Make No Mistake

Chapter Two:

The last thing James remembered clearly was mumbling something to Remus -- or was it Sirius? -- before he lost consciousness. He felt like he was drifting through a fog where he couldn't discern how much time was actually passing, or even if he was. Maybe, he thought with a flicker of amusement, he had finally given up the ghost, and died. It had been close, once, because he'd seen Lily, he thought, and she was standing with hands upon her hips, shaking her head as she told him to go back because there were two stubborn fools that still loved him, and would find him.

The witch he had loved and made his wife had never lied; it was foreign to who she was, so he just had to trust in that. When he had awakened then, Snape was gone, so he had no worries about torture for a short period of time, at least. It didn't matter whether it was the gloating and laughing about finally having the Triad exactly where he'd wanted them all along, or the physical pain he dealt out, it was all pain to be dealt with.

Finally, though, he felt awareness returning. There were two voices in the background, humming comfortably. One of them, the rhythm of it sounded like Remus, and there was the almost-scent of him in the air as he inhaled. The next thing he knew, he was aware of a weight against his right side, and the sound of Sirius snoring in his ear. However, the thing that brought him back into consciousness fully was the weight at the end of the bed.

He opened his eyes and squinted. There was a blur of dark colour, either black or blue, then pale and a brownish blur. An arm -- or what he assumed was an arm -- was extended to him, with an object at the end of them, he blinked and accepted it. To his great surprise, they were his glasses, and everything came into focus sharply.

Unfortunately, it only proved by the age on Remus's face that time had passed, and so what he wished was a nightmare was instead reality. James sighed heavily at that. So much for wishful thinking.

"How are you feeling, James?"

He closed his eyes for a moment, testing the various parts of his body that seemed to endure the most damage, then nodded when they seemed to be working much better than they had been, "I'm mostly okay, I think. How long has it been?"

"Almost a month."

He sat straight up in his surprise, which had the unfortunate side effect of knocking Siri from his position at his side and directly onto the floor. There was muffled cursing, and a wry, apologetic smile curved James's lips for the briefest of moments before his eyes returned to Remus. "Month?"

An amused look lingered in Remus's eyes for a moment, before he exhaled, and told him, "Yes. Almost a month. The mediwizards gawked for a good long while before Sirius informed them of where they could go if they didn't start actually working on getting you healed. Given that he is the quite deadly Sirius Black, they were more likely to listen to him than to me, anyway."

"Even if you could 'ave convinced them just as well as I," Sirius finally said as he surfaced. "Bloody 'ell, James, can't you warn a bloke when you're about to do something like that? I mean... Shite, but that hurt..."

James smirked, "Aw, poor baby. Want me to kiss it better?"

Sirius stared at him for a moment, then his face lit up in a brilliant grin, "Blimey, James, but I've missed you."

Remus shook his head and rose from the bed. James and Sirius watched him, and smiled when he came back with two cups of tea, passing one to each of them, "Yes, Sirius, it should be strong enough for you... and I'm assuming you still like yours the same way, James?"

"Never really had a chance to change that," he murmured, accepting the cup. "Thanks,

Remus. This... this is going to take a while. So, what all happened in this month?"

"Mediwizards healed some of the wounds, and..." Remus faltered for a moment, then sank back down on the bed, before continuing. "There were some old injuries that healed wrong, probably on purpose. It was best you were out for that, since... well, they told me it could be quite painful when they went back and healed them properly."

"Neither of us were ever good at seeing you in pain, James," Sirius murmured hoarsely. "I'm sorry..."

James snorted and waved him off.

"Remus, what else?"

"There were traces of..."

"Ah, the potions," James muttered with an edge to his voice. "Yes, I was his guinea pig to make sure a potion was functioning the way he wished for it to. Often, I think he would get it wrong on purpose at least once."

Both of them growled, deep and low, and James smiled slightly, "At least it's over now,

right? What else?"

"Well, that's all the mediwizards had to do, and they did administer some potions to make certain things were in the clear," Remus said. "Still, you were out for at least two weeks longer than they thought you'd be. We were worried, Prongs."

James drew his knees up toward his chest, and propped his crossed arms on them, then smiled, "You both were always so terrible about that. I made it out of the other times. Why shouldn't I make it out of this?"

"James, we thought you were dead."

"That was the purpose," he said, running a hand through his hair. "At least, from what I

understand of things, anyway."

Sirius was still pale, angry, and like that, he looked dangerous. James leaned over and ran a hand through his hair, and couldn't fight a smile as Sirius just relaxed. Between he and Remus, they always did know the best ways...

He shook his head, "Anyway, you both remember how Snape was. He would look for

any way to get to us and then he'd gloat about it all. Well,he hasn't changed a bit in that respect. He told me there was a reason I was kept alive, rather than just left to die like Lily was. He felt a dark, haunted feeling wash over him, and it was with a bitter smile that he finished, "Of course, he also said something about Voldemort not counting on my son, whatever that means."

"Harry's alive, James."

James stared at Sirius in shock for a moment, "I... He's alive? How?"

"What did he tell you, James?"

"He gloated. Informed me that Voldemort had cast Avada Kedavra on both my son

and my wife, both who you will recall I loved dearly and were the only ones other

than you two that I would place my life on the line for. I don't go about loving people that much often. I do only have so much heart to spare," he shot a glance towards Sirius. "Later, he came back and gleefully -- well, as close as that one can express glee -- told me they had you sent for Azkaban, and said it was so... sad that no one would ever know the truth."

