Note:
Oh, my goodness, my readership just continues to grow! It makes me so happy to check this story's statistics and see the numbers going up! I want to quickly acknowledge all of my international readers, especially—it brings me great joy to know that this story is reaching so far away from the physical location where I sit and type! Words truly do bring us all together.
Leila Davis, the site won't let me respond to you currently, but thank you so much for reviewing! I agree that it seems unfair for Dumbledore to keep Alice out of Hogwarts... we will find out why later in this chapter (and you might hate me for it. We shall see)!
Une-papillon-de-nuit, once again, your review made my heart warm right up. Thank you so much for your consistent support.
I received some positive feedback from une-papillon-de-nuit on Domhnall Gleeson's casting as Remus, so I will continue to include him in the list.
You'll notice that in the cast I've added not one but two additional casting options for Lucius Malfoy. Both of these actors (Lee Pace, who played Thranduil in the Hobbit adaptations, and Harry Lloyd who played Viserys Targaryen on Game of Thrones) have been circling around the Harry Potter fandom for a while as look-alikes or parallels for Lucius Malfoy and Abraxas Malfoy (Lucius's father), respectively. But I think both could definitely fit the mold of Lucius (and when I write his character, I end up imagining a sort of amalgam of all of them put together). So, to offer you some more options, I decided to include all three.
Fun fact, though: Jason Isaacs (who plays Lucius) was actually the exact same age as Lucius would have been in the second book at the time the second movie was made. I love it when those things line up.
Anyway, let me know what you think of those other two potential Lucius's!
A quick note on some new characters in this chapter: The Nott family is an actual pureblood family in the Harry Potter canon. We know that the Nott's son is named Theodore Nott and is in the Slytherin house in Harry's year—but we never really see any details on his parents in the books, apart from the knowledge that his father was a Death Eater and fought in the first Wizarding War. So... Vanessa and Haden are totally made up by me, but they do have ties to the legitimate aristocracy in the book. I've underlined them in the cast list to let you know that they are original characters, but please know that I do not take 100% credit for them.
Logan Morelli is another new original character in this chapter—I had quite a bit of fun writing him, and I think he's probably going to show up again later. So keep an eye out!
I hope you like these casting decisions... as always, if you don't like them, don't use them!
Disclaimer: All recognizable characters herein are the property of J.K. Rowling the Utmost Venerable.
Chapter Five Totally Optional Cast (in order of appearance)
The House of Nott:
Christian Bale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Haden Nott
Rosamund Pike . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Vanessa Nott
Adrien Brody . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Logan Morelli
Hogwarts:
Anya Taylor-Joy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Alice
David Thewlis / Domhnall Gleeson . . . . . . . . . . . . . Remus Lupin
Kathryn Hunter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Arabella Figg
Jason Isaacs / Lee Pace / Harry Lloyd . . . . . . . . . . . Lucius Malfoy
Daniel Radcliffe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Harry Potter
Maggie Smith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Minerva McGonagall
Sir Michael Gambon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Albus Dumbledore
Gemma Jones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Madam Pomfrey
Emma Watson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hermione Granger
Rupert Grint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ronald Weasley
John Hurt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ollivander
V | Marionette
31 May, 1993
The House of Nott / Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry / Diagon Alley
The room is giant hung with tapestries and ancestral paintings which keep in the cold. The latter half of one wall is dominated entirely by a giant fireplace, but it contains no flames—gaping black and deep like an open maw, waiting for its foolish prey to walk in. Madness is draped over the room like a veil—nothing new, but made heavier by the strain on its two occupants: the man, standing up, gazing out the window; the woman, sitting down in a chair that will creak if she moves even slightly, her hands worrying the fabric of her skirt.
Haden Nott's shoulders are stiff, standing at attention, the muscles of his neck and jaw trembling from the effort of keeping his head unbowed—a drained spite clamps down upon his every sinew, and the deep-chiseled features of his face hold more darkness than ever before.
Vanessa Nott has aged much since the night fifteen years ago, when she had given birth to her daughter, to her first child. Then, she had fled the birthing room, feeling something cold and unnatural about the midwife and nurses who surrounded her, and even something quite evil in the child itself. But now, how she wishes she had remained, had brought the infant girl to her breast and made herself stand it...
They listen to the clock ticking, a hollow sound, over and over, filling the cavernous room and echoing inside the fireplace. The dark of the night floods in through the window, draping itself over the man, their hopelessness and loss encompassed in the time of night.
Vanessa is the first to cleave apart the silence. "He isn't coming back," she says, her voice cold and miserable, the voice a statue would have if it could speak.
Haden turns to her, the darkness making the evil bone of his cheek stand out; his dark eyes look corrugated. "He will come," he says to her.
He starts to turn back to the pitch-black window but his wife interrupts him: "There's no chance. It's been hours, Haden. We simply can't deny it any longer."
The fingers of his right hand curl slowly into a fist, squeezing hard as he breathes in. He releases the tension after holding it in for a moment, hoping that his anger-laced grief might dilute when he does so. But instead he is left with a tingling loss, and even more dark ministers of distress crowd his skull, like skittering, pincered insects.
But suddenly, at the end of the front walk, just outside the wrought-iron gate, a man cloaked in dark blue appears.
Vanessa registers the shift in her husband's posture. "What is it?" Her voice echoes off of the fireplace and back to her, making the tapestries shiver where they hang.
