I'm leaving this history behind me. Burn me off your family tree but nothing can stop me.

"You'll see," James muttered. "You'll be eating your words someday."

Sirius hummed a little noise, still contently laying on James' shoulder, eyes closed. He hadn't intended to, but he was actually falling asleep. The day had tired him out far more than any day ever had. All Sirius wanted to do now was sleep and hope tomorrow was better than today.

"Dude, if you want to sleep there is a perfectly good floor," he said playfully shoving the boy.

Sirius didn't respond, having fallen asleep laying on James' shoulder. The little push administered by same bespectacled boy just caused him to shift forward unintentionally and land to lay on James' lap instead, mumbling a little in his sleep at the annoying moving.

James grinned at Sirius, although it was useless as the boy was asleep. He pondered shoving him onto the ground to wake him up, but decided against it. Gently he pushed Sirius' head off of him so he could stand up. He yawned and ruffled his head and sought out to grab some stuff for Sirius to sleep on.

When Sirius woke up again he was horribly disoriented. First off, he wasn't in his room. Secondly, he also wasn't in James' living room, which was the last room he remembered being in the day before. He sat up and ran a hand through his hair, yawning. Judging by the amount of sun coming through the window in the room he was in, Sirius guessed it was nearly noon. Huh. Yeah, he definitely wasn't home. His mother's screeching never let him sleep this late into the day.

He stretched and got up, still bleary eyed, but kind of feel like a lazy bum. He walked out of the room he was in and found himself in a familiar hallway of the Potters' house. Okay, things made sense again.

Sirius walked down the stairs, hearing noises coming from in the kitchen. He guessed it was probably around lunch time now, and that that was what was going on. His assumption proved correct when he entered the room and saw the three very awake Potters sitting at the table.

"G'morning..." he mumbled, catching their attention even though he was damn sure it wasn't morning anymore.

James gave Sirius an amused look as he entered the room. "Afternoon," he said with a grin. "Nice of you to turn up. I thought you'd died in your sleep. Or something awfully tragic like that," he yawned.

"Sleep well Sirius?" Mrs Potter asked him, with a smile. "Would you like something to eat?"

"I would," James muttered. Mrs Potter ignored him.

Sirius opened his mouth to shoot a witty, smartass comment back at James, but it died in his throat as the events of yesterday came crashing back down on him. He closed his mouth again and muttered, "'m not in the mood, Prongs."

Then he looked over at Mrs. Potter. "I did, and I would, thanks," he answered her, pulling out his barely ever used manners. He hardly did that with James' mum, but he was in a peculiar mood at the moment and didn't feel like being loudly and rambunctious like he usually was.

He padded slowly over to the table and sat in the chair he usually sat in when he was over, which was often enough, purposefully elbowing James a little as he did so for being a prat.

"Sorry," James muttered at his friend, thinking that he had probably been a little insensitive. Mrs. Potter glanced sideways at James with a small frown, before she started to bustle around the kitchen to get Sirius something to eat. "Mum, can you make me something-" "Yes dear," she replied waving her wand vaguely at the bowl in front of her. So that it mixed itself.

Sirius shrugged at James' apology, resisting the urge to lay his head on the table. Sure, he'd been all laughter and smiles the night before, but that was before the full weight of what had happened hit him full force. He honestly couldn't believe it. He'd run away, been disowned....had no real family anymore.

With a mental 'fuck it', he laid his head down on the table, forehead making a thunk sound as he did so. Sirius hoped he didn't feel like this for too long. It wasn't very pleasant. He didn't enjoy feeling lost and hurt and alone. Yeah, he had James. Big whoop-de-doo. James wasn't blood family.

Quite suddenly, Sirius wanted to cry. Quite suddenly, he wanted to hug his little brother, no matter how much Regulus would have hated it (though he'd have secretly loved the affection from his brother, since it was so rare and he looked up to the Gryffindor). But, Sirius wasn't about to take the actions back. He just wished he'd gone about it different, said a more solid goodbye to Reg. Hell, he almost wished he'd dragged Reg out with him. Who knew what his parents would do to the boy now.

Ugh.

He lifted his head and pushed the chair he was sitting in back. "I'm suddenly not very hungry anymore..." he muttered. "May I be excused?"

There were those manners again. And he was sure James was looking at him like he had three heads. Sirius never turned down food.

Mrs. Potter frowned at the boy, looking him up and down. "Of course," she said with a frail smile. Worried for the boy. James watched his friend, opening his mouth to say something but he closed it a few moments later. He had never been good at comforting. And he had a feeling that his joking manner was not what Sirius needed at the time. James looked helplessly at the floor. There had to be something that he could say, or do that would improve Sirius' mood. He also doubted that telling Sirius that his family wasn't much of a family would help too.

Sirius turned the smallest, barest of smiles in Mrs. Potter's direction, silently thanking her, before getting up and going back to the room he'd woken up in. This entire situation sucked. He was only sixteen for Merlin's sake!

Plopping facedown on the bed he'd woken up on, Sirius finally let the emotion he'd held in since waking up flow out with rather audible sobs. He hadn't wanted to cry in front of the Potter's. That would have meant being comforted with hugs and kind smiles. He didn't want either of those right now. In fact, they rather made him want to punch people in the face. They were pity. Sirius didn't want pity.

