So this is a super long chapter and probably could have been two but it's not so anyway, thanks so much to the people who reviewed. In answer to Jily71102, I know I've been bad about not including more of the girls, now I fully intend to have Lily in the story more but I think the reason characters like Marlene haven't been in is because I don't have much to go on for their characters. I'll work on that in the future. Thanks!
The first few days of summer were a drag. Sirius found himself darting into spare bedrooms to avoid his parents and brother quite regularly. Regulus had quickly run off to visit with a cousin and left Sirius alone, not that he particularity wished to see his brother but it left him with his parents full attention.
Early on his mother chewed him out about all of the detentions he had received and if that wasn't bad enough, she spent a full hour berating him over Andromeda and for not coming home for Christmas. Sirius had finally lost his temper when she'd started going on about his friends and calling them blood traitors and trash. He had yelled back and started a screaming match so hideous that even Kreature had run from the room.
He had finished off by trying to storm out the front door but was stopped just in time when she fired a blast, sealing the door magically shut.
He had escaped through the kitchen and back up to his room where he spent the remainder of the day, refusing to come back down even for dinner.
Eventually though, he found his way outside and went to see if Denny and his friends were still around.
He found Alice on the front steps, talking to a boy he'd never seen before. "Hey." He said.
She looked at him, puzzled for a moment before breaking into a huge smile. "Sirius!" She got up and hugged him. "You've gotten taller. Is school over already?" She held him at arms length, clinking with her jewelry and still smiling.
He laughed. "Yeah, ended a week ago."
She guided him to the steps and her friend got up and went inside. "You should have visited sooner!"
"Well, I had some trouble finding time."
"Oh well, you're here now and I'm happy to see you. It's a shame, Denny works late now and you probably won't be seeing much of him."
"What about Sean?"
"He hasn't been here for a while but you never know with him. So tell me about school."
Sirius told her stories, leaving out details about magic and other wizarding things. He told her about his cousin and her getting married and she was happy for him although she didn't seem to quite understand why his parents objected and he told her an edited version of Remus and she had applauded him for staying friends with him.
When he ran out of things to tell, she told him about Denny getting a factory job and Sean taking a bike tour of France. He loved her stories, they weren't magic and some of the parts he didn't understand but he still appreciated them.
Her friend came back and introduced himself as Jimmy and Sirius had a laugh because he couldn't ever imagine James calling himself Jimmy. They talked for a while longer and as the sun set and Sirius got up to go, Alice gave him one last hug and said she would tell Denny he had stopped by.
He made his way home, feeling calmer and less angry than he had all summer. There was something wonderful about being with happy people like Alice and Jimmy and Denny. They all seemed so content with life and at peace, though he thought that that might have had something to do with Jimmy's 'special cigarettes'. He glided home, taking his time and enjoying the sunset. He wasn't even annoyed when he saw his front door, instead he merely shrugged to himself and turned the knob. He drifted inside, not looking at the elf heads on the wall or the ugly troll leg umbrella stand that his great aunt whatever had given his mother several Christmases before.
For some reason he didn't feel like being angry at all. He sat through dinner and didn't fight, in fact he didn't say much all meal and then he went upstairs and wrote James about his holidays so far and asked what he was doing and then sent a similar letter to Remus. He thought about sending one to Peter but in the end figured that he didn't actually care all that much and Remus was sure to write him so he wouldn't feel left out.
He lay back on his bed and yawned, it wasn't time for sleep yet but he was drowsy. He had almost closed his eyes when a scratching sound on his window disturbed him. Outside was a large barn owl, it hooted softly, clicking it's talons against the window. He opened the window and stood back, letting the bird hop around on he sill. It hooted once more before sticking out it's leg for him to retrieve the message attached.
