Author's Note – Thank you for the kind review DCV2AVP, I was expecting to get to the Hearing in this chapter but other things got in the way, but it will definitely be in the next one.
Chapter Four
Preparations
When Alaw awoke the next morning she stared up at the dirty, damp stained ceiling of her bedroom with a feeling of dread. She shared the room with Hermione and Ginny but judging from their slow breathing, they were both still asleep. Five days, there were only five days until the hearing and she didn't have a clue what to do about it. She'd never been in trouble with the law before, she didn't know how to build a case, or who to turn to for advice. Everyone at dinner had been quite vague about it, as if they thought the hearing was just a formality and there was no real chance of her being expelled. Well, maybe that would be true if she was a Pureblood, but she wasn't, and the Ministry was desperate to get rid of her anyway on top of her unfortunate birth. Alaw rolled over and groped for her phone automatically to check her messages, but was disappointed to find it was dead.
Of course, it was a miracle it'd lasted this long. With a sigh she put the phone down and sat up, yawing silently then rubbing her eyes with the heel of her palms. She'd have to go out and find a café with charging ports, not a difficult task here in London. Alaw quietly picked her way around the room, getting dressed then shutting herself in the tiny bathroom to prepare for the day. The sink and toilet were made of chipped porcelain and the taps were flecked with green tarnishing. This entire house seemed to be on the verge of collapse and Alaw wondered why the Order had chosen to hunker down here and not somewhere – cleaner. It couldn't possibly be the home of one of its members, it didn't feel like it had been lived in for years, possibly decades.
The stairs creaked as she made her way down to the kitchen and the portraits that lined the walls snuffled in their sleep. Then Alaw came across something truly disturbing on the first floor landing that she hadn't noticed last night. A glass case, containing several shrunken heads. She'd seen heads before in museums but these had huge, bat-like ears and the proportions of the eyes, mouths and noses were all wrong. There wasn't a label to explain the gruesome display so Alaw just pulled a face at it before moving on.
Down in the kitchen there were several people already awake and eating breakfast. Sirius and Lupin were there, discussing something in low voices and stopping abruptly when Alaw came in. Mr Weasley looked like he was about to set off for work because he was finishing off his coffee and using his wand to fix his tie.
"See you all at dinner," he said, kissing Mrs Weasley on the cheek on his way out.
"What would you like for breakfast, dear?" Mrs Weasley asked Alaw who contemplated the little knot of anxiety in her stomach.
"I'll just have some toast, thanks," she decided, sitting down beside Sirius and reaching for the rack in the middle for the table.
"Alright, if you're sure dear, but you might want to eat something more substantial because we've got a busy day ahead of us."
Alaw frowned as she spread butter on the toast and poured herself a glass of water, ignoring the vile pumpkin juice.
"Why, what are we doing?" she asked in an undertone and Sirius scowled.
"Molly thinks we should tackle the drawing room today," he growled. "Apparently the curtains are full of doxies."
"Why is this place so disgusting? Who's house is it anyway?" Alaw asked. So far, the kitchen seemed to be the only room she'd come across that wasn't falling to pieces. Sirius raised his eyebrows in surprise and gave her a rueful smile.
"It's mine," he said. "Well, actually it's the Black family home. Both my parents are dead so it's mine now. No one's lived here for years so I offered it to Dumbledore as headquarters. My father placed all sorts of protective enchantments on the place so it was ideal really. I was just glad I could do something useful."
Sirius' tone of voice was quite bitter and Alaw frowned at him. Perhaps she wasn't the only one pissed off at the headmaster at the moment, though she couldn't think what Sirius had to be grumpy about.
"I'm sorry," she said, "About your mum and dad. Did they get to visit you in Azkaban before they passed?"
To her surprise Sirius gave a bark of laughter.
"Ha! My parents hated me Al, and I hated them. They were Pureblood elitists of the worst kind, huge Voldemort supporters. Not actual Death Eaters but I know they contributed plenty of funds to the cause. Then I came along and proved to be the family disgrace from a young age. I ran away from home when I was sixteen."
"Oh," Alaw said, her cheeks turning slightly pink. "Sorry, I didn't realise. Where did you go?"
