Chapter 20:

Alicia felt a little better the next day. She'd managed to get her potions essay done and get Ron to do at least half of his. The next day consisted of double charms and double transfiguration, Alicia's favourite classes by far.

Hermione was in a better mood the next morning as well, considering her hats had been taken or removed from the table over night. Ron, amongst their arguing in Hermione's methods, insulted her knit work and Hermione refused to speak to him all morning.

In Charms and Transfiguration both Flitwick and Professor McGonagall spent the first fifteen minutes of their lessons lecturing the class on the importance of O.W.L.s.

"What you must remember," said little Professor Flitwick squeakily, perched as ever on a pile of books so that he could see over the top of his desk, "is that these examinations may influence your futures for many years to come! If you have not already given serious thought to your careers, now is the time to do so. And in the meantime, I'm afraid, we shall be working harder than ever to ensure that you all do yourselves justice!"

They then spent more than an hour reviewing Summoning Charms, which according to Professor Flitwick were bound to come up in their O.W.L., and he rounded off the lesson by setting them their largest amount of Charms homework ever.

It was the same, if not worse, in Transfiguration.

"You cannot pass an O.W.L.," said Professor McGonagall grimly, "without serious application, practice, and study. I see no reason why everybody in this class should not achieve an O.W.L. in Transfiguration as long as they put in the work." Neville made a sad little disbelieving noise. "Yes, you too, Longbottom," said Professor McGonagall. "There's nothing wrong with your work except lack of confidence. So… today we are starting Vanishing Spells. These are easier than Conjuring Spells, which you would not usually attempt until N.E.W.T. level, but they are still among the most difficult magic you will be tested on in your O.W.L."

The prompt that Vanishing Spells were apparently difficult gave Alicia a sense of determination. Spells were her favourite, one of the reasons she enjoyed charms so much. When given the chance or told they were going to try something difficult she felt a sense of requirement to succeed.

They spent the double period with snails on their desks, the fact that the snails had no vertebrae apparently made it easier to vanish the animal. Alicia went through her mind, thinking of reading on the spell a year or so previous. Snape had used the spell yesterday on Harry's potion and she remembered his movement as she turned to her snail.

Hermione beside her had given the spell a go and nothing had happened. Alicia knew Hermione was disappointed when she didn't get something and the purse of her lips confirmed that.

"Hermione, breath, try again." Alicia said

"You give it a try." Hermione decided and Alicia turned to her snail, sliding its way slowly over her desk and leaving a trial of slime behind it. Alicia turned to her snail and flicked her wand. The snail seemed to flicker and turn paler, but did not vanish. Alicia pulled the same expression as Hermione had, the girl smiled.

"Alicia, breath, try again." Hermione quoted her and Alicia looked at her annoyed. However she did take a breath and tried again.

After calming her mind the snail vanished. Alicia blinked and peered closer. Hermione did the same before turning to her snail to try again. Alicia watched her desk as though looking for the vanished snail as Hermione tried again. Professor McGonagall appeared as Hermione gave it one more shot and her snail vanished.

"Well done Miss Granger. Ten points to Gryffindor." she looked at Alicia.

"Miss Potter." Alicia looked up slightly surprised, she hadn't actually been addressed as that yet.

"Alicia vanished her's too." Hermione said

"I think so anyway, it vanished." she frowned slightly

"Well done Miss Potter." a few people had turned to them as they heard her name and Alicia nodded "Another ten points."

"Can I have another snail just to be sure?" Alicia wondered and the Professor nodded.

Alicia succeeded again the next time and was now convinced as Hermione congratulated her.

By the end of the class, the two girls were the only ones to succeed in the Vanishing Spell and were the only ones who didn't get any homework.

Because of their piling homework Harry and Ron spent their lunch break in the library, Ron using Alicia's aid the night before on his homework to help Harry. Hermione, still angry at Ron didn't join them and Alicia, not wanting to leave the girl on her own, went to lunch with Hermione instead of the library with the boys, much to Ron's disappointment.

The day had become cool and breezy as Alicia and Hermione made their way down the slop to Hagrid's cabin where Professor Grubbly-Plank was standing ten yards away behind a long throttle table, laden with many twigs.

"Bowtruckles." Alicia and Hermione chorused to one another.

They ignored Malfoy as he arrived laughing with his cronies, Crabbe, Goyle and Pansy Parkinson. Harry and Ron appearing just before them, Harry glancing at Malfoy as he shot him a smirk, clearly making the joke about Harry, to no surprise.

"Everyone here?" barked Professor Grubbly-Plank, once all the Slytherins and Gryffindors had arrived. "Let's crack on then — who can tell me what these things are called?"

