A/N: I'm stuck in a well with a pineapple and a giraffe. And I don't own anything H.P. Can it get any worse. I suppose I could always get stuck with a sweaty drunk fat man who cant speak english...

however you say splash in another language

Damn...

Chapter 22: Believe, Believe!

"Ms. Lucas, you have gone absolutely insane." Alana was sitting among her professors McGonagall, Snape, and Dumbledore, recounting her chat with Godric Gryffindor. Of course, because of her luck, they didn't really believe a word.

"Severus, she may be your student but you do not need to insult her. I'm certain she just... fell asleep." At least McGonagall was sticking up for her. Well, half way at least.

"Why is it so hard for you to believe I spoke to this guy? You have loads of ghosts around this castle and I can talk to them just as easily." Alana asked indignantly.

"Because Godric Gryffindor is not a ghost."

"Well obviously he is. How the hell else would he be here if he's been dead for hundreds of years?"

"He didn't talk to you!"

"Severus!" Dumbledore almost snapped. "That is quite enough out of you. I would ask the both of you to excuse Alana and myself. I need to discuss this with her. I will deduce whether or not she needs medical attention. I have been appointed her guardian while she is at this school and is therefore my responsibility. Thank you for your opinions."

Professor McGonagall nodded curtly, realizing that Albus was correct, he was Alana's legal guardian, even if she didn't like being excluded from something as important as even a dream about the school's founders. Professor Snape on the other hand didn't feel any need to hide his displeasure of being yelled at as if he were a child, even if he was acting the part.

"Headmaster, there isn't any reason to believe this insane story. This is not the first occasion in which she has made up an insane story to occupy her time."

"I do not make up stories!" Alana shouted. She'd never even talked to this professor for more than five minutes and he was already judging her and calling her a liar. "How dare you say something like that! You don't know me, you don't know anything about me! If anyone in here is a liar it's you, you damnable back-stabbing spy!" Her eyes were glowing again and she was on her feet, staring up at the vampire-like man she now knew she had absolutely no reason to treat with any respect. She could, however, be considerate to her fellow munchkin and give the man a Kleenex.

"How dare you..." Snape growled menacingly "Ms. Lucas, I think it would be in your very best interest to shut up."

"Make me you over grown bat!"

"Name calling, how childlike."

"Maybe that's because I am a child!"

"Severus, Alana, that is enou-"

"Uncle, this does not concern you in the least. It's not your fault if Dracula over here never learned any manners from his parents. But then again he was raised by murderers. Like parent like child. That's how it always goes."

"Then you will end up dead."

"Not before you! You're a murderer! A thief! A double-crosser! Completely untrustworthy and unfit to dirty this earth with your pathetic example of a human life!"

SMACK!

Snape hit Alana hard across the face, putting all his strength into the swing and knocking her to the cold stone floor.

"Severus Snape!" McGonagall shrieked. "We are leaving this office. Right. Now." She reached up, grabbed him by the ear and dragged him out of the office, arguing all the while.

Alana sat herself up and wiped her bleeding lip on the back of her sleeve.

"Are you alright?" Albus asked from his desk. The tone in his voice let his niece know exactly how disappointed he was. She always hated that tone, it was always better for him to yell.

"Fine." She wasn't about to sweet her way out of the situation. "He's got quite a backhand though. He might be pretty good with some training."

"You were extremely out of line Alana."

"I know."

"What on earth were you thinking?"

"I was thinking he should get what he gives. If he wants to say I'm deranged that's fine. I already know he's a killer, I'll just say it out loud."

"That's not the real reason."

"What makes you think that?"

"You've never been the kind to loose your temper." Albus stared her in the eyes and sighed frustratedly. "What happened to make you break like that?"

Alana turned her head away and into her lap.

"Nothing happened."

Albus sighed again, lightly this time, more out of sadness than anger.

"Listen, Alana, I know things have been hard the last few days but you can't go around saying things like that to anyone, especially not a professor."

His niece didn't respond, she just crossed her arms in front of her chest and stared guiltily at the floor. She didn't really want to tell him why she was so angry with Professor Snape, why would he believe her? She didn't really believe her about Gryffindor's visit and she doubted this one would be any different.

"It doesn't matter."

"Yes it does."

"You wouldn't believe me."

"Why wouldn't I?"

"Because you don't even believe me about the ghost."

"I never said that. Tell me what's wrong."

"No."

"Why are you acting like a child? This is very much unlike you Alana."

"You haven't really been around lately to know what I'm like anymore."

"That's a little harsh, I have responsibilities with the Order of the Phoenix and dealing with students that aren't behaving the way they shouldn't. Just like I'm doing now."

