Disclaimer: If i owned these characters everybody at Hogwarts would be gay... but alas they're not mine, so I just pretend.
People always assume that Sirius was a rebel from day one. They think that, even as a young child, he was wreaking havoc at the Noble and Most Ancient House Black. That is utterly and completely false. When we were young, Sirius and I were best friends. I mean absolutely inseparable. I worshipped the ground my older brother walked on, and he watched over me as the doting older brother he was. Our parents loved us both. They may not have been overly affectionate, but they told us we were special. After all we were Blacks.
Being the heir to the family name and fortune, Sirius was treated like the little prince he thought he was. By the age of seven, my brother already had an ego as large as my father's. My parents were ecstatic. And I was proudly following in his footsteps.
Everything changed on September 1st, 1971. Instead of joining the snakes like everyone had planned, he was thrown into the lion's den. A Black in with the blood-traitors and mudblood scum of Gryffindor, it was simply mind-boggling. Sirius sent a desperate letter to my parents, not knowing what to do. He was ashamed. I was ashamed. Our parents were infuriated. They petitioned straight away to have their precious prince resorted, but that fool of a Headmaster refused, claiming there was no such thing as a resorting at Hogwarts. Sirius was stuck to fend for himself at the hands of the lions. A pureblood heir's worst nightmare.
The year passed by with little excitement. Sirius adjusted to his new lifestyle… adjusted a little too well in the eyes of my parents. His biweekly letters were always full of amusing tidbits of what to expect from life at Hogwarts. The letters were my only connection to my dear brother until I join him at school in four more years. At last, June rolled around and I would be able to my Sirius again.
I could barely sleep the night before my brother came back. Would he be any different? After all, it had been six whole months since I'd seen him face to face. I was, needless to say, hopelessly excited. On the platform, I twisted and fidgeted so much that my mother had to scold me for the ungentlemanly display. I could barely contain a squeal of joy when the Hogwarts Express pulled into the station. Then, I spotted him. His glistening black locks had grown out slightly and his tailored robes seemed less impressive than when we first bought them in Diagon Alley. After giving a quick hug to some boy with atrociously messy hair, he made his way over to Mother and I. He stepped down and gave me a big hug. He whispered in my ear, "I've missed you, Reg." It felt great to have my big brother back where he belonged, with the Noble and Ancient Blacks. After he formally greeted our mother with a kiss on her perfectly made up cheek, we headed home.
That night, we had a nice dinner planned to honor the return of the heir. When my father apparated home, my brother was there to welcome him with his progress reports. My father opened the file with a blank face, but when he finished reading what it said he smiled and announced that we had yet another powerful wizard to carry on the Black name. Apparently, my brother was number three in his year. At dinner that was all my parents talked about. Finally, my mother questioned Sirius about the two students who had done better than him on exams.
"So Darling, tell me. Who was number one in your year? Was it young Nott? Or possibly the younger Lestrange?"
"No actually it was a girl from my house, Lily Evans. She's a real brain. Kind of bookish though."
"Evans?" My father questioned. "That name doesn't ring a bell? Are they foreign?"
"No actually, I think she's from Surrey. I don't think you'd know her," Sirius said, drinking his watered down wine.
"Why wouldn't we know her? We know every pureblood family in Britain," my mother said haughtily.
"Umm… Well she's a muggle born." My brother noticed the disgust on my parents' faces and became nervous. When Sirius was nervous he tended to babble. "But she's not bad really, you know. Nice and pretty and helpful. In fact she's nicer than that Parkinson trash…" My brother hastily covered his mouth after realizing he just insulted a perfectly respectable girl in favor of a dirty mudblood. My father sat motionless, his fury evident in his eyes. My mother, on the other hand, got up and made her way towards Sirius. When she was next to him, she slapped him clear across his perfectly sculpted face.
"Don't you ever insult any member of the Parkinson family again. They are a true magical family. That being said, there is no more talk about mudbloods. They are disgusting and an insult to our very way of life, Sirius. Don't you forget that for one second." My brother clutched his red cheek and watched as my mother strode out of the dinning room. He turned to face my father, who was still looking like an enraged hippogriff. My father walked over to where Sirius stood looking shocked.
"Let's get this straight, son. We are only barely tolerating you being in Gryffindor. It's that kind of thinking we are trying to protect you from. Muggles will be the destruction of the magical race. If you think that they are perfectly fine, then you, my boy, are sadly mistaken. Fraternizing with muggles will get you killed. Tonight, with your adoration to a mudblood, you brought shame upon the Black name. I will not be embarrassed by you, you are MY heir. You will watch your tongue." At that he grabbed Sirius' face tight with his hand. Sirius let a small tear fall from the corner of his eye. "No, no, Sirius. Men do not cry. Blacks are above emotions." He let go of Sirius' face and stalked off to his study. Sirius hung his head dejectedly and wiped at his face.
"I'm sorry you had to see that, Regulus. I didn't mean to embarrass you, too." I got up to move next to him. Even though my parents thought him to be foolish, I still found him amazing.
"Think nothing of it brother. Let's go play exploding snap!" I grabbed his hand to pull him upstairs.
tbc