[Children of the Sun]: A Door Into Hope, gen, PG-13, 1/?
Title: A Door Into Hope
Disclaimer: J. K. Rowling and associates own these characters. I am writing this story for fun and not profit.
Pairings: None among main characters, background Lucius/Narcissa and Arthur/Molly
Content Notes: AU, angst, some violence
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Harry is mustering more and more support for the changes he wants to make in the wizarding world as he returns to Hogwarts after his first Christmas holiday. But as some people begin to believe he can make those changes, others see him as a threat.
Author’s Notes: This takes place in my Children of the Sun series after “The Secrets of Longbottom Manor.”
Last chapter of previous fic.
A Door Into Hope
Chapter One-January at Hogwarts
Minerva stood behind the chair that had once been Albus’s and watched as the students filed in through the doors. Beside her were the professors that she would need to depend on for the rest of the school term. On the floor at her feet sat Malkin, her familiar, the glow of his bronze coat deep and reassuring as he leaned against her leg.
She only hoped it would be enough.
Shaking off the thought of what she had found among Albus’s notes, Minerva took her seat. Someone leaned over her chair, and she turned in surprise. It was Aurora Sinistra, the Astronomy professor, who usually didn’t approach her or ask for any favors, bar a disruptive student who needed to receive detention.
“Yes, Aurora?”
“I received a message from a-friend,” Aurora said, the hesitation in her voice long enough that Minerva raised her eyebrows. Aurora flushed and reached up to stroke the copper bat, Curio, who clung to her shoulder. “I need to talk to you about it. Can I see you in your office after dinner?”
Minerva nodded, faintly curious. Aurora had always stayed out of politics. Minerva had no idea who this mysterious friend could be. “Certainly.”
Then she had to rise to her feet and welcome the students back for another term at Hogwarts, and hope that none of them saw how tired or rattled she was. She still hadn’t been able to understand the meaning of the mysterious list of students and their familiars that she’d found in a locked drawer in Albus’s office. It went back decades, and the Unnatural next to some of those names made her shiver as if she had a fever.
What was he doing? And what happens if I never find out?
*
“Well done, Harry.”
Harry halted and blinked at Cedric. They were walking into the Hufflepuff common room, and for some reason, Cedric had taken him aside and said he wanted to talk to him. But at least he could have said what it was about.
“Er, thanks? Why are you congratulating me, though?”
“Because Neville looks more happy and confident than he has since he came here, and I think you had something to do with it.”
“Well, I mean, I told his grandmother some things. But Neville is the one who stood up and decided to be more confident.” Harry looked over at his foster brother, who was waving his hands as he talked to a couple of the second-year Hufflepuffs about some spells he’d cast. The second-years were smiling.
“And I knew it was probably you. I tried to talk to Neville about being more confident and calmer earlier in the year, but he didn’t listen. I think you’re the only one who could make him listen.” Cedric bent down to rub behind the ears of Nebulous, his bronze leopard familiar. Nebulous rolled on his back and purred like an overgrown kitten. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” Harry said, a little confused. He still thought that it wasn’t very complicated. He’d helped Neville get a new wand and think past the things his grandmother told him. That was it.
Cedric smiled at him as if he knew more than Harry was saying and walked towards the third-year staircase. Harry shrugged and caught up with Neville and Susan Bones, who gave him a faint smile.
“I heard you had an exciting Christmas.”
“It was good, but about normal in excitement, really.”
“Mouthing off to your guardian and going out to Diagon Alley on your own isn’t what I would consider normal.”
Harry blushed. “I didn’t mean to mouth off to Mrs. Longbottom, even. I just said some true things and she got angry. I know I probably wouldn’t get away with it if I didn’t have a golden familiar.”
“Well, maybe you did,” Susan said, unruffled. Camilla, her winged horse, sniffed her hair with a bronze muzzle and pushed it into Susan’s palm. Susan stroked her neck without taking her thoughtful gaze off Harry. “But I don’t think that’s a bad thing. We need someone who can get away with things if we’re going to do the-thing.”
Harry nodded. Susan was one of the people whose familiars had been willing to talk to Golden, so she was one of their people. “I know. But I hope that someday someone will question me instead of listening to me.”
