Chapter 13: The Quiet and the StormChapter Text
The morning after her fateful encounter with Sirius, Skyla wandered along the edge of the forbidden forest with Hermione and Neville in tow, filling them both in on everything that had happened previously. The common room and the Great Hall both felt far too exposed for such an intimate conversation so they had instead gulped down a hasty breakfast and departed for the edges of the grounds to talk in private, since most students avoided the forest as though it were haunted. Neville still argued that it was, despite Hermione pointing out there were already ghosts in the castle and that one of them even taught a subject. His unease at being so close to the forest was forgotten however when the girls both explained what had happened during the previous day, with Skyla proceeding to inform them both of what, or more specifically who, she had encountered at the bank.
"That's crazy," Neville commented with awe in his his voice at the conclusion of the tale.
"When it rains it pours," Hermione said with a slight shake of her head, "trouble certainly seems to follow you around, doesn't it?"
"Seems that way," Skyla scoffed, "I'm starting to think it must be my magical karma or something."
"Well, maybe not karma exactly but there could be magic at work," Hermione pointed out, "we know so little about magic and even Professor Dumbledore once said that we'll never fully understand all the intricacies of magic, no matter how long we study it. There are all kinds of curses and charms that have lasting effects for years and years; who knows if something magical is actually affecting you. These kind of things don't just happen to people normally, you know."
"My gran told me about how she was cursed once," Neville added, "took her a month to break it and everywhere she went it started raining, but only exactly where she was."
"If that's all the bad luck that I get, I'll take it," Skyla said with a laugh, "something tells me that going forward, I'll have more to worry about than rain."
"So Sirius was just sitting in the vault?" Neville asked curiously, "he didn't come crawling out of the shadows or-"
Skyla laughed, "Yep, the big bad wolf was just sitting right there on the floor. He seemed very surprised to see me; I don't think him or Bleeding Eyes expected me to arrive so soon. Although to be fair, it was only because of Hermione that I was able to convince Hagrid to take me," she added with a find look towards Hermione, "you're such an amazing friend."
Hermione blushed at the praise but waved her off, simply saying, "it's what friends do."
Skyla couldn't help but smile at her for a moment longer, although the smile was short-lived.
"Anyway, about Sirius' tale," Hermione continued thoughtfully, "I find it quite difficult to believe if I'm being honest."
"You think that he's lying?" Skyla asked with a slight frown forming on her face, "I don't think-"
"No, I'm not saying that," Hermione clarified, "I'm sure HE believes it. I just find it too hard to believe that a magical government would be behind the murder of over a dozen muggles in any capacity, even if it was ten years ago. It just sounds like a wild conspiracy theory and I hope you can look at things objectively."
"I don't know much about what the muggle governments are like," Neville said slowly, "but the Ministry isn't exactly known for being full of integrity and morals, you know? I mean, look at the Malfoys. Lucius Malfoy still has a lot of influence there but everyone knows he was a Death Eater. There are others working there as-well who were never found guilty; my gran still blows up about it every now and then how Malfoy, Macnair and Nott managed to get away without imprisonment somehow. Everyone knows they were rotten to the core."
"Sirius was never given a proper trial either," Skyla added, "or any trial at all. No matter what happened with the Ministry, that's still unbelievably unfair and he spent ten years on the run for a crime he didn't commit, regardless of whether the Ministry did it or not."
"That's certainly true," Hermione conceded, "and that alone is outrageous, but… what if he was given a trial and found guilty? What would you do? Wouldn't that be even worse?"
Skyla shrugged, "he's family, so I'll stick by him no matter what. Besides, he has a plan to clear his name and I've got plenty of gold I can throw at whether he needs. I think we can make a good case, and maybe we can even get Sirius something for his time spent on the run."
"I-" Hermione paused for a moment, before continuing in a delicate manner, "I'm just worried that you're getting mixed up in something that might come back around to bite you. What if you get in trouble for helping him? What if you get arrested?"
"It's not like I haven't experienced what a prison is like before," Skyla joked, although Hermione didn't find it particularly funny.
"I don't think this is something that you'll talk her out of," Neville said to Hermione, "and I understand where she is coming from. If I had a chance to… well, I'd take any risk to get my parents back."
"I-" Hermione began hesitantly before pausing, apparently carefully considering her words before she spoke, "I've noticed that you don't talk about your parents much, Neville. Are… are they…?"
Neville shook his head, "they're not dead or anything. It's just complicated."
"Oh, okay…"
Neville sighed softly but simply said, "another time."
Hermione paused for a moment but Neville didn't seem intent on saying anything further, so she was forced to drop the subject.
"I just hope he knows what he's doing," she said to Skyla with a serious look, "you're my best friend. I don't want to see you getting taken away, ever."
"I know," Skyla said with a smile, "and that means a lot to me."
The two stared at each other for a moment, before Neville cleared his throat slightly.
"I'll try not to take offense, then," he joked.
"Oh, sorry Neville I didn't mean to imply-"
"It's alright, I'm just joking. Every girl needs a best friend, right? Or so I've heard, at least."
"I wouldn't know," Hermione said with a small laugh, "since I've never had one before but… well, it's certainly a nice feeling. But you're a very good friend and important to me too."
"That's more than enough for me," Neville said with a smile, "anyway… do you know what Sirius is going to do now?" he asked Skyla.
