Ch. 5

Tally's Surprise Attack

The next morning Harry and Ron found that Harry had indeed been right about the girls sharing a dorm room. Hermione came down the stairs in a great huff.

"She's mad at me!" Hermione exclaimed, "like I'm the one in the wrong! AND, Parvati and Lavender think I'm being to hard on her!"

"Well Hermione, you did bite her head off last night at dinner, you can't really blame Tally for being upset, can you?" Hermione didn't answer, but stalked off out the portrait hole with her bushy hair billowing out behind her.

They arrived at the Great Hall in silence. Harry noticed Tally sitting alone reading a book at the Gryffindor table. Harry made his way towards her, having felt terrible for how things started off between them, he wanted to make it up to her.

"Hi Tally, is this seat taken?" She started at the sound of his voice, but smiled and shook her head at him. Hermione sat on Harry's otherside while Ron sat across from them.

"Hi Harry! I'm sorry for being so short with you yesterday, I know it's not your fault how your friends behave." Harry distinctly heard Hermione drop her fork against her plate, but chose to ignore it, "listen Harry, do you know anyone who is taking Arithmecy? Neville could only tell me one person who is and that happens to be the one person I want nothing to do with." Hermione began making odd noises out of anger. Harry chanced a glance at Ron, who looked very entertained by the whole situation.

"Er-" Harry began as he tried to remember anyone who was in Arithmecy. To his surprise it was Ron who answered,

"Terry Boot is in Arithmecy."

"Which one is he?" Tally asked Ron. Ron looked around the Hall before he spotted Terry and pointed him out to Tally, "Thanks Ron!" Tally called out as she ran to introduce herself to Terry.

"I-don't-believe-her!" Hermione said angerly through clenched teeth.

"Hermione, give it a rest." TRon said exasperately.

"No." Hermione stood, shot angry glares at both Harry and Ron, "As my friends, I would have thought better loyalty." She turned and walked off. Harry felt guilty for not sticking up for Hermione as much as she has always stuck up for him, but he couldn't help feel that she was being unreasonable and harsh when it came to Tally and her house-elf. Harry looked at Ron, who looked just as guilty as Harry felt, but he only shrugged his shoulders,

"She's mental she is." Ron said before returning to his eggs. A short time later Tally returned and sat beside Harry once more. If she noticed Hermione's absence, she gave no indiction.

"Well, now that that's out of the way, Harry, Neville told me that you are taking Potions, is he right?"

"Yeah" That was the one class Harry was not looking forward to.

"I was wondering if you would walk to class with me? I don't know my way around and neither Parvati nor Lavender are taking Potions." She was looking at Harry with great earnest and Harry was struck again at how very pretty she is. That thought jerked him a little because he had only ever thought it toward one other girl, Cho, and he no longer had any stomach knots at the thought of her. However, he could feel the knots beginning again as he looked into Tally's dark green eyes.

"Er-yeah, alright." Tally smiled widely at Harry and his somach did a back flip.

"Thanks Harry, your a real life saver!" Neville came over then and sat across from Tally, "Hey Nev, Harry and Ron found someone who is in Arithmecy, so no need to worry." She smiled at him.

"Oh good, I was getting worried that you would have to make nice with Hermione." All four of them laughed, then stood and parted ways. Tally went off to join Terry Boot, while Ron and Neville headed off to Devination. Harry did not have a morning class and so he headed back up to the Gryffindor tower until his first class.

Harry hadn't received an OWL for Devination so he had a free period until Transfiguration. He sat by the fire with Seamus, who also hadn't received an OWL for Devination either. They played Exploding-Snap until the period bell sounded and they headed off to their class.

There Harry met back up with Ron and Hermione and they took their usual places. Harry looked around the room and noticed that there were only a few people who were absent from the class. Harry saw Tally sitting between Lavender and Dean. Neville was no longer taking Transfiguration and, as it turned out, Parvati wasn't either. Tally caught Harry's eye and waved at him. He felt himself smile as his face heated alittle and then resumed his attention back to the front as Professor McGonagall entered the room.

After eating lunch with Ron and Hermione, Harry stopped just before the Great Hall doors to wait for Tally, who was chatting with Neville.

"Come on Harry, we're going to be late." Hermione told him.

"Er-actually I'm suppose to wait for Tally." Hermione's jaw dropped and she gave an angry glare, "I'm sorry, but she asked me this morning and she doesn't know her way around! What was I suppose to do?" Harry asked, feeling even more guilty.

"Hmph!" Hermione said and stalked off towards the dungeon stairs.

"Hermione, don't be like that!" Ron called after her. Ron being as tall as he was, could see Hermione's progress through the students long after she had disappeared from view of Harry, "Don't worry about her mate, I think she's just jealous."

"Who's jealous?" Harry and Ron whipped around to come face to face with Tally, Harry felt his stomach plummet a few feet. She was looking between the two of them curiously.

"Er-no one, are you ready to go?"

