AN:
I HAVE NOT NOR WILL I EVER ABANDON THIS STORY!
ALSO, yes, this chapter is short, it also isn't very 'action-packed' but I was having trouble connecting the bits and pieces so I decided to go ahead and give ya'll this. THERE WILL BE ANOTHER CHAPTER UPDATE BY THE END OF THIS WEEK! It will be longer, and have some action and story progression for you, this chapter itself IS NOT COMPLETE NONSENSICAL FLUFF, it contains some VERY IMPORTANT HINTS about Lillian's future - as will the next chapter, which will feature HOGSMEADE and SIRIUS DAMAGING THE FATLADY. So there.
Side note: Reviews are at the bottom, as always.
"Professor Lupin tells me tha' yer skill with magical creatures isn' limited ta yer assistance 'ere." Hagrid mentioned after an hour of companionable silence spread between them.
It was a few days before the last weekend of October, meaning a few days from the first Hogsmeade weekend for her year, and Lillian had found herself in recent weeks spending a lot of her free blocks helping Hagrid care for the creatures he enlisted to help in his teachings; especially since quidditch practice started back up at the beginning of the month, and that predominated a majority of Draco's free hours.
Lillian and Hagrid had already worked through grooming the Hippogriffs, which had taken longer than expected considering Buckbeak liked to monopolize her attention, had even snapped at Hagrid and a few of his herd mates when the big lug felt neglected by her inattention. They were currently working through maintaining the Thestral herd, checking their bones, hooves, and wings for any sort of debris or abrasions, which was difficult with their leather skin but not impossible.
Lillian wondered just what else Professor Lupin had to say about her to Hagrid, wondered how well Lupin had known Hagrid during his term at Hogwarts with her Father and the other Marauders. She didn't linger on the thought for long, though, instead chose to smile in remembrance at the particularly entertaining past few DATDA classes as she redid the braid on the Thestral she had first met at the beginning of the year.
"I believe the Red Caps wished to keep me as some sort of ambassador." The nasty little goblin-like creatures had a tendency to lurk wherever there had been bloodshed, which made their capture on Hogwarts' grounds so much more suspicious and, to her peers, more nerve wracking. "In trade for not bludgeoning me to death, they wanted my word to act on their behalf. I believe they've grown tired of being captured for demonstrations by do-good professors. And considering the things foul mouth, I'll leave his summation as such." For she wouldn't dare repeat the foul words of the Red Cap she spoke with, not to anything but another Red Cap maybe.
Hagrid chortled, "Did ye accept?"
"I did him one better," Lillian explained, "I set up an enchantment at the entrance of their home, so that none but rodents and pests could pass and anything that could pass could be bludgeoned."
Hagrid blinked in shock before letting out a loud guffaw, the world could say what it would about her lineage, but one would never be able to deny her genius; Hagrid might even have horrible things to say about the Malfoy blood, but as one could not deny Lillian Black's genius, one would never be able to deny that the Malfoys have at least done right by Sirius Black's only heir and may they forever do wrong to the rest of the world, they would always seem to do right by Lillian.
"An' the Kappa?" Hagrid was familiar with the spider monkey looking water-dwellers, had unfortunate dealings with them when he had to check in on the giant squid beneath Black Lake. Their webbed hands craved to strangle the unwitting waders.
"Just wanted to ensure I saw them returned to their natural habitat." Lillian's brow furrowed, "Pretty sure the little buggers liked the fear they instilled into my peers." Lillian shrugged away the thoughts of the smarmy bastards, "Either way, it will keep students from venturing too close to the edge of our ponds, rivers, and lakes."
"Good," Hagrid grunted as he finished up the last of the Thestrals, just in time to get Lillian back to the castle too, he didn't like to keep her past sundown since the weather had grown steadily colder and wetter the past few weeks, and the nights were much darker, too dark for him to be comfortable allowing her to wander without escort – though he was under no misimpression that she couldn't very well handle herself. "Kappas an' squids are the least o' the foul-tempered beasties beneath the waters surface." A shudder shook the big half-giant's body as his mind lingered on some of the nastier creatures found on Hogwarts' acres.
Lillian mused aloud, "How many unsuspecting students have been kidnapped by the mermaids?" She knew it had to have happened before, just as she knew the likely victims were half-bloods and muggleborns, those not already well-versed about the vicious, blood-thirsty reality of what the non-wizarding world regarded as fairytales.
