Ok, this one is a different kind of sad...Enjoy!

Title: I'm Sorry
Length: 2513 words
Pairing: None
Rating: PG-13-ish
POV/Style: Third/Narrative

Sirius Black, the notorious bad boy of Hogwarts, the king of pranks and the owner of so many girls' hearts, sauntered onto platform 9 and 3/4 sporting his latest muggle acquisition. His brand new, although defaced to look well-worn, leather jacket was his latest plot to thoroughly enrage his parents.

It was the Marauder's sixth year at Hogwarts, and the four boys were more than ready to wreak havoc in the halls once again, Sirius more than anyone.

"Padfoot, mate!" Rang out across the platform. Dropping his cool act, Sirius spun around to greet the voice he would recognize anywhere: the voice of his long time friend, James Potter. As the ringleaders of the Marauders, James and Sirius had been through thick and thin­­ –– well, multiple detentions together—and it was taken for granted that they would never become less than best friends.

A high five was quickly exchanged between the two boys, as identical grins grew upon their faces, making the girls around them swoon. However, before the mood could get too light hearted, after which there was usually no time for any serious discussion, James opened his mouth.

"How was your summer, mate?" Sirius looked at James darkly.

"Tonight. I promise I'll tell you tonight," He replied. James clapped him on the back.

"Whatever you say, man." With that, the boys made their meandering way to the train, jostling each other in typical cool male fashion.

The boys managed to get onto the train after only one ambush by James' mother, an all-time low for them. This time, she insisted on kissing him endlessly while trying to convince the boys to, "Please be good this year! I don't want any more letters from Professor Dumbledore about the two of you," even though she knew it was absolutely hopeless. James and Sirius escaped after a final kiss and hug for Sirius, and they stowed their trunks in an empty compartment on the train.

Sirius laid down on one of the benches, and James sat across from him. Sirius put a strand of his long, dark hair behind his ear, and the two boys fell into an easy conversations revolving around, well, pranks.

The whistle sounded, causing James to flinch in surprise. Sirius burst out laughing, reached across the space between their seats, and gave James two hard punches.

"Two for flinching," He chanted, sniggering madly. James looked at him, raising his middle finger while absently rubbing the spot where Sirius had hit him.

"Where d'you think Pete and Remus are?" James questioned. Sirius shrugged.

"My bet is that Moony is at the prefect meeting, Merlin knows how he got named prefect, hanging out with the two of us. And Wormy? Honestly James, are you that surprised? He's probably late, as always," Sirius shook his head at Peter's name. As forgiving as James is, he could deal with Peter, but with Sirius' rough nature Peter was a source of constant annoyance.

The horn blasted a second time, and although James didn't jump, the door to their compartment burst open, revealing a very sweaty and very flushed Peter.

"Wormtail!" James exclaimed, jumping up to help Peter with his trunk.

"Hey Jam- I mean, Prongs!" Peter exclaimed, already looking, in Sirius' opinion, like he was going to wet his pants in excitement. He ran a hand across his forehead, and plopped down in James' seat as James put his trunk away.

"Where's Remus?" Peter asked as James sat down.

"Prefect meeting. Remember?" Sirius rolled his eyes. Peter was clueless.

"Oh, right, right." Peter nodded his head. He turned to James.

"So Prongs, what'd you do this summer?"

"Wormtail. You were at my house yesterday. And the day before. And the week before that," James reminded him. The conversation continued on such a track, Peter asking stupid questions, and James answering, sounding slightly more annoyed every time. Sirius took the opportunity to sleep, throwing an arm over his face and trying to block out Peter's inane voice.

Sirius was ready to leap off his seat and punch Peter ten minutes later, when the compartment door was thrown open once again, revealing the lost Marauder, Remus Lupin and the ever-beautiful, at least in James' opinion, Lily Evans.

"Well," Remus said, "This looks like my compartment." He gave Lily a half grin, a kind of apology. Lily smiled back.

"Yeah, well, I'll see you up at school," She turned to leave, and James' eyes, which had flicked to the door as soon as he saw the flash of distinctive red, leaving Peter chattering on to nobody, widened in anticipation.

"Wait! Evans! Why are you leaving? You can't deny that you don't want to stay with the four- I mean, the sexiest guy in all of Hogwarts," James said with a smirk, indicating himself. Sirius burst into laughter. Man, James had screwed it up, once again. Remus shook his head.

