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The Fight


Peter Pettigrew had been doing his best to help, too. True to James’s request before he’d left on his adventure with Maryrose, Peter had rounded up the Order and got them all up into the secret meeting room to wait for orders from James on what to do. They’d all sat about in the Secret Room together, speculating on what little information Peter could provide, and trying to decide what to do about it.

“If James is in trouble, he’s not goin’ to be popping in asking us for help,” Frank Longbottom kept arguing passionately as others disagreed, saying last time they’d gone barrelling into a situation at Number 12, Grimmauld Place, bad things had come from it, and they needed to wait until they were given commands. “But he’s not able to give commands if he’s fightin’!” Frank insisted.

Lily Evans had agreed with Frank, though Jasper Odair had not, and she’d volunteered to go down to the Transfiguration wing and try McGonagall’s floo to see what was happening at Grimmauld Place. That was how she’d ended up at the office with James Potter… and seeing as it was James they were all waiting on back in the meeting room, it was why she waited for him there in the corridor.

It was how she’d ended up with him on the stairwell, staring up at him as he lamented over his failure.

It was how Jasper Odair ended up coming down the stairs to check on her and had found the pair of them standing on a landing, facing one another, Lily’s hand on James’s chest as his head hung, a bit of his messy hair in his face… Jasper hesitated, a landing above, a bit of jealousy flaring up in him (she was, after all, his girlfriend). He decided to play it coolly, though, and he jogged down the steps as casually as he could muster and slapped James upon the back. “Well look what the kneazle dragged in, will you?” he said, smiling and put his arm ‘round Lily, pulling her toward him so that her palm slid off James’s wrinkled oxford. “We’ve been worrying ‘bout you up in the Meeting Room.”

“We were on our way,” Lily half-lied. She’d been meaning to guide James that way, but she hadn’t yet had the chance to tell him so.

James shook his head, “No reason to be meeting… it’s over.”

Jasper looked concerned at the tone of James’s voice. “...did you save the girl?” he asked.

“Of course he did,” Lily replied sternly.

“You did?” Jasper looked quite excited, “You actually saved the girl? Bugger, that’s brilliant, Potter, why in hell do you look so glum? I’d be right excited if I were you!”

James looked up. “Maryrose Jenkins has been taken.” His voice was flat and cold and he shook his head as Jasper’s jaw dropped at the news and he started spluttering to come up with a response. “I’ve got to go.” James turned and hurried away from them both down the hall.

Lily turned to Jasper, “See what you’ve done?”

“I didn’t do anything,” he said, confused.

“He was obviously upset you didn’t need to go criticizing him for it.”

“I didn’t know he was upset, blimey, I just got here!”

Lily sighed. James was already ‘round the bend at the end of the hallway. She frowned. “We should go tell the Order.”

“Yeah.” Jasper’s mouth curved into a frown. “I really didn’t mean to upset him, Lil…” he said, because he could tell she was still angry he had done.




James went to the hospital wing. He didn’t care if it did get Regulus Black shouting at him again, he needed to see Sirius. Sirius would know what to do and though he’d seen Sirius briefly earlier, when he’d first arrived back, he hadn’t properly seen to it that Sirius was alright after whatever it was that had happened that caused that awful gash across his chest. And he hadn’t a chance to properly apologize for what he’d done, meeting with Regulus yet, either. He truly felt sorry for having upset Sirius so much that his mate had felt he was a “traitor”; it had honestly never occurred to him that it might seem that way if he were caught in the act of it. Of course, James had never dreamt he would’ve been caught, either. But he was confident that, once Sirius knew why he had needed that information on Snape (to protect Remus Lupin), Sirius would forgive him.

He just had to get him to listen.

He pushed open the ward door and heard a crack - the sound of a disapparation - and he raced ‘round the doorway, flashbacks of the Death Eaters cutting him off in alleyways rising a panic up in him as he drew his wand…

There, by one bed, were the two Black brothers. Regulus sitting up amongst the blankets and pillows looking startled and upset, and Sirius standing beside the bed, a near identical expression on his face. James stopped as both of their heads turned toward him the doorway. Sirius looked him over a moment, then turned away, his expression souring.

“I s’pose you’re here to talk to my brother behind my back again? Get a bit more information for your vendetta against Snivellus Snape?” Sirius asked in a rough tone.

“I’m here to talk to you, actually, you bleeding idiot,” James answered.

Regulus sneered, “Good thing ‘cos you ain’t talkin’ to me, that’s for sure! You’ve as good as killed Maryrose, leaving her there with the Dark Lord!”

Sirius turned, “Oi, don’t go attacking him like that. It’s as much your bleedin’ fault as it is his.” Sirius didn’t know this for sure, he only guessed at it, really.

James looked angry, “She did it herself, alright? We were cornered and she goes and transforms into Lucy Minchum --”

“Likes transforming into other people for you, doesn’t she?” scoffed Sirius crankily.

“-- and runs out into Rudolphus Lestrange’s arms!”

Regulus snapped, “You were supposed to go after her! You don’t just let her do something like that.”

