Trusting the Enemy

Carmen ducked just in time to avoid an owl to the head. It crashed into the rather large pitcher of milk, and anyone sitting within a ten foot radius was instantly drenched.

All heads at the Gryffindor table swiveled to see the receiver of the culprit's delivery. Carmen felt herself flush.

"Letter from home," she called cheerfully. There were dark mutterings and glares as each other the students returned back to his or her meal. Morning was not a good time to test her fellow Gryffindors' patience.

Carmen noticed an owl drop a letter into Lily's lap, then a letter in Allison's, and another in Jen's. She wondered why she hadn't gotten one, when a falling missile bonked her squarely in the head.

Carmen rubbed her head indignantly while opening the parchment.

Inside was simple:
Your detention is set for tomorrow, October 31, at 8 PM. Please report to the Hospital Wing for duty.

Carmen groaned. No doubt 'duty' included cleaning bedpans.

Lily looked over to Carmen's letter. "You got your detention notice too?" she asked glumly. Carmen nodded.

"They can't do that to us!" Jen exploded. "They can't take away our Halloween like that! I even heard that Dumbledore booked some special entertainment for the feast! Everyone, and I mean everyone will be there!"

Suddenly, there was a strangled scream from the other end of the hall. All four girls spun around in their seats to see the offender.

A Hufflepuff girl that looked to be about sixteen was openly weeping. Her friend whispered something in her ear, obviously meant to be of some comfort, but the girl only cried harder.

Her other friend took her elbow and pulled her out of her seat. She led her distraught friend out of the hall in the direction of the hospital wing. Professor McGonagall intercepted the two girls at the hall's entrance, a few brief words were exchanged, and then, she too left the hall to accompany the two friends.

Three girls were in hot pursuit. Carmen recognized one of them, Katy, from Herbology.

"Katy," she whispered as the Hufflepuff walked past her. "Katy, what's going on?"

Katy turned to see the four Gryffindor girls looking anxiously at her. She sighed heavily.

"It's Maggie," Katy said quietly. Then, softer still, she added, "She just found out that her parents were killed by You-Know-Who.

Carmen glanced at her friends, all of who wore additional expressions of shock on their faces.

"Tell her..." Carmen faltered. "Tell her we're sorry.

Katy nodded, and sped away to catch up with her fellow Hufflepuffs.

As soon as she left, noise erupted in the hall. Everyone was whispering, muttering to their friends, or shaking their heads in confusion.

Carmen, however, just sat there thinking. The pain Maggie must be feeling, and the shock too, the shock that something like this could ever happen to her... Carmen empathized with her. She understood what Maggie was going through.

Maybe more than she should have.

*****************************

"You're kidding," Jen said. Allison shook her head. "Do I look like I'm kidding?" she asked. Jen studied Allison for a moment, and then said, rather ruefully, "No,"

"But why would the Slytherins have to have detention with us?" Lily wondered. "You mean other than to torture us?" Carmen interjected.

Allison sighed. "Do the words 'peacefully cooperate' mean anything to you?" all three girls shook their heads no.

"Well it doesn't mean anything to me either, but it does to McGonagall, because that's why we're doing time with the Slytherins.

Lily groaned. "We have to have detention with our mortal enemies so we can be taught how to 'peacefully cooperate'?"

"No, it's not a simple as that. If we merely had to go through detention with them, then we would learn how to cooperate. However - and this is the hard part - when we go through with detention with them without killing each other, we'll learn how to 'peacefully cooperate'," Carmen answered knowledgeably, glasses poised at the end of her nose. Jen thought she looked like a somewhat younger version of McGonagall. She didn't say this out loud, however, knowing that Carmen would use the remark as grounds for murder.

"And how exactly did you find out McGonagall's ulterior motive for putting us through the most miserable experience of our lives?" Jen asked incredulously.

"A little bird," Allison smiled mischievously. Jen didn't trust that smile for an instant.

"A sand hair little bird that's six foot one, has green eyes, and a name that happens to be, oh, say... Tim?" Carmen asked innocently.

Jen laughed aloud at the look on Allison's face. "Ooh, busted by Carmen the Super-Snoop,"

"Who's brilliant career is about to come to a tragic end," Allison threatened through gritted teeth.

"Um, Carmen?" Lily whispered tentatively, "now would be a good time to walk away,"

Jen shook her head. "No, Carmen, now would be a good time to run like hell and hope to God that she's not following you,"

Carmen didn't need to be told twice.

*****************************

James, temper high and patience low, hurried to class. If he was late to McGonagall's again....well, the results weren't going to be pretty.

Perfect, James, just perfect he though to himself. It isn't enough you have detention tonight, Halloween of all nights, but you're going to get detention tomorrow night, too.

James had been a rather bad mood ever since he received his detention notice that morning. Of all night to have detention, Halloween....the holiday pranksters like himself and the rest of the Marauder's cherished most. Of course, it was really Remus's fault that they had detention tonight....

James was so preoccupied with other things, such as plotting Remus's death that he didn't notice where he was going. Or, that is, he didn't notice until he collided head on with a girl running in the opposite direction. His books fell to the floor, papers flying out in every direction.

