WHEN HARRY'S HEARING was finished and Polaris left the ministry, she made her way to Diagon Alley with a new cloak over her head. The young woman made her way to the British wizarding bank, Gringotts, a bank that was run by goblins.
As she entered, Polaris made her way to the front and asked in a commanding voice, "Excuse me, I'm looking for Griphook." The goblin at the front didn't look at her directly but Polaris noticed that he sneaked a little glance in her direction before abruptly leaving.
Polaris didn't have to wait long before Griphook made his way to the front. "What can I help you with?"
"I wish to enter my vault. The Black vault, to be exact." Polaris, full of confidence, told him and Griphook, though familiar with the girl as she has come to him ever since she was a little girl, asked nonetheless the same thing he's asked for years.
"Identification." Polaris pulled out a necklace from underneath her cloak and shirt, a hidden one that looked like nothing special at first glance but it was not the necklace itself that brought the goblin's attention. It was the rig that was worn around it like a charm, a silver ring with precise graphics that were engraved on the ring.
It was the Black Family heir ring, one she got from her father.
The Black heiress laid it in front of him and Briphook took out a small object. He looked at the ring closely before handing it back to Polaris. "Follow me."
The ride down to the vault was a long one. The Black vault was one of the vaults that was filled with some of the most worthy objects in the world. They passed several vaults and eventually some dragons.
Polaris thought back to the twins and to what they would think of the ride. She was sure the two of them would enjoy it. Entering the vault was difficult. Another goblin joined Griphook, one named Ricbert, that was the same as the one she greeted at first, and the two goblins opened the vault with strength.
The vault was dark and filled with several dark artifacts. There were many golden coins and goblets, silver and golden armor, several potions in jeweled flasks that Polaris was sure were poisonous and even some skeletons of old, dead creatures. Polaris even spotted a skull that was wearing a crown from what looked like the Victorian times. She knew that in the Lestrange vault was one as well and that one crept her out as well.
The girl took out a small bag, filled it with some galleons and left the vault again. She motioned for the goblins to close and lock the vault again which they did and together, they returned back up again. The Black heiress handed each goblin a few coins for their silence and made her way out with a small, "thank you."
In Diagon Alley she looked around at first. She needed a few new coats and scarves for when it gets cold again and some new books. She also wanted to look for some sweets because Leo's birthday came up as it was August. She obviously would change the wrapping a bit so he can't find out where the sweets come from and she can't get him chocolate frogs for obvious reasons.
She entered a clothing's shop first, Twilfitt and Tattings, it was called. She greeted the cashier before looking for a new scarf. Polaris' eyes landed on one on the far back and she looked at the colour theme of it. The scarf was a light beige that was almost called cream white but not quite and it had bordeaux coloured stripes a few centimeters from the edges. She took two of them, one for her and one for Hermione Granger.
The younger girl, Polaris had the feeling, was slightly afraid of her. Most of the time it was fine to Polaris but the young woman figured if Hermione was to stay at her home for a longer time, fear shouldn't be felt around them. Maybe this gift could help make the girl feel more comfortable around her. Polaris didn't even look at the price as she simply paid the price before leaving the shop.
The next shop she went to was Second-Hand-Robes. Now, Polaris didn't really need to do second-hand shopping considering she was probably one of the richest people alive, but she often found pretty, vintage robes and coats there and she wouldn't say no to every one of them. Kreacher was deep cleaning all her clothes anyway, bought from second-hand shops or expensive designer brands.
Polaris entered the small shop and greeted the cashier again, a small and old woman who was half-blind. Polaris learned that the woman's name was Annabeth Lodge, a half-blood that Polaris guessed was born in the 1930's or 1940's. "You got some new coats for me, Anna?"
The old woman laughed heartily at Polaris' words and made her way to the back, beckoning Polaris to follow her. In the back were a lot of robes, some of them were old Hogwarts and even Beauxbatons robes but others were traveling robes and some were just warm.
