CHAPTER TWO | SONGBIRDS

"Some birds are not meant to be caged."

~ Stephen King

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Songbirds are such innocent creatures that human beings cage for their own entertainment. They rip away the bird's freedoms simply because the bird creates beautiful music that pleases their ears. Songbirds are no longer considered a living creature, they have turned into accessories humans find fascinating. What do songbirds sing about as they spend their lives in the metal prisons they have been trapped in? Maybe they sing about freedom or maybe even about love; however, Rigel Black believes they sing for completely different reasons. They sing to remember the times where they were free and to remember how it felt to have the wind beneath their wings as they flew across the sky. His grey eyes stare blankly at the caged bird before him, a frown plastered on his face as the bird jumps from one side of the cage to another while singing a somber tone for all to hear. The urge to release the bird from its cage and open a window so it may fly away free is overwhelming. He blinks when someone taps his shoulder and glances to see Regulus gazing at him with an understanding look. Regulus understood what his brother is feeling at the sight of the caged animal for he felt the same way. No living being should be kept in a cage — the twins turn their gaze back onto the bird that has begun to beat its wings against the metal door — for they may go mad due to their urge for freedom.

"Good morning, class!" The door to the classroom opens and their new Defense Against the Darks Arts professor comes strolling in. Professor Pendragon stands before the class of fifth years with a beaming smile on his face. Rigel can already feel his stomach curl at the sight of the overly cheerful blond man. "I do understand that the curriculum for this class varies every year due to all the professors you receive; however, this year we will be revisiting material you have learned in the past four years and learning new material required for the standardized testing at the end of the year." The twins narrow their eyes at their teacher, briefly trying to figure out the male. They have yet to have a competent professor for this subject yet it seems Dumbledore may have finally appointed one. Professor Pendragon takes out his wand and points at the blackboard to reveal words written on it. "I have outlined what we will be doing in this class on the blackboard. You may take a few moments to read it, maybe write it down and go over it in your head before we move on with class today." Rigel quickly skims over course outline, finding himself impressed with the amount of thought this professor has put into his teaching already. "We will begin the year with the stunning spell, which I do believe you should've learned last year. Can anyone tell me the incantation?" Multiple students raise their hands including the twins. "Mr. Rigel Black?"

"You may just call me Rigel, Professor, and the incantation is Stupefy." Rigel answers, lowering his hand and resting it upon his desk.

"And Mr. Regulus Black, what do you prefer to be called?"

"You may call me Regulus considering there's too many Blacks at this school to be referring to one's last name." Chuckles ring throughout the classroom at the truth behind those words. Professor Pendragon allows a small smile to grace his lips before dropping it and turning towards Rigel.

"The incantation is Stupefy. Five points to Slytherin." The Slytherin within the room grin at Rigel, sending him thumbs ups. "Mr. Rigel, can you please come up here and demonstrate the charm for the class?" Rigel removes himself from his seat and gracefully walks to the front of the classroom. He eyes the dummy Professor Pendragon has dragged out.

His fingers tighten around his wand as he lets the spell emit from his throat, "Stupefy!" The red jet of magic nails the dummy and sends it flying into the wall behind it. Applause and praise erupts from the class consisting of Slytherins and Ravenclaws. For once in their schooling, Slytherin and Gryffindor house have not been scheduled to have DADA together. A smart move on whoever made the final decision on that since tensions between the two houses rise each passing year and some sort of damage would have been inflicted during class. Rigel smiles, pleased at the positive feedback from his peers when he notices the displeased look on his professor's face.

"Can anyone tell me what he did wrong?" The students immediately silence themselves, turning to face their professor with bewildered expressions on their faces. "No one? Well, let me explain. Rigel spoke the incantation correctly, and performed the wand movement perfectly; however, he treated the dummy as just that, a dummy. What if that was a person you were going against? They could have easily counteracted that. What would you do if the person successfully sent that charm back at you?"

"I can either perform the disarming spell before they get the chance to react or use a shield charm. If both failed and I got hit with the stunning spell, I could perform the counter-curse on myself if I was still conscious and strong enough to do so." Rigel replies, twirling his wand in his hand as his anxiety slightly acts up at doing something wrong. He truly expects a howler to suddenly appear and for his mother's voice to rip him into pieces.

