hey again! back with chapter 7! :)
Thank you to my most awesome reviewers, Ilse and lilyflower101! :) :)
I love writing this story so much, currently working on chapter 23, and I already know it's gonna be sooo hard once it is finished! Already thinking about what to write next lol.
Hope you like the chap! :)
He was so nervous he had to force himself to eat his breakfast, and in class he did not pay any attention, and by lunchtime, he was ready to throw up.
The worst part was that he always had to pretend and to lie- when Colin asked him at lunch if he was sick, he had told him he had eaten something bad, and when Ginny had asked if he wanted to study together in the afternoon, he had lied and said he was going to Hogsmeade with Aurelius to buy candy.
Actually, that part was only half a lie- he was going to Hogsmeade with his fake brother, but not to buy candy, no- they were going to meet Godric Gryffindor, who was going to have some kind of illusion spell on him, at a little pub.
Sirius knew Gryffindor would not react very kindly to the news that he still had not gotten the cloak- and he was terrified of what the Founder would to do him.
Aurelius seemed to be in a worse mood than usual as well and obviously, Sirius had been the one suffering from it, all while he had to pretend that he loved his big brother in public. It was nauseating.
Finally, lunch was over and he dragged himself to the entrance hall where he was supposed to meet Aurelius.
As a prefect, Aurelius had permission to go to Hogsmeade whenever he pleased, and he was allowed to take someone with him. That fact alone had made him even more popular, because Aurelius had been smart enough to also take the shy, more wallflower like students with him.
Aurelius was already waiting for him when he got to the hall.
No one else was there, so Aurelius wasted no time pretending being the concerned, loving older brother.
"You're late, Scipius."
"I am sorry", his voice was quiet, "I…I am not feeling well."
"Scared, hmm?", he was grinning scornfully, "should have done what I told you then. Let's go, my father hates being left waiting."
They walked to Hogsmeade, it was a beautiful, mild September day, but Sirius had no eyes and ears for it.
By the time they made it to the little pub, his heart was hammering in his chest, and he was sweating so much his shirt was starting to feel wet.
Gryffindor was already there, sitting casually at a table, a drink in front of him.
For the public, he was their real father- and thanks to the illusion spell, the only ones who could see his real face were Aurelius and Sirius.
"Good afternoon, Father", Aurelius said in a smooth tone, "I hope we did not leave you waiting."
"You would not dare to do that, would you, Aurelius?", Gryffindor replied calmly and took a sip of his drink, "sit down, both of you."
They sat. Sirius kept staring at the drink and suddenly, he realized how thirsty he was- but he knew it would be pointless to ask for a drink.
"How are things at Hogwarts?", he was looking at Aurelius again like he did not even exist, "did you manage to get it?"
What the hell is it?
"Things are going well", Aurelius replied, still in the same smooth tone, "I managed to get elected to prefect- and since my grades are the best of the whole school, it will not take long now until Dumbledore invites me to his circle of scholars- which will allow me to get very close to him."
That's why he is always studying- he wants to get into Dumbledore's private circle!
"I did not ask you that, did I?", Gryffindor's voice was surprisingly hard, "I do not care the slightest about your little tests and exam grades- all I care about is that you get it. Now, let me ask you again- do you have it, yes or no?"
Aurelius had gotten pale, and even though he tried to hide it, Sirius could see that he was trembling, "Father, if you give me some more time, I…"
"Yes or no, Aurelius?", and now his voice was dangerous.
"No, Father", it was merely a whisper, and he was not looking up- and suddenly Sirius realized that Aurelius was just as scared of Gryffindor as he was.
"You disappoint me, Aurelius."
There was a silence, and Sirius was shocked to see that Aurelius' eyes had gotten glassy- just like…
He is trying not to cry.
"I…am sorry, Father. I will try harder, please, I am so close, let me…"
"I am tired of your excuses, Aurelius- I want to see results. You have been in Hogwarts for almost two weeks now, and what do you have? Nothing. Absolutely nothing."
