A/N: I know I still haven't finished Dark Shadows Rising, but I just had to write this plot bunny it's only going to be two chapters and an epilogue, though, so it won't affect my updating of the other story that much

Chapter 1

It was a beautiful warm summer night, but the dark-haired boy running along the pavement could not appreciate any of it. He was holding a broomstick, which he had just disembarked from, and was dragging a heavy trunk behind him. If anyone on the street had chanced to look out of the window just at that moment, they would have been shocked to see that not only was he shoeless, he was also sporting a black eye and had one hand clutching his side, with a dark patch growing beneath it. However, at this time of night everyone was sleeping soundly, including the family who lived at the house the boy stopped at.

He took a deep breath before ringing the doorbell. There was silence for a moment, and the boy wondered whether anyone was at home. Then a light went on in a room upstairs, and a few moments later he heard footsteps approaching the door. The door opened to reveal a man looking out, bleary-eyed, and a woman behind him tying the cords of a dressing-gown around her waist.

"Sirius?" the man asked disbelievingly, as he took in the sight in front of him.

"I'm sorry, Mr Potter, I just ran away from home and I don't know where else to go, I understand if you don't want me—"

"Sirius, dear, don't be silly," said Mrs Potter, "come inside, you must be freezing! Of course, we'd be more than happy for you to stay with us."

Sirius' expression turned into one of cautious relief, as he was ushered by Mrs Potter into a chair by the fire in the sitting room. She immediately started tending to his wounds, whilst Mr Potter took Sirius' trunk and broomstick upstairs to James' room, taking the opportunity to wake his son (who had slept through the noise) and tell him about the new arrival.

James immediately went downstairs to see his friend, and watched quietly as his mother put ointment on Sirius' bruises and healed the gash in his side. She then cleaned out a cut on his foot, whilst exclaiming "I don't know what possessed you to leave the house without shoes on, Sirius". Sirius just chuckled weakly in response.

In truth, Mrs Potter was horrified at Sirius' appearance. In addition to the black eye and the gash in the side, there had been a collection of other bruises that were not as recent. She did not know how exactly he had managed to obtain the injuries, but she had an idea and it was not pleasant. She wanted to go to the Black household right now and give them a piece of her mind, but knew that it would not be a wise move. So instead she did what she could to make Sirius comfortable, and then left him alone with James.

As soon as Mrs Potter left, James helped Sirius up and supported him as he limped up the stairs to James' room. Once he had closed the door, he asked the question on his mind ever since he had entered the sitting room and seen Sirius.

"What happened?"

Sirius grimaced painfully as he sat down on the camp bed set up for him. "I ran away, James. I've had enough of them and their pureblood supremacy crap, and I can't take it anymore. I finally cracked."

"Yes, but what happened? Why did you turn up at god knows what hour with a black eye and blood everywhere with no cloak and no shoes on?" James sat cross-legged on his own bed, facing Sirius.

Sirius sighed. "We were having dinner, and Mother was going on and on about how purebloods shouldn't try to procreate with muggle-borns, how it was a disgrace that the Ministry allowed that kind of thing, and I just snapped. I told her that I lost my virginity to a muggle-born and it was the best sex I've had so far. Father stood up so fast he almost turned the table. Then he punched me in the face. My own father hit me!"

There was a pause, as James sat there, shocked, and Sirius tried to get his anger back under control. Just reliving the memory made him feel like hitting something and watch it shatter into pieces.

"Anyway," Sirius continued, "I stormed out of the dining room into my bedroom, grabbed some stuff and shoved it into my trunk, grabbed my broomstick and then blasted the window out. Of course, the noise made Mother come running up the stairs, and she burst into the room just as I was perched on the windowsill, about to fly out. I said some things which I don't care to repeat now, and then she sent a cutting curse at me, just as I jumped. That's what the blood was from."

"Wait a moment," said James, looking even more shocked. "Your father hit you and then your mother cursed you?"

"Not everyone has perfect families like you, James. Do you know what my mother shouted after me as I was flying away? She said—"

Sirius paused, took a shaky breath and then continued in a rush. "She said that I was an insolent brat and that she wished I had never been born." His voice broke on the last word, and all the emotion he had bottled up on the journey here, and whilst Mrs Potter had been so kind to him and acted like a real mother should, was let out. Sirius started to cry for the first time in years.

"Sirius…" whispered James—he didn't know what else to say. To see his friend, his brother, in such pain was heartbreaking, and as he moved to sit next to Sirius and hugged him, his own tears mingled with his brother's.

A while later, as both boys were almost falling asleep, James said sleepily, "So you had time to pack your trunk but you didn't think to put on some shoes?"

Sirius just snored in response.