Chapter 4 of Love and House Colors

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The four boys had a carriage to themselves as they raced toward the train station, "I always hate leaving this place," said Sirius as he looked at the window for one last look at Hogswart. Sirius's friends knew he did not get along with his family and that he would spend all his summer fighting with them until he went to stay with the Potters. "It will be okay, mate. You can come and stay with me next week if you want." James said trying to reassure his friend, "I'll be coming for a little bit over the summer," said Remus, changing the subject, hoping he could get Sirius to think about the part of the summer he would spend with his friends rather than with his family, "but Peter here is going to spend the whole summer with his great uncle in Europe and won't be able to come." Peter groaned at this. Peter was not looking forward to the whole summer at his great uncle's house; seeing as how his great uncle was as boring as great uncles come. Every year the four boys would go to James's house for a few weeks to spend time together; they picked James's house because Sirius's mom hated all of them, Remus didn't have room at his house, and Peter's parents were very strict and made it hard to do anything fun. Fortunately James's parents didn't mind having the boys stay at their house, they lived on a huge property in a slightly larger than average farm house, and would let the boys do almost anything within reasonable rules. Plus they lived away from muggles so they could play Quidditch. "Yeah, I can't wait to leave my house for your James," said Sirius, trying to appear optimistic so his friends would not worry about him. "We could hold a bonfire like last summer," said Sirius adding his own idea to the conversation; trying to make himself excited in way. "Sure, why not." James said, "We could go prank that Slytherins house again too." Sirius lost his interest in the subject on James's last comment. Although James lived far away from muggles he had one neighbor about 15 miles away on the shortest route, and last summer Sirius and his friends had flown to the house on their brooms and used Zonko's pranks to prank the house last year. Sirius did not lose interest in the conversation because he had a problem pulling a prank on a Slytherin, but because Chantelle moved into that house three years ago. "It's only three months Sirius, and that includes the time at James's house; it won't be too bad, before you know it you'll be back in the castle jinxing first years and hexing Slytherins." Said Remus, 'Why is everything they bring up about Slytherins today?' thought Sirius. "Yeah, and before you know it you will be out of that house forever," said James, "Yeah, I guess." Sirius said, "Are your parents still going to let us that old barn?" asked Sirius looking at James, "Yeah, they said it was ours to use as long as we don't accidently set it on fire," said James. Sirius had been referring to an old barn on the Potter's property that had gone used until last summer when the boys had discovered it and camped out in it. "My Dad was suppose to fix that one hole in the roof where it caved in and do a little work on it during the school year to make sure it would be safe," said James. "Looks like we are almost to the train station," said Remus, as the neared the train station and the carriage came to a halt.

Chantelle and Bree were in carriage waiting to go to the train station when they were joined in the carriage by Regulus Black. Chantelle was surprised that Regulus wasn't hanging out with Malfoy and Crab or even Goyle. Malfoy and Crab rarely hung out with Goyle because he was so much younger than them; but Regulus was younger than Malfoy and Crab, so even though he was older than Goyle, it didn't bother him as much. Chantelle thought about why Regulus wasn't with the other Slytherins and decided that there must have been no room in the carriage for all the Slytherin gang and because Regulus was youngest of the group he was always the one left out if someone had to be left out. "Hey, Regulus," said Chantelle, greeting the boy who was now entering their carriage, "Do you mind?" asked Regulus, referring to sharing a carriage, "No, not at all," said Bree, helping Regulus in. Bree had always been helpful but Chantelle wondered why she was so willing to help Regulus in; as far as Chantelle knew, Bree hardly knew Regulus and wasn't really fond of the people he hung out with. Chantelle had never really notice, never have spent too much time with Regulus, how much he looked like his older brother. Same dark hair and basic facial features, the biggest difference was that Regulus had hazel eyes; that and the major difference in personality. Chantelle didn't know Regulus that well, even though she had been to a number of parties with him when she was younger; she would always spend time at these parties with Sirius because he was closer in age to her. Chantelle daydream while looking out the window as the carriage lurched and took off towards the train station.