"James' place, we'd been friends since we were kids. All the Pureblood families like their sons and daughters to mingle before they get to Hogwarts, start making connections early. But the Potters were new money and didn't have any of that 'wizards first' mentality, I was always welcome in their house."
Alaw tried to picture her godfather as a teenager, wild and rebellious, and she kept coming up with a mental image of him in ripped jeans and a leather jacket, channelling the punk rock vibe. As she sniggered Sirius cocked his head.
"What's so funny?" he asked and Alaw grinned.
"Nothing, just reminds me of a mate of mine in Slytherin. Cameron Boyle, first time I met him I thought he was a muggleborn cause he had an ACDC tattoo, then the next year he got an earring and a lip stud. He did it to freak his dad out."
Sirius smiled as he raised his mug to his lips.
"Good for him," he said firmly and Lupin nodded in agreement.
Three quarters of an hour later when everyone had finally stirred from their beds and had some breakfast, Mrs Weasley took them all up to the drawing room. Lupin managed to get out of it by saying he had important business to attend to and Sirius gave him a scathing look as he disappeared out the door. Like the rest of the house, the drawing room had obviously once been grand, but had now fallen into decay. It was a long room with a dusty, faded carpet and the walls were a dark colour, covered in mildew. When Alaw looked closer, she saw that they were covered in silk wallpaper. At the far end was a large window covered by the doxy infested curtains.
"Right, everyone cover up, I don't want any of you getting bitten," Mrs Weasley instructed. "Then you each need to take a spray and start squirting on my count. It'll knock the doxies out, and you can put them in this bucket."
Alaw gave her godfather a reluctant look as she pulled on a pair of rubber gloves and wrapped a scarf around the lower half of her face. When there was no inch of flesh exposed, she picked up one of the sprays, which had wide nozzles, and pointed it like a gun at the curtains.
"Everyone ready? Three, two, one, spray!" Mrs Weasley cried.
Alaw squirted the curtains with harsh smelling liquid and at once half a dozen doxies flew out, buzzing like angry wasps. They'd handled doxies in Care of Magical Creatures but all Alaw could remember about that lesson was Pansy Parkinson getting bitten and having to go the hospital wing with an arm swollen to twice it's normal size. Alaw panicked as a dozy came zooming towards her so she instinctively walloped the creature with her spray. It fell to the ground in a daze and she quickly squirted it until it went still.
"Horrible things," Hermione said with a shudder, tossing a doxy into the bucket where it thudded heavily.
They did battle with the doxies for most of the morning as they had a habit of pretending to be stunned and then trying to bite Alaw as she bent to pick them up. Fred and George weren't being much help either since they were trying to hide some of the clobbered doxies in their pockets behind their mother's back. When Alaw raised an eyebrow at them, George lent in.
"We're developing a new line of products," he muttered in an undertone. "Doxy venom's dead useful but almost impossible to get hold of."
Sirius was also being next to useless as he obviously had no real interest in fighting the doxies and after a while he wandered off downstairs. Around noon, Mrs Weasley called for a halt and they all stood there gazing at the now limp curtains. The air absolutely stank from the fumes of the spray and Alaw felt like it would probably cling to their clothes and hair for several days.
"Well that's much better," panted Mrs Weasley, stripping off her gloves and scarf. "We'll have lunch now, and then afterwards we can start clearing out those cabinets in the corner."
At that moment, the doorbell rang downstairs and Alaw jumped out of her skin as the most horrible shrieking rang through the house.
"What the hell is that?!" she asked in shock.
"Sirius' mum," said Ginny grimly. "Her portrait's behind those curtains in the hall, it freaks out the moment anyone makes any noise."
The voice was now shrieking the most horrible slurs that floated up the stairs and through the half open doors of the drawing room.
"Mudbloods! Mudbloods and filth my house! Get out you dirt veined scum!"
"Charming," Alaw snorted.
"How many times have I told them not to ring the bell?!" Mrs Weasley cried despairingly. "You lot, stay in here, I'll have sandwiches sent up in a minute."
She hurried over to the doors and disappeared, closing them behind them and stifling the screaming. At once, the young ones dashed to the window and peered down at the street below. They could see a mop of ginger hair and a tottering pile of cauldrons.
