Chapter 14

Songs of this Jedi

As the calendar turned to Monday the excitement of the first week of school had evaporated. The grind of the school year had officially begun. In order to avoid the pitfalls of too much routine, he tried to mix up the things that he could, such as where he took his meals. He rotated between all the house tables, well he would have, except there was no way he could get through a meal sitting across from Daphne and Tracey right now. He could barely make eye contact with them without having to repress the urge to snicker. Daphne's glares or tongue pointed in his direction only made the urge worse. On a positive note, she always left these encounters giggling herself.

That evening was his first real Charms session with Astoria. They didn't do their typical study clips. Instead, Astoria would explain a charm, Cody would then explain back to her what he understood before trying to perform the spell. She was exceptional at describing things in ways Cody could understand. By clearly knowing his goal he was able to learn multiple spells in this one session, though he was fairly exhausted by the end.

They discussed Astoria's progress on feeling for and channeling her magic. Calling it progress would be generous, she had barely moved the needle in accessing her magic without the help of her wand.

'I thought you said you could feel where it was coming from last time we practiced,' Cody said.

'I thought I could, but whenever I wanted to practice I just couldn't find it. I'd use my wand to find it again, but as soon as I set my wand down it would disappear. I keep thinking about where it should be, but I don't come up with anything,' she said in frustration.

'I'm obviously no expert, but I think you are overthinking it. I know you like to have an explanation, or a cause and effect that makes sense, and I'm sure there is one, I just don't know it or how to explain it,' Cody said, sensing Astoria's frustration from her lack of progress.

'I know, it's not your fault that you can't explain it. And there are plenty of magical theories that aren't fleshed out, but at least they make sense to me. This— well every time I get close to feeling like I can do something, my mind just wants my wand,' she responded contemplatively.

'We need to convince your brain you can do magic without your wand.'

'But I've never done magic voluntarily without my wand.'

'What about your first flying lesson? Did you use your wand for that?'

'No, but it took me forever for the broom to obey me.'

'You were probably overthinking that too.'

'Probably, but I did get it, eventually. And I didn't use a wand so that's something,' she said with hope.

'Right, so let's take it all the way back, what came first, magic or the wand?'

'Magic.'

'And surely there were people using magic before someone discovered a wand helps.'

'Of course.'

'So, now your brain knows it can be done. Let's try something, close your eyes,' he suggested, and she complied. 'Imagine yourself as the original witch, no real knowledge of magic. You've never had a wand, but you've made things happen before. Now, it's all dark, and you need light. Your only focus is creating a little ball of light in your palm. You can feel your magic building inside you, like a match that has been ignited within. Keep your eyes closed, and don't speak, just nod or shake. Do you feel something?' he asked in a calm voice. She nodded. 'Good. Now, as the flame swells, you force it up to your shoulder, down your arm and into your palm.'

A very faint light appeared in her palm, smaller than the size of a pea. He could tell she was straining, her eyes clenched shut, beads of sweat were appearing, and the small light was not growing. He was proud of her progress, but he thought she would be disappointed at the weakness of her light, she seemed like one of those "do it right, or don't do it at all" types. She didn't seem to take much comfort or satisfaction in the small victories. And since she had produced something, he knew she had actually found the source of her magic, so he felt ok with the decision to help her light a little bit. He sent his own light to mix with hers, increasing the size to that of a golf ball and added a bit of brilliance to something he thought she would be happy with. He remembered back to when he was first learning to summon, and how the false confidence of his friend tricking him to think he did it, actually helped. He was going to do the same for Astoria, and she never needed to know.

'Open your eyes,' he breathed quietly. Her eyes slowly opened, first they focused on the light in her palm. Then she looked to Cody, a smile growing on her face to match the one already plastered on his.

'Morgana, that was exhausting,' she declared.

'But you did it! And you had to have felt something, right?' he prompted.

'Yeah, I did. I just tried to block everything out except what you were telling me. I have to try again,' she insisted.

'Rest for a minute. But, yeah, you should do it again without me guiding you through.'

Cody spent the next few minutes describing how regular meditation had helped him get more in tune with his own magic. He thought she would take to it quickly, and it could settle her mind when she was getting stressed, which was not an uncommon thing for her. After she had settled her heart rate and controlled her breathing, she gave the light another attempt. It wasn't immediate, but it took her less time than her first attempt, and the result was greater also, though less than what she had seen after Cody added his help. This time Cody didn't help at all, and her eyes dropped when she saw the end product of her effort.

'Don't you dare be disappointed with that,' Cody scolded. 'You almost drained your magical energy on the first attempt, of course your second would be smaller.' Her forced smile showed she was trying to accept it, but the perfectionist in her wouldn't fully allow it.

'I'm happy I got it, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't hoping for more,' she replied honestly.

'That's ok, now you know what it feels like and can practice on your own. It's gonna take a while to build up your endurance, your magic isn't used to being used like this. Be happy for your success, no matter how small,' he encouraged.

'I'll try. Thanks, Cody,' she answered with a smile, and after a tight hug they parted to their respective dorms for the night.

The next day in between his two afternoon Transfiguration classes he had some time to catch up with Professor McGonagall. He set up his first weekend trip to see his mom for the following weekend. She was interested to hear about his first week, and was satisfied with nearly all his choices of tutors. Her cocked eyebrow at his Astronomy tutor wasn't a shock to him, but he lessened her concerns by confirming that he talked it over with Professor Sinistra, and she had approved.

