first year - astronomical
3rd November 1:00 AM
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Sirius was woken up by James and Peter catapulting themselves on to his bed
"Idiots" he said clearing his throat "It's too early" He rolled over and buried his face in the pillow next to him thinking Just 5 more minutes.
"It's your birthday!" James rolled Sirius back onto his back and shook him by the shoulders
"Get off me weirdo" Sirius was surprised at his own smile as he pushed James off of him
"It's your birthday, I have the right to shake you"
"No you don't.” he rubbed his eyes “If Birthdays are as sacred as you make them out to be, then you should be singing my praises" Sirius sat up "Not assaulting me at the crack of dawn"
"He has a point James" Peter gave an amused glance to the messy haired boy.
"See, even Pete agrees with me" he murmured rolling his eyes. Sirius flopped backwards, closing his eyes as he did so, and nestled into the covers trying to find more warmth. He was convinced sleep was the most heavenly thing to exist on earth.
"Oi! Don't go back to sleep" James pulled the covers off of Sirius " We have songs to sing and presents to give!"
"Do all that in the morning" he yawned and added "better yet, don't do it all"
"Mate, you are no fun" James replied crawling out of the bed. Peter following.
"That's a lie and you know it"
"Yeah" Sirius could hear the smile in James' voice. He drifted off back to sleep listening to the outside world. Hogwarts was pretty much surrounded with nature, which was a quiet thing. Every now and again he could hear the hoot of an owl coming from the Owlery, or the trees rustling as the breeze ran through them. He swore he even heard the howl of a wolf coming from the forbidden forest - maybe he had dreamed that part.
That morning, as he crawled out of bed, he was met with a very out of tune execution of the happy birthday song and a cringy dance that James had obviously dragged poor Peter into.
"That might've been the best and the worst thing I've ever experienced in my life" he said as soon as it had finished with James attempting to do the splits. Notice the word attempting.
"Well, there's a lot more in store for you today mate" James got up off the floor with great difficulty and flashed Sirius a grin.
"Where's Lupin?" Sirius sat down, taking one of the presents from a little pile made on his bed.
"Hospital wing, said he felt ill" James replied, the huge smirk on his face vanished
“Well I bet you that’s just a cover and in reality he didn’t want to hurt your feelings by saying no to your birthday dancing”
“Hey! Pete had fun learning it, didn’t you Peter?”
No reply. Peter just made one second eye contact with James then looked at the floor as if it had suddenly become the most interesting thing in the world
Sirius raised an eyebrow “Think there’s your answer Potter” and then preceded to start ripping open his presents.
He had gotten a ton of sweets from both James and Peter, a pair of Gryffindor coloured pyjamas and a pink fluffy notebook which James had said was for writing down any brilliant prank ideas they had. The pinkness and the fluffiness was apparently to keep Snape from ever touching it. In Sirius's opinion it was more something Snape could use against him in an argument rather than a deterrent for Snivellus himself, but he was thankful for it all the same. It was more thoughtful than any gift his parents had ever gotten him. Every year Sirius got some 500 year old family artefact that was meant to show his power and wealth over others also meaning he had to take great care of it. Now he didn’t exactly want to damage them because he knew if his mother or father ever found out Sirius had broken something, then punishment would surely be coming his way, but would he ever display them or use them? No way in Salazar’s chamber.(He should probably stop using that, not very Gryffindor of him) His fine collection of Black family heirlooms were stuffed in a box somewhere shoved at the back of his wardrobe.
He had also been pleasantly surprised to get a letter and a package from Andromeda, Sirius’ favourite cousin.
Now Sirius, believe it or not, enjoyed being around three people in his family. First, Regulus. Regulus was his brother so of course they were going to be best friends. He hadn’t actually spoken to Regulus since he left for Hogwarts, and the only reason for that was because there was a very real possibility Walburga might punish him for writing back. So Sirius hadn’t been brave enough to attempt writing a letter, he didn’t want his brother getting hurt, he wouldn’t be able to cope.
