The West Wing
James tries to stay in the shadows, trying not to get caught. He walks up to a massive wooden door that's slightly ajar.
He places a hand on the door and pushes it open. When he catches a full glance of the room, shock coats his body, shivers breaking down his back. Furniture lies in rubble, the curtains are scratched and shredded. It looks like a crime scene. The whole room is evidence of the Beast's temper.
Wary, James walks further into the room, looking around, when a gasp exits his throat. He sees greyish green eyes peering at him. Ones that resemble the Beast entirely. Getting a better look, James finds himself looking at a Royal portrait. The person who belongs to the eyes, looks nothing like the Beast. It’s a teenage boy, a human. With light skin and pretty eyes, with dark, curly hair. James knows the second he sees the portrait, that he is the most beautiful person he has ever seen.
However, the face of the person is slashed with three large claws.
Getting a better look at the portrait, he sees a man. One with dark hair and a beard. He looks mad. Like he expected more from his life. His face, too, is scratched up.
A woman stands next to him. The woman looks stern, her cheekbones defining her face. Her hair is pinned up and black. She is ultimately gorgeous. Her face is scratched and slashed more than anyone else's.
But there is one more figure in the portrait. One of someone familiar. A boy. Long hair and grey eyes. Tattoos all down his neck. James can’t quite guess why he looks familiar. But his face, unlike the others, is not slashed.
James moves past a large four poster bed, the covers a faded green, covered in dust, like no one has slept there in years. On the floor, he spots a makeshift bed of straw, torn bits of fabric and crumpled. It looks like something you would find in a zoo. The home of a creature.
James turns to see a glow coming from a glass jar by an open window leading to a balcony. Inside the jar hosts a rose. Just one rose, like his father tried to pick for him. The rose is slowly wilting.
Mesmerized, James approaches the rose. He lifts the jar, leaving the rose unprotected. Something magnetic grasps him and he starts to reach out to touch the rose.
Before he can touch, however, a heavy shadow sets upon his face.
A large growl is heard behind him, startling James when he hears a shout.
“What are you doing here?” He screams, James swears he can hear a tremble in his voice, or maybe it’s just his mind playing tricks. “What did you do to it?”
The Beast bears down on James, backing him up. He puts the jar down and lets him.
“Nothing,” James trembles.
The Beast just gets more agitated. “Do you realise what you could have done?! You could have damned us all! Get out! Go!” The shouts scare James, making him rush out of the room.
However, James doesn’t see the tremble in the Beast's hand as he covers the rose protectively, he doesn’t see the tear that rolls down his intimidating face, at the worry of the rose, and at the worry of James.
***
Barty and Remus are playing chess on an upper landing. A table -Hedwig- in between them.
“Checkmate! Again!” Barty cheers as he wins.
Remus rolls his eyes and looks at Barty, “And you cheated, again.”
They are interrupted by the heavy steps of James, running down the stairs. The West Wing stairs.
Barty looks at Remus confused, Remus shakes his head, showing he knows nothing.
“Monsieur, what are you doing?” Barty asks.
“Getting out of here.” James says, frantic.
Remus jumps up onto the chess board and shouts at James. “Stop!”
“Go, go on Hedwig!” Barty shouts at the table.
Hedwig gets up and starts after James dropping the chess board as he scatters.
“Yes Hedwig, stop him!” Remus shouts after the table.
James barrels down the main staircase, Hedwig close behind him.
Lily enters from the kitchen, sporting a pretty tea cosy. “You don’t want to go out there!” Lily calls after James.
At the top of the stairs, Remus sounds a whistle. In quick cuts, windows drop and shutters close. James hits the bottom of the grand staircase, and runs towards the door, only to watch it bolt itself locked.
“Stop him!” Lily shouts.
Hedwig runs in front of James and stops his exit, growling at him.
“Who’s a good dog?” Remus smiles. Then suddenly, the dogs growls turn into playful yaps, as he stands on his hind legs in a playful manner. “What!? No! It’s not play time! Bad dog! Bad dog!!”
“What part of ‘Stop him’ don't you understand, dog?” Lily says in a motherly manner.
Hedwig spins and scrambles outside, scooting through the doggie door. In her excitement, she’s provided James with an escape.
James snatches a cloak from the coat rack, and shimmies out the same doggie door.
Barty, frantic and scared, shouts. “Please don’t go, it’s dangerous.”
Lily rushes forward but it was too late. A look of dread settles on her face. “Oh, my.”
***
Barty, frantically, scrambles into the West Wing. His actions make Regulus scared, and he wonders what has happened. Barty is followed into the room by Remus and Lily. Both sporting similar faces.
“What?” Regulus says, a breathy voice. “What happened?”
Remus steps forward, his face covered in worry. “He ran.” The sound of Remus’ voice spooks him.
“What? What do you mean, Remus?” Regulus says, quickly becoming scared.
