Chapter One: Motherhood

"Women are aristocrats, and it is always the mother who makes us feel that we belong to the better sort." -John Lancaster Spalding

"Come on boys, we have to get to the dinner," Walburga Black instructed her two boys from the gaping doorway. Her husband, Orion Black, had been invited along with the rest of the family to a Minister of magic coronation. The previous Minister, Nobby Leach, had been a very progressive wizarding leader. This is why Walburga was happy to see him out of office. He had not fulfilled his duty to support a pure-blood community in an increasingly muggle world. Luckily, the wizard Orion campaigned for had been elected to office.

Earnesto Villar, a high-ranking pure-blood from Spain, had dazzled England's wizarding community with his promise to maintain order and security without the high cost of too many alterations in society. After being chosen to replace Leach he had promised to throw a coronation dinner for all his supporters. Her family had been preparing all day for this dinner, Orion had been preparing all year.

Walburga reflected idly on her husband's ability to make an impression with the right people. Tonight he was dressed in black silk robes with a fringe of gold around the sleeves. The taste level was perfection. He would neither outshine the new minister, nor misrepresent the wealth of his family.

Hopefully her dress robes and Orion's would not juxtapose. Unlike her husband, she preferred to dress maturely. Orion could afford to dress like a dashing young wizard; she had to uphold the reputation of sophistication with age. A long time ago, when she had attended the coronation of Angela Spavin with her fiancée—now husband—she had worn a low cut and shimmery gown designed to showcase both her body and evolution as a woman. She had neither the liberty nor the body to wear such a beautiful piece today.

"Mother," her younger, darling, son tugged on the fabric around her thigh, "Will we see Bella and Cissy at the corn-in-ation?"

"Coronation," she corrected sharply, softening when she saw him worry around the eyes, "Yes, your cousins will be sitting at our table."

"What about Andromeda?" Her older son asked, positioned confidently.

Walburga surveyed her son for a moment; she was wondering what had gone wrong. He was as handsome as his father and brother, and as intelligent, but his attitude was unfortunate. Just last weekend she had been explaining to her close friend and cousin, Araminta Meliflua, how badly her nine-year-old son had turned out. Araminta had touched her shoulder consolingly, "He has all the right ingredients to make you a proud mother. You won't know if he is doomed to fail until he reaches Hogwarts. He is a Black, after all, so give him more time before casting your judgment."

Sirius stood about four and a half feet high with cropped short hair. One of the house-elves had taught him to cut it on his own with scissors and he had taken advantage of that knowledge. Walburga preferred her son to have longer locks to show off the thick brown hair that all the Black's were notorious for. It was as if he had intentionally sabotaged her by trimming it unfashionably short.

A startlingly picture of sober civility, he had picked out his shabbiest set of robes and stood, calmly before her, asking if he would see his most troublesome cousin.

"Andromeda has been grounded by her parents for disobedience." Besides all her childish household pranks, Andromeda had committed the greatest of all possible errors and had been admitted into Gryffindor instead of Slytherin like her dutiful sisters. She was sort of a family pariah; disregarded by her own dear mother and father. "She will not be attending the coronation."

"Then I don't want to go," Sirius stated simply.

"No! Come, Sirius, please?" Regulus pleaded. Her youngest son had a deep affection for his brother that couldn't be diminished by his deviant behavior.

"It is just a stupid formality. Mother wants us to come so she can show off her two well behaved sons. As I do not qualify as well behaved I should stay home. Both mother and I will benefit from that decision." Sirius slipped his hands into his pockets, cocking his eyebrows at her.

Walburga scowled, turning to locate her husband. "Orion, your son suggests that we leave him at home."

"Unacceptable. I want both my sons to meet and converse with the minister. Villar might want to hire them someday for a position in the ministry," Orion appeared behind her, placing a firm hand on her lower back. She sank into his weight, safe in the feeling that he was here to control the situation. Despite this trend of disrespect, Sirius seemed to bear the authority of his father. He at least acknowledged the superiority of Orion's position. "You will come, and you will behave like the well-bred young wizard you are, do you understand me?"

"Yes, father," Sirius was sullen.

Walburga glanced up in time to see Orion giving their oldest son a disdainful once over, "We are going to be late, because Sirius is going to have to change into something more appropriate." As Sirius began to move rigidly toward the stairs Orion cleared his throat, "Hold still a moment boy, I am not through with you." He unsheathed his wand and flicked it.

Sirius's head streamed glossy brown in a waterfall of hair that hung past his ears. He fingered it in horror, apparently recognizing himself thwarted. Walburga smiled; she did not need to show off his attitude tonight, just his princely looks.

Approximately fourteen and 1/5 kilometers away from The Black Residence on Grimmauld place, the Coronation was beginning and the Potters had taken their seat at the table. William Potter and his wife, Rebecca Potter, had supported the new minister with a great sum of money during the campaign. They had subsequently been placed at a table towards the middle of the stage. Normally the Potters would not be involved in politics, but it had been a strange year for the bank and it was in William's best interest to support the candidate who was least likely to revolutionize the entire banking process.

Their only son, James, had dressed himself up as if he were twice his age. Rebecca glanced over at him with pride. In March, on his birthday, James had been given a multitude of presents. He evidently favored a chunky gold watch that his Grandfather had passed down to him. Tonight, it peeked out of the sleeves of his robes, glittering obstinately in the flickering torch light.

"You look so handsome," she informed him, "You must be the handsomest boy in the whole room."

Her son blushed, smiling at her, "You're obligated to say that."

"No!" Rebecca crossed her heart, "I'm obligated to say that to your father. Calling you handsome is a statement of fact." She leaned forward and kissed him on both baby-soft cheeks.

