Curse Breaker (or how to find answers)

Two sides of the same coin and new lights - pt.2

***

Sirius opened the door of the dorm.

"Pads!" James gasped, looking at his best friend appearing in the doorframe. Immediately, he stood up, walking quickly to Sirius. "Pads, what happened?"

Sirius was covered in mud, he had some on his cheeks, in his hair, and he was completely soaked because of the rain. He had a bruise on his cheek, and he was holding his side as if it was hurting him.

"Are you alright?" Remus asked, appearing next to James, and the latter heard the worry in his voice. He guessed Remus was probably worrying a lot for Sirius too, being able to be worried openly now.

Peter was staring at them from afar, his Solitaire game on his bed.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Sirius' face broke into a grin, and he shrugged, mischievous glint in his eyes.

He had told them about trying to talk to Regulus again. Well, he'd told James about his projects, and then he told them two days before that he was going to hang out with him. He was freaking out ten minutes before going, but everyone had reassured him, and he went. But James had noticed his shaky hands as he exited the dorm a little more than an hour ago. Remus and Peter probably noticed too.

He'd told them they were going to play Quidditch together. Which didn't reassure James at all. Regulus was a Quidditch player; Sirius wasn't, even if he was quite good when they played Quidditch in his backyard during summer. Playing Quidditch with Regulus could be a very uneven and dangerous game.

On top of that, it started raining as soon as Sirius was gone, and James wondered how it would go. If they would be cold outside, if they would fight, if they would ignore each other. He feared it wouldn't work.

And James, more than anything, wanted it to work. He wanted it for his best friend, he wanted Sirius to be able to talk to Regulus again; after all his little interactions with Regulus, during all these years, that always left him euphoric, he supposed it was time he talked to him properly again. And now, curiously enough, James wanted it to work for Regulus' sake too. He wanted Regulus to have Sirius as a member of his family. He deserved a family.

He was maybe feeling as anxious as Sirius when he left. Like a worried mom, James had been pacing in their dorm. He'd tried playing cards mindlessly with Peter to try to forget about it, and then he went to see Marlene in the common room in hopes to occupy his head, but she was apparently with Dorcas, so he quickly came back to their dorm. He had been really worried. James really hoped it would work.

And now, Sirius was coming back, covered in mud and bruises. Claiming everything was fine. He walked past them, to his bed, and James and Remus exchanged a knowing look, before slowly following Sirius.

"Pads, you have mud in your hair."

No one mentioned the obvious purple bruise on his cheek yet.

Sirius touched his hair. "Ah, yes," He said, relatively annoyed. "I need to wash them. I'll go take a shower."

James raised an eyebrow; Sirius never reacted like this when his precious hair was dirty or in such a state. "What happened? You fell on the ground?"

Then he eyed the hand Sirius was holding at his side, as if he was putting pressure on his stomach. He was about to ask about it too, when Remus beat him to it.

"Are you hurt?" Remus asked.

Sirius smiled widely. "No, why would I?" He said, smiling even wider, but not too wide as to not awaken the pain on his cheekbone. "Everything went perfectly fine," Sirius continued, smiling wider. He was acting weird. He looked excessively proud of himself, and very happy.