(I don't own Harry Potter or its characters, only this fanfiction's plot)

"Ow!"

Sirius gave a sympathetic wince as he snagged on a particularly tough knot. Harry shot him a look that would make Bellatrix proud, fitting since they both had the same wild hair.

"Can't it just be fine? Pansy doesn't care about my hair."

"But Mr. Parkinson does. He's being very kind to host us." Sirius raised his eyebrows, leaning over to meet Harry's eye. "You want to have more playdates with Pansy, yes?"

Harry nodded, eyes widening. "Of course!"

"Then you'll need to show him your best manners, and that starts with looking your best."

He sounded like his granny, Sirius knew, but with age came the knowledge that she wasn't wrong. A Nobles reputation was important in these circles, and unfortunately, it began to build even at a young age.

So, Harry needed to look every bit his status when they were in public. Four or not.

"There," Sirius said, finally done. "Would you like to braid my hair as a trade?"

Brows forwarding in consideration, Harry took two handfuls of his father's silky locks as he shook his head.

"Ponytail is better."

"You're so right," Sirius agreed. Waving his wand to summon an appropriate ribbon for Harry before gracefully sitting on the bathroom floor. Tilting his head back for Harry's benefit.

Making just the right amount of complaints as his father cleaned off the soot from the floo, Harry looked around the Parkinson's receiving room. Dark oak wood and green detailing covering the walls not adorning shiny goblin-made weapons.

One day when his Father was paying less attention, Harry swore, he was going to play with them.

"Hades!" Pansy exclaimed, rushing into the room and into Harry's personal space, her brother's House Elf trailing behind.

"Pansy... You're killing me!"

"Sorry." Pansy pulled back, no remorse on her face. "But you took forever."

"Daddy wouldn't stop brushing my hair," Harry scowled. "It looks the same after, so I dunno why he bothers."

"Patty did my pigtails," Pansy boasts, waving them for emphasis. "But it only took him a few extra minutes than Moppy."

Huffing, Harry crossed his arms.

"Are you just going to make fun of me?"

Pansy laughed. "Yes, but over tea. Come on!"

She grabbed his hand, leading him from the room. The portraits of her relatives yelling funny words as the two young kids ran down the halls, giggling at them.

Sirius watched Pansy drag Harry off, before turning back to the House Elf, Moppy.

"Good evening, Moppy. I suppose there is a reason Mr. Parkinson is not able to receive me himself?"

Moppy nervously wrung her hands, not meeting Sirius's eye as she cowered.

"Master Parkinson is busy, Master Sirius sir. He sent Moppy to escort you to the Parlor where he'll attend to you later."

Biting back a scowl (he knew an insult when he saw one, damnit) Sirius gave a nod, "And I'm sure Mr Parkinson is very busy, is he in the bath?"

"Well, no-"

"Then I'd thank you for the thought, but I'd much rather offer my assistance to Mr. Parkinson, who I can only assume is in his study." Sirius winced at the face Moppy made as 'I'd thank you' left his mouth. "..So long as this doesn't contradict your orders, of course."

"Master Parkinson said for Moppy to escort Master Sirius to the Parlor," Moppy recited. "But I don't has to keep Master Sirius there, sir."

"Brilliant," Sirius offered her his arm. "Lead the way!"

Patrick Parkinson was a bit younger than Sirius, a Ravenclaw with an attitude if there ever was one. He had met him briefly during a few balls and other social occasions, so Sirius didn't quite know what to expect from his office.

Though... The paper-laden mess was not it.

Parkinson didn't seem to sense his entrance, pouring over a large tome, so Sirius awkwardly knocked on the door; dark eyes snapping up to his silver ones.

Scowling, Parkinson straightened up. Hair falling into his eyes.

"I am almost certain I had you taken to the Parlor."

"I was offered an escort, but I figured if you were so busy to neglect your hosting duties, surely you wouldn't object to a helping hand?" Sirius asked, mock innocence on his face as Parkinson's face darkened.

"I was just finishing up," Parkinson brushed off. "You wouldn't be able to help anyways."

"Oooooh, a secret project?" Sirius struggled not to smirk at the twitch of Parkinson's face. "I see, you're afraid I'll steal your glory?"

"You're ridiculous."

"Says the man sitting in a foot of-" Sirius picked up one of the haphazardly strewn about books. Raising his eyebrows, "-Encryption help books..."

"Don't touch that!" Parkinson stood, easily navigating around his mess with a few bounds. "Your going to mess up my system!"

Sirius struggled to keep a straight face. Judging by the look on Parkinson's, the shorter man could tell.

Parkinson's jaw worked before he sighed.

"If you must know, I've been trying to translate an old scroll... A friend found."

