Everything to Me

31.

Juli stared at Sirius before coming to her senses. "Jamie?" She shouted at the top of her lungs.

James came rushing and saw Juli standing at the door looking over at Sirius. "Oh my God." He immediately bent down and tried to pick him up. Supporting him on his shoulders, he led him to his own room.

Juli grabbed his trunk and dragged it to the dining hall. "Sirius is here." She panted. "He looks bad and...and he collapsed." She now had tears in her eyes.

Euphemia and Fleamont got up in an instant and made their way to James' room. Juli was still standing in the hall, clutching to one of the chairs for support. How bad could things have gotten that he was injured and couldn't even stay conscious. It had hardly been 48 hours since she was on the astronomy tower, wrapped in his arms and now he couldn't even keep his eyes open.

Euphemia shook her out of her thoughts and said softly, "You father has treated him and he would wake up soon. You should be there."

Juli nodded and made her way to James' bedroom. She met her dad on the way in and saw James looking out the window, his hands on the sill. Sirius was lying on his bed with a bandage wrapped on his arm.

"Do you mind?" She asked James.

He shook his head without turning back.

Sitting down on the bed, she gently took Sirius' head on her lap and held his hand. After a few minutes, he stirred and opened his eyes slowly.

"Hey Siri" Juli whispered.

Sirius smiled up at her and slowly got up. James was on his side by now but couldn't meet his eyes.

"I... I couldn't stay there any longer so I ran away" Sirius said. "Mum blasted me off the tapestry. I promise I will leave soon."

"You aren't going anywhere, Sirius. You're staying right here." Euphemia said, standing at the door.

"I don't want to trouble you with my family drama." He argued weakly.

"We are you family, Padfoot." James responded. "I am not letting you leave."

Sirius sighed in relief as he realized that his best friend was talking to him again. If being injured was what it took, he would happily do it again.

"I'll get you something to eat." Euphemia smiled kindly at her 3 kids.

"Thank Merlin you are okay." Juli exclaimed, putting her arms around him.

"'Course I am, Juliette. I have the best friends and girl friend in the world." He smiled.

James suddenly got up and left the room. The memories of the night came rushing back to him. He was done being angry at Sirius. But Juli? Not so much.

Sirius and Juli came down for lunch hand in hand and saw James sitting near Fleamont.

They all ate in silence knowing how tense the situation between James and Juli was. Sirius often nodded at her reassuringly and it almost worked.

"You were going to tell me something and I have a few questions." Juli said, breaking the silence.

Thinking that this was a family matter, Sirius cleared his throat, "I'll see you later."

"Can you stay please?" Juli asked, gripping his hand. "If it's okay with you, Dad?

"Of course dear."

Sirius sat down and held Juliette's hand, trying to brace her for what was coming.

"How did you find me?" She asked.

"Well... er-" Fleamont started. He couldn't find the words to tell her. "You see, my brother married a muggleborn and had you." He felt a lump in his throat at the mention of his brother. None of his kids knew that he had a brother. "His wife became pregnant at the same time as Mia's but... but she was weak, and couldn't survive the birth. My brother, Matthew, couldn't bear the loss and... and well."

"You were born 3 hours after James and since only your grandparents knew of this, we adopted you and told the world that we had twins." Euphemia added.

It all made sense to Juli now. How she had so many similar features to her Dad and the same eyes as him and James. She was a Potter and took pride in it.

"Adopted or not, Juli, you are still our daughter and James' sister." Her mother said.

James looked up at her and then at Juli. "Speak for yourself." He mumbled.

"James!" Fleamont slammed his spoon on the table.

Juli heard that and left the table, tears threatening to fall. She ran upstairs and slammed the door behind her. Without realizing, she was down on her knees, with her with her back against the door, sobbing her heart out. How could James say this? He was her favourite person in the whole world and now he disowning her. This was so unfair.

She felt a knock on her door and slowly moved away, letting the person enter. She wanted it to be James. So that he could tell her he didn't mean it and she was still his sister. But it was Sirius.

He entered and saw Juli on the floor and sat down beside her. "He doesn't mean it, Love. He is just angry." He tried to soothe her.

She moved closer to him and he allowed her to rest on his chest. They sat their for a few minutes before Sirius whispered, "I am sure he'll be normal in no time." She didn't respond so Sirius gently lifted her chin up and saw that she was asleep. He picked her up and laid her down on the bed.

Smiling to himself, he whispered, "I love you, Juliette, but I am not sure if I am ready to tell you yet." He placed a kiss on her head and covered her with a blanket.

Juli woke up after hours and checked the time. It was way past dinner and she felt hungry. She made her way down to the kitchen and saw Sirius sitting in front of the fire place.

She silently went to get a plate of food and saw that her mother had already served one for her. She felt the food to be warm and mentally thanked her mum for that charm.

"Hi Siri" She whispered and sat down beside him.

"How are you feeling?" He asked.

"Exhausted."

"Well, you did cry a lot." He attempted to joke. It worked and she chuckled in response.

After a few minute, she sighed deeply.

"What's wrong, Juli?" He asked.

"James isn't talking to me." She answered sadly.

Sirius felt like she would cry again so he moved closer to her, "He will in no time."

"But Christmas is incomplete without my brother and he doesn't even consider me his sister anymore."