Chapter 1
There is that stupid cliche about twins having the ability of telepathy. In this very moment she felt as though this was true.
They where standing on Kingscros, surrounded by hectic parents hugging their children goodbye handing them the suitcases.
It was an emotional chaos, which their parents didn’t want to be a part of.
They stood straight and tall their cold eyes fixed on the children they wouldn’t see in a long time and all they knew to say was “remember you are part of the noble Black family so act accordingly! Now join your cousin’s in there compartment. Make sure not to engage with muddbluds.”
There wasn’t even a goodbye, not a tear shed. Never in public, even if the press wasn’t present.
In that moment Stella new without looking at her brother, that it would be a relief to enroll in Hogwarts for both of them. The best school for witchcraft in Europe as their mother liked to point out.
Sirius was the first to step into the Hogwarts Express. Stella looked back to smile at her younger brother Regulus one last time. Then she followed Sirius inside.
“What are you doing, this is the wrong direction?” Sirius had started walking in the opposite direction of where their cousins and other Slytherins where seated.
“Do you really want to sit with them?” Sirius said while continuing to walk into the same direction.
“It doesn’t matter, mother said we must!”
“Well mother isn’t going to be in Hogwarts to control us, is she?” Sirius kept walking and she kept following.
“Haven’t you gotten in enough trouble already?” She mocked half heartedly.
Sirius was never one to do as told no matter how little the effort it would take or how much easier it would be. He did it because of the principal. Stella admired that as much as she feared it. It had gotten him a bunch of scares already and she new there parents where only going to get stricter.
Sirius had found a few empty seats and decided to settle, Stella joined him. The compartment wasn’t empty though.
There was already two boys sitting there, one with such messy hair that if the boy had been Sirius mother would have rather shaven him bald then let him leave the house like that. He seemed quite posh apart from that and was wearing big round glasses, which seemed to have the same effect as a magnifying glass and made his hazel eyes seem huge.
Next to him was a smaller, chubbier boy who seemed slightly familiar.
Sirius shook hands with both of them and introduced himself. As soon as the two heard the name black there eyes widened.
“From the noble house of black?” the smaller guy asked in awe.
Sirius rolled his eyes, but only Stella seemed to notice.
“And who do we have the pleasure to meet?” Stella interrupted formally, to avoid for Sirius to say anything inappropriate.
The boy with the glasses answered “This is Pete, Peter Petigrew” that’s how she new him the Petigrews where honored guests at the Black family’s “party’s”. “And I am James Potter” .
This worried Stella she had also heard that name before. The Potter’s where bloodtraiters.
Mother would not approve of their new acquaintance.
Sirius didn’t seem bothered at all.
“A pleasure to meet you.”
“The pleasure is all mine”
And this was the beginning of a long lasting conversation about quidditch, the sorting ceremony and more.
Peter joined in every now and then. When he new something witty to say.
Stella didn’t feel entirely comfortable, so she rather observed quietly for some while.
When the conversation got to boring she looked around taking in her surroundings.
She noticed a boy sitting outside he seemed not to have found anywhere to sit and settled for the floor. She estimated he must be their age. He seemed older though. The way people with intense lives always seem older. His life must have been intense. His clothing was old way too big for him and full of holes. His skin was covered in scars and as he was staring at the ground his stare seemed intense. Like he was actually mad at the floor for having to sit on it.
She new this was the exact kind of person their parents would not want them to engage with and jet she felt this deep urge to invite him to sit with them, so he wouldn’t have to sit on that hateful floor anymore.
“That guy is just sitting there.” She said as though it was just a realization and as if she didn’t know that Sirius could not just let him sit there, but had to invite him to sit with them.
As the guy stood up to join them, she realized he was quite tall for his age as well and jet she wasn’t surprised when he confirmed that he was eleven just as the rest of them.
He introduced himself as Remus Lupin. “Interesting name Wolf Wolf “ she laughed. She thought she had caught a shimmer of fear in his eyes, but he quickly smiled in response and said “yes that would be the translation”
“Can I ask who gave you this name? Are your parents known?” She tried to figure out his blood status politely.
“You wouldn’t know my father. He died when I was quite young. I grew up in an orphanage.”
“Oh My condolences and how terrible where you surrounded by muggels frequently?”
