A Carol for the Fearless
Leaning against the stone walls outside the West Tower, Severus frowned at the letter he'd written to send his mother. Would this be enough? Severus didn't know for sure if it was. She could just as easily figure out his bluff as she could fall for it. Unlike Granny, Mum's falsehood radar was a lot less accurate.
Ponderously, Severus wondered if that was because Granny had fallen for the greatest lie of all her life. She'd believed Severus's mum when she wrote home in her seventh year, agreeing to the things Granny had planned for her to do once she was out of Hogwarts. Ruefully, his granny had told Severus once, "I should have known she was acting suspiciously, your mother never agreed to anything so easily."
Maybe, after this letter, Mum would have honed sense for picking apart lies and truths just like Granny did. Severus kind of hoped that she would, because he didn't know if he'd be able to stand it if she could still be so easily tricked after this letter. It'd mean she wasn't the amazing witch and woman he'd always believed her to be. Severus might have to start looking up to Granny. It made him crinkle his nose, he loved his grandmother, but she certainly wasn't the kind of person one thought to idolize. She was too old, too backwards, too uppity and self righteous.
She was sweet on him, of course, but Severus knew why. He was her last try, her last chance at redemption. If he chose one day to disappear just like his mother had all those years ago, he knew she'd die of a broken heart. She'd blame herself for not being able to keep him in their homeland even if it wasn't her fault.
Severus didn't want that, of course, but if it had to happen...Well, he'd be more considerate than his mum ever had been. He'd leave her a letter, he do his best to let Granny know none of it was his fault and to please stay strong until he could come home again. It might not work, of course, Granny was just as stubborn as the rest of their family, but it would be a way to sooth some of his guilty conscience.
Rereading the part where he talks about a vision telling him that there was more to this sudden absence of his friends' father and brother, Severus itched for a quill and new parchment as he found something that ought to be put more delicately. Yet, there was no time for it and all this dithering wasn't helping either. Staring at it for a long, long moment, he folded it up and pushed away from the wall.
Heading for the stairs leading to the owlery, in his nervousness (and out of habit) he did not look up as he hurried up the stairs, and in the process, bumped into someone.
"Oi! Watch where you're - oh, Prince," a voice sneered.
Black eyes going very large, Severus's head snapped up, causing his gaze to meet the grey ones of Black. As carefully as he could, Severus slipped the letter into his pants pocket as he reached for his wand. "Black," he greeted coolly.
"I didn't like getting knocked down by your little girlfriend," he told Severus.
Frowning, Severus said, "Aurora's not my girlfriend and I didn't tell her too."
Black laughed mockingly. "Let's see how you like getting pushed!" he shouted.
"No!" Severus cried, throwing himself against the wall.
However, at the exact same moment, Sirius screamed, "Flipendo duo!"
Incapable of avoiding it, Severus was swept up in a whirlwind of blue sparks, and thrown back down the stairs. Landing hard on the rock floors of Hogwarts, all he knew was a sharp, all-consuming pain before everything went dark.
-v-v-v-v-v-
The bitter smell of healing potions was the first thing Severus noticed as he came to some time later.
"Oh, good, you're awake," Madam Pomfrey murmured as she came over to help him sit up. "Merlin, Mister Prince, the staff warn you children yearly about how slippery the Owlery steps can get, but do you lads ever listen? No! You are quite lucky Mister Black saw you fall. Who knows how long you would have had to lie on the ground bleeding otherwise," the older woman vented unhappily as she flicked her wand at Severus running diagnostic spells and the like to check his condition.
Blinking at the rapid speech, the boy managed to catch what was necessary. He'd hit his head. Black had lied. Now Severus was being blamed for things that weren't his fault.
Holding back a sigh, Severus reflected, Well, that's not anything new...
"Sorry," he apologized. "I guess I was a bit too excited about sending a letter out to my mother and grandmother. This is the first Christmas I haven't spent with them since we went to live with Granny."
Expectedly, the mediwitch's stern face softened and she reached out to pat his shoulder. "Yes, I guess you would have forgotten in such a case. How is your grandmother? I hear she's fallen ill?"
"Dragon pox," Severus replied. "Mum says the healer told her she'll be alright. It's quite fatal in older witches and wizards, you know?"
