Chapter Fifty-Four
Candour
Alex watched Michael jump back into place once Umbridge made her way up to Dumbledore. She had half a mind to sneak back in and eavesdrop, but the risk far outweighed any potential boons, so she headed to the Room of Requirement instead. It was usually occupied these days (to her immense chagrin) but it didn't hurt to try. Besides, it was Saturday, meaning most people should have been down in Hogsmeade celebrating their final days of freedom before their final exams snatched away any and all happiness, especially for the fifth- and seventh-years.
Alex had her weekends back now that the apparition lessons were done and dealt with. She had passed her exam last week, of course, as did most of her cohort. Cedric was similarly more available now that the seventh-years' career excursions had reached their conclusion so that they had sufficient time to study for last exams they'd ever have to take in a school context. Some students had actually foregone taking their N.E.W.T.s entirely; it wasn't a mandatory course, as more than a few industries were happy to accept those who graduated only with their O.W.L.s. Personally, unless your future was set in stone, Alex thought it stupid to neglect N.E.W.T.s simply due to the privileges that came with the additional qualification.
As much as she'd like to help her boyfriend study, there was little she could do as a sixth-year, advanced though she was. The only subject she could assist him with was Defence, which she excelled at. Cedric was okay, but with her instructions, he was proving himself to be a capable duellist.
Alex glanced at her watch. She had an hour to kill before one of their duelling sessions at eleven in an abandoned classroom on the fourth floor.
What to do? she wondered, rubbing at her eyes. Even though she had just woken up, she could feel weariness pull at her with heavy fingers. These days she tried not to rely on sleeping potions too much, worried that she'd be unable to wake up despite what was going on around her. Any day now there could be another attack on an Order member, or even Harry himself. If Voldemort and his followers could infiltrate the castle before, there was no way they wouldn't attempt it again.
"Dear oh dear, Alexandra, you look positively dead on your feet!"
Alex rolled her eyes even as her lips tugged upwards. It was hard not to smile when speaking with the Friar. The ghost of Hufflepuff was probably the warmest ghost in existence, though not literally. She shivered as he neared her.
"I can't argue that you look more alive than I feel," she drawled, stopping in front of him. "In fact, you look even cheerier than usual, Friar."
The Friar grinned. "That's because there is much to celebrate! A very special Death Day is coming up, after all."
"What, yours?" Alex's eyebrows met her hairline. Of all the years she'd known the Friar, she'd never once heard of his special day until now. "Congrats," she added belatedly.
"Thank you kindly. I don't usually celebrate this day, but the mood has been a bit…flat this year, so I believe we could all do with some cheering."
Alex nodded in agreement. "Sounds reasonable enough. You'll be throwing a party I assume?"
"Of course! And you're more than welcome to join us, Alexandra."
"Oh," she said softly, taken aback. Ghosts rarely if ever invited mortals to their celebrations; the only instance she could of was with the trio and Sir Nicholas all those years ago. "I'd be honoured. Are you sure the others won't mind?"
Chuckling, the Friar patted her on the shoulder, his cold touch making her flinch. "Don't be silly, Alexandra – you're basically one of us!"
Alex forced a smile to hide her wince. "Sure."
With one last pat, the Friar left her be. Alex massaged some warmth back into her shoulder as she ruminated on what to bring to his party. Though spirits could handle corporeal items, it took them more effort than they'd like to admit. A trinket would be pointless—they'd have no use for it—but food was always appreciated. The snack in question just had to be past its expiry date long enough to be rancid so that the ghosts could actually taste something.
Her repertoire of spells was wide, but not wide enough to cover high-speed food decomposition. She'd try the library first, and if that failed, she'd have to ask Flitwick himself.
To her irritation and bemusement, there was more than one person occupying the food-related book aisle of the library. Alex navigated between them in her search for the right one, ignoring the scowls directed at her and the I.S. pin on her robe.
