Burned too Deep
Chapter One
The sun was shining bright, quite unusually for a September morning. It was September 1st 1975 and Sirius Black was awakened to the sound of his house elf, Kreature, breathing heavily right next to his ear.
"Merlin, Kreature!" Sirius barked from under his pillow, jumping at the sight of the ugly, dirty elf next to him. He rolled out of bed (which was hardly a victory as his old bed almost bent to the floor anyway) and stretched tall, fingertips brushing the top of the ceiling and his feet almost sinking into the sagging carpet floor. He grunted, running his finger through his hair, a habit he had picked up from his best friend, James Potter, who had described it as a tactic to 'drive the girls wild'. Sirius smiled at the memory, shaking out his hair into its normal parting.
"Master, my Mistress has been calling for you." Kreature grimaced as he addressed Sirius, something he had taken to doing ever since Sirius' first year at Hogwarts. Sirius didn't know why, but he suspected it was to do with the fact he had been sorted into Gryffindor, not Slytherin.
"I heard her. I'm coming." Sirius muttered his voice croaky. With a snap Kreature had vanished from the room, apparating into thin air. Sirius muttered under his breath a series of profanities, sauntering over to his chest of drawers and pulling out anything to wear. His Hogwarts trunk was thrown open at the side, and he hastily began throwing last minutes items into it that he would need. His room was almost empty once he was done, apart from the torn posters and rumpled bedspread and battered furniture it needed to look homely.
Giving his bedroom a final once over, he nodded and slammed his trunk shut, grabbing it by the sides to throw it downstairs. He only had about one more year left until he could use magic outside of school, and as he heaved his trunk along the corridor, bashing it into walls, he decided: he couldn't fucking wait.
Sirius clunked into the kitchen after his brother, and grabbed a seat next to the open hearth fire. A meal of cold porridge and sugar was set in front of him and he wolfed it down greedily, barely tasting the vile food he was so hungry and so desperate to leave.
It had been a long and boring summer. James had been away with his wealthy parents for most of it to a hot island somewhere far, far away from Sirius. Lupin had been recovering from his 'monthly happenings' as he still wasn't used to it, and had barred practically everyone from seeing him in a state of not-near-perfectness and calmness. Peter, Sirius hadn't heard from him all summer, not that Sirius minded. Peter wasn't someone he considered his 'friend', but he was sometimes fun to have around, especially for lookout when the gang were up to mischief. And apart from them three, who else was there to go around with? He had no muggle friends, and hadn't even before he had attended Hogwarts, it had simply been frowned upon by his mother all his miserable childhood. To be honest, the only people Sirius had seen this summer had been the girls he had gotten with on rare and random nights out when boredom got too much. He was happy to be going back to Hogwarts.
Lost in his own thoughts, Sirius was brought back to Earth when he mother began addressing him. "Have you packed everything, Sirius?"
"Yes, of course." He answered mutely, not lifting his eyes to look at her.
"Look at me when I'm talking to you." Dutifully, Sirius raised his eyes to his mother. She was an extremely slim, scathing woman, with crow-black hair tied in a bird's nest on top of her head. Her eyes were piercing and a deep green, set far back into her gaunt white face. She wasn't smiling; she never smiled.
"I won't be taking you to the station. Kreature will be, I have work to do."
"I assumed that would be the case, as it is every year." Sirius drawled, eyes not blinking as they stared at her. A sudden slap spun through the air at him and he was sure he felt the force of it before it actually hit him.
"Don't you dare talk back to me." his mother hissed, her hand still hovering inches from his face. Sirius said nothing, and instead kept his gaze solidly on her. His eyes showed no fear, but his pulse rate had increased. Another slap reined in from the other side, her long nails scratching down his cheek on his right side. Unintentially, Sirius twitched, and Walburga smiled. The sign that he had given in. That's what made her stop. Sirius never usually let it happen.
"Regulus, make sure Sirius behaves."
"Yes, mother." Regulus nodded and his mother swept from the room, dragging coldness out with her.
Regulus smiled at Sirius. Unusually, they had a quite strong brotherhood, despite the amount of affection their mother only rained down on one of them. Sirius chuckled and rubbed a gruff hand on the cheek that the nails had bit in to. Small amounts of blood dotted his skin, and he rubbed it absentmindedly, ignoring the sharp sting of pain.
"Kreature," Regulus demanded, "Fix Sirius' face, will you?"
Kreature limped over hesitantly, glaring in the direction of Sirius, but making his way there all the same. "It would take an unlawful amount of magic to fix his face, Master." Kreature hissed under his breath and Regulus laughed, but Sirius did not see the funny side to the disgusting house elf.
