December 1973

"You're acting weird again," James said before he could think about the words that were coming out of his mouth. He had a horrible habit of saying what he was thinking before he thought about whether or not he should say it. It had gotten him into trouble quite a bit in his life, but he had never really cared to work on it until he saw Sirius' face when he did it to him at the wrong moment.

"Am I?" Sirius asked as he shifted his satchel from his left shoulder to his right one.

James nodded as he watched Peter Pettigrew's father pull him into a hug. "Yeah a bit."

Sirius shrugged at these words. He couldn't explain to James that he was nervous about how things were about to go. He couldn't explain to him that he was afraid that things had changed in the three short months that they had been back at Hogwarts. He just couldn't and especially not in the middle of King's Cross Station.

The two boys had gotten off the Hogwarts train just five minutes earlier. They had collected their things and were now standing in the center of the room waiting for Mr. and Mrs. Potter to collect them.

"Like you're nervous or something," James continued in a concerned voice.

Sirius ignored his best mate's words and instead chose to focus all his attention on the large clock on the wall. It was nearly four in the afternoon. He watched as the seconds hand ticked around the numbers.

"Are you?" James asked loudly forcing Sirius to acknowledge him.

"Am I what?" Sirius asked as he looked at James.

"Nervous," James said in an annoyed voice. "Are you nervous?"

Sirius shrugged at these words, "Yeah a bit." He instantly felt stupid for his concerns. Even if the Potters had decided that they no longer wanted him, it wouldn't be the end of the world. Of course, by law, he couldn't go back to his parents, not that he would want to, but he would figure something else out. He silently swore to himself that if that happened he wouldn't shed a tear. Who cared if he was anxious to get back to their house just so that he could talk with Mrs. Potter about life while she made breakfast? It wasn't a huge deal if he never got to hear Mr. Potter's words of wisdom again. As it stood the man had become more of a father to him in the past few months than his own father ever had. Still, if they were done Sirius could walk away from it all. It wouldn't be easy but he could make it on his own.

"Why?" James asked. Suddenly his face grew very concerned. "Did you do something I don't know about? Are you going to be in trouble?"

Sirius shook his head quickly resisting the urge to call James a git.

"Then what?" James asked in an insistent voice. "You can tell me."

Sirius mulled over these words. If there was anyone he trusted with every inch of his life it was James. He opened his mouth to reply but quickly shut it as he spotted them.

Mr. and Mrs. Potter both had looks of absolute delight on their faces as they approached the boys. Mr. Potter instantly put an arm around James as Mrs. Potter nearly knocked Sirius over with the force of the hug she pulled him into.

Sirius felt a feeling of love sweep through his body as he smiled widely. His own parents had never even picked him up from school; they had always sent a house elf. Half the time when he arrived home they weren't even there. He had actually spent the last Christmas holidays alone while his parents and brother were off on their own holiday. He could clearly remember how awful it had felt to sit alone on Christmas morning.

"Let the child breath Love," Mr. Potter chuckled softly.

Mrs. Potter gently pulled Sirius away from her body, before reaching an arm out and pulling James close to her as well.

The moment Sirius was released from Mrs. Potter's embrace Mr. Potter leaned in for his own hug.

Sirius felt his apprehensions diminish as the scene played out around him.

He would have never imagined that the Potters would have just picked right back up where they had left off. It was as if he and James had been gone overnight and not for nearly three months.

"Shall we head home?" Mrs. Potter asked with a smile. "I'm making all of your favorites tonight. Baked chicken for you James and Sirius I'm making rice pudding for dessert."

"Thank you," Sirius smiled widely. He had told her once months ago that rice pudding was his favorite treat and now here she was weeks later making just that for dessert.

The four of them began making their way towards the staircase.

"Did you get a tree yet?" James asked as they began climbing the stairs.

"We haven't," Mr. Potter replied. "I thought perhaps you boys would like to come along with me to select a tree."

Sirius felt a wave of excitement rush through his body. He had never actually picked a Christmas tree out before. On the odd chance that his parents actually got one they usually just ordered one and had it delivered to the house. Actually going out into the woods and selecting your own sounded so much more exciting to Sirius.