"I guess so, Neville's just been-er-explaining Professor Snape to me. He doesn't really seem all that nice of a guy. Neville is absolutely petrified of him. He told me that his boggart turned into him!" Tally chuckled. Harry smiled back and looked at Ron. Ron had a look where he wasn't quite sure whether to laugh or defend Neville.

"Yeah, it did. We should probably get going or else we might be late. Bye Ron, see you back in the Common room." Harry and Tally took off toward the stairs. They chatted merrily about their classes. When they reached Snape's classroom, Tally sat in the front next to Malfoy. Harry stood stunned for a moment as Malfoy gleamed maliciously back at him. Harry spotted Hermione at their usual table and headed back towards her.

"What does she think she's playing at?" Hermione whispered to him.

"I don't think she knows who Malfoy is."

"Oh please, she's hiding something terrible and you know it." At that point, Snape walked into the classroom and Harry was unable to retort.

Harry spent the last two and a half hours with Snape breathing down his neck criticizing everything he did. He then had to endure Malfoy's taunts while Tally frowned at both of them, uncertainty written all over her face. By the time the period bell rang, Harry was in a terrible mood, which wasn't helped by Hermione who kept shooting him dirty looks the whole time,

"Harry, HEY HARRY!" Harry turned to see Tally running to catch up with him.

"Hi Tally," Harry said gloomily, though his face reddened slightly.

"Hi!" She smiled at him and then glanced at Hermione, "Er-Hi Hermione." She added apprehensively. Hermione, who looked quite taken aback, began to ream into her,

"Just what do you think you are doing sitting with Malfoy?"

"Who?"

"Malfoy! Draco Malfoy, the little snake sitting next to you in Potions!" Hermione exclaimed. They had begun walking back to the common room.

"Oh, him? He's a Malfoy?" Tally didn't seem all that bothered by this news.

"Yes, and a terrible one. He's been my least favorite person since our first train ride to Hogwarts. His father is a Death Eater in Azkaban right now. We-er-kind of put him there." Harry replied. Tally looked at the two of them and slowly began to talk as though carefully trying to choose her words,

"We have Malfoy's in America too. They are just as terrible. All of them except Jess. She is a nice girl, real smart, loves everyone and everyone loves her. I mean, maybe Draco is like Jess." She was looking at Harry as though there was no other possibilities.

"No, he's not. He hates everyone who isn't a Pure-blood or in Slytherin." Hermione said matter-of-factly, but Tally only smiled.

"Well, it doesn't hurt to try, does it?"

When they entered the common room, Neville and Ron were sitting by the fire playing Wizard's Chess. Tally went to an opposite corner of the common room where Lavender and Parvati were seated.

"She thinks Malfoy is a Saint!" Hermione exclaimed to Ron and Neville as she threw herself onto the couch beside Ron.

"What?" Ron sputtered

"Tally's that type of girl. She believes the best of everyone." Neville said with a smile.

"Yes but we explained to her what kind of guy he is." Harry said.

"Things like that never matter to Tally. She's the kind of person who needs to find things out for herself. Actually, she reminds me of someone." Neville glanced at Harry and smiled slyly at him. Harry could only give him a quizzical look before Ron jumped in,

"What's her secret Neville?"

"Wh-what?" Neville stuttered, completely caught off-guard by Ron's question.

"Seriously, I want to know what she's hiding." Ron said, looking very eager at the prospect of finding out some information.

"I'm not going to tell you. It's for Tally to say, not me." Neville said. He rose from his seat and walked to were Dean, Ginny, and Seamus were sitting.

"She's hiding something evil. I know she is." Hermione said quietly.

"I just want to know how we are so much alike." Harry replied.

"Still, she is wicked cool." Ron said in an almost awed voice. Hermione shot him a dirty look, "What? Just because you don't like her because of a rudy house-elf, doesn't mean the rest of us can't. Besides, she seems to have taken a liking to Harry." Ron threw Harry a wicked smile and nudged his elbow into Harry ribs. Harry smiled shyly back and felt the heat rise to his face.

The rest of the week wasn't very eventful for Harry. Tally still chatted and sat with Malfoy even though everyone in Gryffindor warned her about him. Harry still walked with Tally to Potions with Hermione stomping angerly behind them. Harry spent a lot of time in McGonagall's office talking about the new Quittach team, when tryouts would be, and what the practice schedule should be like.

When Harry ran into Katie Bell, he apologized for being made Captain,

"Hi Harry!"

"Hi Katie, Er-listen Katie, I'm really sorry about the whole Captain thing, You should have been made Captain." Harry was looking at the ground while he spoke, but shot his head up when he heard Katie laughing,

"Harry, I'm not mad! Infact, I'm glad you were made Captain. I remember what Angelina was like, she was at her wits end constantly. I have enough stress with my N.E.W.T.S, I trust you Harry, I'm sure you'll do great!" Harry felt profoundly better about being Captain and by the time the weekend rolled around, he was well in need of a break.

