Author: AlwaysPadfoot

Summary: “It’s not easy, this crazy rebel life we lead. So why do we chose to do it–?”

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“Black. Stop!”

Sirius Black looked over his shoulder, if only for a moment, to identify just who thought he would stupid enough to think that he would actually stop. He wasn’t sure, but any of the group fit the the profile. Really, he’d been stupid to get himself ambushed. James was in the Hospital Wing, he had caught the Wizard Flu three days ago and was unable to leave the care of the nurse. Remus was visiting his mother - again, and Peter was back in the common room so Sirius had no back up when he was cornered in the dungeons after serving detention with Slughorn.

A flash of orange scorched past him, catching his cheek and making him quickly bring his hand to his face. He made an immediate turn down the next available corridor. Sirius would have to wait until James was better before they'd be able to plot revenge for the burn that was now streaked along his cheekbone.

Thirty seconds later Sirius had no choice but to burst in through the library doors. His pursuers probably never would have suspected that he had come in here and besides, the Librarian would go mad if half of Slytherin caused a ruckus by running in with their wands out. Okay, so maybe that was an exaggeration, but there were at least four of them. He slowed down a little when Madam Pince caught sight of him, shifting his bag slightly before hunting for a quiet place at the back of the library, out of sight.

Sirius didn’t understand why Remus spent so much time here; it was dark and smelt weird. The shelves towered upwards towards the ceiling, dust hanging in the air, illuminated by the sunlight beaming through single paned, narrow windows. He supposed it was a vaguely comforting hue of darkness, but maybe that was only because it was hiding him, for now.

He passed a few groups of people, mostly studying:

‘Is it Unicorn horn or blue beetles next?’

‘If Uriah the Ugly didn’t start the Goblin Wars of the thirteenth century, was it Urik the Oddball or Utan the Killer?’

‘All this Transfiguration is being to stress me out.’

And of course, he stumbled across people who weren’t working. More specifically, he spotted four or five Hufflepuff girls leaning over copies of Witch Weekly.

‘What about this polish, Annie?’

‘Hmm. You know, I don't think this gown and nailpolish really go together.'

‘Okay, so what about this gown?’

He listened curiously until one of them shot him a disgusted look and he turned away quickly, tripping over one of the shelving ladders. Ever so briefly he wondered why students needed a ladder to get books down from up there when they could just use magic. Of course, his thoughts were interrupted soon enough.

"Siri?"

Sirius spun around to see Andromeda looking inquisitively up from a table between the stacks of books at the back of the library. "Andy," he smiled, taking a few quick glances around before heading over to his Slytherin cousin. "You're not hiding too are you?"

Sirius grinned weakly before taking the seat next to her. She shook her head when he moved into the light, frowning at the burn on his face.  "And to think I wondered why you were in the library. Come here," Andromeda replied with an eye roll. She took out her wand and healed the burn on his face, "What happened?" "The usual Slytherin vs Gryffindor banter. I'm a blood traitor; they're half-snob half-troll. It's just a bad mix."

"You really are a Gryffindor, aren't you?" she smirked at her first year cousin, who returned a cheeky smile as he ran his finger across the newly healed skin. 

"And always will be. Besides, I heard you've started dating a Muggleborn, that's pretty Gryffindor of you." She laughed, "We've been dating for a year actually."

She looked back down at the work she was doing and added a few extra words to her Ancient Runes. Andromeda seemed as though she was debating whether to speak again or not.

"You helped me make the decision to make it public.”

Sirius looked surprised, confusion evident behind stormy grey eyes. How had he helped Andromeda with her boyfriend? He wrinkled his nose and stayed quiet, unsure of how exactly to respond. Andromeda looked up at him, her eyes still on the slightly pink skin of his newly healed cheek and sighed. The last few months had been hell for her, dealing with the cold shoulder from half of her house and one or two horrifying howlers from her family. She hadn’t made the choice lightly though; she had the full support of her boyfriend, Ravenclaw house’s Ted Tonks; her two best friends, Slytherin’s Liam Greengrass and Ravenclaw’s Kendra McDougal; and those occasional words of wisdom of her Gryffindor cousin, Sirius Black, had kind of made her mind up.

“It’s not easy doing what we do Sirius,” she told him. “It’s not easy, this crazy rebel life we lead. So why do we chose to do it–?”

“Because it’s right,” Sirius answered bluntly. “Because everybody should be equal. It doesn’t matter if you’re Muggleborn or Pureblood. Anyone can be anything.”

Andromeda shook her head at the innocence of her cousin’s words, but still looked at him with a smile. After all, he was only young, his naivety could stretch a little further yet before he realised what a truly horrible world they could live in sometimes.

“You may not realise it, but you helped me be who I wanted to be. From the moment you were sorted into the Gryffindor, I stopped being Perfect Pureblood Andromeda Black and started to be just Andy.”

Sirius’ eyes widened substantially as she spoke. He stared at his cousin; hardly believing that she was telling him that he had been the reason  for her being her own person. Andy had always been his favourite cousin; she’d taught him about equality; she’d taught him he could be his own person; she’d taught him there was more to life than just being a Black. How could it possibly, even just for a moment, be the other way around?

“You were always Andy. You helped me become me,” Sirius answered. “You’ve always been fair and friendly to everyone; you’ve always taught me what’s right and what’s wrong.”

He ran a hand through his hair, “Hell, if it hadn’t been for you I’d still be calling Muggleborns the other word.”

Andromeda had taught Sirius not to view the world through Black-tinted Glasses, therefore she had been one of the only parts of Sirius’ childhood he truly enjoyed remembering.

“But it’s only this year that everyone has seen that.” Andromeda retorted, ruffling his hair and making him duck away. “It’s only this year that I have chosen to be my true self, not what mum and dad want.”

“Then I’m proud of you. We’re both doing what we want to do and being who we want to be,” Sirius grinned, trying to get his hair back from messy to only somewhat messy. “I’d call you a liar if you didn’t agree that it’s the best feeling in the world.”

“Aren’t I the one who is supposed to be proud of you?”

She teased him lightly with one eyebrow raised incredulously, as if she were scrutinising her younger cousin. Sirius barely held back a laugh at his cousin’s expression; it was not unlike how Professor McGonagall would look if she suspected someone was up to no good.

“No, this was all you Andy,” he said, holding his arms out. “Think of it this way, without you I wouldn’t be the bane of my parents existence.”

LoganElmore - G6 (O)

Candiey - G7 (EE)

AlwaysPadfoot - R1 (EE)

Valk - S7 (EE)

IAmZac - R1 (EE)

Riptide - G5 (EE)

Dursley - S6 (EE)

Necrosis - S1 (EE)

Tempermentel - S1 (O)

Honours - H1 (EE)

Impavid - R7 (EE)

Hawke - G6 (EE)

House Points = Gryffindor +5, Slytherin +5