Seventh Year

"Althea, I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself," Remus grumbled from his hospital bed. "Honestly, you don't need to do this."

"Hush," Althea scolded Remus with a smile. She fixed him with a sober look, "You had a rough night, and I just want to help. My goodness, Remmy, don't try to fool me. I can see that it hurts you to even lift your arms and you have a cut on your face, and dozens of injuries." In a smaller voice, she added, "I just want to help."

Remus softened at the "kicked puppy" expression on her face. "Fine," he sighed. "Could you hand me my DADA textbook then?"

Althea beamed, "Aye, aye!"

Ordinarily Althea, wasn't keen on helping others but Remus was different. He didn't want the help, which only made her want to help more and she knew exactly what had happened to him. It had been a rough full moon for the teenage werewolf, and if there was anything that she could do to ease his burden, she would do it. He was one of her best friends, and she knew that if she was in the same situation he would do the same thing for her. Althea grabbed his textbook, plopping it on his lap gently. He grinned at her thankfully and opened the book, intent on studying. The doors to the Hospital Wing opened and in traipsed Lily, James, Sirius, and Peter.

Althea wrinkled her nose. She didn't like Peter. Admittedly she hadn't had many conversations with the youngest and fattest Marauder, but there was something about him that set her own edge. Something that she just didn't trust. Either way, she plastered a smile on her face as she greeted them. She wasn't going to start an unnecessary conflict, just because she didn't find Peter trustworthy.

"Hey Remus, how are you feeling okay?" Lily asked, giving him a quick hug.

"I'm feeling perfectly fine Lily," Remus smiled.

Althea glanced at Sirius and James. They shook their head and a frown tugged at Althea's lips. If Lily didn't know, then why was she here?

"What those nasty Slytherins did to you was awful," Lily murmured. "I hope that the four of you told Dumbledore."

"Of course, we did Lily-kins," James assured the redhead, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. "I'm supposed to patrol, but I really want to spend some time with my mate so could you patrol for me?"

Lily glared at him, but didn't protest. Althea watched the exchange between the two with great interest. Was there something happening between the two of them? The old Lily that Althea had known, would have argued with James until she was blue in the face before even agreeing to patrol for him. But this new, strange Lily had just agreed without a peep. It was a little disconcerting, if she was being honest with herself yet at the same time it was a welcome change. Their arguing had grown old and tiresome. Althea found the sudden change a little odd, though.

"Hi Moony," Sirius said smiling a little nervously.

Remus sighed, "Hello, Padfoot."

A relieved expression appeared on Sirius's face. "So, you forgive me?"

"Your actions didn't directly cause what had happened, Snape did. And you prevented a worse situation so thank you." Remus said. He smiled, "I'm being serious."

"No, I'm Sirius!" Sirius proclaimed with a laugh.

Althea looked between the two of them in confusion. "What happened, during the full moon?"

The joyous atmosphere immediately became more somber, and Sirius shuffled guiltily on his feet. Remus shifted, not meeting her eyes. "It's not Sirius's fault. In fifth-year or maybe it was sixth-year…Anyways, Snape found out about my secret courtesy of Sirius. And during the full moon Snape tried to expose my secret to a bunch of his Slytherin classmates. That was why it was such a full moon; Sirius had to go take care of that, and James had to work harder at keeping me contained."

Althea nodded, and hesitantly asked, "Everything is alright now though, correct?"

"As alright as it can be," Remus assured her.

She nodded, "Well seeing as you are fine and you have your friends to look after you, I think that I must go and do my homework. I need good grades if I plan on doing something to combat Voldemort."

Unaware of her friends concerned looks, she exited the Hospital Wing. She had already put herself in more than enough danger where Voldemort was concerned, and contrary to popular belief Althea was willing to put herself in even more danger if it meant Voldemort wouldn't win. A bigot and a xenophobic, could not win. She wouldn't allow it. There were many who would not stand against him, he was after all one of the most powerful wizards in the wizarding world, but Althea wouldn't let herself be intimidated. She wasn't going to let herself be afraid.

She was a Gryffindor for a reason – she had to be courageous. She sighed, as she headed to Gryffindor Tower. She understood that others were worried about it, but either way she was in danger because she had Muggle blood. She couldn't just sit around and do nothing, she had to take an active part in stopping Voldemort. Althea knew that her other friends felt the same way – that was why Sirius had left his parents (well aside from the fact that he was a Gryffindor and not a Slytherin). If they could do something there was no reason that she wouldn't be able to do the same. Althea walked into the dormitory, sitting heavily on her bed.

She wasn't the best with dueling, but she wasn't completely incompetent either. Her greatest weapon in fighting Voldemort, was words. The best way to beat Voldemort was to show people his true colors, and remind people that he sugar-coats words, but he doesn't keep his promises. He only looks out for himself, and if you displeased him you were done for. She couldn't directly fight him but she could use her words to do so. Althea bit her lip fighting a smile. Yes, she decided, that's what I'll do. My first article went well and garnered opposition to Voldemort, other articles could do the same.

