Chapter Twenty-Four
School Ties
Author's note –The story continues in Book Two – Druid Legacies so if you're not sick of Alaw yet then I suggest you check out my author's page. Thanks so much for sticking with me this far, and please leave a review to tell me what you thought.
As Dumbledore had predicted, Alaw got a flurry of visitors over the next few days. At first, Alaw hadn't wanted to see anyone after Madam Pomphrey had handed her a mirror and she'd seen the true extent of the damage done to her by Quirrel. Her neck was a patchwork of purple and yellow bruises and before the Matron had done her magic, her windpipe had been completely crushed. But with doses of potion three times a day and more lozenges than Alaw had ever had in her life, her voice was beginning to come back to her.
The first people to drop in on her were Hermione, Ron and Neville, and they didn't so much drop in as crash in. Alaw had been attempting to eat some cooled soup when the doors to the Hospital Wing had flown open and the three of them had come running towards her. First to throw their arms around her was Hermione, who had tears in her eyes.
"Thank you!" she sobbed. "You saved us! Thank you! We were so worried when you didn't wake up on the first day, they wouldn't let us in to see you!"
"We brought you a ton of sweets," Ron supplied, upending the paper bag he was holding and dumping the contents into Alaw's lap. "Look, there's a bit of that Honeyduke's fudge, the creamy one? Thought it would help with your throat, you know?"
"You have got to tell us what happened down there," Neville said anxiously. "All we've been able to get out of Malfoy is that you went after the Dementor!"
"I'm going to kill the cowardly little toe-rag for letting you go down there on your own," Ron growled.
So Alaw told them, and she didn't hold anything back. She told them about facing off with Quirrel and the Dementor, about Voldemort telling her about his previous attempt on her life, and what Dumbledore had told her about the protective charm. Her friends didn't interrupt but by the end they all looked shocked and impressed.
"Wow," Ron said appreciatively. "You were like a super baby!"
Besides her friends, who barely left her side for the next few days, Alaw was visited by some of the people she had freed down in the dungeons. Ernie McMillan and Hannah Abbot turned up with a huge bunch of yellow daisies from the greenhouses to thank her, and Flora and Camron dragged up a disgruntled Hesita with them one afternoon. Penelope Clearwater brought a box of mint chocolates which Alaw devoured in no time. Pansy Parkinson did not make an appearance, but Millicent Bulstrode shuffled into the Hospital by herself late one evening. She didn't look Alaw in the eye, she merely looked at her feet and mumbled something along the lines of 'thank you'.
One of her less enjoyable visits came from Rufus Scrimgeour. He interrupted a game of chess she'd been having with Ron, limping down the aisle with a grim look on his face.
"Would you lot give us a moment?" he asked, casting an eye over Ron, Neville and Hermione. They looked at Alaw questioningly and she nodded to show she'd be alright. Once they'd retreated outside the doors, Scrimgeour sat down in the visitor's chair Ron had just vacated.
"First of all, the Ministry would like to express its gratitude for your assistance in this matter, Miss Jones," Scrimgeour began. "The Minister apologises for not telling you this in person, but he has an important press conference to attend."
Yeah, or he's afraid I'll kick his arse, Alaw thought with a satisfied smirk.
"I've already taken a statement from Professor Dumbledore, as you were unconscious. The Dementor has been destroyed so there is really nothing left to do on that account. As for Quirrel, well, we'll be releasing his ashes to the family this afternoon. Dumbledore has already explained how his death came about, and his story has been verified by a reliable historian, so no charges will be pressed on you. We'll try to keep your name out of the press."
"What about Voldemort?" Alaw asked and Scrimgeour smiled at her in a rather annoying way.
"Ah yes, Dumbledore did mention this. Miss Jones, you may rest assured that the Dark Lord was not involved in this matter. Quirrel was clearly deranged, his were the deluded actions of a madman."
"What?" Alaw said in disbelief. "But he was working for Voldemort! I saw him down there!"
"He may have believed he was working for the Dark Lord," Scrimgeour corrected. "But that is preposterous of course. No doubt he was very convincing."
"But I saw Voldemort!" Alaw insisted, now getting quite angry. "He was possessing Quirrel!"
