Aly looked up at Damien and dropped her quill on the table that she was working on in the library a few months later. "He's in the hospital wing?!" Aly exclaimed.

"Hush! Not so loud!" Damien hissed. He looked around at Madam Pince, who was looking at them suspiciously. "He drank some mead."

"Well...why would Slughorn poison him?" Aly hissed. "Slughorn doesn't hate Ron that much!"

Damien shrugged. "I'm going to kip up there. Coming?"

"I'd love to, but I'm really behind," Aly said sadly. "Tell Harry and Ron I said hi and hope they get well!"

"Ok," Damien nodded. "See you later." He left the library.

"Idiot," Aly muttered to herself. "Why the heck would Slughorn poison Ron?"

She continued writing down proper way to apparate. They were learning about it in Transfiguration in preparation for the lessons coming up soon.

Aly felt bad for Harry. After their last quidditch game (in which they lost horribly, 320 to 60), Cormac McLaggen, that idiotic new keeper, bashed Harry's skull. On purpose, thought Aly. That scum was just so mad that he didn't get in the first place.

It was a bad game all around. Aly missed at least five easy goals because they were playing so badly. Harry missed the snitch a lot, and McLaggen was too busy trying to order everyone around to play keeper.

"Oh well," Aly sighed. "We'll just have to kick their butts next time."

Aly continued writing. As she wrote, she realized that she wrote the word 'Adam' in place of animagus on her parchment. She used her wand to erase it quickly and then wrote the word 'animagus.' She thought back to the day that she visited Adam.

"Who's there?"

"It's Aly," Aly responded, looking over her shoulder at her mother. Joy nodded encouragingly.

"Aly? Is that you?" another voice called.

"Bella? It's Aly," she called from behind the door.

"Who am I descended from?" Adam's voice asked from behind the door.

"Sir Theodore Aldaine the Third, Marseille, 1765."

The door opened and Adam appeared, grinning. "Aly! It's...who's that?"

He was pointing to Joy.

"That's my mum. Don't worry, you can trust her," Aly said. Adam nodded uncertainly and let them in, his eyes following Joy. Aly smiled half-heartedly at Bella, who was standing in the kitchen. She leaned on the wall, sizing Joy up.

"Who's that? Some Ministry official come to take him away again?"

"No. It's my mum, Bells. She's with me. She's good, don't worry. Don't freak."

"Then what's with the wand?" Bella asked accusingly, pointing to the wand hidden in Joy's cloak.

"That's for my protection," Joy said wryly. "Just in case John decides to kip down here a visit, seeing as how you lot are underage."

"We'll be just fine, thank you. We've got a few spells on this place," Adam said proudly, walking into the kitchen.

Joy stepped forward to Adam, holding out her hand. "I'm Joy Avon."

"Adam," he said curtly, shaking it.

"Listen," Joy sighed, stepping back. "I don't see why you lot are so scared. I'm not here to take you away."

"I don't know if I can trust you," Bella said shortly. "Aly, you shouldn't have brought her here."

"Bella, I've told you, she's fine. She's here for my protection. Not to take anyone away!" Aly argued.

"I still don't trust her," Bella replied.

"If you don't trust her, then you don't trust me."

Bella fell silent.

"Do you trust me?"

Bella looked away angrily. "Yes."

"Thank you."

Joy rolled her eyes. "Would you mind if I just sat in the living room while you all chat?"

"That's fine," Adam said quietly. "Make yourself comfortable." Joy nodded and looked quickly at Aly. She nodded and then left.

"What's with the nod?" Bella asked as soon as Joy left.

"Just so I know that if I have to, I'll use my wand," Aly replied, feeling the tension in the air relax.

"On who? Us?" Bella raised an eyebrow.

"Bella, could you go?" Adam demanded angrily, whirling around to face her. Bella's eyebrows rose in surprise. Aly looked between the two, worried.

"Fine, then," she said crossly. "Welcome back, Aly," she snapped.

Then she stomped out of the kitchen.

Aly watched Bella go and then looked at Adam reproachfully. "You didn't have to do that."

"Did too. She's been so hostile lately. She thinks that every adult is here to take me back," Adam said, grinning bleakly.

"Well, my mum isn't," Aly assured. "She understands where I'm coming from."

"I'm glad," Adam said, walking over to her and taking her in her arms. "Welcome back."

"It's good to be back," she replied, hugging him. She pulled back, sad. "I can't stay for long." She sighed. "I have to get back to my mum's house before noon so I can go back to Hogwarts."

"Oh. Well, we may as well make use of the time we have now," Adam said glumly. His eyes brightened. "What happened with old Devon?"

Aly glared at him. "Luckily for you, Devon is an extremely agreeable boy. Devon loves Natasha. Natasha is my best friend. If Devon betrays me, Natasha will hate him for the rest of their lives, so..."

"He's agreed to shut up to keep the girl," Adam finished teasingly.

"Yes. But that was a stupid move," Aly added.

"I thought it was quite fun."

"That memory charm was not powerful, by the way. Ineffective."

"Really? What a surprise," Adam said, looking away.

"You obviously knew that, but you didn't want to say a word."

Adam grinned down at her. "I like to make things fun."

"I hate you," Aly said angrily.

"No you don't. You absolutely, positively love and adore me."

"In your pathetic dreams," she teased. Then she stepped back. She sized him up. "You look healthy. What've you been up to?"

"My friends are treating me kindly."

"Who?"

"I'd love to say, but..."

"Security," Aly nodded. "I understand. So, they just took you in?"

"Yes. We've been good friends with this family. They haven't said a word."

"And how long do you plan to stay here?" Aly asked, raising an eyebrow. "You-Know-Who's supporters are on the move, recruiting more people, putting them under control...the Ministry is probably going to search for you."

"Ooh, how optimistic," Adam said with sarcasm.

"Sorry. The truth hurts," she shrugged. She looked away, smirking.

"Aly. Aly. Oh, Aly..." Adam said cheerfully, walking over to her. He started tickling her and she growled, attempting to swat his hands away.

"Geroff!" she growled, grinning.

"Aly...Aly...Aly..."

"Aly. Aly...Aly!"

She snapped out of her trance. Aly's head snapped around and she heard it crack. "Ow."

She rubbed her neck while looking up at Char. "Hey."

"Hello," he said, amused. "Contemplating life again?" He was leaning on the table, his brown eyes sparkling with amusement.

Aly rolled her eyes and continued rubbing her neck. She had been staring out of the window for the past few minutes, thinking back on her visit.

"No. Just thinking."

"About life?"

"No," she growled, causing him to smirk. "Shut it."

"I ran into Damien on the way down here." He sat down. "Still sore from the game?"

She groaned. "Don't even talk to me. That idiot McLaggen. If he wasn't on the team, we would've won."

"Yeah. And if Ron hadn't been poisoned by Slughorn..."

"Slughorn didn't do it," Aly protested.

Char snorted in disbelief. Then he looked up at the clock. "Do you want to head back up to the common room to get our stuff? Class begins soon, but people clog up the hallways."

She nodded and gathered her things.