𝐥𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐝 𝐚𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐲; 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐳𝐤𝐚𝐛𝐚𝐧

꒰ ✨🌫🔮 ꒱ؘ ࿐ ࿔*:･ﾟ

❜ ─ 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥. ─ ❛

(𝐀.𝐕.𝐁)

atlas thought he was 'dead as a doornail' as alya would very often quote from dickens.

after all, a dementor did enter the compartment and practically made out with him whilst sucking his life source out.

at least he could say that he happily had his first (more like a good twelve or so) kiss before oblivion.

he felt his eyes tightly shut, but could faintly see something bright. he could tell he was on some field, the rich, earthy soil gritty among his fingertips. spouts of grass tickled his face. chirps rippled through his ears, each chorus as rich as a heavenly symphony.

a warm breeze carrying the familiar yet smoky scent of incense and tuberoses gusts over her face. inhaling the sweet aroma, he's reminded of his mum. the scent was so alike to his mums yet so different; his mum preferred the smell of sandalwood, not incense, despite lighting incense every morning before atlas himself would be up.

he slowly opens his eyes - although it felt like there were weights on his eyes- and turns his head to the left, seeing nothing but these yellow mustard flowers. masses and masses of them were in front of him, yet it seemed lonely. no bees or butterflies or insects; it was just him and a field of flowers.

he then turns his head to the right, now also seeing his sister, her mouth wide open with drool leaking from the sides, her eyes tightly shut and her body looking like a starfish.

he gets up -though his limbs felt like jelly and his head dizzy - and stumbles his way to his sister.

"wake up!" he shouts, slapping his sister's left cheeks.

"wake up alya!" he shouts louder, slapping her right cheek now.

he takes a deep breath in.

"alya, sadly the love of zabini's life, get your arse off the floor!" atlas says, screaming in his sister's ears, who in response, jolts.

she scrunches her eyes, before opening them.

"my fucking head hurts," she says groggily, her hands pinching her nose bridge.

"are we at hogwarts yet?" she asks, getting up from the floor, deeply inhaling, taking a deep breath in, "doesn't smell like hogwarts."

she opens her eyes, seeing herself and her brother in a field of yellow mustard flowers. it was the kind of thing you would see in a movie: the hue was a shade of a thousand suns, blooming with determination. it was a simply splendid sight to see. the colours of brown, yellow and green mingled and intertwined with each other, the earthiness balancing with the vibrancy. it was just beautiful.

"this doesn't look like hogwarts..." she continues, looking around for any familiarity.

"where are we?" atlas asks out loud, saying the unanswered question in their heads.

"where's allie? are we dead?!" exclaims alya, looking around for altair. she was seemingly losing her mind. "if so, this is not what i was expecting hell to look like at all."

"exactly. i was expecting more red and perhaps a few hot ghosts." atlas says, sitting back on the ground cross-legged.

"attie, my fucking head hurts," alya says, sitting next to her brother, relaxing her head on his shoulder, using her two fingers to gently massage her left temple.

"language." a voice uttered from behind them. atlas and alya yelp loudly in response.

they turn around (atlas hiding behind alya, like the protective sibling he was) to see a woman.

simply put, she was ethereal.

her hair, cascading down her shoulders like a waterfall; beautifully voluminous, the colour of terra. she was fairly tall; not so taller than atlas, about 5'8 roughly to estimate. her bone structure; so effortlessly aristocratic, yet subtle. beautifully arched eyebrows frame the entirety of her face, her lips painted red. but it was the woman's eyes that are truly encapsulating. they were this shade of blue-green. they reminded the duo of lake lucerne, they had visited it when they were little kids; blue, fresh and clear. yet, you could see this fieriness, which contrasted with the woman's ocean eyes. the slight twinge of green grounded all the elements together, all elements synchronised in perfect harmony. but there was so much familiarity she had.

"who the fuck are you?!" exclaims atlas, shifting further behind alya. he took the concept of stranger danger very seriously.

"yet again, language. and do you really not know who i am, atlas?" asks the woman, walking towards the two, raising her perfectly arched eyebrow at him.

"nope. this is the first time in my life i'm actually seeing you woman. now, can you be a darling and bring us back to our parents?" asks atlas. he was pretty sure he was losing his shit right now.

"please don't kill us or eat us," alya exclaims, "eat him, he's taller and bigger and i guarantee you he'll taste smokier and delicious in comparison to me." it was very clear that alya was losing her mind. although it didn't help that she had re-read hansel and gretel as well as grimm's fairy tales the night before.

"fucking hell, don't eat me. i'm polluted as fuck. this one's more pure and clean in comparison to me." atlas exclaims, pointing at alya.

"you idiot!" alya replies, pushing atlas over, "you've lived longer than me. lemme live two more years and then you can take me!"

"well, i'm not ready to get eaten."

"neither am i!"

"where's our big and tall altair when we need him eh?"

a gentle cough interrupted the sibling's conversation.

"are you finished talking about cannibalism yet?" the woman asks, humour evident in her eyes, "i'm not going to eat you nor have i abducted you. this was the only way i could talk to you collectively."

