The Tales of Marauders After Dark

After arriving at the institute, James took Peter to the infirmary and one of the nurses there instantly took care of him. The arrow was still sticking out of Peter's shoulder, Sirius kept it that way so Peter wouldn't bleed that much and also it could help with research. James didn't want to leave. He insisted on staying there until Peter wakes up. 

That boy was caring. It reminded Sirius of those times when he took care of Regulus after their mother made a circus. 

Sirius could only guess the relationship between James and Peter because James looked like he would put his life for the safety of the chubby boy. And there was also no way the two would be brothers or somewhat related. They looked nothing alike. Maybe they were parabatais? But Sirius hasn't seen any parabatai rune on either one of them. Were they by any chance lovers? It could be, but... Sirius thought a lover would have a more heartbreaking reaction to such a situation. Maybe they were best friends? 

Sirius decided to ask on that one once James calms down and won't be freaking out about Peter's health. The nurse seemed like a nice and skilled lady, she would take care of the chubby boy. 

Two hours. That was how long it took for James to finally leave Peter alone to rest. 

"Follow me, I will show you your room." The boy said and led Sirius through the hallways of the institute. 

This was the perfect chance for Sirius to ask. 

"Hey uhm, you and Peter, are friends, right?" 

James smiled sadly before responding, "Childhood friends. We grew up together in the neighborhood and were training to become shadowhunters together too."

Yeah, that made much more sense than the two being lovers. Sirius cursed himself mentally for having too weird thoughts.

"I see. So you two are close."

"That's right. He is my best friend..." He looked down, "I hope he will be okay." 

This was the right time for some comfort. Unfortunately, Sirius was never good at comforting people. 

"Don't worry, I am sure he will be alright." The reassuring smile was on point. James smiled at Sirius warmly. 

"I think that the two of us could be friends too, right?" He looked at the other boy with hopeful eyes. 

"Sure thing." Sirius did not have many friends. Actually, he didn't have friends at all. It would be stupid of him to decline such an offer to finally have a person by his side with whom he could train and hang out. The New York Institute was the very first institute Sirius ever visited. 

Yes, he is a shadowhunter, and yes he was trained properly and taught everything about runes and the history of shadowhunters, but he was trained at home by his parents and personal coach Kreacher. Kreacher is an old man, unnaturally short and strict. He never liked Sirius, but on the other hand, he had a great relationship with Regulus. Sirius would even say they were like father and son. It was no surprise that literally, anyone was a better parental figure than their actual parents. 

Kreacher was the one who taught them how to fight, Walburga taught them all about runes and Orion was the one to tell them about shadowhunters history and all the wars. 

"Here will be your room. Right next to mine!" James opened the door to a room that was the complete opposite of the room Sirius had in his parent's house on Grimmauld Place. It was tidy and almost empty. He will have fun turning this room upside down. 

"So we are now neighbors?" Sirius asked with a smirk.

"Oh for sure," James then ran to the next door, "Come see my room."

James's room was just like Sirius had expected it to be. Full of... everything. He had posters on the walls, soccer balls on shelves, tennis rackets, hockey sticks, all kinds of balls from all kinds of sports, even golf, and some workout barbells. His bed was messy and there were clothes all over the floor and a small aquarium on the night table. 

In the aquarium, a small turtle was eating a salad. 

"Who is this little guy?" Sirius carefully watched the turtle eat. 

"His name is, Bambi." Jasme took the turtle out of the aquarium and placed it on the bed, "He is the first in command in my army of undefeatable turtles!" 

Sirius laughed at that, the turtle definitely was a perfect company. 

"Is there a place in your army for me too?"

"NO! You are not a turtle!"

"I could be!" Sirius grabbed one of the pillows, laid down on the ground, and the pillow placed on his back. "See? Now I am a turtle too!"

James laughed out loud, " I will think it through."

Later that night Sirius was in the institute's library. He wanted to take a look around and the library looked nice. That's when he received a letter from Regulus. The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black used owls to send messages. Because using a simple post took too long. The owls were trained for years by many generations of Blacks. It was a strange way to send letters but it was still quicker. 

Sirius felt a rush of relief once he received a letter from Regulus. It meant his brother had made it alive and got to their weird family meeting safely. 

He opened the letter and began reading:

Dear Sirius. 

You asked me to let you know after the meeting is over, so I did. I also have some unpleasant news for you.

Mother had gotten an urgent call from Rodolphus Lestrange and immediately decided to leave. Waiting for

you would be wasting time as it was according to her, an emergency. We took the next flight and are on our

way to Paris. I believe this letter will get to you when it is too late. 

