Disclaimer: Anything you recognise does not belong to me, however much I wish that it did. Instead, it all belongs to J. K. Rowling – I'm just borrowing them all right now. However, anything you do not recognise does belong to me, unless stated otherwise.

Bits and Pieces

By ForeverSirius77

Date: May 2007

Contest/Occasion: Monthly Character Drabble – Orion Black

Title: His Son

Summary: He never liked punishing his son.

Warnings: Implied Abuse

Words: 560

His Son

The sound of a slamming door from down the hall caused his own door to rattle. A frustrated sigh escaped the mouth of the black-haired man sitting at the desk, an elegant quill grasped firmly in his hand. He closed his eyes in an effort to calm himself as the shouting erupted.

Again, he thought to himself as the sound of his wife's voice carried throughout the house. It was not long before her tirade was broken up by the sound of another shouting voice as the argruments coming from his son began. Knowing that it was pointless to try and finish his work tonight – as concentration was impossible once the arguments had started – Orion replaced his quill on the desk and went to pacing along the floor of his study.

He stared blankly into the roaring fire in the fireplace, not really seeing the orange flames as they licked and wrapped around the logs. For the past four years, the arguments had been going, and he had tired of them after the first two months. They never changed – Walburga and Sirius; neither would ever give on their positions, regardless of how loud Walburga yelled or what punishments they gave to their son.

Orion, if he was absolutely honest with himself, knew he disliked having to punish his eldest. Sirius was rash, yes, but when Orion looked at his son, he saw pride, power, and strength, within the boy. He saw the three-year-old child who would come to him on stormy nights and after horrid nightmares; he saw the boy who would defend his younger brother whenever some of the older cousins would pick on him; he saw the grinning ten-year-old boy who declared that he would be the best when he went to Hogwarts.

Orion saw the boy who would be the heir to the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black.

"You will do as I say, Sirius!"

"No, I won't!"

A crashing sound echoed from downstairs, and everything instantly fell silent. Orion sighed again, his grey eyes falling closed. The voices had stopped from the argument. He knew what had probably happened, and as the door to his study opened, his suspicions were confirmed.

"Father," said Regulus, his hand on the door's handle as he looked at the elder Black. "Mother said that she wants you downstairs … It's about Sirius."

Orion slowly headed towards the door, placing a hand on his second son's shoulder as he reached the young wizard.

"Go back to your room, Regulus," he said, turning to go downstairs, his mind already knowing what he would see. But his son's voice made him pause.

"Father –"

He looked back at his son, seeing the thoughts warring through his mind. Emotions sought to show themselves on his face, but Regulus was hesitant to show them. Orion, however, did not need to see them to know.

He knew what the boy was thinking, what the boy was feeling.

Orion knew, because deep down, the older man felt the same.

"Sirius will be fine," he said quietly. "Go on to your room, son."

And as Regulus nodded and climbed the second staircase to the bedrooms, Orion descended down to the main room, pushing the memories of a grinning, five-year-old Sirius from his mind as he did so.

Doing such made facing it all so much easier.

Author's Note: Alright, there's another drabble to add to this collection. My view of Orion has always been a bit different than that in a lot of other fics, and that's what I was trying to show here. (Oh, and there is a nod to one of the parts of my Sirius-centric short story collection, Shades of Black, located in this drabble, if you can see it.) Also, a thank you goes out to SWChica2005 for reviewing this story, and to everyone else, thank you so very much for reading, and please, don't hesitate to let me know what you thought.

--ForeverSirius77