Sirius was awoken by a loud and angry knock on the door, followed sharply by shouting. He grabbed his wand and yanked himself out of his bed, stumbling out into the corridor and bumping into James. James gave his friend a wide eyed tired look before they moved and looked down the spindly stairs to see what the commotion was.

Dorea was moving quickly up the stairs and looked at Sirius, her jaw set tightly. "It's your parents," She said. "What do you want us to do?"

Sirius never felt more furious with his family than he did at this point. They had taken away his freedom for 16 years and now that he had it, they were invading his best friends' home trying to take him away.

Sirius cleared his throat and pushed Dorea slightly to her son. "Let me try and talk to them,"

"You're not leaving are you mate?" James asked.

Sirius' jaw twitched but he didn't answer. "Stay here." He said before grabbing his dressing gown and yanking it on. He marched downstairs towards the door. Charlus was standing with both hands on the frame barricading anyone from trying to enter.

"For the last time, you will leave my property or I shall be forced to take drastic action." He was saying as calmly as he could muster.

Sirius then heard an all too familiar voice.

"He is only 16. You can be accused of child-abduction." Mr Black said.

Sirius cleared his throat and Charlus twisted around to see him.

"Hi dad," Sirius said, staring at his father.

"Sirius, get your coat, we're leaving," Mr Black said.

"No dad, you are."

"I am what?"

"Leaving,"

"Don't you talk to me that way," Mr Black said. "You're coming home with me tonight."

"To what?" Sirius asked taking a step back. "To feeling worthless every day? To having to defend my beliefs in a home that tolerates the obliteration of muggles and muggle-born? That's not a home I want to be a part of."

"Sirius don't be ridiculous," Mr Black snapped. "This is not your home."

"It's more of a home than being with you lot ever was," Sirius spat growing angry. "I am happy now, I am free and I never want to see you again,"

Mr Black looked shocked. "You hate us?"

Sirius wasn't sure how to respond to that. He looked over at Charlus and he began to move away, realising that this was probably something that he should not eavesdrop on. Sirius stared at his father and then shook his head.

"As much as I do want to hate you, as much as it would make this whole thing easier," He sighed and shook his head. "I can't hate you. You're my family. And no matter how much I despise your actions, your thoughts, your words… I could never hate you. So just leave it at that."

Sirius stared at his father for a long moment. Mr Black cleared his throat. "This is ridiculous, come home."

"No." Sirius shook his head. "I can't go back to that place. I don't ever want to go back to that place."

Mr Black stared at his son for a long moment then gave a curt nod. Charlus seemed to appear out of nowhere and closed the door before placing his hand against Sirius' back, leading him into the front room. James was sitting cross legged on the floor, his glasses slipping down his nose. Dorea looked concerned as she watched Mr Black leave from the window. Her hands twitched nervously on the curtains as she looked around and gave a small sad smile.

Sirius fell to the sofa, rubbing his eyes and sighing. "Sorry about that, guys."

Charlus stood with his arms folded at the door frame. Sirius avoided his gaze and swallowed.

"I'll write to them," He said. "Tell them to leave me alone. And I'll leave too, hide, so you're not bothered by them."

"Oh Sirius," Dorea sighed. Sirius blinked up at her as she covered hugged herself. She moved towards him and pulled him into a hug, squeezing him tightly and giving him a small kiss on the forehead. "You stay as long as you want to," She said. "You're family."

Sirius nodded as she pulled away from him. She gave her husband a small smile and touched his arm before going off to bed.

Sirius sat down again and rubbed his eyes. "I'm really sorry about that Charlus. I don't understand why they want me back so much when all they seemed to do was make my life misery…"

Charlus shook his head. "That's the problem."

Sirius looked up and James frowned. "Dad?"

Charlus bit his tongue for a second before unfolding his arms and sitting down on the nearest chair. He cleared his throat and thought for a second before speaking. "Sirius, they never intended to make you miserable."

"You sure about that?" Sirius asked.

"When you become a parent, you do what you think is best for your child. You install all the same defences that you have created in order to protect them from harm. And sometimes those defences are wrong. Prejudices and old hatreds… It doesn't mean that they hate you or want you to be miserable." Charlus said. "Now I admit every case is different. But on the whole, parents genuinely want to protect their children. I speak from experience. How do you think James ended up with a predisposition to hate anyone who heirs from the Slytherin house?" He glanced over at James who suddenly went very red and looked down at his feet.

"My family don't care about me," Sirius said.

