So I hope that this chapter will shed a bit more light on what happened from someone else's point of view. This is definitely not the last summer chapter; there will be one or two more before they return back to Hogwarts where the fun will really begin. This one is a bit shorter than the other ones but I just had too many ideas that just didn't flow and I had to end it somewhere.
I wanted there to be more in this chapter but with a mild case of writer's block (too many ideas + too many directions = not able to figure out what to write), I figured it was best to split it up into two chapters so I can sort out my thoughts some more. I don't know how I feel about this. I might go back to fix it in a little bit but for now, I am content with it. I hope you enjoy!
It had been exactly twelve hours since Sirius and his sister arrived at the Potters. After tumbling through the floo, they were quickly shuffled off to bed since they looked like they were dead on their feet according to Mrs. Potter. Sirius didn't remember much but he was almost positive that Mr. Potter had to practically drag him up the stairs while James carried Ursula up behind. The adrenaline wearing off and the knowledge of finally being safe was enough for both twins to fall asleep almost instantly.
When Sirius woke up, the sun was already past his windows and a quick glance at his clock said that it was already past noon. His eyes nearly fell out of his head. He didn't think he slept that long. An obnoxious snore from across the room startled him and almost caused him to fall off his bed. Sirius had become unaccustomed to hearing James's snoring.
Realizing that there was no way for him to fall back asleep, he tried to sit up only to gasp in pain. His shoulder felt like it was on fire and his entire left side was full of dull, thudding pain. He wrapped his good arm around his middle and struggled to sit up. With a flash of surprise, he didn't expect the cloth wrapped around his stomach and upper chest.
"What the hell," he muttered to himself as he tugged on the edge of the bandage. He pushed himself up and shuffled over to the wardrobe. He opened the door expecting to see a few robes and maybe a jumper and slacks. He was definitely not expecting to see it full of all of his clothes be had in his trunk and even more clothes and shoes at the bottom. Carefully, Sirius dressed in a pair of jeans and a random cotton shirt before shuffling out of the hallway, ignoring the dull pain in his ankle.
At that moment in time, the stairs were his worst enemy. Forget his parents or Voldemort. These things were going to be the death of him. It was the smell of food emanating from the first floor that urged him forward. He tripped on the last step and swore loudly as he tried to keep his balance.
There was a clatter from the kitchen. Mrs. Potter came emerged from the room and was quickly at his side. "Are you alright Sirius? Your ribs were bruised last night and your ankle was twisted. I tried to heal it all but there is only so much I can do without you drinking potions." She explained as she put her hand on his good shoulder and guided him over to the couch.
He sat down gingerly, careful not to disturb any of his injuries. "I'm fine, I'm fine."
She snorted lightly, "I was a healer for longer than you've been alive, three times over. Now let me be the judge of that."
"I thought I was faster," He muttered bitterly as a cooling sensation canceled out the pain in his ankle and his side.
"What happened?" She asked softly as she worked on his injuries.
He shrugged, wincing at the sudden movement. "She was throwing curses at me. We were on the stairs so I turned and ran down to the first floor. I thought I dodged everything. Guess I was wrong."
"I'm so sorry Sirius," Mrs. Potter said with remorse. "We should have come to get you both earlier this summer. No, you shouldn't have gone back to that place at all."
Sirius snorted, "Ursula never would have gone for that."
If it was possible, Mrs. Potter's expression darkened slightly, "Yes, I will have to talk to her about that," she muttered to herself. Her expression returned back to normal, "Is there anything else bothering you? I was only able to do so much last night."
"Nothing. I'm…" he trailed off when he saw the look she was giving him.
"Sirius. I'm James mother. You have to at least try to lie better than that."
He smirked at the thought of all the things James had tried to get past his mother all those years and knowing that he almost always failed. He moved his shoulder a little bit, "A stinger to the shoulder is the only thing I can feel."
As soon as he mentioned it, she was instantly working on it and the pain dissipated faster than Sirius thought possible. He sighed in contentment when she finished and leaned back against the sofa. "Thanks, Mrs. Potter."
"Eva, please. You are living in my house. You will not call me Mrs. Potter, Sirius." She said in her trademark motherly voice. Sirius smiled at the tone. It was something he never heard; care and affection. He usually just got loathing and disappointment. He nodded, accepting her request.
Just then, a timer went off from the kitchen and Mrs. Potter got to her feet and went to the kitchen, Sirius trailing behind her. She walked over to the counter and put a tray of something into the oven and reset the timer.
"What's for breakfast?" Sirius asked, sniffing the air trying to identify the food.
"I'm making your favorite, French toast with apple flavoring along with scrambled eggs and freshly squeezed orange juice," she motioned towards oranges squeezing themselves into a bowl while eggs were cracking themselves into a giant mixing bowl.
He was flabbergasted by the amount of effort she put into breakfast, "Mrs. P—Eva," he corrected, "This is too much. You don't need to do this."
