Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter world or any of the character in it.

A/N: Well this update took a whole lot longer than originally planned. Real life happened and there wasn't much I could do. And this is really just a part update because I wanted to add more too it, but with two tests, lab report, and a project due all before thanksgiving I would not have time to write and edit it. So I figured any update is better than waiting until around thanksgiving. In the next chapter they will be arriving at Hogwarts. And I hope everyone is excited about the movie release of Goblet of Fire next week.

On with the story…

There were times when Richard Potter wished he was a Muggle-born wizard. Not that he envied the prejudices they had to overcome nor the blissful ignorance they held of the Magic community at first.

It was just with talk brewing about blood – both sides hoping to make huge strides in their cause – it would have been a lot simpler being Muggle-born. Then he wouldn't be expected to take sides and his actions would not be scrutinized by all witches and wizards. The Potters had managed over the centuries to stay pure more out of chance than calculated marriages. His family had its share of arranged marriages and corrupt deals, but all in all it was a lineage to be proud of.

The problem was not which side Richard would take. Richard's mother and father had taught him not to put stock in blood as their parents had. He now taught his own son, James the very same values. And it wasn't exactly a secret in the wizard community for Richard had challenged many of his more traditional colleagues on blood discussions.

Speaking out on a subject like that had its consequences. Enemies of the family were starting to accumulate and once Richard had to act instead of just speak out, it would only increase.

Richard had to decide exactly how involved he wanted to become. Since he held a prestigious spot in the Ministry, his actions and words would not only be known but publicized. This meant his words and actions would not only affect him, but his wife and son as well.

So Richard wasn't entirely surprised to see his longtime Hogwarts friend, Jake Cowrey's head bobbing in the fireplace.

"How are you? It has been a long time," as Jake spoke there was sadness and regret in his eyes.

"I suspect this is not just a social call?" Richard asked.

"I'm afraid not," his voice grew chilled and his mouth hardened.

Memories of happier times between the two of them surfaced in Richard's mind. They were friends since birth and their friendship had even survived when Jake had not been sorted into Gryffindor like Richard, but into Ravenclaw. House differences were not enough to tarnish the ties between their two families that were decades in the making.

After graduation life had taken them on two different paths, Jake immersing himself fully in the old pureblood traditions and Richard had slowly detached himself from them.

Their choices hadn't surprised anyone. Jake was from a family who were head activists of the biggest Blood-Purity Lobby and Richard the son of two popular Aurors.

"Who wants me dead now?" Richard asked sarcastically. Jake would only have initiated contact for grave news. There was no need to pretend otherwise.

"This concerns your son…"

"James?" he asked startled. Richard knew he had enemies, but to intent harm on his son who hadn't reached puberty yet was surprising.

"I attended the Prince family party."

"Ah, yes, the Potters have not been invited to one of those for years now."

"I ask only one thing."

"That I didn't hear it from you? Still pretending our friendship never existed?"

"I am here now and that's all that matters."

"Right. So what about my son?"

"The Black boy –"

"Sirius Black?"

"Yes, rumor has it he was sorted into Gryffindor as a spy for the sole purpose of gaining your son's trust."

"That's preposterous. Sure I was surprised to hear of a Black not in Slytherin, but James hasn't stopped talking about all the things they have done and you can fake some things but…"

"When questioned Sirius Black did not deny it. My son heard him confirm it with his own ears."

"Merlin, our families have never seen eye to eye…but to go through all this trouble?"

"Now you have to ask yourself what the Blacks could gain through the boys' friendship. Anything they might want? Anything of value?"

"Don't we all have valuable things? My house is littered with ancient scrolls and texts…most of them on old magic. There are more than enough guards, charms and hexes on them I assure you. And as added security only someone immediately related to the Potter lineage could see or access them."

"But if Sirius Black asked your son to see one of these documents…"

"I see your point…"

"This is a war brewing soon my friend. Keep those items hidden. I don't think you want the other side with more of an advantage than they already have."

"I wouldn't let the side I want to see win access to certain information. As you well know some forms of magic are best left alone.'

"Warn your son. Trust is a luxury in these times that you cannot take for granted."

"And when it's time to choose sides, which side will you be on?"

"You know which side."

"It's not too late –"

"I do not want to get into an argument with you, lord knows we've discussed this enough," Jake sighed heavily, "I am sorry but I can only see good in keeping our population pure."

"Well if I cannot persuade you…"

"You cannot. There are no choices anymore. I pray we both survive what is to come, Have a good life, Richard Potter."

"And you, Jake Crowey. If you ever need anything…"

"I cannot foresee that occurring. Take care, old friend."

"Take care."

He watched the blood drip on the paper. The force holding his hand in place finally loosened and he jerked away.

Only a few minutes ago Sirius had been called to see his father. It was the day after the Prince family party and Sirius had hardly managed to get any sleep.

