Chapter Fourteen
Hard Lessons
"That evil old hag!" Ron hissed the following morning, when Alaw told him, Neville and Hermione what had happened during her detention with Umbridge.
The four of them were standing under a balcony in the corner of the Transfiguarion courtyard whilst mild drizzle dripped down on them. Ron was shaking his head, swearing under his breath and Hermione looked utterly appalled.
"You have to report her!" she cried. "You have to go to Dumbledore right away! She can't do this!"
Alaw looked out into the rain and watched a couple of people sprint across the courtyard, their cloaks pulled up over their heads.
"Snape said he'd speak to Dumbledore for me," she said. "And I'm going to leave it at that."
Hermione made a noise of protest and Neville said,
"Bloody hell Al, the woman tried to torture you! With dark magic, we have to do something."
"And I will, but not right now and not directly. Don't you get it? Nothing I say will make a jot of difference, no one will believe me. We have to be clever about this, that's what Snape said."
Ron finally found his voice again.
"You're taking Snape's advice?" he asked, disgusted.
"Yes I am, he knows what he's talking about," said Alaw, firmly. "Don't worry, I'll get Umbridge back just as surely as I'll get Theodore and his gang of baby Death Eaters. The best thing we can do now is concentrate of setting up the Flames. Speaking of which, where are we on finding somewhere as a headquarters?"
The other three looked at each other and Hermione sighed,
"We haven't found anywhere so far. That mirror Sirius told us about has been caved in since his day so that's no good to us. The problem is, we just can't think of anywhere Dumbledore wouldn't know about."
Alaw pursed her lips and then glanced down at her watch.
"Come on, we've got Charms now. We'll keep trying to find somewhere, I've got loads of ideas on how to bring Voldemort down a peg or two."
Though they clearly weren't happy about it, Alaw's friends did not try and persuade her to report Umbridge again. For the rest of the week they kept their heads down and tried not to draw the attention of the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, and Umbridge, for her part, didn't bother any of them either. She smirked at Alaw whenever they passed in the corridors but otherwise made no comment on the detention, nor did she try and force Alaw to attend any more. It was as if nothing had happened, just as Snape had predicted. Alaw wondered if Snape had indeed spoken to Dumbledore about the blood quill. The only time she saw the headmaster was at meal times but he never once glanced her way. Though to be fair, Alaw always went to the Great Hall under the cloak so there was no way for Dumbledore to know she was there anyway.
She had plenty to occupy herself in the meantime without worrying about Dumbledore or Umbridge. Their lessons this year were a lot more demanding than they were used to and Professor Flitwick caused a stir in his first class when he announced they would be studying healing magic that year.
"Now, this requires a little discomfort on your parts I'm afraid, so I hope none of you are squeamish," he warned, holding up a small sewing needle.
They had each been given an identical needle and Flitwick had them all prick their own thumbs so they could practice a simple spell to seal lesions. There was quite a bit of wincing and cries of pain during this lesson and Flitwick walked among them to ensure that no mishaps occurred. Alaw glanced uneasily at Hermione before pressing the tip of her needle into her skin. She screwed up her eyes as she drew a dribble of blood. Then she gingerly pointed her wand at the tiny wound.
"Conprimo," she said.
Professor Flitwick had called it a simple charm, but there was nothing simple about casting it. Alaw was generally good at charms, it was her best subject, but she struggled with this more difficult branch of magic. Even Hermione was having difficulties, though things improved once the girls swallowed their pride and asked Professor Flitwick to demonstrate the charm for them again. Alaw had just managed the stem the bleeding, if not entirely close her cut, when across the room they heard,
"Well done Mr Malfoy, five points to Slytherin."
Alaw looked over and saw Professor Flitwick straighten up after examining Draco's now completely healed hand. Draco was looking a little smug and Alaw rolled her eyes before returning to her own work.
"Show off," she muttered.
By the end of the lesson she had managed to perform the spell and Flitwick made sure they were all cleaned up before letting them go.