"So now I'm a delinquent student!" Alana snapped harshly and angrily. "You really want to know why I hate that Snape character! He was there! He was there when Maggie was killed and he did nothing to stop it. He just stood and watched her and the rest of my classmates die! He as good as killed my cousin!" She jumped out of her seat and ran out of the room, knocking over her chair and whatever else her flailing arms could reach. She couldn't handle it anymore, she just wanted to go home.

She ran through the school, blinded by tears and not really knowing where she was going or who she was bumping into. That is, until she ran head on into someone much more solid than she would have liked and crumpled onto the floor. She didn't bother to get up either, she just laid there and cried.

"Alana?" she heard someone say. "Alana, what's wrong?" she felt a gentle hand on her shoulder and shoved it away.

"Leave me alone Ron." She sobbed. "I- I just want to be alone."

Ron crouched next to her and brushed her burgundy hair out of her face. He hated it when girls cried and never really knew what to do, but he couldn't just leave her there. He slipped his hand under her shoulders and sat her up slowly.

"Come on, you'll get trampled if you just lay in the corridor." He said soothingly. What else could he do?

"Please Ron, just leave..." Alana started to say, but it was swallowed up by another sob.

"No such luck for you." He replied sarcastically. "You can cry all you want once you get out of the way. We don't want you to have foot prints permanently imprinted on your forehead no do we?" He thought her next sob sounded more like a laugh than the others, but it was soon swallowed up in her frantic ramblings.

"I can't be here. I can't go to school with them, they're horrid, they make me sick. Please, I need to get out of here. They're coming after me too and they're so close. If I'm alone for even a minute they'll take me. Ron, please help me. Please, I've got to go home. I've got to warn Aunt Ailbe, I've got to warn Har-" Her words tumbled over one another, Ron could barely understand her.

"Alana! Calm down!" She was really starting to freak him out.

"I can't calm down!" She practically growled at him. Other students in the halls were starting to notice her panic attack. "Godric warned me. He stuck everyone just so he could tell me! I have to warn them! I should have told Albus but I was so mad. I've got to get to the Order! They need to know he's hurt!"

Ron felt a stone plummet to the bottom of his stomach. It couldn't be happening again, last time was bad enough, if his father was hurt again...

"Who's hurt?" He asked sharply. "Alana, Alana! Look at me! Who's hurt!"

"Tom Riddle!" Alana hissed back in a voice clearly not her own. "He's hurt and he's using the dead to get the treasure!" It was official, she'd lost it. "Now he wants my family and I won't let him get them!" People were definitely watching now.

"Alana, calm down. Take a deep breath and close your eyes." Ron whispered to her. He slipped his wand out of his bag and into the sleeve of his robes. "Calm down, Riddle isn't going to get your family any time soon." He heard her ragged breath slowing down and saw her eyes slide closed. He whispered the silencing charm under his breath.

"I'm taking you to the hospital wing." He whispered in her ear. "I think you need Madame Pomphrey's help." He scooped her up in his arms, attracting even more attention. A few fellow Gryffindors asked him what was wrong, seeing as Alana looked like she was completely unconscious even though she was just leaning against Ron's chest with her eyes closed. At that particular moment she didn't really feel like this was something she needed to fight against, so she relaxed in his comforting embrace, letting the warmth only another person could offer wash over her and carry away her worries.

A/N: Your world is an ashtray. We burn and crawl like ciggarettes. The more you cry the ashes turn to...(Something that resembles a mix between 'mine' and 'mush') MARILYN MANSON HAS GOOD MUSIC... HE MAY BE CREEPY BUT I LIKE HIS SONGS.

Alright, obviously she wasn't stuck in suspended animation, although that would have been rather hilarious. I was NOT happy with this chapter at all. In fact I think it's one of the worst so far...But I couldn't get my idea of what was going on in Alana's head to get out on paper.

To help clarify: She's been away from her family for months and her family is almost literally her entire life. Because her kind isn't supposed to exist, they rely on one another for friends and support. Imagine not seeing a single one of your friends or family members for the better half of the year. That's what she's feeling.

She's also just been tossed into a fairly constricting world where she can be entirely herself, but at least it's better than Whitehall where she couldn't do ANYTHING. She does however have to be careful and not let anyone know who she really is. Kinda hard to keep such a big secret. She does have three knew and supportive friends, but they are VERY new and don't know everything about her and she's not exactly willing to share.

The most obvious is that she was the SOLE SURVIVOR of a literal massacre. Around I'd say a hundred young girls were killed with her hiding in a little room. She's a little paranoid and traumatized to say the least, she can just hide it well. She's grown up knowing how and when to hide her feelings and when she can show them. Battles and Strange locations qualify as HIDE THEM situations.

And then she just had a cryptic visit with a ghost/gollum thingy. That just happened to break her very frayed nerve. I think it would set you guys off too. I think I would go into a coma if it happened to me. Hmm, ...good idea...