Disclaimer: The Harry Potter world and all its wonderful characters, places, events, etc…belong to J.K. Rowling

A/N: I enjoyed writing this chapter, though I didn't get to work on it as much as I wanted to because I was bombarded by exams the past few weeks. That's all for now….Enjoy!

"Remus! Mum wants you to water the garden," his 10 year old cousin, Mary flanked by his 13 year old cousin, Emma was inching towards him.

That was the way his two cousins had been acting since his arrival. The youngest only three years old seemed to be the only one not afraid to be in his presence. At this very moment Remus was seated under a tree in the backyard playing with him. It was entirely his Aunt's fault. She had scared the other two when she had told them he was a werewolf and apparently had failed to mention he was only dangerous during the full moon.

"Alright," Remus grumbled snatching the watering container out of her hands, "Watch Robert though for me."

Emma gave him a disgruntled look but bent down to pick up her baby brother, "You better do it quickly. She looked angry."

"Angry? But I haven't done anything."

"Well you are sort of taking advantage of us, aren't you?"

Remus opened his mouth to retort but was so bewildered that he stalked off without a word.

Taking advantage? If it had been up to him, he wouldn't be here at all. It wasn't his fault the basement where he usually transformed had been flooded from a summer storm. The damage had been too great for even magic to be much of help. This place, this awful farm, was the only place his parents could think of them to take refuge.

Remus quickly walked over to where the spout was located. He was about to turn the spout on when he heard his parent's voices. It was coming from the half-open window directly above him.

"I really do think Remus would rather have us stay here and spend time with him, than go off looking for a cure. None of the things have worked so far and I really doubt there is anything out there" his mother said.

"I have to try!" his father said frantically, "I couldn't live with myself if I didn't."

"It's not your fault. You couldn't have known."

"It is…" his father's voice broke, "If only I hadn't offended him….If only…"

There was a moment of eerie silence.

"It's my entire fault and there's no use pretending otherwise. I wish you'd just let me tell Remus. He blames himself you know…but he was so young and it was no accident. That's why we have to keep looking. Why I have to keep looking. If we don't, he'll never have a normal life because of what I did."

"He can have a normal life. Look at the friends he's made at Hogwarts!"

"We'll see how many he has when the truth comes out about his condition. He's a half-breed!"

"Remus is strong…"

"You're muggle-born, you don't understand how old and deep the hatred runs against werewolves. Half the time it isn't even considered murder if someone kills a werewolf when they are in human form. I won't rest until I can find him a cure; until he can be normal."

Remus wasn't even aware of letting go of the watering can, but the crash of it hitting the ground startled him back to reality.

"What was that?" he heard his father say.

Remus pressed himself against the outside wall of the house.

He didn't allow himself to take a breath until her heard his mother say, "I don't see anything. It must have been one of the cats."

As quickly as he had regained his breath, he suddenly felt his breathing increase rapidly. He fled out of fear. Fear of not knowing what to do. Fear of not knowing how to react. So he ran.

Remus raced across the backyard passing the property line until he collapsed in the middle of some neighbor's field.

It wasn't until the damp grass from the early morning rain shower was seeping through his robes that he was even able to process what he had heard.

His thoughts were all jumbled, but slowly it was all coming together.

His father's fault…not an accident…never be normal…half-breed

He didn't know whether to feel relief, anger, or abandonment.

Remus had always blamed himself. He'd even convinced himself that he deserved the werewolf curse because of his bad behavior as a small child.

The anger he felt was so intense that he wasn't sure who to direct it towards. What kind of person had his father angered that would take retribution by biting a toddler?

Remus kicked the ground angrily. It wasn't fair!

He knew though that his father was right about one thing; he would never be normal. And the fact that it wasn't his fault oddly only made everything seem worse and even more out of his hands.

Suddenly from up above an owl screeched before swooping down toward Remus. Remus stared at the owl momentarily and grabbed the letter. Who would be writing him? He'd only received one letter from James all summer, though Peter had written twice.