In all honesty, Lillian thought that some wizard centuries ago probably wrote about these idealistic fantasies of fairytale creatures in a poor show of humor, as a gag; to know muggle parents read to their children stories of beautiful mermaids and friendly giants when in reality mermaids were most likely to lure you to their depths only to tear your skin from your bones and giants were prone to stepping on those littler themselves without much thought or care.
"More than I'm comfortable admittin' t' ya. Less since Professor Dumbledore joined us." Hagrid admitted, "Probably none at all if ya get it in ta yer head ta become an ambassador for all."
Lillian hummed, "A curious thought."
Hagrid tilted his head to peer down at her curiously, "Ya given any thought ta yer career after Hogwarts?" Most witches, especially those of Lillian's societal standing, tended to only focus on marrying well come their majority, on building a concrete marital contract and then spending the rest of their lives caring for the home of whatever manor they managed to negotiate. Lillian, however, was a witch too smart to be confined to the role of child-bearer and spouse-pleaser; she would be one of those tremendously bright witches to take on the world by storm, she could do anything and no one would have the power to stop her, not even a marriage contract.
Lillian shook her head, ponytail bouncing with the motion, "Not particularly. I'll always have a place with the Malfoy dealings, and as heir of the Black holdings, I'll have my choice of occupations but the world is too tumultuous right now to put any serious consideration to my future."
Lillian knew it in the grip of her bones, that the world was on the brink of another war, one that would bleed into the muggle one, it would be foolish to try and plan anything as mercurial as her occupational future. Especially considering the fact that she was the ward of a very powerful, very traditional pureblood family and sometime within the future, sometime soon, she would be introduced into pureblood society as a woman of age, which meant a marriage contract wasn't too far away for her and with her father being the Sirius Black, that contract would need to come sooner, rather than later to guarantee her a future.
The very uncertainty of who that contract would bind her to, made the idea of her future incomprehensible. She had no doubt that Lucius and Draco would work to give her the fairest of contracts, and she herself could even provide a certain level of input, but that wouldn't guarantee her the freedom to work outside of home, it may not even grant her the freedom to control her own inheritance – both Malfoy and Black.
Those thoughts were for the future, though, so she buried them within her mind to be ignored until necessary as she and Hagrid came upon the castle, early for dinner but heading to the Great Hall all the same.
AN: AGAIN, ANOTHER UPDATE LATER THIS WEEK. Gotta figure out logistics. BUT IT WILL BE LONGER AND IMPORTANT.
Review Responses:
Before I get to the others, first, THANK YOU TO ALL WHO FAVORITED, REVIEWED, FOLLOWED, OR JUST TOOK THE TIME TO VIEW. Also, there was one review, somewhere, I couldn't find it and I couldn't remember if I responded so just, bare with me. They wanted more action, I guarantee you'll get your action (if you're still reading) but I'm sort of following the book plot and there hasn't really been much cause for action in this book yet, soo...but there will be action, towards the end of this book most definitely and in the next one for certain. So if you can stick it out, I promise to meet that demand. ;)
FURIONKNIGHT: My apologies you had to look forward for so long. haha. And that there wasn't much to it. Promise not to make the next look last so long. ;)
PSYCHOBABYDOLL: gah. That's fantastic. Glad that your level of enjoyments goes up with each chapter. Hopefully, next chapter it skyrockets. ;)
19IRENE96: Thanks so much! And don't worry, you'll definitely get some LupinxLillian interaction. There's an honorable mention next chapter, you won't actually see a lot of their interactions until Lupin takes up Harry's Patronus training. And you'll get a hint of how that's set up next chapter.
IBLAMEGREENBERG: jesus you're review is perfect. I bet you could totally complain about the wait though. haha. I can't guarantee Blaise and Lillian gain much momentum in PoA, but they totally start skyrocketing momentum GoF onwards. ;)
VIOLETRYU: Thank you so much! Super happy she's not mary-sue (which is a remarkable feat in and of itself considering how many HP fics there are in the world). I WILL ALWAYS CONTINUE TO UPDATE. No matter how far in between, don't ever fret about that.
UNKNOWNHER: Sorry that you must have been restless for so long. And my apologies for the relatively lacking update now, but I guarantee some excellent (hopefully) stuff later this week. ;)
DAREQUEEN: So do I! I'm pretty sure there's kind of some BlaisexLillian moments in the next chapter, not much, I don't think, but enough. ;)
ARTANDMUSICDUBS: Ah! It probably did show up, guest reviews just have to wait 24 hrs because usually I monitor 'em before I give permission for them to post. Her boggart totally gave me problems, I mean, this is a girl who has been to Azkaban more than most seasoned Aurors. What the heck is supposed to be a physical representation of her fear? SO I'm glad you weren't disappointed at what I described despite not giving a physical representation. There will definitely be more Remus caring for Lillian moments. Did you like his mention here? He'll be mentioned a little more next chapter. YES! Had to keep that scene in from the book, gotta showcase Remus' Marauder side. :D Hope you're still here!
