~'Head'Canon~
It seemed that March eleventh came much sooner after Valentine's Day than it should have, most likely due to how much Alyona was actually dreading the day. Her birthday no longer felt like her birthday. It was no longer the happy and cheerful day that it had been all her life. From now on, it would only be known to her as the day that her brother was brutally taken out of this world by a still yet to be found assailant.
Alyona entered the common room to be welcomed with the sight of Draco leisurely resting on one of the sofas next to a modest pile of pink and golden wrapped gifts from her parents and to his other side, a tall, heaping pile of green and silver wrapped gifts from his.
Sitting in the dim Slytherin common room, Alyona did her best to put on a convincing smile as Draco excitedly handed her gift after gift, as presents were the last thing on her mind. While the other Slytherin girls fawned at the expensive luxuries that coated the common room sofa, Draco couldn't help but notice the lack of enthusiasm in his girlfriend's facial expression.
"Here, you'll really like this one," Malfoy urged as he handed her a rather small, rectangular box.
Alyona gave a half smile as she lifted the top off of the box, a genuine grin of delight washing over her. In the box was a black silk ribbon with green cursive lettering that read: Malfoy's Princess
"I told you I'd get you a new one," Draco cooed with a wink.
Alyona's authentic smile was brought on by the thought of how peeved Pansy would be to see the ribbon in her hair.
"I love this, thank you," Alyona said in a reserved yet happy tone.
After opening her last gift, Draco called out to his lackeys, who were loitering on the other side of the room.
"Crabbe! Goyle! Come gather these gifts into a neat pile, and do so carefully! These items alone are worth more than both your family's riches combined."
The two boys reluctantly shuffled over to the middle of the common room and began to sort the lot of capes, dresses, shoes and jewelry with grimaces on their faces. While Goyle's arms were full of items, he accidentally let one of the diamond necklaces fall from his grasp as it crashed too the cold floor.
"I said 'carefully', you bloody dimwit!" Draco snarled as his severe grey eyes burrowed into Goyle's soul.
"S-Sorry, Malfoy," Gregory Goyle said as he retrieved the bit of jewelry from the ground, setting on top of one of the fur capes.
While Daphne and Tracy gushed excitedly over the extravagant clothing, Pansy stood behind them with her arms crossed. Her pug-like face frowned as she watched her friends exclaim over Alyona's gifts. Pansy's parents definitely spoiled her with fine gifts and luxuries on holidays and such, but to be spoiled by the boy you've been crushing on for years, now that would simply be bliss.
"Shall we take a walk down to the lake?" Draco asked, "I'm sure the sunset will be marvelous from across the water."
Alyona nodded as she and Malfoy stood up from the couch, the expensive gifts neatly stacked and placed to the side of the room near the dormitories.
"Should I bring the gifts upstairs?" Alyona asked. "We probably shouldn't leave them out in the open."
"No need for that, right now. I remember exactly what and how many items are sitting over there. If anything is missing by the time we return, I'll know about it…" Draco said as he discreetly shot a glance at Pansy and her crew of Slytherin girls.
The two blonds left the room to head down to the black lake, ready to enjoy the sunset and hopefully head back later that evening without getting caught by any prefects.
~ooOOOoo~
The two Slytherins returned around eight-thirty, successfully dodging the patrolling faculty members as they snaked their way through the castle.
Upon entering the common room, a few students were present through the the space. Some sitting at the dark wooden desks studying or reading and some just hanging out with friends and chatting.
Draco and Alyona began walking to one of the tables near the large floor to ceiling windows that looked out into the lake when something green and glinting caught their eye.
Resting on top of the furthest table from anything else was a vibrant metallic green wrapped box with a large green tag hanging off of it addressed: Happy Birthday, Alyona.
The blonde witch looked over at Draco, "I must have missed one."
Draco shook his head confusedly, "No…this isn't my parents choice of wrapping paper, I would have noticed if it was amongst the other gifts."
Deciding to investigate, Alyona began to unwrap the gift with caution as pieces of the shiny paper floated to the floor.
"I hope it's not a cursed bit of jewelry, like last time," she joked as she undid the last layer of wrappings.
The box itself was a plush, green velvet with a cushiony lid that she slowly lifted up. Resting on some tissue paper was a folded over piece of parchment that looked as if it was torn angrily from a notebook.
The note read: In case you wanted to know what the dagger was used for…
Draco, who was sitting across the table, struggled to see the contents of the box as the lid was obstructing his view.
"What's in there?"
