Future
Hippolyta, Sirius and Sev had reached the edge of the Forest.
"Let's make our hawks here, Prince, so that Sirius can see them fly before we go into the Forest," the girl proposed.
"Okay. I no longer know what my happiest memory is," said Sev.
"Me neither. Let's try yesterday's ones, let's see if they work out."
"Let's try."
They tried, incorporeal.
"Let's try the ones from this morning when we woke up," she suggested.
"Okay, when you woke up."
They tried, uncorporeal.
"Let's try the pecks we have given each other," Hipólita proposed.
They tried every peck, incorporeal.
"Ugh, Prince... we didn't get it right, huh?"
"Yes, and we are wasting a lot of time."
"I know, when we escaped from Filch."
They tried, incorporeal.
"What a bunch of incorporeals you have!" Sirius exclaimed, admired.
"Well, we lost count yesterday," said Sev. "We are very happy together."
"Ugh... Prince... the hawks..." she complained.
"I think I already know. When we fall asleep."
"Of course... when I heard your heart."
They tried, the hawks emerged.
"Good…"
They let them fly for a few minutes. Sirius stayed silent so as not to distract them.
Finally Sev said urgently, "Come on, Hippolyta, we have to get to work, it's already past five thirty."
"Okay, okay, Prince, it's nothing to get like that, huh?" she said. "You get angry for nothing."
They headed down the road.
"Wow, how they fly," said Sirius. "Like you guys on a broomstick."
"Did you see them fight yesterday too?" the girl asked him.
"Of course."
"Like when we fight," Sev explained. "They do what we do."
"Prince has already had five different twin Patronuses which did things, because he has truly loved five different girls," Hippolyta said, completely unconcerned.
That's great, she doesn't care at all, Sev thought.
"Wow..." Sirius responded, interested.
"And they also do things even if he conjure them alone," she added.
"Yes, I already knew that, he already showed me his hawk and word has spread about his practical Defense exam."
"Well, do you know anything else? Mine doesn't fade when I do it alone either."
"What are you saying?" Black was amazed.
"What you are hearing, Sirius," Sev told him. "Do it alone, Hippolyta."
She conjured it without stopping walking. The hawk emerged and flew back and forth along the path.
"Wooow…"
When Hippolyta stopped evoking, it continued for a while longer.
Sirius spoke, "You are one for another. Sev, keep her and leave all the others to me."
They laughed. He's over Lily, great, Sev thought. I'm not.
"And don't hesitate to do anything she asks you if you feel like it to," the Gryff added. "Juliet was thirteen years old."
"Who was Juliet?" Sev asked.
"Shakespeare's tragedy, Romeo and Juliet."
"I don't know who Shakespeare is."
"I won't tell you, it's not going to suit you," said Black. "It would remind you of your story with Lily."
"At another time."
"That is."
They had reached the point on the road where they had to turn off.
"Sirius, go last and make sure you know how to return alone," the Sly told him.
"Sev, you should imagine that I know the Forest perfectly."
"True, I always forget."
"Do you come to the Forest a lot too, Sirius?" Hippolyta asked him.
"Not much, once a month, but I go up and down it many times," he replied.
"And so?" interested.
"I'm an Animagus, little one."
Wow… he told her before she learned to occlude, Sev thought.
"What are you saying?" very surprised. "Isn't that prohibited?"
"Yes, it is before you come of age," the Gryff responded.
"Wow... you're amazing, Sirius," very admired. "And how did you learn?"
"Alone, reading a lot of books."
"Wow… you must be an ace at Transfiguration."
"Indeed I am," he confirmed.
"Wow... the most difficult subject. Transform yourself, go."
"No, Sirius, not here," Sev objected. "In the clearing, protected, don't let Hagrid catch you, he must have seen us enter and would definitely tell the old man."
"Of course, of course…"
"Wow… do you realize?" asked the girl. "We three are amazing, each in our own way. Now I really want to form one of those squads, Prince, but only with the two of you. Because you won't be able to participate in battles, Sirius doesn't want to either and I'll be busy with Quidditch. We will make a team of three, my lucky number, we will go after the Death Eaters to their houses."
"I thought that same thing a while ago, Hippolyta. Although I hope that when you come of age there will be very few left," said Sev.
"And the three of us will snack on the few that remain. What I told you, as soon as I can fight, the war will be over in weeks."
"Of course."
