Chapter 27: A Mysterious Gift

I don't know how I did it, but I managed to make my way back to the Honeydukes cellar, down the tunnel, and into the castle without being seen. The return trip seemed to take no time at all—perhaps it was because my mind was somewhere else.

Why had nobody ever told me? Dumbledore, Hagrid, Mr. Weasley, the Minister…they all knew! Why couldn't they take one minute and say, "Oh, by the way, Alice, you're parents died because their best friend betrayed them." That would have been better then finding out while crouched underneath a table at the Three Broomsticks.

At dinner, Bella, Edward, and Rosalie watched me like a time bomb that was about to explode. None of them dared to mention the conversation we overheard back in Hogsmeade—they just watched me.

Back in the common room, Fred, George, and Emmett had set off a bunch of Dungbombs to celebrate the end of term. I ran up to my dorm quickly so they wouldn't have a chance to ask me if I'd gotten to Hogsmeade or not. Unfortunately, I ran into Harry on the way.

"Hey," he said, wrapping his arm around my shoulders. "Where have you been? I haven't seen you since I got back from Hogsmeade."

"I can't talk now, Harry," I muttered, trying to unwind his arms from me.

"Alice—"

"Let go of me!" I said, pushing his arm off me. I ran up to the dorm and knelt by my bedside cabinet, searching through it until I found what I was looking for—the photo album Hagrid had given me while I was in the hospital wing my first year after defeating Voldemort. It was full of wizard photos he had collected from my parent's friends.

I sat on my bed and flipped through the book, staring at my parent's smiling faces until I found it. Their wedding photo. My dad was waving at me, his arm wrapped around my mom, who was beaming at him. Her short, black hair, exactly the same as mine, was curled at the edges and hidden underneath a veil. And next to them…that must be him…the best man.

If I hadn't known it was Sirius Black, I never would have guessed it was him. His face wasn't sunken and dark, but handsome and full of laughter. Had he already been working for Voldemort when this was taken? Was he already planning the deaths of the two people standing next to him, so full of love? Did he realize he was going to spend the next 12 years in Azkaban, 12 years that would make him completely unrecognizable?

But the dementors don't affect him. He doesn't have to hear my mum screaming every time they get close to him…

I slammed the book shut and shoved it back in the cabinet. I couldn't look at them anymore. Thanks to Sirius Black, they were gone, and they were never coming back.

"Alice?" Rosalie asked, opening the door to the dormitory and walking inside. I quickly lay down and pretended to be asleep. She left a moment later, and I looked up at the ceiling, my eyes wide open.

I had never actually hated anyone before, but I could feel hatred for Sirius Black coursing through my veins. I saw him in my mind, laughing at me, as he blasted Peter Pettigrew to shreds. He turned to someone I couldn't see and said in a low, raspy voice, "It has been done, my Lord…the Brandon's have made me their Secret-Keeper." A cold, high-pitched laugh joined him, the laugh I heard when the dementors got near me…

***

"Alice, you look terrible," Rosalie said to me as I walked down the stairs into the Gryffindor common room. I hadn't gotten much sleep last night, but neither would most people if they kept seeing the man who betrayed their parents in their head all night.

When I eventually woke up, the dormitory was deserted, so I threw on a pair of jeans and a tee shirt, brushed my hair quickly, and made my way down to the common room, which was empty except for Rosalie, who was eating some fudge from Honeydukes, and Bella, who was working on homework with her books piled high on three separate tables.

"Where is everyone?" I asked.

"Gone," Rosalie said cheerfully. "It's the first day of holidays. It's nearly lunchtime—I was about to come and wake you up."

I sat in my favorite chair by the fireplace and looked out the window. Snow was falling gracefully while Crookshanks was spread out on the rug in front of the fire.

"Everyone else is gone?" I asked.

"Well, Fred, George, Jasper, and Percy are still here, but they're all off doing their own thing somewhere else.

"Alice, you really don't look well," Bella said, sounding concerned.

"I'm fine," I snapped at her.

