A/N This is my first chapter from Sirius' perspective who I admit is one of my favourites to write! Hope you enjoy it as much as I have done writing it.


Misguided Sympathy

Sirius


All of the Marauders were sitting on their respective beds, the contents of their trunks emptied all over the floor as they made a lacklustre attempt to unpack. Quite simply, none of them could really be bothered. Unpacking could wait and Sirius was bored.

"I'm bored," Sirius stated simply.

"Yeah….." James said as he lay back on his four poster bed. "Feast was pretty uneventful right?"

"Should have stirred it up a bit," Sirius muttered as he tossed the only set of dress robes he'd bothered to bring from his parents under his bed. Thankfully, he wasn't anticipating much use for formal attire. Not now he was the disinherited first son of a noble pure-blood family. He couldn't say he minded though, dull family occasions had never been on top of his to-do list.

"It was rather mundane wasn't it?" Remus added, looking equally glum.

They all turned to look at Peter who was yet to contribute to the conversation. However it seemed the excess that was the welcome feast had got the better of Peter. He'd collapsed in a food coma on his bed, a half-eaten muffin still clenched in his fat fist and his eyes half closed. Sirius couldn't help but laugh. There was no wonder Peter had not had as much as a chaste kiss under the mistletoe with a member of the female sex. Not that he really felt much sympathy for him. It was due to his own greed and complete lack of self-control that Peter was like he was. He hadn't been force-fed like poor Emmeline Pancake of the Muggle Suffragette movement had been. He was proud to have remembered that very obscure fact from Muggle Studies, although it did probably help that this female shared a first name with one of the girls he was sleeping with.

"What are you thinking about?" James asked, his face suddenly just inches from Sirius'.

"Girls I want to fuck," Sirius replied, figuring it wasn't actually that far off from the truth.

"Pray tell?" James said curiously as Peter yawned loudly.

"Oh, I was thinking maybe McDonald?" Sirius said, inserting the first name that came into his head. Quite frankly he had no interest whatsoever in fucking Mary McDonald. Within one hour of sleeping with her, the whole school would know every intimate detail as surely as if she'd paid the Prophet to run it on the front page.

"McDonald?" James asked, throwing Sirius a weird look. "You sure about that mate?"

"She's with Tom Barnes now anyway," Remus said from over the top of his copy of Quidditch through the Ages.

"How come I don't know that?" James demanded, turning to face Remus.

"God relax Prongs, she's only been going out with him….." Remus paused to look at his watch. "A grand total of eight hours."

"God, I hate romances that start on the train. They're so cliché," James sighed as he flopped backwards onto his bed. "How do you know about this new development then? Got a close female confidante we don't know about?"

"Afraid not, Evans just told me during the prefect meeting."

"Oh," was all that James could say, a wistful expression gracing his face at the mention of the God forsaken Lily Evans. Quite frankly Sirius still couldn't see what all the fuss was about. He would have given up long ago. No girl was worth that level of stress and anguish. Especially one that wasn't sleeping with you. Or one that didn't even like you.

"Do you think we made her jealous at the feast?"

"Jealous of what?"

"The girls in that muggle magazine?"

Sirius shot a look at Remus who was looking equally amused.

"Well," Remus started diplomatically. "I think she certainly took notice but probably not for the reasons you would want her to."

"In other words mate she still hates you," Sirius added upon seeing the puzzled expression on James' face. "I'm not sure porn has that effect on women Prongs. Especially girls like Evans."

"What do you mean? Girls like Evans?" James demanded.

Remus sighed. "All he meant was that she's a nice girl She's unlikely to want to be plastered all over the centrefold of Playboy in bunny ears with a distinct shortage of clothing."

"Right" James answered vaguely, evidently preoccupied with the image Remus had foolishly just put into his head. Although Sirius couldn't say it was a bad image. Whilst he didn't share his best friend's adoration of the red head you couldn't deny she was a great looking girl. It was just the personality that was a problem.

"So what's the deal with you and Emmeline," James asked, seemingly having gotten over his Evans induced euphoria. Whilst Sirius was glad to have moved away from the topic of Evans he wasn't sure this subject was all that much better.

"Not sure."

"Well you haven't slept with her yet. Is that not on the agenda this year?" Remus said, cutting a picture of Puddlemere United out of his book.

Sirius didn't answer, instead rolling onto his back to look at the ceiling with a small smirk on his face.

