Chapter 2
Sirius slept in late the next morning. His roommates had already left their dormitory and he was pretty sure he had missed breakfast. He blessed Merlin when he did not find a letter at his bedside table and slowly got out of bed. He took a long hot shower and finally washed his hair again. He had trouble falling asleep last night, but when he finally did, he got a good few last hours of rest. He couldn't remember if he had dreamed, but he hoped he hadn't. He knew he had a tendency of talking in his sleep, which would be rather awkward, considering the fact he shared his room with two others. He didn't remember their names, but that could wait until later. He brushed his half long, black hair and examined the scars on his body. Most of them had healed nicely and the newer ones didn't seem to be infected. Even though they weren't that striking, Sirius was ashamed of them. No one had to know what was really going on in the house of Black. He got dressed in his school uniform minus the thick, black robes and finally left the bathroom. He didn't know the exact time he'd spent in there, but it must've been at least an hour. He mindlessly threw his pyjamas on his bed and got ready to leave the room, grabbing a book from his suitcase, when he noticed someone on the bed that had been empty the night before. He nearly jumped when the boy turned his head towards him.
"You" Sirius said, and pointed with his finger. Remus Lupin smirked.
"Me" he answered.
"Where were you last night? What are you doing here?" Sirius said, accusingly. Remus raised his hands in innocence.
"I got sick during the train ride, spent the night in the hospital wing. This is my room" he said defending himself. Sirius frowned.
"How did you get so sick all of a sudden you had to spend the night at the hospital wing" he said, one eyebrow raised. Lupin frowned.
"I don't see why that would be any of your business. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to use the loo" he said. Sirius sighed, Lupin was right. It was none of his business. He watched Lupin disappear into the bathroom and left the dorm room to go outside. He wandered trough all of the students outside, hoping to catch the last few days of summer and enjoy their last free day before lessons would start. The nature around the school was beautiful and Sirius found a nice spot under one of the trees in the grass. He sat down and started reading his book, but got soon distracted by a group higher years.
"You're Sirius Black, aren't you?" one of them said. Sirius nodded. The girl stuck her hand out.
"I'm Lena. Welcome to Gryffindor! We're honoured to have you" she said with a wink. Sirius didn't know what to say, so he just smiled at them.
"Aw he's shy" a boy with dark curls said.
"Frank shut up. He's been here for a fucking day" one of the girls said. Lena rolled her eyes.
"Whatcha doin'?" she asked him. Sirius held up his book.
"Reading."
"Ah, I get it, we'll leave you alone. But just know we'll be here if you need anything" she said and winked again. She turned around and her friends followed her at her heels. Lena looked over her shoulder one more time, but Sirius barely noticed it. He hid behind his book. He thought to himself how weird that conversation had been. He started reading again, the sun burning in his neck. The thin branches of the tree didn't provide for much cover from the sun. It was warm out and Sirius was glad he was only wearing his button up and trousers. He pitied the students walking by, dressed in their thick, black robes. The book he was reading couldn't quite grasp his attention and he soon closed it again and closes his eyes, leaning against the tree. He must've fallen asleep, because when he opened his eyes again, most students were gone. He went to check his watch, but remembered he left it inside when he found his wrist to be empty. He quickly got up and brushed off the dirt sticking to his clothes. The moment he stepped inside the smell coming from the great hall hit him. His stomach made a sound, he hadn't eaten all day. He followed a group of students he hoped were also on their way to dinner, the map of the castle they were given yesterday was in his drawer upstairs. He sighed with relief as the great hall came into sight. He took place at the Gryffindor table, next to what he thought to be his roommates.
"Hi Sirius" the blond one said. Sirius just smiled at him, looking around at all the foods he could choose from.
"Peter, pass me the salt please?" The boy with the dark hair and glasses said. The blond one, Peter, passed him the salt, knocking over Sirius' cup filled with pumpkin juice. The orange liquid drenched the front of his shirt and left a nasty stain on the white table cloth.
"Gosh I'm so sorry" Peter squeaked, ready to jump and run away at Sirius expected outburst. Instead, he just awkwardly stared at the small boy.
