James was sitting down to eat and grade some tests as the girls came in. They came to see him most days, sometimes sitting in the empty classroom when he ate lunch with Regulus, it wasn’t really allowed but they never caused any trouble or made a mess, they just liked having a quiet place to sit and talk.
It’s why he wasn’t surprised to see them and he wasn’t surprised to hear they were talking about a boy.
“He’s mad fit.” Carrie groaned. She had dark brown hair, almost black and it was almost always up in some complicated hairstyle that looked like it took hours.
“D’you think he’s seeing anyone?” Lisa said, her enormous glasses overpowered her face but the dark green of the frames looked well against her dark skin.
“He’s so young looking, I doubt he’s married.” Valarie said looking at her nails.
“Unmarried doesn’t mean untaken.” Heather smirked. Heather played with her skirt which was, in James’ opinion, way to short. “If he’s not wearing a ring, he’s up for grabs.”
James smiled to himself, despite their oddities, the girls had character. “Who are you talking about?”
“The new teacher. Mr. Black. He’s gorgeous, sir. You don’t understand.”
“Ah.”
“You know him, right?”
“I do.”
“It’s only a few weeks into the semester and I’ve fallen in love with him. D’you know if he’s seeing anyone?” Lisa asked eagerly.
The girls all stared at him, rapt.
Reluctantly he responded “He is engaged. Getting married next winter.”
“Oh.” The girls all said in unison.
Heather dropped into the chair on the other side of his desk and huffed. “There go my plans.”
“He’s a bit old for you.” Valarie said.
“Love knows no age.” Heather replied haughtily.
“It should. It’s illegal.”
“How old is he anyway?” Carrie walked around the room, she wore similar style to Sirius, always wearing black and silver. Her heavy boots marking her movement as she stomped around.
“Twenty-six.” James replied. He was only half listening, still trying to get some work done. “Is there a reason you are all in here?”
“Free period.” Valarie said, gently kicking the leg of the chair Heather was sitting on.
“Boredom.” Lisa smiled.
“Gossip?” Heather said.
“Okay, but why here? There are other teachers with off periods. And don’t try to tell me maths is your favourite subject; I know it isn’t.”
“You’re friends with, like, every teacher in school. We knew you’d know about him.”
“Also, maths may be torture on par with, I dunno, beheading, but you’re nice. So, we put up with it.”
James smiled. “Well, thank you. I appreciate that.”
“What else can you tell us about him.” Heather leaned an elbow on the table blinking innocently up at him.
“Nothing. He’s a very private person. I probably shouldn’t even have told you what I have. If you want to know something about him, go ask him.”
“Boo!” Heather exclaimed.
“Come on give us something!”
“No.”
“Anything. Does he have a kid? What’s his favourite colour? His favourite meal? Favourite vacation spot?”
Heather giggled. “Does he live nearby? How does he feel about seeing students? What are his kinks?”
James sighed. “Alright. To stop the wildly inappropriate questioning I’ll just tell you this. He’s seeing someone at the school.”
“A student!” Heather gasped.
“No! A teacher.” James said, half-amused, half-terrified. Teenage girls were insane.
“Oh my god! Interesting. I wonder who.” Valarie said, absently plaiting Heathers hair.
“We have lots of teachers, it’s a relatively big school.”
“Yeah, but half of them are women.”
“Isn’t he gay?” Carrie wondered aloud, looking at a lesson written on the blackboard he had forgotten to wipe off. The other girls ignored her.
“He seemed pretty close with Mrs. Lovegood.” Lisa said.
“She’s married with a kid.” Carrie said, again they ignored her.
“And Ms. Evans.”
“And Ms. Meadows.”
“No, I think Ms. Meadows is seeing Ms. McKinnon.” Carrie added, yet again, her words were ignored.
“What about Ms. MacDonald?” Lisa said.
“Oh, yes! She’s gorgeous. They would look so well together.”
James laughed at their antics. At first, he had felt bad about saying something, he hadn’t been lying when he said Regulus was extremely private. He was so private he hadn’t told anyone that James had proposed, James was the one that did all the telling. When James had asked why he didn’t tell anyone he had responded “I hate bragging.” Which pleased James inordinately.
Listening to the girls argue about who Regulus could possibly be seeing was quite amusing, especially when all their guesses were women. They had no idea that Regulus’ fiancé was sitting in front of them.
When the bell rang the girls groaned and left, talking about potential partners and the tragedy that was, or would be, a married Mr. Black.
His next class of students came filtering in. Once they were all seated, he began the lesson.
**
The end of the day came quickly. So quickly that when the final bell rang it took him by surprise.
“Oh. Er, dismissed. No homework for the weekend, just studying for the text next Friday.”
