Chapter 6
He avoided Potter like the plague after that. Or at least he tried to since that idiot seemed to be everywhere, all the time.
He had also seemingly taken to be actively looking for Regulus, no matter how much Regulus tried to hide behind his, in this case conveniently, larger friends. If those were available.
Currently this wasn't the case and so he hurried past the group of students Potter was part of rather quickly, his head ducked.
"Reggie!"
"Dear lord ..." he mumbled, lifting his face towards the ceiling and doubling his pace.
"Oi! Wait up!" He didn't. But that didn't seem to deter Potter in the slightest, who just easily fell into step with him.
"What are you up to this late?"
"I could ask you the same thing," he said.
Potter shrugged "Sure."
"Excuse me?"
The bastard grinned. "Go for it. Ask."
Regulus almost did. Almost. He turned up his nose. "I'd have to care, in order to ask."
Potter started laughing and for some reason that rubbed Regulus the wrong way and he sped up even more.
Unfortunately James seemed to possess that ability as well. "I didn't see you at dinner today."
"Well why the fuck were you looking?" That startled another laugh out of James and Regulus wanted nothing more than taking that sound and shoving it down James's throat for all the happiness it carried.
"You wanna go to the kitchen?" James asked, ignoring Regulus's attempt to explode him with a wandless, wordless and unknown spell.
"They're closed."
"Not if you know the right entrance they're not," James said, a devious smirk on his lips and then he was pulling a protesting Regulus into a little side corridor.
~~~
"It's way too much."
"It's barely enough."
"We're gonna die if we try to eat all this."
"Well that's too damn bad Potter, I guess next time don't force me into that kitchen!"
James chuckled. "Oww come on. You enjoyed it. I saw you smiling with all the house elves fussing over you."
"That's because they're lovely creatures and had nothing to do with you."
James shook his head and started carefully sitting on the floor of the astronomy tower, into the midst of piles of food.
"How did you even manage to get all of this up here?"
Regulus shrugged, hands hidden in his pockets. "Good shrinking charm."
He continued watching as James started sorting through the bread and cheese and the assortment of fruit. Then he startled a little when Potter's hand shot up, holding out a block of cheese. "What the hell is this?"
"Uh," Regulus said intelligently, "cheese?"
Potter's eyes moved towards him, "thank Merlin you're here ... No I mean what kind? You specifically asked for it but, it smells like something crawled up and died in there."
Regulus's jaw dropped. "It does not. You're just," he snatched the piece from James and sunk to his knees rifling through one of the baskets, "uncultured."
Ignoring the way Potter was watching him, Regulus picked out bred and grapes, and began cutting small pieces off of the white, half molten cheese.
"It's Camembert Potter, you know: french cuisine. Art really. Poetry wrapped in taste. You should try it some time."
"Try that? Nononono, I'll stick to the English cuisine," he grabbed for something from the basket and immediately shoved a handful into his mouth. Regulus scrunched up his nose.
"That looks fucking vile."
"Chips? You'll eat rancid cheese because it sounds fancy but chips are vile?"
"I can literally see the salt falling from them."
"So?"
"So?" Regulus made a sound of disbelief, all the while eating as much as he could without looking like a man starved.
"That's the best part!"
"The best ..? Merlins balls Potter do you even hear yourself? Salt used to be so precious the romans paid their soldiers in it, and you're just dousing your food in it?"
"Genuine question Reg; am I a roman?"
"Shut up."
"Are you a roman ..?"
"I mean it Potter, shut up. Don't you hear that?"
They both sat frozen for a moment, listening as soft notes of music drifted up from somewhere in the castle. "Oh merlin, the others are probably having dancing lessons ... Minnie mentioned something about trying out a new tradition ..."
Regulus scoffed. "It's just plain disrespectful calling your head of house by a nickname." James ignored him in favour of stretching himself against the floor of the astronomy tower and groaning. "What's the matter Potter? A little bit of ballroom twisting and twirling has the great Gryffindor Captain in despair?"
"Pff, that is not what dancing means," he grumbled.
"Actually it is. Has for centuries."
Potter laughed then and Regulus looked away.
"It's bloody boring."
"It's art. You really didn't have an education did you?" Regulus asked and turned back to the food in front of him. For a second it was silent except for the soft music still drifting up to them and then Potter jumped to his feet so quickly Regulus almost dropped his cheese.
"Well then show me."
Regulus's eyes snapped up, to where James had his hand stretched out towards him. "Dance with me baby Black."
Regulus blanched. Bad idea. Very very bad, horrible idea.
"Don't call me that." He said, as he kept wearily looking at the outstretched hand. Potter started shaking it in request, and then, in a moment of absolute madness, Regulus grabbed it.
