April 17th - Marauder's Dorm
It was unusually quiet in the marauder's dorm that evening, something that should be cause for concern because normally, silence emanating from that particular room meant trouble. This time, however, trouble was the farthest thing from the boy's minds since they were all pouring over their homework and NEWTs revisions.
It seemed as though the stress of seventh year was finally catching up to them, and all four of them, including James and Sirius, who had previously claimed to be allergic to working for exams, "Merlin this is exhausting," sighed James, closing his book and throwing it at the foot of his bed
"Prongs, it's been twenty minutes," deadpanned Peter, rolling his eyes
The bespectacled boy grumbled something under his breath, looking for the snitch in his bedside drawer, "It's still too long for me to sit still,"
The others knew better than to argue with this, mostly because it was true. James was a hyperactive mess of a person on a good day, and that was only made worse whenever he was forced to sit quietly for prolonged periods of time, "You know you need to study this stuff," mused Remus, "You might've been accepted into the Auror office, but you still need the grades,"
"Nephera will put in a good word for us, Moons, you know that," laughed Sirius, closing his book as well
"And how exactly does your girlfriend feel about you using her to essentially get out of exams?" countered the werewolf, raising an eyebrow
Sirius laughed, catching the snitch that had flown too far away from James, "You're forgetting who you're talking about," he said, "Nephera's a Slytherin, in her book, one ought to work smart, not hard,"
"One also ought not to be an idiot," pointed out Peter
The other three laughed at that, while Sirius took it upon him to attempt to launch a tickling hex on Peter, which the mousy boy easily deflected with a wave of his wand. Right at that moment, a tired-looking fifth-year knocked on the door of the dorm and entered, pausing slightly when he saw the four intimidating older boys looking at him, "Uh, Black, McGonagall's outside the portrait, she's looking for you,"
Grinning, the boy hopped off his bed, "Duty calls, gentlemen," he announced dramatically, exiting the room
As he was walking downstairs, though, his mind kept filling with the worse of possibilities. He couldn't help it, it was practically second nature with the way the world looked around them. Nephera couldn't be hurt, because then all of them would've been called in, not just him. Something happening to the rest of the girls was out of the question as well, because again, all the boys would've been called if that was the case.
Once the portrait of the fat lady swung open, he came face to face with the Head of his House, looking down at him with an unreadable expression, "Minnie, what can I help you with?" he asked, masking his slight worry with sarcasm as usual
The Professor sighed, long having given up on correcting him and the rest of the marauders on the use of that particular nickname, "Please follow me to the Headmaster's office, Mr. Black,"
"Lead the way,"
The walk from Gryffindor tower to the Gargoyle statue was short and silent, although, to Sirius's surprise, there was no tension as they walked. He had been in a similar situation multiple times when Nephera was missing, and back then there was a thick tension filling the air whenever they approached Dumbledore's office.
This time, however, there was no such feeling, and as Sirius was looking at the older witch, he got the inkling that she too wasn't sure whether she was about to deliver good or bad news.
Minerva uttered the password, 'Pepper Imps', in this case, and the two ascended the stairs. The raven-haired boy was surprised to see that Dumbledore wasn't alone in his office, but there was another witch sitting there, clad in all pink.
He instantly knew who she was, after all, Nephera and Monty had given them a play-by-play narration of what had happened in the Ministry in December, complete with many colorful adjectives about 'Umbitch' as Monty referred to her as.
"Headmaster," greeted Sirius, "What's going on?"
"Please take a seat, Mr. Black, for I have some news,"
Again, the Gryffindor took note of how the old wizard hadn't said 'good news' or 'bad news', leaving him even more confused than ever. Umbridge gave one of the most annoying coughs the boy had even heard, accompanied by McGonagall sighing audibly, "And this is-"
"Dolores Umbridge," interrupted the Ministry witch, extending an arm as the boy raised his eyebrows since it was common knowledge that no one interrupted Minnie
"I know who you are," he replied, not bothering to shake her hand
Umbridge scoffed, "Of course, I suspect that Ms. Winchester," she gave a cold, mocking laugh, "Has told you all about her Ministry visit during Christmas,"
Ignoring her completely, the Gryffindor turned into the only adult in the room he could stand, "Minnie, what's going on?" he asked, "And why's she here,"
The Headmaster took control of the situation, "Mr. Black, I'm afraid to inform you that your uncle Alphard passed away last night,"
Now the boy understood why no one had characterized the nature of the visit before, mainly because he too did not exactly know how to react. Alphard was the wild card of the Black family, not unlike Sirius himself, although the older wizard had never been branded as a blood-traitor.
