Chapter 2
Sirius was first to wake up the next morning, having not gotten much sleep during the night and a little time before anyone else woke up, he decided to explore. After having a shower, getting his robes on, and making sure to comb his hair of course, he went downstairs. There were directions on how to get to certain places in the castle on a board in the corner of the common room. Sirius found the directions to the owlery and decided he wanted to send a letter to Regulus, if not for an update then to try to explain the Gryffindor situation before he heard it from anyone else. Though he knew their parents had most likely had a letter from Bellatrix the second it happened. After going back upstairs for a quill and parchment, Sirius went on his way.
To his surprise, he was not the only one already awake. Swinging open the portrait hole he came face to face with Lily in a nightgown talking to Severus, her strange Slytherin friend.
“They got it wrong.” he was saying, “I don’t know how this happened.”
“Just leave it be, Severus.” Lily said, almost pleadingly, “Maybe I am a Gryffindor.”
“Impossible–” Severus stopped when he saw Sirius exiting the common room. His lip curled almost amusingly.
“Well if it isn’t the black sheep of the Black family. What must they think of you?” he said, cruelly. Lily’s head snapped over to Severus, giving him a scolding look. Sirius had been expecting it but he didn’t think of a comeback quick enough so Severus continued,
“Nothing to say? I would expect a Gryffindor like you to have something hot-headed to say back. No? You must not be smart enough to think of one.”
Lily said nothing. Sirius thought about pulling out his wand but decided he’d rather not make a fool of himself. He turned around and kept walking, shocking himself with his own self-discipline. But really he wanted to get to the owlery before breakfast.
Sirius finally got to the owlery after getting lost four different times. It was a tall circular building outside the castle, owls flying around and sleeping on the many windows the sun was pouring through. He brushed some owl feces off a window ledge and got to writing.
Reggie,
I was sorted into Gryffindor. Big surprise. I swear I wasn’t trying to, it just happened. I don’t know what to do or say right now to make you think of me the same.
Your brother,
Sirius
Sirius thought it best to keep it short and sweet, to wait until his brother wrote back. He looked around for an owl he thought looked fit for the job, as he didn’t have his own owl. He was supposed to be sent one by Orion and Walburga once he got to Hogwarts but he had a sneaking suspicion he wasn’t getting one now. He picked a large barn owl, tied the letter to its leg and watched it take off. He watched it until it was nothing more than a tiny speck in the sky. Then he went down to breakfast.
By the time Sirius had arrived at the Great Hall, James, Remus, and Peter were already almost finished. James saw Sirius from the Gryffindor table and gestured for him to sit. Sirius did, pulling a bowl of cereal toward him and pouring the milk. Behind James’s head he saw Lily sitting at the Slytherin table with Severus. He didn’t know that students from other houses were allowed to sit at different house tables.
“Where were you this morning?” James asked Sirius, handing him his timetable.
“The owlery to send a letter to my brother.” Sirius answered, not feeling the need to lie, “Where were you last night?” he turned the question on to Remus. James and Peter looked at Remus as well. Remus looked extremely caught off guard.
“I had to see Dumbledore.” he mumbled. Sirius wanted to press further but he was also hungry after barely sleeping a wink.
He had only eaten three bites of his cereal and a swig of orange juice before the mail came. Owls and owls streamed into the Great Hall through the high windows, landing or dropping letters and packages in front of specific students. James and Peter received letters and a small package landed in front of Remus, who did not unwrap it but stuffed it in his bag, glancing around furtively. Suddenly Sirius spotted what he was sure was one of the Black family owls with a big scarlet letter tied to it. Sirius felt his heart jump into his throat. He had never received a howler before, never having left his parents house they had been able to howl at him personally, but any wizard knew what they were and dreaded ever getting one. Especially in a room full of other witches and wizards.
When the howler landed in front of Sirius, he did not know what to do. James’s mouth fell open realising what it was and Peter’s eyes widened.
