Author's Note:
School is getting so packed. Wrote this for a comp.
Not sure if it is good.
The Marauders never come easy for me. So tell me what you think. Thanks :D
Hope you enjoy. :D
"Where is Sirius?" James asked, his face wearing a rare expression of seriousness.
Remus who was sitting at his bed, looking out the window was surprised. He hadn't spoken to Sirius since the day he came to apologize. That had been a week ago. He had seen Sirius around the school. But neither had talked to each other since the apology.
Remus felt a flash of guilt. Sirius had been strange for the past few days and he hadn't even bothered.
"Why? What happened?" He asked getting up as he saw a flash of worry and fear cross James' face. James just shook his head slightly and turned to Peter.
Peter who had been watching the exchange looked at James and shook his head.
"I haven't seen him since..." Peter stopped to think.
Remus started to think of when was the last time he had seen Sirius. Sirius hadn't been at dinner. Before that... He hadn't been at lunch either. Breakfast too. He began to panic. Sirius never skipped meals.
Ever since the incident, Remus avoided Sirius. Peter had sided with Remus. Surprisingly, James too had avoided him. At meal times, during lessons, free periods, the trio would go off on their own, leaving Sirius. And Sirius never complained. Never said anything.
"When was the last time you saw him?" Remus asked both boys.
Peter replied, "Yesterday," softly.
James nodded in agreement, face showing his pain.
"Who was he with?"
"I don't know. I was trying to ignore him." James said, distraught.
The guilt was swallowing Remus up too.
"Wormy?" James asked, looking at the brown haired boy.
"Lily. He was with Lily," he said resolutely.
"Good job Wormy," James said giving him a pat on the shoulder.
"Let's go find him." James said as he led the way to the common room.
"Evans! EVANS!" James shouted as he rushed down the stairs.
"What is it Potter? Your shrieking could wake the dead." She said not looking up from her books.
"Have you seen Sirius?" He said when he reached her chair.
"What?" She looked up then, fixing cold green eyes on all three of them.
"Have yo-"
"I heard you the first time Potter." Lily said as she crossed her arms across her chest. She turned so that she was now facing them fully.
"Now he is your friend? What about the past week where all of you treated him like some animal." Lily was fuming.
She had been the only one to talk to the dark haired boy. And what Black had said, saddened her. He had blamed himself and defended their behaviour.
"Nothing he could have done warranted that kind of treatment." Lily said, meeting their eyes.
"You don't know what he did Evans," James said, voice low.
"He made a big mistake," Peter said, looking at her.
She was shocked. She had thought nothing would separate Potter and Black. But, the past week, Black had been so silent. He had been alone and everyone had been worried. Black was never that quiet. Potter had been his usual annoying self in classes though.
Everyone had noticed the fight between them.
"Do you know where he is?" James asked.
Lily shook her head regretfully.
James nodded and was about to rush off when she gripped his wrist.
"Whatever he did, he is sorry," Lily wanted to say more but Potter then smiled at her.
His charming smile.
"I know," and he was gone.
"James, how are we supposed to find him?" Remus asked, panting, as they reached the top of the Astronomy tower.
"I wish we had a map," Peter said, tiredly.
James stared at him.
"That's a brilliant idea Wormy," James said with a grin.
Peter just blushed under the praise as Remus looked clueless.
"Remember the Map of Hogwarts we were making?" James asked, looking at the two of them.
Remus nodded as it suddenly dawned upon him. That map was in the last stages. For now, it only showed certain parts of Hogwarts and the locations of four individuals.
Sirius was one of the four!
"Where is the map?" Remus asked.
"In my bag. Hopefully, we find Sirius," James said grimly as he led the run back to the common room.
When Remus and Peter caught up to the black haired boy, he was coming out of the common room. When they were close enough, he threw something to them.
"Put this on," He ordered before sayng the words to show the map.
Half the map appeared. The three Marauders waited with bated breaths to see if Sirius' name would appear. It did. He was at the Black Lake. And James let out a whoop of joy. He quickly joined the other two under the invisibility cloak and together the three made their way to the Black Lake.
They stopped when they saw him.
He was sitting by the lake with his back to a large tree. His face tilted up to the skies.
As if they had agreed beforehand, James left the cover of the invisibility cloak. He walked the few feet towards his best friend.
"Pads," he called softly when he was close enough to touch him.
Sirius turned slightly to look at him. That was when he noticed the tear tracks on Sirius' face. He immediately crouched beside the other boy.
"Hey Siri, you ok?" He asked, voice trembling with fear, as he placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Yeah," Sirius said with a small smile.
"You are talking to me." He pointed out.
"You shouldn't. What I did was terrible. Remus could have killed Snivellus. Or Snivellus could have killed Remmy. I am sorry," Sirius dropped his head.
James moved to sit beside him.
"It's ok. We know. We just..."
"Sorry Siri. I was just so mad at you. And then, I didn't know how to start talking." James said regretfully.
"It's not your fault Prongs," Sirius said with a smile.
"Is Moony still angry?" Sirius asked, eyes downcast.
"I don't think so. They were worried too. Both Moony and Wormy came with me to look for you."
"What?" Sirius was shocked. He had thought they hadn't cared.
"Yeah," James said cherfully.
"Moony, Wormy," he called out.
A soft shuffling sound was heard and then the pair threw the cloak off.
"You look terrible Padfoot." Remus said dryly, feeling his heart constrict at the sight of Sirius.
Sirius smiled lazily.
"You are all talking to me."
James smiled back and pulled him in for a tight hug. Remus laughed and tried to stay away, but Peter and James pulled him in too.
It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light – Aristotle Onassis