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.

Chapter 5: The Womping Willow

Flashback

The Coldness of the corridor enveloped him making his insides freeze so much that he thought that he might never be warm again. He shivered, not so much because of the cold, but because of the creepy evil feeling that surrounded him. People past him, but not one stopped or offered to help him, a lowly confused six year old. The brushed past him as if he were no more than a painting on the wall. Why his mother had sent him to this pre- wizarding school was no mystery to him. Here, aside from teaching muggle subjects, they emphasized the importance of the dark arts. Every wizard who turned to the dark side had been here, and that was exactly what his mom wanted from him. For the first time in his life Sirius realized how truly different he was from everybody who had grown up with him. He was alone in a school that he would never truly fit into. The darkness surrounded him crushing him. Though his house was equally dark and dreary, for the first time in his life, he wished he was home. His toxic family was better than this school, this evil, spirit sucking, dark…

Sirius opened his eyes and looked around. He was in a clean white bed in a clean white room which stank of disinfectant.

"Ah good, you're awake, had us all a bit shaken up. You have a few friends waiting to see you if you're up to it." A tall woman in a healer's coat said to him.

"Yeah, sure, send them in" Sirius said sitting up.

The nurse led Lily and Remus over to his bed and muttered something that sounded like 10 minutes.

"Sirius, Are you alright?" Lily said her face full of concern

"Yeah, Pardon my ignorance but am I in St. Mungo's"

"No, the hospital wing" Remus answered

"What happened?" Sirius asked

"You read the letter and then you fainted. Madam Hooch picked you up and brought you here before the lesson." Remus said.

"I'd try and keep a low profile if I was you" Lily sad hesitantly.

"Why?"

"Well…James sort of decided that you fainted from the thought of being on a broom and has decided that you're a wimp. He spread the rumor to every one in flying class, and now you're the laughingstock of the class" Lily muttered.

"That's Bogus, I've been flying since I was 5; James is going to pay for that one!"

"Sirius, be careful, you have enough trouble right now" Remus said slowly.

"So? I think it's about time that James had his share of trouble. I was the terror of the teachers at my old school, plus I have a few new pranks up my sleeve. He will pay!"

"That's enough you two. You'll see your friend in the morning, for now he needs his rest!" The healer said shooing them out.

"Yes Madam Mae" Lily said obediently getting up and ushering Remus out the door.

"Now why can't they all be like your red haired friend? So obedient. Ah well, you need your rest, I'll release you in the morning." She said and walked away.

Sirius lay back on his pillows, but he couldn't sleep, the letter still haunted him.

"What have I done to deserve this?" He whispered into the darkness after several hours of tossing and turning

"Absolutely nothing" a voice whispered.

"Lily?"

"Shhhhhh, yes it's me and if I'm caught I'm going to be expelled"

"What are you doing here?"

"I found a book in the library that you might like, frankly I can't figure out why it would be there, but it was, here" She said handing him a thick book.

"Is this some kind of Joke?"

"No, it's a joke book"

Sirius looked at the title, in the dim light he could make out A Wizard's guide to Perfect Pranks- Embarrass your friends and Humiliate your foe by Frank LeMark.

"Wow Thanks Lily"

"Your welcome, I'd better go" She whispered. Remus is going to be here any minute, he has something else for you.

Sirius smiled as she tiptoed out the door and collided with something invisible. Looking bewildered she hurried out the door. The invisible figure turned out to be Remus holding a bucket of chocolate frogs.

"Wow how'd you get that?" Sirius asked

"Figured out how to get into the kitchens, it's not that hard"

"I meant the cloak"

"Oh, that was a gift from my uncle; I got it when I was six"

"Cool, what has James been up to?" Sirius said changing the subject, noticing his friend's discomfort.

"Spreading rumors, hitting on Lily, and acting like he's in charge, nothing out of the ordinary"

"I'm still going to get him, I'm going to knock him right off his high and mighty throne"

"Who's there?" Madam Mae asked approaching Sirius's bed. Remus hid himself under his cloak.

"I was having a bad dream, I'm fine now." Sirius lied.

"I'll get you a dreamless sleep potion, when you wake up you'll be free to go"

"I'd better go, night Sirius"

Thursday morning dawned bright and clear, contrasting greatly with the foreboding Sirius was feeling. Quietly he dressed in robes from the previous day, ran a com through his shoulder length hair and tied it back, only to have most of it flop back in his face a moment later. He picked up his school bag that had somehow appeared by his bedside, and shoved the book and the chocolate frogs in. He walked confidently out the door and down to the great hall.

"Hey guys, its Sirius black" James potter's arrogant voice rang from the top of the stairs.

"Scared to go all the way down are you? They're really high aren't they?"

"Not particularly, why? Are you frightened of them?" Sirius said worriedly.

"Funny Black, but if I recall correctly, you are the one who fainted at the mere thought of being on a broomstick, whereas I have been flying since I was 8."

"Why I fainted was none of your concern, but I assure you it had nothing to do with flying, I've had my own broomstick since I was five"

"Just because you have your own broomstick doesn't mean you can fly it, or play Quiddich on it"

"I can so play Quiddich!" I'll take you anytime anywhere, just name a time and place and I'll be there."

"Five person game, that means you get two players, I get two players and we share a keeper-"

"I know what that means Potter"

"Six in the morning this Saturday"

"You're on. Our keeper will be a bewitched broom; you and I are both chasers, agreed"

"Deal,"

"Now excuse me I'd like to eat breakfast before class starts" Sirius said shoving his way past James.

