Chapter 4

James' POV

I cleaned Sirius' cuts up as best I could. He said he was fine, just a little sore and tired. I rolled my eyes at him.

"What about you? How's your arm?" he asked. I glanced down at it briefly.

"It hurts. It's going to hurt. I've decided not to think about it," I stated. He smiled, re-opening his split lip. He winced at that.

"Rotten luck when you can't even smile without bleeding," he said as he fingered it. I shook my head. We'd resumed the same positions as earlier, across from each other and leaning against the wall. I kept my right arm wrapped around my torso.

"What did you do to provoke them?" I asked. He smiled again, drawing forth beads of blood on his lip again.

"I punched one. Oh, and Bellatrix got to find out what it's like to have a ceiling fall on her," he added. My eyes widened and my jaw dropped. His barking laughter filled the Hell Hole. Remus always swore it was contagious. I've never appreciated that until now, when I started laughing along with him.

It took a few moments for us to calm down. I was holding my arm again, something he didn't fail to notice. Thankfully he didn't comment on it. There was nothing he could do anyway.

We passed the night that way, leaning against the walls. It wasn't until Rudolph appeared with a loud crack that we woke up. He placed our breakfast on the floor and disappeared again with another crack while we were still rubbing the sleep out of our eyes.

Sirius was closest so he handed me the food which I did my best to juggle with, finally managing to balance it on one leg. He was frowning as he held out my water cup. He pulled it back though before I could take it. I raised a brow.

"James." Uh oh. He used my real name. Bad sign. "Look, we have to wash your cut. It could become infected if we don't," he said, looking me straight in the eye. I sighed. "We can share one cup of water and then use the second to wash your arm."

I absolutely hate it when he's right. Especially when I know he is and just don't want to face it.

"Alright," I admitted defeat. "Let's do it before we eat," I said, putting my plate on the ground. Sirius put his next to mine and kneeled next to me. He gingerly took my arm and started unwrapping the bandage. I cringed and looked away, staring instead at the plates of eggs, toast, and bacon. Once again I wondered what the point of feeding us so well was. What could they possibly be trying to keep us alive for?

The smell hit me first, foul and disgusting. Next was Sirius' gasp of surprise. I turned to look at him out of reflex and followed his gaze down to my arm. I gasped myself, but probably for a different reason.

A bruise had formed around the gash, which wasn't surprising. But it wasn't just black and blue. There were tints of green following particular patterns all along my upper arm, which was cause for concern. It had swollen as well and my entire upper arm was red and sore.

"Man, you should be complaining more," Sirius said. I looked up at him as he picked up the water. I eyed it warily.

"Just wait a few moments, I'm sure I'll be cursing up a storm," I said. He laughed. He tilted the cup to pour some of the water out. He only poured a little, but it felt like he'd just poured acid on my arm. I clamped my jaw shut to keep from crying out.

He apologized again and again as he tore another part of his shirt and tried to wipe away the dirt and dried blood. All I was aware of was the white hot pain in my arm. Strangled yelps escaped me, and Sirius apologized after every one.

"There, done," he said at last. I looked down to see the sleeve of his shirt wrapped around my arm.

"You know, there's only so many times we can re-bandage this before we run out of clothes," I commented. He cocked his head at me, a smile tugging at his lips. I smiled and he burst out laughing. This is how sad our life has become, where we can make bad jokes and then crack up about them. He stopped abruptly, clutching his side.

"Ow, okay, found a bruise," he said. I chuckled and shook my head. I passed him his plate of food, which he took gratefully, and then picked up my own plate. I ended up just setting it down on the floor in front of me and eating it that way.

We passed the water cup back and forth between us when we were done, each taking no more than a few sips at a time. When it was drained he set it down on the floor next to the plates. Rudolph came and gathered it all, before he could leave, Sirius grabbed his arm. I've never seen a house elf look more mutinous.

"Hey, we've been wondering what your name is," Sirius said. The elf kept glaring at him. "I'm Sirius, and this is James," he went right along. The elf looked at me briefly before returning his gaze to Sirius.

"Toffie," he said. Sirius smiled and repeated the name as he let go of Toffie's arm. Toffie hesitated before disapparating with a crack.

"What are you playing at?" I asked him. I resumed my earlier position leaning against the wall.

"If we can make friends with that elf he can bring us stuff we need. Like bandages for you or maybe some blankets at night," he explained. I nodded. It wasn't a bad idea, and it was certainly worth a shot.

Nothing else happened that day. No one called either of us up. Toffie came bringing dinner: slices of ham with some kind of pineapple casserole. Sirius tried to clean my arm again, but I argued that we'd run out of clothing in a few days at that rate and to just leave it be. I didn't tell him what I knew to be true, that it was useless to try and keep out infection.

My arm was already infected. In that one night, it had become infected. I wouldn't be surprised if there had been something on the dagger to speed up infection too, maybe even to make it hurt more.

Sirius fell asleep before me this time, his chin resting on his chest. Just to make sure, I waited until I heard his snores before letting any tears escape from the corners of my eyes.

It's a sad thing when you've given up hope and consciously resigned yourself to die.

End Chapter

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