Thunderclouds
Alice felt heart sorry for Harry as she watched his head nodding lower and lower as he fought sleep in Charms the following Thursday. Not only was he being kept up late every night cleaning classrooms and cataloguing books for Professor McGonagall as part of his detention, but he was up at the crack of dawn three mornings a week practicing Quidditch under the watchful eye of Oliver Wood. Since he had seen the vastly superior brooms of the Slytherin team, Wood had become possessed of a manic energy and was driving his own team as hard as he could. Fred and George had commented to her the other day that the only reason they weren't practicing everyday was because McGonagall had forbidden it after getting wind of the team's mutinous mutterings.
As she watched Harry suddenly snorted and jumped awake as Ron's elbow connected sharply with his ribs. "Whazzup?"
"I was saying Mr Potter," the miniature Charms master repeated patiently over the giggles emanating from Parvati, Lavender and Sally-Anne, "can you tell me the exact wand movement and pronunciation necessary for a successful flame-freezing charm?"
"Err…" Harry struggled to reorient himself and come up with an answer whilst Hermione, rather predictably, shot her hand into the air so fast that Alice felt the breeze as it missed her face with inches to spare.
"No? Perhaps Mr Weasley might help you out then?" he turned to Ron expectantly but the red head was almost as nonplussed as his friend.
"Is it sort of…" he raised his wand to give a vague guess, but almost immediately Flitwick saw his error and rushed to stop him.
"Perhaps not Mr Weasley, we wouldn't want anymore accidents this week would we?" he raised an anxious hand to the point on his head that Ron's wand had connected with the week before, before allowing Hermione to supply him with a word perfect answer.
"It's not my fault the stupid thing broke," Ron complained for the fortieth time that day as they made their way to Potions after lunch, "it was that stupid tree, why they've got it on the grounds I'll never know. It could take someone's eye out!"
"Yeah because having potentially lethal things on the grounds is so unusual for Hogwarts," Alice chortled. Their mirth was soon cut off however as Snape swooped into the room and the temperature seemed to drop as rapidly as the noise level. Did he have to work at being menacing, Alice wondered, or did it just come naturally? If he had been a muggle she would have said he had watched one too many Dracula movies as a child, but then it wasn't totally out of the question that he had been raised by vampires in deepest Transylvania either. Her musings were soon interrupted as Snape curtly demanded that they all begin attempting to concoct a Memory Invigoration Tincture.
Five minutes later she and Hermione were busy shredding the Jobberknoll feathers to add to their gently simmering cauldrons and listening to the despairing moans and grunts of concentration rising up from the desks around them.
"I don't care what else we put in this," Hermione remarked as she measured out a large quantity of Sparkbrandy into a pewter jug, careful to keep her hair well away from the flashes it threw off intermittently. "Put this amount of alcohol into a potion and there is no way anyone would remember anything."
Alice snorted with mirth, but quickly had to whip her hand out of the way as her knife slipped and she nearly took her finger off.
"Perhaps a little more concentration is required here and a modicum less frivolity," both girls stiffened as Snape's icy drawl sounded close behind them.
"Sorry Professor," Hermione flushed and bent over her potion once again as Alice stammered something unintelligible but was evidently intended to be a comment to the same effect.
Despite Snape's best attempts to put them off by then end of the afternoon Hermione and Alice had produced exemplary potions, though Alice felt hers could probably have been a little thicker and the blue hue was not exactly identical to Hermione's. Even Ron and Harry had produced passable efforts regardless of Snape's snide comments about breaking noses and inferior brooms. Neville had somehow managed to melt his cauldron again, but that was becoming an almost weekly occurrence which even he was beginning to accept.
As Alice was packing away her books and equipment the strap on her bag snapped unexpectedly causing everything to go rolling around on the floor under her desk. Once she had located all her belongings and finally managed to retrieve a wayward piece of parchment she stood up to see that the room was virtually empty.
"Where did Ron go?" she asked Harry and Hermione who were waiting patiently for her.
"He was hungry," her friend offered by way of explanation.
"Oh right, come on then, we better get a move on if we want him to leave anything for us. He'd eat the whole kitchens if he could." They began to move towards the dungeon door following the last few stragglers into the dank and chilly passageway, but just as they reached it Harry paused for a moment as though searching in his pockets for something and then, without any evidence of having found what he was looking for continued after them.
"What was that all about?" Hermione asked in bewilderment.
Harry's face twitched in amusement, but it was soon replaced by his own expression of curiosity. "Didn't you see Malfoy?"
"No."
"Why," Alice tucked her plaits over her shoulders in a businesslike manner - a habit she had picked up whenever there was a mystery afoot which needed solving, "what was he doing?"
