Who’s Your Friend?
Regulus didn't know how he'd ended up in this situation, sitting on a park bench in the middle of the night with nobody except a stranger with a weapon in sight. Potter wasn't being as annoying lately, in fact, he looked tired. "What, is it past your bedtime?" Regulus scoffed, and Potter rolled his eyes.
"No, isn't it past yours? What are you, ten?" Potter responded, tilting his head backwards, revealing an Adams apple and a sharp jawline.
"I'm fifteen, you don't look a year older than me, smart ass." Regulus said, frustrated. He hated being called anything related to young. Especially small, that really pissed him off.
"Well I'm sixteen so it's good you didn't bet any money on that." Potter said with way too much pride. Regulus pulled his phone from his pocket and began to type in Sirius' number. "Who's that, Dumbledore?" Potter guessed, dumbly.
"No." Regulus said, shortly. He probably shouldn't have been acting like he had the upper hand, but it's whatever. He definitely wouldn't be ringing Dumbledore, though. What a stupid guess.
Regulus put the phone to his ear, the buzzing sound sending shivers down his spine. He looked to his side to see Potter glaring through his very soul. Finally, the other end of the line picked up, and Regulus felt immediately comforted by the familiar voice.
"Reg? Are you okay?" Sirius frantically said on the other end, it sounded like he was moving around a lot.
"Uh, can you pick me up?" Regulus tried, looking over at Potter who shot him an unimpressed look. Sirius seemed to pause whatever he was doing before to respond slowly in an uneasy tone.
"Sure, where are you?" The fizz of a can opening on the other end of the line indicated that he was probably at Pandora’s house; she always had Pepsi in the fridge. Regulus personally preferred Dr Pepper, but he wasn't fussy. It's not like he had the privilege of soda growing up, anyway.
"I'm at a park on fifth avenue, sitting on a bench right now." Regulus said, moving the phone from his ear to his lap, and putting it on speaker for Potter to hear as well.
"Alright, I'm coming, I'll be around twenty minutes." Sirius said, the sound of keys knocking against each other being the last thing Regulus heard before the call was cut off.
"Who was that?" Potter asked, suspiciously.
Regulus shrugged and put his phone back in his pocket, taking his knees up to his chin and hugging himself as he thought about that night's events. So, Dumbledore wanted him dead. Who knew that working with the government could be this dangerous.
After what felt like hours, a black Porsche finally pulled up on the other side of the park, and Regulus' brother stepped out of the car. After running away from their parents and taking refuge at Pandora's house, Sirius and Regulus had been dressing as they wanted. Sirius' hair was shaggy and shoulder length, he had dozens of silver piercings and tattoos on his face alone, and he dresses like a total fag.
Regulus wasn't any better, though. He was an absolute nerd, wearing cosy jumpers and baggy jeans everywhere he went. No matter how different the brothers were, they always had a strong bond which was unbreakable. A connection that allowed them to be soul tied.
"Who's this?" Sirius shouted, slowly approaching both Potter and Regulus. Sirius took a puff of his cigarette, holding it between two of his fingers as he strutted.
Regulus walked behind Potter, unsure whether or not he could be trusted yet. "James Potter, I'm guessing your pretty boy's brother?" Potter said, slightly politely.
"Pretty boy, huh?" Sirius said, amused. Regulus rolled his eyes and stormed into the backseat of the car, clambering for the middle seat. "You're so childish!" Sirius shouted from a far distance away. Potter and Sirius were now walking together, quietly conversing. Surprisingly, Potter got in the front seat, and began changing the music on the radio.
He changed the song to Changes by David Bowie, and began singing along as well. "No way, you like Bowie?" Sirius asked, in awe at this stranger whom he had just met.
"My best friend, Remus, loves Bowie!" Potter said, happily. The two in the front began screaming every lyric to the song, and Regulus wanted nothing more than to drop dead then and there.
Luckily, the drive was actually under twenty minutes, and so when they pulled into Pandora's garage, Regulus could get out of the car immediately. "Not so fast." Potter taunted from behind Regulus once Sirius had gone inside. "I want to save Remus, and you want to live, am I right?" He asked. It was more of a statement, so Regulus took silence as an acceptable answer.
"No shit." He didn't select that answer.