Ananbeth, already knowing the kind of clothes the girl liked, showed her three different coats; a black long coat that Polaris was sure would reach her knees. It had a pocket on each side that was held with a small dark gray button on the side to close it. The coat itself was closed with several more dark gray buttons and on the back it had a big hat. Polaris admired the material of the coat, satin, one of her favourites. The glossy look made the robe look more expensive than it actually was and Polaris had to give Annabeth a big tip again for the way the woman knew her taste in clothes.
Another coat was a dark forest green, it was made of cashmere and looked like it held warm. Polaris already knew she was going to buy that one. "This coat is more like a cape coat that you can wear on top of a shirt or something but I held it back for you because I thought it would look wonderful on you." Polaris thought she was right. The cape coat had a single button on the far top and a hooded hat. It also had a pocket on each side but these ones were open and could not be closed.
The last coat the woman showed her was a deep bordeaux. It was mid-thigh long and had long sleeves. This one wasn't hooded but Polaris didn't mind. This coat, too, had a pocket on each side that was again open and not to be closed, probably more for the comfort of hands than anything else. The coat was closed through two rows of buttons with two black buttons on each side. Polaris already loved it.
Polaris tried on each of them and with the new scarf she bought, she fell deeply in love with the third coat she was shown. "Oh, Anna, you really do know me. I will take all three of them."
As the old woman giggled slightly at Polaris' words and made sure to check the prices Polaris looked around once more. Her eyes fell on another coat, a crimson one. It was silk, another favourite of Polaris and she took a good look at it. The coat looked like something Ginny would wear if she could and Polaris, having had an apparently good day, called out to Annabeth.
"Hey, Anna, what about this coat?" As the old woman came into the back again and looked at the coat Polaris pointed to her eyes widened slightly.
"Oh, dear, this one is beautiful but not really something I ever saw you in."
Polaris shook her head slightly, "I know but it's not for me, it's for a, well, call it a friend." The old woman just hummed and took the coat with her to the cashier. The red coat had some details stitched into it but it made it just look more elegant.
"This would be twelve galleons and seventeen knuts please, dear." Polaris gave the woman fifteen galleons, her eyes widened slightly at the gold in her hands. "Polaris- dear, I can't take this much-"
"Please, Anna, for holding the coats back for me and for taking your time with me." As the old woman didn't budge, Polaris added on, "I beg you, Anna, and I don't do that often. Call it a tip for your great service with a customer." Annabeth sighed and nodded, putting the gold safely away and thanking Polaris before the two bid each other goodbye.
It was noticeably getting darker, Polaris had noticed as she made her way to Sugarplum's sweet shop to buy sweets for Leo. She was sure she had missed lunch by now, but it didn't really matter anyway. As she entered, she noticed it was a bit busier than the other two shops.
The shop had a lot of sweets and Polaris made her way to the chocolate. The shop had their own chocolate brand of dark chocolate and Polaris remembered that her trainer had once told her that he enjoyed that. Polaris packed three bricks of them and moved on to Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans just for the fun. The Black witch made her way to pay for them and went to the last shop for the day; a book shop.
Polaris made her way to 18a Diagon Alley, Obscurus Books was a book publisher where one of Polaris' favourite books was sold; Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander. The book shop held a lot of different genres, from classics of the Wizarding world to scary books and love stories, even some school books were there.
Polaris went to the Education section and looked around. There were some charms books that seemed uninteresting and some potions books that she already had at home. She also spotted a few books on dark creatures which she took one example of. She also took a copy of Advanced Numerology and Grammatica, a book on Arithmancy and she took a copy of Ancient Hieroglyphs and Logograms, a book of ancient magical symbols.
After Polaris paid for the books and put them safely, away she made her way to the Leaky Cauldron to enjoy a small drink after the day. A small drink turned into a few larger ones, but Polaris wasn't drunk, she never was as she didn't trust herself to drink too much. Polaris even spotted a red haired, muscled man across the pub to which she had to think back to the Weasley family, a thought that made her groan slightly.