Alyona set the card down in he lap, "I'm…about to find out."
Draco could hear the unease in her voice and became more alert and intrigued because of it.
Alyona delicately unfolded the soft tissue paper to reveal a large glass jar filled with a somewhat murky liquid. The girl could tell that something was inside as she hesitantly spun jar around to get a view of the other side.
The next thing Draco knew, Alyona slapped down the lid of the box, her blue eyes went wide with shock and fear as tears started to steadily stream down her cheeks. Through all of this however, she remained silent and unwavering, as if she was a crying statue.
With her watery eyes, she looked over to the large glass windows that displayed the depths of the black lake, knowing that if she screamed in terror, she would end up shattering the glass, flooding the dungeons and drowning all of Slytherin house as well.
"Alyona? Darling? What is it?" Draco prodded as he slowly stood up to walk around to her side of the table. Draco placed one hand on the lid of the box to inspect what had his beloved so upset when her hand grabbed onto his.
"No, don't! please! Just—just leave it closed." She begged him as she tried to keep enough pressure on the lid to keep him from opening it.
"Hey, hey," he calmly soothed her, "It's okay, just let me look, alright?"
Draco anxiously lifted the box top to be met with the same gruesome sight that he wished he could have prevented Alyona from seeing.
There, resting in the opulent gift box, was a large glass jar, presumably full of some sort of cloudy liquid preservative, as the decapitated head of Alexander Blossom floated lifelessly inside of it.
"What the hell…" Draco gasped in horror as he stared down at the heinous visual. His first instinct was to quickly cover Alyona's eyes, shielding her from further distress.
Draco closed the box and took his crying girlfriend into his arms as he struggled to figure out what to do.
"It's…it's going to be alright. I promise It's going to be alright," Draco as he struggled to comprehend what he had just seen. "We should talk to Snape about this, and inform our parents."
"…Someone gifted this to me…someone jarred my brother's head…wrapped it…and gifted it to me," Alyona murmured. Her eyes failed to blink as she sat there, completely dumbfounded.
"Don't think about it," Draco said, not even believing his own words," I'll take this—"
Draco maneuvered to scoop up the heavy box off of the dark table. He finessed the box over for his right arm to support it's weight as he reached out for Alyona's hand.
"Come, Darling," Malfoy coaxed as he guided the traumatized witch out of the common room and in search of their potions teacher.
Just as they hoped, the Professor was residing in his dim and cold classroom just down the hall from the common room. The two Slytherins strode through the doorway of the classroom with worried looks on their faces, subtly startling Snape while at his desk.
"I take it you both have a good reason for being out of your common room after curfew?" Snape asked in an annoyed manner.
"We do sir, we do!" Draco called out, "You need to look at this!"
Draco quickly and kind of roughly placed the large velvet box on top of Snape's desk.
"You should…well…open it," Draco urged.
Snape looked toward both of the frantic looking students with suspicion in his eyes as he gingerly lifted open the box top.
"Merlin's beard!!" He yelled, nearly shoving the box to the ground. The potions master was able to instantly recognize the head contained within the jar. "What is the meaning of this?!"
"I-it was put in t–the com—common room for me t—to find—" Alyona stammered through her tears.
Snape struggled to put his eyes back in his head after view such a horrendous thing.
"The headmaster should be awake yet. You'll coming with me, miss Blossom." Snape demanded.
"And me?" Draco asked with a concerned look.
"Go back to your dormitory, mister Malfoy. I was good of you to bring miss Blossom to me, but as of now, this matter no longer concerns you."
Draco looked as if the Malfoy family name had just been insulted to the highest degree.
"But— I— She—" Draco stuttered.
"That's an order, not a request," Snape declared as he got up from his desk with the box. "Let's go, miss Blossom.
Professor Snape and Alyona raced up the stairs as fast as they could toward Dumbledore's office. Snape glided effortlessly up the many steps and down the corridors as his greasy, shoulder length black hair and billowing black robes flowed behind him while Alyona struggled immensely to match his pace.
Snape noticed the girl's struggling due to her high heeled shoes and frowned.
"Maybe if you'd chosen more sensible footwear, you'd be able to keep up with my perfectly reasonable pace," Snape coldly remarked, "You and mister Malfoy's mother are two of a kind."
Upon arriving to the headmaster's office, Snape uttered the password and led the way up the spiraled stone staircase and into the large space. Dumbledore was sat at his desk, seemingly looking over some papers as Fawkes, his fiery phoenix companion, rested perched on a stand beside him.
