Blood (thicker than) Water (but what about) Lemonade?

Back to Hogsmeade

For the next few weeks, Harry found that Avril was rather cool with him.

Defense Against the Dark Arts was no longer a fun and easy task, as they were now practicing defense and attack tactics for dueling. Avril was impatient with Harry, and would criticize everything he did for the entire period.

At times, all Harry wanted to do was find another partner, but Avril and Harry had paired up when the class had begun dueling, and there was no turning back now.

Besides, Hermione had confided to him earlier that her astringent behavior towards him was probably due to the incident at the Quidditch match.

"But she insists that that's not it, so I don't know. That's what I'm betting on, though. Just give her a bit of time, and be extra nice to her Harry. She'll get over it."

Harry didn't like the idea of being super courteous to someone who was constantly on his case, but didn't want to lose Avril as a friend (especially since she and Hermione were best friends), so he went along with it.

"That's not right Harry!" Avril spat for the fifth or fourth time. Her usually green and gray eyes were blazing with violet.

"God! How many times do I have to tell you? It's shieldus detrimentus. Is it really that hard to remember?"

Harry stared at her as Avril rambled on, jabbing her finger at him, her face screwed up with exasperated impatience. After a time, he managed to transform Avril's constantly vocalizing voice into somewhat of a dull drone.

"Are you even listening to me?" Avril asked, throwing her wand down in exasperation.

The class was loud all around, but it was amazing that no one was really paying that much attention to her.

Harry jerked out of his stupor and took out his wand again.

"Right then, ready to give it another go?"

Avril scowled and nodded.

"Relashio!" she cried, casting her wand at Harry.

"Er, shieldus detrimentus!" Harry yelled back. A sort of wall formed in front of him, and the sparks scattered. Harry grinned, pleased.

"Finally!" Avril said, glaring.

Harry turned to her, furious, but Hermione caught his eye, and he stopped.

"Er, yeah," he muttered, going red.

Care for Magical Creatures was all right, as they bathed and groomed their Crups with their partners, and Harry didn't have to speak to Avril until lunch.

Lunch, however, was a totally different story.

This is funny, Harry thought bitterly when Cho approach the Gryffindor table, this time last year I'd give anything to have Cho look at me. Now, I'll give anything for her forget all about me-

"Hi Harry," she said shyly, glancing around at his friends. She laid her eyes on Avril and smiled warmly.
"You played very well last month April," Cho said.

Avril narrowed her eyes.

"It's Avril," she growled.

Cho pretended not to hear and turned back to face Harry.

"I was wondering Harry, if you were planning anything special this Saturday?"

At Harry's blank stare, Cho leaned forward.

"It's Hogsmeade weekend?" she offered helpfully. "The last Hogsmeade before Christmas holidays?"

"Oh!" Harry realized. "Er, I don't know. Why?"

Cho smiled coyly. "Oh, I don't know. I just wanted to know if you cared to share a Butterbeer with me, that's all."

Ron choked on his scone. Harry's eyes bugged. Avril became very interested in her soup.

Harry was just about to leap at the offer, when Hermione kicked him under the table.

Then he remembered.

"Er, I don't know Cho," he said, avoiding her eyes, "I think I'm a bit busy that night."

Cho looked disappointed.

"Oh, well, all right then, no problem," she said, standing.

Harry was reminded of last year, around this time, when he asked her to the ball and was turned down. This time, however, the tables had turned somewhat.

"See you," Harry said with a half-smile.

"See you," Cho replied rather gloomily.

"Happy Christmas!" Avril called cheerily after her.

After that, Avril seemed perfectly jovial towards Harry.

Friday night, Avril left her friends playing chess in the common room and headed off to Sabbat.

Halfway down the hallway, Avril suddenly remembered that she had forgotten the Lamia text she was supposed to bring, and stopped dead. This proved unwise, as this gave Peeves an opportunity to appear out of nowhere and pull a rug out from underneath her feet. Avril fell forward, throwing her hands out to catch her.