As Polaris finally arrived at home, it was already quiet. She could hear some sniffles from upstairs that sounded awfully like Mrs. Wealsey's, and Polaris was suddenly glad that she spent so much time shopping and then at the pub. In the kitchen she saw Sirius drinking a glass of Firewhiskey, a drink that Polaris enjoyed a few from earlier as well.
Sirius watched as Polaris set down a few shopping bags and eyed her carefully. The young woman had a slight jump in some of her steps and Sirius began smirking as he noticed that .
"Good evening Polaris, dear."
Polaris smiled at him and answered back. "Well, good evening Mr. Sirius Black." She looked to the glass with the clear, amber coloured liquid swimming around. "Enjoying a bit of Firewhiskey, are we? Celebrating Harry's win?"
Sirius chuckled slightly at her and shot back, "I'm not the only one celebrating, I see, but yeah, you could call it that." Polaris giggled quietly with carefreeness. It was a sound Sirius has never heard before and in that moment, he was sad his brother wasn't here to hear it because Sirius was sure that was one of the most beautiful sounds he's ever heard.
"No, I didn't celebrate, just had a good day." Polaris sat down beside him and took the glass herself, downing the burning liquid in one go and handing it back to him. "So, is everyone glad Harry is out of the fire?"
Sirius replied with a small nod, "yeah but then tension grew up again and Molly's crying again," Polaris and Sirius both rolled their eyes, "and now it's just me drinking. Remus already went to bed."
The girl wiggled her eyebrows slightly before she stood up again. "Well, as sad as it must have been, but I'll go to bed now too. I have training tomorrow and it's his birthday too so I'll be out a bit longer. Good night, Sirius, and don't drink too much. I will laugh at you again if you throw up."
"Good night, Polaris." Sirius called as he watched Polaris making her way upstairs and to her room. She made a waving motion with her hand as she walked up the stairs.
Back in her room she packed everything out of the bags. The three coats she bought for herself she folded and put aside for Kreacher to wash, sliding her hands over the satin one again before placing the new beige scarf she got on top of her bordeaux coat.
The new books she got were placed neatly on her table and she placed the sweets for Leo there as well. She will change the wrapping tomorrow before training.
The last thing the girl did for the night was dressing into pajamas, purple ones made of silk this time, and she went to bed to sleep. Again, a night without any dreams or disturbances.
The next morning, Polaris woke up relatively early. It was sunrise and as she stepped downstairs for her morning tea she saw Mrs. Weasley already making breakfast. "Good morning, Polaris."
"Good morning, Mrs. Weasley." The Black witch took the last teabag of her tea and finished preparing it. The light lemon smell was lightly in the air and it made a wonderful aroma in addition to the redhead's cooking.
As much as Polaris disliked the mother of the Weasley bunch, she did admire the way she cooked. As someone who couldn't cook to save her life, everything that didn't taste like something straight out of a horse's butt tasted incredibly well.
"I won't be at lunch today as well. Apologies that I didn't say anything yesterday, but I made a spontaneous trip to Diagon Alley after I was at Harry's hearing."
Mrs. Weasley nodded before she hummed, "Not to worry, Ron ate your part I made. Have fun today and will I see you at dinner?"
"Oh, yes, I'll be back by then. I just have training and lunch after that." Polaris replied before she began drinking her tea in silence.
There was quiet music playing in the background, an old song whose name Polaris didn't remember by Madam Bletchley was playing. Mrs. Weasley laid a sandwich in front of her, a 'thank you' and 'no problem' was exchanged between the two pure-blood witches before Polaris made her way upstairs again.
She changed into a black sportswear set and sneakers for outside and wore a light, black jacket over that. With an already packed gym's bag she made her way to the gym for her training with Leo. Not before changing the candies' wrapper though.
As Polaris arrived she greeted Leo with a huge smile and a "Happy Birthday, old man!" The two hugged for a short moment before she put down her bag in her locker and they began training.
