Shades of Gray: Year Two
Chapter Ten:
One Month
by PotterScar
God, he hated the Dark Mark.
He hated how it looked, a black scar on white flesh. But what he hated most about it was the terrible burning sensation that occurred when Voldemort called his Death Eaters.
And right now was the last moment that Orion Black wanted Voldemort to call him.
He swore quietly as his Dark Mark seared under his robe. Regulus looked up from his dinner, puzzled, and Orion swiftly left the basement kitchen, rubbing his arm.
As soon as he had left the room, Orion Disapparated and appeared at Voldemort's side.
"Black," the Dark Lord hissed. It didn't sound friendly. Not in the least.
"My Lord," Orion muttered, bowing.
"Black," Voldemort continued, "how long has it been since I gave you your assignment?"
Orion swallowed. "Three… three months, my Lord," he said quietly. His voice quivered.
"Three months," Voldemort repeated. His eyes were hard and cold. "Three. Months. And yet there's no potion in my possession."
"My Lord," Orion sputtered, "Liquid Fire's a very complicated potion. It could… it could take months…"
"It HAS been months!" Voldemort roared. Orion flinched. Voldemort stared at him, eyes narrowed. "You have one month, Black, to bring me that potion," the Dark Lord snarled.
"I don't think – "
"One month!" Voldemort repeated.
Orion bit his lip. "Yes, my Lord," he whispered, before Disapparating.
-
"Sirius. Sirius! SIRIUS!"
"Mmm?" the young Black mumbled into his pillow.
"Sirius, we have class in five minutes!" Remus said, shaking his roommate's shoulder.
"I say we leave him," James said. He and Peter were by the door.
"But we're doing dueling in class today - " Peter started. He was cut off by Sirius suddenly toppling out of bed.
"Dueling!" he cheered, racing for the door, still in his pajamas. James managed to grab him.
"How about you get dressed first," James laughed, pushing Sirius gently in the direction of his trunk.
"Right, right," Sirius said. Barely a minute later, they left the dorms. Sirius' tie was askew and his hair nearly as messy as James', but that was the least of his concerns as the four sprinted for their third-floor Defense class.
"Close shave, boys," Wilson said dryly to the four as they shut the door behind them just as the bell rang.
"Are we dueling today?" Sirius asked excitedly before he even reached his seat.
"Yes, Sirius, we are," Wilson replied, trying to stifle a grin.
When Sirius had seated himself and the class had settled down, Wilson began pacing the room, as was his habit.
"As Sirius made clear," he said, "we are working on dueling today. Mind you," he said to the suddenly reenergized class, "we're not doing much today. Form, maybe one or two spells. Mostly, I will be demonstrating."
The class harrumphed, but still looked interested. Wilson tapped the board. As usual, a list of points came up.
"There are two dueling positions," he said. "One," he held his hand above his head and his wand straight out in front of him in his other, "is this. Legend has it that this was how Godric Gryffindor himself dueled. The other," he switched his wand so it was above his head, "is this. Slytherin's favorite position, according to myth." He lowered his wand and perched on his desk.
"Both have their advantages and disadvantages," he continued. "Gryffindor's position is accurate on offense but absolutely awful for defense. Your chance at hitting your target is high, but your chance of losing your wand is high as well. Slytherin's position is the complete opposite. It's extremely hard to aim and hit a target when your wand is above your head, but since your wand is so far back, it's also hard to knock it out of your hand."
Wilson now began to pace again. "It doesn't matter to me which one you prefer, though I have an idea about what you will do." A slight smile crossed his features, and a ripple of soft laughter spread through the room.
"So, any volunteers for some demonstrations?" And so it began.
-
"Sirius!"
The class had ended and students were slowly filing out of the room, still buzzing excitedly from that day's lesson. Sirius turned from his friends, and made his way over to Wilson's desk.
"Sir?"
