Chapter 2
"The New Members of the Psycho Squad"
"Not to worry, Wormtail, we shall soon have the most powerful witch in history on our side. Once she becomes a Death Eater, nothing will be able to stop us. Not even Dumbledore or that wretched Potter boy," Voldemort said in a voice with a hissing quality.
The short, bald wizard before him looked shocked. "M-M-Mistress Serena is joining us? How did such a miracle occur?" he stammered.
Voldemort grinned his evil grin. "Lucius Malfoy has been observing the girl for months now and has seen her use the Dark Arts quite a bit. She caught him watching her the other day and approached him, saying that she wanted to join me. She has transferred to Hogwarts and will be doing my biding for me."
"Such as what, Master?" Wormtail questioned.
"Terrorizing Potter and the entire school, of course. She'll probably be able to sway quite a few students to our side with her good looks as well."
"When will she be joining us?"
"On Halloween. That is the day of one of the school's Hogsmeade trips. She will take a Portkey put out by another Death Eater, come here, and be initiated. With the Mistress by my side, the entire world shall succumb to our powers and we will rule over wizards and Muggles alike. If only we could persuade Potter to cross…alas, that will never happen," the Dark Lord said with a frown. "However, I will enjoy killing him once and for all."
Voldemort suddenly turned around and shouted "Crucio!" at an unsuspecting Death Eater and laughed manically. On the other side of the country, the boy named Harry Potter shot up in bed clutching his scar.
Harry immediately began to try and remember his dream.
"Voldemort…Wormtail…Halloween…Mistress Serena…Malfoy," he muttered to himself. The fifteen year old cursed when he couldn't remember the details of his dream.
Reaching for his glasses, Harry noticed Ron walk into the room, fully dressed and fresh from the shower. He glanced at his watch and his mouth dropped open in shock.
"Ron? You do realize that we have a good three and a half hours before class, right?" Harry asked, stunned that Ron was not still asleep.
"Yeah, what's your point?" his red headed friend replied, desperately trying to fix his hair.
Harry stared at Ron incredulously. "My point? My point is that you never wake up early, never! What are you up to?" he demanded.
Ron grinned and made his way to the door. "Nothing, Harry, nothing at all."
"Nothing my ass. You're going to see that Slytherin girl, aren't you?" Harry asked accusingly.
His best friend frowned at this. "Her name is Allie, Harry. And yes, I'm going to go talk to her. She's not happy about being in Slytherin, you know," Ron snapped and walked out of the room.
Harry sighed and flopped back onto his pillow. "I don't trust her," he whispered to thin air.
Whistling merrily, Ron made his way to the Slytherin common room with the help of the Marauders Map, which he had "borrowed" from Harry. He didn't really have much of a plan—he was just going to wait outside the room until Allie came out. Then they could talk. He couldn't believe that the sweet and funny girl he had ridden on the Hogwarts Express with had been sorted into Slytherin. The only thing that made him feel better about was the look on her face when the hat made its announcement. Allie had not looked happy at all.
Ron was shaken from his thoughts when the Slytherin portrait opened to reveal his dream girl. Before he could make his presence known, Allie began to walk down the hallway in the opposite direction—toward Snape's classroom. Ron hesitated for a moment, and then decided to follow.
Allie quickly made her way down the corridor to her friend's classroom and office. She reached out to open the door and jumped in surprise when Snape opened the door first. Snape clutched at his chest and glared at the girl.
"You scared me half to death!" he hissed.
"Sorry," Allie mumbled sheepishly.
Snape waved his hand dismissively. "Its okay. What did you need?"
The young girl spat out in one breath, "IwanttotellRon."
"Come again?" he asked.
Allie looked at the floor and replied, "I said that I want to tell Ron."
Ron raised an eyebrow at this, as did his professor.
"Tell Ron what?" Snape said slowly.
"The truth about who I am and why I'm here."
She glanced up and couldn't fight the giggle that escaped her at the look on his face. For once, Severus Snape was completely speechless.
"Say something!" Allie prompted after several minutes of silence.
Snape just stared at her. Finally, he hissed, "What do you want me to say? That you're mad? That you would be risking the boy's life? That you hardly know him? That it could ruin our plan? That it—"
Allie clamped a hand over Snape's mouth. "Enough! I get it, but I still want to tell him. We can trust him, Severus."
