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Azkaban 11

Azkaban Episode 11

“Hermione. Cho. Hermione. Cho…” Alicia muttered to herself, eyes glancing about the surroundings of the almost too quaint Dickens-like village stuck in time. “So many choices, so little time… what the…”
Suddenly a notice posted to one side on a message board.

BY ORDER OF
THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC
Citizens and visitors are reminded that until further notice, Dementors will be patrolling the streets of Hogsmeade every night after sundown. The measure has been put in place for the safety of Hogsmeade residents in light of the recent Halloween incident at Hogwarts concerning Sirius Black and an underaged female witch. These precautions will be lifted only upon the recapture of the fugitive Black, whose charges has been raised to a level that may warrant the death penalty. It is therefore advisable that you complete your shopping or business in the town of Hogsmeade before nightfall.
Merry Christmas.

“And a happy facist year.” Alicia muttered, feeling suddenly an all too needed presence hovering behind her, looking over her shoulder. “I take it you didn’t want what happened to you to become public knowledge.”

“You said it, Cho, I didn’t (and at what point was I “underaged“ again?).” Alicia confirmed, sighing irritably as she turned away from the board as Cho fell into step at her side. “Still, Cho, you have no idea how welcome your presence is.”

“I have a good idea.” she remarked with a slight smirk, “I’d say that Black had no chance to get past this much precautions, but in light of Halloween and what he did…”

“I’m beginning to wonder if it was really him.”

“Really?” Cho chimed in, abit confused, “Why?”

“There’s something all so wrong about the set-up.” Alicia elaborated, motioning with her hands as she spoke, “drawing” out her explanation as she did. “When he skewered me by accident he looked like he was about to have a nervous breakdown, practically freaking out. I find it hard to imagine that, even if he was locked up as long as he was, his hormones overrode his near panicked state to compel him to thump me after he saved my life.” (waves off Cho’s next words) “Nobody else was in that corridor that I knew of. Nobody was in the Gryffindor common room most certainly, and the magic used on my back (according to the infirmary staff) was too complex for even a 7th year student. It had to have been him.”

“Then why save you and then rape y--” (clamps her teeth down tight) “…sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it, I‘m not allergic to the “R“ word. Far from it” (shakes head) “That’s why I don’t think he had anything to do with it. Somebody else got to me after he healed me, I’m sure of it.”

Silence ruled briefly, as much silence as possible in the middle of a large crowd of Christmas shoppers milling about looking for bargains or the rare treasure. “By the way, Cho, you aren’t thinking of turning me in after we get back to Hogwarts, are you?”

“No, no, of course not.” she repiled honestly, “Still I’m surprised at your rebellious nature.”

Alicia - “Since when have I not been rebellious?”

Cho Chang - “Touche’.”

“I’m thirsty.” Alicia spoke up, “Where’s this place that serves these “butterbeers” I keep hearing people talk about back in school?”

* * * * * *

The place was extremely crowded, noisy, warm (but not in the bad way associated with some drinking pubs Alicia has seen in her past) and smoky (but again not in a bad way). “Glad this place believes in Anti-Tobacco Spells to keep smoking/non-smoking patrons separate.” Alicia sighed as she tapped the “No Tobacco Smoke” spell runes on one of the beams surrounding the non-smoking area of the establishment. “That’s so 21st Century of them.”
‘Guess I should be glad I’m not here trying to get my lovelife out of the gutter.’ Alicia thought as she sat down at a table with Cho, ‘This is the kind of place where it’s all too easy to get your messages mixed up in the loud roar of the maddening crowds.’

A curvy woman with a beautiful face walked up and took their orders, leaving Alicia with a wide smile as she walked off. “She’s nice, and I don’t mean in the sexual way though…” (blinks) “She makes the full bodied look work for her.”

