‘As it happens, Mr Filch, your arrival is most opportune.’ McGonagall said. ‘If you would, I would like you to lead Miss Parkinson and the rest of the Slytherin house from the hall.’ All the students looked at each other with questions in their eyes.
‘Exactly where is it, I would be leading them?’ Filch asked.
‘The dungeons would do’ McGonagall answered firmly and the other houses began applauding. As they were led away to the dungeons, she saw the Potter boy asking for time. So, that’s who he is. It might seem strange but she never knew. She only heard rumours and insults about him in the Slytherin common room. Nobody in Slytherin liked him, but she couldn’t understand why. He seemed okay. It was more the position of her own house that bothered her. Were they just running away without a fight? And then there was the voice in her head. It felt powerful and commanding, almost like she knows the person behind it, but she was scared more than she was willing to do what the voice said. Finally she understood. She knew the voice. She knew the man, or monster, behind it. She stopped in the middle of the corridor and wanted to turn around. A boy from the seventh grade stopped her. ‘What do you think you’re doing, Alissa?’ he asked. He held her arm quite strongly.
‘Let me go, Albion. What I do is my business.’
‘Are you going to join the fight?’ he asked again.
‘I’m not going to be a coward in the dungeon while an evil wizard is going to kill almost everyone we know, if that’s what you mean. Do you think He’ll treat us differently? We will be next.’ She yelled. The whole Slytherin house stopped for a moment and looked at her.
‘We are purebloods. He won’t hurt us’ someone in the back answered.
‘Well, I’m not a pureblood and frankly I don’t care if my blood is pure or not. But he will still see us as a threat. You know why? Because we have a mind of our own.’ It was silent again.
‘So I suggest you let me go before I hit you in the face.’ After those words Albion hesitantly let go of her wrist. She ran back to the Great Hall. She was a traitor to the Slytherin house now, but she didn’t care. She only felt the urge to stop You Know…. No, Voldemort. She has to use his name. She can’t show fear although she was trembling on her feet. She was a Slytherin, proud and powerful. So she followed some Ravenclaw kids to the square. They looked strangely at her first but then they shook hands. Then they send her to professor McGonagall.
‘Miss Hartlane, did I not tell you to join your classmates to the dungeon?’ she asked.
‘My apologies professor, but it is not because some people from my house don’t want to fight, that I feel the same about it. I’m willing to fight for what’s right.’ She looked at her with pride in her eyes.
‘Even if it means I can die while protecting Hogwarts’ she added uncertainly. McGonagall looked at the girl slowly. Even she couldn’t deny the fact that there was a fire in Alissa’s eyes she had never seen before. She had not seen it with any of the Slytherin students ever. The energy was just radiant and seemed to give hope, as long as the girl had hope for herself. That was magic in one of its purest forms, sometimes found with students of the Gryffindor house, and there had only been three in the last millennium. McGonagall took a breath and thought for a couple of seconds.
‘I think the Sorting Hat may have made a mistake five years ago, Miss Hartlane. You have more Gryffindor in you than we realised.’ McGonagall was right. Alissa felt the change already. All those times she had been mean or vicious and that she had made fun of mud bloods, it was because the eldest if the Slytherin house expected her to be that way. She wanted to be a good friend like the kids from Hufflepuff, smart like the kids from Ravenclaw and brave like the kids from Gryffindor. So she was going to start to act like that. At the courtyard, she helped the professors with the protection spells. She has always been good in spells and stuff. Professor Slughorn named the spells she had to use. She was only a fifth grader but even the teachers said she was born to be an auror and she kind of liked that idea. After her Finnegan and Longbottom entered the courtyard and they were talking about blowing stuff up. Curious as she was, she went to hear the conversation. She heard Longbottom ask how to make things blow up. There was a strange excitement in his voice.
‘Why don’t you confer with Mr Finnegan? As I recall he has a particular proclivity for pyrotechnics.’ After that the boys followed by Cho ran away. Alissa decided to follow them. She was only disturbed one time by the statues of Hogwarts coming to life. The people in front of her stopped for a moment as well. Then they saw her.
‘What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be in the dungeon?’ they asked.
‘I want to help. I’m not sitting by to watch Voldemort destroy the school, thank you very much. Besides, I heard you’re going to blow up some stuff and I know some spells.’ She added shyly.
‘What’s your name? How old are you?’ Cho asked.
‘Alissa Hartlane and I am almost 15. My birthday is in July.’
Alissa heard them talk. ‘She is a Slytherin. She could be on His side.’
Cho answered directly. ‘Does it seem to you that she is a Death eater? I don’t think so.’
‘Cho, can we do this? She is still so young. What if something happens to her?’ Neville asked.