She indicated the heap of twigs in front of her. Hermione's hand shot into the air, Alicia's too but with less urgency. Behind her back, Malfoy did a buck-toothed imitation of her jumping up and down in eagerness to answer a question. Pansy Parkinson gave a shriek of laughter that turned almost at once into a scream, as the twigs on the table leapt into the air and revealed themselves to be what looked like tiny pixieish creatures made of wood, each with knobbly brown arms and legs, two twiglike fingers at the end of each hand, and a funny, flat, barklike face in which a pair of beetle-brown eyes glittered.

"Oooooh!" said Parvati and Lavender.

"Kindly keep your voices down, girls!" said Professor Grubbly-Plank sharply, scattering a handful of what looked like brown rice among the stick-creatures, who immediately fell upon the food. "So — anyone know the names of these creatures? Miss Granger?"

"Bowtruckles," said Hermione. "They're tree-guardians, usually live in wand-trees."

"Five points for Gryffindor," said Professor Grubbly-Plank. "Yes, these are bowtruckles and, as Miss Granger rightly says, they generally live in trees whose wood is of wand quality. Anybody know what they eat?"

"Wood lice," said Hermione promptly, which explained why the, apparent, grains of brown rice were moving.

"But fairy eggs if they can get them." Alicia added

"Good girls, take another five points each. So whenever you need leaves or wood from a tree in which a bowtruckle lodges, it is wise to have a gift of wood lice ready to distract or placate it. They may not look dangerous, but if angered they will gouge out human eyes with their fingers, which, as you can see, are very sharp and not at all desirable near the eyeballs. So if you'd like to gather closer, take a few wood lice and a bowtruckle — I have enough here for one between four — you can study them more closely. I want a sketch from each of you with all body parts labeled by the end of the lesson."

Harry glanced at Alicia and nodded his head and she nodded back in agreement. The two of them turned and moved around the table to Professor Grubbly-Plank as everyone picked their bowtruckles.

"Where's Hagrid?" he asked her

"Never you mind," said Professor Grubbly-Plank repressively, which had been her attitude last time Hagrid had failed to turn up for a class too. Smirking all over his pointed face, Draco Malfoy leaned across Harry and seized the largest bowtruckle.

"Maybe," said Malfoy in an undertone, so that only Harry could hear him, "the stupid great oaf 's got himself badly injured."

"Maybe you will if you don't shut up," said Harry out of the side of his mouth.

"Maybe he's been messing with stuff that's too big for him, if you get my drift."

"You better watch it or it might become a big problem for you as well." Alicia returned, holding the same tone as Malfoy who looked at her with annoyance, clearly noticing that his thought of knowing more than her was incorrect.

Malfoy glared at her before he turned and walked away. Harry stared after the boy also before the two returned to Ron and Hermione, who were trying to persuade a bowtruckle to remain still long enough to draw it. The twins pulled out parchment and quills, crouched down beside the others, and related in a whisper what Malfoy had just said.

"Dumbledore would know if something had happened to Hagrid," said Hermione at once. "It's just playing into Malfoy's hands to look worried, it tells him we don't know exactly what's going on. We've got to ignore him, Harry. Here, hold the bowtruckle for a moment, just so I can draw its face…"

"You know what he meant." Harry said to Alicia

"I have a theory." Alicia said "What his mission is I mean."

"What is it?" Harry demanded. The girl glanced around them as Hermione and Ron looked at her also.

"Giants."

"Giants?" Ron demanded and Alicia nodded

"Yes," came Malfoy's clear drawl from the group nearest them, "Father was talking to the Minister just a couple of days ago, you know, and it sounds as though the Ministry's really determined to crack down on substandard teaching in this place. So even if that over-grown moron does show up again, he'll probably be sent packing straight away."

"OUCH!"

Harry had gripped the bowtruckle so hard that it had almost snapped; it had just taken a great retaliatory swipe at his hand with its sharp fingers, leaving two long deep cuts there. Harry dropped it; Crabbe and Goyle, who had already been guffawing at the idea of Hagrid being sacked, laughed still harder as the bowtruckle set off at full tilt toward the forest, a little, moving stickman soon swallowed up by the tree roots. Alicia sighed as she took her wand out and took Harry's hand in hers. She mended his scars before they marched up the slop to Herbology. "If he calls Hagrid a moron one more time…" snarled Harry.

"Harry, don't go picking a row with Malfoy, don't forget, he's a prefect now, he could make life difficult for you…"

"Wow, I wonder what it'd be like to have a difficult life?" said Harry sarcastically. Ron laughed, Alicia chuckled, but Hermione frowned. Together they traipsed across the vegetable patch. The sky still appeared unable to make up its mind whether it wanted to rain or not.

