Chapter 4
Carina was distracted. Normally, transfiguration was one of her best subjects, and at the bare minimum, she could take good notes without even thinking about it. Today however, her parchment remained empty of words. The occasional doodle riddling the page.
Her brother sat next to her and was twirling his quill in his hands as he watched Pristy Bulstrode reply to one of the notes he had levitated to hit her in the back of the head.
He looked melancholy. I don’t suppose that it’d be easy to feel anything other than that after the letter the twins had received from their parents just that morning.
Sure Mother and Father sent them both gifts regularly, new dress robes, or some family heirloom. Letters however, were a rare item to be received for either one of them.
This one had come bearing news.
The Dark Lord wanted to meet them.
Sure they had seen him before, when their parents hosted a meeting every so often. This was different though. He wanted to meet them. Officially. Over the Winter holiday, they were to meet him to discuss their futures in the wizarding world. Or more realistically, the wizarding war.
Carina was terrified. Seeing him in passing she had felt the power radiating off of him. She could see in his cold stare, that he was not someone whose plans you should mess with.
Not only this, but their parents had found Carina a match. A man who was willing to marry her, be her betrothed. They did not mention who the man was, just that the family would be hosting a party on New Years where they would celebrate the engagement with their associates.
Carina fought desperately not to fall asleep in the middle of class.
After crawling towards her dorm last night she found a sobbing Susan Rowle on the floor outside of their room.
She had comforted Susan for hours, barely getting in a forty minute nap before she needed to head for her classes.
Carina sat up straighter, silently begging the clock to turn faster so that she could be done pretending to listen to McGonagall teach the class how to turn a goblet into a book. A skill that Carina had mastered last year when her potions book had disappeared.
As the hour ticked by, Carina found her thoughts drifting towards a certain James Potter.
Except this time she wasn’t just thinking about how she would be using him.
Quite honestly, she was thinking about his skill as a quidditch player.
Since he had begun playing in third year, James had risen through the ranks, quite quickly too, reaching the status of Captain by fifth year.
However, she had noticed last term that he put just slightly too much weight onto the front of his broom. Something that made it much easier to get him off his broom, flying towards the ground.
She didn’t hate James Potter. She didn’t think so. Carina understood why he had given Sirius a home, her elder brother had something in him that demanded to be taken care of. Something she had done for the years before he left. However, she clearly hadn’t done it well enough, especially if some random Gryffindor boy was able to replace her and Regulus so easily.
But no, she didn’t hate James. She hated certain parts about him. She hated his stupid droopy glasses.
His always messy hair. The way that the top button of his uniform was always unbuttoned. Carina hated the way he smelled, of Pine and Broom polish, because it served as a reminder for what she could never have, quidditch. She hated how he was quick to judge a situation, and even quicker to throw a hex her way when he deemed necessary. And Carina truly despised his eyes. Because where kindness sat in them on the regular, every once in a while she could notice his kind hazel eyes turn cold as he looked at her.
He thought her to be a coward. She knew that to be a fact. He thought that she had spent years simply allowing her older brother to be beaten and punished, while she was doted on like a young princess. He really knew nothing at all.
The class moved to a close, and Carina rose, packing her book, parchment, and quill into her small shoulder bag.
“I’ll meet you in the Great Hall later.” She said to Regulus.
He nodded, walking out of the classroom, leaving her and McGonagall alone. Carina walked up to the professor, silently begging her plan to work.
“Professor McGonagall? I was curious if you had a moment to speak?”
“Yes, that’s quite alright dear. My next group of students won’t be here for another while. How can I help you?”
“Well, Professor, I feel as if I am struggling with the class. I’m taking 8 newt level classes this term, and I really just need some extra assistance. Is there a possibility you could assign me a tutor?”
Carina plastered on the signature Black smile, the one her mother had taught her as a child to get her whatever she wanted.
She knew that James Potter, along with her brother had always flourished in Transfiguration, and she had faith that the Professor would turn to them. Preferably Potter. She was not actually struggling in the class, in fact it seemed almost easier this year.
