The day started as any other, it was the summer holidays. Sirius and his brother, Regulus was once again back at their family manor, this one being quite far away from society. Well, that’s if you don’t count the other rich families in the area.
“Good morning young master”, said Kreacher while opening the curtains, revealing the wonderful view of the flower fields and mountains you could see in the distance. Kreacher was very old and had been serving Sirius’ family for as long as he could remember, well to be fair he was only sixteen. Kreacher was wearing his usual butler get up, consisting of a pair of black dress pants, white shirt and a black vest, his permanent deadpan look on his wrinkly face and grey hair. “Breakfast is to be served in half an hour. Lady Black would appreciate if young master were to show up at the agreed time.” Informed Kreacher. Honestly if he hadn’t said the exact same thing every morning for years, Sirius might have paid attention to what he had to say. Because unlike his brother who adored their butler, Sirius simply found him boring, and at this point he was more of an alarm.
“Yeah, ill be there” he responded after seeing that Kreacher would not leave until he gave him some sort of response. Kreacher just nodded his head and left, closing the door of his bedroom when he was out. Being too tired to face his mother’s wrath today Sirius decided to wear what his father would deem appropriate clothes. That consisted of black slacks and a white button up shirt. Even if it had only been a couple of days since he got home from the boarding school he and Regulus attended, he felt he missed the place. He missed his friends and the freedom he had while there. Even if he was still restricted while there. His mother had eyes and ears everywhere after all. He was with friends of his own choosing and could wear what he wanted while at the dorms.
“At least he still had his little brother here, even if he was a prick” Sirius thought while doing his hair. He prided himself in his shoulder length black curly hair. Doing his hair was his favourite part of the days he was at home; it was quite a relaxing thing to do after all. His father had never liked the long hair he came back with every summer, saying that long hair like that wasn’t manly enough for his heir. But after a few times of this happening, he had finally let him keep it last summer, so Sirius was hoping he would this one too.
He checked his watch for the time. Fuck, ten minutes late. Sirius checked his mirror one last time and sprayed a bit of cologne before heading downstairs to the breakfast room. Yes, they did indeed have a whole room just to eat breakfast in. As he entered the room he heard his fathers voice, “You’re late Sirius.” “I apologise father, Kreacher like the elf he is was late in waking me up. So I had to prioritise getting ready inste-“ Sirius tried to get himself out of trouble, even if he had to blame the butler, and if Regulus looked like he wanted to interrupt. he didn’t. Instead, it was his mother who interrupted, “Sirius sit down, I shall not tolerate you being late again. Understood?” “..Yes maman, it shall not happen again” he responded, French accent poking through. His family originated from France, and they did still spend quite a bit of time there considering all the family he had over there. So having an accent was inevitable.
The extravagant breakfast with so much food it could very well have fed a hungry family of ten, was held in their family’s usual silence. Proper decorum said that it was only dessert one could use small talk, with the exception of dinner parties. So Sirius’ family, as elegant as they were had upheld this since the brothers learned to talk. But their usual silence was finally interrupted when his mother started speaking. “As you both know” she said, directed at the two brothers, “We shall be hosting the summer and yule ball this year, along with your aunt and uncle” Regulus nodded in understanding, Sirius didn’t move a muscle. He knew where this was going, his older cousin Andromeda had warned him of the signs. Along with the hints his parents had been dropping since he was home last yule. “This means that along with helping when asked, there’s something else to be asked of you Sirius.” Regulus looked confused while Sirius felt his throat tighten, this was it. “What would you have me do maman..?” he said feigning ignorance as if that would help him.
“Find a wife” she said with a smile, God how he hated that smile, it had haunted his dreams growing up.
Those three words hit him like a pile of rocks, of course he had expected it. But he still thought he would have until eighteen minimum. But Walburga Black would never make something easy for anyone but herself.
“Isn’t it a bit early for that maman?” Sirius tried. “No of course not Sirius” she said, looking irritated, “this is not up for discussion, and if you haven’t chosen by new year’s, I’ll do it myself.” Sirius did know that he was one of the lucky ones. Most wasn’t allowed to have a say in who it was, but he could. He knew Narcissa herself didn’t chose. He honestly still felt bad for who his cousin ended up with, her husband was a foul man. But in the end, he was rich and came from a respected family, that was all that mattered. “Besides the wedding will be held in summer, so the sooner you find one, the more time we have to plan the wedding details.” Walburga finally finished her announcement.
The summer. He only had a year before he was trapped in a marriage he didn’t want forever.
“May I be excused from the table? I’d like to start looking through the invitations to see my options?” Sirius couldn’t handle sitting here for even a minute more, he felt sick. “Hmm well I suppose that would be a good idea, very well go on. You too Regulus your father and I have much to discuss.” She dismissed both brothers, and they silently headed upstairs together.