"Wow can our mr. Black not even hold his drink without spilling it?" a bitter voice sounded behind him. Sirius turned around in annoyance only to find Remus Lupin behind him.
"What's your problem" he asked. Lupin raised one eyebrow and shrugged.
"Sirius I swear, I'm so sorry" Peter repeated.
"I think he gets it, Peter" His friend said. Peter looked down at his hands ashamed. Sirius let out a big sigh and looked longingly at the food in front of him and then back to his stained shirt. In the end he grabbed one of the chicken wings and left the great hall.
Sirius got most of the pumpkin juice out by just rinsing it with water, but it left an orange tone in his shirt. His first year spell books didn't teach him anything about cleaning and at home the house elves used to wash his clothes, so he just threw the shirt into the laundry basket and hoped for the best. He considered showering for the second time that day, but decided it would only be a waste of water, he'd do it tomorrow, before their classes. He could bear to smell like pumpkin for one night. He still spent a considerate amount of time in the bathroom, and by the time he got out the other three boys had returned. On his bed sat a plate stacked with as many foods as it could hold.
"Thought it was the least I could do" a bright red Peter said.
"It's fine" Sirius said, as he dug his teeth into a jacket potato. This time around he could actually enjoy his food. The shock of the sorting ceremony had sat and since he hadn't had a letter from his mother yet, he had mostly forgotten about it. It wasn't until he had halfway finished his plate when he finally looked up and found the other boys sitting on the bed next to him, staring as if he were a zoo animal being fed.
"What?" he said.
"You look like you haven't touched any food in days" the boy with the glasses, who's name Sirius still didn't know, said. Sirius just shrugged.
"I slept through breakfast and probably also lunch so."
"Yeah James, not all of us stuff ourselves during breakfast leaving us full and nauseas for the rest of the day" Peter said. James. Got it. James shot Peter a look of thunder but the other boy didn't seem to notice it. Remus remained silent, but Sirius caught him grinning at the bickering between the boys.
"Wha classes do we haf tomo'ow" Sirius asked with his mouth full. James got out his schedule.
"First period transfiguration, after that charms and history" he said.
"Has any of you already done some reading? I started in my history book but god it's boring" Remus said. Peter shook his head but Sirius nodded.
"It's not technically a schoolbook but I've read Hogwarts: a history over the summer" he said proudly. Remus let out a small 'ah' and an awkward silence dawned over the room. None of them said anything until James strategically yawned as loud as possible and shoved the others from his bed. Sirius put his empty plate besides his bed and watched as it magically disappeared. Despite growing up in a magic family, the magic at Hogwarts felt so,,, different. It felt warm and welcoming instead of the cold and scary thing he was used to. At home everything felt static, old, unreachable. Here at Hogwarts it was light, constantly moving, new things every time. He was already starting to fall in love with the thing he had hated all his life. The thing that gave his family power, that made them 'pure bloods', made them feel superior. The magic in his heart was growing, awaking. Regulus would love it here. Just one more year and he could get his brother from that terrible, terrible place. The longer he thought about it, the more he missed his brother. He wondered how he was holding up without him. Not that Regulus needed him, he had always been very independent and even though he was only ten, Sirius trusted him to be safe. He had been so caught up in his thoughts he hadn't realized he was still staring at the space where the plate was before disappearing.
"What, never seen magic before? I thought you were a pure blood Remus said mockingly.
"God what have I done to you? I said sorry for bumping into you yesterday" Sirius sighed. Remus shrugged and looked away. With a big force Sirius closed the drapes around his bed, almost causing them to rip. He laid down on his bed, not bothering to take off his clothes. He heard his roommates talk to each other, but he didn't really listen. The start of Hogwarts hadn't really been as he had hoped. He got sorted into Gryffindor and already had someone who disliked him without an actual reason. As his thoughts went to spiral he slowly drifted off to sleep.
"For fucks sake James, turn off the alarm" Peter growled. Sirius blinked a few times and sat upright.
"What time is it" Remus' voice sounded from his closed curtains.
"Eh-" James hesitated, "6 A.M.?"
