Chapter 10

The feast proceeded in a blur because Alli was trying to ignored the constant pounding in her head. Fred noticed she wasn't feeling well and offered to leave the feast early with her. She knew them getting up before dismissed would cause people to stare and start some rumors so Alli remained until the pain was unbearable; Fred helped her out of the bench and supported Alli as they shuffled to the grand doors. Alli could hear people whispering but her head throbbed so much she started to see black dots. Fred practically had to carry her up the first flight of stairs. Then Alli noticed the pain was dimming, the closer they came to Gryffindor Tower the more strength she felt returning.

When they entered the Common Room, Alli tugged on the sleeve of Fred's robes. "Can we just sit and relax for a moment?"

"Sure" Fred said as he lead her to the sofa in front of the fire place.

"I'm sorry we had to leave the feast before the desserts appeared. You can go back if you like, I'm fine… just a headache" now that her head was returning to normal, the burning in her arm became more obvious; but she was used to that, it happened whenever she was around the Malfoys so it was easier to ignore.

"No, I ate enough and I don't want to leave you alone."

Alli knew part of this was a lie because Fred never had enough food, he was always hungry; then again George and Ron were the same way. She took a few deep breaths and was able to think and see clearly after a few moments; she began to rub her arm as a reflex.

"Did you hurt your arm too?" Fred reached out to push her sleeve up.

Alli recoiled it, "No, my sweater is just itchy."

"Alli, you suck at lying. What's wrong? I mean, I wasn't fazed when you told me about your parents so why do you still think you have to hide things from me?"

Alli knew he was right, but she still hesitated.

"Allestra, come on" Fred went to take her hand.

"Don't call me that" Alli mumbled not even trying to hide the annoyance in her voice. She rose from the couch and went to the window. Looking out the window she could feel the water in the corners of her eyes but she suppressed them.

Hugging herself, Alli continued to stare out the window as she said, "You don't know what it means, what it represents. You say I suck at lying but if that were true then you wouldn't be sitting here with me. If I wasn't good at lying then I'd probable in Slytherin snogging with Adrian!"

Alli realized her voice was louder than she intended but she couldn't bring herself to look at Fred. The only indication she had that he was still in the room was when she heard the springs of the couch relieved of weight; but he didn't come over to her.

"A name is a name, Allestra. Just because it was given to you by Death Eaters does not make that name or the person to which it belongs evil. You say I don't know the real you because you think I'll be a afraid of you for some reason. Well I assure you nothing can make me change my feelings for you, nothing." Alli heard his footsteps coming closer. She spun around and pushed up her sleeve, "Not even a mark!"

She had almost wished Fred would have run from the room or at least jumped back from her. But he didn't, his eyes widened a bit but other than that there was no change in him. He just stared at her arm as the snake that was embedded on it began to squirm. Alli felt slightly angered but for reasons she did not know, she knew she should feel relieved that Fred showed no signs of being frightened of her. Her stupid father's influence over her was rearing its ugly head again.

"Allestra, I…?" He was speechless but out of shock not fear, Alli could hear that in his voice.

"Fred, my life is complicated and a bit dangerous. The story I spin for everyone is for their own safety. Please can't we just pretend like this conversation never happened and that my name is Alli Jerrings?"

Alli looked pleadingly into Fred's eyes but when he did not answer right away, she returned to the couch and buried her face in her hands, trying to figure out the best way to explain her life. She felt Fred join her.

"I don't want to cause you any pain, but if your life is as troublesome as you claim, you shouldn't have to deal with it alone. I don't want to be sheltered from your life, if you are in danger I want to face it with you. But in order to do all this I have to understand." He draped his arm across her shoulders.

"Your right" Allestra said taking another deep breath. "You deserve to know the truth. But if at any point you think I'm giving you more information than you can handle, please stop me and we can go on pretending that I'm a normal girl." Fred nodded. Alli told him that her last name was Lestrange and that her mother was Bellatrix; she left out her father's name and left Fred to assume Rudolphus Lestrange was her father. She continued on with the memories she had relived of her infancy up to the arrest of her parents and arriving at the Jerrings' house. She then went on to explain her dreams and all the unusual things that commonly occur in her life. Fred sat patiently and listened intently; he shifted nervously every so often but never requested Allestra to stop. She ended her explanation with the events of the past summer with the enchanted ring and meeting Tonks; when she finished there was a moment of silence and Allestra saw that Fred was still processing everything.

Finally he spoke, "Well you certainly weren't exaggerating, but it's not as horrible as I expected. I think it's wicked that you're a Seer and of course a Parslemouth. Can I see your mark again?" He reached for Allestra's arm again. Alli jerked away, "No Fred, I'm not a sideshow that you can gawk at. You aren't suppose to be excited about this, you're supposed to be terrified. What is wrong with you? You're not suppose to like me, I'm the one everybody is suppose to hate. My father killed without hesitation and I was born to follow in his footsteps." Alli paced around the room flailing her arms wildly. Fred just followed her movements with his eyes as she continued to rant. " I've killed, Fred! Well not a human, a spider, but still I've used the killing curse. I've hurt Diane, because I didn't have control over my magic. I've done things from throwing a stuff animal across the room to shattering every window in the house. And the worst part is even though I knew things I did were wrong and I apologized for them, I never felt any guilt. It was who I am, and when I'm controlling myself I feel trapped. This is not who I am but if you know what's good for you, you will not wish to see my true colors." Alli knew with every passing second her anger was growing, she turned and stalked to the door with her robe flared behind her.

