There were times when raising Lucy had been a bit trying on her parents. When people asked if she had been always been so headstrong, Mr. and Mrs. Ogden always shared the same look. Despite that, no amount of prodding could get them to tell others the event they were thinking of.
The event in question happened four years ago, only about two months after Lucy's near death experience.
As far as her parents were concerned, that event had woken her seeing abilities. They just didn't realize how strong of an ability it was until this particular morning.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Four years in the past, Lucy is seven~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It had been a quiet morning. Darlene sipped her tea as she read the morning paper. Robert was rewinding his wrist watch.
At the same second, they looked up and met each other's wide eyes.
"The wards!" Robert yelled.
"Lucy left!" Darlene had exclaimed.
Both of them were tied into the wards surrounding the house, and they had felt the influx as their daughter's magical signature disappeared.
Panic descended.
Darlene jumped to her feet and rushed to her daughter's bedroom. Robert headed toward the play room. When they met back in the kitchen still missing their daughter, Darlene's hand grasped at her chest and she started to cry. Robert pulled at his graying hair and stalked over to the fireplace. He had a pinch of floor powder in his hand, ready to call the chief of the Aurors, when they both paused.
Their daughter's signature had reappeared in the living room, but someone was with it.
Darlene raced through the hallway, Robert at her heels. As she went through the room, she grabbed at her daughter and tucked her against her side, pulling them back away from the rough looking man.
Robert immediately pushed his wife and daughter behind him and turned his wand on the intruder.
"Who are you?" He demanded.
The man flung his greasy, elbow length hair behind him and started to laugh.
"Who am I? Who am I? Perhaps a dog," The man crowed as he laughed, his voice scratchy and rough from disuse.
"What do you want with my daughter?" Robert demanded.
The man just kept laughing, his voice getting higher and higher, until a red beam hit him and he fell over on the floor.
Robert turned angry eyes on his wife who shrugged unapologetically as her wand wrapped the man in ropes and tied him to a chair.
"Clearly you weren't going to get any answers from him," she said.
"Mum, dad, this is Sirius Black. He's actually innocent," Lucy chirped.
Two sets of incredulous eyes turned on the seven year old.
"Excuse me?" Mrs. Ogden asked in a strangled voice.
"I had a dream last night that he didn't do it, and he didn't even get a trial, and I was so mad that I asked Pogo to take me to Azkaban, then I went and found him, and brought him back because I knew you would make it all better," she shot them a blinding smile.
"Pogo?" Robert repeated.
The House Elf in question popped into existence, shaking all over, "M-m-master called?"
Darlene turned her gaze on the elf who squeaked, "Did you take my seven year old daughter to Azkaban?"
"Pogo is sorry, but little miss was saying she had to go, and there was no rule saying Pogo couldn't take her to Azkaban," the elf cried. "Should Pogo punish herself?"
Robert sighed, "No, Pogo we've never asked you to punish yourself, but we will need to reevaluate the rules. Pogo you are dismissed."
The family settled into the couch, all three staring at the body laying tied up on the floor. Wild black hair streaked with less grey than Lucy remembered spread out around his head. Even asleep, the body twitched like it was being tortured. It was clear that Sirius was not having good dreams.
"I don't understand, what do you mean that the infamous Sirius Black is innocent?" Mrs. Ogden asked.
Lucy started to go over the cover story she had developed. She couldn't believe that Carver had refused to rescue Sirius right away, and it had taken her two months since her return to plan a good escape plan for her godfather.
"I had a dream he was innocent. He didn't even receive a trial! And he's the head of an ancient and noble wizarding house! So I knew I needed to rescue him right away. I left a raccoon in his place, and the dementors didn't seem to notice the difference. Can we keep him?" Lucy asked.
"The raccoon?" Robert wasn't sure he was following.
"Don't be silly, dad, Mr. Black of course," Lucy said.
The Ogdens shared a look with each other.
Which was basically the story of how they got their very own pet mass murder psychopath. After all, they couldn't just give him back to the ministry without their seven year old daughter potentially being sent to jail herself or the ministry sending the Ogdens to jail. After all, who would believe it was the seven year old who had broken out the man. So they hid the murderer in their house. At least, that's what the Ogdens thought until they started looking into things. It turns out that at least part of their daughter's dream had been true, and Sirius was never given a trial of any kind let alone a fair and honest one.
