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

AN: Also, just FYI, Cedric is black in this, and Neville's maternal grandmother was Chinese. It's not particularly relevant, but just to diversify things a bit.

Read, enjoy and review!

8-2-2024

Chapter Ten

The Marauders' Map

The holidays flew by too quickly for Aludra's taste, and before she knew it, it was time to return to Hogwarts. The train ride was pretty frustrating, as people kept popping in to speak to Aludra and Evan. Word had gotten around from Cedric and Oliver about the Firebolts, and everyone with the slightest interest in Quidditch or broomsticks was eager to see it. Granted, Aludra understood. The Firebolt was a literal dream to ride, the closest she'd ever gotten to flying like Ruby on a broomstick, but it was still annoying to have people constantly coming up begging to ride it (she agreed that Cedric could ride it, and borrow it for matches not against Gryffindor if he wanted, and Evan let Ron ride it, but that was it) or even just hold it.

Oliver literally cried when he touched it. Aludra worried about him sometimes.

Classes started back with Hagrid showing them fire salamanders, and Professor Babbling moving on to Greek and Roman runes. After their first DADA class of the new year, Remus held her and Evan back to say he could add a second Patronus lesson to their weekly schedule if they wanted, something they both eagerly accepted. When they caught up to the others for lunch, Aludra felt her heart fall.

"Lupin's still looking a bit sick, isn't he?" Ron mused. "Wonder what's wrong with him."

"Oh, he's always been sickly," Susan said airily, but Aludra could see how tense she and Neville both were beneath their robes. "Something to do with being born prematurely I think he told us once. Right you two?"

"Yes, he was nearly three months early," Aludra agreed as casually as she could. "They thought he wouldn't make it for a while."

"Oh," Ron shrugged and let it go, but Aludra knew he couldn't be the only one wondering at Remus' frequent absences.

She also knew that he had to tell Evan and Iris before they found out from someone else and lost all their trust in him.

In Patronus lessons, Aludra and Evan both found a memory that let them at least increase the size of their silver mist. She didn't know what Evan's was thinking of, but Aludra was using the memory of her father teaching her to ride a broomstick. Still, despite her improvement it was frustrating not to be getting it perfect immediately, as she usually did with Charms.

"Very good, both of you," Remus smiled proudly at them. "I'm serious," he added at their sceptical expressions. "I know it doesn't seem like much, but there are many fully trained Aurors who can't conjure even mist. You're both only thirteen. Be proud of how far you've come already."

"Thanks, Remus," Evan muttered, a bit glumly.

"Thanks, Uncle," Aludra agreed. Remus walked them back to the Tower, chatting easily about their classes, but Aludra paused before entering.

"Actually, Uncle Remus, can I talk to you in private for a sec?"

"Of course, Ally," he smiled at her. "Goodnight Evan."

"Goodnight," Evan replied uncertainly, before climbing through the portraithole.

Aludra waved him off, then turned to Remus. "You need to talk to them," she insisted in a low voice. "They're already wondering about your illness, and they're not stupid. Sooner or later, one of them is going to figure out you 'get sick' every full moon. They'll take it better coming directly from you, Uncle Moony."

"I'll tell them when the time is right, Ally," Remus replied in the same firm voice. "It's different then with you. They haven't grown up being told that I was nothing more than a harmless puppy."

Aludra grinned. That was how Sirius had calmed her down, when she had first seen Remus transform. The pain and horror of it had been horrific, and she'd cringed away from Moony (who'd had his first ever course of Wolfsbane that cycle), until her father soothed her by calling Moony a big puppy and getting six-year-old Aludra to spend an hour giggling as she pet the (really rather soft) fur before falling asleep. The smile fell away quickly.

"They really trust you, Remus," she whispered. "I don't want them to lose that because they feel that they've been lied to." Not an inaccurate feeling, too, she admitted to herself.

"I'll tell them when the time is right, Ally," Remus repeated firmly. "Now go on, please. It's late and you need a full night's sleep."

Aludra sighed, kissed her uncle's cheek and entered the Common Room, dismissing the conversation to Evan as she headed for the girls' dormitory.

It had been a long day, and she was eager to get some sleep.

