A week into the holiday, when Sirius came down in the morning, he noticed a complete silence in the house.

His mother looked suspiciously as if she had been crying. His father was flexing his muscles. Regulus looked scared.

"What's the matter?" he asked.

"Your aunt and uncles and sisters are coming. Make yourself presentable!" barked Orion Black.

Sirius rolled his eyes and went upstairs again and didn't come down till he was called. Aunt Druella was crying; Uncle Cygnus looked grim; Bellatrix looked furious and Narcissa looked upset.

Almost immediately, Uncle Alphard arrived too.

They sat down to a family conclave.

"She has done it this time," said Cygnus.

"Sorry," said Alphard. "But who has done what?"

"Andromeda—has married a—a Mudblood," said Orion in a constricted voice.

Druella burst into noisy sobs. "I don't know where we went wrong with her—we were just planning her engagement to Antonin Doholov. The Doholovs are such a respectable pureblood family. And she didn't even inform us!"

"Just came home last night with her filthy husband, and asked us to bless them," said Cygnus.

"We didn't let them in, of course. In fact, Cygnus would have cursed that—person—if Narcissa hadn't stopped him."

"Wait—" said Sirius. "You didn't let Andy enter your house—when she came to seek your blessings?"

Every person glared at Sirius; everyone except Uncle Alphard, who chuckled.

"She's your daughter!" said Sirius, furious at Andy's treatment. "And Ted's not a bad person, he was Head Boy!"

"He—is—a—Mudblood," said Cygnus in a barely controlled voice.

"Sirius, be quiet!" said his mother.

As the entire table was glaring daggers at him, Sirius deemed it best to obey her.

"We'll do it after dinner," said Walburga, and Sirius knew that she meant blasting Andy off the family tree.

Kreacher served an elaborate dinner in the celebration of the great scandal.

During dinner, the conversation turned to Lord Voldemort. Bellatrix had joined up, and she was extremely proud and full of herself.

"Regulus is on his way too," said Walburga, glowing at her youngest son.

"Sirius is almost of age,' said Orion suddenly. "They'll let you join in a few months. Why don't you join up, Sirius? I'm sure then everyone will forget the shame you brought upon yourself and our family when you were sorted into Gryffindor."

"No, thanks," said Sirius. "I've got better stuff to do in my life."

"You will listen to your father," snarled Walburga.

"No, as you'll find out soon enough, I won't."

All the elders were looking at him, a threat on their faces, and for a moment, Sirius felt apprehensive.

"You could be a good spy!" suggested Bellatrix. "Those ninny Gryffindors trust you. You could work in secret for the Dark Lord. You could find out all their secrets!"

Sirius could not believe his ears.

"Think of it—you might be the most useful person in our army!" said Bella, as if bestowing a great honour on him. "You might lead to the death of the Potters!"

Sirius stood up so violently that his chair crashed to the floor. He glared at Bellatrix with such venom that his similarity with the Blacks was suddenly very striking.

"Sirius, sit down," ordered his mother.

"I won't!" said Sirius in a low, fierce voice. "I've had enough—I'm leaving!"

And under the startled stares of the group of people whom he had been forced to call 'family' all his life, he raised his wand and summoned all his belongings from his room.

He levitated them using his wand and stormed out of the room.

"Come back this instant, you ungrateful wretch—" screeched his mother.

Sirius didn't even turn, and he threw open the main door.

"Let him go," he heard his father say.

As he was stepping out of the door, he heard someone running towards him. He turned and saw Regulus.

"Are you really going, Sirius?" cried Regulus, looking terrified.

"Does it look like I'm joking?"

"But mother will blast you off our tree!"

"Do I look like I give a damn about that, you idiot?"

"You can't—you can't leave, Sirius!"

"Why can't I?"

'You're...you're part of our family...you're my brother!"

"Good joke," said Sirius, grinning at his brother humorlessly. "Brothers! Yeah, right," he muttered.

"Will you never come back?" asked Regulus, his voice shaking.

"Not even in my worst nightmares," assured Sirius. He turned and went out.

"Sirius, please don't go!" whispered Regulus.

Sirius ignored him and slammed the door behind him, feeling a vicious satisfaction in refusing his brother's plea.

But by the time he had walked two blocks away from his home, he suddenly realized that his face was wet with tears.

Feeling furious with himself, he wondered what he should do now. He did not have any money with him, and he was deserted in Muggle London with a trunk and a broom.

There was a distant roar of thunder and almost immediately it started raining. Sirius mentally groaned. He felt unnaturally drained and tired. Then James' spectacled, messy-haired face, Anne Potter's caring kindness and Harold Potter's cheerful humour came to his mind.

The thought of them gave a warm feeling inside him, and he started trudging towards the direction he believed to be Godric Hollow's—the beginning of a journey that was sure to be extremely long and trying.

--------------------

Around dawn, James, who had fallen asleep with his glasses on and his favourite book overturned on his chest, heard a knocking on his window in the ground floor.

Was it Death Eaters, he wondered, as he went and carefully opened the window, his wand in his hand.

"Sirius!" he cried in amazemenrt. His amazement soon turned into horror as he saw his best friend's state.

"What happened?" he asked urgently, as he helped Sirius through the window into his room.

Sirius was soaked to the bone and looked dead tired.

"Hey, James," he said, smiling at his best friend, but James was scared to hear how weak his voice sounded.

"What happened, Sirius?" asked James again, turning on the heater.

"I ran away," said Sirius flatly. "I couldn't take them a day more."

James stared at him in wonder.

"You don't mind me coming at this hour, do you, Prongs?" asked Sirius.

"Are you mad, Padfoot? Oh yeah, I forgot, you are..."

James was glad to see the grin on Sirius' face. "Wait here. I'll call my mother."

"You don't need to do that," protested Sirius. "I don't want to bother her. We'll tell her in the morning."

"You know perfectly well she'll not think of this as a bother, Sirius," said James, standing up. "It's weird to see you all considerate and noble."

Within fifteen minutes, James' mother had made a delicious meal for Sirius, and sent him to have a bath and put on dry clothes. She gave the wet clothes to Jinny to wash and dry them in the morning.

"We're glad you came here, dear. This is as good as your home, you know; we think of you as our son already," she said, ruffling Sirius' hair affectionately.

"Thanks, Mrs. Potter," said Sirius, rather awkwardly.

"There are a few things that come with it. You don't thank your family for trivial things they do for you."

Sirius grinned. "Yeah, ok."

While going to sleep around 5 o'clock in the morning, James told Sirius sleepily. "I know you'd have the guts to chuck them in the end."

There was no answer. Sirius was already asleep.