Sirius Black and the Heir to Slytherin
Chapter 11—Starting Something
After the ride across the moat with the first years, Sirius helped Hagrid store the boats. He shook his head as he covered one up. It seemed silly to have these boats for no purpose other than transporting first years one time when the term began. Then again, the carriages and train never seemed to get much use either.
Hagrid glanced at Sirius, "What're yeh shakin' yer head about, now?" He finished tying a knot the size of Sirius' fist.
"Nothing," the boy replied. "It's just funny how we only use the boats once. Why bother?"
The groundskeeper laughed. "Tradition, of course. Firs' years used to come by boat to protect them."
"What?"
"Yeah. A long time ago. There were a lot of dark wizards who were enemies of the founders. They couldn't get into Hogwarts to cause trouble, so they'd attack th' students... easy prey. Firs' years were the best targets, 'cause most didn't know any magic yet, so while the rest took the carriages, the firs' years went with the teachers by boat."
Sirius sent Hagrid a skeptical look. "How do you know that?"
Hagrid laughed. "Same way you found out. I asked. Anyway, Hogwarts has always been big on tradition. That's why we still have th' sorting..."
A thought seemed to strike him suddenly, and he looked sharply at Sirius. "Speaking of th' sorting, yeh shouldn't be here with me. Yeh should be at the feast."
Sirius' heart sank. He didn't feel like dealing with Snape and Malfoy, nor did he want to run into Potter's little group again so soon. "Can't I just finish up here? I'm not hungry. And I don't care about the stupid sorting."
"Of course yeh can't! There's rules here. Yeh know that. Now get back to the castle before we both get into trouble."
Sirius opened his mouth to protest, but quickly shut it when he caught Hagrid's glare. "Fine," he snapped, throwing one last cloth over a boat and stomping off. What was Hagrid's problem today, anyway? It was like he'd personally taken Sirius' social life into his own hands. Sirius didn't need any help. He didn't need anyone. He'd survived this long alone. Why did people have to interfere now?
He slipped into the castle entranceway and stopped, listening to the laughter and chattering coming from the Great Hall. The happy sounds hurt him for some reason. If he went in there, he wouldn't be part of it anyway.
His contrary mood won out, and instead of going in, he walked toward the Slytherin common room. Moments later, he stood in front of the ugly guardian of the door. "Cockatrice," he said, and began walking in. Entering would probably have been easier if the statue had moved.
"Ow! Shit! Move, you stupid thing!" he hissed after bashing his knee into its ugly wing. "Cockatrice. You heard me! Cockatrice!" It still didn't budge. He was ready to kick the thing, ignoring the obvious stupidity involved in that plan, when a sound further down the hall caught his attention. People were talking.
Mildly interested, Sirius silently limped closer to the voices. He ducked into the shadowy doorway of an office and listened.
It was Filch and Meadows.
"Two of your packages have arrived, professor. The rest will be a day or so."
"I see," Meadows replied. "I'm going to need some help with unloading those. A lot is heavy and some is just dangerous. It certainly won't be coming by owl."
"How about some students?" Filch suggested in his oily voice. "Especially with the dangerous ones..."
"Argus..." Meadows' voice was still pleasant, but there was a warning tone as well.
Filch began muttering something too quietly for Sirius to hear. The young Slytherin moved forward a bit. His weight shifted to his injured knee, and before he knew it his leg gave out and he came crashing down into the hallway.
Meadows' wand was over him in seconds, blinding him with its light. Sirius attempted to block it and crawl to his feet. This wasn't good. His right knee was throbbing and he was seeing purple spots in front of his eyes.
Filch grabbed Sirius by the collar of his robes and dragged him to his feet. Sirius yelped as his knee gave out again and he dropped. Clearly the last fall had further damaged it.
"Get up!" Filch snapped.
"Argus! Leave him be," Meadows countered, physically coming between the boy and Filch. "That's enough!"
Filch was glaring daggers at Sirius. "He was spying! He should be at the feast. He needs to be taught a lesson."