Satisfied with her findings, Alex stepped out from between the shelves and went to check her books out with Madam Pince. She bypassed more than one student suffering a nervous breakdown and, strangely enough, Hermione and Stephen studying together. Alex paused, tempted to stop and say hi, but she didn't want to disturb them by breaking their focus. Hermione could be really scary whenever someone interrupted her study sesh.
It didn't surprise her to see that Harry and Ron were both absent, not just from the table but the library itself. The two numpties were probably out in the field tossing a quaffle about. They wouldn't concern themselves with their O.W.L.s until their exams were right around the corner.
Alex watched as Madam Pince stamped the card that signalled the book's return date. She was about to slip it back into the back of the book when a scream, followed by the unmistakeable clamour of a desk falling to its side, rang loud and clear. Red-faced, Madam Pince stormed off to the source of the noise, and Alex pitied whoever was unfortunate enough to draw the fearsome librarian's ire.
Alex finished the process Madam Pince had been in the midst of and closed the book's cover. She tucked it into her side and exited the library, a handful of moments before a trio of students were forcefully ejected out the door courtesy of Madam Pince and her wand.
"Good going, Dawson," spat a lanky boy, both his year and House escaping Alex's memory. "I told you to keep it down."
His pale friend rolled his eyes as he fixed the strap of his bag. "That's because he's a mudblood mutt who's constantly barking."
The lanky one chuckled darkly, oblivious to the way Dawson clenched his jaw.
That was all the warning they got before he pounced, yelling, "I'll show you who's a dog!"
Alex watched in amazed amusement as Dawson leapt at the pale boy, sending them both toppling to the floor while Dawson sunk his teeth into his victim's skinny arm. The lanky wizard, forgetting his wand entirely, hastened to pry Dawson off while his friend yelped and squirmed.
It was only when they began to attract unwanted attention that Alex decided to step forward and intervene. With a flick of her wand she sent a gust of wind at the three boys; it wasn't strong enough to do anything impressive like scatter them into different directions, but it did the trick by catching them off guard and forcing them to pause in their actions.
"Break it up," Alex ordered, schooling her features. It wouldn't do for them to notice the way her mouth wanted to twitch upwards into a smirk.
No longer caught up in the heat of the moment, the three stooges disentangled themselves with as much dignity as they could muster (which was very little). They spared little effort in glowering at her, busy as they were running away before they could suffer any real consequences for their behaviour.
Alex left, her expression carefully neutral for the benefit of her onlookers. Her watch told her she had scarcely ten minutes before she was late for her meetup with Cedric. Like Ginny, she could've utilised the secret passageways to shorten her travel time, but Alex had this constant concern that she would be trapped in the narrow corridors, doomed a quiet and dark demise. She had elected not to share her paranoia with Ginny.
At her behest, she and Cedric used several rooms for their studies. The routine had no rhyme or rhythm; they met up whenever, studied whatever, in whichever room tickled their fancy. Weirded out though he was by this setup, Cedric indulged her with little more than a bemused expression. He was good to her like that.
Today they were studying in an empty room beside the dusty portrait of Merlin on the sixth floor. No matter how many times Alex cast a cleaning charm on the painting, the grime continued to coat the canvas. Eventually she just gave up, much to Merlin's amusement.
Alex was mildly surprised to see Cedric already inside. He greeted her with a hug and a kiss.
"How's your day been?" he asked as she joined him at the old teacher's desk they salvaged.
"Weird," she said, tossing her back onto the table and collapsing into her seat. "Your House ghost invited me to his Death Day party, and then I watched a bunch of morons get kicked out of the library and then fight over it."
"Just another day in the life of Alex Fortescue," Cedric sighed, smiling fondly.
Alex rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah. What spell do you wanna work on today?"
At the prompt, Cedric pulled out his notes. "The Oppugno Jinx," he said, showing her the details of the spell. "The objects targeted will, in theory, attack the victim, but only if you perfect the spell."
"And if you don't?" Alex asked even as she skimmed the parchment.
"It'll annoy them, really," Cedric replied, shrugging. "Get in their faces, surround them, and is otherwise harmless."
