Months passed by, and the four boys became closer. As they began to form new pranks and plots, unspoken roles were assigned to each boy. James was the idea creator and Sirius made himself in charge of creating distractions, alibis, and various other types of manipulation and lying. Remus handled all the finer points of plans, such as what spells were required, where it should take place, and what route of escape they were going to use. With only Peter left, his jobs fell into the miscellaneous category, though they often were similar in theme. He put things in place, he was the bait, and he checked to see if everything was running smoothly. In short, he did all the things the others had no desire to do. In spite of this, he enjoyed it, as did all the others. Very rarely did they clash with each other, and when they did, one of them always reminded the others to get on task. This was often James, the unofficial leader of the group. He liked it this way, and none of the others challenged his authority. In this way, the four individuals became a group.
They had to part, however. The winter holidays were upon them, and all of them were going home to their families. James had proposed that they all come to his house, and they all said they would ask, but that would have to wait until after Christmas.
“My cousins will be there during Christmas, so maybe you can come at New Year’s,” James suggested. “I’ll ask my parents, owl you, and then you can ask yours if they say yes.”
“I’ll try, but I don’t know if mine will let me,” Sirius said glumly. “You know how they are. Then again, they hate me, so maybe they won’t want me around.”
James frowned. He had never been comfortable hearing Sirius complain about his family, but he supposed that not everyone had to love their parents. He turned to the others.
“Well, just ask, alright?”
They agreed that they would, and when they all departed to their respective families, they each hoped that they would be able to see each other before school started again.
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Peter’s mother was waiting for him, and, as she always did, she fussed over him the whole way home, asking him so many questions that Peter’s head began to spin. She was delighted to hear that he had made friends, and, walking into the house, she suggested he invite them over.
“Actually, James was going to ask his parents if we could all come over to his house around New Year’s.”
Mrs. Pettigrew looked wary. “I don’t know…I’ve never met him or his parents before.”
“Mum, it’ll be fine. It will just be me and two other boys with them. His dad used to work for the Ministry.”
“Used to?”
“He’s getting old, James says. But he was high up…I can’t remember where exactly he worked, but James told me he was real important.”
His mother sighed. “What was his last name?”
“Potter. Mum, please let me go, I promise nothing will happen. I’ve never gotten to go anywhere before. Please?”
“Alright, if his parents say you can come, you may go.”
“Thanks Mum!” Peter ran up the stairs, not hearing his mother call after him:
“But when I drop you off there, I’m going to talk to his parents, okay, sweetie?”
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Sirius had been picked up by his father, who didn’t say so much as a hello to him. They didn’t speak at all on the way home, but when they entered the house, Sirius dragging his trunk behind him, his father turned around abruptly.
“Your mother has a headache. Be quiet.”
“I didn’t make any noise.”
“Keep it that way. This house has been chaos-free for the last few months, and I will not have you disrupting it.” His father turned back around and walked away.
Sirius had the urge to stick his tongue out at his father’s back, but decided not too. Lugging his trunk up the stairs, he tried not to make a sound, not for his mother’s sake, but for his own. He knew she would throw a fit if he woke her, and he had no desire for a fight at the moment. He got up to his room easily enough, and distributed his belongings with no trouble. On the way down, however, he was stopped by his brother, Regulus, who was, in Sirius’ opinion, the most annoying nine year-old that had ever existed.
“Hi,” Regulus said rather loudly.
“Hello,” Sirius said. “Could you shut up? She’s sleeping.”
Sirius jerked his head in the direction of Mrs. Black’s bedroom.
“So?”
“So, if you don’t shut your fat mouth, she’ll wake up, and guess who will be in trouble? Me. So shut it.”
He pushed past his brother to get back down the stairs. He should have known better. Regulus let out a wail that far exceeded anything one would expect from such a small boy. Sirius contemplated running, and, hearing footsteps from both ends of the stairs, decided it was futile. His father beat his mother there, but only barely. He grabbed Sirius by the arm and shook him.
“What the hell is going on here?”
“I didn’t do it! He’s the one that screamed!”
Regulus, who had run to his mother’s side, whimpered. “He pushed me, Mama!”
“Did not!”
“You did too!” Regulus looked up at his mother pleadingly. “He did, Mama.”
His parents were both livid; Sirius couldn’t tell which one he should start trying to placate. His mother had just woken, and doted on Regulus. His father was largely disinterested. Sirius, already knowing he had lost, fought anyways.
