hey there, back with chapter 15! :)
Thank you luvinmylife247365 (yeah, he will get some this chap) lilyflower101 (lol, I agree) Ilse (he will find out in this chap!) and Anonymous (he will find out in this chap, but his reaction will be in the next chap).
WARNING: Scene with Corporal Punishment (poor Aurelius...or not?)
Hope you all like it! :)
The stadium was filled to the brim, and it was loud, and there were students running, and laughing, and chatting everywhere, and Sirius carefully avoided to bump into someone on his way back.
He went back to the dorms to hide the cloak and the plants he had taken from his fake brother, still smiling when he thought about The Great Aurelius on his knees, begging him- and his cries of despair when he had realized that the begging had done absolutely nothing.
Chuckling, he ran back to the Quidditch field to find Colin- excited to see his fake brother's next humiliation.
Colin was waiting for him at the entrance, a huge smile on his face, "looks like it worked- he is making a complete fool out of himself already."
They went inside, and Sirius had to laugh- Aurelius looked like someone who had never played Quidditch before, he was sitting on his broom like a scared first grader, not even getting close to the Snitch- and some Gryffindor's were already booing, flashing their signs at him, and from there, it only got worse.
Aurelius stumbled across the field, and then he managed to get hit by a Bludger not only once, but twice- and the second one almost kicked him off his broom.
Some Slytherins were laughing now, and there were Ravenclaws laughing now, too- and when Aurelius tried to make some kind of turn with his broom which looked absolutely ridiculous, almost everyone laughed.
"He is really killing it!", Colin whispered into Sirius' ear, "this will be the end of Aurelius for sure!", he was laughing, and Sirius wanted to laugh, too- until he saw the look on Aurelius' face.
He looks sad. He looks…crestfallen.
The Slytherins scored again, and everyone cheered- and Sirius saw that most Gryffindor's had taken their signs down, instead, the booed every time Aurelius came into focus- and when the Slytherins scored again, the chants started.
No one knew who started them, but after several minutes, half the stadium was yelling them.
"Seeker seek dismissal! Seeker seek dismissal!"
"Aurelius you suck! You suck! You suck! Aurelius you suck!"
And, the worst one:
"Fire the fraud! Fire the fraud! FIRE THE FRAUD!"
He saw Aurelius clenching his teeth, his face white as a ghost, and then the worst thing happened: Another Bludger came closer, and even though Fred and George attempted to block it from him, it him right on the shoulder- and he fell off his broom.
All Slytherins were roaring with laughter now, and Aurelius stumbled to get back on his feet, his face an expression of agony, and even though some Gryffindors were laughing, too, for some reason, Sirius couldn't. All he could do was stare, and he saw Madame Hooch run over to him, and then- she escorted him off the field, under the chants and screams of the Slytherins and Ravenclaws, and some Gryffindors. The only ones not laughing were the Hufflepuffs.
I should go after him.
"This was great, wasn't it?", Colin giggled next to him at that moment, "I'd say- Mission Accomplished!", he looked at him, "you know, this has been so much fun- I never had a best friend before to do such things with. I am really glad you're my friend, Sirius."
He swallowed, a warm feeling spreading inside his stomach, and just like that, he forgot about going after his fake brother, "I am glad that you are my friend, too", he answered earnestly, "I could not have done this without your help, so tha…"
The screaming of the crowd interrupted him, and seconds later, Madame Hooch blew the whistle: The Seeker for the Slytherins had caught the Snitch, and the game was over.
Slytherin had won.
Everyone was yelling now, and Sirius heard quite a lot of cursing whenever Aurelius was mentioned, and he began to feel uncomfortable.
Apparently, a lot of students took this more seriously than they should.
"Your brother is the biggest idiot ever!", a second grader hissed at him, "I bet so much money on his win- and now I get nothing!"
"I…am sorry…but…it's just a game", Sirius stammered, but he was seemingly the only one who thought so.
He decided to get the hell out of there because the vibe of the students around him got more and more hostile- so he and Colin quickly took off.
They ran back to the school, panting.
"That…was crazy!", Colin finally said when they were safely back in their dorms, which was empty, "they…were so angry!"
"It's…just a game, they will calm down!", Sirius replied, even though he was not really convinced about it.
"Well, dinner is certainly going to be a shitshow", Colin said- and as it turned out, he was right.
Aurelius had barely made it into the Great Hall when the booing and the whistling started- and if Fred and George Weasley had not been there, basically functioning as his bodyguards, he would not have even made it to his seat alive.
