James and Remus often complained that Divination was a useless class, but Sirius generally enjoyed it. He liked the idea of knowing the future and he was well-practiced in reading the stars. If there was one thing every Black was an expert on, it was the stars. Sirius could look up in the sky and name almost every constellation he saw. Sixth year Divination began late at night for the students to study the stars and make predictions. James grumbled something about not being in the mood to make things up but Sirius ignored him, taking in a deep breath of fresh night air. Their new professor was an oddly dressed young woman with a light, breathy voice and very large eyeglasses.

"Welcome, my dears." Professor Trewlany began, "Please…raise your eyes to the heavens"

Sirius readily obeyed, picking out a couple of constellations at first glance. His eyes immediately jumped to his own namesake, twinkling in the night sky, shining brighter than all the other stars around it. His gaze wandered to a familiar towering constellation. His fingers traced the pattern of three stars of the seemingly ever-present constellation as he thought of the man named after it. Orion the hunter.

"Who can tell me what the presence of Rigel and Canis Major signifies?"

"Conflict." Sirius answered without raising his hand. He smiled a little to himself at the irony of this declaration; the presence of his and his father's namesakes in the sky represented conflict. What a surprise. Rigel hovered around the bottom of Orion's constellation and Sirius shone brighter than all its surrounding stars in Canis Major.

"Correct." She smiled mysteriously at him and began monologuing about the different stars in the sky and what they meant. Sirius tuned out her voice; he didn't need any sort of help with this. He let his eyes drift across the sky, tracing the lines in the constellations and thinking about the people in his family who shared their names. Carina, born a squib and cast out of the house by her parents at age eleven. Proof that there was something worse than being a Gryffindor. Archturus, who married his first cousin. Typical Black behavior. Delphinus, infamous for using an Unforgivable curse on a muggle and getting let off. Not that it was such a surprise. It was the Black Golden Rule, as Sirius liked to call it. If you've got the gold, you make the rules. A few short years ago, Sirius had brought up this over dinner.

"How come Uncle Delphinus got off for hurting that muggle?"

Breaking the silence during a family meal was never a good idea, but Sirius usually did it anyway. He felt strange sitting there in silence and sometimes he liked to pretend that they were the kind of family that could have a simple discussion over their lineage. Orion looked over at him wearily, but answered anyway.

"The court found that he was not guilty." Orion responded evasively.

"But he did it."

"Well, they didn't see it that way. He had a good defense…so he got off."

"What defense? Money? Merlin, that makes me sick."

"What?" Orion snapped.

"Why should someone be above the law just because they're rich? That isn't right. What about justice? What about that woman's family? She may never be the same."

Orion rolled his eyes and chose not to respond, but Sirius decided he didn't want to let the matter drop. He decided to attack in another way.

"Why STARS?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why are we all named after stars?"

"It's tradition." Walburga said proudly.

"Nobody is called Sirius."

"You are," Orion replied simply, "Wouldn't you rather have a name only you have than one a hundred other people have?"

This was a fair point Sirius had to concede and he nodded slowly. "I think it makes us look…strange."

"We aren't strange," snapped Walburga, "we're better."

"Do you really believe that?" Sirius asked, his tone dripping with sarcasm.

"Watch it." Orion warned and Sirius tried to rearrange his face so that he looked less doubtful of Walburga's claim.

"Of course I believe that, and you should as well," Walburga replied smugly, "we're one of the oldest, most pureblooded families in the wizarding world. We are the greatest family in Britain. There is more magic in our family than there is in any other. You should be proud."

"I'm trying," Sirius said, getting annoyed, "only it can be difficult when half of these purebloods are crazy people."

Walburga gasped out loud, but Orion just took a swig of his drink and looked at Sirius as though he was trying to decide what to do with him

"I mean, what do you call someone who tortures a defenseless muggle? What about parents who disown their child for being a Squib? People who decapitate house elves and mount their heads on the wall? Does this sound normal to you?"

Walburga's face was turning red, a tell tale sign that she was about to start screaming at him, but Sirius was sick of their hypocrisy. It was so twisted to him. How could they even begin to judge other people?

"Blood traitor!" she shrieked, a predictable beginning. They were both on their feet now, though Sirius couldn't remember ever standing up, "You dare accuse our family when you sit there, bathed in luxury your entire life. You are fifteen, you are a child…"

"I'm a child? Really? I'm ready for marriage soon if I go by yours and Father's example." Sirius yelled back.

"Shut your mouth!"

"Here's a math problem for you, Mother. If two seventeen year olds get married, but have a kid less than two months later, what does that add up to?"