Her friend pulled her hand away from his mouth. "How do you know that? What makes you so sure that he'll keep it a secret?"
"I just know," she said with a soft smile. "When I first saw him at King's Cross, I felt this pull toward him and it just strengthened as I spent time with him on the Hogwarts Express. I've never opened up to anyone as quickly or as easily as I did with him. Sure, I've barely known him for a day, but I already feel things for him that I've never felt before. Its scary, but in a good way. If I want to have any chance of having a relationship with him, he has to know the truth. Otherwise, he'll never really be accepting me, just the person I appear to be."
When she finished her speech, Snape was a bit startled at the fiery passion burning in her eyes. He rolled his eyes and muttered, "Fine, do whatever you what. I'm warning you, though, if that boy screws up our plans, I'll kill him."
Allie's face lit up in a luminous smile. "Thanks, Severus. There's just one more thing I wanted to discuss with you."
Snape groaned. "What now? You're moving Potter into Slytherin, making me share a room with Black, what?"
"I was thinking more along the lines of you adopting Harry."
Snape blanched and looked like he couldn't decide whether to be angry or sick.
"Seriously, Severus, you know me better than that. It's nothing like that. I've just made a seating chart for class," she said with amusement in her eyes and handed him a piece of parchment.
Snape looked it over and raised an eyebrow. "This is an interesting arrangement. Care to explain it?"
"I was hoping you'd ask," Allie said with an evil grin. "Since there is an uneven number of students in our class, my table will have three at it. As you can see, Neville, Ron, and I will be taking the table at the back right hand corner of the room. This is for several reasons. The main reason is so that I can keep an eye on the entire classroom at all times—you know how paranoid I am. The second reason is that poor Longbottom is scared shitless of you, from what Ron's told me, and he will be as far away from you as possible at this table."
Snape scowled at her, but she continued.
"Also, I know you treat him horribly and this way I can make sure he passes. Ron will be sitting with me for obvious reasons. Now, I've placed Potter and Granger at the table in front of us so that Ron will be close to them and I can keep an eye on Potter. I also want to add that whenever Granger raises her hand and is the only one who knows the answer, you will call on her. I don't want anymore of this nonsense about never letting the poor girl answer. Let's see…oh, yes. I placed Malfoy and Goyle at the front left hand corner for two reasons. The first is so he is as far away from Longbottom, Potter, Granger, and Ron as I can get him without actually kicking his white haired ass out of the room. The other reason is that it's right in my line of fire and I can hex him easily. Everyone else was assigned seats at random since I only cared where these people were placed."
Her professor sighed and shook his head. "I can't believe you're in my house," he muttered. "Is there anything else you would like to torture me with or can I go eat breakfast now?"
Allie grinned. "No, that's all. Enjoy your meal, Severus!"
"Right," he said sarcastically and walked off toward the Great Hall.
Allie chuckled to herself and turned around, running straight into a confused, yet intrigued, Ron. The teenaged girl immediately went scarlet.
"Ron. Hey. Um, how much of my conversation with Snape did you hear?"
"Everything. I must say that I love your seating chart," Ron said, eyeing her warily.
Allie just stared at him, apparently at a loss for words.
"What did you want to tell me, Allie?" he asked gently.
"Can we talk about it in private?"
Ron nodded, took her hand, and led the way to the library. The two slipped past Madame Pince and sat down at the most secluded table in the room. Allie glanced around suspiciously and murmured, "Privatus."
"What does that do?"
"Makes whatever we say private and alerts us if anyone is trying to listen in."
"Very handy. So, what is this all about?" Ron questioned.
The normally calm girl began to fidget. "Okay…God, I don't even know where to begin," Allie admitted glumly.
Ron reached across the table and squeezed her hand. "Just start at the beginning."
Allie nodded and took a deep breath. "Have you ever heard of Mistress Serena?"
"Who hasn't? She's supposed to be the most powerful witch that's ever lived."
"Have you ever noticed that there are no pictures of her, that no one knows what she looks like, and that very few people have ever seen her?"
Ron nodded. "Yeah, it's always been a big controversy."