"Wait, you have?" Remus asked, looking from James to Sirius and back again. "When did I miss that?!"

"Whilst you were getting cosy with Evans during the prefects' meeting," Sirius said lightly, ignoring the indignant look on James' face.

"Right," said Remus. "Right…."

"What?"

"So are you going out with her?" James asked, prodding his arm.

"Nah, it's less serious than all that."

"Does she know about this?" Remus asked, ever the upholder of female rights.

"We talked about it," Sirius said, deciding to omit the rather unpleasant argument they'd had over it. Yawning, he rolled over onto his front and propped himself up on his elbows.

Remus didn't say anything, but Sirius could tell he wasn't convinced. Not that he cared all that much. Remus was one of his best friends, but they did disagree on a great many number of things. Thankfully they'd agreed to disagree on this point a long time ago, but that still didn't stop Remus from letting his opinion be known from time to time. Not that he needed to say much, Remus did a good enough job of that with his face alone. In fact silence was generally the best indicator that Remus really didn't agree with you.

"So are you ever going to tell us why you left home?" Remus asked, changing the subject.

"Parents. Nothing more to say than that," Sirius replied, already bored of the number of times he had been asked this exact question this term. However given the fact term only officially began a few hours ago, this looked like a trend that was set to continue. Closing his eyes, he considered the different ways he could avoid having to elaborate on this point. He could take inspiration from Peter and pretend to be asleep, or he could try and change the subject. The upcoming full moon was always a popular choice. With James at least.

But on closer examination of the expressions on James' and Remus' faces, he thought it unlikely he would get away with either of those options. The safest option, and the only realistic one he had left was to get out of here. He only needed to think of an excuse.

"I might go and check the notice board out," Sirius said, getting to his feet.

"Sure, let me know what it says," Remus replied, his eyes not leaving his book.

James wasn't so easily pacified. He'd been trying to get more out of Sirius all summer, and knew exactly what he was playing at. But he let it slide with only a raise of his eyebrow.

Making a quick exit, Sirius strolled out the door, pausing for a moment to see if they were going to say anything about his sudden departure. Pressing his ear against the door he could hear faint talking.

"Has he not said anything more to you?" he could hear Remus saying.

"Nope, barely one word," James' voice replied. "But we shouldn't talk about this now. He'll be mad if he overhears us talking about him."

Well they'd got that much right. Not that it was stopping them right now.

"True," Remus sighed. "I'm sure in time he'll tell us exactly what happened."

"The thing is I'm not sure he will…." James trailed off, obviously still cautious of the prospect of being overheard. "Anyway, later Moony".

Thinking that would probably be the end of that conversation, Sirius made his way down the stairs to the common room. He might as well go and look at the notice board now, especially as Remus expected him to report back.

The common room was full to bursting when he entered. Most of the first years seemed to have gone up to bed but the rest of the Gryffindors were milling around. As usual, the biggest crowd was around the noticeboard by the window- a crowd which almost exclusively consisted of third and sixth years. McGonagall had already arranged the start of year meetings where they would decide their subjects and the list was pinned in the centre of the notice board. Below it were tattered bits of parchment encouraging them to pick one subject or another.

Sirius ignored those. He already knew what subjects he wanted to take. Peering over a lanky 3rd year's shoulder, he scanned the list for his name. They were listed alphabetically- all except his. His own name was at the very bottom, right below Walcott, Selena.

He wasn't sure what that meant. And he wasn't sure he wanted to know either.


McGonagall looked tired and drawn when Sirius' meeting finally came round. Several strands of hair had come loose from her usually pristine bun and her posture wasn't quite as rigid as it usually was. She beckoned him in, however, with the same stern look that she always possessed when talking to either him or James.

"So what will you be taking, Sirius?" she asked as he sat down.

Sirius lounged back in his chair, taking his time. "Well your subject obviously," he said. "Seeing as I did so well in it." He enjoyed the effect that that statement had on McGonagall. They both knew that he'd got top marks in his Transfiguration O.W.L, second only to James.

"Indeed," she said sharply, her expression as hard as nails. "Quite surprising considering your very poor work ethic. You should consider yourself lucky, Mr Black - and can tell you now that I said exactly the same to Mr Potter earlier- that as I am allowing you to carry on, I will be expecting hard graft this year. I do not tolerate slacking at NEWT level."