Aurelius did not object, he kept staring at the ground now, completely stone faced.
"Now, let's hope your little brother is not as much of a failure", Gryffindor eventually said, his voice taunting, "Scipius- anything you want to tell me?"
You are just as soulless as your son.
"I…I did not…I have not…"
"In a whole sentence, please."
Sirius swallowed, "I…don't have the cloak", he finally said quietly, "I had some ideas…that Aurelius did not like…and…I can't manipulate Ginny…she's my friend, and…"
"Your friend?", Gryffindor laughed, he seemed amused for some reason, "if any, she is Scipius Lemarc's friend- and not yours. Getting a little too comfortable with your role, Sirius?"
"No, no, I am not! I...I just think it is mean…to…to use her trust and her friendship to…"
That was obviously the wrong thing to say because Gryffindor's whole demeanor suddenly changed. He had been scary before, but now, he was terrifying.
"You think it's mean, Sirius Black? Do you even know what is at stake here, do you even know what will happen if this plan fails?"
He was trembling, glancing over to Aurelius in a helpless gesture, but the other boy kept looking straight ahead, stone faced.
"Answer me, Sirius Black!"
"Nnoo…I…I do not know…Sir…please…I…"
Gryffindor ignored him and got up, "I am giving you another two weeks- and if I don't have results from you boys by then, you will not like what I am going to do with you. Do you understand me?"
"Yes, Sir", the answer came simultaneously, hastily.
"Scipius- wait here. I am going to have a private word with my son in the back room."
And for the first time ever, Sirius saw the raw fear in Aurelius' eyes, but the older boy did not resist when Gryffindor grabbed him and disappeared with him, he just…let it happen.
What is he going to do to him now?
Sirius swallowed, but his throat still felt dry- and everyone around him inside the pub was drinking, eating, and laughing, while he stood by the door waiting for his fake father and his fake brother to come back, and for the one millionth time, he asked himself how his life had become such a shitshow.
The conversation was short because minutes later, Gryffindor and Aurelius appeared again, and Aurelius seemed so standoffish that Sirius did not dare to ask how he was doing.
"I'll see you boys in two weeks", Gryffindor turned towards the door, "be a good boy for your brother, Scipius."
He is not my brother.
The Founder left, and now Aurelius and Sirius were standing by themselves in the pub, the silence between them more than uncomfortable.
"Let's go, Scipius", Aurelius eventually said, his voice completely emotionless, "we cannot be late for dinner."
God forbid we break the rules, right?
He kept his thoughts to himself though as he followed his pretend brother outside.
They walked silently for a while, until Aurelius spoke again, "what did you tell your friends we were going to do in Hogsmeade?"
"I…told them you…you would take me to Honeydukes and…buy me candy", Sirius answered hesitantly, "I…I know that's…stupid, but I had to say something, and…"
"They will be wondering why you don't bring any candy back for them."
Sirius looked on the ground, "I'll…tell them I ate it all or something", he mumbled, ignoring the weird feeling in his stomach.
Aurelius sighed, "not very convincing. Come on, little brother, I'll buy you your candy."
Sirius stared at him in disbelief, "wait, what?"
"You heard me. We have to hurry though, because we…"
"We cannot be late for dinner, I know", Sirius rolled his eyes and Aurelius frowned, "I am the prefect, I have to lead by example and besides, I am never late for anything."
"I figured", Sirius murmured, and a couple minutes later, his eyes lit up, "we are here! I love Honeydukes!"
"I figured", Aurelius replied drily, and Sirius could not help himself, he laughed, "well, who does not love candy, right?", he grinned, "what's your favorite?"
"This might shock you, Scipius, but I do not eat candy. It is unhealthy, and it makes you tired and stupid- something I am trying to avoid."
Sirius' eyes went wide, "you…don't eat candy? Like…never?"
"Never."
"Not even on Christmas?"
"Not even on my birthday."
"That's…that's…you are just…", Sirius struggled to find the right words, and Aurelius raised an eyebrow, "think carefully what you are going to say now- I am paying for all this sugar stuff."