"I just wish Hagrid would hurry up and get back, that's all," said Harry in a low voice, as they reached the greenhouses. "And don't say that Grubbly-Plank woman's a better teacher!" he added threateningly to both girls.

Alicia shook her head and said nothing.

"I wasn't going to," said Hermione calmly.

"Because she'll never be as good as Hagrid," said Harry firmly, fully aware that he had just experienced an exemplary Care of Magical Creatures lesson and was thoroughly annoyed about it.

The door of the nearest greenhouse opened and some fourth years spilled out of it, including Ginny.

"Hi," she said brightly as she passed. A few seconds later, Luna Lovegood emerged, trailing behind the rest of the class, a smudge of earth on her nose and her hair tied in a knot on the top of her head. When she saw Harry, her prominent eyes seemed to bulge excitedly and she made a beeline straight for him, turning to Alicia who rose an eyebrow. Many of his classmates turned curiously to watch. Luna took a great breath and then said, without so much as a preliminary hello: "I believe He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is back, and I believe you fought him and escaped from him."

"Er — right," said Harry awkwardly. Luna was wearing what looked like a pair of orange radishes for earrings, a fact that Parvati and Lavender seemed to have noticed, as they were both giggling and pointing at her earlobes.

"Thanks Luna." Alicia smiled kindly.

"You can laugh!" Luna said, her voice rising, apparently under the impression that Parvati and Lavender were laughing at what she had said rather than what she was wearing. "But people used to believe there were no such things as the Blibbering Humdinger or the Crumple-Horned Snorkack!"

"Well, they were right, weren't they?" said Hermione impatiently. "There weren't any such things as the Blibbering Humdinger or the Crumple-Horned Snorkack."

Luna gave her a withering look and flounced away, radishes swinging madly. Parvati and Lavender were not the only ones hooting with laughter now.

"D'you mind not offending the only people who believe me?" Harry asked Hermione as they made their way into class.

"Oh, for heaven's sake, Harry, you can do better than her," said Hermione. "Ginny's told me all about her, apparently she'll only believe in things as long as there's no proof at all. Well, I wouldn't expect anything else from someone whose father runs The Quibbler."

"Well Hermione, I'm glad to see you judge people by what they choose to believe in and not by if they're nice or not." Alicia snapped, Hermione look a little taken aback. "'We can do better then her'?" Alicia asked quoting Hermione. "When have we fallen so low to say such things?" Ron and Harry looked surprised as Alicia pushed through into the greenhouse.

Harry followed her with a slight frown, surprised Alicia had snapped at Hermione like that, but the two stopped as Ernie Macmillan stopped before Alicia and caused the two to halt.

"I want you to know, Potter," he said in a loud, carrying voice, "that it's not only weirdos who support you. I personally believe you one hundred percent. My family have always stood firm behind Dumbledore, and so do I." Alicia smiled

"Thanks Ernie." she said as Harry looked taken aback but pleased.

"Er — thanks very much, Ernie," said Harry.

To nobody's surprise, Professor Sprout started their lesson by lecturing them about the importance of O.W.L.s. She finished the lesson by giving them yet another essay at the end of class. Tired and smelling strongly of dragon dung, Professor Sprout's preferred brand of fertiliser, the Gryffindors trooped back up to the castle an hour and a half later, none of them talking very much; it had been another long day.

Alicia couldn't wait to get some dinner into her, her stomach churning and making noises, the fact that she and Harry had their fist detention with Umbridge at five prompted them both to go straight to the Great Hall, without stopping by the Gryffindor Tower.

The two stopped however when a loud angry voice sounded before they reached the Great Hall's entrance.

"Oy, Potter!"

"What now?" Harry muttered wearily as Alicia looked worried, both turning to face Angelina Johnson, who looked as though she was in a towering temper.

"Oh no…" Alicia mumbled

"I'll tell you what now," she said, marching straight up to the twins and poking Harry hard in the chest with her finger. "How come you've both landed yourselves in detention for five o'clock on Friday?" She rounded on Alicia and the girl just huffed annoyed.

"What?" said Harry. "Why…" Alicia nudged him and Harry remembered "Oh yeah, Keeper tryouts!"

"Now he remembers!" snarled Angelina. "Didn't I tell you both I wanted to do a tryout with the whole team, and find someone who fitted in with everyone? Didn't I tell you I'd booked the Quidditch pitch specially? And now you've decided you're not going to be there!"

