- By Marauder
Disclaimer: (Why do I have to do this?) I do not own any of the darn characters mentioned here, except some one or two along the way. They are all owned by the great JK Rowling.
Authors Note: I have written a little bit before this, under the pen-name SuperBrat, but this one is a lot more detailed, dealing with my favorite character's life from..........what did I say that for?
Chapter1: The Owl
The sun was sinking into the distant horizon. The air showed some sign of what a hot day it had been. Sirius Black was seated at the entrance of Number Twelve Grimmauld Place, watching his brother and his cousins shriek with glee as they played in the lawn. Though his brother and cousins were always around him, Sirius had received very little brotherly love from them. If Sirius walked up to them and asked to be included in their games, he would receive a punch in his chest and maybe a kick on his genitals. The punch would be given by Bellatrix, his cousin, a headstrong, eleven year old girl. Narcissa, Bellatrix's older sister would be the next to punch him. The kick would be given by Regulus, Sirius's older brother, whom he loathed with all his heart. The only person, who wouldn't take part in beating Sirius up was Andromeda, Bellatrix's younger sister, whom Sirius was actually rather fond of.
Sirius's family, the Blacks, was one of wizards, one of the oldest wizarding families that existed. Some of the other old wizarding families Sirius had heard about, were the Malfoys, the Potters and the Longbottoms. Sirius had never met anyone from the Potter and Longbottom families. The Malfoys, however were extremely close to his family. The Malfoys and the Blacks considered themselves the purest among wizards. Sirius had heard his mother referring to the Potters and Longbottoms as, 'Traitors of blood'. Sirius had thought they must be his kind of people.
At a glance, Sirius did not seem the type of child to be unpopular among his playmates. He was exceptionally handsome, with a straight nose, black hair and blue colored eyes, just the kind of person you would expect to be a leader among friends, not an outcast. The main reason Sirius was ousted from the company of his family's younger generation was because he had three things they did not.
One of these, was a sense of humor, something the other children could not understand for the life of them. The only person who had ever laughed at his jokes was Andromeda, but even she was too young to understand some of them. The second thing, was a hatred for the malicious activities his brother participated in, which Bellatrix and Narcissa found immensely pleasing. The third thing, was a hatred for the Doctrine of Pure Blood, which made him unpopular not only with his cousins, but also with his parents and other relatives. Since the age of three, Sirius and Regulus had been told over and over again about the importance of purity of blood. Regulus had taken everything in and had allowed himself to be brainwashed and had become like his parents, a hater of anyone who had none or partial wizarding blood in them. Sirius on the other hand had failed to understand this. His family had thus come to the conclusion that he lacked intelligence and he was treated like a mentally abstract person. Regulus on the other hand was considered intelligent, and was favored by his parents and relatives.
Sirius also had another thing his cousins and brother did not, a talent for pranks. On several occasions, Sirius had been able to have his revenge for being beaten up by performing a series of pranks that made his foes almost cry with exasperation. Though there was no evidence suggesting that Sirius had done anything, he was always accused and beaten. Sirius's parents were convinced that he would not be able to attend wizarding school, being the person he was, and Sirius almost believed them. Yet, there was a tiny corner of his heart that hoped he would be able to escape from Grimmauld Place and make new friends, who would really like him.
So far, there had been no indication of such an event ever occurring. Sirius would be eleven in a few days. Not that he expected much from his family, his parents had generally been nice enough to give him a little present (that was worth nothing) but his brother's idea of a birthday gift was a solid flogging in front of his cousins. Sirius remembered one particular incident where his brother had pulled of his shirt, tied him to a tree and caned him, while Narcissa and Bellatrix giggled and applauded.
Sirius's family on the other hand, tended to completely overlook the fact that he had magical talent. Ever since Regulus had started at Hogwarts, the wizarding school, two years earlier, Sirius had managed to secretly go through his books (while he was off impressing Bellatrix and Narcissa) and had mastered every single hex, curse and charm in the them. He had practiced using Regulus's wand, but when Regulus was around, he could do nothing as he didn't have his own wand.
As Sirius watched his cousins and brother play, he had to try hard not to hate them. Sirius did not want to harbor hatred. From what little he had heard and seen, he could tell, that hatred could be a cause for murder or for misery and many other unpleasant things.
'Sirius?', a gentle voice said.
Sirius looked up and saw Andromeda, looking at him with a concerned expression on her face. He noticed that her lower lip was twitching, she was obviously nervous about something.
'Yeah?', he asked, looking back at the lawn.
'Is anything wrong? You look kind of troubled.'
'Troubled? Fantasying about escaping this institute of Pure Bloodedness is more like it.', Sirius chuckled to himself.
'Don't worry, you might be going to Hogwarts soon,' she said, as though she didn't believe this at all.
'The way mum and dad say it, they'll sooner be adopting a Muggle.', Sirius chuckled again.
'That was anything but funny,' Andromeda looked very serious now.
'So unlike my name isn't it?'
Andromeda was forced to let out a small laugh.
'Don't worry about me Andro, it'll only lower your spirits, besides, those slimeballs will think your fraternizing with the enemy', Sirius was battling a tide of hatred that was erupting inside him.
'Let's go inside, so they don't see me talking to you', Andro looked as though she was bursting to say something.
'Yeah, let's go to my room', Sirius got to his feet, failing to notice the urgent expression on Andro's face.
