The Hell of Fourth Year.
Charlotte gave a soft smile as she stroked Nightstar while she tried to multitask as she ate her breakfast. She chuckled at some of the antics of her cat, and it seemed to take forever before she was finished with her breakfast, but seriously what was the point in hurrying when she was going to be spending most of her time in Hogwarts.
It had been four days since she and Cedric had spoken together. Four days of keeping her head down; while it was nice for Cedric to be so kind and supportive, she didn't see any reason why she couldn't still keep her head down. She was aware of the teachers passing detentions onto her simply because she had been skipping classes, but in actual fact, she was attending the more advanced classes thanks to the Time-Turner without their knowledge. But she had needed to take precautions to make sure no-one knew anything about one of the only tools she had. She didn't want to think of what Dumbledore or, heaven forbid, the Ministry learning about the copy she'd cloned off of the one loaned to Granger last year.
In many ways, the advanced classes were perfect for her, although she skipped Herbology since she didn't really give two hoots about the subject in the first place, and in truth it didn't mean anything if she failed it on her OWL anyway, not if she studied other subjects to make up the difference.
The advanced classes were something else. Underneath her cloak and a number of copying charms, she was able to learn everything she could about the subjects, but while some would question her about it, she was doing the coursework so then when she left Hogwarts and waved Magical Britain the unlamented farewell it deserved, she would be prepared for everything.
She was looking forward to the reactions of the press and the public when she left with not just great OWL results, but NEWT results as well. What better slap in the face was there than to have a girl whom everyone considered mediocre suddenly achieving near-perfect results?
And the best thing, at least in her mind, was they could drop as many detentions on her as they wished, but in the end, she would get the lash laugh. She was looking forward to that day with great anticipation.
Charlotte laughed as Nightstar placed er paw in her breakfast and licked off the mixture of Weetabix pureed with milk and fresh fruit. "Hey, sweetie," she giggled. "Do you like my breakfast?"
She stroked the cat, who happily purred under her touch. She smiled at her cat happy, pleased she had Nightstar, and her two House-elves to support her in this mess. She still did not understand what on Earth had possessed Weasley when he had tried to kill her cat; there was shunning and there was causing pain. She wondered what would have happened if she had gotten back to the common room too late, just in time to see Nightstar's body on the ground…
She shook her head. She would never have forgiven Weasley, in fact, she would very likely have killed him. Him, and his fucked up, bastard family. One of the benefits of having the Marauders map was being able to stay on step ahead of the Weasleys, who continued to look around the school during the breaks for her. She had no doubt the twins were looking for her to prank her again, but thanks to the map she was more or less safe.
Once she was finished and her breakfast things were taken away from her, Charlotte kissed her cat and Dobby goodbye, as it was Winky's turn to take her to Hogwarts. After saying goodbye to her elf, she took a deep breath and walked up to the castle. Once she was inside the castle thanks to climbing in through the window of one of the disused classrooms, Charlotte waved her wand to get rid of the dirt, thankful she still had her custom wand on her; the wand she'd bought from Ollivander was practically gone, anyway.
She opened the classroom door a touch, and she peeked outside. She relaxed when she realised there wasn't anyone there, so she felt it was safe to leave. She checked her watch and smiled. The school was having breakfast, so she had time to herself for a bit, although she wondered what she was going to be doing.
Charlotte checked the timetable in her hand, and she saw she would be having Transfiguration in a minute with the seventh years. She smiled, that was easy enough. Charlotte walked through the corridors towards the Transfiguration classroom, only to suddenly feel someone's hand on her arm and she was swung around and pushed against the wall.
Taken by surprise by the sudden violence, Charlotte was stunned and she needed a moment before she could focus before she mentally sighed at the sight of Susan Bones, who was holding up her wand to her face.
Charlotte knew the girl was one of the kids of the alliance her family had been a part of, only she knew Susan had never really bothered to speak to her personally about the alliance. But even then she wouldn't be a part of it, not after the way Susan had made her life hell along with so many others in her second year.
"What's this?" she asked.
"I saw you with Cedric. Stay away from him, with your filthy cheating ways, Potter!" Bones snarled in her face. "I saw you, you were trying to seduce him. Well, I won't have it. Think you're so smart, Potter. You need to be taught your place!" With that, she yelled an incantation, and there was a bright flash of light. The spell impacted Charlotte's face before the dark-haired girl could even react, and it was so close she didn't have a chance to block it.
