Chapter 4: Not the Way I Do

January 1, 1975 Wednesday, 10: 37 PM

"Happy birthday Sirius, Gwen," said Orion.

He handed each of them a small box-shaped package.

"Oh, Dad!" said Gwen with awe as she opened the box.
The box contained a magnificent ring with the Black crest encrusted on it. It was a family heirloom that had been passed down for generations.

Orion smiled. "I think it is now time to pass these on to the two of you."

Sirius looked at his own ring which was a more masculine version of Gwen's.
"Dad, you shouldn't have," he said faintly, "Thank you."

"Now you know these rings are our family heirloom, but they are also much more," said Orion.
"When the both of you wear these rings, they will serve as a connection between you."

"Connection?"

"Yes, if either of you feel a particularly strong emotion, the other will be able to feel it as well, though more indistinctly. And more importantly, the ring will serve as a signal to the other if either of you are in danger," explained Orion.

"What if we misunderstand or miss the signal?" asked Sirius.

"I doubt that that is possible." Orion laughed. "You could hardly miss the ring turning white-hot, can you? Though of course you wouldn't be burnt but only feel the sensation."

"Thank you, Dad," said Gwen, giving him a hug.

"Come on, Sirius. Let's go to our room," she said.

"You go on ahead. I have to ask Dad something," said Sirius.

"Oh, okay." Gwen shrugged and headed up the stairs.

Sirius watched her leave before turning to his father.
"Dad, is it really alright to give this to me?" he said slowly.
"It's a family heirloom, it rightfully belongs to Regulus. Mother would be furious if she found out that you gave it to…me," said Sirius.

Orion frowned at the reference to their mother.
"Don't mind your mother, Sirius. And you are the Black heir, Sirius. This ring rightfully belongs to you," he said firmly.

Sirius nodded. "Thank you, Dad."
"And I'm sorry," he added, "for all the trouble I've caused you."

Orion watched him go upstairs, with a pained expression.

No, I'm sorry, my son for all the trouble I've caused you. You would not understand now, but someday, someday you will understand…

February 13, 1975 Thursday, 10:18 AM

Several weeks passed until it was almost Valentine's Day. Valentine's Day; Gwen's least favorite holiday.

I hate Valentine's Day, Gwen thought with annoyance and jealousy.
She couldn't begin to count the number of girls who had shyly asked her to deliver their valentine to Sirius for them.

"Please Gwen, just this once," begged Adrianne.

"Fine," Gwen finally snapped, admitting defeat.
"But only because you're my best friend," she added sulkily.

"Thanks! You're the best, Gwen!" Adrianne squealed as she handed Gwen a large pink valentine and small wrapped package.

"You're welcome," Gwen grumbled before heading to find Sirius.

"Sirius!" she called as she spotted him by the lake.

Sirius turned and grinned widely as he saw her then his face darkened as he saw the package in her hand.

"Sirius, this is from my friend Adrianne," Gwen said timidly as she held the package out to him.

"You too?" Sirius said coldly as he grabbed the package and flung it into the lake.
"Why are you doing this to me?" he said angrily before storming off.

He couldn't explain why he felt this way. He usually enjoyed or at least didn't mind receiving valentines; it boosted his ego.
Stranger still was that it was the fact that Gwen had been the one to deliver the valentine that bothered him the most.

It didn't make sense…

---

"Sirius, please open the door! I'm sorry," Gwen yelled as she banged on his dormitory door. She had been begging for nearly an hour with no response from Sirius.
"I'm really, really sorry," she began to cry as she sank to the floor.

The door immediately flew open and Sirius swiftly picked her up from the floor and hugged her tightly to him.
"I'm so sorry, Gwen. Please don't cry," he pled with her.

"I'm sorry, Sirius. I didn't mean to upset you," Gwen sobbed.

Sirius bent his head and gently kissed away a tear. "No, Gwen. I'm sorry."
"I made tears fall from the world's most beautiful eyes," he said tenderly.

February 14, 1975 Friday, 7:40 PM

"Here, I got this for you," Remus said shyly as he handed a heart shaped box of chocolates to Gwen.

Gwen beamed at him while Sirius, who was nearby playing wizard chess with James, scowled.

"Thanks, Remus," said Gwen as she kissed him on the cheek.

