Chapter 1: Freedom from the Blacks
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter; you've got the wrong girl. The real deal would be J.K. Rowling ;)
Sirius ran as fast as he could away from that madhouse. He could hear the old hag (AKA his sad excuse of a mother) shrieking like a mental banshee in the background, probably because he had taken Cassie with him. His little sister Cassie (or Cassiopeia if you want to be specific), was only three years old. She clung onto Sirius' hand as if her life depended on it. Since the day Cassie was born, Sirius had taken it upon himself to teach her how terribly wrong his family's beliefs were. Even though she was only a toddler, she knew that she could trust her big brother much more than the rest of the family, especially after witnessing the verbal (and sometimes physical) abuse that her parents gave Sirius. Cassie was born when Sirius was in his first year at Hogwarts and since then, he had been planning how he and Cassie could escape their family. Like hell he was going to let his parents corrupt another brain! Cassie would not become another "Black Family Drone" if he had something to say about it. As Cassie started to run out of breath from running too fast, Sirius picked her up and continued to sprint until he was sure that his parents had no idea where they were. He stopped at a small playground and set Cassie down on one of the swings. Then he contemplated on what to do next.
Sirius fished for his wand in his back pocket and thought of the first thing that came to his mind. He held it out, praying that the Knight Bus would come. He waited and waited, his arm sticking out in the air, pointing towards the street.
"Come on, come on. Please work," he pleaded under his breath. He wasn't disappointed. A blur of purple sped across the road, stopping right in front of where he was standing. It was a violet, triple-decker bus, and on the windshield the words "Knight Bus" were written in gold letters. "Cassie! Come on, our bus is here!" Sirius called to the little girl. She looked up and hopped off the swings, skipping towards him.
"Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard. Just stick out your wand hand, step on the board, and we can take you anywhere you want to go," a middle-aged man greeted them in a professional manner, "I'm Greg Shunpike, and I'll be your conductor this evening." Sirius helped Cassie onto the bus, and Greg grabbed Sirius' trunk. Sirius and Cassie settled onto a bed close to the door, and Greg tossed Sirius' trunk onto the next bed carelessly. "Whereabouts you headed, kid?" asked Greg, no longer professional.
"Er…Godric's Hollow I guess," decided Sirius, figuring that James wouldn't mind if he stayed over for the rest of summer vacation. They would be starting school in about two weeks, anyway. Plus he did say that Sirius would be welcome anytime, being fully aware of the conditions with his family.
"Godric's 'Ollow, then. That'll be firteen Sickles, fifteen if you want 'ot chocolate, an' seventeen for an 'ot water bottle an' a toofbrush in the color of your choice."
"Hot chocolate!" Cassie piped up, clapping her hands. Sirius rolled his eyes and handed the conductor fifteen Sickles.
"Take 'er away, Ern!" Greg called to the sixty year old bus driver. The driver nodded and the bus jolted violently. Cassie giggled as if it was an amusement park ride, and Sirius turned a sick shade of green.
The bus finally stopped at a gate that read, "Godric's Hollow". Sirius thanked the bus driver as he and Cassie got off the Knight Bus. The bus door closed, and the purple triple-decker bus zoomed away. The cool night air blew in their faces, and Sirius and Cassie walked through the huge red gates. The streets were quiet since most people were probably asleep. Cassie began to yawn and rub her eyes. Seeing this, Sirius picked her up and carried her with one hand as she drifted off to sleep. He took a deep breath and began to search for the Potter's house.
It didn't take too long to spot the Potter's home. It was one of the biggest houses there. It was a white mansion with many windows and a golden gate. A sign in front of the gate read "Potter" in red letters. Sirius tried to open the gate, and not surprisingly, it was locked. He had no choice but to ring the doorbell. Once it rang, Sirius saw a light turn on through one of the bottom windows, and the main door to the mansion opened. A small house elf pressed the button to open the gate, yawning.
"Hello, sir. Why is sir wanting to see the Potter's at this hour?" the house elf asked in a small voice.
