Chapter 81: To Acquire Knowledge
Studying together on Saturdays was a habit swiftly formed among the children of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black. Leonis suspected that it was Hermione or Orion who had decided that the lot of them would meet every Saturday in the library after breakfast to study, help each other with assignments, and catch up with one another about the things that happened to them during the week.
Leonis thought it was a great idea and that whoever had thought of it deserved a reward. Cookies made by Cooky, the House-Elf in charge of cooking their meals back at Blackmoor sounded like a great reward. Since he didn't know who had started the trend he decided that he'd just ask Cooky to make cookies for each of them during the winter break from school.
He glanced around the grouping of tables that they had pushed together with a small smile curving his lips. Each of them had added friends made within Hogwarts to their study group. In total there were thirty-six of them counting Leonis. Considering their year group held ninety-three students, Leonis thought their group was quite impressive.
Of course, they had garnered plenty of attention. The sight of Slytherin students and Gryffindor students peacefully sharing a table in the school library, assisting each other with homework instead of hexing each other was a perplexing sight. There had been far too many "well-meaning" older students who had tried to instruct them on how they were supposed to ignore each other now they were in separate houses.
Did family ties mean nothing to these idiots? Leonis was mystified as to how some of the older Slytherin's could rant about how their blood made them better than others but spit on a family member with the same blood just for being sorted into a different school House. He might be young, but he just didn't understand such idiocy. Perhaps it would be best that he couldn't understand their reasoning. He valued his family and sorting into a different school House than he did was not a good reason to forsake them.
He was brought out of his musings by Eleanor Branstone, who was late in joining them. He watched as the girl swiftly sat down and began to get her Charms book out of her book bag. "I'm sorry I'm late," she huffed. "I was cornered by Daliya Shafiq and her friends," she began to explain to the group. "She felt that I didn't understand the truth of House Black," this last was said with a wealth of disdain.
"Let me guess," Leonis drawled. "We are an evil family full of dark wizards."
Eleanor rolled her eyes. "How could you manage to guess?" Leonis appreciated the heavy dose of sarcasm laced in her tone. "And on the first try too."
"Daliya's father is a judge in the Department of Justice," Susan mused from her seat beside him. "She's probably heard him talk a few times about the evil wizards and witches that he's had to pass sentence on."
"That hardly gives her the right to slander my family," Eleanor growled.
Leonis couldn't agree more. Sure, they had a few bad apples in their family, Bellatrix Lestrange née Black being the one that immediately leaped to his mind, but not every member of House Black were evil wizards and witches who gloried in the torture of others.
"I agree," Susan said in a conciliatory tone.
"Don't feel bad Eleanor," Estelle Burke spoke up from the spot beside Eleanor. "I endured a lecture from Flora Carrow and Millicent Bulstrode yesterday about the "company I keep" and how it is unsavory for me to spend my time with Hufflepuff's, Ravenclaw's, and worst of all the dreaded Gryffindor's."
Leonis chuckled at the dramatic shiver she gave at the end. She deserved points for that.
"It's a shame really," Luna spoke up. "Milli used to be so nice. Ever since she made friends with Flora she has been behaving like a bully."
Leonis had known that Luna had befriended Millicent before her father's death. Millicent was Luna's second cousin through her mother's side of the family being as Millicent was a granddaughter of Irissa Bulstrode née Malfoy. However, their friendship seemed to suffer about a year ago after Millicent began to spend more time with the Carrow twins.
"Parvati has told me several times that I shouldn't be wasting my Saturdays with slimy snakes," Lavender Brown admitted, and she sent an apologetic look to the Slytherin's at the table.
"Yet here you are," Draco reminded her with a small smirk curving his lips.
Lavender sniffed then, drawing herself up like the pureblood heiress that she was. "Yes, well, Parvati isn't the boss of me," she said simply.
"She's a snob anyway," Hermione stated bluntly, as she tended to do when stating facts. It was honestly one of the things Leonis loved about his cousin.
He noted that Lavender frowned at Hermione's words, but she didn't refute them. Lavender must have been discovering things about her friend that she found less than palatable.
"Padma is nice," Luna said from her place beside Theo. Her silver-blonde hair was tamed today in a long braid, but a fresh quill rested in the braided locks. He supposed it was better than their last study session in which Draco had gently asked her to not rest her wand in her hair or behind her ear. Luna could be a bit distracted when she was studying. She tended to place her wand and unused quills within easy reach on her person. Thankfully she had yet to put an already inked quill in her hair.
