Broken Mirror (Sirius/Remus fanfic)

[Sirius Black!]

CHAPTER NINE

Remus got shaken awake early the next morning. He immediately became aware that his head was pounding uncomfortably and he groaned and tried to roll over and fall back asleep. He was unsuccessful as whoever was in the room with him begun to shake him again, but rougher. Finally, Remus sat up and bed and rubbed his eyes. He squinted at the person next to him and realized that it was Sirius. He looked upset, and Remus knew immediately that this wasn’t about to be a continuation of the night before.

“What’s going on?” Remus asked, groggily.

“It’s James’ parents... they’re in St. Mungo’s,” Sirius answered. He sounded as if he was trying to prevent his voice from shaking due to the fact he was speaking slowly. “James, Peter and Lily are already there ... I told him that we’d meet them there.”

It took Remus a moment or two for what Sirius had said to really sink in for him. When it finally did, he jumped out of bed and didn’t get proper footing, only causing him to nearly fall to the ground. He ran to his wardrobe and hazily picked out the first pieces of clothing he put his hands on. He didn’t even care that Sirius was there as the two had changed in front of each other what felt like hundreds of times. Besides, he doubted very much that Sirius was going to see it in a sexual manner anyways at that point in time.

“Let’s go,” Remus said as he finished buttoning up his trousers.

At the same time, both boys turned on the spot and appeared outside the entrance of St. Mungo’s. Sirius looked completely numbed, so Remus spoke to the dummy that allowed them through. They both rushed past the receptionist and towards the lift. Sirius pressed the number two and off they went.

“Magical Bugs Floor?” Remus asked as they exited. “What do they have?”

“They both have some sort of lung disease,” Sirius said, solemnly. They moved along the corridor in silence until they were outside of a particular room. “Peter found Mrs Potter on the floor of the kitchen this morning. When Mr Potter brought her in, he had a coughing fit and coughed out blood. They both have the same thing... I can’t remember the name... the Healer said it doesn’t look good...”

Remus didn’t even bother asking if it were contagious. He found himself not caring. Sirius opened the door and they entered. Most of the beds in the room had curtains drawn around them excluding Mr and Mrs Potters’ beds, which seemed to have been pushed closer together. James and Lily’s eyes were puffy as they looked down on James’ parents, who both appeared to be sleeping. Lily’s hand was in Mrs Potter’s and her other arm was wrapped around James’ waist. Peter sat in a chair next to all of them.

When Remus and Sirius entered, Lily looked as if she didn’t know whether to stay or go. Sirius looked determinedly away from Mr and Mrs Potter. “How are they holding up?”

“N-not well,” James stated. He sounded as if he was trying very hard to not sound like he had been crying only moments previous. “They... they say that they could be gone in a few days.”

“There’s nothing they can do?” Remus asked in a quieted voice.

James merely shook his head and then sat down on his chair between his parents. He sat in silence for several moments and just stared at his mother. “No... it’s progressed too far...”

They all sat in silence around his parents until Sirius said he couldn’t sit around any longer and needed something to eat. Lily and Remus agreed to accompany him as James and Peter had fallen asleep in their chairs. They all sat down at a table with sandwiches.

“I can’t believe this is happening,” Sirius commented as he stared at his food. It was a tell-tale sign that he was not okay. Usually even in the worst situations Sirius still managed to eat as if he hadn’t for months. In that moment he looked as if he was disgusted by the food in front of him.

“I know,” Lily agreed after she took a single bite of her sandwich and then pushed it away as well. “We... we just told them that we were engaged before they fell unconscious...”

“How’d they react?” Remus asked. He was trying to keep the conversation as positive as possible, but he knew it was going to be a pointless battle. They were some of the most loving and forgiving people that any of them had ever met. Yes, they were quite old to be parents of an eighteen year old, but it still no one would have expected this.

“They were overjoyed...” Lily answered although she sounded sad. Remus raised an eyebrow and she dropped her hands to her lap and stared down at them. “I mean, they were so happy. What happens if they won’t even be able to attend our wedding?”