Pretty blue eyes turning very soft at his remark, Madam Pomfrey declared, "Your grandmother is a strong woman. I remember when I was young, there was quite the story that went around about her protecting a pair of younger Slytherins from a very unfair punishment by saying she'd made them commit their offense. If I recall correctly, I believe she was made into a minor martyr by her fellow Slytherins after she didn't make a sound, or shed a tear during her entire punishment of writing a hundred lines with a blood quill."
Severus had never heard the story before and he wondered if his mother even knew it. Somehow, Severus didn't think she did. Granny was quite tight-lipped about what she'd share on herself and of what little Severus could recall, about the tales he'd heard about his grandmother's childhood and time at Hogwarts, this story had never been told. How she met his grandfather, yes. How she received top marks in her last two years, of course. The story of his granny's mother and the way she taught proper etiquette had been brought up often in the last summer. They weren't pleasant stories, almost horrifyingly absurd, but Severus believed every word his grandmother said and knew why she told them. She was threatening him in a veiled way with the same treatment if he stepped far too out of line during his lessons.
"That sounds like Granny," Severus finally said after a long moment. "Madam Pomfrey?"
"Yes, dear?"
Gazing at the older woman's expectant face, the boy asked, "Did you know my grandmother well during school?"
"It was more like I knew of her, I'd say. She was five years older and in Slytherin, where I was in Hufflpuff," the woman explained.
Nodding at this, Severus asked, "Seeing as I'm here pretty often, would you mind tell me more of the stories you know about Granny?"
"Doesn't your grandmother tell you any?" Madam Pomfrey countered, a slight look of unease coming to her pretty blue eyes.
Smoothly, the boy replied, "No. She'd much rather talk about Mum."
"I suppose most mothers do prefer to talk about their children." She chuckled before favoring him with a kind quirk of her lips. "Then, I suppose I can tell you the few others I know," Pomfrey agreed.
Smiling at her briefly, Severus felt around and looked about before asking, "Where is my letter to my mum and grandmother?"
"Mister Black said he'd send it off for you," the woman answered.
Alarm bells going off in his head, the boy went stiff for the briefest moment. Then, forcing himself to relax, he said, "Oh? That was nice of him. Madam Pomfrey, seeing as I'm awake and feel alright, may I go? I think I'd like to thank him for...putting aside our differences for the time being and helping me out."
"Yes, I was just waiting for you to wake up," Madam Pomfrey answered. Then, a speculative air coming to her features, she commented, "It was nice of Mister Black, wasn't it? The two of you usually fight like cats and dogs. Maybe a bit of Christmas cheer got to him?"
Distractedly going through every horror scenario possible, Severus replied distractedly, "Yeah, some must have. So, I'm good to go? Is it about lunch time or did I miss that? I promised I'd sit with Aurora Sinistra during it."
"I guess you are quite lucky, then, young man. It's only half past twelve."
Jumping up from the infirmary bed, Severus ignore the faint wave of dizziness that overtook him and thanked the mediwitch. "Thank you, Madam Pomfrey," and then scampered from the room before she could reply.
-v-v-v-v-v-
Black eyes darting about the Great Hall, Severus was very relieved to see Aurora sitting at the Slytherin table eating a plate of shepherd's pie. Bustling over, he fell into the spot across from her and said, "I need your help. Badly."
Mouth open and a forkful of food hovering in front of her face, Aurora narrowed her eyes. "With what?" she asked.
"You know that letter you told me to write?" Severus inquired.
"It only was just this morning," the girl replied.
Face briefly taking on an irritated look, the boy quickly dispelled it in favor of telling her what had occurred. "On my way up to send it out, I ran into Black. He knocked me out and I think he took my letter."
Letting her fork fall back to the table, Aurora murmured sympathetically, "Oh, that's not good."
"Tell me about it!"
Nodding, Aurora scoped out the Great Hall and frowned. "He's not here in the Great Hall..." she remarked.
Severus looked over his shoulder and at the Gryffindor table. The girl was right, he wasn't her. Bitterly, he grumbled, "He's probably busy writing a letter of his own to Potter about mine - I'd bet ten galleons he's letting him know about the blackmail material they have on me now."
Getting up, the girl declared, "We ought to find him."
