Year: 1971 (still) 1st Year

Sirius' Story:

Quote of the Day: Do not go where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.

It was a clear Saturday morning, the day after the Hallowe'en feast, and I was sitting with Remus, James and Peter eating breakfast in the Great Hall. The Hallowe'en feast had been great, and afterwards we had crammed sweets and candy into our pockets for later, and after eating a whole load of candy and sweets in the dorm room we went happily to sleep.

Well, I know I did after a while, I'm not too sure about James, Remus and Peter though, they were making considerably strange noises last night before I went to sleep.

I was also happy to note that the Slytherins' plan to get us in trouble had not worked because Hagrid the good bloke covered up for us. We owed him. James, Peter and Remus did not have the appetite for any breakfast after so many sweets last night but I, being the famous eating machine, was able to eat two toasts with egg and bacon, and even some kippers. I was quite proud of myself actually. After all, I was a growing boy. I found it quite shameful that James, Peter and Remus couldn't eat any breakfast actually. But I would whip them into shape. I looked around the hall, there weren't many people present, in fact, it was pretty much empty, I think everyone overate last night and got sick. Serves them right for eating so much when they could have given it to me instead. Greedy gits.

"Uggh, I don't know how you can eat still Sirius," Remus said, looking at the food on the table with disdain. I looked over at Remus, who, along with James and Peter, looked considerably sick this morning.

"I'm a growing boy that's why," I replied, taking a bite of my toast. That was my excuse for whenever I ate a lot of food in a certain period of time.

"No, you're a pig, that's why," James said grinning. I hit him playfully over the head.

"Just because you can't even eat your fill doesn't mean you have to insult me," I replied.

"A good pig eats anything," Remus said. James and Peter laughed.

"Remind me again why you came down to breakfast?" I asked the three sick boys sitting around me.

"Because you practically pulled us out of our warm beds, while we were sick, mind you, and dragged us down here in our pyjamas, saying that you wanted some company and that we could do something afterwards," Remus reminded me wryly, "and you threatened us with a curse," Remus added.

"Oh, yeah, I remember now," I replied grinning at them.

"I'm sure you do," James said darkly, "you don't even know any curses I'll bet. The only reason we're down here is because we're such good friends and you need some protection from the Slytherins."

I was about to retort when Remus cut over me, "Although I'm not sure how much I'd care right now if the Slytherins did anything to you," he said grinning.

"Hey I'm doing you a favour, you know. You should feel privileged that you get to spend the morning with me instead of laying in bed feeling sorry for yourselves." I said audaciously.

"Speaking of beds, can we go back to ours now?" Peter asked, yawning.

"No, I told you, I need some company, we can do something when I'm finished breakfast," I replied.

"Yes your Highness," Remus sighed, "hey, maybe we could go visit Hagrid or something, after all, he did help us get out of trouble," Remus said.

But before I had a chance to reply the daily mail owls came swooping in, I glanced up at them submissively, knowing that I wouldn't be receiving a letter, when all of a sudden an owl came swooping down to land on the table spilling my orange juice. The owl looked strangely familiar.

"Dumb owl!" I swatted it away, thinking it must be a letter for one of the others.

"Sirius, it's for you," James said, looking at the envelope of the letter.

"What?" I asked stupidly, James handed me the letter and the owl flew off.

I opened the envelope and pulled out the letter, it was the shortest letter I'd ever received, it read:

Sirius,

Go to the Owlery after breakfast. Make sure you come alone.

"Who's that from?" James asked curiously, reading over the letter.

"No idea," I answered, turning the envelope over to see if there was a name on the back, I found it blank.

"I wonder who could have sent it to me," I wondered aloud.

"Maybe it's from a teacher or something," Peter suggested, looking at the letter also.

"Don't be stupid, if a teacher wanted to see me they would have told me, not sent a letter. No… it's not from a teacher," I said thoughtfully.

"Ooh, maybe it's from a girl or something, she might've wanted to see you privately," James sniggered wildly.

"Yeah right James," I said.

"So are we allowed to come then?" Peter asked.

"No."

"What?! Why not?" James asked.

"Because it says to come alone," I said.

"So what?" Remus said.

"So, I'm going alone. That is: without you guys."

