The Birth of a Star
Pandora wasn't fond of divination class. Not for the class itself, the teacher, Professor Trelawney was nice, her energy was a little jittery, but her aura was comforting, an odd mossy brown colour that one didn't get to see often, still, you could see she had the gift, Pandora thought maybe that's what made her so jittery. It was there, and it was powerful, but she was too afraid of what it could mean for her. All in all, Pandora had enjoyed her classes so far. It was then, the energy of the classroom that bothered her. The quantity of crystal balls and tarot cards there were all trying to connect to somewhere and someone willing to listen, the spirits wandered too often though, and it was very noisy with all the energy that was moving around.
Not that day though.
Not Regulus, not Barty and not Evan were in class with her. They all thought divination was not worth their time, they respected Pandora's gift, always, but they didn't have the gift, so it was ultimately useless for them to invest their efforts there.
No one really had much of a gift in the classroom, a Hufflepuff girl had the sight, but it was dormant and would probably just awake when she grew old, and a boy in Ravenclaw had a little of the gift for prophecy but his mind caught too much attention to listen to it.
Pandora listened and tried to keep herself grounded in the crystal ball in front of her. The classroom was awfully quiet, an eerie quiet Pandora knew only when it was dark and she was alone. Professor Trelawney passed around cups of tea, spilling the tea all through the classroom as she did. Her wand hand was quite shaky. Surely she could hear the silence too.
"Now that everyone's paired up." The professor turned to the blackboard behind her, it had nothing but the drawing of a teacup, she explained the basics, and from Pandora's perspective it wasn't really worth it when she passed around books akin to dictionaries for reading tea-leaves, you could exercise your sight if you didn't have to use it. She gently turned down the book that flew her way. Opposite to her sat Draco Malfoy. Troubled boy, his aura was faint, closed off, really quite defined edge, it couldn't be good for him, Pandora figured. You could tell a lot about someone from their aura, and clearly, Draco didn't want anyone near his or himself, Pandora did enjoy a challenge though, however much she was attuned to nature and a firm believer in that everything had a way to sort itself out in due time.
Draco drank from his teacup, holding it with both his hands as instructed, making on and off eye contact with Pandora. There was someone he reminded her of, she couldn't very well place it. Maybe he'd been on a vision she had, but she doubted that since the now-present was kept from her before traveling and she hadn't had visions since. Which was a much needed break. Getting her bearings back after the series of visions she had on her friend's fate had taken a toll, she'd been out of it for weeks, only just getting back on her feet, she kept misunderstanding the energy around her, having odd hunches that led nowhere and spontaneous smells and lights kept distracting her. But she was on her feet again, undisturbed and used to the energy the air carried again.
The blond boy in front of her put the cup on the table. Two other Slytherin boys kept glancing over to their table, more on Draco than herself, which was a relief, because Draco's eyes were placed on her own and they were piercing, a heavy gaze to feel upon yourself.
"You're not as complicated as I expected." Pandora took only a single look at the cup and it made sense. She went into a sort of trance, looking at the leaves on the bottom of the cup, it was a simple scene, a baby bird flying to its nest, where two parent birds stood in a proud branch looking at the horizon. "You're just trying to get your parents to look at you, aren't you?"
She felt something twitch. A shift in the energy, it wasn't silent anymore, it was the smell of gunpowder anticipating a match, and Professor Trelawney out her hand on her shoulder. Flames.
The dark lord shall seek the oracle.
The blindness lifted.
The way cleared by the star.
The wise man will have failed.
The dog walks down the gallows.
THE STAR WILL LEAD TO THE HOLLOWS.
"Water!" Pandora reached, violently, urgently, "Something," her throat was dry, she needed something, anything!
She shuffled around to find a cup of tea that was sitting abandoned by the professors desk and swallowed as much before she felt her hand twitch. Everyone gathered around her. There was a cracking sound and a sharp pain.
She looked down to find the cup had shattered between her hands, she was bleeding.
The broken shards of the teacup laid before her feet. And she felt one single drop of blood fall into the biggest shard into the cursed shape of a star.
Whoever knew that Sirius Black fancied Remus Lupin before he did and said nothing to him was the lowest of scum. How could Sirius ever forgive such an offense? Lady fate had to be the cruellest of mistresses to have kept him from Remus for so long. And crueler even to not let him have him every day, every night, every moment.
His amber eyes, undressing him in the common room with nothing but a bite on his lip. He didn't even have to touch Sirius for him to feel the bliss. Cruel were the hours left until the party took place so he could get his hands all over Remus again.
