Wonderful Friendship
It was yet another Order meeting. It was boring. As always. Voldemort had been quiet for quite some time and Dumbledore didn’t really have anything to say. After only 20 minutes, they were all dismissed. Everyone left the kitchen where the meeting had been held. Everyone but Sirius, Remus, Snape, Molly, Arthur, Minerva and Dumbledore. Seeing that, Harry, Ron and Hermione turned around and slunk back inside. They joined the small group that was standing and looking at Sirius and Severus.
“And just what do you mean by that Snivellus?”
Snape snorted.
“What I mean? You are a lazy, spoiled, rich kid. You don’t know what it’s really like outside your perfect home life. You aren’t useful for anything.”
Suddenly Sirius looked as if he had been struck in the face. He paled and there was something scary that appeared in his steely eyes. He took a step towards Snape and said slowly:
“Get out of my house Snape. Before I show you how much of a Black I am. Mother dearest put wardings on this place. I could use an unforgivable on you and no one would know.”
Before anyone reacted, Remus stepped in between Snape and Sirius. He looked really angry and for the first time, Harry saw the wolf in him.
“Stand down Sirius.”
To everyone’s surprise, Sirius took a step back. Then the werewolf turned to Snape and said with anger.
“Don’t you ever dare to say something like that again. I’ll show you a few things. A few memories that I’ve collected from all of the Marauders when we were younger. We’ll see what you think then.”
Sirius eyes widened.
“Remus. You can’t just…”
“Shut up, Black.”
The animagi quickly lifted his hands into the air.
“Alright. As you wish.”
Remy waved his hand towards the wall and everyone sat down on the chairs when a screen appeared on the wall. Sirius and Remy sat down next to each other. The Weasleys, Minerva and Dumbledore sat down between them and Snape. Harry, Ron and Hermione slowly went further into the kitchen and took seats in one corner. Sirius glanced back to them and nodded slowly. The steely glint had disappeared from his eyes and he looked tired. Remus, satisfied with the fact that everyone was sitting down, waved his wand again and an image appeared on the screen.
An eleven year old Sirius was walking quietly next to his father. Orion Black, a tall man, was holding his head up high and it seemed that he wasn’t really paying attention to the boy. When they came to one of the doors in the train, they stopped and Orion crouched down to the boy.
“Listen now Sirius. When you get to school, I want you to remember a few things. Get into Slytherin. Don’t talk with anyone but Slytherins. Stay away from Gryffindors. And above all, don’t talk with mudbloods and blood traitors. Behave yourself. I also want you to be on top of your class. If I find out that you aren’t the best in some subject, I’ll beat you up so that you forget your own name. Understood?”
Sirius nodded stiffly.
“Yes sir.”
Orion smirked and stood up.
“Good. Now go.”
Sirius quickly ran into the train. He walked around in the halls until he crashed into a young boy whose hair was literally sticking in all directions. The boy’s glasses fell off.
“OW!”
Sirius looked over to the boy and seemed to hesitate. Then he moved down and picked the glasses up.
“Here. I’m sorry.”
The boy put his glasses on and smiled widely.
“It’s fine. You’re a first year too?”
Sirius nodded and the boy stretched his hand out to him.
“I’m James. James Potter.”
Once again Sirius seemed to hesitate. But then he grabbed the boy’s hand and shook it.
“I’m Sirius Black.”
James eyes widened.
“Black? As in THAT Black?”
The other boy winced.
“You’ve heard about me?”
James slowly shook his head.
“Nah. Not you. But my dad doesn’t speak kindly about the other Blacks. But you are normal right? I mean, you aren’t like them?”
Sirius shook his head.
“I’m trying to not be like those crazy people.”
James smirked.
“Alright. Come on Sirius. Let’s find us a compartment.”
They started to walk through the train until James pulled Sirius arm and pointed to a compartment that was almost empty. Inside was only a boy their age. He was reading a book and seemed to be lost to the world. His arms had a few scratches and he had a scratch across his face. The boys went inside and closed the door after them.
