Chapter 5
[James POV]
Remus, Sirius, and James were watching football when it happened. James wanted to change the channel at a commercial break, just to check the scores of another game. Sirius was curled up against Remus’ side and James had the chair beside them, a cup of tea in his hand because he refused to drink alcohol or coffee.
He flipped to the next channel and his heart stopped.
The last name ‘Black’ stared at him from the bottom of the screen. There was a man above the name with the same dark hair as Sirius, the same closed-off resting face, the same hints of a french accent.
“What the fuck,” Sirius breathed, and James had to agree. What the fuck.
“It would appear your sibling is in a band. With Pandora,” Remus summarized. James remembered the name from years ago, something about Remus’ old best friend from before he moved. He didn’t particularly care about the woman, not when the man beside her looked like that.
“Alya?” Sirius whispered.
Remus hummed, “No, it says Regulus. Did you know…?”
Sirius shook his head. “I didn’t know. I didn’t know. Oh, god, d’you think he came out in that house?”
James knew about Sirius’ childhood, of course he did. He knew about the yelling and the starving and the hitting. When Sirius had arrived on his doorstep in middle school, James welcomed him with open arms. James’ mom had always wanted a big family, and she was more than happy to house a child from James’ class without anywhere else to go. When no one came looking for Sirius, they’d adopted him as an official family member.
James and Sirius transferred to a school closer to the Potters’ house and Sirius adapted to the change slowly but surely. It was rare that Sirius mentioned his sibling, so rare that James didn’t know of their existence until they were in high school and Sirius drank himself stupid at a party they snuck into. Remus and James carried him home while he cried about being a terrible brother.
James saw the way Sirius stared the TV down, he saw the set of the man’s jaw and the faraway look in his eyes, and he knew Sirius was going to do something stupid.
[Pandora POV]
Regulus wasn’t well, that much was obvious to anyone with eyes, but there was something about his episode in the hotel bathroom that shook Pandora to her core. She was familiar with Reggie’s mental health struggles and PTSD, but they were entering territory she’d only witnessed twice, and both those instances ended with a trip to the hospital in the back of an ambulance.
When he stopped breathing, Pandora’s heart stuttered too fast in her chest. His body went slack after a minute, but when his breathing resumed, it was a bit too shallow to be healthy. She let out a breath of her own and shuddered; no matter how many times she saw them, Regulus’ panic attacks were terrifying.
Barty and Evan were equally disheveled, blinking at Regulus’ too thin, too pale, unconscious form. “Good lord,” Evan muttered, scrubbing a hand down his face. Pandora nodded and rubbed her eyes. Her hands came back wet.
“What triggered that one?” Pandora asked, her voice a ghost of what it usually was.
Barty and Evan shared a glance riddled with guilt and confusion. Pandora rolled her eyes. “So, he wakes up, walks into the bathroom…then what?” She walked through the events of the short time Regulus had been awake.
Barty ran a hand through his hair. “Evan asks if he wants to, um…join. He shook his head and brushed his teeth.”
“Yeah, that’s all I can recall,” Evan said, cheeks tinged pink. Right, their focus was otherwise engaged. “He was just staring at his reflection.”
Pandora hummed, eyes slipping closed. “His brother…,” she breathed.
“That fucking asshole,” Barty hissed, and Pandora nodded. The fucking cunt who thought he could waltz back into Regulus’ life after everything.
Years ago, when Pandora’s family moved towns and she began primary school, she’d met a quiet boy with a big nose and a soft voice. He spoke little, and when he did, Pandora had to lean in to hear him. He liked to read, just like she did.
His presence was soothing, and though they didn’t talk much in each other’s company, they easily became friends. He’d introduced himself as Remus and offered to shake her hand. She giggled and returned the gesture.
“Interesting name—ancient Latin. Has no definite meaning.”
Remus had hummed and nodded, “yours is from greek mythology. I’m reading a book about the mythology behind the constellations.”
“May I read it once you’ve finished it?”
Remus smiled for the first time and Pandora grinned back.
They grew apart, as the years passed, but they still acknowledged each other when they crossed paths, and once in a while Pandora’s phone would ding with a message from the oldest number in her phone, always with a book title and an author. She always read them, even when they were haunting. Remus’ preferences had gotten darker and sadder as they grew, and Pandora wondered why. She sent the occasional book back, usually something soft and gut wrenchingly beautiful, and she hoped Remus read them.
When Pandora met Regulus, she thought he was fascinating. Remus had moved away, but Regulus, though a few years younger, reminded her of Remus. He was quiet, smart, and unequivocally observant—he was always watching the lives around him with perfect posture. She approached him one day at lunch when he was alone, and up close, he looked like a prince.
“Hi! Can I sit with you?”
The boy blinked.
“I’m Pandora!”