"Hanging about, I think he was waiting to talk to Snape, he looked really shifty. What do you suppose he was up to?"
"Oh," disappointment was evident in Hermione's voice, "is that all? He probably just wanted Snape to give him extra points for tying his shoelaces by himself this morning or something."
Alice grinned at the thought, "probably. I wouldn't worry about it Harry; it's Malfoy, he's always up to something."
"Hmm," he continued to look unconvinced as they made their way to dinner.
Compared to the first two weeks of term life began to progress relatively uneventfully with the biggest upset to normality being the occasion of Hermione's birthday the following Saturday. Alice threw her a little party in a corner of the common room and managed to talk Fred and George into procuring some food from the kitchens for her. She managed to create a little banner which she hung around the rim of the table she had commandeered which was intended to wish her a happy birthday but from the front just ended up reading appy Birt, a fact which the twins wasted no time in pointing out. In terms of classes she came to dread Defence Against the Dark Arts almost as much as Potions, it seemed they were as fated to have a useless teacher for the first subject as they were a cruel and vindictive one for the second. Unfortunately it was the one thing she couldn't talk to Hermione about as she still seemed besotted with the posturing moron and blind to any faults he may demonstrate, which he did, frequently.
"Oh for goodness sake," Alice threw down her quill in frustration and disgust one particularly stormy night in early October, "I've had just about enough of this, it's ridiculous." She glared at her copy of Break with a Banshee - from which she was meant to write a list of the twenty personality traits possessed by its self-absorbed author which had allowed him to successfully banish a coven of Banshee's in Ireland - and resisted the temptation to just chuck it in the fire.
"What's wrong?" Hermione looked up in consternation from her own homework.
"This is such a waste of time," Alice fumed, "what is this meant to be teaching us? The only things I've learnt in Defence Against the Dark Arts this term is that Lockhart has the brains of a Puffskein and there is no way he can have done any of the things he claims in his stupid books," she pushed it sharply away from her across the desk to emphasise her point. Looking up she saw Harry and Ron staring at her round-eyed - irate outbursts were much more Hermione's domain than hers - and with increasing amusement.
Hermione however immediately went on the defensive. "Alice you can't talk about a teacher like that," she chastised, "besides doing this shows us the struggles you have to go through and strength of character you need to face dangerous creatures like this. Besides," she continued ignoring Ron's sceptical cough, "why on earth would he have written all of this if it wasn't true? Someone would have found him out by now if it wasn't."
"Because he's a pretentious git that's why," Ron's quiet aside was apparently not meant for Hermione's ears but she heard all the same and flared up again.
"Ron! Mind your language! Maybe he is a little flamboyant, but after all the amazing things he's done I should think he's allowed to be."
Alice let out a strangled groan; it was late and she was tired and her hand had cramped up from writing so much, none of which put her in a very good mood. "You only defend him so much because you think he's good looking, you're just…" she stopped realising she had gone too far.
Hermione's eyes sparked dangerously and the blood drained slowly from her cheeks; it was the most menacing Alice had ever seen her. "I'm what? Stupid? Childish? Shallow? What am I Alice? I suppose you two think the same do you?" she turned on the dumbfounded boys and without waiting for a response hissed, "never mind, I don't care." Drawing herself up proudly she gathered her books and parchment from the table in one swift scoop and, without acknowledging Alice's desperate and tearful appeals to stay and let her apologise, stormed from the common room.
"Hermione," she whispered staring wretchedly after her. What had possessed her to open her mouth, the one time she had ever said exactly what she thought without considering the consequences and she said it to the best friend she had ever had. She turned back to the table and buried her head in her arms.
"Alice," Harry sounded concerned as he pulled gently on her elbow trying to get a better look at her face, "Alice, it's ok, don't cry," he gave up and resorted to patting her tentatively on the shoulder.
"Don't be nice to me, I'm a terrible person." Her words escaped in hiccupping sobs.
"No you're not, don't be daft. Hermione and I have had heaps of barnies but that doesn't make me a terrible person."
"Well…" she could hear the humour in Harry's voice followed by the thud as Ron hit him on the arm.
"Just give Hermione time to cool off, she'll come round eventually," Harry gave her a comforting smile as she eventually deigned to look up at them from behind her fringe.
"It's not like you said anything about her, and you're right Lockhart is an idiot; I don't get why she can't see that." To Ron the inner workings of the female mind would forever be a mystery, especially ones that cried and shouted.
