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Prongs, It Was a Mistake


Lily was in the waiting room at St. Mungo’s when Sirius, Remus, and Ned Veigler arrived. She heard Sirius before she saw them - he’d walked through the floo and immediately descended upon the reception witch. “WHAT DO YOU MEAN FAMILY ONLY?!? I AM FAMILY, YOU STUPID TWATWAFFLE!! I NEED MY PRONGS…”

Lily jumped up from her seat and ran out to the reception room to see Sirius Black was leaning over the reception desk, Remus trying to pull him back as Ned Veigler attempted to talk to the reception witch with actual clarity and details. “Padfoot,” Remus said when he saw Lily coming. He elbowed Sirius to call his attention to her and Sirius instantly turned from the reception witch, going over to Lily swiftly.

“Evans!” he shouted, “Evans!”

They hugged each other quickly as Remus meandered his way over, freeing Ned Veigler to actually get answers from the reception witch without Sirius shouting like a madman. Lily sniffled as she pulled away. “Oh Sirius,” she whimpered, “We have to talk.”

Sirius glanced over his shoulder at Veigler, still arguing with the reception witch, “It’s my fault,” he said under his breath. “I should never have sent that bit of parchment.”

“I didn’t destroy it like you told me to,” Lily whispered. “It’s my fault. I had it in my pocket and it fell out. I tried to find it, but I couldn’t find it anywhere… and… I meant to tell him, I did. I was going to. But then when I got there, he had… omelettes and… and then we kissed and --”

“You kissed?!” Sirius exclaimed.

Remus cleared his throat, “Kind of not exactly the point right now, Padfoot.”

Sirius nodded, “Right. Yes. Well. Somebody must’ve found the fucking parchment.” He ran his hand over his hair, scowling. “Is he pissed at us?”

“I didn’t tell him,” Lily confessed. “I didn’t know how.”

“You guys are overthinking this. James is going to understand it was a mistake,” Remus said.

Sirius scowled.

Lily said, “I feel so bloody terrible.” She sighed, eyes downcast. “He didn’t deserve this.”

“None of the people Voldemort goes after deserves it,” Sirius said with an edge to his voice. “That fucker’s gotta go.”

Lily hugged herself, her green eyes sad and blinking, turned up toward the ceiling.

Sirius eyed her a moment. He could clearly see her worry, clearly see her upset. “Look, Evans, we’ll… we’ll tell him it was me.”

She shook her head, “He needs to know the truth.”

“It is the truth,” Sirius said.

“The whole truth,” Lily said firmly.

Sirius sighed.

Ned Veigler came over, putting his arms about the three of them as he clustered them together and said, “I got the okay for Sirius to go up, but the rest of us have to wait here. I really had to fight for that much - it’s family only in his ward.”

Sirius turned to go for the stairs and Lily caught his elbow. “I want to talk to him, Sirius,” she pleaded. “I want to tell him. You’ll bring him down, yeah? We’ll tell him together?”

He nodded, “Yeah. Of course.”

Lily looked anxious. “Sooner rather than later?”

“Yeah, I’ll go fetch him.”

Lily nodded.

Sirius turned to Remus and Remus squeezed his hand… and Sirius ducked off into the corridor toward the stairs, glancing over his shoulder at the three of them. Lily turned to Remus and he hugged her as they watched Sirius go and he paused at the door of the stairs and took a deep breath, then stepped through.




Upstairs, James was sitting in the hall outside Charlus’s room with Fabian Prewett, telling him exactly what happened at the Potter house that morning - leaving out the details of what he had been doing when he first heard the thumping upstairs. He told Fabian about the snakes of fire and the cackling, amused face of Bellatrix Lestrange and how he’d exploded his own staircase and seen the beams shiver and fall in as they drove away…

“You’re sure both Rudolphus and Bellatrix got out?” Fabian asked.

James nodded.

“Damn,” murmured Fabian.

James closed his eyes. “It’s all gone, Professor.”

Fabian rubbed James’s shoulder reassuringly. “It’s only material things, though, you were lucky your father was still here and your mum, too. And you got out alive.”

James nodded, “Yeah. I know. I’m glad for that. But… bloody hell. It feels so weird…. It’s… it’s all gone.” He stared at Fabian. “All the memories… everything.”

