Hello lovely readers of the fanfiction world!
I just started writing again, after like a year of a hiatus and I know I have other stories that I've kinda just abandoned, I may finish them or I may just let them be because I don't know if I'm able to finish them, y'know?
Anywhos, I haven't attempted a Harry Potter story since my first one, What's Happening to Us, which was a bit of a train wreck in my humble opinion, but I'm kinda basing this off of that, like I'll be using characters from that story in this one but reading my other story is not necessary in order to understand this one. If you have read the other one, great! If not, awesome! If you're going to, be warned that it starts really awfully but progressively improves with each chapter as I improved as a writer. Yeah.
Anyways, this is little prologue here is to give you guys background on what is to come, so yeah. I hope you enjoy! Also, I am obviously not JK Rowling. I do not own any of the canon characters and what-not, you know the deal.
-Prologue-
"Sirius Orion Black!"
The harsh shrill of the boy's mother's voice screeched it's way up into the rafters of the 12 Grimmauld Place.
The 16 year old grumbled in response and rolled over to further bury his head in the mess of pillows on his bed. It was nearing the evening, but Sirius had been spending his summer days in bed all day. It was preferable than spending time with his family.
"Sirius Orion Black get down here and make yourself presentable! We have guests!"
The mention of guests made those grey eyes flicker open.
Guests?, Sirius thought, Who the hell would visit this place?
It couldn't be any ridiculous pureblood family get-together – those were much more anticipated by his parents. So who the fuck would be here?
"SIRIUS! Have you heard a word I've said?!"
"Merlin… YES, MOTHER. Fucking crazy bitch…" Sirius mumbled as he sat up in his bed, suppressing a yawn.
His silver eyes scanned the mess that was his bedroom, looking for any article of clothing that could be deemed 'presentable' by his mother.
Sighing, the still growing teenager flung his legs off the bed and began to piece together what clothes he could. Throwing on black jeans and a black button up shirt, with his favourite pair of red converse sneakers, he slipped his wand into his pocket and made his way downstairs – stopping to adjust his very messy bedhead before admitting defeat to his long, unruly dark locks.
Just as Sirius reached the main floor, his mother met him on his way down the steps.
"That's your idea of presentable? At least wear a tie, for merlin's sake." His mother chastised him as she too tried to fix her eldest sons hair but also giving up in frustration.
"Who's even here?"
"Watch your tone. Your dear cousin Bella has brought some of her friends for you and Regulus to meet. This meeting is for you two."
Sirius felt the blood drain out of his face.
Bellatrix's… friends? What the fuck? Are they actually under the impression that we're both going to just magically become deatheaters?
"Where's Reg?" Sirius asked, worry heavy in his tone.
"He's just coming down now, I believe. Now go get a tie, and Sirius – please try not to embarrass our family again. It would be nice if you could just try to live up to everything your father and I have tried to teach you since you were born." With a sickly sweet smile, the woman turned and entered the living room. Sirius could hear her excusing both of her sons' tardiness.
Sirius all but ran up the stairs to meet Regulus on his way down.
His brother had clearly tried to impress – his hair was slicked back in an elegant manner and was wearing a very fine suit and tie, complete with dress shoes. He had the Black family crest pinned to his chest.
"Yes, Sirius?"
"They're going to try and make us one of them. Officially. I think this is an induction ceremony or some shit. Regulus, you have to understand – "
"Sirius, enough. I know what today is. I know what they expect. I'm not the one who needs to think anything over. I'm a Black. Family comes first, okay? Mum and Dad both expect us to want this. Well, they expect me to. And I can't disappoint them like you do. Honestly Sirius, it would be so much easier if you would just stop with your whole 'I'm a Gryffindor and I'll never be like you all' , because it's getting old. Please. Just do what they want, for today at least. Who knows what Dad will do to you if you cause a… disturbance."
"Sirius! Regulus! What is taking so long?"
"Coming, Mum!" Regulus called down the steps.
Regulus gave Sirius one last look, a mix between pleading and understanding, before making his way to the family room.
Sirius stared after his brother, unsure of just who the person standing before him even was.
With a swift jump, Sirius was leaping his way up the stairs to his bedroom and tried to locate the necessary tie.
Draped over the edge of his dresser, a plain black tie was precariously hanging.
Slowly Sirius made his way to the mirror, securing the tie much tighter than he was used to wearing at Hogwarts, because he knew his mother would object to anything less than the look of a crisp and pristine tie that was also simultaneously choking you.
As Sirius entered the living room, he was met with the faces of Bellatrix and Narcissa, along with Lucius Malfoy and a couple of other wizards in dark dress robes all sitting on a couch across from where Regulus was seated, his mother and father standing right behind the couch that held his brother.
