BroadLight Train To Hogwarts
Did I catch your attention?
You look like you lost your breath
When I circle the room, you an owl, you gon' twist your head
Don't you come at me green with an attitude
Where my lips and my soles are at
If I leave you behind, you can look for the broken necks, no, no
“Shouldn’t they be here by now?” James’ left leg joins his right one in the incessant tapping as he looks out the window of the train on platform 9 ¾ and great, now his fingers join the obnoxious tapping as well. He's already inside their usual compartment alongside Remus and Peter, but the Blacks are nowhere on sight, they'd talked with his parents and agreed they wanted to show up on their own, all three of them. He was glad at first, they were bonding, but now he fears they might have smothered each other without supervision
“It’s not like they have somewhere else to go” Remus doesn’t look up from his book on care of magical creatures
“Exactly. Knowing the Black flair for the dramatic they’re probably going to wait until the last possible moment to make sure everyone witnesses their dramatic entrance” Peter assures him
“The train leaves in five minutes” James chews on his nails “it’s already the last possible moment!”
“Actually, it leaves in four minutes” Peter corrects him “Ouch, Moony!” he rubs his shin and glares at Remus, but he doesn’t even look up from his book
“They’ll be here” he assures James, because apparently Peter can’t be trusted to do that
“Yes James, they’ll be here. I’m not lucky enough for her not to” the blond sighs, he’s not looking forward to spending his time with someone who would enjoy making him cry. Especially someone who probably knows exactly how to make him cry. So far he knows he’s been lucky in that she hasn’t tried, hasn’t wanted to, but he doesn’t doubt she’d be able to if she wanted. Actually most people could probably make him cry, it’s not very hard. Thank Godric more people don’t try it
“But what if something happened?” James chews on his nails
“You’re right.” peter nods along to him, a smile tugging on his lips but hiding beneath the corners of his mouth “Maybe an Acromantula ate them. Or maybe a hippogriff attacked them. Perhaps a dragon grilled them” He would be nicer, more empathic, but lack of sleep makes him grumpy and for the second time since their first time since first year he doesn’t have to be worried about Sirius’ wellbeing after spending time in Grimmauld Place. That’s something he certainly doesn’t miss.
“You’re not helping” Remus hisses at Peter and gives him a pointed look, he nods to James whose anxiety floods their compartment, it’s palatable in the air. For Remus’ wolfy senses that’s probably literal
“I wasn’t trying to— Ouch! Stop hitting me! You’re not the one who’ll have to pretend he’s dating psycho-Black." Alright, wrong choice of words, Remus would love to genuinely date a certain psycho-Black and James is dating his own psycho- Black. They also both have shit survival skills, so it checks out. Peter, however, knows better, and he'd rather stay safely away with the only person younger than them Sirius Black genuinely fears (even if he’d never admit to it) "Maybe it wouldn’t be the worst thing if they didn’t—” the entire platform seems to draw a breath. Sirius parades in an all black suit that makes Moony’s mouth run dry. His siblings are in matching vest-suits at either side of him, making James’ mouth run dry. Peter bites his lip “I keep forgetting she looks like that” Their heads held high, their beauty ethereal, their nails and lips match the color of their suits. They look like sin personified, hell’s invisible crown perched up on their heads. They each stare at their own Black as they float through the platform past the eyes and whispers, soaring above them, like they’re superior to the gossip and the stares.
Sirius struts ahead with death on his right and the ripper on his left. James throws the compartment door open and rushes to meet them at the first exit he sees. Regulus, on his way past him, spares him a wink, the suggestion of a smirk playing on his lips. James’ breath hitches with a hundred different things he wants to do with that sassy little smug, a thousand things he’s going to do with him.
