Chapter 5 of Love and House Colors

Sirius was lying on his bed staring at the ceiling. Most kids Sirius's age would be out with friends or out doing something on such a beautiful summer day, but Sirius was grounded. After his punishment for crashing the Syltherin party he was punishment-free for about two hours before his mom grounded for hanging up a new Gryffindor banner in his bedroom. Sirius knew that over the school his parents tried to take down his Gryffindor banners and pictures of his friends, but Sirius knew a pretty good permanent sticking charm that his parents couldn't break. Normally being grounded wouldn't have kept him up in his or stopped him from doing what he pleased but Sirius didn't want to make his parents too mad or they might not let him go to James's house.

Sirius sighed and rolled out of bed. With nothing better to do, he started on his summer homework as a way to fill his time.

James was cleaning his room. Normally James would have spent a beautiful summer's day outside on his broom, which is what he wished he could be doing now. Unfortunately James had been told by his mother that he could not go flying until he had cleaned his room and helped with a few other chores around the house. On any other summer day James's mom could have cared less about his unless it got too bad, because it was never really trashed just messy; but lately his mom had been on a cleaning frenzy brought on by the fact that James's Grandma from his dad's side was coming to stay with them for the weekend.

As James picked up another book a note fell from it. James picked the note and saw it was one he received from Sirius not long ago. In the note Sirius was complaining about his parents and going over another fight Sirius and his parents had gotten into. James knew Sirius hated his parents, and he probably would hate them to if he had live with them. James wondered is Sirius would try and talk his parents into coming James's house early like last summer. James put the note down in a desk draw with all of his other letters from friends and got back to putting his books away.

Sirius was in his bedroom, he could hear his mom yelling from outside his room but he really didn't care. Sirius grabbed the few pictures of his friends that weren't attached to the walls and threw them in his school trunk. Sirius was done with his family and all of things they put him through. He grabbed more of his clothes of his closet and threw in his trunk with the pictures, along with the last of his books. He fit everything he could into his school trunk before snapping it closed and turning out of his room, passing his mother who was screaming things much worse than 'blood traitor' at him now, Sirius made his way to the front door. Sirius reached the front door, yanked it open, and left without looking back.

James's Grandma had arrived early during the day, and had thankfully gone to bed early a few hours ago. James was already tired of his grandma and his still had most the weekend with her. Since she had arrived James's Grandma had been trying to tell James what he should do with his life and that he should stop wasting his time play Quidditch when he could study. And James knew he was the lucky one of his family, his mom had it way worst; all day his mom had to listen to how bad her cooking was and how she was cleaning wrong, and dozens of other things his Grandma felt wasn't done right. Mr. Potter may not have to listen to his mom tell him everything he was doing was wrong, he just had to put up with her telling him that he messed up when he got married and had James and how he could have been Minster of Magic by now if he had married the girl his mom picked for him and waited to have children. James wasn't sure why his Grandma hated his mom, but he felt she should just drop it; after all his parents had been married almost nineteen years now.

After dealing with his grandma all day James stayed up after everyone had gone to bed to polish his broom and finish a book he was reading. After finishing the last chapter of his book James set the book down on his night stand and started to fall to sleep. Or at least he tried to sleep, but thirty minutes later it was clear that James was not going to be able to sleep. Getting up, James walked downstairs and heated a glass of milk for himself. Sitting at the small kitchen table next to a window, it occurred to James that his parents forgot to set up the alarm system before going to bed. 'I will have to turn it on before I go back to bed' James thought to himself. James was looking down at the table, when all of the sudden he jumped because of a light tapping on the window next to him.

