There was a house that no one could see; it was identical to all the rest in the row but invisible to the eye. Ugly, a monstrous brown and grey mass that rose toward the sky, the townhouse was something he loathed coming back to. Some ancient relative had made the house unseen to the Muggle eye using the Fidelius Charm long ago. The Muggles who lived in the Borough of Islington had long accepted that there was no number 12 in the row on Grimmauld Place, thinking that city planners had made a mistake when numbering the dismally bland street. This house, 12 Grimmauld Place, is what Sirius Black was forced to call home.
Number 12 had always been what he, unfortunately, called home since birth but it never truly felt like it. His parents, Orion and Walburga, purebloods in every sense of the word, seemed to resent his being there ever since they found out he was sorted into Gryffindor years ago. Holidays were something that he avoided — Sirius never returned for Christmas, never had. If he did make the journey on the Hogwarts Express at the holidays, he was going to James' house instead of his own. Mr. and Mrs. Potter welcomed Sirius like a second son. They were lovely, the Potters, and he wished he had been born into their family.
Regulus and Sirius approached the dreadful, invisible house, pulling their Hogwarts trunks behind them. Sirius refused to think the name of the building but Regulus must have because it slowly pulled itself out from its hiding spot, revealing itself to them. Regulus entered first — Sirius didn't feel like seeing his parents just yet. He remained on the porch, looking at the courtyard across the street, sighing; he wished it was a Quidditch pitch. He was a fair Beater but he hadn't been good enough to make the team, instead, he helped James practice; it was always fun and chucking the Quaffle at Peter's head always brought a laugh. Finally, Sirius entered the home and was swallowed by darkness.
The hallway was forever dim, as the chandelier hung from the fourth floor and the gas lamps were never turned up all the way. Sirius walked down the long hall and hoped to make it all the way up to his bedroom on the fourth floor without seeing his parents but the rattling of his trunk against the old floorboards announced his arrival.
"Sirius?" A gruff voice broke through the gloom from somewhere down the other hall. He sighed and let the trunk fall to the floor with a tremendous smack before dragging his feet down the hall to the study.
Orion Black sat behind the desk, going over some report from the Ministry; he worked in the Department of Magical Education and even sat on the Board of Governors. The other governors let him do whatever he wanted — he had a powerful name and an even more powerful command of the Imperius Curse.
Sirius stood opposite him with his arms crossed behind his back. Orion continued to stare at the document and Sirius stared at a large volume on the bookshelf behind him, imagining it smashing into his father's head and knocking him unconscious so he could leave. He noticed the book start to wiggle from its spot on the shelf and looked away, almost ashamed. Almost.
Orion finally looked up at his son, his cold brown eyes meeting Sirius'. He said, in his harsh voice, "Made it home, I see."
No thanks to you. "Yes."
His eyes narrowed. "Don't you take that tone with me."
"All I said was 'yes…'" Sirius said, eyes narrowing back at him; he was cut off by his father.
"Don't start, Sirius." Orion Black said, sitting up straight in his chair and glaring at Sirius. "Now, sit." He motioned to the high-backed black chair opposite him and waited until Sirius begrudgingly sank onto the stiff cushion. "This is your final summer before you graduate. It's time you had an internship at the Ministry."
He just stared at his father and said a simple, "No."
Orion cocked a ridiculously thick eyebrow and said, "No? You don't say no to me. You will have an internship. You need to put yourself out there, whether you like to or not."
"Listen, Father, I have no interest in working for the Ministry." He replied seriously.
His father's eyebrows furrowed as he asked, "What do you plan on doing?"
"Why do you care?" Sirius was suddenly angry with him; he had never expressed any interest in anything his son was doing. In general, he ignored him; Mother too. But, now, he was treating Sirius like an actual son. He was treating him like Regulus.
"Is it wrong for…" Orion began.
Sirius cut him off — he was not about to listen to him try to act like the father he had never been. "Yes, it is wrong. You don't care. You never had." Sirius rose and left his father sitting, staring at the chair.
