The Most Noble and Ancient House of Black
Summary: Sirius Orion Black is a miserable child with a pureblood family who expects him to choose the same dark path that they have walked on before him. Unhappily he heads off to Hogwarts where his life changes drastically. Whether or not it's for the better is up to you to decide.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters you recognize from the books, seeing as I'm not J.K. Rowling. Besides, if I was J.K. Rowling, what in the world would I be doing writing this lovely fanfic when I could be writing the 6th book? I don't intend to make money off of this fic. either. Also, if you happen to notice Pottergirl09( I made a mistake with her pen name last chapter) using the same middle name for Sirius, it's because we made it up together. Also, most of the sorting hat song belongs to Pottergirl09.
Chapter 3: Live for the moment
Sirius opened his eyes. Sunlight streamed through the open windows, everything seemed perfect. He had never felt this free, unless of course he was on a broom. He felt great. He opened the scarlet curtain hiding his bed and looked around at his sleeping dorm mates. His good feeling disappeared as he rememberd the events of the previous night.
I'm a Gryffindor, I'm going to be in huge trouble when Mom finds out, if she doesn't know already.
His ever-present frown returned to his face as he sulkily stared at the floor. He glumly picked his robes up from the top of his trunk and put them on. After pulling his hair back in a messy ponytail, he trudged down the stairs. Lily sat on the couch reading a thick book. Her red hair flopped into her face and she was whistling cheerfully.
"Hullo Sirius Why so glum?" She said without looking up.
"How could you tell it was me?" He asked
"I sensed your depressing presence; you really should cheer up and make the best of the situation. You looked so happy last night. Live for the moment; don't brood about what happened in the past or mope about what's yet to come. The past has gone the future has not yet happened. Now is a gift, that's why it's called the present."
Sirius looked at her with a puzzled expression.
"My mom's a shrink, you know a psychologist, I read her case files, she has some really depressed patients, and you remind me of them" Lily explained.
"What's a psycho-ologist?" Sirius asked confused.
Lily spent the remainder of the hour trying to explain her mother's job to him. Another figure poked his head down the staircase.
"Hey Lils! Do you mind if I call you Lils? Great, thanks"
"Oh sod off Potter and yes I do mind" Lily said icily.
"Look, Lils, I mean Lily, we started off on the wrong foot yesterday, I think maybe we should… start over" James said, but his tone was much more haughty than when he was apologizing to Sirius.
"I don't see what good it will do, but you can give it a try" Lily said putting down her book.
"Good, will you go out with me?" James said messing up his hair.
"NO! I most certainly will not!" lily shrieked. "You arrogant egoistic big headed bastard, never in 1,000,000 years would I go out with you!" She screamed.
"See you around Sirius" She said angrily picking up her book. She stalked off in a huff going out of her way to knock into James making him fall over.
"How do you do it?" James asked.
"Do what?" Sirius said, helping James to his feet.
"Get Lily to have a civil conversation with you"
"I dunno"
"Damn her, how can I make her go out with me?"
"Maybe you should just give up James, she's rejected you twice-"
"Three times" interrupted James.
"When was the third?"
"Before I came to find you after the feast last night, She rejected me, and then she kind of rubbed in my face how rude I was to you when all you wanted was a friend."
" Cool, but anyway, she rejected you Three times already, find somebody else, Gemma's nice, and Melina seems kind of cute even if she does seem a bit ditzy and blond"
"But they're just not Lily, I love her fiery temper, she's amazing"
"I have yet to understand you James, let's go to breakfast" Sirius said getting up.
After much wandering around they managed to find the Great Hall.
"Stupid changing staircases" Sirius muttered.
Suddenly the enchanted ceiling grew dark and thousands of owls shot down towards him. He felt the toast in his mouth turn to stone as his cheerful manner was replaced with fear. 3 owls landed by his plate. Each one had a red envelope in its beak. Whispers ran through the great hall. Somebody had a howler on their first day.
"Open it, it will happen anyway" Gemma whispered.
Sirius sat dumbstruck and fearfully staring at the envelops. Suddenly al three burst open. His mother and His two Aunts' voices were loud enough without being magnified by the howler.
"HOW DARE YOU LET YOURSELF GET SORTED INTO GRYFFINDOR!" all three shouted. Then the two from his aunts shriveled up, but his mother kept going.
"You're a disgrace to the family meddling with Mudblood scum, and blood traitors like the Potters. You deserve no place in this family after what you've done!" With that, his mother shriveled up too. Sirius sat staring at the pile of ashes. The entire Great Hall was silent. He turned and looked at the Slytherin table. His cousins were grinning madly. He stared at them for quite a while, before breaking his connection and racing out of the hall, he couldn't bear it, why was he hated so much? It wasn't fair.
He ran blinded by tears not knowing where he was going. Somehow he managed to find the Gryffindor entrance, and after telling the Fat lady the password he sunk into a large armchair and began to cry for the first time in many years.
He never cried, never showed any weakness to his mother's torture. He was strong. He didn't even cry when he fell off his broom from a height of 20 feet and broke his and severely. He had to spend a whole day and night until his mother took him to the hospital. Even then it wasn't out of kindness or sympathy, it was so he wouldn't make a fool out of himself at the fancy dinner she was having.
He felt somebody sit down next to him. He turned and saw the sickly pale boy sitting next to him.
"I heard what happened. Your mother was rather loud."
"Shut up and leave me alone" Sirius said.
"Suit yourself, but I'm afraid James is already doing that" He said. His words pierced Sirius like a flaming arrow. He had a friend for not even a day, only to be lost again because of his mother. His massive hatred for her grew even bigger.
"I'm Sirius" he said getting up.
"I know, my name is Remus Lupin" The pale boy said brushing sandy blond bangs out of his eyes.
"We have to get to class, our first class is Transfiguration." Remus said. Sirius ran up to the dorm and returned with his books and his school bag.
"Please find your seats" Professor McGonagall said. Remus and Sirius sat down at a table with Lily.
"Are you ok? I would have run after you, but I figured your cousins would notice and find someway to use it against you." She said quietly.
"It's alright. Is James mad at me?"
"He's past mad, unfortunately." Lily said sympathetically.
"I understand what happened this morning, and your mother will be contacted, but that is no excuse to talk during class. Professor McGonagall said stiffly. "We will be transforming feathers into needles. The hand motion is like this. You may try it"
As soon as she let them try it, James instantly transformed his feather into a perfect pointy needle.
Sirius attempted the transformation. It worked for the most part, except for a few furry bits on the outside of it.
Remus's was a bit worse; he had a feather with a sharp smooth metal spine. Lily had also done hers perfectly.
"You have to do it more like this" she said demonstrating the way she had done her feather.
Sirius and Remus attempted it again. This time Sirius's worked, but Remus's feather turned shocking pink.
"Impressive, but wrong" Lily said snickering
"It's not that funny" Remus protested, but he smiled none the less.
Sirius felt himself smile. He was actually having fun. He snuck a look at James once more. He was glowering and changing his feather to and from a needle without looking up. I chubby rat faced boy sat at the table with him, along with Melina who seemed unable to take her eyes off him. He looked back at his table. His classmates were smiling and enjoying themselves. He remembered Lily's wise words from before.
Live for the moment; don't brood about what happened in the past or mope about what's yet to come. The past has gone the future has not yet happened. Now is a gift, that's why it's called the present.
Smiling confidently he tuned himself back to his friends. He decided to do exactly that. Live for the moment.
a/n review, constructive criticism is appreciated.