Chapter 6
Harry dropped the heavy volume onto the table, the noise echoed through the library from the table where he sat with Allegra, Ron and Hermione.
"Allegra, that's it were going."
"Going where?" Ron asked.
"You haven't been to see him yet, have you?" Harry said, ignoring the questioning looks from Ron and Hermione. Allegra shook her head.
"I thought I might see Madame Pomfrey."
"No. We're going, now." Harry pulled her up and dragged her from the library by her arm.
"Ow, Harry!"
"I'm not letting go until we're in that office." She went unwillingly. When they arrived at the statue Harry said the password, towed her up the stairs and knocked on the door. "Professor," Harry said when Dumbledore appeared at the door, "Allegra would like to talk to you." Harry jabbed her in the ribs to get her attention, but she continued to look down at her feet.
"Ah, yes, Miss Boone, I've been expecting you." Allegra's head snapped up.
"You have?"
"Yes, please come in. Harry, you can wait outside or I am sure Allegra would be happy to meet you back in the common room." Harry turned on his heels, obviously pleased with himself, and disappeared down the stairs.
"Take a seat," Allegra walked inside and sat in the chair in front of his desk. "Lemon Drop?" He offered her the bowl with one hand and put a sweet in his mouth with the other.
"Thanks," she smiled faintly, popping one into her mouth.
"Now, by the look of you, you aren't sure why you are here," he said, resting his elbows on his desk and looking down at her through his half-moon spectacles.
Allegra shrugged, "I just think it might be a waste of your time, Professor."
"I have to confess to keeping my eye on you for a while, Miss Boone, I've been waiting for you to come and see me."
"Why?"
Dumbledore smiled, "I understand you have been performing magic through thought."
Allegra sucked tightly on the sweet, "something like that, at least that's what Harry thinks."
"What do you think?"
"I think I'm getting flu."
Dumbledore chuckled, "then I have much to tell you."
"How did you know?" Allegra asked.
"The sorting hat told me there was something special about you, it can always tell, you see."
"Of course," Allegra glared up at the Sorting Hat who sat motionless on a shelf behind Professor Dumbledore.
"You are different to most of the children who come through Hogwarts. You can perform magic without need for a wand or even thinking of the spell's formal incantation."
"You can do that, though, can't you?"
"Yes, some of the time." Dumbledore nodded, "but I am a very experienced old wizard, Allegra, you are barely sixteen." All Allegra could do was nod. "Now, although at the moment it is happening by accident and it may only happen for a summoning charm or similar," he obviously doesn't know about the reducto in D.A, "you could be able to do all manner of spells with training."
"Right ... so this is good, right? I mean, I won't even have to think about magic to do it. Will you be able to help me control it?"
"Yes, that is something we will begin immediately. But first I must talk to you about the difficulties you may face and the reason for the immediacy of our training." Allegra looked worried. "You will soon be able to do any spell just by thought. That includes the Unforgivable Curses. Do you remember those?"
"Of course," Allegra averted her gaze.
"If the general public discovered this they would fear you more than someone suffering from Lycropanthy. I also fear that if others found out about your ability they may find a way to use you. If an Unforgivable Curse is used it leaves a print on the wand. With you, there would be no-such evidence."
"By others," she swallowed, "do you mean You-Know-Who?"
Dumbledore nodded, "but enough of that, you've been given a gift, Allegra, not a disease."
"It sounds terminal," she said.
"It's not. You have the power to do magic without your wand. It would take something very powerful to keep you down." He popped another sweet into his mouth. "This is in the future, of course," he smiled.
"Right," Allegra nodded.
"We've got a lot to do, first thing is to help you control it so you don't destroy the whole castle if someone makes you angry," he chuckled. Allegra couldn't. "I promise you, Allegra, the threat others pose you is not as large as the threat you could pose to them."
"That doesn't fill me with relief."
"I'm sorry to scare you, Allegra, I just need to make it clear that you've got to be careful. You can't snap your wand in two, you need to carry on using it in public."
