Disclaimer: I do not own the name 'Sirius Black' Sirius Black's parents own the name 'Sirius Black' because they invented it. And I guess JK Rowling owns it too. And about everything else here.

Author's Note: Here's where I give Sirius one thing that makes his character unique. And another HUGE thanks to anyone who reviewed my previous chapters.

Chapter4: Dragon Hearts

Tom showed Sirius into his room, which was rather spacious, with a cozy looking bed in the corner and a couple of cushioned chairs overlooking a fire which was merrily cracking away. A mirror which was exactly the right size for Sirius stood a few feet away from the bed. Placed adjacent to the wall, was an oaken table and another cushioned chair was pushed against it. 'This is the room, we generally keep for students,' said Tom, glancing around the room. 'I suppose you are a student?,' he asked, looking at Sirius. 'Yeah, I am one. I'll be starting at Hogwarts on September the first,' said Sirius. For some reason, he felt rather warm towards Tom.

'Where are your parents?,' asked Tom, looking curious.

'They, um, they're dead,' said Sirius hurriedly, not able to invent anything else fast enough.

'Oh,' said Tom, the curious look was wiped off his face. 'I'm so sorry, son. Shouldn't have asked,'

'No problem,' said Sirius, feeling furious with himself. Tom seemed to notice that he wasn't looking very happy.

'I guess I'll leave you for the night, then,' he said, inching towards the door.

'Yeah, sure. Good Night,' said Sirius, relieved.

The door slid shut behind Tom. Sirius walked over and collapsed into one of the chairs over looking the fire. That had been close. He wasn't very happy with his lie. Though he bore no affection for his parents, he wasn't really sure if he'd be happy if they died. He hoped Tom wouldn't pity him and shower favors on him, which he didn't deserve. He had seen people do that to orphans.

He didn't remember how long he sat there, staring into the fire, his mind blank. He finally rose from the chair and trudged over the bed. Kicking away his slippers, he slid under the blanket for the second time that night. As his head hit the pillow, he couldn't help but grin. He had escaped from Grimmauld Place. In a few hours, his note would be discovered and a search for him would begin. When he was not found, his family would think he was dead. His grin widened as he thought of what Regulus's reaction would be, when they met each other at Hogwarts. It would be too late for him to do anything, then.

Gradually his thoughts merged into dreams. He dreamt he was dueling Regulus with a new wand. He fired a strange jet of light at Regulus and he fell on his back unconscious. He dreamt that his parents were staring open-mouthed as the headmaster (a tall man in a top hat) told them that he had topped his class in everything. As the headmaster was talking, he saw a huge, shaggy, black dog emerge from behind him. He walked to the dog and patted it. It barked and leapt at him. He gasped and stepped backwards.

'BANG!'

Sirius woke up, his heart was beating hard against his ribs. What was that dog? and what was that banging noise.

There was another bang. Sirius realized it was from the door. Someone had been knocking at the door and was now banging impatiently. He jumped out of bed and hurriedly ran to the door tripping over his slippers which were lying in the middle of the room. He opened the door and found himself looking into the groggy face of Tom. He was holding a notepad and a quill was poised above it.

'Sorry to wake you up, son, but I forgot to take down your name last night and give you your key,' he said, looking thoroughly ashamed of himself.

'No problem,' said Sirius, thinking this was the height of inefficiency.

'So, what's your name,' he asked not looking at Sirius in the face.

'Aben Bernard,' said Sirius, sticking to his alias on the Knight Bus.

He scribbled it down on the notepad, sending drops of ink flying from his quill. A few of these drops landed on Sirius's jacket, staining it.

'You'll be staying till the first of September, right?,' he said, still furiously scribbling, his tongue between his lips.

Sirius nodded. Tom didn't even look up to see him nod. After he finished scribbling, he handed over a knobby key to Sirius. He then proceeded to stare curiously at him.

'Surprising, you don't have any luggage,' he said, still eying Sirius.

'Don't worry Tom, before I check out, I'll have loads,' said Sirius.

'You're going to buy a lot of stuff in Diagon Alley?,' asked Tom

'Yeah,' said Sirius

'You'd better choose well. There's so much stuff, you'll feel like buying the whole lot,' said Tom, grinning toothlessly.

He turned around to leave. Before he had gone very far, he looked over his shoulder at Sirius.

'You might want to come down for breakfast now, There's not much crowd yet,' he said

'Yeah sure, I'll be down in a minute,' said Sirius.