"Well, I know the reason why. Many people have met her or are even friends with her, yet they don't know who she is. You see, her first name isn't Serena—its Alexandra," Allie said, willing Ron to understand what she was saying.
His eyes widened and he stammered, "You mean that you—you're the Mistress?"
She nodded. "Yeah, I am."
"But you're a fully trained witch! Why are you here at Hogwarts?"
"I want to tell you, but first you must swear to me that you won't repeat a word of what I say. Not even to Harry or Hermione—especially not Harry. Swear to me, Ron."
Ron swallowed nervously. "Why do I get the feeling that this is going to royally complicate my life?"
"Because it is."
"I was afraid you were going to say that. Okay, I swear. I swear on my family's honor that I won't tell anyone what you tell me."
Allie nodded. "I'm joining up with Voldemort."
Ron gaped at her. "You're what?"
"Joining Voldemort. As of Halloween, I'm a Death Eater."
"Are you mad?"
"Quite possibly."
"Wh-why are you doing this?" Ron nearly shrieked.
"Because if I don't everything and everyone that I love will be destroyed!" Allie hissed.
That seemed to settle Ron down a bit. "What do you mean?"
Allie sighed and rubbed her temples. "As you're probably aware, Voldemort is steadily gaining power and followers. In his opinion, only Dumbledore, Harry, and I pose any threat to him. I have my spies and I discovered that he was planning to kill the three of us because he thought that none of us would join him and he had to be rid of us. Naturally, I freaked. I began plotting with Albus and Severus for a way to keep Voldemort from killing us. Our only solution was a dangerous one—I had to join Voldemort, lure him into a false sense of security in regards to me, and then kill him. After we worked out all of the details, I began to set the plan into motion by learning and performing the darkest of the Dark Arts in order to attract Voldemort's attention.
One day, I caught Lucius Malfoy spying on me while I tortured a huge bug with the Cruciatus curse. He commented on my skill and power, and I told him that I wanted to join him and his master. A week or so later, I received instructions from Voldemort that told me to enroll here so that I could 'wreak havoc on all of the Mudbloods and unworthy ones.' I told Dumbledore and Snape what I was to do and they had me come here in August to make sure I knew exactly what I was supposed to know as a fifth year. They didn't want me to slip up and do things that only seventh years or fully trained witches could do. To further help me, Dumbledore made sure that I would be placed into Slytherin."
"Huh?"
"The hat was told not to truly sort me and just place me in Slytherin. I actually belong in Gryffindor, but oh well."
Allie finally looked up and saw Ron's deathly pale face. "Are you okay? Look, I would understand it if you didn't want to talk to me—"
"No!" Ron exclaimed. "That's not want I want. Its just—"
Ron fainted.
"Ron!" the red headed witch screamed and dropped to her knees beside him.
She checked him over to make sure he wasn't injured, conjured up a stretcher, and took Ron to the hospital ward.
"Goodness! What happened?" Madame Pomfrey exclaimed when she caught sight of the unconscious boy.
Allie was at a loss. "I—er—kissed him and, uh, he fainted. I think it was his first kiss," she mumbled while fighting to keep a straight face.
Madame Pomfrey smiled. "It's about time something good happened to Mr. Weasley. The poor boy and his friends are always getting hurt and escaping death. You're going to be good for him, I can tell."
Allie forced a smile. 'Good for him my ass,' she thought guiltily. 'I'll probably be the death of him.'
A few minutes later, Madame Pomfrey roused Ron. The strikingly handsome boy sat up and muttered, "Where am I?"
"You're in the hospital ward, dear. I believe you gave Miss Wood quite a fright fainting like you did after you two kissed."
Allie groaned and buried her face in her hands in embarrassment while Ron looked at her quizzically.
"Right. Well, we just need to practice some more so I don't faint again," he said with a smirk.
Allie's face turned bright red and Madame Pomfrey just laughed and handed them each a slip of paper.
"Here are your schedules since you two weren't at breakfast to receive them. You'd better hurry since your first class is about to begin."
Both students said goodbye to the nurse and left the room. After a few minutes, Ron grabbed Allie's arm and turned her around to face him.
"You do realize that your plan is completely crazy, right?"
