32

1978, 19 March- Sunday

So… it turns out Sirius did not in fact change the list. It was Pettigrew, with Pettigrew having mentioned it had been Sirius' idea. Pettigrew seemed to believe that it was what Sirius had wanted them to do, so he did.

All the while Sirius did not, Sirius had just thought it would be funny to do so, not that they should, only mentioning it as a passing 'joke' that seemed to go over Pettigrew's head, having taken it seriously. At first, Pettigrew hadn't come forward to confess, standing behind Sirius, trying not to break down right then and there in the Infirmary having been called down.

Even so, it didn't change anything, nothing at all. What was said had been said, there was no going back and changing it.

Perhaps it would have been different if Sirius just used his brain. If he just thought before speaking.

Sirius had his "brothers" while Polaris had Regulus, and he was completely fine with it.

With the Headmaster, and Severus already in the infirmary, Sirius and Pettigrew soon followed through, standing there, while the headmaster questioned them. Soon enough during the whole thing, Professor Slughorn and Professor McGonagall came in, standing by, frowning with disappointment. Severus gave Sirius no chance to answer the questions that had been asked by the headmaster, outright accusing him right there and then calling him an 'idiot'.

The headmaster didn't seem too pleased, as he told Severus to calm down, claiming there must be a 'misunderstanding'.

Hearing it all, Polaris raised a brow with the thought in mind. What was it with misunderstandings and this man? That was something Polaris knew he would not find out in this life. Even then the man was making excuses for them both, more reason Polaris didn't like the headmaster. Why make excuses? Things could have been much worse.

It didn't take long until Pettigrew finally admitted to what he had done, with his explanation. Apparently, the idiot was in a rush and wasn't even sure what was changed to be exact forgetting, immediately after the change was done.

All in all the fault all pointed to Peter Pettigrew, no matter how many times he said he didn't want anyone to get hurt. Anything could have happened, something much more serious. What he did was idiotic all for the name of having a 'laugh'.

Was this what Sirius and his friends- brothers did? laugh at the pain of others? cause pain for their own pleasure?

Why did they hate Snape so much?

Sure they were plenty of things he could list on why not to like him, but with them, in different houses, they could just ignore each other yet they decide not to, deciding to go out of their ways to make his life miserable. It was rather pathetic, especially with them being in their final year. They should make use of their time by studying.

Pettigrew was given detention for the rest of the school year, so it was only three months. he was no longer allowed to go to Hogsmeade alongside the detention he was given. It was amusing seeing his reaction seeing it was his last year at Hogwarts. On top of that, he would be given a week-long suspension, with his mother being called in to discuss his behaviour before his departure back home for the week, along with a ton of schoolwork to keep track of while being home for that week. He's in his last year, he can't be slacking off.

Let's just say he lost a lot of points… to the point of Gryffindor falling from first place to fourth. He was sure Pettigrew's house would love him very much for losing so many points. The Gryffindors were known for boasting about winning, now it was the other houses' turn to boast about being above them.

Merlin knows they deserve it, with how annoying they were about being in the lead. He would make sure to mention it casually around Nathaniel to see his smile crumble.

Perhaps it would be hypocritical... but right now, Polaris didn't care.

Now, the Slytherins will now be taking first place, with Hufflepuff second and Ravenclaw close to taking second place, moving from their third place.

With that, Pettigrew was to give an apology to both Snape and Polaris, while the headmaster and professors readily went to squash the rumours that James Potter had apparently started with his confrontation with Snape when he had been bringing him to the infirmary.

Apparently, the whole school believed Snape to have tried to kill him which was ridiculous. It hadn't even been a whole day and people were spreading the rumour faster than one would expect.

The punishment was all his idea, yes… as in Polaris' idea. It was so obvious that the headmaster was furious with the situation, just as much as he didn't want to have to contact the House of Black to notify them of the incident... so Polaris took the initiative telling them there was no need to 'worry' his family and he would rather it all be pushed aside and forgotten as long as Pettigrew was punished so he learns from his mistakes and to know that there are consequences for everything.

It didn't matter to him anyway, seeing as he was perfectly fine. He really didn't want any commotions about the situation, seeing as his mother was known for causing trouble, perhaps that was where Sirius got it from.