And even crueler was Mary, again, who tore them apart with the sweet promise of booze.
"Off you pop Blacky." She tapped his shoulder breaking him away from the sinful stare of his lover. The hungry gaze of the wolf.
"Watch it Old McDonald, only I get to call him that." Alexander popped out of nowhere, as he did, already inside the Gryffindor common room.
"How'd you even get in here? Haven't they changed the passcode in the last thirty years?" Literally how, no one had come in before Sirius himself and Remus and James and Pete.
"Isn't the Fat Lady there to keep the non-Gryffindor's out?" Peter pointed at the door behind them.
"First of all her name is Martha." Alexander said very matter-of-fact, "And second of all," he fixed his imaginary glasses, "I promised to change the portrait of Galwin the Scorching next to hers. And you know why they call him Galwin the Scorching, right?"
"Because he's hot?" Peter rolled his eyes.
"Because he's hot." Alexander nodded, licking his lips.
"I can't tell you how I would ride that man then let him ride me girls," Mary made those mmhm noises Sirius was vaguely familiar with--dark times.
"Who's girls supposed to be?" James asked her.
"The lot of you," Mary said almost offended at the question, "like half of you like dick and Sirius uses enough make up for the five of you, Alexander pains his nails, Remus hates ABBA in public like a pick me and has fags for breakfast, well, him and Alex have fags for breakfast, and you just want to talk about feeling, so like you may not have a fanny but you're honorary girls alright."
"Having fags for breakfast is girly?" James was more taken aback by that.
"You didn't know?" Marlene and Dorcas were walking down the stairs from the girls' dorms. "There's always a fag smoking sesh before breakfast."
"Cigarette fag, not fag fag." Dorcas added to her girlfriend's words, who had her arm wrapped around her, they were so close to each other that it only reminded Sirius of how far he was from Moony. And he jumped over clung to his back like a spider.
"You never knew?" Alexander turned to him, "We've been having them for years now, Sirius and Remus always come if they're not having the other kind of fag sesh, they live with you."
"Can I come to them?" James smiled with the innocence of a six-year-old.
"No." Marlene pursed her lips, "Sorry cap, smokers only."
"Then I'll start smoking."
"I'd love to see you try." Lily was currently hiding a packet of cigarettes between her belt and her skirt. It was the one nasty habit Lily allowed herself, talked about it often, how it was a terrible habit, often as she lit a fag. James would find it so hot how she drifted off and started doing smoke rings. But the idea of James smoking was so funny, Sirius recalled every time he'd tried it at parties or so he coughed like he was having an attack and then wanted to puke from the smell. It was always a hilarious sight to catch.
"Tomorrow we'll be hungover, but you're invited to the next one so you can try smoking James." Mary was almost chuckling to herself. "Want in Peter?"
"Thanks for the invite but I don't do nicotine." He replied. "More of the greenhouse smoker." Right, that's where he went when Sirius and Mooney were fucking in their dorm then. Made a lot of sense.
"I'll take an invite to that one though." Dorcas plopped down into the couch, "if they're open, obviously."
"Well, I'd have to check if my secret hallway garden is still alive, but we'll do."
"YOUR WHAT?" A secret hallway Sirius hadn't head of before? That was news, he was sure him and Mooney had found and used every secret place in Hogwarts.
"The Secret Herbology Hallway?" Peter said, everyone blinked a few times, utterly confused. "It was part of the old greenhouse? Down by the Herbology classroom? Where I get all the plants and ingredients for the pranks?"
"This conversation has been quite illuminating." Sirius was taken aback by himself, huh, who knew Peter kept such secrets.
"Anyways. We ought to go fetch some booze." Alexander pried Sirius away from his Mooney. "Meet you all at the underground harbour. Lily you've--"
"Right here." She flashed open her robe to show about six packets of fags around it below her sweater.
"Off we pop then, Old McDonald." Sirius waved her as they left the common room.
"Stop right there!" Their mission had taken a bit of a turn south. But it started a few moments before that.
"Shut up Blacky." Alexander elbowed him, his hands busy with four bottles of firewhiskey each, charmed into becoming the size of keychains. Also had a stash full of them in his tousseurs pockets, and his robe's pockets. Enough firewhisky to kill a giant, enough Moonbeam Mead to intoxicate a dragon and enough Dragon's Breathrum to bring it back to life. They also managed to snatch a few bottles of Polyjuice Punch (a fun thing they seemed to have invented the time they were gone, like polyjuice but for drunks, it changed your taste buds to taste things differently, and anything that could make Breathrum not taske like smoke was a win for Alexander).
