"What do you mean, we're playing Gryffindor instead?!"
Max rounded on Cedric menacingly; she needn't raise her fists in order to make the young Quidditch captain back away, holding us hands up in defense— as if he had any chance of fighting Maxine O'Flaherty. She was not the only one upset by this news; Lucy had stayed up late with Anthony talking in the common room, and they were both feeling the effects of having hardly slept.
"It's not my fault!" Cedric defended himself. He barely managed to duck out of Max's way when she stepped toward him. He ran around the back of the couch and hid. He was trying his best not to look like he was cowering, but it was sort of hard to appear confident when he had his hands on the back of the couch, ready to push it toward Max as a diversion. "Edward's just sent me a note this morning! Malfoy's wrist is too injured to play!"
"That's rubbish," Heidi scoffed. She was the least temperamental out of them all, but even she was very annoyed at this turn of events. "That was ages ago! It's obvious why they're doing it— they're too big of cowards to play in this weather."
Lucy and Anthony shared a long, painful glance. Their long night was evidenced by the candy wrappers and newly decorated Common Room Tree, along with the pillows thrown around the room. Wordlessly, Daisy walked over and passed them each a mug of coffee.
"I can't believe Eddie would— thanks, Daisy— ever go for something like this," Anthony frowned. He brought the mug of coffee up to his lips and took a sip. His eyes lit up. "You remembered the cream!"
"Of course I remembered the cream," Daisy snorted. "Six years and you still need more cream than coffee."
"I am who I am," he said, shrugging. He couched and placed his mug down and then pointed an accusing finger at Herbert. "Explain your man's actions at ONCE!"
Herbert was not fully awake either. He rubbed his glasses with the hem of his shirt. "It's not his fault," he said wearily, "Malfoy and the rest of the team got a note directly from Madam Pomfrey. If Ed made him play anyway, and they lost, then Malfoy's father would've thrown a fit."
"This is exactly the type of shit Flint would have pulled," Maxine grumbled. She sank into the couch, resigned that they had to play Gryffindor, but certainly not happy about it.
Lucy, who had so far been pretending that there weren't two recently filled vacancies on the Slytherin team, quickly busied herself by taking a long drink of her coffee. She felt an unpleasant twist in the pit of her stomach.
Anthony's grip around the mug tightened, and he gave a strained sort of smile. "Yeah, well, good thing he's dead."
"Really, Anthony?" Cedric sighed. He found it distasteful to speak of the dead disrespectfully, but Anthony didn't feel the same.
He looked around at Cedric. He wasn't smiling anymore. "If Tommy hadn't done it, then I would have," he said darkly.
Everyone in the room quieted. Lucy leaned back into the couch, trying to keep her face blank. She really wished everyone would pretend that night didn't happen. She already talked about it loads of times. That meant it wasn't supposed to bother her anymore. Talking about it meant it didn't happen. And it didn't. Didn't happen. Didn't bother her. Either one was fine.
Her opinions on the three Slytherins were very conflicted, and they changed day to day. Sometimes, she hated them. Wished she could have killed them herself all over again. They made her hate the color red, hate that empty classroom down the Charms corridor. As if what they'd done wasn't unforgivable enough, they had to piss off Tom. They had to make him spiral out of control. If it wasn't for them, Tom would have never lost his temper, and everything would be fine, and he'd be alive, and they could have been friends forever. Right?
...Right?
No, she knew that wasn't right... Pucey and Flint should not have died. Tom would have revealed himself sooner or later, regardless of their actions. They should have gotten a trial. Any good person would have wanted them to have a trial. Then why didn't she feel bad they were dead? She did feel bad, didn't she? She had an unpleasant feeling in the pit of her stomach when she thought about it. Or was that because Tom lied to her? That sounded right.
It was all so confusing. Too confusing, she thought, for a Saturday morning. She hoped to Merlin her face had remained neutral as she looked away from her lap.
"So what's the plan, Cedric?" she asked, pointedly changing the subject. Anthony glanced at her and gave her an apologetic grimace, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. She shrugged in response.
Cedric walked around the edge of the couch, his hands resting on his hips. It was always fun to see him get into 'Captain mode', but Lucy didn't appreciate the other girls in the common room ogling him. "We've been training against Ravenclaw's tactics, but Gryffindor's a bit easier," he began. "Their chasers tend to stay lower, less chance of losing the Quaffle that way. Lucy, it's on you to fly higher, okay?"
Lucy pointed at him. "I won't let you down, Captain!"
He pointed back at her. "That's what I like to hear! Herbert, remember that their chasers like to pass at the last moment before they score— keep track of where they're facing, all right? Max, Anthony, if Potter looks like he's after the snitch, you know what to do."
Lucy narrowed her eyes at both Anthony and Maxine, daring them to hit a Bludger at her best friend.
Anthony gulped, and even Maxine's eyes widened slightly. "Fuckin' hell, what a glare you've got on you," the older girl marveled. "But we've got to hit him, it's in the rules."
"No headshots," Lucy said firmly. Maxine went to protest, and so she added, "Or else."
Reluctantly, Maxine nodded.
Even more discouraging to the Hufflepuff team was that the rain was pouring down worse than ever. Lucy and Anthony heard what they thought was the worst of it last night, where there was so much rain that the windows at the top walls of the common room were flooded with water, reminding her of the Slytherin windows to the Black Lake. But now, they could see lightning flashing every few seconds from the Great Hall's ceiling. As they ate their breakfast, they could hear the wind howling worse than ever.
Hagrid was worried his house might flood from the storm and so he sent both Fang and Grimm with Anthony for the night. The dogs slept in Anthony's dormitory while he slept in the common room, in case he needed to distract any professors from investigating. Anthony still had to sneak the two back out of the castle, and that led them to the present: where the Hufflepuff team were in a mad scramble to get everything ready.
Amidst the chaos of Anthony sneaking the dogs out of the castle, Herbert realized his wand was missing and was looking everywhere for it, while Lucy couldn't find her goggles.
"Accio!" she tried, but yet again, nothing happened. She huffed. She'd be lucky if Anthony would let her play without goggles; for such a troublemaker, he was a stickler on concerns of boring stuff like 'personal safety' and 'mortality'. Angrily, she shook her wand. "What's the use of you, then?!"
Her goggles promptly flew out from under her bedside table and hit her in the nose. Lucy stood there for at least a minute before wordlessly picking them off the floor and putting them around her neck.
"I hate magic," she said calmly.
She, Daisy, and Cedric ran all the way to the Quidditch pitch just as Anthony and Herbert met them at the field, too. The wind was so strong that it nearly blew Lucy over. Cedric had to drag her along by the arm to make sure she didn't accidentally run in the wrong direction.
"Did Hagrid get the dogs back?" Lucy had to yell over the wind, and she could still hardly hear her own voice.
"Yeah, he did!" Anthony said. "Grimm ran off with a stick or something— speaking of which, have you found your wand, Herbert?"
"No!" Herbert panicked. "My mum's going to kill me—"
"She can kill you after the match!" Cedric patted Herbert on the back. "It's time to meet the other team. C'mon, then."
They approached the Gryffindors, who were already at the center of the field. Lucy could hardly see them with their scarlet robes, and she was once again grateful for the fact that she was in Hufflepuff with their bright canary uniforms. She waved at Harry, or who she thought was Harry, and was met with him and the Weasley twins waving back. She hardly had any time to prepare before Madam Hooch put her whistle to her lips and gave it a huge blast.
Lucy kicked off at once, and she was thrown backward with the wind. Gritting her teeth, she leaned forward with all her weight. This, she found, was the only way to really play in this weather. Though the conditions were miserable and her hands were freezing through her cheaply made Quidditch gloves, she felt her heart thrumming with adrenaline. Now she remembered why she liked flying so much.
She missed the Quaffle a few times because she couldn't see through her goggles, and after that she pulled them down her face and around her neck. She ignored the pain and kept her eyes open against the harsh rain. This way was much clearer— now, she could see the outline of the Quaffle as Daisy threw it to her. Everything stung, but she was determined.
