Chapter 3

A smug smile greeted her as Atlas stopped and stared at Bella, her uniform hanging from her frame. She had elected to wear the wizards uniform, the trousers slightly baggy around her legs, and her tie so far up her neck she looked to be suffocating. Her robes hid the jumper and blouse she wore beneath. It was her first time wearing the uniform and to say Atlas was pleasantly surprised wouldn’t be a lie. The whole outfit was a size too big, a miscalculation on the tailors part but she didn’t mind, it was at least comfortable, save for the too-tight tie Minerva had done because Atlas Black could not do a tie to save her life.

It was late afternoon, almost evening, the time being quarter-to-seven and Isabella was just leaving her long time home Hogsmeade village, her trunk packed and beside her and a smile on her face like no other. “Tell me why you wanted to see me in my uniform of all things before you left?”

“I never thought I’d see the day,” Bella whispered into her clasped hands, her eyes misted and gaze fond and thankful, “Make friends Atlas, please. Talk to people and tell Diggory I said hello.”

“Yeah,” Atlas smiled, “of course…” she agreed and then looked over at Minerva who was patiently waiting a few metres away, a rolled-up piece of parchment in her hands as she stared in the direction of the Black Lake. No doubt waiting for the new students. “Don’t get eaten.”

“I’m only going to be taking notes on the things and you forget yourself, I may be a squib but I have an unnaturally high affinity to magical creatures like you do,” she smirked and then moved forward, enveloping Atlas in a tight meaningful hug that the girl awkwardly reciprocated, her hands hovering but still somehow wrapped around the smaller girl. She didn’t quite know how to approach a hug with a much shorter person without swamping them with her height. “Write to me. Let me know how Lyra and her pups are every now and then too.”

“Of course,” Atlas nodded, pulling away, “Go on then. I need to go too.”

“I can see that,” Bella grinned, motioning over to Minerva who was now impatiently tapping her foot, checking her pocket watch every few seconds. Merlin knew greeting the first years was always something Minerva looked forward too, each student of her house was like a child of her own. Well, she certainly had been seeing her Gryffindors like that after Atlas came along anyway, her maternal instincts going into overdrive since she couldn’t have children of her own. “Bye Atlas, I love you dearly and I’ll miss you every day.”

There was a moment before Atlas moved forward and pulled the woman into another hug, remaining together for a long minute before she pulled away.

“Bye Bella,” Atlas smiled and then turned, her shoes clicking against the cobblestone road as she made her way over to her godmother turned professor for the foreseeable future. She came to a stop, only to immediately start again when Minerva started into a speed-walk, her emerald-green dress billowing behind her in the cool breeze of the evening. 

“I don’t need to tell you again, do I Atlas?” Minerva began, glancing over her shoulder once before turning her gaze forward again, her gaze firmly set on the castle gates a flight of stairs away. Bella had gone out of her way to meet the two of them on castle grounds, Atlas having told her she really couldn’t see her off from the village. 

Usually, Hogsmeade inhabitants weren’t allowed to do that but an exception was made because Minerva had been there to supervise the exchange, “What exactly are we talking about, Minerva?”

“No more late-night runs,” she called back seriously, her voice firm and serious. Atlas groaned. “With the dementors on the lookout for your father, they may mistake you for him due to your aura.”

“You’ll at least allow me the ability to see Lyra, right?”

“During the day, Atlas, of course, you may,” Minerva nodded, “And unfortunately you’ll have to begin referring to me as Professor McGonagall.”

“Understood, Professor,” Atlas smiled and Minerva caught her eye with a small twitch of her own lips, again, turning back quickly to see the boats approaching in the distance. “How will I be introduced?”

“You may wait inside if you would like? Sit in my seat next to Hagrid while the Sorting Ceremony is dealt with,” she offered and Atlas nodded, thinking it over in her head quickly as she climbed up the steps to the castle. 

“I’ll do that,” Atlas agreed as soon as they stepped inside. A waft of warm air hit her when the gates closed shut behind her, the fire and torches that greeted them giving off a warmth stronger than the ones she would make at home, no doubt amplified by some sort of magic. Of course, it was magic, what else would be capable of heating up an old medieval castle the size of Hogwarts?

“There he is,” Minerva pointed out, swiftly turning and making her way over to Hagrid who was guiding the new first years inside at a separate entrance that led from the Black Lake – a lake Atlas had actually swum in at one point. “Hagrid!”

“Er – Professor McGonagall,” The giant man got out nervously, stomping his way over to meet the woman in the middle, his eye caught Atlas who he simply beamed at and wrapped her up in a hug, picking her up off of the ground as he did, “An’ Atlas! ‘eard you were attendin’ this year!”

