor Dumbledore had sent her when he returned the invisibility cloak. "Nothing," Aileen said frowning worriedly as she drew her wand.

"Nothing! Blimey, who'd spend that much on you?" Ron explained shocked.

"Well," said Aileen, casting different scans over the broom to check for dark or intent based magic. Bill had taught her a couple of charms to go with what she had research, encase she found herself in an unknown environment again. "I'm betting it wasn't the Dursleys."

"I bet it was Dumbledore," said Ron, now walking around and around the Firebolt, taking in every glorious inch. "He sent you the Invisibility Cloak anonymously..."

"That was my dad's, though," said Aileen. "Dumbledore was just passing it on to me. He wouldn't spend hundreds of Galleons on a student. He can't go giving students stuff like this -"

"That's why he wouldn't say it was from him!" said Ron. "In case some git like Malfoy said it was favoritism. Hey, Aileen -" Ron gave a great whoop of laughter - "Malfoy! Wait 'til he sees you on this! He'll be sick as a pig! This is an international standard broom, this is!"

Aileen frowned even more, her scans had all come back negative. As far as she could tell the only spells on the broom was the ones that should have been there.

Hermione came back from the dormitory then, carrying Crookshanks in her arm. Aileen's mouth twitched when she noticed the cat was covered in glitter, mostly likely having attacked some of the decorations from their room.

"Don't bring him in here!" said Ron, hurriedly snatching Scabbers from the depths of his wrapping paper and stowing him in his pajama pocket.

But Hermione wasn't listening. She dropped Crookshanks onto the chair and stared, open-mouthed, at the Firebolt.

"Oh, Aileen! Who sent you that?"

"No idea," said Aileen. "There wasn't a card or anything with it."

Hermione's face fell, and she bit her lip.

"What's the matter with you?" said Ron.

"I don't know," said Hermione slowly, "but it's a bit odd, isn't it? I mean, this is supposed to be quite a good broom, isn't it?"

Ron sighed exasperatedly. "It's the best broom there is, Hermione." He had tried to explain Quidditch and brooms to Hermione several times but the girl just didn't get it.

"So it must've been really expensive..."

"Probably cost more than all the Slytherins' brooms put together," said Ron happily.

"Well...who'd send Aileen something as expensive as that, and not even tell her they'd sent it?" questioned Hermione as she worried her lip between her teeth.

"Who cares?" said Ron impatiently. "Listen, Aileen, can I have a go on it? Can I?"

"I don't think anyone should ride that broom just yet!" said Hermione shrilly.

"I've already cast as many detection spells as I know and the only spells that are registering are the ones which should be there. But I think I had best take it to Professor McGonagall so that she can run her own scans and maybe contact the manufacture and ask who sent it." Aileen said, agreeing with Hermione's thoughts.

"What? What are you two on about?" Ron demanded.

But before Hermione or Aileen could answer, Crookshanks sprang from the chair, right at Ron's chest.

"GET - HIM - OUT - OF - HERE!" Ron bellowed as Crookshanks's claws ripped his pajamas and Scabbers attempted a wild escape over his shoulder. Ron seized Scabbers by the tail and aimed a misjudged kick at Crookshanks that hit the

table, knocking it over and causing Ron to hop up and down, howling with pain.

"You'd better take that cat out of here, Hermione," said Ron furiously, sitting on achair nursing his toe. Hermione huffed but strode out of the room, Crookshanks's yellow eyes still fixed maliciously on Ron.

Scabbers was huddled in Ron's hands. It had been a while since Aileen had seen him out of Ron's pocket, and she was unpleasantly surprised to see that Scabbers, once so fat, was now very skinny; patches of fur seemed to have fallen out too.

"He's not looking too good, is he?" Aileen commented.

"It's stress!" said Ron. "He'd be fine if that big stupid furball left him alone!"

"Ron do you think, that maybe, Scabbers is just getting old?" Aileen said hesitantly. "Most rats wouldn't have survive as long as him."

"He's fine, it's just the stress caused by that bloody cat that is causing him to be unwell." Ron said adamantly.

Christmas spirit was definitely thin on the ground in the Gryffindor common room that morning. When Fred and George emerged from their rooms, they tried to cheer Ron and Hermione up, but they were still to furious with each other over what happened that it wasn't really working. Aileen appreciated their effort, and decided to ignore her bickering friends and enjoy the morning with the twins.

At lunchtime thegroup of five went down to the Great Hall, Aileen bringing her broom with her so that she could speak with Professor McGonagall. The twins had agreed with her idea to get it tested, since they didn't want her riding a cursed broom again and Aileen had been doing well in training despite the fact that she was using an old Silver Arrow. It wouldn't effect training to much if she spent another couple of weeks using it if it was to make sure she was safe.

The House tables had been moved against the walls again, and a single table, set for twelve, stood in the middle of the room. Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape, Sprout, and Flitwick were there, along with Filch, the caretaker, who had taken off his usual brown coat and was wearing a very old and rather moldy-looking tailcoat. There were only three other students, two extremely nervous-looking first years and a sullen-faced Slytherin fifth year.

"Merry Christmas!" said Dumbledore as Aileen, Ron, and Hermione approached the table. "As there are so few of us, it seemed foolish to use the House tables...Sit down, sit down!"

"Sir," Aileen said as Ron and Hermione took a seat, leaving a space between them. "I have been sent this broom, except there was no note," Aileen said handing it over to the headmaster who was now frowning in worry. Professor McGonagall and Flitwick also frowned and looked at the broom while Snape's scowl deepened.