The score was 50-30, Gryffindor. Lucy made it to the goals and threw the Quaffle over Wood's head, straight through the posts. At the same time, Daisy intercepted a Gryffindor pass and scored another goal, evening it out. They'd only been playing for about ten minutes and she already felt as though her energy reserves were spent.
She was almost glad when the Gryffindors called a time out. The Hufflepuffs landed at the edge of the field where Megan and Hannah held up a giant umbrella for them. They were doing rather well, and so Cedric didn't bother talking strategy.
"So shall we have a trip to the kitchens after this?" he said brightly.
"Yeah, I'm starving," Heidi agreed.
"I could do for another cup of coffee," Anthony said, nodding his head. He looked at Lucy and frowned. "Why aren't you using your goggles! Eyes don't last forever, you know!"
"I can hardly see with them!" Lucy defended. "It's only for one match."
"One match that could result in a lifetime of blindness—"
"No time to fuss, the timeout is over," Cedric cut in before Anthony could go off on one of his lectures.
They all kicked off, and Lucy was glad to see that Harry was moving a lot more smoothly than before. He must've gotten his glasses fixed for him. She noticed him staring at her with a wide smile, and she stopped flying to smile back at him. She shot him the thumbs up, and he returned it. She then narrowly dodged out of the way of a Bludger.
"Fucking Weasley!" Lucy scowled at the red-haired twin, who was twirling his bat with a cheeky grin. She stuck her tongue out at him. "Watch this, ginger!"
Heidi threw her the Quaffle, and she caught it, then threw it back to Daisy, who threw it— oops, Angelina intercepted it, but that was fine, Daisy got it back... Lucy flew ahead of Daisy and waited for the redhead to take the shot, but Angelina was in the way.
Daisy looked at Lucy and pointed upward. Obliging, Lucy tilted her broom up and flew higher, and higher, and higher, until she caught the Quaffle right in front of her. Gripping the ball tightly in her hands, she tilted her broom and raced downward toward the hoop—
And then she felt a terrible churning in her gut, carving her from the inside out.
The Quaffle slipped out of her hands. She looked down, reaching to catch it, and then she saw it— at least a hundred Dementors were swooping onto the field beneath them. Lucy's eyes flashed; shards of glass were sticking her from the inside out. She heard her own screams in her ears, and then a male voice, cracking in fear.
"Tell him to stop, Lucy, I'll let Ginny go— I'll be your friend again! You wanted that, didn't you?"
"I could not allow my esteemed House to be dirtied by a filthy, annoying child..."
The voices mixed together, confusing her. The first voice warmed her at first, but when his sentence ended in a sob, she felt a stab of pain through her heart. The monster's words should have been laced with hatred, disgust, anything— but they remained void of any real emotion. Her hands trembled around the handle of her broomstick. It felt like she was falling... Was she...? She couldn't— couldn't be...
"Don't let him kill me, Lucy, please..."
"Surely, after that, you would have learned your place."
Despair pooled in her stomach and seemed to physically drag her downward; nothing around her mattered. She felt bile rising in her throat, and she clung to her broomstick as waves of fear and exhaustion swept over her. The second voice did not matter to her. Her boy was in trouble. Why couldn't she get to him?
"I don't want to die, I just want to be alive," his voice broke, and she could see his eyes in front of her own, piercing blue, bloodshot in fear. She tried to reach out for him, unaware if her body cooperated. Every kind moment between them flickered through her mind, but the moments weren't kind anymore. Images that used to be happy now seemed to disintegrate before her eyes; her boy's smiles slammed into her like a punch to the gut. They hurt. They hurt her. "I'll go back into the diary... LUCY—"
"Then I'll show you... CRUCIO!"
A high, agonized scream burst through her mind, and Lucy was gone.
She awoke to soft whispers. She felt like she'd been run over by a truck. Her eyes fluttered open, but she couldn't move; there was a splitting pain in her head and she felt as though she'd fallen down the staircases all over again. She tried to look around, but she let out a soft whine, relaxing back into the hospital bed.
"She's awake!"
Lucy suddenly saw Hermione standing over her, the other girl's eyes filled with tears. Admittedly Lucy was a little perturbed to see her so soon after waking up, not to mention how close she was to her face.
"Oh, Lucy, we were so scared! You must have hit the ground so hard—"
Ron scrambled over too, rambling, "Nobody could find you, there were so many Dementors, and people were flooding the field—"
"Anthony was flying over the entire field, professors everywhere—"
"Diggory found you at the bottom of the goal post. He thought you were dead," Hermione finished. She had an aghast look on her face as she examined Lucy's appearance again. "You were up so high, higher than Harry. It's a miracle you survived. I... I have no idea how you did."
Lucy furrowed her brow. She didn't feel nearly as bad as the time the staircases collapsed. She was still sore, yes, and she ached all over, but there was no stabbing pain in her lungs every time she took a breath, and she could stand to sit up, now that she tried.
"I am nothing if not a stubborn survivor," she muttered. She looked over to see Harry sitting up as well. He seemed to feel much better than she did, but he was still sickly and a shade grayer than normal. "Sup, Potter."
"Congratulations," he said miserably.
"On what? Falling from higher up than you did?" she said sarcastically.
"No. You won the match. Diggory caught the snitch."
Lucy's eye twitched. In one swift motion, she picked up her pillow and chucked it at him. She immediately regretted it because of the wave of nausea that followed, but she was satisfied to see it hit him squarely in the face. "We both died and you're worried about a Quidditch match? Honestly, Harry!"
She had to lay down again, shuddering as a chill overtook her. Hermione reminded her of Madam Pomfrey by how quickly she pulled the blanket over her. She drew a chair between her and Harry's beds.
"Dumbledore was really angry," she said, more so directed at Harry. "I've never seen him like that before. He ran onto the field as you fell, waved his wand, and you sort of slowed down before you hit the ground." She glanced at Lucy, confused again. "Nobody slowed your fall. I can't understand how you're not more injured," she whispered.
"Dumbles left me hanging?" Lucy said incredulously, before sulking, crossing her arms over her chest. "Well, fine. Next time this happens, he's not invited to the funeral!"
"Don't joke about that! It was absolutely awful, I was sure you'd died..." Hermione anxiously rubbed at her eyes, then kept her hands covered over her eyes as if she could remove the image from her mind. "Dumbledore couldn't have reached you, anyway... You were too far away and up so high... How are you alive?"
Lucy shrugged. She wasn't actually mad at Dumbledore. He was powerful, but he wasn't all powerful. "I've had worse," she said in response to Hermione. The staircases, for one, and falling from the sky was a scrape on her knee compared to the Cruciatus. "Falling from a few flights of stairs really hardens the skin, y'know?"
"Did someone get my Nimbus?" Harry asked abruptly.
Hermione and Ron shared a long look.
"When you fell off, it got blown away," Hermione said slowly.
Harry's eyes narrowed. "And?"
"And it hit— it hit— oh, Harry, it hit the Whomping Willow." Harry stilled at Hermione's words, and hesitantly, she pressed on. "Professor Flitwick brought it back just before you came around..." She reached down and grabbed a sack from the foot of his bed. She poured it out. Dozens of pieces of splintered wood dropped onto the bed. Lucy winced at the sight of it. Yeah... There was no chance of fixing that.
Ron glanced at Lucy. "You didn't get off easier, mate. Your broom... Well, it hit the ground so hard it splintered in two."
Lucy was less bothered. She'd crashed her broom so many times during practice, it was only a matter of time before it broke permanently. She was just hoping it'd last for the rest of the season. "At least I didn't splinter it two as well," she shrugged.
The other two could tell by Harry's stony expression that he'd rather be left alone. Hermione gathered the pieces of broom back into the bag, awkwardly tried to reassure Harry, then headed toward the door. Right before she left, she looked back toward Lucy with a somewhat bemused expression.
"You're awfully lucky you have such a great pet," she said.
"Why?" Lucy said with a confused expression. She had many pets, and all of them were great, thank you very much.
"Well, the only reason Cedric found you at all was because he followed the sound of barking."
Hermione left at last, and Lucy felt a small smile curl on her lips.
She was awfully lucky, indeed.
