Work Text:
A NIGHT BY THE FIRE
By Tyler Jay
A cold winter night was hours away and only a few Gryffindors remained in the tower; blankets, books, and too many snacks stolen from the kitchen surrounded the group. Most students had already left for the Christmas holidays already, but the marauders wanted to get all essays and assignments complete before spending a week round James Potter’s house before going home to their own families.
Sirius would be staying round James’ for the entirety of the holiday season, in his own words ‘fuck that drama’, referring to his family. He knew he would miss his little brother but he was growing more distant as more time went on, Regulus was becoming way too much of a Slytherin. He knew deep down it would happen, but what could he do? He was constantly surrounded by his cousins and other Slytherins, the indoctrination was almost inevitable.
Before his fears could consume him once again, he drew his attention back to the group. James with his unruly hair had his brows furrowed in a book, almost like he was wishing he could just consume all the knowledge he was sure was never taught in class. Peter, the small rat faced boy, was unwrapping yet another chocolate frog and attempting not to let it jump all over his parchment… for the second time. Lily and her friend were curled up on opposite ends of the small sofa just behind James, as much as they found the group annoying, they knew bouncing ideas off would be the quickest way of getting through the study session.
‘Sirius’, the voice of his best friend drew him back into the conversation, ‘earth to Sirius?’.
‘Sorry, head in the clouds, this potions essay makes no sense.’
‘Understandable, it hasn’t exactly been well organized.’ Remus sighed, he summoned his hot chocolate from the nearby table and took a sip, his hair falling in front of his eyes. Tucking it back behind his ear, Remus picked up his quill and began writing a few thoughts. Sirius did the same, not writing, just doodling. Three feet of describing the different colours and what they mean when you’ve brewed a potion wrong, even choosing a potion instead of being assigned one just made it more difficult.
James threw another log in the fire and declared they had been working for way too long and needed a snack break, the group thought about it and ultimately agreed. Standing up to stretch, Remus suggested they should take a short walk to the balcony to get some fresh air before going back to work. Sirius glanced over and saw he was already a third of the way through his potions essay and had notes on pretty much all his other assignments.
Wishing he had that kind of motivation, he grabbed his coffee and wandered towards the balcony. Back in his own thoughts he wondered what Regulus was up to, would he be back home by now? How many times would his mother have slagged him off already? He knew he wasn’t welcome there, he hadn’t heard from this parents since they left him at the train platform a few months ago. Regulus was snatched up by his cousins to sit in their carriage whilst glaring at Sirius, struggling with his luggage as like Kreacher would help him.
The crackling fire brought him back to reality, the log James threw in probably wasn’t dry enough. Sitting down after grabbing yet another coffee, he was determined to make a dent in the damn potions essay.
End