Chapter 6:

Mrs Weasley didn't say a word to Alicia after that. Alicia even made her own breakfast the morning after, which was something she hadn't done in a very long time. She expected Mrs Weasley still would have cooked for her but Alicia refused to speak to the women either and therefore didn't ask.

Everyone else noticed the tension until two days later when Hermione, Ron, Ginny and the twins came bundling down the stairs quickly and practically flung themselves on Alicia.

"Happy Birthday!" they all chorused. Alicia laughed

"Morning to you all as well."

"Happy Birthday Alicia," Lupin greeted. Mr Weasley repeated the same words and glanced at Molly who was cooking up a storm. Eggs, Bacon, baked beans, pancakes, waffles, sausages. It was like she was celebrating Alicia's birthday breakfast without trying to be obvious.

The twins, Ron, Ginny and Hermione all placed gifts down on the table before her. Lupin added one, Mr Weasley passed his along with Tonks who'd made an appearance and gave her something as well.

She ended up with sweets, a bunch of random objects from Zonkos Joke Shop from the twins, yet another charms book from Lupin, and Tonks had given her a small Foe-Glass. Alicia had only ever seen one in the office of the fake Professor Moody last year.

"Wow Tonks!" Alicia grinned, the girl had shrugged.

"It's slightly handy. I should get you a sneakerscope as well, seeing as you always get into trouble with people close to you." Alicia laughed

"It's alright, Harry's got one."

Arthur's parcel was the usual hand knitted item, this time a scarf and matching beanie with an owl decorating the corners of the scarf and the front of the beanie. Some homemade toffee was wrapped up inside.

Alicia smiled and stood up. To everyone's surprise she went and hugged Mrs Weasley who'd been watching from the corner of her eye.

"Thanks." she said and she smiled and pulled away before Mrs Weasley could say or do anything.

Sirius came down the stairs next. He had a package in his hand.

"This is for you." he said handing it to her. Alicia raised an eyebrow and took it before removing the brown paper. Inside were two mirrors.

"They're two-way mirrors." Sirius explained "I have another pair in which James and I used to use." he grinned "You and Harry might make use of them over the summers." Alicia grinned and hugged Sirius.

"Thanks."

"Don't break it, they're rare." he warned and Alicia rolled her eyes.

"I'll make sure Dung doesn't get a hold of them." and Sirius chuckled.

"Breakfast Alicia?" Mr Weasley asked as Mrs Weasley decorated the table.

"Thanks." Alicia said glancing at the women as everyone sat around and ate.

The dinner for Alicia's birthday was just as spectacular. Despite her brooding silence Mrs Weasley had made all of Alicia's favourite foods as well as a cake big enough to feed them all. Most of the Order had turned up to celebrate other than Dumbledore. For the day it seemed as though any tension or disagreement between anyone was over. There was no upcoming war, there were no secrets, nothing to worry about. The only down side to the day was Harry wasn't here. Alicia had never spent her birthday with what was classified as her wizarding family. She'd had the orphanage, Harry and once, Hagrid. If Harry had been around, it would have literally been the best birthday she'd ever had.

Unfortunately by the next morning Mrs Weasley was back to snapping at everyone, her sons, Sirius, Ginny, Hermione, Lupin, especially Mundungus who turned up for lunch after having been watching Harry all day. It was clear that Mrs Weasley didn't like him at all, a bad influence she believed.

Mr Weasley, Tonks, Kingsley and a few others had all stayed the night and were off to work and secret Order business. Mrs Weasley's bad mood was being taken out on the rest of the house as all the bedrooms were to be decontaminated by the end of the day, a spare one at the top of the stairs somewhere being the last one.

Alicia ate her breakfast in silence, she didn't need to anger Mrs Weasley any more than she had as the women constantly sent her disappointed yet concerned looks. Alicia had tried to send another letter to Harry with Noel but the bird had returned within the hour, making Alicia believed Mrs Weasley was still watching her.

Alicia had spent the morning trying to recontact Harry again through their strange bond but as of yet nothing had happened. She was trying to discover how she'd made it work last time, after all Harry hadn't been doing anything to pull her there as he had every other time so she had to have triggered it.

"What are you doing?" Sirius had walked into Alicia's room to inform her that lunch was ready only to find her sitting on her bed rather looking like she was meditating.

"Shush, I'm trying to concentrate." she said without opening her eyes.