Lucy and Harry were in the Hospital Wing for the rest of the weekend.
The first night, Lucy left him alone because she could tell he wasn't in the mood for any attempts at cheering him up. But the next day, when he was still sulking in his bed, she jumped out of her own bed and squeezed right beside him. He scowled as she squished him against the other side.
"Asking works as well, you know," he said irritably.
"According to the Unwritten Best Friend Code, I don't have to do any such thing," Lucy said in a serious tone. She leaned against the pillows behind them and made an annoyed sound. "Why are yours more comfortable than mine?" she demanded.
Harry shrugged, still frowning down at his lap. Lucy sighed. She knew when something was up with her best friend. She leaned her head against his shoulder. "This isn't just about the broom, is it?"
She felt him freeze for a few moments. Eventually, his shoulders slumped, and he shook his head. "The... You know how the Dementors make you— make you remember things?"
Lucy felt a lump form in her throat. Images of three leering boys standing over here flickered through her mind. She nodded sharply.
"When they get near me... I can—" his voice grew very strained, and she saw his hands clenched into fists in his lap. "I can hear Voldemort murdering my mum." She felt all of her insides freeze. Worse, she thought, than the effects of the Dementors— because this sort of pain, Harry's pain, was not the kind that went away with a bar of chocolate. This was the kind that lingered, weighing on your mind. She reached over and wrapped her arms around him, closing her eyes. She didn't say anything— she wasn't sure what she could even say to make anything better— and he continued quietly. "And I know it's not right, but— that's the first time I've ever heard her voice. My mum's, that is. And she was begging for my life. And it's the only way I'll ever hear her."
"How did she sound?" Lucy asked after a few moments.
She saw his lips quirk upward into a sad half-smile. "Lovely," he said. "Even from just that, I know she would have sounded lovely."
Lucy nodded, thinking to herself. She had the thought in her head, but her hands moved on their own accord as she pulled out her wand and said,"Accio Harry's Album." They waited there for a few minutes, anxious to see if anything would happen, when at last the leather-bound album Hagrid gave him came flying through the door. Harry caught it easily, and he flipped it open.
Harry had shown it to her loads of times before, but now he explained each picture carefully, as though he'd known about each scene personally.
"I was asking around," Harry said, and he pointed to the photo on the second page. Harry's dad and mum were sitting in front of the courtyard fountain. Lily turned to him and leaned in for a kiss, and James let out a shriek, pushing her into the fountain. The camera itself seemed to shake from the person behind it laughing. Lucy also let out a laugh as Harry grinned. "Hagrid told me about this one. He got the picture from the Meadowes. Apparently, Dorcas Meadowes— that was their friend's name— told them to act like one another. They were only friends here, I think, which is why my dad was so surprised. Hagrid said Mum was livid afterward."
"That's awesome," Lucy laughed as the scene repeated itself over and over again.
Her eyes studied James in particular. Harry already looked so much like his father, and he wasn't even an adult yet. She was very happy that Hagrid took the time to get her friend an album of his parents, so that he would always have this piece of them.
She flipped to the next page curiously. "Where're the ones of you? I like seeing you as a baby. You were all cute and innocent."
"And you're saying I'm not innocent now?" Harry said, mock offended.
She was pleased to see he was joking again, and she turned up her nose and said, "Why, no! You are, in fact, the most evil wizard I know. And I learned from Professor Lockhart last year!"
As he flipped through the pages, his eyebrows raised and he widened his eyes comically, "The worst crime of all! Plagiarism!"
She had to clamp her hand over her mouth to stifle her giggles. If Madam Pomfrey thought they were being too loud, she'd be banished to her own bed, which was a whole six feet away. He pointed to a picture in the album. "This one's me and my dad right here."
Sure enough, there was James holding a newborn Harry. He seemed to have taken Lily's place in the hospital bed, and he had his hand draped dramatically over his forehead, as though he was exhausted. Lucy noted how odd it was to see Harry without a scar for once in his life.
"While Mum was off using the bathroom or something, Dad took her spot in the bed. He was pretending to be here," he snickered. "I dunno, I reckon she would have pushed him out of it."
"I reckon you're right," Lucy smiled.
He went through the entire album, describing each of the pictures with as many details as he knew about them, and when he couldn't come up with anything, Lucy filled in the blanks with a story of her own. Even if she was completely wrong, her stories were entertaining all the same. By the time he'd reached the end of the album and flipped it closed, they were both aching from laughing so hard.
"Why don't we start one of these?" Lucy demanded, still laughing. "Between you, me, Ron, and Hermione, we could've filled up three of these by now. Imagine having a picture of you fighting a troll?"
"Or you and Professor Quirrell solving a riddle?" Harry countered, grinning. "That's a good idea. I know Ginny's taken a few. Maybe I'll get a camera of my own."
"You could always ask Colin."
"But would I ever want to ask Colin?"
She nudged him gently with her elbow. "Hey, he looks up to you!"
"So does, oh, half of the wizarding world," Harry said, rolling his eyes. He settled back into the pillows again and closed his eyes. "I reckon I should've said this earlier, but I'm glad you didn't die when you fell. That would've been rotten."
"Yeah, just a bit," she agreed. "After all those times I've pissed off Voldemort, I die from falling off my broom? Embarrassing."
Harry snorted, shaking his head. "Truly." They were quiet for a few minutes, then, just staring at the cover of the album. "What do you see— er, what do the Dementors make you see?" he asked hesitantly.
All at once, Lucy felt ashamed of herself. How was she supposed to tell Harry, who heard his mother being murdered, that one of her worst memories was the man who murdered her dying? That her worst fear was him dying? Harry wouldn't understand. She could hardly understand it herself. All she knew was that, even knowing what Tom had done, she would give just about anything to have him back right now.
"Montague," she said after a long pause.
Harry's eyes flickered to the white scar on her cheek. He still didn't fully understand what happened that night, nor what the Cruciatus curse really was. But he heard Hermione describe her episode on the train, and that alone was enough to make his jaw lock angrily. "He should've gone to Azkaban for that," he spat. "Why didn't— I mean, why didn't Riddle—?"
"He was going to. He didn't get the chance." Lucy's gaze darkened. If Tom had just been Tom Riddle, if he hadn't lied to her, petrified her friends... If she could trust him... In another timeline, maybe she would have let him. Maybe she'd have been happy about it. "But it's good. That he didn't, I mean." Her lips twitched into a smile, but she wasn't happy. "Because now I'll get that chance."
"You deserve it," Harry concluded. "You kill Montague, and I'll kill Voldemort. Deal?"
He held his hand out. Lucy was certain he was joking, but she wasn't. Staring at Harry's hand, nothing would please her more than to look Graham Montague in the eyes and tell him that she was going to ruin him.
She smiled, this time for real.
"Deal."
Monday morning arrived with a certain weariness in the air. Harry was a little more cheerful than he had been on Saturday, but the sight of the Dementors crawling over the castle grounds was enough to return him to his gloomy state. Lucy, however, was practically bouncing as she walked alongside him in the corridor.
They had Defense Against the Dark Arts again, and the Hufflepuffs were with the Gryffindors again. She was excited to see Remus and more importantly, she was excited to torment him. He'd gotten off easy last time since Snape took over (or perhaps not so easily because he was a werewolf during that time), but now he would get to experience having Lucy and Harry in the same class.
"Why are you bringing brownies to class?" Hermione said, already exasperated with the bouncing blonde. "You can't expect to eat them?"
"Of course not!" Lucy said brightly. "I'm allergic to chocolate."
"Then why?"
That was the exact same question Hagrid had asked her when she ran down to his hut early in the morning to bake the brownies. Grimm just about tackled her in a hug after she explained she was making them for Professor Lupin, since he'd been sick and all. Hagrid was happy to help her and together, they made a nice tin of brownies, and thankfully they were not as hardened as Hagrid's classic rock cakes.
"You'll see," she said serenely.
Ron stopped a few feet away from the doorway and turned to them with a serious expression on his face. "If Snape's teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts again, I'm skiving off. Check who's in there, Hermione."
Hermione crept over to the door and peered inside. "It's okay!" she called.
