A/N: I have taken the first 4 original stories and reformatted them into 10 shorter chapters. AFTER CHAPTER 10 I WILL UPLOAD NEW CONTENT.
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The next morning Sirius arrived in the library after lunch with a pile of papers and a wide grin on his face. Regulus and Severus hadn't shown up yet for the study session, so Sirius took the time to talk to Evelyn who sat alone at a large wooden table surrounded by thick books. She glowered at the man who slid into the seat across from her and plopped the papers onto the table.
"Here you go," he said cheerfully. "I actually took notes on what my homework is supposed to be just for you!" He looked over the parchment Evelyn had under her hands. "What's that? Notes for my brother?"
"Yes," she said quietly, pressing her fingers into the paper and pulling it closer to herself.
"You know, you're really nice – for helping out my brother. Our family … they're not really big on asking for help."
"The Black family," Evelyn said with a bit of contempt. "Your brother is very kind, but I worry about what your parents are telling him." She paused and looked at his tie, noticing the colors. "I know you're in Gryffindor. Regulus said …" She hesitated and looked up at Sirius, his grey eyes full of concern and curiosity.
"What?" he asked, his voice barely a whisper. He cleared his throat and spoke up a bit, "What did he say?"
"He said that it was your parents' greatest disappointment. He said that he … he's upset that you're not in Slytherin – with him. He wishes you were." She paused again and looked down at the notes, tracing over some of the potion ingredients. "I think he misses you."
They sat in silence for a moment, Evelyn staring at the notes and Sirius staring at her. Finally he pushed the papers across the table to her and gave a weak smile.
"Thanks," he whispered. "I always wondered." He looked over when he heard the doors open and saw the two Slytherin boys enter the library. "Don't forget to give Goldie these papers," he pointed at a few of them, "they're the prompts for the essays."
"What about the stuff I need for the," she lowered her voice, "Polyjuice Potion? I can't get that all myself."
"Remus and I will head down to Hogsmeade tomorrow after lunch," he said. "We'll pick up the ingredients for you. Is there anything else you need from Hogsmeade? Butterbeer? Firewhisky? Amortentia?" He winked playfully at her. It seemed he did that a lot. Evelyn was unfazed and smiled back at him.
"I don't need any of those," she said sweetly. "Certainly not some silly love potion. I'm not interested in anything like that."
"Oh," he said, his face falling a bit. He looked up when Severus and Regulus approached the table, the former with a scowl on his face. "Well I'll let you go. I'll see you later." He nodded towards his brother who looked away and fidgeted with his green and black striped tie. "See you around, Sniv – Severus." He looked at Evelyn to see if she caught his near slip up, but she wasn't paying attention to him any longer.
The Slytherin boy frowned deeply but said nothing. Sirius left and the two boys sat down at the table. Severus looked at the pile of parchment that had only a few lines scribbled across the top of each.
"What are these?" he asked, grabbing them. "Is this from him?"
"Yes," Evelyn said calmly, taking the papers back.
"What are you doing? Tutoring him now? Or just doing his homework?"
Evelyn placed the parchment in the seat to her left, away from Severus, and pulled the Potions textbook closer to herself. "He just needed help with a few things and I said I'd do some research for him."
"Can't he do it himself?"
"He's busy," she said. It wasn't entirely a lie because she really didn't know if he was busy or not. He seemed to be a bit lazy, but he may have had a full social schedule – something she couldn't imagine for herself. She was happy enough with her four friends – Goldie, Cat, Regulus, and Severus. She mostly preferred to be around animals and made a point of spending all her free time with her familiar, on the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest socializing the creatures for Kettleburn's class, or up in the Owlery.
Without allowing any more talk about Sirius or the papers he'd given her, she started the lesson on Potions for Regulus, while Severus chimed in with information that both improved the recipes and made it easy for Regulus to remember – ensuring that he would suffer very few ill side effects if he did mess up one or two of the steps.
After half an hour, they turned their attention to Severus and helped him study.
