Chapter 23:
Alicia walked into the common room with a plate of sandwiches in her hands. She cleared an area on the table the two boys were working at and put the plate down much to their surprise.
"Can't work on empty stomachs so I brought sustenance." she smiled
"Oh Alicia you're a lifesaver!" Ron gasped as he took three sandwiches and bit into them all at once.
"Well if you shovel them down your throat I wont be doing it again." she warned giving him a disapproving look and Ron paused before swallowing and taking a step back, eating them with more dignity.
"How are we doing?" she asked
"Terrible. We'll be here all night." Ron grumbled
"Well what have you finished, I'll read them for you." Alicia allowed and Ron brightened again.
"You really are a lifesaver."
"Well as you put the effort into them someone should probably give you a gold star." Alicia said glancing at Hermione who was with Ginny, Crookshanks in her lap as usual.
"We finished McGonagall's essays." Harry said pointing to them.
"Cool." Alicia said picking up Ron's first. She sat back with her wand in her hand and began to read through it. The two watched her for a minute as she tapped the paper and the words in ink changed for the correct information. She paused when she noticed their eyes on her.
"Well keep going. I wont read them for you until you've completely finished them too. And I still have a thing or two to finish myself so…" the boys turned to the table and continued with their essays. Alicia smiled proudly and continued to read.
Alicia rolled up the two essays and gave them back to the boys when she'd finished reading them. After that she sat down to write her Astronomy essay with the two boys, catching up to their word length rather quickly as she shuffled through books and wrote down her facts, rereading to make sure the information flowed.
The sky outside turned from what might be the last day of blazing sunshine for the year, to the dark clear night. Alicia conjured up some nibbles for them at the dinner time mark, summoning them from the kitchens downstairs, to keep their energies up as none of them were willing to risk going down to the Great Hall for dinner.
Alicia finished her essay not long after with a grin and read through it all, changing and fixing her mistakes before she set her last piece down with a happy sigh.
"How can you be finished? We started before you did and I'm not even close to finished." Ron complained
"Well it might be that I hold information better than you do." Alicia shrugged "I retain majority of what I hear." she smiled "Plus I read so I have extra info to add. Keep going and I'll read them."
"Can't you read it now?"
"Nope, you need to learn you can't leave so much to the last minute, not cut corners." Alicia said stubbornly and the boys looked at her disappointed.
"You're sounding like Hermione." Ron grumbled
"Well in our fifth year, with our O. and all it's probably about time. I mean if this is the work load after the first week imagine what'll it'll be like closer to the exams?" Alicia asked "We need to get you two cracking now before you die under all the pressure."
"I think that's a little extreme, Alicia." Harry said
"We need to be extreme by the sounds of it." Alicia muttered.
The girl sat with them as the sky grew ever darker and at half past eleven, Hermione wandered over to them, yawning.
"Nearly done?"
"No," said Ron shortly.
"Jupiter's biggest moon is Ganymede, not Callisto," she said, pointing over Ron's shoulder at a line in his Astronomy essay, "and it's Io that's got the volcanos."
"Thanks," snarled Ron, scratching out the offending sentences.
"Sorry, I only —"
"Yeah, well, if you've just come over here to criticise —"
"Ron —"
"I haven't got time to listen to a sermon, all right, Hermione, I'm up to my neck in it here —"
"No — look!"
Hermione was pointing to the nearest window. Alicia, Harry and Ron both looked over. A handsome screech owl was standing on the windowsill, gazing into the room at Ron.
"Isn't that Hermes?" said Hermione, sounding amazed.
"It can't be." Alicia thought confused but even she could tell it was the fifth Weasley brother's owl.
"Blimey, it is!" said Ron quietly, throwing down his quill and getting to his feet. "What's Percy writing to me for?"
He crossed to the window and opened it; Hermes flew inside, landed upon Ron's essay, and held out a leg to which a letter was attached. Ron took it off and the owl departed at once, leaving inky footprints across Ron's drawing of the moon Io.
