(Emily's story)
Hey guys ! I hope you all know that I do not own any characters except for Alana, Abby, their mother, and their grandfather.
---------Chapter 7------------
Dumbledore looked into the basin and waved at Alana to come next to him. "I think it would be best if you went inside the memory. All you have to do is touch the surface and you will go into the memory."
Alana took a deep breath and leaned in and her nose glazed the surface, making her whole body fall into the basin.
When she opened her eyes again, she saw the headmaster's office surrounding her. "This can't be right... it must not have let me go through."
She tried to find Harry but he was nowhere in sight and behind the desk looked like a younger Albus Dumbledore, still with his long gray beard that went farther than his belt. She cleared her throat trying to get his attention, but he kept looking at a strange glowing crystal.
"Excuse me, Professor, I didn't mean to inter..." she started but a hand grasped her shoulders. Alana turned quickly to see the real Dumbledore smiling at her. "I might have forgotten to mention that while you are in a memory, no one can hear or see you."
"That explains it," Alana said walking closer toward the other Dumbledore. He kept tapping the crystal with his wand but nothing was happening.
"It did take me quite awhile to figure out how to open it but eventually... oh there I go. I think I got it," Dumbledore said proudly.
The younger Dumbledore finally was able to unlatch the top of the crystal and a silvery figure came gliding out of it. "Is that Merlin?" Alana asked uncertainly.
"Yes my dear, that is Merlin.. He must have made this prophecy while he was with your mother." The ghost-like transparent Merlin started talking and all three of the people in the office went silent.
My chosen heir will be the key to the rising threat of a terrible dark wizard. Both of the sides will want her; whichever side claims her will be the side that will triumph. Beware of the son the the darkness, for he will try to steal my heir away from the light. The one chance is for my heir to find her true powers, but most importantly, her true love, who will be one of the chosen ones, the dragon of the light. My heir will be the key.
"Wha..." Alana started but at that second she was jerked back into Dumbledore's real office with Harry standing their looking anxious. "That can't be true, it just can't..."
"Why me?"
Alana slumped into a chair and stared at the headmaster before drawing a deep breath. " I know who the other person is that will help Harry fight Voldemort."
Harry looked shocked, but Dumbledore just looked mildly surprised and gestured her to continue.
"It's Draco Malfoy."
"What!" shouted Harry. "There is no way; you must be wrong. He's evil! He is probably a deatheater just like his father. It can't be."
"Harry," Alana said quietly," There is no mistake. Merlin gave me the job of finding the two who were involved in the prophecy and that is exactly what I did. This prophecy proves that it is him even more, the dragon of the light. I just don't understand...why am I in the prophecy as well?"
"There's no explanation for that Miss Alana. These things happen for a reason. As I told you before, you are a very special girl and you have proven it to me."
An akward silence filled the room after Dumbledore's statement. Even the paintings had stopped pretending to be asleep.
"I suggest you two and Draco come to me later and we will talk about this is more detail. It seems as though you need to evaluate what you two just learned as well. But do not say this to anyone, not even Draco. I think we should be all together before we talk about it. Then we will figure out what we are going to do with the knowledge we have just discovered. I suggest we meet Sunday night at eight."
Alana and Harry turned to leave and Dumbledore said,"Miss Alana, you know what tomorrow is and I hope you are ready for whatever may happen. Do not worry though, because I know you and your friends will not let anything happen to you."
"I am not worried," Alana said in asomewhat distant voice, and Harry followed her out of the office. They walked silently to the common room, said a quiet good-night, and then headed up to their rooms. Hermione, Ron,Ginny, and Neville were all watching themclosely, wondering what they had talked to Dumbledore about.
Ron started to stand up but Hermione held him down. "Don't interrupt him right now. They will both tell us when they are ready."
Ginny looked at her brother and nodded. Ron sighed deeply and then continued his chess match against Neville, who was surprisingly good competition.
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Alana woke up, rubbing her eyes, and stretched. Then she gasped.
"Today is Saturday."
Her mind flashed back to one of her dreams, more like nightmare, where she could still here that cruel voice telling her that he was done playing games.
Her body started to shake uncontrollably, until Hermione came in and saw her. She rushed over and brought Alana into a tight hug.
"I'm being stupid," Alana started, but Hermione shushed her. "You would be stupid if you weren't scared."
Alana shook herself. She was being silly. Why should she be afraid of some idiotic Slytherins who think they are queens because they have a mark on their arms. She could wipe their prissy smiles off their faces anytime she wanted to.
"Oh Alana, I forgot to tell you. I found some great stuff on that potion we all have to make for Snape. You know, the InnerStrength potion?" Alana nodded. "Well, once the potion is finished, it shows how much power you have. All the drinker has to do is wait for about 5 seconds, and his or her body will glow the color of power you are."
