Azkaban 7

Azkaban Episode 7

(NOTE - Sorry, I am still working on the second Trial of Fire and Darkness preview. I’ll try to get it out next Sunday. But for now…)
(NOTE Number 2 - Check previous Azkaban chapters for disclaimer at start of fanfic)

Walking Target

The Galerian Assassin Guilder was dropping fast right at her, arms wide open to land a killing blow. Alicia was in no condition to counterattack, her body wracked with pain as she rolled over to see -- a robed female blocking her with arms outstretched… but who… the form was transparent so it was clearly a spell of some kind, but who… it felt so familiar, but she was trying to hard to…

A spell snipes the Galerian out of the air, bringing it crashing right into Hagrid’s waiting arms. He grabs it by the neck as it falls, and with one hard swing he delivers a killing blow that shatters the creatures spinal column killing it instantly.
As Hagrid tosses the corpse aside Alicia tries to pull herself up, bloodsoaking now half of her body from neck to torso, the world fading about her as she felt her senses abandon her due to her blood loss. She tried to scream, but nothing would come out… she had to warn…

Another spell hit the beast, knocking it further into the woods where it exploded, it’s internal core ruptured by it’s death going critical mass and blowing up. However Hagrid was more concerned with Alicia than himself as he scooped her up into his huge arms and carted her quickly towards the castle, muttering “Yer not dyin’ on me! Yer not dyin’ on me! Yer not dyin’…”

Optimistic to the end. That’s Hagrid for you. She was soaked halfway through with her own blood, and even her own healing factor seemed to have failed her, but he wasn’t going to give up on her yet. Those were the last thoughts she had before slipping into unconsciousness.

There was something painfully familiar about the female that saved her… something…

* * * * * *

She was surrounded by water.

She was lugging someone towards the surface, the light above that shimmered as she kicked furiously towards it… feeling as if she was almost out of time…

“…please don’t be angry…”

The light grew closer and closer as her breath trapped in her chest grew fainter.

It was so close now. She just had to power through and break into the sunlight.

“…I didn’t know it would be like this…”

Where he was waiting. She felt there was someone she had to get to.

Break free of the water, get to him fast, and kill --

“…he has feelings too… please don‘t hurt him…”

The darkness seemed comforting to her, even as she drew close to the light above.
She felt that she wasn’t going to die after all, but yet there was lots that needed answering.
How did it get so close that it could do this without…

“…but I made up my mind, and my heart… I chose…”

Then realization set in. The answer that was at the edge of her mind as the surface of the lake was at the edge of her reach.
The whole school, and for miles about, was covered in a sense of darkness.
This was a side effect of the Dementors, and there was nothing she could about it.
This veil, this darkness, was something that occurred naturally because of their “nature”.
It was like a shroud of night which obscured all mystical “sight“, and made singling out a specific source of darkness within this dark field impossible. In other words she would be operating “blind” this time out.

Sure, as she had been close to them before she had gotten used to the feel of the Dementors, and since she knew she had to “interact” with them she was prepared to shove aside their ill feeling to the point of ignoring it. She was so quickly used to blocking out the sense of darkness from them that she didn’t even think twice about the “energy” they gave off. Bad mistake.

They were there to protect the school, but instead they were creating an artificial “black out” which made it now entirely possible for anything to slip in without being detected.
In the end their help, as well meaning as it might have been, was only hurting the cause.
And, come to think of it, it was hurting right now… badly. But that was her injuries talking.

The second thing on her mind was her two “saviors”.
The female who shielded her, but who she couldn’t see clearly.
Whose voice she was certain was talking in her mind as she swam to the surface, but too faint for her to recognize to “speaker”.
Then there was the one who shot down the Galerian as it attacked, and gave Hagrid the chance to kill it. His or her identity was also shrouded in mystery.

Confusion. Riddles. It seemed that if there were answers to these two questions that they weren’t present as of yet. That’s when the darkness began to lift, and the splash of water added to the welcome taste of fresh air as she hit the surface, she woke.

“ALICIA!!”

The first sight she came to was Gryffindors around her, looking at heranxiously.
The second sight confused her, because there was a group of Slytherin also standing around her, also watching her as she came out of it.
“…I take it this isn’t the morbid curiosity of watching someone die…” she muttered.

“You going to be alright?” someone asked, and to her shock that someone was… Malfoy?
He was standing near her looking dead serious, but she couldn’t help but feel how… wrong it was. She dismissed everyone, after much hugging and gifts and words of encouragement, leaving her alone with Malfoy. She looked at him, glanced at him up and down and asked the obvious…

“He’s not here, isn’t he?”

