The Disgraced of the House of Black - A Multi-Character Fanfiction - Part One

11. Hogy-Hogy-Hogwarts

Althea woke early on the morning of September 1st, 1993. Although she had always loved Hogwarts as it had provided her with her first real exposure to other people her age, this was the first year she was not looking forward to her return in the slightest. The truth was, she knew her mother was affected by the escape of Sirius, and her comment about her mother being tight-lipped about him and Amara wasn't strictly true.

It was true that she had refused to speak about either of them for the last several years, but many of the stories of Althea's childhood, of her mother's stories of Hogwarts, contained Amara and Sirius. They were her two greatest friends until both suddenly disappeared, leaving her more alone than she had been in her entire life. Althea could still remember hearing of Sirius' pranks with James Potter, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew, but as she lay in the dark, Hermione breathing softly behind her, she realized she could not breathe a word about her godparents to anyone while at Hogwarts. If the other students found out...would they trust her?

Shaking off this discouraging thought, Althea softly got to her feet, reaching for her clothes in the dark before silently getting dressed. Once she had packed everything remaining in her trunk, she left the room, closing the door softly behind her before making her way downstairs, a book tucked under her arm. Reaching the bar area, Althea took a seat in one of the booths, pulling out her book and beginning to read.

Although she was more bookish than Harry and Ron, she did not quite give off the same distinctly nerdy and, at risk of sounding critical, know-it-all characteristics that Hermione possessed. Althea's academic interests were, somewhat to her disadvantage, not birthed from hard work and study. She was one of those indescribably frustrating students who seem to naturally excel at all they do with hardly any effort. However, as she was so incredibly subtle with this ability, none of her classmates, least of all her friends, resented the bright young witch who almost always outscored them in every exam. The one exception was Hermione who, because of the effort she put into her work, most often scored higher than Althea, although she worked harder to attain such scores.

The book Althea was reading was a birthday present from her mother, an instructive book detailing the most useful defensive spells. There was one, in particular, she was currently observing which caught her attention. The book, which was brightly illustrated with moving pictures, showed a wizard producing a bright, simmering creature from his wand. Her eyes flitting down to the description, she frowned, her brows furrowed slightly in concentration as she read.

In order to produce the Patronus Charm, the caster must first focus all their attention on a memory happy enough to fuel their Patronus. Without a strong enough memory, the Patronus, as a being of infinite light and happiness, will fail to be strong enough to repulse any dementor in the castor's way.

Althea was broken from her focus by the appearance of Tom, the innkeeper. Catching sight of her, he quickly approached, giving a kindly smile as he asked, "Anything I can get you, Miss?"

"Oh, yes please," she replied, closing her book. "May I get a cup of tea and a couple of scones?"

"What kind, Miss? I've got mixed berry, vanilla, and cheese if you're hankering for something more savoury," Tom replied.

"The mixed berry ones sound delicious, thank you," Althea replied kindly.

"Coming right up," Tom promised.

Althea frowned as she turned back to her book, opening back up to the page on the Patronus Charm. Curiously, she watched the illustration of the wizard as he created the shimmering form of a large bird over and over again.

.

Once the train began to move, Harry quickly turned to the three of them and whispered, "I need to talk to the three of you in private."

"Let's find an empty compartment," Althea suggested, pulling her trunk behind her as they looked.

After they had searched the whole car, however, they saw that only the compartment at the very end was even remotely empty. This compartment had only one occupant, a man leaning against the window in a deep sleep. Althea couldn't help but feel some concern for him as she took in his pale, tired-looking face, his worn, heavily darned robes, and grey-streaked light-brown hair.

"Who d'you reckon he is?" Ron whispered as they each placed their trunks on the rack, each taking the seat farthest from the sleeper.

"Professor R. J. Lupin," Hermione said at once.

Althea started.

"What is it?" Hermione asked.

"Nothing," Althea said quickly, giving the man one last look before turning back to the others.

"Anyway," Ron said, turning back to Harry. "What were you going to tell us?"

"Well, you remember last night when I went to fetch your rat tonic for Scabbers?" Harry said, lowering his voice.

"Yeah," Ron replied.

"Well, I sort of overheard your mum and dad talking, well, arguing more like," Harry admitted.

Unsure how to resume, he fell silent.

"And?" Althea said, gesturing for him to continue.

"Well, apparently...Sirius Black was heard muttering 'He's at Hogwarts' right before he broke out," Harry said finally. "The Ministry thinks he's coming after me."

All three of their reactions were exactly what Harry could have predicted. Ron had a horrified look on his face while Hermione was sitting with both hands over her mouth, her eyes wide and scared. Their reactions would have been extremely overwhelming if it hadn't been for Althea. She was by far the most even-tempered of them all and was still sitting with hardly any emotion crossing her expression. The only sign she had heard him was that a thoughtful, considering expression had taken over her features.

"Sirius Black escaped to come after you?" Hermione gasped. "Oh, Harry...you'll have to be really, really careful. Don't go looking for trouble. Harry-"

"I don't go looking for trouble," Harry protested. "Trouble usually finds me."

"How thick would Harry have to be, to go looking for a nutter who wants to kill him?" Ron said shakily. "No one knows how he got out of Azkaban. No one's ever done it before. And he was a top-security prisoner too."

"But they'll catch him, won't they?" Hermione said earnestly. "I mean, they've got all the Muggles looking out for him too..."

Desperate for a voice of reason, Harry quickly asked, "What do you think, Thea?"

Looking up at him, Althea frowned, a pensive look still on her face as Hermione and Ron also looked at her, expecting her to be as worried for Harry as they were.

"I think," she said finally in a slow, contemplative voice, "there's not much chance he'll come close to Hogwarts without some word getting to us. Until then, I don't think we should worry about it much."

"Not worry about it?" Hermione exclaimed as Ron let out a disbelieving scoff.

"I'm not saying Harry should go out into the Forbidden Forest and shout his head off," Althea replied calmly, although with a hint of defensiveness. "I'm just saying that until we know more, there's no real reason to stress over it. As long as Harry proceeds with more than usual caution from now on, I don't see any reason to lose our minds stressing."

Although Harry understood why Hermione and Ron were so irritated by Althea's view of the matter, he couldn't help but be grateful.