"It will need to be checked for jinxes," said Professor McGonagall at once.

"Madam Hooch and I will have to strip it down." Flitwick agreed.

"Strip it down?" repeated Ron, as though they had gone mad.

"It shouldn't take more than a few weeks," said Professor McGonagall. "You will have it back if we are sure it is jinx-free."

"Of course," Aileen nodded her head and took a seat between Ron and Hermione. Hermione was smiling proudly at her while Ron just gapped. Dumbledore also nodded his head, proud at her mature out look to the situation, as he passed the broom to Professor Flitwick who placed it out of the way while they all sat down for the delicious meal the house elves had prepared.

Ron was furious with Hermione. As far as he was concerned, the stripping-down of a brand-new Firebolt was nothing less than criminal damage – he believed that Aileen only handed the broom over because she was doing what Hermione wanted. Hermione, who remained convinced that she had spoken up for the best, started avoiding the common room. This made Aileen's life extremely difficult. She spent half her time with Hermione and the other half with Ron. When she could no longer cope with their arguing she would retreat to her practise room or the company of the Twins or Neville (when he returned from the Christmas break).

Wood sought Aileen out on the night the train returned.

"Had a good Christmas?" he said, and then, without waiting for an answer, he sat down, lowered his voice, and said, "I've been, doing some thinking over Christmas, Aileen. After last match, you know. If the Dementors come to the next one...I mean...we can't afford you to - well -"

Wood broke off, looking awkward.

"I'm working on it," Aileen reassured him. "Professor Lupin said he'd train me to ward off the Dementors. We should be starting this week. He said he'd have time after Christmas."

"Ah," said Wood, his expression clearing. "Well, in that case - I really didn't want to lose you as Seeker, Aileen. And have you ordered a new broom yet?"

"No," said Aileen.

"What! You'd better get a move on, you know - you can't ride that Silver Arrow against Ravenclaw!"

"She got a Firebolt for Christmas," said Ron.

"A Firebolt? No! Seriously? A - a real Firebolt?"

"Don't get excited, Oliver," Aileen said quickly, if he raised his voice any higher the entire common room would hear. "It was confiscated. The teachers are checking to make sure it hasn't been jinxed."

"Jinxed? How could it be jinxed?"

"Sirius Black," Aileen said wearily. "He's supposed to be after me. So McGonagall reckons he might have sent it."

Waving aside the information that a famous murderer was after his Seeker, Wood said, "But Black couldn't have bought a Firebolt! He's on the run! The whole country's on the lookout for him! How could he just walk into Quality Quidditch Supplies and buy a broomstick?"

"Mail order. If he still had access to his trust vault then he just needed to fill out the form and sent it to them." Aileen explained.

At eight o'clock on the first Thursday evening after Christmas break, Aileen left Gryffindor Tower for the History of Magic classroom. It was dark and empty when she arrived, but she lit the lamps with her wand and had waited only five minutes when Professor Lupin turned up, carrying a large packing case, which he heaved onto Professor Binn's desk.

"What's that?" Aileen inquired hesitantly.

"Another Boggart," said Lupin, stripping off his cloak. "I've been combing the castle ever since Tuesday, and very luckily, I found this one lurking inside Mr. Filch'sfiling cabinet. It's the nearest we'll get to a real Dementor. The Boggart will turn into a Dementor when he sees you, so we'll be able to practice on him. I can store him in my office when we're not using him; there's a cupboard under my desk he'll like."

"Okay,"Aileen nodded. It made sense for her to practise against a boggart since her greatest fear was fear itself and it prevented Aileen from being faced with the full effect of a Dementor every week.

"So..." Professor Lupin had taken out his own wand, and indicated that Aileen should do the same. "The spell I am going to try and teach you is highly advanced magic, Aileen - well beyond Ordinary Wizarding Level. It is called the Patronus Charm."

"How does it work?"

"Well, when it works correctly, it conjures up a Patronus," said Lupin, "which is a kind of anti-Dementor - a guardian that acts as a shield between you and the Dementor. The Patronus is a kind of positive force, a projection of the very things that the Dementor feeds upon - hope, happiness, the desire to survive - but it cannot feel despair, as real humans can, so the Dementors can't hurt it. But I must warn you, Aileen that the charm might be too advanced for you. Many qualified wizards have difficulty with it."

"Because it requires a lot of magic, or for another reason?" Aileen inquired. She wasn't being vain when she said her magical power was greater than most people her age. From what she could tell her magical level was probably about the same as a seventh year.

"I believe it is a combination of focus and power that makes it so hard to cast." Professor Lupin answered after a minute of thought.

"What does a Patronus look like?" said Aileen curiously.

"Each one is unique to the wizard who conjures it."

"And how do you conjure it?"

"With an incantation, which will work only if you are concentrating, with all your might, on a single, very happy memory."

Aileen cast her mind about for a happy memory. She didn't have very many of them. Certainly, nothing that had happened to her at the Dursleys' was going to do. Finally, she settled on her first Christmas at the castle.

"Right," she said, trying to recall as exactly as possible the wonderful, happy, loved feeling she had felt when she met her father, when she sat on the common room floor with her first friend and his family opening presents. When she saw the proof that there were people who cared about her.

"The incantation is this -" Lupin cleared his throat. "Expecto patronum!"

"Expecto patronum," Aileen repeatedmaking sure she had the incantation correct, "expecto patronum."

"Concentrating hard on your happy memory?"

