A murderer for a father: Jean L. Black ||Sirius Blacks daughter

Liquid luck

It’s been a month and the new year brought a very frosty January with it. Nobody wanted to be outside, despite the powdery snow and beautiful views. Even in February, when the temperature crept above zero, Harry, Hermione, Ron and Jean had spent a great deal of time lingering around in the common room. Lately they’ve been poring over a very specific issue, that Dumbledore had entrusted Harry with. He had revealed a great deal of memories of Tom Riddles childhood unto his teens to Harry. Recently he had shown him a memory that’s been tampered with by the owner himself, Horace Slughorn. Dumbledore had asked Harry to get the original memory back, no matter the cost. It was essential for a different step.
Now, once again, on a rather frosty March day, the four of them had gathered around the fire to find a solution to the whole memory thing for Harry. ,,Why wouldn’t Dumbledore get the memory himself if it was that important?”, Hermione asked sceptically. Harry sighed and replied: ,,Because Professor Slughorn isn’t exactly fond of him. You see, Slughorn wants me for his little shelf with the most famous students of his. According to Dumbledore, he would do anything to collect me. I just need a little luck.” ,,That’s it Harry, luck. You won that little bottle of Felix felices in the first potions lesson. Use that, it should give you enough time to ask Slughorn to give you the memory. Now we just need to figure out when its the right time”, Jean said, snapping her fingers. Ron looked shocked and a little betrayed. ,,So you didn’t even put anything in my juice before that match? Why did we win despite that though?”, he asked, his face looking as though her couldn’t believe it. Harry smirked and answered: ,,Just had to give you a little confidence boost. You did it without the liquid luck, so you’re great. Back to topic though. Jean, great idea, let’s spy on Slughorn for a few days to find out his schedule and then we’re ready to pull it off.” ,,I suggest you do that without me though, he isn’t very fond of me”, Jean sighed. Hermione looked at her confused, before she asked: ,,How’s that? You’re actually quite pleasant to have in class. Besides you’re not bad at potions either.” Ron looked at Hermione as if she had just told him that she could see Thestrals. ,,Hermione, do you notice anything that’s going on besides school. Slughorn hates Jean, because of her family. In his eyes Sirius is a murderer and to top it all off, Elaine’s been giving him nothing but cheek all year. So, he’s labelled Jean as a bad person, all thanks to prejudices”, Ron explained. Jean nodded and changes the subject back to topic: ,,Doesn’t matter why he hates me. Fact is, that Harry needs to get that memory.” The three of them nodded and together they formed a plan; they would follow Slughorn around for a few days to find out his routine. Then, they’d meet in the boys dormitory so Harry could take his liquid luck. And then they’d hope that everything would go well and Harry would come back with the memory. He would go straight to Dumbledore to talk about further steps as soon as he had it.
A week later, in the boys dormitory
,,Okay, remember Slughorn always likes to eat early, go for a walk around the castle and then returns to his office”, Hermione stressed. Harry nodded, uncorked his bottle and sighed: ,,Bottoms up then.” As Harry drank the potion, the other three waited nervously. After a few seconds Jean asked: ,,How do you feel?” Harry, who seemed a lot more cheery than a minute ago smiled: ,,Fantastic. I’m gonna go visit Hagrids now.” Ron and Hermione looked at each other. ,,What, no Harry you’re supposed to see Slughorn”, Hermione explained, still confused. ,,Yea, get the memory, did you forget?”, Jean asked, dumbfounded. Harry sighed. ,,I know, but I think hagrids is the ‘place to be tonight’, D’you know what I mean?”, he explained, already making his way towards the door. Hermione, Jean and Ron looked at him then at each other and answered in union: ,,No.” Harry had now reached the door and assured: ,,I know what I’m doing. Or Felix does.” And with that he had put on his invisibility cloak. ,,You guys coming?”, he asked. Jean shrugged, before she went towards the door. She was supposed to go upfront to see if there was anyone lingering downstairs. Harry, Hermione and Ron were to follow her five minutes after. ,,See you later, Harry. And remember, you’ve got about six hours, then the potion will loose its effect”, Jean explained, before she slipped out of the room.