“Father,” the word slipped awkwardly off of his tongue. “I didn’t hurt him. I just sort of…nudged him. He isn’t hurt at all; he just wants to get me into trouble.”
“You get into enough of that on your own,” Mrs. Black spoke, her voice as cold as Sirius remembered it. “Your brother has caused little to no trouble while you were away. You, on the other hand, are deceitful, selfish, and a bully. I was hoping some schooling would straighten you out, but not five minutes after entering this house, you have to cause another problem. I won’t have it, and neither will your father. Your cousins will be here tomorrow, and if you cannot behave appropriately, you will sit in your room.”
“So, if I get into trouble, I can’t see the rest of the family? Come here, Regulus, I want to punch you in the face.” This was the wrong thing to say. Mrs. Black stiffened.
“Go to your room now. You’ll be there all night. I don’t want to hear a sound. Do you hear me? Not. A. Sound.”
“What about dinner? You can’t starve me, you know.”
“We’ll have something brought up. Now go.”
Sirius didn’t argue any longer. For the rest of the year, he was resolved to behave himself. He couldn’t miss going to James’ house. His chances were already slim, and he couldn’t afford to make them any worse.
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Perhaps out of all of the boys, Remus had missed his parents the most. When he got off the train, he searched eagerly for the faces of his parents. To his disappointment, he saw only his mother there. She was beaming, however, and they embraced warmly.
“I’ve missed you so much.” His mother kissed his head.
“I missed you too, Mum.”
He waited to ask where his father was until they got into the car. Having one set of Muggle grandparents on his mother’s side, Remus had grown up with at least a basic knowledge of Muggle appliances. His mother, though she had magic, had never been comfortable with wizarding transportation, and she drove a car whenever she had the excuse to.
“Where’s Dad?”
Mrs. Lupin took her time answering. When she finally spoke, her voice was tense.
“He found himself incapable of going anywhere today.”
Remus didn’t say anything after that. He knew what she meant. His father had been drinking for as long as Remus could remember. He was depressed, and although neither of his parents would ever dare to say it, Remus knew he had done it to his father. Ever since he contracted lycanthropy, Mr. Lupin had sunk into a deep state of depression, and though he had rallied several times, he failed to drag himself out of the pit each time.
When they reached the house, Remus entered quietly. His father was by no means a violent drunk, but what he did become was often times even worse. His mother followed behind him, her hand on his shoulder.
“He’s sleeping upstairs,” she explained. “Come into the kitchen, and we’ll talk.”
Remus nodded. He’d put his things away later. When he stepped into the kitchen, he stopped and smelled the air. Mrs. Lupin had just pulled out a pan of brownies, and was searching the cluttered drawers for a knife. She looked up.
“I made them for you. I know they’re your favorite.”
“Thanks, Mum.”
“So,” his mother said, cutting the brownies. “I haven’t even asked you about school yet. How is it going?”
“Great. I made friends.”
The knife halted in the middle of slicing. His mother turned around.
“You did? But you never said anything in your letters…Oh, Remus, sweetheart, I knew you would. I told you that you would, didn’t I? Oh, that’s wonderful. You’ll have to invite them over, I want to meet them. What are their names?”
Before Remus could answer, he heard footsteps. His father was standing in the doorway. Remus could tell he wasn’t drunk. He looked like he was just recovering from a hangover. He was tall man, with soft brown eyes and kind features. He smiled at Remus before looking accusingly at his wife.
“You didn’t tell me he was coming home today.”
Mrs. Lupin had turned back to her brownies. “I don’t think it is my responsibility to tell you when your own son is coming home.”
“You could have at least told me you got him. I haven’t seen him in months; you weren’t going to tell me he was home?”
His mother bit her lip. “You were asleep.”
Mr. Lupin opened his mouth to say something, but, catching Remus’ eye, his gaze softened. He sat down next to him.
“How are you, son?”
Remus tried to smile. He loved his father, but he couldn’t help but be angry with him. Before he could answer, his father embraced him. After a few seconds, he released him, searching him over.
“You’ve grown.”
“Have I?”
Mr. Lupin nodded. He tugged at his collar awkwardly before speaking.
“Remus, I’m sorry. I should have been there today.”
“It’s okay.” Remus looked down, uncomfortable.
“No, it isn’t. But you’re home now, and I’m glad. I’ve missed you so much, son, you know that?”
