Updated: Wednesday 22st June 2005
Disclaimer: Not mine, and anything recognisable is adapted from GOF
Chapter Ninety Two: Murky DepthsIt was dark. Estella couldn't move… was she tied up? For some reason she was aware of her surroundings despite the fact that she was in a charmed sleep. Around her, a cluster of crude stone dwellings stood, their roofs stained with algae, and their windows heralding the greyish faces and dark green manes of the merpeople.
She was underwater.
Panicking, Estella wondered how she was able to breathe at all… but when she held her breath experimentally for as long as she could before inhaling again, she was relieved to find that her lungs weren't filling with the water that surrounded her.
Estella's memories of the night before were foggily coming back to her… her Uncle storming from the room suddenly, only to be reigned back in by Dumbledore several minutes later. The reclusive Potions Master had feigned indifference and a pressing need to go back to his potions, but Estella knew that he had been concerned for her and intended full well to let the Headmaster have it. In their absence, her own head of house had calmly explained to them the concepts of the charmed sleep, and how no harm would come to them. She specifically recalled the teachers assuring them all that they would not remember anything of their time under water and that they would wake up with there with their champion above the water with no ill effects.
So why was Estella aware of her surroundings? Was she dreaming? A tingling sensation around her neck drew her attention to the pendant that resided there… she must be seeing things through the pendant, she realised.
But why would the pendant feel the need to show her the underwater landscape? Was she in danger?
A whole crowd of Merpeople were floating in front of the cold stone boulder she and the other hostages were tied to. They were singing… words that would only be heard as a wail above the water… calling the Champions to them. On Estella's right, lolled Hermione, and on the other, Cho. Before Estella could discern the location of the last hostage as her pendant bobbed around like a head on a neck would, her vision was averted to the sight of Harry rapidly approaching, gills fluttering on either side of his neck and his hand and feet webbed.
Estella's mind began to despair when the merman refused Harry's request to borrow a spear. The ropes of weed tying herself and the others to the stone were thick, slimy and very strong – how on earth was Harry to cut through them? Thankfully, Harry located a jagged rock and proceeded to cut her free. As she fell loose of her bindings and floated above the lake's bottom, a little ways in front of the stone boulder she had been tethered to, however, Estella was alarmed to find Harry gone… trying to rescue the other hostages!
Unable to see what was happening behind her, Estella fought against the charmed sleep that rendered her motor skills useless and listened.
"You take your own hostage." A merman's voice said, most likely to Harry. "Leave the others…"
Estella heard Harry issue a garbled response… and even though she could not hear his words underwater, the tone alone suggested derision.
"Your task is to retrieve your own friend… leave the others…"
Harry made another bubbling noise of protest, and out of her peripheral vision, Estella could see Harry's hand gesturing.
Moments passed, Estella saw Cedric and Krum come and go…. What was Harry waiting for? As much as she trusted the noble Gryffindor and did not doubt that the Headmaster would not have permitted the task to go ahead if there was any real danger, Estella could not help but shake the growing feeling of dread. Then she realised what it was… her pendant was glowing red hot. The only thing that stopped it from burning right through her was the cooling temperature of the water and the anti-gravitational density that saw the lightweight gem floating against it's chain, not actually touching her neck.
'Harry!' She thought frantically. 'We got to get out of here!'
Finally, as though biding her silent call, Estella felt a tug on the edge of her robes and she was being lifted, pulled along towards the light of the water's surface. Only then, as they reached the atmosphere above, did the pendant stop glowing. Her hand reaching for it instinctively to make sure it was back on, Estella realised with a start that she was awake and in control of herself again, and that they were bobbing in the centre of the lake, the Merpeople with slimy green hair that gave even her Uncle a run for his money were swimming around them, smiling.
"C'mon," Harry said shortly, looking out of breath and rather sickly. "Help me with her, I don't think she can swim very well."
Estella shook the fog from her mind and drowned out the noise of the crowds that filled the stands on the sides of the lake. Nodding distractedly, she flexed her limbs experimentally and helped to pull Fleur's sister through the water, back towards the bank where the judges stood watching. Looking around at the twenty Merpeople that escorted them like a guard of honour, their voices no longer ghostly and eloquent as they screeched their song above water, Estella could have sworn she saw a mane of blonde amongst the dark algae green. When she blinked and looked again, though, it was gone, and the increasingly more at ease child convinced herself that it was but a play of light.
Up ahead, Estella could see Madame Pomfrey fussing over Hermione, Krum, Cedric and Cho, all of whom were wrapped in thick blankets. As inviting as the cocooning warmth of one of those blankets looked, Estella couldn't help but groan at the impending Nurse's ministration. Across from her, as he swam alongside holding the young Delacour's other arm, Harry gave her a sympathetic look: the accident-prone Gryffindor not liking the infirmary anymore than she.