“You’d better run.” James warned Sirius. Sirius felt a moment of bravery and folded his arms, waiting. James looked even more shocked. The howler opened on its own and started screaming. Many students in the vicinity covered their ears,
“SIRIUS ORION BLACK YOU WILL NOT GET AWAY WITH THIS!” his mother’s voice screeched, “YOU DID SOMETHING TO THAT HAT, I KNOW YOU DID! NO BLACKS ARE SORTED INTO GRYFFINDOR! I WILL BE HAVING WORDS WITH THAT HEADMASTER AND YOU WILL BE PUT IN SLYTHERIN OR I WILL PULL YOU OUT OF SCHOOL BY YOUR EARS!”
The letter ripped itself into a hundred pieces and silence rang around the hall. Sirius felt like he was underwater, only half noticing the students still staring at him, wide-eyed. He sat forward, numbly, and continued eating his breakfast. Though as he checked his timetable and stood up to leave for Charms, he couldn’t miss James and Peter shooting each other a look across the table. He knew this was probably strange to them, and seemed very bad. But Sirius was just worried it would get worse. Humiliation in front of the school is one thing but he knew his family was capable of much worse. And he had really messed up.
It took a surprisingly, and confusing, long time to get to the Charms classroom on the third floor. Sirius just followed James.
Sitting down, Sirius immediately stared intently at the desk, hoping nobody was still looking at him because of what had happened in the Great Hall. He did not hear a word of anything the Charms teacher, Professor Flitwick, said all class, and he spoke the whole time about rules and what they would be learning until Christmas. Herbology was also a speech from Professor Sprout and Defense Against the Dark Arts, a speech from Professor Jones. Then Transfiguration, a speech from McGonagall, who called him to her desk after class.
“Mr Black,” she said, as he shuffled slowly up to her desk, “I witnessed that…ordeal in the Great Hall this morning.” Sirius hung his head.
“Sorry about that Professor,” he said, quietly. McGonagall looked at him with what he hoped wasn’t pity. All she said to that, was,
“Professor Dumbledore would like to see you after breakfast tomorrow morning.”
“What about Herbology?”
“I will inform Professor Sprout you have a meeting with the Headmaster.” she said, “Now run along to lunch.”
Sirius sat, predictably, with James and Peter for lunch. He did not say much. Except for someone to pass the salt. And they didn’t bother him the whole time, to which Sirius was thankful.
As they walked across the Entrance Hall for History of Magic, he spotted black curly hair on the other side of the Hall. Before he knew what he was doing, he had whipped around and was striding toward Bellatrix. By the scuffle he heard from behind him, James and Peter had followed.
“I’ll make you a deal,” he found himself saying when he got her within earshot. She was standing with a group of cronies and turned slowly to him, annoyed at the interruption.
“Why hello, baby cousin,” she said.
“I’ll make you a deal,” he repeated.
“What sort of deal? What do you mean?” she asked, sounding bored.
“Stop reporting back to my mum,” he said.
“No,” Bellatrix answered immediately, “Besides, what would I get in return? See, that there is only one part of a deal, baby cousin.”
Sirius racked his brain. He had obviously not thought this through. He just wanted to actually be free for once. All that came out of his mouth was,
“Don’t call me that,” like a child. Bellatrix rolled her eyes and turned back to her friends, amid snickers.
Sirius turned on his heel and stormed off. It was only until they were a corridor away from the History of Magic classroom when he remembered James and Peter were still following him.
“Why don’t you just leave it be?” James suggested, “Let her report back to your mum. You’re here until Christmas.”
“You have no idea what you’re talking about!” Sirius snapped, as they neared the classroom. James didn’t have a clue how much trouble Sirius was already in.
Sirius lay in his four-poster that night, still not able to fall asleep. He was absolutely sure his mother would get what she wanted and Merlin help anyone who got in her way. But to tell the truth he wanted more than anything to stay in Gryffindor.
