Rising Shadows
Chapter Six - Good Times
A week had past. Sirius's feeling of content had remained, even though it had died down a bit. He had sent a letter to his father with a school owl the morning after the sorting. The owl had not returned, and there was no response at all from his father. Sirius wasn't sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing. He tried not to worry about his father too much, though. Between his lessons and his friends, Sirius barely had anytime for anything else.
James Potter, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, and Frank Longbottom turned out to be very good friends indeed.
James was obviously a natural-born leader. He had a certain air around him that just demanded you to respect him.
Remus was much more calm than James. He studied more, and worked harder. He tried to stay out of fights, while James would usually end up starting them.
Peter, again was calm, but he didn't work near as hard as Remus. He seemed to have trouble with classes, and he was a bit clumsy at times. He looked nervous a lot, as if amazed to have such great people as friends, and trying desperately not to disappoint them.
Frank was a bit different. He didn't spend as much time with the other Gryffindor first-years, preferring to keep to himself. In classes, however, he was always happy to help, which was very welcome considering Peter seemed to have trouble in almost all of them.
None of the other boys asked about Sirius's father, or mentioned what had happened on the train. Anytime the conversation began to steer in that direction, James would give a stern look to the speaker, who would quickly change the topic.
Sirius was thankful to James for this. He knew he should talk about it to someone, and that he should tell someone about his father, but he wasn't ready yet. He figured eventually the time would come when he could talk about it, and somehow, he knew his friends would be there to listen.
Lily and James seemed to get along quite well. Remus had asked one day if they had known each other before Hogwarts. Lily just grinned while James told them.
~oOo~
"My aunt, who is obsessed with muggles, took me a muggle park one day. She said she wanted to see how muggle children had fun. I was almost ten at the time. Anyway, she told me to go and play with the muggle kids, and then tell her what I learned. Well, I wasn't too happy about it, but I did it anyway, 'cause my dad would have a fit if I disobeyed his sister. So, I walked over to one of those.err.what were they called?"
"Swings, James, it was a swing set." Put in Lily.
"Right, well I sat down on one of those wooden things like the other muggle children were doing, and Lily came over and sat down on one next to me. So, being the good nephew that I am, I did as my aunt told me to, and struck up a conversation with Lily."
Lily snorted. "You said 'Lovely day for Quidditch, isn't it?' I didn't have the faintest idea what you were talking about."
James just grinned and shrugged. "Well, it worked didn't it? We talked for nearly three hours."
Lily rolled her eyes, but the smile was still evident on her face.
~oOo~
Sirius woke up on Saturday morning to something licking his arm. Smiling, he opened his eyes and let out a large yawn. He blinked a couple times to clear his vision, and scratched Roxy's stomach.
" 'Morning Roxy." he said, yawning again before sitting up. He looked toward the bed on his right, expecting to see Remus still asleep, but finding it empty. Sirius found that odd.
Remus went to bed earlier than everyone else, and usually ended up sleeping in late. Sirius never had the heart to wake him up earlier, after seeing how tired he looked. However, the tired look didn't go away as he slept. In fact, it seemed to increase. Yesterday, Remus had barely been able to stay awake in their Transfiguration class, and had gone to bed right after dinner.
Sirius looked back down at Roxy. "Maybe all that sleep helped him a bit." Roxy just yawned in response.
Sirius smiled and carried Roxy down to the common room, expecting to see Remus there. Remus wasn't, however, James was.
"Good morning, sleepy!" James said, grinning.
"How long have you been up?" Sirius asked.
"About an hour, I woke up when Remus did."
"When did he wake up? And where is he anyway? He usually sleeps a lot later than I do."
"Yeah, I know, but he said he wasn't feeling well this morning. He didn't look well either, he was really pale and shaking. He said he was going to the Hospital Wing, which is where I assume he is now."
"Oh.you think he's alright?" Sirius asked, growing worried.
