A murderer for a father: Jean L. Black ||Sirius Blacks daughter

Jealousy and the end of a romance

A month after Jean and Jacob discovered the room of requirement, it was time for the DA to finally meet. Everyone who had written down their names on Hermione’s list had gotten an owl to notify them about the meeting.

Jean stood in between Fred, who was visibly annoyed by Jacob and Jacob, who was quite clueless on why Fred shot him threatening glares. Fred held Jean’s hand, almost territorially and made a great effort to show that she was his girlfriend. Jean noticed the strange behaviour of Fred and mumbled: ,,Blimey Fred, what’s up with you today? I’m not your property.” Fred clenched his jaw and answered through gritted teeth: ,,I don’t like that Jacob git. You and him seem to be together all the time lately and I don’t like that.” She looked at him shocked and answered: ,,He’s just a friend. I already told you that we are studying a lot for our OWLs and have the same mains. Get over yourself already. Besides, I haven’t said a word about you and Angelina, have I.” Fred glared at her and rolled his eyes. Jean scoffed and asked: ,,What was that for? I can’t have friends now, can I?!” ,,Well one of your ‘Friends’ seems to have a little more than friendship on his mind. Don’t you think I notice the way he looks at you?”, he snapped and let Jean’s hand go. She crossed her arms over her chest and snapped back: ,,Excuse me?! When did you learn how to do legilimency? Jacob is just a friend, when will that enter that bloody brain of yours? And I would be very careful with your stupid jealousy.” Fred looked very hurt by that statement and rushed out of the room. Jean let out an annoyed noise and ran after him, leaving everyone in the room confused.
Jean looked around for her boyfriend and saw him standing in a corner by a window. He glanced at her but broke the eye contact as soon as Jean looked at him. He looked furious and mumbled angrily: ,,What?” Jean was at loss for words and stuttered: ,,I uh, wanted to check on you? Why’d you storm out so suddenly?” ,,Well isn’t it obvious? I didn’t want to cause a scene in front of people like you always do”, he mumbled accusingly which made Jean furious. ,,Excuse me, I’m causing a scene!? Fred you were the one accusing Jacob of being in love with me and you accused me of potentially being unfaithful to you”, she said and got increasingly louder along the end of her sentence. Fred turned around to her and snapped: ,,Well I’m right though. He is around you way to much. And you defending him makes me wonder where your priorities are. You barely spend any time with me, its always either my brother, Harry and Hermione or that git.” She scoffed once more. ,,I’m not spending time with you? Fred, you’re the one cracking jokes with Angelina and acting like you’re a couple”, she snapped. Fred looked at the floor guiltily. Jean read his mind. Blinking away a tear, she looked at him hurt and mumbled: ,,Well if you think that way I think it’ll be best if we don’t see each other anymore.” Fred’s eyes widened and he gasped: ,,Are you breaking up with me? Do you want to end what we have?” She looked him in the eye, hurt by her discoveries in his head. She thought about all the fun times she had with Fred. Then she also felt that she was falling for Jacob, as much as she tried to suppress her feelings. Making up her mind, she answered: ,,I think its the best for the both of us if we break up. I hope that one day we can be friends but for now I think we should cut contact.” Fred nodded sadly and muttered: ,,It’s because of him, isn’t it? You’ve fallen for that git haven’t you?” ,,What no, well maybe a bit but I swear I’ve never been unfaithful. It’s just not fair of me to keep being with you when I feel myself falling out of love with you. Besides, its not fair of you to be with me, because clearly, you’ve given your heart to someone else too. I’m sorry”, Jean explained and turned to leave. ,,Wait Jean”, Fred called after her. She stopped, wiping the tears that were wetting her face and she listened. ,,Good luck. I hope we can get on with each other without it being awkward. Bye”, he said and looked at her sadly. She forced a smile and answered: ,,Yea, bye. Hope you’ll be happy with Angelina.” Jean turned and walked away, leaving Fred alone. She was breathing heavily, when realisation started to hit. She had just ended her two year relationship, her first relationship. The feeling of sadness and anger didn’t let her go and she thought about how she was gonna confess to Ron and Ginny that she had broken up with their brother because he cheated.
