The Untold Story

Chapter 19: The Start of a War

January 3, 1972

"I can't find my essay!" James said as he threw his stuff everywhere much to the amusement of the Black heir.

"Maybe you lost it in that nest of yours." Sirius drawled as he gestured towards the general mess that was James hair.

"Quit teasing." Remus disapprovingly frowned at Sirius, missing James sticking his tongue out at Sirius.

"But he just…." Sirius protested, but Remus's glare caused him to decide against saying anything else.

"I'm sure you'll find it." Peter told James reassuringly.

"It's fine. If I can't find it, I'll just copy off Remus's. You'll help right?" He asked as he looked at the said first year. Remus raised an eyebrow in irritation before he sighed. "Thank you!" James launched himself at Remus. "You're the best!" Remus barely maintained his balance as James barreled into him.

"I'll help you. That doesn't mean you can copy off my essay." Remus clarified.

"What?" James pulled away his face pouting, crestfallen. "Aww."

"Quit moping." Sirius lightly punched James's shoulder. "At least he offered to help."

"Can we go?" Peter interrupted. "I'm starving." The boys descended down the castle and to the Great Hall, telling each other stories about their Christmas.

"Sirius!" A familiar voice called. The boys turned and spotted Andromeda.

"Hey Andy." Sirius greeted. "I'll see you in the Great Hall." He told his friends before making his way towards his cousin.

"How was the rest of your break?" Andy asked as she casually led him away from the hall.

"Good." Sirius lied. "Yours?"

"Brilliant." Andy muttered darkly as she stopped in a secluded part of the castle. "My engagement with Rabastan will be during the spring and they plan on marrying me off in the summer." she faced away from him, her face shadowed.

"Of course it is." Sirius said bitterly as he leaned against a wall. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm running away with Ted." When she turned, her eyes gleamed with determination. Sirius smirked. This is why she was his favorite cousin.

"So, do I get to see the guy? Or do I not get to see the unlucky bastard who has to spend the rest of their miserable life with you?" He teased.

"Ouch." Andy said dryly, before slapping him lightly. "Is that how you address your elders?" They both smiled at each other before Andy sobered up and stared at a corner of the room. A shadow moved to reveal a tall handsome young man. He smiled warmly at Sirius. Andy went to stand next to him. "Sirius meed Edward Tonks, Ted meet Sirius Orion Black." she introduced them.

"Hello, nice to meet you." Sirius masked all emotion and greeted him with the famous mask of the members of his family.

"Hi, it's nice to meet you as well." The young man smiled easily, despite Sirius's cold demeanor. Andy smiled as she watched her cousin stare at her beloved calculatingly.

"Honestly, if you're trying to scare him away. It's not going to work." Andy said as she slipped her hand into Ted's. "After all, he's had to put up with me for a while."

"What do you mean by a while? How long has this been going on?" Sirius asked, his mask falling away as he decided he didn't mind Ted.

"A while." Ted answered vaguely as he looked at Andy lovingly. The two stared at each other as Sirius grinned before clearing his throat.

"Sorry to interrupt, but there are children present." Sirius said, struggling to keep a straight face as Ted blushed.

"S'il te plaît, comme si tu comptais comme un enfant. Qu'est-ce que vous pensez?" (Please, as if you would count as a child. What do you think?) Andy asked. Sirius looked at Ted before making a serious face.

"En tant que futur Lord Black, j'approuve." (As future Lord Black, I approve.) He smiled at Andy's expression of delight. "Also, I believe my own love for food is calling." Sirius winked before waving. "See you around cousin, and it was a pleasure to make your acquaintance Ted" With that he walked away, leaving Andy and Ted alone.

Now, he had more serious matters to attend to: Breakfast.

Unbelievable, Severus thought as he stared at his pale, sallow face. The purple bruises beneath his eyes matched the fresh ones on his back. Thanks for the late Christmas present father he thought bitterly as he yanked his shirt over the bruises. Fortunately, due to his mother's salves the worst of his beatings had healed. Severus leaned against a wall and sighed quietly, closing his eyes. You're safe again Severus reassured himself. For now all he had to worry about was hiding his new weaknesses from the rest of Slytherin. Quickly but carefully, Severus donned his robes and went down to the Great Hall.

