Soul of the Enemy
By Willow Spirit
Disclaimer: I only own the plot. Everything else belongs to the wonderful J. K. Rowling.
A/N: Very sorry about the delay everyone. Here's a nice, long chapter for you to enjoy.
Chapter 22 - Captured
From Last Chapter:
"ALEX!" Harry bellowed her name with as much force as he could muster. And just as suddenly as she had started the attack, Alex finally snapped out of her violent rage. She paused mid-punch, as if she were frozen. Then she looked up at the others. She stared at everyone for a second, like she was trying to figure out what was going on. When she looked back down, she finally seemed to realize what she had done.
In the blink of an eye, Alex was off Malfoy, backpedaling away from him on the floor. The horror over what had happened was written clearly all over her face. She stumbled to her feet and without any backwards glance, she took off down the hallway, leaving behind the still, blood covered body of Draco Malfoy.
As soon as Alex had disappeared, Harry could feel that the invisible barrier was breaking down. When it was completely gone, he, Hermione and Ron all rushed forward and fell to their knees to examine Malfoy.
"I can feel a pulse," Hermione confirmed. "It's not very strong, though. He must have fallen unconscious before Alex left."
"So he's alive," Harry breathed in a sigh of relief.
"Can't say I like the guy but I wouldn't want him dead, either," Ron added weakly. "Merlin, there's lots of blood."
"That may be a problem, too," Hermione said, glancing nervously at Harry. "He needs help right away."
"Right," Harry nodded. He quickly scanned the small crowd that still looked frozen on the spot. "You, there," Harry pointed at a tall sixth year. "Run and get Madam Pomfrey as quickly as you can. Bring her back here. Tell her it's an emergency. And you," Harry pointed to a fifth year Slytherin. "Come here and stay with him until Pomfrey arrives. Do not leave his side until she gets here."
"Where are you going!" Ron asked.
"I'm going to find Alex," Harry answered gravely as he got to his feet. "You guys can stay or come with me, it's up to you."
"Oh, we're coming," Hermione said.
"Harry!" Harry looked over his shoulder and saw Ginny pushing her way through the crowd. She took in the whole scene in a few seconds but kept a cool and calm face. "Is there anything I can do?"
Harry was about to say no, then suddenly remembered that the Weasleys, Lupin and Moody were still waiting down by the Great Hall. "Sure," he quickly explained to her. "Go down to the Great Hall. Moody, Lupin and your parents are waiting there. Get them to help you look for Alex. If you find her, don't hurt her. Just body-bind her, or something, and get her to Dumbledore's office."
If Ginny was surprised to hear that her parents were at the school, she did a marvelous job of hiding it. Instead she gave Harry a quick nod before leaving to complete her task.
"Let's go," Harry said.
"So where do we go first?" Ron asked as they started sprinting down the hallway.
"Back to the boy's dorms," Harry replied. "I'll need the map if we're going to find her in time."
"I hope we're not too late," Hermione said. "What if she tried to leave the school grounds?"
"But where would she go?" Harry pointed out as they ran up a flight of stairs. "I'm honestly more worried about her behavior today. Something really must be wrong."
"I wonder what it was that Malfoy knew," Ron thought out loud. "Obviously it sounded like it was important. Why else would she beat him to a bloody pulp? She's totally lost her marbles!"
"It could have been almost anything," Hermione said. "I suppose we won't find out what it was until we find her."
The three friends wasted no time once they reached Gryffindor Tower. They bolted up the stairs to Harry's room. Luckily Neville, Dean and Seamus were nowhere to be seen. Everyone was probably downstairs eating supper by now. Harry skidded along the floor to his trunk and ripped open the lid. He frantically started rummaging but after a moment he paused. Something was not quite right.
"What's wrong, Harry?" Hermione was beginning to look frantic.
"This can't be right," Harry muttered to himself. Once again, he dove into his trunk, searching with even more desperation. "This can't be happening!"
"What?" Ron exclaimed.
"The map," Harry pulled his upper body out of his truck. His face was lined with disbelief and worry. "The map is gone."
"No," Ron breathed, his eyes going wide.
