It’s dark tonight. The moon is up and the stars are shining. I can see dad downstairs on the couch, laying lazily with his feet up on the armrest and his wand on the side table near his feet, his eyes closed and his messy black hair all over his face. Mum is holding me in her arms. I feel safe. As I snuggle closer to her I can smell the strawberry smoothie shampoo she uses on her deep red hair.
For the past few days, I haven’t been sleeping. Mum, dad, even the doctors at St. Mungos don’t know why I haven’t slept, but I just can’t. In the distance I hear a laugh; a high pitched, cold, evil laugh, but mum and dad act like they don’t hear it. Something’s going to happen, I can tell. At this, I start whimpering. Mum decides to bounce me up and down to hush me, making soothing noises to try and lull me to sleep. Harry, my older twin brother, is taking a nap on Uncle Sirius’ bed, being the only one of us two who can sleep.
All of a sudden, Harry cries. It seems strange, how Harry starts crying right after I hear the laugh. Maybe he knows something’s going to happen too. As mum goes to grab Harry, the front door bursts open. Dad jumps up off the couch, while screaming to get Harry and me safe. As mum is running to the nursery, dad rushes to the side table to grab his wand. Dad looks up, and there’s a blinding green light. I didn’t want to see what happened, so I turned my head.
The man who busted through the door laughs again. It’s the same high pitch laugh as before. Maybe that’s what woke Harry up. I look to Harry, and think maybe Harry and I are the only ones who heard it in the distance.
Mum gets to the nursery, and sits Harry and me in the crib. She slams the door shut and locks it with her own wand. She barely turns around to look at us, when the door breaks open. It’s the man with the laugh.
The man is talking to mum, but I don’t know what he’s saying. I can’t understand his voice. Mum says not to kill Harry or me, and to take her instead. All I think is that I don’t want mummy to go, but the man says an incantation, and I see that blinding green light again. He laughs once more. Mum is on the ground, not moving, her red hair scattered over her face and her emerald eyes open, glazed and dead. I want to cry, but I don’t because Harry isn’t.
For the second time tonight, I look over at my older brother. Why is he so strong like that? I think he’s still half asleep from his nap. The man turns to us and points his wand right between us. He says something. He’s going to kill us the same way he killed mum and dad, I can feel it. He says the curse and then all I see is green.
“AH!” Alex screamed, snapping her head up and causing the five classmates or so around her to jump a foot out of their chairs, while the rest of the class looked up from their work.
“Yes, Miss Potter?”
Alex groaned, but just loud enough for Harry, her brother, and Ron, Harry’s best friend, to hear her. Oh great! Out of all the classes I could have fallen asleep in, I had to pick Potions.
The Potions teacher, Professor Snape, had the nose of a hawk, eyes the color of charcoal, black hair so greasy you would think he hadn’t bathed in years, and black robes that would suit a vampire more than a Hogwarts professor. Snape was the Head of Slytherin House and despised all things Gryffindor related. His Potions class was located in the cold dungeons under the school, and seeing as it was near Christmas, the classroom was even chillier then it should have been. All around the walls of the dungeon classroom are jars filled with dismembered parts used for potion making.
“Nothing sir,” answered Alex, looking down at her hands and not meeting his gaze. Alex Potter was the twin sister of the famous Harry Potter. Alex had long, deep red hair and chocolate brown eyes. People, especially Professor Lupin, McGonagall, and Dumbledore, said she looked like her mother. The only differences between her and her mum was the thin, lightning bolt scar on her forehead that she and her brother both have and her eyes; where her mum had emerald, she had her father’s dark brown.
“So tell me Miss Potter, is there a reason you screamed during my class?” Snape inquired, glaring at her down his hook nose, making his way across the room.
“No s---”
“Or is it that you fell asleep in the middle of my class while you were supposed to be reading about the history of unicorn hair and the properties of which it contributes to potion making.”
