This is a fanfiction based on The Pureblood Pretense and sequels by murkybluematter. Set during and contains spoilers for FF14. Constructive criticism is appreciated.


When Harry walked into the parlor one day and announced, "I want to attend AIM," it came as a relief.

Lily had done the research, had gotten the pamphlets about the foreign magic schools that would accept halfbloods, and preferably Muggleborns, in the interest of avoiding prejudice. Unfortunately, Harry had not learned any foreign languages, so she was almost entirely limited to schools in America–Beauxbatons expected students to speak French, Schwarzenstein would be in German, and so on. After cutting out the more specialized schools, Harry's options were limited to AIM, Ilvermorny, Cascadia, and Oceania, even farther away in Australia.

What Harry wanted was to study Potions. Preferably at Hogwarts with Severus Snape, which was not an option. When Harry had been born, Lily was thrilled that her daughter would be permitted to attend the school that she had been denied, if that was where she chose to go. She had cried when that option was closed off, and cried again when Harry wanted to go there and had to be told no. So Lily had reached out to the other schools, researched their programs, and written letters to their Potions departments. Cascadia was clearly the best for potions, was the only one with serious ongoing research in the area, but Lily personally had fond memories of her time at AIM, and they did have a Potions Mastery track.

"Are you sure, sweetie? You want to go to AIM?" Lily checked, worried this was an impulse to avoid thinking about the decision.

"You went there, Mum–I want to follow in your footsteps. It'll be exciting to go abroad. I might learn something about Healing, too, and I'll be able to get so much farther with healing potions if I have a foundation in both areas." James nodded approvingly. Lily knew that James didn't really know much about either field, but just supported any shift in interest from Potions.

"That's a wonderful idea, Harry." Lily was relieved that Harry was finally expressing some interest in a school other than Hogwarts. "I loved my time at AIM–there were so many clubs and activities, and if you talk to your advisor, you should be able to take some Healing classes along with–" Lily paused, noticing Harry was tapping her fingers impatiently. "I'm sure you'll love it there."

"We're glad you've made a choice, little Fawn," James added. Harry nodded and ran off to find Archie.


The next day, Harry and Archie both returned from Diagon Alley with matching haircuts. Harry had stopped talking about Hogwarts, and Archie had stopped complaining about it, so either they'd accepted their respective schools or agreed to stop reminding each other of what they'd be missing. Before long, the end of August came and Lily was offering to help Harry pack her trunk.

It was certainly a surprise to learn that Harry was considering the Healing track entirely. Lily remembered how much time they spent on their studies, and how specialized their classes were, but Harry was right that Potions was heavily applied to Healing and studying Healing first would be useful for doing Potions research later.

Harry certainly seemed excited to attend AIM, when they were at the airport. She tried to hide her interest in everything around them, but Lily was happy to see it. She sincerely hoped that Harry would find a place there.


"James! We got a letter from Harry today."

"Another one already?"

Lily was also surprised at how prolific Harry had proven to be, but was not going to admit it. "Yes, another one. It's on the table."

"That's fifth so far this month! Our little Fawn is a good letter-writer after all." James smiled, thrilled. "I wonder why she's using a Dicto-quill."

"She is? I hadn't noticed. I wonder why." Students at AIM mainly used pens, and while it seemed odd that Harry was writing home with a quill, Lily had thought maybe Harry wanted to keep in practice for when she returned to Britain. Was her hand tired by the end of the day from taking notes? First year wasn't that intense. But what would Harry have to hide her handwriting? She'd think about it. A Dicto-quill was probably just convenient. "Well, it sounds like she's enjoying Healing, and getting on well with Hermione."


The day after Halloween, Sirius received two owls from Hogwarts. The first was a rather official notice from Hogwarts:

Lord Black,

I regret to inform you that your son, Arcturus Rigel Black, was injured yesterday. An unidentified person attempted to kill him by putting a tablet in his drink which turned the pumpkin juice to acid. Fortunately, another student suspected something was wrong and prevented him from drinking it. In the process, the drink was spilled on his arm, which was burned from the acid. Professor Snape and I promptly treated him, and his arm is healing well. He should be fully recovered within a few days.

Poppy Pomfrey, Matron
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Archie was injured! Who at Hogwarts would want to kill Archie? He quickly opened the second letter.

Dear Dad,

First, I'm fine! My arm was hurt in a prank that went a bit too far. There's a prank war between the Slytherins and Gryffindors, and someone used one of those tablets from Zonko's that changes your drink, but somehow it was turned to acid. Don't worry, the Slytherins can give as good as they get. I'm being careful and everything's fine. Please don't come visit or anything–my friends already worry about me enough!