He unfurled it. The first line read:
"Dear Sirius, you are invited to attend the wedding of Andromeda Black and Theodore Tonks." The rest of the letter was written in much less neat handwriting and he recognized it as Andromeda's. "Dear Sirius, Ted and I would love it if you could come to our wedding. I know your mother would object but Uncle Alphard is willing to take you in for a week and let you come. Ask your mother if you can spend a week with him and then you can come in secret. With love, Andromeda soon to be Tonks."
He smiled and rolled up the letter. It was a stroke of good fortune. He just had to think of a way to ask his mother. It was pointless to try and curry her favor, she as already convinced that everything he did was to undermine her authority and at least this time she would be right but he would be damned if she was going to stop him. He thought about his father, his father probably wouldn't be keen on the idea either but he was friends with Alphard and that was a plus. He decided that he would ask the next morning. He sent the owl out the window and hid the letter in one of his school books.
The next morning at breakfast, Sirius was careful to keep in both his parents' good graces and tried his utmost not to sneer at his brother. It was not an easy task. Everything Regulus said made him either want to vomit or hit him. After breakfast he stretched ad looked surreptitiously cross the table at his parents.
"Hey, mum?" He said.
She gave him a small irritated look. "Don't say 'hey' it sound uneducated."
Inwardly he could feel his teeth grind. "Right, sorry. I was just wondering, could I spend next week with Uncle Alphard?"
She raised an eyebrow. "Has he invited you?"
"Well, no but I thought you could ask him."
She frowned. "You can't ask to be invited to someone's home, it's rude."
Again, he felt a jolt of irritation. "I'm sorry, I just wanted to see him. He's my favorite uncle."
"And what's wrong with my brother Cygnus?" She said absently, reading the paper.
Sirius grit his teeth, he knew she was just looking for a fight. "Nothing, I just like Alphard. I've got nothing against Uncle Cygnus, I just get on with Alphard more." H decided to draw out of her trap and give a stupid reason. "He always gives me the best Christmas presents." For a second he wondered if she would ht the ground running with that one and start yelling about him not coming home for Christmas again but instead she just sipped her tea.
"I'll talk to him."
"Thanks cause I'd really appreciate it. I haven't seen him in a while."
She looked at him suspiciously. "I didn't know you felt so close to him."
He almost threw out that at least Alphard had sent him a Christmas present but stopped himself. He felt he had made progress and didn't want to ruin it. "I dunno, like I said: we just get on."
She frowned a moment before raising her paper again. "It would be good for you to see more of your family."
He swallowed but when nothing else was said, excused himself from the table and headed up to his room. He wrote Andromeda, telling her that he had asked and prospects looked hopeful and then thought about a gift. He wasn't really expected to get her anything, he was only twelve, well almost thirteen but he wanted to, her getting him out of his parents' house, even for a little while was a miracle.
He thought about it for a while before deciding he would go and ask Alice, she was a girl, a little older than Andromeda but she might know.
He slipped out and found Jimmy smoking on the fronts steps. Jimmy grinned and waved. "Looking for Alice?" He asked. Sirius nodded. "She's in the kitchen."
Sirius popped in and found Alice at the kitchen table sewing. She smiled and waved a hand to the seat next to her. "How's life?" She asked.
He grinned. "I need some advice."
She nodded, pulling a thread through. "What on."
"What do I get a couple for their wedding?"
She paused and set aside the pants that were quite obviously not hers. "Well, you've got to take in the facts, how old is the couple?"
"Just out of school."
She nodded. "Young couple, just starting out hmm. A radio would always work."
"I think they've already got one of those."
"Well, you could get them a plant. They might like that. Do either f them like to garden?"
Sirius thought about that. Some kind of magical plant might be good. Andromeda might like that. "Well I don't know about gardening but my cousin might like that."
"The one your parents were bent up over?"
"Yeah."
"They're letting you go to her wedding?"
"Er, no it's kind of a secret I've worked out with my cousin."
Alice's eyes sparkled. "I love secrets. Well, I'd go with a plant. But that's just me."
He nodded. "Yeah, I think I will." He looked at her sewing. "So what's this?"
