Chapter Fifty one
Time flies fast.
It had been over a year and a half.
And yet he still remembered the day she left it as if it were just yesterday.
A lot of things have happened since then. Sirius and the Marauders along with the others had graduated, the war had officially begun, the Order had been made, Sirius and others joined it, his parents had died and even Regulus. He was the only heir left to their family fortune, but he still didn’t care. Sirius continued looking around the house; it had been a long time since he came there. It was still pretty much the same, only this time it was empty.
The only thing he missed about it was his sister Polaris, who was gone too. So the house was pretty much meaningless to him. Sirius continued walking around, he didn’t know why he was doing it but he did. Besides, it was the only thing he could do to past time without getting into trouble. Dumbledore had told them to keep a low profile now that they were members of the Order.
He had reached the third floor now, where his old room along with his siblings’ rooms was located. Sirius first entered his old room, as he expected it looked pretty much the same; only dusty. His mother obviously didn’t let any being enter it since he got blasted off.
All the muggle posters were in the same places, even the pictures of him and the Marauders and Arianna. In a way, he felt a bit nostalgic. Sirius sighed at his dramatics and left the room once more, he looked over at Regulus’ old bedroom door but immediately looked away he had no plans of going there. Instead, he went to his sister’s.
As he turned the knob, he couldn’t help but to half expect Polaris screaming on the other side, telling him that she was coming and her happy face suddenly bobbing into view; laughing with her hair still a mess from lying down on her bed and her eyes tired from reading but alive with joy in them.
But of course, that happening was pretty much impossible. And Sirius knew that. Like the rest of the house, there wasn’t much change in Polaris’ room; it was still the way it was the last time he saw it but this time, it was quite gloomy.
Her books were still neatly piled at the same bookshelf, her bed was still neatly fixed, and even the smell of the room was just like her. Sirius walked around, he ran his hand over her desk where the old muggle music box he gave her for her seventh birthday still sat.
Sirius smiled and opened it, the ballerina sprang up from it as he did and the same melody played. Their mother was furious when she first saw it and told Polaris to throw it away but she never did. She still kept it. He looked over to the pictures she kept.
There was one of him at their family reunions looking upset as usual, one at the lake of him again with James; both of them grinning cheekily which made Sirius laugh, one of all the Marauders, one with her, Sirius and Regulus, another of Sirius only this time she was in it too and then there was one of Arianna, waving at the camera looking up from the book she was reading.
Sirius stared at it and touched her smiling face, he still thought of the day they would meet again. He then moved over to the picture of him and Polaris, he stared at their smiling and laughing faces. He still remembered the day it was taken, it was taken at Andromeda’s place; Polaris had snuck out. Next to it were a much older picture of an eleven year old Polaris and a fifteen year old Sirius both of them looking happy,
“I miss you, kid.” Said Sirius quietly, touching the picture. He knew it was impossible to bring her back, but he couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like if she hadn’t passed. He looked around the room one last time, and left. He couldn’t take the bittersweet feelings he was starting to have anymore.
He made his way back down, his hand buried deep in his pockets. He had no use for the house anymore; he had a place of his own. What would he do with it? Maybe I could suggest to make it a headquarters for the Order, he thought to himself.
Once he reached the front door, he looked back at the house; he took one quick look where his mother’s portrait was (he covered it with a curtain to drown her screaming) and smiled to himself; “You’re definitely the first thing I’ll be taking down from this place.” And at that he opened the door and headed out one more.
There wasn’t much change to the houses at Grimmauld Place, they were still very unwelcoming, some of them had broken windows for as long as Sirius could remember, paint was peeling from many of the doors and all of them were inhabited by muggles. Sirius found it quite ironic that his “family” chose to set up their ancestral house at a place like that.
The small square just by the front of their house was a bit neater though, some of the streetlamps by it were broken but other than that it was pretty decent. He always snuck out as a kid just to go there. Sirius smiled at the memory, even as a child he was always a rebel. He buried his hands deep in his pockets and breathed in some air, he thought of the things he could be doing to pass time; James had told him to go and take a break but he wasn’t used to that anymore. He liked keeping himself occupied to forget… things…
He kept to himself as he walked down the steps towards the sidewalk, when he had reached it he felt something – or better yet, a small someone – bump into him. He looked down to see a little boy about a year and a half, sitting on the ground; he fell when he ran into Sirius.
Sirius bent down and helped him up
“Sorry about that, I didn’t see you.” He said, smiling. The little boy brushed himself off and then looked up at him, he had thick elegant hair and a pale complexion but there was something about his eyes. They were fathomless grey, just like his.
“What’s your name, kid?”
The little boy was about to answer but that was when a different voice came.
“Sirius!”
Both the little boy and Sirius turned to see a girl with long dark hair dancing with the wind, pale skin and dark mysterious, but worried eyes a few feet away from them. She seemed to be running after the little boy.
“Mummy!” the little boy called, smiling. Sirius watched as the little boy ran up to the girl who bent down to the toddler’s level so she could grab him into her arms, she laughed as she did.
“What did I tell you about running off from me, huh?” she scolded, tickling the little boy who laughed as she let him go and set him back to the ground.
“To not to.” The toddler replied, the girl laughed again and messed up his hair.