"He said he gets sick like that sometimes. Said a couple days to rest and he'd be back to normal. Come on, let's go to breakfast. Lily, Peter, and Frank are already there."
"What about Kristin and Jen?" Sirius asked, referring to the two other first-year Gryffindor girls.
"We're right here." said a voice behind the boys. They looked around to see a curly-blonde haired girl standing next to a slightly taller brown- haired girl. Kristin, the blonde, continued to speak, "What about us?"
James grinned and stood up. "We were just wondering if such lovely ladies as yourselves wouldn't mind joining us for a bit of breakfast this fine Saturday morning."
Kristin giggled while Jen simply sighed and replied, "We'd love to."
"Have you guys seen Remus today?" asked Jen as the group walked into the Great Hall and spotted their friends.
"He went to the Hospital Wing, said he wasn't feeling well, and he didn't look well either." James replied.
"Oh.." Jen looked slightly disappointed, and Kristin pounced on the chance.
"Oh, we fancy Remus, don't we?" she said with a wicked grin as they all sat down where their friends had saved them seats. Jen glared at her.
"Of course not, I was just wondering." she said calmly.
"Sure you were." said Lily, after Kristin had filled her in. Jen glared at her friends while the boys shook their heads.
Sirius closed his eyes while the gentle wind blew around the north tower. He opened his eyes and looked up at the clear night sky. Three bright stars, all in a row, caught his eye. Orion's Belt. Orion was the first constellation he had ever learned, because finding Orion's Belt was the easiest way to find his star. The star he was named for.
~oOo~
Six-year-old Sirius Black cuddled up in his mother's arms. The woman smiled down at her son, kissing the top of his head, before pointing up at the sky.
"See those three stars close together?" she said. The boy looked up where his mother was pointing, spotting the stars, and nodded.
"Those stars are called Orion's Belt."
"The stars have names?" asked Sirius.
"Oh, yes. All the groups of stars have names. They're called constellations. The constellations tell us all sorts of interesting stories. Some individual stars, the really important ones, have their own names too." She pointed to another star. "That star, below the belt is called Rigel. That's your father's star."
"I didn' know father had a star." the boy said in wonder. ".do you have a star?"
Jillian smiled and cradled her son closer. "No, not everyone has one. Actually, most people don't.but you do." The boy looked up at his mother. "I do?"
"Yes, you do. And it's the best star in the whole sky."
"Really?"
"Yep. If you follow Orion's Belt downwards, you'll come to the brightest star in the sky, called the Dog Star, or Sirius."
Sirius stayed quiet for a long time, just gazing up at the star.
"Mummy?" he asked suddenly.
"Yes, Siri?"
"Why did you name me after the brightest star in the sky?" he asked.
Jillian gazed lovingly into her son's gray eyes.
"Because you're the brightest light in my world."
~oOo~
Sirius smiled at the memory, before looking over at his friends. James, Peter, and Frank were looking quite irritated at being woken up at midnight, just for an astronomy lesson. Sirius didn't mind, though. The clear night sky always made him feel lonely at home. It reminded him that his mother was truly gone, and that it hadn't just been some terrible nightmare. But now, Sirius was glad he had friends to watch the stars with. He didn't feel as lonely with them sitting beside him, however unwilling they may be. Sirius looked up at the full moon. He wondered how Remus's aunt was doing. She had become very ill, and Remus had gone home to help that afternoon.
With a sigh, Sirius returned his attention to the Professor's speech, which went on uninterrupted for over an hour, for the exception of a long, mournful howl, from somewhere within the dark forest.
"Hey Remus, Welcome back!" James looked up from his chess game with Peter to wave to his friend. Peter took the opportunity to switch some of the chess pieces around.
"How's your aunt?" Peter asked, looking slightly worried, instead of guilty.
Remus looked confused for a moment before saying, "Oh! She's doing much better now." he answered, looking around nervously.