Eventually, they did wake him up to get his side of things, but it was all a mess. It took a lot of talking, but they eventually understood what had happened. They had him demonstrate turning into a dog to help prove his story.
Then, the Ogdens ended up sending a letter to a certain werewolf, requesting his presence for a tutoring position.
~~~~~~~~~break~•~~•~~~~~~~~~~
Remus Lupin stared at the letter in confusion.
A tutoring position? He couldn't remember applying for any such job, let alone tutoring a magical child.
Eventually, he shrugged, and started digging under his pile of flannels and blue jeans for slacks and cardigans. A position tutoring suited the mild mannered man better than the logging position he had currently been holding in Northern Canada. It had only been a seasonal position anyway. The tutoring might be a scam, but the couple had at least paid for a portkey to get him back to England, and that was worth it to him right there.
When he arrived at the Ogden manor, after a quick snort and eye roll that, of course they had a manor, he stepped up to the stoop, tugging the sleeves of his second hand suit trying to make them the inch longer he really needed.
He was not expecting the door to be opened by a face that was supposed to be rotting in prison.
"Moony!" The voice that he heard in his nightmares called and tried to hug him. His hand started grasping for his wand, cursing himself for being a trusting fool and tucking it away in a pocket. Remus finally grasped the wand and was trying to tug it out when a red light from behind Sirius hit him. There wasn't even time for a strongly worded complaint before he was hitting the ground.
"Again, dear?" Robert asked mildly.
She shrugged again, "If experience with this crazy ordeal has taught me anything, it's stun first, explain later."
When Remus woke up, tied to a chair, his first instinct was the use adult language. He nearly bit threw his tongue in an attempt to stop when his eyes adjusted, and he saw the small child sitting across from him.
"Wow, I've never heard that before," the kid whispered, giving him a look of open admiration. Remus blushed because he truly was a gentleman and normally would never have used such language around a kid.
Regardless, the kid didn't seem to be tied up, "Quick, I need you to get help! There's a crazy guy here who wants to hurt us."
"That hurts me Moony, really it does. You think I would hurt a kid?" Remus shut his eyes and groaned. It was too late then. Sirius had somehow escaped and was about to kill the last remaining member of the Marauders.
"Oh, please stop being so melodramatic in your head. I'm not going to kill you," Sirius rolled his eyes and plopped down on the ground next to the kid, groaning as his joints cracked.
The kid giggled, and Sirius shot her a fake glare, "I'm not old."
"Sure you're not," the kid replied.
An elegantly dressed woman stepped around the back of Remus' chair.
"My apologies for the subterfuge in bringing you here, Mr Lupin. We could think of no other way to get you here. Though, I truly do need a tutor for Lucy. Perhaps I could look at your resume after this?" The lady told him.
Remus nodded at her with his mouth gaping open. His brain had finally lost it.
The conversation ended up being shorter than the one Sirius and Lucy had done with her parents.
"He's a rat. He was the secret keeper. All they found was a toe," Sirius had said.
"What do you mean you weren't the secret keeper? Everyone knew you were the secret keeper!" Remus replied.
Sirius learned in close even though Remus tried to lean back away.
"Exactly. Everyone thought I would be secret keeper because James and I were the closest. Plus, no one would think scared little Peter was the secret keeper. It was the perfect prank. Only Peter turned out to be the traitor," Sirius cried.
Remus let out some adult words, "Of course, you all thought I was the traitor, so it would have been the perfect ruse."
"Sorry mate," Sirius said mournfully.
Remus shrugged a shoulder, all he could do with how he was tied up, "Eh, I thought you were guilty for six years and let you rot in Azkaban. Fair enough."
Sirius explained a few more things, but Remus was already pretty convinced by that point. Lucy had to smile when they finally released Remus, and the two shared a dramatic hug.
Then Sirius socked Remus in the face.
"That's for letting me rot in Azkaban for six years!"
