Thick Smoke

Days weren't going well. Weeks were passing with nothing but stress for Eliza. The interview she read in The Quibbler didn't affect her at all but when Harry caught her alone in the common room and told her his recent dreams with Voldemort, Eliza's reaction was peculiar.

"Who was there with him? Rookwood, you said?" She asked with a poker face. 

"Yes. You don't seem surprised." Harry said a bit taken aback by her behavior.

"I have no reason to be. We both knew this would happen from the moment he surfaced." 

It was quite worrying how she wouldn't express her emotions anymore. If anything, it looked like she was secretly doing Occlumency.

Eliza tried. She asked Snape to teach her too but he was vehement on not touching her mind.

"Is it because you'd see mom's face again? Or maybe you're scared of what I dream?" She snapped after one of their lessons. 

Snape glared at her but didn't give her the response she wanted, "If you want to do something reckless then you may as well use Potter's mind to give the Dark Lord a glimpse of where you are and what you do." He said in a low, dangerous voice. 

"I'm not Harry. My mind doesn't work like his. I can take Occlumency ser-"

"No." Snape hissed. He looked like he was ready to use the cruciatus curse on her just for his personal enjoyment. 

Eliza glared at her professor and slammed the door shut behind her. She was so angry that she hoped she'd meet a Slytherin and curse him until she'd calm down. No one was around yet she glanced once or twice over her shoulder, feeling like someone was watching her. 



Next day, she was feeling ready to curse some Slytherins. Her dreams of her mother became slightly different as if she was seeing it from a different point of view. That was a very good cause for stress in her case because she was sure the new point of view was Voldemort's yet she was sure she wasn't going through the same dream state as Harry. 

McGonagall was quite worried when she saw Eliza's pale face in her class.

"Molley, stay behind."

Eliza gathered her books and walked to her professor’s desk, her right leg still in pain from her last training session. McGonagall looked at her student with a soft, motherly glint and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, grasping it softly.

"Are you alright? You look exhausted.”

"I'm fine professor," She started softly, her tired eyes showing the opposite, “This year's been very hectic from reasons you know.”

It wasn’t a secret that McGonagall probably knew what was happening in her house.

“Don’t force yourself, Molley. You are not your mother and will never be.”

The Transfiguration professor seemed genuinely worried. The green eyed witch smiled and nodded. 

The same day, during dinner, she was listening to Dean and Seamus discussing about the ten Death Eaters when noise from the entrance Hall became louder and louder. Students walked out, curious what was happening but Eliza stayed in the back. Professor Trelawney look horrible and two large trunks were standing at her feet. Umbridge was there as well and she looked incredibly content with herself. 

“She’s crying.” Eliza mumbled, feeling dejected for not having any power to fight back against that pink buffoon.

“I believe she’s doing a favor to the school, actually.” Malfoy sneaked behind her, watching everything like it was soap opera, “We weren’t learning anything useful anyway.” He continued, laughing when McGonagall hurried to her colleague’s aid.

Eliza turned to him and scoffed, “You have no empathy.”

He shrugged, like everything was a big joke to him, “Not for her.”

Eliza watched him lean against the wall, his eyes folded in front of his chest, when the doors opened and Dumbledore hurried outside. Thankfully, Trelawney was still allowed to live in Hogwarts even if she has been dismissed from her job.

“Dumbledore is soft.” Malfoy sneered, his eyebrows furrowing together into a menacing glare.

“A quality you shall never experience because you are a cold hearted scoundrel. How pitiful, Mr Malfoy.” She mocked the blond, sounding exactly like a pissed off Slytherin which made the students in the close range laugh under their breaths.

She left him there, plotting her demise.  The brunette was quite stressed with other stuff and Draco Malfoy was last on her list of dangerous wizards. 



Their next Divination class went interesting. Because Trelawney has been officially sacked, Dumbledore hired Firenze, a centaur. the lesson was not as boring as Eliza expected but what surprised her was Seamus at the end of it.

"Look, I know I've been a massive asshole to Harry and Dean told me about these DA meetings. I'm quite behind so I was wondering if you could help me revise everything." He said as seriously as possible.

Eliza blinked, confusion all over her face. "Alright."

Their lessons were taking place in the Room of Requirement but not on the same days as the DA. By the following meeting, Seamus was up to date with everything Harry taught his fellow members.  

"You taught him everything in one week?" Ron asked, completely amazed by her.