Madam Pomfrey already said his skin would be back to normal in a few days, so there wouldn't be any permanent markings other than where he had been scratching. That would likely leave faint scars, on his right arm, it would barely be noticeable unless you looked hard enough.

It was agreed upon that it was Snape brewing the potion, with Polaris having asked to watch, which was permitted and thus was in the range of the potion with Snape having moved away from, to allow it to settle. It was a decent enough excuse seeing as they couldn't completely have the incident quieted.

There was more detail to it, mostly because it was a possibility his parents would ask, Polaris himself what had happened even if they were already told by the school. One would be a fool to think that no one would have sent their parents owls about the rumours, and pureblooded families were really connected with these sorts of things.

Polaris had already played it in his head. Slytherin 'one' gasps hearing the news, then decided, 'I must tell father of this incident! How dare the Headmaster allow such a thing to happen, perhaps father could get him fired!' with that, an owl is sent. Father of Slytherin one, receives the strange news, of a 'near' death, finding it preposterous, thus deciding to contact the house of Black to send well wishes, hoping such news was not true.

All the while this is happening his family will receive the news of what had happened, explaining the 'new' story, easing their worries. Then again what was rumoured sounded much more serious than what it actually was.

Soon enough, perhaps one more day, he'll be out of the infirmary room and the rumours will seize to be spoken.

…

With no time to spare he was allowed to leave within the next day, feeling better than before, ready to take the Transfiguration exam. Corvus did call him an idiot for not wanting to stay longer to avoid it since it was likely Professor McGonagall would let it go.

It didn't matter to him. He only wanted to be able to do the exam because he had studied. He wanted to be able to test how much he was able to retain from the studying he had done. The OWLS would be soon and he wanted to do as good as he was currently doing in all the exams the professors have been giving him.

1978, 22 March- Wednesday

The past few days were okay for Polaris, then again there wasn't much going on. Day after day was similar to one another, with a select few being somewhat interesting with those little mishaps and conversations. Though he couldn't wait for the Easter break to come, to be able to take a break from Hogwarts. Take a break from it all.

There were only two more days until their Easter break began, two days until they were allowed to leave Hogwarts. It was interesting how different it felt this year. He just wanted to avoid getting a headache, which going home would give.

He hated headaches… who didn't, anyways?

The past few days he wasn't too sure how to feel, so he decided throwing himself at his books would distract him, from… just everything. Especially since the incident with Sirius. He really wished things could be different, perhaps one day, but he found himself too stubborn to fix things.

Maybe things were better unfixed.

Grudges were easier to hold onto and he saw no point in allowing Sirius the pleasure of being forgiven, he didn't deserve it. The entitled prick could continue calling his friends brothers, seeing as he saw them more as a family than he ever saw himself and his brother Regulus.

… Like the day before, this one was the same. Nothing at all interesting to point out seeing as he had only gone to classes, then, of course, there was breakfast… nothing to tell there.

It has only been an hour since his last lesson of the day, which had been Ancient Runes. Much to his dismay, they didn't exactly do anything, other than talk, seeing it was their second last class before the break. They were supposed to go over some material in that class but a few students decided they rather not have to listen to information that would help them in the exam that would be given to them tomorrow.

It was ridiculous how easily his professor got distracted when the students ask him about his personal life. The man never knew when to stop talking, when he got started.

Instead of complaining, Polaris merely read, through the hour of class. Better than having to listen to the Professor's plan of going to the muggle world to experience Easter.

Polaris was in his dorm.

He was lazed in bed reading a book a Ravenclaw had given him. He wondered what his younger self would have said if they saw it was a muggle book. Though it wasn't really a book, it was a play, that he was reading.

His eyes shifted from the 'play' as he heard the squawk of a bird- an owl to be precise. It was Orpheus. His gaze set on the dark feather bird, watching as he spread his long wings, flapping them before he was perched on his stand staring at Polaris.

As Polaris stared, the owl squawked at him once again and Polaris knew what it was the bird wanted. "No, I have no letters to send today, Orpheus. I can let you out of the room if you want, maybe a fly around will distract you," he tried to level with the bird, but Orpheus didn't seem to want that option.

