Chapter Twenty-Four
Later that morning, Molly and Arthur gave out hugs to everyone except the Slytherins, who just received smiles. Sirius gave Harry a one-armed hug and when Stella stopped in front of him, he smiled and pulled her close before sending her out the door. Stella went to Remus's side, looping her arm around his waist when his settled on her shoulders, Theo and Blaise right behind them.
"Come on, the quicker we get on the bus the better," said Tonks, and Stella thought there was nervousness in the glance she threw around the square.
Remus flung out his right arm. BANG. A violently purple, triple-decker bus had appeared out of thin air in front of them, narrowly avoiding the nearest lamppost, which jumped backward out of its way.
A thin, pimply, jug-eared youth in a purple uniform leapt down onto the pavement and said, "Welcome to the —"
"Yes, yes, we know, thank you," said Tonks swiftly. "On, on, get on—"
Stella got on quickly, followed by Blaise, Theo, and then Harry.
" 'Ere—it's 'Arry-!"
"If you shout his name I will curse you into oblivion," Tonks threatened as Ginny and Hermione climbed on board, Ron and the twins following right after.
"I've always wanted to go on this thing," Ron said happily.
"Looks like we'll have to split up," said Tonks briskly, looking around for empty chairs. "Stella, Blaise, Theo, Fred, George, and Ginny, if you just take those seats at the back . . . Remus can stay with you. . . ."
The others headed up the stairs and Stella passed over enough coins for all of them. Stella laid her head on Blaise's shoulder as the bus began moving, chairs and bags sliding this way and that as they went, coming to a quick stop at random before it would begin moving again.
It took a total of twenty minutes for them to get to the gates of Hogwarts. Remus and Tonks helped them off the bus with their luggage and then got off to say good-bye.
"You'll be safe once you're in the grounds," said Tonks, casting a careful eye around at the deserted road. "Have a good term, okay?"
"Look after yourselves," said Remus, shaking hands all round and reaching Harry and Stella last. "And listen . . ." He lowered his voice while the rest of them exchanged last-minute good-byes with Tonks, "Harry, I know you don't like Severus, but he is a superb Occlumens and we all — Sirius included — want you to learn to protect yourself, so work hard, all right?"
"Yeah, all right," said Harry heavily. "See you, then…"
Remus pulled Stella into a tight hug, kissing the top of her head.
"Take care of yourself," he told her. "Send word if you need me at all or if you just need to talk. I don't care where I am or what I'm doing. I'll be here if you need me."
"Thanks, Uncle Moony," Stella whispered. "I love you."
"I love you, too," he told her, voice sounding a bit unsteady as he said it, as if he were trying not to cry.
It took a few more moments for the two to release each other. Stella stepped into the gates and turned back, waving to Remus as the bus pulled away, disappearing in the distance.
"So, how long have you two been official?" Theo asked as the three sat in the empty common room, all reading different books.
"Two weeks," Blaise answered, rubbing Stella's leg gently from where it was draped across his lap, her head in Theo's lap like normal.
"Next Hogsmeade trip is on Valentine's Day," Theo told them.
"Taking Hermione to Madam Puddifoot's?" Stella asked innocently.
"I actually want to keep my relationship, thank you," Theo told her. "I will be taking her to the book shop and telling her to pick as many books as she wishes."
"She's putting out," Stella joked to Blaise before Theo bumped her forehead with his book. "Ow."
Theo smirked for a moment and Stella smiled, eyes going to Blaise and winking to him. Blaise smiled back brightly. No one noticed Stella and Blaise holding hands, used to the two and Theo touching each other at random. Monday at five-thirty, Stella walked into Snape's office without knocking and sat in her usual spot, smiling widely.
"Black," he breathed.
"Sir," Stella told him. "How was your first day back? Make anyone cry?"
"No but it's only five-thirty and Potter is on his way," he offered, not looking up from the essay he was working on.
"That's the spirit," Stella smirked and the two sat in silence for a bit, Stella stealing a few essays to grade for him.
"Have you been practicing?" Snape asked her as six approached.
