Excentryke's Musings

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Helios’s Awakening

Part the Fourth—
Cuz I’m in the stars tonight, So watch me bring the fire and set the stars alight.
—“Dynamite,” BTS

Helios wasn’t entirely certain where he was, but the tent was a royal blue with tassels along the edges.  Groups of teenage wizards were clumped around a large bonfire and firewhiskey was being passed around, but Helios had been given a bottle of turquoise fairy fizz.

“Helios,” Draco introduced, his long neck stretching as he pointed to a wizard Helios vaguely recollected, “you remember Theo Nott.”

Theo nodded in his direction, his chocolate curls a riot on his head.  “I heard the rumor.”  He got up and took Helios’s hand in a firm grip, then pulled him into a half embrace before releasing him.  “Glamour?”  He pointed to Helios’s forehead.

“Something like that.”

Theo looked him up and down.  “It looks good on you.”

“Marcus Flint,” Draco pointed out, indicating a wizard who looked like he had troll blood.  “My cousin Helios Black.  Seeker.”

“Krum didn’t pull the snitch off fast enough,” Flint pointed out.  It was true.  Ireland had been up 180 points when Krum had caught the snitch, ending the match but losing it resoundly in Ireland’s favor.  “What a disappointing match.”

Helios, in contrast, had thought it rather thrilling.  It had been over too fast, but matches often were.

He took a drink of his fairy fizz.

“I noticed the Mudblood on the screen,” Flint mused, taking a generous sip of firewhiskey.  He was referencing Hermione who the magiscreen had focused on at one point as she was well known in the sports world as Krum’s girlfriend.  “She’s just as I remember her, although Potter was nowhere to be seen.”

Helios and Draco shared a look.

“No,” Draco agreed.  “I don’t think he’s here.”

“She was always tottling after him,” Flint continued.  “It’s like she didn’t have an existence outside of him.  Typical Mudblood behavior.  They suck the life out of wizards around them.”  He took a large chug of his firewhiskey.  “First they steal our children’s magic, and then they can’t figure out how to use it without being hangers on.”

Theo was drinking a bubblegum pink fairy fizz and his eyes alighted on Helios.  “I think you must forgive Black. He’s been away.”

“Away?” Flint asked, interested.  “What do you mean—away?”

Theodred was staring at his younger brother speculatively.  At least Helios assumed he was Theodred.  He was an older wizard, somewhere in his twenties, with the same sharp blue eyes and brown curls.  He had wandered over with his own bottle of firewhiskey that he had poured into Flint’s empty glass. 

“I’ve been in hiding,” Helios admitted, leaning back against a log and staring into the bonfire.  “Mother thought it was best.”

“Hiding,” Flint repeated, speculative.

“I just met him yesterday,” Draco admitted, coming up to Helios and crawling over the log so he was sitting shoulder to shoulder with him.  “And I’m his favorite cousin.”

“He knew about me, though.  I was kept in the dark,” Helios griped.

“Helios,” Draco whined.

“You did,” Helios accused.  “You knew and you didn’t say a word.”

“Family drama,” Theodred murmured, entering the conversation for the first time.  “How fascinating.”

“Would you have believed me?” Draco asked earnestly, brushing his hair from his blue-grey eyes, Helios following the movement of his wrist which poked out of his shirtsleeve with his gaze. 

Helios glanced up at Draco’s eyes which were fixated on him.

“I don’t know.   We’ll never know because you never even tried.”

Draco’s gaze dipped to Helios’s jaw, but then he looked away, taking another drink of his bright red fairy fizz. 

Helios followed the movement, looking at the curve of his ear.

“The point,” Draco began again, “is that Helios is a little ignorant of our traditions.  He hasn’t had the benefit of a full liberal education.”

“Liberal?” Helios squeaked.

“Liberal,” Draco agreed, punctuating his word.  “I mean the Classical sense of the word, Helios.  Keep up.”

‘Keep up,’ Helios mouthed before drinking more of his turquoise fairy fizz. 

