Painted Scars // WOLFSTAR

Year Two: Confrontation

"Sirius," James said, stirring him from his rest. "Remus is gone."

This–surprisingly enough–was not the most comforting thing to hear upon waking up. Sirius lifted his head, squinting his eyes through the darkness to peer at James. It couldn't have been long since Remus had left, which meant James probably heard him go.

"So?" he asked, now wide awake, attempting to sound nonchalant. He was clever; he could lie his way out of this. Remus is sick, James, go back to bed .

"So, where is he? He was fine just this afternoon, so he obviously isn't sick." Bollocks.

"He could be? He was kind of quiet today, maybe he has the flu. Or maybe he just had to take a piss."

"You can't tell me you haven't noticed, Sirius," he said, which made Sirius' stomach flip. Surely James hadn't–what? Noticed a pattern?

"Noticed what?"

"The fact that he mysteriously disappears every month. And then we find him in the Great Hall the next morning or the Hospital Wing, but never his bed?" Merlin, what was he going to do? James wasn't supposed to find out!

"That's ridiculous. If he feels sick, he feels sick. Honestly, he probably just likes the fact that he can blow off classes if he acts like he's ill." James shook his head like Sirius was being completely ridiculous.

"I thought that too, two years ago. But I've noticed the cycle, Sirius. Every month for the last two years, he mysteriously disappears throughout the night, and we don't see him again until morning. He's hiding something, I know it!"

"He obviously doesn't want to talk about it if he's been hiding it for 'two years.' Like, maybe he does private tutoring after classes or something, he's probably embarrassed! Just leave it alone, James." He then gave him a skeptical look that made him want to crawl in on himself.

"You know something," he said decidedly. Sirius' jaw dropped minusculely.

"I don't know anything. But if you had a secret that you didn't tell us for whatever reason, I'm sure you wouldn't want us to investigate you. Drop it." Sirius did realize how much of a hypocrite he sounded like, but he'd be damned if he didn't keep Remus' secret for him. James watched him for a moment, before eventually dropping his shoulders in defeat.

"Alright, whatever you say," he sighed, retreating to his bed for the night. Sleep didn't come to Sirius for a long time.

—

Sirius was on edge for several days after his talk with James. He hoped that he would listen to his advice and drop it, but he wasn't so sure that he'd listen. Thankfully nothing had come of it yet, though it was the first day of the Quidditch season, so it was possible that James was too hyper-focused on the game to care.

It was a Saturday, and the Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw game was highly anticipated. Students wore various pieces of attire displaying the team they were rooting for, and the Great Hall was buzzing with jitters.

"Slow down there, you're gonna choke," Sirius suggested to James as he scarfed down his breakfast. He brought a sip of pumpkin juice to his mouth and washed the food down.

"Can't," he said, pushing his plate away and jumping to stand. "The team wanted to run a few drills before the game, so I gotta go." He waved the boys goodbye and ran off to a couple of older students on the team.

Breakfast was tedious in excitement for the game, though Sirius suspected only he and Peter really cared. Remus was lovely to have around, but Quidditch wasn't really his scene; though it was funny listening to Peter explain the rules to him during the games.