"He's got a plan but I don't know all the details," Skyla admitted, "I just have to stay here, keep myself out of trouble and continue to pretend that either I don't know he exists, or that I hate him with a passion."
Neville made a sympathetic noise, understanding just how difficult that would be for Skyla to do.
"What was he like?" Hermione asked curiously.
"He… wasn't what I expected, I'll admit," Skyla said thoughtfully, "but I think he seems like a good person. I think I can see why my parents liked him."
"And he didn't kill you or anything," Neville pointed out.
"And he didn't kill me," Skyla agreed with a smile.
"We're really setting the bar high these days aren't we," Hermione scoffed, "come on, we better get to class before we're late."
"Yeah."
"Alright."
The three departed, still chatting as they went, however Skyla couldn't help but feel a strange shiver run down her spine as she left. She had the distinct feeling that someone was watching her, yet when she turned around, there was no-one there. With a shrug, she let it slip from her mind and headed off to class, soon forgetting about the feeling altogether.
***************
Skyla enjoyed an uneventful few weeks after her encounter at the bank (by her standards, at least) and she had almost forgotten about Sirius and his plan entirely as she found herself being submerged into her daily life at Hogwarts. The school was a source of non-stop distractions, especially now that her classes had begun to get more and more interesting as they progressed beyond the introductory lessons and into the heart of their subjects. It turned out over the weeks that followed that Skyla had quite the aptitude for both Defense Against the Dark Arts and Charms, and she was extremely quick to pick up any new spells and master the wand movements flawlessly (to both of her teachers delight). She had grown quite proficient at casting the disarming charm and, with a little help from Remus, had managed to perfect its casting in order to apply exactly the amount of force that she desired (for which Hermione deeply appreciated, having had to pick herself up off the floor multiple times to an apologetic Skyla). She was doing rather well in Potions and Transfiguration, however it was becoming apparent that Hermione was quickly taking the lead in those subjects as they required a lot more theoretical knowledge than they did dexterity or magical power. She was starting to prefer Transfiguration to Potions between the two, as even though she did enjoy the actual potion-making process, she found the classes to be quite strange and increasingly uncomfortable. Their teacher, Professor Snape, was still behaving a little oddly around Skyla and he had started to either randomly award her points out of nowhere, or bully anyone who spoke to her negatively (or spoke to her at all), even among the Slytherins. It was bizarre behaviour from the man and she even caught him simply sitting at his desk and staring at her sometimes, which made her feel more than a little uncomfortable and she tried to mostly ignore him when he did it. Neville was definitely starting to improve his own skills and knowledge due to the amount of time spent studying with the girls, however the only subject that he truly excelled in was Herbology, where he had become the hands-down favourite of Professor Sprout. It worked in their favour however; they all seemed to have areas that they flourished in and areas that they needed help, so the three soon became very accustomed to both learning from, and teaching, each other in their evenings spent together. None of the three were particularly adept at the remaining two subjects, however none of the three particularly cared; no-one was overly concerned about Astronomy (except for Hermione and that was purely for the grading) and History of Magic (where even Professor Binns didn't seem to care about the subject).
With each of them bringing a particular area of interest to the collective study table, it allowed them to focus more in-depth within their subjects and Skyla found herself quickly advancing beyond the first year defensive spells and charms that they had been learning. It had only taken a few weeks for her to start itching her way towards more advanced magic and she had even managed to convince Remus to give her access to the restricted section, with a little help from Hermione, of course.
"Sir," Skyla had politely asked at the end of one of their Defense Against the Dark Arts classes, "may I speak to you for a moment?"
"Please," he said with a chuckle as the other students funneled out of the classroom, though Hermione and Neville remained with Skyla, "I've told you before, call me Remus. Sir sounds so… old. I hope I don't look THAT ragged."
"How are you feeling?" Skyla asked, "you know, after last week."
Remus had been absent from their classes during the previous week due to his poor health and Professor Flitwick had stepped in to teach the class. It made complete sense to Skyla and she was happy about that as the experienced teacher already taught one spell-casting subject; D.A.D.A. was not all that different from Charms at its core, not to mention that everyone knew he was a former dueling champion and had clearly mastered spell-casting in all of its forms. Skyla was a little glad privately that that it hadn't been Professor Snape who had subbed in, although she knew it would be ridiculous for a potions-master to teach a combat subject and that no-one in the right mind would have thought he would make a good substitute.
"Oh, fine, fine," Remus said airily, though his cheeks were still quite gaunt and he looked extremely fatigued, "such is my condition. It's a… complicated medical condition and isn't likely to get better anytime soon, so I may miss more classes in the future unfortunately."
"I'm sorry to hear that," Skyla said sadly, "is there anything I can do?"
Remus smiled, but shook his head.
"No, though many have tried. Don't worry too much about it though, I have learned to manage it well. Anyway, you wanted to ask me something?"
"Oh right. Well, I've been doing some pre-reading and I've gotten a bit further ahead than our current spells-"
"-I had noticed as much," Remus said with a smile.
"-and I wanted to learn some more in-depth magic," she continued, "we were studying in the library and there's a section there that is restricted-"
"-the Restricted Section, yes," Remus pointed out, "incidentally named so because it is restricted."
"Well we couldn't help but have a quick peek in from the entrance," Skyla admitted, "and some of those books sound so interesting! I really want to study some, I bet I could learn so much, but Madam Prince was rather… aggressive in getting us to leave-"
"She hasn't changed over the years then," Remus said with a laugh.
