Disclaimer:

I do not own anything related to Harry Potter. I've written J.K. Rowling and asked if I could adopt them, but she hasn't written me back yet, so I'm guessing the answer is no...

Chapter 1

It was almost midnight and James was still awake. He didn't know why he was still awake. It wasn't like he had anything to do or anyone to talk to. He was just lying on his bed, fully clothed, with his hands under his head, staring at the ceiling. He didn't know how long he'd been there like that, but from the tingling in his hands, he guessed it'd been a few hours at least. It was the rain's fault, he decided. He loved listening to the rain, but it kept him up all night-

Tap tap tap

Suddenly his head came up and he froze, listening... did someone just knock on the front door? It was midnight, surely not...

Tap tap tap tap

There it was again. Someone was knocking softly, hesitantly, but they were definitely there. James sat up, reaching for his wand. He wasn't afraid, exactly. Death Eaters wouldn't be knocking, after all, but he wasn't about to take any chances. He made his way downstairs, tiptoeing past his parents' bedroom, to the front door. He paused, took a deep breath, and opened it. It was nearly pitch black outside, and the wind was wet and chilly, making him shiver.

"Hey, Prongs," said a hoarse voice.

James froze, staring at the dark silhouette on his doorstep, barely discernible from the rest of the night, and then he recognized the voice. "Sirius?"

"Yeah," he said, but the word came out strangled. He cleared his throat and tried again. "Yeah. Can I... Can I come in, please?"

James stared at him for a moment more, his mouth hanging open, before he snapped out of it and jumped aside. "Of course, c'mon, mate, you're getting soaked."

Silently Sirius stepped inside and closed the door behind him.

James muttered "Lumos," and held his wand up so he could get a good look at his friend. He was pale, and while James tried to reassure himself that everyone looked pale under wandlight, he knew that Sirius was too pale, even for that. Sirius had his head turned slightly, but James could still see the beginnings of a very large bruise on his left cheek. He was hunched over, as if in pain, and his breaths were coming in short, sharp gasps. James wondered how many of his ribs were broken. "Holy fuck," James breathed. "Padfoot, what happened?"

Sirius shook his head and wiped his wet hair out of his eyes. His hand was trembling. "Nothing, Prongs. Could I just... could I stay here tonight?" He made eye contact then, and James saw something there he'd never expected to see in Sirius: complete vulnerability.

"Of course," James said instantly. "Do you..." James faltered. His brain had taken in far too much information in too short a time frame to be functioning properly. "Do you want something to eat?"

Sirius shook his head.

"All right," James ran a hand through his hair. "Let's go upstairs, then." He lead the way upstairs to the guest room, and Sirius followed obediently. The guest room was very similar to James' room. It had the same carpet, same wall paper, and was the same size. But it held two twin beds instead of one, and it was infinitely cleaner. James watched Sirius sit carefully on one of the beds, like he was sore and sudden, big movements hurt. "Do you want some pajamas of something?" James asked.

Sirius shook his bowed head, his hands tightening their grip on the blankets until his knuckles turned white.

James stood there for a few minutes, not knowing what to do, and then took a deep breath and asked the question he'd been wanting to ask for the last fifteen minutes. "Are you all right?"

Sirius shook his head again, and his shoulders started to spasm. It took James a full ten seconds to realize that his friend was crying. Instantly he was sitting next to Sirius, wanting to calm him down and having no idea as to how.

"Padfoot, mate, calm down," he whispered. "It's all right-" he put his hand on Sirius' back- for some reason touch always seemed to calm him down- but Sirius whimpered and jerked away. The sudden movement must have hurt his ribs, because he gasped and touched them gingerly. That scared James. His back was hurt too? What was going on? "Sirius," he said in a firmer voice. "Look at me." Reluctantly, Sirius did. He wasn't crying like James had thought, but the tears were in his eyes. "What happened?"

Sirius bowed his head again. For a moment James thought he wasn't going to answer, but then he took a shuddering breath and said, "A few hours ago... My father called me into his study." He stopped.

"What did he want?" James prompted.

"He just went off on a rant about how disappointed he was in me, how I had so much potential, but I was making bad choices and worse friends and, you know," Sirius snorted. His voice was surprisingly steady. "The usual. And I really didn't give a shit, so I just sat there and let him yell at me, thinking that maybe he'd get done more quickly than usual if I didn't say anything, and then he said 'And to top it all off, you've gone and made friends with a flea-bitten half-breed mutt. Tell me, Sirius, do you purposefully befriend freaks and monsters or are they just attracted to you?"