The spell shattered her glasses, and much to Susan's horror, Charlotte screamed in pain.
The scream echoed through the school, curdling the blood of everyone who heard it, silencing everyone in the Great Hall. Teacher and student alike stopped all conversations, and they rushed out of the hall, trying to find the source of the scream.
Susan was terrified, and she had collapsed to the ground in horror as she watched her class and year mate screaming while she clutched her face, bits of her destroyed glasses dropping to the ground while blood pooled in her hand, seeping through the gaps between her fingers.
Charlotte stared at the terrified Hufflepuff, who immediately began backing away on her backside, looking up at her with horror as the full depths of what she had done penetrated her brain. The look Charlotte sent Susan was positively demonic as she clutched the remains of her eye, blood dropping everywhere as she glared with hatred down at the girl. Charlotte was somehow able to push away the pain she was feeling, glaring down at the Hufflepuff with rage.
"W-why? What possessed you to do this? Say goodbye, to your precious alliance, Bones. 'cause if I ever see you again, I will kill you!"
Gasping with pain as it returned full force, Charlotte stumbled away from the scene, using her hands to feel her way down the corridors, leaving behind the terrified Susan Bones, and droplets of blood near her shattered glasses. She was numb, she felt as if her head were about to explode, and she needed to get away from the place before something happened.
That is it! No more Miss nice girl. The next bastard in this poxy school is going to get maimed if they touch me! I've snapped!
She gasped as waves of dizziness swept over her, and she felt a moment of disorientation but she lost her footing and collapsed to the ground.
XXX
The teachers weren't sure what they would find when they reached the source of the screaming, but when they reached the scene they stopped in horror at what they saw. They had expected to find one of the students in the corridor, but when they saw Susan Bones sitting on the ground, breathing in and out, eyes wide in shock while there were droplets of blood on the stone floor, and handprints of blood on the walls, leading down the corridors.
Student and teacher alike looked around, and they caught sight of the remains of Charlotte Potter's glasses near the blood splatters.
"Let me through, please everyone!" Dumbledore forced his way through, and he paused in surprise when he saw the blood and the shattered remains of Charlotte's glasses. He waved his wand, and he silenced the scene before he walked over to the still form of Susan Bones. Ignoring the pain in his knees as he knelt down from his aged bones, Dumbledore looked into Susan's mind.
With his legilimency skills, he didn't have any problem seeing what had happened, and when he did he closed his eyes in horror.
Flitwick was right. All this has gone too far. This is not going to be doing my plans any good, especially since this might be the catalyst which makes her turn dark. But after what's happened, I can't say I blame her. The plan was going on so well, too; but now it's ruined. I only hope we can salvage this mess, and she can find it within herself to forgive everyone.
Dumbledore waved his wand and the crowd's noise returned. "SILENCE!" he yelled, instantly the crowd went quiet. "Teachers, gather in my office. Students, make your way back to your common rooms, at once! Any student not in their common room will be immediately placed in a four-day long detention! Now Go! I shall deal with Miss Bones."
As everyone started to leave the corridor, Dumbledore looked down at the still shocked form of the Hufflepuff girl and sighed. This was not something he had wanted, and he could see he had once more made a fatal misjudgement, and it could cost the magical world a great deal, especially since there was a chance Charlotte would crack. She had more than enough reason.
He levitated her to the hospital wing and gave instructions to Poppy on creating a replacement eye for Charlotte once he had informed her of what had happened, not even trying to sugarcoat anything.
However, the nurse had something scathing to say to him. "Are you never going to stop meddling in students' lives, Albus?" she asked before she turned to take care of Miss Bones.
XXX
As he headed for his office, the confrontation with Poppy and the actions of Miss Bones on his mind, Albus Dumbledore didn't know if his current plans concerning Charlotte Potter were viable. Where he would normally use the floo-network to travel from one half of the school to the next, Albus had decided to walk to give himself some time to think about what he was going to do next. Dumbledore had long since felt the best way to think was if you walked slowly from point a to point b, which would give the perfect amount of time to come up with a plan.
He had known the girl was suffering as a result of the tournament, and he hadn't made things easier by setting out with a plan to isolate her, which would make it easier for the girl to become malleable enough to be moulded according to his designs.
It hadn't been difficult getting the former Marauders to help, either; Sirius Black had always been a two-dimensional man, always more concerned with his own pleasure, than facing any responsibilities he might have had. And while he cared about Charlotte, Sirius hadn't really done anything to help her in all the years since the death of James and Lily.
