Chapter 20
14th April 1977
The rest of the holidays had passed by in a relaxed blur, where the two of them had done pretty much whatever popped into their heads.
Remus had let himself enjoy the break, whilst Regulus got to experience real freedom for the first time. However, in the midst of his relaxation, he had forgotten what was waiting for him on the train platform, whee he had to be the next day.
Remus was doing a very good job at respecting Regulus’ wishes, keeping secrets was natural to him by now, but, by respecting Regulus’ wishes, he had been blatantly disrespecting Sirius.
“Reg?”
“Yeah?”
“I think we should talk about what’s going to happen now that we’re going back to Hogwarts.” Remus spoke as softly as he could, but it did not prevent the loud groan from Regulus.
“Do we have to?”
“I think so, Toebeans.”
“Ugh, fine!” Regulus rolled his eyes, before moving away from the kitchen to sit on the sofa next to Remus. He and Remus had worked on decorating the place a bit during their holidays, and Regulus had definitely taken some inspiration from Andromeda, Remus didn't know that though.
“So,” Remus began, “how do you wanna do tomorrow?”
“Can’t I just appear at your side and everyone else can mind their own business?”
“People are gonna have questions.” Remus paused, “And I’m pretty sure it is your brother’s business to be fair.”
“Well then, I don’t know!”
“Okay, why don’t we just board the train as we normally would, and we can deal with the rest at Hogwarts?”
“Alright.” Regulus shrugged.
—
Regulus was slightly nervous about dealing with Sirius, he could admit. But he wasn’t too worried about the secret keeping, not in the same way Remus was, he was more worried about having to have a relationship with Sirius again, it was easier to pretend he hated him, especially when it was clear the feelings were reciprocated, but he would have to be vulnerable if he spoke to Sirius again. He certainly wasn’t good at that.
Regulus was also, keeping another secret from Remus, he wasn’t even sure why he kept it from him, it was just one of those things.
On one of the warmer days of the holidays, Regulus went to the nearest Quidditch pitch to Remus’ flat, whilst Remus stayed home. When he was there, he ran into James Potter, again. Despite being a very large city, the two of them had ended up in the same place twice.
“Huh, weird seeing you here, Regulus,” James smiled at him, broom in hand, “your parents making you train or something?”
“Something like that,”
“Right,”
“Is Sirius with you?” Regulus began nervously looking around.
“No, um, he went out on an errand with mum, I just felt like some Quidditch.”
“Right”
Things came to an awkward silence, before James held up his broom and asked if he wanted to play. They spent the afternoon just flying around, practicing the various elements of Quidditch.
At one point James fell off his broom and Regulus laughed at him, properly laughed.
When Regulus had realised how long he had been out, he quickly flew down to the ground and put his broom away, James followed.
“Parents need you back?”
“They probably do, to be honest.”
“Um, okay then, bye Regulus.”
“Bye Potter.”
“Wait! Just, by the way, if you ever need somewhere to go, my house is always available.”
Regulus snorted, “I will not be needing your house, I assure you. Bye, Potter.”
“Regulus?”
“What now?”
“Call me James?” He smiled weakly.
Regulus snorted again, “Bye James.”
Regulus looked back at that day fondly, it had been fun. Regulus didn’t get much fun outside of Remus, it was nice. He wasn’t used to people wanting to just hang out with him, for any reason other than his family. It made him feel special. James made him feel special. The feeling worried him.
—
15th April 1977
Sirius arrived at the station feeling slightly sadder than he normally did before returning to school. Ever since he ran away, he had been struggling to adjust to a better home. He had experienced some of the best holidays in his life whilst at the Potter’s, so going back to school wasn’t as much as a relief. Not only that, but it was also school, which can be exceedingly boring.
He apparated to the train station with James’ mum, while James went with his dad. Once they had collected as a group again, they started fussing over the two boys.
“Mum! We’re going to be fine! We’ve done this many times before!” James laughed.
“I know, dear, I just want to make sure you’ll be alright, we worry about you two when you’re not at home.” The kind words that were spoken so casually made Sirius’ chest feel warm.
The goodbyes he experienced before his escape had been a nod, a stern look, and the sound of an apparition.
He looked around the platform for Regulus, and his parents, obviously. He saw Regulus climbing onto the train, but no sign of his parents. Odd.
The train whistle blew again, Sirius tugged on James’ arm.
“Come on! We’re gonna miss it!” Sirius cried.