"Ouch! Peeves, you dumbass!" she said angrily and scrambled to her feet. "Not now!"

She ran as fast as she could back to the portrait and muttered the password.

She clambered into the common room, which was crowded with people getting the most of their time at Hogwarts before their departure next week, and spotted her book lying on a table.

Avril hurried up to the table. Just as she shoved the large leather bound book into her bag, Harry's voice carried over from a few tables away.

"Look, I'm not saying I'm not glad he's coming down, but did he have to meet us in Hogsmeade? Why can't he just appear in the fireplace or something?"

Avril paused.

"Your right, Harry. Ditching Avril's going to be a tough one, but it's no big deal," she heard Ron say.

Avril slipped behind the table where her book had lay, and strained to listen.

"I still don't like it," Hermione muttered. "Avril's our friend. She wouldn't tell anyone Ron, you know she wouldn't."

Ron supported his head in his hands.

"Hermione, that's not the only reason and you know it. Now here's the plan..."

Avril hovered underneath the table and listened intently to their plan to desert her in Honeydukes, the sweet shop tomorrow night.

Afterward, when Hermione nipped upstairs to fetch her homework and Harry and Ron talked with Fred and George, Avril managed to slip away, extremely late for her lesson.

It hardly mattered, however, as she could barely concentrate anyway.

Dumbledore, impressed by her quick and easy development where her powers were concerned, now had her completing tasks. Tonight, Avril was to write things on a chalk board in the Charms room, sitting on the floor in front of it and thinking the chalk to move.

Avril tried desperately to focus on copying down the note from her text onto the board, commanding the chalk silently to create the neat, curt cursive, but her lack of concentration made the task impossible.

How could they be so secretive towards me? Avril thought furiously, I'm supposed to be their friend. Friends trust one another! Who're they meeting anyway? I'll find out soon enough. The very moment I get back I'm confronting Hermione and ordering her to tell me what's going on!

"The untidy scrawl replacing your usual neat cursive on the blackboard suggests that something is amiss in your sunny world, Miss Ardree," Dumbledore said from his place in the room.

Avril went slightly pink and bent over her book.

"No sir, I'm just er, a little tired," she lied.

When Avril finally returned from Sabbat (Dumbledore had her stay longer to perfect her writing technique), almost everyone had gone to bed.

"Oh well," Avril sighed and began to climb the winding staircase up to her dormitory, "I'll talk to them in the morning."

She pulled on her pajamas and got into bed. Her eyes, sore from copying down notes onto the blackboard for two hours, closed sleepily almost immediately.

*****

The next morning, Avril woke up early and waited downstairs for her friends to wake up.

While waiting among a few other early risers, she flipped through an old Witch Weekly mag, all the while sorting out what she would say when they woke up.

Ron was first to stumble downstairs, dressed clumsily in mismatched socks and wearing Harry's robes by accident.

"Hey," Ron mumbled, sinking into an armchair across from where Avril was sitting.

"Hey sunshine," Avril greeted, not looking up from her 'Witch Weekly' magazine.

They were alone for awhile, conversing in small talk, in one word sentences or similar, until Harry and Hermione clambered downstairs too.

"Hey guys," Avril said, closing her magazine, her mind carefully going over what she would say.

"You're wearing my robes, Ron," Harry yawned.

"Yeah, I figured they were a little small," Ron replied, getting to his feet.

The two went to change, leaving Avril thinking yes! this can't get any better!

As soon as they had disappeared into their dormitory, Avril turned to where Hermione was sitting beside her.

"So, what're we doing tonight?"

Hermione shrugged. "The usual, I guess. Check out Honeydukes, Three Broomsticks, that sort of thing."

Avril nodded. "Ah, the usual."

They were silent for a few minutes, then-

"Anything else?"

Hermione raised her eyebrows. "Like what Avril? Do you have something in mind?"

Avril shook her head. "Not really. Just wondering."

Hermione picked up the magazine and started flipping through it.

"Are you sure?" Avril asked abruptly.

