Chapter Five: The Worst of Weeks
A week later, Alysia was staring at herself in a mirror, more specifically at the giant red bump that had grown on her chin overnight. She sighed to see how horrific her appearance had grown. Huge bags were under her eyes and her usually tan skin had lost most of its natural glow, now looking a sickly pale color. Her lips were chapped and her hair a mess of grease and split ends.
Alysia blamed stress. Halloween had been a spectacular day, to say the very least. From the tie game to the feast to staying up late into the night with her friends, Alysia had enjoyed every minute of it. The next morning, however, the dazzling light began to fade.
Her father started it all. He insisted that they meet for an early morning walk by the Dark Forest. Alysia wasn't too pleased about the idea and joined him only reluctantly. Usually when her father wanted to take an early morning walk with her, it was to lecture her on something, and she suspected she knew what that something was. Her guess had been dead on. After congratulating her on the Quidditch game and reliving a few of his memories as a Chaser, her father had told her that he was quite concerned about the relationship she was developing with Draco.
"How many times do I have to tell you? He's not his father!" Alysia had exclaimed.
"I've heard nothing but bad about him from everyone, except you," he answered, and the argument went on from there. From her point of view, Alysia saw her father not trusting her judgment. He seemed to think he was protecting her from something horrible, and in the end, they'd both just stormed off, furious. Her father apologized to her later in the day, but Alysia knew they had resolved nothing.
As he would every morning for the next week, Dumbledore showed up at breakfast and seemed to watch Alysia's every move with a stare that seemed to cut straight to her bone. He had spoken to her once since their last meeting, mentioning that her bravery cut her out for Gryffindor, her ambition for Slytherin, and her intellect for a teaching position. Alysia had thanked him but had once again explained that Hufflepuff was where she belonged (though she wasn't entirely sure that she believed it herself). Still, he seemed to disagree with her, and it was a bit unnerving. If that was the message he was trying to convey through his frightful stares, Alysia was getting it quite clearly. It sent chills down her spine.
Matters regarding friendships were also going quite sourly. By Wednesday, Alysia was quite fed up with Draco's constant complaining about the Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs and anyone else who were not in Slytherin, she being the only exception. His comments would always end with a question of whether or not she should talk to Dumbledore about switching to Slytherin House. "After all," he would say, "you're just about the only Hufflepuff who's good enough to be there. Why are you in Hufflepuff anyway?"
Alysia didn't bother to explain herself. She could only begin to imagine Draco's changed attitude towards her when he found out she was the spawn of a Hufflepuff and a Gryffindor, namely Anaral Karadhras and Sirius Black. She did, however, blow up at him that Wednesday when he mentioned how awful a house Hufflepuff was for the hundredth time and started divulging his plans to get Harry and friends expelled, Dumbledore fired or replaced, Hagrid imprisoned. . .
"Draco Malfoy, enough!" Alysia snapped. "Open your eyes for once, try and see past your own nose. Maybe you'll notice that nothing is nearly as bad as you say!"
At first, it was as if she'd slapped him with a dead fish. He looked shocked, to say the least, and a bit hurt. Then his face hardened again. "You're just like them. Stupid and common," he muttered and left the room. They hadn't spoken since.
Harry, Ron and Hermione had decided this was a joyful fate that should be celebrated. Ron in particular was jubilant that Alysia had finally seen the light and how much of a jerk Draco Malfoy was. He'd hugged Alysia hard and asked her when she could talk to Dumbledore about transferring to Gryffindor. Hermione had been happy until she was forced to watch Ron embrace Alysia over and over. From then on, she'd barely looked at either of them and had only managed a small smile in Alysia's direction. After such a long and horrible day, she could only take so much of Ron's over- jubilation and Hermione's annoyance. She thanked Ron for stealing food from the kitchen for the little party they'd thrown her then left without saying good-bye to any of them.
She wrote about it in her diary later that night. "It's as if they don't realize that this is not something I'm happy about," she wrote in an angry script about Harry and his friends. Her comments about Draco, though far worse than usual still held a ring of hope. "If only he would realize how much of a dolt he's being. But I doubt that will happen."