He'd often heard Walburga and Orion complain about Alphard's gambling or drinking problems, and it always brought a smile to the young boy's face when he saw how annoyed his parents were.
He'd probably had half a real conversation with Alphard in his entire life, but he still felt close to him, what with being the two disgraced Blacks and all. So, even though he had never truly met him, the young wizard still felt a pang of sadness at the news of his death, "Oh," was the only thing he said, "How did he uh, how did he die?"
Umbridge gave another mocking laugh, the sound so piercing that Sirius truly fantasized about grabbing her by her obnoxiously pink cardigan and throwing her out the window, "He was hit by a car while he was in a muggle town, reports say that he was drunk while crossing the road,"
Knowing full well how innparopriate the moment was, Sirius still couldn't help but laugh slightly at what he had heard, for, based on the stories, it was all too characteristic of the wizard to die in such a way, "There's more," said McGonagall, "Apparently, your uncle left his entire fortune to, well, you,"
Now, the Gryffindor really couldn't contain the laugh bubbling up his throat. Just the image of his mother, finding out that part of the precious Black fortune had been given to her disgrace of a son was enough to send him into a fit.
The three adults exchanged wary glances as they took in the sight of the boy quite literally doubling over in laughter, "I'm sorry," he wheezed, "There's nothing funny, it's just that-" his sentence was interrupted by another round of laughing, "Someone should probably check on Walburga, she's probably burst a vein by now,"
Minnie, who was trying really hard to contain her own smile when she heard that, shook her head, "We simply need you to sign these in order to move the funds into your own account in Gringotts," she said
Umbridge stuck her hand into her pink briefcase, pulling out a stack of papers, "Right," coughed Sirius, wiping the tears from his eyes, "Does anyone have a quill,"
Dumbledore handed him a feather quill, and the boy started signing the many documents, never once seizing his laughter. In fact, he continued laughing all the way down the staircase after he left the office, where the rest of the marauders and Nephera were waiting for him, slightly nervous once they realized that he was taking too long, "Uh, Pads?" asked Peter, not expecting the boy to come down laughing, "Everything alright?"
"Oh yes, I mean, no, but yes, but also it's sort of mean, but then again revenge is sweet,"
Nephera blinked at that, "Right," she drawled, cupping his face with her hands, "Sirius, look at me, did you take anything?"
The Gryffindor placed a kiss on his witch's forehead, slinging an arm over her shoulders as he turned to look at the three boys, "Alphard, my uncle? He's dead," he said bluntly, wiping his eyes once again, "And guess who he's left all his money to?"
"I'm going to take a wild guess and say you?" sassed Remus
"Me!" yelled Sirius, "Godric, my mother's throwing a fit, I can feel it,"
The Slytherin of the group unwilling snorted at that, the image of Walburga wrecking the living room of Grimmauld Place in a fit of anger being enough to make her break down as well.
Soon, all five of them were laughing, holding onto each other, in front of the Gargoyle statue, a burst of laughter which only increased when they saw Umbridge coming down the stairs, shooting them nasty looks.
---
April 20th - Slytherin dorms
It was late at night, or more correctly, early in the morning, when Regulus Black descended the stairs, after having been woken up by another nightmare. The boy pretended that he was fine with being a spy on Voldemort's ranks, but in reality, it was slowly getting too much for the Slytherin of only sixteen years old.
The horrors he had encountered during meetings kept him up at night, people screaming for mercy, pleading for Voldemort to at least spare their kids and families, or even worse, begging for death.