A creak of the floorboards made Sirius jump. He knew it couldn’t be his mother and it didn’t sound like her footsteps but he was startled anyway.
“Sirius.” James’s voice whispered from the other side of the curtains, “You sleeping?”
“No.” Sirius whispered back, sitting up. James crawled past the curtains into Sirius’s bed. They sat in silence for a moment.
“I’m sorry about everything.” James said, very quietly, as to not wake up Remus and Peter.
“Why?” Sirius asked, “It’s not your fault.”
“No, but…” James hesitated, then resigned to mumbling, “I’m just sorry.”
“Yeah, well…” Sirius felt tears prick his eyes, but tried to sound tough anyway. James cares, he kept thinking to himself, he wouldn’t be here if he didn’t care. Sirius had never really had anyone fully there for him before. Of course when he or Regulus were really hurt they’d check on each other, but they had never been all that good at comforting. And he’d had Andromeda to relate to until now, but she was not always around to talk to.
Sirius was blinking and trying to hide his face from James as best he could. It was no use. Hot tears began streaming down his face at a rapid pace. When a sob wrenched itself from his throat, James reached out to Sirius’s arm then casted a silencing charm around them. Sirius didn’t ask where he had learned it because James was already putting his arms around him. Sirius forgot he was supposed to be acting tough and let it all out.
Sirius made his way to Dumbledore’s office, dragging his feet. He was sure he would be met with a defeated Dumbledore telling him to pack his trunk. Every corridor Sirius walked and corner he turned, he half-expected to see his mother walking toward him with her wand out, her shoes clacking menacingly on the stone flooring.
He reached the large gargoyle statue on the seventh floor and said the password, which was “sugar quill”. The gargoyle turned and a staircase was revealed. Sirius climbed the stairs and knocked with the big brown knocker on the door at the top, taking as much time as he allowed himself to.
“Come in.” Dumbledore’s voice beckoned from inside the office. Sirius entered, closing the door behind him. Dumbledore sat silently at his desk at the end of his circular office. He had many twinkling and whirring objects scattered on tables around the room, Sirius noticed, and a window that looked out directly onto the grounds. Walburga Black was nowhere to be seen.
“Hello, Professor.” Sirius said, feeling slightly more relieved.
“Good morning, Sirius.” Dumbledore greeted him.
“Is it?” Sirius asked, really wondering. A smile played at Dumbledore’s mouth and he said,
“It is. Why don’t you sit?”
Sirius sat down in the straight backed chair in front of Dumbledore’s desk. Dumbledore, on the other hand, stood up and opened a drawer to pull out a piece of parchment.
“I received a rather threatening letter from your mother the night you arrived.” he told the young boy, “Then when I refused her wishes last night, she Floo’ed into my office to speak with me. Quite a stubborn woman, your mother.” So his mother had been in the castle last night. Sirius blinked. Dumbledore continued,
“As you may already be aware, she wished me to re-sort you into Slytherin…or she would pull you out of this school.” Dumbledore paused, and Sirius held his breath, “As Headmaster, I do not think this necessary. In fact, I know this is not necessary. I will not be allowing her to pull you out of this school either, especially since I do not think she would have much success sending you elsewhere.”
Sirius let out his breath, immediately relaxing. Dumbledore sensed this and nodded, sitting back down.
“What about my brother?” Sirius questioned.
“Regulus Black, I believe?”
Sirius nodded.
“From what I heard,” Dumbledore said calmly, “he is not permitted to contact you. I’m sorry.”
“Thank you, Professor Dumbledore.” Sirius said, sighing.
“Sherbet lemon?” Dumbledore passed a bowl of bright yellow sweets across his desk. Sirius took one, popped it into his mouth, and stood up to leave.
“Good day, Sirius.”