"What do we have first?" Sirius asked Lily who had her nose in Hogwarts, a History .

"Hi Sirius, Herbology, now shhh I'm almost done with the chapter."

"Wow she's good" Sirius muttered as he sat down next to Lily and began buttering his toast. He was joined a moment later by Remus who was out of breath.

"You have got to see this! They're planting a Womping Willow"

"You mean a Weeping Willow" Lily corrected without looking up.

"No, a Womping Willow, it's a fighting tree!"

At that Sirius jumped up and ran out after Remus; they were joined a few moments later by a confused looking Lily. The three of them pushed their way through the crowds of students already out and watching Og and his apprentice Hagrid were levitating a thick tree with fat branches.

"Step back students, once in the hole this tree will become violent, we don't want any black eyes now do we?" Professor Flitwick squeaked, but nobody seemed to hear him.

"Snorus" He muttered. "Everybody step away from the Womping Willow, if it is struck, it will hit back and it is deadly. If anybody is caught near it they will be expelled." Most people stepped back.

"Why is it being planted?" A student asked, Sirius recognized her as a nosy Hufflepuff by the name of Rita Skeeter, she was always lurking around when Sirius was cornered by his cousins.

"A passage has been discovered leading to the shrieking shack, the haunted house in Hogsmead, we wouldn't want anybody wandering their absentmindedly,"

Once she was sure that the students were out of harms reach and the tree was over the hole Professor Sprout shouted "Release." The tree glided gracefully into the hole and began pounding the ground, Hagrid and Og narrowly missed being beaten to a pulp. After a few moments of thrashing the tree stopped and stood still.

"Everybody return to your classes at once!" Professor Dumbledor commanded. Sirius turned and noticed that the entire school was standing on the lawn whispering excitedly. Slowly everybody made their way back to the school except for the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff First years, which made their way down to the greenhouses. There the spent the next hour being lectured on how to identify a Womping Willow without touching it, and how dangerous and fatal they could be. They were assigned a role of parchment on the topic to be due the next Thursday.

"It's our second day and already we have homework!" Sirius exclaimed as they slowly headed to the castle for charms.

"You think you have it bad, I'm going to be missing classes tomorrow to visit my mother, she's fallen ill." Remus said not meeting their gaze.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, I do hope she gets better" Lily said touching his arm sympathetically.

"I leave tonight, I'll be back tomorrow evening."

"So you'll be here Saturday?"

"Yeah, I guess that's what it means, why?"

"I sort of challenged James to a Quiddich match, we each need a seeker, and I was wondering if you'd be it."

"I've never been that graceful on a broom to say the least."

Lily snorted.

"Ok, so I stink, Lily saw, she was at flying class, James however is extremely talented, you'd better be good if you expect to beat him. Wait, you can use Lily, you can spend Friday night teaching her Quiddich and use her, she has talent, if she just was clear on what to do"

"Remus I've never flown before, I couldn't"

"Who else would he use, I'm sure James is going to get whoever is even remotely talented, Sadly Peter is worse than even I am, so if you don't get Lily, I assure you James would blackmail her into it."

Remus stopped talking they had reached the charms classroom. James was up front talking to professor Flitwick. Sirius Remus and Lily found seats together in the front row. By each of their chairs there was a feather. After about five minutes James walked away from the desk and dropped a note on Sirius's desk. He joined Peter in the back row, Melina sat in the row in front of him staring dreamily at James who seemed not to notice.

Sirius turned around and opened the folded scrap of parchment on his desk.

The spell for bewitching the broom to be a keeper

Is Bromusferio keperium if you or your seeker can

Make it work you can have the Quaffle first, if not then

We need to find a keeper. I've tried but Flitwick says

It's an O.W.L level charm or higher.

Potter, James Potter

"Pay attention class, we are going to start off our first charms lesson by learning a simple charm to levitate objects, since feathers are light we will be starting with them. The wand work for this is very important, so follow me, the movement is swish and flick, no wands please, swish and flick. Good, now recite the words after me, Wingardium Leviosa"

"Wingardium Leviosa"the class chorused.

"Good good, I believe you are ready to try it with your wands."

"Wingardium Leviosa" Sirius shouted pointing at his feather, nothing happened.

"Relax, swish gently, and the flick is a short precise movement. Watch" Lily said . "Wingardium Leviosa" Lily said. Slowly her feather began to rise.

"Congratulations Miss. Evans, five points to Gryffindor." Lily beamed, Sirius looked back, James wasn't having much luck either.

"Wingardium Leviosa" Sirius shouted again imitating Lily's wand work, to his surprise the feather floated shakily into the air, followed by Remus's. Sirius looked back and smiled haughtily at James who glowered and looked away.

It's all in a day's work he thought to himself.

A/n Yay! another chapter complete, If you review I type faster, I have motivation. (Yes I'm bribing you)

Thanks to the ppl who reviewed Chapter 4: Celebrean: ooh, that must have hurt, though I did understand you, somehow Kicksomeass: Pottergirl09 and I wrote it together for a different story, I'll tell her you liked it. Melody-dance: of course, but I thought it might be interesting if James and Sirius started out as enemies, it's a bit of change from the normal fics. AAandACFOREVER: Evil computers, they never work when you want them to, thank goodness for document recovery. Miss Padfoot92: Thank you 

Coming Next Chapter (Hopefully):

Sirius and James have their Quiddich match, incidents involving the Womping willow