Helios’s Awakening 07

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Helios’s Awakening

Part the Seventh—
I don’t like the way he’s looking at you, I’m starting to think you want him, too. Am I crazy, have I lost ya? Even though I know you love me, can I help it?
—“Jealous,” Nick Jonas

The steam engine shone red in the light and Helios stood on his tiptoes to try and catch a glimpse of Draco.  They had promised to meet on Platform 9¾ although Draco was a prefect and would be sitting in the prefects compartment for at least the first half of the train ride.  Helios supposed he would be sitting with Theo and some of the other Slytherins.  It would be better than when he was coming home at the end of fourth year and had to sit with second years who ignored him the entire time. 

“He’ll be here,” Andromeda promised as she straightened his collar.  “Narcissa was always one for punctuality.”

“It’s ten-thirty.”

“Ten twenty-seven,” she corrected with a laugh.  “Give the Malfoys a chance.—Now, Kreacher packed you a basket but you have plenty of galleons for the trolley.”

“Yes, Mother,” Helios agreed begrudgingly.  He rolled his eyes and smiled down at her.  “I promise not to eat too many sweets.”

“I remember what it was to be young once,” she promised, looking up at him with her blue-grey eyes.  “Ah, here they are.”

Helios turned and his breath caught at the sight of Draco, his blond hair catching in the early morning light.  He wasn’t so plebian as to have his trunk and owl cage in a trolley, but instead they were levitating behind him.

A large smile spread across Helios’s face, which was answered by a smirk on Draco’s.

“There they are,” Uncle Lucius greeted as Aunt Narcissa came up to Andromeda and kissed both her cheeks.  “I told you they would be here.”

Aunt Narcissa turned to Helios and embraced him, laying a kiss on his forehead.  “I am always surprised by how tall you and Draco are!” she declared.  “Your mother and I are quite tall ourselves, but your father must have been exceptionally tall himself.”

“Enough speculation,” Uncle Lucius declared as he came up to Andromeda and pressed a light kiss to her cheek in greeting.  “It wouldn’t do to embarrass your sister.”

“No embarrassment,” Andromeda promised as she turned to Helios and took him in proudly.  “I daresay Helios will prove just as tall as his cousin Draco.”

“I daresay he might be taller,” Aunt Narcissa disputed, “but only time will tell.”

Andromeda had come up to Draco and laid a kiss on his cheek in familial affection.  “I expect letters home, Helios, and the odd note from you, too, Draco.”

“Of course, Aunt Dromeda,” Draco promised with a long suffering sigh.

“Regulus will report if you do not,” Andromeda continued, looking between the two boys. 

Uncle Regulus had been hired as this year’s Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.  Now that he had been cleared of all suspicion of being a Death Eater, he had reentered society, and it seemed that Dumbledore had gotten so desperate, he had offered Regulus the position just the day before as he could find no one else to fill it.  Regulus, at first, had thought to turn down the post, but Andromeda had convinced him to take it, saying he could keep an eye on Helios and any plans the Dark Lord might have during the school year given the prophecy that had been attached to Helios shortly before his birth.

“Well,” Mr. Malfoy said, “I suppose the boys better get on the train.”

Their trunks were loaded and Helios embraced his mother, promising her that he would write and tell her everything that happened in Slytherin.

He made his way onto the train and followed Draco into a compartment that was not yet occupied.

“Theo and Blaise will be here soon,” Draco promised, taking off his cloak and throwing it into a corner.  He took out his wand and quickly shuttered the windows before he boxed off Helios into a corner.  “There.  We’re alone.”

Helios’s heart sped up.  “Draco?”

“It’s been days,” Draco complained as he let his nose skate up Helios’s left cheek.  “You’re all I can think about.”  He took in a deep breath.  “Have you told anyone?”

“N-no,” Helios admitted.  “Have you?”

“It’s nobody’s business but our own,” Draco reasoned as he kissed the corner of Helios’s mouth.  “It’s not as if our families have asked us to get married yet.”

“Married?  Er—”

But Draco wasn’t listening.  Instead, he leaned in and stole a kiss from Helios’s waiting lips, decadent and soft, his breath tasting of Moroccan smoke. 

Helios’s heart stuttered, but after a moment, he leaned forward and grasped Draco by the waist and kissed him back, sliding his nose to the side to have better access to Draco’s mouth.

Draco sighed into the kiss, but suddenly there was the sound of rushing in the hall, and Draco tore himself away and sat down on the seat opposite Helios, leaving Helios flailing in the corner, completely disoriented.