Evelyn met Goldie between classes to hand off three pieces of parchment that each had the prompt of the essay written across the top. It took a bit of deciphering on her part, but she managed to make out just what the scribbled, sloppy handwriting said. Irritated that she had been dragged into this blackmail scheme, she sat down after all her classes were finished and began writing out some of the essays. She had discovered, thanks to Evelyn's quick thinking and diligent searching, an easy Handwriting Spell that enchanted her quill to imitate the handwriting of whoever they were copying. Of course, the spell did not work for the handwriting of very important or powerful wizards – such as Professor McGonagall, Headmaster Dumbledore, or anyone from the Ministry of Magic. It was used mostly when students got others to do their homework for them, and didn't want to get caught (much like now).
The first essay was simple – a three page report on the uses of mandrakes. She only needed two textbooks to complete the essay, which seemed a bit repetitive as it was difficult to fill out three pages just on mandrake uses – but she managed. The next essay was a bit more complicated, but she was excited for it. She had to write a five page essay for Sirius's Astronomy class, and Goldie loved all things space. Of course, it was a lot more technical than she hoped, but after a few hours she got out a very fun essay that she was sure the professor would know wasn't written by Sirius.
The third and final essay was about Acromantulas, which Goldie hadn't heard of before then. The photo in the textbook sent chills up her arms – a huge tarantula-like beast that was described as "giant" with a "taste for human flesh." She really didn't blame Sirius for not wanting to write this essay. She was sure that Evelyn would've enjoyed it, flipping through the thick book on magical beasts, but she didn't like the Acromantula's eight gleaming eyes staring back at her from the page.
She finished it up as fast as she could and closed the book, shuddering at the thought that such creatures existed. She didn't like spiders to begin with – now she had to live with the knowledge that there were giant man-eating tarantulas who could speak to humans. It was the worst news she'd ever heard in her life.
"What are you doing here?"
She looked up and her face turned pink when she saw Jake standing there, rolled parchment in hand. He looked at the stack of books and curling papers on the library table. He noticed the one she had just closed and its shiny gold title.
"I didn't know you were taking another Care of Magical Creatures class," he said, as if he knew all of Goldie's classes.
"Oh, I'm n -" She stopped short, realizing she couldn't just admit that she was doing somebody else's homework. She squeezed the quill in her hand and then firmly placed it alongside the parchment and smiled warmly at the boy. "I'm nearly finished," she said, "with my essays. I just wanted to get them done early. And – yeah! Yeah, I'm in another Care of Magical Creatures class. I just … love those creatures." She mentally cursed herself for saying something so stupid.
"Ah." Jake actually sat down at the table across from Goldie and she thought she was going to die of shock. Sure, they had a study date planned for later that week but she was surprised that he had just willingly sat down at her table and was talking to her without her starting the conversation.
Jake looked at the essays and motioned towards one. "Three? What classes are you taking?"
Goldie had to curse mentally again – this time because she had to lie about her schedule. "Herbology and Astronomy," she said. "They're really interesting."
"So you must really like nature."
"Oh, yeah. A lot. It's the best."
Jake nodded, but said nothing in response. Blushing hotly from embarrassment and wishing she was able to be much cooler than she actually was, Goldie pushed the parchments together and folded her hands on top of them, just in case Jake was looking at them and trying to read what she'd written.
"So," he said suddenly, "this is where we'll be meeting for our study date?"
Her heart fluttered when he said date and she stammered out a, "Yes!" before grabbing the papers and standing suddenly. "I have to go now."
He looked at the table. "Are you going to put these books away?"
"Oh! Uh – yes?"
Jake looked at the girl who was incredibly flustered, trying to balance the parchments and pick up the books. He stood and picked up three of the large novels.
"I'll put them away," he said. "You should go. You seem to be in a hurry."
"You don't have to -"
"I don't mind. I'm sure you're tired of looking at these books. Go ahead."
Goldie smiled gratefully and thanked him before rushing out of the library, enchanted quill in her robe pocket, parchments under her arm. She tried to stop by the hospital wing to see Catlin, but was stopped in the doorway by Pomfrey who gave her a stern, unwavering look that said, "I am not letting you in here", so she turned and left. She passed by a group of second-year Gryffindors who chatted excitedly about the upcoming Quidditch game that Saturday.