'Professor, I had a question about the first lesson last week.' She nodded for him to go ahead. 'Well, the cat thing you did, other than it being cool, what purpose or benefit do you get from it?'

'The Animagus transformation is a very personal thing. I studied the topic extensively during my Transfiguration Mastery, and I can tell you there are other benefits other than the joy of becoming an animal. Those benefits are different for each person and how they configure their spell.'

'Can you give an example?' he asked.

'Let's see. Cats are not particularly fond of rain or water. Rain is rather hard to avoid in these parts, and I am rather fond of it to be honest. So, when I transform I add a water repellent charm to my fur that allows me to frolic in the rain without becoming waterlogged.'

'Ok, that's interesting. I understand my dad was an Animagus. What did he turn into?'

'His form was that of a stag. That he was able to accomplish this during his time here was quite impressive, not recommended, but impressive.'

'What's a stag?'

'A male deer. From what I hear, he was quite large, with a healthy set of antlers.'

'What made him want to do it?' he asked curiously.

'That is probably better saved for when we have more time and aren't in danger of someone walking in on the conversation,' she cautioned.

'Oh, right.' he said. They set up his first weekend trip home for the final weekend of the month. And soon enough the room began to fill as the students of the next class started trickling in.

Cody might as well call the day Transfiguration Tuesday, what with two classes in the afternoon and his evening tutoring session with Michael, it was a lot of Transfiguration. Michael was pretty good at explaining things, not Astoria level good, and his "that's just the way it is" answers could be a little frustrating; but overall his knowledge of the subject was beyond sufficient to help Cody catch up. He was really excited about the possibilities that this subject had to offer, that made all the theoretical work he was initially going to have to get under his belt much more tolerable.

'So, you can transform stuff or just create stuff from thin air, but not food or money,' Cody reiterated what he learned.

'Among other things, but those are the big ones,' Michael confirmed.

'But didn't you say McGonagall turned a desk into a pig?'

'Yeah, and?'

'Where do you think bacon comes from?' Cody asked knowingly.

'Ok, and do you know how to butcher and prepare a pig?' Michael responded with snark.

'Uh, I guess not, but I'm sure I could figure something out if I was hungry enough.'

'Ok, when you can make me a pork chop dinner from a transfigured pig, I'll go to McGonagall myself and tell her Gamp's Law is trash,' Michael laughed.

'That'll be the day,' Cody agreed with a laugh of his own. But the thought still lingered, there must be a reason, and maybe it was something that was covered later, or even only addressed at the Master's level. He put it on the back burner as something to ask McGonagall at some point in the future. 'So, how about courage, can you conjure that?'

'What are you getting at?' Michael asked, Cody's face let him know this was not a sincere question, but more of a segue to what Cody wanted to talk about next.

'I'm talking about you getting the courage to ask out Hannah,' Cody declared.

'This again?' he sighed.

'Well, if you don't want her to move on, then yeah, this again. Hogsmeade in a few weeks seems like the perfect opportunity.' Michael just shook his head. 'Come on, I'll ask Susan to go, then you won't have to be all on your own.'

'You're not going to try and ask Daphne again?' Michael asked in surprise.

'Nope, she gave me her answer. I might try again later, but not for this Hogsmeade trip, that ship has sailed. I will ask Susan first if you want, but it'll go over better for you if you ask Hannah first, trust me.'

'I'll think about it,' resigned Michael.

'Ok, just don't overthink it, you'll psych yourself out.'

It was Thursday before he had the composure to make a visit to the Slytherin table again. As dinner was winding down he made the trek and took his regular seat and shared grins with the two girls across the table.

'Long time no see,' Daphne said.

'It's not my fault you refused to look at me in Defence yesterday,' he teased.

'There's no way you were going to get me to be part of a distraction in Moody's class,' she replied.

'You know, despite what everyone says about you, Dee, you still got some smarts in that brain,' Tracey said playfully.

'You are aware that everything they say about me, they say about you too,' Daphne smirked.

'Oh, right,' Tracey said, a bit deflated. 'Anyway, I thought Defence was going to be a bit more. . . active.'

'Right! If I have to do another year of essays, I'm gonna—'

'You're not gonna do anything,' Tracey cut in.

'I know, but I don't have to be happy about it, either,' Daphne replied.

'Speaking of not being happy,' Tracey said while indicating a trio of boys making their way up the table.

'Langdon! We've got a problem,' Malfoy sneered as Cody rotated in his seat after rolling his eyes.

'What is it this time, Draco?' Cody asked unimpressed.

'You've been lying to me,' Malfoy accused.

'I can't help that you always approach me at the Slytherin table, it just brings out the cunning in me. Or maybe it's just that you are easy to deceive, I might even say that you are the definition of a muggle,' Cody said, hardening his tone as he spoke and rising to his feet.

'Did you just call me a muggle?' Malfoy asked in disbelief.

'At least we know you can hear. But I guess I should clarify, I might have been raised in the muggle world, but you are more muggle than me.' He let the vitriol drip from his words.

'How dare you compare me to you. You filthy mud—' Malfoy suddenly brought his hands to his neck pulling at his skin to release what was binding him, his breaths coming out as wheezes.

