I don't own anything.


One thing I have learned during my long life, is that no one is perfect. Not me, not Voldemort or Grindelwald or even Dumbledore could claim to be so. Everyone has things they struggle with or fail at. And that's fine. What isn't fine, is to ignore those subjects you don't have natural talent in.

Albus Dumbledore had a black thumb as they call it, truly an unnatural aptitude for killing any and every plant under his care. And yet, he still achieved his NEWT in the subject with a perfectly respectable score. All because he worked at it, instead of simply ignoring it.

I myself, always struggled with Potion making. I can follow a recipe well enough, but even after all of these years, the intricacies of the art still elude me. During my school days, this was particularly vexing, as I had always hoped to take the Alchemy elective in my final years of school. Unfortunately for me, the minimum requirement to qualify for the course are an EE on your Transfiguration, Astronomy, Arithmancy and you guessed it, Potions OWLs.

And so, I found myself an expert in the subject.

Memoirs of Leo Pollux Black Volume I


November 21, 1971, 14:22 PM, Library – Hogwarts

Walking between the huge bookcases of the Hogwarts Library, I couldn't help but admire it. The Black Family Library was huge, one of the larger private collections in all of Magical Europe, but this was something else. Thousands of tomes surrounded me, from books on basic household charms to arcane magic beyond even the most dedicated NEWT students. Though the latter were mostly in the restricted section, locked behind chains and wards alike.

For once, I wasn't here for the books, though. Hurriedly, I walked past the aisles, scanning the tables quietly. Just yesterday, I had seen Pince kick a fifth year out for 'reckless behavior', and I didn't want to be next. As I walked up to a shelf dedicated to various utility charms, I finally found what, who I was looking for. Quiet as I could, I walked up to the red mane that stuck out from a thick, dusty tome on warming charms.

Softly, I tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention. When she turned around, I completely forgot what I was about to say. Almond shaped emeralds struck me silent. As a child, my grandfather had taught me that I should always, always look people in the eye when I spoke to them. To take their measure, to connect with them, and most of all, because it was a sign of confidence. A Black never backs down after all.

I had taken the lesson to heart and taken joy in it too. It had always been funny when people had to look away, unnerved by my steady gaze. But beyond that, I found that eyes could be truly beautiful. They showed me who a person was, it could show their passion, their pain, their love and everything in between. They enraptured me, and in all my life, I had never seen eyes like these.

"What do you want Black?" And it would seem that the girl to whom they belonged was not all that pleased to see me. I couldn't help but scrunch up my brow, silently wondering if I had done something to her in the scarce few months we had been at the school. After a moment, I couldn't think of anything, so I decided to put it out of my mind.

"You're Lily right, Lily Evans?" I spoke softly, I did not want Pince on my case today. The question seemed to confuse the girl somewhat, her nose scrunched cutely as if she was trying to make sense of my question. I couldn't imagine why; it was pretty straight forward. "You know who I am, Black. You and Potter have been bothering me all month, so go away before I call for Madame Pince." She threatened, her anger made her eyes spark, the pupils dilating as the emerald orbs burned into my own.

And suddenly, it all made sense, she thought I was Sirius. I couldn't fault her for it either, other than the way we kept our hair, we were identical, down to the flecks in our eyes. I almost laughed, even when we were in different houses, Sirius managed to somehow get me into trouble. A fond smile crossed my face as I thought of all the times he had pulled me into his shenanigans when we were kids. I didn't mind too much, though, it was pretty funny most of the time.

"I'm not my brother, Ms. Evans, though I can see why you would confuse us." Now it was her turn to look confused, glancing down, her eyes lit up again when she saw the color of my tie. Clearly, she hadn't even considered that it was me and not Sirius. To be fair to her, though, we only had 2 classes together, and I rarely spoke up during lessons. I'd be surprised if she knew my name. I quickly stuck out my hand, not wanting to give her any time to doubt me. Knowing Sirius, she would probably think this was some elaborate prank if she got too much time to think about it. Wouldn't be the first time my brother had pretended to be me to cause mischief.

"Leo Black, the handsome twin." I told her with a smile. Hesitantly, she grabbed my hand and as she tried to shake it, I softly pulled it up to plant a kiss on the back of it. Anything less and mother would kill me if she found out. "Can I sit?" I asked, gesturing to one of the chairs at her study table.

With a slight flush to her cheeks, she nodded. Smiling, I sat myself down opposite her. "So, why are you here." Ah, she wanted to get straight to it. "Well, I was talking to Professor Slughorn after class yesterday, and he told me that you're pretty good at Potions. The best in our year, he said." I waited for a moment, letting the compliment sink in. "I, on the other hand, am more prone to making strangely flavored water or explosives, going by the brews I've been making in class." I saw the smile threatening to creep up on her flushed face as her eyes twinkled. Well, at least my less than stellar brewing skills were good for something, even if I myself didn't find failing to be that amusing.