"Tonight, eight o'clock." Sirius immediately understood and nodded. Wilson inclined his head, turning back to his papers, and Sirius left the room.
The others were waiting outside the door. "What was that all about?" Peter asked.
"Training thing," Sirius mumbled, feeling James' eyes boring into the side of his head. He turned towards his friend, only to see that James' eyes had turned to a painting at the wall. They were full of resentment.
-
"I don't know what his deal is."
Sirius was stalking about the dormitory, trying to speed up the clock. 7:48. Twelve minutes.
Remus sighed. It was just he and Sirius in the dormitory; Peter was getting extra help in Potions and James had detention with McGonagall.
"James is just a bit jealous, Sirius."
"Of what?"
"That Professor Wilson's giving you extra attention and not him," Remus replied, turning back to his Charms textbook.
7:49. Eleven minutes.
Sirius pondered this new revelation. Finally, he muttered, "Well, that's stupid."
Remus turned a page. "Not really."
"How do you figure?" Sirius demanded, kneeling on Remus' bed. Remus sighed in a long-suffering sort of way.
7:50. Ten minutes.
"James likes being the center of attention, and he likes being 'special'. No other student is getting this extra training, which makes you 'special'. Not James."
Sirius harrumphed. "It's not my bloody fault, so why is he icing me out?"
Remus shrugged. "Jealousy rarely makes sense."
7:51. Nine minutes.
"Well, it doesn't make sense here."
"The fact that you can also perform wandless magic stings a bit also, I imagine," Remus continued mildly, as if he had not heard his friend.
"Well, that's not my bloody fault either!"
Remus sighed again. "I know, Sirius, so stop shouting at me."
7:52. Eight minutes.
Sirius scowled, and looked at the clock. "I'd better go," he mumbled. "If you see James, tell him to stop being such a - "
"Sirius," Remus chastised.
Another "hmph", and Sirius had exited the dorms, passing James on his way out of the common room as the latter returned from McGonagall's clutches.
"Going to Wilson, then," James muttered sullenly. It was a statement, not a question. Sirius gave a noncommittal grunt and continued.
He mulled over this until he reached Wilson's door. Breaking from his trance, he knocked on the dark mahogany door.
Nothing.
Frowning, Sirius knocked again. No response.
As he raised a fist to knock again, he heard a voice to his right.
"Without your stupid pack of animals, Black? How odd." Severus Snape came from around the corner, sneering.
"Stuff it, Snape," Sirius said, rolling his eyes.
"Oh, clever response." Snape advanced several steps, cocky. Black didn't have his little circle of idiots, after all.
"Yes, I thought so. Why don't you go slink back to the dungeons, like a good little slimeball?" Sirius snapped, turning back to the door.
"Any particular reason you're lurking about at Wilson's door?" Snape asked, raising his eyebrows and ignoring Sirius' last comment.
"Detention," he replied without hesitation, choosing not to divulge why he was there to Snape.
"Shocker," Snape muttered to himself. Sirius rolled his eyes. "What'd you do this time, set fire to the Ravenclaw common room?"
"Sorry, Snape, I'm not really in the mood for bonding. I could go get Filch for you, though," Sirius replied, smirking.
"Funny," the Slytherin remarked dryly.
"Mr. Black." Wilson approached the two from around the same corner that Snape had emerged. "Mr. Snape! What a surprise."
"Sir," Snape muttered. Without another word, he gave Sirius a cruel smirk and slunk down the hall.
"Nice to see you too," Wilson muttered sarcastically, making Sirius grin. "Well, Sirius, let's get on with it, then," the professor said cheerfully, shepherding Sirius into the classroom.
"So," he said, "it's been a while since we've last met. Several weeks, I believe." He perched on the edge of his desk.
"Yes, sir," Sirius agreed. It had been a few weeks. "Sir…" he continued. "I don't know if I can do this."
Wilson frowned. "Why not?" Sirius fidgeted slightly. Wilson stared at him intensely, and Sirius swore he felt his mind being probed. "It's Mr. Potter, isn't it?"
