Disclaimer: I don't own HP or ASOIAF
A/N: Thanks for the Reviews. All of them mean a lot.
A Black King
Sirius Black paced in the Solar that was once the haunt of his brother in all but blood. This was the only place in the entire castle where he could feel James' presence the other he had barred anyone from visiting.
Sirius was, for the lack of a better word anxious. Never in his life had he felt so anxious, James had always been there with him. He had always kept him calm, always managed to compel Sirius to get his wits about him but now that anchor was no more for he had himself lit the funeral pyre along with Remus and Frank, with thousand others watching over as the Good King left behind this world to start a new journey.
Sighing he took a seat on the chair opposite the one where James used to sit losing himself in the days gone by, the happier days.
It wasn't long though when someone else joined in the reminiscing.
"You always sat on that chair." Remus said walking in to the room, in his usual calm voice.
Sirius smiled, James was normally the one who kept Sirius in check but it was Remus who had managed to mellow down the hot-headed Prince James Potter to the King and person he became later in life.
James was a spoiled brat when he came to Dragonstone much like Sirius was. Remus however was the opposite. Disciplined, composed and articulate, the Prince and the Heir to the Black family initially took a dislike to the reserved and quiet second son of the Warden of the North.
It was after a few years of studying together and apprenticing under the same Masters that the boys came to respect each other. Friendship happened soon after that when they represent Dragonstone at Braavos. James and Sirius as full of themselves as they had been had managed to irk the ire of several Bravos at the Moon Pool, had it not been for Remus and his elder brother Jared, they'd have been left to drown in the sewers.
"And you have always stood beside me." Sirius said getting up from the chair and walking towards his friend. They looked each other in the eye and then broke their shared gaze.
"I haven't seen Frank all evening." Remus asked, looking questioningly at his friend.
Sirius scoffed, "I saw him talking to Bella." He said, "Poor chap. He doesn't know that woman like I do." He further added his voice low and serious all of a sudden.
"She's your sister, elder sister." Remus asserted, "I'm sure she isn't as bad as you think she is."
"No, she is much worse." Sirius said, turning his head towards the door.
Remus quietened and look towards the double-oaken doors that he had walked through himself several minutes ago. He could hear the footfalls, one after another and several of them.
His enhanced senses allowed him to pick up on the minute details which others could not. The sounds of the footsteps and the scent of those walking towards them allowed him to better prepare himself and Sirius.
"Speaking of your demon" Remus said, a smile crawling towards his lips.
Sirius cursed but stood his ground beside Remus as several people walked in. Some he recognised, some he wanted to run through with his sword and some he didn't. His sister walked towards him and snaked her arms around him, kissing him gently on the cheek, "You were very brave today little brother." She whispered softly in his ear.
Sirius nodded respectfully and gave her a forced smile. His smiles were so well practiced that no one could discern between the real and false smiles. His mother had taught him well, especially when it came to dealing with their family.
Bellatrix returned his smile with her own, the one which she flashed to sweep men and soldiers of their feet. Sadly, her husband saw through them but Sirius knew their relationship wasn't a conventional one. His gaze shifted from his sister to his good-brother.
Rodolphus LeStrange was a tall and handsome man. He had a warrior's built and he certainly looked the part as he normally wore what his soldiers did. Dressed in chain mail, boiled leather and rough cotton or wool, Rodolphus looked less of a lord and more of a charismatic soldier. Sirius would have liked his good-brother had he not been married to his cousin.
Besides them, the elegant lord and lady of the Westerlands, he welcomed several others who he knew with warm and genuine smiles. He embraced Frank Longbottom, another friend who had always been loyal to them.
He bowed to the lords of the Stormlands and the grief-stricken Lady Paramount of the Stormlands, Samaira Dragatto Potter, James' grandmother and the last surviving member of two of the greatest houses of Britainnos.
When Lady Samaira entered the solar, a silence fell throughout the room and everyone followed Sirius' lead and bowed low to the Dowager Empress of Britainnos.
