Moon and Stars || James Potter *Editing*

13

An excited James, bounces on his heels outside of the Hufflepuff common room as he waits for Celeste. He had something urgent to tell Celeste but she hasn't come out- it is already seven-thirty. Every time one of her dorm mates would walk down, he would ask if they had seen Celeste and of course they said no. He patiently waited a few more minutes before he groans to himself and decides to just go to the Great Hall for breakfast.

"You left me in the common room- that's rude, I asked you to wait," James says to Peter as he sits down at the table. He grabs a cup of pumpkin juice and takes a long swig from it.

Remus looks up from his potions homework as he finishes the essay they were assigned the day before. He slides his work to Sirius who has been waiting for some help since Remus had promised to lend him some help. The longer-haired boy then slides a plate of eggs and toast over to Remus who smiles appreciatively to his mate.

"We were hungry- you weren't back with Celeste. I would say we are sorry but not really."

Sirius gasps and holds his hand to his chest, "Remus is being sarcastic- this is unheard of."

Remus rolls his eyes and reaches over to slap Sirius on the back of the head, feeling rather irritated that morning. Sirius looks over at Remus and frowns, "Why do you abuse me?"

Leanna walks over to the boys as James goes on and on about how unbelievable it is that his friends left him to wait alone in the common room. "Good morning boys, have you seen Celeste by chance? She didn't come back to the dormitory last night and she wasn't in bed when I woke up."

The boys furrow their eyebrows, but shake their heads, shrugging their shoulders. Leanna groans and sits down next to Sirius who is now working on his potions homework, using Remus' essay for inspiration from time to time.

"That's weird, Celeste stayed up with me last night playing wizards chess. She went back to her common room at like one." Sirius pipes in, not bothering to look up from his parchment paper.

Leanna shrugs, taking a sip from a cup of lemonade. "Well, she didn't come in."

McGonagall rushes over to the group of five with an overly worried expression, leaving the children rather concerned. When she stops in front of them, she doubles over and tries to catch her breath. "I need you to come with me."

The professor turns and begins to walk out of the Great Hall, the friends gather their things and quickly follow her. They stop outside of the hospital wing, all rather confused as to why the professor has taken them there out of all places.

"Before I let you in the room, I need to tell you this first." She pauses which makes the students impatient. "Miss. Everett was found outside the forbidden forest this morning, she is unconscious. Upon further inspection, she has a few broken bones and it's uncertain to when she will wake." McGonagall opens the doors to let the children into the room.

Celeste lays on the hospital bed, her eyes closed. Madam Pomfrey rushes towards the girl for the fourth time that morning, elevating her legs on a pillow. Celeste's skin is paled out more than normal, bruises under her eyes along with dirt that isn't yet cleaned off her face.

James sits by her side and takes her hand in his. Who would do this to her? Celeste didn't have enemies, she is kind to everyone that she talked to. The girl once stopped in the middle of the corridor when she was late to class to help a first-year who was lost.

The alarm Celeste had set the night before hadn't gone off and she missed breakfast. The girls didn't think to wake her which made her late to Transfiguration.

"McGonagall is going to wring my neck," the girl thinks to herself as she quickly packs her bag with her books and parchment paper.

She runs out of the common room and takes the short cut so she wouldn't be as late to class. The girl slows down from her run when she sees what looks like a first-year who is talking to themselves softly. "Hi, uh I saw yeh looked a bit concerned and lost. Need help?"

The first-year nods at the girl, "I forgot the way to potions."

Celeste walks in front of the kid and calls out to the young girl to follow.

"Who the hell would ever do this?" Sirius says to himself and then jumps up from his spot, scaring his friends slightly. He angrily grabs James' arm and pulls him out of the room. Sirius marches down the corridor with Remus close behind the two since he knows something would happen if he didn't follow.

"Do you think harming innocent people is funny?" Sirius yells as he slams open the door of the Great Hall, breakfast still going on. He storms right up to the Slytherin table and gets into Avery's face.

The wizard cackles, smirking at the boy. "I haven't got a clue what you are talking about."

Sirius grabs the boy by the robes and pulls him close, making his smile falter slightly. You'd be fortunate if you didn't get the chance to see Sirius when he is angry, it's the scariest thing you'll ever experience. "If I find out that you put Celeste in the hospital wing because she is a half-blood, you better watch your back."

The boy's voice is so intimidating that James had to take a step back, but he has a stone-cold expression on his face.

Remus leans forward and puts a hand on Sirius's shoulder which makes the boy less tense. "Come on, yeah?" He motions for James to head out of the Great Hall, and takes hold of Sirius and pulls him away. "Celeste will wake, she's strong and you know it. We'll be there to make sure of it."

"Yeah, let your little boyfriend talk you out of a fight!" Avery yells after Sirius, his laugh taunting the boy.

Sirius tries to pounce on the boy, but Remus and James jumps in front of him and holds him back. It takes both boys to pull him out of the Great Hall. James goes ahead and makes his way back to the hospital wing to join Leanna who is now cleaning the dirt off of Celeste's face. 

Once again Sirius tries to turn to attack Avery, but Remus grabs the boy. "Sirius, stop it. He's is only trying to get a rise out of you, and you know it's working, you need to calm down. Just breathe and all we can do is wait for Celeste to wake up."

Sirius nods, knowing Remus is right, he's always right. The only people who could calm Sirius down when he's angry is James, Celeste, and Remus. Peter always had a hard time calming Sirius down, he found the older boy quite intimidating when he is angry. Remus found it easier than James and Celeste, Sirius tends to listen to Remus more than the others.