"Who," Haden corrects, looking at her as he moves away from the window and starts on his way out of the room. "Logan Morelli," he calls over his shoulder as he exits through the doorway, and Vanessa stands up like a bolt of lightning, at the name, hurrying after Haden.
A minute later the three of them are sat in a smaller, warmer sitting room downstairs, an untouched set of tea sat before them. Vanessa and Haden sit beside each other, Logan Morelli (tall and built but mellow-faced, with beady brown eyes and a bird-like nose) seated across from them, still wearing his cloak—this will be a brief visit.
"He was brought in just minutes after you sent him out," the visitor from the Ministry says, getting down to brass tacks. The Notts tense slightly at the news, eyes urging the other wizard to elaborate. "I was the one to question him in the Department of Law Enforcement, and he said that the girl had been there... he'd almost gotten away with her before Remus Lupin-"
A slight shuffling of clothes as the couple places the name, remembering the odd Gryffindor in their year at Hogwarts, years before.
"...Remus Lupin immobilized him. The Squib woman was there—Figg—and all three of them brought him to the Ministry, together. He heard Lupin say, just before they apparated, that they were headed to Hogwarts, next, for protection. Now..." he shifts his body slightly to indicate a change in his line of talk, "I have ensured that no news of this will leak into the post, and your... emissary will not be traceable back to this household. But you can expect the Ministry to look into this thoroughly, once Dumbledore gets a word in. I will try to wave them in the wrong direction, but..."
He slowly trails off as he looks between the faces of Vanessa and Haden and realizes, with a jolt of surprise, that neither of them have been truly listening to anything he's said. A sadness has taken over them completely, and both stare down at the untouched tea set, lost in miserable contemplation.
The Notts know nothing about the fact that their daughter possesses immense power. Their long efforts to get her back have been founded on no power-hungry foundations. They merely long to have their child back. For fifteen years, they have been in the dark—the mad who had kidnapped their child and taken her into the woods, never to be seen again, had remained silent through every tongue-loosening curse imaginable. Haden had carried out the inquisition himself to ensure that as much that could be done, had been, before the maid was sent off to Azkaban.
But now that the two parents know that their daughter had been living with a Squib woman for her first fifteen years of life, and is now at Hogwarts, a glimmer of hope pierces through the dark veil of grief that has surrounded them for so long. And both of them know for sure that, now, they are going to get her back, at all costs.
"Thank you, Logan, for your loyalty," says Haden. "And now you will demonstrate its breadth once more by going to Hogwarts straight away and confronting Dumbledore. Find our child. And bring her back to us."
Morelli nods his head slowly, but as he stands up, feels it necessary to speak. "Haden, if Dumbledore is insistent on not letting the girl go..."
"Find her and bring her back," repeats Haden. "We will cope with the consequences."
Haden snaps his fingers once in midair and a maid promptly enters the sitting room, to usher Morelli out of the house. The latter tips his head to the Notts and goes out with his escort without a word of protest, though his mind is careening with the impossible task before him.
Haden and Vanessa wait, still as statues until the door has been closed and they are left alone again. Then, slowly, as though they have been paralyzed for decades and are only now being freed of their curse, they turn towards each other. Haden attempts to take his wife's hand but she shifts her hand away, not ready to lose herself in a celebratory, or even hopeful, emotion... not yet.
"Theodore," she says aloud at length, giving voice to a newfound concern. Haden's eyebrows furrow: their son, twelve years old, had acted as a replacement for the girl who they'd lost before Haden had even been able to see her face for the first time. Never had they told him anything about the girl who had been their child before he had even been imagined, the girl who had been stolen from them on the same night of her birth.
If she were suddenly reintroduced into the household, into their family, what would Theodore make of it? Would bringing their daughter home with open arms result in his feeling excommunicated?
These doubts and countless more are relayed between the two parents' eyes, but Haden says only, "We will cross that bridge when we come to it."
Vanessa feels her eyes brim with sudden tears, and nods her head to herself. "We're going to bring our daughter home."
A rush of wind interrupts the early morning birdsong in a grove of trees on the edge of the Hogwarts grounds.
Alice, dizzy from her second-ever apparation, nearly falls over upon landing in the dewy grass beneath the swaying aspens. But Remus reaches out to steady her, holding her upright by the upper arm to give her a minute to settle her mind and remember how to breathe.
The girl is so exhausted and terrified from the experience of the last hours, that she would consent to be carried the rest of the way if she were small enough. This is, after all, the first time she has ever been out in the world—muggle or Wizarding, alike. At the ministry, she'd been exhausted by the fullness and bustle of the halls, the sheer number of people who could exist in one space. Not to mention the sudden entry of magic upon her awareness: they'd agreed to stay together to eliminate risk, and she'd had to flush herself down the toilet and into a fireplace, at which point she almost lost herself in the fray before Lupin found her and took her hand.
"Hold onto me, Alice," says Ms. Figg, equally befuddled by the business of the past hours, but nowhere near as exhausted from it as the girl. Alice listens to her gratefully and leans on her guardian's arm as the three of them proceed out of the cover the copse of trees had provided, and across the grounds in the direction of Hogwarts castle.
But as they start to walk closer to Hogwarts, lead by Remus and free of the burden of the paralyzed kidnapper, Alice's head starts to clear. In the late spring air she gasps in awe at the sight of the castle before her, the largest structure she's ever seen—dwarfing the buildings she'd seen in the city of London before entering upon the Ministry of Magic. Remus smiles at her, recalling the feeling of awe he, too, had experienced when he'd first seen the school.