James, already stretched to the breaking point, snapped.

"Watch where you're going!" he shouted at Hufflepuff girl who looked to be about in sixth year.

The girl shrank back, frightened at his anger towards her. She looked as though she were about to cry. James normally would have felt slightly sorry for her and relented, but he figured that by now he had already taken his daily allotment of shit.

"I'm...I'm sorry," she whispered.

"Well maybe sorry just doesn't cut it!" James yelled. "I'm already late for class, and now I have to explain to McGonagall why half my Transfiguration essay is spread across the corridor."

The girl let out a whimper.

"Good grief, Potter, can't you cut her a break!" a very familiar and extremely unwanted voice came form behind him. James whirled around.

"I didn't ask for your opinion, Evans," he said icily.

"Well tough, luck, you're getting one anyway," Lily retorted, adding, "just leave her alone, okay? She's having a tough day."

"Well, so am I!"

"Oh yeah?" Lily asked eyes narrowed. "How tough? Tougher than the fact that Maggie just found out her parents were killed by You-Know-Who?"

James opened his mouth to speak, and then snapped it shut when he realized that nothing good would come out of it.

"Maybe not before," he finally sputtered, "but once you decided to make an appearance, it definitely took a turn for the worse."

And with that he grabbed all his papers off the floor and stormed off, cursing.

*********************

"Where are you going?" Narcissa wondered as Sirius checked his watch, got up, and motioned for James to follow him.

"Yeah, the feast doesn't start for another hour," Narcissa's friend, Juliet Winterbottom, correlated. Sirius sighed. Must they scrutinize his every move?

"Detention," he muttered almost inaudibly. Narcissa frowned.

"That's the fourth time this year. Really, Sirius, if you keep you antics up you'll be expelled before much longer,"

"Thank you Miss Voice of Doom," Sirius snapped sarcastically. Narcissa looked rather taken aback.

"I'm just trying to get you to start taking things a little more seriously!"

"Why, when it's so much more fun to take things lightly?" he teased.

Narcissa's mouth was set in a tight, thin line like it always was when she got angry.

"That's not funny,"

"Really? Well, Juliet seemed to think it was,"

Narcissa glowered at Juliet, who had been up until this point shaking with silent laughter. The last laugh died in her throat, however, when Narcissa glared daggers at her.

"Sirius!" Remus called across the Slytherin common room "Are you coming or not?!"

"Be there in a sec!" Sirius called back, and before Narcissa could utter a word of disapproval, he kissed her soundly on the lips, then turned around and walked out of the entrance, leaving Narcissa stunned for several moments.

"No fair! That's cheating!" she yelled after him once the initial shock of being kissed in public wore off.

*****************************

"What?!" Sirius exploded. "What did you say?!" Carmen looked at Jen, and rolled her eyes.

"I said that you three are all separated for detention!" she repeated in a vexed tone.

"But no way, McGonagall would've told us that," Remus voiced his opinion on the subject.

"Did you even read the detention notices?" Jen asked incredulously.

"He did," James pointed to Sirius.

"Exactly. Sirius stays here with us in the Hospital Wing. James reports to the dungeons where Lily is, and Remus is going to the trophy room with Allison,"

The three boys looked as though Jen had just sentenced then to eternal damnation.

"Look, you think we want it this way?" Carmen asked angrily. "You think we asked for this? If we had it our way, we wouldn't even have detention,"

"Yeah, just look who got us in detention in the first place? You did,"

"So you're saying it's our fault we got stuck in detention with you?" Sirius sputtered.

"For lack of a better word, yes,"

Carmen checked her watch. "You'd better hurry up," She announced. "It's eight-o-five already. You're five minutes late,"

"Oh, darn," Remus muttered sarcastically.

Sirius followed James and Remus to the wing entrance.

"Don't leave me here with them!" he pleaded. James and Remus both gave him pitying expressions.

"Have to," James said resolutely.

"Good luck," Remus added as they turned to go,"

"I'll need it," They heard Sirius mutter as the doors swung shut.

James and Remus parted at the end of the corridor, James to the dungeons, and Remus to the trophy room.

I should have realized McGonagall wasn't going to let us stay together. Remus berated himself as he trudged to his prison.

Remus was still in a foul mood when he pushed open the doors to the trophy room. Already Allison was at work, polishing one of hundreds of trophies with a greasy rag.

"What, you a Muggle or something?" he asked skeptically. Allison whirled around, her unruly hair flying out in all directions.

"Geez, you scared me," she exclaimed, eyes widened, a hand to her throat.

Then she realized who he was.

"What're you doing here?" she demanded.

"I decided to look at the trophies," Remus answered sarcastically, and then retorted, "What do you think I'm doing here?"

Allison smiled. "Oh, yes, the armor incident," She motioned at the pile of rags. "Well, go on, if you did the crime you might as well do the time,"

"Well you're certainly perky," Remus commented disgustedly. Allison rolled her eyes.

