Painted Scars // WOLFSTAR

Year Six: Solace

Sirius rose from his bed and turned to the window, a disorderly sense of calm washing over him. His hair had grown greasy at the root, despite washing it only the night prior; he figured it must've been from his tumultuous sleep, though he remembered nothing of it. Sirius lifted the window and let in the chilly autumn breeze.

He'd been awake for a while, tossing and turning in his sheets with the memory of last night in his head, but only now did he find the strength to get up. He mused, absently, that he was doing better. He did not wake with that same urge to cry as he did most days, and his tongue wasn't soured by regret.

He thought that his talk with Remus, although poorly ending, sobered him up in a way. There was now living proof that they could carry on a conversation without it growing terse, at least for a little while. And, well, Sirius didn't get punched, so that was a plus.

He turned, prepared to get up and ready for the day, and was immediately tackled into an unexpected bear hug. Tangled black hair rubbed the side of his cheek, and Sirius's arms rose on command to hug him back.

"Alright?" James asked.

"Alright," he agreed, squeezing his friend tighter for a moment before James pulled away and sent him a meaningful look. With a sigh, he asked, "I'm assuming Remus told you, then?"

A guilty expression moulded its way over James's features. "Bits and pieces. But I prodded it out of him, really it wasn't his fault!"

Sirius just shook his head with a small smile. "'M not mad. I'm grateful it's out of the way."

James nodded, lifting an arm and grabbing ahold of Sirius's shoulder brotherly. "You wanna talk about it?"

Sirius shook his head, scuffing his shoe against the floor. "Nah. Makes me sort of sick to think about."

James sent him a sympathetic frown, but he wiped it away quickly when Sirius's face filled with regret at his word choice. "Hey, but that's good you and Remus are getting on again."

"Oh," Sirius said, not entirely thrilled at this attempt at a conversation change. "Er, we're not, really. I mean, we talked, but..." There was an awkward silence. "I'm sort of pants at apologies, so."

Maybe he should've just lied, Sirius thought when James's expression fell, but then he thought it should have come from him.

"But I made headway!" he added belatedly in an attempt to lighten the mood. "Well, I made headway. Then the whole prank thing came up, and he stormed out on me. So, not great."

Dear Lord, he wasn't good at this sort of thing. James kept surveying him as if he was an oddity; frankly, Sirius felt like one. That annoying voice in the back of his head wished Remus could be here to explain it, (he was always much better at this sort of thing than him,) which made Sirius internally berate himself at the thought.

"I'm thinking he might forgive me soon. Might even let me back in the group?"

"Right," James said finally, looking slightly worse for wear after the conversation. "Well, Marlene's gotten on the Quidditch team! Have you heard?"

Sirius knew talking to him about the prank wasn't a good idea, because James would always take Remus's side. Sirius expected him to, of course; James was his friend again, but he still spent the vast majority of his time with Remus — speaking in polite, quick tones to Sirius, but eventually leaving to be with the others.

Peter was a different story altogether. Sirius had seen nearly none of him in the aftermath, and he had an inkling that Peter was slightly glad that Sirius was removed from the friend group.