The three model the length of the platform and Sirius disappears inside the front of the train, Ursa climbs after him. She meets James' eyes and waves at him with a fully-fledged smirk, but James can’t see her anymore because the most beautiful boy he’s ever seen is headed his way. Regulus clasps a hand behind his neck and he meets his lips with an open mouth. Wolf-whistles and frantic murmurs erupt around them. The train honks and smoke pipes out its chimney engulfing around them like floating on a cloud, a dream, a fairytale. Regulus’ hot hands leave him and he climbs onto the train. He twirls around and holds out a hand for him to take. His own dashing gentleman with the wondrous grin, so lovely and perfect. His wobbly knees threaten to buckle at such a perfect sight. He takes the hand offered to him and steps inside. The wheels gear into action, leaving the platform behind them. The wind kisses their face and they kiss each other, lost in a tangle of embrace. Regulus leads him to an empty compartment where they lock the door and sound-proof it, and oh how James is about to take advantage of that soundproof spell
Don't just stand there staring, honey
Try to move your feet
If you think they're looking at you
They're looking at me
I could make it nice and easy
I'ma take the lead (I'ma takin' the lead)
They ain't even looking at you, baby
They're looking at me
Ursa is propped up against her older brother, using his lap as a pillow and the wall as a footrest, her eyes closed to the world. Remus is preoccupied with smoking and reading, Sirius is caught up drooling over him, Peter's tongue pokes out in concentration as he doodles away the two Blacks, peaceful for the first time he's ever seen them, looking like angels on earth.
The door to their compartment sweeps open and in pour Marlene, Mary and Lily. With all of them there it's a tight fit but they make it work “Don’t you two look fit?” Mary whistles at the Blacks
“You sound surprise” Sirius says at the same time as Ursa says “as usual”
“That was quite the entrance” Lily admits
“What about yours?” Ursa props herself up on an elbow that digs into Sirius’ femur. He squirms his leg away from her and she uses his shoulder as a backrest instead. She’s looking at Marlene and she moves her legs out of the way so she can sit next to her “Did you take people’s breath away with your new hairstyle?”
“Some people said they like it” Marlene admits sheepishly and once she sits down Ursa drapes her legs across her
“Except Alecto,” Mary grumbles, souring at the mere thought of her
“Man, I hate that bitch” Sirius says, elbowing Ursa out of the way and she stretches her entire torso across him and rests her head against the window.
“I know! Right! She’s a cunt”
“She’s awful” Peter agrees
“you should’ve let me hex her”
“Don’t let her get to you” Lily pats her knee supportingly
“Lily’s right, she thinks her stinky, toe-shaped brother Amycus is the epitome of beauty. Trust me, an insult from her is a compliment” Ursa waves her worries away and Marlene finally cracks a laugh
“They are disturbingly close” Peter grants but refusing to laugh at something the devil herself said. He still doesn’t believe she’ll ever be nice to him and he knows better than to tempt her or spare himself the disappointment from expecting her to actually be nice.
“No. I mean literally. I caught them shagging once”
“Shut your fucking mouth!” Mary squeals “You’re shitting me!”
“Are you kidding?” Lily narrows her eyes on her skeptically
“Are you for real?” Sirius gasps. Peter leans back on his seat, maybe she doesn’t have to nice, maybe he can just make the most of a shitty situation and take the amusement when she provides it
“You were there, remember? Papa was negotiating with their grandfather to buy stocks from Carrow’s Enterprise at a great price before their value went up the way Lestrange told him they would, but he—”
“Why would I know about our family's business deals?”
"You were the heir, you were literally going to inherit all of that"
"So?" Sirius frowns at her and her jaw twitches
“Whatever," Mary waves him off and nudges her "your father was negotiating with their grandfather, and?"
"We were having dinner at his house and I went looking for the bathroom when much to Freud’s delight I opened the room to their parents' bedroom instead”
"No!" Marlene gasped "in their parents bedroom?!"
"Yep"
“Oh, that’s another level of messed up”
“You know who Sigmund Freud is? Most wizards don’t know about him” Lily furrows her brows at Ursa but she winks at her and otherwise goes ignored
“I don’t believe you, you’re full of shit” her brother crosses his arms over his chest, the same petulant child he's always been
“You can believe what you want” she shrugs and checks out her long black nails “but I told them not to worry about me saying anything about what I saw because I’d already caught my own siblings doing the same thing with each other and I wasn’t going to start judging” Sirius tenses. Peter and Lily’s jaw drop, Lupin smirks at his page and Mary breaks down in hysterical cackles.
