HELLO! This round is about ghosts and portraits :) My character was Walburga Black, Sirius' mother, who is only appearing as a (rather ill-tempered) portrait in the series.

Prompts:

(word) confined

(dialogue) "Please tell me you're being ironic."

(song) 'Forever Young' by Jay-Z ft. Mr Hudson

Enjoy :D

Life Choices

The sun shone through the glass of my windows, as I sat on the wide, cushioned window sill and look out onto the dark grey street. It was weird that although the light was so bright and friendly, something could still have an air of sadness and isolation to it. The dull sounds of sirens that could be heard even through the heavy protection bubble placed over our house didn't make the scene more inviting either.

The Muggles were at war and even though my parents kept saying it would be best that they just killed each other off, I couldn't keep my thoughts from going out to all of the children that may just have lost a parent. Muggles were filthy and vile creatures that deserved to have their stupidity be the reason of their demise, but they were living beings nevertheless. I didn't particularly like Centaurs either, but that didn't mean I wanted them all to die.

I thought the world had to have those creatures live in it in order to sustain a balance. Wars were threatening that balance and thus threatening the world. It didn't matter which creatures died, just how much did. Don't get me wrong, I knew that we would all be better off if the Muggles reduced their numbers, so that they wouldn't threat our existence any longer! It was just difficult to see joy in such terror.

I sighed as I blinked at the bright sun lighting up my room in the first storey. If you ignored what was going on in the world, it was a pretty nice day. I wanted it to last. I wanted to stay in this exact moment, enjoy being alive for once. I didn't want my responsibilities catch up with me. I didn't want to fear walking out of this room and into the middle of a discussion between my parents about what the right time would be for Orion to take me as his wedded wife.

I groaned and let my head sink into me arms that were folded over my knees. I didn't like Orion Black. He was a few years younger than me and behaved like it. His parents and my parents had signed a contract after my birth that I was to marry their first born son, and fate had it that fourteen years after having their daughter, Melania gave birth to a boy – Orion Back, my cousin. Well, not directly my cousin, but you get my drift. We were related and that was all that counted. But, being a proud pureblooded witch, it was my duty to act accordingly and marry a pureblooded wizard. I knew that. I grew up with being told that, once I was old enough, I'd have to marry him and have at least one son that could be the heir to the Black family.

I never made a fuss about it. At first I found it a bit weird to marry my cousin, but it's been done for generations in my family, so it wasn't all that strange after all. The only thing I did regret was that my life was set out for me. I didn't have to make any decisions regarding my future. Those decisions had all already been made for me after my birth. With my future life engraved in stone, I hadn't had the chance to be free for once. I hadn't had the chance to live!

When I'd have children, I wouldn't be able to tell them stories about my life. I wouldn't be able to talk about the mistakes I'd made, the things I'd enjoyed the most or the things I'd love to repeat. I'd always wanted to have the chance of an exciting life, no matter how long, or a long life with loads of chances of doing things I wanted to. Not because someone told me to do them, but because I alone had made the decision to act. But I'd never get that chance of a life like that. It had taken some time, but I have come to accept it. There wasn't anything I could do about it anyway, was there?

At first, I was upset. Well, I was more than upset. I didn't understand why I couldn't have control over my own life, but getting older, I'd learnt a lot about responsibilities and duty. With that understanding, I felt like I had lost some of my innocence as well. My parents looked at me differently; they looked at me with some sort of pride, and I knew that if I wanted to keep that look on their faces, I'd have to live a life they wanted me to live, not a life that I wanted to live. With each year leading up to my marriage ceremony that feeling got stronger and I gave up hope of ever really being myself.

A soft knock at my door pulled me out of my depressed thoughts and I turned around to see my brother stand in the doorway, smirking at me.

"Cygnus," I nodded at him and turned back towards my window, gazing onto the cold, grey street.

"What are you looking at, sister?"

