Chapter 4
James POV:
It was pretty late, almost 12 am, when he heard the floo fire up. Fear and curiosity tugged him out of bed and he ended up behind his father on their stair case. He peeked around the older man in front of him. To his surprise he recognized the boy standing there, wand pointed defensively at James’ father.
“What the- Regulus?”
James was overtook with pity as the younger boy collapsed, sobs wracking his body. When James stepped forward to comfort the boy his eyes fell to something behind regulus instead.
A familiar boy was lying on the floor drenched in blood. ‘Shitshitshit’. He blanched at the sight of his best friend lying there. Sirius was pale, almost translucent, and he was dangerously thin as if he hadn’t eaten in weeks. There were various bloody wounds littering his body accompanied by ghastly bruises.
James ran to him, collapsing by Sirius’ side. He could barely hear his father calling for his mother. Everything seemed so far away. ‘Myfaultmyfaultmyfault’.
A scream cut through his thoughts. Euphemia had her wand out and was mending his broken bones while Sirius screamed, his face contorted in pain. James’ tears fogged his vision, distorting the scene in front of him. He’d never seen Sirius in this much pain and it hurt him too. Sirius was practically his brother and James loved him as such. It was too much. James let out a broken sob.
At some point the screaming must’ve stopped because when his father snapped James out of his thoughts it was dead silent.
“Hey Jamie,” Fleamont said gently, “were going to move Sirius to the couch, you know off the floor, why don’t you sit with him?”
“It’ll be a while before he wakes. You should get some sleep too darling.” His mother said, “you should also write to your friends. They would probably like to know the situation.”
James nodded. She was right. Remus and Pete deserved to know. Especially Remus. ‘Merlin’ James thought, ‘this is going to break him’. Remus had told James once that he loved Sirius, and James had seen the look of heartbreak on his face when he had told Remus about the prank. He had seen how, even after that incident, Remus’ eyes followed Sirius where ever he went (not that different from how James had tracked Sirius). He had seen the concern in remus’ face when Sirius stopped showing up to meals, dark eye bags from lack of sleep appearing under his eyes.
James ran up the stairs and grabbed parchment and a quill. He set to writing first to Pete, then to Remus. Next to him, Sirius turned in his sleep a disturbed and pained expression distorting his features.
James sealed the letters, giving to the family owl and sending them off to be delivered. He let himself sink into the couch next to his best friend. He sighed, looking towards the injured boy sadly.
“Please wake up soon.” James whispered, pleaded. He couldn’t get the thought out of his head: ‘what if he never wakes up?’ James drifted away into a dreamless sleep.