Aileen nodded, shifting her stance as she focused on the memory. Letting it feel her entire being. Once she was sure she had captured the memory she said forcefully "Expectro Patronum," a wisp of silvery light left her wand and formed a sort of shield in front of her. It grew it be just a bit bigger than her torso and stayed like that for a moment before disappearing.

"Very good," said Lupin, smiling. "First try as well. Most impressive. Are you ready to try it on a Dementor?"

"Yes,"Aileen said, moving to the middle of the classroom where she took on a left foot stance. Her right side was the furthest from the case, her wand raised to the middle of her chest while her left hand hung relaxed at her side. It was what she called a 'half duelling stance' since it was close to the pose she would take up when duelling but more relaxed and open.

Lupin grasped the lid of the packing case and pulled.

A Dementor rose slowly from the box, its hooded face turned toward Aileen, one glistening, scabbed hand gripping its cloak. The lamps around the classroom flickered and went out. The Dementor stepped from the box and started to sweep silently toward Aileen, drawing a deep, rattling breath. A wave of piercing cold broke over her –

Aileen focused, allowing the memory to feel her entire being again. Ignoring the coldness and the memory that was being dragged up. She focused solely on that Christmas.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" Aileen said with such force she might as well have shouted it. The silvery wisp left her wand once more and formed a shield between her and the Dementor. The memories and the coldness seemed to fade, becoming nothing but background fuzz.

However she could only hold the shield for thirty seconds before it fell. Professor Lupin leaped between her and the Dementor. Suddenly it changed and a moon hovered in its places.

"Riddikulus" the moon was replaced by a balloon that was swiftly returned to the case that Lupin closed.

"Are you all right?" Professor Lupin asked in concern.

Aileen moved over to the wall and leaned against it, she felt the sweat on her forehead. Even as a boggart, the effects of the Dementor where very strong. "I'm alright."

"Here -" Lupin handed her a Chocolate Frog. "Eat this before we try again. I hadn't expect you to do it your first time; I'm astounded that you did, in fact."

"I couldn't hold it for very long though," Aileen frowned in worry.

"What memory did you use?" asked Lupin.

"My first Christmas at Hogwarts." Aileen answered.

"Try another memory. A happier memory: the stronger it is the stronger your patronus."

Aileen frowned in thought. After a moment she chose to combine all of the memories she had of her dad. All the feelings she felt for him were positive, happy. They were feelings of love, so she just focused on all of them – even the one from when she was a very small baby (one of the few memories she had of her parents). Aileen then moved to the middle of the room and took up her stance again.

"Ready?" said Lupin, gripping the box lid.

"Ready," said Aileen.

"Go!" said Lupin, pulling off the lid. The room went icily cold and dark once more. The Dementor glided forward, drawing its breath; one rotting hand was extending toward Aileen -

"

Expecto patronum!"Aileen said. This time quieter than before but the effect was the same. The shield appeared, larger than before and hovered between her and the Dementor. Aileen held it for as long as she could before it fell and Lupin was forced to return the Dementor to its case.

Aileen sank into the nearest chair, feeling exhausted. None of the magic she had tried so far had taken as much from her as casting that spell had.

"Excellent!" Lupin said, striding over to where Aileen sat. "Excellent, Aileen!"

"Will I always be as exhausted as that?" Aileen asked after she had gotten her breath back.

"At first yes, but it will get easier." Lupin answered smiling brightly.

"Same time next week?" Aileen asked curiously. Lupin nodded.

Ravenclaw played Slytherin a week after the start of term. Slytherin won, though narrowly. According to Wood, this was great news for Gryffindor, if they beat Slytherin in their upcoming match then they were particularly guaranteed the cup. He therefore increased the number of team practices to five a week. This meant that with Lupin's Pratonus lessons, Madam Pomfrey's healing lessons and Salazar's potion lessons (he had taken great joy in having an eager student),Aileen had just one night a week to do all her homework.

Even so, she was not showing the strain nearly as much as Hermione, whose immense workload finally seemed to be getting to her. Every night, without fail, Hermione was to be seen in a corner of the common room, several tables spread with books, Arithmancy charts, rune dictionaries, diagrams of Muggles lifting heavy objects, and file upon file of extensive notes; she barely spoke to anybody and snapped when she was interrupted. Aileen found it harder getting the other girl to eat and most days she ended up forcing the girl to bed at around midnight so that she would get six solid hours of sleep. Girl's night was practically scrapped in relation to Hermione. When one did happen, Aileen drugged Hermione a little bit earlier and put her to bed while she spent time with her dorm mates.

"How's she doing it?" Ron muttered to Aileen as he took a seat next to Aileen who was just finishing a nasty essay on Undetectable Poisons for Snape. Aileen looked across the table at Hermione who was barely visible behind a tottering pile of books. She had decided to share a table with her so that she could offer her help with the Hagrid issue that Hermione had tried taking upon herself but Aileen refused to let her.

"Doing what?"

"Getting to all her classes!" Ron said. "I heard her talking to Professor Vector, that Arithmancy witch, this morning. They were going on about yesterday's lesson, but Hermione can't've been there, because she was in Divination! And Ernie McMillan told me she's never missed a Muggle Studies class, but half of them are at the same time as Ancient Runes, and she's never missed one of them either!"

"Just let it go Ron, if Hermione could tell us she would have done so by now." Aileen said before signing her work and grabbing the transfiguration essay she had to write. She had four days to get it done but would not have the time again so she was getting it all out of the way. Two seconds later, however, she was interrupted again, this time by Wood.

