"What is that smell?" Lily wrinkled her nose as she entered the kitchen early in the morning to find James and Sirius already there.
"Morning and that´s burned porridge," Sirius answered her before he took a bite from his cereal.
"Sorry morning. You burned something?" Lily asked in disbelief as she took a place at the table and accepted the bowl Sirius filled and handed her.
"No, I wanted porridge so James decided to make it."
"I don't know where I went wrong," James pouted.
"Stirring usually works," Lily suggested with a smile. Her husband's incapability to cook was almost as legendary as Sirius´ skills were.
"For him it didn't. He managed to set the entire pan on fire. It took me two hours to get rid of the stain the flame left on the ceiling. I didn't manage to save your pan though," Sirius glanced at the garbage bag and Lily followed his gaze before starting to rise to see the fate of her pan.
"Don't, it will make you sad," Sirius stopped her with an expression that wouldn't be out of place on a funeral.
"That bad?" she asked as she sat down again.
"You don't want to know, he actually cried," James bit his lip as he looked at them apologetic.
"You cried over a pan?" Lily asked surprised.
"The poor pan hadn't done anything wrong but to end up in the hands of your husband. It is a cruel ending for a trusty pan," Sirius glared at James who did his uttermost best to keep his expression pulled into one of sorrow and regret though his eyes twinkled in amusement.
Lily felt her mouth twitch in response but managed to keep a straight face as she softly patted Sirius' arm.
Discover moreAuthor toolsApp download campaignsBooks & LiteratureMobile app developmentWriting workshops"We'll make him buy a new one," she promised him with what she hoped was a comforting smile.
Sirius shot her a glare.
"It's not actually about the pan...I don't care about the pan. I cried because I am emotional and because I wanted porridge and now I couldn't have it because your damn husband slaughtered the pan. So I'm stuck having cereal I don't even like."
"Well...we've always known he isn't much of a cook," Lily tried to defend her husband while not bursting into laughter.
"It is porridge out of a bottle! You dump it into a pan, heat it and it's done. How the bloody hell do you ruin that?" Sirius asked as he looked at her incredulously.
"James can't even boil an egg. I think your expectations of him are too high."
"I am sitting right here you know?" James said in mock annoyance.
"What? Can't handle the truth? Peter's better at cooking then you are and he usually sets the kitchen on fire twice a week." Sirius shot at him.
"Okay...okay, I never claimed to be a master chef. But I did leave a note for Tiffy if she'd pick up some more bottles of porridge."
Lily frowned. "Why didn't you ask her immediately to get some new porridge?"
"I wasn't about to deny her some much needed sleep only because her master is a complete disaster in the kitchen," Sirius answered her.
"Didn't we already go over..." James sighed but was interrupted by two things happening.
First was a loud crack to indicate the arrival of Tiffy.
The second was Sirius dropping his bowl of cereal as he gave out a pained scream before abruptly tipping his chair over and falling to the side.
Without a moment's hesitation James shot out of his own chair and caught Sirius' falling form before he could truly fall and hurt himself. Upon hitting the ground he immediately turned their bodies over so that Sirius wouldn't get burned by the hot milk from the bowl coming down after them.
"James!" Lily exclaimed shocked as she seemed to react minutes after it had happened, though it was probably only seconds after his refined Quidditch skills kicked in.
"Tiffy, get mum!" James ordered, ignoring Lily for the moment as he carefully lowered Sirius' unresponsive body from his protective hold onto the ground, holding his head steady.
The House Elf immediately left with a loud crack again, her eyes wide in shock at what had happened.
"He's unconscious," James said unnecessary as Lily pushed the table and chairs to the side to get more space.
Another loud crack sounded and his mother didn't waste a moment of time upon arriving as she knelt down beside him onto the floor immediately.
"James, what happened?"
"I don't know, Tiffy arrived and he just collapsed. He screamed like he was in pain," James answered her as he shifted to the side without ever letting go of Sirius.
"He collapsed when Tiffy arrived?" Dorea asked surprised as she waved her wand over Sirius' body before looking at the readings.
"That's impossible...move him onto a bed," she ordered.
Carefully but urgently James lifted Sirius into his arms and Lily ran out before them to open the doors.
"What's impossible?" James asked as he lowered Sirius onto the bed.
"Every muscle in his body is cramping up incredibly. I...," Dorea frowned as she waved her wand over his body once more.
"Turn on the light," she ordered and Lily quickly waved her wand to do so.
"Wait!" Dorea called out and Lily froze.
"What?" she asked.
"Your magic...his muscles cramped even more when you used your magic. Did you use magic when he collapsed?"
"No..." Lily hesitated as she tried to recall what she had been doing.
"You said it happened when Tiffy arrived?" Dorea asked as she looked at James.
"Yeah, at the same time I think. We heard the usual crack and then he just collapsed. Do you know what's wrong?"
"I think he's having a bad reaction to magic," Dorea answered.
"But we use magic all the time," Lily frowned, but James looked at her with a frown of his own.
"Do we? Outside casting the Fidelius Charm two weeks ago I haven't used any magic and I can't remember you using any either."
"Why not?" Dorea asked as she turned to James.
