Chapter 1
Sirius
Shouts and screams filled the air as Sirius ran, dragging his brother along behind him. Hurrying down the hall and dashing downstairs.
“Come on,” Sirius whispered as he pushed open their bedroom door. He locked it behind them, squeezing his brother’s hand as they listened to the ruckus above.
“Are they going to get us too?” Regulus asked shakily, tears streaming down his cheeks.
“No,” Sirius said as firmly as he could, not entirely believing it himself. “We’ll be ok. They won’t find us. It’s-”
There was a loud BANG and another scream, cutting him off. It sounded like their mother. Regulus whimpered and Sirius fought the urge to do the same, wrapping his arms around his brother and holding him as tightly as possible as the fight raged on. He didn’t have a clue who was winning.
Sirius didn’t particularly care for the fates of anyone in that room, but he was scared for himself and his brother. They weren’t part of anything. It was their parents killing so many humans. It was their parents that wanted the crown back, to overthrow the Vampire Council and the Hunter Association. They were just kids. They were just pawns in their parents’ game.
“I can smell so much blood…” Regulus cried; face muffled in his brother’s chest.
Sirius wanted to reassure him that it would be alright, but as more gunshots were fired and their fathers’ cries thundered through the house, he couldn’t bring himself to say the words. He could smell the blood too. There was so much. Human and vampire.
“We just have to be quiet,” he breathed, rubbing his brothers back. There was another scream and Sirius shut his eyes as tortured shrieks followed. They could barely use their powers yet, if at all. They wouldn’t stand a chance if the hunters found them.
Sirius had never met a hunter before, he hadn’t met anyone outside the family, but he’d heard all the stories about them. Humans with strength that could almost rival a grown vampire. Humans that could use magic. Humans that killed first and didn’t bother with questions. The only humans a young vampire should fear.
And young and afraid he was. Sirius had only just turned eleven, still at least six years off controlling his powers. At best he could shatter glass and maybe create a bit of snow. Nothing that would help them. Nothing that would save them.
There was another BANG and the roof shuddered again. Sirius waited for another scream, expecting one. But it didn’t come. There was silence… until…
“There are more here, I can bloody smell them,” shouted a loud man. His voice rough and laced with disgust. Regulus shook, his breaths turning into gasps as he gripped Sirius for life. Their room had no windows and a single door. The only way out was they way they came in. They were trapped.
“We have to hide,” Sirius muttered, climbing to his feet and pulling Regulus up with him. He frantically looked around, letting his eyes settle on their wardrobes. He wasn’t stupid. He knew it was a terrible hiding place. But they didn’t have many options right now. Maybe the scent of their room would confuse them?
Sirius led his brother to one of their wardrobes as the man upstairs continued shouting. He pulled the doors open and the two of them leapt inside, curling up to each other as footsteps thundered above them.
“Down here!” A different man yelled and suddenly footsteps were thundering down the stairs.
“Sirius, they’re coming for us,” Regulus choked, his cheeks all soaked with tears.
Sirius held him tighter and hushed him, trying to keep the tremor out of his own voice. “Just be quiet.”
Regulus did as he was told, letting his sobs lapse into silence, though he still shivered violently. Sirius wasn’t fairing much better. There was another BANG and Sirius and Regulus both flinched. It was their door being slammed open. Human blood, hunter blood filled the room and Sirius tried to ignore the good smell.
“They’re in here,” a woman spat, and Sirius felt tears rolling down his own face now. They were going to die. Regulus hugged Sirius tighter, as all the human heartbeats entered the room. At least eight of them. All thumping loudly as they spread out around.
“Find them,” the loud man grumbled, and the hunters started ransacking their room. Picking things up and tossing them aside. Breaking and cracking things. Tearing their room to shreds. Searching for them. Their search didn’t last long.
Sirius heard the footsteps approaching and did his best to shift in front of Regulus, trying to hide him from view. Trying to do something. He couldn’t let Regulus die… That wasn’t fair… That was his baby brother…
The door swung open, and Sirius winced at the sudden, sharp light. Regulus stiffened in his arms and let a small whimper escape from his throat. Sirius kept his face as blank as possible as the light in his eyes eased and revealed the hunter. It was the loud man.
“I found them,” the man drawled, smirking as he opened up the other door. He was lightly tanned with blond hair. Taller than either of his parents. A sweet scent and a strong heartbeat. A long sword in his hand. Regulus started losing control of his breathes and Sirius held onto him. He wasn’t going to let go until he was dust.
