Sirius rolled out of bed the day before Christmas, wondering whether his life was doomed to remain this unstable – changing from day-to-day depending on how other people felt. He felt like it had been years since he had been at Hogwarts, even if it had been a week and a half at most.
His family seemed determined to throw him into moral and ethical dilemmas this vacation, if Uncle Alphard's presence at the dining table during breakfast was anything to go by. Sirius already knew this wasn't going to end well, even as he refrained from thumping his head onto the table. Mother would yell about that.
"Sirius!" Uncle Alphard said, voice jovial as he reached across the table to clap Sirius on the back.
Sirius winced as his robe sleeves dipped slightly into whatever Kreacher had made for breakfast. He wouldn't be touching that, not if his life depended on it. Sirius didn't trust his uncle to wear clean clothes at breakfast, especially not so early. It was highly likely that he had come from someone else's house, and Sirius knew that his mother might end up yelling at her younger brother (which was an improvement over yelling at him).
"Uncle Alphard," he said, despite his reservations. "It's been a while."
"Indeed it has!" He said, and then proceeded to enlighten Sirius about his latest escapades. Sirius tuned out as soon as his uncle started with a story about the pretty birds he had found in some tropical country. Sirius wasn't even sure whether his uncle was talking about actual birds or not, but he didn't want to know either.
Sirius was saved from Alphard's stories when Regulus walked into the room.
He had to hold in a snicker when he saw Regulus turn and march right back out of the room at the sight of Alphard, who turned to Sirius with a sad pout on his face (seriously, purebloods being stoic… sure, if you were blind).
"Does he not like me?" Uncle Alphard asked.
Sirius shook his head. "It's too early in the morning for him," he lied, covering for Regulus. "I'm guessing that he was just here for something to eat before he went back to sleep."
"Ah," Uncle Alphard said, nodding as if that made sense. "Long night, I assume."
Sirius didn't want to know what Alphard meant by that. Never mind the fact that Regulus was a 14-year-old. Alphard would always remain his favorite family member, but that was because of his lack of prejudice against others, regardless of the reason.
(And if Sirius had borrowed a few of his uncle's posters of scantily clad, muggle women… well, that was for his mother to know and seethe about.)
Alphard was about to start talking again, something about his sixth year at Hogwarts, when the delivery owl pecked at the window. Getting up with relief coursing through his body, Sirius made his way to the window and opened it, taking the daily prophet offered and skimming through the top news. Finding nothing interesting, he tossed the paper at Alphard and walked to the side table where his mother kept the sickles to pay the owls.
"Sirius!" Mother yelled, from the floor above, "Come up here to meet your cousins!"
Sirius stiffened for a second, only allowing himself that momentary lapse before he continued on his task slightly faster than before. Paying the owl, and grimacing at his steadily amused looking uncle, Sirius trudged up to meet his cousins.
Meeting the cousins, in his family, was always a nasty way for his mother to get back at him. Bellatrix, as the oldest and most scatterbrained, was someone Sirius wanted to spend as little time with as possible. Especially after she had spent an entire day last time explaining her forages into torture curses to him, complete with a practical demonstration.
"Sirius!"
He sighed at that, before making his way into the room. "Yes, mother."
"Ah, there you are," she said, smiling widely even as her nails dug into his shoulder. Sirius looked around the room properly, noticing the neatness of the drawing room for the first time in years. Kreacher wasn't exactly the best elf around, especially not with the vague instructions that his mother gave.
Someone important was arriving then.
"Who exactly am I to be welcoming?" he asked, hoping his mother wasn't going to yell at him for that.
Ever since the 'Gryffindor incident' as they had started calling it, Walburga had lost whatever thread of sanity that allowed her to keep her temper around her sons. Sure, she didn't yell without reason, but the reasons had started getting vaguer and smaller.
"You have only 2 cousins, Sirius," she replied, which answered his question a little too well. No one considered Andromeda family anymore.
Sirius was still confused though, because both of his cousins were set to be married. Bellatrix had already married that Lestrange boy, even though he could barely survive her and Narcissa was set to marry Lucius Malfoy, which Sirius thought was the worst decision her parents could make. Malfoy was one of the most powerful and influential families and Narcissa was a self-serving, manipulative person at the best of times.
