Salvatore

Regulus walked into his third class of the day, which was the class he was looking forward to the most. He applied for early class registry just so he would be guaranteed to be able to finally take it this year. He scanned the room, trying to find an empty seat when he spotted a girl doodleing away in a small sketchbook. He sat down next to the girl and smiled at her. She had long, brown deadlocks, adorned with silver jewelry that stood out with her sharp grey eyes. She had deep brown skin that glowed in the light beaming through the window, and was wearing a cute purple dress that went down to her ankles with a white cardigan over it.

He had to admit, she was quite beautiful. He was slightly envious of it, but shoved that thought down as this wasnt the time for self pity. "Hey, I'm Dorcas! I love your backpack, where did you get it from?" The girl, who he now knew the name of asked. "Oh! Uh, I think I just ordered it online, I don't really remember, unfortunately, but I appreciate the compliment." He replied to Dorcas truthfully, as he really couldn't recall. "My name is Regulus, Regulus Black." He reached out to shake her hand, a formal greeting, which his father raised him to act on.

"Dorcas Meadows." She said as she shook his hand firmly.

"Alrighty!" The teacher at the front yelled while clapping her hands together, getting the classes attention. "Welcome to Psychology 1!"

Sirius waltzed into the lunchroom giddily, smiling brightly as he looked around for his friends and brother. He spotted Peter, sitting alone on his phone at their usual spot. "Hey Pete, where are the others?" Peter looked up and looked around before talking. "I don't know I got here about five minutes ago or so and couldn't find anyone." Sirius got up, slightly worried as Regulus was usually quite punctual, but ultimately decided he was over thinking it. Shrugging it off, he went to get a plate for himself, and Regulus.

"Hey, Siri! Over here!" He turned around and saw James and Regulus waiting in line. "Oh, there you guys are. I was starting to get a little worried, honestly. Regulus your always on time for anything." He stated. "I got caught up after class with a girl I sit next to is all," He replied annoyed at Sirius' unnecessary panic, "No need to worry." Sirius hummed and stood next to them in line, earning a few judgemental eyes from the people behind them as he had cut them off.

The three of them went to go sit down and eat. Regulus had grabbed a plate of barbeque chicken and some milk. Feeling good about the day ment feeling good about eating. "James, do you know when tryouts are?" Sirius asked his friend, hoping to be able to go to support him. "Not sure yet, coach will release the date sometime around noon tomorrow." He replied with a mouthful of food. Regulus rolled his eyes at his lack of manners. Suddenly a group of girls walked behind them and started snickering and whispering to each other looking at them.

"What the hell was that about?" Peter asked, confused. "No idea mate, but it was properly rude!" James replied eyeing them as they huddled away together. All regulus could focus on was if they were laughing at him or not. 'Why would they be laughing at me, is there something on my face? My shirt? Is there something wrong with my hair?' he thought. He looked down at his plate and suddenly felt sick.

"Im going to go up to the dorms for free period now, me and Pandora have it together so she will be in there with me hanging out." He said as he got up taking his practically full plate with him, throwing it in the trash. "Reg, I have free time this period too, wait up!" James yelled out jumping up with his last wing in his mouth and grabbing his water bottle, making his way over to Regulus.

Sirius could only think about how his brother had maybe 3 bites of his food before those girls did that, and felt his heart get heavy. Peter looked at Sirius and gave him a side hug. "It will all be okay mate, I'm sure of it, as long as he has you." He said trying to reassure the elder brother. Peter always seemed to know. "God Pete, I hope so."

James and Regulus arrived at the dorm, seeing Pandora sitting outside next to the door on her phone. "Hey Panda!" Regulus said causing the girl to look up and smile at her friend. "Reggie, James, hello." She greeted them both. "Hey Pandora, I have free time this period as well so if you don't mind I'm going to spend it with you both?" He asked, trying to make it so that they both knew if they didn't want him here, he would leave. "Of course James, your welcome to hang out with us always." Regulus said, trying to reassure the boy that he was wanted here. "Yes! The more the merrier!" Pandora said. "Great."

Regulus was working on his summer reading assignment he had forgotten to do, just as always, seeing as being in the Black residence for too long was very diminishing on your mental health and memory. James was on his laptop with his headphones in watching 'Funny Dog Videos' on YouTube, laughing every now and then, while Pandora was sitting on the end of Regulus' bed reading a book titled 'twilight' on the cover with hands holding a very red apple. Pandora swore on everything it was a good book, but Reg had heard otherwise from many.

"Reg, what are you doing again?" Pandora asked curiously as she put her book down on the bed. "The summer reading assignment, I forgot all about it until today. I have English Lit first period and the teacher told us it was due Friday, so I need to start it now and work on it until." He explained. "Us sixth formers don't have to worry about that this year. They don't make us do that at this school, so this will be the last year you both have to worry about it." James boasted, glad he didn't have to fret about it over the summer.

