Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
Young and Dumb
Chapter Three: We're Not Blind (Part One)
"Hey, Sirius, can you do my potions homework?" Sorcha asked from her seat at the coffee table in front of the fire.
"Sure." Sirius agreed, lazily holding his hand out for the book and parchment, while sprawled out on the couch.
James scoffed as the second year girl happily perked up as she handed her homework to the his friend. Sirius casually began to scratch down the answers with ease. From time to time Sorcha would peek at his work and ask about the answers. As Sirius explained the uses of star grass, he found himself thinking it rather odd that this girl had an interest in learning, just so long as she did not do the work.
"Sirius! Why are you doing her homework?!" Remus demanded as he entered the common room.
"Because it's faster than making her do it, and I'd rather not spend all day inside because she's being a brat."
"I am not!" Sorcha defended.
Remus walked over to Sirius and jerked the book and parchment out of his hands, before depositing them in front of Sorcha.
"The point of monitoring her, is not simply to complete her homework, but to make sure that she does it herself and that she learns."
"She has been learning." Sirius informed his friend.
"Have not!"
All three boys glanced at the younger girl for a moment, taken aback by her indigence.
"Hey, git, I'm trying to help you here." Sirius reminded her.
"Oh... Sorry"
"Look Remus," James cut in, "she's been watching him work and asking him to explain the answers. It may not be conventional, but she is learning and it's less of a pain this way."
Remus thought about what his friends said for a moment. He had to admit that they did have a point, she did not seem to learn by conventional methods; and even Lily was getting worn down by the duty of making Sorcha do her homework. He also recognized the sacrifice that James and Sirius were making by helping them... Well, the sacrifice that Sirius was making (James volunteered early on, so that he could spend more time with Lily). He turned to Sorcha and began to quiz her.
"Sorcha, is Bubotuber pus healing or harmful?"
"Harmful when concentrated, but when diluted and mixed into potions, it can be used for healing and acne removal."
"What happens when you hear a mandrake cry?"
"You die... if it's an adult. The babies just knock you out."
"If I was to throw an object at you, what spell would you use to slow it down?"
"Arresto Momentum?" Sorcha answered uncertainly.
"Correct. Do you think you could use it right now?"
"Possibly."
Remus pulled a bottle of ink from his bag and threw it at the uncertain girl. She snatched her wand off the table and yelled out the incantation in a panicked voice. The bottle slowed down and continued it's descent with jerky movements, before landing on the table.
"I suppose that's not too bad. In the future, don't yell the incantation. Say it calmly, the fall will be smoother. Understand?"
"Yes... I think so."
"Spells can be heavily influenced by our emotions as well as how we say them."
"Got it."
Remus, sighed before looking back at his friends.
"I suppose you can finish up today like this. I'll talk to McGonagall about it tomorrow, the final decision rests with her."
"Thanks Remus!" Sirius chirped. "We should be done in five minutes!"
"What about the rest of her homework?"
"Sirius already did her Herbology and Charms work. I helped her write her History of Magic essay." James informed him.
"You're weak, man." The prefect scoffed at Sirius.
After multiple discussions with both the Headmaster and Deputy Headmistress, regarding Sorcha's homework, a compromise was reached. Sorcha would do her homework in an empty classroom, with help from Remus, Lily, James and Sirius. They would explain the answers to her, but she was write down her interpretation of what they told her. The homework sessions began to go faster than they used to, but still not as fast as when Sirius just did the work and explained the answers.
Now that Sirius and Sorcha 'officially' knew each other and Godric had graduated, it became a common sight to see the two together. Most students did not mind, but several of Sorcha's family members would keep a close eye on them. The teachers had mixed feelings about their association; Sirius was a brilliant student and Sorcha's classwork had improved drastically in her time spent with him, but he was a troublemaker and they were worried that he would corrupt the (mostly) sweet girl.
It was a snowy day and Sorcha was skipping down the corridor and questioning Sirius about Hogsmeade as he walked. She would not be allowed to go until next year, and the prospect of leaving the school was so exciting, for her, that she wanted to know everything.
"I heard that there's a big house called the Shrieking Shack and that it's haunted! Is it?!"
"In a way, I suppose." Sirius replied, trying not to give too much away.
"Have you been inside?!"
