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

247. News

"Do you have anything for me?" Dumbledore asked tensely the moment Ellis stepped through the door.

He was still thin and ghostly pale with dark circles under his eyes. The flash of his eyes was dull, any trace of the playful, easy-going young man the children had met all those years ago, or even the fiercely loyal friend Bill and Sadie had grown to love was gone, deadened by fear and hardened by pain.

"Yes," Ellis said, lowering himself wearily into a chair. "Lyra has formulated her plan to 'entrap' Althea."

Dumbledore was instantly alert, confused by the carelessness in Ellis' voice. He hadn't been able to keep himself from rolling his eyes when he had uttered the word entrap.

"What is it?" Dumbledore asked.

"As I'm sure you recall, Draco is trying to kill you," Ellis said dryly. "I don't know how, but he plans to sneak a large group of Death Eaters into the school. When he does so, Lyra will be one of them. She plans to make an...an example of her to warn the other students."

"How did you discover this?" Dumbledore asked.

Staring off disinterestedly, Ellis replied, "Bellatrix and Lyra tend to talk loudly when together. It was hardly an effort."

"Anything else?" Dumbledore asked.

His eyes flashing, Ellis stood up, rounding on him as he snapped, "Unless you're finally willing to get me out of this, no."

"You know I can't do that," Dumbledore retorted.

"Why!" Ellis shouted. "What real use am I to you? I've learned nothing since I became your little spy!"

"You told me Althea's life is in danger, you have given insight and predictability to Lyra's-"

"There is no predicting Lyra," Ellis retorted angrily, his eyes shining with fear and anger intertwined. "She is crazy, a monster that-"

"That you created!" Dumbledore shouted. "If she is a monster, she is one you formed, you wrought! You've tried to pin this on me from the beginning, but did it ever occur to you that you are as much, if not more, to blame than myself?"

All anger within him fizzled out at once as Ellis paled slightly. Even so, he never broke eye contact with Dumbledore.

"Yeah," he said quietly. "I am part of the reason she is what she is...but you continually using my past mistakes against me doesn't make what you're doing any more right. You have kept me against my will in a situation where I am too terrified to sleep!" Ellis' voice had risen to a shout, his eyes flooded with tears as he withheld sobs. "I can't eat! I don't even feel like I can breathe and yet you still hold me against my-"

"ENOUGH!" Dumbledore roared.

Ellis flinched.

After a long, startled silence, Ellis finally said in a weary, hoarse voice, "One day...I might be able to decide who I hate more...you or him." He paused a moment before adding in a softer voice, "Or maybe it doesn't matter. I won't ever hate either of you as much as I hate myself."

Then, without another word, Ellis turned toward the door. Almost as though instinctively, Dumbledore grabbed onto his wrist. Ellis jerked the moment he felt his touch, his wide, hollow eyes flashing as they met Dumbledore's. Something within the electric blue seemed to bore into him, as though desperate for something. Deciding he, for once, couldn't care less about what he was desperate for, Ellis ripped his wrist out of his grip and left the hut.

.

"Good morning!" Althea said cheerfully, joining Hermione with Neville as she left the Common Room. "Where are you off to?"

"Picking up the boys from the Hospital Wing for breakfast," Hermione replied.

With a sigh, Althea said, "I still can't believe McLaggen hit Harry with a bluger."

"Not upset I missed seeing that," Neville muttered to himself.

Althea smiled at him, taking his hand in her own just as they came to the large double doors.

"Hello," she said, grinning as the boys approached them. "Welcome back to civilization."

"You're chipper," Ron observed.

Althea shrugged as they began to walk together to breakfast.

.

"Late again, Potter," Snape remarked coldly. "Ten points from Gryffindor."

Althea looked up from her parchment to see Harry rushing into the classroom, looking quite out of breath as he took his seat. Neville gave her an inquiring look, as though trying to determine why Harry was late, but she merely shrugged.

When the class had settled, Snape said, "Now, before we start, I want your dementor essays." With a wave of his wand, the essays all sprang from on top of their desks to his own. "And I hope for your sakes they are better than the tripe I had to endure on resisting the Imperius Curse. Now, if you will all open your books to page - what is it, Mr Finnigan?"

"Sir," Seamus began, shifting forward in his seat, "I've been wondering, how do you tell the difference between an Inferius and a ghost? Because there was something in the paper about an Inferius-"

"No, there wasn't," Snape interrupted in a bored voice. "If you had actually read the article in question, Mr Finnigan, you would have known that the so-called Inferius was nothing but a smelly sneak thief by the name of Mundungus Fletcher."

Althea, who had not read the paper that morning, looked up in alarm. What in the world had he done to get himself arrested?

She had just registered the voices of Harry and Ron before Snape said, "But Potter seems to have a lot to say on the subject. Let us ask Potter how we would tell the difference between an Inferius and a ghost."

Althea gave Snape an irritated look, which he ignored, as the rest of the class turned and looked at Harry.

"Er, well," Harry began finally. "Ghosts are transparent."

"Oh, very good," Snape said, his lip curling. "Yes, it is easy to see that nearly six years of magical education have not been wasted on you, Potter. 'Ghosts are transparent.'"

Pansy Parkinson let out a high-pitched giggle.

"Yeah," Harry continued in a voice of forced calm. "But Inferi are dead bodies, aren't they? So they'd be solid-"

"A five-year-old could have told us as much," Snape sneered.

"And anyone who has actually faced one," Althea interrupted suddenly.

Snape's eyes flickered coldly onto her.

"Very well then, Miss Black," he sneered. "You tell me the difference."

"An Inferius is a body that has been reanimated by the magic of a Dark Wizard who then acts as a puppet master. The soul belonging to the body has no bearing on its actions," Althea replied easily. "A ghost is the permeable, transparent imprint of a departed soul. However, as that information is hardly helpful in terms of self-defense, Harry's answer is a better one for Seamus' question."

Snape's jaw twitched, but he said nothing as he snapped, "Two-hundred and thirteen."