The shades were suddenly drawn, light pouring in from the outside of the carriage, and the door swung open to reveal Theodore Nott.  “There you are,” he declared, coming in.  “I thought I saw your parents on the platform.”

Draco looked up from where he was contemplating his nails and smirked.  “Oh, yes.  We got here ten minutes ago.”

“You’re always early,” Theo complained.

Draco stood and they clasped hands, pulling each other into a tight embrace before releasing each other.  Theo turned to Helios and offered his hand, and Helios, remembering the Quidditch World Cup, accepted it, allowing himself to be drawn into a quick, tight embrace before being released again. 

“Father was terrified when we came out of the woods.  I wasn’t allowed to go anywhere the rest of the summer,” Theo was now explaining as he took a seat beside Helios, who reluctantly sat beside him.

“Oh?” Draco asked.  “Helios had a sprained wrist, but we went to the Ministry and had a tour of the Auror department.”

“Auror department?” Theo asked.  “Whyever would you want to do that?”

Draco looked at Helios.

He cleared his throat.  “My half-sister is an Auror.”  He gave a half-shrug.  “It was an excuse to meet her.”

“You don’t know your own—”  Draco kicked Theo, and he shut up immediately.  “See anything interesting?”

“They were questioning Granger,” Draco crowed.  “She had changed her story about who threw the first curse at the World Cup and they were trying to get her to say she’d used magic.”

“Did she?” Theo asked, eyes wide.

“Not according to her.”

“They hadn’t reported anything,” Theo agreed.  “I wonder if she’ll be on the train or if they held her.”

“I suppose she made Gryffindor prefect,” Helios guessed, looking between the two of them.  “Draco will be able to tell us after he comes back from the prefect carriage.”

“Who do you suppose is the other Slytherin prefect?” Theo wondered.  “It couldn’t be Greengrass.  She’s always reading Witch Weekly.”

“Davis?” Draco wondered.  “She is a halfblood, but her marks are better than Bulstrode’s.”

Theo looked thoughtful. 

There was another rustling in the corridor and the door opened to reveal a wizard Helios recognized vaguely as Blaise Zabini, another Slytherin fifth year.  He was unusually good looking with dark skin and darker eyes.  He nodded to Draco as he entered.  “Malfoy.  Nott.—” He paused, looking at Helios.

“Zabini.  I don’t think you know my cousin, Helios Black,” Draco introduced.  “I wrote you a note about him last month.”

“Yes.  You said he was in hiding.”  His dark eyes looked at Helios for a long moment.  “Welcome to Slytherin. I understand you’ve been sorted here.”

“Er—yes.  I have.”  Helios looked him dead in the eye, wondering if Zabini would recognize him.  It didn’t seem like he would.  He saw no recognition in Zabini’s face.

He glanced away and took a seat.  “Are we expecting anyone else?”

“No, I don’t think so.”  This was Theo.  “I do, however, have a note for you, Helios.”  He took it out of his cloak and handed it over.  “I told Theodred I was not a post owl and he should just send it like a normal wizard, but he insisted on being all cloak and dagger about it.”

Draco’s eyes flashed with jealousy.

“I—what?” Helios asked, accepting the letter.  He glanced at Draco and then carefully opened it.  Before he could read the first line, however, the train sounded and they all got to their feet and, after opening the window, waved to their parents on the platform.

Helios spotted Andromeda and waved.  It was the first time he’d had a mother to wave to and it made his heart swell.  He swung his arm back and forth, a large smile on his face, and he watched her get smaller and smaller as the train began to move and pick up, leaving the station and heading out into London.

“Well,” Draco said as they sat back down.  “Aunt Dromeda certainly knows you’ll miss her.”

Helios kicked him.  “I’ve never had a mother before.  You’ve had one your entire life.”

“Yes, well,” Draco answered, picking up Helios’s letter.  “Let’s see what this says.”  He opened it and let his eyes fall to the writing.

“I don’t think it’s meant for you—” Theo protested, and Draco quickly handed it over.

“Just as I suspected.  Theodred noticed you at the World Cup.”

“Noticed me?” Helios asked, taking the letter and beginning to read it.  “I—”  But he stopped.  It opened, Darling Helios.  His eyes flashed up to Draco’s and held, his face flushing.  He glanced over at Theo to see if he knew what the letter contained, and he was pointedly looking anywhere but at him.  It seemed the only person in the compartment who didn’t know the contents of the letter was Zabini.

