☽☽☽
ARTHUR WEASLEY was going to be ok. He'd spent Christmas in St Mungo's and Athena had even been up to visit him. In fact, everyone had. Everyone except Sirius and Theodore who realistically couldn't go to see him.
It had been strange seeing him lying in that hospital bed looking so small. However he still smiled and laughed, talking about how amazing all of the healers were.
He'd be home soon enough, Athena was glad that the Christmas holidays had fallen upon them. It meant she could spend the majority of her days at Grimmauld place, looking out over the Weasley's and Elle.
Elle hadn't said much at all from what Athena could see. She was concerned about how she was feeling. Athena just hoped she didn't blame herself. There's been a time where Athena had been in a similar situation and her first thought had been to blame herself. It seemed so strange to know that something was going to happen but to not be able to do anything about it.
Remus spent the majority of his time at Grimmauld place too. Athena was glad about this, she knew he'd have more luck getting through to Elle than her. She was also glad because it was Christmas and it would be sour for them to be unable to spend Christmas together.
However the holidays rushed past them too fast. Athena didn't want to go back to Hogwarts, she didn't want to see the students upset and scared, she didn't want to see Umbridge walking around smugly under the belief that she was improving the school. Athena wished she could tell the woman that she'd ruined Hogwarts but she cared too much for her job.
It was one of the last days of the holidays when Snape showed up at Grimmauld place. Athena was less than happy to see him. She already saw enough of him when she was working, having to come face to face with him during their time off felt almost like a punishment.
"What are you doing here?" Athena asked him shortly as he entered the kitchen.
Sirius and Athena were the only two sat in there. As soon as Snape moved past the doorway, Sirius' shoulders tensed and he looked like a dog who had seen a squirrel, ready to pounce.
"I assure you, I don't want to be here" Snape sneered in his usual condescending manner, "I have to speak to the Potter boy, Dumbledore's orders"
"About what?" Sirius asked coldly.
"I believe my business is with Potter and Potter only" Snape stated as he took a seat at the opposite end of the table.
Athena looked to Sirius with a knowing glance, seeing the anger that was smeared over his eyes.
A minute or two later, the door opened. At this point, Snape and Sirius were staring very determinedly in opposite directions. The silence was painful to witness. Athena had even stopped drumming her fingers against the table because it felt too awkward.
'Er,' said Harry, to announce his presence.
Snape and Sirius both looked up, giving Harry very different expressions.
'Sit down, Potter.' Snape said immediately.
'You know,' said Sirius loudly, leaning back on his rear chair legs and speaking to the ceiling, 'I think I'd prefer it if you didn't give orders here, Snape. It's my house, you see.'
An ugly flush suffused Snape's pallid face. Harry sat down in a chair beside Sirius, facing Snape across the table.
'I was supposed to see you alone, Potter,' said Snape, the familiar sneer curling his mouth, 'but Sinistra and Black--'
'We're his godparents,' said Sirius, louder than ever.
'I am here on Dumbledore's orders.' said Snape, whose voice, by contrast, was becoming more and more quietly waspish, 'but by all means stay, Black, I know you like to feel ... involved.'
'What's that supposed to mean?' said Sirius, letting his chair fall back on to all four legs with a loud bang.
'Merely that I am sure you must feel--ah--frustrated by the fact that you can do nothing useful,' Snape laid a delicate stress on the word, 'for the Order.'
It was Sirius's turn to flush. Athena glared at him harder than ever as she placed a hand on Sirius' arm, telling him not to react. She knew how much he was longing to get some action, even if that action was punching Snape in the face. Snape's lip curled in triumph as he turned to Harry.
'The Headmaster has sent me to tell you, Potter, that it is his wish for you to study Occlumency this term.'
'Study what?' said Harry blankly.
Snape's sneer became more pronounced.
'Occlumency, Potter. The magical defence of the mind against external penetration. An obscure branch of magic, but a highly useful one.'
'Why do I have to study Occlu--thing?' he blurted out.
'Because the Headmaster thinks it a good idea,' said Snape smoothly. 'You will receive private lessons once a week, but you will not tell anybody what you are doing, least of all Dolores Umbridge. You understand?'
