Glass Houses

Chapter twenty two

Sirius opened his eyes slowly, his surroundings bleary as he blinked. The room was familiarly blank, and the sound of running water was coming from nearby, except this time it was from a tap, not crashing on rocks below his feet. He went to turn his head and winced, gritting his teeth as he was suddenly all too aware of the pain he felt in his cheek, his arm, his neck.

hands around his throat

He knew he shouldn't move, but he tried turning his head again, able to catch a glimpse of Moony in a small bathroom, running his knuckles under water that was turning pink from the blood. Other than that, he looked unharmed. A bit tousled, but unharmed.

Sirius' head fell back onto the soft pillow, and he tried to remember how he got there. The only thing coming to mind was a flash of golden eyes, and the swirling lines of a tattoo peeking above the collar of a shirt, along with the gentle sway that told him Moony must've carried him here.

The sound of the water stopped, and the room was silent. Sirius watched as Moony walked out of the bathroom, opening the door of a small fridge and pulling out an icepack. He strode to Sirius, and as their eyes met, there was a horrible sense that he'd let Moony down, that he shouldn't be laying on the bed pathetically, that he was a failure.

But all he said was, "Your hands..."

The words came out in a croak, and his neck ached painfully.

"You're worried about my hands?" Moony asked quietly, sitting down on the edge of the bed. "Have you seen yourself?" He slipped the icepack under Sirius' head, and the burning in his neck cooled instantly.

Sirius rolled his eyes weakly, "I haven't really gotten the chance."

A smile played on Moony's lips, and Sirius' eyes were drawn to a cut there, the blood already dry. So he had been hurt. Not thinking straight, Sirius raised his arm and brushed a thumb over the small wound. Moony captured Sirius' hand in both of his, lowering it but not letting go.

"I'm fine Sirius," he said, "You shouldn't be worrying about me."

"Why were you there?" Sirius asked, silently praying that Moony wouldn't let go of his hand.

"I was coming back from the control room, and I heard you..." his brows drew together, and he frowned down at their hands, "...screaming."

"What did you do to them?" Sirius asked, his voice almost a whisper, and not only because his throat hurt too much to talk.

Moony looked at Sirius, "Snape will be in the hospital for a few days," he said slowly. "Zacharias and Peter ran off before I could get to them."

Sirius closed his eyes briefly at the mention of Peter's name. He had almost forgotten the boy's betrayal, the sound of his nervous laughter as Snape said how he wanted to make Sirius scream. How was he going to tell James? Would James even believe him?

"Snape," Sirius said, anything to get Peter's frightened, traitorous face out of his mind, "How bad is he?"