Coming Together ༄ Sirius Black

Chapter Forty One

Sirius sat on the edge of his bed.

This was not good.
So not good, in fact, that he looked down at his packed bag and wondered if maybe he should go through with it. If he finally had the guts to do it, there'd be no turning back. Sirius knelt down onto the floor and began to empty out the bag, then decided against it and resumed packing again.

Things had been getting worse at home and they weren't about to get better anytime soon.

"Sirius!"

He had spent the entire summer being harassed by his parents who were still mad about the stunt he pulled at Christmas. He was curious if getting red ears when someone's talking about you was true. If it were, Asteria would have spent all summer with scarlet ears the amount of snide comments his parents were making about her.
It drove Sirius insane.
If he could he'd scream at them to shut up, he'd stand up for her, he'd yell about how Asteria was infinitely better than they could even begin to comprehend. But that wouldn't help.

"Sirius!"

Sirius grumbled, pulling himself to his feet and stomped downstairs to the source of all the shouting.

"Sirius Orion Bl-" Walburga clamped her mouth shut as he slammed into the room by swinging the door shut rather violently.

"Yes?" Sirius asked angrily, purposely scuffing his shoes as he kicked at the floor.
"You don't have to use know the house down!" She exclaimed, glaring at him.
"Where's the fun in that?"

Walburga sighed before holding up a letter, "Have you seen this?"
"Seen as it's in your hands, I'm going to guess no."

His mother ran a hand through her hair in exasperation. Sirius did enjoy being difficult to handle, particularly when it meant winding up his parents.

"This." She shook the letter, "Is from that mudblood."

Sirius' mouth dropped open. Asteria had promised she wouldn't write to him, he'd warned her that his parents would probably infiltrate all of his mail. She'd promised to only get in contact if absolutely necessary.

One evening she had arrived at his window in her animagus form as a bird. This had only been in response to Sirius freaking out over something he'd heard his father saying and was in need of her to calm down. What he had overheard was Orion threatening Uncle Alphard for supporting Sirius.

Now she'd sent him a letter.
That could only mean that she needed him.

"Sirius. I thought your father and I made ourselves very clear about that girl." Walburga practically spat.
"Did you read that letter?" Sirius snarled, "My letter?"

"This freak! This abomination cannot and will not write to you ever again. I won't have you associating with such monsters." She shrieked, tearing the letter in half in front of him.

"I love her!"

Sirius' own words took him by surprise.

"You what? Are you insane?"

"I love her. Did you know that? I love Asteria. She's infinitely better than you or I could ever be and she's worth at least a thousand of you. Don't you dare talk about her like that." Sirius snapped, balling his hands into fists to stop them from shaking. The words fell from his lips with such ease, almost as though he'd spent his whole life holding them in.

"Sirius Orion Black, do you want the same fate as... as... as Andromeda? You can not see her ever again." Walburga breathed out angrily, biting down on her thin bottom lip.
"Is that what you want? Because I'll do it. I'll leave. Did you know I already have a bag packed?" Sirius shouted back, shocking Walburga as she instantly paled at his words.

Orion Black stormed into the room, slamming the door open as he glanced from Walburga to Sirius.

"Don't you dare speak to your mother in such a way!" He roared.
"Would you like me to speak to you in such a way?" Sirius turned on his father, "You won't ever be as important to me as she is. You're all insane!"

"Get out of here!" Orion boomed, his voice literally causing the walls to shake.

Sirius didn't speak another word as he ran from the room, deliberately slamming every door his passed and stomping his feet on the ground as he ascended the stairs. Sirius wasn't unsure about his decision anymore. He knew for sure that he couldn't stay in that house any longer.

He had to leave.

Sirius grabbed his bag, not caring what he had or hadn't actually packed. This couldn't wait a moment longer.

"Sirius?" Regulus tentatively knocked on the bedroom door before pushing it open.
Sirius looked up from where he was sat on the floor, "Reg?"

"What are you doing?" Regulus asked tentatively. He wasn't the same boy as in Hogwarts. Regulus was confident and collected around his fellow Slytherins, where he had to fight for the respect Sirius had destroyed. Yet, he still looked up to Sirius. Sirius would always be Regulus' older brother and the two did truly want to stay together.

But Sirius was brave. And being brave means you do what you think is right even if you don't like it.

"I'm going. I can't stay here, Reggie." Sirius buckled up his trunk and stood up now, "You should come too."
Regulus remained where he was stood in he doorway, "I can't leave mum and dad. You shouldn't either. We can work it out." He sounded almost as though he was trying to convince himself of this as much as Sirius.

"No, Reg." Sirius spoke firmly, "I'm not doing this anymore. I'm done pretending everything is fine here when it isn't. All they do is lie, can't you see that?"

Regulus took a deep breath, "They aren't lying. You know full well why we have to stay away from mudbloods."

Regulus was speaking about the stories their father had shared with the boys when they were younger. The stories of how muggles had mercilessly hunted down witches and wizards. The young boys had been spared no graphic detail of how the wizarding community hid from the world so as to preserve their dying numbers. Sirius particularly remembered going to Hogwarts, firstly fearing all of the muggle borns he was surrounded with. However, Gryffindor had shown him the light and he came to believe his family were simply lying out of their own fear and prejudice. It was much simpler that way.

"You don't understand." Sirius stood up now, facing his brother fully.

"No, you don't understand." Regulus stated, "You're meant to be my brother. Doesn't that mean anything? You'd abandon your family because of... Well, because of what? Sirius, you always go on about how you're the smartest Black yet you can't see how ridiculous you're being. Why leave everyone here that loves you for some girl that-that lies to you?"

Sirius was caught off guard, unsure of what his brother actually meant.

"Lies to me? What lies?" Sirius neared his brother threateningly.
Regulus sneered, "She didn't tell you about what happened to her precious grandfather's book? She didn't tell you what happened to it after her exam? Did you not realise something was wrong?"

Sirius clamped his jaw shut, tightening it violently as he let out a few shaky breaths before shoving past his brother one final time.

"Goodbye, Regulus."