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gingerspark Title: Dreaming of magic
Fandom: Dreaming of sunshine, Naruto, Harry potter
Summary: DOS team 7 reborn into the Harry Potter universe
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Fandom: Dreaming of sunshine, Naruto, Harry potter
Summary: DOS team 7 reborn into the Harry Potter universe
Previous Next
Alan
By the time he visited the Black Manor, Alan had mostly recovered from the revelation that Shikako Nara had died with him and been reborn. He had convinced his superiors that Sirius was bound to silence, written a detailed report on the abilities of Shikabane-hime that drew on nothing he knew of the little girl he'd failed. If Shikako was acting against Pettigrew, then he wasn't going to get in her way. Knockout tags and seal knowledge explained how she'd been able to keep him captive. The only question Alan had concerned her reasons for keeping Pettigrew for so long. He had no way of finding out, so he put those thoughts aside in favour of mentally filing the week's gossip for tea with Madam Cassie.
Madam Cassie's personal residence was a townhouse in Edinburgh, and Alan flooed over every week to take tea, exchange gossip, and occasionally to be introduced to witches Madam Cassie considered appropriate for him. He liked Madam Cassie, despite her interfering matchmaking tendencies. She reminded him of retired kunoichi from his last life, subtle and cunning. She also had access to circles Alan, as a young muggleborn wizard, couldn't access, and she was always happy to share information.
Madam Cassie was sharp and ruthless in ways which were occasionally tricky, but none of her attempts at slipping him veritaserum had succeeded, and he had apparently gained her respect by avoiding them without being impolite. She still tried of course, but it was playful, with no real intent. Alan felt that the elderly lady was one of the few people he'd met in this life who wouldn't be horrified by the things he'd done in his last. It was comforting, especially on the days Alan remembered Shikako's childish face (god, she'd been thirteen, how could he have thought she was an adult) contorted in terror and panic too clearly.
Madam Cassie had fought against Grindewald's forces, slipped poison into their supplies, cursed them to die slowly, used the full power of the Black family magic to slaughter her enemies in battle. Then she'd settled down to use all of that ruthlessness to terrorise the Wizengamot into bending to her will.
Alan stepped out of the floo into the receiving room of number 7 1/2 Northumberland Street, feeling the wards thrum in recognition.
Madam Cassie was waiting for him as always, seated on the sofa opposite the fireplace.
"Good afternoon Madam Cassie." He bowed, smiling.
"Alan, welcome." She rose from the sofa and led the way to her sitting room.
When they were seated opposite each other, the usual selection of tea and cake appeared with a crack.
Alan smiled, noting the traces of magic saturating his favoured chocolate cake, and smeared across his teacup. Madam Cassie was very curious today, the teacup was very subtle, obviously something she'd been holding in reserve. Unfortunately for her, Alan had a few advantages. Being foreign to this world, he could sense magic, and had enough sense to keep this secret. He was also far more adept at wandless magic than he let on, with a lifetime of chakra manipulation and his sense for the nature of magic easing his way. With a subtle flick of his fingers, he destabilised the veritaserum on the teacup, rendering it inert.
"I'm glad to hear you finally caught the rat who framed my nephew." Madam Cassie's eyes were sharp, and there was a hint of vicious satisfaction curling the corner of her mouth.
"Less caught, more gifted."
Madam Cassie raised an eyebrow inquiringly.
"He was found in the grounds of the Urien estate, missing six months of memory."
"I see." He was sure she did, had probably heard more rumours about the Urien family magic than he had.
"Lord Urien, his son and his ward brought him in. Apparently the kids found him under a bush. The boy has some sort of ability to see magical influence, and the girl's a seer." He added, knowing she'd know more about the purebloods than he would.
"Ah, those children. Have you heard about the incident at St. Mungo's?" She grinned in anticipation.
Alan flicked through everything he'd heard about the hospital in the last week. "Wykford was complaining about tiny runes prodigies trying to set people on fire, is that it?"
"Yes, well, apparently Sylvanus was having problems with his vision giving him headaches, so their ward came up with a rune-array to fix it. When they were trying to figure out the girl's strange runes, they realised the fix the she came up with also incinerates anyone trying to remove his eyeballs."
