A/N: Have some more Sirius! Also, I am unbelievably late with all my updating. Sigh. I'll try to get back on track as soon as possible, and chapters will probably be a little shorter. Please leave a review!

WC: 858

Wednesday 23rd December 1970, 9AM

Sirius is in a strange mood when he wakes up. Last night was strange. Cissy's annoying friend, Clarisse went away eventually, and everyone came home. Mother and Aunt Druella came home with Regulus. Regulus was full of stories and his eyes full of light, as he told them all about the Yule Market Sirius was not allowed to go to.

Actually, that's when he started to feel strange. Some might say he was jealous, but it isn't that. Sure, he is a little jealous, but truthfully, it would have meant having to stick around with a bunch of snotty Purebloods all going on and on about how they couldn't wait to go to Hogwarts and be Slytherins, or the ones who were already there, how fabulous it was to be in Slytherin.

And then Mother would've probably given Regulus a whole bag of galleons, like she had done yesterday, and told Sirius to look after his brother and he would have been stuck with him. Or not.

Maybe Sirius could have ditched them from the start, and ran around the market on his own, and meet other people than the same 15 kids who were bored out of their minds, being stuck at home all day with their private tutor until they got to Hogwarts.

Truthfully, any ten or unlucky eleven-year-old was only able to say that word for the year before they could go. All of them couldn't wait, but Sirius perhaps even more so than all of them.

Or maybe he could have stayed with the bunch of them, and told them all the best horror stories he knew and scare them straight, make the girls blush, and make their mothers scold him, and make his own mother blush with embarrassment. And then she would have punished him, and there would be more blue moons on his arms and one dinner less.

Or maybe he could have taken his brother with him, and they could've spent the day together, getting to know one another again, a place, a moment, where Regulus wasn't just the usual suck-up child he always was and perhaps more like his playmate from when they were far, far younger.

No, it's definitely not jealousy he feels, but rather a form of regret. All the possibilities appear to him now, and he wonders what would've have happened if he hadn't been punished, or if he had chosen to behave better, or begged Mother to go. His life is a series of choices, possibilities, and eventually regrets and remorse.

Which is why he's quite early out of bed, this morning. So early that Regulus and his cousins aren't even up yet. It's just Aunt Druella, Uncle Cygnus and Father at breakfast this morning. He's glad Mother isn't here yet.

He butters his toast quietly in a corner. He isn't quite in the mood to be defiant this morning. At least, not yet. He'll let them have their breakfast first. Especially since Uncle Cygnus doesn't look in a very good mood so far.

"That Amelia Bones again," he mutters, "Didn't she have enough with us yesterday?"

"What is she asking for this time?" Father asks, taking a sip of his tea.

When the owls flew in this morning, they both frowned when they saw the letter with the Ministry's seal on it. Sirius doesn't know exactly what they do, but he knows it involves something at the Ministry. It's almost funny how he's the Black heir, and how he has no idea what that entails. It's this sort of self-inflicted punishment his family has; they've been cursed with an heir like Sirius, so they're not going to bother to raise him 'right'.

"Something about re-considering the law proposition. She seems convinced it won't pass," he explains, swiftly folding the letter in half, and half again. "And apparently, it would be an embarrassment for us if it didn't, so we had better not suggest anything at all."

"As if anything she's suggested has ever passed," Father says with a laugh. "Truthfully, I don't believe women should be allowed to hold a seat."

Sirius looks to Aunt Druella when he hears his father say that, but she doesn't budge, and continues to stir her tea tranquilly, not taking a sip, nor a bite from her toast, apart from a delicate nibble, the way all the Pureblood women seem to do.

"Or at least, not before a certain age," Uncle Cygnus says quietly.

"She is getting rather a large head, what is she, 25 or something?" Father continues.

"And bothering us on Yule," Uncle sighs, "But I guess business cannot wait."

"You're not going back, are you?" asks Aunt Druella.

"No, no, my dear," Uncle Cygnus replies. "But I might have to spend some time in my office."

She nods silently.

Sirius finishes up his piece of toast. Honestly, he couldn't possibly care less about this Amelia Bones and whatever the law his uncle and father are trying to pass. Those will be concerns for him some other day, some other time, or maybe never at all. For the moment, all he wonders, is: where is is Regulus?