Growing Up

Part 1.

Authors note:
Hi! Let me start out by saying that I feel like it's a disservice to you, as someone who clicked on this; to not give you a full (but short) explanation of what this is. I started this back in 2021 as a kid who had a "cool and original", "short story" I wanted to get off my mind. From the description and the amount of chapters you see before this, you can tell I betrayed all of those. I did no previous planning for this and had no intention of stopping at a certain point, so I just kept going. The newer chapters are much better, but a majority of this is not my best writing. and much of it is outdated. I wrote a lot of these parts years ago, and I consistently rewrite a lot of the beginning. I still have a lot of work to do in terms of revising and editing. That's also to say I often delete parts of chapters for the plot, to rid of mistakes, or to enhance the storyline. Y'all, I am no Stephen King, I'm not a professional! I'm self-taught through the books I read and the baseline english education I have. I do my best to edit out the erorrs, but sometimes I don't catch them (because, you know, i'm human). This book, if i'm allowed to call it that; is an investment for both me and you. Seriously, I think Wattpad says it's over nine hours to read (Why are you spending nine hours on this? Go do something productive!). Long story short, this is essentially my brainchild, the one constant thing i've had for years. I know it's not the best, but thank you for reading it anyway.
***********************************

"No, James!"

The door swung shut behind Sirius as he ran over to James. His ears were ringing, the sound of his own panic filling his head made an awful hum at the base of his skull. His breaths caught in his chest with a painful tear at each inhale. Sirius stared blankly at the lifeless body as tears burned his eyes, what the hell happened? James' wand sat three feet away from him as if it had been expelled from his hands, or maybe he hadn't even gotten to it yet. The possibilities shattered into pieces in front of him.

A pool of blood lay from James' head, most likely from the force by which he had hit the ground. The sickly smell of his maroon blood made Sirius gag audibly, grasping at his shirt. It was a nightmare, he thought. That's all.

Sirius grabbed James' shoulders and shook him violently, tears streaming down his face.

"James, please!" Sirius whimpered frantically. "This isn't a joke!"

Nothing.

Sirius stood up and pointed his wand at him, biting his lip.

"Riddikulus! Riddikulus!"

The spells avoided his body and hit the marble ground, sending sparks in the air that fell like ash in the wind.
After hesitating between breaking down and cradling the cold body of his best friend, his brother, Sirius set at a run for the stairs, tripping over his feet in a panic. He could hear Harry start to wail, a sound he hadn't been grateful for since the day he was born.

"Lily, are you here? Are you ok?" Sirius yelled as he opened the door to Harry's room.

His question was quickly answered when he saw Lily, in the same state as James, the life drained from her eyes. The bright emerald of her gaze was dulled by the lifeless stare she would now wear forever.

Sirius sobbed as he walked towards the cradle that Harry was in. His whole world was crumbling at his fingertips, and he could only watch it happen.

"Shh," He hushed. "It's alright, Harry" Whispered Sirius in as calm of a voice as he could, his mind still on playback of what he had witnessed.

"We need to get Moony. He'll know what to do, right?"
Sirius wrapped his hand around the infant's soft head and held him close. All that mattered was in his arms. The rest of his life sat sniffling in his shaking arms.