The Chronicles of Fayt

Chapter Twenty: Gives You Hell

Sirius Black's POV

Hogwarts- His Office

I paced nervously and ran my fingers through my hair as I compulsively fixed it and adjusted my clothes for the fiftieth time this past hour. Harry was coming. No, Jason Black who was secretly Harry was coming. I resisted the urge to go fix my clothes. Again. Why was I so nervous? I was just meeting with someone who I'd thought was gone forever.

I almost jumped out of my skin when I heard a knock at my office door. I walked over and opened the door. "Har- Jason- uh, Mr. Black. Jason." That went well.

"Uhm, hi Professor Black."

"I'm not teaching next year." I opened the door further and let him in. "Feel free to call me Sirius."

"You're not teaching?"

"Uh, no. I'm not." I sat on the edge of my desk. "I've got things to attend to. I only taught this year because Dumbledore couldn't find anyone else. He was desperate for a teacher. Another person has already been found for next year. Some guy named Lockheart. He's a big writer. He's a guy who travels the world fighting dark creatures. I've never read any of his work really."

"Oh." Har- Jason shuffled his feet awkwardly. "Okay then."

"Well, umm, I was talking to Dumbledore. He brought you up. Said that didn't really want to go back to the orphanage."

"It's not that fun when James isn't there. Some of the older guys would push me around because he wasn't there to protect me from them. I've pretty much been able to protect myself the past year, but… it's better if family is there." That's right… James Thompson was like an older brother.

I nodded though. "Well, when You-Know-Who was alive and had followers, things were pretty bad." He looked confused so I got to my point. "Your parents were good friends of mine. They, uh, asked me that should anything happen to them, that I would take you in. Just in case. They were pretty outspoken against the Death Eaters and were worried you were going to live with muggles who couldn't protect you."

"The people who gave me up."

"Uh, yes. Those muggles." I shuffled my feet awkwardly. "Well, I was wondering if since you didn't want to go live at the orphanage, and because I'm not in Azkaban anymore, well, I've been having my old house fixed up. It was pretty bad. Well, it's fixed now and I was thinking that maybe you'd come live with me. I mean… I get it if you don't. You don't really know me outside of class, but, I figured you'd maybe want to." I took a deep breath, waiting for his answer.

~!#$%^&*()_+

Jason Black's POV

Live with Professor Black- Sirius? Leave James for the summer? They really didn't like us wandering around the town. The orphanage wasn't in the best neighborhood. "I'd be leaving James."

"Oh. Uh, right. Thompson." Bl- Sirius paused. "Well, I mean, he's seventeen. An adult. He could get emancipated in the muggle world and leave. He probably was only going back for you."

"I don't know." Did he expect me to jump at it? Well, if I was honest I kind of wanted to just say yes, but what about James? "It's a lot to take in."

"Yeah, I know. But if I started things now, you might not have to go back. You could just come live with me. I mean… you don't want to go back, right?"

"Not particularly. It's not the greatest place to live."

Sirius threw me a smile. "You'd get your own room."

I almost laughed. "Maybe. Can I have a little time to think?"

Bl- Sirius nodded. "Yeah, of course! Go ahead, but, before you leave, I found these. You could hide them in your trunk, I don't think you want people seeing them. I had to write a friend but I got a bunch of pictures." He handed me a leather bound book and I opened it to see three boys around my age smiling and laughing at the camera. "It's a bunch of pictures of your dad, Remus and me. Remus is the brown-haired one. There's me and James." The boy who looked like I actually looked was my dad. "It goes close to chronological order. Us all the way to about twenty. Later on you'll see Lily. She hated James until about Seventh Year." He flipped until close to the end. "Sixth year, her and Remmy. She was better friends with him than the rest of us."

I flipped through and saw when she started showing up more and more. "The wedding?"

"Yeah, I was the best man." He told a couple of quick stories as I flipped through. "Lily got mad at me for my speech. I just wanted to know what she expected of me." He laughed. I eventually saw pictures of myself. "James was ridiculously proud. For months all he could talk about was you. You looked just like him. Well, not right now because of the Metamorphagus thing, but you know what I mean. You had your mothers eyes. Do you still have green eyes?"

