The Two Dog Stars
Jazlyn didn't really mind staying in London with Sara Potter. It was common for her mother to have Sara look after her and her siblings whenever she was busy with something at the ministry. It was especially common for when she got busy around the full moon and her Uncle Remus couldn't look after them. Which, looking at the calendar, was only a few days ago. Her Mother, Uncle Remus, and Mary had been acting strange all week. And her mother's other friend, Emmeline was over the other day. Emmeline rarely ever came for just a visit since she was always so busy with the ministry, sometimes even busier than Jazzy's mother. All four of them had been solemn and serious as they explained to Jazzy, her siblings, and her cousins (second cousins really) where they would each be staying for the next couple of days.
Although, given that it was still the first week of November, it wasn't entirely unusual for the house to be quieter and the air full of grief and mourning. After all it was that time of year again. Her Uncle James and Auntie Lily were killed around 9 years ago and her father had been sent to Azkaban for it and because he had killed 13 other people including her Uncle Peter. So Jazzy simply shrugged off the strange behavior as it was normal around this time of year. (Even if it felt a little different this time).
Instead Jazlyn sat slumped forward waiting for her lessons to be over. While Harry and Avalon went to muggle Primary school, Jazlyn and her brothers went to Charm School.
Charm school originally started out as a place where the most noble and pureblood families sent their children to learn social etiquette, cultural wizarding traditions, and make connections between the most pure and noble families. It was also a way to help them prepare for their role as heirs to these noble houses. However, now it was almost the wizarding equivalent of muggle primary school. It was no longer a school just for noble wizarding families. Now wizarding children with parents that both work can receive recommendations from the ministry to attend the school.
Jazlyn preferred Charm School over muggle school because it wasn't as long and it wasn't everyday. (Although everyday was an option.) Reading and Writing lessons were in the morning along with the occasional history of magic and basic arithmetics. They taught only the basics of what wizarding children might need to know before going to Hogwarts.
However, in the afternoon there were also social, traditions, and etiquette classes. And most of the time only the children from the wizarding world's so-called Sacred twenty-eight and other wealthy pure blood families attended those lessons. Being the heir to the Houses of Le Fey and Black meant she needed to learn such things according to her mother.
"It's not so bad," Neville Longbottom, Jazzy's friend said. Neville had blonde hair and a round face. He was a quiet and timid boy. He lived in Cameliard village with his grandmother. It was a short walk to visit him which Jazzy snuck out to do quite often. She didn't know that her mother and Uncle Remus knew and simply didn't mind.
"I could be at Hogwarts," Jazlyn replied. "Actually learning how to really cast charms. Not here, talking about the meaning in charmed jewelry and family heirlooms."
Many pureblood wizarding families passed down magical artifacts and jewelry. Jazlyn had seen plenty at home and on the occasion when she had gone with her mother to Gringotts, the Wizard's bank. Many of them contained ancient magic, like protective or lucky charms. Or even blood charms. And some of them held dark magic or were cursed. (Not all blood charms were considered dark magic). According to their tutor Madam Abbott, wizards could sense the magic in certain heirlooms.
"You'd probably need to be able to tell if an heirloom is cursed," Ernie Macmillion interjected. "The Blacks are known to be one of the darkest families-"
"Ernie!" Hannah Abbott shouted.
"Macmillan!" Jazzy scowled at the same time. "Shut it. I'll never touch anything from that side of the family."
"I've got it," said Madam Abbott unknowingly preventing what was bound to be a heated argument. She came back into the room from the side office door carrying the old heirloom she had to show them. The four children sat up straighter.
There weren't many students in Charm School. Most half blood wizarding children go to muggle primary school instead or are homeschooled before Hogwarts like other pureblood children. Today there were only four of them, but sometimes there were more. Jazlyn preferred it when it was only the four of them. Sometimes the more pureblood fanatics, death eater children as Jazzy liked to call them, were there too. Although they were usually with another tutor so she could thankfully ignore them. At Charm School, lessons usually only had up to 7 students in one class. And many of the pureblood fanatic families didn't like associating their children with the "blood traitors". So they were usually with a separate tutor or their parents taught them at home.
