Chapter 3:New Opportunities
Up in the first year boys dormitory, Lorcans cat Thunder was entertaining everyone by chasing a mouse that'd found its way into the dorm again. Cedric jumped skillfully over the chase scene and made his way to his bed.
"Is Marcus okay?" Lorcan asked tearing his eyes away from the cat.
"It ain't no fault of mine." Cedric answered simply. Lorcan sighed as Thunder skillfully caught the mouse, keeping it alive as Lorcan scooped it up into a cage. He couldn't help to take care of all creatures great and small. He'd let it free outside later. He turned back to Cedric but the boy was already getting up and leaving. Lorcan quickly followed grabbing his things.
"Talk to me Ced." he begged and the boy turned around.
"I haven't told my mum yet. I...I know she won't mind but...I just wanted to do it myself. In person. And now I won't even get a letter before news travels to her from yer mum or the Potters." he rubbed at his watering eyes.
"Cedric I can make sure my mum keeps it to herself." the blue haired boy promised.
"Don't bother. She works at the Ministry. She's bound to run into Harry." Cedric sighed dejectedly.
"Do you want to at least try to owl her?" Lorcan asked
"You know what would be better is if we called her...too bad I don't know the spell for it yet." Cedric's shoulders sagged.
"Come on!" Lorcan said, quickly dragging him to Teddy Lupin's office.
"Whattya want?" he asked tiredly.
"Phone.wand.Cho." Lorcan panted.
"Alrighty. Here ya are Cedric. Just say your mom's name." Teddy invited them in as Cedric made the call. Cho could be heard faintly on the other end, wondering why Cedric sounded so scared. Cedric wiped a few stray tears away as he hung up.
"Are you alright Chang?" Teddy asked.
"Hmm? Yeah." Cedric nodded distantly.
"Well if ya ever need anything feel free to stop by. Off to astronomy you go." Teddy ushered them out and they joined the other first year climbing the steps to the astronomy tower. Professor Sinistra welcomed them and introduced them to what was around them and the tools they'd have available for studying the night sky. A fair amount of first years were drooped over in exhaustion. Lorcan even caught himself yawning a few times.
"I know you're all quite tired but I promise you it'll be well worth your while to be alert in my classes." Professor Sinistra explained "As not only will we talk about astronomy, which is quite interesting, but we will talk about people historically named after stars and planets." At this, Lorcan perked up a bit. He knew who she was talking about: the Black family.
"For now, your homework is to bring one question with you about anything related to astronomy. Good evening and please be well rested and prepared before our next lesson." the professor dismissed them and they all made their way back to their dorms.
"I'm absolutely spent." Aman lamented, changing into his pajamas "Why's that class have to be so late?"
"It's called night you imbecile." Connor provided, irritated. Aman rolled his eyes.
"No shit Sherlock!" the boy said as they faced off.
"Well you asked Captain Oblivious!" Connor countered.
"Stop." Lorcan said tiredly "We ought to have each other's backs, no?"
"If you had any of our backs you would've kept your business to yourself." Aman said.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Cedric asked.
"It means we're gonna get ridiculed because of you two." Donovan said quietly.
"Lay off. They didn't make a choice." Connor stood up "They've got as much a right as any of us to date."
"We're ELEVEN. It isn't necessary." Aman said, knowing Connor's feelings for his cousin.
"It's not like we're doing anything wrong." Lorcan protested.
"And what if you decide you want to?" Donovan questioned.
"That's not up for discussion or on either of our minds." Cedric assured.
"I just think we are far too young to be dealing with things like dating." Aman admitted "It just complicates everything."
"Everything has a first time." Lorcan said "And for everyone that's different."
"I s'pose you've got some merit there. Just like, seriously keep it majorly plain." Donovan requested.
"That's a promise." Cedric nodded.
"Well, I'm glad we've settled that. We have, haven't we?" Connor asked.
"Yeah Connor." Lorcan said.
"Great. Then I say we rest up so we can enjoy our day off tomorrow." The boy flicked off the lights and climbed into the bed. He waited until everyone else had fallen asleep to push open the loose board. He walked quietly through the halls and up to the Owlery. His owl brought him a letter. He opened it carefully, and read it.
Dearest Connor,
I'm sending this as quickly as possible to beat tomorrow's Prophet. There was an accident at the Ministry. Your father is in critical condition. Your mother was notified and asked me to take care of everything. I'm sorry, but things look bad. You're a good boy Connor. Take care.
Aunt Delilah
P.S McGonagall will be in touch with all updates. Do not be alarmed.
