As the years passed, the changes seemed to become easier…or at least, Sirius came to accept the fact that they were inevitable. And being chained, in the basement, was inevitable as well. When Sirius turned eleven years old, a letter found its way into his possession. It was a letter that his parents recognized, for the look of pride on their faces was unmistakable. Sirius opened it, and was pleased to see that is was a Hogwarts acceptance letter. As Sirius skimmed through the letter, a phrase popped out at him: "…due to your special circumstances, arrangements have been made." That puzzled Sirius.
"I assume that by 'special circumstances', they mean the fact that I'm a werewolf." Sirius remarked. "But what kind of arrangements have been made? What does that mean?"
Walburga smiled at Sirius, though there was not a shred of warmth or love there.
"They have a way to keep you from hurting other students. They…cannot keep you the way we keep you, so other arrangements have been made. You'll see." She replied, smoothing Regulus' hair as she spoke. "It's supposedly more…humane…than the silver we've been using."
Sirius could feel his aching wrists throb at the idea of being free from silver. Perhaps…they would heal properly while he was at school! The idea was a relief.
"We've been able to keep you from hurting yourself up until this point." Orion's voice was calm. "But now, the beast will be free to hurt you. Greyback warned us that, without a human to hunt, you will turn upon yourself and it will not be pretty. We almost decided to keep you out of school, or send you elsewhere, but Hogwarts is closer to home, and we can get you home faster if something does…happen."
Sirius nodded.
"I-I think I need to go to my room." Sirius mumbled, getting up.
"We'll send an owl to Dumbledore and let him know you're attending…tomorrow, we can go to Diagon Alley and get your school supplies." Walburga told him. "I realize that this must be overwhelming, since it didn't seem like you'd be able to go to Hogwarts in the first place, what with your…gift…and all."
Sirius sighed, stopping in the doorway.
"Yes, I know…and I know that I must keep my secret closely guarded." Sirius glanced back at his parents, looking to see their expressions, which were unreadable to him. "I would not wish to malign the House of Black." Sirius turned and went to his room, to mentally prepare for the fact that he would have to hide his secret from hundreds of people now, and that many would not understand or accept him if they knew the truth. He could also not forget the promise that he'd made to the Dark Lord, to join his service when he was older. He was eleven now…he wondered when the Dark Lord would force him into working for him. Sirius hoped that it would not be for some time…

The next day came all too quickly, and Sirius was taken out by his mother, to go shopping for his school supplies. Sirius dressed in long sleeves and long pants, despite the warm weather, and followed her through Diagon Alley. Upon entering Ollivanders, however, he was in awe. There were so many wands…how could he possibly choose one? Mr. Ollivander offered a light smile upon seeing Sirius' expression.
"It is the wand who chooses the wizard, Mr. Black, not the other way around." Ollivander set his tape to measuring Sirius while Ollivander began perusing his many shelves in search of a wand that might choose Sirius.
"But how do you know which one it will be?" Sirius blinked when the measuring tape was suddenly measuring the distance between his eyes.
"We will simply try them until we find it." Ollivander produced a few boxes, and set them on the counter. He opened them, one by one, and one by one, Sirius had duds. It began to seem rather futile, until Ollivander pulled out a dusty box. He opened it slowly, and presented the wand to Sirius.

It was a rather severe wand, of a dark wood and moderate length. It had engravings upon the wood, and reminded Sirius of the house in which he'd spent the last eleven years in some ways. Sirius picked it up from the box, and felt a rush of warm air around him. Ollivander smiled kindly at him.
"It looks like that's your wand." Ollivander told him. Fifteen inches, blackthorn with dragon heartstring."
Walburga went to pay Ollivander while Sirius tucked his new wand into the safety of his pocket. After Ollivander's, Walburga took him to Madame Malkin's, and Sirius found his personal space invaded once more by a tape measure, as Madame Malkin had to get up close and personal to get all of the measurements for Sirius' school robes. Sirius dealt with it, allowing his mind to wander to the ice cream parlor that they had passed earlier. Since it was a special occasion, Sirius had to wonder if his mother might allow him to get some ice cream there…his attention was brought back to reality when his mother lightly tugged on his hand.
"We have your robes now. Come along, Sirius." Walburga took Sirius down to Flourish and Blott's to get the first year books that were on his shopping list…and Sirius' day went along like this, going after one thing or the other, until everything was taken care of that he needed for school. Sirius even had a proud-looking barn owl that he'd taken to calling Henry. It was a normal name. Considering his family's penchant for unusual names, Sirius had taken to liking what he saw as more "normal" names – Henry, Chuck, John, Diane…and since Henry was the name of a king of England, Sirius felt that Orion would be okay with Sirius having named his owl that.
"Mum…" Sirius spoke up, glancing at his mother. He'd grown quite a bit in the last three years, and now almost stood shoulder-to-shoulder with her. "May I go by Florean Fortescue's and purchase an ice cream?"
Walburga hesitated, but decided that an ice cream wasn't the end of the world.
"I suppose…today was rather warm. Something cool would be nice." Walburga relented, and Sirius mentally cheered when they had ice cream to eat on the trip home to number 12 Grimmauld Place.