November 1, 1994
The day following Harry's name being pulled from the Goblet of Fire it had been closer to three in the afternoon when the three of them had arrived back at Constellation Commorancy; none of them spoke to one another as they congregated in the kitchen together. Silently Remus had made toast because none of them would've been able to handle much more than that, and wordlessly Lucy had made coffee because the past twenty-four hours had been nothing but a wind whirl of emotions, and almost catatonically Sirius had just sat at the table with his hands neatly folded in front of him and his spine straight; the way their edict teacher had taught them years before.
They— the three of them and Professor McGongagall —had, once the other Headmasters had gone back to their quarters and Harry had gone off to bed, stayed up four hours in the Deputy Headmistresses office, trying to figure out a way to weasel the Boy-Who-Lived out of tournament only to come up empty handed because no matter which way they tried to circumvent the rules they reached a legally binding wall.
It didn't matter that Harry was fourteen because they had used the original Goblet and the only thing that had stopped some dumb first year from entering had been an age line Dumbledore had drawn. It didn't matter that Harry was technically a Hogwarts student because he had been entered under a different, made up schools name and schools were invented all the time so the cup had accepted that Harry Potter was a student from Salem's Academy for Boys. It didn't even matter that he hadn't actually entered the tournament himself as the person who had entered him had done so had entered him posing as the fictional schools Headmaster.
He was trapped and there was nothing Lucy, Sirius or Remus could do to help him get out of the situation he'd been placed in and it was maddening.
Lucy felt as if she were swimming thought a thick sea of molasses and that there was a heavy fog in her brain stopping her from thinking of anything other than the fact one of her kids— because Harry was as much as hers as he was Sirius' and Remus'; as much as Theo and Tahani were her kids —was in danger.
"I bet it was Karkoff," Sirius said firmly, turning to them as Remus and Lucy— Lucy, who with a look of bewilderment —turned to the eldest Black son. Lucy, on top of the counter had been pressed against Remus' shoulder, his arm wrapped around her middle as he leaned onto her.
"Who?" Lucy wondered; the name didn't ring a single bell in her head and she was sure with a name like Karkoff if she had heard it before, she would've been able to remember it.
"The Durmstrang Headmaster," Remus told her,
"You know the Durmstrang Headmaster?" Lucy blinked.
"Know him?" Sirius said scoffing, "We fought him. The bastard's a marked Death Eater, which is why I think he was the one to do it. Think about it, first the Cup was attacked and then the Dark Mark appeared and now he's here's and Harry's been entered."
"Why would he do that Padfoot?" Remus asked. He shifted so that instead of his hip being against the marble counter it was the small of his back; his arm was still wrapped around Lucy, "What could he possibly have to gain—he sold out over a dozen Death Eaters when he was arrested to avoid Azkaban."
"So!" Srius got to his feet, the chair he'd been in clattered to the ground and his knuckles turned white with the force he used to grip the handle of his mug. For a moment Lucys thought he was going to throw it. "He was a Death Eater! A marked Death Eater Moony," there was a desperate nite in his voice, begging his friend to believe him, "Who cares if he sold out half the fucking ranks! He probably saw Harry the day he arrived and thought he'd do the dead prick a favor!"
"Why would he risk it though?" Lucy wondered. Snitch or not Karkoff was a marked Death Eater and just because he had been stupid enough to get caught didn't mean he was stupid enough to plan and carry out a murder plot under the noses of two powerful wizards; one of whom was paranoid and undoubtedly would already have his eye on him. Marked Death Eaters had to do something to prove themselves worthy before being let into the inner circle. "Moody— and Dumbledore —are in the castle with him, why would he run the risk of getting caught when there's no reward, it doesn't make sense."
Perhaps it was the Slytherin in her, or perhaps it was how she had been raised but doing something stupid, with no chance of actually being compensated in some sort of way, was outlandish. If Voldemort was around and could reward Karkoff for ultimately getting Harry killed in the tournament Lucy could understand why the Bulgarian Headmaster would have entered the boy, but he— Voldemort —wasn't around, he was dead and there was no reason for a Death Eater who escaped imprisonment to risk his freedom for a deadman's memory.
"Why am I not surprised you're defending a Death Eater?" Sirius sneered nastily, ice flooded Lucy's veins.
"Sirius!" Remus barked.
"What the bloody fuck dose that mean!" Lucy snapped, her voice raised. She jumped off the counter and Remus' arm was still wrapped around her middle; his fingernails dug past her sweater and into the flesh of her waist as he held her back from taking another step towards her brother.
"Between how you talk about Regulus and LeStrange—"
"—Reggie's our brother—"
"—Our Death Eater brother Lucretia! Death Eater! He was a bad person and you still talk about him like he was the best fucking person you ever knew!"
"He was the best fucking person I ever knew asshole!" Lucy snapped, "Reggie and Rabstan—" Because Lucy knew that Rab had been the Lestrange Sirius had alluded to, not Rodolphus, "—Took care of me when you decided you didn't want to, when you, like some pansy asshole, took off! They were there for me! They protected me! They were my family! Yes they were monsters! They they were Death Eaters but incase you forgot Sirius not everything in the world is black and white, sometimes— you fucking twit —people are gray, and just because you can convently forget the good times with certain people, that doesn't mean the rest of the bloodly fucking world can do the same!"
Her face was red, her cheeks were puffed out and her chest rose and fell in angry puffs. Sirius, paler than he had been, glared at her. He trembled like a volcano ready to explode. Like their mother, before Regulus had died, would do whenever she got angry enough to punish Lucy, but for the first time since the night in the Shack Lucy didn't care.
She didn't care how much Sirius reminded her of their mother or their father because in that moment she was eleven years old again and she hated him with every fiber of her being.
"I'm going home," she snapped unthinkingly, Remus' lips twitched as Lucy stared at her brother, "You—" she pointed at her brother, "—Can go fuck yourself," she spat before storming out of the kitchen and off to the fireplace where she grabbed a handful of sparkling ashy looking powder from what had originally been a flowerpot.
Lucy stepped into the large fireplace, "The Burrow!" She called, throwing the ash at her feet; harmless green flames erupted and encased her body in a blinding light before the airless feeling of being sucked through a small straw overtook her.
