Authoress: Stormy Llewellyn
Chapter: Four, Parting of the Ways
Disclaimer: All characters and ideas related to the Harry Potter universe are the property of J. K. Rowling and there is no copyright infringement intended by writing this story, no profit is being made.
Authoress' Note: The song was written by me and I hope I did okay with that, I'm not much for song or poem writing but hey, I felt it was a nice addition. Unfortunately you're only getting one for Bella because if I tried to write one for each I'm afraid I'd exhaust my creativity and this story would probably never get updated. (Hey, I'm honest about my reasoning, right?) The Blacks Sisters' mother's name and Sirius' mother's name is courtesy of and J. K. R.'s hand drawn family tapestry. You should check it out.
This chapter is rather longer then the other ones and I'm hoping it doesn't drag on and stays interesting.
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Narcissa put the braid aside, slightly disgusted by the memory. Although she did believe in the better breeding of purebloods she did not agree with the methods that some people, her sister and husband included, used to get that message across. She was perfectly content with the muggle and wizards living in separate worlds and leaving each other alone. Often she wondered if something could have been done for her sister or if even at that young age the girl had been doomed to become a deatheater.
The next object she pulled from the box was a much more cheerful one. A Slytherin prefect badge that her sister had not returned at the end of her seventh year and that sent her thinking about the sorting of each member of The Most Ancient and Noble House of Black. Ones she'd either heard about or seen first hand. Perhaps that was the first time there was a parting of ways for most members of the family...
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"Long ago,
A school was made,
Where witches and wizards could go,
To learn the tricks of their trade.
Four founders, alike in dignity
Were divided by their views.
Unable to make each other see,
They agreed to teach only those they choose.
Godric Gryffindor took the brave,
And like luck he favored the bold.
Those with chivalry, who the innocent they'd save.
Whose morals could not be sold.
Helga Hufflepuff favored the kind,
Those who did not seek them but were willing to handle conflicts.
In this loyal house you'll find,
Those who seek injustices to fix.
Rowena Ravenclaw sought out the wise,
Those who used their mind.
Those who with details were concise,
And refused to the truth to be blind.
Salazar Slytherin was a shrewd man,
He sought those not ruled by emotion.
He only admitted those who planned,
To set things into motion.
So centuries later we sit in their hall,
To answer our magic that has called.
So place me on and I will know,
Where you ought to go."
Bellatrix joined in with the polite clapping that scattered through the hall but couldn't help it when her eyebrow raised ever so slightly. A hat? A singing hat would be deciding their future, deciding where they were placed and what contacts they'd make for the next seven years? It was a rather ugly looking thing too, patched and dirty and it made her shudder to think about placing it on her head. A fearful girl was standing next to her, bouncing up and down on her heels. Bella couldn't help but sneer at the stout girl.
Twirling one strand of fiery red hair around her finger she asked, "What house do you want to be in."
"Where else, Slytherin. It's the only house worth being in." Bellatrix said cooly but not without politeness.
The red head nodded slightly, back then the house rivalries hadn't been as pronounce for it was before the war. Although it still existed it was something that one usually grew out of and was usually not indulged in by the older students. "Well, I don't know about that. All the houses have their strengths, right? I hope I'm in Gryffindor, although Hufflepuff wouldn't be too bad." At Bella's doubtful look she added, "Don't you think it's kind of nice, how they look out for each other?"
Bella almost snorted but stopped herself as that was a very un-Black thing to do, the idea of anyone wanting to be in Hufflepuff was a laughable one and Gryffindor was a bunch of imbeciles who couldn't think beyond their most current instinct. Neither house held any appeal to her any. That didn't matter though, every Black was sorted into Slytherin, completely without exception. Once in a while the family got a Ravenclaw, but the two houses were closely intertwined and only their morals varied.
"I'm Molly Rabenda, by the way." The girl said kindly with a warm smile. Bellatrix instantly recognized the pureblood name and returned the smile in a much more refined manner.
"I'm Bellatrix Black."
