Salvatore

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BE-
Regulus woke up with a groan,-and a slight headache- to his alarm beeping loudly next to his ear. He sat up halfway and turned it off, taking a look around his bedroom.

The early morning sunlight was beaming in through the windows, which was unusual seeing as he always kept the blinds down. He was scared of people looking in, and preferred a darker room. He got up swiftly, and within seconds had to sit back down, as he became lightheaded and sick.

He looked over to his bedside table and saw a half full bottle of vodka sitting there, suddenly remembering the events of last night. He took a second to stand up this time, making sure he wouldn't pass out and then made his way over to his bathroom, to get ready for the day.

Sirius awoke suddenly sitting up abruptly. He looked around the room to see he wasnt in his own, but his little brothers, on the floor. He then also recalled events from the previous night, though cant seem to remember a lot past a certain time. He scavenged the surrounding area for his phone, having no luck finding it.

"Shit, I don't remember anything from last night.." he mumbled to himself. He then heard the shower, which he hadn't even realised was on until now, turn off. He sat their waiting for his brother to come out, hoping he might know where his phone was.

Regulus walked out of the bathroom in a towel and made eye contact with the elder black brother, with a shocked expression. "Bloody hell Sirius! I forgot you were here, turn around I need to change." He exclaimed.

"Reg, do you perhaps know where my phone is? What time it is, even?" Sirius asked rubbing his eye as he threw his face into a pillow on the floor as per his brothers request. "No, but when I'm done I will help you look for.." He trailed off as he looked over on his dresser, seeing Sirius' phone atop a stack of books.

He picked it up and tossed it over to him. "Thanks, Reggie." He said, giving the boy a small appreciative smile, before looking through his notifications. "It's just about to be 10am" Sirius stated out loud. "What happened last night by the way, I think I blacked." He asked rubbing his head as he tried to recall.

"We stole a bottle of grey goose out of Fathers study, got drunk, fucked about around the house for a few hours, then passed out in here later on. I wouldn't be surprised if you don't remember, you were very wasted only an hour or so into the night." He chuckled remembering his brothers drunken state, as he acted a fool. Regulus didn't mind though, he would of minded if it was anyone else, but with Sirius, he never minded.

Sirius slowly stood up groaning, before feeling a rush of nausea flow through him. He groaned again, louder this time, before stating weakly "I'm going to be sick," He gagged and then ran to his brothers bathroom, falling down beside the toilet, emptying out the contents of the night before, while holding his hair back himself.

He groaned again, as Regulus came over with a glass of water, and a towel, handing them to him. "When your feeling better we should head down and have Kreature make us some breakfast." He said, hoping that some good solid food would perhaps make his hungover brother feel better. Sirius nodded before leaning against the side of the bathtub with his eyes closed, taking sips from the water cup and trying to control his nausea.

The Black brothers parents were off on a work trip in Italy, and would not be returning until a few days after the boys were already off to school. They had been gone for about a week now and the two brothers were taking full advantage of it, drinking, smoking in the house, having fun and yelling around, not dressing 'properly', pretty much everything they had been raised not to do.

Kreature, their family butler was quite fond of the boys, especially the younger of the two, therefore they knew he wouldn't snitch on their shenanigans, even if it meant losing his job, right? The boys made their way down the steps and into the main hall over to the dining room, where there was breakfast waiting for them.

"I figured you both would want some fuel for the day, so I went ahead and made that for you, I hope you enjoy." Kreature said, suddenly appearing in the doorway. There were eggs in a basket, the boys favorite breakfast, on a tray in the middle of the table. As well as bacon on a plate next to it, and condiments. There was also a pitcher of orange juice and a coffee pot on a placemats so it didn't damage the antique wooden table.

"Thank you Kreature, we really do appreciate it." Regulus said to his butler giving him a warm thankful smile. Kreature nodded and gave a smile back, exiting the room. The brothers dug in, Sirius grabbing the coffee pot and pouring a large sum into a mug, while Regulus reached for the bacon.

"When do Walaburga and Orion get back?" Sirius asked his brother with a face full of food. Regulus grimaced in a teasing way. "Manners? Do you know what that is dear brother?" he replied sarcastically, chuckling slightly. Sirius looked at him as if saying he didn't care and wanted an answer. "They will be here after we leave for the new semester. Don't worry." he responded grabbing a peice of egg in a basket of his plate with a fork, because he had manners.

"Sirius, when we go back to school, when they get back do you think they will know what we were up to while they were gone?" Regulus asked, suddenly fearful of his parents cruel punishments. "I don't know, I don't believe Kreature will tell them, but the old man might go to pour a glass of his grey goose, just to see its gone, and I'm sure he will just assume it was us, but I believe it was worth it, last night was the most fun I've had all summer."

