Harry Potter

and

The Feathers of Freedom

Chapter Two

Stay Alone

Chaele's eyes were wide as she looked upon the castle, the lights shimmering inside, the moon shining ahead. And this was just from the outside, and across the lake.

"It's beautiful." Chaele said.

"I know it is." A girl stated beside her. Chaele turned to her. The girl stood with another, a boy that looked extremely similar to the girl. Both looked like delicate flowers, but something in their confident amber eyes told you otherwise. The girl had a hand on her hip. Her hair would've been only as long as to her shoulder, but currently it was tied with a long white ribbon. The extra string hung loosely on either side of the ponytail. Her hair was a golden color, with strands of her hair shorter than the rest out of the tail. They seemed to sometimes fall in her eyes, but didn't seem to bother the girl; the color had been died a dark purple.

Her twin had the same color hair, but his was short and spiked upwards. A thick streak of hair running the middle of his hair was died dark purple as well.

"H-Hello." Chaele said shyly, barely able to tear her face away from the enchanting sight before her.

"Hey." The boy answered

"My name is Eurayle." The girl said, "My brother is Eleutherios. You can just call me Ray and him Rio though."

"Nice to meet you." Chaele said, "My name's Chaele."

"Alright, board onto the boats." Hagrid shouted to the first years, "Watch your step, mind you, don't want any of you falling into the lake now."

"Come on, we can get a boat together." Eurayle stated.

Chaele nodded. The three boarded the nearest boat and they magically began to move themselves across the dark glassy lake.

After their ride across the lake, Chaele and her friends, along with everyone else, followed Hagrid up stairs and into a huge marble stepped hallway, where a stern witch was waiting for them.

"Here's the first years." Hagrid commented.

"Thank you, Hagrid." McGonagall stated. Hagrid swiftly left into two huge doors, where the new students saw the huge Great Hall.

"Welcome to Hogwarts. I am Professor McGonagall."

"Ziba!" Ginny called to her as she and the rest of their group sat down.

Ziba smiled to them and waved at her younger brother, Varick, before joining them. Fourteen year old Varick walked across from them and joined those at the Ravenclaw table. He sat down next to an extremely beautiful girl. Her hair was dark brown, almost black, and her eyes were an intriguingly dark green. She turned to Varick and the two began to chat.

Ziba sat next to Ginny and Harry, Hermione across from her with Ron to her side. Neville sat with them as well.

The doors suddenly opened, and the first years followed McGonagall to the front of the Great Hall, stopping in front of all of them.

Ziba gasped, "Guys, its Chaele!"

"Look!" Hermione whispered to her friends as Eurayle and Eleutherios walked by.

"At what?" Harry whispered back.

"The Nights kids." Hermione indicated the twins.

"What about them?" Ginny asked.

"Their family is extraordinary." Ron said, "They're magic is said to be one of the most powerful in the Wizarding World!"

"Their parents were spies during the Dark Ages." Hermione commented.

"I hear Hogwarts has been waiting for their arrival here for a long time." Neville said.

"We will now begin the sorting ceremony." McGonagall placed a stool in front of them and the Sorting Hat.

McGonagall called to many of them. They were sorted.

"Fortunata, Chaele!" McGonagall shouted.

Shyly, Chaele walked out of the crowd and towards the stool. She picked up the Sorting Hat and sat down, placing it on her head.

Hm…Interesting. Most students come into this room with a preference for one house, or expecting a house. But I can't seem to find yours. Do you not have a preference?

"No, not really. I think all four of the houses are wonderful. I just think I'm lucky to be able to get into Hogwarts. If I were to go to any house, I'd be happy."

Really…Hm…

"Better be Hufflepuff!!!!" The Sorting Hat shouted.

Chaele smiled and stood from the stool as the Hufflepuff table screamed their excitement.

"Your sister got sorted into Hufflepuff?" Ron said. "I mean come on!"

Ginny leaned down and kicked her brother. "Ow!" Ginny smiled sweetly.

More names were called.

"Cedron, Lynx!"

The girl named Lynx stepped out of the crowd, arms crossed. Her hair was midnight blue, her eyes a lighter midnight blue. Her hair was lower than her shoulder, but not much. It was tied into two pigtails at the back of her head, and yet the style didn't make her look like a child. Instead she looked older than eleven.

Lynx sat down and placed the hat upon her head. A moment later, it shouted, "Gryffindor!"

Harry, as well as the others at the Gryffindor table, shouted their happiness. Lynx casually walked over to the table and sat down next to Hermione.

"Congratulations on making Gryffindor." Hermione told her. The others nodded.

"Thanks." The girls said emotionlessly.

Of course more names were called. By now, everyone was squirming in their seats. They were all eager to see the two Nights twins be sorted. Everyone was wishing they'd be sorted into their house. Finally, the moment arrived.

"Nights, Eleutherios!" McGonagall shouted, smiling to the two remaining children standing.

Eleutherios took his seat. Many moments passed by until the Hat shouted its answer, "Ravenclaw!!"