The clear air brings a spark of excitement into the girl's head and heart, and kindles it there. It only grows larger and warmer as they become closer to the grand structure, the magnitude of the castle becoming more overpowering and evident to Alice with every step.
The three of them cross the bridge and proceed into the school, Alice looking up at the vaulted ceilings and rose window in awe, the pendulum of the giant clock tower swinging back and forth steadily, a powerful and ancient magic evident in every single part of the structure, in the very air within and around it. Slowly they progress through the halls, both Ms. Figg and Remus taking delight in watching Alice's reactions. The students are all tucked away in their classrooms, but beyond the doors discussion and magic can be heard. There's a certain feeling of freedom and infinite opportunity (for knowledge, for companionship, for life) about the place, a feeling so strong in Alice's heart that, once, when they pass by an unlit candelabra, it hovers up and flies above the ground for a moment before the girl brings her joy under control and it settles back to the ground again.
And just in time, too, as an ireful wizard clad in layers of dark, rich brocades and a deep green velvet cloak rounds a nearby corner, his white hair disheveled and flying out behind him with the speed of his steps. His eyes are a piercing ice-blue, razor-sharp in a pale, menacing face, and with him he carries a black cane with a silver serpent-head handle, an extension of his cold intentions.
At the sight of the irate, white-haired wizard, Remus slows his pace and then stands still entirely, prompting Ms. Figg and Alice to do the same. "Malfoy," says Remus darkly, causing the other wizard to stop, in turn.
Lucius Malfoy draws himself up, placing his glittering black cane firmly on the stone floor before him and assuming a look of superiority that takes his whole face with it. "Fancy seeing you here," says the white-haired wizard, his voice bitter and clipped, but undeniably deep, resounding coldly off the walls.
"I could say the same to you," says Remus, the retort shrouded in a sarcastic warmth. Alice looks between the two wizards, leaning in closer to Ms. Figg's side.
Malfoy's lip flickers upward minutely, but his cruel poise does not falter. "Whatever business you have here, you should hurry to it," he says, his ice-cold eyes boring directly into Lupin's safe but injured grey ones. "One might argue that your presence here, so near to the full moon, poses a threat to the students."
Alice's eyebrows furrow at the mention of the full moon, and when she looks to Remus, something drops in her stomach, for his face has gone pale, though he refuses to hang his head. Lucius smirks at Lupin, sneers at Ms. Figg, and looks Alice over from head to toe with an uncomfortable dispassion before continuing on his way down the corridor, leaving them with a frigid "Good day."
Alice turns to watch the wizard—Malfoy, Remus had called him—until he has turned another corner at the end of the hall and disappeared from sight. She feels a cold shiver of repulsion roll through Ms. Figg's side, and looks up to Remus in confusion. "Who was that?" she asks aloud, but still quietly, as she gets the sense that the Malfoy man can still hear her.
"That," Remus answers, the color slowly returning to his face, "was someone I will not waste breath introducing at the moment."
But Alice's curiosity regarding the cruel wizard is quickly banished because, suddenly, from around the corner, Harry Potter appears, with the just-liberated house elf Dobby at his side. The clothes of The Boy Who Lived are disheveled, and his face is dirty from his journey through the Chamber of Secrets in the bowels of the school, but Alice cares not—for the first time in years, she is seeing her best friend in the flesh, and not separated by two windows and the street between their respective houses on Privet Drive.
She also recognizes the small creature walking alongside him as the one who had been jumping on Harry's bed that night last summer, and who had been keeping his friends' letters from him. But her attention is focused on her friend as he, too, stops in his tracks for a second, recognizing Alice before running forward to her, a smile beaming across his face.
Alice steps forward eagerly and in just a few seconds that feel shorter than they actually are, the two of them catch each other in a relieved, excited embrace.
"Is this another of Harry Potter's friends?" asks Dobby from a few paces away, smiling curiously at the girl.
"Yes, Dobby," says Harry, his smile only broadening. "This is Alice. She's my best friend."
Alice grins at his words, and looks at her companion, the early morning light glinting on his glasses. "Harry," she says to him.
Harry Potter knows from the tone of Alice's voice that something has changed—and he understands all at once that she must have found out about who he really is, and why everyone in the Wizarding World knows his name. A shadow of embarrassment crosses briefly over his face. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you," he says, "I needed a friend who knew about my magic, and who I could tell about my adventures, but who didn't have any of those thoughts about me and my history..."
But Alice shakes her head, banishing his shame. "Harry, I completely understand. I'm not angry at all, and I don't think any differently of you." She smiles at him. "You're still Harry."
And Harry Potter grins back, having heard the only words he ever truly wishes to hear. "Just Harry," he echoes, contentment rushing through his heart. But soon the presence of Dobby and the lingering adrenaline still running in his veins spurs him forward with a spike of excitement. "I have loads to tell you about-" he starts.
But just then, a tall woman in a pointed hat and emerald green robes appears around the corner. "Not now, you don't, Mr. Potter," she calls to him, her voice shrill and assertive, but somehow warm and welcoming, at the same time. "You had better hurry along to Astronomy."
"Yes, Professor McGonagall," says Harry, his happiness still not dampened by the re-entry of his scholarly duties upon his conscious mind. Harry turns to look at Alice, hugging her again warmly before waving goodbye to Ms. Figg. He overlooks Remus entirely, who has faded into the background as effectively as if he were wearing an invisibility cloak, and then hurries off, Dobby following at his heels excitedly.