I nodded. "Yeah. I changed them though." He nodded and told me stories about the stupid things they'd been doing in each picture as the three boys moved through ten years. I'd flipped back to the beginning. I'd notice there were more pictures during summer breaks. The Potters, my grandparents, had all but adopted Sirius and my grandmother was camera happy and loved documenting everything. He had a lot of pictures from summer break.

"I loved when I was at the Potters. My parents were mad at me for not being a good little muggle hating pureblood. Also, I wasn't in Slytherin like I was supposed to be." Sirius looked a little far away. "The Potters were more of parents then mine. If you come live with me I'll show you my room. I permanently stuck muggle posters of rock bands and Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition girls to the walls. I did anything possible to make them angry." He laughed. "I was a horrible child. At least to them. The Potters loved me."

"Who's that?" I pointed to a picture of Sirius, my dad and a girl on the beach.

"Oh, I dated a muggle in France one summer. She thought my accent was sexy. I thought she was hot. We were a perfect couple. And she was a damn good kisser. I broke up with her once we went back to Britain." He pointed to a sick looking Remus. "We went to a muggle amusement park. Remus hated the roller coaster. He almost threw up. Poor guy." It took an hour and a half for Sirius to finish half the book of pictures. We'd gotten to half-way through fifth year.

"Well, as fun as relieving my stupider moments was, you should probably put this away and head to dinner." I looked at the clock in shock. I didn't think I'd spent that long here.

"Wow. Thanks for the book."

He smiled at me. "No problem. I actually had a good time finding all the pictures with Remus. It'd been a while since we'd hung out."

"Did he question why you were doing this?"

"Yeah. I told him I wanted to. He told me to stop being such a woman, but he helped anyway. And made me dinner. I never say no to free food."

"That didn't sound gay."

I thought it'd been a quiet mumble but his glare made me think otherwise. "Anyway. Dinner, relieving all these memories has made me quiet hungry. You can leave that here or in your trunk."

I thought it over. "My trunk isn't very secure. I'd rather it stay here. James and his friends have a habit of stealing my broom."

Sirius nodded. "Just stick it on the shelf." I got up and shoved it between two defense books. I looked curiously at a picture of a dark-haired girl in a frame.

"Who's this girl?"

Sirius paused. "Just an old girlfriend. We dated right before things got bad. Haven't seen her since. Don't know what happened to her. Probably married by now. She's what… twenty-nine?" He picked up the frame. "Doesn't matter now any way. Probably forgotten about me." Somehow, I doubt a girl would forget dating Sirius Black, especially when she dated him right as he was going to Azkaban.

~!#$%^&*()_+

I sat at the Ravenclaw tables as people again thanked me for winning the House and Quidditch Cup. I couldn't help but staring at the blue and bronze tapestries where there was usually Hogwarts crests. I shoveled the better than usual feast food into my mouth in between bouts of retelling the story of the Philosopher's Stone rescue. It was a pretty awesome story.

"Silence!" Dumbledore stood and waved for the crowd to quiet. I wanted to loudly talk over him. 'My hands are tied.' Yeah, right. Still, Sirius's idea of telling the press my heroic tale was pure gold. The public loved me. More than before, at least. Sirius's bit about me saving him made it even better. Now, the only people with tied hands were the members of the school board. Hah!

"Now, I know the school has been buzzing about the exploits of three students." Insert cheering. "But, I must remind you all to not encourage other students to break school rules." Insert boos and people talking. "While the rule breaking was beneficial in the long run, I must remind you that it was just that, rule breaking." Insert more boos. "Silence!" Dumbledore glared. "Now, due to certain students breaking the rules, twenty-five points for each student." The blue banners rolled up and were replaced with Slytherin green and silver. The students booing drowned out Slytherin's cheers and I was seriously about to hit Dumbledore.

"And, because said actions resulted in my injuries being healed faster, twenty points to Ravenclaw, and ten to Gryffindor." I just about hugged Sirius. The banners were again replaced with the proper blue and bronze. Looking at Dumbledore he was pissed. I mean really pissed. "I think it's time to continue with the feast." The students, minus Slytherin, cheered and began to dig into the food again.

