A/N: Thank you to Guest for reviewing and also to:

- Tingting26021996 - I never intended to do the flashbacks but they're actually quite effective, I might keep doing them for a bit.

- alfieHewie - you found my other story! Glad you like it :) And yes, I will still be finishing the other, don't worry!

Welcome new followers/favouriters, hope you like it - let me know!

Chapter Three: Split Fealties

Sirius was leaning casually against the wall outside of his Transfiguration classroom, listening to his housemate Mary Macdonald chatter about the upcoming Hogsmede weekend at the end of September. Despite trying to pay attention and look interested, he couldn't help but get distracted when he saw his brother and Aurelia making their way down the hall.

"Reg, I'm slipping! Hold me higher!" Aurelia whined. Regulus grumbled at her request but hoisted her higher up his back anyway, he had lost a bet to Aurelia and had to pay the price by carrying her to each of her lessons for the rest of the week.

"Perhaps if you weren't such a lump you wouldn't keep slipping down!"

Aurelia pouted as she jumped off his back when they reached the classroom. "Hey! I'm not that heavy!"

"Lia, you've had pancakes for breakfast every day this week, you are that heavy," Regulus stated, straight faced.

"It was not every day," Aurelia protested, "I didn't have them on Wednesday!"

Regulus just laughed and planted a kiss on her cheek, "I'm just kidding, you're perfect. I'd better get to Potions though, see you later."

Sirius felt an odd sensation in his stomach at the gesture but trained his expression to remain neutral. Lewis Mulciber, who had never hidden his want for Aurelia, approached her with an ugly scowl.

"You shouldn't allow Black to kiss you like that, Aurelia. What would your cousin think?"

Aurelia tried not to look afraid at the mention of her cousin Robert Avery, who had graduated Hogwarts the previous year and had made no secret of the fact that he planned to join the Death Eaters one day very soon.

"Robert wouldn't think anything. Regulus and I have been friends for a very long time, there's nothing in it," she snapped.

Mulciber's eyes flashed dangerously at her tone, something that made her blood run cold. She swallowed, and placed a hand on his arm to hide her shaking fingers. "I'm sorry," she said, looking at him with the same big doe eyes that had got her what she wanted from her father her whole life, "I didn't mean to snap, it's just that Reg is my best friend, and I know that you and I could be-could be joined in the future," she faked a shy smile and blinked up at him innocently, "I wouldn't want you to get the wrong impression," she finished in a whisper.

Sirius saw the revolting enjoyment in Mulciber's face at Aurelia's show of submission and felt an overwhelming urge to punch him; he had no doubt that Mulciber was just as involved with the Death Eaters as Robert Avery and his cousin Bellatrix, the thought of Aurelia spending her life with such a man made Sirius sick.

"Sirius?" Mary tapped her foot impatiently. "Have you even been listening?"

"Oh, uh, sorry Mary, I'm just a bit tired. What were you saying?"

The blonde sighed and muttered that it didn't matter before stalking off to take her seat in the classroom.

"What was that about Padfoot?" James asked incredulously. "Mary's hot!" Lily, who had been a foot or so away, waiting to enter the classroom behind the small queue that had formed, went red and for a fraction of a second actually looked a bit jealous.

Sirius' brow furrowed as he looked at James in utter confusion, "I thought you were into Evans?"

He noticed Lily's ears go red from behind and nodded to James, who grinned knowingly. "No, Mary was just trying to ask you out you idiot!"

"Was she?" Sirius looked over James' shoulder to get a view of Mary, it looked as though she'd made a special effort today, her hair was neatly curled and tied back with a red ribbon and it seemed as though she'd spelled her uniform to fit more tightly than normal.

"I'll talk to her later," Sirius announced with a wink, before taking his seat next to Aurelia in the classroom.

McGonagall spent the first twenty minutes explaining the theory behind transfiguring twigs into utensils and then set everybody to work. As always in the practical part of Transfiguration, the noise level in the classroom was rather high and Sirius, after successfully turning his first twig into a fish fork, decided it was safe to speak to Aurelia without being overheard.

