Hey, I'm back! Sorry it's taken so long, as I said I was on holiday and then it was a matter of getting back into the right headspace for writing. But I'm back now.

As one reviewer pointed out, no way in hell would a sensible parent send their child to that deathtrap disguised as a school. However, for the sake of the plot, Aludra (and her friends) needs to be at Hogwarts. Therefore, to Hogwarts she shall return (no matter how much Sirius dislikes the idea, and he really does).

Read, enjoy and review!

16-7-2023

Chapter Ten

Discoveries

Aludra passed the time at home helping her uncle search for a pattern, an explanation about what was allowing a disembodied spirit last known to be in Albania to open a Chamber in Scotland, or at least an explanation as to what the mysterious creature was. Unfortunately, they were making little progress. If the victims of the creature had been killed, they'd say it was a Basilisk being used, but Basilisks killed, they didn't Petrify, and no other creature, serpentine or otherwise, made sense either. As for figuring out how Voldemort was doing it in the first place, they were at a loss to explain that too. Their best guess was that he had a student under the Imperius Curse, but there was no way to figure out if someone was under a properly-cast Imperius or not, nor was there a ward against it they could put up, and there was always the chance that whoever was helping him (and somebody definitely had to be helping him) was a blood supremacist doing so willingly.

It was driving her insane.

She was so caught up in trying to figure out the mystery (as well as working with her uncles, aunts and grandparents to try and convince her father to let her go back to school) that she barely realized the Yule holidays had begun.

One day, two weeks after she was removed from Hogwarts, she was yet again bent over a book on magical creatures, trying to figure out what she was missing. It was on the tip of her tongue. She was so close to a breakthrough; she just knew it.

"Aludra, darling," her Granny Hope, who was babysitting today while Remus helped out at the Auror Office (her minder was alternating between her Granny and her Aunt Meda, as Remus and Sirius were at the office or Hogwarts most of the time, reviewing the evidence and studying files too classified to leave the HQ). "Your friend is here to see you. Evan?"

"Evan's here?" Aludra echoed in surprise. Shouldn't he still be at Hogwarts? She glanced at her enchanted watch for the date, and was startled to realize that it was the 20th. The term at Hogwarts had ended yesterday.

"Go and have some fun with him," Granny Hope urged. "You're spending too much time cooped up in here with your books. It's not good for you, little bird." Granny Hope had always called her that. She insisted that she'd known from the start that Aludra would have an avian Animagus form.

"Alright," Aludra agreed with a sigh, reluctantly abandoning her research notes. She trailed her grandmother down to the foyer, where Evan was shifting from one leg to the other and rubbing his hands together. He brightened when he saw Aludra and her grandmother arrive in the manor entrance hall.

"Hey, Ally," he greeted her.

"Hi Evan," she replied with a small smile. They hugged, then she told her grandmother they would be in the drawing room. "How have you been?"

Evan shrugged, the corners of his lips turning down. "It's been difficult," he admitted. "Everyone thinks I'm the Heir now."

"What?" Aludra blinked. "Why?"

"Because Filch accused me of attacking Mrs. Norris, Colin was coming to visit me when he was attacked, and I was the one who found Justin and Sir Nicholas when they were attacked," Evan explained glumly. "I overheard Ernie saying I must have used Dark Magic to survive that night, and it's why Aimee..." He trailed off, the familiar grief that always showed up when his twin was mentioned flashing through his eyes.

Aludra was horrified and furious. How could Ernie say something so cruel? "Ernie's an idiot, and so is anyone who believes him," she said firmly, knowing it wouldn't help very much. "For one thing, you were eighteen months old at the time. Toddlers don't even know what Dark Magic is, let alone how to preform it."

"Yeah," Evan sighed gloomily, before changing the subject. Aludra didn't press. "So, how have you been? What've you been doing?"

"Helping Uncle Remus do research for the investigation," Aludra explained. "We're trying to figure out what creature is that's preforming the attacks. We haven't had much, if any, progress though. Every creature we've thought of kills, it doesn't Petrify. And we considered that maybe it wasn't a creature after all and that was just a myth, but some type of Dark Magic instead, but that didn't pan out either. Any magic that allows you to properly Petrify someone beyond the Body-Bind Curse is far too powerful for any student."

"And it couldn't be a teacher?" Evan ventured uncertainly. Aludra shook her head.