It hadn’t really occurred to Remus that James would actually be getting married. It sounded stupid, but when they had gotten engaged it seemed cute. He had forgotten that a wedding was inevitable. He then felt immensely saddened by Lily’s words. She had a good point. He never imagined anything big happening in James’ life that wouldn’t have his parents in it, especially considering that they were so close.

She continued to look upset for several moments before saying, “Well, I don’t think I was hungry as I thought I was. I guess I’ll go check on James.”

She then left without anything further, leaving Sirius and Remus alone. Sirius groaned and put his face in his hands. Remus didn’t know how to react. He didn’t want to touch Sirius in case he got the wrong impression. It was the one thing that Remus disliked about Sirius: his temper. Something completely innocent could always be taken the wrong way with Sirius, especially when it came to Remus. He didn’t want to rub Sirius’ back in a comforting fashion just in case Sirius claimed that it was inappropriate.

“I-I’m sure they’ll be fine,” Remus stated.

“But they won’t,” Sirius said as he emerged from his hands. He looked at Remus with helpless eyes. “I don’t even know what I can do. I don’t know if I should stay or go back to the Potters’... I feel as if I went back that’s when they’d go.”

“Well, we’re not allowed to stay all night anyways,” Remus said, trying to sound comforting. “Takes the choice off your shoulders. We can go home tonight and then return first thing tomorrow. We’ll bring back some real food instead of hospital food.”

Remus offered a small, lop-sided smile which Sirius returned with a half-hearted grin. They sat there and finished their sandwiches, and then returned down to the room the Potters were in. Mr Potter woke up for a while and chatted with them, although his voice was croaky. Remus felt like he hadn’t really been paying attention for a while to him. Had he always looked this weak or did all of this just recently happen? He had a hard time believing that Mr Potter would be in this rough of shape just overnight.

Mrs Potter only awoke right before James, Remus, Sirius, Peter and Lily were told that they had to leave for the night as visiting hours were pretty much over. James managed to request to stay for the night, and the hospital staff obliged. All of the others were told that they couldn’t stay, and they left via Floo Powder. They arrived at the Potter house and they all migrated to the living room. Remus felt strange to be in the house while none of the Potters were present. No one bothered to make any dinner.

“I’m heading off to bed,” Lily announced after a half an hour of silence which had only been broken by her occasional soft sobs. “I’ll see you all in the morning.”

“I think I’m going to do the same thing,” Peter agreed and the two headed up the stairs together.

Sirius and Remus were left alone yet again and neither of them made a move to follow Lily or Peter’s lead.

“I didn’t want to say goodbye,” Sirius said suddenly. He was leaning forward while he sat on the edge of the couch and he was staring at his hands. “I just felt like I’d jinx it.”

Remus didn’t know what to say. He stood up from the armchair that he had chosen to sit in and instead chose to sit next to Sirius on the couch.

“They’ll still be around in the morning,” Remus tried to assure Sirius. “I mean, if it was serious they wouldn’t have just found out now.”

“They didn’t just find out now,” Sirius admitted, still not looking at Remus. “They’ve known for a while. James had told me last term that they had this... he didn’t want me telling anyone though because he didn’t want people feeling bad for him.”

Remus just nodded. He felt a little left out that James hadn’t trusted him enough to tell him about this. He knew that Sirius was James’ best friend and all, but it didn’t make Remus feel any better about the whole thing. All of the Marauders were Remus’ best friends, in his mind; he didn’t know why the feeling could be mutual. He tried to get the thought out of his mind and instead focused his attention on Sirius. He knew that Mr and Mrs Potter had practically been family to him. Remus really liked James’ parents, but he wasn’t nearly as close to them as Sirius had been. Without even thinking of any sort of repercussion, Remus inched closer to Sirius and put his arm around Sirius’ shoulders comfortingly. Sirius didn’t pull away and they just continued to sit in silence, thinking of the terrible things that could happen.

[/justify][/blockquote][/blockquote]

[Lena Marie Becket]

awww. so sad.