SCHOOL BOUND 4TH JANUARY 1976
I had packed and repacked the case. The slightly worn grey leather with yellow stitching and gold clasps, my initials SG were embroidered under the handle. Inside a new cloak, the books I had gotten plus muggle chocolate bars. Important stuff. Toffee had been set for Hogwarts earlier that morning and I'd meet her there due to having to use the fireplace. Already dressed in my robes I throw a handful of Floo powder into the grate, the flames turning emerald. The adverse weather had cancelled the train outright.
Flora's illness, I found out through snippets of conversation between my parents, was due to a very stressful muggle job. Her boss was awful and she barely had enough time to eat, her lunch hour more focused on keeping up, and staying late into the night. Going cold turkey without magic was clearly not good for her. I don't think that she'd been on her own too much anymore, mum would be popping in or phoning on a regular basis.
Stepping into the grate the flames lick around me without damage. I keep my elbows tucked in I state clearly 'Hufflepuff Common Room.' Various fireplaces whizz by as move, not able to catch where I was. It was an awful and messy way to travel.
Dusting the soot from myself I note a pile of black powder upon the carpet, the common room already busy with students catching up. In the dorm, the twins were unpacking untidily. Cynthia had stayed here during the holidays; her parents were spending it in the southern hemisphere. Harriet was nowhere in sight. None of the girls had heard from her over the holidays, and I hadn't heard from her since New Year's Day. As we head for lunch she was still nowhere in sight but appearing late in the afternoon. She'd gone to London to catch the train, forgetting that she was supposed to be taking a port key along with a couple of others. She really should have gotten an organiser for Christmas. It was a good job the Kings Cross had a wizarding waiting room in which a large fireplace could be used in times like those.
It was a few days later that I even got a glimpse of the four boys. Their cloaks billowed behind them as they left after breakfast having been their super early and leaving as it started getting busy. It was strange and incredibly frustrating. Even the three Gryffindor girls shrugged when I checked with them. They were avoiding us. I didn't like it. They skipped lunch too. Something was up.
I find Lily, Alice and Marlene in the library, as per usual. The three of them sat around their normal table as they always did at this time. I was caught up with everything so it was reassuring to find them with textbooks covering the table, scribbling away to finish the essays. Sitting beside Alice, I remove Alice in Wonderland from my bag and a blank muggle notebook with colouring pencils. I start with book Alice in her blue dress and long blonde hair at the bottom of the page. The girls look up curious. Both Lily and Marlene have knowing smiles on their faces. To pureblood Alice this character was definitely new. Keeping my voice low I ask them if they knew why the boys were AWOL. They shake their heads, Lily commenting they were avoiding them too. I ponder this for a while, drawing a border around the page to that of a heart playing card. "Any idea where they could be?" Again, they shake their heads, each giving me a sympathetic look. Taking my time, I pencil in 'Wonderland' in a curvy looping script across the top half of the page before going over in a stronger line, widening the letters and filling them in. "Any idea how to find them?" They pause a moment, thinking. How do we draw four mischievous boys enough so they can be seen? Long enough to talk, or even just pause a moment. I play with the bangle, twisting it around my wrist. They'd noticed. "Present."
Still we sit in silence, deliberating. How do we draw attention so much that they have to stop? A prank, so well executed that they would do whatever possible to find out who did it? Possibly, just causing a scene? Drawing attention? Using Reg as bait; that would be harsh and we'd have a load of Snakes on our case. Possibly getting him to help, though I can't see that happening. If we could just know where they were and that they were going to be there long enough to be able to approach them. Or we could go straight to the people who I was almost certain that would know. Dumbledore and McGonagall. But I didn't really want to involve them.
We needed drama. Excitement. Something that would get people gossiping. Attention grabbing. Provoking. Shouting. Screaming. Something that would provoke a certain dark haired seeker enough to come to the rescue of a red-haired damsel. His friends would follow. Something that would let him step in, chivalry and bravery. Coming to protect those who needed help. "We need to fight, Evans as bait. We need to have an argument in front of everyone. But it needs to draw attention." They all nod in agreement as we plot against the Marauders.
