Chapter Seventeen: Dementors and Discoveries
The train ride passed uneventfully if you didn't count the unexpected visit from Dementors halfway through. Draco shivered but had no real reaction to it; Blaise and Daphne were the same. Raiden on the other hand had a severe reaction.
Memories came to the front of his mind, memories of the Dursley's treatment of him, and then the most horrifying one of all, his parent's deaths at the hands of his master.
Lily take Harry and go. Quick, it's him! Take Harry, I'll hold him off!
Please not Harry, take me but please not Harry!
Avada Kedavra!
Raiden awoke to find he was stretched out on the seat and then registered the fact that his head was in Daphne's lap and she was gently stroking his hair. He jerked upwards but didn't object when she cautiously put her arm round his shoulders. He sat there for a few minutes, shaking from the aftereffects and resolving to talk to his master. It sure wasn't sounding like Voldemort had tried to reason with them. It sounded more like he murdered them in cold blood.
Shaking his head he noticed Draco holding out a large piece of chocolate. He raised an eyebrow. "Chocolate, Draco?" he enquired.
His friend shrugged. "It's good for recovering from Dementor exposure Harry. Just eat it."
Raiden shrugged and ate the chocolate, closing his eyes in bliss as he felt warmth run straight through him, chasing the cold from the Dementors away. When he'd recovered, they all changed into their robes and prepared for the arrival at Hogwarts.
The feast was excellent, although the news that Dementors would be patrolling the edges of the school grounds was less welcome, and the reason why they were around was even less welcome than that. Personally, Raiden couldn't care less about an escaped mass murderer, but he resented the fact that their education might be disrupted by floating black creatures that looked like something out of your worst nightmares. It was no surprise that his friends agreed with him.
Shaking off the news, the Slytherin Quartet walked to the common room, eager to catch up on the news of their holidays. Blaise and Daphne had been filled in on the rescue, and the events that precipitated it but were still filled with outrage that a muggle had hurt their friend. They were amused at the punishment the Dursleys had received though and Blaise had shuddered playfully and asked Raiden to remind him to never piss him off.
The first few weeks passed peacefully as well, with the most fun coming from DADA and Transfiguration. DADA was fun due to the Boggart lesson, although Raiden was a bit uncomfortable with the way the new DADA teacher, Lupin, kept staring at him with something akin to sadness in his eyes. Raiden's boggart had been a Dementor, and he had been highly insulted when one of the Gryffindors assumed that his boggart would be Lord Voldemort, or You Know Who as the Gryffindor said.
"I mean honestly, why am I supposed to be afraid of Voldemort?" he muttered later that week in the relative privacy of the third years dormitory, flopping down on his bed in frustration. His friends merely murmured things designed to calm him down which partially worked. Daphne flopped down next to him, and smirked when Raiden gave her a startled, and slightly sour look but made no effort to try and push her off the bed.
"You managed to impress Lupin though. Apparently having a Dementor as your worst fear means that your worst fear is fear itself. I heard him discussing it with Professor Snape the other day," Blaise remarked. Raiden pushed himself up a bit and propped his chin on his hands.
"I suppose so, but honestly, who can make a Dementor look ridiculous enough to laugh at?" he queried, frustrated and annoyed by this little fact. His friends had no answers for him there and they dropped the topic in favor of looking at their homework, the amount of which was astronomical, and had nothing to do with Astronomy. The Slytherin Quartet had chosen the same third year electives, Ancient Runes and Arithmancy. The work was challenging but interesting and kept them arguing for hours on various problems. Raiden was about at average level in the classes, as he was learning how to wrap his brain round the abstract concepts required in the courses. He was assured that with time and practice he would become better at it. Daphne and Blaise just seemed to have more of a natural ability in these subjects than he did at the present time.
A few weeks after that came the first Hogsmeade visit and the discovery that would shake Raiden's comfortable world up a bit. He got dressed on the day and went to Hogsmeade after handing in his signed permission slip, and smiling sweetly at a glaring Filch. After looking in Zonko's and sniffing round the Shrieking Shack, he overheard a conversation between Madam Rosmerta, who ran the Three Broomsticks pub, and Professor McGonagall.