"Who are you kidding, Potter? You know that Sirius is far sexier than you." Lily winked at Sirius, who simply shrugged. Lily rolled her eyes and walked back into the corridor, leaving James to slump back into his seat.

Remus shoved Sirius out of his way, sending him tumbling to the floor in shock.

"Oi, you great lump. Do you honestly need to take up the entire seat, Padfoot?" Remus took a seat on the newly vacated bench as Sirius climbed off the floor and back onto his side of the seat. He shook his head to get the hair out of his face, and, after sending Remus a dirty look, turned to James.

"Well, Prongs, what number is that?" He said with a grin, sitting back in his seat.

"Shut up, Padfoot. Just because you haven't been unlucky enough to fall into like ––"

"You mean obsession," Sirius interrupted.

"With a girl," James continued, sending Sirius an evil glare, "doesn't mean you have the right to make fun of me for it."

"Oh, but Prongs my dear, I do believe it does." Sirius replied, flicking his hair out of his face again. Remus sighed.

"Prongs, mate, maybe if your gigantic ego didn't get in the way every single time you talked to Lily, Sirius wouldn't have an opportunity to mock you."

"Prongs isn't being egotistical, Moony. That's just him," Sirius said.

"Cheers, mate!" James said, high-fiving Sirius as Peter laughed in his corner. Remus just shook his head.

"You're going to regret not listening to me one of these days…both of you."

"Moony, we realize this. We always regret not listening to you, because you're always right, and we've been proved wrong how many times? But let us believe that just maybe you'll be wrong this time. Please?" Sirius gave Remus his best puppy eyes, and James his best doe eyes, which, I must admit, they have down pat. Remus laughed, and they carried on discussing Lily, pranks and full moon nights.

The boys' door opened once again a few hours later, and a young girl poked her head in, meeting pure squalor. The compartment was covered with discarded candy wrappers from the food trolley and the boys had started up a game of Exploding Snap, which had singed much of their surroundings. Let's just leave it at the fact that Peter was playing.

"Um…" The girl said, looking around the mess wide-eyed. "The – ah, the Head Boy asked me to tell you that we're getting close to school, so you should put your robes on." Sirius nodded his head from his position on the floor, indicating he had heard, and smiled up at the girl.

"Thanks, kid."

"An- any time. I- I'm Kaela." She blushed madly at being addressed by Sirius. Not registering anything unusual, Sirius stuck out his hand.

"Sirius Black, miss." The girl shook it as if in a daze, and then slowly turned on her heel and walked down the corridor.

James reached up and shut the door.

"Padfoot, mate, you could have had her eating out of your hand," James shook his head as he stood up to grab his robes from his trunk. Remus, Sirius and Peter followed suit.

"What are you talking about? She looked like a nice kid," Sirius said as he took off his beloved jacket and pulled his robes over his head. Remus and James just looked at each other and shook their heads. James pulled his robes on, making his hair even more disheveled. He fixed his glasses and sat back down.

"Okay boys, down to work. What's our prank going to be?"

Sirius' face split into a wide grin, and all four boys leaned in. After several botched demonstrations of various charms and spells, they agreed on a prank as the train pulled to a stop.

The boys clambered out of the train, leaving their trunks on board, and grabbed a horseless carriage.

The ride up the hill was filled with Peter's mindless chatter about girls, which, in Sirius' opinion, was pointless, as Peter was never going to have a girlfriend. However, Sirius politely refrained from punching him in the face, and settled for slapping him upside the head.

"Ouch, Padfoot! What was that for?" Peter cried indignantly, rubbing the back of his head.

"I'm just saving what's left of my brain." Sirius replied simply.

They reached the castle without any more incidents, and pulled off yet another perfectly executed prank, involving red and gold slime and the Slytherin house, after the Sorting was finished. They decided it would be nice to welcome both the Gryffindor and the Slytherin first years with a taste of what was going to happen for the next seven years of their lives.

Sirius, James and Peter traipsed up to their dorms with a week's worth of detention each under their belts already, as Remus (don't worry, he got his fair share of detention as well) left for another quick prefects meeting. As soon as they reached their dormitory, Peter climbed into bed and passed out, snoring loudly.

