Weights on the soul
They returned home, and while Hippolyta responded to the letter from her parents, in which they had given them approval to visit them as soon as possible, a response that Deborah supervised, Sev relaxed for a while reading 'Homage to Catalonia' accompanied by Ariel, who was also reading one of his Jules Verne books.
At a quarter to three the members of the Sly family who had appeared headed to the Quidditch field, except for Deborah and Paul, who stayed to practice Legilimency and solve the matter of the Room of Requirement.
Valerie and Andrew, Anthony and Heather, Fiona, George and Angie, Shelley and Ariel, Brad and Trevor, the Sly Beaters, Sirius and Hippolyta, who Sev was holding by her hand.
Sirius chatted with Sev in confidence. "Have you solved yesterday's thing?"
"Yes, I have what happened yesterday, but a much more serious matter has arisen. Hippolyta's father is the owner of the used bookstore in Diagon, he often crosses paths with your little cousin, and Hippolyta herself usually goes to visit him there. She can read her at any time and find out what she has with me."
"Booahh..." very alarmed. "It's true, she always walks through the alley."
"As soon as we get back from the field I'm going to take her to learn Occlumency and we're going to teach her parents too," said Sev.
"Of course, of course."
"Also, I have thought that it will be inevitable that she finds out about the Army, it will be enough for her to read any student who goes shopping in August."
"True."
"And that we should also teach you Occlumency before the term ends, otherwise you will not be free to go to Diagon as you thought, to Gringotts, to research Transfiguration books and to buy your own material," the Sly proposed. "If she sees you, you are the first one she is going to read."
"Sev, don't worry about me, I already told you that I know how to protect myself. I always go first thing in the morning, from nine to eleven, for example. She's not a morning person, she spends her nights partying at her Death Eater orgies."
"Well, then whatever you want, we could coordinate with Lily so that we would have enough time to teach you both."
"I wanted to talk to you about Lily, Sev."
"I prefer that you don't do it," knackered.
"I prefer that we do," understanding.
"Speak then," Sev agreed.
"Yesterday she behaved terribly with you."
"Me too with her."
"No, not you," said Sirius, very sure of himself. "She should have told you what she had talked to Hippolyta about, knowing all the problems you have with her, like I did in the morning."
"That's what I think too."
"Well, be honest, Sev, otherwise we won't get clear."
"Okay, Sirius."
"She completely didn't care about you during the party, she was comfortable with me and didn't take responsibility for anything, not even the upset that Hippolyta had and that Cecile told me about afterwards, even though it was her with whom she had just had the talk."
"Oh…"
"That's why I didn't hesitate for a moment to go listen to you play the piano and leave her alone, and then I didn't have any desire to go back to the party and see her again," the Gryff explained. "Plus, she made Remus stay, she was the one who told him so as not to be left alone."
"Yeah."
"I'm getting disappointed, Sev. She no longer seems as great as she seemed to me. Today I chatted with her in the morning and I told her everything I thought about her and her behavior towards you. She is being disloyal to you and substituting you for me too early, and I think that eventually she would do the same to me. So I'm not going to get involved anymore, I'm going to let a long time pass to see if she clears up what she feels."
And despite that she has not loved me again. "You're doing well, Sirius."
"Thank you for listening to me and your approval. I have no experience with long relationships or such intense feelings and I can only confide them to you. I'm sorry I had to force you to talk about it."
"Don't be sorry at all, Sirius, I'm glad you did. For my part, you have permission to talk to Remus and Cecile about the subject as well. If you already spent the whole night together last night, they must already smell it."
"Okay, Sev, I'll do it. I think they are healthier and more mature than Lily about these issues."
"Yes, I think so too."
"That's why I don't want Lily to teach me Occlumency, I don't want to spend a lot of time alone with her."
"Cecile can do it too, she also reads thoroughly," the Sly suggested.
"Great, if so, I would like to try it."
"Propose it to her, maybe she prefers to be carefree these days with Remus."
"Remus is not going to be carefree, he has to learn to Obliviate," said Black. "Are you going to have time to do it all, Sev?"
"I have canceled learning to Obliviate, he is going to do it only with Jack, if Jack appears, of course. Another one who is not trustworthy, has not shown up for lunch or training, as you have seen."
"When and where did you have the session?"
"After dinner, in our room in the dungeons," Sev answered. "Come you and Cecile to the clearing where we were on Friday also after dinner, perhaps by then I will have finished with Hippolyta, and if I haven't, take the opportunity to give a walk through the forest and talk about things."
"Great, Sev, how well we understand each other. Do you think the girl will learn to occlude in a single session?"
"I'm almost one hundred percent sure. And I also think that you will be able to do it before the end of the term."
"What makes you think that?"
"Two very good facts," Sly responded. "The first, you are a very discreet and reliable person, you have the talent. The second, you are very motivated, you more than anyone, because you have spent years and years having to disguise and hide what you felt from your family, and recently from James."
"True, Sev. How well you know me, having barely treated me."
