Chapter 6: Letters, Other Runaways, Classes
Gryffindor Dorm:
Ginny was popular that evening, it was pretty disorienting after first being squashed under all her siblings and then living peacefully with just three other friends and a couple house elves. In the common room, she was surrounded by other Gryffindors while she was trying, (emphasis on trying) to write her father and Bill a letter. Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan were two of the new boys, Lavander Brown one of the new girls.
They asked her questions about Claire and why she ran away, she was evasive about all her answers, she didn't want to answer for her soul-bonded.
Percy had been right indigent when he saw her again, calling her ungrateful and spiteful for running away from home and then refusing to tell her mother where she went. Lavander threw a piece of pie in his face and Oliver Wood told him to sod off.
Ginny smiled gratefully, maybe Hogwarts wouldn't be so bad after all.
She was a little scared to be so far away from the other Runaways, as they were starting to refer to themselves, it was daunting after being with them for what felt like her entire life. She chalked it up to nerves, the room felt tiny compared to her room at Black Mansion, but she was here for a higher purpose and she would manage it.
She picked her bed when it was getting late and sat up on her bed, sketching what might be her next painting while trying to think of a battle plan, she knew that Ron now had Scabbers, who was really Peter Pettigrew. It was a deeply unsettling thought, she'd lived a good bit of her childhood sharing her house with a mass murderer. She discarded the thought of just going over and snatching him, because she didn't know what to do next.
"Hi Ginny," Claire's voice gently intruded on her thoughts, Ginny let out a pleasant sigh. "How is Gryffindor?"
"Not that bad, the kids have been nice so far though they have been crowding me a bit. Percy and Ron are being utter toerags but Fred and George were happy to see me, I hope that Bill, Charlie and dad will be happy to."
"I think they will be, and if they aren't we're still here, like we always are." Claire said.
"Wow, some evening eh?" Draco asked teasingly.
"Yeah, I wasn't expecting to make four new good friends right away." Luna said. "Hermione was really nice, and I like Susan, Hannah and Neville."
"So we get one guy for every three girls? That's just not fair! What are we dudes supposed to do?" Draco complained.
"What's the matter, Draco? I thought two young boys would love to be surrounded by pretty girls their age." Claire replied teasingly.
"Not all of us are perverts!" Draco protested. "Besides, I already have my eye on one girl." they could practically sense Luna blush.
"About them, Claire you said before that you wanted to save Neville from his grandmother, does that mean he'll become a Runaway too? If so, does that mean we should open that to Hermione and the others too?" Ginny asked.
Claire thought about that for a little, all four of them were unprepared to simply let people into their closest circle, it was their emotional centre and they didn't want to risk it, but Hermione and the other's friendship was so close for having just met them, in fact it kind of felt like their original bond when they met in the airport.
"We won't do anything right away," Draco decided, "If they get close enough we'll let them in, but Luna's right, they feel real and genuine, not like Dumbledore, who is just radiating repressed anger tonight."
"I felt it too." Luna volunteered.
"I know," Claire said, "I haven't decided anything yet, but I'm not adverse to having more friends. It will just make things a little complicated."
"Ron has Scabbers now," Ginny said, drawing attention to the reason they were here, "I could grab him at any moment in the dorm itself, but then we won't have a plan and I don't want to risk alarming him and giving him a chance to run away."
"Susan's aunt Amelia is very dedicated to justice, and Sirius wasn't given a trail," Claire remarked thoughtfully, "Maybe we can convince her to reopen his case and give him a trail, and we'll pop up there with Pettigrew. When they see Pettigrew alive it will confirm his story. We have the weekends off, we could go to the Ministry and see her."
"Right. I have classes with Susan all day tomorrow, I can ask her about it," Luna said, proving once again that she could be very focused and matter-of-fact when she wanted to be.
"What should we have her tell Bones?" Ginny asked.
"That Sirius Black didn't get the trail he was entitled to. As the Black Head of House I can demand she rectify this, then we just need to grab Pettigrew and get to the Ministry hearing."