Together, they walked into the house, making sure that Bellatrix and Narcissa were far too busy listening to Regulus's story of how he had flogged a Muggle born student at school and then put a Memory Charm on him so that he didn't remember a thing. Listening to Regulus sometimes made Sirius feel like vomiting. They walked through the sitting room (Sirius first making sure that nobody was there and then signaling to Andro to follow). They ascended the staircase and as they crossed the landing, Sirius had to push Andro into a closet as his mother came walking out of her room.
'What are you doing here, Sirius?' she asked, her tone cold and sharp as though she felt Sirius was not worth speaking to.
'Going to my room', Sirius said, trying to keep his face blank.
'Why aren't you outside with the others?', she looked like she suspected something.
'They won't let me play with them', Sirius forced himself to look saddened at this.
'I don't blame them', she gave Sirius a look as though he was something nasty on the sole of her shoe.
With that she walked off. Andro came out of the closet as Sirius made a very rude sign with his fingers behind his mother's back.
'Oh, don't do that Sirius! she's your mother!', Andro looked shocked.
Sirius glared behind his mother's retreating back and continued walking towards his room, Andro following him. He finally reached it and kicked the creaky old door open. It nearly flew off its hinges as it swung open to reveal a dingy room with a moldy bed in the middle and a rickety desk in the corner, where Sirius had kept everything he owned. Apart from these, the room was empty, though the floor of the room was covered in a shockingly thick layer of dust.
'I'm the only person in the house, whose room doesn't even have a proper door!', Sirius declared as he marched into his room, sending clouds of dust into the air, as his feet hit the floor.
He collapsed on his bed, which made a creaky sound under his weight.
'........or bed'
Andro nervously inched into the room, wincing as clouds of dust rose up to her nose. She looked around the room, taking every thing in and fixed Sirius with a look of pity.
'Dirty, Isn't it?', Sirius said bitterly, with a look on his face that Andro had never liked. Though Sirius's face was heart-throbbingly handsome, when that look came over it, he looked capable of murder.
'Why doesn't anyone clean it?', Andro asked, trying to look as though the filthy conditions didn't affect her in the slightest.
'They seem to think I don't need it clean', Sirius said, his voice slow and hard, and that murderous look back on his face, that frightened Andro.
His face was now molded in that expression. He was staring out of the window, pure hatred showing on his face. He still looked handsome, but terribly handsome. Andro doubted that any eleven year old in the world, bore this much hatred. She didn't know that this was only a fraction of the hatred, that was flaming inside him. She didn't know that he was battling huge tides of the emotion, to stop himself from doing something rash, which Andro had observed was in his nature.
'Sirius,' she said timidly, 'Please don't look like that'
'Oh, sorry,' Sirius said, trying to wipe his face of that look, not succeeding very well.
'Yeah, so you wanted to tell me something?', he looked at Andro, trying to produce a natural smile but failing horribly.
'Sirius, I want you to promise me that you won't do anything rash after hearing this'
Sirius's artificial smile, was cleanly wiped of his face. His face was now possessed by an expression of suspicion. 'If you want me to' he said in a low voice, that Andro knew, meant he was trying to convey an indirect warning, and she doubted if he would keep his promise of not doing anything rash.
'Sirius,' she repeated, 'If you hurt your mother or father, or do anything rash after hearing this, I swear, I will never speak to you again.....'
His eyes were narrowed. There was no trace of any positive emotion on his face, natural or artificial. 'Just spit it out', he hissed, his eyes becoming slits.
Andro gulped and took a deep breath. She could only imagine what his reaction would be to hearing what she was about to say. She didn't know him well enough to predict what exactly he would do....
'Your mother, sent the Hogwarts headmaster an owl telling him not to admit you to the school......'
Sirius jumped to his feet, and raised himself to his full height, his face was livid. 'Go on', he spat.
'......she said you were abnormal and couldn't learn something if it were told to you ten times.....'
At this Sirius let out a cry of fury and strode towards the door. He groped for the handle, but Andro squealed,
'Sirius, you promised me you wouldn't do anything rash....'
Sirius stopped for a moment. He looked as though he was having a mental debate. He then shrugged and turned around and walked back to his bed plopping down on it. The expression on his face was one Andro could not fathom. It was a mixture of pure hatred, suspicion, depression and a bit of that murderous look that Andro hated. He stared at the ceiling for a while and finally his gaze fell on Andro.
'Just get out of here, Andro' he said, his voice hard and cold. 'If you're found here, you'll be dead'
'Sirius, I'm sorry...', Andro began
'Just scoot', he resumed staring at the ceiling.
Andro felt her eyes well with tears as she walked towards the door. She felt for the handle, when Sirius said 'Wait, you have an owl'
She looked at Sirius who was looking at the window. She saw an owl over there, a brown colored tawny owl. 'Must be for you, I never get anything', Sirius said, staring fixedly at the ceiling. Andro walked over to the window, opened it and let the owl in. She untied the letter from the owl's leg and stared at it for a moment.
'But Sirius...', she whispered, 'This is for you....'
'What the? I told you I never get anything.....', Sirius's jaw dropped as Andro handed him the letter and he read the envelope. It read:
Mr. S Black
The Most Uncomfortable Bedroom
12, Grimmauld Place
Sirius opened the envelope with trembling fingers. Had it come at last? The letter fell onto his lap. He raised it and stared at it, hardly daring to believe what he was reading:
Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore
(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chief Warlock
Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)
Dear Mr. Black,
We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.
Term begins on 1st September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress
'I made it' Sirius whispered. 'I made it'. He looked at Andro. 'But how?'