Chapter 1
Sirus stares out the window of the dark blue sedan listening to the gravel crunch under the wheels as the car pulls up the driveway of his new foster home. Sirius feels his stomach clench at the thought of braving a new home without his brother.
His social service officer Mrs. Mcgonagall adjusted the review mirror to stare at Sirius, she frowned sadly and said, " Sirius these are good people, I'm going to try and get your brother placed with you but it just didn't work out that way this time. Please try to do well here, I'm running out of options." She says with a touch of exhaustment.
Sirius lets a breath of air through his nose and allows a noise of acknowledgment before grabbing the trashbag of his belongings consistent with clothes and a few other things.
He finally looks up at the house as the car stops. It's a large light blue house with white shutters and a huge yard surrounding the entirety of the house. Sirius noticed the large pool peeking out from the back of the house and a garden that looked very well-attended.
He opens the door and waits for Mrs. Mcgonagall to walk in front of him as he slowly follows behind her. He waits patiently as she rings the doorbell and stands stiffly as he hears a barrage of muffled yelling before an older man with a mustache and kind eyes. Who split a smile when he saw Sirius and said, "Hello! Come in, come in"
He opened the door and invited them both into the house where a short Indian woman with an apron as well as what looked like her son was slightly bouncing in his shoes and smiling largely when he saw Sirius. The woman introduced herself, "Hi sweetie, welcome in! I'm Effie and this is my husband Monty and our son James. We are so excited to have you staying with us."
Sirus ducked his head and nodded quietly but caught James's eye and smiled at him. When the energetic boy enthusiastically returned his smile it made Sirius feel a lot better about being in a new home and it didn't seem like Effie and Monty hurt James so he felt safer than before.
Minnie ushered Sirus over to the couch and he plopped down ungracefully as she went to talk to Effie and Monty about his "issues". As always she had to tell his foster parents in detail about his birth parents and the trauma he suffered in other foster houses as well as his triggers which he thought was bullshit because it was none of their business.
His thoughts were interrupted when James plopped down on the couch next to him and stuck his hand out before announcing, "Hi I'm James Potter" with a matching grin.
Sirius felt a smile bloom on his face as his hand met James's and said, "Hi I'm Sirius Black"
Looking back on the day Sirius would remember it fondly as he gained not only a best friend but a new brother. At the time it felt childish and insignificant considering the boys were only 15 and Sirius wasn't supposed to end up living with the Potters forever but that handshake meant a lot more than either of them thought it did at that moment.
James gripped Sirius's hand harder and yanked him up from the couch, the boys began chatting and laughing while James showed Sirius around the house. James showed Sirius his bedroom, which he was in awe of considering all his other foster houses had never been as nice as this one. But James moved on quickly only briefly giving Sirius the chance to drop his things and glance around before James yanked him into his bedroom and showed him around.
James's bedroom was filled with football posters, figurines, and other cluttered things that took up space on the floor and his dresser. Sirius couldn't imagine his own mother allowing such messy things in his room. He remembered the time that Wallburga had found the figurines that his cousin Andy had given him in private for his 8th birthday and grimaced as he also remembered how she threw the toys into the fire in their parlor room after she had smacked Sirius in the face giving him a busted lip.
The two boys continued chatting and laughing while the adults had a more upsetting discussion downstairs.
Mrs.McGonagall explained devastatingly to the Potters that Sirius's birth parents had severely abused him and were arrested on multiple accounts of child abuse and neglect. She also explained that Sirius had previously struggled in other foster homes because of his past which often caused him to lash out and become inexplicably angry but also when pushed too far become nonverbal in extreme cases.
She calmly gave the Potter's Sirius file which explained a lot more details of his past including some things that previous foster homes had found that triggered him. Effie and Fleamont Potter felt deep sadness for the boy, not understanding how anyone could do that to a child let alone their own child. It broke their hearts to learn that the quiet boy they had just met had suffered so deeply at the hands of the woman who was supposed to nurture and care for him the most.
Sirius and James had fallen into a fast friendship. Mrs. McGonagall called Sirius with a shout, James and Sirus made their way downstairs to meet her. When Sirius reached her he fell into her side and hugged her as she gently rubbed his back. Minnie bent down near Sirius's ear and whispered to him that she was only a phone call away should he need her. He nodded quietly trying to push away the sinking feeling he got whenever she had to leave him at a new foster house.
He tended to switch foster homes frequently because he was "too much work" for many of his previous foster homes which just meant that they wanted a new kid who didn't have nightmares and didn't complain as much about doing labor for them. Many of the foster parents in the system were only really in it for the money and tended to neglect the children. Sirius knew this all too well which didn't dull the worry he was fighting for his younger brother Regulus.
Sirius and Regulus had faced their birth parents together their entire lives. They were a team. Sirius only had Regulus and they had been ripped apart a couple of months ago when they both got sorted into different foster homes. Sirius had thrown a screaming fit and fought tooth and nail to get his brother back but to no avail.
Sirius felt sick to his stomach every time he thought about Regulus. He felt like a part of his soul had been cut out with a sharp glass that had left him bleeding out slowly ever since but no one noticed or listened to his pleas. He and his brother did nothing without the other, it was always the way it had been. Sirius was supposed to protect his brother and he couldn't do that anymore.
Sirus had found out in the car this morning that although Sirius had been placed with a new home his old foster home still had Regulus which stirred a deep urgency within Sirius to get his brother back. His old foster parents had made him and his brother, along with the other foster kids they had, do manual labor all day around the house with barely any food given to them. It was common for them to be punished and beaten while they were living there.
One time Sirius had accidently broken a couple of plates and in return, he had been smacked across the face so hard he had a bruise in the shape of a handprint for weeks, along with being locked in the closet for two days as punishment. Sirius worried endlessly for his brother who was smaller and more mean than he.
Regulus was younger and smaller and appeared more timid than Sirius but when he opened his mouth he found himself in a lot of trouble. He had a tongue of a snake that lashed out at everyone. He tended to keep it under control as he was better at getting out of trouble than Siriius but without Sirius there to watch over him who knows what could have happened in his absence.
Sirius vowed to get his brother back no matter what.