…
Molly Weasley hadn't been home when Lucy had stormed into the Burrow ranting about her asshole brother, but Arthur Weasley, on one of his rare days off, had been. The balding man, with his glasses halfway down his nose, had given Lucy a large, nearly arm sized mug of hot chocolate— "My Molly-Wobbles secrete recipe," he had said when he set it down —and a heavy blanket to wrap around her shoulders like a cape as she paced the length of the Burrows kitchen as she recounted what had happened to the older father of seven.
"—I mean," Lucy looked at Mr. Weasley who had taken a seat at the dining room table, "Am I wrong? Reggie and Rab, they were monsters, I know that— I know they did horrible, horrible things —but they were also all I had. Am I doing something wrong by remembering the good too?"
"Well, no, but I suppose also yes?" Mr. Weasley told Lucy, the older man beckoned the ravenett witch to sit in the seat next to him and Lucy, gripping the edges of the blanket did so, "It's harder for Sirius, I suppose, to remember the good, he was on the front lines fighting— he probably fought your brother and Ophelia's father more than once, saw the things they'd done —but you're right, they where all you had, them and your cousin so it's natural you remember more good than bad from them."
"So I'm not a terrible person." Lucy asked and Arthur Weasley chuckled, he reached for Lucy's hand and smiled,
"Of course not—" both Mr. Weasley and Lucy turned to the sound of the front door opening and the pair of them beamed at the sight of Mrs. Weasley.
"Lucy!" Mrs. Weasley smiled, sounding pleasantly surprised, "What are you doing here?"
"I had a bit of a row with Sirius," Lucy told her, "I ended up coming here because it was the first place I thought to go." She had called it home hadn't she? When she had told Sirius he could stuff it she had said she was going home—warmth flooded through her because it was true, no matter how old she was the Burrow was home.
Hogwarts had always been there and growing up it had always meant getting away from her mother but the Burrow had always been the place she was safest; at Hogwarts she had been almost drowned and tormented because of who her family was and at Grimmauld she had been abused because of what her brothers had done but at the Burrow she had been welcomed and loved and shown what kind of love she was deserving of.
Molly Weasley frowned, "That man," she grumbled, it wasn't a secret that after Meiri's birthday, where's Mr. Wesley and Sirius could talk about sports or muggle life Mrs. Weasley was always a hair's breadth away from cursing the recently freed man, "I ought to teach him a lesson, I mean really, chasing you out of your own home!" Lucy couldn't help but giggle.
"I think it was less he chased me out and more I left before I strangled him to death." Mrs. Weasley, pecking her husband on lips, let out a huffed chuckle. She pecked the crown of Lucy's head, the former Slytherin hugged the woman tightly; Mrs. Weasley took the seat on the other side of Lucy when they parted.
"Still, what happened now?"
…
Once Molly Weasley had stopped ranting about Harry once more— "He's a child, a child! How can they possibly let him compete!" — and after she had angrily raved about what Sirius had said— because where Mr. Weasley could easily see both sides Mrs. Weasley was the humanized version of a mother bear —the older witch kindly invited Lucy to stay for dinner.
"Are you sure?" Lucy wondered, "I mean, I know I sort of just showed up but I don't really want to get in the way of any plans you two had," she knew that Mr. Weasley rarely got days off.
"Phsss," Mrs. Weasley laughed, "The only plans Arthur and I had for tonight was turning on the old muggle radio he has out back and listening to the old Just a Minute reruns," Mrs. Weasley said.
"Well if you're sure," Lucy said, "Is there anything you need help with?" Molly Weasley took in a deep breath,
"Help?" She narrowed her eyes the same way she usually did when cooking up the twins punishments, "Well I was planning on cooking up a stout pie; you wouldn't mind pulling the carrots and potatoes from the garden out back while I cut up the meat and such?"
"Of course," Lucy said, moving to get up; Molly followed her up and handed the Korean-English witch a baby blue wicker basket with white and pink daisies painted on the sides; it was obviously Meiri's— or had, at least, once belonged to the Prewett girl —that's handle squeaked as it was lifted. It was cute.
"How much should I get?" Lucy wondered,
"Just enough to fill the basket as is, no need to go putting an extension charm on if it's just the three of us."
"Alright then," Lucy said heading out thru the backdoor and to the garden. There were plenty of weeds— though not from iscare or neglect but because it was just how magical weeds were —and each of the trees were gnarled and a big green pond full of frogs; and practically spilling out of the flowerbeds, between the magical plants like the Alihotsy shrubs and moly flowers were the large heads of lettuce and other vegetables that Molly Weasley grew in her spare time.
And under the dropped leaves of the lettuce and between the roots of the trees were the gnomes that no matter how much she and the others threw them, always came back; not that she felt bad for the potatoe-like monsters. The first time she had ever picked up one of the rotten little suckers she had been bitten.
It was early in the morning and Lucy, eleven and in her first ever Weasley sweater stood next Bill and a nine year old Charlie Weasley as Bill, grinning plucked a gnome off the ground.
Where Bill had compared the gnome to a fat little Santa Clause-like creature with fishing rod-like arms Lucy was inclined to disagree with her friend because the creature in his hand was certainly nothing like Santa Claus. It was small and leathery looking, with a large, knobby, bald head exactly like a potato. Bill held it at arm's length as it kicked out at him with its horny little feet; he grasped it around the ankles and turned it upside down.
"This is what you have to do," he said. He raised the gnome above his head— the gnome yelled at Bill to let go of it —and started to swing it in great circles like a lasso.
"Doesn't that hurt them though?" Lucy asked the two brothers.
"Nah," Charlie shook his head, his voice muffled from the scarf Mrs. Weasley had wrapped around him nearly a dozen times. "You've just gotta make them really dizzy so they can't find their way back to the gnome holes."
"Oh, okay." Lucy trusted Bill, and she trusted Charlie and the other Weasleys but still the thought of throwing the smaller creatures over the hedge that bordered the garden, and risking the possibility of hurting it made her uncomfortable so she had decided just to drop the first one she caught over the hedge, but the gnome, sensing weakness, sank its razor-sharp teeth into her finger.
Lucy, swearing loudly and unladylike threw the gnome off her finger.
"Merlin Luce that's gotta be fifty feet!" Bill said in awe with his gloved hand over his brows. He grinned and Lucy, cradling her finger to her chest grinned back.
The air was soon thick with flying gnomes.
