A/N: We're SO excited to bring back one of our favourite characters this chapter XD Hope you guys love it!
Also, the story is now officially available in Korean, thanks to the wonderful wevertaRK1D. Search up 시간과 마루더즈와 호그와트 and you should be able to find it. Otherwise, message them for details.
Also, special thanks to Esrath for all your fantastic reviews, and also to Irsndigle (glad you loved the joke!) and N,E,D,CL,1. Draco and the marauders finally getting Remus' condition out into the open will be quite a shocker for all of you XD
And finally to Watter213, agreed. On everything you said, completely.
Enjoy the chapter everyone!
Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K Rowling. Thanks
CHAPTER 6: WELCOME TO THE FAMILY
The next morning, Draco awoke with slightly better spirits than he'd had all week, the reason for it being very simple. After his little panic attack in the boys' washroom the night before, he'd realised how big his role really was in this timeline. He was making a huge mistake concentrating on silly things. What he really needed to concentrate on was what he was willing to do to improve things this time. But before he could even worry about improving things, he would first have to investigate them further and decide just what needed improving. And in order to do that, he had to play the part better.
"Morning!" Draco exclaimed once the boys finally got out of bed and came down to the common room.
"Hey," said Potter, slowly. "What are you doing up so early?"
"Yeah, you've even beaten Remus and we all know what a nutcase he is, getting up at 6 in the morning practically every day!" cried Sirius.
Remus frowned.
"I haven't been up long," said Draco, quickly. "Come on, let's go eat."
The boys exchanged looks but nonetheless followed him out of the portrait hole.
"Something on your mind there, Draco?" said Potter as they walked.
"Nope," said Draco, simply.
"You gonna tell us what the hell happened to you last night?"
"It was nothing."
They turned the corner and climbed down the stone steps leading out of the tower.
"I'm worried about that quiz we have today," said Wormtail, nervously.
"We have a quiz today?" said Potter.
They turned another corner and went down a few more steps.
"Y-yeah, Professor Grubbly-Plank told us so two days ago," said Wormtail.
"Whoops," said Sirius. "Guess we didn't hear her."
"Nice going, guys," said Remus, but the other two simply shrugged.
They finally reached the Great Hall and found it almost completely deserted. Only a few early birds were sitting here and there and quietly enjoying their meals with Daily Prophet newspapers propped up against juice pitchers in front of them. None of the staff had arrived yet either. Sirius yawned loudly as the boys sat at the Gryffindor table and began to pass around the toast and butter. A brown, sarcastic-looking owl flew overhead and dropped that morning's edition of the Daily Prophet right in front of Potter. He grinned at it as it flew away again.
"Thanks, Harry!"
Draco's eyes widened.
"Harry?" he repeated.
"Yeah," shrugged Potter. "I've always been fond of the name."
"He's named practically everything he owns Harry," Sirius told Draco. "His first teddy was Harry, the security blanket he brought with him to first year was also Harry…"
"Shut up, Sirius," Potter growled into his breakfast cereal.
"…and he'll probably call his son Harry one day, and his son's son…"
"Don't make me hex you, Black," Potter said, darkly.
All the boys except for Potter were now laughing themselves to tears. He grumbled again and buried himself in the newspaper. Wormtail got out his Care of Magical Creatures book to study some more. Remus began reading some thick book and Sirius was now staring up at the ceiling with tired eyes.
"Thank the heavens that it's Friday," he said, sighing.
"Yeah, it's been a long week," Remus agreed.
Draco nodded.
"I was thinking," said Sirius, sitting up finally. "We should do something tomorrow night. . . I'm really bored and the school could use a few laughs. Let's pull a prank."
"You have anything particular in mind?" said Potter, putting down the newspaper.
Sirius shrugged.
"Dunno but I'm sure we'll think of something. Remus?"
"You're kidding, right?" said Remus. "After that whole aquarium incident in third year? Never again."
Before Draco could ask, Sirius and Potter leaned forwards with boyish grins on their faces.
"It was the most epic prank we have pulled to date," Sirius began.
"Just a typical school day for the great students of Hogwarts," said Potter, his voice in story-like mode.
"The staff and students had no idea what was coming for them," said Sirius with a happy sigh.
Draco smirked as the two exchanged a look.
"So what happened?" he asked.
"Well, let's just say that...the most widely used corridor in the school—that's right, I'm talking about the one on the second floor—was a little too…watery for use that day," said Sirius.
"Just a tad," said Potter.
Remus shook his head and closed his eyes.
"They gave the four of us detention for a week after that stunt you two pulled," he said.
"Exactly what do you mean by…watery?" said Draco.
Potter grinned at Sirius.
"They mean that they transformed that entire corridor into a large aquarium," said Remus. "The water was contained but the fish were definitely large. It took the teachers all day to transform it back and of course we four were to blame."
"Of course," said Potter and Sirius together.
"How on earth did you guys manage it?" said Draco, smirking at them.
"Ah," said Sirius, leaning back in his chair. "That'll have to stay our little secret."
"To the grave," Potter nodded, the both of them looking extremely pleased with themselves.
"So," said Sirius, leaning forwards again. "What do you say, Draco? You up for it? Tomorrow night?"
"Uh," said Draco, suddenly remembering. "I can't." The others looked at him pointedly. "I have my first lesson with Dumbledore tomorrow at 8."
"Oh yeah," said Potter, looking disappointed. "Damn."
"Fine then," said Sirius, simply. "Sunday night it is."
"Can't believe you're going to have to take these lessons with him every Saturday," said Potter. "That's got to be so depressing...EXTRA lessons."
"Yeah," said Draco, nodding. "It is."
Truth be told, he was actually looking forward to it. He wondered whether, come 8 o'clock Saturday, he'd have the balls to tell Dumbledore about the panic attack he'd had in the boys' washroom. And if not…about everything else that he'd observed this entire week—this week that had to have been the longest week of his existence.
"Come on," said Potter, who was shaking Draco awake from his little daydream. "Potions."
"Right," said Draco, finishing his juice and jumping to his feet. "Potions."
Slughorn was in unusually high spirits that morning as they entered his classroom about ten minutes later.
"I have loads of great stuff planned for today's lesson!" he announced. "Come on, hurry up, find your seats."
The boys quickly scrambled over to their table and set their book bags down. Draco nodded at Snape as he passed by him, but Snape did not respond. Slughorn waved his wand at the door to shut it and then brightened the classroom.
"Today, we will be brewing elixir," he announced, "And not just any elixir…we will be brewing elixir that induces euphoria."
Several of the students cheered at the sound of this and Slughorn let out a laugh.
