Hogsmeade was evidently blown up, go figure?
I ignored the sudden jab.
Personally, I can say that I definitely hadn't seen that one coming but ay, whatcha gonna do? Apparently, when magical life hands you magical lemons, it comes with magical explosions.
Of course, it wasn't the entirety of the place, but rather a small subsection of it- Either way, it'd made the news, and thankfully quieted the attention on me down enough for me to enjoy the great hall's banquet of food what with the castle been locked down to any visitors.
"Sirius!" James hissed beside me, "The headmaster can probably hear you!" The child added on in the same whisper.
"Show some respect, ya bloody git!" Lily called out opposite me, in the same volumed whisper as the wizard to my side, a frown on her face that didn't match the outrage in her tone. To her side, Severus sat, a somewhat conflicted expression on his face as he lazily played with his food and stared at me in support of his childhood friend.
I rolled my eyes at both of them.
"People die all the time," I shrugged, not bothering to whisper- Dumbledore seemingly intent on ignoring us as he continued on with his good wishes or mourning, or whatever he was talking about.
Truth be told, I'd just covered the man in a personal silencing charm as soon as he magic'd up the podium to give out a speech.
For whatever reason the man had paused for a single beat- At least his mouth had stopped moving anyway, before shaking his head and continuing on.
"'sides," I added on, the moment the headmaster left said podium and elected to let the quiet muffled chatter fill about the great hall once again. "I don't see why you're so bothered," I remarked, pointedly staring at an increasingly irritated, or conflicted Lily.
"...People died... Of course, I am bothered!" Lily remarked indignantly, her voice was followed on by coos of agreement by the sycophants surrounding us- Most of which were now glaring at me for some reason.
I rolled my eyes again.
"So? If the Daily Prophet's not that bothered about it, why are you?"
Lily blinked a few times at that one, her frown growing more and more pronounced with every second.
"...Sirius..." James Potter's tired sigh echoed out from beside me, though whatever the boy had elected to say, seemingly died out the moment I gave him a confused look for saying my name.
"What do you mean the Daily Prophet's not bothered?" Lily promptly caught my attention once again, the first year holding up a newspaper from said paper. "Of course they are-"
"They're bothered by the dead Purebloods Evans," I shook my head. "If I had to guess, I'd say a good three dozen or so wizards and witches had been caught in the crossfire and promptly elevated into the afterlife- And that paper only seems to care about ten of them." I paused. "Seven of which were purebloods that died, which is rather self-explanatory, two half-bloods with strong ties to our delightfully racist society, and onemudblood who made the cut because he happened to be our Defence professor."
I promptly clasped my hands together, giving the girl a knowing look.
"So, if the Daily Prophet's not going to bother having any human decency and you know, not valuing the rest of those poor witches and wizards whose name they couldn't be bothered to learn, why should I be?" I gave her a deadpan stare. "Call it a protest if you will, but until they take the matter seriously enough to ignore one's blood, I am not going to give them the satisfaction of letting them think I actually care about their propaganda."
"Sirius." James called out from beside me, a hand on the bridge of his nose while Lily had settled for just staring at me like I was an unidentified creature of some sort. "What in the fuck are you talking about?"
I gave him a grin- I am pretty sure that was the first time James Potter had actually sworn. Huh, maybe it wasn't all doom and gloom?
"You have so many issues man." The wizard deadpanned with another sigh.
"Probably." I shrugged. "Not as much as Dumbles though- I mean really, giving our Defense professor a eulogy? As if he hadn't expected the poor fucker to die by the end of this year anyway!" I scoffed. "Honestly, he might as well have signed his death sentence for him the moment he hired him for the job." Having finished that, I promptly pushed my hands on the table and straightened myself up. "On that note, given our current lack of Defence of the Dark arts professor-"
Which was ironic if nothing else. I mean really, imagine calling yourself the literal Defence Against The Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts and not knowing how to defend against an explosion.
"-I am willing to help you poor excuses of magic-waving toddlers learn some actualDefense against the Dark Arts!" I promptly swept my hands to the side and grinned at all of them. "Any takers?"
Needless to say, between the horrified looks, the glares, the bemusement, and utter astonishment that greeted me in response- I figured it was definitely too soon.
"You?" Severus Snape scoffed from beside Lily Evans. "What would you know about Defence? Besides throwing paperat dragons!"
I shrugged non-committally. Can't knock it if it works!
"Quite a bit actually- Though I mostly know about the Dark Arts themselves thanks to my grandfather." I wasn't particularly sure why, but after I'd turned six my father had elected to start sending me over to grandfather's manor any time I misbehaved- Probably to punish the old coot for the traumatizing childhood he'd inflicted on him. "I figure that's like step one though right? Can't exactly defend against something you don't understand after all!" I watched as a genuine show of interest peaked on the Slytherin's face, while Lily's frown reared its ugly head once again at me.
"Your grandfather taught you about dark magic!?" Lily questioned, abhorred at the thought.
I idly noticed how quiet the hall was as I shook my head.
"Course not," I paused, tilting my head. "I just had a lot of free time to read my family's textbooks whenever I was grounded," I answered with a straight face.
"Grounded..." Severus repeated, almost testing the word as he stared at me, his earlier interest replaced by a dumbfounded expectation. "That's... Rather muggle don't you think?"
"I mean, it didn't start that way, but after the third visit to Saint Mungo's in just as many months, my grandfather settled for that as a form of punishment."
"Your grandfather sent you to the hospital?" Severus followed on, the dumbfounded expression turning pensive for a moment before a look of realization started filling his face-
I shook my head at him.
"No... I sent him to the hospital. Accidental magic is really painful when directed at someone." A single beat passed. "I don't think he ever forgave me for it."
Needless to say, even the teachers were gawking at me for that one.
"So? Back to my point- Who wants to learn some Dark Arts?" I grinned at my audience.
"...You mean Defence Against the Dark Arts, right..?" James questioned beside me.
"Sure, I can teach you that too if you want."
Unfortunately, that was the moment Dumbledore promptly stood up and told me to follow him to his office.
Figures- Should've guessed he'd want to learn as well!