Hermione looked up. "Uh, yeah... pretty sure."

She went back to her reading, and Avril stood up.

"I'm going to do some homework," she muttered, brushing past Harry and Ron, who came down appropriately dressed.

Avril flopped down onto her bed and angrily tried to think of what to do next.

She didn't want to confront them outright, because if she was totally wrong about what she'd heard, she'd look really dumb. But now they were going to ditch her in Honeydukes and go meet someone.

The big question here is, 'why don't they trust me enough to tell me these sort of things?' I mean, Harry showed me his invisibility cloak, and I didn't go off blabbing...

Suddenly, the sun began to rise on Avril's dilemma.

The invisibility cloak!

She's use the cloak to follow them, then see what the big conspiracy was. Once she'd seen it (Avril was sure that whatever it was, it wasn't that big of a deal), she'd tell them, and they'd see they could trust her! It was the perfect plan, and it would ensure their friendship!

The rest of the day was spent normally. The four visited Hagrid that morning, and spent that time watching the Cruppies run across the snowy grounds. The Crups had never seen snow before, and in the last few days had found the powdery white grass substitute delightful.

Fang, of course, had to get into it, but proved a little too large to run among the little wizard dogs after tripping over several of them at a time.

The four tired of watching this practice after a while, and soon went into Hagrid's hut and settled into the warm chairs.

"You four goin inter Hogsmeade this afternoon?" Hagrid asked, pouring them tea.

"Yeah, we've got Christmas shopping to do," Hermione said, sipping her tea.

"Well, in case yer interested, I'm in need of a new pair 'o woolly socks," Hagrid grinned.

They chatted a bit more, had a bite for lunch, then had to leave Hagrid and head off to Hogsmeade.

"See you Hagrid," Avril called, smiling inwardly to herself. Shopping was the least of her problems.

The four hurried up to the Gryffindor tower and grabbed their money bags.

"Ready to go then?" Hermione asked, her voice carrying what Avril classified as a bit of edge.

"No, just a sec," Avril replied, checking her bag, "I can't find my shopping list. Wait for me?"

Ron shook his head unbelievably, and Avril looked at him patiently.

"Well, you guys could go on ahead," she began, "and I could catch up to you in Hogsmeade."

Her friends' faces brightened considerably, although their insides were still writhing nervously.

"Yeah all right," Harry agreed, elbowing Hermione obviously, "we'll do someone's Christmas shopping while we're waiting for her."

Avril smiled as if she thought she knew what was going on, and said coyly, "In that case, I'll take my time. When and where do you want to meet?"

Her friends looked at each other and then back at her. "Round five o clock?" Ron said, casually.

Avril's eyes widened. "How much time do you guys need?"

Hermione grinned. "You'd be surprised."

Avril shrugged. "All right then. Let's meet at the Three Broomsticks."

They agreed, and Harry, Ron and Hermione disappeared out the portrait hole, leaving Avril alone.

She waited a few moments, ensuring that they were really gone, before hurrying into Harry and Ron's dormitory.

She opened Harry's trunk that lay at the foot of his bed, and found the silvery Invisibility cloak folded near the top.

Avril lifted the cloak out and shut the trunk. She paused a moment, and thought, sorry guys, but this is for our friendship, before tucking the cloak into her robes pocket.

Avril ran down the corridors and out the doors of Hogwarts just before Filch shut them.

She streaked down the path into Hogsmeade and looked around. There they were! Harry, Ron and Hermione's heads bobbed in the crowd, though they were walking a little more impetuously than the rest.

Avril slipped behind a tree and pulled the cloak from her pocket. "OK, no going back now," she breathed to herself, and pulled the cloak on over her head before hastening after her friends.

Harry, Ron and Hermione walked, talking very little, up High Street and out towards the edge of the village.

Avril had never been this way before, and had to be careful not to lose sight of her friends, while at the same time not getting too close. This was difficult as there were a lot of winding paths.

They were in the country of Hogsmeade now, where there were more farms and less town houses.

