The Change

The Escape:

I spent the next couple of days in my room recovering from my father's outburst. My mother would come in and give me dinner and leave without a word. I never saw my father; though I can't say I was sorry. The whole time I tried to look forward to going back to Hogwarts. Christmas passed and I knew I was almost in the clear. I only had to last a few more days. Then, only two days before I returned to Hogwarts and my friends, something happened.

I was sleeping when I heard the door to my room open. I opened one eye wearily to see who had come in. Seeing Regulus I sighed in relief and sat up. "What's up, Reggie?" I asked.

He looked at me curiously and I was happy to see there wasn't any hatred there, just confusion. "Are you feeling all right, Sirius?" he asked with genuine concern.

"Yep, much better. So what do you want? Come to beg me to take you to Hogwarts early or something?"

He walked over to my bed and sat on the edge. "Mother wouldn't let me see you before now. She hasn't even let me write to you all year. I've missed you, the house is so boring without you here to prank one of the house elves or something."

"I'm touched, Reg. Now what do you want?"

He looked guiltily at his swinging feet and muttered something under his breath that I couldn't hear. I leaned forward more and he looked up at me again. I smiled at him encouragingly. Regulus was the only person in my family who didn't hate me and I wasn't about to ruin that. "Come on, Reg. I swear I don't bite. What's bothering you?"

"Mother and Father have been saying things about you. They say you're a blood traitor." He paused for a moment, seemingly gathering his courage. "Are you?" he asked quietly.

I leaned back against my pillows again and stared at my bed canopy. I had never really thought about it before. I had been delaying the inevitable. I knew my parents thought I was one but I never really thought about the facts. Was I? I needed to figure it out for myself.

Regulus waited quietly while I thought it over. Finally I sat up and looked him in the eye. I asked the question that had really been bothering me for the past couple of minutes. "What would you do if I was?"

Regulus looked taken aback. Obviously he had expected me to deny it. To say my mother and father were crazy and I would never do something as horrible as become a blood traitor. Poor Regulus had never gotten away from my parents. He knew nothing of the world outside of Pureblood fanatics. I had only just begun to learn of it. I shouldn't have expected him to react well to the news. Barely above a whisper he said, "Are you?"

I knew what I had to do. I had to take a stand. I could never be like Andromeda. I could never pretend I was something I wasn't to please people. That was the difference between her and me. Why she had been sorted into Ravenclaw while I had been sorted in Gryffindor. James, Remus and Peter had shown me a world outside the one I had grown up in. It was a happy place, where you didn't have to worry about disappointing your parents by being sorted into a different house then they had been in. I loved it there, and I wasn't going to lie any longer. Besides, I thought, maybe Reggie would understand.

"Regulus, listen to me. I was sorted into Gryffindor. Do you think that makes me a blood traitor?"

He was silent for a moment and then said, "No."

"Good. I'm not going to lie to you, Regulus. I'd never lie to you. Many of my friends are half-bloods or muggle-borns. In fact all of my friend are except James. I am sure you've heard Mother and Father talk about the Potters. Well, James is their only son. If being friends with them makes me a blood traitor then I'll gladly wear the title." I let this sink in for a moment and then crawled out from underneath the covers and sat down next to Regulus, who looked deep in thought. "If on, the other hand, Reggie, you think a blood traitor is someone who pretends to be someone they are not, someone who pretends to be a muggle born and is ashamed of their blood, that is not me. I'm still proud to be a Black, Reg. I just don't think it makes me better then anyone else. You might not understand because you've never met anyone who isn't a pureblood. We aren't any better than them. Hell, the smartest witch in my year is a muggle born."

I stopped talking and looked at him, waiting. Finally he said very quietly, "I guess you're not a blood traitor. I don't know though. I mean, I thought being friends with mudbloods makes you a blood traitor."

I shook my head a little and said, "Don't worry about it, Reggie. You don't have to decide what a blood traitor is now. Wait until you get to Hogwarts. Just swear that you don't hate me."

He looked up at me and said, "I don't hate you at all."