"The recipes are found on page 32 of your books and the ingredients are in the cupboards as usual. If your potions pass my approval test at the end of the class, you get to take them with you. Deal?"
"Yeah Professor Slughorn!"
"You go, sir!"
Slughorn let out another laugh and then clapped his hands for them to begin.
Remus turned to Sirius.
"Your turn to get the ingredients," he said. "You too, James."
The two boys groaned and forced themselves out of their chairs to the cupboards. Draco followed them with his gaze until he saw Snape headed for the cupboards too.
"Um actually!" cried Draco, stopping the two boys. "Sit. I'll get 'em."
"No Draco, they shouldn't be lazy," Remus protested, but Draco shook his head and went over to the cupboard alone, timing himself so that he reached it exactly at the point when Snape did.
"Morning," said Draco.
Snape looked at him with a puzzled expression, and then opened the cupboard.
"Hello," he said.
"What's this stuff?" said Draco, picking up a pair of long, sharp objects.
"Porcupine quills," said Snape without even glancing at it.
Draco hesitated.
"You sure know a lot about potions," he observed, while silently kicking himself.
What a pathetic excuse for small talk.
"Yeah," said Snape. "Lucky me."
Yep, pathetic.
Snape turned and walked away from Draco with a pile of objects in his arms. Draco stared after him until he noticed Potter and Sirius urgently waving him over. He quickly gathered the rest of the objects and hurried back to his table, feeling many eyes on him. He settled the ingredients onto the table and turned to look at his classmates. They all quickly turned away from him.
"W-why are they all staring?" he asked.
"You're the new meat, mate," said Potter, simply. "They've been staring at you all week. You're only noticing just now?"
"Yeah, I guess I am," Draco muttered, his eyes landing on Lily for a fraction of a second and then at Snape, who was sitting in the shadowed corners of the classroom by himself and scribbling something into his copy of Advanced Potion Making. Draco knew all too well what he was writing now. He turned to look at Remus, who was already stirring the contents of his cauldron anti-clockwise. He reached into the pile of ingredients from the center of the table and pulled out a pair of Sopophorous beans. He meant to drop them into his cauldron but Draco stopped him.
"What's up?" Remus asked.
"You want to add a sprig of peppermint first," he told him.
Remus frowned at his book.
"That's not on the instruction list," he observed.
Potter looked up.
"You trying to sabotage Moony's potion?" he asked Draco with a smirk.
Draco smirked back at him.
"Trust me," he told Remus.
Remus bit his lip and then went to the cupboards to fetch the peppermint. He brought it back and added it into his cauldron. It hissed and sizzled for a few seconds, and then turned a beautiful lilac.
Sirius whistled.
"Thanks," Remus grinned at Draco, who grinned back.
"Well, well," said Potter. "So, potions genius, what do we add after the peppermint?"
"You follow the rest of the recipe as is," Draco observed.
About a half hour later, Slughorn began walking around the classroom and observing how the students were doing. When he got to their table, his eyes went very round.
"Remus!" he exclaimed. "This potion's perfect! You too, Mr. Potter. And Mr. Black! And you too, Mr. Black! You boys did wonderfully!"
They grinned at each other. Draco turned in his seat to find Snape watching him from the other end of the classroom. They stared at each other for about two minutes and then Snape shut his book angrily and shoved it into his bag. Draco hesitated. This was not what he'd intended when he told Remus to add the peppermint.
"Uh," said Slughorn, peeking into Wormtail's cauldron. "Perhaps you should stir it a few more times?"
Wormtail groaned.
"Splendid work, boys!" Slughorn told the table at large. "Very splendid!"
"It's all thanks to our new buddy Black over here," said Potter, in a very loud voice.
Draco really wished he hadn't. Snape now looked like he wished he could be anywhere else.
"I can always tell when a new student in my classroom has potential," Slughorn said.
Draco turned back to him and nodded.
"Thank you, sir," he said, quietly.
Slughorn beamed at him and then lowered his own voice.
"You know, I am more than just a fellow professor at the school and head of Slytherin House," he said. "I own my own club where I only let in select students—those who really show potential to be something great."
Draco nodded along.
"Remus here is a proud member of the club for about two years now, and at the start of each year, I recruit new students. Would you be interested?"
"I…" said Draco, who was caught completely off guard. He'd always thought the Slug Club was just a way for students to show off…students like Harry Potter and that mudblood Granger of his. Draco turned round to look at the others in the class, who were still watching him. Then, he looked at Remus who was also eagerly awaiting his answer. He sighed and turned to the professor again. "It'd be an honour, sir."
"I can't believe it!" laughed Potter when they left the potions room an hour later. "I still can't believe it."
"Neither can I," Draco admitted.
"Oh stop laughing, James," said Remus, irritably. "It'll be a really good opportunity, Draco. And we'll be in it together."
"Who else is in this club?" he asked.
"Several people," said Remus, "But he selects new students every year so I'm not sure for now."
"I still can't believe it!" laughed Potter again.
Draco gave him a small smile.
"So how come you two aren't in this club too?" he asked Potter and Sirius as they walked to Defense against the Dark Arts.
They both burst into laughter.
"Because we've gotten into trouble one too many times," said Sirius. "That's fine though—we'd rather spend all those club meetings planning our next legendary pranks."
"Ah," said Draco, his eyes suddenly landing upon Sirius' torn pant. "What happened?"
Sirius looked down at it.
"Oh yeah, that was a little incident last night," he said. "It's nothing—I just tripped in the dark."
"In the dark?" said Draco.
"He means he was snogging with Ellen Bennet in the broomstick cupboard again," said Potter, rolling his eyes.
Sirius let out a bark-like laugh and Draco joined in too.
Ten minutes later, they entered Claybrook's classroom and found all the desks had disappeared and there was a large space in the middle of the room.
"Come on, hurry up," he told them as they filed inside.
They dropped their bags and their books at the end of the classroom and moved to the center with their wands out.
"Find a partner, I don't care who, and start practicing right away. It is to be completely silent in this room for the next hour."
"But sir!" cried some blonde Gryffindor girl who was practicing with Lily. "We already did this exercise with Professor Flitwick in Charms earlier this week!"
"Not all of you," Claybrook reminded her. "Not everyone in this class is a NEWT level Charms student, Ms. MacDonald."
The girl called MacDonald blushed fervently.
"Come on, Mary, let's practice over here," Lily told her.
She glanced at Draco once before moving with the girl called Mary to the other end of the classroom. Not too far from them, Snape was already practicing with Mulciber.
"Okay," said Potter, turning Draco's attention back to him. "How do we do this? We're five now. Wait, where's Moony?"
They looked around but Sirius quickly waved them back to him.
