A/N: Alright, I'm getting back on track with this being Selena's story. But the Yule Ball is just so much fun to get into. Hm, okay, maybe Selena is taking a backseat to Alrescha. But seriously, though, Selena will be back. She is our main character after all.
Also, I would like you to know that I'm editing myself with all of my Alrescha/George things. I am soooooo editing myself. As in, there's tons more I'd like to say about them, but that would detract from Selena.
The Scribe's Resurrection
Part Four: Chapter ThirtyHogwarts, Christmas Day of 1994
7:03 PM
"No, Mum." Alrescha was getting tired of saying it. No, she didn't know who George was going with. No, she hadn't asked him.
"Just asking."
"Thank you for helping me get ready."
"Hmm, you're welcome." Selena was already dressed, wearing a long, pewter and silver dress with obsidian beads. She zipped up Alrescha's dress; a glorious print adorned it. Both women looked quite elegant and of course, beautiful.
"When did she wear this again?"
"This was one of her signature dresses, I think. When she sang for the Minister for Magic's inaugural ceremony in late 1979, she wore it." That would be when she was pregnant with Alrescha.
"Oh." Alrescha sighed and began to sing. Selena was used to this, to her daughter's sudden musical outbursts. She combed Alrescha's hair into a half up, half down style. Suddenly, Selena had a flash of a memory of her own mother, Komali. She grinned, shaking her hair.
"Shwee." Effie and Panache flew over, hefting a camera.
"Oh! Pictures, that's right. Remus and Sirius will want to see." Selena made to take the camera, but Alrescha stopped her.
"Mum, you've got to be in the picture too. They can take it, right guys?"
"Shwoo." Effie blinked, bowing. She began clicking the button, taking candid pictures.
---
An Hour Later
"Have fun. I'll be at the table if you need me at all."
"Okay." Selena descended the staircase, smiling at many of her students. Alrescha still stood at the top of the stairs, searching the crowd for her date.
"Oh, hey! You look beautiful!"
"So do you, Angelina!"
"Thanks." They grinned at each other. "Have you seen Fred?"
"Nope." Angelina sighed, folding her arms.
-
George and Fred rounded the corner, trying to make their way to the bottom of the staircase; Angelina had told Fred she'd meet him there, so that's where they were going.
"I dunno, mate, why didn't ask Alrescha when you had the chance? I mean, you don't even have a partner now."
"I was going to, but then-"
"Oh, look, Angelina and Alrescha." Grabbing the banister and ascending, George tilted his face upwards to look. His mouth gawked open. Her dress was of course, unique, but that wasn't what made George trip up the stairs. Her body was delicate, contradictory to the harsh Quidditch practices Wood had put them through the previous year; her skin full of flush, losing its tan due to the nonexistent winter sun. George's heart began to pound, giving him a slight rush to the head. The young woman was biting her lower lip in thought, eyes scanning the vicinity, her hands wringing. All in all, she looked quite lost, but to the younger twin, she looked perfect.
"Beautiful, isn't she, mate?" Fred clapped his brother on the back, referring to Angelina. He was definitely seeing stars as well.
"Er, yeah." George definitely had no clue what his brother was talking about; for the first time in their lives they were on completely different pages.
"Hi!" Smiling warmly, Alrescha waved when she spotted them.
"Uh, hello." George cleared his throat.
"You two look charming."
"So do-"
"Oh! Michel, over here!" George turned to see where Alrescha was gesturing to, and saw the Frenchman, wearing a cape and red tie that most definitely clashed with her dress.
"Bonjour, ma cherie," he said, bowing and taking her hand.
"Bonjour." She giggled, curtsying. George positively scowled.
"You look lovely. Shall we go take our seats?"
"Yes, we shall." Alrescha turned to go, then stopped suddenly, turning on her heel. "Hey, George?"
"Yes?" His eyes lit up.
"Save a dance for me?"
"Of course." And Alrescha walked off, leaving George feeling very hesitant about the night.
--
Fred and Angelina were dancing up a storm, literally. George and Alicia had tried to keep up with them, but Alicia had long since gotten tired of spinning in circles to the Weird Sisters, and she was now having punch with Katie Bell.
"We're gonna go talk to Madison for a minute, alright?"
"Sure," George shrugged. Alicia wasn't his date anyway. Sighing heavily, he dipped the ladle into the punch.
"She's hot and all, but she's a bit too childlike. She listens just fine, but when she talks about anything at all, it's just all too obtuse."
"Well, shut her up and kiss her then."
