Reviews:
Axquiila2: I'm not a massive game of thrones fan, I've only watched up to season five and then for some reason I stopped and have never bothered going back to finish it all.
BasicLAW GUY: Neville's angry because he believes he's dealing with the woman responsible for his parents.
deathgeonous: I'll have you know that I'm adorable.
Chapter 18 -
"Potions is going to be my best subject," Draco said confidently as he and the other Slytherins walked into their potion's class.
"You sure it doesn't have nothing to do with the fact that your godfather is teaching the class?" Daphne asked in an amused voice.
"Nah, it's because I'm a genius." Draco said without a moment of hesitation.
"Sure you are," Hydrus rolled his eyes. "Let's just hope your godfather isn't as much of a dick as Tonks said he was." He added as they looked around, noting the various tables and cauldrons all around the dark room.
"I'm sure he isn't," Draco replied. "Tonks is probably just exaggerating. She's known for that."
"I've never once known her to exaggerate," Hydrus frowns.
"She wears pink hair,"
"That's not an exaggeration, that's accentuating her looks." Hydrus replied with a smug smile.
"What does that mean?" Draco asked in a confused voice.
"Not a clue," Hydrus admitted. "Tonks just said it one time." He shrugged just before the Gryffindors came in and took their seats. Neither house said anything for several moments before the door to the class slammed open. Professor Snape had finally arrived.
The dark haired teacher stormed into the class, his cloak billowing behind him as the door swung back and closed itself. Professor Snape slowed down and stopped just in front of his desk before turning around and facing the students.
"Silence," He said before anyone could even say anything. "There will be no silly wand waving or incantations in this class, so I imagine that many of you will not even consider this to be real magic. But for those of you that poses the right intelligence, I can teach you to ensnare the mind, bewitch the senses and even put a stopper on death." He paused and looked around, making sure that everyone was paying attention. He spun around before walking around his desk and picking up the register. "Ah," He looked around the room and spotted Hydrus sitting next to Draco. "Hydrus Black, our new celebrity," He drawled as he stared at Hydrus who simply stared back at him. "I suppose that we should feel honoured to have a beloved duelling champion in our presence." He sneered. Hydrus titled his head slightly but did not say anything back, despite wanting to. Snape continued on with the register, once he was done he flicked his wand and the instructions for a potion appeared on the board. "You will all be making a cure for boils, begin."
"Wait, Sir," Liv raised her hand. "Aren't we supposed to do safety instructions first?" She asked with a frown on her face.
"Safety instructions?" Snape repeated, almost mockingly. "You need safety instructions? Here are some simple ones, don't put your hand in anything hot and don't drop anything. There, that should be simple enough. Now, get to work." He gestured to the potions cupboard where all the ingredients were. Liv sent him a small glare before she huffed and started getting to work.
"I think Tonks understated his personality if anything," Hydrus whispered to Draco.
The students started getting to work, following the instructions on the board and nothing else since Snape didn't appear to want to be helpful. For Hydrus and Draco it was particularly easy, Draco had a natural talent for potions and Hydrus had learnt plenty from Andromeda. The class was silent as Professor Snape went around the room, appearing to do nothing much beyond sneering and giving mocking comments, at least at the Gryffindors. He pretty much ignored Crabbe and Goyle's horrible attempt at the potion, glossed over a few mediocre potions from the other Slytherins. He gave Theo, Daphne and Blaise a small nod at their acceptable potions.
"Excellent work, Mr Malfoy." Professor Snape praised Draco upon seeing his potion, a second later he saw Hydrus's attempt which was damn near the same as Draco. Hydrus looked at him expectantly, watching as Snape's face grew steadily more annoyed as he couldn't seem to find a fault with Hydrus's potion. "Well done, Mr Potter, apparently you are capable of following simple instructions, though next time you should try to do the work on your own instead of copying Mr Malfoy."
"Respectfully Sir, I did not, and my name is Black, not Potter." Hydrus said in a tight voice, his fists tightening underneath the desk.
"That's not much of an improvement as far as I'm concerned," The man grunted before walking away.
"Love you too, prick," Hydrus muttered under his breath as he pictured practising the latest fire-based spell his mother had taught him, enjoying the idea of the fire causing the grease in the Professor's hair to light up in flames.
The next morning Hydrus rose up early, stretching and yawning before he managed to pull himself out of his bed. He saw Rocky curled up in a corner of the room and grunted out a greeting to the snake before he picked up Bowie who was sleeping on his desk and placed him on the bed so the little bowtruckle could enjoy the softness of it. He made a mental note to get a small plant or something to put in the room for Bowie. He would also see if he was allowed to keep his owl in the room with him, that was if she liked it here.
