Chapter 2
R.A.B, September 17th 1975, Monday
To say that Regulus was horrified would have been the understatement of the century.
Apparently, Potter was very weak at heart. He had lasted fourteen days before he came around to bother Regulus once again.
There were two main reasons that this was so irritating: firstly, the brunette was the epitome of the term ‘annoying popular jock’. He must have thought he was the sun which the world revolved around, because no other explanation sufficed to explain the careless behavior he had been displaying since the morning. The second one was that he was a constant reminder of his brother’s absence. Anytime Regulus saw his freakishly messy brown hair paired with his uncharacteristically somber eyes somewhere within the castle, he got the urge to go lock himself in a room where he would continuously punch the walls until he bled out from each and every single one of his knuckles.
This morning, the latter reason became a crisis.
James had appeared by his side as he exited the Great Hall. If not for his astonishingly impressive self control, the shorter would’ve surely gasped.
James had a weary smile on his lips as he greeted Regulus who only nodded in acknowledgment.
“Can we talk?” The brunette asked.
Regulus sped up as he uttered that they were already talking.
“No, no. I mean like— sit down and talk, a proper conversation, yeah?” he elaborated.
The black haired boy swiftly snapped his head towards James with narrowed eyes. “And why would I agree to that?” he queried.
“Because Sirius,” he retorted immediately, and his tone was sharper now. Regulus felt something deep within him tense at the sudden change.
He seemed to ponder the idea of joining the taller on a civilized conversation before halting abruptly and turning to face the taller, amidst the rush of students all around. James almost fell as he tried not to trip onto Regulus. “You don’t have any information to offer me about his whereabouts,” he simply stated.
The brunette raised a brow suspiciously. “And how do you know that I don’t?” he mused, smirking playfully.
The black haired boy rolled his eyes. “Because I know everything, which means that anything you might know, which is nothing, I already know.”
James took a step towards the Slytherin. “That’s cocky,” he chuckled.
“No, that’s honest.”
“I’m asking for twenty minutes of your time, tops.”
“Those are twenty minutes that I do not have, Potter.”
James took another step towards him, and Regulus swallowed dry. He didn’t fear the boy, but the air around them felt thick and he was getting crushed beneath it the closer the taller got. He guessed that it was some eerie spell to pressure individuals to cooperate.
“I’m asking as Sirius’s best friend,” he pleaded, and his voice was basically a pitch above what could be considered a whine.
“This is not a restaurant. You don’t make reservations and get privileges for knowing the owner.”
“Please,”
“No.”
“Regulus.”
“Non.”
James was almost annoyed now. He was about to take another step towards Regulus, when a torso split them apart. Just like that, Regulus could breathe again. It was Barty.
“Piss off Potter,” he barked at James, who had an unfamiliar look in his eyes.
“How about you don’t meddle in shit that doesn’t concern you, how about that, Crouch?” he barked back, and this time, took a step towards Barty. Regulus’s shoulders tensed as he recognised the stiff movements James was displaying. Unlike his approach towards Regulus, he had a fierce, yet distant look in his eyes.
“Right, both of you, back off now,” Regulus said with a warning tone. They had started gathering a crowd around themselves, which meant that any moment now, a teacher would become aware of the situation.
An even taller brunette than James, Remus Lupin, was pushing through the crowds to get to them, most likely to calm James down.
Barty sneered at the glassed boy, and also took a step forward. Anyone who wasn’t blind could see them flexing their fists, mostly getting ready to throw a punch.
Regulus turned towards the crowd again to find that Remus was doing the same, trying to meet Regulus’s eyes. The taller had his wand in his hand, so the black haired boy followed, reaching for his wand, ready to cast a spell at any moment.
Finally, Remus pushed the last student, a third year Gryffindor, out of his way and called out to James. He didn’t even acknowledge the werewolf, who had gotten to his side, pulling him backwards by the arm. Regulus did the same to Barty.
Regulus heard snippets of what the brunette had been whispering to the one with glasses: “Just stop… He doesn’t know… In trouble again, Minnie… Stop it mate.”
