Harry Potter: The Marauders

Chapter-26

Hello Fam :)

So, last couple of months were tough but somehow I could restart writing again. It's sloppy, too some effort but the familiarity of Harry Potter motivated me to write but right now I am stuck at a point. I thought I will post the chapters of what I have already written and you could share your opinions on the upcoming plot. 

Thank you for being patience as I took time from everything. 

Happy Reading...

When James woke up on the morning of the first day of their vacation, he didn't find his room was any different from what it was when he had left, except for his trunk. Sirius was still sleeping beside him, which is rare, considering the boy has a weird habit of waking up early in the morning with tons of energy to spend. He let him be and got fresh up before going down for breakfast. Surprisingly, he didn't find any of his parents outside when Misty handed him his breakfast.

"Where is mom? Dad?", he asked his house-elf.

"Mistress Potter has some emergency at work and said she will be back soon. Master Potter is in the library waiting for Sirius to wake up", said Misty.

"Sirius?", muttered James. "What for?"

Misty just shrugged before serving him his breakfast. James pondered over until Sirius woke up.

"Thinking about the redhead so early in the morning?"

James grinned at him before gesturing to have his breakfast. Once done, when Misty informed Sirius to meet Charles, James interrupted her. "Misty, I will take Sirius to dad. You can get back to work."

Sirius followed James to Charles's study room and saw him flipping through a book. "Good morning, Mr. P."

"Morning Sirius", said Charles, raising his head and did a double-take at the grin on James's face. "Morning to you too, James. Didn't remember inviting you in?"

James stuck his tongue out before getting comfortable on a chair in front of Charles. "Don't need an invite. What are you guys doing?"

"Getting you to leave Sirius alone", said Charles.

"Dad, I promised him never to leave alone."

Charles rubbed his forehead. "Merlin, Minerva was right. It's really hard to get him alone without you."

"Minnie?", exclaimed James and looking around as if she is hiding somewhere.

Charles rolled his eyes at that. "James, as a fully trained Auror, I am very much capable of protecting my son from any attack that could possibly occur inside my study room. Hence, I would either request you to leave us alone or I would throw you out, house-elf magic and all."

"That's so unfair."

"Misty", called Charles. When Misty appeared, Charles smiled at her. "Is Dorea back?"

"Yes, Master Potter."

"Good. Take James to her and make sure he stays with her even if you have to stick his feet to the floor."

Before James could so much as protest, Misty apparated both of them to Dorea. James glared at Misty before sitting beside Dorea, who was sipping her tea. "Mom, this is unfair. Dad didn't let me sit with Sirius."

Dorea chuckled. "Charles wanted to talk to Sirius about focusing. He felt it would be better achieved without you present in the room distracting Sirius."

"What? Me? A distraction?", cried James.

Dorea laughed out at that before pulling James beside him. "How about I teach you how to make a hot chocolate so that we could give it to Sirius when he returns back from his lesson?"

"What if he couldn't manage again?"

"Then it would cheer him up to try again."

Cheering up Sirius was always a priority in James's book and he agreed without much effort. Dorea smirked at how predictable her son was.

XXX

Once James left, Charles chuckled to himself before locking the door. "Sirius, have you heard about Buddhism?"

Sirius shrugged. "I know he is some Asian God who started the religion."

Charles shook his head. "Only Lord Buddha was not a God, neither is Buddhism a religion. He has achieved enlightenment through meditation."

"But he was a monk."

"Well, he did leave his family. But Buddhism is a practice and anyone can do it without leaving their family. Let's start with something very simple. You breathe, right? Everyone breathes. I want you to breathe slowly and mentally count the number of breaths you take in one minute. You can open your eyes once you hear the timer going off."

Sirius was skeptical but closed his eyes as he obeyed what Charles said.

XXX

James had half a concentration on the hot chocolate and the other half in the direction of their study room. It has been close to an hour and Sirius was yet to emerge from the study room. Dorea pulled James to her side. "He will be fine, James."

"I know. I just get anxious when he isn't in front of me. I can't help it."

"How about you start trusting him a bit more? Sirius can take care of himself. He is a trained Black heir. He knows how to defend himself."

"I know he is brilliant. But I don't want anything to happen to him when he isn't in his right state of mind. Right now, he thinks because he doesn't have Black family protection, he is not powerful enough."

"That's what your dad is trying to do this vacation. We will remove any doubt that Sirius might have regarding his family."

"Why can't we adopt him like we initially planned?"

"Trust me, James. I wanted to adopt him as soon as possible too but Charles had something on his mind. Right now, Sirius is within the safety of Potter wards. Before you leave for Hogwarts again, I will make sure he is adopted into the family. Sirius will have our protection too. And anyway, I am sure you would protect him just for a few more days."

James rolled his eyes. "I will protect him even if he is adopted. Stop kidding, mom. He is my brother."

Dorea chuckled as she nodded in agreement. A few minutes later, Charles joined them.

"Where is Sirius?", asked James.

Charles rolled his eyes. "He is sleeping. Maybe after the meditation he did. He will be well rested and up within some time. Do you want to play a game of chess with me until he is up?"

James narrowed his eyes before shrugging and leaving to bring the chess board.

There will be another update following this. :)