Snow From A Hemlock Tree

So, I’m deciding to have another go at this story, because I like the idea too much to let it go. Please bear with me and tell me what you think!

Please leave me some reviews here: http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?t=113730

Dust of Snow
by: Robert Frost
The way a crow
Shook down on me
The dust of snow
From a hemlock tree
Has given my heart
A change of mood
And saved some part
Of a day I had rued.

“Excuse me!” an exasperated voice said, mostly lost in the loud clamor of Platform 9 ¾. A dark haired girl of about fifteen was attempting to push her trolley through the crowds of Hogwarts students saying farewell to their families. She sighed as a group of young Hufflepuff girls, giggling about who knows what, would not move out of her way.

“Er, excuse me,” she tried again. This time one of the girls looked at her and laughed before turning back to her friends. She rolled her eyes and pushed her trolley right through the middle of their group. “Get out of my way.” After successfully rolling over at least one of the girls’ feet, she was able to reach the Hogwarts Express.

“Al!” she heard someone yell as she walked up the corridor to the front of the train. She turned around and watched a blonde boy her age running towards her.

“Wilkes! I swear I tell you every year not to call me that!” she said, her hands on her hips. Wilkes just smiled as stopped in front of her.
“Oh, I’m sorry, Alcyone.” He said her name very dramatically and rolled his eyes. Alcyone sighed and crossed her arms.

“There, that wasn’t so hard, was it?” she replied, glancing down at her watch. The train was due to depart in three minutes. “Now what do you want?”

“I was just trying to find you so we could get a compartment before they’re all taken.” He said this as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
“Wilkes, I’ve told you every year since third year that I’m a Prefect and have to go to the Prefect compartments.” Alcyone said, rolling her eyes. Wilkes looked a little downcast and nodded.

“Yeah, I know, I was just hoping for once that you’d come and sit with us instead of all the Prefects.” Alcyone glanced down at her watch again and as she did, the train began to move.

“Sorry, I’ll see you later.” She turned and walked towards the front of the train, finally coming to one of the first compartments. When she walked inside, she wasn’t surprised to see most of the other prefects there, which also meant that most of the seat had been taken. She quickly glanced around and saw that only two seats were open. One was next to Evan Rosier, who looked like he was trying to get her attention, but she quickly turned and pretended not to see him as she took the other open seat, which happened to be next to a Gryffindor boy her age.

“Hello,” he said politely. She glanced up and saw that she had taken a seat next to Remus Lupin, one of the infamous Marauders. She smiled back politely before glancing down at her watch for the third time in five minutes. She could see out of the corner of her eye that Rosier was scowling and allowed herself a small smile.

Just because Alcyone was a Slytherin did not mean that she had to like everyone in her house. On the contrary, there were quite a few Slytherins that she could not stand, Rosier being one of them.

Like most of the Slytherins, Alcyone had been brought up in a very conservative pureblood family. She was an only child and her parents were very quick to buy her only the best things that money could buy. They were among one of the oldest pureblood families in Britain and liked to show off all of their money. Alcyone had never really agreed with them about many of their beliefs, but they wouldn’t know this as she almost always kept her opinions to herself, always agreeing with them when they asked her opinion.

Alcyone sometimes wished that she had not been placed in Slytherin if only for the fact that most of her house mates annoyed her. She rarely spoke to any of them more than what would be considered polite. The only fellow Slytherin she would even speak more than five sentences to at a time was Wilkes and he, more than often enough, would drive her crazy after a while.
She tried not to dwell too much on being sorted in the most hated house. She was sure the Sorting Hat had a reason for it. Being cunning and all of that, she supposed.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the entrance of their new Head Girl, Abigail Kirke, a Ravenclaw. She was smart, head of the class, but Alcyone thought she lacked a little common sense.

“Hello, everyone! Are you all ready for another exciting year?” she said this with such enthusiasm that Alcyone was almost taken aback. When no one else responded with the same excitement, Abigail went right into the plans for the year.

When the train finally stopped, Alcyone finally made her escape to change into her black robes. She was so thrilled to get away from Abigail’s terrifying presence that she was practically skipping towards the waiting carriages. Unfortunately, she was not looking where she was going and collided into someone. She and the boy fell hard to the ground, where Alcyone laid for a moment, trying to get her head to stop spinning.