"On what?"

"What does it look like?"

"Like you're trying to will herself to float." Sirius admitted. Alicia opened her eyes and looked at him annoyed. She got of the bed and walked towards him.

"If you must know I'm trying to contact Harry." Sirius rose an eyebrow

"How is that helping?"

"We have a connection remember." Sirius looked at her seriously

"So you are trying to access your ghost mode."

"If that's what you want to call it…" Alicia said slowly, thinking that was a strange thing to call it.

"Alicia," Sirius prompted seriously

"Okay, yes I've been trying to make it work in my favour." Alicia confessed

"And…?"

"And it's only worked once." she admitted

"You spoke to Harry?" Sirius asked and Alicia nodded

"He's not happy by the way."

"I don't blame him. What did you tell him?"

"I'm at the same place as Hermione, Ron and you. Dumbledore doesn't want him to know anything. He's being followed. That I'm not actually allowed to know anything the Order is doing." Alicia listed.

"Not very much in other words."

"Does anyone else know about this?" Alicia scoffed

"Are you crazy? Of course not." she admitted. "I haven't been able to contact him since hearing your little meeting and my argument with Mrs Weasley though so… I can't remember how exactly I made it work."

"Well what were you doing?"

"Sitting in my chair at my desk thinking about Little Whinging. But I've done that and it's still not working so…" Alicia muttered irritated. "I'll get it." she said confidently. "At some stage."

She walked past her godfather and to the stairs. However she stopped before she got to far.

"By the way if you tell anyone I promise to set your hair on fire." Alicia threatened. Sirius chuckled and walked forwards to place a hand around her shoulders and guide her down the stairs.

"Yeah alright."

"Remember who my parents are? I will do it." she warned.

"I don't doubt that." Sirius sighed.

Alicia returned to her room and sat down to read her new book, she hadn't read more than a few pages since receiving it but decided her mind needed to relax before it would work on getting her to Harry again. She knew better than to overwhelm her mind or she possibly wouldn't be able to process things as well as usual.

"Mind if I join you?" Alicia looked up to see Hermione with a book.

"Not at all." Alicia shook her head. Hermione moved in and sat at Alicia's desk, bending over the giant book in her hand. Alicia was surprised she already had a book for the coming year, then again she assumed Hermione had found a moment to borrow it at the end of last year from the Library, she was such a regular visitor that Alicia doubted Madam Pince, the librarian, would refuse Hermione that.

Alicia lay on the bed while people came and went down stairs for the afternoon. Mundungus turned up for a bite to eat and angered Mrs Weasley again before he rushed off to guard Harry again. Lupin left with Mr Weasley around two in the afternoon for something that hadn't sounded up the stairs to Alicia's open door. She was lying on her bed only half concentrating on the pages before her and more listening to the constant commotion below. Hermione occasionally looked up to listen as well, turning her head to the open door but was otherwise in a completely different world with her head stuck within the book as usual.

There were a few bangs coming from the room the twins were staying in and Alicia assumed they were trying to perfect their Skiving Snack Boxes while Mrs Weasley was having a break from cleaning. Ginny and Ron were down in Ron's room playing exploding snap, or Alicia assumed it was this from the occasional random bangs coming from there, a sound she recognised unlike the ones coming from the twins' room. Their door was closed were as Ron and Ginny seemed to be doing the same as Hermione and Alicia and listening to those downstairs as well, hoping to overhear something, anything that could be interesting. While the four of them had given the Extendable ears a rest in order to stop them from getting destroyed or confiscated by Mrs Weasley the Twins had used them any chance they'd gotten since. Apparently they weren't hard to make for the twins to risk them so easily.

Alicia had her head leaning on her arms and the book propped up against the end of the bed as she absentmindedly swung her legs. The words weren't really going into her head.

"Think you're a big man carrying that thing, don't you?" Alicia yawned as the voice sounded somewhat familiar. She knew she'd never read the words in that voice, it sounded out of place and far away.

"What thing?" said another. It was Harry's voice.

"That — that thing you're hiding."

"Not as stupid as you look, are you, Dud?" Dud? As in Dudley? Alicia opened her eyes but she wasn't in her room anymore, her bed and book were gone and so was Hermione and the desk she was sitting at. She was in an alleyway. It was night, dark and clear. As she looked around she recognised the alleyway. She'd once seen a giant spectral dog down it. A dog that later turned out to be Sirius' Animagus shape. That was the first night she'd seen him.

