Thanks once again for the responses to the last chapter! A little bit of a shorter one this week and it's basically one elongated scene, but at least I'm sticking to schedule for now!
Some dialogue in this chapter is borrowed from Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince: Chapter 7 - The Slug Club
August was another month that arrived and left far too quickly for Leo's liking, and other than a single outing to the Burrow for Ginny's birthday it was all spent stuck inside Grimmauld Place. Leo had spent the latter half of the month looking into the House of Black tapestry to see if it would be possible to repair it and add to it now that the truth had completely settled in, but so far the magic was far too advanced for him to even comprehend and not even an uneasy alliance with the House Elf, Kreacher, had done anything for it. He quickly ran out of time however, and before he knew it he was being shepherded into the back of a ministry car once again for the short journey towards King's Cross. Both of Leo's parents joined him as they rushed through the barrier, and he was unprepared for all the stares that quickly came their way.
"I knew this was a bad idea." Mary whispered as they pushed their way through the onlookers.
Sirius shrugged. "Nonsense." He said quietly, before raising his voice. "I'm a free man after finally having a trial, if others can't keep their eyes to themselves then that's their problem." A few onlookers quickly looked away abashed, but numerous eyes were still on them.
He spotted Fay chatting to her parents towards the middle of the train and pushed his trolley over to her as she hugged her parents goodbye before meeting him in the middle. "Leo!" She called out with an enthusiastic wave. "Hi!"
Leo returned her hug eagerly. "Good Summer?" He asked once they had separated, moving over to a bench to avoid all of the parents and students rushing around the platform.
"You know how it is." Fay shrugged as she sat down. "Saw some Quidditch, didn't stay outside for too long." She jerked her head at her parents, whom Mary had gone over to speak to while Sirius was talking to Harry. "Mum's nervy given everything that is going on, wanted me inside at all times, she didn't even really want me going to watch the Magpies, only relented when I threw a tantrum."
"She's just being sensible." Leo said quietly. "We were the same, only time we really left the house was to go and buy school supplies. I missed the game I had tickets too because we were being that cautious."
"Yeah that sucks, but the Fidelius is still cool." Fay whispered, and Leo groaned at the sight of Sirius' raised eyebrow as the man appeared in front of them.
"You must be a good friend if Leo's breaking meticulously set rules to tell you things he really shouldn't be talking about." Sirius interrupted, placing his hand on Leo's shoulder. "Aren't you going to introduce us?"
Leo rolled his eyes. "Fay Dunbar, Sirius Black. Fay is my best friend, we met in our first Potions lesson in First Year."
"And he's not managed to shake me off since." Fay grinned, shaking Sirius' hand enthusiastically. "A pleasure to meet you."
"Likewise." Sirius nodded, visibly happy at not being treated like a criminal by somebody on the platform.
The whistle of the sounded behind them indicating that departure was imminent. "We best get on." Fay said, rising to her feet to walk towards the crimson locomotive.
"I'll be a minute." Leo explained, and Fay gave him a knowing smile as she returned to say a final goodbye to her parents. He then turned to Sirius, standing there for a moment of silence not managing to find the right words to sum up the goodbye. "Right then." Was all he managed, as he winced feeling awkward.
"Be sure to use the mirror, yeah?" Sirius asked. "Getting to know you this summer has been great, I'm not sure I'd like having no contact with you other than whatever letters we can slip through the system."
Leo nodded, agreeing completely as he looked back over to his mum, who was keeping his new owl behind for the time being to lessen his luggage. "I will."
"And be careful." Sirius whispered, uncharacteristically cautious. "Things are heating up. We can all sense it in the Order. Harry told me what he saw about Malfoy, and while I doubt Voldemort has trusted him with some sort of secret mission, he's used children of important wizarding families before." There was something else in Sirius' eyes there, something that Leo couldn't quite work out.
