The room is stifling warm after the last drafty class they were trapped in. The sturdy, plush chairs and couches caught everyone with a whump of impact, and nobody even almost fell in the fireplace.
They sat up in battle preparation to find themselves in the Gryffindor common room, red carpeting and crackling fireplace relaxing them into the circular space. Harry had landed right in his favorite chair and found himself smiling down at a pile of chocolate frog cards, Dumbledore's on top as if Neville had just given it back to him. There were scraps of homework scattered on all sorts of tables with a few lingering Christmas decorations of holly and thistle wreaths some house-elves had apparently been too cheerfully reluctant to take down with Boxing Day falling behind them.
As was usual now, Harry gave a begrudging smile to see everyone, except Malfoy, coming to circle around him, chairs running out fast of course. Neville opted to sit on the floor rather than cause a fuss before Hermione just duplicated hers and plopped down next to Ron, while Tonks chose to perch on the edge of Remus's rather than drag one over to smash uncomfortably like Sirius's did as he looked around every detail, his nose even twitching.
"Glory, place hasn't changed a bit," he murmured like he now expected to see James come waltzing in complaining of Evans again any moment. It was so vivid in mind, it might even be a real memory...
"I guess you didn't get much of a good look last time you were in here," Ron said as he swiped a frog into his mouth and chewed with relish, as if the detail that occasion had been to practically scare him senseless in his bed was an afterthought.
Hermione hovered with the book in her hands, staring from Sirius's vacant, tired face to Malfoy slamming his fists in slow, but determined precision onto the Fat Lady's portrait. She almost grudgingly admired his determination to keep trying to find a way out of this except the obvious solution as she ran her fingers over the cover and instead edged out of her seat to gently offer, "I'm going to see if at least the dorms are open. We've had a long day, sort of," they all made an eerily similar face. Not one of them could really guess what 'time' it was.
Ron jumped up and followed her up the stairs, almost managing to use the swishing of his school robes to mask the kick he aimed at Neville to come.
He jumped up, but reluctantly hesitated to leave Harry in the company of Malfoy, even with the Auror, teacher, and Sirius Black around.
Harry noticed none of it behind his skew glasses from rubbing at his tired eyes, like the many nightmares plaguing him of his parents vanishing in flashes of green light and that high, cold voice laughing at him in the graveyard once more were all coming back next to the lulling warmth of the fireplace.
Tonks took the hint for Neville and went over to Draco Malfoy, tapping gently at his shoulder.
He startled, but gave her the mildest of scowls he would any of them, if still with an upturned nose for that pink hair his mother would scoff at.
"I'd get comfortable laddie," she told him gently while gesturing at a couch, trying to steer him through gaze alone to the farthest one away. "I think everybody could use some shut eye."
"As if I could catch any sleep with a bunch of mudbloods and monsters in the room," he spat non-to quietly. There was a bang from up the stairs, and Tonks guessed it was more from Ron hitting a door than slamming it shut, judging by the echoing scolding coming down.
He swaggered over at least, as if it were his idea to go to the cold window niche, the cushion hardly large enough for even his thin frame as he tapped the stained glass with his wand for good measure to see if it would open. With no new results, he sat to glowering out it instead on the frosted grounds in disgust of the view, that servants house in the distance, the disturbing, menacing forest filled with more unseemly creatures. Who could ever get comfortable in this smothering, cramped tower?
Harry was slumped in his seat, head tilted towards the fire, neck looking a little strained but breathing deeply by the time his friends came back down. Sirius was curled up, well, like a dog in the large backed chair, face pressed into the well-worn arm and snuffling even in his sleep.
"If only I could get into at least my room for some knitting," Hermione sighed as she looked on at the homely scene she'd never thought her friend would have, falling asleep so close to his godfather. She was half tempted to try the girls half even knowing full well it wouldn't work.
"You lot can have the couches with the throw blankets," Remus assured around a tired yawn. "I've fallen asleep in these chairs more times than I can count anyways." The dark bags under his eyes looked like a year of sleep wouldn't chase it away though.
Tonks was eyeing the floor as if half tempted to stretch out on the thick plush carpet. Ron thought nothing of it as he did so first, flopping down in his place at the foot of the stairs, but keeping his voice at a whisper as he said, "well I can't go another foot, have at it."
Tonks decided she wasn't going to let that space go to waste, even if she 'accidentally,' jumped on it with to much enthusiasm and somehow managed with good aim to beam a pillow at Ron, who gave an exaggerated snore and rolled over. A few moments later his hand darted out and dragged the prop into place anyways.