"How sorry I am that Lily's thing didn't work out, you're going to spend the summer alone."
"That's no problem for me, I always go through them alone," said Sirius.
"Well, you don't have to. There is a girl who really likes you and you also like her, with whom you have things in common, and who was disappointed yesterday when I told her that you were in love with someone who wasn't her."
"Oh really? Who?" interested.
"Valerie."
"Wow, Sev... always acting as a matchmaker for me."
"And I will still do it for you with someone else when the time comes."
"With the spy."
"With that one," Sev confirmed.
"I already told you that I have to learn Occlumency, I already know too much."
"Indeed."
"I will never be able to thank you for everything you do for me," Black said.
"Nor do I you for what you do for me, Sirius, we are on an equal footing. Do you want to chat about something else?"
"Yes, Sev, when are we going to see each other again if we don't meet tonight."
"Tomorrow night we were planning to have a quiet party in the Room of Requirement, in that natural space where Lily took you. All of us occlumants will go, I would love for you to come."
"Great, this way we can be together and we don't have to be with Lily if you don't feel like it."
"It's not about that either, I don't want to offend her," said the Sly.
"But I imagine you don't feel like being with her at all."
"No, I don't feel like it, but I will if she wants to chat with me."
"Don't do it Sev, let her take a beating and find out what she's missing."
"Yes, maybe you're right."
"You have been very soft with her all these years."
"Maybe so," Sev admitted.
"And how are we going to hide our absence?"
"In the beginning we were counting on you to distract the others, because we Slys are going to skip dinner, we are going to have dinner there, in the big house."
"Sure."
"The Gryffs were going to have little dinner, feigning illness, saying they were going for a walk and coming after dinner at the Great Hall, when we had already cooked," the Sly explained.
"Sure."
"I think you can do the same, ask James to be the one to distract the others."
"Great, James will be happy to help us out," said Sirius.
"Don't tell him anything about the Room of Requirement."
"No no."
"Later, when we're done with the party, the Gryffs will back up the Time-Turner to get home before the curfew," Sev added.
"Great. You're going to have to leave us yours again."
"Of course."
"How well you coordinate," said Black, admired.
"We are many heads thinking with the same objectives, now yours too. Anything else you want to talk about?"
"Not for the moment."
"Okay, then I'll ask you. How was James last night?" the Sly asked.
"He apologized to everyone."
"Great, now the only ones missing are the Huffles."
"He's going to do it in the Great Hall in the next few days," said the Gryff.
"Wonderful."
"I suggested it to him, so that he would have peace of mind for the rest of the summer."
"Great, tell Hippolyta," said Sev.
Sirius walked around them, took the girl's other hand and told her.
She said, "Very good, but I won't find out if it's true until I talk to all of them next year. So, for the moment, I am not going to forgive him, so he don't find it so easy and continue to reflect in the summer."
"I think it's very good, Hippolyta," Sirius told her. "Did you know that you are neighbors?"
"Of course I knew, my parents know his. They chat when they see each other on the street and all that."
"We could visit each other in the summer, I'm going to live at his house."
"I'm going to be very busy in the summer," she objected.
"Hippolyta, I have already told you many times that there is time for everything," Sev told her. "The four of us could go for a walk in the forests."
"Well, we'll see if I feel like it, especially to continue laughing at him, since in the end I couldn't do it last night."
They laughed.
"You're fantastic, Hippolyta," Black told her.
"You too, our spy. Forgive me for telling you off yesterday."
"There is nothing to forgive, Hippolyta, I deserved it, and even if you tell me off many more times."
"It's just that I always found out when you attacked Prince and it was very bad for me."
"Of course, we have made many people suffer, not just him. You don't know how much I regret it."
"You even broke his arm just before May 15th, when he was about to face the vipers," the girl reproached.
"It wasn't Sirius, Hippolyta, it was Potter," Sev clarified.
"Oh really? So I never forgive him in my life," very angry.
Relentless. "Honey," very sweet. "He is very sorry, when we talked about it he cried a lot. We must learn to forgive those who regret what they have done wrong. I also forgive you for the things you do wrong."
"Well, if so, I'll think about it, but for a long time, huh?" calm now. "I don't know if I want to see him in the summer."
"Then we won't see him if you don't want to."
They arrived at the field. Those who had to do so went to change and those who were not going to train went up to the stands. Sev and Hippolyta began chasing the Snitch, as they had been doing since that training session in which she ended up so tired.
They then moved into formation flying dodging Bludgers. They tried formations of six and seven for the first time, Anthony, Sirius, George and Angie also participated, Anthony had not flown since first year but he was not bad at it, because he had already taken a class alone with the teacher during the previous week and could bond with others.
When they finished, at five, Sev and Hippolyta returned, having a snack, again with Sirius, behind the others.
"What a pity! The last flying class of the year," said the girl.
"It's okay, honey, in the summer we're also going to fly, at your house, at Deborah's house, and at Shelley's," Sev told her.
