Disclaimer: I don't own HP, I only own Evan and Iris Potter.

Posted 11-6-2023

Chapter Eight

Going Home

"Aludra? Aludra, sweetheart, can you hear me?" A familiar voice, full of concerned affection, cut through the void of quiet blackness the young witch was floating in.

Aludra sighed and reluctantly forced her eyes open, feeling as if they were held down by muggle ship anchors. The bright white told her where she was even before she made out the beds in neat rows going the length of the room. She was in the hospital wing. Again. Daddy would not be happy.

Her Aunt Meda, perfectly put together as always, sat next to her, one hand holding hers while the other rested on Aludra's cheek, turning her face towards her. "There's my beautiful girl," Aunt Meda smiled gently. "How are you feeling, darling?"

"Thirs-thirsty," Aludra croaked out.

Aunt Meda nodded briskly, conjuring up a glass and some water, before helping Aludra to sit up and drink. She gulped the liquid down rapidly, sighing in relief at the refreshed feeling it gave her.

"Better?" Aunt Meda asked after waiting patiently for Aludra to finish drinking.

"Yes," Aludra confirmed as she laid back against the pillows on the bed. "What happened? The last thing I remember is going to the duelling club."

Aunt Meda's lips pursed together the way they did when she was annoyed. "Severus Snape, Draco Malfoy and Gilderoy Lockhart happened, in that order," she said in an irritated tone. "Snape had Malfoy summon a black mamba of all things during his duel with Evan Potter. Lockhart tried to banish it and just annoyed the blasted thing. You jumped in front of a classmate, Justin I believe his name is? When the mamba was about to bite him. You've been unconscious for three days, recovering from the poison. Your father is furious."

Aludra winced, not envying the targets of her father's rage.

"Your father has spoken to the Board. They agreed that this was a breach of Snape's probation," Aunt Meda went on.

Aludra's eyes went wide. "You mean he's been fired?" She gasped in shock. Her aunt gave her a stern look and Aludra flushed. "Apologies for interrupting you, Aunt Meda," she said quickly and sheepishly.

Aunt Meda softened. "I suppose it's been a long few days for you," she acknowledged. "At any rate, yes. Snape has been fired, though I'm given to understand your grandfather has set him up as the potion maker for a new potions shop in Hogsmeade. The funds will be split 40-60 towards Hogwarts, and the hospital wing will receive its potions for free. Snape's ingredients for the potions will be sourced from the Forbidden Forest and Professor Sprout, same as before. Professor Horace Slughorn, who taught us when we attended Hogwarts, has agreed to take over, at least until the end of the year."

Aludra nodded thoughtfully. She assumed that Granddad had come up with the idea to keep his spy close, whilst protecting his students at the same time.

"As for Malfoy and Lockhart," Aunt Meda went on, a strange look flashing through her eyes when she mentioned her estranged nephew. Aludra knew better than to mention it. Her sisters and nephew were a sensitive topic for Aunt Meda. "Malfoy will have detention with Filch for the rest of the term, given he went against instructions and used a spell other than the Disarming Charm or Shield Charm, not to mention conjuring a highly venomous serpent. Your father complained that it was too light a punishment, but Lucius Malfoy called in some favours at the Ministry."

"Of course he did," Aludra huffed in annoyance. Malfoy had nearly killed her and Justin, had aimed to seriously wound if not kill Evan, yet he was getting a shorter punishment than Evan and Ron for the car incident, just because his father was willing to bribe people and her's was too noble for such underhanded, illegal dealings.

"As for Lockhart, this is his second strike, the first being the incident with Evan Potter's arm bones being banished," Aunt Meda continued briskly, after shooting Aludra a warning look. "One more foolish stunt and he's fired, which won't look good for him publicly, especially if he is fired for child endangerment. It's just harder with him, due to the headmaster's difficulties with finding a suitable Defence professor."

"Because the man who can't even immobilize a bunch of Cornish Pixies is so suitable for such an important subject," Aludra grumbled, earning herself another warning look from her loving but stern aunt. "Sorry," Aludra sighed to the older witch. "But it's true."

Aunt Meda's lips twitched and she inclined her head. "Regardless, he is still your professor, and you will treat him with the respect due to that position. Do you understand me?"

"So, I'm not being removed from school?" Aludra caught onto what her aunt wasn't saying. "Daddy's letting me stay?"

"For now," Aunt Meda confirmed. "But if there's another attack..."

Aludra nodded. She lay back against the pillows, closing her eyes for a second. Merlin's beard, recovery was exhausting.

She looked up, hearing her aunt rise to her feet. Aunt Meda gently brushed a hand over her hair before dropping a kiss on her forehead. "I'll leave you to get some rest," she murmured softly. "I love you, my darling."

