To Have A Home

Chapter 15

     Regulus lay twitching on the ground in agony; he had flung himself in front of the curse. Sirius filled with rage at his parents: hurting him was one thing, but hurting Regulus... how dare they. They didn't even look sorry. Sirius began to shout at his parents at the top of his lungs, letting out all the anger that he had bottled up over the years. His parents, furious, began firing spells at Sirius, but this time he was fighting back. He dodged and blocked their spells, and in his state of pure fury, his parents (despite their immense magical ability) were no match for Sirius. Within minutes he was able to stun them both; he grabbed Regulus, who was lying on the ground, paralyzed with pain and fear, and ran upstairs to his room. With lighting speed, Sirius packed his trunk with all the essentials and grabbed his broomstick.
     "Regulus, do you need help packing your bag or can you handle it." Regulus looked back at him, confused, and replied,
     "Why would I need to pack a bag?" Sirius looked back in disbelief.
     "What do you mean? Isn't it obvious? We have to get out of here. Now." Regulus looked sadly back into his brother's eyes.
     "I can't go Sirius. You know I can't."
      "Can't go? Can't go? They just bloody tortured you, Reg. It's not safe."
     "Sirius, I'm not like you. I'm not strong enough to leave. I can't do it and I'm not going to. You can leave without me." The two looked at each other in silence for a full minute, each knowing that they couldn't change the other. Then, at the same time, each Black brother said,
      "I'll miss you," and they hugged each other hard. Sirius slung his bag over his shoulder and grabbed his broomstick. Fighting back tears, he walked down the stairs and out the door. He looked back once more at Regulus, who waved sadly as a tear traveled down his cheek. And with that, Sirius walked out of 12 Grimmauld Place for what was probably the last time.
      Sirius mounted his broomstick and flew threw the night sky with determination. He couldn't bear to think about anything that had just happened, so he simply focused on his destination whole-heartedly. Despite his resolution not to think about anything from earlier in the night, it was impossible to quiet a voice in the back of Sirius' head, telling him "you shouldn't have left Regulus all alone like that. You're a terrible older brother. You were supposed to protect him, but you put yourself first and you just left." A pit of guilt formed inside Sirius, making him feel sick. But still, he traveled on.
     After hours of flying through the cool summer night, Sirius finally caught sight of his destination. He landed his broomstick and tried the door, but it was locked. He tried knocking, but it seemed everyone inside was asleep, so instead, he walked around the house until he could see a window to a room on the second floor. Sirius reached down and picked up a few small pebbles and began to throw them at the window until he saw a light turn on. James Potter opened his window and stuck his head out to see a tired Sirius standing in his yard.
     James rushed downstairs and out the front door, making his way over to Sirius as quickly as possible. In the short time that it had taken for James to get outside, Sirius had collapsed to the floor and begun sobbing uncontrollably. James tried, and failed, to get Sirius to come inside, so instead the two stayed out, James trying to calm his best friend, until Sirius eventually fell asleep. James quietly hurried inside to wake his parents and inform them of the situation. Mr. Potter walked outside to collect Sirius and bring him to the couch as Mrs. Potter went to collect some blankets and a pillow. James, despite his parents' protests, stayed downstairs with Sirius all night, unable to sleep as he worried over what had happened to get Sirius to finally come here, but relieved that he was at least out of his abusive 'home' at Grimmauld Place.