The Last Marauder Standing || Sirius Black

27-The Stars

It's been a month since I left Sirius' house that night, and I haven't seen him or heard a word from him since. I've sent letters to the other marauders, and they've answered me, but none of the letters I've sent to Sirius have been answered. I'm afraid something horrible happened after I left, but I'm too afraid to ask the other boys if they know anything.

However, today is July 5th, aka my seventeenth birthday, and while I received a card and gift from every one of my friends at Hogwarts (Marlene and Kace even sent me a howler as a joke), I have yet to receive anything from Sirius and seeing as the day was almost over, I didn't have high hopes of receiving anything. I'm not big on receiving gifts, and I certainly don't need to, seeing as I went years after my parents died without receiving anything besides small hand made cards from Sadie, but it hurts that Sirius is one of my closest friends and hasn't even said a word to me in a month. How hard can it be to send a letter? I am truly afraid something terrible has happened at this point.

I sat in the living room with Sadie, both of us reading our books, as Griselda cleaned up from Dinner. Griselda hardly looks at me anymore, but Sadie made sure to make my birthday worthwhile as she helped me with my chores. She now sat quietly in her armchair, reading her book intently as the sun sunk below the horizon. I couldn't focus on reading at the moment though. I'm starting to go crazy being cooped up in this house after experiencing the freedom that came with Hogwarts, and the Sirius situation didn't help. Suddenly something caught my attention outside, pulling me from my thoughts. I pulled back the curtain a bit to look and I felt my heart stop.

They began walking up to our front door, and it's no surprise that I noticed them so easily. It's a little hard to miss two teenage boys apparating in the middle of the street. Thankfully Griselda was in the kitchen cleaning up from dinner and Sadie was in the armchair in the other corner of the room. I stood up from the couch, putting my own book aside, and my movement caught Sadie's attention.

"Where are you going? We haven't gotten a chance to truly celebrate your birthday yet!" She exclaimed, putting her book down slightly.

"Oh, well I saw someone outside coming to the door and I-" The knocking cut me off. I heard Griselda put a plate into the sink and then make her way into the living room. "Griselda! Don't worry about it, I'll see who it is!" I called quickly. She got to the door leading into the living room and looked at me.

"All right, well answer it then, don't leave them waiting!" She rushed me, just as there was another knock. She went back into the kitchen and Sadie jumped up, but I held my hand out in front of me, indicating that she should wait here. I went over to the door and opened it slowly, peeking my face out to look at the two boys. Before they got the chance to open their mouths, I spoke up.

"What are you two idiots doing here? Apparating into the middle of a Muggle neighborhood, what were you thinking?" I whisper-shouted at them.

"Well, it's good to see you too." James rolled his eyes. I looked over at Sirius behind him, but he kept his eyes averted.

"Sirius is here! And James!" Sadie squealed from behind me. I spun around and shushed her, hoping Griselda didn't hear her.

"Shush, grandmother can't know, okay? We need to be quiet." I crouched down before her. "Go back into the sitting room and keep reading your book."

"But I want to say hello to Sirius and James!" She stomped her foot.

"You don't want them to get in trouble, do you?" I raised my eyebrows. "If grandmother finds out then she will make them leave."

"She's never even met them!" Sadie argued. I was growing impatient.

"Sadie, I'm serious right now. Go away and I'll explain later." I ordered sternly. She seemed reluctant but finally went into the other room and sat back down. I sighed, standing up straight and turning back to James and Sirius.