Disowned

A/N: I'll warn you now, it's a bit dark and contains swearing and child abuse. 'I hope you enjoy' is the wrong phraseology to use but the meaning's the same…

The update was just formatting and a spelling mistake I found though I probably still missed some.

It was the Christmas holidays in Sirius' fifth year at Hogwarts. He really hadn't wanted to go home but he didn't have a choice. Only the day prior to the train leaving for London, Sirius had received a letter (not a Howler for once) stating that if he didn't return home for Christmas then his mother would personally drag him out of Hogwarts and take him home where he would receive the worst beating of his life. Sirius didn't doubt that the threat was genuine so he found himself on the Hogwarts Express along with his friends when he'd really much prefer to still be in the castle.

It was only the second day into the holidays and Sirius was already at odds with his family. His mother had begun insulting those of "lesser blood" and stated that Sirius, even though he was a "dirty blood traitor in the making" could "do better than that scum of the Earth."

Sirius had snapped, stating that even though half-blood and muggleborns (he flatly refused to call them mudbloods) didn't have pure blood it didn't mean that they were worth any less than he was.

"And don't you dare insult my friends, they're better than you could ever hope to be." Sirius snarled to his mother's comment.

"I still cannot comprehend that my own flesh and blood would consort with something so low born as a mudblood."

Sirius, who was now incredibly angry at his mother, decided he'd try and rile her further. "I lost my virginity to a muggleborn, Mother. Did you know that, it was great sex too. Purebloods are shit in bed." While Sirius was only trying to anger his mother further, his words were true and Walburga noticed this in Sirius' stubborn glare.

A vein throbbed in Walburga's temple as she drew her hand back and struck her eldest son across the cheek with the back of her hand causing one of her many rings to cut into him and draw blood. Sirius didn't even flinch he just stared back, his eyes full of insolence.

"I will deal with you suitably after dinner. Furthermore, I shall be informing your father of this recent revelation of your… recreational activities."

Thus, Sirius braced himself once dinner had finish and he walked into his father's study in which both his parents waited.

Sirius couldn't even defend himself (his parents removed his wand every time he returned for the holidays) as his mother started firing hex after hex at him. After five minutes, Walburga relented and Sirius staggered to his feet, blood beginning to soak through his robes, Orion Black stepped menacingly towards him.

"Do you not have anything to say in your defence? I still cannot believe you would go against your family in such a way as to consort with a mudblood" Sirius had always preferred his father's punishments over his mother's. Walburga always flaunted her hatred for her first-born and was more than happy for Sirius to feel her disapproval at the hands of a well-aimed hex or curse. Orion however, had never struck Sirius. Instead he preferred to isolate his son, cutting him off from his friends and making him go without food. While neither methods were pleasant, Sirius would rather his father dealt with the matter. This did not stop him from pushing the limits of their control though.

"She was really good looking?" Sirius ventured.

What he hadn't been expecting was his father's fist to be drawn back before striking him hard just to the left of his nose. "I have endured enough of your insolence Boy." Orion snarled as Sirius staggered back from the combined effect of the punch and the after-effects of his mother's hexes. "If you behave inappropriately or say anything unbecoming of the House of Black there will be hell to pay. Do you understand?"

"Yes Father." Sirius replied, still stunned, before retreating to his bedroom to repair the damage his mother had caused.

And so the holidays continued, with Sirius on his best behaviour (though becoming more and more restless each day), until Christmas Eve.

The four residents of Number 12 Grimmauld Place were sat at the grand dining table awaiting Kreacher (the head house-elf) to serve the first course. As the soup bowls were placed at the table Walburga began to shower her youngest son with praise as he recounted his school year so far. As usual, Sirius kept his mouth shut and repressed every sarcastic comment that came to mind. Sirius was used to the lack of attention. As soon as Regulus was old enough to walk he became the good son and Sirius was pushed by the wayside. He didn't particularly mind as it kept his younger brother out of the way when their mother was looking for someone to punish.

However, as little as Sirius liked to admit it, he did inherit his mother's anger. It didn't take long for his parents' comments to start grating on his nerves.

