History Fanfic / TheBlackSheepDogSeries

It is a [[ForWantOfANail Regulus Black Lives AU]] set in 1979 (during the first war with Voldemort) where, through a series of insanely improbable events, Sirius Black ends up managing his parents and little brother in witness protection and getting strong-armed back into the family.

* MeddlingParents: Orion and Walburga (but especially Walburga) never stop trying to "straighten" Sirius's wayward ways and still attempt to integrate him into the main family as the heir proper, despite his desire to be free of them.

* DrowningMySorrows: Orion rarely consumes alcohol in excess, but when he shows up in Dumbledore's office in chapter 8, he's half-drunk from brandy, and then goes on to drink several more glasses when Dumbledore offers him mead. Considering how, by the moment, he's just spent the last couple of hours getting browbeaten by his father, arguing with his wife and having a screaming match with his son, it's not hard to see why he'd need the drink.

* AdultFear: Walburga and Orion's facade of aloofness and respectability crumbles right when they learn Regulus almost committed suicide via Inferi and Sirius was assaulted by five Death Eaters. ''In the same night''.

* AmbiguouslyChristian: Most of the characters seem to be, at least, culturally Christian. First names are still referred to "Christian name", God is mentioned here and there (and not just as an expletive), and the story occasionally allude to Biblical events as similes to describe current happenings. Sirius once even quoted the Bible while arguing with his father, and Walburga seems to believe in fate/divine providence. However, other forms of religious devotions such as prayer and church-going are noticeably absent, and the characters' personal faiths, if they actually have any, are never mentioned.
* AncestralName: The series takes the common ''Harry Potter'' {{fanon}} that a son (especially the first born) takes his middle name after his father's given name and turns this into a Black family tradition. Hence, Sirius's full name is Sirius Orion Black, while his father Orion is Orion Arcturus Black. This is played for drama as both men struggle with the burden of sharing names with a father "they could never live up to".

** Sirius's parents are autocratic and domineering, and their efforts to discipline their son can probably qualify as abuse. But they are also very concerned about his well-being and safety, and, despite their inability to honestly express themselves, they did miss him during the three years he was away, and longs for him to return home. Sirius also finds himself, to his own mortification, wanting their approval, despite his wish to dissociate himself from the family entirely.

* {{Irony}}: Sirius notes with bitter irony how his parents waste a lot of time trying to mould him into accepting his familial duties even though that's the last thing he wants, while they treat Regulus--who desperately ''wants'' the attention--as more than a little afterthought.

* JerksAreWorseThanVillains: [[invoked]] Briefly alluded to in Chapter 31 when Sirius claims he'd rather be compared to Bellatrix -- a prominent Death Eater who has probably killed many peopl under Voldemort's orders -- than Arcturus, who is rude, domineering and cantankerous, but for all we know aren't involved in the Wizarding War.