Remus punched him back, "Yeah well none of this would've happened if you hadn't thought I was the traitor!"
Then Mrs Ogden was shuffling Lucy out of the room as the two grown men started crying.
"Sometimes we have to give people space," she explained.
Which is the story of how they got a pet murderer (who was actually innocent) and a pet werewolf (who was actually the mild mannered tutor).
Life around the Ogden house changed after that. There wasn't too much they could do to prove Sirius' innocence without Peter Pettigrew.
So Sirius spent his days around the house as a man. Whenever there was company, he would switch into the family's large black pet dog. Blaise had long been jealous that Lucy was allowed a pet when his own mother had a strict no pets policy. It made Lucy smirk everytime he complained. In addition, because it wasn't known that Sirius Black had escaped prison, he was able to spend time in the muggle world under several appearance altering charms. They didn't want to risk the magical world because it was so small and the black family traits were so distinctive that it would be too easy for him to be recognized.
Remus Lupin became Lucy's live in tutor. He was as good at teaching how to read and basic skills as he had been a teacher in third year. It also helped that Lucy already knew how to read and write. She found that she was still learning a lot after a bad primary experience with Dudley. There were huge gaps in her knowledge that Remus helped to fill.
The appearance of Remus and Sirius was probably the most startling to Lucy. It was easy to forget that the Potters had Harry at only 20. Now, when Harry and Lucy were seven, Remus and Sirius were only 27.
In the original timeline, barely into their thirties, the two men had looked closer to being in their fifties with many wrinkles, scars, and grey hairs.
This version, they looked closer to their thirties, younger and better cared for.
In short, they had become the bachelor uncles that the Ogden's graciously put up with for most of the year.
And by most of the year, the parents had their limits, so for the summer months, Sirius and Remus were sent to stay with Mr. Ogden's brother. When Cleopas was revealed as a werewolf. it was easier for him to fake his own death and live under an assumed name in America than to try to live in England under the werewolf registry.
It was like sending a kid to summer camp. They sent their prison escapee and werewolf to a summer with the proclaimed dead blood uncle.
Typical family dynamics.
Sirius and Remus had been off visiting with Cleopas Ogden, now known as Leo Thorgden, last summer when Lucy had gone shopping for school supplies and went off to Hogwarts.
As soon as she'd gotten to school, she'd sent a letter home mentioning the pet rat that Ron Weasley had who was missing a toe and had lived a ridiculously long time for a rat.
A package had arrived with a specially charmed rat cage that prevented animagus transformations.
She'd broken into the Gryffindor tower and kidnapped a rat without anyone being the wiser.
The rat was carefully sent back to her parents with detailed instructions not to allow Remus or Sirius to eat the beast.
Remus sent back this letter:
Dear Lucy,
I'm certain he has diseases. I would never put something like that in my mouth nor would I allow Padfoot to get some sort of Herpes of the mouth. Our rat friend is off to the Ministry for some testing into a new long lived species. Congrats on your capture.
Sincerely,
Moony.
Being handed a gift wrapped man thought dead wasn't enough to call Sirius innocent, but it would result in a trial. These things still take time, especially with the Ministry of Magic.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Current year~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lucy sat in a cabin on the Hogwarts Express with Blaise and Hermione. In her lap was a sack filled with candy that her friends and classmates had sent her over the three days she was in the hospital wing. Susan and Hannah had bought her sugar quills, which she hated, but she passed them onto Hermione and appreciated that they'd at least tried.
Unlike Luna's classmates, Lucy's had never outright bullied her, but they also had never made an attempt to become her friend. In their defense, Lucy had never attempted to become their friends either.
"Pass me a chocolate frog," Blaise said, and she smiled at him.
Ehh, it was alright that her classmates weren't super close to her. She had her friends.
Speaking of, Cedric and Alex appeared in the doorway of the cabin.
"Hello firsties," Alex told the trio. "Figured we'd instruct you all to be safe over the summer."
"We'll be fine, it's only Lucy you need to warn," Hermione said, nose still stuck in a book.
Cedric laughed as he ruffled Lucy's hair, "Well, that warning may have been directed towards a certain extra small firstie."