Lucy stepped inside, and immediately her plans of tormenting Remus disappeared. She did not know much about werewolf transformations, but it appeared to have taken a toll on the man. His robes were hanging more loosely on him and his cheeks seemed to be more hollow, dark bags hanging under his eyes. However, he was still smiling at them as they walked inside.
"REMUS! You're back!"
Lucy ran over to his desk and placed the brownies on it, and then she collapsed into the desk at the front, where she usually sat in his class. Harry took the spare seat next to her.
"You can't just leave like that," she continued with a devastated expression. "Do you know how worried I was? Agonized I was? I had to look at Snape! For sixty minutes! In a row! I am very upset with you!"
"Upset enough to make a tin of brownies for me?" Remus countered with a half-smile. He took half of a brownie and ate it. His eyes lit up; Lucy had tried her hardest to make them as delicious as possible. "Well, I'll have to upset you more often. Thank you, Lucy."
"Tell no one of my kindness. I have a reputation to uphold," she warned him.
He smiled. "Your secret is safe with me."
Now that her dramatics were out of the way, she hoped the man would start to feel better soon. She was tempted to ask how he was feeling but she thought that might make him uncomfortable. From reading the werewolf chapter in her textbook, she knew that typically, they tried to keep their lycanthropy a secret. Confronting, or even alluding to it would be terribly rude of her. No, Lucy would simply continue to bake him brownies... and perhaps slip him chocolate every few days or so.
As soon as the class filled in their seats, they burst out with complaints against Snape's essay.
"Don't worry, I'll speak to Professor Snape. You don't have to do the essay," Remus assured them all.
"Oh no," Hermione groaned, "I've already finished it!"
"Me too!" Lucy said with a devastated expression. She pulled out a scroll of parchment and showed Remus a caricature of a werewolf hitting Snape over the head with a broomstick. Luna had drawn it, and it was very detailed. "Can I still get points for it, at least?"
Remus stared at the drawing, his eyes narrowed as he scrutinized it. He cleared his throat, trying to hide a laugh. "I think you may have been slightly confused on the essay requirements, Lucy."
"I thought we had to write about ways a werewolf could kill Snape," she said, mock-confused.
"Well, you haven't written anything, you've drawn a picture. A well-done picture, at that."
Lucy refused to take credit for another person's work, even if it was a joke. "Luna drew it, sir." She paid the girl a few sickles for it.
"So you're admitting to academic fraud?" Remus arched an eyebrow.
Slowly, Lucy rolled the parchment back up, slipping it into her bag. "...You know what, Professor, I think we'll just forget this conversation ever happened."
"I think that's for the best."
The lesson passed pleasantly; Remus brought with him a glass case containing a Hinkypunk. The Hinkypunk was a rather cute creature, with one leg and a body of pink smoke. However, Lucy had an uncontrollable urge to punch it for some reason, and Harry had to elbow her every time her hand curled itself into a fist.
"Have you got a problem, Potter?" Lucy demanded after the fifth time he elbowed her.
"Do you have a problem?" He looked pointedly at her fist.
"Yes, actually, I grew up in an orphanage, and last year I was possessed by Lord Vol—"
"Old news," Harry dismissed.
Hermione turned and shot Harry an affronted look, while Lucy burst out laughing. "Harry! That is incredibly insensitive!" she hissed at the boy.
One thing Lucy came to appreciate about being friends with Hermione was that no matter what, the other girl was wholly defensive to her against Harry and Ron, regardless if Lucy deserved it or not. She smiled smugly at Harry, who rolled his eyes at her.
"Go suck a Hinkypunk, Luce," he grumbled.
"Harry?" Remus turned and shot the boy a surprised look. In his classes so far, Harry had been a model student— he took notes and participated and hardly ever spoke out of turn. Now, the boy was fighting the urge to laugh as he stared at the professor innocently.
"Sorry, professor," Harry said quickly.
"Yeah, sorry, professor," Lucy added. "Sorry that Harry's such a dolt."
She made a pained noise as Harry whacked her on the arm. She turned and grabbed her wand, "You're going to get it, Potter!" she hissed. Before she attempted to cast a spell, her wand shot out sparks. She grinned evilly, "My wand agrees with me! Prepare to die—"
Harry simply grabbed the wand from her hand and placed it down on his side of the desk. Lucy stared at it. Her wand was only a little out of her reach, but she was too lazy to bother reaching for it.
She huffed and settled back in her seat. "You win this duel, Potter."
"What, like it's hard?"
Her eye twitched. She flicked her hand and his quill flew up from his desk and hit him in the face.
"Agh!" Harry rubbed at his cheek, glaring over at her. Lucy was shocked to see she'd left a red mark.
"Oh no! I'm sorry, are you all right?" she dropped the pretense of being mad at him all together and rushed to examine his face. She was terrible. She hurt the moneymaker! Now what did Harry have going for him? His personality? His brains? He had nothing!
Harry stopped glaring as well. "Yeah, but that was really cool! You just flicked your hand and it worked?" he asked, picking up the quill to inspect it. He grinned. "Brilliant."
Remus suddenly cleared his throat. He looked between them with a neutral expression. He wondered if he needed to seperate them, but as quickly as their quarrel began, it finished. Harry simply slid her wand over to her, and she picked up her quill, ready to write more notes. She met the professor's eyes and said in a confused voice, "Can I help you, sir?"
He narrowed his eyes at them suspiciously. "No... I don't think so."
With that, he went back to his lesson. If he noticed the loads of whispering between Lucy and Harry, he certainly didn't comment on it.
The rest of November dredged on with the rain continuing to beat down upon the castle, but the Hufflepuffs' high spirits made up for it.
They had another Quidditch match against Ravenclaw the week before. Lucy was certain that they would have lost terribly three years ago, but their team had a certain synchrony that the other Houses didn't possess. They didn't have a prodigal seeker like Harry, or a huge keeper like Grant Page, but Lucy, Daisy, and Heidi were brilliant chasers. Cedric once again found himself flustered by Cho Chang, but a cleverly aimed Bludger from Max snapped him out of it. He and Cho made a race for the snitch as Daisy, Heidi, and Lucy scored as many goals as they could. Cho caught the snitch in the end, but Hufflepuff won by ten points, all thanks to the Nimbus 2000 Ross Meadowes was letting Lucy borrow. This narrow win meant that none of the Houses were really out of the running, not even Gryffindor.
Harry was overjoyed that Gryffindor still had a chance at the cup and even more happy that Lucy's team won. She was happy, too. She still didn't care for watching other Quidditch matches, but flying through the air with nothing to think about but the goal in front of her was exhilarating.
The Hufflepuffs partied for the entire week following the Quidditch match. In the previous years, their team had been treated as a joke by the rest of the school, but now they were slowly making a name for themselves. Nobody could find it in them to stay gloomy for long, even Herbert, whose wand was still missing.
"What a night," Anthony grinned. He raised his arms above his head and twisted his torso, cracking his back in the process. "You just can't beat Hufflepuff parties, y'know that, cub?"
He sank into the empty space beside Lucy in the Great Hall. She glanced at him and smiled. "I imagine not, considering you lot have practiced at it the most," she replied.
"Practice makes perfect, and there is never a perfect party."
"So you'll keep partying forever, then?"
"Exactly!" Anthony beamed. He grabbed Lucy's mug of coffee and took a long drink.
She was tempted to get after him for stealing her caffeine, but it was too nice of a day outside to bother. Today was the last Hogsmeade weekend before the end of term, and even though Lucy couldn't go, she had other plans. The rain had let up at last, and now the castle grounds were covered with a fine coat of frost. Mallory sent her a winter coat yesterday— a real winter coat, it was warm and everything!— and she planned to take Grimm for a much needed walk.
"Are you going to Hogsmeade?" she asked, stealing her mug back from him and taking a drink herself. At this point she wasn't worried about catching germs from Anthony. It wasn't like, say, drinking out of the same thing as Quirrell, which was super gross. She leaned forward and added with a devious grin, "Are you going with Daisy to Hogsmeade?"
