The first week back at Hogwarts was interesting for many reasons.
The first was that the Marauders accidentally found another secret passage, this time between the second floor and the fifth floor because Peter yawned and lent on one of those pretend doors, which this time actually opened. Sirius, being the only one who could draw, added on this new discovery to the map they had begun the year before.
"Two days in and we've found this!" gloated James that evening. "Looks like it's going to be an interesting year." He caught Sirius' eye and they both cackled evilly. Remus rolled his eyes.
The second was interesting, but not that unexpected as Sirius received his first howler of the year. He barely appeared to notice their cruel words sent from his mother anymore. "-toe the line this year!" The howler burst into flame, littering Sirius' breakfast with ash.
He simply opened the Daily Prophet and took a fresh piece of toast, ignoring the craning necks of the new first years who weren't yet used to this common spectacle and wanted to see the 'disrespectful, inconsiderate boy' for themselves.
The third was that he and James earned their first detention thirty-four minutes exactly into Transfiguration on Monday morning. James said it must have been a school record, prompting Remus to reply that that wasn't anything to be proud of.
The forth was only interesting to Sirius, as on Wednesday, he ran out of cocaine and heroine, which he would light over some foil from a chocolate frog wrapper and inhale in the almost always empty ground floor toilets. He managed to get through Wednesday morning and some of the afternoon shivering and complaining of the 'flu' until Professor McGonagall, tired of his constant sniffing, sent him up to Madame Pomfrey. He never got there, but instead collapsed n a shaking wreck onto his bed in the boy's dormitories. It was there, whilst shivering in miserable agony that he realised there was an answer and that it was just down the corridor.
Opening one bleary eye to glance at Peters Muggle luminous alarm clock, he saw that he had only two minutes until the Muggle Studies students on the seventh floor would leave their classes. Standing up painfully, he stumbled down the spiral staircase and out into the corridor to the bare stretch of wall which masked the entrance to the Room of Requirement.
Sirius passed it three times, chanting, "I want cocaine and heroine… I want cocaine and heroine…" over and over again in his head.
Nothing happened. In desperation, Sirius tried again. There was no door. It seemed the room had some limitations.
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It was Professor Monroe who had found Sirius as she left her class early to find some spare parchment in the supply office. He was sat hunched on a bench halfway down the seventh floor corridor.
"Excuse me! What are you doing out of class?" she called as she strode towards him. "Ah, Mr Black."
He didn't seem to have heard her, and it was not when she was about tem metres away that she saw he was shaking slightly, staring listlessly at a blank stretch of wall across the corridor from him.
"Mr Black?" She stopped a few feet away from him.
There was no answer. He just let out a low, guttural moan as though in pain and continued to breath heavily.
Professor Monroe crouched in front of him, worried, and grasped his shoulders firmly. His eyes slid to her face and then looked back over her shoulder as though he wasn't really aware she was there. She quickly slipped her wand out of her pocket and muttered a spell which sent a white spark whizzing off down the stairs. It was an alarm to Madame Pomfrey for her assistance.
When she arrives, she took a quick look at Sirius and gestured for Monroe to help her support him. Between them, they managed to get him down to the hospital wing and into a bed.
The hospital wing was empty except for one occupied bed opposite Sirius'. A boy about his age, with mud brown hair and a slim build, who was dressed in Ravenclaw colours lay back, propped up against some pillows and watched as Sirius was brought in. the boy had a scar running from the middle of his cheek to his hair which was grown long like Sirius'. In fact, he was relatively good friends with Sirius since third year when they had both been given a detention together for wearing black converses instead of normal leather school shoes.
He watched as Professor Monroe left and Madame Pomfrey fussed over Sirius until she went through the door at the far end which was the medicine cupboard. After waiting a moment, he slid off the bed and approached Sirius, a smile on his face.
"What the fucks wrong with you?"
Sirius stared at him from the bed with glazed eyes and didn't reply.
The boy tilted his head sideways, as though thinking deeply. Suddenly he gasped in understanding and pointed at him accusingly, whispering loudly, "You're-"
Sirius punched him to make him shut up. "Matt, what the hell are you doing."
Matt raised an eyebrow. "You just confirmed it. Well," he added slowly, checking his fingernails, "when did this happen."