'Yes,' said Harry. 'Who's going to be teaching me?'
Snape raised an eyebrow.
'I am,' he said.
Harry looked as though all his nightmares had come true. He looked to Athena and Sirius in dread.
'Why can't Dumbledore teach Harry?' asked Sirius aggressively. 'Why not Rena? Why you?"
"I did offer" Athena muttered, "apparently I'm too busy teaching Theodore"
'I suppose because it is a headmaster's privilege to delegate less enjoyable tasks,' said Snape silkily. 'I assure you I did not beg for the job.' He got to his feet. 'I will expect you at six o'clock on Monday evening, Potter. My office. If anybody asks, you are taking remedial Potions. Nobody who has seen you in my classes could deny you need them.'
He turned to leave, his black travelling cloak billowing behind him.
'Wait a moment,' said Sirius, sitting up straighter in his chair.
Snape turned back to face them, sneering.
'I am in rather a hurry, Black. Unlike you, I do not have unlimited leisure time.'
'I'll get to the point, then,' said Sirius, standing up. He was rather taller than Snape who, Athena noticed, balled his fist in the pocket of his cloak over what she was sure was the handle of his wand. 'If I hear you're using these Occlumency lessons to give Harry a hard time, you'll have me to answer to.'
'How touching,' Snape sneered. 'But surely you have noticed that Potter is very like his father?'
'Yes, I have,' said Sirius proudly.
'Well then, you'll know he's so arrogant that criticism simply bounces off him,' Snape said sleekly.
Sirius pushed his chair roughly aside and strode around the table towards Snape, pulling out his wand as he went. Snape whipped out his own. They were squaring up to each other, Sirius looking livid, Snape calculating, his eyes darting from Sirius's wand-tip to his face.
Athena darted out of her chair immediately as Harry looked to her wildly. The two men stared at each other in equal amounts of fury. Their wands were pointed right at each other and in a flash of light, Athena had her own to hand. She wished Remus was here, he was a lot better at sorting out confrontation than she was.
'Sirius!' said Harry loudly, but Sirius appeared not to hear him.
'I've warned you, Snivelus,' said Sirius, his face barely a foot from Snape's, 'I don't care if Dumbledore thinks you've reformed, I know better--'
'Oh, but why don't you tell him so?' whispered Snape. 'Or are you afraid he might not take very seriously the advice of a man who has been hiding inside his mother's house for six months?'
'Tell me, how is Lucius Malfoy these days? I expect he's delighted his lapdog's working at Hogwarts, isn't he?'
'Speaking of dogs,' said Snape softly, 'did you know that Lucius Malfoy recognised you last time you risked a little jaunt outside? Clever idea, Black, getting yourself seen on a safe station platform ... gave you a cast-iron excuse not to leave your hidey-hole in future, didn't it?'
Sirius raised his wand.
'NO!' Harry yelled, vaulting over the table and trying to get in between them. 'Sirius, don't!'
"Harry stay back!" Athena yelled, grabbing his arm and trying to pull him out of the way while keeping her wand pointed at the two men, "you're adults! Stop acting like immature kids!"
'Are you calling me a coward?' roared Sirius, also trying to push Harry out of the way, but Harry would not budge.
'Why, yes, I suppose I am,' said Snape.
'Harry--get-- out--of--it!' snarled Sirius, pushing him aside with his free hand.
The kitchen door opened and the entire Weasley family, plus Hermione, came inside, all looking very happy, with Mr. Weasley walking proudly in their midst dressed in a pair of striped pyjamas covered by a mackintosh.
'Cured!' he announced brightly to the kitchen at large. 'Completely cured!'
He and all the other Weasleys froze on the threshold, gazing at the scene in front of them, which was also suspended in mid-action, both Sirius and Snape looking towards the door with their wands pointing into each other's faces, Athena with her wand pointed between them and Harry immobile next to them, a hand stretched out to each, trying to force them apart while Athena tried to pull him away.
'Merlin's beard,' said Mr. Weasley, the smile sliding off his face, 'what's going on here?'