"Bad news, Aileen. I've just been to see Professor McGonagall about the Firebolt. She - er - got a bit shirty with me. Told me I'd got my priorities wrong. Seemed to think I cared more about winning the Cup than I do about you staying alive. Just because I told her I didn't care if it threw you off, as long as you caught the Snitch first." Wood shook his head in disbelief. "Honestly, the way she was yelling at me...you'd think I'd said something terrible. Then I asked her how much longer she was going to keep it..." He screwed up his face and imitated Professor McGonagall's severe voice. "As long as necessary, Wood"...I reckon it's time you ordered a new broom, Aileen. There's an order form at the back of Which Broomstick...you could get a Nimbus Two Thousand and One, like Malfoy's got."

"Oliver, I have work to do. You are already taking up five days of my week, I do not need you taking the only free time I get to do this work. If professor McGonagall doesn't return the broom in two weeks' time I will look into getting another one. Now please leave, I need to get this done." Aileen said, her voice quite but strict.

Aileen's patronus lessons were going slightly better. Each time she cast it the spell was stronger, larger and stayed for longer. However she had yet to be able to drive of the Dementor which was frustrating for her but Professor Lupin had assured her that it would take time. She was already doing far better than most people who attempted the spell and she was only thirteen.

Aileen was on the way back from one of her lesson with Professor Lupin, frowning thoughtfully when she nearly walked into Professor McGonagall.

"Sorry, Professor -"

"I've just been looking for you in the Gryffindor common room; well, here it is, we've done everything we could think of, and there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with it at all - you've got a very good friend somewhere, Potter..."

Professor McGonagall handed the Firebolt back and it looked to be in the same condition as before. "Thank you professor," Aileen smiled gratefully.

"I daresay you'll need to get the feel of it before Saturday's match, won't you? And Potter - do try and win, won't you? Or we'll be out of the running for the eighth year in a row, as Professor Snape was kind enough to remind me only last night..."

Aileen smiled slightly at that and continued on her way back to the Gryffindor common room. She was tired but wanted to get some reading in. She had nearly finished her potion to breath under water but needed to add another ingredient to counter the poisonous effects of the belladonna without negating the effects of the Gillyweed. She turned a corner and saw Ron dashing toward her, grinning from ear to ear.

"She gave it to you? Excellent! Listen, can I still have a go on it? Tomorrow?"

"Alright, but only after your sister has had ago. She needs to know what it's like to fly on a fast broom," Aileen said, smiling cryptically.

They turned into the corridor to Gryffindor Tower and saw Nevill, pleading with Sir Cadogan, who seemed to be refusing him entrance.

"I wrote them down!" Neville was saying tearfully. "But I must've dropped them somewhere!"

"A likely tale!" roared Sir Cadogan. Then, spotting Aileen and Ron: "Good even, my fine young yeomen! Come clap this loon in irons. He is trying to force entry to the chambers within!"

"Surely you have learnt the members of this chamber, good sir?" Aileen replied as she drew near. "For the good lady would have already known the faces and name of every member of this house."

"Ah…yess… well he should still give the password." Sir Cadogan spluttered.

"I've lost the passwords!" Neville told them miserably. "I made him tell me what passwords he was going to use this week, because he keeps changing them, and now I don't know what I've done with them!"

"Oddsbodkins," said Aileen to Sir Cadogan, who looked extremely disappointed and reluctantly swung forward to let them into the common room. There was a sudden, excited murmur as every head turned and the next moment, Aileen was surrounded by people exclaiming over her Firebolt.

"Where'd you get it, Aileen?"

"Will you let me have a go?"

"Have you ridden it yet, Aileen?"

"Ravenclaw'll have no chance, they're all on Cleansweep Sevens!"

"Can I just hold it, Aileen?"

"ENOUGH!" Aileen called over the excited chattered and questions. "It's just a fricken broom." Aileen said tiredly, heading to the stairs to put it away leaving a mostly stunned common room behind her. Apparently none of them agreed that it was 'just' a broom.

When she returned to the common room Aileen headed over to Hermione, Ron joining her. "Hi, Hermione." Aileen said softly.

"Aileen got her broom back," Ron said smirking. "Nothing wrong with it."

"Well there might have been," Hermione huffed with a glare.

"Ron…" Aileen warned.

"I've got to give Scabbers his rat tonic." Ron said sullenly, turning and leaving the room.

"Can I sit down?" Aileen asked hesitantly.

"I suppose so," said Hermione, moving a great stack of parchment off a chair.

Aileen looked around at the cluttered table, at the long Arithmancy essay on which the ink was still glistening, at the even longer Muggle Studies essay ('Explain Why Muggles Need Electricity') and at the rune translation Hermione was now poring over.

"Do you need a hand with anything?" Aileen asked. "I know I don't take divination or Muggle Studies but I'm sure I could help with all the other things. Narrow your research area down."

"No, I'm nearly done," Hermione said, looking for her rune distortionary that Aileen pulled from a stack of books and handed it over. Aileen raised a sceptical eyebrow at that. She looked like she hadn't had a decent night's sleep in weeks and she wasn't eating enough food – no matter how much Aileen threw at her.

"Why don't you just drop a couple of subjects?" Aileen asked.

"I couldn't do that!" said Hermione, looking scandalized.

"Hermione you don't like divination and you don't need Muggle Studies. I imagine you could probably take the tests for Muggle Studies without attending any of the lessons."