Draco shoved his shoulder.

Flint was watching them rather closely. “You really are cousins, aren’t you?”

“Isn’t that what we’ve been saying?” Draco asked him.

Flint shrugged.

It was Theodred who took up the explanation.  “Well, Black,” he said.  “Mudbloods—Muggleborns, if you like—are thieves of the worst sort. They steal magic.”

Helios opened his mouth to object, but Theodred put up his hand to silence him.

“This is well documented.  It’s Muggle lovers like Dumbledore who refuse to see the truth.  Muggleborns,” he drew out the word as if to make a point, “when they are young children are believed to come into contact with wizard children and they syphon off their magic, making the wizarding children weaker or, even, squibs.  The Ministry then registers them as having magic and they get their letters to Hogwarts.”

His younger brother Theo leaned forward, the firelight casting shadows on his face, and he added, “That’s what happened to Longbottom in our year.  He came into contact with a Muggleborn child who stole his magic.  It’s why he has so little left for himself.”

Helios blinked, opened his mouth, but when Draco reached over and let his fingers linger over Helios’s hand, Helios quickly let his teeth click shut again.

“The Ministry should have interviewed him at length when he entered Hogwarts,” Draco stated self-importantly, “to see which Mudblood it was.  It could have been anyone.  It wouldn’t necessarily have to be anyone in our year, it could have been someone older, someone younger.”  He shrugged.  Helios could feel Draco’s shoulders slide against him and it made a shiver run through him.  “It’s a crime despite Longbottom being a lout.”

Helios briefly thought of Lily Potter.  How she was a Muggleborn.  She had been his mum for most of his life.  He almost brought her up, but then thought better of it. 

He turned and looked over at Draco, and saw that Draco was looking back at him, as if reading his thoughts.

“Yes, she stole magic.”

“How do you know that?” Helios asked, picking up the thread of the unspoken question.

“Because I know who she stole magic from.”

Helios startled.  “How can you possibly know that?”

“Neither whip nor wand, Helios.  Neither whip nor wand.”  He gave Helios a small, secretive smile.  “You forget that Uncle Regulus went to school with her.”

Helios licked his lips, ready to say more, but Draco reached forward, touched his wrist, letting his fingers linger there, before turning back to the fire, effectively silencing Helios.

Helios took a deep breath through his nose.

 “You go to Hogwarts then.  Fly against us?” Flint asked, his teeth large in his mouth.

“No,” Helios lied.  “Never flown against you.”  He glanced over at Draco, sharing a secretive look with him.  “I enjoy the odd pick up game.”

“Helios has lived a very sheltered life,” Draco confirmed to Flint.

Theo was watching them carefully.  “Coming to Hogwarts?” he asked conversationally.

“Yes,” Helios agreed.  “It’s the place to go, I suppose.”

Theo was now sharing a look with Draco. 

“I’m looking forward to his sorting,” Draco was now saying.  “I’ll have Father have it done in private.  No reason to subject him to a public sorting as he’s not a first year.  He doesn’t need the Weasel gaping over him, I should think.”  He took another drag of his bright red fairy fizz.  “Except for Uncle Sirius—that is, Sirius Black, who’s on the run—all Blacks have been in Slytherin, including my mother.  Helios should follow the rest of us in.”  He said the last of this proudly.  “No need for heroics or undo acts of hard work.”  He didn’t mention intelligence.  “We must have our fun.”

Helios wondered if Draco thought he was unintelligent.  Then again, Draco had seen his potions work over the past four years.

“Black doesn’t look quite like he knows how to relax,” Theodred remarked.  “He’s wound up tighter than a spinner.”

Helios let out a long breath.  He was feeling a bit on edge.  He was trying to fool Marcus Flint—and this Theodred Nott who he had never met before—that he was someone other than Harry Potter.

“He’s been in hiding,” Theo explained for him as if it should be obvious.  “Black, have you ever been to a public event like this before?”

“Er—no.”

