02/09/2025, @wolfstarmicrofic, prompt 2 - room of requirement, word count - 488
“That is not how it’s supposed to look.” Peter has never been particularly confident in Sirius’ potions skills, but he’s a man in love, and all men in love are stupid. He did not anticipate his stupidity to reach this height, which resulted in them cooped up in the Room of Requirement, surrounded by questionable fumes and illegal books.
Oh, and butterbeer. It’s the only thing keeping them alive.
“Sirius, did you add thistle leaves?” James calls, three books levitating around him like an odd crown. God, Remus would get such a laugh out of seeing him like this. “This book says to add thistle leaves.”
“And we trust that book because…?”
“It’s bigger?” James says, trying for a grin, but it looks like he has a particularly bad toothache.
“Merlin’s saggy fucking tit,” Sirius swears, just as a vial of dragon’s blood drops from his hand and shatters.
Peter resists the urge to sob. That was the one ingredient they had actual trouble sourcing. Without it, the potion’s just a useless shit-coloured glob. James drops his head in his hands with a groan.
They’re thinking the same thing, but none of them want to say it. They all adore Remus, in all his shy, big hearted, comfy jumpered glory, and they wouldn’t think twice before going to the ends of the Earth to help him.
It’s easier said than done.
Utterly desolate, Peter plonks down on the ground. This isn’t going to work.
“No,” Sirius says suddenly, brushing away the shards of glass with his boot. He stands up, pulling his hair into a knot, a wild look in his eye.
Instantly, Peter finds James standing up, all his misery flooding out like it was never there. In quick strides, James walks over to Sirius, pressing his hand to his wrist. Sirius drops back down on the wooden chair, swallowing.
“It has to work. I don’t fucking care how long we’re cooped up in here, I don’t care how many side-quests we need to undertake to get our ingredients, fuck, I’d rather die from it going wrong. We have to try, d’you understand? I will not let Remus be stuck in that bloody shack scarring himself till there’s nothing left of him. I won’t. We need to be with him. I need to be with him.” The words tumble out of Sirius’ mouth in a rush, and he’s gasping, blinking back tears viciously, and Peter’s on his feet, by his side, wrapping an arm around him. He feels his heart clench, because Sirius might not know it, but he so viscerally, irreversibly loves Remus, to an extent Peter cannot even fathom.
Nobody will ever love him like that, like he’s so easy to love, especially when Remus is sure he’s a monster. Peter wonders if Sirius has ever seen him as anything less than beautiful.
“What do we need to do?” James asks quietly, and Peter nods along.
@wolfstarmicrofic