“Just as long as it only happens after we have what we want.”
Susan nodded to him and went up the stairs to the first-year girls’ bedroom. The ceiling had had to be adjusted because Camilla was so tall, Harry knew. He shook his head a little. They could adjust buildings to different sizes of familiars, but they were so reluctant to accept that familiars shouldn’t make people be treated certain ways.
Well, he would make things better someday. He sat by the fire to wait for Neville (and to finish up the Charms essay he hadn’t quite finished the night before).
*
“What is it, Aurora?”
Minerva was out of patience for delays. First Aurora had asked for tea; then she’d asked for lemon drops (and seemed shocked to hear that Minerva had got rid of them); then she’d admired some of the paintings on the walls that Minerva had replaced Albus’s odd winter landscapes with; then she’d asked after Minerva’s holidays.
Aurora took a deep breath and clasped her hands. Curio crawled down her shoulder and nestled under her chin. “I have a-a contact who I haven’t heard from in some time. I honestly thought I would never hear from her again. It’s dangerous for her to write to me. But she sent me a letter when she finally became convinced that Albus is never coming back.”
“All right.” Minerva felt the coldness in her stomach increase. She supposed she ought to have known that this was more likely to have something to do with Albus’s insane list than not.
Aurora reached into her sleeve and drew out a folded letter that she handed to Minerva. Minerva cracked the seal and read. The handwriting was thin and so slanting that it looked as though everything had been written with the parchment turned sideways.
Dearest Aurora,
I don’t want to alarm you, and I don’t know when I can write to you again. But I heard that Albus Dumbledore is in a prison that might finally hold him, and that means I can say what he cost me.
When I first came to Hogwarts, a few people were surprised at my silver familiar, but not many. After all, there were others here who had one, and my own family had had a long time to grow accustomed to it, and some of them had probably told others.
I was questioned by Dumbledore, however. Apparently he knew my parents, and he felt as though someone with a tin familiar and someone with a bronze should not have produced a child born to the silver. And he also felt that my familiar’s “nature” did not fit my own, although I don’t know what that means.
More than the questions, I remember the evening that he called me to his office, supposedly about an infraction I’d committed against the rules. I went, and found myself caught and bound in flames the minute I came into the office. His phoenix dived at me, and I screamed. I can’t tell you exactly what happened, just that my mind filled with more flames and it felt as if my soul was burning.
My familiar saved me, by spitting in the way you know he knows how to do. I broke free of the flames and ran out of his office. That was the end of my first term, and I told my mother that I wanted to go to Beauxbatons instead. She was astounded, but I insisted, and my parents sent me there the next year.
It has been decades, but I never forgot that pain. In case this can be useful, I am sending it on.
I will have to leave my sanctuary soon. I ask that you don’t try to find me.
Minerva lowered the letter slowly. “What does she mean by having her familiar spit?”
“Forgive me, Minerva, but if I told you that, then you might know how to find her, and I promised not to betray her trust. Her familiar is not a common one.”
Minerva looked into Aurora’s face and felt her words die on the tip of her tongue. Yes, Aurora avoided politics most of the time, but when she wanted to, she could play them with the best. She had been a Slytherin, and an extraordinarily stubborn one.
Malkin pranced up to Minerva and leaned his head against her side, purring. Minerva reached out and patted him gently, never taking her gaze from Aurora. “You believe her.”
“Of course. I don’t see the point in making up such a story. If she’d made it up, she might have shared it during the trial, when there was a chance that Albus could have been punished for more than what he did to Harry or the Aurors.” Aurora closed her eyes. “But she shares it now. Her life has been hard, Minerva. I think this was the first of many hardships. Please leave her alone, but use her words as you will.”
In the end, Minerva had to nod and watch as Aurora walked out of her office. She stayed close to Malkin, letting his purr soothe her.
Merlin. I don’t know what to do now.
*
“Lucius. What a…surprise.” Severus dropped the pause into his sentence merely to watch Lucius’s eyes narrow. In truth, the way he spoke was no more complicated than that. “Was there something you wished to ask me?”
“Yes.” Lucius’s fingers closed hard on his cane, and he leaned forwards as if he would step out of the Floo. “I want to know whether you would call young Mr. Potter an adverse influence on Draco.”
