Chapter 3: The Black Lion

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We now move on to the second member of our tale thus far. As we open on Sirius Black, let us take hope that this diversion of his path leads to his salvation and not to his ruin.

After Sirius had been saved by that half-goblin whom Bella had complained about at family meetings many times he slowly walked down from the stage. He hurried over to the opposite side of the Gryffindor table, hoping that he would see any further spells coming his way in time to dodge. He didn't notice several of the prefects rearranging themselves to protect the newest lion. In his distraction, he only nodded at the few faces he knew from ministry events and put his head down.

The sorting and feast passed without him registering anything other than Remus going to Ravenclaw, but he was still determined to keep his first nonpolitical friend. The only other name that he even registered was Potter, mostly because Charlus Potter worked with his grandfather on occasion.

Waving back at Remus, he turned to pay attention as Molly Prewitt (whose name he recognized because her father had just won the British dueling circuit) introduced herself as one of the fifth-year prefects. She and her counterpart said almost exactly what he was expecting: a basic intro to life at Hogwarts, a talk about looking after your classmates, and a warning not to anger McGonagall and common quiet hours. They then followed her up the many staircases of Hogwarts. As they traveled up to the 7th floor, they came to a stop in front of a huge painting of a fat woman striking a pose. She was dressed as if she had just walked offstage after performing in an opera.

That is where Molly paused: "This is the Fat Lady: she is the guardian of

Gryffindor Tower. You will find her quite resolute and unreasonable if you forget the bi-weekly password." This was said with the practiced tone of a prepared memorized speech. "The current password is Wingardium." With that, the portrait began to swing open.

"Most correct" the painting sniffed down at them.

They were led over to a notice board: "You will find most of the information you need about the school here. All clubs and activities will be posted here, you will also find that any rule changes, announcements, or special lectures will be posted here." Molly took a moment to think before nodding to reassure herself.

"Me-me me," was called from behind Sirius. He turned to see James Potter bouncing on his heels filled with an overwhelming amount of energy.

Molly rolled her eyes: "Yes James, what do you need?"

"How do we know what clubs and activities we can attend as first years? I know we are not allowed brooms, but could we still try out for Quidditch?"

"That is a very good question. To my knowledge, there is no direct rule against you trying out for Quidditch, but I will warn you we have all of last year's players returning currently. And our school brooms are very out of date. In my opinion, your time would be better spent getting settled in this year." Molly looked out over the small crowd of first years: "Are there any other questions before I move on to the end of your introduction into your house?"

Sirius raised his hand, "Are there any rules about dining at your house table for meals?" He was thinking of Remus as part of the reason for this question, though his primary concern was over potential attacks from Slytherins or families allied with his father. Pureblood punishments were often very intense and painful. Looking around him, Sirius noted some suspicious looks being sent his way but chose to deal with them later.

"You can sit anywhere except during feasts and breakfast tomorrow when we will be receiving schedules." She glanced around quickly looking for raised hands: "If you have questions at any time, find a prefect, preferably me or my counterpart. Now moving right along, you will find that there are three doorways: on the left wall of the common room, the back wall, and the right wall respectively. The doorway on the left leads to the girl's staircase, and the one on the right to the boys. You will find your dorms on the 3rd floor of your respective dorm tower. That last door in the middle leads to McGonagall's office. You will find her there during her office hours which can be found on the bulletin. Otherwise, she will be in her classroom on the fourth floor." This was all rattled off a little too quickly for Sirius to follow, but he nodded along figuring that he got the basic idea and that at this point, he was ready to lie down. He was dead knackered.

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Later in his dorm, Sirius, despite his exhaustion, could not find any sleep. It had been an eye-opening day filled with many ups and downs. He knew he had fucked up beyond measure the second he saw Bellatrix's flaying curse flying at him. It was clear that he wouldn't be killed because that would bring the wrath of Arcturus down on both the one who ordered it and the person holding the wand, but that didn't mean he wasn't in danger. He was pretty sure Arcturus would support him very subtly through this at minimum by continuing to hold Sirius as his heir apparent. It was also clear to him that was why dear Bella's head sent that curse from the family Grimour at him: it was one of the most painful spells the family knew that could guarantee nothing but mental trauma as it had a well-known counter. Gods he hated all this thinking about the potential injury he could receive from his parents for his choices, and how he would maneuver around as much of it as he could.

Staring up at the top of his bed's canopy, he could only hope that Cissy and Andy stayed out of it. He knew that Andy probably felt similarly to him about his family's politics. Her duels with Bella were legendary in the black house: both could go head-to-head with any of the U19 dueling champions. They were in constant disagreement about house politics and what was proper behavior. As well as those two, It was well-known that despite being almost as good with a wand as Bella, Cissy refused to get her hands dirty, though she might be willing to point someone at him.

