Sirius woke early on the morning of April second, leaving Amara sleeping as he went downstairs to make himself a cup of tea. When he reached the bottom of the stairs, however, he was surprised to find a figure sitting at the table, looking weary.
"Dumbledore," Sirius said. "What are you doing here?"
Looking up, Dumbledore said, "Seems we have gained something in common, Sirius."
"Which is..." Sirius said uncertainly.
"We're both on the run from the law, now," Dumbledore remarked. "Fudge tried to arrest me last night for conspiring against the Ministry."
"Well...did you?" Sirius asked, sitting down across from him.
With his kindly smile, Dumbledore replied, "No. I took the blame for Harry and Althea's defence group. I expect this means Umbridge is headmistress now."
"What about Althea and Eliana?" Sirius asked tensely. "Do you think they're in danger from her?"
"It all depends on what they do," Dumbledore replied wearily. "If they keep their heads down, I can't see her expelling or sacking them."
"I hope you're right," Sirius muttered softly.
"How is Amara?" Dumbledore asked.
"Good," Sirius replied with a faint smile. "Exhausted and constantly throwing up, but otherwise, she's good."
"I don't know that most people would constitute that as good," Dumbledore said with a small smile.
Sirius restrained a laugh with difficulty.
.
Althea was in the library studying when a shadow suddenly fell over her. Looking up in confusion, she found herself disconcertingly close to Filch.
Rising awkwardly to her feet and farther from him, she said, "Er...can I help you?"
"The Headmistress wishes to see you," Filch said with a dark cackle.
Faced with no other choice, Althea followed behind him from the library to Umbridge's office. As a hilarious twist of karma, Dumbledore's office had almost instantly shut itself to the world, meaning Umbridge was forced to stay away from the grand office she so felt she deserved. When she at last found herself in front of the door that had grown so uncomfortably familiar, Althea felt a sense of dread filling her. When Filch had shoved her inside, she saw Umbridge sitting at her desk, scribbling on a sheet of pink parchment.
"Sit," Umbridge said curtly, not looking up.
Slowly, and never taking her eyes off of her, Althea did as she was told. She continued her scribbling for a moment before finally setting aside her quill and looking up.
"Well now, what would you like to drink?" she asked with her usual honeyed smile.
"Come again?" Althea replied, her brows furrowed.
"To drink," Umbridge pressed. "Tea? Coffee? Pumpkin juice?"
"Er...no thank you. I'm all right," Althea replied awkwardly.
"I wish you to have a drink with me," she said, her voice becoming poisonously sweet.
"Oh, well...o-okay then," Althea muttered. "Tea, I guess."
With a rather fixed smile, she got up, turning her back to Althea as she made up a cup. Althea tried to lean over to watch what she was doing, but by the time she was handed the cup, she had no greater idea than if she had not tried at all.
"There," Umbridge said. "Drink it before it gets cold, why don't you? I thought we ought to have a little chat, after the distressing events of last night." Althea stared at her, unmoving until she urged, "You're not drinking up."
Althea raised the cup to her lips before suddenly thinking better of it.
Lowering it again, she asked, "Professor, why are you trying to pressure me to-"
"Drink up!" Umbridge interrupted.
Althea hesitated slightly before she raised the cup to her lips again, pretending to take a sip all the while keeping her lips as tightly closed as she dared without making it obvious what she was doing.
"Very good," Umbridge said gleefully. Leaning forward slightly, she demanded, "Where is Dumbledore?"
"I don't know," Athea said truthfully.
She instantly realized what must be in her cup of tea. Pretending to be unbothered, she took another sip.
Umbridge narrowed her eyes at her a moment before she said, "Very well then, tell me the whereabouts of Sirius and Amara Black."
"I don't know," Althea said, pretending to take another sip.
Frowning deeper, Umbridge asked, "Where does your father keep disappearing to?"
"I don't know," Althea said again.
With an angry cry, Umbridge strode toward her, snapping, "TELL ME THE TRUTH!"
"I don't know anything!" Althea retorted.
In a flash, Althea found herself on the ground, her cup of tea shattered under her hands and knees with her cheek stinging. Scrambling back, Althea quickly grabbed her bag before she made a break for the door.
"Stop right there!" Umbridge cried.
Although she had no intention of stopping, Althea found herself paused facing the door, her heart pounding in her chest. Shaking, Althea turned to give one look in Umbridge's direction before she turned back to the door, leaving her to deal with the mess her actions caused.
.
"Thea!" Hermione gasped as she sat down beside her in the Common Room. "What happened?"
"What? Nothing," Althea said shakily, but as she became aware of the blood trickling down her cheek and the glass shards in her knees and hands, she knew it was no good.
"Let me help," Hermione said softly, taking her hand and beginning to take out the glass pieces.
.
Despite the events of the morning, Althea could not help enjoying the rest of her day. During lunch, Fred and George set out hundreds of magic fireworks across the entire school, fireworks that doubled and multiplied when someone attempted to vanish or stun them.
As they sat in Transfiguration, a dragon roared through the room, causing McGonagall to say sardonically, "Dear, dear. Miss Brown, would you mind running along to the headmistress and informing her that we have an escaped firework in our classroom?"
In the end, it turned out the other teachers truly just couldn't manage to rid their classrooms of the fireworks, causing Umbridge to spend her first day as headmistress running around from summon to summon like a lunatic, leaving her extremely worn and covered in soot by the end of the day.
When she found Fred and George in the Common Room that night, Althea embraced them both, saying with a laugh, "I love you both with all my heart."
Looking extremely pleased, George said, "Just for that, we'll send you some fireworks, free of charge."
"I eagerly await with bated breath," Althea teased, returning to the table where Ron and Harry were staring helplessly at the schoolbags, trying to bully themselves into working.
"Oh, why don't we have a night off?" Hermione said, rushing up to them, her cheeks flushed with mirth and excitement. "Even Thea's taking the night off."
"Are you feeling all right?" Ron asked, glancing between them in confusion.
"Now you mention it, d'you know...I think I'm feeling a bit...rebellious," Hermione said with a glowing smile.
"You? Rebellious?" Althea snorted, sharing amused looks with Ron.
"Oh, shove off," Hermione said, rolling her eyes.
Wrapping an arm around her shoulders, Althea smiled wider than any of them had seen her do in a while.
"How are your hands and face and...everything?" Harry asked.
"Better now that they've been avenged," Althea said with a grin.
Harry snorted, putting his things back in his bag.
YOU ARE READING
The Disgraced of the House of Black - A Multi-Character Fanfiction - Part One
FanfictionEvery family has its black sheep...even the Black family. Althea Black. When she was young, she never understood why her mother refused to speak of her father. As she grew older, it began to not matter who he was or had been. She had her mother and...
