A/N: Thank you to all my wonderful betas. This is a gift fic for my wonderful girlfriend Ami (AlwaysPadfoot), hope you enjoy babe.
Word Count: 2, 358
colourburst
Zonko's was busy and Sirius was lost. He was extremely happy, getting lost was something he'd been wishing for ever since his mother told him they had to go shopping in Diagon Alley. It was boring and she tended to drag him everywhere, her nails digging into his arm.
"I am fond of all children, except boys." He had heard her say that to her friend, Mrs Greengrass and Sirius had gritted his teeth. His mum told him all the time that she didn't like or want him, but her telling someone else made it worse. So when she had told him to stay in the corner of the room, he had snuck out of the robes shop and left.
The joke shop was much more exciting. There was a large diary that was snapping and biting at anyone that went close, to ensure they kept their secrets. He was tempted to get one, his mother liked to snoop around a lot. She was angry because Father had taken Regulus to his home and not Sirius. Apparently, Regulus was the better son. Sirius tried not to think how he hadn't seen his little brother in so long he'd forgotten what he looked like. He hadn't even see his father for over a year, only every New Year's Day.
Sirius went deeper into the shop, eyes wide as he took in all of the shelves filled with silver, grey and almost black items, each of them seeming to be more and more promising. He could have fun at home, maybe even lay a trap for Kreacher or his mum. She hated him already, he couldn't make it any worse.
At the very back, he thought the shop was empty when he heard the sound of someone laughing. Curious, Sirius poked his head around a corner and could see another boy, reading a joke book to himself. He had darker skin than Sirius' whose was quite white, whilst the boy had more of a deep grey and black hair. He looked up as Sirius came closer and grinned, two of his front teeth missing.
"Where do cows go for entertainment?"
Before Sirius even had a chance to answer, the boy started giggling.
"To the moo - vies!" he lengthened the 'moo' and then laughed so hard he doubled over, which made Sirius giggle and then laugh in turn. It had been a really long time since he'd laughed.
"That's a really bad joke. My name's Sirius. Sirius Black."
The boy straightened up, still breathless.
"James Potter."
They both stuck out their hands, Sirius realising that the boy was a pureblood and from a family that his mother definitely didn't like. He hesitated for a split second and then put his hand in James', shaking it firmly. He didn't care about his mother if she didn't care about him.
The world burst into colour and both boys cringed violently away.
Sirius fell to the ground and scrambled back, covering his eyes with his hands. It was too much, he didn't understand.
"Hey, hey it's okay. It's okay, this is supposed to be a good thing." James' voice was shaking and Sirius flinched as he put his arm on Sirius' leg. "It's beautiful, Sirius. Look, there's so much colour."
"Why aren't you afraid of me?"
"What?"
Sirius repeated the question and raised his head, squeezing his eyes shut stubbornly.
"Why would I hate you? We can see colour now which means we're soulmates. We're going to be so happy and in love."
He said it so simply that Sirius wanted to let himself hope but he knew it was all a lie, something extremely impossible.
"No. Mother says that it happens to people who are weak. That it makes you stupid and simple and to see the colours means that you're going to die really soon." She had said more about it, but it involved a lot of bad words that he wasn't allowed to say. "You should go."
"Sirius, open your eyes," James said it so softly that Sirius took a deep breath then cracked one eye open, squinting. James huffed and told him to open them both wider, until Sirius snapped his eyes open as wide as they could to be annoying and James snorted.
"Wow."
There was so much that was overwhelming. The world which he'd known, of soft greys, black and white, all shades of monochrome was gone. Instead there were colours he didn't even know the name of all around him. Distractedly he stared at a long ribbon which was dangling, a tag saying 'PULL ME' hanging off it. It was orange, Sirius realised. He'd never seen orange before.
"James? My darling, are you back here?"
James jumped to his feet and grabbed Sirius' hand who drew his knees to his chest, feeling very nervous.
"Mummy! Mummy, come quick! I've fallen in love!"
He rambled on for a while as an older woman came over. She was the most beautiful person that Sirius had ever seen, with the same warm brown skin tone as James, and long dark hair in a plait. Her clothes were so bright and not like normal wizarding robes, they wrapped around and draped over her in different blue colours.
