Sirius' Flat, c. late December 22, 1978
Lily unlocked the door and entered the flat, dropping her coat over the back of the nearest chair.
"Sirius!" Lily called out. "You'll never guess what I found!" There were no lights on in the house, so she began to turn on any lamps she passed.
Lily made her way to the kitchen, dropping her keys on the counter.
"Sirius!" She tried again. "You here?"
Lily jogged to his room; he wasn't there.
"Sirius?" A tone of worry had crept into her voice. Sirius hadn't mentioned anything about going out. Maybe he left a note, she thought to herself, and returned to the living room, looked around for one. She didn't find any note.
"OK, Sirius, this isn't funny! Where are you?"
Lily went to his bathroom next; still no sign of Sirius. By now she was running. Lily checked her room and her bathroom, but to no avail. She darted back to the kitchen and her face crinkled into a frown. On the floor of the kitchen, gleaming against the tile was a spoon flecked with what appeared to be frosting. A copy of the Daily Prophet, the pages out of order, littered the floor.
Lily turned around, slowly, taking in everything in her surroundings that she had taken for granted when breezing into the apartment. She took a step back towards the living room and heard a crunch under her feet. That was when she noticed the shards of glass and china, remnants of a mug and a small plate interspersed with chunks of what appeared to be cake with that same white frosting, on the floor by the entryway to the kitchen; she had just stepped right over them at first. That same cake frosting was splattered on the lower kitchen cabinets.
The feeling that something was very, very wrong here, hit Lily fast and hard, she put her hand on the counter to brace herself against a strong instinct to vomit, and touched something thick, wet…and cool. Lily shrieked out of sheer surprise, and realized that the entire countertop was covered in a thick, brown liquid. She had dropped her keys right into the liquid and hadn't even noticed. Lily almost sighed with relief at the color of the fluid, she had thought the liquid was blood at first. She sniffed her now wet hand, and discovered that the mystery liquid was…coffee? Sirius always did add odd things to his coffee, like syrup, because he liked his coffee to taste 'thick'.
"What happened here?" Lily wondered aloud. "It's like he was about to eat a snack and then…what? Shoved it onto the floor? But that's not like him! Sirius hates to waste food. SIRIUS! WHERE ARE YOU?"
A small noise, like a strangled gasp, made Lily jump at least a foot in the air. She whirled around…and finally saw Sirius. Sirius was curled up in the darkest corner of the living room, practically hidden by the couch. He had his knees drawn up to his chin and his long, black hair had fallen into his face, completely obscuring it, only a glimpse of the tip of his nose was visible. Lily raced over to him, sliding down on her knees in front of him. Up close, she could see that he was shaking severely, almost as if he was having a seizure.
"SIRIUS!"