Inbreed
"Can't believe neither of the two Black brothers thought of this." Dorcas sighed, her heroes fallen.
"Really?" Marlene said, "They're men, of course they didn't think of it."
"I'm on Marlene's side," Lily said, "men just don't know a lot about glamours and illusion charms."
"Almost done." Mary was mumbling, using her wand as something of a brush, drawing it above the bandages in Alexander's arm, the other girls might know glamour and beauty spells, but they had nothing on Mary. This was nothing but a piece of cake for her, the only time she felt she might not get a glamour right was last year's great Marauder Halloween Debacle--they'd decided (Sirius and James) to use a transfiguration potion to turn into horror movie monsters for Halloween, and they couldn't undo it, so Mary had to help them make a potion to undo it, and while that made effect, she used a few glamours and a lot of charms for them to not have the face of that guy with the chainsaw and that weird possessed baby thing.
Mary grinned to herself, she did a very fine job indeed, "even got his little beauty spots right." Regulus nodded, Mary noticed, she laughed on the inside only, she wouldn't let it out right now, but she suspected that Regulus had a crush on Alexander ever since last year, there was this party, before Marlene and Dorcas started going out, just before actually, Dorcas, who at the time was the only nice Slytherin (save for Alexander, obviously), that was the party, actually, where Dorcas told Marlene she liked her, but she panicked and ran away after saying it, she was pretty drunk, that's how she ended up chatting with Mary that night, but she was quite pissed from the drinks, and she told her how she thought Regulus might be into boys, which was WILD, because how do you get close enough to that Regulus (mean face and cold demeanour, probably a psychotic Death Eater as well), to know he liked boys? But Mary's digressing, the thing is she said she suspected, Mary knew Dorcas would never actually out him, so she was on the fence on believing her, but then she started noticing how Regulus looked at Alexander since last year and oh my Merlin, she might have been right. This was all from that nod, obviously, all making sense, no matter how observant you might be, these are the kinds of things you only notice when you like someone. Mary knew firsthand, when she was crushing on Sirius, going out with him, few years back, big mistake, her gaydar hadn't developed, but she did see those things back then, she still remembered how she noticed the way Sirius' arm hair was so delicate and thin it was almost invisible, she'd remember more but the boy had PERFECT skin. Truly amazing, to this day she hasn't managed to pry those secrets out of him but Merlin knows she. Will. Get. Them. And his hair routine, Sirius Black took at LEAST an hour every time he washed his hair and Mary was going to get that routine because have you EVER seen a hair more perfect than that boy's? Yes her hair was curly and all that but HAVE YOU SEEN HIS HAIR?
"You have an eye for this," Alexander's jaw was widened with surprise, "now do my face, you could use my eye-bags for camping right now, and if you know anything to make me look like I wasn't bitten by Nosferatu I will forever be in your debt Mary MacDonald." Just one of the reasons she loved him, he was the only boy she knew who would actually compliment her on stuff she did. The others appreciated her, sure, especially after that whole Halloween Debacle, but Alexander was constantly doing it, not just her magic, but the way she put her Hogsmade outfits together, how she listened, her handwriting, if that boy wasn't gay, she would be all over him.
"I'll tell you if you get me Sirius' hair skin care routine." Seizing the chance to use Alexander's legilimancy to her favour.
"As fucking if. That's information is kept in the innermost and most protected part of my mind." Sirius was the contrary to bashful.
"He does have pretty skin." Peter of all people agreed with her, "If you get it, share with the group, I've tried every way to rid me of the acne but I just can't and he refuses his secrets!"
"Genetics." He waves his pretty hair.
"Inbreed." Mary quipped and Barty and Evan full on snorted. Regulus turned a shade of red that could've had you confuse him for a Gryffindor tapestry.
...
They managed to get Alexander to the Great Hall for lunch, James and Sirius carried him all the way there. Refused outright to let him walk by himself. They had rehearsed the lie they fabricated, Alexander had fallen off the stairs running after Sirius and Remus, so he had to spend the night in the infirmary, which was plausible enough, Mary and Dorcas would make sure that rumour spread. And Barty and Evan would make fun of him for that, constantly, so that it was more believable. James couldn't believe how smart his friends were, honestly.
He did believe that if they put their minds to it, they could have probably ruled the whole of the British Isles. Even the Slytherins were starting to get on his good side. Dorcas had managed that last year after she started going out with Marlene, she'd started spending time with them a bit more. But Barty and Evan seemed like another pair of bullies, he knew they'd been caught a number of times practising hexes and curses on younger students (some older as well), Evan had a mean face, and Barty looked a little like he belonged in the mentally unstable ward in St. Mungo's. But he hadn't actually known them before these last few days.
