Through the Eyes of a Slytherin Bloodtraitor
When Sirius was little, he was very different to how he is now. Not in the way that all children are different to their eleven year old selves, but in a way that his very core seemed to be rewritten. Vividly does he remember the time when he would soak up everything his parents and other family members ever told him, never doubting for a second that they were telling the truth, having that unflinching devotion to his family that all little kids have, and eager to learn more in order to make them proud.
That had all changed when he was just eight years old.
The ancestral home to the noble and most ancient house of Black is situated in central London, number twelve Grimmauld place to be exact. Even though most of the people living in the area were muggles, Sirius had never come into contact with one, the most he got was the occasional glimpse of a thing called a car through the windows, which his mother kept sealed shut. However, despite the abundance of muggles, there were plenty of hidden wizarding shops all about the town, in small alcoves, at the back of mundane looking stores and at the end of dark alleyways.
One day when Sirius had been walking to such a shop with his uncle Alphard (his mother's elder brother) a strange black and white ball had rolled over and come to a stop just in front of him. Sirius had stared down at it in confusion, stepping away slightly so that it wouldn't touch the hem of his robes, and wondered what on earth it could be. It was about the size of a Quaffle, but he had never seen a ball like that before. A boy around Sirius' age had quickly come up to them, panting slightly from the run, and had grinned sheepishly.
"Sorry about that," he had said easily and Sirius just blinked.
"It's alright, son," his uncle Alphard had said, crouching down to pick up the strange ball and hand it back to the boy, giving him a friendly pat on the shoulder for good measure.
"Thanks mister!" the boy had grinned, before quickly running off. Sirius stared after him, and it took his uncle starting to walk again to snap him out of it.
"That was a muggle!" Sirius exclaimed with wide silver eyes, running to catch up with the man. His uncle just nodded, raising his brows down at Sirius and awaiting what he was going to say next. "You touched him, that means your contain-cotima-contam-"
"Contaminated?" Uncle Alphard asked and Sirius nodded, recognising the word that had once come out of his mother's mouth. His uncle gave a small laugh of amusement, shocking Sirius slightly. It wasn't often he heard such a happy sound. "My dear boy, I'm hardly contaminated. Tell me something, just looking at that boy now, what difference does he have to you?"
Sirius opened his mouth to spew out everything his mother had taught him to say on such a subject, but uncle Alphard held up a hand to stop him before he had even got one word out.
"And I don't want anything that your parents have told you, I want your opinion. How is he different to you?" he asked.
Sirius looked over his shoulder at the boy and saw that he was kicking the ball to some other children, his brown eyes were dancing and a huge grin split apart his face. Sirius tried to force himself into thinking about all his parent's teachings, that muggles are filthy, vile creatures who are nothing but scum that contaminate the earth and curse the wizarding world into hiding, but as he looked at that laughing boy, playing so freely, he just couldn't see it. The boy was so innocent. Innocence was the first that was taken from a child in the Black family. There was no place for innocence in a world full of monsters.
"He's happier," Sirius had answered softly.
Uncle Alphard had looked down on him with a sympathetic smile, but hiding behind it was a pride at being able to get through to his nephew.
"Come on, let's go," uncle Alphard said and put a hand on Sirius' shoulder to apparate them away. Instead of going to a shop that traded illegal potions ingredients like his father had insisted they do, uncle Alphard had taken him to a joke shop, and their sparked his love of mischief.
Since that day, Sirius had been questioning his families morals. He did it aloud at first, voicing his doubts, but from swift punishment he soon learned to keep them quiet, hone his skills of manipulation and act like the Slytherin heir everyone expected him to be. This was the reason Sirius had been so looking forward to Hogwarts, it was a chance to make it on his own. Interact with those he had been curious about since he was only eight years old. Granted, being sorted into Slytherin meant that he had to continue his façade and try not to voice his opinions too much, not that it would stop him from speaking up if asked directly, he may be a Slytherin, but his pride and courage much outweighed his self-preservation.
Sirius knew the social hierarchy in Slytherin like the back of his hand, he had been living it all his life after all, so he wasn't at all surprised as fellow students began to find allies and not friends. In Slytherin how mean you were, how rich you were and how pure you were decided how high up you were on the hierarchy. Just by being a Black Sirius was already near the top, the Blacks seeming somewhat above all the other students with a strange, wicked and unobtainable perfection. Sirius didn't pay much mind to such things, but he couldn't pretend not to notice how people stopped and just stared in the hallways as he, Andromeda and Narcissa walked about with their casual elegance.
Fellow first years, Mulciber, Avery and Nott, quickly formed an alliance, all seeming to be as mean and prejudice as each other. By the sixth day of school Sirius had already seen them hex a student just for being muggleborn, no doubt having been taught the curses early by a tutor, just as Sirius had been. Severus Snape was also seen with the three of them a lot, throwing in comments about the Dark Arts to get into their good graces. Sirius took a disliking to all four of them almost instantaneously, especially Snape as he talked about Mudbloods with the other three. Sirius had half a mind to point out that he was friends with a muggleborn, if only to see the greasy git squirm as he tried to talk his way out of that one, but the fact that he actually liked Lily held him back. He knew it wouldn't be just Snape that paid for the jibes.
It wasn't just Snape who was trying to manipulate himself some allies. Sirius had watched with calculating eyes as Natalie Vanderhyde wrapped Lucinda Talkalot and a few older Slytherins right around her finger. Sirius was impressed with the skill, but also rather surprise. It was well known that the Vanderhyde's were an open and loving Bloodtraitor family and to see Natalie likes that just showed people can go bad even in the lightest families. Sirius decided he would have to keep an eye on her, he didn't want her to be able to get the upper hand over him at any point.