Alan nodded. That seemed eminently sensible, and much better than the seal the Hyuuga used, and if the boy had some kind of doujutsu it was probably necessary. Madam Cassie however, was looking amused.
"You don't think that seems odd, do you, you just think it's sensible." She observed. "Alan my dear, your paranoia never ceases to astound me."
Alan paused for a moment, wondering how best to explain. "Sylvanus can see magical traces, can, to an extent, tell what kind of magic was cast. He can identify an animagus at a glance, can probably see wards and magical traps. It's a valuable skill, and who knows how it works? Stealing one of his eyes and getting a healer to transplant it probably won't work, but it doesn't mean no one will try."
By the time he finished, Madam Cassie looked pensive. "You're an interesting boy, Alan. You may be onto something, and the girl is a seer as well as a prodigy with runes."
"Medical rune use is a ridiculous achievement for an eight year old." Alan sipped his tea. He couldn't tell if was seer talent or a comprehensively paranoid approach that had led her to understand that her friend's eyes needed protecting.
"Oh, it's much more than that. It took three rune masters and curse breaker to figure out what she'd done. Apparently it was an elegant and functional array using a mix of futhorc and her own script. Mastery level work, from an eight year old muggleborn. The girl didn't even think she'd done anything exceptional."
Alan thought of the book he'd seen her scribbling in. He'd assumed it was just a thing to distract her, but if this girl was effectively a baby seal-master, then it was probably more of a project book.
"The Urien family magic lucked out there, did you know Lysander found her exploring Diagon Alley on her own? As a five year old no less." She continued.
Alan tucked that knowledge away as his mind flickered back to Katherine, sitting in the office, unnaturally calm and reminding him so much of Shikako. Wearing her hair like Shikako. Moving like a kid with the kind of combat training kids didn't get in this world. When he hadn't known Shikako was here, it had been something to avoid thinking about, but now - She was making seals to protect her friend's eyes, from a threat people in this world didn't realise existed. It had to be her. It made more sense then an actual eight year old producing functional doujutsu protection seals.
He had no idea why she'd intervened with Sirius, or how she'd managed to protect him from dementors. She was a Nara and a seal master, so it wasn't that much of stretch, but he'd never have expected it to be possible. He was also certain that she'd kept Pettigrew captive for six months for unknown reasons, then brought him in herself. The worst thing was that it would absolutely have worked if he hadn't talked to Sirius and recognised her moniker.
He realised Madam Cassie had stopped talking and was watching him, eyes narrowed.
"What have you realised about Katherine Darby, Alan?" She demanded.
"Nothing I'm going to share, I'm afraid." He smiled at her as she scowled.
He offered some gossip about the head of the department of regulation of magical creatures to appease her, and Madam Cassie appeared to drop the subject. Alan wasn't fooled, Madam Cassie did not simply give up.
Madam Cassie's schemes emerged a week later, in the form of an invitation to one of the high society garden parties muggleborns didn't often get invited to. Alan of course, would be perfectly welcome, given that he was attending as Madam Cassie's plus one, and no sane person would contradict her. Alan himself simply sighed and made plans to purchase himself a new set of formal robes.
*
Sasuke
The thing about magic, Sasuke thought, was that it was incredibly unpredictable. Chakra was reassuringly predictable, in a way he'd never realised before being forced to deal with the whimsical chaos that was magic.
If you failed a jutsu, it wouldn't work. A failed fire jutsu would, you know, fizzle out, or spiral out of control. What it wouldn't do was produce a two foot tall pigeon, a puddle of slime or dye things blue. Magic on the other hand... Sasuke had been having some problems. Most of these problems were his fire affinity, his chakra, and the way magic snuck into his chakra use.
This led to some situations he'd really rather avoid, like the hysterical screeching of Draco Malfoy, currently singed and soaking wet. He'd been in a poor mood, stuck at a ridiculous garden party, in formal robes he couldn't move properly in, and he had no patience for the bullying prat. All Sasuke had intended to do was leak a small amount of killing intent at the slimy brat to scare him off taunting his cousin Hannah.
Unfortunately what he'd actually done was set Malfoy on fire with a glare. A nearby adult had come to the rescue with a quick auguamenti, and Malfoy was unharmed (aside from his robes), but the boy was still shrieking at a distressingly high pitch.