"Oh, shit," James said, his eyes growing wide. "How did he find out?"

"Well, I asked him, because I knew there was no use in lying, he wouldn't just make something like that up. Apparently he knows the man who keeps track of the Werewolf Registry, and he told him. Anyway, he goes on to say that he's put up with a lot from me; like me getting sorted into Gryffindor, and me not getting along with my cousins, and all of my attitude, but that he wouldn't tolerate having his oldest son being seen with a filthy animal. And I got angry and yelled at him that Remus is not a filthy animal, that he was ten times better than any of my cousins and... And he hit me." His voice broke. "He backhanded me so hard, it knocked me down." James could feel him start to tremble beside him. "That wasn't the first time he'd done it, but he didn't stop. He kept hitting me and kicking me and saying that he was going to pound some sense into me, and how he was going to get Remus expelled and Dumbledore fired and then I finally worked up the nerve to hit him back. He stopped and stared at me for a minute. I don't know what he was thinking, James, but the look on his face scared the shit out of me and then he..." He'd been talking so fast that his abrupt halt confused James, rather like running and stepping into a hole would cause someone to stumble. "He..." Sirius' voice broke again, and the tears that he had been holding back started to fall. James found himself holding his breath. "He left." Sirius sighed, pressing his hands to his eyes. "He said, 'Stay here. I'll be right back,' and he left." James was positive that wasn't what Sirius had been about to say, but he let it slide. Sirius continued, his words coming faster and faster as he fought to get the words out. "But I wasn't about to stick around so he could hit me some more. I'd decided I'd had enough and I was leaving. So I got up and was almost to the door when I remembered my wand was upstairs. I turned around and had only taken a few steps when I heard him yelling for me to get my ass back in his study and take my punishment like a man. And I saw him coming after me with a ridding crop-" James couldn't stop his gasp, but Sirius didn't seem to notice. "I ran up the stairs but by the time I got to the top he'd caught me. He grabbed my arm and slammed me against the wall and I..." Sirius finally made eye contact with James, his eyes frightened and pleading. "I was scared. I wanted him away from me. I didn't want him to hurt me again... So I pushed him, and he stumbled back and fell. He fell all the way down the stairs and then he... He didn't get up. I went and got my wand, but when I went back he still hadn't even moved. I don't know if he was breathing or not, I didn't stop to check, but I don't think he was. I just left and came here." Sirius stopped and looked at James, waiting for him to say something.

James stared at him, his mouth hanging open.

"I didn't mean to!" Sirius continued frantically. "I didn't want him to get hurt. I just wanted him to get away from me. I..." He faltered when James continued to stare at him, and finally he broke. His crying turned to outright sobbing and he was no longer able to force the words out. He just hunched over, grabbed to fistfuls of hair, and cried.

That jerked James out of his surprise. Of course Sirius hadn't meant to hurt his father. As far as James was concerned the bastard had it coming. "Sirius," he said, tugging at his friend's hands. "Sirius, look at me." He did look. The tears were still flowing, and there was a pleading desperate look in his eyes, as if he was afraid James would call him a monster and kick him out. It took James a moment to realize that that was exactly what Sirius thought. He was afraid James would no longer want to be friends with the guy who'd (probably) killed his own father. "It's all right. You believe me? It'll be okay. No, look at me," he said when Sirius glanced away. "You can stay here as long as you want to. You don't have to go back at all, all right?" Sirius looked away again. James gently touched his face and turned his head so he was looking at James again. "All right?"

"But your parents-"

"Don't worry about them. They absolutely love you," James said dismissively, and then mentally added, Which is more than you can say for your own parents. "I'll talk to them in the morning and it'll be fine. Okay?" Sirius nodded, albeit reluctantly. James nodded back and saw the black beneath his friend's eyes. Were they bruises or was he tired? Probably a bit of both. He'd calmed down now, and he looked exhausted. "Let's get some sleep," James said, then added teasingly. "Will you be all right by yourself?"

Sirius snorted and hit him over the head with a pillow.

A/N:

so, what do you think? sound interesting? it will be a chapter fic eventually. I'm going to finish my other fic first, this one was bothering me & i wrote it down so it would leave me alone.