“You did not!” Marlene gasps clearly conveying by her tone Oh, so very please tell me you did
“There’s already so much incest in our family that they didn’t even doubt it, didn't give it a second thought. I bet they'll take today as confirmation if they did, Reggie’s little coming out act” Peter almost wants to clap, if it weren’t for Sirius murderous eyes. He doesn’t want to face that. Though Ursa doesn’t seem to burn under their fire, maybe she's immune
“Nope. No. That didn’t happen. That didn't happen because if it had, then, well, then, I’d have to MURDER YOU!” Sirius' collected calm crashes down in a whiff quick as the wind, he charges at his sister but she swiftly casts a confundus charm with a smug smile. Sirius’ blow misses the intended target and makes Marlene take the worst of it. Marlene isn’t about to sit around and take a punch without fighting back, that is just not the sort of woman she is
“Stop it” Lily hisses at them like a scolding parent
“Or at least put on bikinis” Peter tosses sour buttons at them.
“Are you keen on seeing your best mate in a bikini?”
“He does have a lovely figure” he winks at Sirius and pops a sour button onto his mouth
“Stop objectifying me” Sirius barks at him, Marlene beats him into a headlock. He kicks and punches the air but it’s useless, he doesn’t land a single blow. Peter tosses some more sour buttons at his head which are also useless but, however, vastly amusing to Peter himself.
“Well, that was pathetic” Ursa sighs and smirks at her brother, she grabs a sour button from his hair and stuffs it in his mouth, shoving it shut. She catches a second one mid-air and offers it to Marlene who takes it straight off her hand with a beam
“Alright, alright!” Sirius swats Marlene’s hands away “watch the hair Wormtail!” he tosses the sour buttons back, whipping the sticky sugar off his precious, lucilius mane “now don’t you two go getting all chummy” Sirius waves his hands between Ursa and Marlene
“Too late” Ursa flutters her lashes at Marlene who glows a deep shade of red. “and for the record, I didn’t actually catch them shagging, but the fact that you all so easily believed it is definitely more than enough proof as to why shouldn't believe or care about her opinions. They're less than worthless” When they sit Ursa drapes her legs across her lap without a second thought, showcasing to Sirius how very much in fact they're both already on chummy terms
“I hate you” Sirius huffs, it comes out sounding a lot like a whine. Though to be fair that's what he perpetually sounds like to her: a whiny baby, always complaining about something
“Aw, wouldn’t mummy be proud?” she pokes his cheek and he swats her hand away, it only brightens her smile. Peter must admit, that is one beautiful smile. He takes the empty splotch on the page of his sketchbook, the one that doesn’t have two Blacks loosely sketched or a detailed, reading Remus. He picks his pencil back up and traces the shape of a mouth. When he looks up Ursa meets his eyes. She smirks at him and he knows he’s been caught “Are you drawing me?” her eyes twinkle with delight and he hates how his first instinct is to try and recreate it in a drawing, knowing he’ll never come close
“No” he lies
“Why not?” she calls in outrage but at the same time there’s an undercurrent of softness to her voice that definitely wouldn’t be there if the girls weren’t there, this is a performance. It rattles him how good of an actress she is. Sirius mentioned she was and he’d been witness to it, seen her act go from murderous to innocent little butterfly in the blink of an eye, but there is something so gentle about what she just did, such a subtle thing… He understands now why Sirius never trusts her. He can’t. Not when he knows she wears lies the same way she wears truths, undistinguishable between the two. He thinks it might be something in the eyes, he wants to draw that twinkle of something but he can’t until he figures out what that twinkle is
“I’m just drawing Moony”
“What’s he got that I don’t?” she frowns at him with a pout that on anyone else would look adorable and definitely drawing material. Alright fine, on her it does too. Maybe even more than most, those stupid recessive Black genes really are something
“Moony is art and you’re a fart” Sirius singsongs
“Je vais faire perdre une autre mouffette dans ta chambre et faire croire à tout le monde que c'était encore toi" I will set another skunk lose on your room and make everyone believe that it was you again she singsongs back to him “That was his birthday gift for me when I turned seven.” she tells them before she turns back to her brother “Do you remember? Your little poem: Regulus is art and you’re a fart, I wish he’d been the only baby from the start, and we’d been born kilometers apart, I sincerely hope you die. Signed: unfortunately your brother, Sirius Black”
“I see you’ve always been a dramatic little shit”
