Cage | Chapter 4
A Harry Potter Fanfiction By Majokai Yukiko
Pairing: Remus + Sirius
Warning: Pre-slash.
This is an amateur effort and does not intend to infringe on the rights of J K Rowling, Scholastic Books and their associates.
A/N: Have Rowling ever described Narcissca in any of her books? If she had, then I must have missed it. Just ignore it and accept my description of her the way it is, at least for this story, all right?
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Chapter 4: Snape's HowlerSirius never wanted to wake up from that wonderful dream. He had the perfect memory of it: the soothing musk of pinewood and gentle fingers stroking his cheeks lovingly. It was a comfortable sanctuary to stay in. Until a hand replaced those fingers and began to slap at his face, softly but very insistently. The rest of his sleep melted away, and the voice above his head began to grow louder.
"Wake up…Sirius, wake up…" The dark haired boy swept the hand away out of irritation and turned to lie on his side, burying his face into the crisp fresh sheets.
An exasperated sigh. Sirius could almost imagine the boy above him shaking his head slightly, a slight smile gracing his lips.
"I think he's awake, just not up."
"It's okay. Both of you can skip your first lesson if you want to. I'll tell James Potter to explain to the teacher."
"Thank you, Headmaster."
Sirius picked up the sound of light footsteps walking away from him and the creak of the door opening and then closing. He was about to peek at the door slightly to double-check when a pillow came crashing down onto his head.
"OUCH! You're killing me!" The young boy complained, sitting up right on his bed and fixing his friend with a half pained, half-amused expression.
"About time you wake up, Sirius." Remus complained, replacing the pillow back onto the adjacent bed. His light brown hair was combed neatly as usual. But there was an uncharacteristic slouch to the way he stood. Fatigue was shining bright through the boy's wide expressive eyes. Sirius frowned, and then looked around to inspect his surroundings.
The Hospital Wing? What was he doing in here? He remember walking out of the common room to search for Remus last night and then…
Heck! Sirius thought, focusing his attentions back onto the boy he had been so worried for the day before.
"Remus! About the Quidditch tryouts…"
"It's okay. James explained. I'm sorry for jumping to conclusions."
Sirius breathed a sigh of relief. Good old James. He grinned; mentally reminding himself to buy the boy some Chocolate Frogs the next time he had the chance to. But still…that had not explained how he managed to land himself in the Sick Bay. The part of his mind where that memory should be was a blank.
As if reading his mind, Remus explained.
"You really scared me. I found you unconscious outside the common room last night, not knowing what happened."
I must have hit my head pretty hard then. Sirius wondered, scarcely noticing how his friend was staring at his hands with a horror-struck yet guilty expression in his amber eyes.
***
Sirius Back had happily decided to take Dumbledore's advice and stayed in the hospital wing not only for the first period but also for the entire day. Remus, on the other hand, felt rather adamant about missing lessons. The boy went back to class after the first hour, but he would always return after every lesson with various foods James had helped him nick from the house elves in the kitchen.
But at the end of the last period, there was someone else in the Wing with Sirius.
It was an exotically pretty girl with ebony hair and big brown eyes. Remus recognized her as Narcissca Black, a cousin of Sirius who had been sorted into Slytherin together with Snape and Malfoy.
She was smiling shyly at the boy, gesturing wildly at the large pile of presents beside the bed, a pile that Remus had not seen before. Narcissca was speaking softly, but Remus, with his heightened senses, could head her as well as Sirius could.
"Boy, that's a lot of get-well gifts." Sirius exclaimed, sifting through the various beautifully wrapped boxes with as much excitement as a child on Christmas. "The Malfoys, the Crabbes, the Goyles, the Parkinsons and God forbid, the Snapes!" Sirius wrinkled up his nose in disgust.
"Don't forget Aunt Portia's." Narcissca chided lightly, handing over the biggest parcel in the pile. "But really, Sirius, you should take better care of yourself. You are the Heir after all."