"No, none of them except Granddad, Grandma and Snape are powerful enough, and all of them have been cleared. Yes, even Snape," she added at Evan's doubtful look.

Evan huffed in frustration. "This is driving me crazy!" He complained. "And Malfoy didn't know anything either."

Aludra raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms. "What do you mean, Malfoy didn't know anything?" She demanded sternly.

He flushed in embarrassment. "I know you three didn't think it could be him, but Ron was so sure, so," he flushed darker.

"You followed him," Aludra concluded, "And found out that we were right. I assume you at least had the sense to use the Cloak?"

"Of course, we're not stupid!" Evan insisted, looking offended.

"You can't blame me for wondering, after some of the stunts you've pulled," Aludra grumbled. Just then, her granny stuck her head around the door, a sympathetic smile on her lined face. Aludra knew what she was going to say before Hope so much as opened her mouth.

"Ally, dear, I'm very sorry but your dad and uncle can't make dinner again," the elderly woman said gently. "They have to stay late at the office."

Despite bracing herself for it, Aludra felt her shoulders slump in disappointment. She was still a bit upset with her father, but that didn't mean she didn't want to spend time with him.

"Alright, Granny," Aludra replied quietly. "Are you staying then?"

"Yes, and your Grandpa Lyall will join us too," Hope affirmed. "You're welcome to stay as well, Evan."

"Uh, that's very kind of you, Mrs. Lupin, but my parents are expecting me back soon," Evan refused politely.

"Alright," Hope said gently. "Do either of you need anything?"

"No, we're alright, Granny," Aludra denied, forcing a smile at her grandmother. Hope saw through it, Aludra could tell, but she didn't say anything, simply giving a small smile and withdrawing.

"What did she mean by again?" Evan asked curiously.

"Daddy and Uncle Remus are very busy with the investigation," Aludra explained. "They've mostly been eating at the office while Granny or Aunt Meda watch me."

"Oh," Evan frowned. "You could always come over to my place if you wanted," he offered. Aludra smiled and shook her head to cover her discomfort at the prospect of being in the same house as the Potter parents.

"I can't, I need to work on the investigation," she refused.

"You're at least doing something for Yule, right?" Evan pressed.

Aludra grimaced. "Balls, balls, and more balls," she sighed. "Such is the life of a pureblood heiress."

Evan grimaced. "I wish Mum and Dad would let us go to balls," he confessed. "Or at least start teaching me what I need to know to be a proper Lord. I know they just want me to be a kid, but I want to go into politics, to make a difference, and I'm already years behind all the other heirs."

Aludra studied him for a moment. "Neville, Susan and I could help you," she suggested. "We wouldn't be able to help with anything specific to the Potters, like teaching you about the Potter's Potions company, but we could help with more general stuff, like manners and a lowdown of the current Wizengamot and who the main players and laws are."

Evan brightened. "Would you really?" He asked excitedly. "That'd be great! I always feel so stupid when you three are talking about politics and stuff."

"We'll start when we go back to Hogwarts," Aludra assured him.

"Is your dad letting you go back then?" Evan asked hesitantly.

Aludra smiled a bit. "Oh, he will," she promised. "Aunt Meda, Uncle Remus, Uncle Ted, and my grandparents are all pressing him to let me go back. Even Daddy can't hold his ground forever against an onslaught like that. I imagine there'll be rules, but he'll let me go back."

"Great!" Evan exclaimed. "Tell me about the investigation," he urged then, changing the subject again.

Aludra explained about Tom Riddle, astonishing Evan, and showed him her notes.

It was Evan who put two and two together, and truthfully Aludra felt like a fool for missing the obvious when he did. "This says that a Basilisk kills when you meet its eyes, right?" Evan confirmed, Aludra nodded in affirmation. "But none of the victims saw the creature face on," he pointed out. "They saw its reflection. Mrs. Norris saw it in the water from the bathroom on the floor, remember? And Colin saw it in his camera, Justin saw it through Nearly Headless Nick, and Nick is dead already, he can hardly die a second time. Maybe that's why they've been Petrified instead of killed."

Aludra stared at him in shock for a moment before suddenly she jumped to her feet. "Evan, you're a genius!" She cried as she ran to the fireplace. Her mirror was in her room, so this would be quicker. She threw a fist of Floo Powder in the fireplace and called out "Sirius Black's Office, Auror Headquarters!" Before sticking her head in the green flames, eager to pass on what Evan had figured out to her father.

