18.2
The Consequences-
I slowly wake up in the quiet room. I sit up and stretch my aching muscles, stiff from sleeping on a couch. I look around and see that I am alone in The Room. Good. All I want for today is to be alone. Not have to deal with any of the questions asking me about anything that happened the day before. Who would have thought the day after Valentine's Day would be filled with hurt?
After a while, I decided to pick up my phone from the table. I had turned it off the night prior.
Star Boy.
Library Boy.
My girls.
The Gryffindor Girls.
I chose to open the last one to see what their comments about this situation were. I opened the messages to see that since last night, all they had been doing was asking me if I was okay every few hours. The last time they did so, they said no one had seen me the entire day. It's two in the afternoon, after all. I let them know that I am indeed alive and as well as I can be before opening the other group chat.
My girls were talking more about how Jo would like to stab Sirius than asking if I was okay, which gave me quite a laugh when I first said it, and then I got concerned when I saw that she was serious about hunting him for sport. I interrupt their conversation, telling the girl to lay off the violence. All I get from Jo is a text telling me to bite her. I roll my eyes before the message from Elle telling me good afternoon comes through. They likely both know that I just woke up.
I decide to no longer rot in this room. The first place I think I should go is the library. Knowing how Irma is, it's probable that she will let me read in the back room without bothering me about it.
I, of course, was right. Irma gave me the key to the back room of the library that sits behind her desk. After using a letter opener to prick my finger, I spend a good part of my day reading Maeve's journal. I read about her discovering the ability to shift into a raven and how she feels about it. She even talks about Bridget in her blood-sealed writings. It shows just how much Bridget is on her mind.
I make it to Maeve, who is talking about how she has been hearing voices when she walks by the graveyard and when the door of the small room opens. I look up from the book in my lap to see Regulus standing in the doorway. He quickly enters and shuts the door behind him. His face is grave, telling me to prepare for whatever war he is hiding in himself. I know that he will say that I betrayed him, but I know that I never did. I never forsake him, but he won't see it that way.
"So, you and Sirius?" His jaw is clenched as he walks towards the desk I am sitting at. I give a single nod. "How long?"
"A few weeks." He looks away and turns away from me. He starts to pace like he always does. He clasps his hands behind his back before turning to me once again. His face is blank, but I can see the crashing waves of rage behind his walls.
"Never speak to me again if you want to keep your tongue." His voice is as monotone as possible but wavers a little at the end. With that, he turns and makes his way out of the small room. I don't bother to try to stop him. I knew how he would feel about this, yet I still did it. And now my only friend who knows absolutely everything about me is gone—gone until I can in some way make it up to him.
"Regulus just ended our friendship." I text my girls as I lean back in my chair and try to adjust my feelings to react to this new development. I get multiple texts back from the two girls, who start asking if I was okay and how he did it. I tell them it doesn't matter and that I'm going back to The Room, not to meet me there.
"Meet me in The Room." That's all I text to a newly created group chat that includes me, Remus, and Sirius. I don't get a response, but I know they saw it.
Remus is the first one to arrive. He doesn't rush in. He took his time settling before telling me that he had avoided Sirius the entire day thanks to the Marauder's Map.
"So, did you know?" I ask the boy who is beside me on the couch. He shakes his head.
"If I did, then I would have stopped him." He reassures me. He was letting me know that I was not in the wrong to feel this way, especially after losing one of my closest friends due to Sirius' dramatics. "He should have never done what he did. Not without telling us."
Not a moment after he finishes his sentence, the painting swings open to show a frazzled Sirius Black.
"I'm so sorry. I know I fucked up." Are the first words out of him. He rushes in, slamming the door behind him. He sits on the nearest armchair, looking at us with his best puppy eyes. My face is blank, and so is Remus's, telling him we are angry but not letting him know anything else.
"Why?" Are the words that break the silence. I'm the one who spoke them.
"Well, I thought-"
"Well, you thought wrong." Remus cuts him off with his snide remark. Sirius, looking like a kicked puppy, apologizes to the two of us repeatedly, but I cut him off this time.
"What did you want to be the outcome?" It's a genuine question on my part. I see Remus lean forward slightly when I air this question. Sirius freezes for a moment before responding.
"I thought that we could become official. Instead of just being closer than friends, we could be boyfriends." His tone is hesitant and shaky as he looks down at the ground, something I have never seen from Sirius Black before. He doesn't look up until I speak bluntly.
"So that was you asking us out?" I lean my elbows on my knees and put my chin on my palms. "No wonder you and Potter are so close; you too are both so overly dramatic." I straighten my back and look at Remus.
Remus has his eyes glued on Sirius, something hidden in his gaze. Something more profound than this is bothering him, but I won't be the one to force it out of him. Looking back at Sirius, I see that he is staring at Remus with such remorse that I know there is something I don't know between them.
"Well, we should talk about that then." I stand and walk towards the CD shelves. I pick out a CD of Hozier's Wasteland, Baby!, and put it on for background music. I make my way back to where I was sitting and make myself comfortable on the sofa.
"So, how do you two feel about polyamory?" I grin at them.
"I don't think the school will accept a group of three boyfriends. Even with how progressive our school is." Are Remus' thoughts that he puts out.
"We don't need their acceptance, Moony." It comes from Sirus, who grins wolfishly at the boy. I look towards Sirius and see him trying to urge me to agree. I have my own doubts about this, but for now, I believe that we should do it. So I nod with him and face Remus who we now need to convince to accept the boyfriend offer.
"Oh, come on. Don't you two look at me that way?" Remus leans back further on the couch. I let out a little chuckle as I readjust to face him completely. Remus crosses his arms while I hear Sirius stand, and I feel him stand beside me and bend down to be level with me as we stare Remus down. It takes a moment, but I can see his walls fall. He slowly grins at the two of us.
"Fine!" He throws up his hands and leans forward towards the two of us. He reaches out and grabs Sirius and me. We end up in a group hug as Sirius starts to laugh in victory. Remus and I soon join in.
We settle down as we all sit on the couch together. Sirius between me and Remus. It's silent for a long while as Movement by Hozier softly plays in the background. Sirius has his arms on the back of the couch.
"So when will we do our first date?" Sirius leans his head onto the back of the couch as he asks. I lean my own head onto his arm and turn my head towards his.
"This weekend?" I shoot back.
"That works for me." Remus chimes in from the other side of Sirius.
"It's a date."
-1,543 Words-