Welcome Home, Sweetheart

(June 30th, 1976)

A numbing pain spread like wild fire through Sirius's palms and knees as he landed hard on the cement. For a man nearing fifty, Orion Black had surprising strength.

"NEVER COME BACK!" echoed in Sirius's head, the screams of his parents mixing together to create a horrid sound.

This is the first time that Sirius has had the door slammed behind him with him outside. Usually, Sirius will be arriving home and his mother or father will slam the door to keep him inside, and then go on a rampage about how he is stupid, wrong, and a worthless human being. But now, Sirius is outside in the night's cold weather and is not allowed back inside.

Sure, he hates Grimmauld Place, but he's never been kicked out. It's never been this serious... And to think: Sirius had his truck completely packed upstairs in his room. He had planned to leave the following night and stay with his Uncle Alphred for a while until he could find somewhere to live. Now, he didn't have anywhere to go because his uncle is still out of the country, and Sirius doesn't have anything except his wand.

Pushing himself in to a standing position, Sirius began to run as quickly as he could manage. He would never say it out loud, but he was afraid of his father. Orion was a firm believer in physical discipline and Sirius was born with the habit of breaking tradition and rules. The first time that Sirius could remember of genuinely being afraid his father was when he was six years old. Without knowing it, he had made friends with a Muggle at a park nearby Grimmauld Place. Ever since that evening, Sirius has flinched every time Orion raised a hand near him.

Sirius only slowed down when he was away from his family's home, but not quite into London yet. He found a clean looking wall in a narrow alley, and leaned against it. Sinking to the ground, Sirius acknowledged all the pain he was in.

Lifting the hem of his robes, he saw that his ankle was swollen, probably sprained. There were blood stains at his knees, and, from what Sirius could tell, blood had dried over the right side of his face and the left side of his neck during his run. His face hurt too, but he didn't know what was wrong with it - everything that had happened was a blur. His wand arm was too sore to dig through his robes, but he located his wand with his left hand and pulled it on to his lap.

"What am I supposed to do?" Sirius asked himself, lolling his head back and staring up at the black, starry sky. "What time is it?" Sirius muttered. He had taken off his watch when he washed his hands before supper.

It felt as if Sirius had been running for an hour, but he couldn't be sure. He had been running slower than he normally would because of the pain in his legs.

Sirius didn't have any cloths, he didn't have any hygienic things, none of his school things, nor his broom - which made it impossible for Sirius to fly anywhere. How am I supposed to get somewhere to sleep? Sirius was exhausted. Where will I go?

Hogwarts isn't open during the summer, Sirius didn't have any money for the Leaky Cauldron, and Sirius would hate to force himself on the Potters or the Lupins. Potter Manor had plenty of room - the Marauders usually have their own room while they stay there. Hope Cottage had a total of four bedrooms, two in use, one as an office, and then another as storage with a bed inside.

Sirius loved Remus, of course, but he and James were much closer. He had always wanted Mr. and Mrs. Potter as parents - they are so great and loving. They've taught Sirius a lot about what is right and wrong, and have been big contributors to who he is today. They like me, I know, Sirius told himself, but do they like me enough for me to live with them until I'm of age?

The bed for Sirius at Potter Manor is so comfortable and warm, and now Sirius is so cold and sore. Hogwarts became his first home when he was eleven years old and Potter Manor became his second home the summer after his first year. Sirius found himself in a dark, cold alleyway near London craving the comfort he can only find at Hogwarts or the Potter home.

So Sirius would have to find a way to the Potters. They live in Paradise, Tyne and Wear, which is in Northern England. How ironic - Sirius has always found the Manor to be a type of Paradise, and it's in Paradise.

Sirius knew that it was close to a five hour journey in a Muggle car - Remus had driven his Mum's car to London once on a 'test road trip', picked Sirius up, and then driven to Paradise to surprise James. With that knowledge, there was no way in hell that Sirius would even attempt to walk there.

How do I hail the Knight Bus? Sirius wondered. He'd read about it as a child and learned about it from his parents, but had never been on it. Peter rode it on a regular basis - he must have mentioned how to get on it at some point, right? Or had Peter always scheduled a ride?

"Damn." Sirius swore. He wished he listened more often.

He walked to the end of the alleyway and found himself on a dimly light side street, lined with small shops on either side. Stepping into the road, Sirius tried multiple things with his wand: spinning it, swishing it, pointing it in different directions - and nothing work.