At this moment Siris's thoughts were interrupted by slightly raised voices: "He doesn't belong here. We should protest having a Black in our rooms: he might murder us."

"Unlike the rest of you fools, I have met Sirius as part of my duties as the heir of my house, and I think you may be too quick to judge."

"Well, I'm not sleeping near him."

"Me neither."

"Okay, suit yourselves. I will happily sleep near him. He isn't Bellatrix; I doubt he bites." After those statements in his defense, Sirius heard James take the bed next to his. Or at least he was pretty sure it was James.

He still didn't know why he had listened to the Hat. Well, he refused to be in Slytherin like it had originally wanted, but he knew that Ravenclaw would probably have been forgiven. His father would have found breaking tradition upsetting, but he would have let it go much more quickly if Sirius was a Claw. It was the hat's insistence that he heard it out about Gryffindor. Merlin, he was fucked. Bella was going to have an open season on him over the summer. He should have insisted upon being placed in Ravenclaw; he knew that there had been a few family members over the years in Ravenclaw, but the hat was right he would have been an outcast in that house. He couldn't sit still for long periods, and he didn't have a great love for learning anything other than battle magic and quidditch. He maybe should have done what Andy did and just been the outcast of Slytherin and held his own with his wand in future years. He had just wanted to try and be happ….

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Despite his exhaustion, Sirius slept fitfully through the night. His dreams were plagued by thoughts of his family's reaction to his sorting. As he slowly came awake he was hit yet again by doubts of his choice to go to Gryffindor. He knew that James had taken the bed next to him since no one wanted to be near the Black. He got dressed, making sure that his books were set out so he wouldn't have to find them after breakfast. He needed to make a good impression as a Gryff so he wouldn't have to worry about being seen as a snake in the lion's den. He did know that he wanted to sit with Remus at lunch if that was possible; he figured that would also help show that he was different then his family. He knew that Bella would never sit with someone who was not on the same social level as herself.

He gave James a short nod as he made his way past his bed, trying to let him know that he appreciated his defense the night before. He then hurried out of the dorm before anything else could happen, his instinct telling him to not give his dorm mates a chance to overreact.

After making his way to the Great Hall, Sirius made sure to look carefully for Bella. He knew that Bella wouldn't curse him openly again, but she could be sneaky when she wanted to be. Breaking out of his thoughts, Sirius made his way towards his house table. It was clear that he was up much earlier than necessary. In fact, he must have been within the first fifty people in the Great Hall that morning. Sirius decided to settle in: he pulled out a set of cards to play Patience. It was better with two players but it was fun to practice. As he was playing with himself, he waved at Remus as he entered. Remus moved on to eating his breakfast as the great hall began to fill up.

Once the hall seemed to have nearly all of the students there, the house heads started around their tables to begin handing out schedules. Reading over his schedule, he saw that at least this year most of his classes were shared with Claws, he only had to take Transfiguration, and Flying with the Snakes. His thoughts buzzed around his head, calculating what his schedule meant:: 'So Mondays will just be double potions and history - good to know that at least one day will be safe.'

I would like you, my dearest reader to note, as it is no longer common, that patience was an early card that came not unlike solitaire. I am told it was a common way for aristocratic heirs to flex their "brains." Returning to the story I believe our young Black is about to start his first class.

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As he descended toward the dungeon level for potions, he wondered why Professor Slughorn would choose to hold his class in such a dreary place. He knew Slughorn clung rather tightly to his personal comforts. Nervously turning over his shoulder Sirius gathered himself. Deciding that James was at minimum polite enough to respond. "Hey James You know Slughorn pretty well right from your grandfather right?"

James looked towards him before stepping away from the group so that they could talk at a more polite distance. "I do; I'm constantly getting dragged to those terrible Ministry balls," he paused for a moment, "Why do you ask?"

"Well, I just find it strange that he holds class down in the dungeons."

"I actually know this from my grandfather: Slughorn wanted to move the classroom, but both the board and Dumbledore told him that he had to stay in the dungeon, something about tradition or something like that."

" I wonder who the first professor was to use the classroom."

"I have no clue. Probably someone from the twenty-eight or something? That seems to always be what the term tradition means today," James gave him a weird look that Sirius couldn't quite distinguish, perhaps looking for him to take offense.

"Fair play," Suddenly seeing the amount of students around him, Sirius' nerves came back in full. He decided that politely ending the conversation was probably in his best interest. He didn't want to have too much attention on him until he could show that he was not a Snake in the Lion's den.

When he came up to the ravenclaws waiting, Siruis noticed two things: first, Remus had to be in the stragglers because he was not in the group at the door, and second, he noted one of the ravenclaws was a fiery-headed girl. It took him a brief moment of staring to realize that he hadn't forgotten a Weasily and that she must be a muggle-born. He ducked his head, hoping that he wasn't caught looking.