Another person he’d enjoyed being around, had been his Uncle Alphard who had sadly passed away a couple years back, he however had been the one to introduce him to muggle music which leads on to his favourite cousin who he often shared that passion with. Andromeda Black, now Andromeda Tonks. Andy was the only one Sirius could ever tolerate talking to at big family dinners. Although, she’d run off with Ted Tonks her now husband and had gotten herself disowned for it, so really Sirius only had Regulus to keep him sane when he was at home.
Back to Andy’s letter though.
Sirius!
Happy birthday! I hope you’re enjoying turning the grand old age of twelve! I’ve gotten you a spectacular birthday present which i want you to consider a ‘congrats on being a Gryffindor’ present as well. I feel bad for not having written yet, but things have been absolutely hectic right now with Ted and I finally moving in to our own place. Let me tell you, having a whole house to ourselves is a big step up from living round at Ted’s with his parents. No hate to them though, I’ve learnt so much about the muggle world while staying with them, it’s insane.
I seriously can’t believe you’re at Hogwarts, and that you’ve managed to do the impossible upon your arrival. What can I say? I’m proud of you Sirius, and even though Walburga might be giving you shit for it I know what you’re like and I know how strong you are. I really hope you like your present, I figured I’d get you it now so that it can be put to good use throughout your time at Hogwarts, mind you it was expensive though and I’m no longer incredibly rich so don’t be expecting much for Christmas!
Missing you lots
Andy
He ripped open the package that had come along with it and wow. Sirius had never seen anything so stunning. It was a record player. He had only ever seen one of these at his Uncle’s house and he had had some of his best memories while it had been playing. Unfortunately, Andromeda hadn’t sent a record alongside it, so Sirius couldn’t actually use it until the foreseeable future. Where on earth would he get a record from?
“It’s brilliant” James said, reaching out a hand to touch it
Sirius slapped his hand away “Oi, did I give you permission to touch it? No”
He had to preserve it until he could actually listen to it. He wanted no harm to come to her, the absolute beauty she was.
He put Andromeda's letter away under his bed and thought about what she’d said about Walburga. Sirius was surprised she wasn’t giving him shit. Instead she just seemed to be completely ignoring the fact that Sirius had just broken one of the oldest family legacies there were. Sirius didn’t know if the complete abandonment was better or worse than the usual punishments. After a while though he concluded that it was better, honestly Sirius had been expecting Walburga Black to come marching down to Hogwarts herself, wand drawn, hand raised ready to unleash her inner demon and leave behind a mark on her eldest son. At the very least he had been expecting a howler. Anyway, he didn’t want to think about them or should he say her longer than he had to. It was his birthday, and if anything had come out of this day, it was the new found revelation that birthdays were awesome just like James had said.
By the end of the day Sirius was so happy he felt as if he would burst with joy if he gave even the smallest laugh. James and Peter had made him feel so special throughout the entire day. The morning was filled with cake, the afternoon was also filled with cake and the evening was again filled with cake. They made so many jokes and planned so many pranks on the Slytherins that they wouldn't know what hit them once they decided to execute them all. James didn't need to persuade Sirius to learn the "Birthday dance", and although it was stupid, it had been a lot of fun.
It had been the best day of Sirius' life. Who knew that Birthday's could be like this? The Black family had never cared this much about him getting another year older. There was still always some sort of stuffy feast where he got a bunch of useless family heirlooms, but he had never had a good time - celebrations weren't supposed to be fun in the most Noble and Ancient house in Britain. The three boys went up to Gryffindor tower that night with their stomachs aching with both laughter and food. Almost everything about his day was perfect - Sirius just wished that Remus had been there. James had said he was in the hospital wing and he wasn’t lying. They had gone there in the middle of the day in an attempt to check up on their friend, but Madam Pomfrey had just turned them away. Interesting. And mysterious. This had been the third occasion where Remus had been sick enough to end up in hospital. Coincidence?