"No you're not! You dragged us all the way down here in our pyjamas when we were sick, wanting to do something afterwards and now you want to go off somewhere by yourself?!" James said, annoyed.

"Yeah, that's the general idea," I replied.

"Sirius! We want to come! You can't leave us now you git, need I remind you that you threatened to curse us?" Remus complained.

"Oh quit your complaining, look, I want you guys to come but it says specifically to come alone, I won't take long," I replied.

"But what if it's a trap, you know, someone might've wanted to lure you to the Owlery and then kidnap you," Remus said wildly.

"Ah, we mustn't get our hopes up yet Remus," James said.

I punched James on the shoulder playfully, "Shut up Pothead. You guys aren't coming and that's final."

"Your so impossible Black," James said.

"So are you Potter," I said. James only referred to me when he was irritated with me or when he wanted to annoy me.

"Right, I'm finished," I said looking at my now clean plate.

"About time," Remus said.

I stood up; James, Remus and Peter did as well.

"I'm going back to bed," Peter announced, leaving for the exit.

"Bye!" I said happily.

Remus and James followed Peter, "Don't wake us up again," James said warningly.

"I will," I replied brightly.

"You do and you'll have something to show for it," James said as he walked out the door with Remus.

I made my way to the exit and made my way up to the Owlery. I wondered who the letter was from I wondered as I walked along the corridors to the Owlery. I was sure getting curious and excited, I wanted to know who had sent this letter to me so mysteriously. Could it have been a girl as James had suggested? Nah, I thought, it was way too early to become involved with girls. All most of them ever did was giggle and make stupid comments and write notes in class.

Once I got nearer to the Owlery door I could hear voices coming from inside. The voices sounded familiar. Too familiar.

I opened the door slowly and felt my heart sink right to the pit of my stomach- if that's possible. The people inside stopped talking immediately. Standing there, looking arrogant, were (to my disgust and disbelief) Bellatrix and Narcissa.

"What are you doing here?" I asked instantly, glaring at them.

"We want to talk to you," said Bellatrix coldly.

"What about?" I asked, still glaring. The Owlery door snapped shut behind me.

"About you-" Narcissa said.

"What about me?" I interrupted.

"-And your 'friends'," she finished.

"I'm going," I said instantly, turning around. I knew what was coming. And I didn't want to talk to my stupid stuck-up cousins about anything. Why couldn't they just mind their own business?

"You're not going anywhere." Bellatrix rounded on me.

"Going to stop me are you?" I sneered.

"Sirius, stay there, otherwise I'll write to your mother," Narcissa said threateningly.

"What's she going to do about it?" I asked derisively.

"Whatever she wants to," Bellatrix said coldly. I could tell that she didn't want to be here anymore then I did.

"You're going to write to Cyrilla anyway," I said, glaring at both of them.

Narcissa started talking, "Look Sirius, we're over what you did to us on the train. We only want what's in your best interests, okay." I snorted, as if, "And we don't think that you hanging around that Potter and Lupin and measly Pettigrew is a good idea. They're no good for you-"

"What the hell would you know about what's good for me?" I retorted. They had no right to talk to me about this kind of stuff! And as if they would only want what was in my best interests! Narcissa was just acting; my mother had put her up to all this I'll bet.

"Listen, they'll use you, they'll all use you. Now Bellatrix and I could introduce you to a couple of Slytherins in your year, they're your kind of people Sirius, not Gryffindors, they're traitors, we know you think that you want nothing to do with us but really you know that you need us," Narcissa said, "Severus Snape would be happy to be your friend-"

"Snivellus is a slimy idiot!" I said bitterly.

"Well maybe not Snape, but there are lots of other Slytherins that would be happy to be your friend. Sirius, you're a pure-blood, just because you were sorted into Gryffindor doesn't mean you're one of them, you belong with your own family Sirius, and that family is Slytherin-"

"My family is James, Remus and Peter!" I seethed.

"No, they're not, they're just pretending to be, the Gryffindors aren't like us Sirius, they don't understand what it is to be pure-blood, you don't belong in with Gryffindors, you belong in Slytherin with us-"

"You're right, Gryffindors aren't like you, they're not skiving, slimy, stuck-up idiots-" Bellatrix cut me off.

