tya's whimsies

Haron was staring at the Daily Prophet with intensity.

“What’s so fascinating about... um,” she squinted to read the article’s headline, “Lord Black coming back to Britain?” asked Su-a Li, one of the few friends he made in Ravenclaw.

Her and Padma Patil were the only people he cared to speak to in his year, and they only really talked in class, at lunchtimes or in the quiet evenings in the common room. He spent the rest of his time buried in books, reading everything he could get his hands on and practising the spells he read about. They didn’t begrudge him that, aware of his introverted nature. They just sat down next to him and chatted between themselves or partook in their own respective hobbies – magical painting for Su-a and potions theory for Padma. Sometimes they’d convince him to let them use him as a dress-up doll, putting jewellery, make-up and extravagant magically altered clothes on him to their heart’s delight, as if he were a mannequin. He enjoyed it, though he preferred wearing simple, soft fabrics without patterns.

They were sitting in a plush pastel blue rug littered with bronze pillows in one of the common rooms’ many private alcoves, close to Haron’s favourite’s bookshelf. Its contents changed depending on what the student standing in front of it was most curious about that day. At the moment, it was filled with books on Defence Against the Dark Arts.

“Call it Albion,” said Padma with an exasperated eye roll.

It was a reoccurring argument; Su-a was Korean and only moved in here with her family for business, while the Patils were an established British family despite some people assuming otherwise due to their Indian roots. As such, Su-a had a similar position of outsider as Haron did, and often vied to remind them of it.

“I will not. You call yourself British wizards, don’t you? Not Albionian, or however it was pronounced before. You spend too much time with Slytherins, Padma.”

“Excuse you, they have the best gossip,” she defended.

“Nuh-uh, Haron has the best gossip. When he actually cares to share.”

“That’s because no one notices he’s there when they get up to weird stuff. Which I don’t get at all,” she muttered under her breath, “how can they not notice you? You’re so pretty.”

“Padma! You know Haron’s weird about compliments.”

They both turned to him, and faltered when they realised he wasn’t hiding his face as usual.

“Are you okay? What is it about Sirius Black that has you all tangled up?” asked Su-a, concerned.

“I -- er.”

He watched his two friends, biting his lip.

He had never told them of his circumstances. They knew he was a half-blood, and that he lived alone. They didn’t pry, despite how unsubtle they were about wanting to know. The only one who knew was Luna, their little underclassman who knew everything despite no one ever telling her.

“You can tell us,” encouraged Su-a.

“We’ll swear a Secrecy Vow if you want,” suggested Padma.

Haron blinked. “You would?”

“Duh. Of course. You’re our best friend.”

Su-a nodded with a bright smile.

His eyes pricked. He blinked rapidly. The tears didn’t fall.

“Right.” He shook his head. “You don’t need to. I trust you. Right.”

“You already said that,” teased Padma.

He chuckled and shushed her. “It’s hard enough as it is, don’t distract me. Um, Haron Pierce is not my real name.”

Their eyes widened.

“You guys assumed I was an orphan, and for a very long time I thought so too.”

He took a deep breath and told them everything. The Potters’ lie. Charlie being his younger twin. The trust vault key. His fear of contacting Sirius Black, of reaching out only to be possibly rejected by another parent, one who could make his life very difficult. If he decided to cut him off, Haron would have nothing. He even briefly mentioned the Dursleys, as difficult as that was for him.

“I promised myself I would write him after I turn seventeen and find out if he knew I was alive.” He shrugged. “By then he wouldn’t be able to do anything to me.”

“I can’t believe this,” spat Su-a.

Haron recoiled. She made a sound of protest.

“Not you, Haron, the Potters! I can’t believe they abandoned you and didn’t even check on you, what is wrong with them? That’s so messed up, aish. I’m so angry.”

“Is that why you never let your hair grow?” asked Padma, tilting her head and narrowing her eyes, examining him in a new light. She was likely trying to find similarities between him and his estranged twin.

“Priorities, honey, priorities.”

“Right, right, sorry. Obviously your parents are dickheads, but like, still.”

