Chapter 1
"James! The mail has arrived!," Euphemia yelled out of her room.
"Gettin' it," He yelled back, prancing down the large corridor of his palace. James always thought that it was useless to have such a big place for only three people but his father always said that he loves big spaces as it is good practice for pranks and cool spells.
"Thank you," James smiled kindly at the mail man as he grabbed two envelops, one is a beautifully designed envelope and the other is a raven black; just by looking at them, he knows exactly who they are from but he shakes the feeling away. "You're welcome, your highness." The older man smiled back at the bright boy, he bowed respectfully before spinning on his heel to go to whoever is next.
James looked down at the mail and bit his lip nervously, his parents always said the blacks were no good.
”Amma it’s from the Blacks!” He shouted out, playing with the paper.
’Why do they use such dark colours for?’ He thought to himself grimly, he never liked the colour black. Most people love it but he doesn’t, he despises it. Black reminds him of strict annoying professors that take away fun; but an inner part of him also feared the colour as it reminded him of death.
He shivers at the thought as he looks up, hearing his mother descend down the stairs in her beautiful long day dress.
“The Blacks!” He hears Fleamont screech, marching out of the kitchen with a cup of tea in his hand, “Those dirty no-gooders,” Fleamont cussed angrily, taking a sip of his tea as he made his way towards his son.
“Fleamont!” Euphemia shrieked slapping his arm, James chuckled at the sight, watching his father rub his hand on his arm.
“Hand me the letter please, James.” He handed the letter to his mum, watching her softly opening it and taking the letter out, the envelope still in her hand.
James always wondered why his mother was so gentle especially to the ones who disrespect her, it also makes him wonder why she married his father. He was more of a rebel, he always broke the rules, it was his way of having fun. But watching his parents act so in love make him excited for the future, for his future lover, because he wants that exact same relationship.
“Oh,” Euphemia mumbled, “Oh?” Fleamont questioned.
”The Blacks have invited us to one of their annual balls.” James’ eyebrows raised in surprise, he never expected that but at the same time he did. The Blacks always invited the most wealthy and powerful families in entire England; if there’s just a little inch of poverty and or homelessness in your family then the Blacks will turn their head away from you and act as if you had never existed.
James never really cared about status, he thinks everyone is the same. Your wealth doesn’t describe who you are as a person, his parents always taught him and he teaches that lesson to everyone he finds is a tad bit judgemental.
“Oh Effie do we have to go?” Fleamont whined, pouting slightly down at the shorter woman. “Yes Fleamont, we have to! Just because we are not acquaintances with the Blacks doesn’t mean we have to miss a ball,” James watched his father throw his head back as his mother pinches his cheek. Fleamont scrunched his nose turning away to go back to the kitchen to drink his tea; “What time is the ball?” James asked facing his mother.
“10pm,” She answered, putting the letter back into the envelope. James nodded his head, fixing his robes before making his way up to his room - he always wondered why they had so many rooms, his father told him it’s because if there are any guests coming with the idea to stay here then they can but not many guests have actually stayed at their palace aside from his grandparents. But his mother, the caring lady that she is, thinks that one day someone will eventually come to stay at our palace.
As soon as James entered his room, he took Mary’s letter out of his robes and opened it hastily. James took his friends letters as a sign that there’s either trouble going on or some kind of planning for the day must be happening.
Dear James,
Have you heard of the Black ball? Everyones getting invited, including me and Lily Evans! Can you believe it??? The Blacks never invite us, it’s probably the work of Andromeda Black. God bless that fine woman. Anyways, Peter is thinking about going to the pier to have a nice day out, do you want to come? We could make some mischief like how we always do!
All
I completely forgot to tell you, there has been some rumours going around about people that we know so come as quickly as you can.
All regards,
Mary Macdonald
After reading the gorgeously handwritten letter, James rushed down the staircase, eager to find out the news.
”James!” Euphemia screeched, terrified at the speed her son was racing in, “Going to Mary’s.” The curiosity driven boy shortly stated as he flew through the door, not looking back to see if he closed it.
“Kids these days,” Euphemia breathed out, shaking her head.
“Mother this is too tight,” Sirius complained, scratching the fabric of his waistcoat.
“No it is not, this is the exact same size as your other waistcoats.” Walburga replied, harshly spinning Sirius around to face her. The raven haired boy glared up at his mother, feeling nothing but anger slowly rise in him. ‘How could one look so dead yet so strong at the same time?’ He thought to himself, feeling his jaw clench.
”Well maybe something happened,” He shrugged, feeling his hair bounce with the jump of his shoulders. If Reggie was his in place right now, he’d be praying for his hair to not get messed up or mother would punish him but Sirius? Nah he didn’t a damn about his mother or her fucked up rules.
”Nonsense!” The hollowed face lady snapped, “No son of mine will be fat,” She seethed dragging Sirius by his arm and throwing him out of the changing room. “Kreacher!” She called, continuing to glare at Sirius as if he was some kind of burden in the family.
”Yes mistress,” The old grumpy looking butler entered the room, ‘Perv’ Sirius thought, watching the man look down at his mother’s cleavage.
“Do not feed him lunch or any snacks or anything before the ball,”
“WHAT?”
”Yes mistress,” He bowed, turning away to leave the room.
