~Author's Note: I do not like disrupting the flow of my stories anymore but I alert people. I made a mistake with the timetable of 1971 of when the full moon happened (I know, I'm a nerd to try and match it up) and the way the school schedule works at Hogwarts. Thus the previous chapter has been slightly modified to match that.
Sorry for the disruption; here's your regularly scheduled Sirius Black.~
"Is that a Howler?" Sirius was only half listening. He got a grand total of maybe thirty minutes of sleep after an energetic night with Remus and the eleven year old wanted to just fall back into bed and never get up again. He was exhausted and his body kept demanding rest but the secret of what had happened needed to be kept, he knew that much, and he couldn't just let the others know.
Breakfast was a group affair as it had been the last few days. Remus had joined them, brushing off expertly the concerns of Lily and the questions of James; he barely looked worse for wear but Sirius was aware that he already looked fatigued anyway so more was probably was not a major change. Severus ate his buttered toast without a word, sitting across from Sirius today, and Lily sat beside her best friend, watching Remus far more than the boy who was only occasionally aware of where he was.
Sirius was not sure how he even got dressed, he just knew that he had and had gotten down to the Great Hall without falling over it seemed and there was talking and cooing over Remus and he wondered if he really could get away with this. How many days did the werewolf transformation happen over during a month? Even if it was only one night then did he really plan on getting through it every month for their entire school year, for seven years? But a little voice reminded him that this was nothing compared to what his friend had to go through, the pain and the loneliness and the inevitability. His lack of sleep for a few days every month was really such a small thing when it came down to making sure a little boy didn't have to feel alone in the dark.
"I mean it's in one of those bright red envelopes so maybe?" That sounded like Peter's voice. He had gotten more comfortable with the group over time and was less timid with them at least, or at least not trying to escape as much as he had been.
Sirius looked over at him and stared blankly, still trying to figure out what was going on. A Howler? Was someone in trouble? Probably him; his parents hadn't gotten back to him about being Gryffindor, he really expected a far faster reply. But what did he really care about that? They could scream and grumble all they wanted, they couldn't change the truth and he was fully intending to decorate his room with red and gold once he got home, as he did before and he would do again.
"You look a little lost." He turned his head again to glance at Hakumei who was regarding him already with a slight tilt of her head.
Her friends were elsewhere. Luka, who occasionally joined Severus when the Slytherin was dragged to their table, was sitting with his brother Loki over in Ravenclaw apparently and she was left to find a place to sit and socialize for the morning. Lily offered she sit with them and thus their little group of six turned to seven for the meal. He was inclined to think the more the merrier but his mind was a bit jumbled between lack of sleep and all the confusing memories; it appeared without proper rest to help him sort through it all his mind took to just throwing everything together into a pot, stirring, and pouring it out into his thoughts. He looked at her but saw death; he wasn't sure what that meant, the answer was lost in the confusion and he didn't have the mental stability to be able to pull it apart and figure out what was real and what was fantasy, present or future.
"I'm just a bit tired," he answered, nowhere near willing to go into the truth with a girl he barely knew; he rubbed his eyes which didn't especially hurt but it also didn't help much.
"You look like the walking dead," James commented, leaning over to look at Sirius despite sitting on the opposite side of Remus, "I never thought I would ever see an undead eleven year old but here we are."
"Does that make Sirius a vampire?" Peter asked looking over at the bespectacled boy who simply shook his head.
"Nah, he doesn't want our blood, only our pumpkin bread." For some reason that made Sirius snicker, encouraging James to continue and smirk in triumph, "So a pastry vampire, a pastpire."
"That...sounds like a ridiculous idea," Remus said hesitating for a moment.
"So makes sense it came from James," Severus commented calmly, ignoring the outrage that crossed James' face at the insult.
Sirius laughed but it felt a bit mad. And the others stopped to look at him for a moment but he couldn't stop immediately. He was willing to blame the sleep deprivation but part of him felt something didn't feel quite right, like things were mixed too much and he was unable to break free of emotions he didn't actually feel now.
