Melancholy || Harry Potter's twin brother

1: Chapter twenty one

Sirius and his friends had been revising in the grounds, it had been a few weeks since the announcement of the exams and they were getting closer, when Sirius realised that he had forgotten one of his books, and he had run out of parchment to write notes on. He had gone inside to get it, when he ran into his brother and his friends.

"We need to tell you something." Harry said at once, Sirius sighed and wondered why it was always him.

"Go on then." Sirius sighed, but he didn't comment on the fact that he really didn't want to know, so he just waited for them to tell him, they would anyway.

"Remember we told you about the three-headed dog?" Ron asked, Sirius looked at him with a frown.

"Maybe, I've slept since." Sirius shrugged.

"And you know we told you it was guarding something?" Hermione added, Sirius sighed.

"Yes, and you think Snape wants to steal it, I remember." He agreed.

"We think he's going to steal it tonight Sirius!" Harry told his brother, who sighed again.

"I doubt it, but go on." Neither Harry nor his friends looked happy that Sirius was doubting them, but Sirius didn't care, he was starting to think they were going crazy.

"We need your help to stop him." Hermione finally said what they had been building up to asking him.

"No you don't, because no one's stealing anything, okay?" Sirius sighed and tried to push past them, but they stopped him. "A bunch of first years won't do anything to stop him anyway, go and worry about something worthwhile."

"Siri please, we can't do this without you." Harry begged.

"What do you think I can do that will help you?" Sirius asked, they all looked at him with a sigh.

"Sirius, you know how to do things that we don't, we saw you and that blonde Ravenclaw duelling, if we need to fight you can help us." Hermione told him.

"Her names Jane, you weren't supposed to see that, we were just trying it out. We were bored, but that's not going to help you, you think I could fight someone who actually knows what they're doing? Do you think you can? Don't risk your lives for a theory." Sirius advised them.

"Sirius, please help us." Ron added, all of them were begging him to help them, and he knew they wouldn't stop, and if he did go with them, and showed them that everything was fine, then they wouldn't keep trying to do stupid things like that.

"Alright, alright, I'll do it. I'll help you with your stupid made up quest, happy?" He sighed at them.

"Thanks Siri, meet us outside your common room at eight." Harry unexpectedly hugged him and then the Gryffindors left, leaving the Hufflepuff boy wondering what he had got himself into.

He felt someone grab his shoulder, and spun around to find Ollie stood there, he sighed in relief.

"You're lonely most of the time, aren't you?" Sirius asked him sympathetically.

"I have friends." Ollie rolled his eyes.

"Ollie, Jane and I don't count." He said with raised eyebrows. Ollie said nothing. "You need to socialise more."

"Can we talk about this later, there's more urgent things we need to talk about." Ollie said urgently. The younger boy nodded.

"Sure." He said, then he frowned. "Are you okay."

"Sirius! What made you agree?" Ollie asked, Sirius frowned at him.

"What? I don't know, I just thought maybe they'd shut up if they realised there was nothing there." Sirius shrugged.

"Sirius!" Ollie sighed angrily. "You've just put yourself into so much danger."

"What are you talking about? There'll be nothing there, except one of Hagrid's weird animals." Sirius said to him, frowning at the older boy.

"Sirius someone is going to steal it, it is a stone that can create the elixir of life, you know who wants it. So does Aro, he's asked me to get it for him." Ollie explained. Sirius sat down.

"Oh." He sighed.

"If he finds you down there, he will punish you." Ollie sat down beside him.

"What does he want the elixir of life for? I thought he was already immortal." Sirius frowned.

"It can create gold as well." Ollie told him.

"Oh."

"Sirius there's a chance he might summon you tonight, if he does and you don't show up, you'll be in even more trouble. I know they all but forced you to agree, but he won't care. He'll beat you, probably. If he's really mad he might kill you." Ollie said.

"Ollie what do I do?" Sirius whispered, he was beginning to worry.

"You can't go with them tonight, whatever happens, you can't go with them." Ollie warned him, he nodded.

"Okay." He nodded.

"Stay safe." Ollie patted his shoulder and left, leaving the boy sat there stunned, stunned and with his stomach full of dread. What the hell was he going to do?

He sat there for a while, contemplating everything, why did he have to be chosen by Aro? Why couldn't he just be normal, or at least be able to help his brother out. But no, one way or another, someone might consider killing him. And he was having such a good day.

He got up and continued towards his common room, unaware of the bearded old man with half-moon glasses, who had watched the whole exchange. All of a sudden, the old man disappeared.

When Sirius re-joined his friends, he found himself a part of the most intense study session he had ever had, but it would help him to pass, so he didn't mind that his brain felt like it was going to explode afterwards.

Later that afternoon, as Sirius put away his books, before going down to dinner, he found a note on his bed. He didn't recognise the handwriting, but his heart sank as he read it:

Sirius,
meet us in the forest tonight.
This is not optional.

This put him into a tough position, he hoped at least if he went to get the stone with Aro, he could hide so Harry didn't see him. He didn't want his brother to know his fate. But he didn't want to let his brother down either, but Aro scared him, and he knew Ollie was right when he said he might kill him. Sirius didn't want to die, his parents had risked their lives for his and Harry's lives, well maybe just Harry's the story didn't make that much sense to him, the point of his thought was that he did not want to die.

He still wasn't sure what to do, but he doubted things could get any worse.