"but lady, you're not answering our question. who are you?" asks atlas.

"you know more about me than you think. have you been peeking around stuff recently?"

"nope. no idea to be honest." replies alya, "although i did go through dray's gel shelf and burned all of it."

"well, you weren't complaining when you went through my music, paintings and my book. did you now?" she asks them back.

"paintings... books... music?" alya mutters under her breath, attempting to piece everything together.

"um, hi. the name's alya. this one here is atlas. quick question: are we dead or what?" she inquires, waving at the woman.

"you're in masaafat or as you may know it a journey," she replies, smiling down at them.

"that doesn't really explain anything."

"oh mera sitaara, it explains so much; you're just so little informed of anything."

"quick question though, who are you and how do you know us?" asks atlas, once again. she simply smiles at the two, before looking away.

"follow me, i'll tell you everything." she walks away, through the mustard fields, towards an endless abyss of flowers. the two siblings have an internal conversation with each other, questioning whether they should go or not.

"don't talk with your eyes. follow me and all shall be revealed." she continues walking, her white dress flying in the wind, her hands on either of her sides as her hands glide over the mustard flowers. the two get up, although alya stumbles as she does so.

"attie, pick me up?" she asks, her puppy dog eyes looking at her brother, her arms daisies above her head. the woman smiles listening to the exchange, though the two couldn't see.

"come here, vinnie." he picks her up, one arm under her knees and the other across her back, as she snuggles into him, much like she did when she was younger. he walks behind the woman, though still very hesitant. oh, how much he needed altair at this moment. he was always the more level headed sibling out of the three. in all honesty, the two needed their mother hen more than ever. they follow the woman, slowly trailing behind her.

"um, lady. mind telling us where we're going?" asks atlas, lifting alya up again, "my arms and legs are kinda hurting at the moment. no offence vin." he turns his head, only to see alya yet again asleep.

"oh, merlin. she's asleep again," he mutters to himself.

"she doesn't sleep a lot does she?" the woman asks, looking back briefly at the two children, a gentle smile appearing across her face.

"nah, she never has to be honest. gets really shit nightmares and bad sleep paralysis, according to mum and the healers," replying to the woman, remembering the countless times when a young alya would come to his and altair's previously shared rooms when she would have the nightmares. "so she tries sleeping at any given occasion she gets. plus, if you wake her up, she'll be the most cranky piece of shit. wait, why am i even telling you all this?"

the woman mutters something inaudible to atlas.

"by the way, are we there yet?"

"we're nearly there, meri duniya. a few more steps.." the woman replies her back still facing atlas.

"how do i know if you're actually legit?"

she pauses for a second. "you've got to trust your instincts on this one. what are they telling you at the moment?"

atlas thinks to himself. something was telling him that he didn't know this woman, yet there was this underlining slither of familiarity, but he couldn't pinpoint who or where it was from. his gut was telling him to go with it, but he didn't know what his heart was telling him. after all, atlas always and would blindly trust his gut feeling.

"to trust you." he simply replies.

"well, we're already here." she stops in her place and looks back at the two. it was a big white gazebo, the poles and roofing intricately decorated in golden outlines of elephants and lotus flowers. inside, were a table full of food, chairs, vases full of flowers and furniture. yet one thing more striking than the rest was this large ornate hourglass, the sand trickling down slowly.

"i suggest you wake alya up. i'll be waiting for you both." the woman says before gliding her way to one of the seats of the gazebo.

"vinnie, come on bubs, wake up," he says slightly shaking her side by side to wake her up, to which alya starts groggily getting up.

"attie, please tell me we're back home. where's allie?" she asks, whilst yawning. she gets down from her brother's arms, nearly stumbling to the floor.

"hey, easy there," he softly says, "we're still here and i'm guessing by now al is probably losing his shit."

"why are we still here?"

"i really don't know bub. but i'm guessing that woman over there knows what's up." he replies, wrapping his arms around her shoulders, "come on, let's go over there."

the two younger black's make their way over to the gazebo, passing over myriads of mustard flowers. it was one of their mother's favourite flowers, she simply adored them and lotuses. in fact, for one of her birthday's, sirius and regulus had built her a lotus pool on their property. it was probably one of atlas' favourite places in their home, as he would frequently go out and paint the pool.

they sit opposite the woman, who in turn gives them something in two mugs.

"i know you like black coffee with no sugar meri duniya," she says to atlas, who slowly ends up taking the mug. she turns to alya and smiles, "and i know you like your mother's indian style chai with sugar, so here you go meri sitaara."

"thank you. but, who are you and where are we exactly? other than masaafat?" alya asks, before taking a sip of the tea. it was good. it was like her mum's, except slightly different.

"you, my children, are in the in-between. you got the nasty end from a dementor and got unconscious, so i brought you here."

"so we're not dead yet right?" asks atlas.

"not at all. you'll be up very soon if you look at it in my time."

"but you're not telling us who you are." presses atlas, putting his mug down.

the woman smiles intently at the two children opposite her. she wanted to meet all three of the children, but it just happened that only two of them she was able to bring.

