A/N - Well, now that I've gotten SOME of my retarded errors straightened out, I'll keep going...I will still change the passing reference to Snape, thanks to swimade for pointing that out. And thanks to Lycr for the reviews! I wonder who'll win the review prize...So I just came back from San Francisco, and haven't slept for 46 hours, but I cannot rest until I finish this chapter! I WANT TO GET THIS STORY MOVING. Readers - or, sadly, lack thereof - it is your job to email me and pester me that I should have finished Chapter 12 by next Wednesday, which is my first day of school. bluirinka@optonline.net if you're willing to harass. Love forever!
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Chapter 8 - The Inter-House Alliance
Nora awoke in front of a dying fire, an afghan thrown haphazardly about her shoulders and shivered. She wondered where the blanket had come from for a moment, and then the events of the previous night came flooding back to her in a powerful current that nearly shook her with its overwhelming force.
Darius Drake...Black Slumber...Daddy and Uncle Harry...horrible nightmares...Vin telling her to watch out...
Nora tried to sort out the torrent of thoughts that swam about her head and fell into a deep reverie.
'Hogwarts is being invaded. I don't know how; Mum and Daddy don't know how. But people are going to be hurt. And they're going to need someone...on the inside...to keep an eye out.'
She stood up purposefully, and a casual observer would have wondered in laughter at the sight of a small, eleven year-old girl standing up so determinedly, throwing the afghan off her shoulders and bolting up the stairs to her dormitory. Within minutes, she reappeared in the Common Room newly dressed, and sat waiting for another Gryffindor.
Others in Gryffindor Tower came into the common room in pairs or threes before exiting through the portrait hole. Nora sat, staring at the hearth, in which there could only be discerned a wisp of curling smoke. Finally, the voice she was waiting for greeted her ears.
"Nora?" said Vin Malfoy as he tentatively descended the staircase to his dormitory. "Are you...waiting for me?"
"Yes. I think we'd best all meet and discuss what we heard last night."
Vin nodded wordlessly, and the two children made for the Great Hall. They took the journey through passages and halls silently, each pondering the implications of the overheard conversation. When they appeared at the entrance to the Great Hall, Nora peered inside stealthily.
"I see Pallas, and Nicholas. Kincaid isn't in here," she said fretfully.
"Do you know where his common room is?" asked Vin tonelessly.
"Actually, I think I might," Nora said suddenly. She had heard countless stories told by her father and Uncle Harry at Christmastime, and she particularly remembered one that involved the two old friends journeying toward the Slytherin common room disguised by Polyjuice Potion...Mum had always scolded them not to tell these fantastic tales, but Nora supposed that her mother simply disliked this story because the end was Hermione turning into a cat.
"Well then. I suppose I'll just...nip in and ask Pallas and Nick to meet us outside?" Vin questioned. Nora nodded. They went their separate ways, and Nora went down a passageway that sounded like the one her Uncle Harry always described.
She had not taken twenty steps down the path before two familiar forms turned into the gray hallway.
"Kincaid! Agnes, hello," Nora stammered. "Am I - am I interrupting anything?" she said, her heart sinking.
Kincaid gave her a significant look, which Nora returned. Agnes chattered bashfully. "Oh, of course not! Rob had to go the library, told us not to wait for him, so me and Caid here decided to go down to breakfast. What brings you to this part of the castle?"
"I - uh - I was looking for Professor Marin?" Nora suggested, then blushed at her inadequate lying skill. "She wasn't in her office," Nora continued, determined to make it sound right, "And I once saw her around here...I needed help with those notes that are due soon."
Agnes nodded, and Kincaid rolled his eyes. "But..." Nora concluded, desperate to end her excuse, "She...er...isn't here, as you can see, so I think I'll just go down to breakfast with you."
The three walked back to where Nora had just come from, and Kincaid begged Agnes' pardon and excused himself to use the loo. As soon as Agnes shrugged and took her place at the Slytherin table, Nora and Kincaid swiftly went in search of the others.
"I thought you might 'a wanted to talk about what we heard," Kincaid hissed as a group of sixth-year Hufflepuffs passed them.
Suddenly, two hands shot out and grabbed both Nora and Kincaid by the backs of their necks.
