So, here's the second chapter of Jinx Black and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Now, as before, not only is there no guarantee of this becoming a standalone fic, but this is a sort of rought draft, to get things going for potential future Arcane crossovers.
Still, I hope you enjoy...
JINX BLACK AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN
CHAPTER 2:
A ZAUNITE IN MAGICAL BRITAIN
Powder was nervous. Here she was, around one of Magical Britain's most famous figures. And he was kinda cute. But she'd been warned by Dora not to gush.
No, she wasn't Powder. Not to him, not to anyone barring the family who took her in. Maybe in time, yes, but those words that were said…
β3CΔU$3 YØU ΔR3 Δ J1NX!
…They were too true. The words hurt, they tore the heart from her chest. She was a jinx, she was jinxed, and it was better that she accepted that, took that name as penance, and instead, tried to work on things she could control, so that when she finally met Vi…
In some ways, Jinx was angry towards her sister. Being attacked by someone she thought had loved her and that she loved in her turn would do that. The words hurt most of all, but the vicious blow and having her face gripped so hard, Jinx thought that Vi was going to tear it off…that compounded matters, opened an undeniable rift, between them, and in her heart.
But…Jinx still wanted her to be her sister again. It couldn't be the same way, not anymore, not with Vander dead, along with Mylo and Claggor. Their blood was on Jinx's hands, inadvertently or not. But she hoped that, after all these years, Vi would be finally able to forgive her…or at least still be willing to be her sister.
If not…well, if Vi was banged up in jail (Stillwater, probably), Jinx would free her, and go on her merry way if Vi didn't want to reconcile. If she was free…well, Jinx would go her separate way from her sister if need be. While she wanted nothing more than to reconcile with Vi, she had been warned it might not work out that way.
She had family in the Tonks, and distant blood relations to boot. Family who cared about her, even though she was a jinx. Family who guided her, coaxed her gifts out, allowed her to channel them in reasonable ways, helped blunt the voices and apparitions.
So while she needed closure where Vi was concerned…if Vi decided that she didn't want anything to do with Jinx…well, Jinx wouldn't take it well, but in the end…she would accept it and try to move on. She wasn't sure if it'd go as neatly as that. But she hoped things would turn out, if not well, then without angry words.
Jinx tore into the breakfast, occasionally making notes on a notepad between mouthfuls. Even with the hallucinations muted, her mind was still awhirl with ideas. Wizard antipsychotics were fucking brilliant.
"What are you doing?" Harry asked after a few minutes of this.
"Making notes 'bout stuff. I do a lot of experiments, and my attention span's a bit over the place, so I've gotta make notes in case I forget. By the way, can I get your help with an experiment? Don't worry, it's nothing painful. I just want to measure the energy surge through your wand while you cast spells."
Harry blinked, then looked to Dora. "It's okay, Harry. She won't hurt you. She's just curious about how things work. I'm not sure I'd call her a Ravenclaw, she's just intensely curious. And she has a short attention span."
"Oh, okay. Sure. The Ministry won't object?"
"Underage magic doesn't apply in magical enclaves like Diagon Alley, and besides, this Expanded Trunk is in a pocket dimension, rather like the inside of the TARDIS."
Harry nodded in some sort of understanding. "So…how come she's coming to Hogwarts this year? I mean, she's about my age, so…why didn't she get her letter?"
"…It's a long story," Dora said, "and I don't know whether Jinx wants to say it."
"I'll tell him the brief version, Dora, I'm fine with that," Jinx said, before looking up at Harry. "Okay, so, family history time. Did Dora tell you how the Black family is basically an incestuous cesspool of dark wizards?"
"…More or less," Harry said.
"Right, so, my mother was a Squib. You know what that means?" On his nod, she said, "Good, I don't have to explain that. Problem is, for a Pureblood family like the Blacks, Squibs, who didn't have magic, were no better than Muggles, and my grandmother Walburga, being a total bitch, sabotaged a Floo just as my mother was going through it. Now, people who go through sabotaged Floos don't tend to come back. Intact, anyway. Buuuut…well, my mother came out intact…into another world."