"Tell me then," Charlus cleared his throat. "Why did they protect you for all those years? Feed you, cloth you..? Love is ingrained in them."

"Yeah but they always told me that muggle-borns and half-breeds were dangerous," Sirius said.

"And why do you think they were doing that?" Charlus asked.

"Because…" Sirius fell silent. "Because they wanted to protect me,"

Charlus nodded and leaned back. James let out a low sigh and scratched the back of his neck.

"Do you think I should go back to them?" Sirius asked.

"No!" Charlus and James replied at the same time and looked at each other sheepishly for a second. Then Charlus spoke up again. "Sirius, I'm not excusing their actions, what they've done to you, making you cynical and hard-headed… I don't agree with that. I wouldn't recommend going back if it will just make you unhappy."

Sirius then looked at his friend and raised his eyebrows.

James made a face before pushing up his glasses. "Well you're my best mate. You've complained about them every time the subject is brought up. You clearly don't want to be in that house. And you're grown up enough to do what you want."

"So long as you don't trash my house," Charlus said, raising his finger.

Sirius laughed and shook his head. "I promise."

"Alright," Charlus got up and helped James from his cross-legged position on the floor. Sirius pulled himself from the sofa and sighed.

"I'm really sorry about all of this," He said.

Charlus shook it off before pushing him and James up the stairs. "Not another word. I have work tomorrow morning and I haven't slept yet."

James gave a grin as he and Sirius separated into their rooms and Charlus made his way to his. Sirius slumped onto his bed and stared out of the window for a second before pulling his quill and parchment towards him. He had tried to write this letter several times but found that he couldn't actually get the words out properly. There was a tap on the door and James entered, his hair a mess and his glasses once again half-way down his nose. Sirius didn't say anything as James sat himself down on the bed next to him.

"You're thinking that you did the wrong thing," James said.

Sirius didn't reply but stopped scratching at the parchment surface.

"You did the right thing. You did what you always wanted to do. How long would you have been able to stay with them before you actually snapped and killed someone?" James asked. Sirius gave a vague smile and James laughed. "See?" He cried.

"Go away Prongs," Sirius said.

"Will do," James said standing up. "Don't beat yourself up about this, you're doing what you want to do. Don't ever let anyone think they can take that away from you."

…

"Another letter," Dorea sighed, moving around the kitchen table. She dropped it in front of Sirius and he sighed, splitting it open and reading it carefully. He shook his head and put it to the side before going back to his cereal.

"What does it say this time?" James asked.

Sirius blew a huge raspberry, pulling a foul looking face as he did so. Dorea smacked him around the head.

"Also," She said, handing James and him a letter each. "Your Hogwarts letters. Dumbledore must know you're here Sirius."

"Not for long," Sirius promised.

"Don't be stupid. You're sixteen years old," Dorea snapped. "Where are you going to go?"

Sirius began to argue but James shook his head and he fell silent, clearing his throat. He pulled open his Hogwarts letter and scanned the page only to be interrupted by a strange yelping noise coming from James. Sirius glanced around to see that James was now standing on his chair, his letter in hand and reading it over and over again. In his other hand sat a shining red and gold badge.

"What?" Sirius asked.

"JAMES POTTER GET DOWN FROM THERE NOW!"

James looked at his mother and then flung himself on her, hugging her tightly.

"NO WAY!" Sirius bellowed, looking at the letter. "THEY MADE AN IDIOT LIKE YOU QUIDDITCH CAPTAIN?!"

James nodded stiffly and grinned before ruffling his hair. "Evans will have to go out with me now," He said proudly.

Dorea seemed to shriek and grabbed her son into a huge embrace.

"How did you manage that?" Sirius asked, now quite serious. "Did you bribe someone? Did you give McGonagall shortbread or something?"

James shook his head.

"This calls for a celebration," Dorea said firmly. "What do you want?"

James looked confused at his mother, frowning. "What?"

"What do you want?" She insisted. "I have to get you something!"

James suddenly went very red and began to shake his head quickly. "No, mum it's okay, you don't need to get me anything…"

"I have to, it's a mothers' duty!" Dorea replied. "A new broomstick? A pet? A new cauldron…" She paused. "Don't get a new cauldron…"

James grinned and looked over at Sirius. "Lily has to go out with me now,"

Sirius rolled his eyes. "In your dreams mate,"

"Charlus! Did you hear that? Our son is Quidditch Captain!" Dorea cried.

