As soon as Sirius had entered the pink, feminine bedroom he began chuckling. He had forgotten the décor he had set up, just for Snape. He had turned a decaying, dark bedroom into one suitable for a six-year-old girl. He used permanent sticking charms to make the portraits and paint stay, so no matter what spells Snape used they would remain fixed to the wall. Sirius could see that his attempt to annoy Snape had been successful, as one of the kitten portraits had a deep scratch across it as if it had been struck with a sword.
Sirius also noticed that the other pictures had been covered with gruesome posters, such as figures writhing in pain, obviously suffering from some sort of horrible curse. Although the room was bright pink it seemed gloomy all the same. Grimmauld Place naturally had an atmosphere of misery and darkness, or at least to Sirius it did.
This dreadful place had been the scene of many painful memories. There had been countless arguments over Sirius's personal beliefs on blood purity. A place that should have been a home became a battlefield when the eldest Black son decided to diverge from his family's ancient traditions. He had been verbally berated and rejected by his parents for his belief in equality and respect for others. Although Sirius tried to act like it did not bother him, his family's rejection was one of the greatest upsets of his life. The worst was the loss of his best friend, the second worst the betrayal of another friend, the third worst his time in Azkaban and current situation, and fourth was the estrangement of his family.
Sirius did not know what he would have done if the Potter's hadn't taken him in for some time. The Potters were like family to Sirius and were his first true insight into how happy families operated. The Potters respected each other and others. They ate together and talked together and laughed and cried together. Before this, Sirius had never truly known what it meant to be with a family that loved and supported each other. This was also when he realized what he was missing out on. No matter how well the Potters treated him, he knew he would never truly be one of them. He was not a Potter, he was a Black. And a Black he would always be, if only by name. He dreamed that someday he would have his own family. A happy family. This family would be one in which he truly belonged. It would be a good family, like the Potters, and for once in his life Sirius would not feel like he had been cheated out of the love and joy that family life brings. But twisted fate had other plans, and much of his life was wasted in a cell, suffering for a crime he did not commit. Now free, he was still trapped within a place that haunted him. Living here, he felt the same way as he had felt as a child living with his blood family; alone. The only difference was that back then, he had some hope that his family would see the error of their ways and come together again. Now, any hope of reconciliation was crushed. He did hope that soon he would be found innocent so Harry could live with him, and they could be a family. Besides being James's son, Sirius felt drawn to Harry because he also knew what it meant to be without a loving family. Sirius saw a tiny bit of himself in Harry; a child in need of family. He wanted to do for James's son what the Potter had done for him. But yet again, fate would not allow it. Perhaps someday Sirius would escape the cycle of isolation and troubles that followed him and hone a new life out of the ashes. But for now, he had to keep carrying on the best he could. Abandoning his brooding thoughts, Sirius refocused his attention to the examining the room.
Snape kept it fairly neat. The bed was neatly made and his few belongings carefully placed throughout the room. Sirius decided to begin his search by flipping through each of Snape's books. He picked up the first book on the self. It was very old and bound in black leather. The book's title gave Sirius a chill, "Magic Most Feared and Revered; 101 Powerful Dark Spells by Cornelius Quebble."
The thought that Snape was keeping books on dark magic at Grimmauld Place angered Sirius. He hated dark magic. This old house had known evil magic for a long time, and Sirius was determined to purge any remnants of this into the garbage can. He greatly wanted to destroy the book, but doing so would leave evidence that someone had been searching through Snape's stuff. If Snape discovered that Sirius had looked through and ruined his belongings, the men would be back at square one.
Sirius sighed and quickly flipped through the book. He turned it upside down and shook it roughly, hoping that if the picture was concealing inside it would flutter out. Finding nothing, he placed the book back and moved onto the next one. Luckily, the other books were much less sinister. He searched through Rare and Valuable Funghi, The Art of Pickling Magical Plants and Creatures, Potions Digest, a notebook full of lesson plans, and a grade book. None contained the missing picture.
Sirius then began searching through Snape's dresser. He found nothing but a few pairs of black robes, trousers, and sweaters. He then moved on to the chest that sat in front of the bed. It contained a small cauldron, a few empty glass viles, and potion brewing tools. Once more, the picture was nowhere to be found. Sirius began to get frustrated and started searching in random places throughout the room. He looked under the bed, but only found shoes. He looked behind the curtains, but only found a stray cat he had taken in sleeping on the windowsill. At least he found something interesting in the desk draw. Inside he discovered a calendar. Each month was illustrated by a beautiful picture of the Hogwarts castle and grounds. The interesting part, however, were Snape's markings and notes throughout the calendar…
Thursday, January 1st- Accomplish new years resolution of being more positive
Friday, January 2nd – Move new years resolution to next year
Monday, January 5th – back to work Hell
Friday, January 9th – go to pub with Albus and Hagrid for birthday
Saturday, January 10th – NEVER play drinking games with Hagrid, ever again
Wednesday, February 25th – staff meeting – remember to fall 'ill'
Friday, March 13th – give very difficult test; grades have been too lenient
Wednesday, April 1st – tell Minerva I wish the Gryffindor quidditch team good luck (April Fools)
Wednesday, June 15th – apply for D.A.D.A. position
The rest of the calendar containted similar, sarcastic remarks. Sirius truly enjoyed reading them, but soon remembered that he had better hurry up and find the picture before Snape returned. Sirius got back to work and even double-checked everything. He checked the pockets of Snape's clothing, the insides of his socks and shoes, the bedding, under the mattress, and so on. Tired and annoyed, Sirius plopped himself down onto the bed. As soon as he had sat down, a square, neatly cut piece of paper fell out from the inside of a pillowcase. It floated gracefully down to the floor, somersaulting along the way. When it came to rest on the floor, Sirius saw a lovely young woman with fiery hair smiling at him. Sirius smiled slowly and picked up the picture.
He had found the missing picture; and by doing so, confirmed every suspicion he had.