Alicia was standing in the shortcut between Magnolia Crescent and Wisteria Walk. She was in Little Whinging…

"But I s'pose if you were, you wouldn't be able to walk and talk at the same time…" Alicia turned to see Harry and Dudley walking away from her. Harry was teasing Dudley as he twirled his wand in his fingers.

"You're not allowed," Dudley said at once having stopped it. "I know you're not. You'd get expelled from that freak school you go to."

"How d'you know they haven't changed the rules, Big D?"

Alicia looked around as she walked towards the two, following. She hadn't even been trying to see Harry this time. And this time she'd appeared right by his side, unlike last time when she appeared in his room at Privet Drive.

There was an eery feeling in the air that gave Alicia a bad feeling. She wasn't really here yet the hairs on her arms were standing up on end.

"They haven't," said Dudley, though he didn't sound completely convinced. Harry laughed softly.

"You haven't got the guts to take me on without that thing, have you?" Dudley snarled. Alicia walked silently behind them as she looked around, trying to place the reason she was worried.

Maybe it was because she'd been drawn here again. Like all the other times Harry had been in some sort of trouble.

You need to get into trouble and see if it's a two way bond.

"Whereas you just need four mates behind you before you can beat up a ten-year-old. You know that boxing title you keep banging on about? How old was your opponent? Seven? Eight?"

"He was sixteen for your information," snarled Dudley, "and he was out cold for twenty minutes after I'd finished with him and he was twice as heavy as you. You just wait till I tell Dad you had that thing out —"

"Running to Daddy now, are you? Is his ickle boxing champ frightened of nasty Harry's wand?"

"Not this brave at night, are you?" sneered Dudley.

"This is night, Diddykins. That's what we call it when it goes all dark like this."

"I mean when you're in bed!" Dudley snarled.

He had stopped walking. Harry stopped too, staring at his cousin. Alicia had to suddenly jump around her giant cousin to stop from potentially crashing into him. Even if she just went through him she didn't need that sort of experience on her mind and Dudley might feel something. She didn't know how it worked for people other than Harry.

"What d'you mean, I'm not brave in bed?" said Harry, completely nonplussed. "What — am I supposed to be frightened of pillows or something?"

"I heard you last night," said Dudley breathlessly. "Talking in your sleep. Moaning."

"What d'you mean?" Harry said again.

Alicia was drawn away from her mind and confusion to look at the triumphant look on Dudley's face. She looked at Harry who although his face was plain, she could see the turmoil in his eyes. Had Harry been having nightmares still?

Dudley gave a harsh bark of laughter then adopted a high-pitched, whimpering voice.

"'Don't kill Cedric! Don't kill Cedric!' Who's Cedric — your boyfriend?"

Alicia narrowed her eyes at Dudley but turned to give Harry a sympathetic look, even if he couldn't see it.

"I — you're lying —" said Harry automatically. Dudley wasn't lying, Alicia knew this as how else would he know about Cedric?

" 'Dad! Help me, Dad! He's going to kill me, Dad! Boo-hoo!' "

"Shut up," said Harry quietly. "Shut up, Dudley, I'm warning you!"

" 'Come and help me, Dad! Mum, come and help me! He's killed Cedric! Dad, help me! He's going to —' Don't you point that thing at me !"

Dudley backed into the alley wall. Harry was pointing the wand directly at Dudley's heart.

"Don't ever talk about that again," Harry snarled. "D'you understand me?"

"Point that thing somewhere else!"

"I said, do you understand me?"

"Point it somewhere else!"

"DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?"

"Harry!" Alicia shouted and Harry jumped before looking to where Alicia was standing. "Put it down! You can't afford to get into trouble." she warned. Dudley though couldn't hear her and was still going.

"GET THAT THING AWAY FROM —"

Dudley gave an odd, shuddering gasp, as though he had been doused in icy water.

Alicia looked at her cousin surprised before even she felt the sudden change. Something had happened to the night. The star-strewn indigo sky was suddenly pitch-black and lightless — the stars, the moon, the misty street lamps at either end of the alley had vanished. The distant grumble of cars and the whisper of trees had gone. The balmy evening was suddenly piercingly, bitingly cold. They were surrounded by total, impenetrable, silent darkness, as though some giant hand had dropped a thick, icy mantle over the entire alleyway, blinding them.