"6 A.M? Are you absolutely insane?" Sirius asked. James opened his curtains.
"I have to run my rounds and I want to be back in time for breakfast" James shot back.
"Why do you have to run rounds?"
"Staying fit! It's important to me ok?"
"James, you can't even join the quidditch team till next year" Peter reminded him. Even though the room was poorly lit, Sirius could see the dark haired boy turn bright red.
"Are you girls done fighting? I'm going back to sleep" Remus murmured.
"Don't sleep in, Lupin, you can't miss our first classes ever" James said.
"Yeah yeah, I'll be there" Remus answered and Sirius heard the sound of blankets shuffling, revealing Remus was lying down again. Sirius sighed and got out of bed.
"Are you not going back to sleep?" Peter asked.
"NO, I gotta shower the pumpkin smell away" Sirius answered and Peter made a small sound, not liking being reminded of his blunder yesterday. Sirius had of course already forgiven him, but it was also sort of fun to keep reminding Peter of it. He smiled to himself as he closer the bathroom door. He tied his hair back, not needing to wash it again and got in the shower. It took the thing a hot minute to warm up and as Sirius stood waiting in the cold, the tiredness kicked in. He yawned and shook his head. If he went back to sleep after his shower, he would never wake up again. He took some soap and began washing his torso. It took about two more rounds of washing to completely get rid of the mixture between sweat and pumpkin juice and the shower wasn't exactly big, so keeping his hair dry was a difficult task. When he came out of the bathroom, James was still there, changing into sports clothes.
"Wanna join me?" It took Sirius a second to realize James was talking to him. He thought about it. He had just come from the shower, washing away the sweat, but this could also be a great bonding activity for them. Eventually he nodded and James smiled bright. Sirius changed into something comfortable to run in and followed James.
"I used to play muggle football back at home" James explained. Sirius had heard of football before, but he didn't understand anything apart from the no hands rule.
"Go a little easy on me with the rounds, will you?" Sirius said. James rolled his eyes.
"Only for today" he joked as he did a few warm up exercises. It was technically still summer, but the morning air was chilly and a weird mist hung over the quidditch field. The boys began their laps and while Sirius wasn't bad at running, it soon became clear James was extremely holding back, so after a few lapt Sirius told him to just go and run in his own pace.
"Really?" James asked, not even the slightest bit out of breath. Sirius smiled and nodded and James gave him a thumbs up as he began making pace. It only took about two rounds for James to double him. Sirius condition wasn't the best so he stopped running and stook place in one of the stands while James ran a few more laps. When he joined Sirius in the stands, he pulled out two water bottles from god knows where. Sirius took it gratefully.
"That was nice, don't you think?" James asked. Sirius nodded. His mind was totally cleared and awake. He could get used to this.
"Will you be doing this everyday?" he asked. James nodded.
"Take me with you, will you?"
The two boys changed into their school uniforms and went to join their roommates in the great hall. Peter hadn't been lying when he made the comment about James stuffing his face during breakfast. But Sirius felt he could relate to it, the running had, while waking his mind up, drained all the energy from his body. Peter and James chatted away, Sirius had found out the two were practically neighbours so had been friends since they were babies. Remus Lupin sat next to him, studying one of their spell books, not saying a word. Sirius just quietly focused on his breakfast. He couldn't engage in Potters and Pettigrews conversation so he had nothing better to do. That was of course, until the owls came flying into the hall, dropping newspapers, packages and letters off. He almost pissed his pants when he saw his mothers owl fly in. She dropped a letter, but not just any regular old letter, it was a howler. To his surprise, the owl dropped off another piece of parchment, but before he could open it to see what it was, the howler began shouting.
”Sirius Orion Black!
How could you do so much shame to the family. YOUR family. Your father and I will take action if you don't change that little attitude of yours! You will stay at school over Christmas break, by the way. We don't want to disappoint the family more by having you there. You are not my son. You are a traitor.”
The entire hall had fallen silent. Sirius just looked at his hands, ashamed and James let the remains of the letter disappear with a flick of his wand.
