Chapter 1
Sirius woke up by a loud bang. He sat up straight instantly and cursed his eyes for not getting in focus faster. He was used to a bit of noise in the morning, bit it was never this bad. His door was open and his younger brother, Regulus stood in the doorway.
"What the fuck is wring with you" he murmured. Regulus eyes shot wide open.
"I'm telling mummy you said that" he said. Sirius growled.
"Reggie please, I didn't mean it. Why are you in my room" he said, hoping to convince the other boy to stay quiet.
"You've been summoned for breakfast" Regulus said, shrugging. Sirius rolled his eyes.
"Come on, mummy will kill you if you miss your first day of school" he begged when Sirius didn't make an attempt to get out of bed. This caught his attention. He'd totally forgotten it was leaving day.
"I'll be down in a sec" he said and closed the door behind Regulus as his brother left the room. He shot into his clothes and ran downstairs. He stopped to catch his breath and straightened his back before walking into the dining room. His father gave him a silent nod and his mother pressed her lips into a thin line.
"You're late" she spat. Sirius let his head hang down.
"I'm sorry, mother" he said. Kreacher, their house elf, served him breakfast and he ate in silence untul the elf returned.
"The driver is here" he announced.
"Very well. Sirius, get your trunk." His mother's demanding tone would always be enough to get him to his feet. He knew better than to go against her, but the urge grew with the day. He was glad he'd be finally off to school. He went to get his suitcase and passed Regulus in the hallways. He looked scared.
"Reggie? Just one more year. One year and you can join me at school. I need you to be strong, okay?" He said, holding his brother's face. The little boy nodded. He was only a year younger, but he was so much more fragile, so much smaller.
"Can I write you?" he asked. Sirius nodded.
"Only if mom will let you. Don't do anything to displease her." Regulus nodded. Sirius opened his mouth to say more, but Kreacher apparated again with a loud crack.
"You cannot be late, master Black" he said with a bow of his head. Sirius grabbed his suitcase by its handle and carried it to the black car.
"God, who died" he whispered to himself. The driver opened his door and he got in.
The ride to the station was long and boring. Sirius fiddled with his train ticket and drummed on his leg. He had suggested to turn on the radio at least, but the driver just shook his head and so they drove trough the busy centre of London in complete silence. The closer they got to the station, the more nervous Sirius grew. He had no idea what to expect and he was so scared of making mistakes. Whatever it was he would do at Hogwarts, he knew everything would find a way back to his mother and he hoped with everything he had she wouldn't summon him home over Christmas.
"Will you find it from here?" the driver asked, and Sirius nodded. He placed his suitcase on one of the luggage trolleys and began to make his way through the station. It was packed with all sort of people, muggles mostly. He kept his eye out for people in weird robes, owls and pointy hats, but he had no luck. He had never been at a train station before so he had a bit of trouble with finding platforms 9 and 10. When he got closer though, he started noticing more and more people of his kind. Happy families and scared looking kids, looking around to see if the coast was clear and then disappearing into the wall between the two platforms. As he approached the wall, seeing if no muggles were watching, he heard a familiar laugh. It left a chill running down his spine and he yanked his head towards the sound. Bellatrix and Narcissa, his older cousins had seen him. Bellatrix smiled her insane looking smile and Narcissa pretended as if she hadn't seen him. Sirius did the same. He quickly ran trough the wall and tried to disappear between the masses on the other side. He was so busy outrunning his cousins that he hadn't noticed the lost looking boy on in his way. His trolley crashed into him and they fell on top of each-other on the ground.
"God I'm so sorry" he apologised, but the other boy remained silent.
"I was just- I mean- I eh-" he stumbled over his words, trying to find the right ones.
"It's okay" the other boy said eventually. Sirius widened his eyes.
"Really?" he said. The boy shrugged.
"Sure." He got up from the ground and helped Sirius put his suitcase back on the trolley. Sirius stuck out his hand.
"I'm Sirius Black" he said. The other boy didn't shake it.
"Remus Lupin" he said with a nod.
"First year as well?" Remus nodded again. An awkward silence fell between them. Sirius coughed.
"I eh better get on the eh train I think" he said and rubbed his neck. Remus nodded and smiled lightly.
