Arcturus Black
By: Katerinaki
Published: 10/1/2014
Beta'ed: No
Notes: If there's anything worse than losing your mother to dragon pox and then coming to live in a whole different country, with relatives you've never even met before, it's coming to live with relatives who already hate you, for something you didn't even do. That was how Arcturus Sirius Black, secret son of Sirius Orion Black and Lenora Cassandra Malfoy, understood family politics.
Chapter 5: Family Tradition
Upon arrival, Arcturus, Fred, and George all went their own ways, Fred and George following the main stream of students while Arcturus headed for the large figure booming, "Firs' years! Firs' years this way!" He rose up over the crowd and probably would have even if they'd all been fully-grown adults. Arcturus moved closer with the other first year students and wondered what could've caused the man's size.
'Either a growth potion out of control, or he's half-giant,' Arcturus concluded. He was inclined more towards the second. It wasn't common, but not unheard of. As Arcturus watched the man move around the group carrying his huge lantern and trailed by a large boarhound, and he wondered which temperament had won out. Giants could be short-tempered and incredibly thick. Whoever this guy was, was he the same? Only one way to find out.
"Are we just going to stand here all night?" Arcturus asked, loudly, his tone dripping with sarcasm.
"Jus' makin' sure everyone's here," the half-giant replied.
"Obviously we are, unless you can't count that high." Arcturus might have felt bad about what he was saying, except the half-giant took that time to turn around and look right at Arcturus.
"Shoulda known it'd be you," he said. "No need ta be rude. We're goin'. Firs' years, this way!" And he turned and began leading them down a trail, away from the platform at Hogsmeade, the magical village near Hogwarts.
'Should've known it'd be me? What's that supposed to mean?' Arcturus wondered. He didn't even know who this guy was, unless it was another thing like with Lupin. Did the half-giant know his father, or maybe his mother? Had he known him as a baby?
They followed the half-giant down the path through the dark. It'd taken all day to reach Hogwarts and the anticipation was almost palpable.
"Jus' up ahead ye'll catch yer firs' look at Hogwarts!" the half-giant called. They rounded a bend and came to a large, dark lake, the Black Lake, from what Lupin had told Arcturus. They'd have to cross it, as a sort of tradition for first years. Sure enough, down at the shore was a fleet of small boats, each sporting their own lantern and waiting for the first years to board. But those weren't what caught all the attention.
Rising up in the night was the castle itself. Lupin had told Arcturus that it was the most breath-taking sight he'd ever seen, and Arcturus could easily see why. The castle stood impressive before them, surreal even for the Magical world. Hundreds, if not thousands of lights shown throughout the castle, making it look like a cluster of stars against the dark background. The towers each rose over everything, piercing the night sky. It was ancient, majestic, and ethereal; Arcturus couldn't wait to arrive.
The first years stumbled down the slope to the boats. It might've been easier to walk properly, had they not all been transfixed by Hogwarts castle. They climbed in and with a command, began making their way across the lake. The sky was slightly cloudy but the waxing gibbous gave enough light that between it and the lanterns, Arcturus could see everything around him well enough. The surface of the Black Lake rippled off the bow of their little row boats, inky, concealing whatever may be lurking just beneath the surface. Apparently there was a Giant Squid.
They passed under a row of vines and into a dock under the castle itself. As the boats bumped against the stone, the first years and half-giant climbed out and gathered on the dock. He led them up a set of stairs and into a large hall and then a side room of the main doors.
"Wait 'ere," the half-giant told them. "Professor McGonagall'll be 'ere soon."
The new first year students milled around in the side room, anxiously awaiting the arrival of Professor McGonagall and the official beginning of their Hogwarts careers. Arcturus couldn't help but feel a bit of that nervousness as well, even though Lupin had regaled him with plenty of stories of Hogwarts. Still, what would it be like? Where would he be placed? Who would he meet along the way? Thus far, Arcturus had been relatively cut off from other children of his age. He had Malfoy and his goonies, but that was only at formal events, and even then, Arcturus didn't really count them as friends. Malfoy was more of a "sparring partner".
Eventually the door opened and a stern witch with her hair tightly pulled back in a knot at the base of her neck and her hat perched on her head severely, entered. Professor McGonagall looked over the first years with a sharp eye, scrutinizing their appearance before begrudgingly giving a small nod of approval.
"Welcome to Hogwarts. In a few moments, we will go into the Great Hall and you will be Sorted into one of the four Houses. They are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. While you are here, your House will be your family. Successes will earn points for your House, while rule breaking will cost points. At the end of the year, the House that has succeeded in gaining the most points will be awarded the House Cup, a coveted honour.
"Now, please assemble in a straight line and we will enter the Great Hall."
