Love-Fiction-2021: This chapter is dedicated entirely to you. You have come with me on this incredible journey from the very first chapter, and I have NO idea how you do it, but you've always found time to leave a note, giving me enough validation to keep at it. And I see you in so many other stories, and you do the same for them as well. Honestly? HOW are you this good? :) Also, respect to the fact that you find all this time to read each of our stories. You're a legend, really. :) I love you tons! :):)
Chapter 37: Of Defence, Dark Arts Deals
Unedited... (no time to edit, but too much excitement to publish, so sowie!)
~oO House Common Room, Slytherin Dungeon
Frank feverishly muttered the incantation under his breath as he tried to navigate through Mulciber's mind to see if James's Memory Charm had left any fractures in its wake as Remus and Lucius watched on.
Tonight, most probably, would go down in history as one of Remus's most bizarre starts to a year within Hogwarts's walls. Because a) for a perennially ravenous person, he hadn't once thought about food since they got here, b) he hadn't had the opportunity to tell off James and Sirius for bullying the first-years up in the Common Room, c) he was spending his first moments back to school in the SLYTHERIN dungeons, d) James and Sirius had gotten him into trouble even before the Start-of-the-Term Feast began and, e) he was getting a damn slideshow of the actual workings of Mulciber's brain.
Staring into the Pensieve, Remus's mind was imploding on itself as he saw flashes of the Slytherin boy's memories whiz past him, some slightly disturbing, while others downright nauseating. For instance, he didn't need to see more than three seconds of one of Mulciber's memories to know that his father had severed one of their elves' head with his bare hands and held it up high above his head, laughing terribly while the poor elf's blood dripped down his hand, or that time when Mulciber stood cheering on while his older brother coolly entraps a bunch of Muggle women in a dark, deserted street and leers at them while they squeal in absolute terror.
Sirius was right. The world didn't need filth like Mulciber. And quite incredibly, as the night wore on, the more Remus looked into Mulciber's memories, the more he found himself wishing Sirius had indeed killed him tonight.
"He looks about right to me, Moony," Frank stated, "his memory's not splintered as we feared," he said, flicking his wand and wiping the sweat off his brow. "But just so you know, I am going to kill Sirius the minute I lay eyes on him."
Lucius smirked. "All of Hogwarts will thank you for that," he leered, his eyes still bearing great indignation. But a second later, his mind raced back to the Entrance Hall two hours ago when he had hurtled in to see Black walloping the crap out of Mulciber while Isabella stood screaming her lungs out, and a heaviness crept up in his chest. "I knew something like this would happen eventually," he started, still struggling to come to terms with what had happened. "I'd warned her all about Mulciber last year itself," he said, staring hard at the floor.
Remus grimaced. Sighing, he regarded Lucius for a second contritely. "You all right, Malfoy?" he asked.
Lucius looked up and smirked. "I'm just glad Black got to him before I could," he said, his eyes darkening. "Things would have turned out a lot uglier if I'd gotten there first..." he ground out.
Frank cast Remus a look of foreboding.
The four of them were sat in the still empty Common Room of Slytherin with Mulciber lying unconsciously on one of the plush sofas next to the fireplace. And quite honestly, unlike popular belief, the circular green room was mighty cosy, and perhaps even more grandeur than that of Gryffindor, Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw. The only downside, however, was that students would literally never see sunlight for as long as they study at Hogwarts.
"That, Salazar?" Frank asked, nodding at the large tapestry of a raven-haired, fierce-looking king-wizard who glowered back at them, while being flanked by a posse of three other, equally beefed-up men standing right behind him.
"Close," said Lucius, looking up to stare at the large tapestry too. "That's Mávros Slytherin, actually. Slughorn put this tapestry up ever since the passage to the Hidden Kingdoms got opened as a way of reminding us all the rich history and origin of our House... or some claptrap like that," he added as an afterthought, making Frank and Remus snort in response. "And you see the blond king to his right?" he said, pointing at a similar, yet more striking wizard-king standing a step behind him, "that's the infamous Daerian Gryffindor, and the two on his left are the other two kings from Armindale and Elvedoria."
Frank looked around quizzically. "And they're all in one frame? I thought the four of them were mortal enemies."
Lucius simply smirked. "They were... And that's also why they're not in the same line as Mávros; according to the Snake King at least, he will always be the Lord of the Four Seas and the True Protector of the Ragons, while Daerian, Arnold and Holdin serve under him," he scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Politics those days puts a toddlers' tantrum for candy to shame, doesn't it?" he guffawed and Frank let out a laugh.
"It sure does," Remus concurred. "And it's weird to look at a blond Gryffindor," he snorted.
"Yeah, if Malfoy hadn't told me, I would've thought Daerian was actually Salazar..."
Remus's head snapped up, a puzzled look replacing the smile on his face. "Wow, you're right, Frankie... They do look like long-lost brothers, don't they?" he said, squinting at the tapestry once more.
"Brothers who would mostly likely have killed each other over a piece of candy!" Lucius guffawed making the other two burst out laughing.
"Alright, we better get going then," Frank finally said and rose from his seat. "Give us a shout if you need anything, alright?" he said, giving Lucius a painful pat on the back.
"Thanks for the help, lads," Lucius nodded, as the other two prefects waved him goodbye and exited out the door.
~oO Boys' Dorms, Gryffindor Tower
Later that night...
Back when he was a naïve young fifth-year, Sirius Black had assumed that the most difficult situation he would ever have to deal with would be the War against the Dark forces, running alongside a fully-grown werewolf every full-moon and somehow making it out alive, watching Peter put on a tutu and waltz around in high heels, and having to sit through an entire conversation (or a 'screaming match' if one was being totally honest) with his beloved mother.
