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Sirius stared at himself in the mirror having above the dresser in the spare bedroom at the Potters’ house. He dabbed some healing balm that Mrs. Potter—or Mum as she had insisted that he call her—had given him on the rapidly forming black eye. It disappeared almost in an instant, but he still felt the sting of it. It could have been worse. He was lucky. After he’d mouthed off to his mother right before an important dinner, she’d sent him upstairs to hide until she could send Kreacher to heal her handiwork. He’d been able to escape his horrible house with only a black eye which was nothing short of a miracle.
He sighed and stared at the rucksack on his new bed, which held his wand, the jumper he’d stolen from Remus, his Gryffindor scarf, a book a Muggle poetry from his uncle Alphard, his mirror (which James had the match of), a few of the band t-shirts James got him for Christmas, and a box of pictures and random memories. It was everything he had to his name other than the leather jacket hanging on the hook on the back of the door. He would need all new school robes and textbooks, and there wasn’t a lot of time to get them either, with the school year starting in 3 days. Mrs. Pott—Mum said they would go shopping in Diagon Alley the day before they needed to leave for the train, make a whole day out of it and stay at the Leaky Cauldron, which was generous of her. More generous than Sirius thought he deserved, but that was who the Potters were. Their generosity was why Sirius felt so guilty for hiding out in the extra room—or his room, he supposed—instead of being downstairs to talk to them about what exactly happened that made him run away. But he couldn’t face that conversation, at least not at that moment.
Sirius sat on the bed and pulled the small metal cookie tin that served as his box of memories out of his bag, setting it on his lap. He opened the lid, and right on top sat his most recent addition to the box, the letter from Remus from a few months prior. The “I miss you” letter. With a sad smile, he took it out and set it aside. Underneath it was a photo of him and Remus taken with Remus’ Muggle Polaroid and the movie ticket from the time Remus took the Marauders to a Muggle movie over the Christmas holiday. As he sifted through the box’s contents, he noticed that most of its contents were Remus related. He didn’t have the time to process that realization, though, because, at that precise moment, there was a tapping sound at his window.
He glanced over his shoulder to see the Lupin’s small barn owl named Pepper sitting on the window sill with a large package in its beak and sprang up to throw the latch open. Pepper hooted as Sirius took the package from it, then waited expectantly for payment. Sirius took the package and sat on the bed again before carefully prying the Spellotaped letter off the front of it. Thankfully, it had some owl treats in the envelope which he palmed and held out for Pepper. She flew over, devoured them, then hooted and flew off, leaving Sirius alone again.
He smiled down at Remus’ tiny handwriting scrawled across the parchment, then unfolded it.
Pads,
James called me by Floo the moment you mirror-called him from the Knight bus. I tried to come, but my parents won’t let me leave in the middle of the night, so close to having to leave for school. Maybe I’ll be able to convince them in the morning, though. I hate your stupid parents. I mean, honestly, an arranged marriage? You’re not fucking royalty, even if that hag of a woman thinks she is. Her quest for maintaining blood purity is archaic and horrifying. I’m glad you could get out. Although, I hate that you have to deal with that. It fucking sucks. And I hate not being able to be there for you even more.
Promise me you’re not hiding out in the Potters’ guest room—or I guess your room now—not talking to anyone. They care about you as much as I do and just want to help. So do I, so whatever you need, just let me know. Since I can’t be there in person, I thought I’d send you some chocolate and one of my jumpers. I’m not sure if you would have been able to grab that one you stole before you left, and I know you like them. If my parents don’t let me Floo to the Potters’ in the morning, I’ll see you on the train.
Miss you.
Yours always,
Moony
At the bottom was a poorly drawn version of the paw prints that Sirius always signed his letters with.
Sirius smiled and blinked a few times, willing away the tears forming in his eyes. He carefully untied the wrapped parcel and noticed another note Spellotaped to one of the dozen Chocolate Frogs sitting on top of Remus’ fluffiest jumpers.
So you can restart your collection.
He let out a laugh mixed with a sob and hugged the new jumper to his chest. He didn’t even bother to fight the urge to bury his face in it. Then, for the first time that evening, he let himself cry, enveloped in the smell of chocolate, bergamot, and fresh grass that he associated purely with Remus. Even though he wasn’t actually there, just his jumper did the trick of soothing Sirius. With a sniff, Sirius shook himself out of his grief and slipped the oversized jumper over his head so he could talk to the Potters—his new family—about why he showed up on their doorstep in the middle of the night with a black eye.