Sirius POV
I took a calming breath, trying to keep my currently low-level patients in check, yet the incessant grumbling of Bellatrix continued to get on my nerves.
My survival instincts told me to keep my mouth shut, but when do I ever listen to my rational thoughts? Or any rational thoughts in general?
"Shut the hell up."
Her purple eyes narrowed in a rat-like fashion, "Care to repeat yourself?" She growled.
Andromeda sighed into her hands as she gave me a flat look, despite the fact I could tell she was on her last legs with the way Bellatrix was pacing.
"What's got your knickers in a twist?"
Her teeth gritted as she withheld a snarl threatening to escape.
"You seem stressed, dear sister." Andromeda gave her older sister a sly smile, per usual, her go-to. Bellatrix snarled and growled, and Narcissa charmed with her sweet smile. Andromeda just had a talent for getting under people's skin, though unlike me, she did it with a sense of subtly, something I cannot find myself being bothered to do.
Bellatrix groaned, "It's not about him. It's never about him. Stop talking about him." Whoever they were talking about seemed to have gotten under the skin of my 'dear' and 'lovely' cousin, striking a nerve like no other.
"Sounds like it's about him." Regulus looked up from his book, indeed an astonishing sight considering he was oblivious to the world.
"Who the hell are you talking about?" My interest was piqued now.
"No one," Bellatrix said in a deathly low voice.
"Alton." Andromeda supplied, causing a surge of anger to wash through me.
I was not blind to the nature of my family. I've never been. It's why I chose Gryffindor in my first year. I just wanted the slightest bit of distance from their name. Father is a coward who didn't know he was one, my uncle is spineless, my aunt a harpy, and my mother would make the Lord of the Dead seem like a fucking saint.
With the sisters possibly barring Andromeda, they are all brainwashed, and Reg, the less I think about him, the less I can care about him becoming either mother or father.
It's why I cherish the family I've made. James, perhaps a distant cousin but more of a brother to me. Remus, someone I can take solace in the fact I can always rely on him. Peter, someone is always there to lend an ear. And as of late, Alton, a steadfast, stubborn, unmovable friend, apparently has more run-ins with my family than I ever knew about.
"Whatever my friend has done to anger you, I don't care. Leave him alone." My eyes narrowed as I stood in front of her.
Yet despite the tension, I heard Andromeda scoff, "Anger sure, but I don't think she can quite quit him."
Bellatrix turned her lazy glare from me to a furious scowl to her sister, "Shut your mouth, sister." She gritted out her last words with a seething rage.
"Quit him?" I whispered for all to hear as my mind recalled the few times when Alton would come back to the dorm after a clear tryst. The fact we could never match up the timing on the Map with his rendezvous irked me like nothing else, but now…
"Oh, Alton. How can you have such poor taste?"
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"I don't fucking speak in riddles." I stated, "My friend is a lot more of a dumbarse than I thought if he's hooking up with you." Nope, I can't deal with this, "I'm not dealing with this." I walked off and headed towards my room, ignoring the mad ramblings of Bellatrix.
Alton POV
I grinned as the natural perk was confirmed and I made sure it was what is said it was. Not wanting my family to think I suddenly off'd myself.
One step was all it took for me to plummet off the cliff, the wind roaring in my ears, my heart thumping in my chest. My magic buzzed all over my body. My torso shrank, limbs morphing, feet to claws, arms to wings.
Before my body could be turned to paste smeared on the ground, I spread out the blackened-smoke-coloured wings, and I glided with the wind.
The previously pelting winds were now soothing, the tears in my eyes disappeared, and my vision gained clarity that most couldn't replicate even with magic.
The fear of flying that has been ingrained in me since I was a tiny little bastard is gone. A feeling as if I was always meant for flight is nagging me in the back of my now birdbrain.
I don't know how long I soared in the air, but eventually, the sunset and I felt compelled to head on back home.
As I saw the overhead of my family's manor, I spotted a familiar head of black coloured hair. I let out a shriek drawing her attention.
Living her life with all kinds of creatures and animals, she raised an arm up despite having a confused look on her face.
As I adjusted myself so as not to nick her with my talons, she ran the back of her fingers against the crook of my neck.
I've never been one for displays of affection, but I sure as hell couldn't deny the lulling effect it had, with mum smoothing out my feathers.
"Alton?" She stared deeply into my eyes, causing me to arch my head as if she could read my mind she answered the unspoken question, "Your eyes are still the same."
I let out a sound of acknowledgement, causing her to sigh, "Did you do something potentially stupid or dangerous?" I avoided her gaze, but she didn't bother to wait for an answer, "Don't know why I bother asking, of course, you did." She gripped my body, tucking my wings in, causing me to be trapped else I gnaw at her to escape, "You and I are going to have a long talk."
The sounds of a hawk shirking and a witch giving him an earful rang out through the morning.
I munched on the vanilla chip cookie as I looked up at the blackened sky. A cold breeze coupled with the snow around us sent a shiver down my spine.
"Do you need another jacket or maybe a blanket, Alton?" Zagreus asked me with a gentle smile that had no resemblance to either of his parents.
He was just a calm and collected person, I think I've heard the word chill to describe someone like him.
Unlike our cranky sister.
I heard a snort from beside me, and I turned around. I was met by a knowing look from Melinoë.
"Tell me, Zag," Melinoë looked back at our brother, gods that's such a weird thought, "why are we cloud watching when it's all black and dull out today?"
"I thought black was your thing?" Zagreus said with a sweet smile as he avoided eye contact with the gothic exterior woman.