"What, would you rather me be surly and snarl at you ever few seconds?"

"Yes,"

"Well tough luck. That's not the way I am," She turned back to the trophy she was polishing.

"Remus picked up a rag, and moved to the opposite side of the room, as far from Allison as he could possibly get.

"That's a good idea," Allison remarked. "If we both take one side of the room and divide up the trophies evenly we could be finished a lot faster,"

"And with the least contact," Remus muttered. Allison didn't hear him.

They worked for what seemed to Remus to be hours and hours. However, when he stooped so low as to ask Allison the time, he found it had only been an hour and a half. No wonder he wasn't even halfway done.

Finally, Allison threw down her rag.

"There," she announced. "I'm done,"

"Well, goody, goody for you," Remus muttered sarcastically. "Excuse me if I don't jump up and down with joy, but I seem to still have approximately seven thousand trophies left,"

Allison surveyed his cleaning. "You're doing it wrong," she told him. "No wonder you've been taking so long. Look, if you'd let me show you, I could help you do it faster..."

"And since when did you become an expert on Muggle cleaning?" Remus snapped. To his surprise, Allison smiled sadly.

"I grew up in a Muggle orphanage," she explained, then added, "let's just say I had a lot of practice," She turned to walk out of the door. Remus stared after her before shaking his head and turning back to his work.

"Well," he murmured to himself, "at least that explains a lot,"

**************************

Allison closed the door gently behind her. Honestly, she couldn't imagine why she had even offered to help him. It was his own fault he was in there, and she could just let him suffer.

Her stomach grumbled loudly as she though longingly of the feast she missed. It would be almost over by now, she reasoned, trying to convince herself not to further embarrass herself by sneaking into the Great Hall.

She paused, about to turn into a corridor. There was a far off metallic sound, such as that of a trophy being thrown against a wall in frustration.

"Remus," she muttered distractedly to herself, shaking her head.

Then she felt it.

A surge of hate washed over her. Hate so intense it made her blood boil. And anger. There was anger there too, pulsing through her body. But the strongest feeling was what scared Allison most.

Evil. Pure, unflinching evil.

Allison was frightened. She had never experienced the emotions before, and certainly not in these proportions.

She blindly took a few steps backward. The feeling grew weaker. It was as if Allison had been standing in a vortex of horrible, burning passions.

Allison turned and ran in the direction she had come. It wasn't until she came to the door of the trophy room that she stopped, out of breath.

Slowly she pushed open the door, half of her relieved she had escaped, the other half of her furious because now she had to spend more time with Remus.

Remus looked up when she entered the room. At first his face showed surprise, then relief, and then, lastly, disgust.

"So you're back are you?" he asked disdainfully. "Why so soon?"

Allison took a deep breath, trying to bring her heart rate down to normal. Her breathing was shallow and uneven before, she was shaking hard, and her face was deathly pale.

Remus peered at her in genuine concern for a moment, before ruining it with a "Are you alright? Because you look like hell,"

Allison glared. "I'm fine, thanks," she answered shortly.

"So why'd you come back," Remus repeated. Allison mentally sighed. She couldn't very well tell him what had happened, so it looked like it was up the old standby; making things up. Luckily, due to her rather large imagination, Allison had no problems with this. Possibly one of the reasons she did so well in Divination.

"Well," she began, thinking. Then it hit her. "Well," she started again, "I was thinking that if we both worked on your half, then we could both be out of here faster. You see, it's a win/win situation,"

Allison paused for a moment; Remus snorted in derision. Allison smiled before adding, as a comeback to his clear disdain of her answer, "Of course, I forgot, you Slytherins prefer lose/conquer situations..."

Remus's head snapped up. "That's stereotypical," he said testily. This time it was Allison's turn to mock her opponent.

"Well, it's true isn't it?" she asked in a superior tone of voice. She was enjoying torturing him. She rarely had a chance to; she was usually the one trying to solve arguments, no start them.

"Maybe to you," Remus retorted, adding, "but then, to me, all Gryffindors are a bunch of arrogant busy bodies. Especially the seventh years," he smirked, "but that doesn't make it true does it?"

Allison had a sudden desire to curse him.

"I guess not," she said, slow to relinquish her control over him.

"Well, now look who's so humble all of a sudden,"

"You know, I wouldn't be talking like that if I were you," Allison began hotly. "After all, you're the one who got all his friends in trouble just because you were too careless to pick up a book,"

Remus's eyes narrowed. "Say that again," he challenged her.

"I will," Allison's voice grew cool. Their eyes met, daring the other to make the first move.

A scream shattered the tense silence.

Allison and Remus looked at each other, then the door, then back at each other. Without a word to each other, both began to sprint flat out towards the sounds of distress.

Allison quickly overtook Remus, running with all her might, dreading what she might discover just around a corner.

Suddenly, Allison slipped over something wet. Cursing, and wondering exactly why Filch would even consider mopping at midnight, she scrambled up to her feet, wiping her hands on her robes.

It wasn't until then she noticed her hands weren't covered in water.

They were covered in blood.

A second scream pierced the night air.