╔══════ ≪≫°✺°≪ ≫ ══════╗
CHAPTER THIRTEEEN
╚══════ ≪≫°✺°≪ ≫ ══════╝
𝙹𝚄𝙽𝙴 𝟸𝟽𝚃𝙷, 𝟷𝟿𝟿5
NOW, IT WAS TIME TO board the Hogwarts Express. Corvus was, in all honesty, a bit sad to leave, mainly because he'd have to deal with grandmother shrieking at the most small inconvenience, and the house some fucking how has doxys in it (Corvus doesn't know how or why because he and Kreacher clean it, even if Kreacher doesn't want help.) But at least he could go see Eli, Ruby, Margo, and Nat after 9 long months. That was a plus.
He was gonna miss Harry, Ron, Ceil, Hermione, Violet, Vincent, and Verenity (atleast he normally took the ride home with Verenity and Vincent because they drop him right off at twelve grimmauld place because their mother has a car.)
"Afiya is in here, if you don't mind." Verenity said as Corvus stepped in the compartment, the train begun to move. She nodded towards where Afiya Sande was staring out the window, a sad look on her face. Corvus nodded.
"Fine with me, I don't mind." Corvus said, sighing lightly as he sat down next to Ceil.
"Mum said we can get a cat this summer." Vincent burst out after 5 moments of silence. Corvus' eyes widened.
"Both or just one?" Ceil beat him to it, asking the question he wanted to ask.
"Both of us. I don't know what kind of cats we'll be getting, but mum just owled us a few nights ago. We just forgot to tell you. Mum said it'll be from a muggle pet store." Vincent nodded, whipping out a Mars Bars, handing it to Corvus and Ceil, who took one each.
"Any name ideas?" Corvus asked. Verenity scoffed.
"Any name ideas — this idiot wants to name his cat he gets Eugene for a boy and Elevendork." Corvus and Ceil failed to control their snickers. Vincent put his hands up in defense.
"In my defense they're pretty good names!" He protested, but Corvus just looked at him before breaking out into another fit of giggles.
"What — makes you think — Eugene — is a good — name?" Corvus had managed between coughs.
"Because it is."
"Whoever told you that, Vincent, were wrong." Ceil pointed an accusatory finger at him
"But I like the name." Vincent frowned.
A little in the ride the atmosphere was a little tense because of Afiya Sande being in there, but she sometimes joined in the conversation and jokes. Corvus decided he should go look for Harry, to see his cousins and Draco's lackey's and Calliope laying there, looking like they'd been hit with a spell Corvus couldn't decipher. Corvus blinked before stepping into the compartment.
"We've given up," George Weasley was saying, shrugging.
"Given up what?" Corvus asked, curiously. Everyone shut up and looked at him. Corvus threw his hands up.
"Whoever did that to Draco and Calliope are amazing. I appreciate you for it."
After a moment Harry, Ron, and Hermione kept on asking, and finally, Fred Weasley said, "All right, all right, if you really want to know...it was Ludo Bagman."
"Bagman?" said Harry and Corvus together, Harry said it sharply while Corvus had a confused tone. "Are you saying he was involved in -"
"Nah," said George gloomily. "Nothing like that. Stupid git. He wouldn't have the brains."
"What's going on?" Corvus asked Ron. Ron shrugged.
"They blackmailed someone, the twins." Oh, that made sense, Corvus thought.
"Well, what, then?" said Ron.
Fred hesitated, then said, "You remember that bet we had with him at the Quidditch World Cup? About how Ireland would win, but Krum would get the Snitch?"
"Yeah," said Harry and Ron slowly. Corvus just watched, for he wasn't there. Thank Merlin he had been able to convince Uncle Lucius to let him stay home, thinking he was learning more pureblood etiquettes.
"Well, the git paid us in leprechaun gold he'd caught from the Irish mascots."
"So?"
"So," said Fred impatiently, "it vanished, didn't it? By next morning, it had gone!"
"But - it must've been an accident, mustn't it?" said Hermione. Corvus blinked stupidly while George laughed very bitterly.
"Most cases not there's no accident in giving someone leprechaun money for gambling, Hermione." Corvus said
"Somewhat right, Black, because what Hermione just said is what we thought, at first. We thought if we just wrote to him, and told him he'd made a mistake, he'd cough up. But nothing doing. Ignored our letter. We kept trying to talk to him about it at Hogwarts, but he was always making some excuse to get away from us."
"In the end, he turned pretty nasty," said Fred. "Told us we were too young to gamble, and he wasn't giving us anything."
"So we asked for our money back," said George glowering.
"He didn't refuse!" gasped Hermione.
"Right in one," said Fred.
"But that was all your savings!" said Ron. Corvus felt bad, he had a lot of money already so he was very tempted to give it to them.
"Tell me about it," said George. "'Course, we found out what was going on in the end. Lee Jordan's dad had had a bit of trouble getting money off Bagman as well. Turns out he's in big trouble with the goblins. Borrowed loads of gold off them.
A gang of them cornered him in the woods after the World Cup and took all the gold he had, and it still wasn't enough to cover all his debts. They followed him all the way to Hogwarts to keep an eye on him. He's lost everything gambling. Hasn't got two Galleons to rub together. And you know how the idiot tried to pay the goblins back?"
"How?" said Harry and Corvus together.
"He put a bet on you, mate," said Fred. "Put a big bet on you to win the tournament. Bet against the goblins."
"So that's why he kept trying to help me win!" said Harry. "Well - I did win, didn't I? So he can pay you your gold!"
"Nope," said George, shaking his head. "The goblins play as dirty as him. They say you drew with Diggory, and Bagman was betting you'd win outright. So Bagman had to run for it. He did run for it right after the third task."
Corvus wanted to snigger at the vision of Bagman fleeing from the goblins, but didn't.
George sighed deeply and started dealing out the cards again.
They had talked the entire time on the way to Kings Cross, Violet even dropped by once, but Corvus left not soon after she left.
As they finally reached Kings Cross, a hand was placed on his shoulder. He looked up to see Mad-eye-Moody.
"I'll be coming with you, kid." Corvus' stomach dropped, did he do something wrong? Moody must've read his mind because he shook his head and said.
"You didn't do anything wrong, I'll be coming to watch on you and your uncle over the summer."
Corvus stared, dumbfounded. "So, that means —"
"Sirius'll be living with you over the summer, yes," Moody said gruffly. "You'll find out why soon enough. He won't be the only one." Corvus was even more confused. But then remembered something.
"Wait, Harry, Violet!" He ran after them and tackled Harry in a hug, pulling Violet in too. Corvus felt his face heat up as Harry hugged him back after a moment but ignored it.
"Stay safe, you two." He pointed two fingers at the siblings before returning to Moody. Now the question is, what's gonna happen next year?
wc: 1296
first written: 05/03/21
first published: 05/03/21
last edited:
last chapter for act one kids lets gOO
i over exaggerated the amount of angst for next chapter but there will be angst, sirius has nothing to do with it tho it's just harry and corvus' teenage angst and shit
school ends in like 2-3 weeks and im so ready for summer bru