"Another world?" Harry asked in disbelief.
"Yeah, Runeterra. Look, I know it's hard to believe, but look at it from my point of view. Three years ago, I got taken away from everything I ever knew…or loved…and found out that I was on another world where magic was hidden. I'm still wondering if this is some kind of twisted dream. Anyway, I come from Zaun, a city, one of two in that part of the world. My mother met my father, got married, had two daughters, myself, and my older sister Violet, or 'Vi'. But, well, my parents died just when I was old enough to remember them. You see, Zaun was basically a polluted hellhole, and part of the reason was Piltover, a shining city of progress that dumped everything filthy onto us, like we were a toilet for them."
"…Yeesh."
"Anyway, my parents died in an uprising. I was just old enough to remember it happening, the Enforcers, the police of Piltover, gunning them down. Vi and I were taken in by Vander. We had a happy life…until stuff happened. I…"
β3CΔU$3 YØU ΔR3 Δ J1NX!
"…I messed up. Badly. Vander died, along with a couple of Vi's friends. That's all I want to say about that."
Thankfully, Dora took up the reins of the tale. Jinx wasn't sure if she could continue. "Something about what happened triggered Jinx's latent magic. At the time, Jinx had experimented with what we think was that world's magic. That woke her magic up, and somehow, it brought her here to Earth. She ended up in the Department of Mysteries. They did a Heritage Test, basically like a magical DNA paternity test, and learned of her relation to us. My old man is an Unspeakable, and volunteered to adopt her, after conferring with my mum. We actually discussed matters with Professor Dumbledore, and he agreed for her to be given a home tuition covering the first couple of years, but that she'd be brought in for her third year. Unfortunately, that coincided with her uncle deciding to break out of Azkaban, which, I should add, nobody knows how the hell he did that."
"…I'm sorry you're related to someone like him," Harry said. "Let's just say I know what it's like to have relatives I hate."
Jinx shot him a smile. "Yeah, Dora told me a bit about having to deal with that bitch of an aunt of yours. Turned that racist old hag into a balloon, huh? Awesome. I would have loved to do that to Mylo, blow him up like a balloon."
Yøu $t1ll bl3w m3 up, t#øu?#, yøu $tup!d l!ttl3 fuck1n? J1nx.
Jinx cringed at the hallucination. More of a hissed whisper, on the very edge of her hearing, but wizard antipsychotics, while still pretty good at keeping her focused and the hallucinations from getting too intrusive, didn't stop the hallucinations all the time.
"Hey, Jinx, don't get me wrong, that old harridan deserved it, and more, not to mention the rest of the Dursleys," Dora said. "But unfortunately, laws and rules exist for a reason. Harry was lucky Fudge decided to waive any accusations of underage magic because of Sirius possibly being after him. They're not known for their leniency, at least to Muggleborns and Halfbloods living in Muggle areas. Towards Purebloods, though? This country's got too much bloody nepotism."
Jinx tried and failed to stop herself from rolling her eyes. Rules, laws, blah blah blah. Boring. The Pilties used laws and rules to step on Zaun to their heart's content, and honestly, it was the same here, even if it was a bit less so. At least Dora was all right for what passed for an Enforcer here.
"Anyway, the upshot is, after what happened," Jinx said, "Dora here decided to take me here early. I haven't really made any friends my age in Britain yet, for…well, quite a few reasons. She thought, she could act as your Auror protection detail, though you probably won't need one, I get to meet you, and hopefully, you can help me out when we get to Hogwarts, yeah?"
Harry was watching the blue-haired girl in front of him. She seemed to be full of nervous energy, and there were times when her smile seemed a little brittle. Then again, given the pain in her voice when she said she had messed up and people died…well, he could understand that to some degree.
Her question at the end of it seemed cheerful and hopeful, but there was something behind it. Like a plea. He wasn't sure what for, exactly.
"Sure," Harry said. "I'll try and help out. You've got electives lined up?"
"Care for Magical Creatures and Runes," Jinx said.