Two kisses and one Isabella later, he was a wiser, wearier man.
And this is where life gets complicated and truly difficult to comprehend. Because as much as she drives him ABSOLUTELY NUTS with her sudden revelations about life and its infinite gifts (these revelations always happening mid-kiss for some reason!), he still couldn't stop smiling when he returned to his dorm after their (second) rather steamy encounter, nor throughout the night as he simply lay there watching the moon disappear behind the horizon and get replaced by the sun...
For the thousandth time, it will NOT be cool to simply show up in her dorm with four other girls sleeping around her, Sirius! he reminded himself over and over again, his leg shaking restlessly against the wood of his four-poster. Merlin, I hate her... he screamed internally as he collapsed back against his pillow, rubbing his face in frustration, and yet, a second later, he found himself grinning stupidly into his hands again, and he didn't even understand why. And for the millionth time that night he wondered what she might be doing right now on the other side of the tower... Not sleeping for sure; not after she virtually melted into him earlier like that. Why'd she stop though? Why couldn't she not think for once and just let her heart do what it bloody wants to do, eh? Why must she always make life so bloody difficult for mortal souls like myself? he wondered, even as his mind wandered off on its own accord to a memory from three years ago... One that he secretly cherished to this day...
They were in their third year, and Sirius had ambled down to the Quidditch pitch to retrieve the game strategy that Alderman Gawn had drawn out for them ahead of their impending match against Ravenclaw, when he stopped dead in his tracks. It was nearly night-time, but he could still see the outline of a broom swishing and swooshing through the air, ridden by a slightly chubby girl wearing a red and gold scarf.
Sirius's jaw dropped as he watched the techniques she unknowingly applied as she hurled the Quaffle through the hoops, dipping and ducking past enchanted Bludgers. Without even realising it, Sirius had leaned against the stone wall and watched on, totally enthralled by Isabella's skills as she trained vigorously all by herself, her face screwed up in fierce concentration. How she managed to single-handedly dodge TWO Bludgers at the same time and perfectly toss the Quaffle through the hoops, he will never know...
Score! Score! SCORE!
Sirius gaped on dumbstruck. She was thirteen and she was a girl, but Merlin, she didn't fly like one...
And in that instant, something shifted inside him. And before he knew it, he realised he was grinning to himself, his mind racing (not very different from how it was right now). And he knew, in that very moment that Izzy Williams truly was something else... That he would do anything, give ANYTHING to be with someone who could fly like that. Like her...
Looking back, Sirius recalled how that had been the first time he'd wondered what it would feel like to kiss her.
Which brought him back to now. Honestly, HOW in Merlin's name had she not raced back up to the boys' dorms and screamed his name yet?
You know what would be wrong? he thought to himself. What would be truly SINFUL is if she was actually profanely asleep right now! he ground out, his mind slowly descending into insanity now.
Women...
Can't live with them, can't live without them!
And whoever said that was a goddamn genius. Because Isabella Grace Williams, especially, had the bloody knack to make even a fully-grown, fire breathing Blast-Ended Skrewt seem tame if the occasion called for it.
And yet, it was this over girl that he was spending a sleepless night over tonight, tossing and turning and kicking in bed, because by Godric was she beautiful. And different from all the other girls he'd ever snogged. She was incredibly kind and not one bit an emotional wreck like the girls he had gone out with before. She knew exactly what flavour of ice cream she'd be buying even before they got to the parlour and never needed any help polishing her broom. She didn't need anyone to do anything for her, because by the time he got to her, she's already on it, dealing with it in her own way all by herself... She'd beat Sirius hands down at a bacon-eating competition any day of the week and twice on Sunday, but he'd never admit it to her face, of course... But the best part? She was totally unaware of just how breath-taking she was... And despite being so fiercely independent, she still made him feel wanted. She's loving, cares the world for others and is truly demented when it came to friendships and love...
Sirius's eyes flew open.
Love.
... Love...?
A sudden dread descended upon him.
Dear Merlin, no.
No.
No way.
NO. Way...
Tiny droplets of sweat burst out of his forehead as realisation dawned on him.
Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no...
No way. NO way! Hell, NO FREAKIN' way!
NO WAY!
Screaming internally, Sirius sprang up in bed, feeling hot blood rushing to his head. There was NO way in hell that he'd ever fall in love with her... No way, no freaking way!
Oh, thank MERLIN, it didn't go any further than that earlier tonight! Merlin, she was right to desert you BOTH TIMES, you dickhead, because you suck! You don't know the first thing about being a decent human being! God... Leave her alone. Stay the fuck away from her or I'll kill you myself! he roared to himself and punched the air, anxiety getting the better of him.
Cold sweat broke out all over his body as full-blown panic took over now.
What the hell was he doing? He can't be messing with her feelings this way, dear Godric, no...
She's your best friend for Merlin's sake!
But...
STOP IT! Leave her the fuck alone!
His head still swimming with thoughts, Sirius leaned over and squinted at his wristwatch.
6.14 a.m.
Giving up any hope of falling asleep now, he finally hurled himself off his bed and slipped into the bathroom to take a shower.
~oO Girls' Dorms, Gryffindor Tower
You. Suck! she told herself for the millionth time that night. You have no self respect, you have absolutely NO self control and I'm surprised Lily's not yet chained you to a tree to keep you from making ANY kind of decision for yourself EVER! she screamed internally, as she lay there, staring at the dark ceiling above her.
You've been down this road ten million times already, Izzy. And it doesn't end well in ANY of those fake scenarios you imagined, so please do yourself a favour and hurl yourself off a cliff if you ever feel like snogging Sirius Black again because IT DOES NOT END WELL! she screamed, trying to drill those words down her brain.