"Hang on a minute," Harry suddenly looked back into his trunk and rummaged a bit more. His friends heard a muffled curse. Now Harry's face had turned white. "My cloak's missing too."
"Your invisibility cloak?" Hermione gasped.
"Yes."
Ron swore under his breath, while Hermione dropped onto the nearest bed. "Oh, this is bad," she covered her face with her hands. "This is very, very bad. Who knows what she'll do now that has those things. She could go anywhere."
"What do you mean 'she'?" Harry asked defensively.
"Oh, wake up, Harry!" Hermione snapped in frustration. "We all know that Alex is the one who stole your things. It really isn't that surprising, you know, considering her brief history here. I'm just surprised that she hasn't pulled anything like this before."
"You don't know what you're talking about," Harry said as he slowly rose to his feet. "We don't know what really happened today. This could all be one big misunderstanding."
"Do you want me to slap you!" Hermione exclaimed. Despite the seriousness of the situation, Ron had to cover his mouth so that he wouldn't burst out laughing. Images of Hermione bitch slapping some sense back into Harry flashed through his head. "You did see what she did to Malfoy, didn't you? You saw how she nearly killed him with her bare hands, didn't you? Well I did and this time I refuse to ignore it. You're just going to have to face it, Harry. Alex is not the perfectly innocent girl you think she is. She has one heck of a dark side, which she clearly demonstrated today."
The two best friends stood still as statues, while Ron watched anxiously from the sides. All of a sudden the situation wasn't so funny anymore. Hermione and Harry were both breathing heavily due to their growing frustration. They were glaring at each other, each convinced that the other was totally wrong.
As Harry continued to glower at Hermione, a brief, unexpected thought flashed through his mind: maybe he should just stun Hermione so he could go look for Alex himself. Harry froze as soon as the thought had passed. What was he thinking? Stunning his best friend! Harry shook his head briefly, trying to clear his mind of any other insane ideas. When he focused again on Hermione, he saw that she was looking upon him with concern. What was happening to him? Maybe Hermione was right. Maybe he couldn't see straight when it came to Alex. As much as he wanted to believe this, one last thought came to mind.
"I never showed her the map before," Harry said weakly. "How would she know where I kept it or my cloak?"
Hermione gave him a sympathetic look. She could see that he was starting to accept the idea, even though it was difficult for him. "There aren't that many hiding places in this room," she said. "And storing them in your trunk is sort of obvious. There's also the possibility that Alex spied on us. I mean, all those trips to the 'library' did seem rather suspicious."
"We know she probably didn't go there today," Ron added.
Harry nodded. His insides felt like they were falling apart. Apparently they had been played, duped and conned, him most of all. "Right now, Alex is our number one suspect," he said slowly. "She has the map, which means it'll be more difficult to find her, especially because of the cloak. Nobody in the school will be able to see her…except…"
"Except who?" Hermione frowned.
"Moody!" Harry exclaimed, feeling a rush of hope. "Back in Fourth Year, when the imposter Moody was around, I nearly got caught by Snape. I was underneath my cloak but Moody could see me, because of his magic eye."
"He should be searching the castle with Ginny now," Hermione understood. "Maybe they'll find her."
"And you know who else might be able to see her," Ron added. "Dumbledore. Remember back in Second Year when he and Fudge came to Hagrid's cabin?"
"I don't know if he could actually see us," Harry didn't want to get their hopes up. "He might have just put two and two together and suspected that we were hiding somewhere in the cabin. Then again, anything is possible."
Hermione nodded eagerly. "This is a good start," she said. "Maybe we should go see Dumbledore. I'm sure news of the fight has reached him by now. He'd probably appreciate being told about your missing things too, Harry. It might make the search easier if more people know what to expect."
"Sure," Harry agreed. "Let's go see him now."
-----
Harry, Ron and Hermione quickly made their way to Dumbledore's office. They had no idea how they were going to get in (no one knew his current password), or if he was even there, but they prayed for some kind of miracle. Someone, apparently, must have been listening, because as the three students approached the entrance they could see that it was already open. McGonagall herself was walking briskly down the stairs towards them.
