Disclaimer-Everyone and everything in my story belongs to J.K. Rowling and her various publishers and what not, I'm making no money from this, so no suing, please! (I'm broke).
Thanks for reading my humble first HP fanfic, and please review!
In the Den of Lions, by Padfoot's Bone
Chapter One: Facing the Family
Eleven-year-old James Potter sat with his three good friends at breakfast, two weeks before Christmas break. James couldn't wait, he was practically bursting with excitement to tell his parents all about the many adventures he had had so far with his friends. They would be so pleased to hear that he was fitting in so well, but they really shouldn't have expected anything less. His mother really did worry too much sometimes.
Bringing himself out of his reverie, James looked around at his friends. Sitting to his left on the same side of the table, Peter Pettigrew was busy devouring a plate piled high with eggs and bacon while he stared hard at some of his crinkled Transfiguration notes. Obviously his nervousness about the test today had not diminished his appetite in the slightest.
Across the table from Peter sat Remus Lupin, looking pale and tired, but eating heartily nonetheless. He had just returned late last night from visiting his mum over the weekend, who had been very ill. He had assured them that his mum was going to make a full recovery, which was good, but James rather thought that Remus looked like he had been sick too. The boy had told them that he hadn't gotten all that much sleep over the weekend from worrying, but he assured them all that he was fine, however, so no worries there.
James turned his attention to the boy sitting directly across from him, Sirius Black, who was busy inhaling a bowl of cereal. Sirius was shaping up to be his best friend out of the three of them, as they had the most in common, including a love of mischief-making. The fact that they had so much alike had come as a surprise to James, as had the fact that Sirius was in Gryffindor to begin with, since he was a Black, after all. At the start of the term, the school had buzzed for over a week about the fact that another Black had not been sorted into Slytherin, where they usually went. Most of the buzzing had, in fact, come from Narcissa and Bellatrix Black, Sirius's outspoken, and very annoying, Slytherin cousins. They were both highly ashamed to be associated with another blood traitor, just like their own sister Andromeda (a Ravenclaw), and so on and so forth. Every time Sirius heard them speak about him like that, he would go very still, his hands would clench into fists, and his face would burn, whether with shame or anger, James couldn't tell. Every time he had tried to talk about it, his friend would change the subject, so James had decided not to press the issue.
James already knew that the Blacks were one of the oldest wizarding families in Great Britain, and took a great deal of pride in their 'pure' heritage. In fact, any member of the family who failed to uphold the pure-blood tradition was immediately disowned. Part of that family pride was that Blacks had been sorted into Slytherin, the House of pure-bloods, for centuries, and anyone not sorted into said House was viewed with dismay and suspicion, since he or she clearly valued other things to be above the purity of blood, a grievous offense. Unfortunately, the decent family members, those not sorted in Slytherin, apparently came along only about once every two hundred years or so. James had heard all of this from his father before he had started at Hogwarts, a lecture that had ended with the admonition, "You beware of those Blacks, all right? Rotten, the lot of them." James wondered what his father would say when he told him that he was now friends with a Black. True, Sirius was one of those rare decent ones, but James didn't think he'd mention that just yet, it would be much too fun to see his father's reaction.
James's thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of the mail. His family's owl, Hermina, landed in front of him with his usual weekly letter from home. A large barn owl also landed nearby, bearing his Daily Prophet subscription. As James was paying the bird, he noticed that a very handsome eagle owl had landed in front of Sirius, who was staring at the letter tied to its leg with a glum expression. James recognized the bird as the one that had come on the third day of the term with a Howler for Sirius from his mum. She had shouted about how he had disgraced the family name by being sorted into Gryffindor, a House that associated itself with mudbloods, and that she had always suspected he was abnormal and now this proved it, and blah blah blah. Sirius had turned flaming red and slid under the table at the start of his mum's ranting, which had lasted for over ten minutes. He had refused to come back out until the Great Hall was almost empty and they were about to be late for class, and had been sullen and moody for the rest of the day.
