Author’s Notes: Seeing as we’re nearly halfway through the fanfiction, I will now inform the readers that yes, there is a plot! Yes, you have probably not noticed it yet! Yes, it will become insanely obvious quite soon (i.e. this chapter and the next chapter). Once again, there is a point to this story!

Those of you reading with a mind for only fun, I will now warn you: to get to this point we will be getting semi-serious for a time. Important Changes are approaching, and they must be Dealt With. Fear not, the laughs and giggles are still included. That’s a bit of a given. ^_^

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“She seems better, but we can never be too sure, you know?” whispered Colin Creevy to his brother. “Harry’s in there trying to coax her into looking at Hogwarts: A History.”

“It was really lucky Sirius had some of that Kuswort left over from first semester, wasn’t it, Colin?” said Dennis, taking a sip of pumpkin juice.

Across the table, Ginny Weasley was picking at her meal and wondering if she would be next to get the dreaded disease.

Ai, Vambiolaria! A curse upon thy name!

“Sure was, Dennis. I think he was saving it for Professor Lupin,” guessed Colin. “I hope we don’t get caught by those fanwriters again! Rhiannon even tried to steal my camera last week! I think it was ’cause Crabbe and Goyle turned hers into a capybara, if you know what I mean.”

Meir Brin smiled lightly in her seat farther down the table. Field trip day. Most excellent.

The weather was shaping up nicely as well, and Diagon Alley promised to be full of slick steps and heavy snowdrifts. Perfect for trouncing students through.

With a contented sort of sigh, Dark One Shadowphyre sat down in her chair across from Meir Brin. The coordinator passed her the pitcher of pumpkin juice. “I assume those screams and anguished yells were coming from your room last night?”

Shadowphyre nodded, grinning. “Jocelyn and Danica Maupoissant attempted to search out the rooms of Tom Riddle and Lord Voldemort, respectively.”

“Dark One versus Dark Lord again, wasn’t it? That happened last year, if I remember correctly,” mused Meir Brin. “Of course, maybe those fanwriters wouldn’t have made the mistake had we not covered up the remainder of your door plaque with black paper.”

Dark One Shadowphyre smiled in a remarkably evil manner. “I maintain that it was an educational experience. Now Jocelyn understands the full aggression of a war hammer, and Danica Maupoissant has a great grasp of what damage a halberd can inflict on an unarmed person.”

Meir Brin chuckled in her throat. “Will you be bringing the double-bladed battleaxe on today’s field trip? You may need additional riot control, especially around Ollivander’s after James told our beloved fanwriters that their wands are phony. Harry is bringing the sword of Gryffindor.”

Shadowphyre tilted her head as if considering this. “I was thinking that the two-handled sword might be just the thing...”

*********

The snow crunched under Ally’s feet gratingly, which in fact could summarize the exact state of Ally’s being. Especially after Macgonnalal and Poomfrey had tried to pound her into the snow yesterday for unintentionally walking into their webs. Yeeargh. Mini-Aragogs certainly knew how to ruin your day.

Which is sad to say, because Ally would have been enjoying herself immensely if her back hadn’t contained four bruised vertebrae. Diagon Alley wasn’t just picturesque, it was beautiful. Snow, though not as heavy as that at Hogwarts, was falling in thick volleys over the shops, making everyone’s cloak flow out behind them. Behind frosted windowpanes, the heart of Potterverse sat waiting to be bought—at prices less than five galleons, in some cases.

Small whirring mechanisms sat in the shops devoted to astronomy, and obscure creatures peeked out from under blankets in the various pet shops. Several of those lusting after Harry Potter or Oliver Wood were clustered around Quality Quidditch Supplies, desperately wishing that they could fly a broomstick, or had enough galleons to buy one. The entrance to Ollivander’s was the only shop completely off-limits, though. Padama and Podme were both pacing in front of the shop, their spindle-like legs creating pinpricks in the snow. Apparently, HFA wasn’t taking any chances that the fanwriters would actually gain their own wands.

