The Dark Lord's Pet Princess

6. Black Sheep

Over the next couple of years, Larissa thrived at Hogwarts, and always dreaded coming home during the holidays.
But when she returned for her 4th year, she was not coming back alone, as Sirius was starting Hogwarts that year.
Since Bellatrix had finished school, Larissa's cousins decided to sit with their friends instead of each other, and the girls had slowly begun to drift apart, as they developed different personalities. Larissa had to sit with her roommates during train journeys, so that she wasn't alone. But she still preferred hanging out with her cousins than her friends.
She had offered to sit with Sirius, but he had insisted on riding the train by himself as he didn't want other people to see his big sister holding his hand.

The journey to Hogwarts was not quite as enjoyable without her cousins at her side. But Larissa negative feelings vanished the minute they arrived at school, as they always did.
Hogwarts was the one place where Larissa got to be herself, and she viewed it as more of a home than Grimmauld Place.
As she took her seat in the Great Hall, with the rest of her house, she looked eagerly at the nervous looking first years. She was excited  for Sirius to join her house and start learning magic alongside her.

Larissa saw that Sirius was whispering to one of the boys in his year, and both of them looked excited to be sorted. So she was glad that he didn't appear scared.
Like Larissa, Sirius was one of the first to be called as their surname was so high up on the register.
The Sorting Hat took a lot longer than normal on Sirius, as it was clearly struggling to place him.
After several long minutes, the hat made up its mind.
"Gryffindor!" Shouted the hat.

Larissa's jaw dropped as Sirius made his way over to the Gryffindor table.
She assumed that there had to have been a terrible mix up, because the Black's were always placed in Slytherin.
The rest of the sorting whizzed by for Larissa, who couldn't think about anything else but where Sirius had been placed.
"Well, that was a surprise" commented Narcissa.
Larissa looked up from the soup she had absentmindedly been stirring.
"The hat must have made a mistake" mumbled Larissa.

"The Sorting Hat doesn't make mistakes" said Andromeda gently.
"Well it must have. Sirius can't have been placed in Gryffindor, because he's my brother" replied Larissa.
"Siblings aren't always put in the same house" admitted Andromeda.
"I know that. But the Black's have been in Slytherin for generations. I mean, Grimmauld Place is covered in snakes afterall. And the colour green fills every inch of the building".

"Well, clearly the Sorting Hat doesn't think that Sirius is like the rest of us. He has always been a little different" admitted Andromeda.
"He's more out spoken and rebellious, sure. But he is still one of us" insisted Larissa.
"The Sorting Hat can read minds, so it must have realised that Sirius doesn't belong in Slytherin. Anyway, the hat's word is final, there is no way of swapping houses".

"I wonder what was so different about him" said Narcissa.
"It must have been something big for the hat to place him in Gryffindor" admitted Andromeda.
"Maybe the hat thinks Sirius is more foolish and stupid than the rest of us" suggested Narcissa.
"Cissy! He's my brother, don't talk about him like that" snapped Larissa.
"I know he's your brother. But Gryffindor house is where the foolish wizards go. The ones who sacrifice their lives for others, at the first chance they get" reminded Narcissa.
"I think other people would disagree with you. Gryffindors are the noble and courageous ones" replied Larissa.
"Maybe they think they are being brave and noble, but that's not how everyone else sees their actions".

"I wonder what your parents are going to say when the find out" Andromeda said quietly.
"They have seen Sirius as a lost cause for ages, but I don't think they ever expected him to get placed in a different house" admitted Larissa.
"They are not going to be very happy then" sighed Narcissa.
"No, I don't think they will be" agreed Larissa.
"At least they won't be able to be angry at you anymore, because all of their negative attention will go to him instead" informed Andromeda.
"Yeah, there's the silver lining I've been looking for" mumbled Larissa.

****
When the feast was over, Larissa managed to grab hold of Sirius before he left with the rest of the first years.
"Siri, are you O.K?" Asked Larissa.
"I'm fine" answered Sirius.
"Are you sure? You must have been shocked when the Sorting Hat said Gryffindor" replied Larissa.
"I was, but actually I'm really happy that it put me in Gryffindor"
"Please tell me you're joking"
"I'm not. Being placed in Gryffindor means that I will be able to distance myself from our parents even more".

"But Siri, the rest of our family has been in Slytherin for hundreds of years, so mother and father are going to be furious when they hear the news" admitted Larissa.
Sirius shrugged, "Who cares what they think? They have no influence over what happens here at Hogwarts, so they can't make me move into Slytherin".
"Don't you want to be in the same house as me?" Questioned Larissa.
"Not particularly. I'm looking forward to standing on my own two feet"
"But you are going to be all by yourself"
"No I'm not. Me and James are looking forward to hanging out together".

Larissa frowned, "James who?".
"James Potter. We sat together on the train ride here" revealed Sirius.
"Potter's are pure-bloods, which is good. But they are a bit too Muggle loving. So mother won't like that" sighed Larissa.
"I don't care what mother thinks. I'm not going to make friends with someone just because I know she would approve. I am going to make my own friends, regardless of what she thinks"
"Thinking like that is dangerous Siri. Sure, mother can't hurt us while we are Hogwarts, but we still have to go during the holidays. And once we are at home, we are completely at her mercy".

"I have my wand now, so I'm not afraid of mother any more" announced Sirius.
"You can't use magic outside of school until you turn 17" reminded Larissa.
"The trace can't actually detect who has performed the magic, just the location. So the Ministry won't know that I performed the magic. For all they know it could have been mother or father, or even Kreacher"
"But surely you don't want to take the risk"
"The Ministry won't expell me for using magic once. Everyone gets a warning".
Larissa frowned, "Maybe Cissy was right. Perhaps you are more reckless and foolish than I thought".