Harry Potter Headcanons and Ships

One Dark Night -//- Marauders minus Peter

The night Sirius Black left Grimmauld Place didn't start as anything spectacular. There was only 2 notable things about that night before everything started. One was that there was to be a holiday party that night, and the other is that it was raining, and it had been all day. Not just drizzling, but pouring down hard. That afternoon his mother had come up, and somewhat civilly told him he would be waiting on people, carrying around hors devours. He decided he wasn't going to go, he was just going to wait out the party in his room. That evening, he heard music from downstairs, and knew the party would be starting and they'd be looking for him. He still sat, staring at his already packed trunk for when he went back to Hogwarts. He was counting the minutes to when he could leave when there was a knock at his door. It was Regulus.
"Mum told me to fetch you." he said. "Father's not happy." he added.
"Tell them I've gone out." Sirius said, flopping on his bed.
"They'll know I'm lying, and besides why did you dress in your party clothes if you're not coming down?" Regulus asks.
"Because when mother comes up later to yell at me and sees I'm in this she'll just get more aggravated, which is what I live for." Sirius answered. Regulus rolled his eyes, and walked away. Sirius went back to counting the minutes.
Not 5 minutes went by when he heard a storm of footsteps coming toward him. His father slammed open the door and grabbed his arm.
"You. Are going downstairs. To be with the guests. And do as your mother asked." he growled, and threw him towards the stairs. When he reached the bottom, his mother handed him a large tray of food, and told him to circulate the room every few minutes. So he stood off to the side, making small talk with people who came by and got food and spoke to him. It was all going okay until his tray starting magically shaking. Literally. He looked around, and there she was. Bellatrix Lestrange.  Her smile was wicked and he could see her wand poking not even an inch out of her sleeve. He became nervous. Downright scared. Then, the tray went down, food all over the floor, and a large clatter that stopped everything. It was quiet while everyone stared at him for a moment, and then they all resumed conversation. His father stormed over, ordered Kreacher to clean up the food, and grabbed Sirius' arm vicely and dragged him upstairs again. When he let go, Sirius had only a second to relax and think he would just be stuck up here for a few days, when the beating started. Let's just say it wasn't going well. At all. Sirius was sure he had a broken rib or two, and a fractured arm. His legs were fine though, and he kicked his father in his bad knee, sending him to the floor, and Sirius fled to his room. He grabbed his trunk and stuffed a few extra things in there, including his favorite picture of him and Remus, and them and their friends. There was also the stuffed dog he had gotten from Lily that he usually left at home and now wasn't about to leave behind. All his sentimental things in the box under his bed went, too. Then, he dropped his trunk down, grabbed all his savings, put them in his pocket, and climbed down the pipe outside his room, stuffed his savings into his trunk, and ran. Well, more like limped. That kick hurt him, too. He got as far as he could, and then found the safest place to create a Portkey to the Potter's. He grabbed on and then the world swirled and swirled and then he was on the ground outside the Potter's house. He was crying by now, holding himself up on the doorframe as he sobbed in pain and fear. He knocked desperately, but there was no answer. He knocked again, and heard faint footsteps coming to the door. A light flickered on, and the door was flung open. There stood James Potter in all of his sleepy glory, hair tussled worse than usual, pajamas rumpled, and blinking sleepily as he pushed his glasses up his nose. Sirius tried to smile, but it looked more like a grimace, and he tasted some blood. James' eyes widened.
"Sirius ?" he asked.
"Live and in person." Sirius croaked, trying to stop crying.
"Dear Merlin." he whispered.
"I just... didn't know where to go..." Sirius whispered. It was then James processed what he was seeing, including Sirius' large trunk, and wasted not another second, flinging open the door as wide as it could go, and ushering Sirius in, closing the door to the storm outside.
In the 5 years James had been friends with Sirius, he had seen him in a lot of ways. He had seen him having nightmares, thrashing around in bed and crying out, and he had seen him determined and loving ferociously, making sure Remus knew how much they were with him and wouldn't ever leave him no matter what. He had seen him cold and stony, eyes as black as their namesake, and euphoric and free, like he didn't think anything could touch him again. But never like this.
His eye was swollen and protruding from his too-thin and ashy face, his lip was cut and bleeding, and his cheek had a large, ugly purple and blue bruise on it, and James knew that if he saw under Sirius' shirt, those same bruises would be blossoming there as well, like flowers in a meadow. He was trembling, shaking so hard James thought he may explode.
