Chapter 15
SIRIUS BLACK
Sirius sat at the table, still and somber, and while usually he would spend his time at the table eating and taunting the Slytherins, now his eyes continued to linger on the seventh-year senior from Hufflepuff, Carina Dubov.
The brunette was a sort of recluse and hardly ever interacted with anyone beyond her House. Yet it was not her interaction with other Houses that intrigued him, but her interactions with one Ted Tonks, which piqued his interest.
Yet in the hour or so he had been watching her, the two had hardly glanced at one another. And even while passing by, they hardly ever spoke, in much contrast to how they had been just a few days ago.
But it had not been her, had it? It had been Andy in her place. Cold, Quiet, and Cruel Andromeda Tonks. Sister to one slightly mad, Bellatrix Black, talking and laughing with their generous and innocent Headboy.
"Will you stop staring at them?" James whispered from the side, breaking him out of his trance, and Sirius lowered his gaze, as his eyes slid towards the table of the Snakes, where his cousin sat quietly in a corner, busy with her meal.
Her face was calm and quiet as always, as Sirius wondered what the hell was going on behind those eyes. Both hers and Cissa's, who sat beside her sister?
He finally turned towards James as he whispered.
"This has to be a ploy," he stated, and James did not argue against his words. Why would he?
He was perhaps amongst the very few at the school who knew of his family's treachery, and just how cruel they could be?
"They are using them," and of all the things he had expected, he had never thought that his cousins would stoop so low as to plot against Alder and Ted like this.
"I don't know," James was doubtful.
"What?" Sirius asked as he saw Lily and McKinnon enter the Hall through the gate.
"I just cannot imagine Ted and Alder making a fool of themselves like this," and he had trouble believing that as well.
"They are boys," Sirius argued, but both of them were so unlike the rest of them that it was hard to fathom them falling for such cheap tricks.
"But look at that," James said, pointing towards the Hufflepuff table as Carina and Ted crossed paths, and two walked by one another like simple strangers, not offering the other even a single smile.
"That is what bothers me as well," for he had been observing them for days. All four of them, including Carina, Ted Tonks, Pandora, and Alder. During regular school hours, they behaved more or less as strangers, if not amicable colleagues, yet during the Club meetings, the two pairs could hardly stop smiling and laughing with one another.
"What if we are wrong?" James suggested as Lily and McKinnon settled down beside them.
"So, names?" McKinnon asked, and the brown haired girl was rather protective of Alder, who was still out on patrol, as Sirius thought about his answer.
"It's…"
"We are not sure yet," James cut in before he could answer, much to his surprise.
The two seemed surprised.
"But we saw you running out of the club yesterday," Lily was not one to miss things, as James smiled.
"We kind of lost them. But don't worry, we will have the names for you by next week," James assured them, and the two were doubtful, yet said nothing as they shrugged and stood up.
"Next week then," McKinnon agreed as they moved along, leaving them alone again.
"What was that?" he asked, as James's lips thinned.
"We need to be sure," the bespectacled boy answered, as Sirius raised a brow.
"We are sure. We saw their names on the map and then we saw them with our own eyes," and how could this get any more certain than that?
Andy and Cissa were posing as Carina Dubov and Pandora Lovegood to fool Ted and Alder. Why and how they were doing this did not matter.
"What if it's different?" James suggested, with some hesitation, and for some seconds, he could not fathom his words.
"What if they are like my Aunt and uncle?" and while they never spoke of it, the truth was that James and Sirius were cousins, and their families were joined through marriage.
The match had been one of the greatest controversies half a century ago, and had shaken up the Pure Blood society for years, as Charlus Potter and Dorea Black married one another despite objections from both their families.
Neither the Potters nor the Blacks accepted the match at first, and the couple was made persona non grata for years until the Potters finally warmed up to their estranged son, and later even the Blacks tried to mend ties, but it was simply too late.
"That was different," Sirius argued, for he knew his family. He knew them all.
Bigots. Blood purists. Cruel Monsters. That was what the Blacks were. Nothing more, and he could not imagine that Bellatrix's sisters were anything but that as well, especially given that his eldest cousin was said to be one of the Dark Lord's most zealous supporters.
Even at school, her devotion to the blood purist dogma was nearly unmatched, and Sirius was ever relieved not to see her again in these Halls.
"Not really," James argued, as he frowned.
"You remember that incident from earlier in the year," and upon seeing him drawing a blank, James continued.
"His fight with Lucius," and it dawned on him in an instant as his mind made the connection.
"What if there was more to it than what we were told?" James suggested, and Sirius could finally see some hope.
"And then the information about the ambush from the Slytherins. We still don't know how Ted learned about their plans," and he had not thought like that, but that all made much sense.
Still, as he thought about that, he saw Alder enter the room, and the blonde boy met with Ted as the two hugged each other at the door and immediately began talking with one another. Despite the difference in their age, Ted and Alder were close to one another and were much like him and James.
Still, as the two laughed, his eyes lingered towards the Slytherins at the back, and for a split second, he felt that he saw Andromeda and Narcissa looking in their direction, with a smile, before the two saw him and then schooled their expressions in an instant.
"What do we do then?" he asked, as James sighed.
"We talk to Alder. We are set to meet him on Saturday for the Animagus transformation," and that was another thing to worry about.
"We ask him directly, before speaking of it to Lily and McKinnon. Alder and Tonks have been good to us; we cannot just betray them like this," James added, and it was a sound enough plan.
"Saturday it is then," Sirius agreed as he bit into his toast, his appetite long satiated by the worry and intrigue, as Owls suddenly flooded the room with mail and paper.