Even Dumbledore could not understand it; he had known the Marauders barring Remus were animagi for years, thanks to looking inside Pettigrew's mind more than once whenever he'd had dealings with the gang in the later years they'd been at Hogwarts, and it was how he had known from the moment he met Peter again after the other wizard had returned from his initiation ceremony, if you could call the atrocities the Death Eaters called the event where they received their Dark Mark, the man was a Death Eater.
Having an animagus form would have meant Sirius would have had a relatively simple time getting out of Azkaban without the Dementors being aware of it, given their poor senses which didn't extend to an awareness of animals. Sirius had had two options, he could either have sneaked out as the Dementors were bringing him food, which he had done. Or he could simply have waited until his body had lost enough weight for him to slip through the bars, and then for both, he'd have needed to swim for shore. Once he was on the mainland, he wouldn't have had any trouble finding his own way again.
But no-one ever said Sirius was intelligent. He was smart, yes, but he wasn't forward-thinking. Yes, he had kept himself going by thinking of Charlotte, using it to give him strength, but what really gave him the strength to go on was the idea of catching Pettigrew. It completely seemed to have slipped his mind he had the means of getting out and going after Peter any time he chose, or he could simply have left the prison and gone on the run. As a dog, he would have had a relatively easy time hiding. Especially if he hid in the muggle world, where the magical government of the Wizengamot had little to no influence, and even the Minister couldn't outright tell the muggle Prime Minister to keep on the lookout for a dog of a particular breed and appearance. The muggles would laugh at them.
What made it interesting was Charlotte herself had picked up on the fact the animagus form Sirius had could have allowed him to leave at any point, he had seen it in her body language when the girl and Hermione Granger had told him the story the year before. Getting the Marauders to not contact Charlotte hadn't been difficult, but now it looked like he had made a fatal mistake in not doing anything at all.
As he approached the guardian statue to his office which instantly began to rise to the tower his office and his chambers were kept, Albus wondered if his newly altered plan to try to find the girl, to heal her, and to train her would work since Charlotte was becoming very hard to find, and even the portraits had little idea of where she went.
He walked into his office and found his whole staff there. He mentally sighed, knowing this meeting would not be good.
He crossed the room and went to where the Pensieve was kept and he took it out before he went to sit down on a chair near the window, deciding this was not the time for formalities, especially since he wasn't in the mood.
"What are you going to do with the Pensieve, Headmaster?" Severus asked.
Dumbledore paused for a moment, wondering how he should answer that question, but he carried on with his work since Severus and the others would soon realise what he was doing. He placed the Pensieve on the little table covered with some of the objects he had collected over the years of his long life, and he silently lifted his wand to his temple and he concentrated on the memory before he placed the glowing thread into the bowl.
For the next three minutes, the staff of Hogwarts were shown a first-person account of what happened. They saw how Susan had stumbled on Charlotte and Cedric speaking together, they saw him being kissed by her.
For the next few days, Susan had been trying to find Charlotte, jealous because she had believed the Potter bitch was taking Cedric away from her, which showed Susan had a crush on the elder Hufflepuff. She never told anyone what she had seen, otherwise, Cedric would have overheard, but in Susan's mind, she was trying to break whatever hold Charlotte had over Cedric.
They watched as Susan eventually tracked Charlotte down after a few days. They saw how Susan threatened the other girl before she lost her temper and fired that spell right into Charlotte's eye. The whole room was horrified as they watched as the spell destroyed Charlotte's eye and glasses, and made her scream. The screams echoed through the room, rousing and terrifying the portraits of the previous Headmasters and Headmistresses, and it made the Sorting Hat and Fawkes cringe.
It was too much for Minerva, who had to endure the shattered heart as she had to listen to the daughter of her two favourite students screaming because another student had destroyed her eye. "STOP IT!" she yelled.
Dumbledore tapped the side of the Pensieve and the memory was thankfully stopped. He rubbed his face, only just managing to resist the temptation to touch his own eyes to rub out the exhaustion he was feeling.
Professor Sinistra broke the silence hesitantly. "What's going to happen to Miss Bones after what she's done?" she asked curiously, though she sounded like she didn't care.
Dumbledore sighed. "Susan will be expelled from Hogwarts as soon as she is well enough to accept the consequences of what she has done," he replied.
He had been tempted to simply suspend the Hufflepuff, but he had decided against it. He hoped that by expelling the other girl, Charlotte would come to forgive him and his lack of action.