"Sirius can't use magic so I try not to use any magic around him either as to not accidentally tempt him," James explained with a shrug.
"I guess you are right, I hadn't noticed but now that I think about it I haven't really been using magic either. Do you really think this was caused by magic?" Lily asked worriedly.
Dorea waved her wand over Sirius' body one more time.
"I think so. One way to truly test it...James?"
James fumbled around for his wand before he hesitated.
"Won't I hurt him more if it's truly the cause?"
"Use a simple spell just in case," Dorea advised as she monitored Sirius' reaction when James levitated a pen up into the air.
"Stop. It is indeed magic that's causing him harm." Dorea felt Sirius' forehead. "He's burning up. James, help me get his upper clothing off."
"Will he be all right?" James asked as he unbuttoned Sirius' shirt and pulled it off.
"He didn't have problems when you cast the Fidelius Charm?" Dorea asked, not answering his question.
"He said he had a headache some time later but nothing else," James answered as he finished pulling the last piece of clothing off, leaving Sirius only in his underwear.
"Maybe the reaction depends on what magic is used. His body doesn't react to any of the magic I am using right now, but he did react when either of you used a spell just now."
Dorea frowned as she let her wand move over his body, passing over his arms and legs slowly.
"What about the baby?" Lily suddenly asked as Dorea's wand travelled over his abdomen.
Dorea stiffened for a moment before she moved her wand in a different matter over his belly.
Reading the results she sighed in relief.
"There is a lot of magic swirling around the womb, more than usual. It seems that Sirius unconsciously protected the foetus when his muscles got fried."
Lily and James both let out a relieved breath as James softly caressed Sirius' hair out of his face.
"What can we do for him?"
Dorea sat down on the bed, too.
"We can try to cool them down a bit with ice so that his muscles might relax. Normally I'd advise you to massage them but because he is unconscious I don't recommend it."
'I'll get some ice patches," Lily hurried out of the bedroom.
"Will he be all right?" James asked again.
"Maybe we could cover him up a bit so he won't get cold with the ice," Dorea said as she avoided his gaze.
"Mum...will he be all right?" James grabbed his mother's arm and forced her to look at him.
Dorea looked him into the eye for a long moment before she sighed.
"I don't know, honey. If I didn't know better I'd say he's been put under the Cruciatus Curse repeatedly," Lily almost dropped the ice she was holding when she entered the bedroom to those words again.
"The Cruciatus?" James swallowed as he looked down at Sirius.
"I have seen the same symptoms in Cruciatus victims, yes. But more importantly his muscles are in the same condition as they were on that Christmas Eve."
Lily swallowed thickly as mother and son looked at each other.
James and Sirius had never told anyone exactly what had happened the Christmas Sirius ran away, not even Remus and Peter. Though she was sure they had realised it hadn't been pretty from the extent of Sirius' injuries at the time.
Injuries she had never even known about until after she had gotten engaged to James.
Like everyone else at Hogwarts she had heard the story that Sirius had clashed with his parents over their different views and had left in anger.
Walburga's visit to Hogwarts some time later had made sure everyone knew about his leaving. But no one had ever even suspected he had been hurt on the occasion.
Lily only began to suspect there was more to the story after learning about his constant nightmares. And eventually she had seen most of the scars littering his body by accident.
But even so she had never been able to bring herself to ask, and now she realised just how bad things must have been.
"He couldn't move for days back then," James whispered as he took a hold of Sirius' hand and bit his lip.
"I think you should prepare yourself that he might not wake up for several days this time," Dorea sighed as James looked alarmed. "Sirius' spirit is strong, but his body has been through a lot of damage in his twenty years so it doesn't heal quite as fast as yours would. We can only wait and see what happens."
She placed a hand on his shoulder to comfort him slightly before turning to Lily to accept the ice packs she was holding and placed them against various parts of his body before pulling the blanket over him.
"There is nothing more I can do for now, once those are warm remove them and you can try to reapply new ones after twelve hours. Make sure to keep his lips hydrated though."
Lily nodded. "I'll call you if something changes, thank you."
Dorea nodded, not smiling as she stood up and gave Lily a pat on the arm.
"Mum...here; take this so that we can contact you if something changes. I don't want to call Tiffy in case it will hurt him even more," James said as he pulled a mirror out of Sirius' nightstand and handed it to her.
"Smart idea. I'll make sure I keep it on me at all times," Dorea promised as she recognised the mirror for what it was and pocketed it before she hugged him.
"Try not to worry, Sirius is strong, knowing him he'll be fine again in a few days," she caressed James' cheek for a moment as he nodded before moving back to the bed.
"Look after them both, love," she said to Lily as she pulled her into a hug, too.
"I will," Lily whispered before Dorea left again and she turned to look at the bed.
James had curled up beside Sirius on the bed, his arms wrapped around his best friend's waist loosely so he would not hurt him and his forehead was resting against Sirius' shoulder.
Lily shifted slightly, knowing there was nothing she could do to lighten his distress. Nothing she said or did right now would make him feel better until his best friend, his brother, opened his eyes again.
She stood there for several long moments before she decided to pull a chair to the bed and sat down in it, taking Sirius' free hand in her own and watched over the two of them in silence.