The artifact Madam Abbott brought in was a glass terrarium with a silver Wiggentree inside. The Abbott family crest was embossed on the glass.
"Wiggentrees are known to provide protection against dark creatures," Madam Abbott said. "This has been infused and encased with silver and has ancient protection spells on it. You'll learn more about them in your fourth year of Herbology at Hogwarts. By now most of you know what magic feels like so gather round and see if you can sense the magic here."
"Can muggle-borns feel magic before they know they have it?" Jazlyn asked curiously.
"Yes but they don't know what it means unless they know someone who has magic and explained it to them. Even muggles can sense ancient magic. In ancient times, when magic wasn't as hidden, muggles purchased protective amulets and artifacts all the time from their magical counterparts. Muggles today even dig up some of those artifacts. They are called Archeologists. If you take ancient runes or even muggle studies at Hogwarts you'll learn more about this. But muggles are drawn to it and try to translate the runes and spells."
"Isn't that dangerous?What if they come across one that has a curse?" Neville asked nervously.
"That's why we have curse breakers." Madam Abbot said. "Now, enough about that. Like I said you don't need to worry about that stuff until Hogwarts. Today you are learning to sense familial magic in objects. When you enter Hogwarts many of you will begin to inherit family heirlooms. Now that you have a year left before you go, it's time for you to start learning to recognize which ones have charms in them and which ones do not. The modern charms you'll learn to cast at Hogwarts will be harder to sense so that muggles don't recognize them. The older the magic, the stronger the feeling. Hannah will probably feel the charms more than the rest of you as many heirlooms recognize the familial bond."
The four children gathered around her. Jazlyn couldn't really tell what exactly she was supposed to be feeling. She could tell that Neville wasn't feeling anything either as he started shuffling forward to get even closer. She saw him hit the table before it actually happened.
"Neville watch out!" She shouted. She rushed forward and snatched the terrarium off the table.
Immediately Madam Abbott opened her mouth to chastise Jazlyn. However, she was interrupted before she could start as Neville tripped and knocked over the table the priceless terrarium had been on not even a moment before.
Hannah Abbott helped Neville to his feet. Her mother carefully took the family heirloom from Jazlyn, thanking her.
"I think that's enough excitement for today." Madam Abbott said dismissing them.
Neville and Jazlyn gathered their things and quickly rushed out to the entrance hall. There they saw a couple other families picking up or dropping off their children for lessons. They recognized the Greengrasses and Blaise Zabini and avoided them. They weren't actually that bad as far as pureblood fanatics go nor were they children of known Death Eaters. Both families had been known to be neutral during the war. Jazzy just didn't like them because the Greengrasses came off cold and Blaise was an arrogant git in her expert opinion. His mother, a very famous witch, had tried to get her son to befriend Jazzy to get close to her family's wealth and power. She was also pretty sure that Mrs. Zabini had approached her mother a couple years earlier to try and propose a very old-fashioned (but not uncommon in pureblood families) betrothal between Jazlyn and Blaise. She also didn't trust Mrs. Zabini because she had been through 4 husbands already and each of the previous ones leaving her with enormous amounts of wealth. Even today Jazzy noticed that Blaise was with another man She hadn't seen before, making him possibly husband number 5. Jazzy may only be eleven but she wasn't stupid. Something was just not right about that woman.
Jazzy and Neville also saw more welcoming families or their children, like the Peakes or the Patil twins, who they greeted with polite waves as they headed to wait near the fireplace. Jazlyn's brothers didn't have any afternoon lessons today so they would be at Sara's flat.
"How did you know I was going to knock it over?" Neville whined at his friend.
"Because, Nev," Jazzy said. "I know you. And you're just a little clumsy."
