(no subject)
Title: Twenty Things James Potter Never Told Anyone About Sirius Black
Author: guns_and_butter
Pairing(s)/Character(s): JamesandSirius, the Blacks, Lucius, Remus
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1,264
Disclaimer: I can’t even pretend to own any of this.
Notes: What follows could be considered friendship, slash, or any mixture of the two. Interpret it how you will.
1. They met once when they were children, at a Ministry reception. (Their parents looked distinctly unhappy to see each other, but introduced their children as a matter of form. Mr. Black squeezed his son’s shoulder rather harder than necessary, and Sirius bowed, his posture immaculate. James decided he was a prat.)
2. He has a scar from where Bellatrix hexed him when he was seven. (He had been specifically warned not to fight with her, so he hid in a broom closet for hours and almost bled to death.
“It wasn’t my finest plan,” he admitted later, grinning a little in response to James’s scoffing.
It was Andromeda who finally found him, who healed the wound and burned his bloody robes. That night she snuck into Bella’s room and hacked off all her hair. Sirius has adored her ever since.)
3. His parents blame Andromeda for skewing his views; without her, they say, Sirius would be a proper Slytherin like the rest. (They’re probably right.)
4. He once admired Lucius Malfoy. (He shadowed the older boy at all the boring society gatherings. Lucius and his friends used to sneak him butterbeer and tell him he’d make a brilliant Slytherin someday.)
5. Lucius kissed him once. (They were at a pureblood function. He was ten; Lucius was sixteen. The kiss was wet, forceful, dangerous with firewhiskey and arrogance. He was drunk and stupid, and never considered resistance. Lucius was starting to drag him to one of the guest rooms when Regulus found them, claiming their mother was asking for Sirius.
Estelle Black was locked up at Grimmauld Place for the third time that year, mad as a hatter. If Lucius knew this, he never mentioned it. Sirius and Regulus never talked about it again.)
6. Contrary to legend, he and James did not meet on the train to Hogwarts. (In fact, they never saw each other. James was happily showing off his wand skills to a compartment of fellow first-years, and Sirius sat with Lucius and Narcissa, feigning interest in the arse-kissing Slytherins they introduced him to.)
7. The Sorting Hat wanted to put him in Slytherin. (He wanted to go to Ravenclaw to be with Andromeda. He argued with the Hat for a record-shattering twenty-seven minutes, at which time it chuckled, commended him for his bollocks, and bellowed, “GRYFFINDOR!”)
8. After the Sorting, he was terrified. (He hunted out the Head Girl after the feast, as the prefects called out instructions to their first-years. Andromeda squeezed him till he gasped for air, and told him over and over again how bloody proud of him she was.
His hands were still shaking. “My parents are going to kill me,” he whispered.
She smiled and pressed a kiss to his forehead. “But you’ll survive,” she whispered back, and gave him a gentle shove toward his fellow Gryffindors.)
9. Unlike the rest of Hogwarts, who rather spitefully awaited the next day’s post, Sirius knew that the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black would never deign to send a Howler to their traitorous son. (Instead, he received daily letters from his mother, cursing him for his treachery and threatening to blow him off the family tapestry. He learned to ignore them.
It was harder to ignore the letters from his brother.)
10. The day he and James were partnered together in Charms, he never intended to turn James’s hair blue. (But he never regretted it, either-not even after the double detention or the thirty docked House points or the hours spent in the healing wing.
Years later, reeling with filched firewhiskey, he told James that a best mate was “worth a few porcupine quills in my arse.” James could hardly disagree.)
11. He panicked when they first realized Remus was a werewolf. (His pureblood breeding was hard to override. He was convinced that Remus was a monster, a menace, and it took James nearly a month to convince him otherwise. During that time, he avoided Remus like the plague. When Remus asked after him, James said he was having family problems.)
12. He knows Regulus intentionally knocked him off his broom during the Gryffindor-Slytherin match fifth year. (He never called him on it, despite the fact that the hexed Bludger damn near cracked his head open. He was unconscious by the time James caught him, wrenching his shoulder and breaking the other boy’s arm in the process.
She would never admit it, but James knew McGonagall feared the worst when they landed on the pitch. He could only imagine the sight they made: James wind-blown and trembling with adrenaline, Sirius cradled limp and shattered in his arms, blood everywhere.)
13. He didn’t go to the Potters the night he ran away. (Andromeda found him passed out on her front stoop, shuddering violently and reeking of dog. She dashed off a note to the Potters as Ted carried him inside, dripping rainwater and blood on the carpet.