"Allestra wait" Fred started towards her. But, before he got close enough to stop her, Alli spun around and sent Fred flying back, crashing him onto the where he had just been comforting her. She still had enough control over herself to make sure she didn't hurt him but she hurried out the door before she could do worse.

In the hallway Allestra could hear voices coming her way, the feast was over and everyone was on their way to bed. She decided to take the long way to the dungeons so that it would be less likely for her to run into anyone. Allestra didn't run or even rush down the passages; she strutted down them as if no one could stop, she knew that if she wanted to she could own the school. She felt so empowered that she didn't even bother to knock before entering her uncle's room.

"Can I help you?" Snape said looking up from the book he was reading as he reclined on a chair. Allestra flourished her robe, a dramatic affect her uncle used often, and lounged on the couch parallel to him.

"Did you forget your manners during your long trips to the country to see that Weasley boy?"

Allestra snickered, "oh please uncle you know that both Diane and Mrs. Weasley remind me all the time to say my pleases and thank-yous, I choose to ignore them."

"I know that tone," Snape said with concern as he set his book aside. "You sound like your father"

"Which one?" Allestra remarked sarcastically.

"Don't be smart with me, young lady"

"Ooo, young lady, I guess I was correct to consider you among that list of fathers"

Snape rose and went to the refrigerator he had disguised as a cabinet and took out a bottle of apple juice.

"Here drink this" he said as he handed it to Allestra.

"Thanks, but I'm not thirsty" she walked around the room and examined some of the knick-knacks her uncle kept on his shelves. Among all the rare potion ingredients and odds and ends was a single picture. It was of him holding her when she was little, she was asleep in the photo which is probably why she didn't remember it being taken. By the way she looked, Allestra judged she was about five or six so it would have been her first or second year at the school. Her uncle wasn't looking the camera, he was reading; Allestra remembered when she use to crawl up onto her uncle's lap and he would read her to sleep, she felt so safe in his arms. She held the frame for a few seconds before putting it back; as she did, Allestra notice something white tucked at the back of the shelf. She peeked over her shoulder and saw that her uncle had returned to his book but peered over the top of it to check on her from time to time. She made a note to investigate the hidden object at another time; she returned to her spot on the couch.

"Are you ready to drink your juice now?" he said putting his book on the lamp table.

"Why do you want me to drink it, what did you put in it?"

"Nothing you can't handle" Snape smirked. "Go on, drink it. I dare you." He chuckled a bit.

Allestra grinned. This was Uncle Severus's secret weapon, he knew that Allestra never turned down a dare.

"Fine" Allestra took the bottle and swallowed a mouthful. They sat and stared at each other for a few seconds. Then the sneer started to fade from Alli's face. Her outburst at Fred came flooding back and her desire to control the school diminished.

"So did you cause any major damage during this episode?" Snape poured a bit of the juice into a glass for her and returned the rest of the bottle back to the refrigerator.

"I, um, I kind of threw Fred across the room onto the couch."

"Oh, so you two aren't together anymore?" Her uncle seemed to happy about that.

"Don't get to excited, I'm sure I can fix that." Alli said hopefully. She sipped at the rest of the juice but without thinking about what she was saying, she blurted out, "Plus after what happened on the train, I don't think we are in danger of breaking up any time soon."

Her uncle froze, "Oh really, and what happened on the train?"

As calmly as possible and trying not to seem to guilty she vaguely answered, "nothing we just talked and I warned him about my outbursts so we should be fine." She smiled trying to smooth things over.

Still looking at her suspiciously, Snape said, "Very well. It's getting late, you should return to the tower."

"Yes uncle, I'll see you in class tomorrow. Good night," Alli rose and kissed her uncle's cheek before sneaking through the hallways.

The common room was empty so Alli went right to the second year girls' room. She quietly found her bed next to Katie's; she thought her friend was asleep and was startled when she heard a whisper.

"Alli, are you ok?"

Once Alli's eyes adjusted to the dark she saw that Katie was actually awake.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a really bad headache, Madame Pomfrey gave me something to get rid of it."

"That's good. Oh, by the way, your friend Hermione was here looking for you not long ago."

"Was she alright?"

"I think, she seemed a bit nervous."

"I'm going to check on her, I'll see you in the morning. Night."

"Night"

Alli put on her slippers and headed to the room where the first year girls slept. She carefully opened the door and tip-toed around until she saw the familiar mess of curly hair poking out of the covers. As she came to the side of the bed, Alli realized that her sister was still awake.

"Hey," she whispered softly

"Hey, are you ok? You left the feast early" Hermione spoke a bit too loud.

"Shh, yes I'm fine, just a headache. How are you?" Alli found her sister's hand under the blanket.

"It's strange here. I don't know if I'll be able to sleep tonight."

"You're just not used to being away from home. It will get better I promise. Do you want to come stay with me tonight?"

"Is that allowed?"

"Probably not, but you'll soon realize I can get away with bending most rules here." Alli smiled and pulled Hermione out of bed and led her up the stairs.

In Alli's bed, Hermione snuggled up to Alli for security. Alli laughed to herself and wrapped her arms around her sister to let her know she was safe. Alli then realized that she would have to protect Hermione; her friend was Muggle born and will be looked at as weak by some of the other students, especially her cousin Draco. Alli made sure Hermione was sound asleep before kissing the back of her head and closing her own eyes. That night, Alli only dreamed of Fred, thankfully not the one about his death, but in some they were fighting and others were snogging; when she woke to the sun creeping through the window, Alli was confused as to what the future held for them.