"Thanks a lot," He sighed. After a moment he continued with another subject. "Gran's taking me to see my parents today."
Jazzy gave him a curious look.
"Didn't you go a couple days ago?" She asked.
"Yeah well, it's been 9 years today," Neville said with a shrug. "We go more often around this time."
"Do you want me to come with you again?" His friend asked softly. Neville's parents had been tortured to insanity a few days after the downfall of Voldemort. Apparently the Death Eaters wanted to know what happened to their master and thought perhaps two of the greatest aurors (dark wizard catchers) and friends of the Potters would know what happened. Frank and Alice Longbottom were now permanent residents at St Mango's hospital. Jazzy's mother had also been friends with them so her family visited often with Neville. Sometimes Jazzy would go with Neville to visit them even without her mother, like she had the other day.
"That's ok." Neville said. "It would be good to just spend some time with them. You know?"
Jazlyn smiled and nodded. Before she could say anything in response a voice called out to her.
"Jazlyn!" Sara Potter said. "You were supposed to be at the front entrance. We aren't taking the floo remember? I live close enough to walk."
Sara was 20 years old and looked almost like a female version of her late brother. She had short messy black hair and wore glasses. The tips of her hair had been dyed red. Jazlyn thought that sometimes Sara could be cool and fun. But when Jazzy's mother left her in charge, Sara became like a Bossy older sibling. Which Jazzy felt was ridiculous because she was the oldest child and Sara was technically her cousin.
"I wanted to wait with Neville," The younger girl shrugged.
Just then Neville's grandmother appeared through the fireplace. Jazlyn gave her a polite greeting, which she returned.
"Come along, Neville," Mrs. Longbottom said. Neville and Jazlyn said goodbye and went their separate ways.
"We'll need to hurry." Sara said rushing her out the door and into the London air. "I left your brothers by themselves. Merlin only knows what they could get into."
"It would've been faster if we took the Floo," Jazzy retorted. Sara cast her an unimpressed look in response.
Charm School was just on the outskirts of Diagon Alley. Normally witches and wizards entered the Alley through the opposite end from the Leaky Cauldron, a wizarding inn. Jazlyn and Sara weaved through the busy streets. After a few moments of the two walking in comfortable silence Jazlyn decided to ask the question she had been dying to ask since she got to London.
"Can we go see the London Flat?" Jazlyn asked. One of the reasons she liked staying with Sara was because of how close they were to the London Flat. Jazlyn's mother never liked going back to the flat but Jazzy felt drawn to it. She had barely been two years old when they left the place to go into hiding. They hardly ever went back there. The last time they did it had been a few years ago when Jane needed to find something for some ministry project she was working on and they didn't get to stay for long. Well that was the last time her mother had known that she had gone there.
"Why?" Sara said suspiciously looking down on her as they walked side by side.
"Because it's been a while and I like it." Jazzy said trying to shrug off the question. Of course she couldn't tell Sara the real reason was because she had a dream last night, one that she had quite often. Especially around this time of year. Well Jazlyn wasn't sure if it would be a dream or a nightmare. She wasn't sure why but she found some sort of odd comfort there.
"Your mother wouldn't like it." Sara said.
"She doesn't need to know," Jazlyn said. She rushed to continue when Sara gave her a harsh look. "Besides she doesn't like going there. She never said we couldn't go."
"We've got to go home." Sara argued, "I already said we can't leave your brothers alone for so long."
"We could just go get them and they can come with us," Jazzy insisted. "Or I could just go by myself."
Sara regarded her for a moment. Honestly she couldn't see the harm in it. She knew that Jane didn't like the place because of the memories it brought back. But Jazlyn was right. There wasn't really a reason why they couldn't go for a visit.
30 minutes later Sara and the Black children were walking towards 90 Salisbury Road or what they called the London flat.