"Alice, you must be really upset about what you heard yesterday, but you mustn't go and do anything stupid," she said, exchanging a look with Rosalie.

"Like what?" I asked.

"Like trying to go after Black," Rosalie sighed. "You won't, will you? Because Black isn't worth dying or."

They didn't understand. They didn't get it. "Do you know what I hear every time the dementors get close to me?" They both shook their heads. "I hear Voldemort murdering my parents. I hear my mum screaming, pleading with him to spare me. If you heard your mum screaming, you wouldn't forget that anytime soon. And if you found out that—the reason she was screaming, the reason she was dead—was because someone who was supposed to be a friend of hers betrayed her and told Voldemort exactly where he would find her—"

"There's nothing you can do!" Bella interjected. "The dementors will catch Black and send him back to Azkaban—exactly where he belongs."

"You don't get it!" I shouted. "Black isn't affected by Azkaban like other people! It'd not punishment for him like it is for the others!"

"So, you're saying you want to kill Black?" Rosalie asked, looking very tense.

"Don't be ridiculous," Bella scoffed. "Alice doesn't want to kill anybody—do you?" she asked, turning her eyes to me."

I didn't say anything. I didn't know what I wanted to do. "Malfoy knows," I said suddenly. The two of them looked at me. "Remember what he said to me in the beginning of the year? 'If it was me, I'd hunt him down…I'd want revenge.'"

"You're going to take Malfoy's advice instead of ours?" Rosalie asked angrily, sounding slightly hurt. "D'you know what Pettigrew's mom got back after Black killed him? Dad told me-Order of Merlin, First Class, and Pettigrew's finger in a box. That was the only thing of him they could find. Black's a maniac, Alice. He's dangerous—"

"Malfoy's dad told him," I said, ignoring Rose. "He was right in Voldemort's inner circle—"

"Would you say You-Know-Who?" Rosalie hissed.

"—so obviously, the Malfoy's knew Black was working for Voldemort—"

"—and Malfoy told you because he has your best interests in his mind," Bella said sarcastically. "He'd love to see you get blown into a million pieces like Pettigrew because you're stupid enough to go after Black alone. Alice, please be sensible. Black did a terrible thing, but don't put yourself in danger—it's what he wants. You'll be playing right into his hands if you go looking for him. Your mum and dad wouldn't want you to get hurt. They wouldn't want you to go looking for him!"

"I'll never know what they wanted for me, because thanks to Black, I've never spoken to them, and never will!"

Bella and Rosalie looked at one another, obviously unsure o what to say. "Look," Rosalie said. "It's the holidays! Let's—let's go down and visit Hagrid."

"No!" Bella said, glaring at Rosalie. "Alice isn't supposed to leave the castle."

"Yeah, let's go," I said, rising out of the chair. "I can ask him how come he never told me about Black when he told me about my parents."

"Or we could play a game of chess," Rosalie suggested, looking around the room awkwardly.

"No, let's go down and visit Hagrid," I decided.

The three of us grabbed our cloaks and headed through the portrait hole, walked through the empty castle, then headed out the front doors and down to Hagrid's hut. The Forbidden Forest, covered with snow, looked enchanted, each tree dusted with powdery flakes.

I knocked on Hagrid's door, but there was no answer.

"Is he out?" Bella asked, her teeth chattering.

Rosalie stuck her ear against the door. "There's a weird noise," she said. "Is that Fang?" Bella and I both placed our ears against the door, too, and we heard a series of low moans.

"Hagrid!" I called, banging on the door. "Hagrid, it's us! Open up!"

There were thumping, heavy footsteps before the door was wrenched open. Hagrid stood in front of us, his eyes red and swollen, tears dripping down his face. "Yeh've heard?" he sobbed before throwing his arms around my neck. This was quite a feat, seeing as Hagrid was at least three times my size I staggered under his weight as Bella and Rosalie each took one of his arms and led him into his house.

