June 6, 1986
Hydrae had spent the day supervising Harry and his young friends playing Quidditch on the modified brooms that wouldn't let them go more than 12 feet in the air or fly too fast. While Draco and Harry initially complained about the limitations on the brooms they all eventually had fun flying around the back garden at the Black Estate.
Later that day, Sirius and Andromeda were overseeing a cookout for the children. Sirius was planning to teach them about a muggle treat he had learned about, toasted marshmallows. Hydrae trusted that Andromeda would make sure that everyone was safe and had a good time, so he left them for the afternoon.
Hydrae went to meet up with Cassandra at one of the restaurants along Diagon Alley, and was surprised to see that she was seated with Amanda Lester. As he walked up to their table, the two women stared at him and they both wore conspiratorial smiles.
"You are so right," said Cassandra.
"Of course I am right," replied Amanda.
"Right about what?" asked a slightly confused Hydrae.
"Your name," said Cassandra.
"It's stupid," added Amanda.
"I told you I didn't like it," said Cassandra.
"Should have just stuck with Westley," said Amanda. "Just think of all the wonderful phrases we could use. Westley, fetch me that pitcher! Westley, fill these with water!"
Hydrae ran a hand through his hair. "I told you, as a Black, I need to have an appropriate family name."
"And all the good stars and constellations were already chosen, is that it?" asked Cassandra.
Amanda turned to Cassandra, "It's not like the Blacks ever repeated a name. Oh, wait, they do…all of the time."
"Well, we can't abbreviate it to Drae," said Cassandra speaking to Amanda. "He said it would sound too much like Draco, as in Malfoy, who is one of young Harry's playmates."
"That would be a problem," agreed Amanda. "He could choose a different constellation, but that would most likely just confuse everyone."
Cassandra put her hand to her chin, suggesting she was deep in thought. "Using an abbreviation might work."
"Hydrae? H? It sounds more like he has an ache, then saying a letter," said Amanda.
"Well, he can be an ache, at times," said Cassandra with a large grin.
Hydrae raised his hand trying to get their attention so he could say something but the two witches continued to talk as though he wasn't standing right there.
Amanda continued to speak her mind. "Hydrae, Hydra, Hydrant, Hydro, Hydrus. Maybe we should call him Hydrus, and abbreviate that."
Cassandra laughed at her comments. "What? Call him Hyde, or Drus?"
"No, why not shorten it, call him Dru," said Amanda with a smile.
Cassandra smiled back, "I'm okay with that." Then she turned to Hydrae, "What about you? Are you okay with that, Dru?"
Hydrae again ran a hand through his hair and smiled at the two women. "Sure, Dru works for me."
Amanda smiled at Cassandra, and then added, "And if he gets mad about something we can say he Dru a fit!"
Hydrae, or now Dru, shook his head. "If you two are done, maybe we can finally get around to having lunch."
MiB
The Black Estate
After the group of youngsters had finished their game of modified Quidditch, the group was making their way back to the house. Draco grabbed a hold of Daphne's arm and pulled her to his side.
"What's with you?" demanded a surprised Daphne.
"I decided that you will be my girl," announced Draco.
Sirius and Andromeda turned to the group of children as their voices were getting louder. The other children in the group just stared at the scene unfolding in front of them.
"You can't just decide that," snapped Daphne as she pulled her arm away.
"Yes, I can! My father always told me that I can just take what I want, because I'm a Malfoy! And as a Malfoy, I will get to choose who I want to be my girl, who I want to be my friends," said Draco loudly, lifting his chin up in the air.
Harry stepped between Draco and Daphne. "You can't choose to do that to anyone. People have a choice in things."
"But I'm a Malfoy!" Draco proclaimed loudly.
Sirius was walking towards the youngsters and as he was about to say something, Andromeda quietly told him to let things play out among the kids a little bit before he interfered.
Blaise Zambini spoke up next, "Your dad was a Malfoy, and look where that got him. Besides, we're kids, leave her alone."
Susan Bones spoke up next, "I don't care who you think you are, you don't get to own people or control them, no matter what your dad did."
Neville spoke up next, "Yeah, what Sue said. Besides, we're all still just kids. We were just playing Quidditch a few minutes ago. We're supposed to be friends here. We don't need to own anyone."
