16/07/2020

So I was originally just going to skip over Sirius' visit to the Potters' but someone wanted a chapter on it. So this is for user Midnightmoonbeam :) hope you enjoy

disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter (unfortunately)

Chapter 24 (James Potter)

A Week at the Potters'

Monday 10 July 1972

James couldn't wait for Sirius to arrive, it had only been just over a week, but (although he'd never admit it) he missed him. James even felt a little lonely with just his parents at home, not that he disliked his parents, but it wasn't the same as sharing a room with three other boys your own age. A ring of the doorbell sent James sliding down the Bannister and falling into Mrs Potter.

"Be careful James."

"Sorry Ma." he said as he went to open the door.

"Siri- what happened to you mate?" he gasped as he saw a deep bruise on the side of his cheek. He was surprised to see Sirius alone, had nobody taken him?

"Lovely to see you too Jamsie." he smirked, but he looked dead behind his normally sparkling silver eyes. James gave a look to his mother, willing her not to mention it yet.

"Let me take your bag and coat dear." said Mrs Potter. She grabbed his case and put it by the side. Sirius looked a little discomforted when he took the coat off. She led them into their kitchen, which was bright and airy, with white wooden tables and chairs in the centre. Mrs Potter started to make tea as they sat down and started to talk.

"So, who did that to you." James asked, pointing to the bruise.

"Nobody!" he said hurriedly. "I- uh tripped.". He could always tell when Sirius was lying. He often fooled the teachers with a straight face but he could always tell the difference between a truth and a lie with Sirius. James just raised an eyebrow as Mrs Potter poured them some tea.

"I'll get that sorted in no time." said Mrs Potter, patting Sirius lightly on the cheek.

"Oh there's no-"

"I'll have none of that dear, I'll be back in five minutes." she walked out and heard her go upstairs.

"James she sounds just like you mate." Sirius chuckled.

"What do you mean 'just like me.'"

"Motherly." Sirius grinned.

"I'm not motherly!"

"You so are. Remember when I cut my finger," he put on a girly voice "I'll have none of that Sirius, we're going to the Hospital Wing."

"Oh come on." James started to laugh "You're finger looked like it was going to come off." they drank their tea and chatted a little more.

"Everything okay at home Sirius." James asked innocently. "Your parents treating you right?"

"I- I don't know what you mean. It's fine at home. Fine." he repeated again, it sounded like he was trying to convince himself he was okay. He had never seen Sirius acting so strange before. He was usually bold and daring, but now, he seemed shy and timid and even weak. Just then, Mrs Potter walked in with a couple of bottles in her hand.

"Come up here dear." she asked. James watched as she poured the healing potion onto Sirius' bruised cheek. Sirius didn't flinch but clenched his fists together which turned white. It must have stung badly.

"I just need to put this on and you'll be as good as new. Is there any other place you're hurt?" she asked. Sirius hesitated for a moment, and then shook his head. She poured another liquid and the bruise turned from the dark purple that it was, to a light pink colour.

"Thank you Ma'am." he said with a smile.

"Oh you're so polite dear, no need to be so formal. Please, call me Euphemia." James was almost in shock at how shy Sirius was being. He was never like this at school. Perhaps it was just around adults? Mrs Potter left the room and left them to it.

"You know, Professor Atkinson is leaving." said James, not bothering to question him any further on the matter.

"Oh no, Remus won't be happy."

"I bet he won't."

"Who's the new teacher going to be then?" Sirius asked.

"Someone called Samantha Oswald. She's Ma's friends daughter actually, about 22 I think. We get on pretty well."

"Is she nice?"

"She's very pretty." James said with a smirk.

"James!" he scoffed."She's going to be our teacher. Also what does she look like, do you have a photo?"

''''''''''''''''''''

In the evening, James and Sirius went out to play some Quidditch. James' parents owned the field their house was on so they had built some Quidditch hoops a few years ago for James 10th birthday. They practised well into the night.