Remus blushed while Sirius, if possible, scowled harder than ever.
"Can you go to Hogsmeade with me this weekend?" he asked quickly.
This weekend was the Hogsmeade weekend for Valentine's Day.

"Of course I will," Gwen replied warmly.

"Hey, don't take it out on the chess men," James laughed, as Sirius barked orders so harshly at his pawn that it nearly ran off the board in fright.

February 15, 1975 Saturday, 8:30 AM

It was the Hogsmeade weekend and Gwen and Adrianne, who was Sirius' date, met Remus and Sirius by the staircase before heading towards Hogsmeade.

"Adrianne, this is Remus Lupin. Remus," said Gwen, then indicated towards Adrianne, "Adrianne Belby."

They smiled shyly at each other as they shook hands.

Once they had reached Hogsmeade, they went to Zonko's and Honeydukes where they bought their fill of sweets and jokes.
Sirius scowled as Remus bought Gwen a large chocolate rose but proceeded to buy one for Adrianne as well.

After leaving Honeydukes, they headed to Madame Puddifoot's where all the couples were going for Valentine's Day.
Sirius engaged in a conversation about quidditch with Adrianne, who was on the Ravenclaw quidditch team, but scowled occasionally whenever Remus showed the slightest indication of flirting with Gwen.

Sirius and Gwen got up to get more drinks and Adrianne turned to Remus.
"They're so protective of each other," she said with a laugh.

Remus joined in laughing."This is nothing," he said.
"You would think they were an engaged couple the way they act sometimes," he said slightly exasperatedly, "They always get so upset when the other dates anyone and last week, Gwen gave Sirius a valentine from somebody else and he locked himself in our dormitory, sulking, for an hour. He wouldn't have made half the fuss if it had been anybody else who delivered it to him."

"Really? Gwen didn't tell me about that," said Adrianne guiltily.

Sirius and Gwen arrived with the drinks and the four paired up as they had done before only this time, Remus with Adrianne and Sirius with Gwen.

After they had left Madame Puddifoot's the group headed towards the carriages going to Hogwarts.

"Bye Gwen, Sirius," said Adrianne when they reached Hogwarts and smiled, "bye Remus."
He seems really nice. How come I never noticed him before? Adrianne reflected with a slight smile.

"Bye Adrianne," Remus smiled back.
It had been fun talking to her. She was very easy-going so that it had been easy for him to overcome his shyness and relax around her.

---

"I don't like you liking my sister," Sirius confronted Remus coldly, once they were back in their dormitory.

James, who had returned from his own date earlier, looked up sharply and glanced quizzically between the two boys.

"Why not?" Gwen demanded.
"I thought you didn't like my going out with those other guys because you don't like them. What's wrong with me going out with Remus? He's one of your best friends!"

"He's still not worthy of you!" Sirius blurted out.

"I know you don't mean that," Gwen said softly.

"I don't mean because you're a werewolf," Sirius explained hurriedly as he saw the hurt look come over Remus' face.

"What I mean is that—" He hesitated then continued with an almost desperate air. "–he doesn't love you enough. Not as much as I do."
"Not the way I do…" Sirius said so softly that no one save James, who was next to him, heard.

And though even Sirius himself did not understand what he meant, James did.

February 18, 1975 Tuesday, 11:35 PM

Gwen was in her dormitory with Aquila talking about their previous Hogsmeade weekend when Narcissa stormed into the room and slammed the door shut.

"The nerve!" she exclaimed with enrage.

"What's wrong?" Aquila asked.

"Your brother, that's what's wrong!" Narcissa replied.

Gwen rolled her eyes. Lucius and Narcissa were always going at it. Seriously, they were like a middle-aged married couple or something.
Lucius was always teasing her or something of the sort and it nearly always ended with Narcissa complaining about how big of a prat he was.

"What did Lucius do this time?" Aquila asked with an exasperated sigh.

"He asked me to the next Hogsmeade weekend and—"

"He did WHAT?!" Gwen exclaimed.

"It's about time," Aquila said, with a giggle at Gwen's exclamation.

"What do you mean 'it's about time'?" both Gwen and Narcissa asked, Gwen with confusion and Narcissa with annoyance.

"Don't tell me you've never noticed, Gwen," Aquila said slyly with a teasing grin towards Narcissa, "Narcissa is the only one that Lucius bothers; he obviously likes her and wants her attention."