A thin, contained smile on her lips, Minerva McGonagall turns to Alice, looking at her fondly through her spectacles, admiring how she'd grown. Alice, in turn, recognizes the woman from somewhere, and quickly recognizes her as the witch who had been in the street below on the night that Harry first arrived on Privet Drive.
"You're the cat!" Alice says suddenly, not knowing how else to express her excitement.
McGonagall chuckles to herself, and says, "Yes, my dear, I believe I am," her eyes warming as she turns to Arabella and Remus. "The three of you must be exhausted. And—Oh, dear, what's happened to your arm?"
Alice follows the witch's gaze down to her bandaged arm, her eyes widening at the sight, having completely forgotten about it. But now that she remembers, a little bit of pain seems to spring into her wrist, at the memory of how the dangerous man had grabbed onto it so hard it had felt as though all the bones, muscles and veins inside were grinding and crushing against each other.
Remus reasserts himself into the group, saying, "That's where he grabbed her," his hands in his pockets.
McGonagall raises her eyebrows. "Pray tell, who?"
"A man apparated into the yard, and nearly took her. We've just been at the Ministry... dropping him off, so to speak."
"I see," says McGonagall. She looks into Remus's eyes and finds, there, that there is more he's not saying; that he won't say in the presence of the girl.
Minverva, too, has things she would like to tell Alice: about how she had been there when she was first handed over to Ms. Figg in her first day of life... But she decides against it, and bites her tongue, suffering through the necessary role of secret-keeper that comes with adulthood.
"Why don't I deliver you to Madam Pomfrey in the hospital wing?" she says. "She'll get your wrist fixed up directly."
Alice looks nervously to Ms. Figg, afraid to leave her side for the first time in her life... but something about McGonagall has earned her trust, and her longing to branch out on her own, to see what the castle and this new world has to offer her, overtakes her entirely.
She looks to Ms. Figg for permission, and with difficulty, Arabella nods her head up and down. Alice smiles, and goes willingly with Professor McGonagall, who looks back meaningfully at Remus and Arabella before turning, escorting the girl down the hall in the direction of the nearest stairwell.
Arabella Figg and Remus Lupin watch the girl go down the hall in silence. The woman feels breath catch in her throat as she murmurs, "That's the first time she's ever been away from me."
Remus smiles at her, and after a quiet, tender moment, they proceed down the opposite hall, towards Dumbledore's office.
They have just finished relaying their story to Albus Dumbledore, and Fawkes the phoenix ruffling his feathers anxiously, when the stone spiral staircase starts to move, and, moments later, Logan Morelli bursts on the scene.
"Logan," acknowledges Dumbledore calmly, Remus and Arabella looking confusedly at the newcomer, whom they've never seen before.
"Headmaster," gasps Morelli, winded from a run across the grounds and up multiple staircases. "I'm sorry for the intrusion, but it couldn't wait." Morelli notices the two others in the room, seated across from Dumbledore, and almost laughs at the coincidence.
"Please, what's happened?" Albus says, inviting the young man to seat himself, but Morelli declines the offer.
"I've just been with the Notts—they are more determined than ever to reclaim the girl, and they know she's here, now."
"How?" says Remus.
Morelli turns with an air of sarcasm-laced respect to Lupin, saying, "Because you, sir, said something about Hogwarts before you apparated." And, turning back to Dumbledore, "I was the one to question the man they sent. Headmaster—truly—these are two desperate parents, determined to get their child back at all costs. And I can assure you... they will find a way."
Morelli settles slightly into his robes, but then, prompted by the stunned silence of Lupin and Figg, and by the collected but thoughtful quiet of Dumbledore, he speaks again, more quietly. "They have no bad intentions, as of yet. They don't know of her abilities—they don't even know what she looks like. But they will stop at nothing." He shivers slightly, despite the warmth of the room. "Merlin knows what they'll do if they do find out about the breadth of her powers."
Remus feels suddenly left out, and rather suspicious of this Morelli, who he's never met, and who seems to know a great deal about Alice and the inner-workings of Dumbledore's plan. Remus thinks, bluntly, that he knows a bit more than he ought to. "How are we to be sure," he asks Logan, "that you aren't really working for the Notts; that we aren't the ones being slighted?"
"Remus," quells Dumbledore, "your concern is valiant, but misplaced. Logan is to be trusted completely." Remus nods his head, feeling rather put-out by the stress of the past hours' events, and decides it would be better if he were to be silent until he can get some rest. "Morelli," continues Dumbledore, turning to the addressed, "thank you for your concern, as well. I would have you return to Haden and Vanessa, and notify them that you were incapable of finding Alice at Hogwarts. That will put them off it briefly—but if they do plan to come, regardless, reach out to me immediately."
"I will, Albus" says Morelli, nodding respectfully but quickly at Arabella and Lupin before turning and excusing himself from the office, hurrying down the staircase and out of the castle.
Dumbledore stands slowly from his desk, and looks out the window over the grounds, Morelli's receding blue-cloaked form a mere dot from his vantage point. Albus traces his double-agent's path until he reaches a nearby group of trees, from whose cover he apparates away. "What to do, what to do," he says to himself after a quiet moment, pondering the yellow morning sky.
