Prompt “It’s your fault for expecting me to take this seriously,”
Prompt “It’s your fault for expecting me to take this seriously,”
Sirius sighed, leaning his chair against the wall and sighing heavily. The fancy outfits and classical music was a strange mix of nostalgic and suffocating. He simultaneously felt like he couldn’t breath, and like he had as a young child. Watching his family members and family friends milling about, he reached forward and snatched his fathers abandoned glass of whiskey.
The drink made Sirius’s mouth feel sweet and heavy, and he tried to savor it for a second before shooting the rest of the glass. Determined to get drunk enough to forget the rest of the night, he grabbed another from a house elf milling about. He was ready to down another one when he heard a tapping at the window. Raising an eyebrow, he glanced around before poking his head around.
Not seeing anything outside other than a few deer, he assured himself a deer had just run into the house by accident. It wasn’t until he turned back around, thinking about how stupid that animal must have been that he felt his blood run cold. Slowly turning back around, he saw the offending deer standing less than an inch from the window, its antlers vaguely tangled in the tree above.
“Fucking hell,” Sirius muttered to himself. Snapping the window open, he leaned out and the deer licked his nose. “What are you doing here?”
The second he started talking, the deer magically turned back into his best friend, and James was climbing in through the window. “Hi Pads,”
Sirius stared at him for a minute, looking absolutely pissed off. He grabbed James by the shoulder, very quickly pulling him into a mostly empty hallway and up the stairs that lead to his room. He was moving too quickly for James to stop and question him, and he just went along happily.
“What is wrong with you,” Sirius said, holding onto his shoulder with a death grip. “Do you have any idea what they might do to you if you get caught here?”
“Well-”
“Never mind I don’t want to hear the thought process,” Sirius snapped. James gave him an easy smile.
“You’re lucky I didn’t bring Moony with me,” James said. “I thought about it,”
“Mate he would have been killed,” Sirius said. “They very well might hurt you to,”
“Oh please,” James said. “Look, I have dark hair, I -like you- am stunningly handsome, I fit in perfectly,” James said.
“You’re wearing jeans,” Sirius said. James looked down.
“But nice jeans,”
“James,”
“Okay okay,” James said. “Well then I’ll hide up here,”
“You’re gonna get caught,” Sirius said, genuine fear in his eyes, hidden behind a thick layer of anger at his friend's stupidity.
“Well, do you want me to leave?” James asked. It was pointless to answer, they both knew he wouldn’t.
“Yes,” Sirius said. “No. no wait I don’t. They will catch you sneaking out just- mate why did you come here in the first place? huh?”
“You weren't answering my letters,” James said.
“What letters?”
“The ones I was sending. Duh,”
“I never got any letters,”
“Clearly,” James said.
“Shit, my parents must have taken them,” Sirius said, running a hand through his hair. “Fuck,”
“I thought they may have killed you,” James said, “I’m sorry, I got worried,”
“Next time,” Sirius said, pausing to take a deep breath. “Use our damn mirrors,”
“That didn’t occur to me,” James said, blinking owlishly at him.
“Look, you’re not that much bigger than me,” Sirius said, squinting at him. “I’ve got a few extra suits, they won’t be great but they will work,” He said. “Just- stay low, don’t talk to anybody, try to not draw attention to yourself,”
“Okay,” James said, smiling at him.
“I know that you are terrible at blending in,” Sirius said. “But for both of our sakes, please, behave for once in your entire life,” James snorted, the irony of this speech coming from Sirius fucking Black was not lost on him.
“I’ll do my bestest,” James said, noting that Sirius didn’t seem to believe him. “Cross my heart?”
“I literally cannot deal with this,” Sirius said. “And do not get drunk. I’ve seen you drunk. Don’t get drunk,”
“Aye aye captain,”
Sirius let out a sigh, somewhere between relief and exacerbation, and handed James one of his suits that hadn’t been tailored, which meant that there would be just enough fabric to make it look like it fit. James was a good few inches taller than Sirius, but a pair of dark dress boots fixed that.
“There’s nothing we can do about your hair is there?” Sirius asked, looking at it. “Just- ugh,”
“You need to build more muscle,” James said, noting the slight tightness in the suit.
“Fuck off,” Sirius muttered, pulling James along with him as he ducked out into the hallway. “You’re just fat,”
“My abs say otherwise,” James said.
“Okay,” Sirius said, his eyes moving quickly as he thought. He kept a tight grip on James, hovering just before the doorway before the stares. “Okay um- here’s the story. The Avery family had a daughter go away for awhile for international schooling, she’s a year younger than me, tell them that you were also a British student at the school and she invited you before she got sick, so you’re here,”
“Why did she go to international school?” James asked.
