"Hey Tunes."
"I don't think you should be talking to me" She felt Sirius' shoulders heave with a sigh at her thick voice and he waved off his friends. The great hall was quieter than usual. The elder years were preparing for their exams, the noise of rustling pages was extremely prevalent on the Ravenclaw and Slytherin tables. "Dromeda told me what happened. I could always have a word with Poinsettia if you want?"
"No. That would make things worse. I'm already avoiding everyone in the common room." Petunia shook her head, eyes remaining on her plate as she pushed scrambled eggs around. The last few weeks had been rough, Lambia and Dakota had been making catty comments as Poinsettia sniggered. Vittoria had been ignoring them and had even sent her an apologetic glance every now and then. Amaryllis Kesey, the only third year girl not in the gang, had tried to make friends with Petunia but fled to the hospital wing, crying, the next day. Rita Skeeter, a fifth year Slytherin and Poinsettia's cousin, had stolen and printed entries from Amaryllis' diary; she had been fantasising about Fabian Prewett. Her teasing had reached new levels but Slughorn had insisted that the school continued the paper; he thought it a good introduction to the press. "Look, Tunes, I'm sorry she's being crazy. People always try to put claim to high families' heirs when they enter Hogwarts, it's the only time that other family's can without their actions being monitored by the parents." She finally looked up, his face was sincere, grey eyes wide and honest "Andromeda would have scared her off saying anything about you but.."
"But they'll say it about my friends. They'll make everything so much harder than it has to be until I stop talking to you! I don't need protection Sirius! And if you knew this was going to happen why did you even bother in the first place?!" he opened his mouth and suddenly she didn't want to hear any more "I'm just an upstart mudblood Black. Don't spout pureblood nonsense to me like that will explain everything! Felberta's potion got sabotaged in our last lesson. She's still in the hospital wing! I don't want to be a target. I don't want my friends or my sister hurt because other people don't think that I'm good enough for your family!" She stood, snatching up her bag and abandoning any pretence of eating breakfast, before running from the great hall she snapped "Just stop talking to me!"
"Hello Petunia" A airy voice greeted her as she glared out of the common room window, the curtain had been pulled shut but Vulpix settled on to the seat without a second thought "I thought I was the only one using here" she muttered a negative to Vulpix's statement, tucking her legs closer to her despite the more than adequate room "I saw your fallout with Sirius. Lambia was laughing about it in Potions"
"I don't care what Lambia thinks!" Petunia snapped hugging herself tightly and glaring at the dark window
"I know. Felberta came out of the hospital wing earlier." The blonde slid off the seat quickly, eager to find her friend "I think Lambia is horrible." Petunia paused, it was rare for Vulpix to even vaguely trash-talk "Poinsettia and Rita will get their comeuppance one day. You shouldn't lose friends over what they say. It shows them they're winning, see?" she sat back down on the edge of the window seat slowly, staring at her lap and nodding, Vulpix patted her knee and jumped off the seat "I have some charms homework to finish, shall I tell Felberta to come and find you?" she shook her head, accepting a sheaf of papers without looking at them "Good night Petunia."
"Vulpix collected your homework for yesterday, I told everyone you were sick. As a heads up Flitwick will probably want to check on you." Petunia glanced at her friend, Andromeda was bent over a letter to her fiancé, Alec, "Sirius told me what happened, perhaps you're right Tunia. We don't want you or anyone else to get hurt because of our attention. Bellatrix hexed Rita's reporter's quill as payback though, it tells some completely ridiculous lies now. She should be laughed at and forgotten about soon."
"Why is it like this Drom? What is so special about your family?" The brunette sighed, setting her quill down. Madam Pince was drifting between the aisles, collecting all the mislaid books before the end of the day.
"It's a long story Pet. Involves a lot of wizarding history."
"So? I want to know. I want to know why our friendship or your cousin is any concern of Poinsettia's." Petunia protested stubbornly. Andromeda pursed her lips then sighed again "Ok. But don't interrupt." Petunia nodded eagerly, putting her pen down quickly
"When wizarding society was still made of clans and tribes, there were twelve of significance that ruled over Wizarding Britain. They fought for dominance and eventually one won. This lead to us becoming civilised and this ruling family became the Royal Family. ("Which was you? It was the Blacks?") The other eleven families became the Royal Court and the decisions made by the Royal Family were ultimately agreed or argued by the court in the attempt of fairness. These eleven were called the Noble Families. Courtesan families, the nouveau riche, when denied noble status and a place in the royal court, orchestrated uprisings against the Royals, and all of the Noble families, Royal included, were forced into hiding. The power of ruling the country was given to the newly formed Ministry of Magic and the courtesan families, such as the Malfoys, promptly took over using their wealth and influence over the lower citizens. When the last generation to properly remember the noble families died they reintegrated themselves into society. Memories were erased and the royal family had become the twelfth Noble family. As far as the public know, one of the twelve is Royal but no one knows which one so each family is treated with respect. But the noble influence is fading fast. The royals have never been revealed. If it is the us, only Sirius, my uncle Orion and my grandfather Arcturus will know."