"I'm so glad you've found respectable friends Regulus," gushed Walburga pointedly. "You'll go so far in life. It's nice to hear that one of our sons can respect the family name." Sirius clenched his fists and tried desperately to stop his spoon from shaking.

Regulus sneered at his older brother at Walburga's comment. The two boys had not been close since the year Regulus started Hogwarts. As soon as Sirius started school his mother had begun to change Regulus and mould him more into the perfect son. Then, when he'd been sorted into Slytherin, their relatives and other purebloods had continued to influence Regulus, gradually twisting him into being as self-centred and arrogant as they were.

"Did you know Mother, that Sirius is friends with creatures that aren't even human?" Regulus said sweetly to his parents, however his eyes glinted maliciously at Sirius across the table.

"What exactly do you mean, Regulus?" Orion said now staring avidly at his first-born. Sirius, meanwhile, had frozen.

"Oh well, you know the giant caretaker. Sirius and his friends have been known to talk to it fairly frequently. And then there's that one Sirius' year. The one always skulking around on the full moon, looks sickly for a few days either side and is covered in suspicious scarring."

If looks could kill Regulus wouldn't have been reincarnated for a thousand years. "Is this true Boy?" Orion spat at Sirius who let his spoon clatter to the table.

"What the hell do you know Regulus. You're probably in cohorts with Snivellus, that slimy half-blood Slytherin in my year."

"It's all true father, that creature always missed lessons the morning after a full moon. And I've even seen him scurry off to the Whomping Willow on the nights in question. Merlin knows what he does when he gets there, that thing would shred even a beast like him to pieces." Regulus continued pompously.

Sirius stood sharply and his chair fell to the floor with a crash. "Remus isn't a beast! He's completely normal most of the time. There's nothing different about him. He's ten times the wizard you could ever hope to be Regulus." At this, Sirius seized his soup bowl and hurled it at his younger brother.

Walburga rose sharply and grabbed Sirius' hair and promptly dragged him towards his father's smoking room. Once inside, Walburga allowed Orion in before slamming the door shut.

Before Sirius knew it, Walburga's wand was in her hand. "Crucio." Sirius writhed on the flood, every nerve in his body was on fire but he refused to scream. Refused to give her the pleasure.

As the curse was lifted Sirius stumbled to his feet. "How dare you desecrate the Noble House of Black in such a way! You are not worthy of such nobility and purity of blood-!"

"Do you think I want to be stuck with you? I never had a choice in being born to such a heartless bitch!" Sirius was at the end of his tether, after all the years of abuse he'd suffered and endured quietly, he could no longer stand it.

Orion, who was now only a few inches taller than Sirius, grabbed him by the throat and slammed him into the wall, causing various priceless artefacts to break and cut into Sirius' back. "Do not speak to your mother like that." Orion snarled. "I have had enough of you Boy. For too long have you brought shame upon me, people have even began to look down upon this family, the family with the purest of blood. All because of you."

Sirius should have known that his father's main argument would be so self-centred and, for once, his parents' brutality did not deter him, even when his father's bone breaker curse slammed into his chest and caused two of his ribs to shatter.

"What does it matter who I'm friends with, they're better than you anyway. You could never hope to be as good as them. Just because you can't manipulate me the way you did Regulus you think you can beat your beliefs into me?"

Walburga aimed a severing curse at Sirius, who dropped to his knees howling in agony as deep cuts appeared all across his torso. "We had forgiven your previous antics Sirius but all you have ever seemed to do is go out of your way to bring further shame on this family. Intercourse with a mudblood-!"

"They're no different to us!" Bellowed Sirius, beginning to rise to his feet once more despite the blood pooling round his feet and staining his clothing.

"CRUCIO!" The curse made Sirius' ribs explode in pain and he writhed once more on the blood stained floor. When his mother lifted the curse after a minute, Sirius didn't have the strength to stand and face them again. The combined effects of the blood loss and the curses had left Sirius drained of all the energy he had, though his anger remained.

"Defiling. Your. Family. For. A. Pathetic. Low-born. Werewolf." Walburga screeched, punctuating each word with a different curse or hex. The force of the spells drove Sirius into the bookshelves causing them to fall on top of him and fracturing his knee as a heavy statue landed upon his leg.