"I sent him to the hospital wing while we were walking, didn't any of you notice?"
They shook their heads.
"Why, what's wrong with him?" Draco wondered.
"Uh he's just feeling a little peckish," Sirius mumbled. "He looked green after Potions. Anyway, James, you take Draco and I'll take Wormtail over here. It's my turn to babysit him anyway."
Wormtail frowned at him but Sirius only led him away, while Draco turned to Potter.
"What's wrong with Remus?" he asked.
"I dunno," Potter mumbled, shrugging. "Anyway, you want to blast me off into the air like last time or can I try doing the same to you this time?"
Draco shrugged and pocketed his wand so that Potter could go first this time.
Near the end of the lesson, Lily suddenly broke away from Mary and hurried over to where Potter and Draco were practicing. They both froze at the sight of her.
"What's up, Lils?" Potter asked, but she only scowled at him.
"Don't play games with me, Potter, I only came over here to ask you where is Remus," she said.
"Hospital wing," said Potter, who looked slightly hurt but was trying hard not to show it.
"Is everything alright with him?"
"Just peckish," Potter mumbled.
Lily nodded, though the concern didn't leave her face. She glanced at Draco for about a fraction of a second and then nodded at Potter again and went back to Mary without a word. Potter looked from her to Draco suspiciously, but Draco innocently pulled out his wand and said, "Wand away, Prongs. It's my turn."
At the end of the lesson, Draco said goodbye to Wormtail, Potter and Sirius who went to write that quiz for Care of Magical Creatures. He stood outside of the Defense classroom for about ten minutes, wondering what he should do with his free period. Then, he turned around and began walking. His mind was swirling about that look on Snape's face back in the Potions room, when he finally reached the Hospital Wing. Madame Pomfrey was changing the sheets on one of the beds, and as Draco peered his head in, he saw that every single one of the beds was unoccupied.
"Where is…?" he began.
"Mr. Lupin went to Arithmancy," Madame Pomfrey informed him.
"But I thought he was sick," Draco said, slowly.
"Yes well, it's nothing I can't remedy with a little antidote."
"Right," said Draco, frowning at how much younger she looked.
When she noticed him still watching her, she raised her eyebrows at him expectedly, and he turned and walked back out the door.
He moved along the empty hallway absentmindedly, his book bag hung over his shoulder. So, Remus was feeling better. That was one less thing to worry about. Turning the corner, Draco spotted Evan Rosier rushing out of the boys' bathroom and hurrying up the stone steps.
"Hey hold on!" Draco called after him.
Rosier did a double-take when he realised that Draco was approaching him. He turned on the spot and lifted his chin so that his head was held high.
"Can I help you?"
"Yeah, where's Snape?" said Draco.
"Arithmancy, but I don't see how that's any of your business," said Rosier. "Who are you again?"
"To you, no one," said Draco, boldly. "And we never had this conversation."
Rosier smirked but Draco took one step towards him, making him back away slightly and wiping the smirk off his face too. Rosier put his hands up in surrender, turned around, and walked away. Draco stared after him and then frowned. Arithmancy? What the hell was Snape taking Arithmancy for? Turning around, Draco decided to head to Gryffindor Tower, all the while wondering how it was that teenage Snape was nothing like adult Snape.
When Draco finally reached the common room he stared around. There was absolutely no one in sight. He threw his book bag at one of the armchairs near the fireplace and then headed back out.
"If you weren't planning on staying, why bother me?!" the Fat Lady shrieked after him as he headed down the corridor.
Draco ignored her.
He thought about going to Dumbledore's office but then decided against it, remembering that they had a lesson together the next night. And so, somehow, Draco ended up outside, walking along the lake's shore. The clear blue sky was nicely reflected in the smoothly sparkling lake and the flowers were blossoming under the blazing sun. Draco loosened his tie and buried his hands in his pockets as he walked, thinking. Maybe having a free period once a week without any of the others would do him good—it would give him time to think about all that he couldn't think about when he was too busy keeping his grades above everyone else's so that no one would doubt he was "raised" by Dumbledore, or trying to play matchmaker between the highly insecure Snape and stubbornly arrogant Lily, or trying to convince Potter, Sirius and Remus that he was worthy of their secrets, or—
"Hey, Black!"
Draco turned around. The boy jogging towards him was not wearing Hogwarts uniform but had on trousers and jersey with some Quidditch team's name on the front.
"Hey," he said, stopping in front of him. "Draco, right?"
"Y-yeah," said Draco, scratching his head. "Yeah, you're uh…Frank Longbottom."
Frank frowned.
"I don't recall telling you my last name," he said.
Draco paused.
"Uh, y-yeah I just… must've heard it from Pot—uh, James or Sirius I think."
Frank smirked.
"Alright, I get it," he said, raising his hands in surrender. "New kid is interested in what makes the coolest kid around here…well, cool."
Draco let out a nervous grin and then looked down.
"So, um…what are you doing out here?" he asked.
"Running," said Frank, looking around the empty shore. "You?"
"Oh um just walkin'," said Draco, also looking around.
"I didn't know you have this as a free period," said Frank. "We should run together—gotta keep in shape, you know."
"Uh right," said Draco, nodding.
Frank smirked at him again.
"So are you gonna tryout for the team?"
"Uh no," said Draco, looking back down with a sheepish smile.
Frank frowned at him.
"Well why the hell not?" Draco looked up at him. "You sporting some kind of injury?"
Draco paused and then let out a smirk.
"Yeah," he said, nodding. "Yeah, something like that."
"Well that's too bad," said Frank. "We could've used you—you've got the beater's build."
"I take it you're a beater yourself?"
"Since third year, yeah," said Frank, looking proud. "Anyway, I gotta keep going but hey, see you around."
"Yeah, see you," said Draco, waving him off and Frank continued with his jog.
He remained standing there for a while, watching Frank and thinking about how very unlike Neville he was. Perhaps Neville got all his oddness and dorkiness and unfortunate looks from his mom, whoever she was. Deciding it was too hot out to stand around in his uniform, Draco turned and began walking back to the castle, still thinking about the strangeness of it all—being here at Hogwarts with all his former classmates' parents in their youth. It was funny; in his own timeline, they were all so adult and mature and…adult. But here, they were just a couple of stupid kids, worrying about the same stupid things that he and his friends used to worry about—which girl was decent to go out with or who was winning the next Quidditch match or why they needed to bother learning all this stupid stuff for the exams. There wasn't much else to worry about because they had their parents to take care of the rest. But now, Draco actually got to live the parentless experience and he really hated having to be the one that takes care of all of the decisions. Yeah, Dumbledore was here but at the same time, he wasn't. He was refusing to let Draco tell him anything about the future, which wasn't exactly helpful. It was just as frustrating as trying to solve a puzzle when you only had the corner pieces and the rest was missing.