"He does not!" Narcissa said indignantly.

Gwen grinned. "Now that you mention it, Aquila, I think that Lucius does like Narcissa."

"No, Lucius is such a prat!" she protested, sending a glare in Gwen's direction.

Gwen and Aquila rolled their eyes simultaneously.

'Here we go again', Aquila mouthed.

"He said that he's asking me because I'm the only pretty girl he hasn't dated," Narcissa sniffed indignantly.

Gwen snickered as she recalled the one time she and Lucius had gone out on a date. It had been extremely awkward; somewhat like dating your brother. Thankfully, Lucius had agreed and though the majority of the Slytherins had insisted that they were 'the perfect couple', they themselves had decided that they were merely very good friends.

"He's just like Father, thinking that he can patronize girls just because he's a male," Narcissa continued disdainfully.

"He's just saying that because he doesn't want to admit that he likes you," Aquila soothed her.

"He does not—"

"Now that you mention it, I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner. I should have known, you know how much Lucius and I think alike," said Gwen, cutting off her protest.

"Yeah, it's actually kind of scary how similar you two are," said Aquila. "You two are more similar to each other than you are to your own twins."

"That doesn't mean anything," Narcissa grumbled.

"Anyway, my point is that its just Lucius' way of showing his feelings," said Gwen, ignoring her comment.

March 14, 1975 Friday, 7:15 PM

"Do I have to go?" Gwen groaned. "I'm so busy with school work and quidditch."

"You can't just not go," Aquila protested, "Slughorn's our Head of House; we have to go."

"Besides, you're one of the representatives of the House of Black, it would look bad if you didn't attend," Narcissa said clannishly.

"Why must you always bring that up? You're making me feel so left out," Aquila teased, faking a pout.

"It's okay, Aquila. Narcissa's eventually going to become a Malfoy anyway," Gwen said sweetly, grinning impishly at Narcissa.

"Are you coming or not?" Narcissa snapped, glaring threateningly at her.

"Oh fine, fine" Gwen grumbled as she started getting ready for one of Slughorn's parties.

Slughorn's parties were generally enjoyable since it was a good environment for meeting new people and making friends but she was a bit exhausted from the extra long practice session today. Besides, Sirius had detention today so he wouldn't even be there to keep her company.

---

"Hello," Gwen greeted the pretty Asian girl who was standing next to her, "I'm Gwen Black."

"Oh, yes, I know. You're the Slytherin Seeker," the girl replied.
"I'm Saori Nam, fourth-year Hufflepuff," she introduced herself.

"So why does Slughorn invite you? He invited me because I'm a Black," Gwen said conversationally, with a shrug.

"My dad is the Minister of Magic of Asia," Saori explained.

"Wow," Gwen said admiringly.

Gwen thought for a moment, struggling to remember the Asian countries.
"So are you Japanese or Chinese?" she asked.

Saori smiled. "Neither. I'm Korean."
"Korea's a small country between China and Japan," she said, at Gwen's blank look.

"Saori, there you are," a voice said from behind them.

"Hey, Cassie," said Saori.

"Gwen, this is my best friend, Cassandra Bennett," Saori introduced, "Cassie, this is Gwen Black."

"Hi," the girls greeted each other with a smile. Gwen looked contemplatively at the girl, thinking that she looked a bit familiar.

"How many times do I have to tell you, never call me Cassandra," Cassie grumbled to Saori.

"Cassandra's a perfectly nice name," said Saori.

"Were you named for the Seer, Cassandra Trelawney?" asked Gwen.

"Yes, Mum's a Divination fan. She named me Cassandra in hopes that I'll live up to the name or something," said Cassandra.
"Unfortunately, I can't even 'see' what I did yesterday, let alone see into the future," she said jokingly.

"At least your mother named you after a famous person. My mother seems to have a thing for naming us kids after constellations; she named my brothers Sirius and Regulus," Gwen rolled her eyes, "Apparently it runs in the family since a lot of my ancestors were named Sirius or Regulus as well."

"Your name isn't a constellation though, is it?" asked Saori.

"No, Gwendolyn isn't a constellation. Mother wanted to name me 'Starr' though," said Gwen.

"Starr? Wow, took it a bit too far, didn't she?" laughed Cassie.