"And when you say 'found'.."

"I mean found," Parkinson sent him a look, making his way to his desk. Unsympathetic as Sirius's grace helped him little in following through the other heir's mess. "So far I've figured out its from the late tenth century, but otherwise I haven't been able to make heads or tails of what it means."

Pulling out an old scroll from his desk as Sirius caught up, Parkinson smoothed it out across the old spruce wood.

"It's nothing like I've ever seen before," Parkinson said as Sirius leaned in to take a look. Eyes flickering over it before Sirius rolled them.

"Figures you'd have never sat down and enjoyed a good riddle before."

"...What?"

"You know, a riddle," Sirius says, looking back at Parkinson's slack face. "Like a Sphynx or muggle newspaper might use."

Parkinson just continued to stare at Sirius like he had just said the moon was blue.

Feeling the back of his neck heat up, Sirius scowled. "What?"

"...You understand it?"

"No?" Sirius turned away haughtily. "Maybe. Give me a second before you start getting all weird."

"No- no I mean you can read it?"

"Yeah, just some old English."

"I can guarantee you that is not any form of English," Parkinson ran a hand through his hair. "Or Spanish, French, German, Iranian, Japanese, Nigerian, or any other language I've tried. Blasted thing has been driving me mad."

"Fucking Ravenclaws," Sirius mutters. "If it looks like a blank sheet of paper why not throw it out?"

"Its magical signature is too high to be nothing," Parkinson waved off. A grin spreading on his face as he pulled out his desk chair. "I bet it's some sort of blood or lineage charm. A Black's magic would certainly set off my tests the way this bloody thing did."

If it was made by one of Sirius's ancestors, that could be quite literal.

"Well it still doesn't make a whole lot of sense," Sirius warns, leaning against the desk as he reads aloud, "'Those with the gift of a voice will hear mine, speak it truly and proudly, and my legacy will be yours.' I have no idea what that is supposed to mean."

Parkinson's brow forwarded, scratching the stubble on his chin.

"It probably has to do with your family one way or another; It doesn't sound like any old stories?"

"In case you hadn't gathered, my parents weren't exactly the type to read me bedtime stories."

"And you haven't happened to read your ancestral documents in your own time?"

"I have a four your old, in case you'd recall." Sirius reminded. "Unlike you, I don't get time to myself quite often."

Parkinson frown, leaning back in his chair as a thoughtful look came upon his face. Smirking, he turned to Sirius.

"Tell you what; Whenever convenient, I'll watch Hades for you and you can take a look around your family library for me."

"Oh? And what do I get for helping you with this?" Sirius gestures towards the mysterious scroll.

"Is adventure for the sake of it not enough?"

Sirius gave Parkinson a deadpanned look, causing the other man to sigh.

"Look, as loath as I am to say it.. I do need your help with this. At least your eyes. Help me and I'll... Bring the snacks for two months."

"Three."

Parkinson's grimace was a psychical one.

"...Fine. But I don't want to hear a complaint about the lack of options!"

Sirius snorted. "Relax, we all can't be gifted."

Parkinson decided to ignore decorum and smacked Sirius in the shoulder. the other heir laughing before returning the favor.

Harry sipped his tea while Pansy talked, listening as she talked about this party the noble girls would be going to over the weekend.

"-Daphne says her mama is going to let us use her makeup and everything!" Pansy gushed, so obviously this was a good thing. "We're going to enchant her dolls after and try to scare the house elves with them."

"Aw... I wish I could come."

"Well too bad!" Pansy grinned. "You're a boy!"

Harry glared. "Yeah, well fine! It'll be boring anyways..."

Pansy laughed. Promising to try to steal a doll so they could try to scare his father later. Harry informed her that nothing could scare his dad.

"Well, we could try to scare my brother," She said. "He is scared of all kinds of things. Like toads, roaches, or Mrs Flint's cat."

"Hmmm... I bet I could get daddy to enchant some frogs to follow him around if we can't get Mrs Flint to let us borrow Nancy..." Harry thought aloud, before something else came to mind.

He leaned on the table as Pansy poured one of her toys more tea.

"Hey, did you give your brother the paper we found?"

"Paper?"

"The one from CeCe's."

"Oh! Yeah, he couldn't read it either: he's gonna have to do some stuff to read it."

Harry groaned.

"That could take forever.."

"Patty is smart, it will probably just take a few days."

"Same difference..." Harry grumbled. Pansy rolled her eyes at his melancholy.

"Uhuh, do you want more biscuits or not?"

"Is that even a question?"

Nother chapter is done :D super happy to be working on this again. Hope you all are enjoying this!

So what is with the page? Why can Sirius read it? What is Parkinson's game?

All questions to answered next time :D