Sirius learned from a young age to always be aware of his surroundings. Let's see where it brought him.
Sirius knew when Mother was in a bad — or “worse”, in better wording — mood just as he heard her stepping into the room and when it was better to just skip dinner altogether and avoid one of Father’s rage outbursts — not that he was starving himself; Kreacher would bring his plate later. He also knew was what upsetting Regulus before he could open his mouth. No one noticed that about him — not that anyone paid any attention to his needs anyway, but that is off the matter. That only convinced Sirius he had an ability beyond his magic.
When he met James, Remus and Peter, he had chances to see if his power was really that secret. First, Peter. He was afraid of getting scolded at classes for being clumsy. Then, Remus (to be honest, there was no way he could just sit and watch the boy for a whole night on a monthly basis, come back with the lamest excuses — what dying, estranged great-great uncle would require whole family gatherings every full moon for months and not just die? Not to mention the scars and bruises. The Blacks could be wicked and twisted all they wanted, but at least they had the decency of fully healing their offspring before allowing them into the public eye again). After that, there was James. Who would say that the sunshine prankster had his eclipsed evenings? Sirius. Sirius would say that. And finally, the most heartbreaking of them all: Lily. He saw the Snivellus disaster coming two days into fourth year.
Still, no one seemed to perceive Sirius the way he perceived others. That was until his 17th birthday. James, Peter and Remus decided to throw him a surprise party. A whole ass Halloween-themed party. And Peter even decided to go a few steps further to get Regulus to attend —to a genuinely unexpected success.
“I think he is hiding a third eye under all that hair”, James announced as he entered the Gryffindor Common Room with a box of records in his arms. “I could swear he looked at me as if he knew what I was thinking during breakfast.”
“I mean, Sirius is a dog and dogs can smell fear, so… you do the math”, Remus shrugged. “That probably just means you have to be more discreet.”
“Which is true, by the way”, Regulus pointed out as the set up the snack table with Emmeline.
“Oh, shut up, Arcturus.”
A few hours — and a lot of arguing — later, Remus grinned and declared:
“Showtime.”
People started to relax and mingle while he went on his quest: meet Sirius after his detention with Filch.
“What’s up with everybody?”, Sirius asked, tangling his own arm on the arm that Remus offered him (you can call them cheesy all you want, they just want to be in each other’s arms all they can).
“Nothing. Why do you ask?”
“No reason in particular. It’s just… everybody seems to be avoiding me lately and I can’t get why. And I am usually good at reading people.”
That was the only thing Remus feared in the whole process. At first, he seemed like the perfect candidate — better than Frank or Mary showing up, at least —, but it also meant the had to lie and improvise — and he was out of his cover-ups stock since the third year; all he had to offer were technical loopholes reserved for when they were caught by professors.
I can do this, he thought. It’s not that long of a walk.
“You are very special, Sirius. Did you know that?”
“Aww, thanks, babe”, Sirius got on the tip of his toes to kiss the other boy’s cheek. “As a matter of fact, yes. Mother used to say that a lot. She used less kind synonyms, though. Damaged, cursed, shame, embarrassment and disappointment, to mention some examples.”
“Well, if you take them as your standard, then something is clearly wrong with you, but if it wasn’t… would you be happy with your life?”
“Of course not. You wouldn’t be in it.”
“Sap”, Remus grinned. “But seriously, try to relax and stop thinking about what the others are thinking. You can’t do anything about it.”
You don’t know what you are talking about, Sirius whispered underneath his breath.
“Home, sweet home”, Remus sighed after giving the password to the Fat Lady portrait.
“Surprise!”, shouted a choir composed by every Gryffindor who had ever interacted with Sirius —special guest: Regulus.
“Happy birthday, mate”, said James, with a giant smile and ready to wrap him in a hug.
While people drank, ate, chatted and danced, Sirius walked around, contemplating their effort. Pictures of and with him adorned the walls, creating a museum-worthy collection of joyful moments, unlike the thousands of portraits in the Black manor, whose sole purpose was to keep a registry of those who had started there a both miserable and opulent existence.
They were playing the songs he had heard for the first time on that very same room and that now the cherished dearly. They had gathered all the snacks he wasn’t allowed to gave growing up. They had Marlene prepare drinks just like Slughorn would do to a batch of potions —an especially colorful one. They had reunited all the people who managed to walk their way into his heart —one more than all the others, but that is a whole different story. They had even brought his baby brother, which likely called for a truce. They had assembled everything he most loved. And he hadn’t even mentioned enough how much he loved each one of them. Because he didn’t have to. They saw him. Just like he saw them.
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