Sure enough, Madame Pomfrey was inhumanly quick on her feet, wrapping her shivering form in a blanket so tightly that she could not move the moment she had stepped foot on dry land; leaving her no discourse for refusing the very hot potion that was promptly poured down her throat. Steam coming out of her ears as the potion had its desired effect, Estella shed the blanket at first opportunity and cast a drying charm on her clothes. Standing slightly aside from the crowds as they swarmed around the Champions and the judges, Estella fingered her cooling pendant warily, her eyes darting around.
Just what had happened down there in the lake? Why could she see what was happening? Why was her pendant burning red? Had someone untoward been in the water, out to sabotage the task? Her mind flashed back to the spot of blonde she saw bobbing in the water a ways away from them… surely not?
From her vantage point by the lake's edge, Estella could hear quite clearly, the headmaster's conference with the head of the merpeople. One of the words she could swear she could recognise being thrown back and forth was 'Portkey' – a word that was the same in any language, so it would seem. Her suspicions were confirmed when she saw the visibly aged man look out across the horizon, his pale blue eyes darkening in concern. The same look of foreboding carried on as the old man turned and scanned the crowd. Following his gaze, Estella sucked in a harsh breath and she saw her uncle, his features masked into a look of suppressed indignation before they sought her out. Questioning grey eyes then meeting steely black holes, Estella exhaled slowly when she saw a flicker of relief pass over her uncle's face. When he saw her holding onto her pendant meaningfully, the man visibly stiffened before nodding at the headmaster and sweeping away; the silent exchange going unnoticed between all but the three participants.
The headmaster was suddenly by her side, a weary hand on her shoulder.
"It seems we have underestimated our opponent." The headmaster spoke as in answer to a unspoken question. "But do not worry, child, you were perfectly safe."
Estella eyed the man carefully: it was almost as though he were speaking the words more to assure himself than anyone else.
"Headmaster…" she said hesitantly, not knowing how to elaborate. "I could see… while I was asleep."
"You did not awaken?" The headmaster regarded her for a moment, Estella shook her head.
"I couldn't move." She said. "Ask Harry, I don't think my eyes were open. My pendant…"
"Say no more child," the headmaster replied, holding up hand to halt her. "There are some things that even I cannot explain."
"Someone was in the lake, wasn't there?" Estella frowned, her eyes lingering on the horizon.
"You saw who it was?" The headmaster halted in his tracks and turned to face her fully.
"No, not really." Estella said, knotting her brow. "But I have a fair idea who it was." She paused, and the headmaster did not speak – the old man was evidently running through scenarios in his mind. "The Merpeople all have green hair, don't they?"
"Yes." The Headmaster nodded. "You saw one that did not?"
Estella nodded slowly. "Above the water. It could have been the sun, though."
"Possibly." The Headmaster frowned, considering things for a moment before continuing. "Estella, I must ask that you do not disclose what has just taken place to anyone."
"Why not?" Estella narrowed her eyes. "Will the Tournament be cancelled?"
"No, of course not child." The Headmaster informed her, the light returning to his aqua pupils as he acknowledged the sight of the approaching Ludo Bagman. "But now is not the time to alarm your fellow class members of a passing threat…" His voice trailed off. "Regretfully, not all the staff in residence at this time can be trusted."
At that moment, the industrious Mr Bagman was upon them. "Ah, Albus, there you are. I was wondering if we might set about awarding some points?"
"A conference before we give the marks, I should think." The old man said, gesturing to the Merpeople who were watching from the watery depths with interest. Ludo nodded and set off to huddle together the other judges.
Turning to Estella for a final time, he clasped a heavy hand on her shoulder once more. "Be on your guard, child." He said. "Continue as you have been and you shall be fine."
As hard as it was to keep things from those around her, Estella kept tight lipped when quizzed about what happened the morning of the second task. Whenever anyone asked, she'd simply say she was asleep like all of the other hostages, and did not become aware of her surroundings until she was at the water's surface.
Evidently, Sirius' reply mail with Estella's supply of Gillyweed arrived timely, along with a note for her from her father explaining to her that he would be leaving London for a while, but that an Owl she sent him would always know where to find him. Curiously, he'd also asked after the dates for the next Hogsmeade visit, before ending with a promise that they would 'discuss' her nocturnal pastime at a later time; but that she ought to start traversing around the school with a camera if she wanted to create lasting memories.
Reading over her shoulder, Harry's posture slumped.
"You didn't…" He gulped. "You did!"
"Of course I did, Harry." Estella shook her head. "He doesn't get to have much fun these days, I thought it would cheer him up."
"Why can't he just send me a howler like everyone else?" Harry groaned, not looking forward to the time whereby Sirius would seek him out and lecture him on the dangers of cavorting around the school after dark with his daughter.