"What?" he tried to sound nonchalant, but his voice cracked. He winced, rubbing his throat. "I mean— why would I do a thing like that?"
"Because you've been monologuing about her for the past month, maybe?"
He made a show of looking around to see if anyone was listening in. Obviously nobody was, and so he leaned in closer, lowering his voice. "Listen, Luce, I've got to play it cool here. I've just recently stopped blowing things up... In front of her. I can't just jump into it. She's got to like me."
"She does like you," Lucy pointed out.
"As a friend. Which is brilliant, don't get me wrong!" Anthony said, "She's an amazing friend! But, y'know, I don't want to make things awkward. I'd rather her like me before I go and ask her out, because if she says no, that's it. I'm done."
Lucy could understand that, and she thought that was quite mature of her friend. "I see," she said, nodding. "So are you going to Hogsmeade anyway?"
"Maybe for a little bit," he said grudgingly. "I've got to restock on a few prank supplies, get a few Christmas presents. And I've already gotten yours, by the way," he tapped her on the nose. She screwed up her face and knocked his hand away. He winked at her, "You're going to love it. And hate me, but oh well."
"That's ominous," she muttered, but she couldn't hold back her smile.
This year, she was finally able to give her friends more than just cards— which she was still making, by the way. With Percy's help, she managed to place orders for each of her friends. She even gave her sort-of friends, like Malfoy, Theodore, Daphne, and Blaise stuff, but those were just fancy pureblood sweets. All the gifts took a noticeable chunk out of her savings, but her friends deserved all of it and more.
"I won't be in Hogsmeade for long," Anthony continued. "I'll likely drop by Zonko's and maybe Honeydukes. I'll get you something dangerous."
This was why Anthony was the best. Lucy didn't even have to ask him. Ron and Malfoy's ideas of 'dangerous' were very different. Ron brought back dungbombs— which she would put to good use, so she couldn't complain— while Malfoy brought her fireworks and an Ever-Bashing Boomerang. The boy gave them to her only under the conditions that she could not use them against him.
"Mum, you are too kind to me," she said in a serious tone.
"Anything for my duckling! What are you doing today, then?"
"I'm taking Grimm for a walk. I'll probably go to Hagrid's afterward."
"Might join you later," he hummed. He checked his watch and then glanced at the other students, who were filing out of the Great Hall. He reached forward and ruffled her hair. She sighed and let it happen at this point. "See you in an hour or so, Luce! Step into trouble!"
"Have fun!" she called at his retreating back. She finished her coffee and then shrugged on her coat. Her new coat. Mallory was so awesome.
Wand in hand, she ran down to Hagrid's hut. His windows were dark, and when she stepped inside his house, she saw a note on the table.
Lucy,
Went to the ministry for a meeting with the committee. Be back soon. Do you mind feeding Fang and Grimm?
She grinned at the fact that Hagrid knew she'd be here today, if he'd left a note for her. She hoped his meeting would go well; he mentioned it a few days ago, but it'd slipped her mind. She gave him all the advice she could— stick to the facts, mention how he gave clear instructions, mention the responsibility students had to take on when they signed up for Care of Magical Creatures— but she felt as though she should have asked Dumbledore or even Professor McGonagall to accompany him. He wasn't formal enough for the purebloods' tastes.
"Here you go, Fang," Lucy said, dropping a raw steak into the boarhound's bowl. She then went over to Hagrid's stove and warmed up another steak for Grimm. She learned early on that he didn't like raw meats. He didn't reject them or anything, but Lucy could tell he wasn't fond of it and so she started to cook them. "For you, Grimm," she said after the steak was ready.
She was pleased to note that Grimm was less skinny than he used to be. He was still a little lanky for a dog his size, but at least his legs didn't look like toothpicks anymore. Lucy waited patiently for the dogs to finish.
"Right, who wants a walk?" Lucy asked.
Fang howled happily, while Grimm simply walked over to the door and opened it with his paws. Lucy stared at him and grinned. "Show off," she teased. He simply sniffed in her direction.
Though the air was certainly freezing, Lucy felt cozy with her long, black coat. She still couldn't believe Mallory sent it to her out of the blue. Anthony was very approving of Mallory, even more than he'd been last year when he saw it. She was so happy that she ignored how the frost seeped into her sneakers as she walked through the grounds, content with staring at the white sky above her.
Lucy, Grimm, and Fang walked all around the castle grounds. At least, the parts without Dementors— sometimes she strayed a little too close, and her ears began to ring, and the faint laughter came back. She always hurried away. Not even the faint effects of Dementors could bring her spirits down. The scenery was too lovely, the Christmas decorations too beautiful to feel remotely upset on a day like this.
Grimm did not seem to share in her mirth. The dog was awfully... twitchy, she supposed. He was always looking around, as if he was expecting someone to appear out of thin air. Lucy wondered if he was tired.
"I reckon we should head back to Hagrid's hut," she said, stepping toward his house. She pulled her wand out, intent on casting a warming charm on herself, when Grimm did something she never would have expected: in one swift movement, he grabbed her wand out of her hand and sprinted toward the Forbidden Forest.
"GRIMM!" Lucy shouted at his retreating back, beginning to panic. Her wand hadn't been acting the best lately, but she still needed it! She quickly raced after him, disregarding the fact that she was running into the Forest. Fang followed a little ways, but he stopped at the edge of the forest, whining after her.
"Grimm, this isn't funny!" she called again. She had to stop to catch her breath after a minute, and Grimm stopped too, sitting. He turned and stared at her expectantly. "Are you done yet? Come on, I can't break my wand any more than it already is—" she reached for it again, and he took off sprinting once more.
Lucy ran through sharp branches, bushes, and thorns after Grimm, and just when she thought he'd given up, when she caught her breath, he ran deeper, and deeper, and deeper into the woods. The trees became so thick that she could hardly see the opaline sky above them through the weaving branches. Grimm finally stopped in a small clearing. Lucy stopped too, and this time, she didn't bother reaching for her wand. She was utterly exhausted as she grabbed onto the trunk of a tree, breathing heavily.
"What... the fuck..." she panted. She was certain her cheeks were flushed, and she wiped at her running nose.
Grimm dropped the wand in front of him.
And she watched as he turned into a man before her very eyes.
...She thought she was hallucinating, at first. That she'd run so much that her brain was acting up from exhaustion. But she could feel the burning in her lungs, and she could hear the breathing from the man a few feet away from her; she recognized his scruffy beard, his hollow cheeks, and she recognized that infuriating, nervous smile as he picked up the wand at his feet.
She didn't know how to feel, in those few moments of silence.
She felt a small sting in her chest, one that slowly grew bigger, throbbing, until it spread through her veins and ignited her chest. It was a familiar feeling, the kind that hadn't ebbed away since that night in the Chamber. As she met Sirius Black's eyes, she felt the unbearable sting of betrayal.
"It's always me, isn't it?" Her voice cracked as her grip on the tree branch tightened. Her fingernails curled into the bark as tightly as she could manage, and a watery laugh left her throat. "It's always me! Am I just— Am I just easy to fool, is that it? Is it fun to kick me while I'm down?!" she was shouting at him now. She tore her hands off the tree and didn't register that her nails were bleeding from the force. She stormed up to him, tears in her eyes, and he backed away with a shocked expression. "It's always a laugh, isn't it, tricking little Lucy Rochester! Watching her spill her guts out, just to rub it in her face!"
Sirius was too stunned to speak, but he snapped out of it, holding up his hands in defense. "I wasn't trying to mess with you, Lucy, I promise!" he said hastily. "I'm not trying to laugh at you—"
"Then WHAT WERE YOU DOING?!" She was so upset she could hardly think. The only thing flashing through her mind was Tom, spelling out the words I Am Lord Voldemort, Tom, laughing at how he tricked her, Tom, lying to her all year long. She told Grimm things she wouldn't have told anyone. Anyone! He was supposed to just be a dog! He was supposed to be a dog that wouldn't laugh at her, wouldn't judge her, he wasn't supposed to lie to her!
"I— I need your help, Lucy! I'm not trying to hurt you or Harry, or any of your friends!" Sirius's voice was desperate, but she saw red in the edges of her vision.
