Everywhere they had gone the next day, they saw added security in the castle.
Flitwick was teaching the front doors to recognize large portraits of Sirius Black.
Filch was seen bustling up and down corridors, boarding up any and every tiny crack in the castle.
Sir Cadogan had been sacked and his portrait was moved back where it belonged on the Seventh Floor.
The Fat Lady was back and her portrait was expertly restored.
She came back on the condition of getting extra security, which was in the form of trolls.
Lucifer remembered the one Troll from First Year, and he hoped none of them had to come to the same fate as that one.
At breakfast that morning, Lucifer was sitting with Hermione when he heard Neville squeak from the other end of the table.
He looked and saw that the round faced boy had gotten a Howler from his grandmother.
He quickly ran with it out of the Great Hall but it already went off ; his grandmother's voice was booming and telling him how much of a disgrace he was to the family name.
"That poor child..." Lucifer said, turning back to his food.
Hermione was picking at her food as she continued reading a book.
He looked over and read a piece of it, "Oh... dammit..." he said.
"What?" Her attention was on him, her concern growing.
"That's why you've been seemingly swamped with work lately... Buckbeak's case... Hermione I-" he started but she cut him off.
"Don't worry about it. You've been busy as of late, so don't worry about it," she eased his mind and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"I still could've helped... or something..." he set his fork down, looking at her.
Her hand was still on his shoulder as she spoke, "You worry none about it, alright? I've got it covered," Hermione smiled at him.
"But I made a promise to Hagrid that I would help, and I haven't. The trial is soon, right? I'll help you until Hagrid leaves for London with Buckbeak," Lucifer promised her.
Hermione felt her face burn a bit, "I-If you're sure..."
"Of course. You're my girlfriend, I'll do whatever I can to help you!" he pulled her into a side-hug, which got a laugh out of her.
Ron had become an instant celebrity after Sirius Black had broken in, going on regarding almost getting stabbed, then Lucifer running him down towards the Common Room.
Unlike Ron, he hated the attention, being cornered by gossiping girls who were frantically bouncing on the balls of their feet as they offered their pieces of parchment for Lucifer to sign.
Romilda Vane had taken an interest in Lucifer, as his unfortunate luck would have it, and could be seen batting her eyelashes and winking at Lucifer whenever she saw him in the corridors between classes.
"• •" It made Ron, who became a celebrity felt like a fool.
Lucifer had to stop Hermione from charming Romilda multiple times, as she was trying to make her nose transform into a pig's.
Ron would go into story mode whenever someone would ask him what happened that night, but every time he told the story, it grew further and further away from the actual events.
"... I was asleep, and I heard this ripping noise, and I thought it was in my dream, you know? But then there was this draught... I woke up and one side of the hangings on my bed had been pulled down... I rolled over... and I saw him standing over me... like a skeleton, with loads of filthy hair... holding this great, long knife, must've been twelve inches... and he looked at me, and I looked at him, and then I yelled, and he scarpered. That's when Lucifer leapt out of his bed and took off after him..."
"Does he honestly have to keep telling that story?!" Hermione complained.
"Let him have it. Its the first time he's felt special in a while, and it's taking his mind off of the fight you two were having." Lucifer reminded her of the Scabbers thingy again.
"Ugh, don't remind me. I still think Crookshanks is innocent... can we just get out of here? Maybe Library or something?"
As it was a Sunday, they had no classes, so he and Hermione were able to go to the Library and peruse the Magical Creatures section.
They found plenty of things that Hagrid could use, but it was fully up to him how it was presented.
To be honest, Lucifer didn't have much confidence in Hagrid's ability.
He saw how the giant man was, and he doesn't do well under pressure.
It wasn't until later in the day when he and Hermione arrived back at the Common Room and saw people hovering around the Notice Board.
"Hogsmeade... this coming weekend..." Lucifer trailed off, remembering what McGonagall had told him.
"I will even write a guarantee letter for you, if McGonagall had any problem," Hermione said, her voice quiet to where only he could hear her.
"I just can't understand...Why did she have a vision, that I even nuked Honeydukes?" Lucifer was really dumbfounded, when she did tell him that after the class ended.
Hermione shook her head, but also smiled.
She then went and sat at one of the tables, finishing up some Arithmancy and Ancient Runes while Lucifer sat beside her and finished an essay for Muggle Studies.
He only did it because he had to, the class was just... not what he expected or hoped for.
"Hogsmeade next weekend!" They both heard Ron yell.
Hermione was about to say something, but Lucifer stopped her, "Don't give them the satisfaction."
"But-"
"I know, Potter's being stupid about this whole thing. Weasely's always stupid about things like this, but Potter I thought would have some sense... but there is something actually bothering me," Lucifer said, which caused Hermione to shift gears.
"What's bothering you?"
"Sirius Black... he was over Weasely's bed... not Potter's... doesn't that seem odd to you?" He asked her.
"Maybe he got them confused?" She offered up, but even she questioned her own suggestion.
"No... even in the dark, it's not hard to tell them apart. If Sirius Black was really after Potter... why would he have been over Weasely's bed?"
"That does raise a good point... and a valid question, why?"
They were both stumped completely, though, and just got back to their homework.
xxxxx
When Friday morning arrived, the day before the Hogsmeade Weekend, Lucifer and Hermione sat at the Gryffindor table eating light breakfasts, when Professor McGonagall walked up to them.