James the boy with the glasses chimed in now “Why do you not like Muggels?”
She was left with out an answer. Could you not dislike them as long as you where a witch or wizard.
She was brought up with the knowledge of how horrible muggels where, how all they wanted was to burn witches. So of course she disliked them.
She noticed the intense looks on the boys faces.
“I’ve read in the daily profit that the Black family are blood supremacy’s or something” petigrew chimed in.
She felt like any honest awnser would be the wrong one right now so she stayed silent. Luckily Sirius broke the silence “No that’s not true for all of us. I can have my own opinion”.
In this family you really couldn’t and jet Stella remained silent. This was the wrong crowd.
“Really? That’s great, we might even be in the same house then, since you’re not a stuck up Slytherin.” The Potter guy seemed pleased.
But Stella noticed that even Sirius started to seem uncertain now.
“We will be in Slytherin, every Black family member gets sorted into Slytherin.” Stella interrupted mater of factly.
“Dude I don’t know much about this wizard world dynasty shit, but you just seem really stuck up.” Lupin told her straight to her face. She felt less and less comfortable by the minute and couldn’t wait for the train to arrive.
“When you don’t know what your talking about it’s better to just be quiet” Sirius said in an attempt to protect her.
She just stayed quiet for the rest of the drive while the guys slowly started chatting again.
She didn’t take any of the candy even though she loved chocolate and when their mean Cousin Bellatrix stormed in to ask them why they didn’t sit with them she enjoyed the distraction.
Sirius got her to leave them alone and Stella disappeared behind a book until they arrived.
They saw it the first time standing at the lake. Hogwarts wasn’t just a School it was a castle. The first Years stared at it in aw.
“Wow it really is as impressive as mother and father said” Sirius exclaimed in disbelief. “Yes we need to write Regulus about this” was her first thought. Sirius nodded in agreement.
A young woman, hair bound into a strict bun lead the new ones to the little boats. Sirius and Stella went ahead to sit in one of the boats ready to go, when the woman’s sharp voice cut threw to them “At least four people per boat!” When she came closer her expression changed “Oh the Black family. Well never mind you can take the boat.” She didn’t seem impressed rather judging.
It was beautiful to cross the lake at night. It just felt deeply peaceful.
“Look I know you didn’t like the guys and that Lupin guy seems to be a dickhead, but please don’t judge the other so fast. They seemed nice. I really like James.”
“Sirius they can be as nice as they want. It doesn’t change a thing. The Petegrew is acceptable, but you can’t be known to associate with a Potter.”
“It’s not all about politics. I know that you know that.”
“It’s not just about politics for others. But for you it is you are the heir to the…”
“Nobel house of Black. Trust me I know. I’ve been told. But we aren’t at home there is no rules here, there is no press and most importantly there is no mother. I get your worried about me, but you can relax now. You don’t need to protect me anymore.”
“Great speech, I get your point, but you must be aware that there are rules here. You should really have read them.”
“I assumed you had that covered sooo I didn’t.”
“I didn’t just read the rules I remembered them by hard.”
“That’s my Sister”
“And since I did that I might as well recite them right here so you know them as well.”
“Don’t ruin our paddling session here”
“Rule number 1 …”
“No don’t do this to me… LaLaLaLa I can’t here you!”
They arrived laughing.
The lady with the strict face led all of them into a huge hall.
Stella lived in a mansion and had seen the richest of wizards, but this place was by far the most impressive place she had ever seen.
The four tables where decorated with elegant tablecloth in the colors of each house and they stretched out through the entire hall leaving room for hundreds of students to sit and watch the stage-like area with the teachers table and the podium with a golden eagle. The stone walls where covered with candles, lighting up the great hall and portraits filled with more people to observe this breathtaking place. The most impressive thing about it was the sealing, which didn’t seem to exist, all she could see was the night sky and she couldn’t take her eyes of it.
She wasn’t the only first year mesmerized by this place, they where gently pushed forward to stand in line for the sorting ceremony.
For the black family this was an important event, not because they wanted to know what house the younger family members would be in, but to welcome new members of the pureblood family’s, to honor their own name and to judge the bloodtraitors who didn’t make it into slytherin.
There wasn’t any questions about Sirius and Stellas house. They where gonna be in slytherin, just like everyone in there family had been for centuries.