"She is," Orion agreed. "She's very studious and doesn't try to exert her will on others."
"She doesn't let the older girls bully me," Luna added.
"The other Ravenclaw girls are bullying you?" Draco asked in a tone that threatened retribution. Leonis noticed that Theo shot a hard look over at a table of Ravenclaw girls in their year who were studying.
Luna placed a hand on Theo's arm, a calming gesture. "Not any of the girls in our year," she assured them. "Just a few of the girls a year above me."
"Why would they bully you?" Leonis asked, and then winced at the look that he got from Hermione and Eleanor. "I didn't mean to imply that you did anything to deserve it," he rushed to reassure Luna.
Luna gave him a serene smile. "I know," she said simply. "You wouldn't do that. As to why they bully me, I think it has something to do with one of mother's articles."
Leonis frowned at that. Luna's father, Xenophilius Lovegood, had passed away two years ago, leaving all of his assets to his wife and his only offspring. Luna's mother, Selene, had chosen to continue the Quibbler, a paper printed by Xenophilius. However, Selene renovated the paper, making it less about magical creatures and wild conspiracy theories, and more about current events, culture, and such. The Quibbler was growing more and more in popularity with every issue. "So, who is bullying you?" he demanded to know because being told it was to do with one of the issues of the Quibbler wasn't enough information.
"Marietta Edgecombe," Orion said when Luna just shook her head, refusing to discuss it. "She's the ringleader of it. It's her and her little friends."
"There's no need to do anything," Luna insisted. "I talked to them about it and I'm sure that it will stop now."
Leonis frowned at that wondering if that would be good enough. He opened his mouth intending to ask her another question about it when Susan nudged his arm. He glanced at her, and she gave him a soft smile and shook her head. He then glanced at Hermione who gave him a stern look and shook her head. Right, must be some sort of girl thing, he decided. Witches certainly had a different way of handling things than Wizards did.
"Please let me know if it doesn't," Draco asked of her. His cousin knew when to let the Witches handle their situations while offering support. He wondered idly if Narcissa had taught Draco that. He also noted how Theo remained silent but supportive.
As he watched Luna nod her head and give Draco a sweet smile Leonis made a mental note to take a few tips from Narcissa's boys since there were so many ladies in their family and social circle. The last thing he wanted was to get hexed by one of them because he overstepped in his desire to see them protected.
His dad was probably right when he said that women were wonderful creatures but barmy.
Hermione gave Luna a commiserating look. "Boys," she huffed, making Luna giggle in agreement.
Leonis didn't care if the ladies of his family thought them stupidly overprotective. He didn't see their protective instincts just fading away anytime soon. Not when he and each of his family still wore white bands on their arms. Hogwarts refused to allow the children to wear the white robes of mourning. They had to wear their school uniforms, so they wore white bands on their upper arms to show everyone that they were still in mourning for their lost loved ones.
He didn't doubt that the girls were just as overprotective of them as well, even if they would never admit it.
His attention was diverted from sad thoughts by Susan nudging him yet again. He turned his attention to the redhead and smiled at her. "Can I assist you with something Lady Bones?" he asked formally with a twinkle of merriment in his eyes.
She smiled. "Yes, as a matter of fact, there is something," she said surprising him. She then pushed her potions essay in front of him. "Could you please look over my essay for me? And when you find the inevitable mistakes I have undoubtedly made would you please go over them with me so that I can understand it."
He laughed. "Taking advantage of one of Master Prince's apprentices eh?"
"Shamelessly," the girl proclaimed. "And without regret," she added causing him to chuckle.
"Alright," he said. "I'll look it over as soon as I am done with this Charms essay," he promised her.
She nodded and then pulled her History of Magic book toward her. "Now let's hope I can get through this chapter awake."
"Could be worse," Leonis said. "At least we have a good professor who has a love of history. Percy has told us quite a few stories about the former History of Magic Professor."
"Binns?" Lavender asked. "My parents had him. I heard he barely paid attention to the class. Just lectured at the front of the room, rarely answered any questions, and didn't notice if you fell asleep."
"And he taught nothing but Goblin Wars," Leonis said.
