It's sad, that's for sure. Poor Lestranges have terrible luck with their children, a lot of them die at a very early age or really young as adults. First was Ermessende, oldest daughter of Leonhard and Arabella, who died at 6 of the Bubonic plage after being infected while traveling to Viena. Corvus (I) died at only 39 of a rare form of cancer, that also took his brother Cyrille (I) a few years after. Maeva, daughter of Corvus (III) and Egantine died during her daughter's wedding at 42 after choking with a badly cut fish. Sidonie, daughter of Eugene and Irene, died at 25 of Polio while studying in the US. Solange, the oldest sister of Rodolphus (II) and Rabastan, died at 1 because of a heart disease. Why did they have such a bad luck?
Gulping slightly, Karma turned to her left, and lo and behold – there stood Sirius. But God, oh, God, what had they done to him? What did they do to the person she once lived and breathed for, the one who was all the life she had left? The Prince Charming in her fairytale, the Casanova of Hogwarts, Padfoot? What had Dumbledore done to him?
His face had become gaunt and weak and exhausted to the point where you wouldn’t know he was Sirius Black, a man who once looked to be sculpted by the gods themselves. His eyes had sunken drastically, there were circles underneath his grey orbs; his cheekbones stood out against his face which wasn’t in the least bit attractive – they weren’t sharp as they were scary. His skin that he spent hours on was now full of spots and ridges he’d have been disgusted by; well, the past Sirius would have, at least. His body, just from afar, looked frail; his once precious, luscious, silky locks were matted as if they hadn’t been washed properly, just hastily combed through. His cheeks were hollowed, his forehead had lines – lines, oh, her Sirius would have never – his stubble was messy, and his eyes, those grey, no, that wouldn’t do them justice – the storm in his eyes had calmed down immensely, and not in a good way, no, not at all. All the glory of the ebony and the pearly sheen and shadows and ash and charcoal, which could be disrespectfully simplified to clouds and the rain and thunder, it was all gone, just… gone.
And that was why it hurt. Because this person who was standing before her – this was not her Sirius. It couldn’t be. This was a man who didn’t have a trace of the storm that were Sirius’ eyes. This was a man who’d bore the full weight of being wrongfully thrown in a cell in Azkaban. And she knew, she knew it was so selfish of her, so incredibly selfish to not accept him for what he was now, but how could she? Sirius and Remus – those two were the only parts of her life she didn’t burst into tears thinking about. Their images in her mind had become spotless, flawless, whilst everyone else’s had become this miserable remnant with tears and holes and spots she didn’t ever want to think about again. She’d be damned if she thought about them fondly.
But who was she to care? After all, Sirius wasn’t hers anymore, was he? All this talk about her Sirius doing this and her Sirius saying that and her Sirius, when the reality was that her Sirius had died – died along with Lily and James and Marlene and Regulus and all the others. Her Sirius was just a false hope she’d been clinging to all this time. A hope that when she’d come back, if she’d ever, he would be standing there with open arms and that warm and cheeky smirk and smug expression on his face saying ‘told you so’. That she’d act annoyed, hit him on the head and they’d go back to what they were; not the high school sweethearts, never. They weren’t the high school sweethearts – tat title was reserved for James and Lily. They were that couple; the one with a not-so-serious forbidden love that was more teasing than romantic; the heartbreakers, the rebels, the ones with family issues. The ones who you looked at and thought, them? But you looked closely and that furrow in your brow disappeared and you understood why it was them, why it was always meant to be.
And sometimes the fantasies would extend so far that their friends would join them and voila! – Slytherins and Gryffindors bantering together, what a sight. But then the true nature of those words together – Slytherins and Gryffindors – would come seeping in, and the friendly teasing and chummy banter would turn to hostile duels and vicious sneers and disgusted scowls.
But that – the sneering and scowling and curses and jinxes – was what Karma liked to fondly look back at, now, fourteen years later, at thirty-three.
Mentally smacking herself across the face because she was just staring at Sirius and Sirius back at her and everyone else at both of them, the woman pressed her lips together, and managed in as curt a tone as she possibly could, ‘Sirius, nice to mee-’
Holy crap.
She squinted her eyes just a bit, going over the boy’s face once again. The same raven, nest-for-hair, the ditto tan skin, that replicated slightly-mad-slightly-confused look in his eyes for having been woken up in the middle of the night – but wait a second – his eyes weren’t hazel… they were… green. Lily’s green. Her eyes jumped to his forehead, and there it was – the infamous lightning scar. James would’ve envied it, if Karma was being honest, because it made this boy look kind of rad.
But on second thought, James wouldn’t’ve been jealous at all; he’d have been proud. After all, this was his son. Harry James Potter.
Getting over the initial shock because she was sure she looked dumb, Karma turned to Sirius once again. She’d be getting straight to the point this time.
‘Where’s Dumbledore?’
