Intended

[twenty nine]

Relations in the Black household have always been volatile at best. There are too many people, too many pretenders. The fights arise over the pettiest of reasons, and Sirius is thankful for the way he is shunned because he need not be dragged before the family now and be forced to take a certain side. He can hear his father shouting from below and the distinct rumbling that must be his uncle's reply, but he is not bothered...

After all, since he is no longer considered good enough for the family, none of this could concern him at all.

The knock on the door shatters this illusion. He glances up to see Regulus peering sullenly into the room, his face little more than a passive mask. It makes him look like an automaton, nothing more than a doll, moving on orders that he does not agree with or understand.

'They want you downstairs.'

Sirius is startled by this announcement, almost as much as he is surprised by the mere fact that Regulus has come to deliver it... surely, it can't be that important? He pretends to be nonchalant, to not care, but his heart beats a little bit faster as he gets off his bed and walks towards the door. What he cannot hide, however, is his curiosity.

'What for?'

Regulus coughs loudly. 'You'll see,' he says, his voice betraying his obvious edginess as he turns, marching out of the room and clattering down the stairs. Sirius follows reluctantly, taking the steps as slowly as he can. Something in Regulus's voice has unsettled him, has made him wary of what he is being called for; he can feel a knot of dread forming in his stomach and he tries to push it down, to ignore it because he does not want anyone to know he is nervous.

When he reaches the door to the family room, he pauses. The voices that float through the door sound angry, furious, and he can hear his name being mentioned again and again. He raises his hand to knock, but lowers it again when he hears another name being mentioned with almost as much anger as his own, a name that makes him start and glue his ear to the door in an effort to hear more.

'I won't have this. Andromeda is my daughter!'

'But we can't do anything! They both signed the parchment... for either to break the vow would ruin us all!'

'I am truly sorry. But I won't have her Intended for that boy. He's a disgrace. Look at what happened to Alphard... and the boy's turning out to be just like him, mad about Muggles and other filth! He's a shame to the entire family,' Sirius hears his uncle say, and he has to bite his tongue to stop himself from shouting back a reply. He feels his skin growing cold as his father and his uncle continue arguing, each word making him shake with anger.

'There is absolutely no way to break this. The parchment has been signed and sealed and is indestructible. It can't be changed, ever.'

'Then we shouldn't have made the bloody arrangement in the first place!'

'I didn't know he would turn out like this! Besides, it's not like your daughter is much better-'

'Don't you go pointing fingers at my daughter!'

'Then stop this nonsense. They are bound, and there's nothing we can do to change that!'

'I don't care. I want Andromeda out of this relationship.'

'It can't work! Do you know what happens when a blood contract is disobeyed?'

'No, but-'

'Then all involved perish. It's not just the one who breaks the contract... both of them, as well as any other that dares to have a hand in whatever they do will die!'

'That-'

'That is the way it's been written out. If you marry off Andromeda to someone else, despite her already being Intended... then you all die, simple as that.'

'And what about revoking the contract?'

'The only ones who can do that are the Intended themselves. Unless each absolves the other, they are bound until death.'

Sirius smiles darkly when he hears this, stepping away from the door. He stares down at the ring he wears, then holds his hand to himself, protectively shielding the ring from view, and from anyone who might take it.

He will never give it up, never. He will not allow himself to lose Andromeda to another, for she is all he has left.

*