Who is Sirius Black?

Being such a big role model in the wizarding world was a very welcomed pleasure to the black-haired twenty-four-year-old. Therefore, he always took extra time in the mornings to get ready when he wasn't working. After all, it took some well-spent time to look this good.

A smirk made its way onto Sirius' lips as he slipped on one of his new waistcoats; it was black with gold accents of chains and gears across the left side of his body. He had found it earlier that week in Muggle London and just had had to buy it. It had called for him. He slipped his wand up his sleeve in its holder before grabbing a golden-bronze telescope and attaching it to his belt. Slowly, his fingers hovered over his collection of riding goggles and chose the metal bronze ones that he had bought from a Muggle store last year.

With a purposeful look in the mirror, he wished his parents were still alive to see the fashion he decided to dress - it definitely wasn't the attire for a pureblood wizard. That made his choice even more satisfying.

But something was missing. Oh, right! The birthday present. He reached into one of his drawers and looked at the golden compass that he had acquired a few weeks ago. He had known instantly that this would be the perfect gift for Harry. He had spent many evenings fixing it up and cleaning up the details - after all, it was hundreds of years old. Restoring it the muggle way had been very therapeutic and satisfying. So, knowing how much time he had spent tinkering on it, he carefully placed the gift into a small leather bag to protect it during the short journey.

Finally ready, Sirius grabbed his brown leather gloves and headed down the stairs of Grimmauld place - his unfortunate home - and straight into his back garden. Without hesitating, he slung a leg over his motorbike and took off.

Sirius Black grinned as he lowered and parked his motorbike securely near a lone tree, glad that Muggles never paid attention so he could get away with flying his motorbike into a Muggle location for his Godson's birthday. At first, Sirius hadn't understood James and Lily's motivations for not throwing Harry the biggest fifth birthday party ever, until he had come to the realisation - with a lot of help from his friends - that they simply wanted Harry to have a normal childhood. There was so much pressure and expectations on his Godson because of his part of helping to destroy Voldemort a few years prior. They claimed he was the boy who lived - if only the world knew the truth.

Taking off his leather gloves, Sirius strutted over to the large group of close friends and family.

"There's the birthday boy!" he announced, interrupting whatever had been going on.

Harry's face brightened up at the sight of Sirius and ran over to him happily. "Sirius! Dad bought me a real broom!"

Sirius grinned happily and looked up at his best friend, surprised he actually had the guts to buy one after Lily had shared her very strong concerns. He'd be sleeping in the dog house for a little while. "That's incredible! You can show everybody what you can do with it!"

Harry nodded eagerly. "Yeah!" The five-year-old paused. "Well… when the Muggles aren't around, anyway."

"Oh, of course," Sirius replied. He would hate for the boy to get in trouble. "We'll take you out later, then."

The young boy nodded excitedly. "Can we play 'Aurors and Runners'?"

Sirius grinned at the name of that game. Lily had come up with this after hearing about the 'Aurors and Death Eaters' game. She didn't want Harry to associate or even consider what a Death Eater was or have him pretend to be one. Therefore, the game was literally the Auror chasing and catching the runner. It was a genius idea but definitely used up a lot of energy. "And here I thought you'd want your present first."

"Present?"

"It is your birthday, isn't it?"

Harry nodded.

With a cheeky smile, he reached into his pocket and pulled out the small leather bag. Silently he handed it over to his Godson.

Shaking with excitement, Harry slowly opened the bag and gently pulled out the golden, intricately designed compass. He spent a lot of time looking at the back of it, how the metal bent into the letter H with engraved gears surrounding it.

Sirius' heart warmed at the expressions on Harry's face as he took it all in and looked down at how the pocket watch was slightly bigger than one of his palms. "I hope this compass can guide you through the rest of your life. That you never lose who you are."

Harry jumped up and hugged him tightly. "Thank you!" He pulled back, his eyes back on the watch. "I'm going to show Mummy!" And with that, he ran off.

Sirius grinned and stood up. Another successful gift from the best uncle ever.

"You're late," his brother stated as he came up next to him.

"Reg, you know it takes time to look this good."

Regulus shook his head. "Harry asked after you every minute. Why are you wearing that ridiculous outfit to a five-year-old's birthday party?"

"You wouldn't understand." Sirius rolled his eyes. While he and Reg were so much closer than they had been in years once Regulus had turned on Voldemort and informed them of the horcruxes he had created, there was still tension between the two. "How's your girlfriend?"

"Fiancée."

Sirius looked over at him, giving his brother his full attention. "Congratulations! When'd that happen?"

Regulus smiled over to where she was sitting. "About a week ago. You'd have known sooner if you came to visit when you said you would."

"I told you, I had Auror business to attend to." Sirius paused and considered his words. "I'm happy for you, she's a great person."

"Thanks." The silence built between them, it was definitely awkward, and lasted way too long. But Sirius made no attempt at a conversation. Though, it seemed that Regulus had a different idea and tried. "How about you? Found yourself a girl yet?"