“There, you see?” Theo explained, tossing away his empty fairy fizz bottle.  “Now is there an extra glass?  I’m sixteen in a little over a month.  I think I can have some firewhiskey.”

Theodred shook his head.  “Father will kill me.  Have another fairy fizz.”  He reached into a bucket of ice and picked out what turned out to be a lavender bottle of fairy fizz.  Helios wondered what flavor it was.  The one he was drinking was a bit lemony despite the turquoise color.  “It’s alcoholic, little bro.  You’re fine.”

“Yeah, but without the kick,” Flint laughed, finishing off his glass and holding it out for another splash from the bottle.

Theodred obliged.

Looking put out, Theo accepted the fairy fizz and unscrewed the cap with a scowl.

“Are you all Slytherins?” Helios asked.

“Ravenclaw,” Theodred answered, lifting up his glass in salute.  “Beater.  Knocked this one” (he indicated Flint) “off his broom a time or two.”

Flint was scowling at him.  “I have no problem knocking you off your feet.”

“Try.”  It was definitely an invitation.

Draco laughed openly.

Flint just scowled, making him look more like a troll, and Theodred rolled his eyes.  Theo looked like he was used to this type of grandstanding. 

Draco’s laughter turned into sniggers and he took another sip of his fairy fizz, leaning heavily into Helios. 

Soon, Helios’s fizz was empty and he put it to the side.  Theodred helpfully got him another and Helios opened it and started drinking, despite feeling a little buzzed.  This one was an acid green and tasted like prunes.  Draco, at this point, was dragging his bottle between his fingers and letting his free hand rest lightly on Helios’s knee. 

Helios was never going to tell him to stop.

“Christ’s blood, I need a fag,” Draco suddenly complained, and Theo and Flint looked over at him.

“Did you bring them?” Helios asked conversationally. 

“They’re here, somewhere,” Draco confirmed, sitting up, much to Helios’s regret.  Draco stuck his apple red fairy fizz against the log and began to pat himself down and clearly was not finding his cigarettes.  Helios reached into the left hand pocket of his cloak and took out his packet and handed them over.  Draco, surprised, looked up and gave Helios a dopey smile.  He was certainly feeling the effects of the fairy fizz, in Helios’s opinion.

Draco stuffed a cigarette between his lips and snapped his fingers, igniting them into fire.

Once the cigarette was lit, Helios blew out the tips of Draco’s fingers and Draco leaned back against the log, breathing out smoke circles from between his lips.

“Much better,” he said to no one in particular.  Draco plucked the cigarette from his mouth with his pointer and third finger, blowing out more smoke circles before taking another drag. 

“I’m surprised you lasted,” Helios commented, settling back against the log himself.

He motioned to Theodred for another fairy fizz, which was quickly passed over.  This one was a sugary yellow.

“So am I,” Draco agreed.  “At least I won’t smell so completely of smoke.  Father can’t complain.”

“You should see him in the Slytherin dorms,” Theo told Helios, leaning forward, the flames casting shadows against his curls.  “There are no windows as we’re beneath the Black Lake.  He has to go up to the Great Hall, and, of course, he can’t smoke there.”

“There’s a nice spot on the third floor corridor,” Draco informed them, “that’s just perfect.  There’s a view of Dumbledore’s private garden and no one thinks to go down there as there are no classrooms.”

“Dumbledore has a private garden?” Theodred asked, clearly interested.

“Yes,” Draco confirmed, taking another drag on his cigarette.  “Sometimes he goes out there with his phoenix to think.  He’ll just sit there for hours even in the rain.”

“The rain?”  This was Helios.

Draco turned to him.  “Oh yes.  He gets quite drenched.”  He sniggered.  “You should see his beard soaked with rain water.”

Helios was trying to imagine Dumbledore in the rain but was having difficulties.  It seemed so lonely, sitting all alone in the rain.  It seemed like something Helios would do.

Draco was still sniggering.  Being cousins didn’t change him from being a bit of a tosser.

