All Will Be Well
Sirius entered the carriage and was immediately hit with three different looks.
Peter's was one with weak curiosity, it seemed as if he was about to just cut right to the chase and fall asleep right now.
Remus looked at him with a blank inquisitive look, he would ask questions later but not with strong doubts, with curiosity only.
James presented a scarier look.
It wasn’t that he looked threatening, that would never be the case when it came to any of his friends. It was the difference between how he had looked five minutes ago compared to how he looked now. His eyes were narrowed and his brows lowered making him look questioning, more so than Remus. That would be all if it wasn’t for the fact that his mouth had hardened into a stern line, his tell.
Sirius sat back down in his original seat across from James, whose expression followed Sirius on his short walk from the door to his seat. When he was fully seated Sirius closed his eyes for a second, took a breath, and said, “Out with it, James.”
James’ expression tightened, but instead of asking what was clearly on his mind he feigned indifference. Shrugging, he turned back to the window.
Sirius wouldn’t be swayed so easily, “Come on. I know you want to say something.”
James glanced back at back at Sirius. Next to him, Sirius could hear the sound of fabric rustling, probably the sound of Moony looking between the two of them and gathering his belongings to leave the carriage that had suddenly become very tense. The air was rapidly becoming susphocating under the tension. Sirius wouldn’t blame Remus for leaving. His suspicions were confirmed correct when he heard the door close a moment later.
Peter’s escape wasn’t as swift as Remus’. “I’m gonna uh- gonna go uh- find the trolley.” He said, stunted in his focus on leaving James and Sirius alone. The door quickly closed quickly behind him.
James turned fully to face Sirius and crossed his arms. Sirius stared James head on, not to be intimidated by his best friend. “I know what you want to ask.” Sirius stated, staightforward.
“But do you know what you’re going to say?” James replied. It sounded as if James believed Sirius would lie to him, but for the two who were closer than brothers, who were brothers in almost every aspect, lying was never an option.
“Its an easy explanation, really.” Sirius said, feigning casualty.
“Oh really,” James said with mock enthusiasm. “You just, what, saw Lily in the hallway and happened to strick up a nice chat with her, one in which you both smile profusely.” He was doing that thing where he was fervently waving his hands around again. “That is all completely normal for the two of you. You’ve always been her biggest fan.” James glared.
“Its not that big of a deal, mate. She just wanted to thank me.”
Sirius realized his mistake too late. James was definitely now wondering what Lily would want to thank him for.
“And what would she want to thank you for.” Sirius almost smiled at James’ predictability.
Not wanting to lie, he said, “I might have run into Lily when she was in a…” Sirius searched for what to say that wouldn’t fully expose why Lily was upset. “...stressful situation.” he landed on. “I did what I could to help her and apparently it helped a lot. That’s what she wanted to thank me for.”
James’ expression smoothed over but he looked concerned now. “And you’re sure she’s better now?”
It seemed that James’ overall concern for Lily wouldn’t be turned off so easily.
“She’s a lot better now, mate.” Sirius said assuringly, and because he wanted to put this conversation to rest he added, “That was all.”
That was far from all actually, but Sirius had a feeling that all would be well soon enough.
“I suppose I should thank you too. For helping Lily, I mean.”
“And why would you need to do that?” Sirius regretted his words. He knew that it implied James was still invested in Lily fully and Sirius wans’t one hundred percent sure that the letter plan would come to fruition. It also made it clear that Sirius was a bit disaproving of James still having lingering feelings for Lily. It was stupid, seeming as it was only yesterday that his friend had declared he was ready to move on. Sirius couldn’t seem to help how he felt on the matter: annoyed yet invested.
James caught onto Sirius’ words and said, “I guess I don’t.” He looked back out the window putting the conversation to rest.
James didn’t look up from the window for the rest of the journey away from Hogwarts.