The hospital wing is a simultaneously uneventful and stimulating place. An air of celebration but exhaustion hangs over all the empty beds—and when she first arrives, Madam Pomfrey, herself, is laying in one of them from her tiredness, after supposedly curing a number of students of some strange paralysis. Alice is both left out and invited in, still intrigued despite being entirely without context.
The healing witch quickly stands up from the bed, however, setting about fixing her new patient, letting McGonagall go to her other duties. Madam Pomfrey fixes Alice's arm with alarming speed, having her drink a potion, and casting a short series of spells, before rebandaging her wrist with the same spell Remus had used earlier.
Then she is left to calmly sit and observe quietly, Madam Pomfrey hurrying out of the hospital wing towards the great hall. Alice considers getting some sleep, but though the bed is comfortable, she can't imagine actually going to bed while surrounded by a place of such magic. First she admires the architecture in the interior of the room, the stonework on the vaulted ceilings above. Then she looks out the tall wide windows onto the expansive, lush green grounds and the bright blue sky. Next, her gaze lands upon a bouquet of flowers, set upon a nearby bedside table: fresh flowers. Whoever had been laying in that cot before being cured must have been well loved and cared for by somebody.
Remus and Ms. Figg arrive in the hospital wing a few minutes later to keep her company. Remus picks up the vase of flowers and moves it onto Alice's bedside table with a smile, before sitting down on the edge of the cot adjacent to hers, while Ms. Figg stands at the foot of Alice's bed.
"Those were someone else's," protests the girl.
"Well," says Remus with a wink, "I stole them. Besides, whoever had them certainly doesn't need them anymore. Unless the patient happens to be invisible."
"Is invisibility possible?" says Alice, her eyes widening as she considers this for the first time.
"Perfectly so," Remus says. "Harry's father James once had a cloak of invisibility—which is one of the Deathly-"
"Remus, not yet," interjects Ms. Figg. And he smiles shyly, looking down at his knees.
Dobby the liberated house elf soon brings a tray of food from the feast, for the three of them to share. And while Alice digs into the most delicious meal she's ever eaten, the little creature sits down on her cot by her feet and animatedly tells her the story of his time knowing Harry Potter, and, finally, how he had just that morning been saved from servitude to the Malfoy family by Harry, when he tricked his master into giving him a sock. (Dobby bursts into joyful tears when he almost calls Lucius Malfoy his master, but then realizes that he no longer is).
Alice, intrigued by what he's told her, and touched by the house elf's show of emotion, is about to ask a question about how, exactly, he had been freed with merely a sock. But before she can, a great joyful cheer goes up somewhere else in the castle. At first she jumps a little at the sound, but soon calms down. "What is that?" she says to Remus.
"There's always something to celebrate at Hogwarts," the wizard responds with a smile. But as he is overcome by a wave of happiness, he feels suddenly lightheaded. "Excuse me," he says, subtly standing and leaving the hospital wing, focusing all his effort on not fainting in front of Alice.
For the first time in a day, Remus Lupin has time to reflect upon his current state of mind, and with that reflection has come an understanding that he is feeling anything but well—and a wariness of the time of month. He knows he needs to get on his way to Siberia as soon as possible, but leaving Alice behind at this moment, even with Arabella, feels anything but right.
But for now, he exits the hospital wing, and turns down the hall, thinking he might just slide down the wall and sit on the floor for a few moments until he regains his bearings. Suddenly, though, having been hanging his head and dragging his feet, Remus accidentally bumps into Dumbledore, who had just rounded the corner on his way to visit Alice.
Remus steps back and Dumbledore reaches out to steady him. "What's troubling you, Remus?"
"You know," Lupin retorts miserably. "I'm sorry, sir," he amends, "but I really think I must leave, as soon as possible."
"Absolutely not," says Dumbledore calmly but firmly. "Severus will set a dose of wolfsbane in order and you'll sleep through it all in the old spot in Hogsmeade. The same witch lives there, now. She would welcome you, I'm sure."
"I don't trust Severus to make that potion," says Remus, his forehead darkened by the thought of his old enemy in his school days. It's not that he distrusts Severus Snape because of any fault of Snape's own, but because Remus himself had been in arms with James, who had been Severus's frequent torturer throughout thier school years. Thus, Remus's fear that Snape might purposefully make a mistake in making the wolfsbane potion, is undercut by a sharp and stinging feeling that, maybe, he would be right in doing so.
"Very well," says Dumbledore, "I can make it myself, if you would prefer. But, Remus, I will not allow you to escape to some cold, remote place on the globe when we are perfectly suited to accommodate you closer to home. Merlin knows, you're exhausted enough as it is, and in no condition to apparate." He quiets, and looks into his once-student's scarred face. "Please, Remus, agree with me on this. It will be perfectly safe."
Remus starts to shake his head at himself, ready to give up and agree to his former headmaster's plan, but quickly silences himself, the sound of three young, excited voices echoing in the nearby stairwell. Moments later, Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley appear in the corridor, grinning from the climb, the thrill of Rubeus Hagrid's return, and their full (too full, in Ron's case) stomachs.
"Good afternoon, Professor Dumbledore," says Hermione brightly.
"Good afternoon, Miss Granger. It's wonderful to see you up and about, once more."
"Is Alice in there?" interjects Harry, motioning towards the room into the hospital wing. Dumbledore nods his head in affirmation and the three of them (Ron sneaking one of many smuggled chocolates out of his pocket and sticking it in his mouth when he thinks nobody is looking) hurry through the door, once again, not noticing Remus, who has expertly blended into his surroundings.
