This Song Has No Title
Born on the breeze and die on the wind
If I was an artist who paints with his eyes
I’d study my subject and silently cry
Cry for the darkness to come down on me
For confusion to carry on turning the wheel
January 1974
The storms of Christmas break did not cease with its end. Instead, as the students of Hogwarts returned to classes - snow and hail kept them enclosed within the castle walls.
It was clear that people would crack soon. Even the Gryffindors were restless. The upper years and Quidditch team seemed the most intense. James had taken to pulling at his hair while pacing the boys dorm, whining that the team wouldn’t be prepared for the next game if they kept being banned from using the pitch. Apparently some of the team had started practising in the hallways after curfew.
In his attempt to distract his best friend from his Quidditch induced stress, Sirius had been thinking up pranks with every second of spare time he had.
They’d spelled the paintings red, set off fireworks in the Great Hall, covered a section of the third floor with moss (and the professors still hadn’t figured how to remove it). Still, James would pace the dorms every night, muttering to himself about beaters and snitches.
“Did you check the forecast today?” James Potter spoke by way of greeting as he flopped onto the sofa beside Sirius and the boys in the Common Room. He’d missed breakfast thanks to a detention with Madame Sprout, running back to the dorm to get changed out of his dirtied clothes.
“Still stormy for the rest of the week.” Sirius spoke sorrowfully. “Minnie’s saying that they may cancel Quidditch.” James groaned in reply, burying his face into a cushion to let out a stifled scream.
“Can’t believe you’re still calling her that.” Remus laughed beside Sirius, shaking his head fondly at the boy as he flicked to the next page of his book.
“It’s her fault that she left that letter on her desk. I couldn’t help but see what Pomphrey calls her.” Sirius shrugged.
“You’re so getting detention for it,” Peter laughed, stretching out on the loveseat he occupied, “I think she’s one twitch of her eye away from cursing you into next week.”
“Worth it.” He sang back, smiling that classic Sirius Black smile. It was one that not even his twin could imitate - a look entirely his own. “Especially since Remus gets to call Pomphrey by her first name. Poppy.” He snorted, derisively.
“Once a month, she sews me back together after I tear myself apart.” Remus deadpanned, not even looking away from the page. “That kind of thing does tend to work better when both parties are on a first name basis.”
“I suppose that is the sort of situation that makes that sort of thing work.” Sirius mused. “Who did it before you came to Hogwarts?”
“Sirius!” Peter gasped, shaking his head disapprovingly at his friend’s blunt question.
“It’s alright, Pete.” Remus sighed, folding his book closed and looking to his friends with downcast eyes. If it had been anyone else, he might have been a little bristly. But it was Sirius, the poor boy that didn’t seem to understand when a thing might be a little too traumatic to discuss. Especially with that morbid humour the Black siblings utilised so well regarding their own lives. “Mum used to do it. But she’s not got magic, so it wasn’t a perfect situation.”
“Why not your dad?” James asked kindly, pushing his glasses up his nose.
“Dad tries, he really does.” Remus sighed, slouching deeper into the armchair. “It’s just difficult for him.”
“Is he really still not used to you being… you know?” James gawped. Remus looked around the Common Room, confirming they weren’t going to be eavesdropped on.
“Do you know why I got bit?” They shook their heads. “Dad said some really anti-werewolf stuff at the Ministry. Said they were savage and needed to be put down.” The boys failed to stifle their gasps. “One came after us for it, bit me to send a message. I imagine it’s pretty difficult for dad to look at the kid that got turned into a monster because of his words. And I imagine its harder to talk to them when you’re known for thinking that people like the kid are monsters.” He laughed dryly.
“Pillock.” Sirius scoffed. “I bet the Potters wouldn’t even blink an eye. Werewolves are just people with a day off.” He shrugged. James nodded vigorously in agreement.
Remus laughed in spite of himself.
“Mum’s alright, at least. She made dad move us to a farm when it all happened, set us up near her parents’ home in Wrexham.”
“You live on a farm?” Sirius gawped.
“Better than some dank old house.” Remus replied pointedly. “And I don’t have to be locked in some Shack once a month. Dad warded one of the fields for me and Madame Pomphrey comes over holidays to help out.”