"-and we were thinking… if we had permission from a teacher…"
"So you want me to give you a note that allows you to rummage around in the Restricted Section," Remus said with a slight smile on his lips, "simply to satisfy your curiosity?"
"Uh…"
Skyla paused and looked over to her friends for help.
"Well sir, if I may," Hermion began.
"Remus," he corrected.
"Remus… sir," Hermione said impulsively, causing the group to laugh. She blushed slightly, but continued.
"We've all spoken about… Sirius Black," she said quietly, causing Remus' to straighten up slightly and a serious expression to form on his face, "and we know about your plan to go and find him during the holidays, but even Skyla wouldn't be any help right now, not without learning more advanced magic. I'm actually on your side with this and think that she shouldn't be involved at all, but if she wants to be involved, I would very much like for her to at least have a few advanced spells up her sleeve in case she needs them. First year magic wouldn't do any good against Sirius Black would it?"
"No, you're right about that," Remus said with a frown, "in a duel I don't think even I would be able to best him, honestly."
"And even if Skyla was learning seventh year content, Sirius would know it all and counter it easily," Hermione continued, "but… if she knew something unexpected, something from the Restricted Section…"
Remus stared at her thoughtfully for a moment.
"There is magic within those shelves that Sirius would not have encountered, its true," Remus said quietly, "but it is restricted for a reason. Those aren't spells that grow boils or break bones; there are spells in those books that damage souls and take lives. They are not spells for children to settle grudges with or-"
"I have no interest in using those spells on any other students," Skyla said truthfully, "I just want to be able to defend Si-myself, if I have to."
If Remus noticed her slip up, he didn't mention it as he observed her thoughtfully.
"I have to admit, the thought you having a few extra spells in your arsenal to keep yourself safe does help to put my own mind at ease. I worry about you."
After a long pause, he eventually sighed and gave in.
"I'll give you your access," he eventually said, causing Skyla to beam in response, "however you must promise me you won't use that magic unless you absolutely need to. I am trusting you with this."
"I promise," Skyla said eagerly, "I have absolutely no intention of using any magic on anyone."
"You best be careful in there, those books can be dangerous by their own right," Remus advised as he scribbled down his note, "if you have any doubts about a book ask Madam Prince immediately. Don't take any risks."
"I won't, I promise."
With an entirely new world of spells and magical knowledge at her fingertips (and a shocked, almost offended, Madam Prince breathing down her neck as she begrudgingly gave her access), Skyla ended up spending most of her time within the Restricted Section, pouring over book after book in awe. She learned that some of the enchanted books yelled profanities at her when she opened them (which was extremely distracting when trying to read the contents), some tried to bite her hand as though they had teeth and Madam Prince had cautioned her against opening a few particularly nasty books at all as they would curse her if she was unprepared. True to her word, she had consulted with Madam Prince about most of the books within the shelves before touching them and the terse librarian seemed to at least appreciate the fact that Skyla was being extremely cautious and respectful of the dangers they presented. Remus' permission technically only extended to Skyla as a 'special case', so Hermione was forced to wait outside the Restricted Section and study her own books with a very jealous expression that Skyla rather enjoyed teasing her about from time to time.
With her head full of thoughts about a strange spell that she had discovered within an archaic tome, Skyla hadn't even noticed that someone was trying to get her attention as she leaned against the wall, waiting to go into Potions class on Friday morning and absently staring at the ground.
"Skyla? Skyla? Hello?"
"Hm?"
She blinked rapidly to see that Ron Weasley was standing in front of her, while Neville watched on with surprise and Hermione looked rather angry and defensive at the mere sight of him.
"Hey, can I talk to you? In private?"
Skyla blinked in surprise as Ron reached out and tugged on her sleeve gently, indicating down the corridor and away from the other waiting students (who were attempting to soak in the last few moments of 'freedom' before having to enter the dreaded potions lab). Hermione immediately stepped closer and stood beside Skyla protectively, however Ron simply held up his hands in surrender.
"I'm not going to do anything," he said wearily, "I just want to talk to her."
"It's alright," Skyla said gently to Hermione, "we'll just go over here."
"If he tries anything-"
Skyla patted Hermione gently on the arm in a soothing manner.
"I'll be fine."
Hermione continued to watch like a hawk as the two stepped aside, while Neville simply leaned against the wall and waited with a curious look on his face.
"So… how are you?" Skyla asked carefully as they walked out of earshot from the others, "you know… after… the howler and everything…"
Ron visibly shuddered at the memory of his mother's voice blasting him from the angry red letter that he had received after his fight with Draco. It was always unpleasant to receive a howler, however receiving one during breakfast within the Great Hall, in front of all of the students, was another thing altogether. Skyla had pitied Ron in the moment and even Hermione had bit her tongue, instead deciding to talk about their Charms homework to distract themselves.
"The less said about that the better," he said with a shake of his head, still clearly traumatised by the event, "but I did what McGonagall suggested. I just kept my cool, said sorry to Malfoy, didn't make a fuss about anything and in the end, I just had my detentions and loss of points. I'm never going back into that trophy room though. Never."
"Wasn't Malfoy's father furious?" Skyla asked curiously, "from what I know of him I thought he would try to get you expelled."
"Well, turns out that he doesn't actually have the power to do that," Ron said with a slight laugh, "as much as Draco talks him up, it's only McGonagall or Dumbledore who can actually do that. Malfoy can only make a motion to remove a staff member or change the curriculum, as McGonagall pointed out to him in our 'meeting'."