"Could be worse, Potter." Estella grinned slyly. "I could have told him you asked me to watch you bathe in the Prefect's bathroom."
Harry rested his head in his hands. "You're going to be the death of me, Estella."
"Relax, Harry. Dad won't be any more mad at you than he would be at me." Estella smiled. "And let me tell you, that won't be much… he's too much of a good sport."
"I sure hope so." Harry grumbled.
"What are you doing with your fingers?" Ron asked finally, looking up from the crossword in Hermione's Daily Prophet irritably, his patience having worn thin.
"What, this?" Estella flicked her eyes down to her fingers as though she was becoming consciously aware of drumming her fingers like so for the first time. "I'm playing piano."
"You play piano?" Hermione asked. "Oh, did you learn the Magical way? I've read about that technique…"
"Is there anything you don't read about, 'Mione?" Ron teased.
"If music has a magical component then I don't know why there's not a Music department at the school." Hermione frowned. "I used to learn piano… the Muggle way, for lack of knowing any other… and I find it very disappointing that the school doesn't offer classes here since there clearly is a magical market for it."
"Oh no, this isn't going to be like another campaign, like Spew?" Harry groaned.
"S.P.E.W, Harry, not Spew!" Hermione scowled. "And what is wrong for wanting to expand the school's array of extra-curricular? You boys would do the same if they took Quidditch away. They have a club for just about everything else, why not music too? Hmmm?"
"Well I guess they don't because a lot of students get privately tutored in their youth." Estella frowned. "Well those with magical families I mean… though you're right, they should offer that experience for the Muggleborn students."
"Yes!" Hermione said passionately, happy to have someone on the same page as her. "Just like we have a Muggle Studies class for students who don't perhaps know much about Muggles, they should have a Magical Societies class or something similar which embodies all the customs and cultural things like Magical Music lessons and so on."
"Wouldn't that be a bit exclusive, like for the Muggleborns only?" Estella frowned. "I think if the school did that the purists would turn around and demand their own Junior Death Eater club."
"There already is a Death Eater club." Ron snorted. "It's called Slytherin House."
Quick as a flash, Estella had leant across the table and slapped him across the face. "You take that back Ronald Weasley or I'll see to it that you get turned into a Weasel and locked in the Slytherin Common Room for all the house to see."
"Estella!" Harry scolded her, pulling her back from where she was leaning across the table and virtually spitting in Ron's face with each word she hissed.
"What? I'm sick of everyone pointing fingers at my Uncle's house!" Estella glared at Ron, who's face had gone as red as his hair. "You know it's probably because of attitudes like that which drives many Slytherins to ruin. Like why should they be good and virtuous when everyone already pegs them for being bad?"
"I was only kidding." Ron said unconvincingly, rubbing his cheek where a small handprint was forming.
"Could have fooled me." Estella scowled.
"Yes well," Ron said snappishly as he rose from his stool. "I happen to think Hermione is on to a good idea. Not all Magical families can afford such tuition, Estella!"
"What are you talking about, paying for tuition?" Estella made a face. "The magical arts are passed on from generation to generation. My Uncle taught me as his Aunt taught him and my mother before me. Isn't it the same in all Magical families?"
"No!" Ron hissed at her. "Not all families have massive estates and legacies such as that TO pass on! You're such a snob!"
"No I'm not!" Estella said defensively. "I just didn't know, alright? Everyone at the Wizarding school in Hogsmeade was pureblood and they were all like me, I assumed that's how we all were."
"Well, we're not." Ron grumbled.
"Kind of like how all Slytherins aren't bad." Estella pointed out.
"Fine. I'm sorry." Ron said reluctantly.
"And I apologise if my apparent naivety offended you." Estella offered. Ron and Harry stared at her in bewilderment for her choice of words.
"Snob." They both said, chortling into their goblets.
"Prat." Estella hissed back good-naturedly before turning aside and starting a intellectual conversation about Magical Music processes with Hermione.
It was mid-March by the time Sirius' response to the Hogsmeade weekend dates arrived.
Be at stile at stile at end of road out of Hogsmeade (past Dervish & Banges) at two o'clock Saturday afternoon. Bring as much food as you can.
Estella frowned. "He sounded rushed." She observed, not liking the condition of the parchment or her father's request for food one iota. "How come he needs food?"
"Perhaps he's gone into hiding again." Harry shrugged. "Don't worry about him, I'm sure he's fine… and if he's not, we'll pack him enough food, that he will be."
"I got to go." Estella said abruptly, rising from her chair in the library. "I'll meet you at the gates tomorrow at noon. Bring what you can, and I'll do the same."
Harry nodded mutely after the girl who shot out of the library before he could voice a reply.
The next day at noon Harry found Estella waiting impatiently by the gates, a large rucksack on her back.