Regulus thought about it for a moment, thinking of a way to make sure it didn't happen while regretting his decisions of the last previous days. He started spacing out thinking about everything all at once. The punishments their parents would inflict on them for this, how to hide the fact they did all this, what to do if they found out. He only got out of It when he realized Sirius was saying his name.

"Regulusss, hello? Is anyone home?" He said waving his hand infront of his face. Regulus looked at him and quickly flashed a small smile, trying to show he was all good. But he was not all good, he was very stressed now, and felt a bit like a fool for being so reckless the previous night.

Sirius looked at him with slight concern and assured him it would be fine. "If they try to hurt you I wont let them, don't worry Reggie." He whispered to him. Regulus suddenly wasn't hungry anymore.

It was now the day they left for school. They go to a boarding school in Scotland, their parents insisted on it, probably not wanting them in the house. They didnt want to be there anyways, so they didn't mind.

The school is called Hogwarts and it is about 8 hours from London where they live. They just arrived at the train station, getting out of the cab to grab their belongings out the trunk and making their way to their platform.

"Siri, It's right here, see," Regulus shouted pointing up at the sign about them, "Platform 934." Sirius looked down at his ticket and smiled, looking up again and then at his brother, grabing his wrist and pulling him along as he ran to the train.

They looked around for their friends and saw Peter Pettigrew standing alone with a rolling suitcase at his feet looking down at his phone. He had short, straight, blond hair, hazel eyes, and a bigger build. His skin was pale with a red undertone, and he adorned a small, yet warm smile. "PETE!" Sirius yelled out to one of his best friends.

Peter looked up and made eye contact with Sirius, smiling wildly before grabbing his suitcase and making his way over to the brothers. He gave Sirius a hug and pulled away saying hello to Regulus. He and Sirius started talking about something Regulus wasn't paying any attention to, as he looked around, and made eye contact with his brothers very best friend, James Potter.

James had curly dark brown hair that stopped at his cheekbones, bright hazel eyes and warm tan skin, with slightly opaque freckles covering his cheeks. The kind you could only really see if you looked closely enough. He was also know for being practically blind, and wore glasses with a thin gold frame and rounded lenses. He had stronger build then Regulus remembered, though he did play soccer, so it made sense that he would work out. Regulus would never admit it, but he had a sort of infatuation with the boy. He felt like he could stare into his eyes for hours, study his face and count out all his freckles.

James then grabbed his luggage and made his way over with a slight jog, stopping when he was about a meter away to walk up and wrap Sirius in a hug from behind. Sirius jumped turning around to see who had just assaulted him from behind. Realizing who it was he started squealing like a child.

"PRONGS! YOU BASTARD, I'VE MISSED YOU!" he yelled as he hugged his best mate back.

Regulus watched as they hugged, feeling a tad bit jealous of Sirius, wishing James would hug him like that. James then pulled away from Sirius, and gave Regulus a hug as well. "Hello little Black, I hope you had a, uh, good summer as well." he said in a slightly nervous tone. Regulus slightly blushed and replied. "I did, toward the last few weeks we had lots of fun," He looked at Sirius making eye contact as Sirius looked away with somewhat of a guilty look in his eyes.

James turned around and look at Sirius as if asking what that look meant, but the elder Black brother ignored him, and continued talking to Peter about something. James looked back at Regulus and gave him a questioning look, to which he also ignored.

Sirius, James, and Peter were roommates at Hogwarts, and had all become quite close within the last few years of school there. The three of them were all in sixth form this year, while Regulus was just starting his eleventh year. This year Regulus was joining their dorm room, as him and Sirius had convinced headmaster Dumbledoor the year prior, telling the boys the only condition would be they would have to wait till the next semester. But that was today, so the wait was over.

The train arrived about 15 minutes after the four had met up, and they all walked in looking for an empty compartment to sit in. "Over here!" James yelled to Sirius. They made their way in and put their luggage in the compartments above, taking a seat.

Regulus pulled out a book and started reading while Peter scrolled on his phone with headphones in. James and Sirius talked about their summers for about an hour before Sirius decided to take a nap.

"Whatcha reading Reggie?" James asked him after about 5 minutes of silence. He looked up to answer, but instead got lost in James' eyes, staring in awe at the boy.

"Hello? Reg?" He snapped out of it looking around embarrassed. "Sorry, uh, what did you ask?" He asked sheepishly. "What book is that?" James asked, with a little smug smile staring into Regulus' eyes once more. His piercing, icy blue eyes. With his long black lashes that slowly blinked like they were trying to put you in a trance of sorts. He could get lost in his eyes all day, James thought before coming out of it. "Sorry what was it?"

"Jane Eyre." Regulus reapeted. "Are you okay? Do you feel ill or just have a staring problem?" he asked jokingly.

"I could ask you the same." James replied with the same little mischievous smirk.

Regulus rolled his eyes, and put the book closer to his face to hide the slight blush on his cheeks, embarrassed that James had seen him staring.