"I'm terribly sorry to disturb you at this late of an hour, Professor. But I'm afraid this simply couldn't wait until the morning." Snape apologized.
Snape gently placed the box onto Dumbledore's desk as the headmaster looked at it with curiosity.
"What's this now?" He asked.
Snape drew in a breath to steady himself, "Open it…"
The Headmaster carefully removed the top of the box to view its contents. Most would have immediately turned away or vomited at the awful sight, but Dumbledore just sat there in silence as he looked down at what sat before him.
"Do you know who did this?" Dumbledore asked sternly.
Alyona shook her head, "No, I—I just found it like this."
Dumbledore took a moment to think about the next best course of action as his eyes remained fixated on the jar.
"I will owl your parents about this first thing in the morning," the headmaster said.
Alyona began to sob. All of the weeks and months that the aurors had spent searching far and wide for Alexander would turn out to be for nothing, all of the hope that the Blossom family kept in their hearts that he would be brought home alive, would be shattered by morning. Alexander had been dead since the beginning of the school year…
Dumbledore stood up from his desk and walked over to the grieving girl. He gently placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"We will figure out who is responsible for this, miss Blossom, and they will be brought to justice. I promise you that."
~ooOOOoo~
The next morning came far too fast as Alyona returned from the showers all fresh and done up as she rummaged threw her clothes to find the comfiest outfit she could, a goal that Draco's mother proved to make quite difficult to achieve.
She threw on a simple black dress, tights and a pair of preppy heels, the most comfortable outfit she could put together. Alyona longed for the days that she could wake up, her wavy hair left unpolished, through on a t-shirt and sweat pants, some comfy sneakers and head out the door without a care in the world.
Alyona slid a black headband on to her smoothed out tresses while maintaining her blank, expressionless stare, feeling worn out from the stress of finding her brother's head in a box, and from the constant maintenance that her sophisticated appearance now required.
Heading down to the common room, it was no surprise that Draco was waiting for her with an intensely worried expression on his face.
"Hey, how did you meeting with Dumbledore go?"
Alyona shrugged her slender shoulders with no visible emotion, "Fine, I suppose. He's sending a letter to my parents today about what happened. They're going to be devastated—"
"Should I owl my parents about it?" Draco asked.
"You can if you want to," Alyona haphazardly said as she slumped onto the sofa.
Draco sighed attempting to comfort his darling as the last person either of them wanted to see entered the room.
Pansy, dressed in another one of her flashy pink ensembles, pranced by the two Slytherins while displaying a haughty expression.
"Hey, Drakie," Pansy flirted with a wink.
Alyona glared daggers at the raven haired girl as she walked in a way that was meant to catch the attention of any Slytherin boy within view of her.
Alexander was gone, there was nothing that could be done about that, but something could be done about Pansy. Weather it was reason or rage that decided Alyona's next move, everyone in the area would soon be stunned at the event that would unfold within the next few moments.
Without even the thought of reaching for her wand, Alyona shot up off of the sofa, startling Draco. The blonde witch stormed over to Pansy, who was oblivious to the whole situation.
Alyona reached up to the pink ribbon that was tied into a neat bow in the back of Pansy's hair and ripped the piece of fabric from her head, taking out a good amount of black hair with it.
"Oww!" Pansy shrieked.
"I am so sick and tired of you!" Alyona screamed through her intense sobs as she tugged at the pearl necklace around Pansy's throat and ripped the bows off of her dress. "Nobody likes a counterfeit product!"
"Alyona! Hey!" Draco shouted as he ran over to the two girls.
"You don't own pink, Blossom! Stop it!" Pansy screeched as she tried to shield herself from her adversary.
Alyona continued to viciously rip Pansy's outfit to shreds as Draco struggled to get a good grip on her.
By the time Draco was able to pry his girlfriend from Pansy, the inky haired girl was left with a tattered and shredded outfit with scraps of pink fabric and loose pearls littering the surrounding area.
Draco did his best to pull Alyona away from Pansy and toward the sofa that they had once been sitting on.
"You're nothing but a cheap knock-off!" Alyona yelled as she withdrew her wand and casted toward Pansy, hitting the girl square in the chest and sending her backwards onto the hard floor.
"Ya! Kick her ass, Blossom," Theo cheered from across the room.
Pansy sat up from the cold floor, looking stunned and mildly frightened.
"I save your life and this is the thanks I get?! You're not a Blossom, and you'll never be one!" Alyona bellowed angrily as she went to raise her wand to cast once more.
