Chapter Text
Cassiopeia was only 8 years old when she knew that her family was strange.
Not in a way where she would shun Sirius or Vega, who had insisted she called her Regulus for reasons Cass didn't quite know yet, but more in the way she just knew they entire family were very, very different.
—————
The Blacks have always been different, although most pureblood families were different in the way her family was.
They would act cold and distant in public, watch their every move to make sure they did nothing wrong but in private they softened around the edges, less harsh and more involved. They weren't perfect but nobody expected them to be.
The Black siblings grew up in this unusual limbo of starved affection. They learnt that although their parents cared they didn't know the right way to show it.
Cassiopeia never could hold a grudge against her parents for it. She learnt to know the expectations and societal norms of her society. She tried her best not to be judgmental about how she was raised because despite the fact how detached Walburga and Orion was she still knew she was cared for.
But not all her siblings felt that way, she knew how Sirius felt about their parents parenting choices. Mad, angry, furious even, she knew that Sirius wasn't satisfied with how they were raised, but she just assumed that he would grow into understanding the way she did.
She was very wrong.
—————
The first time she notices a strange difference between her siblings is during a playdate with another pureblood family set up by their parents.
Sirius had immediately gone to socialise and say hello to the other two children, a girl and a boy with striking blonde hair and fairly tanned skin.
He had darted away from his sisters and Cass really couldn't care less, neither Regulus nor her particularly enjoyed social interaction much.
The two Blacks who were behind continued walking towards the two, Cass not exactly particular to running and Regulus not wanting to do something Cassiopeia didn't do, even though Sirius was far further ahead than the two.
Unwilling to give up her egregiously slow walking, Regulus tugged her sleeve silently asking to catch up to Sirius. Cass, who has by now learnt that her younger siblings are evil monsters with (not) magical manipulation skills, Cassiopeia speeds up, her walking turning into a light run to fulfill their wishes.
Once the two reach the other children, despite Sirius being the most social of the three, it always seemed to fall on Cassiopeia to introduce them to new people, the vague thought appears in her mind but she leaves it to deal with later.
“Hello, I'm Cassiopeia and these are my Siblings, Sirius and Regulus, it's nice to meet you…?”
In the middle of her sentence she realises that she actually doesn't know these kids names yet, which makes Cass incredibly confused because she swears she was told them. Forced to leave her introduction open-ended, she looked at the two, mainly towards the girl who seemed to be the most outwardly social of the two.
“Pandora! And this is Evan, he’s my twin brother,” Pandora chirps, she enthusiastically gestured towards her brother.
The blond boy was moving out from behind Pandora, doing a slight wave while doing so when Pandora gestured to him.
Cass notes down how her assumption of Pandora being the more social one appears to be correct, Evan seems to be a little anxious, similar to Regulus, with how she's half hidden behind Cass’s body, Cassiopeia being the ever loving older sister, throws Regulus into the lions den, gently nudging her forward. Maybe two socially anxious people will get along, well maybe in her dreams.
—————
Against what Cassiopeia thought, Evan and Regulus seem to be getting along really well.
She can tell that this comes as a surprise to Sirius and apparently Pandora as well, who appears pleasantly surprised that they're getting along so well, she can tell Sirius shares the sentiment with them.
While Regulus and Evan talk about whatever they're talking about, Cass and Pandora are in an incredibly interesting conversation about how wand wood types affect the magic of the user when she realises how uncharacteristically quiet Sirius has been.
She knows that Sirius wouldn't find her conversation engaging but she tries to include him anyway with the failing result of Sirius going more quiet. Cass has always known Sirius was far more outspoken than her or Regulus.
It was an almost unspoken rule, Sirius was the social one, Regulus was the quiet one and Cassiopeia was the middle ground. It was strange but it worked.
It was practically never that they broke out of those distinct molds, and it wasn't like they were desperately thrashing against them for freedom.
Cass thought it might have something to do with how they grew up.
Sirius was raised as the heir of the family with Cassiopeia being raised as the representative for the lady of Black, Regulus had less expectations of her, they already had Cassiopeia to be their lady of the house and therefore let Regulus do whatever she pleased which you would assume led to a more loud personality but no. It was strange.
Eventually the playdate comes to an end and Kreature comes and to collect all the children from the courtyard, the Rosier twins and the Black siblings gather themselves with varying levels of quickness.
Cass believes she's incredibly quick, even though she fiddled with her outfit since she was sitting for a while. It's not a crime, okay?
Once the visiting children leave, Cassiopeia completely forgets about the strange differences between her siblings, she supposes it's just all mindless noticing.
It's not like it particularly means anything.
She was far more focused on the conversations she had with Pandora anyway.