Sirius, Athena and Snape lowered their wands. Athena looked from one to the other. Each wore an expression of utmost contempt, yet the unexpected entrance of so many witnesses seemed to have brought them to their senses. Snape pocketed his wand, turned on his heel and swept back across the kitchen, passing the Weasleys without comment. At the door he looked back.
'Six o'clock, Monday evening, Potter.'
And he was gone. Sirius glared after him, his wand at his side.
'What's been going on?' asked Mr. Weasley again.
'Nothing, Arthur,' said Sirius, who was breathing heavily as though he had just run a long distance. 'Just a friendly little chat between two old school friends.' With what looked like an enormous effort, he smiled. 'So ... you're cured? That's great news, really great.'
'Yes, isn't it?' said Mrs. Weasley, leading her husband forward to a chair. 'Healer Smethwyck worked his magic in the end, found an antidote to whatever that snake's got in its fangs, and Arthur's learned his lesson about dabbling in Muggle medicine, haven't you, dear?' she added, rather menacingly.
'Yes, Molly dear,' said Mr. Weasley meekly.
Athena looked wearily at Sirius who still looked ready to punch a hole in the wall. She considered talking to him before deciding that she was sick of him taking his anger out on her. Instead she walked out of the room, telling Arthur she was glad he was better, and left Grimmauld place, deciding it would be better for her to find Remus instead of trying to dissect the emotions of Sirius Black.
☽☽☽
Athena, Remus and Tonks were in charge of seeing that the kids had a safe passage back to Hogwarts. The Christmas holidays had come to a swift end and Athena knew the following two terms were not going to bring any improvement whatsoever.
More than anything she was worried about Harry having to go through lessons of occlumency with Snape. Occlumency was bad enough as it was. Theodore only enjoyed it because he was good at it. Athena couldn't imagine that Snape would be kind about it. The idea of Snape looking through Harry's memories gave her the chills.
Remus and Athena arrived at Grimmauld Place to see complete chaos. Tonks was already there, her hair a light bubblegum blue. She was dressed differently today. Athena got the distinct impression the dress she donned belonged to Hazel. However her large boots made up for her more feminine appearance.
Everyone was rushing around, calling out about things that they had forgotten. Molly looked as stressed as ever, trying to keep everyone right. Eventually they all stood at the bottom of the staircase, Mrs Black screaming, with their trunks around them, evidently ready to go.
The door of number twelve slammed shut behind them as they stepped out into the cold January air. Everyone followed Remus down the front steps. As he reached the pavement, Athena looked round. Number twelve was shrinking rapidly as those on either side of it stretched sideways, squeezing it out of sight. One blink later, it had gone.
'Come on, the quicker we get on the bus the better,' said Tonks, she threw a nervous glance around the square as though checking if anyone was watching them. A second later, Remus flung out his right arm.
BANG.
A violently purple, triple-decker bus had appeared out of thin air in front of them, narrowly avoiding the nearest lamppost, which jumped backwards out of its way.
A thin, pimply, jug-eared youth in a purple uniform leapt down on to the pavement and said, 'Welcome to the--'
'Yes, yes, we know, thank you,' said Tonks swiftly. 'On, on, get on--'
And she shoved Harry forwards towards the steps, past the conductor, who goggled at Harry as he passed.
' 'Ere--it's 'Arry--!'
'If you shout his name I will curse you into oblivion,' muttered Tonks menacingly, now shunting Ginny and Hermione forwards.
'I've always wanted to go on this thing,' said Ron happily, joining Harry on board and looking around.
"I've never been on the knight bus" Athena sighed to Remus lightly as she held onto his arm.
The bus was crammed with an assortment of mismatched chairs grouped haphazardly around windows. Some of these appeared to have fallen over when the bus stopped abruptly in Grimmauld Place; a few witches and wizards were still getting to their feet, grumbling, and somebody's shopping bag had slid the length of the bus: an unpleasant mixture of frogspawn, cockroaches and custard creams was scattered all over the floor.
'Looks like we'll have to split up,' said Athena briskly, looking around for empty chairs. 'Fred, George, Elle and Ginny, if you just take those seats at the back ... Remus and I can stay with you.'
Tonks, Harry, Ron and Hermione left and moved up to the very top deck. The twins settled into seats next to each other, not looking at Elle as she took the seat furthest from them. Remus gave the group an odd look before he sat next to Athena.