Malfoy shrugged, shuffled his feet, and then said “A little bit of him is, but he’s in the backseat being silent after a threat of a lobotomy. Such a pain he is, but after the second time in one day he seems used to being the passenger, he even realizes he has you to thank for the fact he isn‘t dead right about now.”

A tired sigh escapes her lips as she pulls herself into a sitting position. “The last thing I need is you making things “better” by interfering, you know that.”

“C’mon,” Jack Lazarus pried, nudging Alicia from Malfoy’s body, “You can’t tell me that you weren’t the slightest bit shocked to see Malfoy over your bed being concerned!”

“Dammit I thought I was going to die and he came to gloat!” she grumbled, face scrunching up, “The least you can do is jump a cute girl’s body if you want to pay your “respects” to me.” (eyes narrow) “And speaking of that, why didn’t I feel that creature until it was practically on top of me trying to land a killing blow!”

Malfoy leans back, and looks around as if watching for prying eyes before speaking, “I felt into your mind, I know you know this answer already, but since you obviously want me to say it out loud… yes, Alicia, you’re right, there’s too many Dementors. As you have already guessed their essence is shrouding the school in a layer of darkness. Darkness so thick and so much that it’s impossible to detect any other dark entities in this “cloaking device” of shadow. That includes the would be assassin drone unit that tried to off you. One of many no doubt to come in the days left in the school year.”

“I felt that…” she noted, nodding her head, “I was hoping it was my nerves, but it seems that the Dementors are more of a menace than a help, their own presence blocking any sign of real darkness approaching until it’s too late. That’s not good. Then again it‘s not like endless hordes of evil are approaching the school so --” (blinks) “-- eh, just so I know, it WAS you who bailed me out, right? Knocked the creature into Hagrid?”

“…uh… no.” Jack/Malfoy answered truthfully. “I also noted a protective spell was cast near you, but that also wasn’t me. Somebody was doing it from the forest, or nearby somewhere… maybe from the school grounds where most of the students fled…”

“Hermione.” Alicia muttered, “Did she do that? But how…”

“Did you say something?” Jack asked with genuine curiosity.

Alicia shakes her head, blushing abit at the thought of Hermione… “Nothing, nothing. Forget it…” (silence comes between them for a minute) “…Hagrid’s in trouble, isn’t he.”

Jack/Malfoy smiled a rather awkward looking grin (since she was not at all prepared to see a genuine heartwarming grin on Malfoy‘s face) “Well, at least you can’t complain that your first day with magical creatures wasn’t interesting.” He remarked slyly, causing Alicia to pale at the remark. “Yeah. I always find near death experiences to be amongst the most interesting things I ever did on any given day. Joy. I can’t wait for it to happen again.”

“Well…” Jack motions towards the window, which was now dark, “…it’s night now and Hagrid is home. And since you already healed all the way we can do a little “swap” and you visit him while I play you for awhile. Deal?”

Alicia nods, feeling herself all healed up as she pulled the blankets away only to cover herself again. “DAMN!” she hissed, “Must they always dump me in bed naked!!”

“Maybe they get off on looking on that fine bod’ of you… and I can’t believe I just said that.” (Jack/Malfoy coughs in aggrivation before continuing) “They did have to do a lot to get you back on your feet again, so you can kinda understand about them having to disrobe you in order to save you… don’t worry, nothing of yours is missing or in the wrong hands.” (silence) “There. I shoved Malfoy into a sleep mode so I can tell you this. There’s a small amount of good in him, I can feel it, buried deep. Something, or someone, has been fostering this good in him yet I can’t seem to find out who. His or her identity he’s locked away tight…” (smirks) “…guess even a guy like Malfoy can have a little good in him.”

“Guess so.” Alicia mutters, thoughts racing. “Now are you going to get the hell out of here or are you hoping for another peek.”

Jack didn’t wait to be asked twice.

* * * * * *

As she reached the hut, she found that she was not alone.
Harry, Hermione and Ron looked as if they saw a ghost. She pointed at her wound and shrugged, “It’s nothing, forget it.” (her eyes falls onto the front door of the hut) “I’m going to take it that you’re here for the exact same reason I am, right?”

“Cheer Hagrid up?”

