{Pomona Sprout's Office, Hogwarts}
{5th Oct 1991}
{Amelia Bones POV}
"Sorry about that, Pomona, family emergency." Amelia apologized, getting a concerned look from Pomona.
"Do you need my help with anything?" Pomona immediately asked. They were both quite close, which was one of the reasons she was able to sneak into Hogwarts like this.
"Yeah, don't tell Albus that I'm here..." Amelia replied, getting a frown from the herbology professor, "...I'll meet with him after, I promise."
"...Alright," Pomona agreed after a moment.
"Thanks!" Amelia smiled at her and then indicated to her door before she walked out. The main door was open as always, and Pomona was one of the few teachers in Hogwarts who had an open-door policy sans curfew.
She walked out of the office and arrived at the Greenhouses. The walk to the Hufflepuff common room was quite long, as the Greenhouses were isolated at the northeast end of the castle. She had to walk through a courtyard and then a handful of moving staircases just to arrive at the central part of the castle. A sharp left took her to the Viaduct Bridge, and even though she was just halfway to the common room, it had taken her over five minutes of walking already.
'I should have asked Susan to meet me here. At least the Slytherin common room and the Hufflepuff common room are quite close, so we don't have to take a detour,' Amelia thought. She kept her mind off the topic discussed in the letter. Too much thinking about any possible wording that Susan had written could cloud her judgment.
'Susan is a second-hand source. Even though I always taught her to pay attention to the words, she could have missed something.'
She didn't want to mess this up since it was an important clue and her final lead. As she walked through the Hogwarts hallways, the paintings were already eyeing her, and by the looks of it, quite a few of them recognized her before they disappeared from their frames.
'Dumbledore would soon know that I'm here. I need to wrap this up quickly before I go to meet him... I don't want him to intrude on this meeting and force Rigel to hide some stuff...'
Amelia understood that if Rigel wanted to meet her instead of Dumbledore, he likely wouldn't talk with the old man around. Her eyes traced the large wooden doors of the entrance hall as she took the staircase going down, one floor underground, and followed the hallways to the Hufflepuff common room and the kitchen.
During her time at Hogwarts, she hated and loved the fact that Pomona's office was so far from the common room. Before she took the position as the Head of the Hufflepuff House, it wasn't a problem, but the stubborn woman didn't want to leave her plants behind to occupy the original office that all the Heads of Hufflepuff House used, creating this large gap.
'The only reason she could manage is that most of the Hufflepuff aren't a mischievous bunch...'
Amelia's eyes caught Susan standing outside the entrance to the common room. She seemed unable to contain herself, considering the magnitude of the information she knew.
"Not here." Amelia instructed immediately as she swished her wand and chanted, "Expecto Patronum~"
'''Meet me in the abandoned classroom number 212 on the Second floor.'''
A white glowing rabbit burst out from the tip of her wand, and after a few hops, it disappeared through the castle walls. With the message sent, she motioned for Susan to follow as she double-backed on her footsteps and started walking back.
"You arrived quite fast," Susan murmured as she ran the last few steps to meet her steps.
"Of course, any information he might have could become useless any second," Amelia replied. She could see that Susan was fidgeting beside her.
"Speak!" Amelia instructed. Seeing the heir to an Ancient and Noble house hesitating was quite unsightly.
"Can I sit in the meeting with you?" Susan finally asked after hesitating some more.
'Hmm, I guess I am to blame for her curiosity. But not on this one. This one is a little too close.'
"Not this one, sweetie," Amelia replied, she didn't want to sound too harsh and crush her curiosity, "Any other case and it would have been fin-"
"But please... I got you the lead. I talked to him, and I won't say a word about it in the meeting or to anyone else." Susan pleaded.
Amelia stared at her briefly, then sighed, "Fine, but you will have to ask Rigel for permission."
"Don't worry about it. He owes me a favor," Susan grinned cheekily.
"...don't waste a favor on this right away. First, ask him about it. Only if he declines initially should you mention the favor," Amelia replied. She had taught her niece a lot about the world and magic, but it seemed like some lessons in politics and bureaucracy needed to be put on her schedule for the term break.
"Alright, tell me about Rigel. What do you know about him?" Amelia asked. This would give her some information and keep her mind busy.
"Well..." Susan hesitated, "...he's quite reclusive, and there are a lot of rumors surrounding him, from being the next dark lord to being a pervert to everything in between."
"Pervert? Is this about the ritual?" Amelia asked. She told Susan that it was up to her if she wanted to do the ritual or not, and although Susan had tried to be nonchalant about it, she could tell that her niece was quite interested in that.
"Kind of. He has been linked to a couple of witches already, and rumors are that either Evelyn Rowle or Pansy Parkinson spends the night in his room daily." Susan shrugged.
'Daily? He's quite active, and his reputation is quite similar to that of Blacks.'
Before her thoughts could plunge into another depressing sea of memories, she saw him. He had the same hairstyle and cheekbones, even though his eyes were slightly different, like Sirius's little brother.
"Aunty?" Susan's voice broke her dazed expression as Amelia controlled her emotions.
'He looks so much like him, no wonder there are so many rumors going around...'
...
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AN- Switching back to Rigel's Perspective, next chap!
P.S: 50+ advanced chapters on P.atreon, along with Amelia's dress and photo!