"Yes, luckily my dad thought so too, though it seems he had a thing for the name 'Gwen' because according to Mother, he insisted that I be named 'Gwen', or nothing," said Gwen.
"They fought over it for ages and I was ten months old before I was finally named Gwendolyn Starr Black," she finished.

Gwen grinned at Saori and Cassie who were both laughing.

"That's hilarious," said Saori.

"Yeah," Cassie nodded in agreement.
"I'll never complain about my name again," she said solemnly.

The girls burst into laughter again and Gwen joined them.

"What about you, Saori?" asked Gwen, several minutes later.

"There really is no special story behind my name. Saori is just a typical Japanese name. I was born in Japan, hence my name," said Saori.

"Hey Gwen, are you coming to the Ravenclaw vs. Hufflepuff match tomorrow?" asked Cassie.

"Yes, my friend Adrianne's on the Ravenclaw team," said Gwen.

"You mean the one who plays Chaser?" asked Saori.

"Yes. By the way, Cassie, aren't you the new chaser on the Hufflepuff team?" said Gwen, finally realizing why she had looked familiar.

"Yes, it's my second game tomorrow," Cassie said nervously.

"I'm sure you'll do fine," Gwen assured her.

"I've seen her at practice, she's pretty good," said Saori.
"You're lucky she got injured just before the Slytherin vs. Hufflepuff match, Gwen, or we would've whipped you," she teased.

"Just wait until next year. Hufflepuff will finally beat Slytherin," said Cassie with a grin.

"I'll be looking forward to it," Gwen grinned back.

April 3, 1975 Thursday, 11:00 PM

Sirius and James cheerfully welcomed Gideon and Fabian as the twins joined them for detention.

"For your detention, you will scrub the floor of the Great Hall. With no magic," the new caretaker, Filch said with glee.

"So what have you guys done this time?" Sirius said with a grin, as soon as Filch rushed out of the Great Hall to investigate the crashing noise from above.

"Nothing, really," Gideon said offhandedly.

"Yeah, we just blew up a few toilets in the Prefect's bathroom," Gideon smirked.

The four laughed and James slyly asked, "How do you think Molly's gonna take it?"

The Prewetts lived with their sister Molly and her husband Arthur. Their parents had died several years ago, right after the twins had started Hogwarts, and she had looked after them ever since even though she herself had barely graduated from Hogwarts back then.

Fabian and Gideon snickered.

"Always causing some sort of trouble and fooling around when they should be studying for their NEWTs!" Gideon put on a high voice, imitating his sister.

"More irresponsible than Bill and Charlie put together!" continued Fabian, referring to her two sons.

Sirius and James erupted into laughter once again.
They had been to the Burrow where the twins lived and had met Arthur and Molly Weasley and their two sons, Bill and Charlie. Bill and Charlie who were nearly four and two, respectively, apparently took after their uncles and were mischievous little imps.

"Speaking of NEWTs," Sirius said casually, "what do you guys plan to do after Hogwarts?"

"We want to become Aurors," Gideon said with a sudden air of solemnity that was uncommon for him.

"You know our parents were killed during a Death Eater attack," Fabian added.
"They were extraordinary Aurors, Molly says."

Sirius and James also nodded solemnly.

"She doesn't want us to become Aurors though," Gideon said sympathetically. "She's always afraid the Death Eaters will get us too."

April 5, 1975 Saturday, 6:45 AM

"Ah, poor Prefects," Sirius snickered.

"Twice in one week," James added.

"Too bad we can't make Gwen and Remus help us, they're icky Prefects," Gideon chuckled.

"Of course we'll warn them not to use the Prefect's bathroom though," Fabian said generously.

The four of them each wrapped invisible cellophane over the toilet bowls. They then replaced the seats and poured Hagrid's treacle fudge, which they had melted and cast invisibility spells on, all over them.

Finally, they poured the fudge on every doorknob and handle.

---

Gwen smiled innocently as Melanie Flint, a seventh-year Prefect, came into the Prefect's bathroom.

"Hey, Flint," she greeted gaily.

"Black," she muttered a greeting before heading into a stall.

Gwen ran out of the bathroom, muffling her laughter, as she heard a high-pitched shriek come from the stalls and ran right into Sirius, James, Fabian, and Gideon who were practically rolling with laughter by the door.

Gwen grinned.
"I never liked her much anyway," she said airily.