"Look you slime ball, you're meant to be a Slytherin and that's that!" She screeched.

"I am not!" I said brusquely.

"Bella, please," Narcissa pleaded, "Sirius, you're a full born pure-blood, you belong in Slytherin, even though you're a Gryffindor you can still be with us, you can make Slytherin friends. Forget about those Gryffindors, they aren't like you, they'll never understand you, they're traitors, they'll abandon you-"

"They won't abandon me!" I said, seething.

"They will Sirius! They don't know you! They don't like pure-bloods, the dirty scum in Gryffindor are nothing compared to us! They hate you! You think they want to be your friend? You think they'll accept you? Let me tell you something, they won't! We know about the older Gryffindors, we heard them talking, they all hate you! So do Potter, Lupin and Pettigrew and anyone else you think has befriended you! It's an act! They'll pretend to be your friends! They'll use you until you have nothing left! They aren't your real friends! If you make friends with Slytherins they'll be your true friends forever, they won't use you! They-"

I couldn't take anymore. "Don't tell me what I can and can't do! I am nothing like you two! Nothing! And I never want to be! I may be a pure-blood but I can tell right from wrong!" I was yelling now, they made me so angry, "And you're not right! I don't want to be in Slytherin! I don't want to make Slytherin friends! Why can't you just understand that? I will never have anything to do with the Slytherins! Or you! I hate you both! And I hate that you've both conformed! You are both blind to everything! Being pure-blood means nothing! We're no different to muggle-borns! Just because we're pure-bloods it doesn't mean that we're superior, or royal, or any better then anyone else! It means nothing at all! Everyone is the same! Why can't you just see that? You're both stupid idiots! You don't know what you want! You have no backbone!You're a bunch of stupid stuck-up bitches," I finished savagely.

Before I knew what was happening Bellatrix had walked up to me, drew her hand up, and slapped me right in the face. I was shocked.

"You stupid bitch!" I said maliciously once I had recovered.

"Don't ever call us that again," Bellatrix said malevolently. Everything about Bellatrix reminded me constantly of my mother Cyrilla, they were almost exactly the same in their personality, the way they acted, and even their appearance, I wouldn't have been surprised if she was my mother's daughter and not my aunt's, but then again, my mother and her sister were very much alike. And all of them were bitches.

"Piss off! Don't ever touch me again! Don't talk to me ever again," I spat.

I turned and pulled the door open violently and stormed through it, I slammed it with a loud bang.

I stormed down the stairs two at a time. Suddenly I heard the door of the Owlery open somewhere behind me.

"You can't escape your destiny Sirius! Remember that!" Narcissa yelled from the doorway.

I ignored her and kept on going.

My head was reeling. How dare they try and tell me things like that! How dare they! I was furious. Before I knew what I was doing I started running, I didn't know where to, I just wanted to get away from here. I wanted to be alone. I ran out into the grounds, dazzling sunlight hit me in the face, the grounds were pretty much empty; everyone was probably in the courtyard or something, without a care in the world. I slowed down to a walking pace and before I knew it I was at the edge of the lake. I sat on the shore, pulled of my socks and shoes and dipped my feet in the cool water.

I was so angry I could barely control it; I grabbed some rocks and started pelting them into the lake in a fury. I couldn't believe Bellatrix and Narcissa's nerve! How dare they try and make me conform! I never wanted to be like them, ever. If I had ever had any family regard for them before this it had all disintegrated in that moment. No doubt it was on my mother's and father's orders that Bellatrix and Narcissa had approached me. I hated them all and their injudicious ways, I wish I had been born into a whole different family altogether.

I was so sick of people trying to talk me into becoming the pure-blood maniac that was so expected of me, my mother and father, Bellatrix, Narcissa, and even Crevan had had a go at me and lectured me about me being in Gryffindor and making Gryffindor friends. Why couldn't they just leave me be and let me make my own damn decisions? Why?

And then I realized that they would never leave me be, they would never cease to try and make me become one of them, never.

Unless I did something so outrageous that they'd disown me as one of the Blacks, that they'd wipe me off the tapestry and kick me out of the family. But I didn't want to do anything that extreme yet. I still had to have somewhere to go over the summer, even if it was back to the dreaded old Grimmauld Place.

