The Heart of Black - A Harry Potter Story

Chapter 1 - On the Hogwarts Express

Sirius continued to wander down the side of the train until he saw an empty seat through the window. He heaved his trunk into the train. Then he clambered in himself and put the trunk in the luggage rack. He took a seat and gazed out of the window at the platform. He couldn't wait to get to Hogwarts, he would finally be away from his parents and brother. Unfortunately Regulus was starting the next year, so Sirius would have to make the most of his first year.

There was a timid knock at the compartment window. Sirius snapped out of his daydream and turned to see who it was. Stood at the entrance was a skinny boy with jet black hair and round glasses.

"Can I sit down?" he said, his voice slightly gruffer than Sirius had expected.

"Of course." said Sirius, still eyeing the boy. He seemed to have a bad habit of observing people a bit too much when they first met him. It tended to scare them away.

"My name is James," said the boy, holding out his hand for Sirius to shake, "James Potter." Sirius took his hand, still surveying him. He wasn't sure what he thought of James yet.

"I'm Sirius Black." he said. He met James's eye and quickly looked down.

"I'm not what you expect to be on the Hogwarts Express, am I?" asked James, smiling. Sirius looked up hesitantly. "Don't worry, I get it all the time. I must admit I am a bit small for my age."

"What blood status are you?" said Sirius without really thinking. As the words left his mouth he realised that it must have sounded really rude. But, to his surprise, James was still smiling.

"Pure-blood. What about you?"

"I'm pure-blood too!" replied Sirius, glad that he hadn't insulted James. He thought that he was quite a nice guy and would be a great friend, he didn't want to ruin it this early on. "I'm glad you're a pure-blood." again he realised how rude this might sound "Not that I don't like half-bloods and Muggle-borns, it's just my family are obsessed with blood statuses, can't stand anything less than pure." he added quickly, taking a sharp breath at the end. James was still smiling.

"Your family sound dreadful." but suddenly James's smile vanished. Sirius had a feeling he knew why. James probably thought that he had offended Sirius. However, it was complete opposite. Sirius grinned.

"Yeah, they are!" he wasn't surprised to see the shocked look on James's face "You know what? I think us two are going to be great friends!" James's smile re-appeared at this. He opened his mouth to say something, but then there was another tap on the door. They both turned around to see another rather skinny boy, but he had light brown hair and tired looking eyes. There were numerous scars dotted around his kind face. He smiled weakly.

"Do you mind if I join you, everywhere else is full." Sirius beamed up at him, moved over next to the window and patted the seat next to him. The boy smiled back and sat down. There was an awkward silence.

"My name's Remus, it's nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too," said James, "I'm James and this is Sirius" he said gesturing towards Sirius, who gave a silly little wave.

"Are you OK? Those scars look really painful!" asked Sirius, who was genuinely concerned. Remus smiled at him.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I got these scars a while ago, I'm used to them now. Thanks for asking though.". There was another awkward silence, which James broke.

"Do you guys know what house you're going to be in? I hope I'm in Gryffindor, my whole family have been and it would be a bit embarassing if I ended up in Slytherin."

"I hope I'm in Gryffindor too," said Sirius cheerfully, but then a cold look crossed his handsome face, "My whole family have been in Slytherin, but I hate the lot of them, other than perhaps Andromeda, my cousin. She was in Slytherin too, but she's still way nicer than Bellatrix and Narcissa. If I get into Gryffindor it will really annoy my family!" he was grinning again, he loved to think of ways to annoy his family. "What about you Remus?".

"Anywhere but Slytherin! Simple as." he smiled around at them. There was silence again. Then Sirius began to snigger, which soon became a full blown laughing fit. The other two looked at him, wondering what had suddenly gotten into him. But his laugh was contageous and after five minutes they were all rolling on the floor laughing. They only stopped when the compartment door slid open. This time it was a girl. She had a long curtain of golden-brown hair that reached her waist. Her eyes where aqua blue and glistened as the low sunlight caught them. The three boys looked up and gazed at her.

"Has anyone seen a black cat. He's mine and he kind of ran off because he was scared." she said looking around at Sirius, James and Remus. It was then that they realised that their jaws were hanging and they quickly shut their mouths.

"No we haven't seen him, sorry." replied Sirius, then he had an idea, "I'll help you look for him if you want."

"Would you? Oh, that would be great, thanks!"

"No problem." he got to his feet and left the compartment. As he passed the window he gave the boys a little wink. When he was out of sight, James and Remus burst into fits of laughter again.

Further down the train Sirius and the girl were looking for the missing cat. All the while Sirius's heart was pumping hard against his chest. The girl seemed flawless to him. Her hair shone and her skin was slightly tanned. Suddenly Sirius realised that his mouth was hanging open and promptly shut it before she noticed.

"Sorry, I didn't catch your name." he said, attempting to start a conversation with her.

"Oh, I'm Skylar Eden, but you can call me Sky. It's a common name really." then she turned to him "What's your name?"

"Sirius Black. I've never heard the surname Eden before. Where do you come from?"

"I come from the New Forest, but that's probably not the reason you've never heard of my name before. You see, I'm a Muggle-born." she looked slightly anxious as she said this. Sirius felt a strange sinking feeling in his stomach. If she was a Muggle-born then he would have no chance with her, not even as a friend. Eventually she would hear about his family's reputation and dislike of anyone who wasn't pure-blood and she would hate him, probably.

"I've heard of the name Black before" said Sky, bringing him back to the present. "You're one of the biggest wizarding families in the world!". Sirius was impressed, but his stomach plummeted even further. He definately didn't have a chance now. He might as well turn around and go back to Remus and James, but something was bothering him slightly.

"How do you know about my family?" he said, feeling suspicious but hoping that he hadn't shown it.

"Well, um, because I'm muggle-born I thought that I would be a bit behind, so I've done a lot of reading. One of the books had a list of famous wizarding families in it and I remember seeing yours on it." she paused "Sorry is that strange?".

"Not at all. So you probably know about my family's dislike of Muggle-borns and half-bloods!?" but as soon as the words had left his mouth he regretted it. The colour from Sky's beautiful face had completely drained. She looked hurt, as though someone had just rammed a knife into her stomach.

"I-I didn't realise" she said, a single tear rolling down her cheek "I'm s-sorry, I'll let you go back to your f-friends." she turned her back on him and began to walk down the train. What had he done? His one chance at being friends with a Muggle-born and he had blown it. He stood there looking at her, then, rather suddenly, began to sprint down the train after her. He wasn't about to let his family get in the way of his friendships. When he had caught up with her he placed his hand firmly on her shoulder. She jumped and spun around. Sirius felt a pang of guilt. Her face was now blotchy and red from crying and her eyes were slightly blood shot too. He had definatetly upset her.

"I'm sorry Sky, I didn't mean to offend you. The truth is I hate my family and their views on Muggle-borns. I was just asking if you'd heard about it because I was scared that if you had then you wouldn't want to be my friend. I'm really sorry. I guess I didn't say it very gently or anything because, well, I'm a boy and we're not very good at being gentle" he took a sharp breath. For the second time that day he had spoken without taking a single breath. He looked at her, desperately hoping that she would forgive him.

"It's OK. You didn't really do anything wrong, but a bit further down the train some people had found out that I was Muggle-born and began shouting at me and telling me to clear off. I just assumed you would be the same." she sniffed "Sorry."

"Don't worry about it" said Sirius, relieved that he hadn't done any serious damage "Shall we find your cat?". Skylar nodded and the pair of them continued down the train looking for the runaway cat.