"So, I was wondering if you'd be willing to give me a hand. Just an hour or two every week to practice brewing with you. I can study the theory on my own time, but I'd like to get some tips from someone who actually knows what they're doing." I told her, quicky adding. "Of course, I can help you with any other class in exchange. Or I could just pay you if you'd prefer that." I watched her face go from flattered to amused to incredulous in short order.

"You want to pay me, me, to help you with Potions?" My brow scrunched up again as I wondered why she would put such an emphasis on herself here. From what Slughorn had told me, she was the best at Potions out of all the first years, closely followed by some boy named Snape. He was in Slytherin, though, and thus much more likely to try and take advantage of my offer. Why wouldn't I want her help?

Then it dawned on me, she was a Muggleborn, and I was a Pureblood, a Black at that. For a moment, I wondered how I could possibly approach this. It was true, that I didn't want to be seen with her. It wasn't because I thought there was anything wrong with being Muggleborn, you couldn't choose your parents after all, but I did not want mother to find out. And she would find out, I had no doubt about that. If any one of her friends' kids saw me and blabbed, I'd have a curse or two waiting for me back home.

"Uh yeah, look, you're clearly good at it, much better than me. And I really don't care about who your parents are. I just can't really be seen with you." At the indignation on her face, I almost stumbled over my words to explain myself. "I- uh I don't care about your parentage, but my parents do. If they find out I'm hanging out with you, no matter the reason, I'll be in big trouble." That, at least, seemed to mollify her a little.

"Oh, so you don't care that I'm a Muggleborn?" Her voice was hopeful. Had she been having problems about her blood status? I had never interacted with a Muggleborn before now, but I couldn't imagine that it was easy for them, judging by the way other Purebloods talked about them. "No, Ms. Evans, I don't care. You're clearly talented, and I really need help with Potions. I want to take Alchemy when I finish my OWLs and if I don't start now, I'll never get the minimum grade requirement." I pressed on, hoping against hope that she would say yes.

I could tell that she was a little hesitant, but as green met grey once again, I knew I had her. "Fine. But if you start slacking off, I will stop helping you. Are you any good at Astronomy? I've been having some trouble memorizing the constellations." A wide smile stretched across my face, showing her my pearly whites. "I'm top of our class. My whole family's named after stars and constellations." I boasted as we agreed on a time and place to meet for our study sessions.

And just like that, I had made my first friend.


November 27, 1971, 20:40 PM, Abandoned Classroom – Hogwarts

"Mutatio Scrinium!" I kept my wand movement tight, the sequence of flicks and jabs precise as it molded my magic. I watched at the desk in front of me shuddered before it began to change. A smile began to creep onto my face as the plain wood began to turn into a varnished mahogany. When the color was just right, I guided my magic to begin molding its shape into a larger shape. When I began to work on the cabinets along the left leg, I felt something go wrong. My concentration must have slipped, or maybe I just wasn't ready for this level of transfiguration, but the spell failed. Spectacularly.

Shards and splinters flew through the room, scratching and scraping at my exposed hands and face. After a moment, I felt something hot and sticky run down my cheek, blood. I couldn't help but sigh as I walked over to the bag I had stowed behind an overturned desk in one of the corners. Grabbing the small mirror I had taken to carrying around with me, I winced at the sight of the wounds on my face.

Grabbing a napkin, I gingerly dabbed at the wounds on my face, cleaning up the blood. Dropping the now dirty piece of cloth, I turned my wand on myself and focused. "Episkey." Relief flooded me as I watched the thin cuts fade, not even leaving scars behind. After the first couple of times a spell had backfired on me, I had learned to do the simple mending charm form Madame Pomfrey. At this point, I'm half convinced that she taught me the spell so she wouldn't have to spend half her days fixing whatever damage I managed to do to myself.

It wasn't a complete loss though, I had gotten further on the transfiguration than ever before. Large inanimate to inanimate transfiguration was covered at the start of fifth year, so I wasn't doing too badly. Walking back over to the desk I had just blown up, I twisted my wand in a triangular spiral and incanted "Reparo." The spell pulled the splinters back, reassembling them, almost like a puzzle. After just a few moments, the desk was whole again.

It was almost funny, I had probably learned more magic simply trying to fix my mistakes as I failed at whatever higher level spell I wanted to learn in the first place. I couldn't say I minded, though, as the spells I now knew were exceedingly useful. Being able to heal minor wounds, repairing object, summoning water or wind. All of the spells I had learned to fix the effects of the other magic I practiced was beyond useful. And if I were honest, looking for, and finding ways to counteract the effects of my other spells was fun. Almost like solving a puzzle.

I shook my head as I grabbed a chair and my notebook. I quickly found the page marked Mutatio Scrinium and began to jot down my latest findings. The spell had been going well, changing the wood was now seamless and applying the layer of lacquer was too. Changing the shape, was not going as smoothly, though. The desktop had gone well enough, even if the details weren't as intricate as I would like. When I got to the small cabinet that would serve as the left leg, the spell had failed.