Sirius couldn't say a word but he kept squeezing James' hand.
"Hello my dear. My name's Mia, can you tell me yours?"
"Sirius," he mumbled, eyes wide and heart pounding. "I'm sorry."
"He thinks that seeing the colours and being… being… I've forgotten the word. The one that begins with 'S'."
"Soulmates," Sirius spoke so quietly he was surprised that they heard him.
"Yeah, that. He thinks it's a really bad thing and we're going to die," James said matter-of-factly.
Mia couldn't hide her shock and she reached forward for Sirius who flinched. Even as she talked to him, saying the same things as James had, that it was supposed to be a happy thing, something to be celebrated he couldn't make himself believe her. But then he remembered how James had made him laugh for the first time in forever and how the colours really were beautiful. James hadn't let go of his hand, he wasn't scared of him. Sirius was scared but he didn't want to run away and be alone.
Run away.
The thought played over and over again in his head and he swallowed hard.
"Mia… My mother, she… Can I come with you?"
"Of course you can, we're supposed to be together now." James sounded so confidently but Sirius watched Mia's face intently. He was used to adults lying.
"I'm afraid I can't just take you away, no darling. But we can go and find your mother and explain what's happened. I'm sure she's going to be just as happy as I am."
Sirius shook his head wildly, clinging onto James. He used his other hand to pull at his shirt collar, showing the mark from the spell she'd used last night when Sirius had stomped up the stairs without any dinner because he had closed a book too loudly. Mia stiffened and she frowned, inspecting it closely.
"She's going to be angry. She's angry a lot and she hurts me a lot. I don't want her to, I don't want her to hurt James either!"
James took in a breath, looking like he was about to shout but Mia put one finger up and he stayed quiet.
"Alright, Sirius. It's okay, you're safe with us. I'll take you home now."
"I'll keep you safe," James said fiercely.
Sirius laughed as James fell off his broom and tumbled to the ground, giggling. Monty, James' dad had charmed two brooms so they wouldn't go too high and the boys had spent every day in the morning going flying and throwing a shiny new quaffle that James had gotten as a gift.
James said he wanted to grow up to be a Quidditch player, and that one day Monty was going to take them both to see the Pride of Portree, who were the best Quidditch team in the whole world. Sirius didn't really believe him, but he hadn't flown until Monty and James had taught him, so he was happy to just do whatever James said.
They loved being in the garden. The flowers were so bright it was hard to remember what it had been like, seeing them in greys before. Monty and Mia understood, they were soulmates too and had turned one of the rooms on the ground floor into a big space where the boys got to paint. Sirius liked to use his hands as much as a paintbrush and had twice gotten more paint on himself than the paper, according to Mia.
Today however, it wasn't as easy to laugh as it had been. Today was an important, scary day. There had been a few scary days, like the time that his mother had come to the edge of the wards and screamed, shouting for him. Her voice was so loud Sirius had known it was a spell and yet he'd heard it even when he and James had hidden under the bed.
Another scary day had been when he'd had a nightmare and wet the bed. But Mia had just hugged him and spelled it all clean.
James helped everything feel less scary. Monty had already started calling them each other's shadows because they were almost always holding hands or close. Sirius liked that idea, because you could never lose your shadow. It only ever went where you did and that's what he wanted to be like with James.
But after today, that might change. It would hurt, to pull your shadow away from you. Sirius was already hurting, a deep ache in his chest. Maybe his body, his soul was practicing for the big pain that would happen when he had to leave.
"Sirius, you're worrying. Come on, we need chocolate in the fort."
"We can keep flying," Sirius said but James shook his head, picking himself up off the ground and brushing the grass off his trousers.
"Nope, nope, nope. Chocolate, fort, let's go. We have a mission!"
Dragging his feet, Sirius dropped his broom next to James' by the backdoor of the manor and followed him upstairs. The fort was a red and yellow tent that James and he had put up in the playroom. It had been really wonky until Monty had fixed it. You had to crawl to get inside, Monty and Mia had visited only once before the boys declared that no adults were allowed.
It had bunk beds, a super comfy sofa and it was full of toys and books which Sirius had been reading. James like to annoy Sirius into reading them aloud to him, he said he liked Sirius' voice because Sirius was good at making up all the funny accents for different characters. Sirius just liked to hear James laugh.