Of curse Stella disliked Hufflepuffs, but her cousins reaktion to a girl before her getting sorted into that house seemed unnecessarily mean. They laughed at her and called her weak, luckily the rest of the hall was cheering for her, so the mean Bellatrix laughter was barely to be heard.
Stella still didn’t understand why someone would cheer for a Hufflepuff, kindness wasn’t a good trait it showed weakness.
Once she had asked her mother why one can’t just be kind to everyone, regardless of bloodstatus. She had told her that that kindness was weak and she wouldn’t have weak children, which was also why she hurt her for asking, so she wouldn’t be that weak again.
She didn’t want to be weak, but she felt weak very often, she felt like she would never be able to hurt her brothers like her mother did or anyone for that matter.
But she couldn’t have that stupid sorting hat know that!
It was Sirius turn first. He walked up to the hat confidently, it seemed as though Sirius unlike the other first years,wasn’t the slightest bit nervous, but Stella could tell by the coldness in his eyes that he was. That coldness was learned it was the Black family’s way of hiding their true feelings. A mask see through to anyone who new how to wear it. Sirius was nervous, which made her feel uneasy, what could he be nervous about?
He sat in the chair as if it was his throne and the applause he got matched his attitude. This was what they where taught to present themselves as. Like they where actual royalty. The sorting hat his crown, but as soon as it touched his scalp their world crumbled.
The hat didn’t say Slytherin it said Gryffindor.
The hall went silent immediately. It seemed as though everyone was holding their breath.
Stella definitely was or maybe she had just forgotten how to breathe.
She new it wasn’t Sirius’s fault but it was his death sentence.
The moment she thought this Sirius looked over to her with a reassuring smile the coldness had left his eyes and it seemed almost as if replaced with relive.
“Alright the next student is Stella Black” an old white haired man broke the silence, who Stella could only assume was the headmaster Albus Dumbledore. If he was surprised, he was certainly good at hiding it.
Sirius went to sit at the Gryffindor table, only very few people were clapping. James Potter was one of them and Stella couldn’t help but thinking that maby Sirius was right and James wasn’t that bad.
She hurried to the chair with the same cold expression Sirius had, just a minute ago. She was suddenly terrified of that nasty old hat, but made sure to wear it like a crown. Since she could see her cousins angry faces.
“oh you are a difficult one” the hat said
“I am really not, I am a Black. I belong into Slytherin” she was properly scared now. Sirius was always different and brave, but she couldn’t be in another house.
“Do not be scared, trust me I will make a decision which will only benefit you. Your last name doesn’t have much to do with it. It’s more about your brightness.”
“What brightness ?”
“There is brightness in your heart, but also in your way of thinking.”
“You aren’t making any sense”
“I can see how much you care for others, the way your so worried about your brother and how hard you work. I mean you memorized all the rules of Hogwarts and there is loyalty, loyalty to your family. I think Hufflepuff would be a great fit for you.”
“No please don’t put me in Hufflepuff it’s the worst of all houses, it’s for the weak. I can prove to you I’m not weak”
“That won’t be necessary Hufflepuff isn’t for the weak, but if you don’t want to go there I have another idea. I see that you are a bright witch. You have a complex mind and strong magic you can question things and I hope that you will. It will be challenging, but I know you are up for the challenge so your house will be RAVENCLAW”
The last word wasn’t just in her head, the hat had called out the name of her house there was no point in further protest.
With her mind in a state of total chaos she walked back to the Ravenclaw table she barely noticed who was clapping or wether her family was mad.
The sorting continued and slowly students started chatting again. Stella heard her name a few times, once she even heard something about her and Sirius being adopted. If the rumors had already started spreading through Hogwarts they would be in all the papers tomorrow and mother couldn’t stand the paper’s unless they wrote something good, but she wouldn’t be able to punish the papers so she would punish the twins.
Stella was tense and sat further away from the other Ravenclaws, while Sirius didn’t seem to have a care in the world and was chatting it up with Potter. Surprisingly all the boy’s from the train had ended up in Gryffindor, even Petigrew.
While there seemed to be a lot of Gryffindors this year, there wasn’t many Ravenclaws.