"That's definitely Percy's handwriting," said Ron, sinking back into his chair and staring at the words on the outside of the scroll: To Ronald Weasley, Gryffindor House, Hogwarts. He looked up at the other two. "What d'you reckon?"
"Open it!" said Hermione eagerly. Harry nodded. Alicia looked hesitant. She didn't believe this'd be anything good unless Percy had realised the error of his ways… which she didn't think likely.
Ron unrolled the scroll and began to read. The farther down the parchment his eyes traveled, the more pronounced his scowl became. When he had finished reading, he looked disgusted. He thrust the letter at Harry, Alicia and Hermione, who leaned toward one another to read it together:
Dear Ron,
I have only just heard (from no less a person than the Minister of Magic himself, who has it from your new teacher, Professor Umbridge) that you have become a Hogwarts prefect.
I was most pleasantly surprised when I heard this news and must firstly offer my congratulations. I must admit that I have always been afraid that you would take what we might call the "Fred and George" route, rather than following in my footsteps, so you can imagine my feelings on hearing you have stopped flouting authority and have decided to shoulder some real responsibility.
But I want to give you more than congratulations, Ron, I want to give you some advice, which is why I am sending this at night rather than by the usual morning post. Hopefully you will be able to read this away from prying eyes and avoid awkward questions.
From something the Minister let slip when telling me you are now a prefect, I gather that you are still seeing a lot of Harry Potter. I must tell you, Ron, that nothing could put you in danger of losing your badge more than continued fraternisation with that boy. Yes, I am sure you are surprised to hear this — no doubt you will say that Potter has always been Dumbledore's favourite — but I feel bound to tell you that Dumbledore may not be in charge at Hogwarts much longer and the people who count have a very different — and probably more accurate — view of Potter's behaviour. I shall say no more here, but if you look at the Daily Prophet tomorrow you will get a good idea of the way the wind is blowing — and see if you can spot yours truly!
Seriously, Ron, you do not want to be tarred with the same brush as Potter, it could be very damaging to your future prospects, and I am talking here about life after school too. As you must be aware, given that our father escorted him to court, Potter had a disciplinary hearing this summer in front of the whole Wizengamot and he did not come out of it looking too good. He got off on a mere technicality if you ask me and many of the people I've spoken to remain convinced of his guilt.
It may be that you are afraid to sever ties with Potter — I know that he can be unbalanced and, for all I know, violent — but if you have any worries about this, or have spotted anything else in Potter's behaviour that is troubling you, I urge you to speak to Dolores Umbridge, a really delightful woman, who I know will be only too happy to advise you.
This leads me to my other bit of advice. As I have hinted above, Dumbledore's regime at Hogwarts may soon be over. Your loyalty, Ron, should be not to him, but to the school and the Ministry. I am very sorry to hear that so far Professor Umbridge is encountering very little cooperation from staff as she strives to make those necessary changes within Hogwarts that the Ministry so ardently desires (although she should find this easier from next week — again, see the Prophet tomorrow!). I shall say only this — a student who shows himself willing to help Professor Umbridge now may be very well placed for Head Boyship in a couple of years!
I am sorry that I was unable to see more of you over the summer. It pains me to criticise our parents, but I am afraid I can no longer live under their roof while they remain mixed up with the dangerous crowd around Dumbledore (if you are writing to Mother at any point, you might tell her that a certain Sturgis Podmore, who is a great friend of Dumbledore's, has recently been sent to Azkaban for trespass at the Ministry. Perhaps that will open their eyes to the kind of petty criminals with whom they are currently rubbing shoulders). I count myself very lucky to have escaped the stigma of association with such people — the Minister really could not be more gracious to me — and I do hope, Ron, that you will not allow family ties to blind you to the misguided nature of our parents' beliefs and actions either. I sincerely hope that, in time, they will realise how mistaken they were and I shall, of course, be ready to accept a full apology when that day comes.
Please think over what I have said most carefully, particularly the bit about Harry Potter, and congratulations again on becoming prefect.
Your brother,
Percy.
