Twisted Tales

Isabelle's Talent

"I knew it!" yells Ron, punching the air. "You always get away with stuff!"

Harry, who arrived in the kitchen moments earlier to announce the Wizengamot cleared him of all charges, smiles cheerily over at Ron. He receives more words of congratulations and confidence as he slips through the kitchen, falling into the chair next to mine. I try and drown out the cheer that's gone up, listening to Mr. Weasley talking to Sirius. He whispers something about Lucius being at the Ministry, but I lose the last bit in another rambunctious round of he got off started up this time by Ginny and Fred.

"Dumbledore used that exception to the law you gave me, the one about using magic to save lives," Harry whispers, leaning in closer to me to be heard over the chatter and continued chants of he got off.

"Dumbledore showed up?" I ask incredulously. Typically matters of underage magic use are handled rather quietly and quickly. Almost no one gets into actual trouble unless they've used a particularly nasty curse. The Ministry isn't really in the habit of expelling young witches and wizards.

Harry nods, "Stayed just long enough to get me off and then left. The hearing was in front of Fudge himself."

"We heard. An owl came."

"Hey," Harry's fingers curl around my wrist, preventing me from following the others who are now being ushered out of the kitchen by Mrs. Weasley. "I know you're close with Malfoy, would you mind not telling him about this? I don't want him to have more to throw at me than usual."

Standing, I brush Harry's hand away from me, "I'm sure it will come as a great shock to you, but Draco and I have more to talk about than you."

"I didn't – " Harry's eyebrows screw together, blinking up at me. "I just – "

"Just don't, okay?" Rolling my eyes, I motion for Harry to follow me. "I think they want us upstairs."

~~~~

"And then he had the audacity of asking me not to tell Draco as if they only thing we've got to talk about is him," I complain to Sirius later that night over cups of coffee.

Sirius leans back against Buckbeak, staring out the window in his mother's old room, "Well, from what I've heard their relationship consists of throwing nasty insults back and forth. Can you blame him for not wanting to give Draco more ammunition to use against him?"

"It's all in good fun."

"That's not what I've heard. Harry says Malfoy can be quite cruel."

Knowing this conversation isn't going to go anywhere other than Sirius and I getting into another argument about my dating a Malfoy, I let out a huff, "Still, to assume I'd go running to Draco – I think that's a bit presumptuous. I haven't even talked about him."

"You miss him," Sirius remarks, tucking a finger under my chin, his thumb running over my cheek. "You have always been fiercely protective of the boy, though I am not certain he always needs it."

Curling into Buckbeak's side, I run my fingers through his feathers, "You haven't been there. Lucius is vile, constantly putting him down, feeding him all sorts of nonsense. Narcissa tries, she loves him, but I think she's terrified of her husband. He needs someone who cares. If he lashes out it's only because that's what he's been taught. I'm trying to help him."

"And if you can't? If that help leads you into a dangerous position?"

Picking up one of Buckbeak's feathers that litter the ground, I twirl it between my fingers, "No one is beyond help, Sirius."

I spend much of the next week holed up in the late Mrs. Black's bedroom with Sirius. We shoot random spells at the paintings on the walls, levitating Buckbeak's shed feathers. Sirius teaches me how to make things disappear, cheering me on, when on day three of this, I'm able to rid the room of a particularly ugly suit of armor.