By the end of January I was beginning to wish for the Carrows to just arrest us. No one had mentioned our little Christmas Eve escapade however the Carrows and Snape did send us knowing smirks every time they saw us.
It became unnerving and set me on edge. It was sending me insane. They were doing it on purpose. They wanted us to feel insecure and scared. The stupid people had succeeded.
The DA had redoubled their efforts after Luna's disappearance. No one wanted to be next to go. Things were kind of dull without Luna's random, but hilarious, comments about life. I never expected to miss her as much as I did.
My mood dropped even more on the fourteen of February. Valentine's day. Usually, I deemed it as a stupid holiday which was invented just to make more money. However when you were surrounded by happy couples, you begin to wish that your secret sweetheart was present.
I put on my pyjamas early that night. Ginny and I had decided to mope around in the common room eating stale smuggled cauldron cakes and chocolates.
Ginny wasn't in the common room when I went downstairs. Neither was Neville. I sighed and sat down to Lavender next to the fire who was gushing about Seamus.
"I think he likes me," she squealed softly. "But I don't know really, I think I have to make the first move. Ally, you guys went out. What do you think?"
She and Pavarti stared at me expectantly as I shook my head.
"Oh no, trust me, you don't want relationship advise off me. But if I was to give any; let Seamus make the first move. He's into all that manly crap."
They smiled at me gratefully but then their eyes widened.
"Oh my," Pavarti said with a small smile, looking out the window.
"Look, its Fred Weasley!" a fifth year boy called out.
I spun around and found Fred leaning up against the reappearing doorway to the room of requirement. I gapped in shock, laughing slightly. I could not believe he was here, or how for that matter.
A few older students who remembered Fred and knew of the shop began to cheer. He grinned obnoxiously.
"Even they're giving me a better welcome. Come on Al, don't I get a 'hello."
My shocked face broke into a watery smile. "I just can't believe you're here," I said softly. I closed the distance between us and threw my arms around his neck, hugging him tightly.
"How did you get here?" I whispered into his chest.
"Ginny and Neville," he explained simply. "They went to the room of requirement and asked for a room in which you could apparate in. A genius idea from yours truly."
Ironically, the two appeared behind Fred, coming out of the room.
"You're all set," Ginny said. "Have fun." she through me a wink before going upstairs. Fred nodded in thanks before pulling me into the room. I gasped in shock.
The room had turned into The Country House before the fire. Everything was still in place, as though we had travelled back in time. All the furniture, the paintings, even Sirius' coat, lay in their usually positions. For the second time that night, I was speechless.
"Wh- How?" I asked, grinning and shaking my head. "This is just - wow."
He laughed at my reaction and grabbed my hand, pulling me upstairs.
"There's a reason why we're here you know." he delve into his robes and pulled out a stack of parchment. "I've finally figured out the spell. You know the one I was working on for Christmas. It took a bit longer than expected though."
"You evented a spell?" I asked in disbelief.
He looked down with an embarrassed grin. "I've invented loads of products for the shop. It's the same thing really."
"No it's not, a spells more impressive," I said quickly. His ears turned pink.
"Well, you said you missed your photos and stuff so I thought I would help you. Oh right, I'll give you a demonstration," he said, noticing my confused glance.
He took out one piece of parchment and put it on top of the photo of Fred, Ginny and I in the DA.
"Now, these photos can't leave the room. But hopefully, if we make a copy, we can take that with us." he tapped the parchment with his wand and muttered an incarnation.
My eyes widened in shock as the parchment appeared to blend into the table. It was just like the tile in Chicken Little. Fred smiled at my reaction and picked up the parchment which had made a copy of the photo and the table top behind it.
"We'll have to trim it," Fred muttered. He traced the picture with the tip of his wand, cutting it away from the useless part.
"And here you go, your picture has returned from the dead." he handed me the parchment with the photo printed on the top.
"Wow this is incredible. Thank you so much." I smiled at the picture. It was a good day.
"Does the spell work with anything?" I asked.
"What do you mean?"
"Whats the incarnation?" I took one of the pieces of parchment.
"Copricio." he told me. I put the parchment onto his face and took out my wand. "Wait, what are you doing?" he asked, his voice muffled.