"Fire the fraud! Fire the fraud!"
"Get off the team, loser!"
"I want my money back!"
"You suck! You suck!"
The noise was indescribable- and if Dumbledore had not forced everyone to be quiet, no one would have eaten their dinner at all.
Sirius looked down when Aurelius walked by him, not daring to make eye contact with his pretend brother- and he realized he felt guilty.
He does not deserve this- not like this…
But now it was too late.
It turned out that Aurelius had a lot less friends than he had thought- only the Weasley twins and some girls were still sticking up for him from the fifth graders, everyone else seemed to be glad to have found an excuse to humiliate him- which was likely linked to jealousy in the first place.
After dinner, Aurelius immediately left, stone faced, and the Weasley twins promptly left with him. Unfortunately, Sirius and Colin tried to leave at the same time, and he almost bumped into his fake brother.
Shit.
"I…I am sorry", Sirius mumbled, knowing that he wasn't apologizing for almost running him over, "are…you…okay?"
"I am fine, Scipius", Aurelius' voice was completely emotionless, "I am always fine."
No, you are not.
He did not know what else to say, so he quietly stepped to the side and let his fake brother pass.
Colin was staring at him, "what the heck was that about? I am always fine? Looks like he bounced right back to his old arrogance."
Sirius stayed silent; he knew there was no point in trying to explain to Colin what he thought Aurelius had meant.
Self- control…it's all about his damn self- control…
"Tom?", another knock, "Tom, can you…"
"GO AWAY!"
Salazar sighed, "Tom, it's been hours, and it is time for lunch, you must be hungry, so please…"
"I am not hungry! Leave me the fuck alone! I am not going to eat, and if Gryffindor thinks he can force me again, I am going to vomit all over him again!"
"Tom, please, I know you are upset, but…"
"Upset?", his voice sounded scornful, "I am more than just upset. And if you don't promise me that I can leave this goddamn Manor, I am not coming out!"
"I already told you that we are not sending you back to the juvenile detention center."
"Fine, send me to an orphanage then."
"You are being ridiculous, Tom- we are not sending you anywhere. Please come out now."
Silence.
Salazar sighed again, "I will have the house elves bring you your lunch."
Silence.
Finally, Salazar turned around, a tired and sad expression on his face. He had tried talking to Tom since he had woken up in the worst mood ever- he had been screaming, cursing, and then he had spent hours destroying his room again- all while demanding to leave.
Godric had had even worse luck with him- as soon as Tom had seen the Founder, he had completely lost it, screaming at him that he had abused him, that he wanted him to die, and that he was not going to listen to him ever again- and then he had kept repeating that he hated him.
Since then, he had stayed in his room- refusing to come out to eat or talk, all Tom actually did was sitting on his mattress in the corner of the room, staring at the walls.
He had never felt this awful his entire life- and the pain on his backside wasn't even the worst part.
Gryffindor had spanked him- he had humiliated him, and he had had no right to do that- he was not his father, he just kept him around to discipline him, to punish him, to make sure he knew what a failure he was.
The tears came again, and then, there was another knock on his door.
"Thomas, it is time for lunch. Come out and eat."
"Fuck off, Gryffindor!"
As expected, the door opened immediately and Godric Gryffindor walked into his room, "I am done with the attitude, Thomas- you got spanked for a reason, and I thought I made my point clear last night."
"You made clear that you are a bully, that's all!", Tom hissed, his eyes blasting with fury, "you enjoyed it, right? You like punishing me, and you know what? I am sick of being here, and I am sick of you! I want to leave!"
"I do not like punishing you, Thomas- why would you even think that?"
Tom let out a humorless laugh, "maybe it's because that is all you have been doing since I got here. Are you just some sick bastard who gets his rocks off on inflicting pain?"
Gryffindor paled, "apologize this instant", he said through clenched teeth, "and do not dare to speak to me ever again like that in my own house!"
"Or what? You gonna spank me some more?", Tom shot back, "and in case you did not get it- I don't want to be in your home anymore. Any orphanage in the world is better than staying here!"
"I am not sending you to an orphanage, Thomas."
"Too bad- then don't expect me to eat, or drink, or even sleep- and if you touch me again, I'll kill you."
Gryffindor did not respond right away, completely taken aback by the hostility of the boy- why in the world had the spanking make him so angry? This made no sense…
"Very well, have it your way then- I am sure you are not going to last as long as you did last time with your little hunger strike- and don't expect me to come feed you in the middle of the night again", his voice was full of scorn, "let me know when you are ready to behave, Thomas."