Alice brightens at the arrival of Harry and his two best school friends, so Ms. Figg, worried about Remus, excuses herself and ventures out into the hallway to check on him.
"Why don't you attend Hogwarts?" Hermione asks Alice after they've all gotten over the necessary introductions.
"I don't know why..." starts Alice, trying not to reveal how troubled she is by the fact.
But Ron quickly blows over the potential tension. "Y'know, Alice, Harry, just a couple months ago, got his arm hit by a bludger at a Quidditch match, and Lockhart tried to mend it, but it went all floppy and he had to grow all the bones back with a miserable potion. It took days, but it was bloody wicked."
Alice smiles at the boy's energetic yet casual way of speaking, and the shine in his eyes that fits perfectly with the spray of freckles on his cheeks. But still, she can't contain her curiosity, and after a minute, she asks them all, "Sorry, but... what's Quidditch?"
Out in the hall, the three adults have been conversing about Remus and his worry surrounding leaving Alice for the safety of a locked and charmed room in Hogsmeade. But Dumbledore, peeking into the room, smiles tenderly, banishing Lupin's anxiety.
"I believe," Albus says with a smile in his voice, "that young Alice is in the best of hands, at present."
Harry, Ron and Hermione look at each other in joyous mischief, and then focus their energy on Alice, bursting with an endless supply of secrets to let her in on.
Two weeks pass, and it's almost time for the students to board the Hogwarts Express back to Kings Cross Station for the summer.
But the relief that usually comes with the end of the school year is nonexistent in the Headmaster's office—the pressure is on and only increasing to locate a suitable place where Alice might be kept safe. Thus far, the Notts have not come to Hogwarts seeking out their daughter themselves, and Morelli has gathered no further news. Each day that Alice is kept at Hogwarts, Dumbledore feels the risk factor grow exponentially.
But this morning, something unexpected has arrived on his desk—a newly introduced option which may provide a way out, which, as the day has progressed, has started to look more and more like the safest option available.
The Headmaster spends hours pacing around and around the circular room, consulting each of his paintings in turn, as well as the sorting hat, before coming to his conclusion. He calls Remus Lupin in after the evening feast, to discuss the dilemma at hand, hoping that a full stomach might make the younger wizard more partial to the ridiculous plan he has to present.
Before saying anything at all, upon Remus's arrival in his office, Dumbledore merely picks up the paper from his desk and hands it to Remus, pointing at the spot which he is to read. It's a pureblood newspaper, and it's been folded to the advertisement page. Remus, sitting down in the chair across from Dumbledore's, looks down at it and reads the short text printed where the headmaster had pointed.
"In need of a young maid to entertain and care for two young boys," Remus reads aloud. "50 Galleons each week... Malfoy Manor."
For a few stretched and painful moments, silence descends upon the office. Remus looks up slowly from the parchment, and then lays it down on the desk again, as one might cringe away from a disgusting, dead thing.
"As you may or may not know," Dumbledore says, parting the silence, "Lucius's wife Narcissa died giving birth to their second son, Fynn, just two years ago. Simply put, this advertisement means that he is now seeking a young woman to serve as a mother figure and companion to his sons, for lack of a real one."
In a series of mumbled and half-formed stutters, Remus argues that Alice is not a young woman, but a child. He finds himself to be completely perplexed by the great wizard's utter stupidity in the present situation.
"I started out with doubts, as well, Remus," says Albus, "but with each passing minute this seems to me to become a better and better option on the front of safety. The Notts still don't know what their daughter looks like, so wouldn't recognize her if they came into contact with each other in society. Lucius doesn't know that she is their daughter, either, and he may not even know of a lost daughter's existence, if they chose to keep it a secret to save their pride. We cannot hide her in the school forever, and if she were inducted into pureblood society, she would be the safest she could be under these circumstances. Hiding in plain sight, so to speak, until new arrangements can be put in order. And Remus, I must stress the fact that this would be temporary, and only a maid's position. It's doubtful that Alice would come into regular contact with Lucius Malfoy, if at all, even taking into account the intimate nature of the post to be filled. Lucius is infamous for keeping his staff at arm's length."
Over the course of Dumbledore's short speech, Remus has grown more and more pale as he realizes the implications of the headmaster's words, and the sincerity with which they are spoken. His voice trembles in disbelief when he speaks. "Albus, I trust you more than anyone else in the world, but you must know that I absolutely do not condone this decision. In all honesty, I think it's quite absurd."
"I know that, Remus," says the headmaster with a disabling but aggravating calmness. "But my mind is made up. I won't be swayed."
"What-" Lupin stutters for a moment before regaining control "-what would be so wrong with having her here, in the school?"
"Alice is a priceless asset. The other students and staff simply cannot know about her. If she were to practice magic here, her abilities would become all too well-known—even famed. And she would become a threat to both the entire Wizarding World, and to herself. Imagine, for a moment-" he leans forward to further captivate Remus's attention "-what would happen if someone with her potential had existed during Voldemort's reign. Imagine how he would have manipulated such an individual's abilities to his advantage."
Remus pales further, seeing the headmaster's point as clear as day, but still not wanting to accept it. "Alice is a person," he says at length, "not a secret weapon. Besides, have you considered how much work will go into preparing her for such a task? She would be required—required without any sort of leniency—to suppress her abilities at all times in that wretched house. And training her to reach that level would eat up precious time. At the end of all that, the post might not even be open, anymore."
