The Noble House Of Black

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX: Reunification, or Expulsion

It is the night of Purnima, Blood Moon. Sirius's words ran through Peter's head again and again, but he could not figure out what they meant. It had unlocked some sort of secret that neither twin would share. Peter wanted to be an accomplice in their mischief, but always found himself on the outside. He remembered hearing that name, Purnima, but he didn't remember where or why it was important. Was she some sort of goddess, perhaps? Had she been mentioned in their History of Magic class? He could always go to the library to find out or, perhaps, ask a professor, but he had a strange concern that as soon as he walked out of the room the twins would share their secret with James and then all three of them would know what he did not. At least now he had an accomplice in confusion.

Peter had always known there was something different about the twins. They performed dark magic and held strange rituals to old gods with names no longer whispered by mortals. They certainly spoke languages he didn't know, but he supposed that was true of lots of people. They were each intimidating in their confidence and the complete assurance they had in their own abilities, but together they were something even greater. Peter wondered whether it was an act sometimes, the way the behaved together, a performance where they were the actors but also the audience, because at the end of the scene Peter felt like he had been left alone on stage, bewildered by whatever had just happened. Like the time in herbology where they put on a great show of paying respect to the flubber worms and then, for whatever reason, the twins said, "Death is the great equalizer, kings to peasants, Blacks to Pettigrews." Did that mean he was like a flubber worm to them? Peter had pretended to understand, but he didn't. Their words had always stuck with him though, they gnawed at him and made him uncomfortable.

Peter had to admit, he had always felt a little in awe of them, but also a little scared. As he expelled the thought from his head, it was easier to hide from these thoughts than dwell upon them, he felt Caelum's eyes weighing him. It was like she knew exactly what he was thinking. Was it a challenge? Say something, I dare you. Better to stay quiet and not give them anything to laugh at.

Just then, the clock struck midnight and the silence that had engulfed the room was expelled by Sirius's excited laughter.

"It is midnight." Sirius grinned a cat-like grin at Caelum.

"Midnight it is," Caelum smiled back.

Caelum rose from her bed, and the others followed.

The faint light from the moon that made its way through the windows had done almost nothing for James and Peter's eyesight, and Caelum had told them to leave all lights off. The twins did not seem to mind the darkness, they seemed accustomed to it, like the familiarity of home. James wondered why the world looked different in the dark, why could it turn coatracks into strange men and tree branches into monsters? What a powerful ability. What a dangerous ability. James' second thought came in Caelum's voice, and that was the greater wonder.

Sirius and Caelum suddenly and without warning stopped. They were standing in a half-corridor hiding behind one of the large stone pillars that separated the outdoor grounds from the castle. Caelum's leaned forward to see in front of the pillar, "He's there. Madame Pomfrey is helping him."

Caelum looked up at Sirius. Had he grown? There was a time not so long ago when they were the same height, the same size, but his shoulders had grown larger, and his jaw held a sharpness to it that had not been there before.