"Mr. Potter," she looked slightly surprised, yet relieved to see him, Ron and Hermione. "Just the person I wanted to see. I hear that the three of you were witnesses to a particularly violent attack on Mr. Malfoy a short while ago. I was just on my way to look for you all. If you wouldn't mind, Professor Dumbledore and I would like a few words with you."
"That's fine," Harry said. "We were coming to see the professor anyway."
They all ascended the spiral staircase and soon entered Dumbledore's office. The old Headmaster looked like he was patiently waiting for them. He was staring up at some unknown point as if collecting and going over his thoughts in his head. He turned to look at the students when they came to stand before his desk.
"Ah, splendid," he said. Harry could tell that his voice lacked the usual twinkle it normally carried. This was serious. "You're all here. Please, have a seat."
The three students politely sat in the three seats in front of the desk, while McGonagall chose a seat just off to the side where she could face them. For one uncomfortable moment, Harry wondered how he was going to start this but thankfully he was saved by McGonagall.
"Mr. Potter said that they were already on their way here," she explained. "Perhaps you have some information you'd like to share with us?"
"Err..yeah," Harry braced himself for what he had to do next. "We saw the whole thing. We saw how Alex attacked Malfoy…"
"And she nearly killed him," Ron interjected.
"We think she was trying to protect some kind of secret," Harry continued. "We think Malfoy discovered something that she didn't want getting around. He made it seem like he was going to tell others about it and she panicked. She started hitting him to keep him quiet and it escalated from there. He ended up on the floor and she wouldn't stop punching him. Finally she heard me calling her name. That's when she ran away."
Harry stopped his explanation, afraid to go any further. Dumbledore seemed to sense this and gave him a soft encouraging smile. "And then what happened?" he asked Harry.
Even though he wanted to answer, his shame in himself wouldn't allow him. The more he thought about it, the more it seemed like this was all his fault. Alex had stolen his cloak and map. She was running around somewhere, and no one was likely to find her because of him. If he hadn't let his feelings for her take control of him, then maybe he could have seen this coming. He should have seen this coming. Now he just felt so blind and stupid.
Luckily for Harry, Hermione decided to jump in for him. "We went to Harry's room, Sir," Hermione said. "We wanted to…to look for things that might help us find Alex..."
"It's okay, Hermione," Harry couldn't quite look at anyone. "We were looking for my cloak, Sir, that and my map."
"Your map?" both Dumbledore and McGonagall looked puzzled.
What the hell, Harry thought to himself. Go big or go home. "It's my Marauder's Map. Dad made it with Sirius, Remus and Peter. It's a complete map of Hogwarts with all the secret passages and everything. It even shows where everyone is at all times."
Judging by the way that Dumbledore was raising his eyebrows, even he was a bit surprised by this new bit of information. Even Harry was amazed that something like this was kept from him for all these years.
"Extraordinary," Dumbledore said. "And you are sure it shows everyone's positions?"
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure," Harry sighed, but then… "But Alex doesn't know the passwords, would she? She won't be able to use it if she doesn't know the passwords."
"I wouldn't be so sure of that," Ron warned. "She knew where to find it didn't she? If she knew that already, then she might know the passwords too. Or…maybe she's listening to us right now, hoping that we'll say them…"
"Don't be silly," Hermione whispered. "Professor, you would know if someone was listening in on our conversation, right?"
"Under normal circumstances, yes," Dumbledore said after a pause.
"So then we have nothing to worry about," McGonagall piped up. "I'd say it's safe to assume that we're safe in here."
No sooner had she gotten the words out of her mouth, when a sudden commotion could be heard from the other side of the door. There was shouting and the sound of hexes being thrown. Everyone in the office was immediately on their feet. They all had just enough time to turn around and face the door, when it suddenly burst open, revealing the three people who were standing outside.
"Alex?" Harry stared at the girl in disbelief. There she was, her hands tied behind her back, probably by invisible bindings. Remus had a hold of her right arm, while Moody had a grip on her other side. All three looked slightly tousled, like they had just had some kind of brawl. Indeed, Remus and Moody both looked like they had a few scratches on their arms and faces. Even the front of Alex's robes were still covered in Malfoy's blood. But most importantly of all, Harry noticed that Lupin was clutching something else as well as Alex's arm.
