Marcus' Mission
About a week after the Quidditch try-outs, Claudia was sitting at her usual desk in the library. She liked it because it was well hidden and solitary. She has learned to embrace loneliness in her childhood and first year in Hogwarts, when no one talked to her. And even though she now had friends, she still enjoyed it.
But she could not focus on her reading this time. Her mind settled back on the conversation she overheard between her father and Marcus at the end of the summer.
Her father worked at the Ministry of Magic, at the Department of International Magical Cooperation. Claudia was not exactly sure what he did, but it seemed to involve lot of parties with foreign dignitaries and schmoozing. None of it seemed particularly secret, or frankly important. She knew nothing of her father's childhood or his time at Hogwarts.
Suddenly, she had a thought. She stood up and walked over to the librarian's desk.
"Madame Pince?" Claudia asked. "I wanted to look up my mum and dad." She nearly choked. She had not called her parents 'mum' and 'dad' for years. But she needed to sound casual, so she continued. "Does the library hold student records?"
Madame Pince measure her, she had not reason to suspect anything. Claudia was a model student and apart from an occasional academic argument with fellow students, she was never in trouble.
"Aisle U, bottom shelf." Said Madame Pince, finally and returned to her filing.
Claudia searched the shelf. He father was born in 1927, so he would have gone to Hogwarts from 1938 to 1945. She found the relevant volume. The book was heavy and dusty, she laid it open on the floor and looked for the relevant page. 1936, 1937, 1938… There he was, listed under Slytherin House – Frederick Alfred Avery.
Couple other names on the list caught her eye. Further down the page in her father's year was Rabanus Tiberius Lestrange – she knew his sons Rabastan and Rudolphus. They could not have been long out of Hogwarts when she started here. She remembered Marcus being quite besotted with them. A year above them, also in Slytherin, was Walburga Violetta Black, Regulus' mother. She recognised most of the names on the page – Bulstrode, Rosier, Nott. Must be the uncle that she heard Julius mention, as his dad was much younger.
But there were also a couple of names that she did not recognise. One made her giggle. One of the Slytherins in her father's year was called Tom Marvolo Riddle, even by wizarding standards that was a weird middle name.
Claudia flipped few pages back and forth looking for anything unusual, but she could not see anything. She sighed and shut the book in frustration. She was not sure what she was expecting to find. The fact that Slytherin was full of pure-bloods in her father's day was hardly surprising.
She looked at her watch. Double potions class were starting in ten minutes. She needed to get down the dungeon, Professor Slughorn did not tolerate lateness. Well, at least not from Claudia.
He had his favourites and she was not one of them. She never understood why. She was good at potions after all. Her suspicion was that it could be because of Marcus. Slughorn did not seem to like him much either. Or could it be that he was at Hogwarts when her parents attended? If he was, he could tell her more about her father. Maybe she did not hit a dead end after all.
Claudia spent most of her potion class wondering how to approach the subject of her father with Professor Slughorn. She was so distracted that she misjudged the amount of lavender in her Calming Draught, which was now splattering and emitting a foul smell.
Professor Slughorn approached her table and shook his head.
"Too much lavender, Avery." He said, frowning.
Claudia saw her opportunity and faked a laugh.
"Sorry, Professor. I was just trying a tip that my father gave me in the summer." She said, watching Slughorn's face intently. Just for the briefest of moments, she noticed that a shadow travelled across the Potionmaster's face.
"You'll do better if you don't follow in your father's footsteps." He said abruptly. Before Claudia could say anything else, Slughorn turned away and was half was across the classroom.
Claudia kept a close eye on him for the rest of the class. He kept looking at her. But every time she made eye-contact, he turned away. He knew something, she was sure of it. But she was also pretty sure that he was not going to tell her. She will need to find another way.
Claudia spent the next couple of days looking around Hogwarts for more clues about her father. She checked the trophy cabinets, nothing. Spoke to the house-elf cleaning the Slytherin common room, nothing. She even searched all the hidden places where students left messages and little graffiti but could not find anything of interest.
She was beginning to give up. She dragged herself back to the library to work on her muggle studies essay. It was late and she was tired. She leaned back against the wall and closed her eyes.
Suddenly, she felt a tap on her shoulder. She opened her eyes and saw Sirius grinning at her.
"You know the term has just started, right?" He asked.
Claudia looked at her watch, it was late. She must have fallen asleep. The library was eerily quiet.
"It's this stupid muggle studies essay on electricity." She sighed. "I can't get my head around the way it's transported."
"You aren't the only one." Replied Sirius. "Sometimes I feel like we're in a bit of a disadvantage. All the other kids in that class are at least half-bloods." He sat down to join her, grabbed the textbook and began reading it with a slight frown.
Suddenly, Claudia heard the door creak and her brother's voice began to carry around the deserted library.
"Go and check that no one else is here." He said, presumably to one of his cronies.
Claudia jumped up. She shoved her things in her bag and squeezed herself in the gap between the wall and the bookshelf. She gestured at Sirius to do the same.
"I'm not scared of him. I'm sure the two of us could take him." He whispered lazily and stayed in his seat. Claudia grabbed his arm and dragged him into the gap.
"Shut up. I want to listen." She whispered urgently.
"But do you know what it looks like?" Asked one of Marcus' cronies. They were out of sight but not out of earshot.
"All my father told me is that I should start with a book about the inferiori, or something." Marcus growled.
Sirius looked like he was about to burst into laughter, but Claudia put her hand over his mouth and looked at him menacingly. Now was not the time.
They could hear them ruffling through bookshelves.
"It might be in the restricted section." Someone finally said.
"Well, we aren't going to get in today." Claudia could hear Marcus sigh. "Pince is guarding it like a hawk. Let's ask Slughorn for a permission slip after potions on Thursday."
