Chapter 2
James Potter had not slept well a single night during his incarceration.
Usually, the subject of his nightmares was someone dear to him, like his parents feeling distressed after learning that their only son was in Azkaban for the murder of his friend. Sirius being sentenced to the dementors' kiss or life in prison while James could only watch helplessly. Remus being hunted down for his lycanthropy. Someone from the order telling him they had lost the war. Then there was Peter Pettigrew, sometimes he was taunting James, other times he was emotionless, like he didn't care about the lives he had taken or destroyed.
Daytime wasn’t much better, as he was taunted by very real memories. Ever since seeing Padfoot, it had been the primary thing occupying James’s mind.
What if Padfoots's body gave in while swimming in the middle of the cold water? There was another very horrible possibility; what if Sirius had not managed to leave the prison where the ministry had sent him to rot? In James mind, the memory of Padfoot outside his cell had started to blend together with his dreams
Shouldn't the guards have noticed that the burst of happiness he experienced just so happened to be on the day Sirius Black escaped? No auror had brought him to an interrogation room as of yet. When he told the dog to flee, had the dementors assumed that James was talking to himself? Was Sirius still in the fortress, reliving the abuse he suffered at the hands of his parents?
Worrying wouldn't change anything but he couldn't stop it. In an attempt to distract himself, James had gotten back to counting. (There were still fifty-eight bricks on the wall and he had been locked in the cell for thirty-four days.) It would work at first, but eventually he would return to worrying
He had a more intense workout, mostly consisting of push-ups and pull ups. He still had to force himself to do them, but at least it was better than doing nothing
One
Two
Three…….
On the count of seventeen, a bright light shone. James abandoned the exercise in the middle of the push up, resorting to sitting on his knees
He put his hand over his eyes, casting a shadow over half his face. After weeks of living in darkness, this felt like staring at the sun. A silvery doe illuminated the prison, when James eyes had gotten used to the light, he saw the person who cast it
“Evans?” It was the first word he uttered since telling Padfoot to go and save himself “How did you get here?”
“Frank ordered me to come” They knew Frank Longbottom from their Hogwarts years. He had just finished his final year of the academy before officially becoming an auror.
“What about the others? What about Sirius?” he talked fast “Listen, he is innocent and-”
“I know” interrupted Lily
James just stood with both hands on the bars, with so many questions he didn’t know which one to start with. Is he alright? Where is he? How do you know that? Have you seen him? finally he landed on “What happened?”
“It's a long story and I think it's better if you hear it from him”
Alohomora would not have any effect on the lock, whatever spell Lily did to free him was something complicated they wouldn’t teach at Hogwarts, then he heard the click sound and the cell door swung open
“After me” ordered Lily. James struggled to believe that this could have been this easy (“it probably wasn’t” he told himself. He could only think of Sirius who had to risk everything to get to that point)
Once at the ministry, Frank Longbottom asked him to recall the day when he confronted Peter Pettigrew. James answered, wanting to be done with it as soon as possible. After that, he was escorted to a small room. Before James had even taken in his surroundings, Sirius sprinted towards him. Already his cheeks looked fuller than they had in Azkaban, his eyes less soaked.
James' eyes filled with happy tears. Without hesitating the two of them embraced each other. James had forgotten what it felt like to be embraced like this. It was like he had found a lost part of himself.
When they pulled away, Sirius let him rest on his shoulder. Up until then, James had struggled to accept that it was real, but his level of relief and bliss could never be replicated in a dream one would have in Azkaban
"I have missed you" Sirius whispered, his voice cracking
"So have I" they stood wrapped in each other's arms in comfortable silence for a minute
That’s when James took Sirius's hand and saw several small wounds “Its from the rat”
Sirius knew James wanted the full story. So, he told him how he was on a mission when he got separated from the Prewetts, how he wished he could have done more to save them and was horrified to learn about their death. The aurors who found him at the scene of the crime. How he escaped prison by slipping through the bars when his food got delivered. “I knew I wanted revenge,” Sirius swallowed. “It wasn’t a happy thought, so the dementors couldn’t steal it, but it gave me motivation to escape”
“I read the daily prophet whenever I found a copy that had been thrown away. I was wandering around, lost on what to do next, then I found this” Sirius reached for something in his pocket which he handed over to James. A single torn out page from the daily prophet. It was an article that came with a picture of a family. One of the children held the rat in his hand
”I broke in and caught Wormtail,” said Sirius, looking at the bite marks on his hand. “I thought I had gone unnoticed, but someone yelled at me to put my hands in the air, when I turned around, a wand was pointing at me. They nearly didn’t listen to me. But after seeing Peter alive, they dropped your charges”
Something was missing, Sirius didn't mention anything about his case being dropped. His case was still ongoing. “I'll be there when you’re up against the ministry, if they believe Wormtail over you, I will break you out this time”
"Just don’t get into trouble for saving me. You deserve to be free”
“So do you. I promise you that things will be different now” James put his hands on his shoulders and looked into his silver eyes “I didn't think Wormtail would ever do something so unforgivable. I underestimated him, which won’t happen now. I understand if you are worried and indeed, I don’t exactly have faith in the ministry. But I can promise this, regardless of what they say I will bring both of us home. You have done what you can with the situation you were given, now I’ll do what I can”
********************
It was a long trial, to which James Potter agreed to show up as a witness. Amongst other people attending were Remus and Lily, as well as the father of the family who had Wormtail as their pet rat. When seeing Peter Pettigrew, James’s thoughts went to Fabian and Gideon Prewett, and how their life ended far too early. He thought of their loved ones who would never get to see them again, which is why he chouldn't feal sorry for his old friend
When Sirius was declared a free man, James released a breath he didn't even know he was holding.
They apparated away, not wanting to spend more time than necessary at the ministry.
For the rest of the evening, they didn’t leave each other’s side. For dinner they had their first warm meal in a while. He had slept in his bed a thousand times, but this time, the soft silk felt like a cloud.
They still needed to fix a few legal documents, but it could wait, right now, they just wanted to be there for each other