He walked back into his room and set his bed right, before he decided to head down to the pub. As he walked down the staircase, he met a red-headed girl of about his age, who was climbing them up. She blushed as he went past her. 'Honestly,' Sirius muttered to himself. As he entered the pub, Tom gave him a thumbs-up, from behind the bar table. As he walked towards him, Tom pointed at an empty table a few feet away. Sirius hurried towards it before anyone else could.

He looked around at the pub. It looked very different from what it had been at four thirty in the morning. There were already at least a dozen chattering witches and wizards and Tom had called this 'Not much crowd'. Sirius noticed a few schoolgirls who were pointing at him and giggling. He took great care not to look at them. He was not in a very flirtatious mood.

Instead, he signaled to Tom who came sidling over. He placed his order for breakfast and leaned on the backrest of his chair staring determinedly at the ceiling, well aware of the giggling girls around him. Some boys had now entered the pub and they were eying him jealously. A few minutes later, Tom returned with his order and he began eating in silence.

A few minutes later, a pretty girl with jet black hair came and took a seat in the chair opposite him. He acted as though he didn't see her and continued eating. After a few moments of mutual silence, she finally said, 'Hi, I'm Julie'

Sirius looked at her face and saw she was smiling. He gave her a cold stare that clearly said, 'Get Lost' It seemed however, that she couldn't take a hint....

Instead she began, 'Would you, er-be my er-'

Sirius said in a clear, cold voice, 'Look here, I am not going to be your boyfriend and I'm having my breakfast and I would be so grateful if you would just scoot'

Her smile vanished. She gave Sirius a hurt look and marched away towards her friends who were eying Sirius excitedly, and looked all the more excited when she told them what had happened.

Sirius hurriedly finished the remainder of his food and walked over to Tom. 'Hey Tom, how do I get into Diagon Alley now?,'

Tom swung around. He had been serving a couple of odd looking men. 'I'll send someone with you, hang on, Oi! Dedalus! get over here,'

A young boy lumbered towards them. He was red in the face and looked excited for no apparent reason. 'What's up, Tom!,' he yelled, though there was no need to.

Tom said, 'Keep your voice down, before someone stomps your head. This young man wants to get to Diagon Alley, so show him the way, get me?,'

Dedalus looked at Sirius and gave him a wide grin. 'Aye Aye Tom!,' he yelled again. 'Just follow me, old boy!,' with that he swung around and began walking towards the back door of the pub.

'You'd never find anyone more enthusiastic,' muttered Tom looking disgruntled. Sirius hurried to catch up with Dedalus who was bouncing with every step he took.

'So,' said Sirius, hurrying along beside him, 'You're in this place a lot?,'

'Practically live here,' answered Dedalus, now kicking the back door open. 'You see, Tom is my mommy's brother,' He strode past the open door into a walled courtyard with nothing but a few dustbins which were placed adjacent to the wall.

'Now,' he said, as though he were talking to a two year old. 'You see this wall over here? where this dustbin is?,' Sirius nodded.

'Well you tap the brick that's three up and two across,' he tapped a brick with a wand he removed from his pocket, 'and will you look at that!'

For the brick had begun to quiver and wriggle and then a small hole appeared, which gradually widened until they were facing a huge archway, which led to a cobbled street that twisted out of sight.

'There you are, Diagon Alley,' he said pocketing his wand.

'Wow,' said Sirius, then he looked at Dedalus. 'How do you have a wand?,'

'Got one last week,' he replied. 'I'm starting at Hogwarts this September'

'So where do I get a wand?,' asked Sirius.

'Ollivander's,' said Dedalus.

'Okay, that's a wand shop, right?,'

Dedalus nodded

'Well see you then,' said Sirius

'We shall meet again, my old friend!'

Dedalus waved his hand and sprinted back towards the pub. Sirius stared at his retreating back. He had known him barely five minutes, yet he had called him 'old friend'. He shrugged and turned towards the street.

As he walked down the cobbled street, he was amazed at the variety of magical merchandise that was for sale. He decided to buy himself some robes, first thing. He noticed a shop called Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions.

He walked into Madam Malkin's shop and noticed a squat, smiling witch whom he thought must be Madam Malkin. As she bustled towards him, he said, 'I'd like to buy my Hogwarts uniform,'

'Yes, dear, just follow me, we have another young man being fitted in fact.'

Sirius followed Madam Malkin wondering who this young man could be. He followed her to the back of the shop and saw a thin boy, a little taller than himself, with dark brown hair and eyes, who was standing on a footstool while a second witch was pinning long black robes to him.

Madam Malkin stood Sirius on a footstool beside him and draped a long robe over his head and began pinning it to the right length.