"Mundungus," Fred snorted. "Of course, nothing important then. Mum's going to absolutely kill him if those cauldrons are nicked."
They kept craning their necks to see if there was anyone else down on the street, but Mundungus appeared to be alone. They could hear muffled shouting downstairs as people attempted to quieten then portrait, and after a few moments, silence fell. Down below, the front door opened and Mundungus staggered over the threshold with his load and there was nothing else to see.
"Don't bother, he's only come to stash some stolen goods I'll bet," said Sirius' voice and they all whipped around to find that he had re-entered the room. He was looking at them all with an amused expression.
"I thought it might be Dumbledore," sighed Alaw, sliding off the window seat and wandering over to the cabinets they would soon be clearing. "I was hoping he'd drop by and give me some advice about this hearing."
"I'm sure he will," said Hermione, who also came to look at the cabinets. "Sirius, do you know what's in these?"
"No idea, something foul no doubt," Sirius sneered, giving the cabinets, and the whole room in fact, a look of dislike.
Alaw's gaze travelled away from the trinkets on display to the wall next to it, and lingered there. A large, faded tapestry was hanging there, depicting an intricately woven family tree. At the top was a motto, Toujours Pur.
"Always pure?" she said aloud, her nose wrinkling slightly in disgust.
"Told you they were nutters," Sirius said, stretching carelessly. "Complete bollocks of course, every family has its fair share of black sheep. Look there," he pointed to a little black burn mark near the bottom of the tapestry. "That was me, until dear old mum blasted me off. That's what happens to anyone who dishonours the name of Black."
"Sirius, that's terrible!" Hermione cried.
Alaw studied the tapestry with great interest. There were several names she recognised on the lower branches, people whose children she attended Hogwarts with. Her eyes traced the line connecting Sirius' mother, Walburga, to Cygnus Black, and another burn mark. She pointed to it.
"What did they do?"
Sirius reluctantly drew near the tapestry and peered at it.
"Oh, that was my uncle Alphard, life-long bachelor, which is the code the old families use when someone turns out to be a queer."
Alaw and Hermione winced at the dated term and Alaw felt the need to jab her godfather sharply in the ribs with her elbow.
"Sirius, unless you're actually gay, don't say that word again. You sound just like my great-grandad," she said with a shudder. Sirius ignored her and continued.
"Anyway, Alphard was always a decent enough bloke and he gave me some cash when I ran away from this dump. Mum apparently never forgave him. Oh and look there, poor Andromeda's off too, my favourite cousin."
Alaw looked down and below name of Cygnus were three daughters, and the middle child had indeed been expunged.
"Andromeda married a muggle, Ted, nice guy, and had Tonks. So Tonks is actually my cousin."
But Alaw wasn't paying attention, she was gazing at the other daughters of Cygnus. Bellatrix, the eldest, and Narcissa, the youngest. Narcissa was connected to Lucius Malfoy by a golden thread to indicate a marriage, and below them was a single name. Alaw reached out and touched it lightly without fully realising what she was doing.
"Draco," she said softly, a tangible tone of regret in her voice.
Draco, her friend, someone she doubted she would ever have a civil conversation with again. Their secret friendship had been exhilarating whilst it lasted, but the other Slytherins had grown suspicious, as had his father, and after that the pair had hardly been able to look at each other in public, let alone talk. Now that Voldemort was back it would be suicidal for Draco to be anywhere near a mudblood like herself. Hermione sighed exasperatedly and gave Alaw a pat on the shoulder and Sirius glanced down at his goddaughter with a slight frown.
"You pals or something?" he asked jokingly and Alaw shrugged.
"He has excellent taste in books," was all she said, before moving away from the tapestry.
Mrs Weasley brought up a tray of food and a pitcher of iced pumpkin juice for them all to munch on before they started their assault on the room anew. A lot of the objects contained within the glass fronted cabinets were very reluctant to leave. Sirius sustained a bad bite from a silver snuffbox and he swore colourfully as he threw it into a bag to be binned. There was also a strange, silver instrument that had many legs that scuttled up Hermione's arm and tried to swipe at her eyes but Alaw thwacked it away with a heavy book, and it too went in the bag. Ron pulled out a beautiful little music box that played an eerie tune that had them all yawning and swaying, until Ginny had the presence of mind to slam it shut. Fred spent a good five minutes trying to prize open a pretty locket with a green enamel S on the front, but it was no good. It too went in the bag.