"And what is the counter-curse?" Professor Pendragon seems to be smiling at Rigel again and the boy's nerves begin to calm down at the sight.

"Rennervate, the reviving spell." He jumps slightly when Professor Pendragon enthusiastically claps.

"Correct! Five more points to Slytherin. You may take a seat now, Mr. Rigel." Rigel hurries towards his seat, basically collapsing into it and Regulus supportingly places a hand on his back. "In my class, you will taught to treat everything and anyone as a threat to your life. I do not care if that is a dummy because it could easily be a person trying to harm you. When we start to duel each other, I do not care if the person you are against is your friend, sibling or house mate because they could easily turn against you and harm you. The people you think you know that are sitting in this room, could be complete strangers to you in the future. Do not let your judgement blind you from the possibilities. My job is to teach you how to protect yourselves and we will be starting with the most important lesson of all time." Rigel breath hitches in his throat when the professor's steel blue eyes bore into his grey ones. "The price of liberty is eternal vigilance."

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Rigel, Regulus and Mulciber eat their lunch quietly, their minds still focusing on their DADA lesson from earlier that morning. Evan and Wilkes exchange a curious glance before turning towards their younger friends. "Okay, what is wrong with you three? Usually you're fighting each other by now about what the best class so far was. Your silence is unnerving to say in the least." Evan comments, eyeing Rigel the most out of the trio.

"When do you two have Professor Pendragon?" Rigel inquires and gazes up from his ham and cheese sandwich to lock eyes with Evan.

"Not until tomorrow, why?" Evan replies.

"I believe he knows we are somehow linked to the Dark Lord." Rigel announces causing his friends and brother to snap their heads towards him. Tension rises in the air between the group as their heartbeats pick up in speed. "Everything he preached today, he was gazing directly at us." Rigel softly states, worriedly staring at his brother. Regulus lets his head fall in his hands while releasing a tired groan.

"Maybe you're being too vigilant." Mulciber nervously chuckles yet he cannot help it when his eyes stray away from Rigel and to the blond professor.

"During our free period today, I decided to research more about our darling new professor." Rigel places his elbows on the table, entwines his fingers and rests his chin against them. "Professor Pendragon is Peter Pendragon, the last living descendant of Arthur Pendragon. The king Merlin served for years before his timely death. Peter is a well-known advocate for the execution of dark wizards and witches." The entire group winces, knowing that their families would be the first to be on the chopping block of that ever happens. "Apparently, Peter was kidnapped and kept as...entertainment for a group of dark magic worshippers as a child which is what caused him to be the way he is today."

"Christ," Wilkes mumbles under his breath with his eyes wide from horror.

"His goal for the last few years is to exterminate any families that have an ounce of dark magic in their ancestry, and he is the reason so many cells in Azkaban are filled. Now, it makes perfect sense why Dumbledore hired him. He has chosen a seasoned exterminator to sniff out any Death Eaters in our midst and to train further Aurors." The group turn in their seats to stare at Professor Pendragon. "And he's the one that trained Alastor Moody." That was the last straw to sway his friends and brother onto his side on the matter.

"Alastor placed dozens of Slytherins in the hospital wing throughout his schooling," Evan glares darkly, "I am not in the slightest surprised that Professor Pendragon recruited him." Alastor graduated from Hogwarts five years ago; however, Evan still holds hatred for the man because the seventh year placed first year Evan Rosier in the hospital wing. Rigel heaves a soft sigh and directs his gaze into the goblet of pumpkin juice. He observes his face within the liquid, noting how truly tired his eyes seem and how his face looks years behind his true age. The feeling of eyes on him causes him to bring his head up and see who the culprit is. Mary MacDonald's eyes flicker at his tired expression with a gleam of concern shining in her eyes. He gently smiles at her and shakes his head, trying to let her know that he is okay. Yet even as he turns back around to his table, he cannot get the image of her face being replaced with a fearful scowl as a jet of red light hits her out of his head. Despite his slight hate and suspicions towards the DADA professor, Peter Pendragon is correct in his assumptions.

