Potter

Chapter 50

At the far end of the table sat Marcus Thatcher. He was separated from the other seventh years, flipping through a book that I could identify as Hogwarts: A History. His food remained untouched. His sleeves, unlike the others who had rolled them up, still remained down by his wrists. Probably, I thought grimly, to hide the Death Eater’s mark.

“Stop looking, will ya? We don’t need to draw attention right now.” Seamus said sharply. I rolled my eyes, turning to look over at him, wanting to snap back when I reminded myself- I wasn’t Lily Potter. I was Alecia Longbottom.

Uhg.

“Sorry.” I said meekly, glancing back down at my plate in an attempt to hide my frown. This shy persona was killing me. Not to say I was overly-confident with myself, but I certainly wasn’t as quiet.

“It’s fine, isn’t it Seamus?” Neville looked over at his friend pointedly. Seamus grimaced but nodded, turning his attention to Dean and striking up a conversation.

“Never mind them- They’re all just fussy because of the Carrows.” Ginny said from next to me, sending Seamus a faint look of irritation before she glanced back over to me. Ginny and I, to my delight, had gotten along rather well since our ‘introduction’. Occasionally she would let me spend time in the sixth year girl’s dorm, helping her do her hair or just talk about the over all problems with the current Hogwarts staff.

Neville was trying to convince me to tell her it was me. I refused on the grounds that it was unnecessary and would only cause more complications. The less people that know, the better.

“Everyone is fussy because of the Carrows.” I said lightly, setting my fork and knife down. My food, for the most part, was untouched. I suppose even my appetite had been affected by the new rules of Hogwarts.

_

“Muggles and mudbloods are all of the same breed- The same disgusting, filthy breed.” Alecto said with vicious glee, watching as some of the half-bloods in the room squirmed uncomfortably. Neville and I sat towards the back of the room. We had learned quickly that you did not take the front unless you wished to be picked for something unpleasant.

“How you feeling?” Neville leaned over, his voice hushed. I gave a faint shrugged, watching as Alecto stood in front of her desk, shoulders slumped. She had none of the propriety that the previous professors had.

“A little sick.” I muttered, wincing as Alecto let out a particularly loud laugh at something one of the Slytherin seven years had said.

“You and me both.” He replied, looking back down on his paper and continuing to scratch at it with his quill, small black circles slowly etching themselves into the paper. It took me only a moment to recognize what I thought to be one of the D.A medallions.

“Do you still have yours?” I asked curiously. Neville gave a quick nod.

“It’s in my sock drawer.”

“DO I HEAR TALKING IN THE CLASSROOM?” Alecto Carrow’s voice blasted, and before Neville and I could lean away from each other Alecto Carrow stood in front of us, beady eyes narrowed.

“No- Sorry Mam.” I said quickly, eyes darting down. I winced when her hand gripped my shoulder, pulling me roughly out of my seat.

“And now lying? Up, Longbottoms. UP!” She shrieked. Neville stood hurriedly, watching with sympathy as Alecto all but hurled me down the aisle of the classroom, pushing till I was standing in front of her desk. Neville stood stood beside me. Alecto paced in front of us, watching us with narrowed eyes.

“Were or were you not speaking in my classroom?”

“Yes mam.” Neville and I answered quietly. I risked a glance up from the floor. The other Gryffindors in the room stared at us with concern, while most of the Slytherins had started to giggle. A few of them though looked genuinely apologetic, and Marcus Thatcher watched with mild curiosity, brown eyes dark.