"How was your break Snape?" A cool familiar voice said from beside him.

"It was fine. Yours? I heard you held a party, how was it?" Severus asked politely as he ate. Over the few months here, he'd picked up table manners and etiquettes very quickly. Now, he had no trouble distinguishing a tablespoon from a dessert spoon, or a salad fork versus a dinner fork.

"It went well." Malfoy answered vaguely. "Next year, you should come as well." Severus paused and chewed thoughtfully.

"Is that an invitation?" Severus asked.

"If you want it to be." Malfoy replied.

"And if it isn't?" Severus asked. Malfoy sighed.

"You're a cynical one." He muttered exasperatedly.

"In my experience, cynicism hasn't failed to keep ill-bearers away." Severus smoothly replied. Malfoy smirked before wiping his mouth with a napkin.

"So it has." Malfoy looked at Severus appraisingly. The dark haired boy didn't turn, but continued to eat his breakfast. Malfoy frowned, was it just him or did the boy seem worse after break? The boy looked up at him and he casually averted his eyes. No, his eyes were playing tricks on him, the boy was just tired Malfoy justified as he looked at the bags under Severus's eyes. "You should try to get more sleep." Malfoy advised. "Failure to take care of oneself can potentially lead to a failure of one or multiple classes." Severus nodded curtly.

"Of course." Severus said. Malfoy seemed to be in a noticeably good mood. I wonder why Severus thought warily before he saw Malfoy stare at the younger Black sister. Severus turned away remembering something Malfoy said to the older Black sister about a marriage proposal. Perhaps it worked out Severus thought. He felt a pair of eyes on him and turned to spot Lily looking at him. She gave him a discreet thumbs up and mouthed 'Everything good?'. He nodded, and she smiled. Well, at least some things never change, Severus thought as he smiled to himself.

"How was your break Lily-flower?" James asked.

"Fine." Lily answered curtly as she poured pumpkin juice into her goblet. Hogwarts was great, and then there was James.

"Won't you ask about my break?" James asked. Lily turned away and faced Marlene.

"How was your break Marlene?" Marlene looked over at Lily and then James's hurt expression and laughed.

"Honestly, give up already." Alice told James as she looked up and noticed the commotion.

"And admit defeat?" James asked. "Never." Lily rolled her eyes before standing and walking out. Leave it to James Potter to ruin the start of a perfectly good day. "Hey! Lily-flower!" He followed me! Mortified, Lily sped towards the nearest girl's bathroom. She quickly ran inside and slipped into an empty stall.

Confused, James looked at the empty corridor. Where did she go? Oh well, James shrugged his shoulder and decided he'd give her her forgotten potions notebook in class. He began walking back towards the Great Hall when two red headed twins stopped him. "A little birdy told us that you pranked the Slytherins a while back." They started.

"I don't know what you're talking about." James said as he remembered his promise to Sirius.

"We think you do." One said. "And we don't like it one bit." The other finished. "Although, we do have to admit the brilliance of your prank." They said together.

"I don't want to run late to class." James lied as he tried to side step them. They blocked him.

"You won't." the twins assured him. Then he remembered something.

"You're the Prewett twins!" James said as he recognized them.

"Look at that Fab." Gideon said smugly. "We're famous."

"We have a proposition for you." Fabian said, ignoring his twin. "A competition." James shook his head.

"Not interested." He lied. Truth be told, he was very interested.

"A competition to determine the best pranksters." The two said at once.

"And what if we said we were interested?" A familiar voice asked from behind James. He turned to see Sirius. The Black heir had a mad glint in his eyes. He winked at James and James grinned.

"Then we'd reply that both parties will have the rest of this month to prepare, and next month we will begin our prank war in which we do a prank every day, you on the even days and us on the odd days."

"And the winner will be the group with the best pranks?" James asked. Fabian and Gideon nodded, grinning.

"What's the catch?" Sirius asked.

"No one can know it was you until the end of February. The competition officially ends on February 29th and the winners will be declared on that day as well." The twins said.

"So, we can tell people on March 1rst?" James asked. The twins nodded. Sirius and James looked at each other.

"Deal!" They said at the same time. The bell rang a few minutes after, and students rushed to their classes. No one would be prepared for the chaos that would ensue in the following month.