Her mother seemed to notice that something was awry during class the next day. She gave Alysia a note halfway through class (which consisted of a very boring time of writing an essay on the differences between banshees, bean-nighes and cyroeraeths). It instructed her to come to her mother's office after classes so they could have tea. This made Alysia smile. Her entire life, whenever her mother had sensed something troubling her, she'd been happy to pour Alysia a cup of tea so they could talk about it. Now, Alysia needed that cup of tea more than anything else.
Unfortunately, that cup of tea was not going to happen anytime soon. Following Defense Against the Dark Arts, Alysia had to stumble down to the dungeon for Potions. Professor Snape seemed much more vindictive than usual. He fumed when Susan Bones could not get her invisibility draught right (it instead turned Moira a strange hue of purple) and, noticing that the class period was over, barked that everyone was to write two and a half rolls of parchment on invisibility draughts. Alysia, who was doing nothing more than putting her supplies away, somehow attracted his attention. Snape leaned over her desk and said, in a low voice, "And you, Miss Karadhras, will have double that assignment."
"What?" Alysia nearly dropped her cauldron. "Why? My draught was perfect! I don't have time to write five rolls of parchment. I don't think you can even write five rolls of parchment on invisibility draughts."
"Five rolls, Miss Karadhras. Perhaps you should think of how much time you have before you insult one of my students again," Snape sneered. It suddenly made perfect sense. Draco was getting Snape to do his dirty work for him. Alysia was about to protest when Snape threw in, "Mention this to anyone and your secret will be school-wide knowledge."
So she was stuck. All it would take was a word from Snape about her father to one of the Slytherins and the entire school would know that she, Alysia Karadhras, was the daughter of an escaped convict. Echoes of hexes put on her in the play group bounced around her head as she shuffled to the library and asked Madame Pince for every book on invisibility draughts that she could find. Surprisingly, there were quite a few and Alysia stayed in the library late into the night, writing until her hand was cramped. All the while, a disturbing thought plagued her. Had Snape told Draco about her father? Perhaps Draco had complained to Snape about her and Snape had "accidentally" let her parentage slip. The idea was so horrible that Alysia nearly started to cry. The hexes would be starting again any day now.
Exhausted, she'd dragged herself to bed as it was well past one o'clock in the morning. The next day, she woke with a start. The room was completely silent and the sun was high in the sky. A look at the room's clock told her that she'd slept in too late; it was nearly noon! Within five minutes, she'd dressed and collected her things. She arrived in Divination just in time for Professor Trelawney to say, in a misty voice, "Ah yes. I knew you would be late, Miss Karadhras."
"Like hell you did," Alysia said rudely, realizing too late that she'd spoken aloud. She clapped a hand over her mouth, hearing a surprised gasp from the rest of the room. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Draco smirking. Professor Trelawney looked as if she'd never been more shocked in her life, but at that point, Alysia couldn't care less. She simply turned on her heel and left the classroom, not heeding the stares of the other students. Normally, she found Divination tolerable and even amusing, but after this week, she could not stand one minute in the same room with Sibyll Trelawney. She stormed from the room to the edge of the Dark Forest, making sure that not a hair was actually in the forest, lest Fidelina come charging out again. She was just tired of everything. Tired of her parents. Tired of Draco. Tired of Professor Snape. Tired of Harry and his friends. Tired of Fidelina. So there she stayed, at the edge of the Dark Forest, until nightfall. Then, she shuffled up to her room and fell into a fitful sleep, not bothering to even think about supper or what lay ahead.
And now it was Saturday. The tie game in Quidditch had been a week ago, and Hannah Abbott had been so proud of the team that she'd given them the Saturday off from practice. Good thing too, Alysia thought, touching the monster on her chin. She didn't want anyone to see her like this.
Unfortunately, that choice was not hers to make. There was a knock on the girls' bathroom door and Professor Sprout came in. "Alysia, your mother wants to see you in her office," she said quietly. Alysia nodded and pulled her hair back into a high ponytail. Moments later, she was hurrying through the door to her mother's office. There was no black dog this time. Just her mother, smiling and holding a pot of tea stood there.