She interrupted them. ‘I’m not on his side. His hatred for non-pure bloods is too big.’ Neville looked at her. ‘Aren’t you a pure blood?’ Alissa chuckled and shook her head. ‘No, I’m not. It may not seem like it but I’m a half blood.’ The others were still doubting. ‘Look, I just want to help and I know there is a big chance I’ll be dead before dawn, but no offence, so can you. And I am not willing to sit by and do nothing in my last night on earth.’
Seamus, Neville and Cho looked impressed. ‘Well, she’s got fire, and we can use that.’ Seamus grinned and stretched his hand. ‘Come on, we’ve got work to do.’ Alissa shook the hand and followed them to the bridge. ‘What exactly are we going to do by the bridge?’ she asked. There was a spark in his eyes. ‘We’re going to blow it up!’
‘The Snatchers are getting through!’ Seamus yelled. Alissa, Ginny and Cho looked up. The shield was crumbling down. They all looked at Neville. He ran as fast as he could but he would be overrun.
‘Come on, Neville, you can make it’ Alissa yelled. While running he sat off the bombs but the Snatchers were getting him. She acted out of instinct and ran forward. When she stood in reach she took care of the bad guys closest to him. The bombs exploded and all the Snatchers fell in the deep, but Neville wasn’t fast enough. He fell in the gap as well.
‘Neville!’ Ginny yelled and the kids all stood silent, hoping he would miraculously appear again. They almost gave up hope, until they saw two hands appear, followed by a wounded and battered Neville Longbottom.
‘Well, that went well’ he whispered. Alissa ran to help him up. She was followed closely by Ginny and Cho. When they pulled him up, his face expressed in pain. He mumbled a thank you and ran back to the courtyard.
‘He is going to kill himself’ Alissa muttered. Seamus nodded in agreement.
‘Come on, Alissa, we have to go’ he mumbled and he already ran forward. But then he stopped and turned around for a moment.
‘That was really brave, you know. There is a lot more of Gryffindor in you than you might think’ he winked and ran forward again. Feeling a bit strange, she followed him and the others to the courtyard, where the battle just had started. Neville and Ginny ran inside while the others ran to the places where help was needed. Involuntarily she always stood close to Seamus. Was he keeping an eye on her? Probably. She was much younger than the other students who were fighting. But still, she kept her ground. The battle grew in density and the fighting got harder. It didn’t took long before students were taking on the battle back to back. Also Alissa and Seamus were standing backs against each other. ‘I don’t think I can hold it for much longer!’ Seamus yelled. He was panting and had scratches and dirt all over him. Alissa didn’t look much better. A strange feeling made her turn around and while she was doing that, she yelled “stupefy” in the process. It was just in time because her wand and the wand of her enemy connected. It was a battle of green against red and she was not doing well. “No, I have to hold on” she thought. She bit her tongue and pushed back. Seamus was defending her back. Finally, she won the duel and the Death eater flew into a pile of rocks. Alissa was also trembling and could barely stand on her legs. ‘Here, I got you’ Seamus groaned and he pulled her out of the way so she could rest. ‘Are you okay? You scared the crap out of me there.’ She chuckled. ‘I’ve been through worse.’ Actually she hadn’t. She didn’t even know she could do that kind of magic. But yeah, the battle was still going and she wanted to fight. ‘Help me up, will you?’ she asked and he pulled her on her feet. ‘You’re crazy. You know that?’ he added. A smile appeared on her face. ‘Does that bother you?’ she asked playfully. ‘Now is not the time to flirt, young lady’ Seamus answered in the same tone. Those words made her laugh, but soon after her face turned black. ‘Duck!’ she yelled. While Seamus dove to the ground, she jumped over him. ‘Reducto!’ she yelled. The spider exploded and she was buried in a thousand pieces. ‘Ew, this is gross’ Alissa complained. Then it was Seamus’ turn to save her. For them, the battle went on like that for a while. It changed when Seamus spotted Harry, Ron and Hermione running towards the courtyard bridge. ‘Harry’ he yelled and Alissa fired a stupefy spell at a Death eater who was following them. They looked in gratitude for a moment and moved on then. They were stopped at the bridge. Thousands of Dementors came towards them. One Patronus only wouldn’t be able to stop them. It was an impulse that drove her towards the Dementors. She never did a Patronus before, but she knew the theory behind it. As she thought of the happiest memory she had, she decided to try. ‘Expecto patronum’ she said, together with some other wizards. Out of her wand, a bright white light shot. It took the form of a lion, her favourite animal. 17 other animals joined the lion and they cleared the way for the three running teens that want to save the school. After that, they re-joined the fight.