She leaned against a wall and sunk down onto the floor. After a few minutes of silent crying someone cleared their throat to get her attention. It was Dumbledore, who stood in front of her. She hastily wiped her tears and greeted him, trying to hide the hoarseness in her voice: ,,Hello Professor... what are you doing here if I may ask?” ,,Hello Jean, I’m just wandering around the castle. I love the view when the sun sets. I don’t want do be rude but would you mind telling me why you were here all by yourself? You seem to get on with Mister Scamander very well, so I was wondering... “, Dumbledore explained and his bright blue eyes scanned her with a look of concern. ,,Oh no, Jacob and I are just friends. My boyfriend, well ex boyfriend and I just broke up and I... needed some peace and quiet”, she answered and tried to sound not too sad. ,,My apologies then. A breakup is never easy, especially the first one. I assume this isn’t the only thing why you are here tonight? It’s way past bedtime”, he said and proceeded to look outside. ,,No that’s the only reason, really. To be honest I was about to go back to the common room anyways so yea”, she lied and got up from the floor. Dumbledore looked at her, almost amused. ,,Have a good night then, Miss Black. I expect you to see me in my office tomorrow for your occlumency lesson”, he mumbled and smiled at Jean warmly. ,,Good night professor. Also would you mind it if I sent a letter to my godfather without it being read by Umbridge? It’s quite private and I don’t want her to read it”, Jean explained. Dumbledore scratched his beard and finally said: ,,I’ll see what I can do, I cant promise anything though. Off to bed you go now, pip pip.” Jean smiled, nodded and walked away.
Back at the common room
It was well past 11 pm now and nobody was in the common room anymore. Jean collapsed onto an armchair by the fire and sighed. She still needed to process what had happened over the last few hours. Just as she closed her eyes for a second, she heard a whizz coming from the fireplace. She opened her eyes and got closer to the fire. Peering up at her was Remus’s face in the fire. Jean already knew how this worked and whispered: ,,Remus? What’s wrong? It’s so good to see you.” Remus smiled and answered: ,,Dumbledore told me you needed me. What’s wrong then, tell me.” Jean sighed and muttered:  ,,I broke up with Fred tonight.” There was silence and then Remus fully emerged from the fire, close behind him was Tonks. Jean was surprised but happy to see her godparents. Remus immediately hugged her and said: ,,I’m so sorry. A breakup is never easy.” Jean felt like crying again but she decided that she needed to pull herself together. She just hugged Remus back tightly and muttered: ,,I feel guilty for doing it but I would also feel guilty if I stayed with him.” ,,Why?”, Tonks asked after Remus let go of Jean. The three of them fell onto the couch and Jean explained: ,,See there’s this boy called Jacob that I’ve gotten along with super well in the last 3 months and I kind of have a crush on him. Fred started to act really jealous of Jacob even though we were only friends and he blew up on me. I said that we probably shouldn’t see each other anymore then. I’ve been thinking about breaking up with him for a while now and I finally did it. I’m not happy though. It bloody hurts and I don’t know if I made the right decision.” Remus looked at Tonks and then at her and said: ,,This sounds like a girls talk. You know what Jean, just come home for a few days, I’ll ask Dumbledore if that’s possible. In case of emergency I’ll tell him that you need to come home because of a family emergency. How does that sound?” Jean nodded and Remus smiled and walked out of the common room to clarify Jean’s time off. Tonks laid an arm around her goddaughter and answered to what Jean had said before Remus changed the subject: ,,You did the right thing. When you hit it off with someone then it just happens. You didn’t make an unbreakable vow and you weren’t bound to Fred for the rest of your life. It’ll take time and of course it’ll hurt but if you’re better off without him as your boyfriend then so be it. My mum always used to tell me to listen to my heart and what it really desires. That’s how I found Remus. Jean you’re not a bad person for ending a relationship. The opposite actually, if you feel that you’re falling out of love with your partner then you should end the relationship before it gets more painful for the both of you.” ,,I’m scared that I’ll loose Ginny and Ron over the breakup. Fred is their brother after all and I don’t want to upset them”, Jean answered and looked into the fire. ,,They’ll understand. And I bet even Mrs Weasley  will understand that it was the best for the both of you”, Tonks replied and squeezed her gently. ,,Mhhh”, Jean hummed and leaned her head against her cousins shoulder. ,,D’you think I can come home tonight? I really want to talk to Dad”, Jean asked and looked up to Tonks. ,,I guess so. Let’s wait for Remus to come back though before you pack your stuff”, she answered. Jean nodded and closed her eyes. She was exhausted but felt better already. Jean soon fell asleep before Remus could even come back.
