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

50. Unfogging the Future

"She's seeing us all separately," Neville said as Harry and Ron joined him and Althea on the spiral staircase leading to the Divination classroom. "Have any of you actually seen anything in the crystal ball?"

"Nope," Ron said offhandedly.

"Althea Black," Professor Trelawney called.

Slinging her bag over her shoulder, Althea went up the stairs, looking very pale. When at last she reached the top, it was to find the room even darker than usual.

"Good day, my dear," she greeted. "If you would kindly gaze into the Orb...Take your time now...then tell me what you see within it."

Althea sat down across from her, fixing her eyes on the Orb. She was waiting, curious if the same shape she had seen before would appear again. Then, the fog began to take shape.

"I see a shape," Althea said softly, frowning slightly.

"Yes, yes," Trelawney said excitedly.

The form was dark and billowing, floating over what looked to be a lake.

"Something is hovering over the lake...something dark and black..."

"What else do you see?"

"I see..." she trailed off, focused intently on a figure she had just noticed on the bank of the lake.

It was crazed and hollow, wild and laughing manically. She leaned forward to look closer. Then, she saw another figure, a girl, as well as a male one, jump forward, shoving something bright and gleaming down the manic one's throat. He transformed, becoming warm and kind again. His hair shortened, becoming neat and tidy as his cheeks filled back out. His clothes became neat and upkept. She saw a final figure, this one with bright auburn hair and eyes as bright as emeralds. It was herself. She was embracing the man with a wide, bright smile. Then, she saw his face.

With a scream, Althea fell back out of her chair and onto the floor.

"My dear?" Professor Trelawney said in alarm.

Without a word, Althea grabbed her bag and rushed out of the room, rushing past and ignoring Harry and Ron as they tried to ask her about the exam.

.

Neither Harry, Ron, Hermione, or Neville were able to find Althea after they finished their exams. They searched the castle for her, even checked with her mother, but no one knew where to find her. In truth, she was hiding in the one place none of them had thought to check. She was hiding in the Astronomy Tower, staring out over the grounds trying to process what she had seen. Her...embracing Sirius Black. There was no way. Why would she ever help Sirius Black?

She stayed there many hours, watching as the sun began to set. It had just hit the horizon when she suddenly noticed something very odd. Down below on the grounds, there were several odd noises before she suddenly saw a pale figure with red hair suddenly appear as though from nowhere, being dragged toward the Whomping Willow.

She didn't wait for another second. Before she properly knew what she was doing, she was running as fast as she could from the Astronomy Tower, down the stairs, and through the many corridors until she had reached the front door. Shoving them open, she ran at full speed down toward the Whomping Willow, stumbling to a stop outside of it. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and the dog had all disappeared. Knowing there was nothing else for it, she broke into a run, running as fast as she could as she tried to avoid the branches of the Willow.

Just before she reached the entrance, she was knocked onto her back so hard she couldn't move for a moment or two. Just before another branch hit her, she rolled onto her side, scrambling into the entrance at the bottom of the tree as quickly as she could. Once inside, she paused a moment, breathing heavily. Once she had caught her breath, she reached into her robes and withdrew her wand. Slowly and listening hard, she began to make her way down the passage.

At the end of the passage, Althea found a kind of hole above her, just low enough for her to grasp and pull herself up through. She did this as silently as possible. She could hear voices above her, but she did not want to rush into anything before knowing what was going on. Drawing out her wand again, she began to move as silently as possible down a narrow hallway before beginning to climb up a set of stairs.

"Your father would have done the same for me," a hoarse voice was saying.

Althea stopped just outside the doorway, listening hard.

"Brave of you, not to run for a teacher. I'm grateful...it will make everything much easier..."

There was a creak of a footstep before Hermione gasped, "No, Harry!"

"If you want to kill Harry, you'll have to kill us too!" Ron shouted.

"Lie down," the hoarse voice Althea knew must belong to the one and only Sirius Black said softly, almost gently. "You'll damage that leg even more."

"Did you hear me?" Ron said, trying to sound strong even as his voice faltered. "You'll have to kill all three of us!"

With a grin in his voice, Sirius said gleefully, "There'll only be one murder tonight."

"Why's that?" Harry snapped. "Didn't care last time, did you? Didn't mind slaughtering all those Muggles to get at Pettigrew...What's the matter, gone soft in Azkaban?"

"Harry!" Hermione whimpered. "Be quiet."

"HE KILLED MY MUM AND DAD!" Harry shouted.

Althea felt her stomach twist painfully. She felt she was going to be sick. She knew she should jump in, stun Sirius to save her friends, but she couldn't move. She couldn't breathe. She had never felt more afraid in her life.

She flinched at the sound of flesh hitting flesh. Harry had clearly gotten loose and attacked him. Hermione screamed. Ron yelled, but it was another sound that finally spurred Althea into action.

"No. I've waited too long," Sirius hissed.

Harry made a gasping, choking sound.

"Stop!" Althea shouted, shoving open the door.

The wands in Sirius' hand flew up, flying in an arch before Althea caught them in one hand. Sirius looked over at her, his eyes studying her face with both confusion and something of awe.

"You," he whispered.

"Me," she replied, her voice far softer than his. She was shaking so badly that she had to lean against the wall for support. "L-Let hi-him g-go," she stuttered.

Studying her face another moment, Sirius let go of Harry's neck. Harry sat up, gasping for breath as he scrambled back toward the other two. Althea couldn't look away from Sirius.