However, there was one first year in his house that Sirius actually found himself liking. Emileo Zabini was unlike any other pureblood Slytherin Sirius had ever met. The Italian boy was rather self-preserving as was expected of a snake, but he seemed indifferent to blood statuses and he had a rather fumbling, sarcastic character. Sirius seemed to click quickly with Emileo, his funny personality complimented Sirius' cold wit and carelessly mean comments perfectly.
The only other friend Sirius had in his year was Lily Evans, his muggleborn friend. Unlike Snape, who seemed to spend his time looking over at the red and gold table mournfully, Sirius wasn't in the least bit surprised that strong, opinionated Lily Evans didn't get sorted into Slytherin. Sure, it would have been nice if she had been, but the pureblood Slytherins would have eaten her alive.
The first Friday of the term was a special day for Sirius and Emileo as it documented the day they had managed to find the Great Hall without asking anyone for help, or walking there with Sirius' cousins or Emileo's older sister, Maria Zabini, who didn't seem to like her little brother at all. Well, at first she seemed rather indifferent about it, but when Peeves jumped out of the suit of armour that Sirius swears tried to grab him on their second day and grabbed her nose shouting "Got your conk!" she seemed to think being around first years was more trouble than it was worth.
As he ate at the Slytherin table, Sirius watched his friend with a look of amusement. Emileo was frowning in concentration, his wand pointing at a match in front of him and he flicked it, muttering the incantation they were taught just yesterday. Emileo then appraised the match critically, but began to mutter angrily in Italian when he saw that the match showed no sign at all that it was going to become a needle.
"I'm guessing you're not too keen on Transfiguration?" Sirius asked, his upper lip quirking in a smile.
Emileo glared at him, before beginning to pile food onto his empty golden plate, seeming to give up on trying to transfigure the match.
"Do I look like the kind of person who wastes time turning goats into pin cushions?" he asked dryly.
"Actually," Sirius said, "McGonagall specifically said that we wouldn't be doing animal transfigurations until-" Emileo cut him off with a rather rude hand gesture and Sirius chuckled.
Unlike Emileo's apparent hatred of the subject, Sirius found himself rather fond of Transfiguration. He discovered that the subject came easily to him, despite being one which his parents had deemed useless, probably because they couldn't use it to harm or intimidate people, and was the only one who had managed to turn his match into a needle, earning ten points for Slytherin and a rare smile.
As a matter of fact, Sirius proved himself to be an exceptionally bright student, who did well in all the lessons they had thus far. This included Herbology, which was held in the greenhouses with the Ravenclaws and elderly Professor Dingleberry, studying all the different magical plants and their uses, though according to Bellatrix he wouldn't be getting to the more interesting (and dangerous) plants for another few years. Then there was astronomy, which Sirius sailed through, having spent large amount of times just looking at the sky and spotting members of his family amongst the stars. Finally there was Charms, which was taught by tiny professor Flitwick (A half goblin wizard, who Sirius had heard of only though his family sneering over 'half-breeds') and Sirius found the lesson a lot of fun, and even managed to levitate Snape off of his seat, which he got away with by claiming his aim slipped.
However, the final subject he had had so far was History of Magic, which proved to be a complete waste of time as Sirius could hardly even keep his eyes open. Droning on, Professor Binns seemed to have the unique ability to make even the bloodiest of war and rebellions extraordinarily dull. Sirius was pretty sure even his tutor's lectures on blood purity were more interesting.
Suddenly there came a loud rustling and, looking up, Sirius saw that the owls had arrived to deliver post. he spotted his own owl almost at once. Peverall circled the Great Hall once before he swooped down and landed beside Sirius on the Slytherin table.
"Thanks, boy," Sirius said, stroking his feathers and removing the three letters from his leg. Peverall hooted affectionately and, after taking a gulp of pumpkin juice and a nibble of Emileo's toast, took off again.
Sirius looked down at the mail he had received. All the letters were on expensive parchment, tied with a black silk ribbon and the wax seal that was adorned with the Black family crest, so he knew they were from family members.
Opening the one on the top of the small pile, he found that the first was from his parents.
Sirius had written to his parents the day after the sorting, knowing that it was expected of him. He informed them that he was in Slytherin and had made friends with Emileo, but he explicitly didn't mention Lily. He also casually threw in that he hadn't formed an alliance with Mulciber, Avery or Nott because they were with Severus Snape, who, Sirius realised on the second day of school when Snape mentioned his mother, was a half blood. Snape was acting like a pureblood around the rest of the house so Sirius kept the information to himself, knowing he could use it to his advantage one day, Blacks were excellent at holding things over people. Anyway, Sirius knew that it would stop his mother nagging him to make alliances with them as he avidly recalled his mother's scandalised voice at Eileen Prince marrying a muggle, something that still bothered her after so many years (apparently the two went to school together, even sharing a dorm)
Dear Sirius,
Congratulations on getting into Slytherin. We are very pleased to see that you are upholding the family tradition and not bringing the Black name any shame and must insist you continue at this standard.
We have heard much of the Zabini family and approve in the choice in friends. There hasn't been a close alliance between the Blacks and the Zabini's in at least three generations so it is a welcome change. As for Mulciber, Avery and Nott, we don't blame you in the slightest for not wanting to associate yourself with them if they allow the presence of that half-blood boy. After what Eileen did I'm surprised any respecting Slytherin would even look at the boy.
We expect to receive word soon about your lessons and how you are progressing. Make sure you work exceptionally hard in everything, but most especially Potions and Defence Against the Dark Arts, granted you would benefit more from learning the Dark Arts themselves rather than defend yourself against them, but it is nothing a bit of extra tutelage at home won't fix.
Keep us updated on your progress,
Mother and Father
Sirius' lips turned up into the smallest of smirks. It appeared that his parents had taken his letter just as he wanted to. he wasn't particularly surprised, he was an expert in telling people what they wanted to hear, he had been teaching himself to do so since he was eight years old after all.