The letter was from James and the subject as before was about Sirius.

Remus sighed scanning the page of messy handwriting (James had obviously written this in a hurry) and pushed his problems momentarily out of his mind.

It was the horrible wailing noise that awoke Sirius from a deep sleep. He quickly went out to the hallway still dressed in his nighttime robes, which was against house rules.

Regulus emerged out of his room at the same time as Sirius. Sirius noticed Regulus had taken the time to put on regular robes. Regulus gave Sirius a disgruntled look. Their relationship since the beginning of the summer was headed for a downward spiral.

"What is making that racket?" Sirius asked.

"It sounds like Kreacher," Regulus remarked rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

"There's going to be a beheading this morning," an icy voice from the stairway said with a laugh. It was Bellatrix, also already dressed and she looked delighted.

"Who's being beheaded?" Regulus asked looking at his older cousin with barely concealed admiration.

Narcissa, Bellatrix and Andromeda were staying for about four days while their parents attended some wizard convention in New Zealand.

Andromeda appeared, "Morning Sirius, morning Regulus," she said pleasantly. Sirius had been pleased when he heard Andromeda would be present. Though so far he hadn't had a moment alone with her and so the comfort she usually offered him was not present and he had felt cooler towards her ever since.

Andromeda passed her younger sister, "One of your house-elves perished this morning and you know how our family has that bizarre tradition of placing their heads on plaques."

Sirius rolled his eyes, but Regulus shivered. Sirius knew those heads had always bothered his younger brother. Whenever he passed the wall of house-elf heads his pace would mysteriously increase.

"So why's the stupid house-elf wailing, isn't it an honor?" Sirius asked.

"Your mother can't figure it out either."

"We need to go downstairs now, all of us" Narcissa said finally appearing on the stairway landing. She stood with more regality than either of her sisters and she carefully held her hand so that no one could miss her engagement ring. Lucius Malfoy had proposed to her a few weeks ago and that was all she would talk about.

"It's so early," Sirius protested. If he could figure out some charm to block out the wailing he could easily fall back asleep once more.

"Your mother insisted we all be present for the beheading, especially you Sirius," Bellatrix said, her eyes narrowing on her cousin.

Bellatrix indicated for Regulus to lead the way and he scurried down the stairs. Narcissa went after him followed by Bellatrix.

Sirius and Andromeda were suddenly left alone on the landing for the first time since her visit.

"Andromeda, where are you?" Narcissa voice called from below.

"I'm waiting for Sirius to change into something more presentable."

"Don't dawdle!" Bellatrix bellowed with a warning tone in her voice.

Andromeda whispered, "She's always ordering me around lately. She acts like she's older than me for goodness sake!"

She ushered Sirius back to his room, "Thankfully they've been both much more agreeable towards me this summer. I think it's because I allowed McNair to dance with me and fetch me a drink at one of our dull parties. They still think I might make a pureblood match."

"What about Ted Tonks?" Sirius asked.

"Sshh! Get dressed quickly…and they don't really know about him. And I'm not stupid enough to tell them the truth. Why aren't you undressing!"

"I can't while you are in the room!"

"Oh, I'll turn around. But I must talk with you."

"Go ahead."

"Have you decided about this school year? About changing Houses?"

"No…" Sirius said a bit defensively and he buttoned up a dark purple robe, "You think I should change?"

"I didn't think your mother and father would react so…I saw the room they make you do lessons in….and I heard your mother telling Bella about your lessons…"

"It's not that bad, Andy. Sure it's boring."

She turned and grabbed his arm which still had a bruise that his father or uncle had forgotten to heal, "They are hurting you and I'm worried."

"I can handle it."

"Maybe you should do what they tell you. Getting back at your mum and dad isn't worth getting hurt."

"I'm not trying to get back at them. I think under the circumstances, I'm doing the best I can. You must have heard what they did at the Prince Party."