"…Sirius Black in Hogsmeade! What would bring him here?!" Rosmerta snapped indignantly.
McGonagall leaned forward and whispered to her, "Harry Potter." That was enough for Raiden as he swiftly told his friends where he was going and headed off to follow McGonagall and Rosmerta up the stairs to a private meeting room.
"So Sirius betrayed the Potters to You Know Who did he?" Rosmerta asked hesitantly. McGonagall nodded and then related the whole sorry story.
"He was their secret keeper, they were hiding under a Fidelius charm. Peter Pettigrew found out about his betrayal and went after him. Sirius killed him, and twelve muggles who were innocent bystanders, with one spell. The only piece left of Pettigrew was his finger."
Raiden didn't hear any more. Overcome by a blinding, choking wave of rage and grief he ran down the stairs, out of the pub and away from Hogsmeade altogether. His friends could follow him as he had not bothered to hide his presence from magical detection and a quiet Point Me spell located him easily enough.
The other members of the Quartet approached him cautiously, not sure about how to handle him when he was this angry. Raiden's magic was crackling in the air around him and he was breathing heavily in an attempt to control it but it wasn't working too well. Finally Daphne had a crazy idea.
"He needs to be shocked out of this so he can regain control," she said to Blaise and Draco, both of whom nodded but didn't have much idea of how to go about calming their friend down. Daphne shook her head before screwing up her courage and kneeling in front of Raiden so she could see his face properly. Before her courage could leave her she put both hands on his head, one on either side, and then kissed him firmly for a minute before letting go and retreating a bit in case he lashed out.
Raiden was definitely shocked enough to be able to realize what was happening with his magic. A few deep breaths had it brought firmly under control once more and then he blushed as he realized exactly how he'd been shocked out of his numb state. Looking at Daphne he saw that she was just as embarrassed as he was about it. It didn't help that Draco and Blaise were softly humming the tune to "Love is in the Air" in the background.
Getting up he ignored the two immature idiots and approached Daphne who was looking at him as if she feared losing his friendship. Smiling softly he reached for one of her hands, entwining her fingers with his own.
"Thanks Daphne. I needed that, and as unorthodox a method as it was it worked. I liked it too." Daphne nodded and then dared to move closer and tentatively hug him. Raiden brought his arms up round her out of reflex and was startled to discover how natural it seemed. They moved apart almost reluctantly, neither willing to go further than they had but both wrestling with the fact that they liked the other as more than simply a friend. Finally they decided to not speak of it to anyone else and let things develop naturally and at its own pace.
"Harry, can you tell us what set you off like that?" Blaise asked hesitantly.
Raiden shivered before asking, "Draco, that issue that we discussed over the holidays, can a godfather overturn that in the event of a positive ruling in our favor?"
Draco shook his head. "He could try but in our world, the wishes of the child are strongly taken into account. Why?"
Raiden swallowed. "Because, well, you remember when Black supposedly broke into Hogwarts and attacked Gryffindor Tower?" Seeing nods from his friends, he took a breath and said, "Sirius Black is my godfather. Apparently my parents were hiding under a Fidelius charm and Black was the secret keeper. He betrayed them to Lord Voldemort. He caused their deaths."
The Slytherin Quartet looked at each other, stunned at the implications of this. Raiden had been Voldemort's apprentice for five years now but this could potentially shake his loyalty and sway him to the Light side, which would be disastrous for everyone involved with him. Draco thought for a minute before asking, "What do you plan on doing about it?"
"Nothing. If he finds me then he finds me, and I'll kill the bastard. If the Dementors catch him then he'll be given the Kiss and I'll have lost a nice chance for revenge but that's all. He's not family to me guys and will never be family. I would have to ask my mentor about the circumstances though; there are things that don't quite add up in my mind. Maybe I'm just seeing things that aren't there but I'd like to be sure anyway.
His friends nodded silently and they began the trek back to the school, each pondering the startling revelation that Raiden had discovered, while Raiden himself was working out a good time to contact his master and ask for a detailed explanation of what had really happened in the aftermath of his destruction and whether Black had been a Death Eater or not. One thing was certain, the explanations that satisfied him as a child were starting to look a bit flimsy and have unexplained holes in them. This would have to be rectified at the earliest opportunity.