She smiled. "They're Denny's, he tore them up at work." He looked around the kitchen and sat back. "If you want something to drink, there are cokes in the fridge." She said, picking back up her mending.
"Thanks." He went and got one and sat back down, Alice had on what he remembered was a television set and he watch a cartoon mouse as it was chased around by a cat. For some reason he found himself rooting for the cat.
Alice finished up her mending and watched with him for a little bit, resting on her elbows. She smiled and laughed whenever the cat got whacked across the face with a frying pan and Sirius had to admit that it was pretty funny.
After a while Jimmy came back in and got himself a coke and said he was heading off to work and Alice kissed his cheek, he shook hands with Sirius and winked and left. "So how long has he been around?" Sirius asked.
Alice shrugged. "A month or too. He came not long after Sean left. I was kind of glad, I get lonely with Denny off at work."
For a moment Sirius felt bad for her and thought that he should probably visit more but she smiled and laughed. "I always love how creative these shows can be. I know it's the same thing every time but I just can't help but love them."
He looked back at the television set and smiled, leaning back and wondering what his mother would do if she ever saw him in a muggle house with a muggle woman watching a muggle television program. She would probably have a heart-attack. The thought made him smile.
Apon his return home he was pleased to be informed that his uncle could indeed take him for a week and that he would be leaving the following afternoon. His mother hadn't been all that happy, she had narrowed her eyes suspiciously, doubting that anything that could make Sirius happy was good. He ignored her and went up to pack.
He was thrilled, sure his uncle probably wasn't thrilled with Andromeda marrying a muggle-born but he wouldn't be evil bout it and Sirius had always gotten on better with him than anyone else in the family. He couldn't believe his mother was allowing it. She must not have known it was the week of Andromeda's wedding. It occurred to him that none of his relatives had even mentioned the wedding making him think that they didn't know. It was a secret wedding and he loved the idea.
He wondered a little if he could take James and quickly wrote a letter to Andromeda asking. James had liked her and she had seemed to like him.
The response came about an hour later, Andromeda had been thrilled by the idea and had warned him not to let on to his parents. She warned him that if he did he was risking his uncle as well and he thought that she didn't really need to point it out to him but didn't argue the point in a letter, merely thanking her and saying he would see her soon.
The next morning he awoke extra early, he was excited and hopped out of bed, not bothering to dress before heading down to breakfast.
His mother cast him a disdainful eye as he entered the kitchen. She was already dressed and made up, even at such an early hour. She always was, she didn't believe in being seen in an representable state, even among family and she certainly didn't believe any children of hers should be seen in such a state either but he didn't care.
"I hope you have better manners when you stay with my brother." She said crossly.
He ignored her and buttered a piece of toast. "What time am I leaving?"
"Two O'clock."
He pouted, that was much too long a wait. "Alright." He grabbed his toast and made to head up the stares but was stopped when the first three stares slipped out from beneath him. He slid back down and frowned, looking back at his mother who he knew was the cause of it. "What?" He asked.
"Don't eat in your room. You'll get crumbs everywhere." She said, not looking up from her paper.
"Oh please, if I do then I'll just make Kreature clean it up. It's what he's good for."
She ignored him and he returned to the kitchen, regretting his decision to get up early.
His uncle cam by flew at exactly two O'clock, making his mother smile proudly at his punctuality. 'Oh great,' Sirius thought. 'now she's going to tell me that punctuality is a Black family virtue."
Alphard smiled and kissed his sister's icy cheek with a stiff peck and shook his cousin/brother-in-law's hand and gave Regulus a pat on his head and engaged in polite small talk about life and politics and family and Regulus's schooling, it all took far too long for Sirius's taste.
By four O'clock Alphard stood and after repeating the same gestures he had used for greeting he said goodbye and headed towards he fire grate. "Ready Sirius?"
Sirius jumped, he had been so board he hadn't listened to a word in the two hours he had been forced to sit and listen to the adults ramble on, instead he had mentally kneaded his brain, trying to keep from screaming or running out the door.