Alicia nods, “Then we’re on the same page, Ron. Shall we?”
When they reached the door, Ron knocked and a weary “C’min.” greeted them.
As both Hermione and Alicia reached for the door their hands met, touched briefly, and was quickly pulled away. Hermione, red faced and blushing abit, opened the door.
Hagrid, drunk out of his mind with his boarhound Fang nearby, regarded the group with a dazed stupefied look. Obviously he had found his limits in the drinking dept. that night.

“’Spect it’s a record,” he lamented, finally coming to his senses and recognizing them.
“Don’ reckon they’ve ever had a teacher who lasted on’y a day before.”

“You haven’t been fired yet, Hagrid!” Hermione gasped in indignation, the redness fading from her cheeks as she focused on Hagrid, “They can’t fire you! It wasn’t your fault!”

“Not yet, but they’re considerin’ it.” he remarked glumly, taking a slam of the strong substance in his tankard before him. “It’s only a matter o’ time, I s’pp’se, after what happened to yah’…”

“The Galerian Guilder caused more damage than Buckbeak!” Alicia complained, “And I don’t plan on causing a ruckus over this, either! Consider me silent on this point.”
Hagrid’s eyes focused dimly on her, the obvious question forming on his lips.
“I’m fine.” she assured him. “Madam Pomfrey patched me up just fine, and I’m young yet so I have quite abit of get-up and go in the healing dept. so I’m doing swell.” (‘just as long as nobody asks me to go into a gymnastics routine because I still feel rather sore in places.’ she added in her own thoughts) “Don’t worry about it. Shake it off, ‘kay?”

But it was as if Hagrid just wasn’t listening as he spoke, “School gov’nors have bin told, o’ course. They reckon I started too big. Shoulda left hippogriffs fer later… done flobberworms or summat… Jus’ thought it’d make a good firs’ lesson…. ‘S all my fault…”

“It’s all Malfoy’s fault, Hagrid!” Hermione said earnestly, “And his playacting earlier at Alicia’s bedside is an insult! What a jerk!”

‘Too bad that wasn’t Malfoy at my bedside.’ Alicia thought to herself, ‘At least not in the sense of his spirit…’ (sighs) “She’s right. You warned him they get awfully cranky when people disrespect them and he went off and disrespected them. I…” (stops) “…waitaminute…”

* * * * * *

Flashback…

Malfoy shrugged, shuffled his feet, and then said “A little bit of him is, but he’s in the backseat being silent after a threat of a lobotomy. Such a pain he is, but after the second time in one day he seems used to being the passenger, he even realizes he has you to thank for the fact he isn‘t dead right about now.”

* * * * * *

“…he wasn’t in control at that moment…” Alicia muttered, drawing curious gazes from everyone. “Nothing, nothing, don’t mind me…” she quickly replied, drifting back abit as everyone started talking again.

Alicia‘s mind buzzed furiously on the topic, ‘So he was under control of… something. Might explain his retarded arrogant act that almost got him bloodied up. But why…’

“I think you had enough to drink, Hagrid,” Hermione said sternly, pulling at Alicia’s sleeve to get her assistance in emptying the tankard. Outside she looked at Alicia with a firm expression as she asked “Are you really alright?”

“I’m a little sore here, and there, but I’ll live.” she answered truthfully. “I didn’t know you cared so much about my wellbeing.”

Hermione’s face blushes bright red once again as she nearly drops the tankard, her mouth ajar. “I care! I mean of course I care! I…” (stops) “…never mind.”

As she walks quickly back into the hut Alicia grins abit, “Guess maybe I have a chance after all with you.”

Hagrid immediately came outside as Hermione went in, and waddled over to a barrel of water where he dunked his head in to sober up. Alicia, watching him gurgle and splash his head in the water, walked up and stood nearby. As he surfaced she asked him “Think she likes me?”
Hagrid, now a little more clear headed but not by much, looked at her as if she proclaimed herself to be the re-incarnation of Cleopatra. “…never mind…” she muttered, pushing him back into the hut with a heavy sigh.

Inside he wiped his face of the excess water, muttering “Tha’s better,” shaking his head drenching them all.
“Listen, it was good of yeh ter come an’ see me, I really --”
Silence. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Hagrid stopped dead in mid-sentence.
Alicia’s eyes glanced nervously around the room, waiting for someone to break the tension.
The wait wasn’t long.

“WHAT D’YEH THINK YOU’RE DOIN’, EH?” he roared, so suddenly he made everyone jump, “YEH’RE NOT TO GO WANDERIN’ AROUND AFTER DARK, HARRY! AN’ YOU THREE! LETTIN’ HIM!”