He grabbed his trunk from the main hallway and dragged it up the staircase, passing the row of severed house-elf heads along the way. On the second floor landing, he passed Kreacher, the decrepit house-elf, polishing an ancient vase. He glared at Sirius and muttered, "The blood-traitor has returned. Mistress will not like this. Mistress will be most upset."
"Shut it, will you?" Sirius barked. He thinks he can't hear him but, of course Sirius could. The way Kreacher was looking at him made him think the elf wished to shove something very sharp into his throat.
He continued on, leaving the still-muttering elf behind. Two floors later, Sirius had managed to avoid Walburga and reach his room at the end of the short hall.
"Glad I'm home, Farrah?" He asked the poster on the wall. It was a Muggle one and the model in her red one-piece suit didn't move at all but, she was still gorgeous. She, of course, didn't answer. Sirius set his trunk down and sat on the bed, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. This was the only place in the house that he could feel happy, where he could be himself. The walls were decorated with Gryffindor posters, more Muggle girls in bikinis, and posters of motorbikes. One day, he would buy himself a motorbike.
Sirius stood from his bed and began to unpack his trunk. He put his clothes and robes in the wardrobe before he began to unpack his personal possessions. All of his school books went on the bookshelf that was very full at this point — 6 years of school led to too many books. He then pulled out a square object wrapped in cloth. Unwrapping it revealed his two-way mirror — James had the other one. He smiled as he put it in its holder on my desk under the window.
As Sirius finished with his trunk, he heard his name come from the mirror on the desk. He walked over to it to see James' ugly mug staring back at him. "Oi, your parents be wankers yet?"
"No more than usual. Father tried to get me into an internship at the Ministry."
James made a face. "Did you tell him to bugger off?"
"More or less." Sirius shrugged. He noticed a Golden Snitch zoom by behind James' head and asked, "Still playing with that old thing, are you?"
"I enjoy it." James said simply.
"You're not a seeker, you twit. You'd be better off throwing a Quaffle around." Sirius replied.
"I'd need someone else for that." He said. "So unless you can get Evans over here, I'll stick to the Snitch."
"Lily's never going to go for a wanker. She's too smart for that." Sirius said. "You'll need to stop being a prat and stop hexing people."
James gave him a look of feigned hurt. "How dare you! I will never stop hexing Snivellus!"
Sirius rolled his eyes. "I never said anything about Snape, you bloody idiot. Just everyone other than Snape. Lily doesn't want to date a child."
"How do you know? Do you two go for long walks together and chat about me?" James said, almost hopeful.
Again, Sirius rolled his eyes — he did that a lot with James. "No. Moony told me. They talk about you a lot on their patrols, although, I figured you had something to do with that; Remus wouldn't talk you up willingly to Evans. Thinks you're a bit of an arrogant prat."
"He's not wrong." James shrugged. "And I may have said something to him…"
"And bribed him with chocolate, no doubt."
James just shrugged. "I'm telling you, Padfoot, this is my year. Evans will say yes."
"Sure, she will."
"Oi! She stopped calling me a 'toerag' this year, that's something, right?"
"If that's a huge milestone in your relationship, I feel sorry for you, Prongs." Sirius laughed lightly and James scowled at him. He heard a door open and turned around to see if someone had opened his without his invitation but James turned around too and Sirius could see his mother behind him.
"Is that Sirius?" She asked, the happiness in her voice making Sirius smile. Euphemia Potter shuffled forward, her arthritis causing her to move slower these days.
"It sure is, Mrs. Potter." Sirius said, smiling like an idiot. This is what a mother should be, he had always thought.