“Well, I was---”
By this time, Snape had already crossed the classroom from the Slytherin side to Alex’s desk, placed both of his pale hands on either side of her potions book, leaned down to get face to face with her, and had a smirk on his face. Glaring at Alex he continued his little speech just loud enough for Alex, and those Gryffindors around her, to hear him. “Miss Potter, do you think it wise to fall asleep in class on the last day before Christmas break, or do you think that you can get away with everything you want, just because you are still mourning over the fact that your insufferable Know-It-All of a friend is no longer with us at the present moment?” Every word that Snape said was slow and hurtful.
Yes, it was true that Hermione Granger had disappeared just over four months ago, right before their third year started, and yes, Alex was still trying to get over it, but that gave Professor Snape no right to say it in class, as if it had happened years ago and she was still trying to get over it.
“Professor?” Alex asked, a little intimidated because Snape was still leaning forward into her space. The professor quirked an eyebrow, giving Alex the impression that she was to continue speaking. “If you don’t mind me asking, but why do you take pleasure in pointing out other people’s pain?” Alex asked this in no more than a whisper, but the professor heard every word she said.
In his most deadly voice that would have had any other student, even his precious Slytherins, frightened, Snape replied, “That is none of your concern, Potter. What you really should be thinking about is how are you going to hand in the information you were required to obtain by the end of class, if the class is almost over, and you haven’t gotten a single sentence written on your parchment?” Just as Snape was finishing up his question, the bell rang, signaling the end of Potions until after the holidays. “Oops. I guess you get a zero for the day.” Snape straightened up and turned to his desk. After sitting down, he called to Alex without looking up and said, “And Miss Potter, you have to stay after so we can discuss your detention.”
Gathering all her books and notes in her bag, Alex made her way to the front of the classroom, telling her brother and Ron that she’ll meet up with them in a few minutes. To say the least, Alex knew she would have gotten points taken from Gryffindor, but she wasn’t even worried about a detention until just now.
It didn’t take any time at all for the classroom to empty out, and when the last student left, Alex was still waiting for Snape to say something.
“Professor, if you don’t mind, but I would really appreciate it if we could get this over with.” Snape gave her a look, clearly he wanted her late for her last Defense Against the Dark Arts class before Christmas. “You see sir, I have to get to Professor Lupin’s class, and I would really rather not be late.”
As if noticing how close he was to his next lesson, the professor began. “You will be serving your detention with Madam Pomfrey on Saturday, after classes end for the term. God only knows how much Minerva would yell at me for giving you detention during the last week of classes. I would really like to keep my ears from getting tortured by listening to her. You will meet Madam Pomfrey at the Hospital Wing entrance at seven Saturday morning and do whatever she needs help with. I’m sure a good four hours of working under Pomfrey’s watch will be enough time for you to learn your lesson about falling asleep during Potions class. Now, leave my sight, and twenty points from Gryffindor.”
By the time Snape finished giving her detention, half his next class was already in the dungeon classroom. There was no way Alex would be able to make it to the third floor before the bell rang.
Tapping into that Gryffindor bravery, Alex stayed where she stood.
“Potter, did you not hear me? I said leave my room!”
“But, sir, I need a late pass for Professor Lupin.”
“No!” Snape practically screamed, “you are lucky I didn’t dock more points from Gryffindor than what I did. Now leave!”
With a sigh, Alex turned to go, but before she took more than a step, she stopped. Turning back around, she looked Snape square in the eye and said, “Just so you know, Professor, I did fall asleep because of the lack of sleep that I’ve been having, but, the dream is what made me scream.”
“And, why are you telling me this?” Snape asked, as if what Alex just said was the obvious, which, Alex reluctantly admitted, was.
“Because the dream that I had was of the night when my parents died, and I only ever have that dream when something bad is about to happen.”
The look of shock on Snape’s face when she said what the dream was about was the best look any person could ever imagine seeing on the greasy git’s face. Smirking Alex turned around again, and before Snape could say anything, she was out the door.
When Alex walked out of the Potions classroom, the bell ran, signaling that she was late. Shit she swore to herself. At least Remus will understand my lateness. And with that, Alex walked to the third floor, to her last DADA class before the new year.