“Good work, Lupin,” a man cheered, but as all eight of the humans gathered around the front of the wardrobe, there were just gasps, not more congratulations.
“Stay away,” Sirius demanded as Regulus’ breathing turned into muffled sobs. His demands were not met. Not a single hunter moved, they just stared. Weapons drawn and mouths hanging open, hearts racing a million beats per second.
“I didn’t know they had children,” a blonde woman murmured.
“Well apparently they did,” a blond man followed on.
Sirius’ throat was starting to burn with the humans so close. He’d never been around so many before. They smelt really good…
“Must have kept them secret,” a curly haired brunette woman said.
“Secret or not they need to be taken care of,” the loud man, Lupin, spat.
“Only Walburga and Orion were on the list,” the blonde cut back firmly.
“Only because we didn’t know these two were around,” the brunette hissed.
“They’re just kids,” the blond said.
“They are vampires,” Lupin barked.
Sirius’ eyes darted desperately between them as the group of humans began to argue. They didn’t move from the door though, and none of them lowered their weapons for even a second. Swords. Guns. Stakes. Rods. Maybe if he took the brunt of their attack, he could give Regulus a chance to run? Maybe if he tried really hard, he could freeze their feet to the floor? Or shatter the lights so they can’t see?
“Reg?” he whispered as quietly as possible, right into his brother’s ear, hoping the hunters couldn’t hear him. They did.
Lupin growled at him, holding the tip of his sword against Sirius’ throat, while the brunette woman pointed her gun at his brother’s head.
“Did we say you could speak, vampire?” The brunette sneered.
Regulus started shivering again, shaking his head. Sirius snarled, ignoring the sword at his neck and shifting so the woman’s gun was on him instead.
“Stay away from him,” he said as firmly as he could, but the moment the words left his mouth, the sword dug into his neck, just about slicing through his skin and nearly drawing blood. He gasped and Regulus cried out.
“No! Stop! Please!”
“What did she say about speaki-?” Lupin started, but he was cut off by the blonde.
“Lyall! Hope! Stand down! They are children and they are not on the list.”
The man and woman did not stand down, but they did lower their weapons slightly. Their faces hard and jaws clenched.
“What are we doing with them then, Abbot?” Lyall spat, not taking his eyes off Sirius.
Sirius didn’t take his eyes off the man, though he had a feeling his blank face was looking less and less blank with every passing second. He’d never been good at the mask thing. His parents hated it. Or at least, they used to hate it.
“We take them back to headquarters and let the president decide,” Abbot said.
“You’ve got to be kidding!”
“I am following protocol.”
“Screw protocol! No one knows about the brats. We should just kill them!”
“Enough!” Abbot shouted so loudly that Sirius himself jumped, his eyes jerking up to hers. Upon meeting his gaze though, she softened her face and made a show of clipping her rod to her belt. “We aren’t going to kill you, but you two are going to need to come with us.”
Sirius made no effort to move. He didn’t believe her. She was lying. She just wanted to get him to move away from Regulus. He doubled down, pressing himself and his brother against the back of wardrobe, like it would disappear and let them out through a secret tunnel.
“They aren’t going to listen-” Hope started, raising her gun again, but the blond man grabbed her wrist.
“We are taking them back to headquarters. They are children and we can handle them without weapons.”
The woman glared at Sirius and with a huff she dropped her gun and spun around.
“The blood is on your hands, Wright,” she spat and stormed off cursing. Lyall gave Abbot and Wright his own glares and huffs before he followed after her. A couple others followed them. A couple held their ground.
Sirius relaxed slightly as he watched them walk out the door. Their heart beats fading and blood drifting away. Not much though. He still had four hunters staring down at him and his brother. Four hunters that had just helped turn their parents to ash.
As if sensing his nerves, Wright holstered his gun and held up his hands. Abbot copied him, taking it a step further and squatting so they were eye level.
“We aren’t here to kill you,” she said calmly, again. “But you need to come with us or others are going to.”
Sirius swallowed, glancing at Regulus who was completely frozen. He eyed all the hunter weapons and then all the hunters themselves. They didn’t have much of a choice, did they? Maybe he could think of something on the way… Sirius shifted his entire body screamed at him, urging him to get as far away from these hunters as possible…
His brother’s his breathing was starting to speed up again as he buried his face in Sirius’ chest. Sirius just held him, watching the hunters carefully as they shared a grim look. Abbot stood up and sighed, turning to Wright and the others, whispering.