After completing his daily morning ritual, including push-ups, he walked out of the Slytherin common room with Bowie hitching a ride, hiding in the collar of his shirt. Hydrus checked the time with the tempus spell and saw that he had nearly two hours before breakfast was finished, leaving him plenty of time to explore. He started walking down the halls, not really having a specific direction, content with just looking around as much as possible.
It was an odd thing, walking about Hogwarts. Some of the knight armours that were on display would offer greetings, some would nod their heads, there was also a highly amusing incident where one of the knights apparently sang too loud and another knight beat him into literal pieces. The portraits were just as friendly, mostly offering greetings as he walked by.
"I say, I say, stop just a moment please, lad." A voice called out once Hydrus had reached the fifth floor, he looked to his right and saw a painting of a rather old looking woman. "Do forgive me dear, but I was wondering if you could be a dear and contact the caretaker and have him clean my portrait please, the dust is piling up here." She frowned, gesturing to the dust on her picture. "He hasn't cleaned me in a week, all because I told him his cat could do with a bath. Can you believe it?"
"I can clean it if you want," Hydrus offered, flicking his right wrist, sending his wand into his hand. "My aunt and cousin taught me how to."
"Oh, would you? That would be positively wonderful," The woman beamed at him.
"Just a moment," Hydrus told her before casting a cleaning spell on the portrait. "There you go."
"Thank you very much, young man, what is your name?" She asked, smiling at him.
"Hydrus Black, Ma'am, that's what I go by." Hydrus answered.
"Well, thank you very much, Mr Black."
"You're welcome," Hydrus nodded before he continued on his walk, casually twirling his wand in his hand as he did so. He had just turned a corner when his wand started to make a sharp noise, Hydrus stopped in his tracks - and for reasons he couldn't quite understand - he ducked down, narrowly avoiding a water balloon that shot past his head and crashed on the floor behind him.
"Oh! No! No! No!" A high pitched and musical voice screamed just as somebody flew into view and hovered in the air in front of him. "Oh! Rats and foils and trouble and boils! Peeves missed! Peeves can't remember the last time he missed! Wait, yes he can, it was in 1967 when he tried to hit that German fellow called Alderan! Peeves won't miss again, of that be sure, Peeves will pelt you with so many balloons that you'll be all sore! Ha ha!" He laughed manically. Hydrus took a moment to take a look at the...thing...in front of him. It was dressed in horribly bright and outlandish clothes of yellow, orange, pink and blue. It wore a silly hat with loud bells on it, its face was round with a large mouth, long nose, a unibrow and small black hair. There was a slight glow about it that made Hydrus wonder for a moment if he was dealing with a ghost.
"Wait a sec, I know who you are!" Hydrus blurted out. "You're the Hogwarts poltergeist!" He realised, having heard stories about Peeves from his family.
"That I am, that I am, my name is Peeves, here I stand!" Peeves grinned widely as he bowed low before pulling out a second water balloon, a much more foul smelling one, leading Hydrus to believe that this one might not be filled with water. "I am Peeves, I am Peeves, do not think for a moment that your eyes deceive! I am here, here I am, this is Hogwarts, my fun and funny little land! What's your name, little boy? What's your name, my new little toy?"
"Me?" Hydrus smirked. "I'm Hydrus Black, Tonks's cousin and son of Bellatrix Black."
"B...Bellatrix, you say?" Peeves paled ever so slightly. Hydrus smirk grew, the Black family were some of the very few that had been able to keep the poltergeist under control and Bellatrix had made it quite clear to Peeves when she was a student that she was not to be trifled with. "Oh, but look at this, I say, old Bellatrix is not here today." Peeves said, his grin returning in full form.
"I can handle you just fine," Hydrus raised his wand and pointed it in Peeves' direction. A red bolt shot out and burst the balloon, covering it's bright green liquid content on Peeves.
"Ew, ew! I look silly! Peeves is dirty! Peeves is filthy!" Peeves yelled before pausing. "Wait! Peeves like this! Peeves will share this with his new friend!" He cackled before flying straight towards Hydrus. "Let's hug little bug, let's share this despair."
"Verteidige Poltergeist!" Hydrus cast, sending a blue spell that hit Peeves and caused him to stop in his tracks, frozen in mid-air.
