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Chapter 15: Map to Hogsmeade
Alexis ran as fast as she could out of the dungeons. She had to find Harry, or at least Hermione and Ron. She didn't slow down until she reached the second floor and that was only because she was knocked off her feet by a door.
"Alexis, are you alright?" said Professor Remus Lupin. "I didn't see you there."
"I-" said Alexis. She didn't know what to say. "I need to find Harry. I... I..."
Remus Lupin was very surprised when Alexis threw her arms around him and forced him into a hug. Still, he hugged her back as comforting as he could.
"It's alright, everything is fine," he whispered, not sure if it would help. He couldn't help but notice she wasn't in tears but still looked miserable.
"I just want to know who I am," she mumbled into his shoulder. Her voice was shaky but she still did not cry.
"It's alright," he whispered. "You're you Alexis. You're you."
Alexis snorted bitterly, "Then why does everyone treat me like some kind of ghost? Who am I, professor? Why don't they trust me?"
"I... Come. My office is right here. Let me get you some tea."
Alexis followed her professor into his office looking as miserable as someone could without crying. She took a seat on his couch as he rummaged through his cabinets.
"Would you prefer hot chocolate over tea, again?"
Wordlessly, she answered him with a nod. Her eyes stayed fixated on the rug until she felt a warm mug being pressed into her hand. She looked up and found Remus Lupin smiling weakly at her.
"Thank you," she whispered.
"My pleasure," Remus said. "Now will you tell me what's got you in such a miserable state?"
"Black."
Remus Lupin nodded his head sadly in understanding. However, he still asked for her to elaborate.
"Well," said Alexis. After a sip of her cocoa she had felt a great deal better but she wasn't exactly sure about sharing her past with her professor even if he was friends with Moody. "I'm not actually a McPherson. My mother was a Voldemort supporter and gave birth to me in Azkaban. Minister, the one before Cor-Fudge, sent Fudge to deal with me. They decided to have me killed but Tom, Tom McPherson, he saved me."
Alexis met Remus's eye only to realize he wasn't surprised by her words.
"You already know, don't you?"
Remus Lupin nodded his head. "It would be a lie to say no."
"And that's why you watch me," Alexis snapped. "You don't trust me like them! You think I'm going to hurt Harry!"
"Hex, if I thought you were going to help Sirius Black hurt Harry do you really think I would let you in my office?" said Remus with a sigh. Alexis, however, caught something in his words.
"They think I'd help Black?" she asked and immediately knew Remus was in trouble. "Is he my father?"
"Merlin, I bloody hope not!" cried Remus.
"Why?"
Remus sighed. Alexis could tell he didn't want to or wasn't allowed to tell her something.
"Please, Remus," begged Alexis in a whisper. "I swear, I won't tell anyone but Harry. Please."
Remus looked away from Alexis, torn.
"I-I know you're a werewolf," Alexis stated shakily.
Remus Lupin's eyes widened slightly before he took on a calm demeanor.
"For how long?" he asked in an unnaturally calm voice.
"Since Snape had me help make your Wolfsbane potion," said Alexis. "He wanted me to share the secret I think but I didn't because I trust you. I know you won't hurt anyone unless you have no choice."
The two were silent for a long while. Alexis slowly took gulps of her hot chocolate, which made her feel considerably better, while Remus pondered what Alexis had just told him.
"It was very foolish not to tell anyone," Remus reprimanded but a smile played on his lips. "Thank you."
Alexis merely nodded her head. A comfortable silence fell between the two as Alexis, now only sipping, finished her hot chocolate and Remus seemed to be counting the stings in the rug.
"I heard about your first Quidditch game this year," Remus said while taking Alexis's empty cup. "Have they found your broom yet?"
"No," said Alexis. "But it's probably in the Lake. Better than the Whomping Willow though."
Remus's lip twitched upwards.
"Yes, I heard about Harry's broom and the Whomping Willow too. Shame, I don't think there's a broomstick in the world that could survive a beating from the Whomping Willow."
"And the Dementors decided to watch too," added Alexis in false sarcasm.
Remus looked at her as if he had seen a ghost but then quickly shook his head.
"Yes, I heard. I don't think any of us have seen Professor Dumbledore that angry. They have been growing restless for some time...furious at his refusal to let them inside the grounds...I suppose they were the reason you fell?"
Alexis nodded her head.
"They seem to... like me more than others. Harry too it seems but only a few of them left me when Harry came to help. Why do they... I mean, why me?"
"I'm afraid, I don't have anything more than theories at the moment," Remus said patting Alexis's shoulder. "Like Harry, I believe it is because there are horrors in your past that the others don't have. Top it off, before Sirius, you were the first prisoner to ever escape them."