'Choking on your words, Draco?' Cody asked knowingly as he released the pressure, but continued before Malfoy could get a word in. 'You probably have no idea where the word muggle even came from. You are what you thought they were.'

'What is going on here?' drawled Professor Snape, who had made his way down from his spot at the High Table.

'He called me a muggle, sir,' Malfoy quickly replied.

'Is that so?' he said as he turned to Cody. 'Is this true?'

'Technically—' Cody started.

'That sounds like a "yes." Ten points from Gryffindor.'

'Please, Professor, don't take the points away,' he pleaded as if they were his dearest possessions.

'Would you like to add a detention?' Snape sneered.

'Professor, he didn't do anything. He was just sitting here when—' Daphne spoke up, but was unable to finish.

'Perhaps that is the greater issue. This is not the first incident I've witnessed between you and the respectable Mr. Malfoy. And I can also recall a couple instances with the young Miss Greengrass that were disconcerting, to say the least. Yes, I think a prohibition of sitting at this table should solve our little issue.'

'Prohibition?' Cody breathed incredulously.

'That is correct, as in you are prohibited from visiting this table for the rest of the school year. As Head of House, I must do as I see fit to create an appropriate environment for my students. If that means keeping away a bad influence, only during meal times, so be it.' Snape sneered, and had a small smirk —that did nothing to compare to Malfoy's— at the dismay displayed on Cody's face. Snape spun and walked away, with Cody's only consolation being the lack of detention, but it wasn't enough to keep the disappointment off his face.

'Well, at least now I won't have to deal with your filthy blood around here anymore,' Malfoy drawled.

'Now there's a glass half full view, because I'm the least of your problems here. You have no idea how much gum you just cost those two girls. I wouldn't want to be in your shoes,' Cody smirked at Malfoy, and then smiled at Daphne and Tracey, whose glares were firmly fixed on Malfoy, though they both flashed a quick smile to Cody as he left.

The whole escapade soured his mood for the rest of the day. He went through the motions during his study group, which meant he likely wasn't going to retain much. And he spent much of his Astronomy class rehashing the series of events and if there was anything he could've done differently; he kept drawing blanks. The only thing he was pleased with was the choke, he had performed it firmly enough to cause discomfort, and softly enough to not completely block the airway, let alone do any sort of permanent damage. He had also kept the duration short enough to not draw any attention from others, while keeping Malfoy more focused on the emotional conversation to bring up his moments of troubled breathing. That wasn't enough to improve his mood that evening, and he hardly talked to anyone the entire class.

Friday morning he awoke slightly better, but even now he could use some good exercise to help the slight bitterness that remained. As he made his way around the lake he noticed a familiar black shaggy dog. He had seen him multiple times this week, so he decided to stop for a moment to see what he could learn about the stray.

'Hey, come here,' Cody called out. The dog looked around to see who Cody was talking to. 'I'm talking to you, you big black shaggy thing. Come here.'

The dog hesitated, and Cody thought there was a suspicious look in its eyes.

'I'm not going to hurt you, I could've done that already if I wanted. And I've seen you tracking me this week. You're waiting for me to play my guitar again, aren't you?' He felt kind of stupid talking to this dog as if he were another person, but the thing already felt different than a normal dog. The dog nodded his head and slowly began trotting over to where Cody was seated.

'I'm no expert but you don't seem like a regular dog, are you magical?' The dog nodded.

'And you can understand everything I say?' Another nod.

'And you like classic rock?' The nods were more aggressive this time, and Cody laughed at his enthusiasm.

'Ok, I'll bring my guitar back out on Sunday, that's not tomorrow, but the next day. I don't really like singing in front of people, I don't have a real good voice.' The dog shook his head in disagreement.

'Yeah, my mom says that too. I'll make an exception for you since you can't tell anyone how awful my singing is. But, I gotta finish my workout, see you in a couple days.'

That afternoon he had his first flying lesson. It felt like it took forever for the whole group to get their brooms in their hands, let alone to get off the ground. It might as well have been called a hovering lesson. The near uselessness of the lesson combined with the fact that it pushed his defence lesson with Susan to after dinner made him rather irritable. Astoria's dislike of wasted time was starting to rub off on him.

The defence lesson went well, she taught him a stinging hex and the Full Body-Bind curse before their duel. She saved the tripping jinx for their duel and hit him with it at a perfect moment as he was in the act of dodging other spells. She beat him a few more times before he was too worn out to continue.

'Not bad. Your disarming charm was coming out a lot faster and stronger than last time. And your shield is really good, and if someone cornered you right now, it would be dead useful for blocking as a delay tactic. Unfortunately, you can't win a duel by defence alone, and as you see it just wears you out when you keep it up at full strength the whole time.'

'You'd beat me so much faster if I didn't rely on my shield,' Cody responded.

'Yeah, but we're talking about practice, not the real thing, we're talking about practice. If you got into a real fight somewhere, I'd say use your shield until you could get away, since your offensive spells don't do much yet. But while you're here use the things you want to work on. Even if it means I beat you more, or faster, your improvement will be faster.'

'I see what you mean, thanks. I'll remember that for next time. Now, show me that tripping spell you got me with.'