And her brain responded incredibly by flashing his chiselled face in front of her instead, and she was back to square one.
I'm an idiot.
Yes! And he's a stone-hearted little monster.
No, he's not.
He just want to do it with you.
So what? I want to do it with him too.
Don't be an idiot, Izzy.
But he destroyed Mulciber for me...
WHY is that even a turn on? HE DESTROYED MULCIBER! GOD!
But... He was standing up for me...
Because he just wants to do it with you!
But I want to do it with him too!
Well, you can't.
Why the hell not?
Because you will lose him as your friend forever.
A numbness descended over her. That's why. That's why she walked away earlier tonight. She finally remembered all over again why she had to stay away from him... Because he was precious and she could not afford to lose him as her friend, it would kill her.
For all you know, he's not even thinking about you right now, said that annoying little voice in her head, making her plunge further into despair. And she knew she was right, because why would Sirius Black spend a sleepless night over her?
Listening to the stillness in the air, she let her mind wander through time, allowing it to bring back flashes of memories she had lived through within these walls, of laughter and tears, of joy and adventure, and of fear and shame... And her mind wandered off to that time when she had been that fat and shy girl, all pimply and bushy-haired and, quite frankly, ugly...
It was around the end of their second-year at Hogwarts; Isabella was standing obediently in front of McGonagall's desk, shaking a little in fear, while silent tears streamed down her face.
"Miss Williams, I am NOT going to entertain this self-pity trip that you are taking yourself on!" McGonagall screamed. "And that is NO EXCUSE for your behaviour! I am glad though, that you turned yourself in, but do not, even for a second, think you have escaped punishment, because I have NO such intentions! I have zero tolerance for cheating and this is by far the most shocking of them all!" she said, slamming her hand on her desk.
"I understand, professor..." Isabella sniffed and looked up, red-faced. "Am I going to get expelled?"
McGonagall raised an eyebrow, clearly shocked at how bold Isabella was despite the gravity of the matter.
And what she asked her next blew her mind entirely.
"Tell me, Miss Williams," McGonagall started, her lips as thin as a needle now. "And I ask this only because I know you to be a fairly obedient child. Did you really steal the question paper from my office?"
Isabella's head jerked upwards and found McGonagall glaring daggers into her face almost as if she knew the truth.
"Yes, I did, professor," Isabella lied shakily, but determinedly. "It was wrong of me to do so."
McGonagall squinted dangerously this time. "I don't know who you're taking the blame for, Miss Williams, but I would like to tell you one thing: it is neither brave nor flattering, merely foolish, I'd say, to do take the rap for something you did not do," she hissed. "But I also acknowledge that if you're willing to stoop so low for something," she paused and leaned back in her chair, looking down through the bridge of her nose, "you must have a bloody good reason as to why."
Another silent tear escaped Isabella's eye, as she wordlessly stared back at her.
"Having said that, I have decided to let you go with a warning this time. But let me make myself pristinely clear, Miss Williams, should this repeat again, the consequences will be dire!" McGonagall said, her voice ringing through the walls of her office.
Relief washed through Isabella's body at once.
"I cannot thank you enough, professor," she mumbled.
But it only seemed to anger McGonagall more. "I would appreciate it more if you actually worked hard and focused on improving your GRADES instead," McGonagall ground out once again. "Also, I will not tolerate any more complaints about being bullied in the corridors by James and his little gang of ruffians! It's time you learnt to deal with peer pressure like a big girl! You are not five years old, anymore, you know?" she said, still glaring daggers at Isabella. "Come here!" she ordered, making her jump on the spot.
Wiping her face, Isabella gingerly stepped closer to McGonagall's desk.
"Pull yourself together and act wisely in the future," McGonagall said, her voice no longer loud and harsh. "You have quite a lot of talent, Isabella, why not use it well? I have seen you on your broom, and you're a natural... And I believe you might just qualify to be on the Quidditch team next year if you honed your flying skills a little bit more..." she paused and looked up. "A Chaser, perhaps?" she said with a hint of smile appearing on her face, leaving Isabella gushing with gratitude...
Crash-landing back to the present, the older, slightly wiser Isabella shook her head in embarrassment, her face cracking into a wry smile. A true Gryffindor, wasn't she? Fierce about friendships to the point of inflicting total self-destruction, being needlessly gallant for all the wrong reasons, calling it 'brave' to act without thinking, taking innately stupid decisions without the slightest care for the consequences and still having the room to feel proud and pompous within... At least the Sorting Hat made no mistake there...
Rolling over, she looked at the alarm clock on Lily's bedside table.
6.26 a.m.
Rats, she thought. She knew trying to find sleep now was going to be useless. Pushing herself up, Isabella got ready for their first day back in school too.
...
Within minutes, Isabella was down by the Great Hall shoving food down her throat with the sole reason of filling up the imaginary bottomless abyss that had formed overnight in the pit of her stomach, while the rest of the school slowly trickled in, gearing up for yet another year. And she had, obviously, not yet told her friends of the previous night's tidings because by the time she had returned to her dorm, Claiborne, Alice and Mary were fast asleep and Lily was still on prefect-duties, helping Remus with God-knew-what.
Fifteen minutes later, Isabella looked up and realised she was being hounded by a very angry-looking Lily and Claiborne.
"What's the matter?" she asked, pausing mid-way into sipping pumpkin juice from the flask.
Claiborne gasped. "'What's the matter'? Izzy, I haven't seen you ever since we got off the carriage last night, and this morning Lily tells me you were attacked by Mulciber?"
