Updated again 30/4/19.


19/12/18 Message:

Hello all! I just want to let everyone know I'm editing these chapters which are up now... just to correct grammar and that. This story has actually come back to be my biggest piece so far! I'm at already 100,000+ words (not here but on my own document) and so, essentially, just want you all to know that this story is CERTAINLY not dead! There is SO MUCH more to come!

Chapter 9 will be up very shortly. I've just got to temporarily go back to America, but there I will do a lot of work updating and writing, so don't worry! I'd also like to beg for your guys' thoughts and comments on the story. More than favourites and follows, those are what keep me going. So let me know how you feel about it!

Best always,

Alisson


7/6/17 Message:

Readers: I hope you enjoy this little bit I've been working on recently. I first want to apologise in advance for Potter-world inaccuracies; I do not claim to be greatest fan, but I do try my best. Anyway, Sirius is one of my favourite characters from the series and I really wanted to explore his time with the Marauders, his time in the Order, his imprisonment, his escape, and his time after Azkaban. I will most definitely be playing with the timeline in this fic, so don't assault me when your see timeline errors. Seeing I'm not the most devout of writers, I'm not sure how far I'll be going with this story, but I do hope I get all the way to the Second Wizarding War. I can't make any promises and I openly admit to being a volatile and inconstant writer, but I do try my best for you all.

This is the prologue of this fic, and it pretty much gives you a look inside Blanche's (my OC) First through Fifth years at Hogwarts and her friendship with Sirius. Blanche is indisputably one of my favourite OCs already and I hope you like her too. The first snippet in this prologue is from 1972, during Blanche's (and the Marauder's and Lily's) second year. The next set of snippets is from 1974 during Blanche's fourth year, and the final snippets are from 1975 during Blanche's fifth year. The real story will begin in Blanche's seventh year, I believe.

I hope everyone likes this story, but I am very anxious about posting it and I would really love everyone's support! Although I love the favourites and follows, I adore everyone's comments more than anything and they are always what push me to update. Please leave your thoughts and tell me what you think. Reviews will help me decide whether I continue or ditch this fic.

Your loving and ever-appreciative writer,

Alisson


September 1972

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

"Arresto momentum," Blanche whispered into the collar of her gown, eyeing Peter Pettigrew with a devious grin. He sat a table down with his fellow friends—a quartet who began recently titling themselves 'The Marauders.' Peter dipped his spoon into the bowl of cock-a-leekie soup before him. As he tried bringing the spoon to his mouth, he found his hand braked to an achingly slow pace. Blanche watched slyly as his face contorted sluggishly.

"What are you doing, Peter?" Blanche heard James Potters' voice sound from her side of the table.

"I.. don't… know," he replied at a glacial pace, gradually squeezing out each consonant and vowel. Blanche watched as Remus Lupin broke into laughter beside Peter.

"Wingardium Leviosa," Blanche whispered in her collar again, looking directly at the spoon. Peter's lagging limbs couldn't catch the spoon as it left his hand. He reached up for it, but moved so slowly his hand wasn't even in the air before the spoon was nearly three metres in the air.

"Silencio," she finished in her collar, watching as Peter opened his mouth and tried to create words but failed.

"Bit tongue-tied, are we?" Blanche heard Sirius Black mock from his spot beside James.

As Apollyon Pringle walked to their shared row of tables, watching the magical enchantments take place, Blanche waited carefully until he identified her as the caster. He walked toward her quickly with a bitter look on his face until he was within ten metres of her. In her collar, she whispered: "Confundo," and watched as confusion drew across his wizened features. By the time he stood beside Blanche, he simply shook the jumbled thoughts from his head and walked on. Her final spell had revealed to the Marauders that she was the culprit, but that was all a part of her plan.

Blanche picked up the textbook she had been reading during supper, A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration, and exited the hall—intentionally passing and halting in front of the table at which the Marauders sat.

She looked at Peter with sharp eyes. "The next time you think to call a witch more skilled than yourself a 'kiss-arse' in front of an entire class, I recommend you rethink your decision—or else you might find yourself in a predicament such as this once again," she hissed. "Am I clear?"

Peter opened his mouth, but nothing came out. Blanche grinned. "I'll take that as a yes."

She continued out of the Great Hall. She could hear the non-charmed Marauders laughing boisterously as she left, and she allowed a haughty smile to reach her lips as she passed through the doors.