He let Sirius pull him into an awkward hug before they parted just as briefly. "I'll see you at Christmas. Try not to shout at Kreacher, he's just starting to warm up to me." Leo stated, grinning at the uneasy look on Sirius' face before he moved over to his Mum, giving her a fierce hug.
"Stay safe, dear." Mary squeezed him. "Please, keep in touch. I'll send Cosmo along with a letter in a week."
"You're the one that needs to stay safe." Leo whispered.
Mary chuckled. "I'll be fine, love." The whistle sounded again. "Right, go! Get your arse on."
Leo grabbed his trunk and got onto the train just before the doors slammed shut, and he made sure he had a good spot by the door window as the Hogwarts Express began to move away, waving at both Mary and Sirius until the platform was no longer in sight. After he found Fay again, they began making their way up the platform until they saw a commotion outside one of the compartments, where one of the new 4th years was running away being chased by hideous looking green and dripping bats. Letting her and her group run past, Leo was still smirking as he saw Ginny stood outside a carriage, though his smirk left his face when he saw she was being spoken to by what looked like an elderly professor.
"One o'clock sharp!" The man stated. "All three of you! I expect you there!"
"Of course sir." Ginny stated, her tone of voice showing more confusion than anything.
The teacher nodded with a smile, before his eyes turned on Leo. "Merlin's beard! It's like I've seen a ghost! You must be Leo!"
Leo's eyes were wide in surprise as the teacher rounded on him, grabbing his hand and shaking it violently. "Sorry… do I know you?"
"Professor Horace Slughorn." The man introduced himself. "And no, we won't have met but I know your parents extremely well! Taught them both, and your uncle, and all of your grandparents too!"
Leo looked at Fay alarmed. "I wasn't aware that my Father was common knowledge…" He trailed off.
"It will be soon my boy after today!" Professor Slughorn laughed. "But I remember your parents when they first became involved with one another, and just looking at you it's obvious! Why I had generations of Blacks in my time as Head of Slytherin I could recognise you from a mile off! You must come to lunch as well! Mr Potter, Miss Weasley and Mr Longbottom here are all coming!" He spat at a million miles an hour before he gestured into the compartment, and Leo saw the three mentioned along with Luna Lovegood in the corner reading the Quibbler upside down. Leo was patted firmly on the back to the extent that he was almost knocked over as Professor Slughorn left down the corridor. "1 o'clock sharp!"
Once he had left their view, Leo turned to Ginny who was still in the doorway. "What was that about?" He asked, completely baffled.
Ginny rolled her eyes. "We had barely sat down before that Romilda Vane tapped on the door to try and get Harry to sit with them. A firm no didn't send her away and she was being a little too flirty… so I hexed her."
"It was brilliant." Neville grinned. "Bogeys started flying out of her nose and whacking her with their wings."
"Anyway, Professor Slughorn saw. I thought I was going to get a detention but he said he really enjoyed the magic, and the loyalty to my friend." Ginny said the last word oddly. "And invited me, Neville and Harry to lunch."
"He collects students." Harry explained. "The famous or the powerful, he can spot whatever potential in them and collects them to make sure he gets favoured when they go on to be a success. Though he says he invited me because he knew my Mother, not because of..." He trailed off.
That explained Leo's own invite then, the boy thought to himself. He and Fay followed them into the compartment, with Leo pulling his friends arm as he noticed Fay's hesitation. "They won't bite." He reassured her before putting both of their trunks in the luggage rack.
"How was your summer, Leo?" Neville asked politely as he sat beside Luna. Leo took his own seat by the compartment door, noticing Harry and Ginny sitting closely next to him by the window.