"You'll see. Copricio." Nothing happened. I tried to picture what I wanted in my head. "Copricio."
The beige color of the parchment began to fade and took a snapshot of Fred's confused and worried face. I laughed loudly and spun it around the show him. He pulled a face and I was quick enough to get a snapshot of that too.
"You are bully, Miss Tonks, a bully. Using my own spells against me," he huffed.
"I'm sorry," I muttered, kissing him softly. He responded with much enthusiasm but after a few seconds he pulled back.
He held up a piece of parchment to my face and quickly cast Copricio. I tried to pull away but it was too late.
Fred laughed and then removed the parchment, revealing a photo of a very stunned me. My eyes were scrunched up in confusion and my mouth open dumbly.
I made a move to grab it, but he held it above his head. I tried to jump to reach it but he just laughed harder.
"How fun is it going to be to show everyone this. They'll be no need for fighting. The Death Eaters will take one look at this beauty and run all the way to Antarticum."
"One, it's Antarctica and Two... Expelliarmus." The photo flew out of his hand and into mine. I grinned at him smugly.
"Expelliarmus," he said simply, taking it back. He quickly shoved it into his Dragon Skin wallet so I wouldn't be able to take it.
I stuck my tongue out at him. "That's cheating."
"You stole my spell," he said simply. I discreetly pulled a piece of parchment from the desk.
"You stole my... Copricio." I burst into giggles at the sight of his photo. His was ten times worse than mine.
"Make a trade?" he offered, trying to take it off me.
I shook my head and made to run away but he grabbed my waist and pulled me down on to the bed, straddling me so I couldn't move.
He cast Rictusempra and tickled me. I could barely breathe. When I finally let go of the photo he put it away in his wallet with the other one.
"I have both now. You should have just given in kid," he said, patronisingly.
"Never," I said, grabbing onto the wallet. He had a pretty good hold on it though, so we both began to fight for it. I pulled it one way, he pulled it another.
"Please," I begged after five minutes of wrestling.
"There's only one way you're going to get this from me," he whispered his face inches from mine.
I closed the distance between us and kissed him fondly. Once I was sure he was distracted I pulled the wallet away from him. I threw it up in the air and blew it up, destroying the awful photos. Fred gapped at me.
"I had money in there. It wasn't a lot, but it was still money."
I grinned and kissed him again. "Who needs money when you've got the most valuable treasure on your arm?" I joked. He shrugged in agreement and then kissed me again.
:-:
The days following Fred's departure were awful. Part of me wished he had never come as I had to get over him all over again. But then, when I looked at my once lost photos, I realised I would have never survived without his visit.
Three years ago, if someone had told me I would have fallen in love with Fred Weasley I would have laughed in their face. He had made a snap judgement of me as soon as we met. He was rude, condescending, and tried to get me arrested for being a Death Eater. But now, he was all I could think about. I was completely head over heels.
But yet a part of me felt extremely guilty. If I loved him that much, I would be able to tell him the truth, right? The truth about everything? But no matter how much I thought about there was just no way to say it. What could I say? Hey Fred you're a fictional character and I'm from a different dimension. My mom was a thought to be squib, abandoned in my world then sent back here, killed her sister, took over her identity and then brought me here. I then have been lying to you all for the past three years.
It was insane; even I had trouble believing it all. Plus to top it all off, May 2nd was nearing quickly...
So all in all, my mood was pretty rotten. That was until the beginning of April when we received a very special visitor at our DA meeting. It was one of our last before Easter so Neville had declared this a rare fun lesson. We still had to do something productive though.
I sat down in the corner with Oliver, Pavarti and Ernie 'writing' an awareness song.
"They're apparating in your window, Snatching yo' people up. Tryin a kill em so ya'll need to hide yo' kids, hide yo' wife, hide yo' squibs and the muggleborns and hide your husbands because they're killin' everybody out here."
I was basically just changing the words to the bed intruder song, but they didn't need to know that. We were just nearing the chorus when a small apparating pop echoed throughout the room.
We all stood up and pointed our wands to the source of the sound. Dobbie stood in the middle of the group looking quite sheepish. We immediately lowered our wands.
"Hey Dobbie, is something wrong?" Neville asked, walking up to the little house elf.