Lucy nudging the gnomes out of her way with her foot— ignoring the rude gestures and the rude utterances they muttered as she kneeled in front of where the carrots were planted —began to pull the carrots. The first time she had gone to help Mrs. Weasley in the garden she had thought picking the carrots had meant pulling them straight out of the ground. She had been wrong.
The air was hot and Bill was inside with the twins and Charlie was with Percy and summer vacation was halfway over. Mra. Weasley had asked Lucy for help in the garden only to chuckle as the young witch fell back on butt.
"Lucy, deary, look," Mrs. Weasley smiled; she inserted the garden fork into the soil a few inches away from the base of the carrot plant; she pushed the fork in so the inward curve of the fork was facing the row of carrots. Mrs. Weasley pulled the handle of the fork towards her body and away from the carrot foliage; the garden forks tinges lifted the soil and roots from the ground without damaging the carrot roots; unlike Lucy who had pulled the foliage from the carrots she had been trying to harvest.
Grasping the carrots by the base of the foliage Mrs. Weasley lifted them from the loosened soil.
"Oh," Lucy observed, she looked down at the green on her hands and her cheeks tinged pink; "I'm sorry." Mrs. Weasley's hand rested on Lucy's shoulder and the young girl— still not used to people touching her just to touch her —jumped.
"Don't worry about those, try again with these," Mrs. Weasley told her easily pointing to the green carrot tops next to the ones she had pulled out herself.
A throat cleared behind her. Lucy, with a dirt covered carrot in her hand turned to see Sirius standing behind her; his hands were stuffed deep in his leather pockets and a guilty look shadowed his face.
Behind him, in the kitchen window overlooking the garden was both Mrs. Weasley and Remus; both of whom scuttled away when they had caught sight of Lucy looking at them. Turning her attention back to Sirius Lucy set the carrot on the ground.
"What do you want, Sirius?"
"To apologize," he said, "I was wrong before— what I said to you; how I said it —was out of line. You didn't do anything to deserve that, I just—" Sirius cut himself off, "—Between yesterday and Harry and what today actually is—" Sirius shook his head, "—I never should have done what I did, last night or before."
He's apologizing? Lucy's head spun. Blacks, her mother had once told her when she— scared to be hurt —had cried for forgiveness right before a punishment, Don't apologize. They don't cry and sniffle and beg for forgiveness, Blacks are perfect.
"No," she choked, "You shouldn't have, I care for Harry as much as you and Remus do but thank you," she breathed, "You apologizing means a lot." She wasn't just saying that either; Sirius, a Black— the man who was meant to be the Black heir —apologizing to her, it meant the world.
He offered Lucy his hand, "I still have carrots to pick," she told him. Sirius keeled down next to her with an easy half grin on his face;
"Do you want any help?" Lucy felt herself grinning.
"Yeah, that's—that'd be nice."
November 3, 1994
Sirius Blacks thirty-fourth birthday was held at Andromeda Tonks house; old rock music slipped in between the newer songs Dora had told Sirius he just had to listen too, and Ted Tonks' laugh could be heard between every line of the base as Sturgis Podmore, and old friend of Remus and Sirius' told another joke.
Andromeda and Emmeline Vance, another old friend of Remus and Sirius' sat on the couch chatting; the women both apparently liked the muggle movie The Shawshank Redemption while Remus introduced Lucy to Dedalus Diggle a squat but very excitable man who wore a large purple top hat atop his head, despite being indoors.
Remus' hand was splayed out on the small of her back as Dedalus Diggle recounted story after story about Srius, Remus and James; the first one had been about how Dedalus hadn't thought much about them— "I mean can you blame me Remus?" The older man questioned. Lucy, for a second thought he was going to blame Remus' lycanthrope for his mistrust and hooped the party mood wouldn't be too damped if she hit him; she also hoped neither Remus or Sirius would be too upset with her hitting an old friend of theirs, "I mean that hair you used to have? That hair of hooligans!" —and after that it had been a story about how Longbottom— "Frank, not Alice—poor folks" —swore he once found Sirius and Remus bombed from whatever they had done the night before and passed out with a stag next to them.
The story the old hyperactive man was recounting then was about the time Remus, Sirius and James had all rushed into the organizations meeting room— even he said organization; like he had taken a vow to never say the actual name —panting because the three of them had outrun the muggle police on the back of Sirius' flying motorbike.
"—And so Benjy, Fenwick that is— he was a good lad, Merlin rest his soul, a bit prickly when he didn't eat though, not that you'd ever know he did with how skinny he was —anyway, so Benjy Fenwick is telling us all about how You-Know-Who and his men are starting to reach out to the continent or something like that— honestly it could have been that he had found more Marked names but still, anyway —Fenwick is talking when your brother and fellow over here and of course James Potter— you never saw James with Sirius did you? We used to joke he was more married to him than he was Lilly whenever we'd find those two scheming up something in a corner —but that's besides the point, the point is those three burst into the room, startle us all to high heavens because we think we're being attacked, and Dearborn, the good man, hits Mundungus Fletcher right in the ass with a stinging hex! He sent the little bastard sky high!" Lucy had laughed into her hand and Remus had chuckled at the memory into the crown of Lucy's head, muffling himself with her hair, but Dedalus Diggle bent over laughing at the memory.
Lucy turned to Remus; "Why were the three of you running from muggle officers?" Remus' ears burned pink.
"Well I was in the sidecar and Prongs was behind Padfoot, who was speeding by the way, and when we see the lights of the police officers car turn on Pad decides it's best to run because the last time he had pulled over he'd been arrested for not having any muggle identification on him—"
"—I'm sorry," Lucy cut in, "Just how many times has Sirius actually been arrested?" Impishly Remus smiled.
"—Like I was saying," Remus carried on as if nothing had interrupted him, "The last time he'd pulled over he'd been arrested so he decided that instead of all three of us getting arrested for not having identification he'd take off and out run the officers."
"Merlin."
"It's better than the time Peter fell off the back; I was in the sidecar, Prongs was behind Sirius and Peter behind him only at some point between his flat and where James and Lily had been staying Peter had fallen off."
"Ceirce!" Lucy gasped; a knock came from the door. Lucy pulled away from Remus,
"I got it Dromeda!" Lucy said to her cousin who had only just barely risen off the couch, she turned to Dedaluas Diggle and held out her hand with a soft smile, "It was a pleasure meeting you."