"— Well...!" Isabella began, cringing a bit. "'Attacked' is a strong word in my opinion —"
"— Shut UP, Izzy! WHY am I always the last one to know about any of your crap, eh? Why am I almost NEVER there when you're off doing something to get your backside kicked?" Claiborne trilled.
"Whoa!" Lily butt in. "That's not true, you two left me out last year when you went gallivanting on that suicide mission to Borgin & Burkes!" retorted Lily.
Claiborne frowned incredulously. "And you two left me out when the lot of you went down to the you-know-where to get the you-know-what!" she hissed back, referring to the time when Isabella, Lily and the boys had visited the Hidden Kingdoms.
Lily gaped. "But you wouldn't have come anyway!"
"You're damn right I wouldn't have, but as your best friend, I'd still like to be ASKED at least!" Claiborne screamed back.
"— What the —?" Isabella blinked confusedly between her two best friends. "Would you two calm the frick down for a second?"
"Shut up, Izzy! Don't ask us to 'calm down' and don't you DARE 'lone-wolf' your crap this year, alright? I won't have it!" Lily said decidedly and sank into the seat opposite to her, glaring daggers and looking uncharacteristically disconcerted.
Isabella's head was swimming with bewilderment now. "Lily... Clay... Why are you two so upset?"
"Because you call us your best friends, but you never treat us that way!" Claiborne said loudly from next to her, her face reddening with anger now.
Isabella's eyebrows shot up for a second before scrunching up incredulously. "What the bloody hell are you two ON about?!"
"What happened between you and Black last night, eh?" Lily asked, finally coming straight to the point (and totally knocking the wind out of Isabella). All the colour from her face seemed to drain away as Lily continued to bore a hole in her skull.
"Wh-What?" Isabella spluttered. "Er... Nothing, I..."
"Are you sure?" Lily narrowed her eyes and Isabella simply COULD NOT tell if she already knew about her thing with Sirius last night or not. A second's pause later, though, she sighed and decided to come clean. "Okay, fine. Something happened last night," she said, rubbing her face in mind-numbing embarrassment. "How'd you find out?" she asked.
Lily rolled her eyes. "James told us. He heard you two outside their dorm last night..."
Isabella's jaw dropped. "Of course," she ground out, exhaustedly. "Proper gossip queen isn't he, that Potter... I should've known!" she spat out.
But both Claiborne and Lily loured so menacingly at her, she deflated at once. "Why are you like this, Izzy, why's it so hard for you to just be open with us?" Lily asked.
Isabella slouched, feeling the weight of her mistake knock her over entirely now. "I dunno —"
"D'you not trust us?" Claiborne asked quietly.
"What? No, come on, that's... Of course I trust you two, I don't know what I'd do without you," said Isabella, finally abandoning her breakfast and taking both her friends' hands in hers. "Merlin, I'm sorry. It's just... I think I'm just so used to taking care of myself that I often forget I have people who actually love and care for me..."
"We really do, Izzy," said Claiborne.
"Really, really," Lily added, looking somewhere between annoyed and relieved. "No more secrets, understood?"
"Crystal!" Isabella said hastily, even as a massive whoosh and clatter resounded around them, marking the arrival of their morning mail.
"This is not over, Williams," Lily said, watching the hundreds of owls come soaring in through the upper windows, bringing in letters and packages and showering them over the four long tables in the Great Hall. "I want every last detail of what went down between you and Black, you hear me?!" she smirked, waving excitedly at Dewy, her brown Tawny owl, bringing in her copy of the Daily Prophet, while a large barn owl brought Isabella her letter from home.
"Affirmative, Your Honour," Isabella mumbled growing red in the face from simply thinking about last night. "Oh, by the way, here's our schedule. McGonagall handed them out before you two came in," she said, passing it over to them.
"My word, isn't this worse than today's notice board?" exclaimed Claiborne, scanning through the parchment.
"What notice board?" Isabella asked looking up.
Lily and Claiborne quizzical exchanged looks. "Did you not read the notice board in our Common Room this morning?" Claiborne asked.
"What? No. Why?" Isabella asked, growing pale in the face.
"Wh... Izzy?" Lily asked looking alarmed. "Where's your head at?"
"Why, who died?" Isabella asked irritably, stuffing her mouth with bacon and toast.
Lily stared. "Nobody yet, but it looks like a lot of us most certainly will before the end of this year!"
Isabella gaped with her mouth still full. "What the bloody hell's happened?"
"Drudalf, that's what!" Lily cried out. "He's enforced about ten thousand 'rules of behaviour' that he wants us all to conform to this year, Izzy! I mean, some of them were just downright ridiculous!"
"Yeah! No posters, no cult tapestries, no fandom crap in any of our dorms, no meetings in 'ANY SHAPE OR FORM' amongst students outside of classes, and the worst part? If any student is caught doing any of the above mentioned activities could end up being debarred from sitting for the year-end examinations or even get expelled..."
Isabella nearly choked on her pumpkin juice. "WHAT?" she yelped.
"Yeah! And that's not it. He's gone on and made all social groups, clubs and any formally or informally-formed student organisations ILLEGAL! He has deemed that no 'group or club activity' is to ever happen within the school walls for the rest of the year!" Claiborne exclaimed.
Isabella's eyes widened more with shock now. "Merlin's beard..."
"There's more, check this. No hands inside pockets, no talking in the corridors (but whispering is allowed!), no loo breaks during classes, toads that are bigger than one's fists are banned —"
"— Blimey, what the —?"