"Where have you been? You weren't at breakfast…" Harry ran to meet her, equally eager to be seeing Sirius again.
"Kitchens." Estella said, gesturing to her pack. "And I snuck into the teacher's lounge and nabbed some spare teaching robes."
"Good thinking." Harry nodded, thinking of the first time he'd seen Sirius in the Shrieking Shack, barely nine months ago. "Wait a minute, how did you get into the Teacher's lounge?"
Estella smirked at him and tapped her nose, but said nothing.
Shaking his head after her in amazement, the pair set off from the gates, a weak silver of sun shining down on their backs. The weather was milder than it had been all year, and by the time they arrived in Hogsmeade, both of them had shed their cloaks. While Harry had pilfered a loaf of bread, some chicken and a flask of pumpkin juice from the lunch table, Estella's pack was burgeoning with non-perishable supplies her father could take with him.
As they walked through the main street of Hogsmeade, Estella unexpectedly pulled Harry into Gladrags Wizardwear to use him as a cover for buying an array of men's toiletries: razors and the like. When the creepy looking saleswoman had peered down her nose at the pair and suggested Harry was a bit young to be needing such amenities, Estella scowled at the woman and said something about not all the places one may need to shave was on one's face. The woman had positively paled and rung up their purchases, and it was not until they were outside that Harry ears went pink with embarrassment.
"You just had to say that, didn't you?" He growled.
"Say what, Harry? I could have just been saying you wanted to shave your head. It's not my fault everyone keeps drawing perverted conclusions." Estella smirked. "Come on, I don't want to be late."
It was half past one by the time they made their way past Dervish and Banges, and out towards the outskirts of town. The winding lane was leading them out into the wild countryside around Hogsmeade. The terrain was less densely populated, with larger properties and mountainous inclines. Turning a corner and spotting a stile at the end of the lane, Estella broke into a run; for there, standing on his hind legs, his front paws leaning on the fence, was a very large, shaggy black dog with a no less than a week's worth of newspapers in his mouth.
"Padfoot." Estella whispered reverently, dropping to her knees in front of the Animagus and accepting the slobbery newspapers that the canine dropped in her lap before knocking her down with his front paws and licking her face excitedly. It seems that the stile could not keep out animals with human minds.
"Ew… gerroff me, you dumb mut." Estella nuzzled the dog playfully, shoving him off her gently. "I don't want your fleas!"
The black dog barked indignantly before turning his nose up at her and padding over to Harry. Sniffing the boy's bag eagerly, Padfoot wagged his tail once and turned, leading them across a scrubby patch of ground at a steady trot.
"Come on Harry!" Estella said mockingly, her arms gesturing wildly. "I think Lassie wants us to follow!"
Catching on to the implicitly Muggle idiom, Harry smirked and followed, helping Estella climb the stile and up over the rocky surface.
Sirius led them to the very foot of the mountain, where the ground was covered with boulders and rocks. It was easy for him, with his four paws, but Harry and Estella – who was not yet used to balancing the featherweight, but bulky, sack on her back – were soon out of breath. Chivalrously, Harry took it in turns to carry the rucksack as they followed Sirius higher, up onto the mountain itself. For nearly half an hour they climbed a steep, winding and stony path, following Sirius' wagging tail, sweating in the sun, wondering when they would reach their destination.
"I feel like a bloody Von Trapp." Estella grumbled, humming a familiar tune. "You ever seen the movie Sound of Music, Harry?"
"Not all of it. I snuck bits of it when the Dursley's didn't notice I was in the room." Harry said tiredly. "I know what you mean though."
"Sing with me then?" Estella smirked.
"You've got to be kidding." Harry scowled manly-like.
"I am… but I got to do something to keep my mind off Padfoot's wagging tail." Estella intoned warningly, giving the attentive dog a sharp look as he turned to nudge them along. "How you can still be wagging the bloody thing when we've just climbed half of Everest is beyond me."
Padfoot stopped wagging his tail at the implied threat and bounded a few steps ahead, astounding the pair when he disappeared between a fissure of rocks. Squeezing into the hidden cave after him, Estella and Harry found themselves in a cool, dimly lit cavern. Tethered at the end of it, one end of its rope around a large rock, was Buckbeak. Estella and Harry immediately bowed before him, and the moment the majestic creature had returned the gesture, Estella was at his side, stroking the fine feathery down affectionately.
"Oi," A indignant voice croaked hoarsely through the darkness, a slightly hurt tone in his voice. "Can't you spare a bit of love for your old man?"
Estella turned to regard her father carefully, her eyes ghosting over his bedraggled frame and dirty grey robes sadly. "Oh, I thought I'd give you and Harry a moment. It's been longer since you saw him."
Sirius smiled, his arm draped around Harry's shoulder. "Yes well you were far too busy with your feathered friend to notice that Harry and I here had dispensed with the manly greetings, isn't that right, mate?" Harry nodded. "So c'mere you."