Draco got back to the castle soon enough and spent the rest of the free period in the Great Hall, working on his Charms homework. Remus was right—it had been a long week, but it felt absolutely nothing like Friday. It felt like today was going to be just as long as tomorrow and the day after, and perhaps the rest of his life in this completely twisted timeline where all of his decisions actually affected others'.
When the bell finally rang, Potter showed up in the Great Hall and waved Draco to join him. Draco quickly packed his things and hurried over.
"How was that quiz?" he asked.
"Bombed it," said Potter, simply. "Come on, we've gotta hurry. One more lesson to go."
"Ugh," said Draco, and they both made their way to the third floor for that highly anticipated Muggle Studies lesson continuation.
They were the last ones to get there and found that the classroom was rearranged to their groups like before. Professor Livesey waved her wand to shut the door behind them.
"Come on, boys, grab your seats," she said, impatiently.
They moved to the table at the back where Lily, Snape and Mulciber were sitting, all of them with their arms crossed strangely enough. Lily's head did not even turn as Draco and Potter took their seats. Her eyes remained fixedly on Professor Livesey who was waiting up at the front for everyone to quiet down. Snape, Draco noticed, was watching him with a completely different air than he had the day before . . . and that's when it hit Draco—Snape probably saw him as just another one of those ridiculous prats called Gryffindors. How tragic.
The lesson was actually not as bad as Draco had thought it would be. Maybe this was because everyone in the group was completely silent the entire lesson and refused to speak to each other . . . Or maybe because they spent more than half the lesson listening to the other groups' presentations and then used the last ten minutes to do their own. Lily did all the talking while the four boys stood on either side of her, waiting. In the end, Livesey gave them a decent grade and dismissed the class with a two-scroll essay on muggle objects and their wizarding equivalents, to be completed by Monday.
"Have a nice weekend," Potter groaned as he exited the classroom with Draco at about 4 o'clock. "Yeah right."
They headed back to the common room where they found the others, who were enjoying their Friday afternoon free period. They dumped their bags and spent the afternoon lying around the common room lazily, while their classmates slowly began to crowd around as well. Remus took another nap on the couch, which Draco found to be quite strange. He did look rather ill. Wormtail got out his homework and spent a good hour frowning at it. And Potter and Sirius were huddled by a group of girls in their year, all of them giggling as the boys talked about what an amazing Quidditch season they were going to have. Draco shook his head at them and then went to sit next to where Remus was snoozing, inadvertently waking him up as he collapsed on the couch.
"S-sorry," he mumbled, looking apologetic as Remus wiped his eyes and looked around, confused.
"Oh ," he said, sleepily. "No, it's okay. Um…what time is it?"
"Just before six," said Draco. He paused. "How are you feeling?"
"What?—oh, I'm totally fine," said Remus, sitting up quickly and forcing a smile on his face.
"I heard you went to the hospital wing earlier," Draco pressed him.
Remus paused.
"Y-yeah," he said, slowly. "Yeah, well I didn't really sleep well last night so I guess I felt a bit…"
"Peckish," said Draco, nodding.
Remus looked at him worriedly.
"Yeah," he said. "Peckish."
Draco smiled at him and then turned his head to look at Potter and Sirius and their group of girls in the corner.
"Were they always like this?" he said.
Remus followed his gaze and then nodded.
"And how does Wormtail fit into all of this?"
"He just tries to be anywhere they are," said Remus, sighing. Draco nodded.
"When I first started here at Hogwarts," he began, and Draco turned to face him again, "I wasn't really the same person that I am now." Draco frowned. "W-what I mean to say is that I was different before my friendship with James and Sirius. I…I suppose I was a bit insecure…and quiet."
"You're still quiet," Draco pointed out, kindly.
Remus smiled.
"Yeah, but I have become more lenient over the years, thanks to those two gits," he said, nodding in their direction again. "They've influenced me in ways I'm not sure I'm very proud of…" he paused again, and then smiled. "But I wouldn't take anything back. In fact, I would do it all over again. They're really loyal and they stand up for you and…"
Draco turned back to look at him and saw that Remus was struggling.
"And?" he said.
Remus sighed.
"Tolerance. They have a…generous amount of tolerance."
Draco looked at them again and nodded.
"Yeah, I get that," he said. "Believe me."
He felt a pair of eyes on him from somewhere in the common room and was quite positive they did not belong to Remus. Lily was sitting in a corner with a large book, taking turns scowling at Potter and Sirius with their fanclub, and then at Draco. He found himself wondering whether she was prone to making other people feel like she was above them, when suddenly Remus nudged him.
"Come on, let's go eat."
It was then that Draco actually realised that everyone in the common room had gotten up from their seats and were now filing out of the portrait hole. Potter and Sirius joined the two of them, both of them looking mighty pleased with themselves, while Wormtail got lost in the sea of Gryffindors leaving the common room.
"Still got it?" Draco asked Sirius.
"Still got it," he said, happily.
Draco hadn't realised how hungry he was until they actually reached the Great Hall. He and the boys spent the first couple of minutes stuffing down their dinners hungrily. Only when they were ready for seconds did they actually start talking. Draco didn't contribute much because he really was too hungry and tired from the hectic week, so he contented himself with nodding along and smiling every time a joke was cracked—most of them being Sirius'.
About halfway through dinner however, Draco noticed that Regulus was watching him from the Slytherin table. He was sitting next to Snape and Rosier, both of whom did not seem to notice that he was watching Draco. Draco watched him back and was surprised that this time, Regulus did not look away. What was it about him that reminded Draco of himself so much? He couldn't quite pinpoint it and it was starting to drive him really mad.
"Hey!" cried Sirius, throwing a breadcrumb at Draco and thus interrupting his staring contest with Regulus.
"What?" he said, innocently.
"What's the matter with you? You didn't even laugh at my joke about the hag, the healer, and the Mimbulus Mimbletonia!"
Draco smiled sheepishly and continued with his meal, trying hard to ignore the fact that Regulus was still watching him.
After dinner, the boys joined their classmates for the after-dinner Entrance Hall hangout. They took their seats on the stairs again and Draco looked around with interest. Students had actually parted ways to let them through. It was as though the boys had somehow declared those stairs as their spot, and no one else was allowed to sit there. Or at least, no one else was stupid enough to try it.
Sirius and Potter got out the signup sheet for the team and began scratching out names and discussing. Remus, as usual, got out another book and proceeded to read it, while Wormtail sat with Draco, his little mousey eyes on him. Draco tried to ignore him but what he really wanted to do was hex him out of his sight. The kid really was very annoying, and the fact that he couldn't just up and hex him, was even more annoying. So Draco settled with watching his classmates going about their own activities.