He had begun going over to the Potters' at Christmas during second-year. James hadn't sent a letter or anything to his parents to alert them to Sirius' coming but, when they came to collect him from King's Cross and saw that Sirius was with him, they didn't think anything of it; they welcomed him like they had known he would be coming all along. They took both boys to their home in Godric's Hollow and gave Sirius the spare bedroom. Mr. Potter would cook elaborate meals every night and the four of them would sit in front of the fire afterwards, full to the point of bursting, playing Exploding Snap and laughing the night away. Euphemia and Fleamont Potter let the boys play Quidditch in the garden, having put protective charms around it so no one could see. Mrs. Potter even let Sirius and James blow up things that she said she 'had been meaning to get rid of for ages.' It made Sirius realize that was what a family should be.
"How are you, dear? Coming to visit this summer?" Mrs. Potter asked, a smile always on her face. "We would love to have you."
"I'm okay, Mrs. Potter. I would love to come visit." Sirius found himself saying. Although he had just gotten home and hadn't even seen the evil tyrant that was his mother yet, he knew that it would be terrible and wished he hadn't even come back at all.
"You just let us know. Or don't, just show up, dear." Mrs. Potter said. "You're always welcome here, Sirius."
"Thanks, Mrs. Potter." Sirius said, still smiling like an idiot. Why couldn't she be my mum?
She said to James, "Dinner's ready, dear. But you and Sirius can talk more."
James shook his head. "Nah, I'm hungry. Padfoot understands." He looked at Sirius and smirked. "Have fun with your family. Try not to use an Unforgivable Curse. I'm not visiting you in Azkaban."
Sirius rolled his eyes. "They don't really let you visit people in Azkaban."
"See, what would I do without your wealth of knowledge? Who would I get my information from if you were in Azkaban?" James asked, trying to keep from laughing.
"Remus, probably."
James nodded, acting all serious. "Yes, yes…why do I even bother with you when I have Remus? He's much smarter." He stood from his chair and set the mirror on the desk, giving Sirius a rather unflattering view up his nostrils. "Anyway, no killing your family. Hexing's fine." With that, James was gone and Sirius felt more alone than before they had spoken.
Just as he thought, dinner that night was a dreadful occasion. Sirius tried to sit as far down the ridiculously long table as he could from his family but Walburga Black screamed at him until he came and sat next to Regulus. Sirius didn't have the faintest idea why, she proceeded to ignore him immediately. Kreacher brought out steak-and-kidney pie, balancing bowls of vegetables and potatoes in the crooks of his arms. After he had served the food, he bowed himself from the room, his eyes on his mistress.
She was the first to speak. Not to Sirius, of course. "Regulus, Professor Flitwick tells us you received an O in Charms. Professor Slughorn sent word that you received an E. Well done! "
Regulus beamed at their mother but his brother just rolled his eyes. Of course they would know the results of his O.W.L.s before he even told them. Regulus said, "I also received an A in Transfiguration."
Sirius actually snorted into his peas. All eyes were on him and he smirked as he said, "That's not very impressive, Reg."
Walburga glared at him. "It is impressive, Sirius. Just because you haven't amounted to anything, doesn't mean that you are allowed to make Regulus feel like an A isn't a good score!"
"I got 5 O.W.L.s!" Sirius found himself nearly screaming.
It was Orion's deep growl of a voice that broke through the tension, "Yes, we're ever so proud. O in Charms, A in Herbology, A in Potions, though we expected better in that given Professor Slughorn's teaching of the course, and O in Transfiguration."
"You forgot O in Defense Against the Dark Arts." Sirius said proudly.
"Yes, and we will always forget it." Orion said, turning angry. "What an embarrassment to the family: our eldest getting an Outstanding in Defense Against the Dark Arts. It's codswallop, absolute rubbish. You bring shame on the family daily and we just don't know what to do with you anymore, Sirius. What do you plan to do with your life if you don't get a head start with the Ministry this summer? You'll be going nowhere."
"I thought to take up underwater basket-weaving or maybe after graduation I'll attend the Wizarding Academy of Dramatic Arts…" Sirius joked but Orion cut him off.
"Damn it, Sirius!" His father shouted. "When are you going to take things seriously? When are you going to grow up and start doing what's right?"