"That's enough." Meadows' voice had dropped to a soft growl now, but there was enough dangerous warning in it to finally break through and make Filch fall silent. "I'll take care of this," he went on in a gentler voice.
Filch mistakenly assumed that the gentle voice allowed for argument. "He should get detention!" Filch griped.
Meadows turned his back to Filch. Sirius could see his face. It was the first time he'd seen Meadows angry. "Just go. I said I'll deal with him. Tell me when the shipment is ready."
Filch sent Meadows a parting glare and left, muttering under his breath the whole way.
Meadows crouched next to Sirius, finally lowering the light on his wand. "Are you alright?" he asked.
Sirius wouldn't make eye contact. "I'm fine." He tried to stand unsteadily, gingerly putting some weight on the knee. "I wasn't spying," he added. "I heard voices and was curious. You're supposed to all be at the feast." His knee trembled.
Meadows' wand shot out, and Sirius flinched even as he heard the professor say, "Raparre patella." Bandages tightly wrapped Sirius' knee, easing the pain and lending support.
"Did you think I'd hurt you?" Meadows asked.
"What?"
"You flinched."
Sirius just shrugged.
"Where are you supposed to be, Sirius?"
Again Sirius shrugged. "The feast, I guess. I wasn't hungry, so I skipped out."
"Ah." Meadows nodded. "I take it you were going to the dormitory then?"
"Yeah," Sirius muttered, "but the stupid password didn't work."
Meadows chuckled. "Of course not. It's set to change at every sorting."
Sirius' eyes snapped up as he made eye contact for the first time. "Figures," he said. "I messed up my knee, walking into that stupid guardian statue."
"I see," Meadows replied, his grey eyes twinkling. "Well, you know, if you'd been where you were supposed to be, it wouldn't have happened."
Sirius groaned. "Okay, I was caught. Am I getting sent to Hagrid's for detention again, or what?"
"No," Meadows replied. "You'll be serving detention with me. I'll contact you when I need you."
Sirius opened his mouth to protest when the rest of the Slytherins appeared at the top of the stairs.
"You'd better go," Meadows commented, "or you'll miss the new password." He smiled at Sirius. "And get your leg looked at. You'll need to be fully fit when I call you for detention." With that, the professor walked off.
Sirius decided by the end of his first week of class that he should have taken the feast day as a hint of how things were going to be for him. It seemed as though almost nothing went as it was supposed to. He was most worried about transfiguration, a class he now shared with the Ravenclaws. He wasn't really looking forward to that at all. At least with the Gryffindors he had Lily. Now he had to look like a floundering idiot in front of a house that had hated him since Defense Against the Dark Arts the previous year. He almost wished he really was as evil as they said. Then at least he could have done something to wipe those smug looks off their faces without feeling guilty about it.
The class itself wasn't too bad for the first week, though. McGonagall spent a lot of time talking, and then they reviewed. It was almost as boring as Sirius' self-imposed lessons over the summer. Not that he had any delusions that it would stay this easy. He strongly suspected that things would spiral out of control for him as soon as they hit new material. But for now, he was bored. He spent most of the class period trying to make Lupin, who sat directly in front of him, uncomfortable by staring hard at the back of his head. When that didn't work, Sirius resorted to using his wand to create interesting pictures on the back of Lupin's robes.
Potions was a breeze as usual, as was charms. And herbology, which he had with the Hufflepuffs at least looked amusing. Raising mandrakes. He'd never played with those before, and they sounded wicked, making them even more interesting.
It wasn't until Astronomy that things started going rapidly downhill for Sirius. This was another of the subjects that Sirius had never done particularly well in. He had only barely managed average marks last year, and certainly didn't expect anything better now. It was too hard for him to sit still and just stare at stars and planets. Who cared what phase the moon was in? And the constellations they had to memorize... honestly, where did they come up with those? Pegasus? Did anyone really see a horse in that, with or without wings? The most useful thing Sirius could get out of that class were interesting patterns to doodle on the back of Lupin's robes the following day in Transfiguration.