"Yeah we could do that," James replied. He gave Sirius an apologetic look. He was sure that the last thing Sirius wanted to do on their holiday was go hunting through the woods for the perfect tree.

Sirius shook his head at James with a small smile. He would have to tell his friend later how excited he was to go. James often apologized for his parent's actions, only to have Sirius dismiss his apology before it was even completely out of his mouth. What was lame and annoying to James was only new and nice to Sirius.

They turned the corner that led to the large floo area as Mrs. Potter put a loving hand on the back of Sirius' head. "Your hair has grown at least three inches," she observed.

"Mum," James whined in a mortified voice as if she had touched him in such a way in public. "People are around."

"James really," Mr. Potter scolded lightly.

"I was talking to Sirius," Mrs. Potter informed her son. "I just wanted to know if he likes it longer or if he'd like it cut while he is home."

Sirius didn't mind the public display of affection, in fact he enjoyed it. He wasn't used to having a family that wasn't embarrassed to be seen with him.

"I think I like it long," he answered her in a kind voice.

"It's the style," Mr. Potter explained to his wife as they waited for a fireplace. "Look around, all the boys are wearing it longer."

"Not me," James declared as he stepped into the large fireplace with his family.

"That's because your hair is too unruly," Sirius replied.

Mr. Potter dropped the floo powder stating their destination and seconds later that stepped into their parlor.

James nodded in agreement. "It would look horrible long, I'm sure of it."

Sirius felt a feeling of warmth take over his body as he looked around the parlor. Despite the fact that it had been less than half of a year since he had come to live with the Potters, he couldn't help but feel more at home in their house than he ever had any place else.

"Can we go check on our fort before dinner?" James asked in an excited tone.

At the end of the summer the two boys had spent every waking moment making a brilliant fort in the forest behind the house. At first the whole idea had seemed rather childish, but they quickly discovered that they could use the secret place to do all sorts of things that they weren't exactly allowed to do.

"Actually your father and I have a small surprise for Sirius," Mrs. Potter said with a smile.

Sirius looked up at her. Surely he had to have heard her wrong. He couldn't imagine getting a surprise when James wasn't getting anything, especially not for no reason at all.

"We talked it over and we decided that although the two of you get along beautifully it might be nice for you each to have your own rooms," Mr. Potter explained. "I hope you don't mind Sirius, but we took the liberty of decorating the guest bedroom for you." Mr. Potter smiled widely as he headed towards the staircase with his wife a step behind him.

"Come and see," Mrs. Potter smiled. "Afterwards you can go out to your fort."

"Come on," James grinned as he rushed to the stairs. "I want to see it."

Sirius followed the three of them. He wanted to be excited about the prospect of his own room but he was a bit apprehensive as well. Most of his things were still at his parent's house. He had no desire to go get them. He wasn't quite sure what Mr. and Mrs. Potter could have possibly decorated the room with though. He had been in the guest room numerous times. It was huge, just as big as James room which was cluttered with books and games.

"Now if you don't like it let me know," Mrs. Potter said as she paused in front of the bedroom with her hand on the door knob. "We can change it to whatever you like."

Sirius nodded in agreement though he knew that he would never in a hundred years do such a thing.

Slowly Mrs. Potter opened the bedroom door and stepped inside. Sirius followed her with James and Mr. Potter a step behind him. He felt his heart swell as he looked around the room slowly taking it all in.

The old furniture that had been in the room over the summer had been replaced with brand new mahogany furniture. The book shelf was full of new books; the bedding was in Gryffindor colors. There were posters on the walls of popular music stars and the ceiling was bewitched to look like the night sky.

"I recalled you telling me that you were a fan of astronomy," Mrs. Potter said softly as she watched Sirius gaze up at it.

"This room is brilliant," James declared. "Cooler than mine even!"

He swallowed hard forcing the large lump in his throat to go away.

The room was absolutely perfect.

"Thank you," he said hoping that his voice didn't sound nearly as shaky as it felt.

"You're sure you like it?" Mrs. Potter asked in a worried voice. "As I said anything can be changed if you would like it differently."

Sirius quickly shook his head. "No I love it. It's perfect."

Mrs. Potter smiled at her husband as he reached out and gently ruffled Sirius' hair. "Welcome home Sirius."

TBC...