Arcturus Black
By: Katerinaki
Published: 2/28/2015
Beta'ed: No
Notes: It's short and it's been a while but this was a tricky chapter to write. Not entirely thrilled with it so let me know what you think and any possible corrections I could make.
-Katerinaki
Chapter 12: The Summer of Firsts
As the school year came to a close and the first-years sat through the last of their exams, Arcturus could feel the excitement mounting. Summer holidays were almost upon them, except Arcturus would much rather sit another round of exams than go back to live with the Squibs. The only good news was that he had people other than Remus to owl over the summer. Lee would be travelling for two weeks with his parents but then he would be back in London after that and wanted to catch a football match with Arcturus. The twins wanted him to visit them at their home in Devon, strangely named "The Burrow".
"It's not much," George admitted, as the two of them described their home on the Hogwarts Express back to London.
"But it's home and plenty big enough for everyone," Fred promised. He and George sat on one side of the compartment with Lee, while Arcturus and Tonks shared a bench. Tonks and Lee seemed to be in a rather intense match of Wizard's Chess that Tonks was losing spectacularly. Arcturus ducked as a piece of Tonks' bishop sailed over his head and clattered against the window.
"That's checkmate," Lee declared, reaching across to shake Tonks' hand.
"I'm rubbish at this!" she groaned, acknowledging her defeat before they set about gathering all the pieces. Arcturus handed her the bishop's head by his feet.
"Maybe they'll teach you how to play a decent game of chess in Auror training," he joked.
"Nah, Tonks will be learning how to fight evil wizards," George said. "They're tricky, that lot."
"Got to keep on your toes, or they'll hex you right in the back," Fred added.
Arcturus thought Fred's words were all too accurate. Just look what his own father had done to his friends! When he thought of Tonks, he couldn't see her as a stone-faced Auror, fighting Dark wizards. She was just, well, Tonks! She was his fun-loving, pink-haired, klutz of a cousin.
"Is that what you guys have been doing all year? Keeping me on my toes?" Tonks bantered back.
Arcturus grinned. "Just helping you prepare," he replied innocently.
It was too soon when the Hogwarts Express at last pulled into Kings Cross Station in London. As they parted ways, all promised to write and the twins shouted a reminder at Arcturus that he was to come for a visit to the Burrow at least once this summer and that they'd jump through his Floo and hex him in his sleep if he neglected their owls.
Once beyond the barrier to Platform 9 ¾, Arcturus looked around for the no doubt sour faces of his Aunt and Uncle. Sure enough, Marius and Ariadne waited for him by the curb, shooting disdaining looks at the Muggles who passed them by. They once more called the Knight Bus and the three of them returned to the Squibs' house with nary a word between them. With a sigh, Arcturus dumped his trunk at the foot of his bed and set Striga's cage on top of his wardrobe. He was back "home", but none of it felt like home. In fact, it seemed like he'd left his home behind and the Squibs' house was the foreign place.
"Supper is promptly at six," Aunt Ariadne said from just outside his door. "I trust you remember to wash and dress properly." Her footsteps clicked along the wooden floor before descending once more.
"Yes," Arcturus hissed under his breath.
It had been weeks, and still Arcturus had not received an owl from Tonks. He'd sent and received letters from the Weasley twins, from Lee, from Remus, and even Aunt Andromeda and Uncle Ted. Each letter from Aunt Andromeda talked about how busy Tonks was and how very enthusiastic about her training she was. She was being mentored by the famous Auror Alastor Moody. "Mad-Eye Moody", as Arcturus had heard. According to the twins, who received their information from their father who worked in the Ministry, Mad-Eye Moody was a legend in the Auror department. He was also a complete nutter with one peg-leg out the door.
"And dad says he's got this fake eye that looks everywhere at once, including out the back of his head!" Fred said.
He, George, and Arcturus sat by a pond, not far from the Burrow. It was a sunny day in the middle of summer and the last day of Arcturus's mandatory visit to the Weasley home that the twins had insisted upon. When Fred and George had murmured about how their home "wasn't much" on the train, Arcturus certainly hadn't realized they were exaggerating. Arcturus believed the Burrow had once been a small, stone cottage of sorts. But it had been built on and magically expanded so much that it could not possibly stand on its own. Arcturus thought there had to be more spells holding the Burrow together than all of Hogwarts. With seven Weasleys (the eldest Bill and Charlie had found flats of their own) under one roof, Arcturus felt there was hardly any room for him. As it was, he was sleeping in Bill and Charlie's old room, up on the fourth floor. It was smaller than Arcturus's bathroom at the Squibs' house and Arcturus frequently stubbed his toes on the various items that were strewn all about the room. Charlie was still in the process of moving out, apparently, and Bill was in Egypt as a Curse-breaker for Gringotts and had left the majority of his things behind.
"Do you think he's seen his own brain?" George wondered.
"Who's seen his own brain?"
Fred and George were not the youngest Weasley children. They had a younger brother, Ron, who would attend Hogwarts next year and a younger sister, Ginny, who would attend in two years. Ron had taken to shadowing Fred, George, and Arcturus around the house any chance he could.
"Ronniekins, shouldn't you be helping Mom in the kitchen?" Fred teased. He reached up to try to ruffle Ron's red hair, but the younger boy was well used to the twins' jokes. He ducked away and even managed to avoid George behind him.
"Stop calling me that!" Ron growled, his cheeks turning red.
"Aw, ickle Ronniekins needs a nap!" George teased.
With each taunt, Ron only became angrier. Arcturus thought he was easily riled, even though he had to admit the twins knew which buttons to press.