The boy just stared at him with a hateful expression on his face, and Gryffindor decided to leave- there was no point in talking to him in that kind of mood.
He was upset, too- spanking his boys was something intimate, something that bonded them- and helped his boys to understand what they did wrong- or so he had thought.
Aurelius or Sirius had never acted like this- and for a second, he had serious doubts in his mind if it even made sense to keep and teach Tom here any longer- since he clearly did not even understand what he was teaching him.
I want to be your father, Thomas…why do you not see that?
It was Sunday morning, and overnight, some of the craziness about the Quidditch game had died down- thankfully, Sirius thought while he was eating his breakfast.
There were still a lot of unhappy faces though- especially from those who had bet all of their pocket money on Aurelius winning the game.
The Slytherins were all sitting on a high horse- sneering and chanting whenever they saw a Gryffindor, but no one dared to actually attack him- which he knew was based on the fact that Dumbledore had announced to punish everyone severely who would bother him or Aurelius.
"Have you heard the news?", Colin sat down next to him, "it's about your brother!"
"My…fake brother", Sirius corrected, since no one was near enough to hear their conversation, "what about him?"
"He got voted off the team- apparently, only Fred and George vowed to give him another chance. Harry will be Seeker again cause his time was the second best", Colin informed him and took a sip of his pumpkin juice, "and I also heard that Dumbledore is thinking about pulling him out that fancy scholar circle."
Sirius groaned, "oh crap- he is going to be furious when he hears that- he needs to stay in there to be close to Dumbledore- for whatever reason."
"He did not tell you?"
Sirius shook his head, "he did not tell me anything about the plan- except that I need to steal the cloak."
"Which you did", Colin was grinning, "Ginny is all over the place about the Quidditch stuff- defending her brothers and everything. She seems to have forgotten about the cloak already."
"Well, Harry will not forget", Sirius reminded him, "but yeah, I should probably bring Aurelius the cloak- and get Gryffindor to transform me back."
Colin suddenly looked crushed, "but then…we won't be able to hang out anymore- and do our homework together…"
Sirius bit his lips, "that's true…", he answered hesitantly, "but…this was only meant to be temporary anyways, so…"
"I know", Colin managed a small smile, "at least you will still be here."
"Yeah."
There was a silence, and eventually, Sirius got up, "I'll see you later…gotta go get rid of that cloak", he mumbled, "bye, Colin."
"Bye, Sirius…"
He left hastily, telling himself that he had to get transformed back- after all, he was an adult, not a child, he had a life…
A life of hiding, and drinking, and disappointing your godson- a life without a real family…
He forced himself to stop thinking about it, went to the dorms, grabbed the cloak and then made his way to the quarters.
Aurelius had not been at breakfast, so he was pretty sure he was here- after all, the fifth, sixth and seventh graders were not forced to show up for the meals in the Great Hall on the weekend, they were allowed to eat in their Common Rooms or studies or go into Hogsmeade.
Sirius knocked, expecting another fight with Aurelius- he knew the older boy was probably ready to kill him by now.
He braced himself when the door opened, "hey, it's me, Aurelius, I am…", and he froze when he realized that the person who had opened the door was not Aurelius- but Gryffindor.
Shit. Shit. Shit!
"I was just about to send Aurelius to go get you", Gryffindor stepped to the side and let him come in, "sit down, Sirius Black. I think the two of you have some explaining to do."
Sirius swallowed, and hesitantly sat down next to Aurelius on the couch, dumping the cloak on the floor. His pretend brother looked even worse than he had the day before, and he was still as pale as a ghost.
Gryffindor closed the door and then positioned himself in front of the couch, "now? Who wants to start? I have heard such great things about the both of you- insulting teachers, fooling around, losing house points, and, not to forget- turning a simple Quidditch game into a ridiculous spectacle for the whole school", his voice was cold, and cynical, and he seemed to be in an even worse mood than he had been at their last meeting, "I am assuming none of you bothers about the actual plan anymore?", his expression was hard.
"Sir…I…I have the cloak, it…it is right here", Sirius stammered, grabbing it off the floor, "please…I am sorry about what I did in Sna…uhm, Professor Snape's class…I apologized to him already…but…I did my part of the deal."