Ron smirked slightly at what was apparently a fond memory.
"I tell you, it almost made it all worth it," Ron said, "seeing McGonagall tearing Malfoy's dad a new one about him 'overstepping his authority' and 'encroaching on educational matters for his personal gains'. I thought she might have suspended me or something, but she ended up defending me in the end. Crazy."
"That's good then."
"Yeah, I got off pretty light all things considered," Ron admitted quietly, "I know that now. I actually felt a bit bad about putting McGonagall in that situation, to be honest. No… I felt like a right arse, truth be told. All because I couldn't control myself."
"Have you told Professor McGonagall that?" Skyla asked, to which Ron shook his head.
"Maybe you should. I think she'd like to hear that."
"Yeah… maybe… well, anyway, that's not why I dragged you aside."
"So what is?"
"Quidditch trials are starting on the weekend," Ron explained, "I thought I would give you a heads up that Gryffindors trials are tomorrow. I only know 'cause my brothers are in the team from last year, but even they didn't tell me until today. No-one really bothers to tell the first years since no-one ever makes it on the team."
"Okay. Uh, why are you telling me this?"
Skyla waited for the continuation, but Ron simply looked at her blankly.
"I might have been arguing with Malfoy for half of it, but that doesn't mean I didn't see you fly. I taught my sister, Ginny, how to fly and you are way ahead of where she was when she started. I reckon' that you could be pretty good if you practiced. Not everyone has that ability."
Skyla stared at him blankly, "wait, so you think I should tryout for… quidditch? Me?"
"Why not?" he said with a shrug, "it's not that first years aren't allowed on the team it's just that they can't have their own brooms, so the quidditch teams don't like to advertise to first years since it means that someone on the team will be riding a school broom and that puts them at a disadvantage."
"But doesn't that mean I won't make the team?" Skyla asked pointedly, "so won't I just be wasting my time?"
"Well, Fred and George both said the team struggled last year and the captain might look to make some changes," Ron said thoughtfully, "apparently they got flattened last year, bottom of the table, though they both blame the old seeker who graduated. 'Couldn't catch a cold' Fred said."
"Are you trying out?" Skyla asked curiously, "you know how to fly too."
"Maybe," he said vaguely, "I mean… if someone else is going from first year I'll go, but, I don't want to be the only one…"
"Ah, so that's why you want me to go," Skyla teased with a laugh, "so that I can look foolish out there and make you look better."
"No, not at all-" Ron began quickly, "-I-"
"I'm just joking," Skyla said with a smile, "I mean… I don't really care about quidditch if I'm being honest, but I do kind of want to fly again. It was fun."
"So you'll go?" Ron asked enthusiastically.
"Well... why not I guess," Skyla eventually said with a shrug, "sure. I'll look like an idiot, but-"
"It's only trials," Ron said dismissively, "it will just be the old team and a few new people trying out. Besides, it's not like anyone else from our year looked… well, stable, in the air. There might not even be much competition if we're lucky."
"Always nice to be picked as a last resort," Skyla joked.
Their conversation was interrupted as Professor Snape approached them in the corridor on his way to the classroom.
"Giving Weasley lessons, Skyla?" Snape said with a slight sneer, "a wise move. We might all be able to avoid being poisoned by his fumes today."
Skyla shifted uncomfortably in silence while Ron's ears turned slightly red in anger, but he said nothing in response and eventually Snape stalked off towards the classroom with one final disdainful look at Ron.
"I really, really, dislike him," Ron said with a frown, "he's become a right prick to everyone lately, and that's saying something."
"He's… been very odd," Skyla admitted.
"And he calls everyone by their last name except you."
That hadn't escaped her notice, though she didn't know what to make of that.
"Anyway… as I was saying, the trials are tomorrow at 11 o'clock down at the quidditch pitch. I'll meet you there."
Ron headed in the direction of the classroom to catch up with Seamus and Dean, nodding briefly to Neville, and even Hermione, as he passed by.
"So what the hell did he want?" Hermione asked quickly after Skyla returned and they shuffled inside.
"He wants me to go to the quidditch tryouts with him," Skyla said with a shrug.
"And? You told him to get stuffed, right?"
"I said I would go," Skyla replied nonchalantly, causing Hermione's mouth to drop open in shock.
"Why?"
"I want to fly again," Skyla said simply.
"Is-is that the only reason?" Hermione asked.
"Yes… why? Why else would I go?" Skyla asked, confused.
"No reason… that's, that's good," Hermione said absently, though she still had a slight frown on her face, to Skyla's great confusion. Eventually, she simply shrugged and forgot about it; Hermione and Ron had their fair share of unpleasant exchanges thus far and it was clear that the two didn't particularly like each other, so she was probably just being annoyed at Ron in general. He had actually been pleasant enough to talk to for a change and Skyla could see that his unpleasant run in with Malfoy and McGongall (and his howler) had caused him to think twice about his behaviour. She could only hope that it was the start of something new for the boy, though she had her suspicions that Hermione was very unlikely to offer forgiveness anytime soon. Not that any of it really mattered; she was going to show up tomorrow, probably fall off her broom or something and walk off being a laughing stock of the school. She'd probably be with Ron for all of ten minutes and she'd never get on a broom again.
"Quidditch, huh?" Neville asked, "have you played before?"