"Yes, but I almost lost my head, and we're not supposed to go in there, so don't tell anyone; otherwise I'll get a nice big 'told you so' along with a detention and some time in Azkaban."
Sorcha laughed.
"They don't send people to Azkaban for trespassing!"
"You want to risk it?" Sirius asked, with a raised eyebrow.
Sorcha stopped for a moment and thought about it.
"No. Not really." She replied, before resuming her skipping.
"What about the Hog's Head? I heard that there are trolls there."
"Nope. Sorry. Just a few particularly smelly patrons in a bar full of shady characters, but when they get drunk enough, it can be hard to tell the difference."
"Is it true that you once had a broomstick race there?"
"Yes. We got two weeks of detention for that one."
"What about the secret tunnels?"
"Let me guess. You're not gonna tell me how you know about those."
"Mm-hm!"
"Is it seer's blood?"
"Nope!" The girl laughed gleefully as she made a spinning skip in front of him.
"Brian told me that your great-grandmother was a seer."
"So?"
"So, I think that's how you know all these things."
"Well it's not."
"So you're saying that you haven't inherited any psychic abilities?"
"No. I have. Just nothing that strong or worthy of being called 'seer's blood'. I just have vague feelings about things."
"Like what?"
"Something embarrassing is going to happen to Peader," she began ticking off while still skipping around nonchalantly, "a sense of dread for Alvina, Prewitt is going to fail a few classes, your lot is going to owe Chang, and you're going to take me to Hogsmeade."
Sorcha stopped skipping and was now facing Sirius, who was chuckling at her.
"You're right, that's not seer's blood, you're just planning on blackmailing me again."
"No I'm not. I'm just saying that you're gonna take me."
"Because you're gonna blackmail me!"
"Oh please! When was the last time I blackmailed you?"
"Last week."
"That wasn't blackmail! You asked what I knew and I told you! And then you gave me your liquorice wand! I thought that was just your way of showing that you were impressed!"
"So you're saying that I blackmailed myself?"
"Yes! Now how are you getting me to Hogsmead?"
Sirius closed his eyes for a moment, as he thought it over. Finally he reached a decision and sighed, before looking back at his young companion.
"Meet me by the giant mirror on the fourth floor at three o'clock, tomorrow -and dress warm."
Sorcha squealed and hugged Sirius around the middle.
"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"
"Alright! I get it! You're welcome! Now let go of me before your family puts a price on my head!"
"Oops! Sorry!"
The next afternoon; Sirius, James and Remus had all worked together to disguise Sorcha, after meeting in the tunnel. Her black, curly hair was now blonde and pulled into two messy plaits. They turned her eyes brown and made her wear an old pair of glasses that James had snatched from Filch's confiscation drawer. Finally they added some freckles, a ruddy face and button nose, before heading back to Hogsmeade. Now, all four Marauders watched the young girl zooming, excitedly, around Honeydukes.
"We better not get caught." James said for umpteenth time.
"We won't." Sirius reassured him. "Why are you getting so worked up, anyways? We've done way worse."
"I don't know, Sirius," Remus said, "generally it only involves us. But this time, you snuck a second year off school grounds, without adult supervision, and there's a dark wizard on the rise."
"Oh come off it! Hogsmeade is safe! Dumbledore is up the road -and as for adult supervision- Look around! There're aurors on every corner, not to mention the good citizens themselves. Besides, Sorcha's a pure-blood. Lily is in far more danger of being attacked by a Death Eater than Sorcha is!"
"You know that the Death Eaters don't see it that way, right?" Remus reminded him.
Sirius let out a frustrated groan.
"Look, that part doesn't even matter. The point is that nothing is going to happen, because my first two points remain. Sorcha is safe, Lily is safe, we're all safe. Nobody will get hurt, and nobody will get caught. So stop worrying and enjoy yourselves!"
"What about Lily?" James asked.
"Didn't I just tell you that she'll be fine?!" Sirius snapped.
"No, I meant what if she finds out? She'll be furious, and all the work I've put into impressing her will be wasted."
"If it's any consolation, she still finds you repulsive." Remus commented, earning snickers from Sirius and Peter.
"Thanks Moony." James replied sarcastically.
"Seriously, though, why did you bring her?" Remus asked.
"She asked." Sirius shrugged.
"Did she blackmail you again?" Peter asked.
"No!"
"Then why did you bring her?" James asked.