He smiled hesitantly. “Yeah. Charlie and I are fraternal twins, but the Potter hair is pretty distinctive, I didn’t want people to notice.”

“That makes sense,” hummed Su-a. “Do you think he knows about you? Or has he been mourning you this entire time and no one in the family told him?”

He wrapped his arms around his middle. “I don’t know. I’ve... wondered.”

“But you couldn’t ask him in case he tattled to his parents” guessed Su-a.

He looked down at the picture of Sirius Black in the prophet, dressed in a fancy version of the famous black and red Durmstrang uniform.

“I am still not over the fact that we didn’t notice the resemblance,” mused Padma. “Your eyes are the same colour and you have the same nose. I mean, he’s taller and has broader shoulders. His jaw is squarer, I guess. You're more angular and he’s... well, a Quidditch chaser. Much better at it than Seeker too, the Gryffindors must be thanking Merlin for Ginny Weasley.”

Probably the malnutrition, he thought with a wry smile. He could count his ribs during his first year at Hogwarts. It took a long time for him to get back to a healthy weight. Brewing nutrition potions was a trial and error, but he managed pretty well. He thanked the stars for the brewing room in Ravenclaw Tower. He was pretty sure only Slytherin House also had one, and the students couldn’t use it without Professor Snape’s approval. The eagles only needed a prefect to supervise, and Haron often had Robert Hilliard’s help while the prefect was still at Hogwarts. The young man still wrote him, though he was now apprenticed with a wandmaker.

“You’re prettier,” decided Padma, which prompted a laugh from the other two.

“Does that matter?” he asked with a lopsided grin.

“Well, yes, you’re smarter and prettier, so you’re obviously the superior twin, like me.”

“He’s literally the Saviour of Wizarding Britain!” he protested with a chuckle.

“It’s called Albion! You two, I swear.”

Su-a and Haron exchanged a smirk. They were doing it on purpose to rile their friend up at this point.

“But more seriously, I think you should talk to Sirius Black when he gets there, see if he recognises you,” said Su-a.

Haron bit his lip. “How would he? The last time we saw each other, I was a baby.”

“If he swore a Guardian’s Oath he’ll feel your magic from across the castle. It fell out of fashion for godparents to do it, but the Blacks are traditional, he might have. And if he hasn’t...” Padma shrugged. “You can always feel him out and see if he’s trustworthy.”

“But if he’s not...”

“If he’s not I’ll adopt you. Haron Patil, how does that sound? I’ll trade you for Parvati! Charlie can keep her.”

He pressed his lips together to stop himself from laughing. Su-a had no such compunction.

Padma and Parvati had a strange relationship; sometimes they got along amazingly well and other times they were like cats and dogs, bickering over the smallest things.

Padma crawled closer to Haron and placed a manicured hand on his arm. Her painted nails shifted from yellow to green.

“I’m serious, you know. If I ask, Amma and Appa will take you in as a Ward of our House.” She smiled cheekily. “Supporting the brightest wizard of our year is not a hardship, you know.”

Haron levitated a pillow and hit her with it. “Don’t call me that! It’s not even true.”

The girl made an offended noise. She pulled out her wand.

“You hit me, I hit you back, I swear.”

And proceeded to do just that.

***

“Professor Snape is in a foul mood,” murmured Su-a as she stirred their cauldron. “Do you think he hates Lord Black as much as he does your fa... I mean, Lord Potter?” she amended when she saw Haron’s warning look.

They always paired together in Potions, since Padma usually wanted to challenge herself by experimenting with the potion’s properties and they were not talented enough to keep up with her. Haron could follow the instructions well enough, but his potions were not exceptional. He compensated by following recipes to the letter, but he’d never reached Padma’s level of artistry. Su-a was the same, though her lack of interest in the subject and her impatience to finish made her slightly worse at it.

He had Robert Hilliard to thank for his obsession with keeping his grades up. When he hadn’t yet befriended the two girls he spent his time with – which happened in their second year, when Haron was quietly freaking out over the possibility of Hogwarts’ closure due to the petrifications. The hand they extended to him couldn’t have come at a better time, weird as their first proper conversation was – the only person he interacted with was the prefect. His roommates didn’t have the patience for his ignorance of both muggle and wizard games and for his skittishness, so he took refuge in the alcove he now shared with his best friends.

