Tales > B is for Black

B is for Black.

Five-year-old Sirius knew that because his governess told him so. She taught him the letters of the alphabet, patiently awaiting him to echo each letter back. Sirius’ governess taught him a way to remember them and know them all by heart.

A is for Apple, red and delicious; Its sticky juice always covered Sirius’ chin and hands by the time he’d finished it, licking his lips and smiling a little boy smile. A sweet tingle lingered in his mouth and hoped he could have another.

B is for Black, the family Sirius belongs to, always pure. ‘Too-joors Pur’ Sirius learned to say that when he was three. He laughed when he was finally able to pronounce it perfectly and continued to repeat the phrase for several days afterwards, proud of what he’d accomplished.

C is for Chocolate, chocolate frogs. Sirius’ favorite treat, another thing that got all over his face and his hands when he managed to get a hold of one. It was yet another thing his governess helped cleaned off of him, gentle hands covered in a warm washcloth, talking to Sirius gently while she wiped the gooey stuff from his little fingers.

D is for Dog Star, the star Sirius was named for, burning bright in the night sky. Sirius had taught his younger brother where it was, once he’d found out where to find it. “Look, look, Reg’lus! See that? That’s my star!” Then Regulus, barely three and always wanting what Sirius had, cried and cried until he discovered he had a star of his very own.

E is for Edgar, the name of Sirius’ imaginary friend. Regulus took up all of his parents’ time after he was born, and one day Sirius found Edgar. He was a shorter than him, he’d told his governess, but that was only because Edgar was younger. He was very good at finding hiding places and adventures. They would spend hours in closets, searching though all the little nick-knacks, exploring the library, the attic, everything. Before Edgar’s trip to Egypt he’d given Sirius the pocket watch he’d found in one of the dressers in the guest bedrooms. Sirius kept it in his pocket and took it everywhere, even though he didn’t know how to tell time.

F is for Father, strong and brave. Sirius always fancied that his father should have his own storybook; after all, the kings in his storybooks were all strong and brave, too, and his dad was probably even stronger than them. His governess had laughed when he told her but said ‘Wouldn’t that be lovely?’ and told him to wash up for dinner.

G is for Goblins that scared Sirius. His governess put a comforting hand on the side of his head when he grabbed the hem of her skirt and hid behind her leg. She was getting money at Gringotts to take him to Flourish & Blotts. Afterwards they stopped for ice cream, where the she’d asked him if he had been scared. Sirius shook his head and proceeded to tell her, chocolate ice cream collected in the sides of his mouth and upper lip, “M’not scared of anythin’.”

H is for Hippogriff, the only thing Sirius asked for when his fourth birthday approached. He told his parents he’d take care of it, that he would feed it. He wanted to fly with one, a little boy who thought he could take care of himself, even if he couldn’t button buttons or zip zippers right. Sirius pleaded and pleaded and pleaded but the answer was still no. But they said that he could have an owl when he was a little older. But it still wasn’t a hippogriff.

I is for Icicles that drip, drip, dripped, outside of Sirius’ bedroom window every winter. He hated being sick, so full of energy and so adventurous that it was hard to confine him to one place, but he’d watch the icicles drip, drip, drip for hours when he was. They were glistening spirals of ice that Sirius can’t quite figure out. His governess tried to explain how they were formed but the starry eyed boy didn’t seem to accept it. It had to be magic, some sort of magic he had never seen before.

J is for Jam; Sirius liked the strawberry kind. He liked it on his toast. He liked it in his oatmeal. Sometimes when someone left a jar out accidentally, he’d scramble over and stand on his tip-toes to reach the precious thing. Sirius would sit on the floor, legs folded neatly underneath him, and twist and twist and twist the top until it opened. He’d dip his finger in, bring it to his mouth, tasting the sweet strawberry preserves he loved so much, and think “Look, I can get it myself!”

K is for Kreacher, the house elf. Sirius used to have a bad habit of pulling his ears, the grumpy little thing a little shorter than him. He was Sirius’ living, breathing play thing until Kreacher ripped the tail off of his stuffed dragon and let out a nasty snarl when the boy poked him. Sirius didn’t like Kreacher very much after that.

L is for Lunascope. Sirius could never say that word right, and after awhile everybody became accustomed to him pointing to the colorful model, standing on a table in the library, and calling it a Lun-na’scup. His father had to put protection charms on it after Sirius had touched it one too many times and Regulus had started to as well, getting sticky smudgy finger prints all over it and moving Jupiter’s moons out of alignment. The boys’ hands would turn a vibrant shade of purple if they touched it after the charm was put in place. Once, out of boredom and curiosity, Sirius decided to touch his nose to the Lun-na’scup and giggled at the site of purple.