Remus nodded. His mother interrupted them with a plate full with brownies. She sat down, and, looking at her husband with a forced smile, said:
“Remus was just telling me about the friends he made, John.”
“Friends? Did he say anything about friends in his letters?”
“No, he didn’t.”
Remus began to wring his hands in his lap. “I didn’t want to get your hopes up. I mean, sometimes you can be friends with someone for a little bit, but they aren’t really your friends, they are more like…people you get on with. You know?”
It wasn’t a convincing excuse, and Remus knew it, but he couldn’t tell them the truth. He didn’t say it was really because he wanted his parents to be happy, to be united in their joy for his success. He wanted them to not argue for once. Then he could pretend he was normal, that he didn’t live in a family where the child was sickly, the father a drunk, and the parents eternally arguing. Right now, the Lupin family was more content then they had been in a long while, and Remus wanted that feeling to stay always.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
James wasted no time in asking his parents to let him invite his friends over. As soon as he had released himself from his mother’s grasp, he began speaking very rapidly.
“Mum, you know the friends I made at school? Well, I told them I’d ask you and Dad if they could come over after Christmas, maybe at New Year’s, after everyone leaves. Can they come? Please?”
Mr. Potter, a tall man with graying hair, laughed. “You’ve hardly gotten home, son. Just settle down, I’m sure we can arrange something, but we’ll talk about it later.”
“Alright,” James said reluctantly. He let the subject drop, knowing his parents would let them come. They had given him virtually everything he wanted, and he didn’t expect this to be any different.
Mrs. Potter led him into the kitchen. “I’m making treacle tart, your favorite.”
“Awesome!” He sat down at the table, anxious to tell his parents all about his Hogwarts experience. He hadn’t realized how much he had missed his parents until that very moment.
“So,” his father said, sitting himself next to him. “How’s school?”
“It’s great.”
“Classes okay?”
“Yeah, I guess. I like Transfiguration a lot. And Charms.”
“Your father was a Charms genius,” Mrs. Potter turned briefly from the stove.
James rolled his eyes. He had spent hours listening to his parents talk about their own adventures at Hogwarts, and he was sick of it. His father, seeing his expression, shook his head.
“All right, James, I get it. It’s your turn to finally talk about your time at school. Go on. Tell us about these friends of yours you are so anxious to bring over here.”
“Well, there’s Sirius Black, and-“
“Black? Is his father Orion Black?”
James shrugged. “How should I know? What does it matter?”
“He’s a Gryffindor, though?”
“Yeah.”
“Odd. Anyways, go on. How is he?”
“He’s really funny, and we get on great. Then there’s Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew.”
“Lupin…never heard the name before. Where does his father work?”
“I don’t ask my friends these questions, Dad.”
“Well, I’m sure they are very nice boys,” Mrs. Potter sat down with her husband and son. “And I hope we will be able to meet them soon.”
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
“If I have to go down and talk to them, I will kill myself.” Sirius was sitting stubbornly on his bed, looking at the ceiling.
Regulus smiled. “But they all are asking for you. And Mummy will be mad at you if you don’t.”
“You know why they want to see me? They want to yell at me again because I wasn’t in Slytherin. Just go down there and look cute and they’ll forget about me. Go on.”
Regulus practically pranced out of the room, eager to deliver the news of his brother’s disobedience to the family. It was the Black’s annual Christmas Eve dinner for the family, and while his cousins had been there for several days, most of the relatives were only just showing up now. Sirius had not desire to see any of them. A few minutes later, a young woman’s head peeked around the door.
“So, I heard you’d rather die than come talk to me. And I thought we were friends.”
The girl was only about seventeen. She had brown hair, and large, shining eyes. She sat down at the edge of the bed with her cousin.
“Hi, Andromeda. I didn’t mean you. You’re all right.”
“Well, thanks. You, know, you really should come down. It will be so dull if you aren’t down there. Besides, Uncle Alphard will be here soon. You like him, don’t you?”
Sirius sighed and stood up. “You had better stay with me.”
The rooms were filled with people, most of whom Sirius knew at least by sight. There was his Great-Aunt Cassiopeia, a woman who had always hated Sirius, his Grandfather Arcturus, who doted on Regulus and ignored Sirius’ very existence, and his Grandmother Irma, a fat and daft old woman who also despised her eldest grandson. By far the worst were his cousins and their parents, excepting Andromeda. The other two girls, sixteen year old Narcissa and nineteen year old Bellatrix, were the bane of Sirius’ existence. He got away with only seeing them a few times a year, but he could hardly stomach them then. At least Bellatrix avoided him, but Narcissa took pleasure in pestering him.