"Why doesn't he listen to me?" Sirius asked as Kreature cleaned up his face, the pain immediately disappearing.
"I wouldn't know. But I would bet my right ear it had something to do with your house and your muggle-born friends, though." Sirius grunted in response. Seemed simple enough to piss of his mother.
Regulus stood up and checked the clock in the kitchen. Ten to eleven on the first of September: they were going to be late if they didn't hurry. "Come on." Regulus prompted, snapping his fingers at Kreature, who quickly bowed and fled the room to retrieve the brothers' belongings. "Did you remember to collect your uniform?" Regulus asked, scrutinising Sirius' mismatching jeans and shirt effect. "Of course." Sirius scoffed, "what are you, my mother?"
"You better bloody hope not." Regulus smirked back.
"All set, Master." Kreature returned, empty handed but red faced. He reached out his hand to both Sirius and Regulus, offering them both to take it.
"Ready?" Regulus asked, taking a hold on Kreature's hand and watching Sirius do the same.
Ready? Sirius had been ready from the moment the summer had begun. He nodded, and took Kreature's hand too. There was a click, and the kitchen vanished in a haze of dizziness and confusion.
They ended up in a broom cupboard.
"Always in a fucking broom cupboard!" Sirius yelled as his foot was plunged into a bucket of cold soapy water. "Always! Can you not think to take up anywhere else? A toilet cubicle maybe? A wheelie bin? Anywhere would be better than this fucking broom cupboard – AGAIN."
"Kreature is sorry, Master." Kreature didn't look sorry. He looked like he was trying to hide a smirk. With his foot still stuck, Sirius wrapped his hand around Kreature's neck and held him up against the wall, squeezing his finger and thumb softly. "Kreature said he was sorry Master, so very sorry…"
"You will be sorry if you don't say that with some meaning!"
"Sirius." Regulus' voice cut through his anger, "we need to hurry. The train will be leaving soon."
Glowering, Sirius dropped Kreature. The house elf sniggered and disappeared once more. Clutching their suitcases, which Kreature had dropped off separately, Regulus opened the cupboard door onto the bustling station of King's Cross. They grabbed a trolley each on threw their belongings onto it, glancing quickly at the large clock. Five minutes to go. They were miles away from Platform 9 and 10, so they would have to run if they were going to make it on time.
Sirius charged ahead, Regulus following, and for the first time, Sirius felt like the older brother. "Come on!" He yelled behind him, swerving through agitated conductors and muggles. He ran over a few feet, but he go to the platform on time. "You go first," Regulus said, and Sirius didn't need to be told twice. He was dying to see his friends again. Looking to both sides and seeing nobody suspicious, he charged into Platform 9's seemingly solid brick wall, emerging on the other side to a more noisy and crowded scene. Not bothering to check his brother made it through safely, Sirius stored his bags and climbed aboard the train, pushing past people to make his way to the Marauder's usual compartment.
James and Lupin were already there, casually chatting and kicking back. They smiled when they saw him, and James opened his arms in a hugging gesture. "Padfoot, I've missed you." He said, slapping Sirius on the back and shoving him down on the seat opposite. "Now, back to business." James smiled wryly. "Did you see what Lily was wearing? My god…"
"She's wearing denim shorts and a white vest top with flat ballet shoes. Nothing to get too excited over." Lupin whispered to Sirius, a smirk on his face. They all knew that James had a soft spot for Lily – if it was a soft spot at all. That seemed like the exact opposite of words that the gang would call James' affection for her.
"It's beautiful. She's beautiful. And those long, long legs…"
"Where's Wormtail?" Sirius asked, leaving James to ponder Lily's legs.
"Not a clue. Probably somewhere on the train right now." Lupin answered.
."Well he must be here. The train's leaving."
Suddenly, the compartment door opened and all three boys turned to it at once, Peter was there. Peter: a short, rotund boy with a mousy face and sticky-out ears shrunk against the door, eyes blinking madly. James was the first to address him, "sit down, Wormtail, you're making me nervous. We were discussing Lily's legs."
"I think you were the only one discussing Lily's legs, Prongs."
"Sorry, who's discussing my legs?" all four boy's heads whipped round to where Peter had been standing moments ago, where now a medium-sized redhead was standing, arms crossed over her flattering white vest top, which was indeed, beautiful to look at.