She smiled kindly at him, love and acceptance in her eyes, "Of course I did. It's not every day my son comes home."
It was too much in his head. Hearing her say it, it began to sink in. He was out. He was free forever from his mother's tyrannical rule, his father's passiveness, and his brother's simmering hate. His head started pounding as the gravity of what had really happened settled in his mind.
"How did you know what my favorite breakfast is?" He asked numbly. It was the only thing he seemed capable of questioning. Nothing else was comprehensible for him.
Mrs. Potter laughed and said, "A mother knows her son Sirius." She put her hand out and patted him on the cheek affectionately but his body seemed to still think he was at Grimmauld Place. He cursed himself mentally when he flinched. Mrs. Potter put her hand down and took a step back, sadness filling her usually vibrant hazel eyes. She tried to smile at him but she looked so heartbroken that Sirius had to look away, disgusted with himself for reacting that way.
"I'm going to go for a walk," he muttered, feeling the walls close in around him.
Before Mrs. Potter could object, he was out the back door and walking around the house to get to the sidewalk. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and walked through the town. It was against his nature to be contained and after spending all that time trapped in a house he hated, he was itching to be able to roam and actually do something.
Since the only times he had been in Godric's Hallow had been spent with James showing him around, he got lost quite quickly. But it wasn't that he noticed. Lost in his own world, Sirius simply tried to walk his anger and frustration out. If he knew it wouldn't bust up his ankle more (and subsequently get yelled at by Mrs. Potter) he would have started running.
It was also that since it was mid morning in the middle of summer, a lot of families were out and about, forcing him not to be able to run. He found himself at the muggle park James took all of them to about two years ago. He sat down on a park bench since all the swings were taken by small children. But that didn't matter to him. He just leaned his head back and let his sun deprived skin soak in the warm rays.
As he sat there, his mind began to wander. His first thought instantly went to his sister. She had kept him at the God forsaken house for far too long, angering him. If she just had a shred of common sense or care about the right people, nothing would be wrong. But no. She had to be bloody stupid and stay there to try to 'rescue Regulus' from the Death Eaters. Sirius snorted at the thought. McGonagall was more likely to admit that she was in love with Filch than Regulus being saved from something he wanted to join. Out of frustration, he kicked the woodchips at his feet in frustration. Stupid sister who thinks she knows everything.
"Come back Elyse!" A small child giggled from across the playground.
Sirius's eyes flew open and he frantically looked for the familiar red head but just saw a young boy and girl running around, calling each other Elyse and Tyler. His heart sank when he didn't see his beloved friend. Knowing that his thinking was wrong on a few different levels but not sure why he knew that, he missed Elyse slightly more than he missed the rest of his friends, besides James that is.
However, a shock of bright red hair caught his attention and his started pounding furiously in his chest. It was not a nervous, petty raise of his heart beat. No, this was his anger doubling with each passing second, adrenaline and hatred filling his veins as he prepared to fight.
Walking with his head down and hands in his pockets was none other than Benjamin White. Sirius forgot that Ben had grown up in Godric's Hollow with his parents before going to live with his sister second year. Godric's Hollow was always James's home; not Ben's. Sirius started to get up to go confront the teenager who Sirius had once considered a friend but when he got a second look at Ben, he froze.
Ben was much thinner than he had been before. His clothes were hanging off of him and his legs were knobbier and skinnier than James's. His hair was unkept and it looked like he hadn't brushed it in days. There were a few cuts and one bad shiner he was sporting on his left eye. One of his hands left his pocket and ran through his hair, revealing bruised and bloody knuckles. Ben had been fighting.
To avoid running into a group of children playing hopscotch, Ben looked over towards the other sidewalk, just past where Sirius was sitting, letting Sirius see the dark bags around Ben's tortured eyes. He looked broken.
It would be like kicking a puppy, Sirius decided. No matter how annoyed he was with Ursula at that moment, he still loved her and he knew a part of her still cared for Ben and he couldn't hurt her like that. He got up and quickly made his way back to where he came from hoping that Ben wouldn't run into him. Sirius may have been above starting a fight but he was in no means the mood to stop if confronted.
It was easy getting back to the Potter's house now that he had a reference point. He followed the exact same path that James had led them all those years ago. He walked into the house without a second's hesitation, already feeling at home.
James was sitting in the living room looking like he had just rolled out of bed, not wearing a shirt since it was hot, the Marauder's Map resting on the coffee table in front of him while he had his nose buried in a thick text book.
"Wow Prongs, you look like you belong in one of Moony's wet dreams," Sirius commented nonchalantly as he walked in.
"I am a sexy beast." James smirked arrogantly as he looked up from his book. He set it down and pushed his glasses to the top of his head while he rubbed his eyes. "Goddamn you Blacks. You've kept me from my beauty sleep."
"Shove it Prongs. Would you rather I still be trapped in Hell?"
"Eh, with that attitude…" James trailed off teasingly but Sirius saw the tightness of his forced smile. It was exceedingly obvious that this ordeal had affected more than just the twins.
