Sleeping
James
James is talking to Sirius and Remus when Pandora steps out of the camper, Remus is slightly annoyed with James for bringing yet another stray back to the camp and Sirius is trying desperately to untangle his long black hair. For weeks, James has been telling him to get a haircut, but Sirius refuses to let anyone near his hair with any sharp object.
“Prongs, you really need to cut it out. We agreed upon keeping our group small, that means you can’t just pick up every stranger you find along the way!” Remus' voice shows irritation, even though he’s not truly angry.
“Moony, the guy was seriously hurt! What was I supposed to do, just walk away and let him die?” James replies, confusion in his voice, what did Remus expect him to do?
“I-” Remus starts, inhaling deeply to gather his thoughts. “You’re right, sorry.”
Just as James is about to respond to Remus, Pandora steps in and breaks the moment.
“He’s going to be okay” She says with a reassuring smile, her presence immediately easing a bit of the tension in the air.
“He’s a tough one.” She glances at Sirius but he’s too busy fussing over his hair to notice, leaving James puzzled over what the look meant.
“He’s asleep now though, so I’m going to need a place to sleep tonight.” She adds, a hint of nervousness creeping into her voice. She has trouble sleeping around other people.
“Hm,” Remus muses, clearly thinking over it. “I suppose you can scoot in with Mary and Lily, right?” He suggests, completely unaware of Pandora’s trouble with sleeping around other people.
Pandora shifts her weight and James can see her usual confidence waver just a little bit.
“It’s okay, I’ll just squeeze in with you and Sirius, that way Pandora can take my tent for the night.” James says, looking over at Sirius and Remus to see if they agree.
Pandora gives him a grateful smile.
Sirius sighs dramatically. “Oh great, now Remus and I can’t have fun tonight.” He pretends to sulk and finally succeeds in putting his hair up. Remus playfully nudges him in the shoulder, and all the tension from moments before melts away.
“I’m off to bed then.” Pandora announces
She was probably right, the sun had already dipped below the horizon, and the darkness was creeping in, but James chose to linger by the fireplace for a while. He needed some time to sort through his thoughts.
“Regulus.” James whispers to himself, savouring the way the vowels felt on his tongue, it’s such a beautiful name. It was strange how, even amidst the chaos of the world falling apart, he had felt a flutter in his stomach when he made eye contact with the boy. Regulus his expression had been cold, yet his eyes had a warmth that was undeniably beautiful, James found himself completely entranced by them.
“Hey James” A woman's voice broke his little bubble.
“Oh,” James looks up. “Hey Lily.”
“So you took home another stray?” Lily plopped down beside him.
“Looks like gossip travels fast in this place.” He replied with a grin.
“Our walls are literally made of fabric.” Lily replies, rolling her eyes playfully.
They sit in a comfortable quiet, it has always been comfortable around them.
A few months ago, James had found Lily in a similar state as he found regulus. She had been shot in the arm by someone who she thought was her friend. Even though James had offered her to stick with their group, Lily had declined. Pandora had stitched her up and James had gathered a few supplies for her to take onto the road.
She was about to leave when Mary came back from a scavenging trip with Dorcas, Lily had locked eyes with Mary and almost immediately turned around to James and asked if she could maybe stay after all.
James had a faint idea why and smiled to himself at the memory.
“Well I’m going to bed, get your rest James.” Lily says gently as she gets up.
“Sure thing, night Lils.” James replies with a grin.
James feels a sense of joy as he looks into the fire, the last few weeks have been good in comparison to the first months of the apocalypse, he shudders when he thinks back on it, Sirius, Remus and himself had been on the run constantly, families wiped out and all supplies taken by people that panicked.
A little while later James got up. With everyone already asleep he quietly makes his way over to the tent Remus and Sirius share. They used to squeeze into these tents with the three of them all the time, sometimes even more than that, now they get to enjoy a little bit more space but honestly? James finds a sense of comfort in sleeping close to his friends.
He felt safe.