It was a grand Georgian Town House that had the potential to be a beautiful, happy home. It may have been filled with a variety of wonderful, sometimes priceless, objects but it was anything but beautiful to Sirius’s way of thinking. He had not known real joy in number 12 Grimmauld Place since he had been a very small boy. Ever since he had been old enough to realise how ludicrous his parents’ pure-blood mania was. The idea that one person’s blood could be more or less pure than another’s was, in Sirius’s opinion, downright laughable. Sirius hated this house and nearly everything in it. He resented the weeks he was forced to spend here during the summer holidays. The only room in which Sirius did not feel unwelcome and tense was his attic bedroom. He knew how much the red and gold Gryffindor hangings annoyed his parents. Part of the reason he had attached so many Muggle posters to the walls with Permanent Sticking Charms was to see his mother’s reaction when she discovered what he had done. Sirius was eagerly counting the days until his seventeenth birthday when he could leave this horrid house for good. His only regret about doing so was that the happy occasion was almost two years away
Sirius was in his bedroom, lounging on his opulent bed, staring at a small photograph across the room. This picture showed Sirius with his three best friends at school; James Potter, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew.; the Marauders. His mother had had another go at Sirius over dinner, just for being friends with, well, his friends. Sirius was not sure how much longer he could take the constant snipes, insults and verbal abuse he had to put up with from his family. His parents were constantly telling him that he was an embarrassment to the family, associating with blood-traitors, half-bloods and, worst of all, ‘Mudbloods’. He was, according to his mother, turning out nearly as bad as his cousin Andromeda, who had run off with a Mudblood. Although even she, as Sirius’s father had been kind enough to point out, hadn’t brought the indignity of being Sorted into Gryffindor to the Ancient and Nobel House of Black.
The door to Sirius’s bedroom banged open and his younger brother Regalus came storming in. Regalus, the perfect son, so alike Sirius in looks, so different in personality. Each had the same shinning black hair and bluish-grey eyes. The same handsome well proportioned face, though while Sirius’s was pleasant and full of life Regalus’s was aloof, haughty and proud. Sirius wasn’t sure when exactly he and Regalus had stopped being friends. It seemed like the animosity between them had crept up unnoticed over the last few years. When they were younger, before Sirius started at Hogwarts, they had been best friends, practically inseparable. Now it seemed as though they had always hated each other. Sirius knew that he was responsible for a lot of the bad feeling between them; he was not so arrogant as to lay all the blame on his brother. If only Regalus could see how pointless all the pureblood-mania their parents spouted was Sirius was sure they could be friends again.
“Sod off Regalus!” snarled Sirius at his younger brother, in no mood for an argument.
“Why don’t you make me, you stinking blood-traitor?” taunted Regalus.
“You’ve got five seconds before I do just that.” Sirius said, rising to his feet, “One... two... thr…”
“I’m not afraid of you, brother!” spat Regalus, “Don’t forget that your precious Marauders aren’t here to back you up.”
Sirius snapped. His fist was connecting with his brother’s jaw before either boy was totally sure what had happened. Blood sprayed from Regalus’s mouth as he was spun from his feet.
“I’ll make you pay for that!” Regalus growled as he got to his feet, drawing his wand.
Before Regalus had a chance to utter a curse Sirius had whipped out his own wand and directed it at his brother with a cry of, “Tarantglerra!”
Regalus’s legs began to jerk spasmodically, outwith his control, as he turned his own wand on Sirius and shouted, “Petrificus Totallus!”
The Full Body Bind curse flew over Sirius’s shoulder harmlessly as he countered, “Expeliarmus!” Sirius laughed as his brother’s wand soared across the room, “Well, well little brother, that’ll teach you to play with the big boys, won’t it?”
“I’ll get you back,” Regalus said, diving across the room for his fallen wand, “just you wait and see. You’ll be sorry one day!”
“I don’t think so, Reg.” jeered Sirius as he casually flicked his wand and Regalus soared into the air, “Now, let’s see, what should I do now? How ‘bout a Stinging Hex? Should be entertaining.”
Regalus felt as though he was being attacked by a swarm of angry wasps. Soon he was covered in a multitude of angry red blotches, but he refused to cry out. There was no way he was going to give Sirius the satisfaction. After a while Sirius became bored with tormenting his younger brother and crossed the room to where his school trunk had lain, untouched, since the start of the summer holidays.
“What are you doing?” Regalus asked as Sirius seized the handle of his trunk and dragged it towards the door.
“Leaving!” snapped Sirius, “What does it look like? I’ve had enough, of you, of mum, of dad, of this house and our whole stinking family! I hope one day you’ll realise what’s really important, and you’ll make the right decision. For now, see you back at Hogwarts, if you’re really unlucky.”
“You can’t leave, Sirius, you’ve got nowhere to go!” Regalus shouted after his brother, “And I’ll tell mum that you hexed me, I’ll report you to the Ministry, and you’ll get expelled.”
“Try it if you want,” Sirius said as he stuck his head back into his bedroom, “But I’ll be long gone before you get a chance to tell mum anything. Silencio!”
Sirius watched his brother feebly opening and closing his mouth for a moment before dragging his trunk down the three flights of stairs to the entrance hall. He threw open the front door as he heard his parents coming out of the first floor drawing room. By the time they got to the front door Sirius was in the street, his right arm held out in front of him.
“What do you think you’re doing? Get back in this house immediately young man.” Hissed Mr Black as the Knight Bus stopped beside Sirius with a bang.
“No, I don’t think I will. Thanks very much for everything.” Sirius said as he dragged his trunk onto the purple triple decker bus, “Just go, now, quickly. I’ll tell you where in a minute.” Sirius added to the rather ancient conductor.
The Knight Bus gave another almighty bag and they were transported to a remote Highland road. “Where you headed then young fella?” asked the conductor.
Sirius thought for a minute or two. Where could he go? School was out of the question, it didn’t start for another month, and anyway Sirius wasn’t fond of school. He could hardly go to the rest of his family. Most of them were as bad as his parents, and would only send him home. There was always Andromeda, his favourite cousin, but she had enough problems of her own these days since she had run off and married Muggle-born Ted Tonks. Sirius was about to tell the conductor that he had nowhere to go when the perfect place hit him.
“Godric’s Hollow.” Sirius said in a clear voice. James was his best friend; his parents were kind and loving. Everything Sirius’s own parents weren’t. Surely if Sirius explained the situation to Mr and Mrs Potter they would let him spend the rest of the summer.