Sirius had a haunted look about him that he probably had an echo of on his own face, and Remus crawled down the bed to lay at his back. They both leaned in, and held him between them. James closed his eyes and realised that it was the safest he'd felt in a good long time. He held on, and hoped they wouldn't let go for a good long time.

They seemed to understand, because they didn't.

Finally, after he had pressed kisses into his back, Remus started speaking for both of them, since Sirius looked about as able to talk about any of this as he felt. It was just as well that it was Remus. "What he told you, James, was technically the truth. Techically. Your son managed to get hit with Avada Kedavra and live. He's the only one in the spell's lifetime to do so. It backlashed on Voldemort and, while it didn't kill him, quite, it came rather close. Harry lives, and he's due to be Head Boy -- just like somebody else we know -- when he enters his seventh year."

"How...?"

"Nobody knows, James. The fact is, he lives. He's had to go up against Voldemort three

times--"

"Four."

"All right, four times since then."

James pressed his lips together, and buried his face against Sirius. That is what he had set himself up to die in order to prevent. Still, with things as they were, there was not much he could do to have prevented it. So he accepted it with the faintest of expressions, even as the memory of mocking laughter echoed in his memory. Against Sirius, he asked softly, "And Azkaban?"

Sirius tensed; he could feel it against him, and his voice was hoarse in his ear, "I think the telling of that should wait until we get you out of here, Jamie."

"So it is true."

"Aye," Sirius said on an exhalation, "it's true. But it's over now."

It wasn't that simple, none of this was that simple. James knew it, but it would have to hold for now. He relaxed between them, and tried his best to let it go. He sighed and wondered what had happened to the cup of tea he'd started, and he peered over to see both his cup and Remus's next to each other on the bedside table.

"When can I get out of here?" he asked then.

"That depends," and James could almost feel that smile against his shoulder blade. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine, Remus."

There was a vibration of a chuckle then, "The last time you were so insistant about being fine, James, you had two broken legs and a shattered collarbone because a rogue bludger decided it fancied you."

They all leaned against each other, chuckling. James could remember that, all too well. It was their seventh year at Hogwarts, and it was in one of the games leading up to the taking of the Quidditch Cup. He had been determined that he was fine, and he was, provided he was on his broom where he belonged. For now, the memory was a safe one, one where he was between Sirius and Remus and they were carrying him off to the hospital wing, where Madam Pomfrey fussed over him, and muttered about the mass stupidity of Quidditch players.

It was true, a little, but at the time, he could have cared less.

"James, are you okay?" Sirius asked him softly.

He closed his eyes, and sighed, "Sirius, I don't think I could be considered fine right now, not entirely, but I'm doing a lot better than I was. I think... I think things can only go up from here."

Sirius bowed his head slightly, and James felt the brush of that dark hair against his cheek. He sighed softly, and held Sirius against him for a moment. The latter, for his part, eventually looked up and ran a hand through the mess of hair, a wry smile crossing his face, "Your hair looks about as bad as mine did."

"Mmph. It's worse than usual, then, I assume."

"Mmhmm," Sirius smiled a bit, then. "Could have Remus do it. After all, he seemed pretty capable of it when I was in need. Who knows, could have him be hair stylist to the wizarding world, with only the elite asking for his services, and in payment--"

Remus snorted, and started Sirius to snickering. James looked at them and shook his head. The more things change...

Still, there was comfort in that. Despite everything that must have happened while... some things would not change. Had not changed. He cleared his throat, and felt both of them look at him, "So, tell me when I get out of here."

Remus sat up, "I'll go ask if you'd like, James, but I must warn you that McGonagall wants to see you once you feel up to talking to her."

He managed a smile, "I can live with that."

"All right, then," and Remus slid off the bed. James watched him as he strode out of sight, and there was the sound of a door opening, and closing. He sighed and leaned back against the bed.

"Prongs?"

"Yes, Padfoot?"

"Why the rush?"

"You know as well as I do the reason, Pads," he murmured. "You remember how well I actually heal in the hospital."

"Not at all well," Sirius's smile was evident in his voice. "I don't remember everything, but I do remember that."

"How bad was it?" he asked softly.

"Bad. Let it suffice at that."

"I'm sorry..."

"None of that," came that voice again. "Definitely none of that. Remus had to talk me out of my guilt over your death that I lived with, year after year, in that place. I'm not letting you take it. There was nothing we could have done, and I don't think there was any way we could have known what would happen. Let it go, James. Just let it go."

He clenched his hands into fists, catching the duvet up in them. Then he felt a hand move over one of his, and he let it go, grasping onto the hand instead.

"We'll get through this, James," that voice was in his ear again. "I promise you. We will get through this. Together."

At that moment, Remus returned with a mediwizard that was to give him a lookover to see if he was ready to leave the hospital. He relaxed, and made the decision just to trust in Sirius's words. They would get through it. They had always gotten through the other things, the other difficult things, and they would get through this.

Their unity was their strength.

James clung to that for a moment, then let it go so that he could go through the examination. Yet, even as it he did let it go, still it remained at the back of his mind, and helped chase the demons away for a little while at least.

Together, we can make it.

Together, we can do anything.