"Yes, I am well aware of that."
Ron nodded. "Good, I just wanted to be clear on that. So, when are you and I going to become Death Eaters? I forgot what day you said."
Allie stared him, utterly dumbfounded. "Come again?"
"I asked you when you and I were going to become the newest members of the psycho squad."
"You want to join with me?"
"Yes."
"Can you even perform Dark spells or curses?"
"No, but you can teach me."
Allie continued to stare. "Can you even say Voldemort's name?" she asked, piercing him with her gaze.
Ron flinched and hesitated before whispering, "Voldemort."
"Ron, are you sure about this? You do realize that you'll probably have to torture and kill people, and that you'll have to bear the Dark Mark, right?"
"I know that."
"Once you make this decision, there's no going back. Voldemort will kill you if you try to back out of it. You need to fully comprehend the danger and risk you'll be putting yourself in."
"I know the risk. You're not joining…Voldemort by yourself. I've made my decision," Ron said in a tone that Allie knew meant that she couldn't change his mind.
"Okay then. We'll definitely have to talk to Snape and Dumbledore about this."
"Speaking of Snape, we have his class first. We better go or we'll be really late. We can discuss this later."
Allie had no choice but to agree and the two took off for the dungeons. They walked in ten minutes late.
"Allie, Ron, so nice of you to join us," Snape commented dryly.
"Morning, Professor!" they cheerily said in unison.
Snape just rolled his eyes and the two took their seats next to Neville. Allie and Ron were totally oblivious to the disbelieving looks everyone was sending their way. No one could believe that Snape hadn't killed him or her for walking into his class ten minutes late on the first day. Harry and Hermione were especially shocked.
"Where have you two been?" Hermione hissed.
Ron shrugged. "We just lost track of time."
"How did you lose track of time that you missed breakfast and the first ten minutes of Potions?" Harry whispered.
Ron shrugged again. "Making out tends to have that effect," he replied with a mischievous grin.
Allie put her head down of the table and fought the urge to laugh while Harry, Hermione, and Neville stared at them in shock. Yes, she and Ron were going to get along just great.
"The New Members of the Psycho Squad"
"Not to worry, Wormtail, we shall soon have the most powerful witch in history on our side. Once she becomes a Death Eater, nothing will be able to stop us. Not even Dumbledore or that wretched Potter boy," Voldemort said in a voice with a hissing quality.
The short, bald wizard before him looked shocked. "M-M-Mistress Serena is joining us? How did such a miracle occur?" he stammered.
Voldemort grinned his evil grin. "Lucius Malfoy has been observing the girl for months now and has seen her use the Dark Arts quite a bit. She caught him watching her the other day and approached him, saying that she wanted to join me. She has transferred to Hogwarts and will be doing my biding for me."
"Such as what, Master?" Wormtail questioned.
"Terrorizing Potter and the entire school, of course. She'll probably be able to sway quite a few students to our side with her good looks as well."
"When will she be joining us?"
"On Halloween. That is the day of one of the school's Hogsmeade trips. She will take a Portkey put out by another Death Eater, come here, and be initiated. With the Mistress by my side, the entire world shall succumb to our powers and we will rule over wizards and Muggles alike. If only we could persuade Potter to cross…alas, that will never happen," the Dark Lord said with a frown. "However, I will enjoy killing him once and for all."
Voldemort suddenly turned around and shouted "Crucio!" at an unsuspecting Death Eater and laughed manically. On the other side of the country, the boy named Harry Potter shot up in bed clutching his scar.
Harry immediately began to try and remember his dream.
"Voldemort…Wormtail…Halloween…Mistress Serena…Malfoy," he muttered to himself. The fifteen year old cursed when he couldn't remember the details of his dream.
Reaching for his glasses, Harry noticed Ron walk into the room, fully dressed and fresh from the shower. He glanced at his watch and his mouth dropped open in shock.
"Ron? You do realize that we have a good three and a half hours before class, right?" Harry asked, stunned that Ron was not still asleep.
"Yeah, what's your point?" his red headed friend replied, desperately trying to fix his hair.
Harry stared at Ron incredulously. "My point? My point is that you never wake up early, never! What are you up to?" he demanded.
