Author's Note: Only in my wildest dreams am I the brilliant mind behind Harry Potter, Hogwarts, and all that comes with it. I take this pause from writing final papers on deforestation, and the evolution of poverty policies in the U.S. over time to, hopefully, entertain you for a moment. Enjoy.
Sirius Black was unconventional. His mother, Walburga Black, never stopped reminding him of it either. She predicated every conversation with her son with "If you were more like Regulus..." and conditioned any ounce of praise with "so long as you don't lose sight of power." Yes, Sirius Black was everything his mother wished he wasn't. She had never imagined she would wind up with an immature brown-noser as a son. Walburga had thanked Merlin when Regulus came along. At least he followed the Black family mantra, and sought to prolong the family's power and dignity. All Sirius sought to do was destroy it.
It had been a long time since Walburga had talked to her son in earnest. When he was younger, up until the age of six or so, he had adored his mother, and she him. Walburga could recall a young bumbling ball of black hair with large gray eyes, crying softly over a grasshopper being squished. She would scoop him into her arms and brush his locks with her fingers, gently untangling her rings as they became tangled. Sirius had been her first born, and she had given a piece of her heart to him as any mother would a child.
It wasn't that she was always a cold woman and a heartless mother – that was evident when observing her relationship with her younger son. Walburga had simply invested so much of herself into Sirius that she was shattered when he went against the family. She had done well to teach him the ways of the world, the importance of blood purity, the value in loyalty until death, and the grace in standing strong before the world in a position of power. Sirius was not a good learner. This was the conclusion that the matriarch had come to when her boy was sorted in Gryffindor. He obviously lacked the initiative it took to follow through the struggle to come to power. She decided on that day that Sirius was not someone she was entirely proud of. If anything he became a smear on the Black name, and she found herself cringing when she heard of his graceless antics.
Walburga had wasted ten good years of her life striving to mold Sirius into an upstanding, graceful and dignified leader. What she received was an embarrassment. Maybe, maybe she could have accepted , her son, if she had been expecting the blow. But, she had had her feet knocked out from under her when Sirius came into himself. She had yet to figure out what she had done wrong. And every time she saw her son, with his cold eyes and stern face, she was reminded of her short-fallings. Yes, Sirius Black was a disgrace to his mother not because of who he was, but because of who he was not. And Walburga could not let herself live that down.
XX
It was another crisp morning on the grounds, and the Marauders were loafing about, while the girls sat through classes.
"Open your mind, Plemgood, and you shall begin to see." droned Eliphas Mopsus, circling the room. He tapped the cards before the small Ravenclaw girl. "Now look."
"Erm..." she muttered, squinting at the three cards before her, "it looks like you're a wizard, and you'll have a cat, but he'll die." The boy next to her chuckled, and she blushed. Mopsus narrowed his eyes.
"Langston, give it a go for us, please." V looked up from her own table with Lily. She quite enjoyed the intimate and earthy feel of the Divinations room, and tarot cards were one of her favorite practices. She flexed her feet, clearing her throat.
"It's the Wheel of Fortune, so you will be facing changes in your emotional life." V said, flipping the second card. "And the Star, means that it is time for you to move about freely...but this is Judgment, so you have to move quickly, because the moment of great criticism is near." V ended confidently, looking up at Lily. The other girl shifted awkwardly.
"Condense, apply, and explain, Miss. Langston." V sighed.
"Well, there's going to be something happening, either positive or negative, that's going to cause you great emotional stress. And it's your opportunity to take action, and do something before the reckoning comes and it's too late. But you'll have to be careful, because reckless action even in the favorable conditions of the Star can be criticized heavily at the Judgment." V eyed Lily, pondering what question exactly she had been thinking of when touching the deck of cards. It appeared to have been a love related question, making Virginia ever the more curious about Lily's feelings toward James.
After class, Lily seemed to be running to get away from the dark haired girl. V sighed, leaning against the stone wall of the stairwell. A flood of robed Ravenclaws and Gryffindors flowed past her, as she caught her breath.
It had been a week since James had observed the woman at the Hog's Head, and Virginia had been anxious ever since. It wasn't in her nature to worry so adamantly, but it had been years since she had seen her mother. Her mother had a bit of lore about her at V's house. Word from her grandparents had led her to believe her mother to be a leach of sorts in that she was hungry. Always hungry. Her father had told her that Hera was a powerful Seer, always losing focus and staring vacantly at the ceiling as visions passed through her.