“An adverse influence?”
“Don’t look so blank, Severus. You should know better than anyone how a wizard with a golden familiar can charm others into serving him.”
Severus drew back with a snarl. “Albus Dumbledore held me in chains of guilt. Not influence in the way that you meant it, Lucius.”
“Then you should have no reason not to answer my question. Would you say that Mr. Potter is coming close to influencing Draco in a way he should not? Enslaving him in the way that Dumbledore tried to enslave those Aurors?”
“Of course not. It would never occur to Mr. Potter to use his power in such a way.” Severus had come close to saying “Harry.” He was glad that he was speaking more slowly than was his wont. “Come, Lucius,” he added, when he saw the frown. “Did you truly expect me to say yes?”
“I did. Because we are concerned that our son is being influenced by him.”
“In what way?”
“Draco’s letters home to his mother are…strange. And he is defying our requests for information in a way that he never did before.”
Severus came nearer to smiling than he had to saying Harry’s name. He reached up and adjusted the position of Shadowstriker on his shoulder, calling attention to the serpent’s silver scales. Sometimes Lucius was too prone to forget that Severus was his equal, and tried to treat him like a servant. “I haven’t seen any sign of that. Draco is one of Mr. Potter’s friends, but only one of many. He doesn’t single Draco out or attempt to convert him in any way.”
“And that is wrong. A Malfoy should be the most important courtier surrounding one born to the gold.”
As if I didn’t know that you plan for Draco to be the lord, not the courtier. “I would think that you would talk to Mr. Potter or Draco about it,” Severus suggested in a bored tone. “It’s not as though either of them trusts me with their innermost secrets. Mr. Potter is a Hufflepuff, not of my House.”
“All the more reason that he is unworthy of being followed,” Lucius muttered, and disappeared from Severus’s fire.
Severus allowed himself the luxury of rolling his eyes now that Lucius was no longer there. “You don’t know your son, and you don’t know him,” he whispered to the dead fireplace, and went back to preparing for the upcoming term.
Part Two.
This entry was originally posted at https://lomonaaeren.dreamwidth.org/1006459.html. Comment wherever you like.
Disclaimer: J. K. Rowling and associates own these characters. I am writing this story for fun and not profit.
Pairings: None among main characters, background Lucius/Narcissa and Arthur/Molly
Content Notes: AU, angst, some violence
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Harry is mustering more and more support for the changes he wants to make in the wizarding world as he returns to Hogwarts after his first Christmas holiday. But as some people begin to believe he can make those changes, others see him as a threat.
Author’s Notes: This takes place in my Children of the Sun series after “The Secrets of Longbottom Manor.”
Last chapter of previous fic.
A Door Into Hope
Chapter One-January at Hogwarts
Minerva stood behind the chair that had once been Albus’s and watched as the students filed in through the doors. Beside her were the professors that she would need to depend on for the rest of the school term. On the floor at her feet sat Malkin, her familiar, the glow of his bronze coat deep and reassuring as he leaned against her leg.
She only hoped it would be enough.
Shaking off the thought of what she had found among Albus’s notes, Minerva took her seat. Someone leaned over her chair, and she turned in surprise. It was Aurora Sinistra, the Astronomy professor, who usually didn’t approach her or ask for any favors, bar a disruptive student who needed to receive detention.
“Yes, Aurora?”
“I received a message from a-friend,” Aurora said, the hesitation in her voice long enough that Minerva raised her eyebrows. Aurora flushed and reached up to stroke the copper bat, Curio, who clung to her shoulder. “I need to talk to you about it. Can I see you in your office after dinner?”
Minerva nodded, faintly curious. Aurora had always stayed out of politics. Minerva had no idea who this mysterious friend could be. “Certainly.”
Then she had to rise to her feet and welcome the students back for another term at Hogwarts, and hope that none of them saw how tired or rattled she was. She still hadn’t been able to understand the meaning of the mysterious list of students and their familiars that she’d found in a locked drawer in Albus’s office. It went back decades, and the Unnatural next to some of those names made her shiver as if she had a fever.
What was he doing? And what happens if I never find out?
*
“Well done, Harry.”
