#my cousin: Evie it’s wasteful to not use the entire house

[sanasanakun]

Something I genuinely love (and am constantly astonished by) is Eastern Europeans’ ability to make any room into “an additional bedroom.” Like brother, why is there a bed in the sauna?

[demiwitch527]

The Thin Line in Between | Sirius Black x OC | Prologue

A/N: Hi, I hope you guys like it. Feel free to let me know what you guys think of the story.

Warnings: my crappy writing... 😁

Description: People always say there was a thin line between love and hate.

She was a Malfoy and he was a Black. But growing up in the same circle doesn't necessarily mean that a good relationship will blossom between them.

She was not like other girls and he was not like most guys.

They were opposites from the very beginning. They had been at each other's throats even before they stepped foot at Hogwarts.

She was his curse and he was her plague. She desired nothing more than to live up to her name and all he wanted was to escape his.

But between their families and the raging wizarding war, the clear path they were once headed has blurred and it's now up to them to decide which side of that line they will cross.

Will they choose to fight together? Or will they remain against each other?

*ALL RIGHTS BELONGS TO JK ROWLING*

"I know a girl, she's like a curse. We want each other, no one would break first."

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HOGWARTS EXPRESS ~ 1971

Sirius was sat in his compartment aboard the Hogwarts Express. He was finally on his way to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and, most importantly, he was at last far away from his parents. He could finally have a chance to be happy for a change. There was no one around to tell him how to behave, what values he should believe in, what magic he should practice, and which people he should interact with. He was free.

Sirius was chatting with James Potter, a boy he met a few moments ago. When a girl with light blonde hair walked by and caught his eye.

She was dressed in a black dress under a black coat with gold buttons, which were completely undone. Her hair had been pinned back on each side with green hair clips. She had a neutral yet slightly haughty expression on her face as she followed an older boy with the same long blonde hair that had been tied in a low ponytail. Students at the corridor began to part for them as the siblings passed by.

"Not even at the school yet and you're already checking out the girls." James teased. "You don't waste time, do you mate."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Believe me, if I were gonna check out a girl, it wouldn't be that one."

"Why?" James asked. "I thought she was kinda cute."

Sirius scoffed. "Yeah, maybe. But wait till you actually talk to her."

James arched his brows, confused. "Blimey, you sound like you know her."

Sirius knew that girl alright. How could he forget someone like her. Cold. Uncaring. Rude. Humourless. He could go on for hours. The night they met was one of the worst nights of his life.

"Isabelle Evanora Malfoy," he said. "Abraxas Malfoy's only daughter. My cousin Narcissa is engaged to her brother. Met her during their engagement ball at the Malfoy's manor."

"Ah, so she's your soon to be cousin-in-law." James said.

"My mother wants me to get close to her." Sirius said, with distaste. "She wants to solidify the merger of the Blacks and Malfoys. But there's no way I'm ever gonna go through with it."

He was no longer under his parents' roof. He could do what he wanted now. And what he wanted didn't involve Isabelle Malfoy in the slightest. 

Isabelle was quiet throughout the train ride. It was her first year at Hogwarts and her nerves were certainly getting the better of her.

"Evie..." called Lucius, her older brother. 

He sat right across from her in their compartment on the Hogwarts Express. He most probably noticed how quiet she's been since leaving the manor this morning. 

"Are you still upset about father not seeing you off for your first year?" he asked. 

"No, I'm used to it." she said, sadly. 

The great Abraxas Malfoy would never be caught dead anywhere near the King's Cross Station or Hogwarts, especially if it's of his own free will. After all, how could a Malfoy be under the same roof as the mudbloods and blood traitors that studied at Hogwarts?

Unacceptable, her father would say.

The only reason he had chosen for her and her brother to study at Hogwarts was because it was closer to home, which meant their father could keep a closer eye on both of them and of course there's the fact that there are a great number of notable pure-blood families at Hogwarts that would make for great allies and connections. But if it were up to Isabelle and Lucius, they would have chosen to go to Durmstrang Institute, where mudbloods were not admitted and all types of magic was part of the curriculum.

Their father had always taught Isabelle and Lucius the importance of blood purity and the superiority of those with pure-blood over those whose blood has been tainted with muggle blood. Abraxas Malfoy was never a very attentive father, especially since their mother passed according to Lucius, but he made it a point to educate them about the Malfoy family's values and beliefs. 