Chantelle was almost nine years old and was fighting with her Mom over what she should wear. "I want to wear the dark blue dress!" Chantelle told her mom in a frustrated voice. "You wore that one to the New Year party!" Chantelle's mom snapped back, "And I got this pretty new dress," said Chantelle's mom trying to get Chantelle to put on the new pink dress she had bought her daughter. Normally Chantelle would have been more than happy to get to wear a new dress, but Chantelle picked today to be stubborn; and most of the time her mom would let her pick the dress she could wear, but this was an important occasion. The minster of magic was getting married a lot of important people were going to be there, making it very important Chantelle looked her best. "I don't see why I have to go. It is just going to be a bunch of boring adults!" complained Chantelle. "It won't all be adults; I think Malfoy mentioned bringing his son Lucius, and Mrs. Black said she was thinking about taking Sirius." Chantelle's mom said, trying to convince Chantelle that the party wouldn't be all bad, "And I bought you this dress just for the wedding, it would mean a lot to me if you would wear it." Said Chantelle's mom, "Please? Just this once?" her Mom was all but begging her to wear the dress when Chantelle finally agreed, "Okay, but next time I pick the dress," said a disgruntled Chantelle.

Chantelle and her mom were sitting at a table by a dance floor as the new couple took the first dance when Chantelle noticed a couple of girls across the yard; she had met the girls before at the Black house, they were Bellatrix and Narcissa, Mrs. Black's nieces. Chantelle wondered if their older sister Andromeda was here; while looking around to see if Andromeda was there Chantelle felt someone tap on her shoulder. Turning around to see who it was, Chantelle saw none other than Sirius Black, "Hi," he said, "It's nice to see you again," Chantelle giggled. Sirius sound like an adult when he said thing like 'it's nice to see you again'; it really hadn't even been that long since Chantelle had seen him anyway, she had gone to his ninth birthday three weeks ago. "Have you gotten to go flying on your new broom yet?" asked Chantelle referring to the broom Sirius's parents had gotten him for his birthday. "Yeah, I went over to my grandparents last week and got to fly," said Sirius, "it was a lot of fun." Sirius said as he smiled at the memory of flying around on his new broom for the first time. Chantelle and Sirius watched the first dance finish and the bride dance with her father as more people got up to join them on the dance floor. "Would you like to dance?" asked Sirius looking at Chantelle. Chantelle giggled again, "I would love to." Chantelle said as she hoped off her chair and took Sirius's hand following him to the dance floor. Being eight, almost nine, and just barely nine meant that neither Sirius nor Chantelle could dance well at all. In fact they just copied what the adults were doing around them and tried to have fun while not falling over or stepping on each other's toes. After a few songs, Sirius and Chantelle decided to go over away from the dance floor and sit in the grass. "My mom won't be happy when she sees my dress," said Chantelle, motioning to a grass stain from playing in the grass with Sirius, "Do you want to go sit in the chairs?" asked Sirius, "That way your dress wouldn't get any dirtier" he said, "No, I'm fine. I didn't want to wear this dress anyway," replied Chantelle, "What's wrong with your dress?" asked Sirius looking down at Chantelle's dress, "Nothing is wrong with it, I just wanted to wear my dark blue dress. The one I wore to the New Year's party at your cousin's house," said Chantelle," Oh," said Sirius, and that was all he said on the matter because like most nine year old boys he was unsure of what could be said about dresses and what dress should be worn. "Look at all the fire flies," said Sirius, pointing to a nearby field that had little lights here and there as the fire flies glowed. "There are some more over there," said Chantelle, pointing to a group of bushes not far from where they were sitting. The two of them ran over to try to catch the fire flies…