"my name is nyla veda avisa, or as you may know me nyla shafiq, your grandmother."

"no fucking way are you nani nyla!" exclaims atlas in shock, startling alya in the process.

"my ears you spawn."

"vinnie, this is nani ny. mum's mum!"

"i get it, i get it. but i swear you're supposed to be dead?"

"huh, that true. i thought you died when mum was nine or something?" replies atlas, the excitement now bubbling down.

"yes, i've now been dead for about twenty-four years now, but that's a story for another time. but what i do want to talk to you about is our family history and the book you found a couple of days ago."

the two siblings look at each other, wondering how their supposed grandmother could surely know about it.

"i can see everything you all do. besides, the book you discovered was my very own."

"but umm... firstly, what do we call you? is nani okay?" asks alya to her grandmother.

"nani's perfectly fine, mera sitaara."

"yeah, so nani, the book doesn't open. how do we open it?" her fingers unconsciously twirling around the locket around her neck.

"before i answer that question, where did you get those two necklaces from?" she asks, leaning forward.

"i don't know. we've just always had it," replies atlas, taking out the dog tag from his clothes.

"before you were born, your grandfather and i had them made for you two and your brother," she replies.

"but how did you know there was going to be the three of us? it could've been the two of us, one of us or even more." alya asked, baffled at the response.

"plus, who's our grandfather? we've only seen a few pictures of him when we were younger," asks atlas.

"your grandfather is zafar shafiq." she says, a distant smile sketched on her face, her eyes cloudy, "he changed after my passing. from what i could see, he would barely look after your mother and uncle and just strayed to the wrong path completely."

"so he's still out there somewhere?" asks alya.

"you'll find it out yourself. but for now, i do want to tell you about our family history briefly."

"the shafiq side or the black side?" asks atlas.

"please don't tell us anything more about the black family. it was bad enough that we got an earful from grandmother walburga when it was great grandfather arcturus's funeral this summer." alya replies, sadly remembering the unpleasant encounter she and her brother's had with the ghastly woman.

"so i've seen. and neither. i'm going to tell you about the house of avisa." she laughs slightly, almost as though she was there to witness it all.

the two children put their mugs down on the table and slightly lean forward, giving their full attention to their grandmother.

"the house of avisa has been around for many centuries, even during the times of merlin and morgana le fay. we have always been purebloods, in fact, we are one of the oldest wizarding lines. we helped human and wizarding civilizations equally, developing throughout many aeons. be it through magical acumen or money, we were always there."

"but with great responsibility comes great power. you see, when morgana le fay was on this very terra, one of our ancestors, abram avisa, helped her out, unknowing of the repercussions the bloodline would face. somehow, morgana le fay herself integrated herself into the avisa bloodline. merlin cursed the maternal lines of the avisa family to be cursed with powers, which one day, would cause them to perish."

"and that's what i want to tell you. you asked me earlier on, how i knew of the three of you, and how i was able to bring you here."

"i have the ability of the sight and chronic manipulation," she says, her eyes glittering at the two, who seemed shell shocked, "my grandmother had the ability of elemental manipulation and her grandmother could heal anyone or thing."

"holy fuckballs." sighs alya, her mouth wide open and ajar.

"what's chronic manipulation?" asks atlas, thinking it was some sort of disease.

"well, the sight enables me to see the future, but also recalling events of the past, as if i've already been there. chronic manipulation is to do with time and changing events such that they happen or don't. it's something that i still haven't yet mastered to this day." she replies.

"if you can manipulate things chronically, then why have certain things like the existence of no nose voldy and batty aunt bella still occurred?" asks alya, seemingly interested in nyla's powers.

"because that is the way the universe works. plus if i had interfered too much, i would've met with a worser peril than i had faced." it was clear that nyla wasn't ready yet to disclose certain information.

"so does mum have any powers we don't know about?" asks atlas, his head still processing everything that was being said.

"no, leela thankfully doesn't. it skips generations. but that means you and your siblings have powers."

"umm, nani, i think you've gotten shit mixed up. we're somewhat normal. i mean, as normal magic can go to." replies alya.

"that's what you think, mera sitaara. you and your brothers are anything but normal." nyla replies, "a lot of your habits that i've seen are reflective of the powers you'll soon possess."

"but how do we learn to control it all, if it so happens to develop?" asks alya, before taking another sip of her chai.

"do we go to mum and dad? or uncle reggie? or dumbles? or-" atlas lists before getting cut off by nyla.

"my children, do not and i repeat do not go to albus dumbledore regarding any such powers you develop. do you understand?"

the two nod, although still in shock. it was weird firstly to have some dead relative in front of you talking to you, but it was another thing actually listening to what they were saying.

"as for how you'll learn to control it, i'll take you into masaafat like today and train you."

"this is information overload right now." blurts out alya, overwhelmed and in shock, a similar front to which atlas was putting up.

"wait, how are we supposed to tell al about all this?" asks atlas.

"i'll simply pull him into masaafat when he's sleeping very soon. atlas, meri duniya, i'll most likely pull you into it as well."

she puts her cup down and looks at the horizon in front of her; an endless abyss of mustard flowers and the skies from a thousand suns.

