I AM SO SORRY IT'S BEEN SO LONG! I have a few more chapters written up though, i promise! I'll be posting those soon. Hopefully the length of this makes up for the wait a bit :/ PLEASE REVIEW!

I HATE MY MOTHER! AJ fumed. They were about to enter the Hall where the Pureblood Convention was being held. AJ had just been forced into two hours of being primped. This was only one thing to add to her rapidly lengthening list of things to hate about her mother. Among them were being a purist, secluding her from potential friends, treating her like a fragile little girl… she could go on forever.

AJ fidgeted as her mother placed the final spells to keep AJ's clothes looking presentable. AJ was curious however as to why she was this dressed up. Mrs. Jenkins had made AJ wear a dark blue halter-top dress. There were some diamonds scattered along the top of it. Dark blue ribbons tied the dress around her neck and tied her hair up. She was wearing black heels and a diamond necklace. She also had diamond studs in her ears. AJ actually looked very elegant, which was cause for her to pout. The last time AJ had been this dressed up it had been for a wedding, and AJ hated weddings.

"Mother," she whined, "I am not going into the ballroom dressed like this!"

"Alice Jenkins, if you want to keep your new puppy alive then I suggest you do not complain about that again," her mother hissed.

"Too late mother," AJ replied, "You beheaded him three days ago."

Mrs. Jenkins's pulled out her wand as a threat. "Alice, keep your disrespectful little mouth shut!"

With that, the large mahogany doors before them were thrown open. They were ushered in and AJ glanced around, bored. This Convention looked just like every other Convention. The ballroom was the size of multiple American football fields. It had white walls, white marble floors, white marble columns and small niches spaced out along the walls. These could fit four adults at most. The niches each contained a padded bench, colored in shades of dark green and black.

AJ looked around for another minute before deciding that she was wasting her time.

"Oh yay. Another year, another Convention full of the same, old, boring, stuck up purebloods. I wish there was something interesting here." She thought a moment longer. "A PRANK. Too bad mother would have me skinned alive for misbehav- oh who am I kidding. I'll never behave good enough for her. But who to prank…and with what?"

Glacing around slyly AJ spotted a horrible looking woman wearing a black fur coat.

"Perfect."

She began slinking toward the woman.

The nails quickly dug into her shoulder again. Merlin those nails were getting annoying! This time the grip was hard enough to bruise. Her mother quickly turned her around.

"You read my mind Alice, Let us go speak to Walburga Black. I'm sure she would be delighted to meet you." AJ nearly laughed aloud at the woman's name. What kind of name is Walburga? Then again, they were purebloods, weird names were almost part of the job description. Unfortunately for AJ, at that moment she realized that the woman her mother was speaking of, 'Walburga,' was the woman in the black fur coat.

Mrs. Jenkins expertly led them through the crowd until they were in place before Mrs. Black. Upon closer inspection, AJ noticed that this woman had black hair, expertly arranged in a bun. Her otherwise flawless face was marred by a condescending smirk. The pureblood smirk. Every pureblood family had one, only slightly differing from the other families. Walburga Black's perfectly manicured fingernails tapped against her champagne glass impatiently, watching mother and daughter approach.

The two women greeted each other formally, with a slight peck on each cheek. Then AJ's mother spoke. It was in such an oversweet tone that it caused AJ to cringe.

"Walburga, darling, I haven't seen you in such an extraordinarily long while! How is your husband, Orion, faring?"

"He is faring quite well," Walburga spoke with a smirk. Her tones were very silky and sophisticated, and like AJ's mother's voice, laced with false kindness. "Thank you for asking Loraine dear. It has been such a long time since we last spoke face-to-face. I have missed your presence dearly at the past few Conventions.

The two women continued with the pleasantries for a while before something they said caught AJ's attention.

"Walburga, do you believe it is time to inform the children?"

AJ glanced around for the aforementioned children, but was only met by the sight of adult men and women around her. She didn't see any children beside herself. She thought that maybe her mother was finally going off her rocker. Maybe that beheaded dog thing was the last straw?

"Loraine, what a splendid idea!" She then spoke to the air. "Kreatcher!" AJ jumped at the sudden harsh, evil tone. The summons was immediately followed by a pop and a short creature appeared by her side. It had large oversized ears, arms, and feet. It also had odd burns on its hands and a spreading bruise on its forehead. It's only clothes were a tattered cloth that looked as though it used to be white. The house elf bowed low to Mrs. Black. "Kreatcher, go collect Sirius. NOW!" She gave the poor creature a kick for extra measure and he left with another pop.

Moments later Kreatcher returned, dragging a squirming, protesting boy. AJ watched the boy with interest. The boy however stopped squirming the moment he spotted her. He stood up slowly and gazed at her. They sized each other up as the two women resumed chatting.

Seconds later the women turned to the two children. They both had odd glints in their eyes and were smirking. Both kids knew that this definitely did not bode well. The smirk alone told them that they were not going to be happy, but add in the evil glint that was in their eyes and the kids knew that they should probably start finalizing funeral plans.

"Sirius," his mother began. This was highly unnecessary for he was already staring at her in silence. "This Is Alice Marie Jenkins."

"My name is AJ!" AJ muttered under her breath. Fortunately only the boy heard and he only gave her a quick glance before he was again watching his mother.

"Alice," her own mother began. ("AJ" was once again murmured.) "This is young Sirius Black. Heir to the House of Black."

AJ desperately wanted to say "so," but she knew that she was already walking on thin ice, so instead she contented herself with merely a raised eyebrow. Her mother took a large breath. "We thought we would tell both of you the following information so that you wouldn't shame us by fainting on stage."

They both were staring avidly at their mothers, their curiosity peaked. Their mothers were normally too proper to act in such a roundabout manner. Whatever it was that they were about to say was definitely going to be big. After what seemed like a century the two women stated in unison, "You are betrothed."