The entire Ravenclaw table erupted into cheers, deafening the entire room. Eleutherios stood and placed the hat down before walking over to the Ravenclaw table. Varick motioned for the young Nights child to sit with him and his friend.

"Nights, Eurayle!"

Eurayle, a hand on her hip, confidently strode up to the Sorting Hat, and placed it on her head. Like her brother, many moments, if not longer, passed. And still the Hat pondered. The entire hall held its breathe, each house almost ready to shout their recognition. And finally the Hat announced its answer.

"This young Nights shall be in!…Slytherin!"

The Slytherin table let out a relieved breathe, took in a deep breathe, and screamed out loud, deafening the entire room, some jumping up and down, other ecstatically shouting.

The rest of the entire room just simply gasped loudly. The final Nights child hadn't been sorted into Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, or even Hufflepuff, but she had been sorted into Slytherin.

"She's a Slytherin!?" Hermione questioned loudly. A second later, she gasped and ducked, hoping no one heard her rude comment.

Eurayle didn't seem to be effected by this at all. Instead, she was smirking and walked over to the Slytherin table, sitting down next to Draco, who had vacated the seat just moments ago.

For a long time, the Slytherins cheered. They cheered and cheered, until they were all hoarse and could no longer cheer. They sat down, settling themselves, marveling at the fact that they got a Nights child in their table.

Afterwards, everyone was too shocked to speak, a pause of silence falling over the Great Hall.

"Well, um," McGonagall almost said awkwardly, "Now that the Sorting Ceremony has been completed, let us continue on then. Professor Dumbledore, if you will."

"Thank you Professor McGonagall!" Dumbledore stated, "Tonight has been a particularly interesting night! Alas, we do have a new teacher. And, mind you, this is no joke, so please, be kind and courteous, as this is also her first time here at Hogwarts. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Aletheia Fortunata!"

Aletheia stood and smiled that serene smile of hers at the students, who simply stared in shock at the thirteen year old professor. Even her siblings Varick and Ziba didn't know what to say, who had been so engulfed with the Sorting Ceremony that they hadn't noticed her.

The only one clapping was Chaele, who wasn't at all shocked seeing as she already knew. A moment later, the other teachers joined, as did the other students.

"Thank you, thank you," Dumbledore said, calming them. "Now that all of that is over, let us feast!" With a wave of his hand, and food appeared on their plates.

"Can you believe that Eurayle Nights got sorted into Slytherin!?" Hermione commented to her Gryffindor friends as they walked towards their dorm room.

"I know, of all the houses, that one!" Ron said, "I swear, that Hat must be getting too old! What kind of choice is that!?"

"I really don't see why all of you are freaking out." Ziba said, "It's not that bad."

"Not that bad!" Ron said incredulously, "What do you mean "Not that bad"!? This is definitely bad! She's a child of a magic powerhouse family, and now she's in Slytherin! No telling what kind of evil thing they'll turn her into!"

"Hey!" Ziba turned sharply, stopping the entire group. "No one ever said that being evil is an asset that gets you into Slytherin. And for your information, it's not! I don't know why all of you stereotype them into that."

"We do because it's true." Harry said.

"Have you ever stopped and think that maybe they turn out that way because everyone stereotypes them?" Ziba questioned. Everyone stared blankly at her, speechless. "Didn't think so. For god's sake, even the teachers stereotype them! If they can't make us stop believing, then what choice do they have?"

Ziba turned around and strode away from them, furious.

After a moment, Ron said, "Honestly, that girl needs to understand concepts better."

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ziba walked towards the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom with some other sixth year Gryffindors, including Verity Royals, a girl Ziba introduced to them. Verity had long wavy light brown hair and pretty silvery eyes.

They walked into the classroom and were shocked to find that Draco and some of the other sixth year Slytherins were here as well.

"What are you doing here!?" Harry asked defensively.

"I could ask you the same thing, Potter." Draco retorted.

"If you must know," Aletheia commented, wearing her usual Chinese hairpin, walked down the spiraling marble staircases leading from her study room down to the classroom. Instead of the pien-fu she wore the other day, Aletheia now wore a dark, gold like yellow qipao with a black and gold dragon upon it. "It's something that I've requested."

"That our classes pair up!?" Draco questioned.

Now standing in front of her desk, Aletheia said, "You will now be receiving double Defense Against the Dark Arts. That's one reason for the pairs. With everything that's been going on lately, you'll need it. On Mondays, Slytherin will be paired with Gryffindor, as Ravenclaw will be paired with Hufflepuff. Tuesdays, Slytherin will be paired with Ravenclaw, Gryffindor with Hufflepuff. Wednesdays, Slytherin with Hufflepuff, Gryffindor with Ravenclaw. On Thursdays and Fridays all four classes will be put together for twice the now normal double. But you're in luck, the two double sessions are divided into morning and afternoon, and on both days we will be outside and on school grounds. Any questions?"

By now everyone had arrived.

"Just one." Ron said.

"Yes, Mr. Weasley?"

"Why do we have to pair up with the other Houses? I mean, why can't we just have our normal split schedules?"