Harry looked up at Ron.
"Well," he said, trying to sound as though he found the whole thing a joke, "if you want to — er — what is it?" (He checked Percy's letter.) "Oh yeah — 'sever ties' with me, I swear I won't get violent."
"He didn't even mention me." Alicia said "You know what, I'm actually offended by that." she decided annoyed.
"Give it back," said Ron, holding out his hand. "He is —" Ron said jerkily, tearing Percy's letter in half, "the world's" — he tore it into quarters — "biggest" — he tore it into eighths — "git." He threw the pieces into the fire. "Come on, we've got to get this finished some time before dawn," he said briskly to Harry, pulling Professor Sinistra's essay back toward him.
"Hopefully before even then, you can't function on no sleep." Alicia believed.
Hermione was looking at Ron with an odd expression on her face. She looked at Alicia who looked worried, shrugging.
"Oh, give them here," she said abruptly.
"What?" said Ron.
"Give them to me, I'll look through them and correct them," she said.
"Are you serious? Ah, Hermione, you're a lifesaver," said Ron, "what can I — ?"
"What you can say is, 'We promise we'll never leave our homework this late again,' " she said, holding out both hands for their essays, but she looked slightly amused all the same.
"Thanks a million, Hermione," said Harry weakly, passing over his essay and sinking back into his armchair, rubbing his eyes.
"Want me to read one to get it done quicker?" Alicia asked as she yawned. Hermione quickly gave her Harry's essay and Alicia rolled her eyes, clearly the bushy haired girl wanted it done as well.
It was now past midnight and the common room was deserted but for the four of them and Crookshanks. The only sound was that of Hermione's quill scratching out sentences here and there on their essays and the ruffle of pages as she checked various facts in the reference books strewn across the table. Alicia was sitting twirling her wand between her fingers occasionally tapping it to remove a word and replace it with another, glancing through the books with Hermione and occasionally the two asking one another about something.
"Okay, write that down," Hermione said to Ron, pushing his essay and a sheet covered in her own writing back to Ron, "and then copy out this conclusion that I've written for you."
"Hermione, you are honestly the most wonderful person I've ever met," said Ron weakly, "and if I'm ever rude to you again —"
"— I'll know you're back to normal," said Hermione.
"Harry, yours is okay except for this bit at the end, I think you must have misheard Professor Sinistra, Europa's covered in ice, not mice — Harry?" Alicia said to the boy but paused in confusion as Harry had slid off his chair onto his knees and was now crouching on the singed and threadbare hearthrug, gazing into the flames.
"Er — Harry?" said Ron uncertainly. "Why are you down there?"
"Because I've just seen Sirius's head in the fire," said Harry.
"You what?" Alicia asked confused looking up from Harry's essay "I don't remember him telling us he was going to contact us?" she thought.
"Sirius's head?" Hermione repeated. "You mean like when he wanted to talk to you during the Triwizard Tournament? But he wouldn't do that now, it would be too — Sirius!" She gasped, gazing at the fire; Ron dropped his quill and Alicia stared at the man before crawling over to the fire, her mouth open. There in the middle of the dancing flames sat Sirius's head, long dark hair falling around his grinning face.
"I was starting to think you'd go to bed before everyone else had disappeared," he said. "I've been checking every hour."
"You what?" Alicia said again "What is wrong with you?" she demanded of him angrily
"You've been popping into the fire every hour?" Harry said, half laughing. Alicia hit his shoulder.
"Just for a few seconds to check if the coast was clear yet."
"But what if you'd been seen?" said Hermione anxiously.
"Well, I think a girl — first year by the look of her — might've got a glimpse of me earlier, but don't worry," Sirius said hastily, as Hermione clapped a hand to her mouth. "I was gone the moment she looked back at me and I'll bet she just thought I was an oddly shaped log or something."
"But Sirius, this is taking an awful risk —" Hermione began.
"You sound like Molly," said Sirius. "This was the only way I could come up with of answering Harry's letter without resorting to a code — and codes are breakable."