Some Hufflepuff girls were admiring one tall boy who was showing another tall boy how to do a Bludger Backbeat with an invisible bat. Draco smirked to himself, wondering how the students would react if he showed them the Chelmondiston Charge, which would not be invented for another ten or eleven years, or so he'd heard.
Over on the other side of the Entrance hall, a few Ravenclaws were sitting cross-legged by the doors to the Great Hall with books in their laps. Some other students were playing Exploding Snap or Gobbstones and the Slytherins were mostly huddled in their corners, watching the rest and discussing them under their breaths. Snape was not among them, but the rest of his friends, Regulus included, were. Some of them were eyeing Draco with interest while the others stood with their arms crossed and their eyes on several other students. Then, Regulus suddenly moved away from the group. Draco followed him with his eyes, trying to see over the heads of the many students in the crowded hall, until Regulus finally stopped somewhere in the corner next to some pillar. Apparently however, Draco was not the only one who had noticed this.
"What in the ruddy…" said Sirius, his eyes also on Regulus and the mysterious figure with whom he was standing in the corner of the Entrance Hall. Something suddenly changed in Sirius' face as comprehension finally dawned on him.
"I'll be right back," he grumbled, tossing the list back to Potter. His eyes turned to him. "Stay here."
Draco, Potter, Remus and Wormtail stared after him curiously as he walked over to the corner of the Entrance Hall to meet the two people standing there. And then, Potter jumped to his feet excitedly.
"Holy cricket," he said, a boyish grin on his face.
"It's not…." said Remus, also getting to his feet.
"It sure is," said Potter.
He smirked at him and then jumped off the last step and followed Sirius' path.
"James, no!" hissed Remus, also jumping off the step and following. "Sirius said 'stay here'! James!"
Without looking round at Wormtail, Draco also got to his feet and quickly followed the other two to where Sirius was talking in a low voice to a woman who was leaning against the pillar with her arms crossed and her black eyes blazing as she smirked at him. Regulus was standing beside her, looking grim-faced. His eyes landed on Draco and he instantly looked away from him. Draco narrowed his eyes as he followed.
"…you have no reason to be here now," Sirius was saying when the boys finally reached him.
Remus and Potter, Draco noticed, had decided to keep their distance as they stood a few feet away but close enough to hear the entire conversation.
"Oh come now, little coz, isn't it quite normal for me to be visiting my faves here at the castle?"
"We both know nothing is normal about you, dear Bella," Draco heard Sirius hiss angrily.
Draco's heart stopped. It must've stopped for a good two minutes, he swore it. Bellatrix? Bellatrix? THAT'S WHO THE BLACKS HAD SENT TO INTERROGATE HIM?!
Bellatrix' black eyes shifted from Sirius to Potter, while Regulus' were firmly fixed on Draco again.
"Hey there, beautiful," Potter said to Bellatrix, his left hand casually pushing through his messy black hair while the other hand slipped into his pocket.
"Hey there, blood traitor," she replied with a tone of mockery, her grin never fading.
Her eyes shifted to Remus.
"And ugly," she said, acknowledging him. "Where is ugly #2?"
"What do you want, Bellatrix?" said Sirius, impatiently.
Bellatrix smirked at him again but did not respond because her eyes finally landed on Draco. Her smirk faded only a little and she moved away from the wall and took a few steps towards him. Draco remained rooted to the spot, his hands in his pockets and his face as serious as ever. He knew he'd thought it many times, but this time, he really meant it…
…he was going to kill Dumbledore for insisting he take the name Black.
"Bellatrix," Sirius repeated behind her, but she ignored him.
"So this must be the fresh new meat of the family," she said, cunningly, as her eyes surveyed Draco's face. "It's quite a pleasure to meet you."
"Ow!" cried Regulus, and Draco looked over Bellatrix' shoulder to find that Sirius had just pushed him.
"Why'd you invite her?" Sirius demanded, angrily.
"I d-didn't!" Regulus replied, desperately. "I didn't know she was gonna come!"
Bellatrix seemed quite immune to this little exchange, her eyes still on Draco and a smirk widening across her face as she pursed her lips.
"Bella," Sirius said, darkly. "What do you want? What are you doing here?"
"Just here to welcome him to the family, of course," she answered without turning to look at Sirius. Her black eyes shifted between each of Draco's grey ones, as though she was trying to catch one of them in a lie. Then, quite expectedly, she turned a fraction and nodded at the east corridor that led to the dungeons. "Shall we?"
Draco glanced once at Remus and Potter, both of whom looked slightly worried now. Sirius however, looked absolutely outraged and shot a look of deep loathing at his brother. Regulus looked down at the ground without a word. As Bellatrix began to walk, Sirius meant to stop her but Draco held up his hand silently and gave Sirius an "it's okay" nod before following Bellatrix down the hall and out of sight of the others, panic slowly rising inside him. They did not have to walk long before she found an empty classroom and led him into it.
"Have a seat," she told him.
He did so, taking a desk in the front row.
Bellatrix did not speak at first. She pulled off her black travelling cloak to reveal a long black skirt that showed off one leg completely. Her arms and legs were covered in the same fishnets that Draco had grown used to seeing her in over the years, except now she was sporting several sparkling black jewels on her neckline as well. Her long black hair was the usual curly mess but her face looked so well—so healthy—so seductive. Her eyes still on Draco, she pulled out a cigarette and lit it with a flick of her wand. Draco said nothing but simply stared as she took a puff of smoke and then began to slowly walk around the room, the clicking of her heels being the only sounds.
And suddenly, Draco did not feel nervous anymore. This would be fine. It would be easy! She would just be the same Bellatrix that had spent many nights over at his house with his parents…the same Bellatrix that had calmed him after many of his anxiety attacks over the Dark Lord's assignment for him…the same Bellatrix who had told him stories of their ancestry. That Bellatrix frightened him a great deal, true, but he had the upper hand this time, because he knew her well, and she did not. Not in this timeline, anyway.
She did a complete lap around the room before she stopped in front of Draco's desk and blew smoke in his direction. He did not move or say a word, his game face suddenly turned on.
"Muggles sure are clever in one thing," she finally said, indicating the cigarette that was resting in between her long-nailed fingers. "I picked up the habit just over a year ago."
Draco said nothing. Bellatrix remained standing over him as she contemplated something. He watched her intently, waiting. If she was anywhere near the same Bellatrix that he had known, she would no doubt start going off about one of her torturing adventures just to show off . . . right . . . . . . about . . . . . . . . . . . . . now.