It was a cautious, but content group who all settled down for their first sleep in this journey.
Waking up was even more disorienting and strange, because nothing seemed to have changed. The paperwork was in the same disarray, nothing put up or cleaned by the house-elves. No students shuffling about still in the silent air, the weak winter sunlight came slanting in from the exact same angle as when they'd all nodded off.
Tonks and Malfoy startled awake first to see it, her training and his unease of this room had never really let them fall into a truly deep sleep.
Ron and Sirius were the hardest to wake up without the promise of breakfast, and a concerningly lax expression on Harry's godfather's face as if it were the first truly restful slumber he'd had in months.
Hermione found though that the pages of the book stayed blank until he finally was roused with a concerning snort and swatting his hair and Professor Lupin out of his face with slurred curses.
"Did you sleep with that thing?" Ron teased around a yawn and awful morning breath somehow as he crouched over her shoulder to see her already holding the book again.
"No," she lied with a faint blush, and then started reading quickly before his snickering had to last to long.
Sirius sat up at once though upon the first sentence of Harry's nightmares and turned to his godson once again with those gray eyes so full of concern he could rarely recall ever seeing.
"Sleep well then?" Harry quickly redirected, gesturing to the faint drool spot.
"No creaking of that blasted house," he agreed, rubbing his numb cheek. He even smiled tentatively. "I, I think I was having memories of my time here. Mostly just, vague impressions. We sat at this table a lot, planning the map, just talking..." his voice trailed off, but Harry smiled it had a happier lilt to it than he could ever quite recall. Sirius wasn't saying goodby to him on top of this very castle, saying he was his father's son. It wasn't a hurried whisper through the fireplace or even terse conversations in a grim old house as Mrs. Weasley and Hermione questioned if Sirius even knew who he was. His godfather looked into his eyes and smiled to see him, talking to him about his dad.
Professor Lupin's small, but satisfied smile only proved to the two Sirius's dreams were more than just that.
Malfoy didn't leave his little nook as Ron very loudly encouraged Neville to get some revenge against that leg-locker curse now, even waving some parchment around in poor Professor Lupin's face as if to hide him from sight while Ron promised nobody would notice.
Neville didn't oblige, but the seven of them all got a laugh out of the misfortune of how Harry did find out about the Philosopher's Stone through Dumbledore's Chocolate Frog Card.
The three eldest lost some of their good mood though when they heard about the atrocious sin on such a sport as Quidditch, with such a biased referee. "Glory Harry," Sirius was rubbing at his face again, but now to at least try and keep some of the anger at bay. Because it wasn't anger at Harry. "I've been wondering far to much of late how you lived long enough to meet me."
Harry could only give him a sheepish smile and promise, "I break a record in this game."
Sirius gave him an intent look, like he was trying to decide if it was the good kind or the bad kind, but Hermione was still reading as fast as she talked, which was insanely fast to everybody else trying to keep up. By the time he could worry enough about Snape somehow breaking records for the most fouls on the Seeker and his heart was skipping beats with stress, Hermione was already cheerfully reading about Harry's record fast catching Snitch and alternately whacking Ron with the book every other word.
"You," whack, "Harry won-," whack, "and Neville," whack, "Hermione was jumping and hugging-" whack, "should have got detention!"
"All right woman, keep your hair on," Ron was laughing at the mild hits from the tiny book. "We served our own Gryffindor justice, and they never used that curse on Neville again, did they?"
Malfoy was deaf to all in his spot, apparently adopting the silent treatment on them all, which served Harry just fine. It was a miracle he hadn't spouted on about his father getting them out of this mess by now.
Sirius's jubilant joy wasn't to last though, as he couldn't stop himself scolding, "you followed a man you suspected of stealing something from Dumbledore into the Forest, alone, with nobody knowing where you are?" Now he was plenty angry with Harry and preparing a verbal lashing anytime his Godson called him an overprotective fool when he was begging him to be careful during that Goblet mess!
"Err," Harry could only give him a sheepish smile and flapped his hand at Hermione to keep going. Anything he felt he could say would be redundant by now. He was okay, obviously, it wasn't Snape so there was no real harm except detentions, he'd been in the Forest plenty of times...none of which would fly over well with Sirius now clearly thinking him a reckless child. From the reckless king himself.
Anger warred with affection for the man in front of him as Hermione and Ron at least got a laugh out of their past ignorance for their side of events before the warning came the chapter was nearly done again.