Following her lead, Severus was nearly walking on her heals as they left the Great Hall for whatever destination Aurora had in mind. A short time later, they were hovering outside the Gryffindor Common Rooms.
"What are we-"
"Shh!" Aurora hissed, shoving them behind a statue as an older, mousy boy stopped in front of the Fat Lady's portrait.
Watching the teenager keenly, they grinned at each other as the boy said, "Bludger." Waiting then for him to disappear behind the portrait, the two loitered about a few more minutes before approaching the Gryffnidor's Common Room entrance.
"Bludger!" Severus shouted.
The Fat Lady gave them a once over and pursed her lips, but nonetheless opened up - giving the pair unfettered access to Gryffindor's Common Room.
Once in, Severus leaned in closely to Aurora and asked in little more than a whisper, "What are we going to do? I don't see Black anywhere around here."
"The dorms," she mumbled back. "We can look there and wait, too."
Nodding, the two then did their very best not to draw any attention as they quickly scampered toward the boy dorms. Stepping into the room, Severus immediately spied Black writing furiously away on what he assumed to be the Gryffindor's bed.
Reaching for his wand, Severus yelled, "Petrificus Totalus!"
Immediately, Black froze where he lay, falling face first into his parchment - knocking his well of ink over in the process.
"Oh, why'd you do that!?" Aurora exclaimed angrily as she hurried forward to flip over the boy before he could breath in any of the quickly pooling ink.
Putting his wand back in his sleeve, Severus declared, "Eye for an eye. Besides, what do you think he would have done if we'd spoken to him before spelling him?"
Still arranging Black so he would be sitting upright propped against his bed's pillows, Aurora sent him a nasty glare. "He can't talk like this, either, you know!"
"He can blink," Severus snapped back. Glowering at Black, he barked, "One is for yes and two for no! Did you steal my letter?"
The boy blinked twice.
Severus reached out, prepared to hit him as he snarled, "Don't you dare lie! Madam Pomfrey told me you did!"
Catching his fist before it could touch Black, Aurora, pushed him away. "Take a seat before I use a body-bind on you, hotshot!"
"You-" Severus began to argue, but when he saw the girl reaching for his wand, he immediately fell back and crossed his arms to mutter cuss words and threats beneath his breath instead.
Shaking her head, Aurora looked to Black and said, "Now, I'm ready to remove that spell on you. But if you try and attack either of us, I'm going to make sardines start coming out of your nose, understood?"
Black blinked once.
Aurora cancelled the spell.
The other boy shifted, rage flashing across his features before they settled down into contempt. "How'd you get in here, you greasy git?" he demanded.
"We used a bit of cunning, what else?" Aurora replied.
Sneeringly, Black said, "Excuse me, was I talking to you?"
"Well, I never!"
Standing up, Severus told the other, "Apologize."
"Why should I?" he questioned, his voice petulant.
Pointing at Aurora, Severus said, "She's the reason you don't have a broken nose, you pigheaded arse!"
Crossing his arms, the other boy turned his head.
"Severus, you can hit him now," Aurora growled.
Pushing back his sleeves, the boy grinned. "Wicked."
Black attempted to reach for his wand, but before his fingers could even graze the handle, Aurora disarmed him. Practically tackling the larger boy off the bed, Severus reveled in rolling around on Hogwart's cold floors. This had to be the most equal they'd ever been while fighting.
Usually, if Severus wasn't with Quirinus or Katrina, he'd be goaded into a fight by Black or Potter, but have to fight both at the same time. They were never fair tussles and more often than not, he came out losing. Severus always got them back, of course, but it didn't matter. He was always the one that came away limping or bleeding. Sometimes he'd get in a good punch or kick, but, usually, Potter would stop him from hurting Black or Black would keep him from injuring Potter.
Rolling around the dorm floor with Aurora cheering him on in the background, Severus raised his fist in victory when he managed to pin Sirius for a moment.
"What did you do with my bloody letter?" he demanded.
Bucking beneath him, Black bared his teeth in such a way that Severus was reminded of a feral dog. "Like I'm going to tell you, you Death Eater spawn!"
"What?" Severus frowned, some of his anger turning into confusion and fear. Death Eater spawn? His mum wasn't-
Using the other's moment of weakness against him, Black managed to get his arm free and sucker punched Severus off him. Falling back, the smaller boy wanted to vomit at the taste of copper in his mouth. "You heard me! You're a Death Eater spawn!" he spat.