He grabbed his packed bags and almost threw them into the fire. He was about to step in and leave when his uncle cleared his throat. "Ahem?" He said.
Sirius paused, wondering what he had missed before realizing that everyone was looking expectantly at him. He slowly turned around and rolled his eyes. He was sure his mother caught the motion for she glared at him. He let his father rest a hand on his shoulder and give him a few parting words and he grudgingly let his mother's cold hard lips press against his cheek and even shook hands with his brother who was looking at him suspiciously but said nothing. "Whelp," He said. "I'm off. See you when I get back." With that he stepped into the fire and was gone.
He found himself spinning in the grate and was spat out onto the large hearth of an even larger library. He looked around, it wasn't much more colorful than his parents' house but it wasn't his parents' house and that was what mattered. He was at his uncle's country home. He waited a few moments before his uncle stepped out of the flames much more gracefully than he had done.
He looked round and spotted Sirius. "Ah,you made it okay. You didn't lose any limbs in a stray fireplace?"
Sirius grinned. "No sir."
His uncle nodded. "Well, your room is the same as last time. Can you find it?"
He nodded and lugged his bag down the hall to the room he remembered occupying on his last visit. It was small and crammed with furniture and paintings, all below par but kept up because they had been painted by a great-great aunt who fancied herself an artist.
He set his bag down by the bed and set off to find his uncle. The house wasn't actually that big, and it only took him a few minutes to find Alphard.
"So," He said, sitting himself down in an arm chair. "Have you talked to Andromeda?"
Alphard looked across the coffee table at him. "I have, she's invited you to her wedding and I won't tell Walburga if you attend."
Sirius nodded. "Are you going?"
"I'm afraid I can't."
He frowned. "Are you mad at her too?"
Alphard hesitated. "I think she could have made a better choice but that's her decision and I won't condemn her for it."
Sirius nodded again, it was more than he could have hoped for from the rest of the family.
Alphard smiled. "You're very different. I don't know where you got it from."
"What do you mean?" Sirius asked sharply.
"I mean, you don't think like your parents." Alphard waved a hand. "But then, neither does Andromeda so maybe it's just a change that's taking place in the family."
Sirius thought about it for a moment but couldn't quite understand and didn't want his uncle to know he couldn't so he changed the subject.
"I've got a friend I want to take with me, could he use your fireplace to get to the wedding?"
Alphard stroked his chin. "I don't see why not. Any one I know?"
"James Potter."
"Ah, I've met his father a few times. Decent man, I can't say that we had much to say to each other but he was a pleasant man."
Sirius felt his heart lift. "Really?"
"Yes, I've only met him twice and both times were very short lived."
He eased back in the seat, feeling much happier than he had in weeks. Alphard smiled and unfolded a news paper and Sirius excused himself to go and walk outside.
James wrote back that night saying that he would love to come to Andromeda's wedding and that if he would give him directions, he would meet him at the wedding. Sirius wrote back with the information and told him he was excited.
Alphard had told the truth when he said he could not attend the wedding, he sent Sirius to Andromeda through the floo network and then rushed off to work and Sirius found himself inside a large castle on a cliff surrounded by busy people doing last minute decorations. He checked his watch and looked towards the grate and then went to find his cousin who was in a side chamber.
She gave him a smile and he admired her gold and white wedding dress. She laughed. "Isn't t pretty?"
He grinned and seated himself next to the door. "Has Ted seen?" He asked.
"No, he keeps saying it's bad luck so he won't look at me." She sat looking in a mirror. "I invited Alphard. Did he come?"
Sirius frowned. "No but he says he's sorry. He says he's busy."
She nodded. "I understand."
Sirius peeked back out the door. "Lot of people out there."
"Friends from school and Ted's family."
He felt a jolt of empathy. He was probably the only person from her family there. "James should be coming soon."
She smiled. "Well, don't you two cause me any trouble."
He grinned. "Some things I just can't help."