"I just told you! She asked, so I brought her."
"So you're saying that you put all of us at risk, just because a pretty girl asked?" Remus asked with a raised eyebrow.
"It is not like that!... At all! She's twelve!" Sirius hissed defensively.
"Merlin, Sirius, I thought you were only joking about hitting on her! The Feis won't be happy about this!" James cracked, earning laughter from the other two Marauders.
"You lot are sick." Sirius said as his eyes narrowed in annoyance. "I'm gonna remind her not to talk to the other students."
Sirius stalked off while his friends laughed at his expense. He walked over to Sorcha, who was placing a tin of sugared butterfly wings in her basket, and put a hand on her shoulder to get her attention. As he spoke to his charge, Sirius glanced around and noticed Blake Chang watching them. As unlikely as it seemed, Sirius got the impression that Blake suspected the bespectacled girl's identity. With that in mind, he told Sorcha that they were heading out to the Three Broomsticks, and she should hurry up.
Sorcha grabbed a few more items and paid for them quickly before heading out with the boys. While they were eating at the Three Broomsticks, a few classmates asked who the girl was, as they did not recognize her. Remus told them that she was his younger cousin, who's parents were letting her visit. Afterwards Sorcha surprised Sirius, by asking to go to the potions shop.
"Why do you need to go there?" He asked, as he walked her there.
The other three had headed off to Zonko's, declaring Sorcha to be Sirius's responsibility.
"I need to get some potions ingredients."
"What for?"
"Alvina."
"Can't she get them herself? She's got more money than you."
Sorcha took a swipe at his arm, but missed. Sirius laughed.
"Seriously, Sorcha, she also has better access to potions ingredients than you. So why are you buying them?"
Sorcha sighed before explaining.
"She hasn't been feeling good for awhile now."
"She's sick?"
"No. I meant it like...sad, feeling down, stressed. That sort of thing."
"Oh."
"You know that she's training to become a healer, right?"
"Yeah. I remember."
"Well, I heard that she's seeing a lot of scary stuff because of the war. And they need a lot of help, so she kind of lives at St. Mungo's so that she can train faster. She doesn't get to see friends and family much. "
"What about Aiken? Are they still seeing each other?"
"Yeah, he visits her when he can, but some of his co-workers died, so he's working more to help them keep up."
"Let me guess, the dead co-workers were muggle-born."
"Yeah..."
Sorcha was now looking down at her feet and kicking up snow as she walked.
"Hey, look, I know it's sad and horrible, but you shouldn't let this get you down." Sirius said. "Dumbledore will end this war soon enough, and even that 'Dark Lord' knows it. I mean honestly, look around, we're able to walk around this town freely, because he's afraid of Dumbledore, who's all the way back at the school!"
Sirius was shocked when he saw the child flash him a wry smile.
"I wish I could believe you, Sirius -I want to, but I know that you're wrong."
"How could you possibly know that?" Sirius asked (flippantly?).
"It's just a feeling, okay! I just feel like this war is going to go on much longer than you think, and that something absolutely awful is going to happen before it's all over!"
"You're really a pessimist, aren't you?" He asked as he stopped walking and looked at her.
Sorcha snapped around to glare at him before huffing angrily and running away. Sirius paused for a moment, wondering why she would bother running off when she could not get back to school by herself. It did not take him long to realize that logic was irrelevant in this situation (as it often was with this girl), and he should probably catch her before she got herself into trouble.
"Hey! Sor-" Sirius stopped himself mid-sentence, remembering that some of her siblings were in town. "Get back here!" He yelled as he took off after her.
As he chased after her, Sirius began making plans to never sneak her out again. Sorcha ran onto a crowded street, and Sirius mentally cursed. This was bad, with all the tightened security someone was bound to intervene and they would be caught. Detention would be the least of his worries, besides the Feis and their cousins' wrath, his friends would be furious that he dragged them down with him.
Suddenly the young girl's run was stopped as she ran into a brunette boy and stumbled backwards. Sirius's world froze when he realized who she had bumped into. It was Brian Fei, her brother. If she had run into Peader, he would not have been worried, as Peader disliked his little sister, greatly, and made a point of avoiding her. Brian was another story, he was always checking up on his siblings; making sure that they were behaving, checking their homework and just spending time with them. Brian would recognize his sister, even with all the transfiguration.