Barty muttered a bunch of inaudible curses beneath his breath.
Just as they separated the two approximately five steps apart, James shook Remus off and turned to shout at Regulus.
“Regulus!”
The black haired boy bit his tongue and prayed to Godric for any form of patience. This man was driving him insane. Barty almost clapped back when Regulus beat him to it. “Potter,” he replied suspiciously, calmly.
“The Mark. We need to talk, now,” he retorted.
Regulus’s face paled and he unwillingly loosened his grip on Barty.
Remus’s expression was similar to his, but he looked more worried about the heavy silence that had been created despite the numerous students in the hall.
Without a word, Regulus threw himself towards James before grabbing him by the forearm and leading him away somewhere no one would bother them.
He knew they were missing class, but that did not matter.
How the fuck had he learned about the Mark? Sirius was away, and even if he was not, he never would have told anyone about it. Maybe their parents? But why? Maybe to drive Sirius and Potter apart in hopes that Sirius would ‘come to his senses’. But would James even believe them? How the fuck had he known?
He became aware of how far he had dragged the taller away once James tugged at him, causing him to come to a stop. They had, somehow, gone all the way out to the 7th Floor of the castle.
“So?” James asked, as if he were demanding answers he was entirely entitled to.
Regulus had dragged him out all the way here, sure, but he had no clue what to say. So, he did what he knew best, he stayed quiet. He silently stared into James’s eyes with pure terror all over his expression.
The brunette was more impatient than ever. “Regulus? Tell me, come on,”
He was once again met with silence.
James bit his lower lip as he chuckled humorlessly. “So you are just like them, aren’t you? I don’t know why I ever assumed otherwise,”
“Look, Potter, there are things you— wait, what?” Regulus found himself stumbling upon his words. Suddenly, color climbed back to his face. James did not know, no. Calmer now, the black haired boy grounded himself as he asked the taller what he was talking about.
James rolled his eyes, and spoke with a mocking tone: “Godrick, Black, you really are good at playing stupid. I said, what do you think about the Dark Mark,”
The shorter was relieved, maybe even a little too relieved, by this. He kept his facade up as he answered: “Potter, learn to formulate a question before trying to hurt my feelings, yeah? As for the Dark Mark, I don’t find that we have a relation important enough to discuss that.”
“So you think what Death Eaters do is okay?”
“Never said that.”
“So you’re against it?”
The shorter one stared at James with a blank expression. How stupid could one be? “I never said that either.”
The brunette looked confused, however much less tense than ten minutes prior, in the hall. “Wait, I don’t get it. Are you for or against them?”
“None of your business.”
James looked as if he wanted to protest, but he had a defeated look in his eyes. “Alright… I think I know something that might help find Sirius.”
Regulus was actually semi-interested in something the other had to say for the first time ever. “Go on then,” he urged him.
He looked somewhat uneasy as his eyes searched their surroundings, which were empty. Still he couldn’t be sure that they were alone. “I don’t think—“ James started, but Regulus cut him off. It was too dangerous to speak about it out in the open.
“Yeah, I know. Not now.” The black haired Slytherin said as he nodded, signaling that he understood why the taller was uneasy.
The brunette swallowed dry as he shot him a look that asked him how they would solve their predicament which meant that whatever James knew must’ve been important.
Regulus pondered quietly for a minute before he spoke again. “I’m going to do a few rounds around the pitch. Join me?”
It kind of offended the shorter to see the absolute astonishment on the brunette’s face when he received the invitation. “Like a hang out?” he asked innocently, his eyes as wide as a puppy’s.
Regulus wanted to scream at him, ask him how idiotic he was, how could someone so stupid have such grades? Instead, he kept his calm as he kindly answered James. “You know how I enjoy being up in the air and out in the open, yeah.”
“You… oh. Oh!”
It was somewhat endearing to watch him comprehend what he meant. As it turned out, it was even more striking to see him smile because of how proud he was of himself. Regulus almost smiled.