"My mum's not a Death Eater," Severus mumbled.
Getting in his face and yanking him up by his hair, Black hissed, "Oh, really? That letter of yours seems awfully suspicious with the way you go about questioning everything she's told you. It also reminded me about an event I read about in a letter I got from my cousin a couple days ago."
"Let go of him!" Aurora snapped, coming in between them and shoving Black away.
Stumbling back, the frenetic look spread from the other boy's eyes to the rest of his countenance. "Bellatrix loves sending me letters gloating about what she'd doing. Do you know why? Because she know no one will believe me if I tell them and because she knows I won't share them either, because it's too shameful for me to admit to being related to such a villain. Bellatrix knows I'm too scared to let people know what I know, because then they might start grouping me with my family again. It's really not been that long since I was considered to be one of them, you know. It was just two years ago I was just another Black. Another toujours pur brat."
"You've never been that to me," Severus proclaimed. Meeting cool gray eyes, Severus did his damnedest to impress upon the other boy his earnestness before saying, "Not even when I met you for the first time. I was stupid, then. Mum hadn't told me much about families or politics at that age. And when I saw what I did, I knew you weren't ever going to be what all the others Blacks are. You died for a halfblood. You died for love."
Angrily, Black swept forward and snapped, "You're lying! You're just a bloody Psycho!"
"No, he's right," Aurora argued. "He knows the future-"
"A future," Severus corrected, channeling his mother. "It's a future. One my mum, granny, Mister Quirrell and the Selwyns are trying to help stop. They don't want us to die like we're supposed to."
Looking between them, in a small, hopeful voice, Black asked, "Your mum's really trying to change the future?"
"Yes," Severus replied. "You could help, you know," he offered. "You're very brave in the future, I bet Mum would be happy if you'd agree to help us." Looking into the glittering obsidian gaze of Aurora, he declared, "She'd like your help too, Aurora. You're really smart."
Reluctantly, Black put his hand in Severus's. "I'll help," he agreed. Severus attempted to pull his hand back at this, believing their issues settled, but Sirius's squeeze turned painful. Features settling into an expression that was very grave and very threatening, he swore, "But if you're lying and this is all some kind of joke or way to get me in trouble, you're never going to have another peaceful day at Hogwarts again. Is that understood?"
"Yes!" Severus snapped. "And just so you know, if you tell Potter or any of your other Marauders about me and my mum, you're going to die very mysteriously."
Sirius cracked a grin and snickered. "Yeah, yeah okay. That sounds fair."
Breathing a sigh of relief, Severus smiled back. Then, he reached out for the girl to join in their huddle. Aurora approached slowly and took Sirius's and Severus's free hands after a careful examination of their faces and stances. "I suspect we have a lot of work ahead of us today," she said. "What if your mum isn't home to tell you what she's really doing, Severus?" she asked.
"I don't-"
"We - James, Remus, Peter and I - have been doing a lot of exploring of the castle," Sirius told them. "I know of a couple places in the castle, that lead out of Hogwarts, from there, I bet we can find a way to your home. Pr-Severus, does your family have any old family member's wands tucked away in places?"
"I know my grandfather's is in his study, but why's that matter?" Severus asked.
Aurora, lips lilting with pleasure, smugly informed the boy, "It doesn't have the trace on it. If we use it, no one will know we're preforming underage magic."
"Ah," Severus replied with little else to say to that.
Eyes twinkling with a mischief that Severus had been certain was only for friends, Sirius asked, "All for one, one for all?""
"All for one, one for all!" Aurora echoed, a bit of a giggle escaping her as she'd caught the reference.
Nodding, Severus let a small smile overtake his own features as he agreed, "All for one, one for all."
They were in for an adventure, he knew. He didn't know what it would hold, but Severus had a feeling there'd be enough twists and turns and moments of danger to give them a tale that would sell like wildfire if they ever decided to turn it into a book.
This was chapter two, thoughts? How do you feel about the addition of Sirius into their adventure?
Thank you for reviewing, Syl and Dixie.f.9; I appreciated it :)
Thanks so much for reading and please review!