"Never," Skyla laughed, "I haven't done any training or even flown properly before. I'm not going to make the team, that would be ridiculous."
***************
"This is ridiculous," Ron said with exasperation the following afternoon as they looked over the Gryffindor quidditch team roster that was posted in the common room, with 'Skyla Potter' listed squarely under the 'seeker' position.
"Hey you're the one who wanted me to try out," she pointed out with a laugh, "you said I might make the team."
"Yeah but I didn't think you would make seeker!" he said with a shake of his head, "it's a really important position, and you're the youngest seeker in a century! The last one was Eddie Green and he went on to be both Captain and Head Boy."
Skyla raised an eyebrow at him.
"The trophy room," he simply said with a shudder.
Skyla laughed before replying, "I literally got lucky, I've told you this."
"You don't have to be humble between us."
"It was actually luck, though!"
"Uh huh."
"Eurgh. No-one believes me."
The trials themselves had been a lot quieter than she had expected as there weren't many other people attempting to make the team. She had spoken to the Captain, Oliver Wood, and explained that she was just here to fly around and to have a bit of a go, and he had seemed surprisingly understanding.
"We'll give you a fair go at all the roles then," he had said with a nod, "see if there's any spark there, see what works for you."
After being made to fly around with the other trialing students for awhile to test their maneuverability (in which Skyla felt she did okay, but she could definitely feel the limits of the broom impacting her performance), the prospects were then broken up for positional trials and drills. Skyla had no idea what the positions even were, or what they did, so Wood simply had her float from group to group to give everything a try. Skyla quite enjoyed playing with the 'chaser' group; the other students there were quite welcoming and friendly, and throwing the ball around together while flying was a lot of fun; although it was slightly intimidating playing with the older students, especially the confident, good-looking and extremely skilled trio who played last year. Angelina Johnson, Alicia Spinnet and Katie Bell flew together seamlessly and with their obvious experience and skill, there was simply no way that Wood could ever choose anyone else as chasers. The second year tryout, Lucas King, gave the girls a decent run for their money and Skyla was quite impressed at his ability to both fly with finesse and score goals from very long range; if the other three didn't have as much synergy together she could see Lucas taking a spot, but he didn't seem particularly off-put at not having made the main roster.
"I'm so behind in transfiguration," Lucas had admitted to Skyla with a chuckle when they had taken a break, flicking his wavy blonde hair back behind his white headband, "honestly it's probably better for me not to make the team. I could use the extra study time. What made you want to tryout?"
"I… I just wanted to fly," she admitted in a quiet voice which made him chuckle further.
"A fair a reason as any."
Once Skyla had seen the 'beaters' in action, which were only Fred and George Weasley, she knew that position was certainly not going to be the one for her. The two flew seamlessly together and struck with finesse and skill, all the while leaving Skyla wondering how on earth they managed to be so accurate while striking a ball with such a heavy bat in the air. When she had tried her hand at it at Wood's insistence, she had instead sent the thick club flying through the air and Wood was forced to dive out of the way of the oncoming concussion, to the general laughter of the team and the bright red face of Skyla.
"I'm thinking beater might not be your forte," Wood admitted to an apologetic Skyla, waving her apologies off nonchalantly.
Skyla didn't even bother with trying out for the 'keeper' position as that was what Ron was trialing for and she had no intention of reducing his chances at making the team. It turned out that Wood himself played keeper for the team and surprisingly, when that had been revealed, Ron had tried to withdraw his tryout and mumbled to Wood about maybe trying for a 'back up spot or something' instead.
"No spot is guaranteed," Wood had simply said and refused to accept his withdrawal, "even mine. We will compete fairly for the position and if you win it out, you win it out. No hard feelings. Whatever gets us the win is all I care about, whether I play or coach from the sidelines."
Skyla had to admit that Ron was far better at the position than she had expected and he had surprisingly good reflexes, but in-spite of all of that, Wood was quite plainly the superior keeper. Skyla had wondered how Ron would take it, but Ron had simply shaken Wood's hand and thanked him for the opportunity, though he looked a little pained as he did so.
'If only Hermione could see this,' Skyla had thought to herself with a chuckle.
Eventually, the time had come for Skyla and the other prospective seeker, a third year boy called Leon Williams, who had short dark brown hair and a playful aura, to undergo their trials for the position.
"What… what does a seeker do, exactly?" Skyla asked hesitantly when Wood had taken the two aside. She had been prepared to be laughed at, but neither of the boys did anything other than answer her question seriously, which she appreciated.
"It's pretty straight forward, don't worry," Leon had said with a nod.
"Your job as a Seeker is incredibly simple," Wood explained as he held up a tiny golden ball in his fingers that looked no bigger than a golf ball, and showed it to her.
"You catch this, the team gets one hundred and fifty points and stops the game. You catch this, we win."
"I feel like there's a catch," Skyla said with a nervous laugh.
"Ha! Good one!" Leon laughed appreciatively, though Skyla hadn't realised she had made a joke at all.
Wood smirked slightly and he let the ball go; two tiny golden wings unfolded from the sides and beat rapidly in the wind, hovering in the air for a moment before all of a sudden, the ball darted off in the blink of an eye. The ball was lightning fast and once Skyla had lost track of it, it had all but disappeared from view.
"Woah!"
"Tricky little buggers," Wood commented, "damn near impossible to see and even harder to get your hands on. The game doesn't end until the snitch has been caught so if you don't have a good Seeker, you're gonna be playing for awhile."
