The Black Sheep

September 1, 1972- A New Hope

Rory had never had any reason in her life to hope- it had simply been impractical. Every day was the same routine, she would wake up and try to meet her parents' exceptionally high standards while also understanding that they had never wanted a daughter so she was a burden to their family, and all the while doing her best to take the fall anytime either of her brothers- Sirius and Regulus- made even the smallest of mistakes. At the ripe young age of 11, she understood that she had quite the reputation to uphold, and the legacy to 'fix', as she silently rode the train to Hogwarts with her twin by her side. Sirius had practically run onto the train as soon as they had made it past the barrier to the platform leaving herself and Regulus to suffer through one of their mothers' infamous talks as to how they should only make friends with 'the right sorts' while at school, not that Rory could blame him for doing so. Ever since Sirius had been sorted into Gryffindor a year ago his relationship with his parents was stained, not to mention that they had recently found out about his unsavory choice of friends from their favorite niece Bellatrix making the entire situation worse.

As she sat in the silence of her and Regulus' otherwise empty compartment the words of her mother repeated in her head. Get sorted in the right house, make friends with the right sorts, and don't disappoint us. She pondered the meaning behind each phrase for some time, hoping that she understood her mother's instructions correctly. Get sorted in the right house- Be in Slytherin like your cousins or else. Rory wasn't sure there was much she could do in this department other than beg the hat to sort her in the house of the cunning and ambitious, perhaps she'd trick the hat into thinking she belonged. Make friends with the right sorts- only make friends with purebloods on our 'pre-approved list of families'. This one should be easy as Rory had every name of the Sacred 28 wizarding families memorized, meaning she would know during the sorting ceremony who she was allowed to befriend in her year and who she wasn't. Don't disappoint us- Rory immediately noticed that they hadn't said 'make us proud' just simply 'don't disappoint', indicating the threatening nature of their words. If she or Regulus stepped even a single toe out of line, the punishment would be severe.

"Rory!" Regulus shouted, waving a hand in front of his sister's face and causing Rory to jump in her seat before meeting his gaze. "If you're done staring off into space, we're here." Rory jumped to her feet instantly and, after giving Regulus a playful punch in the shoulder for his previous snark, walked out of the compartment ready to start a new adventure away from her parent's watchful eyes for the first time in her life.

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Rory was a bundle of nerves as all of the first years walked into the great hall to be sorted. There were only three people in line before herself and Regulus, one who introduced herself to the two as Vera Abbott, and a boy who seemed too scared to even meet their gaze when he introduced himself as Felix Abernathy- likely due to him hearing them introduce themselves as Blacks, and Thomas Avery whom Rory and Regulus both recognized from pureblood events over the years. Once the hat had finished its lengthy song, Professor McGonagall called the name "Abbott, Vera" and the sorting began. Vera was sorted fairly quickly into Slytherin, likely due to her pureblooded heritage, Felix to Ravenclaw, and Thomas to Slytherin. Then Rory's chest tightened as Professor McGonagall's voice rang out "Black, Aurora".

The moment the hat went onto her head she began pleading. 'Please sort me into Slytherin' she asked the hat.

'Hmmm... You would do well in Slytherin young one, there's no doubt about that. You are ambitious enough for it. But I see something else in you, a strong sense of loyalty that would serve you well in Hufflepuff, and yet a wit and intelligence that would do you good in Ravenclaw. There is also a strong courageous nature that would suggest-'

'No!' Rory internally interrupted the hat's stream of thought, 'I have to be in Slytherin. It is the only house I want to be in!'

'Ahhhhh, I see. Very cunning Miss.Black, trying to convince me you want one house over the others for any sort of selfish reason. Well, if that is truly what you want then I suppose it'll have to be... Slytherin!' the hat finished aloud, eliciting a cheer from the Slytherin table and a sigh from Rory as she could finally relax. She quickly hopped off of the stool and made her way to the table, taking a seat next to Vera. As she sat down she made eye contact with her cousin Narcissa, who was a Seventh year, and received a small smile from the girl before McGonagall calling the name of her brother forced her to snap her head back up to the front. It took only a few seconds before the hat once again shouted 'Slytherin!', causing a grin to spread across Rory's face as her brother made his way to join her. By the end of the sorting, a decent group of the new first-years had made their way to the Slytherin table and they had all begun to chat amongst themselves. Along with the Black twins, Vera Abbott, and Thomas Avery, four more first years joined their table. Hadley Selwyn, Jacobi Flint, Clarisse Rowle, and Evan Rosier all seemed nice enough and luckily for Rory and Regulus, they were all from pureblooded families making their mission of making friends their parents would approve of much easier.

As Rory and Regulus began talking and eating with their new classmates, they failed to notice the pair of dark eyes that had settled on them from across the hall. Despite his friends' best efforts to assure him that his siblings were going to get along just fine, Sirius couldn't help but worry for them. He knew that they weren't bad people, but the thought of them being surrounded by blood purists at all times made him nervous. After a few minutes of staring at them, completely lost in thought, he resolved to steal them away every once in a while while they were all at school to make sure they were okay before joining in on the conversation his friends were having about James' unhealthy obsession with Lily Evans.