“That’s Madam Rosmerta, Alicia.” said Cho. “She’s a nice person, a real gentle soul.”
Five minutes later she sauntered back to them, butterbeers in hand. With a slight wave and an extra generous tip for her on her tray, she vanished into the crowd with a smile and a bit of a bow (which had a very unexpected effect on Alicia as she swallowed her first sip hard).
“Looked down her top, did you?”

“You know it…” Alicia nearly choked, wiping the excess from her lips. “Bad me.” (raises butterbeer up to Cho with a slowly recovering smirk on her face) “Cheers.” she gurgled, still recovering from her “incident”. “God I’m glad I have a strong bladder.” she muttered.

“Somehow I think I should be glad too.” Cho agreed.

Suddenly a breeze ruffled Alicia’s senses, and her eyes narrowed sharply at the faint thoughts that suddenly brushed across her mind. Normally she didn’t have the thoughts of others intrude into her mind without her seeking them, but like a person submerged into the middle of a swimming pool, it was impossible not to at least “feel” the water all about her even if she wasn’t actively “observing” it. So to feel all too familiar thoughts brush the edge of her mind brought her senses toward it suddenly, locking onto it as she sensed their intent about her. “The door.” Alicia motions, “McGonagall…” (enters) “…Flitwick…” (enters) “…Hagrid…” (seconds pass) “…Hagrid…” (seconds pass) “…Hag…” (suddenly her comes in deep in conversation with a portly man) “…there he is, and there’s Fudge.”

Swallowing another shot of her drink, she watched them intently, her mind focusing on their “words” as they thought them (and they came forth in spoken tongue). Quickly remembering she wasn’t alone, she grasped Cho’s hand and opened her to what she was experiencing.

As Rosmerta handed out drinks, Alicia felt something stirring just above the thoughts of the party set on the table. They were all thinking of the same thing, and whatever it was it had them all on edge for some reason. That reason, she felt, was about to come.

“So, what brings you to this neck of the woods, Minister?” Rosmerta asked, asking the obvious question that was even on Alicia’s mind as she watched.
He lowered his voice, but that was about as useful as trying to hide a PS3 in your jacket as his mind (and his words) were open to examination. “What else, m’dear, but Sirius Black? I daresay you heard what happened up at the school at Halloween to Miss Spinnet?”

Rosmerta gritted her teeth, and glanced towards Alicia only to turn back without noting her (a slight nudge to her mind to “ignore” Alicia and Cho). “I heard.” she hissed in pain.

McGonagall looked pissed off, turning towards Hagrid angrily. “Did you tell the whole pub, Hagrid!?” she grumbled in aggrivation. Hagrid lowered his head, and said nothing.
“Do you think Black’s still in the area, Minister?” Rosmerta chirped in, drawing the heat off of Hagrid in the process. To that, Fudge replied plainly “I’m sure of it.”

“You know that the Dementors have searched the whole village twice?” Rosmerta said with a slight edge in her voice, (‘Is that all?’ Alicia thought to herself) “Scared all my customers away… it’s very bad for business, Minister.”

“It’d be worst for business if another Halloween incident happened a stone’s throw from your establishment’s front door, Rosmerta.” Fudge answered grimly. “I don’t like the Dementors presence here anymore than you do, but in the end a little lost business is better than a grand scandal that’ll scar all and make Hogsmeade a near ghost town.”

“Listen…” Fudge leans closer, eyes narrowing as he regarded each at the table in turn. “They’re in a fury against Dumbledore, he won’t let them inside the school grounds…”

“I should think not.” Professor McGonagall sharply replied, “How are we supposed to teach with those horrors floating around!”

“Hear, hear!” Flitwick chimed in, only for Fudge to slam his hands down silencing the table. “They’re beginning to see that Spinnet girl as some sort of “queen” to them!” Fudge hissed, looking rather nervous as he spoke. “When I spoke to them they kept on going on between themselves in whispers about “Mistress” this, and “Mistress” that. “Mistress did not give orders about revealing things to others.”, and “Mistress said to follow instructions given”…” (a look of near disturbed panic reached his features), “She’s become an --”

Alicia focused on Fudge, and against her better judgement she “fudged” his mind a little.