"Your attitude? What is the on about, all you did was getting sorted into Gryffindor. How is that your fault?" He exclaimed. Sirius shrugged. "It's family tradition to be in Slytherin. Guess I'm a traitor for not hoping hard enough."
"That's such bullshit, you can't control which house you get sorted into" James said.
"Oh but you can," Sirius said, "you just have to think it hard enough. Guess I didn't." He knew he didn't. He had told the Sorting hat No when it asked him if he was sure he wanted to be in Slytherin.
"At least I'm not disowned yet" he said.
"Yet?" Lupins voice sounded.
"Yea, wouldn't surprise if she did though. Happens to every 'black sheep' of the family. Now can we just drop it?" Sirius explained. They all nodded in silence. Sirius took the other piece of parchment from the table and unfolded it. He smiled when he recognised the messy handwriting of his little brother.
”Dear Sirius,
I'm sorry for mum, she's so scary. I don't get what you did. I miss you. Will you write me sometime? I can't wait till next year. How is the school? Is it scary? Have you learned anything yet? I'll miss you over Christmas.
Love, Regulus.”
Sirius stared at the letter for a little and then folded it and shoved it into his pocket.
"Reckon it's time to head to our classroom?" he asked. James nodded and got up, which also got Peter up immediately.
"Lupin, you coming?" Sirius asked. Remus looked up at him and shut his book with a bang. The lot of them pushed themselves trough the mass of students in the hall.
"Do we know which way to go?" Sirius asked.
"Just trust me" Said James.
"Oi fuckin' first years, watch were yer going, will ya?" a tall boy sneered at them as James bumped into him.
"Sorry the younger boy murmured. When they finally reached their classroom, everyone else was already in. Ashamed they took the places at the back of the room and waited on the teacher. She was nowhere to be seen, but a silver tabby cat sat on her desk. When the bell rang, the cat leaped from the desk and turned into professor McGonagall and everyone gasped.
"Good morning students" she said with a small smile, clearly satisfied with herself. She started telling them about the basics of transfiguration and what they'd be learning today, but Sirius mind wasn't with the lesson. He had know that being an Animagus was a very difficult type of magic but he had never met one in person. From that moment on, there was nothing more he wanted than to become one himself. He thought of all the possibilities he had if he could turn into an animal. Except if he ended up turning into something useless like and elephant. He really tried to pay attention to McGonagall's lesson, but they weren't even going to perform actual magic this lesson so what was the use. James had to nudge him in the shoulder when the lesson ended to get him back to earth.
The rest of the lessons went by in the same way. It was mostly teacher explaining what they'd be doing this year and Sirius daydreaming. Remus Lupin blamed it on the fact that Sirius came from a big magical family so he must feel like he was better than the rest of them meaning he didn't have to pay attention, which James gave him an angry sneer for.
"What could you possibly have done to him that makes him act this way" James asked him after lunch.
"I wish I knew" Sirius sighed. The four of them spent the afternoon outside in the sun. James and Peter were playing what Sirius assumed to be muggle football. A game where they kicked a ball around, it looked rather lame. Lupin was reading a book and Sirius found himself trying spells from his charms spell book when he heard someone calling his name. He turned his head around and found Mary walking towards them, followed by two other girls he knew were in their year, also Gryffindors. Sirius got up and spread his arms. Mary ran into his arms and hugged him tightly.
"I haven't seen you all day!" she said, which made Sirius frown.
"We just had classes together" he said.
"No I mean, we haven't really talked since the train, have we?" She had a point.
"Yeah I've been busy" he said.
"You have not" Lupin said from behind him. Sirius rolled his eyes and ignored him.
"Don't mind him, I don't know what his problem is" He said to Mary. She smiled and signed to her friends to get closer.
"Have you guys properly met Marlene and Lily yet?" she asked. Sirius shook his head and James and Peter came standing next to him. James awkwardly waved, his eyes fixated on the red haired girl. For a second Sirius thought she was walking towards him, but he bypassed them and walked straight towards Lupin.
