Cardigan

' When you are young, they assume you know nothing

But I knew you '

It was the beginning of summer and James Potter was sitting with his parents, Euphemia and Fleamont Potter, enjoying the delectable meal Euphemia had spent hours preparing. The Potter household was rarely not filled with their boisterous laughter or cheerful chattering about their day.

James thrived when he was around loved ones, and he couldn’t help but admire his parent’s relationship and how they continued to love each other effortlessly every day, his friends would constantly make fun of his hopeless romanticism.

He didn’t mind though, he knew somewhere in the night sky the one he was destined for was waiting patiently for him to spot them, out of all of the billions of shining dots James would find that one star.

It was a particularly bleak and wet night, and James couldn’t help but be consumed with a feeling that something wasn’t quite right. His mind flashed to his best friend, Sirius. James hadn’t spent a day not thinking about him and hoping he was safe, Sirius’s parents were volatile and cruel. On the first day of fifth year Sirius had looked concerningly pale and wouldn’t speak much on the train ride to Hogwarts, later that night he had snuck into James’s bed and silently sobbed into his arm.

As the three of them reached the end of their meal a couple of hurried but loud knocks were heard from the front door.

“ Who could be knocking on our door at this time? “ Fleamont remarked, looking at his watch, as Euphima started walking towards the door.

James followed behind Euphemia, almost protectively, but his heart dropped as the door opened to see Sirius on his knees. Time seemed to stop as James looked to see his best friend, practically brother, soaking and visibly bruised. Sirius’s usually wild hair was flat and drenched, his bright face full of mischief was hollow and distraught, and his body was slumped on the doorstep as if he hadn’t slept in weeks. Euphemia let out an audible gasp and she quickly hurried to help Sirius onto his feet and walk him into the living room where Fleamont stood in shock. James was about to immediately follow suit before he saw a glimpse of someone in his peripheral vision. He snapped his head around to see Sirius’s younger brother…

Regulus.

“ Regulus? “ The boy looked equally as hollow as Sirius, but he looked more like a statue as his face displayed no emotion.

“ Do you want to come in? “ James felt his voice come out as a whisper, feeling speechless from the entire event. Regulus looked down and hesitantly walked into the hallway just past James, and glanced over to where his brother sat being comforted by Euphemia and Fleamont.

James glanced at Regulus and tried to analyse his stony expression, and he could’ve sworn he saw a flash of anger in his grey eyes.
Euphemia at once whipped her head around to Regulus and smiled warmly before walking over to him as well. “ It’s going to be alright dear, okay? James, would you grab Regulus and Sirius some water? “ James nodded and set off quickly to the kitchen. James fumbled for some clean cups, noticing how shaky his hands had become, and quickly filled them up.

James felt sick, this couldn’t be happening surely, he was sure he’d wake up and this had all just been a bad nightmare. James hurried out quickly down the hallway and into the living room where Sirius and Regulus sat on the couch with Euphemia and Fleamont sitting beside and soothing them.

Sirius looked up at James as he handed him a cup of water and he rushed to hug him tightly. James hugged Sirius back just as tight and whispered “ you didn’t deserve this, either of you, but it’s going to be alright now. You’re safe. “ Sirius sniffled into his shoulder and whispered “ she did something really bad James “. James tried to ignore the way Sirius’s voice cracked, he needed to be the strong one but he felt the tears threatening to spill over.

They let go and Sirius sat back down with Fleamont as James passed the water to Regulus. Regulus whispered a small “ thanks “, but never broke his gaze towards the brick wall on the other side of the room.

Sirius slept in James’s bed that night with James, and Regulus fell asleep on the couch with Euphemia, though James would never mention it due to Regulus’s uncertain state. James had asked his mum what had happened to Sirius and Regulus, but she seemed too distressed to say it aloud. All she could muster was that they wouldn’t be going back to that house ever again if she could help it, and sat back down with Regulus. James felt uneasy all night and stayed awake for a couple hours listening to Sirius’s soft snores beside him, he was overcome with sorrow and disgust at Walburga and Orion Black, he couldn’t fathom how someone could purposefully harm their kid to this extent.

Regulus spent the majority of the next few weeks locked in the spare room, only allowing Sirius or Euphemia in when they would knock. James had made the mistake of knocking one day to which Regulus opened the door slightly before quickly slamming it shut at the sight of his face. Sirius had tried to appear almost indifferent to the entire situation, not talking about what happened, but every night he would cry to James until they both fell asleep.

Eventually Sirius had started coming to terms with what happened and confessed to Euphemia, Fleamont and James that he had been put under the Imperius curse, a forbidden curse in which the spellcaster obtains full control of their target, by his mother. Regulus was hesitant to leave as he didn’t seem to hold the same level of hatred for his parents that Sirius did, but when Sirius left he ran after him in fear.

James could never forget the way his entire body lit up with anger hearing what his mother had done. “ That's illegal though! She should be in azkaban! “ he cried, looking at his parents desperately. They both gave him sad smiles, and Fleamont sighed “ I know, James… The Black family holds a lot of power, it’s extremely unlikely the Ministry would do anything.. “
James looked back to Sirius, who gave him a sad shrug, and James felt sick. “ You’re never going back, no matter what “ he declared which caused Sirius to well up. “ Thank you “ he let out a choked sob before Fleamont pulled him into a loving hug. “ Welcome to the family. “

.....

All five of them were sitting around the kitchen table one morning eating breakfast, when someone started knocking on their front door. James hates to admit, but he felt his heart drop hearing the noise, not quite over the shock from the last time. He felt especially silly reacting like that, seeing as he knew who was at the front door. “ Uh Pads, I think you should get that.. '' James smirked mischievously, failing to act neutral. Sirius raised an eyebrow in response before dropping his toast to walk to the front door, and James looked to see his parents clearly confused. “ He’s been sulking because he misses Moon- uh Remus, so I might’ve sent him a letter “ his parents' faces softened and a gasp was heard from the hallway as the door opened.

“ Moonyyy!! “ Sirius exclaimed, which made everybody besides Regulus laugh, though James noticed him fighting a small smirk.

James leaned forward to glance down the hallway and saw Sirius and Remus embracing, and Remus looked up and met James’s eye, giving him a small smile. Not much later Sirius dragged Remus down to the dining table, “ Hey, is it okay if I joined? “ Remus asked sheepishly, as though he hadn’t thought too much about the time and had just rushed over. Euphemia and Monty smiled and nodded “ the more the merrier! “.

“ Hey Moony, what’ve you been up to? “ James asked as Remus sat himself down next to Sirius. “Oh, I went on a holiday to Wales to visit my grandparents, “ Remus smiled. “ You’re from Wales, Remus? “ Euphemia asked, shocked. “ Yeah, I moved over here when I was five.. “ Remus nodded awkwardly, he never liked to talk about when he was younger.

Soon enough they all fell into a nice conversation, even Regulus nodded along as Fleamont told all sorts of stories from when he was a potioneer. This is what James loved. He loved feeling a part of something so close-knit and warm, and the thought of Sirius and Regulus getting to be a part of that now made him even happier.

Remus ended up staying till late with Sirius playing wizards chess, and he had to promise Sirius he’d come around again before school started for Sirius to let him leave.

James couldn’t get to sleep that night because of how happy he was, if that made sense. He couldn’t stop replaying how happy Sirius was to have Remus visit, and how Regulus had actually smirked.

James got up slowly, so he wouldn’t wake up a snoring Sirius, and tiptoed down the hallway towards the kitchen when something made him stop.

Regulus?