Swallowing, Helios looked back down at the letter.

Darling Helios, Please allow me to call you that.  Your beauty so enraptured me at the World Cup I can hardly think of you differently.  I—Helios quickly folded the letter and handed it back to Theo.  “Please thank him for the letter but tell him I can’t accept it.”

Theo looked at him in shock.  “You can’t accept it?”

“No,” he answered carefully.  “I don’t think Mother will approve.”  Helios honestly had no idea how his mother would react, but it was the only excuse he could come up with off the top of his head.  “She just got me back, you see.  I don’t think she’d take kindly to anyone trying to take me away so quickly.”

Draco was smirking into the back of his hand and looking out the window.

“Surely you’re allowed an admirer—” Theo began to protest.

“Was he even a student at Hogwarts when we were first years?” Helios asked, his voice getting higher in his nervousness. 

“That doesn’t—” Theo began, but Draco interrupted him.

“He refused the letter.  You should take him at his word.”  His blue-grey eyes flashed.  “If Theodred really wants to pursue Helios, he should appeal directly to Madam Tonks, but the answer still ultimately lies with Helios.”

Theo opened his mouth once more but then closed it.  After several pregnant moments, he finally said, “I’ll let him know.”

“Good,” Draco responded.  “Now that that’s over, I better get to the prefect compartment.  I believe I’m late.”

Getting up, he squeezed Helios’s knee on the way out, leaving the three other boys alone.

There were several long moments of silence.

It was Zabini who finally spoke.  “Why was there nothing about you in The Prophet, Black?”

“I’ve been in hiding,” he answered.  “Mother wasn’t sure if I should come home, although that’s what I did, so she didn’t publicize it.  I’m sure she’ll make an announcement on my seventeenth birthday as I’m the only Black of my generation.” 

Zabini’s eyebrows rose.  “The only one?”

“Yes,” Helios agreed.  “My Uncle Sirius is on the run from the Ministry—”

“We remember that,” Theo agreed, finally putting the letter from Theodred back in his cloak.  “Sirius Black is infamous.”

“Yes, and Uncle Regulus has been in hiding for the past sixteen years.  He was just cleared of all suspicion by the Ministry of being a Death Eater last month.  He’s going to be our new Defense Professor.  Neither have had the time to start a family, though that’s not to say they couldn’t.”

“Your uncle’s our new Defense Professor?” Zabini asked in curiosity.

“Yes.  He’s flooing in before the Feast tonight.”  Helios shrugged.

Zabini’s eyes glazed green. 

There was a rattle at the doorway.  It opened to show a pretty witch with green eyes and a pug nose.  “Where’s Draco?” she asked.

“Prefect compartment,” Theo answered.  “I guess you’re not our second prefect.”

She tossed her dark hair back.  “No.”  She came in and sat down next to Zabini, but was staring at Helios.  “You look familiar.”

He shifted uncomfortably.

“Surely you got Draco’s note.”

“Oh,” she answered, picking lint off her forearm.  “You must be the cousin then.  The one who’s been off in Europe or somewhere.”  She looked up suddenly.  “I must say you look nothing like Draco.”

“That’s because my mother has dark hair and his mother doesn’t,” Helios answered, not liking her tone.

“Oh?” she wondered, clearly more interested than she wanted to appear.  “Mrs. Malfoy is a reputed beauty.”

Helios wasn’t remotely surprised to hear it.  Aunt Narcissa was a very beautiful witch.  Not as beautiful as his mother, but he couldn’t account for society. 

“Who is your mother?” she now asked.

“Who are you?” he asked instead, knowing full well she was Pansy Parkinson.

“Draco didn’t say?” a pout was forming around her lips.

Zabini was clearly amused.

“Should he have?” Helios wondered aloud, more to himself, knowing full well he had mentioned her, but only to assure Helios that they weren’t an item.

“I am only his girlfriend,” she declared, and at this Zabini outright laughed.

“Keep dreaming, Parkinson.”  When she scoffed at him, he only lifted an eyebrow at her.  “He might have escorted you to the Yule Ball, but we all know he was looking for someone else in the crowd the entire night.”

Theo suddenly looked speculatively at Helios.  “Yes, he was, wasn’t he?”

“Not that he found anyone,” Zabini agreed.  “That’s a misalliance no one is keen on.”

“Are you so sure about that?” Theo wondered aloud.  “Helios—”

“What?”

