IN RUINS- James Potter

chapter thirty eight

She stared at her food, trying to not hear the conversation in the other room— her mother screaming at the top of her lungs to know they have a Gryffindor their house. It was just her and regulus at the dinner table, trying to eat their food as Sirius was yelling back at them.

"Do you like being a slytherin?" Regulus mumbled out, startling his sister a little bit. Nora looked away from her food, shrugging her shoulders. "It's weird, Sirius isn't there with me. He has a new group of friends. One of them is a Potter." Nora cringed, being slightly rubbed the wrong way.

Regulus was disgusted, eating his steak and taking a sip of his lemonade. Nora pretended she couldn't hear the argument begin to get more heated, looking at her house elf Kreacher; who was standing near regulus.

"I am just as important as Nora!" She heard Sirius yell, groaning out loud as she was mentioned in the argument, looking at regulus and rolling her eyes. "Just had to drag me in it." Nora muttered; both being startled as they saw the door swing open.

"Nora darling, can you please come here?" Orion said in his fake voice, luring his daughter to come over. Nora hesitated for a minute, putting her fork down and walking around, her walk being being slow and poised.

Nora walked in the room that held the Black Family Tree, her ancestors that came before her and her brothers were on the very walls of that room. Her arms were covered in goosebumps, staring at her brother whose eyes were redder than ever.

She looked up at her mother standing right beside her son; pointing at Nora. "Nora, what happens if you betray this family?" Walburga asked, staring at her eleven year old child.

Nora stared dumbly at her mother, biting her lip and glancing at her brother for a moment.  "Sirius didn't betray the family though mother, he tried to argue with the hat." Nora spoke up, defending her brother.

Her parents were taken back from the way she spoke up, looking at each other and back at the twins. Nora horribly winked at Sirius for sticking up for him; smiling at his sister. "I'm ashamed of you Nora, you're going soft all because he's your brother? Would you do the same if he was a Hufflepuff."

"I'd do anything for my brothers, mother. Family is everything to me." Nora said without hesitating, clenching her jaw and knowing she was going to regret saying those words, always taking a curse for her brother, not caring about the consequences.

She woke up on a panic; a cold sweat starting to approach, sitting up in her bed as she was trying to calm down her breathing, almost hyperventilating. The dream wasn't a dream at all, but the winter break back to the house when Sirius was in Gryffindor for the first time.

Nora felt like she was back to be twelve again with that dream, remembering the spots that hurt after that curse, crying in Sirius' shoulder and telling him she'll do anything to make sure their mother and father don't punish him.

How stupid young Nora was.

Here she and Sirius were, not talking to each other for the last three weeks, awkward eye contacts and moments where she fantasizes about cutting all of Sirius' hair off in his sleep for revenge.

Realizing she was still in the common room, Nora rubbed her eyes and took off the blanket that was on her body, rising to her feet and putting on the slippers that were near the couch. Either Regulus or Evan had put them out as there were snakes on them.

Dragging her feet and going to the girls dorm stairs, Nora felt her body go cold for a minute, wondering what time it was as she made it to the top. "Hi, Nora." One of the the younger girls said to her, smiling. Nora gave a tired smile to the third year, wondering how she even knew her in the first, making it to her dorm.