Sirius made a face. ‘Dumble… Why would Dumbledore be here? It’s the middle of the night, Karma.’
She suppressed an eyeroll. ‘I know that. I got a letter… about twenty letters, actually, inside the deepest crevices of my home saying that he wanted to see me. Dumbledore. So, do you have any idea where he might be, beca-’
‘Didn’t he give you any address?’
‘Well, I was just going to mention that before you cut me off. All the addresses he gave me were of here. I found it weird too, but it’s Dumbledore, so… what can you expect, really?’ she mumbled the last bit in frustration. The man had asked to speak with her, given her this address, and was now clearly not here. What was she supposed to do?
‘I… Karma, I really don’t know why he’d do that. None of us have any clue as to why he wished to meet you. None of us even knew that you were… that you were supposed to be coming here.’ A couple, who she assumed were Arthur and Molly, nodded in agreement.
Karma sighed. Why couldn’t Dumbledore behave like a normal human being? Yes, the man was wise and powerful beyond anyone she knew, but this was preposterous. She hadn’t apparated across the Earth at 6 o’clock in the morning just to be greeted by remnants of her past that she was coaxing herself to forget. Time flew past especially quickly, and she was sure that it’d been half an hour already. If her neighbours didn’t find her in the morning, who knew what could end up happening? And then there was-
‘Well, you’re welcome to come inside,’ Sirius offered with a hopeful smile. How could she resist?
. . . . .
‘Si- Siri…Sirius, hey, hey, listen,’ Karma breathed out, chest heaving as she panted for air.
‘What, what is it, love?’ She looked up to see the boy look at her with pure mischief, mixed with adoration in his eyes. She wanted to kiss him so bad.
‘…First of all, I’m not your “love”, okay?’
Sirius had this smug look on his face. His smirk was ever-present. ‘You sure ‘bout that, love?’
Karma growled slightly. A look of pleasant surprise crossed Sirius’ face, then he began laughing. ‘Ooh, she growls.’ He’d gotten closer to her face, impossibly closer. His shallow breaths were felt on her skin, and the look in his eyes had switched to something else completely, something that she didn’t have the wits right now to decipher. If only she just pushed a little closer, there lips would brush, and-
‘Pads! Padfoot, you there?’ They jumped apart impossibly quickly; pretty violently too, it seems, because Karma ended up slipping and falling among a heap of mucky cauldrons. Gross.
Sirius helped her up, and dusted her off. ‘…Pads?’ Sirius rolled his eyes.
‘Yes, James, it’s me, your dearest friend. Stop shouting please.’
‘Where are you, anyway?’ asked Karma with a frown.
‘Here!’
‘AHH!’ Karma jumped. James had poked out his head from the window she was standing in front of, her back facing it. Her and Sirius were serving detention in an abandoned classroom for ‘vandalism of school property’. As if. They’d been stuck scrubbing old cauldrons while the entire school was at Hogsmeade. Unfair, and impossibly so.
The reason why Karma had been panting earlier on was because the two of them had engaged in quite an enthusiastic soap fight.
‘I came to rescue you-’
‘That doesn’t matter, you nitwit! You know McGonagall is already mad at you, you don’t want to make her angrier, do you? You’ve already gotten six detentions in the past four days, you both.’
‘Eh, since when did you become such a buzzkill?’
‘I’m not-!’
‘Love, Minnie loves us,’ said Sirius casually. ‘James, wand.’ James handed Sirius a wand – it was the former’s – and the latter whipped it about a bit, and boom! Cauldrons squeaky clean.
‘You have an extra broom?’
‘What d’you think?’ Both the boys grinned impishly at one another. Karma frowned.
‘Wait…if there’s one extra broom, then I’m sitting in front.’
‘Why, love, don’t you trust me?’ questioned Sirius.
‘Nope,’ she made the ‘p’ pop. Snatching the extra broom James was holding, Karma swiftly perched on it.
‘Well, Padfoot. Hop on.’
. . . . .
‘So, Karma,’ said Sirius as the woman took a seat on the couch, ‘would you like something? Tea, perhaps?’
She simply shook her head, missing the way Sirius’ face fell. The man’s godson didn’t.
‘Who are you? How do you know Sirius?’ asked he.
Sirius and Karma looked at each other.
‘We just happened to be attending Hogwarts at the same time, and had a mutual friend. Nothing more,’ said Karma.
Sirius nodded, a cold look suddenly overtaking his eyes.
[Chapter 4] Blondes, Brunettes, Ghosts and Meatballs
Karma was scared.
Well, not outright scared. It was more so that the impulsiveness of her decisions was catching up to her now, whilst a most unpleasant nauseous feeling started swirling around inside her belly. Maybe a stroll in the corridors on her first night at the castle wasn't a very wise idea – after all, the Headmaster himself had clearly said that all students were to stay in their dormitories, and not loaf around the castle at night. Karma had been brutally disobedient. Moreover, wasn't the weird caretaker – Filch, was it? – supposed to be roaming these corridors with his cat to watch out for students out of bed? She didn't want to be put in detention her first day.
