"Mother, can I go out?" Sirius stood at the window and looked at the park outside, the sun shining and the sky clear and blue. A perfect day to spend outdoors. He had been forced home to his uncle by his witch of a mother (witch in more than one way). It wasn't that there was anything wrong with uncle Alphard, the opposite actually, he was one of the few Sirius liked. But that did not mean he wanted to sit trapped in his uncle's house instead of playing outside.
"So you can bring in dirt and mud on Alphards carpets? Do not think so!" Walburga Black didn't even look up from the book she was reading. Probably Muggles, closer related to trolls than wizards? was way too interesting.
"But mother, I'm just going to the park…" As most children his age (7 years) he did not want to sit indoors and listen to adults talking. Today only he and his mother where visiting because his cousins were all back at Hogwarts after the springbreak and Regulus was sick and had to stay home.
"Don't you hear what I'm saying? NO!" she hissed. Mrs Black despised her son when he disturbed her like this all the time. Couldn't he just sit in some corner and be quiet?
Alphard on the other side pitied the boy. He had always had a soft spot for him. There was something special about Sirius, as he had more life in the eyes than the other children in the Black family. But with a mother like that he would be just as dead as the rest of the bunch in a couple of decades.
"Oh, Walburga. Of course he can go to the park, it's only over the street. Fresh air would do him good and I will clean those rugs anyway." Sirius gave him a big smile as thanks and he received a wink back. In less than a minute Sirius flown through the front door.
Sirius ran to the swing set. That was where he had seen the girl and her mother. She, the girl, had looked kind, very different from all the other children he knew. His father and mother had left him with other families for a few hours when he was younger to "socialize with other youths". (How much could a three years old toddler socialize anyway?) That was before Regulus had been big enough to play together with him. But none of those kids had rosy cheeks or grazes on their knees like her.
The few children he had played with all had nice and well known family names and pure blood. They sat with their backs straight and wore spotless clothes. None of them were very good as playmates.
When he had come close enough he could see she was sitting on her swing with her back to him. She hadn't seen him but it was as if she had waited for him to come back to see her.
"Hello!" He called out to her and she turned around to see who it was. Then she slowed down and hopped off her swing. She didn't walk towards him however, as he first thought she would, but instead walked in the opposite direction.
"Hey, wait up. Where are you going?" He hadn't had any real friends, but he was pretty sure that she did it wrong. You don't walk away from the person you wanted to be friends with.
"I don't want to talk with you. You're stupid." She said before she kept walking.
"What, I haven't done anything" Sirius ran to catch up with her. Had he done something wrong already? Wouldn't he remember that?
"Leave me alone. You called me and my dad nasty things, and mum has told me to stay away from mean people." The girl stopped and stared at him with anger in her eyes. Then he started to understand. She had meant what his mother and aunt had said and thought he was of the same opinion.
"It wasn't I who said so. I don't think that" he ensured and smiled so that she would know he wanted them to be friends. The girl hesitated as her mum had told her to stay away from the kids of the Black family, but he didn't seem to be too bad.
"Really? You're sure?" She didn't look so angry anymore.
"Yeah." He smiled so you could see all his teeth, which was what his Uncle Alphard called the charm smile because he was sure no one would be able to resist it when Sirius got older.
She thought on it some more and said then "In that case I can probably play with you".
She went back to the swings and Sirius followed. They sat beside each other on each swing and dangled their legs. "So, uhm, what's your name?"
"Sirius. It's some weird name that runs in the family. And you?"
"Dorcas, but if you want to, you can call me Cassy. Since we're friends now." Sirius smiled when she said that. She was his first friend who his father hadn't picked out for him.
"Do you live here, Cassy?"
"Yeah, just over the street there, in a brick house." She pointed to one of the sides of the park. "Do you live here too?"
"No, but my uncle does. We're visiting him."
"You mean all you who came here before? Who were the others?" She was curious, even if she didn't like them.
"Mother and my Aunt, as you know. Then it was my brother and three cousins." Sirius did not actually want to talk about his relatives, but if they would be friends he guessed he had to anyway, for Cassy.
"Who's who? I mean what are their names?"
"Bellatrix's my oldest cousin, she's in her fifth year at Hogwarts." He shivered when he thought about her. Almost no one liked his eldest cousin, she was awe-inspiring and everyone was frightened by her.
"Is she?" Dorcas said with admire in her voice. "Is she nice?"
"No. Well, sometimes but not to me." Dorcas' smile disappeared so Sirius added quickly, "But that's okay, I don't like her either. Andy, who's in the fourth year, is much more kind. Then there's Narcissa. I guess she's okay, but she likes my little brother, Regulus, more than me."
"Really? Well, I like you more."
They both became silent.
His whole life Sirius had come in second, as everyone preferred Regulus. It was okay though. Regulus was the perfect child so it was only fair, right? But it felt good to know someone who liked him, to come in first place.
"Do you have any siblings?" Sirius asked after a while.
"No, I'm an only child and have only little cousins so I'm kind of oldest in the whole family. But I have a dog."
"You have?" said Sirius and smiled. He liked dogs, they were loyal and faithful, but no way would his mother let him have one.
"Yeah, he is almost ten years old, and named Tripped. Mum's saying he had big paws when he was puppy so he always tripped." They laughed together.
"Now he is pretty old so he like to rest a lot. He lies in doorways so now it's we who trip over him."
"Is it how you got that?" Sirius asked when he got his breath back and pointed to her knee where she had a plaster.
"No, I got that because I jumped off the swing. I was too high up and landed wrong. I had scratches on my hands too before." She showed her hands to him but they were already healed.
Sirius looked at her with a wrinkled forehead and Dorcas giggled. He looked cute when he did that.
"What?"she asked.
"Nothing. I just wished we were friends when you fell. I could have helped you."
"Don't be silly. It wasn't even serious, only some scrapes." She rolled her eyes, but at least she had someone to care about her. "What would you have done then, if you had been here? Would you have made the ground softer or something?"
He thought about it and said then "I could have caught you."
"You could never carry my weight. I would fall on you and then you would get hurt too."
"No, I promise. If you jump I'll catch you."
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