The brunette followed him across the empty halls. Everyone was supposedly in class, Regulus had noted to himself. That did not truly reassure him that they were alone. He could still feel a pair of eyes on them. The eerie thing was, the black haired boy could not figure out from what direction they were being spied on.
He was seemingly a little too preoccupied by this train of thought, because he completely missed the pair of teachers who were roaming the halls. It was a somewhat unusual pair, though. Professor Binns and Professor Dumbledore were taking a stroll around the castle it seemed. Regulus was sure he would not have been able to duck behind the corner of the hall had it not been for James, who had harshly yanked him by his forearm.
The two instructors stopped.
“Albus, did you hear that?” asked the sleep inducing voice of Professor Binns.
Dumbledore hummed suspiciously, Regulus could practically envision his stoic expression. “No pupil shall roam around these halls at this time. Surely, every student knows that. We must’ve heard wrong,” he reassured the ghost, who seemed to believe the wise man, which Regulus judged him for. How could Binns assume that he and Dumbledore were on a first name basis, when he did not even know how to read between the lines of the bearded man’s well-thought out words. Dumbledore clearly meant that he was well aware of the presence of students within the halls, but opted to neglect them as they were simply unthreatening.
As the Slytherin racked his brain for a way to get them out of their predicament, as the two teachers approached, he was dragged into a room through a door he could have sworn on his life had not been behind him moments prior. He instinctively pushed down the urge to let out a blood curdling scream, because James, the idiot he was, had dragged him into the room whilst covering his mouth. He wanted to prevent any sound Regulus could potentially rip out from his throat by doing this, but simply capturing his attention by tugging at his sleeve and then showing him the door would have been a much easier way.
Two things stood out about the room right off the bat.
First of all, the room couldn’t have been used for any classes currently taught at Hogwarts. The humongous library, a singular workspace, an armchair, a couch, and a bulletin board did not bear any resemblance to any other rooms within the castle that were being actively used. Despite this, every corner of it was in pristine condition, as if it were newly built, renovated, and decorated.
Secondly, the two windows, which were parallel to the entrance of the room, and maybe a meter away from each other, each displayed remarkably different settings. The window on the right, by the side of the library and the armchair, showed the scenery Regulus was used to seeing in his dorm, within the dungeons. Whereas the window to the left of the room, where there were the couch, desk, and bulletin board, opened to a mesmerizing, and also overwhelming, view of the Hogwarts grounds. The view was from one of the towers that served as a Common Room and therefore dormitory. Guessing by the fact that the right side belonged to Regulus’s dormitory window, the left must’ve belonged to James’s.
The brunette seemed clueless as to what the room before him was, but that was alright, Regulus expected less than the bare minimum from him nowadays. For Sirius, he would tell himself every time he wanted to strangle James Potter.
“Okay, honestly, I barged into the first room I saw, so I’ve got zero clues as to where we are,” admitted James with a sheepish smile.
Regulus rolled his eyes. “Of course you did, Potter. Wouldn’t expect any less than you,” he muttered as he freed himself from the awkward position they had been in as James dragged him inside.
“I’m not all bad, you know,” said the brunette as he adjusted his glasses.
The younger hummed. He was too busy searching the books to get a hang of what kind of information was stored within the great library.
They fell into a heavy silence that was only disturbed by the floors creaking every few steps they took, and the sound of their breathing.
James had started playing around with the windows, casting numerous illusion spells to get a grasp of what kind of magic was at play, but it was futile.
After having searched every single bookshelf within the room, Regulus set five books on the desk. James curiously approached the table and awaited an explanation from the shorter.
“The books aren’t half bad, which is why around twenty percent of them belong in the restricted section of the school library, another thirty percent consists of books forbidden all over the magical community, and the final fifty percent are books that are supposedly allowed but not within the school grounds. Besides a few, of course,” Regulus explained as James nodded along like an excited toddler. “Protection Charm Your Mind: A Practical Guide to Counter Legilimensy is the first out of five books that might be useful. If they find out about this… self-assigned mission I have…”
If the family found out that he sought after his ‘disobedient, ungrateful, traitorous, and disappointing’ brother with a Gryffindor, and more importantly, a Potter, he might just drown himself in the Black Lake the next time he was nearby as well. He could otherwise already feel the tingling pain of a few powerful hexes being thrown at him by his Mother and Father.