"What the bloody hell!" he yelled, and his voice echoed all around him. How did this thing work? Annoyed and tired, Sirius pointed his wand at a shop to his left, at his shoe, at the sky, and -

There was a deafening BANG and Sirius lunged to the side, landing hard on the sidewalk once again and shielding his eyes from a blinding light. Gigantic wheels belonging to a violently purple, triple decker bus had appeared out of thin air just where Sirius had been standing in the road.

Sirius, now sprawled out on his back, squinted and read 'The Knight Bus' in gold letters along the side of the bus. Warm hope flooded Sirius for the first time since the Marauders had talked about meeting up in the beginning of July on the train ride to London from Scotland.

Suddenly, Sirius heard a booming voice and noticed that a very thin, red haired man in a purple uniform had climbed off the bus and was now addressing Sirius without looking at the teen.

"Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard, just stick out your wand hand, step on board, and we can take you anywhere you want to go. My name is Billius Weasley, and I will be your conductor this evening. Now, if you will allow me to help you with your things -" Billius had finally looked at Sirius, and his face fell. "What's happened to you?"

Sirius stared at the man blankly. "What d'you mean?"

"Your face is swollen."

Brilliant.

"And you haven't gotten anything."

"I know."

"Short trip?"

"No."

"Hmph," the conductor seemed very confused. "Where are you going, then?"

"Paradise, Tyne and Wear. That's in Northern England."

Billius blew a breath out between his teeth, watching Sirius wearily.

"How are you going to get things when you're that far away?"

"Do you usually question people who ride the bus this much?"

"No, but people either have things or aren't staying long. And they're not beaten up like you."

Sirius shrugged and pushed himself up, wincing in pain. Billius stepped to the side and allowed Sirius to clamber on to the bus.

"Can I give you an account information at Gringotts to pay for this trip? I haven't got any money."

Billius must have noticed how desperate Sirius looked, or perhaps he was taking sympathy on the boy because he nodded but the driver shook his head. So Sirius took the bit of parchment from Billius and wrote down the Black family's Gringotts account number, and the price - a knut - but didn't write down why the knut would be taken out.

"You need to write down the purpose -"

"I can't," Sirius muttered, slightly breathless. "Please, I really can't. There is money there for you, though. I promise."

"You've written Regulus Black on this sheet, too. Is that you?" It was more of a statement than a question; Billius must had caught on that Sirius was trying to hide.

"He's my younger brother," Sirius told the conductor, and a now interested driver, honestly. "Listen, it's my mate that lives in Tyne and Wear. I really need to get there."

"Then find a bed that you'd like and get comfortable," he told me quietly. "This will work," he waved the parchment indicating that he would get his payment later. "We'll take you to your mate's."

"Thank you."

Billius gave Sirius a container of water, saying that it was on him, and so Sirius left to the second level. He walked to the front of the bus and sat down just as there was another BANG and the Knight Bus took off.

He chugged half the container of water at once, and then laid back on the bed. Luckily, he knew that the Potters were home. Mr. Potter has been attempting to resign from his job as Head of the Magical Law Enforcement, but with everything that is going on, it's not so easy.

Sirius's ankle is even more swollen than it was before, and now his palms were bleeding heavily.

He knew that James and his parents would be happy to help him out, but would they be angry that he got himself disowned?

It was a stupid reason, too. If anything, Sirius had always hoped that he would be disowned for something big, like blowing up the house, blowing up his mother, blowing up something. But no. Sirius was now disowned from the Black family because, while practicing formal dinners for the upcoming Black family gathering – Narcissa is getting to married to some rich prat named Lucius Malfoy, and he was an arsehole to the Marauders when he was Head Boy their first year so Sirius was pretty vocal about hating him -, he had defended Muggle-borns. His family had gotten in a heated discussion about how they didn't deserve to go to Hogwarts, and his father had just encountered an apprentices at the Ministry who was a Muggle-born and he was considering writing a complaint about it.

"You can't seriously be that stupid."

"Do not talk to your father like that!" My mother scolded in a high voice.

"How do you mean?" My father asked, glaring at me.

"Muggle-borns have magical abilities. If you have magical abilities you need to be trained and taught – and Hogwarts is the best wizardring school there is!" Sirius exclaimed angrily. "And if it wasn't for worthless people like you, then Muggle-borns could run the Ministry, and it wouldn't be corrupt!"