Three weeks later, Aludra was still amazed that, knowing a Basilisk was roaming the corridors, her father had given into Uncle Remus' insistence that she return to school, albeit under strict conditions. He'd taught her a spell to create any sound she liked and made her practice doing a rooster crowing until she could do it silently, something usually not learned until sixth year. She also wasn't allowed to go anywhere alone, and had to carry a mirror and use it to check around corners whenever she was entering a new corridor. That was on top of all the Aurors patrolling the school, making cocks crow constantly until everyone had an ever-present headache from the damn birds.

Admittedly, the knowledge that a basilisk was slithering around the school (in the pipes, her father had figured out, based on the fact that Aludra heard it coming from the walls and the lack of any sign of it in the corridors-save, of course, for the poor victims- who were all found next to pipe holes, something nobody but her father had noticed, and he had only realized when she warned him.), had given Aludra pause when the topic of returning to school had come up, but the knowledge that her friends were all going back steeled her spine. Besides, she was a Gryffindor and Heiress to the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black, and she would not be cowed by a genocidal maniac with delusions of grandeur, too ashamed of his heritage to admit that he was the half-blood son of an inbred near-Squib. Whatever one said about her ancestors, nobody would ever call them cowards, even if they weren't as obvious as Gryffindors generally were.

She was in the common room, working on an essay for Slughorn, who'd started with the new term (and what a breath of fresh air the new Head of Slytherin was after Snape. The first thing he'd done was give them a test to judge their current level of knowledge, before promptly going back to the basics and beginning to teach them the basic safety precautions and general knowledge about potion-making they ought to have learned in first year. He was doing it for everyone, even the NEWT students. He'd also offered to allow students who'd received an 'E' in their OWLs who Snape had refused to allow into the sixth-year class into his own NEWT class, giving them extra tuition to catch up on what they'd missed. Everyone was delighted with him.). Susan was seated to her left, doing accounts sent to her by Madam Bones to practice, and Neville was puzzling his way through the Transfiguration homework. Evan and Ron were Merlin-knew-where.

The answer to that question came just then, when the pair scrambled through the portrait hole and rushed to join them, Evan dropping a sodden black-leather notebook on the table. The three heirs let out sounds of indignation as the wetness spattered their work, and Aludra gave her friend the evil eye as she shoved the book away from their parchment and fixed the stains with a wave of her wand.

"What in Merlin's name, Evan?" She complained. "You might've ruined our work!"

"Sorry," the olive-skinned boy apologized sheepishly. "But look! Guess what I found?"

"An old diary?" Susan pointed out dryly.

"Look at the name of the owner!" Evan pressed.

Aludra huffed, picked up the book, took one glance at the name and tried to throw it into the fire, only for Evan to snatch it from the air like it was a Snitch and he a Seeker.

"Careful!" He complained.

"Careful?" Aludra hissed at him incredulously. "Evan! That's Voldemort's name on the cover!" The others recoiled, looking a mixture of horrified and terrified. "Where did you even find the thing, and why would you touch it instead of getting an Auror when you saw the name?"

"We found it in Myrtle's bathroom," Ron explained, looking shaken and eyeing the notebook like it was about to bite him. "She said someone tried to flush it down one of the toilets and ended up flooding them."

"That's probably because it's surely drenched in Dark Magic!" Aludra pressed. "We need to get rid of it! Or better yet, give it to Daddy's team!"

"No," Evan objected. "Just look what happens when you write in it!" He grabbed Neville's quill and flipped it open to an empty page. Hello, he scrawled across the parchment. Before the second years' eyes, the ink disappeared into the page and a reply formed.

Hello, my name is Tom Riddle. Who are you?

Aludra was even more horrified. "We need to give it to my father," she insisted. "To put a piece of his mind in an object...that's very Dark magic, Evan. I'm serious. You need to give it to him, or a teacher. This could have something to do with the Chamber."

"We could use it to figure out who's opening the Chamber, to find out where it is," Evan pleaded. "Come on, Ally. Think about what a prize this is!"

"You've lost your mind!" Aludra snapped. She gathered up her things and stood, meeting his hazel eyes with a stormy expression. "If you haven't given it to my dad by the end of the day tomorrow, I'm telling him," she warned firmly. Then she turned and stalked away, wanting to put as much distance between herself and Tom Riddle's diary as possible.