"Good!" Minerva spat angrily.
Pomona looked down, ashamed of what one of her students had just done. Severus snorted, making Flitwick glare at him. "What is it, now, Severus? For Merlin's sake, man, if indeed you are a man at all, since you've got the body of a man and the brain of a fifteen-year-old boy holding onto a grudge. She's just lost an eye. An eye she inherited from Lily. You remember her, right? The girl whom you referred to as a m-u-d-b-l-o-o-d because she offered to help, and you didn't like it!"
Snape snarled, but Flitwick had his wand jammed right between Snape's eyes. "Try it!" Flitwick snapped. "You might be proficient with duelling, but I took down several of your Death Eater friends. I won't have any problems with you."
"That's enough!" Dumbledore snapped, too tired and worn down to really raise the effort to shout. "He's right, Severus."
"But Headmaster-!" Snape protested, which further cemented the view most of the teachers had of him, of a grown man who behaved in a childish manner.
But Dumbledore was no longer tolerant of Snape's attitude.
The plan he had for Charlotte had changed - granted, he still needed to figure out the finer points of it, but it had changed. For it to work, everyone in the school had to be repentant. Everyone. He was not going to make an exception for Severus, and truthfully although it would shift opinions with the other Death Eaters, Dumbledore could find ways around that.
"No, this grudge has gone on long enough. It's time for you to grow up, and act like a man for a change! Wait after this meeting, and I will make it very clear of what your place is!" Dumbledore growled out, sending chills down the backs of the teachers. All except two.
"This should not have happened in the first place, Albus!" Minerva said strongly, tears cascading down her cheeks as the memory of how the spell had slashed Charlotte's eye returned to her mind and kept replaying, each scream from the girl a knife to her heart.
"I know, Minerva," Dumbledore replied.
"Do you?" Flitwick's voice was low, but the challenge was clear. "How many, Albus? How many times is this going to happen before you get the hint? This was unnecessary. That girl is a victim, an orphan who has suffered so much. The only reason you manipulated her is because you're interested in dealing with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, but you're going about it all wrong."
"That's not all," Minerva added, glaring at Pomona and Severus, who were the worst culprits in this mess, although they all had culpability. "You have spent years telling us to not punish the students when they cross the line. It's time for that to change, otherwise, our students will think they can get away with murder. This incident is only the start. First, it was eyes, next it could be killing curses!"
Dumbledore stiffened at the words of his deputy and the charms master. This was approaching territory he did not like on principle, but he relaxed quickly. He did not like the idea of punishing students. In his mind, the students needed to be shown they should be forgiving, but it was becoming very clear to him he had made a mistake in using these methods to pass that lesson along.
Dumbledore mentally sighed. He would need to think on this mess and come up with an adequate plan to ensure it worked out in the long run. "Arguing is not going to help. The past is past, and we cannot change it," he said as humbly as he could. "The best we can do now is find Charlotte, get her to Poppy, where she can have her eye replaced, and then we will work with her to get her through the tournament."
He had not expected this twist, although he had planned on having the girl trained if she had needed it for the tournament.
"In the meantime…I want all of you to return to your Houses. Tell them what has transpired, and also make it clear she is not to be bullied anymore. It might be too late, but we can try to mitigate the worst of the outcome now."
XXX
Cedric was torn between demolishing Hufflepuff house completely, or going after Susan herself for taking things this far. The girl had been forced to heal rapidly, and then she was taken to the Great Hall where her wand was snapped. Personally, Cedric thought the girl deserved everything she got, although no-one in their right minds would want to be anywhere near Amelia Bones when she heard the news.
He still couldn't believe Susan had taken it upon herself to act like a crazed vigilante, and go after Charlotte, but Cedric felt guilty because the only reason the younger girl had done it was because she had seen him and Charlotte together. It was his own fault for this mess! He needed to find Charlotte, apologise to her again, although he was going to leave out Hufflepuff completely. He didn't care about his House right now, not after the way Professor Sprout had come to the common room, and told them all what had happened, sounding guilty herself.
What Cedric really hated the most, was that the image he had of Hogwarts was changed irrevocably. For the first time, he could see for himself the flaws in the system. The teachers never truly punished anyone. They never forced the students to accept the responsibility of their actions, and they taught the wrong lessons over and over again.
Susan's expulsion had been a shock, but truthfully, if Dumbledore had any common sense, an expulsion a year would have driven home to the others of the dangers of crossing the line.