"Hi, Baby Girl. Want some tea?" she asked.
That did it. Alysia plopped down in one of her mother's overstuffed armchairs and burst into tears. Her mother put the teapot down and pulled her into the embrace she'd needed all week. Barely pausing for breath, she let the problems of the entire week tumble out while her mother nodded understandingly and stroked her hair. When she'd finished, Alysia looked at her mother with damp eyes and sniffed.
"So what am I supposed to do? I don't think Dad and I will ever understand each other. I don't think that Dumbledore will ever stop staring at me. I don't think that Draco will ever talk to me again and I don't think that I can stand Ron hating Draco or Hermione being jealous of Ron hugging me or. . ." Alysia babbled.
"Sweetie, you don't have to do anything," her mother replied, gently putting her hand on Alysia's shoulder. "Your father is as stubborn as a mule, but he's not made of stone. If Draco really has good in him, your father will see it in time. There really isn't much you can do about Dumbledore. He's a strange man, but he tends to know what's best for you. As for Draco, give him time. If he really cares about you, he'll come around. You can't change Ron's feelings; only he can do that. And if Hermione knows that there is nothing between you and Ron, there's nothing you can do about her being jealous, either." Alysia scowled and her mother laughed. "I'm sorry, I know that's probably not what you wanted to hear, is it Baby Girl?"
"Not exactly," Alysia admitted. "Where's Daddy?"
"I sent him to Hogsmeade for the day. If you want, we can meet him up at the Shrieking Shack for supper," her mother suggested.
"That would work." Alysia paused for a second before asking, "Can we have that tea now?"
Her mother laughed and poured her a cupful. For the next several hours, they caught up on what was going on in their lives so far that school year. Her mother mentioned that Draco was a rather rude student to have in class, but a rather smart one as well. Alysia mentioned that while Draco was rude and prejudiced, he also usually treated her with kindness. Her mother also talked about how Dumbledore was working on finding Peter Pettigrew and bringing her father's trial back to the high court.
"With Pettigrew there for everyone to see, your father would be a free man," her mother pointed out, a smile lighting up her face. She then became more serious. "Things are getting worse in the wizarding world. Another two families were killed this week and dozens of people have been going missing. It's a good thing we're here at Hogwart's."
"Is it? I mean, is it that much safer here? We seem to be getting a whole lot of multi-special visitors lately," Alysia pointed out. "I just hope the harpy is the last of them."
"I was very proud of the way you took care of that harpy, Alysia." Her mother took another sip of tea. "I daresay you are earning some extra credit in Defense Against the Dark Arts!"
"Mum, that's favoritism!" Alysia laughed. It felt good to laugh after so many days of not laughing.
Supper that night went relatively well. Her father apologized once again and promised to try and see things her way. Somehow, after talking to her mother, Alysia found this more believable. Still, it seemed pointless as she doubted Draco would ever speak to her again. Halfway through supper, Harry showed up, to Alysia's mild surprise.
"I thought we could have a nice evening together as a family," Anaral explained as Harry sat down at the table (the legs of which had been severely chewed by Remus Lupin decades before). "Even though we can't legally adopt Harry yet, he's just as much a part of this family as you are, Alysia."
"Yes, Mum," Alysia answered, passing Harry a bowl of mashed potatoes.
Harry and Alysia headed back together that night; Sirius and Anaral seemed to want to stay behind by themselves, and Alysia, having experience in these matters, was quite willing to lead Harry down the passageway to the Whomping Willow. It had rained the night before, so the ground above them was damp and dripping, and about five minutes into the trek, the two were completely spattered with mud and laughing heartily. They quieted down some and Harry looked at Alysia sideways.
"Are you okay, Aly? You seemed pretty upset the night you and Draco had your fight," he observed.
"Oh, so you noticed? You weren't too busy celebrating my return to the light side?" Alysia laughed.