Retreating to the Hufflepuff common room for a few hours, sneaking away for a moment into her dorm to hide the essays under her bed and the quill back on her bookshelf, she sat in one of the large, plush couches among some of the other girls. A few of them were playing with enchanted cards – a game in which one person shuffled a deck and chose a card, and the second player had to use forms of Divination or Legilimency to accurately guess which card was chosen. The enchanted cards were hardly ever the same twice – often combining shapes, colors, numbers, and photographs of witches and wizards to make the guessing even harder. It was a way for students to practice Divination (in which they used various methods to predict the cards) or for Legilimens to use their powers (in which they simply just read the mind of the card holder).
One girl was sitting in an armchair with a pair of carved knitting needles that seemed to hardly ever stop moving. A thick dark blue blanket slowly piled up in her lap as she knitted, holding a conversation with the girl sitting at the foot of the armchair who was stitching an extra pocket into the inside of her robe.
"It's for my boyfriend," the girl said cheerily as the blanket grew with every row of stitches, "he's in Ravenclaw."
Goldie missed having Catlin in the house, though Goldie was far more social than any of her friends. She could have easily struck up a conversation with anyone in the room, but she still felt lonely. She wished Pomfrey would let her visit her friend – or let her back into the house and let her recover in her own dorm room. When dinner rolled around, she followed the group of Hufflepuff students into the dining hall, passing by the parade of house elves returning to the kitchen.
Goldie felt even lonelier when she entered the hall and sat at her table. Across the room, at the Slytherin table, was Evelyn. She could see that the redhead was sitting besides Regulus and Severus, so at least she wasn't alone. She glanced around and caught sight of the four Gryffindor boys who were talking loudly together and laughing, shoving one another and trying to get the attention of a girl with long, bright red hair several seats away. The girl talked with her friends, looked over at the boys and giggled.
"Are you okay?"
Goldie looked over to see Gwyn Bowen, a fair-haired girl with soft brown eyes and a small scar on her forehead where she'd received stitches after a student had used Expelliarmus on a classmate and their wand hit her hard enough to leave a nasty cut.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she said, smiling. "Why?"
"You look so sad," Gwyn said, her voice barely audible over all the noise. "Are you missing somebody?"
"Cat," Goldie replied. "She's in the hospital wing."
"Oh, yes, I heard about that. I miss her too. She always says hi to me. I guess it's because we live in the same house ..." Gwyn smiled softly at the girl, leaned across the table, and placed her hand over Goldie's. "I'm sure she'll be fine. There's lots of spells and potions to make people better. Have you been able to see her?"
"A bit, but Pomfrey doesn't like visitors."
"You can make her a get well card," Gwyn said, "and have an owl deliver it. It's not like she can ban owls from the hospital wing. They're too fast for her to catch."
Goldie laughed, "That's true. Maybe I'll do that."
After dinner Goldie and Evelyn joined each other and waited outside in the corridor until the four Gryffindor boys appeared, still jovial and very loud. Sirius saw them first and smiled at them, offering a wave and a, "Hello, girls!"
James saw them and frowned a bit, recognizing Evelyn. She gave a quick scowl back at the boy who seemed a bit surprised. The four approached the girls and stopped. Peter looked nervous, staring at Evelyn who stared back.
Sirius noticed this and quickly intervened, though not necessarily to actually make peace, but simply to talk and act as the hero.
"Now, now, children," he said, "let's all get along and play nicely. After all, we're going to be seeing each other a lot before we all go home this summer."
"What do you mean 'we'," Goldie started, looking at the second tallest boy. "I thought it was just Evelyn, me, Cat, you, and Remus. You got them involved?"
"I had to. I live with them. Besides, it's not like they're going to tell on us," Sirius said, not at all concerned about getting James and Peter involved.
"Well we're not doing their homework, too," Evelyn said quickly. "Yours has been more than enough. And I still need stuff for the potion."
"You're in luck! James and Peter happened to go down to Hogsmeade before lunch and picked up exactly what you needed! And enough for a couple of batches as well."
James pulled out a leather sack filled with items from under his robes and handed it over to Evelyn who hid it quickly, afraid of being caught.