After the little fiasco at dinner, not much conversation was made at the Slytherin table; not by the first-years, at least. The Slytherin Prefects, Lucius Malfoy (who was a right git, Karma thought was wise to add) then stood up and began making his way to the dungeons after very rudely asking the other Prefect, a petite, heavily freckled girl named Daria Monet, to bring the first-years along. Although she'd looked quite offended, Daria said nothing, instead choosing to scurry over to the first-years and lead them after Lucius, who had an ever-present pompous look on his face, which disgusted Karma. She had decided she didn't like him.
After being led in to the common room using the password 'Pure blood', which Karma didn't really grasp the importance of, the first- and second-years were all promptly asked to go to their respective dormitories, because apparently, 'big people discussions' had to take place there. Which, in normal circumstances, Karma would've wanted to look more into, but noting the type of people the common room held – sleazy, pompous, git-looking, and straight up creepy – Karma didn't really wish to stay in such company.
But even after receiving looks of sheer repulsion from her dorm mate, Arrabella, who had decided to stay up to decorate her side of the bed, and laying and twisting and turning and tossing in her bed, Karma didn't get an ounce of sleep. Maybe because of the strange coldness she felt in the bed even after laying in it for so long, maybe because of the constant sounds Arrabella's renovating, or maybe because of the exposedness she felt, even with her curtains drawn, or maybe because she felt something was missing; Karma neither knew, nor cared. She just wanted sleep.
So after the dormitory finally went silent and the lamps were put out, Karma, as silently as she could, hurried out of the room, wand in hand, jacket on. It was made sure that the common room was also empty, which was extremely probable, seeing it was 3:37 in the night, but still, it wouldn't hurt.
And hence, the black-haired female found herself in a chilly, isolated corridor with zero lighting except the moonlight to guide her. What she'd brought her wand along for, she didn't even know – what use would it be? Karma didn't know a single spell. It was more just self-comfort purposes. And although she'd seen the house ghosts, which freaked her out, Karma still couldn't occasionally help but feel that a real, bloody, scary ghost would pop out of somewhere, she was sure she'd heard a-
'Ah!' Oh no. There was a real ghost, wasn't it? That's what caused that thudding sound, as if someone had fallen, and it was out to get her, no? Or maybe it was Filch, which, honestly, was just as bad.
Regulating her breathing after that quite embarrassing yelp, Karma spoke up, wand pointed at the end of the corridor, which had a turning. If someone really was there, around the corner, then at least Karma could use the wand to scare it and buy herself some time.
'Wh- who's there?' Ugh, stupid voice cracks. Way to go, Karma, let them know you're scared.
Pushing down her thoughts and fear, she gulped and listened. There was frantic whispering, a hiss, and then a squeak. And amongst it all – surely, she was mistaken – Karma could make out a faint 'sorry'.
Furrowing her brows, the girl took three steps forward, now more confident. She was certain there was no ghost, just wandering students such as herself. 'I know you're there,' Karma said and took more steps, reaching the corridor and swiveled her body towards the new corridor. Her frown deepened. There was no one here. Huh. Well, it must've been just her fear.
Karma turned around and started making her way back to the common room, deciding that she'd had enough adrenaline boosts for the day.
Clang!
She instantly rotated backwards, perfectly sure there was someone there. 'Freeze!'
Someone squeaked again. Karma frowned again. What kind of-?
'Look,' a vaguely familiar voice said, 'we want nothing to do with you. Let us go.'
The girl raised a brow. 'We, huh?'
Someone groaned, there was grunting, and a different but still familiar voice spoke up. 'Please, Karma, let us-'
'How the heck do you know my name? Oh, I've had enough,' and with that, the girl marched forward, thinking it was either some hallucination, or a troublesome student who wasn't really there, because she could swear there was no one there. Instead of the expected outcome, however she crashed straight into something, falling back on her bottom. More than one something, seeing as three bodies appeared out of nowhere and dropped on the floor. Who they were, however, it was hard to decipher, it was too dark.
The shock didn't last long though, not for Karma, because the girl quickly got up and crushed the partial foot that was visible. Someone cried out. The voice, no, surely it wasn't-
'Peter?' the girl asked incredulously.
'...Ow.' Yeah. That was definitely Peter. But first-
'Er, can you... can you become, er, not... can you become visible again?' Karma queried.
'Hm? Yeah, yes, s- sure,' the boy stammered, pulling something off of him. What it was baffled Karma, because it almost seemed completely transparent, as if there was nothing there in the first place. Even as the piece of – what Karma assumed was – cloth was bunched up in Peter's hand, she was sure there was nothing except his ring and middle fingers on his hand. It was bizarre.
There was a groan behind them. 'Once you're done having a chat with your girlfriend, Peter,' the mousy boy blushed, 'can you please-?'