Sirius reluctantly took the letter off of the owl's leg, and James saw with relief that it was not a Howler this time. Sirius did not seem to share in his relief, however, and he made a face as he tore the letter open. "Another letter from your mum?" James inquired, though the first one hadn't technically been a letter.
"No," Sirius answered sullenly as he started to read through the letter, "it's from my father. He's commanding me to come home for Christmas break."
"Commanding?" Remus echoed incredulously.
Sirius nodded, still looking very morose, and also a little angry. James noticed that his hands were shaking slightly as he flipped to the second page of his letter. "I was hoping I'd get to stay at Hogwarts this year so I could actually enjoy Christmas for once!" Sirius declared bitterly, a scowl on his face. "But now I see they're determined to keep on making me suffer for the 'horrible stain I have inflicted on our most noble and ancient family name!'" he said, and James recognized it as a quote from Sirius's mother's Howler. With a sudden movement, Sirius wadded the letter in his fist and slammed it down on the table, rattling nearby dishes.
James concernedly watched his friend seethe for a moment, then said, somewhat hesitantly, since Sirius looked ready to explode, "Why don't you just write your dad back and tell him you'd rather stay here for Christmas, or come home with one of us? I'm sure he'll understand if-"
Sirius interrupted with a laugh that sounded a lot like a dog's bark. "And have my father throw a fit, come to Hogwarts, drag me home by my ears, and flail me to within an inch of my life? No, thank you." With that he stood up, grabbed his book bag and left the table, the letter still clutched in his hand.
James grabbed his own bag and followed his friend, who was stalking out of the Great Hall like a black-haired thundercloud. James was more than a little concerned about Sirius now, he rarely ever got in a bad mood like this. In fact, the only times he did were when he had to deal with his family, James recalled darkly. He caught up to his friend in the entrance hall and fell into step beside him. "He wouldn't really flail you to within an inch of his life, would he?" James asked, somewhat nervously, since he wasn't sure if he should put anything past the Black family.
Sirius sighed somewhat exasperatedly. "No, I suppose I was exaggerating," he conceded, "but they'll make my Christmas ten times more unpleasant than if I come home willingly, you better believe that." He wagged his finger at James as he continued. "My father's always said, 'you've got to face your problems like a man, and maybe one day you'll earn my respect, but somehow I doubt it.'" Sirius's hand dropped back to his side, and he shook his head. "Not that I care," he added softly, in a tone that made James suspect that his friend cared more than he was willing to admit.
However, they had arrived at their first class of the day by then, History of Magic, so James decided not to pursue the subject any further. He didn't want to upset Sirius any more than he already was.
The next two weeks passed fairly uneventfully. Though Sirius had gotten over his bad mood created by that letter from home by the end of that day, he became increasingly sullen again the closer to the Holidays it got. He would grumble discontentedly every time he heard a ghost singing a Christmas carol, or whenever he would see some new decoration go up somewhere in the castle, saying each time that he did not want to be reminded that Christmas was getting closer. Luckily his sullen mood did not inhibit his mischief-making ability, and they were able to pull off three pretty clever pranks, if James said so himself, by the end of the second week. All perpetrated against Slytherins, of course, at least one of which had included Severus Snape, their greasy-haired fellow first year. James had executed a brilliant bit of charm work on a bottle of shampoo, which would result in the user's hair turning bright pink for the day. Sirius had been the one to sneak it into the Slytherin bathrooms and somehow ensure that Snape used it, which he had managed without a hitch. However, James had had to spend the night in the hospital wing as a result of all the hexes Snape had thrown at him once he realized what had happened and who had done it, but the image of Snape doing so with bright pink hair had made it all worth it.
The first day of the Christmas break arrived at last, or in Sirius's case, all too soon, James reflected as he watched his scowling friend climb on board the Hogwarts Express. Peter and Remus were also going home for the Holidays, so the four of them found a compartment to themselves. Sirius didn't talk much during the journey, but even if he didn't do it whole-heartedly, he still joined in their games and laughed at James's jokes.