Diggle's large purple top hat tilted forward as he grasped Lucy's left hand with both of his and shook it enthusiastically; "And you dear." Lucy pecked the corner of Remus' lips and moved to the door which, with a large grin, she threw open the door and was greeted with the sight of not only a large but well groomed Rubus Hagrid, but Professor McGonagall and Alastor Moody.
Moody, who wore the ugliest bowler hat Lucy had ever laid eyes on, straightened from his slouch— his cane scraped against the cobblestone beneath him —at the sight of her. She beamed at both Hagrid and McGonagall.
"Professor McGonagall! Hagrid! Moody," she said with much less enthusiasm than she had used to greet either Hagrid or McGonagall, Lucy moved to the side, "Come in, come in." She shut the door behind Moody who had been the last to enter, she could feel his magical eye glued to her as she moved past him.
"Sirius look who showed up!" She called out; Sirius' head whipped up from the conversation he had been having with Dora and Kingsley Shacklebolt— who had apparently gone to school with both Sirius and Remus —and swiveled to her and the three Hogwarts Professors by the door.
"Minnie—Mad-Eye!" Dora, Kingsley, Remus and the organization members' heads all snapped to the door to gape at Alastor Moody who shifted from foot to peg-leg. Remus left the conversation he had carried on with Dedalus Diggle and approached the group as Sirius hugged the Hogwarts Deputy Headmistress.
"Mad-Eye it's great to see you again," Sirius said, holding his hand out for his old Auror training officer. The man didn't shake and instead took to bowing the tip of his puke green bowler hat.
"You too Black, Happy birthday," Moody said with a growl to his voice. Remus wrapped an arm around Lucy's waist as he settled next to her, grinning as Sirius thanked Moody. The eldest Black took the medium sized present Hagrid passed to him.
Moody's eyes stayed planted on Remus' hand, his eye— the good one, the magical eye stayed planted on Remus' hand —moved up to Remus' face.
"Alastor, it's nice to see you again, how've you been?" The werewolf wondered; Sirius shook the box next to his ear like an excited child.
"Fine," he said shortly, "And you?" Remus opened his mouth and looked at Lucy and then turned his head and looked at Sirius who had been in the middle of telling Hagrid a muggle joke Arthur Weasley had told him and then he looked at Lucy once more, with a soft look on his face and then to Moody, beaming.
"Amazing, better than I've been in a long time." Moody's magical eye moved from Lucy's waist to her face; "But uh," Remus looked between Lucy and Moody, "Has anyone ever introduced you two? Alastor this is Lucy, love this is—"
"We've already met Remus," Lucy said before Moody could say something.
"You have?" He blinked.
"Who do you think interrogated me the day Pettigrew blew up the street?" Remus' eyes widened embarrassingly. Moody stiffened.
"Oh—"
"How have you been Black?" Moody questioned, "Keeping your nose clean?" He asked almost snidely. Prick, Lucy thought. Hadn't making her cry at eleven been enough? Lucy glared at the man; his eyes were brighter than they had been moments before.
"Of course, I'd ask if you were doing the same Moody but I doubt that's possible."
"Lucy!" Remus hissed, his hand squeezed her side but Moody's chest rumbled with the chuckle.
"You're just like your brother aren't you?" He wondered with a shark like grin. It was familiar in all the wrong ways; it made Lucy's stomach churn. Before she could shoot back something wittily Dora's voice cut in.
"Alastor Unicorn Moody, sir Merlin, sir!" Dora flounced over, the metamorphmagus tripped when she got close to the three of them and with her arms out in front of her as she fell Lucy was brought crashing down with her cousin.
"Dora," Lucy moaned on the floor, Remus and Moody both bent down and helped the young women up— Remus helped Dora up by her elbow and Moody had pulled Lucy up by her forearm —"I swear to Merlin one day I'm going to lose it and murder you."
"Do it," the pink haired witch dared as Remus breathed something about Lucy needing to stop saying she was going to murder people.
November 10, 1994
Lucy, in the emerald green Weasley sweater Mrs. Weasley had given her that past Christmas laid stretched out on the grass in front of her house looking up at the clear blue sky above her. Remus, having given up looking for a job in the magical world was spending the day job hunting in the muggle one, and Sirius was playing Led Zeppelin's nineteen-sixty nine song All My Love loud enough that despite the front door and his bedroom window being closed Lucy could still clearly hear songs lyrics from where she laid.
Lucy thought of two things, the first was that she was glad she lived several miles outside of town, and the second being that if their mother used to hate his music then their father had lothed it.
With their parents at St. Mungos for their fathers worsening cough and Regulus out in the world with Claudia Burke and Barty Crouch Jr, Elton John's This Bitch is Back boomed through the halls number twelve grimmauld place. Paintings grumbled as their frames thumped against the wall and vases tattered dangerously close to the edges they were seated on. Lucy, four years old happily jumped around Sirius' room and called it dancing as fourteen year old Sirius, with his summer homework in his hands, laughed at Lucy's silly butt wiggle from his seat on the bed.
If the instructor their parents paid to teach them proper pureblood dancing could see them she would have a heart attack; "That," the old crone would cry with a wrinkled and shaky hand, "Is not dancing!" And perhaps it wasn't but Lucy was four and having fun and it was all that mattered to Sirius. That and finishing his Arthmacy homework.
"Sirius!" The little girl shouted at the top of her lungs, still not loud enough to be clearly heard over the music, she lunged at her older brother, flopping next to him on his bed and grabbing his hand, "Dance with me!"
"I have to finish my homework Goose!" Sirius told her louder, he took his hand from her and mused up her free flowing hair.
"Please!" She pouted her lip, she took his hand from the top of her head and curled it so that she could rest her chin on it. "Please!"
"You really have to stop it with that face Goose," Sirius told her as he, with his free hand, ear marked the page he was on before setting the textbook to the side.
"Why?" Lucy blinked,
"Because I can't ever seem to say no to you when you make it."
"That's why I make it though," Lucy said, she didn't understand what she said that was funny enough for Sirius to start laughing at her but the older boy had, titling his head back and letting the music drown out his corse bark like laugh, Sirius chuckled.