'Y- yeah, sure,' and Peter quickly trotted to a pile of disembodied armor parts and a human. As her friend helped the one in need, Karma looked around, and squinted when she saw two other boys standing up and dusting off their clothes. She could make out the faint outline of a pair of glasses on one, and a baggy sweater on the other. James and... Remus, yes.
The four boys all then quickly assembled near a window through which moonlight was pouring in, and the girl sighed in relief when she spotted peter again. 'Oh god, Peter, you guys gave me a right scare, you know, it's so dark and creepy here, and there was no light, and I don't really know any spells on how to-' Karma broke off suddenly, her forehead creasing.
Wait a second. She was in Hogwarts. A school for magic. Using wands. And Peter was here, with his friends. He seemed to know his way around here, too. So did that mean-?
The dark-eyed girl's eyes widened almost comically.
'You're a wizard, Peter?!'
There was a groan and a squeak. 'Y-yes,' said Peter in a small voice. 'I thought you'd spotted us at the sorting-'
'If I'd have spotted you at the sorting, you'd have known, Peter,' she said raising her brow in disbelief. Honestly, Pete could be really thick sometimes. 'What house are you in, anyway?'
Peter spoke up in more nervous tone than normal. 'O-oh, you, uh, you see, I'm in, er-'
'Gryffindor, Petey boy, you are in Gryffindor, where dwell the brave of heart!' Why are you not saying that, eh?' This was James. He ruffled Peter's hair while asking the question.
'Well, you see, because Karma's in Slyth-'
'Oh, Petey, don't worry,' said Sirius, with an easy-going, mischievous smirk on his face. 'If Karma here really is your friend, then she wouldn't mind,' the boy now looked up at said girl, 'would she?'
Karma was confused. She didn't really get why Remus and Peter looked agitated, the latter appearing quite intimidated, too, and why Sirius and James were sharing mildly haughty looks, as if they'd just scored a point at some game.
She shook her head slightly. Boys were weird. Turning to Peter, she asked, 'Yeah Pete, why would I mind if you're in Gryffindor?' Peter relaxed. James and Sirius snapped their head to the girl. 'I mean, I would honestly really like it better if you were a Slytherin, civilian among those gits – but it's honestly really good to know you're here. I'm already weirded out by magic, courtesy of you guys' little stunt. Just knowing that you're here makes me feel loads better,' she completed with a smile.
Peter smiled back.
Sirius and James, however, were eager to change the topic of conversation. 'So, you're a Slytherin, hmm?' Sirius asked.
Karma scrunched her nose a bit. Were all magic people this weird? '...Er, yes. Yes, I am a Slytherin.'
'Hmm...'
'Well, most of them seemed like nasty people, except Geoffrey. He's a... half- half-blood? Yes, he's a half blood. Whatever that means.'
James nodded as Remus said, 'Half bloods are people who have muggles in the family. One of their parents could be a muggle, or muggle-born. So, because they have half wizard blood and half muggle blood, they're said to be half-bloods.'
Karma nodded, taking in the wisdom. 'And who are purebloods?'
Remus hesitated. Peter squeaked a little, and James and Sirius shared a look, again. 'Uh... purebloods are people who have no muggles in their families. People of their heritage don't marry muggles, mostly. Most pureblood families are proud of their blood, but some, like the Weasleys and Potter and Prewetts, they aren't. Like James' family. It doesn't really matter though, you know, blood.'
'Of course it doesn't. It's stupid. Why would you be proud of something that you haven't even achieved?'
James nodded enthusiastically. 'Yes!' he turned to Peter. 'You, Petey, have got a very forward minded friend.' He slapped Peter on his back.
'So, what- wait a second,' Karma looked pointedly at Sirius. 'I... are you related to Narcissa Black, I think her name was?'
Sirius abruptly grew uncomfortable. Karma didn't pick up on it.
'He's her cousin,' said James.
'Really?' The long-haired boy nodded. 'Whoa. I mean, you do kind of look similar, but your cousin is kind of a snob. No offense, by the way.'
'None taken. She's already very prissy, but ever since- you know what, never mind that... my younger brother was also supposed to start at Hogwarts this year. Everyone was sure he'd get sorted into Slytherin too.'
'Well... I'm pretty sure there's no first-year Black in Slytherin,' said Karma.
'I know. He couldn't attend the feast because of some, er, issue.'
'Hmm...' there was pin-drop silence for the next 45 seconds, until James and Karma started speaking together.
'Well, mateys, don't you think we should-?'
'Sirius, why aren't you in Slytherin if-?'
Both stopped at the same time too.
Karma refrained from asking the question again. Instead, she asked, 'So, what were you guys doing here, roaming at night?'
Another look was shared among the boys, and suddenly they were all very eager to drop Karma off to the Slytherin common room, because 'Filch, that old cockroach, could be lurking anywhere, you know, and his cat's quite lethal too, scare you to death, those two can, I tell you-,'
. . . . .