"No I can't do that…" Why she couldn't Aileen never found out.

At that precise moment, a strangled yell echoed down the boys' staircase. The whole common room fell silent, staring, petrified, at the entrance. Then came hurried footsteps, growing louder and louder - and then Ron came leaping into view, dragging with him a bedsheet.

"LOOK!" he bellowed, striding over to Hermione's table. "LOOK!" he yelled, shaking the sheets in her face.

"Ron, what -?"

"SCABBERS! LOOK! SCABBERS!"

Hermione was leaning away from Ron, looking utterly bewildered. Aileen looked down at the sheet Ron was holding. There was something red on it. Something that looked horribly like –

"BLOOD!" Ron yelled into the stunned silence. "HE'S GONE! AND YOU KNOW WHAT WAS ON THE FLOOR?"

"N - no," said Hermione in a trembling voice.

Ron threw something down onto Hermione's rune translation. Hermione and Aileen leaned forward. Lying on top of the weird, spiky shapes were several long, ginger cat hairs.

With the death of Scabbers the tension between Ron and Hermione grew worse. Ron was adamant that Crookshanks had eaten Scabbers, while Hermione continued to defend her cat. Aileen tried to stay out of it as much as possibly, diffusing the arguments between her friends when it got out of hand but not taking either side. She hoped that they would be able to figure it out otherwise she didn't know what she would be able to do about it.

Three days after Scabber's death was the Gryffindor vs Ravenclaw match and Aileen left the common room without waiting for her two friends (so that she could act as a buffer) because she didn't think she could handle their arguing on top of her worry about the upcoming match. She had nearly been killed the last time and hoped that the Dementors wouldn't make an appearance and that Zeus hadn't noticed her presents in his domain during the last Quidditch match.

At a quarter to eleven, the Gryffindor team set off for the locker rooms. The weather couldn't have been more different from their match against Hufflepuff. It was a clear, cool day with a very light breeze; there would be no visibility problems this time, and Aileen, though nervous, was starting to feel hope that this match would go without problems. They could hear the rest of the school moving into the stadium beyond.

"You know what we've got to do," said Wood as they prepared to leave the locker rooms. "If we lose this match, we're out of the running. Just - just fly like you did in practice yesterday, and we'll be okay!" (The only practise Aileen had been able to get on her new broom which meant she was not nearly as compatibly with it as she was her old nimbus)

They walked out onto the field to tumultuous applause. The Ravenclaw team, dressed in blue, were already standing in the middle of the field. Their Seeker, Cho Chang, was the only girl on their team. She was taller than Aileen by about a head. Stood next to Ginny, who had moved towards the bottom of the Gryffindor posts, was So̱ti̱ría. Like her last match he was barking happily, his tail wagging excitedly behind him. It seemed like only Ginny's hand on his collar stopped him from running around.

"Wood, Davies, shake hands," Madam Hooch said briskly, and Wood shook hands with the Ravenclaw Captain. "Mount your brooms ... on my whistle ... three - two - one -"

Aileen kicked off into the air and the Firebolt zoomed higher and faster than any other broom; she soared around the stadium and began looking around for the Snitch, listening with half an ear to the commentary, which was being provided by the Weasley twins' friend Lee Jordan.

"They're off, and the big excitement this match is the Firebolt that Aileen Potter is flying for Gryffindor. According to Which Broomstick, the Firebolt's going to be the broom of choice for the national teams at this year's World Championship -"

"Jordan, would you mind telling us what's going on in the match?" interrupted Professor McGonagall's voice.

"Right you are, Professor - just giving a bit of background information - the Firebolt, incidentally, has a built-in auto-brake and -"

"Jordan!"

"Okay, okay, Gryffindor in possession, Katie Bell of Gryffindor, heading for goal..."

Aileen dived down, interrupt the Ravenclaws beater's aim before he could stop Katie from getting to the goal posts. A few moments later Aileen noticed that Cho Change was tailing her. She was undoubtedly a very good flier - she kept cutting across her, forcing her to change direction. Aileen smirked and suddenly she increased her speed, diving down and interrupting Ravenclaw's play while forcing Cho to stop looking for the snitch as she continued trying to tail her.

"Gryffindor leads by eighty points to zero, and look at that Firebolt go! Potter's really putting it through its paces now, see it turn - Chang's Comet is just no match for it, the Firebolt's precision - balance is really noticeable in these long -"

"JORDAN! ARE YOU BEING PAID TO ADVERTISE FIREBOLTS? GET ON WITH THE COMMENTARY!"

Ravenclaw was pulling back; they had now scored three goals, which put Gryffindor only fifty points ahead - a glint of gold, a flutter of tiny wings - the Snitch was circling the Gryffindor goal post...

Aileen increased the firebolt's speed to just below maximum. Surging towards the goal post but the snitch must have sensed her approach. It took a sharp dive down but Aileen followed, the firebolt responding to the slightest touch. The speed and sharp turns was too much for Cho to keep up with since she began to fall behind. Aileen continued diving but out of the corner her eye she noticed three cloaked figures. She would have thought them Dementors if not for the fact that she couldn't feel the effect that she normally felt around Dementors. She dismissed them and continued with her decent.

Meters from the ground her arm came forward and she grabbed the snitch in her hand while pulling up from the ground. Her feet skimmed the grass but she was able to pull herself to a stop and jump from her broom – raising her capture in the air in victory.

Madam Hooch's whistle So̱ti̱ría was on top of her, his wet tongue licking her face excitedly. Aileen laughed and lifted him into her arms despite the fact that he came up to her waist. Then suddenly she and So̱ti̱ría were being hugged by the whole team.