"Yes I have. Please just let it go."

"They've practically ruined my friendship with James Potter. If I recall correctly it was you who originally told me to become friends with him and I have and look what's happened."

"Things have changed. I'm not saying you should change Houses…but you must be cautious on what you say. Don't anger your mother unnecessarily. If they throw you out where would you go? You still need their support regardless of their views. When you get old enough to support yourself, you can fight them all you want."

Sirius looked at Andromeda in disbelief, "Did they ask you to talk to me?"

She didn't answer him and she didn't look at him.

"Did they!"

"Yes. Yes, they did. I told your mother you were too stubborn to listen to reason!"

"Reason? You think I'm being disagreeable. What's happened to you?"

"Oh, Sirius! I'm just worried about you. With all this talk about purity of blood heating up, maybe you would be safer in Slytherin. No one would touch you as a Black, but if you make friends with blood traitors as the Potters, you are going to be on their extermination lists."

"I don't believe this!" Sirius faced his favorite cousin angrily.

"Maybe not happier, but safer!"

"You're dating a Muggleborn! Dating McNair would also be safer!"

"I've been saving up money, so if my parents were to throw me out, I could support myself. I've thought it through, Sirius, but you haven't. And unless I married Ted, with the Black name as tarnished as it is, I don't see them doing just that. As of now, I have no intention of marrying him."

"You said yourself last year that I would hate Slytherin. I just can't see myself…I can't just forget about the past year."

"You have to realize that things have changed, if you are going to stay in Gryffindor you have to be sure and you have to be ready to stand up for your choice. It's not like last year. You now do have a choice in which House to go in."

"I had a choice last year too, Andromeda. You know that. I was never like…I was never like anyone in the family. Not even you."

Andromda sighed heavily, "I know. I know. I wanted to make sure you understood the implications. You are the heir to the Black family and I didn't realize earlier this year what your parents were capable of doing in order to ensure your loyalty to the family. We must go downstairs before someone comes looking for us."

"I don't care! Let them come!" Sirius yelled lashing out the anger of the situation on the one person in the family that understood him the best.

"Control your anger, Sirius! I know you've been hanging out with Gryffindors and they tend to wear their hearts out on their sleeves, but you best remember you are surrounded by Blacks and they'll just take advantage of that" she grabbed his arm and practically dragged him downstairs.

As soon as Andromeda saw his mother, she let go of Sirius hastily.

"Was he not behaving again, Andromeda?" she asked not even bother to look at her eldest son.

"Er…I handled it, ma'am."

His mother now grabbed his arm twisting it slightly and forced him past the kitchen and into the outdoors.

It was really sticky and humid outside. The sun was covered by a thin layer of haze.

His mother told Andromeda to go on ahead and join the others waiting in the far left corner of their backyard.

His mother finally let go of his arm and Sirius forced himself not to rub where she had grabbed him. He would show her no weakness. "You will dig a hole for me. No magic. Go quickly! The shovel is already there."

Sirius jogged after his cousins and spotted a small hump covered with a thin cotton blanket. There was a smell of decay rising from the hump. Both Narcissa and Regulus looked pale and sick.

Kreacher was also present. He stood whimpering and he struggled against an invisible barrier that wouldn't let him nearer than 10 feet from the decaying body.

Sirius stood appraising the situation. Narcissa was whispering urgently to Bellatrix who looked as if they were attending a joyful ceremony, instead of a beheading.

"What are you waiting for?" his mother barked from behind him.

"Just paying my respects," Sirius said under his breath and though he would have liked to shovel a heap of dirt directly at his mother, he resisted the urge. He hadn't been allowed outside since the Prince family party and he knew he would be banished back inside the moment he showed a sign of rebellion.

So Sirius picked up the shovel and dug until his mother told him it was deep enough. With a wave of her wand, an ax hovered momentarily, there was a dull thump and it was over.

Regulus had covered his eyes, Narcissa had covered her mouth, Andromeda looked more shocked than disgusted, while Bellatrix smirked at everyone's reactions.