The girl let out a low whistle at her family name and Bella smile at the recognition. Just then a stern looking woman called Molly's name and the redhead scuttled up towards the hat. Bellatrix hadn't minded the girl's company as she usually didn't get on very well with children her own age and thought it was a pity they'd never end up in the same house. She sat on the stool for only a few moments before the hat declared loudly, "GRYFFINDOR!" Molly beamed and hurried over to her cheering table, flopping down beside another redheaded student who looked to be in about his third year. He said something to her and she laughed joyfully, obviously thrilled with the choice the hat had made for her. Just then the hat called her name and Bella strode purposefully up to the stool and placed the dirty hat on her head.
"Ahh... a Black, eh? I remember your parents well, examples of what a Slytherin is, although you're not completely like them. No, no, no. Don't argue with me about it, I see what you have in you. You're certainly brave when it suits your purpose."
Horrified Bella asked quickly in her head, 'You're not going to put me in Gryffindor are you?'
If it was possible the hat chuckled, "No dear, I don't believe Godric is your answer."
'Right, Salazar is.' She thought firmly.
"Are you sure about that? You have such a deep loyalty, once you find a person or cause worth devoting yourself to you stay loyal no matter what. A noble quality, and one found in Hufflepuffs."
'I may be loyal but I assure you that I'm not one of...them. I'm a Slytherin.' Bella thought, enraged that the hat had dared to tell her that she belonged in the house of the badger.
The hat let out the hefty sigh of someone who see someone they care about making a mistake without realizing it, and she was a student and therefore it did care. Having seen her type a dozen times before the hat knew putting her in Slytherin would not bring anything good. However, the hat also knew that her type was stubborn (a trait all Blacks shared) and would not take well to being ordered to Hufflepuff. Finally the hat announced in a voice that wasn't nearly as resigned as it felt, "SLYTHERIN!"
Smirking she stood up and walked over to Slytherin where she was instantly accepted and cheered being from the family she was. It was a little known fact to outsiders who thought that seating at the Slytherin table was random that there was actually an order to the way they sat. Boldly she marched towards the head of the table and took a seat next to a blonde, and guessing from his appearance the boy was a Malfoy, she sat down firmly, glaring around and daring anyone to tell her to move to a lower positioned seat. For a moment Malfoy and another boy with brown hair simply stared at her in shock, as did the rest of the table until they both started to chuckle.
"Looks like we got a good batch of first years this time Rodolphus," laughed the blonde second year and the rest of the table relaxed and for the most part accepted her self-imposed ranking. She was home.
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After dealing with Andromeda her entire life their parents had suspicions that their middle child would not be in Slytherin. This seemed to upset their father much more then it upset their mother, even thought Mrs. Black was having none of her daughter's muggle nonsense. She was confident her daughter would be in Ravenclaw with her love of stories and learning. Ravenclaws usually ended up in the Ministry and how fitting would it be for a Black girl to take over a position that few woman ever graced? Her husband however said that the house was not very ladylike and his wife politely pointed out that only one of their daughters concerned herself with being ladylike while one ran wild (she was undoubtedly still scarred from the week Sirius had spent at her house and the schemes he and his oldest cousin had come up with) and the other one was very intelligent, more so then most wizards.
Sirius had been upset this past summer because his oldest cousin had returned from Hogwarts with a slightly superior attitude and had not been as interested in him. Therefore Andromeda found herself graced with the presence of her young cousin and to her horror found herself dragged into some of his crazy plans. She'd always been amused by the boy's antics but had never let on for fear of being involved in them, she'd made a point to avoid trouble with her parents. Sirius never seemed to have the same concern, in fact there were times that he seemed to antagonize his parents on purpose.
Even though she continued to complain about him, she quickly got used to his presence and found that he shared her love of funny muggle things. She snuck him down to the town to see a muggle movie and she'd never seen anyone so enthralled with special effects. Of course they'd spent several minutes under a rather creative curse from her mother for doing going down there. Soon she found herself rather fond of the little boy, so she was rather disappointed when her cousin returned to Bellatrix. When she first called to him to come play he looked overjoyed but then threw an uncertain glance over his shoulder at his cousin.
"Do you want to come, Andie? I'm sure Bella will let you if I ask her." Sirius looked hopeful but Andromeda knew for a fact that Bella would not let her join, the two of them had personalities that naturally clashed.
"No, that's alright Siri. I think I'm going to stay inside, I have a book I want to start anyway." Andromeda assured him and with one last uncertain glance the boy made his way off to join his cousin out behind the house. Andromeda watched wistfully as the two of them raced to the woods that lay to the south of the manor down towards the town. Their relationship was based mostly on the fact that they could handle each other's horrible stubbornness and strong personalities and the fact that they both harbored fierce competitiveness.