"— no borrowing more than three books from the library at a time, no jokes whatsoever about the tiny plait behind his head, no Quidditch for students who perform poorly in his classes —" an outrage as hot as lava was building up inside Isabella now, "no pranks, no loud giggling anywhere in the castle except inside our Common Rooms, no jewellery, NO MAKE-UP, no food after 10 o'clock, no secret associations of any kind within Hogwarts' walls —"
And Isabella's lid blew off. "— OH, HELL NO! I am so TOTALLY going to 'secretly' associate the CRAP out of him this year, sweet GODRIC!" she bellowed, feeling a hot rush of rebellion sear through her body. "Who does he think he is, putting up all these ridiculous rules, eh? DOES HE NOT KNOW THAT WE ALREADY HAVE A PRISON IN SODDING AZKABAN? Dumbledore'd NEVER approve of them —"
"— 'All rules mentioned here are legal and binding, signed and motioned by the Decree of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and formally approved by the Minister of Magic, Her Excellency, Madam Millicent Paterna Bagnold herself'," Lily recited as if she had lovingly memorised the lyrics of her favourite heartbreak song. "He doesn't need Dumbledore's approval when he has hers."
And the last wisp of hope that Isabella held on to dissolved and dissipated into thin air. "What...?" she yelped weakly, even as the Great Hall was all of a sudden decorated by the arrival of a bunch of celebrities, The Famous Four, The Unperturbed, The Too-Cool-To-Care-Bunch-Of-Entitled-Hooligans, the one and only, the Marauders. It was as if the whole school had missed them as they were 'missing in action' last night, because, believe it or not, a bunch of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff sixth-year boys actually broke into a light applause and supplied friendly pats on the backs of the gleeful gits, while House Gryffindor went one step ahead and gave them a standing fricking ovation as they neared the long table.
Lily, Claiborne and Isabella, were perhaps the only few who still had it in them to roll their eyes at their flagrance.
"Boooys!" Sirius Black hollered happily, thumping the backs of the seventh-year lads, "ladies!" he cooed, winking and throwing flying kisses at the onlooking fifth and seventh-years girls, "Grumpy!" he finally called and stopped dead in his tracks. He looked up, looked straight into Isabella's face, looked away in lightening speed, stumbled over his foot and hurtled backwards until he was making a dash for the double doors once again, instructing James to save some food for him on his way out.
Isabella raised an eyebrow. "Excellent," she muttered to herself even as Claiborne and Lily looked on warily.
~oO
McGonagall was not kidding when she said 'Sixth-year, in a nutshell, will be so hard, you will have carved out a miniature dragon with your nose rubbing against the grindstone by the time school year ends!' Because, by mid-day, the sixth-years had already been assigned a three-foot-long essay homework on the Levitation Charm and spellwork practice on the Crinus Muto incantation for Flitwick and McGonagall respectively.
And if they thought their morning had been bad, their History of Magic class with Binns was a LOT worse. Because, incredibly, the ghost seemed to have gone over the syllabus and chosen simply the WORST topic ever on the planet to drone on, enough to leave the class gasping and choking for mercy. The old ghost rambled on all hour about the different grades of magical gold that are in existence today and explained in detail their history and origins, who their makers were and why the metals were so powerful.
"...six different grades of gold in the magical world mined by six different clans of magical breeds of people..."
Isabella's head nearly fell off her hand as she flaked out for a second.
Lily glared at her. "This lesson's really important, Izzy. Focus, won't you?" she hissed through her teeth and continued to scratch away on her parchment, hanging on to his every word.
"...the highest and the purest form of gold recorded till date is the Windsmere Gold, mined by a particular sept of woodsmen splaying across the forests of The Bronze Peak Mountains. Windsmere, according to the early scripts of The Rise & Fall Of The Sacred Age, was the primary choice of metal for making jewellery and other accessories for the wizard-kings of the First Age," he mumbled. "There is, however, no solid evidence that proves the existence of this gold and hence, it continues to remain a myth retold in the Fables of the Ragons..."
Mary stared back at their teacher through eyes that bore great pity and no life. "You know, we don't need You-Know-Who to wipe out half the planet," she whispered, dulled incredibly into a state of semi-drowsiness, "we should just unleash Binns upon the world. All of us would simply off ourselves having lost the will to live entirely."
Isabella and Alice burst out sniggering into their hands.
"...other classes of gold include Viscerius Gold, Leprachaun Gold, Risaphire Gold, Mythireid Gold and Aztec Gold. Viscerius Gold is magicked and created by the Veela while Leprachaun Gold, as you may all know is made by the Goblins. Leprachaun got decreed as the official metal for minting our Galleons by the Ministry of Magic in 1641, after the wizards declared their victory in the Goblin Riots of Hollowbrook. Risaphire, the most lustrous and smooth gold of them all, was once upon a time mined and magicked by the Elves. However, ever since they were enslaved by wizard-kind in 1459, a law got passed that criminalised Elves from mining Risaphire entirely, and hence, it has become one of the rarest types of gold to exist today.
"Mythireid, the fifth in terms of gold quality, is an unpolished, brownish-looking metal made by the Centaurs, used solely for the purpose of conducting fire rituals and driving out banshees and Boggarts that lurk in the shadows of the woods they dwell in. Finally, the Aztec Gold, or the most cursed piece of metal ever to exist, as you may all know, is mined by the Pirates raging away in the deepest ends of the seas. It is one of the lowest standard of metal, but the most abundantly available gold too. Evidences show that most of the gold ornaments owned by Muggles today are actually Aztec Gold, sold to them by cunning wizard-merchants who fool them into thinking it is pure and valuable. Muggles too, being totally unaware of the curse that the metal carries, buy them in abundance, whilst being oblivious to the fact that they could positively bring about doom and unleash total damnation upon their own world..."