“Are you truly? I am so sorry, I didn’t even notice, you seemed to be doing so well this term!” McGonagall said. “Of course I can assign you a tutor!”
“Thank you professor, that honestly makes me feel so much better.” Carina said, hiding her smirk. Praying that McGonagall would choose James. She had too, he was her prized student, even with his childish antics.
“You head to the library at six tonight, I’ll tell them to meet you there then.”
Carina nodded and turned to leave the room when Mcgonagall’s voice stopped her in her tracks.
She said, “Carina, if you ever need anything else from me. I am always willing to hear you out.”
Carina struggled to hide her grimace. Ever since Sirius had moved out, many people knew how the Black household was run, but no one had enough power to do anything against them. So she was left with the occasional pitting look or meaningless words. Such as the ones McGonagall was speaking right now.
Carina plastered on another smile before nodding once and leaving the room as quickly as she could.
James Potter loved Transfiguration. It was a class that he had always done well in. This time however, he felt bored out of his mind. McGonagall was teaching in a way that made him think she was just begging him to act out. As the hour droned on James felt as if he was stuck in History of Magic again. McGonagall was dragging her feet, talking slowly, and kept her back to the back of the classroom most of the period.
Two minutes before class was up, James had handled himself the whole period, holding on by a thread, just wanting something to happen, anything interesting at all.
All of a sudden, a resounding crack echoed through the classroom.
A firework had gone off near the ceiling, making the whole room shake.
McGonagall turned towards the room, looking furious.
On instinct, many of the students put their hands in the air, showing that they carried nothing but quills. James, being one of them, raised his hands, and McGonagall’s glare settled on him.
Where his quill had sat only a moment ago, a small magical firework now sat in his fingers.
James stood up quickly, setting the firework down, he said, “I swear it wasn’t me professor. I-I have no idea how that got there.”
He turned his gaze towards the rest of the marauders, but he only saw the same confused face he wore, echoed across their faces.
“Mister Potter! You expect me to believe that with the evidence in your hands, you had nothing to do with this!” McGonagall stared at him from across the room. “I am many things, dimwitted is not one of them.”
James was terrified then, he really truly didn’t mean to insult the professor's intelligence.
“Erm. I - That’s not what I meant?” James said, sounding more like a question than a statement.
McGonagall’s eyes widened in anger.
“My office. Now, Potter.” She spoke the words with such conviction that James was speed walking towards her office immediately. “The rest of you may leave.”
James spared his friends a quick glance before fully stepping into the office, McGonagall right behind him.
She took a seat at her desk, gesturing for him to take the other.
“Potter. I believed that you were past your days of meaningless pranks.” McGonagall looked extremely disappointed. “I would just give you another detention. However, I don’t believe that after all these years that has taught you any lesson.”
She continued and James sat silently, knowing he was innocent, this was quite frustrating.
“I have a student in my sixth year class. She’s very smart, but has been struggling with my class this term.”
James had still yet to speak a word, and was fidgeting in his seat, waiting for his time to talk to come faster.
“I want you to tutor her.”
Looking up from his hands where his gaze had previously been locked, James’s eyes widened behind his glasses.
“You want me to do what?”
“Mister Potter. I do not like to repeat myself.” McGonagall glared at him through her spectacles. “Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from now until the end of term, you and Miss Black will meet at the library after your classes and supper.”
Miss Black?
Miss Black?
McGonagall wanted him to tutor her?
Carina Black never asked for help. Not in anything. So why start now?
“But, McGonagall, I didn’t even set off the firew-”
She silenced him with a glance
Alright then.
“I expect you to be there tonight. You may leave now.” Her tone left no room for argument.
As he reached the door, McGonagall said, “You of course are not required to tutor her on the nights of the full moon.”
James nodded, and left the room. What had he just gotten wrapped up in?
What he didn’t see as he left was the smile growing across McGonagall’s face, as she transfigured the firework back into a quill. She had played him like a fiddle.
There was only a half hour left until his next class, and James didn’t feel like sitting for lunch, so he wandered his way up to the Gryffindor Tower.
Stepping into his room he realised that his friends had the same idea as they laid sprawled out across the dorm’s floor.