Half-wrapped around her upper arm was his invisibility cloak. And peeking out of his pocket was the Marauder's Map.
Before anyone in the office could recover, the two grown wizards forcefully pushed Alex through the doorway. She stumbled into the room, a huge silly smile spreading across her face. "Oh, is this where the party is?" she quipped. "Thanks so much, boys, I would have missed it. But I don't think we're dressed for the occasion. We're looking a bit scruffy here."
"Be quiet, girl," Moody growled at her and jostled her arm for good measure.
"Hey," she looked up at him and frowned. "Is that any way to treat your party guests?"
"He said be quiet," Remus said evenly. He made sure that his grip on her arm was good and tight.
"What is going on here?" Dumbledore asked in confusion.
"It seems this girl was camped right outside your door Albus," Moody replied. "And I'm not talking about the one at the bottom of the steps, I mean this one right here that we just barged in through. We were with Arthur and Molly and their girl, but we split up and when we came up the stairs I saw her crouching in the corner by the door. She was wearing that invisibility cloak and she had that thing in her ear."
Moody jerked his head towards the doorway and everyone leaned over to look. Harry stared in amazement at the long piece of pink looking flesh; an extendible ear! She must have swiped it from his trunk too, he just hadn't realized it.
"I don't think she was expecting anyone, and she certainly wasn't expecting me. As soon as I came near the top I could see her. I let Remus know, then together we attacked. She's quick I'll tell you. Didn't take her long to realize that she'd been spotted. Even caught by surprise, she still gave us one hell of a fight."
"I believe this is yours," Remus carefully shifted his hands so that he could reach out and hand Harry his cloak. Then he also handed over the familiar old parchment. Harry gazed at his things for a moment, then lifted his head to look at Alex.
"Oh, don't give me that look, Potter," Alex rolled her eyes. "It's not like I killed your puppy or anything. I was just borrowing them."
"You stole them," Harry corrected her coldly. "You went into my room and took my things without asking; that's called stealing in my books."
"Whatever," Alex snorted. "That's your definition of the word. Besides, I wouldn't have needed them forever, you know. There's a chance you would've gotten them back."
"A chance?" Harry fumed.
"What were you doing, hiding outside of the Headmaster's office?" McGonagall bristled.
"Waiting for an appointment," Alex drawled, earning her another shove from her captors. "Hey, watch it! You don't have to be so rough."
"Oh, I think we do," Remus said.
"Says you."
"Enough," Dumbledore said in a quiet yet commanding tone. "I think we all need to sit down and have a good talk. Now there are a few people who should probably be here. Professor McGonagall, if you could let Professor Snape know that he's needed here. I'm sure we could use an update on Mr. Malfoy's condition as well."
"Of course," McGonagall nodded.
"And perhaps you should find the Weasleys," Dumbledore added.
"Finding them might be somewhat difficult," McGonagall hesitated. "If there was some way to find them quickly…"
Harry only paused for a second, then reached inside his pocket. He pulled out the Marauder's Map and put his face close to the parchment. He whispered the passwords softly before offering it to his Head of House. McGonagall blinked in awe as she began to study its contents.
"Well, I'd never…" Harry could hear her whisper to herself. "Thank you, Mr. Potter. This will be most helpful."
"One more thing," Dumbledore stopped her before she left. "Miss Weasley should be escorted back to Gryffindor Tower. If you find someone to accompany her…"
"Hold on," Alex quickly butted in. "Ginny's not allowed to hear what we have to say?" Dumbledore and McGonagall exchanged a look that Harry knew all too well. It was the look all his professors used when they wanted to 'protect' the students from too much dangerous information.
"Perhaps these three could come with me and escort her…" McGonagall started, referring to Harry, Ron and Hermione. Three mouths flew open simultaneously. For crying out loud, they were in their Seventh Year. Seventh Year! Even Harry was nearly eighteen by now. They all were about to protest but someone beat them to it.
"What? You're going to send them all away?" Alex scoffed at the idea. "Let them stay. I don't care. Hell, I jerked their chains most of all, they deserve to hear the truth straight from the source."
