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‘This is boring.’ Sirius huffed as he held on to his little brother's hand and led them to their cousins, Regulus hid behind him shying away from adults who looked at the two boys like hawks watching their prey, Sirius scowled at the thought and tightened his grip on Regulus’ hand. The thought of these grown adults in his family’s gigantic ballroom, waiting and watching for either he or his little brother to make a mistake, and use them like they were objects to be won struck a nerve in Sirius.
Sneaking a tiny glance at Regulus, Sirius smiled softly when he saw Regulus look at the people dancing with stars in his eyes blindly following Sirius towards their cousins who were standing next to the parlours entrance with a clear view of the dance floor.
Moments like these when Sirius snuck little glances at his brother and got to see Regulus bright smile, Sirius felt proud of himself knowing that even though he got hurt he was still able to protect his brother from their parents. To know that his baby brother could still smile innocently at him and enjoy the beauty of the things that cause them pain.
The first time Regulus had gotten punished by their mother Sirius had sworn he would do everything in his power to protect his Baby brother from every inconvenience the world would throw at him no matter the consequences
Sirius, realizing he had stopped walking, Huffed out a sigh, and snuck one last glance at Regulus before turning back around and slipping on the mask of indifference once more, and continued walking towards their cousins.
As the two brothers pushed through the crowd the music changed and the song of second dance started playing as they were beginning to approach the three older Girls Sirius noticed their cousins were distracted, each their mask having slipped but a slither more than the other. Sirius Tilted his head at the strange sight. Something dire must have happened if all three of his cousins' masks were slipping, even Bellatrix who under any circumstances let her mask fall until she is sure that they are in private. No matter how paranoid she may be.
Sirius stood next to them still confused about what his cousins were looking at, In his attempts to figure out his confusion Sirius felt a light thug on his robes which He had soon come to realize came from Regulus attempting to get his attention.
“Sirius…” Regulus whispered, his words forming weirdly over the ‘S’ in his name.
“Is everything alright Reggie?” Sirius asked with a small smile, He had gotten quite fond of the lisp that formed in Regulus’ words when he spoke Sirius turned to look at his younger Brother who was looking at Him with wide eyes and an even bigger smile plastered across his face.
“They dance so pretty…” Sirius tilted his head towards the dance floor and watched as the couple in Dark green and White danced as if they were two halves of a whole, as the dance continued many stared entranced at the two men’s light feet gracing the dance floor. The Two Danced as if it was a chase of cat and mouse, The couple graced around in a circle in the middle of the dance floor. The man leading the dance wore green while the man in white followed.
“Do you think I will be able to dance like that one day?” Regulus asked, his voice almost lost to the wind and Sirius could do nothing but smile at him.
“I think that you could do anything you want and more Reggie, even if it went against Maman and Papa’s say.” Sirius reassured his little brother, knowing he would keep arguing with his parents if it meant he could see Regulus happy.
“but then you’ll just end up hurt…” Regulus’ voice cracked as he turned to look up at Sirius, His eyes glistening.
“For you it will be worth it, yeah?” Regulus only stared at Sirius, wide eyes swelling up with unshed tears.
When Sirius never received a reply in return He could only smile at Regulus’ wide eyes causing him to hide behind Sirius again, face stuffed in Sirius’ waist the back of Sirius’ robes turned wet after that.
Sirius giggled at Regulus' antics before he felt someone staring at them, quickly slipping on his mask Sirius turned to glare at the person staring at them.
It was Bella.
Startled Sirius blushed in embarrassment at the confrontation with His eldest cousin. Bellatrix smirked at Sirius’ tomato red face, her eyes softening at the two before she beckoned for them to follow her towards the buffet.
Sirius and Regulus waited for Bellatrix as she put a hand on Andromeda's shoulder and whispered something in her ear before turning around and walking to the buffet. The Two children quickly following after her.
When they reached the buffet, Bellatrix reached for her wand in her dress sleeve and swiftly floated one of the chairs towards them.
As the chair dropped in front of them, Bellatrix kneeled down so they were the same height, And gestured for the two boys to come closer, before effortlessly picked Regulus up and propped him up in the chair. When Bellatrix turned around to take out a handkerchief out of her dress’ pocket, Sirius walked to the chair gently holding Regulus in an embrace while Bellatrix gently wiped the tears away from Regulus’ face.