“Hey, Hagrid!” Atlas grinned, hugging him back as best she could. She really did love the man, his care for the inhabitants of the forest or animals and mythical creatures continuously awed the girl. Especially his dog – Fang – she loved to play with the giant hound. 

“Hagrid, I’d like you to take Atlas with you, set her down next to you in my seat,” Minerva instructed and the man nodded immediately, turning to look at Atlas excitedly as he then ushered her along with a motion of his giant hair-covered head.

“Come on then Atlas, time ter go,” he said gruffly and Atlas huffed out an amused laugh, nodding and walking with him as he guided her to the Great Hall – a place she had been to a few times in the past – the interior of the castle was all the same. Nothing ever changed in the gigantic school. Nothing notable anyway. The ghosts were the same, statues the same, halls and dorm locations the same and Atlas was glad because that would mean the locations only she and possibly Dumbledore knew about were the same. Meaning she had places to escape to if the weather was too rough for flying.

“How has Buckbeak been Hagrid?”

“Oh jus’ fine Atlas, jus’ fine. He’s excited to see yeh actually,” Hagrid nodded seemingly pleased with himself and his Hippogriff friend. They turned on a corridor, the great big doors to the hall appearing in the distance, “Don’ worry too much. I know yeh don’ really like the idea of attendin’ school but give it a chance.”

“As long as it gives me one, Hagrid,” Atlas smiled idly, following after Hagrid as he opened the doors of the Great Hall. Faces turned, some confused, surprised, bewildered and some even with flashes of recognition, those faces Atlas decided she didn’t like. Besides Cedric Diggory, she sent a small smirk and a wave. The two of them had met when Cedric had gone into his third year, the year Atlas should have begun her enrollment in Hogwarts.

Occasionally, they had hung out in Hogsmeade – her, him and Bella – and terrorised the local townsfolk. Well, Bella and Atlas did the terrorising while Cedric did the apologising. Their dynamic was fun, chaotic, and entailed noteworthy memories but the meetups were rare because they had to be aligned to the Hogsmeade trips that were arranged.

Atlas considered them friends though and was relieved to see a familiar face amongst the prying eyes of the crowd. Cedric mouthed words of encouragement, nudged a few of the Hufflepuffs around him who were staring too hard and finally urged Atlas to hurry up and get to the front.

So, naturally, she continued forward, ignoring the eyes trailing the scars on her face and keeping her own on the seat she knew to be Minerva’s, moving around the teacher’s table with Hagrid behind her and sitting down solidly in the seat earning even further shocked faces toward the girl.

Dumbledore turned and nodded to her reassuringly, to which she nodded back, uncrossing her arms and instead, engaging in a conversation with Hagrid who just seemed all too excited to talk about his gamekeeping duties, even letting slip that he’d been promoted to Care of Magical Creatures professor which made Atlas smile wider than she had done in a while.

The two hadn’t even noticed the Sorting Ceremony going on at the front, too engrossed in their conversation to really pay attention to the list of students getting sorted. That was, of course, until Professor McGonagall came around and placed her hand on Atlas’s shoulder, notifying her it was time for her own introduction.

“Welcome, welcome, to another year at Hogwarts!” Dumbledore called as Atlas stood up and slowly made her way around the table, standing just behind the silvery-haired man who immediately turned and gestured to her form, “Firstly, I would like you all to welcome our newest transferee,” he motioned her forward and she complied, standing next to him silently, “A few of you may recognise her and a few of you may not. All I ask is that you treat her kindly as if she were any other student, no matter what you may have heard prior to this and what you may hear going forward.”

Atlas tucked her hands in her pockets, as she waited for him to introduce her.

“Would you please introduce yourself?” Atlas looked up at the man, not expecting such a suggestion as she quickly glanced back to Minerva urgently, the lady clearly not knowing this would happen as she was threatening the edge of her seat, ready to stand if needed. “Go on.”

“I…” she hesitated a moment before taking a breath and steeling herself, “My name is Atlas Magianima Black and I will be attending Hogwarts School alongside…all of you.”

In an instant, chatter rose up amongst the students, some panicked, some intrigued and borderline excited while others – an easy majority – grew wary, eyeing the girl as if she may explode at any given moment.

Sirius Black’s daughter would be attending Hogwarts with them all, at the same exact time the serial killer himself had escaped Azkaban prison. Could it really be a coincidence? Atlas knew it wasn’t, as the sole reason she was attending the school in the first place was because she needed to be protected but she also knew those weren’t exactly the sort of theories running through her new schoolmates’ minds.