While Draco had his opportunity, he lunged forward and grabbed Alyona's wand from her.
"That's enough! No need to earn yourself another detention!" Malfoy scolded, "Please, just calm down."
Alyona's head snapped to glare at Draco. Her face showed an emotional mix of burning anger and intense sadness.
"Look at her! Why does she get to do this to me?! I have to deal with enough as it is without her parading around like some pathetic copycat!" Alyona asked loudly and full of resentment.
"I know, my darling. I know," Draco soothed as he held her in his warm embrace. "I'll have it taken care of, don't worry."
Alyona continued to sob in Draco's arms as she looked around the room. Some of the other Slytherins students stood in shock while others immediately began whispering to their nearest house mate about what had just happened.
Pansy scowled as she raised her wand at Alyona, ready and prepared to cast a vicious spell.
"And just what do you think you are doing, miss Parkinson?" A dark, monotone voice asked.
Pansy's casting arm froze as she looked up to see Professor Snape.
"I—she—" Pansy stuttered as she pointed an accusatory finger at Alyona.
"If you don't want another detention miss Parkinson, then I suggest you put your wand away and find your footing."
Pansy sighed as she stood up and replaced her black, walnut wood wand into her now torn dress pocket. Her wand slid through the gap in the fabric and fell to the floor with a click.
Snape stared down at the girl, disapprovingly.
"Might I suggest you return to your dormitory and find yourself…a more practical ensemble?"
Pansy's jaw almost fell to the ground as her already bulging eyes went wide, "I didn't do this! She did!"
"I don't recall asking to be entertained with your pathetic excuses, miss Parkinson." Snape replied coldly.
Pansy huffed as she stomped off toward the doors that led to the girls dorm, all the while glaring at Alyona.
"Once miss Parkinson and the rest of Slytherin house is present, our house meeting can begin." Snape said.
"House meeting?" Blaise asked in a confused tone, "We've never had one of those…"
Snape gave Zabini the silent treatment as his comment wasn't deemed important enough to provide a respond for by the Professor.
After about fifteen or so minutes, the rest of Slytherin house had arrived on behalf of Professor Snape's orders. Coming in along side some of the students was Argus Filtch, the schools elderly and haggard janitor.
Snape took a quick head count with the help of a list of all Slytherin students that Filtch had drawn up to ensure no one was missing.
"Now that I have you all here, my first question I have for you all is as follows: Was anyone here instructed to deliver a box to this common room yesterday, or anytime within recent days?" Snape asked.
Not a single student raised their hand or made a sound while they all stared blankly at each other.
"Let me be more specific. If any of you were instructed by another student to deliver any type of package, present or parcel, to whom it was meant to be received by was made evident or not, please raise your hand," Snape clarified, "You have no need to fear punishment, should you come forward."
Again, no one showed any sign of knowing what the Professor was talking about as the room was painfully silent.
"Very well then. Search their sleeping quarters, mister Filch." Snape calmly commanded.
The room suddenly became overcome with frantic whisperings and concerned looks.
"Search our dorms?" Shouted Theodore, "You can't do that!" We've done nothing wrong!"
"On the contrary, mister Nott. If no one here was tasked with another students delivery, then I have reason to suspect it was indeed a Slytherin that acted alone." The Professor stated.
"What delivery?!" Cried Tracy.
"That, as for the time being, is classified information, miss Davis." Snape responded.
Argus Filtch looked all too pleased to quickly make his way upstairs to the dormitories with his raggedy looking cat, misses Norris, hoping to find something that would incriminate one of the students.
Alden, who was standing toward the back of the common room, walked up to his sister with a concerned look on his face.
"Did the person who sent the package leave any traces behind?"
That question alone made Draco squint at Alden with an a look full of suspicion.
"Um —"
"They did actually, a strand of hair." Draco interrupted.
Alyona gazed up at Malfoy, looking rather confused at his false claim.
"A hair? What did it look like?" Alden asked.
"It's upstairs in my dorm, it's not super long, and the color is hard to make out without a magnifying glass. But, I'd say it's on the darker side. Maybe brown or dark blonde even—"
"Oh…okay. Well, I hope it can tell us who the send was," Alden said in a shaken tone as he walked away from the pair.
"I never told him, or anyone about what I found last night…" Alyona mentioned.
"I know you didn't…" Draco responded as he continued to look suspiciously at Alden as he walked over to the Greengrass sisters.
Draco knew something was off, and he was going to find out what…
