:Chapter Six:

"We're home!" James said loudly, as he and Sirius got inside and closed the door.

"Okay!" Mrs Potter answered back from the kitchen. "Could you two make the table? Dinner will be ready in ten minutes."

"Alright." James said and, followed by Sirius, he went into the living room.

That evening they ate soup. As usual, there was a lot of chatter and laughter.

"So, how was it at the lake? Had fun?" Mr Potter asked.

"Yeah, we did." James said. "Sirius is such a lousy swimmer! I won when we-"

"And that'll be because you cheated!" Sirius interrupted him, taking a sip of his soup.

"I didn't cheat…"

"Oh, you call hanging on one's leg fair?" Sirius blurted out.

"You just can't admit your defeat…"

"You're so full of it!" Sirius said unbelievably.

James just laughed.

"But, if you find lying fair…" Sirius said. He turned to Mr Potter. "James shagged ten girls in thirty minutes."

"Sirius!" Mrs Potter said disapprovingly.

"Sorry ma'am."

There was a brief silence. Then Mr Potter turned to James and asked;

"Did you?"

Sirius snorted into his soup.

After dinner, James and Sirius went upstairs again.

"Let's write the letters to Moony and Worm." Sirius suggested as they entered James' room and tossed themselves onto James' bed.

And so they did. First they wrote Peter's letter.

Wormtail,

James thanks you for the ticket. We agreed that I, Padfoot, will buy Moony's and my own next week in Diagon Alley. Would be nice if we could meet there for a day of fun.

We'll be going there next Wednesday, around eleven o'clock. Meet us at the owl shop.

We'll see you there.

Cheers,

Prongs and Padfoot

After finishing it, Sirius said: "You can do Moony's letter yourself, right?" He moved over to his own mattress.

"Hmhm." James said frowning, as he watched Sirius take a roll of parchment out of his bag. "Who are you going to write?" He asked."

"No one of importance…" Sirius muttered, clearly not intending to tell him.

So James just started on Remus' letter.


Dear Mr Moony,

With great pains in our hearts, we must inform you, that you have been expelled from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, for being too rebellious and never making your homework!


Just kidding! How are you, pal? I'm fine.
Padfoot ran off again. He's here now. Don't worry, he's perfectly fine.
Peter's mum bought Peter tickets for the Quidditch Final. England vs Japan. He asked me to come with him. Now, Padfoot here will buy his own ticket and offered (very nice indeed) to buy your ticket too. Can we meet you on Wednesdays in Diagon? Eleven o'clock outside the owl store. Worm will be coming too.

You know, Sirius is sitting on his own bed now. He's writing a letter, but he wouldn't say to whom… Acting all mysterious about it…
But, hey. We'll find out anyway, right?
Well, let us know if you can come.

Cheers,

Prongs and Petfood

When he was finished, Sirius had finished his letter too.
"I'll send these straight away." James said as he stood up and waved the letters above his head. "I believe both Maggie and what's-his-name are still here."
As James left the room, Sirius folded his letter and put it in his bag.

They had let Mayor Muggle walk around in the bedroom and he now appeared from under James' bed. Sirius picked him up and flopped stretched out on his comfortable mattress and placed his pet on his chest.
He didn't feel like going home, but he had to. He wanted that guitar and he needed his broom.

"And you will stay here with Uncle James, won't you?" Sirius said, teasing Mayor Muggle by tickling him on his nose with his finger. "'Course you will."

After a few minutes James returned again. Sirius picked Mayor Muggle off him and gave him to James.

"I'm going to get the guitar and my broom, alright?"

"Oh, sure." James said, taking Mayor over from Sirius. "I'll come with you."
"No," Sirius said curtly "It's best if you stay here."
"No, I insist." James said, already making a move of leaving. "I'm com-"

"No, Prongs! You'll stay here!" Sirius says, sounding very seriously.

James looked at his friends face. "Okay, okay…"
"Promise me you won't come after me." Sirius said, scared James actually would.
"Okay. Easy. I promise. How long will it take?"
Sirius shrugged. "Dunno. Al least not long. Let's say…five minutes."
"Alright then."
"Oh, and could you feed Major?" Sirius asked, making his way to the door.
"What does it eat?" James asked, looking at the animal, as if it would give a hint.
Sirius grinned. "It's in my bag. I'm off." And he opened the door, while James reached for Sirius' bag.
When Sirius had closed the door and crossed half the landing, he heard James say loudly; "EW! Crickets! Mayor, you're a disgusting little freak!"

Sirius laughed and went downstairs. He went into the living room, where he met Mrs Potter.

"I have to fetch some stuff from home. I'll be right back." He said, walking over to the fireplace, taking some floo powder out of the pot into his hand.

"Alright." Mrs Potter said as she nodded him goodbye.
Sirius stepped into the fire place and dropped the floo powder into the ashes under his feet and said: "Number Twelve Grimmauld Place!" And he disappeared into thin air with a loud crack.

The kitchen was empty. Sirius crossed it and reached the door. As he quietly went out of the cellar, and walked passed the closed living room door, he heard there were people inside.