"No nothing is wrong Neville Longbottom. Dobbie has only come to pass on a message from Hagrid!" He said gleefully. "Hagrid is having a support Harry Potter Party on Friday and 9pm and he would like you to join him. Dobbie too has been invited."
"A what?" Ginny asked, sounding half amused, half worried.
"A support Harry Potter Party miss. Hagrid wants to celebrate Harry Potter and create fun for his friends. Dobbie is very happy to be included in this."
I grinned down at the little elf before looking around. Nobody looked too convinced about Hagrid's party. In fact, they all looked pretty hesitant.
I rolled my eyes. "Forget the party poopers, I'll come."
Dobbie's eyes widened with happiness. "Thank you Miss Alyssa. Dobbie always knew Wheezy was right when he said you had a fine arse," Dobbie said. He thought it was a form of character; no one had the heart to correct him.
"It's not like we don't want to go," Neville said, ignoring Dobbies comment. "It's just there's a lot at risk. We'd have to sneak out the castle, have the party undetected and then sneak back in? It would be impossible not to get caught and I don't really fancy spending the week in the dungeon all for a party of Hagrids."
Most people nodded along with his little speech, but I was glad to see Ginny shaking her head.
"No, I think we had to go, just a few of us anyway. It's Hagrid, he'll get upset if no one shows up."
I skipped over to her and gave her a high five. My challenging glare at the rest of the DA seemed to lighten up the sombre faces.
"Fine," Neville muttered. "Ally, Ginny and I will go. Does anyone else?" I didn't even have to look to know that Seamus stepped forward.
"I'll go anything to annoy those Carrows. Oliver will you come?"
Oliver sighed in annoyance, but came to stand next to us. Terry Boot, Anthony Goldstein, Hannah and Susan decided to join us. Dobbie was ecstatic and went to tell Hagrid the news right away.
"We can all dress up!" I said excitedly. "I call Harry!"
"Can't we all dress up as Harry, since it's a party in honour of him?" Seamus asked.
"No that's boring if we all go in the same thing," I said flippantly. "Ginny you can be Ron and Neville you can be Hermione."
"I don't want to be Ron," Ginny said, the same time Neville said: "I don't want to be Hermione."
"Well tough. It'll be more fun and realistic that way," I smirked.
Ginny's mock glared. "It's because I'm a Ginger, isn't it."
"No, it's because you look like a boy," I said, sticking my tongue out.
"Well who can we be?" Terry asked.
"I'm being Dumbledore!" Seamus called out loudly.
"No, I want to be Dumbledore," I pouted.
"You called Harry," he smirked. I glared. Dumbledore was way cooler than Harry, he had a beard. I wanted to wear a beard. As we jokingly assigned roles, the rest of the DA looked jealous and annoyed that they didn't volunteer.
As Friday grew near, I actually found myself getting excited to go to Hagrid's party. Life was too dull and quiet lately, we needed some excitement.
At 8:30, I met the others down in the common room. I had charmed my hair black and put it in a high pony tail. I refused to chop it off even if it was just for one night. A second year boy borrowed me an old uniform, Neville had offered me his, but i was so tiny, it drowned me. I completed my costume with glasses and a scar drawn on with lipstick. I looked pretty dang good.
In the common room, those who hadn't volunteered to go stared at us wistfully.
"Wish you were coming?" I asked Romilda.
"Yeah, it looks so much fun," she said wistfully. "Have you seen Neville yet?"
"No, he went to the Room of Requirement with Ginny and Oliver, didn't he?"
She nodded and grinned devilishly. "You need to see him."
"Hey Harry!" Seamus called. "What do you think?"
He walked catwalk style between the sofas and struck a pose. He looked hilarious with his long White beard and purple robes.
"Excellent, what do you think of this? Expelliarmus, Expelliarmus," I said, flourishing my wand about.
Seamus laughed as Romilda screwed up her face in confusion.
"I don't get it," she said.
"You're telling me that you've never noticed that Harry always uses Expelliarmus. It's like it's the only spell he knows. It's effective but something a little bit more unpredictable wouldn't go a miss." Seamus nodded along in agreement.
The door to the room of requirement appeared on the wall with the windows. Ginny popped her head around the door and beckoned us in. Her hair was cropped short and she had dirt on her nose.