However, her heart was warmed when on her parting Sirius came running up to her at the house holding something behind his back. "Andie!" He shouted, plowing into her mid-section and causing her to laugh even as she fell to her bedroom floor. "I got you a going away present!"
"Why, thank you Sirius." Andromeda said happily.
He pushed his hands out from behind his back and held out three paperback books and explained, "I saved muggle money I found all summer and I bought these for you! Their fantasy just like you like. Muggles are funny, aren't they?"
"Yeah," she said with her eyes glowing, "but then with our families we shouldn't really talk, now should we?"
Laughing Sirius replied, "No, I guess not. Better watch out, Aunt Druella is looking to give you a talk about those 'fearsome mudbloods'."
With a roll of her eyes she said, "Oh yeah, if this family ceases to scare me, I don't think anyone else ever will."
Now she sat on the stool wit the Sorting Hat falling down over her eyes and waited for the verdict. It went as expected, "Ah, another Black and you do see an appeal in learning don't you? However, where Slytherins only consider what learning can get them you enjoy learning for the sake of learning. You'll do extremely well in Ravenclaw. However, remember that Ravenclaws never blind themselves to the truth. For them ignorance is anything but bliss."
"RAVENCLAW!"
Happily she leapt off the stool and made her way quickly to the house she'd always dreamt of being in. Quickly she glance over to her sister who was clapping and smiling at her while her Slytherin classmates followed her lead.
"Hi!" Greeted a brown haired boy seated at the table. "I'm Ted Tonks."
"Andromeda Black," she said with a smile, relaxing in her seat perfectly content in the knowledge that she could make herself and her family happy at the same time and believing that nothing could ever tear them apart.
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Narcissa had been in the same year as Sirius and her own sorting into the expected Slytherin paled in comparison to her cousin's when he became the first Black to ever be sorted into Gryffindor.
Bellatrix had been highly excited about getting her cousin and little sister at Hogwarts with her even if she was already in her fourth year. For weeks, Sirius and Bellatrix sat with their heads together planning what they would do once they got to the famous school together. Although Sirius and even a reluctant Bella asked her to join she said no, she made a point to stay clear of her sister when they were at school. She knew her sister wouldn't approve of her un-Black like behavior and friends she had made since she started going to Hogwarts and didn't want to screw up the temporary truce the two girls had.
Their Aunt Walburga coldly informed Sirius of how he was supposed to behave at Hogwarts and the two older girls listened in a bored fashion for they had both received this same discussion in a slightly less threatening way. The woman forced a heavy ring on his finger that was engraved with the Black family crest. Then the four boarded the Hogwarts Express and Bellatrix bid Sirius, Andromeda, and Narcissa a farewell, assuring the two first years that she would introduce them to her friends at school once he'd been sorted into Slytherin. Although Andromeda asked him if he'd like to join her, Sirius was going through his 'I'm not a baby' phase and he said he could handle going off on his own. So Andie headed off with Narcissa to find her friends.
Sirius walked along peering into each of the compartments, having several offers to join people but not feeling interested. Finally he came to a compartment near the back of the train where one person was sitting. It was a boy with brown hair who was extremely thin for his age and had odd scars running along his arms and neck. Intrigued he opened the door all the way open and asked, "Can I sit here?"
For a moment the boys simply blinked up at him through amber eyes but then nodded slowly, "Yeah, go ahead."
"Thanks. I'm Sirius."
"Remus." The boy responded with a shy smile that made Sirius grin, for some reason he found the shyness of the other boy extremely endearing.
They chatted about their families and Hogwarts and muggle books they had read (as it turned out Remus' mom was a muggle and Remus didn't have to steal muggle books and hide them). Fascinated, he started asking questions about what it was like to live with a muggle and he got confused on several occasions which only made Remus laugh. Usually this would have bothered him but oddly enough with Remus it didn't. Suddenly the compartment door banged open and Remus suddenly fell quiet and sunk back in his seat. There stood a very messy-haired, bespectacled boy who was laughing along with a small pudgy boy whose laughter seemed rather forced.
"Oi! Sorry mate, we thought this compartment was empty. Mind if we sit here?" he asked, running his fingers through his hair, mussing it more.