"You're lying to me, everyone's always lying to me!" she hissed, and she clamped her hands on the sides of her throbbing temples, squeezing her eyes shut. Her heart was pounding so fast it felt like she was going to explode, or pass out, or both. How convenient that she who opened the Chamber of Secrets was also the one sneaking Sirius Black into the castle. Nobody was going to believe her. Nobody!
Her eyes snapped open and trained on Sirius, and as the man met her gaze, he looked genuinely afraid of her.
"I'm going to give you back your wand..." Sirius said slowly, and he handed it out to her. It flew into her hand without her reaching for it. "Please, try and calm down... I'm sorry for lying— but please, please, just hear me out. I... I need someone on my side."
The blood pounding in her ears didn't want to listen to him. She wanted to curse him senseless and walk away and never let anyone know she'd been tricked once again. And yet, as her fingers curled tighter around her wand, she found herself uttering the words, "Go ahead, then."
"I'm going to assume that you don't know the entire story— the entire false story of why I was sent to Azkaban."
"They said you murdered thirteen muggles and a wizard," Lucy said automatically. She was still glowering at him. "I don't see how any of this explains why you've been pretending to be my dog for five months." She ought to turn him into a pair of boots after she was finished with him.
"I'll get there," Sirius promised. He ran a hand through his tangled hair, wincing slightly as it got stuck. "It starts at Hogwarts— and bear with me, please, it's... it's a lot. I went to school with Harry's father. James."
Lucy furrowed her eyebrows, confusion beginning to chip away at the anger. This certainly wasn't where she was expecting the story to begin. Begrudgingly, she was intrigued. Her grip around her wand loosened, and she allowed her shoulders to relax ever so slightly. Whatever it was that made Sirius wary of her vanished, and he straightened up, more confident now.
"James and I were friends— best friends, a lot like you and Harry are now," he added, sounding happy at that. He cleared his throat, realizing she wasn't in the mood for comparisons at the moment. "We were like brothers. He took me in the summer of our fifth year, when I ran away from home. I trusted him with my life, and he trusted me with his. Remus— yes, Remus Lupin, your professor— and Peter Pettigrew were also good friends of ours. We were friends all through school and after we graduated. I was James's best man at his wedding."
Lucy vaguely recalled a picture in Harry's album. She thought the man looked familiar, but now she realized that it was Sirius Black after all. Her confusion only grew, and so did her curiosity. She thought Sirius would deny he was a Death Eater. She had no idea Harry's parents were involved somehow.
"James and Lily named me as Harry's godfather," Sirius went on, and this time Lucy's jaw dropped.
"What! Really?" she marveled. She quickly shook her head as Sirius shot her an amused glance. "Ugh, ignore me! Continue!"
"During the first war, we all joined... an organization. Led by Dumbledore, we were fighting against Voldemort, even before Voldemort was after James and Lily. When we all found out, Dumbledore sent them into hiding— he said the Fidelius Charm would protect them." At her confused expression, he explained. "It's a difficult spell, but it places the concealment of the other person's secret inside a person. Their soul. This way, James and Lily's location could stay a secret forever, unless the Secret Keeper didn't tell anyone, or if they didn't die."
"And... and you were their Secret Keeper?" Lucy felt the red tint return to her vision, because if Sirius was saying he was their Secret Keeper, and he was alive, that meant he sold out Harry's parents. That meant he killed them.
Sirius saw her expression change, and he quickly said, "At the beginning, that was the plan! But... I might as well have killed them..." he glared at the ground, and she could sense his self loathing coming off him in waves. "I persuaded James and Lily to change their Secret Keeper to Peter at the last moment. I thought it'd be too obvious, that everyone would have known it was me. The night Voldemort killed them, I went to check on Peter and make sure he was safe. But his house was empty. No signs of a struggle. Something felt off. I went to the Potter's house right away, and I saw their house— destroyed, their bodies—" Sirius stopped abruptly, as though he couldn't force the words out.
Lucy's resolve was fading away quickly. She wasn't certain of much in her life, but she could spot a real emotion when she saw one. The kind of pain in his eyes at the moment was not something any actor could conjure up; it could be mimicked, certainly, but she knew the difference. She felt the difference.
"Pettigrew sold them out, then?" she said softly. Sirius nodded. "But— he died, didn't he? Along with the muggles."
His gaze darkened. "Pettigrew faked his death. All of us, except Moony— er, Remus— were Animaguses, you see. That's how I can turn into a dog. Pettigrew could turn into a rat. James could turn into a stag. We were unregistered, which is a criminal offense, mind you, so the ministry wouldn't have known... But I tracked Pettigrew down, cornered him, but he was clever. More clever than I thought he was capable of. He yelled for everyone to hear that I was the one to betray James and Lily. I got them killed." Sirius's voice quivered with rage, "Before I could curse him, kill the rat bastard, he blew the street apart with his wand, killed everyone within twenty feet of him. He scurried into a river with the other rats... They say the only bit they found of Pettigrew was his finger."
Sirius pulled something out of his robes. It was a crumbled, dirty piece of newspaper. He handed it toward her, and Lucy took it without question. She stared at the front cover. "That's Ron's family!" she said. Ron sent this same newspaper to her when his family won the trip to Egypt.
He walked up to her. Maybe she was stupid for not shying away from an alleged murderer, but she didn't care. He pointed at the article— more specifically, to the rat on Ron's shoulders.
"Scabbers..." Lucy's voice shook slightly as she realized what she was looking at. "That's Scabbers— that's Ron's rat!"
"All they found of Pettigrew was his finger," he continued darkly. "Look at Pettigrew's front paw, will you?"
She did, and she swore she felt her brain explode. "He's... he's missing a toe." She met Sirius's gaze. "Scabbers has been in Ron's family for an awfully long time... " she said slowly. "I reckon Percy said it was around..."
"Twelve years," she and Sirius finished.
"I know it's a lot to ask of you, Lucy, but I'm hoping you'll believe me. I escaped as soon as I realized Pettigrew was alive— I've got to kill him. I've got to avenge Lily and James."
"Believe me, I agree," she said darkly. Her mind was already racing with how she'd grab that disgusting rat away from Ron, take him to Sirius, and bring Harry's parents to justice. Her brain was working so quickly that it took a few moments for her common sense to catch up with her.
But he might be lying to you.
It's easy to lie to you, Lucy.
You're gullible.
You're insane.
Tom lied to you, too.
She winced at the sharp thoughts jabbing at her, and she handed the photo back to Sirius, rubbing her temple. "I... Sirius, I believe you," she told him.
Idiot.
He's lying to you.
He pretended to be something he wasn't.
He betrayed you.
He's lying to you.
They're all lying to you.
Tom's lying to you.
"But..." she dug her bleeding fingernails into her temple again, wishing those terrible thoughts would fade away. "I— you know what happened last year." She unknowingly told him about it. "I— I can't trust my own mind right now, and this is really messing me up."
Run.
Run now, before he can trick you.
You should have run from Tom.
"I need... I need a second opinion," she said at last. She remembered what Mallory told her last summer. How she needed a person. One person to tell everything to. "I'm going to get a friend."
"You can't!" Sirius said immediately. He took a step toward her, and something in her mind snapped.
"Absolutely not!" Tom snapped, standing up off her bed. He crossed over the room and towered over her desk. "You are not permitted to tell anyone about the diary! I won't let you."
Lucy flinched, dropping her wand as her hands flew up in front of her. She blinked her vision clear, and she saw that Sirius's eyes were wide with horror, stepping away from her.
"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..." he told her, still backing away. She tried to control her breathing. "I didn't mean to— you can tell someone, but please, I can't go back to the Dementors."
"I wouldn't do that, Sirius. I want to help you." She just had to make sure he wasn't lying to her. She took a step in the direction where she came from. "I'll be back— just stay here, okay? Trust me." Tom didn't trust her. Sirius was going to leave before she returned, and she'd just end up looking like a fool all over again.
"I trust you," Sirius nodded. He went as far as to sit in the snow, crisscrossed. His eyes lit up, and he said, "Oh, by the way, you can give your friend back his wand." He then pulled Herbert's wand out of his robe and tossed it to her.