"I have. I told Harry to do the same but I don't think it's going to go well," she admitted. "No idea why, but he doesn't seem to like you, which means he isn't going to put forth a lot of effort."
"Shut the door behind you, Potter."
Stella jumped, turning to find Harry standing in the doorway. He closed the door, looking extremely uneasy. He sat in the chair beside Stella and she continued grading the essay she was working on as Snape spoke to Harry.
"Well, Potter, you know why you are here," he said. "The headmaster has asked me to teach you Occlumency. I can only hope that you prove more adept at it than Potions."
"Right," said Harry tersely.
"This may not be an ordinary class, Potter," said Snape, his eyes narrowed malevolently, "but I am still your teacher and you will therefore call me 'sir' or 'Professor' at all times."
"Yes . . . sir," said Harry.
"Now, Occlumency. As I told you back in your dear godfather's kitchen, this branch of magic seals the mind against magical intrusion and influence."
"And why does Professor Dumbledore think I need it, sir?" said Harry, looking directly into Snape's dark, cold eyes and wondering whether he would answer.
Snape looked back at him for a moment and then said contemptuously, "Surely even you could have worked that out by now, Potter? The Dark Lord is highly skilled at Legilimency —"
"What's that? Sir?"
"It is the ability to extract feelings and memories from another person's mind—"
"He can read minds?"
"May I?" Stella asked, sitting up and looking completely done already.
"Please," Snape sighed and Stella turned to Harry.
"He can't just 'read you mind' whenever he wants to. He has to be looking into your eyes and perform a spell to do it. It's the spell that Professor Snape is going to perform to help you build walls against anyone else trying to get into your mind. You are connected to Voldemort somehow though, making it so you can feel certain emotions and see into his mind every so often. It's an extremely rare thing. So rare that it's never happened before," she explained and Harry didn't interrupt as Stella continued, something that peeved Snape off a bit considering he couldn't get half a sentence out before Harry would interrupt. "There is no way to direct you on how to build your walls. You have to figure it out on your own. It is exceedingly difficult to do and will be painful but the end result will be that Voldemort can't turn the connection around and use it against you to spy on the Order or give you false visions.
"I'll go first so you can see. Okay? Don't interrupt, though. You could seriously injury Professor Snape and myself if you do."
"Okay," Harry nodded, sitting back in his chair.
Stella nodded to Snape and they both stood. Snape had taken a few memories out of his head as Stella had spoken that Stella guessed were sensitive information or just memories he wanted to protect and keep private. They both had their wands out and Snape raised his wand.
"Legilimens."
"Dad!" Stella yelled while looking at Snape.
"Dad?" Stella asked in the Hospital Wing, searching for Snape.
"How many dad's do you have?" Blaise joked, laying back down.
"Let's see. There's Arthur Weasley, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and, how could anyone forget, Professor Snape," Theo answered.
Stella just rolled her eyes and continued petting Sirius' head.
"You don't hate me, do you?"
"Why would I hate you?" Snape asked confused.
"Well, all of my other authority figures prefer Harry. He wasn't wrong about that one. I just wanted to make sure I still have you in my corner," Stella shrugged.
"I will always be in your corner," Snape promised.
"Better be," Stella grumbled, looking away again.
"Oh yes," said Professor Umbridge. "Yes, the Ministry wants a thorough understanding of teachers' — er — backgrounds. . . ."
"What background would that be?" Stella growled out.
"…which means George is, too. D- Professor Snape has to keep a certain amount of distance due to his spying."
"How do I fall down every time?" Stella demanded as Snape helped her into her chair.
"Because you're still learning," Snape reminded her, not able to meet her eye. "Potter."
"I don't really think I want to," Harry said, eyeing Stella warily.
"It's not too bad," Stella lied.
"Really?"
"You get used to it."
Another lie.
"Alright."
"Remember to imagine a wall protecting your memories," Stella stated as Harry stood in front of Snape.
After a few minutes, a flash of light left Harry's wand and he fell, Stella just barely catching him as Snape rubbed his wrist.