Saturday morning he spent time in the greenhouses again, Neville was adamant that they should use the good weather to do as much as they could. Even with the magical enhancements of the greenhouses the winter weather slowed the plant growth and they wouldn't be able to do nearly as much, so he would have more free time in turn. As long as that free time didn't turn into hours of reading and slogging through essays, he would be fine with that. As they were walking back outside after their now typically late lunch, Cody spotted people flying over the Quidditch pitch, and at this point anything would be better than going back into the greenhouses.

'Let's go watch some Quidditch,' he said to Neville, trying to sound overly enthusiastic.

'Ok, we can go for a little bit, but I still have to transplant the last of that Devil's Snare before the day is through.'

'Sure, sure, you'll have plenty of time for that. Do you fly much?' Cody asked as they changed directions, now headed towards the pitch.

'Not really, I'm not much of a thrill seeker, and I had a bad first flying lesson,' he said meekly.

'Our first lesson was the most boring thing ever. What'd they have you do?'

'Just the same old stuff, but I just lost my balance and fell off. It wasn't a long fall, but landed just wrong and broke my wrist. Almost lost my Rememberall that my Gran had just given me too.'

'Almost? Sounds like there's a story behind that,' Cody responded with a gesture for Neville to continue.

'It fell out of my pocket when I fell. Apparently, Malfoy picked it up, and when Ron confronted him to get it back Malfoy chucked it, telling him to go get it.'

'And he did?'

'No, there's no way he's fast enough to have been able to get there in time, from what I heard. They said Greengrass caught it just before it hit the castle.'

'Daphne did that?' Cody asked for confirmation, Neville nodded. 'Is that why you were so vocal about defending her a couple weeks ago?'

'Yeah, partly. She had like three weeks of detention for flying after Hooch told the group not to, and never once did she blame me. I finally got around to thanking her a couple years later and all she said was that between the chance to actually let loose on her broom and wipe the smug grin off Malfoy's face, the detentions were worth it.'

'She doesn't seem fond of that kid,' Cody noted.

'I don't think there are many that are actually fond of him, but she is one of the few that actually stands up to him.' Cody "Hmmed" as they watched the Quidditch game. Daphne caught the snitch twice, same as the older Hufflepuff counterpart. Her team stayed on for the next match, where this time she caught it four times to Seamus' zero catches. After her team departed the field Neville turned to Cody,

'See all that you wanted to see?' he asked with a knowing smirk, and Cody rolled his eyes.

'Yeah, I guess so. But just cause it's obvious to you doesn't mean we gotta let it be obvious to everyone else. We have to watch the next match for at least five minutes before we leave. It's not like that Ravenclaw seeker isn't good to look at either.'

'She's already with Diggory, don't get any ideas,' Neville cautioned.

'I can't help the ideas, but I can refrain from acting on them,' Cody conceded. A few minutes passed, 'Guess that Devil's Snare isn't going to transplant itself.'

'Nope, let's go,' Neville said a bit too enthusiastically for Cody's taste. His exit did not go unnoticed by a couple of girls waiting for their next turn on the pitch.

Somehow Neville convinced him to do much more than just the Devil's Snare transplanting. The phrase "it's either today or another day," kept getting thrown around to the point of irritation, forget how accurate it was.

That night he was looking up at the stars, listening to Tracey and Daphne name them and rattle off constellations. He realized this was a class that from the surface appeared to be the same as if it were being taught at a non-magical school.

'Why is Astronomy one of our required courses?' he asked. Both girls gave him confused looks. 'I mean, I really like it, seeing the sky like this is one of the coolest things about the school, really. But I haven't seen any magical applications, and well, it just seems more like an elective type course.'

'Travel is the first reason that comes to mind. Back before maps were so easily available people used the stars to know where they were,' Tracey answered.

'Even though they change throughout the year?'

'Yup, that's why it's more than just memorizing. We learn movement patterns and all that stuff. Then it correlates a lot with Divination, which is an elective.'

'Then there's how the moon cycles correlate with things, such as when to harvest plants, or cast certain spells,' Daphne added.

'Oh yeah, Neville was saying something about that today,' he said.

'We saw you two at the pitch for a bit,' Tracey noted, he didn't see the elbow Daphne sent into Tracey's arm.

'Yeah, I needed a break, I don't share the same love for plants that Neville does. You both played good while I was watching, from what I could tell at least.'

'I can't believe I let Diggory get the snitch that second time, I could've beat him if I would've just feinted instead of going for it,' Daphne said in frustration.

'He's one of the best Seekers in school and you tied, you should be happy,' Tracey encouraged.

'Are you as mad as everyone else about Quidditch being cancelled this year?' he asked.

'Actually, no. Usually the players from the house teams don't play much pick-up, but with no teams this year, more players are coming so we have a better talent pool,' Daphne explained.

'You don't play on your house team?' he asked in surprise. They both turned and propped themselves up on an elbow to look at him, he spun to a sitting position facing them. The looks on their faces told him he hit a nerve, but he was oblivious to what that could've been.

'I'll give you one guess as to why we don't get to play on the "respectable" Slytherin Quidditch team,' Daphne said with an exaggerated eye roll.

'Draco,' he drawled.

'Look, Dee, he catches on quick,' Tracey said brightly with a grin.

'His Father bought new brooms for the whole team his second year. He got to pick his spot and basically controls the team,' Daphne added with spite.

'Never mind the one time he faced off against Dee, she beat him, what, three to one?'