"I did mine the first week of break, figured it would be best to get it out of the way." Pandora stated. Regulus rolled his eyes and groaned, annoyed. "Good for you both, but I need to focus on this right now, because I didn't do it over the summer, and I do have to worry about it, and I have to do it right now." He said aggressively, causing the other two to look away awkwardly. Regulus looked up, realizing he was being rude and sighed. "Im sorry I'm being mean. I'm just stressed, I shouldn't have taken it out on you though, I'm glad you both don't have to do this right now as its quite annoying." He explained, guiltily.

"It's okay Reg, I get it, I always used to wait 'till last minute as well." James said reasurlinly as Pandora nodded, agreeing. "What book are you doing it on?" Regulus grabbed the book off the bed and held it out for them to see "Its called The Ice Maiden by B.D. Smith, honestly kinda boring so far." James took the book from his hands turning it to the back before he looked up at Regulus smiling. "I read this in my year nine! I can help you if you want? Its quite boring in the begining, but it gets better." He said smiling brightly at the younger. Regulus felt heat rise to his cheeks as he looked away, coughing to hide his blush. "Uh- yeah, yeah I would appreciate that Jamie.. Thanks." He said and he tried to control his blush. Pandora looked between the two, smirking lightly and shaking her head as she pulled out her phone to text someone.

Later on during the day, Regulus and Peter were sitting in the dorm, Peter drawing something on his art tablet, while Regulus was reading his book, and working on his project. Sirius and James barged into the room laughing and joking about something most likely that only the two of them would find funny. "Reg, Pete, we were just going to the courtyard to-" He started laughing again, which caused the other boy to burst out in giggles. "-to, to meet up with Mary, and Siri-" James was cut off by the other boy, as he couldn't stop laughing. "I think I met my soulmate!" Sirius declared, dramatically.

It then dawned upon Regulus -though he could tell the moment they crashed into the room honestly- that these two were utterly drunk as skunks.

Peter looked up from his tablet, with an awestruck expression. "What are you lot going on about?" He asked confused at the boys antics. James then stumbled over to his bed, falling onto it with an 'oof', laying on his stomach with his face buried in his pillow. Sirius started explaining to Peter about a boy named Remus, and how he collided with the boy and "Instantly fell in love", whatever that means.

James rolled onto his side, facing Regulus on top his bed. The older eyed him up and down, mouth opening slightly, before making his way to his eyes. He started at him for a few seconds, the two making intense eye contact. Regulus could feel the heat rising up his neck at the tension. He looked away and stood up, walking over to the bathroom to take a shower.

When he returned, he saw James and Sirius passed out on their beds, and Peter drawing away on his tablet yet again. He walked over to his bed and cleaned up his project he had forgotten about after.. whatever that was with James.. Why would James look at him like that? He wasn't worthy of someone looking at him like that. He definitely was not a beautiful as Lily Evans, or Dorcas Meadows, so why would he look at him like he was? Was he just drunk and Regulus was overthinking it all? Probably. He layed down and decided to try to sleep.

He woke up at four-thirty am to a nightmare. Shooting out of bed frantically, he collected his surroundings before looking for his phone to see what time it was. He let out a relieved sigh, realizing it was just a dream, and where he was. Where he was. He was at Hogwarts, safe. He was safe, and it was just a dream. It was just a dream. It wasn't real. It was just a dream. He was safe, it was just a dream. Just a dr-

"Reg?" He looked over to see James rubbing his eyes, as he sat up and put his glasses on. "Reg, what's going on? Are you okay? What time is it?" He asked still half asleep, reaching for his phone to check the time. Regulus froze up, not really knowing what to say or do. He felt awkward and guilty that James had woken up from his post-nightmare panic. "Don't worry Jamie, just a bad dream, Im alright." He finally responded after a few seconds of James looking at him concerned.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He asked the younger, hoping for a 'yes'. "Not really.. Sorry for waking you up though." Regulus replied, not wanting to relive the bad dream. James paused to gather his thoughts, before responding. "Do you want a hug?" Regulus felt butterflies in his chest at the question. He thought of something to say back without completely exposing himself to his crush.

"How did that turn out last night? You must remember. My brother chased you around the dorms with a pillow the next morning? Ring any bells?" He asked sarcastically. He would of liked a hug from the other, but was scared of his feelings for the boy, that he couldn't seem to control. He declined in a way James wouldn't be able to read his mind.

"Right, thats- yeah fair point. Yes I recall." He said as he sat up, turning on his phone light. "Well, I'm not going to be able to fall back asleep." He sighed, as he threw his shoes and a jacket on, turning around to look at Regulus. "Would you like to join me for a walk?" He asked, motioning his head towards the door. "Sure, why not." Regulus replied with a sigh, throwing on his shoes and a sweater, before the two made their way quietly out the door.