2 - Jinxed It

¶Dragon Tongue¶

√Parseltongue√

°Wolf Language°

Thoughts

"Spoken words"

{Flashback scenes}

×Animagus communication×

The time it took her to overcome the shock of having another wizard in her house was already well used by Sirius, who had analyzed the situation and went over to knock on the door of the cupboard under the stairs.

The Head of Gryffindor was met with a skinny boy with dark-blond hair and fearful greenish-blue eyes quivering in a corner of the cupboard.

"Get out of there. Mr. Black wants to speak with you." Even though I doubt how anyone wants to talk to you freak. The second half of Petunia Dursley's sentences hung in the air, unspoken yet resonating, as she snapped at her son.

Sirius raised an eyebrow. He had expected something similar to this but yet it caught him off guard. What kind of person locked their child in a cupboard?

Dudley stood in front of Sirius, his thin frame shaking like a leaf. He did not dare to look up in fear of being punished for it. The boy flinched as the envelope with his Hogwarts letter was thrusted into his hands.

"Here. I assume this is yours." Sirius smiled encouragingly - but wheeled around when an unbelievably fat 5-year-old girl wobbled down the stairs. His cheerful expression turned into one of disgust as he heard the child shriek. "Mummyyy!! Why is that freak out of the cupboard?" Petunia, on the other hand, smiled and said "Don't worry, Popkin. He's about to leave so we won't be bothered by him anymore. His living costs are getting too high anyway."

That was it.

Sirius' voice was as cold as stone as he spoke. "I advise you to not speak like this about a member of your family. Besides, how fucked up do you have to be to lock a child in a cupboard? Explain that to me."

Petunia sneered at the Black heir and replied: "I do not regard this freak as family. Take him, leave my house right now and don't even dare to come back."

She didn't bat an eye as she disowned her son.

With a disturbingly cold smile, Sirius shot back: "Lily was right when she said you were a cruel, heartless woman with no respect for what is beyond her possibilities. By the way, she decided to adopt Dudley in case you insolent bitch turned your back on him. This just happened so we're off. Good riddance."

The wizard summoned Dudley's belongings into a satchel bag and Apparated the two of them to Diagon Alley.

They sat down at Florean Fortescue's ice cream parlour and the older wizard ordered two sundaes. He glanced at his companion and stated: "Ask away. Trust me, I know that look of a million questions crossing one's mind." At that offer, Dudley asked one question.

"Sir, can you tell me more about my aunt? Mother didn't want her to be mentioned." His voice was small and timid, as if he wasn't used to speaking freely.

"Of course I can."

-(later because I'm too lazy to write all of that)-

James had just arrived at Diagon Alley and walked over to Fortescue's to greet the two figures sitting outside. "Hi, Padfoot. Nice to meet you, Dudley. Did everything go as planned?" The young latter gave him a shy smile and answered: "Yes, Uncle James. Thank you for taking me in...", only to be cut short by James. "Please don't call me 'Uncle', I'm not that old yet. James is enough. Let's get going, we still have business here."

And off they went. Sirius, on the other hand, was held back by Florean Fortescue. "Um, Lord Black? Do you have a minute?"

"What is it, Mr. Fortescue?"

The shopkeeper looked around and whispered something that sent shivers down Sirius' spine.

"Lucius Malfoy escaped from Azkaban this morning. I believe he seeks revenge, regarding the fact that you have taken his son in your care. Please be cautious."

Sirius' breath caught in his throat. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. He needed a minute to regain his speech, his voice was deadly as he succeeded. "First of all, that bastard killed my cousin while her son was in the room. Second, Draco may be blood-related to him but he accepted me as his father figure. If old Lucy plans to lay hands on any family of mine, he will have his arse kicked in every aspect of royalty. He doesn't know what awaits him." Damn. That. Felt. Good.

Fortescue gulped and retreated to the inside of his parlour while Sirius Apparated to Black Manor and called a family council.

Regulus, Godric, Fred, George, Draco and the two house elves Kreacher and Dobby sat around the kitchen table and waited for Sirius to address the issue.

"Lucius Malfoy fled from Azkaban. He's expected to be after us. Normally, I am not a person to do this but it's different now. I expect you, Draco, George and Fred, to stay inside the boundaries of the Manor wards unless you ask Regulus, Godric or me to accompany you. This isn't a joke."

Silence.

Godric signed. I'll reinforce the present wards and add up new ones. After that, he won't be able to get through without exploding.

Then Regulus spoke up. "Kreacher, Dobby, you are to check every single visitor with Veritaserum I'm going to brew today. Might be possible that he's using Polyjuice Potion to trick us."

Sirius personally took the task to inform Remus and James in the evening.

-(meanwhile, with Prongs)-

James Apparated to the front gates of a large residence (picture above, taken at the Miniature Wonderland in Hamburg. Imagine three extra floors and then you have the thing I'm talking about) and waited for Dudley to process the shock of apparition. "Welcome to Potter Manor. Home sweet home." Dudley just stood there, mouth slightly ajar and looking shell-shocked.

James chuckled and waved his hand in front of the boy's face. "Hello, Earth to Dudley. Would you like to see your room first or have lunch?"

The young wizard snapped out of his thoughts, mentally slapping himself. This isn't good... Why can't I pay attention for once?. "Erm, if it's no trouble, I'd like to see my room, please..." and flinched immediately, fearing the punishment for speaking.

-(skipping the tour cause why not)-

James slid down the stair handrail and couldn't help but go "Weeeeeeeeee", which scared the wits out of Dudley at first, who'd never seen an adult acting that silly. On the final landing, the Transfiguration professor stopped on his feet and walked over to the kitchen, where two women were talking in quiet, urging voices.

One had long, auburn hair and wore an emerald green top combined with jeans that emphasized her remarkably green eyes, the other woman had curly caramel-brown hair and wore a black jumpsuit thingy that revealed countless canyon-like gashes, healed but painful nonetheless, trenching her upper back. While James seemed unbothered by the second woman's scars, Dudley was mildly unsettled. What in the world happened there? Who did that to her?

They turned around when the two males entered the spacious yet homey kitchen.

The redhead, Lily Potter, smiled warmly and hugged both newcomers, while the brunette nodded curtly and said: "Hello, Dudley. My name is Helena, nice to meet you."

Two children, a girl with dark red hair and warm hazel eyes and a boy with unbelievably messy ebony hair and vivid green-golden eyes behind wired glasses, walked in and grinned at the sight of the people present. "Hi, Wing. What are you doing here, did someone escape from Azkaban or what?"

Helena sighed exasperatedly. "Believe it or not, you jinxed it. Lucius Malfoy fled from that hellhole and I think he's on the hunt for everyone close to Sirius and Draco."

---

*laughs evilly* Another cliffhanger. As promised, here's the longer chapter.

If you have ideas for the plot, just DM me or comment it. Don't forget to vote!

Author out!