Up ahead of the fanwriter cluster, Hagrid and Harry Potter were pointing out various shops. “That’s Florean Fortescue’s, and that’s Madam Malkin’s,” said Harry Potter. “There’s Flourish and Blotts, and over there...”

The students were not paying a great amount of attention, except for Catrin Pritchard, who was following Harry. She was prevented from getting too close, however, by Hugrid, the Mini-Aragog that was always latched onto the back of Hagrid’s head. It was rather strange that the fanwriters had never noticed the spider, but then again Hugrid’s shaggy black fur blended so nicely with Hagrid’s shaggy black hair that it was rather hard to find where one ended and the other began.

A crowd of HFA students wearing cloaks of pale yellow (These were Lusterbuffs, of course. Each HFA House had its color, the same as their Hogwarts House counterpart, except that they were in pastel shades) broke off from the crowd to make a beeline for the Apothecary. Ally heard Hermione8meg talking about making a love potion for Oliver Wood, and saw Pandora roll her eyes. Pandora had been placed in Lusterbuff mainly to keep the other lusters in check, coupled with her own strange favorite. Ally shuddered. Anyone who liked Argus Filch, the crazy Mini-Aragog caretaker, had to have a couple screws loose.

Ally shuddered again. Speaking of strange lust-objects, she had nearly died when Tom, the barkeeper at the Leaky Cauldron, had had the nerve to wink at her! Old people cooties!

“’Urry up, yer goin’ ta be late fer th’ guided tour!” said Hagrid, turning to the masses of HFA students. Of course, it wasn’t all of the HFA students. Nearly a quarter of the group was serving detainment for various pranks. Pretty much all of Slashering House were absent, having suffered the wrath of Meir Brin for even thinking about using the Imperius Curse on the Canon Characters. They had been forced to enroll in HFA’s Mini-Aragog Cultural Center, a sort of ballet company run by the Acromantulas. GwendolynMorgan, Knightsky, and Bre had all been cast in the lead roles of The Pirates of Penance, and Ally had heard that the Mini-Aragog version was much more violent than the original play.

“Come on, fanwrit’rs,” called Hagrid, leading them up the marble steps of Gringotts Bank. “Yer all in fer a treat here; we’ve h’arranged fer a guided tour o’ the Gringotts facilities.”

Mirild Sket, Michelle Solo, and Melony skipped up the stairs happily. They would be able to get some money here! Mirild Sket was already talking about buying a broomstick for Oliver Wood, and Michelle Solo was going on about buying Remus Lupin a lifetime supply of Wolfsbane Potion. Melony, chittering happily to herself about Rupert Grint, ignored the condescending glares of the hardcore Ron lusters.

Hagrid led them all past the central aisle of the bank, past the glowering goblins. Very angry, suspicious goblins they were. One of them pinched Stephanie Brown on the nose for so much as looking at a pile of shiny emeralds. They entered into the cavern section of the bank.

A short, vicious-looking goblin met them there. “I am Griphook,” he said, stamping hard on Rex Natos’ foot as the Spaz examined the trolley carts. “You cannot hijack one of these,” said the goblin. Rex Natos looked disappointed. “We have made accommodations for the size of this particular party.”

Sure enough, several of the carts had been linked together to create a sort of roller coaster‒line. Hagrid and Harry climbed into the first cart, along with a large panther that most of the students assumed to be Dark One Shadowphyre. Jocelyn and Danica Maupoissant had first came to that conclusion.

The rest of the HFA class took their seats, after several switches so that none of the Lusterbuffs sat next to the couple Slasherings that were not in detainment. Then the ride started.

Truth be told, it was quite a miracle that only half of the students lost their breakfast on that trip. The ones who did had the odd sensation of throwing up, and then waiting about ten seconds before hearing the vomit hit the ground miles below. Ally was all right for about half the trip, then they turned a sharp corner and she felt herself retching in a manner that would have impressed a bulimic.

After what felt like ages (at least to the nauseous students), the carts ground to a halt in front of some of the higher vaults. The students were made to get out, though Europa seemed to be having trouble, what with the fathomless chasm below them. The Shroom was curled up inside her cart, and had to be pried out by one of the Mini-Aragogs.