“Are you alright?” the boy asked, holding out a hand to help her up. She looked up to see Remus Lupin standing over her, his robes all rumpled. She took his hand and he quickly pulled her to her feet.

“I’m so sorry about that,” she said, feeling a little bad. “I wasn’t looking.” The sandy haired boy smiled and shrugged as he fixed his robes.

“It’s fine. I see you were just as excited to get out of there as I was.” He flashed her a quick smile and she laughed.

“Yes, definitely.” The two walked towards the carriages together, laughing the whole way about Abigail. When they reached one of the horseless carriages, Alcyone began to feel a little awkward. Lupin, on the other hand, seemed perfectly at ease and opened the door.

“After you,” he said, with a sweeping gesture. Alcyone laughed nervously, eyeing the open door.

“Are you sure? I don’t want to bother your friends...” she said, looking rather uncomfortable. She knew a lot about his friends, not that almost all of Hogwarts didn’t. The Marauders were the pranksters of Hogwarts. They were always making trouble and getting into it themselves. Lupin was usually the quiet, well-behaved one, while James Potter and Sirius Black were always the wild ones. Peter Pettigrew was the fourth in the group and to Alcyone it always seemed like he was trying to be included in the spotlight the other three received.

“I’m sure they won’t mind. Do you have somewhere else you are supposed to be sitting?” he asked. Alcyone’s mind quickly went to Wilkes and who he would be sitting with and she quickly stepped up into the carriage. Lupin laughed and followed her inside.

They couldn’t have been inside a second, when the door opened again and the three other Marauders jumped inside. Potter instantly noticed her and stared while Pettigrew and Black laughed about something they had done to Severus Snape. After he noticed that Potter wasn’t laughing, Black looked up and saw what he was staring at.

“Well, look who it is! How have you been, Al?” he said, a quite mischievous grin appearing. Alycone sighed and tried to remember why she had thought sharing a carriage with the Marauders would have been a good idea. Lupin looked a little confused.

“You two know each other?” he asked, looking from her to Black. She sighed and nodded, while Black’s grin grew larger.

“Know each other! We practically grew up together!” Alcyone really did not like where this was going, but luckily enough, the carriage hit a large bump and Pettigrew was thrown off of his seat onto the floor. Alcyone probably would have fallen off as well, but Lupin had grabbed her arm at the last second. Potter was too busy laughing at Pettigrew to notice the save, but Black did and raised an eyebrow. The boys spent the rest of the carriage ride laughing at Pettigrew and Alcyone was quite thankful for the distraction.

As soon as the carriages stopped, Alcyone pulled open the door and jumped out, waving a small goodbye. She hurried up to the castle along with all of the other students pushing past one another.

She sat down at the Slytherin table by herself and hoped that no one too terrible would choose to sit next to her.

Here’s a much longer chapter for you guys! 5 pages! Wooo!


Unfortunately for Alcyone, she was not alone for very long. Wilkes entered the Great Hall soon after she did and immediately took the seat next to her. She pretended not to notice as he sat down, but this didn’t stop him from attempting to talk to her.

“Where did you run off to after we got off the train?” he asked. Alcyone took a moment to look around the Hall, looking for any excuse to change the subject. Unfortunately, Wilkes did not give her enough time and spoke again. “I saved a carriage for us.”

“Sorry, I got sidetracked,” she said. Wilkes opened his mouth to ask how, but Alcyone was saved by Professor McGonagall, who was now leading a line of first years to the front of the Hall. She set the sorting hat down on the stool and everyone watched in rapt attention to the song. Once it had finished, the sorting began. Alcyone hardly paid attention to who was being sorted where, though she did clap slightly for anyone who joined the Slytherin table. When the last name was called, Professor Dumbledore stood.

“Welcome everyone to a new year at Hogwarts!” he said, his arms held out. “Now, let me just say a few words before we dig in to the delicious feast that awaits!” Anyone that had still been talking quickly quieted down and all eyes were turned to the headmaster. “First on the list is that the Forbidden Forest is exactly as the name implies; forbidden.” His eyes moved towards the Gryffindor table where the Marauders were seated. “And last, please remember that there is nothing more important than your friends in these hard times we are facing. That is all! Now let us eat!” He sat down and instantly the tables were covered in food.