The had Hagrid sit in a chair at the table. He slumped onto the table, sobbing uncontrollably. Bella patted his arm gently while Rosalie went into the kitchen to make tea.

"Hagrid, what's wrong?" Bella asked kindly. Hagrid reached into his pocket and shoved a letter at her. Bella read it aloud so both Rosalie and I could hear it:

Dear Mr. Hagrid,
Further to our inquiry into the attack by a hippogriff on a student in your class, we have accepted the assurances of Professor Dumbledore that you bear no responsibility for the regrettable incident.

"Well, that's okay, Hagrid," Rosalie called while I breathed a sigh of relief. Thank goodness Hagrid wasn't being fired.

"Keep reading," he moaned.

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…

She trailed off, looking at me.

"But, Buckbeak's not a bad hippogriff," Bella said. "I'm sure he'll get off…"

"Yeh don't know them gargoyles at the Committee fer the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures!" Hagrid choked out. "They've got it in fer interestin' creatures."

Rosalie came over and set a cup of tea in front of Hagrid. Bella gave her a look. "What? My mom always does it when people are upset."

"You'll have to put up a strong defense," Bella said, taking a seat next to Hagrid. "I'm sure you can prove Buckbeak is safe."

"Won't make no difference," Hagrid blubbered. "Them Disposal devils, they're all in Lucius Malfoy's back pocket. Scared of him. An' if I lose this case, Buckbeak—"

Hagrid drew his finger across his throat swiftly.

"What about Dumbledore?" I asked. "Can't he help?"

"He's done enough already," Hagrid groaned. "I don't wanna burden him with this anymore. Besides, he's got enough on his plate what with them dementors floatin' around an' Sirius Black on the loose."

Rosalie and Bella looked at me, obviously waiting for me to start shouted at Hagrid, demanding to know why he didn't tell me the truth about Black earlier, but I couldn't bring myself to do it while Hagrid was in this state.

"Listen, Hagrid," I said, "You can't give up. Bella'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," Bella said, thinking aloud, "Where the hippogriff got off. I'll look it up for you and see exactly what happened."

Hagrid howled loudly, burying his face in his hands. Bella put her hand on his arm while I patted his back. "Hagrid, you have to calm down," I soothed.

Hagrid pulled out his handkerchief and blew his nose loudly. "Yer right. I can' afford to go ter pieces. Gotta pull meself together." Fang walked over and laid down on the floor next to Hagrid. "I've not bin meself lately. Worried about Buckbeak an' no one liking me classes—"

"That's not true, Hagrid!" Bella said instantly. "We love your classes!"

"Er, yeah," Rosalie added. "How are the Flobberworms?"

"Dead. Too much lettuce."

"What a shame," Rosalie said, not bothering to hide the smile on her face.

"An' them dementors make me feel all terrible inside. Gotta go past them every time I want a drink at the Three Broomsticks. Makes me feel like I'm back in Azkaban—"

He feel silent, taking a large gulp of tea. The three of us watched him silently. Hagrid had never talked about the time he had spent in Azkaban before. "Is it awful there?" Bella whispered.

"Yeh have no idea. Never bin anywhere like it. Thought I was going ter go mad. Kep' goin' over the bad days in me life…the day I got expelled…day me dad died…day I had ter let Norbert go. Yeh can' really remember who yeh are after a while. An' yeh can' see the point o' living anymore. When they let me out, it was like bein' born again. It was the best feelin' in the world. Mind, the dementors weren't keen on lettin' me go."

"But you were innocent!" I protested.

"Think that matters to them? They don't care. Long as they got a couple o' souls to feed off, they don't care who's guilty and who's innocent." He stayed quiet, thinking about something. "Thought o' letting Buckbeak go, but I'm scared o' breaking the law again. I don't want ter go back to Azkaban."

We left shortly after that. Though the visit had been the furthest thing from fun, Bella and Rosalie were happy because my hatred towards Sirius Black had disappeared completely. Instead, the three of us went straight to the library and started researching for Hagrid immediately.