"I did notice. I know he's a rat and everything, but you seem to really care about him. I'm sorry he hurt you." Harry ducked under a tree root and paused while Alysia did the same.
"I've had worse," Alysia admitted.
"Does he treat you well, though? I mean, besides what's happened this week." Alysia thought for a moment. She couldn't really say that Draco treated her badly. His worst flaw was his arrogant snobbery, which was never really against her. Each time they went for a walk, he would pick flowers for her and would sometimes show insight and kindness by talking about something other than the downfall of all those with whom he disagreed.
"Yes. Draco treats me well," she admitted. The tunnel started to move uphill and she and Harry were soon panting for breath and abandoning all conversation to concentrate on the task at hand.
"I don't know. . .if Crookshanks will be there. . .to stop the Whomping Willow. . ." Alysia panted. "We. . .might have to. . .make a run for it."
"Run?" Harry gasped. "I don't know. . .if I can even. . .walk anymore."
"Your life. . .may depend on it!" Alysia stopped as they reached the trap door and listened for a minute. "I think it's safe. Let's go."
She pushed open the trap door and saw that the Whomping Willow was standing quite still. Crookshanks gave her a kitty smile as she pushed through the ground and gave Harry a hand. It was then that it became clear that they were not alone. Professor Snape was staring at them with utmost disgust as they climbed out of the tunnel. "What do you want?" Alysia asked him.
"I find it rather amusing, Miss Karadhras, to see you and Mr. Potter coming out of a secret passage to Hogsmeade without the permission and attendance of a professor," Snape sneered. "It would almost seem like you were trying to get a detention."
"We were having supper with Professor Karadhras and Sirius," Harry explained in a low voice. "We have Professor Karadhras' permission."
"Is that so? Well, then, I shall just have to ask her about that myself," Snape answered, starting towards the school.
"She's not there!" Alysia exclaimed. "She's still in Hogsmeade."
"How convenient," Snape countered with a disgusting smile. "Until then, ten points from Gryffindor and Hufflepuff for sneaking out."
"We didn't. . .!" Alysia began, but Snape silenced her with a glance.
"Perhaps you'd rather I make it fifty?" he asked, and Alysia could do nothing but glare at him until he'd sauntered back to the castle victoriously. Without thinking, Alysia transfigured into her falcon form and left a little surprise on Snape's robe. She returned to her human form beside Harry who was nearly doubled over laughing.
"That's brilliant," he managed between gasps of laughter. Alysia laughed too, once she had recovered.
"It's a gift."
They reached the castle in a companionable silence only to find chaos once inside. A large crowd had gathered outside of the banquet hall, many people screaming and others simply coughing. It seemed that there was a large fire inside and no one quite knew what had started it. While most of the students had been hurried out, many were still inside, trapped by a wall of high flames that barred the doorway. Alysia could hear them screaming.
"Isn't anyone going to do anything?" she finally cried above the shouts of the other students. Everyone looked at her as if she'd sprouted another head. Inside, the students were still screaming and everyone was just staring at Alysia and then behind her. The professors had arrived. They pushed through the crowd of students and began dowsing the flames with water that seemed to burst from the ends of their wands. Before long, nothing was left of the fire but a damaged banquet hall and an eerie blue smoke rising from the walls and floors. Alysia and Harry pushed to the front of the coup of teachers and students, realizing that their friends were not in the crowd. Before they could see anything, Madame Pomfrey and half a dozen other nurses brushed by, conjuring up stretchers as they went. One by one, the stretchers started coming out.
Ron was on one of them, but he seemed fine. He spotted Harry and Alysia as he passed and motioned for them to follow the parade of stretchers to the hospital wing. Hermione was just behind him, the corners of her robes and hair singed. She managed a brave smile at Harry and Alysia before disappearing around the corner. A few more students that Alysia did not recognize were brought out, and she and Harry were about to leave and head for the hospital wing, when something caught her eye and made her grab Harry's arm for support.
Draco's stretcher floated past. He wasn't moving.
A/N: Oooh the suspense! Poor Aly's having a rough time. More later, R/R!
