B.Q. Book One: Princess of the Blacks

Chapter 5: Parent-Teacher Conference

Disclaimer: Did Harry take the easiest courses simply because the red-haired barnacle did? If so, I don't own the Harry Potter franchise; it belongs to J.K. Rowling, Scholastic Press, Warner Bros., and whoever else she sold the rights to.
_____________________________

In the week following Jen's acceptance into the Black family, life in 12 Grimmauld Place found a stable routine. She and Sirius would wake early in the morning and walk together to breakfast, which was made by the increasingly affable – to Jen – Kreacher. Afterwards, they would split and go to their separate callings: Jen to the library, where she truly devoured books on seemingly every subject contained therein; Sirius to the Head's study, which daily threatened to overwhelm him with paperwork related to family investments and the House's seat in the Wizengamot. Around one in the afternoon, Jen would fetch him from the room for lunch. At this time, Narcissa arrived from Malfoy Manor via Floo to join them for the rest of the day.

Lunch would generally be fairly pleasant, and Jen and Sirius would again depart to their respective domains. Some days Narcissa would go with Jen, and Sirius could hear laughter constantly ringing through the house; on others, she would retire to the study with him and lend what assistance she could. During these work sessions they would discuss many topics, and after they ruled any talk of her sexual partners and his experiences in Azkaban off-limits, they found a camaraderie of sorts developing between them, despite their differing political views and the gulf that had existed their entire childhoods due to the half-decade between them. Sirius had even come to the point that he was willing to call her by her nickname, something he had not done once in the entire 34 years he had been alive. They accomplished so much in their afternoons together that by the end of the week, he joked that he was going to use his position as her head of family to force her to be his assistant. Strangely, she no longer considered that the torture she first would have.

Once all the work was done, he, Jen, and occasionally Cissy would have a light dinner and discuss whatever crossed their minds. Though his goddaughter was still irritatingly tight-lipped about her past, he learned enough to understand her as she was now, even if he never found out how she got there.

-O-O-

The weekend had come upon them, and Jen knew Sirius was planning something. She knew not what, but the excitement leaked through his Occlumency shields and put her on guard. In the time they had spent together, she knew what he was like before unleashing a prank, and the clues she was finding were very similar to that. Her suspicions were confirmed when she was banished from the drawing room for the morning, and then passed Andi on her way to the library. Even Kreacher refused to tell her what was in the works; on Cissy's orders, she discovered.

Once in the library, she noticed the letter Sirius had given her the first time they met laying on 'her' couch. Picking it up, she opened the envelope and pulled out the actual letter. She put one of her fingers on the surface and felt down the left side until she came to a series of indentations consistent with the scratching of a pen. She focused some magic into the words written there and 'listened'.

"Dear Miss Potter," a droning 'voice' said, "We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted into the fourth year of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins on September first. Yours sincerely, Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress."

"Interesting," Jen muttered. For all that Sirius had done for her, there was still a part of her mind that doubted he would be able to get her into Hogwarts. Her fears had apparently been groundless. She felt the second sheet of parchment and decided to deal with it once she went shopping for her supplies. Setting it on the table, she returned to the book she was currently reading, a discourse on Veela from 1830, written by Bellatrix Black, sixteenth of the name.