"That's just it, Class," Aletheia addressed all of them. "This entire school is split. Yes, I agree, the four Houses was a great idea, and still is, but they don't seem to be looking at the big picture. By separating you into four different Houses, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Slytherin, and Ravenclaw, they have also divided the entire student body into fours."

The students stared blankly at her.

Aletheia sighed, "To put it simply, you, as the students, are not together. By not being together, you are unprepared for Voldemort." Almost all the students gasped at her frontness with his name. "We need to stick together to be able to defeat him. If we are not together, then we are unprepared. If we are unprepared, then of course we'll lose. That is why I am pushing all seven year levels to be placed into such a class schedule. You need to be prepared for what is to come. The entire world doesn't want you to see the truth, because they believe you are still children. That may be, but you still need to be prepared. That is my job here at Hogwarts. I want to unite you as students and banish the divide between all students. Now, take your seats, and yes you may choose where you sit."

The students scrambled about, placing their piles of heavy books down on the tables, and quickly sat.

Harry sat with Ron and Neville, while Hermione sat with Ziba and Verity.

"Now, to begin," Aletheia said, "How many of you can say Voldemort's name without cringing?" Only Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, though a bit shyly, and surprisingly Verity's hands shot up. "Mm hm. And this is another problem. How can you ever hope to defeat someone if you cannot even say his name? You mustn't let your fear of Voldemort rule you, or you will never claim victory. I know, it must be hard for you to say it. He is a most frightening person. I wish I could say that I could relate to your fears of him, but sadly I cannot. That would be lying. To tell you the truth, I've never been afraid of Voldemort. That is one thing we shall be practicing, how to say Voldemort's name. No, it won't be the only thing, but it will be one thing.

"Now then, let us move on. We'll discuss this a bit later. Open your textbooks to page…"

"This is a strange assignment to have us on." Ron commented, "Speaking Voldemort's name? Is that it?"

"For us it may be easy, but for the others it's not." Hermione answered him. "But she's right. Too many of us let the fear of his name alone rule our decisions. We've got to get over it."

"I still can't believe it." Ziba shook her head, "She didn't even tell me."

"Tell you what?" Verity asked.

"That she was going to be a teacher here. It's just…I didn't expect it and…I'm unprepared for this. After all this time…"

"What do you mean?" Harry asked.

"Let's just say it's been a long time since I've seen Aletheia." Ziba said.

"So?" Ron stated, "You should be happy for her. She's like thirteen or something. She's supposed to be in her third year, and here she is a teacher. It's magnificent, excellent. It's…Unbelievable."

"Thank you, Ron." Hermione said sarcastically, "Not helping right now."

"Sorry."

"Look, Ziba," Hermione said, "Maybe you should just, you know, talk to her. I'm sure she missed you a lot."

Ziba nodded, "I suppose so…"

"Varick!" Chaele ran across the hall to her brother.

"Hey, Chaele." Varick answered good naturedly

"Let's go have lunch." Chaele stated.

"Sure." Varick answered.

"Aren't you going to introduce me?" The girl from yesterday, the one that had sat with Varick, said.

"Oh, hey." Varick smiled. "Chaele, this is Adira Cane. Adira, this is my younger sister, Chaele."

"It's nice to meet you, Chaele." Adira smiled at her, and Chaele smiled back.

"Let's go find Aletheia and ask her to eat with us too." Chaele suggested.

"I don't know, Chaele. She's a teacher; she's probably busy." Varick said.

"Even teachers have to eat some time." Chaele retorted.

Varick smirked, "That's my smart little Chaele. Fine, then, let's go find Aletheia."

They swiftly walked towards Aletheia's classroom, conversing amongst each other. Upon reaching the classroom, they found that it was empty. Not one person was inside, not even a ghost.

"Where is she?" Chaele questioned. The checked her study room upstairs. No one was inside there either. "Where could she have gone?"

"It's alright, Chaele." Varick said, "She's probably busy doing teacher things. Come on, let's have lunch."

Chaele sighed, "Alright…I suppose. Maybe tomorrow?"

"Yeah, tomorrow." Adira answered.

Aletheia wasn't in her classroom. No, she wasn't in the teacher's lounge, or the Great Hall. She wasn't out on the school grounds. She wasn't doing "teacher things". No, she wasn't even eating lunch, and she certainly wasn't enjoying herself.

She was on the roof of Hogwarts, alone, standing on one of the stone barracks. She was watching the students down below, either eating lunch together, or playing around together. She watched them laugh together, talk together, have fun together. She watched them be together, well, together.

"How I wish…" Aletheia said sadly, but shook her head swiftly, "No, I can't. I mustn't. It's too dangerous." Aletheia smirked sadly, scoffed forlornly, "After all, I am an abomination. No, I can't stay near them. I'd hurt them. In class is long enough. Yes, that's right, it's long enough. So what if I'm alone. I'm protecting them. This way they'll be safe. I've got to stay alone. Yeah…Stay alone…"

To Be Continued...
End Note: I would like to thank katerpillar and AlLhAiLtHeSoCkMuNcHeRs for reviewing my story!