the lucky one, sirius black

02

chapter two

JAMES POTTER, UNLIKE his sister isn't a morning person.

He lazily, and incredibly slowly, trotted down the stairs with one hand on the bannister and the other stuck in his messy hair.

His alarm clock had rung out for the sixth time in an hour and it eventually ushered him out of bed, it was either that or have to deal with the wrath of Murphy when she walks past his bedroom door and hears the rattle of the clock she had brought him for Christmas a few years ago. Murphy tends to be persistent when it comes to being on time and if she found out that James had woken up less than an hour before they had to leave for the trainstation there's a good chance she'd hang him by his ears.

James stopped at the bottom of the stairs and sat on the second step up, letting his face fall into his large hands. It had been years since James sat on that one particular step. It was the step that his parents used to send him to whenever he put dirt and earthworms in his sisters bed or when he told the house elves they had to get him a particular comic book from the town - specifying that it was a surprise for his parents so they mustn't find out about it, of course they always did.

The sun had fully risen and the kitchen was airy and light, as opposed to how small it felt when Murphy was sitting in it alone earlier on in the morning. James huffed a few times, as if to compose himself, before he stood himself up and shrugged at Sirius who was sitting eating dry Cheerios from an expensive china bowl, a bowl that no one was allowed to touch unless it was a special occasion. The pink flower decal looked ridiculous as Sirius forked the cereal out with his hands, he looked at James with his mouth full and smiled. His mouth was dry and he spat crumbs all over the table.

"You're a disgusting boy." James said with droopy eyes as he approached the table and sat opposite his best friend, he reached over and grabbed a handful of Sirius' cereal for himself and then proceeded to chew with his mouth wide open. His mother would have a mare if she saw how her eldest child had lost his once perfect table manners.

"Your mum wants to speak to you." Sirius told him, his voice muffled by the bland breakfast cereal. James raised an eyebrow and fanned himself with his hands, it was only nine am and the sun was already beating down and turning the ancient house into an extremely large greenhouse. "Your sister asked me to tell you."

Sirius was half dressed in a pair of black jeans and the shirt he was going to wear was slung over the back of one of the chairs, his hair was wet and stuck to his cheeks and the back of his neck.

"Where is Murphy?" James responded. Usually his sister would be barking orders from the breakfast table but she was nowhere to be seen. "I expect she's used up all the milk?" He asked, standing up from the table and walking over to the fridge, much to his surprise the carton of milk which was a day over the best before date, still had enough to turn his morning coffee a murky, dark brown colour instead of black.

Sirius shook his head.

"Upstairs, I think," he said with an uncertain shrug, his mouth once again full with cereal. "Your mum really needs to talk to you before we leave, and you have half an hour to get ready."

"Bloody hell," James complained, pouring the now lukewarm water from the pan that his sister had boiled earlier on in the morning into a mug and adding the coffee, sugar and the tiny drop of milk. "I'm going, let me just make this." He then uttered something which sounded a lot like; "You're worse than my bloody sister."

Once he mixed his coffee using his index finger he took a big sip before walking towards the living room door with the mug clutched in his hand. James pulled a mocking face at Sirius as he pushed it open, the elder boy stuck his tongue out and continued to eat his milk-less cereal.