NEPENTHE ⟶ James Potter

Chapter One

"You two have to work this out," James pleaded with them, " this cannot go on forever. You two cannot stay angry at each other forever. Look, I know what happened and understand why both of you are upset, but...we've all been brothers since we all met in first year. One of our brothers betrayed us, Peter betrayed all of us, but that doesn't mean we have to let that break us any further than what we are now."

James stood in between them, thankful that Harry was preoccupied with the toys in his room that the boy didn't venture out to see the adults arguing.

"Peter may have been the one to betray us," Sirius began, " but that didn't stop him from pointing the finger first at me!"

He was glaring in Remus' direction, bringing the other man to look away, probably still feeling some guilt.

"For the last time, I merely stated that you had family ties with some of the Death Eaters," Remus said quietly, " which wasn't a lie. You have blood relations to Bellatrix-"

"AND YOU SHARE THE SAME BLOOD AS THE WEREWOLF THAT BIT YOU!" Sirius snarled. " Your blood is just as tainted as mine and yet, you accused me first! You brought it up to Dumbledore first, Remus! I hadn't associated with anyone from that family since I ran away and you knew that! You knew when I ran away and went to live with James, why...why would I go back to help them?"

"Well, it doesn't matter, but you felt the need to get back at me for it and decided to use the lycanthropy against me!" Remus snapped in return. "I told you all what happened and you knew how much I hated it and yet, you thought I was going to join up with other werewolves that aligned themselves with dark magic? AFTER WHAT THEY DID TO ME AND MY FAMILY?!"

The conversation wasn't going as James had hoped, but he was expecting them to yell, he was expecting them to still feel anger. But he hoped with everything in them that they could start working towards moving on. However, it was clear that both men were feeling the same pain, to have a brother accuse them of such things, it had destroyed their friendship. Even when discovering that Peter had been the one giving away information, betraying all of them, they couldn't let it go.

"Stop it," James said quietly as the two were left just breathing heavily, letting out all their frustrations, " you two have to stop this. You both made mistakes, it doesn't matter who pointed their finger first-"

"It does matter!" Sirius interrupted him. "Yes, James, it does matter, because from that point on, no one in the Order really looked at me the same. They all looked at me with their suspicions. I only said that if they were going to look at me for my blood then they should be looking at Remus' since he was infected with lycanthropy. It was out of his control, but I had no control over being a Black either!"

It didn't end well, both men had their valid points but they weren't willing to let it go as of yet, they were still harbouring feelings of anger and hurt. Enough that Sirius stormed off, disapparating from the scene before James could stop him. Shortly after, Remus left as well, not uttering a word to him before he disappeared. Once again, it had left James alone with either one of his remaining brothers being there when he needed them. But he needed them together at the same time, not just the carefully planned visits so that they didn't run into one another.

Collapsing to the floor in a heap after both men had left, James sat there for who knows how long before Harry ventured out of his room. At first, the little boy poked his head out, wondering if the coast was clear. He had heard all the yelling while in his room but he was smart enough that he wasn't going to venture out to investigate. Whenever Uncle Sirius or Uncle Remus visited they always greeted him with smiles or presents, but when they came over that day, neither one of them appeared happy. It was a clear sign for Harry to remain in his room.