selenophile || remus lupin

chapter eighty seven

8 July 1977

12:39 pm

The doorbell rang. James looked up in surprise, Sirius speaking his exact thoughts: "It's like midnight, who the hell would be at your door?"

The two ran from the living room couch to the door and laughing, James opened the door to see who their late night visitor was. His laugh immediately stopped when he saw Ophelia Black standing there, covered head to toe in blood, wearing a great green ballgown and possessing more scars than he'd ever seen anyone have at once.

She looked up into his eyes, with a dull look, clearly feeling nothing. His shock wore off quickly, though, when her eyes drifted closed and she fell into his arms. He quickly reached forward to grab the girl and brought her inside to where Sirius saw her. He stood there with a blank expression on his face, not being able to register what he was seeing.

James brought her to the couch and lay her down, her blood quickly seeping through the cushions.

"Mum!" James yelled as loudly as he could, in a frantic state. After a few moments, Euphemia came out of her bedroom looking for her son, sensing that something was wrong. She rushed into the room and saw Ophelia laying there, completely unconscious and soaked in blood. She tried her best not to assume the worst.

"Someone call Remus," she simply said as she ran to the girl's side and checked her pulse. Sirius hadn't moved from his original position, his eyes not leaving his sister. James realized that he wouldn't be able to and instead ran to the fireplace. He threw a bit of floo powder in and stepped in, coming back a few minutes later with Remus. He was in his pajamas, hair messy, but his face was pale and his eyes darted around the room until he found his girlfriend. He ran over to her side, his eyes welling up with tears at the sight of her looking completely lifeless. "No, no, no no, no," he kept muttering under his breath.

Mia had gotten her wand out and started cleaning up some of the blood on Ophelia's body before she turned to James.

"I need you to get a change of clothes for her. I'm going to have to clean her body and she can't be wearing a ballgown all night. Something light." James immediately ran up the stairs to his bedroom, retrieving a t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants.

Monty came out of the bedroom after hearing all of the commotions, clearly after being woken up by the sound. He took a few moments to register what was going on and looked around the room. He looked to where Sirius stood, so still that he could have been a muggle painting. He walked over to where the boy was and embraced him in a tight hug. Sirius tensed slightly, maybe out of habit, maybe due to the trauma coming back after Ophelia's appearance, but after just a few moments, he sank into Monty's arms. He started to shake and Monty could tell that he had begun to sob. Monty was fully supporting Sirius, unable to stand on his own.

James was helping Mia heal Ophelia. While he couldn't actually practice magical healing, he did whatever his mum asked him whether that be getting a washcloth, or clothes, or just to hold something still.

Soon, however, Mia pushed all of them out of the living room. The four boys sat around the kitchen table, none of them speaking. Monty got up to make each of them a cup of tea. As he sat down, handing each boy a cup of tea, James got up and started pacing. Remus, who had been staring off into space for the past while, slowly lifted his eyes towards James.

"Do you fucking mind?" he snapped.

"What-" James started.

"The pacing. Oh my god, can you not stay still and quiet for two fucking seconds?"

"Is it bothering you? I'm trying to process this all and it's kind of hard to just sit still."

"Yeah, actually. It is bothering me. Can you stop?"

"I'm walking, how does that bother you?" James shot back, his voice rising.

"The noise, James! All I hear is stomp, stomp, stomp, coming from that side of the table. Ophelia could be dead right now and you can't give me two fucking seconds of silence?"

"Don't you dare say that, Remus. Ophelia is not dead. Don't ever say that again."

"Wake up, James! Did you even see her? She is gushing blood from everywhere, she is literally unconscious, and having trouble breathing. She's dying, James. Can't you see that?"

"Boys-" Monty started.

"I can see that perfectly fine, but I'm not a pessimist like you, and I'd like to have hope that she can pull through this."

"Boys-"

"Of course I hope she can pull through this, she's my girlfriend, I-" Remus took a breath. "The thought of me living a life without her in it is worse than any full moon I've ever gone through combined. The thought of her taking her last breath when she's sixteen fucking years old makes me feel worse than anything I've ever felt before. So don't say that I'm crushing your hopes that she'll make it through this-"

"Boys!" Monty said, raising his voice. Remus and James stopped their argument, fuming, and looked towards James' dad. Monty pointed to the head of the table, to where Sirius was sitting. The cup of tea in his hands was shaking and spilling the burning drink on his wrists as he was trying, and failing, to control his breathing.

"Fuck," James said, running over to his best friend. He grabbed the teacup out of his hands and wiped off some of the spilled tea on him. Sirius was gasping for air, his breaths coming in short, quick increments. His eyes welled up with tears that soon started spilling down his pale face. A sob escaped his lips and James pulled him into a hug as he wept. His body was shaking as James tried to calm him down.

Remus buried his head into his hands and sighed loudly. When he finally removed his hands from his face, his cheeks were red and tears were streaming down from his eyes.

"I'm sorry, James. I'm just really worried about her and I took it out on you. I was really harsh and I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have said those things, and I know that this doesn't erase what's happened, but I want you to know that I truly apologize," he said. "And Sirius, fuck, man. I have an idea of what triggered you, and for that, I am even more sorry. It's not fair to you that we're arguing, and reliving your days at Grimmauld Place. It's scary for all of us, it's fucking terrifying, but just know that we have each other, no matter what happens."

Sirius looked up from James' shoulder, his eyes red and cheeks stained with tears. He stared at Remus for a moment, still slightly shaking, and nodded slightly, slowly blinking.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Mia finally ran into the kitchen, tears streaming down her face.