From the table between the Marauders and that at which Blanche had sat, Lily Evans watched the black-haired girl leave the hall. Lily swore she could feel a string of ice following her trail. She hadn't ever spoken to the girl, who mostly kept to herself these days. Maybe she'd seen her running around last year with one dark-haired boy, though he was nowhere to be seen this year. But she now had a sudden urge to befriend the witch who could so readily make fools out of bullies. She recalled her name was Blanche—a name which so starkly contrasted her dark features and the inky shadow she left in her path.


In Potions, Blanche usually sat by herself at the front of the class. By no means was she a 'kiss-arse' as Peter Pettigrew had claimed; she just genuinely liked and excelled in Potions. It wasn't her fault Professor Slughorn doted on her, it was only an unintentional result.

Today, however, a girl with vivid orange hair and green eyes from Blanche's house plopped down in the seat beside her.

"Hello Blanche," she greeted with a friendly grin. Blanche looked at her with a cold interest, as she often regarded things. Lily had noticed that Blanche was not particularly amiable, but she was determined to squeeze a friendship out of her.

"Lily," she nodded. Lily thought it was odd how a girl of only twelve could maintain such a distant and sophisticated disposition, but she genuinely believed she could crack through it. She knew she could when she saw Blanche's eyes from a closer range than ever before—they were the purest shade of cornflower blue. There was nothing cold in those eyes.

"Do you mind if I sit next to you?" Lily asked.

"Not at all," Blanche shrugged. Lily looked across the room to Severus who was now sitting alone—she mouthed 'sorry' to him and his lips thinned into a straight line.

"I really admired what you did last night at supper," Lily complimented. "I try to stick up to bullies, too."

Blanche sent her a fragmented smile, like she was unfamiliar with the kind of genuine compliment Lily had paid her. "That Peter's an idiot," Blanche said and shrugged.

In the opposite corner of the room—the back left corner—Peter tilted his head and muttered under his breath to Sirius: "Looks like the two class pets have decided to share a cage."

"Careful now, Peter. If she hears you making fun of you again, she might just turn you into a rat," Sirius replied with a grin.

"Yeah," Peter scoffed. "Over my dead body."

"For some reason, I don't believe she'd have a problem with that," Sirius responded cleverly.

Together, Lily and Blanche brewed an exemplary Hate Potion. Professor Slughorn allowed the girls to take a vial for themselves, on the terms that they only use it for 'playful purposes' only. Severus was the only other student to make a perfect potion, and he was also permitted a vial.

As Professor Slughorn dismissed the class, Lily and Blanche left the room together. They both laughed at their frizz-steamed hair and decided on whom to use their potions. As they walked down the hall and into the courtyard, Severus Snape stood by the partition between the courtyard and the hallways surrounding it. Lily departed from Blanche was a cordial farewell and followed Severus back down the halls. Severus sent Blanche a glare before his leave with Lily—it was a very cold glare, riddled with black ice.

"You shouldn't hang around her," Severus instantly informed Lily one she neared. "She's a Lestrange. They're Muggle-haters."

"She seemed perfectly happy with me," Lily optimistically shrugged. "They can't all be bad." Severus saw the light he loved so much in Lily's grass green eyes and decided to end the conversation there. They sauntered off to the library.

Meanwhile, Blanche entered the courtyard and was glad to see that pale frost had not yet glazed over the lawn. It was warm and large enough for most to occupy in their time between classes, and Blanche preferred quiet spaces and isolation, but the spot beneath the hazel tree was shaded, inviting, and open.

Blanche retrievedher copy of Jinxes for the Jinxed and opened it on her lap. She resumed reading about the Melofors Jinx, but the slender streams of sunshine hitting the parchment pages were soon impeded by a figure that engulfed the entire book in shadow. Blanche looked up and saw Sirius Black standing before her. He was tall for a twelve year old boy, but somewhat gangling and seemingly unsure of movement with his new longer limbs and sudden height. His eyes and hair were dark, and he surely would have been daunting if it had not been for the prepubescent fat that still clung to his cheeks and jaw. He was by no means an unattractive fellow, but he was still deep within boyhood.

"That was Marauder behaviour, you know," he commented vaguely, but Blanche quickly picked up on his reference.