"Now remember, I don't want any of you practising that spell alone," he said sharply. "The head boy and girl are going to organise some group study sessions so you can all have a chance and I'm counting on the Prefects to help them as much as possible."
He looked pointedly at Alaw and her fellow Prefects and Alaw had to repress a grimace. Of course, she would have Prefect duties this year on top of all her other work. What was worse, she'd be forced to spend at least some time with Draco, which scuppered her plans for pretending he no longer existed.
The problem was, she and Draco shared many of the same classes, Charms, History, Transfiguration and Defence Against the Dark Arts. Draco wasn't taking Ancient Runes though and it was a relief for Alaw to sit down and see that there were relatively few people proceeding with the N.E.W.T. Hermione wasn't with her for a change, as she had elected to focus on her Arithmancy instead, so Alaw, after making some quick risk assessments, chose to sit between Daphne and Millicent. The only other Slytherin present was Blaise, and she knew for a fact that he never spoke to Theodore if he could help it, though he was distantly cordial with Draco.
The other members of the class were Ravenclaws and they threw Alaw the suspicious looks she had come to expect from the general population of the school. However, none of them were likely to tell Theodore that she was talking to her fellow Slytherins. Professor Babbling began the lesson by handing each of them a plain, flat rock, and a small chisel.
"It's finally time to start work on wards," she told them, bouncing on the balls of her feet excitedly. She was a dotty older witch who had slightly mad eyes, but she was well liked among the students. "It's the most useful thing you'll learn in this class, and the skill you'll most likely use the most once you leave school. You've all learned how to protect your belongings with conventional magic, but wards stones are stronger and more durable in the long-run. Every spell cast with a wand alone fades, but a well laid ward stone will last far beyond the caster's lifetime, if properly maintained. Now then, if you could all gather up your things, we're going on a little trip."
The class glanced at each other, startled, but did as they were told. After collecting their belongings, they followed Professor Babbling out of the classroom and down to the Entrance Hall.
"We're heading out here," she said, indicating the front doors and there were more dubious looks shared.
"But it's raining," Blaise complained but Professor Babbling just threw open the doors and strode out into the downpour.
"Come on, a little rain never hurt anyone!" she called cheerily.
Grumbling, the class followed, drawing up their hoods and casting rain repelling charms.
"Where are we going?" Millicent asked as they slipped and slid their way across the muddy front lawn, struggling to keep up with the Professor's energetic strides.
"To the boundary, I'm going to show you where the ward stones around the castle are situated. Oh and that reminds me, no magic if you please. It'll interfere with the lesson."
They all groaned in unison as they lowered their wands and extinguished their Impervious Charms. They were heading towards the front gates, flanked by the winged boars, but instead of going through them and continuing on the path to Hogsmead, Professor Babbling took them left and they walked along the twenty foot high boundary wall.
"Parts of the wall date back to the Founders time," Professor Babbling explained, now feeling her way along the stones. "One of the only parts of the castle that still does. I'd like you all to reach out and touch the wall, and see if you can feel the magic woven into it."
They did as they were told but all Alaw could feel to begin with was wet rock beneath her fingers. They all stood silent and still, the rain dribbling down their backs, trying to detect the traces of magic Professor Babbling had described. Alaw was sure she wasn't the only one who felt foolish.
"It tingles," said Blaise after they all been quiet for a long while.
"Exactly right," said Professor Babbling approvingly. "You could always cast a detect magic spell of course, but I think all witches and wizards should learn to sense charms with their bare skin alone."
Alaw pressed her hand more firmly to the stone but still couldn't feel anything. A quick glance at Daphne and Millicent confirmed that they hadn't either.
"It takes quite a bit of practice," Babbling conceded. "But some wizards learn to tell all sorts of things from touch alone, like how old a spell it, how powerful the caster was, and even the type of spell. But that isn't what we're learning today, today I wanted to show you this. Come on chaps."
Babbling continued on their way and the class followed wearily. None of them were wearing appropriate shoes for sloshing through the mud and Millicent suddenly slipped. Alaw and Daphne, who were closest to her, grabbed an arm each to save her from a nasty fall.
