The tea cups laid cracked on the gray carpet, the hot tea now cooled and soaked into carpet. Biscuits scattered from the door to the hallway, most likely still warm on the inside, but cool to the touch. And Remus's shirt, drenched with the liquid that had burned him. Sirius stared at the mess on the floor , mostly at the clothing that laid abandoned, he wouldn't dare look at the bathroom door. The fountain of blood had stopped pouring out of nose now, just tiny drops on the soft paper appeared.
"I got the…napkins." James started in a shout, then almost whispered the last part as he walked in to see Sirius laid down on his bed.
"I should beat you, with your shoe..." Sirius muttered, glaring at the blood on his napkin.
"I deserve it, I'm really sorry…I didn't mean for you to bleed." James frowned, walking slowly towards Sirius, until he sat down beside him. "I'll let you hit me, if you want." James looked down, fixing his glasses after placing the paper towels beside Sirius.
Sirius rolled his eyes, throwing his bloody napkin at James. As James freaked out over the 'Sirius-germ-infected-napkin' Sirius took new towel and dabbed his nose, now only tiny spots appearing.
"You're such prat." Sirius groaned, throwing his head back against the soft, propped up pillows.
"Yeah, so I heard…How's Remus? There's not a giant hole in his chest, right?" James bit his lip, turning his head to see Remus walking back into the room.
"Ask him yourself." Sirius closed his eyes, listening as Remus spoke up.
"I'm going to get a new shirt…Then I'll get a new batch of tea and biscuits." Remus padded over to the mess on the floor, picking up his wet shirt.
"Oh, Remus, I'm so sorry…Are you okay?" James panicked, seeing the nasty red marks on his chest
"It's alright, I should've knocked." Remus smirked, looking down at his wet shirt. "Besides it looks bad, but doesn't hurt as much anymore…Just tingly." Remus let out a laugh, moving his eyes to Sirius.
"Do you need anything, Master Black?"
"No."
"Has the bleeding stopped?"
"No."
"Would you like me to call someone up to look at it?"
"No!"
Remus flinched back, looking down as Sirius shouted unexpectedly, even James flinched at the voice beside him.
"Just leave the door open." James spoke softly, making sure to smile, watching Remus walk over to kneel beside the mess. He picked up the silver tray and began cleaning up.
James frowned and turned back to Sirius who still had his eyes closed, one arm thrown over his eyes as the other lay beside him.
James smirked at how dramatic Sirius could be, then noticed the napkin currently on Sirius's nose showed no signs of blood...it wasn't even folded over.
"Liar." Jams whispered, hitting Sirius's side softly, afraid to make the fragile prince beside him bleed again.
Sirius opened his eyes, giving James a warning glance, but instead his eyes fell on the boy kneeling in the doorway. The scars crisscrossed across Remus's back, from his upper back down all the way below his thin waistline. It looked as if the process of getting them was painful. Sirius began to wonder how they got they got there in the first place, then again Remus had a smart mouth. Sirius threatened Remus to be beaten, but never would've inflicted that much pain on the man.
"So, any new ideas for the speech?" James interrupted his thought, smirking as he caught Sirius's object of focus.
Sirius sighed heavily, wishing he could just hate the messy haired boy in front of him.
-
The tapping of Sirius's pencil against the pile of papers and fire crackling was unheard to Sirius as he stared at Remus's back. His eyes blinking every now and then as he thought again, how the servant was injured like that. He wasn't about to ask, because he knew he didn't really care. He didn't want the servant to think he was getting on Sirius's good side. Servants were below him, not equal, however Remus got hurt is his own fault.
Remus was tending to the fireplace, cleaning the mantel of the built up dust. Remus was oblivious to Sirius's eyes, not thinking he would be staring at him. Remus's mind was somewhere else, something hot and delicious known as his dinner.
Sirius looked back down at his paper, an opening for the speech that he and James wrote before Potter had to leave. It was decent, beyond the crossing out and side drawings of James and Lily holding hands.
"Anything else, Master Black, before I head down?" Remus asked, flattening his shirt as he stood now facing Sirius.
"Yes, tuck me in, servant." Sirius sighed, taking his papers with him as he sat up and put his legs under the sheets. He watched Remus walk with his hand on his stomach, either intentional or not, and wince a little when he bent over to reach over Sirius. There was that feeling again, deep in Sirius's gut as he watched Remus in a tiny bit of distress.
"Just close the drapes…I expect breakfast tomorrow in the morning, not before nine and no later than eleven." Sirius spoke with his eyes glued to his papers, not tucked into his bed.
Remus nodded, watching as Sirius stared down at the same paper he'd had for hours.
"If you don't mind me asking, what is it exactly you're writing?" Remus asked, pulling the drapes across the window. "You've been staring at that paper for hours." The smirk that appeared on Remus's lips, ended up on Sirius's face as well.