Today, the plan was boxing and Leo already told her they would work on her Rear Uppercut, one of the six basic boxing punches. Their goal was to complete that move today and maybe start her training on a Cross punch, the most obvious knockout punch. Though Polaris has been boxing for a while now, she always struggled with the Rear Uppercut but she never knew why.
The two started with a classic warmup that includes stretching and light cardio training such as rope jumping, shadow boxing and jogging on the treadmill. After that they'd go to the speedball, a punching bag and then she'd box into Leo's palms.
The two trained for about two and a half hours before they called it a day. Polaris ended up perfecting the Rear Uppercut but they didn't start the training for the Cross punch.
They stretched lightly in the end before they both made their way to the lockers again. Polaris took a sip from her water bottle as Leo laid out the plans for lunch later. "I was thinking we could have lunch at an Italian restaurant? Maybe pasta or a pizza?" Leo made a deep 'ouh' sound, "or maybe lasagna?"
Polaris chuckled slightly before interrupting his little rant about Italian food, "I think Italian sounds nice, do you know a place?"
Leo nodded, "what about the Sale E Pepe? Have you eaten there before?" As Polaris shook her head as 'no' he went on, "that's fine, it's brilliant, really. We meetin' there or should I come and pick you up?"
Polaris cleared her throat lightly before answering, "Oh, it's fine, we can meet there."
"Okay, that's fine by me. I book a table for, let's say, 1:30pm?" Polaris nodded at that. That gave her about three hours before they'd meet again, "Okay good, the address is 9-15 Pavilion Road here in London."
"Okay, I'll be there." The two made their way outside of the gym and said their goodbyes,"Get home safely, Polaris, you can throw a good Rear Uppercut now." Leo laughed.
"I'll see you later, Leo." Polaris returned with a warm smile and a quick wave.
Leo was already in front of the restaurant as Polaris met him there. She was as always fashionably late.
In her hand she held a small gift bag in a blue color. The gift bag was in his favourite colour and the sweets she got at Diagon Alley were packed in different black boxes that were unlabelled. She also wrote him a card, a sweet one if someone was to ask Polaris. She, in all honesty, did not know how to write birthday cards as she never really had to write any but she couldn't just tell him that so she tried her best.
"Happy Birthday again, Leo!" She told him as they greeted each other and entered the restaurant.
"Hello, I have a table booked for two on the name Parroten." Leo spoke in a very friendly tone to the receptionist who checked the book before nodding.
The receptionist was a tanned woman with a sweet Spanish accent and Polaris guessed that was her native language. She did quite enjoy Spanish as well but her British accent ruined the language at some points.
As the two were lead to a table, for a moment, Polaris wondered if there were people who thought the two went on a date.
"Here is the menu. A waiter will come any moment. Can I get you anything to drink? Water or wine maybe?" The receptionist was very kind, Polaris admitted and she had a cute smile. Maybe, Polaris thought as she looked closely at the woman, she was a university student who worked a part-time job as she looked quite young.
"A beer for me would be kind, 0.5l, and Polaris?" Leo answered with a very charming smile that Polaris had to suppress a snort at.
"Water would be incredibly kind, thank you." Polaris told the woman kindly.
"Sparkled water or not?" The receptionist asked.
"Not sparkled, please."
"Okay, a waiter will be here any minute, enjoy your day." The woman ended the conversation with a cute Spanish accent.
"Thank you." Came from both Leo and Polaris.
"So," Polaris began as she set the blue gift bag on the table, "I got a small present for you, I thought you might enjoy it."
Polaris watched as Leo smiled almost shily at her and looked into the bag. He took out her card firstly, it was nothing special just a deep green one she found at home and he read it carefully.
-
Dear Leo,
Happy Birthday to your 32 Birthday, old man. I do hope you enjoy(ed) your day to the fullest and get as much love and joy as you deserve. Thank you for all the training with me and every time you opened an ear for me to complain to. I do enjoy the small moments we spend together. In the bag, there are a few little things I saw that I thought you might enjoy.