"What took so long?" said Pallas fretfully.
"Agnes was with us," Nora explained.
"Alright. Well. I'm scared half to death, to tell the truth," Nicholas began honestly.
"Me too," Pallas whimpered.
"Truth be told, so am I," Nora confessed, "But I know that I'm willing to find out what's going on. Because what's going on is going on INSIDE HOGWARTS. It's just a question of discovering what exactly is going on..."
Nora trailed off faintly at her discovery that she had used the same phrase ineffectually in one sentence.
"What's going on," said Kincaid, "Is that half-bloods are being bloody sent off into some horrible sleep that they can't get out of until some really complicated thing happens."
"That sounds about right," said Pallas, shutting her eyes, her dirty blonde hair falling into her face.
"Well. We know what's happening." Nicholas sounded determined. "Probably the only ones in the school besides McGonagall and Marin."
"How can the school and Ministry possibly fight whatever this is if the only lookouts they've got are Marin and McGonagall?" Vin demanded. "I'm not a half-blood, but Nora is, and so are you, Nick. Do you feel safe, knowing you're target for this ruddy Black Slumber and Marin and McGonagall are your only protection?"
"Be fair," said Pallas, frowning. "Both of them are pretty amazing witches."
"It's just that they can't be everywhere at once." Nicholas rubbed his forehead, looking much older than one-and-ten years old.
"That's what we should do," said Nora on a burst of inspiration. "There are five of us. Maybe we don't know what to look out for EXACTLY, but...a few extra sets of eyes, watching for odd things is what we need."
"Yes." Kincaid gave no further comment.
"I've only been her for a few days, but I know that if Hogwarts goes down, I go down with it," Vincent said loyally.
Nora was about to agree, but then Pallas realized something and interrupted. "D'you...d'you see what's just happened?" she asked weakly.
The others were mystified.
"Vin...is talking about being loyal, loyal to his school. That's a Hufflepuff trait...coming from a Gryffindor. And Nick, you're talking about being brave...the Gryffindor defining trait. Nora's coming up with a clever line of action...that's Ravenclaw. And Kincaid is agreeing to take part in something for a public good rather than his OWN welfare...which isn't Slytherin at all."
"Maybe the Sorting Hat's off its rocker."
"Like I said; it's really old."
"Don't you see?" Nora cried. "It's...we're...it's proof that there's something of each of the Houses in everyone! D'you know, back when the second Voldemort war started, the Sorting Hat told all the Houses to stand together, and combine their virtues to fight Voldemort? My dad and my mum and my uncle decided to take it literally, and they started this sort of club thing, where all these students get together to learn all this defensive magic...the point is, it was three houses together! That's what we've got to do now! In the face of danger...pool our resources..." She stopped abruptly. "I sound like my father."
"No, you're right. We'll form a - an Inter-House Alliance, that's it!" said Kincaid intensely, his blue eyes serious. "We'll all watch out for each other, and pool our information, and maybe, when the time comes, we'll be able to help somehow."
"This all seems too fast," Pallas mumbled, but then straightened. "But what else is there to do?"
"Let's go hands in on it," Vin suggested. They put their hands in.
"For an Inter-House Alliance."
"No more Darius Drakes."
"Or Black Slumber sleepers."
Nora shuddered involuntarily, and she wasn't alone.
"And we have to keep it SECRET," Kincaid added.
They brought their hands out and stood for a moment. "Well," said Nicholas awkwardly. "Shall we...go to breakfast, then?"
"I suppose so," said Vin, on the verge of cringing.
They filed into the Great Hall and seated themselves. Each of the five members of the Inter-House Alliance was young and inexperienced...each came from quite varied backgrounds and upbringings...but the moment they united in a common cause, they entered the Great Hall different from how they'd entered it a day before. Each was suddenly changed, and more mature, and they hadn't done anything yet. It was the sense of preparation for something that was soon to come to pass...
'Which is almost like foreboding,' thought Nora unsettlingly, as she helped herself to various breakfast foods that remained untouched on her plate.
-----------------------------
The Minister of Magic had a pensive look on her face as she surveyed her inner council, which just so happened to consist of her husband and brother-in-law as well as her secretary.