“That old cook and all of his talk of friends in these hard times,” Wilkes said with a snort as he piled potatoes on his golden plate. Alcyone glanced at him and saw that he was smiling. He noticed this and laughed. “If he thinks times are bad now, just wait.” Alcyone shook her head and stayed silent.

Wilkes seemed to finally understand and turned to speak to Rosier who was seated next to him. Alcyone caught some of their conversation and was horrified when it turned to her.

“Yeah, Al completely ignored me in the Prefect compartment and sat next to Lupin,” he said, thinking that she wouldn’t overhear. Alcyone allowed herself a quick glance at Wilkes, but he didn’t seem angry or surprised.
“Well, maybe she didn’t see you.” Alcyone stopped listening at this point and quickly finished her dinner. She was one of the first ones to leave the Great Hall and made towards the dungeons.

When she entered the Slytherin common room, she instantly pulled her cloak closer. The common room was always colder than the rest of the castle, which was probably because it was located under the lake. The green lights hanging from the low ceiling gave the room a very eerie glow and the fact that she was alone made the room all the more creepy. She quickly walked to the girls’ dormitory and grabbed a book that she had just started and returned to the common room to grab a seat by the fire.

The book she had grabbed was a muggle book, though she had changed the cover so none of her house mates would notice. She hated having to hide the fact that she enjoyed some muggle things.

“Al! There you are!” Wilkes said as he entered the common room. Alcyone sighed and closed her book as he sat down in the green armchair next to her.

“Where else would I be?” she asked, turning her attention to the fire. Wilkes laughed.

“True. It’s always easy to find you. You’re always sitting here reading some book. Don’t you ever get tired of it?” he asked grinning.

“No, not really.” She glanced at her watch and feigned a yawn. “You know, I’m actually really tired. I think I’m going to head to bed.” Wilkes frowned, but yawned himself.

“Yeah, sounds like a good idea.” He wished her goodnight and they parted ways. Alcyone hadn’t really felt tired, but once she laid down on her bed and closed the green velvet hangings, she quickly fell into a deep sleep.

When she woke up it was already bright outside and she immediately looked at her watch to see if she overslept. She sighed with relief as she saw that she had woken up fairly early and she still had an hour and half before her first class. She jumped out of bed and headed to the bathroom before any of the other girls could beat her to it.

She finished her shower and put on her school robes, the snores of her dorm mates ridiculously loud in the background. Again the common room was empty as she walked through, though she wasn’t surprised. No one usually got up early the first day back. She made her way through the empty castle halls until she arrived at the Great Hall. There were a few people eating breakfast already and Alcyone was the first one to sit down at the Slytherin table.

It was at least a half an hour later, when Alcyone was peacefully nibbling on some toast, when Wilkes sat down next to her.

“You’re up early,” he said, clearly not awake. He asked her to pass the scrambled eggs and he hungrily dug in. Alcyone shrugged.

“I’m usually up before everyone else.” Wilkes nodded in reply, still engrossed in his eggs, which had now been joined by some sausage. They sat in silence until Professor Slughorn came by with their timetables.
“We have Transfiguration first,” she said, making a face. Wilkes laughed and looked his over.

“It’s not that bad, Al,” he replied through a mouthful of toast. “Look, we have charms after with the Ravenclaws. You’re good at charms.” Alcyone sighed and nodded.

Soon enough, they were halfway to Transfiguration when Alcyone realized that she had forgotten one of her books. She stopped abruptly, causing a small first year to run into her. The first year fell to the ground, his books everywhere, but Alcyone didn’t even flinch.

“I forgot my book,” she told Wilkes, who was watching her curiously. “I’ll meet you in class.” She turned and jumped over the first year, who was trying to pick up all of his books, and sprinted back to the common room.

By the time she had found her book and made it back to the same spot she had left Wilkes, she had only five minutes left to get to class, which was still a good distance away. She began to run again, only this time she smashed into what looked like a fourth year Hufflepuff. She and the girl fell to the ground, both of their books flying everywhere.