The next morning, Karma woke up to the shrieks of her dorm mate and frogs jumping on her face, her arms, legs, hell, she was sure there was one on her stomach, too-
'Arabella! What happened?'
But Karma's voice was unheard and ignored, because all Arabella was concentrating on was shrieking and screaming on a pitch so high it was sure to make her throat rupture. For a few moments, Karma just lay in her bed, trying to soak the insanely bizarre situation in.
The shrieking didn't cease until not much later – the same time when Karma finally decided to get up because there were frogs in her bed, and when two, Karma had to admit, quite good-looking boys barged in. They were both fairly similar to each other, but whom they possessed striking resemblance with was Arrabella. With all three of them having the same tannish skin, dark hair, light eyes and impressive facial structure, the three were eerily same-faced.
'Arrabella! Are you alright?' one of them asked.
'Alright? Alright, you ask? NO! I'm NOT alright! There's frogs in the entire dorm – oh, Merlin – and- and in my wardrobe, and, Salazar, they're in my MAKEUP BAG!'
The brothers both looked at each other, appearing sort of scared. I would be, if I was in their position. Arrabella may be pretty, but she can sure as heck be scary, too.
With a couple swishes of their wands, the boys managed to clear the room of frogs, although Arrabella still appeared to be deeply traumatised. The boys each gave her a hug, albeit quite gingerly.
Karma stared. It looked to be that either the boys and Arrabella had really not quite noticed Karma, or were blatantly ignoring her. She didn't know what was more humiliating.
. . . . .
Later, at breakfast, after the entire frog problem was resolved, the girls bothe headed to the dormitory. Arrabella immediately took a seat beside Adrian, even though she had to push aside Geoffrey for that, so Karma followed her lead and sat across from Geoffrey. Turns out it was a mistake.
'Ew!' exclaimed a blonde, slightly older girl sitting nearby. 'Mudblood! Get away! Shoo!'
What the-? Shoo?
Karma widened her eyes at the sudden exclamation. Arrabella paid no mind. Geoffrey looked up with a slightly concerned and mostly surprised expression. Alec looked like he was about to say something, but Adrian gave him a look, and so Mr. Hartley shut up as well. '...Er, what do you-?'
The girl cut her off. 'Is she talking to me?' she asked to no one in particular.
A brunette, who seemed to be the only other person except the first-years even acknowledging the events taking place, nodded furiously. A horrified look crept upon Blondie's face. Then, she screamed. Loud.
Karma was jarred. Several people at the table jumped and turned to see what the commotion was all about, a few people dropping their knives and forks too. Arrabella was still paying no mind, although she seemed to be highly restraining herself from committing bloody murder, for her knuckles clutching the cutlery had gone white. Adrian was now sitting back in his seat and watching with a little smirk on his face. Alec and Geoffrey both shared disturbed looks, then as the former covered his ears with earmuffs conjured by a little wave of his wand, the latter covered his ears with his hands.
'W- what are you-?' Karma tried to ask, but the girl only screamed louder. Widening her eyes and frantically trying and failing to get the blonde to calm down because students from other tables had started to look their way, Karma could only try to fathom what was causing the female to shriek her throat out.
'Hey!' yelled another voice, only adding to the chaos that was breakfast. It was Lucius Malfoy, in all his sneering, haughty, pompous glory. He was striding to the first-years. 'What is going on?'
When no one answered, he grew more insistent.
'I am the Slytherin Prefect and I demand to know- Agh!' Adrian had tugged on Lucius' hair, leading to the fifth-year crying out in pain. 'Why would you do that, you naughty little-!'
'Man, get some chill, would you? Sit down and enjoy the show, like we are!' he slapped Alec on the back loudly while saying 'we'.
Lucius scoffed. 'This is no show to watch, get it? You're the Pucey boy, aren't you?'
'Yes, indeed.'
'Hmm. Well, I now understand where your disgusting, ill-mannered behaviour comes from, considering your whole family is a bunch of hooligans!' Lucius sneered.
Adrian stood up in an instant. 'What did you just say?' he was seething through his teeth.
'I said your family's a-,' before Lucius could complete saying what he was, Adrian punched him square in the jaw. By now, quite a lot of people had started watching, incluing but not limited to Peter and his friends. Most of them looked annoyed, a few looked amused, and a bit looked angry. Overall, it was a sight sending Karma in a panic.
'Look,' she said to Blondie, because she knew that she had no chance of dissolving the fight that was taking place and getting cheered on, in the background, 'I don't know what I-'
'AAAAAAAHHHHHHH-!'
'-but please stop screaming-'
'AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH-!'
Karma stopped trying, just sinking down in the seat and trying to shrink into herself so that she could become invisible. Lucius and Adrian's fight had escalated very much very quickly, as Lucius was now throwing spells and jinxes and curses, while two boys that could very well have been meatballs were punching Adrian to pulp. Adrian was resisting impressively, and Alec was now involved in a duel with Lucius.