Sirius stood, petrified; despite time slowing down it also seemed to have simultaneously sped up. It was like being in one of those Muggle horror movies, that he and James had sneaked out to watch during breaks. He watched as Brian turned around, reaching out to grab the stumbling girl's arm, and craning his head down to see her face.
All at once, time returned to normal as a gloved hand grabbed Sorcha's shoulder and pulled her back and around to face it's owner, blocking Brian's view of her face.
"There you are Evelyn!" Blake Chang exclaimed. "Your cousin and his friends were worried about you! Hey, Sirius, I found her!"
Sirius, though confused, was grateful for Blake's intervention and let out a sigh of relief before walking over to the small group. He noticed Blake bend down a bit to talk to Sorcha, who was rubbing her eyes, before he picked her up and she hid her face in his shoulder.
"Thanks Blake! Remus would kill me if we lost her!"
"Remus has a cousin?" Brian asked.
"Yeah, a second cousin I think -not too clear. Her Mom said that she could spend the day with us. I guess I said something to upset her, and she ran off. Sorry about that."
"Nah. It's okay, I'm used to kids running into me, especially back home." Brian waved them off before laughing. "She must have a hard forehead though, because for a second, I thought she was Sorcha, before I remembered that she was back at school."
"I'll withhold my observations, I have no idea what I did to set her off like this and I'd rather not risk another escape."
"Yeah, I suppose you're right, there." Brian agreed. "Sorry, Evelyn, I hope I didn't upset you."
Sorcha shook her head, still keeping it in Blake's shoulder.
"Well, we should probably be getting back to Remus, now." Blake said. "He's pretty worried, and she's getting heavy."
"Oh, right, right." Brian agreed. "See you two later -and Evelyn, despite his name, you shouldn't anything Sirius says too seriously."
"Ha ha ha." Sirius said sarcastically. "I haven't heard that one before."
The boys waved goodbye to each other as they parted, with Sirius, Blake and Sorcha heading towards Zonko's. Once they were a safe enough distance away, Sirius relaxed enough to speak.
"Thanks for your help, Blake. We'd be in some pretty ser- big trouble if you hadn't intervened."
"You're welcome, but try not to make a habit of it. I'm a prefect, I can't be getting involved in stuff like this -and my parents would kill me if I got in trouble."
"Right, sorry, I'll try to be more careful next time."
"Maybe you could just make sure that there isn't a next time. The age restriction on Hogsmeade visits isn't just a rule, it's a safety measure -and they're actually considering changing it to fourth or fifth years, with all the dark activity that's going on."
"Sorry." Sorcha mumbled.
"I suppose you do share some blame here too, don't you?" Blake said, before setting her down to walk again. "Promise not to do this again?"
"Yes." Sorcha agreed.
"Good. Let's go find Remus then and get you back to school."
"Why do we have to find Remus first?"
"We told everybody that you're his cousin, so it would be weird if you disappeared without saying goodbye to him." Sirius said.
"Speaking of which, did anybody ask why they haven't seen her at Hogwarts?" Blake asked.
"We said that she's ten."
"And what about next year when she doesn't show up?"
"Say she died?" Sirius suggested with a shrug. "I don't think anybody will be all that interested or remember."
"You underestimate our classmates -and your group's notoriety. Just say she's being home schooled, then Remus won't have to act upset and receive extra pity."
"I suppose there're enough kids being home schooled, now, that it won't raise any eyebrows."
"There are?" Sorcha asked.
"Yeah." Sirius answered. "Didn't you wonder why there are so few students at Hogwarts?"
"What are you talking about? There are are lots of students."
Blake sighed before explaining.
"There were a lot more just three or four years ago, but a lot of parents started getting worried and pulling their kids out to home school instead."
At Blake's explanation, Sirius remembered that the class sizes had already shrunk by the time Sorcha started at Hogwarts. He had his first few years to compare the school's population to, but Sorcha only had her home as comparison. It made sense that she thought there were a lot of students.
"Why did they do that?" Sorcha asked.
Sooner than he expected, Sirius found himself opening the doors to Zonko's.
"Because of the war." Sirius replied. "Some parents are just too afraid of letting their children out of their sight."
