December 23, 1972

"Cerisa! Come down quickly!"

"Coming!" I shouted as I hastily put on my simply black flats.

I looked at my reflection in the stand up mirror and straightened out my dark-green dress—which mother insisted I wear to show my support for Slytherin. Mother put some mild makeup on me which she insisted would give me some beauty, but I didn't see it. The only thing it did was make me feel uncomfortable. But I kept in on and I made sure my ash-blonde hair was pulled back into a long fish-tail braid so my face was fully visible.

I looked at myself once again before I left my room, racing downstairs. I met my family in the foyer and looked at the clock. The Blacks would be arriving soon.

As I waited, I studied my family. As usual, my sisters were gorgeous with Veronique wearing a sleeveless dress of red and Ghislaine wearing a halter-top dress of yellow and black. Jules had his blond hair combed back and he wore his best suit. Mother and Father each wore their best and as I stared at my gorgeous, thin family, I couldn't help but feel utterly self conscious and out of place.

I was knocked from my stupor when there was a knock on the door. The house elf came over and opened the door, revealing a family of four, all with raven-black hair. Father stepped forward and shook hands with Orion Black before kissing the hand of Walburga Black.

"It's a pleasure to have you here at our home," Father said, his German accent revealing itself just then. He turned to me, Mother, and my siblings. "This is my wife, Naomi, as you know, and these are my children. Ghislaine is my oldest, then there is Julien, Veronique, and my youngest, Cerisa."

Walburga smiled. "A beautiful family." She turned to me and I knew that somehow I wasn't part of the 'beautiful family' in her eyes. "You're in my eldest's year, yes?"

I nodded. "I am."

"Regulus has told us more about you than Sirius has," Orion said, giving a slightly chastising look at Sirius, who simply ignored his father. "Regulus says you're the misplaced Slytherin."

"I belong in Slytherin," I said firmly. "I beleive the Sorting Hat made a mistake."

Orion chuckled and turned to Father. "There's spirit in that one."

Father smiled and nodded before leading the Blacks into the living room, where we all sat and did some small talk. It was then that I noticed the bag Regulus carried that looked quite heavy. When Walburga saw me looking at it, she said,

"Regulus said he's been teaching you how to draw, and so he insisted he show you his art supplies. Go on then, Reg, show her."

Regulus beamed and he sat down beside me, opening his bag. As he showed me his supplies, I saw Veronique giving me a judging look from the corner of her eye. I also noticed Sirius keeping a concerned eye on Regulus. This made me decide to tell him what I had learned. I promised Peter I wouldn't, but Sirius deserved to be less worried.

When one of the house elves announced dinner was ready, we moved the converation to the dining room. Father and Orion sat at the heads of the table, with Mother sitting at Father's right and Walburga sitting at Orion's left. Regulus sat on Orion's other side, just like Julien sat on Father's other side. I sat between Jules and Sirius, while Veronique and Ghislaine sat together, opposite of me and Sirius.

And so we began to eat. Orion and Walburga were having a very political conversation with Mother and Father and my siblings, along with Regulus, were paying a lot of attention to them. Sirius didn't seem to care, and neither did I. Therefore, I leaned a little closer and whispered,

"I hope you're not too uncomfortable."

Sirius gave me a lopsided grin. "Me? Never."

I contained my laugh but then turned serious as I lowered my voice even more and said, "You don't need to worry about Regulus all the time. I'm looking after him."

Sirius looked at me in surprise, and he seemed at a loss of what to say. Fortunately for him, Orion said something to me before Sirius could.

"What do you like to do, Cerisa?"

I was surprised to be addressed, but I recovered quickly and replied, "I play the piano, sir. And I am interested in art."

"What languages do you know?" Orion asked.

At this question, I saw all my siblings hide their smiles while my parents looked at each other with worry. Nevertheless, I answered. "None, sir. I've never been able to fully grasp them."

"Pity," was all Orion said before turning his attention back to Father.

The dinner continued on like that until all the adults moved to the library for drinks. Ghislaine was allowed to come with them, while the rest of us stayed behind. Jules offered to show Regulus our art collection and Veronique disappeared to who-knows-where, leaving me and Sirius alone.

We sat in the living room, sipping at the glasses of water we brought with us. It was awfully awkward and soon I couldn't take it any longer.

"I noticed you boys didn't do too many pranks this year," I said, trying to sound casual. "Any particular reason why?"

"Nope."

"Well, is there a reason why every time Remus isn't in class, one of you other three isn't there either?"

"Nope."

"Are you going to answer any questions I ask?"

Sirius have me a lopsided grin. "Nope."

I offered a small laugh. "Look, I know this is awkward. It's okay to admit it."

"I agree," Sirius said, "But It's not awkward to me."

"You're such a liar," I said and silence continued once again.

We drank our water in silence and I could faintly hear Jules and Regulus talking from the art room. I hoped Regulus was happy, because after all our art sessions—which, grant it, weren't many—I have gotten a soft spot for the boy. He was only a year younger than me, but somehow he seemed younger and more innocent, meaning he heeded more protection from bad influences.

"About what you said," Sirius said softly. "About Reg. Is he really okay?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I think so. He has a lot of friends from what he tells me, and he really enjoys his classes. He'll be okay."

"Thanks, Kaiser, for looking out for him," Sirius said sincerely before he gave me another lopsided smile. "I'm going to take a gamble and say that it was Peter who asked you to look after Reg in the first place."

I winced. "Yeah, but you didn't hear it from me." When Sirius's smile widened, I sternly added, "I'm serious, Black. Don't tell him."

Sirius raised his hands in surrender before placing one hand over his heart. "You have my word."

"Yeah, no offense, but that doesn't mean much to me," I replied, causing Sirius to laugh and I laughed along with him. After a moment, I stopped laughing and sighed. "Lily would kill me if she knew I was talking to you right now."

"I'm guessing she doesn't return James' admiration for her?" Sirius asked mischievously. "Come on, Kaiser, you gotta tell me something!"

I gave him a large grin before I put on a face of mock seriousness as I fulfilled my promise to Lily and said,

"Sod off, Black."

When Sirius laughed I couldn't help but laugh along with him.