"We didn't decide this Angelina." Alicia replied

"I didn't decide not to be there!" said Harry, stung by the injustice of these words. "I got detention from that Umbridge woman, just because I told her the truth about You-Know-Who —"

"Well, you can just go straight to her and ask her to let you off on Friday," said Angelina fiercely, "and I don't care how you do it, tell her You-Know-Who's a figment of your imagination if you like, just make sure you're there!"

"She gave me detention for being Harry's brother." Alicia said "Can't really lie about that." but Angelina was already storming away as Alicia called after her, earning a few glances.

Alicia huffed. "Great." she complained turning to Harry.

"You know what?" Harry said to Ron and Hermione as they entered the Great Hall. "I think we'd better check with Puddlemere United whether Oliver Wood's been killed during a training session, because she seems to be channeling his spirit."

"What d'you reckon are the odds of Umbridge letting you off on Friday?" said Ron skeptically, as they sat down at the Gryffindor table.

"None." Alicia decided as Harry said "Less than zero,"

"Better try, though, hadn't I? I'll offer to do two more detentions or something, I dunno…" Alicia nodded

"I think Quidditch is worth that." she mumbled and then remembered her anger in Umbridge's class "Maybe…" Harry nodded as he swallowed a mouthful of potato.

"I hope she doesn't keep me too long this evening. You realise we've got to write three essays, practice Vanishing Spells for McGonagall, work out a countercharm for Flitwick, finish the bowtruckle drawing, and start that stupid dream diary for Trelawney?"

Ron moaned and for some reason glanced up at the ceiling.

"And it looks like it's going to rain."

"What's that got to do with our homework?" said Hermione, her eyebrows raised.

"Nothing," said Ron at once, his ears reddening.

"Rains depressing." Alicia said "Doesn't put a person in a good mood, does it?" Ron pointed at her nodding as though trying to use that as his reason. Alicia didn't say any more but she eyed the boy for a minute regardless.

At five to five Harry and Alicia both bade the other two good-bye and set off for Umbridge's office on the third floor. Before Harry knocked Alicia took a deep breath, making sure to calm herself and see if she could keep her mouth shut during the next god knows how long. When Harry gave her a look she nodded and he knocked, receiving a "Come in," from Umbridge's sugary voice. They entered cautiously, looking around.

The twins had known this office under three of its previous occupants. In the days when Gilderoy Lockhart had lived here it had been plastered in beaming portraits of its owner. When Lupin had occupied it, it was likely you would meet some fascinating Dark creature in a cage or tank if you came to call. In the impostor Moody's days it had been packed with various instruments and artifacts for the detection of wrongdoing and concealment.

Now, however, it looked totally unrecognisable. The surfaces had all been draped in lacy covers and cloths. There were several vases full of dried flowers, each residing on its own doily, and on one of the walls was a collection of ornamental plates, each decorated with a large technicolor kitten wearing a different bow around its neck. Alicia stared around the office with her mouth open appalled until Professor Umbridge spoke again.

"Good evening, Mr. Potter, Miss Evans." Alicia turned to her, seeing her wearing a luridly flowered set of robes that blinded in much too well with the tablecloth on the desk behind her. Alicia looked ready to snap at the women again.

"Evening," Harry said stiffly. He nudged Alicia and she glanced at him.

"Good evening." she said, trying to keep her voice light.

"Well, sit down," she said, pointing toward two small tables draped in lace beside which she had drawn up straight-backed chairs. A piece of blank parchment lay on each table, apparently waiting for them.

"Er," said Harry, without moving. "Professor Umbridge? Er — before we start, I-I wanted to ask you a… a favour." Alicia glanced at him.

Her bulging eyes narrowed.

"Oh yes?"

"Well I'm… Alicia and I are on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. And we were supposed to be at the tryouts for the new Keeper at five o'clock on Friday and I was — was wondering whether we could skip detention that night and do it — do it another night… instead…"

"Our captain insisted we at least ask you, though it's very unlikely we'd be let out to do something we enjoy." Alicia added lightly

Both knew before Harry had even finished that their request was denied.

"Oh no," said Umbridge, smiling so widely that she looked as though she had just swallowed a particularly juicy fly. "Oh no, no, no. This is your punishment for spreading evil, nasty, attention-seeking stories, Mr. Potter, Miss Evans, and punishments certainly cannot be adjusted to suit the guilty one's convenience. No, you will come here at five o'clock tomorrow, and the next day, and on Friday too, and you will do your detentions as planned. I think it rather a good thing that you are missing something you really want to do. It ought to reinforce the lesson I am trying to teach you."