But Sirius was outraged. Nobody spoke about his friend in that way. Despite everything, Sirius drove himself to his feet and shoved off the splinters of the shelving.

"I hope you're happy in your isolated pureblood world!" Sirius spat bitterly at his mother. "Your lives will come crumbling down before you know it and you'll have nothing left. Voldemort-"

"Do not speak his name!" Orion bellowed, raising his voice for the first time in Sirius' memory.

"Voldemort will not shower you with luxuries as you expect. He will curse you into oblivion when he doesn't get what he wants!" Sirius continued ignoring his father completely. "And when he turns on you, you'll get no help from anyone, they all despise you too much."

While Sirius had been focusing entirely on his mother and staying upright, he had neglected to pay attention to his father whose wand was now raised.

"Vi iaciunt" Sirius was thrown off his feet and slammed into the wall opposite with so much force, the magically reinforced walls shook. Sirius crumpled at the bottom and didn't move.

"Orion, where is the boy's wand?" Walburga said still seething with uncontrollable anger.

"In my study, why?"

"I wish to show the ungrateful offspring one last lesson, Accio wand." She flung open the door just as the wand zoomed into the room and fell into her hand.

Crouching over the unmoving body of her eldest son, Walburga pointed Sirius' wand directly at his face. One long, deep cut embedded itself into Sirius' face, cutting his cheek, nose and lips. The pain of the hex caused Sirius to gasp into consciousness, only to see his own mother snap his wand in two and throw it at him.

Orion and Walburga left the room and returned to their dinner as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

Meanwhile, Sirius clambered to his feet staring at his now useless wand through the blood clouding his eyes. At that moment Sirius knew he had to leave, to never return and to live his own life.

He staggered to the door of the smoking room and attempted to shuffle quietly down the hallway towards the door. Sirius wrenched open the door (falling into the wall in the process) and proceeded to fall down his front path. Mid-fall however, Sirius shifted into his dog form and found the pain numbed itself enough so that he could walk. At the end of his path, Padfoot turned and carefully began to walk down the street.

After two hours of walking in the blackness that was Christmas Eve, Sirius began to think of where he should go. While he wasn't bleeding in his dog form, he was still in agony with every step and every breath, he knew the minute he transformed back into a human, the pain would return with a vengeance and the bleeding would continue.

He knew Andromeda would take him in, as would his Uncle Alphard, however neither would be any help to him in this form. Sirius knew he really ought to go to St Mungo's to get healed properly but he really didn't like hospitals and he knew someone would contact his parents the minute he arrived. Then, a thought popped into his head, James' mother was a retired healer. Although, he and James were not on the best of terms after Sirius' misplaced prank on Snape a few months ago, James had forgiven Sirius' act of idiocy.

With this thought in mind, Sirius transformed and staggered to his feet, instantly regretting the decision as his began violently coughing up blood. He thrust out his wand arm (thankful he didn't need his wand) and the Knight Bus appeared with a bang right in front of him.

"Merlin's beard!" Exclaimed the conductor. "Ernie, we need to get him to St Mungo's on the double."

"No," Sirius wheezed. "Please, I've a friend who's a healer. Can you get me to Godric's Hollow?"

"Er… If you think that's best." The conductor said nervously.

"Urgh, I don't have any gold on me. Can I go in the book? I'll send the money on when I can." Sirius said staggering into the first empty bed he saw. The other passengers were staring at him cautiously.

"Of course, Sir."

After little more than an hour, the bus stopped in Godric's Hollow. Sirius didn't so much as disembark as land in the hedge next to the path. He was really beginning to feel the effects of the blood loss now.

As the Knight Bus disappeared with an almighty bang, Sirius shifted once more into his dog form. Once the transformation was complete, he began his ungainly walk up towards the Potters' residence, every step sending agonising pain shooting across his body.

However, when Sirius had reached the door, he began having second thoughts. It was late, they were probably all in bed, and he and James were still not entirely made up. With these thoughts in mind and his head getting lighter and more spinny with every passing second (even in his dog form), Sirius decided the worst they could do is turn him away.