A week later, Alysia was staring at herself in a mirror, more specifically at the giant red bump that had grown on her chin overnight. She sighed to see how horrific her appearance had grown. Huge bags were under her eyes and her usually tan skin had lost most of its natural glow, now looking a sickly pale color. Her lips were chapped and her hair a mess of grease and split ends.
Alysia blamed stress. Halloween had been a spectacular day, to say the very least. From the tie game to the feast to staying up late into the night with her friends, Alysia had enjoyed every minute of it. The next morning, however, the dazzling light began to fade.
Her father started it all. He insisted that they meet for an early morning walk by the Dark Forest. Alysia wasn't too pleased about the idea and joined him only reluctantly. Usually when her father wanted to take an early morning walk with her, it was to lecture her on something, and she suspected she knew what that something was. Her guess had been dead on. After congratulating her on the Quidditch game and reliving a few of his memories as a Chaser, her father had told her that he was quite concerned about the relationship she was developing with Draco.
"How many times do I have to tell you? He's not his father!" Alysia had exclaimed.
"I've heard nothing but bad about him from everyone, except you," he answered, and the argument went on from there. From her point of view, Alysia saw her father not trusting her judgment. He seemed to think he was protecting her from something horrible, and in the end, they'd both just stormed off, furious. Her father apologized to her later in the day, but Alysia knew they had resolved nothing.
As he would every morning for the next week, Dumbledore showed up at breakfast and seemed to watch Alysia's every move with a stare that seemed to cut straight to her bone. He had spoken to her once since their last meeting, mentioning that her bravery cut her out for Gryffindor, her ambition for Slytherin, and her intellect for a teaching position. Alysia had thanked him but had once again explained that Hufflepuff was where she belonged (though she wasn't entirely sure that she believed it herself). Still, he seemed to disagree with her, and it was a bit unnerving. If that was the message he was trying to convey through his frightful stares, Alysia was getting it quite clearly. It sent chills down her spine.
Matters regarding friendships were also going quite sourly. By Wednesday, Alysia was quite fed up with Draco's constant complaining about the Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs and anyone else who were not in Slytherin, she being the only exception. His comments would always end with a question of whether or not she should talk to Dumbledore about switching to Slytherin House. "After all," he would say, "you're just about the only Hufflepuff who's good enough to be there. Why are you in Hufflepuff anyway?"
Alysia didn't bother to explain herself. She could only begin to imagine Draco's changed attitude towards her when he found out she was the spawn of a Hufflepuff and a Gryffindor, namely Anaral Karadhras and Sirius Black. She did, however, blow up at him that Wednesday when he mentioned how awful a house Hufflepuff was for the hundredth time and started divulging his plans to get Harry and friends expelled, Dumbledore fired or replaced, Hagrid imprisoned. . .
"Draco Malfoy, enough!" Alysia snapped. "Open your eyes for once, try and see past your own nose. Maybe you'll notice that nothing is nearly as bad as you say!"
At first, it was as if she'd slapped him with a dead fish. He looked shocked, to say the least, and a bit hurt. Then his face hardened again. "You're just like them. Stupid and common," he muttered and left the room. They hadn't spoken since.
Harry, Ron and Hermione had decided this was a joyful fate that should be celebrated. Ron in particular was jubilant that Alysia had finally seen the light and how much of a jerk Draco Malfoy was. He'd hugged Alysia hard and asked her when she could talk to Dumbledore about transferring to Gryffindor. Hermione had been happy until she was forced to watch Ron embrace Alysia over and over. From then on, she'd barely looked at either of them and had only managed a small smile in Alysia's direction. After such a long and horrible day, she could only take so much of Ron's over- jubilation and Hermione's annoyance. She thanked Ron for stealing food from the kitchen for the little party they'd thrown her then left without saying good-bye to any of them.
She wrote about it in her diary later that night. "It's as if they don't realize that this is not something I'm happy about," she wrote in an angry script about Harry and his friends. Her comments about Draco, though far worse than usual still held a ring of hope. "If only he would realize how much of a dolt he's being. But I doubt that will happen."