Once Regulus calmed down enough, he was fully leaning in Sirius’ arms. Making Bellatrix smile at the two.
“Here why don’t you hold this Sirius, and I will sneak Regulus a Treacle Tart,” Where as Sirius's full attention was once sully focused on comforting Regulus now immediately snapped towards Bellatrix.
“But mother said we are not to touch the buffet until after dinner.” Sirius worried that Bellatrix would be punished for defying their parents order.
“Don’t worry Aunt Walburgra and Uncle Orion wouldn’t try anything that brass while in the sight of grandfather Arcturus and grandmother….”passing the tear soaked handkerchief to Sirius Bellatrix stood up ignoring any sounds of protest coming from Him.
Sirius watched as Bellatrix strode away from them towards the dessert section of the buffet, letting out a heavy sigh Sirius turned his attention back to Regulus who was once again watching the couple on the dance floor gracefully spin and twirl, tears completely forgotten the only sign of his younger brother crying were the faint tear tracks running across his face and puffy under eyes.
Averting his gaze from his walking cousin, Sirius tucked his thoughts deep in his mind and turned his gaze towards the dancing couple.
Sirius admired the two men dancing.
Being the Heir of his family’s house meant he himself had to learn how to dance though unlike Regulus, Sirius hated dancing and purposefully messed up the dance’s when his tutor was at the house.
The couple in closer inspection were perfect or as perfect as one can be. The one wearing white robes with gold accented shapes that looked like lily’s and stags, was significantly shorter than the other man and was more on the slimmer side, along with that the man had a mop of messy raven coloured curls that was put up into a stylish bun that looked like it was intentionally styled messy with a silver coloured hair pin littered with diamond flowers, the mop of messy black hair was accompanied with a set of eyes tired doe eyes that Hid behind round gold rimmed glasses and wielded blindingly green pupils that reminded Sirius of the killing curse or Sirius would suspect that was how the killing curse would look like. A silver snake necklace ran across the man's delicate looking neck that was littered in tiny blue-ish almost white diamonds and had bright green emeralds as its eyes, Sirius thought it fit the man and judging by his sharp but rounded out jawline and cheekbones, Sirius would suspect he was also pureblood like everyone else in the room but Sirius hadn’t seen the man before at other pureblood balls or traditions so Sirius wasn’t sure if the man was a pureblood or not the same could be said for the mans leading partner.
The man in green and silver was Taller than the man in white and seemed to be what people would call taller than average, he unlike his partner had dark green robes with silver accents that took the shape of snakes and another sort of flower? Tree? Sirius didn’t know but it was some kind of plant but it kind of looked like a spider in some morbid way. The man, unlike his partner, had neatly styled curls that sat perfectly on the man’s pale skin that was paired with chocolate brown eyes that glinted maroon red in the right lighting. The man had a sharp jawline that looked as if it could cut glass and hollowed out cheekbones though on the man it looked like a god had blessed him and Sirius was certain on anybody else it would have looked like they were starved for quite sometime. He unlike his partner had no jewelry on only a weird shaped locket with a green snake on it.
The two men were the prime example of what his mother would refer to as charming, handsome, beautiful and ethereal in two body's and Sirius couldn’t see himself disagreeing with her which was new.
As the end of the third song neared both the couple and the music slowly came to a halt. The couple at the end of their dance bowed to signal the end of their dance and stood facing each other gazing at each other with invisible tension, Sirius couldn’t quite put a finger on what the tension might be, he would assume it was well hidden hatred but the couple unlike his parents had a different gazes then to what his parents wore at the end of their dances, though despite going through all the emotions his parents showed each other at times where they were in the position of the couple Sirius couldn’t actually pinpoint what kind of tension lingered between the two men.
Alas when Sirius couldn’t pinpoint the emotion that caused the tension between the couple, He sighed in defeat and turned away from the complexing couple and back to his little brother who was now clinging to his dress robes.
Regulus’ eyes were firmly on the couple although it seems they wouldn’t be open much longer, sleep lingered in his gaze but it seems that his brother was quite determined not to let the couple out of his sight.
“Are you sleepy Regulus?” Bellatrix asked besides Sirius, Startling Him.
When did she come back?