Sirius tried to listen in, but he frustratingly couldn’t make anything out. They looked like they were having their own little argument and judging by the bracelets Abbot was pulling out of her belt bag, it probably wasn’t great news for him and his brother.
“I’m scared, Sirius,” Regulus mumbled into his shirt and Sirius had to use all of his energy not to say he was too.
“We’ll be alright,” he said instead. Not that he believed it. He had a feeling Regulus didn’t either.
Abbot turned back to them and bent down. Wright pulled his gun out again, aiming at Sirius. The others held out stakes and glared.
“Hold out your hand,” Abbot said firmly, and Sirius reluctantly did as he was told, eyes trained on the gun pointing at his head. The finger hovering over the trigger. The stakes hovering just behind it.
She grabbed his wrist in one hand and immediately started looped one of the bracelets around it. He began burning the moment the metal touched his skin and he cried out. Screaming. His wrist erupting in angry red lines and blue sparks. Sirius tried to pull his hand back, but she tightened her grip and didn’t let go until it was securely around him. Burning him like fire.
He started shaking and tears streamed down his cheeks as he brought his wrist to his chest, grabbing at the metal clips. But he couldn’t hold his hand to the metal long enough to unhook it. He could feel Regulus sobbing against him now and distantly he could hear him desperately calling out his name. But the pain was too much.
The last thing Sirius saw, was his brother’s little wrist turning red and blue.
---
“It’s alright dear,” a woman said gently, in a tone far nicer than he’d ever heard someone use. Even his own mother. “You’re safe now.”
Sirius could feel blankets on top of him. Heavy, warm ones. There was even a soft pillow under his head. And under his back. No… a mattress? He took a deep breath and a fresh sweet, scent filled his lungs. His throat burned. It was human blood. Why was a human with him?
He tried opening his eyes but could only get them half open for a half second. He just managed to catch sight of a brown skinned woman with long dark hair holding his hand, which was covered in angry red lines.
Red lines? Why is my hand-
Sirius forced his eyes open again, trying to get a better look at his wrist. Once again, he only managed it a second, but it was enough to jog his memory. The hunters. His parents. The bracelets. Regulus.
He groaned trying to force himself to sit up, but he was too weak. It felt like the mattress was pulling him down.
“It’s okay,” the woman said again. Her voice soft and smooth. “No one is going to hurt you.”
Sirius ignored her. That’s basically what the Abbot girl said, and then she’d put that bracelet on his wrist.
Where is my brother? He wanted to shout. Why is Regulus? What did you do to us?
But Sirius couldn’t. He was too tired. And everything around him was spinning.
“Sleep dear,” the woman murmured as the effort caught up with Sirius and he started fading away again. “Take your time.”
---
The next time Sirius woke up, he was slightly more energised.
He opened his eyes and found himself able to sit himself up, though he collapsed against the bedhead a second later. He was alone in a small room. It was fairly empty, just a set of wooden drawers, a desk, some paintings of nature, the bed he was on and a chair beside it. There was a window above the desk, which he could just spot a few constellations through.
Was this the headquarters the hunters had been talking about?
Sirius glanced down at his wrist, which was still a little red but much paler than before. It looked like it was going to leave a couple of white scars. Some hunter weapons did that, prevented healing. His mother and father had a few for when he or Regulus broke the rul-
Regulus…
Sirius bolted upright again, but he couldn’t maintain it and fell back down. He was too tired. He was starving. How long had it been? How long had he been asleep for?
“Re-” he coughed, choking on his dry throat. He swallowed and tried again. “Regulus? Reg?”
It came out dry and scratchy, barely above a whisper. But apparently this was enough to get someone’s attention. The door swung open and the woman from before came through the door. She was smiling and a surge of panic shot through him as she approached, but he didn’t react. The scent of what she was holding, far more enticing than his fear.
It was a glass of red liquid. Blood. Human blood.
His mouth watered as she came closer, and he desperately reached out for the glass as she sat down in the chair beside him. She let him have it, and he greedily gulped down the blood. It had a nice, sweet flavour. Sort of like her smell, though it seemed diluted with someone else. Someone a touch richer, more earthy. Whatever it was, it was good, and he emptied the glass far quicker than his stomach would have liked.
Sirius tried to get out every drop he could, wiping the sides of the glass with his finger and licking it off himself.
The woman didn’t say anything as he did. She didn’t grimace or move away. She just sat there and watched with a soft smile. When he was sure he’d gotten every bit of blood he could possibly get, he lowered the glass and sat up. This time having plenty of strength to hold himself steady.
