Pawns & Players - Sirius Black

-15-

For the mediocre there is no hope. Mediocrity is a sin. - Jack London

Nearly two months had gone by and Sirius and Laurel had only grown closer to each other, being together nearly every day, even when doing things separately, and that time of the year, when the Alexander Manor's ballroom was decorated elegantly and the Wizarding World's higher class, gathered around fancy food and expensive champagne had shown itself once again.

Summer had changed her noticeably. Grown taller, lost her innocent childlike face, and the girl's slim body was replaced by much more defined curves. Looking in the mirror, fixing her corset, her mother appeared behind, just next to her.

She held her chin sharply and lifted it as her left hand gripped the girl's inner thigh, so tightly that a whimper of pain escaped her lips. Lifting her eyes so she saw the stern eyes looking at hers emotionlessly through the mirror.

"The breakfast was unnecessary." She said coldly. "Hurry up and come downstairs."

And the woman left. Pulling the corset further, she looked in the mirror. No matter how many days she spent with Sirius, those times always came to an end. And instead of a light, the end of the tunnel was her inescapable fate. Her family, her blood.

The thirteenth time she walked down those stairs, her life and eyes had the same goal.

Find Sirius Black.

This would be her goal many times in life but this time, she had found the perfect way to prank the Slytherins. 

Slowly reaching the room where everyone seemed to gain some kind of visible maturity, and their innocence slowly fading away with the dark times taking over the Wizarding World, a Slytherin she had sent to the hospital wing caught her eye. A lacy prussian blue dress fitted her perfectly and her straight long hair was shining brightly. Her eyes were captivating and reminded her of a thinner version of Marlene. She floated around the room, perfectly in sync with the soft classical rhythm in the background, as she joined her parent's table, laughing with the boys slightly older than the both of them, and enjoying the cake in front of her. 

Lost in her thoughts once again, she looked on her right, only to find Sirius smirking at her.

"Save it Black"

"Had absolutely no intention to do the opposite"

"How's Regulus ?"

"In love with our house-elf ?"

"Makes perfect sense"

"What do you think that guy over there is drinking for ?" 

This was a game they had played many times before at dinner parties and other balls. He pointed to a middle-aged man, looking weak and tired, hunched over the cocktail table with a glass in his hand.

"We don't really have to guess for him Black do we ? When you observe carefully, you can see his wife on the east." And Sirius looked at the woman she was talking about. "And a freshly eighteen-year-old Quidditch player on the west." 

"HOLY SHI-" His hand was touching her wrist while he was laughing in her ear.

Going over at least six or seven more desperate and mediocre adults, the night and summer were slowly coming to an end, and Hogwarts was certainly not ready for what was about to come.