"I remember exactly the day that I picked up the habit. A couple of buddies of mine took me out to one of them muggle pubs. We had a lot to drink and then decided to start firing off curses here and there, just for the fun of it. This one muggle was standing at the back of the pub with his cigarette and my wand might have just slipped. It really was too bad—he was quite handsome. We could've had a lot of fun together."
"I imagine you and your buddies got into an awful lot of trouble at the ministry after an incident like that," said Draco, knowingly. He'd heard this story before countless of times at small gatherings in the Malfoy House. But Bellatrix stared at him now, and he tried to suppress his grin for he knew that she was thinking "How the bloody hell did he know?" Draco simply stared at her innocently and waited for a response.
"We did," she finally said, lowering her hand with the cigarette in it. "There were several different hearings, but in the end there was nothing that the ministry could do to us. They had no evidence, see."
"Clever of you," said Draco.
There was a moment of silence.
"Yes," said Bellatrix. "Clever, indeed."
Draco waited. Bellatrix was eyeing him with the utmost suspicion and a touch of curiosity. Finally, she extinguished her cigarette and took a seat right in front of Draco. He crossed his hands on the table and waited.
"I suppose you're wondering who I am," she said, mirroring his actions with her own hands.
"I suppose," said Draco, shrugging.
Bellatrix narrowed her eyes.
"Bellatrix Black," she said, extending an arm for him to shake.
Draco took it without hesitation.
"Draco Black," he added, letting go of her hand after the shake and crossing his hands on the desk once again.
Bellatrix did the same, her eyes never leaving his.
"So," she said.
"So," he repeated.
The door suddenly creaked behind her. She looked round at it and watched the door open and close at its own accord. Bellatrix frowned and then turned back to Draco.
"Expecting company?" she asked him.
"Not at all, you?" he said.
"No," she said. "Let us get started then."
"Yes, let us."
A moment of silence.
"Well, I assume you know why I am here," she began. "I assume either Regulus or that imbecile of a brother he has, told you that someone from our family would be…wanting to meet you in advance..."
"…Before I was exposed to the rest of the family," Draco filled in. "Makes sense."
"So we're on the same page then!" said Bellatrix. "Let us start from the beginning. Tell me exactly how you came to be."
"Well you see," said Draco, unfolding his arms and leaning forwards. "When a man and a woman love each other, a powerful urge sweeps over them…"
Bellatrix's cool faded instantly from her face. She scowled at Draco. Draco smirked and then leaned back again, re-crossing his arms.
"Or," he said, deciding she did not find it funny, "I was left on the doorstep of a muggle orphanage at a young age with nothing but a note that stated my full name and birth date."
"And what name and birth date was that?"
"Draco Black, born June fifth, nineteen eigh—um, sixty."
"1960," repeated Bellatrix.
"That's right," said Draco, who tried to ignore his almost catastrophic mistake just now.
"I see," said Bellatrix. "And in all those years that you were at this muggle orphanage, which was by the way called…?"
"Gallard's Home for Boys," Draco invented wildly.
"I shall be checking that," said Bellatrix.
Draco nodded.
"So in all those years at Gallard's Home for Boys, you never had any visitors?"
"Only Dumbledore," said Draco.
"No Blacks?"
"None."
"And how old were you when Dumbledore came to visit you?"
"Which time?" said Draco, simply.
Bellatrix frowned at him.
"The first time," she said, irritably.
"Six," Draco recited.
"Six," repeated Bellatrix.
"That's right," said Draco. "Do you need to write that down?"
"Oh I have a perfect memory, believe me," she said, coolly. "Why did Dumbledore visit you when you were six? Did he ever tell you?"
"I used accidental magic for the first time when I was six," said Draco. "Dumbledore talked to the workers at the home and then he talked to me...told me about how I was a wizard…explained that he was a professor at a school for wizards and promised that I would one day attend."
"Now this is my favourite part," said Bellatrix, suddenly leaning forwards with a curious smile on her face. "If you were to one day attend Hogwarts and study wizardry, why was that one day pushed until you were sixteen? Why not eleven like the rest of us?"
Draco leaned forwards as well and met her eyes.
"You'll have to ask Dumbledore that," he said, and he knew that Bellatrix was not happy with this answer.
He knew her too well, even in this timeline. And she seemed to sense this because she kept hesitating and changing her questions. So far, she had done everything that was predictable of the old Bellatrix—the future Bellatrix, post-Azkaban. But the worst was yet to come.
"I'd like to talk about your sorting now," she said.
"Fine," said Draco. "What do you want to know?"
"What the Sorting Hat told you when you were on that stool."
Draco smirked.
"That is between me and the Sorting Hat, is it not?"
Bellatrix raised an eyebrow at him, and then pulled out that famous crooked black wand and placed it on the desk in front of her.
"I suppose it is," she said, pointedly.
Draco stared at it for about ten seconds, and then something out of the corner of his eye caught him by surprise. It was as though a small part of a person's torn pant-covered leg had appeared and disappeared out of nowhere. Sirius. But how on earth did they get in? Bellatrix snapped her fingers in front of Draco's face and he jumped to look at her again. Her eyebrows were raised. Draco sighed.
"The Sorting Hat told me that there were two houses in which it saw me fit," he said, truthfully. "It never told me what the other house was."
"Do you have any idea what that other house could be?"
Draco hesitated.
"I have my suspicions," he finally said.
Bellatrix nodded.
"Go on," she said.
"So you can imagine how…trying it was, to receive the sorting with a bunch of munchkin first-years. I told the Hat to hurry the hell up and it did. Believe you me, getting sorted into Gryffindor was the last thing I'd imagined when I walked through those doors that day."
"Why is that?" said Bellatrix.
Draco frowned.
"Well, you certainly speak as though you know so much about the wizarding world and about Hogwarts…but I can't understand how you could, if you were, like you say, living in a muggle orphanage all this time," Bellatrix pointed out.
"You forget that Dumbledore was coming by every week to tutor me," Draco said.
Bellatrix frowned.
"You did not know this part," he said, amused. Bellatrix said nothing. "Yes, well I suppose your source didn't have all the information then, did they? How is Regulus, by the way?"
"You two have met?" said Bellatrix.
"Not exactly," said Draco. "Everyone in the castle knows me as the second Black to be sorted into Gryffindor…and the new kid…and Dumbledore's so-called prodigal adoptive son. I'm not exactly invisible here."
"Of course," said Bellatrix. She paused. "What are your views on wizarding blood, Draco?"
This time, Draco frowned.
"Where is this coming from?" he asked, feeling mild panic slowly rising up inside of him.
"Curiosity, I suppose," said Bellatrix.