Don't drink too much because remember, you are old and so are your organs.
Happy Birthday again!
P.R.W.
-
"Thank you, Polaris. It's a great card. Why is your handwriting so good?" Leo asked with a confused smile.
"I don't know, maybe it's my pen." She answered back shortly. She did know why her handwriting looked so pleasing to the eye. It was the quill that she used, but it would be weird for Leo to hear that she still uses quill's to write so she opted for a smooth half lie. "So, open your real presents, not just the card."
Leo chuckled before pulling the second thing out of the bag; the chocolate. "That's dark chocolate from a local I got a while ago. Don't worry, it's still good. I remember you once told me it's the chocolate you enjoy the most so I packed you some. I hope you enjoy it."
Leo beamed at her before pulling the third and last thing; the Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans. "That's more of a fun gift if you will. I think you know them, it's just jelly beans that either taste really good or really disgusting. I had hoped that you would get disgusting ones like ear wax."
Leo sent her a look before chuckling, "I'm gonna try one of those after the food."
Just as he said these words, a waiter came to bring the drinks. "One water, not sparkled, and one 0.5l beer." He set them down in front of them. "Can I take any orders for food already or are you still looking at the menu?"
Polaris shook her head 'no', "We're still looking, thank you though." The waiter nodded and made his way back again.
"So, I can definitely recommend the Spaghetti Alla Carbonara and the Lasagna but get whatever you want." Leo told her as he looked through the menu.
Polaris hummed as she looked as well. There was a long list of various dishes; a lot of them were different pastas but it opted from Risotto Ai Frutti to Filetto Alla Griglia. "I think I'll just have Burrata Caprese and you?" As Polaris looked up she saw the heart eyes that Leo made at the menu card and she laughed quietly.
"I think I'll take the Lasagna. I couldn't stop thinking about it since I first ate it here." Leo's eyes rolled dramatically into the back of his head and Polaris shook her head slightly. Leo held his arm up slightly as he spotted the waiter from before.
The two enjoyed the lunch greatly. The food was really delicious, Polaris admitted as she made Leo pay for the whole thing. In her words she basically paid him anyway for all the training she did.
The two of them often got stared at though. Leo was 32 and he looked like it while Polaris was 17, almost 18, and she looked like barely twenty. It must have been sight, even more so when he paid for everything but that didn't change their day for a big.
The two bid their goodbyes for the day after Leo tried a jelly bean and it was vomit flavored and Polaris was back home at around 4:30 pm.
Despite the fact that Polaris and Leo began as trainer and trainee, they quickly became friends. Polaris confided in him about her mother and her death. She desperately wanted to tell him about her father but how was she supposed to explain that situation? It was far too complicated and so, she talked sometimes to him about her mother.
Leo too often talked to the girl about some of his problems. They sometimes joked about that considering their age gap but it worked and that's what mattered. The sibling-like bond they created was one that couldn't be redone anywhere.
Polaris was also in a good mood because the students from Hogwarts would be going soon. As much as she had come to like some of them like Harry or the twins, she liked the peace and silence a lot better.
When Polaris was back home, finally, she was stopped by Sirius. "Oh, hey, Polaris! You're finally back."
The Black witch looked at him in confusion as she watched Sirius sigh in a dramatic manner. "What do you want?"
Sirius gasped in mock offense and grabbed his right side with his left hand, "You wound me, Polaris. My dear niece thinks I just talk to her when I want something. My heart, Polaris, it hurts!"
Polaris grimaced slightly, "The heart is on the left side, Sirius." She leaned on the wall by the stairs, "Now, what do you want?"
"You mind getting Harry, Ron and Hermione? Molly wants something from them and is too angry to get up there herself and I'm far too lazy."
"She's angry again? Why this time? Oh, wait, don't tell me I really don't care. But yeah, sure I can do that, I'm going upstairs anyway."