Estella smiled and fell into her father's arms. "Ugh, you stink, Dad." She said, screwing up her nose as she pulled away.
"Oh, it's nice to see you too." He said, ruffling her hair in response. "You see that, Harry? See how she treats her poor old man?"
"Yes, well, would it pain you to shower?" Estella frowned at him. "Why are you living like this? Is London not safe?"
"Too far away." Her father said distractedly. "Is that chicken I can smell?"
Harry pulled open his bag and handed over the bundle of chicken legs and bread.
"Thanks." Said Sirius, opening it, grabbing a drumstick, and sitting down on the cave floor to tearing off a large chunk with his teeth. "I've been living off rats mostly. Can't steal too much food from Hogsmeade; I'd draw attention to myself."
He grinned up at the kids, who returned the gesture only reluctantly.
"What are you doing here, Sirius?" Harry asked while Estella busied herself unpacking a hairbrush, some scissors and soap from her bag.
"Fulfilling my duty as guardian to a pair of marauding delinquents." Said Sirius, gnawing on the chicken bone in a very dog-like way. "Don't worry about me, I'm pretending to be a loveable stray."
Behind him, Estella smirked. "Well, you know what they say about loveable strays…" she said, brandishing a pair of scissors and a brush. "They're well taken care of."
"Estella, what are you doing?" Sirius twisted around to grab his daughter's wrist as she was about to run the brush through his hair.
"Cleaning you up, what does it look like?" Estella raised a brow at her father before shaking her hand free of his loose grip and waiting until he had resumed eating. "Then I thought I would paint your toenails and give you a facial."
Sirius choked on the Pumpkin Juice he had been drinking down greedily and looked to Harry for help.
"Don't look at me." Harry shrugged. "She just told me to meet her at the gates at noon. I have no idea what she's got in the bag of hers."
Growling softly, Sirius made no move to stop his daughter administering her ministrations as he tore into a chunk of bread.
"Don't worry, Dad." Estella said, untangling a particularly knotted matting of hair. "Just a bit of soap and some old, but clean robes. Was going to buy some new ones in the village but I thought that would raise too many questions."
"They're not your Uncle's old robes, are they?" Sirius made a face.
"No." Estella tapped him on the head lightly with the brush. "But they are clean and in your size, so you will wear them!"
"Yes, mam." Sirius replied assertively, relaxing under the soothing feeling of someone brushing his hair. In fact, if he tried to remember it clearly, the last person who had ever done so, was his wife.
"So why are you really here?" Estella asked, massaging a non-foaming, all-cleaning fragrant shampoo through his hair – one that was charmed to work in deserts where water was not readily available to rinse it out and one couldn't use their wand.
"I want to be on the spot. Your last letter… well, let's just say things are getting fishier. I've been stealing the paper every time someone throws one out, and by the looks of things, I'm not the only one who's getting worried." He nodded at the yellowing Daily Prophets on the cave floor, and Harry picked them up and unfolded them.
"What if they catch you? What if you're seen?" Harry asked fearfully, voicing Estella's own fears.
"You two, Dumbledore and your two Gryffindor friends, Harry, are the only ones around here who know I'm an Animagus." Said Sirius, shrugging, and continuing to devour another chicken leg. "So… speaking of school… I hope you two aren't getting into anymore trouble."
"What do you mean, any more?" Estella smirked. "We'd have to be caught at all to get into any trouble."
"Watch it you." Sirius said, waggling a finger at Estella, who was now sat before him pouring over the old newspaper headlines. "And you…" he said, stabbing a finger at Harry, who jerked slightly. "Take care of my daughter. I don't want to hear any news of either of you getting into any strife."
There was a pregnant pause.
"That's it?" Harry asked, surprised. "You're not going to hex me to Sunday because I encouraged Estella to go out after Curfew?"
Estella smirked. "I think he'd be disappointed if a son of James' didn't." She said, giving her father a knowing look. "And besides, he knows I was within the boundaries he set for me… and those are the only ones that matter, right?"
"Well you do have to abide by the Hogwarts rules as well, Estella." Sirius said almost reluctantly. "The teachers don't take too kindly to catching students breaking them."
"So what are you saying then?" Harry asked, confused by all the mixed messages he was getting.
"Don't get caught." Father and daughter recited, the latter of the pair pealing into laughter at the look on Harry's face.
"So how are you both going in your studies, hmm?" Sirius asked, lolling back on his elbows as he polished off the last drumstick, his stomach satisfactorily full of nutritious food. "Harry, you're not letting the Tournament distract you?"
"Er, no." Harry said, not used to anyone displaying any sort of parental-like interest in his studies.
"He didn't eat for two days before the second task!" Estella dobbed him in, looking at him pointedly.
