gold string, JAMES POTTER [under construction]

chapter four.

chapter four — peony and silas
December 30th, 1976

      "Merlin, I loathe Reece's grandmother, that woman is," James ranted, pacing back and forth in Sirius' bedroom. "When she used to come for Christmas Eve, way before you came to live with us, dinner she would always give me the evils." He explained.

      "I don't think you can hate his grandmother mate." Sirius pointed out, laying back on his bed tossing a snitch James caught in a quidditch match the year before. "Yeah she might be a complete bleeder, but she's still his grandmother."

      James quickly nodded his head in agreement. "You don't know why she stopped coming with Reece every year on Christmas Eve?" He queried, sitting on the edge of his bed. Sirius looked on in anticipation, waiting for the answer. "Because of you..." he slowly explained.

     "What about me?" He quickly sat up, placing the snitch on his nightstand.

     James stammered, trying to find the right words. "You ran away from home, in her eyes you're a blood traitor. I don't know much about the hag, but I know a pure blood supremacist when I see one." Sirius' face twisted in disgust shifting in bed. "And have you noticed lately how Reece always seems, I don't know, on edge?" He continued.

     "What are you trying to say mate?"

     He ran his fingers through his wavy hair, "I don't want to say it out loud, because if it is true," he paused. "I don't know what the bloody hell I'm talking about." He quickly shrugged off the possibility that Maurice, one of his closest friends, was in danger somehow.

     Maurice stood in front of his mirror, he glanced over at his door making sure it was locked. He gently tugged the collar of his sweater down to his shoulder, cautiously gliding his fingertips over the spreading bruise that ran down his arm. An involuntary wince escaped from his lips the moment he accidentally made contact with his skin. That wasn't the only souvenir he had earned from that night, a majority of his body was completely covered in a variety of violent shades of purple. To say the previous night was a nightmare, wouldn't do his pain any justice. With his condition, bruises made their presence known rather quickly than the average person.

     "I didn't want it to come down to this dear, but you must learn your lesson." His grandmother hissed the previous night. "I hope you don't put that illness on display in my house from now on." He quickly brushed off the memory as it slowly came trickling back to him.

     Ethel always had a firm hand when it came to disciplining her grandson, but she had never gone as far as she did. Maurice couldn't possibly fathom how his only blood relative, the only person he had, could do such a thing

     A soft knock came from his bedroom door. He hesitated for a split second before announcing, "come in!" He covered up his shoulder as the person on the other side undid the lock. A thin smile bloomed over his face at the sight of his beloved house elf. "Tobbs," he stated, with a sigh of relief.

     He walked into his bedroom holding a warm bowl of chicken soup. "Tobbs has brought Master Maurice a meal," he spoke, glancing up at Maurice with a smile. "Master Maurice has to eat something," he added placing the bowl on his table. Maurice hadn't left his bedroom at all since the previous night.

     His face immediately brightened when the savoury aroma of the hot soup reached his nostrils. "Thank you, Tobbs," he has been contemplating what he was about to do next since November. Since that night his fate was sealed with that unforgivable curse. "I actually have something for you," he announced, digging through his drawers. He then pulled out a small knitted cap and hunkered down in front of Tobbs to present it to him