Chapter 1
Chapter 1: Hello?…
James was alone. For the first time in 21 years he was completely on his own. He sat his few bags down and looked around the apartment that he and Sirius had been decorating for the past few months. Standing in it alone now made it all seem somehow bigger and colder. James suppressed a shudder and started walking into the small kitchen area in the living room. He sat down on one of the dining table chairs. To be honest he didn’t really know what to do with himself right now.
One year prior Sirius received the news of his little brother dying. James didn’t know him really well and Sirius only rarely talked about him. It was a love hate relationship between him and his brother. After Sirius escaped his abusive parents and started living with the Potters the brothers stopped talking. Sirius always held it over Regulus head that he didn’t leave with him. Said he was exactly like their parents, their little golden boy, that he hated him and it was for the best that they stopped talking.
Only when he was really drunk, James would find him sitting outside smoking a cigarette and looking up into the sky. There under the night sky full of stars he would tell James about his little Reggie. How he taught him about astronomy so they would always find each other as sparkling stars in the night. How he would always take the beating for him, because hearing his brother screaming in pain was worse than being in pain himself. How Reggie was way quieter than him, a shy kid, with not much friends but a great interest in classical books, music and painting.
So even though they hadn’t talked, yet alone seen each other since Sirius finished school two years prior, Sirius was devastated by the news. Apparently Regulus was shot in the head and then dumbed into the ocean from an unknown murderer. Sirius had found out about it through the news. His parents released a statement, feigning to be devastated about their son’s passing and doing everything to find his murderer. They didn’t acknowledge Sirius with a single word in their article as if there had only ever been one son. Sirius never admitted it out loud but James knew that, that hurt him.
Sirius had a lot of difficult feelings during this time. He was grieving his lost brother, to whose funeral his own parents didn‘t bother inviting him. James, Remus and his other friends tried everything to help him through it. They searched a therapist for him and landed on Poppy. That woman was a blessing. She really got Sirius back on his feet again. Sirius and James stayed living in the Potters through all of this. They had lived together before but moved back with James parents, because they just needed that extra help. And with the help and patience of all of his friends, one year later, Sirius was almost back to his old self.
Now he‘d decided to move in with Remus. James thought maybe they could all live together, but Sirius and his parents decided that it was best for him that he should start living on his own. James really doubted that. He hated being alone, having to listen to his own thoughts. He was just not made for this. But here he was now. Alone. In this big, cold apartment.
James put in his headphones on and turned the music all the way up. Enough dwelling in the past. It was time to face the present. No matter how much he really did not want to do that. James always needed to be occupied. So he decided to unpack the rest of his bags, filled with the stuff he used while staying with Sirius and Remus.
To drag out his move James stayed with Sirius and Remus until his apartment was fully furnished and decorated. Sirius probably knew that it was just, because James was feeling rather anxious about living alone, but he never mentioned it and just let him have that. But that time was up now, absolutely everything James ever owned, that was worth keeping, had been moved into this apartment. Standing or lying in its assigned place. And because of everything already being in its place, cleaning away those very last bags didn’t take James long.
Having again nothing to do with himself, James decided it was time for dinner. It was pretty late already and actually kinda after his usual meal time. He made himself some pasta and sat down to eat while watching some YouTube videos. Feeling yet again bored he started texting his and his friends group chat.
Queerest people alive
prongs: guysss im bored does one of you maybe want to come over to keep me some company pwetty pelase
padfoot: you’ve been alone for what 4hours and you already want company see this is why we wanted you to live alone big baby
prongs: remuuuss your bf is bullying me don’t you have something to say to that
moony: very mean of you pads but he does have a point though james you need to learn how to keep yourself company it’s an important skill for an adult
prongs: dont be a smartass now i dont want to be an adult thats so much responsibility and loneliness i still feel like a lost little kid
lils: well you’re not anymore even though you really don’t seem any less idiotic you‘ve reached the age where your frontal lobe is fully developed
prongs: see i dont even know what that is so how can it be fully developed
lils: it‘s the part of your brain that makes you an adult know with big boy responsibilities and big boy jobs
prongs: but i dont feel like a big boy
moony: well you are and on the mention of big boy job remember you have your first shift at the three broomsticks tmrw
prongs: yes boss how could i forget that
padfoot: dont worry i always pick remus up after his shift so you‘ll see me again tmrw
marlene: yep maybe ill pay yall a visit too ive heard that the coffee in the three broomsticks is delicios sooo dont worry your big curly head jamesie
prongs: don‘t call me that and you know what you guys are not helping me with my little being-an-adult-now-crisis at all so im going to put on a baking show and try to sleep bye assholes
padfoot: ohhh james insulting us he must really be having a crisis
moony: yeah seems like but me and pads are also heading to bed now so good night guys
marlene: gn
lils: good night, idiots
wormtail: night wait what crisis is james having?!
marlene: scroll up
True to his words James put his phone down and started watching his favorite baking show on netflix. After three episodes he really couldn‘t keep his eyes open anymore so he let his eyes fall shut and fell into a dreamless sleep. He was woken up a few hours later in the middle of the night by some strange scratching sound. He blinked his eyes open and tried to see the source in the now pitch black room due to the television having automatically shut down a while ago. But even after his eyes adjusted enough to the dark to make out vague shapes he couldn‘t see anything out of the ordinary. He heard the noise again followed by a short knocking on wood and a quiet voice asking: „Hello?…“