As the train pulled into the London station several hours later, James spotted his parents waiting for him on Platform 9¾ and waved to them excitedly, who waved enthusiastically back. As the four boys were retrieving their luggage from the racks above their seats, the door to their compartment burst open, and three girls, two with black hair and one with blonde, charged into their compartment. James recognized the blonde as Sirius's cousin Narcissa, and one of the black-haired girls as his cousin Bellatrix, but the third was unfamiliar, though he could only assume that it was his Ravenclaw cousin Andromeda, the other 'disgrace' to the Black family name.
"Hurry up Sirius," Bellatrix said in a domineering voice, "our parents are waiting." Without ceremony, she grabbed Sirius's trunk, slung it over her shoulder, sneered at James, Remus, and Peter, and left the compartment with an arrogant huff. Narcissa and Andromeda herded Sirius out the door after her, and he barely had a chance to look over his shoulder and wave a sullen goodbye to his three friends before they too were out the door.
James exchanged glances with his two other friends, and all three of them shook their heads in sympathy at Sirius's plight. At least he'll only have to put up with them for two weeks, James thought, unwilling at the moment to consider what it would be like come the end of the school year in June, when Sirius would be faced with two whole months with his family. One thing at a time.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Sirius Black followed his three cousins onto Platform 9¾, annoyed that he didn't get to say a proper goodbye to his friends. However, he knew better than to keep his parents waiting, so he followed them without complaint. For that matter, he knew better than to complain to his cousins, since they would only laugh scornfully and find new ways to make life difficult for him. Bellatrix and her sisters were the children of Sirius's father's younger brother, and the two families had spent every Holiday together for as long as Sirius could remember. Since they both lived in London, their families spent a great deal of time visiting each other anyway. Sirius wished they wouldn't, it really did make life unbearable. The three and a half months he had just spent at Hogwarts had been the best time of his life so far, and with his three new-found friends, he could only expect that things would just keep getting better. If he made it through all the Holidays and summer vacations in between, that was.
His parents and Regulus were waiting with his aunt and uncle near the entrance to the Muggle side of the station. Knowing there was no use in delaying the inevitable, Sirius walked up to his parents and said, as respectfully as he could, "Hello, Father. Hello, Mother."
They were both looking down their noses at him, not bothering to hide their disdain for their now wayward son. His mother let out a hiss, then turned around and followed the other Blacks, who were starting to leave the Platform now. His father's gaze lingered for a moment longer, making Sirius feel vastly uncomfortable, like he was being regarded as something nasty that his father had just found on the bottom of his shoe. But finally he turned around as well, and silently followed the other, without another backward glance.
Sirius was left facing Regulus, who was looking at him uncertainly. "Hello, Regulus," he said with an attempt at a smile that he did not really feel. His parents' greeting had been colder than he had expected. He felt that he could have handled them yelling and screaming at him much better than the cold silence that they had chosen. At least it would have shown that they still cared, in some small way anyway. And Regulus proved to be no different. After a moment, he huffed haughtily and walked off, leaving Sirius to follow dejectedly behind.
Sirius was ignored all the way home, making him feel increasingly unwanted. However, once they arrived at the Most Noble and Ancient House of Black, it soon became apparent that his family did still care in some way, and Sirius wasn't at all sure any more if it was what he wanted.
He had barely drug his trunk into his bedroom when he heard his mother shouting shrilly from the bottom of the stairs, "Sirius, get in here! Your father and I want a word with you, now!"
