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

45. Division

When Althea did return to the Common Room, it was to find only Harry and Neville still awake. Both looked incredibly sombre.

"Everything all right?" Althea asked cautiously, looking between the two of them curiously.

"Ron and Hermione had a fight," Neville explained.

"About?" Althea asked anxiously.

The firelight caught the gold thestral on her finger as it shifted nervously from foot to foot.

"Scabbers," Harry said wearily. "Ron found a hole covered in blood in his sheet with some cat hairs next to it."

"Oh, Merlin," Althea sighed. "Poor Ron." She was silent a moment before she suddenly frowned. "Wait, but how..." She paused, letting out a weary sigh as she sat between Harry and Neville on the sofa. "Hermione doesn't believe her cat ate him, does she?"

"Nope," Harry sighed.

When morning came, Harry and Althea's worst fears about Ron and Hermione were confirmed. Althea woke up early so as to finish some schoolwork. While she was sitting in the Common Room writing her essay, the sound of footsteps reached her ears. Looking up, Althea was unsurprised to see Hermione, looking worn and tired.

"Good morning," Althea said softly, turning back to her homework.

"Morning," Hermione replied.

She instantly began doing her own work as Harry came down the stairs, closely followed by Ron. The moment Ron and Hermione noticed the other was there, they looked as far away from each other as possible. Letting out a long exhale, Althea and Harry looked at each other, sharing irritated and yet unsurprised looks.

"Breakfast?" Harry suggested.

No one answered, but as Ron instantly turned toward the portrait hole and Althea and Hermione put away their books to follow, he took that as answer enough. Resigned to their new fate as two people friends with two others not speaking to each other, Althea and Harry broke off into their separate groups. These fights happened frequently and usually resulted in Althea spending more time with Hermione while Harry spent more time with Ron, but they were always sure to switch off to spend time with the other one.

.

"Not going to the match?" a drawing voice called as Althea left the largely empty Great Hall.

Ignoring him, she continued walking, making her way toward her mother's office. As she slipped past a column, however, an arm suddenly crossed her, pressing against the wall and blocking her progress. Without missing a beat, Althea turned, shifting to cross on the other side of Draco. Before she had passed him, however, he caught her with an arm across her chest. Letting out a harsh sigh, she met his eyes, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Well?" she snapped.

"Well, what?" Draco retorted.

"There's no book for you to toss and no fountain to toss it into, so what's your plan here?" Althea asked. "I've got things to do, so I'd rather you just got on with it."

"I've been doing some thinking," Draco remarked snidely. "How would your friends feel about your connection with Sirius Black? They know about that right?"

Althea's expression remained impassive as she maintained eye contact with her chin slightly raised.

"This is odd for you, Draco," Althea remarked, glancing around. "No cronies backing you this time? I thought you required at least five to have the guts to approach someone with hostility."

With a badly repressed expression of anger, Draco snapped, "I've got places to be, Black. With any luck, history will repeat itself."

Then, without another word, he stormed off. Rolling her eyes, Althea resumed her walk to her mother's office.

.

"You'd be great, you know," a soft voice whispered. It was hoarse and low. "Powerful. Strong. Unbeatable."

Althea turned, looking for the source of the voice, but all she could see was the dark forest around her.

"You could be like me," a female voice hissed. "Haven't you ever wondered how I was never caught?"

"Or me," a third voice whispered, low, hissing, and soft. "Haven't you ever wondered how I never died?"

"Who are you?" Althea asked, trying and failing to hide a tremor in her voice.

"The past," the first whispered.

"The present," the second added.

"The future," the final voice hissed. "Join us, Thea. Join the circle."

"What circle?" Althea retorted, now scared in earnest.

Then, before she had a moment to think, several figures rushed to her, each more mangled and pale than the last.

Althea gasped, shooting up. Gasping for breath, she stared at the wall across from her until she had calmed enough to think. Running a hand through her hair, she lay back down on the couch in the Gryffindor Common Room, closing her eyes for a moment before opening them again, studying the ceiling with a sigh. She remembered meeting up with her mom. She remembered going to see the tail end of the Quidditch match. She remembered too enjoying the celebratory party in the Common Room, but she did not remember falling asleep on the couch. Someone had draped a blanket over her and positioned a pillow under her head.

She sighed, rubbing her eyes hard as a faint rustling caught her attention. Frowning, Althea sat up. The Common Room had been cleaned since the party ended. Only a few spare pieces of parchment were still laying around. There was nothing that could have made that sound. Deciding she had made it up, she lay back down, closing her eyes to try and rest more.

She felt sleepy again rather quickly. Her mind kept spacing out as though to bring her back into the folds of sleep. Just before she drifted off, however, a horrible scream jolted her awake. Althea jumped to her feet, instantly springing for her wand, which she had left in her pocket. Before she could decide what to do, the sound of pounding footsteps reached her, pounding down the stairs of the boy's dormitory.

Althea's breathing was fast and shallow as she waited, not even daring to guess what was coming down those stairs. Then, she saw him. With a wild flurry of mangled hair, a tall, wiry figure came into sight. Althea barely stifled a scream. It was him. Sirius Black instantly came to a stop, knife still in hand as he stared at her with his wide, sunken eyes. She was shaking so badly she could not have done anything even if she had wanted to. Sirius was staring at her as though he couldn't believe his eyes, but before he could do anything, footsteps and shouts from the dormitories reached their ears.

Without a word, without a thought, Sirius rushed past her, passing within an inch of her as he left through the portrait hole. Althea did nothing to stop him.