"So," he started casually, noticing Aurelia tense at the sound of his voice, "you and Mulciber? Has that been going on long?"

"It's not going on at all," she said stiffly, poking at a twig and sighing when nothing happened. "At least not yet," she added quietly.

Sirius glanced at her, she was looking down at the desk and biting the inside of her cheek, signs he recognised from many years of observing her as fear and apprehension.

"Here," Sirius said, placing his hand over hers, which was holding her wand, and moved it in the correct movement to transfigure the twig; sure enough it promptly changed into a spoon and Sirius removed his hand quickly.

Aurelia smiled gratefully at him, "thanks."

He nodded once and gave her a half smile before returning to his next twig and changing it into a knife. After a few more minutes of silent working, he spoke again, "you don't have to marry him you know."

Her whole body froze apart from her hand, which shakily placed the twig she was holding back onto the table; she turned to him furiously, her teeth gritted as she replied, "yes I do."

Sirius frowned but didn't reply, instead allowing Aurelia to finish her work in peace as he thought about what she'd said. He wondered if she blamed him for having to marry Mulciber, perhaps she had taken him seriously when he'd said he would marry her when they were younger. It was all so stupid, pureblooded families would marry their children off almost as soon as they left Hogwarts, sometimes earlier if the family of the bride gave a high enough bid. The bride and groom rarely actually had a choice in it, and so many couples would wind up in unhealthy marriages where they cheated on one another relentlessly. It was extremely rare for pureblood couples to split no matter how unhappy they were and in an odd twisted way, they would then force the same fate upon their children. He knew that his mother had been fond of Aurelia and she probably had expected a union, but Sirius had never had any desire to do anything that his mother wanted.

He glanced over to where Mulciber was working with Mary and felt a fresh wave of nausea overcome him. Mulciber was staring greedily down her shirt; he licked his lips and whispered something in her ear, which made Mary jump and slap him hard in the face. Everyone looked around in shock, and McGonagall, who hadn't seen the incident but wasn't naïve enough to believe that Mulciber had nothing to do with it, gave them both detentions with Mr Filch that evening.

"Looked like Avery was giving you a hard time today mate," James said over dinner.

Sirius rolled his eyes in agreement and poured himself another glass of pumpkin juice. "Yeah she can be difficult when she wants to be."

"Seems to be getting on fine with your brother though," he mused, gesturing to the Slytherin table where Aurelia was resting her head against Regulus' shoulder and smiling as he whispered things to her.

"They're just friends," he said shortly. He stabbed his fork into a sausage with much more force than he had intended, earning himself a knowing glance from Remus – something that only served to irritate him further.

"I'm going to the common room," Sirius announced, abandoning his food and hurling his bag over his shoulder.

He didn't even wait for his friends to finish asking why he was suddenly in a bad mood before he had turned on his heel and marched from the Great Hall.

His mind didn't seem to want him to be in a good mood, for it decided to conjure up images of Aurelia and Mulciber on their wedding day, kissing; then it escalated and they were in their suite, Aurelia was undressing and Mulciber-

"Take your clothes off!" Sirius stopped in his tracks; he could have sworn that the actual Mulciber and not just the one in his imagination had just shouted the command from around the corner.

He walked cautiously round the corner and stopped, horrified by what he saw. Mulciber and a crowd of other Slytherins were laughing grotesquely at Mary as she started undressing herself for their entertainment.

He wondered what had gotten into her for a minute before he saw Mulciber's wand pointing at her and the glazed appearance to her eyes. Mulciber was using the Imperius Curse against her.

"OI!" He shouted, wand out and ready to fight, not once considering that he was vastly outnumbered by a large group of Slytherins who were all rumoured to be involved with the dark arts.

Mulciber grinned savagely at him. "Want to join our little show, Black?"

"Impedimenta!" Sirius' spell hit Mulciber squarely in his chest, sending him flying backwards and into a wall. The other Slytherins leaped into action instantly, sending spells flying in Sirius' direction.

Luckily, the duel was loud enough to attract the attention of several students and teachers and was quickly stopped before it got out of hand, no one was hurt seriously and a friend of Mary's rushed her away. Still, Sirius lay awake that night, picturing Aurelia forced into a marriage with Mulciber and all the horrific things that would likely come with it.