“Bye Mum! Bye Dad! Love you!” James called out. Sirius waved behind him.
They walked through the carriages, looking out for Remus and Peter. Instead, Sirius walked straight into a short, black haired boy.
“Watch where you are going, Sirius.” Regulus rolled his eyes.
“I wouldn’t have to if you weren’t so short.”
“You really seem to have an obsession with height Sirius, I promise you, you have nothing so be insecure about.” Regulus spoke condescending. And oh Sirius wants to punch him.
“Move out of the way, James.” And now Sirius was confused.
James complied quickly, pressing himself against the wall of the train.
“Guys?” Remus poked his head out of the compartment a few doors down, “We’re in here.”
“Coming Remus!” Sirius looked back at his brother again, before moving down the corridor.
Things with Remus weren’t as complicated as they were when he came back after Christmas, but they were weird. Throughout the previous term they had fought a lot, and he doubted Remus trusted him much after he read through his letters. Well, he didn’t have much reason at this point to trust him at all.
Remus had been on his mind a lot recently. James made fun of him for it, without revealing exactly why he found it so funny. It was infuriating.
He sat down opposite Peter and Remus, smiling at them both.
“Good holidays?” Peter smiled back.
“Yeah, good.” James smiled.
“Did you run into Regulus out there?” Remus asked.
“Yeah, sort of literally.” James laughed.
“Shut up, Prongs.” Sirius paused for a moment. “Why’d he call you James back there?”
James’ face went red, “I um, sort of saw him, over the holidays, he said that um, his parents were making him do Quidditch practice, and I played with him for a bit.”
“Wait, you saw each other?” Remus asked, looking very confused.
“Yeah, we just sort of happened to be in the same spot.”
“You didn’t mention this, James.” Sirius was genuinely confused on why he didn’t bring it up.
“It didn’t feel relevant,” James spoke squeakily.
“So how did he end up calling you James?” Sirius pressed further.
“I asked him to?” James blushed more.
Then, Sirius seemed to put certain pieces of information together, that and the fact that he was able to read James like a book.
“Oh come on!” he cried, “you have a crush on my brother? My fucking brother?!”
“Wait what!?” Remus sounded very confused, and slightly amused for some reason.
“Wow, plot twist.” Peter was eating his chocolate like it was popcorn, and he was watching a very interesting show.
“Well, you know how I get when people are scary! He’s terrifying!” James cried, Remus snorted.
“Fucking hell James, you have issues, mate.” Sirius sighs, “I mean really, Regulus?”
“Well, it’s not like anythings gonna happen anyway! He made it very clear to me that he has no interest in running away.”
James attempt at comforting made Sirius even more upset. The fact that Regulus was trapped by his family is a source of guilt and distress whenever he thinks of it. And now that Sirius thinks about it, Regulus is sort of James’ type, they could be good together. If the thought didn’t repulse him, he would say it makes sense.
But Regulus was never going to escape, so that potential future wasn’t a possibility.
Remus cleared his throat, looking up at the ceiling.
“Sorry, Remus, I know it’s already a lot of drama for the first day back.” Sirius smiled at him.
“No, it’s not that, I um, I’ll be back in a second.”
He quickly ran out of the carriage, not looking back.
“Look what you’ve done now, James, you scared away Remus!”
“That wasn’t my fault!” James cried.
“This is amazing.” Peter mumbled from the corner.
—
“We need to tell him.” Remus stormed into Regulus’ carriage.
“What? We said we could wait!”
“I can’t keep doing this, Reg! It’s stressful!”
“Well telling Sirius is stressful for me!”
“You are unbelievable!”
“Oh well.” Regulus sounded completely unapologetic.
“Well, speaking of secrets, you didn’t tell me you saw Potter, during the holidays, or should I say James?”
“I hate you.” Regulus’ face went slightly pink. Remus stored that information away for later.
“We could go into the carriage right now, and be done with it.”
“Okay, what if I just go into the carriage, and stay silent for the whole thing.”
“That would just make him angry!” Remus threw his hands up.
“Exactly” Regulus smirked.
“You know what, fine. But you are telling him once we get back to Hogwarts, or I will!”
“Fine, mum” rolled his eyes.
—
A few minutes later, a group of first years came wondering to Regulus’ compartment, asking if they could sit. Instead of dealing with that for a multi hour journey, Regulus decided to have some fun.