"Thanks," Millicent muttered, avoiding Alaw's gaze and shaking her off rather quickly. Alaw glanced at Blaise but he merely smirked and looked away.
About five minutes after this, when they were approaching the place where the wall crumbled away and the Forbidden Forest began, Alaw finally felt something. It began as a tingling sensation in the tips of her fingers, and grew to be more like pins and needles. Soon, it felt like her whole body was throbbing, like she was in a club and heavy base music was playing, except the only sounds she could hear were the pattering of the rain and the wind in the trees.
"What the hell is that?" she asked, rubbing her chest at the strange sensation. It didn't hurt, not like it did when Voldemort was nearby, but it was bizarre.
"That, ladies and gentlemen, is a ward stone," said Professor Babbling, stopping and turning to face her gaggle of students. "Right here, almost below your feet. It, and it's six sisters, were buried here by the Founders themselves. Each new Headmaster or Headmistress must visit the stones and strengthen the spells woven into them. There's a legend that the stones are even older than that, that the Founders discovered a standing circle here and decided to repurpose the stones. But there's no evidence to support that. Many myths and legends spring up around places as old as Hogwarts."
They only stayed there to discuss the wards a little longer as the constant rhythmic thumping their chests was beginning to make the students feel nauseous. Professor Babbling explained that the wards around Hogwarts were exceptionally powerful, and that stones placed around normal wizarding dwellings, at the boundary, corner stones, mantle and door post, did not have such an effect. Unless they were meant to of course. Babbling told them all of an old aunt of hers who, after being jilted by a fainthearted wizard, had charmed all her ward stones to make any man who was not pure of heart violently sick if they came too close. No man ever came close to the house though so the family wondered how specific the 'pure of heart' part really was.
Alaw thought back to last June, and the last time she and Dumbledore had really spoken. It was just after Voldemort had returned and Alaw had expressed concern for her family's safety. It wouldn't have been difficult for Voldemort to send his Death Eaters to find her home address at the Ministry. So, Alaw and Dumbledore had travelled to Cefn-Y-Bedd and the headmaster had laid down some 'blood wards', as he called them. Four stones buried at the cardinal points, carved with runes and splashed with Alaw's blood. Only people who shared Alaw's blood would be able to enter the house. Dumbledore had also cast some mild Notice-Me-Not charms around the permimiter, so that only those who knew of the house's existence would be able to see it. Any casual observer would find their eyes sliding disinterestedly away.
Alaw was hoping to master warding runes quickly so she could add her own protections to Cefn-Y-Bedd, and to Emrys' territory out in the forest. It was powerful, useful magic to know. The small stones Babbling had given them were to be their projects for the term, though she promised them she had plenty to spare for when they all, inevitably, messed up the carvings and needed to start fresh.
With all the new information and projects they had been set, Alaw and her friends were quite exhausted by Friday, but they still had Care of Magical Creatures before they could relax for the weekend. It wasn't raining as they beat the familiar path down to Hagrid's Hut, but the ground was soggy and they took care not to slip on the grass. When they arrived at the hut they found Professor Grubbly-Plank waiting for them.
"Alright chaps, you all need to follow me, we're heading to the lake today," she said once the twenty or so students were gathered around her.
She set off at a brisk pace and Alaw took the opportunity to peer at who they were sharing this class with. It appeared that Theodore and Draco had dropped the subject, for which she was grateful, but Crabbe and Goyle were lumbering along in Grubbly-Plank's wake. They rounded the lake until they came to a jetty that stretched quite far over the water.
"Step carefully, I'd rather not have to fish anyone out today," said Grubbly-Plank, her boots thumping on the jetty as she walked purposefully to the very end.