The flat was in a completely muggle neighborhood so Sara made them all change into muggle clothes. The floo network had been blocked off for 90 Salisbury Road long before the younger Black family had even gone into hiding. Jane had never felt the need to reconnect it. But it was a short walk from where Sara lived. They approached the steps and came to a stop at the front door. Sara didn't have the key but she pulled out her wand and looked around for any muggles that might be watching. The place was heavily protected but Sara was a skilled auror so she could break through any charms if necessary. But there was no need for that, Jane had told her how to get in a long time ago.
She placed her wand in the key hole as if it were a key and turned it while saying the password, "Padfoot's Place, Alohomora."
She pushed open the door and the three children rushed inside. Caelum and Caspian pushed passed their sister, who had stopped just inside the doorway. The boys entered the living room that was off to their left from the entrance way.
Jazlyn stared frozen watching her brothers. Unlike them she had been here before, lived here even. She was supposed to be too young to remember. But thanks to her dreams she did remember some things. She had also come with her mother a few years ago after being picked up from Charm School. The London flat at 90 Salisbury Road changed even less in the past 9 years than the Dursley's place at number 4 Privet Drive. The living room still had the same Gryffindor colored furnishings and decor. In the kitchen every cup stayed in place. The only difference in the kitchen was that a few days after Sirius had been taken to Azkaban, Remus Lupin had come and emptied the cupboards of the food. The Blacks had left food there when they went into hiding because Sirius had come every few days so that it would seem like his family was still living there. Even the pictures on the wall and the fireplace had not changed, something the twins took notice of quite quickly.
"Hey!" Caspian exclaimed, picking up a picture. "There's only pictures of Jazzy here!"
The eight year old waved the photo around. It was a picture of a baby Jazlyn wearing little red dress robes being held by James Potter. That wasn't the only one. Right next to the one Caspian had picked up was yet another photo of his sister as a baby. Almost all the photos were of baby Jazlyn. There were few of their parents and their friends when they were younger. But not nearly as many photos as there were of the young girl. Jazzy fought away her blush.
"Of course, you idiot." His twin brother, Caelum, said. He snatched the photo and put it back carefully. "She was the only one born."
"That and they all absolutely adored her," Sara added with a teasing nudge to the younger girl. "When Lily was expecting Harry she was so worried that he would get left out with how much the so-called Marauders fawned over her. Sirius would refuse to even put her down from what I remember..."
She trailed off as Jazlyn grimaced at the name of her father. The children glanced at each other.
"Clearly," Jazlyn drawled darkly, "He had to put me down at some point."
Sara placed her hand on her shoulder and gave her an apologetic squeeze. Perhaps she shouldn't have brought them here. But Jazzy quickly schooled her expression.
"Besides look," she pointed, "there's a photo of Harry."
"Yeah," Caspian said, rolling his eyes. "A photo with you in it."
Jazlyn blushed again as he was right. The photo was a moving one of James holding a newborn Harry and her own father jumping into the photo at the last minute with an almost one year old Jazlyn in his arms.
However, her brother was still wrong. There were a couple more photos of Harry and these ones were him either by himself, with his parents, or with one of their friends. Sara decided to spare Jazzy and pointed them out.
"There's only a few of Harry because Harry was born while James and Lily were in hiding." Sarah said.
"Was this where Mum and Sirius were hiding?" Caelum asked.
When Jazlyn was younger she had a difficult time putting together the father she remembered with the same man who betrayed her uncles and her family. So she started calling him Sirius instead dad. A habit her brothers must have picked up.
It was surprisingly Jazlyn who answered Caelum's question.
"No." Jazzy shook her head. Sarah looked at her.
"How do you know that?" She asked.
"I already asked." Jazzy shrugged in response. Even though that wasn't quite it. Jazlyn vaguely remembered the little cottage they had been in after living here. She also vaguely remembered being here with her mother and the house elves on November 1, 1981. She knew she was supposed to be too young to remember both those things. But it had been part of the dream she had again last night. She remembered seeing her mother crying and a strange silvery light. But that was it.