With love,

Archie

(P.S.—have any new Marauders' products I can try out?)

Sirius frowned. From Pomfrey's letter, it sounded more like a murder attempt than a prank. First year was too early for the pranks to get dangerous. Archie didn't seem to be taking it very seriously, but he tended to take things in stride and try to keep him from worrying, and the Slytherins did watch out for each other. If it was really important to Archie, Sirius wouldn't go up to visit–parents visited Hogwarts so rarely, it would look worse than it was, since both letters agreed that Archie was fine. And Sirius didn't have a ton of standing to interfere given what he had gotten up to at school–it was assumed that students would take care of each other for the most part.

He would have to talk to James and Remus–something this serious had to be noted. James could contact the school and get an official record of the event for the Aurors, just in case there was something more than a prank war going on.


When James returned home one day saying that an undercover operation had been ruined when his Polyjuice turned out to be defective, she wondered to herself if Harry had swiped it for a prank. She didn't think they'd used it for anything before leaving, but it was possible that Harry or Archie had brought it to school. Hogwarts students were evidently very serious about their pranking, given Archie's injury and the stories that James and Sirius told. Really, though, it was more likely that the batch of Polyjuice had in fact been defective, and not enough magic had been imbued for it to work.


Dear Dad,

First off, I'm fine. You're probably going to hear from Hogwarts about this, but I hope you get my letter first.

Lee Jordan attacked me, turned out he was angry about the Marauders' prank line pushing his father out of business. I stopped him, my friends came to help, and Professors Snape and McGonagall showed up afterwards.

I'll write again soon, I just wanted to tell you that everything is fine. You definitely don't need to come visit. My friends will never let me out of their sight after this.

With love,

Archie

Just after he finished reading the letter, another owl arrived from Hogwarts. Archie was certainly getting into a lot of trouble, and not all the fun kind as Sirius had hoped. He picked up the next letter to read immediately.

Lord Black,

I regret to inform you that your son, Arcturus Rigel Black, was assaulted by another student, Lee Jordan. Jordan attacked Rigel when he was alone in the corridors and attempted to permanently paralyze his hands and erase his memory of the event. Rigel was able to stop Jordan and was uninjured.

The next steps have not been decided, yet, but I assure you that Jordan will not be in a position to attack Rigel again. I will contact you about any steps that need to be taken.

Severus Snape
Head of Slytherin House
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Sirius paused on Rigel for a moment, but didn't think much of it in the context of the letter. Sirius suspected that Lee Jordan was the one behind the earlier attack as well. The Jordan family was involved in the pranking business, so it was likely that he had access to the materials, but this seemed like a bit much for a business rivalry, when they were both years away from graduating school, but Sirius didn't know of anything else that would prompt this attack.

Sirius flooed to Potter Place with both letters to speak with James and Lily. James had been kept late at work, but Lily was able to reassure Sirius. "Both letters agree that he is unharmed, Sirius. Archie's fine."

"I just–I have to do something! Archie was attacked! Should I go to Hogwarts?"

"No, Sirius, it's late. At least wait until tomorrow to visit. Where would you go–burst into someone's office unexpected? Knock on the front gate?" Sirius conceded that Lily had a point. "James should be home shortly, and you can discuss the legal options then. Have you written back to Archie yet?"

Sirius wrote back to Archie, verifying that he was safe and whole. Archie sent one more letter that night, promising that he was fine, that his House was watching out for him more closely than ever and had come to help him. Archie insisted that Sirius not come visit–it seemed a bit odd for Archie, but Sirius assumed he must like his newfound independence and not want his friends to see his father there.

After several more letters over the next few days, Sirius agreed not to visit, assured that Archie would be home in just a few weeks. Lee Jordan left Hogwarts, and escaped with minimal consequences. Hogwarts traditionally dealt with problems internally, no one was seriously harmed, and no one wanted to drag the children through an Auror investigation or trial.

And it was just a few weeks before Archie was writing home about getting home. Sirius noted that Archie wanted to meet at a café away from the train station. Archie seemed determined that his friends and Sirius did not meet–perhaps that was how it was in Slytherin? Though, Sirius hadn't wanted his parents to meet his friends and embarrass him when he was eleven either. Sirius knew he was much less terrifying than his own mother had been, but the political differences between Sirius and Archie's friends' parents were similar enough.

Either way, he would respect Archie's request. At least Archie had picked a good café for him to wait at.