Sirius thought, walking back down the spiral staircase, that his family had been wrong about Albus Dumbledore. His uncle Cygnus always raved about how much of an old fool Dumbledore was, but now Sirius could tell he had been wrong. Anyone who could stand up against his mother could not possibly be a fool.
So the minute Sirius left Dumbledore’s office he headed straight for the owlery, ignoring the fact he was supposed to be in Potions in five minutes' time. He saw what he was sure was the owl he had sent off with the letter to Regulus. He chose a different owl and sent another, even shorter letter.
Regulus,
Please answer me. I know they must not be happy about the headmaster deciding to keep me here but I need to know you read my letter.
Sirius
When Sirius entered Potions class, Professor Slughorn was already giving what sounded like the usual speech to the students. Sirius felt eyes on him as he made his way to the seat beside James. Slughorn had stopped speaking.
“Sirius Black, I believe?” he asked, seemingly delighted.
“Yes, sir. Sorry I’m late, I had a meeting with Dumbledore,” Sirius explained.
“Oh, not to worry. You’re here now,” Slughorn said, “You know, in all my years of teaching I have never not had a Black in my House. It is quite unusual.” Sirius couldn’t tell how this had any relevance, so he just nodded until Slughorn moved on.
“When my name popped up for attendance, he started asking me all these questions about my dad. Weird,” James whispered as Slughorn continued.
In no time Slughorn set them to work. Explaining it was important for medical purposes, he set them to make, as he called it, the “Cure for Boils”. The whole class was muttering to each other, most complaining how this potion was too difficult for the first day.
“Four to a cauldron, please!” Slughorn called over the class. Sirius, feeling in a much better mood than he had since the train, motioned at Remus to join their group. Remus looked taken aback but joined them at a table. Peter took charge lighting the fire under the cauldron while Sirius and James fetched the ingredients from the store cupboard.
Twenty minutes in, they could tell they hadn’t done it right. The textbook said the potion was to smell like mint and instead a wonky smell was emanating from it. Remus had had to stop Sirius from stirring the potion anti-clockwise instead of clockwise and James had crushed the fangs into chunks instead of powder. Slughorn gave a satisfied nod to Mary and Marlene’s cauldron, then stopped in his tracks and sniffed Sirius, James, Peter, and Remus’s while adding,
“You know, Mr Potter, I did expect closer to your father’s level of talent in potion-making. Room for learning, correct?” James did not answer, as he was busy glowering back at Slughorn. Slughorn paid him no mind and continued about the classroom. Sirius was horrified when he paused at Lily and Severus’s cauldron and shouted with glee, even clapping his hands.
“Oh my!” he exclaimed, “I rarely ever see any student get this on the first try! How on earth did you do it?”
“It was all Severus.” Lily said adoringly, beaming.
“I don’t know, sir. I guess it was just my luck. It’s not as if I have the advantage of having a famous potions expert as a father.” Severus said, loud enough so James was sure to hear. James angrily scooped the remaining ingredients on the table, into the bin.
“Yes, well.” Slughorn did not seem to notice this remark, “You will be a marvellous potion-maker, my boy.”
“Thank you, sir.” Severus answered, grinning.
As everyone tidied up their work areas, Severus spoke to Lily loudly over the chatter of students, making sure to glance over at Sirius and James now and then,
“Imagine a potion-maker’s son and a member of the Black family being rubbish at potions. I could never live with myself if it was me.”
“Severus…” Lily muttered under her breath.
“What? It’s a fact. They can’t even make a boil-curing potion. How useless.”
James was glaring at Severus now. Sirius laid his hand on James’s shoulder just in case he had to stop him from punching Severus in the face. Lily looked apologetically at them but didn't say anything more.
What broke Sirius’s little self-discipline was when, as Sirius, James, Remus, and Peter were leaving, Severus sneered in Remus’s direction, from the doorway,
“Half-blood.”
Sirius quickened his step and elbowed him hard, so Severus was knocked into the wall behind him.