Ron grinned and made his way to the door. "Nothing, Harry, nothing at all."
"Nothing my ass. You're going to see that Slytherin girl, aren't you?" Harry asked accusingly.
His best friend frowned at this. "Her name is Allie, Harry. And yes, I'm going to go talk to her. She's not happy about being in Slytherin, you know," Ron snapped and walked out of the room.
Harry sighed and flopped back onto his pillow. "I don't trust her," he whispered to thin air.
Whistling merrily, Ron made his way to the Slytherin common room with the help of the Marauders Map, which he had "borrowed" from Harry. He didn't really have much of a plan—he was just going to wait outside the room until Allie came out. Then they could talk. He couldn't believe that the sweet and funny girl he had ridden on the Hogwarts Express with had been sorted into Slytherin. The only thing that made him feel better about was the look on her face when the hat made its announcement. Allie had not looked happy at all.
Ron was shaken from his thoughts when the Slytherin portrait opened to reveal his dream girl. Before he could make his presence known, Allie began to walk down the hallway in the opposite direction—toward Snape's classroom. Ron hesitated for a moment, and then decided to follow.
Allie quickly made her way down the corridor to her friend's classroom and office. She reached out to open the door and jumped in surprise when Snape opened the door first. Snape clutched at his chest and glared at the girl.
"You scared me half to death!" he hissed.
"Sorry," Allie mumbled sheepishly.
Snape waved his hand dismissively. "Its okay. What did you need?"
The young girl spat out in one breath, "IwanttotellRon."
"Come again?" he asked.
Allie looked at the floor and replied, "I said that I want to tell Ron."
Ron raised an eyebrow at this, as did his professor.
"Tell Ron what?" Snape said slowly.
"The truth about who I am and why I'm here."
She glanced up and couldn't fight the giggle that escaped her at the look on his face. For once, Severus Snape was completely speechless.
"Say something!" Allie prompted after several minutes of silence.
Snape just stared at her. Finally, he hissed, "What do you want me to say? That you're mad? That you would be risking the boy's life? That you hardly know him? That it could ruin our plan? That it—"
Allie clamped a hand over Snape's mouth. "Enough! I get it, but I still want to tell him. We can trust him, Severus."
Her friend pulled her hand away from his mouth. "How do you know that? What makes you so sure that he'll keep it a secret?"
"I just know," she said with a soft smile. "When I first saw him at King's Cross, I felt this pull toward him and it just strengthened as I spent time with him on the Hogwarts Express. I've never opened up to anyone as quickly or as easily as I did with him. Sure, I've barely known him for a day, but I already feel things for him that I've never felt before. Its scary, but in a good way. If I want to have any chance of having a relationship with him, he has to know the truth. Otherwise, he'll never really be accepting me, just the person I appear to be."
When she finished her speech, Snape was a bit startled at the fiery passion burning in her eyes. He rolled his eyes and muttered, "Fine, do whatever you what. I'm warning you, though, if that boy screws up our plans, I'll kill him."
Allie's face lit up in a luminous smile. "Thanks, Severus. There's just one more thing I wanted to discuss with you."
Snape groaned. "What now? You're moving Potter into Slytherin, making me share a room with Black, what?"
"I was thinking more along the lines of you adopting Harry."
Snape blanched and looked like he couldn't decide whether to be angry or sick.
"Seriously, Severus, you know me better than that. It's nothing like that. I've just made a seating chart for class," she said with amusement in her eyes and handed him a piece of parchment.
Snape looked it over and raised an eyebrow. "This is an interesting arrangement. Care to explain it?"
"I was hoping you'd ask," Allie said with an evil grin. "Since there is an uneven number of students in our class, my table will have three at it. As you can see, Neville, Ron, and I will be taking the table at the back right hand corner of the room. This is for several reasons. The main reason is so that I can keep an eye on the entire classroom at all times—you know how paranoid I am. The second reason is that poor Longbottom is scared shitless of you, from what Ron's told me, and he will be as far away from you as possible at this table."
Snape scowled at her, but she continued.
