Chapter Twelve
Striking the Match
The Gryffindors weren't the only one's hostile towards Alaw, she soon discovered. Over the next few days, whispers followed her down the corridors and students and teachers alike stared shamelessly at her. She was no longer welcome at the Gryffindor table for meals, nor could she sit with the Slytherins, so Alaw would take a hamper down to the Great Hall to pack some food into before going up to her rooms or out into the grounds to eat.
Hermione and the boys were absolutely furious at their fellow Gryffindors for their treatment of Alaw and spent their evenings in her rooms rather than the tower. Alaw, for the most part, tried to ignore the snarky comments and focused on getting the Order of the Flames set up as a proper organisation. And so it was that she found herself sitting with Ron on Friday in the Hog's Head pub in Hogsmeade. She had never been overly fond of this establishment. Whereas the Three Broomsticks was warm and comforting, full of laughter and the smell of cooking, the Hogs Head had an atmosphere of danger.
The bar tender was a surly man with a wild beard who glared at his customers. He was currently shooting suspicious glances at Ron and Alaw as he wiped down the bar and Alaw took a sip of her gillywater to avoid his gaze.
"Wish we didn't have to meet in here," she muttered, her eyes shifting around the room.
There were a couple of men in the corner who kept looking at her and sniggering to each other. A witch who wore a long vale was sitting alone at a table with a glass of sherry in front of her and at the bar, a man with his head completely wrapped in bandages was ordering glass after glass of a smoking drink. Ron was keeping a close eye on the door.
"I know, but Hermione's right, there's way too many people in the Three Broomsticks who will blab to Dumbledore. Oh thank god they're here."
The door had just opened and a crowd of people came in, led by Neville and Hermione. After them came the Hufflepuff third years, Earnie, Hannah, Susan and Justine. Ginny was chatting animatedly to Luna Lovegood and Fred, George and Lee brought up the rear, their arms full of bulging paper bags.
"What are those?" Ron asked curiously as George dumped the bags on the bench beside him.
"Some materials for the joke shop, hey! Hands off, this isn't ready for the public yet!"
Ron snatched his hand away sharply as George swatted him away. Up at the bar, the rest of the group was ordering drinks and the bar keeper looked thoroughly irritated at having so many patrons to deal with. Alaw fiddled with her glass nervously and took a generous gulp.
"What's up?" Ron asked when he noticed her shifting in her seat.
"Just not sure what I'm going to say to all these people," she muttered. "I'm not so great with speeches. And I wish we could have invited Daphne and Tracy."
"But you said they wouldn't want to join!" Ron reminded her and Alaw sighed.
The students dragged extra chairs over to the table by the window and once they were all seated with their drinks before them, they looked expectantly at Alaw, who swallowed.
"Ok, uh, hi," she began lamely. "Thanks for coming. We know we can trust you guys, that's why we invited you here today. You guys believe that Voldemort is back in the country and gathering followers, and I think we should do something about it."
The listeners all exchanged glances and Ernie McMillan spoke up.
"We believe you Al, and we trust Dumbledore on this matter. But you have to understand, we can't just take your word on it. Dumbledore didn't give us any details at the end of last term, all he said was that You-Know-Who is back. He didn't say how, or why you were there, or if Sirius Black was involved. Before we start forming resistances, I think we all have a right to know those things."
Alaw had expected this and she had prepared herself accordingly. She couldn't tell them the whole truth, not without revealing the existence of Emrys or the fact that she had been having disturbing visions about Voldemort for the past two years. But an edited version of the truth was needed.
"You're right," she agreed. "You do deserve the whole story, and I'll tell you what I can and answer any questions you have. But, um, it's a lot more complicated than you think, so bear with me. There's loads of stuff you haven't been told, so let's go way back to first year and the Dementor. You were told that Quirell was behind that, but he wasn't, he was just a pawn. It was actually Voldemort."
There was the usual collective flinch as she said Voldemort's name but there were also looks of shock.
"How?" asked Susan, her eyes wide. "You-Know-Who died twenty years ago! My aunt told me, the Ministry found his body, a spell of his had backfired and killed him."
Alaw raised her eyebrows in mild surprise. So, that was the official story at the Ministry was it? Interesting. She wondered if Madam Bones knew the real reason Voldemort's spell had backfired that day. She filed that question away for later and addressed Susan's query.
"His body was destroyed by the backfiring spell," she confirmed. "But his spirit lived on. I don't know how, but his consciousness somehow survived and he escaped to Albania. Then, the summer before our first year, Quirell found him. Voldemort convinced Quirell to bring him back to Hogwarts and to release the Dementor in the castle. He was going to use the souls to restore his powers and he was using Quirell's body as a puppet. It was - horrible."