"So, can you let me sign up for the dumbbell now, Sev?" Sirius asked him.
"Of course," very satisfied. "I even have a name for our squad, let's see if you like it. The Silver Trio, the Sly color."
"Wow… how good," she said.
"Great," said Black, very satisfied.
"Now it's also your lucky number, Sirius," the girl told him.
"True."
"We are going to be inseparable," said Sev. "You'll see."
"Will we become Animagi too, Prince, to walk through the Forest like Sirius?" Hippolyta asked him.
"If you want, of course, honey."
"And what animal do we transform into?"
"It's easier in the animal of our Patronus," Sev responded.
"Wow... into hawks, to be able to really fly, without a broom. I want, I do."
"We will do it, but you will have to wait until seventeen."
"I'll wait, Prince, I'm going to be very busy. After the World Cup. Will you come see me play in the World Cup?"
"Of course we'll go," said Black. "I'll invite Sev."
"Wow, Sirius… it's a gold mine with you. Between the three of us we have everything, do you realize?"
"Indeed, honey," said Sev. "We are the perfect team."
"Now I would be willing to die for you too, Sirius."
"And I for you, pretty, but none of the three of us should do it, so as not to make the others suffer," said the Gryff. "And besides, we would stop being three, those who remained would not be so lucky."
"True. What was your lucky number before three, Sirius?"
"I don't know, I had never thought about it."
"No? If it is very easy. When is your birthday?" she asked.
"The third of November."
"Well there you have it!" very excited. "Number three! And eleven, Prince, another odd one! We already have all the odd ones. One for your birth month, Prince, three for mine and Sirius's day, five for everything you told me this morning, seven too, nine for your day and eleven for the month of Sirius."
Sev laughed. "True."
"I'm going to tell Sirius everything in detail, okay? Until the twenty-seventh, so he finds out."
Booff… He laughed again. "Tell him, come on."
Hippolyta did it, when they reached the clearing she still hadn't finished. Sev, meanwhile, warded the clearing and unwarded the Pensieve.
"Come on, Sirius, transform, but quickly, huh? We have a lot of work," said Sev.
"Here I go," Black said. "Don't be scared."
"I have already seen your Patronus and you already know that Hippolyta is not afraid of anything."
"There I go then."
Sirius transformed into the huge dog.
"Wooah! How awesome!" Hippolyta exclaimed, excited. "It's great!"
"Indeed it is!" said Sev.
"Thank you, guys," they heard in their mind.
"Wooah!" Sev exclaimed, very amazed. "You can communicate with us…"
"Of course. I don't lose my humanity," Sirius responded.
"How amazing! And can you bark?" Hippolyta asked him.
"Also, and howling, and everything dogs do."
"Well, do it all."
Padfoot did it, he gave them a concert of dog sounds.
"How awesome! Can I pet you?" Hippolyta asked him.
"Of course."
They stroked Sirius' fur.
"You are very harsh," Hippolyta told him.
"Scratch me behind my ears, it's what we dogs like the most."
They did it.
"What a pleasure. They had never done it to me," said Padfoot.
"Then we will do it to you whenever you want, Sirius. What a shame that we can't see you run here," lamented the girl.
"Tomorrow night, Hippolyta," Sev proposed. "We will have a small party in the Room of Requirement with all the occlumants and the three of us will escape for a while."
"Brilliant."
"Let's get to work, come on. Sirius, be you again, please."
Padfoot transformed into a person again.
"How strange about the clothes, they appear and disappear," Hippolyta commented.
"Well yes, that's what being an Animagus is like," Black explained.
"We have seen Sirius naked, we have seen his dog things."
They laughed.
"Come on, let's get to work," said Sev. "Sit on the ground, let's form a circle of three." He went for the Pensieve and placed it on the ground between the three of them.
"Prince, just one more thing before we start," Hippolyta said.
"What, honey?"
"Give me a peck."
"Of course," he agreed.
They gave it to each other.
"What time is it?" she asked.
"She asks me the time every time we give each other a peck. Five fifty-one."
"Wooah! Just six hours after the last one."
"Well yes. Coincidence," said Sev.
"Luck luck."
"No luck, there is an hour and a half left for dinner."
"Okay, okay, Prince. Let's go to work."
Sev explained the gist to them, as he had done to everyone he had taught Occlumency, and Hippolyta extracted her secrets for him from her mind, which took very little time.