"Hello there. I'm Sirius Black, James Potter's best friend. I'm here to see him," Sirius said politely. Minky frowned.
"But sir, Master James is sleeping now. Minky is not knowing if she should wake him," the house elf told him.
"I'm sure he wouldn't mind if you woke him, Minky. He would want you to if he knew that I needed to see him," Sirius answered, smiling charmingly. Minky blushed and nodded quickly.
"You can come inside, sir. Minky must close the gate now." Sirius nodded and walked through the gates, dragging his trunk behind him.
Minky had disappeared upstairs to wake James up, and Sirius was now waiting for him in their huge living room. He sat down on the red leather couch, and Cassie began to stir.
"Sirius? Where are we?" she asked in her small voice.
"My friend's house. It's okay, you can go back to sleep," he told her. At that same moment, James came down the staircase.
"Who the bloody- Padfoot? What are you doing here?" James asked incredulously while stifling yawns.
"Prongsie! Well, I decided that tonight was the night. Yes, the night. The night I have been planning since first year. That very same night. The Great Madhouse Escape!" Sirius replied cheerily.
"Oh I see. Way to go, Paddy! But…who is that?" James asked, confused. He was looking at Cassie, who was now asleep.
"Oh this is Cassie. She's my little sister. Just turned three," explained Sirius.
"And you brought her with you? Won't your parents get mad?" James asked, still confused. Sirius rolled his eyes.
"Like I care. I wasn't about to let them corrupt her mind with all that Pureblood crap, even if we have to go into hiding until they both die," he scoffed.
"Okay, so I suppose you're staying here?" James questioned. Sirius turned a bit pink when he said this.
"Well, yeah. If it's okay with you, that is," Sirius answered a bit sheepishly.
"Are you kidding? Of course it is!" he said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Sirius smiled. "You can sleep in the room next to mine tonight. Merlin knows he have enough space for all of Hogwarts and more to sleep in this place," he told Sirius, rolling his eyes.
"Thanks mate! But what about your parents? Are they okay with it?"
"Oh I'm sure they won't mind, and it's too late to wake them up anyway. I'll tell them in the morning. Now, come on! I'm tired!" Sirius picked up Cassie and his trunk and followed James to the room that he would be sleeping in. James brought him to a big room with a queen-sized bed in the middle of the room. The walls were scarlet and there was a gold rug in the middle of the floor. The room was decked with Gryffindor banners, scarves, pins, and flags. The bed comforter was the same shade of red as the walls, and the bed frame matched the rug. There were also some gold pillows on the bed. It was obvious that Gryffindor ran in James' blood.
"My room is the one to the left of this one if you're looking for me, and the bathroom is right down the hall. My parents' bedroom is the one right next to the bathroom, and the rest of the rooms are just spares," James explained sleepily. Sirius nodded and James left the room, closing the door behind him. Sirius carefully laid Cassie onto the right side of the bed, and he plopped himself onto the left side, his trunk under the bed.
He stared at the red ceiling, feeling a sort of bliss that he only ever felt at Hogwarts with his friends. He was free. Not only was he free, but he was also not alone. He had Cassie. She was the only other sane Black, except for maybe Andromeda and Uncle Alphard. He didn't have to listen to those psychos he once called parents ramble on and on about the purity of blood and how muggle-borns are the filth of the Wizarding World. He imagined that he and Cassie had already been blown off the Black Family Tree and that Regulus was back to being the favorite with Cassie gone, but he didn't care. Those people don't care about him and Cassie, and he and Cassie don't care about them. They had gone their separate ways, and they were never ever going back.
Author's Note: This is my first ever fanfic, so it probably sucks. Oh well, I tried. If any of you noticed, the dialogue of Greg Shunpike is very similar to Stan's dialogue on POA. I did that because I wanted to make it seem like they had sort of a script to say to every passenger on the Knight Bus, not because I just wanted to copy everything Jo wrote XD Hopefully I can get another chapter up by tomorrow. I'll try to update as soon as possible. Constructive criticism is welcome because Merlin knows I probably need it! :)
-Nina