"Hopefully Remus will be there," Claire said.
"I'm sure he will, he was friends with Sirius and I think he'll be as glad as any of us to find out that Sirius is innocent." Ginny said firmly.
Ravenclaw Dorm
Hermione was ecstatic, she and Luna weren't in the same dorm as most of her friends but they had made a friend in Cho Chang and Padma Patil, two foreign exchange students, and checking her time table she had classes with each of her friends houses on alternating days, she'd be able to see them regularly after hours as well.
"Why is everyone so surprised that Claire was sorted into Hufflepuff?" Hermione asked when she heard yet another set of boys muttering about it. She'd been confused by the shocked silence that Claire's placement had earned, and so far no one had offered and explanation for it.
Cho looked surprised by the question, "Everyone was expecting her to be sorted into Gryffindor, Dumbledore himself said it was a certainty, her father and mother had been in that house and the Potter family had been in it for several decades, plus she was the destroyer of Voldemort. It just seemed so obvious."
"Well, Claire is one of the most loyal people I've ever met, I'm not surprised she went into Hufflepuff." Hermione declared, shifting through her many school books.
"Do you know Claire Potter very well?" Padma asked curiously.
"We've been living together for a while now," Luna said.
"Well, I met her on the way here, and I learned so much about her in one meeting, she's a little secretive and shy but she's also very kind. There's so much more to her than the pinup everyone's expecting her to be, she's such a fiercely loyal individual, it's amazing really." Hermione said.
"I know, it just goes to show you shouldn't expect people to meet such general moulds, everyone is different, loyal people and smart people can be heroes as well." Cho said with a smile. "If you listened to the other students you'd think only heroes came out of Gryffindor and only Death Eaters and Dark Wizards came out of Slytherin. But there's so much more to life than that, right and wrong aren't that selective."
Hermione decided in that moment that she liked Cho a lot! That was such a bias-less and objective statement to make, it was clear Cho was smarter and more mature than most kids her age.
"I agree, whatever secrets Claire might be keeping are her business, it wouldn't be fair of us to expect her to solve all our problems like I have a feeling some people here are," Padma scowled in the direction of some of the other students.
Luna's shoulders tensed suddenly, and she followed where Padma was looking. Her usually dreamy expression was gone.
That statement, inexplicably, gave a heavier weight to what Claire had said earlier about Britain not being safe.
Hermione resisted the urge to shudder as she remembered what she had read about Claire in Greatest Wizarding Events of the Last Decades, where she was hailed by Albus Dumbledore as the savior of the wizarding world. Now that she was thinking about it, a rock was beginning to settle at the bottom of her stomach at the wording of that statement.
She had an eerie feeling Padma was right, these people wanted something from Claire, her power maybe even her life. And somehow, somehow, she didn't know why she thought so but it was tied to the night she survived the killing curse, she was sure of it. There was too much of a coincidence there, someone surviving the Killing Curse for supposedly the first time ever and her being proclaimed a 'saviour'.
Hermione swore she wouldn't let anything bad happen to her new friend, she'd protect her if it was the last thing she ever did.
Slytherin Dorm
Neville felt distinctly out of his element among the classy Slytherin students, despite having Draco and Blaise guiding him among his fellow students. He felt tiny and woefully under dressed, everyone here seemed so sharp.
Draco was welcomed into the dorm with some relieved cries, some saying they'd thought he was dead with others apologizing about Theodore and still others remarking that Lucius shouldn't have treated him like that.
"It's nice to see you again," Blaise remarked before giving his friend an irritated look, "what was up with that? Gone for a couple of years and I hardly ever got letters."
"Sorry Blaise, it took me forever to get the Goblins to cough up your new address and then it took owls forever to get over to your place." Draco said. "I wish muggle email was available to us. It's much easier and faster to communicate that way."
"My mother talks about that some time," Blaise remarked. "She says muggles are smarter than we give them credit for."
