Summer dreams

Regulus had been at the Potter's house for a few weeks now and he was acclimating to this very well, except for one thing. Regulus had barely spoken since he had arrived. He would thank Euphemia for cooking for them and cleaning up after them, and he would whisper to Sirius every once and a while. Come to think of it, he would pretty much talk to everyone, except for James. This of course drove James crazy. James loved talking to anyone and everyone so when someone refused to talk to him it drove him up the wall. James was beginning to worry that Regulus didn't like being at the Potter's. He thought that maybe Regulus didn't feel comfortable there or didn't feel welcomed. Finally after three weeks of wondering James decided to go to Sirius for help.

James walked down the hall towards Sirius's room. There were a total of four bedrooms in this hallway with a grand staircase splitting the center of the hall. the room farthest to the left was Sirius's room, Euphemia let all of the boys decorate their rooms however they wanted so long as they didn't break the bank so Sirius had some star shaped stickers pasted on his door along with a sign made out of cardboard that said 'PADFOOT'. the door just to the right of Sirius's was plain with no decor at all, this room was Regulus's. Regulus didn't feel a need for fancy decorations, he was happy with his room the way it was. The room furthest on the right was painted red and had a wooden sign nailed to it that read 'prong', this was James's room. The room next to James's was also plain plain with the exception of a small cardboard sign that read 'Moony' in Sirius's handwriting, this room was Remus's. Remus didn't usually stay at the Potter's very often with the exception of the last two weeks of every summer but Euphemia still set aside a room for him so that he wouldn't have to share a room with one of the other boys or sleep on the couch.

James stopped just outside of Sirius's door and knocked on it gently. "Hey pads, it's me. Can I come in?" James called out. "ya come on in mate." Sirius shot back swiftly. James opened the door, walked to the bed where Sirius was sitting and took a seat next to him. James sighed heavily as he sat down and hung his head in disappointment. "oi mate, are you alright?" Sirius asked with a confused look on his face. "ya it's just, Regulus has been here for three weeks and he still hasn't said a word to me." James said, laying down on the bed. "He's just not a people person. Why does it bother you so much anyways?" Sirius asked. "I don't know, I just feel like he hates me." James said, covering his face with his hands. Sirius chuckled a little bit at hearing this and then composed himself and said "mate definitely doesn't hate you.". James moved his hands and looked at Sirius with a confused look on his face "what's that supposed to mean?" James asked. "nothing I just... look mate all I can say is that he doesn't HATE you. Just try and talk to him, I'm sure he'll speak to you if you talk to him first." Sirius said with a small smirk across his face. James was still confused by Sirius's reaction but decided to move past it.

"I've tried that Pads, I've tried everything he just won't talk to me. Every time I try talking to him he just looks at me." James said turning his head to look at Sirius. "Just give it time Prongs I'm sure he'll talk to you eventually." Sirius said, running his hand through his hair. James dramatically stood up and stormed out of Sirius's room shouting behind him "ugh Sirius, you're no help." upon entering the hallway he saw Regulus walking towards his room while reading a book. "hey Reggie." James said nervously giving Regulus a small salute. James never knew how to act around Regulus, he would always get so nervous whenever he was around. Regulus looked up from his book for a moment and looked into James's eyes. the two boys stood there for a moment looking into each other's eyes until Regulus looked away going back to his usual moody look. "it's Regulus" he said, snapping his book shut and storming off into his room. James felt a shiver go down his spine. He knew now exactly who would know how to fix this, he needed to ask Euphemia for help.

-after dinner that night-

"Hey mom, can you help me with something?" James asked as he was helping his mom wash the dishes from dinner. "Of course sweetheart, what do you need help with?" Euphemia asked, putting down the plate she was washing. "it's just, it's been three weeks since Regulus got here and he's hardly said anything to me. I don't know how I can get him to talk to me." James said, putting down the plate he was washing and fixing his glasses. "Hmm,well you can't force him to talk to you, that's not going to help anything. but I think I know something you can do that'll help you win him over." Euphemia said as she walked over to the counter. She grabbed a small cookie tin off of the counter and handed it to James saying "here, why don't you go talk to him and bring him these, they're his favorite." James opened the cookie tin to see a fresh batch of peanut butter cookies. "Wow, thanks mom, when did you have time to make these?" James asked curious about when his mom could possibly find time to bake on top of making sure that the three of them didn't kill each other. "I like to keep a batch or two of everyone's favorites around the house just in case." Euphemia explained as if to say a magician never reveals her secrets. James hugged Euphemia tightly and said "thanks mom, you're the best." Euphemia smiled softly and hugged James in return.

James lightly pushed Regulus's door open. He hadn't bothered to knock because he knew he would probably have received a 'piss off Potter' in response. "Hey Reg... I-I mean Regulus," James said as he slowly walked into Regulus's room. Regulus was sitting on his bed reading the same book from that afternoon in his pajamas. His shirt was low cut exposing the very top of his chest. James tried not to stare at Regulus's chest (tried and failed). "umm, my mom made you some peanut butter cookies, I figured I'd bring them to you." James said nervously rubbing his neck with one hand. Regulus lifted his head out of the book and his eyes darted to the cookie tin in James's hand. "Give them to me." he said, sitting up and reaching one hand out towards James. James quickly moved towards Regulus and handed him the tin. Regulus took the tin from James and opened the tin, placing it in front of him on the bed. James sat down on the edge of the bed watching as Regulus quickly took a cookie from the tin and took a bite. Regulus quickly looked up at James swallowing the cookie. "You can leave now." Regulus said to James swiftly before taking another bite of the cookie in his hand.

"look Regulus, I'm sorry." James said frantically. "sorry for what?" Regulus asked with a blank look on his face. "well, I assumed that I had offended you in some way, since you've been refusing to talk to me." James said with a look of concern on his face. Regulus took a deep breathe, swallowed another bite of the cookie, and said calmly "I'm not mad at you Potter." James looked confused, he was sure that Regulus hated him. "Then why don't you want to talk to me?" James asked in a worried tone. Regulus took another deep breathe and looked into James's chocolate brown eyes. "I was just, scared, I guess." Regulus said looking back down at the tin of cookies. "scared, why would you be scared to talk to me." James asked even more confused than he was before. Regulus rolled his eyes, and buried his head in his hands. when he finally looked back up at James he said sharply "Merlin you're dense." "what!? how am I dense." James said in an offended tone. "oh fuck, don't worry about it Potter." Regulus said looking into James's eyes once more. "ok," James said not wanting to argue with Regulus, "why do you call me Potter though?" James asked. "it's proper etiquette." Regulus said simply. "ok, but you call my mom effie." James pointed out with a look of confusion on his face. "yes because she asked me to." Regulus said as if the answer was obvious. "so, would you call me James if you asked me to?" James asked, raising one eyebrow inquisitively. "no." Regulus replied simply. "why not?" James asked with a small chuckle. "because" Regulus said, shrugging his shoulders.

The two boys stayed up all night talking until James finally snuck back to his room at around 3 AM.