“I didn’t know you were a poet” Remus smirks at him with a fond, teasing look on his eyes. Sirius wishes he could kiss it right off his smug little face. Wait. What? Kiss. Sirius blinks past the thought and turns to his sister instead
“You said you loved it”
“Yeah, because you wanted me to hate it” she tells him like this is obvious and then with a sheepish look adds “I spent the entire night of my birthday crying in my room, I cried myself to sleep that night”
“Yeah, alright, not my finest moment” When Sirius lays in bed tonight, in the dead of night, he’ll remember she was too busy sneaking a skunk into his bed to be crying in her room. He’ll rage at the reminder that not a word out of her mouth is holy but for now he even feels a touch of remorse “I had a real gift for you but you’d stolen my christmas gift the day and swapped them for coal so I swapped your birthday gift”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Santa did that” her grin is caught somewhere between a smirk and a smile “besides, come on, it was funny”
“It was traumatizing”
“Yeah, out of all the fucked up shit about our childhood, I’m sure that iswhat really fucked you up”
“Exactly” he grins back at her
“Anyways, is that it?” she turns to Peter “You don’t like the way I look? Is that why you won’t draw me?” Ursa stares at Peter with so much vulnerability in her stare that it can only be fake but holy fuck is it hard to hold. Still, he does. Using insecurities to manipulate she told him. That was exactly what she’s doing right now. He knows it. Not hers but his, he never thinks he’s pretty enough to draw and she obviously knows this, he wants him to relate to her. He leans forward and steals her usual smirk
“Don’t pretend you don’t know you’re beautiful” he says and her whole face lights up. Remus gives him a funny look, Lily studies him, Mary seems delighted, Marlene gives him a funny look too and Sirius shoots him a warning one. He folds back on his seat from the weight of all their stares on him. Maybe that wasn’t as good of an idea as it seemed. He busies himself with finishing the bag of sour buttons instead. Ursa looks from him to the bag and then back at him, she tilts her head and turns her attention to Lily
The door swings open, they all look up to Regulus and James with his shirt inside out “At least someone had fun” Mary giggles, Sirius glares at her and tosses her sour buttons in retaliation, she throws it back but it lands on Marlene who joins Sirius on his sour button battle against Mary. She yields with her palms up and squeals at the state of her hair. Ursa ushers her away into the bathroom as Marlene relishes on her new short hair close behind her. Lily, Lupin and Regulus are off to their dull prefects’ meeting
“I’ll walk you there” James links his arm with his boyfriend. He truly is relentless, absolutely obsessed. Lupin takes a deep breath and mimics a gun to his head, it goes off. Sirius aims it at the other two and takes two shots. Peter scoops a jelly button off the window’s glass and eats it.
“Diuck” he spits it back up into a bag “it tastes like window” Sirius frowns at him with a mixture of judgment and disgust but retains from saying anything.
“Were you flirting with my sister before those two came in?” he asks after a long stretch of silence
“What?” Peter sweats on his seat. He’d sooner be caught dead than flirting with Ursa Black “Of course not. I told you already: psychopaths are not my type”
“No, what you said was you weren’t into people who are mean to you and she can pretend to be real sweet. Even if she’s still vicious and a total psycho underneath, she can be very charming. I’ve seen it happen enough times to know”
“I count manipulation as being mean” Peter points out and he means it, no matter how much she sparkles he’ll always know she isn’t gold
“Okay. Good. Just making sure.” Sirius sighs in relief
“It’s weird seeing you play the protective big brother, trying to protect her heart”
“I should be, shouldn’t I?” he turns to look out the window to the bellowing hills “The thing is I’m not sure she has one” he looks back at Peter with a somber expression, it’s probably more vulnerability than he’s ever given him before “Pete, hers is not the heart I’m worried about. Don’t fall for her” there’s so much sympathy and care in his eyes, concern even. It warms Peter’s heart to know his friend cares so much about his well being, cares about the sanity of his heart and mind, enough to warn him instead of the usual Black threaten-first-talk-never way. He cares for him. He truly cares. He may not be his bestest friend like James or his future husband like Moony (not that he’d want to date Sirius. He’s aware of the boy’s objective beauty but he’s definitely not his type) but he’s not forgotten on his list as he often wonders whether he is “Loving her hurts” it’s a truth that belongs to Sirius, the sort he’d only share with Remus or James but here he is, saying it to Peter instead. Sirius stares at the windows, the hills flicker past and the conversation is done. The compartment opens and James slips back inside with a radiant smile.