The first years all shuffled into place and Arcturus found himself towards the middle of the group, next to a taller boy with a self-satisfied smirk on his face. Arcturus immediately didn't like him. When the first years were adequately assembled, McGonagall led the way out of the side room, across the entrance, through the two large doors into the Great Hall.
Hogwarts seemed just as magnificent as Lupin had described it. The Great Hall was packed full of students, and every one of them watched the new first years as they filed down the row between the two centre tables. Most of Arcturus's peers looked frightened. But Arcturus was too busy drinking all of it in. He'd dreamed of being here since the first time Lupin had described the Great Hall with its four House tables, the floating candles, and the infamous bewitched ceiling that showed the sky. It was straight out of his imaginings; only ten times better because it wasn't an imagining. He was really, truly there.
The first years crowded up around the front of the hall where Professor McGonagall had placed a much worn stool and an even older hat. They flocked closer, those in the back attempting to get a better look at what those in the front were staring at. The entire hall fell silent as a line of stitching sprung open and the hat began to sing. Arcturus listened, along with the rest of the school, as it sang about the four Houses of Hogwarts and each of their respective founders. Lupin had explained the Houses and the traits that each valued in their members. Gryffindors were brave, Slytherins cunning and ambitious. Ravenclaws were clever and valued knowledge while Hufflepuffs were hard working and loyal. Arcturus knew, though, that he was expected to get into Slytherin. Every Black got into Slytherin, well except his father. And look where he ended up!
But Arcturus wasn't all that interested in what was expected of him. Many people expected things of him, and they were mostly disappointed. Marius and Ariadne had expected him to be an obedient child and polite, but Arcturus went out of his way to deliberately disobey. He was "just like that murderer father of his".
When the hat finished, the whole hall burst into applause although Arcturus had heard better before. It seems a singing hat impresses, though. McGonagall stepped forward and began calling names.
"Anderson, Avery."
A short, very frightened boy stepped up, the first alphabetically and the first of the new class to be Sorted. He sat on the stool and McGonagall placed the hat on his head. It didn't take long at all for the seam to open again and the Sorting Hat to declare, "Ravenclaw!"
Anderson, Avery took off the hat and hurried to join his new House amidst general, good-natured applause.
"Black, Arcturus."
Arcturus had assumed he'd be soon and was ready to step up when McGonagall called his name. He sauntered up, mustering up all the nonchalance he could, but inside he couldn't help but be a little nervous. What if he was put in Slytherin? True, that was technically where he was supposed to go, but he didn't like the thought of dark, dank dungeons or living up to his extended family's expectations. But if he didn't go to Slytherin, where would he be placed?
Suddenly, Arcturus wasn't feeling so self-assured, but he was already seated on the stool and McGonagall was placing the Sorting Hat on his head. It was too late to go back now.
"Ah, a Black," murmured the hat in his ear. "But you do not wish for Slytherin? Hm, well with your background, I suppose it should be...Gryffindor!"
The red table cheered loudest as Arcturus took off the hat and climbed from the stool. He felt extraordinarily relieved. Gryffindor was a good house. Remus had been from there, as had his father, but Arcturus chose to ignore that detail. Every House had a rotten egg. He spotted Fred and George Weasley where they moved aside, creating a gap between the two of them where he could sit. Before Arcturus could really think about the possible consequences of such a seat, he took the spot on the bench, immediately being enveloped into the Gryffindor fold.
"Welcome!" Fred greeted.
"Knew we chose wisely," George added.
Sitting with the Weasley twins were two more boys with the same bright red hair. One was only a couple of years older than Fred and George, but the other was obviously a seventh year and wore a Gryffindor Quidditch Captain's badge and a prefect's badge. The younger of the two turned to face Arcturus, head up, shoulders stiff.
"I do not believe we have been introduced. I am Percy Weasley. Welcome to Gryffindor House." He held out his hand and Arcturus shook it, the whole exchange very stiff and formal, not at all what he'd expected from Fred and George's brother, even an older brother.
"Aw, lighten up, Perce," the yet older boy said. He grinned at Arcturus good-naturedly. "I'm Charlie, Fred, George, and Percy's brother."
"Nice to meet you," Arcturus replied, feeling immediately more at ease and relieved that the entire Weasley family didn't act like they had a wand up their butts bigger than Uncle Marius's.
"Don't worry about Percy," Charlie murmured to him as the other turned back to watch the Sorting. "He'll lighten up. I think Fred and George are working on him. By the way, welcome to the Lion's Den."
After a big feast, the Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, stood up to make what Arcturus assumed was his standard, start-of-year speech. Lupin had had nothing but good to say about Dumbledore, to the point that Arcturus was fairly certain Lupin thought Dumbledore crapped roses and daffodils. Granted, a speech that had been given, no doubt, a hundred times before was hardly the best medium to judge the Headmaster for himself. Still, Arcturus hadn't really seen or heard anything that would immediately make him hate Dumbledore. But the school term was still young and Arcturus was still a wide-eyed innocent little first year in the eyes of the Hogwarts staff. He'd reserve judgement for later, when he'd find out just how great this Dumbledore was.
