The Losing One || Sirius Black

10. The Start of Rivalry

The Sirius was still a bit stiff, but not as near as minutes before. It was like he deflated when they walked away from the Slytherins, "Fine, just... wasn't expecting that."

From the look on his face, Remus figured that he didn't want to talk about it so he stayed quiet. He tried to remember what even was the insult Snape threw their way that made Sirius want to tear him apart.

I see. Having family disappointments defending you. Fitting.

Oh. Now it made a bit more sense as to why Sirius snapped. Remus knew that his friend was stressed about the sorting, but he didn't think at the time it was that big of a deal. Sure, it was maybe surprising if you were the first child in your family to not be in Slytherin, but he couldn't imagine somebody's parents getting actually mad at them for something that wasn't even their choice.

The puzzle pieces then started to fall into place. He remembered seeing a couple of dirty looks being thrown Sirius' way yesterday, but Remus just thought that was because it was known for the Gryffindors and Slytherins to not get along.

Now thinking about it, he remembered his father mentioning the Black family on a few occasions. He recalled they were a very powerful and influential pureblood family and, from what he heard, families like that had a lot of reputation to upkeep. They were usually very prejudice so even something slightly different from the usual, like getting sorted into Gryffindor in a family full of Slytherins, was looked very down upon.

Sirius was even the oldest son from what he told them, so the constant monitoring of his actions by every other pureblood family, just waiting for him to make a mistake, must be really stressful.

Remus wouldn't count being sorted into Gryffindor a mistake, but these types of people were very strict with their beliefs and expectations they held for their children which shows just by looking at how Sirius carries himself. Head always held high with impeccable posture and crazy table manners.

Understanding the situation a bit more clearly now, Remus figured that the topic of family must be hard on Sirius, so he decided to change the subject. He turned to James for some answers, "How do you even know that guy?"

Probably sensing that Remus was trying to reduce the tension, James laughed a bit awkwardly and started to tell the story from the Hogwarts' Express. Peter also looked interested given the fact that he and Remus arrived later to the compartment. Sirius had calmed down enough to help with explaining the story by adding some details.

They told them all about Snape and the ginger girl, Lily, on the train, how he was rude, bursting in to the compartment and slamming the door without even acknowledging the two of them. Then there was an argument between Snape and James about Hogwarts houses, explaining the dig at James from earlier. Basically, they argued and Snape and Lily left after Sirius insulted the greasy haired boy.

When the story was finished, James patted Sirius on the back for some support, "We'll get him back, don't worry."

Peter nodded in agreement attempting to cheer the boy up a bit, "Yeah, we can use some of mine and James' stash of Zonko's products."

That seemed to do the trick because the frown on Sirius' face was replaced with a thinking expression, "I have some too, my cousin sends them to me whenever she can."

Remus was now lost in thought as well. He also had some products, but, to him, that seemed way too predictable. Truth be told, he didn't really know Snape, but from what he just witnessed, the revenge seemed very tempting.

The boy seemed rude, they haven't even looked at him before he insulted James. Granted, James and Sirius did make fun of him on the train, but it was all lighthearted childish insults which Snape retorted as well. When the Slytherin insulted Sirius, it was evil and mean on purpose. Remus was sure that Snape knew exactly what he was doing the second he remembered the look on the boy's face, a wide sneer.