By the time he was heading into his fifth year at Hogwarts, it had become a well-known fact that Sirius Black didn't see eye-to-eye with his parents about, well, pretty much anything. They could scarcely speak five words to each other without breaking into a heated argument about anything from his future to blood purity to, most recently...
"DOG!"
Sirius winced at the sound of his mother's screech, bracing himself as he heard her footsteps pounding closer to his bedroom door. He had just closed his trunk in preparation for their departure to Platform 9 3/4 and prayed that their need to leave within the next five minutes or so would spare him most of the berating he knew his mother was planning for him.
About a month ago, she had barged into his room in the morning to find a large, shaggy, black dog fast asleep in his bed, Sirius himself nowhere to be found. Both of his parents had been livid; how dare he disgrace the home of his ancestors by bringing home such a filthy creature? The fifteen-year-old had been severely punished over the incident and was still paying for it anytime his mother found the slightest trace of anything she thought might be from the dog.
What Walburga and Orion Black didn't realize was that Sirius hadn't brought in a stray dog at all; he WAS the dog. After nearly three years of research and careful planning and preparation, he, James, Sadie, and Peter had succeeded in becoming animagi. They had chosen to undertake the process over the summer, deciding that it would be easier to keep their little 'project' a secret if they didn't have to keep a mandrake leaf in their mouths for a month while at school or try to sneak out of the castle during a lightning storm. It was absolutely imperative that nobody find out. What they had done was completely illegal, and they were sure that no one would be thrilled to hear about what they planned to do with their animagus forms now that they had done it.
Their dear friend, Remus Lupin, was a werewolf. It was kept a secret from the other students and most of the staff. The other four friends had figured it out back in their second year, noticing that he was always sick leading up to the full moon, would disappear for a day or two, and then return with new cuts and scars every time. When they had confronted him, Remus had been terrified that they would rat him out and refuse to be his friends anymore, but, on the contrary, they had immediately begun brainstorming ways to help him during the full moon. Thus, Operation Animagi was born.
As animals, Sirius, James, Sadie, and Peter would be able to keep Remus company during his transformations without fear of being turned into werewolves themselves. They hoped that their presence would help him not to claw at and bite himself out of boredom and loneliness. The only problem thus far was that it had taken a couple of weeks for them to gain full control over their new powers. They would sometimes accidentally shift into their animal forms whilst sleeping, which is what had brought Sirius to his current predicament.
He assumed a bored expression as his mother threw his door open. She waved her hand in front of his face, thumb and pointer finger pinched around a single strand of black hair.
"What is this?" She seethed. Sirius raised his eyebrows and gave her a look of mock concern.
"Looks like a hair to me. Is your eyesight going, mother?"
Walburga's eyes bulged, but she ignored his comment. "I thought I told you to get rid of that dog!"
"And so I did," he responded coolly. "Unless, of course, you were referring to yourself, given that you are the only one in the house with hair that-"
He was cut off by the feeling of his ribs constricting painfully around his lungs. He felt a large gash across his chest open up again as his skin pulled. Walburga stood in front of him, wand held aloft, watching him coldly as he struggled to breathe.
"Mother?" Regulus spoke softly from the doorway. "We should get going if we don't want to miss the train."
With a start, Walburga released her oldest son, who fell against the wall, gasping for air. "Quite right, Regulus," she nodded as though nothing out of the ordinary had just occurred. Then she turned back to Sirius. "Get cleaned up and be downstairs in two minutes, boy. I don't want any awkward questions." Then she swept out the door and down the hall.
Regulus walked slowly toward his brother, setting a roll of bandages on the table next to him. "You should stop provoking her," he mumbled. "It just makes it worse for you." And with that, he followed after his mother, leaving Sirius to quickly clean up his bleeding chest and drag his trunk downstairs.
Twenty minutes later, Sirius stood casually next to his family, surveying the train platform in search of his friends. It didn't take long for him to spot a head of messy black hair and a pair of short blonde braids making their way toward him. Sirius felt his heart leap into his throat as Sadie's eyes lit up at the sight of him.
"Sirius!" She squealed excitedly as she ran toward him. Sirius barely had time to react as she slammed into him, throwing her arms tightly around his neck. Pain shot through his chest, and he couldn't contain the low whine that escaped his throat. His arms went around Sadie's small frame, and he held onto her tightly, as much in an attempt to keep himself from collapsing as to return her show of affection. Sadie stiffened and pulled back slightly to look at him. Her eyes narrowed as they darted between his face and his mother's before quickly scanning his body.