“-- oh what am I worried about.” he suddenly smiled, his mood lightening. “She’s helping us keep them behaved so where’s the down side to that! But as for that other problem…”

Alicia sighed inwardly, wondering if Cho (sitting next to her) noticed. She didn’t seem to notice as she continued to stare focused at the conversation between the “adults”.

“We all know what Black’s capable of…” Fudge continued, “…or at least we thought we did, until Halloween when everything changed.”

“No, no, I can’t believe he raped her. I had enough problem believing what happened before, but this… it’s too much.” Rosmerta spoke up. “Of all the people to go over to the “Dark Side” like that, Black, I never would have thought he was capable of it. I mean, I remember him when he was just a student over at Hogwarts. If you’d told me then he would become a murderer, now worst a rapist, I’d have said you were downing too many meads.”

“You don’t know the half of his ills, Rosmerta.” Fudge gruffly said, retaking the lead in the conversation before his “captive” audience. “The worst he did is still not yet widely known. Worst than murder, worst than even rape.”

This caught Alicia’s attention, and held it tight as McGonagall picked up the conversation, “You say you remember Black from his days at Hogwarts, Rosmerta. Do you remember who his best friend was?”

“Naturally,” Rosmerta said with a slight laugh, “Never saw one without the other, did you? The number of times I had them in here -- ooh, they used to make me laugh. Quite the double act, Sirius Black and James Potter!”

Suddenly everything seemed to lock into place quickly for Alicia.
She slugged down a large hit of the butterbeer, and silently motioned for one of the waitresses to come and get her a refill without breaking eye contact with the other table for a single second.

“Precisely,” McGonagall said. “Black and Potter. Ringleaders of their little gang…”

“Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs.” Alicia muttered under her breath.
Now it was all falling into place.
Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs. The bane of Snape’s existence.
Moony… Moony… that had to have been Lupin.
Wormtail she was blanking out on. Didn’t seem like any of the three so maybe it was a fourth member she didn’t know about yet.
Padfoot and Prongs… must be Black and Potter… but which was which?
As she sat and listened silently to the rest, she began to formulate an opinion.
An opinion which grew quickly into factual truth in her mind’s eye.
A truth she knew she needed to share.

* * * * * *

Getting Snape to meet her in the Chamber of Secrets wasn’t too hard.
As he walked up to her she put her fingers together in front of her, taking on an almost wizened look as she turned towards him. “Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs. Ring any bells? They were the four who tormented you during your school days in Hogwarts, or am I mistaken…”

Snape’s face did not flinch, but she knew she had his apt attention.
“The gang was lead by Black, who is now free from Azkaban by his own hand.
The gang was also lead by Potter, who you have formed a most venomous hatred of his offspring, Harry… haven’t you.”
Silence. No denial, no refusal, all was as it should be… for him at least.

“Black and Potter were so close Potter trusted Black with a secret that cost him his life. The secret that came into the hands of Voldemort, and ultimately led to his downfall. Black was blamed, even when he came to Hagrid to help him spirit Potter away he was blamed… of course it was all irontight including the deaths of so many innocent Muggles and an irrational Black professing his innocence.”

Snape’s face did not change.
“And your point is.”

“Fill in the blanks for me then.” she motioned for him to join her, as he sat down in the chair next to her’s. “I take it Moony is Lupin.”
Snape nods his head in the affirmative, only after a few seconds of prodding and silence.
“I haven’t figured out yet who Black/Potter was, but I narrowed it to Padfoot & Prongs.”
“In that order.” Snape volunteered.
“Then I take it Wormtail was…”

“Peter Pettigrew. One of those killed by Black…” Snape answered, only to notice Alicia beginning to smile. “What…”

“Complete disintergration. He was grieving over the Potter’s death, pulled for his wand and was promptly turned into the content of a cup of hot chocolate, minus the liquids and whip cream add on.” Alicia laid out, her smile growing as she spoke. “Complete disintergration. Strange, “Muggles” point blank range of Black were splayed all over the place in a red bloody mess, vital organs everywhere and yet… and yet somehow he still managed to completely dust a target twice as far as his human victims, and in one shot no less.”