Sirius glanced at Remus who hesitantly nodded and then shrugged at the two boys who flopped down. The boy with glasses spoke, "I'm James Potter and this here is Peter Pettigrew, I just met him on the train too. I guess you two have known each other for a while."
They looked at each other, "No, we just met when I got on the train, why?"
"You just seem like you've been friends for a while. Anyway, who are you?"
"I'm Sirius Black and this is Remus Lupin." Sirius told him.
"Black?" James had a guarded expression on his face.
"Yes." Sirius said sharply, not really happy about being judged by someone who hardly knew him.
"I've heard things about your family–." James began but he was cut off when their door exploded open and a redhead slammed it shut behind her, gasping.
"...hello." Sirius said sarcastically, not in the best mood. Remus gave him a reassuring smile, clearly telling him not to let James get to him.
"What's wrong?" Asked James, ignoring Sirius.
"I-I..." The girl had tear stains on her cheeks.
There were voices outside and he heard a female voice that Sirius unfortunately recongnized calling, "Come on, she went in here."
"Are they bothering you?" Asked James, standing up and heading towards the door just as in opened to reveal Bella and two boys he didn't recognize.
"Trying to hide, mudblood?" Asked a blonde boy with an ugly sneer.
"Hey, leave her alone!" Snapped James, putting himself between the boys and his cousin. Not a very smart move mind you, but brave and it made Sirius smile a bit.
After an appraising look Bellatrix snapped, "Potter, I would suggest you stay out of this. Her kind shouldn't even be allowed here."
"So her blood is the reason that you're terrorizing her? She's a first year, she doesn't even know any magic." Shouted Sirius angrily, standing up to back up James. This got a weird look from James who nevertheless was thankful for the help and a sigh from Remus who was wishing that he had friends like that.
"Siri, you don't understand these things," she said smoothly.
Before he could reply there was the sound of footsteps and an older Gryffindor was looking in at them, prefect badge shining against his black robes. "Is there a problem here?"
"Yes. Bella is picking on first years." Snapped Sirius to his older, second-cousin Frank Longbottom.
Frank looked angrily at her and barked, "The three of you, detention. And I plan on taking points from Slytherin when we arrive at school. Off to a bad start aren't we?"
The boys both gasped, never in Bella's four years at Hogwarts had another student dared to give her a detention. Glaring, she spun on her heels and marched away from them. In the hall he heard Andie ask in a worried voice, "Bella, you're not going to do anything rash, are you?"
"No, dear sister, revenge is a dish best served cold." Bella responded and Sirius suddenly felt very, very sorry for Frank.
"Thanks Frank." Longbottom gave him a smile and walked away leaving the five children together, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah...it's just, everyone hates me," whispered the redhead tearfully, "My sister hates me because I'm magic and they hate me because my family isn't."
"It's okay," James said quietly, "Not everyone thinks like that. Only purebloods with their heads too far up their–." There the redhead reached out and swatted him, causing the other three boys in the compartment to laugh.
"I'm Lily." They all made introductions to her and enjoyed the rest of the ride with Sirius and James using sweet wrappers to demonstrate Quidditch plays they had seen and Lily and Remus making fun of them while Peter watched quietly.
Now sitting on the stool Sirius wished he could be brave like James had been on the train. Professor McGonagall slid the hat down over Sirius' eyes and the hat gave a small, suprised laugh, "In all my time I never thought I'd see a Black who belonged in Gryffindor."
'What!' Sirius thought, 'Gryffindor?' He wanted to be there but he didn't see how it was possible.
"Yes my boy, you're loyal, chivarous, and above all brave. Just think about what you did on the train."
Frowning Sirius replied, 'Yes, but any decent person would have done that."
The hat felt annoyed, the boy wanted to be in Gryffindor and yet he was still arguing with the hat. Why were kids argumentative these days? "Yes, but not all people are decent Sirius, trust me, you belong in..."
"GRYFFINDOR!"