That was only the beginning. There was a screaming match, there were accusations, name-calling, and then Orion Black beating the daylights out of Sirius, the finally being Orion throwing Sirius over the six steps and on to the sidewalk, him and Walburga screaming at him, "NEVER COME BACK!"

Sirius couldn't sleep, and so he laid awake thinking of every possible scenario that could happen once he arrived at Potter Manor. They could yell at him, call him stupid, tell him that he should have bit his tongue and remained silent. They could hug him, Mrs. Potter could hug him and shove sweats in his mouth, they could tell him to go to sleep and they would sort it out later. James could shake his head, and say that Sirius was out of his mind, he could ask Sirius to leave. Or, James could offer to bomb Grimmauld Place, sit up with Sirius and talk about it with him, and possibly even argue for Sirius to stay with them.

Sirius's journey on the Knight Bus was about three hours long. He found out by a wizard who joined him on the second level that it was midnight, and that was two hours ago. The conductor climbed the stairs and approached the end of Sirius's bed.

"We're in Paradise now," he said, then chuckled from the irony. "I don't know what's gone on in your life," he said in a low but kind voice. "But I hope everything works out at your mate's."

"Me too," Sirius agreed, sitting up.

He followed Billius down to the first level of the bus and then climbed off. With a BANG, the bus was gone. They had stopped at the large sign which read, 'WELCOME TO PARADISE' with 'Tyne and Wear' underneath it. Potter Manor was about two miles. Paradise's main road, which Sirius was standing at the top of, was a mile long. And then there was a forest that only witches or wizards were allowed in – or Muggles with a witch or wizard – a path would appear and it led to Potter Manor.

Sirius groaned to himself, he hadn't thought about having to walk this much after he got off the Knight Bus. Besides the fact that his ankle was continuously swelling and his knees were cut up and had been bleeding, it was a long walk. The road had a nice side walk which would make it easier on Sirius, and the forest had a trail, but the trail was wood chips that weren't going to feel as nice as the cement.

The walk normally took Sirius a half an hour or so, but tonight it took one hour. He was limping badly by the time he could see the Manor, and he was fighting the urge to lay down on their soft lawn until Sally, a house elf, found him in the morning.

It was pitch black, and so the brightness of their sensory lights made him dizzy. He knocked on the large, oak door using the gold, lion doorknocker. He leaned against the wall, his eyes dry and trying to close. It took a few seconds, but the door swung open to a small elf, Jip.

"Master Sirius!" he squeaked. "Come in! Come in!"

Sirius obeyed silently, and sunk to the floor in the entry hall. His right leg had a pulse, and his head was throbbing.

"Padfoot!" came James' voice. Sirius groaned at the sound. "Merlin's tits, Sirius!"

"Do you think your Mum could help me?" Sirius muttered, opening his eyes just enough to see James' worried face filtering in and out of his vision in front of him.

"MUM!" James yelled, and Sirius flinched. "Oh, shit, sorry, Sirius."

Sirius didn't say anything, but swallowed hard and lolled his head back against the wall.

Hurried footsteps came from somewhere in Sirius's head and then Mr. and Mrs. Potter were asking what was going on, then –

"Oh my – Sirius!" Mrs. Potter shrieked.

"Mum, don't yell!" James whispered loudly, holding on to his best friend's shoulders as Sirius shook.

"What happened, Sirius?" Mr. Potter asked.

"Where all are you hurt, sweetie?" Mrs. Potter asked, and it sounded like she was trying not to cry.

James and Mr. Potter lifted Sirius up into the air and moved him into the parlor, laying him out on an overstuffed sofa. Sirius told Mrs. Potter his face hurt, his left ear, he knew he was cut in his hair line from the blood. He showed her his palms, and told her about his left elbow, knees, and ankle.

"What the bloody hell happened," James said, his voice cracking.

"James, why don't you go set up Sirius's room –"

"How about I don't." James said, using a tone he hardly ever used when speaking to his parents.

"Does anything else hurt, Sirius?"

"My head."

Jip appeared with a potion, and Sirius was ordered to drink it. His ankle still hurt, and Mrs. Potter told him it would take another day for the swelling to go down around his eye, and two on for around his ankle.

Suddenly, Sirius was drenched with the relief of not having a migraine anymore. He opened his eyes and saw, blearily, the three Potters. Mrs. Potter had red eyes and blotchy cheeks, but her face was dry. Mr. Potter looked serious, but extremely angry, and James looked downright murderous.

