Chapter 29: I Watch People Smooze
A/N: Sorry for the long wait but the section of the story is coming to a close and I'm trying work everything out. But as compensation this chapter is extra long =) Thank you to all of you readers who have subscribed to my story. You guys have really kept me going!
One thing about traditional school that I had never anticipated is that just before exam time my mind will continue to study even in my dreams. I couldn't escape it. Just as I would relax and drift into sleep, the mindless dates and names of goblin rebellions would cross my mind. For something so sedentary, studying for the OWLs was exhausting.
While I have since come to expect suspicious behavior from Sirius, James, and Peter, it was very odd from Remus. He had become evasive whenever I asked him about his absences. He didn't want to talk about his sick grandmother either. Any time I pressed the issue he would end up leaving for one reason or another and I had to drop the subject or risk never seeing him again.
Everything was business as usual with Aiden at the lead. The fighting came back to a more ordinary level and everything just seemed so normal. But of course that meant that I hardly ever saw Sirius or James outside of class. As much as they underestimated Peter, he wasn't the one being caught.
Aiden was resourceful and clever. Hardly anything was able to get past him. Many of the students had taken to calling him, His Majesty, behind his back. He didn't like the name, but I've heard Lily say it was because he would rather be called Prime Minister in a few years.
While he seemed in control it was in reality only done so by a thread. His house had become sharply divided. Add that all the Ravenclaws being in the same room put a strain on their tolerance level. Many had taken to siding with Slytherins. Gryffindor could have been a solid rival alternative but many in my own house had taken a liking to the purest attitude.
This inter-house rivalry showed in the last game when Gryffindor played against Ravenclaw. The opposing team held such a vicious grudge against each other that they could hardly play as a team. The match against Hufflepuff proved more of a challenge, which was I was told by James to be a bit of a surprise.
My days seemed to revolve around spending time with Remus as we both tutored a very stressed out Peter. He had received a very strong worded howler in which just about everyone in our house heard about his disappointing performance at school. No one deserved that kind of embarrassment.
I was rather comfortable and content with studying being my main worry. But that couldn't last. Dumbledore, who I was sure had forgotten about me by now, had called me to his office. Spring Break was near and he asked if I wanted to stay at Hogwarts or come with him and Hector on a few banquets that he was forced to attend. My lack of speech must have given away that I had no idea what to think. He decided to let me dwell on the matter.
Here we were supposed to be in hiding and now Dumbledore was going to walk around showing off his new pets. What was his angle? What was the purpose? Why was he doing this?
The easy thing would have been to just go and ask Hector but my brain was hard-wired for doing things the painful way. So, instead I deliberated on it for weeks. The only thing that I could assume for sure was that it had to do something with the breakdown of the Department of Mysteries and the rise of a particularly odd fellow, Lord Voldemort. Which was pretty much all I knew about from the outside of things.
The day before everyone left the castle I had just realized that once again Remus was missing. The rest of his little gang of juvenile delinquents whispered to each other like little girls in his absence. I was able to corner Peter alone but the only thing I could get out of him was that Sirius was forced to go home this Spring Break instead of going with James like he had hoped. Again, nothing on where Remus could be. I kept telling myself that it wasn't any of my business but I couldn't let it go. This two-sidedness of Remus was frustrating. On one hand he always spent his free time with me and on the other he was extremely secretive. It was as if he was trying to hold me close and shove me away at the same time.
On the last-minute the next day I packed my things. Cleo and Neil were staying behind. I wanted to know what Dumbledore was up to but I didn't want to ask Hector. So the only alternative was to just go and find out myself. I couldn't figure Remus out so I stuck to the next peeve that I couldn't let go of.
And that is how I ended up in the middle of the Hogwarts Express threatening to maim Sirius and James while laughing uncontrollably with a blond Ravenclaw boy named Bertram Aubrey. I'm not even sure exactly how it all started.
When I got on the train I bumped into Aiden who introduced me to Bertram. He was a year ahead of us. He had a short buzz cut hair with hazel eyes. He looked like someone straight out of California beach ad with a personality to match. The only thing quite odd about him were his slightly larger than normal ears, which were very distracting.
While Aiden left with Remus I ended up chatting with Bertram. Even after the train began moving I stayed in the hallway with him. He was easy to talk to since he supplied that majority of the conversation about what to expect on the OWLs exam.
Next thing I know I'm dealing with a very annoyed Sirius. He just stared me down for a second with an intense look before ignoring me and turning to Bertram. He said something that didn't make that much sense about a girl named Angela that infuriated Bertram who pulled out his wand as Sirius turned his back.