It was only when they had caught up with her that Alaw realised there was someone waiting for them. A green skinned mermaid was leaning against the jetty, her long, powerful tail swished idly back at forth in the water behind her. Alaw had never met a mermaid before, and she had only ever seen pictures in her copy of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. The woman had long, green hair that resembled seaweed, and piercing yellow eyes that she turned on the students. She gave them all a dismissive nod and then said something to Grubble-Plank. Or at least, Alaw assumed she said something, though it sounded more like a high-pitched shriek than a language. Grubbly-Plank replied in the same fashion and then switched to English for the benefit of the students.
"This term we'll be studying aquatic creatures, and Barrairgid here has kindly agreed to help."
She nodded to the mermaid who promptly disappeared below the water's surface. She wasn't gone long though, and when she returned she was holding a rope woven from kelp, and something was moving deeper in the water. Grubbly-Plank waved her wand a bubble of water rose out of the lake beside the mermaid. Beneath the shimmering surface, the students saw a sickly green creature with short horns and several tentacles. A Grindylow. It swam around and around in it's bubble, baring it's teeth at the students and making strange little gurgling sounds. Many of the students sniggered.
"Now then, I hope you all know that this is a Grindelow, even if you've never seen one with your own eyes," Grubbly-Plank began. "This particular chappie belongs to Barrairgid's family. Merfolk are the only people to have tamed these little blighters, they are quite dangerous to wizards, witches and muggles alike. They have a nasty habit of snatching children who play at the water's edge. They prefer colder climates so Scotland suits them quite well, but does anyone know where the largest population in the UK is?"
Hermione put up her hand and Grubbly-Plank looked at her expectantly.
"Yorkshire, Professor, that's where the name comes from."
"Correct, take five points for Gryffindor."
Grubbly-Plank continued to tell them about the habits of Grindylows and Alaw tried to listen, but she was distracted by Crabbe and Goyle who was talking in low voices behind her and sniggering. Suspecting they were planning to push her into the lake, she moved subtly closer to Ron so she could grab him and save herself if need be.
"Wonder if Hagrid was planning to teach us this stuff," Ron mused quietly and Alaw shrugged.
"Probably. I wonder when he'll be back."
Behind them, Crabbe and Goyle sniggered louder than ever and Ron frowned over his shoulder at them.
"What?" he snapped and the pair grinned smugly.
"Nothing," Crabbe sneered. "Theodore said you lot wouldn't have a clue what's going on. He'll be happy to hear he was right."
Alaw prodded Ron in the back to make him turn away from the Slytherins but then Goyle hissed at them in a low voice,
"You really don't know do you? You haven't heard what's happened to that idiot mongrel?"
Alaw felt an unpleasant prickle down her spine and she turned to look at Goyle, in spite of herself.
"What do you mean?" she asked carefully. There was a spiteful look on his face.
"Been messing with things that are too big for him hasn't he?"
Alaw schooled her expression and instead studied Goyle's to see if he was lying.
"Are you paying attention back there?" Grubbly-Plank called and Alaw jumped, turning back to the Grindylow.
"Yes, sorry Professor."
She let Grubbly-Plank continue with her lecture for a minute or so before leaning towards Hermione and muttering,
"What do you reckon? Is he just bullshitting us?"
"Of course he is, it's Crabbe and Goyle! What do they know?" Hermione replied scathingly. She had a point, Crabbe and Goyle may have their Dark Marks, but they were very junior in Voldemort's operation and thicker than pea soup to boot. It was unlikely they knew anything important. But - Hagrid had been sent to negotiate with the giants, it wasn't impossible that Crabbe and Goyle had heard something about his fate via their fathers and uncles, something the Order may not know yet. Alaw resolved to ask Sirius about it the next time they Mirror-Skyped.
After such a busy and stressful week, it was a relief for Alaw to don the invisibility cloak and stroll across the lawn to the Forbidden Forest on Saturday morning. The bad weather had finally petered out and she picked her way through the trees with faint sunlight shining down on her. The forest was full of activity that morning, birds twittered in the branches and Alaw could hear frantic rustling in the undergrowth as her passage disturbed mice and rabbits.