"Did you mean to produce a Stinging Hex?" asked Snape coolly.
"No," said Harry bitterly, getting up from the floor.
"I thought not," said Snape contemptuously. "You let me get in too far. You lost control."
"Did you see everything I saw?" Harry asked, unsure whether he wanted to hear the answer.
"Flashes of it," said Snape, his lip curling. "To whom did the dog belong?"
"My Aunt Marge," Harry muttered, hating Snape.
"Well, for a first attempt that was not as poor as it might have been," said Snape, raising his wand once more. "You managed to stop me eventually, though you wasted time and energy shouting. You must remain focused. Repel me with your brain and you will not need to resort to your wand."
Was that a compliment? It sounded like a compliment.
"Clear your mind, Potter," said Snape's cold voice. "Let go of all emotion…"
Stella knew it wouldn't work. She took a few more turns, tossing out the castle idea, deciding it was far too large to work with. She chose the Burrow instead. Snape felt the warmth she had for the place and how protective she felt over it.
"It's a good choice," he told her when he came out of her mind. "You'll protect it well."
"That's what I thought, too," Stella told him, having actually managed to stay upright this time.
Harry went twice more before he was too angry to continue. He was given a pain relief and sent on his way, a hall pass in hand even though he'd pulled his cloak on before leaving the room. Once she was sure Harry was gone, Stella turned to Snape as he passed her a pain potion.
"That went better than I thought it would."
Stella went looking for Neville the moment she saw the Prophet. She found him in an abandoned classroom, gripping the Prophet in his hands and staring down at the photo of Bellatrix Lestrange who, along with nine other Death Eaters, had broken out of Azkaban the night before. She sat beside him on the floor, neither speaking as they sat silently. She heard Neville sniffle a few times and simply leaned against him, giving him a bit of comfort. At some point, her arms wrapped around him, holding him in a tight hug where he just let his sobs out freely, cursing Bellatrix Lestrange's name.
A new decree went up stating that teachers were not allowed to speak to students about anything other than the subject that they were being paid to teach. This led to a great number of jokes among the students.
"Exploding Snap's got nothing to do with Defense Against the Dark Arts, Professor! That's not information relating to your subject!"
Next time that Stella saw Lee, his hand was red and bleeding and she'd gotten so angry when she realized that a blood quill had been used on him that the glass in the trophy room shattered around them, causing multiple people to scream, Fred, George, and Lee looking around in confusion before their eyes landed on Stella, who was still staring at Lee's hand. She thought of all of the detentions Harry had received and ran to the Transfiguration classroom, ignoring McGonagall as she grabbed Harry and dragged him to an empty classroom to inspect his hand.
'I must not tell lies.'
It was time to rage a war on Dolores Umbitch.
Everyone was working harder in the D.A. after the news of the Death Eaters breaking out, especially Neville. The news of his parents' attacker's escape had brought a strange and even slightly alarming change in him. He barely spoke during D.A. meetings anymore but worked relentlessly on every new jinx and counter curse Harry taught them, his plump face screwed up in concentration, apparently indifferent to injuries or accidents, working harder than anyone else in the room. He was improving so fast it was quite unnerving and when Harry taught them the Shield Charm, a means of deflecting minor jinxes so that they rebounded upon the attacker, only Hermione and Stella mastered the charm faster than Neville.
Harry was doing terribly at Occlumency and Stella was improving in strides. Snape had admitted to Stella that Harry had the potential to be great at the subject, his mind was strong, but his dislike of Snape was keeping him from it. Stella suggested trying to teach him herself and Snape had immediately shot her down, telling her that the two of them could get lost in each other's minds forever since they had no experience with it.
Blaise stole Stella away every chance he got. He pulled her behind tapestries, into secret alcoves, unused classrooms. Theo would have minded if it didn't mean he got more time with Hermione now, the two moving up a bit in their relationship. He'd admitted that they'd snogged quite a few times and that he would not be giving any other details about it.
Stella and Blaise's snogging was rather hot and heavy every time. They never went much further than they had during the Christmas break but it still made it rather hard for Stella to get her breathing under control every time.