“Would you consider coming to mine for Easter if we warded some of the meadows for you?” James asked.
“I’d have to ask dad.” Remus chewed his lip, averting his eyes. “But he likes your dad and uncle so maybe.”
“Uncle Charlus said they worked together on a bill once.”
“I think that was the-”
A screech sounded from the girl’s staircase, interrupting Remus.
Turning to face the stairs, all the boys looked on with great humour as the girls of their year rushed down the stairs in single file - their hair standing to attention. Lily’s long ginger hair hung above her head like a curtain, the girls all glaring at the boys for their mischief.
Only Ara was exempt from her hair being stuck upright - frowning at the misfortune of her peers.
“Can’t believe you singled me out.” Ara scoffed at her twin, slumping down beside him - his arm pulling her head into his lap. She looked exhausted - clearly having been woken from her sleep by her dorm mates screaming. “Vos jours sont comptés, sale chien."
“I figured the Black curls wouldn’t look great puffed upwards, especially when they’re still so short.” He ran his fingers through her hair, diffusing the stress at the top of her skull. She relaxed against him, shutting her eyes and looking through his. She hadn’t been sleeping well, with all the storms. Really, she just didn’t sleep well at Hogwarts. Something about the place seemed to dampen her.
“You don’t prank Panda either.” She commented with a little yawn. Grinning down at her, Sirius soothed a hand over her hair in a practiced way - Ara’s eyes immediately fluttering to shut fully as she tried to hold in another yawn.
“I tried once. Gave her a biscuit baked with salt and she just ate the whole thing ‘cause she didn’t want to upset me about my poor baking.” He shrugged.
“That’s my Panda.” Ara smiled, snuggling deeper into her brother as her breathing began to level.
“You utter toerag!” Lily screeched at James - Sirius’s attention bobbing to the group. “You never think about anyone else!”
“Never think about..?” James trailed off with an exasperated laugh. “All I do is think about everyone else.”
“You bully Sev!” Lily glowered.
“He started it! And he gives back as good as he gets, he bloody starts half of our fights!” James snapped, stepping closer to Lily as his anger built. “Just because you have a ruddy crush on him, doesn’t mean he’s perfect.”
“I do not have a crush on Sev!” Lily’s face turned as red as her hair as she glared at James. “I know he’s not perfect but he’s a hell of a lot better than you!”
With that, Lily stormed back up the girl’s stairs - leaving a crackle in the air in her wake. Alice followed after a glare in the boys’ direction, Marlene left behind.
After a nervous breath, James spun back to the group - awkwardly pushing his glasses up his nose.
“Sorry about that.” He winced. His and Lily’s disagreements were well known by this point. Every prank the boys pulled only led to Lily screaming at the bespectacled boy - even if it was his peers that did the bulk of the work. But Remus was clearly sickly, Pete was sweet and Sirius was her best friend’s twin. So James was left as the easy target to her wrath.
Sirius waved a hand in dismissal of James’s apology, his twin curled up on the loveseat beside him, clearly deeply asleep. Both boys exchanged an amused glance.
“She could sleep through a ruddy revolution.” Sirius remarked, his friends laughing at the thought.
“Do you have the counter-spell?” Marlene asked as she flopped down beside Peter, peering over his shoulder at his comic.
Remus cast the spell with a flourish, never one to prolong the joke.
“Make sure to tell Lily it, in case I end up missing her, won’t you?” Remus asked, the Welsh lilt to his voice so much more noticeable now the boys knew where it originated. He had always had a melodic way of speaking.
“I’ll tell Alice.” Marlene replied tersely. “Lily and I aren’t on good terms right now.” Looking down at Ara, Marlene let out a little laugh. “Godric, she really can sleep like the dead.” The blonde remarked. “Usually in the dorms, I can never tell when she’s slept or not.”
“Most likely not.” Sirius muttered bitterly, looking to his twin with a furrowed brow. “Has she said anything?”
“About what?”
“Never mind.” He sighed, looking down at his sister with a knitted brow. With a frown at being dismissed, Marlene turned to look at the form of James Potter, crumpled with his face down on the sofa.