Avril followed Harry, Ron and Hermione round a corner at the base of the Hogsmeade mountain and gasped when she saw a black dog of massive size waiting for them.

Just when she was wondering if Harry saw it, and whether or not she should yell at them to stop, Harry reached out and shook its paw, Hermione patted it on the head and Ron produced a bag of what looked like (according to the dog's reaction) it was full of food.

The dog turned and they followed it past rocky ground, to the very foot of the mountain and up higher and higher.

This was difficult for Avril, who was concentrating on not losing them, and not tripping on the cloak, which was dragging on the ground.

They were climbing a steep, rocky path higher and higher, until they reached a crack in the stone of the mountain.

15

A Hurtful Conspiracy

Avril waited while her friends and the dog squeezed into the crack before pursuing them.

She started when she saw not only a large Hippogriff tethered in the corner, but also a man dressed in shabby black robes. His hair was black and cut short, and his face was full, but the description was uncanny of someone her parents had told her of before.

"Sirius Black," she whispered, barely able to hear herself. Avril backed up against the wall and watched in hesitance as Harry, Ron and Hermione, who was stroking the Hippogriff's neck sat down, exhausted, in front of the dark wizard.

What was going on? Why were they here, with him? There was no going back now, Avril told herself, so you might as well sit down.

Avril, careful to keep the cloak around her, knelt down on the stone floor in the corner.

"So, what's been going on?" Black asked, tearing into the bread they had brought him.

"You tell us," Harry replied, "Why're you here Sirius?"

Black's face broke out into a grin.

"To visit my godchild, of course. And," he added as an afterthought, "to ask you about the goings on at Hogwarts."

As if Ron had been waiting for this, he leapt to his feet.

"Some of our teachers have been acting really weird," he blurted, "Like Professor Delacour and especially Snape! We think he's up to something!"

Avril tensed.

Hermione made a tutting noise from her corner. "Honestly Ron, how many times do I have to remind you that Professor Snape is trusted by not only Dumbledore, but also by the faculty as well!"

"Then how d'you explain his odd behavior in the corridors last night?" Harry interrupted. "He was up to something Hermione, I know he is!"

Avril couldn't believe her ears. Were they actually conspiring against her uncle? Blaming him for being 'suspicious'?

Then came the real crusher:

"Well, if Snape is up to something, he won't be able to get away with very much now. Dumbledore is being extremely cautious of who does what lately. We'll worry about that later Harry. I've heard it on good authority that you have a Lamia at your school too," Black said, picking up a copy of the Daily Prophet and giving it a slight wave.

"Oh, er, yeah," Harry replied awkwardly.

"Well, just watch your back. Lamia's are dangerous. I've known some to use their powers against decent wizards."

"But all they have is the unique power of levitation and a certain sense of telepathy," Hermione said, confused.

Sirius shook his head. "No, Hermione, they have all sorts of abnormal powers. Most of them don't even know about them until they're needed in a spontaneous situation, but they're there. Anyway, Lamias are rare, but they're also dangerous and unpredictable. Sort of like Manticores," he joked. "I'd steer clear of the one at Hogwarts if I were you, Harry. Just to be on the safe side."

Harry opened his mouth to protest, to defend Avril's name. Sirius didn't understand, but if he explained it...

"You don't understand, Sirius. She's-" he stopped. Ron, Hermione and Sirius were no longer looking at him. They were staring, open mouthed, at something behind him. Harry turned and came face-to-face with Avril. She'd pulled the cloak off of her, unable to listen any longer.

"Avril!" he sputtered, "how did you?"

Avril, her eyes brimming with tears, shoved his Invisibility cloak hard into his chest and exited through the crack in the cave wall without a word.

Harry stood in shock, unbelieving of what had just happened. For an unbearably awkward moment, the cave was silent. Then Hermione tutted.

"Oh dear," Hermione sighed, pulling her cloak back on. "I'd better go after her Harry, and talk some sense into her. Bye Sirius, it was nice seeing you again. Meet you two back up in the tower, right?"

