Chapter 2
The name Pantheon had actually been Regulus’s idea.
A few days earlier, him, Barty, Evan, Pandora, and Dorcus had been sitting in the boys' dorm planning their prank on the Gryffindors when Barty piped up.
“We need a name,” He said suddenly. “Y’know, like the Marauders? But like, way cooler.”
It took thirty minutes of debating possible names before Regulus had suggested the Pantheon and surprisingly everyone agreed on it. Then to debut the new name they had left the letter.
It actually wasn’t very hard to get into the Gryffindor common room. Of course it helped that they had an animagus in their group.
As far as Regulus knew, he was the youngest wizard to have ever successfully completed the animagus process. He had begun looking into it in his second year and officially started working towards it at the end of third year. His friends had mixed reactions to his new goal but they all helped to make sure nothing went wrong during the process, not that Regulus would have messed up anyway.
And any doubts they may have had were quickly thrown out the window once he had completed the transformation as they gathered around and cooed at the small black cat now standing in his place.
Regulus was very happy with his form as cats were common in Hogwarts so he wouldn’t stand out much during the day and his sleek, black body allowed for him to blend in with the shadows at night. Which definitely helped with his new found hobby as it made it very easy to sneak into other common rooms.
People who had only met or heard about him in passing probably wouldn’t take Regulus for the prankster type, assuming his brother was the only jokester in the family. But those who did know him knew that he was just as, if not more, mischievous than his brother. He was just better at hiding it.
He used to keep his pranks small, petty hexes or potions for individuals who had earned his ire, but the new found freedom of living with the Potters has given Regulus the confidence to expand his horizons. And of course his friends were all on board to cause some chaos throughout the school this year, they are Slytherins after all.
And Regulus’s favorite part was riling up his brother and his pack of friends.
It was obvious the group was bothered by the pranks, most likely due to the fact they were no longer the biggest pranksters in the school, and while Regulus loved his brother, it was amusing to see Sirius so thrown off by the development.
“McGonagall literally had to bring Flitwick in to undo the sticking charms, Reggie. It was madness!” Sirius complained as he and Regulus sat in the back of the library.
The two brothers happened to share a free period on Mondays which typically consisted of Sirius talking his brother’s ear off while Regulus did homework. Today’s topic was of course the Pantheon’s most recent pranks.
“And that note…They actually want to start some kind of prank war with the Marauders! Can you believe that? The audacity!” His brother continued to rant.
“Oh how ludicrous,” Regulus responded noncommittally, only half listening to Sirius. He learned a long time ago to tune his brother out when it was obvious that there was no end to Sirius’s tirades.
“I know! James suggested that they might be Slytherins but how would they have been able to get into the Gryffindor common room?” This definitely caught Regulus’s attention.
Curse James Potter and his intuition. While everyone at Hogwarts thought Remus was the only one with a semblance of intelligence out of the Marauders, Regulus knew different.
As his brother, he knew that Sirius was incredibly smart, annoyingly so, but he was also incredibly oblivious, which was the reason it took until the end of last year before he even had a clue that Remus returned his feelings.
James was also smart but in a different way. Of course he wasn’t academically challenged, but his intelligence lied in the people department. James Potter was probably the best people reader Regulus had ever seen, and he was best friends with Pandora.
This was the main reason he tried to stay away from the Gryffindor as much as possible. Since James was so good at reading people, it was only a matter of time until he picked up on Regulus’s huge crush on him and Regulus would like to delay the inevitable awkwardness of that for as long as possible.
See, the Slytherin had always carried a small torch for the Potter heir, a crush that he assumed would dissipate with time. However, ever since Regulus and his brother moved in with the Potters that torch had become a raging bonfire. It didn’t help that over the summer James had shown genuine interest in getting to know Regulus.
“Oh, hey James,” His brother’s words broke him out of his thoughts as he turned his head, very calmly and definitely without a look of panic, to see one James Potter swaggering over to the table.
“Well if it isn’t my two favorite brothers,” James said as he took the seat next to Sirius. For a second Regulus thought the Gryffindor had winked at him, but it was probably just his imagination. “Moony’s looking for you by the way, Pads.”
Regulus rolled his eyes as Sirius sent him a pleading look. “Go see your boyfriend, we can talk more later.” He said with a wave of his hand.
“Thanks, Reggie.” Sirius grinned as he reached over to ruffle his brother’s hair and quickly pulled back to avoid the slap that followed. “Bye Prongs!”
As he left, Regulus realized something. James hadn’t left. He was still sitting at the table across from him. He was alone with James Potter. He could already feel the blood rushing towards his cheeks. Definitely time to go.
As quickly yet casually as possible, Regulus began packing up his items, trying desperately to not look over to the other boy.
“Leaving so soon, Reg?” James asked with his signature easy-going grin.
“Yes, I, uh, promised Barty I’d help him with his potions essay. So I should be going,” Not his most convincing lie but Regulus had been put on the spot here.
“Shame,” James said with a pout, Merlin, why did he still look hot while pouting. “I was hoping we could spend some time together. I haven’t seen much of you since the term started.”
Oh Salazar Slytherin, was James trying to kill him? Regulus was definitely blushing now, his face feeling as though it was on fire.
“Perhaps another time, James. I must be off now though, so I shall see you around.”
Regulus walked away as quickly as he could, hoping he had played it off cool enough that Potter hadn’t noticed anything unusual. He simply kept walking until the feeling of James’s gaze searing into his back dissipated.