A few days later, Slytherin narrowly defeated Ravenclaw in their match. It was good news for Gryffindor until Oliver announced that he was increasing their practices to four times a week. That was when Aludra put her foot down. She'd finally figured out how to juggle ten classes, Quidditch, Patronus lessons, tutoring (which had expanded from just Iris and her friends to what was essentially Iris' whole year) and have time to relax and chat with her friends or practice the violin. Adding another class would completely disrupt that delicate schedule, as she informed Oliver firmly, and she'd be forced to quit the team.

He huffed but gave in, keeping the practice at three times a week.

George hugged her in congratulations at 'defeating the beast', and she mentally thanked her aunts for the magical concealer they'd brought her in July, because it hid her blush.

Soon, January turned into February, and still their Patronus lessons continued, with no improvement in either Aludra or Evan's silver mist. The broom memory still got the best results, but she couldn't, for the life of her, conjure a full Patronus.

"You're both being too hard on yourselves," Remus insisted at one lesson. "I know you don't believe me, but that you've managed even mist is very impressive for anyone, especially two thirteen-year-olds."

"But Charms and DADA are best areas!" Aludra argued. "I should be doing better than this!"

"Oh, Ally, sometimes you remind me so much of your father," Remus sighed fondly. "He expects perfection from himself in everything as well. Of course, the difference is that he thinks he achieves it." He winked at them, making the pair laugh reluctantly. He turned to Evan. "What about you, Evan? I can tell you have something other than the Patronus on your mind? You know you can always talk to me about anything."

Evan hesitated, looking unsure.

"I can leave if you want to speak to Remus privately?" Aludra offered.

"No, don't!" Evan begged. "I might not be yelled at if you stay."

"Evan?" Remus asked, furrowing his brow in concern. "What is it?"

"Back before Yule, Fred and George gave me something," he explained hesitantly. "At first it just looked like an old piece of parchment, but when you say the password-"

"The Marauders' Map!" Remus gasped. Aludra's eyes widened in surprised excitement. "You have it?"

"Yeah," Evan answered slowly. "How do you know about it?"

"I was one of the creators," Remus smiled. "I'm Moony, Sirius is Padfoot. Your father was Prongs, Evan, and, well, Peter was Wormtail. Together we were the Marauders, running amok causing havoc all over the school, quite similar to the Weasley twins. And that Map was a key part of our planning."

Evan looked stunned. "Dad was a prankster?" He gasped. "But Mum- she- that doesn't make any sense!"

"Lily hated James for the first few years of our schooling," Remus said musingly. "I believe she once called him an 'arrogant toerag'. But we all started to grow up in our sixth year, what with the War heating up, and when they were both named as Head Boy and Girl, they fell in love. People change, Evan. Nobody stays the same their whole lives. Now," he turned stern. "Do you still have the Map?"

"Yeess," Evan dragged out reluctantly. Grudgingly, he pulled a ratty piece of parchment from his pocket and handed it to Remus.

"We've been looking for this," Remus informed them. "We let it be confiscated by Filch at the end of our final year, as 'a gift to future generations of troublemakers', as Sirius called it. But we started looking for it after Samhain, hoping to use it to find Pettigrew. I'm afraid that I have to keep this with me, Evan. It might make the difference between stopping Pettigrew or letting him escape."

"That's why I brought it up," Evan agreed glumly, looking longingly at the Map. Aludra understood. She wanted to look at the Map too. It was, after all, their heritage. But she understood how important it might be in finding the rat.

Remus smiled kindly at them. "I understand how tempting it is, but your protection is what really matters here, children," he reminded them. "Now, come along. Time to get you two back to the Tower."

They gathered up their things and headed for the Tower. After all, the Quidditch match was only two days away.

"So, will you be cheering for me, or your girlfriend?" Aludra asked Cedric slyly as they walked towards the Gryffindor changing rooms. Cedric was walking her there, as they hadn't had much time to chat lately, what with his OWL prep and her own busy schedule.

He sputtered incoherently in response. "Wh-what girlfriend?" He stammered.

She flipped her braid back over her shoulder and gave him a 'are you kidding me?' Look. "Cho Chang? You talk about her all the time, Ced, and get this silly grin on your face whenever you do. It's obvious you like her."

He flushed, his light brown skin darkening in embarrassment. "Do you think anyone else knows?" He asked anxiously.

"Probably everyone you speak to," Aludra drawled, smirking a bit. "Don't worry, from the looks she sends you at mealtimes, I'm pretty sure she likes you too."

