5
On the train back to Hogwarts for his second year was the first time he ever really spoke to James.
He got onto the train and was run over by him.
Literally, run over. James was so quick he hadn’t seen him coming and didn’t have a chance to get out of his way, so they both fell to the floor of the train.
“Oh. Hi, baby Black!” James grinned at him from his position above Regulus.
Baby black?!
Regulus stared up at him, trying to look mad but the way James was smiling at him made that almost impossible.
“Have you seen your brother?” James asked him.
You mean your brother? Regulus almost answered but he stopped himself.
“No.” He just answered.
“Oh okay, well I’m sure he’s here somewhere.”
“Yeah, I’m sure.” Regulus’ heart was beating faster than it ever had. He was sure that, if James didn’t get off him soon his heart would just explode.
And, really, what was that about? He was good at controlling his feelings, never showing them to other people.
So, why was he starting to blush? James was still looking down at him, not having moved an inch. It felt like they’ve been laying there for an eternity.
“Do… you want to look for him?” Regulus finally asked because he wasn’t sure what he would do if James wouldn’t soon get up.
“Oh! Yes, of course, I’m sorry.” James sat up and finally (!) got up.
He was holding his hand out for Regulus to take, to help him off the floor, but Regulus just stared at it for a moment before getting off the floor by himself.
“Well, okay.” James cleared his throat and wiped his hand on his cloak (why was he already wearing that?)
“See you later, baby black!” He grinned again and skipped away. (Yes, really, he skipped away!)
Regulus just stayed in his spot and stared at James until he was long gone.
What just happened?
Baby Black, really?
James Potter really was a mystery and Regulus thought he would never understand him.
The voices of his friends finally snapped him out of his thoughts and he looked at them.
“You okay Reggie?” Barty asked him, Evan stood behind him, giggling. “You look like you just saw a ghost.” He then laughed.
“Yeah, I looked into the future and saw your ghost. Because I’m going to kill you if you don’t stop laughing now.” Regulus answered and went into a free compartment.
“Wow, someone got out of bed on the wrong foot today.” He heard Barty say to a (now slightly scared) Evan.
“Don’t worry, Ev, he isn’t really going to kill you. At least, I don’t think so.” Barty then said to him before following Regulus and sitting down.
Other than the incident with James at the beginning, the rest of the year went fairly quiet.
He didn’t really hear much from his parents, continued to ignore Sirius (and also James, who, for some reason started to smile at him every time he saw him), and studied.
He knew that this quite couldn’t last forever but he wouldn’t dare complain about the peace he had.
It was only in the last few weeks of the year when his peace was disturbed, because it was like James suddenly decided to make it his mission to always be close to him.
And not only was he just appearing everywhere, he was also talking to him.
What gave him the idea that it was okay to just talk to him? It was just casual small talk like: “Hey baby Black, how are you?”, “Hey baby Black, I hope you get good grade on this assignment.” And similar things.
He also never seemed to expect and answer from him. He just appeared, smiled at him, said one or two sentences, and left.
Regulus had never been so confused in his life.