Hagrid quickly strode to Harry, pulling him right away to the door. “C’mon! I’m takin’ yer all back up ter school, an’ don’ let me catch yeh walkin’ down ter see me after dark again. I’m not worth that!”
The walk up was going to be rather quiet, Alicia gathered from the mood rather quickly.
Turned out to be anything but.
As they exited the hut Alicia’s senses suddenly jump to attention.

“RUN!!” she cried out, spinning about to shield as a bio-bolt came down upon them, knocking her off her feet as it impacted. The sound of leaping, and claws scraping wood, echoed as she realized she was under attack once again… another Drone unit was on the offensive.
The last one had to be a Drone unit, since she was now obviously under attack by another drone unit right now. This time, however, she was ready.

As Hagrid hustled Harry, Hermione and Ron to safety she pulled her wand out of her robes and tested it in her hand. The Galerian was fast, moving from tree to tree vying for a new shooting position. She hefts the wand into the air, and cries out the spell for light. As the wand bursts into life, lighting the area, the Galerian turned and fired another shot… it’s
mistake. As the shot fired Alicia got it’s “location” and acted quickly, throwing herself to one side as she raised one arm up (hand out as if aiming a gun), shooting off one hard energy shot into the trees.

For the longest time she thought she missed. But seconds later she heard the solid thump, and the explosion of a detonating bio-core. She had blown it’s head off in one shot as it landed in another tree, the few seconds it needed to orient itself being enough time for the shot to carve it’s head apart as it tried to find the next tree to leap to.

However the Galerian wasn’t the only one who made a bad mistake. She had thrown herself without even thinking of how she’d land as she fell, because as she hit the ground a hard surge of pain ripped into her. She had dislocated her shoulder jumping aside, falling on the same side that was ripped into earlier that day by Buckbeak, and it was hurting like all
hell as she landed on it awkwardly. She rolled on the ground, clutching her dislocated limb, deciding to wait for Hagrid to come back for her which wouldn’t be long in coming.

While she waited it gave her enough time to reconsider her “lifestyle”, and if it was worth having all this unwanted “attention” aimed at her. She didn’t have long to wait, though, as Hagrid came back quickly enough to set her right… after much yelling and cursing on her part to get him “motivated” into yanking her arm back into it’s socket. As Hagrid put her
arm back into it’s socket (at her loud and nearly threatening request) she figured it was this or she’d die of boredom.

She opted for her “status quo” life over death by boredom.

* * * * * *

Going back to class was a simple enough task once she convinced Madam Pomfrey that she wasn‘t going to break into tiny pieces if she left her care (or commit physical suicide upon herself by breakage through being alive).
The arm was set nicely back into place, and as long as she didn’t stress it out she could expect it to mend in a short matter of time. Of course convincing Madam Pomfrey of her wellness was one thing, getting people to not treat her like an invalid was another thing altogether.

True, it seemingly took forever to get Madam Pomfrey to release her from the hospital ward, especially after her “escapades” the night before, but she got out eventually… with a sling for her now mending arm. That only made it all the worse for her as she’d soon find out.
Indignant as all hell she walked into class looking rather bitter as she took her seat and started working on a potion she had “studied” in bed just for this class.

Still, the way everyone looked at her you would have thought she was a plague victim. It seemed that even her raven Chii gave her a dirty look as she worked. “I’m not going to turn you into a mole or anything, so stop glaring at me!” she grumbled, working hard on her ingredients with her good arm. Overall, at this point she was glad she was good with both
hands since working one armed would have been a pain if she blew out her good arm.

The potion was simple enough, even for Alicia who hated potions. The potion in question was a simple Shrinking Solution. ‘If worse comes to worse I can always cheat by using my power to shrink Chii.’ Alicia thought to herself, her good hand working on the potion even as ripples
of irritation from her injured arm continued to dance across her inflamed pain senses.

“Weasley, don’t just sit there looking like an inept excuse for a statue, cut up Spinnet’s roots for her before she mangles them into the magical equivelant of salad toppings.”

“I’m fine.” she spat out, “Mind your own roots.”

Ron went pale, “I can help if you…” (stops as he catches her near murderous look) “…or not.”
Snape, glancing over at her work, sighed, “You’re mutilating your roots.”

“No I am not.” she hissed back. “Get off my back.”

