Noble Blood

Sirius Black was a Gryffindor.

It was all Bellatrix was talking about. She put aside her usual disdain for her brother in order to tell him and his friends all about it.

“I wrote to mother immediately, of course, and I’m sure she’s told Aunt Walpurga by now”, Bellatrix said to them at breakfast the morning after Sirius’s sorting. “I can’t believe it, a Black in Gryffindor!”

“We were all there, Bella, we don’t need a recap”, Eryn retorted after taking a sip of the rabbit’s blood Hagrid had brought him that morning. “Besides, we were far overdue for a bit of change anyway. Are you really that surprised?”

“If you say this makes you happy, then I’m not the only one lying”, Bellatrix snapped.
“I’m going to go see if Rodolphus has heard”.

And with that she was off to the other end of the Slytherin table.

“You don’t have to push her, you know”, Pandora said as she walked with Eryn to charms after breakfast.

“I don’t, but she was asking for it, honestly”.

“She’s your sister, Eryn. It’s not good to just write her off so easily”.

“Just because she’s my sister doesn’t mean she’s some misunderstood saint. We don’t all have good families like yours”.

Pandora sighed.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. Just try not to stay on her bad side, that’ll only hurt both of you”.

“Speaking of which”, she continued as they sat down in seats near Professor Flitwick’s desk. “You should really talk to Sirius”.

“And why is that?” Eryn said as he took out his books.

“Well, he’s probably feeling pretty isolated right now, and I doubt Narcissa or Bellatrix are going to try and help him feel better about his unfortunate situation. And if this Aunt Walpurga is anything like your parents she’s not going to care that Sirius had no control over what house he was put in so he’s definitely not looking forward to the next time he hears from her. And…”

“Enough chatter, Miss Rosier”, Flitwick said, grabbing the class’s attention. “Today we’ll be covering…”

“My point is”, Pandora continued in a low whisper. “Sirius is probably going through hell right now and you’re the only person in his family who’s open enough to still talk to him. It could help him a lot”.

“Observant, aren’t you?”

Pandora smiled. “It’s what I do best”, she said before directing her attention back to the charms lesson.

***

Eryn spent the next week trying to catch a moment to talk to Sirius. He didn’t really know what to say, but Pandora’s advice had never steered him wrong before.

Sirius likely didn’t even know who Eryn was, but he’d probably guessed that they were related by now. Eryn thought about Lucius’s first words to him every time he saw Sirius.

Looks just like you, doesn’t he?

He noticed that he was thinking about Lucius a lot these days.

It wasn’t until a Saturday afternoon when he was walking back from Hagrid’s hut that he saw Sirius with a friend of his outside the greenhouses.

“Oi! You, Sirius!”

Eryn ran over to his cousin, ducking under a shade outside the greenhouse entrance.

“What do you want?” Sirius asked with a hint of annoyance in his voice. His friend, who Eryn noticed was heavily scarred in the face, looked on edge and alert. He’d put his guard up, it seemed.

“Just want to talk to you”, said Eryn. He looked to Sirius’s friend. “Don’t want any trouble. Mind if I speak to you alone? Preferably inside, don’t like the sun much”.

Sirius looked hesitant, but obliged. He followed Eryn back into the castle, leaving his friend alone in the vegetable patches.

“Okay, what do you want?” He repeated.

“I’m sure you’ve guessed we’re related by now, unless you’re an idiot in which case I fully understand why my family hates you now”.

Sirius almost laughed, but caught himself and went back to looking stern.

“Anyways”, Eryn extended his hand to Sirius. “Eryn Black, brother to Andromeda, Bellatrix, and Narcissa, son to Druella and we’ll have to see about Cygnus. And you’re Sirius, unless I’m horribly mistaken”.

Sirius shook Eryn’s hand. “You’re correct”, he laughed. Eryn smiled at him. They were almost the same height, Sirius may have even been a little bit taller.

“Just wanted to let you know that no matter how bigoted our family is, I have your back. We can be outcasts together”. Eryn flashed a toothy grin at Sirius, who did a double take at Eryn’s two sharp teeth.

“Thank you”, he said, suddenly a bit nervous. Eryn detected this.

“Who’s your scarred friend?” He asked to keep the conversation flowing.

“Remus Lupin”, said Sirius.

“Lupin….don’t recognize that name. Seems you’re doing great already. Who else have you been talking to?”

“James Potter and Peter Pettigrew”.

“Ah. Going for a record, aren’t you?” Eryn leaned against the wall. “I’ve been sticking by the Rosier twins, they’re alright. Barty Crouch is decent enough to be around, too”.

Sirius leaned beside him and stared off into space.

“You alright?”

“I guess…I just haven’t really…”

“Sirius, we have things to do”.

The scarred boy had appeared in the doorway. Eryn sprang back onto his feet.

“Hello, Lupin, correct?”

“Yes…”

“Eryn. Nice to meet you”.

He offered a handshake, but Remus paid no attention.

“Come on, Sirius”.

“Alright…”

He got back up.

“Hey”, Eryn said before him and Remus walked away. “Keep in touch with me, ok? Let me know if anything goes wrong”.

“I will”, Sirius said eagerly. “It’s been great to meet you”.

“Same to you, kid”.

Sirius smiled and followed Remus. Eryn leaned back against the wall and watched them question each other, argue a little bit, and then laugh before they turned around the corner.

***

When Eryn went back to the common room that night, Narcissa was sitting on a sofa near the fireplace, seemingly waiting for him.

“Evening, Cissy. I need to tell you about something”.

“Good. I brought something for you”.

From her pocket she pulled out a bottle of black nail polish.

“We can match”, she said, showing off her own black nails.

Eryn sat down next to his sister and let her take his hand and start painting.

“What’d you want to tell me?”

“I talked to Sirius today”.

“Oh, and how’d that go?”

“He’s alright, just a bit lost. You know what I was like before”.

“Hm. Did he say anything about his parents? I’m sure they’re not happy about his sorting at all”.

“Didn’t come up”.

“I hope they’re not too harsh on him”.

“He seems tough, he can probably take it”.

Narcissa laughed. “You’ve never met Aunt Walpurga, have you?” She stated, switching Eryn’s hands.

“She can’t be that bad, can she?” Eryn said, extending his unheld hand to see the polish better.

“Oh, trust me. She CAN be that bad”.

The two of them talked more while Narcissa finished Eryn’s nails. Two siblings, sharing a moment together, just to keep each other warm.