Padfoot shifted into Sirius once more and he knocked on the hard oak door before collapsing into the wall next to it.

It was Charlus Potter, James' father, who opened the door. Donned in a dressing gown with his wand pointed directly at Sirius, Mr Potter gasped and proceeded to pick Sirius up and carry him into their living room.

As Mr Potter sent a magical message upstairs to wake his wife, Sirius began to lose consciousness, slumped on the comfortable sofa.

"Sirius, you've got to stay awake. Come on, open your eyes for me son." Sirius blearily opened his eyes to see the kind face of Charlus Potter staring at him anxiously.

At that moment, Dorea Potter bustled into the room, her arms laden with medical equipment. "I think you should wake James, Charlus. He'll be worried about his friend."

"Don' wan' be any troubl'" Sirius managed barely coherent and sounding almost drunk, "Didn' know where t'go."

"Don't you worry love, you're safe here. And more than welcome to stay." Mrs Potter uttered reassuringly. "Now you lay down while I fix you up."

At this point, James hurtled into the room, his father following. "Sirius! What happened? Is he going to be okay?" All of the sentences bundled together in his rush to see if his best friend was alright.

"M'okay James, S'rry 'bout evrythin'." Sirius suddenly cried out in pain as Mrs Potter healed one of his ribs.

"Sorry about what?" James asked, confused. "Never mind that, what happened?"

"Ran 'way." Sirius answered as if it explained everything.

"Wait, your parents did this?" James only received an affirmative grunt. James and his parents all looked at each other aghast.

"Why did you never say they hurt you, you could have stayed here."

"Din't wanna make fuss."

"Well you're never going back there if this is what they're like. You can move in here Sirius. For as long as you need." Mrs Potter replied whilst applying bandages to the cuts on Sirius' torso that wouldn't heal.

"I had no idea they were this bad." Mr Potter muttered shaking his head.

"Me neither." Answered James from the floor. "Is he going to be alright Mum?"

"He'll be fine, though some of the cuts may take a while to heal. Curse wounds don't heal like normal ones. I can't mend his fractured knee all too well either so he'll limp for a while. And he lost a lot of blood, it's a wonder he made it here at all."

"I'm sleeping in here tonight, in case he needs anything." James said stubbornly. His parents just nodded while Dorea Potter finished patching up James' best friend.

The following day Sirius was more coherent when he was woken by Mrs Potter.

"I need you to take these potions dear, they'll help replenish your blood and start to heal some of the curse wounds."

"Thanks Mrs Potter. I didn't expect you to do all of this for me. I couldn't think where else to go." Sirius said, heaving himself up into a sitting position. His body still felt as though it were on fire and breathing continued to ache.

James, who was previously asleep on the floor, began to wake up. Upon seeing his friend awake too, he grabbed his glasses and stuffed them on in a hurry to sit up.

"Sirius, are you okay?"

"I'm fine James, really. In fact, I don't think I've ever been better." Sirius said as a smile began to light up his face. Unfortunately this caused the great cut across his face to reopen and blood began to pour once more down his face.

"You're delusional. How can you be that good when you look like this?"

"Easy, I'm not stuck in Grimmauld Place. That house really lives up to its name. Better yet, I'm never going back. I'm sure Andromeda will take me in, I know she's got a kid now and everything but she said I was always welcome." Despite the cut on his face Sirius was still smiling.

"Don't be daft. Mum and Dad said you can stay here so you're staying here. Can't have you running off to wreck the world as you please." In spite of everything, James too found himself smiling.

Sirius just stared between James and Mrs Potter completely stunned. "You're sure you'll let me stay?"

"Of course. Charlus and I always wanted another son." Mrs Potter replied Sirius' mouth was agape.

"So where's all your stuff Sirius. Is it still outside?" James asked before Sirius could bestow any more thanks upon Mrs Potter.

Sirius' smile slipped. "I left it all, didn't have a chance to grab anything. I know she broke my wand before I left. I'll have been disowned by now too.

"She did what!" James was, once again, stunned. "Why did you never say your family were such bastards?"

"James, mind your language." Mrs Potter chastised.

"I never wanted to cause a fuss. And I knew you lot would over-react."