"That's absurd," That voice belonged to Pansy Parkinson, and Neville could tell straight away they weren't going to get along very well. There was a haughty look to the way she talked and held herself. "Muggles are primitive, they can't do things better than we can."
Draco merely raised his hands in surrender, "Believe what you like, Pansy, but don't expect to wake up easy if you get shot by a gun. If you somehow don't get hit in the vitals, because then you're dead for sure. Those things are lethal, even to us. I would know."
Pansy glared at him, "So you betrayed pureblood policies to become a muggle-lover? What happened to my betrothed?"
Draco's dark eyes narrowed, "You're betrothed died when Lucius Malfoy beat me half to death, forced Veristrum down my throat and left me on the street. I have disowned those archaic and outdated beliefs. It's got nothing to do with you."
Pansy stared for a few minutes, stunned. Draco turned on his heels and said, "Neville, the guy's dorm is this way."
Bothered by that confrontation, Neville followed without an argument. Blaise leaned over his friend's shoulder when they were out of Pansy's earshot and said, "Be careful Draco, we may not all be Death Eaters but a lot of us still believe in the Pureblood Supremacy. They respect you as Head of House Black but I don't recommend talking about muggles lightly."
Draco smiled wanly at Blaise, "you're still a good friend Blaise. I'll bear that in mind. Come on, there's so much for us to catch up on."
"Yeah." Blaise smiled back, "you've got a lot of explaining to do, you saved my life that year and I'd like to know what else happened."
Neville followed them and they both stood through their head of house Severus Snape's opening speech, Severus eyed him with a slightly curious but otherwise impassive look before sending them to the dorms.
When there, Draco amazed Neville by wandlessly putting up a silencing ward around their three beds and said, "Well, it's hard to know where to start..."
"A-Are you okay with me hearing this?" Neville asked.
Draco tilted his head slightly, "Friends don't keep secrets from each other Neville."
Neville's smile nearly split his face, Draco had directly called him a friend. He was having such a good day.
Draco then began to tell them the story. He told them about Lucius forcing Veristrum down his throat, about being found by Ginny and Luna, meeting Claire at the airport. He told them about Norway, about their mind-link, and about getting Malefor as a familiar.
"You have a dragon familiar." Blaise echoed flatly. Draco nodded smugly. "Wow, just...wow! Geez, you're a lucky bastard. Theo would have been impressed."
Draco's eyes became slightly downcast as usual at the mention of his old friend. "Yeah, he would have." He steadied himself and then continued, about Claire's music, Luna's Dream-Weaver powers, the dancing and laughter and finally the training they'd done before coming here.
"You became a fox?" Blaise asked curiously. Draco nodded and before Neville's eyes transformed into a decent sized red fox.
Blaise clapped and said, "I don't suppose you feel like telling me how you did that."
Draco transformed back and said, "Come on, I just said I don't keep secrets from friends. Throw me a bone here, Blaise."
Blaise chuckled, "I know Draco, it's just a little disorienting. You aren't exactly the same Draco I grew up with." his eyes grew serious, "but I think that's a good thing. It's terrible, what's happened to you and those girls, but you took it and you've risen anew."
Draco nodded and gave a non-committal snort.
Neville said, "So...can I be an animagus too?"
Draco turned and looked at him. Then he chuckled and slapped a hand on Neville's shoulder. "Sure, Neville. Sure. It'll take a while though.
Hufflepuff Dorm
Claire, Susan, and Hannah had been avoiding questions for ages now. They'd been introduced to their head of house Pomona and were then sent to bed. Claire was a little battered by all the questions and felt a little lonely with all her fellow Runaways in other houses, but she knew she'd see them tomorrow. They planned how to snatch Pettigrew and asked Susan to write to Amelia Bones.
Claire was feeling a little claustrophobic, surrounded by so many students, but Susan and Hannah helped her through it. The other kids were very inquisitive about why she ran away and why she had come back. One pureblood asked if it was because of her muggle relatives. Claire had flinched at the accuracy of the question, and was grateful that Susan forcefully moved the conversation elsewhere.