"Morningstar, the Headmaster needs to see you immediately," she said, none too quietly either.
Lucifer looked up at her, his head was pounding, he knew what it was about.
"Okay," he stood up, abandoning his food, what little there was, and followed McGonagall out of the Great Hall.
Hermione sat there, also didn't know what it was about as well.
"What do you think Dumbledore wants to see him for?" She heard Harry ask Ron.
Lucifer quietly followed his Head of House to the Headmaster's Office.
At the Gargoyle, she gave the password, "Pumpkin Pasty," and the Gargoyle hopped aside.
"Good luck," she told him and walked back to the Great Hall.
"Enter," he heard Dumbledore's voice.
He walked in and saw him standing next to Fawkes, "Long time no see, Professor?" Lucifer was giving Headmaster a polite nod, already anticipating what the meeting was really about.
Dumbledore turned to him, with a serious look, "Let's sit at my desk, shall we?" He asked and they walked to his desk.
Lucifer sat opposite him, looking straight at his blue ocean eyes which were not twinkling at all today.
Dumbledore said roughly, "Doing well, I imagine?"
"Yes, sir... well enough, at least."
"You are tied for the top of almost every class, save Herbology. I think that constitutes more than 'well enough," Dumbledore chuckled, still not going over the main topic.
"Longbottom got a taste for it so....yes except Herbology..."
"This letter arrived in the Morning."
The paper was placed in front of him:
'1, Cornelius Fudge, Minister for Magic of the British Magical Ministry, officially recognizes that Lucifer Morningstar has no need for a Parental or Guardian figure and understands that he is fully capable of taking care of himself and his own interests.
This form and the Document attached to the back of it are in official recognition of his new status as an Adult Wizard, allowing him all the Rights and Privileges being an Adult Wizard entails.'
The letter went for a little while longer, but the case was clear enough to Lucifer, "Beats me. Do you know something about this Professor? Why would the Minister grant me the adult status in this world..."
"Previously, I thought you might have done something unexpected again," Dumbledore smiled which didn't reach his face at all.
"...Now, you are officially recognized as an Adult in the Wizarding Community. Harry might be the Boy-Who-Lived, but seeing as you are the last living descendant of the most Noble Bloodline, the Minister made no hesitation in writing out this form," Dumbledore now smiled at the look of elation on his face, "The paper has been charmed so that only you, myself, and the Minister can read it, as well as anyone of your choosing. He has agreed to my promise that he is to not tell anyone at all about your Ancestry. That's honestly more trouble than we need right now, if he told the whole Ministry Building."
"Professor... I... I don't know what to say..." Lucifer almost failed to act the part.
"Being an Adult, you have no need for a Permission Slip, if you've been entrusted with the Emancipation Process. Be warned, though," Dumbledore became deadly serious, "If you do anything that demands revocation of this, it will without pause be done. Is tht understood?"
"Yes, sir, I completely understand," Lucifer said as calmly as he could.
Internally he was overwhelmed.
He had just finally been emancipated to Adult Status in the Wizarding World.
He couldn't wait to tell Hermione about this.
"You may leave, and enjoy Hogsmeade tomorrow," Dumbledore said with a hint of encouragement.
Lucifer thanked him again and left.
On his way back to the Great Hall, which according to his watch, had another ten minutes for Breakfast, he realized something.
It was only because of his so-called Ancestry that he was even allowed to do it in the first place.
Lucifer didn't like the fact that it was purely because of that, but with how great the Reward was, he found it hard to be concerned at that moment.
He would try to not have Merlin's Bloodline be a key component in the future.
On his way back to the Great Hall, he saw Harry and Ron walking with a Firebolt presumably back to the Common Room.
He wondered if they apologized to Hermione, or at least if Harry did.
He walked back into the Great Hall and back to Hermione, sitting down beside her.
"Hey, what did he say?" She asked eagerly.
"Well..." Lucifer tried to look disappointed, he knew she was agitated regarding his Privilege of visiting Hogsmeade cancelled just like Neville.
Most of the school knows his anger, and now with him running down into Common Room to chase Sirius Black, didn't help one bit either.
Lucifer knew this kind of thing plus his outbursts are completely unrelated to getting his Privilege endangered, but even the staff here is stupid.
"What? Even after my promise of keeping an eye on you-" Hermione stopped when he started to laugh.
She hit him on the arm, "You prat! What did he say?" She asked again.
Lucifer calmed himself and turned to fully face her, looking around to make sure no one was listening, "I can go to Hogsmeade but that's not all..." he got closer and whispered to her, "The Minister Emancipated me to Adult Status."
"What!?" She practically yelled.
Lucifer covered her mouth with his hand, causing her cheeks to burn, "Not so loud!" He whisper yelled.
She mumbled against his hand, which prompted him to remove it from her mouth, "I'm sorry, but this is a big deal! Is everything else essentially the same?"
"Dumbledore didn't say otherwise, so I'm going to assume so," Lucifer said as Breakfast ended.
They stood up and made their way to class. "Not am I just going to Hogsmeade like usual, but also get a permit to use magic outside Hogwarts!" Lucifer said, unable to hide his giddiness.
"I am really happy for you!" She said excitedly, her smile didn't go unnoticed by him.
xxxxxx
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