'Four! Of course, he made up some excuse if anyone ever asked him about it, and he's never been back to play pick-up since,' the venom in her voice was thick.

They sat in silence for a bit before turning back to the night sky.

'It's still hard to fathom how all those stars can be other solar systems. Who knows what's really out there, planets and maybe even other people,' Cody said in awe.

'What are you on about?' Tracey asked with a laugh.

'Well, what do you think all the stars are?' he asked in return.

'I don't think, I know. The stars are all old wizards and witches watching over us. The brightest are the oldest and most powerful,' Tracey explained assuredly.

'That's why so many name their kids after stars and stuff. What did you think they were?' Daphne asked.

'They're suns, so on a chemical level they're just giant balls of gas burning billions of miles away,' he replied. Tracey snorted, and Daphne turned her head to him with her eyes narrowed.

'If you think you're going to get away with gas jokes for the rest of forever, you've got another thing coming, mister,' her face was stern, though her cheeks, eyes and the corners of her mouth betrayed the smile she was trying to conceal.

'I can see how it sounds crazy, but that's really what non-magicals believe about the sun and stars,' he reasoned.

'You're right, it does sound crazy. We won't judge you for their craziness,' Tracey added.

They finished with their study session, he gave Tracey her hug then turned to Daphne with a smile.

'I'll think I'll pass tonight,' she said.

'Pass? I think you're afraid you might—'

'I dare you to finish that sentence,' Daphne challenged playfully, bringing out her wand.

'Um, yeah. I'm good. Night, Touchdown,' Cody said smiling at the girls.

'Night, Cody,' they intoned together, walking their separate ways.

Sunday morning he found the black shaggy dog waiting for him, bouncing up and down as he drew closer. Cody was surprised how much the excitement this dog showed for the show about to take place did for his self confidence. It was nice to be appreciated, even by this nappy looking stray. (Spotify playlist in A/N below if you want to listen to any or all of the set that is played here.)

'Hey, boy. You ready for this?' The dog nodded aggressively. 'Already rockin' out? Alright! I'll just start playing and you shake or nod if you recognize it, then let me know if you like it or not.'

The dog shook his head more often than not in regards to recognizing the songs, but he always ended up nodding along in the affirmative for enjoying the music. At many points he would end up chasing his tail in his own solo version of a mosh pit.

'Well, you sure are easy to please. You claimed to like every song I played, of course I only played the good ones, so. . . But I swear, you didn't recognize a single song from the 80's on. You're like an old guy that missed the last 15 years of music.' The dog just shrugged his shoulders in response. 'I wish I could get an electric guitar out here, some of the songs just aren't the same,' he added wistfully.

'I still don't know what to call you. How about. . . Fido?' Head shake. 'No, Buster?' Shake. 'Hmm, Stinky? You could use a bath, you know?' Violent head shake. 'I got one, Sir-sing-a lot.' Hesitant nod. 'K, it's not great, but I'll go with it until I come up with something better.'

The week flew by rather quickly, as things tend to do when one stays occupied. On the whole his teachers were impressed with how quickly he was picking things up. Snape had a satisfied air about him since banning Cody from the Slytherin table, otherwise his treatment was the same as any other Gryffindor. He was starting to learn more from the other students' more advanced discussions during Astoria's study group, and she was happier now that the light she was wandlessly producing was continuing to get bigger and brighter.

Saturday at dinner time he finally convinced Michael to sit with him at the Hufflepuff table. He had to promise he would break the ice so the conversation wouldn't be so hard for him. They sat across from Hannah and Susan, and after warm greetings and Hannah teasing Cody about barely recovering from Susan's defence lesson the day before, Cody started the conversation they came for.

'So, are you girls going with anyone to Hogsmeade in a couple weeks?'

'We don't have any particular plans yet,' Hannah said after sharing a quick look with her friend. A slightly awkward silence followed, as the girls were waiting for one of the boys to follow up with another question, and Cody was waiting for Michael, this was his move.

'Uh, do you want to go with us—me to Hogsmeade?' Michael nervously asked.

'Are you asking for both of you?' she replied with a smile.

'Just for him, you can find someone else for your love triangle,' Cody cut in, drawing a giggle from Susan and a blush from Hannah, while Michael stomped on Cody's foot.

'Yeah, I'll go with you Michael.' And his head shot up with a big smile on his face.

'How would you feel about making it a double date, Susan? I don't think we should leave them alone for too long,' Cody added with a teasing grin.

'Yeah, that sounds fun,' she responded rather enthusiastically. A bit more of a response than he was anticipating. The rest of their dinner was spent in less awkward conversation. Cody couldn't help but notice a vacancy next to Tracey at the Slytherin table. It was the first thing he would ask about that night when they met up at the Astronomy Tower.

'Hey, look who's here. Didn't see you at dinner,' he said to Daphne upon arriving at the tower.

'I took my dinner somewhere else, thanks for noticing.' Her voice lacked the usual joyful tone.

'I wouldn't be suspicious if Tracey had been gone also. So, what's up?'

'Just tell him,' Tracey encouraged. Cody gave Daphne a questioning look and waited for her to speak, which she wasn't exactly quick to do.

She let out a deep sigh before saying, 'detention. You tell the rest of the story Tee.'

