Chapter 1
Sirius had always wished for a day that he could wake up after six in the morning. But without fail, he would wake with a start. His mothers shrill voice acting as an alarm. Maybe he would grow out of it, but not yet. So he would awake with a start even though his mother wasn’t truly there.
Every day started the same. He would wake up at six and lounge in his bed until Remus woke up closer to eight. Then the two of them would get up and have breakfast together. Because in wartimes it was important that they held the smallest amount of normality. And if cooking breakfast together would ease their worries for a brief hour, then it was worth it.
Sirius’ life was finally to a point where he didn’t want to die in this war. He wanted to live for his friends, his family. The family that he found all on his own because his true family would never be worth living for. Not in his mind. So these pieces of simplicity made this war easier to swallow. Because he had an auror meeting today, it was called because of some disturbance or something. Sirius would find out details later.
For now he was happy laying in bed with Remus, enjoying the way the sun slowly crept through the window and illuminated the room. Nothing like where he grew up. No, there were bright colors and sunshine. And his Moony. His Moony. Wasn’t that something. Because they were finally together. Remus was finally his.
Two hours always passed by quickly in these mornings, he noticed. Maybe it was because he sometimes dozed off. Maybe it was because he was happy to just watch Remus sleep. Maybe it really was slow and he didn’t notice. Either way, Remus was waking up before Sirius knew it.
Remus hated waking up. Abhorred it. Detested it. Synonyms and synonyms. He really didn’t like it. Sirius knew this. So when Remus began to stir he would plant little kisses on his face until Remus would groggily open his eyes and smile. A gorgeous display of beauty in the early hours of the morning. Like a natural beauty.
The birds sing.
The wind blows leaves through the air.
The sunlight streams through the lace curtains.
Remus Lupin smiles.
It all felt connected and Sirius felt truly entrapped by him. By existing with him in this moment.
Until.
“So, eggs and toast for breakfast today. Sounds good?” Remus inquired.
Just as he had yesterday. Why would they eat the same thing two days in a row? That was an odd plan. Remus liked toast, they often had that. But they usually only had eggs once a week. Neither Remus or Sirius particularly loved eggs. It was just something to eat.
“Again? We just had eggs yesterday,” Sirius commented.
“No? We didn’t feel like cooking yesterday. We had fruit and yogurt,” Remus answered, a confused look appearing on his face.
“That was the day before yesterday,” Sirius retorted. He knows for a fact they had eggs and toast. They did.
He wasn’t crazy.
“Maybe you dreamt about it?” Remus timidly suggested. Probably knowing Sirius was spiraling about being crazy. The Black Family madness was one of Sirius Black's biggest fears.
It was a common occurrence to tell Sirius reality to ensure he wasn’t crazy. He would randomly ask to confirm simple things. He didn’t want any of his life to be a figment of an imagination. He always worried that he was still in that house, imagining this life. This beautiful life.
“I didn't, I swear. We had eggs and toast then I called James and we talked about Lily and Mary. After that you and I went out to buy stuff for dinner today,” Sirius rambled out about the previous day.
Remus’ brows furrowed more and more with confusion as Sirius rambled. Sirius knew that something had happened. Because there had to be a reason why Sirius remembered this day so vividly when it never happened. Why would he remember it if it never happened.
“Yesterday we woke up and had yogurt and fruit, then you called James. Afterwards you and I spent time outside, you mentioned how you wished you had been good at painting because you wanted to paint our backyard,” Remus informed Sirius.
“That was the day before yesterday,” Sirius retorted.
“No,” Remus shook his head and seemed to try to recall if he might have forgotten the prior day.
“What’s the date?” Sirius asked, hoping he wasn’t going crazy. What would he do if he went crazy?
“October 15th, 1979,” Remus answered.
“That was yesterday!” Sirius exclaimed.
“No it wasn’t, Sirius. Ok, let’s think. Maybe you were hit with a curse or something. So you had a dream about today. Or something. I’m sure there is something like that,” Remus suggested.
“Maybe. Let’s just drop it. I might just be ill,” Sirius said, getting out of bed nervously.
Mad.
He could be going mad.
He couldn't handle it if he went mad.
When his family members went m;ad they tortured people. What if Sirius hurt Remus.
James.
Lily.
No.
He couldn’t be going mad. There had to be an explanation. He would just go through with the day. He would figure this out. Because he couldn’t be going mad. He just couldn’t.