Sirius frowned. This was the second time Remus had disappeared in two months. Both times he had been extremely tired and ill looking. He shook it off as a coincidence, however, and went back to greeting his friend.
"Welcome back, Remus. Want to play some chess?" he asked.
"Oh, no.I really need to get some sleep right now, maybe some other time. See you all later."
Sirius frowned and looked back at James and Peter.
"He's sort of.odd, isn't he?" James asked. Sirius could only shake his head as Peter said "Checkmate"
Up to this point, the first-year Gryffindors had been fairly lucky. They had Herbology with the Hufflepuffs, and Potions with the Ravenclaws, but no classes at all with the Slytherins. Sirius was particularly thankful. He had avoided seeing Lucius and Severus so far, but he could no longer do so.
Flying lessons would begin the next day, and the Gryffindors would be learning with the Slytherins.
Sirius wasn't afraid of embarrassing himself. A plus to being Rigel Black's son was that you had all the very best things. He had been flying for years, and he knew he was good at it, better than either of them.
But he was worried about what Lucius would say. Maybe he didn't like him as much as his new friends, but after growing up around Lucius and kids like him, he found himself worrying about what they thought of him.
~oOo~
Sirius woke up early the next morning. He decided not to wake up his room- mates, and instead slipped out of the room, toward the common room.
The young boy pulled a plush chair closer to the fire, and sat down. He sighed and closed his eyes, thinking about everything that had happened since he had received his letter.
His headshot up when he heard the door to the dorms open, then close again. Sirius looked over to the door, and saw James walking his way. He pulled a chair across from Sirius and the two boys sat in silence.
Roxy slinked across the common room in the silence and clawed at her master's feet, mewing softly. Sirius lifted her into his lap, and stroked her silky black fur.
"How long have you had Roxy?" James asked, more to break the silence then anything. He knew Sirius couldn't have had her very long, as she hadn't even had a name halfway through the train ride.
"My father gave her to me before we left for the train." Sirius, seeing the look on James's face, burst into laughter. "I don't know why he did it either, he never really gave me anything before that."
The two boys again fell into silence, until finally James spoke again. "Was your mother nice?" Sirius didn't' answer for a while, he just stroked Roxy's fur and stared into her deep yellow eyes.
"Yeah," he said, and he heard his voice crack as he said it, but went on anyway. "She was very nice.I really miss her."
James nodded and stared into the fire, thinking.
"He killed her." Sirius said abruptly. James looked up, surprised. "What?"
"My father.he killed her." Sirius looked down at the floor, determined not to cry, even though he felt like screaming.
Suddenly, James was by his side. He pulled Sirius into a hug, which Sirius returned completely. It was wonderful, to be hugged by someone who actually cared about you. When they sat down again, it was side-by-side.
"Whenever my father had.had hit me, she would always carry me back to my room, and help me with some muggle salves, since father had broken her wand. And she would sit with me all night. Sometimes we'd sit in silence, other times she'd tell me stories about when she or I was younger. A lot of times we would sneak up to the high tower and gaze at the stars. She'd started teaching me all the names of the constellations when I was six.I learned the rest by myself, after she died."
"And your father didn't know she was doing this?"
Sirius sighed. "Sometimes he figured it out.and when he did, he'd hit her too. I always felt bad then.it was my fault she ever got hit. I think he may have loved her at one point, but he's always hated me, and since she loved me, he started to hate her too."
James listened in silence to Sirius's story. When he'd finished he nodded and said "You should tell someone."
Sirius bit his lip and started to answer when there was a tapping at the window. James stood up and let in a very pathetic-looking owl. It was bloody, and missing feathers. Its beak was broken as well.
Sirius gasped. It was the school owl he had sent to his father.
A/N: Everyone hates what the letter says, if I remember correctly from the last time I posted this story, but there is a reason for it. I guess you'll just have to read the next chapter. Don't forget to review! I'd really appreciate it.