He'd found out that they were worried about their friend. Enough to stay outside of the hospital wing waiting all night, they didn't even mention it the following morning, they'd caught them snoring by a corner. And anyone who cared enough about their friends to stay sleeping outside a hospital for them couldn't be that bad if you asked James.
He knew they were terrible people, but there must be an explanation for that, too. He totally understood that, you couldn't be Sirius Black's best friend--nay, brother, and not know that most of those pureblood families were so fucked up they'd turn out like that. And they were still young, they could choose a different path still.
Regulus was a whole different story.
James knew Sirius got updates from Alexander about him. He mentioned it only once in third year, in a late night conversation, he didn't say what the updated were about, he didn't say anything else, but that put Alexander high up in James' book of friends. James knew how much Sirius wanted to get Regulus back. He never said that either, but you couldn't not know.
Sirius constantly talked about him and how terrible his friends were and how he was probably a loyalist of the dark lord already and whatnot. But that was the clue, he would never admit to it because that meant that he had lost him. To say he wanted him back was admitting he left him when he left his home. No, not home, James corrected himself, house. His home was with James, and Effie and Fleamont. He'd help Sirius change his last name to Potter if he wanted to. He was his brother, not by blood, but by something more powerful than that. Still, he knew Sirius would always kick himself for what he and Regulus had lost.
This was the closest, physically at least, they'd been since Sirius ran away. They were on the same team for once. Not talking to each other, but their friends were. Kind of. Even if it was because Alexander was horribly hurt. James believed in taking the best in every situation, and this time, it was that. And that was enough for now.
They sat Alexander in their table, Sirius and him were moving him from class to class (making sure he didn't faint while walking from lack of blood, Pomfrey warned them that if she saw him by himself she would make sure she had them bound to a hospital bed for a month), at least the ones they had together, Lily took him to Potions and Mary to Divination before supper. But finally they were all there again.
"You won't believe how fun divination was today." Mary started talking, James loved how she could just go on and on and never run out of things to say, it was fascinating to him, "Alexander and I spent the whole time trying to get predictions for Friday's party."
"Wait that's still happening?" Lily cut in. James had totally forgotten about it.
"Why wouldn't it?" Alexander shot back.
"Because you were," she started whisper screaming, "bloody hospitalized!"
"What of it?" He did seem like he just couldn't connect the dots, or he was brushing it off like it was nothing. James didn't like it when he did that, it didn't happen often, but James likes to know his friends are doing alright, or help them in any way he can if they're not, but Alexander had this horrible habit of just denying the terrible things that happened to him like they were nothing. Not like Remus who just pushed them down and repressed them, or Peter who for once TALKED about them, he wished they were all more like Peter sometimes, just in that aspect though, he loved his friends and how they were, but if they talked about their issues, James truly believed they would all be happier. At least he wasn't as bad as Sirius, because Sirius, and he loved him more than anything or anyone, but he had this horrible cycle of not realizing his trouble, then blaming himself for it, then acting like nothing was happening while getting into the most self-destructive habits, until he finally realized it and went to talk to James in the dead of the night.
Sometimes he wished they were all girls, they got to talk about their feelings easier, he knew Lily and Marlene and Mary, and hell, sometimes even Dorcas got together just for that, to talk about their feelings, and James was totally envious of that. Maybe he should hold some sort of feeling sharing sleepover for the guys, it would be great for bonding and healing. Getting things out in the open.
But that was not happening with his friends, they all had so many secrets. So many things to keep track of. So many things that James understood couldn't just be shared like that.
"I'm going to the party Lils," the conversation moved on without James, "I will take it easy. And against all I believe in, I will promise you not to drink. But just because Pomfrey would murder me and then bring me back to life."
"You know what? I'll take it." Lily was right, she wouldn't do better than that with him, the one thing Mary and Alexander loved most in this life was partying. Still he always admired how Lily would stand up for her friends, even when their greatest threat was themselves. He liked her pretty hair too. It was passionate like her. And she always took care of whoever needed it. Even if they didn't want it, like their friends often did.
"Now." Alexander stood up too quickly and he paled through the charm Mary had applied for a second. But he held himself up in Remus' shoulders. "I'll head back to the Slytherin table. And see you lot tomorrow." He vowed and turned and joined Regulus and the other Slytherins. Regulus was following him with his eyes since before he left the table. James did notice things, he wasn't as dense as people thought, sure he wasn't a genius like Lily or Sirius or Remus, but he wasn't a straight up dummy. He saw that Regulus did that often, he scanned them all, especially when Alexander was with them, he took care of his own. And James admired that, even if he did what he did, and didn't what he didn't. Regulus took care of his friends, and James, more than anyone could appreciate that.
A silver lining.
And just maybe there was a little glimmer of hope that this whole thing could make Sirius get his brother back.