Grabbing some Sugar Quill’s that Peter was currently holding, James walked over to the end of his bed, sitting on his now mostly empty trunk.
“How was McGonagall?” Remus asked, a hint of a smirk peeking out from behind his stony expression.
James groaned and fell backwards onto his bed.
“I have to tutor some sixth year for the rest of the term.”
Sirius laughed. “You? Tutor?”
James threw his pillow at his friend.
“Anyone we know?” Asked Peter.
James hesitated. He didn’t like lying to his friends, but either of the Black twins were a sensitive topic in this room.
“Er. No. I don’t think so. Just some random Ravenclaw.”
Again, James felt awful, but he couldn’t bear dealing with a sulking Sirius for a month when he realised that his younger sister was struggling and he had no idea.
“Ravenclaw?” Remus asked incredulously. “She wants you to tutor a Ravenclaw?”
James’s other pillow went flying towards his friend’s face.
“The bird couldn’t handle her classes.” James ran a hand over his face, skewing his glasses in the process.
Later that night James made his way towards the library.
James Potter could count on one hand exactly how many times he had been to the library since arriving at Hogwarts.
- In the prior year, he had been stalking the map, and found Lily Evans alone, and opted to join her. She had yelled at him. At the time he still held hope for a budding relationship, but now knew that nothing but friendship lied between them.
- Fifth year when he, Sirius, and Peter had been studying how to become animagus.
- One time in third year Remus had been hiding from his dorm-mates and so they took over his only hiding spot.
Now he was going to have to be in the library three times a week. He was not looking forward to it.
Bracing himself, he walked through the doors.
Sparing a glance towards Madam Pince, he saw she was already glaring at him.
He noticed that Carina was already there, despite him arriving right after supper had ended.
As he walked over towards her, he found himself combing his fingers through his hair, trying, and failing to straighten it out a bit.
Pulling his fingers out of his hair, he said, “Carina?”
She looked up, and he swore that she looked almost giddy.
“Potter? Are you my tutor?”
“Er- Yeah, McGonagall said you needed help with Transfiguration?”
“Yes! I do! Desperately.” She smiled up at him from her seat, where he saw piles of different books. One of which, he himself owned.
His eyes widened. “You play quidditch?”
“Oh. No. I - I’m not allowed to. But I love it.”
“You’re not allowed to?”
“Well yeah, you know my mum and dad.”
“Oh.” He shook his head, blinking, and said, “Of course.”
Changing the subject he said, “What exactly are you struggling with in McGonagall’s class?”
“Well, I haven’t been able to understand the Maturma spell all week.” Carina offered.
That spell was doddle. Honestly one of the easiest spells he had learned in the past few years.
His eyes squinted behind his glasses as he looked her up and down. “Alright. Show me what you have so far.”
She had an apple sitting in front of her, she spoke the spell beautifully, but her hand movement was all wrong. She swished her hand to the right, and then flicked it down instead of up like you were supposed to. He told her exactly that, and she did it again, but her movements were far too harsh.
“You're moving your hand too harshly, here let me help. He walked behind her and grabbed her hand.
Helping her, she completed the spell effortlessly.
It wasn’t until after she completed the spell that he realised quite how close the two of them were. Her cheek almost pressed against his own, and his fingers wrapped around her hand.
Clearing his throat, he took a step back. “That was perfect, what next?”
An hour later, James had successfully taught Carina seven spells that he believed her to not have known.
James glanced at a green watch that sat on his wrist. Not only did the watch display the time, but it also displayed what phase the moon was in.
“Our time seems to be up.” James said. “How are you feeling so far?”
“Better, thank you for the help.” She smiled her Black smile, and prayed that her plan in motion was already working.
“I didn’t see you in the dining hall at supper, did you eat anything?”
Carina honestly thought he sounded like a concerned mother.
“Got distracted by my book,” she said, lifting up her new quidditch book Regulus had given her just yesterday. “I am rather hungry now though.”
“Do you want to stop in the kitchens with me?” James asked. He seemed as if he himself was appalled that he was offering.
With a laugh, Carina agreed.
