Diffindo
James’ POV
Remus and Sirius had a fight the other night and were avoiding each other like the plague. It was hard for James to watch his two friends distance themselves, especially since they seemed so close before this.
Sirius had yet to come down for breakfast and James could only assume he didn’t want to see Remus, but he hoped he’d go get something from the kitchens. He’d just have to ask him later.
“What did you two even fight about?” James asked, poking at the eggs on his plate.
“I told you yesterday.” Remus had, in fact, not told any of them the real reason for the fight.
“All you said was,” Peter switched to a mocking tone, “‘He hurt me’, you didn’t tell us shit.”
“But he did, and that’s why we were fighting.”
James ran a hand through his dark hair, and huffed at the way his friend was avoiding the topic. “Remus, please, why did you fight?” There was an added emphasis to each word as he tried to wring the information from his friend.
When the ginger didn’t respond, Peter spoke up, “We’re worried, y’know?” He waited a moment before continuing, “You and Sirius have never actively avoided each other, so what happened?”
Remus tightened his jaw, “It's nothing, Pete, shove off.”
“Moony,” James started, just as he got up to leave.
“Shove. Off.” He hit the table, making a few Gryffindors nearby glance at the group, whispering to their friends.
When he began to storm out of the great hall, Peter and James followed with caution. They should leave him alone, but it’s not like either was thinking about the best scenario. James just wanted for his friend to be ok, and Peter was sick of ‘Angsty Moony’.
Ahead of them, they noticed Remus stop and turn, both of them ducking behind a pillar to avoid being spotted. When James peaked out, however, he saw that Remus had cautiously begun walking down a different corridor.
James motioned for Peter to follow, and sped up his steps when he heard Sirius shouting at someone. If he and Remus were fighting again- James exhaled to calm his nerves and turned into the hall where he saw Remus go.
When he saw Remus inching closer and heard Snape's voice join the tumult, he bolted across the stone floor. Moony obviously turned then, giving him a ‘What are you doing?’ look, eyes wide and jaw tight.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about, Black,” Snape spat, “Diffindo!”
Right as James turned into the alcove at the end of the corridor, Sirius was thrown back, almost falling into him. Snape had his wand out, shock spreading across his face. James glanced behind him, where Sirius had fallen, to see Remus on the floor, holding his arm with care. It was gushing blood, and white could be made out underneath.
He didn’t know if it was bone or muscle showing, but he didn’t care to find out. Instead, he pulled out his wand and turned on Snape and his cronies. Avery and Mulciber sat on either side of Snivellus, wands at the ready.
“Bugger off, Potter,” Avery sneered, “This isn’t your fight.”
James shot a quick spell at him which threw the boy into a wall, “My friends fights are mine as well.”
Snape rolled his eyes, a cruel smirk on his face. “James potter,” he ‘tsked’ and shook his head, “Always trying to be the hero.”
“Stop it, Snape,” he hissed.
“You’ll never be able to help your friends,” Snape sneered back at James, “You’ll never be good enough for them, always too late to the feud.”
James gripped his wand tighter, teeth clamped against one another, “Prick.”
He shot a hex at the Slytherin, making him slip on his feet. Peter quickly hit Mulciber with a hex of his own, forcing the boy to speak in riddles as to stop any spells he might’ve uttered at James.
Snape began to lift his wand after falling to the ground, but James was too fast for him, already hexing him again. This time slugs filled the boy's mouth, and he threw one up after the other.
Mulciber ran off, leaving Snape alone. James ran at the boy then, white hot rage searing through him. He grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and threw a punch. Then another, and another, and several more, screaming at him to stop being such an ass.
Tears began to fall from his eyes, slowly falling down his face, as he watched Snape's nose bloody his lips. Peter ran to him, grabbing at him and pulling him away.
“James!” He screamed, “Leave him!”
“No!” James shouted back, voice beginning to sound scratchy, “Let go of me, Pete!”
He fought his friend to let him go, to get just one more swing at the Slytherin, but he was already crawling down the hall, unable to walk from the earlier hex. Snape shot back a quick, concerned look, on that said he was scared of James.
James slumped to the floor, defeated, dropping his head into his hands. His breathing was ragged as he settled himself. When he finally came back to his senses, and remembered the problem at hand, he turned to Sirius.