"our time is running short."

she gestures to a large hourglass, which overlooked where the horizon was, which had the same intricately adorned lotus flowers and elephants as they had seen on the chest a few days ago.

"you really like your elephants don't you?" asks atlas to the woman.

nyla smiles yet again at her grandson, "i guess i do. reminds me of back home." she stands up in her seat and faces the children yet again.

"wait a minute, i need to fetch something for the both of you.". before the two could even reply, with a blink of their eyes, she was no longer there. they turn to each other, looking overwhelmed.

"we're losing it, aren't we?" asks alya to atlas, propping her knee up and her attention to her brother.

"for sure. we've probably set a record for insanity in the noble house of black don't ya think?"

"definitely. but on another note, why is nani so hot?"

"i know right! fucking al got all of those genes. i mean, i know i'm not ugly, but oh my, nani is so fucking ethereal." atlas agrees. he got much of his looks from sirius, except his eyes; those were all leela. alya however, was a perfect mix of leela and sirius, although you could see a hint of regulus in her. altair was known to take much of his looks from his maternal side. everyone knew that the black's were a very attractive family, it was without question.

alya looks to her brother, seemingly fed up and tired; it was clear in her eyes.

"attie i wanna go back. i wanna sleep all of this off and wake up normal."

atlas could do nothing but sigh at his sister, bringing her closer to him, her head on his shoulder, for he didn't know how to reply to her. he, much like alya, needed his twin right now. the two of them needed altair, yet he wasn't here.

"i know bubs. we'll be out of here soon and yeah.." atlas replies back, as confidently as he could. the hourglass in front of the two was running out of sand, only what looked like less than a tablespoon was left.

"we can't hide this from allie. he's going to somehow catch on." alya chimes.

"which is why you two are going to tell him when you're alone." replies the voice of nyla shafiq, in turn startling the two kids. they get up from the chairs they were seated on and then to nyla.

"nani for fucks sake, give us a heads up before you appear i beg!" exclaims alya, her hand still on her chest, feeling the quick pulse from her heart.

"language, mera sitaara. and duly noted." nyla says, with a glint in her eyes, "i see you guys normally have your sleepovers in the astronomy tower and gryffindor tower, tell him then and what happened to you now will happen to him."

"without the snogging session with the dementor right?" inquires atlas cheekily.

"without the dementor yes."

"also, could you ease into it, please? he gets very panicky and overwhelmed when shit like this happens," adds alya, remembering last year where she got unpetrified. altair fainted seeing her in the great hall.

"will do mera sitaara. now before you go back to the real world-" nyla gets out her wand and walks towards the two.

"can you both take out your necklaces please?" nyla asks, gesturing to their necks, "i'm going to remove the lock i have in the necklaces you both wear."

"what's that supposed to mean?" asks alya.

"that means you'll be able to open the book i have left for you and you'll be able to harness the magic that i've kept a lock on," she explains, "it won't take long."

the two siblings take out their necklaces and look at each other. alya kisses her locket before showing it to nyla, "goodbye to the last bit of normalcy i'll ever have, i guess."

"amen to that vin," atlas replies.

nyla points her wand at alya's locket. a bright orange light emits from nyla's wand, and instantly, it felt as though an unknown weight which was on her shoulders were gone. she could describe it as a breath of fresh air, it felt like some caged bird, which was locked away previously, could finally fly and be free.

"how does that feel?" nyla asks her granddaughter, as she moves to atlas.

"free." a simple answer, yet so true.

"now it's your turn, meri duniya." atlas comes forward to nyla and she does the same. except for this time a grey light emits from nyla's wand, but atlas, very much like alya, had that same feeling of liberty.

"vinnie wasn't kidding when she meant free. i do feel light." he says.

nyla steps back from the two children, examining their features: all the way from atlas' rich brown eyes to the beauty spot perched on the side of alya's lips.

"it's now time for you to go, my children. remember all i've told you," she says, it looked as though tears were forming in her eyes, as she looked between her grandchildren, opening her arms out to them. they walk over to her and gratefully accept the hug (although alya was still quite weary).

"yeah, we will nani. thanks for the coffee."

"yeah, thanks for the chai. it was lovely," replies alya, her voice muffled.

"anytime mere priye."

the three withdraw from the hug; nyla standing opposite atlas and alya.

"if you don't mind me asking, what does 'mera sitaara' and 'mere duniya' even mean?" asks atlas, completely butchering the names.

nyla smiles gently, "ask your mother or even regulus. they'll tell you."

atlas and alya nod in response as atlas wraps his arms around alya's shoulders.

"it's now time for you to go now. if one of you is still unconscious, just say each other name i have called you right now. you'll be up right away."

the two nod yet again. with a wave of her wand, atlas and alya start feeling lighter. bringing her hand up, she could see it was fading away.

"i know we've just met, but know that i love you both so much and remember the ocean my loves."