But what really upset Cedric was that the wool had been pulled over his eyes when he thought of the Houses. They were so stereotyped it wasn't funny, and they enjoyed their rivalries to the point where the students in each house were at war with each other.
All of them, including Hufflepuff, was nothing like the vision of their founders.
Cedric grimaced as he thought about the way Dumbledore had spoken about the incident. The Headmaster had been there the night Charlotte's name was drawn out of the goblet, yet he had done nothing.
It was….the sheer hypocrisy which had pissed him off. It was clear Dumbledore either didn't care about Charlotte, or the talk of him living in a different world was true. He didn't care which.
Cedric had become so frustrated he had projected the memory of his conversation with Charlotte, in front of everyone in the Great Hall. He had become so sick of what had happened, sick of how everyone was keeping him away from her while shamelessly tormenting her, and even going as far as to injure her and kill her cat simply because they thought they had the right, and he realised that ever since he and Charlotte had spoken together, it had been the rumbling cause which had culminated in an avalanche.
"Charlotte isn't a hero; she's a victim. We've placed her on a pedestal, expecting her to be a light witch who will do anything for us for nothing, and take everything we give her because she's a hero!"
That was what he had said to the hall, and he had quickly left. He was sickened by the school, and he didn't care what they thought about him in turn.
He went to the Hospital wing, hoping to find Charlotte there to have Poppy check on her eye, but when he arrived he was disappointed. The white-washed walls were clean, and Poppy was just sitting on one of the beds, looking thoughtfully at the wall. The moment she noticed him, she stood up.
"Hello, Mr Diggory," she greeted. "Is everything alright?"
Cedric smiled at the elder woman. "Yeah, I'm okay. I was just wondering if Charlotte were here, I feel I should apologise for getting her into this mess."
At the mention of Charlotte's name, Poppy deflated.
"Oh, I'm sorry-," Cedric apologised quickly when he saw the emotions on her face, but she waved him off. "It's alright, Cedric, really," she tried to say, but the tears appearing in her eyes made it clear it wasn't. She let out a sobbing breath. "No, she hasn't been in here, and truthfully, I doubt she'd come back. And I don't blame her. What was Albus thinking?" she added.
"The Headmaster?" Cedric frowned, wondering what the old wizard had to do with this although he wondered if the man was either whacked in the head, or he was just an uncaring bastard who didn't deserve to be here. "What does he have to do with this?"
Poppy wouldn't normally say anything, but she had lost virtually all respect for the old man. She flicked her wand and sat Cedric down. The Head boy had no idea that in a few minutes, all the respect he himself had for the elderly wizard would evaporate.
XXX
Amelia glared at her niece. Susan was sitting by herself on the opposite couch, looking forlorn, upset, and terrified. What made it worse was they weren't alone, spiritually at least; all of the portraits of the Bones family were looking on grimly, all of them alert. And all of them were furious.
Susan was terrified enough of her aunt, but the inclusion of her family's honoured ancestors was enough to make her physically sick.
Good, she should be, the older witch thought to herself, disgusted by what her niece had done.
It was not often Amelia found herself disappointed by anything her niece did, but she had not expected to receive a message from Hogwarts, telling her what Susan had done to Charlotte Potter. The moment she had received the news….Amelia had little idea what she was going to do. She had instantly gone to Hogwarts, and she had witnessed the nightmare every magical parent dreaded, witnessing the expulsion of a child of their family from Hogwarts. It would be a terrific blow to the prestige of the Bones family, and it would tarnish their reputation, but it would also mean the chances Susan would have for life, the options and opportunities would become nonexistent.
Amelia had no idea what she was going to do. She wouldn't abandon the girl, whom she had raised after her parents had been murdered by the Death Eaters, but she had no idea how she was going to cope.
"Do you want to explain to me why you did what you did, Susan?" she asked tightly as she valiantly tried to stop herself from exploding with anger.
It was a tone Susan had heard more than once, and it made her shiver. "When I saw….C-Charlotte and Cedric….I-I went mad, I was jealous. Cedric…he's always been so handsome, so kind…and he deserved to be the Tri-wizard champion for Hogwarts," Susan said, stammering with a croaky voice, although Amelia caught the slightly breathless way she uttered Cedric's name, indicating she had a crush on the boy, but she pushed that aside and studied Susan; ever since what happened, she hadn't really spoken clearly, and it had made her voice suffer as a result. "But when I saw them…I thought she was bewitching him."
