Growing Up

Part 1.

Authors note:
So, welcome to the story I started as a weird kid in 8th grade who was extremely bored and had a "cool" storyline in mind! What I mean is that I wrote over a quarter of these chapters with no clear end in mind, no planning beforehand whatsoever, and on my phone in class with no expectation of it getting this popular. It's hard for me to edit these older parts (specifically 1-45) simply because of their structure to the fundamental "storyline", so it's not exactly great writing. I'm older now and I have a familiar grasp of what good writing looks like, and continue to implement that into my newer chapters (40+). I often update and fix the older ones, but their format is just awful too so it takes me longer. However, this is a formal forewarning that the beginning of this is nowhere near the kind of scholarly, Homer's Odyssey kind of writing. In short, it does get better! I ask you to give this a little bit of time, because I have enjoyed creating this from scratch and it's been one of the best experiences and lessons of my young life. Thank you to everyone who has been here since the beginning and thank you to all who are giving me a chance to share what makes me happy.

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"No, James!"

The door swung shut behind Sirius as he ran over to James. His ears were ringing, the sound of his own panic filling his head made an awful hum at the base of his skull. His breaths caught in his chest with a painful tear at each inhale. Sirius stared blankly at the lifeless body as tears burned his eyes, what the hell happened? James' wand sat three feet away from him as if it had been expelled from his hands, or maybe he hadn't even gotten to it yet. The possibilities shattered into pieces in front of him.

A pool of blood lay from James' head, most likely from the force by which he had hit the ground. The sickly smell of his maroon blood made Sirius gag audibly, grasping at his shirt. It was a nightmare, he thought. That's all.

Sirius grabbed James' shoulders and shook him violently, tears streaming down his face.

"James, please!" Sirius whimpered frantically. "This isn't a joke!"

Nothing.

Sirius stood up and pointed his wand at him, biting his lip.

"Riddikulus! Riddikulus!"

The spells avoided his body and hit the marble ground, sending sparks in the air that fell like ash in the wind.
After hesitating between breaking down and cradling the cold body of his best friend, his brother, Sirius set at a run for the stairs, tripping over his feet in a panic. He could hear Harry start to wail, a sound he hadn't been grateful for since the day he was born.

"Lily, are you here? Are you ok?" Sirius yelled as he opened the door to Harry's room.

His question was quickly answered when he saw Lily, in the same state as James, the life drained from her eyes. The bright emerald of her gaze was dulled by the lifeless stare she would now wear forever.

Sirius sobbed as he walked towards the cradle that Harry was in. His whole world was crumbling at his fingertips, and he could only watch it happen.

"Shh," He hushed. "It's alright, Harry" Whispered Sirius in as calm of a voice as he could, his mind still on playback of what he had witnessed.

"We need to get Moony. He'll know what to do, right?"
Sirius wrapped his hand around the infant's soft head and held him close. All that mattered was in his arms. The rest of his life sat sniffling in his shaking arms.

***

The silence, as deafening as it was, ended quickly once the front door downstairs had slammed shut. Remus was downstairs, but he was quiet. At this, Sirius had walked swiftly down the stairs, halfway down to see Remus crumbled to the floor, his face in his hands.