Prologue
A villain is only a villain in someone else’s storyline and a hero in its own.
Now, if this story is told by the winners, you can be sure that everything will be tainted by its writers bias. In which case you might be able to doubt this complicated tale.
For what it’s worth, and if you dare trust me based on the few lines you’ve read until now, I am not a winner. Or else I wouldn’t have gone through so much misery and the outcome would be a much different story…
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Prologue
Paris, 1967
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Dear diary,
Keira Rose Gellerta Tremblay straightened her posture as more and more wizards started to arrive in the grand cathedral. She recognized most of them as French Purebloods, all wearing scandalously expensive attires and jewelry and speaking with this very distinctive European accent that was associated with the French.
Today was a special day: her fifth cousin on her mother's side ( a certain Antoinette Rosier) and her third cousin on her father's side ( Corvus Lestrange) were getting married, or so that's what could be seen on the large enchanted family tree that stood near where she was standing. Tree that appeared to her more interesting than her 4 older siblings conversation. She followed the long and intertwined branches of the intricate tree, eventually finding her own name near the trunk, right next to her three brothers's and older sister's. Keira Rose Gellerta Tremblay. Merlin, she hated that long name, especially when it was yelled with a harsh tone, courtesy of yours truly Ellanora Bella Temblay (née Beaufort) also known as her own very french mother. Actually, Keira Rose wasn't so bad in her opinion. It was her middle name that was the real atrocity, Gellerta. Named after a dark wizard of some sort whose adventures had been the study of her bedtime stories since her birth. Apparently, the seven year old Keira Rose had the exact same problematic eye pattern that the renowned dark wizard had shown, or so that's what her grandmother had told her. She personally had never seen a real picture of this Gellert, for he was banned from many history books amidst his... questionnable actions.
Her eyes scanned the tree once again. Every guest present to the event had their name written somewhere on the weird genealogical tree, all of which she had heard of before. Well, actually, maybe she didn't know everyone personally, but she did have heard of their names before. They were pretty much all the same, with some variants, that came over and over again: Lestrange, Malfoy, Rosier, Abbott, Beaufort, Delacourt, Leroy, Black ... All Pureblood families, mostly from France of course, but some from England as well. Keira Rose didn't really know much about the English families at that time, for they rarely ever met, except for official pureblood gatherings like this one. She would of course get to know them better in her later years, the poor thing. Her eyes landed on a name that made her look twice, Sirius Orion. For a moment, she had thought that whoever had made the tree had misplaced her older brother, Orion Sirius, and had put him in the wrong spot. Keira realized that, even if from time to time some pureblood family tended to give out random names to their offsprings like Gellerta, most families tended to be quite conservative and unoriginal when it came to naming their spawns. Or, at least, that was the most plausible answer, seeing as there were at least seven other males bearing either the name Sirius or Orion on the genealogical tree.
Her thinking was interrupted when a loud sound of breaking glass was heard throughout the chapel. Gasps of disapproval and shocked murmurs echoed around her, although some snickers could be heard as well. Keira Rose glanced up at her sister, who was standing right next to her. Their ressemblance was flagrant: they both had the same bone structure, ferocious eyes, pale hair and straight posture that they had inherited from their mother. In the moment however, her sister had something she had not; a very nasty glare, sent towards the disruptor's way. With as much grace as she could channel, and not too look too obnoxious ( it wasn't a proper "lady" move to seem to be leering at someone), the girl turned her head around curiously, landing her mismatched eyes on a quite playful scene.
A young boy around her age, who had just apparated with his family to witness the nuptials, had tripped on the expensive black carpet that had been placed in the cathedral for the occasion, making him fall directly in the groom's and bride's ten story cake. He was covered from head to toe in white frosting, having much of it stuck in his long black hair as if he had fell in head first. He looked livid, his grey eyes were not giving out any emotion, but he did not look as much humiliated as her mother who stood right next to him. The murmurs in the chapel were getting stronger at this point, with all the women present recognizing the high profile woman and her clumsy spawn. "It's the Blacks, is it not?" Keira Rose heard her older sister whisper with interest. You see, Romy Aquila was now eleven, meaning she had of course received her letter from Hogwarts ( how could she not, being one of France's most prominent wizard families?), but also an invitation from Beauxbatons, and she had no idea which school she wanted to attend for the next seven years. When she had heard that the Blacks and the Malfoys were present to this wedding, she had thought of it as the perfect way to subtly suck information out of them and make up her mind.
