Chapter Text
September 1st 1971
Becoming friends with James Potter is easier than Sirius would have thought. It just sort of happens. Easier than breathing. Much easier. Breathing hadn’t been all that easy until he parted from his parents and his brother at Platform 9¾. Now that he thinks about it, breathing has never been this easy before.
James comes swooping in with black hair that stands out in every direction, brown eyes filled with mischief and a contagious grin on his face.
“Oi! You there!”
Me? Sirius mouths, pointing at his chest.
“I’m going to steal some chocolate frogs from the trolley, wanna join me?”
And so it begins. A friendship. More than that, really, not that they know it at the moment.
“You distract her and I’ll take the candy,” Sirius smirks, flops his hair out of his face and follows the dark-haired boy down the train until they find the trolley. It’s parked right outside a compartment with a handful of other first-years in it, one of which looks at the dark-haired boy with awe as he starts lecturing the trolley-lady on why candy is bad for you and that all the children will lose their teeth.
Sirius grabs a handful of Chocolate Frogs, some Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans, three treacle tarts and a bottle of pumpkin juice. It’s way more than he can carry, but he wraps it all up in his cloak and darts off before the trolley-lady can even suspect what’s going on.
He finds a compartment that’s empty except for a gaunt-looking kid in the corner, who regards him with mild disinterest as he enters.
“Can I join you?” Sirius asks, half not expecting a response, but he doesn’t have the chance to get one before the dark-haired boy and another first-year with mousy hair fall in behind him.
“That was wicked, mate,” the dark-haired boy says. “I’m James. Potter.”
“Sirius.”
“I’m Peter,” the mousy boy says. The three of them face the kid sitting by the window then, all expecting him to introduce himself as well.
The boy seems to realize this, clears his throat and says, “Remus Lupin.”
“Right. Remus, if anyone asks, I brought my own food and candy from home and have now generously shared it with all of you,” Sirius explains very matter-of-factly and not at all as a joke, but James and Peter laugh heartily and continue as he tosses them a chocolate frog each.
They eat the candy, Remus hoarding the chocolate and stuttering furiously when asked about it, Peter stuffing his mouth with two treacle tarts, and James talking non-stop.
Sirius wonders if this is what having friends is like. He decides that either way, he likes it.
James talks, and talks, and talks, and tells them all about Hogwarts and the monster in the lake and the teachers and headmaster Dumbledore and the houses.
“Gryffindor is the best. My father was a Gryffindor, and that’s where I’ll be. What do y’all reckon you’ll end up in?”
“My father was a Ravenclaw, my mother is a muggle. So we’ll see,” Remus replies diplomatically when neither Sirius or Peter make a move to say anything. James looks at Sirius with hope, but Sirius stubbornly looks out the window.
“I think I could be a Gryffindor,” Peter says at last, pleased when James gives a celebratory cheer.
“Awesome! What about you, Sirius?”
Sirius tries to smile, and makes it about halfway there. “My entire family were in Slytherin. So I guess I don’t really have a choice.”
James snorts. “That’s rubbish, mate. You can be anything you want to be. If my family were in Slytherin I’d tell them to go shove a cauldron up their arses and let me choose for myself.”
It may not sound like much, but it sparks a thought in Sirius’ mind that he can’t quite get rid of. The rest of the train ride is spent trading stories and expectations and getting to know each other. A part of Sirius thinks that it’s futile, becoming friends with three boys who will most certainly end up in another house than him, but he can’t help himself.
They ride the boats across the great lake, walk up the many stairs to the Great Hall and line up. A witch with sharp eyes and hair tied up in a neat bun presents the sorting hat and a list of their names. Sirius swallows hard and suddenly she looks right at him. She brings out the same kind of fear that his mother would, but still something is different. There is a twinkle in her eyes as she watches Sirius.
“I’m professor McGonagall. When I call your name, come up here and I will put the hat on your head. The hat will call out what house you belong to. During your time here, your house will be your home. There is Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin.”
She calls out the first name, and a boy with dark skin walks up.
“Ravenclaw!” the hat shouts.
McGonagall keeps calling names that Sirius doesn’t remember. He glances at James by his side. Sirius will be the first one to be called up. He shoots a look at the Slytherin table, easy to distinguish with their green ties and capes. His cousins and uncles and aunts stare openly at him, cracking wicked grins as his name is called. He stumbles up to the chair and the sorting hat is placed on his head.
“Oh, Slytherin blood, I see. Lots of pressure from the family, I can tell.” Sirius flinches as it talks to him.
“I’m not like them,” Sirius thinks, clinging to the hope that it’s true.
“True, my boy. True. One could put you in any of the four houses, the qualities are all there. Clever. A kind heart. Cunning. Loyal. Any of the four would do.”
Sirius glances at the green cloaks of his cousins, their wicked stares and bared teeth, and then he finds James in the crowd of first years, beaming at him like he is actually worth something.
“Gryffindor,” he thinks, and instantly regrets it, but it’s too late.
“GRYFFINDOR!” the hat shouts, and all the blood drains from his face. Bellatrix and Andromeda shoot scolding, disapproving looks his way, and his feet lead him towards the Gryffindor table while he really just wants to sink through the floor and cease to exist.
Gryffindor.
What was he thinking.
