Some Day | Wolfstar

Twenty-six

Severus returned with a box of chocolate.

"Never took you to be a chocolate person," Sirius admitted. Severus shrugged, "You'd be surprised by what you don't know."

They ate a lot of chocolate that night. Perhaps a bit too much, given that Sirius hadn't anything else to eat.

Three hours later, they had made zero progress.

"I think we should stop for today," Sirius sighed. Severus slumped on to a chair next to him. "This is getting ridiculous." He shook his head.

"When Regulus wakes up I'm gonna hex him so bad," Sirius groaned, standing up. One by one, he turned the chair-men back into chairs.

Severus grabbed his cloak and threw it over his shoulders. "Tomorrow," he mumbled, and turned to leave. "Yeah, tomorrow." Sirius ran a hand through his hair.

"And... Black," Severus called, turning around. Sirius looked at him. "Don't burn yourself."

***

The seventh year Gryffindor room was a miserable place that night. There were eight beds arranged on either side of the door. On the left, closest to the door lay Peter Pettigrew, blue eyes wet and wide open. Next to him was James' sitting up with his head in his hands. Then was Remus, curtains drawn around his bed -they never used the curtains- finally having fallen into a fitful sleep. The next bed was empty, sheets ruffled from days ago.

The despair of the four friends set a gloom inside the room, that the other boys could not avoid feeling. They were inseparable. Or they had been. It was too shocking to see them in disharmony.

To make matters worse, Fred had been ruthlessly dumped by his girlfriend of two years for a Hufflepuff prefect. It was a true misery fest in the dormitory.

James couldn't bare it any longer. Sirius was his best friend, his brother. He was so vital a part of James, and now he was gone. James wanted to fetch the Map, find him, and just pull him into his arms and never ever let go again.

But he had done something unforgivable. Something so selfish that it made James sick. It didn't matter that he'd only eliminated a very small, almost negligible part of Remus' memory. What mattered was that he'd done it in the first place.

He knew that Sirius needed someone with him. That he was not okay. That he shouldn't be left alone.

But he couldn't forgive him. Remus was his friend, too. He couldn't forgive Sirius for what he'd done.

At least not so soon.

***

In a school where everything was about finding where you belonged, Sirius was slowly losing himself. It was Saturday again, a fair bit of sun was finally gracing the sky. Sirius was in the hospital wing. Three hours. Madam Pomfrey finally sent him away, her heart breaking at the sight of his tired, white face.

He wondered along the corridors aimless, until he felt a sudden blow to his back. Weak and tired, he dropped to his knees.

"The mighty Sirius Black, proud firstborn of the most noble and ancient House of Black," a voice taunted him. He forced himself to stand up, hand on the handle of his wand.

Three boys surrounded him, cornering him into a wall.

"No Potter to save you today?" Lucius Malfoy sneered. "I don't need anyone to save me," Sirius hissed. The corridor was spinning around him.