A week had past. Sirius's feeling of content had remained, even though it had died down a bit. He had sent a letter to his father with a school owl the morning after the sorting. The owl had not returned, and there was no response at all from his father. Sirius wasn't sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing. He tried not to worry about his father too much, though. Between his lessons and his friends, Sirius barely had anytime for anything else.
James Potter, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, and Frank Longbottom turned out to be very good friends indeed.
James was obviously a natural-born leader. He had a certain air around him that just demanded you to respect him.
Remus was much more calm than James. He studied more, and worked harder. He tried to stay out of fights, while James would usually end up starting them.
Peter, again was calm, but he didn't work near as hard as Remus. He seemed to have trouble with classes, and he was a bit clumsy at times. He looked nervous a lot, as if amazed to have such great people as friends, and trying desperately not to disappoint them.
Frank was a bit different. He didn't spend as much time with the other Gryffindor first-years, preferring to keep to himself. In classes, however, he was always happy to help, which was very welcome considering Peter seemed to have trouble in almost all of them.
None of the other boys asked about Sirius's father, or mentioned what had happened on the train. Anytime the conversation began to steer in that direction, James would give a stern look to the speaker, who would quickly change the topic.
Sirius was thankful to James for this. He knew he should talk about it to someone, and that he should tell someone about his father, but he wasn't ready yet. He figured eventually the time would come when he could talk about it, and somehow, he knew his friends would be there to listen.
Lily and James seemed to get along quite well. Remus had asked one day if they had known each other before Hogwarts. Lily just grinned while James told them.
~oOo~
"My aunt, who is obsessed with muggles, took me a muggle park one day. She said she wanted to see how muggle children had fun. I was almost ten at the time. Anyway, she told me to go and play with the muggle kids, and then tell her what I learned. Well, I wasn't too happy about it, but I did it anyway, 'cause my dad would have a fit if I disobeyed his sister. So, I walked over to one of those.err.what were they called?"
"Swings, James, it was a swing set." Put in Lily.
"Right, well I sat down on one of those wooden things like the other muggle children were doing, and Lily came over and sat down on one next to me. So, being the good nephew that I am, I did as my aunt told me to, and struck up a conversation with Lily."
Lily snorted. "You said 'Lovely day for Quidditch, isn't it?' I didn't have the faintest idea what you were talking about."
James just grinned and shrugged. "Well, it worked didn't it? We talked for nearly three hours."
Lily rolled her eyes, but the smile was still evident on her face.
~oOo~
Sirius woke up on Saturday morning to something licking his arm. Smiling, he opened his eyes and let out a large yawn. He blinked a couple times to clear his vision, and scratched Roxy's stomach.
" 'Morning Roxy." he said, yawning again before sitting up. He looked toward the bed on his right, expecting to see Remus still asleep, but finding it empty. Sirius found that odd.
Remus went to bed earlier than everyone else, and usually ended up sleeping in late. Sirius never had the heart to wake him up earlier, after seeing how tired he looked. However, the tired look didn't go away as he slept. In fact, it seemed to increase. Yesterday, Remus had barely been able to stay awake in their Transfiguration class, and had gone to bed right after dinner.
Sirius looked back down at Roxy. "Maybe all that sleep helped him a bit." Roxy just yawned in response.
Sirius smiled and carried Roxy down to the common room, expecting to see Remus there. Remus wasn't, however, James was.
"Good morning, sleepy!" James said, grinning.
"How long have you been up?" Sirius asked.
"About an hour, I woke up when Remus did."
"When did he wake up? And where is he anyway? He usually sleeps a lot later than I do."
"Yeah, I know, but he said he wasn't feeling well this morning. He didn't look well either, he was really pale and shaking. He said he was going to the Hospital Wing, which is where I assume he is now."
"Oh.you think he's alright?" Sirius asked, growing worried.