'We were in the common room and we could hear Malfoy ranting about something. So, we go over, and he is going off on Astoria for helping you. She is completely ignoring him as he is pacing in front of her. It doesn't take much of this before Dee yells at him, "why don't you pick on someone your own size?" He says, "oh yeah? Like your half-blood friend? I know she's helping him too!" He reached his hand into his pocket, as if to pull out his wand. He never got his hand out —which is too bad, because we lost the chance for a self defence argument— Dee hit him with a hex so fast. He was launched against the wall, yellow pustules forming all over his body.'

'Dang,' Cody said with a look of admiration.

'It was just a low level skin boiling jinx.' Daphne waved it off, but a little grin began to sprout.

'Yeah, well, whatever it was, he was whining like a baby. And Dee has detention until he is out of the Hospital Wing, which will for sure at least be until Monday, now that he knows that,' Tracey added.

'That sucks,' Cody empathized. 'You're not going to get into more trouble by coming up here tonight?'

'Nah, Millie has her covered,' Tracey said.

'Millicent? What's her thing?' Cody asked.

'She just keeps to herself. People call her a half-giant and Burly Bulstrode.'

'She's not even that big, just big for a girl,' Cody noted.

'Yeah, well kids can be cruel, so she basically avoids groups.'

'Huh, well, good job putting that idiot in his place,' Cody addressed Daphne again, she just nodded. Understandably, she wasn't in a very talkative mood. Tracey did more talking than usual that night, which was saying something, considering her propensity to blabber, as her friends would call it.

When Sunday ended, he was already looking forward to the next weekend, when he would be able to see his mom. In a few letters she had indicated that she had some interesting things to tell and show him, though she wanted to do it in person, so the letters were all very vague and cryptic.

Of course, this made the week creep along at a snail's pace. The only interesting thing to come up was an entry he came across as he was skimming the rest of the Marauder's Journal for any other prank ideas, it was an entry for the Marauder's Map. Now, this thing sounded pretty cool. He noticed the use of different names: Moony, Padfoot, Prongs and Wormtail. Then he realized those names had been scattered about in the more recent entries he had skimmed. He would probably figure it out when he more thoroughly read earlier passages. He had a suspicion as to who had the map, but if it did what they said it did, it would be difficult to retrieve.

Friday came and he was due for another flying lesson. His first hadn't exactly sold him on how exhilarating it could be, even though others had insisted he needed to keep learning. He decided to ditch and get his defence lesson in with Susan before dinner. After the lesson he went straight to Professor McGonagall's office and used the floo to Potter Manor. From there he took his portkey to Flat Potter, where his mom was waiting for him in the living room. After a long and joyful embrace, they began to eat, and Cody caught his mom up on news and filled in details on some of the stories he had already written about. Then he asked his mom about the things she had to tell him.

'Let's see, where to start?' she teased. She lifted up a box, and pulled out a piece of parchment along with a book, handing them to Cody. 'This is the full set of "The Adventures of Harry Potter." Apparently you've had battles with some crazy creatures, they are a hoot! The note says all you have to do is owl them and you can have as many copies as you'd like.'

'These are great. You know most kids at school think this is all he is, just a character from these books. Well, they think he died as a baby, but you know what I mean.'

'Yeah, well, you definitely didn't die as a baby. And I found where you went after you didn't die.' His head shot up from taking a bite of food, and quickly swallowed.

'You found them?'

'Yeah, I found your Aunt and Uncle. Aaand your cousin.' She drew it out with anticipation in her voice.

'Well, I kinda expected that, or hoped, I guess. Just one cousin?' He wasn't as surprised as she had anticipated.

'Yeah, just one, and he is barely a month older than you. I didn't actually meet him or your Uncle. But your Aunt was very pleasant and would like to meet you. We agreed over the holiday would be best.'

'That's cool he's my age. I'd like to meet them as well.'

'Good, I'll get something set up, I've got her phone number now, so that'll be easy. And if it weren't for the elves I never would've found them.'

'How did they help you find them?' He was more curious about this than knowing about his relatives.

'Well, they didn't exactly help me in the finding of them, but they helped me not get stuck at the Manor.' He shot her an inquisitive look. 'I forgot to take the hat with me to portkey back.'

After Cody got his laughter under control he said, 'I wish I could've seen your face when you realized that. So, how'd you get back?'

'The elves, they can teleport too, and they take me with them. I can even call them and they can come get me and take me wherever, though we've just gone back and forth between the Manor so far.'

'That's good to know, maybe Dumbledore won't have to keep picking me up and dropping me off,' he said hopefully.

'Yeah, we'll have to take one of them with us cause they can only go somewhere they've already been.'

'Why don't you just call one when you need it. Don't they just show up where you are?'

'Cause then we miss the pit stop, and I'm not losing my stomach everytime I go home and back.'

'Good point. So, who do you want to take with us?'

'Schweaty!'

After they were back in their California apartment they let Schweaty pop back to England. Now they were back into the middle of the day, and they waited for his friends to come home from school. It was a joyous reunion, and he regaled stories until he couldn't keep his eyes open, which was early evening where he was currently.

The next day Chelsea came over with his friends, and she was dying for a trip to Disneyland. He checked with his mom and she told them to have fun, so off they went for the day. He caught her up on the important things, though he let Victor and Jamal do a lot of the talking and he would interject details here and there. It was late afternoon and they were waiting in line for their last ride of the day.