"Sounds interesting." Alex got up from her seat and dragged her chair into the middle of the room. "Let's do it."
The spent the next fifteen minutes or so taking turns attacking the poor piece of furniture with torn up pieces of scrap parchment using the Oppugno Jinx. Alex's impatience at their lack of progress fed her irritation until, finally, her bellow of "Oppugno!" and accompanying jab of her wand sent the confetti into the air and rushing towards the chair, fast enough to actually slice into the wood.
She dropped her arm, cancelling the spell in the process, and studied the blemished chair. Ideally she would've liked the lacerations to be deeper and more numerous, but it was a good start.
Once Cedric produced similar results a handful of minutes later, they decided to move on. They faced each other in the centre of the room, wands out and bowing politely as custom dictated. The seconds ticked by as they eyed each other, neither wanting to make the first move.
Finally, Cedric cracked. Lips pursed, his wand lashed out as he cast a wordless spell. He might as well have fired a gun for the deafening sound it yielded.
Despite herself, Alex flinched, the beginnings of a Shield Charm dying on her tongue. There was no need for one just yet, though, as all Cedric managed to do was conjure a flock of small birds from the tip of his wand. His plan became clear as he yelled, "Oppugno!"
Motherfucker. Alex had no time to verbalise her cuss, busy as she was levitating the teachers' desk they'd been using prior and bringing it in front of her as a sort of ham-fisted shield. The table shook slightly as the conjured birds, unable to deviate from their path at the last moment, dove straight into the wood and splattered themselves into non-existence.
Snarling, Alex threw the table at Cedric, or at least his general location. He knew better than to stay still, though, and was already out of the way even before Alex had even reacted. He tried to land a Stunner on her as he ran, but the curse went wide and was absorbed by the wall.
The air between them shimmered as Alex cast the Vertigo Curse, albeit a weakened form; she wanted to disorient Cedric for no more than a minute. It was an insidious spell that could hang in the air for a prolonged amount of time, hitting the victim even if they had a Shield up. The only way to remain unaffected was by disrupting the caster's focus before the spell could reach you, which was exactly what Cedric did.
"Arieso!"
Alex yelped, her concentration sufficiently broken, as a ram of all things leapt out of Cedric's wand and rushed at her, horn-first. "Are you serious?" she cried, hastily casting a Shield in front of her. The ram knocked into it so forcefully Alex saw stars.
The fight wasn't over just yet. Though Cedric had her backed up against the wall thanks to his stupid livestock, he had to keep his wand pointed in her direction.
The ram backed up half a step in order to gain momentum and smash its head against her large Shield. Alex winced as the contact reverberated into the wand-arm, jostling it. To make matters worse, her Shield began to crack.
The ram reared its head back for one final blow.
Now or never, Alex decided.
Right before the point of contact, Alex dove to the side. She felt the curve of the ram's horns brush her outer thigh, sending her heart leaping straight up into her throat. There was no time to deliberate on that, for Cedric was wide open.
"Expelliarmus!" she hissed.
Her spell hit its mark dead-on. Cedric stumbled, his wand flying out of his hand and into hers. Alex kept her ivory weapon pointed at him in case he tried anything.
But his wandless magic had yet to reach that point. "I yield," he declared, chagrined. "You win – again."
"My favourite three words," she said smugly, walking towards him.
When they met in the middle, she returned his wand to him, and they bowed once more to signal the official conclusion of the duel.
"That was close," Alex admitted, sighing. "A bloody ram, really? What's next? A bear?"
Cedric grinned. "I'll work on that."
She huffed in amusement and gently shoved his shoulder. "You would've won if you could cast a curse wandlessly."
"Yeah, I know," he muttered with an eye-roll.
"Even the Cutting Charm will do," Alex said encouragingly. "Charms is your area of expertise, so it should more easily to you."
"I highly doubt I'll be asked to demonstrate that during my N.E.W.T.s," he pointed out.
She frowned. "Who said anything about exams? I'm trying to prep you for a future beyond that."