James preformed the obligatory silencing charm on Peter's curtains, and the two settled on Sirius' bed.

"I think the prank was too much excitement for Wormy," Sirius commented, snorting derisively.

James looked at Sirius.

"So, enough of this. What happened this summer?" Sirius sighed.

"Well, I went home to the usual squalor. Got yelled at, and then went to my room. I bought the jacket and I grew out my hair, just to make them mad. I decorated my room with muggle posters and blasted muggle music. But, I stayed in my room during most of the days. Dinner was the worst though, since I had to eat with them." Sirius paused.

"What happened? The usual?"

"Well, yea, I got compared to precious Regulus, got yelled at for not making Slytherin, and got yelled at for my new muggle "toys". But there was something new this year. You know how there's been all that news on that guy, Voldemort?" James nodded, "Yea, well, with all of his pureblood crap, my so-called parents are in love with him. They tried to convince me to join him, you know, give them one last chance to be proud of me? I refused, of course. Regulus, the little a-s kisser, agreed with them the whole time. I could see his eyes though. Terrified at the thought of being one of those Death Eaters. My mother didn't see that though, she was too busy blowing up at me, yelling and hitting the table. It didn't help that both of them had been drinking. When she was done, the old man sent me to my room."

"Mate, I'm sorry." James tried to make eye contact, but Sirius avoided him, staring down at the comforter.

"I'm not done yet. So he sent me up to my room. I just lay on my bed, until I heard someone coming up the stairs and then my door burst open. My dad was standing outside with his wand drawn. He started yelling at me about what a disgrace I was, how I had let them down my entire life, and how now I wouldn't even join with Voldemort. And – and then," Sirius took a breath, letting a single tear fall to the scarlet blanket he was sitting on before continuing, "he put the Cruciatus on me. James," Sirius looked up, finally, "I couldn't think. I tried not to scream, but it hurt. It hurt so much," Sirius sniffed, and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. He took a breath, "When he took it off, I was on the floor, and I tried to stand up, but as soon as I got to my feet, he punched me. So, after he left, I off the floor, packed my trunk with everything I could, and I left. My mother was drunk downstairs. When she saw me, she tried to stop me from leaving but I beat her out the door. She sent me an owl before school, the first time they contacted me after I walked out. She wanted to tell me that she had burned me off the tapestry, the stupid thing."

James stared at Sirius, slack-jawed. He couldn't believe it. He knew it was bad for Sirius at home, but this was by far the worst summer yet. Letting the Cruciatus part go for now, he asked Sirius the more pressing question.

"Where are you living?"

"Remember my Uncle Alphard? Well he left me a bunch of money, so I got my own apartment. My mother told me he was burnt off too." Sirius shrugged.

"And why didn't you tell me, Sirius?" James asked gently.

Sirius shrugged, "I didn't want you to worry. You have your own life to worry about, much less mine too." James just shook his head.

"You should have told me."

"Well, I didn't." James sighed.

"I'm sorry, Sirius."

"For what? It's not your fault I got stuck with such rotten parents."

"I know. But I'm sorry I didn't know, that I wasn't there for you, I'm sorry about the curse, I'm sorry about the drinking, I'm sorry about Regulus, and I'm sorry that you didn't come to my house." James said, looking at Sirius closely.

"I know," Sirius' voice cracked, "I'm sorry too." He started crying again, and James, abandoning all pretenses of being manly, pulled Sirius into a tight hug. Sirius clung to him. James knew that, as much as he hated his parents for everything they had done, and despite everything they had put him through, Sirius still wanted their love and pride, as every child did. James held Sirius tightly, letting him know that no matter what his parents did to him, James would be there to catch him.

Remus walked in and upon seeing James hold Sirius as he cried, wisely slipped behind his bed curtains, leaving them alone.

The two friends stayed like that until Sirius cried himself to sleep. James covered him with a blanket, and closed his curtains. He took off his glasses, and lay in his bed, knowing he wasn't going to fall asleep.

Ok people, I've been a good girl, and I've been nice to people. Therefore, my wish is for some reviews.

Even if you hated it, tell me and I'll change it. or if you loved it, that's nice too. Or if you have a request, that would be amazing! All I'm asking for is a little love!

Ok, thanks! Review please!