Twins: A Different Life Year 1

Chapter 108

Sirius had been on edge since he had received his reply from Aunt Cassie the day they had the disastrous visit to Andromeda's house. Cassiopeia Black was the epitome of the Black House, and within the older generation who had seen her at her height, she still struck fear in to them. Sirius had mentioned her name to Cantankerus Nott and the usually solid man had shuddered in remembrance, though the smirk that came to his face when Sirius said that she might be moving into action was positively vicious. He had told everyone who needed to know when she was coming exactly before heading down to the elves area to speak with them because Aunt Cassiopeia would expect the very height of the Black prestige when visiting them.

When he had told them who was attending, only the aged Head elf, whose only duties were to direct the rest of the elves and tend to one o the smaller gardens that he loved until the end of the days, understood. He had swelled up and began barking out orders in his croaky voice like he was a prime elf once more. If the Black Household had thought the elves did a good job with the manor when the Malfoys had first visited then they were soon corrected. The manor gleamed, tapestries had appeared, hanging with pride and the Black crest flashed from over the fireplace; Sirius had almost been afraid to touch anything. And now the day arrived. He had warned Severus and Lily what was happening, just in case they intended to stop by, and found out some interesting information about Dumbledore from the soon-to-be ex-Lady Potter.

She had mentioned that Dumbledore tended to try and set people up with work so that he could use them later on, and he tried it with both the eldest Weasleys. He had wanted Charles Weasley to be the replacement Care of Magical Creatures professor, but Charles had turned that down, along with a position on the English National team to run off to Romania to work with his precious dragons; he hadn't come back since. Bill had managed to get his position with the Goblins by chance and refused point black to do anything to mess it up. Molly Weasley had alienated both her eldest because she had pressured them in to following a path that she wanted, so both stayed overseas; Sirius filed that away for future reference.

It was more difficult than he had imagined, waiting for the day to pass so that Aunt Cassie could arrive. It was ok for Harry and Remus, they could vanish into their books, but Sirius was never one for recreational reading, he only went to the books when he was actively looking for something. Instead, he made it his mission to practice his dueling and his patronus spells for the upcoming Azkaban break out. It was coming around faster than he thought possible and there was no way Sirius was going to mess it up. He really wanted to see how Bella had faired and he hadn't been lying to Narcissa when he had said he was looking forward to her being around again. Before he had gone to Hogwarts, Bella had been his favorite cousin, she always had so much ambition and creativity. She refused to become a typical Pureblood wife, she said she would be a dueling Mistress and she always came up with the best ideas on how to fight back against their oppressive parents.

Sirius never found out how she ended up in a contract, it wasn't like her but there must have been a reason she settled for Lestrange because there was no way Bella would have just rolled over and did what her father told her. She had been a favorite of Grandfather's as well, her power, her ambition appealing to him, so she would have had the leg room to appeal to him about any decisions old Cygnus would have made for her. Sirius was half terrified of what he was going to find in the dark halls of Azkaban, scared that he was going to find his cousin, one so full of life and determination, now broken and lifeless; he didn't know how to react.

Everything was so much simpler when he had been in Dumbledore's web, he could hate his family and pretend the good times had never happened, but now it was much more difficult. He was no longer the disillusion 21-year-old who thought the light was perfect and the dark corrupt, and it wasn't the first time he cursed himself for not truly listening to what his Grandfather had tried to warn him about. So, he put all of his pent-up energy in to practicing for the day, only coming out for lunch before vanishing back in. When the clock reached five, Sirius moved to his chambers to get ready for the evening, greeting his mate of his way to the shower. His blue and silver formal robes were hung waiting for him to change in to and he took his time to carefully groom his hair. Remus was waiting for him in the main room, dressed in black and silver, and Sirius grinned, even if it was a bit strained.