"That will be fine," Dumbledore agreed.
"And we're not doing it here," Alex said firmly. "This place won't be big enough, I think. I refuse to talk about anything in here. Pick an empty classroom somewhere, anywhere, I don't care."
After a minute of debate, it was settled. McGonagall was off to find the others. Everyone else set off to prepare an empty classroom in one of the old, unused hallways.
-----
It didn't take long to get everything in place. They had arranged the classroom so that there was a half circle of eleven chairs facing one lone chair. Such a placement would allow everyone to see each other and Alex, the one who was facing the interrogation.
McGonagall arrived with Snape and the three Weasleys. It didn't take long to bring everyone up to speed. The Weasleys were stunned to learn about Alex and the others were relieved to know that Malfoy would be alright, despite having a few broken bones and losing a good amount of blood.
Soon the four students were sitting on one side of the half-circle, while the adults occupied the other seats. Alex, of course, had the seat of honor. She was currently strapped to the chair, again by magical, invisible bindings. Her attention was all over the place as she carefully examined the room.
"You won't find any means of escape," Snape informed her. "I can assure you that this room is secure. In any case, you'd be up against a room full of highly trained witches and wizards. You wouldn't stand a chance. And we are all shielded against any wandless magic you might throw at us."
"My, my, aren't we thorough," Alex replied.
"Well, now that we are all settled, perhaps we shall begin?" Dumbledore offered.
"Actually, I don't really feel like talking now," Alex did her best to look casual in her bindings. The entire group gaped at her.
"This was all just a stall tactic," Moody realized. "You made us change rooms to buy yourself some more time."
"Someone give the man a cookie," Alex would have clapped if could have moved her hands. "He solved the puzzle, he deserves a prize."
"Don't talk to him like that," Harry fumed.
"I'm sorry, should I apologize to him?" Alex mock gasped. "I would but…you know, I don't really feel like it so I won't."
"We shall begin," Dumbledore said again, with a warning glint in his eye. "This time we will start with the basics. Miss Reid, why did you hurt Draco Malfoy earlier today?"
The assembly waited for an answer with their breaths held. Alex, meanwhile, seemed quite calm. She appeared to be thinking, like she was trying to decide how to form her reply. It took a bit longer than expected. After a tense moment, an eerie, devious smile slowly spread across her face. It sent chills down several spines.
"I hurt him because he overheard me talking about my secret plans," she replied.
It was like an electric jolt went through the entire group. Every single person sprang to life; some started freaking out and all were talking at once. One person in the room, however, had sprung to life for a completely different reason. Harry had been calmly listening to Alex's reply when he nearly jumped out of his skin…
...because everyone around him had suddenly started to panic.
Harry looked between the chaos that had taken over the assembly and the cool, smug Alex who looked like she was enjoying every minute of it. It took a moment longer, but then it finally hit him like a tsunami.
Alex had just spoken Parsletongue.
"She's a Parslemouth," Harry breathed. Out of all the noise and commotion, Alex seemed to focus on Harry. Then she winked at him as if she had heard his comment.
"She's evil, that's what she is!" Ron cried from beside him. "Harry, I'm sorry, but being a Parslemouth is not good. You're the only exception as far as I know. I mean, You-Know-Who is a Parslemouth!"
As everyone slowly began to quiet down, Harry was hit with another revelation.
"You're the danger!" he exclaimed, wanting to kick himself for not seeing it earlier. Ron and Hermione both sucked in deep breaths, knowing exactly what was going on. He finally saw it now.
"What danger?" Remus asked, looking slightly confused. He wasn't the only one, either.
"The danger that Firenze and Sirius warned me about!" now Harry saw Alex in a whole new light. Those unaware of his latest dreams were a little worried about him, but Harry continued on anyway, despite the looks. "They tried to warn me that it was you, but I wasn't looking for the signs!"
"Wow, bravo, Potter," Alex cheered sarcastically. "It only took you four months to see what others in this room already knew. I'm dangerous! Snape knew it from day one and I had to spend so many hours working on Granger here."
