Sirius stared at his ceiling, tracing random patterns. He was beyond bored. There were no lessons to attend because he was between terms. Lily had come down sick so he couldn't sneak down to see her. There weren't even any dinners or other events hosted by his parents or another wealth family to attend. In short, there was nothing for Sirius to do to relieve his boredom.

Not for the first time, Sirius wished that Lucille was still here. She always had something for him to do or see whenever he had grown bored with everything else. If she was here now, she would probably be telling him to get his cloak on because they were going on a walk in the village.

Sirius sat up suddenly. That's it. He could go on a walk through the village and maybe if he was lucky, Lucille would be home and he could visit her.

Eyes alight with the excitement of an adventure, Sirius scrambled off his bed and out the door. The halls in his wing were silent but as he went downstairs, they came alive with servants. Orion and Walburga were out for the day so servants could roam the house as they pleased. On the downside, it made sneaking out of the house rather hard. The eleven year old was certain that there were more than a few servants who would go straight to his parents to report anything he did. All for a few extra half-crowns in their pay or some extra food.

Sirius snorted. It wasn't like they needed it either. His parents made sure their servants were nicely paid and had plenty of food. All to ensure their servants loyalty. In return, Orion and Walburga expected to be kept informed of everything going on regarding their household and more importantly, the town. It was how they got all of their blackmail.

The moment there was a break in the flow of servants, Sirius made a dash for the door. He reached the door and pulled it open easily, slipping out and closing it softly behind him. Turning to survey the front yard, Sirius realized that sneaking out of the house had been the easy part. It would be getting out the front gate that was the hard part. The front yard was crawling with people, servants and commoners alike. The gardeners were going about their work; servants were directing merchants around to the back of the house to unload all of the food and other goods they had brought. Sneaking out was going to be next to impossible. Sirius didn't let that daunt him. He was a Black. He would find a way to make the situation work for him.

Scanning the yard, his eyes fell on a cart slowly making its way towards the front of the house. Sirius grinned. The back of the cart was full of empty feed sacks piled all the way to the top of the cart. If he could move quickly enough, Sirius should be able to slip into the back of the cart and cover himself with the feed sacks so no one would notice him slipping out.

Running as fast as he could, Sirius dodged servants directing the carts and gently hoisted himself into the cart. He covered himself thoroughly with empty feed sacks before making a small hole so he could see out. None of the servants seemed to have taken note of him running past them. Likely, they thought he was simply running for the pleasure of it and had disappeared around the back of the house. It would be hours before they realized he wasn't there. And that was if they bothered to care. Sirius planned to be back before then.

Less than a minute after Sirius had snuck onto the cart, he felt the slight bump that meant the cart had passed through the front gate. The bump was the difference between the grassy grounds of the manor and the low dirt road that led away from the front of the manor and into the village.

Once Sirius had determined that the cart was far enough away from his house that he wouldn't be seen, he shoved the few feed sacks covering him to the side and slipped out of the cart. Landing lightly on his feet, Sirius took a look around to determine exactly where he was. Judging by the long row of houses on either side of the street, Sirius was in one of the many residential neighborhoods. A rich one going off the look of the houses lining the streets. So he hadn't gone very far from home then.

Sirius spun around so he was facing the north end of the street and started walking. He didn't have a particular destination in mind. Anywhere away from home would do. Though he did have his plan to go visit Lucille later. First he wanted to explore for a bit. In all of his eleven years, Sirius had never taken the time to explore his village. Nearly every time he had left the manor's grounds, he had ridden in a carriage to one of his parent's friend's homes or to a few select shops. Sirius was curious to see what other things the village contained.

Reaching the village market, Sirius stopped and looked around in wonder. He had never realized how many stalls made up the market. To his left were stalls selling assorted goods from bolts of cloth to children's toys. To his right stalls sold kitchen utensils. Directly across from him stalls sold every type of food imaginable.

That was where Sirius headed to first. Even on the other side of the market Sirius could smell the delicious combination of food drifting across the open square on the breeze. Reaching the first stall, Sirius began to browse through the selection of food. The stall sold various baked goods from the village bakery. Sirius instantly settled on a batch of fresh iced cookies, his favorite. He handed over a crown and waved away the change the stall worker tried to give him. Eyes lighting up in gratitude, the worker gave him a loaf of fresh bread to go with it.

Munching on a cookie, Sirius began to make his way around the market, stopping any time any time something caught his attention. He stopped at a stand that sold art supplies. Sirius had always liked art but his parents thought it was a useless hobby. Still, they indulged him in his art lessons on the condition that Sirius did drawings of their friends.

Sirius picked up a large drawing pad and turned it over in his hands. His parents were always going through the drawing pad he currently had, making sure that his drawings were appropriate. Yet they weren't always what Sirius longed to draw. On an impulse, Sirius bought the pad. Now he would have a place to draw whatever his heart desired.

Deciding that he had spent long enough in the market, Sirius turned and made his way to the road leading west. Lucille's house was only a short walk from the square. Within minutes he was making his way up the flower lined path leading to the front door. He set about knocking on the door repeatedly until it was opened. Always an effective tactic in getting people to open the door quickly.

Sure enough, Sirius has only been knocking for about ten seconds before the door flies open. He grins cheekily at the frustrated Lucille standing on the other side of the door.

"Sirius." She said, frustrated.

"Hello Lucille." Sirius said, stepping through the door.

"How many times have I asked you not to knock on the door repeatedly?" Lucille asked, shutting the door behind her former charge and moving past him to the kitchen.

Sirius shrugged. "I don't know. A lot."

Lucille refrained from sighing and bustled about the kitchen, putting out snacks for both her and Sirius to enjoy while they chatted.

"How are your lessons going?" She asked as she poured two glasses of milk.

"Alright. Binns is as boring as ever but Miss Green is still a good art tutor."

"That's good. I know how much you like your art lessons. Have you drawn anything good recently?"

"Only a drawing of old Mrs. Malfoy. She liked it and so did my parents."

After discussing Sirius' lessons a bit more, they discussed other things such as his brother, his parents, and upcoming village events. Sirius resolved to try and sneak out for a few of them. He had enjoyed his day exploring the village and would like the chance to see more of it.

When the sun started set, Lucille stood up.

"It's getting late Sirius. You should be getting back home. You don't want to get in trouble for sneaking out. If I thought it could do any good, I'd tell you not to do it again. However, I know you won't listen and so I'll simply tell you to be careful when you do sneak out. Promise me."

"I promise." Sirius said, giving his former nanny a hug goodbye.

Lucille returned the hug and walked Sirius to the door. The young boy made his way down the path. He stopped at the end of the path and turned back to wave. Then he made his way back home.

To Sirius' disappointment, sneaking back into his house was easier than sneaking out. The yard was no longer busy with servants and delivery carts everywhere. The gate was still unlocked as the sun had not yet set fully and the front door was never locked. Inside the house, there were a few servants milling about but none of them spared him more than a passing glance. They clearly didn't care what he had been up to. It saddened Sirius to think that no one cared what he did in this house.

AN: Yes, I'm still alive. I'm sorry this chapter took so long. To be honest, this was the hardest chapter to right and I'm not that happy with it. Still, it's the best it's going to be. I'd appreciate it if you reviewed and honestly told me what you thought of this chapter. I'd also welcome any suggestions on how to make it better. The next chapter will be up tomorrow.

Last time I updated, I believe I said I was going on vacation. Let me just say that go kart racing late at night is a lot of fun. Especially when your parents end up going head to head in one race. That was hilarious.

Until tomorrow.