Sasuke was a little disconcerted. He'd never set someone on fire by accident before. His cousin Hannah, on the other hand, was staring at him in obvious awe as the adults fluttered around Malfoy.
"Wow." She breathed. "You set Malfoy on fire."
"I didn't mean to." He frowned, irritated at his loss of control.
"It was so cool!" She enthused, bouncing. "Do you think I could set things on fire if I glared at them hard enough?" She pulled out a handkerchief and squinted at it. Sasuke stared at her in consternation.
"Maybe if you practice enough?" He tried, slightly distracted by the possible consequences of accidently setting a child on fire. It was accidental magic, so hopefully the adults would assume there hadn't been any intent behind it.
Hannah beamed at him and wandered off, still squinting determinedly at her handkerchief.
The adults were still distracted by Malfoy's dramatics, so Sasuke left to find Shikako.
*
Cassie
Cassie was delighted with the Shafiq's spring garden party. The food was mediocre, and the gazebos were tacky, but the opportunity to engineer a meeting between Alan and Katherine Darby was unparalleled. She'd also been able to further her agenda concerning Sirius's upcoming trial (Lord Abbot's support was now certain) and introduce Alan to several eligible young witches. She was getting much better feel for his tastes, despite his reticence and incessant use of his hiding trick.
Alan was nervous, presumably about meeting the Darby girl, and while his facade of polite friendliness might be convincing to everyone else, Cassie knew him well enough to see that he was smiling a little too widely. He hadn't dropped his hiding trick since they stepped onto the grounds, and it was difficult to introduce him to young ladies when people's eyes slid away from him. Fortunately Cassie was entirely capable of continuing to pay attention to her protege, even if it took a little more concentration than normal.
Cassie had noticed something interesting about Alan's reaction to Katherine Darby's friend Naruto. It was promptly covered by a a polite smile and a comment about that much orange being hard to miss (those really were some hideous dress robes), but for a moment there had been surprised realisation in his eyes. She filed it away, along with speculation about what Naruto Uzuhara had in common with Katherine Darby.
"That's Nathaniel Uzuhara, he takes lessons with Katherine and Sylvanus. He calls himself 'Naruto' for some reason."
"Naruto?" Alan's voice was strained, and wasn't that intriguing? Naruto was a name he recognised, while Nathaniel Uzuhara was not. This must be connected to his realisations about Katherine Darby somehow.
"Yes, apparently all three of them latched onto each other as soon as they met. Rather odd, don't you think?" She raised an eyebrow at him.
"Ah, well children can be like that sometimes." He evaded, tone bland.
As they wandered around the corner of the house, Alan spotted Katherine. He was subtle about it, keeping his head turned away, but Cassie followed his occasional glances to see the girl in question talking with Theo Urien.
Cassie strode briskly over to the pair, dragging Alan in her wake.
"Theo, dear, it's been such a long time. Is this your ward?" Cassie asked.
"Yes, this is Katherine Darby, our ward. Katherine, this is Madam Cassiopeia Black, she went to school with my mother." Theo smiled pleasantly as Cassie and Katherine shook hands.
"I've heard so much about your rune-work, apparently you caused quite the commotion at the hospital." Cassie smiled and ignored the girl's wince. "And this is Auror Alan Boscastle, Alan, this is Theophania Urien and her ward Katherine."
Alan's smile was tense and fixed as he shook Theo's hand and reached for Katherine's. Cassie was watching closely, and saw no sign of recognition in the girl's face, until the moment their hands touched. Katherine's eyes widened, staring at Alan as he grimaced.
"Pleased to meet you Auror Boscastle." Katherine had admirable control over herself for a young child, and her tone might have passed for calm if Cassie hadn't been paying such close attention.
"Oh! I'm a seer, so I know you'll need this." She pulled out a leather-bound book, handing it to a bemused Alan. Cassie approved of the girl's matter-of-fact approach to her gift of sight, it was very practical of her. So many seers tried to be dreamy and mystical because they thought it was what seers should be, it was dreadful.
"Thank you." Alan tucked the book away as Katherine smiled at him, seeming happy now she'd gotten over her shock. It was interesting that whatever knowledge Alan had about Katherine was reciprocated. Was that her Sight or something else? What was in that book and why did he need it?