Sirius opened the next letter.
Dear Si,
Cousin, it is good to see that you are following in the footsteps of all the Blacks before you, not that I ever had any doubt, you are too much like me to have been any different. You shall have to tell me of any trouble you get into, I know that when I was first at Hogwarts I got an endless amount of detentions for hexing those below me, Salazar knows why the professors even cared. I heard it's only going to get worse now that old fraud Dumbledore has been appointed Headmaster.
I look forward to hearing how you do in your lessons, particularly Defence Against the Dark Arts. I know from your spell work at home that you will simply excel in duels. It will be very useful in the future. There are things coming, things I know you shall be perfect for. I won't say more, but just wait cousin, our superior blood may be recognised by everyone soon enough.
My mother and Father have set a date for mine and Rod's wedding. It is the 19th December, meaning all the family will be in attendance seeing as it is during the Christmas holiday. The after part will be held at Grimmauld Place so no doubt you will be seeing a lot of me over the holidays.
Hex some Mudbloods for me, cousin.
Bellatrix
Sirius rolled his eyes at the letter, but there was a look of reluctant fondness on his face. It was Bellatrix all over, wanting to know the mischief he got up to through the dark ways she could appreciate. Sirius wasn't particularly happy at the thought of all his extended family and fellow purebloods being at Grimmauld Place after the wedding, but he was well versed in knowing how to suppress his contempt for them.
He put Bellatrix's letter to the side with his parent's and opened the final one.
To Si,
What's Hogwarts like? Are the lessons good? Bella told me that you have to take a boat ride and avoid getting viciously attacked by the giant squid, is that true?
You have to tell me about all your lessons so that I know what to expect when I go, that way I can be so far ahead of everyone they'll have no choice but to be impressed. Mother and father say that Transfiguration is useless, but you can tell me about it anyway. What about Potions and Defence Against the Dark Arts? They sound by far the most interesting, maybe you can teach me some when you come home, our Tutor won't go past the basics and it's beginning to aggravate me. I'm nine years old, I'm not a baby.
Mother is boasting about you getting sorted into Slytherin. I'm proud of you! I shouldn't say it, but I was half expecting you to get into Gryffindor or something. What's the common room like? Is that Zabini character okay?
Write back soon, I want to hear everything about Hogwarts, absolutely everything, and it's getting rather dull with only having Kreature to talk to. Nothing much is really happening at home. You know cousin Pollux who married that French woman Estelle? Well he's gravely ill and we all know why.
Regulus
Sirius smiled at his little brother's letter. Regulus was as much a Black as everyone but he seemed to manage to retain that tiny sliver of innocence the rest of them had lost an age ago. Innocence is the first thing that is destroyed in the Black family and many say the next to go is sanity.
Sirius shook his head at his parting words. It was true, everyone did know why. Estelle had been poisoning Pollux on the sly for years, hoping to kill him quietly to inherit the fortune, but no one said anything. Pollux was a cruel man who beat Estelle and their children, Antoinette and Henri, and while a beating wasn't uncommon in the Black family it was usually only served as a punishment, unlike Pollux who did it for no reason other than his own enjoyment, and everyone knew that that the only way for Estelle to have any power in the patriarchal society was to be a widow.
Pulling out a quill and spare bit of parchment, Sirius hastened to write a reply that he could take to the Owlery later on.
Dear Little King,
Hogwarts is brilliant!
The moving staircases get a bit confusing at times, but most of the time with Andy and Cissy so it's not like I get lost all that often. I had a run in with Peeves the Poltergeist and I don't know why everyone's so bother by him, I think he's really funny, but then that might be because he was pranking Emileo's sister Maria and not me.
The giant squid doesn't attack you, that's just Bella telling lies again, you know you can't trust anything that comes out of her mouth, she's like a living, breathing manipulation. It just sort of swims about in the lake. You can see it from the common room windows sometimes since the dungeons are below the lake.
Speaking of the common room, to get in you have to say a password and then go down a small passageway. The common room reminds me a lot of the parlour at home actually. The furniture is dark and adorned with snakes and skills and the room has a sort of green glow because of the lake out of the windows.
The dorms are good, except I have to share with Mulciber, Avery, Nott and Snape. I absolutely hate them, but I'm not so stupid as to get on their bad side, it's hard enough with the rest of the school looking down on Slytherins without being on the outs with your own house. When you get into Slytherin you'll see them for yourself, you'll probably hate them as much as I do, trust me. then again, you were always better at working people like them to your advantage that I was so maybe you'll deal better.
Anyway, the sound of the lake is really peaceful at night, lets you fall asleep straight away.
The lessons are good so far, well except History of Magic, which is terribly dull. I haven't had Potions or Defence yet, but as soon as I do I will make sure to right you all about them. Of course I will teach you everything! You're going to be the best First Year Hogwarts has ever seen.
Don't tell mother and father, but the sorting hat actually considered putting me in Gryffindor, but it must have seen my Black heritage and cunning personality and decided Slytherin was the best option. Thank Merlin. Mother and Bellatrix would have gutted me if it was anything else.
Of course it's dull with Kreature! The little twerp does nothing but praise mother (I swear I caught him practically snogging a pair of her boots once).
Well, I don't particularly give a damn about cousin Pollux. We'll be well shot of him if you ask me. what else have you been doing while I've been gone? Played Quidditch much? I'm so annoyed that first years aren't allowed brooms. It's not like mother really approves of them all that much anyway, but I'm sure father could have convinced her otherwise.
Write back soon,
Sirius
Stuffing all the letters into his satchel, which was made from expensive dragon hide since Blacks had to have the best of the best, Sirius returned to his breakfast. As he nibbled on the edge of a hash brown he looked up at Emileo, who had been oddly quiet compared to his usual incessant chatter. The Italian boy was hidden behind a copy of The Daily Prophet, the cover of which was showing the Tornadoes recent win of the Chudley Cannons, the latter of which only scored ten points to the Tornadoes' four hundred and twenty. There was a moving picture of the Tornadoes seek, who was a very pretty witch, holding the snitch triumphantly and winking at the camera.