"Over-react, how is this bloody over-reacting." James ignored his mother's protests at his use of profanity.

"Besides I'm used to it James. That's what it's like in other pure-blood families."

At that moment a large eagle owl landed on the windowsill and pecked gently at the glass.

"It's for you Sirius, I wonder how they knew you were here." Mrs Potter said, handing the letter to Sirius.

Sirius,
I need to see you. I know you ran away, your mother's furious. I need to see that you're okay for myself. I'll understand if the Potter's don't want me there though. Reply as soon as you can and we can arrange to meet up.
Hope you made it out okay.
Uncle Alphard.

"Is it okay if my uncle comes to see me Mrs Potter? I think he's really worried, it sounds like he ran into Mother last night or this morning." Sirius said. He suddenly gasped as Mercurius landed on his wounded knee.

"Of course, shall I send the reply?" When Sirius nodded gratefully, she picked up the bird and the letter and walked to the kitchen.

"So why did they do this to you?" James asked when his mother had left the room.

"They started slagging off you lot. I got angry, might have thrown something at Regulus in the process. I guess Mother got all protective over her precious perfect son." Sirius answered bitterly.

"That's it? They did all of this to you just because you stood up for your friends?"

"Well, Regulus managed to find out about Remus, no doubt from Snivellus. He blabbed to Mother and Father and they started going on about how werewolves don't deserve to exist. I think that was the point I snapped."

"Fuck Sirius. I didn't think you'd go through all that shit just to defend us. We weren't even there."

"That's not the point James. Everything just got too much and I was fed up with dealing with all of their shit."

"Well, thanks Padfoot. And Happy Christmas!" James said in an obvious attempt to cheer Sirius up.

It didn't work. "Oh shit it's Christmas? Fuck, sorry Prongs. I didn't mean to ruin it all for you."

"It's alright. Besides, my Christmas got better now that you're here and not with them."

By noon Sirius had apologised to both Mr and Mrs Potter at least ten times a piece. Both adamantly replied that he hadn't ruined their Christmas.

When Christmas dinner was ready, Sirius stumbled to the dining room and sat cautiously at the place that had been made up for him. Sirius much preferred the Potters' house to his own. It was full of so much extra warmth and the food was cooked by Mr Potter himself.

Though all of the food smelled delicious, Sirius could not stomach much of it. He felt ready to be sick after just a few mouthfuls and once again made his apologies.

"Don't be silly son; it's just an effect of the potions and the blood loss. You eat as much as you like." Mr Potter answered jovially. The Potters were always much more caring than Sirius' own parents.

After the others had finished their dinner, they all began exchanging gifts. Luckily, James had forgotten to owl Sirius his presents.

James had bought him a new beater's bat and some Quiddich gloves whilst Mr and Mrs Potter and got him a selection of Honeydukes sweets.

"You know I'm really glad I left my broom at school." Sirius said after thanking everyone at the table. "Unfortunately, most of my school stuff was left behind. I still don't know whether or not to be happy." Sirius still felt dizzy and ridiculously sore but he couldn't help thinking that he'd never been happier.

"And thanks again for everything. This is the best Christmas I've ever had. I suppose this is what real family Christmases are like?"

"You can stop thanking us now Sirius. And yes this is a real Potter family Christmas." Mrs Potter answered just as the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it." Mr Potter said rising from the table.

Sirius heard muffled voices from down the hall until two sets of footsteps began their way towards the dining room. As the door opened Sirius saw the large stature of his Uncle Alphard who visibly relaxed upon seeing him.

Sirius stood quickly. Too quickly. Alphard strode over and gave his favourite nephew a hug also preventing him from falling to the floor.

"You look terrible Sirius. What happened?" Alphard said, carefully placing Sirius back on his chair as Mr Potter got him his own.

"Surely Mother told you?"

"Well yes, but that was her version of events and I for one have never trusted everything she has to say." Alphard said with a smile.

The Potters had offered Alphard dinner and as they were speaking he gratefully began to eat.

"Oh well, they started insulting my friends because of their lack of purity and social status, you know how the argument goes?"