-
Sirius woke up and looked around. Everything was the same. He needed to see the date. He needed to. Because that would explain everything. Maybe yesterday was just an off day. But it went exactly the same as the day before. He needed to know why.
He slowly crept out of his bed and tiptoes out of the room. Headed straight for the calendar they kept on the fridge. The one where he definitely marked off the date last night. To check this out.
A red ex mark. On the 14th. Not the 15th.
It was the 15th again.
Sirius needed to figure out why he was reliving the same day over and over. Immediately.
But at least he wasn’t going crazy.
Sirius went into their study, where Remus had a million different books on magic. There had to be something that explained this. He cast a quick silencing charm, so as to not wake Remus then began to search.
Remus entered the room at eight, looking disgruntled to wake up without Sirius in their bed. Sirius felt bad but he needed to figure this out. He had to. He didn’t have time to admire the look of sleep on Remus’ face. He didn’t have time to admire the man he loved dearly.
He didn’t have time for anything until he made sure he wasn’t crazy. Because he can’t be crazy. So the day is repeating. But he needed to make sure that was possible before he told anyone.
“What are you looking for?” Remus asked.
Sirius looked up to meet Remus’ eyes. He looked confused. And worried. Sirius hated to worry him so much. Maybe it was in his nature. Maybe Remus could help.
“Is there some sort of spell that makes days repeat? Like some sort of curse that makes someone relive the same day?” Sirius inquired.
“Um. I think there was something like that. I learned about it in school. What was it called?” Remus pondered aloud. “A time loop maybe?”
“Do you have any books on them?” Sirius asked.
“I might actually check that shelf there. Are you okay?” Remus worried as he began to walk towards Sirius.
“I think I might be stuck in a time loop,” Sirius admitted, grabbing a book that said something about time loops in the title.
“Let me help,” Remus suggested.
“I’m trying to figure out why I might be in one,” Sirius said.
“Let’s research it together,” Remus sat next to Sirius and grabbed a different book.
They sat there for hours. Remus brought them eggs and toast for breakfast and they read and read. Not finding any good reasons for a time loop. Until Remus did.
“A time loop will often occur from a wizard casting a spell for something awful happening even if they are unaware. A tragedy that greatly affects the witch or wizard reversed daily until the tragedy doesn’t happen,” ‘Remus read aloud.
“Tragedy? How does that work? It's my magic but I can’t control it?” Sirius inquired.
“Well it says here that your magic energy is associated with all, as you know. Magic is connected to everything. So a tragedy that would affect you and possibly your magic greatly is going to occur today and make you reset. It says here the most common thing is death, because magic is greatly affected by death. However it is a very rare thing. Many people will just lose the people they love. But sometimes your magic will react. It doesn’t have a good explanation,” Remus informed Sirius.
“OK, so I need to find out why I am in a time loop. The best idea is to check on all the people I’m close with or have been close with. Or just people who have affected me,” Sirius confirmed.
“Yup, seems it. But contact them at the end of the day. Because they might be okay now but something could change,” Remus said.
So Sirius did. He continued to read to ensure that everything was fully understood. Then he started to contact his friends. He called everyone and looked into everything. But everyone was okay. For now everything seemed fine. So who could it be? What could it be?
Sirius began traveling the day after. Telling Remus that he was looking into something for the ministry. It was too much of a hassle to explain that he was in a time loop everyday. So he disguised it as auror work so he wouldn’t really be questioned.
He went everywhere, but nobody was even remotely close to danger, He repeated this day seven different times. Nobody was in trouble. So one evening Sirius decided to go to some place he never wanted to return to.
Grimmauld Place.
Because as much as he hated them. He hated repeating the day over and over. And his family was very strongly connected through magic. So it would make sense if his magic was reacting to his mothers death or something of that sort. Because she created him. No matter how much he hated it. So if he had to make amends with her for a day, he supposed he could so he could live the rest of his life with Remus.
He flooed into the creaky old house. He was honestly surprised he wasn’t locked out. But he was there. Looking into the dark house. It seemed empty. Not even the decrepit house elf came to yell about Sirius being a blood traitor. Something was eerily wrong.
And suddenly Sirius knew.
Of course it wasn’t his mother.
His magic detested his mother just as he did.
He had no true attachment to his father.
Why else would his magic react?
Unless it was his baby brother.
His baby.
A skull on a wall.
Dead.
His baby brother was dead.
his baby was dead.
That's why he was stuck in this loop.
And he had to fix it.