He then, unexpectedly, picked her up, Lucy shrieked jovial as she balanced on her brother's hip. The other boy bounced them around their room, jumping to the beat of the song; they'd only jumped around for a verse before Sirius's bedroom door flew open causing both Black heirs to turn around in surprise.
Their father Orion, balding and hunched back with his wand already out said nothing as he exploded the boombox that sat on Sirius' dresser. Several emotions crossed Sirius' face in the span of a second— shock, fear, sadness —the last one being anger.
"What the bloody—"
"Don't finish that sentence boy!" Their father boomed, only to start coughing immediately afterwards. The wizard wheezes before straightening up, "I thought your mother and I said to watch your sister not expose her to this degenerate garbage!"
"It's not garbage!" Sirius protested, still holding Lucy who stared at the pieces of a smoking boombox. Her tiny lips were parted as she stared transfixed on the broken machinery. Their mother often broke things in her fits of rage— plates, glassware, statues —but it was the first time Lucy had ever seen their father do so.
"Hell it isn't!" Once more their father coughed into his fist. The older wizard straightened out his back and looked almost disgustedly at his son.
"I listen to it!" Sirius protested! Orion Black glared at his son, as if to rest his case.
"I forbid you from listening to them," Orion huffed, "—Who were they? Those Tornado Sisters—"
"—Twisted Sisters? No," Sirius hiked Lucy higher up on his hip, "Elton John actually."
"Who?" Orion Black scoffed. Sirius, with a dangerous glint in his eyes, smirked. It was the same look he got whenever he was about to say something he knew would make their mother lose it.
"Elton John, a muggle." Lucy had never seen her father turn red before; she had seen her mother's cheeks puff up pink whenever she was thrown into one of her fits of anger and Lucy had seen Regulus's ears darken whenever he argued with Sirius but she had never seen her father's face turn as red as the Gryffindor banners in Sirius' room before.
She had never truly seen her father angry. There were times— had been times —where Orion Black had raised his voice and times where he had slammed an occasional door but Lucy couldn't remember a single time in her short life she had ever seen her father enragraded, at least, not before then.
"Lucretia!" Her father snapped in a commanding tone that left no room for arguing, "Come here!" Sirius with a glare of his own set her down and Lucy shuffled over to her father who not so gently pushed her out of the room and into the hall. He didn't shove her but he certainly didn't handle her with care.
"Watch how you handle her!" Sirius snapped, "She's a kid!"
"And you better watch how you talk to me boy!" Orion fired back, "I don't want to hear another peep from you until you go back to school. No more muggle music, no more arguing with your mother or brother or so help me you'll be on the street so fast you'll head will spin!" With that, as he coughed harder than he had while yelling at Sirius, their father slammed Sirius' door behind him.
Lucy turned her head to see the shaggy black dog sitting next to her. No longer was it skin and bones under layers of matted hair but lean muscle and beautifully washed out fur.
"Hey Sirius," she muttered turning back to watching the sky. The dog shifted and sitting with his legs folded on the grass next to her, was her brother.
"Witcher Goose, what're you doing?" Lucy shrugged, the dead grass wrinkling under her shoulders.
"Thinking about when we were kids—when father blew up your boom box," she told him. She didn't have many memories of her father, some of him sitting at the head of the dining room table silently cutting his meat, and the one of him yelling at Sirius as the eldest Black boy left, and that one. There was one more from an old Christmas morning but besides those handful of memories Lucy couldn't remember her father.
"He was such an asshole—" Sirius cleared his throat and lowered his voice to sound like Orion Black once had, "You're a stain on this house Sirius, one step away from blood traitor garbage!" Lucy, propping herself up on her elbow, looked at her brother.
"He said that?" Sirius nodded.
"The summer before I ran away, right before I left for school. I think he thought he could use the fact his health was declining to shame me into being the proper kind of son."
"What an ass," Lucy agreed. Their mother had been a monster; their father though, had been an ass.
"Do you remember the time when Alphard got so loaded at the annual Christmas gala he kissed the Minister's aid right in front of everyone?" Lucy's jaw dropped because no, she did not.
"You're kidding me! That happened?"
"Yeah! You were probably like five? Maybe you were four, anyway you were young, and oe sam chon Cygnus and Druella were throwing it that year at the manor so everyone is in the ballroom and I just remember looking for you cause it was my responsibility to wrangle you that night as Reggie as slouched off to chase after Claudia—"
"—From everything I remember, when wasn't he always doing that?" Lucy interrupted, a teasing smile on her lips.
"Fair," Sirius laughed with a wagged finger, "Anyway I remember seeing you over by Ara and Rabastan and than looking over to see why someone had dropped a glass, because everyone sort of gasped and seeing oe sam chon Alaphard tipping back Minister Leach's aid so he could snog him properly."
"Holy fuck, I'm sure mother and Cygnus loved that."
"She hexed him, Alphard dropped the aid who was, let me just say, uncomfortably into it, and than as Rodolphus, the git, may he rot in Azkaban, carted Alphard off to sober up or go home or something, as Cygnus and Durella did damage control."
"How's that work out?"
Sirius shrugged, "Alright I guess, by the end of the night everyone thought Alphard had drunk enough to confuse the aid with a woman he was seeing and that the aid should cut his hair more."
"Merlin!"
"Tell me about it."
November 14, 1994
Lucy Black loved Remus Lupin, the pair of them with old records playing in the background, were curled up on the couch together as the fire across the room crackled hungerly. Her head rested on his shoulder and her shoulders ached from that day's practice while the rest of her ached due to cramps. His bare feet were cold against hers but she couldn't find it in herself to move away from him; his fingers threaded through her hair every so often.
"Remus?" She asked.
"Yes love?"
"If—" she started, "—If you weren't a werewolf what do you think you'd be doing right now?"
"Why?" Lucy shrugged, the question had been on her mind for a while; if he weren't a werewolf would he still have taught at Hogwarts? Would he still have fought against being with her as much as he had because she was Sirius' Blacks sister at the time? Would he have still ran away after the first time she told him she loved him?
"If you weren't a werewolf would you still be with me?" Remus grinned,
"Lucy if I weren't a werewolf I would still be irrevocably in love with you because you're amazing." Lucy grinned,
"Yeah?"
"Ego," Remus teased.
"You like my ego."
"I like everything about you," Remus rebutted and Lucy warmed from the inside out, she smiled at him because just the sight of him made her smile.
