So these are all just little snippets of Sirius Black's adolescent life. Sorry if the dates are a little off. Enjoy!
September 23rd, 1965
(5)
Your day consists of french lessons with the governess, magic lessons with Father, and proper etiquette with Mother. You wonder why you're not allowed to play outside with the other children, but you already know their answer: You're special, Sirius. You're the heir to the Black throne.
June 8th, 1967
(7)
You sneak out to the park one day, out of curiosity, boredom, or sheer loneliness, you don't know. You find him sitting on the swings; he calls himself Gregory. He doesn't wear robes like you, and doesn't believe you when you say you're a wizard, but you don't hate him like they taught you to. You finally found yourself a friend. But Mother and Father find out the next day; it's the first time you ever hear about those "eaters of death".
October 17th, 1970
(10)
You sit at the front of the table, legs dangling from the tall, mahogany chair. Mother and Father sit beside you, the smiles plastered to their faces not quite reaching their eyes. You drift in and out of listening as their voices drone on about the school you'll be attending in a year. Your eyes keep shifting to the presents laying before you and your fingertips start to itch in anticipation.
"Sirius Black, are you listening?" You roll your eyes. What's so great about some stupid school, anyways?
April 5th, 1971
(11)
You heart races as you run down the corridors, your best friend howling with laughter only a few paces behind you. You've just executed yet another Snivellus-centric prank, this one involving dung bombs and exploding cauldrons. Your other roommates (the quiet, weird one, and the chubby one) were suppose to keep guard but fled once they saw the Slytherins charging them. You know the drill; it'll result in a brawl, someone (probably you) will end up in the Hospital Wing, you'll get yet another detention (this 12th, this month alone) and then a Howler from Dear Old Mother at breakfast tomorrow. But you don't care. It's funny how it takes a whole new life to realize you were never truly living.
December 24th, 1973
(13)
You come home for the holidays this year, and you don't know why you even bothered. When you're not rowing with Mother, you're rowing with Regulus, or even with Kreacher if you're in the right mood. The more time you spend at Hogwarts, the more strained your visits home have become; it's almost painfully obvious where your loyalties are lying these days, and you know you're one detention away from being disowned. You're sitting in the foyer, trying to get some school work done, when Father stumbles out of the Floo fireplace, reeking of alcohol. The usual protocol with Father is to be ignored, so you're surprised when you grabs your shoulder from behind, throws you down on the ground, and starts kicking. You wake up the next morning, gauze wrapped around your throbbing head, and realize that last night you were dropped off in a muggle hospital.
November 7th, 1975
(15)
You wake up in the morning, and don't know why you even bothered. The dorm room is empty, anyways. Something had occurred a few days before, something with no justification whatsoever, and you've gone and made a right bloody mess of everything (even more so than usual). Where you were only ever selfless for the sake of one person, an explosion occurred inside you, making you throw away years of proving yourself; that you were different than the rest of the Blacks, each more rotten than the previous. You realize that what you woke up from was the same images as the other nights: you're always underwater, suspended from time and movement, and are gradually sinking against your will. A figure appears above you, too blurry to be specific, but obviously looking down at you; all you need them to do is to pull you up, but you know they won't. And you can't say you blame them.
August 13th, 1976
(16)
You dart down the stairs, trying to ignore Mother as she follows right on your heels. You realize the argument doesn't even make sense now, that it's just a contest of who can scream louder (at which she's currently winning). At times like this, you wish you were a Muggle-born. At least then you wouldn't have to put up with your family's deluded, sickening, pureblooded mania all the time. So you tell Mother this. The curse that follows hits you with a white-hot intensity, a stabbing so deep it cuts right through you. You're used to it, though. Father may use muggle methods of punishment, but Mother is more fond of using her wand (which is worse, so much worse). But something tells you it's not just ending there tonight. Something that makes you leave your things unpacked when you arrived and owl James about staying at the Grimmauld Place with him for the summer. And that something comes in the form of a bright green light; one that you see for the first, but definitely not the last time.
June 15th, 1977
(18)
You listen as the names are called off one by one, a full circle from the Sorting seven years ago.
"Black, Sirius!"
The cheers and catcalls (James of course) follow you as you make your way to Dumbledore at the podium. His blue eyes twinkle as he slips the scroll into your hands.
"I expect to see great things from you, Sirius." The bird-shaped pin you that rests on your robes suddenly feels much heavier. As your eyes scan the crowd, you see you recognize most of the faces, and don't even acknowledge the pang in your chest when you don't find anyone from the Black household there (not really, anyways). There's a certain charge to the air, hard to distinguish, but feels electrifying. The recent events unfolding terrify as well as thrill you; you feel your second chance here, the chance of redemption, of proving yourself worthy once again. As you look across the row of graduating witches and wizards, you lock eyes with the chubby boy (who's actually quite clever) the quiet, weird one (braver than all of them combined) and your best friend (you'd die for him), you know that everything has a way of working itself out in the end.
I hope you guys got that Order of the Phoenix reference in that last one there ;-p If you've made it this far you might as well review, right? Even if you thought it was complete crap, please inform me so I'll be better in the future!