"The game doesn't end?" Skyla asked in surprise, "what, ever?"
"Well, unless a team concedes," Wood pointed out, "and if you're down two thousand to a hundred, you might just cut your losses and go home, at least at our level. The longest professional match ever went for three months, but I doubt they'd let a school match go for that long without someone conceding."
"Three months?"
"They rotated out the players," Wood explained, "that's why it pays to have good reserves in the major leagues."
"So what's our trial, Wood?" Leon asked, "catch the snitch?"
"Exactly that," Wood nodded, "the one who brings me the snitch gets the spot, clear and simple."
"Nice."
"But it could be anywhere," Skyla said slowly, with a slight frown.
"It's restricted to the quidditch pitch," Wood clarified, "and it can't go much higher than the stands so it won't be up in the clouds or anything. It's around here somewhere."
"I'll be back in a minute," Leon said with a grin and a wink to Skyla as he mounted his broom and quickly shot off into the sky. Not wanting to be left behind, Skyla quickly jumped on her own broom and took off, dashing around the field while looking intently for any sign of the small ball.
Surprisingly, it didn't take her very long as she almost collided with it when it suddenly flew straight past her face, causing her to pull up. She swiped at the air wildly on pure instinct and when she looked down, she realised that she had the small golden ball in her hand and she watched it tuck its wings away neatly into its body, conceding defeat. It was quite pretty and very detailed, now that she was looking at it up close.
"Huh. How about that."
She laughed as she flew back to Wood, who wasn't even watching and was talking to Angelina about something else while she and Leon had been searching for the snitch (Leon was still roaming the skies, unaware that Skyla had even caught it).
"Well, uh, here you go," she said sheepishly as she handed a surprised Wood the snitch.
"What? Already?"
He ogled her hand and true enough, the golden snitch was sitting comfortably on her outstretched palm, right over her distinctive star-shaped scar.
"That can't have been more than a minute."
Wood stared at her for so long that she began to fidget uncomfortably.
"It was pure luck, honestly," she said truthfully, "it just kind of… showed up. We should probably do it again…"
Wood shook his head however.
"I set the rules of the challenge and they were clear. Besides, finding the snitch is only half the battle; the hard part is catching it, which you did. In under a minute."
"I mean, 'finding' is a strong word, I almost ate it-"
"Alright everyone!" Wood suddenly announced, "I've decided on the roster!"
"But, wait-"
So it was that Skyla and Ron found themselves later that day staring at the Gryffindor quidditch team roster posted in the common room, joined shortly after by both Hermione and Neville.
"Wow, you made the team," Neville said, sounding impressed.
"Pure luck, honestly," Skyla said with a shake of her head, "it truly was."
"Bit of bad luck for you though Ron," Neville said sadly, "but maybe next year?"
"Wood is just too good, and the team doesn't really need a back-up Keeper," Ron sighed, "not when Leon and Lucas are the reserves. They're both a lot better than me so it's probably for the best."
"Humility from Ron? Never thought I would see the day," Hermione scoffed. Ron frowned at her but he bit his tongue, which only served to surprise Hermione further. Skyla smirked slightly and gave Ron a reassuring smile to indicate that she appreciated his efforts at establishing some form of neutrality.
"I still can't believe I'm on the team honestly," Skyla admitted with a dry laugh, "I've never been on a team before and I have no idea what I'm doing. I've never even watched a sport before. I can't help but wonder if this is a bad idea… I hope no-one expects too much from me."
Unfortunately for Skyla, low expectations were not something she was graced with once news of her selection had circled the school (in a remarkably short time). As if she wasn't famous enough from her defeat of the Dark Lord, her incredibly successful parents and her own D.A.D.A. and Charms prowess, she was now the youngest seeker in a century (as everyone liked to remind her) after catching the snitch in under a minute (though no-one seemed to let her explain that the snitch had restrictions on it). It was certainly nice being spoken to with positivity by everyone in the corridors as she had suddenly become the shining beacon of Gryffindor, even to the older students, yet it came at a cost as most of the interactions also added a heavy pressure to her already stressful life.
"Can't wait to see you play, Skyla! I bet you'll be even better than your dad was."
"Gryffindor are going to win it all this year for sure with the Girl-Who-Lived playing seeker! I bet ten galleons on it this morning with Lee! Don't let me down, Skyla! … cause… I don't actually have it…"
"Can I get an autograph? I bet it will be worth loads later when you go pro!"
She could feel the weight on her shoulders growing by the day and it was only Hermione who seemed to have any concerns other than the winning record that Gryffindor was primed to have.
"We'll have to factor training times into the study schedule," she had pointed out one evening in the common room with a slight frown, "this will complicate things. How often do you train with the team?"
"Twice a week."
Laughter from behind her caused her to turn around and she spotted the older Gryffindor chasers, Alicia, Angelina and Katie chucking and leaning on the back of Skyla's lounge.
"Twice a week she says," Alicia laughed.
"Oh the poor dear," Angelina sighed, "the beauty of innocence."
"You just wait," Katie said grimly, "it's twice a week now, but then there will be 'a team meeting' here and a 'strategy and tactics get-together' there…"
"I hope we at least get through the rest of the month before Wood starts pulling the six o'clock starts on us," Alicia said with a frown, "I swear, if he makes us freeze our tits off in that stupid 'cold weather' challenge again-"
"But we'll be better prepared for the cold!" Katie added in a mocking voice, to the laughter of the other girls, "because who's ever heard of wearing gloves, right?"