“Here, you can have the whole compartment.” Regulus mustered up the biggest smile he could.
“Are you sure, the rest of the train is pretty much full.” The tallest one spoke nervously.
“I’m absolutely positive.”
If his brother could do pranks, why couldn't he?
Without saying a word, Regulus walked into the same carriage as Remus, and sat down next to him. All four of them stopped whatever they were talking about to look at him.
“What the hell are you doing here?!” Sirius broke the silence.
“Rest of the train’s full. I wanted to relax with my darling brother, and his friends.”
He looked at Remus, who looked like he was either about to strangle him, or burst out laughing.
“Oh I doubt mother dearest would be pleased to hear about you fraternising with me.”
“Well, I doubt she would find out about it.” He felt Remus snort next to him.
“I could tell her!” Sirius pointed out, “Or one of your friends could see you and tell her.”
“Well, I only have one friend, and I don’t think he would do that. And I don’t think you would either.”
“Let’s just all calm down, guys.” Remus intervened. Obviously feeling like he has to be the voice of reason in this case.
Regulus looked at the rest of the people he was sitting with, Peter looked like he was watching a very enthralling play, and James looked almost nervous? Odd. He had never seen James so quiet.
“Why should I be calm? There is a future death eater sitting with us right now!”
Regulus laughed again, causing Remus to glare at him.
“I hate the both of you, honestly.” Remus sighed, “You’re both so dramatic!”
“I have never been dramatic, not for a single day of my life! You should know that Remus!” Regulus over exaggerated.
“I’m going to kill you, honestly.”
“I’d like to see you try.”
“Uh, do you two, like, know each other?” Sirius looked between the two of them.
“Well, we have gone to school together for many years.” Regulus spoke to Sirius as if he were a child.
“No, not like that, are you two friends?” Sirius’ voice became more concerned.
“Remus, if you’ve gotten involved with the other side of the war, we should probably have a talk.” James spoke softly.
Regulus laughed again, he was having way too much fun. His original plan was to just sit there and not say a word, but this was priceless.
“Fucking hell, no James, I have not suddenly gone evil.” Regulus just laughed harder.
Sirius looked at him like he was insane, before turning back to Remus, “So why are you friends with him?”
“I’m gonna murder you, Regulus. I can’t believe you.” Remus glared at him when he wouldn’t stop laughing.
“Regulus… lives with me,”
“He what!?” The three other friends cried.
“Remus helped me escape, and now I live with him.” Regulus shrugged, “It’s not that complicated.
“But how?” Sirius looked as though his world was realigning.
“A memory spell, it was quite easy to be honest.”
“No, like how did this even begin?”
“Uh well,” Remus began, “I don’t really remember,”
“Yeah, we just kinda became friends out of nowhere.”
“When did you two even speak?” James looked completely baffled.
“Night, normally,” Regulus shrugged again, “Neither of us really sleep.”
“Wait, so how long have you been friends?”
Regulus and Remus looked at each other.
“Uh, so in September, you had that panic attack.” Regulus recalled.
“And then you comforted me after one of the moons.”
“So at some point then?”
“Yeah, so like,” Regulus counted on his fingers, “7 months?”
“That sounds about right.”
They both looked back at Sirius and James, who had shock written all over their faces. Peter’s face was full of amusement, but he normally enjoyed moments like these.
“Wait! He’s Toebeans?” Sirius suddenly exclaimed.
“Oh, you finally figured that part out.”
“So you two, are like, close?” James spoke up.
“He’s the love of my life, obviously.” Regulus smirked, looking at his brother.
“What?!” both Sirius and James almost yelled.
“He’s kidding.” Remus pushed him on the shoulder, “he’s just being a prick.”
“Why Toebeans?”
Remus looked at him again, raising his eyebrows. Do you want to tell him? Regulus shook his head, that could come later.
“It’s just an inside joke.”
Sirius shook his head again, muttering you have inside jokes with my brother, mostly to himself.
“I want to be angry with you, I think my brain’s just in too much shock.”
“That’s fair,” Remus shrugged.
“Why didn’t you just tell me?” Sirius whispered to Remus.
“It wasn’t my secret to tell,” Remus smiled, whispering back. Regulus sort of felt like he was intruding.
“And you’ve been a bit of a dick to him this year.”
“Regulus!” Remus hissed.
“What? It’s true!”
Remus shook his head.
Regulus smiled back at him, then smirked at the face on his brother. He was going to have fun.