Her mother seemed to notice that something was awry during class the next day. She gave Alysia a note halfway through class (which consisted of a very boring time of writing an essay on the differences between banshees, bean-nighes and cyroeraeths). It instructed her to come to her mother's office after classes so they could have tea. This made Alysia smile. Her entire life, whenever her mother had sensed something troubling her, she'd been happy to pour Alysia a cup of tea so they could talk about it. Now, Alysia needed that cup of tea more than anything else.
Unfortunately, that cup of tea was not going to happen anytime soon. Following Defense Against the Dark Arts, Alysia had to stumble down to the dungeon for Potions. Professor Snape seemed much more vindictive than usual. He fumed when Susan Bones could not get her invisibility draught right (it instead turned Moira a strange hue of purple) and, noticing that the class period was over, barked that everyone was to write two and a half rolls of parchment on invisibility draughts. Alysia, who was doing nothing more than putting her supplies away, somehow attracted his attention. Snape leaned over her desk and said, in a low voice, "And you, Miss Karadhras, will have double that assignment."
"What?" Alysia nearly dropped her cauldron. "Why? My draught was perfect! I don't have time to write five rolls of parchment. I don't think you can even write five rolls of parchment on invisibility draughts."
"Five rolls, Miss Karadhras. Perhaps you should think of how much time you have before you insult one of my students again," Snape sneered. It suddenly made perfect sense. Draco was getting Snape to do his dirty work for him. Alysia was about to protest when Snape threw in, "Mention this to anyone and your secret will be school-wide knowledge."
So she was stuck. All it would take was a word from Snape about her father to one of the Slytherins and the entire school would know that she, Alysia Karadhras, was the daughter of an escaped convict. Echoes of hexes put on her in the play group bounced around her head as she shuffled to the library and asked Madame Pince for every book on invisibility draughts that she could find. Surprisingly, there were quite a few and Alysia stayed in the library late into the night, writing until her hand was cramped. All the while, a disturbing thought plagued her. Had Snape told Draco about her father? Perhaps Draco had complained to Snape about her and Snape had "accidentally" let her parentage slip. The idea was so horrible that Alysia nearly started to cry. The hexes would be starting again any day now.
Exhausted, she'd dragged herself to bed as it was well past one o'clock in the morning. The next day, she woke with a start. The room was completely silent and the sun was high in the sky. A look at the room's clock told her that she'd slept in too late; it was nearly noon! Within five minutes, she'd dressed and collected her things. She arrived in Divination just in time for Professor Trelawney to say, in a misty voice, "Ah yes. I knew you would be late, Miss Karadhras."
"Like hell you did," Alysia said rudely, realizing too late that she'd spoken aloud. She clapped a hand over her mouth, hearing a surprised gasp from the rest of the room. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Draco smirking. Professor Trelawney looked as if she'd never been more shocked in her life, but at that point, Alysia couldn't care less. She simply turned on her heel and left the classroom, not heeding the stares of the other students. Normally, she found Divination tolerable and even amusing, but after this week, she could not stand one minute in the same room with Sibyll Trelawney. She stormed from the room to the edge of the Dark Forest, making sure that not a hair was actually in the forest, lest Fidelina come charging out again. She was just tired of everything. Tired of her parents. Tired of Draco. Tired of Professor Snape. Tired of Harry and his friends. Tired of Fidelina. So there she stayed, at the edge of the Dark Forest, until nightfall. Then, she shuffled up to her room and fell into a fitful sleep, not bothering to even think about supper or what lay ahead.
And now it was Saturday. The tie game in Quidditch had been a week ago, and Hannah Abbott had been so proud of the team that she'd given them the Saturday off from practice. Good thing too, Alysia thought, touching the monster on her chin. She didn't want anyone to see her like this.
Unfortunately, that choice was not hers to make. There was a knock on the girls' bathroom door and Professor Sprout came in. "Alysia, your mother wants to see you in her office," she said quietly. Alysia nodded and pulled her hair back into a high ponytail. Moments later, she was hurrying through the door to her mother's office. There was no black dog this time. Just her mother, smiling and holding a pot of tea stood there.