The boy nodded and introduced himself as Regulus, and when they parted ways at the end of the day, Regulus’ scared gray eyes stayed in her head. They looked so out of place in school, but when she asked her mother why the boy looked so frightened, she received no response.
She learned why, of course, in time.
Remus lived conveniently close to the hotel, a fact Pandora learned from stalking a mutual’s facebook page while Evan leaned over her shoulder. Sirius was in quite a few of the photos, always touching Remus—an arm around his shoulders, around his waist, kissing his cheek—and matching rings shined on their hands. Impossible.
Evan let out a choked noise, “they’re fucking married?” Pandora’s mind was reeling, twisting and turning in time with her stomach. She knew what she had to do.
She pulled on a jacket and Evan pulled her into a hug. Barty waved from the bed where he was wrapped around Regulus’ sleeping body.
The walk was a mess of alleys and dented street signs, but the house her phone guided her to was surprisingly put together. The outside was brick, the door was framed with carefully trimmed flowerbeds, and the path to the driveway was lined by miscellaneous stones and pebbles. Pandora swallowed hard and approached the door.
There was a cacophony of noise following her knock, and after a moment, the door swung open to reveal a disheveled man Pandora had never seen before. Did she get the address wrong?
“Hi!” The man exclaimed, beaming. You must be from Pads’ work, right? I’m James!” The man motioned for Pandora to come in, not waiting for a response before disappearing down the front hall.
Pandora blinked once, twice, three times. Might as well, she decided, stepping into the picture-perfect house. Inside, the house was quaint and far from the trimmed perfection the outside maintained; the picture frames on the walls were crooked, there were miscellaneous shoes scattered around the door, and the rug beneath Pandora’s feet was wrinkled in half a dozen places.
From somewhere in the house, Pandora heard James holler: “Pads! Get your mangy ass down here! Your coworker is here!”
Moving further through the hallway, Pandora found James in the kitchen, scrubbing the counter profusely. She had half a mind to ask why he was using a wood cleaner on a marble countertop, but footsteps down the hall captured her attention. Or, rather, the man they belonged to did.
“Sirius will be down in a minute, sorry—”
Pandora met the man’s eyes and his words died in the air, his jaw hanging agape.
Remus.
“Panda?”
“Hey, Lulu,” she said, matching Remus’ whisper.
Remus’ face split into a grin and he stepped forward, engulfing Pandora in a tight hug. “I’ve missed you,” he said, not pulling away.
The man smelled like smoke and pine, just like he had in grade school. Pandora fought the tears in her eyes, the unexpected tidal wave of emotion Remus’ embrace dragged from the depths of her mind consuming her.
"That's where I recognize you from!" James exclaimed, "you were on TV with your band, right?"
Pandora pulled away from Remus and gave James a pinched smile, but before she could respond, footsteps again sounded in the hall.
“My coworker is coming tomorrow, you doofus,” a familiar voice said, and Pandora tensed, her determination and anger returning at once.
Remus pulled away and turned to the newest presence in the kitchen. “Honey, this is Pandora. She was my best friend before I moved.”
Sirius and Pandora’s eyes locked and the man went pale. There were deep eye bags under his eyes, his cheekbones stuck out, and his hair was frizzy and knotted.
He looked terrible.
Remus turned from Pandora’s glare to Sirius’ shaking hands, and Pandora dared either of them to speak. She wanted it to be Sirius who broke the silence, just so she could tell him to shut up. She wondered if she’d make him cry.
“Pandora—”
“Shut up,” she hissed, jaw clenched tight. The room went still, even James stopped his fruitless scrubbing.
Remus’ mouth was open but no sound came out. Pandora was glad.
Pandora stepped closer to the man she’d come to confront and crossed her arms over her chest, never once breaking eye contact. “Did you really think you could just show up, unannounced, at the concert and Regulus would be happy to see you?”
Sirius’ head jerked to the side in a sad excuse for an answer.
“What did you think would happen, Sirius? Why the fuck would Regulus want you back in his life after everything you’ve done? Remus is an old friend, but I’m here for you, Sirius,” she spat the name with every ounce of venomous hatred she could muster, “because you’ve crossed a line.” Pandora paused, breathing heavily. The three men in the room were still frozen in place. “I think you know exactly what you did last night, don’t you? You know exactly what line you crossed and you know why I’m here.”
She took a deep breath and ran a hand through her hair, massaging her temples for a moment—she could feel a migraine forming.
“I think you’ll find it in your best interest to stay the fuck away from all of us, especially Regulus. He doesn’t want anything to do with you, and he doesn’t owe you anything.”
Pandora turned to Remus and gave him as warm of a smile as she could muster. “The last book you sent was positively devastating. I think it’s one of my favorites.”
Remus nodded, only half following her words, if his pinched brows were anything to go off of. “It was, as always, a pleasure to see you, Remus. We should get lunch sometime.”