Chapter 8

He licked the side of the ice cream cone, as the ice cream was about to drip down the side of the cone again. His hands were only getting sticky at this point. He had never been a fast eater, nor did he think he would ever be, a habit he brought from his past life to his current life.

For some reason, after his mother had passed away it felt like he had taken a few paces back but now his mother was not dead as he had assumed her to be.

He wasn't even sure what to do with the information he now held.

Once again, he was walking down the streets of Diagon alley alone. After he had gotten the twins, Fred and George ice cream, they were elated and somehow, they were able to finish the ice cream before he had a chance to get a taste of his bubble-gum ice cream flavour, they had suggested he should get since he had trouble deciding on a flavour.

It was his second time having ice cream in this current life of his and if he counted the number of times in his past life, it would amount to 10 times altogether.

As the three of them had come out of the ice cream shop, they were stopped by a woman, a woman who had the same red hair as the twins. It was obvious they were related. She began to scold them for leaving her side and he had just stood to the side watching it all occur.

Her loud voice only irritated him, he really did try to tune her out, but it failed.

As they were getting scolded, they interrupted her to introduce their new ''friend'. He wasn't sure where they got the idea that they were now friends… he was pretty sure that wasn't how friendships worked but he didn't say anything. He didn't exactly know what to think of having friends. Her stern gaze then shifted to him, as he was watching it all occur.

In his past life, he barely had any of them. Friendship is something akin to having a mutual trust between each other, supporting each other whether from the front or behind, they would always have your back, but that wasn't the type of friendship he ever had.

It just felt like a mutual agreement to hang around each other, if given the chance they would stab each other in the back, whatever would benefit them. They all had their reasons just as he himself had his reasons for doing so.

He couldn't say he was 'rich', nor could he say he was poor- well he could, he practically was. It was his father that had money, which they didn't bother sharing with his own child- although, after the man's death, he was able to inherit the fortune as his father's only kin. If he had known, he would be able to inherit his father's fortune then the man's death would have occurred much earlier.

He barely had anything to wear to school let alone have money to buy ice cream occasionally.

It was right there and then as he stared down at the ice cream, he was realising how different his life was from the other. No, not different because there was magic, but because he had a family that cared, at least more than his past parents did.

He wasn't poor, no, he was rich. An heir to an old family, a rich and influential one, not only that but he was also closely related to another influential and rich family. With that now in mind, he was going to embrace it as a whole.

He had always been careful when spending, it was a habit he was now going to get rid of.

As the twins introduced him to their mother, she took one long glance at him and he knew then and there that she knew who he was, not Leonis Black but Sirius Black's son, by the way, her face turned sour, eyes narrowed dangerously at him.

Her stare lingered on him, he smiled nonchalantly. He was used to this by now, the stares, the whispers the pointing of fingers. His smile turned into a grin. Yes, she didn't see him as Leonis Black, maybe she didn't even know his name. All there was for her to see in his face was potentially the next Sirius Black, a murderer, a betrayer, a death-eater.

Once he saw her glare, the only word that appeared in his mind was 'pathetic'. Why condemn a child for the actions of their parents? It made no sense. The world truly is a strange place, with strange people.

She said nothing but dragged the confused twins away. As they disappeared through the crowd, he knew that the twins would be told to stay away from him. He had sighed and hoped it wouldn't always be like that.

Eventually, he will be able to make a name for himself, a name that would outshine the fact he was Sirius Black's son, but his own person.

He felt a firm grip on his shoulder, the hand being on his right side. He turned his head to face them, knowing who the slender hand belonged to.

"Leonis" her voice was calm as she said out his name, with a hint of relief.

It was his aunt.

It seems it's time for him to return back now.

What he didn't notice was from the very same street was a man staring at them. The scars on his face are the very same as the ones Leonis would have remembered from the day his mother 'died'.

As Narcissa guided him away, she turned to her right, only to send a glare at Remus Lupin. She had noticed how the man had moved towards her nephew. She knew who to trust and who not to trust and Remus lupin was not a person she deemed worthy of her family's trust.

--

Once again, he found himself at his grandmother's home not the reason most would think for. The woman was insufferable, he could never understand her action nor the reasonings she would come up with. One second, she would be scolding him for the smallest mistakes, then the next she would be showering him with praises for being 'smart'.

The woman completely refused to see Sirius Black as his father, not for the reasons some others would think of but the sole reason that she detested the man. Yet she was grateful to him for one that and that was for producing a pureblood heir, he had heard her once.

In all his time of being in this world, beginning to finally understand all the terms used he still didn't understand the reasoning behind them.

He disliked the woman, she was too controlling, but it didn't matter anymore seeing as she could no longer try to control him. There is only little one could do from the grave.

She was dead, yet her presence still haunted the home she left for him. He really thought he wouldn't have to be around her anymore after she was gone, but surprise, surprise… her portrait was hung up on the wall. He didn't really see the point of having a funeral when he had found out her portrait had been hung up.

Besides it was no secret that most people that had attended the wedding only did so out of courtesy. He snorted at the thought of any of them actually caring for the woman. He himself wasn't even sure if he truly did care for her, with the lack of tears and emotions he had during her funeral or even when he had been told she had passed away. His first reaction to being told she was dead was nearly speaking out loud, 'Why are you telling me?'

Although he really didn't expect for her to leave him the house in her will, he had thought it would just go to lord Black, his great grandfather, but no, it was his, strangely enough. The place itself was creepy enough but now even creepier with his grandmother in one of the halls.

The thought of owning his own house had never occurred to him but there he was now in his new life, age 6 with a house in his name. Even if he did need to wait 11 more years for him to have complete access to it, it was still his.