Gryffindor took the cloak from him, but his expression did not change, and instead of thanking him, he looked straight at Aurelius, "so your younger brother manages to do what he is told- all while you spend your time fooling around on the Quidditch field. You are a failure, Aurelius."
"Yes, Father", Aurelius' voice was merely a whisper.
"You are my oldest son- and I should be proud of you, but do you really think I can be proud of someone like you?"
"N…no, Father", his voice had gotten even quieter, but Sirius seemed to be the only one who noticed.
"You are almost a man, Aurelius, you are not a child anymore- and I expect you to act like it."
"Yes…Father."
Gryffindor kept looking at him, "I have enough problems with Thomas already- don't you think I deserve it that at least one of you is obedient and responsible?"
Who the hell is Thomas?
"Yes…Father."
"Go get the cane, Aurelius."
Sirius inhaled sharply, but no one paid any attention to him- and he was watching with growing horror as Aurelius walked over to the desk, trembling, and brought back the cane.
Gryffindor took it, "now, I don't like doing this in front of Sirius- but maybe it will teach you that you are not better than him- after all, he got me the cloak. And what have you gotten me?"
"No…nothing, Father", Sirius saw the tears form in Aurelius' eyes, and he had to swallow again.
Why is he so cruel to him? He worked so hard…even with the drugs…
"Pants down, Aurelius."
No, don't do that to him!
Sirius watched helplessly as Aurelius pulled down his pants and underpants without another word- his whole body was trembling though, and Sirius knew he was scared.
"Bend down, touch your ankles- you know the drill."
"Yes, Father", Aurelius obediently bent over, clenching his ankles with his hands, exposing his naked backside to his father.
He has done this to him before, Sirius realized, no wonder Aurelius is so damn scared of him that he rather takes drugs than tell him the truth about himself- no one could live up to Gryffindor's insane expectations…
"You will get ten", Gryffindor announced, "and you will count them- prove to me that you are strong, Aurelius- and not weak."
He is strong! You don't even know him!
"Yes, Father", Aurelius' voice was hollow and emotionless, and Sirius could not see his face, his head was bend down, so he was staring at his own legs.
And then, the cane made the most horrid sound as it flew through the air, and Sirius could hear Aurelius hissing in pain when it hit his bare backside, "one, Sir."
He has to call him Sir now? What the fuck…
Another strike.
"Two, Sir."
And another…
"Th…three, Sir", Aurelius voice sounded muffled, and Sirius suddenly could not bear it any longer.
He stood up, trembling, "stop. Just…stop!"
Gryffindor looked at him, "if you don't want to watch, feel free to wait in the bedroom", he told him coldly, "Aurelius needs this- he will never learn to be strong and a leader without some discipline."
And just like that, he snapped, "this is not discipline, you are just abusing him! You don't even know who Aurelius is, he is strong, and he is a leader! He has been trying so hard to fulfil your crazy high expectations, something no one could, and he is too scared of you to admit that he is not as brilliant as you want him to be- and that's why he's been taking drugs every day, they make him smart, and strong, and turn him into the son you want him to be- but he's not", he took a deep breath, ignoring Aurelius' whimpers, "I…I found out about the drugs and took them from him, and that's why he was acting like that at the game- I made him go out and play without his drugs, and he was brave enough to go anyways- and now everyone is sneering at him and making fun of him, and he deals with that on top of having someone like you as a father- someone who is just a bully, nothing else! He certainly learned from the best when he tortured me and made me kneel on a log, cause I feel like that's something you have done to him!"
Gryffindor had turned white, and he heard Aurelius' frantic whispers for him to stop, but he did not care, "and one last thing- he's not a man, he is a child, and he is scared to death of you- and you should be proud of him, cause he is your son- and you know what? I have never ever seen him happy- or smile, or have fun- all he ever does is study, and that's pretty damn sad", he turned around, "I'll leave- and even if you won't transform me back now, at least I did my part of the deal- you're welcome, by the way", the last part had been clearly sarcastic, and then he stormed out of the room, running down the hallway as fast as he could.
He knew Gryffindor would most likely beat the shit out of him for this later, but right now, he did not care.
I did the right thing- this whole plan was doomed from the beginning.
He almost made it to the end of the hallway when he heard someone yell his name- his real name, "Sirius, wait!"
And he turned around, just to see Aurelius come running after him.
Oh crap.
yeah...godric finally knows, and his reaction will be in the next chap- along with some aurelius& sirius fluff ;)
I would loooove some feedback!
xoxo, Antonie :)