friends
James walked through the halls of Hogwarts like a ghost, since Regulus had gotten the dark mark James’s life was turned completely upside down. Sirius wouldn’t talk to anyone except Remus and James felt completely alone.
James sat down in his first class of the day and stared at the white board waiting for class to begin when suddenly Lily walked over to his desk and sat next to him. “Ok, what the fuck is wrong with you and Sirius?” Lily said bluntly. “Oh… It’s nothing.” James said dismissively. “No, it’s not nothing. Sirius hasn’t talked to anyone but Moony since we got back from break which is espiecilly concerning because he never shuts the fuck up, and you just sit here and sulk every single day like a sad little puppy dog.” Lily said. She had always been really good at reading people. James sighed loudly before telling Lily everything that had happened with Regulus.
After James finished telling Lily about what happened Lily paused for a moment before starting to talk. “So, you broke up with your boyfriend and now your best friend won’t talk to you.” Lily said. “Ya, I guess.” James said with a confused look on his face. “You seem very lonely.” Lily said bluntly with a cold expression on her face. “Ya, I guess you could say that?” James said not really knowing where Lily was going with this. “Well, let's fix that.” Lily said. “What do you mean ‘fix it’?” James asked, it seemed the more Lily talked the less he understood what was going on. “Well, you’re lonely and friendless and I feel like helping you therefore I’ll be your friend.” Lily said. “How charitable of you. I don’t need your pity” James said in an offended tone. “Well, you can either accept my pity or you can go back to being sad and lonely.” Lily said. “Ok fine. I guess we’re friends now.” James said. “Guess so.” Lily responded.
James spent the rest of class pestering Lily with dumb jokes and snarky comments about the teacher which Lily only responded to with an eye roll or a death glare. “Why do you insist on interrupting every lesson?” Lily said to James after class had ended. “It’s just so boring… I can’t possibly be expected to pay attention for the WHOLE class.” James said in an exaggerated tone, “Besides it’s not like I NEED to pay attention anyway, the class is so easy.” “Ya, I guess the class is pretty easy, but what if you miss something important like what if you hadn’t been paying attention when he told us about the test?” Lily asked. “Wait, we have a test! When?” James asked with a confused look on his face. Lily didn’t respond, she simply rolled her eyes and continued walking.
Lily walked James to his next class and waved good-bye to him as she turned and began walking to her class across the hall. Sirius looked at James with a confused look. “Since when are you and Lily friends?” He asked. “Well, clearly I can’t talk to any of you since you and Moony refuse to talk to anyone but each other so I figured I’d find other friends.” James explained looking over at Lily who was walking off down the hallway. “What am I chopped liver!” Peter said in an offended tone. “Sorry pete.” James said with a sympathetic look on his face. “So, you’re just replacing Reggie now?!” Sirius said. “No. Lily’s just a friend, and besides what do you care? He betrayed us!” James said in a confused tone. “Come on, Prongs. You’re being dramatic.” Sirius said. “NO I’M NOT! You’re the one who stormed out when you saw what he did. Why are you blaming me for moving on and being happy for once?” James yelled. Sirius just went quiet. It was never a good sign when Sirius was quiet, even when he would get punished by his parents he would always have some snarky thing to say, but when he was quiet you could really tell he was mad. Sirius and James didn’t say a word to each other the rest of the class.
-meanwhile-
Regulus found himself unable to take his eyes off of Lily and James as they walked down the hallway together. He watched as they laughed at each other’s jokes and every small chuckle felt like a knife being thrust into his heart. He knew that they were probably just friends but he couldn’t help but let his mind wander. “Reggie, stop drooling over James.” Evan said in a calm tone. Regulus looked at Evan, being startled out of his trance. Regulus gave Evan a death glare. “I’m sure they’re just friends, Reggie. Potter was basically obsessed with you like a week ago, there is no way he moved on that quickly.” Pandora said in a sympathetic tone. Regulus didn’t respond to any of his friends. He knew that even if James was dating Lily he couldn’t hold it against him but it still enraged him to see someone else with James.
James and Lily started spending more and more time together until they were basically attached at the hip and refused to go anywhere (besides class) without each other. James found that he thought about Regulus less and less as the days passed and managed to forget about how Regulus had betrayed him, some days he didn’t think about Regulus at all.
-a few weeks later, in the boys dorm room-
“You and Evans seem to be getting closer.” Peter pointed out as he finished up a row of his knitting project. Peter had recently picked up knitting as a hobby and was beginning to get quite good at it. “Ya, I guess we have gotten pretty close. She’s really nice and her friends are super chill too, it’s just nice to be able to talk to someone about everything you know.” James said, as a smile crept across his face. Then James leaned towards Peter and whispered, “Don’t tell Sirius but I think she’s probably my best friend.” “Are you sure you two are just friends?” Peter asked. “What do you mean? Of course we’re friends. What is that supposed to mean?” James questioned. “Nothing.” Peter said, letting out a heavy sigh.