"But that doesn't explain.." Andromeda cut her off with a sharp look and tossed her head, making the loose bun on top wiggle
"I don't know if we are the Royals but it is strongly suspected that we are. The only other family it could logically be is the Gaunts but they're all insane or dead. Anyway, people are interested in marrying into our family due to our wealth, our genes, our political connections and our potential Royal power. If it is ever deemed by the public or the Noble and other Royal families that the Ministry cannot handle the responsibility of running and caring for the country, the Royal family will be reinstated. (Petunia frowned and Andromeda took on a haughty tone) Besides you will be hard pushed to find another family as maritally strong as ours. Our magic is powerful, we have multiple children, we hold primacy over most families, we have the most seats in the Wizengamot, it's well known that the Minister often follows our advice and we are on friendly terms with all of the foreign Royal families. Poinsettia, and many others, are jealous. I already told you that purebloods marry young, usually straight out of school. Hogwarts is the place to make your connections, play your games and form a potential marriage contract, either through pregnancy or manipulated feelings, without interference from the parents, Sirius is perhaps the most eligible heir here. They're jealous of you Pet, they think that Sirius has already made his choice and you will be the next Lady Black. Something that is fought for and many believe a muggleborn doesn't deserve."
"I need to talk to you." A lazy grey eye was cracked, peered up at her then closed again. Petunia sat down huffily as Sirius ignored her, the Easter holidays were due to start the next day and the country was bathed in some rare early sunshine. The grass was damp, she shifted uncomfortably, James was by the lakeside coaxing the giant squid to come closer to the shore, Remus had already gone home the week before and Peter was nowhere to be found. Sirius was silent spread out on the grass next to her, she glared at his still form and pulled her transfiguration notes from her bag determined to wait out his feigned ignorance. "Sirius, Siri! ...Oh. Hey Evans." James' sleeves were rolled up and there had been a look of glee on his face before it faltered and he glanced between her and Sirius "What'sup Jamie?" Sirius had sat up, still ignoring Petunia but James shook his head and muttering something about the dorm after giving the girl another weird look, he set off for the castle. Sirius followed.
The sun had vanished behind storm clouds and increasingly heavy drops were falling before Petunia moved, rolling up her notes with a damp sniff and standing, trudging back to the castle slowly, taking the long route and not caring as the heavens burst and the grounds became a mud-bath in minutes. "Eh! What you doing in downpour like this?" she jumped, whirling around, hand springing to her wand. It was just the games-keeper rushing towards her through the swamp of mud like it was nothing, he was holding the leash of a loping great Dane puppy who was snuffling the ground happily and the handle of, what seemed to be, a small tent-sized umbrella. "Ye'll catch yer death, come on now, come and dry off. Then I'll take yer back to the castle. Just one thing I gotta do firs'" He welcomed her under the umbrella with a kind smile and set off across the grounds in wide strides leaving Petunia to slip and sucker through the mud to keep up, they reached his cabin and he shooed her towards it gently, she shook her head, feeling it would be rude to go in without him and followed as he walked into the edge of the forest to a sheltered paddock.
"This is where we keep all the injur'd animals. Only the ones that can't look after 'emselves. I just gotta check his bandages an' we can go have some tea." He approached a stable, pulling a strange smelling ointment and handful of bandages from one of his many pockets. Petunia followed at a careful pace, the great Dane puppy had been released from the leash and was trotting around the paddock cheerfully, sniffing here and there. A flash of gold caught her eye and she approached Hagrid, who was kneeling next to a unicorn foal. Her mouth opened but Hagrid shushed her and she held in her excited awe "Careful now, we don't want to frighten 'im. Put yer hand out, nice an' gentle, that's it. Let 'im have a lil' smell. Now see e's nice an' calm so you can try petting 'is neck, now you keep 'im distracted an' I'll check 'is leg." Hagrid moved to the side and she ran her hand over the silky golden hair of the unicorn gently, moving her hand to scratch lightly and find his favourite spots, the foal did his best whinny and snorted at her. "Look at that! Yer a natural with 'im!" She grinned at Hagrid feeling colour flushing back into her pale face as the foal relaxed under her touch and Hagrid stood up, whistling for Bruiser. He patted the foal gently then stepped outside, Petunia ran her hand over his smooth neck and hesitantly kissed the foal's nose before following. A pure-white, fully grown adult jumped the paddock fence and went to her baby, brushing past Petunia softly as she did.