When she stood up she realized that it was one of the same girls whose feet she had run over on the Platform. The Hufflepuff seemed to realize this as well and glared at her.

“What’s your problem, Slytherin?” she asked, her hands clenched at her sides. Alcyone rolled her eyes and bent down to pick up her books, but was shoved roughly to the ground. She growled and glared up at the younger girl.

“I don’t have time for this!” she said, standing back up. The younger girl stood her ground and Alcyone laughed. “Just move out of my way and you won’t get hurt.” Alcyone counted on her Slytherin status to scare the girl off, but she wasn’t backing down. Instead of going for her wand, the girl aimed a punch at Alcyone. She was so surprised by this that she didn’t move out of the way and the girl’s fist collided with her cheek.

“What the hell?” Alcyone shouted, her hand clutching what would now be a black eye. The girl smirked, thinking that she had won. Alcyone growled and jumped on her, aiming punches wherever she could. Once the girl was in tears, Alcyone got off of her and grabbed her things. She pushed through the very large crowd that had formed around them and continued to sprint to class.

Of course, she was more than fifteen minutes late and now sporting a very obvious black eye. She walked into Transfiguration and slid into the only empty seat, which was next to a Gryffindor sixth year named Lily Evans. Evans didn’t look very happy with the seating arrangements, but said nothing. McGonagall, on the other hand, had quite a bit to say.

“Miss Harper! Late on the first day of classes! And with a black eye! Have you been fighting? As a Prefect I would think you knew better,” she said. Alcyone cowered under her stern gaze. “See me after class, so we can arrange your detention.” Alcyone groaned and dropped her head into her arms. She couldn’t believe she was getting a detention the first class of the first day. She could hear some of the Gryffindors s******ing, but she didn’t feel like lifting her head up to see who.

The rest of the class went by normally. Everyone quietly wrote down the notes that McGonagall was magically writing on the board when a loud bang made most of the class jump. Alcyone looked over at Severus Snape and saw that his usual greasy black hair was now replaced with what looked like bright pink fur.

All of the Gryffindors, with the exception of Lily Evans, who was scowling, began to howl with laughter. Alcyone actually had to stifle her own laughter. The loudest noise was coming from the two tables the Marauders were seated at. Potter was almost falling out of his chair laughing and Black was pounding his fists on the desk. Pettigrew giggled along, while Lupin had a small smile on his face, which he was covering up quite convincingly with his open Transfiguration book.

“Potter! Black!” McGonagall shouted furiously. “Fifty points from Gryffindor and see me after class!” It was very rare to see McGonagall so worked up, but somehow the Marauders knew how to press her buttons.

“Actually, James wasn’t involved in this one,” Black said, trying to breath normally again. McGonagall raised an eyebrow. “This one was all me. I don’t want him stealing the credit.” He burst into laughter again and McGonagall glared at him.
“An extra ten points, Mr. Black. Mr. Potter, there is no need to see me after class.” With that, she turned back to the board and continued the notes.

Alcyone wished that she could leave like everyone else once class was over. Black on the other hand looked completely care free. McGonagall looked at each of them carefully, her usual stern look in place.

“You two have both disappointed me today. Especially you, Miss Harper, a Prefect! I will be informing Professor Slughorn of this and he may wish to add to your punishment.” She turned towards Black and shook her head. “I am very disturbed by your constant misbehavior, Mr. Black. Both you are receiving two detentions. One will be with Mr. Filch tonight at eleven o’clock in the trophy room. I will let you know what the other will be tomorrow after class.”

Alcyone sighed and nodded, slinging her bag over her shoulder. She walked out of the classroom, followed by Black. After a moment she realized that he was trying to catch up with her, so she increased her pace.
“Al, wait!” he called. She stopped and turned around, a scowl already in place. This didn’t seem to faze him and he flashed a lopsided grin. “Where are you running off to?” Alcyone rolled her eyes and turned to walk away, but Black was already in front of her. “And where did you get that beautiful black eye?” His grey eyes sparkled as he inspected it.

“I had a little disagreement on my way to class,” she said, trying to move past him. He moved in front of her again and laughed.

“A little disagreement? I hope you returned the favor,” he said, grin still in place.