"Not saying anything!", Sirius replied hastily, but he was smiling- and even though so far this day had been a nightmare, it was starting to get better somehow.
I wish he would always be like this.
They walked around Honeydukes, and Sirius shrieked in delight whenever he saw something he liked- which was quite often.
"Look! Jelly Slugs! These are soooo good! And there's Spindle's Lick' O 'Rish Spiders, I have not had them in like forever, and ohmygod, Pepper Imps, you have to try those, they are the best, and can I have some Toffees?"
Aurelius sighed, but he did not seem as miserable as he had been at the meeting before, "take whatever you want, little brother- but you need to hurry, we need to go back."
"Thank you! I am almost done, just grabbing some chocolate frogs!", Sirius yelled, and minutes later, he was carrying a huge basket filled with candy to the cashier, who was chuckling when he saw the load, "are you sure there is nothing else you need, young man?"
"Yeah, I am sure!", Sirius was smiling as he watched Aurelius pay for the candy, "thanks again, Aurelius."
"You are welcome, Scipius", Aurelius answered evenly, "just make sure you tell your friends that I bought you all of this."
Sirius' smile faded, "yeah, of course I will tell them that."
He is just buying me candy for the image- so he can pretend to be a good brother in front of my friends.
For some reason, that thought hurt- and he suddenly wished he had never gone to Honeydukes with Aurelius- just so he could never have imagined what could have been…
The door opened and Salazar immediately looked up from the article he was reading, "you are back!", he made no attempt to hide the relief from his voice and Godric laughed, "that bad, hmm?"
The Slytherin leaned forward to kiss his partner, "you have no idea."
Godric kissed him back and then sat down in the big armchair by the fireplace, "I can imagine- he is still quite undisciplined."
"Quite?", Salazar snorted, "he is the most disobedient, rude, and careless boy I have ever met- and you should see him at the dinner table, he has absolutely no manners, just eats his food without any cutlery, does not care about his clothes or his hair, or anything, he just wants to…"
"He just wants to go outside", Godric finished his sentence calmly, "I told you. Now, you did not let him go, right?"
"Of course not- but you should see what he did then, his room…", Salazar sighed, "I just did not except him to be so….so…"
"Angry? Rebellious?"
"So unresponsive to any kind of punishment."
"Well, how did you punish him?"
"I sent him to bed without dinner."
Gryffindor had to laugh, he sounded amused, "I should have told you that those kind of punishments won't work for him- but don't worry, I am here now, and I will take care of Thomas. He will be a good little boy in no time, and he will not even dream of disrespecting me or you ever again- he will be just like Sirius."
Salazar's face softened, "how is Sirius?"
"Well, he did not have the cloak- but I honestly did not expect him to. He still has too much of his Gryffindor loyalty and does not want to manipulate any of Harry's friends", Godric rolled his eyes, "and of course he has no idea how important the plan…"
"That's not what I was asking you", Salazar interrupted him, sounding exasperated, "I wanted to know how Sirius is doing- we both know the plan is important, but sometimes you seem to forget that Sirius is a boy, a child, just like Aurelius is."
Gryffindor frowned, "I would not really call Aurelius a child anymore- he is very mature for his age. Anyways, to answer your question: Sirius is fine. He was scared, obviously, but Aurelius is doing a good job keeping him in line. I have heard no complaints from Hogwarts about him yet, and I know what kind of student Sirius Black used to be."
"I told you that Aurelius is basically scaring him into obeying him- and I do not think that is the right method."
"You think sending him to bed without dinner would work better?", he was being sarcastic now, "whatever Aurelius is doing, it is working- he is an obedient little boy, and I can promise you, he will bring us the cloak in two weeks."
"He might be obedient- but at what cost?"
Godric raised an eyebrow, "you seem to regret our idea of sending him to Hogwarts."