'So, you've told us all about school and classes and all the "weird" stuff. Yet, I feel you have left out something very important,' Victor said knowingly.

'Yeah, who's the girl?' Jamal goaded.

'Who says there's just one?' Cody responded with feigned conquest.

'Oho! So, there are a bunch of hotties over there,' Victor said playfully.

'There are some, but overall they don't compare,' Cody corrected.

'You didn't actually say that to anyone, did you?' Victor asked in dismay.

'Uh, just to some of the guys—'

'You idiot, even if it's true —which it's probably not— you can't say it.' Victor said, flabbergasted.

'It's true, man. You can't just show up and crap on a bunch of dudes' ladies,' Jamal added with a nod of the head.

'Ignore them, you probably sounded like a tool, but what's done is done. Now, tell us about the one that you think does compare,' Chelsea said with a knowing smile.

'Again with the one, huh?' he asked.

'Yes, I'm sure there's a few you've noticed, but there's one that you really have your eye on,' she said confidently.

He relented and told them about the blonde that had caught his eye from the train ride to school. He told them about some of their interactions; the fire in her eyes during their first real conversation; her single minded determination while on a broom; and they disrupted the line with their laughter over him recalling what happened exactly two weeks ago. He was so focused on remembering details of the stories, that another aspect of their interactions had yet to click in his head.

'Well, unless you are embellishing, I'd say she is interested in you, but there is something else that is holding her back,' Chelsea noted.

'And you asked her out like the first time you talked to her. It's not that big of a stretch that she wasn't sure about you yet, maybe she's changed her mind,' Jamal said.

'It doesn't sound like she's avoiding you, no way she would've volunteered to help you with Astronomy if she didn't at least want to get to know you better,' Victor reasoned.

'Astronomy!' Cody threw his face into his hands, muttering and mumbling to himself as it finally clicked.

'Dude, what's wrong?'

'How could I be so stupid? I forgot to tell them I was going to be gone this weekend. I was supposed to meet up with them like an hour ago,' he said, deflated.

'What kind of casket do you want?' Victor said with a laugh.

'It's not funny, man. I'm seriously so dead,' he said while rubbing his forehead.

'Right, I wouldn't be laughing if I were in your shoes either. Actually, I can remember being in your shoes, and I wasn't laughing, but I lived,' Victor added.

'I might not, just last week she sent a kid to the Hospital with boils all over,' Cody explained.

'See, she knows how to maim and not kill, you'll survive,' Jamal teased.

'You're not helping.'

'What does she like? Take her back something she likes and apologize,' Chelsea said.

Cody looked up at Chelsea with a look of pure gratitude. 'I know just the thing,' Cody said with a ray of hope.

They spent Sunday morning visiting until almost midday, when Cody needed to leave so he could get back by a decent hour. Knowing the elves could take his mom back and forth was reassuring, but he wasn't sure if the owls could handle the flight so letters might become more sparse.

Professor McGonagall was pleased he arrived at a respectable hour and they visited for a quick minute. She insisted on some tea, he was finding some types becoming more palatable to him. Then he headed straight to the owlery, attached a couple parcels and gave the owls some instructions.

When he got to the common room he saw the Weasley twins in their familiar corner, and thought to test out his theory. He slowly approached, and as he got closer one of them peeked their head up to spy him, as if he knew Cody was coming. It wasn't ironclad proof but it was enough to take another step, next time, so he let them be and went off to bed.

Monday morning on his run he caught sight of Sir-Sing-Alot and immediately started mentally beating himself up—you remembered to tell the dog you wouldn't be around, but totally forgot about people you actually share conversations with, great job you selfish jerk. He got down to breakfast early and anxiously ate his breakfast, regularly looking over his shoulder for the sign of the morning parliament of owls. He tried not to stare as they fluttered in, but he couldn't help but glue his eyes to the backs of the two girls across the way.

They both appeared to be analyzing their parcel, and reading the accompanying notes. They put their heads together for a moment before looking over their shoulders at Cody, eyes narrowed, brows furrowed. Cody mouthed "sorry" and tried to look as apologetic as he could, their expressions did not change as they turned back towards their own table. He looked away before he could notice the slight bounce of their shoulders, and the little slap of hands underneath the table.

He waited for them to leave their table so he could talk to them, but they lingered longer than he could wait, apparently they could be late to class without repercussions. That's how the week went, trying to catch them for a minute to gauge their response. Even Astoria didn't say anymore than "you messed up." He even showed up early to Astronomy and Defence classes, but as he should have predicted, they arrived just as class began. He was sure he could catch them as class ended though, since he was closer to the door. Alas, he was thwarted when Millicent ran interferences at the end of each class. This was the final nail in the coffin, he knew they were avoiding him, and his only thought was that they were just that upset with him, and he couldn't bring himself to blaming them at all.

It was with that mentality he arrived at the Astronomy Tower Saturday night, more than half expecting his tutors to not show up. Professor Sinistra didn't exactly help him to feel any better with her look of disapproval. He began his personal study, referencing his star chart where normally he could listen to Tracey. Five minutes passed, then five more, at the fifteen minute mark he resigned himself to a lonely night of studying. Then he heard the faint sound of voices, they didn't sound unhappy. Though, when the two girls finally appeared, their faces did not match the pleasant tone he thought he had heard.

