Chapter Text
“C’mon mate, say something.” James begged, sitting in front of Sirius on his bed. Sirius blinked at him and grimaced a little. He’d been at the Potters for three days now and hadn’t uttered a single word. That was how he had survived at home. Keep your head down, be silent, don’t exist. He’d made a mistake though, opened his mouth, and they’d carved their displeasure into his skin. He had escaped, and now he must be quiet, so he wouldn’t disappoint the Potters too.
James sighed as he watched Sirius curl in on himself again and ran a hand through his messy hair. “Okay, you don’t have to talk. We both know I talk enough for the two of us anyway.” He forced a smile onto his face and Sirius’ lips twitched in response, his eyes lighting up in a slight amusement. “Do you wanna play chess?”
Sirius’ smile grew a little more, and he nodded. Relieved, James jumped off the bed and ran to get the set. “Do you want to be black or white?” He asked, to which Sirius simply raised an eyebrow. James huffed, “that’s not fair, you always get to be white!” They had never needed words to communicate.
Sirius shrugged. “Alright fine, it’s not like I ever win anyway.” James whined and Sirius huffed a silent laugh.
They were on their fifth game when Remus arrived. “Moony!” James yelled, bounding to his feet to engulf their friend in a hug, “I’m glad you could make it, I’m sick of losing to him.”
“Hey Prongs,” Moony greeted in his token amused voice as he hugged James back, “hey Siri.” He said as James released him.
Sirius shifted a little, curling his knees up to his chest nervously as he waved in greeting. Remus frowned a little, but didn’t comment. “So, what’ve you guys been doing?”
“Well, lazy ass over here has been sleeping all day,” James said, bouncing onto his bed and ruffling his hair. Sirius batted his hand away. “So I’ve actually started that potions homework- me, actually doing homework! Then we played some chess when he finally woke up.”
“Are you ill James?” Moony asked, pressing his hand to Prongs’ forehead as he sat beside Sirius, “working in the holidays?”
“What? I was bored,” James whined. “What took you so long to get here?”
“Our floo broke down, mum had to drive me an hour to the nearest public one,” Remus said, automatically sliding an arm round Sirius’ waist as the boy leant against his side. It was something the two had grown accustomed to doing when the other was in pain.
“Man, that sucks. Why couldn’t your dad apparate you?”
“He was at work when I got your message,” he said, then turned his attention to Sirius, “how’re you feeling?”
Sirius shrugged, chewing on his lip. Remus looked up to catch a brief flash of worry in James’ eye and felt his gut twist uncomfortably. “I don’t blame you, I bet James’ company has been driving you mad.”
Sirius grinned even as James complained, “hey, I’ll have you know my company is awesome.”
The two bantered back and forth as Sirius completely relaxed into Remus’ side. His friend’s voices drawing him into unconsciousness, safe in the knowledge that they were there, that they’d protect him.
…
He half woke to their quiet voices some time later, aware that his head was still resting on Remus’ chest, someone’s hand carding through his hair.
“How is he really?”
He heard James sigh, “I don’t know. He won’t talk at all, he hasn’t said a single bloody thing since he got here. The only noise he makes is when he screams at his nightmares. Scared me to death this morning, I went to get a drink and when I turned around he was stood behind me. I’ve never known him to move so quietly.”
He felt Remus’ arms tighten around him a little. “You know, when I first got bitten, I stopped talking for a while. I’d gotten it into my head that if he couldn’t hear me, then the wolf wouldn’t come back to hurt me again.”
“You think that’s what this is?” James asked carefully.
“I don’t know. But I can imagine the easiest way for him not to draw attention to himself in that house would’ve been to stay quiet.”
“Moony- I- What do we do? I hate seeing him like this.”
“So do I.” Sirius felt guilt twist in his stomach, he was worrying his friends, that was unacceptable. “I guess we just act normally, and hope that he starts to as well. And if he doesn’t, then we’ll have to learn sign language or something.” Sirius smiled, warmed to know they’d go through the trouble for him.
He let out a yawn and his friends stopped talking as he sat up and rubbed at his eyes.
“Morning sleepy head.” James greeted him, Sirius stuck his tongue out at him.
“Boys tea’s ready!” Mrs Potter called up the stairs.
James immediately bounded to the door. Sirius rolled his eyes as he shuffled to the edge of the bed, his muscles still sore from walking so far. Remus held out his hand and helped Sirius to stand, aware that his injuries would make it difficult to walk.
Sirius squeezed his hand in thanks as he used Moony’s arm to help him walk. “It’s okay Pads, you’ve done the same for me a million times,” Remus said, knowing perfectly well what the squeeze meant. Sirius smiled and unthinkingly kissed Moony on the cheek as he was helped down the stairs. Remus’ eyes widened a little, but he didn’t say anything.
“You lot have been quiet,” Mr Potter greeted them as they entered the kitchen, narrowing his eyes suspiciously. “What have you been up to?” He had received far too many letters from their head of house to believe that silence was anything but bad news from this particular group of boys.
“Nothing!” James exclaimed, falling into the seat beside his father, “Sirius fell asleep again!”
Sirius looked down at the table, afraid of the attention. Moony snorted as he sat beside him. “You just talk too much James. There’s only so much a bloke can take listening to you drone on about how beautiful Evans’ eyes are.”
“Evans? Who is this James?” Mr Potter asked.
James blushed profusely and both Sirius and Remus grinned. “No one dad,” he whined.
Sirius raised his eyebrows as Remus exclaimed, “No one! Wow, you sure spend a lot of time mooning after her for a no-one Prongs.”
Mr Potter chuckled as James spluttered, “I- you- Shut up Moony.”
“It’s about time you got yourself a girlfriend James,” Mrs Potter said, winking at Remus as she placed a plate in front of him.
“She’s not my girlfriend!” James exclaimed, muttering “yet” under his breath, causing everyone to crack up.
“Here you are love,” Mrs Potter said, placing another plate down in front of Sirius and stroking the back of his hair. He smiled up at her in thanks and she squeezed his shoulder.
They all tucked into dinner, the Potters chatting to Remus as they ate, laughing at Sirius as he began to fall asleep in his dinner.
“You can’t be tired again!” James complained. Sirius shrugged apologetically.
“You’d be tired too if you’d ran half the length of the country James.” Mr Potter berated him.
“Do you want me to help you upstairs?” Remus asked. Sirius bit his lip, looking at Remus’ half-finished dinner. “It’s okay, I can eat it later,” he said, reading the hesitation. Sirius nodded and pushed himself away from the table, allowing Remus to help him up.
They went straight to the guest room Sirius had been staying in and Remus helped him into the bed, sitting on top of the covers by his knees.
“Pads?” Sirius looked up at him, Remus smiled sadly, “I know you don’t want to talk about what happened. And that’s okay, I don’t mind if you never make another sound. It’d be a shame though, I do love hearing you laugh.” Sirius’ lips twisted in amusement. “I want you to know that I’m here for you, no matter what, okay? And I know you know you’re safe here.” He reached out to take his hand and squeezed it. Sirius felt tears rise unbidden to his eyes. “I’m guessing you don’t want to talk because that’s what got you so hurt, but you know we’re used to your back talking and couldn’t care less, in fact, I’m pretty sure James encourages it. And the Potters are far too used to James to let any noise you or I make bother them.”
Sirius huffed a laugh as the tears spilled over and Moony immediately pulled him into his arms, letting him sob uncontrollably into his shirt. “I’ve got you. I know you’re not okay Siri, but you will be, I promise.” Sirius nodded into his chest as he clutched at him. Remus stopped talking then, just held him tightly, rocking him slightly until he fell asleep in his arms.