He was still out of it when James arrived with his parents, dizzy from Flooing and sick to his stomach with anxiety. Andromeda said he was delirious, and wouldn’t let anyone touch him.
When James touched his cheek, Sirius turned his face into James’s hand and murmured something incoherent. James let out a shaky breath and rested their foreheads together.
Some time after that, the adults left the room. Neither of them noticed.)
14. He lies about what happened that night. (He says his mum went mad and starting slapping him around, throwing the odd hex now and again, until finally he couldn’t take it anymore and stormed out.)
15. It was the Cruciatus. (He thinks James doesn’t know. James never told him that he cried out in his sleep for weeks after coming to Godric’s Hollow.)
16. He vomited the first day of sixth year. (James doesn’t know what was said between Sirius and his brother; he only knows that it ended with Sirius disappearing to the dorms and locking himself in the lav, heaving his guts out. James waited uneasily just outside the door, unwilling to intrude and equally unwilling to leave.
Sirius emerged an hour later, pale but composed, and they snuck off with the Invisibility Cloak and a bottle of firewhiskey. Remus found them in the Forbidden Forest the next morning, after a frantic search-Padfoot and Prongs curled up in a heap of antlers and shaggy black fur.)
17. He kisses like he plays Quidditch. (Intense, passionate, oblivious to the outside world-disregarding safety and common sense and the rules-relentless-powerful and fragile-mesmerizing.)
18. He was mumbling more than congratulations the night of the wedding. (“So Eden sank to grief,” stumbling, resting a heavy hand on James’s shoulder for balance, “so dawn goes down to day…”
“Sirius,” James murmured, the sibilance slurred with alcohol and emotion. “Sirius, you’re drunk.”
“James,” he whispered back, chuckling to himself, “you’re married. And in the morning I shall be sober.”)
19. Regulus’s death nearly destroyed him. (He disappeared from the world for nearly three weeks. The Marauders muttered uneasily amongst themselves, irresolute without their most bull-headed comrade, until finally James broke into his flat after ten days of worrying and two hours spent breaking the wards Sirius had set.
He found him curled up on his bed, bone-white and gaunt. James laid a tentative hand along his face, fingers grazing the sharp slash of his cheekbone. Sirius didn’t move, but his eyes opened, piercing blue in the dim light. His voice sounded raw. “Hullo, Prongs.”
No one ever asked about the week that followed.)
20. He was not the Secret-Keeper.
Author: guns_and_butter
Pairing(s)/Character(s): JamesandSirius, the Blacks, Lucius, Remus
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1,264
Disclaimer: I can’t even pretend to own any of this.
Notes: What follows could be considered friendship, slash, or any mixture of the two. Interpret it how you will.
1. They met once when they were children, at a Ministry reception. (Their parents looked distinctly unhappy to see each other, but introduced their children as a matter of form. Mr. Black squeezed his son’s shoulder rather harder than necessary, and Sirius bowed, his posture immaculate. James decided he was a prat.)
2. He has a scar from where Bellatrix hexed him when he was seven. (He had been specifically warned not to fight with her, so he hid in a broom closet for hours and almost bled to death.
“It wasn’t my finest plan,” he admitted later, grinning a little in response to James’s scoffing.
It was Andromeda who finally found him, who healed the wound and burned his bloody robes. That night she snuck into Bella’s room and hacked off all her hair. Sirius has adored her ever since.)
3. His parents blame Andromeda for skewing his views; without her, they say, Sirius would be a proper Slytherin like the rest. (They’re probably right.)
4. He once admired Lucius Malfoy. (He shadowed the older boy at all the boring society gatherings. Lucius and his friends used to sneak him butterbeer and tell him he’d make a brilliant Slytherin someday.)
5. Lucius kissed him once. (They were at a pureblood function. He was ten; Lucius was sixteen. The kiss was wet, forceful, dangerous with firewhiskey and arrogance. He was drunk and stupid, and never considered resistance. Lucius was starting to drag him to one of the guest rooms when Regulus found them, claiming their mother was asking for Sirius.
Estelle Black was locked up at Grimmauld Place for the third time that year, mad as a hatter. If Lucius knew this, he never mentioned it. Sirius and Regulus never talked about it again.)
6. Contrary to legend, he and James did not meet on the train to Hogwarts. (In fact, they never saw each other. James was happily showing off his wand skills to a compartment of fellow first-years, and Sirius sat with Lucius and Narcissa, feigning interest in the arse-kissing Slytherins they introduced him to.)
7. The Sorting Hat wanted to put him in Slytherin. (He wanted to go to Ravenclaw to be with Andromeda. He argued with the Hat for a record-shattering twenty-seven minutes, at which time it chuckled, commended him for his bollocks, and bellowed, “GRYFFINDOR!”)