"Also, I know you treat him horribly and this way I can make sure he passes. Ron will be sitting with me for obvious reasons. Now, I've placed Potter and Granger at the table in front of us so that Ron will be close to them and I can keep an eye on Potter. I also want to add that whenever Granger raises her hand and is the only one who knows the answer, you will call on her. I don't want anymore of this nonsense about never letting the poor girl answer. Let's see…oh, yes. I placed Malfoy and Goyle at the front left hand corner for two reasons. The first is so he is as far away from Longbottom, Potter, Granger, and Ron as I can get him without actually kicking his white haired ass out of the room. The other reason is that it's right in my line of fire and I can hex him easily. Everyone else was assigned seats at random since I only cared where these people were placed."
Her professor sighed and shook his head. "I can't believe you're in my house," he muttered. "Is there anything else you would like to torture me with or can I go eat breakfast now?"
Allie grinned. "No, that's all. Enjoy your meal, Severus!"
"Right," he said sarcastically and walked off toward the Great Hall.
Allie chuckled to herself and turned around, running straight into a confused, yet intrigued, Ron. The teenaged girl immediately went scarlet.
"Ron. Hey. Um, how much of my conversation with Snape did you hear?"
"Everything. I must say that I love your seating chart," Ron said, eyeing her warily.
Allie just stared at him, apparently at a loss for words.
"What did you want to tell me, Allie?" he asked gently.
"Can we talk about it in private?"
Ron nodded, took her hand, and led the way to the library. The two slipped past Madame Pince and sat down at the most secluded table in the room. Allie glanced around suspiciously and murmured, "Privatus."
"What does that do?"
"Makes whatever we say private and alerts us if anyone is trying to listen in."
"Very handy. So, what is this all about?" Ron questioned.
The normally calm girl began to fidget. "Okay…God, I don't even know where to begin," Allie admitted glumly.
Ron reached across the table and squeezed her hand. "Just start at the beginning."
Allie nodded and took a deep breath. "Have you ever heard of Mistress Serena?"
"Who hasn't? She's supposed to be the most powerful witch that's ever lived."
"Have you ever noticed that there are no pictures of her, that no one knows what she looks like, and that very few people have ever seen her?"
Ron nodded. "Yeah, it's always been a big controversy."
"Well, I know the reason why. Many people have met her or are even friends with her, yet they don't know who she is. You see, her first name isn't Serena—its Alexandra," Allie said, willing Ron to understand what she was saying.
His eyes widened and he stammered, "You mean that you—you're the Mistress?"
She nodded. "Yeah, I am."
"But you're a fully trained witch! Why are you here at Hogwarts?"
"I want to tell you, but first you must swear to me that you won't repeat a word of what I say. Not even to Harry or Hermione—especially not Harry. Swear to me, Ron."
Ron swallowed nervously. "Why do I get the feeling that this is going to royally complicate my life?"
"Because it is."
"I was afraid you were going to say that. Okay, I swear. I swear on my family's honor that I won't tell anyone what you tell me."
Allie nodded. "I'm joining up with Voldemort."
Ron gaped at her. "You're what?"
"Joining Voldemort. As of Halloween, I'm a Death Eater."
"Are you mad?"
"Quite possibly."
"Wh-why are you doing this?" Ron nearly shrieked.
"Because if I don't everything and everyone that I love will be destroyed!" Allie hissed.
That seemed to settle Ron down a bit. "What do you mean?"
Allie sighed and rubbed her temples. "As you're probably aware, Voldemort is steadily gaining power and followers. In his opinion, only Dumbledore, Harry, and I pose any threat to him. I have my spies and I discovered that he was planning to kill the three of us because he thought that none of us would join him and he had to be rid of us. Naturally, I freaked. I began plotting with Albus and Severus for a way to keep Voldemort from killing us. Our only solution was a dangerous one—I had to join Voldemort, lure him into a false sense of security in regards to me, and then kill him. After we worked out all of the details, I began to set the plan into motion by learning and performing the darkest of the Dark Arts in order to attract Voldemort's attention.