"Ah, Siri – my, you get more handsome the older you get." Bellatrix smiled at her cousin, but Sirius saw it more as bearing her teeth than anything.
"'Hullo." Sirius muttered as he sat down next to his brother.
From behind, Sirius' father laid a hand on his shoulder and leant forward to whisper into his eldest sons ear.
"I have a lot riding on this – don't you dare fuck this up for our family. "
Sirius said nothing as he sat and tried to feign interest in this very obviously dark arts-oriented conversation.
Regulus carried on most of the conversation for the first hour, and Sirius was starting to think that he could get away with not saying a word when Bellatrix focused her attention on the eldest of the Black boys.
"So, Sirius. I believe everyone in this room is painfully aware of the fact that you're a Gryffindor – such a shame really, that you've been so hell bent on being different. You'd make a very excellent asset for us though. You're clearly hard-headed, you're brave, determined – and very skilled in magic I hear. You'd be a very valuable member to us, and your talents would not be wasted, I can assure you. Besides, do you really think that the Dark Lord will lose this war? You're being extended an offer here – join us, become one of us, and you will no longer be the shame of the Black family. You can fix up your reputation as well as join the winning side, and I'm sure if you prove your loyalty to your bloodline, you will inherit everything from your father – as you should. You are the oldest son, and therefore we are extending this offer to you first."
Sirius could feel his fathers grip tighten on his shoulder. It was taking everything in him to keep his breathing even. It was too much to process all at once, especially in a room full of Deatheaters.
"Uh… I'm sorry, I'm afraid I don't really understand why you're asking me this - I'm only sixteen. What could you possibly want from me?"
"You're entering your seventh year at Hogwarts. We need people on the inside, who can give us information on certain targets there. Not to mention you've gotten very close with a certain pureblood family who does not follow the old ways…"
The Potters. James. Fuck, all of my friends…
Sirius swallowed the lump in his throat. The silence in the room was loaded. Everywhere Sirius looked, a set of eyes was watching him, gauging his reaction and waiting for his response. Sirius felt the panic rising from the pit of his stomach, he would never join them and never give up his friends just to fix his reputation in his family and inherit everything. It wasn't worth it. Just as Sirius was psyching himself up to find the words to refuse, Regulus spoke.
"Does it have to be Sirius?"
Sirius looked at his brother, both sets of silver eyes staring deep into the others.
Was that… jealousy? Is Reg jealous that they want me and not him? Sirius thought.
Bellatrix looked back and forth between the brothers, seeming to weigh them both up in her mind. She turned to Lucius.
"What do you think, Lucius?"
"All I think, is that we need someone we can trust. Not someone who will try to play double agent." Lucius' eyes flicked to Sirius, clearly skeptical on whether or not to trust him. "If Sirius isn't ready for such an honour as being the youngest to be accepted into our order, then we find someone else."
Other's nodded in agreement from around Malfoy.
"Sirius, may I have a word?" The words came from behind Sirius. They came from his father.
"Of course." Sirius said, hardly able to keep the condescending tone out of his voice.
The tall, conceited, supremacist man that was Orion Black crossed the living room and merely glanced over his shoulder to ensure that Sirius was indeed following him before proceeding to exit the room.
The head of the House of Black only halted once they had reached the kitchen, where no one was to overhear what was to be said.
Orion Black stopped just at the end of the kitchen counter, retrieving a bottle of wine and pouring himself a glass. It was evident that the man was trying to remain calm.
Sirius took a deep breath. His father's drinking was none of his business, but it only made the man more explosive when angry… And Sirius knew that he wasn't exactly pleased with the way things were going back in the living room.
After sipping on the wine in silence for a few moments, Orion turned to his son.
"Sirius. You must understand that you are not in a place to refuse such an offer. We are Blacks. We are devoted to the greater good for this family, and the wizarding world. Purification needs to happen among the population of magic-folk, and you are the key to beginning to cleanse Hogwarts of the unworthy. If you refuse this offer," Orion gritted his teeth, clenching the wine glass so tightly that Sirius thought it might break, "If you refuse, you will be forever the family shame. You will never be welcome into this home, and you will no longer be the heir of the House of Black. Not to mention, all the other immediate consequences…"
Sirius took a deep breath. "I've never agreed with this family's ideals. I've never wanted to inherit the House of Black, much less wanted to become another one brainwashed into becoming a dark arts fanatic. I don't know why you – any of you, even thought it was worth having me present for this little get-together. I want no part in this. And I know that you knew that. Hell, everyone in that room knows it."
The only response Orion had for his son was to connect his fist with Sirius' face.
Sirius stumbled backwards, holding his face in his hands as blood began to trickle down from somewhere around his eye. Before the teenage boy had time to recover, he was shoved up against the kitchen wall.
