Here is my interpretation of the Marauders' Era at Hogwarts. I intend for this to be a reasonably long fic and it covers their first year at Hogwarts. Updates should occur every week, maybe more regularly. I hope you like it I guess ...
Disclaimer- all characters belong to J K Rowling etc
Sirius-
31st August 1971
The soft glow of the afternoon sun caressed the square. It removed the grime, made the piles of garbage less noticeable and gave the shattered windows of some of the houses a strange, ethereal beauty, as if winter's frozen spiders' webs had been laid across them. The sun had even tempted some of the usually reclusive residents out of their dingy houses and on to the small, unkempt area of scrubland in the centre of the square, which may once have been intended by the designers of the square as an ornamental flower garden for the enjoyment of square's previous, more successful, residents. They, for that brief sunny moment, even considered a little gardening and renovation. They built castles in the clouds in their heads and imagined the square as a place of beauty, with clean, beautiful, well-kept houses, a peaceful position and visualised a rose garden in the centre. Maybe, for a brief time, they shared the visions of the square's Victorian architects.
Then they examined the shattered windows and discussed the possible cost of replacing them with neighbours whom, perhaps, they had not spoken to for a few months, and met other residents from across the square who they perhaps only knew by sight. They even considered organising a mass clean-up of the area. Mothers watched children, teenagers fell in love, children played and fathers smoked. All seemed to be at peace with the world.
However, deep down, they all knew that as soon as the sun went down, or a cloud crossed the sun, it would be business as usual. The grime would remain uncleaned, the rubbish uncollected and more windows would be shattered. The scrubland would just be scrub and all would return to normal and the residents of Grimmauld Place would retreat back into their houses. For his perfect moment, though, they pretended to be ignorant.
The sunlight leapt through the only clean and polished windows on the square. Although, it could be debated whether or not this rare house was actually on the square at all, as most of the neighbourhood did not know that it existed and saw the numbering discrepancy between numbers eleven and thirteen as a mere quirk.
The sun's rays landed on a small, dark-haired boy squirming in his best clothes on a Louis XIV sofa. He was reasonably tall for his age of eleven, with a mischievous smile and usually exuding an aura of confidence. Now, however, he was merely squirming in discomfort. He did not want to be having afternoon tea with his mother; he wanted to be outside, playing, like the other small boys on the square, even though he knew that he would never actually be allowed to play with them. They wore dirty, old and patched clothes and knew nothing of magic. He was a member of, according to his parents, most important, wealthy and influential houses of the wizarding world and in brand new dress robes, however, at the moment, he would have gladly switched places with any of those boys playing in the street.
'Sirius!' At his mother's reprimand he immediately stopped fidgeting. 'Your aunt and cousin will be here soon, and, as the heir of the Black family, I expect you to behave! And sit still! Sometimes I wonder if you actually are my son at all. Regulus never gives me nearly as much bother as you.' Walburga Black, described most commonly by the word indomitable, turned her eyes from her eldest in disgust and returned them to the window. Watching and waiting. Although Sirius and his mother, like most member of the family, greatly resembled each other, physical characteristics was where the similarity ended in this case.
A minute or so later the doorbell rang; the event which Walburga had been waiting for and the reason why Sirius had been forced into dress robes. The sounds of Kreacher the house elf taking outer robes and escorting the guests to the parlour drifted up the stairs. As usual, the muggles outside had not noticed the two arrivals, or the appearance and disappearance of the house. They were too busy soaking up the August sun.
'Good afternoon, Walburga dear. How are you? And the family? Good afternoon Sirius. He'll be starting Hogwarts this year, will he not? Have you seen the state of those muggle children out there? Absolutely disgusting! I am surprised that you can abide it here sometimes, I really am!' Mrs Druella Black paused for breath following her tirade as soon as she entered the green furnished, rather dingy parlour. She was a reasonably tall woman, with blonde hair like her daughter, who tended to defer to Walburga, her elder and a member of the Black family not just through marriage. Walburga had also managed something Druella had not. Walburga had two sons, Druella only had three daughters, one of whom had been disowned that July. No one in the Black family spoke of it, or of Andromeda's new, muggle-born husband, Ted Tonks.
'An absolute disgrace!' Agreed Walburga. 'Filth all of them! Druella, some tea? Narcissa, dear, why are you not sitting down?'
Narcissa, her cousin's elder and opposite in looks, at that moment shared with him one striking characteristics, a look of this being the last place on earth she wanted to be. She reluctantly sat beside Sirius and took tea, but said nothing.
'I hear Narcissa will do well in her OWLS.' Walburga directed at Druella whilst passing the sugar. Though, her tone of voice indicated that this was perhaps not something to be proud of.
'A little too well if you ask me! What man wants to marry a woman who is cleverer than him, I ask you. I will also be surprised if her boyfriend still wants her after this summer's business.' Narcissa's mother paused to give a small shudder. Her daughter glared at the floor but still said nothing. To Sirius she seemed unusually quiet, usually his cousins spoke with him whilst the adults talked over them.
'She is dating that Malfoy boy, is the not? A good, pure family.' She smiled benevolently at her niece, whose gaze was still focussed on the floor.' Anyway, as I was saying, naturally Sirius received his letter last month. Another Black for Slytherin. His father and I are so proud. Then all we have is Regulus and after that on to the next generation of the family.' She attempted to catch her niece's eye again, but was still unsuccessful. 'Toujours pur. We bought him his things the day after we got the letter, naturally. I suppose we shall be seeing you at King's Cross station tomorrow. Full of muggle filth and half-bloods and mudbloods as usual.' Sirius shuddered as he remembered the trip. For once in her life Walburga seemed proud of Sirius, which worried him. He was not one hundred per cent sure of some of the teaching of his family, Andromeda especially had made him doubt them. The idea of being in Slytherin did not appeal, but what other house would a Black be in? For the next half an hour he sat, eating biscuits, drinking tea and daydreaming about the next day whilst his mother and aunt talked, with his cousin occasionally joining in. He was excited about the train journey, and getting away from his family, from this house. However, some of his doubts persisted. He felt guilty leaving Regulus, his younger brother, at the mercy of Orion and Walburga but still. Would he make friends? Would he do well? Would he be in Slytherin?
Sirius' focus returned to the conversation when the sun had moved further down in the sky and the muggle residents of the square had begun to retreat back to their houses. The spell of the sun was starting to break.
'… Narcissa, kindly do not look so morose, it does not suit you. Walburga, we need to get going. Cissa needs to finish her packing and prepare for the morrow. We will see you then I suppose.' Mrs D. Black and her daughter rose, followed by Walburga and her son and the party proceeded downstairs. The guests collected their outer robes and goodbyes were shared.
Just as the guests were leaving, passing the troll's leg umbrella stand, Sirius felt his cousin catch his arm, the first time she had recognised his presence all afternoon. Her grip was harsh and her nails pressed into his arm. The adults were too busy talking to notice.
'You may have been Andromeda's favourite, but you will not embarrass me at Hogwarts! Now is the time to decide where your loyalties lie. Do you understand?!' She hissed and then released his arm. Sirius was left standing in shock as his relatives bid him farewell and shut the door with the snake shaped knocker behind them. Andromeda, before she had left, had always been his favourite cousin, but Narcissa had always treated him cordially before. Bellatrix had always been the cruel, unpredictable one.
Families, he thought, as his mother yelled at him for looking, in her words, 'gormless' when Druella and Narcissa had visited and not packing correctly.
So, here is the end of my first fanfiction chapter. Please review if you can. The next chapter will probably be on Remus.