"Great, you feel better now," James managed to say unevenly. "Now, who the fuck did this? Orion?"

Mrs. Potter didn't scold James for his language, which told Sirius that she was also dangerously angry.

"I… I started it."

James was shaking all over. "That doesn't give him an excuse to do this again –"

"Again?" Mr. and Mrs. Repeated sharply.

"It's never been like this before –"

"Yeah, but you've never been this near unconsciousness." James stood and began pacing like he did when he was in this state. "Hurry up and tell me – in detail – what he did. I need to know what I'm beating him for."

"James."

"Tell us what happened, Sirius," Mr. Potter said sternly.

So he did. Sirius told them exactly what happened: what was said, how it was escalated, and everything that his father had done, even the slap from Walburga, and how they had literally thrown Sirius out of the house and told him to never go back.

"Well, I'll go get your things in the morning, then go to the Ministry –"

"No!" Sirius yelled, sitting up and feeling a rush of dizziness to his head. "Don't go to the Ministry – he'll only be more angry –"

"He deserves his punishments," Mr. Potter said to Sirius softly. "He won't get much because people think so highly of the Black's donations, but he will be fined."

"Please don't," Sirius repeated, his voice cracking. Color rose to his cheeks. He felt so stupid for crying about this, or almost crying. "You can… You can get my things, though. Everything is packed in my room."

"You planned to leave?"

"Tomorrow night during the Black family dinner gathering. They wouldn't have noticed until it was too late."

"Well then that's when I'll go," James said defiantly, surprised his family and Sirius. "Nobody will notice that Orion is missing, then they'll find his body and the party will dull down. I get to kill him and ruin the other's day – the perfect way."

"I'm not going to let my son become a murderer, James Alexander," Mrs. Potter said, giving her son a look. "Nor my husband," she added, shooting the look at Mr. Potter too.

"I will go fetch your things in the morning," Mr. Potter said to Sirius. "Why don't you get to bed, you can borrow pajamas from James for the night."

"C'mon," James agreed at once, helping Sirius to his feet.

"I'll be up ther ein a few minutes, Sirius," Mrs. Potter told the boys.

James spent a good five minutes swearing about what he wanted to do to Sirius's 'old family'. Sirius changed during the first part, and then was lying on the bed he used when he stayed here, smiling at his friend happily and also smiling because the bed was so bloody comfortable.

Mrs. Potter entered the room, ushered James out, and then sat down gently on the edge of the mattress.

"Alex and I want you to live here with us, if that is something that you're interested in."

Sirius's heart was beating violently in his chest. He swallowed a large lump in his throat, and then nodded.

"That sounds alright."

She smiled softly, and brushed his long, wavy hair back.

"Welcome home, sweetheart," she whispered. Sweeping forward, Mrs. Potter pressed a soft, and long-lasting kiss on Sirius' forehead. "I love you, Siri."

Sirius had closed his eyes when Mrs. Potter leaned towards him, and when she spoke those four words – three of which he had not heard for a very long time – hot tears slipped out from underneath his eye lids and down his cheeks.

"I love you too," he whispered.

(July 1st, 1976)

Sirius woke up to a couple of knocks on his bedroom door. Opening his eyes, confused, it took the teenager a couple of seconds to remember where he was.

He had arrived at the Potters at three thirty in the morning, and the clock beside his bed red ten a.m. now. Mrs. Potter silently opened the door to his room and walked inside, the door closing with a soft click. She had a tray in her hands, piled with foods that she knew Sirius liked. French toast, waffles, sausage, and hash browns.

"I don't know if I'm hungry enough to eat all of that," said Sirius when she set the tray over his lap.

Mrs. Potter snorted. "When you're not hungry you can eat a horse," she smirked at him. "Eat whatever you'd like, and then I would like it if you washed and allowed me to look at what I healed this morning."

Sirius nodded, already wolfing down some of the French toast. He was starving and he knew he could probably eat more than what was on the plate. The last time he had genuinely eaten anything was about noon the day before.

Mrs. Potter took a seat on the wooden desk chair beside Sirius' bed.

"James went with Alex to Grimmauld Place for your things."

Sirius raised his eye brows, surprised. "You let James go?"

