Chapter 2
“Why in the fuck would you think I wanted to go back there?”
“I just thought you’d like to be invited, seeing as they're your parents too!” Another voice shouts back, not nearly as loud as Sirius.
Sirius scoffs, “Hardly! They haven’t been my parents since I was 12 years old.”
“They can be cruel sometimes, but they’re still-” Regulus argues back
“They're cruel sometimes !” Sirius roars, his hand impulsively twitching towards his wand, he had gotten quicker to anger since he moved out.
Regulus flinches lightly, his eyes fluttering a bit.
This makes Sirius angrier, “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” He turns away laughing a bit before facing Regulus again, dragging him closer by his cloak.
“If you ever think that I would hurt you the way they do you’d be an idiot.”
Regulus’ face goes blank, his eyes glazing over slightly.
“You would be an idiot,” Sirius repeats, his voice quiet.
Regulus slowly sinks down to the floor, bracing himself on his knees.
Sirius’ eyes widen, his face pales and, he removes his hands from his brother as if the fabric of his cloak burned him.
“Oh Merlin .” Sirius takes a step back and puts his head in his hands, becoming aware of the way he was acting.
Sirius mumbles a small ‘ Fortuna Major ’ his hands running through his hair over and over again.
“Hey Siri,” James is sitting draped across a seat in the commons.
Sirius walks by him without even looking up.
James put his book down on the table confused, standing up to follow him.
“Hey, what happened?”
“Regulus invited me to an anniversary dinner.” Sirius flops face-first into his bed.
“Oh, I’m sorry mate,” James says, sitting on the edge of Sirius’ bed.
“It’s not even that..” Sirius sighs, turning around to flop over onto his back “I got so upset with him for even thinking that I would want to go and we got into a fight… and I’m just- I’m so used to you!” He throws his hands in the air “When we get into arguments I can rile you up, disarm you, whatever! And- and my hand twitched…” He grabs his head.
James thinks he knows where this is going.
“I’m not like them. I wouldn’t- I wouldn’t do that! You know I wouldn't do that.”
James nods, pieces falling into place the more Sirius talks.
“He bowed to me, James.” James sucks in a harsh breath “He bowed to me like I was one of them, like I was going to fucking Crucio him.”
James flinches at the curse falling so easily from Sirius’ mouth but nods nonetheless.
“I- I can’t believe he thought I would ever- ever stoop as low to hurt him like that.”
James watches Sirius’ eyes well up with frustrated tears.
“Where is he?” James asks quietly.
“What?” Sirius snaps his head toward him, seemingly shocked out of his anger.
“Where is Regulus?”
“I’m having a crisis over here mate and you're worried about him ?”
“You know how they're hurting him, Sirius, you should know that better than anyone else.” James ignores the way he can see anger flare up in Sirius’ face “It’s a reasonable reaction… he’s a kid.”
Sirius, now annoyed with James’ protective streak, scowls at him.
“He’s 16 next month. He’s not even 2 years younger than me.” He starts sitting up “I don’t do that kind of thing when you get mad at me.”
James gulps a little “You know I’m not going to hurt you.”
“I’m not going to hurt him!”
“He doesn’t know that Sirius.” James stands up.
“I’m going to go check on him.”
Sirius scoffs and mumbles “Bleeding heart.” before turning back around and shoving his face into his pillow.
It doesn’t take James long to find him.
The boy is sitting curled in on himself, still bowed over, his chin to his chest and his arms clutching his own waist helplessly.
James crouches down next to Regulus, watching him tremble in waves.
“Can I touch you?” James whispers, getting deja vu about their interaction when summer had first started.
Regulus doesn’t respond.
James bites his lip, running through all of his knowledge for any way that he could possibly help him before he’s struck with a disturbing memory of something Sirius had told him, late at night when they had to share a bed because of the violent nightmares that wracked Sirius.
“Regulus listen to me, you’re dismissed okay?” James tries to keep his tone stern but not loud, not wanting to frighten the boy, especially because he isn’t exactly sure that this would even work.
He sees Regulus’ face scrunch up a little, the first reaction he’s gotten from him. James bites back a smile.
“Is it alright if I help you up?” James asks again.
Regulus gives him a small nod, James can’t hold back the grin on his face.
James gently puts one arm on his waist around Regulus’ own arms, offering his other hand to help the younger boy stand up.
“Do you want me to walk you back to the dungeons?”
Regulus sighs out a “mhm” and James can’t help the goosebumps that crawl up his arms. He had only heard Regulus speak once and it was when he was scream-crying in his living room.
James barely has to guide him, the boy's body going on autopilot to bring them to the waterfall that blocked the entrance to the Slytherin Commons.
“I don’ remember the password.” His voice is quiet and embarrassed.
“That’s okay,” James reassures, not exactly sure what to do.
He waits for a bit, still holding onto Regulus, his head on swivel on the lookout for another Slytherin to help Regulus inside.
He spots a tall boy, greasy hair covering his face as he keeps his eyes downcast, books clutched to his chest.
“Sni-Snape! Mate!” James lets go of Regulus’ hand, which he had just now become aware he had been holding this entire time, and beckons Snape over.
“Potter” Severus glowers at him before his eyes turn to Regulus, lingering on the hand around his waist.
An unknown emotion crawls up into James’ throat, feeling like it’s suffocating him.
“Get him inside.” James says, not able to contain the distaste he has for the other boy “Please.”
Severus nods shortly, his eyes not moving from Regulus.
James makes no move to let Regulus go until Severus nudges him out of the way, putting a hand on Regulus’ shoulder.
James’ gut curls with something heavy and sinister feeling. He shuts his eyes to avoid death-glaring Severus and waits for the two boys to enter the Dungeons before he turns around and makes his way back to his own Commons.
He throws his shirt off as soon as he enters the sleeping quarters and sits on his bed, letting himself fall onto his back so he can gaze at the ceiling.
“Your brother's okay now,” James tells Sirius, who had seemingly been giving him the silent treatment.
“No brother of mine.” His words are muffled by his pillow, which he still hasn’t retreated from.
James ignores him.
He tries to shut his eyes, knowing that classes began tomorrow and he would be exhausted otherwise but he couldn’t seem to keep them closed. He was still buzzing with adrenaline and the same unknown emotion that had crept up into his chest when Snape had taken over.
He tried to distract himself, thinking about how much of a douchebag Sirius was being. It didn’t work either. His mind kept drifting.
He shuts his eyes harshly, as tight as he possibly could to try to will himself asleep.
He couldn’t help but linger on the thought of how good it felt to feel Regulus’ waist in his arms, the sense of achievement he felt when the younger boy finally relaxed into him, how proud he was that he could pull Regulus into a safe mindset again (even if not fully , it was still progress.) He couldn’t help but think that it might be nice to take care of Regulus forever.
Oh Merlin.
James Potter was inconceivably fucked.