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James wishes he could say it was his alarm for school that woke him up. Irritating melody that would make him groan and roll over but get up with a yawn anyway.God he wishes that he complained about school less.But no. What wakes him up is the bright gleam of the sun, unobstructed seeing as he, Sirius, Remus and Peter are curled around each other, laying on a roof.That and the sound of inhuman growling.But maybe we should start at the beginning.
3 weeks earlier
“It is too early to be up James.” Sirius whines as the focus of his annoyance yanks his warm, fuzzy blanket directly off of him.“It’s time for school!” James just grins at Sirius’ discomfort and begins to prance around the guest room turned bedroom. Sirius had to sleep somewhere after he left and Effie thought they had too many empty rooms anyway.“It’s the last day. We don’t need to go in,” Raven hair splays across the silk pillowcase as Sirius tucks his face as deep into it as he can without suffocating. It was one of the only things that he had insisted on being in his room, turning down a different bed or a new paint color for the walls. Only the best for Sirius Black, resident diva.“Nuh uh. Can’t even hear you, guess you gotta get up and tell me,” The amusement in James’ voice is obvious and what he gets in return is one of those shimmering pillows thrown at his face. “See you in 15. If you’re not down by then I’m gonna leave you and just go get Remus.”Sirius groans like James just told him that he has to go run a mile, not get ready for their last day of school. Which is already a half day. And if Remus gets his way they’ll be leaving after an hour anyway.Just enough time to see their prank go down.Effie is at the kitchen counter with two plates ready. Bacon, eggs and waffles for him, bacon and avocado toast for Sirius. James is always awake first on weekdays. He sets his alarm for earlier than anyone else in the house, other than his father.Sometimes though, sometimes he never falls asleep to begin with. The alarm is usually just the thing that tells him to get up and get ready for the day.“Good morning my love,” Effie’s smile is soft as James says good morning back and immediately begins to devour his breakfast. “Is Sirius up or should I go bribe him with some food?” Her laugh echoes through the house, tinkling like the wind chime on their front porch.James finishes chewing his food and swallows before replying. “It wouldn’t hurt but I’m sure he can smell it upstairs anyway,” They both chuckle a bit because while James is a three season athlete and has to eat at least once an hour to not be starving, Sirius matches it and occasionally eats even more.Effie likes to say that they’re gonna go bankrupt with their eating habits but she is also the one who encourages them to take thirds at every meal. She’s always watching Sirius eat, as if scared that if her eyes leave him, he’ll be back at Grimmauld place and forced to skip his meals.As if hearing them talk about him, Sirius comes downstairs holding a hand over his mouth and letting out one of the most theatrical yawns ever encountered. James and Effie meet each other’s eyes before bursting into laughter.Pink tinges the sharp planes of Sirius’ face before he’s scowling and sitting next to his best friend at the counter and biting into his avocado toast angrily.It’s times like these that make James love getting up in the morning, even if Sirius is always late and complaining about how their high school makes them all get up at an ungodly hour. He hopes that next year his first period teacher is lenient about the time you show up. Between waiting for Sirius to be ready and then picking up Remus then driving them all over to Starbucks so Sirius can get his iced coffee James doesn’t think that he’ll make it on time very often.“Are you both excited for your last day of junior year? I remember I was itching for that final bell to ring so I could go out and party. Your father snuck out of our class with his bag and the teacher didn’t even notice,” Effie giggles a bit and looks off, reminiscing about her younger days.“I just wish we didn’t have to go,” Sirius has moved onto eating his bacon, avocado toast nowhere to be found.“Oh stop complaining. It’s three hours and then we’re home again. Besides we’ve got our little farewell planned,” Blue eyes widen as he turns to look at James with a grin. Effie shakes her head with a sigh and mutters something about not wanting to know.She heads around the counter and kisses both their foreheads before shrugging on her jacket and grabbing her bag. “I don’t care what you are plotting as long as it isn’t blowing up anything. Here or at school. Got it?”They both chant yes mom and finish off their food, James collects the plates as Sirius runs upstairs for his patent leather jacket. He got it last fall right as the breeze started to become bitter. It was at a thrift store and that was one of the biggest ‘fuck you’s as he could think of.Unsurprisingly Walburga hated it and the next day Sirius had come to school with a layer of foundation to cover the pink and purple bruise. This, of course, had delighted him and he’s worn it practically every day since then.James sits in his pickup truck as he waits for Sirius to come back. The radio is playing Taylor Swift and it makes him think of Lily. She would belt out the words any time one of Taylor’s songs came on but deny it vehemently if anyone asked if she was a Swifty.He shuts the radio off.He wraps his hands around the steering wheel and squeezes until his fingers ache. Sirius jumps into the seat next to him and James lets go like it shocked him. A pristine black brow is raised at him but lowers quickly as his sharp teeth form a smile.“Are we ready to start some shit or what?”