"Better get started on making that tonight."
"I'll need something of yours as well," Evelyn said. "It's the only way the potion will work."
"Oh, don't worry about that. I put something in there."
Evelyn grimaced. "I hope it was hair."
Goldie pointed a finger at Sirius and shook it, planting her other hand firmly on her hip. "You better give us that wand at the end of all this. And I don't want to hear you saying that you'll give it back after summer is over, because oh – she won't need it during summer because magic isn't allowed outside of school. On the platform, the day we leave. You give it back."
"Cross my heart and swear to die," he said, tracing an X over the left side of his chest.
"Good. Now what do you two want with this?" She looked at James then at Peter.
"We didn't want anything," James said, surprisingly civil. "But these two got involved and it's not like they can keep their mouths shut -"
"I can too," Sirius defended, "I just thought it was extremely rude not to tell you. You make it sound like I'm some sort of loudmouth."
Goldie rolled her eyes. "I finished your essays, okay? They're in my dorm right now, but I'll get them for you tomorrow."
"Well we're here now, so we might as well just get them." Sirius grinned. "Go ahead, lead the way! I've been dying to see the inside of Hufflepuff House."
Goldie looked over at Evelyn who was just as helpless in this situation. Sighing, the girls turned and led the four down the corridors of the castle, slipping past other students heading back to their common rooms for the evening. They passed by Professor Uggeri who seemed to be as tall as the ceiling as he slunk through the hall, his skin as pale white as a ghost. He spotted Goldie and headed for her, his dark eyes focusing on her as he stopped the group.
"Good evening, Miss Hope," he said slowly. "Where are you headed to?"
"Back to our dorms," Goldie said, and it technically wasn't a lie.
"Hm," he looked over the group and noticed their ties. "You're not all in Hufflepuff House. You aren't trying to sneak into one another's dorms are you?"
"Of course not!" Goldie said, looking surprised and a bit offended. "Why would we do that? Professor, we were just walking together after dinner. The boys are going to escort us to our Houses and then go back to their Tower."
"Mmhm." He looked over the boys who were nervous under the sharp gaze of the tall man. He studied them for a while more, but seemed to believe Goldie and strode off past them. "Have a good night. I will see you later."
"Night, Professor," she called out after him. Giving a worried look to Evelyn, Goldie scurried down the hallway and down towards the entrance to the Hufflepuff House. She turned on her heels and looked at the four boys. "Don't look," she said. "I don't want you knowing how to get into my House." She waited until the boys had either covered their eyes or turned around. Before she could tap on the correct barrel, Sirius spun around and threw his hands down, pointing an accusing finger at Evelyn.
"Wait! Why doesn't she have to cover her eyes?"
"Because I trust her," Goldie said simply, waving her wand at the boy. "Now turn around!"
Sirius did as he was told and Goldie tapped the wooden barrel to the correct tune. The lid swung open and revealed the short, round entrance to her House.
"Alright, come on then." Goldie got down on her hands and knees and crawled through the passageway. The four boys looked after her in disbelief.
"We have to crawl?" Sirius asked. "What kind of House ..."
"Oh, stop it," Evelyn said. "Like your House is so great."
"At least we don't have to crawl into our House," he said, his eyebrows knitting together.
"There's another entrance," Evelyn replied, "the main one. She didn't want to show it to you, though, in case you figured out how to get in. It's a bit simpler, so that's why she used this one."
"Huh. Fine. After you."
The four boys and Evelyn followed Goldie through the round door and into the common room, which was warm and cozy. A few students were still piled on overstuffed couches and chairs, and looked over in surprise at the five unexpected students who clearly didn't belong in the House. A few eyes widened when they saw who just who it was – the four Gryffindor boys that practically ruled the school. Plus, they noted, there was a Slytherin. Not that that was exactly bad, just unheard of.
Goldie greeted Gwyn who rushed over to meet the newcomers.
"This is James, Peter, Remus, Sirius, and Evelyn."
"It's so nice to meet you," Gwyn said, shaking their hands firmly. "We don't ever get visitors in our House. People think it's a bit silly that we're so close to the kitchen. But I think it's okay … it's easiest for us to sneak out and get snacks in the middle of the night."
