Alli was forced to use her map again to find her way back to Slughorn's classroom. She was ten minutes late when she finally arrived. When she entered, Professor Slughorn looked over his shoulder and raised his eyebrows, excitedly.
"Ah, Miss Potter!" he announced in a booming voice, "Come in, come in."
The usual small tables that cluttered the classroom had been replaced by a large, round table in the center. The table was set, complete with elegant name cards at each place. There was one Slytherin student that Alli recognized as Blaise Zabini, but she did not approach him. There were also a few Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw students that Alli hadn't seen before. There were two Gryffindor boys standing in the corner, Ginny Weasley, Hermione, and then, Alli spotted Harry. Alli sighed, grateful that she knew someone here. The idea of a party where she knew no one, and no one seemed to care about her either, was not of particular interest. So, Alli made her way over to Harry.
"Hey," Alli greeted him.
"Oh, Alli. Hello," said Harry, "How was your first day?"
"It was fine," said Alli, with a smile.
"Good."
"Yes, well, we are still waiting on one more but I suppose we can sit down at the table," said Slughorn, loudly. Alli walked around the table until she found Allison Potter written in pretty gold script on a name card. Once everyone was seated, Slughorn began with the introductions.
"Welcome, all," he started, "I would like to formally introduce each one of you before we begin our delightful little feast."
Alli looked around at the other students. They all seemed to have the same, awkward look on their faces.
"Let's start with you," Slughorn said to a chubby boy sitting on his left. The boy gave a small closed-mouth smile that seemed forced.
"Uh, I'm Marcus Belby…"
"Now, Marcus here has an Uncle Damocles. An extraordinary wizard, yes. I had the pleasure of teaching him. Outstanding wizard and his Order of Merlin most well-deserved. Do you see much of your uncle, Marcus?"
Marcus, who had just stuffed a mouthful of pheasant, shook his head "no".
"Well, he must be busy, I daresay. He did invent the Wolfsbane Potion which certainly took considerable hard work," Slughorn continued.
"I don't really know much about him…" said Marcus, his voice trailing off. Disappointed in the little amount of information Marcus had provided, Professor Slughorn turned his attention to a Gryffindor boy who looked about the same age as Alli.
"Now, you, Cormac. I happen to know you see a lot of your Uncle Tiberius because he has a rather splendid picture of the two of you hunting nogtails in, I think, Norfolk?"
The boy named Cormac, sat up straight with his shoulders-back, looking very much, overly-proud to be sitting at the table.
"Oh, yeah, that was fun, that was," Cormac said, "We went with Bertie Higgs and Rufus Scrimgeour—this was before he became Minister, obviously—"
Alli rolled her eyes and looked over at Harry, who was picking at his food with a fork.
"Ah, you know Bertie and Rufus, too?" Slughorn said as if it were the most glorious thing he had ever heard. Alli noticed that Slughorn tended to get excited about famous people or people who had very outstanding accomplishments. Alli did not find this appealing and began to regret even coming. Slughorn turned to Blaise Zabini next.
"This is Blaise Zabini," Slughorn said, giving him a large pat on the shoulder. Alli decided to tune out the rest of Slughorn's introductions. She caught Harry's eye, who looked back at her with an equally bored look on his face. As Slughorn began to interrogate Harry, Alli's thoughts turned to Draco. She thought back to their argument. It was actually kind of stupid. Yeah, he didn't stand up for me but since when do I need someone to stand up for me? I can take care of myself. Those guys were being ridiculous anyways. Maybe I should apologize to…
"Allison?"
Alli perked up at the sound of her name. Professor Slughorn let out a booming laugh.
"Yeah?" Alli replied. Slughorn cleared his throat and resumed his normal speech.
"Miss Potter, here, is new to Hogwarts, of course," Slughorn said to everyone. Alli smiled lightly. "Allison, why don't you share your story with the rest of us?"
Alli's smile widened, happy to have everyone's attention on her alone.
"Hey," Alli began, "I'm Alli Potter. Harry is my first cousin. I'm a transfer from a school back in the United States. Professor Dumbledore thought it might be safer for me here because of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is getting stronger and all of that. So, this summer, I was moved from the U.S. to Harry's house with these muggles who, I have to be honest, aren't the smartest ones I've met," Alli paused, and narrowed her eyebrows, "They're actually kind of dumb. Like, his Uncle Vernon is super fat. It's like you can't even see that he has a neck. Then, his Aunt Petunia is super skinny. Then, Harry's cousin, Dudley, who isn't my cousin because he's on his mom's side of the family, is just like so stupid and he's fat too. It's a really weird-looking family and- "
Harry cleared his throat.
"Oh…" Alli paused, unaware that she had been rambling. She took a breath and then continued, "Anyway, now I'm at Hogwarts, and yeah..."
"Allison, why don't you explain your scar to everyone?" Slughorn prompted her.
"Oh!" Alli laughed, with a roll of her eyes. She tucked the piece of hair behind her left ear that covered her lightning bolt-shaped scar on the side of her forehead. "I forgot to mention... I survived, too."
A large group of wizards and witches sit at a long table in a dark room. A fire burns in the background throwing haunting, flickering shadows across their faces.
"I have brought you here, my friends, for a very important meeting," says a cold voice, so quiet, that if not for the complete silence, would be impossible to hear.
