𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗣𝗥𝗜𝗦𝗢𝗡𝗘𝗥 𝗢𝗙 𝗔𝗭𝗞𝗔𝗕𝗔𝗡 [𝚎𝚍𝚒𝚝𝚎𝚍]

Chapter Twenty Two: Astronomer's Almanac

‾‾‾‾‾‾‾ ･⋆✵⋆･ ‾‾‾‾‾‾‾

Sirius hates it when he has to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. It infuriates him that he has to lose precious sleep over something as trivial as the call of nature.

Reluctantly dragging himself out of bed, he bumped to a few walls before he finally made it to the bathroom. "Stupid rules about underage Wizardry." he muttered. "I could have just lit my wand if it weren't for that."

Sirius decided to get water before going back to bed and made his way to the kitchen. He could have just asked Kreacher but Sirius really didn't want to be called 'filthy' by something that hadn't showered since it was born. Especially not at this time.

He was just about to take the bend to the kitchen, trying not to cringe at how the marble floors were cold to his bare feet, when Sirius heard voices from his father's study.

Sirius silently edged to the slightly ajar door and peeked through the small sliver of space between the door and the wall.

". . . don't know where we went wrong with him." Walburga was saying, sitting on the chair in front of Orion's desk, her face in her hands. She was still in her clothes from the party earlier.

"It's not your fault, dear." sighed Orion, pouring firewhisky into two glasses and putting one of them in front of his wife before he placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it gently. "You know he has always been a little odd."

"You should have heard Druella and Cygnus." hissed Walburga, taking her face out of her hands to glare at nothing in particular. "Going on and on about all their perfect little children being sorted into Slytherin."

"Well, they're not all perfect though, are they?" scoffed Orion, going around his large desk to sit down in his chair. "I've heard that Andromeda's a bit funny too."

"But she's still a Slytherin." countered Walburga, her voice full of bubbling anger. "Regulus is our only hope, Orion." she sighed in defeat, the anger draining from her. "We can't let Sirius poison him too."

Sirius didn't wait for his father's reply. He'd heard enough.

‾‾‾‾‾‾‾ ･⋆✵⋆･ ‾‾‾‾‾‾‾

It was the last day of the summer holidays and Sirius was sitting on the cold stone floor of the Black Library.

It was the least frequented room in the whole mansion which made it a very convenient place to hide. Sirius had kind of adopted it as a sanctuary after what he'd overheard, spending more time here than Remus himself would have.

Sirius was using his wand to make a leaf levitate. He still had the trace on me, he's still twelve, but living in a magical household means his little extracurricular activities would go unnoticed by the Ministry.

Sort of.

Hopefully.

Sirius's eyes roamed the towering book shelves, looking for anything mildly interesting among the dusty volumes that still survived thanks to the Preservation Charms the ancient Blacks thought to put on them.

A large book with a bright red cover titled Astronomer's Almanac stood out to Sirius. The word 'astronomer' always made him giggle uncontrollably so Sirius pulled out the heavy book, splayed it open on the floor and started leafing through it's ancient pages.

The brightly colored illustrations were enough to pique his interest and keep Sirius reading more pages than he normally would have. He saw all the stars and constellations for which most of the Black family members were named after. Extremely detailed diagrams of the planets and their positions throughout the year could be found on every other page.

But what caught Sirius's attention wasn't any of those things. It was a chart showing the phases of the moon and stating the times of full moons.

And all of them corresponded to the days Remus Lupin disappears.

‾‾‾‾‾‾‾ ･⋆✵⋆･ ‾‾‾‾‾‾‾

Second year at Hogwarts and Sirius was as excited as his first year if not more. Even the superior looks Regulus was giving him couldn't dampen his spirits.

". . . And take care of your brother." Orion said. He's been taking for sometime now but how many kids really listen to their fathers?

"Yes, Father." Sirius said, eagerly waiting for any sign of dismissal so he can go find his friends.

"Off you go, then." Orion said and put a hand on each of his sons' shoulders. Public show of affection wasn't how the Black family did things so this was the best goodbye Sirius and Regulus got.

"I don't need you to look after me." hissed Regulus once they were out of earshot of their father.

That hurt and reminded Sirius of times when they weren't like this but Sirius wasn't about to show it. "Did you seriously think I was going to do that?" he hissed back. "Just go stand by the train and try to look weak and pathetic. That shouldn't be too hard for you. Some older kids are bound to help you with your trunk."

Regulus muttered a few choice things along the lines of 'stupid Gryffindor' and 'mudblood lover' as he stomped off with his trunk.

"Sirius!"

Sirius turned in the direction where the call came from.

James was standing a little way off with his mother who was discreetly trying to tidy his hair, the growth spurt James had had making it a bit more difficult for her.

Sirius walked over to the two.

"Hello, Sirius. How was your summer?" Mrs. Potter beamed at Sirius after accepting that James's hair was a lost cause.

"It was good. Thank you." Sirius said. "I'm really sorry about Mother."

"There's no need to apologize." said Mrs. Potter as she smoothed a crease out of James's robes while he protested silently. "I completely understand. I guess you two don't want to stand around with an old woman the whole day."

"Yes, Mum." James said.

"So insensitive." muttered Mrs. Potter and pulled James towards her. "Give us a kiss."

"Mum. I'm twelve. You can't keep doing this to me anymore."

"Don't wipe off my kisses James Fleamont Potter and I do bloody well whatever I want to do with you. I'm your mother."

"Urgh. Muuuuum." growled James before turning to Sirius. "Come on, Sirius."

"Bye, Mrs. Potter." Sirius waved and followed James towards the train.

"Let's go find Peter." said James, once he was over being mad at his mother for loving him (the lucky little bowtruckle, Sirius thought). "I've missed that little bugger."

"Didn't you see him over the summer?" Sirius asked, looking for either Peter or Remus.

"No." James huffed. "We canceled meeting up since you weren't coming. There would have been no point in it."

Sirius smirked at him. "Don't be too sad about that because I might have just found something that could help us."

"Really? What is it? Where is it?" James bombarded him with questions.

"It's in my trunk." Sirius said as they walked to the scarlet engine. "I'll show it to you on the train."

‾‾‾‾‾‾‾ ･⋆✵⋆･ ‾‾‾‾‾‾‾