"Only playful retribution," Blanche shrugged.

"What are you reading?"

"Jinxes for the Jinxed," she answered. "I'm picking something special for Peter."

Sirius laughed, walking forward to look at the book from upside down. "Encases head in pumpkin," he read. "Sounds perfect for him."

"I thought he was your friend?" Blanche asked him.

"Gives me all the more reason to torment him," Sirius smiled deviously. He sat beside Blanche and looked at what else the book had to offer.


September 1974

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Blanche was walking leisurely to her Defence Against the Dark Arts class when Severus Snape crossed her path in an uncharacteristically disorganised run. She soon identified its reason as James Potter and Sirius Black were hot on his trail, shouting 'Snivellus' after him. Peter Pettigrew followed behind a metre or two with his heavier-set stature. He missed Blanche's glare when he passed.

She followed them out into the courtyard and watched as Sirius cast the stickfast hex on Severus. Blanche raised her wand and exclaimed, "Finite Incantatum."

Severus immediately unstuck from the ground and ran.

"Now why do you have to go and spoil all the fun, Blanche?" Sirius sighed, turning toward her as he recognised her voice. However, his eyes were lit with a new kind of amusement—the sort which a young boy has for the girl he always seeks out in a game of tag.

"Because she's sadistic," Peter sighed hopelessly. "Because she derives pleasure from our sorrow."

"Says the boy who laughed whilst he mercilessly taunted a boy who did nothing to him," she retorted, then her face darkened. "Don't make me cast the Jelly-Fingers Curse on your again."

Peter's ratlike face contorted in fear and he stepped back, moving into Sirius' long shadow. Sirius was now something to hide behind as he had grown taller and broader from when he'd first become friends with Blanche in their Second Year; manhood now seemed to be someplace on the horizon, but at fourteen his chin was still smooth as silk and his cheeks full with youth.

"You couldn't pick up a spoon, fork, or knife for two days," Sirius bent over laughing at the curse Blanche had cast upon Peter last year. The two had never made amends after the Soup Scandal from Second Year. "I thought you'd starve."

"Sirius, let's go to Defence Against the Dark Arts," Blanche tilted her head down the hallway.

"Right, forgot about that," he reached for the books he had thrown on the ground once in full pursuit of Severus. Like a hound, Sirius had the unfortunate habit of following her every move.

"See you later Prongs, Wormtail," he tilted his head in farewell.

"Go on Sirius—keep following her! Maybe one of these days she'll snog you!" James cried dramatically after the ever-following Sirius, who turned instantly and smacked James hard on the arm with the flat of his textbook. "Christ! Don't get your knickers in a knot!" James exclaimed in response.

Sirius ran back into the hall and caught up with Blanche, who was already on her way.

"I've this idea for Charms, Sirius," Blanche snickered once she saw his figure had caught up. Surely she'd heard James' joke and ignored it entirely—unfazed by the infatuation he had with her which had lately been the butt of everyone's joke. "Wait, we're in class together for that, right?"

"Yeah, we still have it together," he nodded.

"Perfect. Have you heard of the Caroling Jinx?" She asked him.

"Isn't that the one that forces people to sing?" He clarified.

"Yes," she nodded. "So I was thinking throughout the entire first class we cast the jinx on random students every time Flitwick tries to speak. Do you think you can do it without a wand?" She asked. Blanche was exceptionally talented at wandless magic; it was no trouble for her. And whilst Sirius was a profound and skilled wizard, she was unsure of his wandless ability. As naturally talented as he was, he didn't get about practicing or studying much.

"It hurts that you doubt my faculty," he said with feigned sentimentality. He held a hand over his heart in dramatic ache.

"Shut up," she shook her head, laughing.

Throughout Defence Against the Dark Arts, Sirius and Blanche scribbled down sample songs for their prank. They decided on a Christmas song, but fought over which. They were called out by the ever-changing Defence Against the Dark Arts professor—now an unfamiliar Professor Bucklebee—whilst they kicked one another's legs under the desk.

"Miss Lestrange and Mister Black!" Professor Bucklebee shouted from the raised lectern in the front of the classroom.

"Yes, Professor Bumblebee?" Sirius answered. The class snickered at the childish nickname.

"I will have order in my classroom, do you understand me?" Bucklebee snapped.