The floo flared to life at that moment, and Walburga's nails dug deeper into his shoulder, as if to stop him from running away. Sirius had never been that close to Andromeda before, but with the loud and creative explosion of a greeting from Bellatrix, he could sympathize with her.
"Auntie," Bellatrix said, hair as crazy as it had always been. "It's been a long time since we've been here!"
Narcissa stepped out from the floo with much more grace than her oldest sister. Sirius could see the distaste on her face, even as she smiled politely. "It's not like you to forget to invite us over, Aunt Walburga."
Walburga looked pained. "That was not my intention, Cissy, darling," she said, and Sirius had to fight the urge to gag at her tone. "I just thought you would prefer to spend time with your to-be husband."
Narcissa's smile could have frozen lava.
"Cousin," Sirius interrupted, before Narcissa could politely insult his mother. He was sure that would somehow be turned into a failure on his part, in the distant future. "Why don't we head down to the dining room. I'm sure we can talk over snack and a drink."
Bellatrix shook her head negatively, waving for Narcissa to follow him. "I have something to talk to Aunt Walburga about, Cissy. Why don't you head down with little Siri there."
Sirius grimaced at her condescending tone but didn't say anything. Perfect politeness is what is expected from you, his mother's voice rang through his head, and anything other than that will lead to a punishment you'll never forget. Sirius had actually forgotten quite a few of those types of punishments, but some of them had been especially painful.
"Well," Narcissa said, when they were walking down the stairs. "You've learned to diffuse situations pretty well."
He could practically hear her unspoken demand; how and where did you learn this?
"It has been a rough couple of months."
Narcissa nodded beside him. "Yes, I heard about that. Running away from home? I wouldn't have thought you were capable of that."
"I just needed a break from the gloom," Sirius said, smug when Narcissa's lips quirked upwards. His cousin had always been the one with the best sense of humor. Andromeda had been a little too serious, and Bellatrix was just a little too much. "Besides, I heard that you did some untoward stuff with your fiancé. Hanging out outside school without a chaperone?"
"I haven't done anything of that sort, Siri," she said, nose turned up slightly. "You have to know that by now. If Lucius has a girl on his arm, outside of school, I suppose I should talk to him about it."
Sirius shook his head, feeling sorry for Malfoy. He didn't have to like the man to pity him, and by the time Narcissa was through with him, Lucius wouldn't even be the same person he started out as. And he wouldn't even notice the change, considering this was Narcissa they were talking about.
"Just make sure it's not the Widow who's hanging off his arm," he said, leaving the topic at that. "I suppose I should warn you that Uncle Alphard's visiting."
Narcissa shook her head. "You poor boy, Siri. Of course I know Alphard visiting. This is a family get together, or did you forget that?"
Sirius resisted the urge to gape. His mother was exactly the type of person to not tell him secrets like this. It was just his luck then that all of his concerning family members turned up. He would have to deal with Grandfather Pollux's long-winded stories, or Caspar Crouch, who turned up because his wife was related to them. No one knew why he turned up, but no one chased him out either. Maybe if he just hid with Aunt Cassie, he would be able to survive the day. Aunt Cassie had the best gossip, after all.
Or maybe Aunt Lucretia, if she turned up. She was his favorite aunt, with her propensity for mischief and ability to cause people to believe anything she said was true. Something about the 'good girl' reputation had even his father still liking her, even after her marriage to Prewett, a notorious light family.
Sirius was pulled from his despair, with a bright flash of light.
He blinked, pointing his wand in the direction of the light, seeing Narcissa doing the same out of the corner of his eye.
"What is that?" Narcissa asked.
They couldn't see anything out of the ordinary, other than a paper on the floor. An envelope, when Sirius looked closer.
"A letter," he replied, leaning close to look at it. Nudging it with his wand, he flipped it over. And frowned. "A letter addressed to me."
"Hmm…" Narcissa said, standing as poised and calm as she had been before the flash. "You should probably check to see if it's been cursed first."
Sirius waved his hand around, picking the letter up with magic. He had considered it, but his curiosity about the letter won out over practicality. "Yeah, yeah, I'll go check this out. Tell mother I'm doing important family duties, or something."
With that, Sirius bounded up the stairs, leaving his cousin behind and ignoring the voice in his head that blared, don't you dare run on the stairs, Sirius Black. That is not behavior befitting of the family heir.
A letter that appeared in a flash of light was more important than rules, after all.