"We could also buy a Snitch to play chase."
"I'll give it to you," said Sirius.
"Of course... You have a lot of money, the Death Eaters' money for Prince's Chair. I'll also have a lot of money as soon as I graduate when I get signed by the Quidditch teams and when I win the World Cup in two years."
"So, you're not going to quit Quidditch like you told me on Monday?"
"No I'm not. Prince convinced me this morning," she responded.
"And about everything else you told me, what do you tell me?"
"Which was all nonsense, Sirius. I am little and there are many things I don't know yet, I can't make plans alone, I have to trust others. I'm telling you one thing, you have to be very careful with your cousin when you go to Diagon, if she finds out that you are friends with Prince, the Chair and all that, she will go after you."
"She's not going to find out about it, Hippolyta, I never meet her, and besides, Cecile is also going to teach me Occlumency these remaining days of the term."
"Is Cecile also an occlumant?" she was surprised, lowering her voice.
"Yes, Hippolyta," Sev told her. "And legeremant. And Remus and Lily too."
"Wow… there are a lot of you. And from home, who are legeremants?"
"Deborah, Jack and Anthony. And Deborah didn't come today because she stayed teaching Paul."
"Great... Our Army is going to have a lot of legeremants and occlumants and theirs won't," Hippolyta was happy. "We will be able to spy on them and they won't be able to spy on us. Will you teach me Legilimency too, Prince?"
"Of course, honey."
"Is your cousin an occlumant, Sirius?"
"Yes, Hippolyta, she is, and so is Voldemort, but just the two of them," Black responded.
Indeed Sirius is well informed, Sev thought. As soon as he learns to occlude I will tell him about Lucius and his other two cousins. What joy I am going to give him.
"Oh, what a shame... We'll go and kill her as soon as I come of age, we'll catch her by surprise," said the girl.
"Sirius and I will go, Hippolyta, before you are of age," Sev said.
"I also want..." pleading. "Wait for me…"
"No, Hippolyta," blunt. "We must eliminate her as soon as possible."
"Yeah, you're right," very sure. "And Voldemort? Do you have his address too, Sirius?"
"No, not Voldemort's," replied the Gryff. "When he meets the other Death Eaters, he does so at other people's homes. Nobody knows where he lives, only my cousin."
Indeed, he knows everything, Sev thought.
"Ugh, what a shame..." she lamented. "That one is smarter, huh? He never goes through Diagon either."
"Of course not," confirmed Black. "Nor he participates in the skirmishes, he lets the others do the dirty work for him."
"Oh yes, he is a coward. Then we will defeat him very easily."
"We all hope so."
Ugh… the Horcruxes… Sev thought.
"You're quite the spy, aren't you, Sirius?" Hippolyta asked, admired. "What a signing. And your brother? Is he going to become a Death Eater?"
"I'm going to talk to him this summer to try to get him not to do it and to go back to school, but I doubt he'll want to and my parents will let him."
"Ugh... when you fight you can meet him in a battle…"
Ugh… I hadn't thought of that, Sev thought.
"True, I have thought about it many times," said the Gryff, suffering.
"And you wouldn't recognize them because they wear the Dark Mask," added the girl.
"I have thought about it many times, Hippolyta."
"Sirius, don't fight in battles, you could kill your brother without realizing it. We'll go look for the Death Eaters at their houses, so you don't be the one who kills your brother."
"Thank you, Hippolyta, you just gave me the solution."
They hugged, Sirius crying.
"Come on, Sirius, don't have a hard time, you're very brave. You have had very bad luck with the family you have been given, that's all. But now we are your family, you will never be alone again. Even if I don't invite Potter, I'll invite you to my house this summer too, you'll see how much fun the three of us have together."
"We are also going to invite him to other people's houses, Hippolyta, we are going to spend a lot of time together," said Sev.
"Of course... If he is an occlumant he can also go to yours and Lily's. You must learn fast, huh, Sirius? We only have two and a half days left."
"I'm going to do it with complete certainty, even if I don't do anything else for the rest of the term," Black assured.
"You're better now, aren't you? Come on, let's go, we'll lose the others."
They separated and continued walking.
"It didn't matter, Hippolyta, you and I are going directly to the clearing and Sirius can return to the castle alone," Sev said.
"Do you need more hugs, Sirius?" she asked him.
"No, Hippolyta, I'm much better now, really. It's enough for me to chat with you, unless you want to be alone for a while."
Sev walked around them and took Sirius by his shoulders.
"I don't care at all, Prince and I are already alone as long as we want, now you need us too," she said. "Do you care, Prince?"
"Not at all, honey, what you say, Sirius needs us," Sev agreed.
"When I finish my snack I'll take your hand, Sirius."
"Okay," said the Gryff.
Sev told him, in confidence, "I was thinking of sending you this time with Valerie, so that you could continue making friends."
"We'll be there tomorrow, it feels much better to be with you. Hippolyta has just lifted a great weight from my soul."