"Your classroom? Or Professor Jekyll's classroom? Or Professor Lunny's? Or Professor Prewett's?" Sirius asked mockingly, his taunts maturing into something punishable.

"Quiet down, Mister Black," Bucklebee commanded. "That's one week of detentions for you and Miss Lestrange. If you want another week's worth, keep it up."

"She didn't do anything, Professor," Sirius insisted.

"For every time you speak up, you get another week. This is your last chance, Mister Black. Are you sure you want to keep on?" Bucklebee questioned sharply.

Sirius cleared his throat and slumped backwards in his seat. Bucklebee turned back to the rest of the class, opening his mouth to continue. Sirius, however, interrupted.

"Salvio hexia, Professor," he announced from his seat.

"That's another week, Mister Black!"

"You asked for the counter-spell that deflected hexes from the area," Sirius clarified. "That's the answer."

Bucklebee paused, analysing the situation. Blanche grinned beside Sirius and nudged her knee with his, congratulating him on his effective embarrassment of the new professor. Bucklebee cleared his throat and announced as he turned toward the board: "Twenty points from Gryffindor!"

"Twat," Sirius muttered under his breath.


In spite of the detentions Sirius and Blanche had already received, they figured they couldn't let their Caroling Jinx prank go to waste. It went off successfully, and Professor Flitwick had even found it quite amusing. The laughter of their first Charms class of Fourth Year washed off, however, by the time the following morning arrived. The two were scraping off gum the undersides of the desks in the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom.

"Fuck Defence Against the Dark Arts," Sirius grumbled. "And fuck Professor Bumblebee."

"Bucklebee," Blanche corrected as a hunk of viridian gum fell into her pale.

"This is unfair," he whined.

"Stop pouting. You mouthed off to a professor. What did you expect, a sugar quill and a kiss?"

"It's unfair that you have detention, is what I meant," he clarified. "He should have given me two weeks and you none."

"Do yourself a favour and don't play the self-sacrificing gentleman with me. Nobody knows better than I that you don't mean it," she retorted.

"I do!"

"No, you're an arrogant prick who'd do anything to save his own arse," she muttered.

"Pardon me?!" Sirius exclaimed.

Blanche grinned at him from beneath the table and then looked back up, bringing her scraper to the dark, raw wood. She felt a dense wad hit her temple just before she started working at another. She gasped and looked at her lap to where the weapon had landed. It was a gigantic, ancient piece of thick taffy the colour of rust. "Prick!" She cried, reaching for a handful from her bucket. She didn't seem to care what she put her hand into, she only knew that she wanted to throw his weapon of choice right back at his face.

Several mounds of old gum hit Sirius in the face and he barked with laughter before reaching for another handful. Before either of them knew it, all the progress they had made was flying across the room. When both of them reached the bottoms of their buckets, Blanche threw it soaring across the room. It missed Sirius by an inch and shattered a vial that sat on a cupboard behind him. The two instantly broke into fits of rampant laughter.

"I can see you two have made progress," a familiar voice sighed from the entrance of the room. Lily Evans, dressed in her freshly-ironed gown and newly-shined shoes, looked at the mess they'd made with not a glimmer of surprise in her eyes.

"Oh no, not Lady Snape," Sirius swore whilst catching his breath.

"Shut up, Sirius. She's actually here per my request," Blanche walked over to her, then checked her crystal wristwatch. "Albeit, a little late."

"I had to finish my Muggle Studies essay, Blanche. It was due tonight. You know that," Lily pled goodheartedly.

"Well, why's it here?" Sirius asked disdainfully. Somehow Blanche's two best friends had never met in the middle: Sirius thought Lily was an insipid goody-too-shoes, and Lily thought Sirius a pompous evildoer.

"Shut up, Sirius," Blanche silenced him. "She is here because Professor Bucklebee said we can't use magic to clean the desks."

Sirius waited for her to finish, but she left him to figure it out. When he clearly was at a loss, she completed her plan: "But he never said Lily couldn't."

"She's going to violate the rules?" Sirius laughed doubtfully, but Lily slid her wand out of her sleeve and began magically lifting the gum they had scattered and putting it back in the bucket.

"I'm actually not, seeing he never said I couldn't help," Lily smiled good-naturedly. It had taken Blanche a while to warm to Lily, but she eventually realised that there was nothing but goodness in this lovely, fire-haired girl. It was refreshing being around someone who would give everything she had just to make the world a better place.

