What Sirius never said

Chapter 1

Growing up my summer holidays were glorious. Mum and dad would stop our lessons for a couple of months and my brother Adam and I would spend our days languishing by the stream at the bottom of the garden, watching the plimpys play in the water, or lying out in the shade of the trees watching the bowtruckles harvest woodlouse. Some days we spent helping our parents in the shop, perhaps measuring out some portions of potion ingredients for the wizards, or else weighing out vegetables for the muggles who thought we were simply a green-grocers with some strange patrons. Other days we spent out in the vegetable patch, helping our parents grow the food we sold or protecting the cabbages from flobberworms.
I knew that the summer before my 6th year at Hogwarts would be the last of the old kind. Dad told me and Adam at the start of the summer that the next year we would need to get jobs. Adam was a full grown wizard. This was our last summer. So we made the most of it. We spent it outside, exploring more of Yorkshire than just our little village, having a blast with the local Muggle kids and doing some good old sibling bonding.
I guess that's why I was so morose  when the end of the summer came. It meant the end of the good times was coming. Between that and the ever increasing news of disappearances and murders in the papers; the metaphorical sun had set.
My OWL results arrived a week before school was due to restart. I opened the letter with a heavy hand, quickly scanning the list of subjects. It was pretty much what I expected -
Acceptables in Defence against the dark arts, Potions and History of Magic. Exceeds Expectations in Astronomy, Ancient Runes and Muggle Studies and Outstanding in Transfiguration and Charms. The Poor in Arithmancy did not come as a surprise. Oh well. Couldn't pass everything. I had done well enough in the subjects that I wanted to continue.  I glanced briefly at the book list. Advanced Defence against the dark arts, Advanced potion making etc. But when I had run out of subjects, the list kept going. An Advancement in magical theory by Theador Cheadle, Intense spellwork for the gifted and talented by Marina Spanderson and An in-depth appreciation for magical law and limitations by Lucianus Tattleberg.
What? Why?
I rifled through the rest of the papers in the pack for an explanation and came across a letter from Professor McGonagall.

Dear Miss Greenwood,
It is my great delight to inform you that, due to the outstanding nature of your O.W.L exam results, you have been invited to join a group of select students who will be studying an advanced magical law and theory N.E.W.T. This is a course only available to select students.
I do hope you will give this invitation the consideration it deserves and will look forward to your response by the first of September. Necessary books for the course have been included in your reading list.
Sincerely
Minerva McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress, Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft And Wizardry

Well. This just got interesting....

Stepping onto platform 9 3/4 you could tell something was different. The families were stood a little closer together, looking shiftily around. Everyone was clearly nervous after a recent attack on a muggle family and it started to unsettle me. I stuck with my family until we spotted Helen and Jane, hanging out of the train window. They had saved us a compartment so I loaded my trunk in through the door then turned to mum.
"Alright sweetie" she said, tears pricking her eyes. "I guess this is goodbye. I love you"
"I love you mum" I snuggled into a hug "I'll let you know when the next Hogsmead weekend is. I'll see you guys soon. Don't forget to write!" I sniffed. I hate goodbyes. It's ridiculous but I do. I moved on to hug dad, saying the same things to him.
"Goodbye" I waved, letting go of them both and stepping back onto the train "I love you".

I found my friends compartment and fell into a seat, wiping my eyes subtly. Helen knew how I was feeling though and handed me a tissue.
"Heya Trudy. How you doing?"
"I'll be fine in a sec" I smiled at her. "How was your summer?"
And that was enough to get her going. Helen flicked her long auburn hair over her shoulder and started on tales of epic proportions. Knowing Helen they were probably true and she probably did spend her summer meeting a strange array of wizarding celebrity and political figures. Jane sat next to her watching sceptically, her green eyes narrowed. More of our friends came into the compartment as Helen spoke, but we all knew best not to interrupt her when she got into her flow. She only stopped when the train started moving, and the six of us crammed around the window to wave one last goodbye to our parents.
I stepped away to look over my friends. Helen was peering intently out of the window, her hair pushed back from her face and her hazel eyes squinting in search of her dad.
Jane was next to her, short ebony hair swaying around her shoulders. Beside Jane was Kate. She was the most angelic of us all, blond hair, blue eyes, round face. Typical beauty. Charlie was next. His copper coloured hair stuck up in a quiff whereas Andy was much more fashionable, his dirty blond hair flopped where it fell, though it always happened to perfectly frame his pointed face and his green eyes.
These were my friends. We had stuck together since first year when we had all been sorted into Hufflepuff, and we were still tight friends to this day. I chuckled at them as they watched London pass by them.
"Alright guys, I think that's it". Andy looked over at me.
"True!" He pulled me into a bone crushing hug then deposited me back on my seat.
"Ergh. Andy. We've been through this. You are stronger than you think!"
He just grinned back at me. "How was your summer?"
"Idyllic" I replied. "How was yours?" I had seen him recently but still wanted to ask.
"It was great. Me and Paige raised havoc." I chuckled. "Poor mum. She's not used to having two of us there anymore. And it'll be even harder for her next year, once she has gotten used to Paige being gone too".
"How is Paige feeling about finally coming to Hogwarts?" Kate chipped in from Andy's other side.
"She can't wait. She's been bouncing off the walls all summer. You're lucky I managed to pawn her off on our cousin, or She would have torn this compartment to shreds already. Accidentally of course..."
I grinned. I loved Paige, Andy's little sister, but she could certainly be a handful. This was her first year at Hogwarts.
"So" I started "did anyone else get a letter from McGonagall about a new subject this year?"
Everyone looked around shaking their heads.
"What is it?" Charlie asked
"It's an N.E.W.T in advanced magical law and theory"
"What subject even is that?" Jane asked above everyone else's gasps of surprise.
"Its an amalgamation of charms and transfiguration I think?" I tried to explain, not too sure myself.
"Are you even that good at charms?" Helen asked, uncertain.
Andy laughed openly beside me. "You never noticed it did you?"
"Noticed what?"
"Noticed how our little Trudy always got very quiet in any class involving magical theory? How she would sit at the back, eyes on the floor, ignoring the teacher, not even trying? But if the teacher specifically asked her a question, she could answer it like a text book? Or how she wouldn't attempt a new spell until someone else had mastered it, then she would come straight out with a perfect example? Or how she wouldn't revise with us, or do her homework with us. All so we wouldn't notice how much she knew. I never understood why you tried to hide it Trudy..."
I stared at Andy. I didn't think anyone had ever noticed. Everyone else was staring at me. "I guess I just didn't want to make a big deal of it."
Jane snorted. "Only you Trudy..." she said. "Anyway. To business." Helen changed the subject abruptly. "Anyone hear about the match last weekend?"
I smiled and reached up to my bag in the luggage racks, pulling out my book, I curled up in my chair and resigned myself to reading for the rest of the journey. I loved my friends, but they were all part of the Hufflepuff Padleigh team and they took it way too seriously. It wasn't my mind of game.