"Hi, Baby Girl. Want some tea?" she asked.
That did it. Alysia plopped down in one of her mother's overstuffed armchairs and burst into tears. Her mother put the teapot down and pulled her into the embrace she'd needed all week. Barely pausing for breath, she let the problems of the entire week tumble out while her mother nodded understandingly and stroked her hair. When she'd finished, Alysia looked at her mother with damp eyes and sniffed.
"So what am I supposed to do? I don't think Dad and I will ever understand each other. I don't think that Dumbledore will ever stop staring at me. I don't think that Draco will ever talk to me again and I don't think that I can stand Ron hating Draco or Hermione being jealous of Ron hugging me or. . ." Alysia babbled.
"Sweetie, you don't have to do anything," her mother replied, gently putting her hand on Alysia's shoulder. "Your father is as stubborn as a mule, but he's not made of stone. If Draco really has good in him, your father will see it in time. There really isn't much you can do about Dumbledore. He's a strange man, but he tends to know what's best for you. As for Draco, give him time. If he really cares about you, he'll come around. You can't change Ron's feelings; only he can do that. And if Hermione knows that there is nothing between you and Ron, there's nothing you can do about her being jealous, either." Alysia scowled and her mother laughed. "I'm sorry, I know that's probably not what you wanted to hear, is it Baby Girl?"
"Not exactly," Alysia admitted. "Where's Daddy?"
"I sent him to Hogsmeade for the day. If you want, we can meet him up at the Shrieking Shack for supper," her mother suggested.
"That would work." Alysia paused for a second before asking, "Can we have that tea now?"
Her mother laughed and poured her a cupful. For the next several hours, they caught up on what was going on in their lives so far that school year. Her mother mentioned that Draco was a rather rude student to have in class, but a rather smart one as well. Alysia mentioned that while Draco was rude and prejudiced, he also usually treated her with kindness. Her mother also talked about how Dumbledore was working on finding Peter Pettigrew and bringing her father's trial back to the high court.
"With Pettigrew there for everyone to see, your father would be a free man," her mother pointed out, a smile lighting up her face. She then became more serious. "Things are getting worse in the wizarding world. Another two families were killed this week and dozens of people have been going missing. It's a good thing we're here at Hogwart's."
"Is it? I mean, is it that much safer here? We seem to be getting a whole lot of multi-special visitors lately," Alysia pointed out. "I just hope the harpy is the last of them."
"I was very proud of the way you took care of that harpy, Alysia." Her mother took another sip of tea. "I daresay you are earning some extra credit in Defense Against the Dark Arts!"
"Mum, that's favoritism!" Alysia laughed. It felt good to laugh after so many days of not laughing.
Supper that night went relatively well. Her father apologized once again and promised to try and see things her way. Somehow, after talking to her mother, Alysia found this more believable. Still, it seemed pointless as she doubted Draco would ever speak to her again. Halfway through supper, Harry showed up, to Alysia's mild surprise.
"I thought we could have a nice evening together as a family," Anaral explained as Harry sat down at the table (the legs of which had been severely chewed by Remus Lupin decades before). "Even though we can't legally adopt Harry yet, he's just as much a part of this family as you are, Alysia."
"Yes, Mum," Alysia answered, passing Harry a bowl of mashed potatoes.
Harry and Alysia headed back together that night; Sirius and Anaral seemed to want to stay behind by themselves, and Alysia, having experience in these matters, was quite willing to lead Harry down the passageway to the Whomping Willow. It had rained the night before, so the ground above them was damp and dripping, and about five minutes into the trek, the two were completely spattered with mud and laughing heartily. They quieted down some and Harry looked at Alysia sideways.
"Are you okay, Aly? You seemed pretty upset the night you and Draco had your fight," he observed.
"Oh, so you noticed? You weren't too busy celebrating my return to the light side?" Alysia laughed.
