Silent Screams | J. POTTER

10 | hospital visits

"Romi," Remus huffed. He stared at the pair on the couch, his eyes narrowed, "Romulus, wake up." The boy rolled his eyes, "James?"

They remained in deep sleep, James's arm planted firmly around Romi's waist. Romi was pressed up against the boy, a sort of peaceful expression on her face that Remus wasn't used to seeing on his sister.

Remus huffed before picking up the cup of water resting on the table. He dumped the liquid unceremoniously over his sister and James's head.

The two both jumped, letting out a gasp at the feel of the cool water touching their skin. "What the hell?" Romi demanded, her eyes fluttering open. She jumped backwards to find her brother along with three others staring down at her.

"What's going on?" James asked from behind the girl. He sat up, removing his arm from around Romi. The girl followed in suit, sitting up as well.

"The Aurors are here," Remus explained, looking between his friend and his sister with narrowed eyes. "To bring us to the hospital?"

Romi pressed the heel of her palm into her forehead, shaking her head slightly, "Right, right."

"We leave in five minutes," one of the Auror's announced before they stepped into the other room.

Remus turned to the two with a raised eyebrow, "Why are you on the couch?"

"It's...it's a long story," Romi waved off. "Why the water?"

"We tried to wake you up for five minutes but you were out cold."

James stood up, running his hand through his hair. Water shook off and he grimaced, "I'm going to go change." He walked out a moment later, leaving the twins alone.

Remus shot his sister a pointed look. "No," Romi said, shaking her head. She stood up, "No, absolutely not."

He put his hands up in surrender, "I didn't say anything."

She pointed at him, "But you were going to."

"Was I?" he inquired and she narrowed his eyes. "Hey, no judgment from me."

"Nothing happened," she informed him, "I'm going to go change before you lot leave without me."

Once the three of them were ready to go, the Auror's apparated them all to Mungo's and escorted them to Sirius's hospital room. Euphemia and Fleamont greeted them outside of the room, pulling them into a hug.

"He's still tired," Fleamont explained. "Try not to overwhelm him," he requested, "You can all go in together."

Romi's gaze flickered from her brother's to James's. When James's eyes caught hers, he immediately looked away. She frowned slightly but brushed it off as the three entered the room.

Romi opted to stay closer to the door as James and Remus approached the bed. Sirius's eyes opened at the sound of people entered and he immediately grinned upon seeing his friends.

"How's it going?" he asked as Remus took a seat at the foot of his bed.

"Admittedly, not great," James replied, "But we're probably not nearly as bad as you."

Sirius laughed but immediately started coughing, "Thank you for that one, mate."

James forced a smile, "Anytime."

Remus handed Sirius some water to drink and eventually he was back to normal. Sirius's gaze flickered over to Romi and he frowned. "I tried," he began quickly, "I did. I swear I did. But what they asked? I couldn't-"

"Sirius," she interrupted, pushing herself off the wall and making her way over to the bed. "Shut up." He clamped his mouth shut and she rolled her eyes, "No stupid comment or disobedient act could ever warrant this. I forgive you."

He let out a sigh of relief, "You do?"

"I do," she nodded. "But what did happen?"

He looked down at his hands and played with them anxiously. Remus reached forward and placed his hands over the boys, surprised when the movement stilled and Sirius didn't pull away. In fact, Sirius shifted his hand so that he could actually hold Remus's hand.

Sirius absentmindedly rubbed his thumb over the back of Remus's hand and the scarred boy couldn't help but smile at the action. "He was there," Sirius explained, "You know who."

Romi's breath caught in her throat and she could hear the boy's heart rates pick up. "He wanted me to join them. Because I'm sixteen."

"And you said no?" Remus inquired.

Sirius's head snapped up at this, an anger flickered in his expression. He didn't remove his hand from the boy's but his grip tightened noticeably, "Did you think I would?"

"No, no, of course not," Remus reassured him quickly. "I just meant...you clearly went through a lot. Even I would have given in."

Sirius shook his head, "No, you wouldn't have."

Romi looked between her brother and Sirius before turning to James. "Hey, Potter," she spoke up and he looked over at her, his eyes widening slightly, "Can we talk in the hallway?"

He ran a hand through his hair before nodding, following the girl out and leaving Remus and Sirius behind.

In hindsight, Romi didn't actually have anything to talk to James about but she probably should have realized what he would have thought she wanted to talk about.

"Look, Romi, last night you were - and I - well, we-"

"James?" Romi interrupted. He stopped talking and looked up at her, "I don't care."

He appeared surprised by this, "You don't?"

She shook her head, "It's not like we haven't fallen asleep together before. Besides, I was a bit of a mess. I kind of owe you both a thank you and an apology."

He raised an eyebrow, "An apology? For what?"

"I'm normally...I mean, I don't usually fall apart like that," she explained and understanding flashed across his face. "So I'm sorry that you had to deal with it."

"Ro," James shook his head, "I care about you. You're my best friend. And I've known you long enough to know that you have a tendency to bottle things up when something goes wrong. I don't mind being there when it's too much. It's kind of what friends do."

"Right," she shook her head. "That - that makes sense. I'm just not used to it, I guess."

"Well, get used to it," he suggested, "I'm not going anywhere."

"James!" someone called out, "Romi!"

The two turned to find Peter running toward them. "My mom told me what happened," he explained. "Is he okay?"

Romi nodded, "He'll be fine." She gestured behind them, "We'll take you to him."

Peter agreed and followed James and Romi to the room. Romi knocked before she entered the room.

"Hey, Pete," Sirius greeted with a grin. Peter immediately ran to the bed, wrapping his arms around Sirius's waist. "I'm alright, Wormtail."

Peter pulled away and looked the boy over, "Your family did this to you?"

Sirius shook his head, "They're not my family." He looked around at the group, "You are."