11. The Outcast

"Don't worry. It's going to be alright. And if things go wrong, you can always floo back." Andromeda was saying patiently. Nodding, Harry grabbed a fistful of powder and threw it to the fire. Stepping to the now green flames, he shouted, "The Burrow."

"Hello Harry dear. How are you?" Mrs Weasley's smiling face was the first thing he saw as he picked himself up from the floor.

"Thanks Mrs Weasley. I'm fine."

Percy Weasley came in the room and seemed a bit surprised to see him. He had, for some strange reason, put a badge on his pyjama that said 'HB'

"Hello Harry. How nice to see you." He said pompously, extending his hand for him to shake. Pushing down a sudden urge to laugh, he shook it, feeling like he was being introduced to the mayor.

"Hi Percy." He replied.

"I hope you are well?"

Biting his tongue to stop the bubble of laughter threatening to come out, he answered, "Very well, thank-"

"Harry!" said Fred, elbowing Percy out of the way and bowing deeply. "Simply splendid to see you, old boy-"

"Marvellous," said George, pushing Fred aside and seizing Harry's hand in turn. "Absolutely spiffing."

Percy scowled.

"That's enough, now," said Mrs Weasley.

"Mum!" said Fred, as though he'd only just spotted her, and seized her hand, too. "How really corking to see you-"

"I said that's enough," said Mrs Weasley, glaring at the twins. She turned towards Harry and smiled again. "Don't mind those two, dear. Oh, did I tell you? Percy's Head Boy this year. Isn't it wonderful?"

Dora would certainly disagree with that, he mused. "That's great. Congratulations, Percy."

"Hey Harry." He turned back to see Ron smiling at him. He grinned back. "Hey Ron. What's up?"

"Wanna play quidditch, Harry? On our garden, two on two."

"Count us in." a deep voice came from behind them. He turned to see a red headed young man, who he had met once, accompanied by a red headed girl whom Harry already knew.

"Hi Harry." Ginny Weasley greeted him with a smile. He felt hugely relieved that she wasn't troubled by his presence.

"Hey Ginny. How are you doing?" he asked.

"Quite good. Dad won a lottery few days back and we all went to Egypt to visit my oldest brother Bill. He works there as a curse breaker. Oh this is my brother Charles Weasley. He works with dragons and was the best seeker Gryffindor had in a while. Until you came along, of course." She added, smirking at her brother, who frowned a bit.

"Call me Charlie. Nice to finally see you here. Everyone was talking about you since I came back. I want to thank you for saving our sister. She means the world for us and you have no idea how grateful we all are to you. If you ever need any sort of help, don't hesitate to ask." Harry was feeling a bit uncomfortable at the praises, but Dora had warned him this would happen.

"Don't worry. Ginny is my friend. If I don't help my friends what kind of friend would I be?"

"Okay, so are you playing?" Ron asked, breaking the slight awkwardness that hung in the air.

Ron, Ginny and Harry teamed against Charlie and the twins. Charlie charmed a walnut to fly like a snitch. Ron and George played keeper, Ginny and Fred played chaser and Harry and Charlie were seekers. Soon, the quaffle was in the air. Fred took the first lead but Ginny quickly levelled the score. Ginny then scored a second goal, but Fred's attempt was blocked by Ron. The game went on for half an hour, with Harry and Charlie occasionally helping their respective chasers when the walnut-snitch was nowhere in sight. Then suddenly, Charlie dived towards the ground. Harry couldn't see the snitch as Charlie's large body covered his line of sight. Swerving left, he saw that Charlie was just feinting and he pulled off. However, as soon as he began his ascend, he saw the walnut near George. Charlie was closer, but he was facing the other direction. It was almost similar to his first game against Malfoy, but Charlie was supposed to the greatest seeker Gryffindor ever saw before him. Lying almost flat down on his broom, he turned it sharply and shot towards the walnut. A rushing sound told him Charlie was closing in on him.

As he drew near it, the walnut suddenly flew downwards, and Harry realized he wouldn't have time to descend in this slow broom and Charlie had easier access now it was just a feet above him. Without pausing to think, he crossed his ankles on the handle, turned upside down, and let his hands go, hanging like a bat, with the ground above his head, and closed his fingers around the walnut.

"Can you teach me to do that Harry?" Ginny asked excitedly.

"I had never done it before. I don't know if I can teach you." He said apologetically.

"You don't need to learn that Gin. Most professionals don't dare to try that move and among those who try, most end up sliding off the end of their brooms. Only the players most comfortable in their broom can do that perfectly. How Harry did that in a Nimbus 500 is a wonder. You should try out for nationals as soon as you get your NEWTs. They need players like you. Heck! I bet you can beat the current seeker in a decent broom. What broom do you ride, Harry?"

"Nimbus 2000." He replied. Charlie whistled. "That's a classy broom if there was one. I used to have a Comet 220. It had a horrible turbulence when pulling out of high speed dives. Broke four teeth once, in a game against Ravenclaw. My friend in Romania bought a Nimbus 2000 last year. The ride was so smooth…" he trailed off, a dreamy look in his face.

"Okay children, dinner time." Mrs Weasley announced to them.

If he had to compare between Mrs Weasley and Andromeda in terms of their cooking abilities, he would say they were even. The Burrow was a fully magical household and the coking was done with magic, too, whereas Andromeda heavily relied on her electric oven. But Harry didn't take the trouble of comparing the cooks. He just enjoyed the great food and hospitality of the Weasleys and tried to answer all the muggle related questions of Mr Weasley. All in all, he was glad that he decided to come. He had a really good time with the Weasleys (even Percy, who gave him some advice on how to write long essays with limited information) and playing quidditch was the cherry in the top. After dinner, Mr Weasley thanked him once again thanked him for coming and Ginny gave him a parting hug. The twins tried to smuggle some of their joke sweets to him, but Mrs Weasley caught them and handed Harry the floo jar. With a wave at the group of red headed people in front of him, he threw the powder to the fire.

