The life and times of a Sirius Black.
"You filthy blood traitor, your lucky you are getting off so easy!" the words coming out of a Wallaburga Black. Saying these words while performing a silent cruciatis curse on her eldest son, Sirius Black. The worn, and thin boy looked at his mother tired and weary, but eyes still defiant. He did not even cringe as his mother performed this curse. He would not let his parents have the pleasure.
Orion Black, his father took a whip, a cat' o' nine tails to be exact and smashed it on his sons back, laughing maniacally, while doing so. The whips were heard throughout the house.
After thirty whips, Sirius was caned and pushed roughly into his room. He had not eaten for days. Only fifteen years old, the boy looked as he had lived a lifetime, one at which filled with torment.
At school, he never spoke of his home, nor his family, if asked he answered in such a way, that one would think his family were kind and happy. At school he wore a mask of arrogance, and a head full of ego. Although, every time he saw his brother, who glared at him, he died in the inside.
The scars were hidden, no one would think that Sirius black was treated this way, no in his peers' eyes, even in his most trusted friends, he was thought to be treated like a king.
That night he packed, loaded every belonging he had, in his one trunk. He shrunk his trunk; no one could trace magic in this house, and crept downstairs. He filled a bag with food.
His trunk in his pocket, he fled, into the open street. He walked for, what seemed days. He ate very little each day, as to keep his supply of food. He found his way into a homeless center. He was treated with soup and a bed. It was not the best of situations, but he had a roof over his head. He could not ask for more. The next day he went out into the street and walked, until he found, Kings Cross. He lived on the benches, bought one ticket to Hogwarts, with all the money he had, and stayed until school was to start.
The day school started, he changed his clothes, and went through the barrier. He was thin and frail, but no one could see that. He found a compartment and sat down. Faking a smile as his friends walked in. "Sirius, mate, How was your summer?" asked his best friend, a James Potter. "Ahh the usual" Sirius answered furtively.
Remus Lupin came up to him, "You look a bit pale. Are you okay?" Sirius rummaged through his brain to find a suitable answer. "I just have a cold" His friends bought this answer and he let out a deep breath, that he didn't know he had in him.
An hour later, Sirius started coughing. He looked into his handkerchief, and saw blood. Murmurs of 'are you okay' came throughout the compartment. Thankfully no one had seen the blood. He hoarsely said, "I need to use the loo, I'll be back soon."
He ran, as fast as his body could take him, went to a stall and collapsed. He spit out the blood and saliva, and flushed the toilet. He put the cover down, and sat there. He contemplated what he would say to his friends, should they ever find out. He left the stall, these thoughts running through his mind. "Sirius," a familiar voice found him "Are you okay?" James asked worried. "Yeah mate, just a bit of travel sickness." James didn't buy it, but went a long.
They arrived at Hogwarts; Sirius sat down putting up his mask, laughing and singing the school song. He arrogantly spoke of how he beat James in a broom race. When the food appeared, he looked at it, and ate it, ravenously. His friends looked at him like he was mad. He savored every bite. At dessert, he was finally, happy, for the first time in months.
When leaving the great hall, the Headmaster came up to him and asked to see him in his office. His friends looked at him curiously. He walked with the headmaster, his strides long and proud. "Acid Pops." Dumbledore offered him a lemon drop. "Sirius, it has come to my attention, that you have run away from you parents house." Sirius nearly collapsing from the exhaustion, he still suffered from, gasped audibly. "Yes sir. I could not stand living with my parents, they kept on talking about muggleborns as animals. I could not stand what they were saying." Sirius made no comment on the abuse he had suffered.
"I see, are there anymore accusations, other than their belief in blood status." the Headmaster asked knowingly. Sirius looked away. "I would rather not answer that sir." "I would recommend that you do, although, I am not forcing you to do so." Sirius' defenses were weakening.
"My parents…" he hesitated "they hit me." "I see, where exactly were you staying when you ran away?" Dumbledore asked. "The street sir." He nodded knowingly
"May I direct you to Madam Pomfrey, for a check up?" Sirius looked at him, "If insist sir." He had never been to the nurses office, he had avoided it like the plague. Madam Pomfrey took one look at him, and gasped.
"Please," Sirius begged, "Don't tell anybody about this." She nodded, nearly in tears at the boy's state. "I must tell the Headmaster though." Sirius sighed. "Thank you." She was in tears as she healed his wounds, and gave him many potions.
Remus and James wondered why Sirius was taking so long. They found him in the hospital wing, they overheard a conversation. "Albus, this boy has signs of cruciatis, whipping, and malnourishment. Not to mention the various amount of brusing along his body. He has multiple broken bones and I am surprised he has lasted this long. He will have to stay in the wing for at least a month." Dumbledore was shocked, eyes wide, he had not realized all this while looking at the boy. All he saw was the flu, the boy must have used various glamour charms. "He has asked, Albus, that no one is to know about this. He has been abused." "He told me poppy that he was living on the street that was why I brought him to you. I did not realize the damage was so severe."