James quickly came to his defense and in retaliation Sirius pulled out his own wand and hit us with a cheering charm since we were 'both in such a cheery mood together.'
Sirius and I avoided each other after that.
After arriving at the platform I looked around wondering if the headmaster had taken the train as well or had planned on apparating here. Hector pulled up next to me with a trolley and motioned his head for me to follow him.
We made our way to the muggle world through the platform and kept on walking to a far end of the station that led out to desolate parking lot. I stopped and watched him stop near a white two-door car and toyed with something in his pocket. He stopped and looked up at me.
He cocked his head to the side and paused. "Well, do you want me to leave you?"
"Since when do you know how to work one of these things?" I eyed the car suspiciously wondering if it was enchanted.
"I know lots of stuff." He didn't look at me as we both dumped our trunks in.
The drive was silent with the exception of the radio. I fiddled with it until I stopped at a station that played a song that Lily liked to sing while she brushed her hair. I twitched the entire time feeling nervous as I watched the cars all around us in traffic. But he kept on driving occasionally tapping his finger to the beat of song he seemed to like. I wondered if he ever liked to listen to muggle music and how little I actually know about him.
We finally reached a part of London with tall buildings with tree-lined sidewalks. This part seemed more residential. He pulled to the curb of building that looked more like a hotel. As we got in we dragged our things to an elevator. The old fashion iron gated doors had to be manually sided open.
We slipped in he pressed the spot between 12 and 14th floor button. There was no 13th floor. But the spot he pressed buckled in and the door closed. Hector stayed silent and indifferent to my presence.
Once we reached the 13th floor Hector opened the iron gate revealing a spacious flat. There were book cases on every available wall space. Between books were jars of different potions ingredients, candy, and other odd trinkets.
Every single space had something to look at. Randomly placed tables had piles of scrolls with ticking and swinging contraptions that didn't seem to have any real purpose other than to look impressive. The couches reminded me of the Gryffindor common room but these had different mismatched throw pillows, each with stitched designs from dragons to dueling wizards.
My trunk being tugged away startled me. Hector dragged it away down a hallway sighing in annoyance. There were three rooms. The two facing each other looked to be ours. The rooms were Spartan with only a bed and several drawers. Another larger room at the end of the hall was packed with things that I guess must have been originally in ours.
With a large thump Hector dropped the trunk in my room.
He spread out his arms wide. "Welcome." He dropped his arms at his side and walked out towards his room.
I watched him as he started unpacking placing everything neatly folded. His movements were fluid and careful as he refolded everything.
"So …" I trailed off not sure what to ask first.
He didn't look up but kept on working. "So?"
"When will he be here?"
"Dumbledore? Uh, tomorrow actually."
"Oh …"
"We need to go out to Diagon Ally tonight to get everything."
"Get what?"
"The party, … that's why you're here, isn't it?"
"Ya, sure." I walked into my room to unpack wondering if Hector thought that I actually had a clue to what was going on.
This made it even harder to actually ask him why we were doing this. My face flushed involuntarily. He had a reason to be here and risk being recognized. I was here simply because I was nosey and wanted to see what they were up to.
I stuffed a drawer full of jeans and slammed it shut. I didn't want to think about Hector so I let my thought dwell on Remus. That didn't improve my mood.
We traveled to Diagon Ally by floo powder. As we walked down the street I let my eyes wander from window to window taking it all in.
Hector let out a soft chuckle as he scratched his face trying to hide a smile. "You have no idea what to do, huh?"
I grinded my teeth as I looked away and headed off in another direction. I stopped when I noticed that he hadn't followed me. I looked over my shoulder to see him with a wide tooth grin. He stuck out his thumb and pointed to a store front window filled to the brim with extravagant dresses flouting eerily in the air. At that moment I wanted nothing more than to be with Lily instead.
Hector didn't stick around long. He left me in the hands of a very energetic old woman with vibrant silver hair and emerald eyes. Her face was full of fine wrinkles and sharp features. She was all corners.
Mrs. Cattermole took complete control of the situation. She handed me dresses to try on from an endless rack that she has chosen for me to try. I found it hard to keep up with her pace and had to more than once dodge her hand and arm since she was fond of talking with her entire body to emphasize her words. The day couldn't end quickly enough.
The next day felt stressful. I spent hours pinning up my hair, taking it down, then repining it up again. I felt as nervous as when I started Hogwarts. I didn't even have the slightest idea who would be attending, not that it would have mattered.
I settled with a simple braid pulled to the side. I ran my hands down the dress that Mrs. Cattermole chose for me. It was a simple white dress that came down to my knees with a layer of black lace cover it with a black sash around my waist. ( / pin / 39336196715355312 /)
Hector only gave me a once over before silently walking over to the fireplace and grabbed a jar of floo powder. His silence made me want to run back and change but he didn't give me a chance.