One day, I caught Lucius Malfoy spying on me while I tortured a huge bug with the Cruciatus curse. He commented on my skill and power, and I told him that I wanted to join him and his master. A week or so later, I received instructions from Voldemort that told me to enroll here so that I could 'wreak havoc on all of the Mudbloods and unworthy ones.' I told Dumbledore and Snape what I was to do and they had me come here in August to make sure I knew exactly what I was supposed to know as a fifth year. They didn't want me to slip up and do things that only seventh years or fully trained witches could do. To further help me, Dumbledore made sure that I would be placed into Slytherin."
"Huh?"
"The hat was told not to truly sort me and just place me in Slytherin. I actually belong in Gryffindor, but oh well."
Allie finally looked up and saw Ron's deathly pale face. "Are you okay? Look, I would understand it if you didn't want to talk to me—"
"No!" Ron exclaimed. "That's not want I want. Its just—"
Ron fainted.
"Ron!" the red headed witch screamed and dropped to her knees beside him.
She checked him over to make sure he wasn't injured, conjured up a stretcher, and took Ron to the hospital ward.
"Goodness! What happened?" Madame Pomfrey exclaimed when she caught sight of the unconscious boy.
Allie was at a loss. "I—er—kissed him and, uh, he fainted. I think it was his first kiss," she mumbled while fighting to keep a straight face.
Madame Pomfrey smiled. "It's about time something good happened to Mr. Weasley. The poor boy and his friends are always getting hurt and escaping death. You're going to be good for him, I can tell."
Allie forced a smile. 'Good for him my ass,' she thought guiltily. 'I'll probably be the death of him.'
A few minutes later, Madame Pomfrey roused Ron. The strikingly handsome boy sat up and muttered, "Where am I?"
"You're in the hospital ward, dear. I believe you gave Miss Wood quite a fright fainting like you did after you two kissed."
Allie groaned and buried her face in her hands in embarrassment while Ron looked at her quizzically.
"Right. Well, we just need to practice some more so I don't faint again," he said with a smirk.
Allie's face turned bright red and Madame Pomfrey just laughed and handed them each a slip of paper.
"Here are your schedules since you two weren't at breakfast to receive them. You'd better hurry since your first class is about to begin."
Both students said goodbye to the nurse and left the room. After a few minutes, Ron grabbed Allie's arm and turned her around to face him.
"You do realize that your plan is completely crazy, right?"
"Yes, I am well aware of that."
Ron nodded. "Good, I just wanted to be clear on that. So, when are you and I going to become Death Eaters? I forgot what day you said."
Allie stared him, utterly dumbfounded. "Come again?"
"I asked you when you and I were going to become the newest members of the psycho squad."
"You want to join with me?"
"Yes."
"Can you even perform Dark spells or curses?"
"No, but you can teach me."
Allie continued to stare. "Can you even say Voldemort's name?" she asked, piercing him with her gaze.
Ron flinched and hesitated before whispering, "Voldemort."
"Ron, are you sure about this? You do realize that you'll probably have to torture and kill people, and that you'll have to bear the Dark Mark, right?"
"I know that."
"Once you make this decision, there's no going back. Voldemort will kill you if you try to back out of it. You need to fully comprehend the danger and risk you'll be putting yourself in."
"I know the risk. You're not joining…Voldemort by yourself. I've made my decision," Ron said in a tone that Allie knew meant that she couldn't change his mind.
"Okay then. We'll definitely have to talk to Snape and Dumbledore about this."
"Speaking of Snape, we have his class first. We better go or we'll be really late. We can discuss this later."
Allie had no choice but to agree and the two took off for the dungeons. They walked in ten minutes late.
"Allie, Ron, so nice of you to join us," Snape commented dryly.
"Morning, Professor!" they cheerily said in unison.
Snape just rolled his eyes and the two took their seats next to Neville. Allie and Ron were totally oblivious to the disbelieving looks everyone was sending their way. No one could believe that Snape hadn't killed him or her for walking into his class ten minutes late on the first day. Harry and Hermione were especially shocked.
"Where have you two been?" Hermione hissed.
Ron shrugged. "We just lost track of time."
"How did you lose track of time that you missed breakfast and the first ten minutes of Potions?" Harry whispered.
Ron shrugged again. "Making out tends to have that effect," he replied with a mischievous grin.
Allie put her head down of the table and fought the urge to laugh while Harry, Hermione, and Neville stared at them in shock. Yes, she and Ron were going to get along just great.