"What? Black?" Potter pulled on his arm, and Regulus shot up, almost stumbled into him and Potter grinned, "or baby?"
~~~
They started in a weird two step. Potter had the limb coordination of a foal and pushed and shoved Regulus more than anything.
They were out of beat, without any tact or rhythm and when James stepped on his foot for the third time Regulus wrenched himself away. "Jesus christ Potter."
James was still swaying, moving without a partner now, a shit-eating grin on his face. "Oh come on, it's just a bit of fun."
"No it's not." Regulus made sure his voice didn't waver. "It's not. It's you making a fool of yourself and me in turn being made a fool of as well and I hate it, so stop." To his surprise James did.
His grin faded slowly and he watched Regulus with a peculiar expression on his face. "This is actually important to you."
"It's really not."
"You don't want me to dance?"
"I don't want you to dance like that!" Regulus snapped and then immediately regretted it.
But James just nodded. Once. Twice. "Okay," he took a deep breath, "okay then. Regulus Black. Will you dance with me?"
Regulus stared at him. Swallowed. Grabbed his hand for a second time that evening.
"You're fine dancing the women's part right?" James asked quietly. They were so close all of a sudden.
A knot balled in Regulus's chest as he stared up into deep brown eyes. He shook himself. "W-why would you assume that?"
"Sirius told me." For a moment Regulus's world tilted and he was about to recoil when Potter continued, "it's a bit ridiculous in my opinion, the whole 'having to learn both dances' I mean of what use is that gonna be?"
"Yeah," Regulus rasped, "yeah pretty ridiculous."
James smiled. "Well, all Blacks are a little ridiculous I've learned." And then he stepped even closer, right into Regulus' space and began dancing. Really dancing. Smooth and light, secure in his steps, careful of Regulus's feet. His hand at the small of his back.
"You bastard," Regulus breathed, "you can dance. You did that on purpose."
"Wanted to see your face."
The music swirled. It was french, Regulus realised and he closed his eyes for a moment. He recognised the song, waited for the violins to pick up, the choir to set in. He didn't think about his steps, didn't have to. They were ingrained into his bones since he was five years old.
Of course, back then he'd been in skirts and a corset, hair long and begging his mother in tears to let him dance the male part. Just once. She hadn't, of course.
But Sirius had. Those few days of formal dance training each year were hell for Regulus for a long time, but when he was eight his brother had knocked on his door in the middle of the night and quietly led him to the ballroom.
"Dance?" he'd asked and when Regulus lips began to tremble he'd hurriedly explained that he had taught himself the women's part so Reggie could dance the man's. Learn it at least. Even if he'd never get use it.
They were some of Regulus's fondest memories, not just of his brother but of joy. To dance the way he'd wanted to and to have someone go out of their way to help him.
But it had also made the rest all the much more terrible. Dancing steps that didn't belong to him, in clothes that weighed him down until he felt chained to the floor.
He could still feel them now, if he closed his eyes and he expected the familiar panic to set in. The tightness in his chest, as he remembered the dresses and gowns and that awful teacher that made him go again and again until he was gracefully dancing on knives. He could almost feel the memory of a long skirt swaying around his ankles but somehow it didn't matter.
James was looking at him and it didn't matter. He didn't see the skirt and so Regulus refused to feel it. He wouldn't be chained, not anymore.
They picked up speed, turning and spinning and Regulus couldn't look away from those twinkling dark brown eyes and it felt like he was flying, his mouth twitching upward which made James let out a delighted laugh.
They came to a stop as the music did, right in front of the giant archway toward the stars, both breathing heavily. Their breaths mingled and Regulus thought quite nonsensically that James must be bending down quite a bit because even though he had his face tilted and was almost on his tiptoes, James was fucking tall. And their faces were so close, he could feel warm breath on his cheeks. His fingers tingled from where they were still softly held.
For a wild moment Regulus thought James might kiss him. And then he panicked because James might kiss him.
The thought startled him so much that he stepped back, almost tripped and then quickly withdrew his hand from Potter's and rubbed it on his sleeve just to do something with it.
"I should probably .. uhm .." he gestured behind himself, not quite able to look away from how rattled James seemed.
His hair all messed up he blinked at Regulus several times and then cleared his throat. "Yeah, um, yeah, definitely. Me too, I should ..." he gestured but seemed to just give up at some point and Regulus took that as his clue, grabbed his bag and was almost out the door when he heard Potter call out his name.
"That song. The, uh, the one they just played, you knew it right?"
Regulus nodded, one hand on the door frame.
"What's it called?"
He hesitated. "Love story," he said after a moment. "It's called love story."
And then he left.