The Marauders: Year One (female)

21. The Broken Boy He Loved

Sirius whimpered and kicked in her sheets. 'No, no, no, stop...' she mumbled, sleep slurring her words. 'Stop it, stop it, stop it. LEAVE HIM ALONE!'

Jamie lurched awake with a jolt, and watched Sirius writhe and whimper in her sleep. She walked over to her bed, and sat down, placing a cautious hand on Sirius's shoudler. 'Sirius,' she whispered, shaking her gently. 'Sirius, wake up. Sirius. Sirius!'

Sirius sat upright, her shirt soaked, her hair a sweaty mess, and her face stained with tears. She slapped Jamie's hand aside with an expression of fear on her face, then she sighed with relief as she recognised her friend.

'Potter. What are you doing here?' she asked, trying to smooth back her hair, and appear cool and composed.

Jamie looked at her with pity. 'It's alright. You don't have to pretend you haven't been crying, or anything,' she said awkwardly. ' I can see you're not alright. Do you want to talk about it?'

Sirius shook her head adamantly. Jamie sighed, and took her hand. 'You know, when I have a bad dream, my mum and dad take me downstairs, and they make me hot chocolate or tea, and we talk about it. Come on.'

She hauled Sirius to her feet, and Sirius swiped at her eyes roughly, staggering after Jamie. By now, they were used to the usual way of going down the stairs.

'Glisseo,' whispered Jamie, as the two of them whizzed down with practised ease.

She pulled Sirius to the two chairs in front of the fire, which cast a comfy glow over the cozy common room. A couple stars shone in through the window.

They both sat down, and sat in silence for a bit, whilst Sirius calmed down.

'I dunno how to get you a hot chocolate, but I suppose I can try to make you some tea,' Jamie offered.

'The House-Elves,' sniffled Sirius. 'They'll come if you call them.'

Jamie looked surprised.  'Do you have a House-Elf?'

'Of course I do,' snapped Sirius. 'My family is one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight.'

'Oh.' Jamie cleared her throat awkwardly. 'Umm... Excuse me, House-Elves. Hello? Hello?'

Sirius sniffed and rolled her eyes. She snapped her fingers sharply. 'House-Elves!' she said imperiously.

Almost immediately, a small elf appeared before them, blinking sleepily. 'Yes, Misses?' he asked politely.

'Look! You woke him up from his sleep!' Jamie whispered to Sirius. She turned to the Elf. 'I'm so sorry, excuse me, but could we please have two hot chocolates? I'm so sorry to wake you.'

On the contrary, the Elf looked delighted. 'No problem, Misses! No need to apologise! Twiggy will be back immediately!'

He snapped his fingers, and true to his word, Apparated and Disapparated with two hot chocolates within seconds.

Jamie looked impressed. 'Wow! Thanks.' She took the two steaming mugs, which had marshmallows in them, and passed one to Sirius.

Twiggy bowed to them, and left.

The two girls sat sipping their hot chocolate in silence.

'So, what was the dream about?' Jamie asked, once it felt safer.

Sirius shrugged. 'Just a fight I got into with my mother. You know, about what she did to the Muggle boy.'

'Do you wanna tell me more about it?'

'No,' answered Sirius shortly, and they both sat there, sipping their drinks, until Sirius fell asleep, her empty mug fallen onto the hearth rug.

Jamie sat by herself in silence for a while, contemplating the fire, and how lucky she was to have parents like hers, who doted on her and gave her all she wanted.