She was afraid of what the other kids might do if they knew how the Dursleys had treated her. The people were expecting her to be some sort of heroine, what if she couldn't deliver on that? What if they knew she was weak? Timid? What if they thought she couldn't do it? What would they do?
There were no real answers to any of these questions, but for the moment they seemed to simply be nerves. After all, this was the house of loyalty.
The other Hufflepuffs had been nice to her so far, maybe this year wouldn't be as bad as she had feared it might be.
Looking back at the year later, Claire would appreciate being reminded not to tempt fate.
The next day
Claire woke up slowly, with someone gently shaking her shoulders, "Claire, wake up! It's Susan, breakfast will be on soon!"
Disoriented, Claire tried to figure out what time it was. Then she remembered abruptly, she was at Hogwarts and today was the first day of lessons. "I'm awake!" She cried, jumping out of her bed, startling Susan, who'd been trying to wake her.
"Oh, good," Susan said, a bit startled by the sudden movements. "Come on, Hannah's waiting for us."
Claire nodded and hastily got dressed. Then she followed her two new friends down the moving staircases and into the hall where they had been sorted yesterday.
"Morning Draco," she thought when she saw the male runaway walk into the room with Neville and Blaise, "Everything okay so far?"
"I've been getting some dark looks from pureblood agenda supporters," Draco reported, "They haven't done anything yet, but we'd best keep our guard up."
"Noted. Luna, how's Ravenclaw?" Claire asked.
"It's been nice," Luna reported, "Hermione's very driven in her studies, she'd very focused but she has a hard time seeing the other world. She spent the entire morning protesting that there was no such things as nargles."
"Hermione sounds very dedicated to rationality and logic," Draco said, "She'll be like that for a little, but give her time."
"Hi guys," Ginny joined in the conversation, "What classes do you have first?"
"I have Potions," Claire volunteered.
"Transfiguration," Draco said, "I hope Professor McGonagall isn't quite as scary as some of the older Slytherins make her out to be!"
"I have charms," Ginny thought. "Good luck, everyone."
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The moment the door swung open and Professor Snape walked in, Claire was feeling nervous. The Potions Master looked very intimidating, and his opening speech didn't help at all,
"There will be no wand waving and silly incantations in this class. I don't expect most of you to understand the magnificence of potions class and the ways it can be applied, except a select few," at this he glanced right in Claire's direction.
Claire swallowed. There was something in his expression that made her feel like he was staring straight through her. There was something in those black eyes that were boring into her...it looked like recognition. But he had never seen her before...but if her parents had been alive they would have been the same age. Did he know them? Remus said she bore a strong resemblance to her mother.
It wasn't just that, but the emotions in those eyes...there was some bitter pain and anger, and somehow Claire wasn't sure if it was all directed at her.
Snape began rollcall and eventually came to her name, "Ah, miss Claire Potter. Our new...celebrity." He said simply, a sharp edge to his voice. One Ravenclaw boy snickered darkly.
Claire flushed, feeling uncomfortable and put on the spot. "Sir?" She said timidly.
Snape gave her a calculating look, "Let's see if you're as perfect as we've been told..." A snicker went through many students, causing Claire to flinch slightly. "Potter, what would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"
Claire's mind spun at the question, she tried to remember what she'd learned over the years at Black Manor but the answer didn't come to her, "I..."
Snape shook his head and tutted, "I suppose fame isn't everything," The snickers grew louder, Claire wished she could melt into the floor. "Try again, where would a find a beozar?"
Claire was relieved to remember this one, "It's from the stomach of a goat, sir, it gives people immunity to poisons."
Snape raised an eyebrow. "That's better. But speak up, you sound like a mouse." The snickering started again. "Don't fear for your future too much, I'll make a potions master out of you if it's the last thing I do. I won't have any layabouts in this class."
Frightened and hurt, Claire hid her face in her text book.
"Professor Snape is such a jerk!" Susan shouted when they were a safe distance from the classroom. "What gave him the right to put you on the spot like that? Those questions were way to advanced to be asking first years!"