There was an explosion in the distance.

Helios looked over his shoulder and squinted.  Not having glasses made it a bit easier to focus, but he still couldn’t see clearly in the dark.

“What was that?” Theo asked.

“Not sure,” his brother commented, getting up slightly and setting his firewhiskey aside.  “You stay here.”

There was another sound of rumbling from deeper inside the campsite.

Draco was still sniggering.

Helios hit the side of his arm.

“What?”

“Something’s happening,” he told him, pointing back toward the camp where Theodred and Flint were making their way with wands drawn. 

Draco looked over his shoulder and squinted.  “I don’t see much—”

There was a sharp shard of light in the sky.

“That’s not a firework.”

Helios was instantly on his feet, wand drawn.

Draco threw his half-smoked cigarette into the bonfire and sat straight up.

Several bangs went off inside the camp. 

Helios crouched down despite himself. 

“Not fireworks,” Theo confirmed, getting to his feet.  “What’s going on?”

“I’m not sure,” Helios murmured, Draco now scrambling to his feet.  “I think that’s the direction of the Bulgarian camp.  Do you think they’re having a fight over losing?”

“Sore losers?” Draco asked in confusion.  “I rather thought they’d be drowning their sorrows unless someone insulted Granger and Krum got offended.”

There was the sound of more banging and then there was a large explosion, which lit up the whole sky.  Rumbles escaped into the night and the three of them backed up a little.

“I think,” Helios suggested carefully.

“Yes,” Theo agreed, and they all took off in the opposite direction. 

They weren’t the only ones who had the idea.  Suddenly, the night was full of wizards rushing in both directions, some wizards hurrying toward the disruptions, wands drawn, and all the underage wizards rushing toward the woods.  Theo was a little ahead of Draco and Helios, but when Helios tripped over a log that was set around another campsite, Draco held back and grabbed his elbow, dropping his own cigarettes in the process.  “Come on,” Draco shouted, pulling Helios forward.

Helios grasped onto him and the two cousins ran into the darkness, explosions heavy in the sky. 

They ran around the tents, circling the campfires, some of which had tar thrown over them to put them out, others left to smolder in the darkness, all the while the sound of explosions and shouting progressively getting close behind them.

They broke through the trees one right after the other, Theo waiting for them worriedly, before the three took off again deeper into the forest, the sky lighting up above the branches.

Some children were scattered around, peering outward toward the campsite through the trees, but the three of them kept running as the crashing still got progressively louder.  Faster and faster they ran, the sky lighting up and the trees even catching fire, until the night finally silenced around them well over an hour later.

“What is it?” Draco wondered when they finally came to a stop, looking out behind them.  “What do you think happened?”

There was nothing but trees and darkness as far as the eye could see, and Helios was wondering how they would get back.

“No idea,” Helios panted.  “It was like the Bulgarian area was set on fire.”

“Do you think the Irish attacked?” Theo wondered now.  “They won, there was no reason—”

The three of them just looked at each other in the dark. 

It was a mystery.

Their breathing slowly evened out and they eventually sat down in a ring of trees somewhere lost in the forest, the only light the tips of Helios’s third and fourth fingers on his left hand.

“So,” Theo began carefully after nearly half an hour of silence.  “How is Harry Potter your cousin, Draco?”

Helios wasn’t entirely certain how to answer.

“If you must know,” Draco drawled, “he’s my Aunt Dromeda’s son.  He’s been in hiding.”

“So you said.  As Harry Potter?”  Theo sounded a little incredulous.

“Obviously it went a little wrong—”

“More than a little, I’d say.  He’s the most famous wizard in England!”

“He is right here,” Helios interrupted. 

They all fell silent. 

It was Draco who spoke first.  “He’s Helios Black.  You have my word on it, Theo.  I was told over Christmas.  It’s why I told everyone to leave him alone.”

“I thought you’d gone soft or thought he wasn’t worth it any longer now that he’s—er—anathema.”

