[Chapter Five]
Terry teased me for the next week about my… crush on Fred Weasley. And Fred wasn’t really helping either. Whenever he spotted me in the halls, he’s put his arm around my shoulders and walked me to most of my classes. Every once and a while, Ron would come to ask what was up with his brother, and I would reply with the truth: I didn’t know.
Oh, that Ronald Weasley even went all out and one morning at breakfast, he marched straight up to the Ravenclaw table.
“Do you like Fred?” he asked, loud enough for probably the entire Great Hall to hear.
“Uhm, no…” I lied smoothly, raising an eyebrow. “Weirdo…”
At the Gryffindor table, Harry Potter was laughing at us.
I threw my fork at him.
Terry snickered, nearly choking on bits of bacon.
“Is that all?” I asked Ron.
He shrugged and went to sit back down with Harry.
Terry was still chortling when we got up to leave for Transfiguration, and so I tricked him into stepping into a trick step and left him there.
“Really?” he called, as I made it to the top.
I turned and glared at him.
“Yes, really,” I said coolly. “It’s not funny! I don’t tease you about that Fay Dunbar girl you like!”
“I’m sorry, Lu!” he said. “Please help me out.”
“You’re not sorry, and if I let you out, you’ll just make fun of me even more!”
“Perhaps you ought to let him out,” said a familiar voice.
George stood behind her, leaning on the banister. Fred was nowhere to be seen, to my relief.
“He doesn’t deserve it,” I grumbled.
“Oh, you can’t seriously be that angry, can you?” George asked. “I mean, we’re boys, we’ll always make fun of you.”
“Yeah!” Terry chimed in.
“Hush!” George called down to him. “So, are you going to let him out or not?”
I sighed. “Fine, I’ll let him out. But if he makes fun of me one more time, I will hex him straight into the Whomping Willow.”
George grinned. “Fair enough.”
“Hey!” Terry protested.
George and I walked down the stair and pulled him out of the stair.
“Thank you!” he said, wiggling his foot about.
“Well, I’ll be seeing you two,” said George, turning away.
“Wait, George,” I called after him.
“I won’t tell him,” he said as walked the rest of the way down the stairs. “I won’t tell Fred.”
~x~
Saturday came, and I found myself once again lost. I don’t know how, but I had taken a wrong turn from the library and found myself in a corridor.
I sighed in frustration, not knowing where to go now.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a door that was slightly ajar. I curiously pushed it open even more. Something in the room was drawing me in, it beckoned me to come in.
I swallowed and slowly entered.
In the room there was a mirror. It was large, reaching the ceiling, with a golden frame and two clawed feet holding it up. Along the top, it read “Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi.”
My heart quickened in my chest as I stepped closer and closer to it. Finally, I could see myself, but I wasn’t the only one there.
My mother and father stood behind me. My mother didn’t look crazed like all of the pictures in the Daily Prophet looked like. She had a kind smile and loving look in her eyes. My father also looked normal. He, like my mother, had rid himself of any evil glint and looked down at me with delight.
I found myself on my knees, hugging my chest.
It wasn’t real, and it wouldn’t ever be.
The tears made it out of my eyes and I felt myself shaking.
“Not real,” I choked out as I leaned forward and pressed my forehead to the cool glass.
“It most certainly is not.”
I didn’t need to look around to see who it was.
“What is it Fred?” I asked.
“The Mirror of Erised,” he said quietly. “It shows you, erm, heart’s deepest desires, I think.”
I felt him sit next to me.
“What do you see, Lu?” he asked.
“I see my mum and dad,” I muttered. “They’re not in Azkaban. They’re… happy.”
“Your parents are in Azkaban?”
I nodded, taking a shuddering breath.
“Do you promise not to tell anyone?” I asked. “Not even George?”
Fred nodded, his brown eyes warm and understanding.
“My mum and dad…” I started. “My parents are Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange.”
He was silent for a moment before he took my hand in his. It was a very large difference, his hands being large and long and callused and mind small and stubby and, well, squishy.
“Do you really think people will care who your parents are?” he asked softly.
“I don’t know.” I murmured. “I was scared. I didn’t want to be that little kid that lost her parents to Voldemort.”
Fred flinched.
“Sorry,” I said.
“Well, er, let’s get out of here.” Fred stood up and held his hand out to me. I took it and he pulled me to my feet.
“What do you see, Fred?” I asked curiously, glancing up at his face, which had become distorted with blank emotion.
“Erm, nothing,” he said calmly. “Come on, I’ll take you back to your dormitory.”
~x~
That night I lay in bed, staring up at the canopy of my bed. I was still dressed in what I had been wearing earlier that day, which was my Ravenclaw jumper and regular jeans, the kind of things Muggles wore.
When Mandy and the other girls from my dorm walked in from dinner, I jumped, having not realized the time. I hadn’t bothered to go to dinner – or lunch, for that matter. I was just too busy thinking about the Mirror of Erised and my parents.