"Alright I guess, didn't get to do much." Leo shrugged. "How was yours? You've been all over the papers…"
Neville simply grinned. "I thought Gran would be angry about it, but she was really pleased! Said I'm starting to live up to my dad." He noticed Leo's and Fay's confusion. "He was an Auror, a really good one apparently before…" He also trailed off, though Leo was less sure of why with Neville, but he continued speaking before Leo could ask about it. "Anyway, I'd been using his wand until the Ministry and she was so pleased she bought me a new one!" He pulled it out. "Cherry and Unicorn hair. It must have been one of the last Ollivander sold…"
Neville trailed off once more as his toad was threatening to escape, and once he returned the conversation turned more to their O.W.L. results with input from Ginny and Luna on what they should expect. Around an hour into the journey Ron and Hermione joined them in a tight squeeze and told them about the unusual behaviour from Draco Malfoy. Leo could tell that Harry was eager to focus on that, although a quick look at his watch showed that it was ten to one. "We best make a move." He said to the invitees. Saying goodbye to those that weren't joining them, although Fay joined them part of the way to Compartment C as she wanted to find Anna.
The compartment was already relatively full as they entered, and Harry of course got the main brunt of the welcome before they were gestured to a quartet of seats surrounding a formally displayed table. Professor Slughorn then turned on them and asked. "Now, do you know everyone?" He gestured around the room. "Blaise Zabini is in your year of course… this is Cormac McLaggen, perhaps you've come across each other?" Leo recognised one of the new Gryffindor seventh years, and Cormac McLaggen waved in response to his name being mentioned. "And finally this is Marcus Belby." He then turned to the prior occupants of the carriage. "And for your benefit, we have Neville Longbottom, Ginevra Weasley, and Leo Black…"
"MacDonald." Leo interrupted quickly, much to Professor Slughorn's annoyance. "My surname is MacDonald, my Mother's."
"Ah, of course. Terrible circumstances…" Slughorn trailed. "Where was I… Oh of course, and everybody will know Harry here!" Professor Slughorn fell into his seat. "Well now, this is most pleasant." He waved his wand and a large basket began to float towards the fancy table, and another jerk of his wand allowed the food inside to come leaping out, filling their plates with such detail that it looked like one of the fancy muggle restaurants that he'd seen in books. "I do hope you all are comfortable with a different lunch than usual? The liquorice wands from the trolley play havoc on my digestive system these days…"
Leo of course didn't mind as he tucked into a pheasant leg, almost ignoring the elderly professor as he spoke to each individual guest about their famous relatives. From what Leo could understand Belby had an estranged Uncle that the Professor was fond of, Zabini had a more than likely murderous mother, whilst Cormac McLaggen had a well-connected Uncle named Tiberius. Neville looked extremely uncomfortable when talk got round to his Auror parents, and Ginny was left scowling after her own interrogation about her family, with hasty condolences given by the Professor when it came to speaking about Arthur.
Then it was Leo's turn almost an hour after he had finished eating. "Mr MacDonald…" Slughorn grinned, though Leo quickly glanced out the window in the hopes that the sky was darkening and it was almost time to leave to get changed into his school robes… though no such luck. "Of course I knew your Grandfather Magnus, a rather odd fellow I always found, though I was sorry to hear of his passing. But it's your paternal side that intrigues me, they were Slytherin's one and all you see and I their Head of House. Well, other than Sirius of course… he went to Gryffindor. Such a shame! He was a talented boy. I got his brother Regulus in the end, but looking back I'd have loved the set…"
"I don't really know too much about that side of my family, Sir." Leo said, his patience wearing thin. "I didn't know who my Father was until last Christmas after all, and even then he was disowned almost two decades ago. We have a rather obnoxious painting of my Grandmother, but she won't stop screeching obscenities for long enough to let me butt in with any questions I have about the dark part of the Black family."
Slughorn gulped. "Walburga… She was one of my prefects you know. I recommended her to Professor Dippet for Head Girl, though he disagreed with me. Never one to back down from her beliefs."
"Until You-Know-Who began slaughtering people. She backed down then." Leo stated bluntly, causing a couple of gasps from Neville and Marcus Belby. "Forgive me, Professor. As I implied earlier, all I know about that side of my family comes from the disowned, disillusioned son."