”Mum that’s-”
Before he could finish his sentence, his mother raised her hand and slapped him, ”Argue with me and you won’t be eating anything for the rest of your life,”
Sirius didn’t dare to look up at her, at the cruel heartless woman that he was forced to call mother. He felt her shove him away with her hips as she walked out of the room with the creep behind her, it’s funny how a perverted idiot is more special and prizes to her than her own son. His chest heaved in anger as deep large deep breathes were flowing through his mouth; He hated her but was nonetheless petrified of her, once he made the wrong decision of screaming back at her and that led to him getting starved for two days with only just water and bread - stale bread to be exact. He despised this family and their opinions of this fucked up world, he just wishes his little brother won’t be anything like them in the near future.
He felt hot rush of tears stream down his face as his cheek stung in pain from the slap. ‘Fuck you world for bringing me here.’ He thought as he felt his knees drop down to the floor, his body shaking as more tears fall.
“Oh my,” He heard a sweet-like honey voice gasp, “Sirius? Are you okay, love?” He felt the fabric of the soft gown as the person gently settled themselves onto the ground next to him. Sirius didn’t even need to look up to see who it was, the dress and the voice gave it away.
“Nothing new,” He sniffled, wiping away his tears. “I don’t care if it’s nothing new, it’s wrong.” He just nodded at her words, not really caring since he knows that it’ll go on for the rest of his life.
“I’m being serious, Sirius.” She jokingly nudged his arm, watching him laugh beside her at the pun.
“Yeah yeah, anyway how are you Andy… brandy?” He inquired, trying to make a good pun out of her name. Hearing this, the brown haired girl threw her head back in roaring laughter, clapping her hands she came back to the same position but her laughter never stops nor does the sparkle in her eyes. Well actually, whenever she’s around Sirius and Regulus, the sparkle in her eyes never leave in fact they shine even brighter if that’s possible.
Sirius has also found out that whenever Andromeda goes to the marketplace, she’s excited and has a pinky like tint on her cheeks. He has always thought that it was just makeup until she told him that she rarely wears any makeup and usually borrows it from his other cousin, Narcissa.
“Well Sirius, I am doing quite well actually, thank you very much for asking.” Andy replied back, her smile never leaving her face.
“You ready for the ball?” He asked, “Can i be honest with you?” She replied back, biting her lip in nervousness.
”Of course,” Sirius moved closer to his cousin, knowing well that this will probably be another one of their many shared secrets.
“I-i’m really nervous about the ball…” She sighed, her body looking like a deflated balloon; “It’s just that… you know how our family are, once we turn 17, they-”
”Arrange our marriages,” Both cousins muttered together, they both let out a sigh as it’s now Andromeda’s turn to get married but Sirius selfishly doesn’t want her to get married because he doesn’t want her to get brainwashed into a status judging bitch because then they’d drift apart and won’t be as close as they are now; there’s a reason why Sirius is so close to Andromeda and it’s not because he’s not close with the other two Black sisters but it’s because she’s the only family that cares for him. If it wasn’t for Andromeda, Sirius would have ended his life by now. She was his guardian, his mother-like figure that he never got to have.
Sirius could tell that the once smiley girl was now stressed out, he’d be as well if he found out his parents was going to ship him out to marry someone who’d most likely torture you into believing the same bullshit as they do.
“Hey,” He placed his hand on top of hers, “It’ll be okay, alright? Don’t stress it.” He waited for her to smile first before he returned it.
”Anyways what got you so worked up before that you had to cry? Because the Sirius Black that I know never cries,” Andromeda watched her cousin laugh merrily as a sneaky giggle escapes her mouth.
“Well mother wants me to lose weight,” Sirius held back his laughter as he watched her eyes bulge open, “What?! Are you being serious?!”
“I’m always Sirius,” The black haired boy smirked proudly causing Andromeda to roll her eyes, “I’ve always known my aunt was an idiot but I never knew she was this much of a bloody idiot!” Hearing this, Sirius gasped louder than a hawk.
”Did THE Andromeda Black just swear?” He gaped, staring at her as if she was some kind of mythical creature.
”Yes I fucking did,” Sirius gasped louder watching his cousin get satisfied by his reaction, Sirius wasn’t joking though, Andromeda never swore even when she was angry, she never did because she was that kind of person - she always treated people with kindness even if they have hurt her in the past and present, she never wishes the worse for anyone.
”But why does she want you to lose weight?”
“Oh it’s because I’m not fitting into my waistcoat,” He casually replied.
”WHAT?!” At this, Sirius once again laughed harder than before, feeling the similar pain return to his stomach.
”That’s absolutely outrageous!” Andromeda fumed in anger, feeling all the blood rush swiftly through her body.
”Now that’s the Andy that I know,” They both chuckled at that as Andromeda shook her head in disbelief. “That’s the most stupidest thing I’ve ever heard, of course you’re not going to fit into your past robes, you’ve grown older now and you need new ones that fit to your size. And besides every size is gorgeous.” She smiled encouragingly at Sirius, squeezing his hand lovingly.
”Not to my mum,” He sadly smiled, looking down. “Yeah…” She replied with.
”Ooh do you want to see my dress for the ball?” Andromeda excitedly clapped, waiting for her cousin’s answer. Just by watching his eyes light up and the wide grin return to his face, she instantly knew his answer.
”Of course!” He jumped up onto his feet, picking her up by the hand like the affectionate gentleman that he is. “Eek then let’s go!” She pulled him out of the once depressed room and ran together through the hallway of the Black mansion, careful to not meet ties with Kreacher or any other Black family member besides Regulus.
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Hiii i hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, it’s really long but i love it so much! Also Andromeda is the loml <33 Please leave kudos and comments! I love reading comments :)
Translation:
Amma = mum