the_debt_of_time

Chapter Twenty-Six

Toujours Pur

I'm so sick,

Infected with where I live

Let me live without this

Empty bliss,

Selfishness

I'm so sick

(I'm So Sick - Flyleaf)

April 25th, 1973

It only took five days for Sirius's world to go to shit.
He had not been eager to return to Grimmauld Place for the holidays but, for the
first time since he had been shipped off to Hogwarts, his parents were abnormally insistent
that he come home.
His father had suggested that he come back the summer before, and he had, only
to have Walburga lock up their Floo Network and restrict all use of the owls, thus cutting
him off from his friends in the hopes that he would figure out his priorities in regards to
his family. That, of course, had not worked in the slightest. So when Sirius and Regulus
arrived home in late April, he was prepared for a battle against his mother.
A battle that had not come right away.
While his parents prepared him and Regulus for the upcoming engagement party
for Narcissa and her fiancé, Lucius Malfoy—the actual reason that he had been brought
home for holidays—Sirius thought of new ways to remind his family that he was nothing like
them.
His first night home, he charmed his standard green and silver bedspread and
matching curtains to reflect his Gryffindor pride, changing them into deep crimson and a
brilliant gold. He had also taken the few photos he had of himself, James, Remus, and
Peter—courtesy of Mia—along with some Muggle posters he managed to procure, and
placed them on his wall with a modified Permanent Sticking Charm.
The photos had not triggered a reaction in his parents.
The posters on the other hand...