"She won't let me-" The boy lowered his voice. "If she wants to use her mouth, she better use it on me, get what I mean?" George turned his head, wondering who in the world was speaking about their date in this way. He saw Matthieu Renard with one of his Beauxbatons friends, pouring pumpkin juice from a decanter. "She hangs around those boys all the time, they must've taught her something, seriously."
Before he knew what he was doing, George had set himself in front of Matthieu, stern-faced.
"Don't talk about her like that," he slowly said. "Alrescha's a wonderful person, intelligent too- she's probably second in her year- and she's got an awesome sense of humor."
"She laughs at anything that moves… I mean, she laughs at you, doesn't she? Your ego must be well-padded."
"I'm serious, Renard."
"Come on, you of all people should know that she's not all that outstanding, especially in the brain department."
"Shut up."
"I must admit, at first I thought that she was just your plaything, then just your friend… Now I see that you really do like her." George's eyebrows lifted, surprised; he thought a moment.
"You know, I do. Stay away from her, you miserable, half-assed git." Fists balled, the younger twin tramped away from the punch table, heading in the direction of the person who should've been his date.
"Hey," Alrescha smiled.
"Hey, um, I owe you a dance."
"You do, don't you?" She took his hand, getting up from the table. "Blimey, Matthieu is one boring bloke. Talks about himself all the time." Alrescha screwed up her face in a mock yawn. "No sense of humor at all. He actually tried to talk to me about the ins and outs of galleon-exchange."
"Ugh, sounds like something Percy would chat about."
"Exactly." Alrescha's arms found their way around George's neck, and George's hands steered her hips to the dance floor. "Thanks for saving me."
"You're welcome." George cleared his throat. "You look absolutely beautiful tonight."
February, 1995
"Wait, so what happened to the Marauder's Map?" Alrescha quietly asked. Harry had been wandering the halls of Hogwarts the night before, trying to figure out his golden egg from the First Task when he'd been held up by the trick step. He'd almost gotten caught by Filch and Snape when Moody saved him.
"What?" Harry flicked his wand, Banishing a cushion. "Oh, Moody asked to use it. I mean, after he saw Crouch on it, I guess he figured he could us-"
"You gave the Map to Moody?" Alrescha was so surprised, she dropped her wand arm to her side, causing the cushion to smack Ron in the face. She didn't notice, however, and rounded on Harry. "Why?!" She hissed.
"Because he asked and he just saved my skin! What's so bad about that? He is an Auror, isn't he?" Alrescha sighed, leaning in.
"Alastor Moody has been a grandfather to me and Mum for years. Moody and Mum's dad worked in the Ministry together forever, and back when Voldemort was at large, Mum and Moody worked side-by-side with Dumbledore in secret. Mum and Moody trust each other with their lives, Harry."
"Really? I never would've guessed… But that's a good thing, isn't it? I mean, your Mum was one of the Marauders-"
"No! That's the point! You just said you couldn't tell, right? Moody hasn't looked at me at all since he came in September. He's keeping his distance from Mum, too. And don't tell me he's playing his cards close to the chest either, because he's always elected to have Mum on his team. Moody isn't someone I trust right now, Harry. Not at all. You don't just sever a relationship you've had with someone for over thirty years overnight."
"Please! Snape's obviously the one we've got to worry about, if his place has been searched."
"Mum's been searched too, you know." Alrescha Banished her cushion neatly and sat back in her chair, wondering if she should tell her mother.
March, 1995
"I'd better get up to bed. Got a test in the morning," Alrescha sighed. She'd been in the library for the better part of the evening. "G'night." She hugged both of the twins, and started up the staircase.
"Night. Sleep tight."
"Don't let the scarabs bite," the eldest twin said off-handedly. The girl whipped her head around.
"What's that supposed to mean, Fred?" She eyed him suspiciously.
"Nothing. It's not like we can put anything in your bed anyways." Alrescha turned to George.
"Seriously."
"Uh-huh…" She waved. "Night then." She disappeared up the stairs. She pushed open the creaky door carefully when she got to the fourth year girls' room.
"Oh, finally," whispered a girl when Alrescha walked into the dormitory. Parvati and Lavender were fast asleep, and Hermione was the only one up, holding a quill and parchment, with a book on her bed.
"Alright?" Getting ready for bed, Alrescha slipped out of her shoes.
"I just wanted to let you know that-" she cast a tentative glance at the two sleeping girls- "well, Padfoot's asked us to come visit him in the caves near Hogsmeade tomorrow."
"What?!"
"Shh!" Alrescha sat on her bed, facing Hermione.