“Are those places empty?”
The boy looked up and focused his eyes on the two newcomers.
“Well, unless someone invisible is sitting here, yes, it’s empty.”
James smiled widely.
“I like him.”
Sirius nodded and they sat down.
“I’m Sirius Black.”
“James Potter.”
The boy looked at them with raised eyebrows. James put his feet up into Sirius lap and tilted his head.
“Come on. This could be a wonderful friendship.”
The boy snorted but there was a small smile on his face.
“I’m Remus Lupin.”
Just then the door opened and a short boy rushed inside.
“Help! Please help!”
He crashed into James outstretched legs and crashed onto the floor. Just then a tall boy, who seemed to be older than them, appeared. Next to him were two big boys. Sirius and James stood up and put themselves between the boys and Remus, who was helping the short boy up. The blonde, who seemed to be the leader of the trio, smirked.
“Well, well, well. What do we have here. The young Black, hanging out with mudbloods and blood traitors. What would your father say about it?”
Sirius held his head up high when he answered:
“As if I care. Get out of here Malfoy or I’ll hex you.”
The older boy tilted his head.
“Oh, will you? I’m so scared.”
He said that with a mocking high pitched voice. Sirius raised one of his hands and made a slashing motion. Malfoy was thrown out of the compartment and crashed into the wall. The two other boys looked at Sirius with fear.
“Get out of here. And remember for the future: don’t mess with a Black.”
He then slammed the door shut and turned to the others inside. Remus and the new boy seemed to be shocked but James just smirked and held his hand up. Sirius grinned back and high-fived him. They flopped down onto their seats and James turned to the new boy.
“What’s your name?”
“I...I...I’m Pe...Pet...Peter Petti...Grew.”
Sirius raised his eyebrows.
“Hey, take it easy. We won’t hurt you. We’re not them. Now try again.”
The boy took a deep breath and tried again.
“I’m Peter Pettigrew. Thank you by the way.”
Sirius nodded.
“Sirius Black. The messy haired over there is James Potter. And the book lover is Remus Lupin.”
James threw his feet up into Sirius lap again. Peter took the seat next to James and relaxed. The rest of the ride was spent on small talk and James trying to steal Remus book. Just before they got off the train James looked around and said with a smile:
“See you in Gryffindor.”
The memory ended and Molly looked over to Sirius.
“You could do wandless magic when you were just eleven?”
Sirius nodded slowly.
“My father taught me how to do it when I was ten. He said that if I didn’t learn, he wouldn’t let me go to Hogwarts since I would be a disgrace to the family if I couldn’t do magic and cast spells properly.”
Arthur’s eyebrows shot up.
“But he wouldn’t do that right? I mean, he would let you go to Hogwarts even if you couldn’t do magic right?”
Sirius snorted.
“Let me? No. He wouldn’t let me. He would declare me a squib and blast me off the family tree. I would then be locked in the house so that no one ever found out or killed and it would be made to look like an accident. That’s the way things worked in this house.”
Molly turned to Dumbledore.
“Couldn’t you do anything to stop that kind of treatment Albus?”
Before the headmaster managed to answer, Sirius spoke up again.
“With all due respect, Albus wouldn’t be able to do anything. If he as much as said a word against my father, he would lose his position, contacts in the Ministry, the respect that people had for him and maybe even his life. Trust me Molly when I say that people knew. But there wasn’t anything they could do. You didn’t just go against Orion Black and come out on top. He almost murdered uncle Alphard when he figured out that he was supportive of Andy’s marriage with a muggleborn. Andy came by one time when she was pregnant to tell us the news and my mother pushed her down the stairs to, as she said it, ‘Destroy the filth in the blood traitor.”
Molly put a hand over her mouth while the three teens looked at each other with horror. None of them had known about what Sirius had gone through. This was not starting good.