“Regulus..? Oi, are you alright..? You blanked on me there for a second,” James called to him with such a soothing voice that Regulus’s worries somehow melted away for a second.
He blinked rapidly before swallowing dry. He stumbled upon his words before picking up where he had left off. “Yes, well. As I was saying, if they learn about this—”
“Who exactly is ‘they’?”
“Anyone, but our families especially.”
“What does that have to do with mind reading stuff?”
Ah, Regulus thought, of course no normal family uses such spells on their children.
He envied the naivety and the innocence in James’s voice. It became more and more apparent to him why Sirius loved this boy so much. He was all his older brother wished to be. He was happy, loved by all, proud of every single letter in his name, brilliant in some ways, and clueless to all that was wrong with their world.
It was at that moment that Regulus felt a deep feeling of guilt sink into every crevice of his pale skin for dragging the brunette into this. He felt responsible for being the one who might ruin James Potter’s image of the world. He felt guilty because he might ruin Sirius’s best friend in order to, safely, help Sirius. Was it worth it? Should he risk it and hope to Godric that James would stay as he was? Or should he just ask him to give up on this?
James’s brows were furrowed in concern as he put a warm hand on Regulus’s shoulder. “Okay, you’re starting to creep me out. Are you sick? Should I go get someone? Pandora maybe? I’m sure she knows what to do—”
All the shorter could manage was ‘bucket’ (which appeared in front of him in seconds, no thanks to James) before his breakfast left his stomach. Alright, my body is shutting down from exhaustion, or stress, or both. That’s proper amazing.
“Oh. Oh, okay. Maybe sit down? I’ll get someone, if that’s okay—”
“No, Potter, it’s not okay, so sit your ass down, alright? I’m not dying, I must’ve eaten something spoiled. Just let me finish, then we’ll see. And get that bucket away.”
Once again, before the brunette could act, the bucket disappeared into thin air.
The taller looked worried, but he did not dare protest. Honestly, he was possibly scared of angering Regulus to a point where he threw up again. The black haired boy cleared his throat, souring his face as he tasted the fresh vomit all over his mouth.
“Forget about this book, fine. Nothing for you to worry about,” he said. If James had a problem with that, he didn't let it show. “I grabbed Hogwarts: A History, this is to figure out where the fuck we are.” The brunette nodded eagerly.
Regulus quickly piled the Guide to Advanced Occlumency on top of the previous book on the topic he had decided to keep James out of for now.
The brunette watched intently, but didn’t ask about it this time.
“Secrets of the Darkest Arts is the book we’ll need if my family is responsible for Sirius’s disappearance.” The younger said as he tried to pretend to be unaware of the color that drained from the other’s face just at the idea of this.
“And lastly, I found something that you may not be too fond of, but I don’t care. I’m trying to find Siri, not appease your Gryffindor ego,” Regulus stated as he shrugged and tilted the book a bit so James could read the title.
“Oh.”
That was it. That was the only reaction James had given to seeing the real, original, one and only copy of the Slytherin Spellbook. Astonished as he was by James’s reaction, or rather his lack of reaction, Regulus knew better than to complain.
The brunette seemed awkward where he stood, but the younger couldn't have cared any less. He picked up one of the books on Occlumency and curled up on the arm chair.
It was comfortable, relaxing. The room suddenly did not feel so unknown. It felt nice and cozy. It might’ve been a home for someone, somewhere.
Wait, what?
What the fuck.
Regulus had to hold himself back with all his might to not throw the books away.
Where were they? Why had he forgotten that this was a room that did not exist within any map or piece of media he’s read about Hogwarts?
“James, where are we?” he asked.