"I have news for you, my Lord," says a man, "The girl has been moved from the home."
"I have already been told," the cold voice replies.
"But, we have found her," the man continues.
"Finding her was easy, my Lord," says another man, "It has been confirmed. She's there at the school."
A small commotion rises among the group. The cold voice commands silence.
"My Lord?" It is a woman's voice that speaks this time. "Is there anything I can do? I wish to help."
"Yes, Bellatrix. I know you want to help. But, right now, it is in the hands of someone else. I need the closest person to her than I can get."
The speaker turns to the man sitting on his right. "Bring your son to me, tonight. It is of the greatest importance that he succeeds."
"Yes, my Lord."
When Alli entered the Great All for breakfast the next morning, a hush fell over the students. Alli watched several pairs of eyes and whispers follow her as she headed in the direction of the Slytherin table.
"Did you know about her?"
"I heard about it last night."
Alli stopped suddenly, turned around, and walked directly over to three Hufflepuff students who were sitting and whispering to one another.
"Potter couldn't have done it, I tell you!" said one of the Hufflepuff boys to the group.
"Done what?" Alli snapped. The boy who had last spoken spun around in his seat to see Alli standing in front of him with her arms crossed. His lips parted slightly in shock. He didn't answer. Alli raised her eyebrows.
"Survived," the girl beside him spoke up, "Did you really survive You-Know-Who? Did you live, too?"
"Oh," Alli said, "that."
All three students gaped at her, waiting for her to say more about it.
"I did," Alli finished, "But, how do y'all even know about that?"
"People have been talking," said the Hufflepuff girl, "It's been all over the school since last night."
"Great," Alli said, rolling her eyes and remembering the topic of Slughorn's dinner party the night before.
"But… how did you do it?" the third student in the group asked. Alli shrugged in response.
The third student looked back at his friends. A silence followed until Alli said, "Are you done asking questions? 'Cause if so, I'm gonna go sit down and eat some breakfast."
When no one answered, Alli said, "Fine," and flipped her hair over her shoulder as she walked away. The whispers continued until she approached the Slytherin table. Draco, who had his arms folded on the table, looked up.
"Hey," said Alli. Draco didn't reply, so she sat down on the bench and turned towards him. "Listen, I want to talk about what happened between us the other day."
"What about it?" Draco asked.
"Listen, Draco," she began, "I'm sorry I blew up at you for not defending me. It was stupid. What you said before in the hall is true."
"Yeah?" said Draco, a slightly eager tone in his voice. Alli smiled lightly and took a deep breath to prepare herself.
"You said we were a little closer than just friends and…" Alli paused to take another deep breath, "you're right."
"Alli," said Draco, with a small sigh. He had a tone that seemed like he was about to say something she didn't want to hear. Alli swallowed nervously. Then, Draco surprised her by reaching for her hand. He closed his hand around hers and faced her. He put his fingers to her cheek and rubbed his thumb along her jawline. Alli felt her heartbeat quicken. Then, Draco leaned in, cupping her face in his hands, and touched his lips to hers gently. Then, slowly pulled away.
"So, we good now?" asked Alli, with a playful grin.
"Yes, we're good," said Draco, returning her smile with a smirk.
"Draco, can we go back to the common room for a little while before class?"
They walked in a comfortable silence, hand-in-hand, to the dungeons. The Slytherin Common Room was busier than Alli had hoped. But, when they entered, the common room went quiet. Everyone's eyes seemed to be on her. She leaned closer to Draco, still holding his hand.
"This is starting to get a little ridiculous," she whispered to him. She stepped down the short staircase to the black carpeted floor. "Let's go to my room, okay?"
Alli sat down on the edge of her bed. Draco walked over to her bedside table where several little trinkets were cluttered: a small, thin gold ring that was shaped like a snake; the invitation to Slughorn's party; a very nice black and gold quill on display; and then there was a marble picture frame with gold accents on the corners that held a photograph of a man and a woman. Draco picked up the frame and looked at it closely. The man in the picture had dark hair and hazel eyes. A much different color from Alli's dark-brown ones, but they had the same shape. He placed an arm around the woman's shoulders. The woman had light brown hair with a perfectly-angled nose that resembled Alli's. She looked out and nodded as if she approved of the person looking at the photo. The man drew her close, smiled, and gave the woman a kiss on the forehead.
"My parents," said Alli quietly, answering Draco's unspoken question. Draco looked back at the picture and saw that Alli had inherited the same smile as her father. He set it back down on the bedside table. When Draco looked back at Alli her eyes were focused on the floor. When she finally spoke, her voice was somber. "Draco, I want to tell you something."
Alli thought back to her recent nightmares. Draco narrowed his eyebrows, curiously.
"I've been having some dreams lately... well they're nightmares, actually. But, they are starting to really scare me now because they're getting so realistic."
"Well, what are they about?" Draco inquired.
"They're about... " Alli paused to take a deep breath, "They're about You-Know-Who."
Draco suddenly tensed up. His facial expression turned cold and the color drained from his face.
"What's wrong?" Alli asked immediately. She stood up and faced him. Draco looked away from her, rubbing his arm.
"Nothing," he said, his voice deep and cold, "Nothing, I'm fine."