Chapter 6

Alli stared at the closed door for a while as she processed what had just happened. She knew Hermione wouldn't believe in a school of magic, but she never thought her 'sister' would blame her. Finally, she bent down and retrieved the crumbled parchment from the grass. Alli wanted to go straight to Hermione and force her to believe; she was about to go to the door when she realized someone was standing behind her. She didn't know how long Diane had been there but Diane seemed to know what had just happened. Alli remained where she was and let Diane come to her.

"It will be ok, darling. You didn't expect her to take it well to begin with." Diane wrapped her arm around her daughter's shoulders.

"I know, but I thought she'd just laugh it off, not think I'm making fun of her." Alli leaned into her mother's embrace, seeking her guidance on what to do next; she couldn't think clearly enough to figure it out herself. Diane squeezed Alli and then leaned back, "Do you want me to go talk to her mother, explain everything to her?"

"No… well maybe, but I need to talk to Hermione at the same time. Before we do though, I need to call someone." Alli had thought of a plan but it required her to somewhat abuse her relationship with the Hogwarts teachers.

"Your uncle?"

"No, he'd probably scare her and then she'll never come to Hogwarts" Alli let a laugh slip.

"Right," Diane giggled as well and hugged Alli again.

While Diane explained the situation to Allen, Alli ran to her room to make the phone call. When Alli started going to school, most of the teachers bought Muggle phones, so she could reach them faster if there was a problem while she was at home. When she got older, only Dumbledore, Mcgonnagal, and her uncle kept theirs.

"I need your help" she said before evening saying hello. Alli didn't mean to be rude, but the thought of Hermione being this angry with her made her frazzled.

"Alright, darling, calm down and tell me what's wrong" Professor Mcgonnagal coaxed her. Professor Mcgonnagal acted as a sort of grandmother for Alli; when Alli wander around Hogwarts like it was her playground, Mcgonnagal allowed Alli to call her nana. Alli figured Professor Mcgonnagal felt bad for her since she didn't have a grandmother in her life and because of everything else that had happened to her. However, the year before Alli officially entered the school, she promised not to call her that anymore.

Alli explained everything that happened with Hermione. She had talked much about her 'sister' to the teacher, so she understood Alli's problem. Before the phone was completely on the receiver, Professor Mcgonnagal was standing in Alli's room dressed in her traditional robes and pointed hat.

"Shall we be on our way?" she asked with a smile.

"Hang on," Alli flipped her legs over to the other side of her bed and hurried over to her, still partially packed, trunk. She dressed into her Gryffindor uniform; she was determined to do everything to convince Hermione that this wasn't a joke. Alli went to tuck her wand in her packet when Professor Mcgonnagal grabbed her arm.

"Leave your wand, you can't do magic anyway and I don't want to risk having something happen if you get too emotional." The Professor smiled to let Alli know she meant the best. Alli simply nodded and returned her wand to the trunk.

The pair went downstairs and joined Diane. Alli led the group next door to talk to the Granger family. Mrs. Granger seemed a bit exasperated when she opened the door but Diane convinced her that the whole situation was a misunderstanding. Diane took Hermione's mom into the sitting room while Professor Mcgonnagal followed Alli to the girl's room. At the bedroom door Alli paused, she could hear her friend's muffled tears. The professor placed her hand on Alli's shoulder as Alli knocked gently and turned the knob.

"I don't want to talk anymore, mum" a voice said through a pillow; she was sprawled out on her bed on her stomach.

"Hermione, we need to talk" Alli said softly hoping to avoid getting yelled at again. Hermione rolled over and sat up wiping the tears off her cheeks.

"Who's that and why are you dressed so funny?" she said with annoyance in her voice. She folded her arms across her chest and tried to act as if she wasn't crying over her fight with Alli.

"This is Professor Mcgonnagal, she's a teacher at the school I go to and this is my uniform for that school"

"Wow now I see why you never talk about your school, it must be very weird."

"Well that's what I came over here to talk to you about, my school. It's the one you got the letter from today." Alli pulled the wrinkled note from her pocket and did her best to flatten it out. When she held it out for her to take, Hermione turned her head away and didn't move her hands. Alli sat on the bed next to her friend and placed the letter on her lap.

"I'm not leaving till you listen to me. This isn't a joke, I didn't send you this letter. I knew you wouldn't believe it so I was prepared to convince you." Hermione's expression began to soften and she looked down at the letter.

Alli continued, "All the stuff that has been happening to you, making you feel like you're going mad; I was magic. You're a witch, Hermione, just like me and Professor Mcgonnagal here."