Unfortunately, Sirius still wasn't ready to even consider dating after losing Marlene during the war. It was still too soon for him. But he was Sirius Black; he didn't care about that stuff, right? He was strong and emotionless when it came to romantic relationships. "Oh, you know. There's not a girl out there who can tie me down."

Regulus patted his shoulder. "Maybe you should look then."

Sirius looked at his brother, adjusted his waistcoat, and walked off. "What makes you think I'm not?" he called back.

Six years later

A hum filled the room as Sirius looked at the options. While the brown coat which looked like a grandfather clock had exploded over it would have been a brilliant option, you couldn't just choose the first thing you saw. Sirius examined it carefully before placing it over one of the decorative pipes that ran through his spare bedroom.

Harry walked past him and looked at the ties that were on a rather low hanging pipe which wasn't actually connected to anything since Sirius' last tinkering month. "I think I should wear a tie. This one would match my compass!" he pointed out as he held up the cream tie with several golden gears running across it and held the compass next to it. However, he was quickly distracted. "Ooh!" he exclaimed. "But this one looks awesome, can I wear this one?"

Sirius looked over again and smiled at his Godson's choice; a dirty grey tie with small pipes and wires connecting together down the tie. "Try it on!"

Turning away, Sirius threw a different coat onto an old steam engine he was planning on incorporating into the living room later, and then pulled out a few waistcoats. He turned around and grinned at how Harry looked wearing the tie. Now he definitely knew that it would match a waistcoat better than an actual coat.

"Can I have a top hat too?"

"Of course!"

The next hour was spent with the two of them trying on different outfit combinations. Harry had been amazed at how many outfits Sirius had bought him; he truly looked like a steampunk Muggle.

"That's it!" Sirius exclaimed as James called upstairs on his arrival. "Let's go show your dad!"

Harry ran ahead of him. Even at eleven he was still a bundle of excitable joy. "Dad! Dad! Can I wear this to Hogwarts?"

As Sirius bounced down the stairs, he slowed at his best friend's face. He was not happy. "You alright, James?"

"Harry, your mum's outside. Tell her I'll be there in a minute."

Harry looked up at Sirius before walking out, deflated ever so slightly.

James waited until they were alone before looking up at the man still on the stairs. "What is wrong with you?"

"What?" Sirius asked innocently.

"You know what!" James almost shouted. "You can choose how you dress and what you do to your house." His arms moved to demonstrate the madness of pipes running along the ceilings and floors, the giant gears turning on the wall, and the steam filling the hallway every few minutes because of one of Sirius' new projects. "But I don't want you making Harry think that this is normal! He has no many eyes on him and we don't want any of that to turn negative. We've spoken about this, he's not to go out in public wearing that junk!"

"But he likes it! When are you going to let Harry choose for himself?"

James huffed. "He's not choosing it for himself! He's trying to be like you! To make you happy! Because he can see how broken you still are!"

Silence filled the space between them.

The only thing that could be heard was the 'choo choo' from the train that went around the kitchen. This technology had filled so much of the thirty-year-old's time, and life, but he had never taken the time to allow himself to get over the war. So many lives had been lost, Harry had almost died. And everyone hailed him a hero - Sirius Black, a hero? No. He wasn't a hero. He fought with his friends in rebellion against what his family believed.

Would he have made the same decision if his parents were against Voldemort? He honestly wasn't sure.

Sirius' whole identity had been the rebel, and in a lot of ways, he was still known as that. There were several comments on how he'd never grown up, still that teenager who ran away and joined the Order of the Phoenix. To him, it had all been for fun. However, serious real-life consequences had broken him.

Marlene had died and he hadn't been able to save her. Maybe if he had taken the war more seriously instead of something to do with his friends that he might have gone with her. Maybe he'd have seen Peter's betrayal earlier.

But here he was, nearly ten years after the war, and all he wanted to do was go back in time and change who he had been.

He felt James' hand on his to take Harry's compass which he hadn't realised he was still holding.

"Harry idolises you, Sirius. Please, if not for your sake, then for his - talk to someone." Their eyes met. "He'll be taking the compass to Hogwarts, but we can't allow him to wear the outfit, not in public. But, if you want to wear it, that's fine; I know Harry would love for you to wave him goodbye as he gets on the train."

Sirius nodded slowly, taking in the words. His eyes followed as his friend walked away and out of the house. It had been so long since they had really connected.

Step by step, he walked into the kitchen and looked around. It looked nothing like his childhood home, and that had been the point. But was it even Sirius? Did he really know who he was? Was this him or just another way to forget?

With a sigh, Sirius knew it was time. He had to act like who he was, not the childish man others thought him to be. All he needed to do was work out who Sirius Black really was.

QL - Reserve league (because I forgot which beater I was)

Season 8, round semi-finals.

Position - Beater 1

Theme - Steampunk, Sci Fi.

Prompts - [Character] Sirius Black; [Object] antique Compass

Word Count - 1988

Beta(s) - CupCakeyyy

Warnings - AU. Discusses death and loss.