Sirius climbed the stairs to the boy's dorm, smiling as he returned to his home away from home. Well, home away from James' home anyway. One of these days he would gather up his courage and leave his house for good. He only stayed there now because he had some small amount of hope that Regulus would break free from their parents and show his true nature again. Or at least, what Sirius hoped was his true nature. The Regulus he knew from their early days, before Hogwarts and their sortings. That Regulus was one of the bravest and kindest souls Sirius had ever known. But of course that oppressive house had finally gotten to him. He was sorted into Slytherin and followed his parents every wish. He was the prized son while Sirius became the black sheep. Sirius hoped he would get to see Regulus return to himself soon, but his hope was fading with each day spent in that terrible place. Every second in that dark and dreary residence left Sirius feeling as if his soul was being forcibly pulled from his body. But he didn't want to leave Regulus behind, not while he still had hope. Even if Regulus was ignoring him, choosing instead to obey his parents every command, Sirius couldn't help but care for his younger brother. They had been close once, and part of him held onto the hope that they could be close again. He sighed as he put away the last of his belongings, organizing them and moving them from his trunk to the side table. The last object to put away was a small photo album. Inside there were many photos of him, James, Remus, and Peter, but tucked away in the back was an old photo. The photo showed a pair of boys, sharing identical grins, nudging each other affectionately. The boys looked nearly identical, though one was slightly larger, lankier, and clearly the older of the two. The photo was taken the last day Sirius and Regulus had been happy together. It was the last day of summer, the day before Sirius Black took the train to Hogwarts to begin his first year. The fateful day that everything changed. With a sad smile, Sirius gently replaced the photo in the album and carefully placed the album in the drawer of the side table. He looked around the currently empty dorm room, reminiscing on the first time he stepped foot in the dorms. He, James, Remus, and Peter had managed to claim the room, as it was the only room with four beds. The other rooms had six to eight beds, all in a circle. But this room, this room was different. It was like it was made for them. Luckily the other first years had happily bounded off to the larger rooms, aiming to make as many friends as they could. The Marauders, on the other hand, wanted to have a place within Gryffindor Tower where they could be alone, separate from the other Gryffindors.
This room had been theirs for three years already, and would continue to be theirs until graduation. Sirius had carved their nicknames into the four posts of his bed. Each name had been added with care and, luckily, hadn't been removed over the summer. Sirius was brought out of his thoughts as James, Remus, and Peter entered the room finally. Sirius had left the feast early, feeling somewhat homesick despite the wonderful food in front of him. Perhaps he was overcome by the many memories that had been flooding his mind all day. Whatever the case, his appatite was gone fairly quickly. So, after only one helping, he returned to the dorm room before anybody else. James dropped onto Sirius' bed, wrapping an arm around his friend, and said "You doing alright? You left the feast insanely early!" Remus sat on Sirius' other side, offering a comforting gaze, and said "What happened?" Peter jumped up behind them, placing a comforting hand on Sirius' shoulder. Sirius sighed and said "I've just been thinking a lot. About family. This summer got me thinking that maybe I should just leave that house for good, and join you, James, Mum and Dad permanently. But every time I think about it, I worry about Reg. I know he's changed, and he still follows our parents blindly, but I still have hope. The hat hesitated. There are times I could swear he's still trying to help me when I'm trapped in that house. I... I just want to see him return to his true self, instead of playing puppet to our parents..." He trailed off briefly. James and Remus squeezed his shoulders supportively, while Peter gave him a gentle pat on the back. Taking a deep breath he said "I know it's not likely to happen, but I still have that bit of hope you know? And with all these thoughts I couldn't bring myself to eat anymore. So I decided to leave early." He finished his sentence just in time to find himself embraced tightly in a group hug. Peter, Remus, and James all hugged him as tightly as they dared, clearly trying to get their feelings across without words. When they pulled back, it was James who spoke. "You are welcome to stay with me, Mum, and Dad, whenever you want. If you still want to try to get your brother back, then I wish you luck. But don't forget to keep me in the loop, okay? We're brothers too you know!" Remus nodded and said "Yeah, after all we've been through, we're definitely your family now too! You shouldn't try to take this all on by yourself!" Peter chimed in, saying "Yeah! We're here for you too, so if we can help in any way just let us know!" Sirius smiled, laughed lightly, and said "I know, I'm sorry I worried you. But I promise I'll let you know if you can help me with anything." This moment reminded Sirius of just how lucky he was. Sure, his birth family wasn't the ideal family, but he had forged his own family. And this family was the best family he could have ever hoped for. Pulling out the map, which he had hidden away in his trunk, he smirked and said "Alright, enough of the sappiness. It's time to get down to business."
Lily climbed the stairs towards Gryffindor Tower with Alice and Lydia in tow. The feast had been just as amazing as ever, and all the students seemed to eat until they could hardly move! That is, all the students except for one; Sirius. In the middle of the feast, he silently stood up, stepped away from Gryffindor's table, and swiftly left the Great Hall. Lily was worried, but the look on his face showed that he would prefer to be alone. So she restrained herself, stayed in her seat, and tried to focus on the conversation she had been having with Lydia. Lydia rambled on about her plans for the Hogsmeade weekend that was coming very quickly. Lily ignored most of her words, only hearing a few snippets here and there as she thought about what could possibly be troubling Sirius. He had seemed perfectly happy on the train, and even when they sat down to the feast. Lily turned around, pretending to stretch, and noticed Regulus was directly across from where Sirius had been sitting. Ah, that would make sense. If Sirius had seen Regulus, it might have gotten him trapped in his thoughts. Sirius often acted like he didn't think about anything other than pranks or what else he could do to have fun. But really, he thought about quite a lot, especially his younger brother. He had told Lily about his hopes, that one day he and Regulus could regain their bond and escape the house they were trapped in. It was a long shot, in his opinion, because their parents had such a tight hold of Regulus. They kept him close at hand, trying to keep him under their control and away from Sirius. One letter, Sirius had mentioned, blatently stated that the brother's parents didn't wish for Sirius to be around Regulus because they thought he would corrupt him, making Regulus less of the perfect son and more like his brother the black sheep. Lily was saddened by this thought. Though she knew families were not always what they should be, she never really knew anyone whose family could be so cruel. She had thought abusive homes and the children from those homes would be easy to notice and identify. But, in reality, things were not that simple. Sirius was the perfect example of the old adage of not judging a book by its cover. From the outside, he seemed perfectly happy and content. He seemed arrogant, like the spoiled favourite son of a loving family. But in reality, he was using the arrogance to mask all the pain he felt. He kept up the smile, even when the pain was overwhelming, because he didn't want to bother others with his problems. He was the type of person who would silently bear the world on their shoulders to spare others from suffering through some form of burden. Lily was amazed at how well he disguised his true self. She still hoped he would show his real self to everyone in the future, but as long as he was happy with the way things were, she wouldn't interfere. And it was rather nice being able to be counted among the few who knew Sirius' true nature. She was lucky, and proud that she had gotten to know Sirius for who he really was. Though they never really spoke in public, they preferred to stick to their own circle of friends for the majority of their time, they always managed to find time to sit down and enjoy each other's company. Lily lay back on her bed as Lydia prattled on about nothing in particular and tried to imagine just what sort of wonders this year would bring.
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