The Losing One || Sirius Black

24. Patience

Even though it sucked, James must admit that the idea behind the prank was okay. They attacked them with mice so the Slytherins retorted with mice.

Needless to say, Madam Pomfrey was not happy, "Why are you four always up to something? Couldn't the start of this shenanigans wait for at least tomorrow?"

Sirius tried to respond, probably with some sarcastic comment, but all James heard was "Ih wahan uhs!"

"Silence Mr. Black! Let me grab the shrinking potion and I will be back quickly. Don't. Touch. Anything.", she ordered them while pointing threateningly with her index finger.

Sirius crossed his arms defensively as she went into her office, "Wah ah we gohna do?", he questioned the rest of the boys, but James didn't understand a thing he said, "Wah dhid uh sah?"

"Suh uh huh tuh.", Remus tried to reason with them but, again no one understood. To all of this Peter just facepalmed, "Ihdihoh"

Soon enough, Madam Pomfrey was back with the shrinking potion which meant that their teeth will be back to normal.

"Are you proud of us for not touching anything?", James asked the healer as she applied the potion to Peter's teeth with a pipet. She just gave him a glare that said shut up or I will make your teeth grow again. James didn't really want to play with the future of his speaking abilities, so he indeed shut up.

When Peter was back to normal, all of them thanked Madam Pomfrey to which the healer just threw them out of the Hospital Wing, although James could see an amused smile on her face. The Marauders finally got back to their lovely dorm, but that's when James realized that this day wasn't over yet. They still needed to unpack so the dreadful task began.

* * *

James just finished brushing his newly shrank teeth. He was exhausted from the day he had, from packing the last few things this morning, traveling on Hogwarts Express and getting pranked to unpacking everything he will be needing in the next almost six months.

He splashed water on his face and grabbed a towel. After dabbing the water away, he was finally ready to just fall onto the comfortable bed and rest his eyes for a bit.

When he exited the bathroom, all of his friends had their curtains closed shut. James sat on the side of the bed, took his glasses of and placed them on the bedside table. He was just about to lay down and close his curtains as well, but then he heard a voice, more specifically, Sirius' voice.

"James?"

It was lower than a whisper, like the boy hoped that James wouldn't actually hear him, but he did, "Sirius?"

There was a head of curly hair peeking out of the red curtains now, "Can I talk to you for a moment? If you aren't tired?"

He waved both of his hands carelessly, like sleep was the last thing on his mind, "No, not at all. I was just about to read the Quidditch Weekly."

Sirius just raised one eyebrow towards his abandoned glasses, but nonetheless got up and went towards James' bed. James quickly put the glasses back on and gave his friend an awkward smile before both of them got on the bed and he drew the curtains closed.

He was propped onto the headboard while Sirius was propped against one of the poles holding the curtains. The boy hugged his knees and wrapped a blanked that he brought with him around himself. James mirrored his action and after settling in, both of them just looked at each other.

It was needless to say that all the tiredness James felt couple of minutes ago was gone in an instant. Maybe this was what his mom talked about, Sirius came to him. Maybe James will finally be able to help, if not fully at least mentally. He could be Sirius' support, a person to which the boy could come and talk to. James knew that it wasn't healthy keeping all of the problems to yourself. It could easily get exhausting and make you feel powerless.