"No, I do not- I just think Sirius does not have the same needs Tom has- or Aurelius. They are all completely different from each other, yet you treat them the same. Sirius does not need the same discipline Tom needs, and Aurelius has always been the perfect child, but you always had very high expectati…"
"Every father has high expectations for their children", Godric remarked, and he sounded somewhat annoyed now, "Aurelius knows what I can expect from him- as I said, he is very mature for his age. Thomas on the other hand- well, I do not intend of treating him the same as I treat Aurelius. He is most definitely a naughty boy, and that's how he will get treated."
"I still think that…", Salazar began, but the noise of footsteps quickly coming closer interrupted him. Seconds later, the door opened with a bang, and there he was- barefooted, dressed in some worn- out jeans and a stained shirt, his hair ruffled, and his hands dirty.
Tom barely even glanced at Salazar, instead, his whole focus was on Gryffindor, and for some reason, he seemed relieved as well, "I want to go outside", he announced, not even bothering to greet the Founder, "and I want to go now."
Gryffindor smiled, "we are eating dinner now, Thomas."
"I am not hungry."
"You are still going to eat."
"If I eat, can I go outside after?"
Gryffindor had to laugh again, "I don't make deals, Thomas, remember? Come on, I will accept your attire for tonight, but tomorrow, you are going to dress appropriately."
Tom frowned and looked down on himself, "what the hell is not appropriate about this? It's just clothes, who cares?"
"I care, Thomas."
Tom did not respond to that, he just looked at him, a thoughtful expression on his face, and he made no more attempts to protest, but followed the Founders obediently into the dining room.
The house elves were busy carrying trays with food in, and it smelled like steak and some roasted vegetables, and suddenly Tom realized that he was hungry- and after all, he had not had any dinner the night before.
This is going to be delicious.
He sat down, his mouth was watering just from the sight of the juicy looking steak on the Founders' plate, and he impatiently waited for his own.
"The dinner for Master Thomas", an elf finally squeaked, and he rudely waved his hand, "hurry up, lazy, food's gonna get cold!"
He did not see the look Salazar and Godric exchanged, all his focus was on the tray which still covered his food, but when the elf dutifully removed it, he froze.
There was no steak, there was no meat at all- instead, there was…soup. Some healthy, disgustingly healthy looking soup.
And that was not even the worst part.
"What's that shit?", he picked up his spoon, his eyes sparkling with anger, "is that…"
"It's plastic", Gryffindor sounded strangely amused, "for little boys who don't know how to eat properly yet."
He slammed the spoon back down, "I am not going to eat with plastic cutlery, and I freakin hate soup, I want a steak!"
Gryffindor just raised an eyebrow, "well, until you have learned some manners, soup will be all you are getting- the one thing you cannot eat without cutlery", he smiled at him, "there will be soup for breakfast, soup for lunch, soup for teatime and soup for dinner- until you have learned to use your spoon properly, then I might let you have something else."
Tom stood up, his whole body trembling with fury, "you think you can force me to do shit, Gryffindor?", he hissed, "you should never have let me come here, I am not…I won't do what you tell me."
Gryffindor cut his steak, completely unmoved, "well, you only have two options here, Thomas- you will either obey me and eat your soup, or you will go to bed hungry."
"So you are gonna starve me?"
"Certainly not- I am offering you food, it is right there, right in front of you- all you have to do is pick up your spoon and eat it."
"I won't", his voice was quiet, but forceful, "I won't…do that", he turned around, but Gryffindor stopped him immediately, "I did not dismiss you from the table. Sit down."
"I am dismissing myself."
Gryffindor stifled a smile, "sit down, Thomas- do not make me punish you again."
Tom did entertain the idea of just running out of the room, but when he saw the look on Gryffindor's face, he hung his head and sat down.
I hate all of this bullshit.
For the next fifteen minutes, he was forced to watch the Founders enjoy their steak, and his stomach grumbled in hunger, but he did not give in.
I am not gonna eat his slimy soup like some kind of wimp- screw him.