She tried to shake her head as the vision of her dream from the night before tried to reappear in front of her. She almost missed Sara asking if anyone wanted a tour of the place. The boys agreed wholeheartedly. But Jazzy knew the place so she took the opportunity to slip away.
She headed upstairs to a familiar room, the nursery. Like the rest of the flat, the nursery had not changed at all. On the door was a threat meter, her parents had probably put it there to monitor her safety. The walls were grey and the room was decorated with gold yellow and silver stars. The crib was pressed up against the wall and the cozy armed yellow rocking chair against the corner. There were low shelves for soft toys and higher shelves for more photographs and trinkets. Which included an Orrery of the solar system and a Sneak-a- Scope. The only difference in the room was the faded magic. The mobile above the crib that used to shine like real stars had dimmed. The enchanted music box on the dresser had long since stopped playing.
Jazlyn wasn't sure why but she found a strange comfort in the room. Probably because she knew it had once been hers. She wandered around the room picking up random toys and trinkets she saw when a little box she hadn't noticed in her previous visits caught her eye. Curiously she opened the box to find a necklace with a little pendant. The pendant looked to have the night sky encased in it with a bright star at the very center. Instinctively she knew that it was the star Sirius. Close behind that Star was the little Dog Star, Procyon. She picked it up and felt the rush of magic, like Lady Abbott had mentioned in their lessons today. But it didn't feel cursed… at least she didn't think it did. She had seen necklaces like this in Diagon alley. This one was like the lenses of a telescope. So Jazlyn knew she was looking at the real Dog Stars.
Suddenly her vision swam and she saw parts of her dream from the night before appear before her.
A young Sirius Black sat in the yellow rocking chair. His feet were up on the matching ottoman. A small baby in his arms. It was odd, usually in this dream Jazzy was looking up at her young father as if she was still the baby in his arms. This time however, Jazlyn watched as the scene played out before her.
Outside the window, the sky was dark like it was the middle of the night. Baby Jazlyn was crying softly. Sirius tried to calm the small girl.
"My little Star," he said. "You'll be ok. Daddy's here. I won't let anything happen to you."
The baby reached up and tugged on her father's hair. The man seemed unbothered by this and brought the child closer until she quieted. He continued to whisper to her.
"If there is ever a time when Daddy's not here, Merlin forbid," He said. "Look to the brightest star, Sirius, and know that I am always watching out for you."
He kissed her forehead and started humming her to sleep. The vision shifted. And Jazlyn saw another nursery appear before. This one had white walls and light wooden furniture. A miniature quidditch set mobile hung above the crib. There were two babies. One, a little boy that Jazlyn knew to be baby Harry, crawling and babbling to himself on the floor. The one, herself at 2 years old, was being held by her father half-asleep. Two men were talking to each other.
"Are you sure about this, Padfoot?" One man who she recognized as her Uncle James said.
"Yes, it'll get Jane to agree to go even more into hiding which will keep Procyon safe." Sirius said.
Procyon was Jazlyn's first name. She was named after the little Dog Star. When she was younger her family called her by both. Her mother and uncle James were the ones who mostly called her Jazzy or Jazlyn when she was baby. Uncle Remus said it was because they thought Jazzy was more fitting for a baby girl and Procyon made her sound older. Aunt Lily, Uncle Remus, and her father were the ones who commonly called her by her first name. Uncle Remus said it was because he and Auntie Lily thought it was pretty and made her unique. While her father had called her that because she was supposed to be his little companion. But now she preferred going by her middle name, Jazlyn. The name Procyon reminded her too much of her father.
"It's a lot to ask of you, mate," Uncle James replied.
"I'd do anything for you," Sirius said. "I'd do anything especially for these two."
He indicated the child he was holding, who cuddled up closer to him, and the younger baby boy that had crawled over to his father and begged to be held like Jazlyn was. James promptly picked him up.