4th November
Remus made his presence known the next morning in their dorm. Apparently he was feeling better but Sirius didn’t buy it, neither did Pete. The other boy looked like he was about to fall asleep in all of their lessons that day, if he was still not feeling well, then why the hell wasn’t he in the hospital wing? He obviously needed his rest.
“Look at him! He’s obviously lying” Sirius whispered to Peter. They were in their dorm and Remus had just gone into the bathroom. James was off watching the Gryffindor quidditch team practise like he’d been doing these past couple of weeks because apparently he needed to stalk them in order to get in the team next year. Sirius had tagged along at first, but it had gotten a bit boring after about a week of watching them almost every evening. So at the moment he just had Peter and Remus and as he just said, Remus had gone into the bathroom so now was his time to talk about him behind his back.
“He does look a bit tired” Peter shot a worried glance at the door
Stating the obvious Peter but ok.
“Yeah” Sirius said “Those eyebags are massive, he obviously needs help”
Peter hummed in what sounded like agreement
Sirius shook his head “Why doesn’t he just tell us what’s up?”
“Privacy?”
Sirius tutted, he wasn’t sure why he felt so protective over Lupin, all he knew was that he did and so felt like he needed to help in some way.
“I think we just need to respect his decisions” Peter nodded
“To get sicker?”
Peter shot another worried glance at the door ”Erm.. Well he looks better than he did this morning” he smiled a little “Probably just the flu, he’ll be ok soon” he nodded obviously trying to get him to calm down a bit. It was not working. Even if it was just the flu, why would Remus put himself through a whole day of school, when he just didn’t look up to it?
“Plus he’s not coughing or sneezing or anything is he? Just looks a bit pale”
In Sirius’ opinion, ‘a bit’ was an understatement. And ‘just’ pale. Obviously Peter didn’t agree that strongly with him.
At that moment Remus walked out and looked at Sirius and Peter weirdly before saying “My eyebags are massive are they?”
Sirius just stared blankly at him. Ah.
“It’s not your business Black” he rolled his eyes. Sirius probably should’ve been a bit quieter
“You’re ill” he said as Remus was about to get in bed.
Remus just looked at him, he looked and sounded mad but the energy he was giving off seemed kind of nervous “So? Have you never been ill? I can’t put my life on pause because of a simple cold. I told you, I feel better” he then got into bed and drew the curtains, and that was that.
Hm. Sirius left it. For now anyways.
The rest of November passed quickly and they were now well into December, meaning that it was almost Christmas. James still kept close watch on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, Peter had gotten enough of the state of their bedroom so had tidied up the entire thing all by himself, Remus had gotten sick again and Sirius had started thinking about Christmas presents. He certainly couldn’t get black family heirlooms for his friends.
“Oh Merlin look” James exclaimed, holding up a pair of trousers “I haven’t seen these in ages”
The room really did look a lot better, it had started to get a bit out of hand before, he must admit. The house-elves had probably given up entirely when it came to James’ bed, his area had been the worst of all and while Sirius’ Peter’s and Remus’ bed were always magically made, James’ bed was still always in the state he left it in the morning. Probably because while he got ready that’s where he dumped everything.
“Thanks to Peter” Remus nodded, then took a bite out of the chocolate bar he was eating
“Bet you he’ll lose them again in about a day though” Sirius smirked from where he was getting ready for bed.
“I’m not that bad!” James protested
“Tell that to Peter”
He looked at Peter, who just smiled at him and nodded.
Another thing that had happened was Professor Slughorn mixing up the potions partners their very last lesson before the holidays. Before, Sirius had been paired with a quiet Slytherin girl, who he paid no attention to, and so instead spoke to James the entire lesson, while the girl did most of the work. Sirius always aced his school work though so it wasn’t like he was missing out on any key information.
