"Can I go to the Qudditch store, now?" Sirius asked, bored and irritable.

"Alone?" Orion asked, only moderately surprised, but enough so that he stopped looking through the newest ingredients at the Apothecary to turn to face his son.

Sirius rolled his eyes. "I'm not a little kid. I am sure that I will not get lost or abducted or something. Besides, if I did get abducted, you'd probably rejoice in it." Sirius grumbled darkly.

Cassiopeia arched her eyebrow. "Yes, I suppose we would throw quite a party." She replied, dryly, with a bitterness to match Sirius' own. Sirius shuddered slightly; he had no doubt she was probably thinking about how disappointing it was that he hadn't been abducted as of yet.

"Aunt Cassi, Uncle Orion, I'm sure little Sirius will be fine." Andromeda spoke up. "He's getting into one of his moods anyway, and we all know how much less we can tolerate his company when that happens. He gets all sulky, tetchy, and generally obnoxious."

Sirius scowled at her. 'One of his moods'? "I don't have 'sulky' or 'tetchy' moods, and I resent the implication that I do, and that I have them often." Sirius said waspishly, crossing his arms over his chest and sulking.

"See, look at you! You're having one right now."

"Am not!"

Andromeda ignored his protest. "Maybe it'd be best for us all if we let him wander for a bit to cool off." After this, she slyly winked to Sirius, to prove that she was actually trying to fight for his cause for temporary freedom.

Cassiopeia nodded in agreement. "Good thinking, Andromeda. He certainly is grating on my nerves more than usual. Orion?"

Orion was staring at Sirius suspiciously. "What're you going to do at the Qudditch store?"

"Look at the new broom I can never get, I 'spect."

"What new broom?"
Sirius sighed and held up his magazine. "Nimbus 1001. Just came out about a week ago. Fastest, grandest broom on the market." Suddenly, inspiration hit him; he could turn this into something in his favor. "Everyone wants a Nimbus 1001. All of the richest, pureblooded wizards at Hogwarts are getting them. Lucius Malfoy's dad just got him one, I heard."

"The Malfoy's bought one, hmm? And this is rare, is it?"

Sirius nodded, lying through his teeth. In all likelihood, Lucius, whom Sirius had been forced to meet on several occasions as the Malfoys were good friends with his parents, being the spoiled git that he was, probably did cajole his father into buying him one, especially since it was his last year at Hogwarts, but Sirius did not know for sure, of course. However, he could see that his father was looking unnerved at the thought that another pureblood family had bought such an expensive item for their own son, an item the Blacks had not bought.

"Yeah, it's a limited promotional edition…" Sirius wanted to inwardly cringe at what he was about to say next, but he really wanted that broom and there was only one way to get it. "And did you see how many mudbloods were begging their parents for one? There were so many clustered around the store…"

Sirius felt sick at using the horrible term, but his words had gotten the effect he wanted. Narcissa gasped, putting a hand to her mouth, his father flushed, and his mother looked absolutely livid. He saw Andromeda flash him a shocked and reproving glance at the use of the term. She clearly understood why he had said it, but certainly did not condone it; after all her fiancé was a muggle-born!

"No filthy little mudblood will ever outshine a Black!" His mother cried out.

His father, too, looked shaken. "Sirius, you go to the store and tell them—tell them to charge it to the Blacks' account."

"Yes, yes, I agree, Orion, even if we dislike the little brat," Cassiopeia inclined her head at Sirius, "a Black always gets the best of the best of whatever the item, and never, ever, is upstaged by a mudblood, not while I am living!"

His father nodded at him. "Run along then, boy, and get that broom. We shall see whose blood will out!"

Sirius turned to leave, wanting to hurry as soon as he could before his parents changed their minds. Andromeda followed him to the door, grabbing him tightly by the arm on his way out. "What?"

Andromeda shook her head disapprovingly. "That was low. Even for you."

Sirius glared at her. "Like you've never tricked your parents into getting you something you wanted. I just know how to push their buttons."

"You used a term you swore to me that you'd never use again. I hit you for it when you were six and I will not hesitate to do so again." Andromeda said harshly, a vaguely sad look in her eyes betraying her apparent anger.

"Look, I didn't want to say it, you know I didn't…but it worked."

Andromeda nodded. "Yeah, it worked. You gonna pull the same thing again the next time a new broom comes out?"

Sirius, disliking being made to feel guilty, glared at her, but he felt too upset with himself to make it too menacing. "No, OK, I won't. Sorry, I didn't want to say it, but…you can't deny the method worked."

Andromeda smiled at that. "That is very true. And we're OK, if you've learned your lesson."

Sirius gave her his most woebegone, puppy-dog eyed, innocent expression. "Yes, ma'am, I have."

Andromeda laughed outright. "Go and get your new, fast, top-of-the-line broom."

"Oh, I'm going!"

"And Cousin, you do realize that you're not even technically allowed a broom at Hogwarts?"

Sirius gave her his patented mischievous grin. "Sure do. But looks like mum and dad forgot."

Andromeda laughed as he turned and flounced out of the Apothecary.