The Gryffindors were in this class. He'd gotten a small wave from Lily on the first day when she caught his eye. He offered a quick smile in return before Snape got through the door. Then he sat in his seat from last year, ready for the boredom to begin. Snape set up his whole collection of weird school stuff in front of him, which just made Sirius roll his eyes. He poked at a funny looking silver thing. "What's that?'
"It's a lunascope. Don't touch it," Snape hissed, swatting Sirius away.
Sirius slipped back in his seat. "Alright, alright. Man, it's not like it was that interesting anyway. It just looked stupid, so I thought I'd ask." Sirius considered trying to doodle one of those things on Lupin's back, but decided against it. It's not like anyone would know what it was anyway. What fun was that?
Sinistra entered just then. He was a short, balding wizard who always seemed to have too much energy and not enough focus. Today was no exception. The man burst into the room with an armful of papers, which Sirius really hoped weren't homework assignments already. The professor dumped the papers onto his desk, zipped about the room, making note of where everyone was sitting, and then sat down on top of his desk to take roll. He almost fell off when several of his loose papers shifted. He glanced down at his seating chart, and back up at the class, confusion furrowing his brow. Sirius wasn't sure how you could get confused taking attendance. Leave it to this guy.
Lily finally raised her hand. "Professor? Is something the matter?"
Sinistra blinked at her. "You aren't Michael Storge."
Lily stared back. "Er—no. I'm Lily Evans, professor..."
Sinistra looked around again. "Is Michael Storge absent, too? That's the tenth student in a row."
Lily glanced at Jenny, who just rolled her eyes and mouthed, "Here we go again," before putting her head on her desk.
Sirius grinned.
Snape raised his hand and said in a dry voice, "Professor, Michael Storge is a Ravenclaw."
Sinistra blinked at Snape. "You aren't Aramea Anderson."
The class began to giggle, as Snape just stared at him, dumbfounded. Sirius sniggered, earning an evil look from Snape.
"Just laugh," Sirius said. "The way things are going, I'm probably going to be Susan White next."
Lily finally stood and walked over to Sinistra's desk, quietly explaining that it was Wednesday and he was looking at the wrong class. This didn't even phase Sinistra. He just smiled blandly at Lily, called her a good little girl, and sent her back to her desk, as he dug out the correct roster.
Sirius buried his face in his hands. "And they wonder why no one gets good grades in this class." He snuck a look at Snape. "Well, except for you, of course, but no one else. I mean, how do you listen to him? It's like Binns only worse. At least Binns knows who he's teaching. He just doesn't care who's listening and who's in a coma. Sinistra honestly doesn't know."
Snape gritted his teeth. "Shut up, Black. No one cares what you think."
Sirius rested his cheek on one hand and grinned. "I never said anyone cared. But you can't deny it's true. Come on. Just try to deny it, Aramea." He snickered again.
Snape's eyes narrowed. "I'm going to kill you one day, Black. You know that, right?"
Sirius shrugged, uncaring. "Better you kill me than I die of boredom." He leaned back in his seat, stretching. "Maybe I'll get lucky and a comet will hit me. Sinistra will never see it coming. The tower will be up in flames. All the students running and screaming. And he'll suddenly look up and say—"
"Mr. Black, you go sit with Mr. Potter."
Sirius shook his head. "No, I don't think he'd say that."
Snape picked up Sirius' parchment and threw it at him. "Idiot, that wasn't me. "Huh?" Sirius' eyes blinked open, startled.
Sinistra was looking at him from his desk. "We're pairing up for the year. You go sit with Potter."
Sirius nearly dumped himself from his chair. "I'm pairing with him? For the whole year? But, professor!"
Sinistra kept smiling. "It will be good for you. Some of you seem to be struggling, so if everyone pairs up, you can help each other in class."
"But him." Sirius looked at Potter, who had his own face buried in his hands.