"They're fine… What?"
"I don't know- I thought it was dangerous for him!"
"Yeah! … Did he say why?"
"No. Just to bring food."
"Oh goodness." Alrescha looked around frantically. Finally, she found what she needed and began hastily scribbling a note. After a few moments, looking satisfied, she folded it up into a paper airplane shape and prodded it a few times with her wand. It urgently zoomed out the room, turning invisible in the process.
Only minutes later, Selena received the note and read it; her worried demeanor only deepened. If Sirius was returning- or had already returned- to England, then something terrible was going to unfold.
--
"Dad just told us what Crouch was like, mostly. About what he did to his son. But I already knew that. He talked a bit about Azkaban. His eyes got all dark, scared-like. Dad still looks just awful, you know. But I gave him your letter. He smiled, reading it. He said it smelled like home." Alrescha gave her mother a once-over.
"I'm glad," Selena replied, making notes. There was a sharp rap at the door, followed by two identical redheads popping in. Instead of acknowledging them, Selena turned to her daughter, who was absolutely beaming. She shook her head fondly and told the Weasley twins to take up seats at the front table.
"We were just wondering if you could treat a potion like a spell," mused Fred. "Cause when George is making potions, if he's in a good mood-"
"They come out better, and we were wondering if that's like the intent in a spell."
"Yes, actually. Most times wizards find potions to be taxing and just chalk it all up to bookwork. Which is why they just come out satisfactory. Love potions come out extremely well, in fact, just because the witch or wizard making them is very keen on the desired effect."
"Hm."
Early April, 1995
George had asked her to a party. Not just any party, a sixth and seventh year party. This party, like others of its caliber, were spread by secret passwords and restricted to only very exclusive people. No one under sixteen was allowed, and Alrescha was afraid her childish, on-the-cusp-of-fifteen self would show. But Angelina and Alicia said she probably knew all of these people already, and that she was certainly wicked enough to go. She hung out with them, mostly, Alicia, Katie, and Angelina. After all, the four of them were the only girls on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, the only ones who could transition from boy-friends to girl-friends and be perfectly accepted in both parties. But not even Katie was going to this party, which was what worried Alrescha. Katie hadn't been asked. But still, the Chaser sat on Alicia's bed, critiquing the girls' outfits while doing Alrescha's hair.
"I like that shirt."
"Yeah, just not-"
"With these pants, I figured." Alicia stripped off the pants.
"Think Fred likes jeans or skirts best?" Angelina asked, still in pajama bottoms. She held up dark blue jeans and a navy blue skirt.
"All depends on how far you've gotten," Alicia said solemnly. "Skirt gives easy access to your knickers." The girls' faces broke into peals of giggles.
"No! It does not! Fred's not that kind of bloke." Alrescha shook her head.
"But I don't wanna seem like I'm a prude!"
"You definitely are not a prude," Katie said. "Especially not after what I saw you two doing in classroom ten!" She clicked the curler at Angelina mockingly. Alicia and Alrescha sniggered.
"Oh shut your gob."
"You had your school skirt shoved up with your knickers on full display!"
"Shhh, Katie. What if someone hears you!"
"Please, Patricia's in the prefect's bathroom." Alicia gave them all a knowing glance. "Anyway, and you don't wanna seem like you're just asking for a snog, do you?"
"I'm not a skanky bird."
"Jeans," Alrescha said. "Nice top. It's just a Hogwarts party, it's not like we're going to a Muggle party."
"Mmm, Muggle boys." Alicia closed her eyes, pressing her hands to her heart in jest. "They are just too too cute."
"True." Alrescha thought.
"Ooh, you don't have a right to wander! You've got a bloke who's well wrapped up in you."
"Shut up."
"She's blushing."
"Awww."
"What're you wearing, anyway? You've always got such pretty clothes."
"They're on Angie's bed," Alrescha replied.
"Done," Katie announced. Alrescha bounced up, checking herself in the mirror.
"Ooh, it's gorgeous. Thanks, Kate, you always do the best hair."
"You're welcome. I'll just be your fairy godmum, fixing the three of you up to go to the ball."
"Katie, you sure you don't mind us going? I can stay with you if you want, I'll probably come home early-"
"No, just go. Besides, you've got a date with a twin and I've got a date with History of Magic. Just be sure to dish in the morning over breakfast."
"Alright." Once the three girls were dressed and had bid Katie Bell goodbye, they went downstairs to the common room and eventually to the party.