“Your coward of an elf was supposed to get her and bring her back while I took Lucy Minchum out the front door! We were all supposed to come back!”

“Don’t blame Kreacher!”

“He’s a coward.”

“He could’ve been killed helping you! He followed orders as best he could!!!”

“Well he didn’t follow them well enough, did he, or else Maryrose would be here, wouldn’t she?!” James bellowed.

Sirius turned to James ,”Oi! Stop yelling at him! It isn’t his fault you’ve got to be a reckless little twat-waffle and run off saving everyone without even --”

James turned to Sirius with impossibly wide eyes, “EXCUSE ME?? Excuse me right now??? ‘Ello Pot, this is the bleedin’ Kettle, you’re black!”

Sirius rolled his eyes, “Don’t be an idiot, Potter!”

“YOU are a reckless little -- little twat-waffle yourself!” James yelled, “Shall we name the times you’ve raced off into the sunset to save people without even thinking on whether it’s a good idea or not? I CAN THINK OF TWO TIMES ON MOTORBIKES --”

Regulus looked surprised, “Motorbikes?!”

“Yes! Two different FLYING muggle motorbikes!”

“But you aren’t even licensed!” worried Regulus.

Sirius said, “But I bleedin’ managed to get us all out alive from that, didn’t I?”

I saved the Minister’s grand daughter,” James hissed, “What were you doing? Laying about the hospital wing? Probably flirting with Remus Lupin?”

“I wasn’t flirting with Remus Lupin!”

“Actually,” Regulus spoke up, “Sort of, you were.”

“SHUT THE FUCK UP, REG!”

Regulus shut up, looking quite affronted. He stared between the two of them.

James shook his head, “Don’t bloody yell at him! You’ve just told me not to yell at him!”

“He’s my brother! I can yell at him if I like!” Sirius said, “It’s bleedin’ twat-waffles like you that can’t yell at him!”

“STOP SAYING THAT WORD!” James yelled.

“MAKE ME!” Sirius shouted back. “TwatWaffleTwatWaffleTwatWaffleTwatWaffle!”

James lunged at Sirius.

Regulus’s eyes were wide as could be. He stared down at James and Sirius as they clambered about on the floor, punching and slapping at one another. Sirius smacked James’s glasses off so that they skid across the floor and under one of the beds and James grabbed onto Sirius’s head, tugging his head back as Sirius wrapped his arm ‘round James neck and squeezed, his knuckles sinking between James’s hair. Sirius let out a squealing sound as he attempted to kick James off him, his face contorted with pain as James tugged even harder on his hair and then James’s hand slipped and he fell forward, his elbow hitting Sirius in the mouth and Sirius’s lip cut on his teeth and he responded hotly with a quick jab to James’s gut and James let out a gust of air in a great grunt and fell to one side, and they both lay there on the tile floor of the hospital wing, panting, spent from their fight.

Regulus stared down at them.

James looked over at Sirius.

Sirius looked over at James.

“I dunno why I even came up here!” James panted.

“I dunno why, either, you great Traitor,” Sirius breathed.

James sat up, struggling, his stomach aching from the cut that Sirius had done and he rolled onto his hands and knees, pushing himself up from the floor. He walked toward the door with as much dignity as a boy with a rumpled oxford and messed up hair could do, and he shook his head, looking back at Sirius, who hadn’t moved, and he stepped out into the hallway.

Regulus stared after him a long moment, then turned to look down at Sirius. “Wow.”

Sirius sat up and leaned his arms over his knees, running a hand through his air.

“Are you alright?” Regulus asked and he got up and went over, meaning to help Sirius up, and he rambled, “I’ll bet Madam Pomfrey will be able to fix that lip of yours right up in a second!”

Sirius pushed Regulus’s hand off him. “Don’t touch me.”

“Sorry. Are you sore?” Regulus asked, concerned.

“I don’t want you touching me,” Sirius answered, his voice thick. “Fuck off, Regulus.”

“But --”

“It’s your fault I’ve had that fight with him. It’s all your fault.” Sirius’s eyes were wet. “You’re always ruining everything!”

Regulus looked up at him, “But -- But Sirius --”

Sirius stood up and ducked away from Regulus as his brother reached out a palm toward him. He looked around and headed for the bed and took his wand and Remus’s ring from the table. Jamming the ring back on his finger, he clutched the wand in his fist. “I’ve had it with this ward, I’ve had it with you. I’m going back to my dorm. I want my Moony.”

“But Sirius you’re still mending,” Regulus said.

“Fuck mending. I don’t deserve to mend!!”

“I don’t wanna be alone.” Regulus pleaded as Sirius made his way to the door.

Sirius paused in the doorway and looked back at Regulus’s lost little face. “Maybe you should’ve thought about that before you went and acted like a spoilt little arsehole, then, huh, Reg?” he asked, “Before you went and killed your girlfriend and sent my best mate into danger and turned us against each other. Maybe you should’ve thought about what sorts of consequences your actions have.”

Tears poured over Regulus’s cheeks as Sirius slammed the hospital wing’s door so hard that a couple vials fell off the shelves over the sink.