"And you're not going to tell Jane?" Uncle James said. Jazlyn watched as her father shook his head. She wondered what he was not going to tell mom about. And if her mother knew what it was now. "Will you ever tell her?"
"When the time is right." Sirius said. "I don't want to stress her out more than necessary. She hasn't been doing too well with everything."
Jazlyn's vision faded again. She expected to either be lifted from this weird daydream or for the scene to move to the night her aunt and uncle died, as that was what usually happened. But instead a new scene unfolded.
There was a man with a waxy face and matted hair. He was incredibly skinny and looked like a skeleton. He sat in what looked like a stone room. Looking out she saw the moon and stars shining through the thin window. Two particular stars stood out, the Dog Star or the Brightest star in the night sky, Sirius, and his companion, the Little Dog Star, Procyon. The very same stars on the pendant she was holding. The stone floor was wet from rain and even though Jazzy wasn't actually there she felt the place go cold. The man wore a cloak that looked similar to one she'd seen her mother wear, it was tan with blue trimmings. The man was looking down at a little book. Jazlyn thought the book looked familiar. She crept closer to him in her vision and looked down to see a photo of herself staring up at the man. Then she examined the man's face and found a familiar pair of grey eyes welled up with tears. The man looked up to the little dog star outside and back to the picture of her.
"My bright little star," he whispered. "I'll come home to you soon."
Jazlyn gasped aloud in shock when she realized who the man was and physically jumped back. She knocked into one of the shelves and broke out of the weird visions. The solar system orrery came crashing to the floor. Footsteps thundered up the stairs.
"Jazlyn!" Sara shouted and burst through the room. She took in the younger girl's startled expression and saw the orrery broken on the floor. "What happened? Are you alright?"
"I- I'm alright." Jazzy said, still a little dazed. "I just tripped and knocked this over. I'm so sorry."
She didn't explain the weird visions she had. Even though she knew she probably should.
"Maybe we should get going." Sara said.
"No!" All three Black children protested.
"We just got here!" Jazzy insisted
"And we haven't even seen the whole place!" Caspian whined.
"Oh alright. Reparo," Sara waved her wand and the orrery righted itself back onto the shelf. The boys wandered the room and asked Sara and Jazlyn about the different trinkets and toys. They picked them up and played with them. Jazlyn was only half listening.
She slipped the little box with the star pendant into her jacket pocket. She grabbed a first edition The Tales of Beedle the Bard off the shelf and sat herself on the armchair to look busy. However, instead of reading she thought to herself about her dream and the weird visions she just had. The first two were dreams Jazlyn had many times. She had talked to her mother about them once a couple years ago. Her mother had told her they might be memories. But she didn't know why Jazzy would get them. Jazzy hated them. They confused her. How could a man who held her like she was the most important thing in his life turn around and leave? He acted like he loved her. But Jazzy knew better. He was obsessed with blood like the rest of the death eaters and Jazlyn was as pure blood as it got.
The final vision she knew must've been him in Azkaban. But Jazzy couldn't tell if it was real or not. How could he have gotten a picture of her? Or her mother's cloak? Was this another memory? That didn't make sense, she had never been to Azkaban obviously. So it couldn't be a memory.
She kept replaying what he had said in her mind, I'll come home to you soon.
Jazlyn shivered. What could that mean? He couldn't be coming after her right? He was in Azkaban. No one escapes Azkaban. She missed her father, the one she remembered who gave her the best hugs. The one who promised to protect her. But she hated sho he was now. She hated knowing that he probably only ever cared for her as some kind of pureblood heiress.
Jazlyn was so confused because in most of her dreams about her father, he felt safe. But when she woke up she had to face the reality that he was as evil as the rest of his family. She wished her mother was here. Her brothers and Sara moved on to another room. When they left Jazlyn cried silent tears until she fell asleep on the rocking chair.