"I love you," she told him, he pressed his lips against her sweetly. It was a tender kiss. She loved him, she loved him with every fiber of her being, every cell of her body and every ounce of her soul. She loved him and he loved her. He loved her despite her faults and shortcomings and where she came from.
"I love you too."
November 15, 1994
Lucy woke up to Sirius having set the paper on fire, the smouldering ashes of what was left burnt in the sink.
"What the hell did the paper do to you?" She wondered, Sirius who with his wand out, had been glaring at the sink and the newspaper remnants turned to her.
"That— that woman —Rita Skeeter!" Sirius cried.
"That bitch?" Lucy blinked. "What's she written now?" She truly was the worst, since starting her career as a professional Quidditch player Lucy had quickly learned not to talk to the Skeeker woman unless it was set up by her coach.
"Lies!" Sirius shouted, "About Harry!" Lucy's brows knitted together,
"But he's a kid." There were laws in place to stop the paper from releasing a minor's name without the consent of their parent or guardian.
"Exactly—" Sirius waved his wand and part of the unburnt section of paper levitated above the sink. "Listen to this! I suppose I get my strength from my parents. I know they'd be very proud of me if they could see me now. . . . Yes, sometimes at night I still cry about them, I'm not ashamed to admit it. . . . I know nothing will hurt me during the tournament, because they're watching over me. . . ."
"I mean," Lucy grimaced, she didn't like that the Rita woman had freely spoken to her brother's godson without their consent. "I know Harry doesn't cry at night but that doesn't sound too bad as opposed to what she has actually written."
"That's not the point, the point is she wrote lies about Harry!" Lucy held her hands up in defeat.
"You're right, you're right, so what do you want to do about it?" She wondered, "We can get it pulled, I can call in favors, ask for some if need be whatever you think is in Harry's best interest."
"I—I don't know. If we have the article pulled, what's to stop her from writing something worse about Harry, sure she'll get in trouble than too but it'll already be out there and you know how the public is."
"In my opinion?" She offered, Sirius nodded for her to keep going. "There's going to be more articles, the first task hasn't even started so we wait, if they even look like they're turning against Harry we shut her down so badly Grandfather Pollux would be proud." Sirius, with a dog like smirk, grinned.
November 17,1994
Lucy, Sirius and Remus waited for Harry in the Shrieking Shack. Earlier that night the boy had sent a frantic owl that the first task would be dragons only for Sirius to send an equally frantic owl back to him instructing him to meet the three of them in the shack later that night.
It wasn't that Lucy felt guilty over having killed Peter Pettigrew— and it wasn't as if, even for a second, she ever had felt guilty over it —but there was something daunting about standing in the same room she had killed a man; about standing in the same spot unable to look away from where the man's corpse had hit the floor.
Lucy's foot tapped fast against the old scratched up flooring as her eyes stayed glued to a specific spot on the floor and Sirius walked back and forth the length of the room while Remus continuously crossed and uncrossed his hands.
Harry, with the invisibility cloak sticking out of his pocket— and Theo who had the Marauders map hanging out of his back pocket, and Tahani —all walked through the door to the room; Tahani bounced over to Lucy who she hugged tightly and Theo, with a split lip smiled shyly near the mouth of the room as Harry bounded over to the left of her to his godfather whom he hugged tightly.
"What the fuck happened to your face!" Lucy panicked, she moved from Tahani— who moved to greet Remus —to Theo who grinned roguishly. Lucy grab Theos chin between her forefinger and thumb and tilted his head up more into the light of the moon.
"I got into a fight," Theo said, "Really it's nothing."
"What did you get into a fight over?"
"Well Higgs was in the common room last night and he was saying all this stuff about Harry and you and Remus and, I don't know, I couldn't let him." Lucy got that; she couldn't remember how many times she fought someone from her own house for speaking ill about the Weasleys or about Dora.
"Well you won, right?"
"Won?" Tahani laughed from next to Remus, "Higgs came into the Great Hall this morning missing a tooth, we all thought he wandered into the forest last night before we saw Theo!" Lucy clapped Theo on the shoulder proudly.
"Seriously?" Remus cleared his throat behind her, his own badly concealed grin fought to stretch out from behind the fist he had coughed into. "Right, er, seriously?" Lucy repeated in a deeper, more disappointed voice. She winked at Theo who grinned. She turned her body to Harry,
"And how are you?" She wondered seriously.
"I'm —" For a second it seemed as if Harry had tried to tell them all he was 'fine', but he couldn't do it and he could stop himself, he was talking about how no one believed he hadn't entered the tournament of his own free will, how Rita Skeeter had lied about him in the Daily Prophet, how he couldn't walk down a corridor without being sneered at— Lucy and Sirius had shared a look at that and with a sublet head nod they both agreed that something would have to be done about the article if Harry was being tormented on just what had been published already —and about Ron, Ron not believing him, Ron's jealousy.
". . . and now Hagrid's just shown me what's coming in the first task, and it's dragons, I'm a goner," he finished desperately. Sirius looked at him, eyes full of concern, eyes that had still not yet lost the look that Azkaban had given them — that deadened, haunted look.
"Dragons we can deal with, Harry, but we'll get to that in a minute. There are things I need to warn you about." Both Remus and Lucy shot Sirius a suspicious look.
"What?"
"Karkaroff," said Sirius. "Harry, he was a Death Eater. You know what Death Eaters are, don't you?"
"Sirius!" Remus hissed,
"What, Harry and the others have a right to know Moony—they should know!" Sirius snapped almost furiously before turning back to Harry who looked at his godfather with wide unblinking eyes. Tahani and Theo both sandwiched Lucy between them; Lucy could feel Tahani gripping the back of her robes in her fist.
"Yes — he — what?"
"He was caught, he was in Azkaban with me, but he got released. I'd bet everything that's why Dumbledore wanted an Auror at Hogwarts this year — to keep an eye on him. Moody caught Karkaroff. Put him into Azkaban in the first place."
"Karkaroff got released?" Harry said slowly, his brain seemed to be struggling to absorb such a piece of shocking information. "Why did they release him?"
"He made a deal with the Ministry of Magic," said Sirius bitterly.
"He said he'd seen the error of his ways, and then he named names, he put a load of other people into Azkaban in his place. He's not very popular there, I can tell you. And since he got out, from what I can tell, he's been teaching the Dark Arts to every student who passes through that school of his. So watch out for the Durmstrang champion as well."