"I still shouldn't've… I'll maybe go up and apologise just now," she rose to her feet taking deep calming breaths and attempting to wipe the tears from her face, which was pointless really as doubtless it was probably all red and puffy anyway. Combined with her hair she probably looked like a giant cranberry.
"Rather you than me," Ron winced in sympathy.
"Good luck then, and if you want I'll talk to her for you."
Creeping up the dormitory stairs she inched open the door and cautiously peered into the room; to her horror all the other Gryffindor girls were sitting on Parvati's bed pouring over a copy of Witch Weekly and casting curious glances at the far end of the room every so often. Following their gazes she saw that the curtains surrounding Hermione's bed had been wrenched savagely shut, so much so that a section had come loose from one of the rings that supported it and sagged lifelessly in the middle. These signs did nothing to ease the trepidation Alice felt as she gingerly crossed the room.
"Hermione?" Silence. The occasional sniff was the only indication that her friend was even behind the curtains at all. "Hermione, are you awake?"
"I think she wants to be left alone." Alice looked back at Lavender in annoyance, she looked far too pleased about the situation and thrived on drama of any sort. Her wide honey coloured eyes were alight with anticipation as she waited to see what would unfold between the two more socially awkward Gryffindors.
With a sigh Alice turned away from her again. "Hermione?" she repeated.
"I'm sleeping," the voice that eventually answered her was terse and muffled and clearly wanted to be left alone. With resignation Alice turned away, much to Lavender's evident disappointment, and began to get ready for bed. Once tucked securely under the sheets she pulled the curtains tight, catching Lavender staring inquisitively at her once more as she did so, and pressed her head as far into the pillow as she could in an attempt to try and squash all thoughts of the argument - and her growing headache - out.
The next morning as she eased into wakefulness there was still a dull throbbing behind her eyes, she really would have to go and see if Madam Pomfrey could give her something for it. After a moment of lying as still as she possibly could and waiting to see if it would go away she gave it up as a lost cause and sat up slowly so as not to aggravate the tiny gnomes with hammers that had clearly taken up residence inside her skull. Her initial response to pulling open the curtains was to squint and recoil from the sudden influx of light, but almost immediately her eyes flicked across to Hermione's bed again. It was empty. The bed was neatly made and the hangings had been carefully repaired, but there was no sign of the occupant. Come to think of it she seemed to be the only one in the room at all.
Glancing over at the alarm clock she kept on a stand next to her bed she felt her stomach drop several inches. She had overslept! If she didn't get a move on she wouldn't have time for breakfast before class. Rushing to grab her clothes and get herself ready Alice narrowly avoided flying headlong into her trunk as she caught her foot on the edge of the bed and stumbled halfway across the room. After rushing through her morning wash she threw on her robes and dashed down the spiral staircase still trying to fasten buttons and plait her hair simultaneously as she ran. Nearing the Great Hall she slowed slightly as she began to encounter students who, having already eaten, were making their way back up the stairs. As she entered the Hall at a brisk walk she glanced the length of the table trying to locate her friends, it took only moments as they had evidently finished just that second and were standing up to leave. Going over how she was going to apologise to Hermione in her head she steeled herself and walked towards them.
"Hey Alice," Harry called catching sight of her, "we were beginning to wonder what had happened to you." At his words Hermione, who had been laughing at something Ron had said broke off and began to walk towards Alice. With relief Alice opened her mouth to begin her carefully worded apology, but the words died in her throat as Hermione continued marching on past without so much as a glance at her.
"It's alright," she whispered forlornly as the two boys rushed up to her looking worried, "I'll just give her some more time, we'll sort it out eventually," she hoped she sounded more convinced than she felt.
"Do you want us to wait while you have something to eat?" Ron perked up visibly at Harry's words and he was so obviously contemplating a second breakfast that Alice couldn't help but give a slight smile.
"No it's ok, thanks though, you should probably go after Hermione. I don't mind." After reassuring them several times that she was perfectly capable of consuming breakfast on her own and without their assistance they finally followed Hermione out of the Hall leaving Alice to go and sit at a bench by herself. Several minutes later, as she was staring morosely at the piece of toast in her hand, which she really didn't feel like eating, she was aware of two bodies landing on the bench at either side of her.
"Good morning Evans, what has that piece of toast done to deserve such antipathy today?"
"Perhaps it insulted her George?"
"Well we can't have that, it'll have to be punished," and ignoring Alice's protestations they each took hold of the slice, tore it in half and promptly ate it.
"I was away to eat that!"
"No you weren't," Fred grinned at her as he continued to chew on her breakfast.
Alice raised an eyebrow with incredulous scepticism, "I wasn't?"