The way Dumbledore was glaring gave me the impression that even if he could've come back, or wanted to, Sirius wouldn't be teaching again next year. I ignored the silent battle at the head table and chatted animatedly with Neville and Hermione as I shoved food in my mouth. Occasionally Ron leaned over from the Gryffindor table and joined in, the same went for the Twins as well. James though, he was oddly silent, and it wasn't until the next day on the train that he broke his silence.

~!#$%^&*()_+

"Hey, you all mind if I steal Jason?" James poked his head into our compartment that consisted of Nev, Hermione, Ron, Fred, George, the three chasers from Gryffindor and myself.

"It's cool." I stood and followed James into the main hall along the train. He tugged me into an empty compartment. I shook out of his tight grip. "Dude, what's your problem?"

James looked angry. "What's my problem? What's my problem? I should be asking you what's wrong with you!"

I looked at him in disbelief. "You think I'm the one with the issue? You're the one acting all moody and angsty for no reason!"

James let out a humorless laugh. "You are defiantly the one with the issue. What happened to never getting adopted and leaving the other one behind, huh? What happened to not leaving? What happened?"

I sat in a seat. "That's your big issue? I'm still going to Hogwarts."

"I'm supposed to just chill at the orphanage for three months? You know they all give me crap for going off to a boarding school."

I thought about it. "Get emancipated. Don't go back to the orphanage, live in the Leaky Cauldron if you have too. I talked to Sirius about it."

"If Sirius said it, then it has to be true!"

I glared at him. "Don't be an ass James."

"How the hell am I supposed to support myself? With what money should I do this with? Honestly Jason, use the pea-sized brain up there." James rapped me on the head with his knuckles.

"Hey back off!" I smacked his hand away. "I don't have to deal with your crap!" I stood up and pushed out of the compartment. "Asshole."

"Hey!" James grabbed me by the back of my robes. "Watch who you're calling an asshole you dick!" I spun around and ducked before throwing my shoulder into his gut. James doubled over and grunted in pain. "You little!" He didn't have time to finish his threat before I threw my entire body into a punch. James spun and hit the compartment wall, bloody spraying from his nose. He turned back, blood dripping down his face and eyes burning. I ducked under his fist and couldn't dodge the knee that smashed me in the face.

The world spun as my head smashed into the compartment window. I didn't stay down for long and threw myself at James. He stumbled back and I hit his already injured face with my forearm. He grunted in pain and threw me back. I didn't see his fist come out of nowhere and make the edges of my vision black. I threw a blind punch and was rewarded with a satisfying crunch. I was suddenly thrown back. I wiped the blood out of my eyes and saw a bloody James being tackled to the ground by Nick and a sixth year Gryffindor. I looked down to see arms wrapped around my torso. I flailed my arms and kicked the person holding me back. I was a bit shocked to see the crowd of people. I hadn't noticed anyone gathering around us. "Let me go!" I again struck blindly at the person holding me back. I kicked at his knees and he grunted and let me go. I made a lunge and managed to get one punch in before I was hauled back and pinned to the ground.

I struggled against the person sitting on my back.

"Did anyone see what set the fight off?" The people around us were whispering. "Someone get a prefect or something!"

"Who was fighting?" I heard Hermione. "Jason! What were you thinking?" People were pushed aside and my friends pushed their way through. "Get off him Fred."

"He already kicked George. He's a violent little dude. Must be the Mohawk."

"Why were he and James fighting?"

Fred got off and hauled me to my feet. "Dunno. Jason actually held his own. Pretty good for a twelve year old." I wiped my sleeve against my face and winced. I must be a bloody mess.

"What happened?" I pushed my way through the people and to the nearest bathroom. "Jason Alexander Black!" Hermione followed me as I threw open the bathroom door. I took off my shirt and stuck it under the tap. I turned on the cold water and started wiping the blood off my face. "Jason, why on earth were you and James fighting?"

"'Cause he's a jerk." I winced as I dabbed at the cut on my forehead. It was bleeding pretty badly. Must be why I couldn't see earlier

"That's not an answer." Neville poked his head in and winced. "Ouch, that has to hurt."

