Chapter 6
“How do you know them?” Walburga snapped. She had dragged Sirius and Regulus back to their room right after their little tea party and was now interrogating Sirius.
“We found them drunk and helped them back to their room,” Sirius told her nonchalantly, repeating the lie that Regulus had told, hoping he would too if he was questioned.
“Lie! For Christ’s sake, Sirius! You’re one of those queers and a liar? Is there really no hope left for you?” she muttered, taking to pacing up and down the room in front of him. Sirius leant back against his bed’s headboard, arms folded over his chest.
“Go on, you tell me how I met them then if you are so almighty and all-knowing,” Sirius huffed.
“Well, I certainly know that’s not how Regulus met them, so I’m assuming neither did you. See, Regulus was on the deck with the one with glasses on our first night. He was frightened, so the boy must’ve done something to him. Regulus isn’t a skittish boy, he wouldn’t be so nervous for no reason. That boy-”
“James,” Sirius interrupted her, if she was going to talk shit about him, she should use his name at least.
“James means no good. Stay away from him, or else,” Walburga finished.
“Okay, whatever you say, Maman. James seems nice to me, in fact, he’s the nicest person I’ve ever met. He’s easy to talk to and he’s honest. I think your judgment is off. How about you talk to your darling Regulus about what really happened, eh? I bet he won’t tell you. He’s scared of you, you know. He doesn’t want to get married, but you won’t hear him out. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have places to be,” Sirius informed her, standing up quickly he dodged her attempt to grab him and ran out of the room, grabbing hold of Regulus and the two of them rushed down the halls to the lower decks.
“What was that about?” Regulus asked, panting as they slowed down in front of James and Remus’ room.
“You met James on our first night?”
“What? No-”
“Don’t lie to me Regulus. Mother just told me she found you with him, claimed you were scared of him. Why didn’t you tell me when I introduced you the next day?” Sirius asked him calmly, hands on his brother’s shoulders.
“I didn’t think you’d be okay with the circumstances we met under…” Regulus admitted, looking down at the floor.
“What do you mean? You weren't snogging, were you?” Sirius mused.
“No. James… he er… Well. I nearly fell over the edge and he was there and he pulled me back. That’s all, really.”
“If you say so…” Sirius hummed, reading his fist to knock on the door. It swung open, revealing James still in his suit.
“Oh, hi! Come on. It’s a little cramped but… Remus was just about to get in line for the baths but I’m sure he’ll stay if you’re here,” James smirked at Sirius.
Sirius rolled his eyes and entered the room. James had been right, it was small. There weren’t any of the luxurious beds like those in first class, instead, they had small bunkbeds crammed into every part of the room and a sink at the far end, wedged between two beds. They clearly shared with multiple other people.
“Hiya,” Remus hummed from his bed. Unlike James, he had taken the suit Jacket off and unbuttoned some of the buttons of his shirt.
“Mon Dieu! Regarde toi!” “My goodness! Look at you!” Sirius exclaimed, throwing himself at Remus and getting to work on sucking at his neck. Remus chuckled, his chest vibrating against Sirius’ as he wrapped his arms around his waist.
“Could you please not?” Regulus grumbled.
“Leave ‘em alone, Reg,” James retorted cheerily.
“Don’t call me that, Potter. We’re still not friends.”
“Ah, come on Reggie! Don’t be like that!” Sirius laughed, parting from Remus’ lips just long enough to catch a glimpse of Regulus rolling his eyes.
“We all know you secretly want to kiss me,” James laughed dryly.
“No, I don’t. I’m engaged. And it’s not to you. It’s also not really any of your business, is it?”
“Stop being a prat, Regulus,” Sirius sighed, sitting back onto Remus’ thighs to turn his attention to his stropy brother.
“What? I’m just being honest!”
“Don’t worry Sirius, it’s alright,” James sighed.
“Entschuldigung, darf ich bitte- Dankeschön,” a slightly wider man said, slipping past Regulus and into the room.
“Beeil dich, Peter!” a girl shouted from the outside. She was rather pretty with her blonde hair in a messy plait thrown over her shoulder.
Sirius watched the man rummage around his bag, strewing clothes all over the floor and on his bed. He pulled something out of the back and stuffed it into his pocket, before repacking his bags again.
“Sorry,” he muttered on his way back out of the room. He closed the door and the remaining four of them stood in silence for a moment.
“Who was he?” Sirius asked.
“Roommate. Haven’t got a fucking clue what he says. He’s not here often, only sleeps here. Probably with the girl most of the time,” Remus informed him, pulling Sirius back to his mouth.
Sirius let out a happy hum against his lips, choosing to ignore Regulus’ scoffing.
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Regulus rolled his eyes at Sirius and James and left the room. Naturally, James followed, not wanting to intrude on their privacy.
“What are you doing?” Regulus grumbled, not looking at him.
“Well, I’m giving them some privacy. Is that a problem? Would you prefer I watched them get down on each other?” James laughed, speeding up slightly to walk next to him.
“If I’m being honest, it doesn’t really matter to me. I was going back to my room, anyway. Have fun doing whatever you were going to do,” the boy answered, a small satisfied smile playing on his lips.
“Well, I was gonna come with you, actually,” James hummed happily, linking his arm with Regulus’.
“Don’t touch me, Potter,” he scoffed, pulling his arm away. “What are you going to do with my brother’s suit? He will want them back, you know?” he said, somewhat softer.
“I was gonna return it! I’m not a monster, jeez.”
“Didn’t say you were,” Regulus huffed. He picked up the pace, trying to lose James, but he followed.
