James' POV
"How's your little boyfriend?" Mulciber sneered. James hated Mulciber. Mulciber was an asshole, no matter how you slice it. He was the second tallest kid in the 8th grade and that made him think that he could do or say anything he wanted. Most of the time Mulciber left him alone because James was always with Sirius and everyone knew that if you attacked one of them, both of them would retaliate. However, Sirius happened to be home sick, mind you, not Sirius’ home, but James’ home, under the amazing care of James’ mom.
"What?" James asked confused. James most definitely did not have a girlfriend or a boyfriend. Not that he couldn’t get a girlfriend or boyfriend if he wanted to. Well, that's not true, the girls in his grade generally wanted nothing to do with him especially when he was planning a prank with the boys and he didn’t know any boy in the grade that was gay. James didn’t even know if he was gay.
"Black’s brother or whatever, the little fifth grader you're in looooove with, the one that follows you everywhere," Mulciber laughed. What an asshole. He really wished Sirius was here so he could help James kick Mulciber's ass.
"I am not in love with him, and he doesn’t follow me everywhere." James rolled his eyes.
"I think you are," Mulciber said. "I think that you're too much of a gay loser to get any girls from the eighth grade, or the seventh grade, or even the sixth grade, so you had to find a little boy from the fifth grade to be your boyfriend."
"He's not my boyfriend, Mulciber," James said. He was about to do something he was going to regret. He really wished Sirius was there. As much as he loved Remus and Peter, they were not his top choices as seconds in fights. Peter was tiny and Remus really couldn’t get injured. So James was going to half to fight this fight verbally, "And there isn't a single person in the whole school who would ever date you, Mulciber, ‘cause you're ugly and known as the least intelligent kid in our year. You couldn't even get a C on our last math test. Everyone knows you have to get help in all of your classes-" James was cut off by a fist to his face. He fell back and felt the blood pouring out of his nose. “Ow, fuck.”
"James!" He heard a yell from the other side of the playground. Regulus ran towards the two fighting boys.
"You hit James!" Regulus yelled at Mulciber as if that was the greatest atrocity someone could commit. Regulus didn't talk to a lot of kids and now he was yelling at one of the biggest kids on the playground. This would not end well.
"So what? You came to defend your little boyfriend." Mulciber sneered.
Regulus's face turned bright red with anger. He looked a little like how his dad used to when he was on the phone, except he was a lot cuter, as usual. Regulus stepped towards Mulciber and James really hoped that Mulciber had a rule against hitting fifth graders.
"James is NOT my boyfriend, but I'd rather date him or anyone else before I'd date you. Because you are an ugly, stupid..." He paused to think of the word.
"Jackass." The surrounding kids gasped. While it was considered mildly acceptable for the eighth graders to swear, hearing a fifth grader do it, not to mention Regulus Black swear, was something no one predicted. Regulus walked even closer to Mulciber and swiftly raised his knee in between Mulciber's legs so that he was now moaning on the ground.
"You bitch," Mulciber groaned on the ground.
"Yeah, yeah." Regulus mocked as he walked towards James who was sitting on the ground holding his nose that was still bleeding. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, thanks Regulus." James smiled at him. He probably wasn't okay, his nose was bleeding a lot but he was really happy he had Regulus. He just took down one of the biggest, meanest kids on the playground for him. He should probably be a little embarrassed that a fifth-grade boy had just saved him, but he really wasn't. It was awesome.
"You're welcome." Regulus smiled proudly, then frowned when he looked at his nose. "I don't think you're okay." He bent down to look closer at the injury
"I don't think I am either." He said as he stood up, causing a concerning amount of blood to come out.
"Then why did you say you were!?" Regulus asked exasperated.
"Because I was a lot better than I could have been." James smiled, now feeling a bit dizzy, “Because of you”
"Yeah, and a truck could run you down now and kill you in two minutes, that doesn't make you okay now." The smaller boy argued. For a fifth grader, he was really good at coming up with arguments.
"But I don't see any trucks so that probably wouldn't happen." James laughed as they walked towards the teacher.
"That's how the trucks get ya when you're not looking." He said.
"But I am looking, so a truck can't get me," James said.
"Yes, they could," Regulus responded.
"Nope." He shook his head, which he decided was a mistake as a flood of pain came to his nose.
"Yup." He said, with a worried look at him.
"Nope," James repeated as he reached the teacher.
"James, what happened?" Ms. Sprout chastised.
"I- hurt my nose." He said stubbornly. He couldn't tell the teacher that Mulciber punched him or else Mulciber would tell the teacher that Regulus kneed him and he didn't want Regulus to get in trouble.
"And how did that happen?" The teacher asked as she got a clean cloth to try to wipe away the blood.
"I fell." He responded unconvincingly.
"Are you sure that's the answer you want to stick with?" The teacher asked.
"Yup." James nodded.
"Well if you say so." She looked closer at the nose. "Oh dear, I think this is broken, we should get you to the hospital." James smiled a bit, he really liked the hospital. James wanted to be a doctor someday.