A./N. For Fire The Canon's Fanfiction Tournament Round 2, where the main character must be Sirius Black.
Disclaimer- My lifelong dream (at least for now) is to meet J.K. Rowling- if I were J.K. Rowling, why would I want to meet myself? (Complicated way of saying the obvious- I'm not JKR.)
"Bye, Padfoot!" Peter cried, his face flushed with eagerness to see his parents. Waving happily, he raced off, tripping and stumbling through the hordes of people; Sirius bit his lip to refrain from laughing.
"See you, Paddy," James said, grinning at his friend. He shot him a fleeting thumbs up before being enveloped in a hug by his mother, and immediately began chatting animatedly to his parents without another look back. Now, only Remus remained, watching Sirius glance over his shoulder every few seconds. Remus followed his friends gaze to see a very unpleasant looking couple motioning irritably for Sirius to hurry up.
"Well, see you, Sirius," Remus said quietly. "Have a good holiday." Sirius laughed darkly.
"Fat chance."
Remus frowned. "Well, if you need anything, you know you can just owl me. I'll be there." Whether by "there" he meant at his house, or ready to support his friend, Sirius did not know, but he managed to smile all the same.
"Thanks, Moony. Good to know." Suddenly, Sirius found his friend's arms around him, and was pulled into a hug.
"See you, Padfoot." And with that, he disappeared into the crowd. With nothing left to delay him, Sirius reluctantly dragged himself toward his parents and younger brother, preparing for the worst.
"Well it took you long enough!" his mother snapped. Sirius glowered at her. They hadn't seen each other for nearly a year, and her first words were "Well it took you long enough"?
"Get in the car; we're running late." Sirius obeyed, however reluctantly. The four of them sat in a tense silence. Each person seemed to be silently daring the others to be the first to speak. Finally, Regulus broke the monotony.
"So, did you like Hogwarts, Siri?" he asked. Grinning, Sirius nodded at his little brother.
"Yeah, it was great," he replied, a smile widening on his face despite himself. They had never been the closest of siblings, but they got on fairly well. Suddenly, Sirius felt a lump of fear contracting in his chest; his parents, being the wonderful people they were, hadn't bothered to owl on his first day. Sirius had been expecting this, but at the time, he hadn't registered what would come of it. Only now did he realize that his parents would naturally assume he was in Slytherin. Damn. How was he supposed to slip that little detail into conversation? With this sudden realization now weighing him down, Sirius didn't attempt to continue the conversation, nor did Regulus, sensing that his brother was upset. Only when they arrived at Number 12 Grimmauld Place did anyone speak again.
"Those boys you were talking to, over at King's Cross," Walburga began suspiciously. "Not Slytherins, it seemed." She looked pointedly at Sirius.
"Yeah, no, not Slytherin," he muttered, staring at his feet.
"Ravenclaws, then?" she asked. "No son of mine would be caught dead with a friend in Hufflepuff." She spoke the word as if it pained her to say. "And Gryffindor?" Walburga laughed coldly. "As if." The lump in Sirius's throat suddenly dissipated, replaced with anger.
"Actually, Mother, they are Gryffindors. They're Gryffindors," he continued, looking his mother straight in the eye, "because I'm a Gryffindor." At those words, the room seemed to freeze. Regulus, whose small frame was draped over one of the sofa's arms, goggled at his older brother, eyes wide with shock. Orion Black stared at his son, seemingly unable to speak, while to his left, his wife stared daggers at her eldest son. After remaining like this for several minutes, Walburga cracked.
"YOU ARE NO SON OF MINE!" she screamed. "GET OUT. OUT I SAID! RIGHT NOW!" Sirius remained statuary for a moment, gaping at his mother. Suddenly, he stormed over to the door.
"Fine," he retorted. "Fine. I will. It's not like I wanted to be here; I would've stayed at Hogwarts over the summer if I could have!" He was halfway to the door when he felt someone yanking on the back of his collar.
"Get back here, you ungrateful little-" Gasping for breath, Sirius wrenched his mother's hand off of his collar and glared at her.
"Like you'd care if I left," he spat, spinning on his heel and stomping up to his room. SLAM.
"LIKE YOU EVEN WANT ME AROUND!" All rational thought was eclipsed by fury as Sirius whipped out his wand and pointed it at the walls, muttering spells so that his family couldn't hear. Within minutes, the room was covered in scarlet and gold banners- over his bed, on the walls, even hanging from the ceiling, obscuring the glinting emerald and silver wallpaper from view. With a last flick of his wrist, a permanent sticking charm confirmed that the banners would remain there forevermore. Nodding his approval, Sirius threw himself down onto his bed face first.
"The gits. Bloody gits," he snarled, an ugly look on his face. "I'll bet Regulus is gonna be in Slytherin when he's old enough. Oh, of course, wonderful Regulus, angelic, perfect Regulus who can do no wrong..." Breathing heavily, Sirius released a flow of curses into his pillow. He remained there for hours, simply thinking, muttering to himself, and dozing, only getting up when he was satisfied that he was the last wakeful occupant of the house.
"Kreacher!" A loud crack signaled the arrival of the irritated elf. "Can you make me a sandwich? I'm starving." Sirius glared at the elf, as it it were his fault that his family was so against Gryffindor. Kreacher responded with a look of loathing.
"Oh, Kreacher despises having to work for the Black boy. Oh, yes, Kreacher would love to only serve his mother and father and brother, respectable pure-bloods they are, unlike the ungrateful Sirius boy. The Sirius boy who is rumored to be- is it true- a Gryffindor?" Sirius shot Kreacher another dirty look.
"Are you blind? Yes, I'm in Gryffindor, look around the freaking room!" he snapped. "And a sandwich, Kreacher, come on!" Kreacher gave his master another look of distaste before Apparating downstairs. A few minutes later, he returned with a large ham and cheese sandwich. Sirius opened his mouth, as though looking for something to complain about, but apparently finding nothing, he snatched the sandwich and took a large bite. With yet another crack, the elf disappeared once more. As Sirius ate, the fury within him began to spark again.
"They always act as if being a Black makes you some kind of royalty! Like who your parents are determine who you are gonna be! Well you know what?" he exclaimed, leaping to his feet. "I don't want to be like them. I'm proud to be in Gryffindor, proud that I have half-blood and muggleborn friends, proud that I can think for myself! The only thing I'm not proud of is my FAMILY!" Instead of continuing to shout and vent his feelings, full of anger and rage, Sirius suddenly felt all of the emotion draining out of him.
"Someday." He spoke the word quietly, but with determination. "Someday, I'm just going to leave. I'll just grab my things and go; there won't be anything they can do about it." He spoke calmly to his mirror, looking himself straight in the eye.
"Someday."
A./N.- PLEASE REVIEW! If you only review to tell me it was absolute rubbish, I still enjoy hearing people's feedback. I want to know if it's awful, I really do. And do remember that the Ministry of Magic can tell where magic is coming from, but not who it is coming from, so Sirius's banner-conjuring would be plausible- the Ministry would assume that it was one of his parents. :) Thanks for reading, drop a review!