Mary's head fell thud on to the desk she was trying to prop her face on.
Forty-five minutes later, the class walked out with yet another homework doled out on them, where they had to produce a foot-long essay on the magical properties and distinction of power between the different grades of gold.
Lunch went by in a breeze and before she knew it, Isabella found herself walking towards their Defence Against the Darks Arts class already, with a whole bunch of students queuing outside in the corridor.
But as Isabella neared the closed doors of their classroom, oddly, the sounds of a waterfall reached her ears.
Alice and Claiborne too exchanged glances too. "What in the world is that?" Alice asked, looking around at the puzzled faces of her classmates.
"To be honest, I honestly don't even want to know," said Ursa MacDougal shuddering on Alice's left. "I mean, did you not read the ten thousand new school rules he imposed overnight?"
No sooner had the words left her mouth than there was a black band that shot out from the centre of the door and swooshed past the students, neatly diving them into two groups, one comprising of boys and the comprising of girls. Before everyone could even wrap their heads around what had happened, the thick black band split into two and started moving outwards towards the walls, forcing the students to line up in a single file.
A shocked murmur broke out in the corridor, as everyone looked around puzzled at this strange wizardry.
"What is going on?" Lily whispered in Claiborne's ear, having gotten squashed between her and Isabella.
"I don't know..." a scared Claiborne replied when there was a sudden BANG! and the heavy wooden double doors burst open to reveal the silhouette of a tall, dark, grim-looking wizard, with slimy back hair that was plastered against his skull by means of a lubricant of some sort. A second later, the tall man took one large step into the sunlit corridors, and his face finally became fully visible to all present. And for the first time, Isabella noticed that the Auror actually had a deep, long scar that cut across his right eye and stretched all the way up to his forehead, giving him a truly fearsome look.
And a visceral fear streaked through her; the memory of her first encounter with Drudalf was still fresh in her mind and she couldn't, for the life of her forget the look he graced them when Dumbledore had told him off and asked to leave the premises. And she didn't know if she was imagining it, but it looked like he was looking straight at her when he opened his mouth to speak.
"Good afternoon, and welcome everyone, to your first Defence Against the Dark Arts class," Drudalf said gruffly.
The whole corridor went stone cold and nobody moved.
Drudalf gave them all a sweeping look. Grinding his teeth, he pursed his lips until all that remained in its place was a mere slit. "When I say 'Good afternoon'," he began, hardly even opening his mouth, which oddly made him look like a hungry dragon, "I want to everyone to respond with a crisp 'Good afternoon, Professor Drudalf.' Understood?" he leered with his hands still tied behind him, but his face remained expressionless.
Everyone exchanged bored looks. "Good afternoon, Professor Drudalf," they recited, some (Sirius and James) even having the gall to roll their eyes as they did.
"Good," Drudalf chewed out. "Everyone will now walk inside in an orderly fashion. No talking!" he added and stepped aside robotically, allowing just enough space for one student to enter the room at-a-time.
But as soon as everyone entered the room, something even more shocking awaited them inside: there were name tags on every seat indicating precisely where every student ought to sit. And predictably, it was designed to make sure no student ever sat next to another student from their own House. It was almost as if Drudalf knew exactly who was friends with whom and wanted to make sure they sat as far away from each other as possible...
Sirius raised his hand, his face hardened with disbelief. "Please, Professor Drudalf, is this absolutely necessary?" he said gesturing aimlessly at the name tags.
Drudalf turned around sharply, his eyebrows disappearing into his scalp. "Do you have a problem with my arrangement? Mr. Black?" he said, squinting slightly at him.
"Yes, sir, I do," Sirius replied crisply.
And the class instantly broke into a nervous murmur around him.
"I'd like to sit with my friends. And, with all due respect, Professor, I don't want to be told where I can or cannot sit - we're not eight anymore, y'know?"
Shock coursed through Isabella as she watched the prat invite the worst kind of trouble for himself for NO rhyme or reason. Dropping her forehead into her hand, she watched on from between her fingers the casual determination and recklessness on Sirius's infuriating face.
Drudalf didn't respond at once and continued to glare in Sirius's direction. "Take your seats, everyone!" he ordered, still looking in Sirius's direction. And Sirius, for his part, gladly paid his respects back by pocketing his hands and staring numbly back at the tall Auror, his face completely devoid of fear.
The mood in the room had shifted considerably, going from pompous exasperation to indubitable agitation.
"Let's go, Izzy," Claiborne said and tugged at her hand. Weaving through the seats, they each found their name tags on the table and reluctantly slipped in, while James, Remus, Sirius and Peter stood stalk-still at the back of the class, with Remus and Peter wearing obvious looks of wariness on their faces, waiting for Drudalf.
"As I see it, you have two options at hand, Mr. Black," Drudalf spoke, over and above the rattling noise of the class settling down. "Do as I say, and you won't be in trouble," he said, pointing at the first row where Sirius's nametag was placed, "or disobey my orders and pay the price for it. Which would you rather prefer?" he said, squinting even more at the four boys standing resolutely at the back.
James sighed, pushed his glasses further up his nose and looked up. "State the terms, professor," he said.
And a collective groan resounded around them as the rest of the Gryffindors mentally prepared themselves to lose ten thousand points in a single day.
.
After what seemed like forever times infinity, the DADA mercifully came to an end.
"I'm properly ashamed to even call you lot my classmates!" Lily howled, looking like a mutated tomato. "Yesterday, before even school had officially started, Black went and did the you-know-what at the Entrance Hall to You-Know-Who —"
Edgar turned around wildly and blinked at Sirius. "Wait, you killed You-Know-Who in our Entrance Hall yesterday?!" he guffawed stupidly, triggering a round of appreciative chuckling from the onlookers. "Hang on another second, does this mean the War is OVER?!" the idiot had the gall to add, making the boys legit break down laughing this time.