Without a glance his mother levitated the headless body straight into the hole. With a grim determination, Sirius covered the body as quickly as possible.

"Now pick up the head, Sirius. Put it in my office and wait for me."

"Pick it up?" Sirius asked unable to hide his revulsion.

"Is your hearing going as well as your sense? Pick it up!"

Sirius shook his head. He backed away. Ever since the party, it had been close to month now, he had obeyed all his parent's wishes. He couldn't take much more of it.

Sirius had never held any fondness toward their house-elves. They were a nuisance whose sole purpose in life was to yell at him, scold him and spy on his daily activities. He couldn't pretend that he wasn't glad that one of their house-elves had died.

"I can make him change his mind," Bella muttered her wand was already pointed in his direction before she had finished the sentence.

"Calm yourself, Bellatrix. Regulus, pick it up."

"But, mum!" Regulus whined.

"I'll do it…" Andromeda said striding forward.

"It must be done by one of my sons, otherwise the Black house will be cursed and Merlin knows we've had enough bad luck this year. Regulus, if you refuse this family duty, you will receive the same punishment as Sirius."

Apparently for Regulus, picking up a dead decapitated head was more desirable than dealing with a punishment because he picked it up after Andy had wrapped it up in a cloth.

"Bring it up to my office, all of you. Sirius, you stay."

Sirius watched them leave warily. Was his mother planning something so horrible that she didn't want any witnesses?

"Your behavior was appalling. You will not disobey me in public!"

"This is our property mother; we are not in public."

"You don't think your cousins will hesitate to tell your Aunt about this. I've been having to deal with her snide remarks ever since your sorting. The look on her face was priceless when she heard you were a spy."

"But I really wasn't."

"Why do you think you went along with the story?"

"I didn't want to embarrass the family even more…"

"So you suddenly developed a conscience. Suddenly developed pride in your surname…"

"I always cared! And I still do, but that won't get me sorted into Slytherin!"

Sirius hadn't meant to say that, but he had. He heard his mother take in a sharp breath. He had confirmed what they all feared and he knew it was too late to back out.

"So you've chosen have you?"

"All I know that if I put the Sorting Hat back on, I would not be able to convincingly tell it that I want to change Houses."

"Do you hate me that much?"

"It has nothing to do with that!" Sirius said loudly and lowering his voice slightly, he said, "It's where I belong. Can't I be loyal to the family in another House?"

"No. You can't, Sirius. You've broken tradition and have shamed your ancestors. Your father and I gave you a chance to make it better. You have put your father and me in a sticky situation. If you insist on going down this path, then we will have to publicly denounce your behavior to our colleagues. Is that what you want, everyone in our society against you?"

"It will only be the people you associate with and I hardly care for their approval."

"You'll regret that. Those people could become powerful allies. Since you are my flesh and blood, I will give you to the end of the summer to formally decide. Now about your blood-traitor friend, Potter. We received a letter from him a few weeks ago, and I didn't believe it was necessary for you to read, but here you go."

Sirius took the letter.

"Read it aloud."

Mr. Black,

Congratulations on a job flawlessly executed. I suppose even acts of treachery and deceit should be recognized. Perhaps my first impression of you was correct – A Black in heart and soul. Your family line has destroyed and corrupted many witches and wizards and our broken friendship will be viewed as just another casualty. You did something unforgivable. Trust is something not easily given and once it's broken, it may be gone forever. I still feel sorry for you. What sort of parents would ask you to do that? Please accept my apologizes in advance if I act as if you don't exist. I will refrain from cursing you into bits. I wish I could take the last year back. I wish I could erase the laughter, memories and trust we shared. I don't want to see, speak or breathe the same air as you. Ever. Stay away from me, Black. Stay away from my friends! Stay away from Gryffindor."

-James Potter

Sirius tried to keep his composure. He knew he wasn't successful by the satisfactory expression spreading across his mother's features.