"Here's something…there was a case in 1722…but the hippogriff was convicted—ugh, look what they did to it! That's disgusting—"

"Maybe this will help—a manticore savaged someone in 1296 and they let it off…oh, that was only because everyone was too afraid to go near it…"

Everywhere else around the castle, people were preparing for Christmas. The decorations had been put up, even though there weren't many students remaining. There were thick streamers of holly and mistletoe strung along the corridors, lights shining from inside every suit of armor, and the Great Hall had its usual twelve Christmas trees, each one decorated magnificently.

Christmas morning, I was woken up by Rosalie jumping on my bed. "It's Christmas!" she shouted, causing me to wake up abruptly. "It's Christmas, Alice! Wake up!"

I opened my eyes and saw her climbing off my bed and heading over to the pile of presents at the foot of hers. Bella was already up, unwrapping her presents carefully. Rosalie dug right into hers, ripping the paper off. "Another sweater from Mum," she groaned. "Pink again. See if you got one."

I saw the lumpy package and opened it. She had sent me one. It was a gold sweater with the Gryffindor lion in scarlet knitted on the front. She had also sent a bunch of mince pies, a Christmas cake, and a bag of nut brittle. I pulled the sweater over my head and moved everything else to the side, exposing a long, thin package.

"What's that?" Rosalie asked in the middle of opening a pair of socks.

"Dunno," I said, reaching for it. I ripped the paper off the mysterious present with Bella and Rosalie both looking on. I gasped as I held the long, shiny broomstick in my hands. "I don't believe it," I whispered, looking down at the Firebolt. Here it was—my dream broom. The handle glittered an I could feel it vibrating as I held it in my hand.

"Who sent you it?" Rosalie gasped.

"I don't know," I said. "Check and see if there's a card."

"Nothing," Rosalie said after going through all the paper. "Who'd spend that much on you?"

"Well, I'm guessing it wasn't the Dursleys," I laughed, not taking my eyes off the broom.

"Don't you think this is a little suspicious?" Bella asked from behind me. I turned to look at her and saw she had a disproving look on her face.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well, this is quite a good broom, right?"

"It's the best there is," Rosalie sighed exasperatedly.

"So, it must have cost a lot of money."

"Probably more than all the Slytherin's brooms put together," Rosalie muttered.

"Well…who would send Alice this without even saying who they were?"

"Who cares?" Rosalie sighed. "Listen, can I ride it, Alice?"

"I don't think anyone should ride that broom just yet!" she exclaimed. We both looked at her. I was about to say something when Crookshanks leaped off Bella's bed and sprang right at Rosalie's pocket where Scabbers was hiding.

"GET—HIM—OUT—OF—HERE!" Rosalie screeched as Crookshanks' claws ripped the pocket of her pajamas and Scabbers made a run for it. Rosalie managed to grab him before aiming a kick at the cat, which missed and hit my trunk instead. The lip opened and the Sneakoscope became dislodged, whistling loudly.

"I forgot about that," I said, quickly picking up the shrieking top and stuffing it back in the socks, shoving them to the bottom of the trunk and slamming the lid shut.

"You better take that monster out of here," Rosalie snarled at Bella, holding Scabbers in her hand. Bella lifted Crookshanks into her arms and left the room while the cat kept its eyes on Scabbers. Rosalie placed Scabbers on the bed. He was shaking and was extremely skinny. He was also missing patches of fur.

"He's not looking too good," I commented.

"It's stress! He's terrified of that mad cat. He'd be perfectly fine if that big furball left him alone!" I didn't say anything, but I knew that, unless Scabbers had powers he hadn't revealed yet, he was coming to the end of his life. And I also knew that, despite Rosalie constantly complaining about him, she'd be devastated if he died.

Christmas spirit was low. Bella kept Crookshanks shut in our dormitory while Scabbers hid out in Rosalie's pocket, but she was pissed at Rose for trying to kick the cat. Rosalie was bitter about Crookshanks' frsh attempt to eat Scabbers, so she wasn't talking to Bella. I gave up trying to get them to be civil, so I brought the Firebolt down to look it, but that seemed to annoy Bella more.