"I knew it," Snape hissed and Hermione looked like she had been stabbed in her gut.
"You must be working for You-Know-Who."
"What are you doing here? What are your orders?"
"You will tell us everything that you know."
"Please, everyone," Dumbledore raised his hand to stop the landslide of questions. He gazed coolly around the room as he waited for silence. "Now that I have your attention, I think the most reasonable thing now would be to stay calm and ask questions one at a time. But it seems only fair to me that Miss Reid here deserves a chance to explain herself. So Miss Reid, you get the first word."
"I'm not telling you anything," Alex scoffed.
"So be it," Dumbledore appeared to have expected that particular reply. "We will begin with questions, one at a time."
"You are working for the Dark Lord, aren't you?" Snape accused, quickly jumping in for the first opportunity to strike.
"So what if I am?" Alex smirked, apparently confirming everyone's suspicions.
"Oh, Merlin," Molly Weasley clasped the sides of her face with her hands.
"And what exactly are your orders?" Arthur said, placing a comforting arm around his wife's shoulders.
"I can't tell you. That's confidential," Alex evilly raised an eyebrow to the other four students, who all bristled at her old phrase. So that's what she had meant by that!
"I don't think you have any other options, Miss Reid," McGonagall was looking very aggravated.
"Oh, I have lots of options," Alex shrugged. This only seemed to aggravate McGonagall even more.
"If you are going to be difficult, then we will just have to turn the tables," Snape glared at her as he stood up and made to leave. "There are other ways of making people talk. I will return momentarily."
"It won't work," Alex said to his back. Snape paused in front of the door and slowly turned around with a deep frown across his face. "You were going for Veritaserum truth potion, weren't you? Well, I'll be nice and save you the trip. It won't work."
"Impossible," Moody snorted.
"I'm telling you, it won't work on me," Alex warned. "You'd just be wasting your time and your serum. I don't think you'd want that right now."
Snape and Dumbledore glanced quickly at each other. Was she telling the truth? What did Dumbledore think about it? For one of the few times in his life, Snape could see uncertainty in Dumbledore's eyes. He didn't know! And with the way things were going today with this girl, Snape was willing to bet that she was indeed telling the truth. This girl seemed to be full of surprises. So with great bitterness, Snape reluctantly made his way back to his seat.
"Smart move," Alex congratulated him. "That only would've given me more time to stall."
"I said there were other ways of making people talk," he snapped at her. "There is more than one method that we can use."
"And that would be…"
"Azkaban."
All heads turned to stare at Snape in astonishment. That he would even suggest that option was unbelievable. That, by far, had to be one of the most frightening choices available. The only person who seemed unaffected was Alex.
"Bring it on," she challenged. "I have to warn you, though, I wouldn't be afraid to go to Azkaban. You'd be wasting your time…again."
"You must be lying," Remus said. "That place would scare the wits out of you."
"You want to try it and see how far it gets you?" Alex asked. "That place doesn't scare me and neither does death. I'd rather die anyway before telling you anything. Death would be preferable, in my opinion."
Curse this girl, and curse themselves for believing everything she said. But deep inside they knew they would be fools not to trust her. It was something in her eyes. No one could tell what she was thinking but they knew just by looking into her eyes that she was dead serious. They were stumped and she knew it.
"Look," Alex tried to lean forward in her seat. "I'll tell you how things are going to go from here. You are going to untie me and then you will let me go. I get to leave the castle and you will never see me again."
"I'm afraid that won't be acceptable," Dumbledore shook his head slightly.
"Well, that's all I'm offering." Then, after a moment's pause, a sudden change passed over Alex's face. Now there was a dark glint in her eye as she gazed long and hard at everyone.
"You will do as I say," she said in this harsh tone that was so unlike her normal voice. "You will release me, or each and every one of you will die horrible and painful deaths."
"Is that a threat, Miss Reid?" Snape said in a near whisper.
"It's a promise," she returned icily. "I swear to you that if you keep me here, he will come with his loyal followers and he won't stop until you are dead. He won't just kill you either. He will make sure that you suffer before you die, and even after you are dead he will make sure that your body is mutilated beyond recognition…"
"Enough!" Snape shouted. "Your scare tactics will not work here!"