There was a moment of silence as the two stared into each other's eyes, each trying to find hidden meaning in the other's. Draco thought he heard some movement at the back of the class and his suspicions were instantly confirmed. Sirius had managed to find a way into the classroom and was concealing himself from view now…probably some sort of charm that the students were taught in this generation. And if Sirius was there, there was no way that Potter wasn't. Remus probably would've tried to stop them so there was no way he was there. And Wormtail was not a factor. Draco felt his eyes shifting again and immediately refocused on Bellatrix, who was still waiting for an answer.
"Well my house founder was popular for his belief in the equality of all wizards, regardless of their blood status," Draco observed.
"And what is your belief?" said Bellatrix, impatiently.
Draco hesitated. A part of him had been expecting such a question, but he'd had no time at all to prepare for it. He looked around the empty classroom, hoping one of the boys would show themselves and save him from this moment. He'd even go to a stupid detention now if he could just buy himself more time to invent a really, really good lie. He could either feed Bellatrix the information she wanted to hear and lose the boys' trust completely, or he could say what he thought they'd want to hear and get a psychotic reaction from dear Aunty Bellatrix. Where was Dumbledore when you needed him?
"So far," Draco finally said, meeting Bellatrix' eyes again, "My experiences with muggle-borns have been…less than welcoming." He paused as Bellatrix considered this. "Take from that what you will."
And then, he felt it. It had of course been expected but she'd still caught him off guard. He could feel her presence intruding in his brain's walls and he concentrated hard on blocking her out, like she herself had taught him in what seemed like years ago. She was working hard—fighting her way into his mind, and he almost let her catch a glimpse of his first conversation with Dumbledore in this timeline…the one where he specifically explained that he was from the future. Panicked, Draco's own defenses kicked in and he shoved Bellatrix as further from his mind as he possibly could. She gasped. Draco stared at her innocently. She had not been expecting this, and he wished more than anything that he could just come right out and say it. "Hey Bella, thanks for teaching me occlumency many years from now. You were right—came quite in handy."
"Sixteen, are you?" she finally said.
"That's right," said Draco, taking a deep breath. "I could give you a copy of my birth certificate, should you require it, but I really don't see why I should."
"That won't be necessary," said Bellatrix, also taking a deep breath to calm herself from their little mind exercise just now.
"So is there anything else you wanted to ask me?" said Draco, simply. "You haven't even touched upon my super blond hair and how all you Blacks, clearly, don't resemble it."
"Funny you should say that," said Bellatrix, finally leaning back in her chair. "My sister is blonde. She's one of the only ones, though I believe some of our oldest ancestors were blond too."
"Ah," said Draco, nodding.
Bellatrix watched him for a few moments and then leaned forwards again.
"Well, I've spoken with many of my relatives prior to our meeting and it is quite possible that some of our ancestors had children we did not know about." Draco fought hard not to show his sigh of relief. His anxiety was slowly leaving him now and he was doing a very good job keeping casual about it, surprising even himself.
"I suppose you don't have much choice who you end up related to," he said. "You're just born with the parents that you're born."
"Yes well, despite our inability to locate your parents," said Bellatrix, "It is quite possible that you are in fact who you say you are."
"I've no reason to lie," said Draco, simply.
Bellatrix smirked at him.
"Spoken like a true Slytherin," she said, and the moment she said it, Draco knew he had won her over.
Mission accomplished.
"I cannot believe that Bellatrix was the one who showed up!" said Sirius for the seventieth time that evening as he continued to pace around the empty common room. "My family is totally, completely, 100% demented to have decided to send that blood-thirsty, murderous, sociopathic—"
"That's enough, Sirius," said Remus, calmly.
Sirius swore under his breath but continued to pace.
"You were bloody lucky she didn't eat you alive in there," Potter told Draco, who was sitting on the couch by the fireplace, right across from him and Remus. Wormtail was sitting on another couch, looking mighty worried. "I mean, she's bloody fine-looking and it's true that I would give that goddess anything—"
"Shut up, James!" Sirius shot at him, earning himself a Potter smirk.
"—but she's damn scary to be in the same room with," Potter concluded, after dodging a punch from Sirius.
"Bloody idiot, that Regulus is," Sirius muttered again, but Draco shook his head.
"I'd rather it was her than anyone else of your relatives," he blurted out, and then felt himself redden completely.
"Why's that?" Potter grinned. "You found her mighty fine too?"
"Shut up, James," Sirius repeated, his eyes now on Draco again. "Well, did you?"
"What?—no! Of course not!" exclaimed Draco, who was actually relieved that this was the conclusion they'd jumped to, instead of the actual truth. "I just…once I sat down with her I realised that she was the type of person I could easily deal with."
"Oh," said Sirius, nodding and then continuing his pacing. "Yeah, that makes sense."
"You sure dealt with it in the right way," said Potter.
"Yeah," said Draco, suddenly getting to his feet and moving to the center of the room so that they could all see him. "Exactly how did you know that?"
"Know what?" said Potter.
"That I'd dealt with it in the right way," said Draco. Potter glanced at Sirius who stopped pacing again. "You two snuck into that room, didn't you?"
They exchanged another look and then both of them nodded.
"It's not like I didn't try to stop them," Remus muttered, but Draco found himself smirking.
"How in the ruddy hell did you manage to do it?" he asked them both.
Potter looked suddenly proud of himself and removed a large cloak from his bag and tossed it at Draco.
"A gift from my father," he explained as Draco unfolded it and examined it.
"A cloak of invisibility," he finally said, putting two and two together.
"That's right," said Potter, looking proud of himself. "We had to get away with all our mischievous adventures here at Hogwarts somehow, didn't we?"
"Brilliant," said Draco, tossing it back to him. "I shall need to borrow that sometime," he added, jokingly.
"Oh you, my friend, will be using this quite a fair often in the near future," Potter promised.
Draco grinned at him, and then turned back to Sirius who had sunk into an armchair and was now staring at the fireplace.
"S-so," said Draco, slowly. "About what I said back in there…about wizarding blood…"
"Relax," said Potter, waving his hand dismissively. "We get it—you were just trying to save your arse against that sociopath."
"Yeah," said Draco, nervously. "Yeah, I was."
"You did good," said Potter. "So good, that I'm actually impressed, I'll tell you that. Right, Sirius?"
But Sirius only nodded, his eyes still on the fireplace. Draco felt bad for him, he really did. He knew exactly what it was like to belong to a family who were so obsessed with something he was not sure he wanted to be a part of.
"Relax," he told him, moving to sit nearby. "It was fine. Look, you guys eavesdropped on the whole thing, didn't you? I didn't say anything that would get me into trouble with your—uh I mean, our family. If anything, I think I won her over…Bellatrix."