I grinned and said, "Well, how could anyone?"

He shoved me lightly before saying, "I think Mother and Father do."

I stopped smiling. I didn't like to think about my mother and father. It was another one of those problems I had been ignoring the past few days. I sighed and said, "They might. Why? What have they been saying about me?"

Regulus looked uncomfortable. "A lot of things. Mother has been saying you're a blood traitor, that you are no son of hers, being sorted into that house. Every time she starts to quiet down another owl comes saying what trouble you are getting into and she gets angry again. Father, he was mad when you got sorted in to Gryffindor but he seemed to calm down after a while. I almost thought he had forgotten. Then you came home and you mouthed off to Mother and she told Father and I have never seen him that angry before in my life, Sirius, honest I haven't."

"I do try," I said dryly and Regulus cracked a smile, but it disappeared quickly.

"I heard you, you know. When Mother took you and hid you somewhere in the house. I heard you screaming and crying for help. I had no idea where you were. I think you may have been in some room in the basement. That's where it sounded like it was coming from. I'm sorry they did that to you. I never thought they would. When I asked to see you, Mother said I wasn't allowed. She said that you were in trouble and had to learn to live with the consequences. She doesn't even know I'm here now."

I shifted uncomfortably before saying, "What has she been saying the past few days?"

He shrugged, "Not much actually. It's like you're not even here."

"Well, that's good at least."

"Yeah, I guess," he was quiet again, "I just wish it could go back to the way it was. When Mother and Father didn't hate you so much. When I was allowed to play with you."

"So do I, Reg. So do I. But it can never be like that again. I won't stop playing pranks and I can't help that I'm a Gryffindor. They'll just have to deal with it."

He stood up and said, "I don't think they ever will." He walked to the door and I stood up to follow him but he put his hand up. "Get back in bed, Siri. The longer Mother and Father think you're hurt the better. See you later." And with that, he closed the door, leaving me feeling very lonely again.

"Sirius," someone said, pulling the blankets off my body, "Don't play sleeping with me you rotten, ungrateful brat." I sighed and opened my eyes, glaring at my mother.

"What do you want?" I snapped.

"Do not speak to me like that. Sit up and get dressed. I want you downstairs in the kitchen in five minutes."

She was gone in a second and I rolled out of bed, pulling my robes on and combing my hair. I stumbled down the staircase, trying not to worry about what my Mother was going to do to me. In the kitchen I found Mother and Father waiting and eyeing me with hatred. "Sit down, Sirius," my Father demanded.

I walked over to a chair and slumped into it. "Sit up straight," Mother corrected me but I didn't move.

Father said, "You are supposed to return to school tomorrow, are you not, Sirius?"

I didn't like the sounds of that. "Yes," I said cautiously.

"You will not be," my mother said and I whipped around to stare at her.

"What?"

"Sirius, we will be home schooling you from now on. That good-for-nothing house of yours has done nothing but ruin you and our reputation. We have to re-teach you what it means to be a Black."

I was silent. There was no way they would be keeping me away from Hogwarts. No way. Hogwarts was my salvation and I would be going back. "You can't do that," I said.

"Why not?" my Father asked. I could see a smile curling on his lips.

"Because, it's my school and all of my friends are there. And because you just can't," I answered pleadingly.

"We can and we will," Mother said. "Now go to your room. We'll be contacting the Headmaster tomorrow to tell him."

I turned on my heel and stormed out of the room, already plotting my escape. Half way up the staircase one of the house elves walked past me cackling madly and mumbling, "Young master won't be going back to his school. The young master will never get to see his dirty mudblood friends again." I turned around and angrily picked up the house elf, throwing it down the staircase. He landed with a crash, cursing and mumbling under his breath, but I didn't care. I didn't care when my Mother came into my room five minutes later screaming that I had broken the house elf's hand. I didn't even care when she used the painful curse again. All I cared about was that I couldn't figure out a way to get to my school.

Late that night I looked up when the door to my room opened. Regulus slipped in and walked to my bed. "They aren't letting you go to school, are they, Siri?"

