OKAY LET ME JUST SAY BEFORE YOU READ THIS THAT AFTER POSTING THIS CHAPTER I REALISED HOW UNHAPPY I WAS WITH IT SO I AM GOING TO ADD MORE TO IT BEFORE I PUBLISH MORE CHAPTERS SO PLEASE BARE WITH ME. COME BACK IN A FEW DAYS AND RE-READ THIS CHAPTER IF YOU WANT TO FIND OUT MORE :)

CHAPTER 4

October 29th 1971

Sirius Black

"Sirius, hurry up or we're going to come in!" I heard Helene call from outside our dormitory.

I frantically searched for my trousers, looking under the humongous mahogany beds that held us every night, but my hunt was unsuccessful and I had to rely on James to give me a pair of his.

"Okay, you can come in now, how do I look?" I asked.

As Lily and Helene entered, their looks of amazement fell upon me simultaneously. Or so I thought at the time- it turns out they were trying to hold in their laughter, forcing them to adopt bizarre facial expressions.

I was dressed from head to toe in my makeshift Quidditch gear. On each leg, I had a leather shin pad, which I had borrowed, or rather stolen, from my pompous idiot of a brother Regulus. The previous summer I had found an old crash helmet in Grimmauld Place Square and had spent many hours painting it the perfect shade of maroon and decorated it with countless, admittedly slightly deformed, lions. Needless to say, my Salazar Slytherin idolising parents were not pleased. I suppose it was lucky I was put in Gryffindor, otherwise the helmet would have been pretty damn useless. Unsurprisingly, these items, paired with my odd scarlet football boots and mouth guard, did not create the desired impression.

"So, do I look okay? Do you think I'll make the team?" I asked rather nervously.

"Well… you do look rather safe, so that's a bonus" offered Lily, still stifling back her laughter.

"Yes, and you will certainly be the most uniquely dressed member of the team, they'll appreciate you being original!" added Helene.

You had to give it to them, they did always try their best to see the positives in life. That's one of the reasons why I loved them so much. Although, no matter what they could have said, nothing could have brought my hopes down, for the day had finally arrived for me to try out as Gryffindor chaser. I had been dreaming about it ever since I was a young wizard and nothing could have worsened my mood. Well, almost nothing…

Helene Clearwater

"Don't worry Sirius, I'm sure Madam Pomfrey will be able to replace Andrew Waters' teeth soon enough." I said rather unconvincingly.

"Yeah and I'm sure that, you know, Alice Reeves' arm will be fixed in no time." added James.

"And don't worry about the Ravenclaw spectator's stand, what's the point of having magic if you can't use it to fix a couple of pieces of wood, right?" Remus attempted to say convincingly.

Although we tried our best to console our friend, nothing was working. His spirits had dropped from 'I can take on the whole world and no one can stop me' to 'please find a large hole and bury me in it until the end of time'. I wish I could have told him that the tryout hadn't gone so badly, but I couldn't lie to him.

He had strutted onto the Quidditch pitch as if even Ludo Bagman, who was then Captain of the Hufflepuff Quidditch team and was expected to become and international player, was inferior to him. It didn't help that he was the only first year and was wearing… do you know, I don't even know what he was wearing, just that it was ridiculous. Lily and I had tried to coax him into changing earlier, but he just didn't listen. He kept saying 'I'm going to be the youngest Quidditch player in 80 years, just you wait and see'. His prospects weren't looking hopeful before he mounted the broom and by the time he had dismounted chaos had broken loose.

"Sirius, really don't worry about it, you can always try again next year, you'll have plenty of time to practice before then. I'll try out with you if you want, you know, give you some support." James said hopefully.

"I suppose" Sirius mumbled under his breath. He didn't seem convinced…

November 3rd 1971

Minerva McGonagall

Mark third year essays, find horned toads, plan sixth year lessons, schedule seventh year- My thoughts were suddenly rather rudely interrupted when I heard a horrific sound escaping from Albus' office.