"Remus, can't you see that nobody wants to take the post, even remotely? No witch in her right mind would apply for this position, knowing of the Malfoys."
"Precisely!" says Lupin in exasperation, but Dumbledore silences him with an upheld hand.
"Lucius is already desperate enough to advertise his need for help in the paper-which he would never dare to do unless his circumstances forced him. By the time Alice is ready, his need will have multiplied to such a degree that he won't be able to help but give her the post."
A beat passes, in which Dumbledore is suddenly distracted by the bowl of candies on his desk. "Would you care for a lemon drop?" he asks, absentmindedly picking one up and holding it out across his desk.
But the younger wizard has already turned his back and left the room.
On the nineteenth of May, the students of Hogwarts journey together into Hogsmeade and board the train back to London for the summer.
Ms. Figg decides to return to her house on Privet Drive, and Dumbledore sends a group of Aurors ahead of her, to cast powerful protection spells around the house to guard it from further disturbances and possible risks. Alice feels poorly about having to say goodbye to Harry and her two new good friends, as well has her lifelong guardian, but bears the loss with poise, looking forward to whatever her future in the halls of Hogwarts might hold—though she is ever-conscious of something rather unpleasant about her situation and its impacts on others, something being diligently hidden from her by the adults in her life, particularly Remus.
It takes Lupin surprisingly little time to come around to Dumbledore's proposition. At a certain point, he lets down his strict defenses, understanding that, if Dumbledore wills it, it will happen regardless of whether he approves or not. In addition, he has started (though he wishes this weren't the case) to realize that Albus has a strong point—taking the post in the Malfoy Manor, even if only for a few months' time, could give Alice the best chance at safety.
But in order to get her to the level of control required in order for the plan to function, Remus has a great amount of magic to teach her.
By late June, they are left with Hogwarts virtually empty but for a few lingering staff and the ghosts.
Professor Dumbledore is the one to finally tell the girl where she was born, and how she got to Privet Drive in the first place. He does so on a pleasant walk around the lake, on which he continuously offers her a steady flow of candies. On the same short journey on foot, he is the one to tell her of his plans to keep her safe—plans to which she responds positively. She could very well react in anger or sadness at both the news of her parents' identity, and the fact that she will have to work for that cold, frightening Malfoy man for an indefinite period. But she chooses to react positively, trusting Dumbledore's judgement and feeling more than a little relieved at the prospect of ceasing to be a burden upon him—and, more so, Remus.
But what Alice truly jumps at is the opportunity (which goes hand-in-hand with the other news) to finally learn how to do magic... with a wand.
Remus Lupin is the one to take her to Diagon Alley on the last day of June-a pleasantly blustery day, and uncharacteristically chilly for that time of year—chilly enough to warrant cloaks (to which Alice still has yet to accustom herself, along with the other regular Wizarding clothes—so different from the clothes she had usually worn under the guardianship of Ms. Figg). But the warm fabric serves her well on their stroll through the twisting and turning streets of Diagon Alley, on their way to Ollivander's.
Ollivander is long in responding to the tinkle of the doorbell as the young customer and her supervisor enter the shop. But when he does come, his eyes are bright with the promise of an exciting match—he can feel the power radiating from the girl's very presence. But, first, he sets about greeting the man. "Remus Lupin," he says with a nostalgic smile on his lips. "Let me see if I can recall correctly... Ten and a quarter inches, Cypress, Unicorn hair?"
Remus smiles and nods his head yes, impressed by the old wandmaker's memory. "You truly never forget a match, Ollivander."
"Never," says the old man. "And who is the human half of the match I'll be making today?" he says, shifting his attention to Alice.
"My name Is Alice," says Alice. For a moment, she considers telling him her last name—the last name she only recently learned was hers "Nott"-but Remus, sensing her thoughts, squeezes her shoulder with meaning, and she decides against using the name—though she does wish to experiment with the sound and shape of the name on her tongue. "Just Alice," she says with a simple smile.
"I see," says Ollivander. "Well, I must say that I'm very happy to see you here in the summer. The wands sometimes get confused in the busy fall season, with so many new witches and wizards coming in and out. But since you're the first we've had in two months or so, they should be well rested and prepared to make the proper choice."
"Excuse me... what do you mean, the proper choice?" says Alice.
A glittering smile comes onto Ollivander's stubbled face, and he leans down slightly, as though telling a secret. "The wand chooses the witch, my dear."
Then, he turns away from the two guests toward the seemingly endless shelves of wands, and puts his fingers to his temples, as though divining something—which perhaps, he is. Remus looks down at Alice and raises his eyebrows, causing her to cover her mouth and giggle silently before returning her focus to the concentrating wandmaker. "Come out, come out, wherever you are!" shouts the old man joyously, calling into the shelves, and pausing, as though giving the right wand a chance to call back to him. And it seems as though it does, for a moment later he mutters "Ah, yes... there's a start," and heads forward into the center aisle, reaching up above his head to draw a long, narrow, light-blue wand box from the shelves.