Sirius whispered to his cousin, "Andy, these are kids, they're only 5 or so. They're acting like adults."
Andromeda swatted Sirius' arm and whispered back, "These are kids who grew up in the wake of a war, that took several sets of parents. They're not just kids. And grandfather understands that, which is part of why he is giving them all a chance. A chance to be more than what our generations ever hoped to be."
Sirius raised an eyebrow, but did not respond as they both turned to watch the continued interaction of the group of young ones.
Draco stepped back slightly. Then tears formed on his cheeks.
Hannah was the first one to speak up when she noticed that. "What's wrong, Draco?"
"You're really my friends?" he questioned. "I've never really had friends before. I've had other kids I was allowed to bully before, but no one ever was my friend."
Hannah stepped forward and gave Draco a hug.
Draco stiffened and then wiped the tears off his face with his sleeve. He coughed slightly and Hannah stepped back. Draco seemed to be trying to say something more, but his Aunt Andromeda stepped forward and spoke to the group. "Hey there everyone, how about we go get a treat. Uncle Sirius here was just about to head off to Fortescue's on Diagon Alley and bring everyone back some ice cream!"
"I was?" questioned Sirius, but then he noted the glare from his cousin. "Oh, yeah, I was. Plenty of chocolate and vanilla for everyone!"
"And strawberry!" called out one of the girls.
"And stuff for making sundaes," called out Harry.
Sirius looked at his cousin. "And just how am I supposed to get all of this back here?"
"You're a wizard, figure it out," admonished Andromeda.
MiB
June 10, 1986
Arcturus was seated at the head of the dinner table, with Sirius, Dru (Hydrae) and Harry all seated around. The house elves had just cleared the luncheon they had enjoyed when there was a sudden loud noise as though a gong had been banged.
Sirius looked to Dru and to Arcturus. "What the hell was that?"
"Just the wards working properly," said Dru.
"And by the sound it made, I do believe that someone's phoenix just learned that they cannot magically appear on our property," added Arcturus with a smile.
"I thought you said this place was unplottable," said Sirius.
"It is," said Dru, "but phoenix's travel is a different sort of magic. Nevertheless, we did add anti-phoenix wards on the property, just to keep a pestering old man from bothering any of us. In fact, this is not the first time the old fool sent that magical bird to try and find us. I can't imagine that Fawkes is enjoying this at all."
Sirius' eyes went wide. "Did you say that the headmaster, that he's pestering us? But he is the leader of the light!"
Dru scoffed at the comment. "Really? Have you learned nothing? Who was responsible for young Harry having a horrible place to live for the past four years?"
"But where else was Harry to go?" asked a confused Sirius.
"To any of his appropriate godparents, ones chosen by his parents," said Arcturus, with a stern tone. Before Sirius could reply, Arcturus spoke up again. "Let me ask you, Sirius, how did you know where to go that Halloween night?"
"What? Godric's Hollow? Of course I knew where James and Lily were. But, wait, it was under the Fidelius, but I knew the secret," said Sirius. "Everyone thought I would be the secret keeper, but we made Peter the secret keeper."
Arcturus nodded slightly before he continued. "Yes, we all know that. But who did you see at Godric's Hollow that night?"
"Oh, well, Hagrid was there. He said he was sent to fetch Harry," said Sirius.
"And Hagrid and Dumbledore both KNEW where Godric's Hollow was," added Dru. "Who revealed the secret to them? If you were the original secret keeper, and that was changed to Peter, then everyone who didn't know the secret would have to be retold the secret."
"Well, yes, we told our group, or Peter told our group, the Order of the Phoenix, when we changed secret keepers," said Sirius. Then his jaw dropped.
"Albus Dumbledore knew you were innocent," said Arcturus. "He did not speak up to make sure you were not thrown into Azkaban or to make sure that you were even given a trial. He simply let it happen to you."
Sirius' eyes went wide, then he felt like a confundus charm had been lifted from his mind.
"So, when we want to limit the headmaster's access to Harry, or anyone in this family, perhaps you will have a better understanding," said Arcturus simply.
"What if Albus had something important to tell one of us?" asked Sirius as he was thinking about the many ramifications of this discussion.
