In The Shadows² ★ Draco Malfoy

*Summer before 2nd

Briar, Ollie, her mum, the Weasleys, Henry, and Hermione had all travelled to Diagon Alley to stay at the Leaky Cauldron in the week before school would start, to collect their belongings for the new year and then from there they would all head to Platform 9 3/4 together

Of course Briar was excited to go back, but it was also clear to anyone who watched that she and Ginny were nervous about returning to Hogwarts after what happened with the Chamber of Secrets last year

Briar also hadn't told anyone about her dad coming to teach next year, nor that her dad had apparently known Harry's dad

"Did you guys hear about Sirius Black?" The Weasley twins asked one evening at dinner

"Yeah" Ron said in awe

"Who is he?" Ginny asked

"He escaped from Azkaban, the first person to do that!" The twins said in unison. Azkaban was infamous as the top security prison for witches or wizards. It was in the middle of an ocean and guarded by the Ministry, so to escape was a big deal

Sirius Black had been imprisoned 13 years ago for killing a group of muggles, so now that he was on the loose, the Ministry was worried

"How?" Briar asked

"No idea, that's the mystery of it" Henry grinned 

"That's enough about him kids" Molly shook her head and occupied them all with discussing the upcoming school year, and checking if they all had their equipment, supplies, and robes ready to go

When she dismissed the children for bed, she and Arthur found themselves sitting at the table alone, both of them glancing at Briar with forlorn expressions

"How do we tell her?" Molly sighed "Do we even tell her?"

"It's for Remus to tell her," Arthur replied "The less she knows about Sirius Black, the safer she is"

The next morning when the group assembled again to head into Diagon Alley for some new quills, parchment, and potions equipment, they were pleasantly surprised with the sight of Harry sitting at their table

And it turned out he had run away from his muggle aunt and uncle's house, the Dursleys, because he had accidentally blown his aunt into a balloon

When Fred and George found out, they of course couldn't wait to interrogate Harry, probably to find out how he did it so they could do the same thing to Filch or Professor Snape

"Is it true you blew up your aunt?" The twins asked in awe as they sat down

"Boys-" Molly started

"It was an accident" Harry said sheepishly, not looking very apologetic 

"Wicked" They grinned "How'd you do it?"

"I don't know" He chuckled "I lost my temper is all"

"Now kids stop harassing him-" Molly tried again

"Still wicked though" Briar smirked "I mean how many kids can confess to turning their aunts into balloons" 

"You've gotta teach me sometime" Ron laughed "Imagine the look on Professor Snape's face when he starts floating away"

"Sure" Harry chuckled at his immaturity but secretly wanted to see it too

"Honestly you lot-" She shook her head

"It's cool though!" The twins exclaimed

"Brilliant it is!" Ron and Briar said in unison and high fived

"It's not funny guys" Hermione frowned. Part of her was amused, but she also knew the risks involved with practicing Magic outside of school

"Course it is, live a little 'Mione" Ron laughed

"I think it was quite inappropriate too," Percy added

"He could have been arrested or worse expelled" She sniffed and the twins practically howled with laughter at her attitude 

"Then we would've got to say that we know someone who was arrested or worse expelled" The twins replied "How cool would that be!" They had dazed look on their faces and everyone laughed 

"It would be like saying you know Sirius Black!" At that comment Mrs Weasley sharply slammed her newspaper down onto the table, catching the attention of everyone else and causing the group to fall silent

"Now, that is enough!" She snapped "I do not want to hear one more word out of any of you about Harry's aunt or Sirius Black, or the lot of you will be taking his place!" 

With that said, the rest of the day had been tense and even when they all reassembled for dinner, the group conversation remained at a minimum, with everyone too afraid of setting Mrs Weasley off again

But that night as everyone packed for their return to Hogwarts the next day, tensions rose again as Ron couldn't find his rat Scabbers' Rat Tonic and Percy couldn't find his Prefect's Badge so both of them were accusing each other of stealing them

So Harry and Briar, who were in the rooms next to theirs, were trying to diffuse the tension by offering to head down to the bar to see if they left them there

But as they stood on the landing to head down the final staircase, they could hear voices coming from below so they stopped walking to avoid making any more noise

"... makes no sense not to tell them," Mr. Weasley was saying  "Harry and Briar've got a right toknow. I've tried to tell Fudge, but he insists on treating them like children."

"Arthur, the truth would terrify him!" said Mrs. Weasley "Do you really want to send them back to school with that hanging over them? For heaven's sake, they're happy not knowing!" 

"I don't want to make them miserable, I want to put them on their guard!" retorted Mr. Weasley. "Molly, they say Sirius Black's mad, and maybe he is, but he was clever enough to escape fromAzkaban, and that's supposed to be impossible. It's been three weeks, and no one's seen hide norhair of him, and I don't care what Fudge keeps telling the Daily Prophet, we're no nearercatching Black than inventing self-spelling wands. The only thing we know for sure is whatBlack's after —"

 "But they will be perfectly safe at Hogwarts." said Molly 

"We thought Azkaban was perfectly safe. If Black can break out of Azkaban, he can break intoHogwarts." replied Mr Weasley 

"But no one's really sure that Black's after Harry —"

Briar and Harry looked at each other in shock

"They didn't report it in the press because Fudgewanted it kept quiet, but Fudge went out to Azkaban the night Black escaped. The guards toldFudge that Black's been talking in his sleep for a while now. Always the same words: 'He's atHogwarts... he's at Hogwarts.' Black is deranged, Molly, and he wants Harry dead. If you askme, he thinks murdering Harry will bring You-Know-Who back to power. Black lost everythingthe night Harry stopped You-Know-Who, and he's had twelve years alone in Azkaban to broodon that..."

"But you cannot tell Briar!" Mrs Weasley exclaimed "Remus is her father and it's his responsibility to tell her! As for Harry, I'm sure Dumbledore will tell him when he sees fit."

"It's late, Molly,we'd better go up..."

The two young Gryffindors glanced at each other in fear before scurrying back up the stairs as quietly as they could so the Weasley parents wouldn't hear

And when Briar lay in her bed that night her mind was filled with questions about what she had to do with Sirius Black, why her dad knew, and why he hadn't told her

So all she could do was toss and turn all night, counting down the hours until she would see her dad again and could ask him herself