Speechless, Ron and Harry barely nodded.

"Right. Well, see you," Hermione said before crawling through the hole in the wall.

"Who was that?" Sirius asked, sounding a bit afraid.

"A friend," Harry answered, exchanging a worried glance with Ron. "Her name's Avril Ardree."

Sirius sat up. "Ardree?" he asked, leaning forward.

"Uh, yeah," Ron said, still staring at the crack in the cave wall, "you know her?"

"No," Sirius answered, "but I knew her mother, Sydney Snape. She was in Gryffindor with us."

Harry frowned. "Her mum? But she was married."

"I also knew the Canadian man she married Harry," Sirius explained patiently. "Word got around, you know."

Harry nodded. "That's why she's here. Her parents, well, they-"

Sirius nodded understanding, and signaled Harry to continue.

"Anyway, Snape's her guardian, that's all. She used to live in Canada, but she moved here."

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "And she's the Lamia?"

Harry nodded. Ron frowned. "How did you know?"

Again, Sirius waved the Daily Prophet briefly in the air.

"Oh," Ron replied quietly.

Sirius recommenced. "So the Lamia is on Snape's side?"

Harry shrugged, slightly annoyed. Her name was Avril. "They're family, if that's what you mean."

Sirius nodded, looking even more worried. "Harry, this isn't good. She just heard us plotting against Snape, and my guess is that she didn't just storm out of here on a bathroom break. What if she tells Snape everything?"

Harry looked uncomfortable. "Well, it's only bad if he really is working for Voldemort again, right?"

Sirius shrugged. "True, but I wouldn't put it past him to be on the dark side. Hermione can talk to The Lamia, but I still wouldn't trust her. And if you're friends, break it off. Trust me."

Harry didn't reply. Sirius was usually right, but this time... he wasn't sure what to do. Avril was a good friend of his; they'd had a few good laughs. Not only that, but it wouldn't be easy to just 'drop' her. After all, they were in the same house, the same year, and on the same Quidditch team.

Harry was also positive that Hermione wouldn't stop being friends with Avril unless she was absolutely sure that she was untrustworthy.

Harry suddenly had another question.

"So, were they friends? Her mum and my mum, I mean?" he asked tentatively.

Sirius shrugged. "More or less. They were acquainted. Lily had a group of friends she hung around with, and Sydney was with them most of the time."

"Most of the time?" Ron asked.

"Well, she spent a lot of time with Snape too. She had this crazy inclination that he needed her protection. I never understood that." Sirius suddenly looked wistful.

"Wait, were you friends with her Sirius?" Ron asked, a bit of a grin on his face.

Sirius averted his eyes.

"How do you think Snape and I met, and why do you think we hate each other so much?"

Harry's mouth fell open slightly, but he said nothing.

"Because Sydney had a life outside of Snape, and he couldn't handle that," Sirius answered for him.

Harry was beginning to understand...

"Wait, so you two-"

"That's right," Sirius said, as if he couldn't bear to hear Harry's exact words.

Harry was stunned. After seeing the look on Ron's face, he hadn't seen it coming either.

They were silent for awhile, then Ron spoke.

"So, what happened?"

Sirius raised an eyebrow, apparently surprised that Ron had questioned further.

"Well, in the end, Sydney stuck to Snape. 'There's a spot of trouble at home, and he really needs me now', she said. It's not like I could tell her that she couldn't help her twin brother."

"They were twins?" Why was Harry finding this all out now?

"Luckily, that was in our seventh year, and I didn't have to be around her for much longer. Sydney pretty much stopped hanging around with Lily and the gang, and spent most of her free time with Snape. In the library and such. A lot of us were actually pretty touchy about it... we'd call her a Slytherin, and a traitor... she eventually stopped speaking to anyone but Lily. Lily was always kind to her."

Sirius looked extremely remorseful at this moment and Harry gave Ron a look that told him to cease further questioning.

Sirius, however, kept speaking.