“That won’t do. Change roots with Mr. Weas--”
Alicia’s knife slams blade down right into the table bringing the class to a halt for a second.
Snape, now moving away, decided to harass someone else.
Retrieving her knife she went back to work, even more deadset on doing it herself.
Somehow it seemed as if he was being more helpful and nice to her that usual.
Most likely his way of getting on her bad side she thought to herself.

Malfoy, who seemed to have something to say, suddenly kept quiet… but his thoughts betrayed him. They were, after all, too loud. Even Alicia could hear them in this room full of noisy “thoughts”.

“No I am not going to get Hagrid fired.” Alicia grumbled, glancing back at Malfoy with murderous intent, “And if you try that I will make your life miserable.”

“It’s not his fault!”

Suddenly the all too familiar complaining voice of her elfin “keeper” snapped Alicia out of her stupor, and towards Snape‘s latest victim. May had once again found something to complain about, as she tried to shield Longbottom from Snape’s wrath. “It can be fixed.”

“It’s orange, miss, ORANGE!” said Snape in a testy voice, ladling some up to show everyone within eyesight of the concoction. “Orange. Tell me then, boy, does anything I try to teach you penetrate that thick skull of yours?”

His eyes narrowed, and nostrils flared, as he paced the two. “Didn’t you hear me say, quite clearly, that only one rat spleen was needed? Didn’t I state plainly that a dash of leech juice would suffice? What do I have to do to make you understand my lessons, Longbottom?”

Alicia, from her spot, shook her head. He was arrogant, and rude, but he was also right.
She got the gist of the spell just from her book, and wasn’t even here for half of the verbal instructions, yet he had both to go with and still screwed it up. Clearly if May and the rest of Gryffindor wasn’t so hot on babying Neville they would realize that they were not helping him by always bailing him out of troubles he caused himself.

Neville was pink, trembling behind May as she growled at Snape. He was two seconds short of having a full on crying fit and that only irked May all the more.
“Please, sir,” Hermione said quickly, “please, I could help Neville put it…”

“NO YOU DON’T!”

The class fell silent again, but this time because of the source of the protest -- Alicia.

“Alicia!” Harry rasped, only to be glared at by her, “She’s NOT HELPING HIM if she has to constantly coddle him everytime he makes a screw up! He’s not going to learn if he’s bailed everytime he makes a mistake!”
The Slytherins started to snicker, but a harsh glance at them brought that to an end.
“Neville can be a great wizard if only he believes in himself, and his own abilities! Mark my words, there’s greatness in him if he’d only gets off his rear, stop whining and screwing up, and believes in his own ability to be great!”

The class did not protest, or mock anymore, and silence reigned in class.

It was a pity that Snape, finally, had to break the silence. He straightened himself up and said in a low tone drawling close to sarcasm “At the end of the lesson we’ll test Mr. Longbottom’s potion on his toad, and see what happens.”
And, with that, he leaves to walk the class, saying no more.
Unfortunately it seemed as if Alicia’s words went right over Neville’s head like a Concorde because he was already begging for help. With clenched teeth Alicia went back to work, trying her best to not yell at Longbottom anymore. Snape, passing nearby, whispered to her.

“It’s a shame that wisdom is wasted on the hopeless.”

“Shut up, Yoda, or I’ll cram Neville’s potion down your throat.” she snarled in response.

“Time out.”

Alicia looked up, now less angry and more confused at Snape‘s last words. “Say--”

“Time out.” he repeated without sparing a glance.

“Hey, Harry,” Seamus Finnigan started from nearby, “have you heard? Daily Prophet this morning - they reckon Sirius Black has been sight--”
Time stops for everyone except Alicia and Snape.
“You got my attention.” she grumbled, now realizing where he was heading with his request.

* * * * * *

The paper was not moving, as it should in “time out”, but the words were enough.

“Someone spotted Black less than 50 miles from here, but by the time it was called in he was gone… no doubt blazing a trail right to Hogsmeade.” Alicia noted. “To hold out until he can infiltrate the school.” Snape concluded, “Which shouldn’t be a problem for him since he never had a problem sneaking out of school.”
Alicia raised an eyebrow, “A revelation?”
“Of sorts.” Snape said off hand. “Infiltrating Hogwarts won’t be hard for a former student.”

Alicia - “And how would you know of…”

“There’s a good reason why everyone is concerned about Potter.” he remarked coldly, his dark eyes narrowing. “A very good reason.”

“And I suppose you’re not going to tell me.” Alicia countered.