Eliza nodded, "I did but I think he hates me now. I might have been a bit harsh."

Just as she said that, Seamus turned to look at her. She cracked a smile and he frowned. Ron chuckled next to Eliza and tried to conjure a Patronus. Harry decided they were far enough to start with something more advanced. 

"Well anyway, show me your Patronus, Ron." Eliza said as she turned to him expectantly. 

The boy's eyes widened and tried to impress his friend. It failed. He could barely create a foam so he needed more practice to create a form. 

“Expecto Patronum!” She heard someone that sounded a lot like Cho Chang scream.

Another person screamed and she saw a small very faint form running around. It was coming from Hermione.

Eliza moved out of the way, leaving the Patronus move around freely even if it was pretty small. 

Harry smiled when saw Eliza there, happy that she started to get more involved.

Unlike Harry, Eliza was being harsher and was being slightly rude when they weren’t concentrating on the task. She probably took that from Snape when he was training her but it looked like it was working well.

“Hey, Liz! Show us your Patronus! Come on!” Fred and George appeared on each side and leaned over her shoulders.

Eliza bit her lip and glanced at Harry before she grabbed her wand, pointing it ahead, “Expecto Patronum,” She mumbled, the familiar form of a werewolf contouring in front of everyone.

Harry chuckled while the rest were watching the werewolf beam excitedly.

"Wow!" 

Harry shook his head and urged everyone to go back to work. He glanced at Eliza and saw her eyes following her Patronus until it faded.

"Are you alright? You look like you've got something in your mind." He started aware that Cho was just a few feet from them.

He didn't want to make it seem like he was getting too close to Eliza, not after she misunderstood about Hermione. 

"It's him. He's messing with my mind. I think he wants me to see his point of view." She whispered careful not to draw attention.

Harry frowned, "His point of view on what? Us? Me? The weapon?" 

Eliza chuckled and shook her head, "Mom. Voldemort wants me to see mom as he sees her." 

Harry looked confused yet altogether alarmed. He acknowledged her information but he couldn't quite point out any connections between their dreams. It seemed Voldemort wasn't interfering too much into Eliza's head.



During the lesson, Eliza concentrated on helping Neville with his technique. He was getting the hang of it faster than she expected.

Suddenly, she felt something tag on her pants again. Eliza looked down and saw Furvus looking at her with wide worried eyes. On the other side, Dobby was tugging on Harry's robes. From what she could understand, Umbridge found out about the DA. 

"Get out of here!" Harry screamed and the whole lot hurried through the door. 

Eliza grabbed her kitten but didn't run out of there. Harry was the last to leave and she stopped right in front of the door. 

"Well, well, well. Somehow I am not even surprised to see you helping Potter." That voice was not Malfoy's but Pansy's. 

She waltzed inside the Room of Requirement and went straight for the list of the DA members. The filthy Slytherin girl waved it in front of Eliza smugly before walking out.

"Hey, Parkinson! You think you did a great deed now but you will regret it later!" Eliza screamed without sounding necessary angry. 

Pansy glared at Eliza, "Are you threatening me, Molley?" She screamed in an annoying voice before she grabbed her wand out and pointed at her. "You take care what you say or you will regret it! I'm sure we can do without another half blood!" 

Oh, she thought Eliza was a half blood. So Malfoy didn't tell anyone about her family, not even his faithful friends. That was good to know.

"Yes. Just another half blood." Eliza mumbled as she turned her back to the furious girl and walked back to the common room. 

Eliza was in front of the Fat Lady when she heard whispering from the other side of the portrait. She gave the password quickly and saw the others talking together.

"Parkinson got the list and Umbridge got Harry." Eliza announced before taking a seat next to Ron. 

"We're in so much trouble." Lavender whispered, her face getting pale in fear. 

Eliza glanced at Seamus, who was unfortunate enough to have such an eventful first DA day. Her eyes then landed on others and she felt the knot in her stomach loosen up again. 

"Just because we got in trouble doesn't mean it's done. We can still train by ourselves whenever we get the chance. Harry taught you enough, you have to take the threads now." 

Lavender scoffed, "That's easy for you to say. Your name wasn't on the list." 

Hermione's eyes widened and she fidgeted nervously, "Actually, it was. I wrote it on before the meeting at Hog's Head." 

Eliza stared at her bushy haired friend with a smirk on her lips. It was obvious for anyone that she wasn't mad.