"I'll see you at the sorting ceremony" Sirius said but Remus had already turned away. Sirius let out a sigh and went to find a spot on the train. He found an empty carriage and dropped his suitcase on the luggage rack. Outside he heard the whistle letting the students know the train was about to depart. He sat down on one of the benches and took his wand from one of his pockets. He nervously fiddled with it, causing blue sparkles to come from it. He quickly put the wand on the table in front of him. The train started moving and the door to his carriage shot open. A girl with big curly hair stuck her head inside.
"Can I sit here?" she asked shyly. Sirius considered it but nodded. The girl smiled brightly and sat down across from him.
"So exiting, isn't it?" she exclaimed. Sirius gave her a question look.
"First year at Hogwarts! Or, well I'm assuming you're a first year too, since, you know, you're all by yourself here" she said. He shot her a smile.
"Yes very exciting" he replied.
"What house do you think you'll be in? I am personally hoping for Gryffindor, but anything is fine, really" she said.
"Everyone in my family was in Slytherin, I think I might actually die if I end up somewhere else" Sirius said. The girl laughed at his joke, but deep inside he had meant it. His mother might actually kill him if he ended up not in Slytherin. He'd always been a bit of a black sheep, so it wouldn't surprise him at all if the sorting hat spat out something else.
"I was adopted by muggles so, I really don't know if a specific house runs in the family" the girl said. Sirius nodded and studied her face. She was really pretty, the yellow dress she was wearing really complimented her dark skin. She let out a squeal.
"I totes forgot to introduce myself! I'm Mary" she said.
"I'm Sirius" said Sirius.
"So nice to meet you. Want a chocolate frog?" Sirius gratefully took the frog.
"What card did you get?" he asked with his mouth full of chocolate.
"Merlin" Mary answered. They shared a few more frogs and other sweets in silence. She looked at him and burst out laughing.
"What's wrong?" he asked. She pointed at his face, still laughing.
"You're covered it chocolate" she cried out. Embarrassed Sirius wiped his face with his sleeve.
"Better?"
"Better."
Hours passed and Sirius and Mary chatted and chatted. As the night began to fall, the train slowly came to a halt. They got out of the train and were led to a couple of row boats by a big man named Hagrid. They got aboard with a few other kids and as the boats began moving by themselves, Sirius found himself looking for the boy he met on the station earlier today, but Remus Lupin was nowhere to be found. As they got out of the boats, he got Hagrid's attention and asked him about it, but the man was very vague about it. Sirius decided he knew exactly what was up, he just wasn't allowed to tell anyone. So Sirius made it his goal to find out what was the deal with Lupin. He didn't know why he was so intrigued by this boy, but his guts told him he should be. As they entered the great hall, there was still no sign of the tall boy, but Sirius was so impressed by the looks of the hall, he decided to let it slide for now. The great hall was even more great in person. He had read about it in 'Hogwarts: the history" but his imagination has done him wrong. This was the most magical place Sirius had ever seen. The first year students gathered together in front of a wooden stool on which an old pointy hat was sat. A witch in green robes began reading their names of a list, one by one. When their name was called they had to take place on the stool and she would place the hat on their head. Sometimes there was a long silence and sometimes the hat made it's decision almost before the hat was even placed on one of their heads. When Sirius' name was called, he awkwardly took place and waited for the hat to make it's decision.
"Aha, another Black," the hat began, "another Black but yet one so different from all the others. What shall we do with you, eh?" Sirius found himself with his fingers crossed, silently wishing for Slytherin.
"Slytherin you say? Are you sure?" No, Sirius thought.
"That's what I was thinking. Gryffindor!" A load roar came from the Gryffindor table, but Sirius eyes were fixated on the Slytherin table. He caught his cousins looking at him like he'd just killed their mother. He couldn't wait till the news got back to his mother.
He could barely focus on the rest of the sorting ceremony, but his new friend, Mary, was also sorted into Gryffindor and Sirius gave her a weak smile as she took place next to him. No matter how good the food from the feast looked, Sirius couldn't get anything through his throat. Some people shot him weird looks and others avoided eye contact actively, but Sirius couldn't blame them. He knew the reputation his family had and even if he knew he wasn't anything like them, how would these people know. He wasn't even sure himself how different he really was from his family. One of the prefects led them to the Gryffindor tower and while everyone around him happily chatted away, Sirius mind could only come up with different scenarios of his mothers reaction when she found out, all of them equally bad. He tuned back in with the world just in time to catch the password (fizzy worms) and stumbled into the common room with the others. A warmth he had never felt before flooded him. Even though he had never felt this feeing before, he knew exactly what it was. The feeling of home.