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Disclaimer: All characters, places, HP universe related stuff is based upon the world created by JK Rowling and is NOT MINE!
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Summary: A butterfly flaps its wings and causes a hurricane on the other side of the world. A four-year-old child makes a decision that could alter everything we know, to speak one word is to irreversibly change destiny, forever. A story of Sirius Black, what might have been.
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Crucio Butterfly – Chapter 1The small black-haired child stared uncertainly at the wand in his hand, his mother crouched beside him holding something that resembled a giant butterfly, leaning forwards so that her dark hair, so much like her son's, hung across her face, she whispered in his ear, "Just say the word." Uncertainty clouded the boy's eyes; he knew what he was being asked to do. His dark gaze flickered to the window, where, just minutes earlier, he had been watching two children playing with the fallen Autumn leaves, and almost instantly back to the butterfly in his mother's hand.
Indecision painted his features, one could almost see the thoughts running through his head, he didn't want to do it, didn't want to say the word that would harm something so free and innocent, but it was clear he feared his mother, feared what he might do to her if he refused. The moment seemed to stretch for hours, the boy's mother watched him intently, hopefully. He raised the wand.
"Crucio."
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Dearest Mother,
So it's official, I am the newest member of Slytherin house, not that I am surprised, of course, it was to be expected. Peter was also sorted into Slytherin house (which does surprise me - I was certain he'd be a Hufflepuff - perhaps he bribed the hat into putting him into the same house as me). Our fellow Slytherin first-years are Severus Snape, Evan Rosier, Rabastan Lestrange, Isabelle Malfoy, Jasmine Rookwood, Saphina Avery, Mirabella Jugson and of course, cousin Narcissa, all, I think you will agree, from respectable families. What was a real surprise was Saphina's twin brother, Matrim, being sorted into Gryffindor, he received a rather nasty howler about that this morning, as did Alfie Wilkes, who also ended up in Gryffindor. Saphina was, understandably, most upset that her brother had become a traitor; I understand the other girls had to spend most of the night calming her down.
I shared a cabin with Severus on the Hogwarts express and I can almost definitely say that we will become close friends, he is a most interesting person, and his knowledge of the noble arts is even greater than my own. The Slytherin common room is every bit as amazing as Bella described, of course I doubt it's altered much since you were a student, very sophisticated and elegant, perfectly suited to the high calibre of students in this house. If the Slytherin common room reflects on the superiority of its residents, then I dread to imagine what the Gryffindor common room must look like, I currently envisage something terrible gaudy, though I haven't had a chance to verify that as yet. I have already made, shall we say, acquaintance with three of its members, an arrogant boy by the name of James Potter (which of course made me see very clearly why the Potter family is of an infinitely lower class), his tag-along, a sickly looking child he calls Remus, and a mudblood girl named Lily, who had the nerve to try to join myself and Severus in our compartment, of course as soon as we realised what she was we covered her with a variety of hexes and threw her out.
Our head of House, who apparently teaches Potions, Professor Malfoy, seems to be quite nice – at least to her own students (she took 10 points from Gryffindor after the feast last night because James Potter smiled – most amusing).
I can only say, that on meeting him, Dumbledore is the epitaph of Gryffindor values, which is quite a shame, Hogwarts has clearly been lacking since the unfortunate death of Great-great-grandfather Phineas – it really is quite a shame he accidentally poisoned himself with his "Elixir of Life". I have not met any of the other teachers as I write this, however I am sure that by the end of the week I will be able to tell you which are respectable and which are not.
We have Transfiguration first thing this morning, and though Professor McGonagall is head of Gryffindor (and so not worthy of respect, at least behind her back), she seems to me to be rather strict and will be unlikely to accept that a Slytherin student is late for class because they were writing to their mother. I also have to find the classroom, which, as I understand it, is three floors below the owlery.
Say hello to Regulus for me, and please ensure he doesn't decide to practice the killing curse on my owl, I have grown rather fond of her.
With love,
Your son, Sirius. Toujours Pur.
Sirius Black hastily stuffed his quill and ink back into his bag and sealed the parchment on which he had just been writing, "Mirror!" he called softly to a large eagle owl perched on a rafter near the ceiling of the owlery, she flew down to his outstretched arm with unmatchable grace. Sirius tied the letter to his owl's leg and carried her to the window, where she took off from his arm and soared into the clear morning sky. For a few moments he watched as the owl grew smaller and smaller, flying into the distance, before turning to face the tall, slender boy leaning casually against the door of the owlery.