Harry halted and blinked at Cedric. They were walking into the Hufflepuff common room, and for some reason, Cedric had taken him aside and said he wanted to talk to him. But at least he could have said what it was about.
“Er, thanks? Why are you congratulating me, though?”
“Because Neville looks more happy and confident than he has since he came here, and I think you had something to do with it.”
“Well, I mean, I told his grandmother some things. But Neville is the one who stood up and decided to be more confident.” Harry looked over at his foster brother, who was waving his hands as he talked to a couple of the second-year Hufflepuffs about some spells he’d cast. The second-years were smiling.
“And I knew it was probably you. I tried to talk to Neville about being more confident and calmer earlier in the year, but he didn’t listen. I think you’re the only one who could make him listen.” Cedric bent down to rub behind the ears of Nebulous, his bronze leopard familiar. Nebulous rolled on his back and purred like an overgrown kitten. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” Harry said, a little confused. He still thought that it wasn’t very complicated. He’d helped Neville get a new wand and think past the things his grandmother told him. That was it.
Cedric smiled at him as if he knew more than Harry was saying and walked towards the third-year staircase. Harry shrugged and caught up with Neville and Susan Bones, who gave him a faint smile.
“I heard you had an exciting Christmas.”
“It was good, but about normal in excitement, really.”
“Mouthing off to your guardian and going out to Diagon Alley on your own isn’t what I would consider normal.”
Harry blushed. “I didn’t mean to mouth off to Mrs. Longbottom, even. I just said some true things and she got angry. I know I probably wouldn’t get away with it if I didn’t have a golden familiar.”
“Well, maybe you did,” Susan said, unruffled. Camilla, her winged horse, sniffed her hair with a bronze muzzle and pushed it into Susan’s palm. Susan stroked her neck without taking her thoughtful gaze off Harry. “But I don’t think that’s a bad thing. We need someone who can get away with things if we’re going to do the-thing.”
Harry nodded. Susan was one of the people whose familiars had been willing to talk to Golden, so she was one of their people. “I know. But I hope that someday someone will question me instead of listening to me.”
“Just as long as it only happens after we have what we want.”
Susan nodded to him and went up the stairs to the first-year girls’ bedroom. The ceiling had had to be adjusted because Camilla was so tall, Harry knew. He shook his head a little. They could adjust buildings to different sizes of familiars, but they were so reluctant to accept that familiars shouldn’t make people be treated certain ways.
Well, he would make things better someday. He sat by the fire to wait for Neville (and to finish up the Charms essay he hadn’t quite finished the night before).
*
“What is it, Aurora?”
Minerva was out of patience for delays. First Aurora had asked for tea; then she’d asked for lemon drops (and seemed shocked to hear that Minerva had got rid of them); then she’d admired some of the paintings on the walls that Minerva had replaced Albus’s odd winter landscapes with; then she’d asked after Minerva’s holidays.
Aurora took a deep breath and clasped her hands. Curio crawled down her shoulder and nestled under her chin. “I have a-a contact who I haven’t heard from in some time. I honestly thought I would never hear from her again. It’s dangerous for her to write to me. But she sent me a letter when she finally became convinced that Albus is never coming back.”
“All right.” Minerva felt the coldness in her stomach increase. She supposed she ought to have known that this was more likely to have something to do with Albus’s insane list than not.
Aurora reached into her sleeve and drew out a folded letter that she handed to Minerva. Minerva cracked the seal and read. The handwriting was thin and so slanting that it looked as though everything had been written with the parchment turned sideways.
Dearest Aurora,
I don’t want to alarm you, and I don’t know when I can write to you again. But I heard that Albus Dumbledore is in a prison that might finally hold him, and that means I can say what he cost me.
When I first came to Hogwarts, a few people were surprised at my silver familiar, but not many. After all, there were others here who had one, and my own family had had a long time to grow accustomed to it, and some of them had probably told others.
I was questioned by Dumbledore, however. Apparently he knew my parents, and he felt as though someone with a tin familiar and someone with a bronze should not have produced a child born to the silver. And he also felt that my familiar’s “nature” did not fit my own, although I don’t know what that means.