"No, no, no! No fair! No fun! The Black children are cruel enough to destroy the sun!" Peeves cried. "Why won't you let poor little Peevsie play? Please, can you not see my dismay?"
"Listen up, Peeves," Hydrus told him after casting a spell to clean up the mess that came from Peeves's balloon, including the mess on Peeves. Hydrus did that mostly to make sure that some unfortunate student doesn't get covered in it, but also because the smell was horrible. "The black family has a whole book on poltergeists, what they are and what they do, along with how to stop them and how to destroy them." Hydrus said with narrowed eyes. "I know that the ghost of the Bloody Baron keeps you in check, and if he doesn't do it then I assure you that I can."
"Oh," Peeves groaned. "New Black is strong and nasty, fierce and feisty. Takes after his mother, let Peeves go, please, he won't be a bother."
"Not until we discuss terms," Hydrus responded. "You see, I don't want you to bother me at school and you don't won't me to disintegrate your entire being, correct?"
"What does disintegrate mean?" Peeves asked. "Will you be giving Peeves another clean?"
"It means there won't be anything left of you to clean," Hydrus explained patiently. "Now, here is how this works. You leave me, and the Slytherin's in my year alone, and I don't destroy you or tell anyone else how to stop you. Deal?"
"Peeves doesn't like this deal," Peeves grumbled under his breath. "Fine, fine!" He whined. "Peeves will leave your year mates alone, but the others will be mine!" He declared with a mad glow that for some reason was only present in his right eye.
"Fine, but remember that if you don't want to die," Hydrus told him before releasing him. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I got to go. Today's the day when we learn how to fly."
"Hey! Wait! Stealing is a crime! It is not sublime! You cannot do that! Peeves is the one who rhymes!" Peeves complained.
"Why can't I? I have the time," Hydrus grinned. "Come on, Peeves, don't cry. Excuse me, I've got to go, goodbye." Hydrus laughed before walking past Peeves who muttered under his breath before raising his head and laughing loudly.
"Ha! The new Black is fun! Careful students! His dangerous! You should run!" Peeves cackled before flying head-first through the nearest wall.
"Thanks little buddy," Hydrus whispered to his wand, it hummed back at him. "I'm starting to love you even more than I already did." Hydrus grinned.
"That is not true, Bella," Narcissa said, glaring at her older sister as the three sisters sat together in Bellatrix's house, drinking tea that Kreacher had brought them.
"I assure you that it is," Bellatrix said in a matter-of-fact voice. "My son quite simply beats your son in pretty much everything important. There's not much I can do about that."
"I'll have you know that Draco is an excellent little potion maker," Narcissa huffed.
"Yeah, but Hydrus is better." Bellatrix drawled out in an amused voice.
"That is a matter of debate," Narcissa said, quickly spinning her attention on to Andromeda. "Andromeda, tell her that Draco's better than Hydrus at potions." She demanded.
"Do not bring me into this," Andromeda said simply before sipping her tea.
"Hydrus is better," Bellatrix repeated. "Plus, in a duel, my son would kick your son's butt so hard that it's not even funny."
"Your face is funny!" Narcissa shot back, quite maturely, of course.
"Not as funny as your mum's face!" Bellatrix retorted.
"We have the same Mum!"
"Ha!"
"Sisters, is it too much for one delightful tea without something happening?" Andromeda sighed.
"Apparently," Narcissa sniffed as Bellatrix cackled loudly just before Kreacher popped into the room, holding a red envelope.
"Mistress, young Master's owl has delivered this for you." Kreacher said, handing the envelope to Bellatrix.
"Is that a howler?" Andromeda frowned just as Bellatrix opened the envelope. The letter rose into the air and shifted so it was now in the shape of a mouth.
"Hi mum!" Hydrus's voice shot out of it, calmly, but quite loudly. "How're you doing? School's doing fine so far! I like the castle, it's really nice and pretty. Oh, yesterday and today I had charms, transfigurations and potions. I did great in all of them, but the potions teacher doesn't like me for some reason. That's alright, I don't like him either. I was going to write a letter but I thought you might be missing me so I'd let you hear my voice. Please don't send a howler back, it would be awkward getting one in the great hall. I'll send you a letter tomorrow after my lessons, I should be learning flying tomorrow! Okay, bye Mum, love you!" As soon as the voice finished, the envelope began ripping itself into pieces.
"Hmm," Bellatrix shot Narcissa a smug look. "I don't see your little dragon sending you love-howlers." She said in a superior voice.