"So this is the kind of boy you want to be friends with?" his mother laughed devilishly.

Sirius had trouble finding his voice. His throat had gone dry

"Well I guess you don't have such a close friendship at all if he distrusts you so easily. First you will apologize to your cousins and brother for your disgraceful outburst. Your lessons will continue. You will have no breakfast or lunch today and if you behave throughout the remainder of the day I may allow you to have dinner. Is that clear?"

"Yes mother," Sirius choked out. Sirius wanted at add that James didn't mean it, that James wrote those horrible words because he felt angry and betrayed but if Sirius could barely convince himself of that, he couldn't possible convince anyone else.

"And I will talk to your father about starting corporal punishment. I don't think the lessons are nearly having the effect on you as we hoped, so we may have to resort to other measures."

Sirius was barely listening to his mother as she rambled on some more. The words of the letter kept repeating in his mind. It hadn't registered in his mind yet that his punishments were suddenly going to get much more severe and his stay much more unpleasant.

Peter bounded up the stairs of the creaky bookstore. He had been helping his mother take care of their bakery and sweet shop in Diagon Alley ever since his parents had revealed to him that they were having a baby.

He could hear her voice, "Oh isn't it exciting, Peter. A new baby is just what we need to liven up the house. It's been so quite since you've gone to Hogwarts. Just think about all the things you can teach your little brother or sister. They'll look up to you off course. You'll be a big brother at last!"

Peter had attempted to act thrilled by the idea, but so far he hadn't exactly minded being the only child. Peter knew Sirius had a younger brother and from his tales he could be a right pain.

Peter was glad to be out of the shop. All the customers seemed to want to talk about was the arrival of the new baby. It was as if he didn't matter at all. Even when his marks for the term had arrived by owl, Peter didn't even think his father had noticed that he had passed all his exams.

His mother had given him an hour break. With a bag full of money that he had been saving, he hurried to the bookstore where he remembered seeing a rather large book on the breaking of Ancient curses in Egypt.

As a little boy he had imagined going on grand adventures, battling mummies and ghosts of the deceased. In his imagination he was always very brave and could always easily avoid trouble.

He reached the last step almost tripping over himself. He could hear three voices carrying rather loudly in one of the corners. As much as he would have liked to avoid the voices, they were right near where the book he wanted was located. As he got closer he noticed one of the boys had very familiar messy black hair.

The two boys with him were older and taller and Peter strained his ears to hear what they were saying.

"We have your back, Potter," the one with dirty blond hair said.

"My back?" James asked frowning slightly.

"If the Black boy tries anything," the other with brown hair answered.

"You heard about that?" James asked his frown deepened.

"I think everyone in our circle as well as their circle has heard about it. I mean it; we're behind you if he tries anything. We have your back. If you want we can even hex him first before he even dares to attempt it."

"Er- thanks. I don't think that will be necessary though." James looked embarrassed now.

James turned to look in the distant and his eyes met Peter's gaze.

"Peter!" James called out more joyfully than Peter had ever heard him, "I'll catch up with you lads later."

James walked over quickly to Peter and practically dragged him to the other side of the bookstore.

"Idiots!" James said looking exasperated.

"Were they not offering to help you?" Peter asked with a twinge of jealousy. Those two boys would have never offered to help him; they clearly respected James and he didn't even appreciate it.

"They're only talking to me because of who I am. And I'm perfectly capable of hexing Sirius all on my own! This shouldn't be between anyone but Sirius and me."

"Aren't they in Gryffindor though?"

"Well, yes. Sirius's job was to get me to trust him, not the other Gryffindors, so it shouldn't matter to anyone, but me."

"He was my friend too," Peter said sulkily.

James grinned, "I give you permission to hex him with me then."

Peter wasn't sure what to say, so he just laughed.

"So what are you doing here?" James asked.

"I was on a lunch break….so I decided to have a look around here," Peter said.