Lily did not look impressed.
"DO YOU WANT DETENTION, BONES, 'CAUSE I COULD REALLY DOLE ONE OUT RIGHT NOW!" she trilled.
James scowled. "Be mad at me all you want, Evans, leave him out o' this," he said snappily, pocketing his wand and coolly walking straight on.
"Potter, I swear to Merlin, I do not want my sixth year to be ruined because of you blockheads!"
"I am not trying to ruin your sixth-year, Evans, that is absolutely the very last thing on my TO-DO list!"
"Then what the bloody hell were you trying to achieve, provoking Mr. Re-Tail Skat-e-Rat like that, eh?"
James gasped and Sirius's eyes widened with awe. "Did you just come up with that?" he yelped.
Lily grit her teeth wistfully. "Been working on it all day actually."
"Nice!" James nodded, supplying a punch to her side. "Respect," he added with a wink.
"Don't digress, Potter!"
The company of Gryffindors practically howled in frustration now as the lot of them stomped on towards the Gryffindor tower, tired to their bones. As if what they had endured in the past hour wasn't enough, they now had to suffer through an endless caterwaul between James and Lily too?!
"Evans, could you reserve your love-making for a little after please, there's too much blood in my ears already," Edgar offered.
Lily scoffed. "That's a good point, Bones, why don't you try bribing Durdalf to give us back the five hundred points he took from us with that excuse, eh?!" she trilled, inviting more groans from the group of Lions.
Edgar simply glared at James who, unbelievably, didn't seem one bit affected and continued to sport the smirk of a martyr, messing up his own hair and integrating a skip in his step as if the world was filled with rainbows and butterflies. "She's right about that, y'know? We better win the House Cup this year at least, Potter, or I'm strangling you to death with my own bare hands!" he growled.
James, though, merely snorted. "Eddie boy," he started, slinging his arm around the black boy's shoulder and looking wickedly confident, "I'm the Captain of the Quidditch team this year," he said and paused as if he didn't need anything more to drive his point home. The migraine in Isabella's head pounded harder than ever against her temple. Simply tuning out the noise at this point, she sunk into a chair by the fireside as far away from Sirius as possible, and got started on her homework.
~oO House Common Room, Gryffindor Tower
"I see that you've been gazing at me all night from across the Common Room."
"Excuse me?"
"It's okay, Eudora, you don't have to be shy." He sat on the armchair and stretched out his legs onto the table in front of him. Eudora looked disdainfully to where his feet landed on top of her books. "I know what you're thinking," he continued. "Big feet..." he smirked handsomely. When Eudora didn't respond, he faltered, "Ehrm... Large shoes? Smooth leather...? I-It's okay, it's a legit fetish, y'know...?"
Glaring, she pulled her books from under his feet and stalked off to the girls' dorms.
"Honestly, Sirius, was that necessary?" Remus asked, trying to smile at Eudora as if to apologise for his tactless friend.
"Of course it was necessary!" He settled into the chair which the poor girl had peacefully occupied just moments before, stretching out his arms and legs, "This is the most comfortable chair in the Commons!"
Remus graced him with a look that would have unquestionably put Voldemort's glare to shame. Glancing momentarily at a flustered Isabella Williams on the other side of the room, he turned back to look into the blissfully impervious face of Sirius Black as he watched a couple of fourth-year girls flirt with an extremely uncomfortable James on the side.
That's it. He could not take this anymore. Remus was going in for the kill. Tapping the raven-haired boy on the shoulder, he called him out. "Pads?"
Sirius, who was chuckling heartily to himself watching James's glasses slip further down the bridge of his nose on account of profuse sweating caused by the surprisingly serious mating calls from the two fourteen-year-olds, supplied a nonchalant grunt in response. "Yeah, Moons?" he asked, not even having the courtesy to look in his direction.
Clenching his teeth even more in annoyance, he opened his mouth. "Have you spoken to her yet?"
Sirius's face jerked up at once from his sprawled position on the couch. At first, he faltered a bit, obviously taken aback at the sudden mention of a certain brown-haired girl he had successfully avoided all day; and then, quite instantly, his momentary dumbfoundedness got replaced with the Arrogant Glare that he was so famous for. "Have you spoken to her yet?" he repeated, only this time, they were talking about two very different her's.
Peter snorted from the armchair across him, reminding them he was there. Sniggering gleefully, he wiggled his eyebrows at him. "Have you?" he asked, popping in a Bertie Bott's and watching the werewolf keenly.
And Remus was left staring after them dumbstruck, an unwelcome blush creeping slowly up his face. And knew he must be starting to look like a pumpkin now going by the teasing sniggers on his stupid friends' faces, but he had to be strong: HE CANNOT LET THEM SEE THE THING HE HELD IN HIS HANDS OR HE'D BE TOAST.
Almost as if he had read his mind, Sirius's eyes darted to his hands area. "What's that you're holding?" he demanded, suspiciously eyeing The Thing in his hand.
Crap! Did I only think it or say the words out loud?! He didn't know. But of course he couldn't have been daft enough to do that... But then again, anything's a possibility given the height of trauma he was in right now...
Double crap!
"It's nothing," Remus mumbled, trying to move his lips as little as possible.
Sirius's eyes got wilder. "Moony," he began, holding him delicately with distrustful-cum-heedful eyes, as if he was handling a very volatile time-bomb. "Why don't you show me what's in your hands, eh, mate?" he said, speaking very slowly.