"How did he get hurt?" Rain was pounding against the windows of Hagrid's cabin but the inside was cosy and cheerful, Hagrid was sat in his chair roughly drying Bruiser with a towel, a large ball of pink yarn with two knitting needles stuck in it sat in a basket next to him. The fire was blazing and the kettle was bubbling merrily, a sweet smell of home baking was combating the damp clothes and dog stench. "Got caught in a centaur's trap. 'Course they told me, dropped 'im off at the paddock and fetched herbs to help. Hate injuring the innocent, centaurs do."
"Do you look after all the animals here?"
"Yeh, easy enough prob'ems to sort mos' of the time. Injured wing, cat fight, occasional case of bad magical warts fer a toad. Mos' remedies are easy to make out of stuff in the forest." Bruiser had fought his way free of the towel and went on a mad dash around the cabin before settling on the bench next to Petunia and demanding an ear scratch. "Where did you get Bruiser from?"
"Friend o' mine breeds dogs. Used to have a St Bernard but he passed a little while ago." Hagrid took the whistling kettle off the heat and pulled out two chipped bucket sized mugs "You want tea or cocoa?"
"Cocoa please. I'm sorry about your dog. Bruiser is lovely. Your other dog must have been too. Doesn't it get lonely being away from the castle?" She accepted the mug and blew on it before taking a small sip of the scalding liquid, Hagrid waved away her sympathy "Ay, he was a good dog. But life mus' go on." he pulled a tray of biscuits from his stove and set about sliding them onto a cooling rack "Nah, it's not lonely being 'ere. Castle's not too far away if I need it. Peaceful rather than lonely. Yer a first year then? How you been finding it? Who left you out in a storm?" Hagrid settled back into his armchair and fixed her with a warm beady eye and she looked down at her mug.
"Ye don' need friends like tha'. Besides, yeh're too young to be thinkin' o' marrying, any of you." Hagrid told her gently as he iced his half of the biscuits with a steady hand, she had been given the other to decorate. "Th' Blacks are a bit high an' mighty. Always have been. You'd be best not to tangle with 'em." Petunia nodded, glancing at the still storm dark windows, Bruiser had fallen asleep stretched out on the hand knitted rug before the fire. Hagrid had been fascinating to talk to. His knowledge of the grounds and the animals seemed unrivalled but he had eventually prodded the story out of her with a little coaxing. "Blimey, look at the time! We better be heading fer the castle, yeh're all dried off now?" She nodded, setting down her icing bag and jumping from the chair
"Thank you for the afternoon Hagrid." She said politely as he shrugged on his damp coat and looked around for his umbrella "Can I come and help you with the animals again?" Hagrid looked up from his search with surprise but nodded slowly
"O' course you can. I'll sen' you an owl." she smiled at him with excitement and pointed out his umbrella, he ruffled her hair, replaced Bruiser's water and food before opening his cabin door.
"Pet, where were you yesterday? Have a look at this nonsense that Skeeter's printed now!"
"Hang on Fe. Amaryllis! I'm sorry Rita printed your diary. Where have you been? Are you alright?" Students were milling around the entrance hall waiting for the school carriages. The elder girl smiled slightly, turned to Petunia, keeping her back firmly to the Prewett twins and tucking her lank ginger hair behind her ear, said "Don't let Poinsettia get to you Petunia. She'll never stop otherwise. I'm transferring to Cackles' Academy in the summer so I'll be ok. Take care!" She waved and ran to her carriage, cloak held up in an attempt to deflect the rain, Hagrid seemed to pat the air then the carriage began moving. "What was that? She's leaving?" Petunia nodded, Felberta at her side as she watched the carriage vanish in the driving rain
"Good riddance. She was a disgrace to Ravenclaw, did you see her point score?" An arm clamped around Petunia's shoulders "I'm glad you've come to your senses Petunia. I wouldn't want to see a fellow clever Raven get hurt, the Blacks are just out of a muggleborn's league. Sure, at Hogwarts they'll be your friends but.. Well you know the rest." Curled blonde hair brushed her face as Poinsettia glanced back at her giggling cohorts "Want to share a carriage with us? I'm sure Eadda can get the next one." Hagrid's booming voice saved her from answering, Lily dashed over and grasped Petunia's arm "Come on Tuney!" she climbed into the carriage and gave Hagrid a brief smile, not daring to look back at Poinsettia.