“Why didn’t you come to dinner?” Mandy asked as she changed into her pajamas.
I shrugged.
“Wasn’t hungry,” I lied. “Goodnight.” I shut the curtains and turned over, falling asleep almost immediately.
In my dream I was in a dark place, with stone floors, ceiling, and walls. It smelled horrible and it there was a gloomy, miserable feeling to it.
In the corner there was a man curled up on the floor. He had shaggy black hair, matted with mud and blood, and pale skin under a complete layer of grime.
I looked around uncertainly, but there was no one else around but him. Though hesitant, I padded up to him and crouched down beside him.
“Mister?” I asked softly, prodding him on the shoulder.
He jumped, and his head flinging up and cracking against the solid wall behind him.
I gasped. “I’m so sorry! Are you alright?”
The man held the back of his head with his hands and looked up at me through watery eyes.
“I’m fine – I’m alright,” he said. “Just give me a moment.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you,” I said.
He chuckled, a dry scratchy noise in the back of his throat, as if he hadn’t laughed in a very long time.
“If I might ask, why are you here?” he asked, staring at me with his sunken brown eyes.
“Erm, I don’t know, actually,” I said. “I just remember falling asleep and then I’m here now. I guess I’m dreaming.”
“Doesn’t seem like a dream to me,” he said.
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“Sirius Black,” he said cautiously.
“Hmph,” I said, looking him up and down. “You don’t seem like a madman to me.” I finally sat down in front of him.
“What’s your name?” he asked me.
“I’m Lucille Black – actually, Lucille Lestrange, but I’d prefer it if you just remember me as Black,” I said quietly.
“So you’re Bella’s little girl?” Sirius Black raised in an eyebrow.
I sighed and nodded.
“I remember,” he said softly. “I overheard Narcissa and Lucius at Diagon Alley talking about it."
I nodded solemnly.
“So,” I said, glancing around. “How on earth did I end up here in my sleep?”
Sirius shrugged. “I haven’t the faintest idea.”
I stopped looking around and looked right at Sirius.
“Did you really kill them?” I asked. “All those Muggles?”
Sirius looked startled for a moment, then he looked angry.
“No,” he said fiercely. “I didn’t!”
I flinched away.
“I’m sorry!” I cried. “But do you know what it’s like? Knowing that almost the whole lot of your family are horrible, disgusting people? My entire life, I’ve been burdened with the thought of my parents being sick people, and I’d like to know that there are more than just three people in my family that aren’t completely terrible!”
Sirius stared at me for a long moment. There was something in his eyes, a familiarity to the things I had said, and I knew that he understood exactly what I was talking about.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to snap.”
I shrugged, not really caring at the moment.
“If you didn’t do it, then why are you here?” I asked.
“I was framed,” he told me. “A man that I believe was my friend betrayed me, and made everyone think that it was I that had betrayed him and my friends.”
“But didn’t they have some sort of trial or something? Then you would’ve been able to prove that you were innocent.”
He shook his head. “No, I wasn’t given any trial. I was just tossed in here like a sack of potatoes.”
“That isn’t right!” I exclaimed. “How could they do that?”
“The Ministry will do as the Ministry pleases,” he said.
“I promise I’ll help you!” I said.
Sirius laughed.
“I admire your kindness, but the word of an eleven-year-old will do no good – especially one whose kin to the Lestrange’s,” Sirius said sadly. “While I do wish to get out of here, I don’t want you to get into any trouble because of me.”
We were both silent for a moment before Sirius spoke again.
“Hogwarts?” he asked, regarding my blue-and-bronze jumper with a look of recognition.
I nodded.
“Ravenclaw,” I said.
He grinned.
“I was in Gryffindor,” he said.
I smiled.
“You, me, and Tonks,” I said. “The Misfits.”
Sirius laughed.
As I looked at him with admiration, I suddenly felt sleepy. I yawned, feeling myself begin to drift off.
I suddenly felt panicked. I didn’t want to leave Sirius. I reached out and grabbed his arm.
“I’ll being seeing you again, won’t I?” I asked, trying to hurry.
He shrugged.
“I hope so,” he said. “I do get lonely in here.”
“I promise I’ll come back,” I said.
Sirius smiled as I drifted into blackness.
I opened my eyes and was greeted with darkness. I sat up in my bed and looked around. I was back in my dorm, and I could hear the steady breathing of four other sleeping girls.
Lying back down, I thought about Sirius. He was kind and soft. I really did hope that my dreams would take me back to his cell in Azkaban.
I remembered how cold it was in Azkaban.
Poor Sirius, he has to live there, and endure all the coldness for a long time.
“That’s it!” I hissed, sitting straight up.
I grinned at my idea, and lay back down. Tomorrow, I would need to talk to the twins.