Severus Snape was someone Sirius had never met before yesterday, despite coming from a respectable pureblood family. Although Severus could never be described as handsome in the same way that Sirius could, with his pale skin, large nose and slightly greasy hair, Sirius had found his icy demeanour and cynicism intriguing, and determined to learn more about this dark, silent boy. Somehow Severus managed to look as imposing in his Hogwarts robes as when he had boarded the Hogwarts express in long black robes that were almost an exact replica of those his father had worn. When he mentioned this however Severus had become stony silent and Sirius did not press the matter.
"We had better go," Severus' words startled Sirius out of his reverie, "no need to be losing points on the first day."
"Indeed." Sirius' response elicited a slight smirk from his dark haired companion. They both turned and walked out of the door, coming face to face with a short, skinny looking boy with messy black hair. Sirius and Severus exchanged identical, knowing looks.
"Well, well, if it isn't Gryffindor's newest pet Potter." Severus spoke in a lazy drawl, as though nothing in the world mattered at all, it was amusing to watch.
"Shut it, greasy Slytherin git." Sirius thought that Potter's response would have been far more impressive if he hadn't been shaking in fear.
"Ohh I'm scared!" Sirius backed away in mock fear, whilst Severus laughed. Potter pointed his wand at Severus and made to hex him, but Sirius was quicker.
"Rictusempra!"
To the Gryffindor's credit he did not allow himself to be entirely defeated by a single curse, instead, though struggling to remain upright, pointing his wand at Sirius and shouting, "Tarantallegra!" Potter barely had time to smirk as Sirius' legs began to tap dance out of control.
"Reducio!" Potter's expression turned to one of shock as he began to shrink, finally coming to rest at eye level with Severus' knees. Severus swung round to face Sirius, whose legs were still dancing uncontrollably, "Finite."
The moment his legs had stilled Sirius pointed his wand at the miniature Potter, "Avis!" A flock of large ravens erupted from Sirius' wand and immediately began attacking Potter, who was feebly trying to repel them, however as it seemed that the size of his spells had shrunk with him, he wasn't having much luck. Severus sniggered slightly, then, recognising the fact that they were now almost late for Transfiguration, raised his wand.
"Expelliarmus! Locomotor Mortis." James Potter's legs snapped together at the same instant his wand flew into Severus' hand. Potter, now utterly helpless, watched with a horrified expression as his wand sailed from Severus' hand onto the owlery roof.
"Bye!" Sirius' sarcastically cheerful word hung in the air as the two boys jogged down the corridor towards the Transfiguration classroom.
Professor McGonagall began their lesson with a stern lecture, which Sirius thought sounded as though she had said the exact same words every single year, "Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts. Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back, you have been warned."
Severus leaned across to Sirius, "She wouldn't dare chuck anyone out, I would say she's more afraid of what we could do only half trained." Sirius only smirked in response.
Transfiguration turned out to be far less interesting than Sirius thought it would be. Although he had never done the type of magic they began with, his mother's lessons made turning a matchstick into a needle ridiculously simplistic and by the end of the lesson he had a large pile of perfectly formed needles on his desk.
After Transfiguration came Potions, taught by the Head of Slytherin, Professor Malfoy. Sirius had met Esmerelda Malfoy on a number of occasions, although he was better acquainted with her son, Lucius, who was four years above Sirius. Professor Malfoy gave off an aura of absolute power and control as she strode into the room, wearing robes of a deep bottle-green, trimmed with silver. The entire room fell silent, Slytherins out of respect for their teacher, Gryffindors, most likely, out of pure terror. This last thought made Sirius smirk.
She cast her eyes over the room, "It seems we are missing a Gryffindor," she said, "Where is Mr Potter?" Sirius was fighting so hard not to laugh that he had to knock his books to the floor so as to hide his face. The other Gryffindor students were frozen in abject terror, Potter's sickly looking tag-along raised one shaking hand into the air,
"Yes Mr -?" Professor Malfoy snapped sharply.
"Lupin, Professor, Remus Lupin," Shockingly for one so shabby, Lupin was very well spoken. Sirius had always been brought up knowing that if you were shabby and poor, or a blood traitor, like Matrim Avery and Alfie Wilkes, or a Weasley, then you had no understanding of behaviour in proper society, "He went to send an owl to his parents after breakfast, he must have got lost."
"Indeed. Well perhaps, Mr Lupin, you would be so kind as to inform Mr Potter that I do not accept less than one-hundred percent commitment from my students, and that he has just lost Gryffindor house twenty points, which I believe makes that thirty in two days."
Severus smirked.
They spent the first half of the lesson taking notes on basic potion theory, which both Sirius and Severus found rather peculiar, as this was something they had been expected to know from a very young age, and neither of them could understand why anyone else would not have the same knowledge. Unless they were a Mudblood, in which case there was really no hope. However when Sirius questioned Professor Malfoy on this matter, she gave him a sharp look and responded, "It is merely following syllabus, Mr Black. I do not like it anymore than you, however the Headmaster thinks that it is important to teach you all the basics."