'Hey, I'm sorry—' he started.

'Well, look who decided to show up,' Daphne intoned, ignoring his first attempt at speech.

'Must be nice to come and go as you please,' Tracey sing-songed towards Daphne.

'Look, I'm sorry, ok. I've been trying to talk to you all week,' Cody pleaded, they certainly weren't making it easy.

'We know, we just weren't ready yet. Had to let the kettle cool,' Daphne replied calmly.

Cody gulped, 'you were that mad?'

'You did have us walk all the way up here in the middle of the night for nothing. What do you have to say for yourself?' Tracey asked scoldingly.

'Just— I'm sorry. That's all, no excuses. Just me being plain stupid.'

'Well, at least you can admit fault,' Daphne said respectfully. 'So, Tee, should we forgive him?' They looked at each other, fingers tapping on their chins, pensive looks on their faces. They held this for a few very long moments (for Cody) before the dam burst and their laughter filled the tower.

Cody was confused at first, before it hit him that they'd been stringing him along, for who knows how long, obviously for at least part of the week. The wave of relief washed over him, before a hint of irritation began to swell. His own guilt stymied the irritation quickly, he felt he deserved whatever type of retribution they wanted to give him, especially if it meant they would still be friends.

'Alright, you played me good. Now explain why you aren't more mad at me,' Cody said.

'Well, when we noticed you gone Friday night, and then didn't see you at all on Saturday, we thought something might've happened,' Daphne started.

'There were already rumors that you dropped out, and others saying something about someone in your family dying,' Tracey added.

'We came up here that night just in case you showed up, but either way, we like looking at the stars and we have a free pass to go out past curfew. We aren't just going to throw that away,' Daphne continued.

'Then you were still gone Sunday, and we started actually wondering if something really did happen to you,' Tracey said.

'But then Monday morning you delivered us the most wonderful opportunity, the gum was great as well. Once we knew you were fine and that you thought we would be upset with you, we decided not to disappoint,' Daphne said with a grin.

'So you never were mad?' he asked incredulously.

'No, but I think we would've been once you told us you forgot us,' Tracey said. 'But this was way better than a moment of fury. Even Millie helped us, she was our lookout at the table, and then she volunteered to distract you from getting to us after classes.'

'We knew you couldn't be rude to her, and we were right,' Daphne smirked.

'Well, you got me good, I can't even be mad at you, cause I've felt like I deserved it.'

'We're just glad you're ok. Where did you go anyway?' Daphne asked.

'It was a family thing, didn't end up being anything serious though. And we are wasting star time,' Cody deflected his answer best he could.

'So, have you found anyone to show you around Hogsmeade next week? Tracey asked after their studying was complete for the night, and they began their walk back.

'Yeah, Susan's going to show me around.'

Tracey's muffled "I told you," directed to Daphne, carried through the otherwise quiet corridor enough that Cody could clearly hear it. He didn't have much time to process the information before the conversation continued.

'That'll be fun, Susan is really nice,' Daphne said in an upbeat tone.

'Yeah, she is,' Cody agreed.

They reached their separation point and he gave Tracey her hug. Daphne was right behind her, and he didn't even have to ask as she flung her arms around his neck. He set her down, but she didn't release her hold of him. Instead, she rose up on her toes and brought her mouth close to his ear and softly spoke.

'Thanks for being a good sport. Tracey was worried you would be upset with us for dragging it out so long. I knew you'd be cool.' With that she released her grip, flashed him a big smile and began the rest of her journey with Tracey.

'Ooo, that does feel good,' Daphne said to Tracey.

'I told you so,' Tracey replied.

'You really need to stop saying that.'

'No, you need to start listening to me so I don't have to say it,' Tracey countered, and that was the last of the conversation Cody could hear.

A/N - Here is the Spotify playlist of the songs I imagined being played for Sirius (oops was that a spoiler, it shouldn't have been, really). I never played guitar, nor any instrument for that matter. So, I don't know if some of these songs might be too advanced, but oh well, he found beginner versions of the sheet music if that's the case :) Enjoy. (just replace your 'dot's)

open dot spotify dot com/playlist/0vUJtoAEFHT5rhB68boyOI?si=93e39caaf5914703

And for those who may just want to see the list without listening, or find some good acoustic versions on YouTube, like I did, here you go:

1. Say It Ain't So - Weezer

2. Free Fallin' - Tom Petty

3. Welcome to Paradise - Green Day

4. You Shook Me All Night Long - AC/DC

5. Don't Stop Me Now - Queen

6. Basket Case - Green Day

7. Jack & Diane - John Mellencamp

8. Thunderstruck - AC/DC

9. The Power of Love - Huey Lewis & The News

10. Undone (The Sweater Song) - Weezer

11. Dream On - Aerosmith

12. Livin' On A Prayer - Bon Jovi

13. Nothing Else Matters - Metallica

14. Crazy On You - Heart

15. Sweet Home Alabama - Lynyrd Skynyrd

16. Self Esteem - The Offspring

17. Jessie's Girl - Rick Springfield

18. Pour Some Sugar On Me - Def Leppard

19. Runnin' Down A Dream - Tom Petty

20. American Pie - Don McLean

21. Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana

22. Welcome To The Jungle - Guns N' Roses