"Anyway, a few months before James and Lily were married, Sydney met an Auror in Hogsmeade. He was a Canadian, overseas for secret Ministry business (this was when Voldemort was at the height of his reign of terror). They fell in love, I guess," he said bitterly. "I don't know- James heard it from Lily. They apparently got married in Canada- Sydney's family never did care that much about her. They stayed there too. Lily got an overseas owl from Sydney about a year later, after you were born Harry, announcing the birth of their baby and her place as an Auror in the Canadian Ministry of Magic, so she tried keeping in touch with the Ardrees awhile after, but Sydney got too caught up in her work. They never heard from her again."

Harry took in all this new information, his mind spinning. He had no idea what to say, and when to say it. It seemed like Sirius needed some sort of comfort, but Harry wasn't sure what kind, either.

It was Ron who spoke next, clearly still confused about the entire thing.

"So you two went out, and that's why you and Snape hated each other? Because he was jealous?"

"And Sydney ended up choosing Snape over me," Sirius finished.

Ron nodded understandingly, but said no more.

Suddenly, a question popped into Harry's head.

"Wait! Sirius, d'you know how Snape dealt with Sydney moving away?"

Sirius nodded, looking like he knew the answer.

"Dumbledore told me," was all he said.

Then. Somehow, Harry knew the answer.

"He-?"

Sirius nodded again. Harry's eyes widened.

Snape had become a Death Eater because of Sydney and Ray.

15

Anger, Resentment, Confrontation

Harry and Ron walked back to the castle in silence. They met Hermione in the Common room, where she was sitting on the sofa in front of the fire, looking very troubled.

When she saw them climb through the portrait hole, she gave a relieved sort of gasp and jumped up.

"Oh, thank goodness you two are back!" she exclaimed, hurrying over to them.

"Er, is Avril all right?" Harry asked, his eyes straying to the girl's dormitory.

Hermione looked contrite, and winced slightly.

"I'm afraid not, Harry. I managed to catch her in time and (after filling her in on some things) persuade her not to say anything to Snape, but she's quite hung up on the fact that you're a horrible person."

Harry stared at her in surprise. "What do you mean?"

"Well," Hermione said, looking from Harry to Ron, "from what she told me, Avril borrowed your cloak, intending to follow us and find out what the big secret was. Then she'd know, and there wouldn't be any mistrust-"

"What is it with her and trust?" Ron said angrily. Hermione ignored him.

"-so she wouldn't feel so left out. But when she saw Sirius (she knows about him because her parents were Aurors), she was shocked that you were friends with an escaped convict, Harry. Then you three started blaming Snape for things, and Sirius acted like she was a dark wizard, and Avril just couldn't take it anymore. She's pretty upset," Hermione finished.

"Sorry Herm," Harry apologized, "I didn't mean to make her mad at you."

"Oh, she isn't angry with me," Hermione said, "I defended Snape, and caught up with her when she ran away. No, she's mostly upset with you for lying to her Harry. That's why you should go up and speak with her."

Harry stared at Hermione even harder. "What? Go in there? That's the girls' room!"

Hermione narrowed her eyes.

"Being in the girl's dormitory should be the last of your troubles if you want to stay friends with Avril," she said bossily.

Harry's shoulders slumped. He felt truly sorry for Avril; she was, after all, a friend of his. Plus, their mothers had been friends and he felt it was sort of his duty now to be nice to her. For his mum.

"All right," he muttered, climbing the stairs to the dormitory. "But what do I say?"

Hermione and Ron had sat back down.

"Sorry for conspiring against her and her uncle would be a good start," Hermione answered sarcastically.

Harry made a face, irritated, and opened the door for the girls' dormitory.

Ron and Hermione remained silent for a moment, Ron staring intently into the dancing flames in the fireplace, and Hermione vaguely trying to hear what was going on upstairs.

"You know," Ron said suddenly, looking up at Hermione, "I don't really understand what the big deal with being an evil or good wizard is- we're all going to hell for practicing Witchcraft anyway, right?"

Hermione looked up at Ron and gaped at him as if he had Skrewts crawling out of his ears.