"Okay," said Harry slowly. "But are you saying Karkaroff put my name in the goblet? Because if he did, he's a really good actor. He seemed furious about it. He wanted to stop me from competing, you saw that."
"We know he's a good actor," said Sirius, "because he convinced the Ministry of Magic to set him free, didn't he? Now, I've been keeping an eye on the Daily Prophet, Harry—"
"—You and the rest of the world," said Harry bitterly.
"—And reading between the lines of that Skeeter woman's article last month, Moody was attacked the night before he started at Hogwarts. Yes, I know she says it was another false alarm," Sirius said hastily, seeing Harry about to speak, "But I don't think so, somehow. I think someone tried to stop him from getting to Hogwarts. I think someone knew their job would be a lot more difficult with him around. And no one's going to look into it too closely; Mad-Eye's heard intruders a bit too often. But that doesn't mean he can't still spot the real thing. Moody was the best Auror the Ministry ever had."
"So . . . what are you saying?" Theo voiced from his spot next to Lucy slowly. "Karkaroff's trying to kill Harry? But, why? If he got out of a life sentence why risk killing Harry under Dumbledore's nose?" So it wasn't just her who was thrown by the idea. Sirius hesitated, his eyes flickered to Lucy and Remus.
"I've been hearing some very strange things," he said slowly. "The Death Eaters seem to be a bit more active than usual lately. They showed themselves at the Quidditch World Cup, didn't they? Someone set off the Dark Mark . . . and then, do you remember hearing about that Ministry of Magic witch who's gone missing?"
"Bertha Jorkins?" said Harry.
"Exactly . . . she disappeared in Albania, and that's definitely where Voldemort was rumored to be last—" Why did he know where Voldemort was rumored to be last? Lucy looked at Remus whose lips were pressed together tightly, "—And she would have known the Triwizard Tournament was coming up, wouldn't she?"
"Yeah, but . . . it's not very likely she'd have walked straight into Voldemort, is it?" said Harry.
"Listen, I'm not sure you remember us mentioning it— if we ever have —but Moony and I—" Harry looked at Remus who looked only at Sirius, "—Knew Bertha Jorkins," said Sirius grimly. "She was at Hogwarts when I was, a few years above your dad and me and she was an idiot. Very nosy, but no brains, none at all. It's not a good combination, Harry. I'd say she'd be very easy to lure into a trap.
"So . . . so Voldemort could have found out about the tournament?" said Harry. "Is that what you mean? You think Karkaroff might be here on his orders?"
"I don't know," said Sirius slowly, "I just don't know . . . Karkaroff doesn't strike me as the type who'd go back to Voldemort unless he knew Voldemort was powerful enough to protect him. But whoever put your name in that goblet did it for a reason, and I can't help thinking the tournament would be a very good way to attack you and make it look like an accident."
"Looks like a really good plan from where I'm standing," said Harry grinning bleakly. "They'll just have to stand back and let the dragons do their stuff."
"Right, these dragons," said Sirius, speaking very quickly now. "There's a way, Harry. Don't be tempted to try a Stunning Spell, dragons are strong and too powerfully magical to be
knocked out by a single Stunner, you need about half a dozen wizards at a time to overcome a dragon—"
"Yeah, I know, I saw," said Harry. Sirius looked to Lucy and Remus,
"And ideas on what to do about the dragon?"
"Well, there are Switching Spells but what's the point of Switching anything? Unless you swapped its fangs for wine-gums or something that would make it less dangerous," Remus listed off on his fingers, "The trouble is not much is going to get through a dragon's hide. I'd say Transfigure it, but something that big, would be difficult for even a wizard like Dumbledore I suppose. I mean, unless you're supposed to put the spell on yourself? Maybe to give yourself extra powers? But they're not simple spells,any seventh year would even know."
"Babe!" Lucy cut him off, "You're freaking Harry out. Remus looked at Harry who had turned an ashy color.
"Sorry, Harry."
"It's fine," he croaked.
"You can't use potions for this task can you?" Theo wondered.
"No, I can't use anything but my wand."
"Do you think they'll have you battling a dragon?" Lucy asked and Harry shook his head.
"Ron's brother is here, Charlie, and I don't think he'd let anyone hurt the dragons." Lucy nodded her head, no, she supposed Charlie Weasley would sooner give Harry a swirly in Moaning Myrtle's toilet than let him try to harm one of his dragons.
"So then you have to get past it, to get something?" Tahani said, "Maybe to get to a finish line, like a race?" Harry shrugged.
"I have no idea," Harry stressed, his fingers ran and pulled at the ends of his hair. "I'm going to be murdered by a dragon. It's going to swoop down the minute—"
"That's it!" Lucy shouted, the room jumped, "Swooping! Harry, what's the thing you're best at?" She wondered rhetorically.
"Surviving when the odds are against him?" Theo muttered from her left,
"Finding trouble?" Tahani muttered at her right, Lucy nudged the both of them with her elbows.
"Flying you bullies," she answered, "Harry's one of the best fliers I've ever seen."
"So?" Sirius wondered, "He can't bring the broom with him."
"But I can call it, can't I?" Harry wondered, his eyes wide and lit with excitement, "The spell Flitwick showed us last week— uh, Theo what was it?" He asked, snapping his fingers trying to remember.
"Accio?"
"Yes! I need Hermione!" Harry jumped to his feet. He hugged Sirius tightly around the middle and he kisses Lucy's cheek the same way she had always kissed Mrs. Weasley's and he jumped, "I might actually survive this!"
"Of course you will, and after the task I'll be there to tell you there was nothing to worry about," Sirius grinned.
"You'll be at the task?" Sirius blinked, Remus moved forward,
"Harry not even the Minister himself would be able to stop us from being there for you. We might not be able to see you before and wish you luck but I'm certain between Padfoot—" Remus placed his hand on Sirius' shoulder, "—And Lucy over there you will see some sort of giant sign with your face on it when you look out into the stands."
"Like you won't be wearing a shirt that says 'Team Harry Potter' over one of his baby pictures," Lucy laughed. Harry's cheeks darkened at the thought. He looked to Remus who held a hand up as if to let the young boy he didn't have to worry about the shirt idea.
