"I was thinking about leaving again
It all depends
Are we just friends?"
In which Madeline Potter
and Sirius Black aren't
allowed to fancy each other,
...
𝐂𝐇𝐎𝐂𝐎𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐄 chapter fourteen; Heroic Actions Of A Big Brother " That's muggle law! "
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JAMES WAS FEELING exceptionally kind when he and Madeline returned from the hospital. Their parents were still out, most likely checking up on friends and family by that point of the night, but the house's silence was unbearably uncomfortable.
Madeline had taken to doing homework in her bedroom, and after about an hour, James had worked up the courage to interrupt her.
"Maddie?" The girl let out a hum, not looking up from her parchment. "Are you okay?"
"Not particularly."
"Do you. . ." Madeline looked up when he faltered, only to find her brother tugging at his hair. "Want to talk about it?"
"I uh— not really." James frowned at her response. "But it'd like to. . . not be alone."
"As long as you're sleeping on the floor in my room!"
"You're so selfless, James."
"I know."
James had made a rather uncomfortable bed on the ground, and the siblings had been snuggled in their respective sleeping situations for nearly two hours. Madeline was in a place between sleep and reality, where time melded together but her nightmares couldn't touch her.
clink. clink. clink.
The brunette assumed she was going loopy from the sleep deprivation.
clink. clink.
She rolled over, tugging as pillow over her head. It was silent for a few minutes, enough to lull the girl into a false sense of comfort.
bang.
James hopped out of bed as a large rock flew through his bedroom window, his wand already gripped in his hand tightly. Madeline was sitting straight up, the siblings silent until they heard the familiar sound of their front door swing open, and floorboards creaking.
"Maddie," James mumbled as he walked towards the shut door of his bedroom, "Stay back."
"Stop being a hero."
Madeline grabbed her own wand, creeping to the door faster than James did.
"Maddie—"
Then they heard it. A familiar laugh, not the light-hearted one of their Mum or the hearty one of their Dad, but the one right on the border of maniacal. Sirius Black's defense for everything was laughter, and one knew he'd passed angry when hearing that laugh, that sick, twisted laugh.
It didn't take long for the siblings to rush downstairs, standing in front of the nearly unrecognizable boy.
Sirius Black was wedged deeply into the floral couch as if he belonged there, a bloodied lip and bruised body, laughing madly at the ceiling.