He felt utterly helpless as he sat on the comfortable chairs of the Malfoy Manor, staring at the unfortunate victims writhing on the floor in pain. Regulus knew he couldn't intervene, or else it would be him in that position, and as much as he hated it, he couldn't risk losing his status as a spy. He was in Voldemort's inner circle, and as harsh as it sounded, saving one life wasn't worth risking the advantageous position he was in.
As a spy, he could provide information that could help kill Voldemort and end the war, and saving one life wasn't worth putting all that at risk.
So, he silently padded down to the common room, the muggle book Ella had given him held tightly in his hand, hoping that the emerald fire could bring him some solace and comfort.
He was surprised to see that the room wasn't empty, though, but rather that there was someone sitting in his favorite armchair. The boy relaxed, though, when he saw that person intricately twisting their wand between their fingers, instantly recognizing the movement as Nephera's, "Didn't think you'd be awake," he mused after placing a silencing charm around the room, sitting down on the couch next to the armchair
Nephera turned to look at the young boy, "Didn't think you'd be awake either," she rebutted, switching the subject of the conversation from her to him, "Nightmares,"
Typically, Nephera would've been sleeping in the boy's dorm with Sirius, as she did the grand majority of the time. That day, however, she was staying in her own dorm since she had spent the entire day studying in her room, and was then far too tired to walk all the way up to Gryffindor tower. Now, she had grown to desperately regret that decision, as it was now increasingly clear to the witch that she could not sleep without the boy next to her.
The boy didn't bother denying her, as had been established, Nephera knew how to read people easier than she read words on a page, "Yes," he sighed
The witch knew that Regulus didn't want to talk about it, so she deferred the subject, "This the book she gave you?" she asked, motioning for the boy to hand it to her, which he did
Flicking through the pages, she could tell that the book was old and worn out, similar to the one Sirius ahd given her for her birthday last year, "You really like her, don't you?" she teased, taking note of the way the boy was smiling sheepishly
"Yeah, I've been sneaking off to Hogsmeade day by day to call her, it was quite an adventure learning how to work the tellyliphone-"
"Telephone, Reg," laughed the brunette,
Shrugging dismissively, the boy continued, "I've told her that I go to an old boarding school in Scotland, which is increasingly traditionalist nad so refuses to use technology,"
"And she believed that?"
"What else would she think? That I'm a wizard?" deadpanned the youngest Black, "I've actually been thinking about sneaking off to muggle London some random weekend, to surprise her,"
Even though he was smiling, Nephera could tell that there was something bothering him, and it wasn't hard to guess what. Regulus was a skilled Occlumence, probably more skilled than herself, but it was still a risk, for if Voldemort found out about Ella, both of them would be worse than dead, "I know you're feeling guilty, Regulus, for allowing yourself to talk to her,"
"Since when are you keen on talking about feelings?"
"Since the moment when I can see one of my closest friends eat himself alive with guilt," she countered, raising an eyebrow, "It is dangerous, yes, but Reg, from what I've heard, this girl sounds amazing. And who knows, maybe one day, when this war is over, you'll be thankful to not have pushed her away,"
"If we're not both dead by that point," he snorted, "It just that, I'm involving her in this whole world of crap without her knowing about it, I'm putting her life at risk and she has no clue,"
Shaking her head, the brunette handed the book back to the boy, watching as his fingers traced the spine, "Take it from the President of involving people in shit they don't need," she said, and Regulus couldn't help but give a weak smile, "You deserve to be selfish for once in your life, and besides, Riddle has no reason to suspect you. You're a skilled Occlumence, too skilled if I'm honest,"
Regulus knew that what the girl was saying had a basis, and he had learned to trust that whenever Nephera said something, it was true, "How did it all get so messed up?" he huffed, "How did you, of all people, end up with Sirius, and I with a muggle?"
The girl laughed, "We do have our ways, don't we?" she asked, and the boy laughed
A/N
2.5k words
sorry this was late, but if you're up for it, check out my Tom Riddle fic, Gods & Monsters
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