4
It had been a month since Sirius had entered the rehab center, he hadn't had the chance to talk much with Regulus, they had given him another psychologist to talk to so Regulus avoided him in all possible ways.
A new boy would arrive that day, Sirius had made friends with someone there and knowing that little by little they would all leave made him sad, but that was the way it had to go. Veterans arrived there destroyed, with wounds that no one could see and then they left, towards a new life. He too would leave sooner or later, he still didn't know where but the thought that perhaps Remus would be in his future made everything seem easier for him.
Since he arrived there Remus visited him almost every day, they talked for hours and sometimes they went out to have lunch together. Sirius felt good with him, when they were together he could almost not think about what he had been through.
He left his room to welcome the new boy, he saw Barty, the boy who was detox leaning against the wall with his eyes down, and then he saw his brother. The doors opened so he looked away from Regulus and looked at the new boy, when he realized who he was he stopped and then walked towards him.
"JAMES!"
The boy looked up at him, he had a scar that divided his face almost in half, he was limping and he noticed that he was holding an arm tight to his chest. Sirius didn't need a medical degree to figure out that he'd lost feeling on the left side of his body, he'd seen it happen many times.
"Do you know each other?" Sirius turned and noticed Regulus watching them.
Sirius nodded approaching James "we were together, when they started bombing us we split up...I never heard from him again and I thought- he was dead"
James shook his hand, they had enlisted together. They had met at the academy and when war broke out they had been placed in the same battalion. They had saved each other's lives several times, until that damned day.
Sirius looked at James and smiled sadly "what happened to you?"
"after we split up me and the other guy looked for a place to hide but they found us...they dropped a bomb and i was next to them, i was buried under rubble for a week before they found me, everybody the others were dead..."
Sirius sighed and hugged him, he thought he had lost too but he was there, now everything would be easier.
"Sorry to interrupt but we have to take James to his room, and you Sirius have therapy"
Sirius looked at his brother and nodded "yes I'll see you later James"
---
Barty sat in the most isolated place, hardly ever spoke during therapy, had been clean for 3 weeks now but didn't feel better.
Evan walked over to him and sat in the chair next to his "Do you want to go out?"
Barty nodded silently, Evan took his hand and they went out together into the courtyard.
They walked in silence until Barty stopped to look at a cat that had sneaked into the garden, he bent down to pet it and Evan smiled sweetly putting a hand on Barty's shoulder
"do you like cats?"
Barty nodded and stood up looking at Evan, Barty had grown fond of him, more than he wanted to admit. He knew it was hopeless because I mean, Barty was a traumatized veteran and Evan was a doctor, he would never feel anything for him.
Evan looked at Barty, he found him beautiful. Barty sighed, Evan could see his hands were shaking, he took them in his "it'll be okay".
And Barty believed him
_______
Regulus took James to his room and helped him arrange his things.
"You'll be fine here" James nodded and looked out the window, not sure if everything would be fine.
Regulus put a hand on his shoulder "you will do physiotherapy, you will have a normal life again" James wanted to believe it, he wanted to believe that he would be the boy he always was and that he would have sensitivity all over his body again, but by now he had lost hope for some time.
Regulus looked at him in silence for a moment, he was a handsome boy and above all, he was a hero.
He hated to think that once he got out of there he would have no one left
"is there anyone we can call?'
James shook his head and sat up on the bed "I don't think my ex wife wants to know anything about me"
"I am sorry..."
James looked at him "it's not a problem, she left me the day after they operated on me...she said he couldn't live with me like this"
Regulus didn't know this woman, but he hated her. He sat next to James and took his hand "I promise I'll do everything to make you feel good"
James smiled and said nothing, he really wanted to believe it this time.