Unexpected Guests
Prongs!!!!
I don’t know what kind of drugs my mother is on, but Reggie and I are coming to your party tonight. See you soon!
- Padfoot
Sirius folds the note and hands it to one of the royal employees who have taken his and James’ notes in the past. All Sirius has to do is nod at the man and he is off towards the palace to bring the note directly to James. He shakes his head and can’t help but laugh as he rushes to his room to change. Sirius has no idea why his mother wants him and his brother to go to James’ party tonight.
His mind falters for a moment — there must be some scheme behind it. Sirius had been so busy enjoying his good luck that he hadn’t taken the time to really wonder what his mother was up to. Maybe they’re planning on blowing the place up, he thinks, probably hoping they can get rid of me too. You know: two birds, one stone. But they would never want to get rid of Regulus. Who would do their bidding for them?
There’s a sudden knock at his door.
“Sirius, hurry up. We’re going to be late,” Regulus huffs from outside Sirius’ door.
“Why do you care?” Sirius responds, buttoning up his fresh shirt as fast as he can.
He’s aware that he sounds childish, but he doesn’t find it in himself to care. There’s no response, but he knows Regulus is waiting outside the door for him. The brothers don’t get along very well often, but they are linked, connected on a molecular level, like they have this invisible tether between them. Both of them are aware of this tether and sometimes Sirius wonders why they don’t just embrace it. That is until one of them does something to piss off the other and they have one of their earth-shattering arguments that often leave onlookers in shock. They could be brutal with one another, but they were also the most important person in each other’s life – a twisted relationship as a result of their upbringing.
Sirius finishes pulling on his suit jacket and hurries over to his door. When he swings it open Regulus is leaning against the wall across from him, dressed in a dark gray suit paired with his perpetual look of annoyance.
Sirius doesn’t stop walking and passes his younger brother.
“Well? Aren’t you coming?”
He smiles to himself in satisfaction at the sound of Regulus’ annoyed sigh. The younger man pushes himself off the wall and follows his older brother slowly. Sirius glances back at him and gestures for him to walk faster, anxious to see James as always.
“So now we’re in a rush,” Regulus murmurs as they walk through the family manor, with its dark wood and creepy family tree tapestries. Sirius just rolls his eyes and ignores him.
“These past forty-eight hours without seeing Potter must have been painful for you two, huh?” Regulus’ voice is full of teasing sarcasm and Sirius can practically hear him rolling his eyes.
He’s never understood Regulus’ dislike for James, and he doesn’t try to understand. Regulus has always followed their parents’ rules and instructions, but Sirius knows it’s just for show. Neither of them share their parents' hatred and prejudice, but Regulus goes along with what they want so that he can be their favorite. He’s a kiss-ass, basically.
Sirius knows that no reaction is the response that will piss off Regulus the most, so he continues to ignore him.
They exit the front door of their manor and find a black limousine waiting outside in the gravel driveway. The brothers shoot each other a confused look, Why would they order a limo just for the two of them? Sirius pulls open the back door and finds their answer. There, in the backseat, sat two of their three cousins, Bellatrix and Narcissa.
“Finally, we’ve been waiting forever,” Bellatrix says, sounding annoyed and unfazed by the brothers’ shock.
“Well, get in,” Narcissa says after a moment. “We’ve got a ball to get to.”
When the group of cousins arrive at the palace, the sun has just finished setting. Their limo doesn’t have to wait in the usual line of vehicles in front of the palace for entrance because most of the guests arrive on time. Sirius knew it was going to be viewed as a slight on their part to be late for the Prince’s ball, but maybe people would be shocked enough that they showed up at all that they would forget about the time.
A royal employee opens their limo door to let the girls out first, then Regulus, and lastly Sirius. Bellatrix makes a comment about the employee’s incompetence without looking at him. The other three cousins ignore her, the same way they ignore their parents’ comments. Narcissa and Regulus keep their faces stony, eyes forward, while Sirius gives an apologetic nod and smile to the employee.
As they walk up the steps to the large, main entrance doors, Sirius wonders if James has received his message and straightens his lapels. The girls are in beautiful gowns – Bellatrix is in a tight, black dress with off the shoulder sleeves, her hair curly and wild, and Narcissa is in a dark green strapless dress with her dyed blonde hair in softer curls.
At the top of the steps a pair of guards look at the group of cousins with suspicion and start murmuring into their earpieces.