Further conversation was prevented by the sudden arrival of Sylvanus Urien, looking slightly harried.
"Mum, Kako? Malfoy was on fire." He stated.
*
Alan
Alan opened the book in the privacy of his London flat, safe behind his layers of privacy charms and defensive wards.
It was a simple leather bound book, although he could sense the magic it was imbued with. The first page was filled with familiar handwriting, in what he quickly identified as one of the standard Intel codes from shortly before his death.
Shikako was glad he was alive, was curious about his life, about how he was doing as auror. There was no trace of resentment for his failure. He could detect an old grief in the things she didn't say, but - oh she'd survived Jashin. He had no idea how she'd managed it, but she was talking about things that post-dated his death. He breathed deeply, getting up to make a cup of tea.
He came back to the letter a few minutes later. Apparently this was one of her seal/rune projects, and she held a duplicate, which would reproduce anything he wrote.
He picked up a pen and started to write a response, asking about Sasuke and Naruto and how she'd found them.
*
Amelia
Amelia sat in the DMLE head's seat in the Wizengamot, staring impassively as one of Fudge's 'experts' cast spell after spell on Pettigrew. None of the spells revealed any transformation or illusion magic. Did they really think the DMLE was incompetent enough to miss something like that?
Amelia glanced at Fudge, who looked uncharacteristically pale, gripping the arms of his chair.
A crack from her wand silenced the murmuring from the stands. "Are we agreed then, that this is indeed Peter Pettigrew?"
A chorus of 'ayes' filled the room, and Amelia could see a relieved smile creep onto Sirius's face.
"Therefore, on the charge of the murder of Peter Pettigrew, Sirius Black is innocent." She declared.
"Just because Pettigrew survived doesn't mean Black didn't kill those muggles!" Fudge's awful pink secretary shrieked before she was shushed by the minister.
"The court will hear the testimony of Sirius Black concerning the events of the first of November 1981."
Amelia had heard Sirius's story before, so instead she watched the faces around her. Arcturus was as stone-faced as he'd always been in the Wizengamot. Most of the members looked sympathetic or horrified, but Dumbledore's stood out. The man had apparently just realised he'd spent the last six months speaking out against an innocent man. His face was a portrait of regret and horror. Amelia just wished he'd had this realisation earlier, his opposition had been one of the stumbling blocks to getting Sirius a trial for months.
Pettigrew admitted his guilt, hysterically begging for mercy. It was a sharp contrast to Sirius's easy charm, and did the rat no favours.
When it was all over, Sirius Black was exonerated, the balance of power had shifted away from Fudge, and Amelia had publicly committed to examining every case Crouch oversaw, to the barely hidden dismay of Lucius Malfoy.
Amelia walked out of the Wizengamot chamber and returned to her office the start fixing what was guaranteed to be a mess of mistrials.
*
Cassiopeia
Arcturus and Cassie got Sirius out of the ministry as quickly as they could, stalking past the press gauntlet (ignoring Sirius's attempts to charm the reporters) to the floo. They emerged into the entranceway of Black manor in a flash of green, Sirius still grinning ear to ear.
Halton and Healer Carrington were waiting in the hall. Arcturus had never doubted that the house of Black would win, and had prepared accordingly. Cassie approved.
"Sirius." Arcturus called.
Sirius glanced up from greeting Halton. "Healer Carrington will be checking your health, and Halton will ensure you are properly dressed for dinner. You will join me in my study afterwards."
"Yes Grandfather." Sirius was as insolent as ever, but if Artie tried to push him right now Cassie would get him with a stinging hex. The poor boy had been through a lot, and he'd always used a facade of irreverence to hide how he was feeling.
*
Cassie joined the men again for dinner, regaling them both with her plans for the utter destruction of Crouch, and Marchbank's plans to bring down Fudge.
Sirius had apparently forgotten how powerful the house of Black was, and looked disconcerted by the power implied in Cassie's plans. It was adorable.
They retired to Arcturus's study after dinner, so he and Cassie could finally get some answers out of Sirius. Cassie needed to know as much as possible about their benefactor and potential ally.
Arcturus settled into his favourite armchair in front of the fireplace, while Cassie and Sirius pulled up chairs.
"So, boy. Explain the sanity. You're saner and more sensible than you were before you went in." Arcturus began.