Professor Slughorn had approached to try and diffuse the situation, but it was no use, and Karma was pretty sure the two meatballs-for-goons, apparently called Crabbe and Goyle, had landed a couple kicks on him, too.
Finally, something snapped. That something was Arrabella. She let out a frustrated short scream, which Blondie apparently took as a threat to her shrieking abilities, and screamed louder, and then Arrabella whipped out what appeared to be a pair of nail scissors. Her wand in hand, she successfully managed to increase them considerably in size, up until they were too big for the girl to hold without toppling over, and picked them up with a heave. Letting out a battle cry of sorts, she raged ahead, straight into the boys' fight, and threatened to cut Lucius' hair, which seemed to disturb said boy deeply. He immediately stepped back, and frantically began explaining to a red-faced Slughorn how it wasn't really his fault at all, but the mudblood's, which honestly made Karma's blood boil, but Slughorn seemed to be taking good care of that, so she didn't intervene.
Geoffrey had long fled the scene, mumbling something about getting to classes early. Arrabella was snapping the scissors open and shut like a madwoman, but no one really seemed scared.
The pandemonium only ceased when Dumbledore bellowed, 'SILENCE!' and then proceeded to introduce a familiar looking, thin, pale boy with dark hair. Regulus Black.
Guess there was going to be a new addition to the Mudblood Hate Organisation.
'No one's looking out for us. Not for the Slytherins.'
Karma was nervous, and extremely so. Her visit to Diagon Alley, in which she'd been accompanied with some creepy bloke who she was supposed to call Professor Fisher, had gone surprisingly well. She'd bought books and robes and cauldrons and gloves and whatnot, and although they were all second hand, Karma was satisfied – she was going to school, and she would at least have a sense of ownership over her belongings, because she certainly didn't have any idea on how to use more than half of them. She'd also bought a wand – holding it was one of the best experiences she'd ever have, she knew of it.
Professor Fisher, in all his light ginger-haired and musty cinnamon-scented glory, lead the way to a narrow shop just down the street. It was old, Karma could tell – there was nothing on display in the windows, through which Karma saw that the shop was quite not as big as all the others she'd been to.
Over the door was written,
Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 BC.
As Fisher pushed the door open, Karma peered inside, not paying any attention to the tinkling bell that had rung somewhere overhead. This shop, Karma thought, this shop is the most expectedly magical thing I've seen.
And true her thoughts were, for the shop's each and every content – be it the awry chair that stood in a corner, the thousands of narrow and thin wand boxes that lay messily stacked in shelves, the dust that covered them, the very air - it gave an old, witch-like feeling that Karma had been expecting all along.
A man – old, wrinkly, and with a wistful look in his moon-like eyes – emerged from the shadows. He said in a soft voice, 'Good evening, Karma, I've been expecting you. Took quite long, long enough...' he trailed off, staring at Karma with those silvery eyes. It might have felt weird to some, but Karma couldn't help but stare back, right into the man's eyes. It seemed as if he had seen entire eras pass, and noting his appearance, he might as well have.
He spoke up once again. 'Your wand arm?'
'Uh... I'm not quite sure I- '
'What hand do you write with?' said Fisher, in an exasperated sort of voice. Karma didn't like it.
Mr. Ollivander, Karma assumed, just now seemed to notice Fisher's presence. He exclaimed, still in a quiet tone, 'Oh, Maurice, no? Maurice Fisher, Ash wood, 11 inches, unicorn hair... I expect it has served you wondrously, yes?'
Fisher nodded, still seeming tired of the very fact that he would have to use his voice. 'Yes, Mr. Ollivander.'
'Hm... well, Karma, time is precious, not to be wasted...' and he whipped out a measuring tape with silver markings, seemingly out of nowhere.
'Wand arm?' he asked again.
'Right.'
And so Karma was measured – not by Ollivander, just by his tape, mind you - shoulder to finger, wrist to elbow, shoulder to floor, knee to armpit, and round her head. He asked the wand to stop, and so it crumpled up and fell to the floor. Karma watched it vanish just before it touched the ground.
Ollivander piped up. 'Now, now, Karma, here, take this. Ash wood, dragon heartstring core, 12 ¾ inches. Give it a wave, go on...' Karma sort of jerked the wand, but it was abruptly snatched back by Ollivander.
'No no, that won't do, certainly not...' Another box was pulled out. 'Here – beech wood, unicorn hair, 13 inches, swishy and bendy...' Karma waved the wand around. It felt... not right, even when it made the spindly chair's legs break. It was promptly taken back.
After a bit of searching, now for a longer period of time, Ollivander pulled out a sleek cherry shaded box, which was so dusty its true colour was hard to decipher.
He pulled out the wand, a roughish looking affair with little to no design – there was an engraved loop around it, a little way off from its rear, and twine was encircled around this rear.