Anyway this time Sirius was with Peter and Marlene because there was an odd number in the class and Sirius had been the last one left and therefore he got to choose which pair to go with. He had chosen Peter and Marlene because Peter was his friend and Marlene kind of was too, and the biggest factor was that they were the only ones he could really talk to in lesson. Remus had been paired with Lily, and Lily was a teacher’s pet and Sirius knew if he tried talking to Lupin then he’d get his head bitten off by her, for disrupting their work, and god forbid Lily Evans be disrupted while she’s working especially in Potions where she was a personal favourite of Professor Slughorn. Bald twat. He’d apparently been very disappointed that Sirius hadn’t been in Slytherin.
Him and everyone else.
Now James.
Ah poor James. He had been paired with Snape, that had been a mistake on their professors part. Their lessons were about to become hell, no one would be able to hear anything over the bound to come arguing. So that’s why he opted for Peter and Marlene because even though James was his best friend he wasn’t going to put up with Snivellus for him.
James subsequently, had come out of the lesson absolutely fuming.
“Have fun with Snivellus?” Sirius smirked at him
James grumbled and then looked at him.
“You’ve betrayed our friendship" James said "I was clearly blind before... but never mind" he waved a hand "Now, I see"
"Then I guess you don't need these" he snatched the glasses off of James' face, laughing, and made a run for it, turning down two corridors when he had finally come to a dead end.
But fortunately for him, James had been a bit slow and so he was able to cast a levitation charm on his friends beloved glasses.
"Hey!" James skidded around the corner and Sirius just gave him his signature grin.
It was now the very last day before the holidays and Sirius was wondering about his family, yet again. He was standing in the middle of the corridor, James, Peter and Remus were beside him and they all watched Narcissa, his other cousin, walk away from them. She had just told him, that Sirius was not expected for Christmas and had a choice whether or not he wanted to return to Grimmauld place. Sirius had immediately told her that no, he would not be going and all she did was nod and walk away - that had been the only interaction he'd had with any of his family since being at Hogwarts. How nice.
It was a similar situation to his birthday, this would be his first time celebrating the holidays away from his family. No Christmas banquet, where his father would usually give a rambling speech and Sirius would pick gloomily at his brussels sprouts until Regulus was able to sneak them over onto his plate, none of the dramatic arguments that would take place. He doubted that would happen this year anyway, Sirius was the one usually causing half of those fights. The Black family banquet would probably be the most civil it’s been in years without Sirius there.
It was better for everyone.
“So you’re coming to mine then?” James slapped him on the back in a brotherly way
Sirius didn’t even have to think before replying “Of course!” he flashed a grin “You’re sure your parents won’t mind?”
“Nope, not at all, they're absolutely dying to meet you” they started walking down the corridor and James then turned to Remus “That goes for you too mate”
“Thanks James” Remus smiled politely “I doubt my dad will let me come though”
“We’ll find a way don’t worry” James nodded and then looked at Peter “And Pete your yearly invitation to come round still stands of course”
“Wouldn’t be Christmas without your mum’s legendary minced pies” Peter replied.
That was definitely a good way to describe them. Legendary.
Euphemia and Fleamont Potter were angels sent from heaven and put on to this earth to welcome and shower everyone in generosity and kindness without sign of hesitation. Both of them had greeted Sirius with bright beaming smiles, telling him to help himself to anything, and to stop with the silly formal names Sirius had addressed them with.
And so he had permission to call them Effie and Monty, the two parents that made Sirius question everything he had ever thought about adults.
Fleamont was an upbeat, well-made, slightly greying, father who seemed to have passed forward a certain mischievous trait onto his son James. He had the same unruly hair as him, glasses just like his son's (although more well fitted to stop them from sliding down every five seconds) and a certain love for jokes, games, and potion-making which made sense as he was the creator of the popular Sleekeazy's Hair Potion used by many. He was a role-model if Sirius ever saw one, the perfect mixture of clever and funny.