--
Alrescha stood by a pillar on her own, waiting for George to come back. Alicia was dancing with a rather dapper Durmstrang student, both of them strung high up on firewiskey. Angelina had mysteriously disappeared, but not before advising Alrescha not to go into the back room without someone or someone. The upper years knew how to give a party, she could give them that. There were paper lanterns everywhere, providing very dim light; the grey-eyed girl could only see shadows of people. Platters of food hovered around, but since it was late, food was the last thing on every teenager's mind. Alrescha just took the last sip from her butterbeer, and a very eager house-elf took the empty bottle from her. She wondered what Hermione would say if she knew that the upper years had such messy parties with no regard for the house-elves. The music blared from no apparent source; but the sounds of rock music eased over everyone. In the earlier stages of the party, Alrescha had entertained everyone with some music, earning everyone's approval and permission to stay. She was sure Katie could've come-
"Alright?" Rather familiar fingers laced into her own.
"Now I am." She heard George grin into her ear.
"Question."
"Answer."
"Why don't you sing more often in front of people?"
"I dunno." She shrugged. "No one asks, I guess."
"You've got the voice of an angel. I can't sing worth a newt."
"I like your voice."
"You've never heard me sing."
"I've heard you in the showers after practice."
"Everyone sounds better in the showers. Even Percy." Alrescha smiled.
"True."
"C'mon." His grip firmed, and he guided her through the hormone-ridden party and out into the hallway. Once clear of people, his walk transformed into a jog which made way into a flat-out run.
"Oi! I'm not as long-legged as you, you know!" George pushed open a door and suddenly stopped. Alrescha herself stopped before she ran into him.
"We're here."
"This is a broom closet."
"It is not." Alrescha set her eyebrows up and pulled an oak broom from behind George. She gave him a look. "Alright, maybe it is." He shrugged, took the same broom from her hand, and tapped the wall adjacent to the door four times with it. The masonry moved itself aside and opened into a courtyard.
"I- uh- hm." Alrescha's mouth opened and closed several times, even after George ushered her out into the night. Finally, she settled on- "This isn't on the Map."
"Nope. Dunno why. Or maybe it is, and you have to prod the paper or something." The courtyard was no bigger than an ordinary classroom, and definitely no smaller than their dormitory. The grass was overgrown with wildflowers and wet with dew. The path was hidden from view, and the exterior walls of the school had vines growing all over it. A small bench was in the middle, just big enough for two people. She sat down, leaning on the armrest.
"Anyway, so I'm seventeen now."
"Yes. Happy birthday again." It'd been April Fools' Day a week and a few days ago. Everyone had gotten pranked, and it'd only been Alrescha, with Angelina's help, who'd gotten the better of the Weasley twins. A bucket of treacle hovering in the Great Hall during dinnertime had shut them up good. Of course, the feathers and pine needles stuck to them made them look like grindylows or even merpeople, and caused them to laugh.
"And being seventeen, I'm well capable of owning up to my own responsibilities and being an adult."
"I'm glad." Alrescha was unable to see where this was going.
"Which is why I'm asking you to be my girlfriend."
"I- what? Oh! Yes!" Her eyes twinkled sweetly, much like the sugar sparkles from the Garland Fuzzies. George couldn't understand how she looked at him like that, how she could look at him differently than his twin.
On the Border of May and June, 1995
A Month and Some Days after Alrescha's Fifteenth Birthday"I want you to think about it, what you want for your birthday. I always get you one giant present. You come back to me after you've given it a lot of thought," Selena had said. She'd said this on the eve of Alrescha's birthday, just weeks before.
"And it can be anything, right?"
"Anything you want." That was it. Alrescha didn't want anything that someone could just up and give her. Darcy Knox, that's what she wanted most. Darcy Vega Knox-Black. Her mother. She wanted her mother to answer questions, wanter her mother to hold her and tell her she was doing the right thing. She knew Selena could do those same things, but it was the principle of the thing, to ask the person who birthed her into this world. Her eyebrows ruffled, wondering what in the world she could have that would parallel to having her beloved mother around. She summoned Muffy.
"Yes, Miss?"
"Muffy, dear, take me to the Knox Manor." Muffy the dutiful House-Elf took her mistress by the hand to the old house of the Knoxes to search for things related to the songstress whose middle name was the former North Star. Because House-Elves can Apparate inside Hogwarts, if they are so inclined.
--
"So I need help."
"We heard you duel," Hermione added. The trio looked at Selena hopefully.
"We know you and Professor Moody brought in Crouch's son together."
"Why aren't you asking Moody?" She asked Harry.
