Shades of Black

Author's Note: Well, this drabble is not the original Part II of this short story collection (and was not, actually, written to be a part of it in the beginning). This drabble is several months old, and was originally written for the "Mythology O.W.L. class" on the MNFF forums. The prompt for it was to write about the relationship between Orion and Sirius, as the topic of study for the week was on Orion. Also, an edited version of this drabble managed to take Third Place in the May Monthly Drabble Challenge on the MNFF forums, of which "Orion Black" was the topic. Now, I present for your enjoyment, Nightmares.

~**~

Nightmares

~**~

"I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father's protection."
~Sigmund Freud

~**~

A full moon shone brightly through the open window of a tall building in London. Its light fell upon a young child who could not have been older than four years old. The little boy was tossing and turning in his bed, evidently plagued by horrible nightmares. With a sudden jerk, the boy woke up, sitting up in bed and holding the blankets close to him.

The intense silence of the boy's bedroom made his fear intensify, as the thought of the nightmares was still fresh in his mind. A dog's loud bark from outside caused the boy to jump and, forgetting about what his mother had told him about staying in his room, he got up and entered the long corridor outside of his bedroom. His younger brother's room was just across from him, and his parents slept further down the hall, but he was not going to go to either room.

Instead, the young boy turned left and headed towards the top of the stairs that descended to the main room of the house. The boy could hear the voices of his parents' guests as they floated up the stairs. A high laugh sounded, and the boy gave a slight shudder at the voice of his aunt. He would be in trouble if she caught him out of bed tonight - his aunt would be sure to tell his mother - but he did not care.

Suddenly, a door to his right swung open.

"Sirius?" a voice said, and the boy turned slowly around, his eyes meeting those of the tall, proud figure in front of him. Orion Black had thick, jet black hair and steel-coloured eyes - both qualities of which were mirrored in his son. "What are you doing out of bed, son?" he asked.

Sirius Black did not respond to his father at first. Rather, he asked a question of his own.

"Is Mother with you?" His voice was quiet.

Orion sighed, now knowing the reason why his son was awake. "Another nightmare?" he asked, and as Sirius nodded in reply, Orion stepped out of the doorway and motioned for his son to follow him into the room. When Sirius hesitated, his father responded in a gentle voice, saying, "Your mother is still downstairs, Sirius." The young boy trailed behind his father into the room, which was basically Orion's study, and sat next to the elder wizard by the crackling fire.

"What happened in the dream, Sirius?" Orion asked, pulling his four-year-old son into his lap. "What was it?" Sirius laid his head on his father's chest and mumbled out a reply.

"Monsters," he said.

"But you know, Sirius," said Orion, "you have no need to be afraid of the monsters; they can't hurt you." The only reply to Mr. Black's words was the continued crackling of the orange flames in the fireplace. "There are not any monsters around here, and besides, you're more powerful than they are, Sirius."

"Not in the dream," the young boy whispered, most of the words getting lost in Orion's robes. "In the dream, the monsters won, and they got me and Regulus."

Orion wrapped his arms around his son and whispered into his ear. "It was just a dream, Sirius," he said. "That's all it was. I promise that the monsters cannot get either you or Regulus here." When Sirius made a motion as to respond to his father, Orion continued. "Do you remember the stories that I told you the last time you woke up?" Sirius nodded, his eyes meeting their reflection as he looked up at his father.

"Yes," he said.

"About the powerful wizards of the ancient empires who chased all of the cruel and evil monsters from their lands, saving all of the people in the villages? And how they were honoured and praised for the courage and bravery that they showed in facing the dark creatures that no one had ever dared to approach? And that their names have been documented through countless histories and families since that time, many, many centuries ago?"

"Yes."

"Do you remember some of their names, Sirius?" Orion asked his son, who buried his head back onto his father's chest.

"Alexander was one," said Sirius, "and Rafael, and . . ."

"And 'Sirius' was another of those wizards," finished Orion. His young son glanced back up at his father's words. "That's right, son. Your name is the same as one of those powerful wizards, and it is also the name of the brightest star in the night sky. Remember?"

"I know."

"So you see, son," whispered Orion, "you have nothing to worry about with the monsters. They fear you, Sirius; you're a Black, after all - one of the greatest Wizarding families in the world - and the monsters know that. They know that you belong to such a powerful family and heritage; the monsters know that you are much stronger than they are."

No small voice responded to the elder Black's statement; the only sounds were those of the fire's flames and that of slow breathing. "Sirius?" muttered Orion, and he looked down at his son.

Sirius's eyes remained tightly shut, his head against the strong chest of his father, and his chest rising and falling with his calm and peaceful breathing as he slept. A small smile came across Orion's face as he stared at the sleeping child on his lap and, careful not to disturb the young boy, he rose from his seat and carried Sirius back to his bedroom.

~**~

Author's Note: Well, I hope you all enjoyed that. Like I mentioned earlier, this was not the original "Part II" of Shades of Black, but I decided to post it here anyway, as it works better with Sirius's age at this point than posting it later would.


Also, I chose to portray Orion's and Sirius's characters as such for several reasons, but the main one of which is that Sirius, at four years old, hasn't really done a great deal to turn his family against him. At this point, it seems reasonable - to me, anyway - that the Blacks have no dislike towards him, and vice versa. Sirius is also portrayed as being frightened mainly for the reason that he IS only four years old, and I could see him being like many children and being a frightened child at moments; this is just one of those moments. Orion, as well, has so little known about his character that it's impossible to definitely say one way or the other how he acted. We get hints in OotP and such that Sirius's mother was horrible, but as for Orion, VERY little is known about him.


Anyway, thank you all for reading, and please, let me know your thoughts.

~Megan