"Either go back in there and tell them that you would be honoured and accept the dark mark that they would ever so love to brand you with, or get the fuck out of my house." His father's voice was dangerously low, daring Sirius to run.
Sirius could do nothing to control his breathing as he was held against the wall, unable to find the strength to fight back.
"Well? What's your plan now? Going to run back to the Potter's? Cause you know, they can't protect you from the war that's getting worse by the day. The Dark Lord will come for them eventually, to teach them a thing or two about what it means to betray the old ways of the pureblood world. And don't think we don't know about that disgusting half-blood girl you're seeing. Taylor Lowney, wasn't that it?"
Any anger that had been rising in Sirius suddenly went cold. How could they know about her? We broke up 4 months ago… but I still would never throw her into the middle of this war like this.
"If you leave right now, you know they will be targeted, don't you? Hell, even you will be targeted Sirius. Anyone who isn't one of us, is considered an enemy and we will not hesitate to kill anyone who gets in our way."
Sirius could say nothing.
"So? How about we go back in there and you can gladly accept your cousins gracious offer, given everything you've already done to harm this family."
Slowly, Sirius followed his father back into the living room, more than aware that all eyes were on him and his newly acquired black eye. That was still bleeding.
Regulus stared open-mouthed as his older brother dejectedly made his way to sit back down.
"Well, Siri? Have you an answer for us yet?" Bellatrix stared at her cousin, waiting for the ticking time-bomb that was Sirius Black to go off any second now.
Again, Sirius could feel his father grip onto his shoulder and squeeze, until a sharp pain registered through his back and he couldn't' help but wince and abruptly stand.
The sixteen year old looked from the face of his cousins, to his brother, and then to his dearest mother before finally answering.
"You know what? No. I don't know why any of you even bothered to waste your time on me when clearly I just don't belong here. I think you're all sick, twisted bastards who need to just get off of the high horse that you all seem to be riding. I know this is entirely a set-up, but I'm just done. I'm fucking done with everything that this family is and stands for. So, please, excuse me as I take my leave."
Sirius struggled to keep his voice even, and the second he was out of the living room he hastily loosened his tie, making his way to his bedroom as quickly as he could.
He threw open his bedroom and door and hastily shoved his clothes into his trunk, took a few pictures off the walls, and made sure his Hogwarts robes was in before he finished packing.
In his hurry, Sirius had failed to hear his father's angry footsteps up the stairs after him. As soon as Sirius opened his bedroom door, he was forcefully shoved backwards, forced to fall onto the floor.
"You son of a bitch!" His father cursed at him over and over again as he proceeded to kick Sirius repeatedly and throw punches here and there.
"Orion!" The shrill voice of Walburga Black could be heard from the doorway. Sirius wasn't used to his mother trying to intervene at all when he would get beat, although usually his father liked to use magic rather than his own hands.
Orion Black took a step away from his son, who was now curled up on the floor gasping for air, and took a few deep breaths.
"You were never my son."
Before Sirius could even get back on his own feet and retrieve his wand, Orion had cast the Cruciatus curse and unexplainable pain broke out all over Sirius' body, and all he could do was scream helplessly. The pain was so overwhelming and consuming that Sirius barely noticed his brother come up behind his father and pull him away, breaking his concentration for the spell.
Sirius lay on the floor, gasping for air as Regulus calmed down their father.
Orion Black took one more look at Sirius before storming down the steps of the house, Regulus following closely behind only after shooting Sirius one last glance, that was a mix between sympathy, fear, and some sort of pride.
Slowly, Sirius dragged himself to his feet and got his trunk. His mother was still standing in the hall, looking at Sirius as if she had never been so disgusted in her entire life.
"I hope you're happy now. I hope you're happy that you've officially ruined yourself, and don't you ever. Step. Foot. In. this. House. Again. You understand me?"
Sirius simply scoffed, and stormed his way down the stairs.
"You should have never been born! I wish I had aborted you!" were the last words that Sirius heard his mother speak before he slammed the front door to his house, with no intention of ever returning.
After walking a little ways away from 12 Grimmauld Place, Sirius couldn't stop the tears that were running down his face. He had nowhere to go. It was some hour of the night, and he had just lost what little of a family he had, and now had to find somewhere to live for the rest of the summer until school began again.
Taking a deep breath, Sirius fumbled around in his pockets until he found his cigarettes.
After proceeding to light his cigarette and allowing the nicotine to wash the stress and anxiety away, Sirius Black wandered into the night, deciding to wait until morning to show up at the Potter's. They needed a good night's sleep if they were to hear the situation that Sirius had gotten himself into.
Thanks for reading! C:
Leave a review and let me know what your thoughts are, I love hearing feedback! If you have any questions also, feel free to ask!
The next chapter should be up hopefully within the next couple of days/week or so, so be sure to check back!
-HazelEyes8D