Wishing Stars
“Hey Regulus, I’m going to ask you an extremely important question”
“No” Regulus said, he was reading about magical spells in Hogwarts, barely looking up when James spoke, as if he were irrelevant.
“What do you mean ‘no’?”
Regulus sighs “Do you require me to teach you English Potter?”
“How do you have the energy to be such a prat all the time?”
“How do you have the energy to be this stupid?”
“You didn’t even hear the question!”
“Very well, I suppose I’ll humor you”
“What’s your middle name?”
“That was your important question?, well I’m not telling you”
“Why not?” James pouts
“A very simple reason, really. I don’t want to”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s funny”
“What if I guess it?”
“You can try”
“What are you reading anyways?”
“Magical spells in hogwarts and the history of curses that have or might affect the magic-”
A few strands of Regulus’s hair fall on his face, his eyes glimmering under the sun. It was the kind of face that should’ve been carved into stone in some ancient wizarding cathedral — sharp, regal, and permanently annoyed with him.
James didn’t mean to look at his mouth. It just—moved a lot when he talked. Which was annoying. And oddly mesmerizing. But mostly annoying.
“Pay attention, Potter!”
“Yes, yes, I’m listening”
Regulus sighed in annoyance “A page is missing from the book, it was there yesterday, what is going on?”
“That’s what we have to find out”
“Do you know about the room of requirement?”
“Oh yeah, you wish for things and they appear, on the seventh floor right?”
“We’re going to find it”
“Why?”
“The room of requirement is loaded with strange magic, if we want to investigate the weird things that have been happening like-”
“Like the portraits being ruined and the stairs not moving the right way, or the great hall doors open and closing at it’s whim, and now- the missing page”
“Exactly, Professor Kettleburn doesn’t want these little things to escalate into something bigger, the room of requirement is the perfect place to start, oh and Potter?”
“Yes?”
“Never interrupt me again”
James gulped
—
They stood in front of the wall of the seventh floor opposite the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy trying to teach trolls ballet.
“Pretty sure this is where it is”
“How are you sure?”
“I read it in the book Potter, how idiotic are you?”
“Can’t you go one sentence without insulting me?”
“No. Apparently you have to walk past this room three times, thinking of what you want”
“Are you serious?”
“I’m Regulus”
James rolled his eyes “didn’t know you had a sense of humor”
“Walk past the door three times”
“Why me?”
“You would look idiotic doing it”
“So would you”
“Which is why I’m not”
James sighs and walks past the door three times
“It’s not working”
“What did you wish for?”
“I’m not telling you”
Regulus rolls his eyes and tries to open the room, wishes and wishes-
A door appears
“Yes! You did it! How the hell did you do that Regulus?!”
“No idea”
The door creaked open into nothingness — or so it seemed at first. Then James stepped inside and realized: it was everything.
The walls had vanished entirely, or maybe they’d never been there. The air shimmered with a deep, soft darkness — not pitch black, but the kind that glowed faintly with a thousand suspended lights. Stars, James realized. Tiny, floating constellations drifted gently in place, like they’d been plucked from the sky and hung there for safekeeping.
The floor beneath their feet was cool and smooth, a velvety stretch of black stone that looked like ink but didn’t stain. Every step they took echoed like it was being swallowed by the galaxy.
In the middle of the space was a low platform with cushions — dark green and silver, worn in, clearly used. Beside it, a telescope, old and golden, aimed nowhere in particular. Books hovered in little orbits, spinning lazily, titles written in elegant, archaic script.
“How did you wish for this?”
“I honestly don’t know, I just thought of someplace quiet”
“But the door only opens when you need it to”
“We didn’t technically need it to, my guess is that the weirdness of magic here recently has something to do with this”
“Maybe we could stay here for a while” James said, sitting down over the cushions
“We still have to investigate you know”
“I know, but it’s pretty here, and you wished for it”
Regulus sighed at sat next to him, looking up at the stars
“Only for a few minutes then”
James grinned
“It’s Arcturus, by the way”
“What is?” James looked over, still smiling.
Regulus didn’t look at him. “My middle name.”