Lily charmed both of the scrapers Blanche and Sirius held and they began to work at the gum magically, scraping at a much faster pace than had Blanche and Sirius.

"And it's not my fault he was fool enough not to watch your detention through," Lily smiled.

"New professors," Blanche sighed.


September 1975

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

There was a hill in the open space near the gamekeeper hut where the water touched the sand softly; this was the only place on the grounds of Hogwarts where land did not drop steeply into the Black Lake. It was not like the courtyards—it was clear and never crowded. On the hill was a yew tree, upon which Severus Snape would often read textbook chapters before they were even assigned. Here was a peaceful place—a place free from the taunting of the Marauders and James Potter's constant gibes.

But today that peace did not last as he saw crowds of kids from his year walking toward his sacred tree—all with Potter leading the pack.

"Come on Moony, Padfoot," James called as he withdrew his wand. Severus held his with a shaking hand, but he was too slow. "Expelliarmus!" The wand flew from Severus' weak grip.

"Nice one, James!" Sirius called from the back.

"Impedimenta!" James shouted, freezing Severus' movements and lifting him into the air with the tip of his wand.

The crowd chanted 'Snivellus, Greasy' over and over again like a pack of wild followers. In the distance, Severus saw the flaming red hair of Lily Evans as she rushed forward. She was followed by the dark-haired girl, ironically named Blanche, who looked lost to whose side to take. On the one hand, Severus had judged her to be a vain and aloof rich girl who only put an end to the Marauder's taunts because of distaste or sheer boredom. But on the other, he had taken notice of her in class and discovered her to be extremely shrewd—which was an unusual trait for a Lestrange. From Severus' understanding, their genetic brilliance was often uprooted by their lack of sane judgement. Thus, he really did not know what to expect from her.

"Alright, who wants to see me take off Snivelly's trousers?!" James called to the crowd and they hooted in support.

"Potter, put him down this instant!" Lily ran up to him and tried to push him away, but James held his footing and wand securely.

"Get out of here, Evans," James spoke sternly, looking unusually harshly at the orange-haired girl. For as long as Blanche had been Lily's friend, she had seen the loving watch James had set on her. But here he seemed to forsake that as he hardened under the expectations of popularity.

"Not until you let him be! Can't you see he's helpless!" She cried. At that humiliation and grand vulnerability, Severus visibly started.

"Sirius, make James put him down," Blanche scowled severely. He wavered for a minute at her order, but then ignored her. He tried to look away from the knife-fine glare of her icy eyes, but had trouble. "You're as spineless as him, you fool," she finished, gesturing to the boy who hung upside-down.

Blanche walked away from Sirius stiffly and pulled out her wand in an attempt to break James' charm.

"Liberacorpus," Blanche cast, dropping Severus to the ground and effectively breaking James' enchantment. Lily ran to Severus' crumpled body on the ground, but the embarrassment still pumped through his heart like fire and the sounds of the belittling chants still rang in his ear. He wasn't sure what was the most humiliating: the work of James, the desperate defences of Lily, or the use of his own spell upon him by Blanche Lestrange.

Severus flung himself as far from Lily and Blanche as his injured body would. "I didn't ask for your help, you blood traitor!" He shouted to Blanche. She instantly paled—even paler than she naturally was—and then he turned to Lily. "And I don't need anything from you anymore, you filthy Mudblood!"

Severus pulled himself from the ground and dragged himself off, casting away everything but the blood that pumped through his ears.


Lily cried in Blanche's arms in the Gryffindor Common Room that night. Blanche was not accustomed to tears staining her nightgown; her family was a cold one, and hugs were not found easily on their estate. Blanche had trouble sympathising with Lily, as she had never seen a reason for friendship with Severus. Then again, Lily had never seen a reason for friendship with Sirius, and Blanche, too, felt like she would have trouble forgiving him for what he'd done.

"Perhaps he'll apologise, Lily," Blanche offered, but Lily immediately shook her head.

"I can't forgive him for it. He's said it, and now I know it's always been there all along in his mind. I'm tired of finding excuses for this darkness inside of him. Olympia, Holly, and Kyra don't even understand why I talk to him," Lily cried. Blanche had trouble not rolling her eyes at that last bit. Their friendship really was of odd character—Blanche loathed all of Lily's other friends and Lily loathed all of Blanche's other friends (of which there were few). "And what about what he called you—a blood traitor? Is that how he sees people? Is everyone just some fraction of mud and magic?"

