chapter
↳ one
moodboard
↳ red & green

-

Mildred Yoon hated the colors red and gold. Perhaps it was the fact that they clashed so harshly against each other. Perhaps it was because they were fit for a palace interior, and not the den of an old Scottish country home. Perhaps it was the fact that she was surrounded by those colors every day, and with them, the virtues they represented.

Gryffindor was the home of the brave and the daring, and Millie didn't belong there. She never had, although her family refused to believe it. When she and her brother first attended Hogwarts, however, it was set in stone. Millie was never a Gryffindor. She was a Slytherin.

This was okay with the young eleven year old, who thought snakes were cool and a common room under the lake was a great accommodation. She was excited to tell her parents that she wore green robes to class every day, unlike the red ones her twin brother donned. Her excitement quickly evaporated when her parents wrote back, telling her that the Slytherin house was a disgrace, and people who were accepted into that house never came out the same. They turned into bad wizards, Millie was told.

She wanted to argued back every time they said something against her house. What about Merlin? The greatest wizard of all time, who did nothing but good for the wizarding world? Wasn't he a Slytherin? What about professor Slughorn? He's super nice and helps me after class. He makes potions fun.

They sent letters to Dumbledore, requesting that she be put into Gryffindor, or at the least, Ravenclaw. If she couldn't be brave, she could at least be witty. When Millie found out about the letters, she was devastated. Her parents would never understand her unless she was in Gryffindor. They would never try. While her brother received praise and gifts, she was warned to stay out of bad crowds and to make friends with other houses instead of her own.

Millie never wanted to be on her parent's bad side. She lied her way through her years at Hogwarts. Instead of telling them about all the friends she made, she'd tell them how horrible every Slytherin was and that it truly was a mistake for her to be associated with those people. Instead of excitedly writing about how well her quidditch team was doing, she would rant about how Gryffindor definitely should've gotten the win.

As soon as she arrived home for the summer, her green robes were stored in the bottom of her trunk and her torso was covered with her mother's old Gryffindor sweaters. She would fake it and act like Gryffindor was all she wanted. How Gryffindor was the house she longed to be in, and red and gold were the colors she longed to wear.

In reality, she hated Gryffindor with a passion. She hated the scarlet color of blood and the golden color of a galleon. She preferred her emerald: the color that looked just like the murky waters of the black lake during a sunrise. She preferred silver, and the way her similarly colored ring would glimmer in the sun whenever she went outside. She didn't belong with the heroes in red. She didn't belong with those who thought they were kings wearing their golden-striped ties. She belonged with the outcasts in green. She belonged with those who came from hardened families and broken love. She belonged with those who had families who would never understand, and never care to.

It was better that they didn't know, she assumed. She was entering her sixth year, and they still had no idea that she loved Slytherin house with all her heart and hated Gryffindor with a boiling passion. They didn't know that she had friends, and was the star beater on her quidditch team. They had no idea that she was a top student in potions and helped tutor Slytherin first years when they didn't understand the material. They would never know how much she hated Gryffindor. Just looking at someone from that house could get her blood boiling. The fact that those no-good arrogant brats thought every Slytherin was on their way to serve You-Know-Who really irked her. In reality, Millie knew so many Slytherins that weren't interested in being evil. She knew Slytherins who wanted to be muggle doctors, wizard lawyers, and hogwarts teachers. They weren't all evil, and yet that's all her family saw.

For some reason, her family never noticed how horrible the Gryffindor house could be. Nearly every boy in her year thought he was better than everyone else. Nearly every girl would scoff if a Slytherin even dared to walk near her. Her parents had the same mentality, obviously. They hated Slytherin with a passion and wanted to make sure Millie hated it too. Every day they made jokes and rude comments, jesting towards her house and Millie would laugh along. Beneath her laughter was a level of pain, knowing that they were actually talking about her, even if they would never admit it. They wouldn't even acknowledge that their daughter was a Slytherin. They never took into account the fact that maybe, just maybe, their daughter could be a wonderful person and still be a part of the Slytherin house. They judged everyone's virtues and morals based on their house's morals. Apparently Slytherin had no good morals. Apparently ambition and passion were nothing to her parents. Apparently true loyalty and the ability to say no were virtues people shouldn't have. That's what it felt like to Millie.