Cygnus was my youngest brother and he was really annoying. Even with just ten years, he was walking around the house as if he was better than everybody else, being especially mean to my other brother, Alphard, who would inherit both the house and most of the Black family fortune once my parents had died. He didn't like it, but he couldn't change it. Yet, he was too young to fully understand and accept it.

"Muggles."

"Muggles?" My brother asked, his tone full of disgust. His young face grimaced, as if he was smelling something foul, as he took hurried steps towards me.

"Where is Alphard?" Ignoring his question, I turned towards him, my expression cold and impassive. I didn't like my smallest brother, but neither did he like me, so it was mutual.

"How should I know?" Cygnus scoffed and glared at me, as if I had just thrown the worst insult at him, which was, according to him, probably the case. "Probably sulking in his room like always. Mother and father want him to start his official courtship of Anora Yaxley and he isn't particularly happy about it."

"Well, would you be happy about having to court a Yaxley? They are vile people. They don't even look good." I scoffed and raised my nose a bit higher. At least my future fiancé, although he was still around eleven years old at this moment, would at least look acceptable.

"At least they have money and influence, Walburga. There're more important things than looks."

"Do you think I don't know that, brother? But couldn't father have found someone more fitting for him? There are more families of pure blood and influence out there than just the Blacks, Yaxleys and Rosiers." I raised a delicate eyebrow and looked at my ignorant brother. "Well?"

He glared at me. "I could care less about who I will end up married to and both of you should do the same!"

I laughed humourlessly. "Why, of course, you wouldn't care. You already know you'll marry Druella Rosier and both of us know that that family has good genes, so why would you bother to pity your own brother?"

Without saying another word, Cygnus spat onto the floor in front of my window, shot me another death glare and marched out of my room.

"Disgusting!" I cried and suppressed a shudder. "He doesn't have any manners that are according to a true Black! Blinky!"

A soft plop echoed through the room as the head elf appeared in front of me, bowing as low as she could.

"Blinky is at your service, Mistress Walburga."

"Blinky, I want that spit removed from my floor. Now." I pointed at the small puddle on my wooden floor, disgusted. I turned away from the elf and looked back out of the window.

"Blinky will do so immediately, Mistress."

I ignored the elf as she charmed the remains of my filthy brother away and left.

A Muggle woman, clad in a light summer coat was dragging a struggling boy over the street. I smirked. Muggles were everywhere. They even lived right next to us, but never had one ever known that fact. Not one pitiful creature had ever wondered why the number twelve was missing in the old row of houses they were living in. Not that it was confined knowledge. All of the families mine liked to mingle with on a few occasions knew where our home was and were also able to see it. I figured the brains of the Muggles were working differently. Mother had always told me and my siblings that Muggles were more like creatures than human beings. Not seeing things that were clearly there, sometimes right in front of their filthy noses; not believing things even if they witnessed it in person...

I scoffed. Muggles were sad creatures and you could only pity them. I didn't understand how some, formerly, well respected wizard families had bred with that filth! Even talking to them without getting the itch to curse them was difficult enough for me. I wouldn't even touch them if my life depended on it!

The creaking of my floorboards once again ripped me out of my amusement. I suppressed a hiss and closed my eyes.

"Get out of my room this instant, Cygnus, or I will tell father what you said about his heir!"

"What did Cygnus say about me?"

My eyes opened wide as I whirled around and stared at Alphard, my other brother, who was leaning in the doorway, his handsome face wrinkled with confusion.

"Nothing of importance," I said hurriedly, got off of the window sill and walked over to my bed. The bedding was of the finest silk my mother had the elves get and I loved it very much.

"He told you what mother and father told me, didn't he?"

I blinked and looked up from the dark green material under my fingers. Alphard's hair was pushed behind his ears to keep it from falling into his eyes. He was frowning.

I sighed and nodded softly. "He did, yes."

"Did he also say that I had to pay my respects to her parents this Saturday?" His black eyebrows furrowed over his brown eyes as he watched me closely.

"No, that he did not tell me..."

My brother exhaled slowly and closed his eyes. His left hand was burrowed deep inside his pocket, the other was pinching the bridge of his nose. He was troubled.