"Nope, you were about to have a fight with it -"
"- about a certain ridiculous teacher I should imagine -"
"- and so we just rescued you from it."
So they were back to that then. "So you heard about that then?"
"My dear naïve Evans, I think the whole common room heard."
She didn't really have a response to that so to cover her embarrassment she reached for another slice of toast.
"I wouldn't worry about it," George continued bracingly, "Hermione's pride will wear out in the end and she'll see you're right. If she doesn't you can always hang out with us and Lee," he sat up straighter and slapped himself on the chest, "because we're just fantastic like that."
"I'm sure," Alice's response was almost as dry as her toast.
Fred feigned dejection at her comment. "Now you see it's needless comments like that that makes us sad, but then that also means," he suddenly brightened comically, "that we need to cheer ourselves up -"
"-and the only way to do that…"
"Well we wouldn't really want to spoil the surprise for you Evans, but this one's going to be great."
"The best in fact," George asserted.
"Better than that one in first year with Sprout, the fourth years and the greenhouse full of hair-raising crocuses?"
"Well," they both considered for a moment with looks of such intense concentration on their faces that Alice, who was already considering what possible mayhem could ensue from such a scenario, couldn't help but laugh outright which she suspected had been their intention all along. "Perhaps not quite as good as that one… but close, definitely close."
"Anyway," Fred rose as he glanced at his watch, "you'd better get to class young Evans, and if Hermione gives you any trouble we'll have a word with her for you."
A slight smile crossed her face as she considered the response they would probably receive from her erstwhile best-friend should they even attempt such an undertaking. They wouldn't do it twice that was for sure. "Thanks guys, and thanks… for cheering me up," she flushed again as she spoke, not quite meeting their eyes as she did so.
"Not a problem midget," Fred tugged gently on one of her pigtails again with a grin, "run along to class now."
Realising that she would end up being late if she didn't she gave them a quick wave and dashed off towards the third floor. As it transpired her conversation with the twins at breakfast was no more than a brief respite during a day which continued almost as badly as it had started. In Charms Hermione barely looked at her and sat with an extremely uncomfortable Ron and Harry wedged between the two. Ron had decided that the best approach to the obvious tension in the group was to be as falsely cheery as possible, but after Hermione had thrown him several very pointed looks he quickly shut up and concentrated on his work. Herbology was slightly more difficult for them to try and ignore Hermione's coolness towards Alice as she took herself off to the other side of the greenhouse in an effort to avoid her.
Seeing Harry's obvious distress at having to choose between the two girls Alice had a brain wave. "Here Harry, you boys work here with Neville and Ernie or someone I'll go and find another group."
"Alice I…" he gazed at her miserably for a moment, "alright," he sighed before turning away and picking up a trowel from the pile Professor Sprout had left on the bench. Steeling herself Alice, with a last look in Hermione's direction which she didn't see because she was staring determinedly at her potted gurdyroot, moved towards the table around which Parvati, Lavender and Sally-Anne were clustered.
"Do you girls mind if I join you?"
The only saving grace about the whole day was that she had a valid excuse for having to go to bed early that night. Her headache had increased tenfold and her desire to collapse onto her mattress outweighed her need to have her stubborn friend continually rebuff her efforts to apologise. If she was coming down with one of the colds which were sweeping the castle at the moment the best thing would be to sleep it off; the alternative of course was to go and get Pepper-up Potion from Madam Pomfrey, but she never had liked going to get medicine for minor ailments, it smacked too much of asking for help. She supposed that in that respect she was almost as stubborn as Hermione.
Thankfully the next day was a Saturday so whilst Harry was at Quidditch practice all afternoon and Ron pestered Hermione with questions about their Potions assignment, which he should in all likelihood have had completed several days earlier, Alice and Neville decided to pay Hagrid a visit. Within five minutes though she was beginning to regret her decision slightly as he informed her, in a voice far too loud for her slightly fragile state, that she looked a bit peaky and needed to eat some of the rather dubious concoction which he placed in front of them and transpired to be a chicken pie. Or so he claimed, Alice wasn't really hungry enough to risk finding out.
They had barely been in the hut for fifteen minutes however, during which time she had to admit Hagrid's recounting of how he had once terrified the life out of a muggle policeman by doing no more than walking along the street had cheered her up, when it began to pelt with rain. On any normal day she wouldn't have minded this as she enjoyed Hagrid's company and would have gladly stayed listening to his stories well into the evening if she hadn't still been feeling unwell. It was also good seeing Neville's face light up when he engaged him in conversation about the plants in his garden, the alternative though was to risk a soaking as they made the dash through the rain back to the castle. But she wasn't in the mood to do that either. Time eventually made the decision for her however as the darkening sky meant that the second years had no choice but to bid Hagrid a hasty farewell before scurrying back across the grounds towards Hogwarts and a more edible supper than the one their giant friend had been all too willing to provide.
