Waiting for him | 2/3

The sun rose on the castle that morning, Peter woke up due to the sun seeping in from outside. He yawned, stretching as he sat up; He turn his head to face Sirius’ bed. He sighed looking at the empty bed. “Moony, Prongs..Padfoot still isn’t back.” James only just awoke to Peter’s words but he instantly shot up, looking over to the empty bed that used to belong to their fourth member. “Damn it..where the hell is he!”He groans. Remus was frowning across the other side of the room, looking rather angry and upset. “Why did he have to take the map?” He sat, sliding out of bed.

Peter ran to the bathroom before James or Remus could get there. James scowled “I’m going in first tomorrow wormy!” He said in a raised yet teasing tone. Remus just sighed shaking his head. “You act like children.” He said, moving over to his drawer to grab his clothes out. James turned to Remus with a frown “oh come on we aren’t children!” He hissed, going over to his own bed and sitting back down. Remus let out a bark of a laugh. “We quite literally are James. We are 16 well Sirius is 17 and Pete is almost 17 but we are still children until 18 ..well in the muggle world anyways. When we turn 17 in the wizarding world we are adults.” He spoke watching James pout , before turning his back to James.

As soon as the three were done they headed down to the Great hall, Peter’s eyes scanned the Gryffindor table for Sirius but not to his surprise he wasn’t there. “If he isn’t back by tomorrow we’ll have to tell dumbledore to get someone looking for him. We can spend today looking ourselves though since it’s the weekend.” Remus said , pulling the two to the table, sliding into his seat. “That’s a good idea…He might have just gone to one of the secret passages? Or maybe he wanted to go to hogsmead and got to drunk?” Peter suggested. “That’s a good thought wormy though why wouldn’t he just tell us where he was going?” Remus said, looking at him , cocking a brow slightly; he received a shrug from Peter. James didn’t touch his food, he just played with it on his plate, Brows furrowed and head down. Remus didn’t say anything about it, nor did Peter , they both knew it was about Sirius being gone and knew that he saw Sirius was a brother, as he did Peter and Remus.

Peter had to drag James out his chair to get him to leave the Great hall where he was Looking towards the spot Sirius would normally be in. “Come on prongs. I’m sure Padfoot will be back soon enough, let’s just get looking for him.” He said, though uncertain that would happen he made his tone clear and serious to hide his own nerves that were pecking at his skin. James reluctantly let Peter do as he wanted, once they had made it to the corridor he shoved Peter off him. “I can walk , ya know..” he grumbled, hearing a laugh come from Remus on his left. Peter’s eyes narrowed at James before shrugging it off and continuing to walk. “So, are we splitting up and looking or together?” Remus asked, looking between the two for an answer. They both look at eachother then James speaks “split up, we can cover ground more quickly, meet at the green houses when we are done?” He asked, a questioning tone in his voice. Remus and Peter both nod, the three head their separate ways.

James went to the quidditch feild, he knew Sirius sometimes went there when he was stressed and hopefully for James that was where he was. James walked into the changing rooms first, peering his head in the shower rooms, narrowing his eyes sometimes to see in the shadows but it was no use in there, Sirius wasn’t there. He checked a few times before heading to the stands that were up heigh incase Sirius had gone into one of them. He let out a sigh when he saw the empty stands, the wooden benches discarded and still muddy from last time’s game, with a frown he headed back down the stairs, carefully avoiding any muddy steps much like he did on his way up.

James stumbled in the mud on his way back t the castle, but caught himself on a tree, he had checked around the black lake, some of the forbidden forest, the quidditch pitch and some other spots he knew Sirius liked but it was no use. Sirius wasn’t at any of them, it worried James more now, he hopped one of the other’s had found him or a clue as to where he could be. He walked past the entrance of the back of the castle and around a small pillar to the greenhouses, it was empty but he assumed the other’s were still searching. He huffed as he jumped up on a empty table, sitting down as he waited for the other’s to show up, hoping that Sirius would be with them.

Peter was patrolling the upper levels, he was walking past the defence against the dark arts classroom and took a sharp left, looking around before slipping behind a tapestry; going up the staircase and looking to see if Sirius was at the top. It was hollow and empty except a few pieces of carpet and some small birds nests. He slipped back out the tapestry and continued his walk, looking in every nook and cranny. He checked behind a mirror on the fourth floor. “Lumos.” He said, flicking his wand as it lit up the room that seemed to be rather dark and empty except the few shelves with some old books on them. He closed the mirror and turned back, walking back from where he came from until he hit the next staircase, climbing up it he let out a small yelp as he hit the trick step, he quickly got his foot out after a little bit of struggle then continued walking up. “Damn it..gonna have to check that later..” he muttered, walking down the corridor, stopping to check broom closets and whatever Sirius would be likely to be in. He moved onto the lower layers meeting back up with Remus when he lost hope.