"I think we'd only be sharing Care for Magical Creatures," Harry mused. "I'm taking Divination. But I'll help out where I can. Just be warned if you don't know already: Snape, the teacher who supposedly teaches Potions, heavily favours the Slytherins. He also loves to punish the Gryffindors for…well, anything. I can't say what he's like towards Ravenclaws or Hufflepuffs."
"Yeah, well, I ain't intending to go into Slytherin. Andy used to be in Slytherin, and she said it was a cesspool of backstabbing and snobbery. So, basically filled with Pilties. I don't care about the other Houses, though I don't think I'm brave enough for Gryffindor, or smart enough for the Ravenclaws. I don't like learning about stuff other than stuff I like."
Tonks scoffed. "Says the young tea-leaf who snuck into rich people's houses in Piltover and robbed them blind. That's pretty daring to me."
Jinx laughed, though the sound seemed to be somewhat hollow and self-mocking. "I just tagged along with Vi, wanting to do something, anything, to help out, and messing up. Sisters, am I right? Can't live with 'em, can't stuff 'em back in the ol' baby-maker."
"…Sorry?" Harry asked, confused and even a little weirded-out by her turn of phrase.
"She's a bit like that, it's okay. Jinx has…a complicated relationship with her birth sister Violet," Tonks said. "She loves Vi, but…let's just say they didn't part on the best of terms." And then, Tonks stood, and went around to Jinx, gently touching her shoulders. "Don't worry, one day, we'll find a way to get to Runeterra, and we'll find her."
"I…I hope so, Dora. I really do," Jinx said softly, her hand clasping Tonks' own, before looking to Harry. "Sorry, what happened to me…did a bit of a number on me." She tapped the side of her head with her free hand. "Dora and her parents have helped me, they really have, but…let's just say I am hoping I never meet a Dementor."
"A Dementor?" Harry asked.
Tonks scowled. "Okay, so, Dementors are the guards of Azkaban. Apart from a few very unlucky wizards and witches sent there on oversight, often Aurors who screwed up badly, anyway. Dementors are…well, for want of a better word, wraiths, demons, monsters that suck up the happiness in their surroundings. A few people even faint, due to the Dementors unearthing their worst memories. So, guess what are going to be guarding Hogwarts from Sirius Black thanks to Fudge being a moron?"
"…Oh, bollocks," Harry muttered in sudden realisation.
"Oh, it gets worse. Dementors barely listen to orders from the Ministry, even at the best of times. And here's the thing: they're also used as a means of execution. The Dementor's Kiss, they call it. Sirius is going to get it, I'm sure, given that he's escaped. The Kiss involves a Dementor basically sucking out the soul of their prey…and eating it." Tonks scoffed. "The victim is technically alive, but they're practically a vegetable, brain-dead. They can breathe and soil themselves, but that's it. I hate the bloody things, but the Ministry think they're perfect wardens because they can't be bribed or manipulated, or so they think. I reckon the Dementors would jump ship if someone let them eat all the souls they wanted."
After a moment, Harry rubbed his forehead. "…Tonks, I already had that impression from…well, let's just say I saw Fudge some months back, long before I met him here, enough to know that he's a bit of a moron, but…is he a complete idiot?!"
"…Not an absolute idiot, but he did get advised a lot by Dumbledore, and Malfoy and his ilk keep slipping Fudge 'donations'. He's a decent administrator, but he does not react well to crises. Anyway, enough about him, or the Dementors. Once we've finished up here, let's go get Jinx's stuff, okay?"
Harry nodded. Still, something about the blue-haired girl in question was worrying her. Not that he was afraid of her by any means. Rather, some instinct made him afraid for her. And he wasn't sure why…
CHAPTER 2 ANNOTATIONS:
Oh, Harry, that's your protective instinct towards a traumatised schizophrenic.
Now, Jinx is more sane than she was in canon, but it doesn't mean her canon mental illness is gone by any means. She's retained her empathy, and while that includes one hell of a guilt complex, she's more stable. But she's also more overtly lugubrious.
She also still has something of canon Jinx's anarchistic tendencies. She barely tolerates rules. Which will make things interesting, in the cursed sense of the term.
No numbered annotations this time.