“You should listen to me, I’m your mum remember?” she said, pushing her hair out of her eyes; the little boy laughed but nodded “Now c’mon, we need to pick up Jimmy.” Sirius who was watching the whole time smiled and walked up to them just as she held out her hand for the toddler to take.
“So, whose is he?” Sirius watched as the girl looked up and for the first time in almost two years, his eyes finally her face once more. Arianna smiled, she still hadn’t changed.
“Do you really need to ask that?” she asked, crossing her arms. Sirius laughed.
“Well…..” he thought about it for a moment, he never thought that it would be like this when they met again, but he didn’t mind. He’d like it anyway. “Yes.” Arianna rolled her eyes “That is the 956,789th time you rolled your eyes ever since the day I started counting.” Arianna gaped at him
“How did you –“
“I add them up by year, oh and muggles have this thing where you type in a number and they sum up –“
“They’re called calculators.”
“I don’t care,” said Sirius “Anyways, you didn’t answer my question. Whose is he?” he said, gesturing to the little boy who stared at both of them with wide eyes, Arianna rolled her eyes once more “Number two for today. Geez, we just met again and you keep showing how much you find my presence annoying –“
“Gah, yes he is yours!” said Arianna, Sirius laughed and messed up her hair
“I thought so.” He said happily, Arianna resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Sirius smiled at her expression and stared at her “I missed you, A.” he said quietly
“I missed you too, S.” she replied, staring into his eyes “Whenever we pick up Jimmy, I make sure to always pass by here. I always kinda hoped that I’d see you here one day… I guess today was finally my day.”
“I guess it really was.” He said, smiling; she smiled back at him. Sirius looked back down at the little boy who still looked confused “Uh, mind introducing me to him?” Arianna laughed
“Oh yeah,” she said “I almost forgot about that.” She then looked back at the child and put an arm around him, she smiled at him and said “Dear, I’d like you to meet Sirius.” Sirius laughed and bent down to the toddler’s level, he held out his hand
“Hi,” he greeted “I’m Sirius Black. The third to be exact.”
The little boy’s eyes widened and he grinned
“Cool,” he said “my name is Sirius too. Mum says I’m the… the…” he held out his fingers and started to ‘count’ “The fourth one!” Arianna laughed, Sirius looked up at her; trying to give her The Look but he failed. He couldn’t help but smile too.
“What?” said Arianna
“You know how much I hate that name.” said Sirius, trying to make it sound ‘dark’ which made Arianna laugh even more
“I needed something to remind me of you.” She said “Besides, he looks a lot like you so why not. Right?” Sirius just sighed and looked back at Sirius IV
“Yeah, I guess so.” He then looked up at Arianna again who was smiling “So, where are you off to?” Arianna’s smile grew even wider
“Correction,” she said as she held onto Sirius IV’s tiny hand “It’s ‘Where are we off to?’”
Sirius smiled “I heard you were gonna pick Jimmy up?” Arianna nodded
“Yep,” she said “but where do you suggest we go after?” Sirius thought about it.
“Hmm, what about we stop at James and Lily’s place and then… just about anywhere?”
“Sounds good to me.” Said Arianna, she then looked down at Sirius IV “You won’t be able to run now; there are two of us who’ll be holding your hand. One person on each side.” Sirius smiled as Sirius IV sighed in exasperation
“Meh, don’t be so hard on him, A.” he said as he held onto Sirius IV’s other hand while Arianna on the other “There’ll be two of us to run after him now, besides I think I could easily catch him.” Sirius IV grinned
“Don’t spoil him, S.” said Arianna, seeing the happy look on the boy’s face “It won’t be good.”
“Oh, don’t be such a killjoy, A.” said Sirius, he tickled little Sirius IV who laughed “Right, kid?”
“Yeah!” he laughed “I like him mum.”
Arianna and Sirius stared at each other, both of them were smiling. She then looked back down at the little boy “Of course you do,” she said “That’s because he’s your dad.”
“I knew it!” said Sirius IV, happily. Arianna and Sirius laughed just as some snow started falling from the sky. Sirius pulled their boy up to him and carried him onto his back the way he always did to Polaris and Arianna
“You know what, A?” said Sirius as they walked with Sirius IV happily riding on his back, Arianna looked at him “It isn’t all bad you named his after me.”
“Why?”
“Well, James and Lily’s kid is named after James.” Said Sirius, smiling; “Harry James Potter.”
“Who knew they’d end up together in the end?”
“We did.” Said Sirius, laughing Arianna did too. “You know… This all started because James needed help in winning Lily and he did in the end. While you, the person who helped, ended up with the wingman –“
“Ah yes, the corny line ender. Very classic, S.” Sirius rolled his eyes
“Why do you always ruin the moment?”
“Because I find them corny?”
“Whatever,” said Sirius laughing “I never expected our meeting to be like this, to be honest.”
“What did you expect? Crying and drama?”
“Sort of.” Arianna laughed
“You know what?” she said “I did too.” Sirius laughed and stared at her
“I love you, A.” he said, Arianna resisted the urge to roll her eyes and just smiled
“I love you too, S.” she said, “Now c’mon we need to pick Jimmy up!” and at that she grabbed Sirius by his arm and started pulling him.
“Whoa, wait!” he said as they ran “I have a child riding on my back, woman!”