Part 2: A Guilty Conscience
Later, Alice snuck out of the common room. She needed some time to walk and think, away from the raucous party being held for the Quidditch team.
She heard a noise behind her and turned around to see what could have made it. As she turned back around, she came face-to-face with the Headmaster.
"Professor Potter!" Alice exclaimed. "I'm so sorry."
"I wonder, Miss Elliot, what you would be doing out and about when there is undoubtedly a party in the Gryffindor common room—one in your honor."
"Well," said Alice, picking her words carefully, "I needed some time to think."
"About anything in particular?" queried the Headmaster. "Is there anything you would like to talk about, Alice?"
Alice, whose head had been down slightly, looked up, and straight into his eyes, which were of the brightest bottle green. At that moment, she knew she could not lie to him. His gaze made her feel like he knew everything.
"Yes," she answered unsteadily. "There are some things I'd like to talk to you about."
"What sort of things?"
"Well, it has to do with Quidditch." Alice looked at Professor Potter, and he nodded at her to continue.
"I was wondering, what do you know about what happens if a player other than the Seeker catches the snitch?"
Harry seemed to be in deep thought for a moment. "If you don't know anything about it, that's okay," said Alice hurriedly.
"Oh, I know. I did learn a bit about Quidditch during the seven years I played Seeker here and the years afterwards that I spent on the National Team," he replied.
Alice blushed noticeably, and the Headmaster continued. "The term for this particular foul is snitchip. It is, by definition, when any player other than the Seeker touches the snitch. If the person touching to snitch does not aid their Seeker in catching the snitch, they simply must release the snitch, and the other team receives a penalty shot."
"But…if the person committing the foul does help the Seeker on their team catch the snitch?" asked Alice in a tremulous voice.
"Then the team who committed the foul must forfeit the game," said Harry with a somber look on his face. "Is that all?"
Alice's head was spinning. She was not sure if she would be able to speak with a steady voice, but managed to say, "Yes, thank you," in what she thought was a calm enough tone.
"Then I will be seeing you later," the Headmaster said. He departed, leaving Alice alone in the corridor once again with her turmoil of thoughts. She was, for perhaps one of the first times, completely unsure of what to do next. She had always been the one to follow rules to the letter. What got into me? she though desperately. She stood in silence for a while longer before disappearing down the hallway back to the common room.
Alice's conscience was acting up so badly that, though she did not manage to escape the celebrations in the common room until well after midnight, she lay awake in her four-poster bed for what seemed like hours. Sleep, the one thing that she thought might soothe her agitated soul, continued to elude her. She stared at the red velvet hangings of the bed, their edges trimmed in gold, and for some reason was reminded of her own Sorting, less than three years before.
She had been nervous, as had most of the first years. Coming from a muggle family, she had not had any idea what to expect, and this only increased the tension. It was the waiting beforehand that had been the worst, she remembered: hearing scraps of conversation in which odd names where mentioned, houses were praised or condemned, all intermingled with the nervous questioning of those like herself who knew nothing about what was going on.
She remembered being ushered at last into the Great Hall, which was so full of students that there seemed to be a sea of black. Alice had been so overwhelmed that, by the time the Sorting Hat began its song, nothing could have shocked her at all. She had listened vaguely as the Hat had talked of the different houses, emphasizing that the houses were merely designed to group students with similar strengths and aptitudes, and that there was no reason for people from different houses to not be friends.
She had watched as, one by one, her fellow first years tried on the Hat, were sorted, and took their seat at one of the house tables. And then, far too soon, in Alice's opinion, it had been her turn. Her name called, Alice had walked up to sit on the three-legged stool and the professor had placed the Hat on her head, as she had for the others before. The Hat had been too big for Alice, and it had covered her face down to her nose.
Before she could think any more about it, the Hat had spoken. Ah, what do we have here?
Alice smiled, remembering how she had almost fallen off of the stool at the realization that the Hat was communicating through thought. It had apparently not noticed her scare, and had continued. My, my, you're a difficult one, it had said, in a tone that was almost chastising. Well, never you mind. Let's see…smart, yes, but not overly so. Not quite a Ravenclaw, and not as resourceful as a Slytherin. As for Hufflepuff…well, you've certainly been a loyal friend, and trustworthy. But what's this? The Hat had paused for a moment in its mental monologue before saying, You've got quite a lot of chivalry. Like a Gryffindor—you play by the old code, face what you must for justice to be done. Not overly brave, but brave enough, the Hat had concluded, before shouting for the whole Hall to hear, "Gryffindor! Alice had walked towards the table with the red banner emblazoned with a gold lion.
Now, lying awake and looking up at the scarlet expanse above her, Alice felt ashamed of herself. She was in Gryffindor because she was brave. What was it the Sorting Hat had said? You play by the old code…
The last time I checked, the old code doesn't include cheating, Alice thought, brushing a lone tear forcefully from her face. Once again, the phrase What have I done? floated through her consciousness. However, this time it was accompanied by the thought, What can I do to fix it?
There was only one answer that Alice could find to that question, no matter how hard she searched. She only had one option, and it was by no means easy. But it was the Gryffindor thing to do.
With this uneasy decision weighing on her heart, she fell into a fitful sleep.
A/N: Like it? Hate it? Please, review and tell me! I'll have the final bit up sometime later this weekend.