"I'm not extra small!" Lucy exclaimed.
The boys laughed at her and even Hermione smirked behind her book.
Alex nodded toward her candy, "Did you get the honeydukes chocolates we sent you?"
Cedric apologized, "Sorry we didn't stop by the hospital wing while you were awake but we had exams, and then you were released so quickly."
Lucy waved them off.
The trio said their goodbyes to the older two boys and settled back down for the train ride.
It was a struggle for Lucy to carry the bulky trunk with a cardboard box holding Akai attached on top, so being grabbed from behind caused her to drop it, right onto Blaise's toes. Blaise yelped in pain while Lucy may have squealed in surprise (though she would definitely deny it later).
A few eyes turned their way at the complaints of Blaise and the surprised chirp of Lucy as well as the happy laughing and yelling of one Sirius Black.
"You did it! You did it!" He was yelling as he spun Lucy in a circle.
Upon realizing who had grabbed her, Lucy had started to laugh too.
"Please put my daughter down," Mrs. Ogden instructed, grabbing a hug from her daughter when she was placed gently back on the ground. Lucy grinned as she wrapped her arms around her mother, taking in the familiar vanilla scent that her mother always wore.
Her father was standing right behind her mother and grabbed a hug too before Sirius was bouncing back in front of her, looking ecstatic.
"Lucy, how do you know Mr. Black?" Blaise's voice sounding strangled as he took in the man only declared innocent that morning.
Sirius looked different than he had when he had broken out. His hair was cut to just below his shoulders and fell in glossy waves that took a lot of time and products to achieve (though he always told the ladies it was natural). He lacked the gaunt, hunted look and stood with broad shoulders and lean muscles.
"Oh Sirius and I have been writing letters to each other for years. I've always believed he was innocent. I'll let you read some of them later," Lucy used the excuse the family had long ago agreed upon incase Sirius was ever declared innocent while shooting Blaise a look that he would hopefully realize meant she would explain later.
Unlike Ron would have, Blaise had enough Slytherin cunning in him that he accepted her words with a slight head nod, face already shifting back into the uninterested expression that his mother had been coaching him on since he was a baby.
Lucy suddenly broke away from her family and the Zabinis and ran over to Neville.
"Neville, don't forget to owl me over the summer!" She reminded him.
His reply was cut off by Sirius introduction of himself, "Hi, I'm Sirius Black, and I'm completely innocent!"
Mrs Longbottom pursed her lips before ignoring him completely and turning to Lucy.
"Ms Ogden, I've not yet had a chance to thank you for your actions with my grandson at the beginning of the term. The Longbottom family formally thanks you, and I extend an invitation to the Longbottom house this summer for a dinner," the matron said.
"We would love to accept," Lucy mum replied.
Mrs Longbottom peered over her glasses to give her grandson a fierce look, "And Neville will be certain to maintain correspondence this summer."
After a stuttered agreement, the Longbottoms left.
"You're going to owl Longbottom?" Blaise asked, eyebrows raised in surprise.
Lucy raised her chin arrogantly, "Of course, I try to stay in contact with all of my rescuees."
Blaise rolled his eyes, and Lucy dropped her act with a grin, "Seriously, he's cool. I'm gonna work on getting him some confidence this summer though."
At that point, Hermione came over with her parents, all sprouting hesitant looks.
"Uhm, mum and dad, these are my friends Lucy and Blaise who I wrote to you about over the year," Hermione said. Lucy smiled while Blaise shook her father's hand and kissed the back of Hermione's mother's hand.
Lucy shook her head, only eleven and he was already making grown women blush. While Lucy's parents smiled, and Mrs Zabini sent a grin that should be r-rated, Sirius grabbed each of the muggles' hands and shook them vigorously.
"Sirius Black, just declared innocent of not killing all those people in a gas explosion, that's me," he said as he continued to pump Mr. Granger's hand for longer than necessary.
"Uhhh," Mr. Granger stuttered as his eyes widened even further.
Mr. Ogden calmly reached over and pulled the hand out of Sirius' grasp.