Sirius cleared his throat and asked, "What are you doing?"
James's eyes immediately brightened at the change of subject and he excitedly picked up the book and map again, "I'm brilliant Padfoot! I've figured out a way to get the paper to talk."
Sirius cocked an eyebrow, "Make the paper talk? I think you've taken on too many Quaffles to the head, Prongsie."
"No it's brilliant! Maybe a bit past your level of thinking but I'm sure you'll be able to get it. The idea came to me when Mum found the Map and tried to figure out what it was. It was blank, thank Merlin, but she told it to reveal its secrets and that got me thinking. What if we made people think it was revealing its secrets. The paper would come to life anytime someone tried to open it without the password and we could insult them or give them clues depending on if we liked the person or not."
Sirius shook his head in awe of James's genius, "But how would the paper know who we want to know how to open the map or not?"
"It's a simple spell. Well, simple for me that is. Here. Let's see if it worked." He handed Sirius the paper.
Sirius grabbed his wand from his pocket and said, "Reveal your secrets."
Instantly, words started appearing on the paper about halfway down the paper.
Messrs. Prongs would like to inform Messrs. Padfoot he should be more impressed with Messrs. Prongs's genius.
Sirius looked at the paper in shock and laughed to himself. Just when he thought that James couldn't surprise him anymore. "That's brilliant mate. Why's it showing up halfway down though?"
James shrugged, "I think it knows that the others are going to be added later and it's making room for the rest of the Marauders. Too bad there'll be an empty space for King forever. I'll have to see if I can get around that. I'm more than intelligent enough to figure it out."
A thought hit Sirius as he watched James flip through pages of the impossible looking book. "How's the animagus thing going for you? Still just antler boy?"
"Shut it snout nose," James shot back, his entire frame tensing. "I haven't been able to transform completely yet and we only have until Christmas of this year and Ursula's already been able to bloody do this for months! I'm the better one at Transfiguration! I should have been first!"
Sirius held his hands up in surrender "Don't shoot the messenger. I was just wondering. I haven't managed it yet either."
"But I should have. I've been the first for everything else in this process; the patronus, the potion, the partial transformations! I should have been the first one but I can't even get anything past my hands and feet transforming into hooves while I grow antler from my head. It's bloody infuriating that Muse is already mastering the transformation while the rest of us are barely going to make the deadline." James grumbled angrily to himself more than to Sirius.
"Someone's jealous," Sirius said in a sing-song voice.
Without even looking, James whipped a pillow at Sirius's head, hitting him dead on knocking him off the arm of the sofa he was sitting on. Sirius crashed to the ground, muttering something about ungrateful prats for friends.
"Aw suck it up Paddy. If you wanted a pity party, you should have run away to Remus's."
"BOYS, BREAKFAST!" Mrs. Potter shouted from the kitchen. James stood and offered his hand to Sirius. The boys walked into the kitchen and their mouths began salivating at the smell alone.
"Mum, have I told you that you are the best bloody mother in the entire world?" James said as he reached to grab a piece of French toast. His hand was smacked away with a spatula.
"Not recently but I still love hearing it. James, go get your father, he's out in the shed, and Sirius, go get Ursula, she's in the upstairs library."
Sirius found her trying to carry a heavy genealogy book with only one arm since her other was in a sling.
"What happened to your arm?" He asked her, taking the book from her and putting it on the table all the while not looking at her. He felt sorry that she was hurt but that was canceled out since he was angry she put herself into that situation and by extension, himself.
"When Lucius hexed me and I crashed into the wall the fracture in elbow didn't heal properly. Eva had to re-break it and re-heal it. I can't use it for two days."
"Too bad," Sirius said monotonously. "Breakfast is ready."
He turned on his heel and started walking out before a hand grabbed his elbow. "Sirius, I already got a lecture from Eva about what I did. I don't need this from you too."
"From me too?! Ursula, you don't realize what you did! I almost died! This isn't one of your little oops mistakes were you tried to give Regulus the benefit of the doubt— we were almost killed because of this!"
"You don't think I know that!? I hate to remind you Sirius but I was hurt too," she spat back.
He rolled his eyes, "But you wanted to be there. I didn't have a choice and that's why I got hurt. That's why it matters." He said so seriously that he almost didn't recognize his voice.
Ursula knowing that she was in the wrong in this situation nodded. She smiled apologetically at Sirius and while it wasn't fixed, it was mostly forgiven. They had never been able to stay furious at each other for a long period of time. Angry and disappointed; they could go for months but they never let that affect their relationship as a whole. They were twins and now they were all each other had of their family. As long as they didn't discuss what happened in Grimmauld Place, it would one day be perfectly fine.
A thought from earlier hit Sirius as they were walking down the stairs, "Sissy, there's something you need to know about Godric's Hollow."
"What?" She asked, worried at the tone of his voice.
"Ben's living with his parents again."
And that was all it took for her world to completely shatter.