She sighed; apparently she still wasn't pleased with the idea. "He knows where you room is," she reasoned. "And he deals with this intense of anger by hitting things – I told him to take a picture if he got your dad good."

I smiled a little. "Father was always boasting about having a perfect, straight face. It'd sure be great for someone to wreck that."

"Well, he momentarily wrecked your very handsome face, so hopefully Alex and James can get good pictures and we can hang them up around the house."

"Somewhere we can see it every day," agreed Sirius, smirking with the older woman.

They sat in silence for a couple of minutes, the only sound was Sirius chewing and swallowing his food. Mrs. Potter was watching him, and though it didn't make the scene awkward, Sirius felt kind of odd. She had, of course, watched him before – no in a creepy way, but in a loving way along with James. Now, however, her eyes were just on him, and Sirius was sensing more feelings than he has before. Mrs. Potter, a very strong, bright woman, was staring at Sirius with slightly red eyes as if she had been crying before coming inside Sirius's room, and she was staring at him almost hungrily, taking him all in.

"I'm happy you're staying with us now, you know," she told the teen in a quiet voice. "Really. I've always wanted to take you in, but I felt wrong asking you to leave your parents. Then, of course, James has wanted to here at all times since you two were eleven."

Sirius swallowed a thick lump in his throat again.

"I wouldn't have minded to leave my parents."

"But I think your parents, and the Ministry, would have minded a bit." Sirius shrugged, he didn't really care about that.

Mrs. Potter left Sirius to finish his breakfast and eventually shower, dress in some of James' cloths, and then head downstairs to the parlor. Mrs. Potter was sitting in the window seat, watching outside and the fire place anxiously.

"They're not back yet?" Sirius questioned, suddenly alarmed. What if Orion had gotten into a fight with them, too? Or what if Orion wasn't wanted Sirius to live with the Potters, knowing how happy that would make his newly disowned son.

"No," Mrs. Potter muttered. "They're okay, though," she told Sirius, sensing his uneasiness. "Alex has sent me a patronus saying they've got everything, they're just taking their sweet time getting here."

Sirius blew out a breath of relief and plopped down in a cushioned chair by the fire place. The home was much warmer than it had been outside last night. But, as if mocking Sirius, outside was now bright and sunny. It was July now, and he suspected it was about to get very dry like it regularly did.

Close to noon, the large, granite fire place roared with bright, green flames. Two Potter appeared from it, carrying luggage. They didn't share similar features – not anymore, at least, because Mr. Potter was so old – but the two men shared the same stature – an angry hunch.

"I'll find a picture frame," Mr. Potter announced as he set down Sirius' broom, owl, and a duffle bag. Sirius managed to smile at the man as he walked past him, but then caught sight of his mate's hand.

"What did you do!?"

James, who was setting down Sirius' Hogwarts trunk and a rucksack that Sirius knew to have his pranking things inside, seemed unconcerned. His right hand was swollen, bruised, and bleeding.

"I broke Orion's face." He answered happily. "I got some good pictures, too, do you want to see?"

Two pictures were thrust into Sirius' hands at once. One showed James punching him to the ground (but Orion's face was already bleeding) and the other showed him trying to get up, but being unable to.

It was as if Christmas had come early.

"Thanks," Sirius muttered, watching the pictures move in awe.

"No problem," James said, rather awkwardly. His tone made Sirius look up at him, and he suddenly understood why James was being awkward because he found himself in James' arms. Sirius, though slightly taken aback, hugged James back tightly all the same. Usually, the two tried to act 'macho' but other times, they just had to hug. This whole ordeal had taken a large toll on the two teens, and so this was nice.

"You hug like your Mum," Sirius told James.

"Shove off," James replied, releasing his friend and rolling his eyes.

"That was a compliment!" laughed Sirius.

Mr. Potter reappeared in the parlor, gave his teary wife a confused look, and then took the two pictures from Sirius. He placed them in the collaged frames he had found, and together, as a family, the four found the perfect place to hang them up – in the large entrance hall, above a picture of the four Marauders, where everyone who walked into the home could seem it.

So this isn't my first attempt at writing for the Marauder era, but it's my second. Woo-hoo! This is my take on the night Sirius left Grimmauld Place and him moving in with the Potters. Eh, could be better, but then again I could be a better writer... Maybe sometime in the future.

I don't own Harry Potter.

Thank you for reading, please leave a review to let me know how you think I did - I'm nervous about writing these characters!