The boy was still crumpled on the ground, but the pool of blood had grown beneath him. James dragged himself over, scared that Sirius might not survive. He could hear him whispering to Remus, asking “How bad is it?” over and over again.
Remus simply shook his head, tears falling, as he grasped his friend on the floor.
“What do we do?” Peter's voice shook as dared a glance at the wound on Sirius’ arm.
“We have to get him to the infirmary,” James said, reaching out for his friend.
Before he could grab him, though, a familiar face fell into his vision. Regulus was down on his knees, wrapping Sirius’ wound with his own robe. “Hey, hey, hey, hey. Breath, ok?” James heard him whisper to his brother. He began to count his breaths while Remus carefully helped Sirius to his feet. They muttered something to each other, and Sirius smiled, before turning to lean on Remus.
James couldn’t help but gape at the boy a minute, if only for the fact that he had helped his brother, rather than left him to bleed out.
“Stop standing there,” Regulus spat, “Get him to Madam Pomfrey!”
The trio just nodded, helping to hold Sirius as they rushed him to the infirmary.
Finally, they burst through the wooden door. “Poppy,” James breathed as he saw her look up from her current patient.
“Dear Merlin, what happened?” she became frantic as she ran to him, noticing the trail of blood and the red that covered their robes.
“Snape he, well,” James ran a hand through his hair, eyes wide, his breathing faltering again. “I don’t know, he was there, they were, and then suddenly Sirius- he just, he fell, I don’t know!”
“It’s alright, dear, sit down,” and she ushered him into the chair next to the bed which she placed Sirius. “Remus?”
“Yeah?” he wiped at his cheek, trying to hide the tears from earlier.
“What did Severus do?” she spoke quickly, not looking up from the injured boy in her arms.
“He uhm, I think he used ‘Diffindo’ on him,” he hesitated, “They were fighting, and then he just hit him. I’m sorry, I didn’t get there before he…”
“It’s fine, sit down if you need.” Pomfrey was carefully cleaning the wound now, after unwrapping whatever Regulus had put there. She rubbed a salve around the edges, trying to numb the pain of the spell she would use to heal it.
“Should I get Mcgonagall?” Peter asked James, covering the sight in his peripherals.
“If you don’t, I’m sure Snivellus will.”
Peter just nodded back and rushed out of the room. James sat there, barely even blinking, while Pomfrey worked. So much had happened in such a short time and he just couldn’t handle it. He took a shaky breath, stood up, and walked to the door. But before he could leave, Peter was already back, an angry Mcgonagall following. He mouthed ‘Snape found her first’ just before she stomped into the room.
The next thing he knew, they were in Dumbledore’s office, standing with Snape, Mulciber, and Avery.
“I trust that you understand why it is not ok to physically harm another student. Hexes and potions are one thing, small and childish pranks,” Dumbledore paused his pacing to look directly at Snape, “But it is only a matter of time before you begin to curse your fellow students, something that can result in death.”
Snape nodded his head in understanding, his friends carefully following.
“Now, you three will receive detentions for the rest of the week. Filch will retrieve you when you are needed.” He waited a moment, “You may go.”
The three Slytherins rushed out of the room, heads down.
“As for the two of you, detention tonight will suffice. Mr. Potter, however, I would like to speak with you alone.”
“Should we..?” Peter asked and jabbed his thumb towards the door.
“Yes, you may go.” And with that, his two friends left him alone with Dumbledore. Remus threw an apologetic look back at him before exiting through the door and quietly shut it behind himself.
“I’m glad that you took the initiative, Potter, proud even.” James beamed at that, happy for any sorry of approval, “However, punching a fellow student is not ok. Not even in self defense.”
“I’m sorry, sir,” James said, his smile falling.
“Why did you feel the need to punch him, of all things? Why not give him antlers,” James stiffened slightly, “or soak him with water?”
“What do you mean, sir?”
“Well,” Dumbledore sat down, “Most children do not resort to muggle fighting.”
“Oh,” James just looked at him, unsure of what to say, “I guess it was the first thing that came to mind.”
Dumbledore hummed and nodded. “Do not do so in the future. There is no dignity in punching your peers, nor will anyone find humor in it.”
They sat with a thick silence between them, a clock on the wall ticking away. James tried not to fidget too much as he waited for the Headmaster to dismiss him.
“You may go and check on Mr. Black if you so wish.”
“Thank you, sir.”
