Saving the Sun

-2-

 James slept for only two hours and was up well before Sirius and Remus. However, when he got up Regulus got up too. Eventually, the two made their way into the kitchen, and James made tea. James liked tea, mostly because it helped calm his nerves. The two boys sat across from each other at the table but didn't really say anything.

Regulus watched James and studied his appearance. Regulus noticed how exhausted James looked, and today he honestly looked kind of ill. James, obviously, would never admit to how he felt at the moment, so Regulus remained quiet about the subject.

After a while of sitting in the kitchen, and James offered Regulus breakfast, they moved into the living room. James curled up into his usual chair after relighting the fire. James was almost always cold, even though the summer heat made the house quite warm, so the fire was almost always lit in Potter Manor. If Regulus was being honest, he was getting kind of bored, but after looking at James, he would never mention that he wanted something to do.

At just before noon, Sirius and Remus made their way down the stairs. They were laughing about something when they walked through the doorway to the living room. They sat down on the couch together, and Sirius crawled into Remus' lap and wrapped himself in his arms. That was when Sirius finally looked over at James, and even though Sirius was one of the most unobservant people in the world, he noticed that James looked ill.

"Hey, James. Are you feeling ok?" Sirius asked, and Regulus felt a sense of relief that Sirius asked, because he felt that he wasn't allowed to say anything since he didn't know James well enough. But Remus looked a bit surprised since James never gets sick. The Potters have an insane immune system, and no one really knows why.

"Yeah, just tired," was all James said, but no one believed that for a second.

"James, I think all of us know you're lying," Remus was the first one to respond, which was for the best because he is typically the most reasonable of the boys.

"I honestly just feel really tired is all," which was a lie, yes he felt exhausted, but he also felt quite ill, and nauseous.

"Are you lying?" Remus kept pushing, he knew James was lying, but also knew that James didn't like too much attention on himself, and he trusted that James wouldn't overdo himself. Unfortunately, the trust shouldn't have been given, and James absolutely would overdo himself.

"No?" James answered with a question, which made Remus sigh and push Sirius off his lap. Sirius would have protested, but he was more concerned about his best friend at the moment.

"Come on Prongs," Remus said as he pulled James up from his chair, and led him back upstairs to his room. "I don't want to see you come downstairs again until you at least try to take a nap," Remus wanted James to take care of himself, but was also aware of his worrying nature, and knew that James wouldn't rest if he thought he was being a bad friend to Sirius, or even Regulus since they had just moved in yesterday. James only nodded in response, and to his own surprise fell asleep pretty quickly after Remus went back downstairs.

-

While James was sleeping, Regulus was almost itching to go and check on him. He was worried about James, but he also didn't want Sirius to think it was weird that he was so worried. Sirius, however, knew his brother better than anyone and very easily noticed his nervousness. He reached over and grabbed Regulus' hand and leaned over to whisper in his ear.

"I know you're worried about him, you don't have to pretend you aren't," Regulus was taken aback by that statement, he didn't know that he was being that obvious about his nerves.

"If I'm being honest, I don't know why I'm worried about him. I mean not in a bad way," he hesitated for a moment, "I don't even know what I'm trying to say anymore," Sirius laughed a bit, he had a small idea as to why his brother felt like this, but he was just going to let him figure it out himself.