Black Memories

The four boys were sitting in the dining hall when Dumbledore stood up.

“My dear students. Many of you have been waiting for this day for some time now. So let’s not wait any longer, right?”

He clapped his hands and the big doors opened. A few happy shouts were heard when a steady stream of parents came into the room. James flew up from his seat and started to look around to see where his parent’s were. Then he suddenly screamed happily and took off towards a tall black haired woman. Sirius snorted.

“There goes all his tough guy mask.”

Peter smiled and nodded, only to squeak when he noticed his own parents. He left quickly and Remus glanced over to Sirius.

“You alright?”

He nodded.

“Yeah. There is no way they are here. So there is nothing I have to worry about.”

Then he noticed how Remus was looking towards the parents and smiled.

“Go.”

Remus smiled back at him and rushed off to look for his parents. Sirius sighed and looked down at his food. Suddenly, he wasn’t hungry anymore. He put his fork away and glanced behind him, to the slytherin table. He met Bellatrix’s eyes and she smiled softly. He quickly looked back. He wasn’t going to show them that this affected him. He was a Black. He didn’t need any of these stupid sentimental moments. His eyes closed and he took a deep breath. Then, he felt a tap on his shoulder. He waved his hand in a dismissing gesture. He didn’t want to talk to anyone. Then someone behind him huffed and he felt a hit on his shoulder followed by a woman’s startled:

“James!”

He quickly turned around. James was standing in front of him with a smirk on his face. Behind him, stood the tall woman. She had a Black’s long black locks, pale skin and grey eyes. But, unlike a Black, her features were soft and she looked calm and friendly. Her husband was a bit taller than her. He had dark brown hair, sticking out into all directions like James always did, and warm brown eyes. James smiled widely.

“Come on, mate. Say hallo.”

Sirius slowly stood up and then hesitated. For a moment he and Mrs Potter were just looking at each other. Then, the woman smiled softly.

“You don’t have to bow.”

James wrinkled his nose.

“No, seriously don’t.”

Mr Potter stuck his hand out towards Sirius. The boy hesitated but then grabbed it.

“Sirius Black.”

“Henry Potter.”

James rolled his eyes.

“Alright. Alright. No more formalities, alright? Mom, dad, this is Sirius. Sirius, this is mom and dad. Can we eat now?”

Sirius smirked.

“Is food really all you think about?”

James opened his mouth but a voice behind them cut him off.

“And Lily.”

They turned around to see Remus standing with a short woman with sandy hair and brown eyes. The young werewolf smiled.

“He thinks about Lily too. Don’t forget it.”

Sirius snorted.

“He doesn’t think about her, he’s obsessed with her.”

James swung his hand but Sirius managed to duck under it. He smiled towards Mrs Lupin.

“Hello, Mrs Lupin. I’m Sirius Black.”

Remus’ mother smiled.

“I’m Hope Lupin. I’m glad to meet you. Remus has told me about you.”

There was something in her tone that made Sirius glance over to Remus. The boy nodded slightly and Sirius quickly turned back to Mrs Lupin.

“It’s nice to meet you too.”

The next few minutes were spent on the parents talking with each other and Mrs Potter keeping a close eye on Sirius. Then, Peter finally came back with his parents. His mother was a short woman with short, blonde hair and blue eyes. The man that came with her, who Sirius knew wasn’t Peter’s biological father, was short too. He had brown hair and brown eyes and was looking anxiously around him. Remus smiled to him.

“Hello, Mr Pettigrew.”

The man smiled back.

“Hello. I’ve heard about all of you from Peter. He can’t stop talking about you.”

He shook hands with all of them and then put an arm around Peter’s shoulders.

“This is so fascinating.”

Mr Potter smiled to him.

“Excuse me for asking, but are you a muggle?”

The man nodded.

“Yes. Me and my wife are muggles.”

Mrs Potter quickly looked over to Sirius but the boy was doing his best to not get hit by James again. She sighed.

“James!”

The boy stopped and Sirius smirked. But before he could say anything, a voice was heard from behind Mrs Potter.

“Sirius.”

Sirius froze. His smile fell and he straightened his back. The parents all turned to where Orion Black was standing. Next to him stood Walburga Black. She was a tall, thin woman with long black hair and grey eyes. Her nose was wrinkled as if she was smelling something bad and her eyes were cold. Sirius slowly walked over to his parents.

