The Beginning
It was a cold and rainy Sunday night when Sirius found himself getting dressed to the beginning of the most important time of his entire life.
The Selection. The tradition that went deep in his family through generations. It was by the Selection that his father, Orion, had met his mother, Walburga, who was a Two at the time, and they fell in love and got married, living happily with their two sons, Sirius and Regulus. Or, at least, that’s what they wanted people to think. However, Sirius was inclined to believe there wasn’t much love between his parents.
Maybe that was the reason why he was so scared. Sirius wanted to be a good king and rule his nation properly, of course, with a good queen alongside him, but he also wanted to fall in love. He wanted to have someone that he could trust and give his whole heart to. And he knew the Selection was his only chance to find that.
But what happens if he doesn’t?
‘Well,’ he thought. ‘No good will come of thinking like this.’
Just as he finished putting his outfit on, there was a knock on the door, and his mother entered the bedroom soon after. Sirius took a deep breath and followed her, no words needed.
The raining increased outside, and the sky was filled with dark clouds. It was as if the weather was sensing Sirius’ mood. He was so immersed in his thoughts that he didn’t notice his mother was talking to him until he felt a rather painful pinch on his left arm.
“Sirius!”
“Pardon, mother. I was distracted.” He answered, head low as if he was afraid she would slap him any second.
“Pull yourself together, boy. You know full well that this Selection is an opportunity to get ourselves new alliances with other countries and—“
“And find an honorable and noble young woman, I know, I know’” he completed, already sick of having heard that same speech over and over again for the last couple of years.
“Don’t interrupt me, you insolent boy!,” she hissed angrily at him. “If only your brother was the older one and the heir...everything would be much easier.”
Sirius remained quiet. At this point, he knew better than to try and defend himself. He was already the difficult son, the different one, the disgrace of the Black family. The Selection, as Walburga often said, was the only chance Sirius had of doing something good for them.
However, he couldn’t help but agree with her. If Regulus was the heir, everything would be easier.
‘But he isn’t,’ Sirius constantly told himself. ‘I am. And I have to deal with it.’
Just as he repeated that to himself, they reached the Great Hall’s doors. This would be the first time Sirius would see the selected women in person. He was almost shaking from nerves, and his hands were all sweaty.
“Try not to make a fool out of yourself,” Walburga murmured to him, before turning to the guards and telling them to open the doors.
With that excellent encouragement in mind, Sirius stepped into the Great Hall right after his mother, The Queen of Illéa.
~
When Sirius entered the Great Hall, instead of looking over to where his father and his brother already sat, he moved his eyes towards the back of the room, where thirty five young women waited anxiously for his arrival. He also couldn’t help but notice that a bunch of camera men were standing in the corner, and had to fight to supress a grimace. He had forgotten that Illéa Capital Repport, the country’s most famous program, would be encharged of filming their first encounter with the prince.
It didn’t take much observation skills to notice that as soon as he stepped into the room, the air around them changed. The conversation immediately died, everyone straighted up their posture and most of the girls either blushed furiously ou started giggling uncontrollably (after all, not only was he the prince, but Sirius was also extremelly handsome). All eyes (and cameras) were on him.
Usually, Sirius wouldn’t have minded, as he was already used to the attention that being a prince and future king brought. This time, though, he felt as he suddenly arrived in new and dangerous territory, completely unsure of how to act around so many unknown women that were supposed to pamper and seduce him. The slightest slip would be broadcasted to the entire country.
Trying to ignore the panic rising through him, Sirius marched to the center of the room, where McGonagall already stood, waiting for him.
Minerva McGonagall was in charge of preparing the selected girls by teaching them etiquettes, dress them properly and accompany them through the entire process, until Sirius chooses “The One”. Minerva usually worked as a housekeeper, and she was in charge of all the other castle’s employees. His parents put her in that position since she was extremelly hard working, strict, and had worked in the castle for most of her life.
‘It was a good decision to put her to take care of all these women,’ Sirius thought, a hint of a smile appearing on his beautiful face. ‘No one sane would risk disobeying Minnie here.’
“Your Highness,” she greeted him with a small bow when he approached.
Sirius looked at her and pretended to give a warning look. She knew he hated when people did that. It made him feel different, like he was someone superior than the others (like his mother believed, without a doubt) and somehow unreachable.
Unfortunately, though, these formalities could not be thrown aside in moments like this. Minerva only gave him a tiny smile and stepped aside.