─── ✨🌫🔮 ───

back to the compartments...

altair could very easily say that his soul very well could've left his body. it wasn't easy to take care of his younger siblings, but the moment they both went unconscious was the moment where altair was royally losing his shit.

he was currently in the compartment alone; fred and george went to find sirius or james and draco went to get blaise and daphne.

he was currently sitting on the floor cross-legged, the two siblings in his arms, as he shakes their faces and wipes the beads of sweat on their faces.

"at, wake up! please don't die on me now!" he exclaims mercilessly slapping his face as hard as he could, "i promise you i'll buy you a pet armadillo if you wake up in the next five minutes!"

"avie, my little monkey, for the love of merlin, wake up!" he now moves on slapping alya's cheeks, "i'll get you the cow rug and pet elephant you've always wanted!"

altair was well in fact panicking right now.

the compartment doors suddenly jolt open, where he sees sirius and remus rush into the compartment. sirius rushes in and takes atlas from one of altair's arms.

"moony?! what are you doing here?" blurts altair. remus gives him a look later.

"what happened to them al?!" exclaims sirius, shaking atlas' face to wake him up, "are you okay son?"

"dementor came dad. it was so cold." altair replies, he didn't know what to say. he felt like all the happiness and life was drained out of him, but he was barely hanging onto a thin string.

"oh fuck. your mother's going to kill me." sirius mutters under his breath before turning to remus, "moony, what do we do?"

remus kneels down and checks on the two children, checking their temperatures and their pulse rates.

"altair, how long has it been since they've been unconscious?" he inquires.

"about 5-7 minutes now. they've been breathing but not moving at all. alya was muttering something earlier, but i don't know what she was saying."

"what on earth was vinnie yapping about now?" mutters a slowly waking atlas, who was groggily rubbing his eyes.

"atlas! don't go unconscious again!" exclaims sirius relieved that his son woke up, "thank you for waking up before hogwarts. that's one less reason why your mother would kill me."

"wait, dad?!" he jolts up in shock, still dizzy from coming back from masaafat, "i'm back?!". atlas gets up from his seat beside his dad, despite still being quite dizzy, he looks outside the current frosty window and then looks behind him. a confused altair, a relieved dad, a concerned uncle moony and finally a 'dead' alya. he kneels to the floor and puts his hands together and looks up,

"thank you, woman! thank you, dear merlin! i'll see you soon!" he exclaims in pure relief before going to kiss the (quite dirty) floors of the compartment.

"umm, at, you okay there?" asks a quite concerned remus, moving towards him.

"yes moony! i feel fucking happy!" he shouts, jumping onto an unexpecting remus, who grunts from the sudden impact, "more so that al has to get me a fucking armadillo!"

"hey, hey! i don't owe you anything! that was merely motivation." states altair, still shaking alya around.

"nope! you're totally getting me an armadillo for our birthday." remarks atlas, "i think i'll call them elvendork. totally unisex!"

"i agree. you know, that was actually one of my names for one of you. your mother vetoed it tho." adds sirius, "said that name would get kids bullied. i wouldn't think so. i'd be friends with someone called elvendork!"

"see!" shouts atlas, gesturing to his father, still forgetting the fact that he was in remus's arms.

"i'm still not getting it for you thou-"

"idiots! alya is still unconscious!" shouts remus from his spot (funnily enough, still carrying atlas in his arms).

the four men turn to the unconscious alya in altair's arms, who was still muttering incoherent sayings and moving her fingers around every now and then. sirius snaps out of his reverie and diverts his attention to his daughter, shaking her very vigorously.

"alya, my love wake up! i'll get you that baby elephant! i'll give you 1 minute to wake up!" shouts sirius, quite loudly in her ears. she was still not waking, still speaking, still moving her fingers about.

"pads, mind her ears, will you?" chimes remus, flailing his arms forward and back. sirius sends him a funny face in response.

"lemme handle this, i've got the magic touch," says atlas, finally getting off remus' arms and kneeling down to altair and alya. he slaps her face back and forth solely for his own pleasure and happiness, to which altair swats his hands away.

"violence isn't the answer! besides, you're hurting her!" altair replies, covering alya's face, almost shielding it away from atlas.

"atlas, mate, be a bit more gentle yeah?" says sirius, "you don't understand, i don't want to hold apples and have your mother use me as her man targets."

"in all fairness, you did do something exceptionally stupid for her to do that pads." replies remus.

"how is me going as padfoot, hiding underneath her lotus pool and jumping out to give her a surprise, stupid?"

"because mum screamed, poured hot tea on you and broke your nose?" questions altair, looking incredulously at sirius.

"well, she started it."

"pads, you had to drink bone growth potion because leela shattered your nasal cavity," adds remus, giving a pointed look at sirius.

during the little conversation between sirius, remus and altair, who seemed to have forgotten alya was unconscious, atlas goes over to her and whispers mera sitaara in her ears.

"santi elephanti in ubi!" alya exclaims quite loudly, making altair drop his grip on alya as his arms flew to his ears.

she shoots up, still sitting on the floor and her eyes wide open. she looks around at her surroundings, thank freddie mercury she says in her head.

"i'm back?! i haven't been eaten!" alya exclaims, getting off her brother, going to kiss the dirty floor, but it was clear at that moment that alya genuinely did not care in the slightest, "thank you merlin *kiss* thank you freddie mercury *kiss* thank you, humans, up there!"