Claudia heard the door to the library close.
"Inferiori?" Sirius asked, suppressing a laugh.
"He's so thick." Claudia shook her head. "Can't believable that we're actually related."
Sirius laughed. But Claudia wasn't in the mood for jokes.
"Whatever it is he's looking for. I need to find it first..." She sighed. "But there's no way I'll get a permission slip into the restricted section. Not in fourth year."
Sirius looked at her for a long time, as if he was trying to get the measure of her.
"If you let me help you, you will not need a permission slip." He said, finally. Claudia's eyes narrowed. She never broke school rules before. Sirius could see the hesitation on her face and elbowed her. "Oh, come on! It'll be fun." He added, suddenly looking very excited.
Claudia thought about it. Inferi were dangerous creatures, she knew that. She had no idea why Marcus would be looking into them. She needed to know what he was up to. Sirius was looking at her expectantly. She took a deep breath.
"Fine. Tomorrow night?" She asked.
"Leave the detail to me. I'll see you back here tomorrow at seven." Sirius replied with a huge grin on his face.
They waited few more minutes to make sure the coast was clear, before sneaking out of the library and returning to their respective common rooms.
Claudia was not able to concentrate on anything the next day. Not her lessons not her food. She almost chewed her finger nails off.
Finally, she was sitting in a nearly empty library with Sirius. The tricky muggle studies essay proved to be a good cover for why they were there together. Sirius was actually pretty smart. It was not what she was expecting.
Claudia was scribbling furiously when Sirius suddenly grabbed hold of her hand and leaned over.
"Don't be alarmed, but Madame Pince is looking at us suspiciously." He whispered in her ear. "I don't think she's ever seen me here two days in a row this late actually studying."
Claudia giggled. Sirius moved his face closer to hers. She heard Madame Pince clear her throat with clear disapproval.
"I think that's worked." Sirius says with a grin.
"This is not the first time you're here late not studying, is it?" Claudia asked with a smirk.
"Let's move, before she throws us out." Sirius laughed.
He stood up, grabbed Claudia's hand and led her towards the exit from the library. But instead of leaving, he took a turn inside one of the narrow aisles, pulled out a cloak from his bag and threw it over the both of them.
"Invisibility cloak." He whispered before putting a finger across his lips to signal that now was not the time for questions.
They sat under the cloak for good half an hour, before Madame Pince extinguished the lights and locked the library door behind her.
They climbed over the rope to the restricted section and began to search the shelves. There were many rare books, but none directly about the inferi. Claudia was just examining a copy of Magick Moste Evile, when she heard Sirius hiss. She found him in the neighbouring aisle, holding a copy of The Nightshade Guide to Necromancy.
"This could be it." He said. He held the book close to his eyes, scanning the content. "There is a whole section on creating the inferi and one on controlling them."
Claudia took the book from his hand and begin skimming it.
"I can't read it all now. How long do you recon before Madame Pince notices it's gone?" She asked.
"I borrowed a book a year ago and she still hasn't noticed." Sirius replied.
Claudia shook her head, faking disapproval, but put the book in her robes.
Sirius walked her to the dungeons under the invisibility cloak. It was safer that way. If she got caught out of bed after curfew, there would be a lot of questions to answer.
"Where did you get that cloak?" Claudia finally remembered to ask.
"Secret, sorry." Sirius whispered. "Want me to keep the book? I can hide it somewhere your brother won't find it." He added quickly, to change the subject.
Claudia shook her head. She wanted to keep the book close to her. She needed to study it. She was glad that she got to the book before Marcus did, but was still struggling to understand what exactly he meant to do with it.
The following day, Claudia found herself looking through the student records again. She was not sure why. She heard footsteps and looked up to see Alice approaching. She was glad to see her, but also felt bit guilty.
Alice was her best friend, but Claudia did not yet tell her what she overheard in the summer. Or about her trip to the restricted section. Claudia knew Alice would say things that she did not want to hear. She always did. The most annoying thing was, she was usually right.
"What's that?" Alice asked, pointing at the school records and sitting down next to Claudia.
"I'm just looking into my father's time at Hogwarts." Claudia replied. She threw the book on the ground. It landed with a thud. "He's up to something and it's been bothering me."
Alice picked up the book and began to read. She stopped suddenly and looked at Claudia. She went very pale.
"What is it?" Asked Claudia, her eyes wide. Alice lifted her shaking hand and pointed at the name Claudia found so funny few weeks ago, Tom Marvolo Riddle.
"That's You-Know-Who." Alice whispered.
Claudia starred at the book in disbelief, then she looked at Alice.
"How do you know?" She asked.
"My dad was in Hogwarts at a similar time." Alice replied in a barely audible whisper. "He told me."
Claudia was shaken. Her mind was racing… Her father was in the same year as You-Know-Who. Were they friends in Hogwarts? Is that what Slughorn meant when he spoke about her father's footsteps? Is that why her father wanted information on the inferi? To give to You-Know-Who?
"Alice, there's something I didn't tell you…" Claudia began to say. "At the end of summer, I overheard my father giving Marcus some sort of instructions. I've been following him. You don't think they could be working on You-Know-Who's instructions?" She asked, her voice trembling ever so slightly.
Alice's face hardened. She was back to her composed self.
"Can't be. Your brother is just a kid. How could he be working for You-Know-Who?" Alice replied and then paused. She was weighing her words carefully. "Claudia, promise me that you won't do anything silly. Your brother is a thug and sniffing around would be dangerous."
Claudia wanted to protest, but Alice cut her off.
"Promise me!" She said, with urgency that took Claudia by surprise.
"Fine." Said Claudia through gritted teeth. She, of course, had no intention of letting this go but knew better than to argue with Alice. There were some things her best friend just did not understand.