'Hi,' the other boy said, smiling, 'Hogwarts?'

'Yeah,' replied Sirius grinning back.

'I'm Frank, Frank Longbottom,' said the boy. 'What's your name?'

'Sirius Black,' replied Sirius. He had an inkling that he could trust this boy.

'I've heard of your family,' said Frank, 'One of the last remaining pure blood families, right?'

'Yeah,' said Sirius, 'And yours is one too,'

'So,' said Frank, 'Which House do you think you'll be in?'

'I dunno,' said Sirius, 'There are four isn't it?'

'Yeah,' said Frank, 'Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Slytherin'

'I hope I'm not in Slytherin, whatever happens, any of the other Houses is okay,' said Sirius.

'Wait a minute,' said Frank, looking confused, 'I thought your family were rigid followers of the Doctrine of Pure Blood -'

'Yeah,' said Sirius, 'But I'm not -'

Before he could finish Madam Malkin said, 'That's it, you're done, my dear,' and Sirius hopped off the footstool. Frank signaled to him to wait outside the shop.

Sirius walked out of Madam Malkin's and a moment later Frank turned up. 'You were saying something?', he asked enquiringly.

'I was saying that I'm different from the rest of my family. They were about to declare me an outlaw before I ran way,'

'What? You ran away!,' exclaimed Frank.

'That's right,' said Sirius. And he told Frank the whole story of how his parents tried to stop him going to Hogwarts and how he had escaped and taken the Knight Bus and lodged in The Leaky Cauldron.

Frank looked sympathetic as Sirius finished. 'I must say, I admire you, Sirius,' he said. 'I would never dare to stand up to my family like that. I want you to know that you'll always have my support. Just send me an owl if you need me.'

'Thanks, Frank,' said Sirius. 'Well I got to run now, my mom's calling me' said Frank. 'See you at King's Cross, Sirius'

As Sirius watched Frank's retreating back, he knew he had found a friend, for the first time. He looked at the black robes in the bag he was holding, debating whether or not to return to the inn and try them on. He decided to buy a wand first.

He walked down Diagon Alley, spotting the place called Ollivander's. It was a narrow and shabby shop, and peeling gold letters on the door read, Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 BC.

As he stepped inside, a tinkling bell rang in the distance. The place was rather tiny and was empty, except for a single chair in the middle.

'Sirius Black,' said a soft voice. Sirius jumped and swung around to see a middle aged man with wide, pale eyes.

'Er - Hi,' said Sirius.

'I was wondering if I would ever see you,' said the man again. 'From what I heard your parents say when they came for your brother's wand,'

Sirius felt himself going red.

'But it seems, your will overpowered theirs,' said the man. 'I am Ollivander,' he extended a pale hand and Sirius reluctantly shook it.

'You have the good looks of the Black family,' continued Ollivander. 'But you hold yourself differently. I do not see the look of the Blacks in your eyes. I see something else. Something only a wand can verify.'

'Which is your wand arm?,' he asked.

'Er - Right,' said Sirius.

'Just hold it out,' Sirius stuck out his hand and Ollivander began measuring it with a tape.

'As you probably know by now, every wand has the core of some powerful magical creature. We use unicorns hair, phoenix feathers and so many others,'

With a jolt, Sirius realized that the tape was measuring his arm by itself.

'That's enough,' said Ollivander and the tape stopped measuring him.

'Try this,' said Ollivander removing a wand from a box and giving it to Sirius. 'Oak and Unicorn hair. Ten inches. Stiff. Just wave it around,'

Sirius waved it around, but nothing happened.

It continued for half an hour. Every single wand Sirius tried, nothing happened. Ollivander had brought out a stool and was standing on it, extracting boxes from higher levels.

Finally, he said, 'This is an unusual combination. Dragon heartstring and mahogany. Twelve Inches. Nice and bendy,'

Sirius felt a strange warmth in his fingers as he clutched the wand. He waved it and a shower of sparks blasted from it, singeing Ollivander's eyebrows, making him fall off his stool.

'Sorry,' said Sirius, though he knew he had found his wand at last.

'That,' said Ollivander as he got to his feet, 'Is the best wand match I have ever made. Never before have the sparks been this furious'

Sirius stared at him.

'Dragon heartstring. The thing that you have, that the other Blacks don't, is bravery. Astounding bravery, in fact. We must expect brave deeds from you. Great deeds and brave ones.'

Sirius couldn't help but feel elated as he paid seven Galleons for his wand and left Ollivander's shop.

Marauder feels elated too.