"How amazing would it be to find out the power you have..." Hermione rambled, as both of them were getting dressed. "I mean, I would be estatic if I was yellow, but imagine if I was red..."
They walked down the stairs, and Ginny greeted Alana with a warm hug; there was no need for her to say anything. The hug was a silent," Hey, we all care about you so much and we will never let anything happen to you."
After both Harry and Ron had joined them, they all walked down to breakfast, feeling the eerie atmosphere of the Great Hall as soon as they entered. Being the protective boys they are, Harry and Ron sat on either side of her, with their backs to the Slytherin table. Hermione, Ginny, and Neville, who had just sat down to join them, were sitting across from her.
Alana was annoyed that they thought she needed protection, but happy to know that it was because they cared about her.
Everyone was noticing the uncanny silence surrounding the house tables. Alana was poking at her food, she didn't feel much like eating. More like running back into the forest and scrambling back into her safe spot in the high branches of her oak tree.
Harry touched her arm and whispered," Alana, don't worry. I'm going to take care of you. You don't have to be afraid of them."
Alana looked up at him. "I'm not afraid of them. Why would I be afraid of Pansy, of all people. No, that's not it. I'm scared of what they know. If they know who I am..." her voice trailed off. "I'm not ready to tell people yet. I don't want everyone to know."
Harry nodded, but he became increasingly curious about how the death eaters knew about the prophecy. They had to know or they wouldn't be going after Alana. "How could they have found out? Maybe Dumbledore wasn't the first one to find Alana's mother..."
The owls came in screeching, delivering their usual morning papers. Hedwig landed in front of Harry to eat some of his breakfast, which hadn't been touched.
A strange owl swooped over Alana and dropped an envelope gracefully on her plate. She looked around, but no one seemed to know who's owl it was. The envelope was written to her in gold ink, with her name, Alana, across the front. She gazed at it, trembling but curiously excited.
"What if it's my sister!"Her thoughts were filled with hope. "But it couldn't be..."
Alana looked at Hermione who was glaring over at the Slytherin table.
"Don't open that!" Hermione ordered when Alana reached out for the letter. "Why not?" Alana had the burning desire to find out if it was her sister who had sent it.
"Don't turn around, but as soon as that letter was brought over here, Pansy has been grinning triumpantly, and that owl just landed in front of her!"
Harry got up abruptly and went straight to the headmaster. "Uh, sir? Remember what we were talking about in your office, well a strange letter has arrived for Alana and I would like for you to look at it, you know, just to make sure it's not anything... bad."
"Of course," Dumbledore replied, and he strode over to the Gryffindor table. Pansy's smile evaporated as she saw the headmaster over there. Hermione was satisfied with Pansy's now horror-stricken face. He brandished his wand and levitated the mail, scrutinizing every aspect of it.
"Well," he said," it's a portkey. I'm glad you were aware of this, because this portkey would have made big problems for you, Miss Alana."
Alana was still in shock over what had just happened, and the headmaster's voice sounded distant. She finally looked over at the Slytherin table, brightened by the fact that Pansy was looking dumbstruck. She started laughing loudly, shocking the people around her. "Is that the best they got? I don't know what any of you were worried about!"
Alana let out a sigh of relief, but inwardly, she was distraught. "So they really do know who I am..."
She was foolish to think her sister was still alive...Once they found out they had the wrong daughter..."No Alana, don't think like that. They might not even have her."
She caught Draco's eye who nodded his head toward the doors. Alana got up quickly, but everyone was hesitant to let her go.
"Guys, thanks for being there for me, especially today. You don't have to worry about me okay? I'll be careful."
She walked out of the Great Hall, and Draco came up to meet her.
"Alana, I just had a talk with Snape."
"What does Snape want?" she asked curiously.
"Well first off, he said you will be having your make-up detention tonight at seven." Alana groaned.
"I'm not sure why, but he also wants our group to brew the InnerStrength potion first. He said he needs it for something, so he wanted one of the groups to finish it for him."
Alana thought about what Hermione had said about the potion. " Draco, do you know if we are going to use it on ourselves?"
"I hope so. It would be awesome to find out how much power you have, but it could also be embarrassing if you weren't strong because everyone will see what color you are."
They went out onto the grounds and sat down by the lake. The giant squid was floating on the surface of the shimmering water and some first years were gazing at it in awe. Collin Creevy was taking pictures with avid intensity.
Alana laid down on the cool grass. She put her hands behind her head and closed her eyes. This was the most at peace she had been since the night she overheard the Slytherin girls. Being with Draco eased her nerves and let her relax.
"Alana, I have to tell you something," Draco confessed.
"Yeah?" she said not opening her eyes.
"I'm really glad you came to Hogwarts."