"Come on we don't have all day," she hissed. "And don't forget your brooms either."
I picked it up and followed Seamus into the room. As the room couldn't make a passage way to Hagrid's we would have to fly from the castle grounds.
When we stepped into the room it was suspiously dark. I voiced my concern.
"It's only until you promise not to laugh," Neville answered from somewhere to my left.
"We won't," Seamus answered, sniggering slightly.
Neville sighed in defeat. "Now just remember, I only look like this because it was too late to change. And by the way, I hate you Ally."
"Yeah, whatever. Just show us," I begged.
A light suddenly appeared at the tip of Neville's wand, a warm glow spreading across his face. I had to choke back a laugh when I saw him. Neville's face hadn't changed but his hair had become light, long and bushy, just like Hermione's. He held a book in his hand and a tremendous pissed off expression on his face.
"Well don't you look pretty," Hannah giggled, coming in through the Hufflepuff door. She was dressed as Luna and Susan was dressed as Remus. We kind of ran out of people toward the end, so our outfits became a bit random.
Neville gave a very Hermione like glare before stropping over to the door that would lead us to the grounds.
I shared an amused look with Oliver before cracking up with laughter at his Mad Eye outfit. Neville angrily shushed me before sticking his head out of the door.
"It's clear," he said, disillusioning himself and gripping his broom.
I turned to Oliver and disillusioned him while he helped me. I could disillusion myself, it was just mighty difficult. As I straddled my broom and rose in the air, a giddy feeling of adventure and excitement began to form in my stomach.
"Let's go," Neville whispered, flying out of the door at an extremely slow speed. I rolled my eyes and shot out after him. Since the Carrows had banned Quidditch I hadn't been on a broom all year. I felt good and natural to be flying again. I don't know how I survived before.
"Ally, it's not a race," Neville hissed.
"It requires two or more people to race." As soon as I answered him, Ginny came zooming up beside me edging forward. We were disillusioned so it was hard to tell, but I think she stuck her Tongue out at me.
I sped up slightly with Ginny easily keeping up with my speed.
"Seriously guys, we're going to get caught," Neville shouted, his voice carrying in the night.
I squinted my eyes an saw Hagrid's hut now visible in the distance. "Race you there," I grinned, completely ignoring Neville's plea. "One, two, three."
We both sped forward crouching lower on the brooms to gain more speed. I pushed my head forward, egging the broom to move faster. Thankfully it did and I fractionally beat her.
"Ha, ha, I won," I taunted as we landed on the front step.
"It was too close to call, I demand a rematch," she said, removing the disillusion charm. She removed mine too by hitting me on the head with her wand, but I think she had other motives.
"What the hell was that? You could have compromised the mission," Neville scolded, finally landing beside us with the rest of the DA.
"Jeeze, dad this is not a mission, we're here to have fun. You're just pissed because you're dressed like a girl," I taunted. He flapped his arms angrily.
"That's because you made me a-"
The front door swung open to reveal a very happy and excited looking Hagrid.
"I thought I heard voiced," he grinned. "Oh and look, you've all dressed up. That's so nice of ye'. I 'aven't even bothered," he said, his eyes brimming with happy tears.
"It's alright Hagrid," I said, pulling out a spare pair of glasses. "I brought these for you." He took them off me gleefully and put them on. They were way too small for him, but he seemed happy enough.
"I don't want to ruin the fun," Anthony called from the back of the group. "But I think we should get inside."
"Oh, righ' yeah," Hagrid bustled, moving out the way so we could all squish past him. I grinned at him as I passed through the threshold. Dobbie was already sitting in Hagrid's living room. His eyes widened with delight when he saw my outfit.
"Harry Potter would marvel if he saw what we have conjured, Dobbie is certain of it."
I pulled out the last pair of glasses and gave them to Dobbie. He was completely overwhelmed and almost passed out.
"Dobbie cannot wear these. He cannot be like Harry Potter and his friends. Miss is too kind," he whispered.
I looked down feeling slightly embarrassed. "Please just put them on Dobbie, Harry would want you too." Dobbie immediately put on the glasses as though Harry had commanded him. "Oh and here," I said, pulling out the lipstick and drawing a scar on his head. "Now you look just like Harry."
