“Up! Now!” said a cold voice, rapping sharply on Sirius’s bedroom door, giving him his usual morning greeting. “I have never met one who sleeps as much as you! Your brother Regulus is already up and about, and breakfast has been ready for a half hour already!”
Sirius heard footsteps walking away from his door. He turned over and groaned. He was very tired but thought it best to wake up quickly. His mother always jumped at the chance to criticize him and compare him to his precious brother, Regulus.
Regulus was his mother’s favorite, and in Sirius’s opinion, the biggest brat on Earth. Sirius was constantly compared to him and reminded of how his brother was a much better son than himself. He loathed this more than anything else, and it became his favorite activity to torture his little brother every chance he got. Of course, Sirius had gotten many punishments for this, but it was just much too tempting. His father often told him he was a disgrace to the entire family. Not that this bothered Sirius, because he did not care for anyone in his family.
The reason that bothered Sirius most was this: They were all pureblood, and considered anyone who was not a disgrace to the name of wizards. He did not agree to this. His whole family was coldhearted, and whenever he heard them start on this subject he felt hot anger inside of him. It was not fair.
Because of this, his parents had treated Sirius badly. They never lost a chance to tell him how much he was a what they called “a blood traitor”, or in his words a pureblood that is kindhearted. Also, blood traitors most often went to Gryffindor.
Like most pureblood families, the Blacks were Slytherins at Hogwarts, who were enemies of Gryffindor, and that was worrying for Sirius. This year he would be starting his first year there, and he was very excited, but nervous. First, he did not want to go to Slytherin, because of what he had heard, they were very cruel and had a bad reputation. And second, he knew that if he wasn’t sorted into Slytherin, his whole family would probably throw him out or treat him worse than they did now. As much as he loathed his family, especially his mother, he did not want to be thrown out on the streets with nowhere to go.
Speaking of Hogwarts, Sirius was beginning to wonder where his letter was. As nervous as he was, he couldn’t wait to get away from his family and was anxious that maybe he wasn’t a wizard after all and would never receive the letter.
It was the thought of this letter that drove him to get up from his bed, throw on some clothes and walk slowly downstairs, yawning on the way.
When he arrived downstairs he was met with glare from his mother while Regulus was complaining loudly.
“Why do we always have to wait for him? He’s so slow and my breakfast is already cold,” Regulus whined.
“He’s just come down now, you can start eating, Regulus.” said his father coldly. “Late again, Sirius?” he observed looking at him sharply.
“Well, it’s the weekend and I was tired! Normal people sleep later on weekends!” Sirius replied angrily. His mother gave him a look that scorches. Then he sat down grumpily next to Regulus, who moved his bowl away so Sirius couldn’t put something in it, but Sirius was in no mood for that. His day had just barely started and already he was in a bad mood.
He was in the process of eating his porridge when there was a sharp tapping at the window and he looked and saw two owls. “The usual,” thought Sirius, “The Daily Prophet for dad and some letter from an aunt or uncle for Regulus.” But he was wrong. One owl had the Daily Prophet and flew towards his father, but the other flew directly at him and landed gracefully in front of him. It was a handsome tawny. Sirius’s eyes opened wide in amazement. He had never received a letter before, but he knew what it must be. He quickly untied the letter and the owl took off again through the open window. It was addressed:
Mr. S. Black
The Smallest Bedroom
12 Grimmauld Place
London
Sirius turned the letter over quickly, and sure enough the seal had a serpent, a lion, a badger, and a raven all surrounding the letter H…the Hogwarts crest.
He broke the seal and opened the letter:
Dear Mr.Black,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find an enclosed list o all necessary books and equipment.
Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress
He opened the other piece of paper, which was a list of all the books and equipment he would need. Before he could take a good look at it, it was snatched out of his hand.
“I will go to Diagon Alley to buy this today,” said his mother.
“I want to come! It’s my stuff!” argued Sirius.
“No,” said his mother coldly. “you will be staying here with your brother. I am going to lock you in your room, because I will not come back today to find this house in ruins”
His anger was getting stronger. “What about Regulus?”
“I trust him to behave while I am gone.” she said. “You, however, I cannot trust.”
“I-”
“Silencio!”
Sirius was left mouthing silently, his face getting redder with anger by the second. With a spell, his mother dragged him up the stairs and heaved him up on his bed. Then the spell was removed. Before Sirius could make an escape, the key clicked in the lock, and his mother’s feet retreated back down the stairs. Minutes later, he heard the front door closed.
Great. He was locked in his own room until his mother came back home, which wouldn’t be for at least three hours, and he sat down fuming on his bed.