It was only when Samaira kept her hand on Sirius' shoulder did he rise and so did the other lords and ladies in the room.
Sirius didn't dare look in her eyes, for the fear of seeing the reflection of his pain in them.
"Look me in the eye Sirius. It is unbecoming of a Lord to not look someone in the eye while speaking." Lady Potter said in an authoritative voice, her tone commanding and strong just the way it always was.
A smile grazed Sirius' mouth as several memories from the past flooded his mind.
Not wishing to dishonour her, he raised his head and looked her in the eye, "Yes, Your Grace" he said reverently.
"Your Grace" Lady Potter questioned acidly.
"My Lady" Sirius said quickly correcting himself.
"Better" she said, walking past him, towards the ancestral chair of the Kings carved out of a Weirwood Tree, on which James had sat and before him his ancestors.
It wasn't long before she got comfortable in it. She had sat on the chair herself, after the death of her husband and before her son ascended to the throne.
"I'd beg all of you to forgive me but as you can see I'm old, wrinkled and growing weak." She said to the silent lords and ladies that stood before her.
She looked around the room and Sirius noted that her eyes rested on a few people, albeit for a very short duration. If he didn't know the woman better, he'd have thought that the woman was nervous and lost.
"All of you here have been loyal to the empire. Even those who came at the very end." She said, not looking towards the LeStranges and their accompanying lords but anyone with half a brain realised who she had meant.
Several westerlords shifted uncomfortably but one look from their Lord and Lady Paramount was enough to quell them.
"It seems we have reached a situation where we have a kingdom at peace but no King to rule it towards greatness." She said, looking towards everyone present "But a Kingdom must have a King." She asserted her eyes coming to rest on Sirius.
For a minute Sirius didn't know what she meant but when she didn't break her gaze and continued to stare at him, he didn't know how to deal with the situation. Could she possible mean it? He thought. Could she possibly mean for him to be the King?
"Sirius Black, Lord Paramount of Aryalay and the Dornish Marches" she said in the same authoritative tone and beckoned him forwards.
Slowly, Sirius put one step before the other and before he knew it he was standing before the dowager empress.
"Kneel" she said in the same commanding voice.
Swiftly, he fell to one knee, his head bowed in reverence.
"Sirius Black, Lord Paramount of Aryalay and the Dornish Marches, I pronounce you the King of the Andals, the Rhyonar, the Gifted and the First Men and Lord Protector of Britainnos and the Seven Kingdoms." She announced, standing before him and peering down.
Sirius was in a daze, he didn't want it. He didn't want any of it. He hadn't even wanted to be a Lord let alone a King but how could he decline now. It'd be of great insult to the Dowager Empress. He could not insult her. He could not insult her faith in him. If she believed that he could take James' place, he'd try his best to do so even if personally he thought he never could.
He couldn't insult her.
"I accept" he said, in a low but clear voice. Those weren't the right words to say, he knew that but what else did one say?
Rising before her, he looked the aging woman in the eye, "I swear to rule Britainnos and the Seven Kingdoms in the name of the Potters. My actions from this day on would always be in accordance with what was expected of House Potter and before that of House Dragatto", he said bowing to her once again.
Samaira Dragatto smiled, but he could see the pain in her eyes as well hidden behind the small joy that he had been able to bring to her.
"Send the Ravens, announce to the people" she said with zeal in her voice, "We have a New King" she added, her voice lost in the din of the other Lords cheering for their New King, A Black King.
A few weeks had passed since his coronation.
The High Septon had crowned him at the central square of King's Landing while the commoners, soldiers, merchants, mages and lords cheered for their New King. He was The King who had protected them from the Ironborn invasion, sending their ships to the bottom of the Narrow Sea with the help of the Princess of Dorne.
Amidst the crowds cheer he had resolved to be the King that James had been. He had resolved to be honourable, considerate and just. He'd live for his realm and protect it with his life, as would his children.
The thought of his children brought a smile on Sirius' face. His wife and children along with a few other members of the Black Family had arrived before the coronation. Sirius had been adamant that he wouldn't wear the crown until he spoke to his wife first.