He took a hold of my hand. I could feel the silk of his robe against my wrist. Before walking into the fireplace with him I took a good look at him as he faced forward. He wore a muggle style professional suit that was clean-cut and pitch black. It made the white collar shirt stand out between the darkness of his suit and his emerald robe. It looked like he decided to ditch the tie.
I followed close behind him after he went through. I closed my eyes shut and when I opened them back up I was in a grand open hall with marble floors and pillars that held up swaying transparent white sheets that drew the eyes up to the night sky. Hanging shallow brass bowls of fire lit up the court yard in flickering light.
I looked behind me to see a line of three overly grown free standing marble fireplaces with barely lit rose garden beyond it. I could hear people chattering in the distance toward the Roman villa styled house. The windows showed the brightly lit rooms and even brighter colored guests in flowing dressed, robes, furs, and feathers.
A door slowly opened and out walked a man. I took a moment to realize that it was Professor Dumbledore. I had tried to imagine what he would look like dressed up but he looked as normal as ever with the exception that I could have sworn that his robe had shooting stars flying across at unpredictable times. It was very distracting.
Before I really knew what was happening we were bombarded with people inside. Many I didn't really know, but there were more than a few that I did, which caused some raised eyebrows from them. I didn't know exactly know to act so I went to my default plan, act dumb. It wasn't that hard. I did my best to act pleasant and attentive but everything was overwhelming.
All of the faces blurred into one huge swarm of small talk, complements, and bad jokes. I did my best to slowly melt in to the background of the chit chat, which wasn't that hard. They found Hector and Dumbledore much more interesting than me.
"So, you finally escaped. For a moment there I thought they just might actually eat you alive the way they you cornered. I swear, it was like Care of Magical Creatures class all over again." Sirius gave a wide grin, held up a glass cup in a toast, and promptly downed it in one gulp.
Sirius's eyes darted around the room and placed his glass on a waiter's plate as he walked by. He came back around towards me with a sour look but it didn't demise his features. His hair was slicked back and his clothes were pin straight in what looked like an Italian suit with a deep rich royal blue robe. "So you think that Dagger guy was going to meet some here?"
His voice was low and hushed as he spoke to me and I had to rack my brain to figure out what he was talking about. I vaguely remembered Sirius looking at an invitation card at Dagger's house after he died. I suddenly felt very stupid considering that even Sirius had a reason for being here. "I don't know, maybe." I admitted.
"Well, I'm going to go snoop around. Won't be hard, I unfortunately know most of the people here." Sirius sighed and gave my back a hard pat on the back and walked off muttering. "At least my mum won't be pissed at me about not socializing."
I watched him stalk off toward a small group of laughing wizards that looked like they were in their early 20's. I watched him joke around with them, feeling very put out. I sneaked off towards a nearby empty terrace.
I leaned against the marble railing taking in the brisk spring air. I watched people inside sway and twirl to the music. I admired the long flowing dresses as they swept elegantly across the floor. The whole picture was very enchanting. I considered asking Hector if he would dance with me but I quickly shot that idea down as I saw him dance with Narcissa in her long flowing emerald dress. They seemed to match so well that anyone could guess that they were dating.
I let my eyes wander when I noticed another dancing couple. I couldn't place where I had seen the red haired girl but the boy I definitely knew. Lucius was fitted in all black that made his pale hair and blue eyes stand out even more. As another dance ended many of the couples went their separate ways. Lucius noticed me and gave a quizzical look before realizing it was me. I gave a small wave as he opened the glass doors.
Lucius smiled warmly. "Hiding?"
"Kind of," I admitted.
He leaned against the railing next to me. "You just don't know anyone here. Here, come on." He held out his hand.
I slid my hand into his as he started leading me back into the dancing hall. "Where are we going?"
"Dancing of course." As soon as the door closed behind us he placed his other hand on my waist and held up the other. I smiled widely as we waltzed to the melody. "So you can dance?"
"What were you expecting?" I tilted my face giving him an inquiring look.
"You just completely ruined my heroics and noble gesture to teach you."
"Maybe you can try that on your next victim?"
"Yes, I'll have to try harder at picking them out."
Lucius stayed as my dancing partner through the countless classical melodies. He told me very odd stories of people from old families he knew and joked about some of the more eccentric ones.
As one of the faster paced songs involving the quick step an older lady in her forties stopped near us and stared straight at me. Her hair was shockingly white with crinkled pale skin that looked like she must have frowned a lot in her life time.