Just as Sadie opened her mouth to speak, James clapped a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Guess what?" he groaned. Sirius raised a questioning eyebrow. "Moony's prefect! I'm not sure we can be friends with him anymore!"
Sirius spotted the boy in question rolling his eyes over Sadie's shoulder. "Well, I don't know, Prongsie," Sirius pretended to muse. "Perhaps we can use this to our advantage..." Peter guffawed on James' other side.
The train's whistle gave a warning blast, alerting the students and their families that they had only a couple of minutes left to board. Without so much as a glance back at his parents, Sirius hurried with his friends to snag their usual compartment before anyone else did. They filed in and collapsed into their seats, chatting gaily about their summer holidays.
A few minutes into the train ride, their compartment door slid open to reveal Lily Evans. James immediately leapt to his feet.
"Evans!" He cried, reaching a hand up and messing up his hair. "Have a good holiday?"
Lily spared him the briefest of glances. "I went a whole three months without having to look at your massive head, Potter, of course it was good." She smiled at Sadie, who had risen to give her hug. "I missed you, Sade! I can't wait to catch up later! I'm actually here to collect Remus though." She turned to the boy in question. "Prefects meeting, and then we're meant to patrol the corridors."
Remus nodded and stood up, brushing off his robes. "Thanks, Lily. See you guys." The two of them exited the compartment, leaving behind an extremely disgruntled James Potter. Sirius clapped him on the shoulder.
"Better luck next time, mate."
James scowled. "I'm going to go mess with some Slytherins. You guys coming?"
Peter hopped up instantly, and Sirius made to rise himself when Sadie's voice stopped him. "You and Peter go ahead. Sirius and I will save the compartment."
James and Peter sent them a thumbs up before closing the door behind them. Sirius turned to Sadie and gave her his most over-the-top smirk and a wink. "Got me alone at last, have you now, Sadie Mae?"
The corner of her mouth gave a slight twitch, but she ignored his comment otherwise. When she spoke, her voice was gentle but firm. "Take off your shirt."
"Well, now, don't you think that's taking things a bit fast?" Sirius joked weakly. "I thought we could start with a good long snog..." Sadie just stared at him patiently. He sighed and reluctantly pulled his shirt up over his head.
Sadie gave a sharp intake of breath. "Merlin, Sirius..." she murmured, eyes fixed on his chest. It was covered in bruises of various stages of black, blue, purple, yellow, and green, and there was a long gash that trailed from the bottom of the right side of his rib cage up to his left collarbone. Sadie's eyes flashed with her barely concealed fury. "She can't keep getting away with this. You have to tell someone."
Sirius barked a laugh. "Please, Sadie Mae, my parents have got enough influence with the ministry that it wouldn't do any good. Besides, I can handle it, and I refuse to give her the satisfaction."
Sadie bit her lip and gazed up at him tearfully. "You could run away. Come live with us. Mum and Dad would be so happy to have you." Sirius felt a pang in his chest that had nothing to do with his injuries. He reached forward and tenderly brushed away the tears from just under her eyes.
"Yeah," he shrugged noncommittally, giving her a sad smile. "Maybe next summer, yeah?"
Sadie reached up and gave his hands a squeeze before standing up on her seat to dig around in her trunk. After a moment, she sat back down with two containers in her hands. She opened up the first one and dipped her finger into the light green salve inside. "This one will help this not to scar," she explained quietly as she gently brushed her finger along the wound. "And it should help it to heal faster." Sirius tried not to shiver at her touch, grateful that she was too focused on what she was doing to notice his pounding heart.
When she had finished, she traded out the salve for a deep purple cream, which she began massaging over the rest of his chest. Sirius tensed and inhaled sharply. Sadie instantly removed her hands and looked at him with wide eyes. "I'm sorry! I'll try to be more gentle. Just...tell me if it hurts, okay?"