"Take one guess, Evans." Sirius grinned at her, taking in the view. Sure, she belonged to James, but it couldn't be bad if he just admired the view of his best friend's love of his life. And yes, those shorts did make her legs look oh so long.
Lily's eyes slowly trailed back to James, who was smiling lazily at her, acting cool, even though the other boys could tell that his heart was pounding a thousand times a second with her in his presence. "Stop talking about my legs, Potter, or you'll be without your eyes."
"That is a risk I am willing to take."
Lily sighed, turning to address Lupin instead, the only one of the bunch that didn't constantly infuriate her. "Do you mind if I and Severus sit in here, there's nowhere else?"
Immediately this was greeted with laughter from Sirius and James. "Snivellous? Sure he can sit with us." James took out his wand and began polishing it with the end of his t-shirt, eyes looking wicked.
"On second thoughts…" Lily left quickly, shaking her head to the boy outside. Severus.
"What the fuck does she see in him?" James asked the boys angrily, shoving his wand deep into the side of the train seat. Peter squeaked and moved a little further away from him, worried about being the person James took his anger out on.
"They're just friends," Lupin informed him calmly, raising his eyebrows over his tired-looking eyes, "she had no time for having a boyfriend, just becoming prefect and all."
"This is exactly why we should be together!"
"How does that even make sense?"
They continued to bicker whilst Sirius had turned his attention to the girl who had slid open to compartment door and was gazing in at them confidently. "Excuse me," she said with a slightly French accent, "do you mind if I sit in here, just everywhere else is full."
"Go right ahead." Sirius nodded, not taking his eyes off her. "They're too busy arguing to notice anyway. And he can't talk to girls." He said, pointing at Peter, who had shrunk closer to James now the girl had taken a seat next to him. Sirius wanted to laugh. Obviously, Peter was never going to get laid. "I'm Sirius. The nervous one who's sitting next to you is Peter, and the one with specs is called James. Then there's Remus." Lupin and James were still engaged in their discussion of Lily.
"Well, hello, I'm Elizabeth." The girl spoke slowly; the only word without an accent was her name.
"Elizabeth… That's a very English name." Sirius paused and raised his eyebrows, "seeing as you're French."
To this, Elizabeth raised her eyebrows back. "How do you know I am French?"
"The accent?"
"That would make sense. However, as I was born in England and moved to France before I knew how to speak, that would make me English. With an English name."
Sirius was at a loss for words, literally. This must have been the first time he couldn't think of a comeback. "…Fair enough then."
"Yes, it should be." She turned her head away from his, brushing her auburn hair around her shoulders. She didn't look French either. Probably because she wasn't French.
Her skin was ghostly pale as any English girl, but her glowered with a sort of life to it. Her auburn hair was in smooth waves down her back, but barely coming past her shoulder blades. She had a thick full fringe that brushed her eyelashes when she looked up. Her eyelashes matched her hair, and that made Sirius smile. It's something he'd never noticed before. Do people's eyelashes match their hair colour, or was it just her? He thought that James, Lupin or Peter would get pretty freaked if he just started intensely staring at their eyes right now though, so he thought it best to wait.
'Elizabeth' didn't suit her at all. Whoever came up with it must not have even looked at her when she was born. Her personality didn't seem like the sort of snobby bitches called Elizabeth that Sirius was used to meeting. No, she seemed way more sarcastic, alive, and darker than the name Elizabeth could grace.
"You know what?" Sirius whispered to her and she turned her head around slowly, her eyes narrowing.
"What?" she answered, drawling her words out. She seemed sick of him already.
"I'm going to call you Effy." With a smile, Sirius sat back in his chair and closed his eyes, thrusting his hands behind his head in arrogance.
Elizabeth sniffed, "what kind of weird name is that?"
Lazily, Sirius opened one eye to stare at her. "A kind of weird name like Sirius."
Effy surprised Sirius by giggling, "That's not a weird name," she murmured, "There's worse."
"Obviously, you haven't heard my mother's choice in names."
She giggled again, turning again, away from Sirius to look out the window. "How long until we get there?"
"A long time," Sirius answered, bemused at the fact that neither Lupin nor James had noticed there was a girl in here with them, too preoccupied from their squabbling. Peter had fallen asleep with his head hitting the compartment door every time the train moved. It seemed like a good idea. "And if you don't mind, I'm going to sleep, I've been up late every day this summer and I don't like to break a habit just because the summers ended." He barked a laugh just to show he was joking, and closed his eyes again, letting the insistent chatter of his friends lull him to sleep.
R&R and I might do the same for you.
Suggestions, critiques, anything?