She shuddered at the memory of Voldemort's snake-like face sticking out of the back of Quirell's head. Susan smiled at Alaw.
"But you stopped him, you saved all those souls."
She glanced at Ernie who was also smiling at Alaw. He had been one of the Dementor's victims, perhaps it was no surprise that he was willing to believe Alaw now. Alaw felt her face grow a little hot and she looked down at her now empty glass.
"Uh, yeah," she said awkwardly. "Anyway, moving on to the events of last year. After Quirell died, Voldemort's ghost-thing booked it back to Albania and then Sirius Black escaped from Azkaban, blah-di-blah, you all know that bit. But what you don't know is why he broke out, or why he came all the way to Hogwarts and kept sneaking into the castle. Dumbledore and the Ministry think he was trying to kill me, specifically, because he had somehow gotten wind of the fact that I'd messed up his master's plans in first year."
Hermione looked sharply at Alaw but didn't interrupt her. Alaw knew why, she hadn't mentioned the fact that Voldemort had tried to kill her as a baby, and that that had been Sirius' supposed motive for trying to kill her. But Alaw wasn't prepared the bring that up today, or ever, if she could manage it. She didn't want people to know just how deep her connection to Voldemort ran. She continued her story.
"So, fast forward to last May. Hogwarts has won the Quidditch Cup, there's a big party in the village, and I, like a complete idiot, decide to sneak out of the castle to join in, even though Dumbledore had told me not to leave my room without a guard. That was my fault, I was a moron. So there I am in the village when Theodore Nott spots me and chases me down an alley. Whilst I'm hiding, this bloke I've never seen before pops out of no where, grabs me, and apparates me to the old graveyard on the mountain above the village."
She jerked her thumb over her shoulder in the general direction of said mountain.
"Once we're there he disarms me and ties me to a tree and then, then he does this ritual."
She really didn't want to describe her horrifying experience in too much detail but there wasn't really a way to avoid it. The others all cringed and made sounds of consternation as she recounted the gruesome process. Bone of the father, flesh of the servant, and blood of the enemy. Ernie, looking faintly sick, shook his head grimly.
"That's old magic, very old," he said. "Completely barbaric by today's standards and illegal under every civilized government. And he used your blood? A muggle-born?"
"Yeah, I know it seems like a weird choice but I guess he wanted to get back at me for the Dementor thing. So, after all that had been done, he, he came back. Voldemort, he had a new body and he rose out of that cauldron right in front of my eyes."
"What was he like?" Ginny asked in a quiet voice and Alaw paused.
"Like some sort of freak," she said, just as quietly. "I guess he looks mainly human, but he's a monster. Then he summoned the Death Eaters using his servant's Dark Mark. He touched it, and, I don't know, I guess it burns them and let's them know where he is, because they all apparated to the graveyard in about a minute."
"Who were they?" asked Lee and Alaw shrugged.
"They were wearing masks so I couldn't recognise any of them. There were about a dozen of them. Let me tell you, he was not happy with them. Thankfully, whilst he was distracted punishing them, someone else showed up to help me escape."
This was where her story differed greatly from the true version of events. She certainly wasn't going to tell them how Voldemort had forced her to duel him, and she wasn't going to complicate things further by bringing up the Druid protection. This next revelation on it's own was going to be tricky.
"You're not going to believe this, but the guy who helped me escape, was Sirius Black."
There were more cries of disbelief, but they were short lived as people lent in, eager for Alaw to finish her story. She had a feeling that every person in the bar was listening in on them.
"Black cut the ropes and we disapparated down to the Forbidden Forest. We went through the trees, found Dumbledore and told him what had happened. But then when Dumbledore tried to tell the stupid Ministry, they refused to believe him!"
"Hang on Al, back up, what was Sirius Black, Voldemort's supporter, doing saving you?" asked Justine.
"They were wrong about Black," Alaw explained. "The Ministry were wrong. It turns out he was never a Death Eater. He was innocent."
"But he killed Peter Pettigrew!" Susan protested.
"He tried to kill Pettigrew," Alaw corrected. "Because Pettigrew was the real traitor! Black found out and confronted him, but Pettigrew confunded Black and blew up the street to make it look like he'd been killed. So whilst Black was sent to Azkaban without a trial, Pettigrew escaped and has been in hiding all these years. He joined up with Voldemort last year and it was him who nabbed me in the village and did the whole ritual. He's the real bastard."