Arcturus shook his head slightly before responding. "Then the headmaster of Hogwarts can simply send an owl, which will be diverted to Gringotts, were the message will be checked for any tracking spells or other unpleasantness, just like any other piece of post we may receive, and we will pick it up from Gringotts when we get around to it."
The next day, Kreacher appeared at the table while they were eating lunch and presented a letter to Dru. "Young master had a letter waiting for him at the goblin bank. Kreacher is delivering the letter for you. Goblins say that it has no charms or spells on it."
"Thank you for being careful for all of us," said Dru as he accepted the letter from Kreacher. He unrolled the parchment and he raised an eyebrow. Then he looked over at Arcturus and Sirius. "It seems that our dear headmaster would like me to have a visit with him to discuss some sort of important matter regarding Hogwarts."
Sirius had a stunned look on his face, but Arcturus rubbed his chin as he considered the news. "I presume that the old man is planning to offer you some sort of position at Hogwarts. They do seem to go through Defence professors rather quickly."
Dru nodded his head in response, "I would guess he spoke with Flitwick, as he has been present at the last couple of duelling tournaments I have entered."
"I could teach Defence Against the Dark Arts," chimed in Sirius.
"They would be looking for a serious professor, Sirius, not someone who is serious about pranking," jibed Dru.
Sirius barked out a laugh, "I see what you did there! And, yeah, that was funny."
Dru and Arcturus both rolled their eyes.
"Just be sure your occlumency shields are prepared for him," said Arcturus.
"Hey, I could go with you, and sort of show you around the castle," said Sirius. "Heck, I even know some passageways that the staff there don't know anything about. If only we could obtain our old map, that would be something very useful for you if you were a professor there."
"What map is this?" asked Dru.
"Oh, just a little project James and I with Remus cooked up," said Sirius with a huge grin. "Quite the charms project. It's a magical map that shows where anyone is within the castle. We could have earned a charms mastery with everything we did for that map. Problem was, we didn't want any of the staff to know anything about it."
Dru raised an eyebrow. "Remus?"
Sirius hit himself on the forehead. "Moonie, Remus, Remus Lupin. He was one of the Marauders! I haven't heard from him since I was released, but then I haven't reached out to him either."
Dru and Arcturus looked at each other for a moment before turning back to Sirius, who coughed slightly before continuing. "Well, I guess I need to find out if he is okay. Or even if he is still alive. Well, you see, Moonie, well, he is a werewolf. We called it his little furry problem. But we didn't care. In fact, the group of us came up with a plan to help him."
Arcturus shook his head, "We already heard about this with your trial, after all your former friend was a rat, in more ways than one."
Sirius nodded slowly. "Yeah, well, and Remus hasn't tried to contact me. Damn, either he's pissed at me for not trusting him years ago, or he hasn't heard that I have been freed, or worse yet, maybe he's…" His voice trailed off not finishing his thought.
Dru tried to recall what he knew of Remus during the time before he was hired as a professor. All he could remember was that he had a hard time keeping jobs, and lived in some miserable shack somewhere. Then he spoke up, "Hey, you shouldn't worry about him. He's smart, he's tough. And he has his little problem, as you said. Maybe he is just laying low, avoiding people, and maybe he doesn't bother keeping up with wizarding news, it's not like he has any news to look forward to."
Sirius' started to smile. "Yeah, maybe you're right, that's probably it. Maybe I need to find him, somehow."
Dru shook his head. "You're a wizard, Sirius, so why don't you start thinking like one. Just send an owl to him. The owl should find him. It's what they do."
Sirius ran both his hands through his hair and stretched slightly as he considered what Dru had just told him. "Yeah, I'll send him an owl. And we can make it a port-key with a way for him to come here, you know, if he wants to come here, that is."
Dru smiled at him. "Start with reaching out to him, and see what he says."
The next morning, Sirius drafted a letter to his friend, Remus, and Dru helped him with creating a port-key that would be triggered by using a catch phrase.
Moonie,
I am so sorry I have not tried to contact you sooner. It's been an unbelievable several months. If you haven't read anything in the Daily Prophet or heard any news from the wizarding world, let me explain. No wait, there's too much, let me sum up.
My grandfather didn't disown me.
Turns out I have some sort of cousin who was raised in Australia, born to an uncle or something that was thought to be a squib.