Remus was startled. He always knew Sirius was the heir to the Black family fortune, but never had he realized just how important his friend was. Just a random visit to the Sick Bay demanded for the concern of almost all the high society pureblood wizarding families…
What, exactly, did being the Heir means?
The brunette took another quick glance as Narcissca and Sirius who were enthusiastically tearing the wrapping paper off each box. He smiled and silently slipped away.
Sirius poked at the last parcel on his bed suspiciously; as if afraid it was going to explode in his face any moment.
"You open it." He told his cousin. Narcissca sighed and unwrapped the box. It was a pair of cufflinks, made of silver and plainly designed except for the ocean opal stone set into each link. It was beautiful.
The dark haired girl picked up the letter that came with the present and read it, soft lush lips curving into a sinister smile. She handed the parchment over to Sirius who only grinned in reply.
"Bring the popcorns," he said simply.
***
The next morning, Sirius Black walked into the Great Hall looking like a million dollars. His brand new silver cufflinks caught the light and glinted, there was a ring now hanging from the chain around his neck. That too was made out of silver with an obsidian stone bearing the Black family crest encrusted in it.
Even his boots were brand new, made out of the highest quality dragon hide. Sirius had wanted to slip on his more comfortable sneakers that morning, only to find it mysteriously dirtied with wet mud. It was strange. Remus said he was found outside the common room. He could not possibly be anywhere outdoors…
Sirius frowned and then shrugged casually while walking towards the Gryffindor table. He pulled out the empty chair beside James and grinned.
"Watch out for the owls." Sirius whispered cryptically. Remus and Peter raised an eyebrow.
Breakfast went without much of a hassle. The house elves, as per usual, had prepared an excellent meal. The students were all engrossed in their private conversations until the soft rustling of wings threw them into an awkward silence.
They were almost into the third week of school at Hogwarts. Worried parents no longer sent owls after owls of letters. The most curious thing of it all was that this particular owl was carrying a bright crimson letter.
The owl that had just flown into the Hall made a beeline straight for the Slytherin table and dropped its package in front of the greasy haired First Year.
Severus Snape tightened his brow. A Howler? What had he done this time? He had not lost any points for his house nor had he gotten into any trouble with the teachers!
Lucius Malfoy elbowed him and fixed the boy with a pointed glare.
"Open it, Severus." Lucius whispered, staring fearfully across the Hall at the unreadable look on Black's face.
The sallow-faced boy nodded and then chokingly broke wax seal. For a while, nothing happened. Until—
"SNIVELLUS SNAPE!!" The Howler howled in a sharp shrill voice that Severus recognized as his grandmother's, who unfortunately had quite some problems pronouncing his name. "YOU OUGHT TO BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELF! WHAT HAVE I HEARD FROM PORTIA? THE HEIR SICK AFTER JUST A WEEK AT SCHOOL?!!"
"What has it got to do with me…" Severus muttered under his breath.
"WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING AT HOGWARTS? SLEEPING?! IT IS OUR DUTY AS A PUREBLOOD TO LOOK OUT FOR THE TWO HEIRS…AND I MEAN BOTH OF THEM! IF I HEAR ANYMORE ABOUT YOUR IRRESPONSIBLE BEHAVIOR, SNIVELLUS, YOU ARE GOING TO GET IT FROM ME!"
The red envelope flew over to the Gryffindor table, stopped in front of Sirius and continued in a much gentler tone.
"Oh, dear boy, do take care of yourself, okay? You can always get Snivellus to help if you need to. The boy is promised a spanking from me if he refused." And it burst into flames.
"Thank you, Aunty Snape." Sirius replied charmingly at the burning Howler.
There was silence once again. Everybody looked from Severus' beetroot face to Sirius' self-satisfied smirk, before breaking into laughter.
"Way to go, Snivellus!" Somebody yelled.
End of Chapter 4
Continue to Chapter 5