"I do yes." Alphard said shaking his head shamefully. "But even my adorable older sister wouldn't do all of this to you just for that argument. You've had this argument before and it's never been this bad."

"Well, that started everything anyway. I may or may not have thrown a soup bowl at Regulus at one point too." Sirius said sheepishly.

"Sirius," Alphard answered warningly. "I know the two of you haven't gotten on for a while now but you didn't need to be violent."

"It was his fault. He shouldn't have started bad mouthing my friends and called Remus the things he did." Sirius was now stubborn.

All through the conversation so far, the Potters had been silent. After the recent revelation about Sirius' family they were shocked at the way Sirius was reacting and at how normal Alphard seemed.

"You never are going to tell me what's wrong with the Lupin boy are you?" Alphard said gently.

"Nope. Anyway what did Mother say about me?"

"Oh only the usual." He answered with a smirk. He put on a high pitched voice and began to imitate his elder sister. "I don't know where that insolent brat gets all of his ill-conceived notions about blood purity not being worth anything. We brought him up right and then he throws it all back at us. He just pushes us as far as he can just to see what he can get out of it. He'll come crawling back when he realises that blood purity and family matter more than anything else. I'm paraphrasing of course, there were plenty more dirty words in there that I won't repeat in a polite conversation."

Sirius roared with laughter, his uncle looked relieved that he was still reacting normally.

"On top of the ultimatum she gave me, she blasted you off the family tapestry and signed the papers declaring you officially disowned." Alphard continued with a grimace.

"Wow, she didn't hang around did she? So what's the bad news?" Sirius was not in the least bit affected by his disownment; after all he knew it was coming.

"I'm glad you took that so well Sirius but you do realise your Gringotts account has been closed and you no longer have any right to any family property."

"Well that's only to be expected I guess I'll just get a job. What about all my stuff?" Sirius was still unusually calm.

"Oh well, erm. You know how your mother gets when she's angry?"

"What did she do?" Sirius' voice suddenly got harder.

"She burnt the lot Sirius." Alphard hung his head over the now empty dinner plate. "She couldn't get the posters off the walls but everything else she took into the courtyard and destroyed. I'm sorry Sirius."

"Bitch. I had some good stuff in there too. At least the really important stuff was left at Hogwarts. I fucking hate her Uncle Alphard, I hate all of them."

Sirius was heart-broken; he had had some old presents his brother had sent him back when they were still friends and gifts from Alphard and Andromeda as well as pictures from the happier moments of his childhood.

"I know Sirius, I know." Alphard didn't even bother to chastise his nephew for his language, he simply dragged him into another hug. "I'm glad you have such good friends though, to take you in like this, to heal you up. Thank you." This last part Alphard directed at the Potters.

"He's more than welcome; he hasn't stopped thanking and apologising all day." Mrs Potter answered with a smile.

"Sirius knows he's always welcome here, he's practically a second son anyway." Her husband said beaming at the two, clearly relieved that not all Blacks were as horrid as Sirius' parents. "Would you like to stay the night Mr Black?"

"Only if it doesn't put you out of your way. And it's Alphard; I try and distance myself from the name as much as I can. Though I must say I am amazed at your hospitality, not many people like yourselves would receive a Black in such as friendly manner."

"Nonsense, Sirius is a Black and he's perfectly normal, why shouldn't he have a normal relative, even if it is only one." Mrs Potter answered stunned at Alphard's politeness.

"Well, I think there are three of us in total: myself, Sirius and Sirius' cousin Andromeda. If I'm staying the night I can take you to Diagon Alley tomorrow if you like Sirius, see if we can replenish your school things."

"That'd be nice. Thanks, I've never said thank you enough for keeping me sane all those years."

"Don't be ridiculous lad; you've more heart than all of us put together. Did Andromeda ever tell you it was your bravery in being sorted into Gryffindor that gave her the courage to marry Ted?"

"No, I had no idea. She was always so strong." Sirius asked astounded.

"You'd be surprised."

The following morning Sirius got ready to leave for Diagon Alley with his Uncle Alphard, though James had been invited he chose to decline, saying he had letters to write. Overnight, the Potter's house elf, Pabloma, had washed and repaired Sirius' robes that he'd arrived in.