Susan scrunched up her nose. "I wonder why they are called that?"
"It's their name, isn't it?" Harry asked as he looked up from his Transfiguration homework.
"I doubt it," Leonis said as he looked back at his Charms essay. "I mean who would name themselves Goblins?" he asked no one in particular.
Hermione hummed in agreement even as Susan said, "History is written by the victors."
"So, it's likely that they have another name, but Wizards and Witches decided to call them some slur a long time ago?" Lavender asked.
"Most likely," Leonis agreed with her.
"That's terrible," she said. "My mother taught me that a proper lady doesn't speak slurs. To think that I was without even realizing it doesn't make me feel any less bad about it."
"Well, it's not like they are the nicest to deal with," Ron Weasley spoke up from his position beside Pansy. Ron rarely joined their study sessions, but he did try on occasion. He was willing to bet that Ron would join them more often as the school year progressed. He wasn't the most studious type, but he would need to keep up his grades to appease House Parkinson. His betrothal to Pansy was pretty strict and he had heard some gossip about how Lord Parkinson had made it plain to Ron Weasley that he would need to make good grades throughout his years at Hogwarts.
"Yes, well, I doubt I would be very nice to people who call me slurs," Lavender said primly.
"We should research more about them," Hermione said decisively, in that tone that said that she was going to drag them all into the research. "It would need to be a side project of course, for a bit of fun learning."
"Why?" Ron moaned even as Leonis nodded in agreement with Hermione. He could see the benefit of learning what he could about the race of beings who handled his family's vaults and at times other investments on their behalf. He was pleased when Hermione said as much.
"They control the banking for the Wizarding World, Ronald," Hermione stated in exasperation. "Don't you think it could be to our benefit to learn more about them?"
"Careful, your Slytherin is showing," Harry teased Hermione.
The girl swatted his arm but smiled at him, all playful disdain. "The hat barely considered me for Slytherin. It almost stalled on Ravenclaw or Gryffindor," she reminded them.
"Thank magic for that!" Draco exclaimed. "If you had ended up in Slytherin you would have no doubt ended up leading a revolt and then systematic takeover of the world in time."
"With us as her minions," Leonis added with a playful smile at Hermione.
She huffed in mock affront. "Yes, well, who says I need to be a Slytherin to do that?"
"It would have been easier," Estelle pointed out.
"Our Hermione doesn't take the easy path," Eleanor giggled. "I'm with you, Hermione. I sign up to be one of your minions."
"Do we get a say in this?" Draco asked rhetorically.
Leonis shook his head in the negative even as Hermione declared. "No. Best you accept your fate."
"I am giddy with anticipation of your taking over the world, Ma'am," Theo told Hermione.
Sirius frowned as he once again read over the letter that he had recently received from his godson. Hedwig, Harry's beautiful snowy owl, had delivered the letter to him just after breakfast that morning. Even now the lovely creature was resting from her flight and waiting for Sirius to reply to Harry's letter so she could ferry it to her human. The problem was that Sirius didn't have an easy answer for Harry.
His Godson's scar, the horrible curse scar that was created when that monster had tried to murder his godson, was hurting him at random moments while he was within Hogwarts. According to Harry, the scar would throb, giving him a horrible migraine in the aftermath. Sirius had spoken with Petunia on the matter, and she insisted that Harry had never complained of the scar hurting him before. Sirius could not think of a single instance in which Harry had ever indicated that the scar hurt him. Madam Pomfrey didn't seem to know what to do for him other than to give him medicine for his migraines.
"Well of course she doesn't know what to do," Sirius grumbled aloud to himself. "Her special focus as a healer was obviously to treat children, not the intensive study of curse-related injuries."
"What's this then?" the voice of his grandfather, Arcturus Black, asked from the painting that Sirius had hung up in the room he had taken over as his office at Blackmoor. The portrait had awoken from slumber the very day the children had set off for school. It had been a shock to return home from seeing the children off on the Hogwart's Express to find that the portraits of Arcturus, Melania, Pollux, and Cassiopeia had awoken in his absence.
"It's Harry," Sirius told his Grandsire's portrait. "He is having some trouble at Hogwarts. He is experiencing pain, throbbing pain in his curse scar. It is causing him migraines after the throbbing ceases."
"That is unusual," Arcturus murmured. "To my knowledge, the lad had never mentioned feeling such pain before."