"How do they know each other?" James whispered to him. Sirius shrugged. It was clear Mary was the extravert of the three. She started talking about the classes they had had so far while Lily sat next to Lupin and only spoke with him. Marlene just sat next to her friend, saying nothing. James immediately clicked with Mary, they had the same positive energy about them. Sirius tried to engage in their conversation, but he was also glad to just be listening. Listening to them was comforting. He had never liked listening to people talk, being used to the voices and talking of his parents, but this was different. Peter sometimes joined the conversation, but he, like Sirius, could't quite get between Mary and James. Eventually, Remus and Lily joined the conversation. Or, well, they sat with the others and sometimes agreed or disagreed on something. Sirius yawned.
"I'm going inside" he said, standing up.
"How can you be tired? you haven't done anything" Remus said. Sirius gave him a look.
"Who said I was tired?" he said. Remus shrugged and Sirius rolled his eyes.
"You yawned" stated Mary.
"Maybe you guys are just really boring" Sirius smirked. Mary pretended to be offended and laughed as Sirius turned around and left the group behind him. He was, in fact, quite bored. He had better ways to spend his afternoon. He had intended to go back to their dorm and read a book, but he got distracted by the moving stairs. He decided to take one and see where he would end up. He started climbing the staircase and almost fell when it started moving, he hadn't counted on the force they moved with. He quickly ran the rest of the stairs and ended up in a hallway he hadn't been in before, though that didn't surprise him. The amount of the castle he had seen so far couldn't be more than ten to fifteen percent. He wandered around for a bit, studying the portraits and sculptures He was intrigued by the tapestries with historical evens shown on them and he found a bunch of ghosts gossiping in an empty classroom. He laughed when the ghosts noticed he had caught them and chased him out. He couldn't wait to show his brother around next year. He walked up and down a bunch of different stairs and by the time he got to the great hall, dinner was being served.
"Sirius!" James called and waved at him. He sat down next to him.
"Where have you been? we thought you'd be in our room" Peter asked. Sirius just shrugged and told them he got distracted. He didn't tell them anything about wandering about the castle, that would be his own little secret.
The rest of the week went by in the same pace. James woke him up to go running with him, they were introduced to their new classes, Sirius had already managed to blow something up in potions, getting Lily and her partner, Severus Snape, a greasy looking Slytherin, covered in a smelly green liquid. The Gryffindors had breakfast, lunch and dinner together, Lupin made some rude remarks towards Sirius, who had still no idea what he had done to deserve it and also started to grow annoyed by the tall boy, because he was intrigued by him. He wanted nothing more than to be friends with Lupin. Not only would it improve the dynamic in their dorm room friend group, he also hated not being liked by everyone. He missed his brother more than ever, but sending him a letter would be too risky. His mother would probably try to open it before it could get to Regulus.
It was Sunday night when Sirius found himself almost ready for bed when Lupin called the four of them together. Said he had something to show them.
“Better be quick, I’m fucking tired” Sirius yawned. James nodded in agreement. Lupin rolled his eyes and dragged something from under his bed. It was a suitcase and it looked quite heavy.
“Wow a suitcase, color me impressed” Sirius sarcastically said.
“Just wait” Lupin said, ignoring Sirius’ sarcastic tone. He genuinely seemed exited for what he wanted to show them. With a flick of his wand, he opened the suitcase and something Sirius vaguely recognised bece visible.
“No way!” James exclaimed. Lupin grinned proudly. He dumped everything from his nightstand and he and James lifted the thing onto it.
“What is it?” Peter asked with a frown.
“Just watch” Lupin said as he took something else from the suitcase. Suddenly Sirius knew what it was.
“It’s a record player!” he called out. Lupin nodded and put the LP on the player. He placed the needle onto it and soon enough the room was filled with a sound Sirius had never heard before. When his cousin used her record player when he visited once in a blue moon, it had always been playing classical music. This was something entirely different. There were various instruments, there was singing, there were mostly just good vibes. Sirius sat down on Lupins bed, just listening in awe. James and Lupin danced around the room, Peter awkwardly tried to follow them.
“What is this music?” Sirius asked.
“It’s ‘The Beetles’, baby!”