Without a word his father had grabbed his hand slicing it open with a knife saturating the letter in front of him. The letter was addressed to James Potter. He watched his father mutter a spell waving his wand rather dramatically over the paper. All the letters lit up and the blood disappeared.

Sirius gave his father an accusatory look.

"Don't look at me like that. It is better this way. In the end this will be less painful for the both of you. The boy must have heard about the rumor and it is only proper you send him a letter addressing it."

"Proper?" Sirius scoffed, "It would be proper for me to write it!"

"Don't worry you are. The letter will have part of your character in it. The words will rearrange themselves so the boy will believe it's from you."

"It's not the truth though!"

"Your opinion on this matter is unimportant. And you will learn as you grow older that truth is relative and holds very little importance in the real world. Especially if the lie is more appealing than the truth,"

"Why, sir?" Sirius asked his voice had grown softly swiftly, "James will hate me now."

"You gave us no other option. Unless you had some plan up your sleeve to gain back our respect. Fight us every step of the way if you want, son, but you will not succeed. Our name will not be befuddled because of your rebellion. You think your talents, your looks and your mannerisms were an accident? It was all in the breeding. Family is important. Blood is important. Traditions are important. Importance you have failed to see."

"How can I face anyone at Hogwarts next year? No one will trust me..."

"You mean the Gryffindors won't trust you and I fail to see a problem in that. You have brought his upon yourself. You will learn that people will more quickly believe the worst about a person, than the good. I highly doubt your changing colors will be that much of a surprise to most."

"And everyone believed it? The lie…" Sirius asked quickly.

"Of course they did. Your mother and I suspected they would. Most of the families are less pure than us. If our family can produce blood-traitors this increases their likelihood. They heard what they wanted to hear. The Black heir is still loyal, it was all a trick."

"I suppose I'll be in Slytherin next year."

"We hope. But it's your choice…yes you have a choice. The mud-blood loving fool Dumbledore will not allow us to force you to switch Houses. He told us the Hat would sense any forceful measures on our part."

Sirius's father stared heavily into his eyes, "I don't envy being in your shoes. You'll find that sometimes having a choice is worse than not having one at all. You could stay in Gryffindor. I'm sure eventually they'll get over the fact that you betrayed their trust and fooled the Potter boy, who is very popular in that circle of wizards. I'm sure eventually their hate will turn to indifference. Or you could be resorted into the house all Blacks traditionally go, where you will be respected, even a hero. And I can guarantee that our fellow purebloods will help stand up with you against the other houses."

His father picked up the letter and carefully rolled it, "This will be sent out in the morning."

James swerved to the right dodging his opponent, but only for a moment. James's broom was an older slower model and no matter how seamless James flew, he could not overcome this disadvantage. His mum and dad were at the present time thinking about getting him a new broom at the end of the summer. It wasn't as if they couldn't afford it and James sincerely hoped his parents didn't expect him to try out for the Gryffindor team with a 3 year old broom.

His opponent suddenly appeared in front of him causing James to have to stop suddenly. He spotted one of his teammates and threw the quaffle to her.

All of a sudden a bell rang off. One of his teammates had enchanted a rock as an alarm clock, so they would be alerted when it was lunch time. Playing quidditch generally caused everyone to lose track of time.

They all quickly flew down to the ground. There were six of them, so they played a three on three game. James was the youngest. The two girls that lived in the neighborhood were both going into their fourth year. The two boys were children of a friend of his father and one was going into his fifth, the other his fourth.

James had grown bored quickly over the summer and after days of complaining he was allowed to have friends over for a friendly quidditch match. They all clamored into the Potter manor. None of the children were strangers to the household and immediately headed to the kitchen. James was last to go inside. He hated to leave the outdoors. He quickly passed his father's study noticing his guests had tracked dirt on the floor.

"James?" his father called.

James froze groaning to himself. After a moment of hesitation he answered, "Yes?"

"Come in here," his father said. James reluctantly entered. He wasn't in the mood to be scolded at the moment.

"Sorry about the…"

"You are not in trouble; though get those floors cleaned before your mother sees."

"But I can't do magic outside of Hogwarts."

"Get a rag with water, it will do wonders."

"Aww, dad, can't I…"

"No and no house-elves to do the work either."

James frowned.

"So how was the Quidditch game?"

James tried not to grin, "Great, but my team wouldn't be losing if I had a faster broom…"

"You never give up on that new broom, do you?" the man grinned fondly at his son.

"Nope. Never. You might as well give in now."

"We'll see. Now I do have important matter to discuss with you. Take a seat. It's about your friend, Sirius Black."

"Is he ok?" James asked quickly

"Yes, he's fine."

"His parents just seemed dodgy. I was worried they might…well since he's not in Slytherin."

"I don't believe his parents are angry with him. It seems he tricked you into friendship."