However, Mother says you should stay in New York. Apparently, it's for your own good. But I don't think so. 

It would be much better having you near, brother. 

Mother disagrees.

I know you wouldn't want to listen to her words. That is why it's me who is telling you this, please, stay in

New York. I will come back in the next three months. Wait for me.

Your brother,

Regulus.

Perfect. Just perfect. Sirius felt a huge wave of anger wash over him. They left. They left and said nothing before. Leaving it all onto Regulus to write the letter. But Sirius shouldn't be surprised. No one else from his family wrote him letters unless it was about something important from Idris. 

And now he was here. In a city, he barely knew. He wanted to go. He wanted to go to Paris to his family. But not to greet them with love. But to yell. To yell and shout until his lungs shatter into a million pieces. To let them know about the hatred he felt. 

He was interrupted. 

Interrupted by someone walking into the library. 

"Oh, you must be the new shadowhunter!" 

The voice was soft and warm. It belonged to a woman. Sirius turned to see who was talking to him. It was a short woman, she had a long dirty blond hair and brown eyes. Freckles all around her face and she was wearing a black dress covered with silver flowers all around. She had bandages on her right hand and the left one was covered with runes. 

"Yes, I am," Sirius nodded. This woman seemed nice. 

"My name is Tamara Balogh, What's yours?"

"Sirius Black." She was being all too friendly. It was getting a little suspicious. At least to Sirius, this kind of too-friendly behavior did not mean anything good. 

"Do you need something?" Sirius asked. The woman shook her head and smiled. 

"Not really. I was just taking a walk around, you know?"

Sirius nodded and walked through the room, past Tamara, and through the hallway. Was it rude? Probably yes. Did he care? Probably no. He went back to his room. This night was one of a disaster on its own. 

But that did not matter, right? There will be plenty of chances for him to get used to these new surroundings and if he doesn't receive any more letters with bad news from Regulus, then everything should be just right. 

On the next day, Peter was much better. Peter and Sirius that morning sat by the same table with James and had to listen to James talking about how he hated demons, how many of them he had killed, and how the demons would be much more bearable if they played soccer with him and James could beat them with getting too many goals. 

James was more than glad that Peter was doing better to the point he gave him one of his toasts as a "thank you gift for surviving" 

Turned out that the arrow, that the demon had shot Peter with, was just an ordinary arrow with poison on it. Thus, Peter was poisoned but the nurse had an antidote. (James also swears that he will kill that demon next time he sees him)

But the conversation got a different turn once the woman from yesterday, Tamara, had entered the kitchen. Peter's eyes instantly fell on her and he smiled brightly. 

"Good Morning, Mara!" The woman smiled at the chubby boy and waved at him. 

"Morning to you too, Pete," Her voice was soft just like it was when she talked to Sirius previously. 

James turned to Sirius and whispered in his ear, "Pete has a crush!" 

Now that made sense and it was kind of obvious from his behavior. The chubby boy hadn't looked away from Tamara since she walked in until she left again. It was funny watching the chubby boy being so excited about the presence of a woman. Sirius couldn't blame him tho. He himself was popular amongst girls. 

Back in London, each day he walked around the city, every single girl was giving him dirty looks. Each of them secretly dreamed of being Sirius's girlfriend. Sirius had a few girlfriends now. All just to anger his mother. She insisted on Sirius marrying a shadowhunter. A woman who would be worthy of being a part of the Noble House of Black. That's why Sirius only dated mundane girls. 

But he never found himself being truly in love. Not once. 

"Hey! She is really beautiful, okay?!" Peter had overheard James whisper. 

"She is pretty, but I wouldn't call her exactly beautiful," Sirius added. 

"Because you can't see her with my eyes! For me, she is the most beautiful woman in the entire world!" James chuckled at Peter's "poems". 

"Alright, alright, we aren't judging, Pete," But they were. 

Suddenly, an alarm was activated. All three of the boys behind the table had gotten up from their seats and followed where James went. Because Sirius didn't know the place that well. All of the shadowhunters from the institute had gathered in one room and an older couple was giving others orders on what to do or where to go. 

James ran directly to the couple. 

"Mum, what happened?" 

The woman looked at James, wrinkles on her face visible, "Demon activity across the whole of New York, and..." she looked at the man beside her to finish her sentence. The man looked at James and spoke out, "Three dead bodies of shadowhunters had been found. And it for sure wasn't the work of a demon."

"If not by demon then who?" Peter asked. 

The worried expression of the man spoke volumes.

"The bodies look as if they were attacked by a werewolf."