Rob used to sit with him there and help him with his homework, explaining concepts in a way that made them fun to learn rather than a chore. He patiently answered questions and never minded when Haron came back for more, desperate for positive human interaction. Rob asked him what he wanted to do later, and Haron then realised that everything he was interested in would require an immaculate student file. So he studied.

(Rob led him to realise he had a future, and he was oh so grateful for it. Padma and Su-a made him realise magic was an art as much as a tool, and Luna taught him to see something wondrous in human interactions too.

He wouldn’t trade Ravenclaw for the world.)

“Probably,” he whispered, “or maybe he’s not happy about having even more students in the castle. You know he does not suffer fools,” he added with an imitation of their professor’s haughtiest voice. Su-a snorted. “I heard he’s especially mean to Charlie,” he said after they were a few steps further into the preparation.

“Probably because your brother’s a prat,” sniffed his friend. “I mean he’s mellowed out a bit since he’s befriended Hermione--”

Haron wrinkled his nose at the name. Hermione Granger never talked to him, but he always saw her watching every time they had classes together. He didn’t know what her problem was; she was first in the year rankings and he only beat her in DADA, Charms, Ancient Runes and Transfiguration. He wasn’t even the only one: if he remembered right, Padma, Draco Malfoy and Theodore Nott beat her in Potions, Ernie McMillan did it in History of Magic, Neville Longbottom in Herbology, Charlie, Malfoy, Blaise Zabini, Susan Bones also beat her in DADA, and Theodore Nott in Ancient Runes.

He didn’t mind before, but she had befriended his brother last year somehow; as far as he was aware, it hadn’t started well between the two of them. Charlie’s friends Ron, Seamus and Dean had kind of bullied her in first year and that had ended in her being in the path of the troll professor Quirrell had set loose into the castle. The thing broke her arm in two places and the boys arrived only fast enough to stop it from killing her. Then Seamus made a joke about it she didn’t appreciate, and everyone had waited for her to announce she was dropping out of Hogwarts, but she had persevered. Something must have happened in third year because she was taking every possible class and snapping at everyone and their mother. Charlie helped her somehow and now they studied together, though she always avoided the rest of his friend group.

Haron thought his brother could use more friends who didn’t approach him for his status, but he wished he hadn’t chosen the girl who stared at him so blatantly at every class. If his twin could remain oblivious to his existence until he graduated Hogwarts, that would be nice.

“-- but he’s still really full of himself. I don’t understand how he can walk through doors with such an inflated head.”

Haron grinned.

“You’re so mean. Not wrong though,” he muttered under his breath.

They finished their potion in silence, all too aware of the volatile temper of their professor. Snape used to freak Haron out with the way he stared a little too hard at his eyes, which he apparently inherited from his mother. He stopped after a while, and it became easier to breathe around the man. Now Snape treated like any other Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff students, which meant he largely didn’t cared about them unless they annoyed him, in which case he would make their life hell, or they demonstrated some kind of talent at Potions, in which case he gave them extra work. Padma loved it.

“I still don’t understand what Lord Black is doing at Durmstrang,” she said when they left the room sometime later. It was the last class of the day. The students from other schools would be arriving soon, along with the faculty members accompanying them. Haron was as excited as he was anxious about it.

“He’s the one who got their old headmaster fired,” replied Haron. “You know, Igor or Ivan Karkaroff? Can’t remember which one’s his first name.”

“It’s Igor,” said Padma when she joined them.

“Right. Lord Black’s been doing a lot of work with the ICW. From what I understand he’s partnering with them and using the Black family pedigree to root out corruption in the influential international families. Normally Karkaroff wouldn’t have been on his radar, but he had dealings with an asshole who ran a creature trafficking ring. I’m not sure why he thought staying at Durmstrang was worth it, but it’s probably related." He paused. "It could also have to do with the attack at the Quidditch World Cup.”

Maybe the reappearance of Death Eaters was enough to prompt his return, he thought. Haron couldn’t imagine his godfather liked those assholes very much, and seeing them back was worrying enough for the wider community of Albion.