Upon arriving to the hallway both their rooms were in, after receiving the guest list from his father’s office Regulus spoke up, “Would you like to talk about it?” Sirius thought for a moment, “No.. But some company could be nice?” Regulus nodded and they went into Sirius’ room. Save for the windows there wasn’t a whole lot of light in the manor, their parents preferring to only have candle lighting in the halls and rooms. They spent the entire rest of the day trying to lighten the mood, joking around. Ignoring the big elephant in the room.
It had been a few weeks now and the ball was the next day. Sirius was still not over the whole marriage next summer thing, but he managed. And by managed he, instead of continuing like his parents want, he started wearing the clothes and accessories he only used at school. That included band t-shirts and worn jeans, his leather jacket, not his favourite for the possibility of his mother burning it, eyeliner that his friend, Marlene gave him last yule after seeing how he enjoyed borrowing hers, and black nail polish.
It’s safe to say that his parents were livid. One could say that the things they had to say about it were really not okay to say to anyone, let alone their own son. But the Black’s had their own way of raising children, so he wasn’t too hurt or anything, (read: so he cries himself to sleep most days), The worst days however ended in him either not getting dinner, or getting a few slaps. Sirius could handle it, he could really. But he was scared, like for god’s sake he was only sixteen.
He heard a knock on his door, he had been locked in here for a day and a half now, at the start he tried to get his summer schoolwork done, but he ended up just lying in bed, so he was quite startled by the knock. Because while Regulus would sneak him food sometimes, he would never knock. So, the only answer was that it was Kreacher.
Sirius was proven right when Kreacher came in and started speaking, “Madam Black would like to inform you that there will be a family dinner with your aunt, uncle and cousins in an hour. I was also told to inform you that you are to wear proper clothing and not what you have been wearing lately.” After he was done, he left without waiting for a response. To be fair Sirius had cursed him out the last few times he came in, but this time he had been too tired to argue.
Sirius got up from his bed around twenty minutes later and got ready. He didn’t follow the instructions given and went all out with his eyeliner, black boots, queen merch, but sadly no longer his hair. Sirius’ mother cut it short on the fourth day of his rebellion. His father had to hold him down, but it still ended up choppy.
When he went downstairs, he headed to where he knew the dinner would be held, in the formal dining room, where they always hosted the family dinners in. All the polite conversations stopped when they saw him enter. At the sight of his outfit, he saw his mother and fathers face go red with rage. Ha! They really thought they beat it out of him, well sucks to suck. “Sirius Orion Black! What have I told you of this kind of clothing. Go change, now!” His mother almost yelled, fuck, she was angry. Sirius had never seen this kind of anger on his mother before. “No.” Sirius tried to keep the confident act going. “..No?” she questioned, the tension in the room growing thicker. Walburga stood up, this grabbed the attention of everyone, his aunt, uncle, father, two cousins and his little brother, just by one year, but at that point his brother looked so young and scared, for both his own safety and Sirius’.
“Orion” Walburga started, “Hold him down, now.” Sirius was stuck, he couldn’t move his own body, he saw his father get up and in seconds he was on the ground laying on his stomach with his father pinning him there. Sirius could only see his brother and cousins; he saw their scared faces even if Andromeda and Narcissa was older than him by a few years they were still close. I mean who wouldn’t be in their situations. He heard his mother step towards him, he couldn’t see her, and he didn’t know what was worse in his situation seeing her or not.
Sirius saw his brother’s eyes widen before he felt it. A slash on his back, presumable with a knife. And that’s what he would have thought hadn’t the pain hit him so hard. Sirius had felt a lot of pain in his life, but this topped it all. He screamed. Loudly. He heard his mother laugh and everyone else in the room gasp. But Walburga didn’t stop, no no, she only did it again and again and again. Sirius couldn’t count anymore all he knew was his mother’s laugh and his own screams.
He didn’t know how long he laid there after she was done, but when he woke, he was in his room, laying on his stomach, there were no bandages and only pain. After what could have been a few seconds or minutes, he got up, grabbed a bag laying by the bed, it was filled with everything he needed and if there was a note at the bottom made by the one person in that foul house who loved him, no one but them would ever know. And so he ran, well as much as one can run in his situation. He went out the door, his ears ringing. It was probably half an hour before he reached his destination. James’ manor, James, his best friend since he was nine.
Before he knew it, he was at the door and ringing the doorbell. The door opened, James, he was there. Sirius knew he would never forget the look on his face when he assessed Sirius and saw all the blood. The last thing Sirius heard before blacking out was his name from James’ mouth, “SIRIUS!”
Sirius didn’t know if he ever would return to the Black family manor, but with James by his side, he would figure it out.