After finding the other Maurauders, Blake said goodbye and headed off to find his friends, while quartet took Sorcha back to school. It was a lengthy process; going down the tunnel, undoing the disguise and returning back to Hogsmeade through the tunnel so they could check in at the school gates. Sirius truly hoped that Sorcha intended on keeping her promise to Blake.
Before heading back, though, Sirius told his friends that he was heading to the potions shop, explaining that Sorcha had wanted to grab a few things for Alvina. James volunteered to go with him, to make the trip go faster, and sent Remus and Peter ahead to the school. Sirius found himself quite relieved when James did not tease him about Sorcha (he did not need people thinking he was a creep). Splitting the list between them, the two boys found everything they needed and got back to school only a minute after check-in.
"It's a good thing you made her cry, Sirius, there's no way she could have afforded all of this, and the Feis aren't very good at accepting charity." James said as he swung the bag of ingredients back and forth.
"For the last time! I didn't make her cry! I just got her angry and then she pretended to cry, so that her brother wouldn't see her face!"
"Right. Right...What did you even say?"
"I called her a pessimist."
James glanced at his friend.
"That's it?"
"Yeah. I mean we were talking about the war, but that was mostly just depressing."
"And then you called her a pessimist?"
"I tried to cheer her up, first. Told her it would be over soon, and then she said I was wrong, so I called her a pessimist."
"Sensitive kid." James observed, casually.
"You're telling me." Sirius grumbled as they headed up the stairs.
"I would recommend not marrying her." James said, quite seriously.
"Could we please stop with those jokes." Sirius begged. "At least until she's fourteen. I feel like a such a creep when you do that!"
"You're the one who started it."
"When?!"
"Last year. Before the train even left the station." James reminded him, before pulling aside the unicorn tapestry.
"It was a poor choice of words, that's all!" Sirius argued.
"Poor choice of words?"
"I meant that it was a tense situation, and instead of diffusing it, I provoked it and I now regret it!"
"Yeah, you do that a lot don't you?"
"You're one to talk." Sirius grumbled as James gave the password to the fat lady.
The portrait swung aside and the two boys climbed through the portrait hole.
"Not as much as you. Moony has slowly been teaching me the art of holding my tongue. It's more useful than I thought. You should try it sometime."
"I'll think about it." Sirius said, before glancing around the dorm.
Upon spotting Anabelle Roth, one of Sorcha's roommates, he took James's bag of ingredients and headed over to her.
"Hey, Roth, could you put this on Sorcha's bed and tell her that it's a Christmas gift for her cousin?"
The young girl nodded shyly.
"W-which cousin... she's got a lot." She asked, getting softer with each word.
"Alvina."
Anabelle nodded again, before heading up to the girls' dorms with the bags. Sirius walked back over to James and the two headed out the portrait hole to dinner. As they walked, his earlier conversation with Sorcha played out in the back of Sirius's mind.
"Hey, I heard some stuff that I wanted to tell you guys." He told James. "But I don't want Ben listening in."
"Understandable."
That night, James slipped Ben a sleeping draught, to make sure he stayed asleep while they talked. Sirius told his friends what Sorcha had told him about her cousin's training and Aiken's muggle-born co-workers. Remus added a bit of information as well; He had heard from Blake that a witch from Korea had joined Aiken's department in the ministry. When asked why anyone would transfer to west Europe (especially the United Kingdom) when it was so dangerous, the answer was unsettling.
The situation was dire enough, that other ministries and magical citizens from around the world were offering their aid; so that their Ministry would not only stay afloat, but hopefully stop the Dark Lord's influence and power from spreading.
Peter was shaking while the others solemnly concluded that Voldemort and his Death Eaters were certainly growing stronger than The Daily Prophet let on. That night, they promised each other that if the war was still going when they graduated, they would join the efforts fight Voldemort at all cost. Three of them firmly believed that they would ready for the trials and sacrifices to come, but one of them knew that he would never be.
Sorry for the long break. I've been sick for awhile and have finally started to pull out of it. I'm hoping to update my other stories soon, this one just happened to be the easiest to write and get a friend's input on.
While doing some of my research for this story, I came across an error that I made in the previous chapter; Lucius Malfoy had already graduated Hogwarts by the time that Sorcha started. So I'll leave it up to you to decide if he's a year younger, or Sirius just pranked some other Slytherin.
Thanks for reading! I hope to update soon, but I did wake up with the sniffles again (hopefully it's just the cold weather).