James went to bed that night feeling warm inside. The way he always felt after spending time with his parents. The way his father could turn almost anything into a magnificent joke and the way his mother's laugh lit up the room like a flame. He always felt much better after being able to see them and talk with them. He smiled and pulled the covers up a little higher. He was just beginning to drift off when he heard a knocking. He sat up and grabbed for his glasses on his night stand. He pushed them up his nose and squinted around the dark room. The knocking continued. James turned around his room, realizing the knocking was coming from his window.

He walked over and was only somewhat surprised to see sirius there, standing on the ledge outside his window holding his broom and a duffle bag. He pushed the window open and stepped aside for sirius to come in. when one was friends with sirius one had to expect odd things to happen.

"What are you doing here, mate?" he asked. It was wonderful to see sirius but if he was here unannounced, knowing his family, something was probably wrong. He wished he was more surprised to see tears beginning to shine in sirius's eyes.

"Can i stay here, prongs?" he asked breathily

"Of course," he nodded "Do you wanna talk about… why?" he asked cautiously. Sometimes sirius was in the mood to vent about the stuck up pricks his family was full of and sometimes he rather preferred to pretend they didn't exist. Assuming all this was about his family, after all.

Sirius sat on the edge of james's bed and put his face down in his hands. James sat down next to him. Sirius gave a depressed chuckle and rubbed his eyes

"They've really done it this time, prongs."

"What?" james prompted

"Kicked me out. Not that i wouldn't have left anyway." he quickly added. Once again, james wished he was more surprised. He felt bad, of course, but it wasn't exactly shocking news. The black family had been threatening to disown sirius for years now, and they weren't exactly the kind to make idle threats. he knew it was just a matter of time.

"It was just a normal family dinner," he slowly brought his head up from his hands and stared at the wall opposite james's bed "horrible, insufferable, and my mother said something bigoted and offensive. Which, of course, sparked a fight between us." sirius looked at james with such an unbearable sadness on his face that james considered going right over to grimmauld place and having a little chat with the blacks himself

"Reg is a death eater, prongs. I knew it was coming. I knew he would but-" he rubbed his face again "i just couldn't take it anymore. I wanted to get out of there and they wanted me out. They didn't even let me gather my stuff. That's all i could grab." he inclined his head to the small duffle by the window that james assumed held probably only clothes.

"Listen, mate, i don't care what your family said. You can stay here as long as you like." he clapped him on the back and sirius offered him a small smile.

…[...[]...]...

James rolled over on the floor, his feet all tangled up in a quilt. He and sirius had sat up late talking and just fell asleep on the floor, buried in one of his grandmother's old knitting works. James slowly sat up and felt around for his glasses. He hadn't taken them off before he went to sleep and they could be just about anywhere at this point. His fingers finally grasped them beginning to edge their way under his bed. Merlin, he would have never found them if they were all the way under there.

He slid them on and stood all the way up, trying not to wake sirius. By the way the sky looked out the window it was probably just about six AM. definitely not the time sirius prefered to get up. He carefully opened the door and slipped out, making his way down the stairs and into the kitchens where he was greeted with a small chorus of "hello, mister potter!" and "good morning, sir!" from the house elves. There were about five of them. More than the typical household, but the potters liked employing house elves because in most places they were treated horribly. Three of the house elves had been acquired in james's lifetime, the other two belonged to his parents from their families. The other two were very old.

"Goodmorning." he smiled back at them weakly, still thinking about sirius

"Is something the matter, sir?" asked the youngest house elf they had; lebby. James simply shook his head and walked over to the refrigerator, pulling out ingredients for breakfast.

About an hour later james sat at the kitchen table alone, portions of eggs, bacon, sausage and fruit spread in front of him. He piled the food on his plate waiting for someone else to wake up.

Only a few minutes later sirius came wandering down the the kitchen, pulling his long hair back into a bun on the back of his head. He sat down wordlessly next to james, quieter than james had seen him in a long time. He quietly took portions of sausage and eggs, but didn't do much more than move them around his plate. James was trying to think of what to say to him when his father bustled into the room, fastening a tie. His mother wasn't far behind. She hopped in pulling on a shoe.

"Thanks for breakfast dear." she gave him a kiss on the top of his head and james's hands automatically went to his hair, messing up what she had momentarily flattened.

"Hello, sirius, dear." she greeted and grabbed a container from one of the kitchen shelves. James's father turned around, apparently having not seen sirius there in his rush

"Oh, yes, hello, when did you get in?"

"Late last night." sirius answered, still staring down at his breakfast.

"Well it's lovely to see you." james's mother gave him a small hug from behind before filling the container with assortments of the breakfast. And with that she hustled out of the room yelling something james couldn't quite hear.

"See you later, boys." james's father exited behind his mother and he heard him yell "ministry of magic" before he left in a puff of smoke.