𝐂𝐇𝐎𝐂𝐎𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐄
chapter fourteen; Heroic Actions Of A Big Brother
" That's muggle law! "

  JAMES WAS FEELING exceptionally kind when he and Madeline returned from the hospital. Their parents were still out, most likely checking up on friends and family by that point of the night, but the house's silence was unbearably uncomfortable.

  Madeline had taken to doing homework in her bedroom, and after about an hour, James had worked up the courage to interrupt her.

  "Maddie?" The girl let out a hum, not looking up from her parchment. "Are you okay?"

  "Not particularly."

  "Do you. . ." Madeline looked up when he faltered, only to find her brother tugging at his hair. "Want to talk about it?"

  "I uh— not really." James frowned at her response. "But it'd like to. . . not be alone."

  "As long as you're sleeping on the floor in my room!"

  "You're so selfless, James."

  "I know."

  James had made a rather uncomfortable bed on the ground, and the siblings had been snuggled in their respective sleeping situations for nearly two hours. Madeline was in a place between sleep and reality, where time melded together but her nightmares couldn't touch her.

  clink. clink. clink.

  The brunette assumed she was going loopy from the sleep deprivation.

  clink. clink.

  She rolled over, tugging as pillow over her head. It was silent for a few minutes, enough to lull the girl into a false sense of comfort.

  bang.

  James hopped out of bed as a large rock flew through his bedroom window, his wand already gripped in his hand tightly. Madeline was sitting straight up, the siblings silent until they heard the familiar sound of their front door swing open, and floorboards creaking.

"Maddie," James mumbled as he walked towards the shut door of his bedroom, "Stay back."

  "Stop being a hero."

  Madeline grabbed her own wand, creeping to the door faster than James did.

  "Maddie—"

  Then they heard it. A familiar laugh, not the light-hearted one of their Mum or the hearty one of their Dad, but the one right on the border of maniacal. Sirius Black's defense for everything was laughter, and one knew he'd passed angry when hearing that laugh, that sick, twisted laugh.

  It didn't take long for the siblings to rush downstairs, standing in front of the nearly unrecognizable boy.

  Sirius Black was wedged deeply into the floral couch as if he belonged there, a bloodied lip and bruised body, laughing madly at the ceiling.

  "Maddie, go upstairs."

  "James—"

  "Maddie." James glared, Sirius was seemingly oblivious to the tension between the twins. His laugh was still ringing out like nothing was wrong, the bitter sharp huffs slicing through the air.

  James knew Sirius. He knew the boy cared for every single one of his friends. But, this also meant that James Potter knew very well the situation had to have something to do with his family, and that was the one thing that managed to morph Sirius into someone else.

  Sirius was acting like a madman, James could handle it— he had before, but Madeline was his sister, and he refused to risk her being present during that.

  Because she'd try to help, she'd insist to help, and if Sirius lashed out James wasn't sure what he'd do.

  "Please, just go back to bed."

ϟ

  When Sirius awoke to shouting, he panicked immediately. Though, when he topped out of a bed he thought was much larger, he realized he was in the Potter house.

  Despite this, the screaming still set Sirius on edge, so he silently tiptoed down the hall until he set eyes on the Potter twins.

  "James!" Madeline was on her toes, jumping in the futile effort to retrieve a letter from her brothers' hands. "It's illegal to read someone else's mail!"

  "That's muggle law!" James disagreed. "'Dear Love', oh how cute!"

  "Isn't it weird reading a letter from your sister's boyfriend?" Madeline scrunched up her nose, all amusement draining from James'a face as he flung the letter onto her bed, "Exactly!"

  "I can't believe you were going to let me read that," James shook his head.

  "That's it!" The girl declared, attempting to tackle James but he ran out of the way, her hot on his heels.

  "Hey, Padfoot!"

  "Morning, sunshine!" Madeline greeted the boy as she ran past him, nearly toppling down the stairs.

  "Are you okay?" James turned around.

  "I'm okay," Madeline breathed out, getting her bearings before the chase resumed.

  By the time Sirius got downstairs, Madeline was beating James with a pillow which worried him slightly. When the girl caught sight of Sirius she stopped abruptly, not wanting to set him on edge.

  "Thank Merlin you're here!" James cried out, scrambling to get to his best friend's side, "She usually does that for ten minutes straight!"

  "Whatever," Madeline rolled her eyes, slinking off to the kitchen.

  "Do you two fight a lot?" Sirius questioned.

  "Me and Maddie are like me and you," James offered Sirius a smile, "Kind of. She's my little sister, I give her a hard time, she chases me around, I let her catch me—"

  "You do not!" Madeline's voice yelled from the kitchen, "I catch you because I'm fast!"

  "I let her catch me," James repeated, grinning when a grape flew from the kitchen, "You know," James shrugged, "I'm just being a brother."

"Regulus and I are not like you two," Sirius shook his head sadly, "You're lucky you have a sister like Mads."

  "Damn right he is!" Madeline emerged with a fruit salad, "And now, you get the privilege of living with me as well."

  "You'll regret it in a month," James whispered, letting out a cry of pain when Madeline flicked his forehead, "If you make it that long."

  "Hey," Madeline whined, "I'm not that bad."

  "No," Sirius smiled, throwing an arm around her shoulders, "You're really not."

  "Careful," James teased, "You'll make Keeler jealous."

  "I kind of understand the chasing now," Sirius whispered to Madeline.

( AUTHOR'S NOTE. )
sirius and mads are
the CUTEST