Sirius rolled his eyes, but knowing better than to keep his parents waiting, he headed down to the family's sitting room. To his surprise, he found that everyone was in the room, not just his parents. So this is to be a public humiliation, Sirius thought bitterly. Bellatrix was sneering at him from a corner table where she was playing chess with Narcissa, but Andromeda appeared vaguely sympathetic as she looked up from the book she was reading in one of the high backed chairs by the window. Regulus was sitting by his uncle Rigel and looking slightly apprehensive, while his aunt and uncle looked at him without expression. It was his mother and father who concerned Sirius most, though, they were both on their feet and looking at him with suspicion and not a little disappointment. Sirius's father and mother were both quite old already, he thought they looked like they should be grandparents by now, instead of their eldest child only being eleven. His mother, he secretly thought, looked like a wrinkly old hag, but his father looked quite a bit younger, though still pretty old. He had black hair liberally infused with gray, but his shoulders were still broad and his frame was burly. His brother Rigel was over twenty years younger than him, but Rigel's children were older, Andromeda was a sixth year at Hogwarts now. However, it was Rigel who was the exception and not Sirius's father, since Blacks tended to have a habit of marrying late for some reason that Sirius didn't care about.
"Sit," his father commanded, pointing to a high-backed chair close to the door. Sirius sat. Then his father began to pace up and down the room in front of him, while his mother just stood there and looked at him, every once in a while shaking her head. Sirius wished they would just get on with it, every was staring at him and making him feel like some animal in a cage at the zoo. He knew that if he interrupted his father's little display by saying anything, though, he would only get angry and make things worse. So he kept his mouth shut and started fiddling with a loose thread on his robe.
Finally, after pacing for a few more minutes, his father turned to him and spoke. "So," he began, "this-" he indicated Sirius's Gryffindor school robes with a disdainful wave of his hand, "this is the path you have chosen."
Not knowing what to say to that, Sirius only nodded. It proved, however, to be the wrong thing to do, as his mother made some sort of hissing sound, and his father puffed himself up and stared hard at his son. "So, you agree with that wretched Sorting Hat, do you?" his father demanded. Before Sirius could say anything in his defense, however, his father continued, "You, and her-" he pointed accusingly at Andromeda, who hid her face behind her book, "you two are walking on very thin ice, do you understand me? This family has worked very hard to keep it's blood pure and untainted, unsullied by lesser magic, and those without any magic at all!" He turned to glare at Andromeda as he said this, who had come under even greater suspicion since it became known that she was taking Muggle Studies at Hogwarts. Her forehead had gone red behind her book.
"But you!" Sirius's father rounded back on him. "You have a greater responsibility than her, since you will always carry the name of Black. It has chanced to fall on yourself and your brother to carry on the family line, and I intend to see to it that you do so in a manner that pleases us. By associating yourself with those, those Gryffindors-" he said the name like it was a curse word as he indicated Sirius's robes again with a wave of disgust, "you have seriously jeopardized your chances of maintaining the pure-bloodedness of our family name!" Sirius sighed to himself, he had already heard a lot of this from his mother's Howler earlier that year. He had hoped they would have come up with new lecture material by now, but obviously not.
And his father was far from finished. He ranted on for several more minutes, all about how, now that Sirius was associating with Gryffindors on a regular basis, he would become more and more corrupted, and how he had seriously hampered his chances to become friends with the Slytherins, and how none of the Slytherin girls would want to marry him now, and there were too few pure blooded families in the other Houses, and they were all corrupt anyway... The lecture went on and on, and Sirius's attention started to drift, though he managed to keep his eyes from glazing over in boredom. He was hungry and tired, and wanted nothing more than for this night to be over with.
Sirius was distracted from listening to his stomach rumble when his father pointed at Regulus. "It may very well fall to your younger brother to be our salvation now, since you have placed yourself in that, that...den of lions, and I don't see how you can get back out again unscathed, or that you would even want to!" Sirius was momentarily taken aback by his father's choice of words. The old man had never waxed metaphorical before. But then his father continued, "Salazar Slytherin have mercy on us if Regulus fails to enter his noble House, our last hope!" He had raised his hands to the ceiling as he said this, like he was saying a prayer or something, and his wife nodded enthusiastically and clapped her hands together in her own prayer-like attitude. Seeing this, Regulus jumped to his feet and said, his face shining with eagerness, "You can count on me, father and mother! I will not let you down!" He turned a sanctimonious stare on Sirius as he finished his 'moving' little declaration.
