The Half-Blood Black

Chapter Eleven✨

Cedric leaves me when the speeches have ended and the dinner plates clear away, promising to find me tomorrow. A prefect, he said, was required to assist the first years in finding their way to the  Hufflepuff basement. I've been meandering through the halls since, confused and embarrassed as everyone casts me dirty looks.  Twin sisters approach me, one in red and one in blue robes, their arms looped through each other. 

"Hello," the first in the Ravenclaw robes says, smiling. "Do you need help getting to the Gryffindor common room?"

"What would make you think that?" I ask with a smidgen of humor. Their blank faces cause me to clear my throat and my face burns. "Yes, sorry, please." 

The two share a knowing look as they peer across at me and smile. Without another word, they lead me away from the groups of staring students milling about. I keep my head down, only looking up when they leave me at the top of an unkempt empty staircase.

"So what you're going to want to do," the second one in Gryffindor says. "Is just walk right down the staircase and when you see the moving picture, say the password. Today it is butterbeer." 

"If that doesn't work just start screaming and banging on the picture until he opens up!" Ravenclaw says.

"I know the stairs looking a little frightening, but trust me, it's safe."

I look down again, my subconscious telling me not to go. My mother would be rolling in her grave right now. I straighten my back as I turn to the Gryffindor sister and say, "Why don't you go on ahead and show me?"

The Ravenclaw sister interjects on her behalf, "She has to help me with my trunks."

"Aren't they already taken care of?"

"Did you want help or not, American?"

We stand off for an uncomfortably long time before I flip my curls behind my shoulders and turn my back to them. I am Sirius Black's daughter, and I can handle this. Prank be damned, I will walk down these stairs with my head held high, no matter what awaits me. I'm exhausted, I'm homesick, and the only thing I want to do is to tell Sirius I made it to Gryffindor.

Homesick.

It's funny how that sounds. I guess that Grimmauld Place is my home now. 

I continue down the steps, grinning the whole way.

-

"Butterbeer." I say to the large portrait of a man dressed in green and black robes.

Green and black, the colors of Slytherin. My heart is pounding, but what I won't do is let them win. If they want to give me access to another common room, so be it. 

The portrait swings open to reveal a common room covered in Slytherin colors, filled with the Slytherin wizards and witches. Snape stands before a bleached blonde haired boy and is whispering frantically, occasionally raising his hand.

I ignore the stares as everyones jaws drop. I push back my shoulders and march into the common room like I'm meant to be there, my eyes never leaving the back of Snape's head. I hear their whispers, but I know what they're saying, and I use it like armor. Except the armor is weighing me down, and the deeper I get into this room the heavier my steps get. 

I come beside Severus and the blonde boy and clear my throat, lifting my chin to let them all know I will not be intimidated. After all, they were almost my house. His eyes widen at the sight of me and he looks around. "How did you get in here?" He asks, ignoring the blonde boy.

Silence engulfs the room and the eerie underwater glow of the lake casts a sickening green color around us all. The students seem to be pressing closer, curious as to what their house leader will say, curious as to how the mystery girl seems to know him. 

"Why the bloody hell is that filth down here?" A boy with a too small uniform and a very chubby face says. He stands next to the blonde next to our group of three as the panic finally starts to set in.

"Ha, you're the blood traitor aren't you?" the blonde says snickering and turning to his friends and the group of students around us.

"Mal .. foy." Severus says, the ever lasting annoyance on his face. He looks stressed, something I'm not used to compared to his easygoing nature at home. He pauses for a few seconds of silence then looks around at all of us. "Listen, all of you! Lyra Black comes from a long line of Slytherin, you will show her the respect that they command, not that of rumors you have heard."

No, that wasn't panic I felt earlier. It was full on embarrassment. I wish I could disappear, or just curl into a ball right here on the floor and melt into the rug. "20 points from Slytherin." Snape says bored. "Another 30 for the next thing I hear."

There's silence as the others disperse to where I assume the bedrooms are. The boy Malfoy tells his little friend he can go, that he'll come see him soon. Soon, the three of us are standing in the green glow of the lake water, ignoring eye contact.

"You will show Miss Black the best of your courtesy and show her around. Am I clear?" He says bitterly, holding the blonde boy by the collar of his glossy new robes. "If she needs help with courses, you help. If she needs a refill of pumpkin juice, you fill. If she says jump, you jump. Are we understood?"

"I--" he tries to say. 

"Are - we - under - stood?" the boy nods. "Ensure she gets to the Gryffindor common room. You are not to come back until she is inside. Clear?"

Malfoy rolls his eyes and nods. "Yes, Professor." He says.

He sets Draco down, neither of them breaking eye contact. "Miss Black, this is Draco Malfoy. Draco Malfoy, Lyra Black. Both of you are fourth years." Snape finally turns back to me, "A word?"

Severus motions to a wall on the opposite side of the room. I follow him over, feeling the hateful eyes of Draco Malfoy baring into our backs. He scuffs and I hear him flop down into a leather chair.

Snape turns to face a floor to ceiling bookshelf, trying to look busy as he squints his eyes. "Speak to nobody of your home, the Order, or anything that has happened since you came here from the States. " he breaths. "Your safety, your fathers safety, and everyone's safety is in your hands now. One slip up and we could all be damned, including myself." 

Finally, he pulls a book off a shelf and puts it in my hands. "Here, a book of every Black. This is a compiled list of their achievements, OWL scores, jobs, and deaths. Take care of it." He hesitates before adding, "It's a shame you weren't in this house, I could have protected you so much better."