"Seems to me like it already has," Alex smirked, noticing the many pale faces and the hands that were gripped tightly together for support.
They were in deep, serious trouble here. Everyone knew it as they exchanged nervous looks across the half-circle. They were immersed in this battle of wits and they were losing big time. Everything they tried to hit Alex with was thrown back into their faces. The girl could not be intimidated and she had no visible vulnerabilities. How could they crack the one person who had nothing to fear? Worst of all, she knew they had nothing.
"So, Potter," Alex turned to mock the younger side of the assembly. "You and your pals have been awfully quiet. Care to join in, or do you just have nothing at all to add? Any more useless suggestions? I'd love to hear them."
Harry really wanted to strangle her. He wanted to wipe that smirk right off her face. He had to do something and he had to think fast. So he tried to clear his mind and picture the events of the past four months. There had to be a clue somewhere, there just had to be! Alex wasn't perfect, she had to have made mistakes somewhere along the way. He only had to find it. Harry's mind floated through recent and older memories, looking for the right one.
It came so suddenly, it nearly knocked him over in his chair; one image that was now inexplicably clear above all others. It was from the hospital wing, the day when she first woke up. He could see her panic, he saw her break down…he could see her skid across a floor covered with glass just to get to a secret item hidden away in the box by her bed. A second image quickly followed. It was Valentine's Day. Harry and Alex were standing by the balcony in the Owlery. Alex's hand was clenched in a fist, holding some unknown object for comfort.
That was it! The mystery object! Why hadn't they thought of it before? Why hadn't they asked her about it?
With a sense of urgency, Harry locked eyes with Alex and wouldn't let her go. This had to work. "Alex," he said carefully. "Hand it over."
"Hand what over?" Alex asked. Harry was delighted to see a brief flash of concern in her eyes, even though it was quickly covered up.
"Whatever it is that you keep in your pocket," he told her impatiently. "You cut your knees into pieces looking for it that day in the infirmary, that first day we all met. I know you had it in your hands that night on Valentine's Day. I'd bet you always carry it with you. It must be something special and important, or you wouldn't have tried so hard to keep it hidden. Whatever it is, you will hand it over right now."
"I don't know what you're talking about," Alex quickly looked away.
"Yes, you do," Harry persisted. "If you don't hand it over yourself, then we'll stun you and search you until we find it. And this time, we're the ones who are being serious."
Finally the table had turned. For the first time in a long time, Alex seemed to be truly frightened. She was fighting it, for sure, but there was nothing that would hide the fear radiating from her eyes.
"The charades have come to an, Miss Reid," Dumbledore said. "Tell us what we need to know, or we may have to confiscate this object of yours."
"I can't," Alex shook her head desperately.
"We can wait here all evening," McGonagall challenged her. "We won't be leaving this room until this business is settled."
"It seems you are finally out of options, Miss Reid," Snape sneered.
Alex hung her head so that no one could even get a look at her eyes. She was contemplating her next move. She could wait a long time too, but eventually someone was going to give in first and the odds were definitely not in her favor. How much longer could she keep it up? How much longer when she was already so tired of fighting? What if it were all over…
"My name isn't Reid," she barely whispered.
"Well, I could have told you that," Hermione rolled her eyes knowingly. "So who are you really?"
"We already know who she is," Ron scoffed. "She's a DADA maniac, excessively trained on a broom, and has one of the nastiest tempers I've ever seen."
"Ron, now's not a good time," Ginny sighed.
"So let's hear it, then," Hermione folded her arms, waiting for an answer. "Let's have your real name."
No response. Alex still sat with her head to the floor. Just when Hermione was about open her mouth again, they heard some more muttering coming from Alex's direction. "Oh, they are going to kill me…"
Then Alex raised her head, her eyes clear with purpose and her chin raised in pride.
"My name is…"
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A/N: Please review, people. I really, really mean this. There are only a few people who actually review (and I love you guys who do.) I know there are more than a couple of people reading this story. Reviews are the only feedback I get from you guys. Please take that into consideration.
Next Chapter: You'll just have to wait and find out!