"Shut up you wankers!"
"Ronald Weasley! Don't let me hear you use such foul words again! Inside, now!"
Mrs. Weasley was a force to be reckoned with, being the mother of five and the twins. She was not particularly tall, but Arcturus knew her scolding was legendary, just from what he'd heard from the twins. When he first arrived at the Burrow, he expected a woman of large stature wielding a whip (according to Fred). He hadn't expected the rather short, plump woman with the same fiery red hair as the twins and a kind, gentle smile. She'd wrapped Arcturus up in a hug and immediately declared he was too skinny. Dinner the first night and every meal after consisted of Mrs. Weasley piling Arcturus's plate high with food and demanding he eat it all. Arcturus never had to be told twice, but he had on more than one occasion practically rolled away from the table after a meal.
Ron shot the twins a dirty look but still obeyed his mother and returned to the house.
"You three had best come inside as well. Supper is almost ready. In you get!"
Mrs. Weasley was so different from Arcturus's mother. Lenora had been young when she'd had Arcturus and frankly had few skills that would be of use raising a young boy. She'd gotten the hang of most of it eventually, but some things she struggled with throughout Arcturus's childhood. Like cooking. She was shite at cooking, always opting to get take-away. And cleaning. Growing up a Malfoy meant she'd had house-elves to do all the cleaning around the house. She couldn't do a Scourgify to save her skin. Mrs. Weasley was nothing like that. Arcturus wasn't sure he liked it, but then she wasn't his mother. She was his friends' mother. Being at the Burrow for the last two weeks, Arcturus had been very careful to draw that line in his mind. He wasn't looking for a new family. He was fine on his own.
Thinking of family always seemed to bring Arcturus's mind around to Remus. The Squibs still didn't know that Arcturus kept up correspondence with his father's ex-friend from Hogwarts, or that he snuck out of the house to meet up with said friend. Remus was nice, though. They talked about all sorts of things, from Quidditch to schoolwork to the Squibs. Remus counselled Arcturus to have patience with Marius and Ariadne, and to try to understand their point of view. Arcturus just wanted to set off a few dung bombs in their room and really give them something to wrinkle their noses at.
There was one thing that was bugging him. It seemed that Remus was busy an awful lot sometimes. Arcturus knew he didn't have a job. Where he lived or how he ate, Arcturus didn't know. He'd brought out sandwiches to the park a few times, purposefully making more than he would normally eat. Remus saw right through his attempt, of course.
"I don't want you to worry about me," Remus told him, point-blank when Arcturus had tried to foist an extra bag of crisps on him. "I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself."
"But you're out of work," Arcturus blurted out.
"I am not out of work," Remus replied, stressing his point. "And even if I was, I am a fully-grown wizard, more than capable of seeing to my own basic needs. I don't want you feeling the need to steal food in a kind, however misguided, attempt to care for me."
Still, Remus ate the crisps and any other food Arcturus brought with him as "extras", though he would give Arcturus a very pointed look beforehand. And yet, despite Remus's protestations, Arcturus could clearly see him becoming thinner and more tired. His clothes were as patched and raggedy as ever and briefly Arcturus thought of stealing some of Marius's clothes to give to him. But that was out of the question. He tolerated Arcturus's attempts to feed him. Arcturus doubted he would take anything more than that.
And then, as summer drew to a close and Remus was looking at his thinnest, he announced to Arcturus that he had a job.
"It's not much," he admitted. "But it will keep me busy so I might take longer to return your correspondence during the school year."
Arcturus didn't care, though. He was just happy for Remus. They celebrated with a trip to the cinema, which Arcturus hadn't seen since he was small, and fish and chips, a wholly Muggle food that Arcturus had never had before. The movie was shoddy but the fish was good, even if Arcturus wasn't used to deep fried food. But the best part was that Marius and Ariadne's heads would've no doubt exploded had they known Arcturus was partaking in something so common and non-magical.
Remus disappeared again after that, but he'd warned Arcturus that his new job would take him away, sometimes even out of Britain. When September 1st came around and Arcturus once more travelled to Kings Cross with the Squibs, he was more than relieved to be going back to Hogwarts where he wouldn't have to deal with the disapproving glares from his Aunt or Uncle. When he made it onto the platform he quickly found Lee surrounded by his fellow Gryffindors and holding a very suspicious-looking box.
"Give us a look, Lee. Go on."
Curious, Arcturus crowded in as Lee lifted the lid with a smirk. An extremely long spider leg poked through the opening and the crowd jumped back, a few of the girls squealing.
"What do you plan on doing with that?" Arcturus asked. His own mind was already spinning with the possibilities.
"Not sure yet," Lee shrugged, securing the lid once more. "Fred and George mentioned that their little brother, Ron, was afraid of spiders."
"Who put the Engorgement Charm on it?"
Lee winked. "Nobody. That's how I found it."
"Right. Have you seen Fred and George?"
"I think they went to help some firstie with his trunk."
"Alright, see you on the train."
Arcturus left Lee to his new flock of admirers and went in search of the twins. He was sure they were here because he'd caught sight of their elder brother, Percy, flashing his new Prefect badge at some rowdy third years. It wasn't until the train was moving, though, did he finally find them, heading down the corridor towards where Arcturus and Lee had put their own trunks.
"There you are, Archie ole boy!" George slapped Arcturus on the back in greeting.
"Bet you'll never guess who we met today," Fred said smugly.
"Nicolas Flamel," Arcturus replied sarcastically.
"Close! Harry Potter!"