“Mother. Father.”

Orion raised his eyebrows.

“You seem surprised. Didn’t Bellatrix tell you that we were coming?”

Sirius looked over to the slytherin table and frowned towards the smiling Bellatrix. He should have known that something was going on. Bella didn’t simply smile at someone without a real reason. He turned back towards his father when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Orion was watching him.

“We are going to have a long talk about this later.”

He pointedly looked at the gryffindor tie before he turned his gaze towards the other parents. His eyes stopped at Mrs Potter.

“Ah. Dorea.”

The woman nodded.

“Orion. Walburga.”

Sirius glanced over to his mother. The woman looked at Mrs Potter with disgust and turned then to Orion.

“I will go to the Slytherin table and talk to Bellatrix, Narcissa and Andromeda.”

And she walked away, not saying a word to her son. Orion turned his eyes towards the other parents.

“Oh. So those have to be the mudbloods.”

“Don’t call them that.”

James and Sirius spoke at the same time. And everyone got different directions. Remus and Peter looked horrified. Mrs Lupin, Mr and Mrs Pettigrew seemed to not really understand what was being said. Mr Potter looked proudly at James who was smiling towards Sirius. Mrs Potter looked positively shocked. Her eyes widened and her mouth opened a bit as she was staring at Sirius. Sirius got completely white on his face. His eyes widened and he looked a bit scared before he quickly collected himself and took a deep breath. Meanwhile Orion was looking between the two boys. After a long moment of silence, he slowly said:

“I think that you and me need to have a talk right now.”

Dorea stepped forward, making a quick decision.

“Orion. Leave the boy alone.”

Sirius head snapped toward her. He had shock written all over his face. Orion raised his eyebrows.

“He is my son, Dorea. I have the right to do whatever I want with him.”

Somethin hardened on the woman’s face.

“He is a child!”

And, suddenly, Walburga appeared.

“A child?! He is a filthy blood traitor!”

Orion quickly let go of Sirius and grabbed Walburga’s arm.

“Not here, Walburga. Outside. Sirius, follow us.”

And he steered the woman towards the door. Sirius glanced over to James.

“I’ll see you later.”

And he quickly followed his parents. After slight hesitation, Dorea turned to her husband.

“I’m going after them. I need to make sure that nothing happens. You stay here.”

Henry nodded.

“Just be careful, Dora.”

She smiled and left.

The video ended and Sirius turned to Remus.

“You have to admit that Sarah was holding it together very well. Especially around so many purebloods. Peter must’ve told her about me and James. I mean, we were as pureblood as pureblood goes.”

Remus smiled.

“Yeah. She was really good.”

“Your mom too. I mean, meeting someone who knew that her son was a werewolf must’ve been pretty stressful for her.”

Remus nodded and turned to the others. Sirius, seeing it, turned around too. Harry was staring at the wall and Sirius understood.

“Yeah. Those were your grandparents. Henry and Dorea. The nicest humans in the world.”

Hermione tilted her head slightly.

“Did Dorea help you?”

Sirius winced.

“Not really. She tried. I’m not taking that away from her. But as I said, no one went against my father. Not even another Black.”

“I’m actually a bit moved that you think so highly of me.”

Everyone turned to Orion’s portrait. Sirius snorted.

“Well, don’t think too highly of yourself now. I still hate you. But the fact is, no one went against you.”

Orion smirked.

“Although I have to say that Dorea was being very forceful with trying to talk me out of beating you up.”

Remus eyebrows shot up.

“What?”

Sirius looked confused for a moment. Then sudden understanding appeared in his eyes.

“Oh. Right. I never told you the details of that. Well, she tried to talk my father out of beating me up. He didn’t want to listen to her so she tried to curse him. But, as always, he was quicker.”

Snape slowly looked over to Sirius.

“But why did he hate you so much back then? That was before you became a… what was it they called you?”

Sirius snorted.

“Filthy blood traitor. Freak. Disgrace. Choose one.”

“As I said, that was before you got disowned. Why so much hate?”

The Black rolled his eyes.

“We are Black’s. Most of us have to hate to feel alright. My parents were one of the worst ones.”

Snape nodded and they all turned towards Remus. He waved his hand towards the wall and another video appeared.