“Huh, so you’ve been keeping track of him,” commented Su-a. “I wondered, since I’ve never seen you pay special attention to his name.”

“All the news related to him have to do with international relations, I guess we just assumed you were interested in politics,” reflected Padma. “I didn’t ask since that’s more Parvati’s thing. She’s the oldest, she’ll deal with the House politics. Ah, I remember you even had a whole debate with her about the Statute of Secrecy last year!”

Haron grinned. “Your sister’s great to argue with.”

He was about to say more when one of the fifth-year prefects stirred them towards where the other students were waiting for the foreign exchanges.

The sun set when Beauxbatons arrived.

“Our uniforms match theirs,” commented Su-a.

“I like our royal blue better,” said Padma, “and that is not practical for the Scottish weather.”

Haron nodded. “Why don’t they use warming charms? They’re all shivering.”

Someone must have heard him, because the French students turned towards them, as if to see who had spoken. A blond girl was the first to take out her wand and cast the charm on herself; the others followed suit, though not without throwing her a dirty look.

“That was... odd,” murmured Padma. “And does she have veela blood? I feel... strange, when I look at her.”

Haron looked at her askance. “I don’t feel anything.”

“That’s because you’re not attracted to women, honey. I saw you looking at Diggory.”

"Hush, Cho will hear you and she’ll start harassing him too. Poor Luna was unlucky enough to be his neighbour, and the crazy girl started a whole bullying campaign against our baby bird,” protested Su-a.

Haron’s eyes widened.

They’d caused some strife between themselves and Cho Chang’s group of friends by protecting Luna the year before. They hadn’t noticed the tiny Ravenclaw during the Chamber of Secrets debacle – Harry was too stressed about the school potentially closing, and Su-a and Padma too busy trying to coax him into a friendship -- but seeing her barefoot and looking for her stolen things in the corridors broke their heart. One time was enough for them to take her defence, and Rob helped make sure it didn’t happen again. Now that he was gone, Cho eyed Luna speculatively more than once, but Su-a got fed up after a few days and told her something that made her stop. Now Harry could guess she threatened the Scottish Chinese girl into shutting up by threatening to tell Diggory.

“I thought it was because Luna was... odd.”

“Well, that too, but usually only people in her year would care about that. It’s very out of character for upperclassmen to go to such lengths to bully someone two years their junior,” explained Padma.

“They don’t? The kids at my primary school didn’t care about that.”

Padma sighed. “Your childhood was so sad, Haron. It’s a wizard thing. Magic’s an equaliser: we expect people to be able to fight back, so it’s seen as a faux pas to attack people who know much less magic than you. You don’t see Malfoy going after firsties, do you?”

Su-a nodded. “It’s gauche, or something. I wish they understood it’s cringe to bully people in the first place but you know, small steps.”

“You know, I used to think Cho was pretty,” sighed Haron.

“Did you? I thought you only liked boys,” exclaimed Padma.

“No, I’m pretty sure it’s both. I think I’m not affected because the attraction I feel is more... aesthetic, than erotic, if that makes sense. Ah, Durmstrang’s there.”

Haron watched the derelict sailing ship emerge from the water.

“They sure know how to make an entrance,” he commented. “Hagrid would probably have tried to tame dragons if we’d had to do the same,” he added after a beat. Haron didn’t take Care of Magical Creatures, Rob had advised him to choose more practical subjects, but he had heard about the professor’s unique approach to teaching from Su-a, who took the elective.

It made the girls laugh, as well as some people around them.

“Don’t give him ideas,” chided Su-a, theatrically shivering. It drew a smile from him, though it quickly faded when Haron spotted the man with long black hair and piercing silver eyes standing next to Damyan Zmeyov, Durmstrang’s new Headmaster, and Viktor Krum, the famous Quidditch star.

He was a striking man, with high cheekbones, deep-set eyes, and strong, well-defined eyebrows. He exchanged words with the Headmistress of Beauxbatons, smiling and laughing as he did so, then regarded the Headmaster of Hogwarts with detachment. He offered a polite greeting, and nothing more.

