Glass Houses

Chapter one

Those who blamed ignorance formed Erudite.

In the Erudite manifesto it says that "ignorance is defined not as stupidity, but as lack of knowledge."

Those words were stenciled above the fireplace. A useless thing, seeing as though it was almost never lit, the white and blue tiles surrounding it stayed pristine, almost clinically so. But that's how many would describe the Black family.

Clinical.

So perfect, so intelligent, so regal. So completely Erudite that parents would compare their children to Walpurga and Orion Black's sons. Regulus and Sirius Black. Two boys that were the very picture of their faction. Perfect results in school reports, friends that their parents deemed as suitable, never straying from the attitude that knowledge is power. And the Black family was nothing if not powerful.

One boy was so devoid of ignorance that there was never a doubt in Walpurga's mind that she would always have a worthy successor.

And there was never a doubt in her mind that her successor was decidedly not Sirius Black.

Because although Sirius had created a display for all others, a display that painted him as the perfect son, Walpurga could see through him like the glass windows covering almost every wall of their house. Sirius was a fake, he was ignorant to the fact that his own mother knew her son was different.

And that posed a rather large problem.

~~~~~~~~~~

Sirius woke slowly, rolling over in his bed and relishing the feeling of the cold pillow. Cracking an eye open, he cursed the blasted glass windows allowing the sun to stream inside his room. Honestly, they weren't Candor, they didn't need to be honest about absolutely everything. Especially whilst changing clothes.

Sirius turned to face the ceiling, raising his hands above his head and letting out a groan as he stretched, finally remembering the importance of today.

The aptitude test.

The test he prayed would tell him that he belonged in any other faction. Even amity would be a welcome result compared to Erudite.

"Ignorance is defined not as stupidity, but as lack of knowledge." The words had been drilled into his and Regulus' head since they were children. They had helped their Father paint the words above the fireplace, painstakingly stenciling each letter so that by the end of it, even if Sirius wanted to forget, it was as though the manifesto had been stenciled onto his brain as well. His brain which already held enough information as it was. Casting an eye around his room, neat as a pin, the enormous bookshelf lining one of his walls ordered alphabetically and by genre, he scoffed. Hating that he knew he had read every book in his room at least three times. His mother believed that every second not reading, not learning, was a second wasted. That every second wasted deserved punishment.

Breakfast was Sirius' least favorite meal of the day, accompanied by dinner. Only because he had to sit opposite his parents for exactly half an hour.

(Exactly half an hour. The timer sat at the end of the table, ticking throughout the meal.)

The only conversation was initiated by his Mother or Father, and more than often, Sirius spent the time listening to the two discuss the stupidity of the other factions, and the 'injustice' that they faced because Erudite wasn't leading. Throughout this, Sirius would steal glances at Regulus, missing the days where they would only have to look at each other to convey their thoughts, trying not to burst into laughter before their parents.

That sort of communication had stopped a few years ago. Sirius couldn't remember the exact moment that Reg had become Regulus. That Regulus had stopped calling him Siri. He told himself he wouldn't miss anything from his faction, but his brother would always hold up residence in his heart, even if his presence was unwanted.