By the time they arrived in the Entrance Hall they were both soaked through and shivering. "That was f-f-un," Neville tried to laugh around his chattering teeth, "don't you think? Alice? Alice are you alright?" he grabbed hold of her arm as she moved unsteadily on her feet.
"I'm fine," she dried her robes with a flick of her wand and pulled them slightly tighter in an effort to cast out the chill that had entered her bones, "just got a sore head. I'll be fine once I have something to eat." She suspected it was probably a lie but she wasn't about to make a song and dance about having the cold. At the Home, unless you were really ill you just sucked it up and got on with it and she could do the same now. As they sat down at the Gryffindor table, after waving at Ron and Harry several seats away and receiving no response from Hermione, she realised that she had as little appetite for the usual sumptuous Hogwarts spread as she had had for Hagrid's offerings. "Actually Neville, I think I might just go to bed, I'm a bit tired. Do you mind?"
"Of course not," he looked concerned, "are you sure you're alright though? Hagrid was right you do look a bit pale."
"How can you tell?" she joked feebly brushing a hand against her perpetually bloodless cheeks as she left the room. She couldn't remember the last time she had felt this rotten though and as she struggled up the last flight of stairs to the common room she fervently wished that the Founders had had the sense to put the Gryffindor dormitories on the first floor rather than the seventh. Collapsing into bed with a groan she was asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow.
She awoke with a start to find the room blanketed in darkness, the silence broken only by the steady thrum of breath from the other girls and the relentless drumming which started up in her head again the minute she resumed consciousness. Only now the drummer had gone out canvassing and gotten all his friends to join him so that it felt as though she had a marching band parading around inside her skull. Add to that the fact that judging by her aching throat and rocketing temperature someone had clearly set her lungs on fire and she just felt generally terrible. After several minutes of hazy indecision she eventually managed to wrench herself upright and fumbled around in the pitch black for several moments attempting to locate her wand and dressing gown. Locating both she tucked one into the pocket of the other, eased into her slippers and stumbled towards the door, for once heedless of the noise she might make. If she had been in a healthier state of mind she would have remarked on the oddness of wandering the corridors at night and completely alone, it was one thing to do it with the others but when you were on your own every shadow loomed slightly larger and seemed to reach out towards her with grasping fingers as though they would swallow her up entirely; or perhaps that was just delirium setting in.
How she managed to find her way to the Hospital Wing she was never quite sure, clearly her sense of direction was unconnected to the parts of her that were protesting against the virus affecting her system. It took no more than one knock to bring Madam Pomfrey flying to the doors of her rooms, wand in hand and with such a look of concern on her face when she saw Alice standing wretchedly in her pyjamas on the threshold that for the second time that week the little redhead dissolved into inconsolable tears. She was barely aware of the kindly matron leading her gently to a bed on the ward, clucking gently about rest and fetching flu potions, all that she knew was the sense of relief when the liquid she was given slipped coolly through her lips and the instant abating of the pain in her head. Finally free of the pain that had plagued her for days she slipped into an easy and dreamless sleep and the last thing she was aware of was Madam Pomfrey's uncommonly gentle hand resting on her forehead in a rather motherly fashion before she slipped from consciousness.
On awaking the next morning she knew instantly that she felt much better, her throat was still rather hoarse and scratchy and her stomach would rather pretend that it was a bouncy ball than do its job properly but other than that she felt much better. Whatever potion Madam Pomfrey had given her it had entirely cleared her headache and dropped her temperature back to almost normal levels. Opening her eyes she prepared to lever herself up slightly against her pillows but stopped as she caught sight of the unexpected figure standing hesitantly at the end of her bed. She wasn't sure if she was more surprised by the fact that she hadn't expected anyone to be their or if it was that of all people she hadn't expected this one in particular.
"Hermione? What are you doing here?"
A/N: Not really much of a cliffie I know but I had to stop the chapter somewhere or it would have run on for ages. About things in the chapter Pepper-up Potion is mentioned as being able to cure the cold instantly but since Alice had proper flu she would have needed something stronger and, for the purpose of the story, slightly slower in taking effect. Jobberknoll's are birds whose feathers are used in memory potions and mentioned in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Sparkbrandy I just invented because I decided that wizards would probably have a wider range of alcohol than is mentioned - and evidently less qualms about giving it to students, provided they don't drink it of course. Thanks to all who have reviewed so far please continue to do so!
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