Author: Lucinda
Rated: pg/pg13
Main character: Sirius Black
Disclaimer: I hold no ownership of Sirius Black, any other HP-named members of House Black, or unbreakable quills. They belong to JK Rowling and her assorted publishers.
This is not deliberately connected to any other Pottery Shard, though I suppose it is compatible.
SBUQ..SBUQ.. SBUQ..SBUQ.. SBUQ..SBUQ.. SBUQ..SBUQ.. SBUQ..SBUQ..
Sirius Black had enjoyed his breakfast quite thoroughly, and now felt energized for his day. Yes, there would be boring lessons on reading and numbers, and a bit on learning French, but that could wait a while. For the moment, he was having an adventure. After all, five was old enough for adventure, wasn't it?
He stalked through the hallways, imagining they were abandoned mine shafts tunneled into the mountains of a far away place. No doubt giant spiders and blood sucking bats lurked just around a corner, and perhaps he might find forgotten goblin treasure! There was a soft noise, fabric rustling, or maybe the swish of hair… Sirius groaned, reminded of what he'd forgotten. After all, every great treasure had fearsome guardians, right? This one must be fabulous, guarded as it was by his cousins. No, they were the three dreaded dragons, Romea, Beltrix, and Narci!
He would insist he was not giggling as he ran through the halls. And he certainly wasn't making swooshy noises and he pretended to blast aside obstacles with the training wand, a shaped stick which would produce sparks in a variety of colors. Any rumors that he gave a shriek at the sudden appearance of a fist sized spider were certainly lies, no doubt spread by agents of the dragon Beltrix.
Eventually, he was found and taken for his lessons. He managed to read the whole story of Babbity Rabbit and the crooked Stump, and did a page of number problems. He even managed the tricky new ones that had words – if Aloysius Abbot had three apples and Betelgeuse Black took one away, how many apples does Aloysius have left? Two apples of course, except that uncle Betelgeuse would have put a curse on the last two, so zero safe apples. French was frustrating, the words were said completely different even though they had the same letters, and he didn't understand why people in France – which his mother said was where French was spoken – couldn't speak English.
Once his lessons were over, Sirius returned to his adventures in the Lost Mines of Wizzenblahgahmo He was sure that was where ancient wizards had lived before founding the city of Min Estree where his father had to go all the time to sort matters out. The dragons were elsewhere, the giant spider of doom was gone, and the whole mines were open to him! Why, he could even… the door down the hall from the library was ajar, gaping almost three inches from the doorframe.
Sirius blinked, staring at the parted door. His father's office… no, the lost library of Wizzenblahgamo! Nothing could stop him from entering and beholding the treasures within! He wasn't certain quite what that meant, but all the stories said that's what great explorers did. It was probably similar to picking something up to look at it up close. Several moments passed as Sirius stared at the door, trying to work up the nerve to open it all the way, or at least enough he could step inside.
The door opened easily, with no scary creaking or claps of thunder. Tall shelves filled with books and folders of paper flanked the single, narrow window, which was alternating squares of milky pale glass and similarly clouded glass in a shade closer to caramel. Several small objects were there as well, small metal or stone shapes of wolves, a cat with carved spots, and even a giant snake wrapped around a tiny person, and a pair of small iron bottles, stoppered and sealed with dark green wax. His father's big chair sat in front of an enormous desk that had rows of little drawers and a row of cubby holes over a ribby looking curve that must have covered the area where a person would actually work. All that was left exposed was a small bit of wood pulled out with an inkpot carved from dark grey stone and a silvery stand with a narrow white feather quill that looked almost as long as his arm. The quill seemed rather stiff.
"That's uncle Orion's unbreakable quill." Beltrix's voice came from the doorway. "Are you even supposed to be in here?"
"Unbreakable?" Sirius glanced at his older cousin Beltrix. Oh, her name was really Bellatrix, but he couldn't say that when he first started to talk, and even she admitted that Beltrix was an improvement from Betick, which sounded like some sort of horrible bug that would sting and suck your blood. Her hair was escaping from the braid, leaving curls around her face and trying to get into her eyes and mouth. "What's that mean?"
"It means the feather won't break, that's what. Are you supposed to be here? Do I need to get Aunt Walburga?" Beltrix frowned at him.
Sirius looked at the quill, frowning. Unbreakable? It looked like a normal feather to him. He raised his left hand, palm down and fingers out. With a loud 'Ha!' he slapped his hand towards the desk, expecting the feather to crumple and tickle his palm.
It didn't.
For a moment, all he could do was stare and try to figure out how and why his hand had sprouted a red feather on the back. Then the pain hit and he screamed, jumping from the chair and running past Beltrix. Droplets of blood were falling on the floor as he ran down the hall, still shrieking.
