Author's note: Hi everyone! Apologies for the delay, I've been off on holiday (not out of the country, unfortunately!) I'm pretty happy with this chapter, I've had it written for a while and it really will be a turning point in the story and in Allegra's life. As always, I own only my OCs and the plot. More than ever I would really appreciciate some feedback, whether that be positive, or any constructive criticism. Enjoy!

Chapter 19

Allegra and Athena returned home a week after Conleth; tanned, relaxed and happy. Athena had completed the potion she'd been working on and was in a very good mood.

Allegra hadn't been just had productive as her mother and spent her first few days back home completing whatever outstanding homework she had left.

Phoebe's brother, Christopher, had developed the photographs they'd taken in Italy - Allegra was flicking through them, trying to pick some to add to her notice board of photos above her bed. Her favourite - the four girls throwing an old quaffle about in the pool - had been set aside to be put into the locket her parents had sent Allegra for her birthday.

Allegra was standing on her bed holding two photographs, trying to decide which one to add, when her mother entered her bedroom.

'Darling what are you doing on your bed?' Athena frowned.

Allegra held up the pictures.

'Changing my decor.'

Athena smiled.

'I'm going to meet Hilda for lunch, so I'll be out for a few hours.'

'I thought Hilda was still in Cornwall?' Allegra asked.

Athena looked up from fiddling with the latch on her handbag.

'Oh no, she got back at the weekend,' Athena offered a reassuring smile but Allegra wasn't completely convinced.

'Enjoy yourself then, tell Hilda I said hello,' Allegra turned back to her notice board as her mother strode over to her bed and kissed her gently on the head.

Allegra made herself a sandwich for lunch and had a brownie from the batch her mother had made, sitting down at her dining room table she read through the school list she'd received. Lily had already sent an excited letter confirming she'd been made a Prefect, which surprised no one, but it did lead to questions as to who her male counterpart would be.

As usual the four girls would be meeting up to go to Diagon Alley, and like last year, Phoebe's mother had volunteered to take them. Allegra would be leaving for the Hawthorne's tomorrow morning before staying the night. She'd also promised James a practice Quidditch session on her return so would floo straight to his from Phoebe's.

Allegra spent the rest of the day sorting out an overnight bag for her visit to Phoebe's and started packing her trunk for her return to school. Athena returned in the early evening to Allegra prancing round the living room with the radio blasting muggle music as she held mismatching shoes in her hands.

'What on earth are you doing?' Athena asked through laughter.

Allegra's hair had fallen out of its ponytail, her face was red and she could feel herself sweating.

'C'mon mum - you can't not dance to Bowie!'

Lily had introduced Allegra to a variety of muggle music courtesy of her parents. If there was one thing the muggles did well, it was music, Allegra had decided.

Allegra stuck out a hand to Athena.

'Dance with me mum!'

Athena laughed again, before grabbing her daughter's hand.

'I think I know this song!' Athena shouted over the music.

'Rebel, rebel!' Allegra and Athena sang together as Allegra twirled her mother around.

Mother and daughter danced together, before falling, exhausted, onto the sofa - laughing the whole time.

/

The next morning came too quickly for Allegra, who enjoyed lounging in bed during the summer holidays, free from classes or schoolwork. Her mother had been commissioned to test a new potion so was busy working away in her basement cave whilst her father had kissed her a quick goodbye before leaving for work.

Allegra made toast, finishing hers off and taking some to her mother.

'Mum! I've brought you some toast,' Allegra called out as she made her way down the steps of the basement.

Athena was poised over a cauldron, stirring with her wand, her hair slightly frizzy due to the fumes.

'You didn't need to do that,' assured Athena, although she devoured the food quickly.

'I'm leaving for Phoebe's now,' said Allegra as she finished off a glass of milk.

Athena got up from her stool, kissing Allegra on the forehead.

'Don't forget to thank the Hawthorne's from your father and I, and be careful,' Athena brushed a hand through Allegra's hair, 'Merlin, I am jealous of how shiny your hair is darling,' she smiled.

Allegra gave her mother a hug.

'Don't work too hard!' She bound up the basement stairs.

'Oh, and congratulate Lily! Be safe!'

'Bye mum!'

Allegra grabbed a rucksack with her overnight things and her broomstick, took a handful of floo powder and stepped into her fireplace.

'The Hawthorne Residence, Surrey!'

Allegra felt herself being turning very quickly, careful to keep her arms close to her body. Just a few seconds later she felt herself falling out into the Hawthorne's living room.

'What's the broomstick for?' A puzzled Lily asked as she helped Allegra up off the floor.

'Oh, I'm meeting James tomorrow for Quidditch practice. Thought it would be easier to floo there from here than go home and head to his anyway,' replied Allegra matter of fact.

