Colour Me Slytherin

You stared down at the parchment, ‘Cap ou pas cap? Sing a song in front of the whole school.’ Just when you thought nothing interesting was going to happen, you had your first challenge, and a relatively easy one at that. Standing up, you jumped up onto the Slytherin table.

Fred stared at you for a moment, not really understanding what you were doing. He grabbed the letter, and stared down at it. It seemed to be some sort of challenge, and you had obviously accepted.

The whole great hall turned to stare at the commotion that was happening over at the Slytherin table, only to be greeted by the sight of Alice Smat standing on the Slytherin tables, a smirk and devilish glint in her eye.
"Stand tall
Head and shoulders down
They don't make'm like us anymore
You failed to see that I am not your shadow
I can be more
You said the world is hard to face
I am your umbrella, Megan
But I can keep up with it's pace
If you let me go
I was running to see you down the line
What if I've built up what was mine
What if I didn't forget passion like you did
What if I find my purpose first
What if I fulfill my life's work
What if you counting on my failure made me live
Not scared.
I know you thought I was shakin' fast in my own two shoes
But these soles could fight the ocean waves,
Dirty laundry, and world war II
Finally I see past my front hands
Not a coward's pissed-stained pants
Thank you for telling me I can't
Without you, I wouldn't be where I am
What if I see you down the line
What I took back my lost time
What if I didn't forget passion like you did
What if I find my purpose first
What if I fulfill my life's work
What if you counting on my failure made me live
If you see me again,
You won't know my face
But you'll recall my hurt
Inside of me, a side of you is placed
When I see you again,
I won't be bitter
You, you're so far to blame
You're part of this change
I (am ?)so much of you
I won't ever be the same
What if I see you down the line
What I took back what was mine
What if I didn't forget passion like you did
What if I find my purpose first
What if I fulfill my life's work
What if you counting on my failure made me live
What if you counting on my failure made me live
What if you counting on my failure made me live" (Song, What If by Meg and Dia)

As soon as the song ended, you dropped down onto the bench beside Fred, acting as if nothing had happened.

“What was that all about?” he asked draping his arm around you once more.

You shrugged, “just a dare…”

Fred eyed you for a moment, and then shrugged, deciding not to bother with arguing with you.

You put the last bit of breakfast into your mouth, then turned to Fred. "Why are you here anyway?" you asked, after swallowing the food in your mouth.

Fred shrugged, "just visiting." of course this was a lie, he was really here to see Dumbledore, to talk about Order business... although, he was gone from the castle.

"You don't have to tell me, but you shouldn't lie to me." you stated flatly, getting to your feet.

Fred only smirked at you, also getting to his feet. "You know me too well, love."

"Not really, I can just tell when you're lying." you responded with a shrug.

"Let's go for a walk then?" Fred asked, pulling you towards the great oak doors, and out into the grounds of Hogwarts.

Shadow was trotting silently beside Alice, stopping for a brief moment, here or there, to sniff at the ground, or at a plant. One plant in particular waited for Shadow to get close enough, before it's vines leapt out, and wrapped itself around his leg. Thankfully, Shadow's teeth were strong enough for him to bite through the vine.

You spent most of your Saturday by the lake with Fred. Thankfully the weather was a bit warmer, but there was still a need for cloaks, as the air was still bitter. The two of you talked about many things, The order, qudditch, what the future might hold, and what you planned on doing after you graduated from Hogwarts.

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You had noticed, after Fred left, that Draco was no where to be seen. He didn't even show up for dinner, and this made you worry slightly. Feeling the desperate urge for a bathroom, you wandered into Moaning Myrtle's toilets. You heard a giggling from the u-bend, and glanced up to see the transparent girl sitting there. You eyed her suspciously, but went into a stall regardless, to do your business.

You could hear Moaning Myrtle giggling about a boy in the boys toilets in the floor above. She was swooning about how sensitive he was, and how he cries in there, sometimes.

"What boy is crying?" you asked, stepping out of the stall, looking up at Myrtle.

She greeted you with a nasty look, but continued to giggle to herself, about this boy.

Raising an eyebrow at her, you decided to just ignore the little encounter, and continue on with your day, or what was left of it.

You couldn't tear your mind from Moaning Myrtle, as you finished up the last bit of your essay. Deciding that was enough for tonight, you checked your watch, which read "1:45 A.M." Stretching your arms, and yawning slightly, you got to your feet, rolled up your parchment, and climbed the stairs to your dorm room.

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Sunday was rather uneventful, Fred had to go back to his shop, and Draco seemed to be completely out of sight. So you spent the day doing the rest of your homework, for your classes. You only emerged from the prefect dorms, for dinner. Glancing around the Great Hall, you noticed that Dumbledore was back, but looked extreamly tired. You also noticed, that in the Gryffindor table, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were huddled together. Apparently something happened. You shrugged, figuring if they wanted you to know, you would be filled in eventually. As you turned towards the long Slytherin table, a frantic waving motion had caught your eye, as red and gold blurred in front of you.