"Sirius! Come back here!" Beltrix shouted.
"Ahhhhhh!" Sirius ran down the hall, his hand pulled towards his chest. The red feather still stuck there, the portion intended to be held right through his hand. He was leaving blood scattered along the floor behind him. There was a feather stuck in his hand, and he wasn't sure what to do!
A red beam hit the wall near Sirius. Now Beltrix was sending spells at him! He kept running, his hand now starting to throb. Someone had to know what to do about this.
"Sirius!" Beltrix shouted again. "Nobody can do anything about the quill if you keep running like that!"
He might have stopped running if she hadn't fired another spell at him. Instead, he charged down the staircase, still screaming as if he was dying. More blood scattered over the stairs, some droplets spreading over the grey carpet, patterned with silver lines and green snakes. He darted around the corner and ran smack into his mother, the imposing Walburga Black.
They both fell down, with blood everywhere. Sirius was stunned before he could get up and run again, and then Walburga carried him with her to St Mungo's.
St Mungo's kept Sirius for five hours. The quill had been removed from his hand, and he'd been made to drink a nasty tasting red potion called a Blood-Replenisher. An old man in green robes had cast some spells at his hand, and the wounds had closed over. Sirius kept looking as the tender red lines where the quill had gone through his hand. It didn't hurt anymore, but his whole hand felt rather numb, and a bit tingly. His mother was quite cross with him as well – Sirius wasn't sure what a kidney was, but apparently the unbreakable quill in his hand had poked into his mother and stabbed her in her right kidney. With how mad she was, it must be something important.
He was lectured for almost two hours on not bothering other people's belongings, not mucking about in his father's office, and not running through the halls. Then he was sent to his room, and he was given no sweets after supper!
Obviously the lost library of Wizzenblahgahmo was filled with dangerous traps.
He was still sulking and in his mother's bad books – which meant she was still mad – when the family went to Italy for vacation. The weather was warm and sunny, making his skin turn pink and a little tender. The food was different, and Sirius liked it, though Mum still had Kreacher make 'proper English breakfasts' for them each day. The local people here didn't speak English like at home, or French which Mum was making him learn, but yet another language called Italian, which reminded him of the names for spells.
The most amazing thing was the volcano. It was called Mt. Etna, and it had a really big opening at the top, like a giant hole. Inside there was red stuff, not red like blood or flowers, but hot and bright. Mum said it was called lava, and was melted rock. Sirius hadn't known rocks could melt. He was told stories about the volcano, and how a bunch of people called Greeks believed that a mighty king or maybe a wizard named Zeus had imprisoned an enormous monster inside the volcano. It sounded like something not quite a dragon and not quite a snake and made much bigger than either.
The next morning, he wandered through the house. His little brother Reggie was asleep, his parents hadn't left their room, and he was bored. Kitchen with gleaming pots and pans… he'd wait until he was hungry and then maybe Kreacher would fix him a snack. Empty bedroom. Dining room with places set for breakfast. Closet with six flying broomsticks – that had potential. Office, with shelves and a desk… with a stone ink pot and a silvery stand with a narrow rusty not quite red feather standing straight up.
Sirius knew that feather. Seeing it made his left hand ache all over again. The feather was evil and had to be destroyed. He took it to the kitchen and found a knife. Maybe he could chop it apart?
No, but the knife was ruined. He stomped on it a few times, but that just made his foot hurt. He considered bashing the feather with a heavy pan, but the pans were heavy and the noise would draw too much attention.
Then he remembered the brooms.
And the volcano with bubbling lava.
In mere moments, Sirius was slipping out the door. In his right hand he held one of the brooms, and the quill was held carefully in his left. It seemed soft, but he didn't trust it. It was evil, he was sure of it. Once outside, he mounted the broom and flew towards the top of the volcano. As he did, Sirius wonderd if destroying an ancient evil trap from the lost ruins of Wizzenblagahmo was supposed to be easy? Though if he counted his time injured and imprisoned even thought Mum called it grounded, then this was taking several weeks. And Dad had owned that quill for almost a year, that was ancient, right?
Sirius could feel the heat from the volcano as he hovered the broom over the lava. It stung at his eyes. With a grin, he dropped the quill. As it plummeted, it seemed to shrink until he couldn't see it anymore. Then there was a little flare of yellow fire.
Triumphant, he returned to the vacation house and slipped back inside. He had the broom back into the closet before he heard Mum calling, "Boys! Come down for breakfast."
If he was lucky, Mum would never know about his adventure.
End Pottery Shard: Sirius Black and the Unbreakable Quill.