A/N: Sorry for the rushed last chapter. But now inspiration came back to me! I really like the beginning of this chapter and I hope you do too =)


Chapter 14

A very Black day for Sirius

"You're late"

James Potter and Sirius Black had just been escorted to Argus Filch's office by Professor McGonagall as their punishment for "The Great Halloween Prank"-as many students were now calling it. The caretaker, a tall yet slightly hunched man with long, thin brown hair, bulging grey eyes and very pale skin, was leaning lazily against his doorframe looking from the corridor to his watch and tapping his foot impatiently. When he saw the two boys he gave a rather toothy grin.

"They're hardily late Argus" McGonagall snapped "Lessons barely finished half a second ago!"

Filch snarled "Very well. But I have a lot of work to do Professor, I have been taking statements from every Slytherin student involved in these boys little prank-" he spat the word with an air of disgust "and they all want to see these miscreants punished!"

"And they're here for their punishment now" She glared at the caretaker then looked to her students "You will meet Mr Filch here at breaks, lunches and after lessons ever day for the rest of the week. You will not be late and you will help him with what ever he asks. Do you understand?"

"Yes Professor" James and Sirius mumbled together

"Good. Now I will leave you to it. I have many essays to mark before my next class."

The Gryfindors watched as their teacher left them. Once she had disappeared around the corner, Mr Filch gave a loud impatient cough.

"Oh, you two are going to enjoy this" He smirked, taking out a long cane he had been concealing behind his back and whipping it against the door frame, causing the students to flinch. "Too bad I have been forbidden to use physical punishment against brats like you. Professor Dumbledore thinks it is too violent. But I think it is the only way to sort out troublemakers once and for all!"

He whipped the cane threateningly against the stone wall once more, this time quite close to Sirius' arm, who jumped out of the way quickly. Filch gave another toothy grin.

"Potter" He spat, rounding on the small bespectacled boy "You will be helping me collect more statements from the unfortunate Slytherins and apologising for your actions. Black. You will be patrolling the Astronomy Tower and report back to me with your findings. I know for a fact that students like to hide up their away from me. Don't worry" He added, noticing a slight look of relief upon the young boys face "You won't be alone."

He gave a short sharp whistle and from behind his office door came an angry looking cat. It hissed horribly at Sirius when it saw him before stalking over to its master and brushing up against his leg.

"This is Mrs. Norris" The tall man said, looking lovingly towards his cat (A/N: Not the Mrs. Norris from Harry's time at Hogwarts, that would make her way too old for a cat. This is Mrs. Norris Senior, the mother of the cat we all know and love =P. I couldn't think of another name and thought that Filch wouldn't be too smart when it came to naming pets either… anyway, sorry for the interruption) "She will be helping you with your duties Black, and making sure you don't get yourself into trouble. Now off with you!"

James and Sirius looked at each other helplessly before heading off in different directions, the smaller dark haired boy followed Filch out to the grounds whereas the taller, long haired boy made his way up to the Astronomy Tower with the scruffy cat dancing around his feet, stopping in front of him every so often to scowl and hiss at him.

"Oh how I'd like to kick you right now" Sirius murmured angrily towards the animal, as she ran across his shoes yet again.

This threat did cause Mrs. Norris to stop running in circles but she did continue to glare suspiciously at the young boy the whole way up to the tower, as if daring him to carry out the action he was so willing to do. As they climbed the last few steps Sirius heard voices talking loudly to one another, laughing and joking, but in what seemed like a very harsh way. The first year pulled out his wand for protection, even though he didn't know too many protective spells just yet, and peered around the corner. He stopped, stunned.

"And then I hexed the little brat, made him come out in big boils all over his face. He ran off crying! That'll teach little first year Hufflepuff blood traitors for walking into a pure Slytherin fifth year!" A tall boy with long blonde hair was boasting to a small group of Slytherins sat around him.