Alana looked up at him with surprise. "What?" she asked softly.
"Since you've come here, I don't know, I've really been thinking over what is really important to me. I guess I'm starting to see that I don't have to follow my father's path anymore. I'm not saying that I'm going to turn all good on everyone and be nice to everybody, but I guess you could call it a start."
Alana gave him a big hug and felt his muscles relax. She looked back up at his dazzling blue eyes, and remembered that the prophecy said that he was her true love. "I'm not sure about that yet, but if it's true, it's not going to be such a bad thing at all."
"I have to tell you something as well. But I think you will have to wait until the meeting with Professor Dumbledore tomorrow night."
Draco looked curiously at her, but then shrugged it off. "Why do we have to go see him?" he asked.
"Well actually, you and Harry both are going to be there with me. I can't say anything else though. Dumbledore told me and Harry not to say anything until all of us have talked about it."
Draco's face twisted into disgust at the mention of Harry's name, but Alana ignored it.
They were resting there for a while; Draco was thinking about the first night they met. He was doing his rounds, and she busted through the door, asking where Dumbledore was. "How did she do it?" he questioned himself. He decided to find out.
"How did you find Dumbledore the first night you were here. And how did you make the gargoyle move without a wand or a password? I have thought of everything and still can't figure it out."
Alana looked at him seriously. She told him, " I know this is probably killing you, but I promise I will tell you when we go to Dumbledore's office. It's too risky to say it here."
They walked back a little while later, and Alana could see people whispering all around her. "I wonder what they think about me now. If I come out with my powers, I will definitely give them something to talk about." She grinned inwardly, waved bye to Draco, and left to go back to the common room to start some of her homework.
"Where have you been?" Ron said accusingly. "Why'd you leave w...ouch!" Ron said clutching the back of his head where Ginny had hit him. Alana was grateful since she was not in the mood to talk to anyone right now.
"I'll be upstairs doing my homework if you need me," Alana said smoothly, giving Harry a reassuring glance before heading up the stairs.
She spent the rest of the morning working on her essays for Potions and DADA class. The DADA teacher, Professor Grunt, was an old guy whose face had an uncanny resemblance of a pig. He spoke in a very high pitch voice, which took the whole class weeks to get used to it without laughing.
He was a very tough teacher, but Alana was excellent at spells and jinxes. She breezed through that class except when they decided they were going to have mock duels. She had faked sick twice to get out of it, but Alana didn't know how long it would take for him to realize she was missing it on purpose. "Well I guess when I come out with the real me, I won't have to hide it anymore."
The day flew by quickly, and before Alana knew it, she was standing outside the dungeons heading to her detention. She walked into Snape's office and he beckened her to come to him. "Because of your misbehavior in class, you're going to clean the whole dungeons without magic, so hand me your wand and get started." He walked her over to the dungeons and held out his hand.
Alana tried to hide her glee when she handed her stick over to him. He looked at it oddly but then stuck it into his pocket. "When you are through you may leave and pick up your wand, but if I come in here and there is one spot not clean, you will be having detention for me all next week."
"Yes sir," she said quietly, watching him go back into his office. She knew she shouldn't do this too quickly or he would definitely notice something. She first concentrated on her hands, which glowed brightly. The room filled up with the light and when it had faded, the room was spotless.
"I wonder how long that would have taken if I had actually had to clean it by hands!" Alana took out some more homework and decided to wait in there for about twenty more minutes, just to make sure he wasn't waiting for her to come out.
"I know I recognized him from somewhere, but I just can't remember..." She thought, frustrated that she couldn't think of it.
"Wait...He couldn't be..." Alana gasped. "Oh no, this can't be happening." She sprinted out of the dungeons, grabbed her 'wand' from his desk, and run all the way back to the common room. Everyone stared as she busted into the room, breathing deeply.
"Alana?" Hermione said as she rushed to her. "Are you alright?"
"Yes, yes, I'm fine.Where is Harry? I need to talk to him." Hermione gave her a curious look, but then said," I think he is upstairs in his room..."
Alana walked hastily toward the boys dormitories and went directly into the one Harry slept in.
"Harry!" she yelled, watching him jerk away from the book he was reading and walk slowly to where she was standing.
"Alana, what are you doing up here?"
"I have to tell you something about Professor Snape," she started, but at that moment she felt a sharp pain and blacked out. Harry caught her just in time, but Alana was already swirling into the darkness she had been dreading every night.
Haha cliffy!! If you are confused about anything, please email me or send a review, telling me what was confusing and I will gladly clear it up for you.
Hey everyone! I hope you like it! Please review, if I don't get reviews I might not continue this story... I need some encouragement! I have so much I want to do with this story but if no one reviews, I might just start another one... PLEASE R&R!
-Emily-