CHAPTER 18

Padfoot's Birth

Sirius was back home in a week, and had begun the horrible summer of torture for the second time. His cousins did not visit them this year, and there was no word from any relatives whatsoever. His parents didn't say one word about the Death Eaters, and it was relatively quiet for a while. That is, until one day, when a letter came from James.

Sirius:

Find a Daily Prophet. The Hodgings were attacked this morning. They live in Ottery St. Catchpole. And they're dead. The attacks are growing.

James

Sirius wasn't as heroic as James. He actually didn't want to think about the attacks anymore. They gave him a headache, and every time they came to mind, he realized that while he, a Black, was safe from harm, some of his friends would not be.

Regulus was to begin school with him in the fall. And for an eleven year old, he was especially nasty. Sirius could hardly stand to be around him for more than five minute's time. His mother and father had decided that they could win some of their dignity back by having their youngest son placed into Slytherin, so they bought Regulus everything that he would need for Hogwarts and more. Slytherin robes, Slytherin scarves --- everything that had a snake on it, or the word Slytherin on the front.

Of course, Sirius almost had his brother beat with the two years' worth of a collection in Gryffindor paraphernalia. He had slapped them all over his own room's walls in a way to be sure his mother and father would never be able to remove them. Regulus, of course, sneered at this every time he walked past his room.

"Where dwell the brave at heart," he said one day as Sirius looked up from a particularly hard chapter in his new Care of Magical Creatures textbook, "Too bad there's no brain to go with that brave. Sort of makes it useless, eh? Oi!"

And Regulus ran out of sight, a bump forming on his head where the Magical Creatures book had smacked him.

The Hodgings had been attacked. An elderly couple that had had a Muggle son "working as an accountant," the Prophet reported, had been killed on that night in July.

Following the Hodgings were the Harpers, the Griswalds, and the Edners. Yet the Ministry was doing nothing, it seemed like. The most that they had done was put posters all over Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley with the faces of known rioters. Lord Voldemort, of course, always headed the page. And underneath him could be found three or four faces of unknown wizards.

There was no news from Lupin, and after the one letter about the Hodgings, James only sent positive notes, reminding him to practice the Animagus spells, and to keep out of his loving family's way.

Finally, August had come, and the four friends' third year was coming closer and closer.

On the first day of the September, his mother and father, along with Regulus, walked with him to King's Cross, and passed through Platform 9 ¾. Regulus was a walking mascot, donned in his Slytherin apparel. He soon found Narcissa and her gaggle of friends and began to introduce himself.

"You should be more like your brother, Sirius," Mrs. Black scolded. "He has no trouble making the right sort of friends."

"Hey, Sirius!"

Sirius turned his head to look at Remus, who was standing with his own set of parents on the other side of the platform. He groaned as his mother and father turned as well to look at who was yelling.

Sirius waved, noticing that Remus was holding his case that sported a Gryffindor lion on it. Oh, wouldn't his parents be so pleased with him?

They didn't say another word to him, and shooed Regulus onto the train. Sirius, as if in a daze, dragged himself to the compartment being saved by Peter again ("I asked Dung if he wanted to sit with us, but he said no."), and said hello to James, who was already sitting there quietly.

"Hello," he said, putting on a smile.

It was another minute or two before Remus appeared and took his usual seat next to Peter. "Bertha Jorkins reckons she knows what Darryl's little secret is," Remus said slyly. "She was telling me all about a bladder problem that she heard about from the first years that room with him."

"I knew it," Sirius said.

"""""""""""""""

The feast whizzed by, the four of them waiting for the night to come, when they would be free to try their hand at transforming again. Finally, the sun set, and they found themselves back in the dormitory, pushing the beds out of the way.

"I'll go," James volunteered, and closed his eyes yet again.

There was a pause, but nothing seemed to happen.

"You're not concentrating," Remus scolded.

"Of course I'm concentrating," James hissed. "I'm doing everything that the stupid book said to do-"

"Let me give it a try," Sirius said, and he shoved James out of the way. He had had more practice at getting to know himself this summer, due to the lack of anyone else trying to. He closed his eyes, and thought about his life. He heard Remus's voice in the background, almost silent, as he shut out the world around him.

He was Sirius Black. Best friend to James Potter. The trouble maker of the school. He was best at Defense Against the Dark Arts. He was in Gryffindor House, and his parents hated that fact. Regulus had been sorted into Slytherin this evening, and had brought back the family name. His parents were going to hate him even more for not being just like his ever loving brother. He hated his house. He hated his family. He hated Narcissa and her sister. He hated his surname. He hated what it stood for. He hated he couldn't do anything against them! He hated that he was thirteen, and that there was nothing that he could do to help Dumbledore! He hated Regulus for getting into Slytherin! He hated James for having such a perfect family! He hated Remus for what he was! He-

A dog.

Sirius started. He jumped back with surprise.

"What? What is it?" James's voice was so far away. He couldn't hear it now.

He was Sirius Black. He had black hair and pale skin. He was too tall. He had never sat down and had a decent conversation with his-

A black dog.

"What the bloody hell ---" Sirius whispered.

"What's going on?" Remus whispered to James. James shrugged.

He was Sirius Black ---

A black dog. He was a large, black dog.

"I KNOW WHAT IT IS!" Sirius shouted, trying to break out of his daze. "I KNOW WHAT IT IS!"

"Shhh! Sirius, do you want to wake up the entire-"

"I'M A DOG! I'M A DOG!"

Hands shook him, and his eyes snapped open. James was standing in front of him, nervously pulling him back to reality. But Sirius just smiled and patted him on the back. "Your turn, James. I did my homework."

"""""""""""""""""""""""""

It wasn't until a few days before Halloween that James was able to see his own animal, or even a hint of it. Remus was very reluctant to believe that James was actually succeeding at what Sirius had achieved. So far, James had declared that he was a hawk, a tiger, a lion, a bear, and who could forget the slug?

Finally, James stood very still, closed his eyes, and swore to himself that he was going to do it this time. He thought long and hard, and the three friends waited for him to announce his animal hysterically, as Sirius had. But alas, he spent a good hour saying nothing at all. Finally, he gripped his wand, and squinted, and then his face fell to a frown. He quietly sat back down on the bed, and sighed. "You're never going to believe this one."

"What? What is it?" Sirius asked.

James looked at him in utter disappointment and groaned, "I'm a ruddy deer."

"What?"

"You know, those big deer with the antlers?" James said.

"You mean a stag?" Remus corrected.

"Yeah," James said, thinking that a tiger would have been a lot more fun.