Hermione looked at the teacher, who gave her a warm smile. "I want to believe, Alli, but this is just too absurd. I mean, magic! That's just in fairytales."

Hermione stood and went over to her window, staring out trying to figure everything out. Alli looked at Professor Mcgonnagal, who drew her wand and turned a nearby lamp into an owl. Hermione's eyes widened and her mouth parted in astonishment. Alli giggled and held out her arm for the owl to fly too. She brought the owl over to her friend for her to pet.

"Believe me now?" Alli giggled.

"I can't argue with this kind of proof." Hermione finally smiled and laughed.

She had so many questions to ask and Alli promised to answer them all later, but first she wanted to join their mothers. Mcgonnagal changed to owl back into a lamp before guiding the girls downstairs to join the adults. The group had a long conversation and Mcgonnagal was able to answer many questions for the Grangers. When Hermione's dad came home from organizing things at his office, Alli, Diane, and Professor Mcgonnagal left so his daughter and wife could explain everything to him. The professor joined the Jerrings family for dinner but didn't stay for longer after. Allen had to leave as well, so Alli helped Diane do the dishes; though Alli did have a talent for getting her mother and herself just as wet as the dished. Usually Diane would condemn this behavior, but because of the day's events she laughed and grabbed the sink spray to soak her daughter even more.

Mrs. Granger called in the middle of the water fight to ask Diane about how to get Hermione's school supplies. They made plans for Hermione to join Alli and her the following week to Diagon Alley. As soon as Alli heard this she was excited but also thinking of how she would explain having to have and escort with her on the trip, especially if it was Hagrid.

Due to the hysteria of the day, Alli had forgotten she had another letter to answer. She rushed to her room to find Fred's letter on her bed. Fred didn't have the neatest handwriting but Alli had enough practice to decipher it.

Hey Alli,

Just wanted to let you know that we got our Hogwarts letters today. The plan is to go to Diagon Alley on Tuesday and I was hoping we would be able to meet. I miss you. Oh and George and I think we got our mixture right but we want to wait to test till you're with us. We figure if something goes wrong, you are the better witch and could probably fix it fast than either of us. This potion is going to be wicked, you'll love it, and, if it works it will make this school year a blast.

Love,

Fred

Alli smiled, she worried about what the twins had concocted, but she was also excited to see what it could do. She wrote her letter immediately, Alli explained that she already had arrangements to go to Diagon Ally the next week and that she was sad that they couldn't get together. She also assured him that she would make time to visit, via Floo Powder, for the test run of their new formula. Alli then put the letter on her desk so she could send it out when Balgeria returned from the Leaky Cauldron.

As Alli was changing into her pajamas and drying her hair, her eyes caught on the box of potion ingredients. They were pretty basic ingredients, used in most of the potions they made at school, so Alli couldn't figure out what Uncle Severus wanted her to do with them. Also Alli didn't see the bottle Diane had mentioned; she made a note to call her uncle the next morning to figure it all out.

That night Alli had the dream about Fred again. Only this time she could feel it; she could feel the pain around her, the darkness in the atmosphere, and the exhaustion from a fight overwhelming her. This time when she reached his body, it felt wrong, like she was positive that whatever happened to him, should not of happened. The dream was so real, all bolting upright in her bed, screaming "No!", with her cheeks drenched with tears. She was crying so hard she didn't notice Diane had come in the room, but she felt her mother's arms embracing her.

"Shh, it's alright right baby" was all Diane could say at the moment. She caressed her daughter's hair and held her tight until she calmed down. She was so hysterical, Alli had sent herself into an asthma attack and Diane got her inhaler from her dresser. Diane didn't know what the medicine in the inhaler was but it always made her daughter drowsy; she hoped it would help Alli sleep through the rest of the night. Before drifting back off, Alli asked Diane to stay with her. Diane laid down next to her little and allowed Alli to cuddle up close to her; something she hadn't done since she was about six years old. Diane stayed awake a few minutes, holding Alli, and wondering what had scared her daughter. She kissed the back of her little girl's head and closed her own eyes.

The next morning Alli woke alone in the room. It was nearing noon, but she still felt groggy and didn't want to leave her bed. She thought about her dream, it was to real to just be a dream, it had to be a vision; but she didn't want that to be true. While she was laying there, staring at the ceiling, there was a knock on her door and her uncle entered slowly.

"Good morning, I was wondering how long I'd be sitting around, waiting for you to wake." He said while closing the door behind his back.