"You've been quite the law breaker lately." The green eyed witch stated bemusedly. 

Ron chuckled and nodded while the awkward atmosphere lightened. 

That didn't mean the next day was fine. No, it was far from fine and Eliza was sure something big must have happened because Umbridge became the Headmistress of Hogwarts overnight. 

The day progressed very slowly until lunch came around. From the look of the disaster and the fireworks that had suspicious forms, Eliza was sure the Weasley twins had something to do with it. However disruptive they were, Eliza quite enjoyed them for the rest of the lessons and she wasn't the only one.

That night in the common room, Eliza saw Fred waving Furvus around. Her eye twitched but decided to let him enjoy it for the moment. It was suspicious how a firework looked exactly like a bigger and larger black cat. 

Next morning, Eliza was going down for breakfast when Malfoy intercepted her in the Entrance Hall. 

"We need to talk." He looked serious and for a moment Eliza felt like punching him in the face.

"I don't want to speak to anyone who helps Umbridge destroy Hogwarts. In case Parkinson didn't announce you, my name was also on the DA list. I guess that makes me a half blood lawbreaker." 

She sounded really mad and took care to emphasize the blood title. 

"She was careful to tell me that a few times, yes. Would you have preferred me to go around and tell everyone who's your father?" He sneered, dropping the nice act right away. 

"That would've been interesting. I wonder what your father would've said. Last time you told me your mother wants me safe. For whatever reason, your Death Eater parents want little Molley protected." Eliza said slowly, having such joy that she could barely contain her laughter. 

Malfoy looked stunned. He glared at her but didn't leave; he actually grabbed her harshly and pushed her into the passage towards the kitchen. 

"You and your foul mouth won't be safe anymore if you don't listen to me. There is someone here." He dropped his voice as if he was telling her a huge secret, "Someone who knows who you are. They've been watching you for a while now. My father said it shouldn't be a problem for longer now that the Dark Lord knows where you are but he wants to-" 

Eliza blocked him off completely. So Voldemort knew where she was, it wasn't just weird dreams. He knows I'm at Hogwarts with Harry and Dumbledore. 

"What now? He wants to kill me?" She asked without caring that he was still talking. 

Draco's piercing eyes glared at her, "Didn't I tell you just now that my father is delaying that? Besides, the one who wants to kill you is your dear aunt, Bellatrix." 

That didn't even surprise her anymore.



A few days later, while she was preparing to go into the dungeons, she saw Snape walking right at her. She blinked when he pushed her aside harshly.

"Our lessons are over." He announced curtly.

"Wh-what about Occlumency?" She asked softly, knowing it would make him angry.

He did look annoyed, "I told you I am not going to teach you Occlumency. Now, get out of here." He said as he turned to go into his office. 

"But- but I'm not ready! I'm-" 

He ignored her completely. Well, I guess now I have more time for myself, she thought yet she didn't feel happy at all. 

Going into the common room, she had no idea what to do. Her homework was done and she had nothing about Defensive against the Dark Arts that she hadn't read. Snape made sure of that personally. 

"So you're not taking Occlumency anymore either?" She asked what she eavesdropped from Hermione.

Harry nodded. 

"Why? And don't give me a stupid reason." She added when she saw Harry open his mouth.

"Have you ever wondered what kind of man was Sirius when he was our age?" Harry asked after he thought of his answer.

Eliza rubbed her neck tiredly, "Not exactly. Remus told me about their youthful years and he did say James and Sirius were a bit of a blockheads. He also said they were good people and hardworking but they did have some trouble behaving. Yeah...but I was more curious about my mom." 

Harry looked at Eliza and chuckled bitterly. So everything Snape said about his father was true. Everything he said about Sirius might be true as well. 

"I saw them in the Pensieve. I was curious and took a peek at Snape's memories. I saw our fathers bullying Snape." He said sorrowfully. 

"Did you see my mom there?" She asked with wide eyes.

Harry shook his head disappointingly, "Just in the exam. They were having their O.W.Ls. Your mom finished really fast and spent the rest of the time glaring at Sirius. But afterwards, she vanished." 

Eliza sighed and leaned back in the comfortable armchair, "Well, we're not our fathers. We may have trouble behaving too and we may be reckless but we have our own characteristics that we inherited from our mothers." She finished with a frown. 

Now that she was thinking about that, Sirius was really nice compared to the mysterious Ophelia. 