An owl hooted and the red envelope from before, all but forgotten in the conversation of children, landed on Sirius' porridge; he only stopped laughing then and looking at it, the way it seemed to fume and glare at him, the way it shook as if daring him to pick it up but he refused. Everyone was silent and that did not end with his friends; the entire room seemed to just suddenly go as silent as the grave and after a few seconds of the eerieness, and seeing it practically vibrating with anger, he sighed and let it open.
He was used to the sound of his parents voices, and especially Walburga's when angry. His childhood was a web of anger and disapproval and his future was the same if his memories were right; five more years of being treated like a stain on the family tree simply for the way he was and the way he thought. Regulus was their golden child, Regulus was the proper son, Slytherin, proud of his heritage, a good boy to offset the boy who ran wild and more proudly wore his Gryffindor scarf than he did a family crest. Sometimes Orion would join in but even now it was mainly his mother who made her displeasure known. For her credit she did not scream; her voice was of course amplified multiple times over but it was clear she had not chosen to yell at him but that meant very little to him. Her tone was clear and her words was more so; people squirmed around him, including his friends. No one liked Howlers, they were loud and obnoxious; Remus and James both gave him a sympathetic look and even Severus seemed uncomfortable with the whole ordeal but stayed.
But Sirius himself was unconcerned. He was quiet and just watched the Howler as it told him off, saying how he had disgraced the House of Black by being put into Gryffindor, that he was an embarrassment, that his parents had no idea how he had gone so wrong. He paid no mind to the way people at the Slytherin table snickered at him, and only gave a nod as the letter finished and as always set fire to itself. He watched the ashes then shrugged and turned to his friends.
"Well that was pleasant," he said, causing the others to freeze for a moment to stare again; he smiled in response, "What?"
"Are...are you okay, man?" James asked sounding quite concerned.
"Yeah of course I am." Okay that was really a lie but truth be told the Howler helped wake him up more so he supposed he could thank his mother for that much.
"How can you be fine?" Peter practically squeaked out, "That was terrifying!"
"Do your parents often talk like that?" Remus asked though Sirius could read between the lines to what the werewolf really meant. And based on the look on their faces, he wasn't the only one with that same question; Lily's eyes were full of a strange pity he did not expect and Hakumei was watching him carefully with similar concern.
The boy took a moment to think and then sigh. "It's nothing I'm not used to or to be worried over; Mother and Father are just like that, gits who think themselves better than everyone and disapproving of anything, or anyone, not conforming to what they believe is right. That was actually pretty tame for one of their scoldings; I'll likely get worse when I actually go home."
Which he didn't much look forward to but he was eleven and if he tried to resist he likely would just get pushed to go home even more. Still he found himself hoping to stay there for holidays instead.
What he said seemed to have little effect on the others; Peter still looked scared, Severus still was doing his best not to look concerned, the others all looked worried over him. But none of them spoke and Sirius hoped at least for the time being this would be the end of it. He was sure Narcissa would be talking about it to her family and part of him hoped for a letter from Andromeda, maybe stating how he should ignore his parents and live his life. A large part of him wondered how much better his life would be if she had been able to go to Hogwarts with him, if they weren't separated by seven years in age; Sirius might even have been able to tell her about what happened to him, the time travel and the retaining of a good chunk of his memories and animagus form. Andromeda would have thought it amazing, Andromeda would have helped him.
As it was she wasn't there and all Sirius had was the others, a group of eleven years who were all learning about magic and had only known each other for about three or four days, save for the best friend duo. Yet he found he didn't feel discomforted by this realization; his eye caught Severus' and the Slytherin gave him a silent knowing nod, causing him to nod in return. For some of them Sirius figured it was the familiarity of the future's memories that made him feel more comfortable but then there were the outliers. And while the memories, becoming slowly less chaotic as he woke up properly, knew Severus in shades of darkness and disruption, what he saw when he saw the boy before him was not the same; there was understanding in their gazes and though he didn't understand it himself, he did feel a strange sort of comfort.
So he smiled and for him it was a real one, because while his favorite cousin wasn't there his friends were at least and that's all that mattered. It didn't convince the others still, and he supposed he could understand that much in light of what they had just heard. He reached across and grabbed Peter, making the boy squeak again as Sirius messed up his hair.