Sirius nodded his agreement. "No. Harry would have said something if he had been pained previously. All of us have taught him that he need only come to us if he has problems."
"No doubt the mediwitch is doing all she can," there was a frown in his grandsire's voice that indicated that he knew perfectly well that Madame Pomfrey could do very little to help Harry.
Sirius remained silent for a time, staring up at the portrait of his grandsire as he thought things through. He hated to think back on that horrible night when his best friend and kinsman had died, and he had so foolishly handed Harry over to Hagrid to run chasing off after Peter. He had been such a fool. Such a damnable fool and he hated it. No man liked to dwell on their past follies.
He jerked in his seat as a thought occurred to him. He sat up and stared with haunted eyes up at the portrait of his grandsire. "The night that James died," he swallowed hard against the grief that was sharp even now after all these years. "I handed Harry to Hagrid," he swallowed hard as he voiced his realization aloud to his grandsire's portrait. "I went after Peter and Hagrid took Harry to Dumbledore. I always assumed that Dumbledore had a healer look at Harry, but what if he didn't?"
Arcturus stood within his painting and began to pace behind his chair. When at last he spoke, it was words meant to comfort him. "You are not alone in your assumption. We, all of us, believed that of course Harry would have been looked over. None of us took him to see a healer with curse specialty."
Sirius groaned as he took stood and began to pace, a younger mirror of his grandsire. "This brings up so many questions."
"Yes, like why would Dumbledore not get the boy looked over? With someone else, we could consider it just foolishness of mind. They didn't think that they should. It didn't look like much harm had been done to the boy, what have you. However, Albus Dumbledore is no fool."
"No, he only acts like one," Sirius grumbled, anger hot and furious rising within him.
"Which means he did it on purpose," Arcturus continued.
"For this reason, do you think?" he asked.
"It is possible," Arcturus allowed his tone thoughtful.
Sirius grumbled. "He's experimenting with Harry. Trying to determine what made him so special for that monster to choose him. After all, Voldemort went after Harry personally. He sent his other minions out to kill the other children born in July."
Arcturus nodded. "Yes, you might have the right of it."
"Well, I am beginning to delight in ruining the plans of the older codgers of the Wizengamot. I see no reason not to add Albus "bloody" Dumbledore to my list. I need to get Harry an appointment with a healer, the best in their field as far as Curse Scars and Injuries go. I will not allow Harry to continue in pain for Dumbledore's curiosity!"
With that in mind, he set about looking up information on the healers in the field of curse scars and other injuries. He found himself increasingly disappointed with what he found employed at St. Mungo's and so he began looking at healers with private medical practices. This left him dismayed and writing a reminder note to discuss such things with Narcissa when next they dined together. He figured that it wouldn't be hard to rile Narcissa up about this failing in their country and then she'd rile up her ladies and she and her ladies would of course entrust their husbands with the onerous job of dredging up support for better healers for their country.
Since the curse healers of Britain were subpar, Sirius began looking into healers from France. It was an hour before dinner time when he contacted the office of Healer Marie-Louise Balleroy to set up an appointment for Tuesday. The receptionist was polite in her dealing with him and happy to oblige him about the date and time of his desired appointment for Harry. He raised his head from the floo satisfied and swiftly crossed back to his desk to write his letter to Harry.
Dear Harry,
It saddens me that you have had to go through this strange occurrence with your scar, particularly since it has never bothered you before. Rest assured, I have taken your words seriously and I have scheduled you an appointment for this upcoming Tuesday. You will have to attend your morning classes, but I will arrive just before lunch to collect you and take you to your appointment with Healer Balleroy. I will clear things with your Head of House, so do not worry.
We will get to the bottom of this Harry, that I promise you. Try to remember the circumstances as well. Where you are, who is around you, what you were doing. Any little bit of information might help us uncover what is going on with you. In the meantime, keep to your studies, enjoy time with your friends, and cause mischief!
Sirius.
With his letter written and sealed he handed it off to Hedwig. "Alright, girl, take that to Harry and have a good flight."
Hedwig did a loop around his office before she departed from the window he opened for her. Sirius smiled as he watched her go, thinking about Harry and his plans for Tuesday. He'd take the boy to his appointment and then to dinner. Despite the circumstances, it would be a joy to spend some time with Harry, just the two of them.