Slughorn didn't look abashed, and instead was grinning. "My boy, are you sure you wouldn't take on the name now that things have come to light? I can already tell you would go far within the system no matter your name, but with one as old and as powerful as Black…" He looked out the window fondly. "Why you'd be unstoppable."
"My Grandfather and Mother raised me, Professor, and they were MacDonald's. They might not have been inducted into the Sacred Twenty-Eight like the Blacks, but their blood is just as pure, if that's the way you're inclined." Leo replied coolly.
Slughorn gasped, horrified. "Not at all! Forgive me if that was the implication you took! I only mean to say that there have been powerful Black's in politics before, why my own headmaster when I was a student was a Black! But as you've so succinctly put, your maternal side are no slouches…" He then turned, and his focus was quickly on Harry. "And now… Harry Potter! Where to begin? I feel I barely scratched the surface when we met over the summer!" He paused for a second, eyeing Harry up like a piece of meat. "The Chosen One, they're calling you now…!"
Leo's attention failed him as Slughorn began prattling on to an equally uninterested Harry, although after a rebuking by Neville and Ginny about their escapade at the Ministry followed by what seemed like hours of talk about the famous people that the Professor knew, finally they were allowed to leave as the light outside began to fade.
"I'm glad that's over." Neville muttered as they made their way back to their compartment. "Strange man, isn't he?"
"Yeah he is a bit." Harry agreed.
"You handled him well though Leo." Ginny noted. "I thought he was going to hand you a form to change your name there and then."
Leo shrugged. "People like him can only see what others can give them. You heard him dismiss my mother's family there, because all they gave to the world in the last century was a laugh over a banned broom game. Sirius' family however…" He shuddered. "I don't want to profit from that type of history."
"Hold up guys." Harry stated quickly but quietly. "I'll join you in a bit… just need to do something." And Harry immediately pulled his invisibility cloak out of his pocket and flung it over himself, darting away as he did.
"That was odd." Neville repeated the sentiment from earlier about Slughorn. They kept walking, noticing that Zabini was having trouble with the door to his compartment as they passed, and they were soon at their own compartment, where everyone had changed into their school robes already and Hermione was stood in the compartment with her arms folded and tapping her foot.
"Where have you been? We're almost there!" She whispered harshly, dragging the three inside. "Get in, get changed… where's Harry?"
Ginny was the one to answer. "Probably trying to eavesdrop on Malfoy. He'll be along soon." She insisted before turning to the boys. "Do you guys mind…"
"Not at all." Leo said first, half-heartedly pushing Neville and Ron out of the compartment so that she could get changed, before the boys kicked the girls out so that Neville and Leo could do the same. Leo hadn't even fixed his tie when the train began slowing down, and he knew that he'd have to redo it as the train stopped.
"Harry's not back." Ginny stated as the occupants of the compartment began to gather their trunks to leave.
"He'll be fine." Ron shrugged. "He's probably already off the train reeling from whatever nefarious schemes Malfoy's admitted to on a train full of underaged wizards."
Leo chuckled at the thought as he stepped off the Hogwarts Express, and he stared up at Hogwarts in the distance wondering what this year would bring them.
Reviews:
SkepticPrinceArthur: It's very relatable! We've all been there I'd wager as a kid, figuring out something ourselves that is obvious for the rest. Ginny and Ron will be slightly different from now on because of Arthur's death which is understandable, with Ron angrier and more believing in Harry's 'crazy' theories come the rest of the year. As for your own fic, that's certainly a good way to do things. If you're on my discord server link will be in the story summary/my profile) I can go into more detail about my planning process but I do things similarly, go through the show episodes to see where my OC's and changes would make a difference or where things would stay the same.
Lightningscar: I agree a lot do that, but the point of that scene wasn't to show off the generational wealth, but to show more of Sirius' serious (pun intended) side when it comes to how he feels about Leo and his time away from his son, it's more of a character thing than a 'oh look at all the shiny things'.