I finish NEWT level Charms a little earlier. This gave us a half hour gap before the start of dinner in which the boys wouldn't be allowed to skip any longer. Alice had found this out from the ghosts who were known for gossip. With a flick of my wand I change into a backless grey floor length dress, the neckline higher to my collar bones, tied with a ribbon at the back of my neck. My hair was let down, grazing the bottom of my ribs. This left me vulnerable but I was sick of not having the boys around. Of not having Siri around. But it was definitely attention provoking. No-one had seen my hair down minus the girls in the dorm. The blonde waves fall softly, swishing against my naked back. If I were to shift my hair out the way my entire back would be exposed. To what my hair concealed would also cause people to talk.
Stepping into the busy corridor the looks start, whispering behind hands and such. By the time I reach the main hallway of the castle the whispers, looks and bodies follow me like the pied piper. Eventually it overtakes me. In the hallway near the Great Hall I find Lily, poised to react. The amusement of it all making her green eyes twinkle. We'd been a touch mean towards each other these past few days. Small snipes and niggles thrown at each other. Just enough for others to start picking up on it. "Grey." She stands blocking my way, her red hair swishing, her hands on her hips. Her fake anger was a touch intimidating, it's a good job I knew it was an act.
"Evans," I smirk, "Thought you'd wait on me?" I pull my hair into a high ponytail. The gasps from behind me has the desired effect. "You really didn't have to." Alice twirls her wand in her hand in the corner of my eye. The boys had arrived.
"No magic, Grey. None of that silent stuff you do either. Just you and me." She passes Marlene her wand, motioning for me to do the same.
"Fine. Your call." Sticking my foot out from below the dress, I mentally remove the wand out the boot and into Marlene's hand. Once again, the crowd gasps. Wandless silent magic. It always seemed to cause people to react.
"Fight me." She motions me with a single finger to come closer. "Payback."
"NO! Evans. No!" Potter pushes his way through the gathered crowd. "Grey, don't." The other three boys follow, standing between the two of us. Then I notice Sirius. His usually flawless face was shadowed with fading brown blotches. His left eye was a touch puffy and bruised, his lip had been split but was now healing. It's what I had originally feared. The cost of the priceless bangle which sat upon my wrist. Lily just simply nods, seeing what I had. I wanted to touch him, to reach out and hold him. I knew he would run. He wouldn't want sympathy or fuss. This is why they had been avoiding us. Protecting one of their own. Sometimes magic couldn't heal things easier than what biology could. Some wounds were better left be.
"Mission accomplished Lily." I grin at her. "Thanks." All four boys look confused between us.
She simply smirks in return. "Turn around, I want to see your back please."
"Just don't go hexing me or anything." I take her outreached hand as she chuckles, I twirl. Right now, I was vulnerable. She would see the series of Celtic knots from the base of my neck down to where the dress stops at my waist, though the ink went further. Each knot was interlined by a series of crisscrossing vines. I can feel her absorbing it all in as I watch Sirius. He's refusing to meet my eyes. His proud chin levelled in defiance, the column of his throat exposed. Any other time and I would have placed gentle kisses down it, softening the stubborn stance. I want to speak to him but the words are stuck in my throat. I wish he'd told me, or at least tried to get in touch. The bracelet wasn't worth him being hurt.
"Pretty. Heritage, Sylvie." She acknowledges, letting go of my hand.
I slide the heirloom off my wrist. As I hold it out for him he takes it slowly. His fingers wrap around the delicate metal. I wasn't worth him getting beat up for. Trying not to cry, I walk away, pushing my way through the by standing crowd. In the corridor leading to the common room, our corridor, I let the tears fall freely, the dress swishing as I hurry. The beautiful attention seeking dress had worked. I didn't like seeing him hurt. What kind of people would do something like that? I already knew the answer to that.