"Har, har." She responded in a dull voice.
"Today doesn't have to be filled with endless activities. We're just getting to know Alton."
"Give it time. Alton seems to always find himself in a mess of some kind. That's all you need to know about him."
"Hey, hey, untrue. I've only started to get into a load of shit starting this school year, and second, don't confuse me trying to survive with my hobbies."
"Oh, really?" Melinoë turned to me with a challenging grin, "So what do you call all those times when you would sneak out of the rickety old castle you school at, during the night?"
"I don't sleep well." Not until I got the REM perk, making it a helluva a lot easier for me to fall asleep.
"And coming to the forest?"
A grin wormed its way onto my face, "I guess I can call it spending time with my family. I'm starting to think I prefer your other form."
"Oh yeah, Al?" Melinoë scrambled to her feet, holding onto a large lump of snow and ice, she scooped off the ground.
"Don't you-" She cut me off by smothering me with the frozen lump.
"Aww, Mel." Zagreus whined, "You ruined the snacks."
I brushed off the ice and snow, giving my sister a glare, "You having fun?"
Melinoë sighed, "No, not anymore. I'm bored."
Zagreus gives me an unamused look, "This is what I have to deal with for so long, seriously can you imagine being stuck in the underworld with her." He groaned.
Melinoë hoist her full-blooded brother up as she motions for me to follow, "Where are we going now?" I said as I drew up the hood.
"New York, baby-boo."
Both Zagreus and I said no for different reasons.
"No, I don't do nicknames. Al is usually the limit."
"You know I don't do crowds, so why would I want to do New York of all places? It's like angry London." He then pointed down at his burning feet, apparently unlike most of his kind, Zag had a time limit to how long he could spend anywhere beyond the underworld. Powers beyond our ken had limited him to that place, the God of Blood tipped the scales till it was unfairly skewed.
The Goddess of Ghost let out a groan, "You two are no fun."
"That's gotta be the first time you're saying and not hearing it." I snarked.
Zagreus snorted as he elbowed me good-naturedly in the stomach, "She makes dad seem like uncle Zed."
"She is right here." Melinoë sneered.
While Zagreus was a very calm and collected individual, Melinoë was quick to anger, but the sisters were quite close and welcoming in their own way. Was this normal for them to be so accepting of their half-sibling, who happens to be half-human?
All the stories point to probably not, but the two treated me as nothing short of a brother, and I was touched honestly, I grew up close to my mother, seeing my uncle as a father figure, Pan as my sister, and I always thought that would be it. And despite accepting Hades and Persephone as figures in my life, but not quite yet as father and stepmother, but two, I'm being foolish to be so quick to love?
The armguard shot a lime green shield causing the tip of the blade to deflect away.
"That is an impressive piece of craftsmanship," Hades said as his sword fell to his side while we circled each other.
I let out a snort, "If you wanted to, you could've obliterated it, couldn't you?"
He shrugs, "I could obliterate many things, my son. That does not mean I don't appreciate fine workmanship."
"It was a gift from a dear friend," I said, trying to keep my tone even as I slashed the dulled steel at the God of the Dead.
He blocked with a lazy motion of his own blade, "You sound troubled." He stated.
He didn't prod, and I valued that in him, mum and Persephone would, the former would quickly drop the subject when she realised it pertained to the fairer sex, and the horny Goddess would probably just give me advice that would likely lead me to more trouble.
"She told me she has feelings for me."
"Oh?" He tried to feign apathy, but I could read him enough he wished to know more, but he was hesitant to not cross a boundary, without saying anything, he knew I wasn't ready to call him dad, nor did he comment to me not calling Persephone mum much to the Goddess ire.
"I have feelings for her."
He nodded after the sounds of silence and metal clashing against each, "But?"
"But I have this," I sighed as I dropped my stance and pushed back fringe, "thing for another girl, arrangement of sorts, but feelings for her as well."
He nods, "When you say 'thing', you don't mean a normal relationship?" He said without an accusing tone.
"No." I shook my head, "We actually despised each other for most of the time we've known each other. And I'm pretty sure these feelings are mostly one-sided."
"That sounds healthy." He actually snarked.
"I'm picturesque of healthy." I gave him a lopsided grin.
He snorted in return as he passed me a water bottle, "I don't know if you want advice, or you're just venting to someone who isn't going to judge."
"Either is welcomed," I said in between gulps.
"The solution is simple," He said as if I was missing the obvious, "You take a break."
"That is something mum would say."
He rolled his eyes, "No, your mother would say something along the lines of 'Neither girl is good enough, nor the rest of the population, take a life of celibacy.'"
I gave him a flat look, "I would be mad if that weren't pinpoint accurate."
He waved me off, "I won't tell you what to do, not here about this, but I would like to point out, that if you truly care about both of these girls, you should perhaps take a step back from all of it."
"It's not fair on either of them." I sighed in agreement.
Or so I thought I did, but he waved me off yet again, "I was more focused on it being not fair on you." He said with a neutral voice, "You're my son. I care about your happiness and yours alone."
Not entirely used to the statement being spoken unless it was mum, I simply nodded and got into a stance and bade for him to continue the sparring.
A/N - Chapters 1 to 11 - Edits - 2024/07/23
Just going through this story improving the grammar, and most likely a shit load of errors even still, as its me, though I was hoping to clean it up a bit to hopefully inspire me to go back to it, but we'll see. Also padding out and adding to the already existing chapters (1-11), like a lemon on chapter 7.