Sirius was in the exact same compromising position. "Hey! We're going to get caught like that, Wildy." He elbowed back, it was like listening to wind chimes fighting.
"I'm not the one making fun of my lack of action."
"So you're admitting to no bitches?"
"You're calling Remus a bitch?"
"I would never!"
"Well, well, well..." One nasty saccharine voice approached from the darkness of the hallway. "... who do we have here."
Neither could reach for their wand without sacrificing six bottles of firewhisky, too great a sacrifice.
"Umbitch!" Alexander uttered.
"Run." Sirius looked with the utmost urgency at Alexander. Then Sirius thought really loudly "MEET BEHIND THE BANSHEE PAINTING." And then said aloud "To the secret snake passageway!"
Now we're back "Stop right there!" The witch reached for her wand.
Alexander's heart started hammering in his chest, Sirius ran to the opposite side--blessed fucking maze of a castle!-- A spell hit the space between the two of them.
"Stop this! Detention!" She was pacing forward. Her voice scratched an itch in Alexander's brain and a laugh escaped as he turned to the dark passageways of the castle. At least she couldn't catch both of them. But she was chasing Alexander now.
He turned a corner, that hideous dragon garden tapestry was hanging just right for him to step back and...
Alexander stopped. He was behind the tapestry, obscured. Took a breath in, held it, out.
The steps of the witch grew closer.
In. Hold. Out.
Closer.
His mind was rising above himself, and...
Closer.
She was in front of him.
In. Hold. Inside.
Legilimancy was more complicated than most forms of magic in the way that you are going inside someone's mind. And that is complicated, because it is not a physical space. A truly gifted legilimaj could sort of conjure up a mind space to go inside and actually move around in it. The tricky part was that the space wasn't dependent on the one penetrating the mind, but on the one whose mind is being penetrated. The trickier part was getting in and out without leaving the bridge between minds open so they could wonder in yours.
Umbridge's mindspace took the shape of a mansion. Tall and towering, and threatening and pink.
Not once had Alexander seen so much pink in one place.
Not even when they dyed the castle pink (it was still pink, but already fading away, sadly).
He stepped through the garden, pink roses everywhere, at least the grass wasn't pink. It was already too much of a Lewis Carroll nightmare. The tall doors were open, after all, he'd caught her off guard enough. And right there in the foyer was conveniently placed her view of the present.
A series of doors were shut close all around, the room was seemingly locked, even the stairs upstairs were locked. Cheap locks, it wouldn't take much to go further, and it was tempting. To know all the dark secrets Dolores Umbridge hid, the ins and outs of her mind. Her childhood and her hopes, conveniently unguarded. His for the taking. A few more steps, a few more moments.
But no. Not right now.
He saw two cloaked figured running around in the foyer, and a faint glow outline of Umbridge chasing after them. It was awfully straightforward most of the time how minds perceived of the present.
Alexander just had to keep close enough to the door to leave as soon as he rid Umbridge's mind of the thought that he's chasing after someone. He knew at least, that she didn't know it was himself and Sirius, which let him relax enough to hold up his wand to the cloaked figures and snapped with his other hand. The figure she was not looking at faded into the shadows at the edge of the room, and when she looked at the empty spot--the mind is awfully good at noticing absence. He did the next one. And just as she turned to that second empty space Alexander turned and bolted.
Out.
He heard a sound of confusion from the opposite side of the tapestry, awfully, horribly close to him. "Whatever was I doing? I was certain there was someone around..."
He held his breath. Dust and moist were trapped behind the tapestry with him and wanted him out.
But the clicks of Umbridge's shoes walked away quickly enough.
The stroll down the dark corridors of Hogwarts, the sound of bottles clinking and the moonlight on the still pink glasses of the transfiguration courtyard was lovely. A breath of fresh air after the ugly sight of Umbridge's mind. And enough for Alexander to push down the urge to go back there to pry open the doors around her foyer.
Sirius was crouching behind the Banshee Painting, godawful sight, but the space behind was quite useful for... well for whoever needed privacy.
"Close one Blacky?"
"Not a drop lost." Sirius climbed out. "Happy days." He wrapped his arm around Alexander's shoulder, and he reciprocated.
"Missed those..."
"Well, we'll have to use every excuse to have one though, war looming and everything."
"Can't believe you're the same Sirius who said you wanted to be split in two by Remus forty five minutes ago."
"I'll elbow you again!"
"As long as you don't split me in two!"
And they raced after each other again, down the hall, with their loud laughs echoing though the castle with no awareness it was the exact thing that just thirty minutes prior made Umbridge find them.