She caught it easily, but she cast him an annoyed look. "Why would you take that? The poor boy has been frantic!"
"Desperate times call for desperate measures," Sirius said, shrugging. "I had a bad feeling about the Quidditch match. It was a good thing I stole it, in the end— you might've died to those Dementors! Excellent flying, by the way, masterful execution"
She thought back to Hermione's words. "It's a miracle you're alive," she'd said, and against her will, Lucy's heart swelled as she realized that Sirius was the one to slow her fall, after all.
She cleared her throat, trying to fight a smile. "Right, well, I'll be back soon. Sit tight."
Hogsmeade became a little boring after a while, Anthony thought, as he trudged back from the village. Sure, the first few trips were always fun, but the novelty wore off eventually and the older students would come to realize that they could have just as much fun sitting comfortable in their common room, their money weighing safely in their pockets. Hogsmeade was boring.
But, he couldn't help but wonder if it would have been any more exciting if he went with Daisy Locke.
"Agh! Forbidden thoughts alert!" he exclaimed out loud. He ignored the strange glances the other retreating students sent in his direction. In fact, he turned to them and shouted, "WHAT!?"
He grinned. It was always fun to see them scurry away from him.
He supposed this trip had been worthwhile. He was able to catch up with his other ducklings— all the other third year Hufflepuffs were gathered in The Three Broomsticks. He crashed their fun little party. Their attitudes toward Lucy last year pissed him off, but Anthony understood that they were only children. Last year had been terrifying for everyone, and he knew that they didn't really mean what they said about her. He'd still look out for them at any chance he got.
The third year Hufflepuffs were his ducklings, yes, but Lucy was his cub.
The licorice wands in his bag weighed happily in his bag. He said he'd get her something dangerous, but he thought better of it and opted to get sweets. Anthony didn't feel guilty for his favoritism. He cared about the other third years, but Lucy, while young, was still one of his best friends. He was willing to put her on the same level as Whats-His-Face Diggory at this point.
"Delivering sweets, to my cub, as a treats!" Anthony tried to do a little tune like he saw his cub do on so many occasions, but he was not nearly as good at rhyming. He sighed. Only the sky above had witnessed his attempt, but that was still one too many witnesses for his liking. Damn the sky! Damn it! Kill it— wait, what was he doing again?
Ah, yes. Daisy.
No! Not Daisy!
Lucy. Yes, he was delivering his cub her licorice wands and dragging her into the safe indoors of the common room. He liked tormenting the Dementors as much as the next bloke, but he didn't fancy the idea of any students wandering around the grounds while they were there.
He checked Hagrid's hut first, but it was empty, and the lights were off. He groaned at the effort of it all. Life was so hard for the beautiful, and intelligent, and cute, and Daiiiiiisy... Right, he was searching! He swore he was not always this scatterbrained, he was simply bored out of his mind. He needed to blow something up soon. Blow someone up. Preferably, Flint— agh, fuck, Riddle already did that! What a stupid git. But a handsome git... Fuck! No! Find Lucy, STAT!
"Oh, LUUUUUCY!" Anthony called, cupping his hands around his mouth. He heard his voice echo in the distance.
He heard Fang whining back at him.
"Not Lucy, but, perhaps, it's a clue!" He put on his mental detective hat and strode in the direction of the whining. Ever since Daisy lent him her copy of Sherlock Holmes, he fancied himself a detective. And he was a great detective. He found out that Riddle was the Heir, didn't he? Sure, he got petrified for his trouble, but he still knew!
He grinned suddenly. The fact that he was petrified implied that Tommy-Boy was thinking about him. He wanted to swoon.
...Right! SEARCHING!
He found Fang laying at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, whining at something approaching in the distance. Anthony squinted his eyes and grabbed his wand out of his pocket, just in case he had to fight a dragon or something. But he recognized that short head of blonde hair anywhere. He cupped his hands over his mouth again and called, "LUCY!"
"ANTHONY!" she called back immediately.
She stumbled out of the forest, looking very out of breath. Her eyes were slightly puffy, which triggered something in Anthony immediately, and she had loads of leaves in her hair. His eyes scanned over her appearance, from her wet sneakers to her bloodied fingernails.
"What's going on, cub?" he asked immediately.
She met his gaze, and her lips turned downward slightly. "Ah— well, it's a long story. But... basically, Sirius Black's innocent and he needs our help."
...
Anthony at once checked for any signs of the Imperius curse.
He found none, but that did nothing to tame the flaming anger in his chest. Because if there weren't any signs of the Imperius curse, then that meant that Sirius Black had spoken to his cub, while she was in her right mind, and convinced her of something.
Lucy registered his growing suspicions and quickly said, "I know it sounds crazy! And I thought it sounded crazy too, but his story fit, and— well, I believe him. But..." she frowned again and scratched at her wrist. "I don't believe myself," she admitted. She looked back to him with wide, hopeful eyes. "But that's why I went to find you! If— if anyone's hard to trick, then it's you."
He rarely ever lost his cool, and he wasn't about to start now. This was good. Lucy went to him instead of trusting the word of a stranger because she trusted him. She trusted he wouldn't freak out. "All right," he said calmly. He walked up to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Show me the way. And fill me in, please."
She did fill him in, as she led him further into the Forbidden Forest.
He was ready to murder someone as soon as she revealed that Grimm had been Sirius in disguise this entire time. It was a good thing he had such a great poker face, otherwise she might have noticed the brewing dark thoughts in his brain. This escaped convict was posing as a third year's pet for months? He tried his best to hear Lucy out, but that fact alone already painted Black in a bad light in his mind.
She went on, explaining how he was best friends with Harry's parents. The Fidelius Charm. Anthony recognized the name immediately, and it piqued his curiosity, made him a little more open to hearing the rest of the story. Black wasn't the Potters' Secret Keeper. Pettigrew, dead Peter Pettigrew was the Secret Keeper. Pettigrew faked his death and turned into a rat. Ron's rat. Prissy Percy's old rat, that Anthony had hexed pink on many occasions, was Peter Pettigrew in disguise.
Before Anthony even laid his eyes on Black, he was more willing to believe him. Because honestly, what sort of liar could come up with such a ludicrous, convoluted story?
He still had his hand firmly on his wand as he entered the clearing.
He kept his arm around Lucy's shoulders and stepped more in front of her. His eyes were narrowed, shoulders tall as he walked over to the man, who was now leaning against a boulder. Sirius quickly straightened up and met Anthony's gaze.
"What's your story, then?" Anthony asked calmly, as if Lucy hadn't explained it to him in detail on the way.
This was his first test. He analyzed each of Black's words, searching for any form of inconsistency— but he found none. If anything, he added more details than what Lucy told him, explaining the ritual and all the likes. He even showed Anthony the photo of Scabbers, pointed out his missing toe.
Anthony was quiet after Black finished his tale. Lucy squirmed nervously from behind him.
"I'm inclined to believe you, Black," he said at last. Sirius's eyes lit up. "But— I need to be certain. I'm going to need more than just your word."
"Veritaserum?" Black suggested.
Anthony shook his head. "Veritaserum can be fought off, and if you're strong enough to escape Azkaban, I reckon you're able to resist Veritaserum..." his mind quickly scanned for any other possible ways. A pensieve was a nice thought; memories were incredibly hard to fake, and even masterfully manipulated memories still had a noticeable flaw to them. Then he'd just need a reason to use the pensieve in Dumbledore's office...
"What about Legilimency?" Lucy spoke up.
Both men turned to her, surprised.
"You know it?" Anthony asked. He knew she read all sorts of advanced books, but Legilimency was on a whole other level.
"I've done loads of reading," Lucy said, her expression determined. Then she looked somewhat guilty. "And Tom told me how."
While the way she learned it was technically problematic, Anthony was more interested that she could do it at all. Hell, if he had Tommy-Boy in his pocket, he might've used him for advanced magic, too.
"Do it," Sirius said immediately.