She looked back at him and there was something sad in her expression. "Thank you so much for coming, Sirius. I really wanted some one to come. You know, someone besides friends."
He nodded. "I know."
"You know after today, I won't be a part of our family anymore. It won't matter what happens." She put a hand to her forehead, not touching her eyes. Her voice was choked. "I thought I'd made my peace with that but I guess I. . ." She sniffed.
Sirius frowned. "They're bastards for treating you like this." He said.
She smiled and laughed a little, sniffing and straitening up. "You're right and I don't need them here." She leaned forward and gave him a small hug. "Thanks."
He checked his watch. "I gotta go meet James but listen we're gonna sit in the front row and cheer you on."
She smiled. "I said don't make trouble!"
He winked. "Wouldn't dream of it." With that he darted out the door before she could say any more and ran to where he saw James standing looking around.
James had dressed in red dress robes and stood tugging at them, trying to spot Sirius. He jumped when Sirius tapped him on his shoulder.
"Wake up mate." Sirius said. "My cousin is a bit down cause her parents didn't show, we gotta make sure she perks up."
James nodded. "Where is she?"
"Can't see her now, it's almost time for the wedding to start. Come help me get front row seats. They plopped down in the last couple of available seats in the first row and began talking about their holidays. Behind them, the seats filled in until someone yelled for quiet and a small band began to ply in the corner.
Sirius watched as his cousin made her lonesome way up the aisle and smiled, she was looking at Ted with confidence and he couldn't help but feel for them both. She looked explicitly happy.
He and James sat quietly through the ceremony but were the first to start applauding after the two became a couple. He and James cheered so hard that Andromeda's face turned red and Ted grinned widely, holding up his and his new wife's joined hands as they made their way back down the aisle.
The reception was fun and Sirius and James found themselves sitting at a table with Andromeda and Ted, feeling very special to do so. Ted was delighted and Sirius was glad Andromeda had found someone so likeable.
James looked over at the girl who had caught the bouquet at the next table. "Think if I had caught it, Evans would go out with me?" He asked.
Sirius snorted. "No."
James pouted. "Maybe she doesn't like my friends."
"Maybe she doesn't like you." Sirius said.
"I'd know if that was the case." James said, grinning.
"Are you still going after her?" Andromeda asked, leaning over.
"What do mean, still?" James asked. "I'm not a quitter."
Sirius rolled his eyes. "Whatever."
They talked for a bit longer and Sirius found himself forgetting about the summer and his parents and having the best time he could remember since school had ended. He didn't want the wedding to be over and it wasn't even his.
He and James took a walk along the cliff, talking about what it would be like to take a broom on a nose dive down the cliff and weather it was worth it to try it at Hogwarts.
As the wedding began to wind down, they made their way back to the castle Andromeda had rented out and sat outside Sirius didn't want to go back to his uncle's. In a mere two days he would be back at home and he would be stuck in a house that he was growing to hate more and more every day. He wanted to run and shout and get as far away from home as possible. Andromeda's wedding had been a brief punctuation to his holidays. But only a brief one
He looked at James and almost wanted to ask to come over. He wondered if Mr. and Mrs. Potter would mind. He knew his parents would and it wasn't fair to bring that trouble to the Potters. He kicked a rock and sighed.
"Something up, mate?" James asked.
Sirius shrugged. "Just ate too much, you know?"
"Yeah." He cold tell, James didn't believe him for a minute but what could he do? He didn't feel like talking and as the last guests disapperated in the gloom he and James headed back inside for the fire place.
"See you soon." James said. "I'll write you when I'm going to Diagon Alley. Maybe we can meet up then."
Sirius grinned. "Yeah, that would be great."
And in a roar of green flames James disappeared. Sirius looked round the room one last time and remembered how happy Andromeda and Tonks had looked and smiled. He could last the summer. He knew he could. He took a pinch of floo powder and stepped into the flames.
Thanks for reading! Next chapter is back to school.
