Written for Eurovision song contest, Czech Republic.
Word count: 1776
Leave a review telling me what y'all would like to read next? :") Hope you guys enjoy this!
Also, the first chapter for my Sirimione fic is up on Doc Manager, and will be posted soon, in case anyone's interested.
James Potter awoke to the sound of crashing and noises coming from the lawn. He immediately got off the bed, not even bothering to put on a shirt and ran down to the hall where he found his parents in a similarly disheveled state.
"Mum? What's wrong?" James asked in concern.
"I don't know, James. We heard this loud crash and immediately came downstairs," Euphemia Potter's eyebrows were furrowed in confusion.
James looked at his dad, who was looking intently towards the back lawn. A moment later, he briskly walked towards the glass door that opened into the lawn, opening it firmly.
James almost ran behind his father, "Dad, dad! What's wrong? What did you see?"
The Potter patriarch shushed his son, and entered the lawn. His brown eyes quickly scanned the area and his heart almost stopped when he saw the bloody body lying near the bushes.
He was about to run towards the body, but his son beat him to it.
"PADFOOT!" James' scream was anguished and broken, his voice cracking.
He reached the unconscious body of his best friend and had to contain a sob when he saw the state in which he was. His dark hair was matted with blood, his face was almost unrecognisable with the amount of bruises and blood spread on it. His lip was freely bleeding and his right eye was so swollen you couldn't see his eye. His breathing was laboured and coming out in pants and as James frantic eyes roved his body, he found similarly horrifying injuries. His whole body was trembling from some invisible pressure and….
…...Was that a missing finger on his right hand?
James was close to panicking when he felt a warm hand on his shoulder, squeezing firmly….desperately. He looked back to see his mother looking down at Sirius with anger and fear in her normally calm eyes. He forced himself to take a step back and stand up, taking a deep breath.
"Please….please heal him, mum. I'm begging you," He had tears freely streaming down his face at this point but he didn't care. His..his brother was lying almost dead in front of him and there was nothing he could do.
Euphemia nodded tightly before waving her wand over Sirius to levitate him, hesitating slightly when he groaned out loud at the movement. She visibly steeled herself and carried him into the house, where she immediately placed him on the nearest bed.
The Potter matriarch cut a formidable figure in her dark robes and set face, waving her wand and casting silently. Through blurred eyes, James could make out that the wounds on Sirius' body were slowly, excruciatingly slowly, beginning to close up.
He heard the door open behind him and saw his father coming in, with Mopsy, their elf, following behind. She immediately climbed onto the bed beside Sirius and started moving her own hands over him. With a start, James realized that she was healing him with her own elf magic, which was far superior to a wizard and almost never used on one either.
After watching his mother and Mopsy heal Sirius as well as they could, James took shaky steps towards the bed, where he collapsed on his knees to be closer to Sirius. His hands wrapped Sirius' clammy, cold ones. He pressed his forehead to their joined hands and sent out a prayer to whomever was listening. He didn't know what he would do if Sirius died.
He was his brother.
He felt his father's large hand on his shoulder, telling him to step back. For the second time that night, James took a reluctant step away from Sirius.
Fleamont brushed the bloody fringe away from Sirius' forehead, a boy he looked at as another son, had since first year. His fingers clenched slightly as images of his previously bloody and broken form assaulted his mind. How could anyone do that to a child?
His fingers trailed down to his right hand, where he was missing his ring finger, probably due to his Apparition. It was beyond him how a 15 year old managed to apparate, and in such a state as well. He lifted his wand and muttered a spell, watching as the finger regrew, and was thankful that Sirius hadn't been awake for that. It was an incredibly painful procedure, regrowing complete bodily parts, especially when you've lost them due to Apparating.
He leaned forward to place a gentle kiss on the unconscious boy's mane of hair, uncaring of the blood and dirt.
"You're finally home, son," Fleamont Potter whispered, his voice quivering.
James was finally allowed to go into the guest room one whole day after Sirius was found unconscious in their lawn. Until now, he had been forbidden to enter the room by his mother, who constantly shooed him away whenever he even thought of sneaking into the room. As a result, James was frustrated and scared.
But now, he was finally allowed in and he was uncharacteristically nervous. His palms were sweating slightly, and he could feel beads of perspiration dripping down his back.
He was afraid of what he would find when he entered the room.