"alya, um, you okay there love?" asks sirius, concerned. everyone knew how big of a germaphobe she was. it was to the point that she would pack cleaning products in her trunk and carry around wipes to wipe down any surfaces she goes to sit on.

"yes papa! i'm fucking ecstatic!" she shouts, she only then realises that it was her father's voice. she goes running to him, nearly toppling him down due to the force.

"that's jolly good news." he replies, stroking her hair, before turning to altair, "al, you don't think that your mother will kill me slightly less do you?"

"nah, at this rate, she'll probably just threaten you, dad."

alya turns to see altair.

"altair, my brother! it's me, alya!" she says before jumping to her brother, knocking him over his current position on the floor.

"erm, hey avie. it is me, yeah, and yes it is you," he says slowly, finding it hard to speak. after all, alya did jump onto him, knocking the remaining air in his lungs.

"i'm so happy to see you! i thought i'd get eaten!"

"eaten by who?" altair asks.

"by her fucking arsehole. she's probably a bit delirious from the snog session, to be honest."

alya turn to see atlas, who was leaning against the windows near remus.

"oh shut it attie, weren't you the idiot who hid behind me when you got scared?"

"no, i did not! you're delusional from a-" atlas stops abruptly, from a nudge from alya. she looks at him wide eyed and looks back at the trio, who were currently looking at them concernedly.

she smiles toothily at them, brushing her hair back, and waving at them. "hi, it's me, alya."

"they know that perfectly well vinnie," atlas whispers from behind her, "don't mind her, you guys know how weird she gets if she doesn't eat her food !"

"oh here's some chocolate for you," said remus, taking out an opened bar and snapping it. he hands it to atlas and alya, who hold it in their hands.

"i haven't poisoned that chocolate, you know..." alya takes a bite and to her great surprise felt warmth spread suddenly to the tips of her fingers and toes. "we'll be at hogwarts in ten minutes," said professor lupin. "are you all right, atlas, alya?"

"absolutely spiffing, moonpie," alya replies, biting into her chocolate, "now, would you be a kind dear and please tell me why you're here? not that i'm against it."

"yeah! we didn't even see you on the platform!" exclaims atlas. altair nodded too, he too didn't get to see his godfather.

"i'm pretty sure uncle reggie was looking out for you too." alya says.

"he totally was. he took his time on his hair this morning and was talking about you non-stop. pretty sure he forgot about it." sirius blurts, he loved teasing the two, thought both regulus and remus heavily denied any such thing.

"now, how are the two of you feeling?" remus interrupts, trying to divert the attention.

"like i said before, absolutely spiffing moonpie." alya replies once more, although the chocolate in her hands were gone, "although, i would feel much better if i had more chocolate." she pulls her 'puppy dog face' as dubbed by her family.

altair and atlas immediately step back and look away; almost as if they knew it was coming. sirius and remus, however, were a second too late. they caught themselves looking right at alya's face, they couldn't say no.

"moony, you can't say no! just look at that face!" sirius exclaims, beckoning at her face. despite the numerous time alya would show her puppy face, sirius would still make the mistake of looking right at her. how else do you think alya managed to buy a firebolt this summer?

"oh alright, here, take it." remus gives in as he gives the entire bar to her. alya takes it from his hands in glee and hugs him in response, pressing a kiss to his cheek. "i've got to go check on prongs really quickly, i'll see you all in hogwarts."

remus exits the compartments with no other explanation, leaving the four black's alone.

the sound of the compartment door interrupts them, as amelia avery enters through the doorframe, a bag on her shoulder.

"what are you doing here avery?" snaps atlas, his face contorting to a look of disgust.

"none of your business black." amelia snaps, looking at alya now, "are you all okay baby black?" she looked quite concerned, but her face, as emotionless as ever, didn't let it show, but alya knew.

"i'm good lia. thanks for asking. congrats for prefect by the way." alya replies cheerily, pointing to the badge pinned on her slytherin robes.

"thanks little one." amelia shows a hint of a smile, before her face went back to her normal exterior. altair catches it, smiling to himself.

she should smile more, he thinks.

"lia, this is my dad, sirius black. he's one of the aurors on guard this year."

"it's a pleasure to meet you, mr black." amelia replies, sending him a curt nod. she could see atlas making silly faces at her through her periphery and altair nudging him to stop.

"you're mariana's daughter, aren't you?" sirius asks, taking a second to figure out who she really was.

"um...yes. she was my mother." amelia replies, looking down. "how did you know her?"

"we grew up together, was pretty close to my wife. we knew she had kids, but boy, have you grown up. you look just like her, you know?"

amelia looks at sirius silently, altair could tell that it was a sensitive topic for her. she nods meekly, sirius now having the realisation that it was a sensitive topic.

"oh, amelia, i didn't mean to offend or upset you in any way.."

"it's fine mr black, i need to make my way back to my compartment." she picks up her bag, dragging it up on her shoulder and makes her way out, not before giving atlas the dirtiest look she could.