“Where’s my brother?” was the first thing he said, his throat free of pain and voice no longer scratchy.
“He is the next room over, still sleeping,” she said calmly.
“Where am I?” was his next question. He was half expecting her to get angry and throw a knife into his chest, but she didn’t. She just nodded warmly.
“This is where I live with my husband and my son. You’re in one of the spare bedrooms.”
“Who are you? Why did we get taken here?” he asked a little more frantically this time.
The woman didn’t seem too bothered by this though.
“My name is Effie. You’re here because we volunteered to take you in. My husband and I work for the Hunter Association.”
Sirius swallowed nervously. She was a hunter. Her husband too. That meant her son would have the hunter genes too.
Why is she being so nice then?
Was it a trick? It had to be a trick. Why else would a hunter act this way? They were cruel, ruthless killers and… and… and he was still hungry. And he needed to make sure Regulus was really alright. And he needed to get them away, somewhere safe. He had to… he had… he…
“There is no need to worry dear,” Effie assured him softly, reaching out and putting a hand on his. It was… strange. But a nice strange. “Monty and I are going to keep you both safe.”
She held his hand, gently gripping it. Sirius could feel her pulse through her skin, and he could hear his mother screaming in the back of his head. Demanding her push this human away and attack her, to drain her. But he didn’t want to. In fact, for a reason Sirius couldn’t explain, he was inclined to believe that Effie was being honest.
So, he just nodded, inviting her to continue speaking. Which she did.
Walburga and Orion’s plans to overthrow the Vampire Council had been discovered, and the Council and Hunter Association had unanimously decided it was in both of their best interests to terminate the threats. The Black line would be carried on by Cygnus and Druella’s family, who were adamant they knew nothing about the plot. Sirius and Regulus had just been unexpected bumps in the plan. Bumps the Potters had volunteered to take responsibility for.
They had a son, a few months younger than himself. They ran a senior school. And they were all firm believers that vampires and humans could live peacefully alongside each other.
Sirius was horribly confused.
Hunters were supposed to be horrible, cruel, violent creatures that killed without rhyme or reason. Not kind, calm, collected school teachers that housed orphan vampire children and raised them alongside their own human son. He had to be missing something. Someone was lying here.
But the more Effie talked, the safer he felt. And when her husband, Monty, walked in with Regulus. He almost cried from relief. Maybe the person lying wasn’t Effie…
---
It took a few months for Sirius and Regulus to settle into their new home. It was very uncomfortable at first. Constantly around humans and trying to control their hunger. They were awake a little more during the day and slept a little more at night. They were started on blood tablets, that helped satisfy their cravings. It tasted terrible and they were sometimes given donated blood as a treat.
Eventually though, despite the strange living adjustments, the boys found themselves happy for the first time in a long time. They hadn’t even realised they were unhappy until they started feeling those joyous sparks here.
They’d known it was unpleasant, being locked in their room for days without blood or food when they misbehaved, but they hadn’t known it was bad. They’d known it hurt to get beaten with hunter weapons, but had never realised that was wrong.
Sirius and Regulus didn’t know that parents were supposed to hug and care for their children, until they saw Effie and Monty with James. They didn’t know what a nice feeling it was until Effie and Monty extended those hugs and cares to them.
James was incredible and quickly became Sirius’ second brother. They played games together, went on adventures, did home schooling work, compared childhoods. Regulus joined them most of the time, but being the little introvert he was, could often be found happily reading books on his own. Sirius didn’t get it, but as long as his brother was happy, he was satisfied.
And they were happy. They really were. They became family. An oddly shaped family, but a family, nonetheless. They went on trips. They ate family meals together. Had game nights. They celebrated every birthday and holiday together. Sirius and Regulus were living a life they’d never even dreamed of.
The dream lasted five years, before it began shifting into a nightmare.
---
The curtains rushed open, and Sirius groaned, rolling away from his window and throwing the blanket over his head as sunlight shot across the room and burned his eyes.
“Jamesss… piss off…”
James snorted and suddenly the blankets were being ripped right off Sirius’ body. He buried his face in his hands and groaned again, curling up into a ball as James started poking him in the ribs.
“Come on, get up,” he whinged. “You promised you’d help me, and I already let you sleep in an extra ten minutes.”
“It’s too early and too bright,” Sirius whinged back. So what if he’d promised, his past self was clearly an idiot for agreeing to get woken up in the middle of the day. His past self was also probably an idiot for staying up watching TV until seven am, but that wasn’t the point.
