Title: With a Little Help from My Friends

Characters: Sirius Black, James Potter, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew.

Prompts: Team Light- Your character is stuck in a dream. Write about a character who has been given an unfair reputation (Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew, James Potter...).

AN: Written for the Character Admiration Tournament held by Lenore483 the Jurassic Fever [Challenge] held by whitetiger91 at The Golden Snitch Forum.

Word Count: 990


Taunting words spoken by the venomous voices followed him down the long corridor. Sirius Black knew that in real life the corridor wasn't that long but at the moment it made no difference. His brown curls gracefully moved in rhythm with his steps and occasionally Sirius would turn around to look at the people who followed him. His grey eye would widen in fear and for the few seconds he allowed himself to look at his parents and his brother it felt as if his heart was going to violently beat its way out him.

"Traitor." His mother called him with her wheezing voice. "Scum. Traitor. You are no child of mine."

His father joined in and soon Regulus did too. It wasn't until then that Sirius felt the familiar stab in his heart. He had been told what a disgrace he was before. But he had never heard the words from his brother. He had never seen those grey eyes look at him with such hatred or seen those thin lips throw those harsh insults at him.

"No brother of mine." He spoke as he tilted his head to the side.

There was nothing Sirius could do to get away from them. No matter how hard he pushed his tiny body they were always going to catch up with him. There was no possibility for him to get away from them. Then they stopped. Sirius did too. He breathed heavily, it felt as if his lungs were going to break, and watched as the people in front of him changed. It wasn't his brother and parents looking at him anymore. Sirius shoulders slumped forward and his entire face turned into a mask of dread.

"No, no," he whispered mostly to himself with a voice more pleading and filled with desperation than it had ever been before. "Please, not them. Please, don't turn into them. Anyone but them. Help me."

Whoever it was that Sirius begged for help had decided to not give it to him. The three people in front of him had now all taken the shapes that he already knew like the back of his hand. James Potter with his hazel eyes looked at him not with fondness but with hatred. Remus Lupin with scars across looked like he was physically restraining himself to not hurt Sirius. Then there was Peter with a snarl on his face.

"Did you really think that we were friends?" the voice of James said. Sirius knew that it wasn't him but the knowledge of that didn't matter. He still felt his chin quiver as the first tears ran down his cheeks. He stood completely paralysed as his friends approached him much like carnivores approached their victim. "Silly little boy. You mean nothing to us. Your parents were right, you a disgrace to everyone."

The voice of James continued to taunt him. Every word he spoke, every insult, latched themselves onto Sirius heart and he felt himself break. His legs could no longer carry his twelve-year-old body and he fell to the floor as his friends circled around him.

"You are a disgrace."

"You mean nothing to us."

"You mean nothing to anyone."

"You are worthless."

Sirius head slumped forward and his entire body shook with sobs. Brokenly he whispered I'm sorry over and over again until he screamed the words so loudly that he thought his vocal chords would break and leave him a mute for the rest of his life.

Then he opened his eyes. He was still screaming and he felt pearls of sweat running down his forehead. It took a few minutes to figure out where he was but eventually he did. Sirius was at Hogwarts. He was in his bed, surrounded by nervous looking eleven-year-old boys whose terror couldn't be hidden. Peter with his brown hair, chocolate brown eyes and chubby cheeks was the first to speak.

"Are you okay?" his voice rarely carried much emotion in them but this time he sounded worried.

Sirius nodded and that had James scoffing from where the raven-haired boy sat in front of him. "That is bullshit. You are not okay. What happened?"

Sirius attempted to smile but he could feel his lips quivering and his voice came out in a whispering tone. "What would Mrs. Potter say if she heard you use that kind of language?"

James shrugged as he ignored the attempt to lessen the tension. "It doesn't matter right now. What matters right now is you." His voice softened. "What happened Sirius, you can tell us."

Sirius shook his head, suddenly not trusting his voice to carry. He was afraid to look at James and see a look of disappointment flicker across his face. But still when James sighed deeply Sirius forced himself to look.

"Oh well," he moved from the end of the bed and laid down next to Sirius.

"What are you doing?" the young boy managed to ask.

James looked at him with an expression that told him what a stupid question that was. "If you don't want to tell us that's okay but I'm still going to stay with you. I don't need to know what made you so scared to protect you against it."

Sirius felt his eyes fill with tears again and when he laid down he put his head on James shoulder and subconsciously made his body as small as he could.

"We don't either." Peter spoke with a smile.

Remus nodded. "We're friends. Now scoot over."

It took a lot of moving around to fit the four boys in a bed that was made for one. But eventually they all laid closely together. James held Sirius close and didn't comment on the desperate grip Sirius had around his raven-haired friend. Most of the time, after a nightmare like that, Sirius would be unable to go back to sleep. But this time, somehow, he managed and Sirius knew exactly why.

The end