This young man, my cousin, is a duelling champion. Grandfather Arcturus brought him back to England. Then somehow they captured Wormtail, who set me up and betrayed us all, but mostly he betrayed James and Lily and little Harry.
Well, I have been released from Azkaban, never had a trial until right when I was released.
And this cousin, Dru, he is helping to raise Harry.
Harry was being raised by Lily's sister. No, that was not a good thing as I am sure you can imagine.
So, well, things are looking better. And it would be great to see you again.
If you want to come to my grandfather's new estate, then just hold onto this note and say the password. You know, our best friend's secret name.
-Padfoot
Dru enchanted the letter before handing it to Arcturus who then tied it to the leg of one of his favourite owls.
Later that day, Dru received a message from Gringotts, that someone had been trying to get in touch with him but all of the owls had been unable to find him at the Black Estate. Sirius was watching the young children with his cousins, Narcissa and Andromeda, so Dru made his way to get the message at Gringotts. Besides, he figured it was a good excuse to meet up with Cassandra for lunch.
When Harry arrived at Gringotts, he was greeted by a slightly irritated goblin.
"Heir Black, please take this letter, and respond to it, so we can stop this ridiculous amount of confused owls from showing up here when they can't find your home," snapped the goblin.
"My apologies," replied Dru. "I will review this letter today and hopefully your handing it to me would be enough for the owls to know not to bother you again."
The goblin grunted something incomprehensible as he turned and walked off. Dru took the envelope and proceeded to make his way to meet up with Cassandra for lunch. The two were seated at an outdoor table at a cafe in Diagon Alley when Cassandra asked him about the envelope. Dru shrugged then he began to open it.
"I presume it is from the headmaster at Hogwarts, the school of magic here," said Dru with a bored tone. "He has been really trying hard to get a message to me, but the owls he has sent and even his phoenix have not been able to reach me at the estate."
"Well, you do have some impressive wards there, Dru," commented Cassandra. "What does it say?"
Dru skimmed over the night and sighed slightly. "Apparently your esteemed headmaster wants to speak with me about coming to teach at Hogwarts."
Cassandra restrained herself from making more of a response than a slight squeak. "That's exciting! Does he want you to teach a course on duelling?"
Dru shook his head slightly and then replied simply, "No, he wants to talk to me about the Defence Against the Dark Arts position."
"Oh, my, that's actually quite amazing," said Cassandra. "And even more exciting!"
"We shall see," said Dru. "Not sure how exciting teaching young children basic magic would be. Besides, if I am off to wherever this Hogwarts is, then I won't be here to have lunch with you every day."
Cassandra blushed slightly at his comment. "Don't worry about that. Just meet with Professor Dumbledore. Talk to him and find out more about what he wants you to do."
Later that evening while they were having dinner Arcturus asked Dru if he had responded to the owl post from Dumbledore.
"Yes, I told him that I could speak with him tomorrow," said Dru. Then he turned to Sirius, "Any word yet from your friend, Lupin?"
Sirius sighed heavily, "No, nothing. The owl we sent hasn't returned yet either. I'm starting to worry about the wolf."
Dru tried to give a sympathetic smile. "Hey, while I am meeting with this Dumbledore tomorrow, I can ask him if he has any idea how to get in touch with your old friend. This Lupin, he is probably just staying well hidden from the magical world after everything that happened five years ago. Sometimes these sort of things just take some time."
MiB
The next day Sirius took Dru to Hogsmeade and then walked him up to the gates. Dru was quietly amused by this, but he did understand that to everyone other than Arcturus, he would have no way of knowing how to get to Hogwarts on his own, as he supposedly had never been there.
They arrived at the gate to the school and were greeted by Minerva McGonagall. She smiled briefly at seeing Sirius. "It has been too long, Mister Black, since we had the pleasure of your presence hear at the school."
Sirius barked in laughter at her words. "Too long since I was a pain in your back side, you mean," he said with a big grin.
Minerva shook her head at the young man and turned to his companion. "And you, Mister Black, Hydrae is it? Welcome to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!"
"It is a beautiful and intimidating presence," said Dru. "Oh, and please, Mister Black was my father, you can call me Dru. All of my friends do."
"They do now," said Sirius in a whisper. "Give it a couple of weeks and they will probably call him something else," he said louder.