Snape’s attention grew as he began to piece together what Alicia already figured out.
“Reports indicated the humans were dismantled by anywhere between one to three shots depending on where they stood during the attack… yet somehow he still killed off Pettigrew with one shot.”

“Which would have been impossible even for Black considering the “mess” he left earlier, unless…”

“Pettigrew wasn’t killed by Black.” Alicia finished.

Snape - “If Pettigrew wasn’t killed by Black… who killed him.”

“Maybe nobody.” Alicia answered, “After all what was found of Pettigrew’s “remains”…? His finger? That’s it? I don’t know about you but such an obvious “remain” seems more left so he could go underground than anything else.” (motions with her hand and finger as if “detaching” it) “The thought came when I observed Ron’s rat, Scabbers. He’s missing a finger you know, probably left it behind escaping from a cat or dog… seems to me if he was smart enough to do that to elude death (perhaps leave a small bit of his “scent“ to elude a cat perhaps), a human being like Pettigrew (even if he wasn’t the brightest magic wand in Hogwarts) should know enough to do that to elude DeathEaters… but tell me…”

Snape waves off Alicia’s further questions. “Just because I WAS a DeathEater once doesn’t mean I am privvy to the list of all those marked for death by Voldemort. Still… maybe it has merits. Pettigrew went into hiding because he thought Black was the traitor, and has been waiting for all this time for him to “surface” and become available again…”

Alicia : “You don’t think he had a hand in helping Black escape, do you?”

“You started this.” Snape retorted, “Years have passed. By now I’m sure even a worm like Pettigrew would have grown some sort of spinal column, being haunted by the death of those you claimed to be your best friends would seem to do that in people.”

Alicia leans back in her chair, staring at the ceiling as she lets his thoughts brew in her.
“Years pass, Pettigrew grows some balls, and decides he can’t wait anymore for Black to get himself out. The perfect opportunity comes when he somehow comes into contact with Blitzkrieg who is looking for me, and he heard I was spotted once in Azkaban. Perfect. He tricks Blitzkrieg to sneak in hoping to catch me when I go there again, only I don’t go there again… he wises up, and breaks out, which gives Black the chance to escape and…”

“Become “available” once again for a vengeance minded former coward to “settle” a years old “debt” with.” Snape concludes.

“That means, if that is indeed the case…” (Alicia closes her eyes) “…all we have to do is sit back and wait for him to reappear, then we can act.”

“Why would we do that.” Snape asked.

“Because.”

* * * * * *

When Alicia went to dinner she noticed something was visibly wrong with Harry.
Everyone else either didn’t notice, or in the case of Hermione and Ron didn’t want to seem as if they were noticing. Obviously she wasn’t the only one who sneaked into Hogmeades, and she obviously wasn’t the only one to hear what she did about Black/Potter.

When she finally got upstairs to the Gryffindor Common Room, she had found the room in chaos as it seems Fred & George has set off half a dozen Dungbombs in a disturbing fit of “end-of-the-term “spirits””. “This is why you’re not as well loved amongst the authority of this school as you should be.” Alicia muttered as she walked pass, waving her hand in a vain attempt to dispell the stench. Instead of going up to the female quarters, however, she went straight to the boy’s dorm to speak to Harry. Sure enough she found him in there, looking over the leather bound album left to Harry by his parents.

Harry, however, wasn’t in the talking mood. He just sat there, staring at the book silently.
Alicia moved close to him, looking over his shoulder as he flipped through the pages slowly.
Obviously he heard what Alicia heard, meaning he was in the same place as she (but she didn’t notice him in the crowd). Figures why he was pulling the silent treatment, she mused. After all he was pondering why nobody would tell him the truth about what happened… as if anyone could bring themselves to tell him that Potter’s own godfather may have been responsible for killing his parents. Dumbledore, the Weasleys, even the sometimes inable to hide the simpliest secret Hagrid couldn’t bring themselves to say such a thing, it was too much to even think of let alone repeat.