Sirius didn't recognise the boy but he certainly knew some of the others. Right by the fifth year's side, holding onto his arm, was Narcissia Black, Sirius' second least favourite cousin (right behind her sister Bellatrix). Her hair was the same length and colour the boy next to her making them look eerily like twins. At their feet sat Andromeda, another of Sirius' cousins and Narcissia's second eldest sister. Unlike the others around her, she didn't seem to please with whatever this boy was bragging about. Beside her sat a boy Sirius thought looked familiar, but just couldn't put a name to, then next to him sat none other that Severus Snape, who was laughing out loud but looking slightly uncomfortable at the same time. The Gryffindor first year thought better of messing with five Slytherins on his own and was about to make a run for it just as Mrs. Norris rounded the corner, hissing menacingly.

"Oooh, what have we here!?" The blonde boy cackled, sweeping over to Sirius and dragging him out from his hiding place "A lost little Gryffindor I see. Well, how may we be of service to you?"

"Put him down Malfoy" Andromeda growled, getting to her feet "That's my cousin, Sirius."

The Malfoy boy dropped Sirius in disgust. "Your cousin!?" He asked, sounding shocked. "Cissy, you never told me you were related to a blood traitor Gryffindor child!"

"I wish I wasn't Lucius" Narcissia snarled, a look of pure loathing etched across her face. "He is no cousin of mine and he is very lucky Bella has already finished school, I would hate to be in his shoes if she saw the scum"

Sirius cowered slightly. He knew this day would come but ever since he started Hogwarts he had been able to avoid his cousins and the anger he knew they felt. He gulped as the five Slytherins started towards him, four of them taking out their wands.

"Wait a second Lucius" Said the boy who looked familiar "I recognise this kid. He's one of the kids who wrecked the feast last night. Him and that Potter traitor."

"Ah yes, very good Rabastan." Malfoy grinned. Then it hit Sirius, Rabastan was the younger brother of Rodolphus Lestrange, the boy Bella had been dating for the past few years. He looked very similar to his brother, even though Sirius had only seen him a handful of times.

"What are you doing here Black?" Snape suddenly asked, his wand pointing directly at Sirius' heart and a look of hatred on his face.

"Don't call him that Snape!" Cissy spat, glaring at the boy "He is no more of a Black then his filthy little blood traitor friends. I am ashamed to even be related to him"

"Just because I chose the right path!" Sirius growled defensively with sudden foolish confidence for a first year with four wands pointed at him. "Just because I know the difference between right and wrong! Just because-"

He was cut off mid sentence as three curses flew at him. Each struck him at the same time, causing him to break out in boils and his whole body to stiffen as if bound together by invisible rope. Yet this didn't stop the third curse working, as his legs began to move in a wonky, complicated tap dance. Completely out of control, Sirius watched in horror as his foot collided with Filch's cat, kicking her across the Astronomy Tower. The Slytherins, all except Andromeda, roared with laughter.

"Petrificus Totalus and Tarantella! Interesting combination!" Rabastan guffawed as the Gryffindor danced around him, crashing into walls and making some of the boils burst. Sirius hit a wall and bounced off it, hurtling into Lucius Malfoy and causing them both to fall to the floor. The Slytherins instantly stopped laughing. Malfoy hurried to his feet and lent over Sirius's body, carefully stepping away for his legs that were still jerking around uncontrollably.

"Make this your one and only warning boy" Malfoy hissed harshly "Mess with us again and we'll make sure you and you filthy little blood traitor friends' regret every second you're at this school."

The blonde then kicked the jinxed first year painfully in side and watched as he rolled slowly down the stairs and hit the floor with a loud crash. The five students followed his decent, laughing. Sirius watched angrily as four pairs of legs stepped over him and through the door, then a fifth pair came to a halt by his head.

"You should really be more careful Sirius" Andromeda whispered, leaning closer to the boys head so as not to be over heard. "You know what kind of people you're dealing with and making them angrier will not help your case. I understand where you're coming from, but just please be more careful."