"Anything interesting?" Sirius asked absently.
Emileo folded The Daily Prophet up and placed it beside his goblet also returning to his breakfast now that he has finished reading.
"There's been another muggle family death, them and their muggleborn daughter," Emileo replied, not seeming at all fazed by the attack, but with the Slytherin pureblood families such thing was the norm.
"Really?" Sirius said, his brows drawing together in thought. "That's the third one this month"
Emileo only nodded, but also looked rather curious at all the attacked. Sirius suddenly recalled what Bellatrix had written in her letter: 'There are things coming. Things I know you shall be perfect for. I won't say more, but just wait cousin, our superior blood may be recognised by everyone soon enough'. Sirius tried to guess what this could mean and had an inkling it had something do with 'The Dark Lord; he had heard being mentioned in passing, but decided that he wouldn't know more until he went home for Christmas, so he simply shook his head and sighed.
"What have we got today?" he asked.
"Err," Emileo pulled out his wrinkled timetable from his robe pocket. He looked at it for a moment before saying, "Potions and Defence Against the Dark Arts with the Gryffindors"
Sirius smiled and nodded. He was happy to know that he had two lessons with the Gryffindors. It meant that he would have some lessons with Lily. She had told him earlier in the week when they first compared timetables that she would sit with Snape in Potions and with him in Defence Against the Dark Arts. It was a good thing Lily wasn't a Hufflepuff as Slytherin had no lessons with them, he suspected it was because the teachers felt only the indifferent Ravenclaw and Strong Gryffindors could deal with them.
"We better get going, if we turn up late who knows who we could end up sitting with," Emileo said, glancing over at Mulciber, Avery, Nott and Snape, who were snickering at a small Hufflepuff who had tripped over someone's bag on her way out of the hall.
Sirius nodded and quickly grabbed his things.
When the two of them got down to the Potions room, which was situated in the dungeons not far from their common room, it was to find that most of the other Slytherins and the Gryffindors were already down there. Lucinda Talkalot perked up when she saw the two of them, beginning to giggle. Sirius and Emileo shared an eye roll, the girl had been doing that all week. However, a moment later Natalie Vanderhyde said something to the girl that curse her to flush in shame and cease her giggling. Sirius raised a brow in her direction and Vanderhyde on smirked slyly in his direction.
Sirius surveyed the rest of the crowd lazily and eventually his gaze came to a stop on Lily. She was talking to her fellow Gryffindor girls, Sirius didn't bother to remember their names, but he knew that if he was going to be spending more time with Lily he would have to attempt to be at least on civil terms with them. Sirius caught Lily's eye and smiled and she paused momentarily in her conversation to grin back.
"I can't believe you of all people are friends with a muggleborn," Emileo laughed, but he was smart enough to do it lowly so that Vanderhyde and Talkalot didn't overhear.
"Why, what's wrong with that, Leo?" Sirius asked, his expression was detached but there was an edge to his voice that hadn't been there before.
Emileo raised his eyebrows.
"Just that you're a Black. 'S funny is all. I bet you're the first Black to befriend a muggleborn in centuries," Emileo replied, shrugging, not seeming the least bit fazed by Sirius' shift in mood, having become somewhat accustomed by Sirius' ability to change between dispositions quickly enough to give you whiplash.
Sirius nodded, accepting this, but he didn't apologise for assuming the worst, for assuming that Emileo was about to be derogatory about Muggleborns. Blacks don't apologise and it wasn't like Emileo didn't know why he had jumped to such a conclusion, he was a pureblood too after all, not as high up as the Blacks mind, but still pureblood.
The Potions Master, and Head of Slytherin House, Professor Slughorn, arrived at the classroom at the same time as Mulciber, Avery, Nott and Snape. Sirius looked at Lily when she smiled at the latter, who didn't even acknowledge her in front of his new 'friends' and he frowned at the hurt that flashed on Lily's face. He couldn't even begin to fathom how Lily could be friends with such a brown-nosing git.
"Come along, come along," Slughorn called jovially as he entered the room, gesturing for them all to follow him. "I want you all to pick a seat, but make sure it's mixed houses!"
His last words got similar reactions from each house, the lot of them groaning and sneering at the opposite house. Sirius and Emileo just shared a look, shrugged and moved to sit beside a Gryffindor, neither particularly caring. Sirius ended up beside scarred Remus Lupin and Emileo beside a pudgy boy that Sirius couldn't recall the name of.
"Potions has got little to do with wands, a more subtle magic that is to do with precise preparations of ingredients and the ability to properly follow instructions, of course many of the best potion makers are those who stray from the rules," – Slughorn gave a laugh here – "Today we will be making a simple boil curing potion. Can anyone tell me the key ingredients?"
Immediately Snape's hand went into the air and not soon later so did Lily's.
"Yes, my boy, you have an answer?" Slughorn smiled, looking at Snape.
"The key ingredients to such a potion is dried nettles, snake fangs, horned slugs, and porcupine quills," Snape recited in a drawling voice that had the messy haired bespectacled boy that was sitting behind him and Lily to roll his eyes.
"Correct, of course, take ten points for Slytherin," Slughorn said. "For another ten can you tell me a bit about the potion?"
There was hardly even a paused before Snape answered, "It is an effective remedy against pustules, hives, boils and many other scrofulous conditions. It is a robust potion of powerful character. You should be careful when brewing because if prepared incorrectly the potion is known to cause boils rather than cure them"
"Excellent, Excellent, ten more points as promised," Slughorn said happily, beaming and Snape looked extremely smug by the praise, seeming to inflate further when he received a proud smile from Lily and Sirius tilted his head, saving that small facet.