Slowly, he pushed the unnecessarily large door open and slowly walked in to find Sirius sitting up on the bed, slightly pushing against the number of pillows he was leaning against.
Immediately, James rushed forward, "Are-are you okay? Do you need anything? Can I do something?" His hands were frantically moving around as if itching to do something but not knowing what.
Sirius let out a raspy laugh, "Prongs, mate, I'm fine." James gave him a look. "Okay, fine, my back hurts slightly, but I'm fine otherwise."
At that, the older boy relented, taking a step backward and running a hand through his hair.
"I-you worried me, Sirius. I have been going out of my mind" James breathed, the last 24 hours finally catching up to him.
Sirius looked at him and shifted on the bed. When James made to move again, he stopped him a wave of his hand. A few seconds later, he patted the newly emptied space to his right, signalling James to come and join him.
Hesitantly, James climbed the bead, knowing he wouldn't be allowed to refuse what with Sirius' stubbornness. When he sat as far away from Sirius without touching to not hurt him, the other boy let out a growl of frustration and pulled him closer, until their sides were pressed together.
Letting out a content purr-like noise, Sirius snuggled into James, tucking his head into the crook of his neck and closed his eyes.
James sighed, shaking his head and placed his arm over Sirius' shoulders in a more comfortable position.
"But you're okay, right? Really?" James asked after a few minutes of silence.
Sirius chewed on his lip, silent for a while "Not really. I mean, physically I know I'll be fine, but it's more what happened you know? It's just, I know they weren't the best people. Hell, I bet Voldy himself would admit that. But, at the end of the day, he was still my father and she was still my mother. I-I never thought they'd try something like that, y'know?"
James' arm tightened over his shoulders and his other fist clenched hard as he fought to control his anger. He still couldn't believe that his best mate's own parents tortured him, forced him to get the Dark Mark. It was an inconceivable notion to him that any parent would even think of doing something so barbaric.
Sirius continued, "And I think the worst part was that Reg could hear everything. He can't claim ignorance anymore, because he heard every. single. word. He knows what would happen to him, what's in his future and he's willing to do it. He's actually willing to sign his life over to a psychotic madman all because Her Highness has spoken. It's disgusting." The tear, however, leaking out of his eye told James that he was less disgusted and more hurt. And worried. For he was one of the few who knew how much Sirius still loved his younger brother, even despite their numerous differences and all efforts on their parents' part to drive them apart.
Sirius would give his life up for Regulus, it was just another fact of life.
"I-I know it's not easy for you, being here while he's there. I know you're worried for him, I know you think he'll end up either crazy like Bellatrix or dead, but I need you to believe that it's not your fault. You can't take it on yourself, Pads. He made his choice, as-as..disagreeable it is, and you've tried all you can to change his mind After a certain point, even you won't be able to do anything." James knew Sirius felt guilty, because he felt like he had abandoned his brother, and he was determined to make him feel otherwise.
Sirius' shoulders shook as he replied, "Bu-But I could've tried harder, I could've written to him more in First Year. I should've sat with him at the Slytherin Table, or invited him to ours. Maybe that would've made the difference."
"And maybe Grindelwald's Reign of Terror could've killed Voldy when he was a kid and we wouldn't be here. You can't go galloping off into the world of 'what ifs' and 'maybes', they won't help you, at all," James replied calmly.
Sirius hung his head in defeat at his best mate's words, "You-you're right. I-I know that, I just feel like I gave up too easy, you know?"
"I know, Pads, I know. But we can't do anything about that. The only thing we can do is hope Regulus comes into his own before he is made to go through what you did," James whispered.
He could feel the younger boy nodding against his shoulder, and he pressed a kiss to his messy hair.
"Now sleep. You need your rest, and mom would kill me if she found out I disturbed you like this. In fact," James said, beginning to get up, "I should be going right about now. She'd never allow me back in if she found out I almost displaced you from your own bed."
But Sirius had other ideas, as he gripped his arm and pulled him back, a slight pout on his face, "No."
James' eyebrows raised, "No?"
Sirius shook his head, his wavy locks flying about, "No."
James laughed and climbed into bed beside him again, "Alright then, Pads. Good night."
"Night, Prongs," With a smile on his face, Sirius Black went to sleep.
In case it didn't make sense, Her Highness is Walburga.