There was stunned silence following this statement and Alaw took the opportunity to get up and order a refill whilst they all digested that information. When she returned with a fresh drink they had all recovered somewhat.
"So, uh, what happened to Black? Where is he now?" asked Ernie and Alaw shrugged.
"No idea," she lied. "He took off after the Ministry turned out to be a colossal bunch of wankers."
Lee Jordan snorted but Susan frowned reproachfully, obviously thinking of her aunt. Alaw set her drink on the table and looked around at the gathered students.
"So, that's the truth. The Ministry is convinced that Dumbledore is trying to destabilise them and make himself Minister for Magic. Now to be honest, I don't give a flying toss what Dumbledore and the Ministry bitch over. I'm just interested in fighting Voldemort, this group we're forming has nothing to do with Dumbledore. In fact, he specifically told us to stay out of all this but he can go fuck himself as far as I'm concerned. So who wants to take down bad guys with us?"
Looks were exchanged around the table and Fred spoke up, grinning.
"You know we've been in from the start Al, the Weasleys stand with you."
"And the Hufflepuffs!" Hannah chimed in fiercely. "We're not going to sit around waiting for You-Know-Who to come to us!"
There were nods of agreement from her friends, though Ernie looked nervous and Susan conflicted. Alaw looked at Luna Lovegood who had so far not said a word for the entire meeting.
"Oh, I'm joining for sure," she said dreamily when all eyes turned to her. "The Ministry has been covering things up for decades. My father has been trying to expose them, but they always hush it up."
This peaked Alaw's interest but she noticed Hermione roll her eyes behind Luna's back. With the formalities out of the way, Alaw felt as if a great weight had been lifted off her shoulders, just as it had when Tracy and Daphne and voiced their support for her. Here were people who didn't think she was mad or lying, people who believed in her, and were willing to fight along side her.
"Right," she said, smiling for the first time since they all sat down. "So, now that we've all agreed to join this group, I guess we should lay out our objectives. Obviously, the main thing we need to do is convince as many people as possible of the truth."
"How are we going to do that?" Justine asked doubtfully. "If we start shooting our mouths off about Voldemort, the Ministry are going to come down on us like a ton of bricks!"
"Talking isn't illegal," said Hermione stoutly. "Not yet, anyway. Just telling people the truth by word of mouth won't get us into trouble. And Al and I already started reaching out to Muggle-borns over the summer using the internet."
Justine nodded, he of course had seen their efforts of Mugglenet, but the others looked mystified. Alaw quickly outlined what they'd been up to in the Mended Cauldron and how they already had a solid base of believers all over the country and abroad.
"Wow, you have been busy," said Susan, impressed. "You know, perhaps we should try talking to my aunt. Not everyone at the Ministry is as short sighted as Fudge and she might be interested in what you have to say."
"I was thinking the same thing, do you think you could write to her about it?" Alaw asked earnestly and Susan nodded. There were many other topics Alaw wished to cover but she wasn't going to discuss them in such a public place. This then naturally led to their next item.
"We'll need a proper meeting place," Alaw mused. "Not one of the common rooms, obviously, and my rooms are no good either."
"Library?" Lee suggested and Alaw bit her lip thoughtfully.
"Maybe," she said slowly.
If she was honest with herself, she didn't think the library was any more secure than her rooms. They needed somewhere secret, somewhere Dumbledore didn't know about, or else wouldn't have bugged. Her immediate thought was the Forbidden Forest, but whilst it was easy for her to sneak down there under the cloak, any more people would be sure to attract attention. Hagrid's hut was also out with this reason. No, it would have to be somewhere within the castle.
"I'll have a think and get back to you all about it," she said after a moment. "And - I guess that's all we can really talk about until we find a good meeting place then."
And so their little gathering concluded without much fanfare. The others left in their groups and Alaw drained her drink before depositing it at the bar and nodding to the innkeeper.
"Do you think that went ok?" she asked the others anxiously as they stepped out into bright sunlight. Hermione squeezed her shoulder.
"You did brilliantly. I honestly think we have a fighting chance now. I still can't understand why Dumbledore was so against us doing something like this in the first place. We're not doing anything illegal or dangerous, we're just trying to prepare people for what's coming. Imagine, if we didn't do this, all the Muggle-borns would be walking blindly into goodness knows what!"
Personally, Alaw felt that Dumbledore was more interested in fighting Voldemort head on than worrying about collateral damage. She held fast to her belief that he hadn't wanted people like her, people who questioned his orders, in his organisation. Perhaps it was for the best that she couldn't join the Order of the Phoenix, if she had, the Flames would never have been born.
