The Noble House of Black
A couple walked down the street of Grimmauld Place, a bottle of wine in hand, on their way to a friend's Christmas party. They counted the house numbers as they went - #8, #10, #14 - and noted with some curiosity that #12 was missing. They laughed it off as a funny error and continued on their way, dodging stray snowballs from a group of rowdy children playing in the street.
Unknown to them, #12 Grimmauld Place was not missing, but was simple hidden from sight. Young Sirius Black sat on the porch steps of his family's house watching the muggles as they passed by. He knew that the muggles could not see him or the house, protected as they were by the enchantments that his father had placed on it. But he could watch them, those other children who were enjoying their holidays. They looked like they were having fun, even without magic, and Sirius was tempted to join them. The thought of how his mother would react to him playing with muggle children made him both smile and shudder.
He didn't move from the porch; he didn't step down into the street to where he would be visible. He stayed seated there by himself. His cousins were staying for the holiday, but to Sirius that was all the more reason to get out of the house. He couldn't stand his cousins, those girls Bellatrix and Narcissa. Their other sister Andromeda was alright, she at least had a sense of humour.
Sirius pulled his cloak tighter round him. It was cold outside, but in some ways - with the carefree fun of those muggle children and the sounds of laughter and Christmas carols coming from the other houses - it was warmer than the atmosphere inside the house. His family were not the warm and fuzzy sort.
Hearing the front door opening behind him, Sirius looked over his shoulder and scowled at his little brother.
"Sirius, mother says to come inside now," Regulus said in a haughty voice for one so young.
"Yeah, and you always jump to do what mummy says," Sirius said as he turned away from Regulus.
Regulus narrowed his eyes at his older brother's back and went back into the house, closing the door behind him. Sirius humphed and watched his breath mist in the cold air. Faithful son that he was, Regulus would be glad to report to mother and father that Sirius was being disobedient - worse, that he was watching the muggle children at play.
Sirius knew how his parents would react to that. His mother would rant and rave about how their kind, the muggles, were unworthy of even the slightest notice or consideration from a member of the Noble House of Black. And his father would go on about how Sirius needed to show proper wizarding pride and how little Regulus was shaping up to be a much better son of the Noble House of Black. And then Sirius would most likely be locked away in his room for the rest of the holiday.
He spent most of his time in his room anyway. His parents and their pure-blood mania... He'd heard it all before. Regulus might be soft enough to swallow it, but Sirius wasn't. Even at his young age, he knew that there was far more to the world than the narrow view his parents painted of it. But still, he did not want to have to hear yet again his parents' ravings about how being a Black made them practically royalty and everyone else was dirt under their shoes.
With a heavy sigh, Sirius got up from the porch step and reluctantly went into the house. He hated this house; he hated them. As he went inside, his consolation was that soon he'd be off to school. Next September, he'd be off to Hogwarts, and then he'd only have to come home for the summer holidays as long as he was permitted to stay at school for Christmas and Easter. The new school year couldn't come soon enough.
Author's note: In this chapter, Sirius is ten or eleven years old looking forward to his first year at Hogwarts. His little brother Regulus is eight or nine years old.
Please review