"I understand."
"I knew you would." Dumbledore stood, "I will arrange for you to start lessons soon after your birthday, but for now just try and control it by using simple charms when you're alone." Dumbledore showed her to the door and let her go with a smile.
"So, what did he say?" Harry said as soon as she entered the common room, standing up from the sofa he had been sat on.
"You're right, something is wrong."
"What?"
"We need to talk somewhere private," she sighed, "where's Ron and Hermione?"
"Just around the corner, I'll get them. We can go to my dorm, if it's not empty I'll shove them out."
Once they were up stairs Allegra relayed the information.
"So wait," Ron looked confused, "you don't need a wand but you have to use one anyway?"
"I need one at the moment because I don't have much control, and besides," she pushed her dark hair out of her face and grinning, "it makes my spells more powerful."
"I think Dumbledore's point was that she needs to keep it a secret," Hermione said.
"Why?" Ron asked.
Hermione rolled her eyes, "because, Ronald, A: she could use the Unforgivable Curses against people without anyone knowing and that will scare people, B: she could be easily blamed for murders she didn't commit, and C: people could try and force her to do their bidding so that they wouldn't get caught."
"Oh ..." Ron had finally caught up. Allegra groaned and buried her face in Harry's shoulder.
"It's not all bad though," he said, "think about the future."
Allegra was having a hard time doing that. The future seemed like something terrifying right now.
"We'll help you practice, Ali," Hermione smiled, "it will be like teaching a first year."
"I guess so," Allegra sighed, "this cannot leave the four of us."
Allegra woke up early after a night of tossing and turning, a deep thunder was rolling in outside in the morning darkness. Her three other roommates were sleeping soundly in their beds. It was five-thirty in the morning, but she couldn't quite see the arms of the clock through the darkness. She tried for a time to go back to sleep, but there was something keeping the sandman away. It was a Saturday, too, and they usually slept in but Allegra could see that wasn't going to happen for her today. The candle on her bedside table lit up. Great, Allegra sighed. There was the ability that was going to land her a place in Azkaban before the age of twenty if she didn't get a hold on it.
Allegra ran a hand through her mahogany hair, most of it fell to the right side of her head. She got out of bed and put on some sweatpants and a zip-up hoodie. Right at the bottom of her trunk she found a pair of trainers she hadn't worn since the summer.
It wasn't difficult to sneak through the castle at this time in the morning. It was really considered early rather than late, and any teacher would find it hard to argue that you shouldn't be up if you didn't want to be. Besides, they had all gone to bed and the portraits, if awake, made no effort to notice her presence. She found her way to the doors that led out to the lake and stood on the porch. The light cast was an eerie blue and the thunder had given way to torrential rain, but no wind joined it other than the playful breeze of a storm just passed. The kind of rain that people would happily play in in the summer time. It was cold, freezing in fact, but there was no frost on the ground. Allegra stood for a moment, feeling her hair brush lazily against her cheek and watched the dead leaves dance around her feet.
"Fuck it," Allegra jumped off the porch and onto the path, setting off at a run towards the lake. There seemed to be so many downfalls to what Dumbledore had told her. She didn't really see the benefits. She was a pureblood witch, she thought of spells every day for practicality ... what if her anger got out of hand?
The rain was an uncomfortable temperature but she soon warmed and let the water soothe her. She started on the route around the lake and felt herself break away from the worries that snapped at her heels. She couldn't fly, but Umbridge would never be able to stop her from running. She watched the lake's surface ripple with the falling rain.
After about ten minutes she stopped running. She felt better. Out of breath, but better. She walked back along the other side of the lake towards the castle. As she neared she saw something lying on a bench on the hillside. She stopped, it looked like someone lying on their back looking towards the sky. Cautiously she approached, hoping that it wasn't just a body.
He was wet, but not as wet as Allegra, which proved he hadn't been there long. She relaxed, seeing that his chest rose and fell gently. The sound of rain had hidden her approach, and sensing no foul play, sat down next to him.