Maybe he could use it as a hunted house and make some money out of it… now that was an interesting thought. It would be easy enough to scare the muggles, with flying objects, a creepy-looking elf shouting at them for filthing the noble house of Black with their presence, the talking portraits. He nearly let out a laugh as he was stood in the corner of the house where people walked past sending their condolences. He was curious how his grandmother would react to the 'filthy' muggles. That would truly be a sight, besides it wouldn't hurt to make some extra cash, especially with October being around the corner.

He sighed out of boredom as he watched the 'guests' mingle with each other. He stood there still wondering why they even bothered coming in the first place. He was honestly still trying to understand why they were in the Grimmauld place; the funeral had already been held in a different location now they were back here… was it supposed to be a celebration? He wasn't sure, it was his first time actually attending a funeral.

With another sigh escaping his lips, he pushed himself away from the wall he had been leaning up against and began walking away from the room. He escaped into the hallway, with no other person- he was wrong, he heard loud footsteps following his lead, with the sound of the steps he knew who exactly it was.

"Drake" he sounded out and continued walking.

He heard the boy groan, and the steps move quicker, before he knew it the blond was standing in front of him with a frown, "How did you know I was behind you!?" he exclaimed. They were standing in the hallway.

"You never exactly quiet when walking… were you trying to scare me?"

"Um… I suppose? But that doesn't matter, where are you going?" Draco changed the topic.

Leonis shrugged in response, he wasn't sure where he was going. He hasn't really seen much of the place, seeing as he barely visited and if he did, he would stay in the lounge area or his room and of course he had seen his grandmother's room but that was all he has properly seen of this place.

"Exploring" he blandly responded as he began walking once more towards the stairs that were right ahead of them.

"Ah, then I'll go exploring with you too! You know I don't even understand why I have to be here; she was your grandmother not mine; I could care less that she's gone now" Draco spoke out nonchalantly. As he said, she was his grandmother and here he was being insensitive, not that Leonis himself cared.

He rolled his eyes at his cousin's words, "You do realise you were related to her as well, your great aunt to be precise."

The blond's face scrunched up, "I never liked her, nevertheless, she was also making comments about me." He snapped out.

Yes, that was true, there was never a day in Draco's presence that she would make a comment. He wasn't sure why she wasn't a fan of the Malfoys. There were times she would mention how his mother had- was- is a Malfoy. He started to believe it was due to the fact they had French roots a thing she didn't like about himself either.

He was pretty sure the only thing his grandmother actually liked about his mother was the fact she was a pureblood. He was sure things would have gone differently if his mother had been a mudblood- muggleborn, he honestly wasn't even sure what the difference was between the two words, he just knew they both described a person without magical parents.

His mother had occasionally said 'mudblood', with few words of the word muggleborn in his precense. If his father did mention them, it was always muggleborn he would say.

Great-Grandfather Arcturus usually said muggleborn, while his Grandfather Abraxas would say mudblood, in his vile tone.

"But I suppose it's not too bad, mother allowed me to have sweets today. She is always so strict about it; I don't understand why." Draco continued speaking, practically bouncing as he walked. He could understand why his aunt tried to stop him from having them often.

He looked to Draco as he spoke, only now he realised he hadn't seen the boy in at least a month now and there he was chatting away like always. He nearly let a snort out when he noticed the new hairstyle his cousin seemed to have. His hair was slicked back, it really took all his willpower not to burst out laughing the longer he stared.

Not once did his cousin not want to be like his father, his uncle Lucius Malfoy.

"-Have you had a sugar quill before?"

"No Draco I haven't- oh wait, I actually have. My grandfather got some for me yesterday, I ended up having about a hundred, they were fantastic" his voice was laced with sarcasm, while Draco's eyes seemed to light up.

"Really!? A hundred, that's like- like... a lot? Wait… you're lying, aren't you?"

With a smirk on his face, he replied to his cousin, "Am I? why would I lie to my favourite cousin?"

"I'm your only cousin!" Draco was quick to reply.

"No, you're not. There's my cousin Bellatrix who got herself locked up in Azkaban, yes… I can just feel the love from here, maybe she's my favourite, she never asks me stupid questions. Ohh and then there's your mother she's also my cousin, I would definitely put her above you on the favourites lists."

Draco didn't bother himself to respond, he wasn't sure what to say to that as his face scrunched up.

"Oh, and there's also that other cousin of ours, I'm not sure of her name but she's Aunt Andromeda's daughter and of course Andromeda herself" he then added.

Draco narrowed his eyes, staring at his cousin, "Our aunt Andromeda? I've heard of her, and she's not our aunt she's a mudblood lover, a filthy blood traitor so her daughter doesn't count as a cousin" Draco responded haughtily as he held his head high proud of his purer blood.

He internally groaned at the words, "And where in Merlin's name did you hear all that?" he spoke out grabbing onto his cousin's shoulder unexpectedly making him look him in the eyes. Draco met his cousin's stern gaze and knew he did something wrong again.

"…From, um my father?" the boy readily answered.

"Right, of course, you heard it from Uncle Lucius. We might as well call you Lucius Junior" He sighed and removed his hand.

"Don't call me that!" His cousin snapped.

Leonis in turn rolled his eyes, "Oh? And why should I heed your demands?"

"Because I'm not- I'm well because I'm Draco not my father."

"Then Draco why don't you just be yourself and not your father- think without the first thing that comes to mind 'what would father say' you are your own person" Leonis responded nonchalantly as he waved a hand dismissively leaving Draco behind as he continued of walking.

The blonde stood with a small frown staring at his cousins back, then he promptly spun on his heel walking away.