Emrys was methodically cleaning his scales when she arrived at his den and he only grunted to acknowledge her, intent as he was on getting at a particularly tricky spot on his rump.
"Good morning to you too," Alaw snorted, taking off the cloak and putting it and her bag down on a nearby boulder. "I don't see you all week and that's all the greeting I get? I almost don't think you deserve this."
She tugged a whole chicken, covered in a cheque cloth, out of her bag and Emrys immediately perked up. Alaw threw it into the air and he caught it deftly in his powerful jaws. As Emrys began to chomp away at the meat, Alaw sat herself in her usual spot, on the lip of the cave with her legs dangling over the edge. She also brought a flask of orange juice and some sandwiches for herself and as she munched on this, she gazed out over the lake. She thought she could see a disturbance in the water in the distance, perhaps the Giant Squid out for a swim.
"You smell stressed," Emrys commented once he'd finished eating and was licking his claws clean. Alaw looked down at him in surprise.
"Do I?"
Emrys lifted his head and fixed with his yellow gaze.
"There's bad magic in your scales. I can smell it." He lifted himself onto his back legs and bumped his snout against her hand. "Here."
Alaw flexed her fingers. The rash left behind from her detention with Umbridge had faded away by now and the ointment Snape had given her had worked well to sooth the itching.
"Is it bad?" she asked grimly and Emrys gave a yip which Alaw understood to mean, 'no', but then he lifted his head and nudged her chest.
"Here too, very bad magic."
Alaw frowned and put a hand to her heart. It wasn't currently hurting, though it did twinge an awful lot at night, so much so that Alaw needed to take painkilling potions just to get some sleep. Even when she did manage to drift off, her dreams were filled with muffled voices and lights, and a long corridor ending in a locked door. She dreamed of that almost every night and she was sure it came from Voldemort's mind, not her own. What was so special about that damn corridor? Alaw sighed and scratched Emrys under his chin.
"Do you remember the man who captured me a few months ago? The man on the mountain? Well, when he's nearby, or when I dream about him, my chest hurts. I don't know why."
"We should go and kill him," said Emrys at once and Alaw smiled. Dragons were ever so straightforward. If one had an enemy, you burned him to a crisp, simple as that.
"I don't know where he is right now. And he's dangerous, I wouldn't stand a change. I'd be dead before I even got close."
Emrys sniffed discontentedly and hopped back down to the mouth of the cave. After curling up he lifted his head to keep talking.
"You smell stressed," he said again, sounding reproachful now, like a scolding mother. "When is your mate coming back? He could help."
Alaw had been about to take a bite of her sandwich but she lowered it to frowned down at Emrys.
"My mate?" she repeated flatly and Emrys blinked.
"The male with the yellow hair. He made you happy, he should come back."
A great lump developed in Alaw's throat which she did her best to swallow so she could answer normally.
"Draco - he - he wasn't my mate, and we're not friends anymore either. We can't be."
The dragon cocked his head to the side, rather like a bird.
"Why?" he asked, obviously very confused. "He wanted to mate with you, and you wanted him."
"Emrys!" Alaw cried and she felt her cheeks grown hot. It was ridiculous, a dragon should not have been able to make her blush. "Don't say things like that! That's not how it works for humans, it's more complicated that just liking each other. Draco and I can't even talk to each other anymore. He - well he'd be in danger if people saw us. Voldemort would hurt him, or even kill him!"
But Emrys clearly didn't understand became he snorted and scratched the ground in front of him irritably.
"Draco made you happy," he said stubbornly and Alaw's shoulders slumped.
There was no point trying to explain the complicated politics to Emrys. He was a very intelligent animal, but an animal all the same. This was all beyond him. Draco made her happy, that was all that mattered to him. Alaw looked back down at her lunch and took another bite, but she didn't enjoy it quite as much now. Draco had made her happy, and she missed their easy conversations, she missed the laughter, the sarcastic quips. She wanted desperately to help him escape the terrible situation he was in, but she knew in her heart he would never leave his mother in danger.