"Hey, where is my love? I'm the one that scored us these great seats," William argued, "All he did was show up here with us."

"I suppose you do get some kisses," Rebecca mused, "You did help raise this handsome and intelligent boy."

"'Help raise' you say! I raised him almost entirely on my own. Who taught him to do arithmetic and summoning spells…" William stopped, his face frozen in trepidation.

Both Rebecca and James laughed, and Rebecca leaned forward to kiss him straight on, "Don't think you're revealing some big secret. There are only three of us in the house and I certainly didn't teach our son how to zoom breakable objects around the living room."

Her husband stuck out his tongue.

"EARNESTO, is this your wife? I don't think we've been introduced!" The three Potters turned their heads towards the group near the stage.

"Walburga and Orion are here," Rebecca pointed out. "Oh, and there are their sons. I don't see anything wrong with her oldest, the way she's been talking about him you'd think he was an invalid."

"Yes well, we won't see much of them tonight." Her husband winced; Orion had just let out a booming laugh.

"What are you talking about?" Rebecca waved her wand at the table cards until they stood straight in a line, "We're sitting at the Black Family Table. Don't you remember me telling you about the conversation I had with Walburga and Araminta the other day? They were 'ecstatic' to meet my family at the coronation."

"Oh, right, the school board meetings."

"I'm not part of the school board, Will, I'm part of the 'concerned mother committee'. Mostly I joined to make sure that Araminta doesn't ban books containing references to Muggle literature, you know that."

"Hmph," He yawned.

"Dad just doesn't like you spending time with other people. He wants you all to himself," James stuck his chin in his cupped hands, wrinkling his nose at the both of them.

"I always knew you were a smart one." William leaned over and ruffled his hair.

"Well anyway, I'm curious to meet Walburga's older son. She talks about him like he's a madman. You know that whatever Walburga considers mad has to be a good thing."

Her husband slid his arm around the back of her chair, "Fortify yourselves family, Walburga and her sons' are on the move."

"Rebecca, William, you made it," Walburga was approaching, circling the table like a shark with bun of brown hair as rigid as a fin straddling her skull. James rose and held out his hand, intercepting her. "And who is this? Oh! Is this your son? I have heard many wonderful things about you from your mother."

James shook her hand and bowed slightly, "Mom has said many wonderful things about you as well. It is a pleasure to finally meet you." He gazed calmly into her cool blue eyes.

Walburga was a stately woman, with a defined and handsome face. It was impassive of emotions, but she liked to overact in order to give the impression of the emotions her face did not show, "I am delighted! What a polite boy you are, very well raised. You should meet my son Sirius and give him some instructions." Her laugh was cool and smooth as she side-stepped him to greet his parents.

James snorted quietly and turned to the two boys behind her. They were around the same height, a tiny bit taller than him. The older one was frowning pointedly and holding himself upright like a flagpole. The younger was curious and a bit eager looking. His attention was directed elsewhere. Before James could hold out his hand in greeting, he had jolted suddenly, exclaimed: "Cissy and Bella!" and run towards the door.

The first brother did not even turn to look in his brother's direction. "Name's Sirius. Nice to meet you," he said, unconvincingly.

"Nice to meet you," James cheered, extending his hand, "I'm James Potter! I'm sure your mum has talked about me."

Now he had his full attention. A smile skated across Sirius's face like the dance of a lightning bolt before disappearing, "If I listened to my mother I might be able to confirm that. As I do not, you can be assured that I have no idea who you are outside of your declaration."

James laughed, "Well then I should have told you I was Earnesto Villar, maybe you would have been impressed to meet the Minister."

"Hah, indubitably." He took a hand and ran it through his hair, relaxing from his steely stance. "Unfortunately for you, I have already been introduced to Earnesto Villar, so I would have been confused rather than impressed. Since I have heard many adjectives ascribed to this minister over the previous weeks, none of which were: short or young, I would have had to disregard your introduction as delusional."

James dropped his hand down to a low five, "Nicely put."

Sirius cocked his eyebrows at the hand and glanced upwards, genuinely befuddled. "What do you want?"

"A low five? You know; like the muggles do after their sports victories?"

"I haven't been exposed to anything…muggle." Sirius ran a hand through his hair again, "Are you sure your parents are friends with my parents?"

"Not exactly," James admitted in a whisper, "But I hope that doesn't mean we can't be friends. You're my age, right?"

"I don't know, I can't just estimate age by looking at a person," Sirius pointed out incredulously, whispering also. He had leaned in, flabbergasted and intrigued by the character of this new acquaintance. "I'm nine, how old are you?"

"Nine!" James held out his hand again, but dropped it when he received the same original reaction, "Here I'll show you how to give a low-five. You hold out your hand."

Sirius pulled his hand out of his pocket with increasing hesitation, his eyes narrowing with concentration. Suddenly James smacked down.

*SMACK*.

"OW! WHAT'D YOU DO THAT FOR?" Sirius jumped forward and grabbed the collar of James's robe, his throbbing hand curled in a fist.

"Shhh," James put his finger up to his lips, motioning with wide-eyes to the conversing parents. "That's how you do it! Here you can try with me!"

James held out his hand as Sirius dropped the Robe collar. It was at this point that Sirius grinned evilly.

*SMACK*

James held his tingling hand up to eye level, an astounded look on his face. The silence stretched on for an uncomfortably long time and Sirius tensed up for a fight.

Then James exploded.

"THAT WAS A BLOODY BRILLANT LOW FIVE! You nearly took my hand off!"

"You're insane," Sirius whispered, smiling despite it. Then his smile deepened, "Low five?"