The Tree of Blacks (English version)

Snake, Rat, Stag

Monday, 6 December 1976. Hogwarts.

Alya spent the rest of the day brooding over the meeting she had arranged with Peter Pettigrew. Fierce anger had driven her to act impulsively, something she rarely did.

During the last and only lecture of the afternoon, the thoughtful girl often turned her gaze towards the sky, beyond the imposing classroom windows. There was not even a shadow of a cloud, a blue cloak towered clear and limpid over the jagged towers of Hogwarts. That night, too, the sky would be clear, full of twinkling stars to radiate the darkness.

Alya thought of the words Pettigrew had mumbled, before the boy had frightened away: there will be a full moon tonight, he had stammered.

What does Peter Pettigrew care if there is a full moon tonight? wondered Alya, in an attempt to repress a disturbing memory. In vain. The image of Merope warning her about the pale satellite resurfaced ominously from young Black's memory.

Beware the full moon, Alya! her dream friend had told her, in an almost threatening tone. It must have been just a coincidence, the girl repeated stubbornly to herself, yet that sense of inevitability that had seized her in her dreams took hold of her once more, tormenting her with inexplicable shivers of terror. Was there really anything to fear? Alya, in a moment of confusion, wondered whether she should postpone her meeting with Pettigrew to another evening. But it was only the indecision of a second. Alya shook her head angrily, dismissing that absurd option.

Anyway, the afternoon passed quickly, slipping inexorably into the evening.

Immediately after dinner, Alya went straight to the Slytherin dungeon, determined to remain in the Common Room, waiting for the most opportune moment to sneak out inconspicuously. She took a seat in her favourite spot - on the black sofa next to the warmth emanating from the marble fireplace - and began reading a chapter of her Advanced Transfiguration volume. As usual, as soon as the evening banquet was over, the Common Room was packed with students, invaded by an excited youthful hubbub. Many students were intent on complaining about the tedious lectures and the heavy load of homework with which the inflexible professors had burdened them earlier in the week.

"I can't take it anymore, they don't give us a break! I spend my whole life on books now!" grumbled Melyssa, who had slumped lazily beside Alya.

"I can't wait for the Christmas holidays!" sighed Philippa tiredly, abandoned on the sofa opposite young Black. Next to her, Beth nodded her head feebly as she stared disconsolately at a sharp D - that is, Dreadful - mercilessly marked on her last Transfiguration test.

"That sullen griffin McGonagall! What did it cost her to at least give me an Acceptable? My parents will kill me!" whimpered Beth, on the verge of despair.

"McGonagall would eat Doxy's excrement rather than do a favour for a Slytherin. If you were a stupid Gryffindor, on the other hand -" replied Philippa allusively, as she rubbed her closed eyelids over her eyes with her fingertips.

"The tests he's been offering us lately are impossible. Half the class has barely managed to snatch a passing grade...it's disgraceful!" said Melyssa, trying to give Beth a bit of a hand. "How much did you get, Alya?" she then asked, addressing young Black.

"Outstanding." replied the girl, with an impassive shrug, not taking her eyes off the book.

"What a surprise!" snorted Philippa sardonically.

"I must keep up the honour of the Blacks." explained Alya, with a smirk, snapping the schoolbook shut. Concentrating on spells, with her friends intent on mourning their poor school results beside her was impossible.