Bellatrix gasped and slammed her hand down on the fork she'd been spinning around absently and turned wide, grey eyes towards the stool where Sirius was stumbling away, looking rather confused. Narcissa was asking a question softly from beside her sister, but Bella just looked hopelessly over at the seat she'd been saving for her cousin. Slowly the anger began to build up inside her. Meanwhile she noticed her sister smiling traitorously at Sirius and clapping loudly to show her support. The Gryffindors eventually started clapping but it took them a moment to overcome the shock of having a Black sorted into their house. Pretty soon all four boys from their compartment had been sorted into Gryffindor and the future terrors of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizarding enjoyed the feast together, although Sirius didn't seem to eat that much.
Bella meanwhile was absolutely fuming and wondering how this could have happened. After the dinner Sirius broke away from their prefect and quietly went to seek out his cousins. Andie grabbed his arm. "Siri," she began gently, "This isn't the best time to talk to Bellatrix right now, she's a little upset."
"Andie...tell her I want to talk to her." He said, looking innocent and vulnerable.
"Okay, I will Siri." Andromeda smiled gently at the little boy and returned him to his prefect. Meanwhile she wondered how she was going to tell her aunt about this, she was already forming the letter in her head. She was proud of both her cousin for getting into Gryffindor and breaking the vicious cycle of the Black family but she was also proud of her sister. Today during the feast Narcissa hadn't spent her time sucking up to the powerful upperclassmen even though there was plenty of oppurtunity with Lucius Malfoy at the table. Instead, she'd found someone who needed a friend, a sickly looking little boy with greasy black hair and tried to make friends with him. Narcissa had always had the natural instinct to nurture people, it was a shame their mother had never had any kids after her because Narcissa would have made a great older sister.
Sirius laid across his bed and stared at the rich, red curtain. All the plans his mother had laid out for him had gone down the drain the minute that the hat had made that announcement. And that's what he'd always wanted, wasn't it? He was free. The words sounded good in his head, he stood up and strode over to the window and eased it open, removing the hated ring from his finger and tossing it to the ground below.
"Sirius, what are you doing?" James asked from over his shoulder.
"Nothing, getting some air." He said in a chilly voice, still sore from the incident on the train.
"Look mate, I'm sorry that I judged you on the train. I was being a jerk, just like the purebloods who judge people because of their family."
"..it's alright. I'm used to it, but I'm not like them." Sirius insisted.
"Yeah, I know. Listen, I heard that there's supposed to be an entrance to get into the kitchen, want to try to find it?" At this Sirius' stomach gave a loud growl and they both laughed.
"Get some shoes on," James told him, running over to his trunk and pulling out some silver piece of fabric.
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By time little Reggie came around so much had happened. The Marauders had been formed and found out about Remus' condition and began their work towards becoming Animagus although the young boy remained in the dark about this. Andromeda had gotten pregnant and wanted to marry a Mudblood boy and had promptly been blasted off the family tree. Sirius' and Bella's competitiveness had lost it's friendliness and become a grudge between them and Sirius had fell out of favor with their parents. Bella had graduated and joined up with a small group of activists supporting purebloods.
Regulus was uncomfortable and yet glowing under the attention of their mother. He was used to being ignored, being the second son made him less important then his brother and usually they didn't spare much time for him. However, since Sirius got sorted into Gryffindor and after several letters from disgruntled Hogwarts' staff they began to pay more attention to their younger son.
Now he sat and his brother was looking at him pleadingly from his spot at the Gryffindor table, begging him to be on his side. Nervously he sat down on the stool and waited thought about which house he should be in. He felt a loyalty to his older brother and yet he felt a greater one to his family as a whole. His mother's voice ringing in his head, "Reggie, we all hold the honor of this family and some of us...carry that honor a little better then others. I need you to be one of those people Regulus."
So he made the only choice he could and turned his back on his brother. Sirius let out a disappointed breath, not sure why he'd expected any different. Suddenly, he felt very lonely despite his surrounding friends. Remus squeezed his hand supportively, correctly guessing what was wrong with his boyfriend. Sirius offered a slight smile, and turned his attention away from his family.
The sorting was where The Most Ancient and Noble House of Black began to fall apart.
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The Future of The Story: Well, I've made some decisions about this story while writing this chapter.
1)Sirius and Remus will be together, future chapters although not graphic, will be slash.
2)Narcissa and Snape were friends during school and I will go into detail about him and make him a main character in this story.
3)I will come through the books (sticking with mostly canon) and write out the end of the war as I see it for all of the main characters. So yes, this will be a longer fic.
Thanks for reading, tell me what you think, about this chapter and future ideas!