"I'm so sorry to cut things short, but we have to be on our way," he said calmly. The Grangers waved goodbye as the Ogdens and Black went to a different part of the station.
The Zabini's each sent the Granger parents a wink before heading their own ways. Mr Granger had a bit of a blush creeping up his neck, whether from embarrassment or bewilderment Hermione wasn't sure while Mrs Granger looked pale.
"Let's get ice cream, and I'll tell you all about my year," Hermione instructed, pulling her parents towards a stand in the muggle part of the station and hoping all of her manipulation practice with adults would help while explaining the year to her parents.
Hermione had already decided that certain events probably shouldn't be told to her muggle parents, and she figured if she could get the fearsome Professor Snape to rescue Lucy from the Forbidden Forest, she could handle her parents being bewildered.
Meanwhile, Sirius had dragged the Ogdens over to where Harry was placing his trunk down by his guardians.
Lucy didn't recognize the old couple. They were proper in a way that reminded Lucy of the Malfoys, all sharp wizard outfits and careful hairstyles. She'd originally hoped that Harry might end up with someone like the Weasleys (who had at least had acted very loving and attentive even if they were being paid to act that way), but it seemed the ministry may have been involved with the second placement of Harry Potter.
"Hi, I'm Sirius Black, innocent of-" Sirius had started into his greeting of being innocent but was almost immediately cut off by the stern man.
"Exavier Sternwood, this is my wife, RoseAnn, pleasure to meet you," when he said pleasure, the man's nose wrinkled in such a way that left little doubt he was just saying the polite thing.
"Right, anyway, Harry, I'm actually your godfather, Don't know if you know," Sirius turned on a dime towards the boy he had clearly come over for.
Harry nodded, "Yeah, I was told."
At his flat tone, Sirius started to deflate, just slightly, "Well, I was thinking maybe, if you like, we could meet up this summer? I could tell you about your parents, and maybe get to know you some?"
Lucy knew how much this moment meant to Sirius. Hed rehearsed it in the bathroom mirror many times at the Ogden house over the years, though all of his smooth practice had done little to help his speech in the moment in mattered. Lucy smiled reassuringly next to him, but it quickly turned into a glare at Harry's reply.
"No thank you," was all he said. Before turning around and heading away, he did shake Sirius' hand once before dropping the appendage. His guardians sent the group a smirk before turning and following him.
Sirius visibly deflated the rest of the way, losing the bounce and glow that had been bright enough to be seen several countries aaway. He stared down at the ground as the Ogdens rallied around him. Lucy glared at the retreating form of Harry, unable to believe he had acted that way. Even with new guardians, she couldn't believe he hadn't even wanted to meet with Sirius once.
Everyone around them looked away, seemingly embarrassed for Sirius.
Sirius' hands clenched into fists and a crinkling sound startled them.
"What's this?" he asked as he loosened his fist to reveal a crumpled up piece of paper, folded so it was no bigger than a gum wrapper.
Unfolding it, scratched in familiar messy handwriting that Lucy recognized still being nearly the same as her own, Harry had written.
Sorry. Instructed to say that. Owl me.
Lucy and Sirius both perked up in renewed faith in Harry.
Finally, the Ogdens and Sirius walked over to the floo lines and headed back to the manor where a grinning Remus gave Lucy a hug as well.
She couldn't believe how four years of a consistent job with good meals and decent pay had changed Remus. The man looked much closer to his thirty one years. He still had more scars than anyone else she knew, but still somehow less than in the original timeline. Like Sirius, he had filled out some too though he would never have the broad shoulders that Sirius could boast.
In addition, he had bought nice quality clothes. They were still cheaper than anything Sirius or her father would wear, but they certainly weren't second hand, and they fit him well. Every year, the Ogdens gave Remus a certain amount as clothing money. At first, he'd tried to refuse it, but he finally accepted it when they said they expected him to dress a certain way as Lucy's tutor, so it was only fair they paid for it.
His eyes always showed her the biggest difference. They weren't so lonely this time around.
"How was your first year?" He asked.
"Great, but I want to know what happened with Sirius? Why did it take an entire school year? How did they keep the trial so secret?" She demanded rapidly, settling into the couch as the adults took seats around her.
