Sirius shook his head. "No," he answered, "I'm going back to London." Saying home also felt like one of those words that would be rude to orphans, so he avoided it. Back to London. Sirius had never entertained thoughts of staying at Hogwarts over the break; it felt like the sort of thing his father would try to do, and Sirius was not like his father. Besides that, he was not sure that either his mother or his Aunt Elladora would tolerate such behavior.

"You won't be able to come to Flora's party if you stay though," he added, the thought occurring to him very suddenly — he would miss her if she skipped.

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