"Miss Jones, you have had a very trying experience, I'm sure once you've recovered you'll realise how silly you are being," Scrimgeour said infuriatingly.
Alaw opened her mouth to angrily, but then she closed it again. There was no point arguing with these people. She scowled but nodded and Scrimgeour sighed.
"Good girl, now, I'll need you to sign this."
He took a sheaf of parchment out of the sleeves of his robes and handed it to Alaw who looked at it suspiciously.
"What is it?" she asked, unfolding it to find three pages of tiny text.
"A non-disclosure agreement," Scrimgeour explained. "We've decided it would be best to keep the involvement of the Dementor out of the papers. We're releasing a statement to the press naming Quirrel as the culprit of the attacks, and that he was using a paralysis curse on the victims."
"You can't be serious," Alaw said incredulously, the audacity of this too much for her accept.
"I am perfectly serious," Scrimgeour said menacingly. "The public cannot know that a Dementor was to blame! Can't you see how damaging the backlash would be? Faith in the Azkaban system is the bedrock of the safety of the wizarding world! You wouldn't understand, you're too young, but sometimes it is necessary to keep things from the public for their own good! Now, sign."
He held out a quill and Alaw glared at him defiantly for a second, before snatching it from him and signing her name at the bottom of the dossier. Then she thrust it and the quill back at Scrimgeour with a mutinous expression. When he left, his maroon auror's robes swishing behind him, Hermione and the boys came back in.
"What was all that about?" Ron asked. Alaw didn't answer at once, she was chewing her bottom lip thoughtfully.
"Hermione," she asked sweetly. "Would you be a peach and lend me a quill and some parchment. And Neville, would you mind delivering a letter for me?"
The following evening Alaw was discharged from Hospital by a dubious Madam Pomphrey. The bruising around Alaw's neck had begun to fade and it was no longer painful to speak, but the Matron still gave her a dozen vials of honey potion for her to take every night before bed. Ron, Hermione and Neville weren't with Alaw because today was the day their exam results came out and they were waiting nervously in the Great Hall with the other first years, waiting for their letters. The castle was very quiet as Alaw walked along, but she was grateful for she didn't much want to be pestered about the events in the dungeons. Ron had told her that most of the school was still ignorant of the details, but almost all knew she had been involved in some way.
As Alaw approached the Grand Staircase, Professors Snape and Lupin appeared around a corner. The two were deep in conversation but when they saw Alaw, they paused. It felt strange to look at Snape's pale visage and feel no fear. He still sneered in an unpleasant manner and after saying something curt to Lupin, he turned and swept out on the stairs and vanished. Lupin smiled warmly at Alaw, an expression of great pride on his face.
"Alaw, how are you? Feeling any better?" he asked, coming over to her.
"Yes thanks, I'm nearly off my potions. I suppose I should thank Professor Snape," Alaw said ruefully. And apologise, she reminded herself and she grimaced. She didn't want to have to tell her head of house that she'd suspected him for several months of colluding with Voldemort. Lupin chuckled at her scowl.
"Professor Dumbledore told me what you did in the dungeons, how you fought off the Dementor," he said and Alaw felt her cheeks growing red.
"I – don't think I'm amazing at Patronus' now," she said quickly. "It was just in the heat of the moment I think, otherwise I would never have managed."
"Of course, many wizards find that they can perform magic they would never have dreamed of under the right conditions. Tell me, what form did your Patronus take?"
"A dragon," Alaw mumbled, now definitely embarrassed and Lupin's eyes went wide.
"Truly?" he asked. "That is very unusual, Patronus' don't usually take the form of magical creatures. Though I can see that a dragon is quite fitting. Oh, and I have something for you,"
Lupin reached into his teacher's bag and drew out the invisibility cloak.
"There it is!" Alaw cried happily, taking it from him with a grin. "I was worried the Ministry had nicked it whilst I was unconscious!"
"I took it to prevent that from happening," Lupin admitted. "Be a little more careful with my gift in the future, won't you?"
"Yeah ok – wait what?! Your gift? It was you!"
"Indeed," Lupin said, smiling. "It once belonged to a great friend of mine, but then he passed it on to me and I've been keeping it safe. But then I have no need for it these days and I thought Hogwarts was due some new misfits."