"Alice!" Becca smiled at you. Ever since the whole incident before Christmas, she and Taylor seemed to have avoided both you and Lily.

You looked at her, "Becca." You replied in a bored tone, wondering what she wanted.

Her smile faltered slightly, as your voice came out bored, and rather cold. "How was your Christmas?" she asked, Taylor coming up behind her, and putting his arm protectively over her shoulders.

You shrugged, "Alright....." pausing for a moment, you already had the feeling you knew how her Christmas went, "yours?"

She smiled at you, and leaned into Taylor, who was grinning like a moron. "Pretty good." her mouth burst into a bigger smile, if that was even possible.

"Let me guess, you two are together now?" you asked, your voice a bit lighter, glad to hear something good had finally happened.

Becca's response was only her wide grin, as Taylor pulled her away from you and towards the Gryffindor table, before dinner started.

You took your seat at the Slytherin table, not paying attention to the taunts from Pansy, and the new addition to her gang, Lily. You glanced up when you heard shuffling in front of you, and was taken aback when Tom was sitting there. "Hey..." you said cautiously, unsure of what he would do.

"How's it going?" he asked, almost as if nothing had happened between the two of you.

You shrugged, "oh you know, the usual..." you grinned slightly, "how about yourself?"

He shrugged, indicating the usual also.

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You were about to go up to bed early, when Ron and Hermione had burst through the portrait hole, looking frantic. You turned back to them, when both of them intruded your brain.

'We need your help to patrol the corridors tonight.' Hermione thought at you, unwilling to speak what they were up to out loud.

'Dumbledore and Harry are gone, Harry is sure that something is going to happen tonight.' Ron's words were now filling your brain, 'Harry gave us some of his Felix Felicis, just in case.'

'Alright...' you thought back at them. If this was a joke, both of them were very good actors, but you also had a feeling in the pit of your stomach, that something was going to happen. Magically sending your bag up to your dorm room, you followed Hermione and Ron out of the portrait hole. "I'll be fine on my own, you two go together." you muttered under your breath, as you strolled down the opposite hallway.

Everything was quite, every now and then, you thought you saw something move out of the corner of your eye, but it only turned out to be a suit of armor trying to play a trick on you.

"And what might you be doing out of bed Miss. Smat?" you heard the familiar voice of Professor McGonagall behind you.

You turned to greet her, "good evening Professor." You said serenly, "I'm just doing prefect duties." you shrugged, indicating that this was around the time you should be doing that anyway.

Professor McGonagall gave you a weary look, before brushing past you, going back to her office.

You wandered the halls, nothing really appearing anywhere, it seemed as Hermione and Ron were wrong. As you reached the seventh floor, you could hear some rushed whispers, and a cloud of black smoke appear from nowhere. It was one of Fred and George's products. Out of nowhere, death eaters were running from the darkened hallway, but apparently had not thought they would be meeting anybody else. With some quick wand work, you had stupifyed three death eaters.

Draco had lead the last of the death eaters out of the corridor that was now black, and nearly froze when he saw you standing at the end of the hall, hexing, jinxing, cursing, and charming death eaters as they ran by.

You looked up at the newly on coming wave of death eaters, and watched as Draco Malfoy ran past you. "What are you doing, Draco?!" You screamed after him, as they flew down the stairs.

"Alice?!" the confused voice of Ginny Weasley called out.

"Ginny?" You called out questioningly, only to see her appear brief moments afterward. You stepped forwards, looking over the other two people with her, "Death eaters in the castle...." you rushed out.

Ginny, Neville, and Luna all seemed to gather the urgency of the situation, and all rushed forwards, and down the stairs close behind you.

You came to a halt, looking over one of the banisters, to be greeted with the sight of a battle below. You watched Draco go up the stairs to the Astronomy tower. You were brought back to reality by Shadow's snarls, as a death eater noticed the four of you standing above them. You didn't utter a word, but sent a spell flying at him, which hit him squarely in the face, making him fall over. "Lets go." you yelled at the other three standing beside you. Without waiting, you flung yourself over the banister and into the battle, sending hexes in every direction.

You barely noticed other students joining in the battle, all of whom, seemed to know what was going on, you assumed they had something to do with that forbidden club last year, that upset Umbridge so much.

You didn't pay attention to anybody around you, except for the death eaters you were dueling. You were holding off three of them at the same time, when other people had come to join the battle. You noticed the people were older looking, and more experienced than the students around you, as the sent well aimed curses flying at the death eaters.

"Alright Alice?" Tonks yelled, over the roar of battle.