"Hush." Potter grabbed Regulus' cheeks with one of his hands and squashed his mouth into an oval shape. "I'm thinking, we infiltrate the base of the death eaters, you're perfect for it.. Bring whoever the hell you want, I just need to save my best friend." He released Regulus' face, which was now sore. Potter continued to talk as Regulus rubbed his left cheek dramatically. Regulus saw tears well up slightly in Potter's eyes, but they left as quick as they came.
"We can locate their place pretty easily, it's just blending in that we need." Potter casually said, and Regulus raised an eyebrow immediately.
"Aren't you guys coming in?" Sirius suddenly shouted from inside, James and Regulus shared a glance, before they both walked into the house. Surprisingly, Barty, Dorcas, Evan, Lily and Marlene were all there as well.
"Why is literally every couple here?" Regulus sighed, taking a seat on the sofa next to a cuddling Marlene and Dorcas. Marlene had a blonde wolf cut with pink highlights, as well as hot pink but short nails, bold makeup, and a nose ring. She also had her ears pierced, but that was covered by her hair at the moment.
On her lap, Dorcas was perched happily. She was giggling with her wide smile, the one that Regulus had been seeing for years. Her hair was in black braids, complimenting her dark skin yet emerald eyes. Dorcas was also smoking some weed, but she was always doing something of that sort,
On the floor next to them, Barty was sitting cross-legged, staring up at the tv. He had a fluffy, brunette mullet paired perfectly with a shit ton of tattoos. Barty basically looked like a gay person's ideal boyfriend, and he was, for Evan.
Evan's head rested against Barty's shoulder, and he was drifting off to sleep. Evan had pale skin, soft blue eyes, bright blonde hair and an innocent smile. Although, he was far from innocent. Evan and Barty were the most iconic couple ever, just two psychopaths with family trauma that had been kissing in secret for months without knowing what being gay actually meant. Perfection.
In the kitchen, Pandora was cooking some of her famous brownies, which Regulus was melting from the smell alone. She was Evan's twin, so they looked pretty much identical. Her pale skin, wavy blonde (almost white) hair and captivating blue eyes had a more unique sense of fashion to go with it, though. Pandora was wearing a long, green skirt, paired with a plain white tank top and a crystal necklace on her neck. She always wore a lot of jewellery and nail polish but never makeup.
Her girlfriend, Lily, was similar but also completely different. Lily had flaming locks of ginger curls, beautiful swampy eyes, freckles painted on like a work of fine art, and a 'warm aura', as Pandora described her. She was usually spotted in flared jeans and a crop top, and if not, then she was in Pandora's clothes.
So it pretty much seemed like everybody had their person except for Regulus. Well, Regulus, Sirius and now Potter. It was around three in the morning now, and everybody was dozing off on the sofa together. Lily was at the end, cuddled up to Pandora, who was next to Marlene and Dorcas, and they were next to Regulus, Sirius and Potter. Evan and Barty were now snoring loudly on the floor together.
Everybody seemed to be asleep except for Marlene, who was playing with her girlfriend's hair whilst on her phone, Regulus, and Potter, who was keeping a watchful eye on them all. "Is everybody a part of the order here?" Potter whispered to Regulus. They were both sitting normally on the sofa, not touching anybody.
"Marlene, Dorcas, Lily, Sirius and me are." Regulus said, feeling James tighten up next to him. "Barty and Evan are technically death eaters but they don't actually partake in anything wrong, they don't even go to the meetings. And Pandora isn't on either side, neither does she want to be." He said, turning to look at Potter who seemed to be thinking about this.
"Should we take them all with us when we leave?" Potter asked, his voice sounding pure and genuine for such an odd question.
"No, I think it's best if we go alone." Regulus said. "Best to keep this secret." He elaborated further, and Potter merely grunted in response.
Surprisingly, Regulus turned to his side to see Potter had fallen asleep. It was peaceful to watch him for a while, it was almost as if he wasn't an insane, psychopathic stranger who could murder him at any moment. He was just James Potter. He had fallen asleep with his glasses on, what an idiot.
Regulus enjoyed the way that his chest moved up and down in such a rhythmic beat, he couldn't help but begin to fall asleep at such a sight. The last thing that Regulus remembered was the fact that his head was definitely resting on somebody's shoulder before he had fallen asleep.