Ron and Hermione seemed to hover near Harry nervously throughout dinner that night, too timid to even attempt to talk to him about it, especially with the weirdo Percy hovering just as close to Harry as Ron/Hermione (though for his own weird reasons). Harry, rightly, avoided contact with the troublesome duo of Fred & George to avoid any pointed questions they haven’t gotten around to asking, a pity Alicia couldn’t manage to do likewise. (“Oh by the abyss you two losers…” she growled, pushing her way past the smelly duo who had apparently been too close to the dungbombs they set off (again) “Drown yourselves in the lake or something to wash that off!”)

As Alicia crawled into bed, closing her eyes, a brief tingle at the back of her mind caused her to shiver.

* * * * * *

As they sat listening to the talk about Black and Pettigrew, Hagrid’s eyes turned towards them seconds from noticing their presence. Quickly Alicia yanked Cho into her, kissing her with such force it made the asian beauty melt into her grip, held tight and close as they kissed with great passion. After half a minute Alicia glanced up, noticing they went back to talking without taking the slightest notice from Hagrid (either that or he blushed at their affectionate kissing and went back to focusing on the discussion about him). As they seperated the two went back to focusing on the talk, blushing abit from the forward kiss.

* * * * * *

Alicia briefly touched her lips, and sighed. “Hermione should kiss so well.”

“…did you say something…” Hermione grumbled from her bed.

“Nothing, nothing, nothing at all.” Alicia quickly whispered, settling in for sleep. “Nothing.”

* * * * * *

“Alicia, you look like something Fluffy chewed on.”

Alicia, half awake and half irritated, stared at Hermione from beneath her sheets. “Give me a break.” (yawns loudly, stretching out to work out the kinks in her body) “What time is it.”

“Morning.” she noted, picking up her bag of books. “Come on, I’m going to get some studying in while Ron sits around and eats.”

Silence reigns as she walks out, the room far emptier than usual.
“Don’t you ever stop studying.”

The Gryffindor area was very quiet, meaning most of the students have already went to the Hogwarts Express and went home. That meant for x amount of days during the holidays the school would be a rather quiet place to be for the time being. “Just as well…” Alicia muttered as she stumbled down the stairs, her robes half on as she pulled him on while walking, “…I’ve been denying myself a little extracirricular for a bit too long now.”

Easier said than done. Once Hermione laid out her homework (upon three whole tables, chasing Ron away from each and every spot on each and every table every 5 minutes until he finally resigned himself to one of the lounging chairs where he stood put) she became deathly focused… which might as well have been like death itself since no attempts to spark any “life” into her seemed to work at all.

Kissing the back of her neck, cuddling close, perching her head on Hermione’s shoulder, short of groping her and masturbating her it seemed maybe only that would get her emotions cooking… and even then she doubt she’d get more than shrieks and complaints of rape attempts. So resigned to her fate she retreated to the couch, but not before belting Ron in the stomach once for his endless barrages of “Whatcha’ doing?” between attempts to get Hermione in “the mood”.

After what seemed like a long silence Harry showed up, awake at last.
“Where is everyone?” he asked. Alicia beat Ron to the punch. “First day of vacation, so nearly the entire school went home who had homes to go home to…” (sighs) “…must be nice.”

Ron cleared his throat, if only to break into the conversation, “It’s nearly lunchtime, Harry! I was going to come and wake you up in a minute.” he exclaimed, bouncing back and forth between chewing on another peppermint toad (half wiggling in his mouth) and rubbing the spot where Alicia belted him. Harry, barely nodding his head, took a spot on one of the other chairs near Alicia as she rolled over to stare at him. He looked a helluva lot worst than she did that morning, and that’s saying something about how he looked. His eyes focused on the fire, barely wandering as she regarded him.