Alaw grinned widely and tucked the cloak safely into her bag. She accompanied Lupin downstairs to the Entrance Hall which was buzzing with students comparing their exam results. Alaw spotted her friends just inside the doors to the Great Hall and she was about to join them when she bumped into someone else she'd been meaning to talk to.
"Watch where you're going mudblood," drawled Draco Malfoy, brushing himself down with a wrinkled nose.
"Can I have a word?" Alaw asked, ignoring this. Draco's eyes narrowed and then he looked carefully about to make sure nobody was listening.
"Fine, but only a quick one, I'm going down to Hogsmead with the boys in a minute," he said. Alaw led him over to a broom cupboard at the side of the hall and pulled the door almost closed behind them. Though not tiny, the cupboard was small enough that they stood only a foot apart. Once they were alone, Draco unfolded the newspaper he had tucked under his arm and held it up so that Alaw could see the front cover.
"So," he said, "I don't suppose this had anything to do with you?"
The headline read, DEMENTOR ATTACKS AT HOGWARTS SCHOOL! And under that, a picture of Fudge standing on the steps of the castle with the sub-heading, Ministry cover-up? Alaw smiled evilly.
"Nothing what so ever," she said smugly.
"Apparently, someone anonymously tipped off the Prophet," Draco said, his eyebrows raised. "But of course, none of the victims can talk because they've had to sign nondisclosure agreements."
Alaw shrugged and Draco smirked at her.
"Well played Jones," he admitted. "Now, what is it you wanted to talk about?"
"I just wanted to thank you, if you hadn't raised the alarm I might have suffocated before anyone got to me," Alaw said. "You did a good job."
"Yeah, well," Draco looked uncomfortable now. "Don't tell anyone, alright? The last thing I need is my father hearing I helped a mudblood. And tell your friends to stop pestering me!"
"Will do," Alaw promised, and then she held out her hand for him to shake. Draco looked at it as though it was a poisonous spider. Alaw rolled her eyes. "Oh come on, just this once? Nobody's looking."
Draco squirmed but then he took her hand and shook it once. His palm was smooth and cool but he dropped it after only a second of contact.
"Well, have a good summer Jones," he said awkwardly before leaving the cupboard without a backwards glance.
Alaw collected her examination results from Professor McGonagall and got a pleasant surprise to see that she'd passed Charms and History of Magic with Outstandings. Professor Flitwick even came over to her to whisper that she'd come top of the year in his class and Alaw didn't stop blushing for a full ten minutes. She'd done quite well with Transfiguration, Herbology and Astronomy too, an Exceeds Expectations in each. She'd even managed a respectable Acceptable in Potions! But Defence Against the Dark Arts was a different story entirely. Alaw's heart sank as she gazed at the spiky black P on the parchment.
"Cheer up Al," Ron said, "Look, I got a Poor in that too."
Alaw had always known she would fail Defence Against the Dark Arts, it was her worst subject and she'd fluffed the exam, but it still made her feel demoralised. Alaw folded up her results and pocketed them miserably.
"Look, it's not like you have to take the exam again," Neville reminded her. "Lupin said you don't, because of your Patronus."
Alaw shrugged and looked expectantly at the golden plates in front of her. The entire school was now gathered in the Great Hall for the end of term feast, but the food was yet to arrive. Flora and her friends had offered for Alaw to sit with them at the Slytherin table, something they hadn't done all year, but Alaw had declined in favour of sitting with the Gryffindors. Though she was glad to be among her friends, Alaw still gazed a little wistfully over at her housemates, the Carrow twins reunited and Pansy Parkinson looking very sober. There was much talk in the Hall about the article in the Prophet and rumours were flying everywhere. Dean, Seamus and Lavender had already asked Alaw to recount exactly what had happened in the dungeons but she had kept the story deliberately vague, and she had left out Voldemort. The last thing she needed was for people to start thinking she was deranged. Dumbledore rose to his feet up at the staff table and the crowd fell silent, every face turned expectantly up.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, we have come to the end of another year," Dumbledore said, his voice ringing around the stone walls. "It has been a very trying year to be sure, but it brings me great joy to see all the victims restored to full health and back amongst us. None of this would be possible without the efforts of a few brave students."