"Just a little." I hissed in pain.

"That's not going to help any; you're not stopping the bleeding."

I turned and threw her a hard look. "You got any better ideas?"

She sighed. "I'll be right back." I stuck my wet shirt under the tap and grimaced at the red water swirling down the pipes. I wiped more blood off my face. That was going to leave a mark. "Here. Sit Jason." She pulled out a muggle first aid kit. "My mother is paranoid and stuck this in my trunk. Sit down." I grudgingly sat.

"No ointments. No pills."

She rolled her eyes. "I thought you were okay with muggle pills so long as they weren't from a doctor's office."

"You're mum's a doctor."

"She's a dentist actually." Hermione used some sterile wipes and I hissed in pain as the alcohol burned my cut. "I didn't even touch you Jason." I ignored her and grimaced as she cleaned the scrape. "How did he even manage to cut you with a punch?" I didn't answer as she'd just dabbed at the scrape again and I was trying not to smack her hand away as she tried to help. Tried being the key word. I was fine with my less than perfect first aid skills. "Are dentists okay?"

She held up a tube of Neosporin plus Pain Relief. "Dentists don't kill people." She rolled her eyes at me before rubbing the ointment on the gash on my forehead. "Owie…"

"Don't get in fights."

"James started it. He's being an ass. Not my fault."

She finished taping the gauze on my cut. She looked at me sideways. "That's bleeding a lot, Jason. I think you need stitches." My eyes bugged and I dashed out of the bathroom and got stopped halfway to the compartment.

"Whoa…" The girl James had been in an argument with earlier, and Sirius's niece… second cousin, something, stopped me. "Somebody mention doctors again?"

"Stitches actually."

"No stitches in the magical world. That's a pretty nasty cut. Want me to heal it? It's about to bleed all over you again. James really landed one on you."

"You saw?"

"Yep. I was cheering you on. It was fun to see James get his ass kicked by a firstie. Still, want me to heal that?" I nodded and she pulled out her wand and my forehead itched like crazy. "I've had more than my fair share of bumps. Your lips busted too… here." She muttered the same spell and my lip knit back together.

"Thanks."

She shrugged. "No problem. Anyone who takes that idiot down a peg deserves a break."

"You know, James made you sound like a right bitch, but you're not acting like one. What really happened?"

She laughed and leaned against the wall. "James had a problem when we'd go out. I don't usually date guys with wandering eyes, they tend to not be the most faithful of the lot."

I shook my head. "He would say you accused him of cheating."

"I didn't. He just saw it like that. He's got an issue with admitting he's wrong. He's got a thick head. Probably why you ended up in a fight with him."

"Yeah." I rubbed my newly injury free head. "He's an idiot."

"Knock him around a few times for me."

I laughed. "Will do. He'll apologize tomorrow and we'll get in another fight in a few weeks."

"You two fight often?"

"This past year was the longest we've gone without a serious fist fight."

"Brotherly love."

"Pretty much, but, I gotta go hide from doctors…" I slipped back into the compartment where Fred and George were waiting.

"Ah, the young apprentice has finally learned how to chat up the ladies," "And with no shirt on." "He's got some skills." "Definitely." "The ladies better watch out for him." I looked down. Hey, I wasn't wearing a shirt. I'd left my bloody one in the bathroom. Whoops. "By the way…" "If you come by our house this summer," "Shirts must be worn around out little sister."

I waved the twins off. "Somehow I don't see me hitting on your little sister or my brothers ex-girlfriend who just so happens to be six years older than me."

Fred started, "What's wrong with my little sister?" "What's wrong with dating your brothers ex's?" "He's not dating them." "And there is nothing wrong with older women!"

"Nothing, just saying. Lot's of things. True, and no there isn't. I just don't think they're interested in me." I grinned and the twins high fived me.

"See Ron, there is nothing wrong with him. He can keep up with us!" I pulled my trunk down and pulled out a new shirt.

"I'm just smart!" I tugged the shirt over my head as Hermione and Neville re-entered. "No stitches!" I glared at Hermione and ripped off the bandage.