As if right on que Regulus yawned and leaned into Sirius’ touch fully it seems sleep has won as his little brothers determination seemed to gave in to sleep instead of fighting to stay awake, Regulus Body went slack in Sirius’ arms as his eyes closed shut. Only answering Bellatrix's question with a half drawn ‘Mhn’.
“They didn’t give you any trouble did they?” Sirius wanted to ask more questions but settle on something indifferent instead knowing Bellatrix would be able to get the meaning behind them.
Bellatrix snorted before answering,
“Yes, but don’t worry your pretty little head about me, petit chiot”
A flourish of heat covered Sirius face all the way towards his neck at the nickname, Sirius scowled at his cousin. He always hated the nickname, since it quite literally translated to ‘little puppy’ in French and Sirius was not little!
Bella laughed at his scowl, which in return made him heat up even more. Sirius had no doubt that his face looked like a tomato at the moment.
Sirius only huffed out a sigh of annoyance and turned away from his older cousin who seemed to be wind swept from laughing at his embarrassment.
After Bellatrix collected herself she put the dessert aside and strode in front of the two brothers collecting Regulus in her arms, after a few minutes of Bellatrix fixing her hold on Regulus so that his face was hiding in the crook of her neck, sending a wandless levitating charm towards the dessert She had brought with her, she let her hand fall to her side holding it out for Him to hold on to. Sirius Grabbed onto her hand and turned to walk besides his cousin. Just as they were about to leave for the parlour Bellatrix came to a halt, Sirius was confused as to why but stopped walking as well, He looked at his cousin, she was looking at something in front of them still confused Sirius looked in front of him.
It was Andy and Cissa! and…. ? oh it was the couple that was dancing from before, They were in a conversation with Andy and Cissa did they know each other? He felt Bellatrix slightly thug on his hand snapping Sirius out of his thoughts to look at her, she jerked her head at the group talking gesturing for them to join the four, Sirius nodded wanting to meet the couple that danced ever so gracefully. The two walked with a sleeping Regulus towards the group.
“Andy, Cissa,” Bellatrix called towards his cousins when they reached the group, while Sirius only stared at the two men who were speaking with his cousins, Bella turned towards the two men and tipped her head in greeting.
“Professors.” Professor?! They were his cousins Professors?! Sirius stared at the group in disbelief.
“Bellatrix, Heir black, ” Both men tipped their heads in return in greeting the two Sirius stared at the two men utterly bewildered, the man in white smiled at him and his cousin and Sirius felt overwhelmed with warmth the man's smile was like the sun so bright and radiant it was like Sirius was laying in a grass meadow in the morning sun.
“How are you my dear?” The man questioned his voice. Sirius thought it was so soft and gentle but firm and caused a shiver to run down his spine. Just then Sirius felt something touch his magic, and it wasn’t just some magical creature or something, no, something powerful seemed to take an interest in him.
“I have been doing quite well professor, and with you?” Bellatrix answered in a casual sort of way, well as casual as Bellatrix seemed with the two men there was a strong hint of Respect lacing her voice.
“We are doing splendidly my dear, I hope the winter is treating you as well, as it is for us.” At that statement a flicker of emotion seemed to flash on the green suited man's face too quickly for Sirius to know what emotion it could be although it seemed Sirius was not the only one that seems to have noticed it as his partner, who seemed to have also noticed the flicker of emotion chuckled, the man seemed to have picked up what had flickered across the man's face..
“Well it may just be treating me well, it seems my dear, though I cannot say the same goes for Tom.” And at that all three of his cousins Chuckled, for some reason Sirius felt as if he didn’t belong among the five, like unlike him who had yet to even learn how to wield his magic properly there were stronger individuals far beyond his imagination standing beside him. At the thought Sirius shivered the uneasy feeling not helping with the circumstances.
“How cruel of you, darling, here I thought you were kind enough to at least take pity on your husband who had been a victim to such cruel weathers.” The man’s partner countered the comment made about him.
The man huffed out a breathless chuckle at his partner's counter argument. “My apologies Beloved.”
“If that is supposed to be sincere then you must think I'm a fool, for me to believe that” the man in green deadpanned.
Sirius and his cousins all laughed at the couple antics who seemed to be quite happy with their little bantering. And despite the uneasy feeling of the two Lords being more powerful than they seem Sirius couldn’t help but laugh at the two adults bantering. it was unlike all the lords and lady's in the room who showed close to no emotion.