All Sirius wanted was for life to go back to normal already. He hadn't thought he'd be affected this way upon leaving his family for good. Ugh.

He buried his face deeper into the pillow.

Mrs Potter sighed as Sirius left the room. She shook her head sadly. "Poor dear," she said softly. James stood up, and left the room, heading towards the spare room. He hesitated outside. Wondering whether to leave Sirius alone or not. Biting his lip he knocked on the door. So the boy could tell him to go away if he wanted to.

Sirius kept crying. The tears just wouldn't stop. And, strangely enough, he wanted to go home. Oh wait, he didn't have a home anymore. That was right. He'd left it behind along with everything he'd grown up knowing, whether he loved it or not.

Hearing a knock on the door, he sat up and wiped his face as dry as he could with the backs of his hands. He didn't want people to know he'd been crying over his stupid family.

Deciding that he'd stopped crying enough and that his face was clear enough of tears, Sirius got up and opened the door of the room, only to nearly shut it again. He kind of didn't want to see James right now. But, instead he opened the door wider, letting the other boy in without so much as a word.

James stared at Sirius for a few moments, swinging his arm by his side, before he hugged Sirius briefly. "You'll be okay Sirius," he said quietly, feeling hopeless that he couldn't help his best friend. "You can stay here for as long as you need. We're Marauder's, we'll work through this," he gazed at his feet, and flickered his eyes up to Sirius. "I'm sorry," he mumbled. "About what happened." And my horrible ability to make you feel better.

Sirius pushed away from the hug nearly growling. He wouldn't have opened the door if he'd anticipated that happening. "I don't want your goddamn pity or sympathy or whatever else you and your family want to throw my way, James," he nearly snapped, voice cracking just a little like he was about to start crying again.

He swiftly turned around so that James couldn't see his face if he did happen to start crying. "Can you invite Remus and Peter over?" he asked quietly wanting them all in one place. He didn't want their hugs, but he did want their company.

James watched him, he opened his mouth to say something and shut it again. Not wanting Sirius to snap at him once more. "Yeah..." he said slowly after a few minutes. "Sure. I'll go owl them now..." He frowned at his friend, and walked out, before he closed the door he glanced back at him. "Padfoot," he said his voice quiet. "Whether or not you want our sympathy. We are here for you." He closed the door and went to write to Remus and Peter.

Sirius just rolled at James' back as the door closed. He would have hit him or something if he'd had the energy to do it. But, he was still tired for whatever reason and just wanted his best friends there and maybe some of Mrs. Potter's hot chocolate. That always made him feel better. Breakfast would probably help, too. But, that could wait.

James went back to his room and grabbed two peices of parchment. he frowned, wondering how much to write in the letter. He decided he would. Breifly explaining that Sirius had run away and been disowned he asked the two if they could visit. Once he sent them off he thought that he should have asked his mother's permission first and went down to do so.

"Mum," he said. "Yes dear?" she looked up with a frown. "Uh, Can Remus and Peter visit...?" "You've already asked them haven't you?" she asked, the corner of her mouth twitching into a smile. James nodded, and she shook her head. "Yes they can. How is Sirius?" "Bad. He got all bad tempered with me..." "He just needs time." James nodded mutely.

Sirius fell back on the bed once James was gone again with a pathetic sniffle. Merlin, he felt weaker than he'd ever felt before. Normally, he wasn't the guy that cried. Normally, he was the guy that made the jokes the stopped the tears of the guy that did cry.

With a sigh, he rolled over to bury his face again, wondering if James had gone through with getting Remus and Peter over yet.

James decided to wait until Peter and Remus came before he ventured back into Sirius' room. After a hurried hello at Mrs. Potter and a whispered conversation between how James thought Sirius was coping they headed towards Sirius' room. "He doesn't want our sympathy," James murmured with a frown at his two friends. He knocked on the door. "Padfoot?" he asked. "Moony and Wormtail are here."

Sirius moved from being faceplanted in the pillow to sitting cross-legged on the bed, picking at some loose threads in the comforter. "C'min!" he called, speaking the loudest he had all day. He didn't look up as his three friends came in, though. He didn't want to see Remus and Peter's initial reactions to his current appearance which held none of the hyper, energetic, happy, loud Sirius that they had pretty much grown up with the last five years.

When he finally did look up, though, it almost made him smile. Often, they couldn't get the four of them together at one time during the summer what with family vacations and Sirius' parents being Nazis and not allowing him to leave the house any. It made him just a little happier to think that because of him they'd finally actually managed it.

The trio entered the room and James flopped down on the couch leaving the other two to say their hello's to Sirius. He smiled slightly, it was nice to have the four of them together away from Hogwarts. Away from the suspecting eye of teachers, who seemed to want to blame them for everything even if there was no proof.

The other two climbed on to the bed to sit near Sirius, leaving James to be different by sitting on the couch. Peter sat near the foot, obviously giving Sirius some space, but Remus sat directly next to him, giving him a look of concern. Sirius just shrugged in response and leaned over to rest his head on Remus' shoulder much like he had done to James' the night before, but without the intent of falling asleep.

"Prongs, are you going to sit over there, or are you going to turn the triangle into a square?" Sirius asked him, a little of his usual pep returning.

"Have a problem with triangles do you?" James asked him, staying sitting where he was. "I can see you all sitting here," he shrugged. "And I'm too lazy to move so. I reckon I'll stay here."