“I thought I heard Draco mention something about Blacks marrying cousins a year or so ago.”

“Not on our side of the family,” he assured Theo.  “You’re thinking of Uncle Sirius’s parents.”

“He’s your uncle.”

“He’s my mother’s cousin,” he qualified.  “Besides, what are you implying?”

“You know exactly what I’m implying.  What is the real reason why you won’t read my brother’s letter?”

“I told you—”

“Oh, shut up!” Parkinson complained.  “The two of you, squabbling like you’ve been dorm mates since first year when you’ve only just met.  None of us can follow your inane conversation about cousins marrying cousins!”

“I can follow quite well,” Zabini contradicted her.  “I just have no idea what it has to do with a certain Gryffind—oh.”  His face turns pensive.  “I see.”  He sat back and folded his arms.  “You’ve been a Black all this time.  How interesting for Malfoy.”

Helios stared at the ceiling.

“What is everyone talking about?” Parkinson demanded.

“This is beyond your comprehension,” Zabini drawled.  “You might as well leave.”

She glared at him and turned to Theo for support.  He only shrugged at him.  Looking over at Helios, he was now looking out the window at the passing scenery.

“If I’m not wanted.”

No one answered her. 

She sighed and flounced out the door.

“Good.  Now that she’s gone,” Zabini began before turning to Helios.  “You are Potter, aren’t you?”

“I have never been a Potter—” Helios corrected him.

“Where’s your scar?”

Helios rolled his eyes.  “It was a glamour.”

“Why would anyone glamour a scar onto your forehead?”  Zabini looked between Helios and Theo, but neither one of them offered him an explanation.  He sighed.  “I take it you’re suddenly a pureblood?”

“Yes,” Helios agreed carefully.

Zabini snorted.  “Well, Draco lucked out.  All of his parents’ possible objections have evaporated like fairy dust.”

“Objections to what?” Helios asked carefully.

Theo looked over at him.  “He fancies you.  Don’t you know?”

Helios opened his mouth and quickly shut it.

“So you didn’t know.—or you did know and thought he’d disapprove of my brother’s letter,” Theo guessed.  He took it out of his cloak and unfolded it.  “Darling Helios—”

“What are you doing?” Helios demanded, snatching for it, but Theo held it out of reach.

“Darling Helios,” he repeated, “Please allow me to call you that.  Your beauty so enraptured me at the World Cup I can hardly think of you differently.  I know this comes as a surprise to you as your natural honesty surely could not detect my hidden feelings—”

“Really,” Helios demanded, making to reach for the letter again, but Zabini grabbed it and scanned it with his eyes, “but I simply must request permission to write you, yes, that’s where we are in the letter.”  He stuck his finger to find his place, his voice low and dark.  “My heart lodged in my throat when I realized when you were missing with Theodore, but I rejoiced when I learnt you were found again.  What does he mean by that?”

“We all got lost in the Forest of Dean at the World Cup for over twenty-four hours,” Theo explained.  “Father thought we might have been trampled.”

“Ah,” Zabini mouthed.  “It goes on.”

“I don’t want it to go on.”

“Because you fancy Draco or because it’s private?” Theo asked in curiosity. 

“I waited,” Zabini read, “to contact you to give you time to recover from your ordeal and to wait until you were of definite age to receive my interest in you.—fifteen, yes,” Zabini agreed.  “You must be fifteen by September the first.  It goes on.  I will await your owl or word from my brother.  Do not keep me in suspense, dear Helios.  You are like the sun, your smile shines—oh, the rest is just rubbish.  He signs it ‘your devoted servant.’  Very nice.”

Helios held his hand out for it and Zabini gave it over.  He looked over the end of it.  You are like the sun, your smile shines over my heart, my darling.  Your devoted servant, Theodred Nott.  He folded it up and handed it back to Theo, but he wouldn’t take it.  Begrudgingly, he put it in an inner pocket.

“Did you really not know that Draco fancied you?” Theo asked.

Helios glared at him.  “Did you really have to read my private post out loud?”

“I promised Theodred you would read it.  You didn’t give me much choice.  This is better than the Slytherin Common Room, and would you have preferred the dormitory with Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle also being in attendance?”

“No, I suppose not,” Helios agreed begrudgingly.  He took a fortifying breath through his nose.  “Where are Crabbe and Goyle?  I thought they were friends with Draco?”

“Not for a few years,” Theo told him.  “They were more his bodyguards.”

Helios held in a snort.  Trust Draco to have bodyguards.  He was such a prat sometimes. 

