His father was inattentive and stern at best. Not so much actively abusive as simply not one to put up with childish fooling around. As he got older, Sirius realized that Orion seemed, more than anything else, to simply not know how to deal with being a father.

Walburga, on the other hand, was a monster, and Sirius never forgave her for that.

It was the motorcycles that did it, you know. When he was 14, his mother became ill and had to go to Saint Mungo's. While waiting with his younger brother and his father for admittance through the main door of the hospital, Sirius saw four Muggles on motorcycles buzz by them at high speed. His father (and thus, his brother, who was always mimicking his father) looked on with disgust… but Sirius was in love.

His first love was named Suzanne, and she was a white 1959 Triumph Bonneville 650 T120. He found her in a scrap yard in Lewisham and, over the course of a year and a half, lovingly restored her by hand to perfect, almost "factory new" condition. He didn't use magic once, because he thought it would be utter blasphemy to use a Reparo on such a beautiful vehicle as Suzanne.

What caused his ouster from the house at Grimmauld Place was Regulus joining the Death Eaters. Sirius knew this was a mistake; he knew Reggie just didn't have it in him to be as cruel and inhuman as his cousin Bellatrix, or Cissy's husband Lucius. But no one, least of all Walburga, wanted to hear it.

When his mother tossed him out of the house, he naturally went to the Potters. He was worried about what his Aunt Dorea was thinking, as she had one of those "sucking on a lemon" faces. But she never said a word… at least not to Sirius. She did disappear for two or three hours, and James said something about his mom confronting Walburga Black, but nothing was ever said to him about it.

When he was seventeen he joked that, were he ever to father twins, he'd name them Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, just to show how silly this "name everyone after stars and constellations" custom was. As far as he knew, he never got the opportunity.

The first two years were filled with fear and terror. The next three years were filled with resignation. The next year regret. And the last six were all about rage.

Molly Weasley was right. Toward the end, he was sometimes confusing Harry with his father. He knew this was wrong, but sometimes couldn't help it.

To be honest, dying was a bit of a relief. He didn't have to hide anymore. He was free. But his last thought was of Harry, wondering who would look out for the boy now?