Sirius had gone to the only place he knew he would be welcomed without questioning. He went to James's house because he knew that James wouldn't question he showing up out of the blue and out of all his friend's parents, James' would be least likely to care. They like Sirius and had always treated him as if he was one of their own; they knew he had problems with his parents and had always welcomed him into their home. Even though Sirius felt that James's parents wouldn't mind him coming to stay, he still felt that they might not be as welcoming if he showed up without warning and was hesitant to knock on the door so late at night. It was one thing to ask if you can stay without fore warning, but to show up in the middle of the night would not help Sirius's case. As Sirius walked towards the door he remembered the Potters had a wizard alarm system. 'They must not have it on' thought Sirius, 'or it would have gone off by now'. Just as Sirius realized the alarm was off he notice a kitchen light was on. Rather than risk waking up the whole house by knocking on the front door, Sirius turned and walked towards the kitchen. As Sirius approached the kitchen window he saw James sitting at the kitchen table drinking what he assumed was warmed milk from a glass. Sirius was hoping it would be James, so he could talk to his friend before having to face his parents about moving in. Sirius tapped on the window and laughed slightly when James jumped from surprise; apparently James hadn't seen him coming. Sirius stood there as James opened the window, "Good evening," said Sirius as if he showed up to James's house this time every night to talk to him through a kitchen window. "What are you doing here?" asked James, "Do you have any idea what time it is?" James said with pretend annoyance, but Sirius knew he didn't mind. "Got in another fight with mum," said Sirius, "Wondered if I could come stay with you for a bit," said Sirius. "Come around front and I'll let you in," said James. Sirius walked over to the now open front door where James was standing waiting for him. "Well come o in then," said James, "Thanks mate," said Sirius, "You'll have to stay in my room tonight," Sirius wondered why he couldn't stay in the guest room. The Potters had a five bedroom house, Mr. and Mrs. Potter in the master suit, then James's room, the guest room, a den/game room, and a small spare room for storage. Although Sirius wondered why he would have to share a room with James, he didn't mind. Normally over the summer he would share James's room with him and Peter and Remus would get the guest room. "My Grandma is visiting," James replied to Sirius's unasked questioned, "So you'll have to stay in my room until she leaves," said James. "It's cool," said Sirius, "How long is she staying?" "She is planning on leaving the day after tomorrow," said James, "and hopefully she doesn't change her mind." Sirius knew that James loved his Grandma, but that she annoyed him and that James would rather spend short amounts of time with her rather than a three-day weekend. "You don't think your parents will mind me being here do you?" asked Sirius, it just occurred to him that maybe he was being a bit full of himself when he thought they would accept him so willingly. "My parents won't care and you know it," said James, pushing away any worries Sirius might have about stay. "When did you leave home? Are you hungry?" asked James. Once James had mentioned food Sirius realized just how hungry he was; the last meal he ate was a small lunch and he hadn't had the chance to eat dinner yet, "Now that you mention it, I wouldn't mind a bit to eat." Sirius said, "Come on then," said James leading Sirius towards the kitchen, "I think there are some left-over's from dinner" said James.

Chantelle was sitting in her room going over some required summer reading. Chantelle had been out of school for almost a month now and, other than an interesting conversation with her mom where she found out that the Potters were their only neighbors and that their son had played a prank on their house while Chantelle had been traveling with her dad, nothing had happened. As Chantelle was reading she heard a soft tapping on her window. Chantelle knew what the sound was; it was one she was expecting. Tapping on her window was a fairly large brown barn owl holding a note. Chantelle recognized the owl as Bree's and knew it was holding Bree's response to a letter Chantelle had written her earlier asking if she had talked to her parents about when she was coming to stay.

Dear Chantelle,

I was supposed to be coming to stay mid July so I could be back home for my cousin's wedding August, but plans have changed. My cousin is having her wedding on July 25 rather than in August like originally planned, so I won't be able to come visit until August. Sorry to leave you on your own for now, but there is a lot going on here.

Chantelle was slightly disappointed that Bree wouldn't be able to come until later, but she wasn't going to tell Bree that. She didn't want Bree to feel bad about not being able to come until later.

I have been doing most the work left to the maid of honor such as planning the bridal shower because the maid of honor is pregnant and has to get ready for the baby. Not to mention she is the sister of the bride so I have been helping my aunt out as much as possible for both the wedding and the baby. The wedding is going to be at my aunt's house and then my cousin is moving out after the wedding and we are turning her room into a nursery so my other cousin can stay here until her and the baby's dad find a home. The baby's dad just took a job in Egypt and is staying in a small apartment, but he wants to move into a safer neighborhood before having my cousin and the baby come live with him.

Anyway, see you not as soon as planned but soon,

Bree

Chantelle grabbed a piece of parchment and started to write Bree back.