"Everyone collect their ingredients and we'll be working in pairs to get the potions brewed. The best ones will be saved and given to Madam Pomfrey in the Hospital Wing," Slughorn said and after a nod there was a huge scraping of chairs as everyone got to their feet to get the ingredients.
Sirius returned to the desk before Lupin, who looked to having a hushed conversation with the messy haired Gryffindor at the store cupboard, so quickly set up the cauldron and began to slice up the Pungous Onions finely. When Lupin sat back down, he glanced at what Sirius was going before beginning to crush the snake fangs.
Not soon later Sirius reached across Lupin to add the crushed snake fangs into the cauldron and stir, before putting the Pungous Onions in also and heating it. Lupin then added the dried nettles, which hadn't need any preparation. As he did this he noticed that Lupin was glancing at him periodically and biting his lip, before he would quickly glance away to pretend he had never looked. Sirius finally had enough of this when he added a dash of flobberworm mucus and was stirring the potion vigorously.
He was the one who looked at Lupin this time, who quickly avoided his gaze and instead pretended to be fully focused on adding a sprinkle of powdered ginger root to the potion so that Sirius could stir vigorously again.
"You're nervous," Sirius said. It wasn't a question.
Lupin seemed startled that Sirius had initiated a conversation and looked up at him with wide brown eyes. Sirius tilted his head in a rather dog-like fashion to regard the Gryffindor curiously. Despite the wide doe-eyes, there seemed to an aura of darkness about the scarred boy, not the level of darkness that all Blacks emitted, but…something, and it intrigued Sirius to know end.
"What makes you say that?" Lupin said evasively, shifting slightly in his seat.
Sirius raised a brow.
"Would you like a list?" he asked. "For starters, there's the lip biting, and the fact that you keep glancing at me but pretending not to, there's also the avoidance of eye contact and finally, answering a question with another question? Rooky mistake, that just seems more suspicious"
Lupin looked utterly shocked at Sirius' analysis of his behaviour and shifted uncomfortably again. He added the pickled Shrake spines. If Lupin thought this was going to distract Sirius he thought wrong as he didn't even have to look away from the boy to stir the potion (gently as to not overexcite the Shrake spines). Sirius had made this potion no less that twenty times, his Tutor back home having had him to repeat it over and over until he got it perfect, he was pretty sure he could do this with his eyes closed.
"It's just- well, It's that – my friend – err –" Lupin stuttered and Sirius found his lips tilting up in an amused smirk.
"It's that I'm a Black, isn't it?" Sirius said it like it was a question, but it was more of an acknowledgement of what he knew to be true.
Lupin hesitated for a moment before he nodded. Sirius just hummed and nodded, turning back to the potion to add a glut of stewed horned slugs. Sirius wasn't surprised that it was the reason why as he was all too used to it. When one was a Black you were met with either fear, adoration, respect or hatred. The potion turned a blue colour it said it was supposed to be in the book, now all he had to do was wait for the potion to begin to emit a pink smoke so that he could wave his wand over the potion and it would be complete.
Out of the corned of his eye he could see Lupin was eyeing him with a deep curiosity as he cleaned up some of the left over ingredients, but Sirius didn't say anything more, he rather enjoyed the mystery that seemed to surround him in regards to the Gryffindor.
Sirius leaned back casually in his chair and glanced at Emileo, who was situated at a desk behind him. he didn't seem to be having at all the same luck as Sirius had, easily completing the potion with the quiet, studious Gryffindor. Emileo was looking rather frazzles, snatching an ingredient away from his Gryffindor partner to stop him from doing something wrong. The stout Gryffindor seemed to be alternating between looking down at the cauldron in complete panic and glancing, terrified, at Emileo.
Emileo seemed to sense his staring and looked up. 'Kill me,' he mouthed, nodding toward the Gryffindor.
Sirius gave his friend his best smirk. 'And go to Azkaban? Not on your life,' he mouthed back, making his friend glare at him, before he quickly became distracted by the Gryffindor adding something into the potion that made it begin to hiss.
"Excellent, excellent," a jaunty voice said and Sirius turned to see that Slughorn was examining his and Lupin's potion closely, a beaming smile on his face. Sirius kept his expression blank but inwardly grimaced, the man was much to cheerful for his liking. "Brewed perfectly, this will be one for the hospital wing, eh? What're your names then, my boys?"
Lupin glanced at Sirius, who just quirked an eyebrow telling him that it would be him that would be answering.
"Err…Remus Lupin and Sirius Black, sir," Lupin said rather quietly.
Slughorn's brows almost disappeared into his receding hair line and was looking at Lupin with an extremely strange expression. Sirius noted it as something to look into, especially seeing as it made Lupin shift in his seat and flush to travel up the back of his scarred neck.
"A Black, eh?" Slughorn exclaimed, turning to Sirius so that Lupin relaxed now the scrutiny was off of him. "Taught many of your lot in my day, all of them in my house of course" – he chuckled here – "I was especially close to your aunt Lucretia Black, though I suppose it's Prewett now. Brilliant potions maker in her day, what's she up to nowadays?" he asked.
"Azkaban," Sirius said shortly, only just stopping his lips from quirking upward when he saw the uncomfortable look on the professor's face and rather alarmed one on Lupin's.
"Oh, that's too bad, she was such a talented young lady, very intelligent," Slughorn said, sighing heavily.
Sirius just nodded. He decided not to point out that his father's younger sister had clearly decided to use her intelligence to point three muggleborn co-workers in the Ministry. Slughorn moved on after that and Sirius heard him awarding points to Lily and Snape, who seemed to have come up with a way to make the potion even more potent.
There was a sudden explosion behind him and Sirius whipped around to see an acrid green smoked surrounding where Emileo and his partner were standing. When the smoke cleared Sirius grimaced. Boils were propping up on their skin, both of them groaning in pain.
