A bit of a smaller, though definitely not less important, chapter this week as we truly delve through into 1996 and the second half of 5th year.
The days after the breakout were not much better than the morning the article came out. Leo was able to patch things up with Fay once the articles had come out as in the briefest terms possible Leo explained the Fidelius Charm and that he had to be under it for his mum, but even then their friendship was more strained then they had ever been, at least until the whispers started filling the corridors of the names of the Azkaban escapees, and even worse, the names of their victims. One herbology lesson had seen Susan Bones almost run out in tears as her family past was brought back up. Even the teachers had taken to whispering out in the corridors, something that Hermione had suggested was related to Umbridge being inside the staff room. Leo agreed with her, though silently wished for his own sanity that Professor Snape would somehow find a way to get along with the new reality of Hogwarts as once Potions lessons had started the teacher's mood towards the Gryffindor had drastically altered to the extent that Leo was worried he would start getting grey hairs due to the stress of ensuring his classroom efforts were of a barely acceptable standard. Even the usually bright and cheerful Anna's mood was noticeably erratic, with the auburn-haired girl going from overly happy to overly sullen in almost an instant. All of this whispering meant that Umbridge needed a new way to control the castle, and so Educational Decree Number 26 had been drawn up, a decree which forbade teachers to discuss anything unrelated to their subjects with students, though some students enjoyed that decree to try and get out of trouble for a little while, until the detentions started.
With the overbearing nature of the High Inquisitor actually bringing a sense of normality to Hogwarts, school life eventually devolved into the same situation as it had been before Christmas with Umbridge trying to dictate their daily life as much as humanely possible. Teachers were being placed under probation and were under strict supervision by Umbridge, though neither Professor Trelawney nor Hagrid being watched carefully had affected Leo's lessons given that he wasn't taking either Divination nor Care of Magical Creatures as part of his O.W.L.s. In fact, given the absence of any of his lessons being put under supervision the only two extracurricular things that kept Leo occupied in the first month of term was researching as much as he could about Sirius and the Black family, and the returning regular meetings of the DA.
Due to their status as one of the Sacred 28 information on the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black was plentiful in the library, though the reading wasn't pretty. He found out that his most distant, direct ancestor went to Hogwarts in the 11th Century, and every descendent had been sorted into Slytherin until Sirius in 1971. There were a number of interesting articles dating back a century when Phineas Nigellus Black was Headmaster of Hogwarts, though it seemed he had an unusual distain for students given his profession.
Even their family words of Toujours Pur, or Always Pure, made Leo's skin crawl along with seeing that escapee Bellatrix Lestrange was closely related to Leo as his first cousin once removed, as was Draco Malfoy as his second cousin. There was some good to come of his family research however, as Leo realised just how interconnected most of the Wizarding world actually was given that Ron Weasley and all of his siblings were his third cousins once removed, whilst Harry had once had a great uncle that would have been Leo's two times great uncle by marriage.
Away from the family tree research however, Leo was also really interested in the political history, although once again it was anything but pretty reading. His ancestors had routinely voted against progressive new legislature and were among the leaders in trying to keep both magic and influence within a small circle, something which made Leo feel both ill, as well as determined that one day maybe he could change that for the better.
Away from the library the other thing that kept Leo excited to get out of bed in a morning was the regular meetings of the DA. Harry had taken to teaching them the shield charm Protego after the news of the breakout broke, and to everybody's surprise the fastest learner, other than Hermione of course, was Neville Longbottom, who had come away from the news about the escapees with a newfound grit and determination to learn as much about defensive magic as he possibly could, something that Leo completely understood having seen his parents' names as victims of Bellatrix Lestrange, Leo's own first cousin once removed, a fact that made him shiver whenever he thought about it.
As the routine continued and the weeks began to pass quickly January turned to February, and the Valentines Hogsmeade weekend was upon them. Given that he was so grateful to be out of the castle and away from the oppressive feeling of Professor Umbridge's decrees it didn't even bother Leo that he didn't have a date for the romantic holiday as he and Fay strolled around the village, making a point to laugh at the view inside Madam Puddifoot's tea shop as they spotted Anna and Wayne Hopkins sharing a table, before they made their way up towards the Shrieking Shack for a bit of peace and quiet.
"Does it bother you, wandering around with me instead of having a date of your own?" Fay asked him honestly.
Leo frowned as he stopped in his place. "Where has this come from? I've never been bothered by hanging out with you. You're my best mate."
Fay shrugged. "I dunno, just seeing Anna in there… normally she'll bounce from guy to guy but this time Wayne's stuck around longer than I thought he would. Even Harry Potter was in there, I saw him with Cho. I don't know, I guess we're growing up and while my options are vastly limited to girls who are out, yours aren't."
Laughing, Leo shook his head. "I'm happier here with you than I would be on some awkward first date with a girl I barely know, Fay."
He saw her smile at that. "Thanks." She admitted. "I dunno, it's just… things are changing. You're changing." She told him pointedly.
Leo's smile dropped from his face as he thought about it. He knew he had changed since discovering the truth over Christmas, but he also knew that he couldn't tell her the whole truth without breaking his word to his mother to keep it all a sworn secret. "I'm still me." He settled on saying, though he could see that Fay didn't believe him entirely.
"But quieter with us, more reserved as if you're hiding such a big part of you from us." Fay shrugged solemnly in response, causing Leo to pause as she hit the nail squarely on the head. "And you're talking to all of the Golden Trio more." She almost sneered at the word jovially. "And I don't really understand why."
"The world is changing Fay." Leo picked up a rock and juggled it in his hands before throwing it out towards the shack, not reaching anywhere nearby the ramshackle of a building. "You've heard the whispers all over the castle, Death Eaters are breaking out of Azkaban, disappearances are starting to creep up… Mum doesn't tell me a lot about what happened before, but I know enough to see that it's similar."