“Because the family is a bunch of stuck up pricks,” Sirius said. “Oh, the girls name is Adlelytia,”
“That’s a weird name,”
“It’s old and latin,” Sirius said. “Look it doesn’t totally add up, this is mostly just the adults, and it would be really weird to bring a guest. Just- anything you say they are going to remember forever. And they are going to know way more about the wizarding world then you could ever hope to, so if you lie they are going to know,”
“But I am lying,” James said. Sirius took a deep breath, but before he could say anything, James flashed a blinding smile at him before slipping out of his grasp and down the stairs.
“Bloody fucking hell,” Sirius muttered to himself, before following his friend.
It was all going alright for the most part. At least for the first little bit. Sirius was able to steer clear of James, who looked a half second away from bursting out into laughter, and his parents, who were clearly tracking him down. All was going well, until he bumped into Regules.
“Father wants you,” Regules said.
“I’m sure he does,” Sirius said. “Where is he?”
“He told me to take you to him,”
“I can walk on my own Reg, where is he?”
“Just follow me,”
“Oh my gosh-” Sirius’s bemonment of his treatment was cut short by his father showing up behind his little brother, one hand on his shoulder.
“Sirius, come with me,” He said.
“I think you have some guests to entertain. Father,” Sirius said, his tone instantly icy. Orion didn’t just look upset, he looked royally pissed off, and Sirius felt like he might puke.
“I’m sure they won’t mind a break from you,” Orian said. Sirius narrowed his eyes.
“Nor you I would imagen,” He said. Orian put a hand on Sirius’s back, pushing him past his brother and into an isolated hallway. Just as he was being forced out of the room, he caught James’s eye for half a second. He wasn’t sure what it must have looked like to an outsider, but the way James’s face shifted told him it was enough to be worrying.
Sirius only got half a glimpse before he was pulled sharply around the corner and out of sight. The moment they were away from the others, his fathers hand tightened exponentially, and he was slammed against the wall.
“Careful Orian, you’ll shake the tables,” Sirius said, a shit eating grin on his face.
“Who the hell is that in there?” His father said. His voice reminded Sirius of a roar more than a yell, and he could smell the alcohol on his breath.
“Whoa, ‘that’ is a very specific distinction,” Sirius said. “Thank you so much for narrowing that one down for me,”
“Sirius,” His father hissed, pushing him up against the wall, and suddenly Sirius couldn’t help but realize that his fathers arm was pressing dangerously on his neck. It made him feel panicky and electric, like he had to run but couldn’t move.
“I can list every single person in that room for you, what the hell do you want from me? Is that it? A list? Because Kreacher would be much better at writing one up then I would,” Sirius shot back. He swore there was fire in his fathers eyes, and he found himself bracing for retaliation.
“Petrificus totalus,” A voice said from down the hallway, and as Sirius waited, Orian stood there, frozen in place, his arm still pinning Sirius. “Give him a shove Pads,”
Sirius did as he was told, and his father clattered to the ground. Standing in shock for a moment, he turned to look at James, who looked a little sheepish, holding his wand.
“Come on, Moony doesn’t think it’ll hold him long,” James said, grabbing Sirius’s arm and pulling him along. Sirius went easily, almost like he was in a daze, and followed James upstairs. “Get what you need from your room. Mum said you can stay with us for a week or two,”
“What is wrong with you?” Sirius asked. “He’ll kill you,”
“Well we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” James said. “There’s time to talk at my house, come on,”
Shockingly, Sirius went along, grabbing his stuff and shoving it into a bag he’d had forever, before he showed James how to sneak out of his bedroom window. As they climbed out onto the roof, a shrill scream broke through the night. James and Sirius looked at each other, before they both sprinted to jump into the tree that had aided in multiple escapes. Scrambling down the tree, they made a break for the road, Sirius following James who threw one of the two brooms he’d brought with him at Sirius.
“You’re bloody crazy,” Sirius said, making James laugh.
“Maybe,” James said. “But so are you,”
“Damn right,” Sirius said. “Come on,”
It wasn’t until they were actually up in the air and closer to James’s house than Sirius’s, that James turned to Sirius and grinned at him. “Oh, if anyone mentions it, I might have gotten on the table at one point,”
“You did what,”
“I was trying to get a better view. But I told them it was because of a spider,” James said, smiling.
“I told you to blend in,”
“It’s your fault for expecting me to take this seriously,”James said. “Let's be real mate, the bridge is burned, nothing can ruin your family any more,”
“It may be burning,” Sirius said, taking a corner a little sharp. “But that doesn’t mean I want to go down with it,”
“Well we just won't let that happen, will we?” James said. “Come on, mum’s making cookies, I want to be back before they’re cold,”
Sirius was left behind for a moment, shocked at how nonchalantly his friend could say that. Something that seemed so all-encompassing in his life that James could just shrug off with a promise. It should make him nervous, but for some reason as he sped his broom up, chasing after James, he felt more at peace then he ever had. Maybe it would all work out okay after all.