Five minutes later
Jean sat in an armchair, pretending to read the paper. Ron and Hermione should come down the stairs any minute now. She looked around. Besides her, there were only a few other Gryffindors in the common room. Among others Lavender Brown, Ginny, Dean and Neville. Jean took a closer look at Ginny and Dean, who seemed to be bickering again. Before she could listen in on the conversation though, she heard footsteps, followed by a screech. Ron and Hermione, with Harry under the invisibility cloak, came down the stairs. Lavender seemed to be very appalled by this and screeched: ,,I knew it. Won-Won what is going on. What was she doing up there, with you?” Ron seemed visibly distressed and annoyed by her, doing his best to avoid her gaze. ,,You know what, it’s over between us. Be happy with her then”, Lavender dramatically announced. Ron just rolled his eyes, before he mumbled: ,,Whatever.” Hermione seemed very happy about that, even though she tried not to let it show. Lavender stormed off sobbing. ,,So, Harry made it out. He should be down at Hagrids in a few minutes”, Hermione changed the subject, letting herself fall into an armchair. Ron nodded, sitting on the couch. Jean looked at the both of them, sensing that they should talk. ,,I’ll uh- go to the library now. I’ll be back by 12”, she smiled, before she got up. Ron and Hermione didn’t seem to notice what Jean said. They were busy staring each other down. Sighing, Jean made her way towards the portrait hole.
In the library
It was a rather quiet evening in the library as well. Barely anyone was there to this hour and Jean enjoyed that. Finally she had some peace and quiet to find out more about her recent discoveries. She strolled around the hallways, searching for books about pensieves and memories and how they worked. Suddenly, she stopped in front of a book. Its title had caught her attention. Gently, she let her fingers run over the lacy binding. ,,The first wizarding war”, she breathed. Then, she heard a noise that made her wince. She looked through the gap that the book had left, when she pulled it out and saw a pair of bright green eyes. When Jean looked closer, she noticed that it was Jacob, staring back at her. ,,What are you doing here?”, she whispered, clutching the book. He smirked. ,,Originally studying. The books for muggle studies are over here, you should know that. Our substitute teacher is just letting us read. Quite boring if you ask me”, he explained, in a low voice. Then he raised am eyebrow. ,,And what are you doing here? Its quite late already”, Jacob asked. Jean sighed, giving him a vague answer: ,,Killing time.” She didn’t want to give away too much information about Harrys mission. Jacob nodded, before he smiled: ,,Wanna get out of here then?”, he glanced at his wristwatch, ,,It’s still an hour ‘til nine pm. We’ve got time.” Jean hesitated. She really wanted to, but she had to find out more about the first wizarding war and how Voldemort had managed to get so powerful so quick. ,,Not tonight, sorry my love. I’m rather tired’, she mumbled, avoiding eye contact. Jacob seemed saddened but understanding. ,,Okay, how about we read silently next to each other and stay right here. You and I barely spent time together the last few weeks”, he suggested, looking at her desperately. Jean couldn’t help but feel guilty so she sighed: ,,Okay, we can do that, I reckon. I’ll tell you everything soon, don’t worry, but right now I need to figure it out myself.” He nodded, immediately more cheerful. ,,Sweet. Same place as usual?”, he asked, before he vanished from Jean’s sight. She shook her head in disbelief but couldn’t help but smile. Jacob never failed to cheer her up.
Still clutching the book, she went after her boyfriend. He had sat back down and was poring over a book for muggle studies. Jean sat down next to him, before he said: ,,Look they’re talking about that pen thing, that you showed me last year.” He pointed his finger right at a picture of an ordinary pen. Jean smiled. Even though Jacob and her had been dating for a year, he was still surprised on how she handled certain things, that for her were normal, but for wizards with no connection to the muggle world were the strangest thing. ,,Still gets me every time how amazed you are by a simple pen, my love. Back when I was little, we didn’t have quills in school, we were always writing with those”, she merely smiled. Jacob looked at her in awe. Jean couldn’t tell if I was just because of her telling him about pens though.
,,Oh, blimey I need to be back in the common room by twelve. Promised Ron and Hermione to be back, so we could study. Love you, see you tomorrow in Charms”, Jean swore when she looked up after a while, slamming her book shut, kissing Jacob and almost sprinting out of the library.
On the way back to the common room, Jean bumped into Harry, who was in a hurry. ,,Blimey, sorry Jean. Really need to get this to Dumbledore. I got the memory”, he mumbled, wanting to rush past her. Jean held him back by the cloak and asked: ,,Are you sure? How’d it go? Go now, Hermione, Ron and I are waiting for you in the common room.” Harry nodded, freeing himself from Jean’s clutch. He hushed away, into the direction of the headmasters office, whilst Jean snuck back to the common room.