FIVE

The feeling in the Common Room that evening was much subdued. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Mary Sue sat silently in a corner, while Mary Sue's usual throng of admirers sat a short distance away.

Hermione was the first to breach the silence. "I know that girl," she said hollowly. "She's in my Runes class."

"Who?" Ron asked blankly. Harry scowled at him.

"Lila Homdinger," Hermione replied, kicking the carpet.

"Sorry," said Ron, reddening.

"Er," said Harry, striving to find a new subject. "Who was it that got free of Azkaban?"

"Dunno," said Ron. Hermione didn't answer.

"I think," said Mary Sue after a moment, "It was a man named Arlando Plume. They say he was in the Dark Lord's inner circle."

"Woah," said Harry.

Mary Sue glanced at Ron. "Don't look so cheerful," she said lightly. The comment did nothing to dispel anyone's heavy mood, and the atmosphere drifted back into somber silence.

Suddenly there was a commotion at the portrait hole. All four shot to their feet, peering around the others who had stood as well to see what was happening. A moment later three people burst into the Common Room. The first was a highly disgruntled Percy Weasley, who entered and then retreated to the far end of the Common Room. The next was a highly enraged Professor McGonagall, followed by Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic, who was nearly apopletic with anger.

"I will not have you telling them this!" Fudge roared as McGonagall strode into the Common Room. "Has Dumbledore not done enough damage already? If you should follow through with this, I shall speak to the board of governors about retention of your position and whether or not it is good idea…"

"You can do what you like, Minister," said McGonagall, breathing heavily through her nose, "But these students have a right to know." Her eyes fell on Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Mary Sue. "Especially them," she added in a dangerously soft voice.

Harry blanched. What could they possibly have done?

"Minerva," said Fudge, fuming, "I have given you my opinion. I must speak now to the other Heads of Houses." With a final glare, he whirled on his heel and exited the Common Room.

Professor McGonagall watched him go, breathing heavily. When the portrait hole had closed behind him, she drew a deep breath and turned to face the thronging Gryffindors.

"I am sure," she said a bit shakily, "That you would all like to know what this is about."

There were murmurs of collective agreement.

She sighed heavily. "I cannot imagine that you have not heard of the escape of Arlando Plume, one of the most high-security prisoners held captive in the fortress of Azkaban."

Silence greeted this; of course everyone knew.

"What you probably do not know," said McGonagall still more heavily, "Is that it is probable that he will attack the School."

There were shocked gasps and excited murmurs throughout the Common Room. When silence had fallen once more, Professor McGonagall continued.

"As you should be aware, there is one person responsible for the downfall of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. This person most of you know well – Harry Potter."

Harry reddened and stared at his shoes.

"What most of you are not aware of," McGonagall continued, "Is that there is also one person responsible for keeping the Dark Lord at bay for so many years. This person, too, most of you know and love. It is our own American girl, Mary Sue Smith."

A wave of excitement and confusion and amazement rose and fell in the Common Room. When it was quiet again, McGonagall elaborated. "Once in every hundred years, a wizard or witch is born who holds the keys to powers the rest of us cannot fathom. This Chosen One, called the Alenai, is born to one purpose: to keep evil from the land for as long as he or she lives. However, they are still only mortal, and are weak as all men are.

"Thirteen years ago, a girl was born to Edgar and Anna Smith. Though they are both of them Muggles, they knew at once that there was nothing ordinary about their daughter. When the Benel's Academy letter came eleven years later, neither were surprised. Nor were they surprised when, in that year, they were informed that their daughter was the Alenai, born to save men for a time from evil. But they were concerned for her safety, for of course she would become a target. Which is partly the reason for this year's exchange."

McGonagall let this sink in before going on. "Mary Sue Smith is an extraordinary girl, as I am sure you have all noticed." There were murmurs of assent. "But her powers have become known to the Dark Lord. Professor Dumbledore and I believe that Arlando Plume will try very hard to lay his hands upon these two students – Harry Potter and Mary Sue Smith. We must protect them. We must also prepare for an attack upon Hogwarts.

"And it is very likely," McGongall added significantly, "That if Arlando Plume were to make an attack upon the school, our only hope of survival would be Mary Sue Smith and Harry Potter."

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Although Cornelius Fudge was highly unhappy with the proceedings and made several hints to all the teachers that they might be suspended or permanently fired, the Heads of Houses had all informed their students of the possible attack by the next morning when Harry went down to breakfast. People stared at him as if he were about to die any moment, and at Mary Sue as if she had turned from queen to goddess. Whispers trailed behind them wherever they went, until Harry felt ready to explode. Though most of them were in regard to Mary Sue's newly discovered power – murmurs of "The Alenai, she said! Amazing! To think we never knew…" and "I'd bet my hat that she defeats Plume" – but a few were ominous predictions of Harry's imminent death.

"There's no way he could do it…"

"Yeah, but he beat You-Know-Who before, c'mon…"

"But Plume was smart enough to escape Azkaban. If he's smart enough to do that, he's smart enough to do anything."

"'Cept kill Mary Sue," the other person would inevitably add.