This awkward tension had been happening since around middle of last year, when the two boys had gotten closer. It has only gotten more awkward since, and Regulus hated it. Hated how he had no control over his emotions.

An hour passed and Sirius woke up, instantly starting a conversation with James again. Regulus put his book down and stood up to scramble through his luggage, looking for his pack of cigarettes. He found them and his lighter, closed his bag, shoved them into his pocket, and went to leave the compartment before Sirius asked him where he was going.

"Im going for a quick smoke on the balcony." he replied, trying to rush out the compartment before anyone could say anything more to him.

He was quite overwhelmed with the tension that him and James had, he wasn't sure if Sirius had caught on yet but he thought he saw Peter side-eyeing them, looking like he was trying to hold back his laughter earlier when James had asked him what book he was reading.

He stepped outside and cuffed his had around the cigarette trying to light it, but wasn't succsesful as the wind from moving fastly on the train was making it difficult.

All of a sudden there were hands that were definitly not his cuffing the ciggarette. He turned around startled, to see who it was just to be face to face with James Potter. "Smoking kills you know." He stated as he took the ciggarette out of his hands and lit it, taking a puff before handing it back to him.

"I'm very aware of that Jamie, I only really smoke when I'm stressed." He said in response.

"Why are you stressed?.. Does it have to do with you parents?" he asked, saying the second sentence more empathetically. Regulus froze up slightly, now more stressed then he was before at the mention of his parents.

"No, its fine I'm okay. Don't worry about it James." He replied trying to avoid that conversation.

He didnt want to think about them as they wouldn't be a problem for the next few months, until he and Sirius had to go home for the holidays. "Okay, but if you only smoke when you'r stressed, and your smoking right now, you must be stressed." James said leaning against the wall of the train.

Regulus took another puff before putting the cigarette out and throwing if off the train. "We're almost there, I think we should change into our uniforms." Regulus said. "You didnt answer me." James replied, looking into his eyes once more. Regulus started back for a few seconds before saying "I'm not smoking anymore, so I'm not stressed. End of discussion." before walking inside, leaving a worried James out on the balcony.

He walked back inside and went to the compartment to grab his uniform to change into, then made his way to the bathroom. James walked after him and sat back down in his seat. "Pads, is there something going on with Reggie?" James asked.

"I dont know Jamsie, honestly he's been acting off all summer, he's always been a worry work, but he's been getting stressed over the littlest of things, and, honestly.." Sirius paused, unsure if he should tell them this, seeing as it wasn't his business, but ultimately decided to, because it was affecting him too, and he needed someone to talk to about it.

"When he gets like that, he doesn't eat. Before Walaburga and Orion went off on their business trip, he wasn't eating almost at all, I was really worried. They didn't give a care in the world of corse, those evil sods.." James and Peter looked at him with faintly shocked expressions. He knew he noticed Regulus looked thinner then usual. Though both Black brothers were already on the thinner side, he looked almost sickly.

"Well.. is there anything we can do?" James asked. "I don't know, he wont admit that its even a problem. I have noticed he eats better when he has a clear mind though, so just try not to stress him, I suppose." Sirius said.

Just then Regulus walked back in the compartment in his uniform, and now James could see how much thinner he really got over the summer. His cheekbones stuck out far more than before, and his wrists were quite smaller, as well as his collarbones protruding out. James looked down, feeling slight dread settle in his stomach.

Was he really not eating? What was wrong with food, James loved food and if he was stressed he would eat to make himself feel better. He didn't understand Regulus' food problem, but one thing he did understand was that he needed, wanted to help.

Another hour or so passed and they had all put on their uniforms, grabbed their luggage and boarded off the train, arriving at their school. It was now sunset, and they made their way to their dorm. Peter and James started walking up to their door, feeling relieved to be home when James turned around and saw the brothers standing there, Sirius looking all giddy, while Regulus looked down at his feet all embarrassed.

"Is their something you wish to tell us guys?" Peter asked looking confused. "Regulus, go on." Sirius said, trying to encourage his little brother to not be shy.

"Well.. Me and Siri convinced Dumbledoor around the end of last year to let me room with him for his last year here, we just had to wait until, well, today." Regulus said looking up at the two boys, waiting for their reaction.

James and Peters faces lit up and they both ran up and hugged the year 11. "Aweee Reggie your such a cutie!" Peter said teasingly. Regulus rolled his eyes and they boys let go of the embrace, James keeping his hand on Regulus back for a second longer, making eye contact with the younger. Regulus glanced down at his lips for a split second before he pulled it away and actced like nothing had just happened.

"Right then.. off we go into our room!" Sirius said looking between Potter and his little brother skeptically. The four of them walked into the room, setting their stuff on the beds they wanted, before making their way to the dining hall for some dinner and the begginging of the semester speech from the headmaster.