Just as the last few students made it to the hall in front of the door, it swung open revealing the robust and smiling face of Horace Slughorn: "Hello, hello. Come on in, all of you." He beamed down at them. "We have a lot to cover today, and despite my best efforts, there is no potion to add more hours in the day". Moving in a surprisingly nimble way he gestured for them to follow him into the classroom. "Sit down anywhere. You can partner up with whoever you would like, although I will force partners if I feel it is necessary."

Students began to flow into the classroom. Sirius took one of the middle brewing stations in the second row. He saw James think about sitting with him before deciding that he wanted to be in the back. Sirius did notice that James took an empty station, perhaps so he could choose to move to the back to sit with him. He was contemplating moving when he saw Alice Fortescue take the seat next to James.

Looking around, Sirius noticed that all the Gryffindors had sat with someone. Seeing Remus hovering nervously in the back of the room. Sirius tried to catch his eye to wave him over.

Remus sat down at his table with a brief hello. But that was all they had time for before Slughorn started off his lecture: " Welcome one and all to the beginning of your potions education here at Hogwarts. I know many of you are anxious for your wanded classes to begin, and I tell you I was quite the same. However, I hope I can give you some appreciation for the subtle art that is potion brewing. Not all of you will have the will or talent to grasp this subject fully, but for those that do, you can learn to take hold of your mind and entrap the senses. I think you will find the ability to stopper fame and brew glory in the simmering of your cauldron if you look deep enough. Some who are especially talented may even learn to grab life from the tight grip of death. We shall see."

Slughorn moved towards the board: "But before anything goes into your cauldrons, I must bore you with safety. First and foremost, while you are still learning, never assume that what you have brewed is safe…"

Sirius stopped paying attention at that point. Having had about a lot of his classes jammed into his head over the summer, Sirius had heard this safety lecture at least three times now, or at least the gist of it.

As class went on, Sirius tried his best to pay attention but found it quite hard to listen since much of it was a review for him. Noticing that Remus also didn't seem to be paying much attention to the introductory lecture sparked Sirius's interest: "I thought you were raised mostly muggle, but you seem to be ahead of Slughorn already?"

"When I found out I would be coming to Hogwarts, I may have read all the course books three or four times."

"Fair enough. I'll have to work hard to be a worthy potions partner then. My tutors covered a lot of it, But I am only confident I'll ace the first few months"

"Well, I am sure you will have me when it comes to the actual brewing," Remus chuckled before they both turned back to the lecture.

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Sirius sighed as he put his bag down on his bed. Double potions without any brewing sucked, but he was sure that once they were brewing next class, it would be less of a slog. History was worse: he wasn't even sure if the ghostly professor Binns took attendance. He seemed just endlessly to lecture. It was so bad, there wasn't even a lesson to be learned or discussions in his class. Sirius was pretty sure he should either use history as a self-study period or skive off if he wouldn't get caught. He was lost in thought 'That really is one of the few benefits of my family being so old and proud. I know a large chunk of the history being taught here already so self-study should be fine.' he thought to himself as Sirius wandered down to the common room.

Sirius had been standing at the noticeboard for the last five minutes or so deep in thought. He knew that Quidditch was a lost cause for the next year or two as the oldest beater was both just a 5th year and league-bound he had heard that the wasps were scouting him. He would go out for the free-keeper spot next year when Casanova Green left but it was a weaker position for him. Dueling was enticing as he had a few good memories of going to see Flitwick win his last European championship with his Grandfather. Speaking of Arcturus, he had suggested Sirius take up debate. He was considering fencing as he knew his father had done it, maybe that would help at home if he was good.

Sirius decided to choose clubs next week as he was sure there was no rush. It was an easy choice to just study a bit for Transfiguration tomorrow. McGonagall was well known for being strict and no-nonsense. Sirius reasoned that if he could get on her good side and earn a few points next class he could help his standing with his fellow lions. As he finished reading up on the matchstick-to-needle transfiguration. He had a good chuckle at the incantation then decided to give it a try: "Virga Cusplia." He jabbed his wand forward with a gentle upward flick. The match in front of him turned slightly silver but remained a match. He pulled out another match and kept trying, but it seemed a silver match would be his best result. "Damn." He wasn't sure if he imagined it but he was sure he saw a few other first-years snickering at him.

Sirius was surprised by feeling a tap on the shoulder. He looked over it to see James smiling at him, "Here let me show you the wand movement is the most important part of most transfiguration. That is why you don't normally see point casting in Transfiguration even by the likes of Dumbledore." Flicking his wand into his hand he demonstrated the wand movement "To my understanding you're flicking too much it should be more of a gentle curve at the end of your thrust." James then cast at the match stick getting a near-perfect point with the only flaw: there was still a match head where the eye should be.

