Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own the Harry Potter series. The lovely and talented JK Rowling does.
Sirius Black sighed as he dragged his trunk behind him into his bedroom at 12 Grimmauld Place for yet another summer vacation of torture. You see, Sirius Black detested the fact that his family were a bunch of insane pureblood supremacists, a term which here means "a family obsessed with making sure that no muggleborn wizards or witches ever married into it and no squibs were ever born into it." Sirius believed that all wizards and witches should be treated equally and that there was nothing wrong with a wizard or witch being born into a muggle family or a non-magical person being born to a wizarding family.
These beliefs came about mainly from his close relationship with his older cousin, Andromeda. This is because when Andromeda went to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry she began to see how truly awful the family's belief system was, especially when she fell in love with Edward "Ted" Tonks, a muggleborn Hufflepuff boy. She had made Sirius swear never to accept a single word of his parents' bigoted beliefs because Andromeda had seen that they weren't true. Unfortunately for Andromeda, these beliefs had gotten her disowned from the family and on the family tree tapestry in the parlour there was now a burnt hole where Andromeda's name and picture should have been. Sirius' beliefs had also been shaped by his best friendships with James Potter, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. James Potter, though pureblooded like Sirius, had been raised in a home where pureblood supremacy was looked upon with disdain. James did not believe a word of that bigoted nonsense for a second and had told Sirius so on their very first train ride to Hogwarts right before they met Severus Snape, the slimy git, and the lovely Lily Evans. James' words had sewed the seed of doubt in Sirius' mind about his parents' bigoted ways and were what had allowed him to be sorted into Gryffindor House, much to his mother Walburga's horror. While his friendship with James allowed the seed of doubt to be planted, it was his friendship with Remus that cemented Sirius' new found belief that his parents were a couple of prejudiced psychos. This was because he had found out in his second year of school that Remus was a werewolf and he didn't care at all. After all, he, James and Peter had reasoned, Remus was still the same awesome, smart, snarky guy he always had been. It wasn't Remus' fault that he turned into a man-eating wolf once a month.
Now, Sirius' parents hated the fact that their son refused to believe the same twisted prejudiced logic they believed in. And so, every single summer since he had started at Hogwarts, Sirius was often verbally abused and beaten by his parents in an attempt to make him submit to their way of life. They hadn't succeeded though and the only thing that had resulted from this terrible torture was that Sirius had brought home a motorcycle poster or Gryffindor paraphernalia or a photograph of himself and his friends every year and stuck it up on his wall with a permanent sticking charm as a protest against his parents. He had even bought a muggle Playboy magazine once and had stuck up the centre poster of an attractive bikini clad woman on his wall with the permanent sticking charm as a sort of f-you to his parents. Orion and Walburga had not been pleased with their son and it had earned Sirius a long beating and berating for sticking up those posters. For Sirius it had been worth every smack and every insult just to see their horrified faces every time he stuck up a new poster, photo or pennant.
The worst thing about going home for Sirius though was seeing his mother swoon over Regulus as if he was the best thing since sliced bread. If Sirius was in the room she would often make a point of asking Sirius why he couldn't be more like his perfect little brother. It made Sirius internally furious every single time. Sirius never lost it at his parents though. He knew it would only make things worse and he didn't really have anywhere else to go so he sucked it up the best he could. This summer though, things were going to change in Sirius' life forever. It all started when his mother called him into the parlour after supper on Sunday evening. Sirius had managed to avoid his parents for a week except for meals but tonight he was not so lucky. As he entered the parlour, his mother beckoned him to sit down and Sirius obeyed knowing it was not worth angering his mother over something so small. Walburga Black looked at her son with disdain and she hissed,
"Sirius Black, I have had it!"
"Had it with what, Mother?" Sirius asked nonchalantly, hoping this conversation wouldn't escalate.
"I have had it with your unacceptable behaviour!" Walburga roared at her son. "For years I have put up with your nonsense, your ranting about how our belief in blood purity is wrong, you putting up that disgusting paraphernalia and muggle rubbish on your walls! But this is the final straw!"
"What is mother?" Sirius asked disinterestedly.
"Associating with half bloods, blood traitors and filthy half breeds and mudbloods!" Walburga Black spat at her son.
"Don't you dare insult my friends using those despicable words!" Sirius barked at his mother.
"Don't you yell at me Sirius Black!" Walburga screeched. "You will stop associating with those so called friends of yours and uphold the family name!"
"I will not!" Sirius yelled back. "Just because you think blood is so important-"
"IT IS EVERYTHING!" Walburga screamed. "And don't you forget it!"
Sirius glared at his mother in rage, clenching his hands into fists so hard that he was beginning to draw blood.
"Now," spat Walburga "I am willing to overlook these associations and your abhorrent behaviour if you do as you are told. You will join the Death Eaters and fight for the Wizarding World to be purified of mudbloods and half-breeds. You will marry your cousin Narcissa and maintain our family's pure bloodline. And you will stop associating with those filthy pieces of rubbish you call friends or so help me God you will no longer be part of this family!"
"You're wrong, Mother," Sirius spat back in a quiet fury. "I will not join the Death Eaters because unlike this fucked up family I don't believe in killing innocent people regardless of whether or not they're magical. I will not marry Narcissa regardless whether or not you think she's a perfect match. For one thing she is in love with that pompous twat Lucius Malfoy and for another we're related! And don't you start on how you and dad are related and how it worked out just fine! It's disgusting and I can't even begin to tell you how fucked up it is. And if you think for one minute that I will ever stop being friends with James, Remus, Peter and Lily then you are quite mistaken you blood-crazy, inbred -!"