"Well, that rat was certainly enough to demand a trial but these things take time," her father started.
Sirius cut in a laugh, "Especially things with the high restoration fees associated if I was truly innocent and had spent ten years in Azkaban."
"So they didn't find out that you've been free for four years?" She asked.
"No, as far as we know, they think he has been in Azkaban the whole time. The day I turned in the rat, your father had a house elf put Sirius back in prison and grab the racoon," Remus said, then paused, "Sadly, the raccoon's not doing the best after four years in that place. He's living out back, hasn't really left the yard."
"Poor thing," Lucy did feel bad but she felt that it had been a necessary trade off.
"It took a lot for them to decide that Sirius truly was innocent. He came from the dark family with plenty of loyal followers of Voldemort. Still, Pettigrew actually had a Dark Mark and that helped a lot plus the testimonies under Veritaserum," Robert said.
"So you're completely free?" Lucy asked.
"Yep! Which means we can legally make you my goddaughter in thanks!" Sirius told her.
Robert and Darlene rolled their eyes together. Neither of them came from families that put much stock into godparents, but Sirius had been claiming that he was going to officially Lucy his goddaughter when he was free and could go to the Ministry to file the documents.
"Some would say having you as a godfather would actually be a punishment, not a reward," Remus quipped.
"No this is a big thing! All of her grandparents are dead. What is something happens to both of you? It's not like I'm blood. I need legal documents that will allow me to get Lucy if anything happens!" Sirius insisted.
"First of all, Remus is the responsible person here. He would get rights. Secondly, you can be a dogfather," Darlene replied.
As Sirius pouted and Remus blushed at being thought highly of, Lucy laughed, enjoying time with her new small family.
Right up until her parents turned to her, gaze serious.
"Well, young lady, I suppose you have your own story to tell?" her father asked her.
"Including why your hair is white?" her mother added.
Lucy gulped once, then prepared herself to tell them a version of the story that she had told Blaise and Hermione.
At the end, the four adults displayed a variety of emotions. All of them had wide eyes. Remus' mouth was open slightly.
"So the unicorns purposely activated a creature inheritance in you? But you kept it hidden from Dumbledore?" Robert asked to clarify.
"Yes, and the inheritance turned my hair white, gave me these wings and glowing skin, and changed my hair color, but that's about it," Lucy said as her wings spread out around her. Releasing them had hurt even less than before, so a happy grin on her face even though she was nervous.
Her mother came over and felt the smooth, soft feathers.
Lucy held still as she waited for her mother's response.
"Beautiful," she said, and an even wider grin spread across Lucy's face.
"Oh man, a seer with a creature inheritance, that's wild," Sirius said.
Robert's features tightened as he thought about how many marriage proposals he'd have to deal with if that knowledge about his daughter ever became known.
"So that's why you missed your exams?" Robert clarified.
Lucy held up her hands in a so-so motion, "Yeah, I think the new magic associated with it exhausted my body too much."
"Do you know what creature?" her mother asked.
"I was actually hoping you guys might know," Lucy said, "I'm thinking maybe a sylph, but not completely sure."
"I'll check the family records," Robert announced as he headed toward the library.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Break~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"So Sirius has been innocent this entire time, and you Saw it back when you were seven?" Blaise was clarifying the story.
"Right," Lucy told him.
"So you used a house elf to break him out of Azkaban?" Blaise's voice had gotten more incredulous.
"Yep, talk about an oversight. No one really thinks about house elves though, and they can get through most apparating wards, like the ones at Hogwarts," she said.
"Which is a big deal, so your parents kept him hidden for the last four years, because the ministry is whack and they'd probably think you were a Dark wizard supporter, though I don't know what would be wrong with that, and throw you into prison?" Blaise asked.
"You're taking this better than expected," Lucy muttered.
Blaise's eyes looked towards the sky like he was praying for patience, "You can't tell your little Hufflepuff classmates any of this. They would freak out so badly."
She nodded.
"Now that you know the entire story, I need your help," Sirius said.
Blaise turned toward the older man sitting on an armchair.