What a lovely “vacation” to end up stuck in, she mused silently.
Such lovely “companions”. A bitter irritated target of assassination, an irritating redhead and a cold fish love interest…too bad Cho had to go home and actually spend the holidays with an actual family.
‘Maybe I can sneak a Hogsmeade prostitute into the castle for “entertainment”.’ Alicia thought to herself. ‘Yeah, as if.’

“You two really don’t look too well, you know that don’t you.” Hermione said pointedly, peering anxiously back and forth at the two (which wasn’t much of an effort since they were sitting as close as they were).
“I’m fine.” said Harry.

“I’m not.” said Alicia, “Hold me.” (silence) “…or not.”

“Harry, listen.” Hermione began, turning her focus entirely on him as she briefly glanced at Ron before speaking again, “You must be really upset about what we heard yesterday. But the thing is, you mustn’t go doing anything stupid.”

‘Gee.’ Alicia thought as she focused her attention back on Harry, ‘Wonder where these three were yesterday.’

“Like what?” Harry shot back, knowing fully well what she meant. So did Alicia so she beat Ron to the punch (again). “Like going after Black, Harry. That’s what they’re fudging on about. Sirius Black.”

Harry glanced over at Alicia, looking nervously at her, which seemed to throw her until she realized that Hermione and Ron probably spent a ton of time rehearsing their words, and she was throwing them off their pace (Harry figured it out right away). “So I’m evil. Whatever.”

“You won’t, will you Harry?” Hermione pressed the issue, bringing their attention onto her, “You won’t try to get Black, will you?”

“Because Black is not worth dying for!” Ron spat out, which brought a shocked expression from Harry… mostly because Ron spat it out rapid fire to keep Alicia from breaking in and cutting him off mid sentence again. Eventually a more curious (not quite grasping the situation face) settled over Harry’s features. “Do you know what I see and hear every time a Dementor gets too near me?”

Ron and Hermione shook their heads, Alicia spoke.
“Your mother. Dying. At Voldemort’s hands.”
All eyes turned back onto her, only for her to shake it off with a wave of her hand. “Sorry. I couldn’t help it. You were going to say it anyway, right?”

Harry nodded his head, a grim visage coming over him. “I can hear her screaming and pleading, over and over again, and it tears me apart. It. Tears. Me. Apart.” (silence, briefly before Harry speaks again) “If any of you could hear that, hear your own mum screaming like that before she’s murdered, you wouldn’t… couldn’t… forget in a hurry…”

‘Don’t go there, don’t go there, don’t go there…” Alicia thought to herself as Harry spoke, knowing where he was about to go with this line of logic.

“And if you found out someone who was supposed to be a friend of hers betrayed her and sent Voldemort after her --”

“There’s nothing you can do!” said Hermione, looking stricken.

“THERE IS!” Alicia snapped in suddenly, locking her gaze on Harry. “You can live, and not throw away the sacrifice your mother made to keep you alive.”

Silence overtook the room again, the situation turning rather awkward after Alicia’s words bit down hard on Harry, harder than she thought it would. She rolled onto her back staring back at the ceiling again, sighing. “He can’t escape. The Tormented --”

“Huh?”

“I mean the Dementors…” (‘Slip of the tongue.’) “…they’ll catch Black, or the person who broke him out to make him “accessible” will finish him, whoever gets to him first gets him.”

“What are you talking about?!” Harry spat, not quite in yet on Alicia’s theory that somebody freed Black in order to kill him. “Fudge said Black isn’t affected by Azkaban like normal people are. Even if he’s captured it wouldn’t be punishment for him like it is for others.”

“So Fudge says.” Alicia sighed, briefly reflecting on her one brief glimpse of Black. Somehow he didn’t look like his stay in Azkaban was a cakewalk for him, from her one good look at him.
“But that doesn’t matter, Harry. Do you want to kill Black or not?”