"Professor McGonagall told you about the Black Slumber?" Hermione said faintly.
"You know what it is? Minerva said you wouldn't."
"I know what it is, but I'm probably one of the few people who does. I had to do a project on it in order to qualify for supervising St. Mungo's," said Hermione.
"Oh. I had no idea," said Ron sheepishly. Harry looked dumbfounded also.
"So...how are we supposed to restore the Drake boy to health?" Ron ventured.
"I'll have to do some research into the still-pure bloodlines," Hermione murmured distractedly. "And...then eliminate those who aren't powerful enough. Or even a remote possibility."
Ron knew she was thinking of the Malfoy line. His wife lapsed into a thoughtful silence.
"Hermione," Harry grimaced, making her start, "I know it's a pain, but we need your official signature on this to launch Operation Deluxe."
"Oh! Of course, Harry," she said, dipping her quill and signing her name with a flourish. Then she leaned back into a brooding silence. Harry and Ron took this as their cue to leave.
"Lucretia," they heard Hermione's strained voice call to her secretary just before the door closed, "I'll need to assign the research into pure bloodlines to someone, would you do that for me?"
"Of course, Mrs. Granger-Weasley," said Secretary Trantridge before she also joined Harry and Ron in the hallway.
Hermione remained alone in her office, staring down at the report of what had happened at Hogwarts. The words DARIUS DRAKE, THIRTEEN - RAVENCLAW. INCAPACITATED jumped out at her. She continued to stare blankly at the parchment in wonder before she sat back against the high-backed scarlet chair and sobbed quietly into her hands.
------------------------
A/N God this fic SUCKS. Why have you kept reading it? I just reread chapter 1 and it is AWFUL. This is terrible. I hope more interesting things will happen in future chapters...i really do.
------------------------
To the tune of Play That Funky Music White Boy:
I am a huge HP fan...
Reading all the books in a day
But before OotP came out
I read fanfic to hide my dismay
and then eventually I
decided to write some of my own
so I would write it, and write it
and wait for people's feedback
and until I get it
I might just never continue so
Leave a review for me, white boy!
Leave a review for me, right!
Leave a review for me, white boy!
Lay down the feedback even if you think that this fic should die!
Sorry, Silver Phoenix...why am I apologizing to her? It's not like one of the best fanfic writers ever is going to come and read MY crap. Anyway...review please!
Love,
Renee!
-------------------------
Chapter 8 - The Inter-House Alliance
Nora awoke in front of a dying fire, an afghan thrown haphazardly about her shoulders and shivered. She wondered where the blanket had come from for a moment, and then the events of the previous night came flooding back to her in a powerful current that nearly shook her with its overwhelming force.
Darius Drake...Black Slumber...Daddy and Uncle Harry...horrible nightmares...Vin telling her to watch out...
Nora tried to sort out the torrent of thoughts that swam about her head and fell into a deep reverie.
'Hogwarts is being invaded. I don't know how; Mum and Daddy don't know how. But people are going to be hurt. And they're going to need someone...on the inside...to keep an eye out.'
She stood up purposefully, and a casual observer would have wondered in laughter at the sight of a small, eleven year-old girl standing up so determinedly, throwing the afghan off her shoulders and bolting up the stairs to her dormitory. Within minutes, she reappeared in the Common Room newly dressed, and sat waiting for another Gryffindor.
Others in Gryffindor Tower came into the common room in pairs or threes before exiting through the portrait hole. Nora sat, staring at the hearth, in which there could only be discerned a wisp of curling smoke. Finally, the voice she was waiting for greeted her ears.
"Nora?" said Vin Malfoy as he tentatively descended the staircase to his dormitory. "Are you...waiting for me?"
"Yes. I think we'd best all meet and discuss what we heard last night."
Vin nodded wordlessly, and the two children made for the Great Hall. They took the journey through passages and halls silently, each pondering the implications of the overheard conversation. When they appeared at the entrance to the Great Hall, Nora peered inside stealthily.
"I see Pallas, and Nicholas. Kincaid isn't in here," she said fretfully.
"Do you know where his common room is?" asked Vin tonelessly.