"What?"

"I'm really sorry James. I didn't want to believe it, but I've got a half a dozen owls warning me about it and then this letter came for you from Sirius Black. I opened it already to make sure there was no jinx or curse on it."

He passed the paper toward James. Shock entered his face as he read it.

"No, it can't be!" James finally said.

"Does it sound as if Sirius wrote the letter?"

"Well, yes it sounds just like him. But I can't believe it. I mean he was, well he seemed so devastated that his family hated him. It couldn't have been an act."

"The Blacks are a cunning family. I would not be the least surprised if they taught their children how to trick and lie people into trusting them."

"But I know, Sirius, Dad. You didn't spend the year with him. None of it makes any sense."

"I realize this may be hard to swallow, but the facts are rather glaringly truthful. Friends of mine, who have no reason to lie to me, heard it from Sirius's mouth and the letter he sent himself."

"If he sent it himself?"

"And why wouldn't it be from Sirius?"

"I don't know."

"I know you don't want to believe it. I've always taught you to put your trust in others and judge them not by their lineage. I never thought it would be a dangerous thing, but obviously in the time we live in, you must be careful."

"But the Stone…"

"What stone?"

"Nothing," James's face colored.

"Well I suggest you tread carefully around Sirius Black and stop all correspondences."

"We never had any correspondences; this is the first letter I received from him."

"I think its best if you don't write him back."

"Why not?" James demanded.

"It would be stooping to their level and giving them the satisfaction of getting to us."

"I can't just ignore it. He's me friend."

"I understand that, but I think his letter terminated any obligations you have toward him. I don't think there is a need for second chances."

"Are you forbidding me from owling Sirius?"

He watched his Dad frown at the tone of his voice.

"I won't forbid you. I just strongly suggest you don't."

"I'm not giving up on our friendship," James said stubbornly jumping out of his seat and strolling outside his father's office, ignoring his farther shouting his name.

Sirius dreaded the lessons. The boredom was enough to drive anyone insane. The endless books that all started to sound alike. Preaching how great Purebloods were and how awful Muggles were. Embellishing on every little accomplishment a wizard had done and only mentioning the terrible things non-magical people had done. Such as their intolerance for magic and persecution of wizards..

Sirius entered the same room he entered everyday. He never dared arrive late anymore. He hadn't been given food the whole day for that transaction.

The room had now been enlarged. A table with a cage full of rats had been placed up against one of the walls.

Sirius stopped short.

His wand lay next to the cage of rats. Without thinking of the implications he charged forward clasping it tightly in his hands. A warm feeling spread over him and the wand shot out four sparks, two red and two gold.

"Welcome, nephew," a low slick voice sang. Only then did he notice his least favorite unlace standing in the corner watching him with a calculating stare.

"Uncle, good morning,"

"Today's lesson will be practical. Hogwarts will only be teaching you to defend against this type of magic, but you will be expected by your equals, superiors, and inferiors to be knowledgeable in this area."

"In the Dark Arts?"

"Yes," he said the word with a hiss, "A never ending branch of magic. There are un-endless possibilities, expect that human kind has decided to stray way from it –for the good of humanity."

"Why are you teaching it to me?" Sirius asked.

His uncle silenced his question with a glare, "I expect the same respect you would give any of your elders. Meaning you will call me Uncle or sir and you will only talk when spoken to."

"Sorry, Uncle."

"Let us begin with the throat-tightening curse. You cannot kill anyone with this charm usually. It plays a trick on the mind so you think your throat is closing and you cannot breathe, but in reality your air path is quite unobstructed. The enchantment is quite simple, but it takes some discipline of the mind, so it will be good practice for you once you move up to more dangerous spells."

His uncle strode toward the mouse cage, his wand out. Then suddenly something happened and a jet of light was headed straight towards him.

He felt his chest suddenly tighten up, he felt nauseous and dizzy. He couldn't breathe. There was so much pressure on his neck and suddenly he found himself on the floor. His wand still in his hand, sputtering and taking in huge gasps of air.

"I believe in order to completely understand a spell such as this; it should be first performed on you. Now since it is only in the mind, a more able of age wizard could fight this spell off quite quickly. It works best on someone who is unguarded and vulnerable. Now let's begin practice on those vermin."

One of the rats was plucked out and placed on the table. Sirius watched it wander, sniffing the entire surface.

His Uncle demonstrated the spell once more and Sirius watched as the rat stopped, falling on its side, its leg and tail moving feebly.

"Now your turn, Sirius."

His first attempt did nothing to the mouse, nor did his second or third, but the fourth attempt he managed to get the mouse to stop for a second, but then it continued on its way.

"Concentrate, Sirius!"

"I am, sir," Sirius gritted, but he wasn't. He still couldn't believe his Uncle had cursed him at the start of the lesson. He was still rather shaky from that experience and by no means wanted anyone else, even a mouse, to experience it.