"Are you alright, Alphard?" I asked tentatively and slowly moved over to his side. "You look pale."

"Is it bad for me to say that I don't want to marry her?"

I gasped. Hurriedly, I glanced out of my room, down the corridor. No-one was in sight. I grabbed my brother's arm and quickly pulled him inside, closing the door behind him.

"Are you insane? You cannot say something like that with people listening!"

He had the decency to look ashamed.

"What are you on about?" I asked him seriously, pulling him back onto my bed. "What do you mean you don't want to marry her? You don't have a say in this, Alphard! You two are engaged via a magical contract that's been signed after your birth! This isn't something you can just get out of because you don't feel like it."

My voice had turned into a soft hiss as I grabbed his arms and knelt before him. His light brown eyes were glistening in a very un-Black-like manner. I swallowed and took a deep breath. This wasn't right.

"What makes you say that you don't want to do what our parents tell you to do?"

Alphard sniffled softly and rubbed his eyes with his hand. "I just can't court her, Wal. I just can't."

My gaze softened as I saw my little brother like that. He was only a year younger than me. Some people might even say he was still a child.

In pureblood tradition, the courtship of a witch had to take place over three years. Sending the promised witch letters, getting to know her, giving her small presents of importance, going on short walks with a chaperone by their side... By the time those three years were over, the wizard would be seventeen, the witch sixteen years old. Then the wedding preparations would start, closely followed by the wedding itself.

My brother had reached his fourteenth year last week, so, in my parents' opinion, it was time for him to officially start the courtship and really get to know his future wife.

"What if I just won't do it? What if I refuse to court her?"

I blinked and stared at his determined face. "Please tell me you're being ironic."

"Why? Seriously, Wal, what could mother and father do to me if I refused? They can't make me! It's my life after all."

I took a deep breath and tried to stay calm. "I will tell you what father would do, Al. He would disown you. Mother would then grab her wand and burn you out of the tapestry. You'd be shunned and would never be allowed back into our house. I would not be allowed to stay in contact with you. It would be as if you'd never have existed."

Alphard lowered his head and stared at his hands. He knew I was right. He knew that given the slightest notice of doubt, my parents would disown him.

Defeated, he shook his head.

"I just can't." His voice was soft, barely louder than a whisper.

My hands began to slowly rub his arms. "But why?" I asked, just as quietly. "You have to have a reason for this."

Silence followed my question, but I waited patiently. I knew my brother. I knew he needed some time to sort through his confused thoughts and get a clear head.

"It doesn't matter now, does it?" He asked dejectedly, pushed my arms away and stood up. He looked everywhere but towards me. His eyes were red and glistening, but he was doing his best to keep me from seeing him like this. "Mother and father wouldn't let me live it through, even if I told anyone," and with that muttered response, my brother hurried out of the room, through the hallway, down the stairs and onto the street outside.

I could see him walk away from our home, away from me and away from his life.

*~*Life Choices*~*

"SHUT UP, YOU STUPID HAG!"

A rip, and I was swallowed in darkness again.

I guessed life had come to this. It didn't matter whether you tried to defy your definite future like my brother or if you just swallowed all of your feelings and did what you were told to. If I thought back now, I wouldn't have done anything different. I wouldn't have told my parents I didn't like Orion, I wouldn't have held my brother back as he left our family behind...

Only one thing I would have done differently, I thought gravely as I heard someone knock over the umbrella stand that had been in the family for ages, giving me indirect permission to take back what was rightfully mine, as the curtain in front of me ripped back open to reveal what had become of my family.

I would have made sure to have a closer eye on my good-for-nothing son Sirius Black.

I hope you liked it! The names (except for Anora Yaxley) are all taken from a family tree of the Black family I found on Google. The relations are also taken from said family tree.

As always, tell me what you think! And what do you think happened to Alphard? I like him :) So, leave a comment! I love reading and answering them.

Word count: 2603

Until next time - see ya!