“Silence!” Dumbledore called, shushing the hall at once. “Atlas, you may take your place at the Gryffindor table,” more mutters arose but Atlas blocked them out, ducking her head as she descended from the front stage and walked along the lines of tables. 

At one point when she’d looked up, she had unintentionally met the eyes of Harry Potter, who was promptly turned around by the ginger lad beside him. Though she managed to get a look at the emotion in his eye, he looked a little fearful if intrigued, as if he didn’t know what quite to think of the girl whose father worked for the man that killed his parents.

Valid, Atlas had decided, yet still, she couldn’t help but frown as she finally made her way to the end of the table, slumping down and rolling her eyes when those around her shuffled away as if she had the plague.

It was just as she expected, her name overruled everything about her, nobody would care for who she really was because they couldn’t get past her name. All at once, she wished she’d introduced herself using her mother’s name but what use would that have been? It also felt like she couldn’t have, with Dumbledore staring at her like he was, as if silently testing her. Judging her but not unkindly.

“Now, I’m pleased to welcome, Professor R.J Lupin, who has kindly consented to fill the post of, Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. Good luck professor,” Atlas looked over at him, smiling to herself only slightly at the sight of the scars that riddled his face. It made her feel a little better, now that there was someone else there that shared a characteristic she had. Even though there was a slight nagging at the back of her mind, reminding her that he had gotten those wounds most probably from an incredibly traumatic event and that she shouldn’t feel happiness in another’s suffering. No matter the reason as to why she was feeling that way.

“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.” 

Atlas heartily joined in with the clapping at this, smiling to herself as the giant man stood up, knocking the table forward slightly sending the students into a chorus of laughter. She sent the big man a discrete thumbs up which he mirrored only to have Minerva pulling him back down into his seat a second later.

“Finally, on a more describing note, at the request of the ministry of magic, Hogwarts will at notice, play host to the Dementors of Azkaban,” Atlas frowned at the mention of the beasts, rubbing the back of her neck awkwardly. “Until such a time…Sirius Black is captured,” she noticed the hesitance as she felt multiple eyes not-so-subtly falling onto her. “The Dementors will be stationed at every entrance to the grounds. Now whilst I’ve been assured, that their presence will not disrupt our day to day activities, a word of caution, Dementors are vicious creatures, they will not distinguish between the one they hunt and the one that gets in their way. Therefore I must warn each and every one of you, give them no reason to harm you, it is not in the nature of a Dementor to be forgiving. 

But you know, happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers, to turn on the light…”

The food came and Atlas stood up heavily, glaring when a few harsh whispers met her ear and continuing out of the hall with Minerva rushing to her feet and going after her, leaving the entire hall in further whispers. A certain group of whispers more interesting than the rest.

“What’s Dumbledore thinking? Letting the daughter of Sirius Black attend Hogwarts?” Ron voiced, taking a bite out of a chicken wing he had scooped up from a platter in front of him. “Especially with Harry here.”

“Don’t be insensitive Ronald,” Hermione fumed, slapping the boy with a rolled-up napkin as he proceeded to ignore her and went for the assortment of different sausages. “She clearly wanted to be anywhere but here. Besides, Hagrid and Professor McGonagall seem to really like her. Even Dumbledore smiled when he looked at her.”

“Still…Hermione, she comes from the Noble House of Black,” Ron pressed, now holding two drumsticks in his hands. “They’re bad news. It’s like…in their blood to be pricks.”

“Now I know where you get it from,” Hermione replied instantly, “Or are you forgetting your grandmother used to be a Black?”

“She’s got you there,” Harry quipped earning a rather red-looking glare from Ron who hastily went back to inhaling his food, this time with a hint of indignance. “I think she’s alright, we should invite her to eat with us.”

“You’re joking,” Ron actually stopped, looking at Harry like he’d just turned into Fluffy from first-year.

“I think that’s a great idea, Harry,” Hermione smiled, nodding approvingly down at her food. Biting her lip a moment before shoving a few sausages into a napkin.

“What are those for?” Ron asked over his collection of food.

“Atlas,” Hermione replied easily, “It’ll be an ice breaker, she missed dinner so it’ll be a peace offering.”

“Why do you care so much?” Ron questioned, narrowing his gaze at the girl who steadily returned his look with a glare of her own,

“She looks like she could use a friend. Honestly, I’ve never seen someone look so thoroughly uncomfortable,” Hermione reasoned, Harry stared at her a moment before shrugging and going back to his food, Ron doing the same but with a little more vigour than before as if thinking Hermione was going to try and take it from him for Atlas. “Besides I’ll be sharing a dorm with her, won’t I?”