It was horrible. On both sides there were wounded and even already deceased. The group saw the body of Lavender. Something fed on her blood. Cho started to cry and Katie had to hold her before she collapsed. Alissa didn’t know what to say. She barely knew her but it hurt. She looked around her. Slytherin had decided to join the fight and she was right. Voldemort didn’t spare them. Bodies of students of all the houses were covering the courtyard. Even first graders weren’t spared. There weren’t many but they still lost the fight and their lives. The fight wasn’t even over. ‘Oh my god, Albion!’ she had no time to worry. They had lost concentration and Alissa was hid in her stomach. The hit stroke her feet from under her body and she collapsed onto the ground. She fell on a rock with her head and had a cut above her eyebrows. She looked around her and saw other people falling. Some didn’t move anymore and others were screaming of pain. With a lot of effort, she sat up. Blood was covering her eye and she couldn’t see decently anymore. A pair of hands helped her up. ‘Are you okay? I saw you fall and you didn’t immediately get up!’ He looked like he panicked. She put a hand on his shoulder. ‘I’m fine, just bleeding a bit.’ There was relief mixed with a sceptical look in his eyes. ‘Don’t look at me like that. I’m fine, really.’
‘Oh yeah? Did you already look in the mirror? You don’t look fine to me.’ After that he stopped, and overthinking his words he looked ashamed. ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you.’ He started to apologise, while she didn’t even know why. She didn’t have a lot of time to think. Suddenly Seamus collapsed to the ground and started bleeding. After him stood a Death Eater. His smile stopped quickly after Alissa paralyzed him. ‘Seamus?’ she asked. The others were already gone. He lost consciousness. ‘Seamus! Wake up!’ There was no reaction. She panicked and started crying. How could she stop his bleeding? She calmed her mind and started thinking. Which spell could help? She tried concentrating but it didn’t work. That was it. She couldn’t bring up the courage anymore. Her tears came back and she dropped her wand. She started sobbing and she’d let her head rest on his stomach. She lay there for five minutes, crying, sobbing and regretting the life she couldn’t save. A movement behind her disturbed her. When she looked back, she saw a Death eater. Sitting up straight with pure hatred in her eyes, she looked at him. ‘Do it’ she whispered. But the man did something else. He pointed his wand at Seamus and his wounds started healing. Not fully, the man still wanted them weak, but Seamus would not die. The hatred in her eyes changed to gratitude, as the man nodded and disappeared in a flash of smoke. Seamus coughed and opened his eyes.
‘Why are you crying? What happened?’ The relief in her heart was bigger than she could imagine. To her surprise, she hugged him and smiled. It didn’t take long before she felt an arm around her as well. He hid his head in her shoulder. At that moment, they were both crying from relief and pressure. Then, that moment was over. Seamus wanted to get up, but strength was missing in his legs. ‘Can you help me up?’ he asked in a whisper. Alissa immediately supported him and did let him lean on her shoulders. As they were faltering to the Great Hall, they were stopped by an awful sound in their heads. Voldemort was speaking to them again. The words he was saying, were awful. Alissa felt bad for Harry. The guilt he should feel was gigantic. All those people who died, died for him, out of free will. They heard Voldemort ask Harry to come to the Forbidden Forest. After that, the voice disappeared. Seamus and Alissa looked at each other in shock. They hurried to get inside. When they entered the Great Hall, they were attacked by the rest of the group. They got all kinds of questions of what happened, but both of them couldn’t answer. There had happened something between them they were not ready to talk about yet. Now, they had to survive the rest of the night. Seamus had his wounds looked after and they both got some pumpkin juice. Alissa watched some seven graders take care of the wounded, or bring away the deceased. The sorrow and sadness could be tasted in the air. When she looked at the door, she saw Harry and his friends. He looked at her for a minute, not recognising who she was. Then it struck him. She was the girl who got rid of the Death eater who was trying to kill them. Right at the moment he wanted to thank her, he heard screaming. Ron ran forward, closely followed by Hermione. When Alissa looked, she saw one of the trickster twins lying on the floor. He was dead. Seamus had already said goodbye and came to sit right next to her. The tears were streaming down his face. Alissa felt sad too. Although she’d never knew them, she heard about their jokes and stuff. They were funny and she would miss them. But Seamus would miss them more. As he cried, she put an arm around his shoulders. He immediately hugged her back and cried in her shoulder. As Harry looked around, the guilt on his face grew. He ran out. She managed to stop him for a couple of seconds. ‘Harry, whatever you think, this is not your fault. Don’t let him bring you down.’ She sounded desperate. He looked at her with dead eyes and walked out of the room.
Dawn was coming and everyone was losing hope. Seamus and Alissa were just talking a bit when Neville went out to search something. They looked at him strangely but then followed him outside. Seamus still couldn’t walk decently so Alissa still supported him. She was limping as well but didn’t really care. Ginny and her father were outside as well. When Neville took something from the ground, they heard a crowd coming. Their hearts stopped for a second. It was Voldemort, joined by his followers. They had Hagrid captured and he was carrying something. While the rest of the Hogwarts survivors came to look what all the fuzz was about, Seamus and Alissa were trying to figure out what was in Hagrid’s arms. It was a body. They looked at each other with fear in their eyes. They both had a feeling about who Hagrid was holding. Finally Ginny asked: ‘Neville, who is that Hagrid is carrying? Who is it?’ and suddenly everybody knew.