"You and I both know what Severus is. He's chosen his path, and we know what path that is," Blanche spoke darkly, thinking of the Dark Arts that had not only taken her family, but now Lily's family too. "But you should hear the decision come from his mouth."

Lily looked up at Blanche with tear-filled, grass green eyes. "You're right," she sniffed. "But he'll have to come to me first. Although either way, I cannot forgive him."

Blanche then realised this was Lily's first break in realistic human reaction where she unusually opted for unconventional optimism and cheeriness. If Severus wanted back their friendship, Lily would not give it, no matter how unhappy it made Severus. Lily would not sacrifice her self-respect to make him happy. Lily's sunlight was what drew Blanche in all along, but this break in her porcelain façade was like the break in a dam. Dark waters came rushing forth, and Blanche finally felt like she might have a real sister.


In Arithmancy, Blanche didn't sit with Sirius. Blanche knew what a blow to him this was seeing she was the only reason he took the elective—she'd begged him the entire summer between Fourth and Fifth Year to take it with her. Halfway through the class, Blanche looked across the room through the corner of her eyes and saw Sirius face down on the desk, sleeping.

As much as Blanche loved Arithmancy, she couldn't focus on the reading on Numerological Theory. Every time Sirius snored lightly, she laughed to herself and looked across the room. The Professor of Arithmancy was nearing Dumbledore's age and was also as deaf as a post, and as he sat at the front of the room grading their latest exams, he had no idea Sirius was off in dreamland.

Sirius finally woke at the sensation of a Ravenclaw boy throwing a pencil at him. Blanche watched Sirius instantly look to the seat beside him to ask her how long he'd been out, but then his face fell when he realised she wasn't there and in her stead sat a besotted Ravenclaw who blushed when he met her eyes.

Grumbling, Sirius stood and walked over to the table she sat at alone. He took the seat beside her and watched her closely as she lowered her face to her textbook.

"You've at least got to amuse me. I wouldn't be taking this class if I knew it would be me sitting alone for an hour twice a week," he stated flatly.

"I don't know, you looked pretty peaceful over there," she shrugged, looking at him. With sleep fresh on his face, the youth that had been fading from his face of late sprung anew. Nowadays he shaved just a few barely-there patches of hair on his chin and upper lip, and the line of his jaw was coming in; but in that moment of tiredness, he was thirteen again.

Sirius looked at his lap and a stream of dark curls fell over his face. "I'm sorry about Severus. I should have listened to you."

"You didn't, though," she responded in a blank voice, drawing her eyes back over the textbook.

"We were just messing around—"

"Don't try to excuse yourself," she silenced him. "I want you to apologise to him. And if James ever wants a date with Lily, I'd recommend he accompany you."

Sirius' brow furrowed at the mention of his friend's long-lasting obsession with Lily Evans. "How did you know?"

"Ever since I first saw him with her, I just knew," she shrugged. "Men aren't particularly clever. You can see it in their eyes."

Sirius grinned, looking over at her with wide eyes as grey as clouds looming over lightning. "What do you see in mine?"

"A coward," she answered. He balled his hand in a fist and hit the desk loudly in anger. The goofy look dropped from his face when he refocused his close stare.

"If I do this, will you forgive me?" He asked.

"Yes," she responded. Sirius stood and began to walk right out of the classroom. Before he was far enough from him, she lunged for his hand and tugged him backward. He looked at her in confusion, but her face was purely devoid of emotion. "I want his forgiveness of you, but make sure he knows he shouldn't expect mine or Lily's."

Sirius nodded stoically. If there was one thing in their minds that was equally clear, it was that the term 'blood traitor' was not a word to be used lightly. Both coming from families who valued the pure-blood agenda, they did not take being called a blood traitor kindly. After their acquaintance was nurtured into friendship over second and third year, the final bridge that made him and her best friends was what sat behind both of their last names: hatred, prejudice, and egotism. Both Blanche and Sirius were the black sheep in their families for their tolerance, and over that they clung to one another.

Sirius continued out of the room with stiff shoulders. The professor never noticed that he had left—to no surprise.