Sirius gave her a weak smile of confirmation, choosing not to enlighten her to the fact that pain was just the opposite of the effect she was having on him. He held his breath as she continued her ministrations. After a few moments, she closed the purple container and pulled out her wand, murmuring soft incantations as she trailed the tip of it along his chest. Sirius felt his aches and pains instantly begin to fade, and, by the time she was done, no one would be able to tell he was injured at all unless they were looking for it. He gingerly poked and prodded at the spots where his worst bruises had been, thrilled to note the complete lack of pain he felt. When he looked up, Sadie was watching him uncertainly, lower lip caught between her teeth.
"I'm sorry it's not perfect. I'm definitely still learning..." Sirius cut her off by grabbing her face and planting a sloppy kiss on her forehead.
"You're an absolute angel," he breathed. "You're brilliant, you're amazing, you're a miracle, you're-"
Sadie laughed and cut him off, her cheeks tinged with pink. "Alright, alright, no need to lay it on too terribly thick, unless there's something else you want from me."
Sirius grinned and opened his mouth to give a cheeky reply when the door slid open again.
"Oh, are we interrupting something? Sorry..." Gideon Prewett didn't actually sound very sorry at all as he leaned against the doorframe and smirked down at them. Sadie scrambled to her feet, blushing furiously. Gideon's smirk widened at the sight then froze for a moment. Sirius' eyes narrowed dangerously as he watched the seventh year's gaze rake over Sadie's figure, which had filled out nicely over the summer. Gideon regained his composure before Sadie had noticed anything.
"Oh, no, you weren't interrupting anything," she stammered. "We were just-" Gideon waved a dismissive hand, his twin Fabian chuckling quietly behind him.
"Just giving you a hard time, Sadie. Anyway, I wanted to let you know that I'm Quidditch captain this year."
Sirius held back a groan, putting his shirt back on as a way to hide his brief scowl as Sadie beamed at the redhead. "That's wonderful, Gideon! Congratulations!"
"Thanks! I'm excited!" He gave her a genuine smile. "I just wanted to make sure I can still count on you being on the team this year. You too, Black," he added as an aside to his fellow beater.
Sadie nodded enthusiastically. "Absolutely! Jamie and I have been practicing all summer!"
"That's what I like to hear!" Gideon exclaimed proudly. "I'll let you know as soon as I've got tryouts scheduled. I'd like all of our current players to be there so that we can see how the people trying out mesh with the rest of the team." He reached forward and gave one of Sadie's braids a tug. "See you around." He paused for a moment, gazing at her with his brow furrowed in thought, before he and Fabian retreated back out to the corridor.
Sadie exhaled loudly and slumped back down into her seat. She brought her hands up and pressed her palms into her eyes with a groan. "Why do I always act like such an idiot in front of him, Sirius?"
"I dunno, Sade, but he doesn't have to be such an arrogant jerk about it," Sirius answered grumpily. Gideon had played with Sadie's heart as a way to boost his own ego for four years now, which Sirius found highly infuriating for several reasons. "You could do way better than him."
She lowered her hands and gave him a small smile. "Thanks, Sir. Maybe you and I should just elope." Sirius nearly choked on nothing but air. "Like, sure, it would be a completely platonic marriage, but at least it'd be drama free, right? And we'd have so much fun every day till the end of our lives."
Sirius ignored the twinge in his heart at the word 'platonic' and waggled his eyebrows at her suggestively. "Does that mean we get to have completely platonic, drama-free, fun sex every day till the end of our lives?"
Sadie threw her head back, laughing loudly. "Only if you're a good boy." She batted her eyelashes playfully. Sirius growled and lunged at her, burying his fingers under her ribs and making her shriek with laughter.
"Alright, alright, that's enough flirting you two," James had returned with Peter in tow. He sat down and looked at them with a grimace. "Honestly, it's nauseating." Sirius frowned at his friend in annoyance, and James gave him a subtle teasing look in return. He was very well aware of the feelings his best mate harbored for his sister, and he secretly hoped that one day Sadie would come to her senses and move on from Gideon to Sirius. For now, though, he settled for giving them a hard time and hinting very strongly that he thought they should be together.
Sadie took a moment to catch her breath before grinning at her brother mischievously. "You're just upset because you wish you could act like that with Lily."
James wagged his finger at her. "That's enough out of you, Sadie! And anyway, I would never act so immature with Lily in public." The other three exchanged looks and rolled their eyes.
"Right, Jamie," Sadie shook her head with a fond smile. "Whatever stops the tears." And the four friends continued to banter for the rest of the train ride.
A/N: Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think!