The fire turned green. It reminded him of floo powder, but he knew it was probably because of the empty can of soup that he stole from a muggle's shopping bag. He started feeling cold as the fire was beginning to die down. Looking at the wand beside him, he sighed and lied down beside the flicking flames.

Sirius Black wasn't meant to live like this. He was raised like a prince, two house elves were always there to carry out his orders, bring him food and prepare his bed. He hated that life, sure. He wanted to be merely comfortable and to work for his bread. He wanted to rise above his family and stand against what is wrong. He wanted to be with his friends, and maybe a family. He wasn't meant to live off stolen tinned soup and thrown away bread. He didn't want to be feared and hated by the ones he loved. He didn't want to be an outcast.

Looking back, he admitted it was partly his fault. When he arranged the switch with Wormtail, it was him who suggested that no one, not even Remus or Dumbledore knew about it. James argued that at least someone should know about it in case something went wrong, but he insisted not to let anyone in. He didn't trust Dumbledore because the man kept too much information to himself and seemed to think he knew the best for everyone. He should've told Remus, he thought bitterly. A few days before the switching of positions, Wormtail was telling him how he thought Remus was turning dark and might be the actual spy that was causing the information leak. At first, Sirius waved him off, but Peter continued occasional remarks that planted the seed of doubt towards his old friend. It had nothing to do with Remus being a werewolf, a fact Peter liked to point out every now and then. He knew Remus was jobless and the Order wasn't paying him anything. He offered to help him, as had Lily and James, but he refused politely. He began to suspect that to earn some gold, his friend might not be so loyal anymore. Looking back, he understood Peter planned for this to happen so that the friends would fall apart. And his plan did work well. I doubted Remus and gave that little motherfucker the key to James and Lily's house. I might've as well killed them with my own hands. He often wondered if Lily and James would ever forgive him. He knew he did not deserve forgiveness.

With a last flicker, the fire went out and the temperature dropped almost immediately. One might even have mistaken it to the arrival of a dementor, but living twelve tears with them made him an expert on recognising their presence. Thank Merlin for small favours, he thought bitterly. He placed a weak warming charm on the ground. He found the wand in a wizarding bar near the shore that marked the ending of the sea where the Azkaban Island was situated. He did not win it by force. He just saw a wand lying on a table in the open, while the owner passed out drunk. He transformed to his dog form and picked it up. The wand did not work properly for him, but he couldn't walk to Ollivanders' and test out wands. Even the wandcrafters in Knockturn Alley would raise an alarm if they saw him. And he couldn't risk roaming around the wizarding world too much. He was fairly certain that Remus told Dumbledore about his animagus form. After all, everyone believed he was the traitor and a Death Eater.

His thoughts turned towards Andromeda. She was like his older sister who kept him in line. He knew even Andromeda hated him now. He thought of all the time they spent planning her escape from the Black family, and the times in Grimmauld Place in their childhood. He remembered once she had a fight with Ted a few weeks before their marriage. She turned up at the middle of the night and he just sat there, holding her silently for a long time. Finally she started telling him about their disagreement and that she decided to have some time away from Ted. He didn't say her anything that night, just made her dinner and then tucked her to bed. The next morning, he asked her to reconsider her decisions, and within that evening, he sent her back home. Later, Andromeda bought him a television with a VCR Player and a few cassettes. They saw a movie together and when Sirius was thanking her once every five minutes, she confessed that it was for making her see sense, but not pushing her away when she needed him. He just hugged her and said, "That's what family is for, Meda."

Family. The word sounded hollow even in his mind. He was supposed to raise Harry in case something happened to James and Lily. He saw a glimpse of him from Andromeda's kitchen window. He guessed Meda took him in when he was… unavailable. Harry probably grew up hating me. He thought sadly. He thought of the miniature James laughing with a teenage Nymphadora, and tried to match him with the toddler riding a toy broom at Lily and James' place in Gordic's Hollow. There was a faint resemblance, but the toddler looked like a mixture of Lily and James, but the thirteen year old Harry was a perfect copy of James Potter, except for the green eyes of Lily. At least he is in safe hands.

He thought about his last days as a free man. He was trying to step out of his player reputation and enter a serious relationship. He had been dating Jennifer Dawes for a few weeks and he was finally beginning to feel that he was in love, but before he could take any steps, his world came crashing down. After he paid a visit to the Tonks', he went to visit her place. It now belonged to someone else. With a heavy heart, he realized she was likely to be married to someone else now. He couldn't afford to look for her further as he did not trust this wand enough to apparate great distances with it. If he continued looking for old friends and known people, he would never reach Scotland. He didn't know where the Weasleys lived and he had decided to wait for them at Hogwarts and try to figure out a way to break in whatever house that boy was in. He was determined to catch the rat.

Pettigrew made Sirius an outcast and a murderer. He sold James and Lily out to Voldemort, made Harry an orphan and destroyed the Marauders. He would get that scumbag even if it was the last thing he did.

He just hoped Andromeda wouldn't kill him right away.

A/N: Pretty angsty chapter. Do you like it? Let me know. A review would be great! I understand the last chapter was a bit rushed and many pointed out that Vernon didn't own Grunnings, but I guess I forgot to mention that without Harry screwing up with the Masons, Vernon had a large profit and eventually bought Grunnings. It was my fault and I apologise for the glitch.

Thanks to chunky munky for the nice words!