Bree,

Its okay you can't come until later. It sounds like you have your hands full at your aunt's home. I can't imagine how your aunt would live without your help. Tell me how everything goes,

Chantelle

Chantelle attached the short note to the barn owl's leg and sent it on its way home. As Chantelle put her quill back in her draw and closed the lid on her ink; she moved her left-over parchment to see a chocolate frog card lying out on her desk. Chantelle wasn't sure why she hadn't put it away, or why she even pulled it out at the start of the summer. When Chantelle had gotten home, after setting down her trunk on her bedroom floor and tossing her bag onto her bed, Chantelle walked over to her closet. Chantelle opened the doors of her closet and reached for an old shoe box in the back; inside the bow were a number of knick-knacks from when she was younger and the one thing she was looking for, lying at the bottom of the box, was a chocolate frog card. Sirius had given it to Chantelle the first time they met during a holiday party. Since Chantelle had pulled out the card it had lived on her desk next to her bed. Every once in a while Chantelle would pick it up and look at it, but other than that it stayed there. Chantelle had been meaning to put it away, do anything with it other than leave ti on her dresser, but she hadn't; it just stayed there. Chantelle knew it was unhealthy for her to leave the card out; it added on to the idea that her and Sirius might be together one day, which would never happen. Chantelle didn't know what it was about Sirius, but there was something about him Chantelle just couldn't leave alone.

It was the first week of July and although there were a number of things they would rather be doing, James and Sirius were inside. During the morning they had been outside flying on their brooms, but with heat waves all week, it had been reaching over a 100 degrees, so they boys came inside to cool down. Sirius had so far been enjoying his tie at the Potters, who welcomed him as if he had always lived with them. The only one who seemed to mind Sirius moving in was James's Grandma, but she left shortly after Sirius arrived. After she had left Sirius moved into the guest room as planned so he no longer had to share with James. Once they had come inside Mrs. Potter needed James to do a chore for her and told Sirius that a letter had come for him while he was outside and that she had put it up in his bedroom. Sirius went up to his room where he saw his letter lying on his bed and started to read it.

Dear Sirius,

I heard you ran away from home. I had a feeling this was coming, I knew you and your mum had been fighting, although I hoped it wouldn't come to this. You should have seen her after you left. I have never seen her so mad, or call anyone so many bad names. She even burned you name from the family tree on the wall.

I know your mum doesn't want me, or anyone else for that matter, talking to you. But I wanted to make sure you were okay. There isn't much I can do for you, but I sent some gold to help pay for next school year and a place to stay if you need it. Hopefully you can go stay with some friends.

Wishing you luck,

Uncle Alphard

P.S. I found an old picture of you from when you were about eight or nine. I don't know who is in the picture with you, but you might be interested in it so I attached it with the gold.

Sirius put down the letter a saw a pouch sitting next to where his letter had been. Opening the bag Sirius could see it was full of galleons, at least enough to pay for the coming school year probably more. After dumping out the gold to count it, Sirius saw a small picture fall out of the bag. It was from a wedding Sirius had gone to shortly after his ninth birthday. The picture made Sirius smile and made him sad at the same time; it was a picture of Sirius a Chantelle dancing. Sirius watched the younger versions of him and Chantelle try their best to dance while not falling over; it occurred to him now that he was older how silly they looked. In a way Sirius wished that he was still the boy in the picture; everything was simpler than, when he could be Chantelle's friend and ask her to dance at a party without questioning, before he had been chosen for Gryffindor house. That spilt second was the only time Sirius ever regretted being Gryffindor, but then he thought he was just being foolish. He loved being Gryffindor and playing for his house Quidditch team and no amount of teen lust was going to change that. For all he knew, Chantelle hated him and was just messing with him at the party. "Sirius, could you come down here for a minute?" Mrs. Potter called up the stairs, snapping Sirius out of his thoughts. Sirius tucked the picture into his pocket before turning out of the room and running downstairs to see what Mrs. Potter need.

Later that day James noticed something was up with his friend Sirius but, like the last day of school, Sirius just denied it and dropped the subject. James was starting to wonder what exactly happen at the party and what was going on with his friend.

Hoped you liked this chapter more than I did. I think I might rewrite it because I don't really like the way it came out, that and it is way shorter than I would have liked. Oh well, hopefully my writers block goes away and the next chapter is longer.