However, Eliza's words didn't offer Harry any comfort and he found it vital to ask Sirius personally just what kind of person was his father. Fred and George helped that happen by creating a diversion that ended up with the twins out of Hogwarts.

"It's so silent, isn't it?" Eliza asked Hermione the night after the twins literally flied away. 

"I do think it's a pity that they left but we have to prepare for exams too. You should focus on that." Hermione mumbled from behind a book. She was revising and taking supplementary notes for Ron and Harry. 

"Did you have your career advise with McGonagall?" Eliza continued, interrupting Hermione's studying. 

The bushy haired girl nodded, "Did you tell her you want to work as an Auror?" 

"Yes. She advised me to follow the Potions path but I know what I want." Eliza mumbled and rolled her eyes, "Besides, I don't think Snape wants to spend more time around me than he does already. He looks at me and sees dad. Every time he calls me Black, I can hear the spite in his voice."

Hermione glanced around, making sure that nobody was around before she turned to Eliza, "Remember when you told me that you dream your mother? A few nights ago I heard you speak Parsletongue. I don't know what you said but- Liz, maybe you should tell-"

"No. I don't speak Parsletongue, Hermione. Maybe I just repeated what I heard in the dream but that's all. Dumbledore is not here and I'm not going to tell anyone in the Order about this. It's my business." Eliza said firmly, looking at Hermione with a blank face yet her eyes darkened considerably.

Hermione didn't open up that subject anymore, not even when they were studying in the library. The fifth-years were so stressed that you could feel the tension rising in the room. By the time the Gryffindor match against Ravenclaw came around, Eliza lost every ounce of desire to study anymore. Her head hurt even more and she was feeling like she was missing on something. 

"D'you think Ron will make it?" Seamus asked while they were walking to the pitch.

Eliza remembered the others matches and cringed, shaking her head slowly.

"They'd need a miracle." Eliza responded bluntly. 

Surprisingly enough, Gryffindor did win and the Slytherin chant 'Weasley is Our King' took a sudden turn and became music to the ears for Gryffindor.



For the next days, Ron talked only about his amazing save for Gryffindor. Eliza's headache aggravated as exams were getting closer and she was sure her head will explode before the first exam could begin. 

"You look pale. Are you sure you don't want to see Madame Pomf-"

"No, Hermione. I'm fine. It's just stress." Eliza mumbled, feeling the vein on her forehead tremble. 

However, two days before the first exam, Eliza felt like a thousand knives were penetrating her head and her ears were ringing. The high pitched noise was making it hard for her to concentrate and the noise around the common room was only intensifying the pain.

"Is she alright? She looks worse than Hannah Abott and she is losing her mind." Harry asked Hermione when he saw Eliza walk the stairs to her dormitory. 

Hermione waited until the brunette was out of sight before she turned to her best friends with a frown.

"There's something going with her. Ever since she stopped her lessons with Snape, she's been having dreams. It was fine until she started to hiss and speak Parsletongue in her sleep." She whispered worriedly.

Harry and Ron exchanged confused glances before Harry spoke, "She doesn't know Parsletongue. Remus would know, he raised her." 

Hermione sighed, "But isn't strange how these headaches started at the same time? I'm telling you, she's not stressed. She moans about the pain in her head even in her sleep and Lavender heard her hiss one night." 

"O.W.L.s can affect people, Hermione. Maybe she took some potion for stress and it's backfiring now." Ron said before glancing at the other students who looked just as pale as Eliza.

"I'm telling you it's not the O.W.L.s. I think she should see Snape or else her head might actually explode."

Harry listened to Hermione, whose worry was reasoned but couldn't help feel like he shouldn't interfere. Snape was ignoring him and his revision wasn't going extraordinary; besides, he had a promise to fulfill that he wasn't content of either. 



When Hermione entered the room, she found Lavender and Parvati sleeping while Eliza's cat was staring at his owner with the same amount of worry as herself. She went to Eliza's side and saw her friend sweating and frowning in her sleep. 

Eliza's dream had nothing to do with her friends or herself, really. She's been having the same dream every night and the ending was more or less the same: she was being tortured.

Like any other night, Eliza found herself in Ophelia's house in Ireland. It was raining heavily and her mother was standing in front of the door, completely wet like she fought the weather to return home.

But the house didn't look homey, it was very cold and dusty. The furniture was covered with white blankets and some portions on the wall were covered in molds. 

