Vivicendium ➝ Sirius Black/OC

Non semper videntur

A/N: I forgot to mention that I've taken artistic license by putting Lucius and Narcissa into the seventh year class. I figured they'd be good antagonists to have around in the future. 

Chapter Five | Non semper videntur

[Not always as they appear]

It doesn't take very long for Vivian to get back into the swing of things at school. Her routine has changed somewhat since she's a prefect this year, but everything else is quite regular. The only other change is that, since it's her final year at Hogwarts, the teachers seem to be taking everything more seriously than they have in years past. In most of her classes during the first week of term, all of her professors have harped on them about their NEWTs and how important it is for them to focus on their studies. And, in most of her classes, her fellow Slytherins seem to be far less interested in said studies than the teachers would have preferred.

There is something different about her housemates this year, and Vivian isn't naïve enough to not know the reason for it. If what her dormmates say is true, then many of the old pureblood families are siding with the Dark Lord, and even though she's on the sidelines of it all, it isn't difficult to make several realizations in only a short amount of time.

The first is that Lucius Malfoy, Adrian Mulciber, Theodore Avery, Evan Rosier, and Severus Snape are all planning on joining Voldemort after graduation. She had heard them discussing it in the common room the other night, having no qualms at all about keeping their voices down. Their conversation had consisted of racial slurs and insults towards the 'lesser' wizards who lack the blood purity that her contemporaries hold in such high esteem. When they had seen her, they'd invited her to join them in their discussion, probably because the Blairs are also an old family who would, in all fairness, fit right into their ideals. Vivian had barely managed to come up with an excuse (prefect duties) to avoid that particularly situation and hadn't stuck around for very long after that. Unfortunately, she isn't sure if Avery will attempt to wrangle her into his group in the future, seeing as he's also the Slytherin Quidditch captain and she is technically on the team.

Her second realization is that in wake of their apparent plans, Mulciber's group (for he seems to have become its ringleader) have stopped trying to suck-up to the professors, specifically Slughorn, and don't seem to care about anything that a seventh year student should by all rights care about. Studying for NEWTs, winning the Quidditch Cup, attending classes, planning their post-Hogwarts careers, and even earning enough house points to knock Gryffindor out of the running for the House Cup at the end of the year, which her house always takes extremely seriously, do not seem to be a concern to them.

The third realization is that Mulciber wants to have Regulus Black join his group, because in the few times that Vivian has spent her evenings in the Slytherin commons, she's witnessed them invite him over several times. She's also seen him hanging around them during mealtimes and in the dungeon hallways near the common room, but she hasn't said anything about it to anyone. It isn't really her business, and besides, she rarely speaks to Regulus Black and therefore isn't entirely sure that she cares one way or the other.

Her course load this year is impressive. She had obviously been a bit too hasty when she had signed up for her courses this year, because she's already not sure if she'll be able to handle the ridiculous amount of homework that's being assigned for each class while juggling Quidditch and prefect responsibilities at the same time. Only a week in, and she's already having doubts, and is wondering if she should drop Transfiguration because 1) she's never been very fond of it, 2) she could use an extra study period to tackle her homework, 3) McGonagall seems to have it out for Slytherins this year, and 4) Sirius Black is sitting only a few desks away at the edge of the Gryffindor section, and he's been glaring at the back of her skull for fifteen minutes now.