Almost every head turned towards the Gryffindor table where Alaw felt like she wanted to hide behind Ron, whose ears had gone red.
"In light of this, I believe I have a few last minute house points to hand out, before we announce the winner of the cup," Dumbledore said and there was quite a bit of mutinous muttering amongst the Slytherins, who seemed to see exactly where this was going. As the points currently stood, they were meant to win by a margin of a hundred points, but it looked like Dumbledore was getting ready to screw them over.
"Firstly," Dumbledore called over the muttering. "To Miss Hermione Granger, for keen intellect and an eye for detail, I award fifty points."
Hermione looked shocked and the whole table erupted into applause.
"To Mister Ronald Weasley, for bravery and perseverance, I award fifty points."
Ron's ears were now so scarlet they matched his hair and Fred, who was sat next to him, thumped him on the back.
"To Mister Neville Longbottom, for a loyalty to his friends so fierce he was prepared to wrestle with Professor McGonagall – and loose – I award fifty points."
Everyone roared with laughter, especially Alaw who hadn't heard that part of the story yet. Neville hung his head but after glancing up at the staff table, Alaw saw that McGonagall was smiling. Gryffindor was now fifty points up, they would win the house cup. But Dumbledore wasn't finished yet. He raised a hand for quiet and then said,
"To Miss Alaw Jones, who has displayed the cunning so valued by Slytherin house, I award fifty points."
"What?" Alaw cried over the cheering, not just from her own house but from the others too. "But I asked him to let Gryffindor win!"
"I knew you were behind this!" Hermione crowed, clapping along with everyone else. A few people looked like they were trying to work out the maths but Dumbledore did it for them by saying,
"And so we have, for the first time in a century I believe, a tie for first place. I therefore have no choice but to award the house cup to both Slytherin and Gryffindor house!"
He clapped his hands and there was a gust of wind throughout the Great Hall. The banners hanging from the ceilings, which normally showed the Hogwarts crest, fluttered and changed colour. When they floated back into position, half of them were green and silver and the others were scarlet and gold. It was a better end to the year than Alaw could have possibly hoped for. Everyone ate and drank their fill before heading out into the village to celebrate for the first time in weeks. Alaw insisted on meeting up with Flora and her friends in Wizhard where they all proceeded to get very drunk. It was a little tense at first, the animosity between Slytherin and Gryffindor ran deep, but after a few drinks and a discovery that Tracy Davis and Lavender Brown were both equally obsessed with Gilderoy Lockhart – some sort of celebrity as far as Alaw could gather – things settled down.
Ron and Camron quickly got into a friendly argument about Quiddich, until Daphne Greengrass butted in and told them they were both wrong about how to execute a proper Sloth-Grip Roll, and that this was how one actually did it. Neville was the one to pull Alaw to one side and asked the question.
"Why did you ask Dumbledore to let Gryffindor win? Slytherin had every right to win outright this year!"
"Because you lot helped me, we wouldn't have gotten Hermione back if it weren't for you guys. And besides, I'm sick of Ron going on about that bloody Cleansweep Seven, this way he can just buy the damn thing and be done with it."
Now that everything was back to normal, Alaw almost didn't want term to end, but end it did. The next morning, nursing a hangover but mightily pleased with herself, Alaw dragged her trunk down to Hogsmead station along with the others. She and Hermione were back in their muggle clothes but it was now easy to ignore Theodore Knott's yelled insults. They found a compartment that was yet to be claimed and stashed their luggage in the over-head racks. Hagrid had come to see them off and he gathered all four of them into a hug, crushing the air out of their lungs as he did so.
"You have to come to mine over the summer," Ron said as the train gave a whistle and began to push off. "Mum'll love having you to stay."
"We'll see Ron, mum and dad are taking me to France for a couple of weeks first," Hermione said, waving to Hagrid through the window.
Alaw sat back and watched Hogwarts disappear behind the pine trees lining the lake, absently biting the head off a chocolate frog as she did so. She was glad to be going home, but she also couldn't wait to be back the following year.