Marlene Black nee McKinnon had been devastated when Sirius informed her of his decision, or rather the decision that had fell on him. She had cried for Lily, James and their child to whom she was to be a Godmother. Marlene and Lily had been friends since before they studied at Dragonstone and Lily's loss had impacted Marlene just as much James' had hit Sirius.
He was glad that his children didn't remember Harry, they had bonded well a few months ago like their parents but then they were still too young. It'd have just caused them pain.
Aries looked like him, he looked like a Black. Grey eyes, sharp features and dark hair but he had his mother's temperament. His daughter, Maia who was just a few months old was turning out to be quite a handful.
While her brother seemed to have been born calm and disciplined, Maia on the other hand was capable of bringing the entire castle down. Her cries echoed through the Red Keep's halls and corridors, brining everyone's attention to the young Princess.
A smile began to grow on Sirius' face.
"You are thinking about your children" he heard someone say from behind him. The smile vanished as quickly as it had come.
"Bellatrix" he said, not restraining the venom in his voice.
"Your Grace" Bellatrix said in her calm voice, curtseying before him.
Sirius gestured for her to take a seat and poured a goblet of wine for each of them.
He kept a goblet in front of her and took a seat across from her. "How can I be of service to you?" he asked Bellatrix taking a long draught from his goblet.
Bellatrix remained quiet for a while; she didn't even touch the goblet that he had poured for her, "I saw Lady Cassiopeia arrive today", Bellatrix said referring to their great-aunt, "along with her bastard daughter." She further added, her face contorted in distaste.
Sirius scoffed, a smirk crawling to his lips, "You don't seem to mind your Husband's bastards" he said not expecting her to answer back.
"I don't have a problem with my husband's bastards or bastards in general." She said, asserting her point, "It's her bastard daughter that has me worried."
Sirius laughed his bark of a laughter, "Why Bellatrix? You know the child isn't even hers. It's Uncle…"
"Castor's child" She said, completing his sentence for him, "I know and that's what has me worried." She said with a heightened seriousness.
Sirius was taken aback but he didn't show it. It took a lot to unnerve Bellatrix and if something had her unnerved it couldn't be a small matter.
"Would you like to share your views with me?" Sirius asked his sister, more interested in what had irked his cousin so much.
"I think they are plotting against you." Bellatrix said, in a cold dead voice. If Sirius was surprised he didn't show it, instead he smiled at her. "Isn't everybody in our family doing that?" he said, giving her a questioning look.
"Andromeda, Narcissa and Alphard aren't" she said, taking a sip from her goblet for the first time.
Sirius wasn't amused; Bellatrix hadn't included herself in the non-plotters. What game was she playing at? She was clever; he had to give her that and she wasn't the most honourable of the Blacks. That'd have to be Regel, the one who always kept his oaths and lived by the Black Words.
"I'm sure you are wondering why I didn't include myself in those plotting against you." She said, taking another long draught from her goblet.
"Amuse me" Sirius scoffed, refilling his goblet.
Bellatrix sighed, "I'm not plotting against you yet." She said, "As of now, you are not a threat to me or my family." She added, in a stern voice.
"Why would I be a threat to our family?" Sirius asked her.
"You have offered Castor and Cassiopeia positions on your small councils." Bellatrix said.
"I see what the problem is now" Sirius cut in, "You're jealous" he said mocking her with his trademark smirk.
Anger raged through the woman and she banged her hand on the table, "I am not jealous" she said, asserting every word of the sentence.
"Good" Sirius said, "Then I wish to extend a proposal to you." He added, getting up from his chair and walking to the wine cabinet.
After pouring himself a goblet full of Arbour Gold, he looked to Bellatrix and raised his goblet, "Congratulations on your appointment as the New Master of Coin" he said with a smile playing on his lips, a smile that reached and brightened his eyes.
Bellatrix was shocked and she couldn't seem to hide it. Sirius however continued to smile and left his cousin to contemplate. He was a Black and he knew how to play the Game of Thrones.
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