Grimauld Place sits tall and proud between two other, less respectable houses, both of which are owned and inhabited by Muggles. I say tall and proud as if it is an intentional attitude, when in reality it's one that's been fabricated by the hundreds of generations that have ressided within it. Thin, dark windows tower the front of the house, and are symetrical if you ever cared to study them from the outside. No one asside from myself has, I'm sure, in fact the only reason I found myself doing it, was to have a visual to stick in my mind, of the place that tried it's damnedest to change me.
I'm Sirius black, by the way. I should probably apologize in advanced for anything that may come off a bit meledramatic on my part. I like to pretend that I was a young, innocent wizard, whose talents and abilities were being bogged down by a family as depressing as their name. Although I suppose, in a way, I was. Though it would neither be wise, nor accurate to assume that I was ever anything resembling innocent. Even I admit that I was a "Toublemaker" to qoute the good majority of my professors in school.
Contrary to popular belief, I am a good man. No, really, if I'd cared a lick about my mother, I'd swear it on her weed devoured grave. As it is... I didn't give a damn about her, so you'll just have to take my word. Never once did I waver in the never ending battle I was subjected to as a child. That's not to say I never thought about it, or that it never crossed my mind. It did, how could it not have? In my father's household, behavoir such as mine was frowned upon. Of course, my behavoir is often frowned upon in other types of situations as well... but for different reasons.
I give full credit to my 'pureness', if you will, to none other than James Potter, and Remus Lupin. Say what you will about these men, but they kept me in the straight and narrow through out my adolescent years, in more ways than one. I realize that James never once discouraged my mischievious tendencies, in fact he probably egged them on more times that he knew, but he was truely a brother to me, in a time when I needed one most.
Remus, bless him, is the only reason I passed a single exam, when I even bothered to attempt them at all. But he is also the reason I can accept people with far more ease than I used too. I try to look for the good in even the most sinister looking people, but never let it cloud my judgement. He's a wonderful man, and those who judge him prematurely are missing out on one of the kindest, understanding, ingenius people I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. At the risk of sounding sappier than I already have, not to mention looking like a complete poof, I'm going to move on to a subject sperate of my makeshift siblings.
I was also known, to a good portion of everyone around, as quite the 'ladies man'. I wont deny this either, in fact I'm telling you that this is what I was. Woman were what I did best, no pun intended. I was a very confident young lad, and this served me well in my persuit of every living breathing female I came in contact with.
But there was one woman that was different. One woman that could not only resist what most others could not, but also managed to reveal a side of myself that I hadn't been aware of, and that many people would have sworn didn't exist at all.
I learned alot that year, and I can only hope that she did too.