The bus let out a tremendous BANG as it started to move. Athena nearly fell off her chair but Remus (obviously prepared for this) hooked his arm around her waist and pulled her back towards him. It felt like a messed up rollercoaster, going faster than Athena had ever seen anything move in her life.
"Tell me why we couldn't have apperated?" Athena asked angrily, her stomach feeling as though it was about to lose the contents of her lunch.
Remus didn't reply, he seemed more engrossed in looking out of the window which Athena didn't understand. It's not as though anything could be made out of it. All Athena could see were blurred colours of green, cream, grey and blue.
Every so often there was a loud BANG and the bus would skid to a halt. Athena would have to grip onto Remus to stop herself from falling forwards. She didn't understand how he managed to remain so composed throughout the journey, she supposed it was simply in his nature.
Athena hated the silence but knew if she tried to talk she'd probably be sick. Instead she kept her teeth clamped together and looped her arm around Remus' thinking what a terrible last few moments they were getting together before she had to go back off to Hogwarts.
BANG.
Chairs slid backwards again as the Knight Bus jumped from the Birmingham motorway to a quiet country lane full of hairpin bends. Hedgerows on either side of the road were leaping out of their way as they mounted the verges. From here they moved to a main street in the middle of a busy town, then to a viaduct surrounded by tall hills, then to a windswept road between high-rise flats, each time with a loud BANG.
"I think I could have gone my whole life without riding this bus" Athena muttered into Remus' ear. He silently agreed.
Athena kept casting glances to the kids behind her. Ginny was talking animatedly about lessons and the like to Elle who seemed very uninterested. She was fiddling with something wrapped around her neck. Athena thought it looked a lot like the locket she owned. However she was unsure who would give it to her. Considering the twins were pointedly ignoring her and had been since Christmas.
She knew it was none of her business, but she did feel bad for Elle. She understood what it felt like to be on the wrong side of fate. A lot of people in the wizarding world had a wild misunderstanding about those who could see into the future, always believing that these were the people who could solve anything. In reality, this couldn't be further from the truth.
A few minutes later, the Knight Bus screeched to a halt outside a small pub, which squeezed itself out of the way to avoid a collision. Stan Shunpike came walking down the stairs, escorting an elderly woman who looked as though she had been sick many times throughout the journey. Athena couldn't blame her.
The bus moved on again, gathering speed, until--
BANG.
They were rolling through a snowy Hogsmeade. Athena caught a glimpse of the Hog's Head down its side street, the severed boar's head sign creaking in the wintry wind. Flecks of snow hit the large window at the front of the bus. At last they rolled to a halt outside the gates to Hogwarts.
Athena, Remus and Tonks helped them off the bus with their luggage, then got off to say goodbye. Athena glanced up at the three decks of the Knight Bus and saw all the passengers staring down at them, noses flat against the windows.
'You'll be safe once you're in the grounds,' said Tonks, casting a careful eye around at the deserted road. 'Have a good term, OK?'
'Look after yourselves,' said Remus, shaking hands all round and reaching Harry last. 'And listen ...' he lowered his voice while the rest of them exchanged last-minute goodbyes with Tonks, 'Harry, I know you don't like Snape, but he is a superb Occlumens and we all--Sirius included--want you to learn to protect yourself, so work hard, all right?'
'Yeah, all right,' said Harry heavily, looking up at Remus 'See you, then.'
"I'll walk you all up to the castle" Athena told them, "considering I have to be up there too... bye Tonks I'll see you soon"
"Bye Rena" Tonks beamed as she pulled Athena in for a hug.
Athena turned to Remus who was smiling cooly at her.
"I'll see you at the weekend" Athena told him.
"I'll prepare for your regular complaining about Umbridge" he joked as Athena leant up to kiss him quickly. Smiling, she followed the kids up the street, her feet sinking in the snow. There was a loud BANG as the bus disappeared again and Athena felt that she could have done with Remus' company up to the castle.
☽☽☽
A/n
Words - 3265
Published - 21st July 2021
I just read the
most depressing wolf star
fan fiction
it's called a wolf's heart on ao3