Eliza moved into the living room and took a long and careful look around, as if to see if there was someone hiding or if there's been any disruptions to it. She went into the kitchen next and she looked through the cabinets, searching for something.

Then reality struck her: Eliza was searching for any kind of magic that could give away her location. She was hiding and her head was aching from all the interference. It was like a radio trying to be tuned yet something was blocking it. 

From the kitchen, Eliza went upstairs into an empty room that was connected to a bathroom. She entered and took her clothes off before looking at her reflection in the mirror. 

Those green eyes were not hers and that body covered in bruises and deep, bloody wounds were definitely not hers. It was Ophelia and she was in a deplorable state. That short dark hair that Eliza remembered her mother had was long and wet, she had a bruise on her left cheek, right under the eyes that swell and above everything else, she was pregnant. She was over four months because the baby bump was impossible to miss. It was interesting how the portion around the bump was clean of any scratches or bruises yet her chest, hands and face were a horrible sight.

Flinching at every move, Ophelia entered the bathtub and showered, careful not to pressure herself and end up having a spontaneous abortion. No, she was very careful even when she moved in the room and searched for some clothes. The dresser was already equipped which meant she prepared beforehand. 

Sudden movements grabbed her attention but she didn't look nervous. Whoever was walking up the stairs was careful not to make much noise, not even when he opened the door and came to her aid.

"Severus, they know. They know I've been hiding with you for the past 7 months." She sounded so calm that even Eliza -as Ophelia- was surprised. 

"Malfoy's taking care of that." He said in a voice that seemed so different from the usual cranky Snape. His eyes fell on her bump and for a second, the flicker of hatred appeared in his eyes. "Who knows about this house?"

"No one but you and Sirius." Her response visibly pissed Snape off.

"He'll get you killed. This baby-" He started, his nose scrunching in disgust at the mention of the baby, "This baby won't grow as a normal child."

"She will. My baby girl will have the life I didn't have. I will make sure of that. No matter how much I treasure our friendship and how grateful I am to you, I will kill whoever endangers her." Eliza found herself hissing at Snape. 

The younger Severus looked at Ophelia with a tinge of melancholy before he gave up; surprisingly fast too. His eyes softened up as he noticed the scratches and bruises but Ophelia was more concerned of something else.

"Where is Regulus?" She asked softly, her green eyes staring at Snape with worry. 

"He's better than you. I arrived just before his punishment and his cries were nothing compared to yours." Snape said, feeling sick at the memory.

Suddenly, the dream stopped with everyone standing still. Eliza noticed she wasn't Ophelia anymore, she could move around freely but she didn't. The pain in her head started again and so bad that she closed her eyes and fell on the bed.

"Open your eyes, Eliza. Look at what your mother has done." A breathy voice whispered.

Eliza, more or less forced, opened her eyes and saw blood all around the bed. Her mother was facing her yet her eyes were glossy and emotionless. Eliza's eyes fell on the bump and noticed something moving in it wildly.

"Come closer." The voice whispered softly. "Come closer, my child."

the sound of that voice, so airy and cold, was begrudging the young student to touch her mother's baby bump. The movement inside was getting suspicious and deranged and Eliza tried her hardest to keep the distance from it. But the voice wasn't willing to accept her disappointing acts. 

"Come closer! Come!" The voice hissed in anger as an invisible force was drawing her towards Ophelia. "Come to me, Eliza. Your destiny is with me." He continued.

Eliza was moving chaotically, her head aching badly yet she knew she should never approach whatever that was. She was squirming so hard and screaming yet the force was very strong. She was moving her hands against the force but in doing so, she touched the baby bump slightly. 

"No! No, no! I don't want to!" Eliza screamed but her hand grazed over the baby bump and-

"Eliza-Liz-Eliza!" Hermione shook her friend a few times but she wouldn't wake up. She was hissing and moving her hands around while sweating like crazy. 

Eliza woke up when something bit her hand. Furvus dug his pointy teeth into her left hand and bit hard, drawing blood. She was breathing heavily and her heart was beating really fast. she was still scared, even if her dorm mates were staring at her in worry.

"Are you alright now? Was it such a bad dream?" Lavender asked softly, keeping the distance. 

"I-I-" 

She was not alright, not at all and now Hermione was going to tell McGonagall and she was going to send Eliza straight to Snape.