Cedric looked hopeful. "Do you really think so?" He asked eagerly.

Aludra patted his arm comfortingly. "In fairness, Ced, half the girls and the gay boys in the school like you, and the rest are too young for crushes," she pointed out.

He shook his head, "No, that's not true," he argued.

Aludra scoffed. "Sure, okay," she said sarcastically. "But seriously," she said as they came up to the changing rooms. She could see Oliver and Percy kissing just inside the entrance to the male changing area, and turned to give them some privacy, which she knew Percy preferred. "Which of us are you cheering for?"

"My little sister, of course," he grinned, tugging lightly on the end of her braid. "If she doesn't understand how important you are to me, then she's not worth my time." She beamed back, hugged him, then hurried into the girls' changing room to change into her Quidditch robes and fix her hair into an intricate braided crown that would keep it from getting in her way during the match.

The weather couldn't have been more different from their match against Hufflepuff. It was a clear, cool day with a very light breeze; there would be no visibility problems this time, and Aludra, though feeling her usual pre-match nerves, was starting to feel the excitement that only a Quidditch match could bring.

"You know what we've got to do," said Oliver as they prepared to leave the locker rooms. "If we lose this match, we're out of the running. Just—just fly like you did in practice yesterday, and we'll be okay!"

"Don't worry, Oliver!" George cheered. "We've got two Firebolts on the team. How could we possibly lose?"

"Yes, yes, you're right," Oliver agreed, still looking nervous.

They walked out onto the field to tumultuous applause. The Ravenclaw team, dressed in blue, were already standing in the middle of the field. Their Seeker, Cho, was the only girl on their team. She was taller than Aludra by about a head, and shorter than Evan by the same amount. Speaking of Evan, his olive cheeks looked a bit flushed and his hazel eyes were wide as he looked at Cho. Aludra bit her tongue to keep from rolling her eyes. Why was every boy she knew falling for Cho Chang?

As much as Aludra teased Cedric about her, she found the girl rather stuck-up whenever they interacted at Ministry functions, and while she wasn't actively cruel to Luna (though that had mostly stopped when Aludra made it known that the blonde girl was under her protection), she wasn't nice to her either. Boys, Aludra decided. So obsessed with a girl's looks, they ignored their personalities.

"Wood, Davies, shake hands," Madam Hooch ordered briskly, and Oliver shook hands with the Ravenclaw Captain. It looked like he was trying to break Davies' hand.

"Mount your brooms… on my whistle… three—two—one—"

Aludra kicked off into the air and the Firebolt zoomed higher and faster than any other broom (except, of course, Evan's own Firebolt); she soared around the stadium and began squinting around for the Snitch, listening all the while to the commentary, which was being provided by the twins' friend Lee Jordan.

"They're off, and the big excitement this match are the Firebolts that Aludra Black and Evan Potter are both flying for Gryffindor. According to Which Broomstick, the Firebolt's going to be the broom of choice for the national teams at this year's World Championship—"

"Jordan, would you mind telling us what's going on in the match?" interrupted Aludra's grandmother's voice.

"Right you are, Professor—just giving a bit of background information—the Firebolt, incidentally, has a built-in auto-brake and—"

"Jordan!"

"Okay, okay, Gryffindor in possession, Katie Bell of Gryffindor heading for goal…"

Aludra streaked past Katie in the opposite direction, gazing around for a glint of gold and noticing that Cho Chang was tailing her closely. She was undoubtedly a very good flier—she kept cutting across her, forcing her to change direction. It was very annoying. Aludra hated when the opposing Seeker focused on stalking her instead of actually searching for the Snitch themselves.

"Show her your acceleration, Ally!" Fred yelled as he whooshed past in pursuit of a Bludger that was aiming for Angelina.

Aludra urged the Firebolt forward as they rounded the Ravenclaw goal posts and Cho fell behind. Just as Katie passed to Evan who succeeded in scoring the first goal of the match, and the Gryffindor end of the field went wild, she saw it—the Snitch was close to the ground, flitting near one of the barriers.

Aludra dived; Cho saw what she was doing and tore after her, but she was too slow to keep up and dives were Aludra's speciality, she was only ten feet away—

Then a Bludger, hit by one of the Ravenclaw Beaters, came pelting out of nowhere; Aludra veered off course, avoiding it by an inch, and in those few, crucial seconds, the Snitch had vanished.