"Actually, I think I might," Nora said suddenly. She had heard countless stories told by her father and Uncle Harry at Christmastime, and she particularly remembered one that involved the two old friends journeying toward the Slytherin common room disguised by Polyjuice Potion...Mum had always scolded them not to tell these fantastic tales, but Nora supposed that her mother simply disliked this story because the end was Hermione turning into a cat.
"Well then. I suppose I'll just...nip in and ask Pallas and Nick to meet us outside?" Vin questioned. Nora nodded. They went their separate ways, and Nora went down a passageway that sounded like the one her Uncle Harry always described.
She had not taken twenty steps down the path before two familiar forms turned into the gray hallway.
"Kincaid! Agnes, hello," Nora stammered. "Am I - am I interrupting anything?" she said, her heart sinking.
Kincaid gave her a significant look, which Nora returned. Agnes chattered bashfully. "Oh, of course not! Rob had to go the library, told us not to wait for him, so me and Caid here decided to go down to breakfast. What brings you to this part of the castle?"
"I - uh - I was looking for Professor Marin?" Nora suggested, then blushed at her inadequate lying skill. "She wasn't in her office," Nora continued, determined to make it sound right, "And I once saw her around here...I needed help with those notes that are due soon."
Agnes nodded, and Kincaid rolled his eyes. "But..." Nora concluded, desperate to end her excuse, "She...er...isn't here, as you can see, so I think I'll just go down to breakfast with you."
The three walked back to where Nora had just come from, and Kincaid begged Agnes' pardon and excused himself to use the loo. As soon as Agnes shrugged and took her place at the Slytherin table, Nora and Kincaid swiftly went in search of the others.
"I thought you might 'a wanted to talk about what we heard," Kincaid hissed as a group of sixth-year Hufflepuffs passed them.
Suddenly, two hands shot out and grabbed both Nora and Kincaid by the backs of their necks.
"What took so long?" said Pallas fretfully.
"Agnes was with us," Nora explained.
"Alright. Well. I'm scared half to death, to tell the truth," Nicholas began honestly.
"Me too," Pallas whimpered.
"Truth be told, so am I," Nora confessed, "But I know that I'm willing to find out what's going on. Because what's going on is going on INSIDE HOGWARTS. It's just a question of discovering what exactly is going on..."
Nora trailed off faintly at her discovery that she had used the same phrase ineffectually in one sentence.
"What's going on," said Kincaid, "Is that half-bloods are being bloody sent off into some horrible sleep that they can't get out of until some really complicated thing happens."
"That sounds about right," said Pallas, shutting her eyes, her dirty blonde hair falling into her face.
"Well. We know what's happening." Nicholas sounded determined. "Probably the only ones in the school besides McGonagall and Marin."
"How can the school and Ministry possibly fight whatever this is if the only lookouts they've got are Marin and McGonagall?" Vin demanded. "I'm not a half-blood, but Nora is, and so are you, Nick. Do you feel safe, knowing you're target for this ruddy Black Slumber and Marin and McGonagall are your only protection?"
"Be fair," said Pallas, frowning. "Both of them are pretty amazing witches."
"It's just that they can't be everywhere at once." Nicholas rubbed his forehead, looking much older than one-and-ten years old.
"That's what we should do," said Nora on a burst of inspiration. "There are five of us. Maybe we don't know what to look out for EXACTLY, but...a few extra sets of eyes, watching for odd things is what we need."
"Yes." Kincaid gave no further comment.
"I've only been her for a few days, but I know that if Hogwarts goes down, I go down with it," Vincent said loyally.
Nora was about to agree, but then Pallas realized something and interrupted. "D'you...d'you see what's just happened?" she asked weakly.
The others were mystified.
"Vin...is talking about being loyal, loyal to his school. That's a Hufflepuff trait...coming from a Gryffindor. And Nick, you're talking about being brave...the Gryffindor defining trait. Nora's coming up with a clever line of action...that's Ravenclaw. And Kincaid is agreeing to take part in something for a public good rather than his OWN welfare...which isn't Slytherin at all."
"Maybe the Sorting Hat's off its rocker."
"Like I said; it's really old."