Minerva cast a quick glare at Sirius to silence him. "Very well, Dru, I shall bring you to meet with the headmaster. Sirius, thank you for bringing Dru here safely." With that she turned and started to walk back to the castle.
Dru kept pace with the woman who had been his head of house. She did not seem to be any different from what he remembered when he arrived as a first year student.
"So, Professor McGonagall, I take it you have been working here for some time," said Dru, striking up a conversation with his guide.
Minerva shook her head slightly. "That will not do. I am not your professor and you are here to be considered to join our faculty. Please, call me Minerva. And yes, I have been working here for some time. Since before that cousin of yours and his band of trouble makers attended here."
"Trouble makers? Sirius? You can't be serious," Dru added with a laugh.
Minerva stopped and rolled her eyes as she looked at the young man next to her. "I sincerely hope it is not too late for you, that you have not been corrupted by that hooligan who you helped to free from his wrongful imprisonment. And thank you for helping to right that wrong. I couldn't believe that Sirius would have ever betrayed James and Lily, they were like brothers and were actually very good for each other, despite the trouble they caused and the grey hairs they gave me."
"Sounds like I need to hear some stories at some point," said Dru.
"If you are offered and accept this position, then I am sure you will hear plenty of stories," she said.
The two entered the castle and Dru looked around at everything as they made their way to the headmaster's office. He made sure to act as though he had never seen any of the moving portraits or the various sights along the way. When they arrived at a gargoyle at the bottom of a spiral stone staircase she quietly said 'cockroach clusters' with a frown on her face.
The gargoyle bowed it's head and allowed them to pass up the staircase. At the top of the stairs the door opened for them just as they arrived.
"Ah, welcome Mister Black, and Minerva. Thank you for bringing Hydrae here to see me," announced Albus Dumbledore who did not bother to stand up from behind his desk. "Would either of you care for a lemon drop?" Albus slid the bowl of yellow candies towards the edge of his desk. Neither person made any indication that they would partake, so he pulled the bowl a little closer back towards himself.
There came a pleasant trilling sound from a large bright bird seated on a perch and Dru looked over to see Fawkes staring at him.
"And it appears that Fawkes, my faithful phoenix friend, welcomes you as well," said Albus.
Dru approached the phoenix who allowed the newcomer to rub its head slightly before giving a playful nip to Dru's fingers.
"Playful and friendly," commented Dru.
Albus smiled and then gestured to the two chairs across from his desk. "Have a seat, why don't you. And Minerva, as the Deputy Headmistress for Hogwarts, perhaps you should stay for this little meeting."
Dru waited for Minerva to take a seat and then he sat down, adjusting his chair so he could see both Minerva and Dumbledore.
"You are a hard man to contact," said Albus as Dru sat down.
"Security is important as ever, in my opinion. And Lord Black definitely agrees with that sentiment," said Dru plainly.
"Ah, yes, Arcturus was always one to be careful about many things. Which is why I found it so peculiar that so soon after discovering the long lost son of the House of Black he made you his heir," commented Albus.
Dru could tell that the headmaster was fishing for information and he was prepared to respond with as little information as possible. "Perhaps he has amazing judgement," quipped Dru. "Or perhaps he realised he had few options in front of him, with Sirius unjustly imprisoned, Bellatrix appropriately being held in Azkaban, Andromeda having been exiled from the family, that left his granddaughter Narcissa and her son, Draco. Hopefully I have proven myself worthy to be named heir Black in the short time which I have been brought back into the family."
Albus nodded slightly. "Ah, yes, it would seem that you have. What with protecting Arcturus from that attack from Narcissa's late husband, and then with your achievements on the duelling circuit. You have made a name for yourself already throughout England and Europe."
Dru simply nodded, "Well, duelling is something I learned first from my father, and then from various tutors he hired. And then of course, plenty of experience, first in Australia and then here."
"Quite an impressive resume for such a young man," added Minerva.
"Why thank you, Minerva," Dru replied with a smile.
"Yes, well, your skills are becoming well known," interjected Albus. "In fact, I have had a few conversations with our charms professor, Filius Flitwick, about your skills. He has seen you at a couple of your duelling matches I understand. And he was impressed, which I must say, is no faint praise, coming from the former European Duelling Champion himself."
Dru smiled at the compliment, but did not respond as there was no question being asked.