The boys had gotten on the train and had found an empty compartment. The first part of the trip the boys continued to talk about their summer plans and what they could with the old barn they found; but after a while Remus started reading his book, James and Peter were talking about Quidditch, and Sirius was left to day dream about leaving his house forever. Sirius was looking out of the window of the compartment when he stood up out of the blue, having decided that he was sick of just sitting here. "I think I am going to go find the trolley and see if I can't get us some butterbeer ," he said, "Do you want me to come?" asked Remus, looking up from his book, "No, I can get it myself," replied Sirius as he exited the compartment. It wasn't that he had anything against Remus coming; he just didn't see the point in him coming when he could get it himself. As Sirius walked along the hall looking for the cart where they sold food and drinks, he heard someone calling his name telling him to wait up. Sirius turned around, assuming that one of his friends had followed him out of the compartment, and sure enough James came spiriting up of the hall to catch up with Sirius, "Wait for me!" called James, "I'm not going anywhere," replied Sirius, who hadn't moved since he saw his friend coming towards him, "What made you decide to come?" asked Sirius, "I forgot to tell you I wanted chocolate frogs," said James , having reached Sirius and started walking with him to find the cart. "I can see how that is deadly important" said Sirius sarcastically, "Why didn't you just yell after me to get some, rather than come with me?" asked Sirius, knowing his friend normally wouldn't have left a Quidditch conversation when he didn't have to, "I just thought you would like some company," said James, "Okay…," said Sirius wondering what the true reason behind James's motives were. "I think the cart is towards the front of the train still," said Sirius as they walked, "It must be somewhere up here, it hasn't passed us yet," said James, agreeing with Sirius's statement. "So, what's up," said James after a few minutes of silence, "We are going to look for butterbeer and chocolate frogs; what do you mean, what's up?" responded Sirius, "You know, with your attitude all of the sudden. Sometimes you act a little depressed at the end of the school year because you don't want to go home, but this has been different. You haven't been depressed, just distracted and quiet," said James. So this is why he had wanted to come; Sirius hadn't realized how bad he had been since last night, but apparently he had been distracted by Chantelle enough for his friends to notice. "It's nothing, I'm just a little tired from the party last night," said Sirius in a reassuring voice, "Speaking of the party last night," said James, "Does this have anything to do with that girl you were with last night?" asked James, "It's nothing, really. I'm just tired." Sirius said, reinforcing his excuse. "Sure you are," James said in a disbelieving voice, "Whatever, I guess you will tell me when you are ready," Sirius just rolled his eyes at James like he would have if James was telling some farfetched story so maybe James would think that Sirius really was tired and would leave him alone. "Looks like we've found the cart," said Sirius as they approached a lady selling goodies and such for the ride home. "Four butterbeer," said Sirius as he pulled out his wallet. After Sirius got his drinks and James got some chocolate frogs they made their way back to the compartment they were sitting in before.

"Earth to Chantelle," said Bree, Chantelle turned to look at her friend, snapping out of her day dream about a wedding from when she was little. "Regulus was trying to ask you something," said Bree, Chantelle turned to look at Regulus, "Sorry I wasn't paying attention," Chantelle said, "I was just asking if you knew about the party the Minster is having," said Regulus. "No, I haven't heard anything about it yet," said Chantelle; it was true that she hadn't heard anything about it, but something told her that her mom would be telling her all about it when she got home. "It isn't going to be until the start of next summer, but apparently he is already planning it because the group he is hiring to perform has to be booked so far ahead of time," said Regulus. Chantelle thought that a year to plan a party was a little more time than needed; she wondered what group he could be booking that had to booked so far ahead of time. "It is a little early to be planning a party that far away, don't you think?" Chantelle asked, "That's what I thought. I guess, from what I heard, the only reason he is planning it now is because the group has to be booked so far ahead and he felt he might as well just plan the rest of the party well at it," said Regulus, "It is going to be a be deal, after all. He probably just wants to make sure the party goes nicely," said Regulus, Chantelle racked her brain trying to remember what was so important that was going on next year, "He is getting replaced as minster, after all" said Regulus. Chantelle remembered, this coming year was the last year he would be minster and then he would go onto retire, "Has it already been seven years?" asked Chantelle; in the wizarding world, the minster of magic would only have a seven year term. "Next year it will be," answered Regulus, "Is he old enough to retire? He just got married his first year in office," said Chantelle, "He got married late, and from what I heard he uses charms to look younger," replied Regulus as they pulled to a stop at the train station.