"How long have you been here?" Alli asked, sitting up.

"Diane called for me around 9:00, she said something happened last night and she didn't know what else to do."

"I had the dream again only it was worse" Alli was close to tears just thinking about it again.

Snape sat on the end of the bed while Alli crawled out from under the covers. Her uncle had become the father figure in her life so when she crawled next to him and put her head on his shoulder, it wasn't weird or uncommon.

"Did you tell Diane about it?"

"About the first time I had it, but last night I had an asthma attack and fell back asleep right after taking my medicine. I didn't get a chance to tell her that it was the same dream."

"Alright well, obviously the advice from my letter no longer applies. So I think it would be best if we met with Professor Dumbledore. Did anything happen while you were asleep?"

"Not that I know of and everything seems fine" Alli said surveying the room, looking for things out of place.

"Good, well you get dressed and meet me downstairs" he patted her knee and started to the door until Alli remember she needed to ask him something.

"Uncle Severus, did you drop off this box of ingredients for me?"

Alli picked up the box and held it out her uncle to examine.

"No, those are all things you should've had an ample supply of when school ended. Why?"

"Diane said you did while I was at Fred's house. She said there was also a bottle with it but I don't know where that went. I think it might have been a portkey."

"Why do you think that?" Snape retook his seat next to Alli.

"Because Saharia was asking me about a portkey one day, and yesterday I got a letter from Tom at the Leaky Cauldron saying that Saharia was there. I don't know how else she would get there."

"Very well, we need to get Albus here as soon as possible. Someone is impersonating me and getting close to you. Get dressed, we have a lot of work to do."

Alli dressed quickly and went downstairs to have lunch with her uncle and mother. Snape had filled Diane in not only on the dream but on intruder as well. She was worried that someone could so easily trick a person. Snape assured her that he would stay close by until everything got sorted out and they knew it was safe.

Hermione cam over but Alli had to send her back home, but first Alli grabbed her copy of Hogwarts, A History so her friend's curiosity would be quelled for a bit. It worked because Hermione skipped happily back to her house without asking anymore questions.

While they were all sitting around the table, Balgeria arrived back. Diane got the owl a treat and Alli went to get her letter for Fred. Balgeria protested a bit to having to go back out, so Alli unsealed her letter and added a note asking if Balgeria could stay and rest with them for a day or two before being sent home. The owl seemed to like that so she took the letter and took flight again.

Snape sent an summoned Professor Dumbledore telling him it was urgent, he agreed to visit that night. Till that meeting, Diane decided to pass the time baking cookies while Alli played chess with her uncle. Allen called but Diane kept the conversation casual, not telling him anything about the previous night or the imposture. Alli figured she was afraid of scaring him away already. After dinner, Snape volunteered to do the dishes and Diane was about to protest when she realized he meant, magically. Just as the last dish floated onto the clean stack, the fireplace surged and the Headmaster of Hogwarts was standing in the living room. The trio sat down with him and explain the events of Alli's life since school ended.

"What should we do Professor?" Diane asked anxiously.

"I'm not entirely sure. But I do know that something strange is going on. I will have to look into this business with the portkey and what exactly the snake has with her."

"We plan on going to Diagon Alley next week and picking up Saharia in the process" Alli explained.

"Very well, I shall return then. Until that time, Severus I want you to check in regularly. Also if a person would looking like Professor Snape, I want to two to ask a few questions to him that only the real Professor Snape would know, just to check."

Alli and Diane agreed. Dumbledore then left to check on a few thing, followed shortly by Snape who promised to call first thing in the morning.

The rest of the week went smoothly. Alli spent most of her time with Hermione, getting her ready for school. There weren't any unexpected visits for her uncle or his impersonator, but his calls came like clockwork; every morning to wake Alli up and then at night just before she went to bed. Alli kept herself so busy that it seemed like the day for the trip to Diagon Alley came in no time. Alli had warned Hermione that they would have an escort but didn't go into much of an explanation why; thankfully Hermione was too excited to care.

The morning of the trip Hermione and Alli waiting in the living room for whoever was joining them while Diane read the paper in the kitchen. Alli was actually hoping for a stuffy Wizengamot this time, but just in case she was also thinking of ways to explain Hagrid to Hermione. Finally, around 11:00, the doorbell rang and Alli hurried to open it; but she wasn't faced with a Ministry worker or a half giant.

"Hi can I help you?" Alli asked.

"Hi, I'll be your escort to Diagon Ally, my name is Tonks"