As they walked to the kitchens, Carina was ecstatic. It was working. Although the early winter breeze floated through the castle, Carina found herself warm with joy. Maybe, at least once, one of her plans would end up well. She could get her letter of recommendation, she could be promoted to head girl. She had to stop herself from jumping up and down in celebration on numerous occasions on the long walk from the library to the kitchens.
Carina herself had never been to the kitchens, and she wondered exactly what it would entail. Regulus of course, went often, but never invited her. Carina was not one to go somewhere without being invited along, so she never joined.
Walking into the kitchens, she wasn’t sure what she had been expecting, but this was not it. The room was large, but quite cramped, with ovens covering all of the walls and countertops in every open space. And house elves. They were everywhere. She stifled a gasp. Slowly she started backing up towards the door. James looked at her questioningly. Adjusting his glasses, he asked, “You alright?”
She couldn’t get herself to respond. Instead, she just openly gaped at him, looking not unlike a fish out of water. Of course there were house elves. It was quite stupid of her really to not have thought of that, but she had been so wrapped up in the progress of her plan to think logically.
A house elf popped in front of them, Carina jumped, Mimsy she said her name was. James said something to her, glancing back at Carina. But she couldn’t hear anything over the pounding in her ears.
The elf disappeared, and reappeared a moment later, this time with a small basket in her hand.
James took the basket from the elf and thanked her before turning back towards Carina, grabbing her arm and dragging her out of the kitchen as fast as humanly possible.
As soon as they stepped outside of the portrait James closed the doorway and Carina felt like she could breathe again.
“Are you afraid of house elves?” Asked James, getting straight to the point.
She nodded. Running a hand through her dark hair she slid down the wall closest to the portrait.
“Kreature always did like Reggie best.” Carina said with a scoff.
James slid down the wall, sitting next to her. He pushed the basket into the space between the two of them and opened it up. “At least we got cake out of it.” He shrugged.
Carina snorted.
“Ah yes, I almost break down in front of you, but at least we have cake.”
Many minutes later, the two of them were lost in a conversation about the Ravenclaw’s quidditch team as they ate their meal, when a voice floated down the hall in their direction.
“Oh, but you know McKing, he always assumes that Lilento is going to be exactly where he wants him to be, which causes him to throw the quaffle into open air so often.” Carina continued, ignoring who she assumed were some hungry Hufflepuff’s walking their way.
But James’s eyes hardened as they locked onto the oncoming group. Turning to see who he was looking at, she saw Reggie, Evan, and Barty.
Oh for Merlin’s sake.
“Cari? What are you doing here?” Asked Regulus. There was an edge to his voice, it reminded Carina of her mother.
She froze. Carina Black was very good at coming up with excuses, but explaining this one? Impossible. How on earth would she explain to her twin why she was sitting with the boy that replaced them in their older brother's life.
“Potter. I think it’s best if you head back to the tower now.” Regulus said, his voice growing colder by the second.
James nodded, but seemed hesitant to leave.
“I’ll see you monday?” He asked, turning towards Carina.
“Of course.” She offered him a small smile before turning back to her brother and friends.
After James had rounded the corner Carina lunged at her brother.
“You absolute bloody idiot.” She pushed him closer to the wall. “Just when I was making some bloody progress.”
Regulus looked at his friends for support, but they were just looking at her as if she were mad.
“Progress? What the bloody hell is going on?”
Carina groaned loudly, throwing herself back at the floor.
She was losing it. And of course her brother showed up. Already she could feel the pieces of her plan falling apart.
“He’s my key to being Head Girl.” She spoke into her hands that were now covering her face. “He’s the only thing in my way right now.”
Regulus considered this for a moment.
“And you think that associating with a blood traitor is worth it?”
“Merlin Reg, I couldn’t give a flying fuck whether or not he’s a blood traitor.”
Regulus looked her up and down before saying, “You might want to change that sentiment before our meeting in a few weeks. He does not take well to blood traitors. I would hate for you to become one.”
He then turned and stalked out of the corridor, Barty following closely behind.
Evan slid down the wall next to Carina.
After a moment he asked, “You don’t have feelings for him, do you?”
“Godric, no”