"It's okay, Susan, it's not serious," Claire mumbled. She tried to make sense out of the way Professor Snape looked at her and treated her, but everything was coming up blank. It had been a long time since she had felt hunted like that; that feeling had used to be synonymous with Claire Hunting. But what was the pain? And why?
"I don't believe that!" Hannah said, watching Claire with worry, "you looked really unhappy. We should talk to Professor Pomona."
"What? No!" Claire said quickly, coming out of her stupor. She didn't want anyone thinking she was a baby wouldn't break down into tears over something that trivial. "I'm fine, really. I don't want any more trouble or attention. Just – just leave it, please. I don't want him getting any worse."
Susan and Hannah were wearing identical expressions that clearly stated they might be willing to let it be for now, but they weren't going to forget about it.
Claire let out a quiet groan when she remembered she had potions three times a week, this year was beginning to look more difficult than she had anticipated.
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"Good morning Claire," Claire smiled as she sat down, she could hear Ginny's voice in her head and knew her friend was at the Gryffindor table just behind her. She turned and smiled at her soul-bond.
"Morning Ginny. How'd you sleep?"
"Roughly. I got used to having a big room by myself, and I had nightmares." She sensed Ginny's unease, "They're about Pettigrew, he's lived in our house for so long and now I keep imagining him transforming back and killing us."
"I know. It'll be okay Ginny, we'll get him before he has a chance to hurt any of your brothers." Claire said.
"I second that," Draco joined the mental conversation, sounding as though he was going into Black Head-of-House mode. "We have after-hours free, I'm getting Malefor and going straight to the Ministry. There, I'm going to threaten to withdraw all of House Black's support from Fudge and his little crew unless they reopen the case and give Sirius Black a trail. After he's cleared, I'm going to reinstate him and Andromeda."
"Hermione made an animagus-proof jar for me yesterday, during transfirguration. Asked Professor McGonagall for help with it. She looked really surprised, but she showed her how, for extra credit apparently. Hermi said we could catch Pettigrew with it." Luna remarked. At the Slytherin table, Draco choked on his drink, Neville slapping his back in concern.
"She did WHAT? Already?" He asked, incredulous.
"That's impressive. Draco, are you okay?" Ginny asked.
"fine! Just surprised."
"Hermione is very smart," Luna said. They all agreed with that, Hermione caught onto the spells used around her and replicated them with expert ease. She was probably one of the smartest girls in the entire school. "Though she has a hard time understanding Wakersprouts and Nargles. It's a pity. Cho and Padma are also very nice to me, Padma stopped someone from stealing from my trunk yesterday."
That didn't surprise Claire. Hermione was a very rational person, and wouldn't easily comprehend Luna's strange worldview. She was glad to hear Luna was making new friends, too. She'd met Cho and Padma in Charms and Potions and she liked them, though Padma's sister Pavarti could grind on the nerves sometimes.
"I'll get him after dinner." Ginny said, making up her mind. "Draco, you go make the call, tell them you mean business."
"I will," Draco said determinedly.
"We should tell the others," Claire said. "I think they'll want to be involved too."
"Got it. We'll tell them on the way to class." Everyone started getting up and moving towards their classes, "Good luck." They cut their conversation and followed their houses.
McGonagall watched them leave and remarked, "I think it's very nice that Claire and her friends are staying together despite being in different houses." She said. She'd ranted at Dumbledore for a long time after Claire disappearance and after she reappeared for the first day of school, she knew he'd wronged the girl and while she was disappointed Claire wasn't in her house she was glad she was further away from Dumbledore.
"Yes," Pomona agreed, "Petty rivalries keep the houses far from each other, this friendship might help bring the entire school together again."
Dumbledore said nothing, but pretended to agree with Pomona. It was important for the houses to keep separate but he couldn't tell them why, it was the only way for his plans to adequately go forward. He'd tried to get the girl to speak with him after school but she always retreated to her dorm, or he got menaced by one of the four dragons that had been circling the school.