"Yes, well, someone neglected to tell me that I was wasting all that time in the library looking for a solution!" Harry shot her a dirty look.
"That's not the point and you know it!" Estella scolded him. "You were supposed to solve it on your own, you know that! Besides, there were plenty more solutions to breathing under water without resorting to Gillyweed. Look what Cedric and Krum did!"
"Yes, but they're older. They've learnt that stuff!" Harry pouted.
"So. The point is, the answers were in the library. You just didn't know where to look!" Estella pointed out.
"Yeah, no thanks to you." Harry crossed his arms defiantly, openly glaring at the Ravenclaw.
"Oh, 'but you're older' Harry!" Estella mocked. "How was I supposed to know you wouldn't have known where to look? You never asked for my help! You just asked me if I knew."
"Isn't that the same thing?" Harry cried.
"Wait, wait, wait!" Sirius sat up, waving his hands around, a look of amusement on his face. "Is that what the Gillyweed was for?"
"Yep. Harry had to eat it." Estella nodded.
Sirius made a face. "Ugh, Harry. I can see why Estella wanted to see if you'd find another solution in the library first. Hardly appetising stuff."
"Oh it's not too bad." Estella shrugged, brushing off her father's alarmed look with a defiant stare. "What? Have you seen the size of the bathtubs at Hogwarts? They're even bigger when you're four!"
"Your uncle let you eat Gillyweed?" Sirius glared darkly, momentarily overlooking the fact that twelve years in her Uncle's care had done her no harm. "What if you wanted to get out of the bath? The gills would have suffocated you in the air!"
"I thought you didn't like Potions?" Estella grinned. "So you do like it!"
"No… no… James and I wanted to go check out the Mermaids in the lake one time." Sirius said, rubbing the back of his neck. "Merlin Harry, to think you got to do it in front of the whole school! That's really something!"
"You mean you knew Gillyweed would have helped me breathe underwater too?" Harry stared, open mouthed, at his Godfather.
Sirius nodded, and Harry continued to stare. "What? You never asked me for help! How was I supposed to know what the task was?"
Harry buried his head in his hands… all that time he could have spent flying… wasted!
Laughing at Harry's regret, Sirius turned his attention to his daughter and her academic pursuits.
"I suppose it'd be a stupid question asking how a Ravenclaw was doing in class…" He smirked. "Though how are you finding the new subjects? You're doing Arithmancy and Ancient Runes, aren't you?"
"Yep. I missed out on some work earlier in the year, but I've almost caught up." Estella smiled. "I'd read a few books on Ancient Runes when I was at school in Hogsmeade – I'd wanted to work out what the Runes outside the school said."
"Your mother told us what they were once, after one of our first Hogsmeade visits." Sirius said, a faraway look in his eyes. "She and Lily ran off to the library that very afternoon to consult their texts." He paused. "How are your other subjects? How is Transfiguration?"
"Well funnily enough, McGonagall is treating me a lot better now." Estella said sarcastically, a wry smirk on her face. "So either she didn't want an escaped convict on her case or Dumbledore told her of your innocence – I've not decided yet." She smiled more genuinely. "And I got to say, the pointers you gave me have been a big help too."
"That's good." Sirius said, his mood lightening at the picture of his old housemistress having to contend with a new generation of Potters and Blacks. "What about your other subjects?"
"Well Charms and Care of Magical Creatures are fine." Estella listed off the subjects on her fingers. "Potions is interesting with my new tutor…"
"New tutor?" Sirius looked directly at his daughter.
"Yeah, Uncle Sev kicked me out of his class." Estella smirked. "Said he didn't want to waste class time singling me out in class for appearance's sake or teaching me potions I already know when I could be learning how to make real potions."
"Gee, I wish he'd stop wasting time in class singling me out." Harry grumbled.
"Yes, but you know Harry hunting is his favourite pastime." Estella said, giving Harry a sympathetic look before her face brightened. "I bet he does it every night in his sleep… clutching around blindly and muttering about Invisibility Cloaks as paranoid as Moody."
All three smirked at the shared memory.
"I'm tempted to send the memory to Uncle Sev, anonymously." Estella giggled. "He'd go nuts not knowing who it was – there's no proof that it was us!"
"Well it's all right for you, he can't go near you." Harry grumbled. "He'll find some other excuse to give me detention."
"Well he'd love to give you a detention anyway, so why not give him a reason?" Estella reasoned. Harry shrugged. "Besides, I am sure if you spoke to Dumbledore or McGonagall they'd get you out of it because of the extra pressure the Tournament is putting you under."
"Well just the same, I'd rather not show up on Snape's radar." Harry sighed.
"Say Estella… your Uncle can't go near you, right?" Sirius asked, a foreign glint of malice in his eyes. Estella nodded slowly, and Sirius grinned evilly. "Excellent."
