Growing up Pureblooded

Finding A Healthy Balance

     As the school year continued, Sirius began Aries and Draco's special training sessions, meeting six nights a week. Four of those nights were devoted to dueling, with a particular emphasis on defending against the fighting style preferred by Riddle and the Death Eaters. To Sirius's knowledge, virtually all the surviving Death Eaters were in Azkaban, the remainder having been massacred in the Battle of Little Hangleton. Nonetheless, there were a few whose whereabouts remained unconfirmed despite the family's best efforts, and there was always the possibility that Riddle might succeed in liberating his other followers from prison. The thought of his sons being forced to defend themselves from Bellatrix, or the surviving Lestrange brothers, was something that weighed heavily on Sirius's mind.

     Monday nights were dedicated to Occlumency. Cassiopeia, a superb Occlumens who had taught the art to Walburga, Alphard, Cygnus and Bellatrix, came up to Hogwarts for the lessons, since neither Sirius nor Remus felt quite up to teaching the subject themselves, though both had a solid grasp of the fundamentals. All in all, Aries and Draco thought the lessons rather boring, something like the long, drawn-out banquets where one had to pretend to pay careful attention to adults who were waxing eloquent about events that had happened long before one was born, in places one had never been, to people one had never known. The boys had sat through many such banquets in their short lifetimes, so Occlumency came naturally to them both, though Draco had a somewhat easier time of it.

     Saturday nights were by far the most fun for the boys, for it was on those nights that Sirius began their Animagus training. The process was long and complex, involving difficult spells and a great deal of mental discipline, but the boys knew that the reward waiting for them at the end of their course of study was well worth the effort, and they managed to persevere with diligence and fortitude.

     The family had as yet devised no solution to the problem of the Hufflepuff cup, which was still secured safely in Gringotts. Aries jokingly suggested that they ought to break in and steal it, but even Sirius, who of all the family members was by far the most likely to be up for such a quest, had dismissed the idea as utter nonsense. Everyone knew that the goblins' defenses were invincible. There was no hurry for the time being, but Sirius found it frustrating that they had yet to think of any way into the Lestrange vault. The easiest way, of course, would have been to secure the assistance of a Lestrange family member, but Bellatrix, Rodolphus and Rabastan were all in Azkaban, and Roland, the youngest Lestrange brother, had been killed in April of 1981. Sirius thought it a pity. Roland had been in his year in school, a decent fellow who had wound up Sorted into Ravenclaw. He had tried to remain neutral in the war, but it had ended up destroying him anyway.

     The revelation that Aries carried a piece of Riddle's soul within himself necessitated something of a change in their plans. Whilst Aries and Sirius both recognized the advantages of having a direct connection with the Dark Lord's mind, neither one felt comfortable any longer with Aries spending much time 'in the Horcrux', so to speak. Cassiopeia, for her part, thought that they ought to make as much use of it as possible before destroying it, but Sirius was adamant. Aries, much to the family's surprise, had agreed with Sirius.

     "I want it out of me," Aries whispered upon hearing his great-aunt's suggestion. "We shall get it out of you," Cassiopeia replied. "But think of what we have yet to learn from it! You have within you the store of all the Dark Lord's power and experience." "We've already determined that we shan't defeat Riddle on his own home front," Sirius objected. "Aries ought to focus his efforts on developing his white magic."

     In the end, Abraxas had suggested a compromise, to which all sides had reluctantly agreed. Aries and Sirius spent a weekend going through Riddle's memories, extracting them and storing them in phials for transfer to Windermere Court. Cassiopeia and Abraxas would view them later in a Pensieve, then catalogue them for future reference. After that weekend, Aries had felt utterly drained, and Sirius had allowed him his first sip of firewhisky, after which they sat up late and Sirius told Aries stories about James and Lily.

     For a half-hour every morning and every evening, within the privacy of his own bed-curtains, Aries sat and contemplated the Philosopher's Stone. The process was more difficult and more painful than it had been at the end of his first year, but Aries was determined to master the Stone's secrets. Just as before, it seemed to Aries as though the Stone itself was teaching him, and though it might at times favor the stick over the carrot, Aries nonetheless began to appreciate the effectiveness of its methods. Things seemed clearer with each passing day, whilst Riddle and his Horcrux seemed farther away. Just as before, the Stone became an all-pervasive part of Aries's life. This time, however, Sirius insisted that they spend time each day discussing what Aries as learning, which did a great deal to keep the boy grounded.

     Finally, because ultimately Sirius was always Sirius, Aries and Draco were required to spend at least one hour of each day engaged in a non-productive activity that had nothing to do with Voldemort, Horcruxes, studies or training. Furthermore, Sundays were declared an altogether work-free zone. One weekend, Sirius caught the boys researching defensive hexes in the library on Sunday night, and promptly removed twenty points each from Gryffindor and gave them both a week of detentions. Of course, for their detentions the boys were required to sit up late in Sirius's quarters, drinking butterbeer and playing endless hands of Exploding Snap, but the boys had learnt that when it came to making them relax from time to time, Sirius meant business.