Chantelle and Bree left Regulus to go and find a compartment to themselves; normally it was hard to find a compartment to yourself, but Bree and Chantelle knew that there were normally a few empty ones in the back because no one walked that far to find a compartment. When they reached the back of the train they found that the second to last compartment was empty and took their seats. Chantelle pulled down the blinds so that no one in the hall could see them; hopefully this would keep anyone from trying to join them. Also, before sitting down, Chantelle decided that it would be in her best interest to use a charm around the door so no one could listen in on what they were saying. "So, what went down with you Sirius at the party last night," asked Bree, in a voice that let Chantelle know she was never going to live this down, "Well after Peter came and took you away, Sirius came to sit by me and we got talking……" Chantelle continued to recap that previous night's events. "I can't believe you spent the whole party with someone you hate; or at least did hate," said Bree after Chantelle finished her story. "I never hated him; I just was mean to him because he was a Gryffindor. You could have even said we were friends as kids," said Chantelle, "I just had to make it look like I hated him so I could keep my spot on the Quidditch team." Chantelle said. "But what on earth made you go back to being nice to him all of the sudden? What if someone had seen you?" said Bree, "I know, I would have been kicked off the team, but on one was around to see and no one is going to find out because you aren't going to tell them." Chantelle saw the look on Bree's face and added in her defense, "It's not like we are in a relationship, it was just a onetime thing." said Chantelle, "Sure," said Bree, "We will just have to wait and see." "What's that suppose to mean?" questioned Chantelle, "Really, anything to do with me and Sirius is over," Bree just rolled her eyes, "You just didn't see the two of you acted together like I did," Bree said, turning her head to look out the window. Chantelle tired to get Bree to tell her what she meant, but Bree just told her she would get it in time.

After they finished their discussion of the night before and Chantelle gave up on trying to find out what Bree meant; the rest of the train ride was pretty uneventful. No ever came and joined the two girls in their compartment and they didn't bother to go find any of their other friends. Instead they just talked about Bree coming to see Chantelle over the summer, because it was the first summer they could without Chantelle off traveling with her dad.

The train came to a stop at King's Cross. The four boys had already said their final goodbyes and were off with their parents on their way home for the summer.

Sirius had been quiet for most of the ride home; listening to his parents and his brother Regulus talk about the school year and all that had happened. Or at least all that had happened in Slytherin house, seeing as those were the only events that their parents cared about. "….and I caught the snitch at the first Slytherin game of the season," Regulus went on talking. As much as Sirius hated his brother winning a game, it helped knowing that the game wasn't against Gryffindor and that Chantelle was the only reason the Slytherins ever won a game. Almost all members of the Slytherin Quidditch team were rich kids from powerful families that bought their way onto the team; and Chantelle could have been one of these kids as she came from a wealthy family, but she never needed to buy her spot because she was the only Slytherin Quidditch team player that could actually play Quidditch. A few other players on the team took lessons when they were younger or over the summer like Regulus, who took lessons on flying as a child; but none of the other Slytherins were natural flyer s from birth like Chantelle. Sirius knew that Quidditch meant the world to Chantelle, she had wanted to be a professional Quidditch player when she was younger and Sirius wouldn't doubt that she still felt the same way; anyone could see that Chantelle loved Quidditch just by watching her play.