Virginia could remember her mother from when she was young, but only vaguely. When James had described a witch as resembling her, V had been surprised that her dream version of her mother may actually be accurate. Her papa used to tell her stories about her mother before V had even begun to come into her powers. The stories were usually about her mother's laugh, and bright eyes. They painted a storybook picture of Hera. She was tall, and beautiful. V idolized her. As she got older though, she realized that these stories were not entirely true. They were gray scale versions of a much more colorful life. Her mother was power hungry. She saw many things, but she did not share them.
Hera Langston wanted to create a legacy for herself, and that could not be done by sharing one's findings. She had to lay claim to her visions, and own them as her own. When she found herself to be pregnant by Elliot Langston, she had been furious. Hera was incredibly mercurial. She was being limited by Elliot, and she felt herself becoming trapped, quickly. She did the only thing she could think of to make the child less of an anchor and more like wings. She did what she always did. She closed her eyes and whispered a spell.
XX
"You've been awfully quiet, Miss Virginia." Sirius whispered, seating himself beside the pensive girl. She raised her eyebrows at him.
"Don't you know to never interrupt a crocodile during its dinner." She asked, spearing an asparagus stalk.
"I've never heard that one before." Remus chimed, doubting Virginia's credibility.
"You've obviously never spent time in the bayou." Remus snorted into his pumpkin juice.
"'Ello, mates." James placed himself into a rather tight space between Lily and Peter, causing Peter to teeter on the edge of the bench. He grabbed the small boy by the arm, pulling him into a slightly more secure spot on the bench. Peter glared at James before going back to his ham.
"Can't you ever be normal, Potter?" Lily asked frustrated.
"What fun is there in that, Evans? I'd much rather have your attention."
"Don't you think that perhaps Lily is right, mate?" Remus lifted his fork for emphasis, "You did just knock Wormtail to the floor there." James shrugged his shoulders in a grand gesture.
"There are always casualties to progress."
"What progress?" Sirius couldn't remember a time James had ever been considered in forward motion in regards to Lily. James narrowed his eyes, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.
"I am always making progress, Padfoot. It's what makes me so irresistible." Virginia laughed loudly, a noise that made Sirius jump beside her.
"Something funny, Langston?" James narrowed his eyes even more, something Virginia had thought impossible.
"Lily's only been resisting your pursuits for years. It hardly seems fair to deem yourself irresistible." V pointed out, although she couldn't help, but to think back to the Wheel of Fortune card from earlier. Perhaps James was winning her over, and it was going to cause great criticism, but she'd have to let herself be happy even if it meant being critiqued. V made a mental note to question her best friend about it later.
"Oi, Black." a blonde boy of medium build approached the table, the freckles on his nose stood in stark comparison to his pale skin. "Can I have a word?"
"S'pose." Sirius stood, exiting the hall with the nondescript bloke.
"So now that he's gone, can we discuss the party?" Virginia was more excited than she cared to admit for the illicit shenanigans scheduled for the end of the month. The excitement had doubled, when she had learned it was also very close to one Sirius Black's sixteenth birthday. This only meant all the more unspeakable activities and substances. V withheld a chuckle.
"Right, well, I was thinking..."
"Here we go..." Remus rolled his eyes, but there was a noticeable gleam of pride behind the sarcastic gesture.
"Ahem. I was thinking that we could smuggle in some you know what from you know where."
"Uh huh, uh huh." Peter egged James on.
"And we'll plant you know whats you know where." James continued.
"Right, right."
"So that you know who will be you know what when he walks into you know where."
"James, if you say one more vague phrase I will curse you to next Tuesday." Lily snapped.
"I just don't want to ruin the surprise." he pouted. "Peter and I've managed to get quite the lot stocked up for the occasion. All we need you lot to do is come in costume. And of course, don't tell Padfoot you know it's his birthday. Of course, that would give the whole thing away."
When Sirius reappeared at the table, his mood was noticeably dimmer.
"You a'right?" James questioned, stopping his attack on the sandwich on his plate. Sirius took a break from glowering. He seemed to remove a layer of gray from his appearance.
"O'course." he replied, diving back into his meal. But Sirius' appetite was far from present.
XX
Following the sandy blonde into the hallway, Sirius was met with the overwhelming feeling of dread.
"What is it, Connell?" Sirius asked impatiently. The empty hallway was striking him the wrong way, and he didn't want to spend any more time in it than necessary. Not to mention that V had been unusually quiet lately, and he was uncomfortable leaving her alone for long periods of time.