"Sirius...." James whispered, unable to say anything else. Without another word, he gathered the smaller boy into his arms and held him tighter than he'd ever held anyone else in his life. Sirius clung to him like his life depended on it, and sobbed onto his shoulder. Sirius' fingers gripped James' pajamas tightly, and James' hand was on the nape of Sirius' neck and the other was around his back. His brother was here, safe in his arms, not whole, but safe. If James had to hold him for the rest of eternity, he would, and he didn't care if he was soaked now from the water soaked into his best friend's clothes.
"James, love, what--"
Euphemia Potter stopped at the bottom of the stairs, and gasped.
"Sirius, darling, is that you? What's happened? What-- Oh my..." she trailed off. She didn't wait any longer, rushing over and wrapping both boys into a hug. Sirius melted into the hug, and she made sure to hug him tighter. When they all let go, she cast a drying and warming spell on him, and then looked to James. "Love, go grab some pajamas for Sirius." she said. James hesitated before sprinting off to the laundry room to grab some, and came back seconds later with his Gryffindor pajamas.
Darling, can you walk?" Euphemia asked, brushing his hair off of his face. She tried to lead him upstairs but she saw him limp and then he stumbled and would have fallen over if James wouldn't have caught him. "Okay, then. Why don't you stay down here on the settee for the night and we'll move you to your room tomorrow?" she asked. A weak nod came from Sirius, and together James and his mother laid him on the settee, and Euphemia conjured up some blankets to wrap Sirius up in, and some pillows as well. She set a fire in the hearth.
"I'm going to do some things in the kitchen, I'll be back, boys." she said gently. James whispered something to her, but Sirius didn't really care to listen. He was tired and still scared, and his adrenaline was wearing off. Mrs. Potter left for the kitchen, and James came back and laid down next to his best friend. They laid close together, and were asleep before Mrs. Potter returned. When she did, she saw the blankets draped over both of her boys, up to their arms, and James was holding onto Sirius while Sirius snuggled into his best friend and held his pajama neck tightly in his hand. She smiled softly and kissed each of their foreheads before going back to bed, wondering what she could do to prepare Fleamont for what had happened tonight.
The next morning, Sirius woke up, forgetting where he was, and he started to panic before he remembered where he was and that he was safe. But where was James?
"James?" he called out softly.
"James is getting a shower, but he said you wouldn't mind if I waited here for you to wake up." a voice said quietly. Sirius turned around hopefully, and there he was. "Hi, Siri." Remus said, walking over to him, and sitting down next to his boyfriend.
"Remus, what'reyou doing here?" Sirius asked.
"James' mum owled last night, told me the whole story when I got here. Oh Siri, love, I'm so sorry..." Remus said. Sirius looked at Remus for a second, and saw tears in the taller boy's eyes.
"'S not your fault, love. Nothing to be sorry for." Sirius said. "Oh, Re, love, what's wrong?" he asked, his hand on the others' cheek.
"Oh, baby, just look at you. You're just beat." Remus choked on the last word. Sirius had no clue what he looked like, so he was a little surprised. Sirius stretched up to kiss Remus' cheek, and winced as he did so.
"Hey, Re, love, it's okay. I'm okay. Now, anyway. You're here." Sirius said quietly. Remus wrapped him in a soft but tight hug.
"I don't know why you insisted on going back, Siri. You haven't gone since second year. Why this year?" Remus was definitely crying.
"Because there was no reason to stay at Hogwarts. You went home, James went home, Pete went home. Why would I stay?" Sirius asked.
"Because, Siri...." Remus choked again. "Because you're safe there. As soon as you said you were going home, I knew it was going to be bad. I had no idea it would be like this. But I knew. I knew it wasn't going to be good. But there was no changing your mind." Remus said. "My stubborn little Sirius." he laughed.
"Hey, lovebirds. How you feeling, man?" James came down the stairs.
"Not great. James I'm so sorry for coming in the dead of night last night. I just--"
"Hey. Don't apologize. I don't want to imagine what would happen if went anywhere else, or god forbid, stayed there." James said. "You're staying here, you know. As long as you like. Like mum and dad would let you go anywhere else." he said.
"Thank you, J. You're the best." Sirius smiled a little.
"You're an honorary Potter now, dude." James said, and was surprised to see Sirius become a little teary-eyed.
"I don't deserve that..." he said quietly, but Remus and James could tell he was ecstatic.
"Yes you do." both boys said, and hugged him.

HEYYYY GUYS IM BACK. Merry Christmas Eve from Florida! I'm so sorry I'm barely updating anymore, it's just always so busy with switching houses all the time, and I've been having major writers block! I'm going to try to update a few more stories this week, but no promises! Love love love you all! -M