There was a great "Ooooooh" of disappointment from the Gryffindor supporters, but much applause for their Beater from the Ravenclaw end. George vented his feelings by hitting the second Bludger directly at the offending Beater, who was forced to roll right over in midair to avoid it.

"Gryffindor leads by eighty points to zero, and look at those Firebolts go! Potter's really putting it through its paces now, see it turn, and no matter how she tries Chang can't keep up with Black! Her Comet is just no match for it, the Firebolt's precision-balance is really noticeable in these long—"

"JORDAN! ARE YOU BEING PAID TO ADVERTISE FIREBOLTS? GET ON WITH THE COMMENTARY!"

Ravenclaw was catching up; they had now scored three goals, which put Gryffindor only fifty points ahead—if Cho got the Snitch before her, Ravenclaw would win. Aludra dropped lower, narrowly avoiding a Ravenclaw Chaser, scanning the field frantically—a glint of gold, a flutter of tiny wings—the Snitch was circling the Gryffindor goal post—

Aludra accelerated, eyes fixed on the speck of gold ahead—but just then, Cho appeared out of thin air, blocking her—

"ALLY, THIS IS NO TIME TO BE POLITE!" Wood roared as Aludra swerved to avoid a collision. "KNOCK HER OFF HER BROOM IF YOU HAVE TO!"

Aludra didn't waste her breath reminding her captain that that was an illegal move as she turned and caught sight of Cho; Aludra clenched her teeth in annoyance. The opposing Seeker was grinning. The Snitch had vanished again. Aludra turned her Firebolt upward and was soon twenty feet above the game. Out of the corner of her eye, he saw Cho following her… All right, then, Aludra decided. If she wanted to tail her instead of search for the Snitch herself, then she would just have to reap the consequences…

She dived again, and Cho, thinking that she'd seen the Snitch, tried to follow; Aludra pulled out of the dive very sharply; Chang hurtled downward as Aludra rose fast as a hex once more, and then saw it, for the third time—the Snitch was glittering way above the field at the Ravenclaw end.

She accelerated; so, many feet below, did Cho. She was winning, gaining on the Snitch with every second—then—

"Oh!" screamed Cho, pointing.

Distracted, Aludra looked down.

Three dementors, three tall, black, hooded dementors, were looking up at Evan, who was just below her.

She didn't stop to wonder why she couldn't feel the effects of the dratted things. Instead she whipped out her wand and cried, "Expecto patronum!" She could hear Evan roaring the same spell as something silver-white, something enormous and fluffy with four legs, erupted from the end of her wand. She knew it had shot directly at the dementors but didn't pause to watch; she looked ahead—she was nearly there. She stretched out the hand still grasping her wand and just managed to close her fingers over the small, struggling Snitch.

Madam Hooch's whistle sounded. Aludra turned around in midair and saw six scarlet blurs bearing down on her; next moment, the whole team was hugging her so hard she was nearly pulled off her broom. Down below she could hear the roars of the Gryffindors in the crowd.

"That's my girl!" Oliver kept yelling. The Chasers kept hugging her and George kissed her cheek in celebration, though the cold air covered her blush. In complete disarray, the team managed to make its way back to the ground. Aludra got off her broom and looked up to see a gaggle of Gryffindor supporters sprinting onto the field, Ron, Neville and Susan in the lead. Before she knew it, she had been engulfed by the cheering crowd.

"Yes!" Ron yelled, yanking Evan's arm into the air. "Yes! Yes! Seven goals, Evan, that was bloody brilliant!"

"You did brilliant, Ally!" Susan cried. "That Wronski Feint could've been done by a professional, it was wicked!"

"We're in the lead!" Neville exclaimed, hugging her. "You've put us in the lead for the Cup!"

"Good for you, Aludra!" roared Seamus.

"Ruddy brilliant!" boomed Hagrid over the heads of the milling Gryffindors.

"That was quite some Patronus," said a voice in Aludra's ear. "Quite families, don't you think? Though I do wish you wouldn't try and kill yourself with those dives."

Aludra turned around with a smile to see Remus, who looked both shaken and pleased. It seemed he too had recognized Padfoot in her Patronus' form.

She shouldn't have been surprised, she mused to herself. Of course it was her father's animal form that was her guardian spirit. Who else would it be?

"The dementors didn't affect me at all!" Evan told Remus excitedly, before Aludra could respond. "I didn't feel a thing!"

