Disclaimer: If you know it, I don't own it.

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Aly showered the next morning and felt relieved. With the purple paste washed away, she looked completely normal. She felt like she was walking on air as she skimmed through her day. Dinner brought a pleasant surprise as all of the Marauders took seats next to her and Lily. Sirius sat next to Lily as Remus sat down next to her. James sat and sent an unsure glance at Aly. He still looked skeptical of her.

The conversation was light as they ate. Remus told Aly, "It's good to see that you're back to your old self."

Aly smiled at him. "Thanks to your dad."

Remus sent her a sly smile.

"You look a lot like him," she informed him.

"Yeah, except for the my gray," he motioned to his hair.

"Eh." Aly shrugged. "I think it makes you look distinguished."

Remus let out a loud, open laugh, and said, "Thanks, Als."

Aly beamed at him, finding it quite comforting to hear her nickname come out of his mouth.

The evening went just as smooth. Aly went to bed happy, but with a feeling of dread dwelling in her chest.

As it always seems to go, when everything seems perfect, something bad is bound to happen.

For all the third years and up, the next day was a much anticipated Hogsmeade visit. Aly dressed in jeans and a t-shirt and made her way to breakfast.

"Wanna go with?" Sirius asked at breakfast.

"Sure," Lily said, surprising everyone since the question was really addressed to Aly.

"Good," he said, pulling himself together quickly.

They made their way to Hogsmeade where Melanie and Mary decided to join them. Mary managed to weasel her way up next to Sirius and took his arm.

Fawkes found them near the middle of the town. Melanie and Mary let out gasps of amazement, never really seeing the bird up close before. He landed on Aly's outstretched arm as she looked at him puzzled. He held out his leg and Aly took the bag hanging from it. Sirius seemed to remember the bird's aggression towards him the last time he had seen him and moved ever so slightly behind Mary. Fawkes nipped at Aly's ear affectionately and flew away.

"What is it?" Lily asked, trying to help Aly open the small pouch.

"Money," Aly said, glancing at it. "Must be from my dad."

"That's nice," Lily said.

James bounced on the balls of his feet impatiently. "Ok, see ya," he announced before wandering off. Peter followed him loyal, and Sirius shrugged before taking off as well. Melanie and Mary followed quickly, each taking a side next to Sirius.

Remus looked at them go and turned to the two girls, "Can I tag along with you?"

"Sure," Aly mumbled as she tried to count how much money was in the bag.

"Of course," Lily added with more enthusiasm, trying to make up for Aly's lack of it.

The three of them made their way through the Hogsmeade, Aly leading the way since she had grown up in the small wizard town. They went in all the novelty stores: the joke shop, the book store, the small wand shop. Inside the candy shop, Lily examined all the strange and new wizard candy. It was there that Aly finally asked Remus the question she had been holding in.

"Why'd you ditch your group?"

Remus was examining a jar of bloodpops as he said, "Those two girls annoy me. I didn't was to hear all about how funny or how cute Sirius is all day."

Aly laughed, knowing full well that that was exactly what the girls would be doing.

"Plus," he turned to look at her, "I'm trying to help you out with James."

Aly's face told of her surprise.

"Sirius told me that he explained everything to you. So I figured I'd do what I could to help clear up any misconceptions James may have about you."

Aly was touched.

After the hour they spent in the candy shop (Lily just couldn't seem to make up her mind on what to try), they decided to go get some butterbeer, which Aly had been promising to Lily, and found the rest of their group. They squeezed around the table, pulling up the three extra chairs. Mary pouted when Sirius pulled one between the two of them and Lily took it.

The laughter that filled the table stopped abruptly as Severus Snape suddenly appeared. James and Sirius stiffened, and to Aly's surprise, so did Lily.

"Are you going back to the castle soon?" He seemed to be asking Lily.

"Yes," Lily told him.

"After we're done with our drinks," Aly added looking at Lily's frozen face.

"Good," he said leaving without another word.

"That was weird," Aly mumbled.

"Yeah," Lily agreed, lowering her head. She sat silently, peeling the label off of her bottle the rest of the time they were there.

"Back to the castle then?" Remus asked the girls.

"Yep," Sirius answered for them, stretching.

"Us too," Mary and Melanie said simultaneously, which was followed by giggles. Aly saw James distinctly roll his eyes.

They started back towards the gates, but Lily's eye caught a beautiful quill in one of the shop windows. She and Aly slipped in as the boys waited outside. Lily was examining the quill closely when an angry voice came from behind them. Snape snarled, "What are you still doing here?" Lily turned, more upset than confused. "You need to go back to castle." The two girls looked at him and he let out a harsh, "Now."

They left, Lily dropping the quill on the floor. "What is going on, Lily?" Aly asked grabbing her arm.

"I don't know."

Suddenly, as they made it back to the group, there was a loud noise from the other end of the road. Something was on fire and smoke began to fill the street. Black cloaks appeared. They were chanting something in a low, ominous rumble. "Death to mudbloods," reached Aly's ears and terror filled Aly's chest. She heard Sirius mutter, "Oh crap." She turned quickly and instructed, "Take Lily back to the castle. Now."

James took hold of Lily's arm and went off without another word. Lily looked back over her shoulder as she fought to stay with the rest of the group. Remus' face was set just as hard as Sirius' was. "Remus," Aly told him, "You need to make sure those two get back safely." He hesitated for a moment, studying the cloaks as they sent spells at running passerby's feet. "You need to get the teachers," Aly told him.

He nodded, motioned to Peter, who stood absolutely terrified, whimpering. The two of them each took Melanie and Mary by the arm and were gone.

"What are we going to do?" Sirius asked.

Aly glanced at his face. It was ready for a fight. Hers set into the same expression as she pulled out her wand and replied, "Hold them off til the teacher get here."

"Excellent," he said pulling his out as well.

They stood ready. People were screaming and running, and Sirius and Aly ended up getting separated.

Aly shot a spell at one of the black cloaks who was standing over a third year Hufflepuff she didn't recognized. The cloaked figure fell back and the others turned, stiffened in surprise. Aly realized that they weren't there to hurt anyone. They just wanted to scare people.

There were spells suddenly shooting at her from all directions. She pointed her wand up in the air and a huge blue cast of light came down around her and formed a protective shield around her. All the spells sent her way simply bounced off. The shield took a lot of energy and a lot of focus on Aly's part and she felt her body draining each second. Spells kept coming her way and every time a spell hit the shield it vibrated through her body, and it took everything in her power to stay standing.

A strong spell hit her particularly hard, and Aly let out a small cry as the shield fell and she collapsed. A few spells hit her on the way down. Suddenly, someone was laying on top of her and she couldn't breath. She began to cry in giant empty gasps.

She was going to die. She knew it.

A shadow fell over her and she was gone.

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