Sirius, however, had been moved to nothing but scorn for the lot of them. He laughed out loud, which earned him a dirty look from all present, save Andromeda, who was still hidden behind her book. Sirius's mother, who had remained silent thus far, walked over to him and stared down her nose at her wayward son. "You have something you want to say, Sirius?" she demanded, and the boy did not fail to notice the emphasis on his name. She had always addressed him as 'my son' before now. Sirius, however, did not really care.
"Well, it just seems to me that you have no cause to worry about our high and mighty family name anyway, since you still have one good little puppet to serve you," he said scornfully.
Sirius's mother drew her arm back suddenly, then smack!, she had slapped him as hard as she could across the face. He was knocked out of his chair and onto the floor, where he sat rubbing his stinging face and staring up at his mother in shock. She had never hit him like that before, and certainly never that hard. Nobody said anything for a moment, they all appeared as shocked as he was. Even his mother was looking somewhat like she couldn't believe what she had just done.
His father recovered first. He broke the deafening silence by saying, as he walked over to where Sirius was sitting on the floor, "Well, that serves you right, boy. I will not have you scorning your brother, at least he still remembers where his priorities lie." He grabbed Sirius by the arm and pulled him to his feet. "There will be no dinner for you tonight. Go to your room!"
Sirius was only too happy to obey. Satisfying his rumbling stomach was not worth having to put up with any more of this. Without a backward glance, he marched up to his room and slammed the door behind him as hard as he dared. He plopped onto his bed and stared angrily at the ceiling for several long minutes.
After a while, Sirius began to calm down a little. That whole scene really hadn't gone as bad as he had thought it might. Sure, it had been humiliating, and not a little annoying to have to put up with his parent's ranting, but the whole thing hadn't taken more than an hour. Sirius had been afraid it would go on all night, he remembered that Andromeda had been yelled at by her parents for three hours in her first year. She hadn't given them any cheek, though, like he had done. Well, he was willing to trade a slap on the face and an empty stomach for a two hour reprieve from his parent's lecture, no question. And maybe he could sneak downstairs later and get some food, as long as Kreacher didn't catch him. The house elf had never really liked Sirius, even before his parents decided to hate him, and though he still did what Sirius asked him too, he had never lost an opportunity to say something mean to him, or to make his life more difficult in some way or another. Just like everyone else around here, Sirius thought bitterly.
Deciding that the night was wasted anyway, he got up, changed into his pajamas, and climbed back into bed. He snuggled under his covers, relieved to find that his bed was as cozy and warm as he remembered. At least some things hadn't changed.
Sirius sighed heavily as he tried to get to sleep. He was already looking forward to the end of the Holidays, when he could get back to school and his friends. He knew that, now that he had been sorted into Gryffindor, things would never be the same between him and his family again. Always before, he had never dared to openly challenge his parents and relatives and their views, though he had never told them that he agreed with them either, like Regulus had. Sirius had simply kept his head down, believed the things he wanted and silently dismissed the rest as ignorant prejudice, and had basically been ignored, or treated with contempt as an ignorant simpleton, by all and sundry.
But he knew all that had changed from the instant the Hat had shouted out his new House, and his Syltherin cousins had given him poisonous looks, while the Gryffindors had clapped rather unenthusiastically to welcome him into their midst. Most of them had recognized his name, and had wondered what he was doing there among them. But at least his fellow first-year boys had accepted him, and he finally had real friends that he felt like he had something in common with. But he had at last shown his true colors, red and gold instead of green and silver, and now there was no going back.
Sirius knew that it meant that he would not be ignored as much as before, because everyone would be watching him suspiciously, to see how many of those 'Gryffindor tendencies' he would exhibit. It was going to make his Holidays unbearable, just like he had known it would. Lying in the dark, Sirius vowed that he would not say or do anything that would make his parents not want to send him back to Hogwarts, for he felt that he would go mad if they made him stay at home instead.
He only hoped he would be able to keep his promise.