22 June '76: Home: Sirius

[James Potter]

▶︎ the trouble, it might drag you down
if you get lost, you can always be found
just know you're not alone
'cause I'm gonna make this place your home

following: goodbye yellow brick road

The glossy pages of Which Broomstick?'s latest issue flapped in the summer breeze, and with any further distraction, or a singular significant gust of wind, the magazine would surely be ripped out of his hands and be off on the wind before you could say Nimbus 1500. The issue lay in James's lap as he sat restless in the garden, not even having bothered grabbing his glasses to better furnish his excuse of reading out front. His eye was on the gate, ears waiting for a pop and screech of the Knight Bus and the crunch of gravel underfoot. He'd been fooled into jumping to his feet a few times already in the short period he'd been outside - although it already felt like all day - by old Bathilda and other neighbors on errands or out enjoying the day, the lot of them somehow unknowing of its importance.

Sirius was on his way. For good.

James did have to wonder how long his parents had had this in mind for them, adding Sirius to their household, for they had come around to the idea with shocking speed when the two of them proposed it at summer's start. Sure, there were the initial logical questions to counteract, ones they had to pose as the responsible adults in the equation. But he and Sirius hadn't simply woken up and decided to act - this had been in progress for an age, with subtle and not-so-subtle hints dropped for years by now, and enough preparation to convince parents far more strict and less understanding or willing to take risks than his own.

No, no - it was high time for his best mate to get out of that Islington hellhole, and they were more than on board. Living off of scraps as Padfoot in Hogsmeade wasn't the way to go about it. Not when the spare bedroom opposite James was available, and now an almost blank slate ready for Sirius to make his own.

James felt eleven again, boarding the Express for the first time, stomach a jumble of excitement and scrambled eggs as he knew everything was going to change for the better. That he was about to meet friends, real friends he wouldn't just see at Quidditch camps, but live with like brothers and sisters. Luck on his side, he'd sat opposite Sirius - a few jokes and common enemies later, and that was that. Selfishly, now having his best mate around all year? Something he was greatly looking forward to, as an understatement. But if things could've been different, if the Black family hadn't lost their minds around the rising tyrant of their day and infected Reg along with them? He'd've been ecstatic for Sirius, for things not to come to this. For him not to have to leave his family behind... No use thinking on it, they were never going to come 'round. He'll have everything he needs here.

He'd wanted to go to Grimmauld Place himself to help, but if there was a way for Sirius to make a gracious exit, he deserved the chance. James's presence would hardly have helped that, even if he had been looking forward to exchanging a few choice verbal blows with the fools that didn't deserve Sirius. And maybe it was for the best that he'd been talked out of it - his being there would've made it harder for the rest of them, making it harder for Sirius... Pop! Screech! "There you are, lad - next stop, the Leaky Cauldron."

"Sirius?" He bounded up yet again, face splitting into a wide grin as he spied the familiar tousled hair of his mate loping along above the hedge-line, and sprinted to open the gate. "Sirius!" 

[Sirius Black]

Considering his entire life had been stuffed into a single duffle, Sirius bounded down the steps of the purple triple decker bus lighter than he had ever felt during the summer months. He had proclaimed his intentions to leave forever on several occasions in the past and he had always thought in those moments that he had truly meant it, but this time felt different. This time, despite the heaviness of his final goodbyes with Reggie, it felt easy. He hadn’t been expecting easy.

“Godric’s Hollow,” the conductor croaked for the second time.

Gripping hard to the handrail as the knight bus skidded abruptly to a halt, his foot slipping past the nosing of the final step and slamming gracelessly onto the lower deck, Sirius barely managed to keep himself upright. Behind him an assortment of chairs, as well as their travelers were pulling themselves from the floor and repositioning their belongings without much complaint. Business as usual on the knight bus he supposed, though he had yet to make a trip where a single patron hadn’t looked pleased as Punch to get off. Sirius was just glad they’d made it to Godric’s Hollow at all. The journey felt as though it had taken ages, but he chalked it up to his excitement. It was real this time. There were adults in on it. He had a room waiting for him.

“There you are, lad - next stop, the Leaky Cauldron.”

The purple bus signaled its departure with a roar of its engine and a loud Pop! as Padfoot broke into an eager run down the pavement. A break in the hedge, a little wooden gate, and there he was. “Prongs!” Sirius' grin seemed to exceed the width of his face and he jumped with excitement into his brother’s arms, heavy duffle abandoned on the lawn. The boys celebrated loudly in the front garden; judgmental passersby be damned. He was home.