His mother is going to kill him. Disown him. Permanently turn him into an erumpent horn. He stares blankly into the empty air in front of him, barely registers how James, Remus and Peter all join him at the table, doesn’t even get a glimpse of headmaster Dumbledore. He stays completely and utterly lethargic until James elbows him in the ribs and shakes his shoulder.
“We’re leaving. Come on.”
The route to Gryffindor’s common room is long and complicated and Sirius does his best not to remember it. Maybe he’ll accidentally end up in Slytherin’s instead and they’ll allow him to change houses, because after all, that is where he belongs.
“Hey, what’s wrong with you?” James blurts, elbowing his ribs again. Sirius rubs the spot, annoyed.
“Nothing’s wrong with me. What do you think? My mother is going to kill me. Then my father is going to kill me. This was all a huge mistake.”
“Don’t be such a downer, mate, you just got yourself sorted into the best house at Hogwarts! We’re your family now. Right?” James says the last bit a little louder, immediately reassured by voices all around them.
“You don’t understand what she will do,” Sirius groans, then every worry in his mind sort of slips away as they enter the common room. He can’t think about his mother when everything he wants to think about is the room he is in.
It welcomes him with warmth and safety and what coming home is supposed to feel like. There’s a calm fire in the hearth, large armchairs in little clusters around a few tables, every inch of the floor covered with thick, red carpets, and matching tapestries lining the walls. He is home. Finally.
“Forget everything I just said,” he mumbles, ignoring the prefect and rushing up the stairs to find the bedroom. James and Peter follow him in a heartbeat, Remus treading after slowly and joining them once they’ve already opened their trunks and pulled out various books, posters and other miscellaneous things that they have brought from home.
Sirius bed is next to the window, giving him a view of the mountains and the lake. He falls in love with it instantly, as innocently and unprecedented as only a child can fall in love with things.
September 2nd 1971
The boys wait for Remus before going downstairs to have breakfast. He doesn’t expect it, and therefore he is late and slow and utterly ashamed when he enters the common room and they’re all bouncing around in various armchairs.
“Finally!” James exclaims, bolting towards the portrait hole. “Let’s go before we starve to death!”
Peter laughs. Sirius rolls his eyes. Remus follows them sheepishly.
The Great Hall is truly magnificent. Remus still can’t quite believe that he is here, that this is his home now, that he is going to learn about all sorts of magic from one of the greatest schools in the world. He owes Dumbledore everything, as his mother has been sure to point out every second since the owl came with his letter. A one in a million chance, this, and he must not mess it up.
He is not sure why the tree boys accepted him into their newly-formed group, but who is he to complain? He never had friends before. Not unless you count Mrs. Amethyst from the library in St. Albans, but seeing as she was a senile 76 year-old witch, maybe she should not be counted at all.
Now they eat breakfast together and talk and laugh like they’ve known each other for years already.
The mood changes drastically when the mail arrives and an angry red envelope is dropped on Sirius’ plate.
“Mate, you’ve got to open it!” James exclaims, already reaching for the letter.
“No way!”
“It’ll explode if you don’t,” Peter chimes in, and when no one makes a move, James finally grabs the letter and tears it open.
It is, put mildly, quite horrible.
“SIRIUS BLACK. IF YOU THINK FOR A SECOND THAT THIS WILL NOT HAVE CONSEQUENCES, THINK AGAIN. WE HAVE TO EXPLAIN OURSELVES TO EVERY PERSON THAT HAS EVER KNOWN THE NAME ‘BLACK’. FROM NOW ON YOU WILL BE A STRANGER IN THIS HOUSE.”
The letter does blow up in a small, fiery explosion that leaves a fine layer of ash over Sirius’ breakfast. By the look on his face, he wasn’t going to finish it anyways.
“Family, huh?” Sirius scoffs, trying for a smile. He only makes it about half-way before it turns into a grimace.
“Family? That was your family?” James bursts, back straight and nostrils flared. Remus watches him with some amusement.
“Yeah, well, my mother, but she’s always-“
James stands up on his chair and clears his throat. “Sirius Black, from now on this is your family.”
“Oi, shut your face!” Sirius hisses, which, of course, only spurs James on.
“YOU WILL ALWAYS BE WELCOME IN THE GRYFFINDOR HOUSE.”
“You’re making a fool of yourself-“
“AND I AM OFFICIALLY ANNOUNCING PROFESSOR MCGONAGALL AS YOUR NEW MOTHER. EXPECT HOWLERS EVERY MORNING REMINDING YOU TO EAT YOUR BREAKFAST AND DO YOUR HOMEWORK.”
“James!“
“FELLOW GRYFFINDORS, JOIN ME IN WELCOMING THIS POOR, ORPHANED SOUL INTO OUR HEARTS.”
“Mr. Potter, why is my name being shouted across the Great Hall? It is only your second day here, surely you can’t be in trouble already?”
Professor McGonagall appears behind James without warning, lips pursed and eyes peering at James through her glasses. Remus can’t look away.
“Professor,” James greets happily. “I’m just making sure all of the new Gryffindors feel at home. Working on the house-spirit, and all that.”
Professor McGonagall gives them all piercing looks, lingering on Sirius for a few moments longer than the rest of them. At last she scoffs softly and smacks James’ arm with the newspaper in her hand.
“Chairs are for sitting on. Finish your breakfast. And welcome to Gryffindor.”
Remus can’t decide if Sirius looks more pleased or embarrassed, but at least there is a smile on his face.