Black Brother Oneshots

Sibling Troubles: 17 Feb. 1976

Sibling Troubles: 17 Feb. 1976

Lily Evans curled up in a ball on the comfiest chair in Gryffindor Common Room, a waterfall of tears falling down her face. Her Transfiguration essay laid half done beside her, and her usually neat handwriting was replaced with an illegible scrawl, stained with droplets of water streaming out of her eyes.

Crumpled in a ball beside the forgot essay was the reason Lily was a wreck. Written as if the reader (who happened to be Lily) didn't deserve the sender's time of day.

𝙳𝚎𝚊𝚛 𝙻𝚒𝚕𝚢, (it read)

𝙸'𝚍 𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚋𝚎 𝚠𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜, 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝙼𝚞𝚖 𝚒𝚜 𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚖𝚎 𝚍𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜. 𝙸'𝚍 𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚝𝚎𝚗𝚍 𝚞𝚜𝚞𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢, 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚜𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚙𝚞𝚝 𝚒𝚝 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚊𝚖𝚎 𝚎𝚗𝚟𝚎𝚕𝚘𝚙𝚎 𝚊𝚜 𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚜, 𝚜𝚘 𝚠𝚎 𝚗𝚎𝚎𝚍 𝚕𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚘𝚠𝚕𝚜. (𝙷𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚕𝚢, 𝚠𝚑𝚘𝚜𝚎 𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚊 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚒𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚘𝚠𝚕𝚜? 𝙲𝚊𝚛𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚛 𝚙𝚒𝚐𝚎𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎𝚗'𝚝 𝚋𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚞𝚜𝚎𝚍 𝚒𝚗 𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛. 𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚒𝚜 𝚠𝚑𝚢 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚜𝚘 𝚕𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚞𝚊𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚗 𝙸 𝚊𝚖.)

𝚂𝚘, 𝙸'𝚕𝚕 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚝𝚎𝚕𝚕 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜, 𝙸 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚊 𝚗𝚎𝚠 𝚋𝚘𝚢𝚏𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚍. 
𝚃𝚑𝚊𝚝'𝚜 𝚛𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝, 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚋𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚢 𝚍𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚊 𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚕𝚎 𝚋𝚘𝚢 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚕𝚘𝚘𝚔𝚜 𝚒𝚗 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚍𝚒𝚛𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗. 𝚅𝚎𝚛𝚗𝚘𝚗 𝚒𝚜 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚜𝚘 𝚗𝚘𝚛𝚖𝚊𝚕, 𝚞𝚗𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚊𝚋𝚗𝚘𝚛𝚖𝚊𝚕 𝚏𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚔 𝚘𝚏 𝚊 𝚜𝚎𝚕𝚏.

𝙸'𝚖 𝚐𝚘𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚎𝚎 𝚅𝚎𝚛𝚗𝚘𝚗 𝚗𝚘𝚠!

𝚂𝚝𝚊𝚢 𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚏𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚔 𝚜𝚌𝚑𝚘𝚘𝚕 𝚘𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛𝚜,

𝙿𝚎𝚝𝚞𝚗𝚒𝚊 𝙴𝚟𝚊𝚗𝚜

It hurt Lily more than she cared to admit, to hear her sister talk about her in such ways. She was happy Petunia had a boyfriend, Petunia had always gone on and on about wanting one, but Lily couldn't stand how Petunia referred to her magic, and how low she'd stoop to make Lily seem insignificant compared to her.

"What's wrong, Petal?" 

Lily immediately went to wipe her tears, and sit up as straight as she could.

"Nothing's wrong, Black," Lily snapped. She hated being seen as vulnerable. "Shouldn't you be with your little group posse?"

Sirius moved Lily's long forgotten essay and the crumpled letter to the side, and sat down on the table in front of Lily. "Peter got sick, so James escorted him to the Hospital Wing. I was with Remus in the Library, it was dreadful. I kept poking him in the ribs to actually pay attention to me, since I was so bored, and he snapped."

Lily violently wiped a tear. "Remus snapped?"

"I was surprised too," Sirius took a strand of hair, and started to twirl it around his finger. "Anyway, he started screaming at me, about how he had to get his essay done, and all that, but then Mean Librarian Lady came over because Remus was being loud."

"Madam Pince?"

"Yeah, Mean Librarian Lady. So, she came over and asked Remus and I to leave, but Remus, being the little devil he is, told Mean Librarian Lady that it was all my fault, and you know what happened?"

"She believed Remus?"

"The audacity she had!" Sirius crossed his arms as if he were pouting, "So only I got kicked out. That's not the point though," he met Lily's bloodshot eyes, "what's really wrong?"

"It's just a letter from my sister, you wouldn't understand."

For the first time in Lily's memory, Sirius didn't have a smirk donning his face. "I'd probably understand better than you think. Tell me, I'm listening."

Lily's eyes narrowed, but she just pointed to the crumpled paper. She hadn't told anyone, even her closest friends, about her relationship with her sister, and she had no idea what compelled her to share with someone she knew nothing about. Sirius picked up the letter, and opened it, his grey eyes darkening at every word he read.

"You aren't a freak? A flower, yes, a freak, no." Sirius tried to pull off something a little lighter to lift Lily's mood. "Look, I know better than anyone that you don't want any pity, so I'll just tell you a story. You know my brother?"

"He's a year below us? In Slytherin?"

"Yeah, that's him. Regulus. Him and I do not get along anymore. When we were little, we were best friends, we did everything together."

"T-T-Tunny and I did too," Lily stuttered out.

"Reg used to look up to me, and wanted to be just like me. But then I came to Hogwarts, and got sorted into Gryffindor, and Walburga and Orion turned him against me. He thinks I'm some type of virus or something. If I'm at that place, they pretend that I'm not there. When I ran away last year, Reg told me on the train that Walburga and Orion threw an impromptu party."

"That's terrible…." Lily seemed reluctant to ask, "Can I ask who Walburga and Orion are?"

"What one might call my birth parents." Sirius spat the word like it was poison. 

"Wait, you ran away?"

Sirius nodded, "I live with the Potters, so if I ever say Mum and Dad, I'm referring to them."

"Wow, my problems seem insignificant compared to —"

"No one's problems are insignificant compared to another. If we're thinking like that, my life is an absolute godsend compared to Remus's."

"Remus?"

"Not my story to tell." Sirius stood up, and held out his hand for Lily to take, she skeptically took it. What happened next, Lily was not expecting. Sirius pulled her into a tight hug. Lily melted into the hug, and allowed a few tears to fall down her face.

"If you ever need anything," Sirius whispered, "I'm here."

Sirius and Lily's friendship is criminally underrated. It needs more recognition.

Hope you enjoyed!
-Maddy