"It's time for us to leave Lucius. Make sure you …. bathe." Her eyes didn't waiver from me as she added that last part looking at me like some sort disgusting troll. She walked away slowly through the crowed as they practically parted for her.
"She … she's just not used to staying up late. I'm sorry about that." He refused to look at me.
"It's okay; I'll see when we get back to school." I gave a small wave as he gave a sad smile and left, disappearing through the crowed.
As the night went on many of the older guests filed away in pairs leaving a younger crowd. I made my way to a far corner small table meant for two. I crossed my legs and rubbed my ankle slightly. My feet ached but I looked out the crowed of dancers enviously.
A clank on the table knocked me out of my daze. Sirius sat down opposite of me with two plates filled to the brim with various sorts of cakes and pastries.
"Act like I'm supposed to be here." He ordered.
I raised an eye brow at him wondering what he was talking about. He ignored me and pushed one of the plates toward me. I stabbed a fork into a slice of cheese cakes dripping with a cherry sauce. I took a bite of the cake and closed my eyes and groaned.
"This is amazing cheese cake."
He just grunted and stuffed a large piece of chocolate cake in his mouth.
"Sirius, don't you want to keep dancing?" A fairly pretty blond with way too much make-up swished slightly back and forth batting her eyes in an attempt to be cute. She looked maybe a couple of years older than us.
"Not really." Sirius mumbled with his mouth still full of cake.
"Oh, then would you like to come sit with me." She pointed to table across the dance floor to a large table filled with other young couples. "They've been wickedly funny."
"I promised to sit here." Sirius kicked me under the table as a warning to go along with it.
"Oh, you wouldn't mind would you?" She perked up looking at me and I noticed how the tip of her nose was slightly bent downward at the very tip.
Sirius interrupted before I could say anything. "We're supposed to be working on a project together."
"Oh, … well maybe next time." She walked away with here head bowed down slightly, looking extremely dejected.
"This keeping it 'pure' thing is starting to get gross." Sirius gave me an irritated look. "Thanks."
"Okay, …" I snickered at him.
Sirius waved a fork at me. "She's my cousin, first cousin."
"Okay." I bit my lip holding back a laugh.
Sirius only looked up momentarily and growled as he shoved the last fork full of chocolate cake in mouth.
We ate in silence together. I considered complaining or annoying him but I held back considering he did bring me a plate of food and was considerate enough to remember that I adore cheese cake.
I pushed the rest of the food on my plate around and sighed for millionth time as I watched the couples dance with bright faces. Sirius's chair screeched as he stood up but I kept my eyes fixed in front of me.
Sirius blocked my view while rolling his eyes and stuffing a rather large cream puff in his mouth with one bite. He held out his arm toward me.
I squinted at him. "What are you doing?"
"What do you think I'm doing? You're clearly going to be annoying and sigh all night until someone asks you to dance. So get off your butt and dance with me."
Sirius, in his own way of trying to accommodate me put on a little show. It really was the strangest thing I had ever witnessed from him. I guess I should have enjoyed it, but coming from Sirius it just didn't feel normal.
He was in every way proper, considerate, and polite. His movements in dancing were flawless and seemed to make a point of adjusting to my pace even though he was the one who should be leading. He didn't let his eyes to wander to other girls like he normally would have and kept a respectable distance between us as we danced. Polite and respectable, two words I'd never thought of associating with Sirius Black.
"Such showmanship, too bad Hogwarts doesn't have an acting class." I commented.
Sirius arched an eyebrow. "You're not the only one who can put on a show. I'd thought you'd like this?"
"Hmm?" I thought about it. I guess I should have liked it, and it (in) a way I did.
"Having conflicting emotions, Lascano?"
"It's just odd coming from you."
"I had a dreadful feeling you'd say that."
"Now you're just teasing."
"Sorry, it's a difficult act to keep up."
I spent the rest of the night dancing with Sirius as he did his best to 'keep the act up' although his many rude or innuendo remarks seemed rather purposeful to me. When I had come back to Dumbledore's flat I still felt light on my feet. I closed the door to my room and hummed lightly and danced a quick waltz by myself before undressing. I couldn't remember feeling this elevated.
I collapsed on my bed and curled in bed ignoring the soreness of my feet. I sighed and laughed at myself realizing how Sirius always seemed to win over any girl he had his eyes on. He really was a wonderful actor. I smiled as I remembered that I was actually supposed to be upset with him.