"Love you too, Aunt Meda," Aludra replied tiredly, her eyes already drifting closed as her aunt walked away, her heels clicking against the stone floor.

The next time she woke up, it was to the sound of a loud commotion going on. She blinked herself awake, shoving herself into a seated position. To her relief, she noticed that the pain in her left arm was gone completely and her energy had returned.

A group of Aurors and professors were carrying in a stiff body, while another professor used a fan to move Sir Nicholas, who was also frozen (and how in the name of Mother Magic was it possible to petrify a ghost of all things?), forward.

Aludra craned her neck and gasped in horror when she recognized Justin Finch-Fletchley, his eyes wide with fear.

She knew he was just Petrified, but still, she couldn't help but think that he looked dead. It was so much worse than Mrs. Norris or even Colin, horrible as that was, because Justin was her friend. Not as close as Susan or Neville or even Evan, but closer than Ron.

Then her father came storming in with a scowl, heading not for Justin but for Aludra, and her heart sank in dismay. "Daddy, please-" she began to beg, but he cut her off with a firm shake of the head.

"Don't even start, Aludra Scarlet. You're going home, right now!"

"But I'm not a muggleborn," Aludra begged.

"You're the daughter of a blood traitor, which is almost as bad in these people's eyes! Now, get dressed and go and pack. This is not a discussion."

Aludra scowled, but she knew when her father wouldn't listen, and this was one of those times. She'd just have to give in and then get the other adults in her family, especially Uncle Remus, on her side. Her father would change his mind if they talked him into it.

She pulled the curtain around her bed and changed into her uniform, before her father ushered her towards the Gryffindor Tower. He paused outside the portrait of the Fat Lady, looking at Aludra sternly. "You have ten minutes to pack your things and say goodbye, otherwise I'm coming in to get you. Understood?"

"Yes sir," she bit out with uncharacteristic sarcasm that caused him to clench his jaw, though he said nothing, simply gesturing at the portrait pointedly.

Aludra hurried into the Tower and rushed upstairs where she used the packing spell, one of the first spells she'd ever learned, watching as her things tucked themselves away neatly. Then she levitated it downstairs, where she found her friends gathered around the end of the stairs, waiting for her impatiently.

"Ally!" Evan burst out. "Is it true? Your dad's really taking you home?"

"Yes," Aludra replied bitterly. "He thinks I'll be safer there."

"Are you coming back?" Neville asked anxiously.

"I don't know," Aludra admitted. "First Quirrel last year, now the Chamber this year... I certainly won't be back before the creature is found, if Dad has his way." She was too mad to call him by his usual moniker of 'Daddy' right then. She sighed, lowering her things, and reached out to hug her friends. "I'll write," she promised them. "And I'll try and see if I can figure out who the Heir is. The Blacks have the most detailed, self-updated genealogy in Wixen Britain. If there's any clue as to who it is, it'll be there."

They nodded solemnly. Susan's eyes were glossy when they hugged, and Neville gripped her so tightly that Aludra couldn't breathe. Even Ron hugged her and said he hoped she came back soon. Then the portrait swung open and her father called out to her impatiently, so she reluctantly levitated her trunk again and walked away.

They took her grandmother's Floo back to Black Manor. Aludra pointedly ignored her father as she hugged her grandmother goodbye before Flooing home. The minute she arrived, she hurried to the family library, and began searching for the enchanted and self-updating genealogy book created by Castor Black II, back in the thirteen hundreds. If the Heir of Slytherin could be found anywhere, it would be there.

But she couldn't find it. She searched for two hours, hunting for her quarry, when her uncle arrived. "Ally, have you been in here all afternoon?" Uncle Remus called out to her.

Aludra turned to him, a book on the so-called 'Sacred Twenty-Eight' in one hand (she'd already skimmed it and it was useless) and in the other she held a book on the history of the Founders, again, it was useless to her. It had no mention of the Founders' children, let alone their modern-day descendants in it.

"Hi, Uncle Moony," Aludra said glumly, re-shelving the two books in frustration. "Yes, I came straight here when I got home."

"What are you looking for?" Uncle Remus asked, coming over to join her. "Can I help you find anything? Or are you just hiding from your father?"

Aludra scowled at the mention of her father. "Yes and no," she stated. "I don't want to talk to Dad right now, but I am looking for something."

"'Dad', huh?" The sandy-haired man repeated. "You're even more upset than I expected you would be."

Aludra huffed. "Nobody else got pulled from school," she complained. "And I'm not even a muggleborn! It's not fair!" Her voice trembled and her eyes blurred with tears as she clenched her hands into tight fists of frustration.