"OK," she said, standing up, "we need to talk about this..."

Harry pushed the door open, and saw Avril sitting cross-legged on her bed stroking Crookshanks. Her Hogwarts cloak was still on, though slightly askew, and her usually shining brown curls were tangled and disheveled. Avril looked up as Harry entered the room. Her grayish eyes suddenly seemed to burst into violet flames.

"What are you doing in here?" Avril asked sharply, her scarlet eyes blazing furiously. "Come to finally tell me that your Godfather is a convicted murderer? Or are you actually going to clue me in on how exactly my uncle Severus is an evil wizard?"

Harry bit his lip.

"Neither, as you already seem to know them both," he muttered meekly.

This didn't help matters.

"How dare you accuse Uncle Severus of something like that!" Avril hissed, scrambling off her bed and stopping only about a foot from Harry's face, "He's a professor, and a operative for Dumbledore! He's definitely on our side!"

Harry took a step back. "You don't know that," he replied quietly, avoiding her eyes.

"Excuse me? I think I know my own uncle, Harry," Avril crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"Do you? Do you really?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Avril, how long have you known Snape?" Harry asked, glaring accusingly at her.

"Long enough to know who's side he's on!" Avril shot back.

"OK, so what about the other night? When we were under the Invisibility cloak? What was he up to then?" Harry demanded. He knew that this was not what he had been sent up for, but enough was enough. Avril needed to know the truth.

"Well, he was... he's a teacher, Harry, he's allowed to wander around after hours," Avril finished clumsily.

"Why though? Why was he out after hours?"

"I'm sure he was just visiting the loo or something- why should I know?"

This time it was Harry's turn to cross his arms. "Because you know him so well, that's why."

Avril fumed. "What is it with you and meddling with other people's business?" she blazed.

"Don't change the subject Avril!" Harry shouted. "Just admit it- you don't know Snape- he could be Voldemort's ere and you wouldn't even know it- hell, he could be Voldemort and you wouldn't even see it- until it was too late."

Avril glared back at him.

"Maybe not, but Dumbledore could, and he trusts him Harry- you know? Trust? It's something you ought to learn."

Harry was now feeling angry and fed up with the whole argument. Avril was so blind! He was going to end this right now.

"Yeah? And you ought to learn some common sense! You can't honestly tell me, that in the whole week you spent in his dormitory, and the three and a half months you've been here, that you haven't noticed anything weird about Snape? Anything at all? You can honestly tell me that Snape is and always will be pure at heart?

Avril jutted out her chin and nodded, without considering the question. She was far too furious with Harry to care.

"Well then you're just plain stupid Avril," Harry retorted, "because a while ago, Snape was a Death Eater. You can ask Dumbledore himself."

There was an unbearable silence. Then-

"You're wrong."

"Oh? Is that what he told you? Well it was a lie-"

"You're the liar!"

"He supported Voldemort!"

"You'd do anything to get him sacked! You're pathetic!"

"I'm pathetic? You're the one who's totally oblivious!"

"You and your dirty, lying, murdering buddy up on the mountain!"

"Wake up Avril!"

"You're both pathetic!"

"Listen to yourself! You're in denial!"

"I'm not!"

"Snape went against your parents Avril- to spite them!"

"Shut up-"

"He'd have done anything Voldemort told him-"

"Shut up!"

"Even killed your mother!"

"STOP IT!"

Before she knew what she was doing, simply blinded by obstreperous rage and realization, Avril stepped forward hit Harry across the face with all her strength. She then backed away, shaking uncontrollably

Harry stumbled a bit, and felt the place where Avril had struck him.

It was over. The fight was done, and no one had won. Harry had just said something that would forever put a dent into their friendship.

"Avril, I-"

"Get out."

"Please, Avril-"

"Get OUT!"

Harry backed away and opened the door. "Sorry," he whispered, watching Avril climb onto her bed and yank the curtains around her. This was bad. He knew that when he saw the look on Hermione's face. This was REALLY bad.