"I told you Grandfather, a spirit decided to grant me sanity." Cassie wished Sirius would at least pretend to be respectful, but she couldn't bring it up when they needed the boy to talk.
"To which spirit does the house of Black owe a debt?" Arcturus asked.
Sirius glanced around. "I suppose this is secure enough."
"Of course it is boy, get on with it." Arcturus snapped.
"I can't tell you unless you're bound to silence." Sirius informed them.
Arcturus and Cassie shared a surprised glance.
"Why?" Arcturus demanded.
"She has secrets she doesn't want getting out, and I'm bound myself, so..." Sirius shrugged.
Arcturus straightened in alarm. "You did specify consequences for the binding, right boy? What are they?"
"None, it's like... it freezes me if I try to talk about it to someone I shouldn't." Sirius explained.
Arcturus and Cassie both stared at Sirius.
"Seriously. Look: The name of the spirit who helped me is-" Sirius stilled unnaturally for a moment, his eyes and the rise and fall of his chest the only visible movement.
"You won't be able to tell us anything useful without the binding then." Cassie grumbled.
Sirius nodded. "She has her reasons."
"How does the binding work?" Arcturus asked. It wasn't like any binding they'd ever heard of.
"Ah, well...." Sirius jumped up from his chair, turning away and muttering an incantation under his breath. When he turned back he had two sheets of paper in his hand. "You put your hand in the middle of this and swear to keep the secrets of Shikabane-hime."
Cassie took one of the sheets and examined the rune array. There was a clear space in the centre of the circles, obviously where she should put her hand, but she didn't recognise the array at all. She could see a couple of standard futhark runes, but he couldn't understand enough of what was around them to make sense of the array. It wasn't likely to be a trap, but still.
Cassie placed her hand in the centre of the sheet and spoke. "I, Cassiopeia Violetta Black, swear to keep the secrets of Shikabane-hime."
Cassie felt the binding take hold, and studied the way it had twined around her magic. Once she'd determined it seemed safe, she gave Arcturus a nod.
He placed his hand on his own array. "I, Arcturus Sirius Black, swear to keep the secrets of Shikabane-hime." He stilled as the binding took hold of him. "Now, tell us everything you know about this spirit."
Sirius looked thoughtful. "I don't know if spirit is the right word. She described herself as muggleborn last time we met. She thought you might hold it against her."
"A muggleborn witch broke into Azkaban?" Cassiopeia asked, incredulity creeping into her voice.
"Oh, it gets better. She's eight. Seven when she broke in for the first time. Doesn't even have a wand yet." Sirius grinned at their shared disbelief.
"Start at the beginning, boy." Arcturus barked.
"She broke into my cell about a year ago, formed out of a pool of shadow -"
"Well she can't possibly be human then, that would break Walpuddle's principles of human trasfiguration." Cassie interrupted.
"She could just be a very small animagus." Arcturus speculated.
Sirius sighed. "As I was saying, she formed out of a pool of shadow, which was obviously weird shadow, because it moved, not a normal shadow with an ant animagus hiding in it. I was in animagus form at the time, but she knew it was me. Then she said she knew I was innocent and gave me gifts."
"The dementor protection?" Arcturus enquired.
"That too, but she gave me other things first. Pulled them out of thin air."
"Wandless conjuring?" Cassie asked, but Sirius shook his head.
"I think it's one of her storage things. I don't know, all the storage runes she gave me are physical things you have to use an incantation for."
"Storage runes?" Cassie frowned, that wasn't something she'd heard of runes being used for. They could alter objects to make bigger on the inside, but using the runes themselves as the medium of storage was unheard of.
"Gimme a sec." Sirius turned around again, rifling around under his robes in a unseemly way, then spun back, arms full of books. He placed them on the coffee table, then pulled a thin, stapled muggle-looking notebook out of the stack. "So, this is one of the presents she gave me, it's a book full of storage runes with food in."
Sirius opened the book, displaying a rune array and the word 'banana' written above it. "Activate." A banana appeared, resting on the pages of the notebook. "See? Banana!" Sirius peeled the banana and bit into it as Arcturus and Cassie watched in consternation. "So, she broke into my cell, gave me this, some blankets, a stack of muggle novels and mental health books, a photo album with pictures of Harry."
