The One That Got Away| Sirius Black

017| Comedy

February 3, 1975

Sirius woke up that morning after nearly choking on the Mandrake leaf in his mouth.

After the full moon where Remus had scratched up his ribs pretty badly, the rest of the Marauders decided to become Animagi to help him with his transitions. After much research, they found out they had to carry a Mandrake leaf in their mouth for a month. That was just the beginning of the excruciatingly long process.

Luckily, the month was almost over. Sirius used a sticking spell to keep it glued to the roof of his mouth, but sometimes the spell would wear off in his sleep.

James began to cough in his sleep which startled Sirius out of his thoughts. James quickly sat up and looked around in alarm. He locked eyes with Sirius and relaxed slightly. "Your charm wore off again," James mutters tiredly, already snuggling back into his covers. "Better practice th-the..."

And with that, James is back to sleep. Sirius smiles slightly at his best friend before rolling over in his bed and drifting back to sleep. Almost immediately, Sirius regretted it. Like many nights, his dreams were filled with horrible scenes from his childhood. Oftentimes, Sirius couldn't decipher which ones were real and which ones were pieced together by fragments of his broken mind. Either way, they were terrifying.

In this particular dream, Sirius was in his bedroom at twelve Grimmauld Place. It was right after Izzy had dropped off sweets for the family. Walburga was angry because Sirius snuck out to the muggle village near his neighborhood. He purchased more muggle records and played them loudly that same morning. Walburga hadn't had time to yell at him before she left for whatever important meeting she had that day; no doubt, it was with this Dark Lord person. So, immediately when she got home she planned to make Sirius pay for his misbehavior.

Sirius barely registered his mother's voice ringing through the house, his mind clung to the words Isabella had just spat at him. They struck him harder than his mother's physical abuse could ever. Not because he felt he needed to live up to his family name, but because that's what Isabella thought about herself. He'd noticed it their whole lives, Isabella constantly correcting herself and fighting the urge to say what she truly thought. It made Sirius sad to see Isabella be drug into the darkness surrounding her family. It was similar to what Regulus did, but it bothered Sirius much more for some reason.

Luckily, this dream never reached the part where Sirius had to relive his abuse. Sirius was being shaken awake by Remus. Remus's freckled face was scrunched in concern as he looked down at his friend. "Another bad dream Siri?" Remus asks his blue eyes practically glowing in the dark of the room.

"Yeah, my pesky mother can't ever leave me alone, even while I'm away at school," Sirius teases forcing a half-smirk onto his face.

"That's been every day this week," Remus worries sitting down on Sirius's bed. "Have you considered going to Madam Pomfrey-"

"Moony, we've been over this," Sirius interrupts. Remus had a habit of worrying about Sirius no matter how much Sirius assured him it was fine. "I've never been one to sleep through the night anyway. After midnight is when all the fun occurs isn't it?"

"What are you scheming now?" Remus asks half out of worry, the other half out of pure curiosity. 

"How do you fancy paying a visit to the Slytherin common room?" Sirius grins causing Remus to do the same. Remus was always down to have a go at the Slytherins as long as no one was seriously getting hurt.

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"I can't believe you guys went without us," Peter whines the next morning at breakfast. He then proceeds to shove a sausage link in his mouth and slouch down grumpily.

"Oi save it, Pete, you're used to getting left behind. I'm supposed to be your partner in crime," James argues leaning forward so he could be face-to-face with Sirius. His round glasses were balancing on the tip of his nose, threatening to fall off at any minute.

"Well looks like you've been replaced," Sirius shrugs slinging an arm around Remus. Like Sirius intended, James got even more wound up by this. He pushed his glasses up angrily and furrows his brows.

"Has Remus ever spent all night in the library trying to master a singular spell?" James tries crossing his arms over his chest smugly.

"Many times," Remus shakes his head smirking at Sirius. "I, of course, was doing it for academic purposes."

James's shoulders slump slightly as Remus crumbles his argument. He relaxes in his seat and shakes his head in defeat. "Whatever, I see where I stand," James grumbles, sadly shoving a spoon of cereal in his mouth. 

"Oh c'mon Jamesy boy," Sirius laughs reaching across the table to nudge James's arm slightly. "You know you'll always be my favorite posh boy. And Remus is my favorite furry boy."

"Hey what about me?" Peter pipes up from beside James. He was already on his second plate of breakfast and didn't appear to be slowing down any time soon.

"You'll make the favorites list one day," Sirius shrugs to tease Peter. The only problem with that was Peter never knew when the group was joking. He took all of their jokes so close to heart. Peter just stared at his plate sadly.

"Here comes Snivellus," James alerts, putting an end to Sirius and Peter's conversation.

The group of boys watch their foe as he stalks into the Great Hall with Corban Yaxley and Lance Wright. Severus was covering the bottom half of his face by pretending to itch his nose. His eyes were zeroed in on the four boys as he made his way over to their table. His eyebrows were knitted together in anger.

When he was near enough, James greeted him, "Good morning Snivellus. To what do we owe this pleasure?"

"You think this is funny Potter?" Severus snapped as he dropped his robes to reveal a long string of snot protruding from his nose. James and Peter burst out in laughter while Remus and Sirius exchanged a high-five under the table.

Yaxley draws his wand, causing James and Peter to stop laughing. Peter is practically quivering with fright as he stares at the tip of Yaxley's wand. James's face is drawn in defiance as his hand grasps his own wand in his pocket. Sirius mirrors his action, ready to defend his friend if needed. Remus is glancing up at the staff table, hoping one of the professors will break up the fight before Remus has to draw his own wand.

"Don't bother Yaxley, Potter will get what's coming for him soon enough," Severus threatens. It was less intimidating by the fact that a new string of snot had begun forming in his nostril. The trio of Slytherins turns and heads back out of the Great Hall.

"Those bloody gits," Sirius mutters angrily, not taking his eyes off of their silhouettes. "What is Lance Wright doing with them anyway?"

"What do you mean?" James asks condescendingly. "You know the Wrights have been trying to get in good with the powerful families for decades. Isabella hangs around the Rosier girl for Godric's sake. I figure the younger one is the only sane one."

"You mean Elliot?" Remus clarifies, earning a confused glance from James.

"Yeah but Isabella isn't actually like them," Sirius argues, feeling the need to defend Isabella.

"How is she not?" James demands, his voice rising with passion. James wasn't angry, he rarely got truly mad. He just enjoyed a good debate.

"Well," Sirius began, struggling to find genuine evidence. Sirius just knew that Isabella was different. No matter how much she denied it, the two of them were extremely similar. Isabella just tried to blend in for some reason. Sirius settled for a lame excuse because he didn't know how to explain it to his friends. "Well when she came over during Christmas, she was very kind to Kreature."

James shook his head and laughed. Peter followed suit but looked confused at where the joke was. "Oh Sirius, you're comedy," James gasps dramatically. "She's nice to house elves? Godric. You're grasping. Anyway, I'm going to find Evans in the common room."

"Oo I'll come too!" Peter says jumping up excitedly. He follows James, practically jogging to keep up with James's long strides. Many girls' eyes watch James as he saunters out of the Great Hall.

"It's okay," Remus says quietly. "I know what you mean about Isabella being different. I see it too."