Mary Sue seemed largely unaffected by the news that an Azkaban escapee was after her life. The only notable difference was that she spent less time with her throng of admirers and more with Harry, Ron, and Hermione. The four had taken to practicing numerous curses together in secret, in abandoned classrooms or, if all else failed, Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. The girl ghost would watch them over the top of her favorite stall, making morose comments directed to no one in particular.

"I don't suppose you'd like to tell me what you're doing," she said peevishly the first day they practiced in there.

"No," said Ron shortly, pulling a book entitled Curses for the Ordinary Person from his bag.

Myrtle gave a tragic moan and sank six inches in the air, so that all they could see over the top of the stall were her wide, baleful eyes.

"We're practicing curses," said Mary Sue as if she were simply addressing another student.

"Oh!" was all that Myrtle said.

"Do you want to try?" said Harry after a moment. The reaction was neither what he had anticipated nor hoped for: Moaning Myrtle burst into tears and flew into the toilet.

"Nice one, Harry," said Ron under his breath as Hermione read up on counter-curses (to fix whatever catastrophic things they did to each other). Harry shook with suppressed laughs, but Mary Sue looked sadly at the place where Myrtle had been a moment before.

"Poor Myrtle," she said in an undertone. "She really is lonely."

Ron gaped in disbelief for a moment, and then collected himself and nodded vigorously. "Yep," he said. "Poor thing. I always try to be friendly whenever we come in here."

Hermione giggled, earning herself a fierce glare from Ron.

"Really?" Mary Sue said. "You know, that really means a lot, Ron. I didn't realize what a caring person you were."

This time it was Harry who gave a snort of laughter. Neither Ron nor Mary Sue paid him any attention.

"Let's start practicing," said Hermione brightly after an awkward silence. They began hurling volleys of curses every which way, to the backdrop of Moaning Myrtle's sobs emanating from the U-bend.

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Three weeks after Professor McGonagall had announced Arlando Plume's intentions to her House, Harry awoke suddenly in the middle of the night. He lay still for a moment, trying to discover what had awakened him, when he heard it again – it was the creak of a stair. Cautiously, he slid his wrist toward a gap in the bed curtains, trying to read his watch by the moonlight. The watch, glowing faintly silver in the light of the moon, proclaimed it to be midnight.

A moment later, he heard the sound of stealthy footsteps outside his dormitory, and a moment later the sound of a doorknob being turned as quietly as possible. Hardly daring to breathe, Harry sat up and peered through the gap in the curtains, which gave him an excellent view of the dormitory door. He hoped that the intruder would have a poorer sighting of him.

He was startled to see a figure in school robes with waist-long blonde hair slip into the dormitory. He gave a muffled gasp as he realized that it was Mary Sue, and slid off the bed.

"What are you doing in here?" he hissed. She held a finger to her lips, pointed to his own robes, and whispered that she'd wait outside. Completely baffled, Harry dressed quickly and then slipped out of the dormitory to where Mary Sue, calm and serene as always, waited.

He followed her down to the Common Room before demanding an explanation in a low voice.

"Harry," she said, her voice calm but frightened at the same time, "I have a bad feeling. I'm not sure what it is."

Harry blew his breath out in disgust. Girls.

"And so you woke me up in the middle of the night to tell me you were scared of the dark?" Part of him was irritated at her childish behavior and simply wanted to get back to bed. The other part of him was astounded that such words were issuing from his mouth, and directed at Mary Sue, of all people.

"No," she said, very serious now. "Harry – I woke you up because I don't think you should sleep the rest of the night."

Harry stared, nonplussed.

"I mean," she said carefully, "I think that Arlando Plume is going to strike – tonight."

"Tell Dumbledore," said Harry as soon as he'd recovered his voice. "Tell McGonagall."

Mary Sue looked uncertain. "I could," she said. "But what could they do?"

It was true, he realized, remembering McGonagall's words of the previous month. If Mary Sue wasn't able to fight against Arlando Plume, no one would be able to.

On impulse, he strode forward a step and hugged her. He was surprised to find her crying.

"What's the matter?" he asked in confusion, pulling away quickly.

A tear slid down her white cheek. "Nothing," she said in a voice much clearer than Harry would have supposed.

"No, really," he said earnestly. "What's the matter?" It was suddenly important to him that nothing be the matter.

"Well…" she sighed prettily. "The Alenai."

Harry stared, completely nonplussed.

"Being the Alenai," she elaborated upon noting his look of confusion. "Knowing that so many people count on me to . . . do the impossible." She gave a small, sad smile. "I've never been a child, Harry. Even my parents knew, before they ever got the letter for Benel's. And I knew, too."

Harry thought of the numerous hardships of growing up in the Dursley's home. "I guess you could say I never was a child, either," he said rather gruffly. "But," he said, his voice softer, "I see what you mean. But you can do it, Mary Sue."

Mary Sue looked at him, her eyes very large and clear and blue in the moonlight. "Do you trust me that much, then?" she asked simply. Harry nodded. "Then I can at least try."

He hugged her again, impulsively, and then they began their long vigil.