Euphemia was all the things a mother should be and more, taking care of everyone to the best of her ability, offering her guests a little bit of this and a little bit of that and understanding her son like no one else could. Her brown, hazel eyes were extremely similar to James' ones and were even similar in the way that they seemed to have a joyful and even playful glint behind them, meaning that like her husband she liked to be entertained and was quick to happiness. However, compared to Monty, her joky personality was a lot more subtle, shown mostly through her body language, her small remarks and her amused smiles which were usually displayed on her face whenever James or Fleamont did something stupid, when they just simply made her laugh, or when she herself made a wry comment.
James had of course given a tour of his house to Sirius, and had started going into detail about each and every corner of it until Effie had stopped him during a story about James crashing his head into a bannister.
His best friend then told him that he had his own room, but in the end Sirius decided to sleep in the same room as James because first it was more fun that way and second he had actually gotten really used to sleeping with others in the room and he didn’t really want to be left alone.
Him and James spent the days leading up to Christmas, flying around his back garden on their brooms, playing exploding snap and helping Monty and Effie write Christmas cards to all their neighbours. Peter had also popped round a few times since he only lived across the street from James and so he had joined in quite a few of their activities, even helping them decorate the Potters towering Christmas tree which filled the living room perfectly, the star on top almost touching the ceiling.
Christmas Eve came and the Potters had held an incredibly successful party, with of course music, lots of food and lots of people. Sirius got to meet Peter’s family, the friendly neighbours, many old friends of the Potter household and a bunch of random people he had never even heard of. But they all seemed to know Euphemia and Monty in some way or another, the Potter’s were obviously a well-liked family in wizarding society no matter what his dear parents had told him.
As the evening went on, Sirius started getting more social and it became more obvious to him that many people found it surprising that he was there. He was the Black heir so of course they were going to be suspicious, because the Black family wasn't known for their tender affections, but Sirius proved everyone's judgy looks wrong by acting like a perfect and incredibly charming gentleman, giving out compliments left right and centre.
James and Peter at one point were stood in a corner sniggering at Sirius as he had somehow managed to find himself in a very long conversation with an elderly lady called Dorothy
“And what’s your name my dear?” she smiled sweetly
“Sirius” he nodded politely
“Oh how lovely” she patted him on the shoulder in a lazily comforting way “I bet you live up to your name perfectly”
“Pardon me?” Sirius asked, no one had ever said that to him before
“Well I’m an astronomer you see” at this she sat down in a nearby chair and so Sirius followed pulling up the one next to it “Sirius is truly a very beautiful star” she nodded “Brightest star in the sky”
“Well honestly I’ve always thought it was a bit of a weird name, never liked it much”
Dorothy shook her head, tutting “Well I think you should reconsider your opinion, Sirius rolls of the tongue nicely, has meaning behind it and as I told you” she smiled and winked “You look like you fit it nicely, you seem like a bright young man after all”
“Thank you, my whole family is named after constellations and stars actually”
At this the woman seemed to glow. Sirius himself had always thought it was over the top, probably why he never liked the name his parents had given him - it made him part of the family.
“Wonderful!” she said “Tell me their names”
Sirius decided to make her happy, even if he didn’t really care about the meaning behind all of them. She was a sweet lady “Only if you tell me what they mean ” he grinned
“Oh of course” she nodded very seriously, and then broke into a smile.
“Well first there’s my brother Regulus”
“Ah well see, that one right there is the brightest thing in the Leo constellation, sometimes called the Lion’s heart”
“Yeah well he’s quite brave Regulus is” Sirius didn't put much thought behind this comment.
“Ooo I bet” she smiled again and shook her head slightly.
“Then I’ve got my cousins, Bellatrix, Narcissa and Andromeda” Sirius explained “she’s my favourite”
The woman chuckled heartily “You’re not supposed to have favourites”
“I know, don’t tell anyone” Sirius lowered his voice and winked as if it was a great big secret.
“Oh of course” she gave him a knowing look
"Well carry on"
“Andromeda contains about sixteen stars and is actually named after the Princess of Ethiopia in Greek Mythology where she married a man who saved her from a monster."
The monster being the family, the man being the absolute legend of a man Ted Tonks, who Sirius had never even met but praised highly by his cousin.
