Unity & Perseverance

Exam Worries

A/N: Next Chapter: The gang shop at Diagon Alley, and the return to school nears.

Sirius had woken up at seven fifty the next morning, wondering what on earth had woken him up so early. He'd been dreaming again, - normally they were horrendous ones involving his parents, but this one he'd just had was about Regulus.

The dream was about the day he received the news that Reggie had become a Death Eater. By that time, Sirius was already living with James and his parents, so he'd been alerted of it by a letter from his younger brother himself.

He remembered exactly how he felt - angry, betrayed, downright furious, but most of all he felt scared. He always tried to deny that he felt the latter.

He knew his brother - well, he thought he did, - but Reggie never struck him as the type to actually join the Death Eater's mantra. Sure, he would always nod at anything their parents said regarding the eradication of muggles in their society, but Reggie would always tell him afterwards (in secret) that he didn't totally agree with them, he just wanted to appease them. Such a bootlicker, he was, Sirius thought, remembering how Regulus always did everything to please mother and father, why couldn't he just speak his damn mind, like I did?

All these years had passed, yet he still missed his brother. Brotherly love rarely left you, and even though Regulus stood for everything Sirius hated, he couldn't help but love and miss him. He wondered how alone Reggie must have felt when he died... To this day, he had no idea what Regulus's cause of death was, and he wasn't sure whether he wanted to find out. He couldn't help but also see a little bit of his brother's looks in Dorea - for she resembled Reggie (and consequently, Sirius) when she laughed and grinned.

Sirius decided to get up, knowing that the kids were probably still all sleeping, and tiptoed down the corridor and into his study - where, locked away securely, was the papers Dumbledore had given him after their discussion. The old man had given him a few job advertisements - " you have to step out into the wizarding public at some point, Sirius," the Headmaster had said to him, "you are a free man, and an innocent man, though the Ministry were reluctant. You have to show your face." Dumbledore still spoke calmly to him, even though a few nights before, when the kids were occupied up in their rooms, he Floo'd over to Grimmauld Place for an Order meeting, and almost screamed at the old codger that all this time, Harry and Amelia were knowingly staying in an abusive household and yet he did nothing. He was so angry at Albus that Remus and Arthur had to cast a Silencing charm around the room so that the Weasley kids didn't wake up.

One job was sticking out at him in particular - he was surprised at it, but Dumbledore seemed to think he was up to it. The pay was good (though he didn't really need money), the hours were decent (which he preferred) and the overall job was something that sounded interesting, it hadn't really appealed to him before. It involved-

He was interrupted when Ditsy, one of their house elves, suddenly Apparated into the study, almost giving him a heart attack. "Master, Mistress McGonagall will be Floo'ing over at 9 o' clock this morning." The elf proclaimed. He could just see it's small ears bopping as it made its way over to his side.

Sirius gathered his thoughts. "What is she coming over for?"

"To talk about Master Harry Potter's club, of course." Ditsy replied, as if it was the most obvious answer in the world.

Sirius had almost forgotten that Minerva had to get Albus to confirm and approve of Harry's Defence club. It had been just under three days since she'd been over, when Harry had told her about it. Sirius knew that it had definitely been approved, but knowing Albus, he probably made up his own rules regarding its running. He nodded at the house-elf, and Ditsy Dissaparated.