For a long time the two stared at each other, until finally Snape walked back to where he was before Time Out and motioned for Alicia to go back. “Figures.”
It was time anyway. She couldn’t hold time back forever, only small intervals, and he knew she was nearing her limit and had to stop now.
Still, all in all, she wished Snape wasn’t so vague all the time. Must be from his “hatred” for her, she surmised. Still, it would have helped if she had more answers than questions.
“Why bother having a time out if you’re just going to riddle me with more questions.” she complained silently, returning time to normal.

* * * * * *

The class finally came to it’s conclusion. Even Double Potions must end eventually.
Snape quickly walked over to Neville, who was cowering behind May as he did.
“Everyone gather ‘round,” said Snape with energy in his voice, his black eyes almost glittering in his enthusiasm. “and watch what happens to Longbottom’s toad. If he has managed to produce a Shrinking Solution, it will shrink to a tadpole. If, as I don’t doubt, he has done it…”

“Gimme!” Alicia grumbled, grabbing the potion and downing it in one gulp in front of a now very shellshocked class. Nothing. Then she nodded her head and gave a thumbs up. “You have about 10 seconds to give me the antidote before my clothes falls off and I give everyone a little flash…” (Snape couldn’t pour the antidote fast enough) “…ok… so no little nudity for the boys today… pun intended.”

The Gryffindors burst into applause, but Alicia wasn’t smiling. She simply glared at Snape who finally relented to letting them have their moment. As they left class he quickly grabbed Alicia and moved her to the back of the class, “You must have a deathwish doing that! It could have…”

“…been poison.” she remarked, shaking free of his grasp, “I thought you would have been tickled pink to have the one with your dirtiest secret dead.”

“Don’t tempt me.” he shot back, eyes narrowing as he watched her leave. “If I didn’t know better I’d say you wanted to be dead.”

“Don’t tempt me.” she remarked as she left the room.

* * * * * *

Considering she was beginning to make progress with Hermione you would have thought that she had no desire to die now… and yet there was still that urge… and remembrances of…
As she stepped out of the class she ran headlong into Hermione who was panting heavily.
“Wh-what?” she gasped, looking at the distressed Hermione. “What’s with you? I thought…”

“What?” she said with some confusion, looking about, “Oh, sorry, I forgot something.” she rasped, hurrying up the stairs. Alicia, looking up to watch her run into Ron/Harry, only to lose all the books from her bag as it ripped, was confused. “But I didn’t see her come back to class…”
As she reached the top of the stairs she grabbed Hermione by the robes, “Riddle me this, Miss Granger, why are you carrying enough books to knock a troll into a deep coma?”

“You know how many subject I’m taking,” Hermione rasped, breath nearly gone, “Couldn’t hold these for me, cou--”

Alicia pulls one of her tesseract gems, tapping it against the books to seal the whole bundle into it, passing it off to Hermione as she did. “Done. Now what--”
Hermione, however, couldn’t wait as she pushed forward heading towards the Great Hall.
“Wait!” Alicia cried out, “10 books and all we have today is Potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts?!? What--”

“Lunch! Can’t wait! Starving!” she cried, hurrying her pace.
Ron shrugged in sympathy. “Nice try, but I already went that route with her-- same results.”
Alicia stood there, dumbstruck, as she watched Hermione’s retreating head bob out of sight amidst the lunchhour crowd. “…guess lunch must be good today…”

* * * * * *

If the illogic of Hermione’s schedule baffled her, let alone how she was flustered at Alicia one moment and then ignoring her the next, the case of the missing Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher further befuddled Alicia’s already troubled mind.

Professor Lupin, it seems, was a no show. They were there, first class of the year, but their teacher was clearly not there. Not a good thing for a first class.
They all sat down, took out books and quills and parchments, and waited.
“First time I ever been to a class where the teacher decided to ditch on the students.” Alicia grumbled, her wand waving mindlessly in her good hand as she waited for something to happen. “If I knew he was going to ditch I would have done the same.“ she remarked glumly.

So, left with little choice, she sat there and waited… and waited… and talked to whoever was nearby… and waited… for sometime it seems she sat and waited until finally the doors swung open and in strode Professor Lupin.
He smiled vaguely, placing his old tatty briefcase on his desk as he regarded the class.
He didn’t seem too bad, despite the fact he was still as scruffy as ever, just abit more nourished from being fed three square meals.
“Good afternoon,” he said, glancing about the class, “Would you please put all your books back in your bags. Today’s will be a practical lesson. You will need only your wands.”