The long haired boy tried to respond but could do no more than a muffled "I know"

"Dromeda!" someone yelled

"I'm coming Cissy!" The brunette called back. She waved her wand over the young boy, lifting the curses. She then gave him a soft smile before following her sister through the door.

80)

"What happened!?" Remus Lupin asked in shock. Sirius had just hobbled into the potions classroom looking very disgruntled. He shot a look of loathing towards a person Remus couldn't see before sitting gingerly down.

"My family, that's what happened"

"What!?" Remus, James and Peter asked together.

The three boys listened carefully as their injured friend re-counted what happened during his detention in a low whisper. Once he had finished all four of the boys were glaring at the greasy haired Slytherin at the front of their class.

"What the hell was Snape doing with them?" James asked through gritted teeth.

"Who cares" Sirius replied. "I just want to make him pay. Make them all pay"

"Are you sure that's a good idea Sirius?" Remus inquired softly, so Professor Slughorn couldn't hear as he walked past. "You of all people know what your family is like; do you really want to get on the wrong side of them?"

"I'm already on the wrong side if them Remus, I'm in Gryffindor for Merlin's sake! The lot of them hate my guts and I hate them"

Remus looked very much like he wanted to argue his point but James shook his head.

"Leave it"

They spend the rest of the lesson in silence, each of them working on their potions but not really concentrating. Sirius couldn't help but glance up to the front of the room every so often and more than once he'd seen Severus Snape sneering at him then turn away laughing. This only made him madder. After what seemed like forever the double lesson finally ended and each of the Gryffindor first years were so glad to be out of the dungeons. Remus and Peter decided to escort their friends up to Filch's office to keep them company before heading out to the grounds to enjoy the mild sunshine they were having. As they walked up the stairs out of the dungeons corridor Sirius once again heard voices.

"You know I don't like those people Severus, why are you trying to be their friend?"

"You don't understand Lily, I-"

"No! I understand perfectly fine Severus! You just want to look cool! You just want to act like a big bully! I'm not having it Sev! It's either them or me"

"But Lily I-"

"No buts! Them or me"

"Lily, look, you don't understand how hard it is-"

"IT'S NOT THAT HARD!"

The four boys walked into the entrance hall just in time to see Lily Evans disappear out through the oak front doors leaving Severus Snape looking slightly hurt. The long nosed Slytherin span around when he heard their foot steps and grinned nastily.

"What did you do to Lily!?" James roared, drawing his wand at the same time as his classmate.

"None of your business Potter" Snape snarled, advancing on the shorter boy "And you don't want to get on the wrong side of my wand, just ask your mate here"

Sirius, who had been holding James back, now drew out his own wand. He was just thinking of the perfect spell to cast when-

"BLACK! POTTER! YOU REALLY ARE LATE THIS TIME!"

Argus Filch came hobbling up to the five boys with a look of glee on his face

"Duelling in the hallways are we? Just wait until I tell Professor McGonagall about this!"

The caretaker dragged James and Sirius away to serve out their detention.

80)

It was 11:30pm when James and Sirius eventually made it back to Gryffindor tower. They collapsed into chairs by the fire, happy for the break.

"How was it?" Remus asked, not looking away from his Transfiguration essay.

"Bloody boring" Sirius remarked "This idiot tried to get me another detention!"

"It was an accident!" James said defensively "I thought you were a student out of bed, which technically you were, but I didn't realise it was you!"

"You're still an idiot"

"I think you two should get some sleep!" Peter squeaked quickly as James opened his mouth to retaliate.

"Too right" Sirius agreed, getting up from the chair and stretching "I'm so glad this day is over"

With that, he and his friends went off to bed.


A/N: Poor Sirius, I do love him really, he just has a sucky family =P

And it is so hard to make Andromeda horrible, not when Tonks is such a nice person.

Also, sorry for the amount of times I used the word "boy" I can't think of too many ways to describe them.

R & R please? I will give you cookies! =P