“You have the right of it,” Zabini told him.  “I wonder where they’ll put your bed.”

“Draco will want you in the bed next to his,” Theo surmised.  “We’re going to have to reshuffle.”

“And what Draco wants, Draco gets,” Zabini agreed.

Helios definitely rolled his eyes.  “I’m fine with whatever bed.

“The Gryffindor beds will be resorted.  I wonder who will notice in Gryffindor that you’re now a Black.”

“Hermione noticed—at the Ministry,” Helios admitted.  “We saw her on our way out.  She’s been writing me owl upon owl trying to get me to agree to see her after she dumped me like everyone else.”

“Ah, yes, the Goblet,” Zabini questioned.  “How did you do it?  We’ve all been wondering.”

“What if I said I didn’t do it?”

“I’m not sure I’d believe you.”  Zabini’s eyes were dark and watchful.

“You and the entire school,” Helios opined.

“How’d you get out of the binding contract?” This was Theo.  He looked genuinely curious.

“Mother,” Helios answered.  “She knew I was hiding as Harry Potter.  I didn’t know I was in hiding.  I genuinely thought that James and Lily Potter were my parents.  But Mother went to the governors, and my uncle is a governor, and proved I was her son and that she hadn’t given permission as my guardian, so the governors revoked the Goblet’s decision as the contract wasn’t magically binding.—I always wondered why a Healer from St. Mungo’s appeared and gave me a full physical examination and took pictures of the Black brand on my back last November.  But that was Mother proving I was her son.”

“Lucius Malfoy, then, is your uncle—through—” Zabini was eyeing him carefully.

“My mother is Mrs. Malfoy’s eldest sister.”

“And this brand,” Theo, it seemed, was still curious about it.  “Tell us about this dark magic.  I know Draco refuses to let us see it, but tell us about it.”

Helios relaxed.  “I’m sure you’ll catch a glimpse of it.  It’s along the curve of my spine.  It was always a thin line.  Then at the age of seven it formed into words—‘Helios Perseus Black.  Toujours Pur.’”

“Your House words,” Zabini surmised.

“Yes.  I’ve known since then that my name must have been Helios Black.  I even told the Sorting Hat this when I came to Hogwarts.”

“And what did it say?”

“That I should go into Slytherin,” Helios laughed.

Zabini and Theo shared a look.  “But you were sorted into Gryffindor.”

“Not anymore.”  Draco stood in the doorway in his Hogwarts robes.  “I heard Pansy was here.”

“We kicked her out,” Zabini informed him, “once she told Helios that she was your girlfriend.”

Draco’s blue-grey eyes flicked to Helios’s gaze and held.  “Mighty thankful, Blaise.”  He walked into the compartment and sat, all the while holding Helios’s gaze before he flicked his attention to the rest of the compartment.  “Davis is the other prefect.”

“And Hermione?” Helios asked carefully.

“As annoying as ever.  She took notes on everything the Head Boy and Girl said.  I think she has a new crush.”  He rolled his eyes.  “First Krum, now Montgomery, who’s in Hufflepuff, of all things.”

“A Hufflepuff Champion and now a Hufflepuff Head Boy,” Theo sighed.

“Could be worse,” Helios tried to cheer him up.  “It could be Diggory again.”

Draco paled.  “He is a seventh year,” he agreed.  “At least he didn’t have the end of year scores to compete with.”

The trolley came by and for once Helios was happy to eat what Kreacher had packed for him with only a few extra pumpkin pasties.  He was the last to get changed, delighting when Draco reached into the back of his robe and let his fingers linger at the small of his back just before he went into the toilet.

He placed Theodred’s letter into his new trunk, in his correspondence box, making a mental note to deal with it later in the week.

When they arrived at the Hogsmeade station, Draco stepped onto the platform after him, letting his nose slide into his hair, before he led him to a horseless carriage.  The four of them took it together and then made their way into Hogwarts.

When Helios had left he had been dreading returning, but now he was with family and new friends, his tie green and silver striped.  He looked briefly over to Gryffindor table and spotted Ron’s ginger head, pressed in with Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnegan, and only felt a tinge of regret.  Looking up at the head table, he saw Uncle Regulus sitting next to Professor Snape, his mass of black curls around his face, his blue-grey eyes sharp and intelligent.  He nodded to his uncle and then caught up with Draco, Theo, and Zabini, finding a place beside Draco at the Slytherin table, a new year now beginning.