Dobbie thanked me wholly as I went over to Hagrid and drew a scar on him too. He flushed pink and thanked me happily.
I was very intrigued to find out what a 'Support Harry Potter Party' was. It turned out it was just like any other party but with more beer, badges with Harry's face on and embarrassing stories courtesy of Hagrid. I don't think he meant it in a malicious way; it was just what Hagrid did when he was drunk.
"An' then, little 'arry had an accident all over the bike an' then fell straight asleep when we were flyin' over Bristol," Hagrid concluded. We were all laughing along with his story, but Ginny seemed to find it especially amusing.
"I'm going to torture him with this next time I seem him," she muttered to me. "Pay back from the nine months without word."
I smiled sadly at Ginny feeling slightly selfish. At least I knew where Fred was. Ginny had no idea whether Harry was dead or alive. I had to give it to the girl. If I was in her shoes, I would have dumped him a long time ago.
Another hilarious part of the evening was Neville. Normally, I hated it when he was in a bad mood. But when his hair was like that, I could not take him seriously. He spent the entire time grumbling about one thing or another.
"No one will respect or listen to me now," he muttered. "The only good thing about Collin not being here is that there is no one to take pictures."
"Funny you should say that," Oliver said slyly. He delve into his pockets and pulled out a very old fashioned looking camera.
"A gift off Collin last Christmas. Smile," he said, taking a picture of a stunned Neville.
"Let's get one of the three Harry's," I said, putting my arms around Dobbie and Hagrid. Oliver grinned and took the picture.
He took one of 'The Golden Trio' and 'The Order of the Phoenix'. I wanted a group one but a loud thumping on the front door prevented us from taking anymore. We all stared at each other in a scared silence, unsure of what to do.
"Hagrid, open this door immediately or we shall have to take other actions," the Amycus Carrow shouted from outside the door. We stopped our laughing and stared at each other with wide eyes.
"And children don't try escape. We know you're in there, and we have the place surrounded," he added smugly.
"Dobbie," I whispered desperately. "Take them to their common rooms. Neville, Ginny and I will take the blame," I volunteered, without even consulting them. They nodded along though, ushering the others toward Dobbie.
"I'm not going," Oliver said strongly.
"Neither am I," Anthony agreed. The others nodded along beside him.
"Listen, there's no need for us all to take the blame. Just a few. We're the leaders and this was our idea," Neville explained.
They all continued to disagree, their voices getting louder.
"This is not helping matters!" Carrow called from outside. "Malfoy blow up this door."
"Dobbie just take them," I almost shouted. The little elf grabbed hold of them and apparated out. However, Seamus and Oliver pulled out of his grip just in time.
"What the hell was that?" Ginny hissed.
"Gryffindor's should stick together," Oliver said, just as the door flew into the room.
I threw myself onto the floor just in time. Rubble from the door frame scattered across the room, almost hitting Hagrid across the head. I coughed heavily and stood up, glaring at the intruders. Fang took one look at the Death Eaters before running over to the half demolished table and cowering under it.
The Alecto walked into the room with her brother and the Inquisitorial Squad following her. Draco looked pissed off as though he really didn't want to be there.
"Why is it always you?" she sneered.
"Because I'm a sexy bad ass," I said seriously, holding up my left carved hand.
The others had finally composed themselves and stood behind me.
"Oh look, they're having a Gryffin-dork party," Crabbe said dumbly, laughing at his own joke.
"They're all dressed up, how incredibly sweet and pathetic," Pansy shrieked. I glared at her although I knew she was right. We must have looked ridiculous.
"How did you know we were here?" Neville asked. He had charmed his hair back to the normal length but it was still mousey and matted.
"We went up to Gryffindor tower to deliver a message to Miss Tonks, or Black or whatever her filthy name now is," Amycus said. "However, she along with all you lovely people were absent. And we grew worried about our missing students so we asked Miss Vane to show us where you were hiding."
They stood back slightly to reveal a swaying and blank Romilda. She looked really bad. My guess was that the monsters had used the Cruiatus and the Imperius Curse on her. She was looking at us with remorseful eyes.
"It's not your fault Romilda," Neville reassured her.
"Wait," I cut in. "What was the message?"
"Your Uncle has been captured, and found guilty of stealing magic. He has been executed," Amycus smiled.