Taking up his wand Sirius had a thought about what James was missing and decided to test his theory. "Virga Cusplia." There it was a needle sitting on the table "I figured it out! You were completely right about the wand movement. The only thing we failed at was the intent: you need to see the match changing in your mind as you cast."

"Huh, you're right," James swished his wand through the air casting again, getting a near-perfect result: "I think we'll need class tomorrow to do any better." Sirius nodded along to those words.

Sirius smiled at James: "Thanks for all the help. I'll make sure to catch up with you later." standing up he offered to shake James's hand.

After studying with James, Sirius was finally hopeful about his time in Gryffindor. He was confident that he would eventually gain acceptance; he just needed to keep his head down. As he climbed through his bed hangers, Sirius made up his mind to learn an alarm spell as quickly as possible so he wouldn't have to worry about being messed with.

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Sirius paced at the foot of his bed knowing he could not skip his first-ever transfiguration class, despite his concern about having his first class with the snakes. He wasn't sure if he should be worried about any of the first-year snakes already doing Bella's bidding this early in the term. It was certain that he was going to be seen as easy pickings as an outsider in Gryffindor. Out of time to worry and waffle; he knew he would barely make it if he left now. Rushing through the halls Sirius just barely stumbled into class, shocked to find that the dower head of Gryffindor was not waiting impatiently at the lectern. He quickly made his way to a seat not wanting to waste any time.

As he was just sitting down, a large tabby cat jumped up onto the professor's desk before it began to subtly stretch and twist leaving McGonagall standing in front of her desk. Her severe look was something that took complete control of the still fidgeting classroom with a single sweep across them. It did occur to Sirius that there was something else hiding behind her eyes: maybe a kind of warmth? It was too well hidden to truly tell.

"You will find that transfiguration is one of the hardest courses you will attend in your years at Hogwarts," She took her wand into her hand, wordlessly turning the largest reference book on her desk into a sorting eagle that looped the room before perching on her desk. "You will also find that it rewards hard work quite readily." With this, the stern mask slipped just slightly as the whole class got to glips the joy her topic brought to her just before her lecture began in earnest.

After an introduction to the topic in earnest, Sirius allowed his attention to drift while some of the first-year spells were demonstrated.

He forced his mental wandering to end because of a pause which was followed by McGonagall sharply saying: "Mr. Pettigrew, can you tell me what is necessary for a transfiguration to work?"

"Unum T-the correct incantation and a precise wand movement?"

"Very close, but you missed one. Can anyone fill in the missing piece for us?"

At that James and Sirius both raised their hand having discussed this in detail the night before.

"Mr Black, can you tell us what the missing piece is"

He took a deep breath to gather his thoughts: "I believe that what is missing is making sure to have a clear image and intent of what you want the object to become?"

" Very good, take five points, both of you."

This brief verbal quiz marked the beginning of the first practical section of the class: it was the matchstick to needle transfiguration. This allowed Sirius and James both to earn 10 points each, both getting an almost perfect needle on their first try. They kept working at it until they felt they had the best possible result from their transfiguration. About ten minutes were left in class, and most of their classmates were still trying very hard. Sirius sat thinking for a moment before raising his hand.

"Yes, Mister Black, what is your question?"

"What is the best way to revert this, as I don't think the spell would work to get a match stick? Would a simple Finite work?"

"That is a very good question. A finite will work on lower-level transfiguration like this one as they are dependent on the incantation. However, if very skillfully or powerfully cast, they can resist that method of reversion. In cases like that you would need to find or create a different spell to return the needle to a match stick since they are too fundamentally different for the same spell to work. Of course, once you start intent-based transfiguration in your fifth year we will return to this because it is a great way to start."

The rest of the class had all stopped working as this could be useful information. Sirius felt he understood what was being said, and decided that was good enough. "Thank you, professor."

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An: I would like to say that I like it when even things like magic have some form of rules so some of this fic will explore that. I am unable to stop wondering how magic knows how to create a match tip. I know that the average wizard knows nothing about chemical bonding and matter states so how does magic transfer the intent into the change? The basics of our knowledge of Flamel's stone tell us that there must be a flaw in the chemical changes done by magic as otherwise, the creation of gold with the stone would not be necessary. Some of my more science-based magic theory will be my take inspired by the excellent fic Series by Lord Anvil, Kneel to Peverell Might. So if you have read his fics some of the magical theories discussed in this fic will be somewhat familiar. I also love what was done with the Black family in Basilisk-Born by Ebebbild. I have been inspired by his fic to show Arcturus as a more grey traditional and to have the blacks be deeper than just Bella. One of my side projects is a false journal on the workings of magic so I have a base for the function of my world if you would like to see that published in a story fomat LMK