Sirius' Guide to Pissing off Parents

Where's the Time to Sleep

The next few days, Sirius found it hard not to notice Freia Bones. He seemed cognisant of every time he saw her scribbling furious notes in class or skipped a meal to work in the library.

"She's there again," Remus said one night.

"What?" James asked.

"Freia. She's in the kitchens again. I've been checking the map at night, and she was there yesterday and today."

When does she sleep? Sirius thought.

"Should we go down and check on her?" James said, peering at the map still clutched in Remus' hands.

"Yeah," Remus agreed. "It can't be normal working as much as she does. Especially whilst being Quidditch captain. I'm surprised she hasn't passed out in the corridors."

Sirius agreed.

"When she was helping me with charms, she told me about some stuff. Her mum is kind of pushy and her older sister has the highest NEWTs recorded at Hogwarts!" Peter said.

"Her mum's Head of Magical Law Enforcement, right? Amelia Bones?" Sirius asked.

James nodded. "Yeah, she was made Head after only working in the ministry for five years. She was 28, which is crazy young. My parents know her from school."

"Fuck, that must be a lot of pressure," Remus said.

Sirius jumped up on his bed as a thought occurred to him.

"Well, come on then. It is our sworn mission as marauders to rescue her from the drudgery of schoolwork!" He said, dramatically.

The others rolled their eyes but didn't otherwise disagree.

The walk to the kitchens was as uncomfortable as ever, with James almost tripping and sending them all sprawling on the floor. By the time they reached the painting of fruit, Sirius was ready to rip the cloak from his head.

They entered and Sirius' eyes immediately scanned the kitchen for Freia. She was in the same corner as before, although this time, her head was fully planted on the desk.

As they approached it became clear that she was fast asleep. Someone had placed a blanket over her and put the quill she'd been holding back in the pot so it wouldn't leak all over her essay.

"Pilby wasn't sure whether he should wake Miss up, but he thought not because Miss doesn't sleep much," Pilby said, appearing next to them and looking at Freia.

"I think you did the right thing," James assured the small elf, who seemed relieved.

She looked the same as she had the first night; the same pyjamas and jumper peeking out from under the blanket, same plaits entwined with flowers – although, this time they were blue; Sirius didn't know what kind of flowers they were. But her face looked more relaxed in sleep, the anxious lines of her forehead giving way to the curious gentleness of her features.

"What do we do?" Remus asked, breaking Sirius out of his revery.

"What d'you mean?" Sirius replied, dumbly.

"Well, we can't just leave her here. Do we wake her up?"

Sirius was hesitant to reply, not liking the idea of waking her up when she looked so restful.

"We can take her back to our dorm," James said after a moment. "She can have my bed. I can share with Pads."

James sent a hopeful glance at Sirius that he wouldn't mind, and Sirius smiled a little in return. They'd shared a bed many times during their friendship; at first, they'd fall asleep whilst talking as small first years. Then, Sirius' homelife became haunting and abusive, following him into nightmares. James would sneak into his bed and hold him as he cried. When Sirius first ran away, he didn't like sleeping alone, terrified he'd somehow wake up at Grimmauld Place, so James stayed with him then too. It'd never been odd or strange – James was Sirius' main source of familial affection, even if they were brothers only by choice, not blood.