"Oh no… I will not be the instrument of your bidding!" Estella shook her head. "And don't even try to convince me. I've already shown Moody I can shake the Imperius Curse."
Sirius' face darkened. "A teacher used an unforgivable curse on you?" He said in deathly low tones. Both Harry and Estella nodded. "Alastor Moody?" Both children nodded again. "Well I've known Mad-Eye to be eccentric and rather paranoid…" His voice trailed off as he sighed. "I guess things have really changed around here for Dumbledore to condone that kind of curriculum."
"He's freaky though." Estella shuddered. "Especially with that magical eye of his. Makes my pendant tingle."
Sirius gave his daughter a searching look. "I don't want you alone with him." He said finally. "He was once a brilliant Auror, I'll give him that, but years of constant vigilance appear to have taken his toll."
"You think he's dangerous? That my pendant…" Estella trailed off.
"I trust that Dumbledore would not have appointed anyone who would pose a threat to the students." Sirius said affirmatively, unknowingly asserting Estella's own faith in the Headmaster's judgement. "Your pendant is probably reacting to your nerves around him, I don't really understand how it's supposed to work. That was always your mother's domain… but I don't want you to take it off under any circumstances." He sucked in a breath. "Alastor Moody was instrumental in Voldemort's first downfall. I'm sure Dumbledore has him at Hogwarts with good reason."
"First downfall?" Estella asked her father. "You think he's coming back?"
"I don't think he ever truly left." Sirius said truthfully, looking at Harry carefully.
Talk soon moved on to the Quidditch World Cup. Sirius ran a hand over his unshaven face, evidently thinking hard. "All these absences of Barty Crouch's… he goes to the trouble of making sure his house-elf saves him a seat at the Quidditch World Cup, but doesn't bother to turn up and watch. He works very hard to reinstate the Triwizard Tournament, and then stops coming to that too… it's not like Crouch. If he's ever taken a day off work because of illness before this, I'll eat Buckbeak."
"Do you know Crouch, then?" said Harry.
Sirius' face darkened. He suddenly looked as menacing as the night when Harry and Estella had seen him in the Shrieking Shack; back when they still thought him guilty of murder.
"Oh, I know Crouch alright." He said quietly, giving Estella an unreadable look. "He was the one who gave the order for me to be sent to Azkaban – without a trial."
Estella sucked in a gasp, her face rapidly darkening to mirror her father's. Harry's own fell.
Sirius then went on to detail Barty Crouch's rise through the ministry during the first war; how the man had fought fire with fire in a rather unorthodox way to combat Voldemort… even how he turned his back on his own son, leaving him in Azkaban, after the boy was discovered cavorting with Death Eaters.
"He gave his own son to the Dementors?" asked Harry quietly.
"That's right," said Sirius, and he didn't look remotely amused now. "I saw the Dementors bringing him in, watched them through the bars in my cell door. He can't have been more than nineteen. They took him into a cell near mine. He was screaming for his mother by nightfall. He went quiet after a few days, though… they all went quiet in the end… except when they shrieked in their sleep…"
For a moment, the deadened look in Sirius' eyes became more pronounced than ever, as though shutters had closed behind them. Seeing this, Estella curled up by her father's side, both in the act of giving and receiving comfort. Sirius wrapped an arm around her gratefully and pulled her to him, his eyes coming into focus once more as though he was drawing untold sustenance from the contact.
"So he's still in Azkaban?" Estella said.
"No," said Sirius dully. "No, he's not in there any more. He died about a year after they brought him in."
"He died?" Harry asked.
"He wasn't the only one." Sirius said bitterly. "Most go mad in there, and plenty stop eating in the end. They lose their will to live. You could always tell when a death was coming, because the Dementors could sense it, they got excited."
Estella shuddered violently, her breath shaky. Feeling his daughter's distress, he pulled her close and kissed the top of her head.
"It's all right, it's all over now." He assured her.
"No it's not. They could find you." Estella said fearfully, gazing up at him with waterlogged eyes. "I don't want you to go back there."
"I don't plan on it, kiddo." Sirius said, smiling slightly. "But even if something did happen to me…" he paused, taking the time to look pointedly at them both. "I would be alright, and you know why?"
"Why?" Harry and Estella asked simultaneously.
"Because of you both." Sirius said simply. "It brings me so much joy to see you there for each other… I don't have to worry as much any more."
A few moments later, while Harry was half way through his account of the second task, Estella began to fiddle with her pendant absently. Noticing the action, Sirius shifted uneasily and looked at his daughter.
"Something wrong?" He asked, eying the pendant for signs of danger.
"No, I'm just thinking." Estella sighed, looking out through the opening in the rock wall, her bottom lip trapped between her teeth nervously.
"About Hogsmeade?" Sirius prompted, placing a comforting hand on her back as he followed her gaze out unto the township below them.
