Whew, finished this just in time for the weekend – it's longer than the other two chapters, but finishes in a kind of weird place. Oh well, enjoy!
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The next morning Sirius awoke to the sound of a frustrated groan. He opened his eyes a crack and saw an exasperated Remus searching for something under the bed. Wondering vaguely for a moment what the boy was looking for, Sirius then remembered the bag that Lupin had left in the common room the previous night. The bag that was currently residing under Sirius' own bed, because he thought it might make for a good reason to talk to the boy – Now seemed as good a time as any to try.
"Remus."
The smaller boy jumped a mile on hearing his name.
"Your bag…" But by this time Lupin had fled the room. Sirius flopped back down on his bed with a sigh of defeat. This constant running was starting to get annoying. What was the guy doing anyway, looking for a schoolbag so early on a Saturday morning? Schoolwork was something to be left until breakfast on Monday. Saturdays were for getting in some extra hours of sleep.
'Which is what I should be doing now…'
And with those thoughts, Sirius dozed off again.
***
"Hey Siriiiii! Wake uuuuup!"
"Mmph," was about the most coherent thing Sirius could think to say. James Potter was not a pleasant prospect in the morning… The boy never seemed to be lacking in energy. He was, most unfairly, both a late-night person and an early-morning person. Sirius was neither.
"Come on, or we'll miss breakfast."
"I don't want any." Sirius' stomach chose that moment to let out a long, loud rumble. James raised an eyebrow at him. "Fine so. I'm coming."
Sirius sat up, stretched and then, very reluctantly, got out of bed. He quickly pulled on a pair of trousers and a shirt – he preferred to wear muggle clothes on weekends, they made a change from the dull black of his Hogwarts robes – and ran down the stairs after James. When he reached the common room he found his bespectacled friend waiting for him.
"Err, James, where's Peter?"
"Oh crap, I forgot about him. I should probably go wake him, right? Yeah. I'll be back in a few minutes"
James took off up the stairs to the dorms, leaving Sirius alone in the room. Well, not quite alone, as it turned out - Remus and his brother were sitting in the corner. The fifth year was giving out to his brother fairly vehemently about something and didn't seem to have noticed Sirius' arrival. At one point Remus opened his mouth to try and defend himself, but his brother just seemed to get angrier, so he shut it quickly.
Sirius tried to hear what was being said. Lupin didn't know anyone was in the common room, but he seemed to be making sure that no one who happened to still be in the dorms would be able to hear him. Straining his ears, Sirius was able to get the gist of what was going on.
"You lost it, you prick! I let you borrow it, and now look what you've gone and done! Why are you so bloody useless?!"
Was he talking about the bag Remus left behind him? It seemed like it, but Remus' brother sounded so angry. Why would anyone get so worked up about a schoolbag?
'Shit. Maybe I shouldn't have taken it…'
"You can come and help me look for it in the dorms. Now."
At these words, Sirius could see Remus' eyes grow wide with fear.
"I swear. It was here last night. I haven't lost it! I - I'll go check my room again."
"Yeah, you will; but not before we check mine first."
The fifth year grabbed Remus by the arm and began to pull him towards the stairs. Sirius wondered what was so terrible about looking for something with his brother. Being the terribly nosy person that he was, Sirius decided to follow. At the very least he could get the bag from his dorm and give it back to Remus.
He waited until the echoing footsteps had disappeared and then made his way up the stairs in the direction of the fifth-year dorms. About half way up the first flight James came into view, towing a groggy-looking Peter behind him. Sirius muttered something about not being hungry after all at them and continued upwards.
When he reached the door to the fifth years' dorms he could hear the same angry voice that had been giving out down in the common room. Sirius opened the heavy, wooden door a crack and peered inside. What he saw was a horribly familiar sight; Remus had shrunk into a corner and his brother was advancing on him, fist raised. The tawny-haired boy's eyes were darting wildly around the room and he was poised as though ready to dart out the door at any minute, but didn't. He tensed up and hunched against the wall instead. Sirius wanted to yell, to tell the boy to get out of there, but had frozen.
'So much for Gryffindor bravery,' he thought bitterly. 'If I go in there… I'll probably just get a beating too…'
Maybe there was another way to stop it though… Sirius dashed back to his own dorm and grabbed the leather schoolbag from underneath his bed. He ran back along the corridor, slowing down slightly as he reached the fifth-year dorm, knocked on the door and waited for an answer. Scuffling noises could be heard in the room, and some hurried whispers; then the sound of footsteps, and Remus' brother appeared in the doorframe.
"What do you want?" He demanded.
"Err, I think Remus left this," he held up the bag, "in the common room last night. I saw him come up here, and I just wanted to give it back."
"Oh. Well, thanks, I guess."
"No problem," Sirius answered airily. He sauntered off down the corridor, but as soon as the door was shut he pressed his ear against the wall. The sound was muffled through the thick walls, but he heard some brief conversation, a resounding thud and then footsteps heading for the door once again. He bent over quickly, under the pretence of tying his shoelace, and waited for Remus' brother to pass him by and start down the stairs. When the older boy was out of sight Sirius stood up and hurried into the dorm room.
It was bigger than the third years' dorm; with six beds placed around the walls instead of four, and an extra window through which the morning sun was shining weakly. The floor underneath that window was where Sirius found Remus, clutching at his stomach and sporting a bruise and several scratches on his left cheek.
T.B.C
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Eep, sorry for cutting it off there! But if I hadn't stopped somewhere it'd have gone on forever, and I wouldn't have had a chapter finished to post this week. Forgive me for the sort-of-cliffhanger!