I was distraught. I didn't know which way to go or what to do. Should I give in to my family after all and be their precious little pure-blood Black son that they so wanted me to be? Should I earn my rightful place in the Black legacy once again? Or should I keep on going against their ideals and rebel fully? What the hell was I to do?

Then I thought of Dumbledore's words to me on the first day when I had decided to stay in Gryffindor and not Slytherin…

"I'm afraid though Sirius, that you've taken the hard road. Indeed, there inevitably will be times when you come to regret the choice that you made here today, but those times will pass"…

There will be times when I come to regret that choice. Did I regret it? Did I regret it now? That I had so brashly chosen Gryffindor above Slytherin- a part of my own family's legacy? Did I regret that?

I couldn't have told you then whether I did or not, but I could have told you that a part of me took satisfaction in knowing that I had rebelled against my family, and that they were furious about it.

In fact, I thought it to be extremely amusing and savagely satisfying that I, Sirius Black, the ungrateful little brat and shame of my mother's flesh, had got the better of my own mother- and there was nothing that she, or any of them, could do about it.

I sat there for a long while, perhaps hours, pelting rocks into the lake, thinking on all of this.

And even in all my anger about the whole ordeal, a small thought crept over me, what if Narcissa and Bellatrix were in some small way, horribly right? What if my friends were just using me? What if they didn't really want to be my friends? Maybe they really were using me…

This thought gnawed at me from the inside, and as much as I hoped it not to be true, I thought that it could have been plausible. (Of course later I had realized what an idiot I had been back then to think such things about my friends)

I don't know for how long I sat there pelting rocks into the lake and mulling over these fears and what had just happened, but after a while a voice addressed me.

"You know," I stopped my arm in mid-throw, the voice continued, "you could poke the giant squid's eye out the way you're going Sirius."

It was Remus.

I dropped the rock I was holding and my arm fell limply to my side, I turned around, Remus was standing there, looking down at me calmly with the hint of a smile. It seemed like hours ago that I had dragged Remus, James and Peter out of bed, hours ago that I had been happily talking with my friends and planning what I would do for the day.

"What do you want Remus?" I asked somewhat icily before turning back around. I started throwing rocks into the lake again, but this time less violently.

"Nothing, I was just walking," he said simply, "of course I can keep walking if you want."

"I don't care," I said, still in a temper.

I heard his footsteps move away, and then suddenly he was sitting down beside me and looking out at the shimmering lake.

"You know I couldn't get back to sleep after you woke us up, you idiot," Remus said with a smile, after I didn't reply he said, "So I take it that no one tried to kidnap you then?" Remus asked softly.

I kept throwing rocks into the lake, not looking at him I answered, "far from it."

"Want to talk about it?" he asked.

"No," I snapped.

Remus picked up a rock and threw it into the lake; it didn't go very far. He kept on throwing them.

After a while I snorted at him, "You're hopeless."

He laughed and threw another one in, which didn't go any further than his previous attempts.

"Is that the best you can do?" I asked teasingly.

"Shut up," he said playfully.

"Look, you have to throw like this," I demonstrated, "put some more elbow-grease into it," I said.

He tried my version of throwing, and the rock went a little further than any of his others did.

"That's better," I said, soon enjoying Remus' company, and most of my fears about my friends using me had all but gone, indeed if they were using me they made for very good actors.

Soon, I was enjoying myself a little more and my encounter with Bellatrix and Narcissa was put away into the deepest crevices of my mind. That's what I liked about Remus Lupin, he didn't question me when I didn't want to talk about something, he left me alone and he didn't constantly nag and nag about it like James, and if I did want to tell him something he'd listen and offer a solution, unlike Peter. And when I was with him he made me forget about my troubles or he helped me sort it out.

"I bet you can't skim one," I said, picking up a thin rock and skimming it across the surface of the lake skillfully.

Without a word Remus picked up a rock and skimmed it across the lake, it skimmed across the water perfectly and went even further then my attempt.

"Okay so you can skim a rock, but you still throw like a girl."

"Bite me Sirius," Remus joked.

"Remus?" I asked after a while, turning my head to look at him.

"Hmm?"