Jean woke up the next day in her bed, but it wasn’t the one in Gryffindor Tower. She looked around and realised that it was her room at Grimmauldplace, where she only stayed for the summer so far. When she gave her bed a closer look, she noticed that it had Letters carved into its wooden frame. She turned and noticed that it was a drawing with a date under it. It said ‘M♡S-  01/06/1976’. Smiling, she ran a finger over the carving and rested two fingers on her parents initials. Then a feeling of sadness overcame her. ,,I miss you Mum”, she mumbled as she closed her eyes once again. When she opened her eyes again she noticed another carving, about five inches under the first one. It read: ‘Jean Lily Black - *04/04/1980’ and under that another one which read: ‘Elaine Alice Black- *29/03/1981’. Jean smiled and turned around to get out of bed when she noticed a book laying on her bedside table. After glancing at it confused, she picked it up. There was a picture with two adults and a little baby around 11 months old. The woman, who Jean recognised as her Mum was heavily pregnant, but still smiled into the camera, looking effortlessly beautiful. Her welcoming blue eyes seemed to look at Jean with such love in them that it made her feel warm inside. The man, who was clearly Jean’s dad, held the small baby girl carefully and laughed into the camera. He was really handsome and both he and the woman didn’t seem to be older than 20 year old. Then there was the small, delicate baby girl with loads of dark curls, grabbing at the camera with her tiny little hands. Jean reckoned that it must be her, since the baby looked a lot like the woman except for the hair. She let her finger wander over the book and skipped through the pages. There were loads of pictures from her childhood and she reckoned that Remus must’ve put them into it. When she reached about half of the book, the pages were empty. She looked back on the page before and noticed that it was her, last year next to Harry. The both of them smiled into the camera happily but looked a bit screwed up. She remembered that it was just after they had caught and set free Sirius. Under it was written: ‘And just when I wasn’t looking, my little girl grew up. It’s been 12 years and now you’re already 13. I’m leaving this book with you now, fill it with your memories and stories - Love Dad. – 5th of July, 1993’. Jean looked at her dads handwritten message over and over again and smiled. She felt like he finally understood what she wanted; love and the feeling of parental protection. Then she looked at the picture of Harry and her one last time, before slamming the book shut. She swung out of bed and grabbed her wand off the bedside table. One wave with it and she was fully dressed and ready to go, completely ignoring the fact that’s she wasn’t supposed to do magic outside of school.
Humming she went down the stairs and sat at the big dining table in the kitchen of Grimmauldplace number 12. Remus sat there, reading the daily prophet and sipping his cocoa. Tonks already seemed to be off to work but Jean spotted her dad sitting next to Remus, looking tired but also quite upset. ,,Morning”, she said cheerfully and got herself a slice of bread. Remus looked up from his newspaper and answered: ,,Morning Jean. You seem to be a lot more cheerful this morning then you were last night.” Jean smiled and said: ,,Yea, I slept really well for the first time in forever actually. I’ve been having a lot of trouble sleeping lately but yesterday I was honestly so exhausted that I just fell asleep.” Her dad looked at her quite confused and asked: ,,Are you okay? Why were you not sleeping a lot? Is someone bothering you?” The sudden interest in her life and the overprotection startled Jean. She liked it though and answered: ,,I haven’t told you yet have I? I was dating Fred Weasley but I broke up with him last night. That’s why I’m here actually. Remus arranged some time off with Dumbledore for me.” He nodded and asked: ,,Well are you feeling better now? You know that you can talk to me if you need to, I’ll listen.” Jean frowned sceptically and responded confused: ,,Thanks dad... I’ll go and finish my homework now, love you dad, love you Remus.” ,,Love you too”, Remus mumbled. Sirius smiled and said: ,,Love you, just ask if you need any help.” Jean laughed and vanished behind a wall. Then she peeked her head back around to her dad and said: ,,You’re overdoing it Dad, just be there for me OK?” Sirius looked at his daughter and smiled. ,,Got it. Wanna cook something later?”, he said. ,,Sure, let me finish my homework though”, Jean smiled and left.