Sirius chuckled upon hearing Polaris' words and he called back as she began to turn, "Thank you! You're the best!"
"I know!" Polaris called back as she reached the door to Ginny and Hermione's shared room. She knocked three times before turning the knob to open the door.
She was faced with the trio, the twins and Ginny all looking at her like they'd been caught doing something they're not supposed to. "Mrs. Weasley wants something from you three, I don't know what though." Polaris told them as she looked at the bespectacled boy and his two best friends.
She then turned to the two girls, "A d I have something for you two as well, I got it yesterday at Diagon Alley." Polaris, at last, looked towards the twins, "No, I got you nothing from Diagon Alley, life is unfair, get used to it." With that she closed the door again and went to her room.
Polaris changed into different, more comfortable clothes and began reading one of her new books, Advanced Numerology and Grammatica, a pen in hand to make small notes on the line or to summarize a chapter. She was three chapters in that she summarized and made notes before she heard knocking on a door. Knocking, it was definitely not George and Fred.
Polaris put the pen between the pages she was at and closed the book, putting it back on her table before opening the door. She was met with a nervous Ginny and an even more nervous looking Hermione. "Hello you two."
"Hi." and, "Hello Polaris." Came from the two girls in front of Polaris as she looked between them.
"Come in," she opened the door wider for them as they stepped inside, "As you know, I was in Diagon Alley yesterday. I was looking for a new coat and a new scarf for the next autumn and a birthday present for a friend. But I found something for you two as well I thought you might enjoy."
Polaris walked to her closet as Hermione and Ginny looked at each other and remained standing. In the perfectly ordered closet there was already the new scarf for Hermione and the new Coat for Ginny hanging, having been washed and deep cleaned from any bacterias or chemicals.
"As I was looking for a scarf and found one I thought that this one would look good on you two. Of course, you just have to keep and wear it if you want to, but I thought you might enjoy it." Polaris handed Hermione the light beige scarf with the bordeaux stripes and watched Hermione's reaction closely.
The girl was flustered, Polaris figured, as Hermione took the scarf and admired it. Her eyes were bright, her cheeks red and she smiled slightly, all good signs so far. Polaris watched as Hermione's fingers lightly stroked over the stripes as she held the scarf close to her. "Oh, Polaris but why? I mean thank you, obviously but I just- I don't understand why."
Polaris hummed as she turned back to her closet to take out the crimson coloured coat. "I'll explain later, here, Ginny, that one is for you. Have you ever had anything made of silk before?"
As Polaris handed Ginny the coat the younger girl blushed as well and the oh so confident redhead stuttered out a thank you and shook her head. "Oh, you will love it. Silk is one of my favourite fabrics in clothes and duvet covers. I do hope it fits though, if not then I can take it to someone who has it corrected."
Ginny put on the coat and Polaris admired the girl for a small moment. Ginny looked really good in the coat and the red hair made the small contrast blend in very well.
"But why? Not that I'm not thankful but it must've cost a fortune." Hermione still questioned and Polaris looked at her for a short second before answering.
"I noticed that you two seemed nervous around me and considering that in near future you will continue staying here and I will not move out, I thought it best to get along at least civilly. I don't know how to approach you two, but I thought this might break the ice. And no, before anyone tells you that, it's not a bribing gift. And don't worry about money, it's no big deal."
Polaris was right, after the gift exchange and many more thank you's, the ice was broken and the two younger girls began to talk to her more openly. They continued gossiping about the boys a bit, something Polaris had never done before aside from with Kreacher and Hermione and Ginny only did it alone before.
For now, Polaris was just glad that the two enjoyed her gifts and there were two less people she was tense around in her own home.
A/N: I just wanted to say that the restaurant where Polaris and Leo ate really does exist. The menu as well. You can look it you if you'd like but I wasn't there yet so I don't know if the food's good.
Also, this chapter was to look more into the friendship of Polaris and Leo :)