For there will come a day where Rigel Black and Mary MacDonald will be standing on two different sides of the war.

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Rigel allows himself to relax from his tense posture that he has kept up since DADA when he discovers what class they have next. A smile comes to his face as he steps within the warm atmosphere of the greenhouse. "Rigel!" Professor Sprout happily shouts, gesturing for him to join her at the seedling pots. "I'm happy to see you here so early, you just couldn't wait to get your hands dirty." She playfully winks at him and he chuckles at her words. Professor Sprout is easily Rigel's favorite adult in the school. With her cheerful and motherly attitude, he felt as if she was more of a mother to him than his birth one. He regularly helps out with the greenhouse and younger Herbology classes and sometimes has tea with her on the weekends. Pomona Sprout is one of the few people alive who truly know Rigel inside and out. She also is the sole reason Rigel is interested in becoming a healer if he ever gets the chance to.

"Professor Sprout, I must say, it feels good being at home." He greets her, gently staring at each of the plants.

"Oh how I've missed you." She joyfully laughs. "Are you ready for today's lesson?" She waves her wand and the potted plants originally on the tables are replaced with seeds that need to be planted. He carefully eyes the purple seeds, slowly musing over what type of plant they'll be caring for first. "Have you figured it out yet?" She asks and gives him an encouraging look.

"Belladonna." He replies and smiles when she nods her head. "Will we be harvesting the berries then for potions?" Belladonna berries are highly poisonous, known to cause extreme cases of delirium and hallucinations. Due to the effects, the berries are not usually used in potion making yet some of the more dangerous potions call for the ingredient.

"Yes indeed! Professor Slughorn needs his supply closest restocked and I decided that this lovely plant would fit in well with the curriculum this year." Professor Sprout beams as more students begin to trickle into the greenhouse. "This is going to be a good year!" She pats his back before leaving to greet her other students.

"Hello, Black." He turns around to see Laura Zabini staring at him with her arms crossed. "Well come on then! Join me at this table and be my Herbology partner for the year." He rolls his eyes at her demanding attitude yet still follows her order. "Tell me," she rests her hands on the table and leans towards him while dropping her voice to a whisper, "why were you and MacDonald looking at each other during lunch?" His eyes widen with horror at her words, his brain not comprehending what she just said for a moment.

"Laura, please." His voice comes out pleading and Laura blinks in surprise, not really expecting her little teasing to have such an affect on him.

"We all have our dirty little secrets, Rigel." Laura smirks. "You don't tell mine and I won't tell yours." He sets his jaw, glaring at her angrily. A familiar laugh pierces the air and he glances over to see Mary strolling in with her group of friends. The two lock eyes and she smiles softly which he returns. "Adorable." Laura snickers, covering her mouth with her hand. "Tell me, lover boy, when did this little love affair begin?" She playfully nudges him. He swats her arm and takes a step away from her.

"Our first official date was April 6 last year, but we started sending love letters and meeting in secret around Halloween." He shyly answers and directs his gaze away from Mary.

"Who would've thought that the Slytherin's most sought out boy goes for a Gryffindor." Laura clicks her tongue in disbelief, but shrugs. "Meh, I should've seen it coming though. All those so called tutoring sessions were actually you two meeting up, weren't they?" He nods. "Does Regulus know?" He shakes his head. "Damn." Her eyes go wide in shock. "You two are attached at the hip, why not?"

"Regulus has repeatedly expressed his views on Gryffindors, especially Mary. He'll slit my throat if he finds out." At that moment, Regulus walks in with Mulciber. The twins lock eyes and a sense of coldness strikes Rigel's heart. "Sometimes, I believe Regulus and I share opposite views on matters, but he is my twin brother. I will support him in anything he does and what he thinks and neglect my original thoughts on the matter." For the rest of class, the duo work silently as they plant and care for their seedling. Laura is stuck on his words and frequently glances at him throughout their work. She wonders, when did Rigel become caged within this world?