Sirius snorted and turned away, staring off down the ward ignoring his trembling body. He just wants me to admit I'm in withdrawal. Idiot. He sank back into the black void of no drugs, hating every second of it.
"I could help you out you know mate."
Sirius' head snapped round and he stared hard at Matt, trying to work out if he was telling the truth or not. "You…?"
"No! Well, occasionally." He smiled evilly, enjoying the power he held over Sirius. "But Josh knows every contact you need to get anything into this school. He's been supplying the Hufflepuff seventh year with pot all last year."
Sirius felt his breathing quicken in anticipation. His eyes brightened and he licked his lips. "How-"
"Matthew Jones! Leave that boy alone right this minute!" Madame Pomfrey was marching angrily up the gap between the beds. "He needs rest and you should be gone. Get out and go back to lesson two. You clearly have no headache now!" he snorted and pushed him out of the way to look at Sirius.
Matt slipped out of the door, grinning secretly at Sirius before the door slammed shut. Sirius stared at the door. His last chance was walking away. How the hell do I know which class Josh is in now? He swung his legs off the bed and stood up, grabbing onto the bed-side table for support. He was shaking terribly, his breath coming in short sharp gasps. He started to unsteadily run to the door.
"Mr Black!" Madame Pomfrey shrieked. "Where on earth are you going?"
Sirius didn't have the energy to answer so just opened the door and ran down the corridor and down the stairs in the vague direction of the Charms classrooms where he knew the Ravenclaws were being taught. He ran staggering round the corner and saw Matt emerging from the boy's toilet. He saw him and smiled in relief. "Matt!" he stopped in front of him, leaning on the wall for support. "Where's Josh?"
"Holy shit, you're a bit desperate," he answered.
"Fuck off. Where is he, you piece of piss?" Sirius was getting seriously annoyed. Didn't Matt realise what a rush he was in?
Matt laughed and put on a gruff voice. "Nice to have you back, son," he said, slapping Sirius on the back. He ignored Sirius scowl. "Er… in Divination, I think. Yeah, he definitely is."
Sirius sighed in relief and then realised now many flights of stairs he had to climb. "Matt, I can't make it up there. I'm shaking so badly I could barely walk here."
Matt bit his cheek. "I could go up there for you, but it'll cost you."
"I'll give you anything you want."
"Alright then. Sit in the forth cubicle from the door in there loos and wait there. I'll be about ten, fifteen minutes at the most." He smiled briefly and disappeared up the corridor.
Sirius sat on the floor in his cubicle and rested his throbbing head on the closed toilet seat. The loo roll swam in front of his eyes so he clenched them shut. The drip of the tap rang louder and louder in his ears until he wrapped his arms around his head and moaned softly until his misery was interrupted by someone banging loudly on the door.
"Sirius? Sirius!" Matt shouted. "I'm pushing this under the door. I'll chase you up later and so will Josh." He dropped a small bag of white powder on the floor and nudged it under the door with his toe. "Cheerio," he called from the toilet door in a mock posh voice, taking the piss out of Sirius as a final goodbye and shut the door behind him.
Sirius seized the bag with shaking hands and lined up one pinch on the toilet seat. Taking a large breath, he snorted one up… and then another. Sighing in bliss, he sunk back against the cubicle wall and grinned in relaxation. After snorting one more line, he exited the cubicle and sorted out his dishevelled appearance in the mirror. Whilst straightening out his collar, the door opened and a tiny first year entered, took one look at the older boy, let out a squeak and ran out again. Sirius laughed followed the boy out.
He slipped into his Potions class fifteen minutes late and was glad to see that James had grabbed his bag for him. He sat down next to him and watched James struggle to cut up his Grindelow heart until he finally realised that Sirius was sitting there.
"Did Pomfrey give you something for your cold?" he asked before stirring the potion he was brewing five times anticlockwise and tipping in the heart.
"Yeah," Sirius answered, glad to have been supplied with an excuse. He glanced up to the black board. "A remedy for a broken heart?" he read in disgust.
James flinched in agreement. "I know. Eight different typed of heart have to go into this bloody potion and you've missed having to help me cut up one of them." He was always in a bad mood in Potions so Sirius decided to let him rant and instead started to copy up the notes he had missed.
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Chapter 11, all nice and done. Thank you MilyMB for hurrying me up! I'll try not to take too long with the next one.