"Hey come on you guys, and girls; stop looking so glum. If I'm not bothered by the madness of my parents than why should you be?" he asked and watched as his friends grumbled a bit. All he could hope was that they actually understood because it was far better than letting the elder Blacks spread their evil over even these few lights in Sirius' life.
"If you say so, mate," James said and joined him in ruffling Peter's hair; this caused the boy just to get more frantic, especially as chuckles erupted and suddenly there were multiple hands touching his hair.
"W-wait, why are you all petting me?!" Peter exclaimed and more laughter erupted.
"Sorry," Sirius said and pulled away, followed soon by the others, "Your hair is just so fluffy; I can't help but want to pet it."
This made the boy whine in response though whether out of embarrassment or complaint was hard to be certain. The aura of the group seemed to have lightened which was all that he cared about ultimately; much better to see the group of kids laughing and happy rather than dampened by the actions of his parents.
Breakfast passed by with no more issues for the most part; there was conversation and some teasing. It was Sunday and thus no classes were in attendance but there was also little for the first years yet to have access to. James was intent upon trying, again, to sneak into Quidditch practice, though the day before had been largely unsuccessful; the Gryffindor team captain had found them easily enough when Peter accidentally knocked over some brooms and chased the kids away quickly. Severus had no actual interest in such things and argued, alongside Lily and Remus, for the whole group to go to the library and check over their homework. Mostly Sirius was glad to see some color in Remus' cheeks but it didn't look like things were going to go back to before so easily.
Peter seemed content not to have his hair touched and was trying to flatten it back down after it being fluffed up. That left two voices who had held back their votes: Sirius himself who watched the conversation with contentment, and Hakumei who was sipping some pumpkin juice. Noticing this he nudged her with his elbow. "Hey what about you? What are you planning on doing today?"
"Probably join back up with Luka and Loki after breakfast; Loki had told me earlier that he wanted to look at the wildlife near the lake," she said giving a little shrug.
"The wildlife near the lake?" Lily asked, "Is your friend interested in animals?"
Hakumei nodded. "He wishes to be a Magizoologist so he tends to drag me and his brother around when it comes to looking into interesting new places and what lives there."
"Kind of like a certain idiot and his favorite sport," spoke Severus and got a flick to his forehead by said "certain idiot".
"At least I don't get all serious over first year potion making," James whined, ignoring the glare Severus was giving him as he rubbed where he was flicked.
"Are we really fighting over being passionate about things?" Remus asked, leaning on his hand on the table.
"If you get bored looking at frogs and trying to call up the Giant Squid you can always try and find us," Sirius offered, "Though with this group I feel like we might end up lost somewhere in the recesses of the school."
"I'll keep that in mind." Hakumei stood up and gave a smile before heading over to the Ravenclaw table; the twins seemed to notice her only as she arrived and part of Sirius wondered how a strange trio like them even came to be. Then remembered his own abnormal group and settled for an internal chuckle to himself. Maybe it was a Hogwarts thing.
"Okay how about we do this!" Lily finally said and Sirius realized that at some point she had grabbed hold of Severus and James again by the ear, stopping their bickering; she continued, "We go to the library first, get some studying in, then we can go see the Quidditch team for a bit as a treat."
"We still have essays to write don't we?" The reminder of the detention, which had been so happily forgotten in the excitement of the days that had come and the other issues Sirius felt he needed to deal with, made every one of them subjected to it groan. So the whole group of them save Peter who shifted and looked awkward.
The troublemakers were released from her grip and Severus rubbed his ear gently with a scowl. "We need to do research if we want to complete the punishment effectively."
"Yeah," James dejectedly sighed, doing the same with his own ear, "I get the feeling Professor McGonagall will just get mad if we don't at least try to take it seriously."
"Yeah she might kill us if we don't," Sirius said nodding.
James paled and looked at him with big eyes. "She wouldn't really kill us...would she?"
No one answered. Sirius was willing to go with it being that they all understood it was a joke but with shuffles and wordless looks the group all got up and scurried towards the library. Honestly even he wasn't sure it was one.