"Dashing through the snow, in a one horse open sleigh, over hills we go, laughing all the–"

"Albus, would you mind turning that down please, people on the other side of Hogsmeade will be able to hear you!" I exclaimed as I briskly entered the room, trying to find the source of the sound.

"way HA HA HA" he continued, oblivious to my presence.

"Albus, why must you always insist on playing those God awful muggle Christmas songs? It's only November, for Merlin's sake!" I cried.

"Minerva, my dear, come here and dance with me." Before I had time to object he had grabbed me around my waist and pulled me against him, as he began to sway from side to side. I couldn't help but laugh, for it wasn't everyday that one got to watch the greatest wizard of their time make an utter fool of himself.

That was one of the reasons why I loved him.

"Come here you daft old wizard." I put my arms around his neck and reached for his lips. In return he lowered his head and found mine.

"Do you think there's any way that my 12 o'clock meeting could be postponed?" he whispered into my ear as I kissed his neck. I looked at the clock. It read 11:59.

"I'm sure we'll be able to figure something out…"

June 19th 1972

Helene Clearwater

Christmas and Easter passed in the wave of a wand and my first year at Hogwarts was coming to an end. The past year had been the happiest of my life and I couldn't wait to dive into the second one. Exams were over and thankfully Lily and I had passed everyone with flying colours.

After my first evening with her, I began to visit Professor McGonagall more frequently, until our gatherings became a weekly event. We talked about everything from school life to food and she even began to teach me to play wizards chess although, I hadn't managed to beat her yet, much to my dismay. If one thing was for certain, I was thankful for her. Under unlikely circumstances, we had formed a friendship. I only confided this in my five closest friends and she only in hers- Professor Dumbledore. I hadn't quite placed my finger on it yet, but I knew something was going on between her and the other Professor and I was determined to find out what, but whenever I questioned her, she hastily changed the subject.

I left for her chambers, for the final time that year, in order to find out more about her relationship with the mysterious headmaster. However, as we began to talk, my plan did not begin to unravel, if anything, I was the one who unravelled. I returned to my dormitory having communicated my relationships to her. That night I told for the second time, the first being to Lily, I told someone the truth about my family, for I finally felt that she was ready to know and I realised that hiding my emotions in the dark would not keep me in the light.

I never had the perfect family life, although I suppose who does? I never had the parents who loved each other unconditionally. I never had a relationship with my mother that meant I could be completely be myself with her. She never showered me with the love and affection that I so desperately longed for. That was the truth of life, not everyone could have the fairytale and not everyone did.

My mother did not intentionally fall pregnant with me and married my father to escape the judgement of the public eye. My father did and always has cared deeply her and I both. When he revealed to her that he was a wizard, she did not accept it, for she could not be with someone who did not fit in with the status quo. So, she forced him to lock away his wand for good and he agreed, for he would have walked to the end of the earth just to make her life that little bit better.

In my mother's eyes, I was not a witch and therefore I should not grow up believing that I was and so I lived a muggle life. I grew up in a world where magic was just a myth and witches and wizards were only fictional in non-fiction. I believed that brooms were only used for sweeping the floor and that a snitch was the equivalent to a tale-teller. I was oblivious to who I was and consequently felt that a part of me was always missing. My father was always the one to console me. Often, when we were alone, we would embark upon adventures and explore the ends of the earth without even having to leave our garden. We would slay the mightiest dragon and defeat the darkest wizards. That's why I loved books so much- they gave me hope for a better place when my father was absent. He meant everything to me and seeing his face when I received my Hogwarts letter captured the essence of magic. My mother's… not so much. She couldn't deny who I was then, but still tried deprive me of it. Only after my father threatened to leave her if she did not agree, did she allow me to go. So, she spread the rumour that I was off to a foreign boarding school and we bid each other goodbye.

I loved Hogwarts so much because there I was completely myself. I was free. I was home.

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