HUBBLETUFF: Love the name, btw. Haha. Glad you appreciated the Blaise and Lillian action. Sorry to disappoint about the fear, I had a rough time with that, she's literally been to Azkaban, wth left is there for her to fear? haha. Nah, I've been having moments lately where I crave the angst, even though I adamantly hate the angst. You'll definitely get your negative moments sometime along this arc though, so don't you worry. ;)
GUEST1: Thank you! I am so happy you have such a high opinion of this story. LillianxBlaise chemistry does make you impatient, but it will TOTALLY be worth it when that eventually, finally, comes to a head. ;)
LOVELYSAKURA: You're telling me time flies? Haha. you've no idea! You'll definitely see Draco's protective side come out next chapter, so anticipate that! He's grown up where it counts, but Harry just has an innate way of rankling the boy. You'll definitely get your RemusxLillian scenes, you'll see how I set that up next chapter. Yes that would be awesome, but Lillian's got a confidence in herself Hermione lacks. Lillian knows she's smart, she doesn't possess the need to make sure the world knows it too. So she probably won't actively seek to put Hermione in her place about being the smartest pumpkin, but it's something Hermione may become glaringly aware of on her own. There might be a couple LillianxBlaise moments next chapter but they probably really won't kick off until GoF which really irks me cause everyone's so excited for them and they don't become my main focus for at least another book yet. :'(. Sorry the update took so long!
GUEST2: So glad you did stumble upon my stories! ;) And so happy that you have such a high opinion of them. Especially since I know just how many HP stories are out there. SUPER FLATTERED RIGHT NOW! You'll get your LupinxLillian moments. Honorable mention next chapter, but nothing really concrete for a few yet.
TINSELA: Thank you so much! I totally agree with your opinion on how JK Rowling handled the darker aspects of her novels. They had a lot of potential and that's really how I came about the idea of this story. I read something somewhere about how the darker Sirius should have been, considering his incredibly life-altering stint in Azkaban and that, combine with his treatment of Harry and it just took off from there. Just WAIT until the later books, I'm sort of setting something up now, you may see it next chapter, and it'll really delve into everything Pureblood society. I do favor an indifferent Blaise because his family was noted as neutral, ya know? So I sort of just expanded upon that. And I know Draco supposed to be unequivocally bad, but there's something about 'darker' characters that just makes me think, there's more to it than that, than good and bad. I get where you're coming from on appearances and stuff, I just figure everyone's seen the movies and read fanfiction, they know what the castle's supposed to look like and I'm putting on in-depth physical descriptions just cause I think that way people can put their own imagination into it, ya know? But I'll definitely take that into consideration. :) Also, yes, I will be taking it through to the whole series, whether that makes it seven books, I'm not sure because I won't be focusing on the whole Horcrux hunting storyline or anything - at least not in any kind of excruciating detail. Also, if I can get a irl gryffindor to wanna be more slytherin-like, I figure this entire story has been a success (completed yet or no). ;)
GUEST3: You'll get more Draco cares for Lillian moments next chapter. ;)
GUEST4: Thank you soooo much! So glad it's a favorite! Sorry for the delay! And the short chap. But you'll get a good one next time, promise! ;)
PERIWINKLE: you'll definitely get more RemusxLillian moments! thanks so much for the well wishes! I hope you stay tuned for next chapter later this week!
GUEST5: That understanding Blaise has definitely only grows larger as the story progresses. That's why I didn't put her in front of the Boggart, you know? Cause how do you have it represent an image when it's a sound that terrifies her? Lillian definitely has a plethora of skills that could be useful to Harry.
BUBBLES: Thank you sooo much! It'll take a hot second for the truth to come out, cause I think I'm following the book timeline on that instance, not the movie, but it'll most definitely be an interesting development! Lillian's not the type to overly indulge, especially with people not of her circle, so if Harry ever learns of Lillian talking to Sirius about him, it wouldn't be from her.
THEGIRLINYELLOW: Hope it didn't wind up turning that dying to a dead. ;0 Sorry it took so incredibly long, and that the wait wasn't worth the small chap. But you get another one later this week, longer and full of a lot more plot.
SHADOWING: Totally continuing. Don't ever fear that I'll abandon this story. I just tend to go on unplanned hiatuses! :'(
