May 1998
The war was over. This was thought that gave Harry Potter much relief as now, for the first time in about seven years, he didn't have to worry about the most evil wizard of all time trying to kill him.
In the aftermath of the battle he had graciously accepted hundreds of congratulations, payed his respects to those who had fought but most of all was now trying to get his life to seem like something that could fit under the world 'normal'. It was in this search for normalcy that he found himself carefully stepping through the door that led into Number 12, Grimmauld Place. Harry hoped that by coming here, not only would he be able to escape the commotion outside, it would also give him time to think. He quietly closed the door behind him trying his best to not disturb the portrait of Sirius's mother, Walburga Black. However it seemed she was asleep - or at least pretending to be.
Without really thinking Harry turned his way towards the stairs and started to make his way up to his godfather's room. He hadn't been back to the house, let alone this room since last summer after he, Ron and Hermione had escaped from Bill and Fleur's wedding. He walked in slowly, gazing around. Unsurprisingly, nothing had changed. He gently sat down on the edge of the bed but quickly shifted in discomfort, realising that he had sat on something. He lifted up the cover and spotted a small leather book which he reached out for. Bringing it up to the light he saw the small, neat, writing on the front. 'Diary' it said. He almost laughed because he had never really pictured Sirius as the type to keep a diary but thinking it through it made sense. He'd probably wanted to record all the pranks that him and James had done. Still, Harry hesitated. It wasn't really his place to read it and he knew that. But him and Sirius had always been truthful and had never really kept secrets and he felt sure that Sirius wouldn't really mind. So with that thought, Harry cautiously opened it to the first page. It was dated 1st September 1971 which, Harry realised, would have been the day that Sirius started attending Hogwarts. He carefully thumbed through the pages looking at the dates of all the entries and noticed that they were fairly inconsistent. Lots more in some years than others. Curiosity getting the better of him, he flipped back to the beginning and began to read...