Lily's lips thinned at the mention of James but she said nothing.

'Where's Marlene?' Allegra asked.

'Do you even need to ask?' Phoebe snorted, entering the living room from her kitchen, 'floo okay?'

'Late again I take it then,' chuckled Allegra, 'the usual horrible sensation. Mum sends her congratulations,' Allegra turned to Lily, grinning.

'Our own little Prefect,' Phoebe rubbed Lily's hair affectionately, who turned red.

'Thanks, mum and dad were pleased - Petunia not so much.'

Phoebe crinkled up her nose.

'I wouldn't worry about that old windbag.'

Allegra and Lily snorted.

'Good morning Allegra, oh what a lovely tan!' Mrs Hawthorne was a strikingly pretty woman with braids down to her waist and warm, chocolate brown eyes who did not look forty five.

'Thanks,' grinned Allegra, 'my parents send their thanks for taking us today.'

Mrs Hawthorne waved her hand dismissively.

'Don't be silly, if I tell you the truth I actually quite enjoy taking you lot, reminds me of my own youth. I'm an old woman now.'

'Yet you don't look a day over thirty,' supplied Lily.

'Oh you!' Mrs Hawthorne may have acted dismissive, but Allegra noticed the smile on her face widen at Lily's compliment.

'Now we know why you got Prefect Lil,' said Allegra under her breath, Phoebe snorted.

Lily chose to ignore them.

Suddenly the Hawthorne's fireplace whirled into life as Marlene McKinnon fell out of it.

'Only ten minutes late, that's not bad for you,' said Lily.

Marlene rolled her eyes, brushing ash from her jeans.

'You know what they say about the party not starting 'till I arrive.'

'Girls if you want to leave your things and we can get going. We're still early enough to miss the afternoon rush,' Mrs Hawthorne looked at her watch as Marlene put her overnight bag next to Allegra's.

Ten minutes later the five of them were standing outside Madam Malkins. Allegra and Lily both needed new school robes and Phoebe and Marlene wanted to look at the dress robes. Next they visited Potage's Cauldron shop for Lily to purchase a new cauldron, followed by the apothecary to refill potions ingredients and Flourish and Blotts where they bought the new, designated textbooks from their school list.

'Alright ladies, is there anywhere else pressing we need to get to?' Mrs Hawthorne asked, two hours later.

'I just need to get some owl treats for Cassius and I think we all need some parchment and ink,' Allegra supplied.

'Mum why don't you let us go and get that stuff while you get a drink or something from the Leaky Cauldron, we won't be long,' suggested Phoebe.

Mrs Hawthorne looked torn between leaving them unchaperoned and needing a break from busy shops.

'Alright,' she sighed, 'meet me in the Leaky Cauldron in an hour. Keep your wits about you, and don't go near Knockturn Alley,' warned Mrs Hawthorne, pointing her finger at Phoebe.

'We know mum,' Phoebe seemed just about able to suppress an eye roll.

On their way to Eyelops Owl Emporium, the girls bumped into a number of their fellow students, including Anil Zeb - their year in Gryffindor, Olly Walker - a Ravenclaw who was friends with Trish Saxon and Susan Li - a sixth year Gryffindor.

After purchasing owl treats and parchment - and with time to spare - they decided to drop in to Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour.

Fortescue's was brimming with customers. Once the girls had ordered and paid for their ice creams they decamped to a table outside.

'Thank Merlin it's a nice day, I wouldn't like to be stuck out here if it was raining,' said Marlene as she tucked into a caramel and chocolate concoction with cherries on top.

'Lily I don't think I ever asked, what was it like coming here for the first time?' Allegra asked.

'I was overwhelmed. But I sort of had a sense of what it would be like thanks to Severus. I think it was the first time my parents properly realised there was magic in the world - up to that point I think they kept expecting someone to jump out and shout "April Fools!"' Lily stated, eating some of the fudge off the top of her ice cream.

'Isn't it amazing that muggles have no idea all this exists,' said Phoebe, awe in her voice.

'I think it's pretty cool that right now there's five year olds out there that are going to receive letters to Hogwarts at some point in the future and be introduced to all this,' commented Allegra.

'So no regrets on being a witch then Lily?' Marlene asked, grin plastered to her face.

'No regrets,' agreed Lily, an identical grin adorning her face.

After finishing their ice creams, the girls made their way to the Leaky Cauldron to meet Mrs Hawthorne. Not before stopping at Madam Primpernelle's Beautifying Potions where Allegra considered buying the new spa set for her mother's upcoming birthday.

'They do deliveries Allegra. You could send your order in and they'll deliver it to your house on your mum's birthday. They even do gift cards with it,' Phoebe had intoned wisely.

'You're right, I'll order it nearer the time. Her birthday isn't until November anyway,' agreed Allegra.