Whenever he got a letter, the bird always expected him to send one back immediately and wouldn't stop bothering him until he did. It was like Orpheus knew he was annoying Polaris and did it for 'fun'. Earlier, in the week he had gotten a letter from his mother about how he was to be on his best behaviour once he was back, something about there being visitors. Though in the first half of the letter, she decided to tell him that he should not embarrass the house of Black... hinting at the incident that had happened with Snape.

He wasn't surprised at all that she didn't ask if he was okay. It was to be expected, such things were trivial. All in all, he hadn't responded yet.

He never had anything to say to her. Every response he ever gives her were rather short.

Starting with, 'Dear mother.' with the main message being something along the lines of, 'Yes, mother.' Then of course he ends it with a simple 'Yours faithfully, P.R.B'- only sometimes, especially with her. She seemed to get annoyed when he just used his initials. She would respond to his letter that barely had anything to converse about only to complain about how he should sign with his full name, to pride himself in the name Black. That their name was powerful and he should make a habit of using it.

She was right, but it honestly didn't matter if he was writing a bloody letter to his birth giver, seeing as she already knew who it was the letter was from. She was absolutely exhausting, finding something new to complain about when there truly isn't anything to complain about.

Orpheus squawked again, though this time it wasn't at Polaris but at the door.

It was either Corvus or Aaron, though it was likely to be Corvus. He really couldn't bother to care where Aaron could be, he had his own set of friends, new ones, older ones.

As predicted it was Corvus.

Though it seemed as though he was in a bad mood and this time Polaris wasn't too sure why.

He had seen Corvus earlier in the day, of course, he had, seeing as they were both Slytherins sharing the same dorm room, it was rather hard to not see him at any point if the day.

He had been in a lax mood, not angry, not even annoyed but now? now, Polaris knew something was really bothering him. Just the expression alone was enough for Polaris to slowly close his book.

There seemed to be a permanent frown on his face as he closed- slammed the door behind him. It wasn't surprising to see him still in his school uniform. He usually only changed when he wanted to get in bed, other than that you only saw him wearing casual clothing on weekends.

In his hand was a crumpled letter.

Ah.

Was a letter from home the cause for this mood? A mood one didn't want to see. It was rather odd to see Corus upset… to this extent.

Annoyed? yes, but Angry? no… and right at this moment, he seemed angry.

He found himself closing the book seeing as there was something more important which was the well-being of his friend. It wasn't often Corvus got letters from home, Polaris himself barely got letters from home. When he did, they were to scold him.

Upon seeing Polaris, Corvus seemed to snap out of it, calming himself- collecting himself. He tried to act as though there wasn't anything bothering him, with the forced smile he then gave Polaris.

There wasn't any fooling Polaris with this.

"Alright?" Corvus greeted as he moved towards his desk, on the left side of their room.

Polaris found it interesting that Corvus was asking him if he was alright. Polaris was perfectly fine, well he would like to think so, sometimes he wasn't sure, it was hard to tell sometimes because sometimes he does feel fine, but then- then he just doesn't and he was never sure why. Perhaps he would never quite understand it.

Right at that moment, he should be asking Corvus if he was 'alright'. He hadn't even told Corvus what had happened with Sirius and his brother, Regulus. Then again was there anything to tell? There was nothing to tell…

His feet swung to the side of his bed, and with one raised brow he stared at his friend, Corvus.

"What happened?" was the response Corvus had gotten after his greeting.

Corvus was already on his way to his desk, ever so close to it before he just… just stopped. As if he hadn't expected Polaris to notice something was wrong, then again Corvus was never too good at playing things off. He found it hard at times.

He didn't look back at Polaris. The letter in his hand only gained more wrinkles. He took a deep breath, his head hung low.

Polaris said nothing, only giving Corvus time. He wasn't going to force anything out of him. If he didn't want to speak then he wouldn't.

"I… I'm not going home for Easter."

The words spoken were so quiet that Polaris nearly didn't hear them.

Wasn't going home for Easter? Was that what the letter was about? There had to be more than that.

"You hate it at home anyway… so, that's good?" Polaris found himself awkwardly responding.

It was an understatement to say Corvus 'hated' being home. If one could call it that. He had never gotten along with his cousins, nor his uncle and aunt.