James and Remus gasped, the only one in the hospital wing at the moment was Sirius. Sirius, could have never been treated like that, I mean it was Sirius. They crept into the common room. "How come Sirius didn't tell us!? he could have come to us, we would have understood!" James ranted, he was obviously worried. Remus looked solemn " I think it's because, he was proud, maybe afraid. I think he didn't want us to know, because we would have treated him differently" James took this into consideration.
"We didn't treat you differently, why would he think that we would treat him?" "I suppose it was because we thought he was strong, and didn't realize he could be pegged down."
After a week people started to notice that Sirius was not around. The teachers had no idea either, but the headmaster asked all his teachers for his work, so they didn't worry that he was skipping. The whole school was in frenzy. Even Mcgonagall looked worried. Then a month and a half later he was at the Gryffindor table eating his breakfast silently. People saw him, and bombarded him with questions. All Sirius said was that he wasn't feeling well.
James and Remus noticed a few things different about Sirius, whenever he ate little, something very strange for him; he was asked to go somewhere. Whenever this happened they looked, at the Marauders map, and he was either heading to the hospital wing or the kitchens, accompanied by either the headmaster or the matron.
One day the suspense became too much for James and he broke. "Sirius, what the heck is happening!? You are always disappearing, you aren't as happy and you look like your sick." Sirius started to boil. "I am not sick! There is nothing wrong with me! Just leave me alone!" Everyone was in shock, Sirius Black; he never got mad, at least not at James. Sirius stormed off, and James and Remus ran after him. They found him at the Astronomy tower.
They cornered Sirius, and after much screaming he gave up. "I-I- I ran away." He started sobbing, he was felt cold, "They were beating me, so I ran away, Dumbledore found out, and they sent me to the hospital wing. I had a few broken bones and a few bruises, I don't know what the big deal is. So I lived on the streets for a few months, its not that bad. So I was whipped a few times, what so big. So there were a few cruciatis curses, ITS NOT A BIG DEAL!" He sobbed, his head in his hands, voice cracking, as he cried.
Remus and James looked at him in shock and sadness, even a bit angry. They fell on the floor to him and comforted him. "Sirius that is a big deal. You shouldn't have been treated that way. Why didn't you tell us? We could have helped you!" "I don't know, I was scared okay, is that what you want to hear? I- you-I shouldn't be doing this, look at me, I am so weak. You must think I am a drama queen." Sirius said helplessly as he dried off his tears. They chuckled slightly at his words. "Sirius, you are incredibly strong, and brave, but unfortunately you are atrociously stupid." James laughed out. "Don't tell anyone, okay. I can't deal with it, and if Reggie found out-" Sirius couldn't complete the sentence.
They walked into the common room. Lily, started screaming at them, "Where were you, you shouldn't be out this late 20 points off Gryffindor, you were probably playing some prank right! I should tell the headmaster. What is he doing? Probably ashamed that he was being so mean. I can't believe you-" She was cut short. "Don't you dare talk about Sirius that way, you have no right, he's been through a lot worse than you so don't you dare!" James said anger lacing every word. Lily was shocked. James had never spoken to her like that. "James," Sirius whispered, "don't, just leave it be." James glared at her, and then looked pityingly at Sirius.
Lily's brain was in overdrive. Why would James talk like that? And what the hell was wrong with Sirius? She didn't know but she was going to find out. From then on, everywhere Sirius was so was James and Remus. Anytime someone got the slightest bit annoyed or said something a bit mean about him or anything rude, James would scream at them and get, well really mad. Sirius barely spoke, and then he started becoming more of himself.
The pranks suddenly began, Sirius started cracking jokes and having fun. He smiled and laughed. But every now and again he seemed gaunt and sickly. Then he would go back looking healthy and happy. One day Sirius, James and Remus were flying on their broomsticks, and then Sirius' shirt flared up and Lily caught sight of many, many scars and bruises. And James and Remus got a good look at them too. They both stopped laughing and looked at each other. "What?" Sirius asked smiling "Do I have something on my head?" "We saw the scars…" Sirius face drained of color.
After they had begun having fun again, it began to rain and they went back to the common room. James and Remus went to get hot chocolate, and Sirius was left alone looking at the fire. Lily confronted him. "I saw those scars, what happened? Are you okay?" Sirius looked at her. "You won't tell anyone…?" "Not a soul." Lily reassured.
"You know how I was gone the first month of school?" Sirius asked "Yeah." "Well…and Sirius proceeded to tell her the story. James and Remus came in, and sat down and listened too. "Wow. I'm so sorry, I mean, that's why James got so mad at me, I am really sorry." Lily said ashamed. "Don't worry about it." Sirius said smiling. "Well that's the past and now that we are all good, and friends, we should stop thinking about this mess, and go on to happier subjects.
They proceeded to talk and have fun all through the night. A thought entered Sirius' mind 'I am home.'