Finally, they rendezvoused back with Mrs Hawthorne outside the Leaky Cauldron, where she was speaking with an elderly witch in deep purple robes and a green hat that clashed horribly.

'Merlin, did she get dressed in the dark?' Marlene muttered under her breath.

'Oh girls, there you are!' Mrs Hawthorne seemed relieved to see them, 'everything sorted?'

They replied in the affirmative.

'This is Druskella Erskine - her daughter was in the same year as me at Hogwarts.'

'What's that dear?' Druskella asked loudly, looking from Mrs Hawthorne to the girls, 'what about Hogwarts?'

Allegra could suddenly see why Mrs Hawthorne was eager to finish their conversation.

'Connie, Mrs Erskine, I was talking about Connie!' Mrs Hawthorne replied in an equally loud voice.

Mrs Erskine nodded.

'Yes the weather's lovely! We've had quite the summer!'

Marlene let out an involuntary giggle as Phoebe nudged her.

'Well I must get the girls home, late in the afternoon and all!' Mrs Hawthorne was still speaking in that loud voice.

'You should be going home, it's getting late!' Mrs Erskine shouted.

Lily had now joined in with Marlene's giggles whilst Phoebe was determined to look anywhere except at her mother.

'Let's go girls,' Mrs Hawthorne's eyes darted to them, 'goodbye Mrs Erskine!'

'Yes goodbye Sandra!'

At this point Allegra and Phoebe could no longer hold in the laughter they had been suppressing. Phoebe snorted violently and Allegra tried to pass off her laughter as a cough.

'Let's go, now!' Mrs Hawthorne muttered under her breath.

'Yes Sandra,' spluttered Phoebe.

At that, Mrs Hawthorne joined in with the laughter.

/

Allegra arrived at the Potter's the next day just before lunch time.

'You took your time!'

James was pacing up and down his living room, hurrying over to help Allegra up. In all her years of knowing him, she'd never seen James berate someone for being late.

'I couldn't just floo out of Phoebe's at eight in the morning without saying anything,' Allegra rolled her eyes.

'Why not?' James asked, without a hint of sarcasm, 'anyway, I have to tell you before we start - I got Vice Captain.'

'Congratulations Potter! Although I have to say the choices weren't great, between you and Black, who's the lesser evil?'

James chose to ignore that shot. With Hodge, Dearborn and Goshawk all finishing Hogwarts last year, Edward Macmillan, the goalkeeper, was the most senior player on the team going into his final year and had been made Captain.

'Lily got Prefect.'

'Evans did?' James voice deepened imperceptibly, 'suppose she'll be out for my blood.' He did not look or sound disgruntled by this.

'Do you know who got the boys? Give me the shock of the century and say Black,' Allegra had removed her rucksack and sat down on the armchair beside the fireplace.

'No,' James grinned, 'Remus.'

Allegra snickered.

'Dumbledore's counting on Lupin to keep you lot in check? Lily better have her eyes peeled or else the castle will be burnt to the ground within a week.'

'Remus is sensible,' argued James.

'Wasn't he the one that orchestrated you's stealing the Slytherin team's Quidditch robes during the last match of the season in third year?' Allegra raised an eyebrow.

James waved his hands dismissively.

'Details. Anyway, are you ready to go? There's a couple of new moves I want to show you, get you to try them out before next year.'

'James.'

'- that spiralling move you pulled against Turner was great -'

'James.'

'- but we'll want to keep things fresh in case people start sussing you out -'

'I don't know if I'm going to stay on the team!'

James, who had been strapping on his knee pads, stilled.

'What do you mean? Why would you leave? We just won with you as seeker, what are you talking about?' James asked in a rush.

'With OWLs this year, everything's going to be so intense. I don't want to let down the team by focusing on school.' Allegra finished with a sigh.

James was looking at her as if she'd just announced she'd killed a puppy.

'Sirius and I are doing OWLs, Macmillan's doing his NEWTs. Everyone's going to be busy and stressed, doesn't mean we're going to quit the team,' said James, still incredulous over Allegra's announcement.

'Not everyone is you and Black! You mess around in class, you're out all hours of the night, detentions and everything else and you're still top of the year!' Allegra all but shouted.

James looked perplexed.

'That's not true - you're better than me at Potions and Ancient Runes, probably Defence as well.'

Allegra rolled her eyes, he wasn't getting the point.

'My point is, I've to work really hard to maintain that. A lot of this stuff comes naturally to you two,' sighed Allegra, pained that she had to compliment Black at all.

'You're just doing this because you still don't think you're good enough, even after last year. Well I'm not having it. As your Vice Captain, I won't allow it, so get your broomstick and get outside so we can practice. Even if I have to tutor you in Herbology myself, you're not quitting the team Allegra.'