After a few minutes the laughter seemed to have calmed down a bit, Bellatrix was about to respond towards the comment made, before being cut off by Andy.
“Oh wait, I just realized you haven’t met Sirius, have you professor?” Andromeda acknowledged catching everyone's attention.
“Ah it seems you Haven’t, have you professor?” With the sudden shift of attention Sirius quickly snapped out of his thoughts and straightened his posture, and the two men drew a quick glance at each other.
“No, I'm afraid we haven’t,” The man in white said, His voice sounded almost Angelic to Sirius.
“I apologize Professor, Sirius, why don’t you introduce yourself.” With Bellatrix's announcement Sirius quickly tidied up his appearance and with an appropriate bow towards the two lords Sirius introduced himself.
“It is a pleasure to meet you, My Lords, My name is Sirius Black Heir of the House of Black” Sirius tipped his head in greeting to the two Lords, And in Return received a small but sad smile from the Lord wearing white.
“The pleasure is ours Heir Black, My name is Henry Prevell, Lord of the House of Prevell and this is my Husband,” As Lord Prevell ended his introduction the man in green spoke up.
“My Name is Tom Gaunt, Lord of the House of Gaunt, It’s a pleasure to meet the Heir of The Ancient and Most Noble House of Black.” Lord Gaunt, unlike Lord Prevell, was more on the colder side; it seems His voice was like all the other adults in the room, Charming, only with even less interest than those seeking to use him for political clout.
“I’ve heard many stories about you Heir Black,” At Lord Prevell words Sirius felt the disappointment create crack in what little hope he had, he had thought…. Maybe the mother was correct about being deceived by one's appearance. And just as Sirius thought the disappointment would settle a different outcome came about.
“I’ve heard that you are attentive, an excellent storyteller and even more extraordinary Older brother, I do hope you are as wonderful as your cousins have perceived you as.” Lord Prevell smiled at him radiating warmth. Sirius felt a shiver run through him, the surge of emotions crazing his perfect pureblood mask.
At the blatant praise and different response than one would normally say when speaking with a Heir, Sirius was caught off guard, staring wide eyed Sirius glanced at his cousin who was smirking at him though it softened when Sirius seemed to ask her a silent question, Bellatrix nodded, still holding onto the sleeping Regulus in her arms.
“Then in all modesty I do hope you expect nothing else from me Lord Prevell, Since my cousins have perceived me to be as such to you, I wish not to disappoint you by being something entirely different.” Sirius responded to Lord Prevell with nothing but Pride swelling in his chest.
“I wouldn’t expect anything more, Heir Black, now how about you introduce me to your little sleeping star, If that sits right with you?” Sirius Hesitated a bit not knowing if that would be a good idea on one hand his cousin seemed to trust Lord Prevell but on the other Sirius had Just met the Sun radiating Lord and didn’t know if He was like Their Parents or not.
As if feeling his confliction Bellatrix turned to look at him and said.
“Sirius If you feel that Professor Henry is not one you can trust, Remember you are not obligated to introduce Leo, yes?” Sirius nodded at that, still hesitant about trusting.
“Do you trust him, Bella?” Sirius asked, if his cousin trusted this man then I would too. It is not every day that his Oldest cousin meets someone she could trust, especially with how She is often perceived as a psychopath.
“Yes, though I expect my answer should have nothing to do with introducing Regulus, hence my little Flowers have already met Lord Prevell.”
Well if she put it like that He won’t, Sirius huffed at his cousin before deciding what to do, at one point he didn’t want to introduce Regulus to the two lords because what if they are like maman and papa and Regulus ends up hurt Sirius couldn’t put Regulus through that. But on the other hand… He didn’t want to not introduce Regulus because otherwise he would be left out and even though He’s asleep right now and wouldn’t even actually meet Lord Prevell and Lord Slytherin what if one day meet each other and the two Lords spill that they have met all of the others Sirius included except him, Regulus being who he is will probably think they were ashamed of him or Something and then he’ll also be hurt.
But if Sirius had to decide then he would rather do the former because at least then Sirius had an actual chance at protecting him even if he ends up hurt to do so.
Building up his courage and hiding any traces of fear deep in the back of his mind Sirius sighed and put on a courageous Front.
“Lord Prevell, Lord Slytherin, this is my younger brother Regulus Black, Second son born after me and Second in line as the Heir of House Black.”