As soon as her slender fingers gripped the wand, Karma felt a tingly kind of shockwave go through her body, and as she waved the wand in a roundabout motion, the chair's legs repaired themselves.
Ollivander had a smile on his face, but his eyes seemed so far away, Karma was almost sure he hadn't even seen her enormous grin, or the satisfied-but-still-exasperated huff of air Fisher had produced.
'M- Mr. Ollivander...? Are you alright...?' The man blinked his moon-like eyes twice, and said in an even softer voice, so that it was just above a whisper, 'This wand... this particular wand – alder wood, unicorn hair, 14 ½ inches – this wand has been in the shop since the beginning, the very beginning...' The man's wistful voice had a slightly grim tone to it; so slight, in fact, that Karma failed to notice it, but Fisher didn't.
'This wand, Karma, its existence... quite curious, quite peculiar, yes...' Karma seemed inclined to stay silent. She was scared that Ollivander would stop his words and lose his train of thought if she broke the silence. 'This wand... its core, as you know, is of unicorn hair... a core that is prone to melancholy... it might "die", you see; if mishandled, it will need replacing. It doesn't make for the most powerful wand. But what's curious, Karma, is that even though alder does not- should not, rather, compensate for that weakness, your wand is still a quite powerful one. The reason is what is so curious...'
Ollivander trailed off once more. After a bit, he said, 'The reason Karma, is that the tree your wand's wood was taken from... it was not normal... certainly not usual...'
'How so?' Karma's curiousness became too much to bear.
'That... my dear girl, that, is something better left untold...' and the man had once again retreated into the shadows.
All Karma could do was share a look with Fisher, who, for the first time since she'd seen him, didn't look exasperated.
That encounter had been quite nerve-wracking, but not this much; standing amongst a crowd of small people such as herself in the centre of the Great Hall, Karma felt nauseous. The queasy feeling in her belly wouldn't go away, and as she watched all the other children talk among themselves, she felt oddly singled out. The fact that about a hundred other people were watching wasn't helping.
Even in the Hogwarts Express, she was sat with a third year Ravenclaw called Pandora who, apparently, no one wished to sit with. All through the journey, there was an awkward energy in the compartment, and multiple attempts by Karma to diffuse the awkwardness had been in vain, because Pandora seemed to speak only in riddles, that too in a voice dreamier than even Ollivander's. Karma suddenly knew why Pandora was a reject.
Although all the first years had been briefed about the Sorting Ceremony and the four Hogwarts houses, Karma was still feeling immensely overwhelmed. She had read absolutely nothing in her magic books; she'd been too busy sharing her excitement and sadness and disappointment with Jade and Morgan.
Her wand-
'Abbott, Hailey!' a voice said loudly. Karma's gaze focused back on the scene in front of her eyes; she hadn't really been paying attention to the Hat's song. As everyone watched McGonagall and the teachers all patiently waiting, a little girl, certainly undergrown for her age, briskly walked up the stairs and placed herself on the stool. McGonagall put the Hat on her head, and Karma was sure that before it even quite touched her head, a screech of 'HUFFLEPUFF!' echoed through the hallway. The table to their left, whose students were all clad in yellow and black, gave an enormous round of applause, and "Hailey" ran to her house table, smiling with glee. Next, a slim, pale boy with dirty blond hair, called "Geoffrey Bailey" made his way up the stairs. He was quite frail-looking. He quietly walked to the stool placed there, and took a seat. The Hat was sat atop his head, and after only a few quiet moments, it bellowed, 'SLYTHERIN!'
The table to the extreme right gave a quite unenthusiastic round of applause.
Karma wondered what surname Professor McGonagall would use for her; or if she would use none at all. Deep down, deep, deep down, so deep down she wasn't sure if it was there, Karma knew the answer. Although she hoped she was wrong, prayed that by some miracle she would be proven wrong. She was given the unwanted answer pretty soon.
'Beauregarde, Karma!' Said girl made a thoroughly disgusted face at the fact that she would now be known as "Beauregarde" by the school. Couldn't the teachers have picked a better name? Harrison as a surname had always sounded pretty cool to Karma, and Montgomery was a quite intriguing one, too. But no, due to stupid rules and regulations and laws, Karma would have to go around being called "Beauregarde", because that's what kids do, right? They don't ever address you as the person you're supposed to be, you'll mostly be called by your last name.
These vicious thoughts were swirling through Karma's mind when she sat on the stool, and it was only when the Sorting Hat was perched on her head did she stop complaining about rules and Beauregarde and who-knows-what.
'Eh,' a small-ish voice sounded, 'a bit tricky, but not to worry. Hmm... got a multitude of traits in you, have you? Impulsive, even a bit reckless, I'll go as far to say... not very chivalrous though, not very brave either, but quite outspoken, no unfair behaviour accepted... clever too, huh? But not bookishly, no... you'd rather read about ghosts than do your homework... self-preserving, definitely, borderline selfish... definitely not too kind, but you are loyal... bit of a surprise, honestly... not very ambitious, but still... you'd do good in... SLYTHERIN!'