"oh and black, remember, we have patrol this week." she says to altair, sending a small smile to his way before leaving for the corridors.

─── ✨🌫🔮 ───

at long last, the train stopped at hogsmeade station, and there was a great scramble to get outside; owls hooted, cats meowed. it was freezing on the tiny platform; rain was driving down in icy sheets.

"firs' years this way!" called a familiar voice.

the trio turned and saw the gigantic outline of hagrid at the other end of the platform, beckoning the new students forward for their traditional journey across the lake.

the three see a stoic minerva mcgonagall walk towards them,

"minnie, my love. how are you doing this fine september the first?" asks atlas. she was his, as well as altair's head of house, and quite frankly without her, they could both safely say, that they wouldn't be aiming for the career path they were both aiming for.

"black, i have warned you many times to call me professor mcgonagall," she chides him, though she knew it was pointless. the three black's have been hearing minnie since they were babies; very much a habit now.

"you'll always be minnie to us, minnie." alya adds.

mcgonagall hums disapprovingly.

"your father told me that both yourselves and potter fainted when the dementor's came." she says, looking at alya and atlas respectively.

the three siblings look worried and anxious; altair for letting that happen to his siblings and atlas and alya for the encounter they had.

"there's no need to look so worried — i just want a word in my office," she told them, "your mother wants to see how the two of you are doing."

"oh no, mum's already here?" asks atlas, shocked.

"that's papa done for."

"funnily enough children, both mrs potter and your mother have dealt with mr black and potter respectively." mcgonagall chimes, an amused expression on her face.

professor mcgonagall ushered the black trio, even though altair didn't even have to be there (he was very adamant), away from the chattering crowd; they accompanied her across the entrance hall, up the marble staircase, and along a corridor. once they were in her office, a small room with a large, welcoming fire, professor mcgonagall motioned the three to sit down.

a soft knock on the door was heard and leela black-shafiq came bustling in. atlas felt himself going red in the face. it was bad enough that he'd passed out, or whatever he had done, without everyone making all this fuss, but it was a whole other thing that his mum came to check on him in front of his favourite teacher. alya, on the other hand, was pretty chill on the whole scenario, she couldn't care less.

"i'm fine," atlas said, "i don't need anything —"

leela bustled over to her kids, frantically checking in them head to toe, as best as she could, going as far as pulling both atlas and altair down. they were taller than her and she couldn't reach them.

"oh, you're okay, is it?" said leela, ignoring this and bends down to more to stare closely at alya. "i suppose you've been doing something dangerous again?"

"mum, we don't always do dangerous things." adds alya. leela gives her the death stare in response, shutting her up immediately.

"it was a dementor, leela," said professor mcgonagall. they exchanged a dark look, and leela clucked disapprovingly.

"never had i felt like stabbing dumbledore with my kindjals for allowing then to mingle with students, and look! my children and godson have already had a fucking encounter with them!"

"language leela." reprimands mcgonagall.

"english, professor."

mcgonagall nods her head disapprovingly as the three kids smile.

"setting dementors around a school," she muttered, now pushing back atlas' hair and feeling his forehead. "they won't be the last one who collapses. terrible things, they are, and the effect they have on people who are already delicate —"

"i'm not delicate!" said atlas crossly.

"of course you're not," said leela absentmindedly, now taking his pulse, "i'm not the one who used to cry every single time they used to shit."

"mum, you're embarrassing me.."

"and i'm also not the one who has the biggest fear of cats."

"mum, it's a perfectly rational fear."

"let me check your mouth and ears and we should be-"

"i'm fine!" said atlas, jumping up from his crouched position.

"kanna, let me check you properly" said leela, who was now trying to peer into atlas' eyes.

"amma, i'm fine." atlas looks at his mum.

"okay then, i'll just give you some chocolate."

"i've already had some," said altair. "moony gave me some. he gave it to all of us."

"did he, now?" said leela. "only remus."

"are you sure you feel all right, black?" professor mcgonagall said sharply.

all three shoot their attention to her.

"i mean, atlas and alya, you too i suppose altair."

"yes," said atlas. alya nods.

"very well. kindly wait outside while i have a quick word with altair about his course schedule, then we can go down to the feast together."

before leela turns to leave, she whispers something in altair's ears, to which he nods in response.

alya and atlas went back into the corridor with leela who left for the hospital wing, muttering to herself.

"it's funny that your middle name is leo, but you're deadly scared of cats." alya says, mocking him.

"oh hush."

they had to wait only a few minutes; then altair emerged looking very happy about something, followed by professor mcgonagall, and the three of them made their way back down the marble staircase to the great hall. it was a sea of pointed black hats; each of the long house tables was lined with students, their faces glimmering by the light of thousands of candles, which were floating over the tables in midair.

alya and the twins parted ways; alya heading to the slytherin table and the twins making their way to the gryffindor tables. professor mcgonagall strode off toward her empty seat at the staff table. people looked around at them, as they passed along the back of the hall, and a few of them pointed at alya, atlas and some at the seated harry. 