Cedric studied the floor, abruptly unable to meet her gaze. "Sometimes it feels like you're my tutor rather than my girlfriend."
"I can be both," she said shortly.
"Can you?" he wondered softly.
Alex's frown deepened. "What's that supposed to mean?"
He heaved an exasperated sigh, an incredibly unfair reaction considering the headache that was beginning to build in the space between Alex's eyes. "We barely get to meet up these days, which is to be expected since we're both so busy. But," he added, sensing Alex's interjection, "when we do get to see each other, all we do is study or duel. That's…not very romantic, is it?"
"On the contrary," she said, tossing her nose into the air, "I think trying to save your partner's arse is the very definition of love."
Cedric laughed without humour. "Save me from what, exactly?"
"The upcoming war, obviously! You're daft if you think you won't be affected by whatever Voldemort and his underlings are brewing, not to mention the countless other dangers lurking in the shadows."
"I know that," he snapped. "And while I appreciate your efforts, need I remind you that neither of us are soldiers. Besides, we should still make time for other activities. We haven't done…anything in quite some time."
Alex blushed at the implications of his words. Her cheeks darkened further at the words that next tumbled out of her mouth. "You have a hand, don't you?"
She watched as several emotions broadcast themselves across the open book that was Cedric's face. First came shock, then disbelief, and finally, embarrassment. He looked away from her, lips pressed together in a firm line.
"The other day someone in my House asked me out. They were genuinely surprised when I told them I was already taken," he said, still not meeting her eye.
Good thing, too, otherwise he would have seen how her irises were ablaze with sheer fury. Go date them, then, she wanted to spit. Alex barely restrained herself from making that wildly counterproductive comment, instead maintaining as neutral an expression as she was capable. That didn't stop her from grinding her teeth together, though.
"Your point?" she wondered.
"I think we should take a break," he said, looking as if he had to force the words out of his mouth. "Just until our exams are over."
Alex felt her shoulders drop in resignation. "Fine. But no one can know; it'll just lead to too many questions."
Cedric nodded, seeing the value in her decision. He opened then closed his mouth, unsure how to proceed from here.
Alex made the choice easy for him. She grabbed her bag from where it was propped up against the wall and made for the exit. "Good luck," she said in lieu of a goodbye.
The door clicked definitively behind her.
To take her mind off things, Alex went down by the lake and spent several hours knitting clothes for her cat. The house-elves had finally tired of the faux dishcloths she and Hermione foisted onto them, and it seemed a shame to throw away so much yarn. She was in the middle of making a sweater for Millie's cat when the bell signalling dinner tolled.
"Shit," Alex sighed. Throwing everything into her bag, she got up and rushed up the incline towards the Great Hall. While a glutton by principle, the reason she hastened back to the castle was not for dinner, which there would be plenty of even if she was late, but because she was meant to wait outside the hall prior to their evening meal in order to collect the reports from the rest of the Inquisitorial Squad.
As expected, no one was waiting for her when she got there. All her Housemates were already seated and feasting. Annoyed but not surprised, Alex took her seat between Agatha and Katherine. She had just filled her goblet when a shadow loomed over her.
Draco shoved some parchment into her face. "I did your job for you," he said, sneering.
Alex leaned back so she had room to breathe. "Thanks," she replied, voice devoid of emotion as she accepted the reports.
Once he returned to his seat, she rifled through them. There was one incident where a muggleborn witch called Warrington "pureblood Nazi scum" who was the slave to a "fascist toad" which, while not inaccurate, landed her with a detention.
If Umbridge was willing to carve into the flesh of Ginny for merely tussling in the halls, who knew what she would do to a kid who epitomised everything she loathed?
Alex dragged the tip of her quill through that section of Warrington's report. She'd omit it completely when she compiled a summary for Umbridge later tonight.
"Normally you're the first one to dinner," said Katherine by way of pointing out her tardiness had not gone unignored. She was also calling her a glutton, but it wasn't like she was wrong.
Alex huffed quietly in amusement as she heaped broccoli onto her plate. "Was busy escaping reality."