"Muggle... mental health books?" Cassie repeated.
"Yeah, like moving past trauma and psychological damage inflicted by your old bitch of a mother, things like that. It's some good stuff." Sirius looked Arcturus dead in the eye. "Very useful."
"Harry? Harry Potter?" Cassie asked.
"My godson." Sirius said. "He's living his mother's muggle relatives, and I'm going to pick him up as soon as possible."
"I'll arrange legal custody." Arcturus stated. Cassie would ensure it went smoothly. Sirius could do with the practice raising children, and young witches liked that sort of thing. This would work well, but it wasn't urgent.
"We can sort that tomorrow. Now, please tell us about the girl, Sirius." Cassie demanded.
"She said her name was Shikako, but the name binding magic worked for Shikabane-hime too. She's clever, talks like a little adult. She put together the binding in about half an hour, didn't even know much about magical binding rituals. She looks human, acts older than her age, but very human. Said she's a seer." Sirius took another bite of banana.
"She can't be human if she can become incorporeal, Sirius." Cassie reminded him.
"A changeling perhaps?" Arcturus suggested.
Sirius shrugged. "I don't know. She certainly thinks she's human. She mentioned she uses the power of Gelel, and said Gelel is a god she encountered."
"She's favoured by one of the great powers?" Arcturus summoned a bottle of firewhiskey. "And we are indebted to her."
"Being chosen by a god might explain the shadow abilities. I think there are a few old stories where people gained strange powers after encountering gods." Cassie mused, trying to ignore the growing feeling that they might be out of their depth.
"I don't think she'll ask for anything we won't be willing give. She wants to look out for Harry. She's - she's kind." Sirius added, alleviating some of Cassie's concerns.
Arcturus nodded. "How did she protect you from the dementors?"
"She painted a symbol on my chest, and it – I felt their influence vanish, it was..." Sirius trailed off.
Cassie sympathised. That was a terrifying amount of power, and perhaps a very unusual way of using it. She'd never heard of anything capable of removing their influence entirely. Patronii could drive them away, and chocolate could reduce after effects, but completely removing their influence? It was unheard of.
"Is it still there?" Cassie asked.
"Yeah, it doesn't wash off. I think I'm immune from dementors for life?"
"Show me." Arcturus commanded.
Sirius undid the first few buttons of his robe and undershirt, displaying the symbol over his heart.
Arcturus and Cassie stared at the strange symbol, neither able to interpret it. After a moment Arcturus pulled out a sheet of parchment, holding it over Sirius's chest. With a tap of his wand, he copied it onto the parchment, and Sirius re-dressed himself.
"A symbol of her protection perhaps?" Arcturus frowned at the elegant swirls of ink.
"She's incredibly powerful." Cassie mused, staring into the fire. She'd already been convinced that this was not a being they wanted to make an enemy of, but this? This was a touch intimidating. They might be able to understand and use the rune array themselves, but Cassie wasn't counting on it.
"Yeah." Sirius breathed. "She captured Pettigrew."
Cassie's brow furrowed. "Of course she's more powerful than a wizard." What had the boy been expecting of a being capable of breaking into Azkaban?
Sirius laughed. "You haven't seen her, she's tiny. Looks like a completely harmless muggle kid. And she doesn't even have a wand yet. Said she needs me to pretend I don't know her if I run into her."
"She's expecting you to encounter her in the future? Is there anything else you noticed?" Cassie asked, frowning thoughtfully. "This really isn't much to go on." She could search the Black library for references to Gelel or Shikabane-hime, but she wasn't particularly hopeful.
"Oh! Yeah, Alan, he's the Auror who always talked to me, really freaked out when he heard the name Shikabane-hime. He's got a good mask, but he was really shaken."
"Oh." Several things snapped together at once. Muggleborn. Eight. Seer, unnaturally good with runes. Alan knew something. "Oh! Sirius, does she have long brown hair in a plait? Brown eyes?"
"Yes. You know who she is?" Sirius sounded surprised.
Cassie smirked. "Katherine Darby, muggleborn ward of the house of Urien. She's a seer and a prodigy with runes, it all fits. Alan realised something when we were discussing her the other week, but he refused to tell me."
"A seven year old muggleborn girl broke into Azkaban?" Arcturus still sounded skeptical.