"Oh, dear me!" Slughorn exclaimed, waving his wand to get rid of the smoke and rushing over. "Mr Snape did say in the beginning to brew it carefully. Can someone escort them to the hospital wing?"
Sirius and Lupin both volunteered, so Sirius supposed Lupin must be a friend of the stout Gryffindors. When they got to the hospital wing, having gotten some not at all helpful directions from a portrait of an old hag, and some very helpful directions from the Bloody Baron, who seemed to set the two Gryffindor's nerves on edge, Madame Pomfrey bustled over quickly and set the two boil covered boy on two separate beds. She then shooed Sirius and Lupin away, gathering potions from her store and muttering, "there's some every year."
With Emileo in the Hospital Wing, Sirius went down to dinner on his own and sat beside his cousin Andromeda. Looking down the table Sirius smiled and shook his head when he saw that Narcissa was subtly smirking and talking softly to a very smug looking Lucius Malfoy, who was all but basking in the impressed and envious looks he was getting from his fellow Slytherins for getting a girl of such high status and a Black no less.
"Where's Leo?" Andromeda asked when he began to fill his plate with the delicious Hogwarts food; it was even better than what Kreature cooked.
"The hospital wing. He got stuck with a Gryffindor who can't tell his cauldron from his desk," Sirius relied, snorting derisively and shaking his head. Andromeda grimaced in sympathy. "Where've you just come from?"
"Muggle Studies," Andromeda said.
Sirius nodded, taking a bite of his food.
He was the only member of the family that knew Andromeda took Muggle Studies as an option. She had told Uncle Cygnus and Aunt Druella that she was taking Ancient Runes, but she had been ordering the Muggle Studies text books on the sly since third year.
"We learnt about telephones today. It's this thing that runs on electricity, which is kind of like muggle's magic as I understand it, and they use it to talk to each other at long distances," Andromeda said, eyes lighting up with interest at the subject, but a moment later she sighed. "I don't see how a world that makes such wonderful things could be bad"
Sirius sighed too at that, but didn't answer, just continued to eat. Andromeda was silent for a time too, before she suddenly perked up at something behind Sirius and spoke up again. She leaned forward so that she could talk to Sirius in a hushed whisper across the table.
"See him there, with the brown hair talking to Arthur Weasley?" she asked hurriedly.
Sirius turned and followed Andromeda's dark eyed gaze.
Arthur Weasley was a fifth year with fiery red hair, freckled and glasses. Sirius knew he was the son of Septimus and Cedrella, as Cedrella Weasley nee Black had been disowned for marrying a Bloodtraitor. The only things Sirius knew about Arthur himself though was what he had learned from Lucius' angry mutterings, which included that he was oddly obsessed with muggles. Even now he seemed to be questioning the boy Andromeda was looking at about something called a 'leaf blower'. The brown haired boy didn't seem all that impressive. He was of average height and build with a heart shaped face, dull brown eyes and rather large ears.
"What about him?" Sirius asked in bewilderment, looking at the boy with slight disdain that made his resemblance to Bellatrix uncanny.
"That's Ted Tonks, I sit next to him in charms," she replied sounding utterly thrilled at this fact.
"So?" Sirius frowned.
"So," Andromeda repeated in a frustrated tone that suggested Sirius was entirely missing the point, "he's a muggleborn, and he's funny and nice, so that means it's not just a fluke about your friend Lily. He sits next to me in charms and he was telling me about his Aunt, who had gotten completely drunk of this muggle think called vodka and she-"
Sirius studied his favourite cousin as she regaled the story Ted Tonks had told her, his disdain for the boy disappearing with each passing second. Andromeda's eyes were lit up in a way that Sirius had never seen before, which made her for once look completely different to her elder sister, her pale cheeks were slightly flushed and there was a smile playing on her lips that she didn't even seem to be aware of.
"You like him," it wasn't a question.
Andromeda abruptly stopped talking and she looked at Sirius with wide eyes, the flush on her pale cheeks growing ever so slightly.
"I do not!" she exclaimed, leaning back.
"You so do!" Sirius laughed, pointing at her. "You've got that look on your face!"
"What look?" Andromeda asked incredulously, narrowing her eyes.
"The love-struck look. You look like Kreature does when my mother talks to him, not to mention you've got that smile on your face," Sirius explained.
Andromeda's hand darted up to her mouth and she touched her lips with her fingertips, looking utterly surprised when she did indeed find a smile on her face. Andromeda was silent for a moment, looking rather thoughtful, before her eyes widened again, making her look rather horrified.
"Merlin," she breathed. "I like him"
Sirius just nodded, already knowing that.
"What am I going to do?" she hissed, panicked.
"About what?" he asked in confusion.
Andromeda sighed in aggravation and gave him a look that told him she thought it should have been obvious.
"About the fact that I like Ted. My parents will kill me, not to mention Bella and your parents and grandma Irma. They'll disown me for sure," Andromeda's cheeks were flushed for an entirely different reason now.
"I don't know what to tell you, Andy," was all Sirius could say in response.
After dinner, Sirius made his way to Defence Against the Dark Arts. True to her word, Lily sat beside Sirius this lesson, and Emileo, fresh from the hospital wing, sat on his other side, barely even batting an eyelid at the Gryffindor's presence. Defence Against the Dark Arts was something Sirius was most looking forward to, having been told by his Tutor that he already excelled at the art of duelling. However, his eagerness was short lived.
Professor Gilchrist was strict, verging on cruel, and seemed to only want to focus on the theory of the subject and whenever anyone asked her about anything to do with real life she gave a little shriek, turned pink and quickly changed the subject. The only thing that made the lesson even semi-tolerable was the amusement he got from the fact that the woman seemed to hold an unreasonable amount of hatred for the cocky, messy haired boy who had clearly warned Lupin away from his family during potions.
