I Think He Knows

Regulus already missed summer and the bell hasn’t even rung yet. He arrived at the school, thankfully without crashing, and parked next to Barty. Pandora, him, and Barty had agreed to meet up before walking in the building the night before since they all had first period together.

Regulus opened his door and was immediately tackled into a hug, blonde hair filling his vision. He chuckled, Pandora was the only one he allowed to give him hugs, mostly because she was just impossible to say no to.

“You’re back!” she cheered, pulling out of the hug. “Never leave for a month ever again. It was awful third-wheeling with Evan and Barty.”

“Hey!” Barty yelled, taking offense.

“I won’t, pinky swear.” he held out his pinky and she took it with a smile. It was childish, yes, but they had done it ever since elementary school.

“So, how was France?” She asked as they hooked arms and started walking while Barty trailed behind.

“Meet any cute guys?” Barty cheekily questioned. 

Regulus rolled his eyes and chose to ignore his question, instead looking to Pandora.

“It was great. It was better not being here while the renovations on the house were being made.” Regulus answered.

"How'd your room turn out?" Pandora asked with wide eyes.

"Amazingly. But they ended up reorganizing my room" He replied, annoyed at the thought of his things being moved into places he didn't know.

"Damn, that sucks." Barty chimes in pityingly. Pandora nodded, agreeing. Everyone who knew Regulus understood that he liked to be in control of things. One time in kindergarten, a kid named Axel sat in Regulus' unofficial assigned seat and Regulus pitched a huge fit. No one ever sat in his spot again.

“It was great. It was better not being here while the renovations on the house were being made.” They continued to talk about their summers while walking to first, but were stopped by a group of annoying boys.

“Reggie!” his big brother cheered like he hadn’t seen him in years, even though they saw each other that morning. Regulus ignored him, resuming his conversation with Pandora. He should’ve realized that wouldn’t stop Sirius. Sirius ran up behind him and flicked him on the head.

Regulus lifted his hand to his head, rubbing it, “Oww! What the hell Siri!” he complained.

Sirius smirked saying, “Thank you for noticing me, little brother.” His friends chuckled behind him. Regulus resisted the urge to punch them.

Annoyed, he asked, “What do you want?” As he prepared to hear the dumbest thing come out of Sirius’ mouth.

“Don’t need to be so hostile, Reggie, I was just coming to invite you to the soccer match Friday.” Sirius responded teasingly.

“How do they already have a match? It’s the first week of school.” Pandora muttered to Regulus while he just shrugged.

“No. I’m busy.”

“Oh come on Reggie! I go to your concerts!” Complained Sirius.

“Which is well within your right, just as it is mine to not attend your soccer matches.” He countered.

“Please.” Sirius pleaded, holding his hands out in front of him as if praying.

“I’ll think about it. Now leave me alone.”

“Yay!” Cheered Sirius bouncing up and down.

Sirius bounded over to Remus wrapping his arms around him like a koala. Remus offered Regulus an apologetic smile, which he accepted. Just then, he noticed James still standing there staring at him. He raised a brow in question. James, seeming to realize just then what he was doing, waved and ran off toward his friends.

Pandora nudged his shoulder in a suggestive way, smirking at him. Regulus shoved her in response. Barty barked out a laugh, while Pandora chuckled. He really needed better friends.

-

Regulus entered his second period, AP English, alone. All of his friends were separated for this class period, each on different sides of the building, so walking together was impossible.

Thankfully, McGongonal always gives out assigned seating, which means he won’t have to stress over where he would sit.

Glimpsing towards the projector, he found his name at a desk right in the center. The name next to his was Benji Fenwick’s. He went and sat down quickly right as the bell was ringing.

Benji glanced up from his paper, giving Regulus a wide smile that he returned slightly. “How was your summer?” he asked, politely.

“Good.” Regulus returned, pulling out his notebook. “Yours?”

“Mine was amazing. We went to London.” Benji explained, animatedly. Benji continued to ramble on about his summer with Regulus nodding along.

Regulus wouldn’t be able to tell you anything he said. He was too busy admiring him. His crush on the boy was still as prominent as ever, he couldn’t shake it, and it was becoming a problem. There was a cute boy he met in France, but he didn’t do anything about it because of Benji. It’s not like they’re together; yet, being with another person still felt wrong.

“Settle down class. Settle down.” McGonagall shouted over the booming voices of the students. “We are going to have a pop quiz to see what you remember from last year.” Everyone let out a collective groan.

Benji and Regulus at one another and chuckled as if sharing a joke with their eyes. When Benji looked away, Regulus was still gawking at him. He only turned away when McGonagall set the quiz on his desk.

He needed to shake this crush.

-

The day had been going by fairly quickly and soon enough, it was lunch time.

“You’re eating with us right?” Evan asked as he put his AP Chemistry binder in his bag.

“No, I was planning on going to the library, get some work done.” Regulus replied apologetically. Evan sighed, expecting the Black to say no.

“Well, if you change your mind, you know where we’ll be.” Evan announced walking backwards out the door. Regulus' lips gave a slight tilt when he ran into the door. Shaking his head, he began to shuffle out the door and into the bustle of the hallways. The halls were like any other schools, overcrowded and loud. Regulus put his headphones in and weaved through the students. Unexpectedly, he was hit by a wall. No, not a wall. A chest. Regulus looked up ready to tell the person off, but stopped when he saw who it was.

“Oh! Reggie! I am so sorry!” James lamented, placing his hands on Regulus’ shoulders to steady him. He stared in shock for a second before blinking back into reality.

“Don’t call me that,” Regulus uttered while shrugging his hands off, “Only Sirius can.” He continued walking as if he never stopped and James stood there, locked in a trance. Regulus made it to the library without another incident and acknowledged Remus’ absence.

Pushing out the chair, he sat down. As he was pulling out his AP Chemistry homework, Slughorn loved to give homework on the first day back, Remus entered the library. Regulus looked up when he reached the table noting the distressed look on his face. He raised an eyebrow in question. For a response, he set a familiar envelope down, dropping into a seat.

Regulus’ eyes widened in understanding. “Uh…how-how did you get that?” he interrogated, snatching the envelope up. Upon further inspection, it was in fact the letter Regulus had written all those years ago. Shit.

“It was in my locker this morning. Can you please explain to me why it was?” Remus stressed.

On the brink of a panic attack, Regulus rushed to clarify, “I need you to know I wrote this years ago and I would never try to jeopardize yours and Sirius’ relationship.” Remus looked into his eyes trying to see if he was lying, Remus could always tell. Not appearing to see anything, he nodded.

“Then why did you put it in my locker?” He asked, puzzled.

“I didn't,” Regulus shouted. Madam Pince scowled and shushed him.

“Wait, who did then?” Remus asked, confused. Regulus shrugged, gawking at the letter, horror overtaking his face as he realized that if Remus received his letter, the others might get theirs too. Suddenly, James Potter came stumbling in through the doors. Regulus’ face paled.

Shit. He thought tensely.

“What? What’s wrong?” Remus’ eyes filled with concern.

“I’ve got to go.” Regulus blurts as he meets James’ eyes. He hurriedly packs away his things and runs into the towering shelves. James on his tail. Regulus pushes the exit door wide open and races in the direction of his car.

He’s almost there, a few more steps and he would be at the door handle.

It was too good to be true.

Benji emerges from across the parking lot just when James catches up to him. Benji sees them and rapidly approaches. Regulus turns away from him and faces James. He lifts himself up onto his tiptoes and promptly shoves James’ head to his, smashing their lips together. 

His brother was going to kill him.