Snape smirked. "Well, Black... you were saying that no one can pass this class. And now he's trying to help."
"Oh, shut up," Sirius snapped, grabbing his things and stomping over to Potter's table. When he got there, he pretty much threw everything down, nearly knocking over some ink.
"Watch it," Potter said, snatching his things out of the way.
"You watch it," Sirius retorted, flopping down into the empty chair, and tilting it back on two legs.
"Nice comeback, Black. Did you come up with that all on your own?"
"Like I care what the stupid white knight thinks," Sirius muttered, closing his eyes. "Don't you have some damsels in distress to save?"
Potters eyes flashed, "Don't you have some maiden sacrifices to attend?"
Sirius snorted. "Nope. Sorry. I only attend virgin sacrifices during the full moon." Sirius cracked an eye opened and smirked at Potter. "Hey, now that we're astronomy partners, I guess you can help me keep tabs on the sacrifice schedule, huh?"
"Only if I get to drive a stake through your heart, before you drive one through my grade."
Sirius tipped the chair back further, so his head was almost resting on the empty desk behind him. "That would be silver bullets, Potter. Did you lose track of the conversation? We were talking about a full moon..."
"Is there a problem back there, boys?" Sinistra asked, finally catching on that they were talking.
"Nothing, professor," Potter replied in a semi-angelic voice. "We were just discussing lab work."
Sirius felt like retching. He coughed, allowing it to sound suspiciously like the words, "brown-noser."
It was apparently the last straw for Potter, as Sirius suddenly felt something come in contact with his chair leg, and he found himself tipping too far and crashing to the floor with a bang.
When he woke up, he had to blink a few times to clear his vision. And then a few more to be sure he was seeing correctly. Sinistra and about four students stood over him. He couldn't figure out why he was lying on the floor for a moment. He sat up, feeling his head spin. "Ow," he muttered, rubbing the knot on the back of his head. Sinistra lit his wand and shined it directly into Sirius' eyes, blinding him for the second time that week. The professor shined from eye to eye, then straightened, stating, "No concussion. Grab a new chair, Mr. Black. That one doesn't seem too steady. He absently patted Sirius on the head, right where his bump was, adding to the pain, and then wandered off.
The other students went back to their seats. Lily picked up his parchment and handed it to him, sending him a worried look. He just shrugged it off and pretended he nearly got concussions all the time. Why not? That's how his week was going anyway."
Sirius dragged a chair from the desk behind him, and sat, all four legs on the floor, as far from Potter as he could, while still sharing the same table.
Potter was managing to feign an impressive look of worry and guilt. Sirius was just grateful he wasn't near enough to Snape's desk to grab that lunascope thing or else he'd be getting detention right now for cracking Potter over the head with it.
After class, Sirius scooped up his things, ready for lunch and medicinal potions. Potter grabbed his sleeve, before he could get away.
Sirius turned on him. "What now? A near concussion wasn't good enough? Want to break my arm, too?"
Potter still had that dumb look on his face, his eyebrows shot up so high they were visible over his glasses. "Are you alright?"
Sirius snorted. "Like you care. Don't touch me." He yanked his sleeve out of Potter's grip and stomped off.
"I wasn't trying to hurt you," Potter called after him. Sirius just pretended he couldn't hear the Gryffindor as he caught up with Snape.
The other Slytherin glanced at him, and kept walking.
Sirius scowled. "By the way... nice housemate you are. I saw you back there. You didn't even check to see if I was alive. Evans had to."
Snape sighed. "If only I were so lucky..." he muttered.
Sirius gave up and fell into a sullen silence. Oh yeah... This was going to be a great year.
Author's Note: Thanks again for reading and reviewing! Just as a warning, this story may not be updated again for two weeks. I only really update on Monday (or at latest on Tuesday) for it, and I'll probably be out of town both of those days next week. But don't worry! Chapter 12: Choices should be up, no problem, within two weeks. The Choices We Make will also be updated soon. So, please stay tuned! I hope to get back home to lots of reviews!