The hat was taken off, the girl opened her eyes; Karma was speechless, because holy cow, the ruddy thing could talk!
But even though Karma tried to focus her thoughts on that personality-deducing, talking, tattered hat, she couldn't shake the feeling of dread off when she looked at the Slytherin table – its occupants all gave off a particularly vicious aura, even more so when she looked at them. They were all dressed primly, except a select few, and all looked like they would curse her into oblivion and shred her to ribbons, if only they could lay their hands on her. All, but not that frail boy – what was his name, Geoffrey? He looked just as confused as Karma, and actually shot her a sympathetic look. Karma was grateful, and she was hell-bent on making that boy her friend.
She took a seat on the very edge, as far as she possibly could without falling. She was in front of Geoffrey, who was now trying to ignore her, most probably because he didn't have a death wish; the other students were all glaring at the both of them with gazes so sharp they, Geoffrey and Karma, should have been split in half. And Karma was thankful that looks couldn't kill, because if they could, she'd have been six feet under.
After the Sorting, Slytherin had five new pupils under his wing – Karma (not Beauregarde), Geoffrey Bailey, Alec Hartley, Arabella Lestrange, and Adrian Pucey.
Karma knew she was scre- sorry, messed, because 1) her house members already seemed to detest her more than she detested Gertrude Beauregarde, or as Karma liked to call her, Beelzebub, which she hadn't thought was possible, and 2) the first thing Adrian had said after seeing Karma was, 'Ey, Lestrange! This scum here is a mudblood, no?' and Arabella (who was, by the way, too pretty to be just eleven) had responded in jest. 'Yes, yes, Adrian, she is... I'd consider her decent-looking, if only she hadn't been filth. And I would rather you call me Arabella, seei-'
Adrian hadn't let her finish. 'You know what, we should form a society against mudbloods. Call it, uh, We Do Not Support Filth, Scum, Or Mudbloo-'
'You fool, that's what you're gon' to call it? You purebloods, honestly, thinking you're better than the world-,' This was Alec Hartley, the kid who was so pale he could've been a vampire and it wouldn't've been a surprise, spoke at the speed of light, Karma was sure, and had donned a gray beanie hat for some reason.
'I never said-'
'-The name you've chosen would make it W-D-N-S-F-S-O-M. So dumb. Might as well just name it "We're Bullies Troubling A Fellow Pupil, But Will Most Probably Get Away With It Because Our Parents Are Cousins And We're Results Of Incest – W.B.T.A.F.P.B.W.M.P.G.A.W.I.B.O.P.A.C.A.W.R.O.I.'
Adrian flared up. 'Oh, is that so? Well, why don't you-'
'Yes, you dingbat, I already have a name, because I am not as stupid as you are, honestly, call yourself filth instead of the mudblood, such painful stupidity-'
'Shut up, you scrawny little-'
'Oh wow, resort to name-calling, wow, stupendous really, what pureblood values you have, Pucey, Slytherin would be embarassed-'
'Do not utter a word against my famil-'
'I never did, and you would've known that if you weren't so thick, but you know what, I'll just tell you the name, because knowledge is power, and knowledge conquers all, but pity really, that on one hand I have such an amazing mind, and on the other hand are people such as you, without brains; truthfully, I think your brainpower's also been given to me-'
'You-'
'Geez, calm down, will you, no need to wave fists around like that, the name will be "Mudblood Hate Organisation".'
Adrian had resumed a sitting position, having stood up to try and punch Alec; Geoffrey had been straining to prevent him from doing so. Arabella had barely even batted an eye, content with filing her nails using a nail filer which had diamonds on the handle; Karma had been watching the scene unfold with equal parts curiosity for the meaning of mudblood, amusement at Alec's way of speaking and Geoffrey's lack of physical strength, earnest awe at Alec's ability to find acronyms so easily. and fear for her life.
Adrian nodded. 'Well, that is a better option-'
'See, dumb; you could call it a better alternative, but no-'
'Hartley-'
'Ok, sor-'
'SHUT UP!' screeched Arabella, throwing her nail filer across the floor. Karma, and quite a few others, including but not limited to, Geoffrey, Adrian and the boy sitting next to Arabella. Alec hadn't moved an inch; he was too busy sketching cat portraits in a leather journal. 'Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut...up,' Arabella's voice lowered as she took quite loud deep breaths.
Karma asked in a tentative voice, 'Are you oka-?'
'Don't talk to me,' Arabella replied, her voice back to that calm, collected tone. 'I apologise for screaming, it's just that I was filing my nails, and misdid it because of all the disturbance. I have slight temper issues. And yes, "Mudblood Hate Organisation" is a nice name. Simple and to the point.'
'No one's looking out for us. Not for the Slytherins.'