Corvus dragged his chair out from his desk, the feet of the chair sounding loud, filling the silence. Corvus then sat on it as he threw the letter on the desk only to get lost with the number of sheets Corvus had on his desk from failed attempts at essays.

Polaris watched his friend stare ahead, as though the wall before him had all the answers the world had to offer. He stared blankly at the wall, he was tired. Simply tired. He hated it all. Everything.

"Yeah," Corvus replied. It was low, that Polaris barely heard it. Though Corvus didn't stop there, he continued to talk after a short pause.

His fingers tapped the edge of his desk unconsciously as he barely paid attention to his surrounding area. The idea of going home just made his heart sink, his head fogged- it was like he forgot how to breathe… just thinking of stepping foot in the Avery manor this coming break.

"…My uncle expects me to be home-" Corvus stated. Again, Corvus paused, though as he did, he looked away from the wall, his tired gaze setting on Polaris, finding his words, "but… I'm not going to go." Corvus finished.

It sounded like a promise. One made from fear.

His friend was scared, he could tell from the tone of his voice, even if it had been quiet. The slight shake in the voice was enough. It was all Polaris needed to know that his friend was scared.

Seeing his friend like this didn't sit well with him. He wanted to be of some help, but how? he had yet to understand the situation. Polaris opened his mouth to speak- to say anything at all, though he was cut off. Corvus continued speaking, stating a name, one which was familiar to Polaris.

"Olivia Taylor."

Hearing Corvus say that name, made Polaris understand why he was refusing to go home for the break.

"-You're uncle found out about her?... that's why you don't want to go home," Polaris stated as he put it all together.

…Olivia Taylor, nothing special, just some ordinary muggle-born. She was someone Corvus had befriended, surprisingly.

Polaris wasn't too sure of all the details of how their friendship came to be, it was just something that Corvus didn't want but somehow it happened. There he had been, calling a 'mudblood' his friend. Polaris hadn't been too sure what Corvus had expected from him when he had told him, that he was now friends with a muggle-born.

He hadn't actually spoken to the girl before, he had noticed her a few times but never had a conversation with her. He had found it strange that Corvus was her friend, seeing at first it seemed as though Corvus was nothing but her 'bully'. Perhaps the girl made him see things in a different light, it made sense. He was aware that she had asked Corvus for help… in understanding the pureblood society and in exchange she would help him understand what it is a girl- Elora would like.

Corvus still claimed to 'dislike' the lesser bloods, yet there he was sneaking about to hang out with one of those 'lesser bloods'.

Polaris didn't actually react when he had been told. Then again he wasn't sure how he was supposed to react especially with how he was raised, he just couldn't bring himself to care so much to tell Corvus he was a 'disgrace' to their purity because… it didn't make sense to.

He didn't mind.

It didn't even compare to the fact his brother was apparently dating one- which he also didn't mind. It was merely the Andromeda situation all over again, but it seemed his brother was actually playing it safe by keeping it quiet.

"My uncle knows I'm her friend. No, actually he thinks it's more than that, he thinks… I'm interested in her romantically which isn't the case but there's no changing his views on things." Corvus dragged on, "He called me a… disgrace to our sacred blood, and that when I am home, he would… 'fix' me. I could make some shit up but that's not going to do anything, the man's crazy."

Polaris found himself speechless, unsure how to reply to what was just said. He could now understand the frustration Corvus was going through. Corvus wasn't just that… Corvus was fucking terrified, all one had to do was swap the word 'fix' with 'torture'. His uncle was going to do everything in his power to make sure his nephew wasn't becoming a blood traitor.

"I'm not a blood traitor, it's just one fucking mudblood! You know this is your fault, you should have told me something… about befriending her!"

That wasn't something Polaris had expected and it seemed Corvus himself was surprised he said it and decided to rectify the situation before Polaris was able to respond, a frown marred on his face as he wasn't given a chance to respond.

"Sorry…" Corvus apologised as he quickly continued, "I don't know why I blamed you, for that. It's stupid, I really am sorry."

"It's… yeah. Look, you do what you want, Corvus. If you want to be friends with a muggle-born I wasn't going to stop you, it's your life and you were being careful about it all, so how in Merlin's name did your uncle find out about it? I thought you didn't tell anyone about it?" Polaris spoke, having finally been given a chance to respond.