Curling up on the chair beside the fire I felt incredibly small and insignificant. Childish, I suppose. The world suddenly felt a whole lot bigger. I didn't know where that left Sirius and I or our relationship. I wanted to fight for it. I wanted our relationship to grow. But he needed to do and want that too. But he also needed to be careful and not get bashed about on the wrong side of his family. He needed out of that toxic family and that way of life. I couldn't protect him from that though. A cup of hot tea appears along with my wand. Professor Sprout's kind face is beside me. I take it gratefully. She doesn't speak, just sits in the armchair opposite. Her presence is calming and reassuring. Placing the tea down, I stand. With another flick of my wand I'm back in my school uniform. The ostentatious dress pooling on the floor. Kicking off my boots I curl up back in the chair with the tea, knowing that I had missed dinner. With a crack Mimmy, our house elf, appears with a plate of macaroni cheese. Taking it, I thank her, she pats me knee before disapparating.
I spend the next few days hiding in the common room. The other Badgers checking on a regular basis that I was okay. They offered to get me school work, staying with me to guide me through it and whatever I had missed in class. The upper years relaying NEWT level information that I needed. Or they'd come and sit and talk about mundane things, Quidditch, the weather, my favourite colours, anything just to distract me and cheer me up. They really were all lovely.
On the Sunday I venture into the Great Hall for breakfast. The twins, along with Cynthia and Harriet creating a huddle round me in solidarity. Each wearing a grey turtleneck to match the black one I was currently living in and covering up with. I wasn't ashamed of my tattoos; I had even more than the ones I show. The other two were covered up, I wouldn't be showing them to anyone too soon. Not public knowledge. There was only one person in which I wanted to show them to. Our relationship was up in the air, there was no chance of that yet. On our way through the hall we're met by fellow housemates, all with turtlenecks or scarves. Covering up in solidarity. This, is what being a Hufflepuff was all about. All being loyal to the end no matter how silly the situation, or how old the event now was. Bypassing the Lions, the three girls smile and wave, I wave back, glad things weren't weird. I can't meet the Marauders eyes quite yet. The thought of being so distant with them upset me. My heart too. But I was fine. I was in the masses. And things were going to be okay. The stunt Evan's and I pulled was going to fade into old news. Thank Merlin for that.
A week or so had passed. Yesterdays' news. James and Sirius was still frosty with us over it all. Remus and Pete were softening a little. The former had taken interest in the books when I had been sketching in the library. The lure of limited edition covers had been too much. I was happy just with the fact that he'd approached me. He did, however, get warned not to damage them. Pete was simply just doing whatever he could to try and get his brothers in arms to react. James had even stopped trying with Lily. It was all sorts of weird.
Up on the fifth floor the music classroom was empty. We used this room during muggle studies learning both magical and muggle music. Personally, I was fonder of muggle than magic. I suppose I got that from my mother too. Adair had a fondness of Celestina Warbeck although she was a tad too screechy for my liking. Thumbing through one of the muggle music books I find classical artists; Debussy's Clair De Lune, Beethoven's Fur Elise and Moonlight Sonata, Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake and Pachelbel's Canon in D. I knew I'd be a touch rusty from not playing in a while but it would be lovely to relax into it. I also wondered if there was more modern and up to date sheet music. Something from this decade's charts. The book nearly hits me in the face as I summon it. Flicking through the pages I find Elton John's Your Song, a couple of Abba songs, Queen and a few others I recognised.
Sitting upon the small bench in front of the piano I give it a tinkle, the piano was thankfully tuned properly. Now where to start? Classical, always therapeutic to play. Soon enough I get lost in the music. It all comes back like I'd never stopped. Childhood memories of my granny Ethel playing, a young me beside her watching her hands glide across the keys. A little older and she was by my side instructing and correcting the mistakes with a gentle manner. And playing solo the summer before Hogwarts where she was simply just a memory. Once again, I start crying. I hoped she would be proud of me. I'd like to think she would be, even with my magical abilities. As I finish the set, a round of applause comes from behind. Turning I find a small gathering of students. Amber and Misty plus Harriet and Cynthia. Lily, Alice and Marlene too. What surprised me most was the four boys who all stood gawping. Mimmy is also beside them, a huge smile on her round face looking pleased as punch. She shuffles forward. "Mimmy apologises to Miss Sylvie for intruding. Mimmy heard the familiar music and had to tell people. Mimmy told Miss Sylvie's friends. Miss Sylvie's friends didn't believe Mimmy. Mimmy had to show them that Miss Sylvie could play." It all comes out in a rush. Bless her.