Orion finally got up, and in one fluid motion grabbed Sirius by his collar and slammed him up against the wall, "You will not speak to your mother like that again, you little bastard."

Sirius smiled triumphantly, "Yeah. That's what I thought it added up to as well."

Orion put one hand on Sirius' shoulder, gently holding him in place, and used the other to deliver a vicious backhand. Sirius felt his face snap to the side and Orion used his free hand to hold it there, squeezing Sirius' cheeks and whispering in his ear. "You're right. And you want to know something else? You're the biggest mistake I ever made. In my entire fucking life." His words were slurred and Sirius could smell the whiskey on his breath, "I could have had it all. You. Ruined. Everything."

Orion shoved Sirius away from him and grumbled at him to go to his room. Walburga walked over to her husband and put her arms around his waist. Sirius walked out the door and turned back once more.

"Greatest family in Britain? How do you even look in the mirror?"

He was the biggest mistake Orion had ever made? It was those kinds of comments that sounded like they would tear Sirius up inside, but Sirius hardly cared at all. It wasn't his fault for being born, and he sure as hell wasn't going to apologize for it. He remembered asking his uncle about why Orion said such terrible things, and his uncle had responded with a surprising answer.

"You must remember he doesn't mean that, Sirius."

"I'm pretty sure he meant it," Sirius had replied nonchalantly, "not that I care. He's the worst thing to ever happen to me as well."

"You've got an uphill battle, kid." Alphard said sadly.

"How d'you mean?"

"When we were younger my father told Orion that someday he would be a father and that when that day came, his only wish was for Orion to have a kid exactly like himself, only ten times worse."

Sirius wrinkled his nose, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I know you don't want to hear this, but you two are actually frighteningly alike. When he was at Hogwarts, he couldn't be bothered to follow all the rules, either. But he was different than you; sometimes he purposefully got caught."

"Why would he do that?"

"Well, it was quite fun for him. He was extremely charming and could get himself out of punishment effortlessly. Eventually, the staff caught on and stopped believing him, but sometimes he was still inexplicably able to wriggle his way out."

"Hmpf," Sirius grunted, "I can't believe he busts my arse all the time for breaking the rules when he did the exact same thing."

"He used to do it to get our father's attention. It's difficult, being the third son. Your parents already have an heir, and a backup heir, so you have the tendency to fade into the background."

"Did it work?"

Alphard shrugged, "It did and it didn't. I usually tried to prevent it from working. The kind of attention Orion was getting was certainly not the kind he was looking for. My father is a very cruel man. He could be merciless."

"I think I know what that's like." Sirius mumbled.

Alphard smiled in a grim sort of way, "You were good for him, you know. At least in the beginning. It's difficult to raise a child, especially when you're as young as he was, but he really grew into it. But it all went south, not that I have to tell you that."

"But why? What went wrong?"

"A lot of things, in quick succession. There was—"

"What the hell are you two doing in here?" Orion exploded into the room, as was his habit.

"We were just talking. Relax, Orion." Alphard said calmly.

"Yeah, relax, Orion." Sirius mumbled without thinking.

Orion turned his murderous stare to Sirius, who dropped his eyes to the ground and tried to look as though he regretted it, which was difficult since Alphard was chuckling at him.

"I'll deal with you later." Orion said through clenched teeth.

"Oh, would you leave him alone?" Alphard butted in.

"And I'll thank you to stay out of it." Orion snapped.

Alphard sighed and shook his head, walking over to his nephew, "You're a good kid. Don't let anyone change that. Especially not that one." He jerked his head toward Orion, who was looking murderous again. Alphard gave Sirius a hug and strolled casually toward the door.

"I won't. Good always wins in the end." Sirius said, and Alphard grinned, "That's right. Come see me anytime, alright?"

Sirius wanted to go with him right now, but refrained from saying so and just nodded.

"Walk me out, little brother." Alphard commanded and Orion followed him out the door. Sirius used this precious distraction to run up to his room and lock the door, hoping his father wouldn't come upstairs to yell at him.

"PADFOOT!"

The sound of a familiar voice broke Sirius out of his daydream. He sat up and looked around. Everyone else had gone. Only the Marauders remained, one man down.

"Divination is over," James explained, sticking out a hand, "can you please get up so we can go now?"

Sirius took James' had and allowed himself to be yanked onto his feet.

"Where's Remus?"

"Bloody hell," James replied, "what is with you today? It's the full moon, see? We have to get down to the Shack!"

"Calm down, Bambi, and let's go." Sirius turned toward the direction of the Whomping Willow and James and Peter followed him as the distinct sound of a wolf howling surrounded them.