The pair travelled by side-along apparition to Diagon Alley as Alphard didn't think flu powder would be any good for Sirius who still got dizzy fairly frequently.

Upon arrival their first stop was Ollivander's as, if Sirius needed anything for school it was a new wand. Upon seeing the pair, Ollivander's first reaction was to flinch slightly before remembering which two Blacks were in his store.

"Ah, what can I do for you both today?" Ollivander asked.

"Er, I need a new wand." Sirius replied feeling rather stupid, after all, why else would he be in a wand shop.

"Of course, but what happened to your last one. You didn't have it very long and it was a decent wand."

"Snapped." Sirius replied simply.

Ollivander accepted this answer after taking in Sirius' physical appearance. He'd clearly been in a fight of some sort. "Very well then, shall we try something similar to your previous wand?"

As it turned out, wands similar to his old one simply didn't agree with him anymore. After half an hour Sirius finally found an appropriate wand: Ash, Dragon Heartstring core and 11 and a half inches.

As Alphard passed the 7 galleons to Ollivander, Sirius pocketed his new wand feeling a little more comfortable with himself.

As the two began walking back down the cobble-stoned street Sirius felt a sudden wave of dizziness hit him. Alphard only just caught him in time. He half supported, half carried Sirius to the nearest chair he could find (one of the tables outside Florean Fortescue's).

"Are you alright Sirius?" Alphard asked worriedly.

"Yeah, it just hit me. I'll be fine. Where next?" Sirius asked, dramatically downplaying the pain he was feeling. Alphard however, saw through his nephew's façade.

"Well, I need to get a little more gold as I don't have much on me, then we can have lunch if you like." When Sirius nodded his agreement and began to try and stand, Alphard hurriedly continued. "Though I don't think the carts in Gringotts will agree with you, how about you wait here, I won't be long."

Once Alphard had returned Sirius was feeling better and he thought he could continue walking. However, Alphard thought it best to simply apparate into the Leaky Cauldron as it would save Sirius' energy.

Over lunch they discussed what vital things Sirius would need before returning to school. Sirius didn't like that Alphard had to spend so much money on him just because his mother had burnt all his things. Though Alphard said he didn't mind in the slightest, Sirius refused to let him buy the things he didn't really need, such as his chess set.

Afterwards, they headed to Madam Malkin's as all of Sirius' school robes were left along with most of his casual clothing.

"We can go to a muggle shop after we're done here to get you some other things too if you like. We can get your casual robes here."

"You really don't have to do this Uncle Alphard, I'm sure I can borrow some of James' clothes for now, we're practically the same size." Sirius said adamantly as he picked out the correct size of school robes.

"I'm buying you some clothes Sirius, I don't care what you say in protest." Alphard had begun to use his stern voice and Sirius got the message.

Unfortunately, being Boxing Day, some of the shops were still shut including all three book shops in Diagon Alley, even the second hand one.

"Right, so there are things you'll have to make do without. But after we've gotten you some muggle clothes you'll have all the essentials, yes?" Alphard said, frowning at the world in general.

"Yeah. I can borrow books and potions stuff from my mates though. There's always enough floating around our dormitory."

With the shopping done, the Blacks returned to the Potters'.

"I'll have to leave pretty soon Sirius, I've work to catch up on. I'm glad you're alright. And I'm glad you have such good friends, they'll keep you on track the way no one else ever could." Alphard said after walking through the door.

Grinning, Sirius replied, "Yeah, they're really great. I wish you didn't have to go so soon though."

"Well I'll keep in touch, more than I used to. Now I must go thank Mr and Mrs Potter one last time before I leave."

After dinner that night, Mr Potter turned to Sirius and said "You're to come back here in the summer holidays Sirius. I don't want you going back to your parents. You're to live here until you're ready to move out and get a place of your own, do you hear me?"

"Only for as longs as you'll have me, Mr Potter." Sirius was grinning from ear to ear.

A/N: I'd love it if you reviewed, doesn't matter what you say: constructive criticism is welcome as it highlighting any mistakes I've made. Hope it's not too angsty and long. Thanks :)