The class groaned as they left and he grinned. He didn’t often take pleasure in his student’s unhappiness but he did find a little amusement in it. James began packing up his things as quickly as he could. He knew Regulus would wait for him but he didn’t want to leave him waiting for long. Hurrying down the hallway he met up with Remus and Sirius, both History teachers, one teaching modern history and one teaching ancient history.
“How are the Romans today?”
“Living under a monarchy.” Remus sighed. “The students keep asked when we will get to talk about Caesar. I had an entire class dedicated to Caesar but it was cancelled because enough people didn’t sign up.”
“Poor Moony. I’ll let you wax poetic about your favourite Roman Emperor.” Sirius pouted, putting his arm around his husband’s shoulder.
“How are modern times?” James laughed.
They turned down a narrow and dank hallway that always smelled of mildew where all of the English classrooms were located. The entire building was quite old but the basements and rooms closest to the lake seemed much older than the rest, and more poorly built. Very few modern conveniences over there.
“Shit. Lots of war, war crimes, crimes against humanity. I’m doing a week on the colonies, which isn’t enough time. The students seem sort of engaged. Marcus went on a very long rant about Imperialism and Colonialism today. Said everything, I wanted to say but I’m not allowed too. So that was nice.”
“Sounds like a cheerful class.” Regulus said, leaving his classroom as they got to the door.
“How was your first day?” James asked. He couldn’t help but notice the dark circles under his eyes and his frizzy curls.
“Fine.”
“Should we have a celebratory dinner?” Remus said.
“No. I have work to do. Maybe later this week?” Regulus gave James a weighted look. They had just finished filling out the paper work for a potential adoption. They were just signing up to be on a list but hopefully in the next few years they would have a baby. The woman at the agency had recommended signing up as soon as possible as the wait list was months long. The forms had been stressing the both of them out for weeks.
“Sure.”
“Aw. There’s a new restaurant that’s opened. I was looking forward to it.” Sirius pouted.
“We can have dinner later.” Remus chuckled. “James, have any interesting conversations today?”
James slid an arm over Regulus’ shoulders. “Er, I don’t think so?”
“Really? I have a few students in my class that were talking about Regulus. Heather and Lisa.”
“Oh god.”
“I thought that might jog your memory.” Remus laughed.
“Sorry, what’s happening?” Regulus frowned.
James dropped his arm from Regulus’ shoulders and sighed. “Four of my students in my second period year eleven class asked me about you. Specifically, whether or not you were single.”
“What did you say?”
“I said you were getting married.”
“He also let it slip that you were marrying another teacher in the school.”
Regulus shot James a glare that could melt metal. “Why.”
“I panicked. Also, I felt bad. I don’t think they’re going to get it though.”
“They’re going to keep asking me questions until I answer.”
“Then don’t answer. Stonewall them. It’s what you’re good at.” Sirius scoffed.
“Thank you for weighing in Sirius.” Regulus replied sarcastically.
“They kept guessing women.”
“What?” Remus and Sirius said in unison.
“That’s hilarious.” Sirius giggled.
Remus pulled him in front of James and Regulus to get through a narrow doorway that led to the main hallway. James took the opportunity to ask. “Are you actually angry?”
“No. I don’t really want to share my private life with the kids, they’re so nosy. But if they find out, which they will. I won’t be upset.”
“Good. I wouldn’t mind being able to do a little PDA.” James joked. While most of the time he couldn’t keep his hands off Regulus, he tried to maintain professionalism at school. An easy thing to do the year before when Regulus was working at a different school but after he’d transferred to Hogwarts Secondary School, James had begun to struggle. It was difficult seeing your partner in the halls and walking past without stopping to say hi. They ate lunch together most of the time but on days that Regulus had essays to mark, he kicked James out, saying he was a distraction.
“No. No PDA. I hate PDA.” Regulus shook his head aggressively and James couldn’t help but chuckle. That chuckle was cut short when he saw two of his students waiting for their parents in the car park.
“Waiting for your parents?” He asked them. Perhaps if he pretended everything was normal, they wouldn’t question who he was with, after all, Regulus was Sirius’ brother and Sirius was known to be James’ best friend. The students constantly made fun of them and called them a ‘bromance’ whatever that was.
“Yes, sir.” Valarie said. She was standing beside her younger sister, Veronica, who was in his last period maths class.
“Going home, sir?” Veronica asked, her voice high and shaking, as if she was nervous.
“Yes. Have a good weekend! See you, Monday.” He waved them goodbye and caught up to Regulus who had waited for him. The four of them piled into the car, they carpooled to work most days as they lived directly across the street from one another, and Remus drove them home.