'Perfect.' He thought, 'They don't even have to know I've been here.'

He went upstairs and into his room. When he got there, he stopped dead.
It wasn't there.

Hoping that Kreacher had moved it when cleaning the bed, Sirius desperately looked around the room, checking every corner, but he feared the worst. He combed a frustrated hand through his hair as he checked the room again, but there was no guitar.
'Regulus!' He thought, leaving his room. He hurried over to his brother's bedroom and swung the door open.

"Where-" he started, but as he entered the room, he found it was empty. He looked around, desperately hoping to catch a glimpse of his guitar, but it just wasn't there either.
He was getting angry. They had been in his room, nosing in his stuff, without his permission. His anger was building up rapidly as he stormed down the stairs, swung the door open and burst into the living room.

"Where is it!"
Both his parents and his brother were inside. When Sirius had burst in, Mrs Black had jumped up.

"Where have you been!" She screeched.
But Sirius didn't answer.
"I asked you something!" He said loudly. "Where is it!"

"What are you talking about, man?" Regulus said, sounding as if he didn't know anything, but Sirius looked right through him.
"It was you, wasn't!" Sirius said, a look of contempt on his face. "You went into my room and got my guitar! Now, where is it!" He was getting really angry now.

"There is no necessary for you to know." Mr Black's cold voice said.

As his father said that, a malicious smile appeared on Regulus' face.

Sirius shot him a nasty look. Then he said;

"Fine. If you won't tell me… KREACHER!"

Within five seconds, Kreacher, their house elf, came hurrying into the room. He looked up at Sirius, wearing a look of great dislike on his ugly face.

"Yes, young master Black?"
Sirius, knowing house elves always have to tell the truth, looked down at the creature and said: "I know they took my guitar. Where is it!"

"Gone…" Kreacher said wickedly.

"What do you mean gone!" Sirius snapped, "What did they do with it!"

Suddenly a mad gleam spread across Kreacher's face.

"Burned it… They burned it."

The truth hit Sirius hard. Burned it?... He had never felt as angry as he did at this very moment. His rage was crossing its control line and hate spread through his whole being like venom.

"Sick minded fucks-" He hissed dangerously through gritted teeth.

"That guitar was a gift of my best friend! You're all bloody sick in your minds!"

As Mrs Black burst into shouting, her husband had jumped up and started towards Sirius. As he reached him, he grabbed his son painfully in the back of his neck. Sirius let out a dog like moan of pain. Mr Black didn't let go but hissed threateningly in Sirius' ear;

"You've brought enough shame to this family already! If you won't start listening and stop bringing Muggle things in this house, you'll be in more trouble than in your worst nightmare!"

Sirius wasn't that easily intimidated. He felt no fear whatsoever. Only anger.
"I don't care! I'd rather be dead than be a part of this wicked family!" Sirius hissed venomously.

"ENOUGH!" Mr Black roared, while firming his grip.
Sirius gasped. It really hurt.
"I'm sick of that rebellious behavior of yours!" Mr Black continued, "From now on you'll listen to what we tell you!"

He dragged Sirius towards the door.

"Now you will go up to your room and get all that disgraceful Muggle stuff out of there! I want you back here in two minutes! I'll show you what we should have done years ago! Show you some blood pride!" Then he pushed his son forward onto the landing, letting go of his neck.
Sirius found his balance on the banister. Massaging his neck, he turned around.
"Accept it!" He yelled, "I will never be like you, god damnit!"

"TWO MINUTES!"

From the moment Sirius had heard Kreacher say the words 'burned', something had snapped inside of him. Rage blinding him, he pulled his trunk from under his bed and without thinking started packing all the stuff that was valuable to him. He wouldn't stay a second longer.

He hadn't heard Regulus come up the stairs. Neither had he heard him enter his room…
"What do you think you're doing?" Regulus said.

Sirius turned around.

"What does it look like, you little piece of shit!" He said while throwing his clothes in his trunk.
Regulus observed his brother for a while.

"Mum and dad won't allow you to run off again, I'm telling you."

That wasn't a smart move. Sirius drew his wand, crossed the room in two strides and placed the tip of his wand against Regulus' temple.
"Do I look like I give a damn!" He said threateningly.
Sirius' sudden action had scared Regulus. He hastily took a step aside, removing his temple away from his brother's wand.

"You can't do magic outside school! Y-you wouldn't-"

"Try me!" Sirius roared, hitting his wand against Regulus temple again.
Regulus didn't feel like risking his life for some words to insult his brother, so he backed off.
"You're a freak!" He whispered. Then he hurried to his room and quickly closed the door behind him.

"Open your eyes, Regulus!" Sirius called after him. "Then you'll see who the real freaks are!"

At this moment Sirius felt nothing but despise and rage, but deep down, somewhere inside of him, he did hope that one day Regulus would see who were the ones that were wrong. But he feared that by the time he would, it would already be too late.

Sirius pulled his drawers open and threw all he wanted to take with him, into his trunk.

Panting slightly, he hastily looked around the room to check if he had everything he couldn't miss. He closed his trunk, started towards the door, grabbed his broom from behind it and left the room.