You glanced upward for a brief second, seeing Tonks dueling with a large blonde death eater, who was firing off curses in every direction, making them bounce off the walls, and fly back at the people deuling below. In that brief second, you felt a searing pain in your shoulder, looking down, a deep crimson was slowly creeping through your robes. You fired off a stunning spell, which hit the death eater directly over the heart. It was almost as if somebody had pushed the stop button on a movie. All the fighting had ceased for moments, all the death eaters in the room were unconcious.

After what seemed like forever, people burst through the Astronomy tower doorway, Snape and Draco in the lead, while Bellatrix, the Carrows, and Fenrir Greyback came lumbering after them. The battle restarted, spells were flying everywhere once more.

Harry came bursting through the Astronomy tower door way, and looked around, "Where'd Snape go!?" he screamed at anybody who would listen.

"Through the oak doors!" you called, your back pressed against Professor McGonagall's.

Harry ran down the steps, heading towards the grounds.

Suddenly, all the death eaters were retreating, you kept firing curses at them as they ran, trying to capture as many as possible. Running out into the crisp night air, you gave chase to the remaining death eaters, only to stop when the eerie skull with a snake floating through its mouth, was caught by your eye, hovering over the school. Somebody was dead.

Harry's screams could be heard from Hagrid's hut, which grew louder as they approached the school. "He killed him!! He looked him in the eye and killed him!" Harry was screaming.

You rushed forward, and gripped Harry's shoulders. "Who killed who?" you asked gently, trying to soothe him.

Other students, and teachers were rushing forward, wanting to know what happened. Their breath caught in their throats as they also gazed upon the dark mark hanging above the school.

"Snape, he killed Dumbledore!" Harry had managed to calm down, but only slightly. He was still shaking, either from shock, or rage, he wasn't sure, but all he knew is what he saw, and that was Snape betraying Dumbledore. Everybody stood frozen, and followed their gaze to where Harry was now walking, pushing his way through the small crowd that had gathered around the body laying on the ground.

Hagrid stared down at the body in disbelief, then the great tears of the half giant man slipped from his eyes, and slid down into the mess of beard that covered most of his face. Carefully, he bent down and picked up the old Headmaster's body, and brought it inside the castle, followed by Professor McGonagall, and everybody else, who were ordered to go to bed.

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Nobody dared to mention the absence of the headmaster during the meals. All exams were cancelled, and students were going to be sent home, only an hour after Dumbledore's funeral, which was going to happen in an hour.

You filed out of Slytherin common room, bringing up the tail, as the students filed out into the warm breeze of spring air. Directing the students where to sit, you took the aisle chair.

There were murmers around the crowds that had gathered, the centars had crowded around the edge of the forest, unwilling to mingle with the humans, and the merpeople had broken the surface of the water to pay their respects to the dead man.

Everybody went quiet as Hagrid approached, carrying the covered body of the former headmaster. He placed him on the white stone table.

Professor McGonagall had gotten up, and said a few words about the old headmaster, then motioned for you to come up.

As you reached the front of the crowd, a slight flick of your wand, and a guitar appeared out of thin air. Quietly you began to strum, letting the words flow from your mouth. "I don't want to understand this horror
There's a weight in your eyes
I can't admit
Everybody ends up here in bottles
But the name tag's the last thing you wanted
As the world explodes
We fall out of it
And we can't let go
Because this will not go away
There's a house built out in space
I can't see that thief
That lives inside of your head
But I can be some courage at
The side of you bed
I don't know what's happening
And I can't pretend
But I can be your, be your..." at this moment, white flames had shot out from the table, and sealed itself around Dumbledore's body. You continued to sing.

"Someone help us understand
Who ordered this disgusting
Arrangement, time and the end
I don't want to hear who walked
On water, because the hallways are empty
And the clocks tick
As the world implodes
We fall into it
And we can't go home
Because this will not go away
There's a house built out in space
I can't see that thief
That lives inside of your head
But I can be some courage at
The side of you bed
I don't know what's happening
And I can't pretend

It's a long, long get away
It's a long, long get away
Make it home again
Make it home again
It's a long, long get away
It's a long, long get away
I can't see that thief
That lives inside of your head
But I can be some courage at
The side of you bed
I don't know what's happening
And I can't pretend
But I can be your, be your..." (song, Thief by Our Lady Peace) As you finished the song, the centars all raised their bows, arrows shot into the air, and landed a short distance from the crowd.

People had gotten up to leave, and students had headed towards the castle to pack up the rest of their things before the train took off.

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You pulled your trunk into the over head carriage, and took a seat in your empty cabin on the Hogwarts Express.

The door to your compartment opened, and Hermione peered in momentarily. "I was told to give this to you..." she said, handing you a piece of rolled up parchment, and then left. The two of you both knew how dangerous it was for either of you, and Harry Potter, along with the Weasley's to be seen with each other. Cautiously, you opened the letter, only to read the first few words on the page. 'Cap ou pas Cap?' in the unfamiliar handwriting.