James poked him again in the ribs. Then in the back. Then in the head. Then in the wrist. The stomach. His foot. His hip. And just about everywhere else that was a particularly annoying place to be poked after being woken uo.
“Sirius, you promised, and you know I’m a horrible cook.”
“Just give him your neck and he’ll be happy,” Sirius grumbled.
“Well, that’s the plan for dessert, but he needs some proper breakfast-”
“La, la, la, la, not listening,” Sirius threw his hands over his ears, finally opening his eyes and finding James standing in front of him with a smirk and folded arms. Bastard. It was bad enough just knowing his best friend who was basically his second brother, was now dating his actual little brother. He did not want or need to hear about the intimacies of their relationship.
James leaned over and grabbed him by the wrists, dragging him over the side of the bed. Sirius made zero effort to contribute to his movement, rag dolling and flopping about lazily. He regretted this when his arms were dropped and heface planted into the floor.
“Oi!” Sirius rolled onto his back and rubbed his head, glaring up at James who wasn’t even trying to contain his laughter. “Don’t expect to wake up tomorrow, because I’m going to murder you while you sleep.”
“Yep. Sure you will, but before then, would you mind getting up off the floor and giving me a hand? I’ve got a big day planned and I don’t want to fall behind schedule.”
Sirius rolled his eyes, shaking his head and groaned.
“James! You poor soul. Look what my brother has done to you. Schedules? This isn’t you. Snap out of it.”
“I’m gonna snap you if you don’t get your bloody ass off the ground and come downstairs.”
Sirius gasped, putting a hand to his chest.
“Regulus has made you so meaaannn,” he cried, earning nothing but raised eyebrows and a kick in the shoulder. “Alright, alright, I’m getting up.”
Sirius, pointedly at the slowest pace he could manage, rolled over and very awkwardly climbed to his feet, using James as a ladder. Moaning and groaning the whole way like he’d been staked in his stomach. Or woken up with sun straight in his face after only four hours of sleep.
“Happy now?”
James nodded, hooking his arm under Sirius’ and leading them out the door. They reached the kitchen and Sirius was happy to find that James had at least had the decency to shut a couple of the curtains, so the kitchen was mildly less bright than his bedroom had been. He’d probably get used to it after a while, but he was way too tired to deal with the sun right now. Five years of living with a bunch of humans and he still didn’t see the appeal of daytime.
“What are we making again?” Sirius asked with a yawn, stretching his arms up above his head.
“Pancakes,” James said like it should have been obvious, pointing at all the utensils and ingredients sitting on the counter. “And I promised him they’d be ready by the time he woke up, you we’ve gotta get a move on.”
Sirius rolled his eyes, again, and started rattling off instructions for James. Simple ones like ‘turn on the stove’ and ‘just sit there and look pretty because you’ll screw it up just by looking at the ingredients wrong and I don’t want to deal with a disappointed little brother who got let down on his weird relationships six-month anniversary’.
“I’m not that bad,” James said, and Sirius scoffed.
“You’ve burned pasta before mate, bad would be a compliment. You’re atrocious.”
James just sighed and nodded sadly. He was. He’d managed to inherit all of Monty’s cooking skills and none of Effie’s. Luckily for him, Sirius was brilliant at it and Regulus was pretty decent.
James lasted all of nine-seconds before he stood up and started wandering around. Turning on music and hovering over Sirius’ shoulder, begging for something to do.
“Can you handle the toppings?” Sirius suggested and James’ face lit up.
“Oh, I have the best idea,” he grinned, dashing over to the pantry as Sirius finished mixing the batter and turned headed over to the hot pan.
In the corner of his eye, he saw James return with a bunch of normal toppings in hand. A few lemons, honey, sugar, jam. He dumped them on the counter, then grabbed a tray. Sirius ignored him then, deciding that whatever idea he had, it was probably weird and stupid. Not that he didn’t normally love James’ weird and stupid ideas, but this involved his brother, so he really didn’t want to know.
He was nearly done the final pancake when Sirius got a whiff of James’ idea.
“What the fuck are you doing?” he shouted, spinning around to find James’ squeezing blood out of his thumb, into a little glass jar. It was one of about five little jaws, all set out neatly on tray around a plate with flowers beside it. He had his tongue out and eyes focused intently on the red drops dripping into the jar.
“Last time we had pancakes Reg said he was interested in finding out what blood would be like as a topping, so I figured I’d give him a chance to try it.”