She barely has any secrets from me, just the things she must have thought last night, great, Sev thought.
He asked her to try to occlude anything that she thought was dangerous for Lestrange to read in her. This way I also test her on whether she has good judgment about what she should occlude.
"I think I have it, Prince."
He read her thoroughly, all her thoughts, it took him more than an hour. He found out everything the girl remembered about her own life except what she had occluded, finding nothing that would compromise her in the face of the slut. During all that time the three remained silent and only moved to drink.
When he finished he said to her, "One hundred percent on the first try, Hippolyta, you are extraordinary. You are already an occlumant."
"Good! I told you!" she exclaimed. "That I was going to learn today!"
"In any case, in the days left until the end of the term I am going to continue reading you, to make sure that you continue doing well."
"Of course, of course, Prince."
"Also occlude what you have extracted so that I don't find out, and that Sirius is an Animagus and that's it, but we will no longer need the Pensieve, we can do it anywhere."
"Brilliant."
"Come on, get your thoughts back and we'll have enough time to get back with Sirius," Sev proposed.
"Great!"
Hippolyta skillfully and quickly collected the thoughts she had extracted, Sev warded the Pensieve and they left the clearing, but not towards the road, but cutting through the Forest towards the meadow in front of the castle.
"We have to go quickly, because Sirius has to have time to stop by his house," said the Sly.
"Okay, okay, then go faster," said the girl. "But, can we chat in the meantime?"
"If you don't trip, yes."
"You already know that I can walk perfectly through the Forest without tripping, Prince."
"True, I know," said Sev.
"Is Lily coming to that party tomorrow too?"
"Yes, Hippolyta."
"Well, I don't know if I want to go that much anymore."
"I don't really want to see her either," said Sev.
"Nor me," Sirius said. "And I'm going to have to see her at all hours. But I deserve it, I guess she never wanted to see me when we were harassing Sev either, Hippolyta."
"Sure," she said.
"There are going to be more than fifteen people, honey," said Sev. "You won't have to talk to her if you don't want to. You'll be with the family, me and Sirius and it's done, you're going to have a great time."
"Of course, pretty, we're not going to talk to her either, we've already buddied," Black said.
"Okay, then if that's the case, I'll go," the girl agreed.
"Also, you are going to love the place we are going to go, both the house where we are going to have dinner and the place we are going to go to afterwards, and we are going to return at night, outdoors, we will see the stars," Sev explained. "Do you know that Sirius loves Astronomy, like us and Valerie?"
"Really, Sirius?" amazed and excited.
"Of course, what did you think?" said Gryff. "I have a star name, don't forget it."
"True, true, and also your brother and your slutty cousin."
They laughed. She's fantastic, she already knows what Bellatrix is about, I'm sure she's heard something too, Sev thought.
"And my father has a constellation name, Orion," Black continued. "And another cousin I have, Bellatrix's sister, who is really good, a blood traitor, married to a Muggle-born, has a galaxy name, Andromeda."
"Oh…"
"If I hadn't chosen the Defense NEWT, I would have taken the Astronomy one, but they asked me for Divination and Arithmancy and I didn't have them."
"What's happening to me," Hippolyta said. "I'm going to do both, tomorrow I have an interview with Slughorn so they can let me enroll next year. Prince is going to teach me third year Arithmancy this summer."
"Great. I will do the Muggle career after the war."
"Me too!" exclaimed Sev.
"I already knew it, Sev. With Valerie, right?"
"Yeah."
"Lily told me," said the Gryff.
"Oh…"
"Well, I want to do it too," said the girl. "Will I be able to do it as a Quidditch player?"
"If you organize yourself, yes, honey," Sev told her. "You don't have to attend a Muggle university. I think you will be able to combine training with studies. You are a Seeker, you don't need the rest of the team to train all the time."
"Sure."
"And don't worry about the money either," said Black. "If Hippolyta plays Quidditch and wins a lot of money we will make a budget between the two of us. We'll all go to Cambridge."
"Wow... great," said the Sly. "We will make a budget between the three of us, I have an unusual means of living. Did you notice the diadem Hippolyta was wearing yesterday, Sirius?"
"Of course. Where did you get it from? Any family heirloom? It looked like a real jewel."
"It was a real jewel, but not a family heirloom. I Summoned it."
"What are you saying?" the Gryff was very amazed.
"Silver and emeralds. I am able to Summon precious metals, stones and minerals."