Sirius opened his mouth to say something only to be cut off by Tahani's loud yawn. The room turned to her and her drooping eyes.
"You need to go bed, it's late," Lucy told her, Tahani pouted,
"I guess." Lucy dropped a kiss to Tahani's forehead,
"I'll see you next week, be good okay, I don't need anymore letters about how Madam Prince found you past curfew in the library."
"Nerd," Harry laughed, Tahani reached over and pinched the Boy-Who-Lived side and he, with a loud laugh, knocked into Theo who looked dryly at the two of them.
"You two are the worst," he told him, both Harry and Tahani grinned,
"And yet you wouldn't trade us for the twins," Tahani pointed out. Theo kept silent, he turned to Lucy who didn't hesitate to wrap him in a tight hug. She pulled back and held him at arm's length.
"Try not to get into anymore fights alright, I don't want to see any of you hurt, alright?"
"Yes mum," Theo breathed, a smile on his lips.
"Good, now off to bed, all three of you," Lucy said ushering them out of the room. Once they were gone and Lucy could no longer hear their voices in the tunnel she turned to her brother.
"So," She wondered, "When were you going to tell me and Remus you were keeping an eye out on Death Eater activity?"
November 24, 1994
Her ears were ringing, Lucy's that is. With the Weasley children and Ophelia behind her and Sirius and Remus on either side of her— Tahani, Theo and Hermione all lined up next to Sirius —they waited in the wooden stands for the tournament to start.
"Now!" Dumbledore's voice called out loudly, magically enhanced, "I welcome you to the first task of the first Triwizard Tournament held in two-hundred-and-two years." The Headmaster paused to allow the crowd to cheer wildly. "Our first champion is Cedric Diggory—" The Hogwarts students cheered madly, "Has preselected a model of a dragon to which he must face in order to get the golden egg the dragon keepers have placed in the dragons nest if he so wishes to pass onto the second task; as must the rest of our champions must do with their own dragons and eggs. Now, Cedric Diggory!"
...
Harry, after Cedric, Krum and the French Champion walked past the trees, through a gap in the enclosure fence and into the arena. Sirius reached for Lucy's hand and grasped it tightly in his, his knuckles were white and her fingers were quickly turning a bright purple color; not that she noticed, her sole focus was on the small speck of a boy in front of her and just how loudly her heart was beating in her ears.
Remus grabbed her other hand, though unlike Sirius' grip he was gentler, he brought Lucy's knuckles up to his lips and pressed a worrying kiss to her skin. The other end of the arena opened and scuttling out to her eggs that laid in the middle of the arena, with her wings half-furled, and her yellow eyes upon Harry, a monstrous, scaly, black lizard, thrashing her spiked tail, leaving yard-long gouge marks in the hard ground stood a Hungarian Horntail.
He raised his wand. Please, Lucy pleaded in her head, Please let him be okay.
"Accio Firebolt!" he shouted. Nothing happened for a moment, nothing was happening for a moment and then she heard it speeding through the air behind Harry; the Boy-who-Lived turned and saw his Firebolt hurtling toward him around the edge of the woods, soaring into the enclosure, and stopping dead in midair beside him, waiting for him to mount.
"He did it!" Lucy cheered, she turned to Sirius, "He did it!"
"He did it!" Sirius cheered back, Lucy took her hand from Remus and hugged her brother tightly as they jumped for the boy; she then, when she let go of Sirius, turned to Remus and clutched him close too.
Bagman— as Harry swung his leg over the broom and kicked off from the ground —was shouting something but Lucy was too focused with craning her neck to the sky, her eyes focused on Harry to listen to him.
He dived. The Horntail's head followed him; Lucy knew what it was going to do and pulled out of the dive just in time; a jet of fire had been released exactly where Harry would have been had he not swerved away; though it was no different from dodging a bludger Lucy let out a scream of relief.
"Great Scott, he can fly!" yelled Bagman as the crowd shrieked and gasped. "Are you watching this, Mr. Krum?"
Harry soared higher in a circle; the Horntail was still following his progress; its head revolving on its long neck, if Harry kept this up, the dragon would be too dizzy to do much of anything. Harry plummeted just as the Horntail opened its mouth, but this time he was less lucky than he had been the last time— though Harry missed the dragon's flames the beast's tail came whipping up to meet him, and though he swerved to the left, one of the long spikes grazed his shoulder —and the scream that Lucy let out involuntary hadn't come from a place of relief.
If Sirius didn't collapse it was only because of the grip he had on Theos shoulder.
Harry zoomed around the back of the Horntail. The young boy began to fly, first this way, then the other, not near enough to make the dragon breathe fire to stave him off, but still posing a sufficient threat to ensure she kept her eyes on him. Her head swayed this way and that, watching him out of those vertical pupils, her fangs bared.
Harry flew higher. The Horntail's head rose with him, her neck now stretched to its fullest extent, still swaying, like a snake before its charmer. Harry rose a few more feet, and she let out a roar of exasperation. He was like a fly to her, a fly she was longing to swat; her tail thrashed again, but he had become too high to reach. She shot fire into the air, which he dodged— Lucys chest rose and fell with anticipation —the dragon jaws opened wide and then she reared, spreading her great, black, leathery wings at last, and then Harry dived.
Before the dragon knew what he had done, or where he had disappeared to, he was speeding toward the ground as fast as he could go, toward the eggs now unprotected by her clawed front legs, he had taken his hands off his Firebolt the same way any chaser would do when handling a quaffle, and he had seized the golden egg.
And with a huge spurt of speed, he was off, he was soaring out over the stands, the heavy egg safely under his uninjured arm, and the crowd, which was screaming and applauding as loudly as the Irish supporters at the World Cup lost it.
"He did it!" Lucy cheered!" She kissed Remus excitedly, "He did it!" She spun around to the Weasleys and OPhelia and grabbed her cousin and pulled her tightly into a hug.
"Look at that!" Bagman was yelling. "Will you look at that! Our youngest champion is quickest to get his egg! Well, this is going to shorten the odds on Mr. Potter!" Charlie and the other dragon keepers rushing forward to subdue the Horntail.
"Come on," Sirius tugged on Lucy's arm, Ron and Hermione and Meiri, Theo and Thanani led the three grown wizards to where the champions would be. He's alive! Was all Lucy could think as she was lead from the stands.
