Chapter One: Escaping his life

'If home is where the heart is, then my family sure as hell have no home'

Ten year old Sirius Black was lying uncomfortably upon his bed trying not to listen to the most recent family reunion that was taking place in the dimly lit basement kitchen beneath his bedroom. His elder cousins Narcissa and Bellatrix were fortunately already considered old enough to take part in the meetings and therefore not present in what Sirius considered to be his complete craphole of a bedroom. Although he had done his best to try and brighten it up by adding moving posters of his favourite quidditch teams to the walls it was to no real eviction. "Siri"? called a voice from the bottom of his bed. "What?" returned Sirius not moving his gaze from the pages of the book he was looking at, but not actually reading. Sirius didn't like books, he would much rather be outside playing quidditch with some of his friends, but his father did not permit wanderings outside of Number Twelve Grimauld Place. "Do you reckon they're finished yet?" Sirius threw his book across the room onto his already messy desk. "I doubt it 'Dromeda, they're probably still going on about their latest plan to pass through that stupid decree to make muggle hunting legal" Sirius' cousin (sister of Bellatrix and Narcissa) gasped, and put her hand over her mouth "is that what they're doing, but… but what about Ted?" Sirius snorted loudly and through himself onto the floor beside her "That muggle boy you've been seeing, if they found out you were going out with him they'd probably kill you both" he said insensitively, ignoring her frequent moans of shock and disbelief. "Has he actually snogged you yet anyway?"

Even in the dark Sirius saw his cousins face go bright red. "No, well… not really, It was just… only on the… stop laughing!" she pulled the pillow from underneath her and chucked it at him now laughing heartily herself, and brushing her long black hair off her shoulders. Suddenly there came a loud bang on the door "who d'you reckon that is" asked Andromeda curiously. "Regulus probably, the little git's always trying to barge in and nick my stuff" Sirius threw himself off the floor and wrenched open the door, to reveal a small black haired boy standing in the doorway "what d'you want?" Sirius' said bitterly blocking the whole doorway to make sure there was no way his younger brother could get into the room without permission "I want to borrow a book" sneered Regulus angry at having to answer to his elder brother "what's the magic word" questioned Sirius smirking knowing that he was really and truly annoying Regulus, who fingers were now clenched in fists. "p…please" he said through gritted teeth, looking as if the sheer mention of the word caused him great pain. "that's better" replied Sirius, taunting his brother was the only way to release the steam that built up inside him, whilst he was constantly stuck in number 12 Grimauld place. "what book do you want" Regulus thought for a moment "Slytherin - A history of Pure Blood wizardry" Sirius tilted his head and raised his eyebrows. Regulus rolled his black eyes "please" Sirius nodded shut the door in his brothers face, grabbed the thoroughly untouched book off his shelf and gave it to Regulus, before giving him an almighty shove away from the door and closing it again. "I can't wait until I go to Hogwarts" Sirius said wearily, sitting down upon his bed again.

Andromeda sat beside him "Don't worry Siri, you'll be there soon, and then you'll only have to come back to this horrid place in the summer holidays" "yeah, what house do you reckon I'll be in" Andromeda shrugged "hopefully you won't be in Slytherin like the rest of them" she stated. Andromeda Black was only the second member of the Black family that had not been in Slytherin house at Hogwarts, but Sirius was hoping to follow in her footsteps, instead of his parents'. "I really want to be in Gryffindor, like you" he whined if I'm in Slytherin I might have to kill myself 'Dromeda. Andromeda laughed again "you won't be in Slytherin Siri, more likely you'll be in Hufflepuff" Sirius pulled a face at her, everyone knew that Hufflepuffs were sad, well apart from the people that were in Hufflepuff. "I wish they'd hurry up, I'm starving, and we can't eat until they finish their bloody meeting" moaned Andromeda rubbing her stomach Sirius looked at her for a second then said to thin air "Kreacher" There was a loud crack, which caused Andromeda Black to jump in shock as a houself appeared in the room. Kreacher bowed so low that his long nose almost touched the floor. "Spare us the drama, Kreacher and go fetch us some sandwiches and pumpkin juice from downstairs without Mum seeing you" The old house elf bowed again "Young master wants Kreacher to disobey his mother's orders he wants Kreacher to fetch food for him, and the Gryffindor brat" Sirius jumped off the bed anger flaring in his eyes "we can hear you Kreacher and if you ever say that about Andromeda again, I'll throttle you until you never mutter again do you understand me" "yes master Kreacher understands" There was another loud 'pop' and the house elf vanished. "Oh Sirius you didn't have to do that, if you're Mum finds out she'll murder you" Sirius yawned unconcernedly "let her kill me, that little git won't keep insulting you, just 'cause you're the only decent one in this family… apart from me of obviously" Andromeda crossed her arms in mock sarcasm "oh you're just so modest aren't you" Sirius grinned mischievously "shall we go listen to what they're saying, Kreacher won't be back for at least twenty minutes" Adromeda hesitated slightly "what if they catch us" Sirius shrugged "what they gonna do to us" but seeing that his cousin really was scared he put his arm around her shoulders saying "if they do catch us we'll just say we were interested in what they were saying, they can't moan at us for that, they're always trying to find someone else to spread their evil through" Andromeda giggled nervously, "where we gonna stand" Sirius shrugged again "on the stairs, the walls by them are hollow so we'll hear every word- come on"

The two stood up and walked slowly across the magnificently furnished landing towards the stairs, being careful not to let Regulus hear them. " I see Regulus - Pureblood - scum- of - the-year has found a new banner for his door" whispered Andromeda to Sirius pointing towards a thick framed poster with the seven Slytherin quidditch players in the centre surrounded by a fancy border of Silver and Green. "yup" replied Sirius Dad bought it for him last time he braved a trip into Diagon Alley" Andromeda gave him a bitter smile "and what d'you get" Sirius smirked "a book about purifying blood, made good use of it though" Andromeda narrowed her eyebrows "chucked it in the fire, this place is so bloody freezing in the winter" they both laughed, then fell silent at once as they heard voices coming through the wall. "But surely if we set up a petition and enough people sign it, they'll have to pass through the decree" Narcissa said confidently, despite this only being her fourth meeting. " yes, but darling they really aren't enough pure blood families left in the world here to sign the petition" said Narcissa's aunt and Sirius knew that right now his mother would be smiling a smile that wouldn't meet her cold black eyes. "Oh right, very true" answered Narcissa vowing silently to try and think more before she blurted her suggestions out.