There was a Xenophilius Lovegood, who just seemed weird and a Gilderoy Lockhart, who acted as if he owned the School, while talking to Gaspart Shingelton and Tilden Toots. Stella had no interest in joining in on the conversation, but a girl with almost white hair had other plans.
She sat next to her at the table and instantly started talking.
“Hi I am Pandora Rosier, of curse I know who you are. You are my favorite member of the Black family. Sorry is that rude to say. I just think it’s destiny we ended up being the only Ravenclaw girls this year, don’t you? It means we have to be best friends right? Oh and we have a huge dorm just for ourselves.” She stuffed a big Spoon of mashed potato into her mouth.
“I don’t really know what you mean, but I was sorted into Ravenclaw by mistake so…”
“I have never heard of the sorting hat making a mistake also it took it’s time I am sure it made the right decision.”
“Don’t you know it is rude to talk while eating?” Stella asked the girl surprised.
“That can’t be! it would be awfully quiet otherwise” the girl was right nobody had stopped talking when the food arrived, so Stella just let the girl talk. Pandora definitely didn’t only speak when spoken to, she talked about everything that popped up in that interesting mind of hers and there was a lot. Stella quickly noticed that she was filled with kindness and compaction, but she definitely wasn’t weak.
“Did you understand the headmasters speech?” She asked after a while, Stella realized she hadn’t payed any attention to it.
“No, did he say something important?”
“Well everything he said sounded important but I didn’t really understand it, something about darkness and brightness canceling each other out.”
“I’ve heard his speeches always sound like gibberish. He is a bit crazy.” Gilderoyd interrupted
“Just because you don’t understand it doesn’t mean that the person who said it is crazy.” Xenophilius joined in.
Before Gilderoyd could say something obviously distasteful they where interrupted by a prefect who wanted to show them to their dorm and a good night of sleep seemed exactly like what Stella needed right now.
They where led threw an impressive staircase filled with gossiping portraits and levitating lanterns in one staircase the stairs moved.
They had to get to the very top, which didn’t surprise Stella since she had read that the Ravenclaw common room was near the astronomy tower.
They reached a bookshelf with a silver statue of an eagle. To the surprise of the first years the statue started to talk. “what has to be broken before you can use it?”
“You will have to solve a riddle every time you want to enter the common room” a prefect explained. “Do any of you know the answer?” They asked with a motivating smile.
Stella raised her hand. The smiling prefect looked at her, but seemed to realize something and their expression changed and they quickly picked Gilderoyd to answer instead.
“An egg” he said as if he had just found the answer to life.
“Great I can see you are true Ravenclaws you’ll do fine with the riddles.” The prefect said while glancing over at Stella with an unsure look.
“An egg” the prefect answered the statue, the bookshelf swung to the side revealing the most comfortable looking room Stella had ever seen.
It had soft dark blue glittering walls, decorated with little golden stars. The room was round and had a sealing that was maybe seven meters high. There was round bookshelves reaching up to the sealing and a large globe was levitating about three meters over the ground. There was comfortable dark blue couches and seats and a few desks.
They followed the older students threw a door which led to a spiral staircase.
“If you go to the very top you’ll find the astronomy-tower, but right here” they pointed at two doors “are your dorm’s.”
The boys went to see theirs, while pandora and Stella slipped into their room. It was a cozy little place, with wooden floors big windows with blue curtains the same kind that surrounded their beds. There was big closets and a lot of storage place and one desk.
Pandora directly got to hanging up her weird plants all over the place, while Stella put on her PJ.
She only realized that the sealing depicted the night sky with all it’s constellations and the stars in them, when she was lying down in bed.
“Do you think this will be our home someday?” Pandora asked after a while.
“What do you mean? Home is where your family is.” Stella was confused.
“Well thats not my definition of “home”. I think home is a place you can always come back to, a place where as soon as you smell its familiar scent you know your safe and you can let your guard down”
Stella thought about that. Home had never felt like that to her, neither had the school for well behaved girls in Germany or any other place really, but it was a nice thought.
She stared at the sealing thinking of her family she found Siriuses and Reguluses star in the sealing. Everyone in her family was named after a star or a constellation. She was the only exception her name was just the Latin word for star.
She explored the sealing further. She could made out orion and the andromeda galaxy, then her eyelids started feeling heavy and she drifted of into a dreamless sleep.