Harry Potter 1. Prologue

Once upon a time there was a little boy who was loved by his parents and was raised to be one of the most well-mannered boys ever. The boy lived in a charming neighbourhood with a whole bunch of smiling elves. The boy eventually grew up and picked a well-mannered wife to settle down with. The couple grew old and had many children together - this is a lie.

If you haven't figured it out by now life isn't full of happy, smiling elves. Life is not easy, you have to work for it. To live a satisfying life would even be _okay_. If you can come home at the end of the day and say you didn't die, that might just be fair enough. The so called 'perfect picture' does not exist. I'll admit that I was never quite as naive as other children but I never expected life to be cruel beyond the point of making me beg for death to come. I learnt all of life's difficulties the hard way.


	2. Escape

I could hear footsteps leading up from the stairs. _Run. _I was teetering on my windowsill. _Jump. _I began to debate if fleeing was the right decision. _Fight. _I could hear the door jingling. _Too late now. _I summoned my bag and flew out the window. _Freedom._

It was just another typical Tuesday night at the Black residence. My mother, Walburga Black, had been gawking over my brother Regulus all whilst telling me to be more like him. It's not that my mother's obvious favourtism bothered me, it just happened to push me over the edge that night.

Now I found myself flying halfway across Surrey to be hopefully allowed (without previous invitation to do so,) to stay at my best mate's. My biggest concert was not that my mother would find me (because she would) but that James' parents would be annoyed by my late night arrival. Closing in on their house, I laughed silently at myself. Who was I kidding, the Potters would welcome me with open arms. They were more my family than my mother had ever been.

I shifted my body weight backwards slightly, so as not to have a crash landing. I landed smoothly right beside the Potters' porch, making sure not to wake them. As I was questioning if apparating into James' bedroom would wake him or not I heard a 'pssting' noise. I whipped out my wand and did a quick scan of the yard. Before I was able to locate the source of the sound I heard it again, slightly louder. I looked up at James' window to see that it was open but there was no sign of life.

Before I had the chance to react I felt myself being flipped upside down as if by magic, "Ahhh! James put me down or else!"

I could hear the deep grunt of James throaty voice as he tried to stifle a laugh, "Or else what? You'll scare me with your fearful swinging powers?"

James laughed again as he put me down. Once on the ground I turned around and smiled at my cursor,

"Save it for Snivellus," I sneered.

"It's been too long brother," James' eyes gleamed as he stuck out his hand and pulled me into a hug.

"How is your mother going to handle this intrusion?" I asked with hesitation.

James let out a howl, "The mother already knows you're here."

I gave him a questioning look but he did not elaborate. Instead we headed towards the back door and entered into the kitchen. This, unlike my own rathole, was what a true home should feel like. As soon as you entered you could almost always smell the lingering scent of a fresh pie or cream cake.

If you ventured further into the Potter's home you would find a cozy living room with leftover stockings from the previous Christmas. Below them lay a magically enchanted fire that was connected to the ministry's floo network. In the corner of the room there was an abandoned pet bed where a fat tabby cat usually sat. It seemed to anyone an average wizarding house, but to me it was home.

Almost immediately Mrs. Potter came sprinting into the room.

"Sirius Black what on earth were you thinking, trudging into my kitchen looking like that? You look tired and underfed boy. Have James' overeating habits taught you nothing or is it just the metabolism of growing boy? Now where did I put that frying pan? James take your brother's stuff - sorry, Sirius' - up to your room this minute."

I suppressed a grin, like I would ever go hungry under the watchful eye of Mrs. Potter. She would fatten us up like pigs preparing for slaughtering is she could.

"How is your dad?" I asked James as I trailed him up the stairs.

James' face turned to stone, "He's worse," he said without making eye contact.

I dropped the subject knowing I would soon find out how _much_ worse.


	3. Home

James continued on until we reached his room,

"Do you want the spare room?" he asked hesitantly, "Lupin's here."

He said as he saw my expression of confusion.

I laughed, "James when on earth have I ever missed a full moon? I live for the danger."

James smirked back at me as he pushed the door open.

Taking a first scan around the room it would have looked completely lifeless, but given a second glance you would see a rather sizable lump under the blankets. James dropped my bags and ran over to tackle the sleeping lump.

"Wake up Moony, I've brought you a snack. How does dog jerky sound?

The lump stirred, revealing a half asleep Remus Lupin.

"It sounds really revolting, thank you very much," Remus turned to me, "Good to see you Sirius. We've been wondering when you would arrive." he grinned.

As far as teenagers went, Remus Lupin wasn't one. Changing into a werewolf every month had easily aged him ten years. Looking at Remus you would never have guessed he was still going to Hogwarts. He had dark bags under his eyes and his hair had thinned out drastically. I wouldn't have been shocked if he started getting grey hairs soon. The change had given him a constant underfed look and had built all of his muscles into long, lean wires. Remus' eyes had become reddened and bloodshot from years of sleepless nights. Moony was an absolute mess.

I took another glance at Lupin, somehow I had the feeling that he had known I had been coming, even before I had sent the message of warning. He seemed to have a deeper understanding of life than any of us.

"Good to see you too," I turned my attention back to the both of them, "So what have you two been up to since my last visit?"

"Lupin got here five days ago," I could tell that James was about to burst with excitement, "Then we saw Lily Evans on Saturday night."

Even though he covered it up as quick as it came, I managed to catch Remus' smirk at James' over excitement. James on the other hand was not prepared to cover up his true feelings.

"For once Snivellus wasn't trailing in her shadow, to bad eh Lupin? We could've showed him a magic trick or two," This time James' eyes gleamed with a more pronounced joy, "We'll get him next time though, next time for sure." He trailed off, lost in thoughts of torture.

"Basically not much," Remus summarized, jokingly.

"We need to do something about this one first before we deal with Severus," I said knowing that only Remus was listening, "Let's go chow down, I heard Mrs. Potter clanging around some pots earlier."

Remus nodded as he half dragged James down the stairs.


	4. Plan

"Wake up," I closed my eyes tighter as I was rocked back and forth, "Wake up before James does or I swear I'll eat you at full moon."

I smirked, "You're taking ways from Greyback, what with your children eating and all," I said as I turned over to face Remus.

I opened my eyes to see a shadow blocking the sun.

He shrugged, "Sorry to disappoint, but I will never follow in the paw prints of my turner." He growled.

I ignored his obvious annoyance and quickly changed the subject, "So why do I have to be up before James?"

Remus, glad to be rid of the conversation about his condition, latched on, "Well because we're going to St. Mungo's of course."

_ Oh, that._

"You need to be ready within the hour."

I hesitated, "Why isn't he awake then? It's not like we'll be going for our sakes."

"We've been through this a thousand times," Lupin moaned, "We can't tell him we're going until the last minute or he'll back out. His emotions are too mixed up when it comes to visiting his father. I just wanted to give you a fair warning and since the only time we're alone is when he's asleep or practicing Quidditch, I thought I'd tell you now. I don't see him flying anytime soon."

I groaned, "Fine, fine, but I will not be the one to tell him."

I could see Lupin's lips curling up into a smile, "No problem, said she has a plan."

Lupin grinned harder as I interrupted, "Don't tell me, we're tying him to the back of the car?"

Remus laughed, "Almost. We're going to lie, or avoid the truth until we arrive."

I had to admit that I was enjoying Lupin's anticipation for our wrong-doings. Also Mrs. Potter's side of tinted evil was a nice change to her usual worry-over-us attitude. The only thing that could ruin this day was the sleeping boy on the other side of the room.


End file.

Harry Potter, Angst, Fantasy