Anthony was a little surprised. Most wizards were wary of having anyone looking into their head. He wouldn't have been so willing, even to his close friend. But if Sirius wanted to... "Go on then, Luce," he nodded. "Give it a go."
Lucy walked in front of Sirius, looking him straight in the eyes. In a clear voice, she said, "Legilimens."
Sirius shuddered, and his eyes rolled into the back of his head. Anthony waited cautiously as Lucy moved through his memories. Her brow was furrowed and she was concentrating deeply, muttering a few words to herself.
Lucy's work was clumsy, at best. Navigating Sirius's mind, she saw mirrors everywhere, each holding a different scene. She stumbled through the wrong ones; there were loads of James Potters and Remus Lupins. A younger boy who looked just like Sirius, but wasn't. When Lucy sensed his panic, she pulled away from these memories. And then she found it.
Sirius convinced James to change Secret Keepers. "I'll be too obvious, Prongs, and if they kill me—"
"I get it, mate. But are you sure about Peter? Are you sure Moony isn't—"
"We can't trust him," Sirius said, so firmly that James raised his eyebrows at his friend.
Finally, James clamped a hand on Sirius's shoulder. "I trust you, Pads. It's clever, switching it at the last moment, but I reckon I'd better tell Dumbledore."
"It's up to you, really, but I'd suggest not."
The scene abruptly switched— Peter cut off his thumb, exploded the muggles, Lucy saw blood flying everywhere, screams erupting down the street. She let out a gasp and tried to throw herself out of Sirius's mind.
The last thing she saw before she left was James's body, then Lily's, then Harry, crying in his crib.
Sirius was pale when he resurfaced.
This entire time, Anthony watched Lucy navigate Sirius's mind. The longer she spent, the more troubled she grew, until she finally fell backward into the snow. Her shoulders were trembling, eyes wide and bloodshot as she looked at Sirius's pale, trembling face.
"Well?" he said, glancing between them. To curse or not to curse?
Lucy suddenly threw herself at Sirius and brought the man into a tight hug.
Anthony felt a smile pull at his lips. Sirius looked shocked at the gesture. "I suppose that's answer enough for me," he shrugged. He spread his arms out wide and shouted at the top of his lungs, "CONVICT HUG!" and he ran forward and wrapped his arms around the pair of them.
"You believe me?" Sirius said, disbelieving.
"I trust my cub," Anthony nodded. "And if she trusts you, so do I. But— if you wouldn't mind, I'd like a word."
Lucy gave him a confused look as Anthony led Sirius over to the other side of the clearing, near the trees. "I'll just be a minute," he assured her. "Go off and do... whatever weird stuff maniacs do in their spare time." He tossed her the bag of licorice wands. She looked inside, and her face lit up.
"On it, sir!" she saluted him.
Sirius snorted as Lucy dove straight into the bag of licorice wands.
Now that they were far enough away, Anthony turned to Sirius and lowered his voice.
"You see that girl over there?" he said, and he pointed to her. The question seemed ridiculous, because of course Sirius had seen her. She was sitting on top of the boulder, eating her licorice wands with a thoughtful expression. Despite the chaos that had just happened, she looked utterly at peace.
"She's had an awfully hard life," Anthony said bluntly. He clamped a hand down on Sirius's shoulder. "Last year was her worst one yet, and this one's just as tough for her. She thinks I don't notice, but I do." Of course he noticed. He saw the diary peeking out from under her pillow, he saw how often she looked around for someone who wasn't there, and it stung Anthony each and every time. "It still hurts her. He still hurts her. That young girl over there is like my sister, and I don't want to see her hurting anymore. And I believe you, mate, and I'm going to help you with everything I have— but on the off chance that you're wrong, and the off chance you're taking advantage of her trust and mine..."
Anthony's smile dropped. He leaned in and said, "You'll wish for the Dementor's Kiss."
To his credit, Sirius stood up straight in the face of Anthony's scrutiny. "I won't let you down," he said firmly. "Thank you, Anthony— for helping me, that is. For believing me."
Anthony waved him off. "It's what any decent person would have done."
He held out a hand for the man, and Sirius shook it.
Anthony looked over his shoulder and called, "All clear, cub, come back!"
Lucy rushed over, biting the end off one of her licorice wands. She handed one to Sirius, who took it graciously. "That's a right of passage, y'know," she said in a serious tone. "I don't just hand out licorice wands to anyone."
It was true. Maxine tried to steal one from Lucy, and Lucy almost hexed the older girl.
"Anyway," she didn't notice the touched expression on Sirius's face. "What's our first step? We should get Pettigrew, right? If we find Ron and the rat—"
Sirius seemed to agree, but Anthony held up a hand to stop her. "Slow down, Luce. We've got to be tactical about this. Pettigrew knows Sirius is trying to get into the castle; he's got his guard up, and he's more clever than we think."
"I want him dead," Sirius growled.
"And he will be," Anthony assured him. He, of all people, deserved revenge. "But first, we've got to prove your innocence."
"I don't care about my innocence—"
"But you should!" Lucy cut him off. She stared at him with wide eyes. "Sirius, you didn't do anything wrong. You spent twelve years in prison— and what, they didn't give you a trial? That's insane! You deserve to live freely. You— you're Harry's Godfather. Harry deserves to live with someone who doesn't hate his guts!"
"What d'you mean?" Sirius frowned.
"He lives with muggles. Awful muggles. Those Dursleys—"
"The Dursleys?" he demanded, a revolted expression on his face.
"And they hate him! They're cruel to him all the time. If we can prove you're innocent, Harry can live with someone who actually cares about him." Lucy handed him another licorice wand. "If you don't want to fight for yourself, fight for Harry."
Once again, Anthony found himself speechless at just how kind his cub was at times.
And once again, he wanted to slowly and painfully murder Graham Montague for ever daring to despise her.
"You're right," Sirius muttered. He chewed on the end of his licorice wand. "You're right. I've got to be patient. Then— what's the plan?"
"We gather evidence," Anthony said. "This is bigger than you think, Sirius. You should've gotten a trial. Any sane court would have given you a trial. This is a huge breach of wizarding rights. I'm thinking..." he trailed off, his mind hitting a blank. There was too much information rushing through his brain to think straight. He needed time. He needed to plan, to research.
Shaking his head, he said, "Let's go back to the castle. We'll meet up again tomorrow— I'll have a plan by tomorrow." Hopefully.
"All right," Sirius nodded. He was still impatient, but at least now he understood why they needed to wait.
Anthony checked his watch again and frowned. "Yeah, we'd better get back quickly now— the Hogsmeade trip's over, and they'll start to worry."
As they walked back to the castle, Anthony was already making a mental tally of all the things he needed to do. For one, Sirius was looking dirty and very unhealthy. He could sneak him into the prefect's bath or something, and for Merlin's sake, get him some new robes... He also needed to get to know the older man. He was innocent, but that didn't mean he wasn't still dangerous.
Lucy was deep in thought, too, but her thoughts were going in a different direction. For the first time in a while, she felt as though she'd done something right. Sirius was innocent, after all. Her instincts were correct. She got it right!
She needed this win. She really did.
Sirius turned back into a dog as soon as they hit the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Anthony told him to go back to Hagrid's hut, that the castle was too dangerous for now, and then the two set off toward the castle.
Harry met them at the entrance. His face was set in anger, and when he looked toward Lucy, she saw his green eyes blazing like nothing she'd ever seen before.
"Harry? What's—"
He quickly pulled her into a hug, and her eyes widened. She at once wanted to know what was wrong with her friend, and she quickly hugged him back as tightly as she could. "Hey, what's up?" she whispered.
"Sirius Black," he hissed in her ear, loud enough for even Anthony to hear. "Sirius Black sold out my parents. Sirius Black got them killed. I want him dead."
Her eyes widened even further, and she met Anthony's gaze as she still hugged Harry. She ran a comforting hand through his hair, knowing it calmed her down whenever Daisy did the the same to her. Meanwhile, she felt her stomach drop. She was going to have to lie to him.
But, when the images of James and Lily Potter's dead bodies flickered through her mind, she knew that this was a lie worth telling.
Perhaps this year was going to be more complicated than she thought.