“You could say that.” She glanced down at her watch and frowned. “Will you get out of my way? I need to head to the hospital wing to get this fixed before I go to Charms.” She tried to walk around him again, but he put his hand out. He pulled out his wand and Alcyone flinched as he pointed it at her eye. She felt her eye grow cold and then return to normal.

“There, it looks a little better,” he said, putting his wand back in his pocket. Alcyone stared at him. “Prongs and I get black eyes all the time, so we found out this handy spell to lighten them up a bit.” She blinked and put a hand to her upper cheek and felt that some of the swelling had gone down.

“Er...thanks,” she said, a little confused as to why he helped her.

“No problem. See you in detention.” Alcyone watched him walk away for a moment, before heading off to charms. She made a quick pit stop in the bathroom to check her eye. Black was right, the charm had worked. Instead of being puffy and almost black, it had now subsided into a light purple bruise. She stood in front of the mirror for a few minutes, trying to understand Black’s motives.

She hadn’t had a proper conversation with him since first year. They had known each other pretty well when they were younger because their parents were what you could possibly call friends. More like pureblood acquaintances that had tea with each other to keep the ties between their ancient families alive. She had first met Black years ago at a fancy dinner party her family had hosted.

They had never been friends, no, but whenever they were both stuck at a boring get together, they would always seek each other out. Then when they came to Hogwarts everything changed. She was sorted into Slytherin like the rest of her family and he was put in Gryffindor, going against everything his family wished. They had stopped talking completely by the end of their second month at Hogwarts.

Alcyone arrived early to Charms and sat down next to Wilkes. It wasn’t her favorite place to be, but she would rather sit next to him than take the chance of another fight. Luckily for her, the rest of the day went fairly smoothly, though Flitwick did give them a good amount of homework for the first day.

She and Wilkes were two of the first people sitting at the Slytherin table for dinner when they were joined by one of Alcyone’s least favorite people. Callista Carter was a Slytherin girl in her year, but Alcyone always made a point of avoiding her. She was short and rather wide and had an average face, but attitude was what drove Alcyone away. She believed that she was the most beautiful and important person even to grace the halls of Hogwarts in a hundred years.

“Hi, Wilkes,” she said, smiling at him. Alcyone snorted and Callista glared at her. “Something to say, Harper? I heard you got beaten up by a fourth year Hufflepuff earlier.” Alcyone felt herself blush, but said nothing.

“Hey Callista, leave Al alone, she hasn’t had a good day,” Wilkes said frowning. Callista scowled again.

“Well, maybe she shouldn’t pick fights she can’t win,” she said with a pointed look at Alcyone, who rolled her eyes. After that comment, Callista went back to chatting up Wilkes, who looked like he almost wanted to run away.

Suddenly, Alcyone saw fell off of her seat and hit her head, small stars clouding her vision. She pushed herself up on her elbows and looked down the table. All of the Slytherins were running around, their faces covered in disgusting blue boils. Many of the girls and first years were screaming.

Alcyone felt her own face, but there was nothing there. She then put her hand to the back of her head and felt a huge bump forming. She pushed herself up to her feet to survey all of the damage around her. Indeed, the every Slytherin, except for her, had been jinxed. She was beginning to feel dizzy, both from her head injury and all of the commotion, so she left the Great Hall as quickly as she could manage.

As she laid down on her four poster, she checked the time. It was only six o’clock and she didn’t have detention until eleven, so she closed her eyes and immediately fell asleep.

This is just a little update before I go to bed, I’ll type some more tomorrow if I get the chance. Oh, and here is a picture I did of what I think Alcyone looks like.
http://theladymarauder.deviantart.com/art/Alcyone-Harper-103366886




Alcyone woke up just from her nap just in time for her detention. She sat up and groaned, her hand going immediately to the back of her head. The lump had gotten a little smaller, but it still throbbed painfully. After a moment, she pushed herself out of bed and made her way to the trophy room.

Outside of the room was Filch, looking as bitter as always. He glared at her as she came closer. She could see no sign of Black anywhere, not that she was surprised. The minutes ticked by as she and Filch waited in an awkward silence for him to show up. Finally, at least twenty minutes later he walked up, his hands in his pockets, looking unfazed.