With the amount of homework they'd been assigned, working on Occlumency, Quidditch, and snogging sessions, January flew by and Stella barely remember to ask Sirius about becoming an Animagus. He offered to send his journal to her next chance he got, needing to search for it and block out anything inappropriate before doing so. He'd told her a few books to read in her spare time and she planned to pick them up in Hogsmeade in February.
"So, I'm guessing you don't want to go to Madam Puddifoot's?" Blaise smirked as they headed towards Hogsmeade, holding hands yet again.
"Absolutely not," Stella laughed.
They walked into Honeydukes, buying a few sweets before going to the bookstore for Animagus books and then Zonko's, checking for new items. It was raining rather harshly when they exited the store and Blaise wanted to get out of it but Stella just tipped her head back, smiling and enjoying the feeling. After a moment, she tipped her head forward again and opened her eyes, finding Harry staring at her. She gave him a smile and a wave before running after Blaise towards the Three Broomsticks where he was watching her from with a smile.
"You're going to get a cold," Blaise told her, casting a drying and warming charm on her.
"I love the rain," Stella told him.
"I know," Blaise smiled softly, taking her hand and kissing it before leading her to a table. "I'll be right back."
Stella smiled as she watched him go, passing Harry as he made his way to the bar. Harry didn't even see her, going straight to Hagrid. She shrugged and looked back to Blaise, seeing him carrying two butterbeers over.
"I ordered us a bit of lunch as well," he told her.
"Thank you," Stella smiled, grabbed her butterbeer and taking a sip. "Mmm."
"Don't be making those sounds, now. We'll end up in the back room."
"Oh, no. Anything but making out with my boyfriend," Stella rolled her eyes before she saw Theo approaching them and frowned. "Teddy? Where's Hermione?"
"She says she has something important to talk to Harry about," Theo shrugged, looking rather upset about it. "I'm waiting until she finishes with him."
"Taking turns with your girl?" Blaise joked.
"I didn't think you were into that," Stella smirked.
"You're perfect for each other," Theo rolled his eyes.
Stella winked at Blaise as he beamed at her.
"Do you mind if I crash your date for a bit?" he asked them with a sigh. "I don't really fancy sitting by myself on Valentine's Day, to be honest."
Blaise looked to Stella and she nodded to him.
"Sure," Blaise told him.
"You're always welcome to crash," Stella told him as Blaise moved to the seat beside Stella, putting Theo across from them.
"Well, maybe not always," Blaise corrected.
"Got it," Theo laughed, taking a seat as a butterbeer was brought over to him. "So what have you two done so far?"
"Honeydukes, bookshop, and Zonko's," Blaise shrugged. "Figured we'd get lunch and take a bit of a walk but then the rain started up."
"He won't play in the rain with me," Stella pouted at Theo.
"However will you go on?" Theo joked dryly.
"I'm going to waste away," Stella sighed, leaning back in the booth dramatically.
All three laughed and broke into conversation about the upcoming Quidditch game of Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff. As much as Stella wanted Smith to get destroyed, she knew that it was rather unlikely with three new players on the Gryffindor team. Stella had a hard enough time training a full team with Blaise and Draco's help. There was no way to train two beaters and a seeker in such a short amount of time. Hermione never returned for Theo and the three Slytherins ended up leaving together, Theo dancing in the rain with Stella a bit when she grabbed his arm and pulled him along, getting him to laugh and brighten up a bit in the process.
It was the Monday after Gryffindor was destroyed by Hufflepuff that people began treating the Slytherins worse than ever. Stella was confused until Luna found her and gave her a copy of the Quibbler. Stella found Harry's interview on the very first page, his face splashed across the cover. Stella ran to Snape's office and he called all the Slytherins to the common room immediately, forcing them all to leave their lunches to do so. Stella sat to the side, legs bouncing as she held the rolled up Quibbler tightly in her hands.
"As some of you may have figured out, Harry Potter gave an interview about the events he claims took place in June. It mentioned certain people by name, accusing them of committing crimes."