After dinner, Tom angrily stormed off, determined to just stay in his room from now on- at least he had a great view into the park from there, and if he could not go outside, it was definitely the next best thing.
His room was still a mess- just how he liked it. He sat down on the windowsill and stared into the twilight.
The Founders would realize soon enough that they had made a mistake- not that he wanted to go back into the detention center, he just wanted to be…free. To be alone. To do whatever he wanted when he wanted it.
He pressed his face into the window, wishing he could open it- but the locks prevented that, even though he tried, tried for a long time.
"Thanks a lot, Gryffindor", bitterness welled up inside him when he finally gave up, his fingers were scratched and bloody from trying.
Tired and hungry, he leaned his face against the window again, the sun was setting, and the sky was covered in orange, pink and purple now.
He was watching so intently that he did not even hear the knock on his door at first, and he did not hear the door open quietly seconds later.
"You should be in bed, Thomas."
He flinched, almost falling off the windowsill, "it's not even 9 pm yet!", he glared at Gryffindor, "I'll go to bed when I feel like it."
Gryffindor did not respond, instead, he looked around the wrecked room, a deep frown on his face, "did you do this?", he eventually asked, and now his voice was cold, and hard.
Tom swallowed, "I mean…Slytherin said something about improving, so…"
"So you decided to improve your room?"
He looked to the side, "it's not my room."
I never had my own room.
"That does not answer my question, Thomas", he came closer, and Tom could see that he was furious now, "did you destroy all of this, yes or no?"
"Yeah, so?", he forced himself to grin, even though his heart started to beat faster, "if you don't like it, just cast a repair spell and everything's back to normal."
Gryffindor was watching him closely now, "this used to be our nicest guestroom, Thomas", he finally said, his voice still hard, "why in the world would you wreck your own room like this?"
Because I don't deserve nice things.
"I told you- I was bored, and Slytherin was nagging me and…you…"
You were gone. You left.
"You were bored?", Gryffindor's voice had an edge in it now, an edge of something that sounded dangerous, "well, I better make sure that you are not going to be bored anymore- you will clean this room, you will make it spotless, you will pick up the clothes, fix the bed, you will repair the paintings and you know what? I will even make you sew the rugs back together."
"That's not gonna happen", Tom was not looking at him anymore, "I am not a house elf. Just cast the damn repair spell, I certainly won't clean anything."
"Last word?", he sounded calm now, almost too calm- but Tom did not care anymore.
"Last word", he replied, forcing his voice to be steady.
"As you wish, Thomas- then live with the consequences now."
He had to laugh, "you already sent me to bed without dinner, and you don't let me go outside, what can be worse than that?"
And now, Gryffindor smiled, "what can be worse? Watch and learn, Thomas", and he lifted his wand, and then-
"No! No! Don't! Don't do that!"
The huge windows which had let him enjoy the view of the park, which had given him light, and warmth, and some kind of solace- they were gone, leaving only empty brick walls behind.
The room was suddenly dark, and Tom hated himself for blinking back the tears, "you…can't let me sit in the dark like this!"
"Don't worry- you will get light, Thomas", he waved his wand again, "Lumos", and there was light- artificial light.
"Until this room is not absolutely spotless you will stay in here. The house elves will bring you your soup, and you won't be able to get out until I let you. Do you understand me?"
No answer, Tom just stared at him, and the tears were rolling down his face now, but he did not care.
Gryffindor had found the only thing in here that mattered to him- and he had taken it away.
Fucking bastard.
"Very well then- the house elves will let me know whether you have come to your senses and eat or not- and they will also inform me about your progress with the cleaning", Gryffindor turned around, "the light will turn off automatically in about ten minutes- it is sleeping time for naughty little boys now", he smiled at him, "have a good night, Thomas."
And with that, he left- and as soon as he was gone, Tom threw himself onto his mattress, crying.
I hate you! I fucking hate you, Gryffindor!
yeah...next chap has more confro between tom and godric and sirius and aurelius- and some more humiliations...
as always, I would love some feedback :)
see ya soon!
antonie :)