minnow // sirius black

eleven

"Papa Potter?"

"Anyway, he went and got Remus, and they talked all about his furry problem on the way to the hospital. They came up with an arrangement for if he had to turn while here, and then James sent another letter to Sirius, who hadn't even responded to his first one," Lily said, looking at James. "You know this part better."

"Sirius showed up at St. Mungo's with a suitcase, defiantly stated to me, Mum and Dad, that he had ran away."

"You ran away!?" I shrieked, fully turning to Sirius who sheepishly nodded, turning to me.

"I told my mum that you were sick, that they didn't think you would make it, and I begged her to take me to St. Mungo's. She asked who you were, and when I told her you were a Potter, she said she would. When Father came home, she told him that she was taking me to St. Mungo's to see you, telling him who you were. He freaked out, and started telling me that I was not allowed to date you, since your parents had no public opinion about blood status - "

"That's because the whole thing is stupid," Dad said, pausing his conversation with Remus to state. Sirius nodded his head in Dad's direction.

"Because of that, my father regarded your entire bloodline as worse than 'blood-traitors', saying that he would disown me if I continued to date you, just as he had disowned my cousin Andromeda for wanting to marry a Muggle-born. So he forbade me from leaving to come see you."

"So you ran away? Because of me?"

"Not just because of you, Jemina," Mum interjected. "Have you heard of the new, rising, 'Dark Lord' ?"

"Sounds vaguely familiar," I said, furrowing my eyebrows. "Is he the one who calls himself 'Lord Voldemort'? The guy who is openly starting a crusade against Muggles, and Muggleborns? The one murdering entire families left and right?"

I saw Lily look down, and apologized to her.

"Yeah, that guy," Dad grumbled before returning to talking about the greatest Shakespearean works.

"Walburga and Orion are, very openly and strongly, supporting him," Mum said, placing a hand on Sirius' hand. "You, better than anyone, know Sirius' beliefs. His parents wanted him to join Voldemort, and were pressuring him intensely."

"They wanted me to do this stupid ceremony, where I'd pledge fealty to Voldemort, promising to join his Death Eaters the day after I graduated from Hogwarts. They've already forced Regulus to do it, even though he just turned 15. Mother told me to leave, that she wouldn't torture me into doing it, but that Father would. She told me that if I didn't leave, she'd simply make sure she wasn't in the room, so I packed a suitcase that she gave me, and left while she and Father were doing the ceremony with Regulus," Sirius hesitates, frowning intensely as he looked away from me. He looked... ashamed, "I tried to talk him into leaving with me, but he was too afraid."

I felt my heart breaking with each word that Sirius said.

The fact that his parents were forcing his 15 year old brother into the servitude of such a vile human being... It was awful, and I leaned against Sirius.

"So he moved in? With us?" Mum nodded. "You know we're dating, right?"

"I do, as does your dad and brother. We all know," I could feel the 'but' coming. "But, I trust you."

I wasn't expecting that.

I was expecting her, or Dad, saying that they'd be putting a lock on my door from the outside, or putting a ridiculous charm on that part of the house, where only James could enter either of our rooms. I was expecting them to say that Sirius would be sleeping in James' room, with several alarm spells on my door, so if he came anywhere near it, James would be woken up.