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

21. Grindylow

October 1993

Halloween morning dawned bright and cold, and as they went down to breakfast together, Althea ate her food placidly, unsure as to the tense atmosphere between the four of them. When Hermione and Ron got up, however, the mystery was instantly solved.

"We'll bring you lots of sweets back from Honeydukes," Hermione promised Harry.

"Yeah, loads," Ron agreed.

"Don't worry about me," Harry said in a tone they could all tell was his best attempt at sounding cheerful. "I'll see you at the feast. Have a good time."

As they turned to go, however, Hermione quickly turned, asking, "Thea, aren't you coming?"

"Not this time," Althea replied, giving a small smile. "Have fun, guys."

When they had gone, Harry asked, "Why aren't you going to Hogsmeade? Your mum signed the form didn't she?"

"She did," Althea replied, taking another bite out of her toast and offering no other explanation.

When she had finished, Harry asked, "Do you want to head to the library?"

"Sure," she replied, following him as they wandered through the corridors.

Although she said nothing of the sort, Harry soon began to suspect Althea had stayed behind solely to keep him company. Had she acted anything other than completely serene and peaceful, he might have resented her for it, thinking she wanted some kind of thanks or praise, but as she walked with him through the castle, he saw she was just as at peace with him in the place they had spent the last two years as she would have been in an exciting wizarding village she had never seen before.

Coming to a stop, Harry turned to her, asking, "Would it, er, bother you if we went to the owlery to see Hedwig?"

"Not at all," Althea replied with a warm smile. "How is she? I haven't seen her in ages."

"She's all right, I think," Harry replied as they climbed a stairway and began to go through another corridor.

As they were passing one of the rooms, a familiar voice said, "Harry? Althea?"

Surprised, they both turned, doubling back to find Professor Lupin sitting at his desk.

"What are you doing?" he asked curiously. "Where are Ron and Hermione?"

"Hogsmeade," Harry said, a faint hint of misery in his tone.

"Ah," Lupin said in a casual tone, but as Althea studied his face, she thought he understood far more than Harry's disyllable reply. "Why don't you come in? I've just taken a delivery of a grindylow for our next lesson."

"Really?" Althea said with a fascinated gasp, quickly beating Harry into the room and over to the large tank in the corner of the room. "Wow," she whispered, watching the water demon press itself against the glass, glaring at her suspiciously.

"We shouldn't have much difficulty with him, not after the kappas. The trick is to break his grip. You notice the abnormally long fingers? Strong, but very brittle," Lupin explained as he and Harry joined Althea at the tank.

"They're kind of beautiful in their own way," Althea said softly, watching as the creature gracefully moved through the water, burying itself in a tangle of seaweed.

"I suppose I can see what you mean," Lupin agreed, frowning in consideration. "Cup of tea? I was just thinking of making one."

"All right," Harry said, slightly awkwardly.

Tapping a kettle with the tip of his wand, Lupin began, a hint of amusement in his tone, "I've only got teabags, I'm afraid - but I daresay you've had enough of tea leaves?"

Althea grinned, glancing over at Harry in amusement as he asked, "How did you know about that?"

"Professor McGonagall told me," Lupin admitted, passing them both cups of tea. "You're not worried are you?"

"No," Harry said. Glancing over at Althea, he added, "The only one of my friends who makes sense all the time said there was no reason to be worried."

"That is not what I said," Althea interrupted with a small laugh. "I said my mother only knew one actual seer in her entire life who was always right, but that Divination is a very imprecise branch of magic."

Harry grinned, taking a small sip of his tea, but the more he thought about it, especially as he thought about the big, black dog he saw the night he ran from home, he wondered if he should admit it to Professor Lupin. But the thought of admitting something like that to a professor he wasn't even sure would have let him face the boggart...He had seen how Lupin had grown worried when the boggart approached him and Althea. If it hadn't chosen her...Harry wondered if Lupin would have let him face it.

"Anything worrying you, Harry?" Lupin asked, perceiving from his expression that something was running through his mind.

"No," he replied, taking another sip of his tea. Setting down his cup, he corrected, "Yes. You know that day we fought the boggart?"

"Yes," Lupin said slowly.

"When it moved over to Thea and me...you looked worried it was going to choose me," Harry said, his tone suddenly much more uncomfortable. "Well...why?"

"I would have thought that was obvious, Harry," Lupin said in surprise.

"Why?" Harry repeated, taken aback by his honesty.

"Well," Lupin said with a slight frown, "I assumed that if the boggart faced you, it would assume the shape of Lord Voldemort. Clearly, I was wrong. But I didn't think it a good idea for Lord Voldemort to materialize in the staffroom. I imagined that people would panic."

"I didn't think of Voldemort," Harry admitted.

"You thought of the dementors, didn't you?" Althea said sympathetically. Harry nodded.

"I see," Lupin said thoughtfully. "Well, well...I'm impressed. That suggests that what you fear most of all is - fear. Very wise, Harry." After a moment's thought, he added shrewdly, "So you've been thinking that I didn't believe you were capable of fighting the boggart?"

"Well...yeah," Harry admitted. "Professor Lupin, you know the dementor-"

A knock on the door interrupted him.