One flew over them and dropped a copy of the Prophet in front of James, and swooped in for a piece of bacon.
"Hey!" James called out, but the white feathered owl was long gone, as it hooted mockingly at James before flying out the window, and a few students snickered at that.
"Bloody Diva!" James whispered, without any heat, as he opened up the paper, though his face shifted in an instant as he saw it.
"Bastards!" he cursed, as Sirius also gazed at the news, where a picture of a ruined house, marked by a distinct cloud formation, was featured on the front page, accompanied by a chilling headline.
~ANOTHER ATTACK IN STOKEOWRTH! FIVE DEAD AND A DOZEN WOUNDED!!~
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ALDER EVANS
The Marauders were one of the most rowdy and troublesome groups in the school, yet the teachers were lenient on them for one reason and one reason only.
Troublesome as they were, you would hardly ever find students more brilliant than the four of them. Yes, they were no prodigies like Albus Dumbledore, or even himself, but Dumbledore had grown up in an entirely different time, and his skills had been forged because of his friendship and rivalry with another genius of his kind—Grindelwald.
As for himself, unlike the rest of them, Elder had been working on his powers for decades, and though he had only ever gotten his wand at eleven, he had long learned to manipulate the world around him through his magic.
He worked with purpose and discipline, which was hard to instill in eleven-year-olds.
"You have done well," and he was genuinely impressed by their work. The animagus transformation was not simple. There was a reason that they had so few of them, but it was also not so difficult that one had to fear it as everyone else did.
Wizards and witches were lazy. It was something that he had understood after a few years, for magic was taught to them like a curriculum, which was not entirely wrong, given that the purpose of a school was to prepare one for a job, or a career.
But magic was more than that. It was magic. It was a miracle made possible, and few witches and wizards ever gave it the time and attention needed to treat it as the miracle that it was, and those who did—well, they became Albus Dumbledore, Gellert Grindelwald, and Voldemort.
"Of course it is," James added as they sat in the club room, again as he looked at their work.
"You may have forgotten it, but our James here is pretty handy at Transfiguration," and he truly was rather good.
"I helped," added Peter, as they completed the initial steps.
"So, now we just need to instill your animagus form into the mandrake leaf and then brew the potion," and the trio groaned at that, as he took out four leaves, which had been rather costly to source.
"You found the leaves," Sirius asked in surprise as he looked at the jar he had taken out of his pocket.
"Yes," and he put it to the side.
"So, the texts say that you can keep the leaf in your mouth for only a week. So, you have to become intuned with your animal form in that time," and then you would need to brew the potion using that leaf and undergo the transformation.
"And what is our animal form?" asked Peter, and he eyed the plump little boy, wondering about his true loyalties as he answered, with a narrowed gaze.
"You will need to meditate for that. I have a hunch, but I don't want to corrupt the procedure," and so he lifted the jar and offered them all a leaf.
They took it and placed it on their palates, as he did the same. It was a strange sensation, but one he would have to bear for a week at least if he was to become an animagus.
"I had thought that this would take us a year," added Pettigrew with a chuckle, before turning towards him.
"But with you here, we are just a few weeks away from becoming animagi," and the trio all chuckled at those words as Alder shrugged.
"Well, I should have expected nothing less. No wonder you were able to defeat those six Snakes so easily," and the mood changed in an instant.
"I kind of lost," Alder disagreed, but that was going to change. Definitely.
Pettigrew chimed in, much to his surprise.
"They cheated. But we all saw how beat up they were. Still, it was lucky that Tonks learned about the attack, though he never told us who informed him about it," and that was a rather inquisitive question, and the two boys besides Pettigrew joined in as well, much to his surprise.
"Yes, it was rather lucky," James added, and Sirius.
"Who leaked the news to Tonks? Do you have any idea?" and perhaps he could use it as a test.
"Yes," he began, with the truth, though not before adding a half lie.
"It was one of his housemates. Carina, she overheard them talking about the attack," and Pettigrew.
"Oh," and he saw James and Sirius look at each other, words unsaid, yet they spoke to each other through their gaze.
"Are you certain that it was her?" Sirius asked, and he lied.
"Yes," and then the matter fizzled out until they were about to leave. As he was about to leave, Sirius called out to him.
"Hey, Alder," he said, and he saw the black-haired boy run towards him.
"Can I have a minute?" he asked, as James strategically dragged away Peter, and Alder nodded.
"Sure," and with that, they moved to the side, as Sirius hesitated before speaking up.
"Do you know who Carina Dubov and Pandora are?" and that was a strange question.
"Yes," he answered, though he had not quite phrased it right, had he.
"But you are not speaking of the actual Carina Dubov and Pandora, are you?" Alder asked, as Sirius nodded.
"Yes," Sirius agreed.
"You want to ask if I know who exactly is pretending to be the two of them for the club," and he nodded, this time a bit more subdued.
"Then yes, I do," and he blinked owlishly at that.
"You do," and he nodded.
"Then you know that they are…."
"Andromeda and Narcissa, your cousins," and there was some relief in his eyes, as his shoulders sagged.
"Did McKinnon put you up to this?" he asked, and his face was answer enough.
"Her and Lily," and he was going to have words with them.
"I will need to talk with those two about privacy," not that it would go anywhere.
"Still, you need not worry about them. You and your cousins are more alike than you would think. Don't judge them because of their name and sister," he offered as he saw his complicated expression, and if he had learned about them, he might as well give the boy another hint.
"And if you have already seen their names on the map, I suggest you look through all the names during the next session," and those grey eyes narrowed at his words.
"You might find a few more names that might surprise you…."
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