Remus was legit sweating buckets now.
"It's a... It's a sandwich."
Sirius and Peter exchanged looks.
"I like sandwiches."
"Yeah, well, I'm not giving it to you. OKAY, Pads?"
"Wow, Remus... That hurt... I'm your best friend, man."
"Bullshit! Shove it up your arse, Dog-Breath!"
Sirius was seriously starting to look blue in the face now from not having breathed in too long.
"Just a bite, Moony, come on."
"Leave me alone... YOU LEAVE ME ALONE!" Remus screamed hysterically, protectively concealing it from view.
"Okay!" Sirius said, instantly putting his hands up, "Okay, fine... You win, mate... The sandwich's all yours," he said, allowing a reassuring smile to cut his features.
Remus finally started to relax. "Thank you."
"No worries, pal... Hey, so how are you?" Sirius asked cordially, breaking into the fakest of smiles and relaxing into his couch
Remus, incredibly, broke into a genuine grin. "Oh," he smiled, sighing heavily, but contently, "Great, Pads. Just great... How are you, my man?"
There was a sudden movement. "JUST... GREAT!" Sirius bellowed, and before Remus could scream, before he could even blink, the crazed almost-six-footer leaped off his couch and collapsed straight into a stunned Remus. Acting like a bolt of lightening, he reached behind Remus and swiped the parcel neatly out of his grasp.
"AHA! Finally!" bellowed Sirius and looked down at the precious sandwich in his hands — and stopped dead in his tracks as he read the note on it...
You see, it was no secret that Remus had become a recluse in the last few months due to the various affairs that had ensued, affairs that were beyond his control. And, as hard as it really was, he was actually starting to get used to this lifestyle again, where he kept to himself, read his precious books, hung out with his three deranged friends and expecting little else from the world. It was the kind of life he had always planned for himself, prepared himself for even, given the werewolf situation that he had been shoved into when he was merely four years old.
So imagine his surprise when, despite his genuine efforts to be left alone, he was still getting sought-after and cared for in ways he had never before dreamed of... Because when he had returned to the Common Room with the rest of them after an extremely stressful DADA, he had started to feel hungry, but he couldn't yet go down for dinner because of the mountain of homework he had piled up in front of him. Minutes before Sirius had driven poor Eudora out of her couch, Remus had stripped his backpack open to pull out his quill and parchment, only to realise a wrapped sandwich had been left in there by a certain blonde girl, along with a hastily scribbled note that said 'EAT SOMETHING!' in great big block letters.
It was a good suggestion, he had to admit, because the full moon was only three days away and he needed every ounce of strength he could possibly gather. But more on that later.
"Give it back."
"I'll fight you for it," said Sirius.
"Oh, come on!"
"Wands out. Get ready."
"Sirius, it's a sandwich."
"Exactly! So, you don't want it then?"
He did want it. Quite badly, in fact. "Claiborne made me that sandwich."
"So?"
"So, she cares about me more than my own ill-bred, large-headed mutts of friends like yourself! Why should I give it to you?"
"Ill-bred, large-headed mutts?" Sirius scoffed. "You're one to talk, Lupin!"
The duel that ensued was, admittedly, a bit childish, considering that it was ended by Remus crying "PEACE!" before collapsing into his chair, his legs too weak to support his weight. "Did you use Jelly-Legs?" he asked, unflatteringly pulling up his torso and looking around to see if the blonde in question had witnessed this or not.
"I subtly weakened you."
"You used Jelly-Legs," Remus ground out.
"Same thing," Sirius said, taking a large bite of his sandwich.
"Hungry, were you?" Remus asked acidly.
"I know you are. Go talk to her, it's gone on forever, this stupid little charade between you two," Sirius ordered stiffly. "And who knows? She might just make you another sandwich," he guffawed.
Remus scoffed. "You're one to talk. Coward."
Sirius looked up, having the balls to look affronted... and the decency to look slightly ashamed too, thankfully. "You take that back or I'll make your Jelly-Legs permanent!" he growled.
Remus, though, merely paused, all sense of play dissipating and getting replaced with solemn despair now. Regarding him seriously, he sighed. "Pads... My situation's different and you know it," he began, slowly starting to regain sensation in his legs again. "It's different for you... You could have her and more if only you'd stop being the knobhead that you are —"
"— My situation's not like your situation, Moony," Sirius said, cutting him short. "Try and understand. In your situation, both of you want the same damn thing. I could never give her what she wants, but in your case, you both want each other —"
"— That's... not true —"
"She left you a vaguely threatening, yet concerned note to go along with the sandwich!" Sirius cut him. "That says a lot."
Peter nodded cheerily from the side. "All the extra exclamation points screams of repressed affection, Moons," he shrugged.
Remus sank back in his chair, his mind racing. Ignoring his friends' looks, he tried changing the subject back to Sirius. "You take too many things in life for granted and I won't have it, Pads... I will not sit here and watch you throw your life in the sewer... Talk to her," he ordered.
Sirius's face hardened. He regarded him for a second, looked briefly in Isabella's direction and then sighed. "Fine. Only if you talk to her though."
Remus considered that for a moment. His eyes wandered off to where Lily, Isabella and Claiborne sat motoring through their homework and his heart lifted a little; because he somehow cared for all three of those girls. In different degrees for sure, but care nonetheless. And even if not for Claiborne, for Isabella he had to do this.
"Alight, deal," he said holding his hand out.
Sirius's heart seemed to sink a little from the look on his face, almost as if he hadn't expected Remus to accept his dare. He hesitated at first. But then finally gave in. "Fine. Deal," he said, finishing the rest of the sandwich.