“You’re late, Black,” Filch growled. Black smiled and shrugged. Filch began to turn a bright shade of scarlet, but held himself back and threw open the door. “Clean every speck of dust on these trophies! No Magic! Don’t leave until you’re done!” With that, he slammed the door behind them. Alcyone groaned and walked towards a large shelf of trophies of all shapes and sizes.

“Don’t worry, Al, it’s not that bad. Prongs and I were in here at least ten times last year,” he said with a large grin. Alcyone rolled her eyes and grabbed the nearest trophy and a rag. She had finished quite a few when she began to feel dizzy again. She set the trophy she was currently scrubbing back on the shelf and leaned against it, trying to stop her head from spinning.

When the feeling subsided, she sighed and stood up straight again to finish cleaning some Ravenclaws special service award. Black noticed her behavior and watched her for a moment.

“I’m fine,” she said, beginning to clean the award furiously. She needed to finish and go lay back down, so it was time to hurry. The movement was too much for her and her dizziness returned tenfold. She gasped and fell backwards, dropping the award as she fell. She expected to hit the hard stone floor, but Black had caught her. She stared up at him in confusion and then immediately pushed him off.

“Hey! I was just making sure you didn’t fall too hard!” he said, looking a little offended. Alcyone stepped away from him and picked up the trophy she had dropped. “What’s wrong with you anyways?”

“I fell and hit my head today during dinner, but I don’t know how it happened,” she said, glancing over her shoulder at him. He had a slightly guilty look about him. “It was right before everyone else in my house got jinxed.”

“Yeah…about that…” Black began. Alcyone narrowed her eyes and walked closer to him. “That was me that hit you with that spell at dinner.” Her eyes widened, but quickly went back to a glare.

“Why would you do that!?” she growled, softly touching the large bump on the back of her head.

“I just didn’t want you to get jinxed too! So I pushed you out of the way,” he replied. “I didn’t know you had gotten hurt!”

”Fine, Black,” she said, turning away from him, “Just next time, don’t help me and maybe I’ll be better off.” She angrily grabbed another trophy and began to clean it.

“Black, is it?” he asked, his arms crossed. “You know I thought we knew each other a little better than that.”

“Know each other?” Alcyone asked, glaring at the trophy she was viciously polishing. “We used to know each other. I haven’t had a proper conversation with you since first year! And you were horrible to me!” she said, spinning around and pointing a finger at his chest.

“Horrible to you! How was I horrible to you?” he asked
“Oh, let me see! There was that time you turned my skin blue for a day, the time I suddenly grew tentacles from my ears, and when you put that charm on me so all I could say was ‘Sirius Black is the sexiest boy at Hogwarts!” Alcyone was growing angrier by the second and she was holding onto the trophy harder than ever.

“Al, really, that was years ago!” Black said, waving his arms exasperatedly. “I haven’t done anything to you in years!”

“Which was also the last time you talked to me!” she yelled back. “Why are you talking to me and being so nice all of the sudden?” She waved the trophy around and Black eyed it warily.

“Am I supposed to apologize for being nice to you?” he asked incredulously. Alcyone let out a frustrated scream. She was about to shout something else, but her head protested. She groaned and put a hand to her forehead.

“I’m going to see Madame Pomfrey. There’s not much left and I’m sure you can deal with it.” She scowled and walked out of the trophy room, leaving Black watching her go.

“Feel better, Al!” he called after her.

“Don’t call me Al!” she shouted back. The walk to the hospital wing wasn’t as bad as she thought. It was well after midnight when she knocked on the door. Madame Pomfrey opened the door in her nightdress, looking confused as to who would be bothering her at this time of night.

“Miss Harper?” the nurse asked, ushering her inside. “What’s wrong?”

“I fell and hit my head at dinner and I’ve been dizzy ever since.” She replied and sat down on a bed the nurse indicated. After a moment of inspection, Madame Pomfrey sighed.

“Well, you’ve given yourself a small concussion, dear.” Alcyone sighed and rolled her eyes. Of course. Madame Pomfrey was currently rummaging through her cabinet of different potions. She returned with a slightly scary looking blue bottle with a skull on it. “You’ll have to drink this,” she said, pouring a glass of the thick blue liquid. “And you’ll have to spend the night here tonight.”