Remus and Peter were wandering around the Lower levels, Remus was practically crying at this point, he was stressed and just wanted to know where Sirius was. “H-hey wormy..do you think he’s okay?” Remus’ asked, hiccuping slightly as he and Peter walked out of the classroom they had just been in. “I’m not sure Moony..I sure hope so but I’m sure we’ll find him.” Peter said flashing a nervous smile as he patted remus’ back gently. Remus just made a hum in return before leading Peter out the back entrance of the castle, he saw James’ fresh foot prints meaning he hadn’t arrived long before he and Peter had. Once they saw James in the greenhouse Peter took the first word before James or Remus could open their mouths. “He’s not on school grounds or if he is he’s hidden well. There was nothing in the castle..” he spoke, taking a seat next to James whose eye went wide then closed as he pinched the bridge of his nose. “What the hell are we supposed to do now?! Damn it!” He hissed, standing up ; making the table shake. James threw his hands up in the air, silently cursing the world. “He’ll be safe..I know it..I just wonder where he is..” Remus spoke up, his voice much softer and more saddened then usual. The three lions talk about what to do and if they should tell dumbledore yet or not until they eventually get kicked out of the greenhouses by professor Sprout, they all laughed at her angry expression. They were genuinely laughing. They headed back towards Gryffindor Tower.

Peter was the first to Jump on his bed when they got to the dorm, it made a loud creek but suprisingly didn’t break. Remus laughed at Peter whose eyes were widened, checking his bed for any breaks. “Maybe you need to do a charm to make your bed stronger wormy.” Remus suggested, in a teasing tone, a smirk creeping up his face. “That would probably be a good idea..I’ll look for one when we get Sirius back.” Petter replied, an annoyance in his tone as he slowly sat back down. James had walked over to Sirius’ bed and sat on it. “So we all agreed if he’s not back by tomorrow morning we’ll tell dumbledore..?” He asked, not looking at them but at the photo of Sirius above the bed. Remus and Peter nod but after seeing James wasn’t looking Remus spoke. “yeah..that’s the plan.” James nods from across the room. Peter speaks up after a few minutes of silence. “Hey..maybe we could play exploding snap..? Maybe occupy our minds for a little..?” He said, he watched James’ head snap round to face him. “Sure.” James spoke almost instantly while Remus hums a response. “Come on the floor then.” Peter said moving to sit on the floor pulling the cards out his pocket. James and Remus follow suit.

The game went on for a while, mainly because they kept breaking out in an argument of who’d get to shower first and lucky for Remus he won, then James, then Peter. “Awh come on moony let me shower first!” James said in a whiny tone, looking at remus with puppy eyes. “No, you know that only works for pads sometimes, not for you prongs.” Remus replied watching James rolling his eyes and groaning; Peter laughed at that, giving James a playful punch in the arm. “should’ve known that it wouldn’t work.” James said in groaning once more. The three continued with the game until Peter said it was hurting his ears, to which the others shrugged at and stood up. “I’m gonna go shower now.” Remus spoke, stretching and he headed to the bathroom.

Once Remus was inside he brushed his teeth first, turning on the shower in the background to warm it up. After he finished brushing his teeth he spat out any remaining tooth paste and cleaned the sink; taking of his shirt before checking the water. He yawned a little as he pulled off his trousers and then his boxers. His legs, torso and arms were still covered in cuts from the latest full moon. He scowled at himself for them before heading into the shower, he let his body adjust to the temperature as the water run down his chest and down his legs. He grabbed the shampoo, scrubbing it into his hair as he did; he grabbed the shower head down with ease , washing his hair and body before stepping out and turning the shower off. He wrapped his lower half in the towel he had left on the side then used another one to dry his hair so it wasn’t as damp and wouldn’t ruin his bedding.

As Remus entered the dorm again, James quickly ran past Peter and Remus and into the bathroom, laughing like a madman. “The hell’s he laughing at-“ Remus asked Peter, looking towards him. “Because he beat me to the bathroom. The arse.” Peter replied pulling on his own pyjamas as he did. “Oh yeah, James sent an owl to his parents of what is happening and they told him to keep them updated.” Peter door up after a few minutes of silence due to them both getting into bed. “Ah. Makes sense.” Remus nods, stretching his arms.

James came back into the room , already changed and his hair wet and sodden. “We should head to bed earlier than yesterday..that way we can get up early and look for Sirius again. And tell dumbledore if we can’t find him stil..” James said, taking off his glasses. “Yeah..let’s do that.” Peter said, watching Remus lick his wand to turn off all the lights.

This was going to be a long night for the three of them whom were still missing their fourth.