Life at Number Twelve

Chapter One

Gazing out of the window, down at the sunny street below, Bellatrix Black let out a loud sigh. She could see some children playing across the street and she longed to be out there as well. Not playing with them of course, they were Muggles, she just wanted some freedom.

Turning back to the cold dark family room of Number Twelve Grimmauld Place, she flicked her hair back and groaned, as nobody had paid any attention to her sigh. Bellatrix looked over at a boy sitting in the corner of the room. He was swinging on the rear two legs of his chair, staring at the ceiling with a bored expression on his face.

"I wish we could go outside," Bellatrix said to him. The two children were very similar in appearance. Both had black hair and their eyes such a dark brown colour, they too were almost black. Standing, they were almost the same height even though the boy was almost two years younger.

His gaze lowered from the ceiling and looked at Bellatrix, as the front two chair legs crashed to the floor.

"Yeah, me too," he replied. "I'm sick of being stuck in here. It's like being in Azkaban or something. But you know she won't let us go out there."

"That doesn't normally stop you, Sirius," Bellatrix said, a mischievous grin creeping across her face. She knew that her younger cousin had found a way to get out of Number Twelve without being seen, as he had told her so.

"Bella!" Sirius warned. His eyes darted across to a small boy sitting at the other end of the room, stabbing a quill into the eye of a stuffed hippogriff that belonged to Sirius. He too had black hair, as did most members of the family, although unlike the other two he had deep blue eyes. As the youngest of the Black children, Regulus often felt left out by his brother and cousins. They always called him a baby and they often wouldn't let him play with them. He usually got his own back by telling tales to his parents, getting them all, especially Sirius, in trouble. Sirius knew this, which was why he was trying to get Bellatrix to be quiet.

The noise from Sirius's chair legs hitting the floor must have been heard downstairs as an older girl came rushing in.

"What are you two doing?" she asked suspiciously.

"Nothing," Sirius and Bellatrix replied in unison, giving each other guilty glances.

"She's going mental down there because of the noise from up here," the older girl continued.

"We weren't making any noise 'Drom," Sirius replied. "There was only one bang and it was an accident."

"I know that." Andromeda said, smiling at him warmly. "But try telling your mother, she's the one that's complaining."

"Well, if we were allowed outside, she wouldn't hear us at all," Bellatrix suggested hopefully.

"You never give up do you, Bella?" Andromeda laughed at her youngest sister.

"But we're bored," Sirius whined. "Can't you ask her for us?"

"Me? You think that'll convince her. She hardly even speaks to me since I didn't get sorted into Slytherin. Not unless sh criticising me or telling me to do something," Andromeda replied.

The door opened again and in came another girl. She was the only one of the Black children to have blonde hair. She certainly stood out against the other four.

"She's going out," the girl said quietly, with a smile.

"Where's Mummy going, Cissa?" Regulus asked quietly from the corner.

"I don't know," Narcissa replied, a slightly sharp tone to her voice. "I don't care much either. At least we won't have to tip toe round all afternoon. Honestly, it's worse than being at home, being stuck here. Any way, Uncle Alphard's on his way over to watch us."

"Excellent!" Sirius relied with a smile. Uncle Alphard was probably his favourite adult in the world, almost like his role model.

Bella glanced at Sirius and grinned. This could well be their chance to escape Number Twelve for a few hours.

A short time later, the five Black youngsters were still shut away in the family room. Narcissa sat in an armchair by the window, reading a book, while Andromeda was trying to convince Regulus not to pull the arms off of his toy zombie. Sirius and Bella sat in the middle of the floor plotting.

"Do you think she's gone yet?" Bella asked excitedly.

"No, I can still hear her talking to Uncle Alphie," Sirius replied. "As soon as she's gone, we'll go and ask him."

"You should ask," Bella suggested. "You're his favourite. He never says 'no' to you"

Sirius grinned, as he knew this was true, and nodded in agreement.

Soon, all went quiet downstairs. Bella and Sirius jumped up and ran down the stairs to the first floor and then straight down to the basement kitchen where they knew he would be.

"UNCLE ALPHIE!" They both yelled excitedly, as they ran over to hug him. Uncle Alphie smiled at them and laughed. Sirius may have been his favourite but Bellatrix came a close second. He was a mischievous type himself and he saw this in both of the children who were now almost squeezing the life out of him. Uncle Alphie was the brother of both Sirius and Bella's fathers and had the looks to match. He had the same black hair and dark eyes as the two children.

Sirius climbed up and sat on the edge of the large table. Bella joined him.

"We were thinking," he began, sounding very grown up for an eight year old. "It's a shame for us to be inside on such a nice day. We should be outside in the sun."

"But the back yard is too small to do anything like throwing a ball about," Bella added.

"So could we go out the front and play in the street?" Sirius asked with his best smile, the one he generally reserved for getting his own way.

Uncle Alphie smiled at them.

"Go on then," he told them. "Only for a little while mind, and don't tell your parents, otherwise they'll have my head up there with the old house elves."

Sirius and Bella both laughed before looking at each other for a few seconds and racing out to the hall to find their shoes.

Regulus was standing out there. He must have followed them down and listened at the door.

"I suppose you want to come as well," Sirius said, knowing that if they didn't include him he would most definitely tell their mother when she got back.