Purebloods… especially old houses, pride themselves on tradition and befriending a muggle-born… was something that was frowned upon, which was putting it lightly...

Even Polaris himself hadn't actually befriended a muggle-born, it wasn't like he was going out of his way not to. It was just something that never really happened, he was Polaris Black.

There was no doubt that muggle-borns were told to stay away from him just because of the family he was from. It was like that for most Slytherins, none of them were actually friends with muggle-borns either, because it just never happened or they're disgusted by them.

…Then again, it's rather unsafe for them around times like these to risk being friends with one, who knows what could happen. The war had yet to end and was only getting worse and worse, with all the gruesome news that was being shared through people and news articles.

Muggle-borns suffering the most.

Seeing it all, he couldn't help but find it disgusting. He couldn't understand what they found so empowering about taking lives away. Thinking of themselves above all- to think they had the right to take a life away. It was sickening… the idea of it all. It was unnerving to think about how the dark lord was able to manipulate these wizards and witches to truly believe that what they were doing was for the sake of wizardkind.

With how things were going, he didn't want to think about what the future would look like. Perhaps it would be 'beneficial' for him as a pureblood but what about for those who weren't?

"Polaris, I only told you and Aaron about her. So how the fuck does my uncle know about this? I was careful so fucking careful with all the damn lies I sprouted-"

"-Are you insinuating that I had something to do with this?"

Corvus shook his head as he responded, his hand clenching into a fist, his nails digging into the flesh of his palm. "…No, I'm insinuating Aaron had something to do with it. You've seen the dickhead! All he ever does is hang out with the seventh years. He's always around my cousin and his friends, no doubt he's convinced his parents to let him join the 'cause'. His father is just as crazy as my uncle and your mother combined."

Polaris ran a hand through his hair as he sighed, "I won't stop you from what you're thinking of doing. Just be mindful of what you do." Polaris told his friend. He wouldn't be stopping Corvus from what he knew he wanted to do and that was, get back at Flint.

There was no way he would let Flint get away with this. For what reason did Flint think it necessary to have this spoken about?

It didn't matter, at least they knew who not to trust, though it wasn't as though Polaris had trusted the boy in the first place.

Just like that the door was opened, revealing the third roommate, Aaron Flint.

With the look Corvus gave him, he knew he didn't want an audience, so Polaris would comply. He would let his friend deal with his own battles but he will be ready if aid was needed.

⪧⪦⪧⪦⪧⪦⪧⪦

He found it more likely that Corvus would only confront him on the issue, to understand why before taking his revenge. If Corvus had planned to go home for the break, there was no doubt in mind he wouldn't be coming back to Hogwarts the same.

He was quite curious about how things would go. It was rather cruel of Aaron to do what he had done, even if it was indirectly. Due to his negligence he likely shared that piece of information with Corvus' cousin… now that he thought about it, Jasper would have done something, would he not have?

Jasper was on a whole other level of keeping 'their' society 'clean. He was already aware that Corvus' cousin was a death eater just as his brother, Regulus was. Perhaps Corvus is right and Aaron really has joined the cause… he too was expected to join, something he didn't plan to do nor wanted to, especially if they get branded like animals.

Though what if he did join? it wouldn't be because he wanted to. There was no way his mother would just let him say 'no.'

"Oh, Just going to walk right past me, Pol?"

He stopped at the familiar voice, already knowing who it was, turning his head to the left to see her eyes. With the light shining through the window at their side, her eyes showed more depth.

"I walked past you?"

She let out a low laugh, "Well, yeah… perhaps we should take you to see an ophthalmologist-"

"Are you using muggle terms again? because I think I had a brain spasm when you said 'ophthalmologist.' I'm just going to assume it has something to do with eyes and I think my final verdict will be an eye doctor seeing the way you phrased it and the circumstance of the suggestion."

She yawned, putting a hand to her mouth and Polaris narrowed his eyes at her as he watched her. She stopped herself from smiling as she responded to the look he was giving her.

"What? are you still talking? honestly Polaris you could put someone to sleep one day, we really didn't need to go all detective mode to understand one word… which you actually are correct about. I had to beg Eren to tell me what it meant, now you have me feeling somewhat dumb for not being able to assume a final verdict."

He didn't bother asking who 'Eren' was, the girl seemed to be friends with just about anyone.