Connor closed his eyes tightly. He had felt something was off. When he'd received his letter to come to Hogwarts, it was the first good news his father had seen in many years. His mother was long gone 5 years prior, and his father hadn't held up well. But seeing his son off to Hogwarts had put a pep in his step, or so Connor had thought. But he knew there couldn't have possibly been an accident at the Ministry without gossip already having started. At least nothing major. He folded the letter delicately and stuck it in his pocket and pulled out a fresh sheet of parchment.
Aunt Delilah
Thank you for alerting me. Make sure my mother comes nowhere near me or dad while he is recovering.
Connor
P.S I didn't make the Quidditch team.
Connor tied it to his owl and sent the black bird into the sky. He made his way back to the dorm only to be greeted by Marcus in the common room.
"Do you wish to explain yourself?" the headboy asked.
"I was at the Owlery." Connor provided.
"At this time of night?" Marcus asked.
"I prefer to receive my mail in private." The younger boy shrugged.
"And did you receive any mail?" the older boy interrogated.
"I did." Connor sat on the couch "Do you wish to see it?"
"Not unless you want to share."
"Perhaps another time." Connor offered.
"Very well. I'm off to bed. Don't let me catch you out this late again." the Quidditch captain disappeared up the stairs and Connor hugged his knees to his chest. He sniffled softly and buried his head into his knee as tears welled in his eyes. He didn't realize he'd fallen asleep or that Alice had seen him cry and covered him with a blanket.
Every Wednesday, students had a break from their classes to provide time to do their homework and engage in extracurricular activities such as Dueling Club, DADA club (born from Dumbledore's Army), and more. They could spend their days doing as they wished, so long as they stayed on the grounds. On certain Wednesdays, there were supervised trips to Hogsmeade for students in their 4th year and beyond. Lorcan looked forward to those days when he'd be able to peruse the bookshop of Hogsmeade and meet his mother for a Butterbeer. However, he was determined to make the best of the first Wednesday, and as was tradition since the reinstitution of clubs at Hogwarts following the Second Wizarding War, all the clubs had taken over the Great Hall with booths. Accompanied by Cedric, Alice, and a rather tired looking Connor, they wandered through the Great Hall, noting which clubs they were interested in.
"Recreational Quidditch?" Connor asked, speaking for the first time that morning. The boy behind the booth smiled brightly.
"Mornin' fellas and lass. Sure as day, you've not been mistaken." Thomas Wood, son of Oliver Wood said. Now in his 7th year, he'd never made the team unlike his sister, 2 years his elder, Katie whom captained and played Keeper for the Gryffindor team for much of her time at Hogwarts.
"You interested in joining?" Thomas asked, handing Connor a flyer "It ain't mean you ain't good, first years rarely get a spot. Especially if they aren't playing Seeker. You don't seem the type. We got the pitch Wednesday mornings. It's a great option to get better! We've got competition and all too."
"I may just have to check that out next week." Connor tucked the flyer in his robes "Thanks-"
"Thomas. Thomas Percival Wood. See you!" Thomas shook Connors hand as the kids continued their lap around the Great Hall.
"Did you know he's Oliver Wood's son?" Connor asked, and Lorcan nodded.
"Him and his sister Katie are great friends with James Potter." Lorcan explains "Oliver and Penelope reunited with the Weasleys and Potters. It was bit awkward for Percy, God it was funny."
"I always forget you know everyone cause of your Mum." Connor sighs "Wish my dad been more involved."
"He's on the old list of DA members. I guess he simply just wasn't friends with any of them is all. Cedric never came to any of the gatherings either. We met as kids when our moms would still get together." Lorcan said, Cedric nodding quietly.
"You alright Cedric?" Lorcan asked. Cedric shrugged and kept walking.
"Did he ever tell you what happened with his mom?" Alice asked Lorcan. The boy shook his head. They found a couple more clubs they were interested in before heading back to the dorm. Connor sat with Aman and Donovan who were playing Wizard's chess. Alice found the other girls, except for Terry who was in detention, hanging out in one of the reading nooks and left Cedric and Lorcan alone.
"Can we go for a walk?" Cedric asked as Lorcan carefully put the flyers away.
"Sure, that'd be nice." Lorcan said, following Cedric out to the grounds. They wandered to the lake and sat on the shore. For awhile, Lorcan amused himself watching the creatures swimming just below the surface but eventually Cedric spoke.
"My mom was okay with it. But she uh, she's worried cause of your mom." Cedric said quietly.
"Weren't they friends in school? At least acquaintances? They seemed to get along nicely when we were real young." Lorcan pointed out.