"No," I said simply.

He looked at the floor and then seemed to make up his mind. "I can help you."

He had my full attention now and I sat up to look at him better. "How?"

"I'll help you get out of the house. I'll distract Mother and Father and you can Floo to Hogsmeade and walk to Hogwarts."

I stared at him, dumbstruck, "Regulus have I ever told you that you're my favorite person in the world?"

He smiled and said, "No, but listen, we have to plan this quickly. My plan is for me to break something really important in the parlor and starting screaming. That'll make Mother and Father come and look. It won't give you a lot of time to get down the stairs and to the fireplace but it's all that I can do. As soon as they see something is broken they're going to blame you and go looking for you. So you're going to have to move. Pack your stuff and hide it in the living room somewhere. I plan to do this by noon tomorrow. Right around lunchtime, when Mother is in the kitchen, because then I'll know at least you'll have enough time to get down the stairs before Mother is looking for you."

"Regulus, I don't even know how to thank you," I said, still not believing what I was hearing.

"Just don't get caught," he said, smiling.

"I'll try not to."

"Well, I'm going to bed, Sirius. Hopefully all goes well and I don't see you until summer." He left my room without another word and finally I fell asleep.

I woke up late, around eleven, and started packing quickly. I managed to shove everything into one trunk and hauled it down the stairs without making a sound. Then I went back up to my room and sat by my door waiting for the signal.

It came exactly as the clock struck noon. Something shattered loudly and Regulus cried out in pain. I stood up, ready to run. I heard my Mother run past my door and took that as my cue. Running full speed down the steps, I could barely breath. My mother was cursing and calling my name upstairs as I reached the foot of the staircase. I heard her start down the stairs as I reached the living room. I was in the clear, I thought, smiling slightly. I ran full speed behind the sofa and grabbed my trunk dragging it to the fireplace. I took a handful of Floo powder and raised my hand to throw it in, but felt someone grab my wrist.

Looking up, horrified, I saw my Father. He was smiling. "Good try, Sirius, my boy. Good try. Sadly, you didn't hide the trunk that well and I've been waiting for you here all morning." I looked up to see my mother walk in the room. I gulped and tried not to yell out in pain as my father tightened his grip on my wrist.

"Sirius Orion Black, you get up stairs right now and clean up that mess," she yelled before she took in the scene playing out before her. Then she looked almost happy. "Dear, I see you have caught our son trying to escape."

"Yes, it seems I have," he answered.

"You can't keep me away from Hogwarts," I said viciously. I saw Regulus enter the room and tried to look at him but my Father pulled me closer to him.

"You will not speak to me like that, Sirius. I am your Father and I will do whatever I feel necessary to protect you from those people." I twisted my wrist again and this time I did yell in pain as I felt my bone crack. He let go of my wrist and I grabbed it, gasping for air.

"Go to your room," he said.

I turned to walk away but I remembered that I had never dropped the Floo powder. I turned back to my father and smiled, picking up my trunk and making it look as though I was going to carry it upstairs. Instead I threw the Floo powder into the fire and jumped, in saying, "The Three Broomsticks!" before my parents could do anything about it. The last thing I heard was my father's angry yell and my mother shooting a curse at me.

Everything began to turn and in a minute I was falling out of the fireplace in The Three Broomsticks. I looked down at my wrist quickly and bit my lip when I saw it was swelling to twice its normal size. It didn't help that when I looked at the spot Mother had shot me with the curse it was pulsing. I didn't feel any different though, so I took off at a run for Hogwarts.

As I got closer I started to feel light headed but I urged myself on desperately, trying to reach my school. By the time I got to the door I felt like I was going to collapse and I couldn't feel my legs any more. I thought about it for a moment and ran up the stairs to the Hospital Wing. I burst inside and saw Madam Pomfrey leaning over a bed and talking to a patient. She looked up at me sharply when I yelled out in pain and fell on the floor. The last thing I remember was her trying to guide me to a bed and a familiar voice calling my name.