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"You do not belong in a cage," Rigel whispers while unlocking the metal door and letting the songbird hop onto his finger, "your place is in the sky, free." He briskly walks towards a window and opens it, watching as the little songbird flies away from the school. He pivots and pauses when he spots two first years watching him from the doorway of the classroom. "Cindy, Monte, do I want to know why you are watching me?" The two Slytherin muggle borns nervously shuffle into the classroom, glancing around cautiously as if expecting a trap to be set off.

"One of your friends asked us to find you because the dueling club has a meeting tonight and they thought you weren't going to show." Cindy tugs at her sleeve, breathing in through her nose and out through her mouth. Rigel easily picks up on her calming tactic since he uses it quite often during his own panic attacks. "We saw you walking into here so we thought we'll wait for you to finish whatever you were doing before bothering you." Monte quickly nods his head, staring at the ground.

"Thank you for finding me and reminding me about the dueling club." He walks towards them and ruffles their hair. "How are you finding your stay at Hogwarts?" He inquires, leading them away from the classroom and to the Great Hall where the meeting will be taking place.

"Everyone isn't as nice as I thought they would be. My classes are wonderful though! I love potions." Cindy gushes, her nervous tick disappearing and her eyes lighting up with happiness.

"I'm not good at potions," Monte sighs, "I'm not good at anything, actually." Rigel frowns at his words, carefully eyeing the young boy.

"That's such a lie! Monte here is the only person who could answer all the questions the professors were asking." Cindy is quick to rebuke her friend's claim. 

"You may not be any good at the practical part of magic, but from what Cindy said, you are good at the theory part of magic. The practical will take time to come to you. You cannot give up, you will have to just work harder than anyone else to achieve it." Rigel assures Monte and pauses in front of the Great Hall doors. "First years aren't allowed to attend the dueling club, you best be on your way back to the common room." The two nod and scurry off as he enters through the doors. The dueling club was disbanded a decade ago when a student was killed during a match. Rigel is surprised Dumbledore would even let the club be revived once more. The fifth year makes his way to where his friends and brother are, eyes sweeping across the crowd to see who all decided to come to the meeting. "Hello." He greets once he reaches his group.

"Riggie!" Evan grins, "I see those first years found you." Rigel briefly nods his head. "I wonder which teacher will be overseeing the dueling club."

"Welcome students!"

"Oh no." The Slytherins mumble, deflating at the sight of Professor Pendragon standing where the professors usually eat. "This is it folks," Evan throws an arm around the twins' shoulders, "this is where we dig our graves." Regulus and Rigel roll their eyes while removing his arm form their shoulders.

"Now, we have third up to seventh years allowed to participate in the dueling club. For the first few weeks of dueling, you will be going against people within your year and house until there is a winner. Then, we'll start battling people in the same year yet from different houses. Finally, it's a free for all where the winners will face off in a battle. All spells are welcomed to be used; however, you will disqualified and the possibility for suspension or expulsion is high if you severely harm another student." Professor Pendragon stares directly at the Slytherins sulking in the back of the crowd. "Today, I have chosen two students to face off to demonstrate how a proper duel should be conducted. Tomorrow, lists will be posted on the doors of each pair dueling each other during lunch time. You will not be dueling everyday unless you become the winner of each little section." He claps his hands to get everyone's attention once more. "Now, our demonstration is between two males from different years and different houses to make it more interesting. Will Regulus Black and Sirius Black come up here please? You will be our demonstration for the day." Everyone falls silent at his words, gawking at what they just heard. Rigel swirls around to face Regulus with horror and panic clearly shown on his face. This was an arsehole move. Professor Pendragon obviously learned about the bad blood between the Black brothers and decided to have a little fun with it. Regulus smooths out his initial expression, emitting a low sigh.

"He's playing a dangerous game." Regulus snarls before stalking towards the front. Rigel glances over to see Sirius strolling to the front with a steeled expression on his face. 

"This is not going to end well." Wilkes states and it certainly did not end well. The brothers are merciless while dueling, sending jinx after jinx without a moment of hesitation or allowing the other person to relax for a second. Rigel nervously watches, his heart knowing that something bad is going to happen. Sirius slowly becomes annoyed and angered the longer the duel continues on as if he expected to have won by now. Regulus keeps his emotions at bay, a blank expression plastered on his face and within his eyes.