"But that is impossible, unheard of. I know a lot about Transfiguration and I never read it."
"Only I am capable of doing it, because my soul has passed through the alchemist's crucible without burning."
"Wow... What I always tell you, you are incredible, Sev."
"So don't squander your fortune on me, in the long run I will be richer than you, it's enough that you are going to finance the Chair. I could do it myself, but I didn't stop you because I know it's important to you too."
"Then you don't need to work, Sev. So why do you want to study two NEWTs, do research at St Mungo's, be a teacher and all that stuff?"
"Very easy, for the same reason that you want to be a warrior without having to. Because I have goals in life other than just living. If it were not so, perhaps I would lose that capacity and I would also be left without that means of livelihood, I would have burned in the crucible."
"Sure…"
"I am not understanding anything. What is crucible? What is alchemist? What is squandering?" asked Hippolyta.
They laughed.
"Honey, I'll explain it to you in more time tonight, okay?" Sev proposed.
"Okay, Prince. But I do want to say something. Even if either of you are rich, I understand Prince perfectly. I wouldn't want someone else to fix my life either, not even such an easy way to earn it. You have to work to live and earn what you need, that's what my parents always tell me. My Mum, on the one hand, regrets not having studied more, because she got married and became pregnant with me right after leaving school. On the other hand, she doesn't regret it, because if I hadn't been born at that moment, it wouldn't be me, it would be someone else, I would never have existed."
"Sure."
"That's why Prince has convinced me to dedicate myself to Quidditch, because I will earn a very good living, I will be able to pay for that Muggle career, help my parents and save for when I am older and retire, because I don't want to have children," the girl continued. "I want to always be independent."
"What if Prince wants to have them, Hippolyta?" Sirius asked her.
"Let him has them with another girl."
"What if he doesn't really love any other girl?"
"Let him have them even if he doesn't really love her," she replied.
"I would never do that, honey," Sev objected. "I would never have a child with a girl I didn't really love."
"Then if you love only me you will be left without children."
"Well, I'll be left without children, I don't care. I'll have you."
"How awful, Hippolyta..." Black said. "Do you realize what Prince would be able to give up for you?"
"Of course I realize. Because for my parents I am the most important thing, he told me that this morning."
"Take time and calm down to think about having children. I'm not sure either, until recently I thought I would never have them, but if Prince wants, don't make him give it up so early, there are many women who have children and remain independent. You haven't even asked him what he wants."
"True true. What do you want Prince?" she asked. "Would you like to have children?"
"Yes, I would like to, honey," Sev replied.
"Okay, then I'll think about it."
"But once you have done all the important things you want to do in life. Study that Muggle career, strengthen your career in Quidditch, because when you are many months pregnant you will not be able to fly, and all those things. But know that the final decision is yours. You will be the one who will have the baby, not me, it will not cost me any effort. Then yes, if you are very busy with your career, I will take care of everything or we will have help raising them, you will still be independent, so don't worry."
"Of course... I thought that way because I see that my Mum is not for having me so early," she explained. "But if that's the case, maybe I will want to."
"Of course, Hippolyta. Having a child and loving them and raising them well is one of the most beautiful things in life," Sirius told her.
"What my Dad always says. Plant a tree, write a book and have a child."
"And Prince would be a very good father. At sixteen years old he is acting as a father to you."
"Wow yes. He does all the things my Dad did to me when I was little," the girl admitted. "Feed me, lift me on his shoulders and sleep with me."
"That is not the most important thing, the important thing is how he is taking care of you, your future, your health and your life. He is putting it ahead of everything else."
"Of course. And now that you're talking about the future, something else I wanted to say about what you were talking about. Prince isn't just going to be a Dueling teacher, Sirius. Don't you remember that yesterday I said that he's going to be Sly's Head when he's only twenty-one?"
"Of course I remember, and I already suspected it, because Slughorn is going to retire," the Gryff responded.
He didn't mention that Lily will replace him, how delicate he is, Sev thought.
"How did you find out, Hippolyta?" Sev asked her.
"I asked Deborah," she responded.
"I knew it, you played it on me completely. Well, I'm going to tell you something else. If I am Head of House from such a young age and I make friends with a certain free woman, who admires me a lot... With whom, Hippolyta?"
"With Minerva."
"That is. What will I be when she dies?" Sev asked.
They had reached the edge of the Forest.
"Headmaster of Hogwarts!"