"That would be because they—er—weren't dementors," Remus explained. "Come and see—"

He led them out of the crowd until they were able to see the edge of the field.

"You gave Mr. Malfoy quite a fright," Remus said mildly.

Aludra and Evan stared. Lying in a crumpled heap on the ground were Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, and Marcus Flint, the Slytherin team Captain, all struggling to remove themselves from long, black, hooded robes. It looked as though Malfoy had been standing on Goyle's shoulders. Standing over them, with an expression of the utmost fury on her face, was Aludra's grandmother.

"An unworthy trick!" she was shouting. "A low and cowardly attempt to sabotage the Gryffindor team! Detention for a month for all of you, and twenty points each from Slytherin! I shall be speaking to Professor Dumbledore about this, make no mistake! Ah, here they come now!"

If anything could have set the seal on Gryffindor's victory, it was this. Ron, who had fought his way through the crowd to Evan's side, doubled up with laughter as they watched Malfoy fighting to extricate himself from the robe, Goyle's head still stuck inside it.

"Come on, Ally, Evan!" said George, forcing his way over. "Party! Gryffindor common room, now!"

"Right," Aludra agreed, and feeling happier than she had in ages, she and the rest of the team led the way, still in their scarlet robes, out of the stadium and back up to the castle.

It felt as though they had already won the Quidditch Cup; the party went on all day and well into the night. The twins disappeared for a couple of hours and returned with armfuls of bottles of butterbeer, pumpkin fizz, and several bags full of Honeydukes sweets.

"How did you do that?" squealed Angelina as George started throwing Peppermint Toads into the crowd.

Fred just winked at her, and Aludra knew they must have found the passage to Honeydukes on the Marauders' Map.

Eventually, Grandma arrived and sent them all off to bed, where Aludra fell into a peaceful, dreamless, sleep immediately.

It was interrupted by a loud scream that had her jumping out of bed and grabbing her wand before the other girls even fully woke up.

"YOU! GET AWAY FROM ME YOU BASTARD!"

Aludra reached the dormitory door first, and led the Third-Year girls in a sprint back down the staircase. "That was Evan!" Iris exclaimed fearfully as they passed the First-Year dorms.

"Stay there, Iris!" Aludra called back as doors opened behind them, and sleepy voices called after them.

"Who shouted?"

"What're you doing?"

The common room was lit with the glow of the dying fire, still littered with the debris from the party. It was deserted apart from the Third-Year boys. Evan was white and shaking.

"What happened, Evan?" Aludra demanded.

"Are you sure you weren't dreaming, Evan?" Ron asked anxiously.

"I'm telling you, I saw him! He was looming over me!"

"Saw who?" Susan inquired fearfully.

"What's all the noise?"

"Professor McGonagall told us to go to bed!"

A few of the other girls had come down the staircase, pulling on dressing gowns and yawning. Boys, too, were reappearing.

"Excellent, are we carrying on?" Fred asked brightly.

"Everyone back upstairs!" Percy ordered, hurrying into the common room and pinning his Head Boy badge to his pyjamas as he spoke.

"Percy-Peter Pettigrew!" Evan exclaimed. "In our dormitory! With a knife! Woke me up!"

The common room went very still. Aludra went pale.

"Nonsense!" Percy denied, looking startled. "You had too much to eat, Evan—had a nightmare—"

"I'm telling you—"

The portrait opened and several teachers, including Remus, Aludra's grandparents and a panicked Lady Potter, came running in.

"Evan! Baby, are you alright? Did he hurt you?" Lady Potter demanded hysterically, rushing to her son and gathering him in her arms.

"Mum, I'm fine!" Evan exclaimed, looking embarrassed. "He didn't hurt me, he was trying to grab me but when I woke up he turned back into a rat and ran for it. I couldn't stop him."

"You were safer that way," Remus said gravely. "He might've killed you."

"So, so Pettigrew was really here?" Percy asked shakily, going over to rest a hand on Ron's shoulder protectively.

"Indeed," Grandma confirmed, herself very pale.

"The wards alerted me to a breach," Granddad explained gravely. "Peter Pettigrew must have snuck inside as a rat earlier and waited for everyone to be asleep to try and grab Evan. If everyone will gather what you need, we must call the Aurors to conduct another search. You'll spend the night in the Great Hall with the other Houses again."