"He didn't offer help. You did. And you're my godmother. And Sirius said to ask you."
"Okay. I'll help you." She clucked her tongue and began writing down a list.
The Night of June 23, 1995
Alrescha had a giant box of sweets and was wearing a Gryffindor sweatshirt that was worn. The only time she wore this sweatshirt, especially in the summertime, was because of the Twins and Lee and the two other boys in the Gryffindor Boys' Sixth-Year dorm. They'd finished exams (she had only one left herself) and it was the day before the Third Task. Her hair was messy and in a high ponytail with an Alice band pushing her hair back from her face. She knocked on the boys' door.
"Yeh?" Kenneth Towler swung the door open and stopped laughing when he realized who it was. "And what d'you want."
"Don't be a prat, Towler, let me in."
"Sorry, no girls allowed." Alrescha was about to say that she most definitely was not a girl, but then realized she was. She only stood there with her face in a huff. Towler sighed. "George, your bird wants you." She made a face- she never really liked Towler anyway. And he didn't like her either, not after that incident when he didn't know she and the Twins were in the room listening to him go on about a "lengthening potion" that made him "loads longer, Marcus, look." And how he exposed himself to her, and she could see why he'd want a potion for it. Well, that's just how boys were, she knew. Always wanting the biggest. And that definitely wasn't the biggest. And got her thinking what it was like before the potion, because, well, let's be honest, the potion- or was it a cream?- definitely was not working. At all.
"Yeah, Alrescha?"
"I made tarts."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah." George made to get them. She moved the bin from his grasp. "Can I come in?"
"Um, I don't think that's a good idea."
"Why?"
"Because you're a girl."
"Thanks- I figured that much out." She frowned, not able to meet his eye. "I still don't get it."
"See this thing in the womb-"
"I'm not joking." George sighed. And turned back into the room, murmuring a few words to his mates before closing the door.
"Alre-"
"I can't be your girlfriend without both parts. I'm your girl, and I'm your friend. Hence the word 'girlfriend.'"
"Well, they don't want you in there-"
"Who? Fred and Lee? Or Towler and Jennings?" Alrescha hugged the tin to her chest more and more. "This isn't the first time you've excluded me from being your friend. Mind you, I've been your and Fred's friend since the first week you got to Hogwarts. Mind you, I'm the only one who revises your letters to Ludo Bagman about that fake gold he got you on. Mind you, I'm the only one who replaces you or Fred in Quidditch because I just work that well with the two of you. And mind you, I'm the only one of your friends that stays up late with you lot talking about your stupid joke shop. If I can't be your friend and your girl, then I don't want to be either one." She couldn't believe she was having this conversation, but it was just leaking from her lips.
"If you can't understand this whole situation, then maybe you shouldn't be my girlfriend." He muttered something extra under his breath.
"What? You can say it. Go on!"
"I was just thinking that you're too immature to understand girls and blokes and how they interact."
"I understand perfectly well, thanks very much. I understand that I'm just something to be looked at from Towler and Jennings' point of view, just to be snogged every once in a while and maybe hug between classes. I didn't think you'd start listening to them, honestly. I'm not just a 'bird,' you know. I hate that word, you know that."
"Why are you still standing here?" George rolled his eyes.
"I don't know. I guess I'm too young to understand my own self." She turned on her trainer heel and walked swiftly away, the tin of tarts turning into a flame and then soot all in one moment.
Alrescha was not crying. And she did not cry later on while studying for History of Magic. She did, however, shed a tear while playing the piano in her mother's flat on the seventh floor of Hogwarts. But she did not cry. Alrescha would not waste more than one tear on something she didn't even want.
She wondered how her surrogate mother took it, and if Sirius ever broke her heart ever at all. Probably. And she wondered how her birth mother took it- the inevitability-, because Alrescha knew that Darcy knew. Somehow, Darcy knew. And suddenly, she knew what she wanted for her birthday. She sang louder.
"To this beat, I would die for you… And I've gone too far to come back from here, but you don't have a clue- you don't know what you do to me. And I've gone too far to get over you, and you don't have a clue."
Selena knew the song too well, and in her head, sang silently along from her bed. But don't you see? I'm falling- don't want to love you, but I do. And then she knew what Alrescha wanted for her birthday. But neither one of them brought it up that night, or many nights after that.
Author's Note:
Alrescha is my way of saying things about Darcy I didn't get to say; she's also my way of addressing a struggle that's always been within Selena. Alrescha is Selena's confidante, and they are linked by more than Darcy, although Darcy Knox is what provided the link.