Not Alone (A Sirius Black Love Story).

Chapter Four

Me, James and Sirius were all in my room as they observed me packing; our parents had decided to head to London early to spend a little time in the wizarding world together. We had rooms booked at The Leaky Cauldron and Lily was going to reunite with me there instead, it was more convenient for her anyway. Sirius was speaking about his family in front of me for the first time since he'd arrived.

"They're still trying to get me to come back home." Sirius said, bitterness tinging his voice. "They even used Regulus - got him to write me a letter and everything."

I kept my mouth shut. I knew Regulus and he wasn't that bad, he could almost be kind sometimes. I  thought it better to keep my mouth shut about it, though.

"Do you think you ever will?" I asked carefully. 

"No." He scoffed. "Poisonous toadstools don't change their spots."

"Well, you know you can stay with us as long as you want. Mum and Dad love you enough." James told him. Say what you wanted about the Potters, they were all good people at heart and James was a fierce friend. 

"Thanks mate." Sirius replied earnestly. "Really." There was a pause where both boys just looked at each other nodding slightly.

"Let's move on before one of you starts crying." I joked, shaking my head with a smile.

"Yeah." Sirius agreed, shaking off the exchange. "Can I help you pack?" 

"No." I laughed.

"Please," He insisted. "I'm really good at packing underwear, I promise." He had a sleazy grin on his face to which I rolled my eyes at. James elbowed him hard in the ribs. "Hey!"

"Thank you." I said to James and he flashed a smile in my direction. "How's Remus anyway?" 

"Do you know Remus?" Sirius questioned.

"Not well but he's my favourite of the four." I teased, turning to face away. Sirius seemed to accept it but a noise of indignation erupted from James.

"Incarcerous." My wrist suddenly was drawn to the leg of the bed and I fell ungracefully to the floor. 

"What?" I looked up to see James with his wand pointed at me and a pleased look on his face. "What was that for?"

"A crime against my ego." He told me, shaking his head in shame. 

"Very funny." I snapped as I attempted to use my other hand to slide out of the ropes. They were too tightly bound. "How did you even do that? That's NEWT level transfiguration."

"I'm good at transfiguration." He said simply, sharing a knowing look with Sirius. I gave up trying to pull myself free and instead, looked for my wand.

"It's on the bed." Sirius informed me, holding back a laugh.

"Fancy being a dear and fetching it for me?" I asked sweetly. 

"I'm not on your team. He is." He reminded me, gesturing to James. 

"Oh yeah - traitor!" I spat at James. 

"Whatever, every man for himself in trying times like these." James teased in response.

"If I say that you're my favourite will you let me go? These ropes are starting to cut off my blood supply." I moaned, the shade of my hand was giving me an uneasy feeling in my stomach. 

"No - you can't erase your mistakes. You can stay there forever." He said dramatically. "Or until I get an offer I can't refuse." He shrugged.

I made many attempts after that to bribe him into letting me go, including offering him a free throw of me into into the water and the entirety of my chocolate frog card collection but nothing would sway him.