"He said he gets sick like that sometimes. Said a couple days to rest and he'd be back to normal. Come on, let's go to breakfast. Lily, Peter, and Frank are already there."
"What about Kristin and Jen?" Sirius asked, referring to the two other first-year Gryffindor girls.
"We're right here." said a voice behind the boys. They looked around to see a curly-blonde haired girl standing next to a slightly taller brown- haired girl. Kristin, the blonde, continued to speak, "What about us?"
James grinned and stood up. "We were just wondering if such lovely ladies as yourselves wouldn't mind joining us for a bit of breakfast this fine Saturday morning."
Kristin giggled while Jen simply sighed and replied, "We'd love to."
"Have you guys seen Remus today?" asked Jen as the group walked into the Great Hall and spotted their friends.
"He went to the Hospital Wing, said he wasn't feeling well, and he didn't look well either." James replied.
"Oh.." Jen looked slightly disappointed, and Kristin pounced on the chance.
"Oh, we fancy Remus, don't we?" she said with a wicked grin as they all sat down where their friends had saved them seats. Jen glared at her.
"Of course not, I was just wondering." she said calmly.
"Sure you were." said Lily, after Kristin had filled her in. Jen glared at her friends while the boys shook their heads.
Sirius closed his eyes while the gentle wind blew around the north tower. He opened his eyes and looked up at the clear night sky. Three bright stars, all in a row, caught his eye. Orion's Belt. Orion was the first constellation he had ever learned, because finding Orion's Belt was the easiest way to find his star. The star he was named for.
~oOo~
Six-year-old Sirius Black cuddled up in his mother's arms. The woman smiled down at her son, kissing the top of his head, before pointing up at the sky.
"See those three stars close together?" she said. The boy looked up where his mother was pointing, spotting the stars, and nodded.
"Those stars are called Orion's Belt."
"The stars have names?" asked Sirius.
"Oh, yes. All the groups of stars have names. They're called constellations. The constellations tell us all sorts of interesting stories. Some individual stars, the really important ones, have their own names too." She pointed to another star. "That star, below the belt is called Rigel. That's your father's star."
"I didn' know father had a star." the boy said in wonder. ".do you have a star?"
Jillian smiled and cradled her son closer. "No, not everyone has one. Actually, most people don't.but you do." The boy looked up at his mother. "I do?"
"Yes, you do. And it's the best star in the whole sky."
"Really?"
"Yep. If you follow Orion's Belt downwards, you'll come to the brightest star in the sky, called the Dog Star, or Sirius."
Sirius stayed quiet for a long time, just gazing up at the star.
"Mummy?" he asked suddenly.
"Yes, Siri?"
"Why did you name me after the brightest star in the sky?" he asked.
Jillian gazed lovingly into her son's gray eyes.
"Because you're the brightest light in my world."
~oOo~
Sirius smiled at the memory, before looking over at his friends. James, Peter, and Frank were looking quite irritated at being woken up at midnight, just for an astronomy lesson. Sirius didn't mind, though. The clear night sky always made him feel lonely at home. It reminded him that his mother was truly gone, and that it hadn't just been some terrible nightmare. But now, Sirius was glad he had friends to watch the stars with. He didn't feel as lonely with them sitting beside him, however unwilling they may be. Sirius looked up at the full moon. He wondered how Remus's aunt was doing. She had become very ill, and Remus had gone home to help that afternoon.
With a sigh, Sirius returned his attention to the Professor's speech, which went on uninterrupted for over an hour, for the exception of a long, mournful howl, from somewhere within the dark forest.
"Hey Remus, Welcome back!" James looked up from his chess game with Peter to wave to his friend. Peter took the opportunity to switch some of the chess pieces around.
"How's your aunt?" Peter asked, looking slightly worried, instead of guilty.
Remus looked confused for a moment before saying, "Oh! She's doing much better now." he answered, looking around nervously.