Remus sighed and reached out to rest a hand on her shoulder. "I know, and I understand that you're upset," he told her. "Your dad is just afraid of something happening to you. But I promise, I will do everything I can to make sure that you return to school when the winter holidays are over at the latest."

Aludra brightened a bit at that. If anybody could convince her father to let her go back to school, Uncle Moony could. "Thanks, Uncle Moony!" She hugged him around the waist and he patted her back fondly before they separated.

"So," the scarred wizard began. "You said you were looking for something? If you tell me what it is, I could summon it for you?"

"I'm looking for Castor Black's Self-Updating Compendium of Wixen Genealogy," Aludra explained. "I thought that I'd be able to find the Heir of Slytherin there."

Remus gained an odd look. "The Heir's name is Tom Marvolo Riddle Junior," he said after studying her for a while. Aludra's eyes widened in surprise and she listened eagerly to her uncle's tale. "He was born December 31st, 1926 to Merope Gaunt, a hedgewitch, and Tom Riddle Senior, a muggle whom Merope seems to have seduced via a love potion.

After getting pregnant, she seems to have stopped giving it to him, perhaps deluding herself into believing he was already in love with her or else hoping the baby would keep him with them. Instead, Riddle Senior fled back to their home village of Little Hangleton, while Merope died in childbirth with her son.

He grew up in Wool's Orphanage in London, and went to Hogwarts in the 1940s, where he became a Slytherin Prefect and Head Boy. After graduating he worked for a while as a procurer for Borgin and Burkes, before disappearing for several years, until he eventually resurfaced as one Lord Voldemort and began waging war on the Wixen community."

Aludra knew it was unladylike and Aunt Meda wouldn't be pleased if she saw it, but she let her mouth drop open at this surprising (but at the same time not surprising at all) revelation. "Voldemort is the Heir of Slytherin?" She gasped. "But how is it possible for him to have gotten in again? I thought Granddad updated the wards at the school after last year!"

"He did, and all reports indicate that Voldemort is in Albania, which is why we're so confused," Remus confirmed. "The evidence does fit with what happened last time the Chamber was opened, but it doesn't seem like Voldemort is in the school. We suspect that he has a student under an Imperius Curse, or some other control spell, in order to force them into doing their bidding."

Aludra listened in interest. This was something she loved about her family. They never lied to her, the way the Potters and Weasleys did to their children. Sometimes they might edit things to make it more appropriate for her age, or else her father would explain that it was classified, but they didn't keep information that could be useful from her.

"What happened last time?" She asked.

Her godfather sighed, frowning and pulling at the scars on his face. "After several attacks resulted in Petrified muggleborns, a muggleborn girl was killed," he told her grimly. "The school was about to be closed when one Tom Riddle, then a Prefect, 'heroically' identified the culprit as one Rubeus Hagrid, owner of an Acromantula hatchling. Hagrid was expelled, though Professor Dumbledore persuaded Headmaster Dippet to keep him on as gamekeeper due to his father's recent death and his lack of resources. Hagrid's wand was snapped, and the Acromantula disappeared into the Forbidden Forest. The attacks stopped, but neither the monster nor the location of the Chamber were ever located."

Aludra stared at Remus in disbelief. "Hagrid was blamed for the attacks?" She repeated in shock. "Because he had an Acromantula? Did the Aurors even look at the casefile? Petrification is completely outside of an Acromantula's abilities! It was because the victims were muggleborns and Hagrid's not fully human either, wasn't it?! Mother of Magic, sometimes the prejudice in this world sickens me, and I'm a pureblood heiress!"

Anyone who couldn't see Hagrid was a part-giant of some description was blind, deaf and an utter idiot. And anyone who cared about his heritage was a prejudiced fool and she would happily duel them. That's all Aludra had to say about it.

Remus gave her an affectionate look. "I'm proud of you for not letting your advantages blind you to what others suffer," he stated. "And your father along with the Longbottoms and the rest of Sirius' alliance have done a lot of work to improve things for muggleborns and hybrids. Back then things were much worse, so yes, I suspect that the Aurors investigating didn't put much effort into finding out the truth."

Aludra shook her head in disgust.

"Now," Uncle Remus opened his briefcase, revealing a bunch of files and memory vials. "Your grandfather gave us the information about Tom Riddle and the original opening of the Chamber. These are some documents he's gathered about Voldemort's activities during his years between Borgin and Burkes and the start of the War. Care to help me see if we can find any hints as to how he's opening it now?"

Aludra brightened at the prospect of helping, and quickly grabbed some random files, sitting at the desk and preparing to get down to work.

The sooner they figured out the truth behind the Chamber of Secrets, the sooner Hogwarts would be safe again and her father would let her go back with her friends.