"I'm not even surprised- shouldn't you just know that seeing as you do muggle studies?" he asked her and she shrugged her shoulders where they stood.

"I don't know? maybe I dosed off in the class they talked about stuff like that but I do listen most of the time." she responded before continuing, "Right now we're learning more about muggle technology, our professor said it was a form of magic in their own right."

He snorted, "Yeah, alright. Magic in their own right, I'd love to see the chuck a television at a wizard."

She hummed in amusement, "Yes, though I would say a television would do the right amount of damage, would it not?"

"And a wand wouldn't? why did you even bother taking that class, I'm curious." he spoke again. She stared at him for a few seconds as her gaze then shifted to the tall window at their side, "To know more about our world?"

He turned to look out of the window as she had done, "Are you… telling me, or asking me?" Polaris responded turning to her, her gaze still on the nature beyond the glass pane. She snapped her gaze to him, "I suppose, I am telling you, but at the same time, I'm not sure. There's nothing wrong with me taking muggle studies. There's the magical world and there's the muggle one. I don't want to be oblivious to the world around us, I would like to understand everyone." She told him and he nodded at her response.

"Amelia! there you are, I was looking for you. Elizabeth said you would be going to the Great Hall, so I'm glad I caught up to you!"

Hearing the new voice, Polaris turned to see a boy. Short messy brown hair, with eyes to match with the same hued brown and right now those eyes were on Amelia, only her alone. Polaris was simply invisible to the boy as he decide to ignore his presence.

Amelia turned to him, smiling at him as he approached where they stood. Before the boy reached them, Amelia spoke again turning to Polaris.

"There's so much to see, why just stop at the wizarding world?" she told him.

As the boy finally reached them, she spoke again.

"Christoph, you were looking for me?" she politely spoke out and he nodded breathlessly, "Well, yeah, I suppose I was," he said cheerfully.

Now Polaris was unsure how to go with things. Was he to stand there in silence and wait for this 'catch up' to end? or perhaps he was to excuse himself and head to the library where someone was waiting for him.

"I'm just chatting with my friend. This is Polaris" Amelia said gesturing towards him and Polaris cursed life itself. A decision was made for him, rather than the two he thought of he was given a third, one which involved conversing with this stranger. He already didn't like him with the way the boy looked at him as Amelia introduced him to the other boy.

"Ah, your friend. Not worried he won't draw his wand at me for being a half-blood?" The so-called Christoph suggested with narrowed eyes and Polaris frowned having not expected it.

"I mean, you can never be too sure with how things are going. I mean look at all the articles a lot of deaths going on. For all I know your friend here could be in the same league as the death eaters." the boy continued trying to 'defend' himself from what he had said before.

What was his problem? he knew nothing about Polaris nor had they ever had a conversation yet here he was acting as though he was better than Polaris himself.

He took a step forward glaring at the boy, "Perhaps you should find out then."

Amelia put a hand to his chest, slightly pushing him back. He huffed as he took a step back, he didn't have time to be talked to like this.

"What? Christoph! what you said was out of order, what the hell? You've never even met nor spoken to Polaris before, have you? yet you're being quick to make such assumption, stupid ones-" as Amelia went on a rant, Christoph merely glared at Polaris, and Polaris himself stared back only because he was curious… curious what was behind those eyes that seemed to hate him already.

When he first started learning it, he used it nearly every chance he got to the point he didn't realise he was using it. He would be in class dosing off then the next he would hear voices, many different sounding voices talking about this and that.

He didn't mind at first, in fact, it helped with boredom, listening to their thoughts. He never felt bad for doing it, it wasn't his fault their minds were so weak.

Eventually, that stopped because he got more control, so the voices stopped mostly because it was tiring hearing it all. It didn't take long, it was like closing a book. They were easy to open… though sometimes hard to close.

It was right there, so clear- to think there was no shield, half blood with no occlumency training? that was something common- it made sense.

Christoph Trembley... a half-blood who was raised by his muggle mother, in the muggle world. They don't have the best relationship with his hidden resentment for her- for what she was, a muggle.

Pushing to the surface, he saw jealousy. he was jealous of him.

Polaris found himself confused as he turned his gaze to Amelia and then back to this 'Christoph'.