Later that week, Sirius and Blanche sat in front of the fireplace in the Gryffindor Common Room playing chess on a Tuesday night. Sirius was winning—to Blanche's frustration—and not hiding his joy in this accomplishment. They both lay on their stomachs with their chins nearly sitting on the chessboard's edge. Blanche's sharp eyes glowered at Sirius's smiling ones through the heads of her queen, king, and bishops.

"So a little bird told me something," Blanche eventually spoke after moving a pawn.

"And what did it tell you?" He replied, studying the board for his next move. She bemusedly watched him do this. The fireplace cast a shadow of his straight nose and long lashes onto his left cheek and Blanche reckoned he looked quite handsome under such amorous lighting and in such close view. She proceeded to banish the thought from her head.

"That James is going to ask Lily on a date," Blanche replied.

"Hmm…" Sirius thought, moving a rook and seizing one of her pawns. She sighed at the loss, but looked to Sirius for further response. "Which little bird told you this?"

"One Remus Lupin," she giggled.

"I see," Sirius nodded.

"Well?" She asked further, raising her brow.

"What?" He countered with a knowing grin.

"Is he?"

"Why are you so curious?"

"Why can't you just answer me?" She said before claiming one of his knights with a pawn.

"Cheap shot," Sirius commented through pursed lips then turned his attention away from the board. "Yes, it's true. He's finally going to do it, he's just immensely nervous."

"Why?" Blanche returned.

"I don't know why," he laughed. "Should he be?"

Blanche shrugged with a knowing smile on her face. "What?"

"Does she have a crush on him? Do you think she'd say yes?" Sirius eagerly enquired.

"Why are you so curious?" She imitated his low voice.

"Why can't you just answer me?" He returned in an imitation of her own high voice, causing her to laugh.

"I can't speak for her. But I don't think she'd say no."

"I see. What would she like to do?" Sirius enquired further. She shrugged in response, moving her bishop and taking a pawn of his. "Would she like a double date?"

"With whom?" Blanche questioned, raising a brow at him.

"Well, you and I could go…" he mumbled.

"No, thank you. That sounds like one of the most uncomfortable events I've ever heard of."

"Would it be, though? I think it would be kind of fun…" Sirius tried to casually argue for the chance to bring her out on a date. However, the response was what it had been all these years:

"Oh, stop it, Sirius. That's silly," she finished the conversation then widened her eyes towards the board. "Well, are you going to go?"

Several moments after Sirius was effectively shut down, Lily herself came into the Common Room through the the portrait of the Fat Lady. She carried a handful of letters with her, dropping one off with Blanche before sitting on the couch in front of the fireplace. "I saw Sulwen hanging about the Owlery," Lily explained before turning to her own letters.

Whilst Sirius studied for his next move, Blanche let out a groan of exasperation seeing the letter her snowy owl must have brought in this past weekend.

Blanche,

I hope the start of your sixth year at Hogwarts has been constructive; your father and I are very proud of your academic success. I am thrilled to tell you that your Uncle Rodolphus has become engaged to a charming woman by the name of Bellatrix Black, who is most wonderful and talented. She is the cousin of your friend Sirius. I am, in fact, writing to you about this boy. Rodophus has told me that his fiancée's cousin is a blood traitor. As Bellatrix's aunt, Walburga, has confirmed this, your father and I have decided you shall no longer be associated with this rapscallion any longer. His familiarity with you reflects poorly on your father to the Dark Lord. I am confused to why you affiliate with his kind; your father and I raised you the True way, and I believed you had better judgement than this. I was speaking to Walburga further of her incorrigible eldest son, and she tells me he associates himself with Mudbloods. This is unacceptable behaviour and I request it stop at once.

Bellatrix's and Rodolphus' wedding will be held just after your return from Hogwarts for Christmas. When I see you then, I expect your deviant behaviour to be rectified.

Best regards,

Lavinia Greengrass Lestrange

"Short and sweet," Blanche mumbled to herself as she crumbled the letter in her hands. Sirius looked up to her with wide grey eyes as he held onto one of his pawns. She smiled gently down at him, not wanting to share the news with him—it wasn't like it would change anything. Plus, it would just make him sad.

So she set her fingers around it and set the page afire, and before the flames licked her skin she tossed it into the fireplace.