After a moment of quiet, Albus spoke up again. "So, it seems clear that it is established that you are quite skilled. Your defence of Arcturus also shows that you have certain skills that could be useful, if not overly reactive to that situation. You see, we are need of a new professor for teaching the students defence."
"Ah, the infamous post of Defence Against the Dark Arts professor," stated Dru with a slight laugh. "It seems you have a new professor for that here every year from what I have heard."
Minerva frowned and cast a glare at the headmaster.
Albus smiled and allowed his eyes to twinkle brightly. "All of that is just a series of unrelated and usually quite unfortunate events. However, I am sure a young man such as yourself would be up for a challenge, not to mention not having many distractions yet that could keep you away from such a post."
Dru ran a hand through his hair. "Well, I do believe that I could have plenty of distractions, if I let them be distractions. But to be clear, is the challenge of which you speak, one to be able to keep the position or one to be able to handle all of the students in all of the classes?"
Albus let out a laugh in response to Dru's question. "Now that is a wonderful answer, my boy, a wonderful answer indeed! Now, simply based on the recommendation from Professor Flitwick alone I am prepared to offer you the position. Do you have any questions about the position?"
Dru tilted his head back and forth momentarily before speaking. "So, basically, I would be teaching defence to all of the students from first year through seventh year. Do you want me to do more than teaching them duelling techniques? That is, after all, essentially all you know about my skills."
"Yes, that is what the class would entail," said Albus, "preparing the students to defend themselves, not necessarily to fight, but simply how to protect themselves if they happened to find themselves in a dangerous situation, particularly if being confronted by a witch or a wizard using the dark arts."
Dru nodded slowly. "And for further clarification, just how are you defining Dark Arts? I mean, some spells could be considered dark if used inappropriately or used in certain situations. Even your ministry's designated unforgivable curses could have a potential use somewhere. For instance, using the imperius curse to make someone leave a burning building when they are too scared to act, could actually save someone's life."
Dru did not feel the need to expound upon this way of thinking particularly after he and Arcturus had spoken in order to prepare him for the meeting Dumbledore.
"You raise some valid points, my boy," replied Dumbledore. "Based on what I have heard of your skills, I am confident that you will be able to create an appropriate curriculum for the students."
Dru continued to try and mask any emotional reaction to the headmaster even when it was clear that the headmaster had just simply avoided actually addressing the question that was raised and changed the subject in a rather blatant manner.
"Well, this is not a simple undertaking," stated Dru. "I wold like to think over your offer, presuming there is an actual offer, including roles, responsibilities and renumeration for the position of Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher."
"Well, yes, of course," replied Albus with a slight twinkle in his eye again. "Minerva will make sure you have the necessary information."
With those words, the door to the headmaster's office slowly swung open, indicating to Dru that his interview was over. He stood up and was accompanied by Professor McGonagall as they made their way towards the door. Dru stopped at the door and turned back to speak with the headmaster.
"One more thing, my cousin, Sirius Black, has been trying to get in contact with on of his friends from school," said Dru. "A certain Remus Lupin, who apparently was good friends with Sirius and Harry's father, James. He sent an owl to him a couple of days ago, and we have not heard anything back, and the owl has yet to return."
Albus raised an eyebrow at the comment. "Oh, well, Mister Lupin I believe has been living in the muggle world for some time. Perhaps I can use Fawkes here to help track down Remus."
"On behalf of Sirius, I thank you sir," replied Dru.
Then he and the deputy headmistress made their way out the door and down the spiral staircase as they began their walk to the entrance hall.
When they arrived at the large entrance doors, Minerva spoke up about the offer for the position. "Of course you would be paid to be a professor here," she said. "The starting pay is 1000 galleons per month, plus you get living quarters and an office here at the school. If you do take the position, please have a book list for the students prepared prior to the end of July so that the students will have time to purchase the curriculum."
Dru smiled and nodded his head. "Of course, Minerva. I expect that I will have an answer for you and the headmaster by Monday."
With those words he bid her a good day and turned to make his exit from the school. As he walked towards the gaits, he knew he would have a fair amount to discuss with Arcturus over the next couple of days.
AN: I had hoped to get this out earlier, but with changing jobs over the past month, life remains hectic at best.
Not much action in this chapter, but I feel it helps get the story moving along.