"Waste of bloody time if you ask me." Severus muttered under his breath as Professor Malfoy moved on.
Just under half way through the lesson, Professor Malfoy ordered the class to put away their quills and parchment, and gave them instructions for a simple potion to cure boils.
Sirius was just lighting the flames beneath his cauldron when the door to the classroom banged open, causing him to jump and set his textbook alight instead. He hurriedly doused the flames with a jet of water from his wand.
A bedraggled looking Potter stood in the doorway, now returned to normal size, holding his wand in his hand. Ignoring the stares from his classmates he strode up to Professor Malfoy with an air of complete arrogance, "I apologise for being so late Professor," his drawl could have placed him in Slytherin if it wasn't for the fact he was a Potter, and every inch a Gryffindor, "I was, however, attacked on the way out of the owlery this morning by two of your students." He smirked slightly in the direction of Sirius and Severus, both of whom were looking completely nonplussed.
At Potter's words outraged murmurs had instantly erupted from the Gryffindors on the left hand side of the room, all of them turning and glaring murderously at the Slytherins.
"Silence." At Professor Malfoy's words the Gryffindor's murmuring ceased instantly, their glares did not.
"Mr Potter, ten points from Gryffindor and detention for disturbing my class."
"but-" Potter looked positively shocked, he had clearly expected some sort of support from the Potions Professor.
"If you are unable to defend yourself against your fellow students, Mr Potter," said Professor Malfoy with a slight sneer, "then you will never learn to defend yourself in the real world. Take your seat."
Potter hesitated.
"Now!"
He sat down swiftly beside Lupin.
"Continue with your Potions." Professor Malfoy swept back to her desk, where she spent the rest of the lesson watching the painful progress of the Potions simmering on the benches, making the occasional derisive comment about the abysmal results the Gryffindors came up with. Naturally both Sirius and Severus' Potions were perfect.
Charms was a different experience altogether, although Sirius had been told that Professor Flitwick was head of Ravenclaw house, he seemed to have some trouble picturing the tiny little man as anything other than what was unmistakeably a half-breed. No natural human could ever be that short, and half-breeds were not intelligent. He gave them a short demonstration of basic charms, levitation and the like, before demonstrating some rather more complex charm work on the mudblood girl, causing her to flash purple and pink for the rest of the lesson.
Defence against the Dark Arts came after lunch, and was not nearly as good as Sirius had expected, not least because it was taught by a Weasley although he did find the discussion on classification of the dark arts mildly interesting, and decided that he might be able to overlook the fact that it was taught by a blood traitor. He did not mention this to Severus.
Their final lesson of the day was History of Magic, taught by Professor Binns, a very elderly man who Sirius would not have been surprised to see drop dead any second. His lecture was so utterly boring that within five minutes Sirius and Severus had crafted paper swords with their parchment and were locked in an epic battle.
Dinner that night was an excitable affair, with all the first years comparing notes on how their first day had gone, and engaging in light banter about Quidditch and Gryffindor idiocy. Sirius overheard two fourth years planning to sneak into professor McGonagall's rooms and dye her hair bright Slytherin green, with streaks of silver, because she had taken twenty points from Slytherin for transfiguring a Gryffindor student into a rat. Sirius couldn't really understand why they were so bitter about it, he understood that the victim was a Gryffindor, and so the act of transfiguration entirely excusable, they had done it right under McGonagall's nose. He had always thought that if you are going to do such a thing, you should at least be prepared to take the consequences if you are stupid enough to get yourself caught. One of his mother's earliest lessons was that subtlety is crucial, if you allow yourself to be caught then you deserve to be a Gryffindor.
After dinner, when all the Slytherins had traipsed back to the common room, or disappeared into the library to complete some highly complex homework set by a particularly cruel teacher, Sirius and Severus sat down on one of the green sofas opposite the fire. For several minutes both sat, gazing intently at the flames, crackling in the large, stone fireplace. Severus was the first to break the silence.
"You were quiet today at dinner," He commented, "when we were discussing how best to torture the blood traitor who tries to teach us Defence."
Sirius barely faltered, "I was merely contemplating the fact that if it were not taught by a blood traitor, it might be a half-decent subject."
"So you're not going to jump up defending Weasley are you?" Severus' tone became slightly mocking.
Sirius shuddered, "oh Merlin, no!"
Severus sniggered, "You are so squeamish!"
"Am not!"
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So you see that little button that says review...smiles sweetly You know you want to...:D
Thanks to all who reviewed the prologue (all 3 of you :D) Yes they were Lily and Petunia – I know, really very obvious!!
silverpheonix2 – Thanx! :D here is chapter one...which I hope you like also...
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See you all next chapter!! (which will be sooner...honest!)