“Don’t be silly.” Hermione broke in, “Harry doesn’t want to kill any--”

“I don’t remember asking for your opinion!” Alicia snapped, getting up to stare Harry straight in the eye, focused intently on him to the poin the squirmed in his chair under her tight gaze. “Do you want to kill him or not.”

“Malfoy knows,” Harry countered sharply, “Remember what he said to me in Potions? ‘If it was me…’”

“DON’T MAKE EXCUSES!!” Alicia roared, causing everyone to jump as she got to her feet, quickly moving forward to slam her hands down on the armrests of Harry’s chair, causing him to jump. “Malfoy would kill his own father for the right reasons. I’m not the slightest bit concerned about the lack of a moral compass from a twit like Malfoy. I asked YOU, Harry Potter, will you kill him or not?! Answer me…”

Silence.

“ANSWER ME!!”

“Uhm…” (Ron squeaked, waiting for Alicia to turn on him, only to speak again after he was sure she wasn’t going to spin about on him) “You’re going to take Malfoy’s advice instead of ours? I mean… well… listen! You know what Pettigrew’s mother got back after Black had finished with him? Dad told me -- the Order of Merlin, First Class, and Pettigrew’s finger in a bo--”

“Hold that thought.” Alicia spoke, suddenly bringing Ron to a stop.
Silence once again reigned, Alicia stepping back as she thought about it for a second, clapping her hands together as her thoughts formed (accidentially shocking the trio watching her as she did so). Mumbling her apologies she sat back down in the couch, holding her hands out ready to gesture her words as she spoke.

“Uh… Alicia? What…”

“Did anyone of you see the moving photos of the death scene after Black’s alleged “rampage”? I did… fascinating stuff.”
And thus her theory was put forward to an apt (somewhat disturbed audience during the description of the bloody mess of the corpses of the “Muggles”) audience.

* * * * * *

The theory didn’t seem to sit as well with the trio as it did with Snape.
Somehow she wasn’t too surprised by that revelation, mostly since they still clung onto the thought that Black was the villain of this drama even if there was enough reasonable doubt to place hesistation to one who looked at the details with a neutral stance.

Maybe it was for the best when Ron sputtered out the idea about going to see Hagrid.
Hermione wasn’t too hot on the idea, but after the incredible awkwardness of the Black discussion anything was good to get away from the increasinly uncomfortable situation that was forming in the Gryffindor Common Room.

Alicia was happy just as well, maybe wearing out Hermione’s willpower through wearing out her physical strength would make her more plyable to physical “hints”.
They made their way slowly down the lawn, making a shallow trench in the glittering, powdery snow, their socks and the hems of their cloaks soaked and freezing (except Alicia who, wisely, was wearing her Raven Armor beneath her cloak). The Forbidden Forest looked as though it had been enchanted, each tree smattered with silver, and Hagrid’s cabin looked like an iced ca-- that’s when the world blurred for Alicia as she stepped onto the hidden portal disc (with a snow “covering” holographed over it). As the world turned white, then black, Alicia hit the ground hard as her breath was knocked out of her.

As she came to her feet, glancing about, a sense of total dread came over her.
Skittering sounds came from all over as she knew instinctively where she was teleported to without even doing a “GPS” style power scan.
It was the den of Aragorn, the giant monster spider that used to be Hagrid’s “pet”.
Only something was wrong with the sound around her… which soon came clear as dozens of spiders came into view, along with half a dozen Blitzkrieg drone units alongside, side by side.

A sharp hiss and louder clattering turned her about, as the faceless corpse of Aragorn scuttled into sight, Blitzkrieg perched on it’s back watching her intently. It’s children as much his pawns as Aragorn’s dead body was.
No words was spoken, none was needed.

Alicia braced herself, gritted her teeth, and braced herself as the horde attacked.

To Be Continued in 2 weeks.

A Little Behind...

I have to finish up this past weekend's fic update...
I'll get to it ASAP.

Still looking for comments on posting adult hentai fanfics here, let me know what you think of that idea (all input welcome).