Sirius just stared at James in disbelief. Alright, maybe he was staring at the jar, but still. He was hungry and that was fresh blood. All he’d been having for the last month were those stupid blood tablets that tasted like garbage because Effie and Monty had been too sick to spare anything, and James had turned into Regulus’ personal straw. Not that he was complaining about the tablets of course. Not at all. They technically curbed his cravings. He just… liked having a few sips of the real thing every now and then.
“Um, Sirius?”
“What?”
“Is the pan supposed to be smoking like that?”
“Wha-” Sirius spun back around and- “Oh, bloody hell!”
He dove for the handle and quickly took it off the heat, dumping the very black and charred lump of pancake onto the table.
“That was your fault. You distracted me,” he groaned, checking the bowl to see if he might be able to scrape together some mixture to make a new one. “That one gets to be yours. And you have to give me some of that too.”
“No way! This is for Reg, it was his idea.”
“Yeh and its your blood, which means you have to give some to me as payment for getting up so early and cooking our breakfast.”
“About that…”
Sirius dropped the bowl and turned around to find James smiling sheepishly, scratching the back of his head.
“What do you mean about that? This is our breakfast. I never agreed to just cooking for you two.”
James pursed his lips, his cheeks turning red as he shifted awkwardly, very slowly shuffling closer to the counter. “Yeh well… I sort of… maybe… slightly…” He picked up the plate stacked with pancake and set it down on his tray, backing away. “Planned on having leftovers… so Reg and I could go for a walk and have an evening picnic…. his lunch my dinner…”
“And when exactly were you planning to tell me this part of your plan?”
“I just did?”
“I hate you.”
“Sorry?”
Sirius huffed, crossing his arms and leaning against the stove like an upset child. “You could have just asked me to make a double batch.”
“Oh yeh… Wanna make note of that for in six months?”
“James, I swear I’m going to rip off your head and feed your body to-”
“What’s with all the violent threats out there, boys?” Effie cut him off from the living room.
Sirius glared at James and stormed off to the living room, where Effie was sat on the lounge reading with the radio on in the background.
“James is bullying me,” he muttered, lying down next to her and putting his head on her lap, and glaring up at James. He loved sitting with Effie. Ever since she’d introduced him to the world of hugs, he couldn’t get enough of them, especially from the woman who he considered his mum in all but blood.
“James,” Effie said sternly, setting aside her book
“Oi! I didn’t do anything!”
“Nothing my ass…” Sirius murmured as Effie began raking her fingers through his hair, brushing out the knots. “First, he woke me up at twelve o’clock by opening my curtains and blinding me. Then, he forced me to make us all pancakes only to reveal I wasn’t allowed to eat any and he was taking them for himself. And to top it all off, he filled a little jar with his blood right in front of me and won’t even let me taste a bit.”
James snorted, “Your eyes are fine, it was actually twelve ten, you don’t get a say in what I do with my blood, and I didn’t force you, you agreed to it.”
“Ahh but you admit that you’re a greedy git who lied about pancakes.”
James opened his mouth to retort, but Effie interrupted him with a chuckle.
“Would you like me to cook you some replacement pancakes, Sirius?”
“No, my appetites been ruined. I’m too depressed to eat. Betrayed by my selfish, lying, manipulative ex-best friend.”
“I didn’t even-”
Sirius shook his head, holding his hand out and flicking his fingers, shooing James away.
“Nope. Go away, slave driver. I hate you now. Go find a new best friend.”
James rolled his eyes but didn’t protest being told to go join Regulus, muttering something about Sirius being a drama queen as he walked away. Sirius just huffed, taking in Effie’s comfort. He was so dunking a bucket of cold water on him in the middle tonight.
“Am I going to hear need to wear earplugs to block our James’ screaming when you get revenge tonight?” Effie asked as if reading his mind. He hadn’t gotten any better at hiding his feelings in the last few years.
Sirius shrugged innocently, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Hmm… I’m sure…”
Sirius nodded, “I’m glad you trust me. I would be very hurt if you didn’t.”
Effie laughed and continued raking her fingers through his hair, the radio playing peacefully in the background, filling the silence. Sirius closed his eyes after a while, and drifted off to sleep not long after that. If you’d told eleven-year-old him that in five years he’d be happily sleeping in the arms of a vampire hunter, he’d have called you insane.
He was terrified here at first and refused to let Regulus out of his sight for months. Sleeping on a mattress in his room. Guarding the bathroom door for him. Sirius would be eternally grateful that the Potters hadn’t thrown them out for being difficult.