“Come on,” Andromeda led Sirius through the maze of people. “We can go into the yard; it isn’t so bad out there.”
They were stopped, however, by Narcissa, a thin, pale girl with long blonde hair. Behind her was Regulus, who was particularly fond of his cousin.
“Where are you going? Mummy said she wanted to see Sirius. Grandmama said so too.”
“I’ll see them at dinner.” Sirius tried to push her aside, but she shoved him back. They had long ago abandoned any pretense of being civil towards each other unless, of course, they were under the watchful eyes of their parents, who expected them all to get along splendidly.
“Stop it, Cissy. Just let us alone, alright? We’ll talk to them later; they’ll be here long enough.” Andromeda took Sirius’ arm and began to walk away.
Narcissa scowled. “Fine. Go off and be silly. See if I care.”
“I hate her, no offense,” Sirius said when they were safely away.
“None taken. If I were you, I’d hate her too. I already do some of the time.”
They sat outside. It was cold, but the air was clear and still, so they were fairly comfortable. A few people came and went, but they were alone most of the time. They talked about many things: school, friends, how miserable they both were, until Andromeda stopped talking for a moment, and stared into space.
“What’s the matter?”
“I’m trying to think if I should tell you something. It is really important, see, that nobody else finds out, but I have to tell someone. Might as well be you.”
“What is it?”
She sighed. “I’m in love.”
“That’s it?”
“No, you prat, just listen. His name is Ted Tonks. His parents are Muggles.”
“Oh.” Sirius knew now what the problem was. Her parents would never allow her to be with a Muggleborn. It wasn’t done in the Black family.
“We are planning on getting married after graduation. But you can’t tell anyone, understand? Nobody.”
Sirius nodded. “I get it. I won’t tell anybody, Andromeda, I promise.”
She grinned. “Well, we should see if Uncle Alphard’s here.”
They sprang up. Sirius was anxious to see his uncle. Although he was his mother’s brother, he was as unlike her as he could be. He, for one, liked Sirius. This was probably because he had a sense of humor, something much of the family lacked. While he still held many of the pureblood sentiments that the Black family was known for, he was much less concerned about the legal side of things, claiming that “people had the right to whatever they damn well pleased”. While others fought to ban marriages between Muggles and wizards, Uncle Alphard would simply shrug his shoulders.
“If they want to waste their magical blood, then I suppose we can’t do anything about it. I’ve got better things to do then worry about who’s getting married to who. Doesn’t matter to me any, and I don’t see what the fuss is.”
This didn’t make him the most popular in the family, but he had yet to do anything foolish enough to get him officially disowned, though Sirius knew his father in particular was waiting for the chance to blast him off their legendary family tapestry. He turned out to be in the dining room, where dinner was just beginning to be served. Seeing Sirius and Andromeda enter, Uncle Alphard motioned to two empty seats beside him.
“How are you?” He said as they sat down. “I haven’t seen you since last Christmas, Andromeda. My, but you’ve turned into a pretty young woman. And Sirius, I heard you’ve insulted the family. A Gryffindor! I’ll bet that’s got your mother’s blood boiling, eh?”
“Yeah, she’s upset.”
Alphard shrugged. “Ah, well. You got Gryffindor, that’s nothing to be ashamed of. There have been plenty of decent Gryffindors. Just because they don’t come from this family doesn’t mean anything. Dumbledore, for one. Now, I don’t pretend to agree with him on most things, but he is undeniably a great wizard. An occasional fool, perhaps, but a phenomenal wizard. Of course, nobody else here will admit to that, though they all know it’s true.”
Sirius knew his uncle was right, and he wished everyone else would see it that way. He had wanted to upset things by getting Gryffindor, but that didn’t mean he wanted everyone harassing him about it. He was glad when the evening was finally over, and he was permitted to go to bed. He had gone the entire day without any mishaps, and he was finally ready to tell his parents about the letter he had received from James the day before telling him that he was invited to spend New Year’s Eve at his house. He could only pray that they would say yes.
Hearts of Red and Gold by moonyschick
Chapter Endnotes: Hope you enjoyed! If you could review, I would really appreciate it. I see that I have over 600 reads, and that's awesome, but I'd really love that many reviews (or even a sixth that many), be they good, bad, whatever. It tells me what's good and what needs to be improved upon.