Remus motioned Alexis into the hall, silently leading her to her Common Room.
"Dementors are among the foulest creatures that walk this earth. They infest the darkest, filthiest places, they glory in decay and despair, they drain peace, hope, and happiness out of the air around them. Even Muggles feel their presence, though they can't see them. Get too near a Dementor and every good feeling, every happy memory will be sucked out of you. If it can, the Dementor will feed on you long enough to reduce you to something like itself - soulless and evil. You'll be left with nothing but the worst experiences of your life. And the worst that happened to you, Alexis, is enough to make anyone fall off their broom. You are very lucky if you want to get technical."
"I hear things," said Alexis, "weird things, whenever they get near me."
"Such as?"
"Voldemort talking to me, Tom McPherson dying, and last time, Harry's mother dying," stated Alexis.
Remus stopped mid stride. He made an attempt to grab Alexis's arm for support but decided against it in the last minute.
"That is," he started, his voice once more unnaturally calm, "peculiar."
"Yeah," said Alexis awkwardly. "I guess it is."
The two walked the rest of the way to the Gryffindor Tower in complete silence. Just as Alexis was about to go in, however, Remus spoke.
"I promised Harry," he started, "at the beginning of next term I would teach him a defense spell against Dementors."
"You mean like the one you used on the train?"
Remus nodded his head.
"You're welcome to join if you'd like."
Alexis didn't answer. Instead she gave Remus a hug, once more surprising the young man.
"Thanks Remus," she said letting him go.
"That's Professor-"
But Alexis didn't let him finish. She had already disappeared inside the portrait exited about next term.
.
Nothing compared to knowing Remus was going to teach Alexis how to defend herself from Dementors. Not the fact that Ravenclaw flattened Hufflepuff in their Quidditch match, or that Snape wasn't giving her detentions with him any time soon, or even the fact that Christmas was quickly approaching and Alexis would be spending it with her three favorite Gryffindors.
That is, nothing compared until the last weekend of term when Fred and George became her heroes.
Another Hogsmeade trip was happening the weekend before Christmas break to everyone's delight- everyone that is, besides Alexis and Harry's. Alexis had decided against going there without Harry. Instead the two friends, after spending quality time with Grim and waving goodbye to Hermione and Ron, were on their way up to the Common Room when someone called the two of them.
"Psst!"
"Padfoot!"
"Prongs!"
"Over here!"
Alexis and Harry turned around to see the Weasley twins peering out at them from behind a statue of a humpbacked, one-eyed witch.
"What are you doing?" said Harry curiously.
"How come you're not going to Hogsmeade?" asked Alexis.
"We've come to give you two a bit of festive cheer before we go," said Fred, with a mysterious wink. "Come in here..."
He nodded toward an empty classroom to the left of the one-eyed statue. Shrugging her shoulders, Alexis wordlessly told Harry to followed Fred and George inside. George closed the door quietly and then turned, beaming, to look at Alexis and Harry.
"Early Christmas present for you two," he said.
Fred pulled something from inside his cloak with a flourish and laid it on one of the desks. It was a large, square, very worn piece of parchment with nothing written on it. Harry, suspecting one of Fred and George's jokes, stared at it while Alexis's eyes lit up with interest.
"What is it?" asked Alexis curiously.
"This, milady, is the secret of our success," said George, patting the parchment fondly.
"It's a wrench, giving it to you," said Fred, "but we decided last night, your need's greater than ours."
"Anyway, we know it by heart," said George. "We bequeath it to you. We don't really need it anymore."
"And what do we need with a bit of old parchment?" said Harry.
"A bit of old parchment!" said Fred, closing his eyes with a grimace as though Harry had mortally offended him. Alexis fought off her snicker. "Explain, George."
"Well...when we were in our first year, Harry - young, carefree, and innocent -"
Harry snorted and Alexis laughed. They both doubted whether Fred and George had ever been innocent.
"Well, more innocent than we are now - we got into a spot of bother with Filch."
"We let off a Dungbomb in the corridor and it upset him for some reason -"
"So he hauled us off to his office and started threatening us with the usual -"
"- detention-"
"-disembowelment -"
"- and we couldn't help noticing a drawer in one of his filing cabinets marked Confiscated and Highly Dangerous."
"Don't tell me -" said Harry, starting to grin.
"Admit it, we would have do the same thing, Prongs," cut in Alexis.
Fred and George grinned at her.
"George caused a diversion by dropping another Dungbomb, I whipped the drawer open, and grabbed - this."
"It's not as bad as it sounds, you know," said George. "We don't reckon Filch ever found out how to work it. He probably suspected what it was, though, or he wouldn't have confiscated it."
"And you know how to work it?" asked Alexis. She had a feeling this was one of the nicknacks Fred and George had told her about last year.