M is for Mother. She liked Regulus better. The phrase “Mummy’s busy right now, Sirius.” became common after his little brother was born, even though Sirius’ governess could have taken care of him as well. No, Sirius’ Mother would not let any one near Regulus for a good two years, taking care of him herself and suffering whatever she had to suffer. Sirius wasn’t sure whether he was happy or sad about it. For one thing, he didn’t have to share his governess, but for another, Regulus didn’t have to share their mother.

N is for Nina, his governess’ name. Sirius wasn’t allowed to call her that because his mother said it was rude, but sometimes he did anyway. Whenever his mother had gone out of the house he would. Most of the time he just called her Governess, but when he could he called her Nina because it made her smile.

O is for Orange, Sirius’ favorite color. It was the color of Governess’ owl, Orion’s eyes. Orion’s pupils were pitch-black and his body was white; the orange stood out completely. Sirius liked him. He was allowed to pet Orion as long as he wasn’t carrying messages for Governess, and sometimes Sirius was even allowed to feed him. His beak sort of tickled the boy’s palm and he’d giggle, but he made sure all of the grains were gone before he took his hand away. Sirius didn’t think Orion would like that.

P is for Pumpkin. The first time he noticed them they were lined up outside the shops at Diagon Alley. Governess told him they weren’t ordinary pumpkins, they were jack-o-lanterns, for Halloween. Sirius stared at them for a long time, carved faces lit up by candles that never went out. He had to be carried home because he was so tired from running around and making up stories about each and every one.

Q is for Quiddich. Sirius thought that was a funny name. He didn’t know anything about it until he stumbled upon a picture of it in one of the Grown-Up Books in the library. The picture was black and white, faded, but he could tell the players were having a lot of fun. He wanted to fly on a broomstick. He wanted to play Quiddich. He wanted to win. Governess told him that he would have to practice a good deal to win a game of Quiddich, so he told her that he would. “And then you can cheer and tell me how strong I am,” he said in a cheerful tone, jumping off the chair he’d been sitting in. He took the book with him and Governess had read the whole thing, cover to cover, to him by the end of the week.

R is for Riddikulus, the spell Governess used on the boggart in Sirius’ closet. He had thought one of Gringott’s terrible Goblins had gotten into his room when it burst out, and he ran behind the skirts of Governess as she opened to door. Sirius saw it turn into a vision of his own mother shrieking, “Leave! Leave!” before she said the incantation loudly and clearly. There were tears in her eyes as the boggart withered away but she smiled and told him it was alright.

S is for Sirius! They both laughed when she said that, before Governess tickled his tummy and told him he should be able to remember that letter easily enough.

T is for Troll, the smelly dumb things in Sirius’ books. He’d always had the best troll-voice when Governess read to him. It only suited them, a low and stupid voice. Sirius reckoned he could handle one of them, but Governess didn’t seem too fond of the idea of him going off to find one, so he didn’t.

U is for Unicorn, Governess’ favorite animal. She told Sirius all about the time she’d seen one up close, and how blue its eyes were. It was soft and she said she had not known that something could be that white. Sirius just stared at her, with his tongue stuck out a little. Unicorns were pretty, and therefore, of no interest to a little boy.

V is for Vampire, something Sirius was interested in. When his cousins visited he always wanted to play Vampire. Sirius was the Mighty Vampire Hunter. Bellatrix, Andromeda and Narcissa were victims, usually, or sidekicks, but usually Regulus was the sidekick. They normally used an unsuspecting house-elf for the vampire, because the house-elves were supposed to do what they said, and it was easier to win that way. Once Sirius told Regulus to be the Vampire and he’d cried because he didn’t want to be the bad guy. His mother had calmed Sirius’ brother down before she told him to be the Vampire Hunter. Sirius told her, in a less that courteous manner, that he was always the Vampire Hunter and was promptly told to go sit in his room.

W is for Werewolf. Except for the vampire, it was Sirius’ favorite creature. He wanted to know everything there was to know about them. He asked Governess to help him find books about them. The majority of the pictures he drew had werewolves in them. Sirius wanted to be a werewolf; he thought it would be neat. But, for some reason, Governess didn’t think it would be.

X is for X-tra. This was because Governess couldn’t think up a good example, so she told Sirius is was sort of like an extra letter, one that not many things used but it was still handy to have around. That made sense to Sirius.

Y is for Young. That was the point at which Sirius interjected “That’s what Regulus is!” and Governess tousled his hair. Then she leaned close to him and asked “Do you want to know what the last letter means?” and he nodded eagerly.

Z is for Z’s, sleep. “And that is what you shall do now, my Sirius. You will sleep.” Sirius groaned, boyhood anticipation slightly faltered by Governess’ answer to what Z was for, but accepted her kiss on his forehead anyway before nestling into his bed. And she sat next to him, smoothing back the hair that fell onto his face, like it always did, and watched his eyes flutter (open, closed, open, closed.) until he was asleep. Twenty-six new letters with twenty-six new explanations floated in the little boy’s mind…and his governess, his Nina, wished she could stay with him forever.