“Good evening, ladies,” Sirius finally greeted the girls, trying to sound like he wasn’t freaking out and risking a rather seductive smile. It must have worked, ‘cause most of them started giggling again. “I would like to welcome you all to the palace, we really hope you have a wonderful stay here, no matter how long will it be.”
‘God, I really hope this doesn’t take too long,’ the thought crossed his mind, but he dismisses it quickly.
“As I assume you are all hungry, as I sure am,” Sirius continued with a short laugh, earning some in return, “I thought we could all enjoy our meals, and then I’ll call each one of you privately to have a brief talk and introduce each other, alright?”
As he finished his short speech, Sirius politely smiled to them and turned his back, walking towards his seat on the front of the Great Hall.
“You did good,” Orion told him dryly once he took his seat, then resumed on his chat with Regulus about politics.
“Nothing more than his obligation,” Walburga murmured, not even bothering to look at his direction.
Sirius sighed. Nothing he did could ever please this woman.
Dinner passed in a blink of an eye, or at least that was what it felt like to Sirius. Sooner than he would have liked, he found himself sitting in one of two seats placed at a corner, far enough so that no one would listen to their conversation. He took a list from Minerva and took a quick look at all the thirty five names.
‘I am never gonna remember all of them,’ was everything he could think of. Well, almost everything. Sirius was still kind of outraged, although not really surprised, that despite Illéa having 8 castes, there wasn’t one single woman bellow caste Four. There were a lot from Two and Three and a couple from Four. All wishing to become One.
Finally, he called the first name on the list. Marlene McKinnon, a Two.
A beautiful blond woman made her way towards him. She was tall, her skin was shining beneath the light, and she wore a long purple dress that accentuated her curves. She walked with so much confidence and elegance that Sirius found it likely that a bunch of those girls were already intimidated by her.
Sirius learned that Marlene was the daughter of an extremely rich, noble widowed, so she was the heir to a big fortune and lots of properties. He listened to her with a smile and made sure he looked like he was enjoying the conversation, although he absolutely was not. Actually, we was getting quite bored.
The time passed as Sirius talked to the girls. Mary McDonald, Dorcas Meadowes, Alice Fortescue, and the list went on. They each stayed for about five to ten minutes, and then he would end the interaction politely and call the next one. By the time he was done, Sirius was exausted.
He quickly made his way to his chambers, longing for some rest after that tiring night. However, as he reached the room and opened the door, he found someone was already there.
“Hey, big brother!”
Regulus was comfortably spread out in Sirius’ bed, looking completely relaxed and flipping through some politics books that Sirius kept on his night stand.
“Jesus, Regulus!” Sirius huffed, annoyed, “How long have you been here?”
“Oooh, someone’s in a mood?” Regulus smirked jokingly, “I was waiting for you to finish your interviews.”
“They weren’t interviews,” Sirius answered his brother with an eye roll. “We were getting to know each other.”
“Yeah yeah, whatever,” Regulus dismissed his explanation with a wave of his hand, and put the books aside, turning to take a proper look at his brother. “So...did you like any of them?”
Sirius snorted knowingly. His brother was quite predictable sometimes.
“I’m sure you did, huh, Reg?”
“Oh yeah. There are some fine women here.” A dreamy look crossed Regulus’ face as he probably pictured the girls in his head. “Who knows, when the Selection is over, maybe I can have a shot with one of them.”
“Sod off! You’ve only just turned sixteen!”
“Oh yeah, ‘cause eighteen is much older, right?” Regulus retorted, a playful glint in his eyes.
Sirius had to smile at that, and moved to sit next to his brother.
A few moments passed in a peaceful silence, when both of them just stared at the ceiling in deep thought. Finally, Regulus broke the silence.
“You know,” he started, “you really should try to take is seriously, no pun intended,” and added a small grin to the end of his advice.
Sirius let out a small laugh, though it was soon followed by a sigh. “I know...”
“It will be alright,” Regulus patted him on the shoulder in an attempt to comfort him. It didn’t work, but Sirius appreciated the gesture anyway. “You’ll see.”
And with that, Sirius finally found himself alone, like he had been wanting to be all night. However, the minutes passed and he realized that, despite being tired, he was just too agitated to sleep. The minutes turned into an hour, and he finally gave up. Not even bothering to look more presentable, he left the room and decided to take a little walk around the palace.
Just as he was turning into another corridor, though, with his thoughts making a mess of his head, he felt himself slam into something with enough force to send him backwards, and he almost stumbled to the ground.
Only that something was actually a someone.
“Oh my God! I am so sorry!” A slightly panicked voice brought him back to reality, and he looked up to find a pair of amber eyes staring back at him.