Sirius Black: Family Relations
Third part of The Sirius Black Headcanons Series. Enjoy!
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Walburga:
Walburga and him... he used to love her. When he was a child, he was her beloved son, her little starlet, her smart and intelligent and brilliant boy. She doted on him, gave him whatever he wanted, was a good mother.
They used to spend time together in the evenings when Sirius did not have tutoring— Sirius would play the violin, and Walburga the harp. They were both obsessed with music, and all their discussions would reflect their vast knowledge about it. Sometimes, Walburga would teach Sirius how to weave magic into music, and Sirius was an excellent student. He picked everything up on the first try.
But as he grew older and started forming opinions of his own, Walburga started resenting him for it. He was not just similar to her in behaviour, he was exactly like her. They expressed their emotions in the same way. They argued in the same manner, they talked, walked, reacted, everything: they were exactly alike. Sirius, however, didn't have the same views as she did. He had different, independent opinions, and Walburga did not like it, and arguments turned their bond sour and hurtful rather than loving and safe.
Sirius started resenting his mother for trying to curb his freedom, for yelling at him, for not even trying to listen to him. He started disliking her because she refused to even consider his wants and his thoughts, and he started hating her when she called him a disgrace to the family, when she started calling him the shame of her flesh and blood.
And yet, they both still loved each other. They loved each other but could not stand each other's presence, and Sirius knew that distance between them was the best option for the both of them, and he ran away. Walburga blasted him off the family tapestry as a show of disownment, but she could not bring herself to disinherit him.
(a little drabble on Walburga's character)
Orion:
Orion was... a distant father. He was a barrister and a businessman, and was always off on international trips and client meetings, and was rarely ever home. However, he was a loving father.
Sirius' favourite memory of his childhood and early teens is Library Time with his father. Whenever Orion returned home from his long business trips, he would always spend at least one full day with Sirius, holed up in the library and reading books and exchanging opinions. Debates, discussions, queries and doubts, book recommendations, they talked about everything.
Orion was less rigid than Walburga. He understood that every human would have different opinions. Sirius would get angry at him for calling people Mudbloods, he would sharply remind Sirius that his was not the task to try and change Orion's habits. However, Orion never begrudged Sirius his views and values. In this, he was a Slytherin: better keep some subjects undiscussed, he thought, than lose his son because of his own foolishness.
Sirius respected Orion, to a certain degree. Orion was smart, sharp and shrewd, with a brain that could keep up with a thousand different things at the same time, and Sirius admired that intelligence. Walburga always said that Sirius got his brilliance from Orion, and Orion always said he got it from Walburga. Father and son's debates were always a treat to witness— both of them had extensive knowledge and both of them used that knowledge to their own gains. It was always a toss up who would win the debate.
Before Sirius ran away, he dragged Orion into the Library for the last time. There, he calmly told his father that it was impossible for him to live with people who were adamant on castigating him for his independent values, and that he was leaving the house whether the rest of the family liked it or not. Orion understood that Sirius was talking about Walburga, and promised him that he would be left alone. He also promised to keep Walburga away from him.
After Sirius ran away, Orion stopped going on business trips. He worked in London itself, and would spend hours and hours holed up in the library, thinking about Sirius. They still kept in touch; a letter or two, once in a blue moon, until Orion died.
Sirius attended his funeral under James' cloak, refusing to come face to face with Walburga even now. Orion might have been a distant father, but he was a loving one, and Sirius would miss him.
Arcturus:
Sirius' grandfather was the one who doted on him the most. He was Sirius' favourite person, and after Arcturus retired from the Wizengamot, they would spend the days together, going to bookstores, watching Duelling Tournaments and Air Polo matches, going to Quality Quidditch Supplies for the lastest brooms, going horse-riding. Whatever Sirius wanted, Sirius got.
Their Days did not stop or pause— the minute Sirius returned from at Hogwarts, Arcturus would kidnap him from his parents and they would spend the day going all over London, buying books that Sirius wanted and watching a match or two. Throughout summer holidays, they would spend at least two days a week together.
When Sirius ran away from home, Arcturus flat out refused to disinherit Sirius whenever anyone brought up the subject (read; Pollux and his wife).
The reason Arcturus did not try to get Sirius out of prison was that he was fully convinced Sirius did murder the muggles and Pettigrew. Of course, he thought it absolutely laughable that people would believe Sirius would ever betray James' trust, but he was convinced that Sirius did rip Pettigrew to shreds in revenge, and that the muggles were collateral damage. Unfortunately, laws about using magic on Muggles were rigid, and Sirius would not have been let go. (He had no idea Pettigrew was the one that killed the muggles.)
Sirius mourned his grandfather's death in prison, and visited his tomb after escaping.
Melania:
Melania died when Sirius was nine, but she doted on him just as much as Arcturus did.
She got Sirius his first violin at the age of four, and was his first music tutor. They would spend the early mornings on Tuesday and Thursday together, and Sirius was always determined and meticulous when it came to learning.
They would make a game of sneaking into the kitchens for sweets, giggling and shushing each other even though everybody knew they were aiming to steal the tiramisu that was meant for the evening. They baked together, and Sirius learnt how to cook from her— both Walburga and Arcturus complained that neither of them needed to know how to cook because they had house elves, but the two of them ignored mother and husband and did whatever they wanted.
Her death impacted Sirius very heavily, and he spent the weeks following the funeral shut up in his room, dragging his bow over the strings of his violin, playing with his eyes dripping tears and his heart aching, fingers bleeding red all over the strings.
Regulus:
Sirius doted on Regulus from the very start. He was the best oldest brother— always giving the last piece of chocolate to Reggie, combing his hair in the mornings, playing violin alongside Melania to get him to sleep, buying little sweets and books and trinkets for Regulus whenever he was out with his grandfather.
Regulus adored Sirius. He would follow Sirius around everywhere, babbling away about this thing and that, and Sirius would always entertain his rambling. They spent hours pranking everybody in the house, and Sirius would read bedtime stories for him.
Regulus was also jealous of Sirius. Sirius was smart, he was brilliant, he was strong and handsome and athletic and the apple of everyone's eye and Regulus.. was not. (That's a lie, everyone doted on him too, he just thought the world of Sirius and assumed everybody else did the same because how could they not?)
When Sirius sorted Gryffindor and Regulus Slytherin, things changed. Regulus made other friends, and he started to get annoyed at Sirius for his values just like Walburga. They argued and fought and turned away from each other, and over the years stopped thinking of each other as brothers.
It all came to a head when Regulus got the Dark Mark. They rowed for days, screaming matches behind closed doors of abandoned classrooms lasting hours on end till Regulus flounced off and Sirius was close to crying because his baby brother was destroying his own life and he had no idea what he had gotten himself into.
They stopped talking after that.
Regulus' body was never found, and Sirius did not attend his funeral. However, he did mourn the loss of his once-brother in his own way— he played all of Regulus' favourite musical pieces every night for months afterwards.