With a father like that you can just imagine how Isabelle's childhood was like. Luckily for her she had Lucius, who had always been there for her, especially when their father couldn't. He's the one person that Isabelle doesn't have to play the perfect little Malfoy princess for. But right now, there was one concern she had that she couldn't tell even her brother.

Isabelle smiled at Lucius. "It's nothing, Luci. Just first day jitters."

"Don't let father hear you say that." he teased. "You know what he always say." 

"A Malfoy must always present one's self with pride and dignity befitting the name." she said, briskly. "Don't remind me. I've been getting lectures about that non-stop for past five years since you left for Hogwarts. It was torture."

Lucius looked like he was about to laugh, when a student passed by their compartment. He immediately straightened and his face molded back to his practiced neutral expression. Not showing any signs that he was about to burst out in laughter just a few moments ago. 

The sun had already set when they arrived at Hogwarts. The first years were all led to the Great Hall where the house sorting will be held. 

Professor McGonagall, a tall, stern faced, black haired witch in emerald-green robes, started calling students one by one to sit on a simple wooden stool, that had been placed in front of the the first years, once the Sorting Hat had finished it's song. 

"Black, Sirius." Professor McGonagall called.

A boy with a slightly long dark hair and gray eyes stepped forward and sat at the stool. Some of the girls were giggling and whispering among themselves about how good looking the boy was and some of them were even from the higher years.

Isabelle just rolled her eyes. To her, Sirius Black was not worth swooning over. He was annoying and a pain in the butt. And his face nor his name was not enough to convince Isabelle that he's attractive. He wouldn't leave her alone through out Lucius's engagement ball at her family manor. And she wasn't looking forward to getting stuck with him for the entirety of her seven years at Hogwarts, if ever. She would literally go insane.

The sorting hat took a few moments on Sirius's head before...

"GRYFFINDOR!" it announced and Isabelle let out a breath she didn't know she was holding.

The table with students wearing scarlet and gold colors cheered as Sirius made his way to them.

Now all Isabelle had to do is to not get sorted into Gryffindor.

She waited patiently in the agitated crowd of first year students as the sorting continued. She turned to one of the tables in the great hall and locked eyes with Lucius, who was sitting at the table who's students were wearing the colors green and silver with a prefect badge gleaming upon his chest, but she looked away almost immediately. The brief interaction made her nervous.

What if the hat places her in a different house? She didn't know what her father would do if she wasn't a Slytherin. Her entire family had been sorted there since the founding of the school, and she was determined to not be the Malfoy that breaks that tradition.

"Malfoy, Isabelle." Professor McGonagall called.

Isabelle nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard her name. She gulped and made her way to the front of the crowd. She sat on the stool and almost as soon as the sorting hat touched her head...

"Slytherin!" the hat cried.

Yes, she thought happily. So long Sirius Black.

Her brother and the rest of the other Slytherins cheered as Isabelle joined them at their table. She sat on the bench across from her brother. Lucius just gave her a small, barely noticeable smile, but Isabelle could tell he was happy. Which was more than enough for her. 

Sirius watched from across the room as Isabelle sat with the other Slytherins. He should've known Isabelle wouldn't dare break tradition. He half hoped she would go to a different house to make her less appealing to his parents, but just his luck. Though, maybe there was still a way that he could break the perfect image his parents has of Isabelle Malfoy.

The next day, was their first flying lesson. The class was shared by the Gryffindor and Slytherin first year students. You can just imagine how fun that'll be.

Among the four Hogwarts houses, Slytherin and Gryffindor has had the fiercest rivalry of all. Stretching all the way back to the time of the four founders of Hogwarts.

Madam Hooch, the teacher who had short, gray hair, and yellow eyes like a hawk, divided the students into two sides, facing each other. Sirius stood on the left side and in front of him stood Isabelle.

Sirius was getting frustrated, he couldn't seem to get away from Isabelle. He constantly passed her in the hallways and they have almost all the same classes together.

And he thought things were finally going great for him for once. He was sorted to Gryffindor, he now has three new mates, and he kept getting sweets and all kinds of gifts from various girls.

"Stick out your right hand over your broom," called Madam Hooch at the front, "and say ‘Up!'"

"UP!" everyone shouted.

Sirius's broom flew up into his hand. He glanced in front of him and saw Isabelle call her broom with ease, almost like she'd done it in the past. The other students struggled to get their brooms off the ground. Some brooms rolled away or toward the student calling them, while some, like Peter Pettigrew's, didn't even move in the slightest.