Charlus glanced up, completely unaware of what was going on around him. "He what?"

"Quidditch captain!" Dorea cried.

Charlus lowered his glasses and peered out. "Really? Well done son,"

"Why are you not excited about this?" Dorea asked.

"Because we both knew it was going to happen," Charlus said, folding his newspaper

Sirius was over James' shoulder again and then he grabbed the letter. "There must be a mistake. There must be." He scanned over the letter and then shook his head. "Yeah, no it's clearly marked wrong."

"GIVE IT BACK!"

Sirius stretched holding the letter above his head and James tried jumping for it.

"SAY THE MAGIC WORD!" Sirius taunted.

"Oh don't tempt me," James replied.

The letter was plucked from Sirius' hand and closed carefully. Dorea folded her arms. "You two are nothing but children. Now, don't you have chores to do?"

"MUM!"

"NOW!"

…

Peter was raiding the fridge, filling his arms with food as Remus, Sirius and James sat on the kitchen counter.

Remus was scanning through the copious amounts of letters that Sirius had been sent, a slight frown appearing on his forehead.

"Should I go back?" Sirius asked.

Remus glanced up and pursed his lips. Sirius had been contemplating this for nearly 3 weeks now, every time he found himself at peace another letter or threat would come through in the mail and he would find himself at odds battling his subconscious all over again.

Remus shook his head and his jaw tightened. "No. Don't go back. You'll have to probably find somewhere else to live and not even open mail, just burn it straight away… And it'll be hard especially with Regulus still at Hogwarts. But I agree with Charlus and James, you can't go back."

"Told you," James said. "Hey Remus."

"What?"

"CHECK OUT MY NEW BADGE!" James lifted his shirt and pushed his shinning captain badge into Remus' nose. Remus' eyes crossed and he blinked looking at it confused.

"Oh," he said. "Well done mate,"

James lowered his eyes. "Is that sarcasm?"

"Is that questioning my sincerity?" Remus asked, raising an eyebrow.

James shrugged. "Perhaps,"

"Charming," Remus folded the letters and put them to the side.

Dorea entered the room carrying a chair, a large pair of scary looking scissors and a sheet. She sat it all down and began to prepare and James narrowed his eyes.

"Mum, what are you doing?" He asked.

"I'm going to be giving Sirius a haircut," Dorea said.

James choked laughing. "A haircut? I've known Sirius 5 years, he's not getting his hair cut any time soon,"

Sirius jumped off the kitchen counter and tied his hair into a ponytail. "Alright, let's get this over with," He said.

"Wait what?" Remus glanced up and became hugely confused. "Are you serious?"

"Of course I'm Sirius," Sirius replied sitting down on the chair and pulling the sheet around him and tying it around his neck. "And I'm getting a haircut."

"But why?" Peter asked his mouth full of cheese.

"Because," Sirius said. He didn't want to say in case his friends took the complete piss out of him. He thought it sounded too cheesy and too overdramatic, but it was true. This was a new age for him. The long hair meant the frigid life and being trapped under his parents rich aristocracy in which he was expected to look a certain way, dress a certain way and be a certain way. Cutting his hair was a way of ridding himself from it all.

"Don't make me look like a monk, Dorea," He said, glancing back at her.

"I'll do my best dear," She said, lifting up the scissors. She took a hold of his hair and reached towards the edge of the ribbon. Sirius closed his eyes and then heard a loud snip. He blinked and Dorea gathered up the hair and put it on another sheet on the kitchen table. She then pulled the ribbon out of his hair and he shook his head.

"That is fucking weird,"

"JAMES POTTER!"

"Sorry mum,"

Dorea gave him a scowl and then moved around Sirius gently taking away the edges. "You have such lovely eyes, Sirius, why the hell was it hidden under that mass of black hair."

"Blame mummy,"

Dorea sighed and ran her fingers through his hair and gave it a tousle. "There. It might not lie as straight as it used to after baths."

Sirius pulled off the sheet and looked at the pile of hair next to him. Dorea cleared up and took the hair and threw it into a bin. She then patted him on the shoulder and left. Sirius ran his fingers through his hair again, it felt weird, like literally a huge weight had been lifted off his head. It was a good feeling though.

"Actually," Remus said, tilting his head. "It kind of suits you better than the long hair."

Sirius gave a crooked smile and jumped up on the kitchen counter, grabbing some biscuits from Peter.

"Nah," James said shaking his head. "Where's Padfoot and who are you?"

Sirius threw a biscuit at him.