"Allegra?" Draco sat up in surprise after barely a minute. Allegra simply nodded, and he looked at her confused.
"When did you get here? Why are you out here?"
"Only a minute or two ago. I came out for a run."
"A run?"
"I needed to breathe," Allegra justified. "You were alive so I just sat down. I'm assuming you don't sleep out here?"
Draco sighed, "No. I'm just out here like you, needed to breathe."
Allegra looked up at the sky where the clouds were beginning to clear and the sun was moments from breaking above the mountains.
"Well, I'm guessing we're both a little fucked up," she smiled at him, "sitting in the rain."
"In February."
"Yeah, let's keep this oddity to ourselves."
"Agreed."
They sat for a moment staring out at the lake.
"We better go inside," Allegra said eventually, "before people get up or they'll think we spent the night together."
Draco laughed softly, "You wish." Allegra laughed and walked back to the castle in front of him.
"Allegra, come on!" Hermione said. Hermione had persuaded Allegra to go with her to the Room of Requirement to practice using mental magic, and Ron and Harry had come along to watch.
"Loosen up, Hermione, she's trying," Ron defended.
"She is not! It's just a simple reparo! I saw her do it last night when she dropped her mirror and she did it without even looking at it!"
"That wasn't directly me," Allegra frowned, "I feel like it's got a mind of its own."
"Just try," Hermione said.
"Fine." Reparo. The vase put itself back together.
"See, it's not difficult. You're just being stubborn."
"Am not," Allegra said.
"Yes you are."
Allegra rolled her eyes, "what now, Professor?"
"Now break it, it should be harder."
Allegra, now irritated, glanced at the vase. Obliterate. The vase shattered into a million tiny shards, falling like dust to the floor.
"Someone has a temper," Harry said, giving Allegra a push.
"Shut up."
"I don't understand what your problem is," Hermione shook her head, "don't you want to control it?"
"No I do, just -" Allegra sighed, "it's doing it more on its own now. Dumbledore said that ... what if ..."
"By practicing you'll be strong enough to face any eventuality," Hermione retorted.
Allegra thought about this for a moment, "Okay, I'll practice."
"It's ..."
"Your ..."
"Birthday!" Lavender, Pavarti and Hermione sang at the end of Allegra's bed. She pushed herself up and smiled at them.
"Happy eighth of February!"
"Congratulations, you're now sixteen!"
"You can now legally have sex with anyone of the same age or above!" Pavarti winked and Hermione frowned at her. Allegra rubbed under her eyes and ran a hand through her hair.
"What time is it?"
"Quarter to seven," Lavender said.
"I hate you."
"Come on," Hermione said, "if I hadn't woken you up you wouldn't have time to open your presents before classes."
"I would have been okay with that." Hermione looked at her like she was about to growl, "but now is nice, thank you, Hermione. Do I have to go downstairs?"
"Nope," Pavarti pointed to a pile of presents in the corner of the room, "no one else wanted to get up."
"Yeah, I bet," Allegra mumbled.
After presents and breakfast, which she had consumed quickly to avoid drawing attention to herself (the Weasley twins were well known for pulling a birthday prank) she went down to Potions early and took her seat.
"Happy Birthday," Draco look the seat next to Allegra at their desk.
"Thank you," she smiled.
"Here," under the table he put two small presents in her lap, "from Blaise. The little one's from me."
She looked up suddenly, "really?"
"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth."
"Sorry, thank you," she smiled, "very much."
"You haven't seen it yet, it could be horrible." He looked up and watched Snape walk in.
"I doubt it."
"You doubt it?" Draco looked surprised.
"Yeah, I guess I trust you? Or at least I trust Blaise not to let you do that. Plus I'd punch you."
"I know."
"See," she smiled sweetly, "it's your fear that makes me trust you."
"Just open them."
