Hey, apologies to Sirius, i luv ya man, thanks for your reviews! & sorry if this is going over board but, writing rama etc is my stronger point ideas wise, I'm not so good with calm.. anyway, enjoy...


When he arrived, the room was empty. Sirius sighed and slumped against the wall, that was one of the most embarrassing moments of his life and he was sure that James wouldn't be happy. He knew James had been right about something, he was dragging this out too much. He needed to get his act together and put on a brave face. But, for now he was going to sit here and waste some time. There wasn't much to do though, nothing to transfigure or mess around with. Sighing, he got back up and decided to go for a walk.

Without a destination in mind, he wandered along the corridors thinking about James. In all honesty, he just wanted a hug. But didn't especially want to go back to Gryffindor tower so soon. Maybe he would bump into Regulus?

Well, he did, but not quite in the circumstances he would have preferred. Sirius had stopped to look out of one of the windows, he was nearing the Slytherin dungeons and didn't really want to go much further. The sun was nearly setting and the light cast across the grounds was a nice shade of pinky orange. Shaking his head slightly he decided he should probably go and sort it out with James, he'd been gone for a while now.

"Well, just the slime we were hoping to come across." Came a drawling voice from behind him. Whipping around Sirius saw a small gang of Slytherins, Regulus included, coming up behind him. His younger brother averted his eyes and looked anywhere but at Sirius. Raising his chin, Sirius stood defiantly, not one to run from a fight.

"We were hoping to get you alone one day, we have a lesson to teach you. Being a blood traitor has consequences." Nott said. Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Whatever." He made to walk away but was stuck in the back by a curse that made him fall flat on his face. Scrambling to his feet, Sirius spun around, furious. His hand went for his wand but a yelled 'Expelliarmus' had it flying towards his enemies. Settling for a muggle-style fight, he raised his fists in a guarded position. The Slytherins just laughed at him and the last thing Sirius saw was a bright light flying towards him. Then he knew only pain and the cold floor.

OoOoO

James was disturbed from a book he was reading over Lily's shoulder by a persistent banging coming from the portrait hall. Looking around, he saw no one was going to have a look out, so he got up and went over. Opening the portrait hole, he was nearly hit in the face by a flying fist. Snapping his hand up, he caught it and looked into the face of Regulus Black.

"Regulus.." James said suspiciously. The younger boy looked very out of breath and upset.

"James, Sirius...he was attacked.. is being attacked...Slytherins.."Regulus started to pant. But James was already half way down the staircase, dragging Regulus with him.

"Show me where." He yelled over his shoulder. The two boys sped down staircases and corridors until they reached the area of the Slytherin dungeons. Regulus suddenly stopped and James looked back quickly, then realised how it would look if they arrived together. After giving Regulus a quick nod he hurried forwards and looked around the corner. There was no Slytherins there, had it been a joke? Was this a trap? But something about the way Regulus had looked told him it wasn't. Then he saw Sirius. His knees nearly buckled but James managed to stagger over to his friend.

"Sirius.." He croaked. Sirius looked terrible..He had a black eye, his clothes were stained with blood in few places. James didn't want to look anymore. He was sure there were some fractured bones. As he couldn't leave Sirius there, James stood up and scooped Sirius gently up in his arms. Sirius coughed and took a rattling breath. James winced and walked as steadily as he could towards the Hospital Wing. Now was not the time for Sirius' wishes, he needed that place more than anything.

"Why is it always you Pads?" James whispered. Getting to the Hospital Wing felt like forever. James tried to be as careful as he could but a couple of times he tripped or stumbled over an uneven bit of floor. Finally, he was pushing open the doors to the Wing and yelling for Madam Pomfrey. She looked up from where she was tending a patient with a furry hand. Telling them hurriedly to drink the potion that was on their bedside, Madam Pomfrey came over to them.

"What in the name...What happened now?" She exclaimed and gestured for James to put Sirius on a bed. James tried to do it as gently as possible but Sirius still groaned slightly. Madam Pomfrey drew curtains around Sirius' bed and made James wait outside them on a chair. He sighed. Going to look out of the doors, he spotted a Ravenclaw second year hurrying past.

"Hey you!" The girl stopped and looked around nervously. "You know who Remus Lupin is don't you?" The girl nodded. "I need you to go and tell him to come here, he'll be in the Gryffindor common room. I'll buy you a chocolate frog if you do."

"Ok." She said and was gone, trotting along the corridor at an in creasing speed. James would have gone himself but didn't want to leave Sirius. He was sure there was something wrong with his friend that he'd missed but couldn't pin what it was. Sitting back down on his creaky old chair, James waited, and waited.

A while later, Remus came through the doors looking pale.

"James what..?" He came over and took a seat next to James.

"Where's Peter?"

"He went to bed, I didn't want to spend the next half an hour trying to wake him up if this was important."

"It is. Regulus was banging at the portrait hole and said something about Sirius being attacked..so..I got him here." Remus sighed and nodded.

"How does he get himself into these situations?"

"I think he was already in this one." James said. "I think it;s to do with him running away this summer." Both boys lapsed into silence and waited for news from Madam Pomfrey. James was just dosing off when the curtains were pulled back and she stepped out looking grim.

"He'll be okay, I'm just going to inform Dumbledore what happened and I'll be back. You can go in."

They both went inside the curtains that were cutting Sirius off from the world. Remus sat on a chair and James perched on the edge of the bed.

"Sirius mate, you awake?" James asked hopefully.

OoOoO

Sirius opened his eyes. Or he thought he had, he put a hand to his face and poked himself in the eye. Ouch! Yes, his eyes were definitely open, so why couldn't he see?

"Sirius..?" That was James' voice!

"James?" His eyes darted around.

"Yeah..it's me and Remus too. Sirius..you can see us right?"

"I..no.." Sirius' breathing picked up pace. Was this permanent? He didn't like this at all! "James I can't! I can't see!" Feeling panicky, Sirius made to sit up, he wanted to know James was there.

"Sirius..Sirius shh, it's okay, I'm sure it's not permanent." Sirius felt a hand on his shoulder and resisted the urge to cry. Putting his hand on top of the one on his shoulder, he felt up the arm attached to it until he reached a body. Then he felt the face..his hand touched glasses and he let out a sigh of relief. It was James.