Fabian shook his head, “Nobody can take memories away, Potter. Those are in you. They’re embedded in the very stardust you’re made from.” He looked up suddenly, spotting Sirius coming up behind them. “Speaking of stardust.”

Sirius stepped up, “Hullo,” he said tentatively.

“Sirius,” James said, getting up and hugging his mate. Sirius patted James’s back awkwardly. “You didn’t have to come.”

“I couldn’t very well leave you here dealing with this rubbish alone, could I?” Sirius said.

James pulled away from the bug and said, “I mean, I’d understand if you had.”

Sirius shook his head, “Bloody hell, terrible friend I’d be, then, wouldn’t I?” he put his arm over James’s shoulders. “Can I talk you into a walk, mate, I have something I need to talk to you about.”

Fabian cleared his throat, “In just a mo’, Mr. Black. I’m sort of in the middle of an investigation.”

James sat back down at Fabian’s urging.

“Just a few more questions, Mr. Potter. I’d like to figure out how the compromise occurred to begin with… It’s just not addin’ up how the Lestranges got in to begin with.” Fabian frowned.

“I don’t understand how they got in,” James murmured, shaking his head.

Sirius shuffled his feet.

“Tell me again how you found them?”

“I told you, Evans and I were… watching telly… and we heard a thump upstairs. I thought it might be Bubo, so I ignored the first sound. Then there was a series more thumps and I realized it wasn’t Bubo. But there wasn’t a bloody soul supposed to be up there, so Evans and I drew our wands and we went up and there’s Bellatrix Lestrange jumping on my bed and her great fires snake all about the room and… Rudolphus was already in. He was - I s’pose he was probably looking for my dad. He came from my parent’s room, snuck up behind me and Evans.” James shrugged, “I dunno how they were in. I only know that they were.”

Sirius closed his eyes.

Fabian frowned. “It just doesn’t make sense! How did they get past the bleedin’ Fidelus?”

Sirius burst out, “It was me!”

James and Fabian both looked up at him.

“I had the note. I had the note from Kingsley. I’m an idiot, I tried to send it to Evans. I wanted to have her check on you, James, and I sent it to her and I reckon it got lost in the post and they stole it and that’s how they’ve found the house.”

James stared up at Sirius.

Fabian’s eyes widened.

James’s eyes narrowed, however, “Wait. Wait. No, it didn’t get lost because Evans was able to find the house. I didn’t even - I didn’t think it odd, it never really never occurred to me…”

Fabian said, “So the parchment was misplaced.”

Sirius hesitated. James was staring at his trainers, an unreadable expression on his face.

“Well this changes the investigation entirely…” Fabian murmured. “I better get down there before they haul poor Kingsley in for questioning. Gideon and I will be back to speak to you later, Mr. Black.” Fabian leaped up to his feet, “I’ll talk to you both later.” He turned and hurried down the hall.

Sirius hesitated a moment, then looked at James, and sank into the chair next to him quickly, swiveling his knees so he was facing James. “Prongs, it was a mistake.”

James was still staring at his trainers.

“I never should’ve kept that paper, I never should’ve sent it to Lily. I’m sorry. It’s my fault.” Sirius clasped his hands, “Please. Don’t blame Evans, blame me.”

James looked up at Sirius.

“I’m an idiot, James. I’m sorry.”

“A mistake, Sirius? A mistake?? They burned down my family’s house, Sirius,” James said quietly, levelly. “Because you sent a paper that should’ve been destroyed three years ago to a girl who - who apparently only came over because you told her to --”

“I just wanted somebody to check on you, since I wasn’t there… and you were alone and --”

“Yes because you chose to go off to Iceland with your bleedin’ boyfriend,” James said, voice raising hotly, “Instead of staying here with your supposed best mate and the dying man you claim is like a father to you.... Well it wasn’t bloody well your memories that were torched by your blasted cousins, was it?”

“But I --”

“Did you tell her to kiss me too?” James asked, “Tell her to be nice to me or something?”

“No, I --”

“Everything is absolute shit for me right now Sirius, honestly, and I don’t even get to have time to be depressed about it because I have to be the man of my family right now, I have to be grown up and take care of everybody! I don’t have time to be depressed like you do.”

“James, I --”

James stood up and shook his head, “I can’t take this right now, Sirius. I’m being mean and I don’t want to be but I’m so angry… I’m so heart broken.”