The meeting continued with the two outcasts of the family outside catching occasional pieces on information that gave away the entire situation and made them shudder in disgust. "Is there a reason you two are standing gormlessly on the stairs" questioned Uncle Alphard appearing at the bottom of the wooden staircase and staring sharply into the coal black trademark eyes of the younger Black children.

"No Uncle Al" answered Sirius knowing that his Uncle was probably sounding more serious out of concern for his niece and nephew if his family caught them eavesdropping on their 'magnificent' plans, than out of hardness at finding them listening sneakily outside the door. "Well then if I was you I'd jolly well get out of here before 'them lot' get a hold of you, they've got quite a significant collection of silver - face damaging instruments in there, and I'd hate to be the one to have to clean them, after they've used them on my favourite family." Sirius and Andromeda laughed heartily, their Uncle Alphard was not even mildly close to becoming a favourite of the more horrid Black family members, he was in their opinions much to close to the Weasley's and Potters and the muggle- loving fool Albus Dumbledore to be a true member of the black family. "Are the instruments all encrusted with the back family crest as well" asked Sirius innocently, but trying to restrain his laughter. Oh I'd expect so Sirius I'd like to try and find a bloody thing in this place that doesn't have that awful crest on it" Andromeda giggled again, but this time stuffing her fist into her mouth hurriedly - remembering what was taking place next door.

"How are you coping with your 'oh-so-charming sisters 'Dromeda" whispered Alphard sympathetically. "Well enough I suppose I try to ignore them, but they've gotten even worse since they've been allowed to join the meetings, apparently they've reached new levels of vindictiveness - I wouldn't have thought it possible" Andromeda's uncle gazed at her mock pretending to think "No I wouldn't have thought it possible either, but I must admit I always thought Bella was worse than Cissy" Andromeda nodded in agreement, and Sirius feeling slightly left out now by his uncle and cousin piped up "How'r Charlie and Quent" Uncle Al looked shocked at the mention of his two children, who were usually expelled from being spoken about in Grimauld Place, due to their obvious fondness for muggles, and halfbloods "They're ok for the time being" started Alphard, a hint of badly suppressed worry hidden within his usually steady voice "Charlene should be fine, she's taking her owls next year, but it's only a matter of time before my interfering sister- your Mum obviously Sirius- realizes that Quent married a muggle last year" Sirius' mouth fell open "Quent married a muggle - is he trying to get himself killed" Alphard chuckled lowly " that… is exactly what I said Sirius, but Quentin was never one to follow rules, anyway I met the young lady a couple of months back, and she seemed charming enough - Theresa was her name" Andromeda and Sirius shook both their heads in disbelief at their cousins nerve, neither of them had ever been that close to Quent their Uncle Aphard and his wife Ophelia preferring to keep their children as far from Grimauld place as was truely possible, but now they felt a certain respect and admiration for his bravery at bluntly disobeying his prejudiced family.

Suddenly all three of the crowd huddled on the basement stairs turned to face the entrance to the meeting room, which had opened revealing a triumphant looking Bellatrix staring into the eyes of the two children and her Uncle. "You two aren't suppose to be down here" she sneered coldly at Sirius and her sister. "I'm going to tell Mother and Aunt Burga" Alphard bit his lip discreetly before saying quickly "it's quite alright Bella I was simply asking Sirius and your sister to get me a glass of water, and …" Bella laughed coldly " oh so the water in there isn't enough for you Uncle Alphard" she watched in glee and her uncle flushed red, and bit his nail nervously. "Oh shut it Bella we all know that you're all words until you get what you want" he watched as Bellatrix Blacks face fell from its smile into a sneer "and what exactly is it that you want Sirius" Sirius smirked again "only to hear what chaos my dearest family were planning to cause next" he said neatly dodging a stinging hex that his cousin threw at him, which instead rebounded off the wall behind him and shattered an antique lamp belonging to his mother that stood proudly on a dresser behind him.

"Nice one Bella, my mother is going to murder you when she see's that" Bella grinned "not if I say it was you, we all know you don't agree with our preferences, so who is Aunt Burga going to believe more, me, her faithfully pure-blooded, niece or you her blood traitor, muggle associating son" Sirius shrugged as if this was a throw away question of know real importance to him "what do I care if my Mother thinks it was me, I much used to your sick twisted forms of punishment Bellatrix, now if you don't mind, I think I'll go back upstairs, I do believe your sister is hungry, and I must say her company is much more pleasurable than your own, she doesn't attempt to hex me within five minutes of me being in her presence you see!" He snorted in mirth at the look of fury on her face, at being out beaten by her own cousin, and spun on his heel to walk out of the dark room "you'll pay for that Sirius Trilion Black" Bella snarled distastefully "I highly doubt it Bellatrix Kylena Black" he replied emphasizing the use of her full name "and by the way that make-up makes you look like even more of a slut than you already are, not at all sophisticated!" He laughed wildly and ran out of the room, to join Andromeda in his own bedroom!