Chapter 3
She's better for him, was what Regulus kept telling himself as he watched Lily and James dance at the first party of the spring. Seeing them dance that close might have been the worst thing he'd seen that night, and he had seen multiple people throw up already.
He himself had a few dances with a few people. People he didn't really care for. The time he and James backed into each other, James looked up, and after the recognition settled into his eyes, something flashed behind them. Something that Regulus had dubbed 'resentment,' for lack of another word that fit.
He eventually settled with his fourth drink into the corner of the room. James brushed Lily's hair out of her face with a soft smile. It made Regulus sick. He convinced himself that it was the public display, not the people involved.
A while later, though, James ended up on stage in front of the crowded room, with a microphone in hand and music starting over the speakers. Regulus didn't really know how he had gotten there, but he just looked on, hoping to god that he was a bad singer. He didn't need any more things to like about him.
It seemed like James had listened to the song several times before, as he half-spoke the first lines, looking out around the room.
"Put your loving hand out, baby
'Cause I'm beggin'"
Then he dropped his head and started nodding to the beat.
"I'm beggin', beggin' you
So, put your loving hand out, baby
I'm beggin', beggin' you
So, put your loving hand out, darling"
Regulus' first thought was, Fuck me, he can sing?
James, probably just because he liked attention, decided that singing wasn't enough, he had to dance. Well, 'dance' was a bit generous, according to Regulus. He started running his hand down his neck and chest.
"Riding high, when I was king
I played it hard and fast, 'cause I had everything"
James picked it up a bit, seeming to have a plan, and began walking backwards.
"I walked away, but you warned me then
But easy come, and easy go, and it would end"
James was evidently not very drunk, because he did a spinning jump to come back to the center of the stage and didn't fall on his ass.
"So, any time I bleed, you let me go
Yeah, any time I feed you, get me? No?
Any time I seek, you let me know
But I plan and see, just let me go"
Regulus was pretty sure that James winked at him as he walked to the front of the stage, which confused him quite a bit.
"I'm on my knees when I'm beggin'"
Regulus almost spit out his drink as he watched James Fleamont Potter drop to sit on his knees on stage in front of the crowd.
"'Cause I don't want to lose you
Hey yeah, ratatata"
The murmurs around the room mirrored Regulus' shock. It seemed like almost no one had been expecting that.
James was very unbothered, and comfortably stayed sitting on his knees while he slowly arched his back to look at the ceiling.
"'Cause I'm beggin', beggin' you
And put your loving hand out, baby"
James came back upright, and kept singing while he spun again to get onto one knee, took a short moment, then spun the other direction to get back to his feet.
"I'm beggin', beggin' you
And put your loving hand out, darling"
James looked at Regulus, and was quite satisfied with himself to see the wide eyes and lips barely parted in shock.
"I need you to understand
Tried so hard to be your man
The kind of man you want in the end
Only then can I begin to live again"
James was a little out of breath, and Regulus could hear it in his voice. Regulus desperately wished he could tear his eyes away, but he could only keep staring.
"An empty shell, I used to be
The shadow of my life was hanging over me
A broken man that I don't know
Won't even stand the devil's chance to win my soul"
James pulled the mic away from his mouth to take a deep breath for the faster part. He walked off the stage, and, starting at his friends, he went through the crowd, holding a grin on his face while he flirted with everyone who would let him, loosening a few ties, tugging a few collars, trailing his fingers down a few arms, as he kept singing.
"What we doing? What we chasing?
Why the bottom? Why the basement?
Why we got good shit, don't embrace it?
Why the feel for the need to replace me?
You're the wrong way track from the good
I want to paint a picture telling where we could be at
Like a heart in the best way should
You can give it away, you had, and you took the pay"
James made sure that Sirius wasn't looking, and stole another glance at Regulus, then looked away and tossed the mic to his other hand as he jogged back up onto the stage again.
"But I keep walking on, keep opening doors
Keep hoping for, that the door is yours
Keep oh-so home
'Cause I don't wanna live in a broken home
*boy, I'm beggin'"
Very few people noticed the slight lyric change, but those who did looked at him very curiously.
"Mmm, ye-e-e-ah
I'm beggin', beggin' you
So, put your loving hand out, baby
I'm beggin', beggin' you
So, put your loving hand out, darling"
He slowly tilted his head back again, though he was standing this time.
"I'm fighting hard to hold my own
Just can't make it all alone
I'm holding on, I can't fall back
I'm just a calm 'bout to fade to black"
As he went through the most repetitive part of the song, he extended his hand to random people, and those who accepted it got a slightly dramatic bow, which earned some aww's and a few laughs.
"I'm beggin', beggin' you
Put your loving hand out, baby
I'm beggin', beggin' you
So, put your loving hand out, darling
I'm beggin', beggin' you
So, put your loving hand out, baby
I'm beggin', beggin' you
So, put your loving hand out, darling
I'm beggin', beggin' you
So, put your loving hand out, baby
I'm beggin', beggin' you
So, put your loving hand out"
James extended the last word until he ran out of breath, then turned off the mic, laughing breathlessly, and tossed it to the person in charge of music, before jogging out to the balcony to cool off and catch his breath.