We went down to the Great Hall at lunch. Instead of the normal house tables, there was one large table in the center. Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape, and Flitwick were there, along with Filch. Fred, George, Jasper, and Percy were all sitting at the table already. They were the only students there. I took a seat next to Jasper, with Rosalie next to me and Bella next to her.

Jasper smiled at me. "Merry Christmas, Alice."

I couldn't help but turn slightly red. "Merry Christmas, Jasper."

"Dig in," Dumbledore said, gesturing towards the food. I piled some roast beef and potatoes on my plate and chatted with Jasper about Quidditch. Fred and George joined in, strategizing about what we needed to do to win the cup with year.

"It all comes down to numbers," I reminded them. "I mean, we can't lose again. We just have to hope Hufflepuff gets murdered by Ravenclaw."

"But Black's an excellent seeker…"

"Ravenclaw's got Chang. She's fantastic. Plus she's cute," Fred added. "Black won't be able to concentrate on the Snitch with her flying around. Plus, Davies put together a great team. Their chasers are phenomenal."

"I guess," Jasper admitted. I shook my head at them.

"Guys, relax," I said, putting a hand on Jasper's wrist.

"Alice? Alice, honey?" someone said to me. I was lying on the couch in the Gryffindor common room, my eyes closed. I was exhausted. Snape's occlumency lessons, plus my regular classes, were wearing me out. I opened my eyes a little and saw Jasper looking down at me.

"Leave me alone," I sighed, turning my back to him. I was in no mood to deal with Jasper and his pitiful attempts to get back together.

"Alice," he said, placing his hand on my waist.

"Stop!" I said, sitting up and pushing him off me. "I said leave me alone. I said never talk to me again. I said you're a jerk and I hate you. So, why are you sitting here, acting like you still love me?"

"Because I do still love you," he whispered. "Besides, you don't know what you saw that day."

"I know exactly what I saw," I said angrily, glaring at him. "I get it—I'm too young. I'm not pretty enough. You want someone who's more mature than me."

"Wrong, wrong, and wrong," he said, placing his hand behind my neck, pulling my face close to his and placing his lips on mine.

"Hello? Alice?" Fred was calling looking at me. I started at him, blinking my eyes. "Dude, what happened?" he asked, looking at me with concern.

"nothing," I said, trying to play it off. "Just zoned out for a bit."

"But—"

"I said I'm fine, Fred," I snapped. "I'm full," I said, turning to Rosalie and Bella. "You guys ready to head back to the common room?" Rosalie nodded and the two of us got up from the table. "Bella, you coming?" I asked.

"Uh, I'll be a minute. I need to talk to Professor McGonagall," she said nervously. I shrugged my shoulders, and Rosalie and I left the Great Hall. We headed back to Gryffindor Tower, where we encountered a very drunk Sir Cadogan. We gave him the portrait, and resumed our previous positions. I sat by the fire, gazing over the Firebolt while Rosalie sat next to me, gazing over the Firebolt.

Ten minutes later, the portrait opened, and Bella walked in, followed by Professor McGonagall. "So it's true?" she asked, looking at the broom in my hands.

"Yeah," I said, grinning.

"Well, I'm sorry, Miss Brandon, but I must take the broom," she said, taking it from my hands.

"What? Why?" I asked.

"It needs to be checked for jinxes. I'm sure Professor Flitwick and Madam Hooch will want to strip it down…"

"Strip it down?" I gasped.

"It should only take a few weeks. You will get it back if we can determine it is jinx-free." She turned and left the common room, the broom in her position.

"What did you go running to McGonagall for?" Rosalie shouted at Bella.

Bella stared at her, pink in the face. "Because I thought—and Professor McGonagall agreed with me—that the broom was sent to Alice by Sirius Black!"

Ack! Sorry it took so long and it's not a super long chapter. I promise the next one will be long, whenever I get it written. Bear with me, please! I haven't had a moment to write!