A few days passed and Fred found himself on the platform once again with his single suitcase, about to board the train for the second half of the school year.
Narcissa had opted to stay home because their mother had caught a cold, though he certainly imagined there may have been another reason she wasn't saying. Andromeda had gone to find her friend Anita and Bellatrix was searching for Antonin.
Fred on the other, he wasn't searching for anyone in particular. His father deemed the moment worthy to pull him into an empty corner, an extremely serious expression on his face that Fred knew would lead to a conversation he'd remember for the next few hours.
"Fredrick, you listen very closely." His father began, his finger pointed directly at him. "Watch what comes out of your mouth and how you behave. It reflects on our entire family and I will not have us embarrassed because of your actions, you hear?"
"Yes father." Fred answered mechanically. He'd learned it was simply better not to add more.
"Make yourself more male friends as well. Not that I don't want you around your sisters or their friends, but lift yourself above your peers. You are the Black Heir, show it. You have the purest blood of them all, you are the superior one. If you need to fight to prove it, use intellectual means. Do not lower yourself to Gryffindor standards by using your fists or acting recklessly."
"Yes father." Cygnus' finger came down and he put his hand on Fred's shoulder, like a happy father would, and put on a smile.
"Now, have a good year, send us owls whenever you wish, Merlin knows you only sent us two." For a moment, he wondered if the rare smile he saw gracing his father's face and the small laugh he'd heard under his breath were real. "It's like you don't want us around."
"That's absurd father." Fred smiled, the one he'd been taught to do as a Pureblood.
Even as a Weasley, he'd been taught by his father to maintain some form of respected image to the public, something that didn't seem to have passed on to Ron. 'When you have nothing, you have to act as if you have everything.' He told Fred one day when he was 10. But he hadn't meant material things. He meant true happiness, something so many rich Purebloods lacked. Now, he got to use some of those lessons he learned as a Weasley, and implemented them as a Black. He knew how it looked, so he knew how to do it.
"I love having you around. You are my father after all." Fred said, making his father smile genuinely at him.
"Good. Now you go get on the train and enjoy your year. Say hello to Professor Slughorn for me, will you?" He nodded and his father and him left the secluded corner and Fred boarded along with his two sisters. Andromeda and Bellatrix both waved to their father, giving him a small hug as they disappeared out of sight.
Once the train departed, he left them to go on his search. It hadn't taken long until he found Hermione's compartment, she was seated alone like the first time, he slid the door open and closed it behind him and sat across. "I knew peace and quiet wouldn't be achieved this time around." She grinned as she opened one eye.
"Ah, well, you enjoy my company." He replied, as if it had been a casual greeting. "Even if I am a gruesome thorn in your side."
"You are the thorn in my side, Fred." They both laughed as Hermione got comfortable with her traveling robe wrapped cozily around her.
They'd quickly gotten back into routine at Hogwarts and the homework assigned was turned in by most students, the occasional rebel earning themselves detention, curtesy of Professor McGonagall.
One morning, at breakfast, Hermione had been sitting with Bellatrix, Antonin and Fred, all revising and helping each other improve their transfiguration essay that was due that afternoon, more specifically Bellatrix and Fred's, when a large white barn owl landed gracefully onto Fred's shoulder. It seemed this one was the very opposite of what Errol had been; young, graceful and intelligent.
"It's mum's owl!" Bellatrix took the owl onto her forearm and plucked the carefully sealed letter into her fingers. "Oh... It's for you."
"But it's been barely two weeks since we left." He grumbled as he took the letter with an exasperated sigh. "What could she want now..." He opened the seal and unfolded the letter, his eyes darting across the meticulously written parchment in rapid speed.
"What is she telling you?"
"You guys know my cousins Sirius and Regulus?" He asked the two not related to him. "Seems like they're moving into Grimmauld Place along with their parents."
"Not Aunt Walburga!" Bellatrix grimaced in disgust and annoyance. "She doesn't seem to know how not to scream."
"At least Uncle Alphard isn't coming to live with us..." Fred mumbled, Bellatrix thanking the higher powers for that.
"Thank Salazar we won't meet his prostitutes. Filthy whores."
"Always the pinnacle of grace, you are, Bella. Always." Hermione snorted as she bit into a piece of toast.
"Well, someone has to be!" Antonin said, making everyone in the vicinity burst out laughing, Anita Urquhart spitting out her drink accidentally for hearing the last portion of the conversation.
Down the table, Andromeda was observing the quartet in interest, her eyes landing on the letter in Fred's hands, or more specifically, his hands. From her point of view, it seemed like he wanted to rip the letter and watch it burn, from his hands constantly fidgeting with the page and squeezing his fists slowly and almost unnoticeably with the page in his hands.
"How was your Christmas Hermione?" Alex asked as they sat at the back of the library along with Annabelle Abbott. Even Kingsley had decided to join them instead of reading up on his personal project on dueling techniques.
"It went well. We saw grandfather, he's doing remarkably well for his age." She commented with a smile. "We also spent an afternoon at the Black family residence. Bellatrix invited Lucius and I."
"I wrote letters back and forth with Bellatrix! Horribly blunt, she is." Annabelle let out a giggle. "I'm glad she doesn't turn around the pot like so many others. It seems I may have found a shared interest between the two of us."
"Oh? A shared interest with Bellatrix Black?" Alex raised a brow as Kingsley leaned in to dig further.
"Oh yes! Spell creation is something that interests her very much! And it just so happens that we Abbotts are taught from a young age to keep an open mind with that very subject."
"A heavy subject," Kingsley added. "seems like Miss Black to have an interest there. The possibilities are endless, though it is a very advanced technique."
"Well, if there's anyone who could pull that off, it's her." Hermione opened her book and found her page. "What else did you write about?"
"Not very much else. We wrote about ways we could learn together in the future, or well I did and she agreed, and then the rest was mostly on how the holidays were going." Annabelle answered. "She is quite interesting. She wrote to me about your family visiting. How was that?"
"I met the youngest daughter, Narcissa, and I got to spend time with them. It was almost the same as our little routine here but at least my mother has more blackmail she can use." Hermione shrugged as Alex let out a nervous laugh and Kingsley clapped him on the back with a loud chuckle of his own.