Sirius listen to his brother go over other Slytherin wins from that year and after he had recapped all the Slytherin matches, or at least the ones that ended in Slytherin winning, Regulus started to tell his parents about the end of year party. Sirius wasn't really paying attention to his brother go over party details until his name was mentioned, "I heard you were there," said Regulus, turning to look at his brother. Sirius wondered how his brother knew; he knew it wasn't Chantelle, so another Slytherin must have noticed him. Then he wondered why he hadn't gotten kicked out of the party; and after thinking it over can to the conclusion that someone in Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff had noticed him or his friend and not told the Slytherins until morning. "What would a Gryffindor be doing at a Slytherin party?" asked his mom, using the same hateful, sharp voice she always used when talking about anything that had to do with Gryffindors. "It isn't like Slytherins were the only house there," said Sirius in his defense, "I went to hang out with people from Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw," he said, "Gate crashing is a very impolite behavior," said Mrs. Black, "and I will not have my con doing such things. As soon as we get home I am taking your broom away as punishment," she finished. "You can't," said Sirius, "I loaded it to James," he said. Sirius knew his mother was just using the party as an excuse to punish him. Even if he hadn't gate crashed his mom would have found something to punish him for until she could make his life absolutely miserable; that is why Sirius gave all his valuable possessions to James at the start of every summer to take care of and would get them back when he went to see him during the summer. "You should not load out things that are so important and valuable to you," said Mrs. Black, "perhaps I should punish you for not being responsible with your stuff too," said his mother. Sirius knew that the second he stepped into his house he would be spending as much of his summer in his room as his mother would allow because every time he would step out of it his mother would be finding something else to punish him for; and normally her punishments would involve some crazy impossible chore that he would get punished for doing incorrectly. Sirius was already counting down the day until he went to James's house and he wasn't even home yet. "I will have to think of a suitable punishment, but in the mean time," Mrs. Black said, "what were you saying Regulus?" Sirius thought it was amazing how his mom could go from mean and hateful towards him and then just switch to caring and loving when it came to his brother a split second later. Regulus then went on to continue talking about party details and who was there. After talking about the party at school, Regulus and his mother exchanged details they had heard about a party coming up next year; apparently the minster was throwing it for his retirement. Sirius felt a year was quite a bit of time to plan a party but didn't say anything, thinking that if he did his mother would remember he was there and punish him again for something stupid.

To say Chantelle was bored was an understatement. Chantelle's mom had picked her up from King's Cross about forty-five minutes ago and had since been filling her in on every detail of everything that had happen since she went to school. Chantelle had heard all about the local wizarding gossip, all the parties and how they went, and much more about a bunch of people she could care less about. Normally Chantelle would have spent the summer traveling with her dad, who wrote for a wizard magazine, but this summer would be spent with her mom. 'At least I can practice my Quidditch' thought Chantelle. She would miss spend the summer traveling with her dad, but her parents had decided that the some of the tombs her father would be visiting this summer were too dangerous for a young witch to go into until she could fully protect herself. Chantelle argued at first saying she could protect herself and that she got all good grades in defense spells at school, but her parents had just pointed out that she couldn't use her wand during the summer and they would not make an exception. "So the minster is holding a retirement party next year," said Chantelle's mom, cutting into her thoughts, "I heard," said Chantelle, "Isn't a year a bit long to plan a party?" "Not if you want the best people to perform at your party," Chantelle's mom responded, "Apparently I don't know enough about party planning," said Chantelle. "That comes from spending too much time with your dad," she replied, "It wouldn't kill you to be more feminine, you know." Chantelle knew her mom was probably going to try and do everything in her power over the summer to make Chantelle more girly, but it just wasn't going to happen. Chantelle's mom had this lifelong dream of her daughter growing up and getting married to some rich healer or minster and staying home to host parties with wealthy people and be the perfect house wife. But Chantelle wasn't like that; she didn't want to marry someone so they could support her and she didn't want to spend her whole life at home. Chantelle planned on growing up and playing Quidditch for a while and then when she got too old for that she wanted to work for the Minstery of Magic in either foreign affairs or wizard sports or maybe even aurors if she was up to it after all those years of Quidditch. Chantelle tried to tell her mom what she wanted to do with her life but her mom argued that Quidditch was dangerous, politics were boring and better left to others, and that in no way could Chantelle be an auror it was just too dangerous. Chantelle loved her mom, but wished her mom would see eye to eye with her and realize that she can't tell her daughter what to do with her life so she might as well accept it. Chantelle almost laugh when imagining what her mom's reaction would be like if she told her she was dating Sirius. It is a good thing for Chantelle's mom that the two of them could never date because of their houses, because Chantelle's mom would throw a fit. Chantelle knew that her mom hated Sirius, her mom was almost as mad as Mrs. Black herself to find out Sirius had been picked for Gryffindor. Chantelle knew that deep down her mom wasn't mad that he was in Gryffindor, but because he betrayed his family. In fact Chantelle's mom had never really cared about house, seeing as she was a Slytherin who married Ravenclaw; Chantelle's mom had said that one should always stick with their family because it is more important than anything else. Chantelle feared the day that she went to play professional Quidditch almost as much as she was looking forward to it because she knew there was a high chance it would ruin any relationship between her and her mom.

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