Sirius stood among his family on the Platform, half-hearing the hissed whispers warning him that the consequences of a screw up like last year would be harsh. He was numb inside. A summer at their mercy, no James or Remus to run too. Not anymore, only himself to blame. His body ached with the punishment he had received over the summer. As he weakly moved his trunk to an empty compartment, silent, he could hear James talking lowly to Remus nearby. That hurt more, but he closed his eyes, and sat down. No one would be there for him this year, not even the kind nurse Poppy, not after he had hurt Remus…and he deserved this.
Soon after the train began it's journey, the door opened by a livid Severus Snape, Regulus Black, and the Lestranges. Sirius felt cold fear awash his insides, he was staring into a smirking Slytherin grim reaper. Just as the door slid close a small tanned hand pulled it open. There stood Lily Evans, the Head Girl. "Don't you all have somewhere to be?" She spoke in a clipped tone. Snape looked like he wanted to argue, but conceded to the Head Girl, his private love. Her green eyes looked deeply at him, but she sighed and shook her head as she left.
Silence was better than screaming, Sirius decided.
If anyone noticed that this year, the Maraduers were silent. They had no new jokes, no pranks, no laughter, and no loud joy. They moved in their silence from class to class to the dorm late at night, avoiding a key member to their group. Well…no one seemed to notice…
If anyone noticed that this year, Sirius was excluded from his house. He was silently ignored by the house at large. There had been no formal decision, but without James, something just seemed off about talking to the Black in Gryffindor. If anyone noticed, no one cared.
If anyone noticed that this year, the Gryffindor Qudditch team was missing their star Beater, Sirius. That there was less fun, and excitement in the games…if anyone noticed, no one said anything.
Sirius didn't realize that he could miss the screams so much.
Remus noticed that he was lonely without the warm prescene of Sirius, always smiling even if the moon had been very rough. And that without him, the moon was getting harder and harder to bear. However, he refused to spend time thinking of how Sirius had helped him through these times. He fought back the urge to think of the shy kiss they had shared before it all had happened.
James noticed that his life was grayer, a lot less fun without Sirius' constant ideas, and enthusiasm for life. He spent more, and more time thinking of how it was getting harder to handle Moony with each passing moon. He wished he could understand it all.
Lily noticed everything. She could see the joy that was vanishing, the exclusion of someone who had once been so close to the group, the suffering of everyone involved. But she knew that no one else saw what she saw…
Everyone saw it the day that Peter came down the stairs in a hurry, screaming that Sirius Black had hung himself. Everyone noticed that the Marduers were the first to get there, even before the Professors did. They all saw the bruise that ringed Sirius' neck.
All Sirius heard was silence.
Remus, James, Peter, and Lily waited for him to wake up, and notice them again. They knew now that some punishments are harsher than they seemed. That isolation means no one knows what's coming.
Sirius heard their breathing first.
Then Remus' private crying later, his begs for Sirius to please wake up.
Then Lily's pleads for him to open his eyes.
Then James' hysterical demands for him to get up.
Peter noticed when his hand twitched. Then they all saw him waking up.
Sirius smiled weakly, not noticing that the screams didn't bother him, and that the silence had ended.