"Brilliant," Peter breathed, his eyes wide. "You can just sneak right into the kitchen, can't you? I wish our Tower was close to the kitchen."
"Wait here," Goldie said. "I'll go grab … the notes."
"Oh, are you helping them study?" Gwyn asked.
"Yes, and they need the notes tonight. I forgot to give it to them during dinner. I'll be right back."
"Why can't we go with you?" Peter asked.
"Boys aren't allowed in the girls' dorm," Goldie said quickly as she rushed down one of the corridors and to the dorms. She found the parchment and returned the common room to find that a group of Hufflepuffs had gathered around the group, greeting them in excitement and conversing with them. They were asking lots of questions, mostly about how they managed to convince Goldie to let them into the House.
"There hasn't been anyone who wasn't in Hufflepuff inside this House in a thousand years," said Martin, a very thin blonde boy with huge, blue eyes. "I can't believe it …" He turned to look at Goldie. "We probably shouldn't tell anybody about this. I kind of want to keep that record going … It makes our House unique."
"I won't tell anybody if you don't," Goldie agreed. "Here." She shoved the parchment at Sirius who took it gratefully and looked it over.
"That's amazing," he said. "You got my handwriting down exactly. How did you do that?" He looked up, saw Martin and Gwyn were staring at him, and feigned an innocent smile. "I'm only teasing. Thanks for the notes! I'll be sure to … get them back to you."
"No need, I've finished with them."
"Right, well ..." He looked around the room and took in the round windows filled with potted plants, the thick scent of honey and butterscotch, and a few armchairs that had been patched with brightly patterned squares of cloth. "This is a really neat House. It's very … earthy."
"Yeah."
"Do you like plants, then? I mean, is that what you want to do? Be an Herbologist? It seems like you Hufflepuffs are really good at all that stuff."
"Not really, no, I don't want to be an Herbologist. And plants are okay, but they're not my passion or anything. Cat really likes plants." She motioned to one of the windows filled with empty Butterbeer bottles spilling over with twisting vines and pale blooms. "She grew those. I think they're moonflowers? I'm not sure."
"Oh, does she want to be an Herbologist?" Peter asked.
"She doesn't like all the science involved, so no. Anyway, it's getting late so you should probably go now. Our Head of House will be coming back soon and you can't be seen here." She showed them back to the passageway they had entered in through and they all shuffled out, crawling through the tunnel and out of the door and into the hallway. She gave a few parting words to them, Sirius thanked her again for the essays then he offered to walk Evelyn back to her House since it was so far away and it was already getting dark, and the group of boys left, Evelyn in tow. Goldie returned to her dorm and was flocked by the group of Housemates who eagerly wanted to know if she was going to bring them back again sometime.
"Maybe Evelyn, but not the boys. They just needed notes, that's all. I'm not really friends with them."
Groaning in disappointment, the other Hufflepuffs shuffled off towards their dorms for the night. Gwyn walked alongside Goldie, trying to encourage her.
"Don't worry about all of them," she said gently. "They were just excited to have someone other than Hufflepuffs in here. It's pretty much unheard of! I have to admit it was kind of fun … But don't let them pressure you into bringing boys back here. We all know who they are, and quite honestly, I am surprised that they even came here … They seem too cool for us. I mean – they pretend that they're too cool for us."
"Trust me," Goldie laughed, "they most certainly aren't cool. They're just a bunch of fifth years who just haven't met their match – yet."
Gwyn couldn't help but laugh too and parted ways to her own room. Goldie peeled off her robes and flopped onto the bed, crawling under the patchwork quilt. She was absolutely exhausted from working on three essays for Sirius, and that was just for this week! She couldn't imagine how much more he would have for the next month and a half while he held Catlin's wand hostage. Plus she hadn't gotten any of her own homework done at all that day, which meant she would have to work extra hard tomorrow just to catch up. Plus she had her Potions class tomorrow, which she was not looking forward to. She didn't even bother to change out of her clothes, she just kicked off her shoes, pulled a pillow over her head and fell deep asleep.