Remus continues on. “He was scared or something, and ran out the door.”
Tears well in Regulus’ eyes. “You are lying. There are wolves out there, why would he go?” He tries to stop the tears.
“He probably didn’t know, Reg.” Barty cuts in. He smiles a sad smile. “I am so sorry. We don’t know what happened.”
Regulus’ body covers in guilt. He knows exactly what happened.
“Regulus,” Lily whispers in that soothing motherly voice. Lily has always been some sort of mother figure to Regulus. More a mother than Regulus’ mum ever wants. “What do you know?” She asked.
A hot tear rolls down Regulus’ face. “I scared him.” He whispers, it’s nearly unheard. “He was in the West Wing, in here, looking at the rose.” What he doesn’t mention is the gentleness he touched everything with when Regulus was watching him through the door. The way he looked around, like it was the room of a normal man, not one who is a Beast. He trusted James with the rose, but got scared when he tried to touch it.
“Oh Regulus, he was trapped here, he got scared, it’s not your fault.” Lily tries to persuade. “It’s not like you told him to leave.”
“I did.” Regulus says, his voice pained.
“Regulus Black, there is a young, beautiful boy out there, and you told him to leave. There are wolves out there.” Before Lily can finish her sentence, Regulus gets up and runs out the door.
They are left in the room for a few minutes before any sound is made. And then, Barty bursts out in laughter.
Remus sends him a looks and Barty looks back. “What?” Barty asks, accused. “He was crying, about James. Beautiful, beautiful James. He’s gonna be the one to break the spell!” Barty bursts out excitedly.
“Just please Barty…” Remus ask. “Don’t force it.”
Barty smiles. “I won’t.” Barty leans closer to Remus and whispers. “But you know what I will force?”
“What?” Remus bites out.
“You to confess to Sirius.” And with that, he runs out of the room.
“Fuck off, I don’t like Sirius.” Remus shouts after him. He settles back down and sports a happy smile on his face. Lily shoots him a knowing look. “What?” She giggles and walks out of the room.
***
Regulus runs out of the castle and down the only path that leads to the village. He hears a horse, but not a voice of a man and that worries him. He continues running until he sees wolves along with a white horse, and James, lying on the ground, hurt.
Regulus forgets everything and runs closer, fending off all the wolves, getting scratched in the process multiple time. A wolf tries to get close to James and he hurts it, badly. He can’t remember much, and he doesn’t come back to himself until after.
Once he comes back to himself. He feels pain and protection. The pain isn’t the worst pain he’s ever felt so he perseveres and picks an unconscious James up, bridal style and carries him back to the castle.
He limps his way back to the castle, up the stairs and opens the door. Once he’s inside he finally collapses to the ground, seeing spots in his vision, and then finally, nothing.
***
Evan is skipping down the stairs, dusting everything along the hand rail. When he gets o the bottom of the grand staircase, he spots two figures. He can make out that one of them is a bleeding Regulus, and on top of him lays an injured James.
Evan gets a shiver down his spine, become scared and nervous for the both of them. He floats closer, and examines the both of them. Both are heavily injured.
Scared, he shouts for Barty. “Barty? My love?” He calls.
Barty swings down the stairs and smiles at Evan, completely missing the two injured men. “Hello, beautiful.” He says extravagantly. He notices something off with Evan, as he’s glancing off to the side. Barty follows his gaze and spots the two of them lying on the floor. “Remus?”
Remus waddles out sleepy and spots the two men on the floor, and whistles for the castle. “We have an emergency everyone!” As more servants rush out from their slumber. “Get them onto stretchers, heal them.”
They begin to collect the things they need to fix the wounds that the two of them sport. They are both lifted onto beds and transported into a room where they can be healed. As Barty and Remus don’t have abilities in nursing, they follow absentmindenly. As they walk, Barty leans over to Remus. “Did you see the way Regulus was holding onto James?”
“I did Barty.” Remus says folding his lips into a line. “But did you see the way James held onto Regulus?” Remus states, and walks ahead leaving Barty alone with his mouth agape.
***
James’ eyes open. He’s in a dimly lit room. The last thing he remembers fully is wolves attacking him. Everything after that is in glimpses. He remembers someone warm carrying him. Someone who James should be scared of, but isn’t.
James feels a lot better than he did when he fell unconscious. Still, there are many scratches and cuts on his body that hurt. He sits up and looks around the room. He spots a bed next to him, that has the Beast in it, asleep. He looks peaceful, and calm. James doesn’t know what comes over him, but he gets out of bed and crouches down next to the Beasts bed.
He finds the Beast hand, and grabs a hold of it, without thinking. “Thank you,” He whispers. “For saving me.”
James doesn't notice that the Beast is awake, witnessing this all unfold. The Beast has a smile on his lips and they both don’t know what is about to come.