"What happened to the cuts?"

"Sexy older women. Never doubt the power of talking to hot babes while topless."

"You are such a pig."

"She wasn't topless… I was. Just to clear that up." I paused. "I wouldn't have minded really…" I ducked as Hermione tried to slap me. "Ahh! What? I'm a guy!"

~!#$%^&*()_+

I stepped onto the platform and scanned the crowd. "Hey! Jason, come meet our mum! She'll love you!" "Yeah! You saved her ickle Ronnikins!"

"Don't call me Ronnikins!"

I was tugged by the twins towards a short woman with flaming red hair that had her hand on the shoulder of a girl who looked about ten. "Mum! There's the twins and Ron!" The girl pointed to us and the woman turned and smiled at Ron then gave the two maniacs tugging on me odd looks. I had a feeling she was another person who would lecture me on my style of hair.

"Hello boys!" The woman, I assumed Mrs. Weasley, pulled Ron into a tight hug and repeated the gesture on Fred and George, who claimed to be the other twin. I was pretty sure she had it right though. "And who's your friend?"

"This is Jason Black, the kid in the papers and who saved Ron from Pettigrew! We thought you'd like to meet him. After all, the kid is a hero." Mrs. Weasley pulled me into a bone crushing hug.

"Well, then, I guess I do owe you a thank you! You've gotten that incompetent fool out of office and saved my little boy." I don't think Ron appreciated the title of "Little boy".

"Ah, it was nothing, really."

"Of course it was something!"

I turned as Hermione called me. "Jason!" I waved and she motioned for me to come over. "Come here!"

"Uh, it was nice meeting you Mrs. Weasley. Bye Fred, George, Ron." I waved and dragged my trunk over to Hermione. Once I fought my way through the crowd I saw Neville and an older woman, probably his grandmother. "Hi."

"Jason, this is my grandmother. Grandmother, Jason Black."

"Hello Mrs. Longbottom."

She sent me a glare. "A pleasure." I didn't think she looked very pleased…

"Well, my parents are on the other side of the barrier." I looked over at Hermione. "I've got to go. Bye guys." Hermione gave me and Neville quick hugs before walking off the platform and through the barriers.

"Well, we must be going Neville."

"Oh, right. Bye Jason. Write me with that owl." He pointed to the cage perched on my trunk with my never once used owl, Hedwig.

"I will. Bye, Neville." I waved as he disappeared. "Now, to wait for Sirius." I dragged my trunk, again, to a spot just under the clock. I sat on my trunk and watched as people slowly trickled out of the station. I had to admit; it stung when James walked right by with his friends and didn't even look at me. A couple of his friends looked back and shrugged. Once they'd left I rested my chin on my hands and tried to not look hurt or angry.

"Jason?" I started when I looked up and saw Sirius towering over me. "Time to go." He grabbed my trunk and dragged it to a trolley. "What were you thinking about? You looked pretty angry."

I shrugged. "Nothing much. James is being an ass."

"Why?"

I looked down at me feet as we walked out of the barrier and into muggle London. "Because. When we were little we made a promise. We wouldn't get adopted unless the other came with."

"Oh." Sirius scratched the back of his head as we wound our way through the crowds. "Well, that's an issue." He stopped outside a plain black car and pulled out a set of keys before unlocking the trunk. (Boot for you Brits or other non-American places out there that don't call it a trunk) He hauled the trunk in and slammed the back. "Want to just put your owl on your lap?" I nodded and he handed me my owls cage. "Well, what are you going to do about James?"

I shrugged and looked out the window. "I really don't know. We've gotten in fights before." I gulped. He'd never really been right before though.

"Will he just get over it?"

"Probably not."

"Is he going back to the orphanage?"

"Yeah. His friends are all full. No room for an orphan."

"Sounds like jerk parents."

"We're used to it. It's always been that way."

"Why doesn't he live in Wizard London?"

"No money. We're poor orphan children."

"Right… what about the Leaky Cauldron? Tom always needs extra help in the summer. A boost in business with all the Hogwarts kids on break. He'd be happy to pay James a little less and give him a room and food."

"Really?"