He liked her, but what did that have to do with Polaris, that was what was confusing him.

Christoph saw him as a threat. Already having his mind- he wanted to see more. What did he like about her? doing just that, within the second he didn't go further, seeing enough. A frown settled on his face, his hands clenched into a fist as he calmed himself down but it didn't seem to work.

He didn't like him, nor did he want him around Amelia-

"Ah, Miss Bones. I would not have expected to see you in the halls, I was expecting to see you in the great hall." It was a professor who spoke, professor McGonagall, to be precise. Amelia's hair that had been tucked in behind her ear fell forward as she turned to the voice.

"Professor, a pleasure as always!" Amelia greeted the older woman, the woman who then turned to Polaris and Christoph, "It is truly nice to see house unity. To think I would find a Slytherin, Ravenclaw and a Hufflepuff. Perhaps I should find one of my Gryffindors to complete it" she said in amusement and Amelia laughed along while Polaris stared blankly before forcing himself to smile politely.

"I'm sure Nathaniel would be more than happy professor," Amelia said jokingly, knowing how Nathaniel enjoyed socialising and the professor smiled.

"Seeing as you are here, I'm sure you'll be glad to know I've finished correcting your essays. You can come to collect them now if you are able to."

"Yes, of course," Amelia responded.

Amelia then turned to Polaris and Christoph, "Christoph you can tell me whatever it was you wished to tell me later, okay?" she spoke to him first then to Polaris, "We can catch up later alright? Perhaps I'll have some Jolly-Blasts with me."

He nodded, smiling slightly. As the professor and Amelia finally walked away, the smile completely disappeared as Polaris turned to Christoph who was watching Amelia walk away.

"I want you to stay away from Amelia," was what Polaris said. It was rather calm.

Christoph turned to him with furrowed brows, "Stay away from her? why would I? You think you're so special, don't you? You just want everything to be about you, don't you? a fucking pureblood thinking he's the shit. Even decided to be dramatic about the whole cauldron incident- There's nothing special about you, Black." the boy's face went red as he continued on, all the while Polaris stood there and listened, not interrupting.

"You're nothing but a mistake, a boy who has no one. I mean look at Sirius, even he knows how messed up your family is, but then again you're part of that messed up family- I bet you have daddy issues too, with an abusive mother to boat. To think people want to be friends with you. I'm sure everyone's heard the rumours of the death eaters by now- I bet your messed up brother is one too."

"Humour me." was the simple reply Christoph got from Polaris.

The boy was confused hearing it, "What?" he responded to Polaris. Polaris stared blankly at him, and Christoph could feel pressure in the air as Polaris stared at him.

"Tell me what you really think of me, Christoph Trembley."

It was like it all went still, as Christoph's eyes blanked as well, void of any emotion. It was as though he was in a daze.

"I- you're what I wish I was. Even if it seems you don't have everything- you have everything. A name that is respected and feared- blood that is expected by everyone-"

Stop.

One thought. That's all it took to make him stop. He found his head going blank having heard what he did.

Why on earth would anyone want to curse themselves? to be him? to be Polaris Black, it was laughable- it was foolish.

How could a person be so foolish?

He was being greedy. If this 'Christoph' continued on like this, envying others when his life is ten times better. Polaris could care less if he was a Half-blood. He wouldn't wish his life upon another, yet here this boy was, letting greed control his actions.

This was why he wanted him to stay away from Amelia. Nothing in his mind showed anything good, nothing.

He would use her and throw her away as though she was worth nothing when she was worth everything.

He would not allow this boy to use her for his own personal gain.

Christoph was still standing there. He could feel the emotion trapped behind his eyes, yet Polaris didn't care... he wasn't even sure what he was doing to this boy... that he was able to make him tell him what it was he wanted to hear.

Perhaps... perhaps it would work-

"I want you to leave Amelia alone. Don't speak or look at her unless it's necessary. When I say necessary I mean if she's in danger."

After he said it, he saw blood dripping from his nose.

"...You should go now," Polaris spoke again, unsurely this time, watching Christoph wearily. The boy seemed confused, his brows furrowed as he look at his hand which had blood on a bit from whipping his nose.

"Yeah... yeah, I should. I guess the infirmary- weird, huh?" Christoph responded, his eyes still on his hand as he whipped his nose again.