"Right," scoffed Sirius. "Look Draco, I don't mean to be rude, but I have known her a lot longer than you have, and she has always been my least favourite cousin. If it looks like you've won her over, believe me, it is ten times worse than it seems."
"So what if it is?" said Draco, and Sirius turned to look at him incredulously. "It's not like I don't have you, right? And Regulus…"
"Yeah, why don't you go ahead and ask him to protect you?" Sirius muttered. "I'm sure that slimy git will risk his life just for you."
There was silence. And then…
"Alright," said Remus, sitting up and motioning for everyone to look at him. "The important thing that came from tonight is that Draco got through his interrogation with Bellatrix and…I suppose it is safe to say that he is an official, accepted member of your family, Sirius. The other important thing that came from tonight is that neither of you," he looked from Sirius to Potter, "got caught."
Potter grinned again.
"I'd like to have gotten caught by Bellatrix," he said, sighing.
"Shut up, James," Sirius muttered, his grey eyes on the fireplace still.
"Let's just call it a night," said Remus. "We can deal with all of this tomorrow. It's been a long day and it's too late to be up on a Friday night."
"It's too early to go to sleep on a Friday night," Potter contradicted.
Wormtail giggled.
"It's okay, Moony, go to bed, we understand," Sirius said, quietly.
Remus smiled at him gratefully and waved to the others as he retreated to bed.
"You too, Wormtail," Potter added.
Wormtail nodded and followed Remus up the marble staircase. Potter moved to sit on the couch near Draco, both of them facing Sirius who looked like he had finally calmed down a bit.
"So you've had this cloak for how long now?" Draco asked Potter.
"Oh since my first year at Hogwarts," said Potter, dismissively. "My father's said that it's been passed down in our family for generations. And one day, I'll have a son of my own and pass it down to him so he could get up to mischief here as well…got to live up to the family name, know what I mean?"
Believe me, I do, thought Draco.
"Say," said Potter, suddenly diving for his bag. "Bellatrix didn't happen to mention to you how she got into the school, did she?"
"N-no," said Draco, slowly, "But I imagine she used one of those…you know, tall things…called doors."
"Ha-ha," said Potter, finally taking out a bit of old parchment from his bag and pulling his wand out. He placed its tip on the parchment and muttered "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." The blank parchment that Draco had perceived to be just some old rubbish now began to materialise lines and dots and letters all throughout. Potter grinned at him and unfolded this large piece of parchment on the coffee table in front of him. Draco immediately leapt off the couch and sat next to him to observe.
"What the hell…?" he began, but Potter shushed him and directed his wand at some of the writing as he frowned at it under the candlelight on the coffee table.
"That's…" said Draco, examining what looked like a very large map. "That's Hogwarts!"
"Better be," Potter muttered into the map. "Hmm…she might've used this passageway right here."
"Where did you get this?" Draco muttered, but Potter ignored him.
"What d'you reckon, Sirius? D'you think she knows about the southeast passageway to the Entrance Hall?"
"Dunno," said Sirius, dully. "With dear Bellatrix, you never know, do you?"
"I'll take that as a 'no'," said Potter, looking back down at his map.
"It's really unique," Draco continued, his eyes still on the map too. "Whoever you nicked this from is probably really high up here…like…like Dumbledore."
"Relax, we didn't nick it from Dumbledore," said Potter, lazily. "We made it, you big git."
"You made it?!" cried Draco, ignoring the 'git' comment.
"We had to do something all these years, didn't we?" Potter defended. "I mean…imagine just going to class every day and doing homework every night…what kind of a life is that?"
"A student's life," said Draco, though he definitely agreed with Potter's statement. It was no life at all.
"So this is what you're always talking about then," said Draco, finally understanding. "When you say 'the map', you mean…"
"Meet the Marauder's Map," said Potter, holding up the parchment proudly.
"Marauders," Draco repeated. "Right. Well, you guys sure know how to keep a man out of the loop."
"Sorry," said Potter. "But you know…you can never be too careful. We didn't know if you would run off and tell on us like that slimy Snivellus in Slytherin."
Draco felt a lump in his throat at the sound of these words but chose to ignore it for the time being. Tonight was definitely not the night for talking up Severus Snape.
"So what's changed?" Draco resorted to asking.
Potter looked up at him from the map, thought for a minute, and then smirked.
"You went up against the beast," he said. "I think you're good."
Draco grinned at him.
"So why can't Bellatrix have just used a door then?" he wondered.
Potter let out a laugh and shook his head.
"Oh Draco," he said. "You're so naïve. Parents and other relatives can't just wander into the castle and talk to their kids. They need to first go through the headmaster, you know, for security measures and everything. So that's why we think she must've used one of our three secret passageways on the first floor. The question is, which one was it and how does she know about it?"
"So you just sneak around the castle in that cloak," said Draco, his eyes still on the map, "And then you find secret passageways and then you record them on here."
"That's right," said Potter, gleefully. "It's still a work in progress, as you can see. We've still yet to unveil any passageways on the seventh floor, isn't that right, Sirius? What—hey, you okay?"
Draco turned to look at Sirius. He was still in his chair, but his face looked completely broken.
"Fine," he croaked.
"Don't worry too much about it, Padfoot," said Potter. "Seriously, you'll give yourself a heart attack."
"You wouldn't understand, James," Sirius muttered. Potter raised his eyebrows and Sirius sighed. "Look, I'm sorry. I just get really rattled up when it comes to my sickeningly perfect family."
"Yeah, I know," said Potter, dismissively.
"They act like to be a Black is to be practically royal," said Sirius.
"It technically is," said Potter jokingly, and Sirius shot him a dirty look.
"I meant what I said back there, by the way," Draco said. "You can't pick where you're born into."
Sirius let out a bark-like laugh and sighed again.
"You know what," said Potter, leaning forwards and looking at Sirius.
"What?" said Sirius without meeting his eyes.
"Let's plan a good prank this weekend," he said.
Sirius looked up at him, amazed. Potter looked round at Draco and gave him a warning look. Draco quickly jumped.
"Oh, yeah for sure," he said, looking round at Sirius. "Yeah, count me in. Big prank. This weekend. Right."
"Thanks guys," said Sirius, finally sitting up. "It's just the pick-me-up that I need."
"Whatever works for you," said Draco, and Potter actually punched him playfully (and quite painfully too—he'd have to get back into shape soon) on the shoulder.
So all in all, a good welcoming to the family, thought Draco, as he followed the two up to the dormitory about a half hour later, for what looked to be a very promising weekend.
Anyone excited for Draco's first Saturday night "lesson" with Dumbledore?