“There’s probably gonna be another party tonight if you wanna come?” he suggested.
“I don’t go to parties,” Regulus retorted, shooting him a disgusted glance.
“Well, you should. It’s how we met Sirius. And it’s really fun, there’s music and dancing and drinks, you’ll love it!” James continued enthusiastically.
“Seems like you don’t know me very well then,” Regulus snorted.
“Why don’t you just try it? Sirius will be there too, and if you don’t like it, we can leave.”
“Who is ‘we’? There is no ‘we’. There’s me, and there’s you. Don’t mix us, Potter,” Regulus spat.
“That’s not what I meant, Reg, I just meant-”
“For crying out loud, it’s Regulus, not Reg, not Reggie, not anything but Regulus to you. And it never will be anything else. So I am going to politely ask you to get lost and leave me alone. Thank you,” Regulus erupted, slamming the door to his room in James' face.
Great. This was going nowhere. Maybe he was content in marrying Pandora after all? At least he still had Remus and Sirius. When they weren’t busy biting each other’s faces off…
Slightly humbled, James goes back to the deck, soaking in the chilly ocean air. They were getting closer to their destination, only four more days to go. In the three days they were aboard, Remus had got himself a boyfriend, they had both made a new friend and James had saved someone from jumping off the side of the boat. He had also fallen head over heels for a very stubborn engaged man, who seemingly wanted nothing to do with him.
“Fuck, sorry!” James apologised, bending over to pick up the book he had knocked out of someone’s hand. He held it out to give it to its owner and was met by the girl from earlier.
“It’s okay,” she said, taking it back from him.
“You speak english?” James gawked, looking between her and the man she was with.
“Obviously,” the man chuckled.
“Well, why didn’t you say so!” James exclaimed, holding his hands out to his sides.
“It was funnier hearing you and your friend talking about fucking people,” he answered with a shrug.
“That’s embarrassing… I’m James,”
“I’m Peter,” the man said, holding out his hand, waiting for James to shake it.
“And I’m Marlene!” the woman grinned. She too held out her hand and they shook hands.
“So where are you from? You’re not english, I can tell,” James asked them.
“No, we’re German,” Peter said, “You’re english?”
“Yep, my mate, Remus, the one I talk about shagging with, is Welsh and the other two we were with are French,” James told them. Marlene and Peter exchanged glances and tight smiles with each other, “Die franzosen…” Marlene muttered.
“What’s that now?” James asked her, trying to keep the conversation going. He was lonely with Remus busy and Sirius busy, both of them busy with each other, and Regulus giving him the cold shoulder. He didn’t have anyone else on the ship to talk to.
“Ah, nothing. What cabin do they stay in? They are not in ours,” Peter said.
James lets out a soft chuckle, “They’re first class. No, Regulus, the grouchy one, wouldn’t be caught dead sleeping in a cabin like ours. Sirius on the other hand, I don’t think he would mind.”
“Which one was the grouchy one?” Marlene half-whispered to Peter.
“Oh! The one stood up. Shorter hair, very put-together…?” James tried to explain.
Marlene’s eyebrows were drawn together in confusion, “What does that mean?” she asked.
“Sorry, it means he’s very neat and the way he presents himself is very… posh?”
“Ah, I see. So not the girl?” Peter asked.
“Girl? There was no girl…?”
“The one sitting on the boy, long black hair,” Peter described and James laughed.
“Yeah no, that was a guy. Sirius.”
“Er meint wirklich das sei ein junge gewesen? Spinnt er?” Peter hissed at Marlene. James stood there, dumbfounded, waiting for them to exchange whatever it was they were exchanging amongst themselves.
“You draw?” James asked after the waiting became too much for him. Marlene cocked her head at him, then followed his gaze down to the book in her hands. She blushed slightly and tapped the cover subconsciously, “No, I write. It’s not good, but I enjoy it,” she admitted.
“That’s cool! I draw, sometimes. Mind if I have a look?”
“Er.. it’s all German, you wouldn’t understand it…” Marlene dismissed him.
“Oh, okay. You going to go to the party tonight?”
“We were going to, yes. We have every night so far. Are you?” Peter told him.
“I was gonna, yeah. I’ll look out for you.”
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Stupid James. Stupid, stupid stupid! How could he touch Regulus like that and then act so casually? Did he know he was driving him insane? He failed to think of anything else ever since he slammed the door in James’ face, constantly thinking of their small interaction.
It hadn’t meant anything, it couldn’t have. Not to James, and it should certainly not to Regulus. He was basically a married man. He should not be thinking about some poor, arrogant, messy man. Besides, James wasn’t like that. Not that that should matter, seeing as Regulus wasn’t like that, anyway.
He would let Sirius drag him to the stupid party, act annoyed about it, be annoyed he let himself be dragged there and then he would leave. Alone.
He had a plan and he would stick to it, no matter what. So, when Sirius came back hours later and asked him to go to the party, he groaned.
“I don’t like parties, Sirius! You know that!”
“But Reggie! Please, you would make your big brother so happy if you came,” Sirius begged him. Everything was going according to plan.
“You always force me into things I don’t want to do! When will we draw the line, Sirius?” he sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance.
“It’s character development! Come on! You’ll love it!” Sirius insisted. Regulus’ heart fluttered annoyingly in his chest; James had said the exact same thing.
“Fine. But if I go, we leave when I say we do, clear?”
“Yes! This is gonna be great!” Sirius beamed, rushing into the bathroom to get started on getting ready.
Regulus sighed halfheartedly. He was not going to enjoy this.