fatal love

Chapter 2

The next morning, Sirius woke up early even though he'd only had a few hours of sleep. He figured he'd lost the ability to sleep in at some point; Kreacher served breakfast at 8am every morning and skipping it wasn't an option. All the other boys were still snoring, but he wasn't going to get back to sleep, so he got out of bed and went to have a shower.

When he came back out, James had awoken and was rifling through his trunk. He grinned at him, last night's mistake apparently forgotten. Sirius smiled back; that was a weight off his shoulders at least. They woke up Peter and Remus and all made their way down to breakfast. Remus was apparently not a morning person, as he hadn't done anything more than grunt the whole way down to the Great Hall. Still, James and Sirius were more than capable of functioning before 9am and sat down and started eating without breaking their conversation. Peter opened his mouth once or twice, but Sirius wasn't going to stop talking for him, and James didn't seem to notice.

Before long, McGonagall came around with their schedules. They had Potions with the Slytherins, then Transfiguration with Ravenclaw. He groaned internally, he'd hoped to avoid seeing the Slytherins for twenty-four hours at least.

While he and James started dissecting their timetables, with the occasional comment from Remus or Peter, a flurry of owls flew into the Great Hall. Sirius noticed the Black family owl immediately and gulped. It was carrying a smoking red envelope.

"Bloody hell, they sent you a Howler!" said James. "What did you do?"

"Got sorted into Gryffindor, didn't I?"

"How do they even know about that already?"

"Please, as if Narcissa, Wilkes and about fifty other Slytherins didn't immediately write their parents as soon as the Feast ended last night."

"You should probably open that soon," said Peter, eyeing the envelope warily. More and more smoke was billowing out.

Biting the bullet, Sirius tore it open. There wasn't going to be any escape. At once, Mother's shrill voice filled the Hall.

" SIRIUS ORION BLACK! HOW DARE YOU DISAPPOINT YOUR FAMILY IN SUCH AN EGREGIOUS WAY? A THOUSAND YEARS OF SLYTHERIN PRIDE AND YOU FAIL US? A BLACK HEIR HAS NEVER BEEN SO UNFIT! YOU HAVE BROUGHT SHAME ON ME, YOU FATHER AND EVERY OTHER MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF BLACK. YOU WILL BE PUNISHED FOR THIS!"

With that sweet message, the letter tore itself up. Sirius' stomach lurched, he knew what that meant. He'd definitely get the Lacero for this. Maybe he could stay at Hogwarts for Christmas, and she might have calmed down a bit by summer. Probably not. He felt like he was going to cry and vomit at the same time.

But that wasn't going to happen. He was still the Black Heir, and the whole Hall was staring at him right now and he wasn't going to let any of these people laugh at him. Mother's voice echoed in his head, the lesson she'd repeated a thousand times. Never show weakness, Sirius. You are the Heir. Have pride, make sure you are respected. So even while his breakfast felt like it was going to make a reappearance, he put on his cocky smirk as soon as the letter stopped shrieking and helped himself to more toast. Don't look down, don't avoid eye contact, but don't seek it out either, he thought to himself. Look unaffected.

The pupils all broke into an excited chatter, but James, Remus and Peter were looking at him in shocked silence. Well, let them, he wasn't going to break it. He chewed on the toast loudly.

"You weren't lying about your family being awful," James said eventually.

"Nope." Sirius popped the P obnoxiously.

James looked at him carefully, but decided not to press him. "Well, we may as well go to Potions now." He got up, and the three of them followed him. Sirius walked slowly out of the Hall on purpose, to make it clear he wasn't making an escape, that he wasn't embarrassed. Remus slowed to walk at his side, but he didn't say anything until they'd left the room.