Aurelia arrived a few minutes late to detention on Saturday evening, earning herself a lecture from McGonagall on the importance of time keeping. She was then put to work polishing trophies and their cabinets while Sirius did the same from the other end of the room. They worked in silence, Professor McGonagall watching over them and making the occasional suggestion that they missed a spot.

"Right," she broke the silence after half an hour of polishing, "I have to go to the staff meeting now, so I shall be locking you two in here to finish your work. If it's not done by the time I return, I will set another date for you to come back and finish it. Am I understood?"

"Yes ma'am." They repeated in unison.

Professor McGonagall nodded and picked up their wands from her make-shift desk and pocketed them. Once the lock had clicked behind her, Sirius walked over to Aurelia, his arms folded across his chest. "Did you hear about what Mulciber did yesterday?"

Aurelia didn't look up, she just continued to polish and eventually said, "yes."

"And are you still planning on marrying him?"

"I don't see how that is any of your business," she replied coolly.

Sirius growled his annoyance, and moved her chin to force her to look at him. "Just answer the question," he said irritably.

"Fine," she snapped, "I am still going to marry him, yes."

Sirius didn't care to hide his revulsion at her answer and let go of her as if her body were aflame. He walked quickly back to his station and picked up his rag, roughly dragging it over the nearest trophy.

Aurelia bit her lip hard as she felt herself on the brink of crying; she glanced over her shoulder at Sirius and watched as he attacked a plaque. She turned back around and carried on working, humming absently in an effort to distract herself.

Sirius turned around and stared at Aurelia…she was humming a muggle song. Where had she heard it? Did she even know it was written by a muggle?

"Why are you staring?"

Sirius opened and closed his mouth a few times, before composing himself and asking about the song.

"Oh, right," she blushed, "yeah I knew, I saw the poster in your room so I listened to it."

Sirius moved over to her again, so shocked that Aurelia: the devoted pureblood, had willingly associated with anything non-magical, that he completely forgot that he was angry with her.

"When did you go into my room?" he asked, a slight smile playing on his lips.

She blushed an even deeper pink and started fiddling with the hem of her skirt. "It was after you left," she whispered, "I just wanted to- I don't know." She did know. She had wanted to feel close to him again so she went into his room to look around but eventually had crawled into his bed and fallen asleep there until Regulus found her and carried her away.

She looked back up at Sirius uncertainly. He wasn't smiling anymore. His jaw was tense and his eyes were boring into her as though trying to read her mind.

"What did you think of it?"

It was an odd question, she didn't know whether to give the honest truth or pretend that she loved it. She decided for something in between. "It's very you. There were lots of pictures of uh-" she blushed again, "-women."

It was Sirius' turn to flush, however Aurelia saved him from too much embarrassment by continuing. "I thought that there might be some other photos and stuff."

He watched as her eyes started watering and felt his stomach lurch as he remembered the last time she had looked at him like that.

The extended Black family, their spouses, Aurelia and a few other family friends were gathered in the formal sitting room after a meal in Grimmauld Place to celebrate Regulus getting his Prefect badge.

"I'm so very proud of you Regulus, darling," Walburga Black gushed, "aren't you proud, Orion?"

Sirius' father was clearly trying not to roll his eyes as his wife forced him to confess his pride for the fifth time that evening.

"Ten points to Slytherin," Sirius muttered darkly. Walburga's attention snapped to him, she was not a patient woman and Sirius' very presence had already been testing her nerves.

"Shut your ungrateful little mouth, Sirius Orion Black!" She screamed, her face reddening until it had reached a most unhealthy beetroot colour.

Sirius glared at her but didn't say anything further. He pulled on his collar to loosen it, the heat and tension in the room making him feel like he would be suffocated at any given moment.

Bellatrix tutted loudly, grimacing maliciously at Sirius from the chair opposite. "You shouldn't be so bitter, little Gryffindor, just because your brother has now surpassed you in every way… Perhaps you should consider declaring Reggie as your heir, Uncle, have Sirius as the spare instead."