"What is the incantation of the disarming spell? Mr Potter?" Professor Gilchrist asked with a deceivingly pleasant smile.
"Expelliamus?" Potter replied lazily.
"Wrong. Mr Snape?"
"Expelliarmus?" Snape asked, slightly hesitantly at giving the same answer she had said was wrong before.
"Correct!" she said, turning to write something on the chalk board behind her, more than likely the effects of the disarming spell.
Potter's turned around to look at Lupin and raised his arms in a 'what the hell?' gesture and Sirius, Emileo and Lily all snorted quietly into their notes. Snape shot an extremely smug look in Potter's direction at being preferred over the golden boy and Potter scowled back at him.
"That was cruel, but he deserves to be taken down a peg," Lily commented quietly as she moved her quill diligently across her parchment.
"You know what I heard?" Emileo whispered, leaning forward slightly so Sirius and Lily could both hear and they shot his curious expressions when he paused in a rather dramatic fashion. "One time a Dementor kissed her and it died"
Lily and Sirius both began to snickered, Lily even having to cover her mouth so that she wouldn't laugh out loud. Professor Gilchrist, seeming to have some sort of radar for people expressing forbidden joy in her lesson, snapped her head in their direction and the three of them quickly blanked their expressions, pretending to be fully absorbed in taking notes. She narrowed her eyes at them suspiciously for a moment before she finally turned around to keep writing and Sirius shared a secret smile with his two best friends.
Sirius and Lily quickly packed up their stuff after the lesson, sighing in relief at being able to exit the classroom which had been filled with a stifling silence. As the two of them walked across the grounds, they looked at a crowd that had gathered curiously. The crowd was beside the Whomping Willow, which Narcissa had told him had only been planted this year, and there seemed to be some sort of competition going on to see who could get the closest to the trunk, avoiding getting viciously whacked by the swinging branches.
Sirius' lips quirked in amusement at the antics, while Lily frowned disapprovingly and shook her head. Grabbing Sirius' elbow so that he would continue walking and not get too invested in the scene, Lily took them further across the grounds. Lily began to tell him about a 'truly horrid' prank Potter had pulled on Snape after Potions, apparently bitter about Professor Gilchrist's hate for him.
"…He's still in the hospital wing," Lily finished with sigh, her lips pinched together in annoyance.
"That's unfortunate," his face didn't have any particular expression, but by the look on Lily's face she had gotten to know him well enough by now to know he was finding humour in the situation.
"Sev is my friend, you could at least pretend to be concerned," Lily huffed as they finally came to a stop and sat down beside the lake.
"What do you propose I do about it, Lil?" Sirius asked, raising his brows as he leaned back on his elbows so that he had to look up at her.
"You…you could be friend," she replied hesitantly.
Sirius raised a brow, looking at her as though she had suddenly sprouted another head.
"We could be rare specimens of an exotic breed of dancing African Hippogriffs, but we're not. At least, I'm not" Sirius replied.
"You know they say sarcasm is the lowest form of wit," Lily said, raising her brows challengingly.
Sirius glanced at her as though considering this before he smirked.
"They've obviously never met me"
They sat in silence for a while. It stuck Sirius how odd it was to be in such a comfortable silence. At Grimmauld Place any silence meant you were being observed and watched and any little movement or change of expression could possibly be held over your head, but with Lily he was completely relaxed. It felt good, which unfortunately only led Sirius to be slightly wary of it. Something this comfortable must come with a catch.
"Sirius?" Lily asked.
"Yes?" Sirius responded, not opening his eyes as he had his head tilted backwards to bask in the sunlight.
"What's a Mudblood?" her voice came.
Sirius' eyes opened at that and his head snapped in Lily's direction. She was sitting beside him, cross legged, and picking at the grass in front of her, her gaze flickering between what he hands were doing and Sirius' face.
"Who called you that?" he demanded, sitting up slightly. When he found out who it was they were going to regret even having the ability to breathe.
"Some Slytherins before dinner," she shrugged as though it was no big deal, but Sirius could see that had been bothering her as she always picked at whatever was in front of her and avoided eye contact when she was upset. "I could tell it was offensive of course, because Dorcas and Emma got very angry, but…I don't know what it means"
"It's a foul word," Sirius said tightly. "It's what people say instead of muggleborn when they believe being a pureblood makes you superior. It means dirty blood. They think you're contaminated because you have muggle parents, that you're somehow less," Sirius scoffed bitterly then, he couldn't understand how the rest of his family could think that, how he had once thought that.
"Oh," Lily whispered, looking down again and Sirius sighed when he saw that her emerald eyes were overly bright and her teeth were worrying her bottom lip.
Sirius liked that Lily showed when she was upset, not like his family that hid it behind a cold mask that made you wonder if they even felt such trivial things as emotions at all. Lily didn't pretend for anyone, not for her parents or her sister or for him. when she got mad, she yelled, when sad, she cried, when happy, she smiled, and Sirius loved that about her.
"Hey," Sirius said, in a gentle voice that he didn't even know he could manage, and he reached forward to tip Lily's chin up and make her look at him. "Don't listen to them, okay? Lily Evans, you are beautiful and strong and opinionated, and you have managed so well at not knowing this world. I mean, look how smart you are! In our charms class, Flitwick already used you to set a good example. Don't ever think that you're less, because Lily, you are one of the best of us"
Tears were falling down Lily's cheeks now and she was sniffling, but her lips were tilted upwards and she couldn't seem to take her eyes off of Sirius' earnest face. Quite suddenly Lily jerked forward and pulled Sirius into a bone crushing hug.