Haron stepped forward to hear better.

“It has been a long time, my boy,” said Albus Dumbledore with an affable smile. “It is delightful to have you at Hogwarts once more.”

“Is it?” the man asked wryly.

He said something else, but Haron couldn’t hear. He discretely pulled out his wand and murmured the eavesdropping spell he had found in the library the year before. The voices distorted until it felt like the people speaking were standing right next to him. As the spell worked, Sirius Black’s eyes widened, and he pressed a hand to his core, as if to soothe an ache he hadn’t yet noticed. He raised his gaze sharply and scanned the crowd. Dumbledore followed his gaze, but neither of them noticed anything. When the man noticed the headmaster looking, his eyes snapped back to him. He acted as if nothing happened.

“The Oath,” murmured Su-a. “He felt the Oath, but he didn’t recognise what it was!”

“We can’t be sure,” hissed Padma. “It might not have been... we need to be sure.”

“I wonder what prompts such a warm response, Headmaster. As I recall, we did not part on the best of terms.”

“Ah, but I do believe time heals old wounds. Or you would not be here today, my boy.”

“Lord Black,” said Headmaster Zmeyov sharply.

Damyan Zmeyov was much younger than his counterpart; and sharp in every way. He was not especially tall but moved with such presence to him that he seemed to tower over others. His short white hair contrasted greatly with the abyssal black of his eyes, his impassible face only softened by the smattering of freckles on his nose. His attire matched Lord Black’s, though the red embroidery was more prominent on his robes than on Haron’s godfather’s.

“Pardon?”

“Address him as his proper title, Headmaster Dumbledore. He is here as a representative of my school, I would have him treated with the respect he is due.”

“And what is his position within your establishment, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“He is my chief education adviser, of course, in charge of drafting Durmstrang’s education reforms and guiding our promising students towards their desired future. Haven’t you heard? One of his notable accomplishments of this year has been to open Durmstrang’s door to muggle-born students. How long has this been since Hogwarts has seen progress, I wonder?”

Sirius Black smirked at that.

Madame Maxime watched it happen with fascination, along with all the students witnessing the confrontation. Dumbledore looked beffudled, but he soon recollected himself.

“I... see. My apologies, Lord Black. And I hope looking once more at the school that hosted you during your formative years will give you inspiration in your work. I sure hope you won’t judge this dear old castle too harshly.”

“Apologies accepted, Headmaster. I would hate to start a fight on the first day, though do keep in mind that some wounds cannot be healed and this is one of them, I’m afraid. And do not worry, my opinion of this school and the people will stay much of the same, I am sure.”

The tone implied pretty clearly said opinion wasn’t very high in the first place.

Haron was fascinated. He didn’t know what Headmaster Dumbledore had done to earn himself Sirius Black’s ire but seeing them interact raised so many questions he desperately wanted answers to. Was Dumbledore involved in whatever had led Sirius Black to leave Britain when he woke up from his coma?

“Use another spell, Haron,” ordered Padma after staring back and forth between him and his godfather.

He nodded sharply, then took a deep breath. He bit his lip before muttering, "Lumos". He dimmed the light so as to not attract attention and watched avidly for a movement. Sure enough, Lord Black’s fingers twitched, as if he wanted to bring them once again to his sternum. He scanned the crowd once again. His eyes lingered on Charlie Potter’s face, who had visibly gotten bored of scowling at the man and gone back to staring at Viktor Krum and the possibly veela-blood girl alternatively, but he dismissed him just as fast.

Su-a pushed him lightly and Haron stumbled forward. He thankfully managed to keep his balance, but just as he made to turn and admonish his friend, he made eye contact with Sirius Black, whose eyes widened and mouth opened as if to call him. Before he could do so however, the Headmaster of Durmstrang tightly gripped his shoulder, grounding him back to reality.

The white-haired man murmured something at his ear, and Haron’s godfather closed his eyes as if he was in pain. He nodded sharply and turned away, though not without throwing one last glance at Haron.

The boy watched the crowd splinter into smaller groups, hiding his view of his godfather, feeling a sense of loss for something he didn’t yet have.