"I've got a note from Reg." Connell replied not unkindly, handing Sirius a small taupe envelope, marked with a curling RAB. Sirius fought the urge to hurl the envelope back at the harbinger's head.
"Thanks." Connell opened his mouth as if to say something. Sirius raised an eyebrow, intrigued.
"Hey, Sirius," he started, "Y'know the old shack by Primton?" Sirius pictured the bleak neighborhood of Primton. It was a few blocks from his own home, and it surrounded a large square with a great stone statue of Ichabod the Seventh. The houses weren't much. All of them quite resembled shacks. Sirius knew which shack Connell was referring to however. There was one stone structure very much resembling a disintegrating fairy tale cottage with thatching as the roof, and worn stone as the walls. When he and Regulus got along, they used to trek to the small neighborhood and dare each other to touch the nose of the grimacing gnome statue placed beside the shack's front door.
He nodded.
"I-" the boy hesitated, glancing behind Sirius and behind himself. Sirius wondered for a moment, if he would finish his thought. "There's an interesting couple that lives there. That's all." Connell turned quickly reentering the Great Hall, leaving Sirius puzzling over the odd thought.
When he followed the blonde back inside, he spotted his group of friends at the Gryffindor table. They seemed so natural, leaning into each other, and laughing amicably. He smiled. Looking to the Slytherin table, he spotted his brother. Regulus was seated by his cousin Bella, and looked disgusted with the situation. He was picking at his plate, unpleasantly. Sirius frowned. He saw Connell as well, but the freckled sixth year was seated far from his brother at the opposite end of the table next to what appeared to be Snivellus Snape. Sirius sniffed, haughtily, rejoining his friends.
XX
On the evening before Halloween, Lily and Virginia sat with their bunk mates, Alice and Cassie, pouring over magazines. Alice was painting Virginia's face with layers of color, creating altered bone structure and eye shape. Lily was seated on the floor, flipping through the pages of the bright magazines, while Cassie tugged at her red hair, twisting it into various styles.
"I just don't know what I should be." Lily whined.
"Hold still, Langston." Alice scolded, pulling back her brush before V could mar the work she had done.
"Why not just go as a cat?" Cassie asked, ducking as a pillow flew toward her head. "Okay, okay, or not a cat."
"They're just so overdone." V clarified. "But, I know just what Miss Evans should be!" Lily sighed, but did not look up from the magazine.
"And what pray tell is that?"
"Juliet! We can paint you up until you're positively medieval. You'll have James absolutely drooling."
"A muggle?" Cassie wrinkled her small, pointed nose. "How will a desperate lovestruck girl lure in Potter?"
"She wasn't a muggle, Cass. Haven't you read anything? Juliet was one of the first witches to make love potions. She also had the misfortune of the potion backfiring, causing both her and the potion's drinker to become overwrought with love leading to their demise." Alice explained. Lily looked up, locking eyes with V.
"So you're in?" V asked, excited at the thought of her plan come to life. She'd already convinced James to be Romeo.
"Not because of James." Lily said sharply, "but because being the first witch to create something as complicated as a love potion shows great intelligence. Plus I like the idea of a powerful witch being perceived by most to be 'only' a muggle."
"I'll bite." V replied, "as long as I get to help tame that hair into a plait of braids."
"Merlin, V, when you say it like that it sounds hideous." Cassie guffawed.
"Well, all right. Whatever. What are you going to be anyway?" The petite brunette shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly.
"Probably just a witch, or maybe Rowena Ravenclaw. Yes, that's it. I think I'd like to dress as a ghost. Think of the gorgeous silver and all the glitter I could use to make it." Cassie's eyes glowed.
"Watch out for this one," Alice laughed, "She'll be leaving sequins in her wake all night."
"What about you, Alice?" Lily asked, setting aside her magazines to clean up the brushes Cassie had knocked to the ground in her daydream.
"A healer. I've always wanted to be one anyways. I've got the perfect green robes, of course, shortened just a bit for the occasion." Alice winked, causing Lily to smile. She was glad to see Alice coming out of her cage. She had been one of the shyest girls in their house prior to this year.
"You, all, will look so b-e-a-utiful." Virginia crooned, wiping fake tears away from her eyes.
"Oh, hush. Are you finally going to say your costume then?" Lily interrogated. She had been trying to find out V's costume for the past two weeks, but the girl was tight lipped as a clam.
"You know it's a surprise." V winked.