Alcyone eyed the liquid for a moment before downing the glass in one drink. It tasted like liquid ice and it felt like her insides were freezing. She began to shiver and her teeth chattered. Madame Pomfrey tutted and threw her another blanket and some pajamas. Alcyone fell into an uncomfortable sleep a few minutes after she laid down, still shivering under the blankets.

Sorry guys, I know this is really short, but it's just to remind you that I am still working on this story. I'll get a proper chapter up within the week!



Alcyone woke up extremely early the next morning covered in sweat. She looked down at the two blankets she was covered with and pushed them off. The chill of the potion had obviously worn off during the night. She checked the time and saw that classes weren’t due to start for another two hours. She decided it would probably be a good idea to take a shower back in the dormitory before she went to breakfast.

No one else was up, like usual, so Alcyone was able to quickly get ready for the day. She headed to breakfast, completely expecting no one else she knew to be there. She was quite surprised to see Black sitting by himself at the Gryffindor table. Alcyone was very shocked to see him out of bed so early. He typically didn’t get to breakfast till right before class.

He glanced up as she walked into the hall, but Alcyone quickly looked in the other direction. He wasn’t exactly what she wanted to deal with at this time of morning. She sat down heavily at the Slytherin table and grabbed herself a piece of toast. She ate it slowly, keeping her eyes on her plate the entire time, not trusting herself to look up. As she reached for her pumpkin juice, a shadow fell over her plate.

“Alycone,” the boy said, making her look up. At the sight of his dark hair and light eyes, she jumped and dropped her toast. The boy stared at her and she was positive that she blushed. “What’s wrong with you?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Oh, nothing. I’m just a little tired,” she said, attempting a smile. It must have looked very fake because in response he rolled his eyes.

“This doesn’t have anything to do with my brother, does it?” he asked, nodding over to the Gryffindor table. Alcyone shook her head a little too eagerly.

“No, of course not, Regulus! Why would you ask that?” she said, trying desperately to change the topic. He rolled his eyes again and huffed.

“Well, for one, he’s been staring at you all morning like you’re to kill him at any moment and McGonagall wants to talk to you about your detention with him last night.” Alcyone sighed and nodded.

“Ok, Ok,” she said, standing up and grabbing her bag, “I just don’t want to talk about it. I’m going to see what McGonagall wants.” She walked rather quickly out of the hall, but regretted that when she collided with someone.

“Watch it, will you!?” James Potter said, as he bent down to pick up his now spilled bag.


“Oh, sorry,” Alcyone replied, before quickly making her getaway towards McGonagall’s office.

A new chapter! I told you I’d write one soon enough….well, eventually…. Soooo, everyone who reads this should leave me a review because I’ve only gotten one for this new version. It has made me very sad. So be awesome and please leave me a review!

http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?t=113730


Alcyone made her way to McGonagall’s office at a quick pace, knowing that the only reason she would want to see her would be because of her detention last night. She narrowed her eyes as she thought of Black. He probably told the Professor how she had skipped out on him. If he had it would definitely require payback. She balled her hands into fists as different thoughts of revenge ran through her mind.

She reached McGonagall’s office a moment later and gently knocked on the old wooden door. The Transfiguration professor opened the door, her face set with the usual stern expression. She led Alcyone into the office silently and motioned to the chair in front of her desk.

“Please sit down, Miss Harper,” she said, sitting down behind her desk. She didn’t look up at the Slytherin right away, but instead shuffled some parchment. “Now, about your detention last night…” She stared down over her glasses at Alcyone, but at that moment there was a loud knock on the door. McGonagall pursed her lips and walked over to the door, but before she could open it, Sirius Black barged into the room.

McGonagall looked shocked for a split second, before a very familiar glare replaced it almost instantly. Black, on the other hand, was out of breath and didn’t even seem to notice her anger.

“Mr. Black!” McGonagall said, closing the door behind him. “What is the meaning of this?” The Gryffindor had finally regained his breath and smiled brightly at the angry woman.