Aileen broke off from the group long enough to veer towards the changing rooms, allowing So̱ti̱ría to come in with her since he hadn't left her side yet. Aileen took a quick shower and changed into the cloths she had laid out for after the match before walking So̱ti̱ría back to Hagrid who was delighted for her. She spoke to him for a few minutes before heading back to the Gryffindor Common room where the party went on all day and well into the night. Fred and George disappeared for a couple of hours and returned with armfuls of bottles of butterbeer, pumpkin fizz, and several bags full of Honeydukes sweets.

"How did you do that?" squealed Angelina as George started throwing Peppermint Toads into the crowd.

"With a little help from Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs," Fred muttered in Aileen's ear.

Only one person wasn't joining in the festivities. Hermione, incredibly, was sitting in a corner, attempting to read an enormous book entitled Home Life and Social Habits of British Muggles. Aileen quickly broke away from the table where Fred and George had started juggling butterbeer bottles and went over to her. She cast a silencing bubble around the two of them so that she could read the book without being distracted.

"Thanks," Hermione said smiling gratefully.

"When do you need to have that read by?" Aileen asked frowning.

"Monday and I've still got four hundred and twenty-two pages to read!" said Hermione, sounding slightly hysterical.

"Other than the bowl of apple, oats and strawberry yogurt you had this morning, what have you eaten?" Aileen asked strictly.

"I…I haven't…." Hermione admitted after a moment. She knew better then to lie to Aileen about this.

"Then eat, once you have eaten you can go back to your book." Aileen ordered pushing a plate of sandwiches towards her. "Then, when it turns eight, I want you to go up to the dorm and get some sleep."

"But…" Hermione tried to protest but her stomach suddenly grumbled loudly so she sighed and grabbed one of the sandwiches. Aileen nodded her agreement before grabbing the Runes essay Hermione had written earlier and reading through it to make sure she hadn't missed anything. It was something Aileen had started doing when she noticed how tired her friend was becoming due to the amount of work she had.

The Gryffindor party ended only when Professor McGonagall turned up in her tartan dressing gown and hair net at one in the morning, to insist that they all go to bed.

While everyone went to bed (including Hermione who Aileen had earlier dragged to the dormitory after locking away all of her work; something Aileen had been forced to do every night for the last few weeks) Aileen stayed up. She was reading through one of the books Salazar had collected/written over his time: this one about the wards around Hogwarts which was more comprehensive and detailed then the one she had found in the restricted section of the library back in first year.

At around three o'clock Aileen was thinking about going to bed when the portrait swung open. Aileen looked up from her book and blinked in shock. The person who stepped through the door was most defiantly not a Gryffindor.

Aileen drew her wand and intercepted the man before he could make his way towards the dormitories.

"Sirius Black," Aileen stated calmly as she watched the man's grey eyes widen in shock.

Sirius Black, for a man who had spent twelve years in Azkaban and another on the run, was not looking too unhealthy. His skin was pale, his hair hanging around his shoulder, but roughly cut, clean and untangled. He was thin but not dangerously so and he appeared to have found some new, clean cloths. In his hand he gripped a knife – Aileen assumed he had not been able to obtain a wand.

"Aileen," Black whispered, his voice almost sounding hopeful. Yet it was sad, like someone still in mourning mentioning the name of their dead friend.

"It was a very dangerous thing making an attempt on the Gryffindor common room, not once but twice." Aileen informed him.

"I didn't mean to hurt the Fat Lady. But I got frustrated. She should have just let me in." Black replied his eyes flickering with his emotions.

"How did you get past Sir Cadogan?" Aileen demanded.

"A kid wrote down all the passwords." He replied, drawing a sheet of parchment from his pocket.

"Why are you here?" Aileen asked, her wand hadn't lowered from its raised position which was something Black finally took notice of since his eyes kept flickering too it.

"It end what I started twelve years ago." Black snarled viciously, his eyes darkening in fury.

Aileen's eyes narrowed. "It is the belief of the ministry that you are here to kill me." Aileen said calmly, not showing her own emotions on the subject.

"Belief of the ministry…you don't…" but whatever he was going to say next was cut off by the sound of someone's footsteps on the staircase. He turned and ran from the common room and Aileen let him. She lowered her wand and took a deep breath – well that was interesting.

"What are you still doing up?" Ron's voice asked from behind her.

"Reading." Aileen answered.

"I heard you talking to someone…" Rom muttered as Aileen finally turned around.

"Crookshanks," Aileen motioned to the cat that was sat curled contently around a pillow a couple of feet away from her.

"Oh, right…" Rom muttered before turning round and heading back to bed.

Once she was sure he had left Aileen headed up the boy's staircase as well. She entered Percy's pristine room and shook him awake.

"Hu…wh'ts the matter?" Percy grumbled sleepily.

"I need you to escort me to see Professor McGonagall." Aileen answered.

"At three in the morning?" Percy questioned sitting up and grabbing his night gowned.

"Sirius Black was in the common room." Was all Aileen replied with. Percy was awake immediately and looked at her with shocked eyes.

"Are you sure?" he demanded.

"Yes, now come on. The longer it takes to inform a teacher the greater the chance that he has of getting away."