Alicia took a step closer to where Harry had been and felt for his hand. He clasped her tightly as Alicia looked around the alleyway. Could Harry have done magic?

Harry can't block out the stars and moon.

Something was very very wrong then.

Alicia could feel Harry moving as he turned his head this way and that, trying to see something, but the darkness pressed on his eyes like a weightless veil. Alicia was listening to the eery nothingness, hoping something was going to break through. Hopefully Mundungus who was supposed to be watching Harry would come and put a stop to this… even if he was a crook, Sirius said he owed Dumbledore so he'd save Harry, right?

Dudley's terrified voice broke in Harry's ear.

"W-what are you d-doing? St-stop it!"

"I'm not doing anything! Shut up and don't move!"

"I c-can't see! I've g-gone blind! I —"

"I said shut up!"

Harry stood stock-still, turning his sightless eyes left and right. The cold was so intense that he was shivering all over. Alicia felt his arm against her's, even she had goose bumps, the cold was biting at her transparent form.

"Harry, I shouldn't be able to feel this cold." she breathed "This isn't normal." What had the power to diminish the stars, take the light and warmth? Something that got rid of anything comforting…

Alicia froze. She knew of only one creature that brought the biting cold and darkness, snuffing out all that was comforting and warm.

"Harry…" Alicia whispered, listening for a sound that haunted her. "I know what it is." Harry squeezed her hand for reassurance. "You need to get out of here. You can't fight them off. You'll be in more trouble than it's worth…"

"I'll t-tell Dad!" Dudley whimpered. "W-where are you? What are you d-do — ?"

"Will you shut up?" Harry hissed, "I'm trying to lis —"

But he fell silent as Alicia froze. Both had heard just the thing they had been dreading.

There was something in the alleyway apart from themselves, something that was drawing long, hoarse, rattling breaths.

"Oh crap…" Alicia breathed, her breath shaking as she did so. She couldn't even see her breath it was that dark. Her hands before her were invisible to her own eyes.

"C-cut it out! Stop doing it! I'll h-hit you, I swear I will!"

"Dudley, shut —"

WHAM!

Harry was suddenly wrenched from Alicia's grasp and she heard him hit the floor. She heard a clutter and knew Harry had dropped his wand.

"You moron, Dudley!" Harry yelled.

"Harry!" Alicia called.

"Alicia my wand!" he said

"I can't see any more than you can." but she got down and her fingers trailed the ground "Plus I can't touch anything."

Both stopped as they heard Dudley blundering away, hitting the alley fence, stumbling.

"DUDLEY, COME BACK! YOU'RE RUNNING RIGHT AT IT!"

There was a horrible squealing yell, and Dudley's footsteps stopped. At the same moment, Alicia's breath caught and she felt something behind her as a rattling rasp of intake of breath sounded behind her. A shiver ran down her spine like someone had tipped ice cold water down her back. There was more than one.

"DUDLEY, KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT! WHATEVER YOU DO, KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT! Wand!" Harry muttered frantically, his hands flying over the ground like spiders. "Where's — wand — come on — Lumos!"

He said the spell automatically, desperate for light to help him in his search — and to his disbelieving relief, light flared inches from his right hand — the wand tip had ignited. Alicia saw it and saw Harry and moved straight to him grabbing his hand in hers. She could hear in the very back of her mind the usual screams and shouts. But they were faint, very far away as though her being in the alleyway was somehow effecting her at Grimmauld Place.

That must mean it's your soul that's in the alley.

Can my soul leave my body like that? Alicia questioned, she believed it was just her mind connecting to Harry's seeing mostly through his eyes, after all that was how it had started, with her being Harry.

Alicia and Harry both stared up before them. A towering, hooded figure was gliding smoothly toward them, hovering over the ground, no feet or face visible beneath its robes, sucking on the night as it came.

Stumbling backward as Alicia held onto her brother frantically. She felt completely useless, she wasn't here and couldn't do anything. This was like when he was in the lake and being attacked by Grindylows, or when she'd first seen him get stuck in the stair and his screaming golden egg had opened to alert the entire castle.

Harry raised his wand.

"Expecto Patronum!"

A silvery wisp of vapour shot from the tip of the wand and the dementor slowed, but the spell hadn't worked properly; tripping over his feet, Harry retreated farther, Alicia walking backwards as she held his hand trying to think.