After finishing her food and brushing away the crumbs, and any lingering thoughts of Draco, Alaw hopped down from the ledge and landed, none-too-gracefully, in front of Emrys.
"Come on you, time to go hunting. I can't keep feeding you scraps from the Great Hall."
When Alaw returned to the castle the sky had begun to turn slightly pink and a chill wind made her draw the cloak more tightly around her shoulders. Their hunting trip hadn't exactly been successful. Though small for his species, Emrys was still a relatively big animal and needed to be eating a lot more than he currently was to stay healthy. They'd stalked a deer for an hour through the trees but it had spooked and Emrys hadn't been able to catch it. He contented himself with a few rabbits and a pigeon, but Alaw worried for him. Dragons were supposed to hunt from the air but Emrys was still a terrible flier and his didn't have any open spaces to practise in. The trees provided shelter, but also hindered his development. He needed to rolling mountain sides and rugged boulders of Snowdonia.
Alaw was surprised when she arrived in the Entrance Hall and found Ron, Hermione and Neville standing there, talking in low, excited voices. Alaw slipped into an alcove to doff the invisibility cloak and then approached her friends. Neville's eyes lit up when he caught sight of her.
"Al! Come here, we've got amazing news."
"What's up?" Alaw asked, surprised by his manner.
"We didn't know if we should come and get you - you told us not to hang around the nest too much -"
"Neville found a place to make out headquarters!" Hermione squeaked, unable to contain herself. "And it's brilliant! Up on the seventh floor."
"Shut the front door, are you serious?" Alaw gasped and all three of them nodded enthusiastically, grinning like idiots.
"And the best thing is, I don't think Dumbledore could possibly know about this place. Its - well - its kind of hard to explain - you'll have to see for yourself," said Ron.
All four of them set off at a trot up the grand staircase, though some of their energy had left them by the time they hauled themselves up seven flights of stairs. Panting, they turned onto the left-hand corridor and Neville threw out an arm once they were halfway down.
"Here, it's right here."
"Where?" Alaw asked, looking around. All she could see was a mouldy old tapestry depicting a wizard and a troop of trolls in what appeared to be ballet outfits. Neville turned to face the other three.
"You have to think really really hard about what we need. And I think it helps to pace up and down."
Alaw was confused, but did as Neville instructed. After all, there were stranger ways of getting about in the wizarding world. Silently, the four friends walked up and down the corridor, thinking with all their might about how they needed a secret place to meet. Alaw was just beginning to feel silly, when Neville stopped dead in his tracks and Alaw walked into him.
"There you go," he said proudly.
A plain, wooden door had appeared in the blank stretch of wall opposite the tapestry and Alaw gave a short laugh.
"I love magic," she said happily, reaching forward to open the door.
Inside she found a room which was exactly what she had been hoping for, and more. It was about the size of the potions lab, only with a higher ceiling, and with a wooden floor instead of stone. In the centre there was a long table with two dozen cushioned chairs set around it. Beyond this, against the far wall, was a set of wooden boards covered in strings and metal clips, obviously waiting to be filled with papers and photographs. At the sides of the room there were bookshelves, a couple of training dummies, and even a small potions table.
"This is amazing," Alaw breathed. "Oh, this is perfect! Ha! Well done old girl."
She said this last whilst patting the stone wall. She had never felt such affection for Hogwarts castle before, but the place really had pulled through for them this time. Then she turned to Neville.
"How did you find this place?"
Neville was beaming.
"I was just wondering around, trying to find an old classroom or something we might use, when the door just appeared! I guess the castle worked out that we needed to help."
Hermione had gone straight to the bookshelves to examine the tomes on offer and she clasped her hands together, turning back to the others.
"Alright, let's do this!" she said, her eyes glinting with new purpose. "We'll let the others know we've got a headquarters and schedule an official meeting for tomorrow!"
Alaw and the boys agreed and whilst they went about this new task, Alaw wandered over the table and put a hand on the back of one of the chairs. Their fight against Voldemort was beginning to feel a lot more real now.