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

134. He Got Off!

Althea was in her room, leaning against the wall as she flipped through a book. She had been reading for several hours when a sudden twinge in her stomach brought her attention to the fact that she was hungry. Glancing at the clock, she was surprised to find it was nearly four in the afternoon. Had they decided to have a late lunch? Getting up, she set aside her book and left the room. As she went down the stairs, she found Amara in the drawing room, attempting to remove the Black Family Tree from the wall.

"Hey, did lunch ever happen?" she asked with a frown. "I never heard anything."

Her brows furrowed, Amara replied, "We ate hours ago."

"Oh," Althea said hollowly, trying her best to not let her tone reveal how hurt she felt. "And Harry? Did he come back?"

"Also hours ago," Amara said hesitantly, her frown deepening as she tucked her wand in her pocket. "He was cleared of all charges."

"Oh," Althea said again, her cheeks flushing slightly.

Sympathetically, Amara said, "There are leftovers in the kitchen from lunch, or there are sandwich makings, if you'd prefer."

"Thanks, but I think I'm fine," Althea said. "I'll see you later."

She left the room before Amara could say another word, her mind racing. Surely it meant nothing. It had to. They were all just so excited about Harry that they didn't do a proper check. It was her fault, after all, wasn't it? She was the one who had hidden in her room most of the day. She would not, she decided, get upset over something so stupid, especially not with a war going on. Even so, a slight sinking feeling overcame her as she returned to her room, picking back up her book and burying herself in the world far away where she watched through the eyes of a character everyone couldn't quite ever seem to get enough of.

.

As the following days progressed, Althea felt that same sinking feeling grow worse. It was stronger than it had ever been before. At meals, she sat either with her parents or her friends, but more often than not, the conversations around her went on whether she spoke or not, exactly as they would have regardless. She tried sometimes to speak, to join in, but each time she was either spoken over or not heard in the first place.

After a few days, she began eating her food as quickly as possible before disappearing upstairs to her room, hiding away with her books instead of facing the people around her. Her excuses for them had begun to run out. Perhaps she needed to speak louder. That did nothing to help. Perhaps she needed to sit with new people. That didn't help either. Sometimes even the room she shared with Ginny would be taken over, leaving her forced to find another place to hide.

One day, she walked into the room to find all of her friends and the Weasleys in there. Going completely unnoticed, she took her book from her nightstand and withdrew, beginning to climb the stairs higher. She walked and walked, climbing until there were no more stairs to climb. There was a door at the end of the hallway, a door she did not know the purpose of. Deciding there was nothing better to do, she opened it.

It was nothing more than a closet. She wandered through the house, searching for somewhere she could stay hidden away until she had tried nearly every door in the house. Deciding there was nothing else for it, she opened the last door she thought was worth trying. The moment she opened it, she nearly jumped out of her skin. Buckbeak was standing inside, giving her a suspicious look.

"You've got to bow to him," a moody voice from the corner said.

Looking over, Althea was surprised to see Sirius.

"Oh," she said, stepping inside.

Looking the creature directly in the eye, she bowed. He hesitated a moment before bowing back. After she had pet his neck a little, Althea came to sit by her godfather with a small sigh.

"Everything all right?" he asked.

"Yeah, fine," she muttered irritably.

Sirius raised an eyebrow at her.

"Oh, shut up," she retorted. "You look more miserable than I feel."

Sirius grunted but did not immediately answer.

"So, what's up with you?" he asked.

Althea sighed, "It's stupid. Nothing, really...I just...I feel like I'm being ignored. I mean, no one told me when Harry got back from his trial. No one told me lunch was happening, and now...even when I'm there for meals, it's like I'm not really there at all. Every time I speak, they either don't hear me or maybe they're just talking over me just to be annoying. I don't know."

"It's not stupid," Sirius said softly. "I'm sorry, Althea."

She shrugged, picking at the sleeve of her sweatshirt absentmindedly.

"What's wrong with you?" she asked.

"Something that is actually stupid," he replied. With a sigh, he admitted, "I hate being in this house. I mean, Amara's made it a lot better, but...still. I was trapped in this house for so much of my life. I need to be doing something, not just cleaning."

Amara said nothing. She didn't know what to say to that. Instead, she wrapped an arm around him, leaning her head against his shoulder.

"We'll make it," Althea said softly.

"Yeah," Sirius agreed, his voice even softer than her own.