Chapter 2

The train arrived at Hogwarts later than it usually would due to random weather conditions. The intense rain and wind made it impossible to travel safely. As such the train was brought to a halt and didn't move until authorized to.

When the train arrived, the boys got off of it and went to find a carriage that would take them to the castle. Sirius remained silent the entire time, while James and Remus continued to chat and laugh at each other, appearing to not notice his silence. Peter might have noticed had he been there, but he had run off to find his girlfriend the second they had stepped off the train.

"How did Peter get a girlfriend before me? Sirius wondered, not meaning that in a bad way. Deep down he knew why though.

Sirius had been in love since the first year. At the first glance he had known who he would love until he died. In some kind of twisted way, that is. You see, Sirius was gay, and he had done the worst possible thing a gay person could do, in his mind anyways. He had fallen in love with his best friend, James Potter. The only person who had ever accepted him despite knowing his family and how evil they were. Although he had known that he had feelings for his friend that weren't normal at a very young age, Sirius had only recently began making sense of his thoughts and emotions recently.

It had started last year when James had admitted to being gay. That had surprised Sirius to no end, considering he had always thought that James was as straight as line. However, he was happily surprised and the first thing that had popped into his head upon hearing that was, maybe I have a chance with him after all, which had surprised Sirius himself. So, content with life, Sirius had gone home in blissful happiness.

That, however, along with his dream of being James's lover, was abruptly brought to an end when he actually got home. When he arrived he was greeted by an unpleasant surprise. Over the past year, the Black family had started to experience financial problems. As such, each member of the family had to work, and unfortunately for Sirius, his parents had already found him a good paying job.

Sirius's parents had made a deal with a rich wizarding family, the McCallisters, that Sirius would sleep with their gay son every night for a certain amount of money until his services were not worth it anymore. So every night Sirius Black was forced to play "whore" with the rich McCallister boy, Jacob McCallister. Every night he was raped, beat, and hurt repeatedly. And then during the day, his own family beat and hurt him as well. So by the time school started again, Sirius had bruises, cuts, and scars all over his body that he was forced to hide with a cover up spell.

Even then, as he sat next to James and Remus, he was forced to relieve the foul touches, repulsive actions, and the sickening words that were whispered in his ear. But what could he have done? If he had stopped he would have been killed for his insolence. Even when it got worse he had to go along with it, for after some time, Sirius was given a potion to take. No one had told him what it was. They had just handed it to him, or had forced it down his throat on some occasions. He had a slight idea what type of potion it was, but Sirius just didn't feel like dwelling on it.

All of those thoughts ran through Sirius's head as he sat in the carriage with his friends. James, who suddenly noticed his best friend's silence, touched him gently on the shoulder.

Sirius jumped as if he had been electrocuted and looked around wildly. James and Remus watched him in shock. Neither of them had expected him to react that way. "Are you alright, Siri?" James asked in a soft voice, trying to calm his tense and over reactive friend down.

"Sure I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?" Sirius replied, visibly making himself calm down and be normal again. That only furthered James's belief that his friend was not doing okay.

James loved everything about his friend, from his head down to his toes, and more than a friend. Of course, Sirius did not know that, and according to James, he wasn't supposed to know that. However, the one thing he disliked about his friend, hated even, was the fact that he could not admit when he was wrong. He could not admit that he needed help in an unpleasant situation. And furthermore, when things did spiral horribly out of control, he degraded himself so intensely that James himself almost started believing the things he said.

"I don't know why you wouldn't be fine," James snapped, tired of having to be nice and patient with his stubborn friend. Remus raised his eyebrows at the tone of James's voice, trying to signal to him to try a different approach, but James just ignored him. He was tired of never getting the truth out of Sirius about his home life. "All I know is that you are not fine and I would like to know now. As your best friend, I would think I have every right to know what, or who, is hurting you. I would like to think that I have the right to comfort you when you're crying, upset, or just beaten by the world. Instead, though, you push me away and insist that everything's fine when it only so obviously is not! Now please tell me what is going on or...or I'll find some way to get it out of you!"

With each word that James said, Sirius visibly flinched back into his seat more and more. Each word stung and hurt him intensely, and for a moment, one brief moment, Sirius had considered telling James what had happened. However, the thought of James's look of revulsion at the thought of what that bastard, Jacob, had done to him if he knew quickly changed his mind.

"James," Sirius said in a composed voice, trying to will himself not to tell him and Remus everything at that very moment, "I honestly can't say anything about my summer without endangering myself."

This surprised James. What could have possibly happened that Sirius could not talk about? What could harm his best friend while they were at Hogwarts? Still puzzling over that mystery when the carriage arrived at the castle, they got out of it and entered the school, altogether very much subdued.

As usual, they went to go find their seats and the Gryffindor table to watch the first years get sorted. Usually this was a time of great joy for them, because they liked to guess who would go into which house just by looking at the person. Sadly enough, they were usually correct in their guesses. This year however, James was brooding on Sirius, Sirius was thinking of what to do about his love dilemma, and Remus was wondering about what to do with the two of them.

And then the sorting began. The hat sang its usual song with different lyrics and then the first years were called forward by their last names. The only time Sirius became even mildly interested was when one of his cousins was called up. She, like almost every other Black before her, became a Slytherin, much to Sirius's dismay. James noticed this and shook his head sadly.

Quickly enough, the sorting ceremony began and Dumbledore stood up to make his grand speech.

"This year, like the years before, the Forbidden Forest is, as it name suggests, forbidden for you to go into. Other than that, no rule seems so important right now to take away from our eating time. If you have any questions about what to do or what not to do in Hogwarts, please ask Mr. Filch, a professor, or a head boy, head girl, or prefect. Other than that, dig in."

Sirius smiled slightly at his eccentric headmaster and then began to pile food onto his plate. However, after he had done so, he realized that he did not want most of it and tried to find a quick way to dispose of it before James or Remus noticed. The problem was that during the summer his parents had rarely given him complete, full meals. In fact, he was lucky if he got a meal a day. And after all that starvation, his stomach just couldn't handle large amounts of food.

So instead of eating it all and making himself sick, Sirius ate what he could and got up without saying anything to his two friends. Quickly he walked away, leaving them staring at him as he walked away.

"He didn't eat all his food," James said softly in astonishment, staring at his friend's plate. Sirius always ate a lot, no matter how much food he had eaten before. Yet here he was, leaving his plate half full. "Do you think he's sick?"

Remus shrugged and took a bite of potatoes. After swallowing, he muttered, "Whatever happened over the summer, I think you handled your questioning very badly on the carriage."

"Well, what did you want me to do?" snapped James, waving his fork around and thus sending a piece of pork chop flying across the hall. "I'm not going to let him hide the truth from us anymore when it's clearly tearing him apart."

"Oh, the things you we go through," groaned Remus, taking a drink of pumpkin juice.

"What do you mean?" questioned James, looking at his friend strangely.

"Well, I'm a werewolf, you are madly in love with your best friend, and Sirius is obviously having some problems at home."

"Yeah, so?" pressed James, clearly not understanding his friend.

Instead of answering again, Remus hit himself on the head and muttered to himself in exasperation, "Oh the things I go through."

A.N. How was that, acceptable? Oh, I do not own this main overall story. It's J.K. Rowlings, not mine. And if you really, truly think that I am, seek medical help immediately. Thank you for reviewing!