Sirius frowned. He'd imagined the probing, he convinced himself. "Yes, sir. How did you…?" The question went unanswered, as Wilson had continued talking.
"Sirius, I'll understand if you want to call off these lessons. At your age, the most important thing is preserving your friendships; it's much more important than extra lessons in defense," the professor said, turning away from Sirius to shuffle some papers on his desk.
Sirius stood silently for a moment. "Could I… could I have a day or two to think about it?" he finally asked.
"Of course," Wilson said. He didn't look at him. Sirius considered that his dismissal.
"Er… okay… I guess I'll see you tomorrow in class, then." And he left.
-
"You're going to continue it, though, right?"
Remus and Sirius were crouched in the bathroom. Yes, the bathroom. It was nearly midnight; James and Peter were asleep.
Normally Sirius wouldn't be crouched in the bathroom if he wanted to talk to Remus; however, he wasn't in the mood for James to overhear.
He had come back from the lesson much earlier than anticipated. The others had been puzzled; he hadn't explained, and instead shared his encounter with Snape. After that, James continued to be a little standoffish, and they'd talked about nothing important until both Peter and James were in dreamland. Remus had been well on his way when Sirius had bodily grabbed him and taken him into the bathroom to talk about what had happened in Wilson's classroom.
"I don't know," Sirius answered tersely. "That's why I'm asking you what to do." He stared at Remus, who didn't immediately reply. "Well? C'mon, oh great one, tell me what to do!" More silence. "Oh, come on, you always give me advice when I don't want it. The one time I do, though, you won't give it, you stupid - "
"Alright, alright, you idiot, let me think!" Remus cut him off. He pondered for a moment. "Look, let's forget James, do you want to continue with these lessons?"
"But - "
"No, Sirius," Remus interrupted. "Forget James. What do you want?"
Sirius sighed. "I want to continue with these lessons."
"Then that's what you should do!" Remus leaned forward. "James will get over it. You'll be angry with yourself if you quit, and odds are James will be angry with you too. So keep at it!"
Sirius sighed again, leaning against the toilet. "I don't want him to be jealous."
"Ah, well. Too late." Another voice emerged from the door. James had heard them talking and had decided to investigate.
He trotted into the brightly lit bathroom as Sirius and Remus stared at him. Peter's voice came from further in the room.
"Wasgoinon?" they heard him groan.
"Nothing, Pete. Go back to sleep," James said.
"Mmkay," Peter said, and the snores started back up. James rolled his eyes and shut the door behind them.
The other two boys were still staring at him. "What?" James asked.
"Uh…" Sirius said.
"By the way, Sirius, Remus is right. If you quit those lessons I'll kick your arse," James said, perfectly serious.
"Really?" Sirius asked, brightening up. James frowned.
"… you're happy I'm threatening to hurt you?" he said.
"Ecstatic!" Sirius said, grinning.
"Look, Sirius, I'm sorry," James admitted. "I was being stupid."
"Yep," Sirius agreed. James glared at him.
"So is this ridiculousness over?" Remus asked hopefully. The other two boys looked back over at him.
"You know," James said, "I heard you yelling at Remus earlier. Nice one." He high-fived Sirius.
"Oh, thanks," Remus muttered sarcastically. He proceeded to sulk.
-
"Professor Wilson?"
They had just finished class the next day, and Sirius lingered after. Wilson looked up, his blue eyes scrutinizing the twelve year old.
"Yes, Sirius?"
"Er… I just wanted to tell you I think we should continue," Sirius said. "You know, with the lessons."
Wilson nodded. "Alright," he said. "Next Monday, at eight."
"Okay, sir," Sirius said, and he left the room.
Wilson smiled, pleased with himself. "Ow," he muttered suddenly, scratching his burning left arm.
-
Another chapter out!
I hope that clears up any questions about the potion.
-PotterScar