"We won't really be training at six, will we?" Skyla asked hesitantly, "not during the winter?"
The flat expressions she received from the older girls made her suddenly grow a deeper appreciation for the warm and cosy bed waiting for her upstairs.
Surprisingly, even Lavender and Parvati seemed to have changed their tune once they found out that Skyla was the new seeker and a hot commodity once again.
"I didn't know you were the sporty type, that's kind of cool," Lavender had said to Skyla with interest as the girls got ready for bed, "I thought you were just into books."
"Everyone knows her father was a legend at the sport," Parvati pointed out, "I bet she inherited it from him. Did you play a lot while growing up?"
"Never been on a broom before our flying lessons," Skyla admitted.
"Even more impressive," Parvati said with an appreciative look.
"I bet you're gonna get loads of attention from the boys now," Lavender suddenly giggled, "you might want to do something with your hair, you know."
"What? Why?"
"Why? To look good! What if one of the older boys wants to…"
Lavender and Parvati both broke down into wild giggles together, while Hermione simply rolled her eyes at the immaturity and Skyla looked on in confusion.
In the end, between her new responsibilities of attempting to fit into a new team, learn a professionally played sport from the ground up, study the Restricted Section for advanced magic and stay on top of a strict homework schedule, she had almost forgotten entirely about Sirius' troubles back at the bank.
***************
Unlike Skyla, who was living her rather frantic life in the cold north, Sirius was finding himself stuck in a very slow, and very boring, rut back down in the south. He had spent the last few weeks of his life trawling through long, tedious books on criminal law and historical trials, cutting out old newspaper articles that mentioned him, recording his memories into vials sorted by date… he was almost starting to wonder if life in prison would have been the better option.
At least now that Bleeding Eyes knew Skyla was onboard, Sirius had a much more comfortable time in his vault; a proper comfortable bed, shower facilities, a desk and even a small kitchenette, fully stocked with food, had been added to the vault. He had been provided with everything that he needed to be comfortable and to start his work, though being trapped underground was already starting to wear on his senses (not that the goblins saw long periods of time spent underground as 'unhealthy'). Skyla had told him that she had lived in an underground cellar and he wondered how she hadn't gone mad if this was all she had ever seen; four walls and a door that hardly ever opened.
The peaceful time in the vault had at least given him a chance to reflect, and he knew in hindsight that he had handled his first interaction with Skyla rather poorly. She had certainly seemed happy enough when she had left and his head was still attached to his shoulders, which was always a bonus, but he knew that he hadn't exactly come across as a mature and responsible adult that was ready to take care of her. Not that he felt he was, having spent the last ten years primarily in his animal form, but he would have liked to at least appeared that way. He knew that he had adopted more of the rough, rugged nature of the creature within than he would have liked; his mental state was still adjusting to being back in his human form and he was still getting used to having a shower or eating with a knife and fork.
Still, he felt as though he was making good progress. It was going to be a long and painful journey for him and he knew it as he attempted to slowly piece his evidence together, bit by bit, from anything that he could scrounge up. His memories would be a key piece of evidence, but he knew that he needed much more than that to put together a solid presentation for the Gringotts board.
With step one of his plan completed and with Skyla having pledged her support, he was now faced with the far more difficult task of getting the bank to do the same. He knew that any form of human support would be unlikely; even if he wanted to try he couldn't exactly go asking around the magical community at large for support as he would no doubt end up in duel after duel the moment anyone saw his face. Some witches and wizards had long memories. While gaining the goblins' favour might do little to support his cause in the public's eyes, the Ministry would certainly begin to pay attention if they thought their gold and property were at risk, and that was the true response that Sirius needed. If there was one thing that the Ministry was paranoid of it was the goblins taking over, so any movement on their part within the political scene would send shockwaves throughout the government.
Shockwaves that Sirius could ride to freedom.
"Remember, I can only get you in for a meeting with the board," Bleeding Eyes had reminded him, "but I can do no more than that. You'll have one chance to convince the board that it's worth backing you, otherwise both of our heads will be sitting on pikes in the caverns below."
Sirius had gotten the distinct impression that Bleeding Eyes was being very literal with the threat.
Even with his access to Skyla's resources (though he hadn't used any gold yet) it would prove to be a very difficult task. Goblins were notorious for their desire for wealth and power so it would be on Sirius to demonstrate the potential gains to the board who were, as Bleeding Eyes described, 'the greediest and most difficult goblins you will ever speak with'. He already knew that proving his innocence would mean nothing to the goblins and they needed more than just a vault full of gold to act; they needed promises of power, and perhaps even of revenge. If he could convince them of that, all he would need to do would be to work the proving of his innocence into the deal somewhere.
He sighed softly and continued his work, wondering idly what Skyla was up to. He supposed she was studying, or more likely playing with her friends (who was he kidding; a student at Hogwarts, studying? That would be the day). He still found it rather crazy that his goddaughter, after ten years, had suddenly returned into the fold and he hadn't thought that he would miss her already after having only met her the once, but he did. Still, who could blame him; she was beautiful and well spoken, if perhaps a little… unusual. His heart weighed heavily with the guilt of having failed to protect her, yet it was also swollen with pride at how the girl had turned out, despite her difficult childhood. He certainly had a thousand (rather angry) questions that he wanted to ask of his former friends and allies and fully intended to when he got the chance, however he could do nothing about Skyla until he was proven innocent and he used his guilt, anger and frustration to fuel his energy as he continued to power through the seemingly endless piles of books and articles in front of him that Bleeding Eyes had scrounged up from the goblin archives (or more specifically, ordered a lower level goblin to do).