Sirius just smiled and let her rant on. He'd heard this all before.

"And Defence against the Dark Arts, I presume?"

"Yep," Sirius rocked back on his chair, ignoring the glare that McGonagall gave him. "Defence against the Dark Arts. And Charms. And Herbology."

Nodding, McGonagall wrote all three down on a piece of parchment.

"And the last one?"

Sirius allowed himself a smirk. "Astronomy," he said.

McGonagall raised an eyebrow. "Astronomy," she repeated. "I don't think so, Mr Black."

"Why not? I got an Exceeds Expectations in it?" A very surprising E, Sirius had to think. Unlike his other subjects, he hadn't actually deserved that one. He'd only passed because Remus had forced him to learn it and because one of questions had involved mapping Bellatrix in the Orion system.

"Why not?" McGonagall pursed her lips and ran her finger down a sheet of paper. "Well let's see," she said. "Because you only went to eight classes last year? Eight, Mr Black, Eight!"

Sirius had to laugh. "Exactly," he said. "Imagine how well I'd have done if I'd been to them all."

"Well we'll never know," she said. "And nor will we be finding out this year."

Sirius tried to disguise his irritation. He wished Sprout was his head of house- she'd have been persuaded easily. Even Slughorn would have been workable. "Please, Professor?" he asked, trying to sound sincere.

"My answer is no. And that is final, Mr Black."

"Why? I'm turning over a new leaf here, showing interest in my academic work." He flashed her a grin. "And I've even got the name for it, Professor. I was practically born to be an astronomer."

McGonagall was not amused. "I'll tell you why I'm not allowing you to take Astronomy, Mr Black. It's because I think you're choosing this subject for the wrong reasons."

Sirius smiled innocently at her. "And what reason is that, Professor?"

"The same reason why every other young man before you has suddenly decided to take Astronomy to NEWT level despite showing very little interest previously in it." She fixed him with her stare. "And I can tell you now, Mr Black; Professor Sinistra has better things to do than answer your love letters."

Sirius grinned. Even he could see he was fighting a losing battle here. "Muggle Studies then," he told her. "I'll ruffle old Betty's feathers instead."

McGonagall's jaw stiffened. "Might I remind you that use of teachers' first names is unacceptable, Mr Black."

Sirius nodded earnestly. "Yes, Minerva."

She didn't rise to the bait. She merely glared at him for a few moments before her eyes then flicked down to the piece of parchment in front of her. "No Potions?" she asked. "Slughorn speaks surprisingly highly of you. Says that your potions aren't bad when you're not replacing the raisins in tea cakes with beetle eyes and then feeding them to unsuspecting second years."

Sirius grinned. "We only did that once, Professor. And it was hot cross buns." He rocked back on his chair again.

"All the same, no Potions?"

Sirius shrugged. "Well it was a toss-up between Herbology and Potions, and everyone knows Herbology is a doss. Could pass that in my sleep."

McGonagall pursed her lips again but drew a line under 'Herbology" on the parchment all the same.

As soon as that was done, Sirius stood up to go. He was well aware that he'd pushed his luck with McGonagall today. He wasn't quite sure how he hadn't lost points for his cheek yet and he wanted to get safely from her sight before his luck ran out.

He only reached the door, however, before McGonagall's voice rang out again. "Before you go, Sirius, I want a word," she said.

Her tone was surprisingly gentle and Sirius felt his heart sink. That, combined with the use of his first name signified that they were getting on to a sensitive topic. "Yes?" He turned back towards her stiffly.

"I understand that you are no longer living with your parents."

Sirius chewed on the inside of his cheek. "Who told you that?"

"I was sent an owl first by the Magical Law Enforcement Squad and then by James' mother. Both seemed to think I should be aware of the situation."

"Is that so?" Sirius muttered. "Well personally I don't think it's any of your fucking business."

For once, McGonagall let his rudeness slide.

"As you wish, Sirius," she said tartly. "There's nothing you wish to talk about then? No worries or problems? I might remind you that Madame Pomfrey offers a confidential service."

Sirius scowled. "No thanks," he muttered. He yanked on the handle of the door angrily. This time, Professor McGonagall did not call him back.


Hope you enjoyed it- I'm sorry that it was one of my shorter chapters. But lots more of Sirius coming in the next chapter and we're finally getting some scenes that warrant the story's M rating ;)

As always any reviews is much appreciated!

Sofia