The taller pursed his lips, but ultimately shrugged. “I don’t know, which is what I was telling you earlier,”
Right then, Regulus thought. He did not think to do a double take before storming towards the door. That was when James called out to him. Regulus turned around to look at him, one brow raised suspiciously as he saw that the brunette hadn’t moved by a single centimeter. “There actually is something you need to know that might help. ”
Something about his tone, his seriousness, made the shorter uneasy, but he stayed put as he listened patiently.
“And you can not tell anyone, because then we’re all screwed.”
Silence.
“I’m telling you this, because I really want to believe you’re looking for Sirius. You’re clearly better at this than I am. I’m telling you because Sirius trusts you,” James continued, not taking into account the weight of his words.
The younger’s brain was going up in flames in real time, despite his cold, neutral expression on the outside. Trust? Believing in me? Fuck me, fuck this, fuck you. That was all he could think, which might’ve been why he spoke without thinking when he asked aloud: “Did you do something that might get you into Azkaban? Because I swear to Godric, if Sirius is in that shithole—”
“Not exactly. Not yet. I hope not yet, anyways.”
Alright, enough was enough. The brunette was going to drive him insane. Why couldn’t he just get to the point? Regulus turned away from the door, taking dangerously threatening steps towards the taller. He reached for his wand at the same time as he took one final stride. He lightly slammed his upper body onto James’s.
Regulus had his wand to James’s neck, and James was squashed between the desk and him.
“Get to the chase, Potter. Either that or say bye to your precious eyes, yeah?” The younger threatened as he dug the wand deeper into his neck.
He watched James’s Adam's apple bob.
The brunette, however, did not seem phased enough by the position he was in. “How about you take that off of my neck and we talk like normal people,” he suggested, despite his voice coming out in a more demanding tone.
Regulus narrowed his eyes and dug the wand deeper again. It was sure to leave behind a bruise. “No, thank you,”
James looked down at the shorter with an unreadable expression. Before Regulus could wrap his head around the fact that James was actually capable of looking void of emotion, he realised that his wand had been knocked out of his hand, and James was smirking smugly.
“Next time, watch my hands instead of my eyes, love,” he teased as he played with both their wands in each hand. Regulus felt the blood rise to his face, pure ire coursing through his veins. Since when had James Potter gotten cocky instead of being the people pleaser of the school?
The Slytherin took a step backwards, grounded himself by digging a nail into his palm, before he spoke. “Potter. Tell me what the fuck you’re talking about.”
To this, his entire playfulness drained from his body, his shoulders going stiff. “Right. We were, sort of…”
“Sort of..?”
“Sort of talking...”
“About?”
“About illegal stuff.”
“James,” Regulus tried with an unsure tone. “What did you do?”
The brunette gaped his lips, but the words did not dare leave his mouth. He seemed to have lost his voice. “He told me that, uhm, your parents wanted him to do something.”
“Oh,” was all that the shorter could muster, because he knew very well what James meant.
He sneered a little. “You’re a proper liar, then? You lied about asking me what I think of the Dark Mark, because you were too much of a coward to admit you knew about that?”
James looked guilty, but he spoke anyways. “It wasn’t a total lie. Plus, none of that matters right now. I think Sirius ran away to avoid that.”
“Why do you say it like that?”
“Like what?”
“Like that. Just say it. Say, I think Sirius ran away to avoid getting the Dark Mark.”
James’s eyes shone less now. Apparently, saying it aloud and explicitly only made it scarier. He swallowed again. “… I can’t. And anyways, we’re getting off topic. I just wanted you to know— though, you apparently do know.”
“Told you. There’s nothing you know about Sirius that I don’t.” Regulus shrugged. He tried to act casual, but saying that had taken him a lot of courage. What if it wasn’t true? What if Regulus had watched his brother slip away from in between his finger tips?
The brunette had a fond smile tugging at his lips when he retorted, however. “Yeah, I know. Still worth a try.”
The younger raised a brow, waiting for James to contradict him, but he never did. He felt validated like never before. Of course, James could never know about that.