Sirius grinned at me as we pulled out of the parking lot and into traffic. "Sure, how do ya think I made it between sixth and seventh year as a poor homeless kid?"

"You had a home."

He laughed. "Not after I told my dad to go fuck You-Know-Who if he loved the cause so much. He didn't think it was very funny. He didn't think my telling him where he could shove his big fat bigoted head was funny either. Or me saying he was cranky because my mom was too ugly to fuck so he was just sex deprived and jealous of me because I wasn't." Sirius looked thoughtful. "Come to think of it, he never really thought I was funny. I wonder why. He probably just had a stick up his ass. My mom was sadistic enough to do that." I looked at Sirius oddly. Not many people could talk about their parents that way. I'd probably puke due to bad images.

"Anyway. Write James about the Leaky Cauldron. Tom's happy to hire students."

"If he has a job in the Wizard world then he won't get the student fund."

"Tom pays more than a hundred. Don't worry about James. He'll be fine." Sirius stopped in a rather poor area of town. "You blend right in kid." He opened the trunk and pulled out my things. "Here we are. Home sweet home. Right smack dab in the crappy area of London. The oh so noble and ancient House of Black. Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place." I looked at the large townhouse.

"Sounds like Grim Old Place."

"Probably because it is one." Sirius unlocked the door and stepped in. Gas lamps flickered to life and a small creature popped into existence. I screamed and kicked at the rat thing.

"Ah! The master's bastard child is violent!"

"Shut up creature!"

"What is that thing?!"

"This is my House Elf, Kreature. Ignore him. He's just rude. He won't actually do anything violent."

"Why'd it call me your bastard child?"

Sirius paused. "That's right… you see, press caught wind that you were adopted by me and rumors went flying because of your name. I said that an ex of mine approached me and said you were mine. I also said she'd claimed to have miscarried so I didn't know. She raised you on her own in the muggle world before giving you up. Because she thought you were going to be a murder, like I was supposed to be. You were dropped off and for all the digging the press will do the story checks out because I refuse to give your uh, "Mother's" name up and you have no history."

I nodded. "And I didn't hear of this why?"

"I gave the interview today. It'll be in tomorrow's newspaper. The sob story of a young boy and father reunited. The public will eat it up. Plus, Malfoy can't try and expel you because we are unfortunately now related."

"Seriously?"

Sirius nodded and opened up a door in the upstairs. "Malfoy Jr. is my… second cousin? I don't care really, but my cousin, Narcissa, is his mother. Tonks, the seventh year, her mom is my cousin, and the psycho mass murder Bellatrix Lestrange is my cousin as well. My family is wonderful. In fact, my brother Regulus, my parents loved him more than me, he got killed in the first war by his own side. The Black Family is a great one. Well, other than Andy. She's cool. One of the other black sheep. We were the only two that didn't turn out dark. We were kicked out of the family. Me when I ran away and her when she ran off and married Ted, a muggleborn. She was in Ravenclaw, not a huge disappointment, but better than Gryffindor."

I stared at him. "You're family is nuts."

"Oh yeah, I know. Probably why I left." He set my trunk at the foot of the King sized bed. "You can redecorate. I wasn't planning on guests…" He gestured to the drab wallpaper. "Needs some paint. New lights… you can decide, I really don't care so long as it's not silver and green or pink with fluffy bunnies."

I nodded. "This is… big."

He looked around. "The Black's used to be stinking rich before my grandfather blew the money. But, we're rich again because my paychecks went unspent pretty much and I got a ton of money from the government and the interest from not spending a knut while in Azkaban."

"Oh." Wow. I was rich. That was new. And unusual. I'd need some time to get used to that. A lot of time.

"So. Here you are. Feel free to move furnature, burn it. Whatever." Sirius back out of the room and closed the door. I flopped onto my new bed in my new room in my new house that was owned by my rich new father. Weird.

~!#$%^&*()_+

Freakishly long last chapter of the first book. Twelve pages long and over 5000 words. New record. Yay me. So. Poll is open. Don't waste votes on First Year as it is over with! Done! Whoo! I finished something on here! You should all be proud. It only took me like, a year!