Helios rolled his eyes even though no one could see it.  “Right here,” he reminded them.

“If Helios had been allowed to compete, given that he managed to put his name in the Goblet, maybe England would have had a chance of winning,” Draco argued a little heatedly.  “Diggory’s showing was pitiful.  He came in third after Krum and Delacour.”

“It was pitiful,” Theo agreed thoughtfully.

“Mother didn’t allow it,” Helios put in just to have something to say.  “She petitioned the governors to have my name removed.”

“A shame,” Draco commiserated, not that Helios had wanted to participate.  He had never put his name in to begin with.  “You must really share how you did it when Aunt Dromeda can no longer punish you for it.”

Helios considered.  “Do you think that will ever happen?”

“Perhaps after you provide the House of Black with an heir,” Draco said sagely.  “If Uncle Sirius and Uncle Regulus don’t have sons, you stand to inherit.”

Helios honestly hadn’t considered that.  “Uncle Sirius is on the run—but Uncle Regulus—”

“—is a free man, yes,” Draco agreed, looking over in the dim light, his eyes shining blue.  “It’s not completely out of the realm of possibilities, however.”  He returned his attention to Theo.  “Do you know the Point Me Spell?”

“No.”

“Damn.—Helios?”

“Er—no.”

“Then I’m not sure how we’re going to get out of here.”  Draco picked up Helios’s wrist so his hand was stretched in between the three of them.  “Not that we know if the campsite is North.”  Their faces all shone blue in the light.

“Do you think we should get some sleep?” Helios asked.

“Should one of us stay awake?”

“We’re all drunk.”

“True.”

They all stared at each other.

Draco searched his pockets for his packet of cigarettes.  “Damn it all,” he swore when he realized he must have dropped them somewhere.

“I suppose,” Helios suggested, “if something loud happens, like an explosion, we’ll wake up.”

“I suppose,” Theo agreed carefully.

“It’s settled.”  This was Draco.  He dropped Helios’s hand.

Making pillows out of pine needles proved difficult but they all hunkered down and drifted off to sleep.  Helios wasn’t certain if he dreamt, but at some point in the early darkness, he was aware of a hand sliding around his waist and a chin tucking into his shoulder. 

He was the first to awaken.

The sun was high in the sky, but it was still dusk under the canopy of trees.  Theo was sprawled out as if he was used to a large bed.  Draco, incidentally, was wrapped around Helios, one leg tucked between each of his, his arm slung around his waist, and his nose tucked into his shoulder.

Helios lay like that for several long moments until nature called and he had to disentangle himself from Draco and take care of business.  He then came back and sat down against a tree and considered for several moments.  Casting a tempus spell, he saw that it was just after eight in the morning.  He couldn’t have been asleep for more than four or five hours, if even that.

He was thirsty but there was no water.

Waiting nearly an hour, Draco was the next to waken, stretching like a cat before suddenly sitting up and looking around.

“It wasn’t a dream.”

“I’m afraid not,” Helios answered.  “I have no idea where we are.”

“And no one’s come looking for us?”

“Not that I know of.”

When Theo woke up, they sat in a circle and considered. 

“We can wait here,” Draco suggested, “or we can choose a direction and go in it.”

“We might choose the wrong direction,” Theo worried, “and go deeper into the forest.”

“Surely someone will notice that we’re missing.  Uncle Lucius, Uncle Regulus, Theodred.  Theo, did you come with anyone else?”

“Father.  He’ll notice I’m not there.”

“One of them will come looking for us.”

“Then we wait,” Draco decided.  “We couldn’t have been running for more than, what?  I couldn’t tell.  It was all so confused.”

“And who’s to say we ran in a straight line?” Theo wondered.  “We might have come in at a diagonal.”

Draco looked at him incredulously.

“What?”  Theo was clearly frustrated.  “Two, three miles at best.  Three times three is nine miles.  That’s easily searchable.”