"By the sounds of it she's some kind of a changeling or blessed by a god, she's not exactly a normal muggleborn witch Artie." Cassie scolded.
Sirius sighed heavily, clearly thinking something over. "I do have pictures." He said eventually.
"Pictures! Could we see?" Cassie asked, reigning in the urge to order him to show them.
Sirius pulled a book from the stack and held it out. "It would dishonour the house of Black to disclose the identities of her friends even if the binding doesn't forbid it."
"Of course Sirius." She said, taking the book. Arcturus leant over her shoulder as she turned the pages. "Yes, that's her. The Urien heir and the Uzuhara boy Alan reacted oddly too as well." The pictures of the four children had been taken over the span of at least a year, she thought. Harry looked happy, but - "That boy is far too thin." She frowned. It was less pronounced in the later photos, but he looked significantly underweight in the earliest ones.
Sirius buried his face in his hands. "Yeah." He said. "It's - I think she didn't want me to worry while I was in Azkaban, but she wanted me to go and get him as soon as I got out. He's living with Lily's sister, and they never got along. Shikako said she's looking out for him, but I don't think she'd say that unless something was wrong. She's never said he's ok, she said she was looking out for him. She wouldn't tell him about me until she was sure I was getting out because she 'didn't want to get his hopes up'. I think it's bad." Sirius looked heartbroken, poor boy.
"Custody will be arranged tomorrow morning." Arcturus reminded Sirius.
"We'll need to talk to either Dumbledore or Katherine to get his address." Cassie pointed out.
Sirius scowled. "He didn't believe I was innocent until halfway through the trial."
"Well, if he doesn't agree to hand Harry over then we can ask Katherine. I'll arrange inviting her over. Perhaps thanking her and Sylvanus for their role in bringing in Pettigrew?"
*
*
Cassie is such a fun POV to write. She's awful, but she's fun.
I kind of hate huge portions of this chapter, but changing it wasn't really improving it so here it is.
*
*
Cassie is such a fun POV to write. She's awful, but she's fun.
I kind of hate huge portions of this chapter, but changing it wasn't really improving it so here it is.
Cassie doesn't seem that awful
Date: 2019-02-19 07:43 pm (UTC)I'm also giggling at the idea of Sasuke and Seamus being in the same classroom now. So much fire.
Re: Cassie doesn't seem that awful
Date: 2019-02-20 08:06 am (UTC)("I saw we'd need some mosquito repellent." "Bat mosquito repellent?" "Never should have let you see that tv show."
"Maybe a tampon would help? I don't really know what they are but for some reason I saw the need to take some from your bathroom." "Sometimes your gift is far more horrifying than convenient."
"No, this isn't a seer thing. This is called a being a civilized human being thing. Why don't you have tissues with you?" "Because when your best friend is Batman you can delegate being prepared to her?" "I'm starting to understand why most seers do the flaky act now.")
Re: Cassie doesn't seem that awful
Date: 2019-02-21 01:40 pm (UTC)Then there's overpreparedness, which does seem excessive to anyone without a solid knowledge of how her hammerspace seal works.
Then there's the intelligence - she can figure stuff out that other people haven't noticed.
Then there's the magic sense stuff. She can tell some things about people that she shouldn't know. Sasuke can too. This will probably come up with Hermione I think?
Anyway, family magic is like a distinct thing that's tangible in someone's magic. Shikako can totally tell who people are related to, even if they don't know themselves.
Re: Cassie doesn't seem that awful
Date: 2019-02-21 01:34 pm (UTC)She would do very well in Konoha XD
fire and explosions!
Sasuke and Seamus? How about Naruto and Neville?
Date: 2019-02-20 12:48 am (UTC)Re: Sasuke and Seamus? How about Naruto and Neville?
Date: 2019-02-20 08:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-02-20 06:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-02-21 01:41 pm (UTC)They're Coming together!
Date: 2019-02-22 04:34 am (UTC)Also, Cassie doesn't seem that awful. She definitely could be a little bit but. It's in service of people I like/people she can't really hurt (like Aoba with the verataserum) so... I like her.
Re: They're Coming together!
Date: 2019-02-24 07:57 pm (UTC)Yes, katherine and sylvanus meeting the blacks and harry getting rescued is the next chapter!