Fear of a Name

Chapter Twenty-Five: Sirius Black

"Lupin drank it?" Ron gasped when Harry had finished telling him and Hermione what happened in Lupin's office. "Is he mad?"
I glared at him and said nothing as Hermione checked her watch.
"We'd better go down, you know, the feast'll be starting in five minutes..."
We hurried out of the portrait hole and through the crowd, Harry, Ron and Hermione still discussing Snape.
"But if he — you know—" Hermione lowered her voice and glanced around to make sure nobody else was listening, "if he was trying to — to poison Lupin—"
"He was not trying to poison Lupin," I hissed, then I walked away from them, through the entrance hall, and into the Great Hall itself.

It had been decorated with hundreds and hundreds of carved pumpkins, all flickering with the light from the fiery candles inside of them. A cloud of live bats were flying around by the ceiling, and many bright orange streamers were floating lazily about with the bats, like snakes slithering across the cold stone floor of my cell at Malfoy Manor. I didn't like them, they reminded me of my father.

I chose a seat as far away from Harry, Ron and Hermione as possible, which meant I ended up sitting all alone at the very end of the Gryffindor table, right by the door. I barely ate anything, though the food was certainly delicious; I'd found that I had no real appetite since the last visit to my father. I spent most of the feast pushing the food around my plate with a fork and thinking about my argument with Harry earlier.

"Riddle."
I didn't even have to turn around to know who it was.
"Don't ignore me, Riddle!"
"Go away, Malfoy," I said in a low voice, still not turning around.
"Ooh, not very friendly," he mocked.
"What do you want?" I asked, turning to face him with a small sigh.
He lowered his voice so nobody except me could hear and said, "You'd better watch your back, Riddle. Aunt Bella is furious with you. She said to tell you that next time she gets her hands on you, she's going to—"
"I really don't care, Malfoy," I said, but in reality I was scared. Really scared. I had a vague idea of what would happen to me, and it terrified me to even think of it.

"Don't interrupt me, Riddle!" he hissed, clearly mad.
"I'll do whatever I want," I snapped, then immediately regretted saying anything as he punched me in the face, hard enough to break my nose again.
"Watch your back," he repeated in a low, threatening voice, before stalking back to Crabbe and Goyle at the Slytherin table.
None of the teachers even noticed that anything had happened.

"Why," I started angrily, "does every interaction I have with him seem to end up with my nose being broken?!"
I waved my hand over my nose and it fixed itself with a fairly loud crack!
"And how," I continued, "has nobody even noticed my face is now covered in blood?!"
I stood up and slipped out the room unnoticed, then headed for the common room, wiping the blood from my face as I did so.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I told you, I don't know the password! Let me in!"
I stopped suddenly as I heard a man half shouting, then slowly crept around the corner to see—
Sirius flipping Black. What in Merlin's name is he doing here?!
"I can't let you in without the password," said the Fat Lady haughtily.
"LET ME IN!" Sirius roared, and I quickly darted behind a nearby pillar, not wanting to be seen.
"Have you got the password?"
I heard the ripping of canvas and the Fat Lady's high scream, and I silently slid behind a tapestry and into a secret tunnel. A few seconds later, a great black dog came running into the tunnel as well. It stopped when it saw me and growled, then suddenly turned into Sirius Black.

"Not a word to anyone, understood?" he said in a threatening voice.
"Understood," I said, my voice calm. "I'd be barking mad to tell anyone."
"Was — was that a dog pun?" Sirius asked me, obviously (and understandably) confused.
"It sure was," I said, smirking. "Sorry, we should paws this conversation for a second so I can introduce myself."
Sirius looked even more confused now.
"Ivory Ferali Riddle, daughter of Bellatrix Lestrange and the Dark Lord, and one of the only people to know the truth about you. Oh, and before you freak out, I must assure you that I'm nothing like either of my parents."
I held out my hand for him to shake, which he did so after a moment's hesitation.

"Sirius Black," he said. "But of course, you must know that already..."
I nodded again, then said, "I know the past twelve years must have been ruff, locked up in Azkaban for a crime you didn't commit. Sorry, that was a really inappropriate time for a joke. Anyways, as your cousin's daughter I feel it my duty to give you some food."
"What the—" Sirius started, but I cut him off.
"Have some wooffles," I grinned, pulling out a box of waffles and handing it to him. "I was going to give them to Professor Lupin and say 'Have some wolffles,' but I feel like you'd appreciate it more."

He took the box and stared at me for at least a minute, but then we suddenly heard the chatter of the Gryffindors coming back to the common room after the feast.
"Give me your knife," I hissed at him, and he quickly handed it over, looking a little confused.
Taking a deep breath, I made a couple of long cuts on my face and handed the knife back to Sirius, who was now obviously concerned about my mental stability.
"Sorry, I'm framing you for something else, at least temporarily," I explained quietly. "Go now, and I'll act like you attacked me, or everyone'll think we're working together."

Realisation suddenly flashed across his face and he nodded, mumbled his thanks, transformed back into the big, black dog and ran along the tunnel, which I knew would lead him to the grounds somewhere, far away from the castle.
I lay down on the floor and let out a small scream, just loud enough to be heard by everyone trying to see what had happened to the Fat Lady, then knocked myself unconscious with a wandless, non-verbal spell.

This was going to be interesting.