"Hello Snape. How was your break?" Sirius asked as he sat down. The boy in question was currently hunched over, reading. "Break just ended. How are you already reading a textbook?"

"Hmm…" Snape said noncommittally as he turned a page. "Not all of us hate reading. The world doesn't revolve around your likes and dislikes Black."

Sirius snorted. "You didn't answer my first question Snape." He pointed out. Pinching the bridge of his nose, Snape sighed, put his book away, and looked at Sirius, irritated.

"I had a pleasant break, it would be nice if my first week back could be as well." Severus said as he stared at the Black heir in annoyance. Honestly, how could one person be so vexing? "Also, you're in the wrong spot." Severus pointed out, before facing the front.

"Oh, am I? I didn't notice." Sirius sarcastically countered as he turned to the front.

"Well, now you know. So move." Severus shoved Sirius lightly. Sirius made no move to budge. His cheerful mood was starting to dwindle. Snape's attitude was worse than it usually was, and Sirius's patience had waned significantly after break.

"Unfortunately for you Snapey-kins" Sirius drawled. "All the other seats are filled." Turning, Severus spotted Lily blatantly ignoring Potter who was sitting next to her. Severus fumed silently and turned away, his bruises were starting to ache again.

"Do not call me Snapey-kins." Severus warned his voice dangerously calm. Sirius's demeanor changed pretty quickly.

"Why not?" Sirius challenged, his voice low, calm, not at all joking. Severus paused for two seconds and turned to look at the Black heir. The boys stared at each other, each waiting for the other to back down. Neither looked away. They were forced to turn to the front as Slughorn started lecturing. Sirius leaned back as Severus leaned forward. As the Black heir relaxed, barely paying attention, Snape scribbled down immaculate notes.

"So, can you repeat what I just said Mr. Black?" Slughorn asked. Sirius blinked, peeked at Severus's notes and gave the professor an easy smile.

"Sure." Sirius said. "Mint leaves can reverse the effects of a few basic mistakes in some basic poultices, but at the cost of reducing the overall potency of some ingredients including lacewing flies, newt tail, frog legs, and more. Not to mention, this can also reduce the overall effectiveness of the potion as well." Slughorn smiled proudly.

"Well done Mr. Black. Five points to Gryffindor." He beamed. Sirius returned the smile and looked over to see Severus glaring at him.

"Look at your own notes Black." Severus spat before turning away. Sirius frowned and lightly shoved Severus. Severus, who was writing, messed up his notes. Severus swore violently before shoving Sirius roughly. "What the hell Black!" He hissed. Sirius blinked, recovered from the shove and elbowed Severus hard.

Severus gasped in pain as Sirius's elbow connected with his already throbbing bruises. He gently held his side, gritting his teeth in pain. "Quit overreacting already." Sirius drawled mercilessly. Red filled Severus's vision. Calm down, Severus counted backwards, focusing on his breathing. You're used to pain, you'll be fine he reminded himself. He opened his eyes, blocked his side with his left arm, and continued taking notes. His eyesight was blurry. "Snape?" Sirius's voice was no longer harsh. Instead it was filled with worry. "Are you okay?" Severus watched horrified as a tear fell onto the page, several more ran freely down his face. Severus quickly wiped his tears away, shifted away from Black and continued listening to the lecture.

Sirius stared at the tear on the page. He thought about the strength behind his last hit and winced. Merlin, how stupid am I? He stared worriedly at the smaller boy next to him. Idiot he scolded himself. The kid's literally just skin and bones. Of course it hurt! And then you had to make it worse by telling him he was overreacting. The younger boy seemed to be curling in on himself, the only thing that seemed strong was his left arm. The arm that was clearly shielding his side from Sirius. A heavy cloud settled over Sirius, the two remained solemnly silent for the rest of the lesson. At the end, Severus jumped out of his seat and power walked away. Sirius blinked and slowly got up.

"Hey? You okay?" James asked as he looked at Sirius. "Did that little slimy git say something?"

"Nah, I'm fine." Sirius lied with an easy grin. Deep down though, he felt a twinge of guilt as he stared at the door. I'll apologize, he decided. Next time we meet, I'll apologize he promised himself.

AN: Sorry for not posting last week. Hope you like this chapter! Please Review!