James then got up and walked to the door as calmly as he could. But the moment he heard it click, he bolted for the infirmary. Sirius was still being healed when he left so he was unsure if the procedure went well or not.
When he burst through the door, Pomfrey yelled at him to be quiet, but allowed for him to check on Sirius.
“He should be good as new tomorrow,” she said as she stood behind James, watching Sirius as he slept. “That was a very good tourniquet that you tied for Sirius.”
“A what?” James turned to her, confused.
“Was it not you? Oh, well,” Pomfrey paused, “I guess it could’ve been one of your friends then. Whoever tied his arm to stop the blood flow, let them know it was well done for me.”
“I’m not sure I can.”
“Why is that?” Pomfrey gave him a quizzical look.
“They uhm, we aren’t really… on good terms.” James was going to stop there but realized she’d think he was talking of Peter or Remus. “I mean, it wasn’t one of my friends who did it.”
“Hm.” She hummed before turning and walking to a different bed, leaving James where he was.
Later that night, James was watching the map, looking to see if Regulus was out of bed. He had spent the entire day wondering if he should tell Regulus of what Madam Pomfrey had said. It’s not like they were close, just like he told Madam Pomfrey, but he could simply say he wanted to update him on Sirius.
James sighed and put on his glasses, giving in to the urge to go and see Regulus about his brother. He grabbed the invisibility cloak from the side of his bed and snuck out of the door, closing it quietly behind him, even if no one was inside.
Peter and Remus were both in the common room, talking with Marlene and Lily about some famous quidditch player. James didn’t know who exactly it was, and he wished he could join the conversation to find out, but he had other things to do.
He quietly made it through the portrait hole, tip-toeing his way across the room, and hurried to the astronomy tower. James glanced at the map again, just to make sure Regulus hadn’t moved.
He hurried up the staircase and threw off the cloak just outside the door, setting it down to help hide the map. The door was rather creaky, so even in his attempt to be quiet about it, Regulus heard and swung around with his wand at the ready.
“Sirius is ok,” James shut the door behind him and carefully walked over to the boy, who lowered his wand but did not put it back in his pocket. “I thought you’d want to know.”
“Thank you,” Regulus said quietly as he leaned onto the railing, staring up at the star filled sky.
“Madam Pomfrey, she uhm, she complimented your turn-quiet.” James butchered the word and immediately wanted to take it back as he saw an amused smirk cross Regulus’ face, an uncomfortable heat covering his own.
“My what?” He snickered.
“Your uhm, the thing,” James spluttered, “I don’t know! Whatever you put on his arm!” James threw his hands around as he spoke.
“It’s called a tourniquet.” Regulus smiled at him, almost genuine but still practiced.
James adjusted his glasses and threw his head back, laughing lightly. “Close enough.”
“Mm,” Regulus nodded.
James looked over and leaned on the railing himself, arms crossed over each other. He studied Regulus’ face a moment, noticing his long lashes, slight freckles, and the way his cheeks flushed pink with the breeze. He belonged there, he really did.
“Why are you up here anyway?” he found himself asking, wanting to talk with Regulus more than anything.
Regulus seemed to contemplate his response a second. “It’s quiet.”
“That’s not the only reason you’re up here, Reg,” James smirked when he used the nickname.
“Stop calling me that,” Regulus rolled his eyes.
“Reg.”
“Shut up, Potter.”
As James opened his mouth to speak again, Regulus had his wand pointed at him and muttered a hex under his breath. James felt a weird sensation at the top of his head, and when he reached up he found that his hair was now made of straw.
“What the hell!” James exclaimed as Regulus’ smirk reappeared, wider than before.
“Maybe you should go blonde.”
“Never,” James gasped jokingly. “I’d look just like the Malfoys!”
Regulus stiffened slightly at the name, but said nothing of it. “Maybe I should just make everyone I hate blonde.”
“You hate me?” James said mockingly with an exaggerated frown and a hand at his heart.
“More than anyone,” Regulus responded dryly.
“Even your parents?” The words were out before James could stop himself. Fuck.
“Get out, Potter.” Regulus didn’t look at him.
“Reg, I’m so sorry,” but he was cut off.
“I don’t want to hear it.”
James bit his lower lip and slowly walked to the door. He watched as Regulus dropped his head into his hands and let out a shuddering breath.
Fuck.