Running in the dark

Chapter 25

Remus began to tell Sirius and Regulus about how they had been put under veritaserum, but the two had figured that out, they had heard Snape ask Remus the question as they were coming up the stairs and we're glad to get there on time.

He didn't say any more now, not about the questions he and James had been asked, it still felt like the present, like what had happened was still unfolding.

They got to the hospital wing and Madam Pomfrey soon after hearing the only bit of the story she needed, made James and Remus sit down on beds.

Regulus and Sirius disappeared very soon after Madam Pomfrey began her work, she fixed James' ribs and gave him a potion for any pain he would have with his stomach and face and gave the same potion to Remus while she fixed the cut on his eyebrow.

"I'll let McGonagall know what happened, she'll make sure they're well punished," Madam Pomfrey said and she let them go. It was the middle of dinner, but neither was hungry and began to make their way to Gryffindor tower.

"Where do you think they went?" James said, he had been rather quiet the whole time and Remus didn't blame him, he'd been made to tell Snape about him and Regulus.

"If I had to guess, the Slytherin dorm," Remus replied.

He was right, they returned and Regulus punched a still paralyzed Mulciber in the face and Sirius did the same to Snape, he then put a jinx on Snape so that boils sprouted across his face and Regulus made tuffs of fur appear on Mulciber's face and after flipping the two off and using a locking charm which would take them a while to figure out they began to make there a way to Gryffindor tower, no one touches Remus and James and gets away with it.

James and Remus had gotten to the tower and found Mary, Lily, and Peter there. Remus had told them the same information that he'd told Regulus and Sirius and James was silent, it was almost scary.

Then tears began to prick his eyes, Remus noticed and put a hand on his knee, a sort of reassurance, but he didn't know what to do, James Potter never cried, and now here he was trying to force the tears to stay in his eyes but they were beginning to fall.

The portrait door then swung open and James saw Regulus and Sirius walk in he just couldn't hold it he was off the sofa in seconds and nearly ran to Regulus and he just buried his head into the shorter boy's shoulder.

Mary audibly gasped at this and she nearly did again when Regulus curled his arms around James and began to whisper soft things in his ear that they could hear.

James heard them though through his sobs as Regulus said softly "It's ok James, you're ok, it's going to be ok". But James couldn't contain the truth, the veritaserum's effects were still strong.

"It's not ok," he said letting out a strangled sob, Regulus now felt the eyes of their friends on them and began to guide James from the room towards his dorm.

James sat on the edge of his bed next to Regulus who had now taken his hand, waiting for him to calm down. "He knows about us, I'm so sorry Regulus, I'm so sorry," he said tears still slipping down his cheeks and Regulus felt like he might cry upon seeing James in this state.

"It's ok James," he replied.

"But Snape and Mulciber could tell people about us," James said he gulped in the air like a small child and Regulus held his hand tighter.

"Then let the world know I love James Potter," he replied and then James smiled and Regulus' heart seemed to beat so much faster than before, he raised his thumb to James' cheek and tried to wipe his tears away.

"What did he do?" Sirius asked Remus, he'd sat down beside Remus and had pulled him onto his lap, her arms still around him.

"He just made Mulciber hurt us every time we yelled at him or did something he didn't like, and then made us have veritaserum and well he only got to find out about what happened with my dad about me but with James... he got some personal things," Remus said.

"Jesus," Lily muttered and Sirius and Peter became a bit confused at the word.

"And you used to be friends with him," Mary muttered, shaking her head.

"Then she realized how cruel he was," Peter said.

"I don't even want to think about what happened to James, he seems messed up," Mary said.

They didn't press Remus about the personal things that had been revealed about James, they all knew that was James' private things and he'd already had his privacy violated enough.

Sirius kept his arms around Remus, the fact that Remus was going from one bad thing to the next was not a pleasant thought in Sirius's mind and he was rather sure that if he could he would lock Remus away from anything that could hurt him, but there always was something that could.

The full moon was in two days and now that Remus was sitting on Sirius' lap he found himself conflicted, usually on the days coming up to the full moon physical touch was not something he liked, afterward, it wouldn't be surprising if he hugged Dumbledore, but now he would gladly melt into Sirius' arms and never leave them, he felt safe just sitting there, beside the warm fire that heated the room and the soft conversation around them.

Evening came by fast and James soon found himself spending his night in Regulus' dorm, Barty and Evan were actually quite nice to him after hearing about that ordeal and even offered to set Snape's hair on fire. Regulus had told James many times that the two were insane but very loyal, James could not disagree at all.