4. MORNING HICCUPS: DORCAS MEADOWES
Lupin pulled another piece of parchment out of the pile and showed it to Sirius, the left side of his mouth dragging up in a sad smile.
–Ah, Dorcas Meadowes,†Sirius said fondly, reaching out for the letter just as Lupin pulled it away. Harry glanced over Lupin's shoulder and saw a long letter written in a small, cramped hand.
–Who's Dorcas Meadowes?†Harry asked, thinking he'd heard the name before somewhere.
–She was one of the best witches in our year,†Sirius said, the corners of his mouth turning up in a reluctant smile. –You would have liked her, Harry. Sharp as a bird, no girly nonsense from her. But boy, did she have a sense of humor.â€
Lupin snorted. –When we were in school, Sirius and Dorcas used to go off at each other for hours!â€
–He’s not joking,†Sirius said grimly. –Her family was a bloody mess, and my family was a bloody mess, and we both thought we had it the worst.†He shook his head.
Why had Harry never heard of her?
As if reading his mind, Sirius answered his question. –She died a horrible, horrible death, Harry. It was so sudden, so…†he trailed off. –I haven’t been able to talk about it since,†he said hoarsely.
–She was in the original Order, too. She was a very powerful witch, Voldemort killed her himself,†Lupin said quietly. Harry bowed his head. Another casualty. It seemed as if half of the authors of these letters were no longer alive. He sat there for a moment, jolted back to the present by Lupin's escalating voice. –But that's not what Sirius saw in her—â€
–Hey—â€
–He was after her for weeks, you know. Years.â€
Sirius grinned, but his eyes remained sad. –I was not. I wasn't nearly as bad as James.â€
Harry sat silent at the mention of his father, but his ears perked up. This was the first he had heard of his godfather and girls. But, judging from the pictures he'd seen of teenage Sirius, he was sure Sirius had no trouble in that area.
Lupin cleared his throat and began.
Dear Future Dorcas,
You’re supposed to be writing about yourself or something, but do you even want to remember this point in time? No, it’s probably best to forget it. Yes, Mum and Dad will always be gone, but Cleo and Phoebe will come around. Your sisters can’t desert you forever. So on a happier note, why don’t you remember something that made you laugh?
Today you, well, I, began the day with a nice old-fashioned prank on that short and oddly lumpy boy Peter Pettigrew, who spilled his ink all over your Transfiguration essay last night. I mean, it wasn't really his fault per se, he's been known to knock over anything within a two-meter radius of himself, and nobody in their right mind would have let him sit down next to an open bottle of ink and a newly finished essay. It was more that arse Sirius Black. Remember him? Sure you do. He's the one who clearly thinks he should have made the cover of Witch Weekly years ago. And so what if half of the female population at Hogwarts agrees? It's not going to stop me from ignoring his obvious flirting, even though that does seem to make it worse. He's not the James Potter Hopeless Romantic type, so I don't know what he's getting at, and I haven't quite worked out how to make him stop. Quite frankly, I'm glad James didn't let me on the Quidditch team. He said I'd outflown most of the other Chasers, but with the way his best Beater kept looking at me—not to mention the giant row we had--he couldn't allow me on the team. I didn't recognize it as a good decision until weeks later.
Anyway, I could have easily just hexed Pettigrew as he trudged groggily into the Great Hall, but I thought that would be too easy. He wouldn't even have time to know what hit him. Luckily, in Potions yesterday we brewed a Hiccuping Solution, of which I had nicked a small phial just in case. So during breakfast, I scoped out my target. He was sitting with the rest of the Cool Crew, or whatever they call themselves, so I had to think fast. I figured if I talked to Lupin about the Charms homework, that would distract Black too, and Pettigrew is just as observant as a blind moth, so I didn't really have to worry about him. Carefully, after asking Lupin just how many toads he had managed to Silence, under the pretext of getting a little competitive, I slipped a few drops of the potion into Pettigrew's pumpkin juice—he had caused me to stay up two more hours to rewrite my essay—and, after ignoring Black's comment that he had Silenced a raven (which was absolutely not true) I returned to my seat, glancing back to see Potter mutter something to Black.
And a few minutes later I had that arse to answer to. He came over to where Lily and I were sitting. At first he began yelling at me in defense of his friend, but he couldn't stay mad at me for long and ended up congratulating me on my idea. Well, so much for that. He wasn't even going to stick up for his friend? But then again, nobody ever stuck up for Pettigrew. Poor kid.
There's a day in the life of Dorcas Meadowes for you. I can only hope you've grown up a little by the time you read this.
Sirius stared at the parchment incredulously. –She can't have disliked me that much.â€
Lupin chuckled. –I mean, you were the reason she didn't make the Quidditch team!â€
–She should have felt honored!â€
Harry thought this was going a little too far—he didn't think he could handle Sirius reverting to his cocky teenage self before his eyes. –Did you, er—â€
–They dated for a week or two the next year,†Lupin answered.