Lucy reflected on how much they both looked like aristocrats. Even though Sirius was wearing blue jeans and a muggle band shirt, it was still present in the way they sat and their facial expressions. Even the way that they had both been trained to look slightly bored. After so many years, it was still disconcerting to see people act like royalty.
"Hold on, is it true that you turn into a dog?" Blaise asked.
Sirius nodded once and turned into his black dog form lounging on the plush cushions before turning back into a man.
"That's why you were allowed a dog!" Blaise cried, sounding scandalized, "I was jealous of you having a dog, and it was really an escaped convict!"
"Innocent," Sirius added in.
"Moving on, what did you need help with Sirius?" Lucy asked, deflecting.
"Harry told me to owl him, but he hasn't answered a single letter, and it's been two weeks," Sirius said.
Blaise shrugged, "He's probably just busy answering fan mail."
Sirius frowned, "No, I have a bad feeling about this. I think we need to break him out."
"You were just declared innocent, and now you want to kidnap a minor?" Blaise asked.
Sirius paused to think about it before nodding, "Yes, that's exactly what I want to do."
Well, there went Lucy's hopes that Dobby wouldn't be involved this time around. She sighed to herself as she helped the other two plan out the trip to visit Harry.
"So, here's what I'm thinking. I have this new motorcycle-"
Omake
How exactly did Quirrell end up as an actor? What role did Lucy play?
Truthfully, it all happened because Lucy tried to wear mismatched socks.
No, really.
Butterfly effect took place from there.
To explain further, Lucy came down to breakfast with mismatched socks on. Her parents were running late to their events, Darlene a social brunch with other pureblooded women and Robert late to a meeting of the Wizengamot.
It would be fair to say that rushed, bad attitude feeling had descended on the Ogden household in the place of the normal patience. Even rich purebloods occasionally have days where the schedule is thrown hopelessly off, and the responsible adults are left trying to compensate.
"What are you wearing?" Mrs. Ogden demanded as Lucy was walking down the curved staircase.
Lucy looked down at herself, "A dress? You just let me wear this last week."
"Two different socks?" her mother questioned.
Lucy scowled, "They're both white; I didn't think you'd notice."
"Go change. Robert, you'll have to take our daughter with you, I'm late," she said to her husband. Lucy sighed but whirled around and raced back of the stairs to her room.
"Darling, I'm late too," he said as he adjusted his dress robes. With a wave of her wand, they snapped back into place. He thanked her with a quick peck on the cheek.
"Someone has to take her to the birthday party. I have no idea why it would be scheduled at this time of day, but I've already told the mother that she would be there," Darlene continued.
"I can't be late to the courts. They might put me on trial," Robert laughed at his own joke but his wife scowled at him.
"This is serious Robert!" she insisted.
"Uhm, I suppose I could take her? Just to...uh...drop her off?" Remus offered, tugging on a shirt sleeve.
"Oh, would you really Remus? That would be fantastic," Darlene breathed as she grabbed her purse and pushed several gallons into Remus' hand. "Grab the two of you some lunch afterwards. Plus some extra in case anything comes up. The elves left the gift for the party on the stand by the door."
"Ok," he agreed, stuffing the gallons and his hands deep into his pockets.
"Bye love, be good and have fun!" Darlene called and headed out. Robert dropped a kiss on his only daughter's forehead and headed out as well.
Sirius and Lucy slid down the curved banister and jumped off in front of Remus.
"I'm coming too!" Sirius called before turning into a black dog.
"Should put a leash and collar on that mutt," Remus told Lucy then jerked back as Sirius nipped at his heels. Lucy laughed.
Remus grabbed the package by the door before they flooed to Diagon Alley.
"Ohh, I need to send Blaise a letter, can we stop by the owlery?" Lucy asked. She'd planned to just send it with an owl from the house, but having to change socks had thrown her off and they wouldn't be home for hours, and she wanted to tell him that he could stop by that evening.
"I guess so, but we have to hurry," Remus said.
"In and out," Lucy agreed before she darted into the owlery.
Sirius followed into the shop with her, sending the owls into a flutter of wings and letters. The dog man growled at an owl that got a little too close.