During the week, Dumbledore had his days booked with appearances, meetings, and speeches. Luckily, I was able to wiggle out of most of them. I had always pictured his life to be rather laid back giving orders and maybe write a few letters and speeches behind his desk. I never imagined how exhausting it was to be him. He seemed to be needed everywhere at once. Even though it was spring break, owls regularly flew in with letters from teachers and parents that needed to be responded to. With Dumbledore so busy Hector and I couldn't help but gravitate to each other. It started rather simply and a bit awkwardly …
Hector opened and closed drawers in the kitchen looking for something. He had taken up cooking for some reason. "So … you and Sirius?"
I looked up from Witch Weekly as I sat in the breakfast nook across from him. "Huh?"
He now turned his back to me as he found a rather large silver bowl and began adding things I couldn't see into it. "You spent most of the night with him. Is it official?"
"I spent just as much time with Lucius." I added.
Hector didn't respond.
"He was just putting up an act to get me to stop complaining." I sighed turning back to my magazine.
"What do you mean?" He was now whisking something that smelled like chocolate.
"I really didn't know anyone at the party … and I wanted to dance again. He may have looked nice but you should have heard the things he was saying. He was still very much Sirius Black."
"You're using his name as an adjective now?"
"He is an adjective."
Things got lighter after that. Hector looked like he made it a point to stick with me when we went out to many of Dumbledore's 'appearances'. This was convenient since all the other seemed to have a minimum age requirement of 70. As much as I hated going, the up side was that we had quickly become regulars at muggle candy shops.
Over all, the week was extraordinarily anti-climatic. Nothing happened. That was until the last day when I received an Owl from Sirius. It was a large dark speckled owl with disturbing bulky yellow eyes and what looked like a massive dark uni-brow. I suspected that he sent this particular owl just to unnerve me.
His stare was intense and hostile. I slow crept up to it not wanting to be potentially pecked to death. The owl, however, had other ideas. I had apparently worn out its patience as it gave a slight flap of its wings nipped at the twine that held the package and flung the parcel at me. It gave a large screech before stealing a piece of brownie that Hector had made and flew out the window just had abruptly as it came in.
"I'm going to take a leap and assume that disaster of a bird was from Sirius."
I nodded as I traced my fingers over Sirius's surprisingly elegant cursive writing.
"Figures." Hector left to the cluttered living room to watch some kind of muggle Soap Opera which I completely didn't understand since it had nothing to do with cleaning or singing.
It was just a bundle of rolled up papers with a small note on the outside the simply read, 'Sirius'. Untying it the entire thing was made of newspaper and magazines. At first I had no idea what it was until I noticed that some pages had been marked with large black ovals.
Most articles were little pieces and rather obscure. Some were directly connected to Dagger Royallord. Increasing non-human magical being's rights, petitioning the Ministry to increase research on potential werewolf cures, and more importantly investigating what he called 'an increase in organized magical criminal and terrorist organizations.'
I picked up the papers and placed them on the table spread out. In the corner of my eye a small strip of paper laid on the floor. I picked it up and it looked like a partially cut picture of a racing broom advertisement. I turned it over and at the top corner was a red star.
* An un-named source has brought to our attention that the unnatural amount of 'accidents' and unsolved crimes may all have a connection to each other. All of the victims have direct or have association with activism for a wide variety of little known groups with issues ranging from the fair and ethical treatment of magical creatures and muggles alike to ensuring the protection of orphaned magical children. In the investigations an Unspeakable simply known as Dagger has been allegedly been doing independent investigations on behalf of the Ministry of Mysteries. These reports have not been confirmed but interviews with people at the scenes have reported seeing a man who may have been Dagger. Conspiracy theorists believe that these crimes are part of a larger plot to over throw the Ministry of Magic and cleanse the magical community. They claim that before their deaths the victims had shown unusual behavior and may have been under a little known spell involving a type of mind control. These allegations are highly unlikely as that these spells are extremely difficult in nature and impossible to tell if the victim was in fact being manipulated.
I sat on the floor dumbfounded. I have come to expect the unusual and creativity from Sirius Black but this was on another level. I went through the clipping again and was able to see what Sirius had been up to. The lists of obituaries didn't quite match some reports. People who had worked and been highly involved in equality activism were suddenly in the news for being part of murders, endorsing anti-magical creature policies, had taken part on what the reporters called extreme acts of cruelty and abuse of power. These were extreme cases of being out of character.
It looked like the conspiracy theory group was on to something.
The front door opened and closed. I could hear Dumbledore chatting with Hector. I raced to pick up all the pieces of newspaper and shove them in the nearest drawer. I dusted myself off and took a deep breath before joining them. I knew I should have just straight out asked or questioned them. But a small part of me tugged fitfully not to give away what Sirius had figured out. They had hidden so much from me that they it felt right to protect Sirius and his own little secrets. At least he trusted me.
