Melancholy || Harry Potter's twin brother

3: chapter twenty two

The year came to an end like an old car spluttering to a stop. Sirius could barely believe that he was already on the train home.

"I can't believe Rowan was an animagus!" Justin sighed, Sirius had told them the entire story of what happened that night in the womping willow and the shrieking shack, but Justin had been struggling to understand Rowan being Sirius Black of all things.

"I know, he's so different when he's human than when he's a dog." Sirius agreed, he too had wondered how and why Black had been so different in person than in dog form.

"Why do you get all of the fun adventures?" Hannah asked with a teasing frown.

"I don't do it on purpose!" Sirius defended himself with a laugh. "I blame Harry."

"Good shout, never blame yourself." Ernie nodded with a a grin. "Is anyone else really hungry?"

"Always." Sirius nodded with a grin. "I might have a chocolate frog somewhere."

"Anything from the trolley dears?" The old trolley witch appeared at the door, a four of them leaped up ready to get their favourite foods. She smiled kindly at each of them and helped them with getting all the yummy sweets and foods that they wanted to get their hands on.

When she was gone and they had taken a break from eating, they finally started to talk again.

"So, do you have a plan Sirius?" Hannah asked.

Sirius, who was halfway through eating a liquorice wand, paused. "What?"

"To find your prophecy, how are you going to do it?" She rolled her eyes at him.

"Oh." Sirius finished his liquorice wand. "I was going to ask Lianna."

"You think she would know?" Justin frowned. Sirius nodded.

"She knows most things, and I'd rather ask her than Aro." He replied.

"Don't blame you there mate." Ernie nodded, he was not a fan of Aro, claiming he 'creeped him out' and no one blamed him for that.

"So you definitely think Aro has it then?" Hannah asked. Sirius nodded.

"He wouldn't want anyone else getting that information, and if it was wherever prophecies are normally kept, that would always be a risk." Sirius explained, "lianna can get into anything, so if anyone knows, she will."

"What do you think it will tell you?" Justin asked gently, he knee Sirius had been worrying about what he would find out, but hadn't yet talked about what he thought might be revealed to him.

"The truth, I think it will help me decide what to do." Sirius answered honestly. "I'll let you guys know what i find out."

"I'm sure we'll coerce our way to Rome at some point this summer." Hannah said with a grin. "I'll make sure of it."

"You scare me sometimes Hannah." Ernie said shaking his head, but he was smiling.

"Well, if that ain't rude!" Hannah exclaimed jokingly.

"But true." Sirius chimed in with a grin. She hit his arm with a laugh.

"Shut up Potter!"

"You took your time." Sirius found himself face to face, well not quite as the man was a fair bit taller than him, with Vernon Dursley.

"Sorry, I had a lot to say." Sirius shrugged.

"So we've been talking to your mentor, and we've come to the agreement that you would be better staying with him, so you can better your... er... craft." Vernon said with a forced smile as he put his wallet back in his pocket.

"What?" Sirius looked from his aunt and uncle to Aro, who was stood next to them. "Is he paying you?"

"Don't be so disrespectful!" Aunt Petunia shrieked. "We want what's best for you."

"Since when?" Sirius said, clapping his hands over his mouth as he realised he hadn't kept his thoughts to himself.

"Don't test me boy!" Vernon said through gritted teeth, then he forced a terrifying smile and turned back to Aro. "Thank you for your generosity Mr..."

"Sheen." Aro said, he was watching Sirius as though he was expecting him to do something wrong.

"Mr Sheen." Vernon continued with the same terrifying smile that was trying to convince them he was a decent person. "For taking the boy under your wing for the summer and teaching him... whatever it is that will give him a good job and get him out of my house for good."

"Say goodbye to your aunt and uncle boy, I want to get back as soon as I can." Aro told him, Jane and Ollie joined them at that moment.

"What's going on?" Ollie asked.

"Sirius is coming with us." Aro replied. Ollie stared at Vernon and Petunia, his expression darkening and his fists clenching.

"Is that his aunt and uncle?" He asked mutinously.

Jane put her hand on her brothers shoulder. "Don't cause a scene." She warned.

"But they locked him in-" Ollie began.

"I know." She replied.

"I'll see you next summer then, I guess." Sirius said awkwardly to his Aunt and Uncle. He had trouble showing affection to them, probably because of their aversion to showing him any sort of kind words, so he wasn't sure how to react when he was asked to say goodbye in public.

"Goodbye er... Sirius." Vernon nodded as though he almost forgot Sirius' name.

"Tell us if you're staying at school for Christmas." Aunt Petunia added, as though she wanted to see him at all.

"Will do, so see you then." Sirius waved lamely at them, before turning back to Aro. "Let's go then."

Sirius wasn't sure what to expect from this summer, but he knew it would be, for sure, very action-packed.