"Well, the reason we stopped coming by, well it's cause of my dad actually. He um, he'd recently passed and well… I saw the Thestral at your house." Cedric admitted.
"How? You saw your dad?" Lorcan tried to understand.
"I did but I had no idea I'd seen. I saw my dad fall asleep. I didn't know he'd never wake up. Turns out I was looking at him when his heart stopped. My mom was busy and your mom explained the Thestral to me. Ever since...well you know we haven't been back." Cedric sighed.
"My mom didn't mean any harm. She'd seen her mom die at a bit older than that." Lorcan looked down "But I understand your mom's concern. But don't you think this might be a good way to bring them back together? Or even better, does she know that Ly and I see thestrals too?" Lorcan asked.
"You do?" Cedric asked quietly.
"Sure do. Do you remember the Quidditch match that left a player dead?" Lorcan asked, and Cedric nodded.
"We were there. Saw the bludger hit her. Knocked her helmet clean off. Second bludger followed." Lorcan said. "I'd really like them to get along again."
"I'd like that too. I miss meeting all the creatures you keep around." Cedric chuckled.
"Well, I'm glad we cleared that up. I'm really glad that we got sorted together." Lorcan smiled.
"Me too. I'm just worried about the guys." Cedric sighed "You think we're old enough?"
"I think it's different for everyone like I said. Look, there's an old Quibbler article all about it. I'll ask mom to send me a copy and we can read it over." Lorcan smiled "But as I remember, this is pretty normal."
Meanwhile, Lysander was fuming. He wanted to kill every single Weasley and Potter, but he knew that they weren't all the same. He was glad to find out James had been replaced as the captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team by Roxanne Weasley, daughter of George and Angelina. In her 7th year, and a member of the team since her third year, she was the best choice. She'd spoken to Lysander and promised she'd actually give him a chance unlike James. In the past years, he'd run tryouts like a friendship competition. Weasley blood got you on the team easily, as did favor with himself. Katie Wood was the reason her brother hadn't made it- she'd convinced James (rightfully) that her brother didn't belong on the team. He'd promised to not favor him from that day forward. Lysander was happy to know James wouldn't be running tryouts in that case. He'd never gotten on well with the eldest Potter. The tryouts were in about an hour, and hoping to have a chance to get his bearings on the pitch, he decided to head over early.
"Well if it isn't the other Loony twin." James said as Lysander entered the locker room "I don't have to worry about you watching me change do I?" James smirked.
"Shut up James." Lysander said.
"What're you gonna do about it? Call Teddy? I never liked him anyway. Acting like he was the eldest Potter." James huffed.
"What's your problem James? Got a secret you're afraid of?" Lysander turned on him "Or afraid a first year could beat you in hand to hand combat?"
"What's your brother's problem? He's got a girl head over heels for him." James shook his head "can't believe my brother's the same way with the MALFOY kid."
"They're happy, aren't they?" Lysander asked, putting protective gear on.
"Sure, but wouldn't they be happier with someone else?" James shrugs his jersey over his torso pads. The school had been taking precaution to try and prevent injury.
"No, that's the whole point James. This is how they're happy." Lysander sighs "So are you man enough to get over it?" James nods thoughtfully "I...I think I'll have to wrap my head around it. But I...I don't even know where I got the idea it was bad. I guess it isn't. I need to accept that."
"Damn right. Now let's get to the pitch." Lysander says.
Tryouts go smoothly, but Chaser spots are full on the first tier team. However, Lysander does make Head Chaser on the second tier team, and he must admit it's a great spot to be in as a first year. Although it's worth less points, the second tier teams also have matches against each other, so he's glad to be playing. It's time for lunch by the time they're done, so they all head inside to refuel.
"Hey Andy!" Lorcan calls from his spot at the Ravenclaw table waving him over "How'd tryouts go?"
"Well, I'm not as lucky as Cedric, but I did get Head Chaser on the second tier Gryffindor team!" He smiles brightly.
"Way to go dude." Connor says "too bad you couldn't knock James down another peg."
"He's got skills. I can't fault him there. I talked to him. He's gonna try and chill out." Lysander shrugs.
"Good. He was such an arse." Alice comments, watching as James Potter chats amicably with his peers and cousins.
"He was, but I'm willing to put in the past." Lorcan says "It's not worth ruining our family's relationship."
"I'll do my best." Cedric says "But he better watch himself on the pitch. I can tell the beaters exactly who they need to watch out for." The girls roll their eyes, and Lysander bids farewell heading back to the Gryffindor table.