More than the questions, I remember the evening that he called me to his office, supposedly about an infraction I’d committed against the rules. I went, and found myself caught and bound in flames the minute I came into the office. His phoenix dived at me, and I screamed. I can’t tell you exactly what happened, just that my mind filled with more flames and it felt as if my soul was burning.
My familiar saved me, by spitting in the way you know he knows how to do. I broke free of the flames and ran out of his office. That was the end of my first term, and I told my mother that I wanted to go to Beauxbatons instead. She was astounded, but I insisted, and my parents sent me there the next year.
It has been decades, but I never forgot that pain. In case this can be useful, I am sending it on.
I will have to leave my sanctuary soon. I ask that you don’t try to find me.
Minerva lowered the letter slowly. “What does she mean by having her familiar spit?”
“Forgive me, Minerva, but if I told you that, then you might know how to find her, and I promised not to betray her trust. Her familiar is not a common one.”
Minerva looked into Aurora’s face and felt her words die on the tip of her tongue. Yes, Aurora avoided politics most of the time, but when she wanted to, she could play them with the best. She had been a Slytherin, and an extraordinarily stubborn one.
Malkin pranced up to Minerva and leaned his head against her side, purring. Minerva reached out and patted him gently, never taking her gaze from Aurora. “You believe her.”
“Of course. I don’t see the point in making up such a story. If she’d made it up, she might have shared it during the trial, when there was a chance that Albus could have been punished for more than what he did to Harry or the Aurors.” Aurora closed her eyes. “But she shares it now. Her life has been hard, Minerva. I think this was the first of many hardships. Please leave her alone, but use her words as you will.”
In the end, Minerva had to nod and watch as Aurora walked out of her office. She stayed close to Malkin, letting his purr soothe her.
Merlin. I don’t know what to do now.
*
“Lucius. What a…surprise.” Severus dropped the pause into his sentence merely to watch Lucius’s eyes narrow. In truth, the way he spoke was no more complicated than that. “Was there something you wished to ask me?”
“Yes.” Lucius’s fingers closed hard on his cane, and he leaned forwards as if he would step out of the Floo. “I want to know whether you would call young Mr. Potter an adverse influence on Draco.”
“An adverse influence?”
“Don’t look so blank, Severus. You should know better than anyone how a wizard with a golden familiar can charm others into serving him.”
Severus drew back with a snarl. “Albus Dumbledore held me in chains of guilt. Not influence in the way that you meant it, Lucius.”
“Then you should have no reason not to answer my question. Would you say that Mr. Potter is coming close to influencing Draco in a way he should not? Enslaving him in the way that Dumbledore tried to enslave those Aurors?”
“Of course not. It would never occur to Mr. Potter to use his power in such a way.” Severus had come close to saying “Harry.” He was glad that he was speaking more slowly than was his wont. “Come, Lucius,” he added, when he saw the frown. “Did you truly expect me to say yes?”
“I did. Because we are concerned that our son is being influenced by him.”
“In what way?”
“Draco’s letters home to his mother are…strange. And he is defying our requests for information in a way that he never did before.”
Severus came nearer to smiling than he had to saying Harry’s name. He reached up and adjusted the position of Shadowstriker on his shoulder, calling attention to the serpent’s silver scales. Sometimes Lucius was too prone to forget that Severus was his equal, and tried to treat him like a servant. “I haven’t seen any sign of that. Draco is one of Mr. Potter’s friends, but only one of many. He doesn’t single Draco out or attempt to convert him in any way.”
“And that is wrong. A Malfoy should be the most important courtier surrounding one born to the gold.”
As if I didn’t know that you plan for Draco to be the lord, not the courtier. “I would think that you would talk to Mr. Potter or Draco about it,” Severus suggested in a bored tone. “It’s not as though either of them trusts me with their innermost secrets. Mr. Potter is a Hufflepuff, not of my House.”
“All the more reason that he is unworthy of being followed,” Lucius muttered, and disappeared from Severus’s fire.
Severus allowed himself the luxury of rolling his eyes now that Lucius was no longer there. “You don’t know your son, and you don’t know him,” he whispered to the dead fireplace, and went back to preparing for the upcoming term.
Part Two.
This entry was originally posted at https://lomonaaeren.dreamwidth.org/1006459.html. Comment wherever you like.