But why? I was pretty sure that I hadn't lost focus, but the cupboard had exploded anyways. Or had it? The explosion had been different from that time I had accidentally turned parts of the wood into sawdust to make changing the shape easier. There, the sawdust had ignited due to the friction and sent me flying into the wall with my robes on fire. This time, there had been no heat, hell, there hadn't even been a lot of pressure. The wood had simply splintered inward before it exploded.

Ah, it imploded because there was no air in the structure, creating a vacuum that compromised the wood's structure, making the spell fail. The realization came quickly after I went over the events again. When I tried the spell again, I would need to create the seams for the cabinet first, allowing air inside before I began expanding it into the right shape.

A smile spread on my face as I noted the possible solution down. I could be wrong, of course, but I was pretty sure I was right. Besides, that was half the fun in the first place. If I had simply gone to see Professor McGonagall about the spell, I could have probably already finished it, but figuring it out on my own was just too much fun. And the Professor might try to stop me from practicing magic like this, that would be pretty annoying.

"Tempus."

21:38

"Shit." Hopefully Filch wouldn't catch me out after curfew.


November 28, 1971, 14:04, Abandoned Classroom – Hogwarts

"Thanks again for the help." I couldn't help but thank the girl again as I began bottling the completed Boil Cure potion. Pink fumes wafted out of the cauldron as I carefully ladled it into a set of vials. Looking up, I caught a hint of red on the girl's cheeks as her emerald orbs darted to the side, unwilling to meet my eyes.

"Don't worry about it, it's good practice for me too. We should get started on Astronomy, though. I'm meeting a couple of friends soon and I want to revise for the test." I nodded at her, distracted by the potion in front of me. It was the first time that I had managed to brew a potion so well. Sure, some of the things I had made in Slughorn's class had been passable, but this potion was genuinely decent. I could probably get and EE if this was on the final exam.

I shook my head to clear the thoughts. I was getting lost in thought again. Smiling, I looked back up to Lily. "Yeah, we can get started while I clear out my cauldron. What's the test about?" The Gryffindors had Astronomy with the Slytherins, so our classes often had small differences in what tests were on. Probably to prevent cheating, the classes were on different days after all.

"Uh, it's on the Orion constellation." The smile on my face became a little softer as Lily took out her notes from the Astronomy class. This constellation, I knew more of than most. "My father is named after this constellation, so I know more about it than most. The constellation is made up of 8 stars, the brightest of which are named Rigel and Betelgeuse. These stars make up the main body of the constellation. There are 3 more minor clusters that complete the constellation. These clusters represent different 'items' that Orion held in legend. West of Bellatrix, one of my cousins, is the shield of Orion, made up of 8 stars. North of Betelgeuse you have the club, made out of 5 stars. And lastly, we have the sword, attached at the 'hip' made of Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka. The Sword is made up of a further 3 stars. Now in myth Orion was a hunter…"

And so, I lectured, occasionally stopping to answer a question or two or to cast the water making spell to help clean out my cauldron. For me, the easiest way to remember the constellations had always been to link them to the myths and legends surrounding them. It helped me keep them straight in my head and link them to one another. The fact that those myths were beyond interesting definitely didn't hurt.

Lily certainly seemed to think so, judging by how invested she seemed as I told her some of the myths Orion was involved in. Even in the stories that painted him in a less than stellar light, she was enraptured by the tales I weaved. All good things must come to an end, though, and it was soon time for Lily to meet up with her friends. As she packed her stuff into her pack, she spoke up again.

"I have to go now. This was fun though, I'm sure I'll do well on that Astronomy test now." I smiled at her confidence. "Yeah, does this time work for you next week?" I asked, hoping that we could be doing this again. My eyes locked onto her emerald orbs as she tucked a red lock behind her ear. "I would like that." My smile split my face in two as I got her confirmation. "Great! See you soon then." I don't know why, but I had been inordinately scared that she wouldn't want to do this again after today. I was glad that my fears had been unfounded.

Even after Lily left, the smile didn't leave my face until I was asleep in bed that night.


A/N: Okay, chapter 2 done. I'm having some trouble writing the dialogue, since I barely remember what I was like when I was 11. So, if the characters seem a little mature, well, that's just too bad. If you guys have any tips or tricks for me, feel free to leave a review though.

Aside from that, I'm glad that I was able to put a couple of important things in here. As good as Leo is going to be at magic, it won't all be natural talent, he is going to have to work at it. It also isn't going to be immediate. I've read far too many stories where the MC is suddenly on par with people like Dumbledore and Voldemort after studying intensely for a year or two. People with one in a million natural talent, a shit ton of drive and decades of experience to boot.

No, if my outline for the story goes to plan, it will take Leo a long, long time to catch up. This chapter also let me set the tone for Leo's views on blood and the way he deals with the prejudice of his family.

Anyways, thanks for reading, and I will see you guys again soon.