Madam Hooch then showed them how to mount their brooms without sliding off the end. Afterwards, she walked up and down between the students correcting their grips. Isabelle was delighted when Madam Hooch commended her for easily following her instructions perfectly. But Isabelle wasn't surprised by that, she and Lucius had been taught how to fly brooms before they were even old enough to go to Hogwarts.

Across from her, she noticed Sirius rolling his eyes, when Madam Hooch complimented her. 

Oh, how she disliked Sirius Black so much. This day had been such torture. Isabelle had been very tempted to send an owl to her father, begging him to transfer her to Durmstrang. She just couldn't escape Sirius Black all day. 

“Now, when I blow my whistle, you kick off from the ground, hard,” said Madam Hooch. “Keep your brooms steady, rise a few feet, and then come straight back down by leaning forward slightly. On my whistle — three — two–”

PREEET!

Isabelle did as told and she hovered off the ground, as high as the topmost branch of an old oak tree. She was about to lean forward to get back down to the ground, when a broom zoomed past her almost throwing her off her own broom. She gripped her broom even tighter, trying to regain her balance. 

"WHOA!" said Sirius as he soared past Isabelle. 

He had only meant to slightly bump into her and make her lose her temper, since he knew for a fact that she had quite the temper, but the broom flew toward Isabelle at full speed. Sirius had barely managed to prevent himself from crashing into her by stirring the broom toward another direction. He pulled the broom to a stop and turned around to face a fuming Isabelle.

At least his plan had the same effect.

"SIRIUS BLACK!" She yelled. "HOW DARE YOU—YOU INSUFFERABLE ARROGANT LITTLE TWAT!"

"What?" Sirius taunted. "Couldn't handle getting shaken a little, Malfoy?"

Madam Hooch blew her whistle. "Black, get down he—"

But before she could finish Isabelle leaned forward and grasped her broom tightly in both of her hands. It shot toward Sirius like a javelin. Sirius only just got out of the way in time. Soon the two were in a high-speed broom chase. They could hear Madam Hooch somewhere on the ground, blowing her whistle and telling the two of them to stop.

Sirius glanced back and saw Isabelle draw her wand. 

"Oppugno!" she cast and a flock of yellow canaries flew out of the trees.

The little flock of birds sped like a hail of fat golden bullets toward Sirius. Sirius made his broom go faster. Unfortunately a few of the birds caught up to him and attacked, pecking and clawing at every bit of flesh they could reach.

"Gah!" he tried to swat them away, but to no avail.

For a first year student, Sirius couldn't believe she was already that good with magic.

"Immobulus!" They heard Madam Hooch cast.

Sirius and Isabelle were immediately immobilized in mid air. The birds that were attacking Sirius were also affected by the spell and froze.

"Descendo!"  

Isabelle and Sirius were both pulled toward the ground. Once their feet touched the grass, Madam Hooch unfroze both of them then she took both of their brooms.

"Both of you, detention after classes!" Madam Hooch sentenced. "And a deduction of 20 points each!"

"What!?" Isabelle exclaimed. "That's not fair!" She turned to Sirius with a murderous glare, he could have sworn flames would start shooting out of her dark eyes any second. "He started it!"

"I don't care who started it, my decision is final!" Madam Hooch said.

"Bu—" Isabelle tried to argue.

"No buts, Ms. Malfoy, unless you want me to deduct more points from your house. You're lucky I won't be notifying your father about this." 

Isabelle wanted to argue but she thought it best to bite her tongue. She didn't want to get a howler from her father. 

"Good." Madam Hooch said when Isabelle didn't say anything.

Isabelle wanted to murder Sirius Black more than ever now. 

You want me to play your little games, Black? Isabelle thought to herself. Fine. Let's play.

After classes, Isabelle and Sirius were in the Great Hall polishing the ornate candelabras. They were making very slow progress due to each being overly ornate. And they still had thousands more candelabras to polish all over the castle.

Isabelle and Sirius remained at opposite ends of the room, a deafening silence hung around the two. Neither one willing to break it. They would occasionally shoot death glares at each other but Madam Hooch being there prevented them from doing anything more.

Sirius was covered in bandages due to his canary induced wounds—all thanks to a spell Lucius once taught Isabelle—while Isabelle had received a lecture from her brother before she went to her detention.

But that was just the beginning of their story. Unknown to the two of them, their future held more twists and turns than either of them could have ever imagined.