“You’re coming with me, Potter.” Marlene announced, jumping from her seat and yanking his elbow - James looking to the group in confusion as she pulled him up and dragged him along.
She led him to the other side of the Common Room, shoving him onto a chair with a warning look.
“What happened?” Marlene asked bluntly as she flopped onto the opposite armchair - just far enough away to be out to earshot (to all, save for a rather uncomfortable werewolf).
“What do you mean?” James asked with a nervous laugh, eyes darting across the portraits.
“You know exactly what I mean.” She retorted. “Why’d you stop talking to me?”
“I dunno.” James shrugged awkwardly, finally meeting her severe gaze. “You didn’t really make the effort to talk to me either.”
“Yeah, but you started it.” Marlene retorted. “After the sorting, you sat on the opposite side of the group to me.”
“That’s only because I was chatting with Sirius before the sorting and I wanted to finish the conversation.”
“No, James.” She rolled her eyes, brushing blond locks from her shoulder. “It’s ‘cause you saw his sister and went loopy.”
“Marlene!” James gasped, as though utterly scandalised. Without thought, his eyes darted to glance Ara Black’s direction. She was still curled up on the sofa - her head rested on a pillow on her twin’s lap, hair fanned out as he twirled his hands through the dark curls.
“Don’t act like you don’t know what I’m on about.” Marlene huffed, rolling her eyes again at James’s obviousness. “You basically stalk her with your eyes. It’s kind of creepy.”
“I’m just a worried friend.” His eyes remained on Ara for a moment, finally looking back to Marlene rather sheepishly.
“You can lie to yourself, but not to me.” She stuck her tongue out at him; a familiar childish gesture. “I watched you grow up, James Potter. I know all your tells.”
“Bloody hell.” James ran his hand through his hair, trying his hardest not to glance towards the sofas again. “Maybe that’s why we don’t talk. ‘Cause I’m afraid you’ll tell everyone my secrets.”
“I do that anyways.”
“You’re so annoying!”
“But you love me anyways.” Marlene grinned.
“I do.” He smiled lopsided, flashing his pearly teeth. “And I’m sorry for not being there. I’ll be better. I’ll try harder.”
“Good.” Marlene nodded. “That’s all I wanted, James. I missed my childhood friend.”
“I missed you too. I just…” he sighed, scratching his brow, “I didn’t know how to fix my mistake. By the time I realised that we hardly spoke, you were always off with Alice or one of the Amelias.”
“You’re an idiot.”
“We’re all idiots.” James admitted, wincing at his words as teenagers do. “Idiots that sometimes make good grades.”
“D’you know there’s betting pool in the school over how many fights Ara will get in this year? Or that they bet on how many girls Sirius will kiss or how many times you’ll be caught by McGonagall?”
“I did not.”
“You’re known, James.” Marlene’s eyes were soft and warm. Her tone so familiar; something he regretted having ignored for three years. “All of you. Not just for pranking or your surname, you’re the considered the kind one.”
“The kind one?”
“Uh-huh. Pete’s the shy one, Remus is the smart one, Sirius is the wildcard.”
“What about Ara?”
“You know.” She sighed awkwardly, rubbing the back of her neck. “She’s the mad one.” They shared a sad smile.
“You’re the cool one.” James told her, nudging her lightly.
“Piss off!”
“You are! Cooler than I’ll ever be.”
“Cheers, James.” She grinned sheepishly, ducking her head. “So stop dicking around and come hang out more, yeah?”
“Promise.”
“Alright.” Marlene nodded. “Good. Mum’s been asking after you, you know?”
“So has mine.” He admitted. “Especially after Christmas.”
“I should hope so.” Marlene grinned. “Effie’s always been a sweetheart.” She waggled her brows.
“Oh Merlin, not you too!” James groaned. “I’ve already got Sirius joking about trying to be my stepdad.”
“But we’d be so lovely together.” Marlene giggled.
“Idiot.” He shook his head, fondly.
“I thought we’d agreed that was your title.” Marlene beamed.
And just like that, the bond of two once children forged anew.