Standing I crouch and give her a hug. "Thank you Mimmy." She pats my arm, something familiar, before disapparating. Turing to my audience I smile, now rather embarrassed. "So…?" I play with the rings upon my fingers.
"Sylvie." Siri. His black eye and split lip had healed. I didn't want to talk about what had happened. "What else can you play?"
"I was going to try chart stuff…" it was all a touch awkward. Harriet just smiles, nodding to the piano. Getting the hint, I sit back down, flicking through the compilation for pop songs, starting with Bohemian Rhapsody. Behind me I hear shuffling then eventually humming with the intro. "Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Caught in a landslide. No escape from reality…" by the third line most of them were singing along. Both James and Sirius could be heard mumbling about muggle music. Alice was singing softly; Lily and Marlene must have been playing it. Mentally I send a lyric book in their direction. By the chorus everyone was singing with gusto. It was quite a strange thing, playing the piano with people singing behind me. I could have done with them being in my peripheral vision.
As I flow from one song to another they appear at the front of the piano just like I wished. A familiar body sitting next to mine, his gaze upon my fingers, a slight smirk once again on his lips. Maybe we could go on from this. As I play the closing notes his arm is around my shoulders. A bunch of happy teenagers with no current concern in the world apart from falling out with each other and some shitty families.
Sirius and I really needed to talk.
He takes my hand, leaving me to play a simpler version of Fur Elise, it was sketchy but coherent. Our friends, with a bit of nudging, melt away out the classroom, leaving us. The silent room is punctuated by piano melody. With a flick of his wand he makes they keys move on their own accord quietly in the background. We talk, starting with the plan that Lily and I had concocted. He understood why we had done it, apologising for avoiding me. He asked about the gorgeous dress, commenting how we should have an excuse to wear it properly sometime. To give it a better memory instead of it representing something negative. And then onto the tattoo. Had it hurt, yes, yes it did, but worth it. And the meaning of each symbol. A loopy cross known as a Quaternary, a clockwise spiral, a double spiral known as an Epona, an anticlockwise spiral. The trinity loop or Triquetra then the Triskelion triple spiral at the base, hidden from view when I had the dress on. All interlinked by gentle ivy vines, the leaves coloured in an Irish green. He commented how one day he would trace them down my spine. I had no doubt that this would be true.
We then discuss Christmas, the beautiful but inappropriate bangle which he reveals from his jacket pocket. Walburga had gone spare, using Regulus under the Imperius curse to lash out at him. His father watched on. He'd stood and taken it, knowing that if he were to run it'd be worse when they caught up. The bracelet had been a last act of defiance. He'd watched his mother blast his name off his family tree in Grimmauld Place. He'd left. Turning up to the Potters in Godric's Hollow on Christmas Eve. His face, he mused, was bad. He could barely see, his nose could have easily been broken but wasn't, the split lip. They were nothing to the broken ribs. Mr and Mrs Potter had healed him enough for him to swear he wasn't going back. They'd accepted this and set up a bed in James' room. The school, obviously, had to be notified. Minnie had been relieved, giving him a biscuit and cup of tea, instructing to lie low until the bruising subsided. Reg had apologised ten times over, it wasn't his fault, though there was a bit of tension between the two brothers. Now that he was in a safe and loving place he'd realised just how toxic his childhood had been. Hexing for fun. Thinking nothing of treating the house elves as little more than slaves, he still didn't like his mother's house elf Kreacher. But he was now away from the grasp of Dark Magic, of Pureblood Elitism. The Potters would look after him.