He would go down into the kitchen as fast as he could. With or without magic, he had to get out.

James looked at his watch. Sirius had left ten minutes ago and still wasn't back.

'Maybe he's downstairs.' James thought as he left his room and went down the stairs and entered the living room.

His mother was the only one inside.

"Isn't he back yet?" James asked.
"Not yet." His mother answered while looking at him.

"It's taking too long, mum." James said, a note of worry in his voice. "Something's wrong."

Mrs Potter wasn't comfortable about it either, but she had to try to calm James down, so she walked over to her son.

"Sirius is a strong boy," She said, trying to tidy James' hair. "You know how he is. If he says he's coming back, he is coming back."

"What if his parents won't let him?"

Mrs Potter smiled. "He doesn't really listen to anyone, does he? You think he'll let his parents stop him?"

James shrugged. "I've never met them. I don't know how far they're willing to go to keep him there." He said, a darkened expression on his face.

Mrs Potter sighed.

"Just wait upstairs, love. I'll let you know straight away when he's back." She said, pulling James' shirt straight.

"Alright." He said as he walked to the door and left the room.

'He will be alright, James,' he thought. 'Don't worry. He's just taking a little longer, that's all…'

But something inside him told him something was terribly wrong. It just didn't feel right.

He hurried downstairs, his trunk loudly banging behind him. Mr and Mrs Black had unfortunately left the living room and were waiting for him in the hall.

Sirius tried to pass them, but his father held him back and roughly pushed him against the wall, which made Sirius drop his trunk and broom. If possible, his anger reached another higher level.

"Keep your hands of me, you-"

Slap.

Mrs Black's hand had hit Sirius hard in the face. She took his sudden silence to her advantage.

"Don't you think you can run off again, boy! You already went too far for too many times! Running off! Ignoring the rules and guidelines of this house! Failing in being a good example for your brother! Running around with those disgraceful Gryffindor friends of yours-"

By the force of his mother's hand, Sirius' face had been slammed to the side, but suddenly he jerked his face towards hers, shaking madly… eyes like a savage.

"Don't you start about my friends!" He hissed venomously.

Mrs Black knew she had hit a weak spot and was clearly not intending to be silenced by him.

"I bet they are as bad as you are!" She raised her voice some more. "All insolent, foolish peasants who don't deserve the name Wizard!"

"Shut up!" Sirius hissed.

"I bet they're all a bunch of blo-"

"SHUT UP!" Sirius roared. He reached for his wand, pointed it at his mother and yelled;

"Silentio!"

She had immediately fallen silent. However, Mr Black had seen Sirius reaching for his wand and had immediately drawn his. He had pointed it at Sirius, yelled a spell and made a slashing movement. Sirius dropped his wand and clutched his hand to his right shoulder. It felt like he was being cut by a blunt knife. The piercing pain went through his flesh and bones as he gasped for breathe. His father grabbed for Sirius' wand and restored Mrs Black's voice.

Then he walked over to Sirius and grabbed him by his shoulders and pushed him against the wall, which made Sirius howl in pain. His father started to speak.

"See the power of the dark arts? Don't you want that?"

"What's so glorious about destroying lives?" Sirius said through gritted teeth. "If pain is your only solution, it doesn't really prove of your so called respect, does it!"

Slap.

This time it was his father. At that moment an owl swooped in, dropped a letter in front of Mrs Black's feet and left. Sirius already knew what it was. He had been performing magic outside school. It must be a warning. But he didn't care. All he could think of at this moment was getting his wand back and getting out of here. His father had hit him hard, for Sirius felt a trickle of blood protrude form his mouth. He did a grab for his wand, but the pain in his shoulder slowed him down, so his father pushed him back once again. He grabbed Sirius painfully by the throat and forced his head against the wall, while Mrs Black pointed her wand at her son.

"One more move-" Mr Black hissed threateningly.

His father was standing very close now. He would be able to reach it, so Sirius did another grab for his wand, and this time he succeeded.

After that, it all went very fast. Trying to ignore the pain in his shoulder, Sirius pushed his father backwards with all the strength he could master. Mr Black fell into his wife, so she lost her balance and dropped her wand.

Sirius, finally freed from his father's hands, threw the cabinet that stood in the hall aside, to block their way and slowing them down in following him. He grabbed his trunk and broom and stormed as fast as he could down the stairs to the kitchen.

"Stop him!" He heard his mother shriek. Then he heard his father roar;

"Petrificus Totalus!"

At that same moment, Sirius slammed the door of the kitchen shut, which made the spell hit the door instead of him. It gave a loud bang and made the door shudder. Sirius, who valued every second he had to leave, hurried to the other side of the kitchen. He heard his father curse and stomp down, as he heaved his trunk into the fire place, moaning in pain. He grabbed a hand full of floo powder, which made the pot fall to the floor. The powder covered half the kitchen floor. It was then, that Mr Black burst in, closely followed by his wife.

"Don't you dare!" He roared, pointing his wand at his son. But at the same moment Sirius spat "Good bye!", dropped the powder into the ashes and yelled; "The Potters!" and disappeared out of their sight forever.