"Oh yes," said Fred, smirking. "This little beauty's taught us more than all the teachers in this school."
"You're winding us up," said Harry, looking at the ragged old bit of parchment.
"Oh, are we?" said George.
He took out his wand, touched the parchment lightly, and said, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."
And at once, thin ink lines began to spread like a spider's web from the point that George's wand had touched. They joined each other, they crisscrossed, they fanned into every corner of the parchment; then words began to blossom across the top, great, curly green words, that proclaimed:
Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs
Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers
are proud to present
THE MARAUDER'S MAP
It was a map showing every detail of the Hogwarts castle and grounds. But the truly remarkable thing were the tiny ink dots moving around it, each labeled with a name in minuscule writing. Astounded, Harry bent over it. A labeled dot in the top left corner showed that Professor Dumbledore was pacing his study; the caretaker's cat, Mrs. Norris, was prowling the second floor; and Peeves the Poltergeist was currently bouncing around the trophy room. And as Alexis's eyes traveled up and down the familiar corridors, she noticed something else.
This map showed a set of passages she had never entered. And many of them seemed to lead -
"Right into Hogsmeade," said Fred, tracing one of them with his finger. "There are seven in all. Now, Filch knows about these four" -he pointed them out - "but we're sure we're the only ones who know about these. Don't bother with the one behind the mirror on the fourth floor. We used it until last winter, but it's caved in - completely blocked. And we don't reckon anyone's ever used this one, because the Whomping Willow's planted right over the entrance. But this one here, this one leads right into the cellar of Honeydukes. We've used it loads of times. And as you might've noticed, the entrance is right outside this room, through that one-eyed old crone's hump."
"Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs," sighed George, patting the heading of the map. "We owe them so much."
"Noble men, working tirelessly to help a new generation of lawbreakers," said Fred solemnly.
"Right," said George briskly. "Don't forget to wipe it after you've used it -"
"-or anyone can read it," Fred said warningly.
"Just tap it again and say, "Mischief managed!" And it'll go blank."
"So, new Padfoot and Prongs," said Fred, in an uncanny impersonation of Percy, "mind you behave yourself."
"See you in Honeydukes," said George, winking.
They left the room, both smirking in a satisfied sort of way. Alexis watched them go, grinning to herself.
"I love them," she said finally. "I absolutely, one hundred percent, love them."
"The Marauders?" asked Harry, amused by his best friend's announcement.
"Them and Fred and George," stated Alexis. She grabbed Harry's hand and pulled him towards the statue. "Let's go Prongsy."
Harry rolled his eyes before looking at the map. A password appeared above the statue on the map and he read it aloud.
"Dissendium!"
At once, the statue's hump opened wide enough to admit a fairly thin person. The two best friends didn't hesitate to hurry down the passage grinning as they did so. Harry quickly lit his wand as they made their way down the long path until they finally reached the end.
"Trapdoor," Alexis whispered.
She took the lead and pushed it up slowly, revealing a cellar, which was full of wooden crates and boxes. Alexis and Harry quickly climbed out of trapdoor. When it closed it blended almost perfectly with the floor.
Wondering what they ought to do, Alexis and Harry suddenly heard a door open much closer at hand; somebody was about to come downstairs.
"And get another box of Jelly Slugs, dear, they've nearly cleaned us out -" said a woman's voice.
Quickly thinking, Harry hastily pushed Alexis behind himself and a large crate just before a man with a shiny bald head entered the cellar. He didn't notice the two of them nor had Harry, who had his back towards the man as he hid Alexis and himself from view, seen the man.
'Head out the door now,' thought Alexis to Harry as the man became busy with a box opposite to them. 'Hurry Harry!'
Not missing a beat, Harry hurried out of the room and up the cellar steps with Alexis right on his heels. They slipped out from behind the counter of Honeydukes before disappearing into the well packed store hand and hand.
"That was brilliant!" whispered Harry as the slowly moved through the store. "This place is brilliant!"
Alexis merely rolled her eyes.
The two stumbled over the the section of the store marked Unusual Taste when they caught sight of Hermione and Ron examining a tray of blood-flavored lollipops.
"Ugh, no, neither of them would want one of those, they're for vampires, I expect," Hermione was saying.
"How about these?" said Ron, shoving a jar of Cockroach Clusters under Hermione's nose.
"Definitely not," said Harry.
Ron nearly dropped the jar.
"Harry!" squealed Hermione. "What are you doing here? How - how did you -?"
"Wow!" said Ron, looking very impressed, "you've learned to Apparate!"
"Well, actually, I can," said Alexis, stepping into view. "But that's not how we got here."