Sirius looked up quickly turning serious again, pieces of hair escaping the tie he had in his hair. He looked more innocent than intimidating, and that made Remus smile more.
"I wouldn't expect you to understand this kind of high social…writing." Sirius looked back down at his paper, a tint of pink on his face.
"I studied writing for a bit before I was forced to get a job that required me to serve brats like you…But, since it's apparently to 'high social writing' for me, I'll wish you Good night then, Master Black." Remus bowed his head, rolling his eyes as he lifted his head.
Sirius didn't acknowledge Remus after he spoke, only looking up as Remus left. Again looking at Remus's back, his thoughts back on how the red marks ever got to Remus..
-
"It's so nice to finally sit down and just stuff my face." Remus laughed, picking up his fork and digging in to fluffy mashed potatoes.
"You haven't eaten lunch, no wonder you're so hungry, deary."
"I know, but there was an accident in Master Blacks room, "Remus swallowed his food, cutting his chicken up after. "So, I had more work to do."
The plump woman that stood with her back to Remus as she washed dishes. She turned her head, her rosy red cheeks pushed up with lips pursed.
"What happened?"
"Well, James Potter was over, and he accidentally bumped into me when I entered Mr. Black's room with knocking." Remus chewed quickly, swallowing his food with a satisfied grin.
"Ah, Mr. Potter is always a handful." She laughed, her body bouncing with the action. "That boy is as kind as they come though, bless his soul."
Remus nodded his head in agreement, "Yeah, you're right Mrs. Pierre, he's a really nice bloke. Unlike Sirius, he can be such a pain in the ass." Remus chewed and looked over at the other maid.
"Ah, Master Sirius is a bit of a brat, I'll agree…But, he was a sweet child, believe it or not." She used her forearm to wipe her forehead, sighing heavily as she glanced back at Remus. "He used to help me in the gardens, he had a thing for gardening."
"Wow, Sirius kneeling in dirt?" Remus laughed before sipping his water, "He can't even tuck himself in."
"Yeah, he loved getting dirty then. His father hated it though, said gardening wasn't a thing his son should be doing."
Remus watched Mrs. Pierre as she spoke, cutting his chicken up slowly as he listened.
"Sirius never really listened to his father back then though, he was a nine year old boy who knew he wanted to play outside and plant gardens. His mother didn't have a problem with it, she loved the gardens, still does. She loved it more when Sirius one day brought her a bouquet for mothers day. Told her how he watered those flowers himself," She laughed, but frowned quickly after. "But, all good things come to an end sometime."
Drying her hands she placed the last pot on a shelf and turned to face Remus. The younger servant looking at her, waiting for her to continue her story. Mrs. Pierre smiled at him, walking over to sit beside him.
"Then his father bullied poor Sirius into being a man, right after he went to private school. He told all Sirius's friends parents how he gardens, you can imagine the teasing Sirius got for that once his friends found out."
Remus frowned, putting his fork down.
"Sirius then stopped coming outside to help with the garden. I did notice Mrs. Black became more uptight after that summer of Sirius's first year of school. Sure Mr. and Mrs. Black were never the perfect, happy couple, but back then at least she kissed him hello and goodbye. Now, it's a rare sight to see Mr. and Mrs. Black in the same room. We believe it's all his fault, that she's so stuck up now, just like Sirius. I fear for Master Regulus, he's already a bratty child." She sighed, leaning back in her chair, obviously resting her feet for the first time today.
"So, you're telling me Sirius's dad is the reason this place is so…uptight?" Remus bit his lip.
"Well, we believe so. But, everyone speaks for themselves, nobody forced Sirius to change the way he was. If he wanted to continue to be the sweetheart that he was, he would've stayed that way. Smiling and complimenting me every morning, hugging his mother with a sweet little 'I-love-you', telling his younger brother how tie shoes…no, no more of that from Sirius Black." She closed her eyes, relaxing. "Now, it's commands and demands from the little brat he's become."
Remus looked down at his food, remembering he was hungry. Slowly, Remus continued to eat, this time thinking about the troubled little boy that was Sirius Black.
-
"Hey, Sirius! I heard you help the fat lady plant pink flowers!"
A crowd of laughter erupted around the ten year old boy, making him slump low in his seat. Thanking god his mother let him grow his hair out, his eyes were hidden behind his long hair. The blush that burned his face stayed in the shadows of his hair as he sat alone in the classroom full of laughing children.
"My daddy told me that he played in the dirt with her! Building mud castles when it rained!" A little girl giggled, sitting in her chair with perfect ponytails on top of her head.
"Maybe he's a poof?" Another little girl asked, "May mommy says that's when little boys like him kiss other boys."
A round of disgusted noises went around Sirius, making the little boy finally put his head down on the desk. For the first time in Sirius's life, he felt what humiliation was and couldn't stop the tiny tears from escaping his cloudy gray eyes.
The next thought coming to the childs mind, was he was never to set foot in the garden again.
-
