The Marauders: Year Six #Wattys2017

Seconds

Seconds

Sirius was laying across the couch in the Lupin living room, his head hanging over the side of it, staring at the black ink etched into the skin of his arm.

Remus, worried about the effect of having Snuffles among two werewolves in such a small space as the bomb shelter (where there was no hope of Snuffles running away or hiding if he had to) had frightened him too much to allow Sirius to come along for the full moon night and the result was Sirius was worried. Worried for Remus, worried for James...

The fireplace flickered green as somebody arrived via floo - and Sirius sat up, drawing his wand, his eyes narrowing. From the smoldering ashes emerged a shape - and out tumbled James Potter. Sirius hurried to pull down his shirt sleeve - he wanted Remus to be the first to see his tattoo, so he held the left cuff of his jumper in his fingers, concealing it and stared as James dusted himself off.

"SIRIUS!" James yelled, before he'd put his glasses back on, "SIRIUS -- YOU'LL NEVER BELIEVE IT!"

"I'm right here, you daft bat," Sirius said languidly from the couch.

James shoved his glasses up his nose and hurried over, sitting upon the coffee table before Sirius, "My dad's healed," he said in a rushed voice, excitement throbbing through the tone.

"What?"

"My dad's been healed. The dragon fire is gone from his lungs. He still has the scales, but they're not coming as fast as they were and the healer said the rate they're growing at, he could be able to go a week before needing to be scraped."

Sirius blinked in shock, "What? But just this morning -- positively covered -- within minutes!"

"I know," James breathed, his hands shaking, "Sirius, I know. But that's what's happened and the healer is fucking baffled."

Sirius stared, stunned. "How - I mean -- what --?"

"They don't know," James said. He paused, staring at Sirius for a long moment, hesitating slightly, then -- "I think I might I know, though, Sirius. But you can't tell anybody."

Sirius sat forward, crossing his legs underneath him, James's conspiratorial tone sending a bit of excitement through his veins. "What're you on about Prongs?"

James leaned forward. "I had a dream the other night."

"A dream?" Sirius looked slightly less excited now.

"Yes. Don't look at me like that. I'm not mental!" James scolded him. James took a deep breath, "It started nearly exactly like what really happened - we were in his room and he started coughing and I was telling him to breathe and all and there was loads of smoke... in life, that's when the Healers came, but in the dream, I - I ran for the door and there was Mopsus."

Sirius's eyes went from skeptical to dark and angry. "Fuck Mopsus."

"Yeah, well. I think Mopsus saved my Dad," James said.

Sirius stared at him.

"See, I've been having these dreams, ever since I went back in t---" James stopped mid-sentence.

Sirius raised his eyebrows. "Ever since you went back in--- in what?"

James said, "I keep dreaming about Mopsus, Sirius, and he keeps telling me he can help my dad but it'll cost me. He says it'll cost me seconds. And I kept on waking up before I could answer him until last night. Last night, when I dreamed about my dad dying like that, I ran to him and begged him to take my seconds and fix my dad. And today -- today it really happens except instead of dying, my dad lived. My dad was healed."