Alexandra Dursley {Golden Trio}

Chapter 143 - The Wrath of the Death Eaters

Hope everyone has a nice day! :)

 Al got to work on Neville first. "OK, Neville, can you hear me?" she asked, and a groan was returned. "So, what I'm going to do is-" and then she shoved his shoulder back into its socket. He and the spectators jumped, but it was done now. She quickly bandaged up the worst of their wounds, put a sling on his arm, and fixed Ginny's nose - now for the potions. She already had the robustness, but she couldn't administer that until last.

 "Right, Ernie in here with me," she said, leading the way into the potions room, "What's your name?" she asked the Hufflepuff prefect.

 "Uh, Madeline Flynn," she said quickly and wide-eyed.

 "Do you do Potions?" Al asked, and Madeline nodded. "With me too then." They went into the room and began filling the cauldrons with water. "Daphne, I need the book titled Basic Healing Potions, it's on the third shelf!"

 There was a shuffling above their heads as the water began to simmer and Daphne had the book moments later. "Here," she said, thrusting it towards Al, who began to flick through it quickly. "Anything else I can do?"

 "Keep an eye on them," Al said, "Tell me if anything changes." She found the bruising paste recipe and duplicated the page, handing it to Madeleine. "Make that as quickly as possible. It doesn't need to be too strong." Then she found the wound-cleaning potion and handed it to Ernie. "Same to you."

 She found the blood-replenishing potion and set to work, chopping, stirring and sprinkling until half an hour later when her potion was done. She got to work helping with the bruising paste, before bottling up Ernie's potion too.

 "Alright," she said as they placed all the potions on the table. "Do the bloodiest wounds first. Clean them with this one-" she pointed to the purple wound-cleaning potion. "It'll sting them, but you have to do it anyway. Use episkey to fix the smaller wounds, call me over if you find any bigger ones. Then administer these-" she indicated the dark red blood-replenishing potion, "Large doses please. And then these-" she pointed to her orange robustness potion, "And then we'll apply the bruising paste. Got it?" Daphne, Ernie and Madeline nodded and set to work. Ernie on Luna, Daphne and Madeline on Ginny, and Al on Neville.

 She found a rhythm in her work. Apply the wound-cleaning potion, let it smoke a bit, and then heal the wound. He had a particularly large gash across his back, which Al used Vulnera Sanentur for. Daphne called her over to do the same for Ginny's leg. Then, Al gave Neville a blood replenisher, and another one because of the completely soaked-through bandages. Then a robustness potion, at which point he became alert and awake, and Al began applying the bruising paste while he explained what had happened.

 "Well, we got the sword, but then Snape found us, and he brought the Carrows," he explained. "They were awful - really, really angry with us. Especially Ginny. I think Luna's alright though, she kept her mouth shut."

 "I think they gave you the hardest time though, Nev," Al said with a grimace, "Your arm was dislocated for Merlin's sake!"

 "Yeah well," Neville said dismissively, "Rather me than them." There was a pause, and Al thought about how this was the first time she'd recognised herself admiring Neville. The poor kid had been through a lot - probably as much as Harry and herself - and look at him now. "I used to have the biggest crush on you," he said suddenly.

 "I know," Al replied calmly and smiling, thinking back to first year, and third year, and fourth year, and fifth year. Pretty much every interaction they'd had. "We usually know. When did you stop?"

 Neville sighed. "I suppose it was when we were paired up in the DA. I sort of realised you weren't interested, and then I thought about how good a friend you've always been to me."

 Al sniffed and smiled, tears burning at her eyes. "You're going to make me cry if you don't shut up," she told him, making them laugh.

*****

 The next day, Al showed up to transfiguration, where they were studying silent conjuring of large objects. Al was starting to get the hang of it, even though she was exhausted from the night before - she'd only got a couple of hours sleep. "Dursley," McGonagall said, going up to her desk, "A word outside, please."

 Al got up and followed McGonagall into the corridor, where she looked around before speaking. "I am told you are responsible for the lack of injuries the day after students have a detention with the Carrows?"

 "Yes, Professor," Al said, fidgeting on the spot.

 "What have you been doing?" McGonagall asked, "And how?"

 "Basic healing potions mainly," Al said, "I made one that can combat the effects of the Cruciatus Curse - I've got loads of it stocked up."

 McGonagall sighed, and put a hand on Al's shoulder. "Thank you, Dursley," she said, to Al's surprise, "Poppy - Madame Pomfrey - has been instructed not to treat injuries associated with detentions. She'll lose her job if she does, so it's really appreciated - by everyone. You'll come to me if you need help?"

 "Yes, Professor," Al said, giving her a sincere smile.

 "The other thing," McGonagall began, "Professor Snape has asked you to head up to his office for the last ten minutes before your next lesson, so you'll need to go now. You know the password?"

 "No, Professor."

 "Well, it's wiggenweld," McGonagall said, before turning and heading back into the classroom.

 "I'll see you in Muggle Studies," Al whispered to Neville and Daphne as she packed her things away.

 "Where are you going?" Daphne asked.

 "Snape," Al said, trying to make it sound worse than it actually was.

 Neville pulled a face that was similar to a grimace, and Daphne just said, "Enjoy." McGonagall gave her a reassuring look, before she headed up to the seventh floor.

 "Wiggenweld," she said unenthusiastically, and the gargoyle leaped to the side. She trudged up the stairs and knocked lightly on the door.

 "Enter," Snape called. Al walked in to see Snape pacing backwards and forwards, and the sword wasn't hung in its usual place on the wall. He looked furious, and his face was frowning in concentration.

 "You wanted to see me, sir?" Al asked tonelessly.

 "I did," he spat, "Sit." Al calmly obliged. "I trusted you - I told you to keep the students safe."

 "I did," Al protested, "If your bloody Carrows-"

 "Do not use that kind of language with me!" Snape roared, and Al flinched ever-so-slightly. "I am your headmaster! You will show me some respect!" He stood, glaring at Al and breathing heavily for a second, before another voice spoke.

 "Severus." It was familiar somehow, and yet she wasn't sure where from. Al glanced around and saw Dumbledore sitting in his portrait. "Perhaps you should explain to Al what's going on."

 "I know what's going on," Al said, "You think it was my fault that those three tried to steal that sword."

 Snape whirled round to face her again. "So it was you!"

 "Certainly, I didn't stop them," Al said, "I'd lose all the trust and faith they had in me."

 "Yes but you don't understand-" Snape said.

 "What don't I understand?" Al asked.

 "DON'T INTERRUPT ME!" Snape shouted, but Al didn't jump this time.

 "Severus," came Dumbledore's warning voice again, and Snape seemed to calm down.

 "I need to get that sword to Potter," Snape explained, "And if anyone takes it from me..."

 Al waited for him to finish before speaking. "So where is it now?"

 "Hidden," Snape said simply, "Until we know where they are. There is a fake in the Lestrange vault at the Dark Lord's request. No one can know it's a fake. Not unless you want a different headmaster?"

 Al bit back a snarky comment as the bell went. "Yes, sir. Can I go?"

 "Yes," Snape spat, still angry. "Stay out of trouble."