“You know who we are, just let us in,” Bellatrix says impatiently.
The guards look at her, surprised by her boldness and then look back at each other, communicating with their eyes. Sirius can barely hear it, but someone says something through their earpieces and they nod at each other before opening the doors. Sirius represses a sigh of relief. He never knows what to expect from Bellatrix when she doesn't get her way.
Behind the doors stands a dark skinned woman, who Sirius knows to be the Queen’s assistant, Dorcas Meadowes, waiting for them.
“Hello, thank you so much for coming. You can follow me to the ballroom,” she says in a formal, customer-service-esque voice and beckons them to follow her.
As they walk down the red carpeted hallway, Sirius catches up to walk beside her.
“Dorcas,” he says in greeting, “you look lovely as always.”
Sirius prides himself in his charm.
“Thank you, Lord Black,” she responds.
Sirius can’t help but let out a laugh, taken aback, “Oh please don’t call me that. It makes me feel like my father.”
“You are Lord Black now, though,” she glances at him sideways, “congratulations on your coronation by the way.”
“Thank you,” Sirius says, trying not to overanalyze her tone or true feelings about him and his family.
They can hear the music and party goers as they grow nearer and soon reach two large open doors to the room. The group pauses to take in the scene. The room is huge with a large dance floor in the middle. There are long buffet style tables along two of the walls with hors d'oeuvres and cocktail tables scattered around the room. Waiters are walking around slowly offering glasses of champagne to guests.
Sirius glances at his brother who has a small smirk on his face. He follows Regulus’ gaze and finds it on James in the middle of the dance floor, trying to waltz with a girl who looks to be about 10 years old. A wide smile breaks out on Sirius’ face and he starts to move towards the dance floor to greet his friend, but someone gently stops him and links their arm in his. He turns in surprise to find his heart swell at the sight of his third cousin, Andromeda, smiling at him in a satin, gold dress.
“You can greet him later, let’s go get some drinks,” she says.
Sirius glances back at James, who is laughing with the little girl, and then looks around for his brother and other cousins who have disappeared. This is usually how it goes when the group of cousins are together – Andromeda with Sirius and the other three off in a corner together quietly judging everyone around them.
Andromeda drags Sirius over to a waiter, who supplies them with champagne, and then to an empty cocktail table to claim as their own. Sirius is happy to let her.
“So,” Sirius says looking to his cousin, “any idea why our parents are allowing this?”
“Not just allowing,” Andromeda says with a slight look of awed confusion, “they practically ordered them to go,” she shook her head. “Bellatrix wanted to come, you know how she is – loves a chance to cause chaos, but Narcissa didn’t want to and yet,” she trails off and gestures her hand to the room as if to say “Here she is.”
“There’s got to be a reason,” Sirius says, feeling a small amount of that worry that he pushed away earlier slip back in. “I mean, the Blacks haven’t attended an unrequired royal event since,” he searched his mind and let out a laugh of realization, “I don’t even know when.”
Andromeda nods in agreement, “They’re up to something, that’s for sure.”
Andromeda is Sirius’ favorite cousin because they were both the rebels of the family. Neither of them were in agreement with their parents’ beliefs like Bellatrix, or satisfied with complacency like Narcissa and Regulus.
This rebellion is exactly why Andromeda had not arrived with the rest of them or attended the family dinner after Sirius’ coronation that evening. Andromeda had married a man, Ted Tonks, a lawyer, whom their family didn’t approve of, a couple of years ago. Her parents practically disowned her and threatened to disown their other daughters if they attended Andromeda’s wedding. Sirius had been the only family member on Andromeda’s side to show up. It caused a huge fight between him and his parents, but they eventually started acting like it hadn’t happened. Andromeda’s parents no longer speak to her, but her sisters do in secret. Narcissa has continuously been in contact with her sister since she was disowned, but it took up until recently for Bellatrix to start speaking to her again. Andromeda told Sirius once that Bellatrix pretends like Andromeda isn’t married and Ted doesn’t exist.
“I wish you had been there at dinner,” Sirius sighs.
He misses Andromeda’s presence at family events so much. Without her there, Sirius feels so much more vulnerable to his family. Sometimes he thinks he wishes his parents would disown him too, but then he thinks about Regulus, the weight of responsibility that would fall on him, and all the time he’d have to spend alone with their mother and father. He couldn’t let that happen. Despite Sirius’ distaste for how Regulus chooses to handle their parents’ ways, he recognizes that he and Regulus work best as a team navigating their parents’ reign. Sirius distracts their full focus from Regulus because he is the heir and the troublemaker, while Regulus distracts from their full attention on Sirius by soothing them through his obedience and obnoxious perfection. Kiss-ass, Sirius often thinks.