He'd tried to have them shooed off until he received a massive shock, those four dragons were the runaway children's familiars and they were staying there to protect them! A wizard hadn't had a dragon familiar since the time of the Founders.
It was a testament to how powerful the girl was. But her friendship with Draco Black was troubling. Ginny Weasley and Luna Lovegood were negligible, it would be easy to guilt them into serving the light, but Draco, Black or Malfoy, was born a Death Eater, and once a death eater always a death eater. Sure, Severus had reported that the boy had spoken highly of muggles and of the Potters themselves at different times, but surely that was just some sort of ploy. He'd have to do something about the boy.
The reason he'd sent Claire to live with the Dursleys was easy, he wanted her to be able to shoulder mistreatment without protest, he wanted her to know what it was like to be the little person, and most importantly he couldn't afford her getting a big head over her fame. The Dursleys certainty wouldn't have let that foster, but clearly they'd been a bit overzealous, because she'd run away. Dumbledore wondered what else she'd discovered those years away from Britain. She'd found out about the potions due to ascending to her position in House Potter, but that wouldn't have told her everything about his plans. Sure, it was a major setback, but surely he could explain everything under the banner of the Greater Good. She'd understand eventually.
Oh, how wrong he was.
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Draco waited outside with Susan. Susan watched the boy, impressed. From the moment they'd entered the Ministry building Draco had transformed from the friendly, gentle boy he usually was to a fearsome, unmovable Head of House who took no crap and was expecting his audit, now.
He'd brought her over on Malefor, and frankly Susan would die to ride on a dragon again. It was so amazing.
A few minutes later, both Fudge and Amelia emerged from the doorway. Susan waved to her aunt, smiling, before taking on a serious expression.
Fudge stared at Draco for a minute. The young Head of House had crossed his arms and was watching him with a cool expression. "G...Greetings, Draco Black, Head of the Ancient and Noble House of Black." He said carefully, "How can I help you?"
"I wish to know why my family member, Sirius Black, was denied a trail that he is explicitly entitled to in this country's constitution?" Draco asked sharply, getting straight down to business.
Fudge froze and stared at him for a few seconds, before saying, "the evidence was overwhelming..."
"Overwhelming or not, there may have been other considerations and no matter what the initial evidence looks like a trail is still required!" Draco snapped. "As Head of House and family, I demand you rectify this, lest I withdraw my support from this establishment! Set the trail for this evening, and it better not be rigged or you will regret it. For you sake, I hope we meet this evening!"
With that Draco nodded curtly to the Minister and left the building. Susan put a letter in her shocked Aunt's hand. Amelia Bones watched Draco leave uncomprehendingly, "That boy has changed so much. It's incredible."
"Fate has an interesting way of working," Susan replied. "Auntie, Claire thinks she's found new evidence for Mr. Black's trail, he is her godfather."
Fudge perked up visibly at the thought of not only pleasing the new Head of House Black, but Claire Potter as well. "Y-Yes, well, Amelia, it sounds like we have work to be doing, let's get that trail ready."
Amelia nodded. Susan gently clutched her aunt's hand and asked, "How's the Nott case coming?"
Her aunt glanced back in the direction where Draco was standing out of earshot, waiting for Susan. "It's going well, Lucius tried very hard to cover his tracks but I found two of the associates. If I manage to drag confessions out of them I'll have something to get Fudge to convict him of. If Draco could testify at that trail, there would be no way for Lucius to escape."
Susan smiled, "I'll ask him auntie, see you this evening."
End Chapter
Okay, the pacing is feeling a little awkward, but I wanted to get some of the usual stations of canon out of the way before diving into the actual story, which will take a massively different path from canon, canon nazis beware. Anyway, it took me a while to work out how Snape might treat Claire if she looked much more like Lily than like James. It struck me as perhaps a little more painful, actually, because she'll be there not just as a reminder of Lily marrying James but a constant, living shadow of the woman he loved and failed. His initial attitude won't be consistant, though.
Read and Review, please!