"So you did put important information in there." Alicia snapped at him "Harry—"
"It was rather well written actually." Sirius believed "Good job on that by the way." he said to Harry and he smiled as Alicia rolled her eyes
"And after the Ministry knows your back as well!" she hissed
"You didn't say you'd written to Sirius!" said Hermione accusingly, stopping Alicia's scolds.
"I forgot," said Harry
"Alicia knew?" Hermione pointed to her. Alicia looked at the girl
"Yeah…" Alicia said "But that's cause I…" she looked at Harry who was giving her a hard yet pleading look. Clearly he didn't want her to tell the real reason "Saw him coming down from the Owlery." she decided and Harry nodded "And then we saw Sirius' name in the Prophet." she said giving Sirius a glare.
"Don't look at me like that, Hermione, there was no way anyone would have got secret information out of it, was there, Sirius?" Harry said, looking at the girl to catch her expression.
"No, it was very good," said Sirius, smiling. "Anyway, we'd better be quick, just in case we're disturbed — your scar."
"What about — ?" Ron began, but Hermione said quickly, "We'll tell you afterward, go on, Sirius."
"Alicia, did you feel it too?" he asked her and she nodded
"But I don't think it was as bad…" she looked at Harry but he did nothing to answer the query.
"Well, I know it can't be fun when it hurts, but we don't think it's anything to really worry about. It kept aching all last year, didn't it?"
"Yeah, and Dumbledore said it happened whenever Voldemort was feeling a powerful emotion," said Harry, ignoring, as usual, Ron and Hermione's winces. "So maybe he was just, I dunno, really angry or something the night I had that detention."
"Well, now he's back it's bound to hurt more often," said Sirius.
"So you don't think it had anything to do with Umbridge touching me when I was in detention with her?" Harry asked.
"I doubt it," said Sirius. "I know her by reputation and I'm sure she's no Death Eater —"
"She's foul enough to be one," said Harry darkly and Ron and Hermione nodded vigorously in agreement as Alicia looked at her bandaged hand for a second.
"Yes, but the world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters," said Sirius with a wry smile. "I know she's a nasty piece of work, though — you should hear Remus talk about her."
"Does Lupin know her?" asked Harry quickly, remembering Umbridge's comments about dangerous half-breeds during her first lesson.
"No," said Sirius, "but she drafted a bit of anti-werewolf legislation two years ago that makes it almost impossible for him to get a job."
Harry remembered how much shabbier Lupin looked these days and his dislike of Umbridge deepened even further.
"What's she got against werewolves?" said Hermione angrily.
"I don't think it's werewolves. Remember what she said; 'extremely dangerous half-breeds'." Alicia quoted and she looked at Sirius who nodded.
"Scared of them, I expect," said Sirius, smiling at her indignation. "Apparently she loathes part-humans; she campaigned to have mer-people rounded up and tagged last year too. Imagine wasting your time and energy persecuting merpeople when there are little toerags like Kreacher on the loose —"
Ron laughed but Hermione looked upset.
"Sirius!" she said reproachfully. "Honestly, if you made a bit of an effort with Kreacher I'm sure he'd respond, after all, you are the only member of his family he's got left, and Professor Dumbledore said —"
"So what are Umbridge's lessons like?" Sirius interrupted. "Is she training you all to kill half-breeds?"
"Ha. That would mean she'd have to actually teach us something." Alicia said scoffing
"No," said Harry, ignoring Hermione's affronted look at being cut off in her defence of Kreacher. "She's not letting us use magic at all!"
"All we do is read the stupid textbook," said Ron.
"Ah, well, that figures," said Sirius. "Our information from inside the Ministry is that Fudge doesn't want you trained in combat."
"Trained in combat?" repeated both Alicia and Harry incredulously. "What does he think we're doing here, forming some sort of wizard army?" Harry asked
"That's exactly what he thinks you're doing," said Sirius, "or rather, that's exactly what he's afraid Dumbledore's doing — forming his own private army, with which he will be able to take on the Ministry of Magic."
