The inevitables

Gully brought both James and Sirius new clothes, my mum transported a cloth to wipe Sirius’s mouth and clean him up, my dad took out his wand and started removing the vomit from James into the front yard, James tried not to scream or throw up himself, and I went to the kitchen to make Sirius a sandwich. 

To my defense, he did look hungry so it was still the right thing to do. But, the whole foyer smelled so bad and vomit was everywhere, if I stayed there another second, I too would have thrown up all over James and no one wanted that. So I left and prepared a beautiful, very tasty sandwich.

By the time I got back to the living room, James and Sirius were sitting on the couch in clean matching pajamas, the horrible smell was gone, and my parents were setting up Sirius’s room. I made Sirius a cheese toastie with bacon, tomato, and avocado, he started eating the second I gave him the plate. I sat next to Sirius, James was on the other side of him, we sat in silence as Sirius ate. 

I looked at him thoroughly. My mum had given me healing lessons more often this summer, she taught me what magical scars look like and how to treat them. Sirius didn’t have any signs of those types of scars. Sure, he looked small, skinnier than I last saw him, but that was it. He had no physical scars. Instead of being attacked by his parents, he looks like he was just ignored. They shut him up with silencio, then just pretended he wasn’t there. Sirius was clean, he had to have bathed frequently, he was able to fly all the way from the city so he wasn’t completely starved. It seemed that anything he could have done himself, he did. He slept when he could, he ate whatever he found, and he showered whenever it was available. 

“This was good.” Sirius broke our silence. He didn’t look at us, only straight ahead. James and I looked at him.

“Thank you.” I stared into his eyes, they were light blue in this lighting. 

“Sirius..” James started, but Sirius just shook his head. 

“How’s your summer going?” He asked with no emotion in his voice. 

“Fine, our uncle died.” I said. 

“Oh, sorry.” Sirius didn’t even blink.

“It’s alright, he died a hero. And he gave me a key to his place in Hogsmeade so we can always escape there.” James tried to smile, it didn’t work.

“Fun.” Sirius looked like he could fall asleep in any second. James eyed me, he looked as concerned as I felt. 

“I’m tired, let’s go to bed.” I said, standing up. James copied me. Sirius didn’t move, but he did nod. We helped him stand, each of us grabbing one of his arms and lifting him up. The three of us walked up the stairs, we practically pulled Sirius up there. Luckily, he was pretty light. James may have been strong but I was not. I am a good runner, I have a slim fit and am quick on my feet. James is bulkier with years of training and working to build his strength. Sirius was like me, he wasn’t very strong, he hadn’t spent years trying to get strong, but he moved with grace and elegance. Hence, he was easy to transport.  

Once on the top floor, Sirius moved more independently, James and I on either side for some support instead of fully moving him. When we got to his room, he crawled under the covers and fell asleep in an instant. 

“What’d they do to him?” James asked as we stood at the door. 

“Nothing.” I said. 

“What? How can you say they did nothing when he can’t even have a normal conversation! He would rather fly all the way here then stay there another minute! What-“ 

“I meant they literally did nothing. They didn’t feed him, take care of him, they didn’t even let him talk. They did nothing.” I cut off James’s rant. His only flaw was how overly protective he was of his friends. He was so blindingly loyal and fought for everyone he cared about. It’s not a bad thing, but there are risks. 

“Loves, let the boy rest.” Our mum came from nowhere behind us. We left his doorway and started walking to our own rooms. 

“How can someone do that to their own son?” James asked. 

“I can’t even fathom it. I wrote Professor Dumbledor to let him know Sirius would be staying with us for the rest of the holiday. Hopefully next year, he can come here straight away. Now goodnight my loves, do not wake Sirius up in the morning. He will rise when he wants.” My mum hugged me first then James, she kissed the tops of our heads, then sent us to our rooms. As much as I wanted to check on Sirius, I was so tried. It had been such a long day. I crawled into bed and in no time, I was fast asleep. 

****

Sirius didn’t wake up until 3 in the afternoon, so James and I wrote letters to our friends in the morning. James told Remus and Peter that Sirius was staying over and I wrote Lily, Mary, and Marls just to catch up. 

My parents decided to halt ‘ancient magic training’ until we were older, so now they were teaching potion making and healing skills. Fortunately, James and I  were  supposed to be practicing how to make potions to become animagi. We were right in the middle of polyjuice potion when Sirius came downstairs. 

“Good morning darling!” My mum greeted him. My dad grabbed another cauldron from the cupboard. 

“Come over here Sirius, I’ll get you caught up.” My dad grabbed more ingredients and brought it to Sirius’s cauldron. 

“Oh I don’t want to impose.” Sirius said shyly. 

“Nonsense. You’re a part of this family, so you too get to learn.” My dad smiled, Sirius practically strutted to the table. 

“Hazel why don’t you tell Sirius why it’s important to know how to brew this.” My mum instructed as I stirred my brew. 

“It’s important to always have some for backup. Just in case you’re on the run or need to disappear fast, a vial of polyjuice can be the difference from getting caught to going home safely.” 

“Excellent my little genius! Now James, what is the most important step?” My dad smiled brightly. 

“Patience, and to follow the instructions step by step. You don’t want to look like some wanker the rest of your life.” James made a face like the thought scared him, Sirius and I laughed. 

“I am so proud of the two of you, you may have my genes for potion brewing after all! And Sirius, you have some knack for this! You’ve almost matched James in half the time!” My dad nudged Sirius who was trying to cover his red cheeks from blushing. My parents loved Sirius, just like they loved us. 

“Excuse me, I’d like to think some of our children’s talent is from me, mister!” My mum teased my dad who smiled. 

“Oh, I’m not sure Ephie, last time we made Felix Felicis, I could have sworn I tripped on a city pavement.” My dad winked at my mum. 

“Mhm of course dear.” My mum smiled before she leaned over the table and kissed my dad, James looked like he wanted to set himself on fire. 

“Ew gross!” James gagged in the corner. 

“It’s not gross! It’s romantic!” I lightly hit James’s arm. 

“Hazels right my boy, one day you’ll be out kissing your wife and I’ll be over there going ‘eww gross!’” My dad picked up James and carried him to the living room before plopping him down on the couch. James was in a fit of giggles as my dad started tickling him, causing even more laughter from James. Sirius and I followed them and laughed too. “What are you lot laughing at?” My dad grinned and before we knew it, Sirius and I were on the couch with James being attacked by tickles and laughter. My face started to hurt from smiling so much. 

“I hope you’ve had your fun Monty.” My mum joshed as we all caught our breath. “Because now it’s time for revenge! Let’s get him!” In an instant all four of us jumped on my dad in our perfect revenge. I couldn’t even tell who was laughing the most whether it was the ticklers or the ticklee, but it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered in that moment, because it was all simply perfect.