As soon as they were all on firm rock, the black panther turned into Dark One Shadowphyre. “Here we are in the bowels of Gringotts.”

“And?” asked Onyx.

“You are going to Observe,” said Shadowphyre. “We want a fifty-page report describing Diagon Alley and Gringotts when you get back to Hogwarts, the more adjectives the better. You will Observe this place, and return to the cart when you’re done. Fifty pages, remember. In-depth. Take a good look around. This paper will be due next week.”

Ally groaned with the rest of her class. What evil...

In the minutes that followed, Ally met up with Redfire and Riona, who seemed to be lost already. They started off down one of the side tunnels, bemoaning the assignment in the light glow of the lanterns.

“Ffffifty pages?!” said Redfire. “I’ve never even written a fic that big! What are they trying to do, give us perpetual writers’ cramp?”

Riona nodded. “Anything to keep us from writing more fic, I’d guess. And writers’ cramp would do it.”

“It wouldn’t even be so bad, you know?” asked Ally, turning a corner. “If we had computers it would be okay, but nooo... We have to do it all by hand...”

Around the corner it became very dark all of a sudden, as the lamps from the main tunnel did not shine here. The only thing Ally could see was the faint luminescence given off by her and Redfire’s pale blue cloaks, along with Riona’s light green one. All of the HFA fanwriters’ clothing had been bewitched to glow in the dark. It was so they couldn’t sneak about after nightfall. The three fanwriters kept walking for five minutes, until the last bits of light from behind them were swallowed by the darkness. “Where’d the lights go?” asked Redfire, a hint of fear in her voice.

“I don’t know...” said Riona, finding Ally’s arm. “At least there are a lot of words for dark...”

“Guys... I don’t like this...” whispered Ally.

Irrational fear gripped her. Darkness at HFA was one thing, you knew that [insert name of lust-object here] was around if you needed rescuing. But there were... Oh my god! There were dragons at Gringotts! Ally started shaking uncontrollably. She could feel the blackness pouring through her mind, filling her vision, her hearing, her throat, choking off her breath—

“Ally? You’re shaking a lot,” said Riona, letting up her grip of Ally’s arm. “Are you okay?”

“I... I...” stuttered Ally, reaching out for a wall, for anything solid.

“We should get her out of here,” said Redfire urgently. “I think Ally’s going to be sick.”

Riona and Redfire gripped Ally’s arms, dragging her back towards the carts. They ran for ten minutes straight, not daring to look back at the darkness. Ally had the sensation of breezes blowing her bangs back out of her forehead. Stars encroached on the corners of her vision, and Ally felt dizzyingly sick to her stomach. An unwanted reminder of what she had eaten for lunch could be tasted in the back of her throat. I need... light, thought Ally urgently. Anything, anything to get me out of this blackness. Thoughts flitted through her mind. It was nighttime, and she was alone in a forest. She was locked in a closet full of encroaching shadows. Pain, pain, no, too dark! Help... ME! screamed her mind.

Ally really screamed. Her secret fear had finally caught up to her, it seemed. She felt the grips of Redfire and Riona loosen around her arms, and was lowered to the floor. Ally closed her eyes. The dark, oh, the dark...! she screamed mentally.

“Ally, come on! It’s okay! Open your eyes!” said Redfire urgently.

“Come on, pull yerself t’gether, fanwrit’r,” said Hagrid’s rough voice.

“Err. Are you all right?” asked Harry Potter.

Ally heard their voices as if coming from a far-off tunnel. Redfire, Hagrid... and Harry Potter. She opened her eyes tentatively, feeling her mind’s created horrors vanish in the light. Ally was sitting next to the train of carts, surrounded by the glow of lamps near the main vaults.

Ally curled up, holding her knees tight to her chest. She felt the ashamed, angry and ashamed at the same time. It did not help that Harry Potter was just a few feet away in the Gringotts cart, staring at her uncertainly, or that there was light all about her. She felt sick, and now more than ever wanted to go home.