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September first, nineteen-seventy one

"WHY COULDN'T BELLA COME?" Perenelle asked, looking up at Andromeda as she held tightly onto the older girls hand, Vaudeline and Narcissa walking behind them with their mother through the bustling platform of nine and three quarters.

"She's married now Pera, she wanted to, but, you know how it is, her and Rodolphus are their own family now" Andromeda answered, squeezing Perenelle's hand.

"You won't do that, right?" The eleven year old asked, already dreading the idea that her sister would most likely be engaged by the Yule holidays, and married fresh after graduation that summer.

"Never" She winked, dropping Perenelle's hand as they reached the scarlet train, and their aunt Walburga— with Sirius and Regulus in tow.

It seemed that just like her own, Sirius' father was too busy to attend as well.

"Good morning girls" Walburga drawled, her grip tight on both of her son's shoulders, and Perenelle had to fight the urge to laugh at the look of grimace on Sirius' face, as though he was simply itching to escape his mother.

Perenelle understand, as she too was ecstatic at the thought of finally joining her sisters at school, even if Andromeda and Narcissa were in seventh and fifth year, respectively.

"Es-tu agité Sirius?" Her mother asked— in French, and Sirius nodded, a Yes aunt Druella leaving his lips in english, making both of the older women purse their lips.

Are you excited Sirius?

Perenelle knew that that was Walburga's doing, as though the Black's were English they had supposedly come from Normandy however many years ago, and having a sister in law from France meant that Walburga didn't need to hire a tutor for the language the Black family held so esteemed.

"We should go then" Andromeda said, before her aunt Walburga could get another word in, or possibly start an argument, which was something the witch often liked to do.

After Sirius, Perenelle, and her sisters gathered their trunks from Kreacher and Silky— their house elf, the five Blacks boarded the train, waving goodbye to their mothers and young Regulus.

"Will you sit with Vaud and I?" Perenelle asked Sirius as her older sisters left to find their friends, planting a kiss on each of their heads- much to Sirius' annoyance, and the boy nodded in response.

"Obviously, where else would I go"

"—Are you two coming or what? You're blocking the aisle!" Vaudeline huffed from ahead, lugging her trunk behind her.

The two cousins hurried after her, before settling in an empty compartment.

"It feels quite real now, don't you think?" Vaudeline asked, her smile wide as she tucked a piece of blonde hair behind her ear, and Perenelle nodded, her face in the same expression as she practically bounced up and down on the seat, Sirius on the other hand held a more somber expression as he sat across from the two sisters.

"Have you guys, I don't know" He began, "Have you ever thought about what would happen if we weren't sorted into Slytherin?"

This made Perenelle furrow her brows in confusion, as how could that happen? Every Black to ever enter Hogwarts was sorted into Slytherin, there wasn't another possibility.

"I don't tend to dwell on things that won't happen" Vaudeline shrugged, and Perenelle nodded beside her, though her expression was one of uneasiness,

"It's not possible Sirius" She began, "You know this, every Black i—"

"—Is sorted into Slytherin, I know" He cut her off, "But I don't know, what if one wasn't?"

"Do you think you won't?" Vaudeline asked, head cocked in confusion at Sirius' strange questioning.

"I don't know," He shrugged, "My mum always says I don't act right, that I'm rowdy and mis—"

"—You're one of us Sirius," Perenelle interjected, a sudden sadness creeping over her, "We'd never get separated, the sorting hat simply won't allow it"

"You're right" Sirius said, his hands suddenly more interesting to look at than his cousins, before something outside of the compartment caught his eye,

"Hey— isn't that the Prewett twins in the compartment across us?"

Perenelle couldn't help the way she had nearly given herself whiplash at the sound of Sirius' words, but she now found herself itching in her seat, straining to see over Vaudeline and through the glass windows of the compartments.

"Does it matter if it is? You know we're not supposed to get too friendly with them, not since their sister married that blood traitor"

"Vaud..." Pera said, saddened to be reminded of why the Prewetts had stopped being invited to many Pureblood events— though she couldn't even be cross with her sisters choice of words, as she could tell Vaudeline scarcely meant them, she two had been fond of the twin brothers.

"It's true" Vaudeline asserted, "You have to get over your infatuation with Gideon eventually Pera, mother and father would never allow it"

Perenelle didn't say anything, instead turning her attention to Sirius, who looked as though he was ready to bounce off of the seat at any given moment.

"It's rather unfortunate, they're nice boys... but their parents should have put their foot down when it came to a Weasley, at least that's what mother and father said" Vaudeline finished, a tone of uncertainty hanging both in her voice and the air, as Perenelle was struck with Vaudeline's brutal but honest reiteration of their parents opinions.

"I guess..."

"Well I don't care" Sirius shrugged, "I'm gonna go say hi to them— aunt Lucy said it wasn't their fault Molly ran off, are you sure you don't want to come Per?"

Pera would be lying if she said her heart didn't leap as she briefly considered it, though one incredulous stare from Vaudeline had her sinking into her seat.

"I don't think so Sirius, say hi to them for me?"

"You shouldn't even be doing this" Vaudeline rolled her eyes, shaking her head at him.