"Which first?" Draco shrugged, it didn't matter. Allegra looked at Blaise's present, it was a silver box about the size of her hand. She picked it up and pulled off the lid, inside was a fine gold chain with a single circular pendant no bigger than the tip of her finger. The pendant was a clear crystal with a gold setting. Allegra smiled.
"He said he knew you'd like it."
"He was right," she looked up at him, "did you two go jewellery shopping together?"
"If I answer that question it rather gives my present away, doesn't it?"
"Just a funny image in my head," Allegra whispered as Snape began to drawl at the front. Allegra carefully opened Draco's present, it was another silver box, but this time the size of her palm. Inside was a bracelet, it had the same tiny gold chain as Blaise's necklace but it doubled around like a train track. In the center of the bracelet was one diamond stone linking the two chains together.
"Wow, it's beautiful, you -"
"Miss Boone," Allegra looked up at Professor Snape, "I would prefer it, no matter what day it is, if you keep your mouth closed during my class."
"Sorry, Professor."
"That was the most embarrassing moment of my life."
"Oh, come on, Ali," Hermione smiled, "it was nice."
Allegra shook her head, "would you like Fred and George to start everyone in the Great Hall singing Happy Birthday to you?"
"Well, no, because everyone looks at you but -"
"Exactly!" Allegra almost fell up the stairs, "I didn't want everyone looking at me."
"Strange," Hermione teased, "you usually want all the attention."
Allegra rolled her eyes, "not that kind of attention."
They turned and started up the last set of stairs towards seventh floor.
"Are you looking forward to this?"
"Yeah, I've been waiting to see what my Patronus is."
"Harry said," Hermione nodded, "that's why he wanted to do it today, he was going to wait a bit longer before starting on them. He is sure that most people will be able to see something in this lesson, though."
"Apart from maybe Cho."
Hermione giggled, "yeah, maybe." Hermione wasn't keen on Cho either, and never scolded Allegra for bitching about her.
"She's always moping."
"I guess." Hermione turned to give her a sympathetic smile but stopped, "Ali, you've gone a bit red."
"It will pass," Allegra put the backs of her hands on her cheeks trying to cool herself down, "it's just talking about Cho, it makes me angry."
"No, it's talking about Harry and Cho and Cedric."
Allegra rolled her eyes.
"Wow," Neville breathed as he watched Allegra's patronus fly around the room. As Harry had expected, no one else had managed more than an icy wisp of light from their wands, but Allegra had a fully-fledged patronus dancing around the room.
"It's a -"
"Phoenix." Harry finished as Allegra watched it happily, flying over their heads.
"It's so pretty," Ginny admired.
"Really is," Hermione nodded. Allegra watched the Phoenix soar over the heads of the group one last time and then it dissolved.
"That seems like a perfect place to end this lesson," Harry said, "see you all in two weeks for the last meeting before the Easter break." The other students gathered their things and took their leave.
"That was awesome, Allegra," Ron said as he came to wait with her for Harry and Hermione. "Could you do it because of your thing?" Allegra grinned and nodded. "Now I'm jealous."
"Come on then," Hermione put her bag strap on her shoulder, "let's go and celebrate your birthday."
"She means let's go and not do any homework for once."
"Exactly," Hermione said.
In the common room a small gathering of students was waiting for Allegra to get back.
"Happy Birthday!" they shouted.
"Come on guys," she looked at Fred and George, "we've done this already."
"We're not going to sing this time," George said.
"Promise," Fred said.
"You better not," Allegra grumbled, putting her bag down and sitting in a big armchair that had been designated for her.
"We've even got cake," Ginny said, pointing to a table behind Allegra.
"We?" Fred said, "I think you mean Fred and George."
Ginny rolled her eyes and walked over to cut the cake, "I assume you don't want singing or candles?"
Allegra shook her head, "no thank you. I'm exhausted, I fully intend not to move from this spot until someone carries me to my bed."
"That can be arranged," Fred smiled.