Where's Mundungus? He didn't leave Harry did he!?

Knowing Harry's luck?

"Harry, happy thoughts." she said, but trying to think what was happy after all that had happened this summer and over the last year proved troubling.

A pair of grey, slimy, scabbed hands slid from inside the dementor's robes, reaching for Harry. A rushing noise filled Harry's ears.

"Expecto Patronum!"

His voice sounded dim and distant… Another wisp of silver smoke, feebler than the last, drifted from the wand — he couldn't do it anymore, he couldn't work the spell —

"Harry," Alicia whispered "You're not alone. You can do it. Happiness!" she tried to encourage, her voice strong as she began to worry terribly for her brother.

Her fear worsened more than ever as the dementor's icy fingers were closing on his throat. She pulled on Harry's hand in hers to try and remove him from the dementor's clutches.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" Harry suddenly bellowed.

An enormous silver stag erupted from the tip of Harry's wand; its antlers caught the dementor in the place where the heart should have been; it was thrown backward, weightless as darkness, and as the stag charged, the dementor swooped away, batlike and defeated.

Alicia felt all her breath rush back to her as she felt relieved, but then she remembered they weren't alone in the Alleyway.

"Harry! Dudley!" she remembered

"THIS WAY!" Harry shouted at the stag. Wheeling around, Alicia and Harry sprinted down the alleyway, holding the lit wand aloft. "DUDLEY? DUDLEY!"

Dudley was barely ten paces from them, curled on the ground, his arms clamped over his face; a second dementor was crouching low over him, gripping his wrists in its slimy hands, prizing them slowly, almost lovingly apart, lowering its hooded head toward Dudley's face as though about to kiss him…

"GET IT!" Harry bellowed, and with a rushing, roaring sound, the silver stag he had conjured came galloping back past him. The dementor's eyeless face was barely an inch from Dudley's when the silver antlers caught it; the thing was thrown up into the air and, like its fellow, it soared away and was absorbed into the darkness. The stag cantered to the end of the alleyway and dissolved into silver mist.

Moon, stars, and street lamps burst back into life. A warm breeze swept the alleyway. Trees rustled in neighbouring gardens and the mundane rumble of cars in Magnolia Crescent filled the air again. Alicia felt frozen. Harry stood quite still.

Dementors had been in Little Whinging. Surrey of all places. They'd attacked Harry. How could they even have come across him!? It was too coincidental. It didn't work. The only reason anything would be attacking Harry in Little Whinging would be if…

Alicia's eyes widened. Voldemort sent them!

Alicia sat bolt right up, she'd fallen onto the floor and off her bed were her new charms book was still sitting against the end of the bed frame. She was breathing fast, her fingers were cold as though the cold from the dementors had penetrated right through her ghostly appearance to her body.

"Alicia!" Hermione was leaning over her, the chair she'd been sitting in knocked to the floor where she'd stood up too abruptly. Footsteps sounded and Ginny and Ron appeared at the doorway, quickly followed by the twins.

"Alicia are you alright?" Ginny asked confused but Hermione was looking at her with a slight worried expression. Ron looked confused and the Twins shared an unsure look.

Alicia however completely ignored them all and scrambled to her feet, pushing her way past them all and down the stairs.

"Alicia! Come back!" Hermione said "You can't go down there! They're having another meeting!"

Alicia however ignored her. She didn't care if it was random and she didn't know they were having one. She didn't care if she interrupted. She didn't care if anyone had been listening in and not told her.

Alicia just ran straight to the kitchen and smashed open the door. Everyone inside looked confused at her, as well as stunned. No one spoke as they'd all abruptly stopped at the intrusion. Snape looked more than angry, it appeared he'd been the one talking at the present moment and Alicia had interrupted that. Mrs Weasley looked about to shout hoarse again at the girl who was hanging on the door knob panting slightly from running down three flights of stairs and was still waiting for the warmth to return to her fingers. Sirius and Lupin noticed her countenance and stood up worried, followed by Mr Weasley.

"Alicia…!" Mrs Weasley began

"Alicia what's wrong?" Sirius asked interrupting Mrs Weasley. Alicia got her breath back and the panic under control long enough to spit out the only words that were necessary in this fleeting instant.

"Harry's been attacked by dementors!" she bursted out.