Throughout the next day, everywhere the students went they saw signs of tighter security (despite the fact that they didn't know why because Aileen and Percy had been asked not to reveal what happened); Professor Flitwick could be seen teaching the front doorsto recognize a large picture of Sirius Black; Filch was suddenly bustling up and down the corridors, boarding up everything from tiny cracks in the walls to mouse holes. Sir Cadogan had been fired. His portrait had been taken back to its lonely landing on the seventh floor, and the Fat Lady was back. She had been expertly restored, but was still extremely nervous, and had agreed to return to her job only on condition that she was given extra protection. A bunch of surly security trolls had been hired to guard her. They paced the corridor in a menacing group, talking in grunts and comparing the size of their clubs.

Professor McGonagall was furious with Neville who had written down the passwords so that he could get into the tower. She had banned him from all future Hogsmeade visits, given him a detention, and forbidden anyone to give him thepasswordinto the tower. Aileen refused to leave him outside the common room every night, waiting for somebody to let him in, while the security trolls leered unpleasantly at him, so she would tell him the password or make sure to walk with him back to the common room. None of these punishments, however, camecloseto matching the one his grandmother had in store for him. Two days after Black's break-in, she sent Neville the very worst thing a Hogwarts student could receive over breakfast - a Howler.

The school owls swooped into the Great Hall carrying the mail as usual, and Neville choked as a huge barn owl landed in front of him, a scarlet envelope clutched in its beak. Aileen and Ron, who were sitting opposite him, recognized the letter as a Howler at once - Ron had got one from his mother the year before.

"Run for it, Neville," Ron advised.

"Or…" Aileen trailed of as she fired first a silencing bubble around the howler followed swiftly by an incendio. The letter caught fire and when it had burnt to ashes she poured water over it to put the fire out before banishing the ashes.

"Thanks," Neville breathed a sigh of relief.

"It's alright, Howlers are nasty things. Researched how to destroy one after Ron got one last year." Aileen replied as she gently untied the letter Hedwig was carrying and fed her some bacon in thanks. She didn't get a lot of mail during the school year (or summer for that matter). Aileen opened the letter to discover it was an invitation for tea from Hagrid for that night around six and he added the specific statement at the end of:

WAIT FOR ME IN THE ENTRANCE HALL; YOU'RE NOT ALLOWED OUT ON YOUR OWN.

So at six o'clock that afternoon, Aileen and Ron (Aileen had spoken with Hermione and tried to get her to come with them but she had some Muggle Studies homework too complete) left Gryffindor Tower, passed the security trolls and headed down to the entrance hall.

Hagrid was already waiting for them.

"All right, Hagrid!" said Ron. "S'pose you want to hear about Saturday night, do you?"

"I've already heard all abou' it," said Hagrid, opening the front doors and leading them outside.

The first thing they saw on entering Hagrid's cabin was Buckbeak, who was stretched out on top of Hagrid'spatchwork quilt, his enormous wings folded tight to his body, enjoying a large plate of dead ferrets. Curled up not too far away from Buckbeak was So̱ti̱ría who barked happily when he saw Aileen in Hagrid's cabin. Aileen rolled her eyes and went over to him. She sat between the hippogriff and So̱ti̱ría and began to run her hand along So̱ti̱ría back, gently undoing all the knots, causing him to flop to the floor continued her observation of the room and spotted a gigantic, hairy brown suit and a very horrible yellow-and-orange tie hanging from the top of Hagrid'swardrobe door.

"What are they for, Hagrid?" said Aileen.

"Buckbeak's case against the Committee fer the Disposal o' Dangerous Creatures," said Hagrid. "This Friday. Him an' me'll be goin' down ter London together. I've booked two beds on the Knight Bus..."

"Me and Hermione haven't complied all the information yet." Aileen said, her eyes wide in worry.

Hagrid poured them tea and offered them a plate of buns but they knew better than to accept; they had had too much experience with Hagrid's cooking.

"I got somethin' ter discuss with you two," said Hagrid, sitting himself between them and looking uncharacteristically serious.

"What?" Aileen asked, frowning in worry.

"Hermione," said Hagrid.

Aileen nodded in understanding. Despite her best efforts Hermione had started to become sleep deprived and her body wasn't getting enough nutrients. Aileen didn't know how much time Hermione was squeezing into one day so she couldn't accurately determine the amount of sleep and food she needs – only guess. With Aileen's interference Hermione was getting a solid nine hours each night and three large meals a day. Then there was the snakes Aileen would make Hermione eat at the end of every lesson and every hour or so, in the common room. The only time Aileen didn't make Hermione eat snakes was one she spent time in the library, in which case Aileen would only allow her two hours in their before getting her to sign out books and dragging her to the common room.

"What about her?" Ron asked obviously.

"She's in a righ' state, that's what. She's bin comin' down ter visit me a lot since Chris'mas. Bin feelin' lonely. Firs' yeh weren' talking to her because o' the Firebolt, now yer not talkin' to her because her cat -"

"…ate Scabbers!" Ron interjected angrily.

Aileen just sat silently, she had known Hermione was disappearing to Hagrid's but she assumed it was because she was discussing the trial with him. She normally went down when Aileen had Quidditch practise and they would walk back to the castle together.

"Because her cat acted like all cats do," Hagrid continued doggedly. "She's cried a fair few times, yeh know. Goin' through a rough time at the moment. Bitten off more'n she can chew, if yeh ask me, all the work she's tryin' ter do. Still found time ter help me with Buckbeak's case, mind...She's found some really good stuff fer me...reckon he'll stand a good chance now..."

"Wait, she finished the work without informing me? I told her that I would handle it." Aileen said shocked. "She is already doing too much."

