InsaneJournal

Excited voices bounced off the walls of the Gryffindor common room, all Christmas cheer and lively chat; warm smiles and warmer hugs shared between friends. For Sirius, the heat, suddenly, became unbearable – breath and bodies and the indomitable spark and ash of the glowing fire.

He had to get out: it was stifling.

Pushing brusquely past clusters of his peers, he bounded up the stairs to the boys' dormitory, his long legs taking the steps two at a time.

He heaved the heavy timber door open, revealing a quartet of four-poster beds, books and robes strewn across the floor and furnishings and, most importantly, silence. He perched himself on the end of his bed, and looked about.

Sirius would, as he always did, miss this place. He sighed, with a longing for his return to Hogwarts - to the unmistakable scent of boys and mischief, of friendship and kindness: of home that filled the room.