Sirius frowned. This was the second time Remus had disappeared in two months. Both times he had been extremely tired and ill looking. He shook it off as a coincidence, however, and went back to greeting his friend.
"Welcome back, Remus. Want to play some chess?" he asked.
"Oh, no.I really need to get some sleep right now, maybe some other time. See you all later."
Sirius frowned and looked back at James and Peter.
"He's sort of.odd, isn't he?" James asked. Sirius could only shake his head as Peter said "Checkmate"
Up to this point, the first-year Gryffindors had been fairly lucky. They had Herbology with the Hufflepuffs, and Potions with the Ravenclaws, but no classes at all with the Slytherins. Sirius was particularly thankful. He had avoided seeing Lucius and Severus so far, but he could no longer do so.
Flying lessons would begin the next day, and the Gryffindors would be learning with the Slytherins.
Sirius wasn't afraid of embarrassing himself. A plus to being Rigel Black's son was that you had all the very best things. He had been flying for years, and he knew he was good at it, better than either of them.
But he was worried about what Lucius would say. Maybe he didn't like him as much as his new friends, but after growing up around Lucius and kids like him, he found himself worrying about what they thought of him.
~oOo~
Sirius woke up early the next morning. He decided not to wake up his room- mates, and instead slipped out of the room, toward the common room.
The young boy pulled a plush chair closer to the fire, and sat down. He sighed and closed his eyes, thinking about everything that had happened since he had received his letter.
His headshot up when he heard the door to the dorms open, then close again. Sirius looked over to the door, and saw James walking his way. He pulled a chair across from Sirius and the two boys sat in silence.
Roxy slinked across the common room in the silence and clawed at her master's feet, mewing softly. Sirius lifted her into his lap, and stroked her silky black fur.
"How long have you had Roxy?" James asked, more to break the silence then anything. He knew Sirius couldn't have had her very long, as she hadn't even had a name halfway through the train ride.
"My father gave her to me before we left for the train." Sirius, seeing the look on James's face, burst into laughter. "I don't know why he did it either, he never really gave me anything before that."
The two boys again fell into silence, until finally James spoke again. "Was your mother nice?" Sirius didn't' answer for a while, he just stroked Roxy's fur and stared into her deep yellow eyes.
"Yeah," he said, and he heard his voice crack as he said it, but went on anyway. "She was very nice.I really miss her."
James nodded and stared into the fire, thinking.
"He killed her." Sirius said abruptly. James looked up, surprised. "What?"
"My father.he killed her." Sirius looked down at the floor, determined not to cry, even though he felt like screaming.
Suddenly, James was by his side. He pulled Sirius into a hug, which Sirius returned completely. It was wonderful, to be hugged by someone who actually cared about you. When they sat down again, it was side-by-side.
"Whenever my father had.had hit me, she would always carry me back to my room, and help me with some muggle salves, since father had broken her wand. And she would sit with me all night. Sometimes we'd sit in silence, other times she'd tell me stories about when she or I was younger. A lot of times we would sneak up to the high tower and gaze at the stars. She'd started teaching me all the names of the constellations when I was six.I learned the rest by myself, after she died."
"And your father didn't know she was doing this?"
Sirius sighed. "Sometimes he figured it out.and when he did, he'd hit her too. I always felt bad then.it was my fault she ever got hit. I think he may have loved her at one point, but he's always hated me, and since she loved me, he started to hate her too."
James listened in silence to Sirius's story. When he'd finished he nodded and said "You should tell someone."
Sirius bit his lip and started to answer when there was a tapping at the window. James stood up and let in a very pathetic-looking owl. It was bloody, and missing feathers. Its beak was broken as well.
Sirius gasped. It was the school owl he had sent to his father.
A/N: Everyone hates what the letter says, if I remember correctly from the last time I posted this story, but there is a reason for it. I guess you'll just have to read the next chapter. Don't forget to review! I'd really appreciate it.