On God?

Chapter 28

in which sHiElDiNg YoUr mInD is harder than she thought.

The silence seemed to stretch on for years.

"B-but she has to be! Look at her, she has the eyes of House Black!" Sirius exclaimed, standing up and gesturing to me. "And her smile-I know her smile! I know it from somewhere!"

"Maybe you don't." Dumbledore said softly, standing up and gesturing for me to do so as well. "Come along, Blair. It's time to get back."

"W-wait! You can't just leave! We have to figure out-"

"No, Sirius." Dumbledore said sharply, turning on his heel. "Blair needs to go back to school, and you need to dig deeper."

Sirius let out a mixture between a huff and an agonized groan, pushing past Dumbledore and out of the room. Emma looked up at me, squeezing my arm.

"I'll miss you." She said, hugging me tightly, and I hugged her back just as tightly.

"I'll miss you too, you big heathen." I said, releasing her and stepping towards Dumbledore. "Tell Sirius that we'll figure it out. Maybe the spell was wrong."

"The spell was not wrong." Dumbledore chided, gesturing for me to take his arm. "We will have to apparate back, so take my arm and do not let go."

I gave Emma one last smile, and grasping Dumbledore's arm firmly, a split second later it was as if I had been forced into a straw, being twisted and pulled in all different directions-and then we were back in Dumbledore's office, and I released his arm, dizzy and nauseous and I tried to hold back the urge to empty my stomach into a bucket.

"Yes, Apparating does that." Dumbledore said, sounding suspiciously cheerful.

I gave him a queasy smile, moving towards the door before I heard him say one more thing. "You know...Sirius isn't the only Black capable of being a father."

"Blair! Blair!"

I snapped out of my slight daze as I walked, lifting my head to look up at Hermione. "Oh, hey Hermione." I said, lifting a hand in greeting. "What's up?"

"Harry, Ron, and I are forming a secret club to practice Defense Against the Dark Arts spells." Hermione spilled out in a rush, glancing around to make sure no one heard. "Well, Harry will be teaching us, but I wanted you to come to the meeting."

I raised my eyebrows. "Are you sure? I mean-a Slytherin? Won't people be suspicious?" I asked as we began to walk slowly towards the dungeons.

"Well-yes, but Harry, Ron, Fred, George, Ginny-all of us can vouch for you!" Hermione said, a faint blush appearing on her cheeks. "It'll be fine, I promise. Just come and listen. You don't have to join if you don't want-I just want you to be there."

I gave her a smile. "Well, of course I'll be there!" I said. "I wasn't going to say no! I'll be there to support you, and then I'll join."

Hermione beamed. "Excellent...well, the meeting is in Hogsmeade in an hour, so get ready!" I blinked, glancing at her.

"Well, alright then. If I go and get dressed now, will you wait for me here?" I asked, and she nodded.

"Yes, of course, but just try to go quickly. The three of us wanted to get there a bit earlier than the others."

I nodded. "I'll be back in ten minutes or less." Hermione smiled, and pulled a book out of who knows where.

"I'll be here, don't worry."

I got dressed relatively fast. I stayed in the pair of jeans and sweatshirt that I had been in to visit Sirius, I just threw on a light coat and scarf, which was knitted in the Slytherin colors. I didn't know where it was from, I just remembered Daphne giving it to me a week or two ago.