Television/So Far So Good- Rex Orange County
James woke in the hospital wing alone. He blinked bleary eyes against the bright lights and groaned slightly as he shifted onto his side to grab his glasses. Madame Pomfrey noticed he was awake and bustled over, tittering at him for his foolishness in the Quidditch game.
“I mean goodness Potter! It wasn’t even a real match!” She shook her head with a bemused smile but let out a small chuckle.
“How long have I been in here?”
“Two days since Wednesday. You have missed breakfast Potter but for the most part I’ve just been magically keeping up your nutrients requirements. It would be good to eat some actual food dear.” Pomfrey explained.
“Okay. I could kill for some bacon right now.” James laughed, pushing the glasses onto his face and Pomfrey summoned a house elf to give his order. “What time is it Madame Pomfrey?”
He looked over to his bedside table for a clock, but it was buried beneath numerous gifts and get-well notes. He could see books and chocolates from Remus, several other treats from Peter’s stash, Sirius had left his favourite ball (something he treasured dearly as Padfoot) along with messages and flowers from some of the girls and the rest of the team. There was even a note in a scrawling hand he didn’t recognise which he reached for as the house elf returned with a pop and the scent of breakfast.
“It’s eleven o’clock in the morning dear. Friday classes are on but Minerva- uhh, Professor McGonagall ensured you were excused from classes until the end of the week.”
“Eleven?! Shit- uh sorry. Dammit.” James stood quickly, balancing himself through a moment of dizziness before pulling on his robes over the random band shirt and cargo pants he was wearing. He grabbed Sirius’ ball, tucking it into his pocket to ensure it wouldn’t get lost. “I’ve gotta go! I have potions.”
“Potter. I just said you’re excused from all classes this week dear.”
“But I have potions! I have to go Pomfrey. You don’t understand.”
“At least eat your breakfast first Potter.”
“No time I’ll take it with me.”
He grabbed the plate and ran.
…
The hallway were empty, and James swung around corners at dangerous speeds before reaching the staircases. He ended up on one just as it began to shift and had to stutter to a very sudden halt before he went tumbling off the end into the maze of swinging stairs below. As he waited for the staircase to settle, he looked down at his plate to see that all that remained on what was once a plate piled high with food was two rashers of bacon and half a fried egg. It would seem the rest had toppled off at some point during his sprint. James winced, feeling bad for the person who would have to clean that. He shoved the food into his mouth just as the staircase stopped and set off at a quick jog this time, ducking around the corner and ending up in front of the potions classroom.
This was stupid. He should be in the hospital wing recovery still but for some reason, he was determined to see Regulus in class, after all, he’d already left him alone on their Wednesday class, he didn’t want to be rude.
James swallowed down the food, drew his wand, and cleaned the plate which he tucked into an alcove that he was sure he’d remember to grab it from on the way out. He then fixed his hair, straightened his glasses, and used a quick spell to unrumple his robes. James rolled his shoulders back, ignoring the twinge in his side, and pasted a smile on his face before opening the door and walking in, just as Slughorn was adding an ingredient to some boiling cauldron at the front of the class. He looked up at James’ entry, went to smile and greet him and his hand slipped, adding the entire jar of what looked like insect wings. The cauldron gave a high-pitched whistle and Slughorn had barely a moment to look down in horror before it blew up in his face with a puff of soot and heat James could feel from the other side of the classroom.
A couple students closest to him yelped, shrinking back from the scorching heat, the others burst into giggles. A few heads turned to see who had caused the distraction, Marlene and Lily let out twin whoops of joy at his return, leaping up to hug him. James smiled at them, but his focus was caught by the silvery eyes squinting at him from his desk. He leaned back from the onslaught of affection from the girls and placed a smacking kiss on each of their cheeks before walking over to his desk with a grin.
“Hi Reggie darling.” His tone was teasing and Regulus tensed for a second, his face flushing furiously before he turned quickly, studiously examining his notes.
“Potter.” He muttered.
“Would you like a smooch too?”
“Put your oh-so-brave Gryffindor lips anywhere near me and so help me Salazar, I will cut them off.” Regulus hissed and James laughed.
“You wound me Reggie, I came to class specifically for you today. Madame Pomfrey is gonna have my head, but I couldn’t bear the thought of leaving you lonely for yet another class.” In all honesty, James hadn’t entered the classroom with the intent of being so truthful, but he could never help himself. Oversharing was in his nature. He was desperate for a topic of conversation, so much so that he would bare his soul for a cheap joke. It seemed Regulus was quite the opposite, preferring silence and secrecy.
“What a shame, I rather enjoyed the solitude. The peace, if you will.”
Before James could reply, Slughorn welcomed him back to the class. Having cleaned the soot from his face, the absence of his eyebrows was now far more obvious. James shot a grin across the classroom to Marlene and Regulus rolled his eyes at the two.
“Thank you, Professor. I will aspire not to miss any more of your classes. However, I make no promises as there is a chance Pomfrey will skin me for sprinting out of the Hospital Wing to make it to this class.” Regulus rolled his eyes at James’ declaration but deep inside his stomach there was a fluttering feeling. What if James had meant what he said about running to get here just to see him? He knew it was ridiculous but the warmth in his gut persisted like the burn of a stab wound but rather pleasant.
As Slughorn continued with the lesson Regulus found himself watching James. He was actually really smart despite what most people said. Just because his intelligence sat outside their realm of ‘normal’ he was deemed as stupid but he had some of the most creative solutions to issues. For example, they were brewing the Draught of Living Death, a rather complicated brew with some difficult ingredients. Reading the potion book, the instructions were to cut the sopophorous bean, a task that was proving exceedingly difficult so James had flipped the knife on its side and placed the flat of the blade upon the beans to crush them instead.
“Where did you get the idea of that from?” Regulus queried, writing down a note in his book.
“Oh I cook with my mum a lot. It’s a technique that makes it easier to peel garlic but I thought it might work for this.” James murmured with a pleased little smile and Regulus felt an urge in him to kiss it. What was going on? James Potter, blood traitor, brother stealer, was giving him cooking tips and all Regulus Arcturus Black could think about was how he wanted to kiss the man stupid. Marlen, he really needed to get laid.
“Can anybody tell me the use for a Draught of Living Death?” Slughorn asked, turning to flick his wand at the chalk so it would write across the board.
James head turned towards Lily Evans and Regulus’ heart clenched. Why did he always look at her? It was like he thought the rest of the class was too damn stupid to actually answer. He glanced over at the redhead whose hand had shot into the air immediately. Whatever, Regulus could answer such a simple question just as easily. He raised his hand lazily, like a cat. Slughorn gazed over the class and found himself faced with only two hands, he sighed.
“Come on guys, it’s basically in the name.” he shook his head, “Regulus?”
“It is an extremely powerful sleeping draught that sends the drinker into a death-like slumber, almost like suspended animation. It is concocted from a mix of powdered root of asphodel and an infusion of wormwood as well as sloth’s brain and sopophorous bean.” Regulus answered with a smug glance over at Evans. That would teach the muggleborn witch. Holy gods. No. He sounded like his mother.
“Very good son, a textbook answer.”
James turned to him with a smile. Oh gods, James was smiling at him. James was smiling at him. Who cared if he sounded like a know-it-all, who cared if in his head he sounded like his mother? James was smiling at him. James didn’t know the awful things that had gone through his head but that was okay. He didn’t need to.