Aurelia felt Sirius stiffen beside her and nudged him softly with her leg in a silent show of support. He offered her a tight smile but didn't relax, it looked as though he was having a battle of wills in his head.

"I don't think you give Sirius enough credit Bella," Aurelia said diplomatically, "He's really very clever. You're almost always top of the class aren't you, Sirius?"

Bellatrix's harsh cackle interrupted any response that Sirius might have made. "Still clinging onto the idea of my dear cousin, are you Aurelia? I wouldn't bother, Rabastan saw him with a filthy mudblood in Hogsmede last month."

Walburga slammed her glass down. "WHAT?" she bellowed.

"Nothing happened," Sirius insisted, though it was more to Aurelia than anyone else, "Mary's just a friend."

"I don't care if this girl is 'just a friend' or not," Walburga screeched, "I have told you time and again that you are not to consort with that filth! You will respect my wishes or you will leave this house!"

"FINE!" Sirius roared as he leapt to his feet. "I'LL LEAVE!"

Silence. Nobody dared move or even breathe apart from Sirius, who had stormed out of the room and up the stairs, presumably to gather some things from his room. A few minutes later his footsteps grew louder again and something seemed to click in Lucius Malfoy and Rodolphus Lestrange, who both jumped to their feet in unison and burst out of the room with their wands drawn.

"NO!" Aurelia screamed, running after them. She dove between Sirius and the two men and cried, "NO, DON'T HURT HIM! PLEASE! DON'T HURT HIM!"

"Get out of the way!" Lucius shouted gruffly, making to push her aside but Aurelia stood her ground. She turned her back on them, knowing they wouldn't hurt her out of respect for her cousin Robert.

"Sirius," she pleaded, her hands gripping his arms, "please don't leave?"

It was the first time she had seen him falter, so resolute had he been in his decision. He looked down at her, her eyes full of tears and her mouth trembling, and contemplated what it would mean for them if he left.

"I have to," he croaked, a horrible lump in his throat preventing him from speaking clearly.

"Stay!" She whispered.

They stared into each other's eyes, silently confirming for the first time what they meant to each other, but then Sirius shook his head and belted it out of the house.

"SIRIUS!" Aurelia screamed, attempting to find her way out of the house through her tears, but a pair of strong arms restrained her.

"Lia, stop. Let him go." Regulus' words did nothing to calm her, and she sobbed so loudly that Sirius could still hear her from the end of the street before he apparated to the Potter's.

"Other photos?" he questioned, doing his best to suppress the terrible memory of the night he left his family.

"Of us," Aurelia finished softly, her gaze not breaking from his own. He noticed how hurt she looked, even though she was obviously trying to cover it.

"That's because I took them with me," he said quietly, "I never wanted to leave you, Lia, I swear."

Her lip trembled and she seemed to be struggling with herself. He closed the gap between them and tried to pull her into an embrace but she pushed him away angrily.

"But you did leave, didn't you? If you had ever cared about me, Sirius Black, or cared about your brother, you would have stayed for one more year and then you could have left without getting yourself disowned."

Her words stung. He turned his back on her and walked back over to where he had been working.

"You know," he said after brief silence, "even if they hadn't disowned me, I would've ended up disowning them. They're not good people. I will not associate with Death Eaters, end of story."

Aurelia threw the medal she'd been polishing onto the floor so that it clattered loudly. "They're not all bad, you could have stayed for one more year. At least for Regulus' sake if not for anyone else!"

"You really think Regulus isn't going to sign up the minute he finishes school? It's what Mummy and Daddy want after all," Sirius mocked.

"SHUT UP!" Aurelia shouted. "You don't know anything about him anymore! He wouldn't join-"

"What in Merlin's name is going on here?" Professor McGonagall had reentered the room without either of the teens noticing. "I leave you for one hour and come back to find no more work done and the two of you engaged in a screaming match! This is a disgrace! I want you back in my office for detention next Saturday."

Aurelia didn't bother to apologise, she just exited the room as quickly as she could, leaving a seething Sirius in her wake.

A/N: Don't forget to revieeeeew, they are great motivators!