‘Harry Potter is dead!’ Voldemort yelled. None of them could believe their ears. It couldn’t be. Ginny couldn’t handle it. She tried to run towards him but her father stopped her. ‘No, no!’ her voice cracked. Voldemort whipped his wand and nobody could speak.
‘You, foolish girl!’ Voldemort smiled. Alissa felt nothing but pure rage and Seamus really had to restrain himself. They couldn’t even listen to what he had to say. She only saw Malfoy stepping towards his parents again. Then Voldemort looked at her. ‘Alissa, my dearest niece, wouldn’t you join your uncle in his quest for power? Besides, we’re family.’ All the students were in shock. Nobody knew she was related to the darkest wizard of their time, and if it had been her decision to make, she had wanted to keep it that way. She stepped forward, her eyes filled with disgust and hatred. She spit to the ground in front of him. ‘We’re only related by blood, but that doesn’t make us family. I’d rather die than join you.’ She stepped back as fast as she could. ‘I’m not joining the side of a psychotic mass murderer.’ Voldemorts face turned pale of rage, the splits that should be his nose were wide open. With a lot of effort he kept his calm, but he was clearly on edge. And then Neville stepped forward. Everyone was too surprised to hear what he said. He was clamping on to that old hat the whole time. His voice got more courageous, his posture more upright. And then we heard him yell.
‘Harry’s heart did beat for us, for all of us! It’s not over!’ while yelling that, he pulled a sword from the old hat and pointed it towards the Death eaters. At the same time, the body in Hagrid’s arms started to move and fell onto the ground. Then he stood up. Harry Potter was alive. Immediately he went for the snake, but the spell he shot, couldn’t harm it. Instead, a lot of the Death Eaters fled, too afraid to fight on. Hope was back, and Hogwarts would keep fighting now. Voldemort shot after Harry in rage and those of his followers who stayed, hesitantly fought back. Alissa pulled Seamus out of the ray of a death curse and we both fell. She landed on top of him and they looked at each other a little awkwardly. She got off him fast and pulled him on his feet. ‘Come on, there is time for awkwardness after the fight’ she smiled and joined the battle again. Alissa got into a duel with Dolohov but she managed to defeat him. She had never been gladder to remember the “petrificus totalus” spell. After that she shattered him. It felt good. When she looked around her, she saw a lot of Death eaters getting defeated. The power was back. The hope was back. They fought and defeated a lot of enemies and a couple of hours later the battle was over. They had won. They were covered in blood, dirty and were really tired, but they were happy.
Alissa was resting on the stairs in front of the Great Hall. She saw a boy running towards her. It was Albion.
‘You’re still alive’ he screamed while he hugged her. She hugged back. She was also relieved that her brother was still alive. When she’d let go, she smiled. ‘Do you know how hard it would’ve been to tell mom you’d died? You’re my baby sister.’
‘I know. But someone had to protect you, right? And you know as well as I you shouldn’t be afraid of mom. You should’ve been afraid of Altair’ she teased. Then she looked inside. Seamus just came outside.
‘Hold on, brother, there’s something I have to do first.’
‘You know he’s a Gryffindor, right?’ he asked. Alissa took off her tie and tossed it at the floor.
‘Does this seem to you like I care? This battle made us one house. I’m not only a Slytherin anymore, brother, and frankly, I don’t care.’ After that she ran to Seamus. He hugged her again.
‘I forgot to thank you for saving my life multiple times this night.’ He said hesitantly.
‘Oh come on, you saved mine as well. We’re even.’ She answered with a smile on her face. They were standing silent for a couple of moments. Then he had to laugh.
‘What? What is it?’ Alissa asked.
‘Nothing, just the fact that this was the first time I ever saw you. You are two years younger and one of the most powerful witches I have ever seen, that’s all.’ She had to laugh.
‘And to imagine I am a Slytherin, you thought I couldn’t be nice or stubborn?’ she teased. He blushed. ‘And you thought I was flirting in the middle of a battle for my life?’ ‘Well… yeah, kind of. But you’re okay though. You’re cool.’ She had to blush as well. He turned at her and took her hands. ‘Look, you were at my back the whole time. You saved my life and comforted me. Even when I was unconscious, you were there. I won’t forget that.’ He took her hand again. Her heart skipped a beat when he did that. Seamus came a bit closer.
‘Just let me thank you, okay?’ he asked silently. Right after that, he kissed her softly on the lips. After a first shock, she kissed back.
There was a future again for Hogwarts and its students. And it was brighter than ever.