This story is written for The House Competition by Moonlight Forgotten (Year 2).
Round 5
House: Gryffindor
Year: 4
Short Story
Prompt: Grey
Words: 624
Sirius Black looked at the grey cattle in apartment. The first thing that always came to his mind when thinking about the color grey was his father, Orion Black. Grey was his father's favorite color. His father had various elegant robes in grey that he used to love flaunting around. His father also had a grey watch that he always wore with his grey robes. His father's briefcase, bags and money pouch were all in grey too.
Sirius didn't hate his father as much as his mother. Orion held by the Black family believes but he wasn't as fanatical as Walburga. However, he was a timid, submissive person, very unlike Sirius himself and very like Regulus. His father always agreed with everything his mother said or did because he was afraid of earning her wrath by disagreeing or opposing her. Sirius used to be punished by his mother with outrageous punishment that even included Crucio. He knew his father didn't approve of most of those punishments, particularly Crucio, but he would never dare speak up to Walburga. At times, he made a timid protest to her outrageous punishments, but would back down the moment she cut him off or glared him.
The one time his father managed to calm his mother down was when he calmed her down about him being sorted into Gryffindor. Regulus had told Sirius that their father had not been happy about her burning him off the tree and wanted to head over to the Potter's to ask him to come back. Their mother would not have any of it. His father did visit him once and try to appeal to him, but Sirius would not have any of it because he felt his father only wanted a fantasy version of him that agreed with his believes and that too because his other son was dead.
Two days ago, Sirius had revived news that his father had passed away. It was only months after Regulus died. Oddly, this left Sirius with a heavy heart despise him claim of hating his whole family. He knew his father had been depressed after Regulus' death and this probably led to his death. Sirius now felt guilty for completely turning his father away. Could he have prevented his father's death if he didn't turn him away? He may not have liked his father, but he never wished death upon him. His guilt was increased when he found out that his father left him the family home, Grimmauld Place. Sirius could kick his mother out, but he chose not to stoop to that level and let his mother be. He had no interest in living in Grimmauld Place anyways.
But Sirius would tell himself that he had no choice but to turn his father away. His father was the lesser of two evils compared to his mother, but he still did hold prejudiced believes. His father may not have been as bad as his mother, but he was not a good person either. He didn't believe in murder, but he had nothing against Dark Arts and torturing people with Crucio, with his only objection being Crucio used on his own sons. He wasn't that prejudiced against half-bloods unlike Walburga, but he was prejudiced against muggle-borns and supported the idea of them being ostracized, even if not murdered. Sirius spent his childhood and early teens wondering if his father was good or bad, but now he came to the realization that not everyone can be viewed in black and white terms. Everyone had light and dark in them. As Sirius shed a few tears, he realized that father was neither black nor while. His father was grey just like his favorite color. A dark grey, perhaps.