It was no lie that the two were not exceptionally close, as Vaudeline had always clutched to shy and timid Regulus while Perenelle had grown attached to Sirius, though Vaudeline's warning was one of genuine concern, as their parents would not tread lightly with rebellious tendencies, tendencies that Sirius seemed to flourish at.

"Whatever, I'll be back"

And with a final wave, Sirius left the two sisters to themselves, and Perenelle couldn't help but wonder if she should have gone with him.

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"We've arrived and he's still missing Vaudeline, what if somethings happened to him?" Perenelle fretted.

"He probably just got lost" Vaudeline shrugged, grunting as she attempted to drag the missing Sirius' trunk out from under the seat, "And when we find him I'm going to murder him for leaving us with his trunk!"

"Lost? For the whole ride?" Perenelle asked- rhetorically of course, as even Sirius— no matter what he managed to get up to, was not the type of person to somehow go missing on a train for several hours.

"Look— just give me the trunk I'll do it" Perenelle sighed, before taking it from Vaudeline, who looked about ready to collapse, "We need to go, or the train will head back to London with us on it"

It took the twins another few minutes to make it out of their compartment with three trunks between them, and when they did there was a familiar looking girl, another first year by the looks of it, waiting for them in the hallway.

"You two know that the staff take the luggage off of the train, right?"

"I would have liked to know that about ten minutes ago" Perenelle huffed, sitting on her trunk in defeat, "Would have saved us loads of trouble"

"And now I'm sweating!" Vaudeline fretted, fanning her hands at her face.

"I'm Marceline, Marceline Avery, your sister sent me to come find you" The brunette answered, and both girls instantly realized who she was.

"Oh! We met two summers ago, at the Fawley's ball!" Perenelle exclaimed, standing up to shake Marceline's hand.

"Your manor neighbours Guinevere Bulstrode's, right?" Vaudeline asked, as the three girls began walking towards the exit and onto the platform.

"Yeah— my mum sent me off with Guinevere, which is exactly why her and your sister sent me off to find you"

"Well it's a good thing they did" Perenelle quipped, "We would have missed the sorting at the rate we were going"

"Why did you guys have three trunks anyways?" Marceline asked, and Vaudeline rolled her eyes, going on a tirade before Perenelle could even get a word in,

"Our cousin, Sirius. The jerk took off and left us with his trunk! How inconsiderate co-"

"We think he got lost, and I'm awfully worried" Perenelle cut off her sister, her eyebrows furrowed in concern.

"Well surely he's over there" Marceline said, pointing over to the group of first years beginning to board small boats, and Perenelle's relief was cut off by the realization that they were meant to get into the boats.

"—Narcissa and Andromeda never said anything about boats!" Perenelle panicked as she attempted to catch up to the two girls, who were now skipping over to the group, "How are we meant to cross the Black Lake! Narcissa told me there's a squid in the—"

Only Perenelle cut herself off, because boarding the next boat was Sirius, though he wasn't frightened like she had expected him to be after having gotten lost, no— instead he was laughing, a boy with round glasses and unruly hair to his right, joking with each other as though they were best mates.

Perenelle tried to ignore the crushing feeling in her stomach as she boarded the next boat with her sister and Marceline.

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"How could this happen?" Perenelle sobbed, rubbing her hands at her eyes as Andromeda ran her fingers through the eleven year olds hair, the Slytherin common room practically abandoned on the late September morning.

"Father said that all Black's are Slytherin, they've never been anything else and now he won't talk to m—"

"Shh, it's alright Perenelle" Andromeda sighed, holding the crying girl to her chest, and Perenelle melted into her grasp,

"N-Narcissa said we mustn't speak to him anymore, but I don't want to ignore him" She hiccuped, tears coating her cheeks, and Andromeda made a quick tutting sound, patting the young girls head, "I-I went over to tell him that I wasn't going to ignore him, and h-he told me to go away!"

"Oh you silly girl— Cissa does not mean it like that, family is everything Perenelle, she only means we mustn't speak to him for now, he's no doubt scared already, no?" Andromeda paused, "Imagine how Sirius must feel to be separated from us, he's already worked up, you understand, yes?"

"Yes" Pera sniffled, wiping at her cheeks as Andromeda let her go, before pulling her in by her hands until they were face to face.

"I don't think he likes me anymore Dromeda, What am I go—"

"—Sirius is going through a tough time right now" Andromeda cut her off softly, cupping Perenelle's cheek.

"I can't imagine aunt Walburga and uncle Orion are very happy with him, just give him time Pera, he'll come around— I promise"

And Perenelle nodded, leaning back into Andromeda's embrace, the sound of the fireplace crackling masking her sniffles.

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authors note:

lol remember my announcement on my profile earlier saying there probably wouldn't be an update anytime soon... anyways

don't worry guys, there is only one more chapter from Perenelle's childhood (it will be the summer after first year) and then we get into the good stuff, but I just want to set the family dynamics for you guys cause I love them so much.

poor Pera, I feel for her but I also feel for Sirius </3 and I'm sorry if you guys think Vaud is a bitch LOL I love her but you guys will grow to later...

until next time, Jess <3