8. After the Sorting, he was terrified. (He hunted out the Head Girl after the feast, as the prefects called out instructions to their first-years. Andromeda squeezed him till he gasped for air, and told him over and over again how bloody proud of him she was.
His hands were still shaking. “My parents are going to kill me,” he whispered.
She smiled and pressed a kiss to his forehead. “But you’ll survive,” she whispered back, and gave him a gentle shove toward his fellow Gryffindors.)
9. Unlike the rest of Hogwarts, who rather spitefully awaited the next day’s post, Sirius knew that the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black would never deign to send a Howler to their traitorous son. (Instead, he received daily letters from his mother, cursing him for his treachery and threatening to blow him off the family tapestry. He learned to ignore them.
It was harder to ignore the letters from his brother.)
10. The day he and James were partnered together in Charms, he never intended to turn James’s hair blue. (But he never regretted it, either-not even after the double detention or the thirty docked House points or the hours spent in the healing wing.
Years later, reeling with filched firewhiskey, he told James that a best mate was “worth a few porcupine quills in my arse.” James could hardly disagree.)
11. He panicked when they first realized Remus was a werewolf. (His pureblood breeding was hard to override. He was convinced that Remus was a monster, a menace, and it took James nearly a month to convince him otherwise. During that time, he avoided Remus like the plague. When Remus asked after him, James said he was having family problems.)
12. He knows Regulus intentionally knocked him off his broom during the Gryffindor-Slytherin match fifth year. (He never called him on it, despite the fact that the hexed Bludger damn near cracked his head open. He was unconscious by the time James caught him, wrenching his shoulder and breaking the other boy’s arm in the process.
She would never admit it, but James knew McGonagall feared the worst when they landed on the pitch. He could only imagine the sight they made: James wind-blown and trembling with adrenaline, Sirius cradled limp and shattered in his arms, blood everywhere.)
13. He didn’t go to the Potters the night he ran away. (Andromeda found him passed out on her front stoop, shuddering violently and reeking of dog. She dashed off a note to the Potters as Ted carried him inside, dripping rainwater and blood on the carpet.
He was still out of it when James arrived with his parents, dizzy from Flooing and sick to his stomach with anxiety. Andromeda said he was delirious, and wouldn’t let anyone touch him.
When James touched his cheek, Sirius turned his face into James’s hand and murmured something incoherent. James let out a shaky breath and rested their foreheads together.
Some time after that, the adults left the room. Neither of them noticed.)
14. He lies about what happened that night. (He says his mum went mad and starting slapping him around, throwing the odd hex now and again, until finally he couldn’t take it anymore and stormed out.)
15. It was the Cruciatus. (He thinks James doesn’t know. James never told him that he cried out in his sleep for weeks after coming to Godric’s Hollow.)
16. He vomited the first day of sixth year. (James doesn’t know what was said between Sirius and his brother; he only knows that it ended with Sirius disappearing to the dorms and locking himself in the lav, heaving his guts out. James waited uneasily just outside the door, unwilling to intrude and equally unwilling to leave.
Sirius emerged an hour later, pale but composed, and they snuck off with the Invisibility Cloak and a bottle of firewhiskey. Remus found them in the Forbidden Forest the next morning, after a frantic search-Padfoot and Prongs curled up in a heap of antlers and shaggy black fur.)
17. He kisses like he plays Quidditch. (Intense, passionate, oblivious to the outside world-disregarding safety and common sense and the rules-relentless-powerful and fragile-mesmerizing.)
18. He was mumbling more than congratulations the night of the wedding. (“So Eden sank to grief,” stumbling, resting a heavy hand on James’s shoulder for balance, “so dawn goes down to day…”
“Sirius,” James murmured, the sibilance slurred with alcohol and emotion. “Sirius, you’re drunk.”
“James,” he whispered back, chuckling to himself, “you’re married. And in the morning I shall be sober.”)
19. Regulus’s death nearly destroyed him. (He disappeared from the world for nearly three weeks. The Marauders muttered uneasily amongst themselves, irresolute without their most bull-headed comrade, until finally James broke into his flat after ten days of worrying and two hours spent breaking the wards Sirius had set.
He found him curled up on his bed, bone-white and gaunt. James laid a tentative hand along his face, fingers grazing the sharp slash of his cheekbone. Sirius didn’t move, but his eyes opened, piercing blue in the dim light. His voice sounded raw. “Hullo, Prongs.”
No one ever asked about the week that followed.)
20. He was not the Secret-Keeper.