Part 14
James sat on the floor by the foot of his bed. He had just gotten back from Quidditch practice and found the dorms unusually empty. Peter was nowhere to be seen but the room looked tidier than normal. He guessed that Peter had cleaned and then scampered off somewhere. James found the map found Peter's name walking away from Regulus's in the Slytherin common room. He had no reason to question what they had been up to but part of him was beginning to get slightly jealous. What were they doing when he was away. He really shouldn't be questioning it but he couldn't stop himself. It was far too tempting to interrogate Peter about what he was doing and why. He could also ask Regulus too but it would be a dangerous and risky game to play. James, though the idea was appealing, he valued his life if was being perfectly honest.
He scanned for any other names but none of them was the one he was looking for. James was beginning to get very worried about the fact that Sirius has been quiet and partially missing for over a day now. This was the longest time that James had seen Sirius non-verbal and it was creepy to say the very least. James couldn't believe that the normally dramatic and very bouncy Sirius Black was now an empty shell of himself that never interacted with anyone. Even Ol' Sluggy was always keeping an eye on him when he could. James knew that it would be hopeless to try and find him now but he was getting suspicious about how Regulus said he didn't know anything since he had avoided the map's eyes before. Surely know where Sirius was hiding.
Remus had been told about Sirius's disappearance but he just shrugged off the news, seemingly unbothered by it. James couldn't really blame him as they barely even talked to each other anyway. It still rubbed him the wrong way, though. Remus seemed too calm about it. He even said that Sirius needed to learn a lesson and deserved to be in current state. James was shocked, sure, but he knew it was coming. Remus never forgives and he never forgets. Peter was with him in the Infirmary too and he wasn't as affected as James but he still looked surprised. Both of them had expected at least an ounce of sympathy from Remus but they were proven very wrong.
James sapped out of the memories when Peter shut the door behind him. The noise was just enough to get his attention back. Peter had something in his hand that he was hiding from James for some reason. He caught a glimpse of a very familiar silver chain around one of his fingers. James knew it from somewhere but he didn't know exactly how he knew it.
"Wormy! What's in your hand?" James was going to find out one way or another. Peter had just spent time with Regulus in the Slytherin common rooms and now he had a familiar chain in his hands. It was too suspicious to ignore now. Peter was not getting out of this one now. James stood up and grabbed Peter's shoulder. "What's in your hand Wormy?"
"Why are you asking Prongs? How is this any of your business?" The edge in Peter's voice was cold and had the intention to hurt. James immediately let go of his shoulder.
"Sorry Peter, didn't mean to pry. May I ask what happened?"
"No." Well James had tried to ask to make sure everything went well with Regulus but it was clear that Peter needed to cool down bit. This made him suspicious, though. It only made James want to question him more until he got to the answer. This was getting out of hand. There so many things that needed to be solved.
Where was Sirius?
What happened to Peter?
What was Peter holding?
They all needed an answer that was seemingly in plain sight but James couldn't spot them anywhere. It was getting more and more frustrating as less people wanted to talk to him now. He was starting to think it was his fault so now he was loosing hope in finding any solutions. Every time he thought he was close to finding something it just got replaced with something else and it continued on and on.
"Please Peter. What happened?" James tried to sound hopeful to make up for the lack of it in reality. Peter took a deep breath and looked like he was trying, and failing, to calm himself
"Well, James, I went to talk with your little boyfriend and it didn't turn out how I planned."
"How so?" James winced at the way Peter had said boyfriend in such an annoyed tone. It made it seem like he was mocking their relationship, platonic or not. Peter opened his hand, a ring on a chain hung from his index finger, bouncing slightly from being dropped suddenly.
"I wen to ask him about this and he did give me the information. He also revealed he had a similar one himself." That's where James knew it from. The matching chains and a black and silver ring hanging from it.
"What did he tell you?" James needed as much information as he could get from him, just in case it came in handy.
"That they had swapped rings the night Sirius ran away and that they were the rings they were given at birth, hence the initials etched in. He also pointed out the rough engraved date was the night he ran away from their house." Peter showed James what he was talking about and carried on, " I then mentioned that despite the shit that Sirius talked about hm he seems to actually care. Regulus then got suspicious and asked what he said about him."
"Pete, that's not what we tell people, especially Regulus." James sighed, the reason why Peter was angry became very obvious. Peter had accidentally dug his own grave by saying a simple sentence.
"Well it's to fucking late now. Anyways, I didn't realise that I had made a mistake and told him how Sirius told us hat he had raised a wand at him and was following his Mother's orders." Peter said, now a bit uncomfortable from recalling the memories, "He didn't seem to like that comment unsurprisingly."
"I wonder why Pete I wonder why? Maybe because you brought up his brother talking shit about him behind his back!" Peter shuffled away slightly.
"There was one more thing but it kind of needs some explaining."
"You have dug your own grave already, I don't see how it could get much worse for you. It's a miracle you came back unscathed to be perfectly fair." James now understood Remus whenever he said he was done with their bullshit. Peter was only making it worse for himself as he went on. He watched as Peter went next to Sirius's bed and pulled out a small folded piece of parchment that looked ready to be put in an envelope and sent away by owl. It had some writing on the outside but James couldn't tell what it said from his angle but once Peter walked closer to him he made out Regulus from the messy cursive that was Sirius's handwriting.
"I was cleaning around the dorms, as you can tell, and found both the necklace and an unsent note from the day after he ran away. I mentioned it to Regulus and he kind of snapped."
"Well I wonder why! You went through his brother's stuff and read an unsent letter addressed to him. Did you expect him to be happy about that? You also found an old matching necklace that was basically a sign of them still being brothers by Sirius's bed. That is grounds for a lot of mistrust. You don't do this to people! Especially people you barely know."
"How was I supposed to know?"
"How were you supposed to know? How were you supposed to know? It is common fucking sense to not bring up family around Regulus and Sirius. Yes this also means when one is talking shit about the other. They already don't trust each other and you know this already from Sirius's dramatic ass stories. So it is not that hard Peter!" James had lost his patience entirely. Peter had proved himself useless. He had come up with the main spells and idea for the map but he was as dense as a rock. How could one person be this idiotic.
"Ok I am so sorry if I don't spend spend as much time with the brothers as you do. I was fucking left out for years with only Remus talking to me. You only talked to me when Sirius fucked up and I don't talk to Slytherins much."
James fucked up. He fucked up. It was far too late to say anything. All the damage was done and he doubted that they were going to repair it quickly.