"Yeah, weird," Polaris whispered as Christoph then walked away leaving Polaris baffled.

To think he could use Legilimence to such an extent- he shouldn't have done that, then again he didn't know he could do that. What was it he did? perhaps Christoph thinks of it as his own thoughts telling him what to do.

He stood there for a few seconds collecting his thoughts, as his eyes drifted to the side and he tensed ever so slightly.

Dumbledore was standing at the end of the hallway staring at him.

He looked... disappointed?

So he had seen what had taken place? if so, why wasn't he doing anything? maybe he didn't see what happened.

With that Polaris put his hands in his pockets looking away dismissively as he walked towards the library.

If Dumbledore had seen what had taken place, then surely he would stop him. Polaris was waiting just waiting for the man to call out but he didn't so Polaris didn't stop, he just kept moving just as his heart moved faster.

⪧⪦⪧⪦⪧⪦⪧⪦

"Thanks for letting me read it," was the first thing Polaris said as he approached the half-blood girl, Jamie Walsh. Having finally arrived at the library he sat opposite her.

As usual, there were many books scattered across the table, covering them as they were sat in the corner of the room, barely seeable.

Jamie smiled at him taking the book back, "What did you think of it? Rather interesting don't you think?" she asked, and he had to nod to that.

He hadn't been aware of this 'Shakesphere' person before until he met Jamie that is. She has some kind of obsession with writing thus she reads a lot, which means if you ever wanted to find the girl, just look in the library.

They weren't even friends. Were they? he wasn't too sure, all in all, he wouldn't call her his friend, with them only ever taking part in a conversation with one another when they were in the library.

Outside the library, they were complete strangers. Even if they saw each other in their peripheral vision they wouldn't glance at each other let alone say hello.

The only reason they even met was that Polaris found himself taking interest in reading again, looking for more to read and it seemed as though Jamie had good recommendations.

One thing she recommended was to give the muggle play writer a chance so he decided why not.

The only play she had brought with her to Hogwarts was 'Romeo and Juliet' which she lent to him to read and he did.

"I suppose… it's interesting but rather frustrating seeing both Romeo and Juliet be so blinded by their emotions." Polaris responded, and Jamie shrugged her shoulders laughing as he said so.

"Well, it is romance. Being in love can make one do stupid things." She told him, and he frowned in response, "It wasn't exactly just romance- a tragic romance would best describe it. Did they even know what love is? I sure don't but it just felt as though they were in love with the idea of love. Romeo is utterly ridiculous, it starts off with him declaring he wanted to kill himself because the romance with Rosaline had ended then he falls in love with Juliet within a second of seeing her that same night. It made me laugh, really. I was truly amusing to see it all play out, I didn't expect them to die at the end, I couldn't even hold in the laughter at how dramatic it was."

Jamie snorted, smiling as she did, not able to get rid of it. She pushed a strand of her hair behind her ear, "You know there's a play on Macbeth, in London, during the easter break. It's another of Shakespeare's works, I was planning on going to see it, want to come?" she asked him, he pondered on it for a few seconds, humming as he did.

"I suppose that doesn't sound like a bad idea, I wouldn't mind seeing a play. I've never actually ever seen one before, let alone a muggle one." He told her and her eyes widened, shocked by such a statement, "Really? Never?" she asked.

"Why not?" she continued, as she rested her right hand on her cheek as she continued to stare at Polaris who made his way around the table to sit on the chair opposite her and he shrugged. "My mother isn't a fan of things like that and my father probably thinks they're a waste of time. He's sort of a workaholic…" he responded not seeing it as a problem.

"They sound like a bore. It should be a crime itself not to take pleasure in seeing a play- knowing words are coming into vision. Allowing us to see the words themselves. Though I really would have thought you would have seen one"

"Why?" he had to ask.

"I don't know. You're a so-called pureblood meaning you're pretty much set for life with connections and money. I honestly just assumed like every rich person would have seen a play."

He raised a brow, he nearly forgot she was raised in the muggle world.

"That's an interesting intake" Polaris found himself responding.

"I suppose it is, but now I won't be making stupid assumptions." She said determinedly and he hummed taking one of the books she had on her side of the table into his hands.