–Too bad, really. It was so short-lived. I remember it well...†Sirius said, staring wistfully at a corner of the ceiling. –We had just won the match against Slytherin, you know. Big party in the common room. James was busy trying to get your mother to talk to him. I'd had a bunch of Firewhiskys and wouldn't take no for an answer. I think Dorcas had had a little too much herself.†Sirius smiled sadly and shook his head. –I liked her.â€
It sure seemed like Sirius had been quite a bit more knowledgeable about girls in his fifth year than Harry was. He made a mental note to, if he had time and the right opportunity, seek Sirius's opinion about Cho.
5. FROM THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE: SEVERUS SNAPE
Sirius grabbed the next letter before throwing it aside in disgust. –Snivellus.â€
–Sorry, what?†Harry said.
–Severus Snape,†Lupin offered, glaring at Sirius, who crossed his arms. Harry bit his lip to suppress the unwanted laughter at Sirius's nickname for Snape. So they really had disliked each other for that long. And Harry couldn't blame him. Lupin sighed. –Dumbledore trusts him. Can't you just—â€
–No,†Sirius said forcefully, grabbing the letter from Lupin. –Some things don't change. Let's see what the slimy git had to say.â€
1975
Langlock: will glue the target's tongue to his mouth.
Levicorpus: will dangle the target in midair by his ankle
Liberacorpus: counter-jinx to levicorpus
Muffliato: fills target's ears with unpleasant buzzing. Perfect for keeping out unwanted listeners.
Sectumsempra: cuts a deep gash in the target
Digita Enlargo: toenail enlarging hex
Note to self: use all of these on James Potter. At once, if possible.
I, Severus Snape, the Half-Blood Prince, claim ownership of the aforementioned spells. I'll use every one of them on Pretty Boy Potter and then he and Black won't be so keen to pick on old Snivelly anymore. Not to mention Mudblood Evans who's become friendly with them now.
Do I want to apologize? No. I did try, but it's all for the better, really. She is a Mudblood, there's no denying it.
(a bunch of scratched out lines.)
One day, they will all pay.
Mudblood Evans. That had to be his mother. Harry blanched. –What did he have to do with my mum?â€
Sirius and Lupin glanced at each other, Lupin shaking his head ever so slightly. –Not now,†he said wearily. –I can't possibly begin to explain that one now.â€
–But—â€
Sirius had taken the letter back. –Dark Magic,†he spat, reading over the spells. –But that Levicorpus spell, it was really popular when we were at Hogwarts. If you didn't watch your back, next minute you would be hanging in the air by your ankle.â€
Harry sniffed. –What's the Half-Blood Prince?â€
Lupin shook his head. –No idea.â€
–I reckon he fancied himself royalty,†Sirius said, sneering, before dropping the piece of parchment into the pile.
6. WORRIES AND WARNINGS: ALICE (LONGBOTTOM)
–Alice?†Harry asked, reading the name on the heading.
–Married Frank Longbottom,†Sirius answered. Harry's lips parted to form a silent –O.†Harry had felt almost guilty witnessing the scene between Neville and his mother that afternoon, and even though he wasn't sure it was the same, he thought he knew something of the pain Neville must feel.
Harry was drawn immediately to the letter. He felt as if he had to read it, after seeing the state Alice Longbottom was in today. If he read the letter, he could think of her as a young, bright witch, instead of the tortured soul he'd seen at St. Mungo’s.
1975
Dear Alice,
This is a bit daunting, isn't it? Try and explain who you are right now, at this very moment as a teenager, to yourself in another ten or twenty years.
I've nowhere near lived up to Dad. I grew up hearing stories about his escapades at Hogwarts, like the time he put a fanged gerbil in Augusta Longbottom's handbag, and I think he is a little disappointed at how, well, hard I'm working. Mum, on the other hand, says she couldn't be prouder of my ambition to be an Auror. Right now we're all studying our brains off for the O.W.L.s at the end of this year. I'm taking all the tests necessary for Auror training: Potions, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Charms, and Herbology. I'll have no trouble with Herbology or Charms, it's really Potions I'm worried about. Put me next to a cauldron full of anything—whether it be pumpkin juice or Draught of the Living Death—and the outcome is never good. As long as I scrape an Exceeds Expectations, I'll be alright. I might go and see Slughorn after this. Especially these days, with all that's happening with He Who Must Not Be Named, I'm sure the Auror office would be glad for any help they can get. Maybe the training would be a little more lenient. I really do feel that it's something I have to do. Terrible things have started happening. Deaths and disappearances. For all I know, it could be me next. Or Dad, or Mum.
Please, please, please let me pass my O.W.L.s!
Love,
Yourself in 1975
–Never knew her too well,†Sirius said quietly, –but everyone said she was kindest witch they'd ever met.â€
–She was convinced she wouldn't pass, I remember it.†Lupin shook his head. –Ended up being one of the greatest Aurors of her time.â€
Harry thought he could sense a little bit of Neville in that letter—he knew where he got his humility, his determination.
Love, Hogwarts by Amortentia Black
Chapter Notes: For some reason the rest of these never got uploaded, so here they are. Harry learns more about his godfather's elusive past as he reads letters from Dorcas, Snape, and Alice Longbottom.
Chapter Endnotes: My apologies that this has taken so long. I'm writing my full-length prequel series, and these were character exercises taken from that world.