Sirius had never been the bookish type; he learned best from seeing and doing, so the task of deciphering all of the legal and technical language that he was reading was quite a challenge for him. He knew that if all went well, he would have the aid of the goblins and their legal representatives in the future to help truly cement the plan, however he still needed to learn enough about his own situation to be able to present a case to the board that would survive their rigorous dissection. This meant that he had to learn more than he ever thought he would need to know about not only magical law, but historical trials and the history of the goblins and their wars. He knew very little about both, which was unsurprising to anyone; who actually paid attention in History of Magic class anyway? Not even his own History of Magic teacher had the patience to sit through that, and he had been dead for a hundred years.
With another sigh and a shake of his head to try and clear out the cobwebs, he focused back into his reading and attempted to once again decipher exactly what a 'impleader' and 'interpleader' were.
***************
"At last… I have returned home."
The flicker of a dark, grim shadow wavered against the imposing oak tree that it clung to, peering out from the edge of the dense forest, as close to the bright light and vibrancy of the Hogwarts school grounds as it dared to approach. The shadow almost appeared to have the shape of a man, yet the edges of his form ruffled in the wind and sewed darkness onto the shriveling ground behind him, where the foliage itself seemed to wilt and fade at his unnatural presence. Two bright, scarlet eyes observed the scene before him and he spoke to himself in a warbled, unsettling voice that simply did not belong in this world.
"It is her."
He watched the happy students that were flying around the quidditch pitch before him on brooms, wearing red and gold robes that shimmered in the sunlight while passing the sporting balls back and forth between them, clearly practicing quidditch drills for an upcoming season. He disregarded the others as inconsequential and focused instead onto the one single girl who was darting through the air, rapidly swerving and weaving through the other players without a worry or care as she chased a dazzling, golden ball through the sky. Her long black hair was tied behind her head and he could just make out her determined green eyes starting intently at the snitch as she chased it. The girl was quite fast and was clearly talented, given that he could see she was using an old school broom (it might have even been a broom from when he himself attended school), yet she was able to keep up with, and eventually close her fist around, the notoriously fast and agile golden snitch. She had a triumphant look upon her face as she held it up in the air and called out to what appeared to be the Captain, asking for him to reset the snitch. He had to admit that she was quite a beautiful girl as far as aesthetics went; even from a distance the girl looked exactly like her charismatic mother who had captured even Severus' cold, dead heart. He didn't need to see her face to know exactly who she was, however; he could feel her. He could feel her magic striking through the air as if it were bolts of powerful lightning and he could feel her presence in his mind like a whisper in his ear, taunting him with maddening words that mocked his very existence. It was these feeling that had drawn him back to Hogwarts after all those years had passed; he had always felt something in the back of his mind as he had wandered through the dark corners world, drifting from one country to another, floating from one backwater to the next, sifting through the mind of one desperate muggle to the next depraved wretch. He was not dead as he had been kept from death by his own precautions while he had walked among the living, yet even he could not say truly say that he was alive. He simply existed in the nether as a shadow; a ghost who walked among the living, as a certain woman had so astutely said all those years ago.
It was only recently that he had felt a magic that was powerful enough to stir him from his wandering slumber as he drifted alone through the shadows. He could still see it within his mind; the cause of his awakening. That first lightning bolt of power, so exhilarating and refreshing. He watched as a young girl gasped with shock and inspected the extravagant, flourished letters that swirled in beautiful loops across the front of the perfectly sealed envelope that she held within her small, delicate and suddenly trembling hands. He knew what the letter was, yet it wasn't the Hogwarts letter that had generated the powerful burst of magic that had attracted his wandering mind and given him his sense back. It had been the feeling of hope, brought forth within the hands and the heart of the trembling girl. He knew it well, there were none who knew it better than him; he who had come from the lowest of origins to rise and become the most powerful wizard in the world. He knew the very cellar that the girl apparently lived in; he himself had been down there, so many years ago. He had taken a young boy down with him when he was first learning to control his magic, and experimented in ways that others might have deemed 'unethical'. He watched as the girl read her own name on the letter in surprise, an overwhelming sense of being flooding the girl's senses as she mumbled the name to herself, over and over. Such a small thing, such a precious thing, the power of a name. There were none who knew that power better than he, Lord Voldemort, who had cast away his old name and taken on a mantle that the world would fear to speak.
Something about the memory caused a strange stirring within himself. He knew that it was not sympathy; he felt no such weakness. Perhaps it was regret? If so, he regretted only that the girl had not been born under different circumstances. She could have been trained to serve him no doubt, and she would have been a powerful tool but he knew that wistfully wishing for the past to change was the way of fools, and the way of the weak, like Dumbledore. He had no room for such thoughts. Not he. Not the Dark Lord. He looked only to the future now, and he knew exactly what the future would hold for him.
To regain his form, he knew that he needed to find the one who had been his downfall. He knew that she was the key to returning himself to a body. Any body.
Her body, if he must.
The shadow retreated back into the safety of the dark forest, the beginnings of a plan starting to form within his clever, insidious and most definitely unethical mind.