***
Immediately after the Hogwarts Express arrived at King’s Cross Station, the four boys made their way towards Mr. and Mrs. Potter. Effy, James’ mum greeted the boys with her usual enthusiasm. Although Effy and Monty had adopted Sirius after Christmas of fifth year, they treated him like one of their biological children. That being said, they also treated Remus and Peter as one of their own too.
Effy placed a kiss on each of the boys’ cheeks before she asked them how the journey had been. Monty was gathering James and Sirius’ trunks to apparate back to the Potter’s house. Peter and Remus would be bringing their own trunks home with them. Peter, whose family lived close by would be probably be over almost every single day to see James and Sirius. Remus, however, seemed very doubtful if he would even be able to visit even for a quick day trip.
“My mother was very adamant that we spend this summer as a family” Remus told Mrs. Potter, when she asked him if he knew when he could visit James and Sirius. “Its either she’s upset that I’m entering my final term at Hogwarts or she’s worried about…” Other things. Werewolf things.
Effy and Monty knew, of course, and were accepting of their children’s friends but it didn’t do good to talk about in public. Remus, being now seventeen, had his transformations becoming worse and worse, more and more painful. Even having Padfoot, Prongs, and Wormtail didn’t help as much as it used to. At this new conversation topic (and that Remus was thinking about being away from his friends for the entirety of the summer) Remus started to look uneasy and slightly nauseous. Sirius moved closer to him, a sign that he was silently supporting Remus.
“Well dear, we’ll be ready to receive you if she changes her mind.” Effy said, and with a sweet smile she gave Remus a hug before she moved to apparate back home, trusting the boys to get there on their own.
“We’ll make sure to write.” James said to Remus, attempting to put him at ease. His efforts were accentuated by Peter’s fervent nodding.
Remus not looking even a little bit swayed said, “I’m sure I’ll find other things to do other than waiting around for letters from you three. Besides I have a ton of muggle books that I’ve been meaning to read.”
“I hear some of those come from Evans.” Sirius said.
Remus looked at Sirius, “Who else am I supposed to take recommendations from. When was the last time you even touched a book?”
Sirius was thrown back to yesterday when he had returned Hogwarts: A History to the library when the course of his entire afternoon had been shifted. But, “Last week, when I fell asleep on my Potions textbook. That counts, right?” was all he said.
This initiated a few lighthearted quipes between the four of them before James commented that it was time to go home.
James and Peter aparated away leaving Sirius and Remus as the only two of the marauders left at King’s Cross.
“Moony,” Sirius began, hesitant for what he was about to say.
Remus turned away from his luggage to look at Sirius in the face. Standing this close together Sirius was reminded of the height difference between the two of them. Sirius had to tilt his head a bit to look up at Remus’ face.
It didn’t always used to be that way, they had once been equal height but one summer had changed all of that. Remus had walked onto the Hogwarts Express a head taller but with an ego not much changed, which endeared him to much less jokes and teasing than would have been normal.
“If you need anything…” Sirius continued. “Don’t hesitate to write.” Remus looked away, breaking eye contact. Sirius needed Remus to understand. So he placed a hand on Remus’ arm. This movement caused a flinch to go through Remus and he moved his head to stare at the hand Sirius had placed on his arm.
“I mean it, I want you to know that… that,” Merlin, why was this so hard. “That I’m here for you. We’re here for you.” It sounded less personal when he added in James and Peter, he knew they cared for Moony but this conversation had already placed them in a private little bubble.
It felt like, for a moment, that it was just him and Remus.
“I know.” Remus said in all seriousness. “These upcoming full moons won’t be my first alone. And they probably won’t be my last. You’ll see me again. I mean, its not as if I’m going off to war as a teenager, let alone a student.” The thought was so outrageous that Remus rolled his eyes.
“This summer just won’t be the same without the four of us spending all our days together.” Sirius removed his hand from Remus’ arm, and Remus tracked the movement with his eyes.
“I doubt you won’t see me the whole summer, mum will come around.” Remus replied. “You just like to be dramatic.”
At that Sirius grinned and said, “I hope you’re right.” before the two boys made their separate ways for the summer.