Brilliant
Regulus begrudgingly makes his way to the library after his last period for the day. To say he was anticipating the worst would be an understatement. He spots James sitting at a table clearly pretending to read, Merlin he’s pathetic. He swiftly made his way over and retrieved his planner. Regulus attempts to subtly glance at the other boy when he sees him, already looking at him.
“So.. How’s your day been?” James asks rather awkwardly.
“Potter, there’s no need for small talk. In fact, it’s highly discouraged.” The brown eyed boy just grins at this retort.
“Oh come on, small talk is essential in conversations.”
This made Regulus scowl.
“It’s really not.” He huffs.
James rolls his eyes, not dropping his smile.
“What, you just want people to start conversing about philosophical matters right off the bat?”
“Well quite honestly I’d rather not be talking at all. Let’s get this over with.” He asserted.
“Alright, fine.” James gives in with a dramatic sigh before pulling out his own schedule. They both discuss their respective teams' quidditch practices and copy it down. Eventually they agree on meeting for the project every Monday, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Regulus expected the other boy to ramble off topic, or at least do something to piss him off. He was pleasantly surprised when he realized that they were almost done and James had done neither of those two things. Sure, he kept glancing over at Regulus occasionally with a curious look on his face, but he assumes that’s just James being James.
Regulus is almost done packing up his belongings when James picks up one of Regulus’ books on Greek Mythology.
“Do you ever ask permission before doing something inconvenient or does that just not cross your mind?” He asks in a flat voice before snatching the book out of James’ hand and shoving it in his book bag.
“It’s better to ask for forgiveness rather than permission in my opinion.” He says in a matter-of-fact tone.
“And how often does that work out for you?” Regulus scoffed.
“Better than you would expect.”
“Your record breaking amount of detentions proves otherwise.”
“That’s easy for you to say, you’ve never earned a detention.” James remarks.
“That's because I’m smart enough not to get caught.” He mumbled under his breath.
The sound of items shuffling suddenly ceases. Clearly Regulus didn’t say it as quietly as he intended to. Out of the corner of his eye he observes a slightly puzzled expression spread across James’ face. Shit.
“Are you saying you, Regulus Black, participate in scandalous activities? Like pranks?!” Voice filled with disbelief.
He knows denying would do close to nothing in this situation. He also knows that James will most definitely bring this up in future conversations he’s already dreading.
“You sound surprised.” After a moment of silence Regulus turns his head and meets James’ eye contact.
He finds the boy is slack jawed before quickly closing his mouth.
“It’s just hard to believe is all.”
“And why’s that?” Regulus enjoys watching his expression immediately turn to panic in fear of thinking he just said something rude.
“I just meant it’s just a bit shocking considering how reserved you are, I mean it probably shouldn’t when I think about it.” He says all in one breath.
“Being reserved allows me to avoid suspicion the majority of the time.” He starts to pick up his bag when he pauses, “What do you mean it shouldn’t be shocking if you think about it?” furrowing his eyebrows in confusion.
“Well you’ve always been brilliant in school, not to mention incredibly innovative. You’ve probably pulled some stunts the four of us would never come up with in a million years, and all without getting caught apparently.” James chuckles a bit.
Huh.
That was… unexpected.
“I don’t doubt it, considering you three idiots practically share a single brain cell.” He retorts trying to move past the last thing James said as quickly as possible.
“The three of us? There are 4 total?” His face was riddled with confusion.
“Lupin is easily wiser than the rest of you,” Regulus replied bluntly. “I’m still trying to understand why he spends his time with you lot though.”
“Ah, that’s fair. Moony comes up with a majority of our greatest pranks, those ones tend to allow us to escape without being caught.” James shares, clearly admiring his friend.
Regulus considers telling Barty his theory was correct, but he doesn’t deserve that satisfaction after spilling ink all over Regulus’ essay.
“While this has been a pleasure,” with no attempt at hiding the sarcasm in his voice. “I have things to attend to.”
James finds this is amusing, his mouth forming into a smug grin.
“I bet you do, probably something nefarious.”
Regulus scoffs, pulling up his shoulder bag and quickly turning his heels. He hears a clearly satisfied chuckle before he reaches the exit. He’s never living this down.
On his walk back to his dorms, he’s reminded of James' words. ‘Brilliant’. There’s an odd feeling he can’t quite place, and he’s not sure he has the energy for attempting to analyze it. He shoves it to the back of his mind.
The rest of the evening goes smooth, other than Evan and Barty’s dramatic performance when reenacting a fight between two Ravenclaw 7th years in the hallway.
He luckily doesn’t have to take much sleeping draught, feeling the exhaustion take over. It doesn’t take long for his eyes to grow heavy.
The last thing that pops into Regulus’ mind before he drifts to sleep is one word. Said in such a casual manner that shouldn’t still be occupying his thoughts. Regulus has been told by teachers how exceptional he is many times over the years, so he has no idea why it stands out.
‘Brilliant’