"Is this about He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?" a second year asked.
"It is," Snape nodded. "I know that I've told you all to stick together before but I need you listen to me. You are not to travel anywhere alone. You are not to let your guard down. I want older students with the younger students at all time. We need to stick together and protect one another."
"But why should we protect people who have committed crimes?" a first year asked.
"Because the people in this room have not committed any crimes," Stella spoke up, standing in front of her house mates. "The people in our house are not their parents. They make their own decisions and their own choices. We should protect one another because it is the right thing to do. It is what we have always done and will continue to do."
Theo was being targeted at all times and Stella and Blaise were guarding him. Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle were sticking together, Tracy, Lily, Daphne, Pansy, and Millicent sticking to them. Stella helped with the younger students, who she'd already had to defend twice. Honestly! They were first years! Their parents weren't even named!
Umbitch had banned the Quibbler but that only made it more popular. If Stella hadn't been so busy protecting Theo and the first years, she would have marched up to Gryffindor tower and screamed at Harry, Hermione, and Ron for not warning her so she could have better prepared the Slytherins from attacks. They probably didn't even know what they had done. At least Luna had made sure to get her a copy of the magazine so she knew what was happening.
She refused to take Occlumency with Harry anymore. He wasn't making any progress and it was a waste of time for her to watch him refuse to try when she was actually interested in the subject. That and she worried she would scream at him if she ended up in front of him.
D.A. meetings were a thing of the past. They'd tried going once after the Quibbler and multiple people had tried cursing Theo at once, causing Stella to cast a shield charm so strong that four people had been thrown back hard enough to break glass. They hadn't stuck around.
Stella wasn't on first year duty one time and all five were in the hospital wing! She felt anger rushing through her as all five of them clutched their stuffed snakes in their hands as they slept, a bit of Amortentia in each one so whatever comforted them would help keep them calm. Madam Pomfrey had gasped when she saw Stella there, watching over the students instead of in her dorm getting rest.
"I'm fine," Stella told her. "I don't have morning classes. I'll sleep then. Blaise is going to take over watch when I leave."
"No one needs to keep watch," Pomfrey tried.
"There are five eleven year old children in your hospital wing and the older students who put them here didn't care about anything other than the fact that they're Slytherins. I'm staying, Madam."
As she traded off with Blaise, Stella overheard Umbitch speaking to Filch.
"I've found them," she laughed. "I've got Potter now. I just have to rally a few students and gather him up from the Come-and-Go room."
Stella ran to the kitchens.
"Dobby!" she called out.
"Mister Harry Potter's friend," Dobby's ear flapped.
"Dobby, I need you to get to Harry and tell him that Umbridge is coming. Hurry!"
Dobby immediately popped away and Stella took off running again, heading towards the seventh floor. She saw members of the D.A. scattering. The moment they were all out, Stella ran in. Hermione, in her rush, had left the list and the photo of the old Order behind. Stella grabbed both and told the room that she needed a way out near the dungeons, relief flooding through her when a door appeared. She ran straight to the Snape's office, tossing herself into her chair and breathing heavily, both items in her hands still.
"Is there a specific reason that you are out of breath? Should I be prepared for something to explode?" Snape asked.
"Well, Harry- had been- running- a secret- dueling club- Umbitch found it… Running- hate running… Oh, Merlin…"
Snape groaned, rubbing his face with his hands.
"Explains why I've had to make so much Veritaserum," he sighed. "I've been slipping antidote into all of the Slytherin drinks and into Potter's, Granger's, and all of the Weasley's cups."
"Smart, sir," Stella nodded. "I should warn you that Hermione jinxed the sign-up sheet. Blaise, Theo and I didn't sign just in case something went wrong though."
"I'll be back," Snape sighed, leaving the room to, hopefully, save Harry's ass.
She waited for two hours before Snape returned.
"Well?" she asked him, voice small.
"Dumbledore has been removed from the school and I shall never sign a piece of parchment from Miss Granger," Snape responded.
Stella groaned.
"She's going to make herself headmistress."