"My uncl-? Oh Ted," I realised, tears forming in my eyes. I had only met him a few times, but he was such a lovely man. I hated to think how Tonks was coping.
I blinked away my tears after seeing the IS amused faces. Draco, however, gave me a sympathetic glance. I don't know which was worse.
"Now on to the order of Business," Amycus continued. "What are five Gryffindor's doing out here at Eleven o'clock at night, hmmn?"
"We were just havin' a little get together, weren't we," Hagrid said nervously. The Amycus walked over to Ginny and tore her badge from her robes.
"Support Harry Potter," he read. "Arrest them."
"What?" Seamus cried, taking out his wand. They closed us into a circle so we had no means of escaping.
"You can't arrest us, we're students," I said smugly.
"We can't arrest minors, but wait, you're not a minor," Alecto sneered. "Take the Weasley girl to the dungeons, the rest are of age. It's Azkaban for treason I think."
My eyes widened as I looked at them desperately. There was no way we would all get out of this alive. Again, this whole predicament was my fault and I needed to get us out of it.
"This was my idea," I said at the same time as Hagrid. "Seriously Hagrid don't try to cover us," I told him. "This was my doing, I organised the whole thing and made them come along."
"No it wasn't," Hagrid stepped up, looking at me earnestly. "I've had them under the Imperius curse. They've not known what their doin"
"And how did you cast that spell," Draco asked. "You were expelled for opening the Chamber of Secrets."
Hagrid pointed to his pink umbrella by the fireplace. The Carrows stared at it boredly as though they did not believe a word of it.
"It doesn't matter who started it, you're all going to Azkaban. I've been waiting to catch you out since Christmas," Amycus said. "Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle get them."
Neville nudged Ginny and I and nodded toward the approaching Slytherins. "Now," he called.
"Mombarda Maximum," we cried, pointing at the already demolished doorway. Due to the poor structure, the entire hut began to cave in on us.
I mounted my broom and weaved in and out of the pieces of falling debris. Draco was knocked out and was beginning to become buried in the stones. I unwittingly heaved him onto my broom and flew outside where the Carrows and Ramilda stood with looks of pure shock.
"Hagrid run," I called. "We'll be able to talk our way out of this, you won't."
Hagrid gave us one departing glance before running into the Forrest with Fang on his heels.
The Carrows and IS began to fire curses at him, but as he was part giant they just bounced off. Once he was well out of sight, they gave up and spun around to face us.
"You do realise that obstructing justice will be added to your offenses," Amycus glared.
"We didn't know what we were doing; we were under the Imperius curse," I said weakly. The rolled their eyes and pointed their wands at us but Draco leapt in front before they could do any damage. Where did he come from, I thought he was unconcious? And why was he protecting us?
"Why are you protecting them?" Pansy asked him.
"T-they were under the Imperius curse," Draco said unsurely. "There's a new law for people acting under curses."
"Yes but the law is for our people," Amycus hissed.
"Yeah but if they go to Azkaban they'll break out like Black did, but if they're here you can keep an eye on them," Draco said off handed. "And remember what you said before, they all like Weasley, Longbottom and Tonks for some reason. The students would go mad."
The Carrows debated for a second while we stood in a dumbfounded silence. He was protecting us. Why, I had no idea. But he had just saved our necks. I tried to throw him a thankful glance but he ignored my gaze, looking everywhere but at us.
"Draco's right," Amycus said finally. "Three nights in the Dungeon will serve them well."
Chapter dedicated to Writer. of. the. gods who was the 250th reviewer ;)
This chapter was originally supposed to be longer, but it was getting too long. I'm sorry, but that's all the happiness you're getting from this story now because it all really spirals downhill from here. The next chapter is the beginning of the end and there are only five more chapters left : ( I'm pretty excited to write chapter 33, that'll be pretty fun.
Thank you to everyone who reviewed: KnoX, FutureAurthoress176, DragonWand, AnimatedAbbie, FredAndGeorge'sAwesomeness, LadyOblivious, Blue is the Sea, Spot'sGalFrom1899, People-Are-Crazy, InsaneIsMyMiddleName, GingerBiscuit1, BlackHaru3 and last but not least FruityLoops153.
Thanks for reading, let me know what you think : )