At that, James grabbed his broomstick and marched outside into his back garden. Allegra stood there, momentarily dumbstruck, half tempted to floo back to her house just to spite him. She almost laughed at the absurdity of James Potter tutoring someone, what on earth would that look like? However, Allegra sighed, she knew she was beaten, maybe James was right, maybe she was trying to protect herself from failure.

'Oi! Let's go!' James rapped his window.

There was no use fighting, Allegra grabbed her broomstick from the floor and followed her new Vice Captain outside.

/

After five hours of drills, rolls, snitch chasing and more, Allegra was exhausted. She could have hugged Mrs Potter with gratitude when she called them in, insisting they have dinner.

James, sweating and red faced, still had just as much energy as when they had first started. Allegra wondered where he got it from, he was like an excitable dog, always looking for something else to do. Meanwhile, she had practically collapsed into the chair at the dinner table, a painful stitch in her side, wheezing heavily.

'Good practice?' Mrs Potter asked.

Allegra, who was struggling to breathe, merely nodded in response.

'Good enough, we'll get into the more technical, nitty gritty stuff next week,' stated James as he spooned mashed potato onto his plate.

'That's if Allegra survives to next week,' said Mr Potter.

Allegra was sitting with her head resting on the table, hand still at her side where the stitch was. She lifted her head from the table slowly.

'I'm sure I'll survive long enough to kill James,' she said through gritted teeth.

'That's the spirit,' said James mildly, now tucking into the chicken on his plate.

Mr and Mrs Potter chuckled.

'How do you feel about starting back to school, Allegra? Mr Potter asked cheerfully.

'I can't believe the summer has gone this quickly if I'm honest. Mum always said Hogwarts would be the best years of my life - I think she must have left out the times we'd be worked to the bone studying for exams,' quipped Allegra.

Mr Potter laughed.

'Maybe it's a case of selective memory,' said Mrs Potter with a wink.

After dinner, Allegra thanked the Potters, who were trying to convince her to floo home.

'No honestly, it's only twenty minutes, I'd rather walk,' Allegra protested, 'I need to walk off this stitch!' Eventually the Potter's relented, but only if James could walk her home.

'You'd think I was going to get attacked in Cheltenham in broad daylight!'

'You know what they're like,' James rolled his eyes, 'I had Bertha out the other night and didn't tell them, and you'd have thought I'd tried to rob Gringotts, the reaction I got when I came home.'

'Who's Bertha?' Allegra queried.

James ears reddened.

'My broomstick.'

There was a beat before Allegra burst out laughing.

'Your broomstick is called Bertha? Oh James this is such great ammunition!' Allegra clapped her hands together in glee.

'Don't say a word to anyone Quinn, I mean it!' James turned, finger pointing in her face.

Allegra tried to compose her face.

'Alright. But you have to admit, that's funny.'

James mumbled something under his breath Allegra couldn't quite hear as she continued to chuckle.

They rounded the clump of trees that surrounded Allegra's house.

'So where did Bertha come from, name of your first crush?' Allegra turned to James whose face had gone white.

'I'm only teasing Potter.'

James stopped walking. Allegra turned to see what he was looking at.

There, hovering above her house was the sign no witch or wizard ever wanted to come home to. Bright green against the sky, a large skull with a snake twisting from its mouth.

The Dark Mark.

Without thinking, Allegra swung her leg over her broomstick and pushed herself off the ground.

'Allegra!' She could faintly hear James in the background.

'ALLEGRA, DON'T GO IN!' But she was almost at her door, wind whipping her hair as she could hear James' footsteps behind her.

The front door burst open before Allegra could touch it. She just needed to get inside, there'd been a mistake, it had all been a joke, as soon as she made sure her parents were safe everything would be fine.

Instinctively, Allegra headed towards her parents bedroom, sprinting up the stairs two at a time. Their bedroom door was closed, it sprang open, just like the front door had and Allegra stepped inside.

Athena was lying there - arms by her side, eyes closed - she was sleeping.

At least, that's what it looked like.

She was lying on the floor, her head lolling to one side.

Allegra moved like a ghost towards her mother. Bending down, she gently touched her soft cheek - it was ice cold. Without checking any further, Allegra knew, she knew her mother would not be waking up. She gathered her mother in her arms as Athena had done with her on countless occasions.

Somewhere, Allegra was vaguely aware James had entered the house, calling for her. The bedroom door slammed shut and suddenly a scream pierced the night, the glass in her parents' bedroom windows shattered.

Allegra didn't know when she stopped screaming. She didn't know when James managed to burst through the bedroom door. She didn't know how long he held her as she screamed. She didn't know when Mr Potter arrived.

The only thing Allegra knew was that her mother was dead.