"I did notice. I know he's a rat and everything, but you seem to really care about him. I'm sorry he hurt you." Harry ducked under a tree root and paused while Alysia did the same.
"I've had worse," Alysia admitted.
"Does he treat you well, though? I mean, besides what's happened this week." Alysia thought for a moment. She couldn't really say that Draco treated her badly. His worst flaw was his arrogant snobbery, which was never really against her. Each time they went for a walk, he would pick flowers for her and would sometimes show insight and kindness by talking about something other than the downfall of all those with whom he disagreed.
"Yes. Draco treats me well," she admitted. The tunnel started to move uphill and she and Harry were soon panting for breath and abandoning all conversation to concentrate on the task at hand.
"I don't know. . .if Crookshanks will be there. . .to stop the Whomping Willow. . ." Alysia panted. "We. . .might have to. . .make a run for it."
"Run?" Harry gasped. "I don't know. . .if I can even. . .walk anymore."
"Your life. . .may depend on it!" Alysia stopped as they reached the trap door and listened for a minute. "I think it's safe. Let's go."
She pushed open the trap door and saw that the Whomping Willow was standing quite still. Crookshanks gave her a kitty smile as she pushed through the ground and gave Harry a hand. It was then that it became clear that they were not alone. Professor Snape was staring at them with utmost disgust as they climbed out of the tunnel. "What do you want?" Alysia asked him.
"I find it rather amusing, Miss Karadhras, to see you and Mr. Potter coming out of a secret passage to Hogsmeade without the permission and attendance of a professor," Snape sneered. "It would almost seem like you were trying to get a detention."
"We were having supper with Professor Karadhras and Sirius," Harry explained in a low voice. "We have Professor Karadhras' permission."
"Is that so? Well, then, I shall just have to ask her about that myself," Snape answered, starting towards the school.
"She's not there!" Alysia exclaimed. "She's still in Hogsmeade."
"How convenient," Snape countered with a disgusting smile. "Until then, ten points from Gryffindor and Hufflepuff for sneaking out."
"We didn't. . .!" Alysia began, but Snape silenced her with a glance.
"Perhaps you'd rather I make it fifty?" he asked, and Alysia could do nothing but glare at him until he'd sauntered back to the castle victoriously. Without thinking, Alysia transfigured into her falcon form and left a little surprise on Snape's robe. She returned to her human form beside Harry who was nearly doubled over laughing.
"That's brilliant," he managed between gasps of laughter. Alysia laughed too, once she had recovered.
"It's a gift."
They reached the castle in a companionable silence only to find chaos once inside. A large crowd had gathered outside of the banquet hall, many people screaming and others simply coughing. It seemed that there was a large fire inside and no one quite knew what had started it. While most of the students had been hurried out, many were still inside, trapped by a wall of high flames that barred the doorway. Alysia could hear them screaming.
"Isn't anyone going to do anything?" she finally cried above the shouts of the other students. Everyone looked at her as if she'd sprouted another head. Inside, the students were still screaming and everyone was just staring at Alysia and then behind her. The professors had arrived. They pushed through the crowd of students and began dowsing the flames with water that seemed to burst from the ends of their wands. Before long, nothing was left of the fire but a damaged banquet hall and an eerie blue smoke rising from the walls and floors. Alysia and Harry pushed to the front of the coup of teachers and students, realizing that their friends were not in the crowd. Before they could see anything, Madame Pomfrey and half a dozen other nurses brushed by, conjuring up stretchers as they went. One by one, the stretchers started coming out.
Ron was on one of them, but he seemed fine. He spotted Harry and Alysia as he passed and motioned for them to follow the parade of stretchers to the hospital wing. Hermione was just behind him, the corners of her robes and hair singed. She managed a brave smile at Harry and Alysia before disappearing around the corner. A few more students that Alysia did not recognize were brought out, and she and Harry were about to leave and head for the hospital wing, when something caught her eye and made her grab Harry's arm for support.
Draco's stretcher floated past. He wasn't moving.
A/N: Oooh the suspense! Poor Aly's having a rough time. More later, R/R!