"It scares me, the thought of another war." Fay admitted. "I like the DA, but thinking that we could be using them spells to save our lives…" She shivered.
Thinking that he needed to change the topic before he broke his promise, Leo grabbed a handful of what was now turning to slush in the torrential rain and launched it at her. "Stop being such a downer." He forced a smile on his face as he whipped out his wand and cleaned her up quickly. "Come on, let's get a butterbeer on me. Who knows if Umbridge will ban Hogsmeade in the future, we best make the most of it while we can."
Fay nodded, and the pair of them walked briskly through the village with their hoods up until they reached the Three Broomsticks. Telling Fay to grab them a table Leo went up to the bar, spotting Hermione in a corner with Luna Lovegood and Rita Skeeter of all people. Concerned, he waited to try and get her attention but to no avail as the brunette didn't look up once before Madame Rosmerta took his order. Sighing, he turned around and walked towards his table, offering a brief hello to Hagrid before settling in for the afternoon.
It wasn't until a few weeks and a miserable Quidditch match where Gryffindor lost to Hufflepuff 240-230 later when finally understood why Hermione had been so focused on the controversial journalist. Harry had told them all briefly that he had spoken all about his experiences with You-Know-Who returning to Rita and asked as many people as possible to subscribe to the Quibbler in preparation, but it wasn't until March's edition of the Quibbler arrived in front of Leo on the first Monday of the month when he truly understood. Having grabbed a quick breakfast before the owls had arrived he passed Harry and Ron on their way into the Great Hall, and Leo quickly his way to classroom 4F for History of Magic before settling down in the corridor and reading the article.
He had finished when the rest of the class had started turning up, and the first people he saw were the famed trio. He made his way over to them noticing Harry was looking glum. "This article is incredible." He commented. "I believed you before, but seeing it all spelled out in detail…" He shuddered.
"Thanks Leo." Harry muttered. "I'd hide that though if I were you, Umbridge is on a rampage."
Hermione nodded, a sly grin on her face. "Harry had a lot of letters this morning about the article. Professor Umbridge didn't appreciate the attention he was getting."
Leo smirked at the image he had just thought of, the woman's head erupting in pink flames. "Then let's hope she stays true to form and bans the Quibbler, there's nothing like contraband to make the story spread."
And Umbridge, delightfully, was as predictable as Leo had thought she would be. After a fascinating lecture on the Werewolf Code of Conduct there were notices all around the school detailing Educational Decree Number Twenty-Seven, expulsion to anybody caught with the Quibbler. The decree meant that it wasn't until after dinner that day that he managed to show Fay and Anna the article, and another prediction of Leo's came true as Anna simply snorted as she finished.
"I've read some fictional drama in my time, but that's up there with the best." The auburn-haired girl chuckled, only she stopped when she realised she was the only one laughing. "Oh come on, don't tell me you believe this?"
"I do." Leo nodded adamantly.
Anna snorted again. "As if."
Leo sighed, taking the magazine back and transfiguring it into a notepad. "Think back to the third task when Harry and Cedric got back… Harry was bloodied and Cedric was lying their unmoving, without a single mark on him. How do you think he died if it wasn't the killing curse?"
"Who knows what Hagrid had in that maze." Anna shuddered. "I can't believe you of all people are defending Potter."
Leo shrugged. "The facts add up if you pay attention."
Anna scowled. "I know we have our banter, Leo, but I'm not an idiot." She snapped. "Whatever happened, You-Know-Who is dead, he can't be behind Cedric's death, nor is he back and terrorising us all again."
She got up and stormed away to the girls dormitory, and before Leo could say anything back he felt a hand on his arm. "Leave it." Fay said quietly. "I believe it and I'm terrified, so I guess Anna has good reason to fear it. Everybody with prior magical blood knows someone that died during the war, don't we?"
Leo shut his eyes and mentally slapped himself as he sank into his armchair. "I didn't even think." He whispered. "I'll apologise."
"She has a point though." Fay shrugged. "I'd never expect you to be so quick in defending Harry."
He thought for a moment about what he was going to say. "A lot changed over Christmas Fay. I didn't go home, I can't even tell you where I went, I'm literally not able to. But… certain things came to light about my parents."
Fay's eyebrow shot up noticing the exact word that he had used. "Parents… plural?"
Leo nodded. "My Father… it turns out he isn't dead like I thought all these years. He's in the resistance. This war is coming sooner than we'd like and we'll all have to pick a side eventually. I've just already chosen where I stand."
His words had seemingly had a profound effect on Fay, who was looking at him with a mix of happiness and sadness at the same time. "Who is he?" She whispered.
Shaking his head, Leo simply said. "I shouldn't. I've barely wrapped my own head around it." He looked over to where Fred and George Weasley had found a copy of the article and had begun enlarging it, enchanting it so that Harry's giant head would come out with random phrases bashing Umbridge or the Ministry. Laughing to himself, Leo grabbed his books out of his bag and settled in to finish some homework amidst the celebrating, taking one final look at Fay and adding. "You'll be the first person I tell; I promise."
She didn't look convinced, but thankfully let it slide as she took her own books out to get on with her work.
Reviews:
SkepticPrinceArthur: Perhaps it's the Game of Thrones writer in me but when I read that passage considering that it's already known that at that time jinxes and hexes were being flung between Slytherin's and Gryffindor's at least, for Lily to go out and say it was dark magic made me go to that dark place. Fay will be fine, I didn't want a lengthy unhappy period for them both but with Leo being under Fidelius and the pair being so close it made sense to me that she'd be pissed at unexpected change.
Dante687: Thank you!