“Sorry, Professor,” he said. “I just wanted to make sure that you weren’t giving Harper another detention.” McGonagall stared at him with a raised eyebrow. Alcyone watched curiously from her chair across the room. She was very puzzled as to why Black had obviously run to come to her aid. She had to admit, she hadn’t been very nice to him last night.

“Well, Mr. Black, it seems that you have wasted all that energy for nothing.” Both Alcyone and Sirius stared at her in silence. “I was just going to ask her why she didn’t come to me earlier and tell me that she was feeling ill. I would have rescheduled the detention, but now that you’ve decided to barge into my office, I dare say you deserve another, Mr. Black.” Sirius frowned and nodded. He glanced over at Alcyone, who watched him, her face expressionless.

“You will have detention with Hagrid on Friday. I do believe that he has some business in the Forbidden Forest.” Alcyone was shocked by this. The Forbidden Forest was forbidden for a reason. There were all kinds of terrible beasts lurking in those trees and to go with someone like Hagrid, who didn’t even have a wand? Alcyone would much rather clean the bathrooms without magic than have detention out there.

“Professor, is that necessary? He was just trying to keep me out of trouble,” Alcyone said, though she wasn’t certain why. She didn’t care about Black at all. Actually, she quite detested him of late. McGonagall looked her carefully and nodded.

“I do think it was necessary, Miss Harper, and lest you forget, you haven’t finished your detention. You will join Mr. Black. You two will meet Hagrid in the entrance hall at 10 o’clock sharp. Now I do believe that you both have class to get to.” Alcyone stared at her for a moment before standing up. She walked out of the office without even a glance at Black. The one time she decided to be nice and she was punished for it. Alcyone growled angrily and stalked off to History of Magic.

The class was as boring as usual and Alcyone was beginning to doze off, not even twenty minutes into class. She was just starting to nod off when she was hit in the back of the head with a ball of crumpled parchment. She opened her eyes and let her head fall onto the desk where the parchment was located. She stared at it across the table for a moment before reaching out her hand and grabbing it.

She kept her head down as she flattened out the note, trying to make as little noise as possible, not that Binns would really notice. She glanced up at the professor, but he was still droning on, completely unaware almost the entire class was either sleeping or whispering quietly. She tore her eyes from the ghost at the head of the class and looked back down at the note. It was indeed a note, written in rather sloppy, yet somehow elegant script.

Can we talk after class?

Alcyone stared at it. She knew who it was from, as there weren’t very many people who threw notes at her head asking to talk. She sighed in frustration and crumpled the note back up, before shoving it to the bottom of her bag. She then proceeded to set her head back on the desk and closed her eyes, this time hoping from some peace.

It was quite a surprise when she woke up half an hour later and the last of the class was beginning to pile out of the classroom. She yawned before grabbing her bag and following all the other students out. She made her way back towards the common room, the thought of Black’s note completely forgotten.

Alcyone had just turned the corner when she was unceremoniously grabbed and pulled into an empty classroom. Out of instinct, she threw a punch at her kidnapper, but he caught her arm and laughed.

“Hey!” Black laughed, letting go of her wrist. “That’s not very nice.” Alcyone glared at him.

“I wouldn’t say pulling people into abandoned classrooms is very nice either.” He grinned at her, but she continued to shoot him an evil look.

“Come on, Al,” he said. “I just needed to talk to you about McGonagall’s office this morning.” Alcyone rolled her eyes, her arms crossed angrily across her chest, but she stayed silent, waiting for him to continue. “I just wanted you to know that I didn’t tell her that you left last night.” Alcyone softened her glare, but didn’t let it go completely.

“Then how did she know?” she asked, wondering why on earth he hadn’t told McGonagall. Black sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

“After you left Filch came in. He saw that you were gone and ran right to McGonagall. I wouldn’t have tried to save you from getting in more trouble if I had told her in the first place.” Alcyone nodded and he smiled.

“Well, thanks,” she said. She uncrossed her arms and shifted the bag on her shoulder. She really had no idea what to say. They sat there in silence for a couple seconds before Alcyone made her way to the door. Just as she was halfway out the door, Black spoke.

“See you on Friday, Al.” She glanced back to see a large grin on his face. She sighed angrily and pulled the door shut behind her. She was beginning to think that she would never understand that boy.