Chapter 3
The week had been mostly uneventful. Slytherin beat Hufflepuff in the quidditch match and somehow James and Regulus had almost been getting along in potions. Sirius was still peeved about the potions assignment, but Remus had been distracting him from it.
Remus nudged James at lunch, “You gotta go, Prongs.”
“You’re right, Moony, I have things to do,” James agreed and stood up.
“Moony, where is Prongs going? Is he going to hang out with my insufferable brother? Prongs why are you abandoning me?” Sirius whined.
Remus laughed, “No, Prongs is going to the dorm to get me my chocolate. The full moon is Monday.”
Sirius sat up straight, “Oh. Right. Carry on, Prongs.”
James laughed and walked out of the great hall. As he left, he glanced at the Slytherin table, Regulus was already gone.
When James walked into the potions classroom, Regulus was sitting at their cauldron reading a book.
“What are you reading?” James asked as he sat down.
Regulus closed the book and covered the title, “A book.”
“That’s very descriptive, Baby Black.”
“Maybe I don’t want you to know, Potter.”
James laughed as he and Regulus added the powdered moonstone to the potion. As they did, James got a glimpse of Regulus’s book.
“The Great Gatsby is a muggle book,” James observed with surprise.
Regulus shrugged, “Pandora gave it to me.”
James smiled, “It’s a good book.”
“How would you know?”
“Remus told me so.”
Regulus laughed softly and James beamed.
“Calm down, Potter. I know how to laugh,” Regulus grumbled.
James laughed, “I know, but you have a really nice laugh.”
Regulus shook his head, grabbed his book, and walked towards the door, “I’ll see you tomorrow, Potter.”
James skipped lunch. For some reason, he really wanted to see Regulus. Something about their interaction the day before excited him. He took the Marauders Map with him when he left. He didn’t want Sirius to use it to look for him. If James could befriend Regulus, then maybe there was hope for Regulus and Sirius.
Regulus was already in the potions classroom when James walked in. He had a different book in his hands.
Regulus looked at him curiously, “Did you skip lunch?”
“It’s not a big deal,” James shrugged.
Regulus nodded and grabbed the pearl dust. They added it in and then James asked the question that had been eating away at him ever since Sirius came to live with him.
“Why do you hate Sirius?”
Regulus froze, it didn’t even look like he was breathing, “I don’t hate Sirius. He hates me. There’s a difference, Potter.”
“But you never even reached out to him, you know, after what Walburga and Orion did.”
Regulus grabbed James’s shoulders, “What do you mean?”
“You don’t know?” James whispered softly.
“James Potter, you better explain yourself this instant.”
James took a deep breath, “They used cruciatus on him for almost seven minutes. He was barely able to floo to the manor.”
Regulus dropped his hands from James’s shoulders, “No wonder he hates me.”
“You really didn’t know?”
“They locked me in my room and when they finally let me out Sirius was gone. Burned off of the family tree. They told me not to ask,” Regulus shook his head.
“Regulus, I’m so-”
“Stop. Potter, we’re not friends. You’re Sirius’s friend and after tomorrow our strange relationship we’ve started will be over. Go back to your girlfriend and your friends and forget this conversation ever happened.”
“But-”
“No. James Potter. We are not friends and we never have been and we never will be,” Regulus’s expression was blank. He walked out of the room and left James alone in the potions classroom.
“And that’s what happened.” James said as he finished telling Remus about what he had learned from Regulus.
Remus nodded thoughtfully, “So Regulus had no idea. And Sirius has no idea that Regulus didn’t know.”
“Should we tell Sirius?”
Remus shook his head, “Sirius has finally started to move away from his Regulus obsession, granted now he’s back to being obsessed with Snape being evil, which is never a good thing, but he’s not focused on Regulus.”
“But they could fix things!”
“But Regulus will never leave his family. He’s the perfect heir. There’s a reason he never sought Sirius out.”
James thought for a minute. The sound of Bowie on the record player helped disguise their conversation while Sirius was in the shower.
“I think you’re misjudging Regulus,” James admitted.
Remus raised an eyebrow, “We both know how Sirius was treated in that house. Regulus has never done anything to prove that I’m misjudging him.”
“But he was reading The Great Gatsby!” James argued.
“That doesn’t mean anything. Just because he doesn’t absolutely despise muggle literature doesn’t mean he’s any different than people like Snape and Mulciber. His best friends are Barty Crouch Jr and Evan Rosier,” Remus shot back.
James shook his head, “I think you’re wrong about him, Moony.”
Remus opened his mouth to say something, but stopped as they heard the shower turn off.
“We can talk about this another time, but I would rather you drop it,” Remus whispered.
James nodded and walked over to his own bed. Thoughts of Regulus swimming in his mind. Regulus that laughed when he admitted that his literature reviews were actually Remus’s, Regulus that smiled when Pandora laughed. James didn’t believe that he was like Snape or Mulciber at all.
Regulus and James hadn’t spoken a word since that Sunday in the potions classroom. It had been a whole month since then and it was almost summer. James found himself looking for Regulus at every meal.
Lily kissed James on the cheek as she stood up to leave dinner, “I’m going to go study with Pandora, Dorcas, and Marlene. I’ll see you later.”
James nodded, “Remind Marlene that we have practice in the morning.”
Lily laughed and nodded as she walked out.
“Prongs, are you sure you’re ok with me spending the first half of the summer with Moony?” Sirius asked him.
“Yes, Pads, I’m completely sure.”
Peter smiled sadly, “Sorry I’ll be in Egypt with my folks, Prongs.”
James laughed, “You guys do realize that I’m used to it just being me, mum, and dad during the summer?”
“Sorry Prongs, we forgot you had a life before us,” Remus joked.
“You guys are gonna be the ones crawling back to me,” James teased.
Peter smiled, “Didn’t you say that your mom is having your uncle’s wife over this summer anyways?”
James nodded, “Well she’s not technically my uncle’s wife, but Aunt Dorea was going to marry my Uncle Charlus secretly before he died.”
Sirius paused, “Dorea Black?”
“Yeah, I think so?”
“How did I never realize that my Aunt was also your Aunt?” Sirius exclaimed. James just shrugged.
“Prongs! We’re practically related!” Sirius hugged James tightly.
“Almost. Except Uncle Charlus died right before they were supposed to get married.”
Sirius groaned, “We were so close!”