"Harry, Ron! Come look at this!" Hermione said from the common room window. Harry and Ron made their way over and stood beside her. Harry's jaw dropped at the sight that met his eyes. Tally was jogging with Malfoy who was trailing along beside her looking very smug.

"What the bloody hell is she doing?" Ron asked as he watched them, Harry was beginning to wonder himself.

"She gets up at dawn to jogs. Yesterday was the first time I saw Malfoy with her. I know she's up to something." Hermione muttered more to herself then to Harry or Ron. Just then, Harry saw Hagrid emerge from the Forest.

"She gets up early to jog?" Ron asked, his eyes wide with disbelief.

"Hey we haven't visited Hagrid, want to go down and see how his summer went?" Harry asked. Both Ron and Hermione looked at him and quickly nodded their heads. Soon the trio were making their way across the school grounds towards Hagrid's cabin. Along the way, they walked smack into Tally and Malfoy.

"Hi!" Tally said and smiled as she slowed to a stop.

"Hi." They greeted back, although Hermione seemed rather reluctant.

"Yes, hello Potty, and Weasel." Malfoy turned to face Hermione, "Ah, yes of course, and hello to your filthy little Mudblood, Granger." Malfoy sneered. Harry and Ron both stepped forward ready to attack when a head with straight brown hair stepped infront of them.

"WHAT DID YOU CALL HER?" Tally screamed, both anger and bewilderment present in her voice. Malfoy looked extremely shocked at her outburst, "Take it back!"

"Wh-what?" His eyes were wide as he surveyed her.

"Apologize to her." Tally said, her hands on her hips and her eyes narrowed as she stared Malfoy down.

"I will not apologize to her, she's a muggleborn!" Malfoy grunted, clearly shocked and disgusted by such a request.

"My Father was a Muggleborn, you IDIOT!" Tally said, her voice rising in hostility.

"And now your father is dead." What happened next both shocked and impressed Harry to no end. Stepping up quickly to Malfoy, Tally punched him, knocking Malfoy into the mud. Tally was breathing heavily.

"You know nothing about my family!" Harry saw tears brimming in her eyes. Malfoy got back onto his feet, though covered in mud. Harry saw Ron snicker and Hermione gasp at the situation.

"What I do know is that your father wasn't good enough of a Wizard-"

"My father was the top Auror Wizard in America!" Tally was shouting, her voice filled with an emotion Harry knew so well, grief. Tears slid down her cheeks.

"And now he is dead." Malfoy sneered.

"You know nothing about his death." Tally's voice was an angry whisper.

"He is dead because he was too slow with his wand.:" Malfoy said calmly, his eyes were completely cold.

"My father died trying to save me." Tally's voice was almost inaudible with that last statement. Harry could visibly see her shaking, although he did not know whether it was from anger or grief.

"Yes, but he died in order for you to live an almost non-existant life, was that really worth it?" Malfoy took a step towards Tally. He was now towering infront of her, "Your father couldn't tell a friend from a foe and, apparently, neither can you." Malfoy began walking back toward the castle, Tally whipped around to face him again.

"You listen here Malfoy," She spit out his name in contempt. Malfoy stopped but didn't look back at them, "Pure-bloods are fading and so are your stupid beliefs. Muggleborns belong here and there isn't a damn thing you can do about it. Their blood is as magical as yours."

"This War will prove otherwise, Ms. Adams. The Dark Lord will win." Malfoy said.

"Good always prevails over evil, Malfoy and when we do, I'll be sure to mock you for it." Malfoy began to walk away, so Tally had to yell to make sure he heard her, "You remember that when you marry your COUSIN!" Silence followed her last comment and the trio could only stare in shock at Tally. Harry noticed that her face was twisted into a pained sort of expression and her hands were pressed tightly against her chest. She turned slowly to face them, tears still streaming down her face,

"I'm sorry." She was looking directly at Hermione, who started at the apology.

"It's alright, I'm used to Malfoy."

"He shouldn't have called you that and you should never get used to such words. You are far more talented than he wil ever dream of being." Hermione smiled at her praise.

"Now I rudy well can't 'ave you lot fight'n right infron' of me." All four of them jumped and spun around to face Hagrid. Harry smiled up at Hagrid, who winked in return, "Miss Adams, I will 'ave to tell."

"Yes, fine." She waved him off. Her face still looked as though she was in pain."I'm going to continue my jog. He made me so angry, I need to relax." Without another word, she turned and jogged away from the group.

"What 'appened?" Hagrid asked.

"Malfoy." Hermione replied. Ron snickered

"That was brillant. She punched him and told him he'd marry his cousin!" Ron burst into fits of laughter. Harry chuckled with him, but he kept his eyes on Tally who was a few yards away.

"Malfoy was making fun of her father." Hermione said quietly. Hagrid gave an sort of angry grunt. They all turned their attention to Tally. Harry saw her stop and clutch her chest tightly. She threw her head upward towards the sky and seemed to be gasping for air. As suddenly as her outburst had been with Malfoy, Harry watched in horror as Tally collasped to the ground.