The dorm
Sirius didn’t know why he did it. Why had he asked to be put in Gryffindor? His parents were going to kill him. Possibly literally. That is if his new dormmates didn’t first. Remus looked scared of him, but the Potter guy looked as if he could kill him. He knew he deserved that and more. Sure, he didn’t like doing all those things and sure he regretted them even while doing it, but he still did them and arguably the fact that he knew the things were wrong and still did them made it all worse. And while he knew he didn't have a choice, that his parents would almost certainly do worse than he had to him if he didn’t, they didn’t so they were perfectly within their rights to hate him as much as he hated himself for them.
It still hurt though. He wished they didn’t all hate him. Especially Remus. Remus who he knew he could never get anywhere with. Remus who was not only a Gryffindor (like himself now, he reminded himself) but also a half-blood. Remus who was a werewolf for goodness sake (He wasn’t meant to know that obviously, but who was Sirius Black if not observant?). Of course they were meant to remain separate, but it was Remus who he had watched from across the classroom for two years now, Remus who was really kind even to some of the younger Slytherins that had done nothing to demonise themselves yet.
Finally the feast was over. No one had spoken to him the entire time. It would be best to keep it that way really, the less he interacted with the other Gryffindors the less his mother could hurt him for it later. He followed the other Gryffindors to their common room, never having the need to know where it was himself. The fifth year Gryffindor prefect told them all the password and the fat lady, a weird portrait that seemed to guard the Gryffindor common room, swung open to let them in.
There were only three Gryffindor boys in their year (Pettigrew had already gone with the Slytherins, he thought about how hilarious it would have been to watch that play out), so they were going to all be in the same dorm, which was just great; he totally wasn’t dreading having to sleep every night for almost two years in the same dorm as Remus. He decided to try and avoid the room as much as possible. Maybe if he avoided all his problems then they would solve themselves. He and Regulus had been planning on running away for a while now, though they still had no idea where they could run to. After his birthday in November he could legally buy a house. And he had enough money from Alphard, who had died recently, so that was an option.
It seemed as if the other two boys had already chosen their beds, probably the same ones they had slept in for the past five years. This left him with the last bed, a four poster similar to the ones he had slept in his entire life, except this one entirely draped in an absolutely ludicrous shape of bright crimson that reminded him of the red of blood. He started unpacking his trunk, putting his clothes in the wardrobe provided, which was also decorated in way too much crimson.
There were posters around his bed already, he assumed they used to be Pettigrew’s, so he took them off and put them in the bin. Clearly nobody had expected Pettigrew to be changing house, but then again, he hadn’t expected to be changing either. Sure he had planned to attempt to ask the hat to put him in a different house, but he had never expected it to actually comply.
“Hey, Pete might want those back, Black” Potter spat the last word as if it were some sort of curse, as if even having the word in his mouth was an insult.
“Well he should have taken them down then, shouldn’t he?”
“How were we meant to know that he would be in a different house this year?” Potter replied.
“You should have anticipated it, it really isn’t all that hard to take a couple posters off a wall and it’s not as though this system is anything new.”
“That doesn’t mean he doesn’t want them back though.”
“He can come here and get them out of the bin if he wants them that badly, Potter, use your brain for once in your life.”
“I have a brain, thank you very much Black.”
“Really? That’s news to me, I always thought you and Pettigrew shared one.”
“Insult Peter one more time I dare you.” Potter grabbed hold of Sirius’ shirt. Sirius chuckled.
“If you’re not careful, Potter, I might just decide to burn Pettigrew’s posters and then he’ll never get them back, be thankful I just put them in the bin.”
“Calm down you two, I want to get some sleep tonight. You can argue in the morning.” Remus said in an attempt to break up the argument. It almost silenced Sirius as well, except he had a reputation to upkeep and he would not just let some Gryffindorboy who he should definitely not have a stupid crush on let him ruin that. It wasn’t that he wanted that reputation of course, but if his mother found out…
“As if I’d listen to you, half-blood.” Sirius winced internally even before he said it. He knew he had to, he had no choice, but he didn’t enjoy it. On the outside though, he grinned almost manically so that it at least seemed like he enjoyed it. He could not let his mother find out that he had actual feelings, and she somehow had eyes everywhere. He could drop the act soon, he reminded himself, he just needs to find a house and then he will be gone for good.
Remus seemed to freeze for a second, before sighing and taking his night clothes to the bathroom. James gave him a worried look as he went in and Sirius hated himself. Keep up the act, he reminded himself, what good would it do to stop now? James seemed to give up on arguing with him (thank god) and started getting changed right in front of him as if he didn’t care, which he supposed he mustn’t. He clearly has nothing to hide, Sirius thought bitterly as he waited for the bathroom himself.
Remus seemed to take ages in there, or maybe Sirius was just impatient. When the door finally opened, Sirius barged past, knocking his shoulder and muttering “took your time, half- breed” Don’t think about it, don’t fucking think about it. Remus ignored him.
Sirius got ready for bed. He didn’t bother reading or anything, there wasn’t school tomorrow as it was a Friday and there was no point having school for one day before the weekend, but he still wanted some sleep as he never seemed to get enough in his house no matter how early he went to bed. Also, timetables were still given out over breakfast even if there was no school, so he couldn’t miss that.