By the time the room was clear they were all exhausted and covered in little scratches and bruises. Mrs Weasley didn't make them feel any better by saying they'd be moving to the dining room the next day and Alaw tried her best to weasel out of it by saying she needed to start preparing her case for the hearing.
"Oh don't be silly dear, it's only a hearing. All you have to do is tell your side of the story and it'll all blow over. You don't need to present evidence or anything like that," Mrs Weasley said with a kind smile.
But this only served to annoy Alaw. No one seemed to be taking the issue seriously apart from herself and Hermione. Even the Weasleys and Neville were quite nonchalant about the whole affair, as if they thought being expelled for defending oneself was a ridiculous idea. Well it wasn't to Alaw, to her it sounded horribly possible. So, that evening after dinner, she and Hermione sat down at the kitchen table with a notebook and pen to start formulating a plan.
"I studied a bit of law during my A Levels," said Hermione, pen poised to jot down notes. "That was what I wanted to do before my Hogwarts letter came, but I'm afraid I'm no expert. I think it really is worth going into the Ministry to speak to a solicitor, if only to get some tips. Does the Ministry have something like citizens advice?"
She directed this last at Mr Weasley who was sitting a little way away, reading the Daily Prophet. He looked up in surprise.
"Oh, I don't know," he said slowly. "The Wizengamot has defence lawyers for hire of course, but they're very expensive. I don't think you can just go in and ask for help without paying some sort of fee. But you really are over thinking this girls."
Alaw and Hermione frowned at him before going back to their notepad.
"Ok, first thing we need to do is research how to put together a defence, it can't be too different from how muggle courts work," said Alaw and Hermione dutifully jotted it down. "And, I think I should write to that Auror who took our statements in France. He can confirm my side of the story and the Ministry will have a harder time calling him a liar."
Mr Weasley just shook his head in bemusement as the girls got started on their letter to Captain Chevalier, a lengthy process that involved a lot of crossings out and urgent whispers. Once Alaw was happy with the wording she addressed the envelope in her neatest handwriting and entrusted it to Mr Weasley, who solemnly vowed to post it the next morning. Before they all went to bed, Alaw waylaid Ron's mother.
"Mrs Weasley, I know you said you needed help in the dining room tomorrow, but we really really need to work on this. You'll have to excuse Hermione and me."
Mrs Weasley seemed about to reassure her with empty words again but perhaps the determined expression on Alaw's face dissuaded her, and she merely nodded with a sigh.
O
Besides her wand, the only item Alaw never went anywhere without was her invisibility cloak. It had been a gift from Lupin in her first year, his way of helping her avoid the attention of Theodore Knott's gang. Since then it had proved invaluable and Alaw didn't know what she would do without it. She certainly wouldn't have been able to sneak out of Grimmauld Place. Whilst most of the house's inhabitants thought she and Hermione were closeted in their room, in reality they were slipping out of the front door.
"Right, where did you say this place was?" Alaw asked once they had reached the end of the street and felt it was safe enough to take off the cloak.
"Camden Town, that's what it said on the website," said Hermione, peering around for a sign pointing them in the direction of the train station.
It was only a short journey to Camden, and then a further ten minute walk to their destination. They almost walked past the café because there was nothing particularly wizarding in its appearance, but then, that was the whole point. Tucked away between the other shops on the street, there was nothing to make it stand out other than its name, The Mended Cauldron. Alaw and Hermione walked over the threshold to find a cozy room filled with modern décor and the smell of coffee. The walls were covered in posters from sci-fi and fantasy franchises and there was a sign behind the counter which read,
No Magic is permitted on these premises (no seriously, it messes with the Wi-Fi).
Alaw snorted just as a young woman with close cropped, purple hair and multiple nose and ear piercings came in from the kitchen.
"Can I help you girls?" she asked and Hermione said,
"Um, yes, we heard about this place on Mugglenet?"