Sirius stood up, too, “Well, we’re going to fix it aren’t we? We’re going to - to fix it.”

“Just go back to Iceland.” James turned around and went back into Charlus’s room.

Sirius stood in the hallway for a long moment, staring at the spot where James had been standing just seconds before until a mediwitch accidentally drove into him with a cart and he stepped out of the way and she walked on, apologizing for having run into him, and Sirius nodded, sitting back down on the chair heavily, wishing he had even a clue what to do.




Lily refused to sit. “He’ll be coming to get me in a moment to go talk to James,” she insisted.

Remus kept trying to coax her to sit, but she refused, standing… waiting…

It took nearly an hour before he came. Sirius walked slowly down the hallway, his hands in the pockets of his leather jacket and he stepped into the waiting room and Lily accosted him instantly at the door, “What the bleeding hell took you so long?” she demanded, “You haven’t told him without me have you?!”

Sirius stood there a moment. Remus and Ned got up and went over and Sirius took a deep breath, “I didn’t mean to. Fabian Prewett was there asking questions…” Sirius looked between them. “He’s… he’s not good, guys. He’s really upset.”

“His entire world is upside down, of course he’s upset!” Lily snapped. She needed to get upstairs, she needed to see him, to make him feel better. She thought wildly of shoving Sirius out of the way and bolting up the steps anyway. Who would stop her? Who could?

Sirius nodded, “I know…”

Remus looked to Ned, “Professor, couldn’t we go to the Potters and repair the damages? Surely with the four of us working together we could… do something?”

Ned Veigler shook his head. “Fiendfyre is irreparable, magically. We’re as good as muggles in this situation, I’m afraid.” He sighed and, at Lily’s sharp glare, he said, “I don’t mean that as derogatory as it came out, I apologize.”

Lily sniffed.

Remus shook his head, “There’s nothing to be done?”

“Not once the damage is done,” Ned replied, “Fiendfyre is… it’s a violent, terrible tool. Depending on the caster, the form takes on the appearance of a serpent - snake, dragon, some sort of serpent - in either red or green flames - which consumes everything it touches, leaves nothing behind. The fire quite literally eats atoms more than it burns them… Fascinating, fiendfyre… The only way to stop it must be done while it is in action - there’s a serpent-soothing charm that puts it to sleep. But it cannot be doused, dousing it just makes it angry. Which is why when a muggle home catches fiendfyre and they try to put it out, it only gets worse.”

Remus stared at the floor.

“Leave it to fucking Voldemort to come up with a god damn fire snake,” Sirius muttered.

“I need to see James,” Lily whispered.

“He’s too upset right now,” Sirius replied. “He wouldn’t even talk to me properly. He’s too upset he doesn’t have a home.”

“Can’t blame him for it,” Ned Veigler said quietly, sympathy in his voice.

Sirius nodded, “You really can’t… I mean, bloody hell, what are they going to do? Charlus in the hospital and all - how are they going to get a new house right now? Where’s James going to go? He can’t just stay here at the hospital all of the day and night…” He looked worried.

Remus looked up, “My house. They can use my house until they have a home of their own.”

Ned looked to Remus, “Your parent’s house? We’ll need to clean it up if we do that. Your father left it in a right state if I recall.”

Remus nodded.

“Bloody hell, Moony, you’re a genius,” Sirius said, grabbing Remus’s hand, “You’re a genius.”

Remus smiled sadly at Sirius and looked to Lily, “Are you okay, Lil?”

She said, “I need to see him.”

Sirius put his arm about her, “Trust me, you wanna give him space right now. He’s upset. He’ll come ‘round when he’s ready to.”

“You can come help us prepare the house if you like,” Remus suggested, “Then you’re actively helping him out while you wait for him to come ‘round?”

Lily shook her head. “I’m not leaving here ‘til I’ve seen him.” She looked at Sirius. “Tell me where he is.”

Sirius hesitated.

Lily glared at him.

“Upstairs - second floor. Take a left out of the stairwell, that brings you to the dragon pox wing on the right and he’s the fourth door, across from the mediwitch station,” Sirius said, seeing the seriousness in her eyes. “But really you ought to wait ‘til he comes ‘round Evans.”

She shook her head.

She’d waited long enough.