" I reckon you'll be playing Beater alongside George Budgens in no time." James said, patting him on the back.

"As if James. I haven't even been flying a year."

"Yeah and you're bloody brilliant." James said clapping him on the back.

"You know, Marlene is trying out for chaser." Sirius said with interest.

"Mckinnon! Oh merlin she's so annoying and girly and giggly."

"Oh, you think?"

"Unlike Evans. She's mature and pretty and graceful-"

"And absolutely hates your guts." Sirius laughed.

"You'll see, I'll get her in the end."

Soon after, Mrs Potter was calling them down to get ready for bed. They brushed their teeth and got into bed. James room was painted white, but barely any white was showing it was filled with Gryffindor Banners and Puddlemere United posters. Mrs Potter came bustling with steaming mugs of Hot Chocolate.

"Drink it while it's hot boys. Goodnight my dears." she chimed, turning off the light. James' loved his mum's hot chocolate. It always filmed him up and made him warm and fuzzy.

"Right. So we're pretty certain Remus is a Werewolf right?" he whispered to Sirius, accidently elbowing him in the ribs as the bed wasn't really made for two boys.

"Ow!" he clutched his stomach but continued as normal. Yes. Certain."

"So how are we going to, you know, get him to tell us."

Sirius paused and looked deep in thought.

"Tickle him until he talks?" he suggested. "Can't wait until I learn the tickling hex. I bet he hates it."

"Perhaps a last resort." James said chuckling.

"Hmm. Blackmail?"

"Sirius, Remus is our friend remember."

"Okay okay." they discussed a little more until they finally settled on a solution.

"So, when we get back to school," Sirius started "We wait for the first full moon, then we confront him. If he says no, we don't let him leave the room. Right?"

"Perfect. I'll send a letter to Peter." said James, grabbing some parchment and ink.

Dear Peter

How's your holiday so far? Sirius is round mine for the week and we thought we should plan how we're going to ask Remus about his Lycanthropy. The plan is, we find out when the next full moon at school is, and we lock the room. We ask him about it, and then if he says he's not, then we'll just not let him out (and that way he'll finally admit to it.)

Does that sound like an idea?

From the best Marauder

James (I mean did I really need to say it)

"James you are so not the best Marauder."

"I so am."

"Oh yeah and how did you work that out?"

"Because I got full marks in Transfiguration."

"But James, I got full marks in Defence Against the Dark Arts and Potions."

"Well so did Remus, okay not Potions, but he got full marks in Charms and Herbology and Astronomy too."

Sirius gave a sigh. "So Remus is the clever Marauder."

"Hmm. I guess so." he laughed.

James sealed up the letter and sent it off to Peter. It was late and the two boys were yawning so decided to go to sleep (Finally at two in the morning.) James pulled the quilt over them.

"James your touching my foot!" Sirius said.

"Well your for is touching mine." he laughed.

Eventually, they fell asleep.

Tuesday 11th July 1972

In the morning, they had to be woken by a fussy Mrs Potter, because they were so tired from the night before.

"Come on boys, breakfast is getting cold."

When they got downstairs, Mr Potter was sitting at the table. He was tall with glasses and slightly messy dark hair. His father had been a little skeptical about James' friendship with Sirius, just because he was from the Black family. Mrs Potter didn't care as she always said 'If he's friends with our James, then I'm sure he can't be too bad.'

Mr Potter shook Sirius' hand "Nice to meet you Sirius."

"And you sir."

"So how have you enjoyed Hogwarts so far." Mr Potter asked Sirius. After they had talked for a while, James was sure that his father had changed his mind about Sirius. He was always easy to have a conversation with, unlike the other members of the Black family. They sat down and started to eat, the food was good, as usual, as his mother was a brilliant cook. Later on they went out to play Quidditch again. It was one of the hottest days so far in the holidays and James was sweating madly.

"I reckon we should go for a swim." he suggested.

"A swim, I didn't see a swimming pool?" said Sirius.

"Nah there's a lake about half a mile away."

