Glass Houses

Chapter eleven

Sirius was woken by James the next morning, his hand rough on his shoulder, shaking him and shaking him.

"Okay okay," Sirius grumbled, "I'm awake, you can stop harassing me."

The hand released him, and Sirius regarded James through sleep bleared eyes. He was dressed. Why was he already dressed?

He glanced at the clock, which read eight in the morning, "What time are we supposed to be at the tracks?" Sirius asked through a yawn.

"Eight fifteen," James said.

Sirius' eyes widened and he thrust the covers off, "Fuck! Why didn't you wake me up?"

James put his hands up in surrender, "You were sleeping! Get dressed and I'll bring you some breakfast."

"What- James!" Sirius called, but the boy flew out the door before Sirius could say anything more.

The clock now read three past eight, and Sirius muttered angrily to himself, shaking his head in an attempt to clear it from the dream James had interrupted. It was about Regulus, of course it was, that was all he dreamt about these days. Regulus running from him, Regulus running to him, but always accompanied by a sense of something missing when he woke. It was an empty feeling; one Sirius dreaded waking up to.

Sirius fumbled in the small drawer, wincing as he bent down, the movement making his ribs ache more than they did before. He stripped his shirt, stopping to grimace at the blossoming bruises on his side before pulling a black singlet on, grunting in frustration as the hole for his head went through his arm. The sound of something falling made Sirius look down. It was the Black ring. He knelt to pick it up, twirling it in his hands before slipping it on. Why not? he thought. Just for today.

When James walked in, carrying two pieces of banana bread, Sirius was pulling his trousers on.

James whistled loudly and Sirius jumped in fright, glaring when he saw James.

"Fuck, you scared me," Sirius said, grabbing his boots from beneath the bed and starting to tie them.

"Don't worry mate," James said, sitting on the floor, his mouth full, "Nothing I haven't seen before."

Sirius smirked, "Make a habit of walking in on blokes changing?"

"Not as much as I'd like," James said, shrugging, "But what can you do?"

Sirius laughed, standing up and snatching the remaining piece banana bread, "You're a creep," he said, taking a bite and grimacing. "It's stale."

"Everything here's a bit stale," James said, shrugging again and licking his fingers, "S'not like we're dining in Amity or something."

"In Amity?"

James nodded enthusiastically, "Yeah, Amity gets all their food fresh of course, so it tastes the best."

Sirius nodded, noticing the way James said 'their' not 'our'. He shouldn't have been surprised really, James fit into Dauntless so well it was almost scary. Sirius didn't fit in anywhere.

"Shit!" James exclaimed suddenly, looking at the clock that now read eleven past eight. "We're gonna miss the train. C'mon, you can walk and eat yeah?"

Sirius nodded again, rolling his eyes, "I'm not going to trip over just cause I'm chewing at the same time."

They walked fast towards the Pit, almost jogging. Every step sent a flare of pain through Sirius' ribs, but he tried to ignore it. The banana bread was good, once he got past the dryness and the way it kind of stuck to the roof of his mouth. His mother had never baked. He knew that baking was something lots of people's mothers did, he wondered if James' mother made him banana bread before he left her.