“Aren’t you a little unnerved that you’ll be alone with Sirius Black’s daughter?” Ron asked, though he seemed a little less adamant of the whole ‘Atlas is like her dad’ theory. Not surprising considering Harry had said he thought she was alright and he often agreed with him more times than not.

“Parvati and Lavender will be directly across from our room,” Hermione sighed, “Ronald, she’s not going to kill me.”

“No, she is not,” the trio froze, slowly turning to look up Professor McGonagall who seemed to be fixing Ron with a very severe eye, she clearly had not liked the way Ron had been assuming things, “Miss Granger, it seems you’ve already deduced this but Atlas will be staying with you as you are the only girl in your year with a free bed in your dorm.”

“Yes, Professor,” Hermione nodded dutifully.

The emerald-clad woman seemed to sigh, her whole steely and confident manner seeming to falter a second as a sad worried-looking frown graced her features, “All I ask, Miss Granger, is that you treat her kindly. The villagers of Hogsmeade have not treated her so kindly lately so she may act…suspecting. After that though, you’ll find Atlas is a very…wild spirit, she will not hesitate to treat you like an old friend, but she can be quite oblivious so you must be outright with what you wish to say, that’s to all three of you

“You seem to know a lot about her Professor,” Harry pressed, his eyes sparkling as he leaned his head further forward as if he would hear something from her unmoving mouth.

“She’s my god-daughter Mr Potter, I raised her. So it can be rest assured she will not be murdering anyone, Mr Weasley,” She told sharply, aiming her pointed glare at the redhead who immediately choked on his pumpkin juice, “Oh and Mr Potter,” the bespectacled boy turned to look up at her, away from his red-faced and red-haired friend who he’d been grinning at. “I also suspect she will be joining the Quidditch team.”

“Really Professor?” Harry asked, his eyebrow cocked.

“Oliver Wood already agreed to the arrangement at the end of last year, a lot of the Gryffindors may find this unfair, I’m sure, but you should know the trial that was held was harsher than any tryout ever had,” she turned and looked off to the exit of the Great Hall, a look of pride on her face, “What she lacks in certain abilities she makes up for in her academics and physical aptitudes.”

“A bit like Hermione then, minus the physical aptitudes part,” Ron muttered and the bushy-haired girl kicked his shin under the table, sending him spluttering with unsaid curses.

“I will leave you to it,” Professor McGonagall voiced, nodding her head and walking back up to the teacher’s table, taking her place by Hagrids side and engaging in conversation with Dumbledore who seemed particularly intrigued as to where Atlas had gone.

“Oliver!” Ron called down the table and the boy looked up from his food and away from his conversation, looking to Ron quizzically, a mouth full of mash. “Is it true? Is Atlas Black on the team?”

“Oh yes! She’s an amazing flyer!” he called back enthusiastically, clearly not caring for the girl’s name. That was the way with Wood, he didn’t really care about anything but Quidditch. Voldemort himself could try out and as long as he was good enough, Oliver would put him in the team. “You should have seen her Harry! Reflexes and strength like no other! Was tempted to swap out one of the twins!”

“Hey!” Two identical voices protested.

“Alicia dropped out this year which was lucky for me! Didn’t want to hurt her feelings if I swapped her out!” Oliver continued enthusiastically, ignoring the twins who continued to protest about their positions being taken. “Might even give you a run for your Galleons, Harry.”

“There’s no way she’d be a better Seeker!” Ron protested, eager to fight for his friend’s pride.

“She’s that good then?” Hermione quizzed leaning forward, looking over at the Quidditch captain.

“She’s better than good, honestly! I could see her taking it professionally!” Oliver nodded, chicken actually flying from his mouth. “Never thought you’d take an interest in Quidditch, Hermione.”

“Oh well, I–“

“Anyway, she’s taking up our Chaser spot, got a feeling we’ll be winning the Championships this year for sure!” He interrupted, surprisingly though, Hermione seemed glad.

“It’s a bit naff though ain’t it? Why’d she get a private tryout?” Ron pressed.

“I don’t know, maybe she’s shy?” Oliver shrugged.

“That giant!? She’s like, taller than me and about as broad as my brother Charlie and he works with dragons over in Romania,” Ron seemed to protest the idea that Atlas – tall, broad, Atlas – was shy of all things.

“Maybe she’s like Hagrid,” Harry suggested, “he’s huge but can you remember him with Norbert?”

“Honestly, Ronald, don’t judge a book by its cover,” Hermione huffed, shaking her head in disproval.

“Still, though, it’s bloody hard to believe Atlas Black is shy.”

“And it’s hard to believe you’re a Gryffindor, Ron,” Harry replied sassily, a smirk on his face, “but here we are,” Ron went red as Hermione nodded.

“Here we are indeed.”