"In this musty old book store? I would have picked a more interesting shop to look in."

"Well what are you doing in here?" Peter asked defensively glad he had the foresight to not mention the book he wanted to buy. James would just laugh at him.

"My mum is robe shopping next door. I wanted to look at the Quidditch Supply store, but she wouldn't let me. She doesn't trust me in there. Says she'll find my whole bank account emptied on frivolous sports equipment."

"How long do you think she'll be?"

"She always takes forever."

Peter wished he could be a bit more specific.

"My mum has really wanted to meet you and our shop is only a block away. We can get some free cookies."

"Alright," James said, "This place reminds me of the library too much. Remus would like this place."

"Have you heard from Remus a lot?"

"No. Have you?"

"Just one letter. What about Sirius?"

"Nothing."

As they left the bookstore, Peter wondered if he had been stupid to suggest a meeting between his mother and James. His mother always seemed to have a knack in embarrassing him, but he also knew it was important to prove to his family that he had real friends.

He'd barely received any letters all summer or invitations for visits, so he had suspected that his parents believed his roommates tolerated him just because they lived together and not because they enjoyed his company.

James was very polite (his well-bred upbringing shining through, making Peter feel very childish next to him) and Peter could tell his mother was impressed.

His mother presented them with a plate of sweets in the back of the room. When she saw James only take one, she said, "Help yourself to more. Goodness you're so skinny. Now Peter here has always had extra meat on his bones."

Peter turned scarlet, but his mother if she noticed her son's discomfort ignored it.

"Thank you, Mrs. Pettigrew."

Peter was rather glad when James said he had to go meet his mother. He knew it wasn't his friend's fault, but he would never compare to the son a boy like James could be. Right outside the shop, a woman with hair as black as James's and a similar smile came towards them.

"There you are! I told you to stay in the bookstore!"

"Sorry, mum," James said though he didn't entirely sound as if he felt it, "I ran into a friend. Meet Peter Pettigrew, he's one of my roommates."

James's mother greeted him warmly. With the families Peter's parents associated with the Potters were portrayed as not being entirely real: pureblooded since the beginning of time, money, power, and still good people at heart. The type of people someone like a Pettigrew would never meet in the middle of Diagon Alley.

"I just wanted to show James the shop my mother owns," Peter said quickly.

"They had some really exotic sweets," James said.

"I hope you politely thanked Peter's mother."

"I did, mum."

James's mother looked at her son sternly and Peter wondered if she realized what a positive impression her son had made on his mother.

"Well we must get on with our shopping. It was a pleasure to meet you, Peter."

"Can Peter come along with us?"

"I can't," Peter said before Mrs. Potter could answer, "I really need to help my mother."

Peter was afraid of the types of stores they would visit. He didn't want to make it so obvious to James their difference in class because James apparently hadn't grasped it yet.

"Oh," James looked a bit put out.

Peter smiled weakly and hurried into his mother's store with barely a goodbye.

His mother smiled at him fondly upon his return, "Such a nice boy! I'm so glad you've made friends with such a great role model."

Peter nodded and went to wipe down some tables. His mother's high opinion of James was grating his nerves. He really wanted to blurt out that James had received more detentions than any other first year, but he held it back and just wiped the table a little harder than it needed to be.

A/N: As always, thanks for reading and please review. I already replied to all reviewers who signed-in through the new reviewer response form thing has set up. If you did not do a signed review I will now not be able to respond, unless you raised any important point or have a really important question, than I will discuss it in one of the author notes (I still appreciate all reviews, so please keep sending them, its just one of the new rules on this site). I do want to thank once again all the people who have reviewed the previous chapters and I hope everyone continues to do so.

Oh I wanted to add that the letter Sirius receives from James may not entirely sound like a 12 year old wrote it, so lets just pretend James had help writing it from his parents because I tried writing it in that way, but it just came out too childish sounding.

Have a HAPPY HOLIDAY! Next chapter the boys will be returning to Hogwarts!