"You need to want to cause it! Say it with meaning! Picture the airways tightening!"

Sirius scrunched his eyes and a spell hit the mouse causing it to rise and then promptly fall on the desk with a squeak.

"I thought you were supposed to be bright."

After about an hour, he was no closer to doing the spell. He had changed the mouse from blue to yellow and caused it to squeal a few times.

"Let's see how you do in a wizards duel, shall we?"

"Sir?" Sirius asked.

"A duel."

"I barely know any spells, sir."

"Wand at the ready."

Again before he had time to think, another jet of light was heading towards him. He tried to dodge it, but it hit his leg causing it to shudder uncontrollably.

The next spell by luck he dodged because he lost his balance from his unstable shuddering left leg.

"Expelliarmus!" Sirius called. They had only learned a few basic defense spells, but his Uncle blocked it with ease.

His left leg stopped trembling and just as another curse hit him; this time causing an electric shock of pain to vibrate through his body. His body was on fire one moment and the next not. He struggled to stand up and finally found salvage behind the oak desk.

"Hiding is for cowards!"

A small piece of his cloak had been showing and it sparked on fire from another well-aimed spell.

Anger began building inside of him. The odds were completely against him. Was this a form of punishment?

His Uncle continued to taunt him. Another spell hit him after it deflected off a pot breaking his arm with a loud crack; his non-wand arm now hung limply by his side.

Anger resurfaced followed by pain, but Sirius pushed the pain out of his mind. Without even thinking, without knowing what exactly he was doing, he jumped to his feet and yelled a curse straight at his uncle. His Uncle had obviously not expected it.

He watched with mixture of fascination and dread as his Uncle's face turned pale and he began gasping for air. And then his pallor went back to normal and he stood there a few seconds, both of them breathing heavily.

Then his uncle smiled at him, "Ah, so you can cast that spell, nephew. You just needed the right motivation."

"I-I-I…" Sirius stuttered. Tricked! Sirius cursed silently. He'd been tricked into performing the spell.

"Class dismissed," his Uncle fixed his broken arm with a jerky swish, "Go to your room. Lunch will be delivered to you."

Thanks for READING. Please take a moment to REVIEW.

A/N: And a thanks to last chapters readers and reviewers.

brennQT: Undercover? Oh yes! Haha, I figured that would put a good twist into the story because I wanted to do something more than just his parents punishing him. Sirius is definitely good at heart and extremely loyal, which I think is why turning away from his family wasn't so easy, because he felt he had obligation/loyalty toward them.

kyLaaa: the friends Malfoy is referring too are mainly just nameless characters, we do meet one in this chapter. James will be mad, but hate Sirius forever…well that's highly doubtful, ; )

jojo: thanks, I enjoy writing Sirius going through all those conflicting emotions about whether he should side with the family or his friends

Mokona Deh Bunny: I'm glad you enjoyed the twist…yea I completely understand with all the schoolwork, its like each teacher thinks the one class your taking with them is the only class you are taking for the entire semester

EsScaper: well I guess it's a good thing that I shocked you about Sirius being the 'Gryffindor spy', I was debating between him going along with it or completely making a scene….well I'm glad the path I choose still worked and that you enjoyed it. Sirius still has a lot of learning/maturing/growing up to do, but obviously he will break away from them altogether in my story

Shadow929: I know, I don't want to hurt poor Sirius, but he will survive it…and with Snape I think he's on his own side (neither Voldemorts' nor Dumbledores's and picks and chooses to survive)

Katharina-B: Yes, Sirius has a big choice ahead of him. And you'll see in this chapter James's reaction. Thanks for the review

Paige-rossi-black: thanks for your review! I loathe Sirius's parents as much as everyone else, but they are fun to write about

Moony391: I'm relieved the plot was believable because I was going back and forth about Sirius going along with it or not…the Blacks are all about how everyone perceives them…thanks!

Azraeos: Thank you! I'm really glad you enjoyed it.

Boleyn: Sirius will have a lot of explaining to do to James and a big choice to make come September

Maritinkerbell: doesn't matter how long it takes you to review it, just as long as you do, lol…my computer has been giving me problems as well…you'll find out answers to all your questions soon, thanks for reading!

Everkitsune: I won't answer if Sirius will stay in Gryffindor…but I will say I'm sticking to the book (cannon) so…there's your answer. Thanks for your review.

Marie: thank you so much for your lengthy review. I actually just received your review today and I realized it has been long since I've updated, so you've pushed me to start working on it. I appreciate you taking the time to review and tell me all the aspects of the story you liked, especially about how realistic the portrayal of Sirius's struggle is. I will be covering their discovery of Remus being a werewolf and most likely after year two I will skip until year 5 (with flashbacks if needed for year 3 and 4), but I have not officially decided yet.