Astronomy tower
Sept 15th 1976
James Potter, the sun who once burned so brightly, now slowly dying one ember at a time,
Facade
slowly cracking. He made his way toward the astronomy tower, palms sweating, his brain racing with thoughts of his parents and friends.
He doesn't think they'll miss him much, they all have each other after all. Honestly, it's better if they don't miss him, because that way they can
all move on with life, without the guilt of a death that's his fault on their shoulders.
He just can't do it, he can't keep trying to be perfect anymore.
He always feels heavy, like there are invisible weights slowly, and agonizingly pulling him down
everywhere he goes. He tried to be the perfect friend, perfect son, perfect athlete.
He always made sure to help his friends when they needed it, to get good grades, and to do extra laps at practice or skip a few meals here and there to stay fit.
But now it was just too much, and he was done with it all. He hoped that when they found him in the morning they would play his death off as an accident, that he had just been goofing off too close to the edge and fell.
While it would be an embarrassing way to die, at least he wouldn't be known as the bloke who launched himself off the astronomy tower, cause he couldn't take the pressure. As he neared the top of the staircase, he realized he was crying and wiped at his eyes quickly. The only thing he hadn't accounted for in his whole plan, was other people.
When he got to the door, he pushed it open, locking eyes with one Regulus Black.
“Potter” “Regulus,”
he said, trying to hide the tremor in his voice by smiling. That summer, Regulus had come to live at the Potters, with his brother Sirius. It was now mid-October and Regulus was trying to his best extent to ignore James’ whole existence.
“What are you doing here?”
he said, an edge of coldness to his voice
“Well baby Black this is a public area isn't it”
“Yes I know that, I've just never seen you here that's all, and I've told you before not to call me that”.
“Well Reggie since you want to know so badly, I just thought it was a nice night for a walk tonight”
He knew he didn't sound very believable, but he was hoping Regulus would just ignore it.
“That's the only reason you're here?”
“Yes, believe it or not, I just thought the view would be nice to look at”
“So since you now know what I'm doing here on this fine night, what are you doing here?”
he knew his voice didn't sound quite right, but Regulus didn't seem to notice or maybe he just didn't care.
“Star gazing couldn't you tell?”
Regulus sounded thoroughly annoyed by the question, and rightfully so because right to the left of where he was standing there was a telescope.
“Oh sorry didn't notice I guess”
He heard Regulus mutter to himself about oblivious Griffindors. “What constellations are out tonight?”
He said moving closer to the edge he was near.
”why should I tell you?” he said with a scowl. “Because I'm amazing and irresistibly hot” at that Regulus actually laughed
“fine, because you live with me” he said knowing that he'd get an answer out of what he said.
”fine, you fucking win” “Aquarius, Pegasus, Lacerta and Canis major” he listed off in a bored tone
“Sounds interesting, care to tell me more?” he moved to sit on the edge with Regulus.
“Well in Greek mythology, Aquarius represents the youthful Shepherd boy Ganymede who was abducted by Zeus and brought to Olympus to serve as cupbearer to the Gods”. He said, leaning back on his hands.
As Regulus talked about his passion a small smile bloomed on his face, barely noticeable but still there.
“And Sirius as you inevitably already know is the brightest star in the sky”
he says with an eye roll.
“Makes sense why he's named after a star so big and bright it matches his ego”
James couldn't help but laugh at the comment.
“Hey umm, Regulus”
“Yes, Potter?”
“Could you tell me more about the stars?”
“Why?”
“I just like hearing you talk it's calming,
like something I could listen to for hours and not get bored of, you know?”
He felt highly embarrassed by what he was saying, but he just couldn't stop himself.
“Oh, umm sure”
So for the next hour, James learned all about constellations, stars and the boy he hadn't gotten the chance to learn about sooner.