"No way, you swim in the lake?"

"Always, its refreshing, Ma would kill me if she knew I did though."

'''''''''''''''''''

When they got to the lake, James pulled off his t-shirt and jumped right into the water with a gigantic splash.

"Come on Sirius, it won't kill you!"

"Haha yeah." he said nervously.

"What can't you swim!"

"Yeah of course I can" and with that James grabbed Sirius' ankle and pulled him in.

"You git! It's freezing!" he shrieked once he emerged from the water holding onto the side of the lake. He was breathing heavily.

"What's wrong" James laughed.

"I- I uh-"

"Oh Merlin you really can't swim can you."

"I- I can." he said, with his teeth chattering.

"Alright, I'll race you to the other end of the Lake." and he sped off with broad strokes.

"Cheat!" Sirius shouted behind him. Just a few moments later, he heard some frantic splashing. Sirius was kicking and waving his arms about madly. He swam right back over and brought him to the edge of the lake.

"Honestly Sirius, drowning in a lake because you're too cool to say you can't swim, is not cool." he said dragging him up onto the bank.

"Well I didn't think it would be that hard, seeming as you could do it." he mocked, flicking his hair off his face.

"Wait 'til I tell Dorcas Meadowes you can't swim."

"Honestly, please do, she's getting on my nerves." they laughed and sat in the sun for a while.

"Oh Merlin's bloody balls!" gasped Sirius.

"Sirius Orion Black, watch that mouth of yours."

"Look at my shirt! Mother's going to kill me." his shirt had ripped at the seam and showing some pale white skin. James tried to contain a laugh.

"Can't you just sew it back up."

"I don't know how."

"Honestly you're a household nightmare. You can't swim, you can't sew, what can you do?" he mocked.

"I can look pretty?" Sirius said running his fingers through his now short hair.

"If you say so." although, Sirius had always been pretty good looking for a bloke he thought.

"Okay I'll sew it up for you, but at a price."

"Oh yeah, I'm listening."

"You let me teach you how to swim."

"James, you'll probably end up drowning me."

"Well, it's your call." but Sirius agreed and they got started. After half an hour, Sirius had achieved, well...

"Mate you can't doggy paddle the rest of your life."

"I definitely can Jamsie."

"And what if you're locked up somewhere and the only way you can escape is by swimming."

"I'll swim like a dog. Simple. Besides, when would I ever need to escape somewhere."

When they got back to the house, they had completely forgotten to bring some dry clothes and James just hoped his mum didn't spot them. Thankfully, they got back to James' room undetected. He dried and stitched the shirt pretty quickly.

"There you go, good as new."

"What did I say, Motherly."

Friday 14th July 1972

By the end of the week, they'd played so much Quidditch, that James had got the worst sunburn he had ever had. His neck and face was as red as the Gryffindor common room. Sirius however, was still as fair skinned as he was before.

"You're practically brown Jamsie." Sirius scoffed.

"And you're as white as a Lily." he snapped.

"Oh you never stop talking about Lily do you."

"I didn't mean Evans!" he laughed. James gazed into the distance. "Do you think she'll actually talk to me next year."

"Yes of course." he contorted his face into a displeased expression "Potter you're so arrogant, Potter go away, Potter you're a slime ball." in a high-pitched girly voice.

"Well she's friends with Remus." he said, ignoring Sirius' mockery.

"That's because Remus is actually nice to her mate."

"I am nice."

"Well all you say to her is 'Alright Evans'"

"Well I was told you should greet someone before you have a conversation with them, although I haven't got as much as three sentences passed that."

"I wonder why-"

James was helping Sirius to pack his clothes into his case. He was sad to see him go, even slightly guilty. He was pretty sure that bruise must have come from home, and he had also seen some faded bruises on the boys back. He didn't mention them because he knew Sirius would never admit what they actually were.

"Right Sirius, 'Operation Remus is a Werewolf' is night of 22nd of September, or technically 23rd because it will be early morning, around 5am." James mentioned as he looked over a Lunar Chart.