"I think she meant by someone like Ron," Ginny snapped, "someone who's not going to try and get into bed with her." The other Gryffindors laughed and Fred flushed very slightly. Ginny cut the cake and passed it out to the group and any other Gryffindor's who wanted some. After she had spent a lengthy amount of time chatting to Ginny and Dean about quidditch Fred came over and sat on one of the arms.
"Good birthday?"
"Good," she nodded.
"Did you like all of your presents?"
"Very much so." George had given her an assortment of Weasley products and Fred had given her a necklace that when you wore it with various pendants, they would do different things; there was a golden broomstick that when you wore it meant that you couldn't fall over, or a rainbow that meant your hair constantly changed colour. Fred saw a chain around her neck and cheekily pulled it out from beneath her jumper. Seeing that it wasn't his, he frowned deeply.
"I thought you might be wearing it."
Allegra pulled away from him and tucked the necklace Blaise had given her away.
"It's not the type of necklace I wear to D.A."
"You could have," he sulked, "the cat." The cat pendant he was speaking of made the wearer look particularly polished. Not a hair out of place and no make-up smudged.
"I'll wear it tomorrow," she said trying to hide her disinterest. She was grateful for the present, but she had already thanked him for it at lunch and again at dinner. Fred stood and went to talk to George who was laughing with Angelina.
"What were you doing in there?"
"Fuck!" in one motion Allegra jumped, spun and put her back against the door, "bloody hell, Draco, you made me jump out of my skin." Allegra turned back to the door and checked that the door to the dusty unused classroom was properly latched.
"Sorry, what were you doing?"
"Um, thinking," she lied. She had been in there practicing a few charms wandlessly where no one would interrupt her and she wouldn't get in trouble for moving things around, but also so that she could have a go without the pressure of Hermione on her shoulder.
"Thinking?" Draco replied in an I-don't-believe-you tone.
"Thinking," Allegra nodded, trying to sound casual. When she realised she was failing she decided just to start walking.
"So if I go back there," Draco said as he followed, "there isn't going to be some guy in there putting his clothes back on?"
"No, Draco, I'm pretty sure it will be an empty classroom."
"Right. So you were thinking, in there?"
"We've already established I do weird things, Draco, like go running in the rain at six in the morning in February, but so do you."
"It's not like you were getting fresh air, though, is it?"
"... No." He put a hand on Allegra's arm and stopped her.
"Is there something wrong?" he asked sincerely.
"What?"
"Because, you know, Blaise would want to know," he looked away.
"I didn't mean you couldn't ask me that," she sighed, "I guess there must be, if I was in there ... thinking ..."
"Oh," Draco fell quiet.
"Allegra?" Fred was walking past the end of the corridor they were stood in and happened to glance down.
"Hi Fred," she smiled, inwardly sighing. Life wasn't about to get easier.
"Where have you been? Hermione's been looking for you." Fred was frowning and giving Draco the evil eye.
"I've been here," she said.
"You've been with him?"
"No, well, yes, for the past two minutes-ish."
"Right," Fred raised an eyebrow, "and what were you doing before?"
"She was alone. In an old classroom. Thinking." Draco smirked.
"I asked Allegra."
"Well I answered."
"Okay!" Allegra got the attention back on her, "let's go and find Hermione, see you later, Draco."
"Bye, Allegra," Draco smiled and stood to watch them leave. Allegra got behind Fred and started pushing him in the direction of Gryffindor Tower.
"Draco? Allegra?" He said, and Allegra rolled her eyes at Draco, "since when have you been on a first name basis with -"
"Since Potions, remember?" They turned a corner and Allegra stopped pushing and started walking quickly in front of him, hoping by some miracle that he might just leave her alone.
"Allegra, do you realise he was being, I don't know, nice to you?"
"I told you, he helps me with my potions, of course he's nice to me."
"There's something seriously wrong about this," Fred said. Allegra had had enough.
"No there's not. Get over it." Allegra managed to get ahead of him and he didn't try to catch up.