Curious glances were exchanged as books went bye-bye, and wands here held tightly by now anxious students.

“Right then,” Lupin proudly exclaimed, once everyone was ready, “If you’d follow me.”
Curious and puzzled by all this, the class got to it’s feet and followed Lupin out of the class.
He lead them along the now deserted corridor and around a corner, where the first thing they saw was a most curious sight. Peeves the Poltergeist was up to his old tricks.

But that didn’t concern Alicia. She saw something else that was far more interesting.
As the class became entranced by the exchange between Lupin and Peeves, Alicia moved back to a dark corner where she saw a familiar “face”.
There, hiding in the shadows, was a very uptight Moaning Myrtle.
That in itself was odd since she never left the bathroom she haunted.
Alicia tried to grab Myrtle as she shrunk back into the darkness, “What’s wrong?”
Myrtle first vanished without stopping, only to reappear after a few seconds and say in a direct manner “It’s too dark. Everything is too dark. The mood. The “light”. Everything.” she glared at Alicia, “And it’s your fault bringing them here. The hooded things that reek of living death. The loud clammoring lizard monsters that walk like ape people. The disorderly one. I liked it better when it was quiet, and brighter.”
And, with that, she vanished.

Thankfully Lupin got the class moving again before anyone noticed she was missing.
Whatever she missed seemed to have changed the mood with the class.
They now looked on at Lupin with a greater sense of respect, yet she didn’t know why.
Maybe the first lesson will shed light on that, Alicia thought, as they entered a new room.

This was the staffroom, where teachers hung out between classes. It was a long paneled room full of old, rather mismatched chairs. The room was empty except for one teacher, which was the one Alicia actually wanted to see : Snape. He was sitting in a low armchair, and looked around as the class filled in. Before he could speak Alicia “mind-jammed” him and
simply said “Stay.” But as Lupin came in, Snape stood up and said “Leave it open, Lupin. I’d rather not witness this.”

He got to his feet and strode past the class, his eyes locked on Alicia as he did.
‘You saw Myrtle, haven’t you.’ he thought in his mind. ‘You already know what she means without having to ask me about it.’
‘I know who the hooded one bearing living death is, and I know about the lizard monsters, but who is the “disorderly one”.’ Alicia demanded in her thoughts.

At the doorway he turned on his heel and said, “Possibly no one’s warned you, Lupin, but this class contains Neville Longbottom. I would advise you not to entrust him with anything difficult. Not unless Miss Granger is hissing instructions in his ear, being disorderly in the process.”
Alicia’s jaw nearly dropped open at the implication, but Snape ignored her as he left.

Professor Lupin, however, raised his eyebrows at the remark.
“I was hoping that Neville would assist me with the first stage of the operation, and I am sure he will perform it most admirably.”
Neville paled, but not as much as Alicia who did everything she could to keep from screaming.
Snape shrugged, “As you wish, Lupin, after all it’s your TIME.” he said with a flourish in the last word as he left.

Time? What does time have to do with anything? Is he just pulling her chain to see if she’d jump? No, no, Snape was really being on the level about the “disorderly one” so… what the hell does that mean about Hermione?

“Now, then,” Professor Lupin beckoned, at the same time a pulling in her mind told her that the Dementors were also beckoning. Great, just great, another curtain call.
They had a report so she allowed them to drift her mentally to their “location” for them to speak to her, as she stood in “class” watching and “listening”.
The Dementors, rounded in a circle about her, reported.

Their suspicions were dead on right, on more than one count.
Black was indeed very close now, the Dementors could feel it.
However that is all they could do. They couldn’t localize the “feeling”, nor could they find the “source” of the feeling. Black was near, just they didn’t know how near.

And the Dementors had at last realized that they had let something else slip in. That thing, of course, being the Assassin Guilder and his drone units… fat lot of good that revelation did however. As far as the Dementors were concerned only Black meant anything to them. It seemed that Black was the one and only fixation on their “mind”, so to speak.

No amount of “derailment” tactics from Alicia could get them to focus resources to hunt her “assassin”, since they were only interested in Black. Just as well, she surmised, since it was her fight in the first place. Best to be left to her.

As she focused back on class she realized everyone had moved to near the end of the room, near an old wardrobe filled with spare robes. However, as the class neared, something inside the wardrobe hissed and shook the huge piece of furniture as if to frighten them.

“Nothing to worry about,” Professor Lupin announced quite casually, as he motioned for those who jumped back to step forward again, “There’s a boggart in there.”