"Hex!" exclaimed Hermione. "You brought Harry out of the school-"
"Calm down, Moony," said Harry, "or I won't tell you how we did it."
He dropped his voice so that none of the other customers could hear him and told them all about the Marauder's Map.
"How come Fred and George never gave it to me!" said Ron, outraged. "I'm their brother!"
"But they're not going to keep it!" said Hermione, as though the idea were ludicrous. "Harry and Hex are going to hand it in to Professor McGonagall, aren't you?"
"No, I'm not!" said Harry.
"Not on your life!" snapped Alexis
"Are you mad?" said Ron, goggling at Hermione. "Hand in something that good?"
"If we hand it in, we'll have to say where we got it! Filch would know Fred and George had nicked it!"
"But what about Sirius Black?" Hermione hissed. "He could be using one of the passages on that map to get into the castle! The teachers have got to know!"
"He can't be getting in through a passage," said Alexis quickly.
Harry continued, "There are seven secret tunnels on the map, right? Fred and George reckon Filch already knows about four of them. And of the other three - one of them's caved in, so no one can get through it. One of them's got the Whomping Willow planted over the entrance, so you can't get out of it. And the one I just came through - well - it's really hard to see the entrance to it down in the cellar - so unless he knew it was there -"
Harry hesitated and Alexis knew why. What if Sirius Black did know the passage was there? Ron, however, cleared his throat significantly, and pointed to a notice pasted on the inside of the sweetshop door.
BY ORDER OF THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC
Customers are reminded that until further notice, Dementors will be patrolling the streets of Hogsmeade every night after sundown. This measure has been put in place for the safety of Hogsmeade residents and will be lifted upon the recapture of Sirius Black. It is therefore advisable that you complete your shopping well before nightfall.
Merry Christmas!
"See?" said Ron quietly. "I'd like to see Black try and break into Honeydukes with Dementors swarming all over the village. Anyway, Moony, the Honeydukes owners would hear a break-in, wouldn't they? They live over the shop!"
"Yes, but - but -" Heroine seemed to be struggling to find another problem. "Look, Harry still shouldn't be coming into Hogsmeade. He hasn't got a signed form! If anyone finds out, he'll be in so much trouble! And it's not nightfall yet - what if Sirius Black turns up today? Now?"
"I'd like to see him try something with us here," growled Alexis.
"Plus, he'd have a job spotting Prongs in this," said Ron, nodding through the mullioned windows at the thick, swirling snow. "Come on, Moony, it's Christmas. Harry deserves a break."
Hermione bit her lip, looking extremely worried.
"Are you going to report me?" Harry asked her, grinning.
"Oh - of course not - but honestly, Harry -"
"Moony," sang Alexis. "For the love of Merlin, call him Prongs and quit worrying. Leave that for the next Quidditch game."
"Oi!" barked Harry, playfully swinging at Alexis. Alexis stuck out her tongue at him.
"Alright," sighed Hermione, rolling her eyes at her friends' antics. "I'll quit worrying... Padfoot."
"That's the spirit, Moony!" said Ron cheerfully.
The four friends locked arms before making their way out of the store. They spent the next few hours giving Harry a tour of Hogsmeade. When they were all finally tired and cold, they headed into the Three Broomsticks. It was extremely crowded, noisy, warm, and smoky. A curvy sort of woman with a pretty face was serving a bunch of rowdy warlocks up at the bar.
"That's Madam Rosmerta," said Ron. "I'll get the drinks, shall I?" he added, going slightly red.
Alexis, Harry, and Hermione made their way to the back of the room, where there was a small, vacant table between the window and a handsome Christmas tree, which stood next to the fireplace. Alexis took a seat next to Harry and across from Hermione grinning. So far, this was the best break they had ever had.
Ron came back five minutes later, carrying three foaming tankards of hot butterbeer.
"Merry Christmas!" he said happily, raising his tankard.
Taking a long, deep gulp of her butterbeer, Alexis nearly choked when the front door of the inn opened. Cornelius Fudge, along with Swine, McGonagall, and Hagrid had arrived.
What is this? Two chapters in two days? Is someone trying to make up for her slowness over the last few weeks? Yeah, pretty much.
Another cliffhanger because I didn't want an extra long chapter so sorry my lovelies if it's killing you. I'd love to still hear some of your opinions on the last chapter as well as this one though!
NeverBeyondRedemption: I hope you meant James's daughter and not son ;P and yes, the cliffhanger was for you
: thank you! Hope you liked this one too, please tell me what you think!
Luna the HP fan: That's the plan! *laughs evilly before choking on water bottle* It's no fun when you all know, you know? Mawahahaha... :D
mwinter: and I shall!
Please still tell me your thoughts on the last chapter as well as this one! I'll try to post soon but remember... REVIEW!
DCF