"Ah that's so early! What if he doesn't admit it until like 4am, what if we fall asleep."

"We won't."

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

It was a shame to see Sirius leave but he knew he'd be seeing him again soon on the 1st of September. When Mrs Black had come to pick Sirius up, she had a horrible sneer on her face. Sirius was somewhat quiet too. He had never liked the look of Walburga Black. She was dark and crooked, evening frightening. She barely said a word, which added to her cold character.

"Thank you for having Sirius for the week. I know he can cause a lot of trouble when he wants to." Walburga said distastefully, gripping Sirius' shoulder. She was the polar opposite to Euphemia.

"Not at all. He's such a lovely boy. Very welcome to come back again." she said smiling. Walburga raised an eyebrow. "That was a nasty bruise on his face when he arrived Mrs Black."

"Yes." she said with a cold sneer. "Sirius has a habit of walking into things don't you." she peered down at her quiet son who nodded. There was a small silence.

"See you soon." Sirius said with a solemn smile.

"See you at school."

James shut the door behind them and went to the kitchen for supper.

"What a horrible woman. Never liked her family." she muttered.

"Do you know them?" James asked.

"Oh yes, many of the Black's were at school in my time. All Slytherin's and all very- well- not the most decent of Wizards. All for Pure-blood supremacy."

"But Sirius isn't like that." he said defensively.

"Oh I know dear, but his mother definitely is, and I can't imagine Sirius having an easy time at home if he thinks otherwise, especially after being sorted into Gryffindor." she sighed. "Poor boy, stuck in a house like that."

James watched Walburga and Sirius from the window, who was muttering something into his ear which made him freeze for a tiny moment, just before they disapparated.

Saturday 15th July 1972

To Sirius

Hope you didn't get bored of us by the end of the week. Ma says you're more than welcome to come whenever you like. Ma and Pa quite like you by the way. Pa being the captain and Beater on his team has asked me to send some of his old Quidditch tactics and notes. Not sure if they're any good.

I noticed your mother looked a little annoyed once you had left. What was wrong, was it us? Just wanted to check if everything was okay, that did look like a nasty bruise.

See you soon, maybe we can meet in Diagon Alley to get our books for next year.

James

James sent the letter off and sighed. He wished he could have stayed over for longer, it was a little bit boring with just his parents for company. James took out some books and parchment and started on a Transfiguration essay. He didn't mind Transfiguration, in fact he was rather good at it. Top of his class. He, Sirius and Remus were the most skilled in Defence Against the Dark Arts, although some of the Slytherin's seemed to know a lot of magic beforehand, dark magic. Especially Snape. He knew of and could perform a few dark curses, which made James dislike him even more. James could never see himself turning to the dark side, or even trying to use dark magic. James hated Snape from the first day. He was sour and creepy and hung around Lily Evans far too much for his liking. He had only had a few arguments with him, but he hated everything about Snape from the roots of his greasy black hair to the very soles of his shoes.

Wednesday 19th July 1972

It had been four days until James finally received a letter back from Sirius, which was odd because he usually replied within hours. A black owl flew down with a white envelope with his name on it written in an elaborate hand which he only knew Sirius to write in.

Dear James

Thank you for having me last week, your parents were really good to me, and tell your father that the Quidditch notes are useful. I would love to come over again, but mother said I couldn't and I need to catch up on Piano and get my homework done. I seriously never want to play the damn thing again. Know anywhere I can get a Guitar?

Mother was fine, i'm always in trouble for something right? And I told you before that I fell over. She also says that she went to get everything from Diagon Alley on Monday, so I don't have an excuse to see you. Sorry.

See you in September

Sirius

James thought there was many odd things about the letter. How could he be so busy that he can't come round for a day. Why does he have to play piano if he hates it. He really didn't believe that he fell over and how could he not know that his mother already went to Diagon Alley. Was he not at home?

James knew something wasn't right at Sirius' home, and he was going to find out sooner later.