Benji knew. Benjamin Yoon was the only exception to the family. Millie's twin brother took care of her subtly. Despite his constant puns and jokes, he knew his sister genuinely liked the Slytherin house and he was content with that. He helped her hide her house pride from her parents, and kept them off her scent with his dubious amounts of praise and awards from his professors. It wasn't that Millie wasn't smart, and couldn't receive praise. It was just that any awards from Professor Slughorn seemed as good as dirt to them. Millie's accomplishments often went unnoticed by her parents. Unless she somehow helped Gryffindor get the glory, no one seemed to care. Her parents simply loved to act as if Millie wasn't a Slytherin.

And it hurt.

-

Sirius Black hated the colors green and silver. They stood for everything he stood against. They reminded him of the past. They reminded him of his home, and the horrors that went on behind closed doors. They reminded him of prejudices and people who believed in belittling others because of blood. They reminded him of his brother, and how they had separated.

The past summer he decided that he hated it too much. It was time to leave the dark colors of green and silver and slip into the warm embrace of the Potter's home. Mrs. Potter didn't decorate her home with the colors of any Hogwarts house, more because she found them tacky for a living room and less because of long-held grudges. Instead, her home was basked in the glow of the yellow sun, feeding into the open curtains and shining into the laminated floor.

Sirius found out very quickly that the Potter's had rules and there were certain things that wouldn't be tolerated. As much as the Potter's supported Sirius and his individuality, Mrs. Potter preferred he get his hair cut over the summer ("Since it's so hot out there, dear"). She also preferred he didn't smoke in the house, although she wished he would quit that habit altogether. What she didn't know is that he did smoke in the house from time to time, up in the attic where James kept all of his art supplies. While Potter painted flowers on a large canvas, Black blew toxic smoke out of the triangle-shaped window.

Sirius had a lot to learn after moving in to the Potter's home. His biggest and most profound revelation was that not every parent punished their kid with degrading words and harsh backhands that would make your cheek sting for days. No, apparently some parents were content with a simple chastisement—maybe a grounding or a restriction on his favorite music for a few days—and nothing more. There were no tears to be shed in that house, save tears of happiness every time Sirius stopped and remembered that this was real.

He was here, being loved and cared for by two of his favorite people in the entire world. Three actually, if you counted James, who certainly did not want to be left out of that ranking and would be the first to tell you that he loved Sirius more than anyone else in the wizard and muggle world alike.

Sirius loved red and gold just as much as he despised Slytherin's colors. He knew exactly why, too. Under the flags of those colors, he was allowed to be himself. He was allowed to believe what he wanted and fight against what he thought was wrong. He was able to find true friends, and he wouldn't trade the marauders for anything less or more than he had now. He was under a house that promoted bravery and honor, things that Sirius hadn't even known he had until the sorting hat made him aware.

There had been so many things to learn at Hogwarts. The biggest thing being that it was nothing like he had been told as a child. Muggleborns were some of the sweetest people in the world, contrary to his father's beliefs and compatible to Peter Pettigrew's worried gaze whenever one of the marauders weren't eating properly. Muggleborns were also perhaps the fiercest people he had ever witnessed, for Sirius had never seen anyone talk to James the way Lily Evans did, and it both fascinated and infuriated him as to how she could be so downright unafraid to say whatever she pleased whenever she wished. He also realized that half-bloods weren't the offspring of deranged wizards who would taint their own blood so easily, as his parents had before instilled into his mind. No, if every half-blood was as brilliant and brave as Remus Lupin, Sirius was sure even his parents would admit they were indeed wrong.

Then there was James. He, along with Sirius himself, was something the Blacks had always referred to as a blood traitor. They were both purebloods who dared to be acquainted with muggleborns and halfbloods. They were people willing to throw off the blood lineage for something as trivial as love. Sirius took pride in the new life he gained after staying at Hogwarts. He took pride in knowing that he could finally, freely be himself with no fear of being shamed for it.

Now, going into his sixth year, Sirius couldn't wait to finally breathe in the air of Hogwarts, with a scarlet emblem over his heart, where it should always be.

The thought thrilled him.

-

a/n

so it begins

hopefully you guys will see how my writing has improved since muse. at least i hope it has.

this book will probably have slow updates, since i'm working on a lot of other projects right now, just a heads up.

tell me if you like it so far,
dest xx