Sirius's parents weren't there to meet him when he stepped down onto Platform Nine and Three-Quarters. Instead, his favorite uncle Alphie was waiting for him in his big gray overcoat, a friendly smile on his face. It was certainly a welcome surprise.
"Thank Merlin, Uncle Alphie!" Sirius said, running straight to him. The man linked his arm around Sirius's, leading him over to a corner of the platform.
"Your parents sent me here to fetch you," he explained. "They're in the middle of planning a dinner party back home to celebrate all of you returning students." Sirius doubted his return would be very celebrated, but he nodded his understanding anyway.
"Do you mind if we Apparate?" Alphie asked. "I'm sure you're old enough to stomach it by now."
"Yes," said Sirius eagerly; he'd never Apparated anywhere before. Alphie grabbed his arm tightly, and suddenly Sirius's feet were swept out from under him and the world went dark around them.
Sirius squeezed shut his eyes, feeling pressure against him from all directions and holding onto his uncle like his life depended on it, which in the moment it very well could have. And then he was falling face-forward into the grass below him, inhaling a large mouthful of dirt.
Alphie helped him to his feet, laughing a little as Sirius tried to get his bearings. "You all right?" he asked. Sirius nodded, though really he felt like he was about to throw up all his insides. He wanted to impress his uncle, if nothing else.
The two of them were standing on the lawn leading up to 12 Grimmauld Place, a gleaming town house wedged between two neighboring Muggle homes (why a Muggle-hating family like the Blacks chose to willingly live amongst Muggles, Sirius had no idea). It looked cramped and squished, but Sirius knew the place was much bigger upon entrance. It was the house he'd lived his whole life in, and one he couldn't wait to leave for good.
His uncle placed a comforting hand against the small of his back and gently led Sirius up to the front doorstep. He pulled back the serpent-shaped door knocker, and about five seconds later the door opened to reveal Sirius's mother, her curly black hair reaching down to her waist and her lips twisted into a permanent snarl that only grew when she saw her eldest son.
"Alphard," she said coolly, stepping aside to let them in. "Sirius."
"Hi, Mum," he replied, his voice just as cold as hers. "Can't say it's good to be home."
"You're lucky we even let you come home," growled a deep voice from the shadows further back: Sirius's father Orion. "Your filthy influence might start to rub off on your brother."
"Oh, no need to worry about that," said Sirius bitterly. "You brainwashed Regulus out of any sense of self-respect years ago."
His mother slapped him for that comment, his cheek stinging so badly it nearly brought him to tears, but Sirius refused to let himself cry in front of his parents; it only encouraged them.
"Go up to your room," his mother ordered, "and get dressed for dinner."
Sirius skulked up the stairs to his room, flopping tiredly onto his long-unused bed. It was already after eight, and Sirius had eaten dinner on the train; a big Black family reunion was not at all what he was in the mood for. But he knew he had to show up, or else his mother would come and drag him down anyway.
The whole summer was going to be like this, full of tedious family commitments and his screaming mother; and now that he was officially the Gryffindor black sheep of the family, things were only going to be worse for him than before. At least he had his friends' letters to look forward to; before they left school, Sirius had made them all promise to write to each other at least once a week. Remus had told him he'd even send some chocolate if he asked. Sirius would definitely be asking.
"Hey, Sirius?" Sirius turned to find his brother, Regulus, standing in the doorway. He was taller than he'd been the last time Sirius was home, and he'd grown out his hair a bit. Sirius felt a small squeeze of regret that he hadn't been home to see his brother. Reggie was a pain, of course, but it wasn't his fault he'd been raised by their awful prats of parents. He'd be going to Hogwarts next year, too; maybe Sirius could work on him over the summer and convert him into something other than a ready-made Slytherin. He doubted that would happen, though—Reggie was too far in already.
"You need to get dressed for dinner, Sirius," Reggie said. "The others are already here."
Sirius groaned. "What others?" he asked, though he could already predict his brother's answer.
"The Malfoys and Crabbes," he said, "and Uncle Cygnus and Alphard. Bellatrix and Narcissa, too, I think."
"Not Andromeda?" Sirius was disappointed, but that was to be expected—last he'd heard, his cousin Andy had run off with a Muggle-born Hufflepuff boy.
Regulus shook his head quickly. "She got married to that Mudblood," he spat. "Sent Mum and Dad a wedding invitation, too."
Sirius grinned. "What'd they do with it?" he wondered.
"Dad tore it up and threw it in the fire."
"I thought they'd be a little more creative than that," Sirius sighed. Reggie didn't reply.
And then the house-elf Kreacher shuffled by, stopping when he noticed the two boys talking in Sirius's room. "Masters Regulus and Sirius should already be downstairs," he simpered. "Mistress Black will be waiting for them."
"Oh, piss off, Kreacher," Sirius growled, throwing one of his shoes at him. Kreacher jumped out of the way and scampered down the stairs.
Regulus turned on his brother angrily. "Don't treat Kreacher like that!"
"He's a demented git," Sirius snapped; "I'll treat him however I want to. He rats me out to Mum every time I put a toe out of line."
"He's an elf; that's what he's been trained to do!" Regulus protested. "And he's right, anyway. Narcissa and Lucius got back from Hogwarts the same time as you did, and they're already downstairs. And you're still wearing Muggle clothes." He whirled around and headed after the elf, with one last angry glare in Sirius's direction.
Sirius rolled his eyes, even less excited for the dinner party than he had been before. But there was no avoiding it, so he changed out of his Muggle clothes and into his fancy Black family robes, embellished with a little snake about the family crest.
But Sirius was no snake. So when he finally headed downstairs and into the dining room, his aunts and uncles and cousins all turning to him with narrowed eyes, he made sure to remind them all of that fact: one of his scarlet-and-gold Gryffindor ties was gleaming proudly around his neck, bright against the dull sea of green and silver.