The last word Sirius had uttered is an insult so repulsive and offensive that I cannot print it here but you can use your imagination to figure it out. Hearing that insult, his mother whirled around and backhand slapped Sirius so hard in the face that he crashed into the cabinet holding the many Black family artifacts. Broken glass rained down on Sirius as he winced and rubbed the back of his head in pain. Walburga marched over to her son, put her face down close to his and said in a deathly whisper,
"Apologize,"
"Never," growled Sirius.
"Then you are not my son," Walburga hissed and she turned around and burned Sirius' name off the family tree with her wand with so much power that the little spot where Sirius' name and picture had been had lit on fire for a moment. Sirius stood up and marched out the parlour saying nothing to his mother. He stomped up the stair and into his bedroom where he stuffed all of his things back into his trunk and slammed the lid of the trunk shut. He wished he could take his posters and photos with him but because he had used the permanent sticking charm on them they wouldn't come off. Sirius marched out into the hallway and slammed his bedroom door shut. As he marched down the stairs dragging his trunk behind him, Regulus appeared and began trotting down the stairs beside him.
"And where do you think you're going?" Regulus sneered.
"None of your business, you little berk," Sirius snapped.
"You've got nowhere else to go and I highly doubt anyone's going to take you in," Regulus spat back.
"I don't bloody care," Sirius barked, "Anywhere's better than this fucking hellhole."
And with that, Sirius marched down the hall and out of the front door. It was pouring rain but Sirius didn't care. All Sirius cared about was getting as far away from his family home as possible. He couldn't believe his mother had actually followed through on her threat to disown him. After all, she might have been a prejudiced cow but disowning your own son just because he disagrees with your views was just shocking in Sirius' mind. After a good half hour of walking, Sirius realized he had no idea where he was or where he was going to live. He leaned miserably against his trunk and kicked an empty biscuit tin that was lying on the ground in frustration. Where will I go? Sirius thought miserably. Well, he thought, I can at least catch the bus to James's house. Sirius stuck out his wand so that it was pointing straight up in the air. A loud bang sounded and he saw that sitting right in front of him was a purple double decker bus labeled "The Knight Bus". Sirius climbed on the bus where he was greeted by a pimply faced conductor.
"Good evening and welcome to the Knight Bus, transportation for the stranded witch or wizard" the conductor said disinterestedly. "My name is Sam Shunpike and I will be your conductor this evening."
"Uh, hi," Sirius said, loading his trunk onto the bus. "My name is Sirius Black and I would like to go to my friend James Potter's home."
"And where does James Potter live?" asked Sam lazily.
"He lives at 40 Marshling Moor Road, East Windham, Surrey," Sirius recited.
"Ok then, that'll be 11 sickles for a ticket, unless of course you'd like hot chocolate in which case that'll be 13 sickles or for 15 you can also get a hot water bottle and a toothbrush," Sam said.
"Here," said Sirius, hastily shoving 11 sickles into Sam's hand.
He walked over to one of the beds lined up inside the bus, placed his trunk in the luggage compartment above and then sat down on one of the beds moodily. Though he had the best friends in the world, Sirius had never before felt so lonely. The weight of his mother's words hit him hard and it was taking a lot of strength not to have a nervous breakdown in front of the Knight Bus passengers. The bus sped by office buildings, fields, houses and trees and Sirius could not help but wonder if James would be alright with him just showing up on his doorstep. He began to worry that his best mate might not help him out and that his stupid little git of a brother might be right when he said no one would take him. Before he knew it, Sirius was at James's house and he disembarked from the bus. Sirius took a deep breath before ringing James's doorbell. Please be home; please be home, Sirius silently begged. The door swung open and there stood none other than James Potter himself, who looked quite surprised and pleased to see his best mate on his doorstep.
"Hey, Padfoot," James greeted cheerily, "What are you doing here?"
"It's a long story, mate," Sirius answered quietly, "Do you mind if I come in?"
"Sure," said James, standing aside so that Sirius could come inside.
Sirius turned to James and said, voice cracking,
"I've run away from home. The bitch who calls herself my mother has disowned me."
And then, before he could stop himself, Sirius Black began to sob. James looked shocked to see his friend crying, after all, the Sirius Black he knew never let out so much as a whimper let alone full on cried. He crouched down and pulled Sirius into a tight hug.
"It's ok, mate," James soothed as he rubbed circles on Sirius' back. "I'm right here and I'm not going anywhere. Tell me what happened."
So, Sirius sobbed out his sad tale to his best mate stopping for breath every so often. As he finished, James murmured,
"But Padfoot, where will you go? Where will you live?"
"I-I," hiccoughed Sirius, "suppose I shall live-"
"With me," James said with conviction, "You shall live with me. Mum and Dad adore you so I'm sure it would be fine if you stayed with us during the holidays."
"We could be like brothers," Sirius smiled, wiping away the rest of his tears.
"Padfoot, we are brothers," James smiled shaking his head, "And we always will be, in all but blood."
"In all but blood," Sirius agreed.
And that's it folks! Please review . There's also a new poll up on my profile page about which fanfic I should write next! Yes, it's all up to you loyal readers so go check it out and vote, vote, vote!