Alicia, eyebrow raised in her usual skeptical manner, could only stare at the now fidgety cabinet as it clacked and rattled in disbelief. A “boggart”, eh? What’s that?
Neville seemed to cling onto May just that much tighter as he stared, while Finnigan gave the whole scene a rather apprehensive look. Lupin continued. “Boggarts like dark, enclosed spaces. Wardrobes, the gap beneath beds, the cupboards under sinks -- I’ve even met one that had lodged itself in a grandfather clock.”

“Try the living the next time you look for new friends.” Alicia quipped, staring at the rattling piece of cabinetry with abit of disdain. “At least dead things that are friendlier.”

Lupin shrugged, “And it just arrived yesterday to be our “friend” too.”

The class chuckled at his counter-quip, bringing a bit of a frown to Alicia’s lips as he went on about the Boggart. “It moved in yesterday afternoon, and I asked the headmaster if the staff would leave it to give my third years some practice. So, first question we must ask ourselves is this - What is a boggart?”

Hermione, like clockwork, had her hand up quickly.

“It’s a shape-shifter,” she said in a matter of fact tone, “It can take the shape of whatever it thinks will frighten us most.”

Lupin, smiling from ear to ear, slaps a hand down on his thigh and quickly points right at Hermione in a triumphant manner, “EXCELLENT! Couldn’t have put it better myself!” Lupin praised, bringing a bright glow to Hermione’s cheeks.
This clearly didn’t impress Alicia at all, who sulked in her spot and thought nasty things about the new teacher. ‘Bet he likes ‘em young.’ she thought spitefully, ‘Kiss up.’

“So the boggart sitting in the darkness within has not yet assumed a form. It does not yet know what will frighten the person on the opposite side of the door. Nobody knows what a boggart looks like when it is alone, but when I let it out…’

* * * * * *

The sky was eternal night, even in the middle of the day.
The city was destroyed. Hulking wrecks of buildings reached into the dead sky above as she walked along the huge open courtyard towards her destination.
She was one of a dozen Ravens performing recovery duties for the living in this ruined city, but finding the living wasn’t easy since the living was “frozen” in cryotubes for “later useage”. As she walked towards the door, her hand already motioning to pull the door open via the use of her power, she heard a faint shriek from within. Before she could stop herself she had begun to pull the door open only to release a half crazed Dark Lunaris creature, the half frost bitten monster falling to it’s side on the cold dead earth shrieking madly as it flailed about in madness.

The corridor beyond was cold, as cold as the world about her and the sight before her.
Cold… and dead.

* * * * * *

“Er -- because there are so many of us, it won’t know what shape it should be?”
As she snapped out of it she realized Harry, not Hermione, was talking.
“Precisely.” Lupin said in praise, as Hermione dropped her hand looking a tad disappointed.
“It’s always best to have company when you’re dealing with a boggart. It becomes confused when confronted by two different fears. Which should it become, a headless corpse or a flesh-eating slug. I once saw--”

‘Oh for goddess’ sake, not another “I once saw” story.’ Alicia sighed, eyes straying about as she waited for the real lesson to begin. ‘Cut to the chase and tell me how to beat it.’
As if reading her mind, Lupin did exactly that.
“The charm that repels a boggart is simple, yet it requires force of mind. You see, the thing that really finishes a boggart is a simple emotion -- laughter. What you need to do is force it to assume a shape that you find most amusing.”

“And that’s it?”

“That’s it, Miss Spinnet.” Lupin answered, “We will practice the charm without wands first, to get the wrist motions down. Now, repeat after me please -- riddikulus!”

“Riddikulus!” the class pronounced together, wrists in motion to mimic the spell motions.

‘That’s what this class is -- “riddikulus”.’ Alicia thought to herself.

“Good, very very good.” Lupin praised. “But that was the easy part, I’m afraid. You see, the word alone is not enough. And that, Neville, is where you come into the lesson.”

Neville looked as if he was about to have a seizure as Lupin led him forward towards the closet, the shaking increasing as he drew closer and closer.
May wasn’t far off from having her own seizure at Lupin’s boldness with Neville, fidgeting as she watched as if she was worried Neville was seconds away from losing a limb or three.

With a dissatisfied sigh she pulled a few candy bars from a hidden tesseract pouch, and began eating mindlessly as she watched with little interest.
“Not going anywhere for awhile? Hell yeah…” she muttered.
To Be Continued