"Don't you see?" Nora cried. "It's...we're...it's proof that there's something of each of the Houses in everyone! D'you know, back when the second Voldemort war started, the Sorting Hat told all the Houses to stand together, and combine their virtues to fight Voldemort? My dad and my mum and my uncle decided to take it literally, and they started this sort of club thing, where all these students get together to learn all this defensive magic...the point is, it was three houses together! That's what we've got to do now! In the face of danger...pool our resources..." She stopped abruptly. "I sound like my father."
"No, you're right. We'll form a - an Inter-House Alliance, that's it!" said Kincaid intensely, his blue eyes serious. "We'll all watch out for each other, and pool our information, and maybe, when the time comes, we'll be able to help somehow."
"This all seems too fast," Pallas mumbled, but then straightened. "But what else is there to do?"
"Let's go hands in on it," Vin suggested. They put their hands in.
"For an Inter-House Alliance."
"No more Darius Drakes."
"Or Black Slumber sleepers."
Nora shuddered involuntarily, and she wasn't alone.
"And we have to keep it SECRET," Kincaid added.
They brought their hands out and stood for a moment. "Well," said Nicholas awkwardly. "Shall we...go to breakfast, then?"
"I suppose so," said Vin, on the verge of cringing.
They filed into the Great Hall and seated themselves. Each of the five members of the Inter-House Alliance was young and inexperienced...each came from quite varied backgrounds and upbringings...but the moment they united in a common cause, they entered the Great Hall different from how they'd entered it a day before. Each was suddenly changed, and more mature, and they hadn't done anything yet. It was the sense of preparation for something that was soon to come to pass...
'Which is almost like foreboding,' thought Nora unsettlingly, as she helped herself to various breakfast foods that remained untouched on her plate.
-----------------------------
The Minister of Magic had a pensive look on her face as she surveyed her inner council, which just so happened to consist of her husband and brother-in-law as well as her secretary.
"Professor McGonagall told you about the Black Slumber?" Hermione said faintly.
"You know what it is? Minerva said you wouldn't."
"I know what it is, but I'm probably one of the few people who does. I had to do a project on it in order to qualify for supervising St. Mungo's," said Hermione.
"Oh. I had no idea," said Ron sheepishly. Harry looked dumbfounded also.
"So...how are we supposed to restore the Drake boy to health?" Ron ventured.
"I'll have to do some research into the still-pure bloodlines," Hermione murmured distractedly. "And...then eliminate those who aren't powerful enough. Or even a remote possibility."
Ron knew she was thinking of the Malfoy line. His wife lapsed into a thoughtful silence.
"Hermione," Harry grimaced, making her start, "I know it's a pain, but we need your official signature on this to launch Operation Deluxe."
"Oh! Of course, Harry," she said, dipping her quill and signing her name with a flourish. Then she leaned back into a brooding silence. Harry and Ron took this as their cue to leave.
"Lucretia," they heard Hermione's strained voice call to her secretary just before the door closed, "I'll need to assign the research into pure bloodlines to someone, would you do that for me?"
"Of course, Mrs. Granger-Weasley," said Secretary Trantridge before she also joined Harry and Ron in the hallway.
Hermione remained alone in her office, staring down at the report of what had happened at Hogwarts. The words DARIUS DRAKE, THIRTEEN - RAVENCLAW. INCAPACITATED jumped out at her. She continued to stare blankly at the parchment in wonder before she sat back against the high-backed scarlet chair and sobbed quietly into her hands.
------------------------
A/N God this fic SUCKS. Why have you kept reading it? I just reread chapter 1 and it is AWFUL. This is terrible. I hope more interesting things will happen in future chapters...i really do.
------------------------
To the tune of Play That Funky Music White Boy:
I am a huge HP fan...
Reading all the books in a day
But before OotP came out
I read fanfic to hide my dismay
and then eventually I
decided to write some of my own
so I would write it, and write it
and wait for people's feedback
and until I get it
I might just never continue so
Leave a review for me, white boy!
Leave a review for me, right!
Leave a review for me, white boy!
Lay down the feedback even if you think that this fic should die!
Sorry, Silver Phoenix...why am I apologizing to her? It's not like one of the best fanfic writers ever is going to come and read MY crap. Anyway...review please!
Love,
Renee!