The girl smiled and put down the glass she was cleaning.
"Every muggleborn eventually wings their way here. I'm Jenny, pleased to meet you." She extended her hand across the counter and shook each of theirs warmly. "Right, house rules, no magic, we're completely off the Ministry grid here and I don't want them knocking on my door. And there's nothing stopping muggles wandering in either so, you know, keep it discreet. We've got a few bunk beds upstairs if you're looking for somewhere to stay, or you can just chill down here and use the internet."
"That all we need for today, thanks," said Alaw, glancing up at the menu above the counter. "Can we just have some smoothies?"
"Of course, you won't find a Pumpkin anywhere in the building. Oh, the Wi-Fi password's here."
Jenny tapped a small board propped up against a tray of cakes before turning to attend to their drinks. Whilst Hermione fished out some money to pay her, Alaw went to sit down at a table by the window. Each chair had a charging port beneath it and Alaw leant down to plug in her phone and her laptop. Once it had powered up she typed in the password – Alohomora – she was able to get online. But after about a minute she realised she'd been staring blankly at the search bar without typing a single word. Hermione came over with the drinks and sat down opposite her.
"Al, what's wrong?" she asked in concern.
"What'll I do if I actually do get expelled?" Alaw asked quietly. It was a thought she'd been trying to repress for the past few days but it seemed to have hit her in that moment out of the blue. "If they snap my wand and send me home, what'll I do? How do I explain it to mum and dad? I can't go back to Beddgelert, not after Hogwarts! I can't go back to just being a muggle when I know there's magic out there!"
Hermione reached across the table and squeezed Alaw's hand tightly.
"It won't come to that," she said firmly. "Dumbledore will never let you be expelled, and he'll never let them take your wand. And even if you do get expelled, the Order will protect you, they won't let Voldemort near you."
Alaw suddenly got a mental image of herself cooped up in Grimmauld Place forever with Sirius, never allowed to leave the house, but never allowed to join the Order either. It was a miserable thought. She shook herself before taking a fortifying gulp of her smoothie and concentrating once again on her computer screen.
"Ok, let's get started."
O
Alaw checked her watch for the tenth time in as many minutes and sighed irritably. She was sitting halfway up the stairs in Grimmauld Place, facing the front door and its many locks and bolts. She'd been positioned here for a good three hours because she had a good view of the kitchen door, and there were a series of objects on the step next to her. A book, Mr Weasley's Rubik's Cube and her phone. She'd tried to distract herself with each in turn but none of them had worked. Surely the meeting would be over soon. Dumbledore had waited until the night before the hearing to make an appearance and Alaw was determined to catch him before he left and get some last minute tips.
Even as she thought this, Alaw heard the faint scraping of chairs in the kitchen and she sat up a straight, her eyes fixed on the door. After a few moments the door opened and Professor Dumbledore came out. He didn't seem to see Alaw because he swept towards the front door, murmuring a spell under his breath to undo the chains.
"Professor!" Alaw said in a low voice, so as not to disturb the portrait of Sirius' mother. "Professor, can I speak to you?"
But Dumbledore did not turn towards her, he acted as if he hadn't heard her at all. Astonished and alarmed, Alaw hurried down the steps and tried to waylay the headmaster before he reached the front door.
"Professor please! Just five minutes, I really need some advice for tomorrow! Sir!" Alaw tried desperately but Dumbledore had already opened the door and vanished into the night.
She heard him disapparate with a faint pop and Alaw stood on the front step, her mouth slightly open and dread flooding through her. That was it then, Dumbledore had washed his hands of her. Sirius came out of the kitchen behind her.
"Alaw, don't stand with the door open like that!" he whispered, moving over to close it. "Where's Dumbledore?"
"He's gone," Alaw said blankly and Sirius frowned.
"But I thought he was going to stay a while and speak to you about the trial."
"He didn't even look at me."
Sirius opened his mouth to protest, but then closed it again and looked worriedly at the front door. Alaw walked towards the stairs and mounted them.
"I'm going to bed," she said tonelessly.
"But you haven't had any dinner yet," Sirius chided but Alaw ignored him and kept climbing. It seemed she had disappointed the headmaster too deeply for him to help her this time.