"You're not doing drugs, are you?" Katherine asked sarcastically.
"I was knitting!" she rebuffed with a grin.
"Oh, like a scarf?" asked Agatha, perking up from her meagre dinner of a salad. "Because I was thinking of replacing my current one."
"Well, it is a scarf," said Alex, pulling the item in question out of her bag, "but it's for house-elves, or really big cats."
"Please do something for fruitful with your time," Katherine practically begged of her.
Alex sniffed. "This is extremely fruitful, I'll have you know."
Her good mood lasted until she left the Great Hall. Dinner was still ongoing, and the majority of people lingered, because what else was there to do for the rest of the night? The chatter of her peers faded into silence the same time she could no longer see the warm glow of candlelight that filtered past the doorway. It wasn't even 7.30 yet, but the corridors felt so empty it might as well have been midnight.
Casting lumos, Alex held a ball of light in her hand as she made her way up the castle. The walkways weren't dark, not yet, but the added light was nice. Besides, it was always good to practise wandless casting beyond just offensive and defensive purposes. She was even audacious enough to try chucking the lumos from one hand to the other, but the light always extinguished itself the moment it leapt from her palm.
Alex crushed the light out of existence before knocking on Umbridge's door. As per usual, she waited a solid half-minute before the pink professor deigned to respond.
"Good evening, Alexandra," greeted Umbridge as Alex closed the door behind her. "Tea?"
"Yes, please," she replied automatically, settling into her seat. She slid her parchment from her bag on the floor and waited until her teacup was filled and placed in front of her to begin. "Fiona Patel and Roger Tyler were caught snogging in public. Ten points were deducted from each party. Peter Ly was scratching into one of the library desks with the tip of his quill. Five points were deducted." And on and on it went.
Alex placed the reports in the middle of the desk for Umbridge to rifle through when she was done. After a brief glance at them, Umbridge placed them into one of her drawers and smiled at Alex.
"Would you like a refill?" she asked, gesturing to Alex's still-full cup.
Understanding the prompt for what it was, Alex brought the teacup to her lips and took a small sip. "I'm fine, thank you," she replied, setting it back down onto the saucer.
Umbridge's smile grew. "You come from a respectable family, Miss Fortescue," she began, instantly setting Alex on edge. "Humble, of course, but they've kept their nose out of more unsavoury issues and know how to mind their business."
Alex's parents were the nosiest busybodies she knew, but okay.
"It's a shame, then, that they raised such a duplicitous liar."
Alex's hands stilled in her lap. "I'm sorry?" she choked out.
Umbridge leaned forwards slightly, her beady eyes boring into Alex's. "You've been omitting information from the reports for weeks now, haven't you? I've only just noticed after having tea with each of the Inquisitorial Squad members individually. Imagine my surprise when so many of the incidents they've reported never found their way to me."
The worst professor to have ever walked these halls sat back, a triumphant gleam in her eye when Alex didn't respond. "Now then," she continued sweetly, "why were you meeting with Dumbledore this morning?"
Naturally, Alex's first impulse was to lie – but she couldn't. The truth came tumbling out of her mouth like word-vomit. "We were discussing your handiwork," she confessed, unable to stop herself.
Umbridge's smile took on a satisfied edge. Her cup was still untouched.
Alex saw red. That son of a bitch drugged me with veritaserum!
What an absolute violation of her rights. But it wasn't like Alex was totally surprised – this was the same person who regularly forced children under her care to mutilate themselves for her twisted sense of justice. Still, that didn't stop Alex's jaw from locking as she clenched her hands into fists, her body shaking with sheer rage.
I'm going to peel that fucking smile right off your face.
"What about my handiwork?" queried Umbridge, undeterred by the glower twisting Alex's face.
Way back when Sirius was still considered a wanted outlaw, they had worked together to brew a satisfactory vial of veritaserum to be used against Pettigrew once they had gotten their hands on him. It worked, even if Dumbledore had kept the leftover dosage afterwards—she would literally never get over that—and Alex was relieved, because there were ways to circumvent the effects of the notorious Truth Potion. You either had to have an unshakeable belief in your version of the truth, or you could craft answers that were neither completely true or false, but a halfway point between them.