Ollivander removes it from the box tenderly and hands it out to her, but no sooner has she taken it in her hand, than the man quickly snatches it back, shaking his head to himself. "Not quite right," he mutters, placing it back into the box and setting it down on the nearby desk. Again, and again, he goes between the girl and the shelves, handing her wand after wand and taking them back just seconds after he's handed them to her. Alice grows confused quite quickly, wondering what the old man is getting at, but Remus squeezes her shoulder, offering support, and once, mutters "This happens to everyone—it can take quite a while for him to find the right one." But as time goes on, Alice becomes surer and surer that she is not the regular customer, and even Ollivander looks rather strained—the collection of discarded wand boxes now towering almost halfway to the ceiling on the desk in the corner.
"Very, very tricky," Olivander says aloud to himself, hands on his hips and shaking his head after nearly an hour of disappointment after disappointment has passed. "I have to tell you the truth, Alice: this has never happened to me before. Harry Potter was quite a challenging customer, but nowhere near as..."
But, then, the old wandmaker suddenly ceases to speak.
From a very high shelf in the farthest and dustiest corner of the room, a thin, medium-sized grey box has slid out of its place of its own volition, and begun to hover over the other shelves, making its way steadily through the air in the direction of Alice. Ollivander stands with his jaw loosened by the sight, as the box slows, and then descends until it stills and hovers directly in front of the girl, waiting for her to take it. Remus, too, has stepped back slightly from Alice in his surprise.
For a few moments, Ollivander tries to speak, but only succeeds in whispering and gasping, before he finally manages. "Well," he says tentatively, "go on and take it, my dear." Alice, trembling from surprise, follows orders and holds both hand out in front of her, the box settling down lightly onto her palms. "Open it," prompts the wandmaker.
The moment her fingertips so much as brush the wood of the handle, the room suddenly becomes a degree darker than before. A wind rushes down the street outside and a peculiar frost grows in a few glass panes of the windows... Alice, drawn in by the undeniable power of the wand, curls her fingers around the handle, holding It properly, feeling the weight in her hand. Suddenly, it's as though a direct line of tension has been formed between her very soul and the core of the wand. The frost disappears from the windows, the breeze intensifies and then slows, and the light in the room returns again, slowly, leaving something else to take over, something far more powerful and potent which no-one in the room can name.
"Very impressive," says Ollivander after a minute of silence, the shivers still not banished from his body. "Dragon heartstring, poplar wood, twelve inches, slightly flexible. This..." he says to Alice, who looks up at him, wide eyed, "is a very... very promising wand, my dear."
With a slightly wary smile, Ollivander turns and flicks his own wand, sending the non-matches back to the shelves, where they put themselves away. Remus takes out his pouch of money, saying quietly, "How much?" for there is something in the room which threatens to be shattered if a word is spoken too loudly. Remus holds out a handful of galleons to the old wandmaker.
But Ollivander shakes his head, a smile twisting one side of his mouth as he watches Alice, still staring down in awe at the wand in her hand. "Please," he says to Remus. "The look on her face is more than enough pay for a lifetime. Keep your gold."
Over the next months, Alice's days and large portions of her nights are spend studying, mastering spells both simple and complex, and becoming mature in her magic and emotions. By the end of the independent study, guided by Dumbledore, Lupin and McGonagall in turn, she has put up very effective barriers.
But there are ample disappointments along the way, and at times the extreme power of the wand seems a hindrance rather than an asset, as channeling her power through another route she is so unaccustomed to is an extremely difficult task. She has many failures (including, once, accidentally causing one of the stone soldiers in the main entry hall to shatter), but also experiences may successes (including repairing that very same statue and making it walk around the castle-an entertaining time for all of the paintings in the corridors, as well).
Each and every trial pays off, and by the end of the summer, when late August comes all too soon, and the staff are preparing for the arrival of the students for another year, Alice is ready (at least in terms of magic) to enter upon her new world... alone.
And the post as caretaker to Lucius Malfoy's two sons Draco and Fynn awaits her, wide open.
Sorry again for the delay! Funny enough, most of that extra time was spent figuring out what Alice's wand was going to be. Every part of it is symbolic: dragon heartstring (most powerful of all cores, learns fast, is loyal, but also turns most easily to the dark arts and can be temperamental), poplar wood (the rarest of woods, symbolizing integrity, extreme power and moral vision), twelve inch length (symbolizing extreme power and perfection), and slightly flexible (indicating that the wand-witch relationship will be slightly adaptable throughout their lifetime).
In this chapter I mentioned in passing that Lupin's eyes are grey—if you disagree, that's fine, my word is most definitely not law. But I don't believe his eye color was ever specifically mentioned in canon, and I've always imagined them to be grey.
Also I did have Harry call Alice his "best friend." I don't want to break up the golden trio whatsoever, but I imagine that at this point in Harry's life, the person who was there for him consistently throughout his childhood and during his isolated summers might take first place in terms of reliability (not in terms of Adventure, on which front Ron and Hermione certainly take the gold medal).
Just to let you all know, there may be a few times between now and the end of October that I won't be able to update as frequently as I have been. I have always been able to write quickly but even these chapters are starting to get to be a little much for daily updates. I will still be on top of writing these chapters—I am so in love with this story right now—but there comes a point when I do actually have to get other work done... sadly. How wonderful would it be if I had an infinite amount of time, to just sit on my bed and write fanfiction all day long? Alas... School.
Alice is certainly in trouble if she can't convince Lucius Malfoy to give her the position. And in much deeper trouble if he happens to remember her from that brief encounter in the corridor when he was on his way out of Hogwarts at the beginning of this chapter...
Thank you for not plagiarizing my writing!
On_Errand_Bad
9,407 words
Friday, 16 October 2020