"That moves us on nicely to Narcissa who isn’t actually a star or constellation but also a figure in Greek Mythology. I take it they like that as well?”
“Oh yeah they do” Sirius nodded, unsure of that, but he went along with it anyway because it seemed to make sense
"She might also be named after a type of flower; narcissus. I think the most commonly known is a daffodil"
How interesting, Narcissa was the exact opposite of a daffodil
The lady continued “Now Bellatrix means female warrior”
At this Sirius snorted “She certainly fits that description”
The lady smiled “Glad to know we’ve got some female warriors in the world then”
Sirius didn’t have the heart to tell her that Bellatrix wasn’t the good and virtuous female warrior she was thinking of. What a bitch she was.
So Sirius just replied “Yeah”
“Bellatrix is also the third brightest star in the constellation of Orion”
“That’s my dad!” Sirius exclaimed
“One of the most recognizable constellations in the sky”
“Hm, and what about my Mother? Her name’s Walburga”
“Ah well, Walburga like Narcissa isn’t a star or constellation”
“Oh well that makes sense, she married into the family I’m pretty sure”
“She is however probably named after St Walburga, said to repel witches and known as a healer of illness”
Sirius snorted. Walburga was neither a saint nor healer and was literally a witch herself.
“Sorry, I just don’t like her very much” he shrugged “Don’t particularly like any of them to be honest” Sirius explained and then added “except from Andromeda and Regulus”
“Well I’m sorry to hear that darling” she looked at him with pitying eyes “Family is always difficult”
“Tell me about it”
“Me and my sister fought like cat and dog sometimes, but as we got older we realised that most our fighting was pointless and a bit silly” Dorothy chuckled “My parents divorced when I was young as well which never made situations better, especially my younger brother, poor lad got so angry in the end that I didn’t even recognise him, died pretty young too”
“Oh I’m sorry”
“Oh don’t be!” she said earnestly “I got over his death long ago, and I know you’re too young to fully understand but you know, the ones that love us always stick around in some way or another”
“That’s a nice thought,” Sirius said.
The conversation didn't stop there, the rest of it was mostly gossip Dorothy had heard from her friends, nonetheless Sirius had enjoyed the conversation, even if James and Peter were teasing him about it afterward
“Really charming the old ladies aren’t you?” James grinned at him
“Shut up! She was nice”
“Maybe you can go talk to my grandma Sirius” Peter said “she doesn’t particularly like me and maybe you can charm her”
Sirius just shook his head and left them to go and eat one of Effie’s mince pies. He was lucky as well because there was only one left.
Christmas day had been even better than Christmas Eve.
The Potters had somehow gotten him as many presents as they did for James, their actual son. Sirius couldn’t thank them enough, they were so incredibly generous and he felt bad for not being able to thank them properly. He hadn’t actually managed to get anyone any Christmas presents, because how the hell was he meant to ask his family for some money when they hadn’t spoken to him since the 1st of September. Over the summer he’d have to ask or even steal some so that he would have some cash on him for second year.
James had gotten him a bag of pranking material to use once they returned to Hogwarts, dungbombs and fanged frisbees and stuff like that. Peter had gotten him some incredibly thick and incredibly warm red fluffy socks along with some sugar quills because they were some of Sirius's favourite. And then Remus had gotten him the best present of them all.
A record. An actual record that he could put in his record player. As soon as he got back to Hogwarts he was going to listen to it. David Bowie as well. Remus had said in the note that came along with it that this was a new release too, Hunky Dory.
What a weird name. Huh just like Sirius.
The rest of the holiday passed quickly and before Sirius knew it, it was New Year’s Eve and he was playing a game of Chess with Peter. Turns out Peter was an excellent player and so Sirius had started having a lot of fun trying to figure out how not to lose.
Every move counted.
But then suddenly it was Peter’s turn
“Checkmate”
Sirius looked up at him mouth open in shock, Peter was grinning in triumph
Damn it.