Sirius froze in shock. he wasn't used to this sort of physical affection. Sure there was that cousin who insisted on kissing both his cheeks, but she was French and it was tradition so it didn't really count, and there was that uncle who always got completely sloshed, and he could tell the boozy arms slung over his shoulder as the elderly wizard passed by, almost knocking Sirius off his feet. His mother never had liked him, but she put up with him because he was pure and rich and that was the only thing that mattered in pureblood society. The point was, this was completely unprecedented and Sirius felt like his insides had turned to ice.
"Thank you," Lily whispered, tightening her grip ever so slightly.
At her words, Sirius seemed to instantly relax as though under a spell and he slowly lifted his arms to wrap around her smaller frame and return the hug.
"You know," Sirius said after a moment of this, not particularly wanting to let the sentimentality continue, "if you really want to thank me you could let me copy your history of magic essay"
Lily chucked and pulled away. She wiped her wet cheeks and was wearing a wide smile that lit up her eyes and made their crinkle in the corners.
"No," she said, shaking her head. "You won't learn if you don't do your homework, you'll have to do it yourself"
"But I slept through most of the lesson," Sirius protested.
"Well, then you'll just have to go to the library," Lily said with a grin, as though she was enjoying how much this was annoying him, and she grabbed her bag and hopped to her feet.
"But – Lily!" he called after her as she began to leave, but he only got a tinkling laugh in response.
Sirius didn't know how long he sat there, a bemused expression on his face as he stared off in the direction Lily had left. He must really like the girl if he allowed her to get one over him like that without retribution, if it was anyone else his Black side would have come out in the form of a scathing comment that could cut as deeply as a dark hex.
Finally, Sirius sighed and made his way to the library as Lily had said. It didn't take long for Sirius to find a book on Goblin rebellions, as that seemed to be what half the history section was about. He situated himself on an empty table, but paused in the act of taking out his ink, quill and parchment when he caught sight of a familiar figure at the table opposite his.
It was Ophelia Ravenwood. Ophelia had black hair that seemed to shine blue in the candlelight, sun kissed skin and bright blue eyes, which stood out even more against the dark lashes that bordered them. Sirius had seen her around the pureblood parties that he had been forced to attend, and around the common room in the past week, but he had never spoken to her. Ophelia seemed to dislike everyone as much as he did, seeming to spend most of her time glaring at Talkalot and Vanderhyde. He wasn't sure if the reason she disliked everyone was because she disagreed with their ideology like he did or if she just had a hatred of people in general like Bellatrix, but Sirius had an interest in her.
After thinking it through for a moment Sirius got up and made his way over to where she was sitting, writing on a piece of parchment. Ophelia jumped when he dropped the heavy History of Magic book on the desk next to her and plopped down on the available seat with an easy grace. Sirius smirked at the not at all pleased look on her face as he got parchment, quill and ink from his bag.
"Hello, I'm-" Sirius started, but Ophelia cut across him.
"Sirius Black, I know," she interrupted with a flat voice and Sirius rose a brow, feeling rather impressed at how she managed to mask the aggravation in her voice, but Sirius could see her true feelings on her face, no one could deceive a Black as they were the masters of deception.
"Has anyone ever told you you're rather rude?" he asked in an innocently curious voice.
"Yes, but I'll be sure to add your name to the list," she replied shortly, not looking up from the essay she was writing.
Sirius opened his book and also began to write on his parchment, using that swooping lettering that he had been taught when he was barely even old enough to speak. He barely got two sentences in before he stopped, tapping his quill thoughtfully and looking at Ophelia, who seemed to try hard not to tense under his intense gaze.
"So…how's your day been?" Sirius asked, leaning back casually in his chair, completely ignoring the rather sharp look her received from Madam Pince, the librarian, for daring to talk.
"Fine," Ophelia said shortly, not pausing in her writing.
Sirius allowed her to write two more sentences in silence before he spoke again.
"Those disappearances in the Daily Prophet are weird, right?" he asked nonchalantly.
Ophelia's grip tightened on her quill and she sighed in annoyance. Finally she looked up at him, settling her brilliantly blue eyes on him angrily, a pink tinge to her tan cheeks. He just smiled at her pleasantly causing her expression to harden all the more.
"Why are you even bothering?" she snapped. "You don't know me"
"I want to though," Sirius replied calmly.
His immunity to her heated glare and sharp answers seemed to only fuel her aggravation. Her jaw tightened and so did her grip on the quill in her hand and Sirius wouldn't be surprised if it were to snap.
"Well, I don't want to know you," she retorted.
Sirius just smiled serenely again, twiddling his own quill deftly between nimble fingers.
"Well, I'm afraid it's not going to be that easy," he said and she furrowed her brows in confusion, not seeming to noticed that he was packing his things back into his bag. "I'm going to be talking to you tomorrow and the next day and the next day and the – well, you get how it works"
Ophelia breathed deeply and released the breath slowly, staring at Sirius.
"Don't stay up too late thinking of ways to get rid of me, I hear it gives you wrinkles," Sirius teased, throwing in a wink for good measure and left the library before Ophelia could do anything more than mouth soundlessly at him.
When Sirius returned to the first year Slytherin dormitory it was to find Avery in an argument with Emileo. It seemed that Emileo's kitten, Crookshanks, who was a bowlegged half Kneazle with a squashed face, had fallen asleep over Avery's bed, leaving it covered in ginger fur. Emileo spoiled the kitten rotten, and was currently cradling it to his chest as Avery shouted at him about the 'foul beast'.
"Don't be like that, Avery," Sirius said casually as he entered the dorm, placing his bag on the side and moving to remove his pyjamas from his trunk. "It just means he likes you. You should be flattered, he's about the only one."
Sirius shared a grin with Emileo and even Mulciber and Nott couldn't help the tiny smiles that appeared on their faces, although Snape seemed to only be able to scowl and roll his eyes at everything that came out of Sirius' mouth. Other than that he ignored Avery's angry exclamation that followed his remark and moved to the bathroom to get ready to bed.