The murmurs stopped once the tall black haired woman shot angry looks towards the crowd, before casting some silent spells that cleaned her offspring off and put the cake back together as if nothing had happened. Then, she grabbed her son harshly by her elbow and pulled him down the aisle to take their places, making the boy yelp. Keira shot him a pitiful look, seeing how tight he was being held by his mother. Although the boy held his head low, he sensed that someone was looking at him, and he sprung his head up only to shot Keira Rose a glare of defiance. "Sirius Orion Black." Hissed his mother before tugging on his arm slightly, forcing him to continue his forced walk down the aisle. "You've done enough already."
So this is Sirius Orion, thought Keira, just as the nuptial ceremony was about to start. Sure enough, the bride made her appearance, and the whole boring pureblood shebang started to unroll.
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Soon, the whole ceremony was over. It had been long and extremely boring for Keira Rose and all the other children forced to witness it. However, now that the horrid ceremony and never ending wedding wished were over, it meant that the feast and actual party was about to start, although the party risked to be as elegant and not so amusing as the rest of it. Still, Keira made her way with her siblings towards a corner of a room, which was far enough from the adults not to be importuned with the same tasteless questions, and close enough to the food court to be able to calm their growling stomachs. They weren't the only ones to follow this strategy; the Tremblays' second cousins soon joined them, creating a herd of bored children who chatted about everything and nothing. Keira was chatting with her favourite cousin, Léonie, when she spotted farther in the room the two Black brothers standing alone in a corner, clearly feeling uncomfortable. She felt bad for them, as they were alone surrounded by people who kept on ignoring them. Even back then she had made it her mission to include them in her plans. She excused herself from her close relatives before making way towards the two boys.
"Hello," she started with a not so subtle French accent once she reached the two. "I'm Keira Rose, would you like to join us?" She invited, showing them where her siblings and cousins were standing, laughing and having fun. The long haired boy looked over where she was pointing for a minute, considering the offer. "What'd you think, Reggie?" He asked to his younger sibling. "It can't be as boring as staying here." Whispered the younger Black with a nod. "And stop calling me Reggie."
"Ah there you are!" Interrupted a voice that Keira knew too well. "Mother." She acknowledged. The Tremblay matriarch was accompanied by Walburga Black herself, which made Keira Rose quite uneasy. After having seen the way she treated her own spawns, she was scared of what the English woman would do to her, a random little girl, if she ever crossed her way. "Missus Black." Said Keira with a small smile, trying to look pleased. She received a small smile from the woman in answer. After all, Keira Rose was a pureblood, and a possible match for one of her offsprings when they would be of age. "Miss Tremblay, it is such a pleasure to meet you." She greeted, receiving incredulous looks from her sons who weren't used to see her in a not so angry mood. It was all for the apparences, clearly. Keira answered some polite words before a nearby announcement made her want to hide back in a corner or a room.
"It is time for a waltz!" Said a drunken man, although he received approval from the whole assembly. "Oh Merlin this can't be good." Hissed Sirius, before receiving a glare from his mother. "Son, why don't you go with the lovely Keira?" Proposed his mother. Except Walburga Black never made propositions; it was an order, and if Sirius didn't follow it, he'd be in for a ride. "Oh. Right." He said blandly, before offering his arm to the blond girl awkwardly. Keira took it with a frown, before following him towards the circle of dancers. The two mothers watched them go, happy smiles on their faces.
"I don't like dances very much." Said the boy once they started dancing. "Me neither." She said with a sad smile as they twirled around. "I don't think we've been properly introduced. I'm Sirius Orion Black. The 3rd."
"Oh, I know. I'm Keira Rose Ge... Keira Rose Tremblay." She said, skipping her middle name entirely.
"You knew? So you've heard of me?" He continued, puffing his chest with pride.
"I mean, your mother practically screamed it it the cathedral earlier. Would have been deaf not to hear your name." She said, which made the boy's face redden in embarrassment. "Right." They stayed silent for a while.
"I swear this boy's been passing us three times now." Mumbled the Black heir, eyeing a nearby blond boy of nearly 9 years.
"That's Orion Sirius, one or my brothers. They're triplets." Answered Keira without much thought.
"Orion Sirius?" Repeated the black haired boy. "Merlin, he's got my name."
"Or maybe yours' is just an off brand version of his?" Keira Rose said with a smirk, earning an outraged reaction from the black haired boy. "If someone's an off brand here, it surely isn't me." He said with a smirk, earning an eyeroll from the blond. Alast, the waltz finally ended, and the children were able to go back to their dark corners. It was getting pretty late at this point, and most families started leaving.
"Until we meet again, Black." Said Keira with a smile once it was Sirius' time to go. "Count on it, Tremblay."
As the story will show, they did in fact meet again multiple times…