Alicia felt her face grow slightly hotter from her anger and she clenched her teeth together. Apparently they told attention seeking stories? Because they wanted to have all these people whispering at them and pointing and calling them liars.

Alicia grabbed Harry's hand, not just to comfort herself but Harry as well, she could tell he was just as angry at the words as she was.

She was watching them with her head slightly to one side, still smiling widely, as though she knew exactly what Alicia was thinking. Alicia had insult upon insult running through her brain and she pictured a rather few nasty events occurring to the women to try and make herself feel better. Her expression seemed to be testing them, to see if either Alicia or Harry would start shouting again. Alicia squeezed Harry's hand as she nodded to Umbridge and moved to sit at one of the tables quietly. With a massive effort Harry looked away from her and copied suit, dropping his schoolbag beside the straight-backed chair, and sitting down.

"There," said Umbridge sweetly, "we're getting better at controlling our temper already, aren't we? Now, you are going to be doing some lines for me. No, not with your quill," she added, as both Alicia and Harry bent down to open their bags. "You're going to be using some rather special ones of mine. Here you are."

She handed them both, one after the other, long, thin black quills with an unusually sharp point. Alicia looked at the pen with scrutiny.

"I want you to write 'I must not tell lies,' " she told him softly. Alicia took a deep breath and closed her eyes as she tried to calm down while Harry replied to the women.

"How many times?" Harry asked, with a creditable imitation of politeness.

"Oh, as long as it takes for the message to sink in," said Umbridge sweetly. "Off you go." Alicia's eyebrows furrowed in confusion as the women moved over to her desk and sat down, bending over a stack of parchment that looked like essays for marking.

Alicia looked back at the quill with dislike, something about it was just… eery.

"You haven't given me any ink," Harry said. And Alicia looked up when realising she was missing some too.

"Oh, you won't need ink," said Professor Umbridge with the merest suggestion of a laugh in her voice.

The twins shared a look and Alicia turned to the top of her page. She placed the quil to the paper and wrote I must not tell lies. Harry did the same, Alicia hearing the scratch of the quill.

Alicia winced suddenly, the words had appeared on the parchment in a shiny red ink but at the same time a pain had shot through Alicia's hand, the one she was writing with. She looked at the back of her hand as, at the same time she wrote, the words were carved into her skin as though with a knife or scalpel.

Alicia watched as the skin healed over almost instantly, but was now slightly redder than it had been before. Alicia glanced at Harry who was looking at Umbridge. Alicia looked from the red words to her hand and her left hand clenched into a fist.

That evil toad!

"Yes?" Umbrage asked Harry as he looked at her.

"Nothing," said Harry quietly.

Alicia wrote the words again beneath the first and the pain went through the back of her hand again, cutting into her skin and causing her to pause at the end of the sentence.

The shining red ink Alicia guessed was not ink, but her own blood, and the message was, according to Umbridge, going to sink in to the back of her hand. She and Harry were to write these words until they were permanently scarred into their skin.

Alicia took a deep breath and she wrote, line after line, biting her lip to keep her from making a noise and wincing at the searing pain. She reminded herself that this was nothing compared to the Cruciatus Curse she'd felt last year, when Voldemort had used the curse on Harry. Compared to that pain, this was nothing and so, she wrote and wrote, ignoring Harry's glances at her to see if she was feeling what he was.

Darkness fell outside Umbridge's window as Alicia felt the women staring at her and Harry, looking for a sign of weakness, tears, pain, agony or any of the above. Alicia was too proud to do so and she assumed, as he continued to write, that Harry was as well. They'd write and write until Umbridge told them to stop, they would not complain.

"Come here," Umbridge said, after what seemed hours. Alicia looked up as Harry stood to his feet. She followed him, her hand stinging painfully.

"Hand," she said.

He extended it. She took it in her own, her thick, stubby fingers covered in a number of ugly old rings. Alicia noticed Harry's hand was red and raw, the skin however healed from the scars. Alicia didn't bother look at her own and handed her hand over when Umbridge asked for it.

"Tut, tut, I don't seem to have made much of an impression yet," she said, smiling. "Well, we'll just have to try again tomorrow evening, won't we? You may go."

Alicia and Harry left her office without a word. The school was quite deserted; it was surely past midnight. They walked slowly up the corridor before Alicia stopped and looked at her hand.

"This is fricken torture and I'm pretty sure she can't do it!" she hissed to Harry as she ran her finger over the sensitive skin. Harry nodded mutely as Alicia pulled her wand out of her pocket and tapped her skin. Alicia looked more angry and frustrated than before as nothing happened.

"Enchanted quill." she grumbled before continuing to walk. "I hate that women."