She's the Girl | A Marauders Love story

Chapter 6

Home alone

Hailey hugged her mom again.

"I'm going to miss you."

Mrs. Lowel hugged her daughter tightly.

"I'll miss you too. But I think you and James will be okay. Don't forget the neighbors know we're out of town, so you can go to them in an emergency."

"I'll remember. You and Dad have fun."

"You betcha."

Hailey laughed and let her go. She turned to her dad and hugged him.

"Don't forget about me."

Mr. Lowel laughed.

"I'm more worried about you and James having too much fun and deciding to live on your own."

Hailey laughed.

"No promises."

She and James watched their parents leave. When they had taken the port-key, James turned to Hailey.

"You ready for this?"

Hailey smiled.

"Absolutely."

This was going to be fun.

~~~~~~~~

Hailey was right. It had been three days, and she and James were having the best time. Sirius was coming over tomorrow, but currently, James and Hailey were jumping on the beds singing along to "Dancing Queen" by ABBA. Her record player was set up in the corner, and they had taken advantage of the two beds in her room. The day their parents left, things were a little awkward seeing as neither of them had been left unsupervised for weeks at a time before. Soon enough, they found their groove and took full advantage of their lack of parental guidance. They had eaten nothing but snack food for three days straight, and needed to go to the store soon unless they wanted to eat the carrots in the back of the fridge.

As they were shouting the lyrics of the chorus, they heard a crash in the living room. Hailey quickly turned the record player off, and she and James went to investigate the sound. As they neared the open door, it became apparent that a person had made the noise, because there was someone on the floor by the fireplace. Hailey pushed James in front of her, and took a step back, getting ready to run to the neighbors' house. James rolled his eyes at her, but approached the figure even slower than he had before. Finally, he reached the pile of person on the floor and flipped their hair out of their face. Hailey gasped. It was Sirus.

His face was bloody and bruised, and upon closer inspection, it looked like one of his arms was broken. She and James carried him to the couch, and Hailey rushed to get the first aid kit. When she came back, James had gotten a hand towel and was cleaning Sirius's cuts up.

"He hasn't woken up?"

James shook his head.

"He's fine though."

Hailey looked at him incredulously.

"I seriously doubt that."

"I mean he's alive. He probably has a concussion."

"Then we need to wake him up. You're not supposed to sleep with a concussion."

James nodded and shook Sirius gently.

"Mate, wake up."

Sirius made a noise, but remained unconscious.

Hailey ran to the kitchen and filled a cup with cold water. She ran back into the living room.

"Sorry Sirius."

She dumped the cup on him, and he opened his eyes and spluttered. James stopped him from sitting up. He looked around frantically, unable to focus on either of the teenagers in the room. James tried to calm him down.

"Mate, it's Hailey and James. You're at the Lowel's' house. You're safe."

Sirius stopped struggling.

"I made it?"

James and Hailey nodded. Sirius relaxed against the couch, but winced when his arm hit the cushion.

"Let's get you patched up."

Sirius let Hailey and James take care of him, but kept a healthy conversation going the whole time.

"I guess she just got sick of it. Decided putting up with it wasn't worth it any more."

Hailey spoke up.

"You can stay with us. We're together here until mid-August, and you can stay with one of us until school starts."

"You don't have to, I can-"

"Sirius, look at you. You're in no shape to argue with me. I could take you down in five seconds. Let us help you."

"Thanks."

Hailey nodded.

"We need to get you a sling and some healthy food. Unfortunately, we only have one of those things."

Sirius looked at them.

"What have you been eating?"

James shrugged.

"There were Pop-Tarts until yesterday. Just random food, I guess. It's been working for us, but you need real food. I go shopping tomorrow. For now, we can have soup."

Everyone agreed. Hailey looked at them.

"I can't cook, so one of you has to do it."

Sirius looked at James.

"We're counting on you mate."

James sighed.

"Fine."

~~~~~~~

Apparently, James was a pro in the kitchen. The three teenagers had gone grocery shopping, and with the right ingredients, James knew how to make lots of different foods. So far, they had eaten fettuccine alfredo, chicken noodle soup, steak, and two different kinds of salad. Everything was going better than any of them had expected. Sirius's arm was healing slowly but surely. None of them could use magic, so they couldn't fix it like Madam Pomfrey would, but they had dealt with it well enough that he would be fine. The best thing of all was that they were all together. Hailey was a bit disappointed to have her time with James cut short, but she was pleased to be with her friends, and she had that wonderful date to hold onto.

The summer was turning out better than she had expected.