'Cause I've been here once or twice
Never worry 'bout the eyes (come on)
Not too long afterwards and not too many compartments away Ursa is pretending to care about Quidditch formations and teams as Marlene rambles on and on and on and on, Salazar is it endless. Mary has already both mentally and physically checked out of the conversation. She took off a few minutes ago in search of that guy she’d been talking to last year. When asked which one she didn’t offer any further explanation, just a wave of her hand on her way out.
There’s a knock on their compartment door. Ursa smothers her relieved sigh. She opens the compartment door with a friendly smile, but it isn’t Lily or Mary how she and Marlene expected. Ursa cocks a brow and doesn’t let her grin waver.
“Will you hurt me if I hug you?” Dorcas Meadows asks in front of her. Ursa squeals in delight and pulls her into the compartment and jumps right into her arms.
“Can I get a hug too?” Pandora steps forwards and Regulus shuts the door behind them with a smug look. Dorcas chuckles, Ursa pinches her. They know she would never ever hug her, either of them really, but she can’t drop her lively, friendly persona in front of Marlene, she’s a key witness.
“Always darling” Ursa throws her arms around Pandora’s neck without releasing her thighs’ grip on Dorcas’ waist.
“And what about you? Don’t you want a hug too?” Ursa wipes that smug look off Regulus and snakes her arms around him in a tight squeeze, so tight he can barely breathe. He grimaces and wipes her away from him. She smirks at him with victory in her eyes and he glares back at her with irritation in his “Aren’t you supposed to be in your prefect meeting right now?”
“Just finished, I was on my way back when I ran into them” he explains “They wanted to see you”
“How are you?” Pandora puts on her Disney character adorable eyes only Ursa is immune to. Honestly, she just wants to roll her own eyes at them, they’re so stupidly blue, the cliched depth of an ocean.
“Oh, you know us, never less than flawless” she adds some sorrow into her voice for Marlene’s sake, same as the hugs.
“Okay, but are we gonna talk about your entrance though?” Dorcas drives away from the heavy tension that Pandora’s question fogged in the air “Hot as fuck.” Dorcas notes and Ursa giggles. That’s why she makes the podium of people she likes, not that she would ever admit to it, Dorcas would wear that third place medal with far too much pride “shit. Sorry. Hi” Dorcas finally notices the blonde and almost devours her with her eyes. Very subtle of her. Marlene blushes slightly, waves and smiles at the ground “Ursa, aren’t you gonna introduce us to your new friend?”
“You’ve known her for longer than we have” Regulus chimes and Ursa smiles at the little shit, they both know that glint in Dorcas’ eyes. It’s the holy fucking shit that chick’s hot. If given the opportunity it’s usually followed by her attempts at flirting, she’s not suave at all and it’s absolutely hilarious and both Blacks always love to see that show. Alright, that’s a lie. Regulus usually gives her a you’re pathetic and I can’t watch this look and walks away, but today he stays and his lip twitches up into the hint of a smile.
“Yeah, but—fuck” she bites down on her lip and stares at her with big broad awestruck eyes “You look… Did you do something to your—Oh. Your hair. You cut your hair. You got a new haircut. I like it. Like really, really like it. I really like your new haircut McKinnon. It’s hot as fuck. Very hot. Really hot. I never realized you were hot before. You’re really hot. Very hot.” Marlene turns a deep shade of red, she looks like she wants to hide her face behind her hands and cry. Both Regulus and Pandora chuckle on the sidelines, none of them help Marlene at all
“Go to hell Meadows” McKinnon snaps back at her and storms out of the compartment slamming the door shut behind her.
“Wha— But I—” Dorcas stammers but Marlene’s already gone. Ursa falls on her seat cackling, joining the other two giggling idiots
Yes, I'm young for a teacher, I'll teach you what you don't know
(I could teach you the things that you wanna know)
But I can't give it up all at once, you would overdose
Don't you bring any bull in the room tonight
It's a whole new rodeo
It could be you and me
But you know that I'll steal the show, oh (yeah)