"He's a snake, Padfoot! You know what to do!" James Potter hollers, laughing along with the other Gryffindors. Scowls quickly take place on all the Slytherin students' faces. Rigel sees the new found determination in his eldest brother's eyes and a new sense of dread strikes at his heart.

"Serpensortia!" Not one, but multiple voices cried out the incantation of the snake summoning spell. Rigel gasps, seeing the dozens of venomous snakes slithering towards his twin. Regulus freezes as he stares openly in shock at Sirius and at the group of Gryffindors that aided the attack. The rules of dueling have already been broken due to the involvement of other Gryffindors. Rigel sprints to Regulus's side with a dozen more Slytherins following behind him.

"Vipera Evanesca!" The Slytherins cast, causing the snakes to vanish. No one in the room could believe how horrible the duel had turned.

"Twenty points from Slytherin for interfering with a duel." Professor Pendragon states. Only students from Slytherin shout their protests at the unfair deduction of points meanwhile, the other houses quietly direct their gazes away from the scenery.

"What?" Rigel screeches, pivoting to face the male with an outraged expression on his face. "That filth had multiple Gryffindors help him out by casting that spell! The rules of dueling were already broken by the time we got involved. " Sirius flinches at what Rigel called him and turns his face to the ground. Rigel could not find any ounce of guilt or remorse for Sirius, not after what the elder brother and his house mates did during the duel. Maybe his parents are right about one thing, being in Gryffindor drastically changed Sirius because the Sirius in the past would not have dared to be dishonorable in dueling especially against his younger brother. Does Sirius hate his birth family that much? Has he truly denounced everything dealing with the Black name? Rigel could still not wrap his head around what just occurred.

"Do not make me take away anymore points from your house," Professor Pendragon grins darkly, "Mr. Rigel Black." The way he says Black makes everyone's stomach crawl. The name rolled off his tongue full of such bitterness and hatred. "Today's meeting will be cut short. Everyone report back to your common rooms this instant." 

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"This place no longer feels like home," Rigel mumbles as he stares at the fireplace while sitting on the floor of the common room and leaning back on the couch, "it feels more like a prison." The Slytherins hum in agreement, especially after the fiasco that happened to be the dueling club.

"The stigma against us is only festering and soon the entire school will be turning against us." Wilkes sighs and closes his eyes at the memory of none of the other houses stepping in to defend them from Professor Pendragon.

"There's a bloody war going on outside these castle walls between dark and light magic users, and now there's a war starting within the castle walls between houses." Mulciber slams his fist against the floor. "What have we done to deserve this treatment?"

"Nothing," the group snaps their heads over to see Avery and Nott standing on the staircases with large smiles on their faces. "We've done absolutely nothing, but one thing."

"Being sorted into Slytherin." Everyone simultaneously states. With that, people begin to rant about how unfair Hogwarts is towards them and their plans to receive the fair treatment everyone else gets. Rigel silently observes the interactions happening between his house mates before directing his attention onto the two muggle borns hiding in the corner of the common room. Would they be advocating for fair treatment for the muggle borns and half-breeds of the world too? Or will they be hypocrites and only want fair treatment for Slytherins at Hogwarts? It is funny, Rigel thinks to himself, how they hate the way Professor Pendragon treated them yet that is how they treat people deemed 'unfit' for magic; instead of voicing his thoughts, he keeps his mouth shut and allows himself to sink further within the cage surrounding him while listening to Regulus state his fill proof plan on the matter.

[ — I've rewritten this chapter maybe fifteen times because I kept hating what I wrote. This finally turned out to be something I don't fully despise. Wattpad isn't letting me see the previews of my drafts anymore which I hate because I meticulously read the previews of chapters multiple times to ensure everything sounds right. If you notice something weird in this chapter, please point it out in a nice manner so I can come back and fix it at a later date. Other than that, thank you all so much for giving this book a chance! I truly appreciate the amount of votes and comments this has gotten so far! — ]

[ "Let me tell you something my friend. Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane." ]