"Hey, get that mutt out of here!" the shopkeeper cried as he tried to calm the birds, mountains of letters falling around.
"Here, send this to Blaise Zabini," Lucy told an owl as she dropped a sickle on the counter and left with Sirius.
Back in the shop, the shopkeeper was trying to give the letters back to the correct owls. A few of them got mixed up including a specific letter meant for one Professor Quirrell. Inside of the envelope that he didn't receive was instructions about visiting other countries and his magical passport.
Instead, the owl with the instructions of going to Quirrell was quickly given a copy of the Prophet and sent off. There was such a maelstrom of letters and upset birds that the owl was not able to make its point clear that it had received a different letter to deliver. And it was just a barn owl, intelligent, but only to a certain point. It eventually just decided that it was meant to give the Prophet instead and went on its merry way.
It took many months before the ministry went through the entire process of declaring Quirrell's passport missing and issuing a new copy. In that time, a new term started at Hogwarts, and Quirrell agreed to stay on for the entire year as Muggle Studies professor again instead of taking his year off to explore.
Towards the middle of the school year, Quirrell was out in London doing some observing.
Sirius Black was also in Muggle London,though with a highly different purpose. He was on his way back from a motorcycle shop that he liked to work part time at. With several glamour charms, he hadn't been noticed yet. It gave him discounted access to bikes, and kept him busy so that Darlene didn't tear out her hair.
Along the way, a group of performers was walking around looking dejected.
Sirius, with his constant love of attention, couldn't resist calling out to them.
"What's the matter, mates, looking a bit down?" he called out to them.
"We just traveled all the way to London to put on a performance only to be told they don't need us. Bloody city dwellers," the leader grumbled. "All that time, and no stage, no pay."
"Just make the city your stage," Sirius suggested, and the group thought about it.
A girl towards the back started nodding, "We've been practicing for weeks Freddy. Maybe someone will toss a couple pounds in a hat and at least cover our travel expenses."
Sirius still didn't understand muggle money. Why would they call them pounds? And why were they made out of paper instead of precious metals?
Either way, he had a thick stack of bills in his wallet that held his daily pay. The boss paid him in cash, and he either spent it on food or spent it right back in the motorcycle shop. Today, it was clearly going to this group.
When they set down an upturned hat, he tossed a large amount of pounds into the hat.
The group all smiled at him as they started performing. He grinned back as he watched them. They were all pretty good.
Eventually, he decided to head back to the Ogden manor. He needed to quiet alley to use his second hand wand that he had picked up from Grimmauld Place during the only trip he had been to his creepy family manor and apparate back to the manor.
While still trying to watch the end of the performance, he accidentally bumped into a young man as he was backing out of the crowd.
"Sorry mate," he offered to the turban wearing man.
"No problem," the man replied.
"I like your turban," he offered, taking in the strange outfit that the man was wearing and wondering if it was possible he was a wizard. Personally, Sirius stuck to the basic blue jeans and muggle band shirts. They always seemed to work together, and he didn't have to worry about changing muggle trends.
"Thanks," the man replied, perking up. Sirius took in the look of admiration in the man's eyes as he watched the people acting out scenes.
"You know, mate, lifes too short. If you aren't enjoying your life, what's the point?" Sirius finally said, before laughing at the thought of himself giving advice to someone else.
Still, it seemed to sink in to the other man because he was nodding, "You know, I think you might be right."
That night, Quirrell sat down and created a new character for him to try playing, stuttering Quirrell who was scared of everything but taught Defense Against the Dark Arts. A bit of personal comedy.
As he fleshed out the character, he tried to place why the dark haired man had looked so familiar. Finally he shrugged. It had been muggle London, not like the man was a famous wizard or anything.
Author's note:
Phew, that was a long chapter. I know I originally said I wasn't going to update this story much this summer, but my brains been focused on it. I'm going to roll with it. With that in mind, I would love a beta to check over the chapters and possibly help nag me into posting on a more regular schedule. If you would be interested in being a beta for this story, please send me a message!
Otherwise, please let me know in a review what you think of this chapter and the story so far. I love constructive criticism and try to incorporate your guy's ideas as much as possible!