A Real Family
Oh no. Oh no no no. No wonder his mother said not to run in the house. He deserved all those beatings that he got when it happened. For once in his life, his mother actually might have been right. This was exactly the situation he was trying to avoid.
It was the summer of 2nd year, and he was allowed to stay at the Potter's house for the remainder of the summer. There, laying on the floor in front of him, Sirius Black, were the remnants of what had once been a glass vase. And, not just anyone's glass vase, the Potter's.
Why oh why oh why? Now, more than ever, he wished he had a time turner. If he could just go back in time, even if it was just a few minutes, it didn't matter. He just wanted the vase to unbreak. He had his wand, and he dug it out of his pocket. He could do magic, but that might get him kicked out of school.
Ah! Of course! He had an excellent idea. He would just clean it up! Sometimes, when you had magic at your fingertips, you really overthink things. "Merlin, why didn't I do this this before?! It was so simple." thought Sirius.
His eyes darted around the room, in search of a broom. No such luck. He bent down, and began picking up the shattered glass pieces. As tears started to well up in his eyes, and the glass shards cut deeper into his hand, he inhaled deeply. "Huh, it might hurt, but at least the Potter's will never find out." He could deal with pain, from being beaten repeatedly by his parents, but he couldn't deal with shame, which was one of the few negative emotions he hadn't already gotten used to.
As he heard one of the bedroom doors on the second level creak open, he started to pick up the pace. "I cannot let James's parents find out, I can't." he thought. The unmistakable sound of footsteps was getting louder by the second. No, no! There wasn't enough time! He wasn't even close to being done! There was no point in trying. Sighing in expectancy, he dropped the glass shards, and stood up, making sure to hide his cut and bloody hand behind his back. Mrs. Potter's voice rang through the hall, asking "James? Sirius? Is something wrong?"
"Uh… Nothing?" said Sirius, though it sounded more like a question.
"No no, really. I'm coming down." replied Mrs. Potter.
"I'm screwed." he thought, as Mrs. Potter walked into the room. As she caught sight of the shattered glass littering the floors, she chuckled. Funny, it didn't sound wicked.
"Oh, you boys and your little games. Let me fix that."
Sirius watched as she whipped her wand out of her sweater pocket, and muttered a quick 'reparo' as the pieces came back together.
As the pieces came back together, they ripped themselves out of Sirius's hand, causing his already bleeding hand to start gushing blood. As all this happened, the young boy yelped, though still trying to pretend nothing had happened, despite the fact that he was clearly in a lot of pain. The pieces on the vase that had come from Sirius's hand were attached to the vase, but, were staining the inside of the glass red with blood.
She put her wand down on the coffee table.
"Uhh… Sirius, Sweetie, are you okay?"
"Right as rain, why?" he replied. Though he wasn't okay. And she could hear it. The young boy's quaking voice gave it away. Her expression softened.
"Sirius, can I see your hands?"
"Why? I mean, nothing's wrong with them, y'know, it's just be a waste of your time and-" The boy was starting to get frantic. He paused and took a deep breath, as a flash of shooting pain went through his hand. Ouch.
Mrs. Potter raised an eyebrow in concern.
"Well-" he started.
"Okay." sighed Sirius.
Sirius held out a trembling hand from behind his back. As she took it in her hand, his expression went grim as he tensed up, preparing himself for a beating, maybe a Crucio. She took her wand off of the table, and pointed it at Sirius's hand. He grimaced. But, of all the things she could have done, Sirius was NOT expecting her to do this.
"Watch this."
He did. She muttered a few spells under her breath, and waved her wand over Sirius's hand. As she waved her wand, he thought it felt like a gentle waterfall was pouring on his injured hand. But, after the wand had passed over it, his gashes on his hand were no longer so deep!
"Wicked." he said excitedly.
"Cool, isn't it?" smiled Mrs. Potter.
"Oh," she added, "I'm going to go fetch some gauze to wrap your hand up. Stay here."
On her way, she picked the vase up, and threw it in the waste bin.
"Wow. She's being so nice. James's parents are so kind. But why? I'm a bad kid. I don't deserve it." he thought.
Mrs. Potter came back into the room, carrying gauze. She swiftly, but carefully wrapped Sirius's hand and secured the gauze on.
"There. Good as new."
"Thank you." he whispered.
"Oh, and how were you able to do that so quickly and so well?" he asked, awed. He'd tried to do it to himself a few times, but it had ended up as a mess.
"Oh, James didn't tell you? I'm a head nurse at St. Mungo's." she replied.
"Uhh… Nope, I don't recall him telling me."
She chuckled. "Oh, James. That boy."
Sirius grinned. "He can be frustrating sometimes." he made sure to say that extra loudly, in hopes that James could hear their teasing.
"Sometimes?" teased Mrs. Potter. "More like ALL the time."
"HEY!" shouted James from upstairs. "I heard that!"
His voice was soon followed by footsteps coming down the stairs.
"Well, at least you're coming down, now." said Mrs. Potter. "Supper's almost ready. I need you boys to help set the table."
"Okay, mum."
"Yes, Mrs. Potter."
Mrs. Potter walked into the dining room, with the two boys trailing after her.
"Mum, what are we having for supper?" asked James.
"Roast chicken and vegetables." replied Mrs. Potter.
That moment, Fleamont Potter(AKA Mr. Potter), appeared in the house, by apparent apparating.
"Did I just hear we were having roast chicken?" he asked.
"Mhm." answered James happily.
"Mmmm… I love roast chicken."
"Well, the boys have just finished setting the table, so we're almost ready." called Mrs. Potter from the kitchen. "Oh." she added. "Could you fetch some glasses for water?"
Mr. Potter walked over to the cabinet to grab some glasses for water, when Sirius followed him.
"Would you like some help, Mr. Potter?"
"Why, yes, I'd love some help Sirius. Thank you for offering, unlike SOMEONE." he joked.
James dramatically acted offended. "Well, I would have gone if Sirius hadn't!"
"Should of, Could of, Would have, Didn't." commented Mrs. Potter, who was currently coming in with a pan filled with chicken, roast vegetables, along with a plate of dinner rolls.
"Hmph." said James.
Mr. Potter laughed, then handed 4 glasses to Sirius, and went to go get the water pitcher.
"C'mon," thought Sirius. "I can't drop these. Get your act together, Sirius."
Sirius had already set the glasses down on the table when Mr. Potter came back with the pitcher.
"Whew." thought Sirius.
"Uhh… Sirius, what happened to your hand?" asked Mr. Potter.
"Wait. You're saying you haven't noticed?" replied Mrs. Potter. "After all that?"
"Can't say I have." declared Mr. Potter, sheepishly.
"Oh my." laughed Mrs. Potter, playfully swatting her husband on the arm.
"Well, I'm not sure the exact details, but it's the same as always, our boys were busying themselves with their little tricks."
She tried to sound slightly reprimanding, but she couldn't help but smile.
Sirius chuckled, but then realized what she had said. "OUR boys."
He looked around at the 3 beaming people seated around the table. It was hard to believe they were family. They were so… happy together. It seemed that, if his family was anything to go off of, families were just people who you were related to. Not the people you laughed and joked with, nor the people you cared about, much less the people that cared about you.
Well, all in all, he felt immense love for this family. He cared about them. And the boy thought that they seemed to cared about him, too. As he picked up his fork, Sirius thought, "Maybe this is what a real family is like."