"No." Estella said, looking at Harry squarely. "The second task."
"What about it?" Harry frowned. "You were asleep until the end…"
"Not quite…" Estella corrected him, going against Dumbledore's request by confiding in her father and god-brother her own perspective of the events that morning.
"So, did Albus actually tell you someone else was there?" Sirius asked, his brow knotting in concern.
"He didn't have to. He asked me if I saw who it was." Estella shrugged. "There was definitely someone there. I told you I heard them talking about a Portkey."
"But only staff members can create Portkeys that travel in or out of the school grounds!" Sirius was wild-eyed, as though searching out the hidden assailant that was staking out the school and threatening his family.
"I know that." Estella sighed. "He hinted at the fact that he couldn't trust all the staff who were presently residing at the school."
"You think that means he suspects one of the visiting teachers? From one of the other schools?" Harry scratched his head.
"I don't know." Estella huffed in frustration. "All I know is that there was someone in that lake who shouldn't have been there and my pendant was trying to warn me." She glowered at Harry. "And so there I am having an absolute heart attack because I couldn't wake my body up in order to move and there's Harry making conversation with the Merpeople like he was out for a casual swim!"
Harry opened his mouth to defend himself but Estella beat him to it. "Relax, Harry, you didn't know anything was amiss. You did a noble thing in ensuring the safety of the other hostages." She looked to her father, who nodded in agreement. "But still, I was freaking out!"
Sirius wrapped his arms around his daughter protectively. "Dumbledore would not have let anything happen to you." He assured his child, despite the cloud of fear and doubt that fogged his mind. "The Merpeople are friends of his… they would not have let whoever it was through."
"I know." Estella sighed. "Whomever it was seemed to get that impression because they didn't come anywhere near us."
"Still, that's a little close for comfort." Harry sighed apologetically. "And that Dumbledore didn't want to say anything…"
"Harry, don't read too much into it." Estella shook her head. "Dumbledore said it was a passing threat. I am sure he's taken proper precautions to prevent it from happening again, right Dad?" Sirius nodded. "See, so that's probably why he didn't want me freaking anyone else out with the news."
"So? You told us, didn't you?" Harry challenged.
"Yeah, but family's don't keep secrets from each other." Estella smiled winningly at Harry, a gesture that was soon echoed by man and boy before her.
They truly were a family.
After exchanging companionable conversation for an indeterminate period of time, Sirius heaved and enormous sigh and rubbed his shadowed eyes wearily… almost as though it was paining him to be the 'responsible one'.
"What's the time?" He asked regretfully. As much as he didn't want the children to leave, he knew that they must.
"It's half three." Estella sighed, knowing what her father would say next.
"You'd better get back to school." Sirius said, getting to his feet. "Now, listen…" he looked particularly hard at them both in turn. "I don't want either of you sneaking out of school to see me, all right? Just send notes to me here. I still want to hear about anything odd. But you're not to go leaving Hogwarts without permission. It would be an ideal opportunity for someone to attack."
"No one's actually tried to attack us!" Estella cried defensively.
But Sirius scowled at her. "I don't care… I'll breathe freely again when this Tournament's over, and that's not until June."
"Alright, Dad." Estella said, nodding reluctantly. "We'll take care of each other, I promise." Harry nodded solemnly in agreement and collected the empty flask and napkins from Sirius as they all stood to leave.
"Now, Dad…" Estella said authoritatively, gesturing the rucksack she was leaving behind. "There's some food and water in the bag, as well as a change of clothes and some soap. Don't worry about the bag being seen, just prop it against the stone wall and it will blend right in… it's Elvin cloth." She hugged him fiercely, deciding against telling the man it had once been a gift from her Uncle. "You take care of yourself. I'd much rather you be in London where Moony could take care of you in a real house, but I am glad to know you're near by."
"Me too." Harry said, also giving his Godfather a hug, albeit a little more awkwardly.
Sirius nodded appreciatively, his heart jubilant at the magnificent pair of children he had. "I'll walk to the edge of the village with you, see if I can scrounge another paper." He said. "Don't forget, if you're talking about me among yourselves, call me Snuffles, OK?"
The children nodded obediently and waited for the man to transform into the great black dog before they left the cave; walking back down the side of the mountain with him, across the boulder-strewn ground, back to the stile. Here he allowed each of them to pat him on his considerably cleaner head, before turning and setting off at a run around the outskirts of the village.
Making their way back into the Hogwarts grounds and into the Great Hall where the delicious smells of dinner wafted towards them, the pair sighed.
"Poor old Snuffles." Said Harry, trying out the unusual name on his tongue as he inhaled deeply. "Imagine having to live off rats!"
Estella sighed in agreement. Her father must be extremely worried about them to resort to living in a cave just to be near them.
End Chapter: Murky Depths