"It's not your fault." Hagrid waved away her concern, "Gawd knows yeh've had enough ter be getting' on with. I've seen yeh practicin' Quidditch ev'ry hour o' the day an' night - but I gotta tell yeh, I thought you two'd value yer friend more'n broomsticks or rats. Tha's all."

"And I do. I speak with Hermione as much as I possibly can. We sit in the common room together every night. And by the gods, I sit next to her in every lesson. I've watched as she became more tied, thinner and more stressed despite my continued attempts to lighten her load. To make her eat. To make her sleep. I have done everything I possibly could to help her and if I had known she was feeling lonely I would have dropped Quidditch practice. Because she is more important to me then the cup." Aileen replied tartly. She did not like being accused of not helping her friends – even if it was one of her friends telling her such.

"I know yeh try Aileen, but Ron…She's got her heart in the right place, Hermione has, an' you not talkin' to her -"

"If she'd just get rid of that cat, I'd speak to her again!" Ron said angrily. "But she's still sticking up for it! It's a maniac, and she won't hear a word against it!"

"Ah, well, people can be a bit stupid abou' their pets," said Hagrid wisely. Behind him, Buckbeak spat a few ferret bones onto Hagrid's pillow. Aileen reached over and gently stocked the Hippogriff's beak before it could go for another ferret.

When they returned to the common room a couple of hours later they saw a large group of people bunched around the bulletin board.

"Hogsmeade, next weekend!" said Ron, craning over the heads to read the new notice. "What d'you reckon?" he added quietly to Aileen as they went to sit down. Aileen had told him (and Hermione, separately) about the map and the secret passage way to Hogsmeade.

"Ron I'm not sure…" Aileen began hesitantly.

"Aileen!" said a voice in her right ear. Aileen started and looked around at Hermione, who was sitting at the table right behind them and clearing a space in the wall of books that had been hiding her.

"Aileen, if you go into Hogsmeade...I'll tell Professor McGonagall about that map!" said Hermione.

"Can you hear someone talking, Aileen?" growled Ron, not looking at Hermione.

"Ron, how can you encourage her to go with you? After what Sirius Black nearly did to her! I mean it, I'll tell-"

"So now you're trying to get Aileen expelled!" said Ron furiously. "Haven't you done enough damage this year?"

Hermione opened her mouth to respond, but with a soft hiss, Crookshanks leapt onto her lap. Hermione took one frightened look at the expression on Ron's face, gathered up Crookshanks, and hurried away toward the girls' dormitories.

"Ron, I'm not going to Hogsmeade." Aileen sighed before getting up and heading after Hermione, motioning for Lavender and Parvati to following in five minutes. She refused to let her be on her own after what Ron had just said and since Hermione had willingly abandoned her study that night, she was going to use the excuse to make Hermione relax and talk.

"Aileen! I forgot you weren't going to Hogsmeade either!" Neville exclaimed when Aileen said goodbye to her friends in the entrance hall and began to head up to the Gryffindor Common room.

"Hi, Neville,"Aileen smiled at her friend. "What you doing?"

"Nothing," shrugged Neville. "Want a game of Exploding Snap?"

"How about a game of Muggle cards?" Aileen counter, having discovered she didn't really like Exploding Snape since it didn't have any verity like muggle cards (one deck holding tones of different types of games).

"Muggle Cards?"

"Yeah, I'll teach you a few games." Aileen promised.

"Alright." Neville agreed.

"Did you finish Professor Lupin's essay?" Aileen enquired curiously.

"No," Neville admitted sheepishly. "I don't understand that thing about the garlic at all: do they have to eat it, or-"

He broke off with a small gasp, looking ahead of them.

It was Snape. Neville took a quick step behind Aileen.

"And what are you two doing here?" said Snape, coming to a halt and looking from one to the other. "An odd place to meet -" They had stopped on the third floor while they talked.

"We weren't meeting here, professor." Aileen answered. "We were simply discussing something and came to a stop here."

"Indeed?" said Snape. "You have a habit of turning up in unexpected places, Potter, and you are very rarely there for no good reason...I suggest the pair of you return to Gryffindor Tower, where you belong."

"Of course, Professor." Aileen answered before leading Neville up the stairs.

Aileen and Neville spent the rest of the day together, first Aileen helped him finish his essay for professor Lupin but once that was out of the way they played some card games and even dragged Ginny and a couple of the other younger years into the game.

Once everyone had returned to the castle Aileen retreated to her room and opened the map, frowning at it thoughtfully. She knew it would be a very bad thing if someone else got their hands on it. And there was a name she kept seeing. A name that she knew shouldn't be on this map. With this in mind she grabbed it and headed down to Professor Lupin's office – the only person besides the headmaster that she trusted enough with the map.

"Aileen, what can I do for you?" Lupin asked quite surprised as he allowed Aileen to enter his office.

"This came into my possession." Aileen answered handing the map over. It had been whipped clean but she saw the look on the Professor's face. He knew what it was.

"I happen to know that this map was confiscated by Mr. Filch many years ago." Lupin said after a moment of silently observing the paper and Aileen.

"Yes, it was removed from his office a couple of years ago and then passed onto me. I realised that something like that hanging around the castle wouldn't be a good idea. Also a name keeps appearing. One that shouldn't be able to appear on that map." Aileen hesitated.

"What name?" Professor Lupin asked, looking at her seriously.

"Peter Pettigrew."

Word count: 20,534

Copied: 7,913

Edited: 24/03/2018