“We can’t have been the only children to go missing into the forest,” Helios suddenly thought.  “We were all running for the tree line.  There must be children littering the forest everywhere in a ten mile radius.  There will be search parties.  It’s not just us.”

“We don’t know what was happening though,” Draco put in carefully.  “We just know there were explosions from the Bulgarian camp.  We don’t know how widespread it proved to be.”

Theo nearly screamed in frustration.  “We can’t think like that.  We have to remain positive!”

“I’m just thinking rationally,” Draco argued.  “Aunt Dromeda said the Dark Lord is weakened and that’s why Helios could come out of hiding but what if she’s wrong?  What if it was him?”

Helios blinked.  “You don’t think?  What does he have to do with Quidditch and Bulgarians?”

“Not everything bad that happens has to do with the Dark Lord,” Theo sighed, banging his head against the tree he was leaning against.  “My father was a Death Eater, same as yours.”

“What’s a Death Eater?” Helios asked.

Theo stopped banging his head and looked over.  “You really were sheltered as Harry Potter!”

Draco leveled a glare at him.  “Theodore!  Not now.”  Turning to Helios, he explained, “A Death Eater is the name for one of the Dark Lord’s followers.  They were branded.  You know how you are branded as a Black?”

Helios thought of the tattoo along his spine.

Theo was now looking at him curiously.

“Yes?”

“They have tattoos, too.  On their forearms of a skull and a snake.  Won’t come off just like yours will never come off.”

Helios’s eyebrows shot up.  “That’s—intense.”

“Where is yours, anyway?”

“My back.  Hard to see or get to.”  He breathed out slowly and leaned his head up against the tree he was sitting against.  Looking up toward the tree covering, he noticed how unbearably green it was.

“Can I see?” Theo asked.

“Absolutely not!” Draco shot back.  His blue-grey eyes were flashing dangerously.  “I’m surprised at you.”

Theo didn’t look repentant.  “Such magic has to be dark magic.”

“I’m sure you’ve seen plenty of dark magic.  You don’t need to see Black Family magic.  Are you a Black?”

“You’re not a Black!” Theo argued.

“And I haven’t seen it,” Draco responded calmly, his eyes never leaving Theo, “nor have I asked to.”

After that the three fell into silence again. 

They set a timer to warn them whenever an hour passed and time seemed to move by at a glacial pace.  They didn’t even have a pack of cards, so they couldn’t play exploding snap.  Eventually, Helios taught them word association games played by Muggles, but that could only hold them so long.

As night began to fall again, their stomachs empty and their tongues dry, they began to settle in to sleep again.

Theo settled a few trees away, facing away from them, not that Draco seemed to mind.  He was practically ignoring Theo since their argument over Helios’s name tattoo.

Draco didn’t even ask but curled around Helios, tucking his chin against Helios’s shoulder and they fell asleep that way. 

Sometime in the night, Helios thought he heard singing.  He woke up slowly and at first only saw darkness.  He lit his fingers and held them up, two blue lights on the ends of his third and fourth fingers, and let his eyes adjust.  Yes, he definitely heard singing.

Carefully he looked around and eventually turned in Draco’s arms.  He looked over Draco’s shoulder and saw a thin gold string sliding through the trees.  He blinked.

Shaking Draco, he got to his knees and crawled toward the singing string.

Draco murmured, “What?” and Helios reached behind him and shook him again.

“Look!” he demanded.

Draco shivered but got clumsily to his hands and knees and looked around.

Helios could tell the exact moment he saw the singing golden string because he immediately got to his feet and ran toward it.  Taking out his wand, Draco touched it to the string and then turned to Helios and smiled.

“Father’s coming,” he announced.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes,” Draco confirmed.  “Old Malfoy magic.  Wake up Theo.  He’ll be here in a half hour.”

Helios didn’t need to be told twice.  He picked his way through the pine needles and shook Theo awake, shaking him with his free hand.  When Theo looked up at him drowsily, Helios told him, “We’ve been found.  They’re coming.”

And they came.