"So you took the law into your own hands," Amelia whispered, her voice becoming tighter with each word, "and you threatened her, and you had your former wand jammed in her face?"
Susan winced, knowing her auntie well enough to know she had deliberately mentioned her old wand, which was now in pieces and in her room to remind her of what she had lost, out of spite. "Yes," she said in a small voice, tears falling down her cheeks.
"What possessed you to use that spell in the first place? And why did you have your wand aimed at Charlotte's face, anyway?" Amelia was close to her bursting point.
"I wanted to cause her pain. I wanted her to stay away from Cedric!" Susan was really crying now, but Amelia felt little sympathy for her niece. She was too angry to care.
"Oh, you did that, alright. You had your wand jammed in her eye!" Amelia began quietly, but she finished up by screaming at her niece.
Susan recoiled.
"What did you think was going to happen, you stupid stupid child? Did you not think about what you were doing?" Amelia went on, screeching in front of Susan, while their ancestors watched in shame and disgust at their recent heiress.
"I didn't know it was going to do that!" Susan sobbed.
"Well, it did. And congratulations, Susan, but this has had terrible effects on our family as well. You have broken the alliance between the Bones and the Potters."
The portraits stiffened, and some even muttered to themselves before Amelia glanced at them, knowing her own handling of the situation was going to make them judgemental of her, and that was not what she needed nor wanted. It was bad enough she was going to be scrutinised by the Ministry, especially since Fudge and Umbridge would love the chance to get her kicked out of her position as head of the DMLE.
All thanks to this stupid child!
Susan somehow managed to find the willpower to speak about that part. "But Potter has never shown an interest in the alliance, Auntie!" she protested, faltering when Amelia turned a dangerous expression onto her. "Well, she hasn't. She's always had Weasley and Granger keeping her away from us!"
Amelia knew the 'us' referred to Neville, Daphne, and Ernie. "Really, do go on? Please tell me how a Weasley is higher on the hierarchy than a Bones or even a Longbottom!"
Susan trembled when Amelia screamed the last few words of her question.
Amelia sneered with contempt. "You didn't even try to meet the girl on your own, did you? You just listened to what a Weasley and a muggle-born said, and you didn't take the initiative to speak to the girl personally, did you?" Amelia shook her head in disgust before she looked up again. "What else did you do during this….this disaster following the drawing of the champions, Susan? I want to know, did you hurt her? WELL?!"
Susan jumped. "I erm, I attacked Potter in the corridors. I tripped her up," she squeaked.
"Oh this is getting better and better by the minute," Amelia crowed viciously. "I don't suppose it ever occurred to you what you were doing?"
"It was only school stuff, Auntie," Susan protested, "surely Potter would forgive us after?"
The moment she said that Susan wished she could swallow it back. Unfortunately, no magic could do that.
"Are you serious?" Amelia whispered in disbelief. Surely Susan was not that stupid?
"It was just school stuff, surely she wouldn't have taken it personally? I mean, she did forgive us before-"
Amelia clenched her fists, making a mental note to interrogate Susan about what she meant by that later. "You know what, maybe your expulsion was a good thing because I can't imagine anyone so stupid being in the magical world!"
Susan trembled again.
Amelia stood up and sighed. "I don't know what to say," she said quietly, but Susan didn't move, knowing if she said anything wrong, her aunt would come down on her like a bludgeoning curse. "I don't think I've ever encountered stupidity like that ever, and I work for Cornelius Fudge!"
Susan looked down. The name of the current Minister was not a popular one in the manor. Thanks to his incompetence, many departments had suffered from budget cuts, all for insane reasons that made little sense.
Amelia went on. "The last of the Potter family…not only is she that, but she is also the Girl Who Lived. I don't even know how I am going to get the family through this disaster, all because of you and your inability to think."
"I…I think she knew about the alliance, but she didn't seem interested," Susan whispered fearfully, frightened of her aunties' reaction.
Amelia's eyes snapped over to her. "Well, it was nice of you to tell me that, Susan! It's also nice of you to destroy not just your future, but our family honour as well!"
She sighed and closed her eyes as she tried to work out what she was going to do. This latest tidbit added a new dimension to the problem. For a long time, the alliance had been trying to hold on, but without Charlotte Potter, who seemed to have no desire to formalise the latest generation of the alliance, it was hopeless.
But now it seemed like the girl had known, but why she hadn't done anything about it, Amelia had no idea.
All she knew was she would have to use every ounce of experience to get them through this.
And she wasn't sure if she could.