The rest of the weekend passed without incident. The fine weather meant that Alaw spent most of her time down in the forest with Emrys who was quite giddy to have company again. He wanted to go flying but Alaw absolutely forbade it, except for a little gliding below the treeline. He kept trying to get her to hop on his back but Alaw refused point blank. Her one terrifying experience of dragon-riding had been enough to last a lifetime.
On Sunday evening, Alaw, Hermione, Neville and Ron were sitting in her living room playing cards, wondering aloud what their lessons would be like.
"I wonder what that Umbridge woman will get us to do," said Ron, shuffling his cards and frowning.
"Nothing radical I shouldn't think," Hermione sighed. "She'll probably stick rigidly to the curriculum.
"Shame, I always liked it when Lupin taught us new stuff," said Neville, taking a card from Ron's hand and rearranging his own before offering it to Alaw.
Before Alaw could take a card however, they all jumped out of their skin as they heard an faint, echoing voice call,
"Alaw Jones!"
Alaw looked around at the portrait of Phineas Nigellus but it was empty tonight. Then Hermione squeaked and pointed up at the mantelpiece. Alaw had propped the two-way mirror Sirius had given her against the chimney and now, Sirius' distorted face was peering down at them. Quick as a whip, Alaw leaped up from the carpet and ran to cover the Phineas Nigellus' painting with a throw. She'd hidden the picture from view before but every time she returned to her rooms she found that the throw had been neatly folded and placed back on the sofa.
"Sirius, Jesus Christ!" Alaw hissed, returning to the fireplace and picking up the mirror. "I didn't know you were going to call tonight!"
"I'm under express orders," said Sirius, grinning at her. Hermione arranged some books on the coffee table and Alaw stood the mirror up against them so they could all see her god father.
"Orders from who?" asked Ron and Sirius looked at them all sternly.
"Your mother. I was told by her to tell you that she forbids you from joining any secret organisations designed to fight Voldemort. She says you're bound to be expelled and your future will be ruined. She also advises the rest of you to drop the group before you get into trouble, but she does acknowledge that you are grown adults who can make your own decisions."
Alaw was furious.
"You told her!" she cried indignantly and Sirius looked affronted.
"Me?! I never breathed a word about the Flames. I'm on your side. It was Mundungus regaling the Order with tales of your exploits in the Hog's Head last night."
"Mundungus? How did he find out?" asked Hermione in confusion. "He wasn't in the pub that day."
"Oh yes he was, he was the witch under the vale. He's been tasked with keeping an eye on you lot whilst you're in the village, but he was banned from the Hog's Head twenty years ago so he had to improvise."
The youngsters groaned and Alaw, after cursing Mundungus colourfully under her breath in Welsh, cocked her head curiously.
"How did the Order react when they heard our plans?"
Sirius smiled.
"It ranged from annoyance, to amusement, to downright applause, but I won't tell you from who. Dumbledore was exasperated."
"My goal in life, to exasperate Albus Dumbledore," said Alaw happily and Sirius' smile turned to a frown.
"Yeah well, just don't push it alright?" he said. "Dumbledore's got enough on his plate without worrying about you lot too. Next time, make sure your meeting is actually private."
"Well, that's kind of a problem," said Ron. "We're having trouble thinking of anywhere secret. Al says it has to be in the castle so that no one get suspicious, but there isn't a single corner of this place that Dumbledore doesn't know like the back of his hand!"
"There was a pretty roomy secret passage behind a big mirror on the fourth floor when I was at school," said Sirius musingly. "Try checking it out to see if it's still there. But whatever you do, don't go drawing too much attention to yourself. Dumbledore will be the least of your worries if Umbridge catches you spreading propaganda against the Ministry."
"Do you know Umbridge?" asked Alaw eagerly.
She'd only caught a few glimpses of their new professor over the course of initiation week, at meals and occasionally in the corridors. The other teachers always looked like they were giving her a wide berth. Sirius' expression turned dark.
"No but Remus does, you should hear the way he talks about her. She's the reason he had to quit this year. She forced through a new law saying Werewolves can't work with under age witches and wizards. And since he's been outed to the world, he's been finding it hard to find a new job. He's been staying with me in the house a lot."
Neville and Hermione made scandalised noises and Ron swore. Alaw scowled.
"Great, can't wait to meet the bitch," she said darkly. "Anything else you want to tell us off for?"
"Nope, just remember, be careful. It's not just the Ministry, if you're tangling with the students who have joined Voldemort you could be in real danger. I find the young ones tend to be a lot more fanatical and unpredictable than their parents. They don't have Voldemort there to keep them in line, they'll act out on their own and you lot will be their targets."