"Do you believe in destiny?" I asked seriously.

He looked at me, "yes," he said slowly.

"Do you think that you can't escape your own?" I asked, thinking on what Narcissa had said earlier… "You can't escape your destiny Sirius!"…

"That depends," he answered, looking up into the blue depths of the sky.

"On what?" I asked turning back to look at the glimmering lake again.

"On whether you want to or not," he said simply.

On whether you want to or not.

And how undeniably correct on that statement he was.

7 7 7

Author's Notes: Woot, woot for Sirius! Don't you just love Sirius? Anyway, I think it's been a while since Sirius narrated, so I hope you enjoyed it. Who doesn't love Sirius? Eh. Anyway, this will be the last update for a while, I have exams on Monday and they are spread out over about a month, so I'm sorry but I won't have much time for anything else. But I did leave you with a 'Sirius' Story', what more could you want? Eheh. I will try to update when I can. And after this I will try to update more regularly. (Sighs. Maybe I shouldn't have started a major story in my last year of high school. Oops).

I also have a question to ask all of you, the readers/reviewers, and want you all to answer it, even if you haven't reviewed before and only read. Well, seeing as just the first year is taking rather long and a fair amount of chapters, I was wondering, should I break up the whole story into seven different stories, like a year per a story. Like the HP books, where Philosopher's Stone is first year, Chamber of Secrets is 2nd and so on. I was thinking of doing that but I don't really know. Which is why I want to know what you guys would prefer. It would flow more easier probably if it was in one whole story. I don't know. Opinions/comments/thoughts welcome!

Thanks all who reviewed! I appreciate it more than you know!

Janet Lily: Heh. Well I hoped you liked that it was longer. About the dog, it was Fang, and he didn't disappear with a crack. I'll explain, Remus, James, Peter and Sirius were edging closer to see what Fang was and then, just as Remus got a glance at him and seen that it was Fang, a couple of seconds after he saw it was Fang he stepped on a twig which made a loud crack and so Fang (being the scaredy cat, well, dog that he is) disappeared. So the crack was Remus stepping on a twig not a disapparating crack. Hope that cleared things up for you.

Elvengirl9: Well that's too bad, but look on the bright side, you got to read two chapters in one go instead of one! I love Sirius, and he is very funny, that's what I love about him. I'm glad you liked the two chapters! Thanks very much!

Paddfoot-911: Glad you liked the chapter, yes I did have a good reason for not updating! Heh. Yes, Sirius is ever-so-annoying, but that's what we all love about him, isn't it? J

Tru-Lys: Heh. In shock you should be. Eheh. At least I updated though! Well I didn't get the idea from The Midnight Duel chapter, actually the idea came from my beta, we were discussing things I could write about and trying to think of a reason why the four would go into the forest and she came up with a few ideas so I ran with them, and that's how the chapter came about.

Koriaena: Heh. Yes, they should know better, but you know Sirius and James, always out to prove themselves. They still have that lesson to learn.

This parrot has ceased to be: Hi, glad you liked it! I like that you like the way I work within the clichés, sometimes its hard to find other things to write about besides the normal clichés so I'm glad you appreciate it! Thank you very much for your comments, I do appreciate them! J

Padfoot's Mate: Yep, it is a scary story, but of course it's not true, it's just the Slytherins trying to scare people (not that they need to try, they do a pretty good job of it anyway, heh), so it's not true. Or is it? Dun dun dun… Eheh. Glad you liked Hagrid, someone else found the 'trees' part funny as well. Yay!

Esther: Thank you very much for that comment! I really appreciate it. And I'm glad you like the story. Glad you liked the part about Dumbledore's socks, heh, I had fun writing it. Was this update soon enough? I guess not. But I would be very grateful/delighted/pleased/happy if you did review every chapter. J

Aqua seafoam shame: Thanks, glad you liked it. Well, you're right, I'm doing all seven years, or at least I hope to, (I have a feeling that if I stop now I'll have people chasing me with pitchforks), so yes, it will be pretty damn long. But some years will be longer than others because more happens.

Cine (loves Sirius): Thanks very very much! I'm glad you like it!

Erica: Thanks! I'm really glad you like it. And that you like about how everyone writes about the other. Keep reading!