Already Arcturus knew he was going to clash with the Gryffindor Head of House, none other than Professor McGonagall herself. She struck him as the no nonsense, "strict but fair" sort of professor, which didn't really go well with Arcturus's general troublemaker attitude. What he really needed was easy-going and biased to all things Gryffindor, otherwise he had a strong feeling that big shiny hourglass that tallied the House points would remain almost as empty as it was now. Still, Fred and George assured him that McGonagall was okay.
"She's a sweet lady at heart," Fred joked.
"We're two of her favourites," George added, to Charlie's snort of cynicism.
"Charlie, bro, you wound us," Fred acted hurt.
"Just wait for the hysterics until we've made it through the first couple of weeks. Gryffindor needs to build up a point base before you try to send us into the negatives," Charlie replied.
Fred and George shrugged. "Fair enough."
After the feast, Charlie and another girl prefect led Arcturus and his fellow first years up to the dormitory, all the way at the top of Gryffindor Tower. It was quite the climb and Arcturus groaned as he resigned himself to the fact that he'd have to make it probably hundreds of times in the next seven years.
"Hey there, mate," a boy Arcturus recognized as the conceited git from before the Sorting said to him as they were climbing the moving staircases. "Cormac McLaggen."
"Arcturus Black," he half-growled through compressed lungs. He'd really need to get in better shape if he was going to do this multiple times a day.
"Yes, I remember," McLaggen replied. "Although I was surprised to see you in Gryffindor. The McLaggen family has a history in this House, of course, but I've always heard the Blacks prefer Slytherin House."
Arcturus shrugged. "Felt like a change in scenery, I guess." The McLaggen berk was getting on his nerves already and they hadn't even made it to the dormitory yet.
"What do your parents have to say about that? I imagine they wouldn't be too thrilled."
"Wouldn't know, they're dead," Arcturus growled. Well, it was basically true. It wasn't like his father was ever getting out of that hell hole, and Arcturus didn't want to see him even if he did.
At least McLaggen had enough tact to look mildly apologetic after that, but he still acted like an ass. A stuck-up ass who didn't know when to shut his pie hole. Arcturus didn't look forward to having to room with him for the next seven years. Please let my bed be on the opposite side of the room.
Charlie led the boys up to their dormitory while the girl took the first year girls. They climbed up a few more sets of stairs until coming to the door marked "1".
"This is the first year boys' dormitory," Charlie said. "Your trunks should already be up. Sleep tight." He turn descended back to the warm common room, leaving the group to stare at the closed door, waiting for someone to make the first move. Arcturus rolled his eyes and pushed forward, turning the handle and opening the door to a small, circular dormitory with beds around the circumference and a heater at the centre. Each bed had a trunk at the foot of it. Now that the door was open and someone else had taken the first step inside, the other boys in Arcturus's year pushed past, searching for their trunk and bed. Arcturus found his, second from the door. He almost groaned too when the McLaggen bloke took the bed nearest the door, opening the trunk at the foot.
"Well it looks like the elves didn't jostle my trunk too badly," he commented, sorting through his school robes and the various other knickknacks in the large trunk with his initials in gold leafing and a roaring lion on the side. Arcturus rolled his eyes and went to his own trunk to find things fairly intact as well. He glanced around the dormitory at the six other boys he shared the room with. Hopefully at least one of them wasn't as big a git as McLaggen, otherwise this would be a long seven years spent outside the dormitory. There was a boy with darker skin on the other side of his bed that didn't look too bad. At least he wasn't haughtily going on about the lack of "good help" nowadays. Arcturus stood up and made his way over to him, mustering up a bit of a smile.
"Hi. I'm Arcturus Black," he greeted. The other boy looked up, obviously sizing him up. But apparently he was okay with what he found because he smiled back.
"Lee Jordan," he replied, taking Arcturus's proffered hand. "Pleasure to meet you."
"Likewise," Arcturus replied.
"Like Fizzing Whizzbees?" Lee Jordan asked, holding up a big box from his trunk. "My mum gave me a whole pack." Lee opened and held out the sweet to Arcturus.
"Sure," Arcturus replied, though he really hadn't eaten many sweets since coming to live with his aunt and uncle. But, as he was munching on the sweet and it was crackling on his tongue, Arcturus decided he just might like Lee Jordan and might actually be able to get along with him. At the very least, sharing a box of Fizzing Whizzbees was a good start. Maybe the next seven years in Gryffindor wouldn't be so bad after all.