"oh, shit, i missed the sorting," alya mutters under her breath, "i could've made some money today."

she could see all the teachers seated in front, including remus. strange, she thought. she smiled upon seeing her aunt lily sitting the front, with her co-professor, snape, with her uncle james, her papa and her mum sitting on her left.

she finally arrives at the tables, where he could see that blaise had saved her a seat next to him, draco and daphne opposite him.

"what the fuck happened to you alya?" daphne questions as alya had sat down, "first , you and dray went to get food, next thing you know, draco tells us that you went unconscious!"

alya started to explain in a whisper, but at that moment, dumbledore stood up to speak, andshe broke off.

she gave the three of them a look saying i'll tell you later; they understood.

dumbledore was an old man, a long silver beard and half moon spectacles, he was a source of belief and trust for many witches and wizards. yet alya couldn't comprehend why her parents and uncle reggie told her not to trust him?

he started rambling on about welcoming the new students, the dementors and something about the ministry, but alya couldn't pay attention, as she was far too tired and sleepy to listen to him. she linked her arms with blaise's, leaning her head on his shoulder, to which he naturally puts his head atop of hers, drawing patterns on her palms.

from a distance, you could see sirius, james, atlas and altair looking at the sight with squinted eyes. the 40 year rule striking out in their heads. draco and daphne smirk at one another; it was only a matter of time.

"...happier note," he continued, "i am pleased to welcome two new teachers to our ranks this year.

alya's head perked up slightly upon hearing this, turning her body slightly to see who they were.

"first, professor lupin, who has kindly consented to fill the post of defence against the dark arts teacher."

alya jumps in shock, she wasn't really expecting it. upon hearing very little applause for remus (probably stupid idiots judging his clothes or scars, not that it was their business), she gets up from her seat, stands from the benches and claps very loudly.

"hello idiots, clap for my uncle right now, or i'll hunt you all down with my bat!" she shouts rather loudly.

"go uncle remus!" bellows atlas, with altair clapping loudly behind him, giving very loud wolf whistles.

a large roar of applause echoes throughout the hall, enthusiastic applause from harry, atlas, altair, james and sirius. alya could see very clearly remus blushing very deeply.

alya gets down from the bench and settles back down.

"aly, take a look at professor snape over there." draco whispers, looking at the direction of the teacher's table.

professor snape was staring along the staff table at moony. it was common knowledge that snape wanted the defence against the dark arts job, but even alya,who hated snape despite him being her head of house, was startled at the expression twisting his thin face. he had this expression of pure loathing. it wasn't helping that james and sirius were also seated nearby remus.

"as to our second new appointment," dumbledore continued as the applause for professor lupin died away. "well, i am sorry to tell you that professor kettleburn, our care of magical creatures teacher, retired at the end of last year in order to enjoy more time with his remaining limbs. however, i am delighted to say that his place will be filled by none other than rubeus hagrid, who has agreed to take on this teaching job in addition to his gamekeeping duties."

"only hagrid would get a biting book for us." daphne chimes in, laughing slightly.

another round of applause was heard, mainly from the gryffindor table. hagrid too, was red in the face.

"other than our more permanent staff, we also have two assigned aurors staying with us, until peter pettigrew is caught: sirius black and james potter. to assist madame pomfrey in the hospital wing, we also have mrs leela black-shafiq, as part of our temporary staff."

a loud round of applause was heard, yet again, mainly from harry, atlas, altair, alya and even draco.

"go aunt leela!" he shouts, clapping very loudly. draco loved his aunt leela. he was a bit weary of sirius, ever since he dragged draco to go for a walk. long story short, the two of them were very lucky that they didn't get mauled by a bear that day.

"oi black, your mum's hot." shouts a voice from the front of the slytherin table. sirius must've heard it; he was giving the biggest glare to the boy who said it. altair and atlas too. alya knew who it was already, she already had a plan. you could tell leela was flattered, but at the same time, trying not to laugh.

"he ain't wrong!" shouts another voice, but this time it was a girl. laughter reverberated through the hall.

before sirius could say anything, dumbledore interrupted.

"well, i think that's everything of importance," said dumbledore. "let the feast begin!"

the golden plates and goblets before them filled suddenly with food and drink. alya helped herself to everything she could reach and began to eat. she was rather hungry, she didn't snack at all today. she was piling up food on her plate and happily eating it, whilst talking to her best friends.

it was a delicious feast; the hall echoed with talk, laughter, and the clatter of knives and forks.

dumbledore gave the word that it was time for them all to go to bed. everyone clearly needed to sleep, after having such a feast.

altair, atlas and alya parted their ways from the great hall: altair and atlas heading up to the gryffindor dorms with fred, george and lee and alya making her way down to her own slytherin dorms with draco, blaise and daphne. alya waves goodbye at her brothers, who waved back at her. a smirk was exchanged between atlas and alya, they knew what was going to happen now to altair.

little did altair know that his life too, after tonight was going to change here on now, in ways unimaginable.

𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫! 𝐁𝐔𝐓, 𝐢 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐚 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐲 𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐲 𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐭𝐥𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐲𝐚'𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞. 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐠𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐬𝐨 𝐟𝐚𝐫?

𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐫, 𝐩𝐥𝐮𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩!