Saturday, 18 September 1976
"Ava, stop doing cartwheels! You just ate three slices of cake! You're gonna get sick!" Raj laughed as Ava cartwheeled over the grass.
She stopped cartwheeling for a moment. "No I won't. I'm a Kamen. Kamens are invincible!"
"Oh, really?" Lena said as she laid on the ground, lifting the top half of her body by her elbows. "Because just three days ago you were in the infirmary."
"It was an anomaly!"
"You keep telling yourself that!" Alex shouted at Ava, looking down at Maggie, who was resting against his chest.
Maggie waved. "Just come over here. We need to plan for the concert."
Ava cartwheeled over to them and plopped down, crossing her legs underneath her.
"So, the Cauldron Coven's secret concert is next Saturday and it's in the field just outside Hogsmeade," Raj began.
"The only issue is that the concert starts at eleven and it's not even a Hogsmeade weekend and none of us know how to get out of Hogwarts without getting caught," Maggie finished.
"We can't miss it, though!" Ava cried.
"Yeah, the concert is the only reason why Jenny Blake agreed to go out with me," Raj agreed.
"Well, maybe you shouldn't go out with her then. It sounds like it'll end badly," commented Lena.
"I'll take the risk," Raj sighed. "I'd do anything to kiss Jenny Blake."
The girls rolled their eyes simultaneously.
Alex turned his head to Lena. "Aren't your brother and his friends always sneaking around?"
"Yeahhhhh."
"Well, do you know if they know any secret ways out of Hogwarts?"
"I can check."
Raj and Lena parted ways in the Gryffindor dormitory as Raj entered his room and Lena knocked on her brother's.
She heard a faint "Come in" from Frank Longbottom and she did as she was told.
Alice Fortescue and Lily Evans were sitting next to Frank Longbottom on his bed as he strummed his guitar. Frank was blushing furiously as Alice watched him play. Across the room, James and Sirius sat on James' bed. James stared at Lily, his chin resting in the palm of his hand. Sirius and Peter's beds were pushed together and Dorcas Meadows, Marlene McKinnon, and Peter sat upon them and were in the middle of a round of Exploding Snap. Remus was laying in his bed, his hands behind his head.
"Hi, everyone," Lena spoke up shyly.
A chorus of hellos followed. "Take a set, Lee," Frank offered.
Remus moved his legs and sat up. Lena grabbed a random chair and sat on it. Remus' smile fell, disappointed that Lena hadn't sat next to him.
"What's up, Lena?" Peter asked.
Lena glanced at Lily and Remus. "You're not gonna go all prefect on me if I ask what I'm gonna ask, right?"
"Oooh, Wormtail. Your sister's gonna do something bad."
"Shut up, Padfoot," Peter said lightly.
Remus smiled at Lena. "Of course we won't. Isn't that right, Lils?"
Lily nodded hesitantly in agreement.
"Umm, I was wondering if you guys happen to know any secret ways out of Hogwarts."
Peter looked at his sister, concern written all over his face. "Why do you want to know?"
"We want to go to a concert."
"Who's we?"
"Merlin, Peter. It's just me, Mags, Ava, Alex, and Raj…Oh, and Jenny Blake."
Alice piped up. "Who do you plan on seeing?"
"Cauldron Coven!"
"No way! They're bloody brilliant! They're last album was groundbreaking!" Frank exclaimed, jumping to his feet.
"I know, right?!" Lena squealed, growing more excited. "And Minding Merlin is opening for them!"
"Wait!" Marlene interrupted, "Cauldron Coven doesn't start touring until December."
"It's a secret pop-up concert!"
"Then how do you know about it?" James raised an eyebrow.
"Well, you know Raj?"
"Hardly."
Lena frowned "Well, Raj's sister Kamala is friends with the sister of Wes Cunningham, the lead singer."
"When and where is the concert?" Peter asked.
"Next Saturday at eleven in the field outside Hogsmeade."
Peter let out a breath of air. He and the Marauders shared a look. "Alright, we'll help you sneak out."
"If you let us go to the concert with you," Sirius added.
"Fair enough."
"Can I come, too?" Frank begged.
"Oh, me too!" Alice cried in agreement.
"I want in," whined Marlene.
"We'll, if they're all going, then I'm going," Dorcas declared.
Lily blushed as she said, "I'd like to go too."
Lena smiled. "Alright, we'll all go."
After leaving the Gryffindor dormitory, Lena roamed the grounds and stationed herself on the Quidditch pitch, next to the locker room. From her view, she could see most of the pitch, with three of the six hooped goals in her sight, along with rising towers of red, yellow, blue, and green. Lena pulled out her sketchpad and drew the Quidditch pitch as she saw it. After adding color to her drawing, she imagined the pitch overgrown, forgotten over time and left to return to nature. She soon lengthened the grass in her drawing, weaving weeds and wildflowers into the grass. She turned her intention to the hoops and towers. Lena adorned them with crawling ivy and the tiniest flowers of pink, blue, and purple, with occasional pops of color. If the pitch was abandoned, she thought, more animals would be there. She drew a phoenix in the sky, rising up to the sun with its tail blowing behind it. A trio of deer stood on the pitch, grazing and resting. Lena was taken away from the world she was creating when she heard the locker room door creak open.
She saw a head of black hair poke out and look around the pitch, checking if there was no one around. Lena heard the black haired person, a boy from the sound of his voice, murmur "I best be off now. I'll see you soon." There was a short pause. Whoever the boy was speaking was too quiet for Lena to overhear. The boy responded to the inaudible response. "I love you more."
The boy exited the locker room and turned to exit the pitch. Lena studied his figure. With his black hair, grey eyes, and facial structure, there was no doubt that the boy was a Black. His slightly shorter hair made it known to Lena that this was Regulus Black sneaking out of the abandoned Quidditch locker rooms.
Minutes passed before the door creaked open again. This time, a head of long, blond hair peaked out to examine the area. After deciding that the coast was clear, which it was not in fact as Lena was hiding, the girl departed to the castle. Lena recognized her instantly. It was Layla Burke, a fellow fifth-year not unlike her and Regulus Black. Unlike Regulus, however, Layla was a Muggleborn in Ravenclaw.
What the hell was Regulus, a secret Death-Eater and self-proclaimed supporter of Voldemort, doing in a relationship with a Muggleborn?
Tuesday, 21 September 1976
After a tortuous lesson with Binns about the goblin lieutenants in the Goblin Rebellion, Lena and her fellow fifth year Hufflepuffs enter Slughorn's classroom for the last lesson of the day. Since Lena had gotten to sit with Maggie in History of Magic and Ava in Transfiguration, Maggie and Ava sat together for Potions while Lena waited for someone to sit beside her.
"Mr. Black," Slughorn spoke happily, "Come up here. There's an open seat next to Ms. Pettigrew."
Despite his reluctance, Regulus gave his professor a pleasant smile and did as he was told.
"Black."
"Pettigrew."
"Today, we'll be brewing Hair-Raising potion. It's not particularly difficult so I expect this all to go smoothly," Slughorn stated. "Now, go collect your ingredients and begin!"
Regulus rose from the table and collected billywig stings, porcupines quills, rat tails, lovage, sneezewort. Lena began to grind the lovage into a fine powder as Regulus heated up their cauldron and poured water into it. As it heated up, Regulus grinded the sneezewort. Lena poured a cup of the lovage into the cauldron and stirred it counterclockwise four times. The liquid began to turn green. Regulus grabbed the ladle from her and the sneezewort in, and turned the mixture counterclockwise four more times.
"Add in the porcupine quills," Regulus ordered.
Lena rolled her eyes and picked up nine porcupine quills. She began adding them in one by one. As she was about to add in the seventh one, Regulus slapped her hand away and hissed at her.
"Are you read or are you just stupid? The recipe calls for only six quills. It may be okay for you to do poorly in this class, but it's not for me." Regulus said, as he stirred the potion twice clockwise.
Lena grew furious. She hated it when people doubted her intelligence and said she couldn't read. Her dyslexia didn't prevent her from reading, it just made it extremely difficult. Lena narrowed her eyes and lowered her voice. "I wouldn't speak to me like that, Black, if I were you. You wouldn't want your Slytherin mates to know about Layla Burke."
A look of alarm flashed across Regulus' face for a moment. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Oh, yes you do," Lena declared, a smug adorning her face.
Regulus glared at her before muttering, "Let's just finish this potion."
The pair worked in silence, their minds both racing. Regulus was panicking that Lena knew about his secret. Lena could not believe that she just blackmailed Regulus Black of all people over a small, rude comment. She should have saved such valuable information for a more worthy cause. Or not at all, perhaps. It wasn't fair to drag Layla Burke, a pleasant and nice girl, into blackmail.
The Hufflepuff and Slytherin were taken away from their thoughts when Slughorn clapped his hands together. "Alright, class. Now let's test out the potions.
To Regulus and Lena's relief, their hair stood up. With the exception of six students, everyone's hair rose. A pair of the students who failed to brew the potion properly began floating and Slughorn had to give them an antidote.
Slughorn glanced at the clock on the wall "Class dismissed."
Regulus grabbed Lena's wrist. He desperately wanted to speak to her about Layla and make her too afraid to share his secret.
"Oh Regulus, come over here. We need to discuss the Slug Club!" Slughorn called happily.
Reluctantly, Regulus released her wrist and turned to Slughorn. Lena briskly walked to Maggie and Ava, shielding herself from Regulus.