There was a pause at this, then Ron said, "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard, including all the stuff that Luna Lovegood comes out with."
"He just keeps getting stupider. You'd think it'd be easier to just believe us." Alicia thought
"So we're being prevented from learning Defence Against the Dark Arts because Fudge is scared we'll use spells against the Ministry?" said Hermione, looking furious.
"Yep," said Sirius. "Fudge thinks Dumbledore will stop at nothing to seize power. He's getting more paranoid about Dumbledore by the day. It's a matter of time before he has Dumbledore arrested on some trumped-up charge."
"D'you know if there's going to be anything about Dumbledore in the Daily Prophet tomorrow? Only Ron's brother Percy reckons there will be —"
"I don't know," said Sirius, "I haven't seen anyone from the Order all weekend, they're all busy. It's just been Kreacher and me here…" There was a definite note of bitterness in Sirius's voice.
"So you haven't had any news about Hagrid, either?"
"Ah…" said Sirius, "well, he was supposed to be back by now, no one's sure what's happened to him."
"What?" Alicia asked shocked as the four's expressions turned stricken. Sirius quickly continued.
"But Dumbledore's not worried, so don't you three get yourselves in a state; I'm sure Hagrid's fine."
"But if he was supposed to be back by now…" said Hermione in a small, worried voice.
"Madame Maxime was with him, we've been in touch with her and she says they got separated on the journey home — but there's nothing to suggest he's hurt or — well, nothing to suggest he's not perfectly okay."
Unconvinced, Alicia, Harry, Ron, and Hermione exchanged worried looks.
"Listen, don't go asking too many questions about Hagrid," said Sirius hastily, "it'll just draw even more attention to the fact that he's not back, and I know Dumbledore doesn't want that. Hagrid's tough, he'll be okay." And when they did not appear cheered by this, Sirius added, "When's your next Hogsmeade weekend anyway? I was thinking, we got away with the dog disguise at the station, didn't we? I thought I could —"
"NO!" said Alicia, Harry and Hermione together, very loudly. Ron glanced behind them at their loud voices.
"Sirius, didn't you see the Daily Prophet?" said Hermione anxiously.
"Oh that," said Sirius, grinning, "they're always guessing where I am, they haven't really got a clue —"
"This time is different Sirius." Alicia said worried
"Yeah, we think this time they have," said Harry. "Something Malfoy said on the train made us think he knew it was you,"
"And with Wormtail there's no way they couldn't know." Alicia added
"And his father was on the platform, Sirius — you know, Lucius Malfoy — so don't come up here, whatever you do, if Malfoy recognises you again —"
"All right, all right, I've got the point," said Sirius. He looked most displeased. "Just an idea, thought you might like to get together —"
"We would Sirius, more than anything." Alicia assured
"I would, I just don't want you chucked back in Azkaban!" said Harry.
"And if that means not seeing you then we'll take that instead." Alicia nodded.
There was a pause in which Sirius looked out of the fire at Harry and Alicia before his eyes set on the boy, a crease between his sunken eyes.
"You're less like your father than I thought," he said finally, a definite coolness in his voice. "The risk would've been what made it fun for James."
"Look —"
"Well, I'd better get going, I can hear Kreacher coming down the stairs," said Sirius, Alicia looked offended as she was sure he was lying. "I'll write to tell you a time I can make it back into the fire, then, shall I? If you can stand to risk it?"
"It's for your own good!" Alicia called as there was a tiny pop, and the place where Sirius's head had been was flickering flame once more.
Alicia ground her teeth angrily and got to her feet.
"Seriously! I would absolutely die to see him and give him the chance to get out of that crap house and he thinks we wouldn't! He spent twelve yeas in Azkaban and now he wants to risk getting the kiss and going back!?" she snapped angrily. Hermione looked disapproving as Harry stared at the fire with a frown.
"If he can't see how much we care about him by not risking losing him then to hell with him!" Alicia fumed before she turned, grabbed her homework and stormed up to the girl's dormitory.