But it was easier said than done.
"We were questioning how appropriate your disciplinary actions were."
"And what did Dumbledore say?"
"He knows what you're doing, and he isn't intervening."
Umbridge nodded. "Very well. How accurate are the rumours of Potter's army?"
Alex tried not to smirk at the phrasing. "Incredibly inaccurate." Army was a bit of a stretch, after all.
Scepticism was written all over Umbridge's face. She decided to switch tracks. "Are you plotting against me in any way?"
No, Alex wanted to say. Instead, because she couldn't spin it any other way, she told the truth. "We're trying to get Skeeter to publish an article on you and your reprehensible teaching habits."
Umbridge's eyes narrowed into a glare. "Explain."
So she did. Alex tried to keep as many incriminating details as possible under wraps, but there was only so much information she could withhold. "When I found out what you were doing to the other students during detention, I was…upset. I decided an expose was required. People deserved to know what was being done to their children in what was supposed to be a safe environment for them."
"How far into this plan have you gotten?" she snapped.
"Not very," Alex admitted freely. "Skeeter's agreed, but that's about it."
"I see." Umbridge paused in her barrage of questions to stew over the onslaught of information dumped onto her lap. As she mulled it all over, Alex surreptitiously palmed her wand.
"Your mother is slated for a promotion soon," the hack of a professor said suddenly, startling Alex so badly she almost dropped her wand. "It'd be a shame if such an upstanding, hardworking auror was forced to leave in disgrace, wouldn't it?"
Alex struggled to ignore the heat building behind her eyes. "I'll prevent the article from surfacing."
Umbridge smiled. "Very good. Now, before I dismiss you, is there anything else you'd like to tell me?"
Rather than utter another word while her tongue was still loose, Alex simply shook her head.
But Umbridge wasn't letting her off the hook that easily. Her expression grew several degrees chillier as she said, "Use your words, Miss Fortescue. I'll ask you again – are you withholding any information that could prove valuable to me?"
Don't think about the Order, don't think about the Order… Alex's lips trembled with the effort of keeping her fat mouth shut.
A knock on the door saved her from having to choose between hexing Umbridge or herself.
"Enter," the older witch snapped.
Filch, of all people, threw open the door, his wild eyes alight with vicious glee. By his feet was his familiar, Mrs Norris, who was weaving around his skinny legs as if she was sharing his excitement.
"What is it, Argus?" Umbridge asked testily.
The school caretaker grinned – a bad omen if Alex ever saw one. "Mrs Norris here has made a ground-breaking discovery. She's found out the meeting spot of Potter and his army!"
Alex's mouth went dry. The first thing she felt was irritation—they should've been more careful!—followed by fear, not for her sake but the others.
Umbridge clambered out of her chair so quickly it almost toppled over. "What?" she asked breathlessly. "Where? How?"
If anything, Filch grew even more cheerful. "She was following some students, sure they were up to no good, when she must've seen them disappear into a hidden room. The smart creature that she is, she returned straight to me and let me see what they were up to myself."
Alex grew very, very still as Filch spoke. Maybe if remained as unobtrusive as possible, the adults in the room would forget she was even there.
Fat chance, she thought wearily as Umbridge redirected her attention onto her.
"Let's catch them in the act, shall we?" she said, smiling. "Miss Fortescue, you round up the other Inquisitorial Squad members and follow Argus to the hidden room. I'll contact the Minister in the meanwhile."
Alex's eyes nearly fell out of her head in shock. She was going to report to Fudge already? When she had yet to procure a single iota of evidence?
"Yes, professor," she said instead of questioning the practicality of Umbridge's actions.
"Oh, and Miss Fortescue," Umbridge added before Alex could leave to do her bidding, "if there's even the slightest suspicion that you let Potter and his friends go, you'll be expelled. Hurry on now."