Sitting cross-legged on her bed and grabbing a piece of parchment and a quill, she began to write. Of course, she intended to fight against Voldemort as well. But for now, she was underage so she couldn't do that yet. This was the next best thing.

Althea shuffled sleepily to the Hospital Wing to visit Remus when she was grabbed. An arm locked around her waist pulling her back into the shadows and a wand pressed ominously against the soft skin on her throat. She shrieked, but no one was around to hear her. Wriggling, she tried to escape the grasp of the person holding her. Her elbow caught the person in the stomach and the grip loosened as the person lost their breath, but she still wasn't able to escape.

"Shut up you little bitch," the voice hissed and it was a voice that she recognized as belonging to Arabella Yaxley's elder brother Timothy.

"Yaxley, can we take care of this soon?" Snape's voice drawled. "We do have Potions homework."

"Homework is the least of my problems. We need to take care of this little Mudblood first." Yaxley snapped.

He abruptly released Althea who spun on her heels to face her attackers, whipping her wand out. Before she could move or do anything she was disarmed. Yaxley stalked toward her a predatory expression on his face, but she jutted out her chin defiantly intent on not showing him any fear. He twirled his wand in his hands, as he circled her. Her heart pounded rapidly in her chest, and fear was coursing through her body.

"Crucio!" Yaxley roared.

Althea screamed, dropping to the ground as an indescribably agony coursed through her. Her back arched off the ground and she saw stars in her vision. The feeling abruptly left her and she laid panting on the floor, trying to regain her breath back as tears blurred her vision. She had never had pain that intense before. It was a foreign feeling and an entirely unwelcome one. She had just gained her breath back when the pain came bacSk with a new ferocity. She screamed but no sound came out. Tears rolled down her cheeks, splashing onto the stone beneath her and she clawed at the ground as she writhed.

"Enough Yaxley," Snape murmured, gripping the other boy and pulling him away from the Althea.

She sank against the ground, panting and shaking. She heard muffled words being exchanged between the two of them, and then the sound of footsteps retreating. She rolled onto her side, scrabbling for her wand which was a few feet away from her on the floor. A knock on the door to the old classroom caused her to jump and immediately hiss in pain as her muscles screamed in protest. She had just managed to wiggle over to the wand and curl her fingers around it when the door opened. Rolling onto her back, she pushed herself into a sitting position, leaning against the stone wall for support as she pointed her wand at the people who had entered the room.

"Althea?" One of them asked.

It took her a few moments to recognize the voice was Lily's and when she did she burst into tears.

"Natalya, go get Professor Dumbledore," Lily ordered one of the terrified prefects standing behind her, as she walked over to Althea, kneeling beside her. She glanced over her shoulder when the girl didn't move, "Now!" Her voice softened as she looked at Althea, "What happened?"

"I-I," Althea stammered, her voice raspy. "I was attacked by Y-Yaxley and Snape."

Lily tensed, her green eyes hardening. She didn't want to believe that Snape had done something like this, Althea could see that, but she also knew that Lily trusted her and Lily knew that she wouldn't lie about something as big as this.

"What did they do to you?" Lily asked, brushing Althea's hair away from her face.

"Yaxley u-used the Cruciatus Curse on me," Althea whispered, looking at the ground. "I-I was on my way to visit Remus when they jumped me. Snape dragged him away. If he hadn't I'm sure Y-Yaxley would have k-killed me."

She curled toward Lily, tears in her eyes. Being cursed had hurt and it still hurt, but the psychological aftereffects were even worse. She had been attacked in Hogwarts, a place that she had thought was relatively safe since Dumbledore was here. But, she knew that to be false. It didn't matter if Dumbledore was here or not, there was an ever-present danger for Muggle-borns and half-bloods.

"He called me a Mudblood, Lily. But-But I'm not. I'm a half-blood, aren't I?" Althea whispered, her cheek pressed against Lily's shoulder.

"You still have Muggle blood in you, Althea. To them it's just as bad as being Muggle-born," Lily answered back in a soft voice. "You also don't support He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. If you did maybe things would be different."

Althea didn't answer. Would things be different for her if she chose to support Voldemort? Maybe, but from what she knew the Death Eaters didn't want a half-blood on their side, they only wanted purebloods. Even though, she knew for a fact that a few supporters of Voldemort were half-bloods, like Snape. But Snape was a Slytherin, and that changed everything for him. That was why he wasn't persecuted – maybe looked down upon a little, but never persecuted. Not like Muggle-borns and other half-bloods were.

Althea inhaled shakily, fighting back tears. She stilled wanted to contribute to the fight against Voldemort, but from now on she knew that she had to be more careful. She couldn't naively think that she was safe, because she knew now that she wasn't. Maybe she never would be.

"Oh dear," a voice sighed from the doorway. Althea peered over Lily's shoulder to see Dumbledore walking into the room, a grave expression on his face. Behind his half-moon spectacles a sad light had entered his eyes, which were no longer filled with joy and happiness. "We have much to talk about Miss Morgan, but first I believe you need to go to the Hospital Wing."