They'd drawn pictures and coloured things in here. Mia had joked that she hoped their love of colour never faded. Sirius couldn't imagine that ever happening. He'd even started dressing in bright colours, just so he could see them all the time.
James went first into the fort and Sirius dropped to his hands and knees, following. Once they were inside James pulled out their special stash of sweets and solemnly handed Sirius a chocolate frog, sitting on a pillow next to Sirius. They ate the first frogs in silence then simultaneous reached for a second each, both grinning bashfully as their hands knocked.
"What if your mum comes home and it's all gone wrong," Sirius whispered the words he'd been thinking over and over.
"It won't. There's more than one kind of family and you are family now. I love you and I'm not leaving you." James flopped over, wiggling until his head was in Sirius' lap, looking up at him. "Trust me."
"I can't! My mother's going to take me back, your mum and dad won't get the special documents signed and she'll kill me."
"Then I'll fight her."
"You can't fight her," Sirius scoffed.
"I can! I'll fight them all. I'll fight anyone who wants to hurt you."
Sirius wanted to tell him he was being silly but the look on James' face made him start to giggle. Then James started coming up with ideas of what exactly he'd do to Sirius' mother and the giggle developed into crying laughter in no time.
"It'd be brilliant! She'd have a chicken head and then I'd make her arms be always wibbly wobbly and-"
"Boys, may I come in?"
Sirius snorted loudly because Mia must have heard James being funny.
"Okay, Mummy, but only today. Tomorrow there's going to be a password," James said importantly.
"Oh, but of course."
Mia crawled in and then got to her feet when she was fully inside, coming to sit by the boys on the floor. Sirius silently offered a chocolate frog and watched her impatiently as she unwrapped it.
"I have here a scroll of parchment that says Sirius Orion Black is now the legal ward of Euphemia and Fleamont Potter, registered soulmate of James Potter." Mia read off the parchment and both boys gasped, looking at each other in bright eyes. "I had a long talk with your father, Sirius, and maybe in the future you'll want to see them and your brother, we can talk about it. But once you sign this line here, you will be our family in every sense of the word."
"You already were but now it's official," James said, looking proud that he knew the word. He threw his arms around Sirius who blushed and shoved at him.
"Get off. I want to sign it now."
Mia gave him a quill that she'd brought with her, smiling broadly as Sirius carefully wrote his name in his neatest handwriting. All the words on the page glowed for a split second and then went back to be being normal, boring black words. Sirius found that funny. His life was never going to be normal, boring or shades of black ever again.
A/N: All prompts used and challenges entered are below:
Hogwarts Assignment #3 - Child Custody. Task 2: Write about a mother fighting to gain or regain custody of her child or children.
The Insane House Challenge: Song - My Best Friend - Tim McGraw
The Fanfiction Resolutions Challenge: Write about your OTP meeting as young (I'd say before the age of 8) children + Write a giftfic for a Gryffindor.
The 365 Prompts Challenge: Dialogue - "Why aren't you afraid of me?"
Character Appreciation: (setting) Magical tent
Disney Challenge: Friend Like Me - Write about someone who has a huge personality
Book Club: Francis Goldsmith: (object) diary, (emotion) hope, (action) pleading
Showtime: I'm Not That Girl (reprise) - (word) Wishing
Days of the Month: White Shirt Day - Write a fic featuring two or more Order members
Lyric Alley: I'm a little bit hurtful
TV Show of the Month: Seeley Booth: (dialogue) "There's more than one kind of family.", (action) playing a sport, (character) Sirius Black
Liza's Loves: Salty Dog - Write about Sirius Black
Jenny's Jovial Quotations: "I am fond of all children, except boys." - Lewis Carroll
Library Lovers: A Series of Unfortunate Events - Lemony Snicket: (relationship) Guardian, (action) Biting, (object) Ribbon
Gobstones: Bronze Stone - Freedom: (au) Adoption, (setting) Zonko's, (song) "Only You" by Yazoo
Scavenger Hunt: Write a Marauders Era fic
Serpent Day: Black tree cobra - (pairing) Sirius/James
The Conversation Starter Prompts Challenge: Who are you grateful for? Write about a character being grateful for another character being in their life.