“Sirius,” Ted walks over and joins the cousins, “I’m sorry I didn’t get the chance to congratulate you earlier!”
Sirius had been able to get Andromeda and Ted an invitation to his coronation, but the family wouldn’t let the two sit with them or attend the family dinner afterwards, so he hadn’t had the time to speak with them after the ceremony.
“Thank you, Ted,” Sirius says.
He likes Ted, he’s a very nice guy and he so obviously adores Andromeda, which is all Sirius could ask for his cousin. There is no need for small talk and asking how Andromeda and Ted have been because they had attended Sirius’ graduation a couple days prior. He hadn’t bothered inviting the rest of his family because Regulus’ graduation was the same day and he was sure they would be attending his.
Sirius looks back towards the dance floor and finds James dancing with another girl, this one is a bit older, but still young – maybe 16. James looks like he is trying to keep the girl at a distance with his hands high on her waist, barely touching her. The girl looks like she is trying to drag him closer and James gives her an uncomfortable smile. Sirius can’t help but laugh.
“Ah yes,” Andromeda says, “apparently he’s required to dance with every eligible girl in attendance.”
“The last two I’ve seen haven’t looked eligible,” Sirius says confused and slightly concerned.
“They aren’t,” Ted says with a laugh, “but I don’t think the Prince knows how to say no.”
“This one is Lucinda Talkalot –” Andromeda begins before Sirius cuts her off.
“Talkalot?” he asks, eyebrows raised in amusement. Sirius looks back over at his best friend and the girl and finds that she, in fact, is talking a lot. James looks amused and just nods along to whatever the girl is saying.
“Yes,” Andromeda laughs. “She is 15, but she always wears heels and copies her mother’s makeup to make herself seem older. Lucinda is quite precocious, very talented and smart for her age, but I would say her eagerness betrays her a bit.”
All three of them burst into giggles, not to be mean spirited, but due to a fondness for the girl’s youthful energy.
Sirius starts to say how he’s never seen someone have such a one-sided conversation with James, who can be quite the talker, himself, when he is interrupted by a tap on his shoulder. He turns around to find Mary Macdonald, his ex-fling-turned-best-friend, in a lavender gown with ruffles on the skirt. They had dated briefly while in their second year of undergrad and quickly realized they were better off friends. This didn’t keep people from believing they were an on and off again couple, however, since they were always seen together.
“Mary!” Sirius exclaims as he goes in for a hug, abandoning his conversation with Andromeda and Ted.
“I was at your coronation by the way,” she said, hugging him back tightly, “I was in the very back, but I was there.”
Mary was the daughter of a Genovian farmer whose contributions to the Genovian economy had raised him to noble status under the approval of the King and Queen. Sirius was unsurprised that Mary’s status wasn’t good enough for his family’s approval and disappointed to give them the satisfaction of relief after they had broken up.
“I thought you were off to America with your dad to figure out that import deal,” Sirius says, pulling back.
“Change of plans,” Mary shrugs and her eyes don’t meet his, which means she doesn’t want to talk about it.
“Have you seen James yet?” Sirius says. “He’ll be so excited to see you,” he looks around, but is unable to locate his friend. Sirius spots Ted and Andromeda making their way to the dance floor, his friend Peter over by the hors d'oeuvres, oblivious to the girl to his right trying to flirt with him, and the King and Queen, arm in arm speaking with some Nobles, but he doesn’t spot the prince.
“No, but we better go see him quickly,” Mary says, sounding worried.
Sirius follows her gaze and sees his brother across the room hunched over a little with a look of frustration and pain on his face. In front of Regulus is James, who looks like a deer in headlights, eyes wide, frantically and earnestly apologizing to Regulus, who shoots him a glare.
“Uh oh,” Sirius says and starts to make his way towards the two, but stops in his tracks when he sees a tall security guard go over to James to ask if he’s okay. Sirius’ mind does a double take and he shakes his head as if to clear the vision of the man. He’s still there though. How is he here? Sirius thinks. Maybe it’s not him, maybe you’re losing it. But then the man turns and there’s that scar, right across his face and Sirius knows it’s him.