Sirius said, his voice like venom, "You and I have a very different opinion of what's right."
"We've been able to tell." Orion said, dryly. "Contrary to what you believe, we aren't ignorant." Sirius snorted but he continued, "You need to grow up and join the family, Sirius. We've let you do your nonsense for long enough, albeit begrudgingly. You've been brainwashed by that house of yours. You would never have turned out this way had you been sorted into Slytherin. You would have turned out proper."
"Proper? You think hating Muggle-borns is proper? You think pure-bloods ruling the world is proper?" Sirius was yelling now, rising from his seat and placing his hands on the table to brace himself as he screamed. "None of that is proper! It's ludicrous! You're all insane! I can't stand Slytherin and I can't stand you!"
His father was around the table in an instant — did he Apparate? — and smacked Sirius so hard in the face he actually saw stars. Sirius moved his jaw around, making sure it wasn't broken. Then he turned to his father and said, "That's what Slytherin house produces: bullies. You're nothing more than a bully, Father. You're worse than Voldemort," there was an audible gasp in the room as his mother covered her mouth; they didn't speak his name, only called him the Dark Lord. Sirius continued as if he hadn't been interrupted, "He at least knows what he wants and does everything in his power to achieve it; you don't want anything, you just have power and know that you can do anything with it. You can find out your son's O.W.L. scores before he wants you to, you can threaten the other governors, you can beat up you son — no one will bat an eye. You're so much worse because people don't think what you're doing is wrong."
Sirius glared at his father for another few seconds, almost daring him to smack him again. When he didn't, Sirius turned on his heel and walked out of the room, leaving his supper behind. He ran up the many stairs and slammed the door to his bedroom so hard he heard a frame fall in the hallway and shatter. He sat on his bed and leaned over, putting his head in his hands, rubbing a hand over what would be a terrible bruise come morning. He was in for it now, they would surely kick him out. Orion was normally the mild-tempered one and Walburga normally doled out the punishments; things were getting worse. Better to just leave and save himself the bruises and curses they had in store for him.
He was halfway through repacking his possessions when there was a soft knock on his door. Sirius didn't answer but it opened anyway. Regulus walked in and sat on the bed. He stayed silent and just watched his older brother pack. Sirius finally couldn't take it anymore and rounded on him, yelling, "What? Come to see me off? Did Mum send a gift basket with you, telling me to enjoy my life away from this house and to never return? What could you possibly want from me, Regulus?"
"I just wanted to say goodbye if you were really leaving." Regulus said calmly. Sirius just stared at him before Regulus continued, "I don't want you to leave. I like being around you."
Sirius gave him a look. "You're around me at school. I'll see you then."
His brother shook his head. "No, I'm not. You hang around your friends, I hang around mine. When we see each other, it's across the Great Hall. But you don't come up to me, you don't acknowledge me." Regulus looked at his feet. "I know it's because you're ashamed of me. You're ashamed that I didn't tell the Sorting Hat to not place me in Slytherin. But, it's where I belong. I'm no better than Mum and Dad."
Sirius frowned and knelt in front of his brother. Sure, Regulus was only a year younger but, he was always a child to Sirius. "You're nothing like them, Reg, don't let yourself think that way. You still have choices, you can still do something good with your life. Don't throw it away, okay?"
Regulus nodded. Sirius rose to his feet and took his brother's face in his hands, kissing his forehead. He sat next to him on the bed and Regulus asked, looking at the redness on his face, "Do you want me to fix that?"
Sirius shook his head, "I want them to see it."
Thanks for reading! I'm always apprehensive posting a new story since I have so many others that need updating, but I saw a post on Pinterest and it inspired this story.
In case you were trying to picture a young Black family, I imagine young Sirius as Ben Barnes, young Regulus as (his real life brother) Jack Barnes, Luke Evans as Orion Black, and Michelle Pfeiffer as Walburga Black. But, of course, feel free to imagine whoever you want as the Blacks.