2
As luck would have it, Regulus’s vow to stay away from James was quickly broken. As Regulus wordlessly moved through the crowds of loud and rowdy boys that quickly collected in the dormitory halls, he finally found the room number that was written on the piece of paper that had been quickly shoved in his hand by an admissions teacher. He hadn’t stuck around along to hear his roommates name, just silently praying that the school didn’t believe in brotherly love. Upon opening the door Regulus felt his heart drop to the bottom of his stomach and realised that being roomed with Sirius wouldn’t have been the worst fate after all. In front of him stood a boy a couple of inches taller than him, though Regulus couldn’t tell whether his height was accurate or exaggerated by his mess of fluffy hair. Regulus eyes met his and he recognised those godforsaken glasses perched upon his nose. Regulus could see in the boys’ eyes that he recognised Regulus as Sirius brother and a hint of a smile played at his lips. Before Regulus could even get a word out the boy spoke;
“James Potter, “he started, hand outstretched, “I hear we’re to be roommates this year.” His frustratingly coy smile never faltering.
Regulus, completely ignoring James’s outstretched hand coughed up something that sounded vaguely like his name, before sidestepping the boy completely and walking over to his bed. James didn’t seem bothered by his lack of manners and continued talking, “Oh I know who you are, don’t think Sirius ever shuts up about his little brother ‘Reggie’.” At that Regulus froze, heart clenched in place. He never doubted that Sirius would speak about him, but always thought it would be with hatred and disgrace, but the use of the nickname he’d had basically since birth gave him hope, that maybe, Sirius did still care. After being silent for way to look Regulus answered. “And surely he mentioned my absolute hatred for that name?” At that James just laughed, “Absolutely he did Reggie,” he teased. Before Regulus could ever think of a response, the door of the room was slammed open. In came a rush of three boys. Regulus recognised only one of them, Sirius, who had his fingers laced in between the fingers of an almost scarily tall boy who seemed more than happy to be tugged along by him. Behind them followed a quieter, but not by much, blonde boy who smile reached his ears. Sirius took no time jumping onto James’s bed, meeting Regulus eyes exactly once before shouting “Boys, what are the four pillars?” In unison, James and the other two shouted in return “Travesty, horror, decadence and excrement!” Sirius nearly tripped off the bed with laughter. The tall boy shouted out in a vague accent “Oi Peter, shut the door mate.” At this, the blond boy saluted in reply before promptly shutting the door. With in mere seconds, the tall one had the window open, and a cigarette had miraculously appeared between his fingers. At the scent of smoke, James whipped around groaning “Remus, really? We’re not even an hour into school year.” At this the tall one, Remus just shrugged and passed the cigarette to Sirius, who motioned for Remus to put it directly in his mouth as he pulled his hair up. James started the conversation once again, as Regulus tried even harder to curl melt into the wall against his back. “So, Pete, I hear you attended summer school?” In response Peter nodded, “Sure did, chemistry, my father seemed to think I needed to get ahead, and to be honest, after last years science mark, I’m starting to think he was right,” he added with a chuckle. “Well then, with Peter for chemistry, I think we have our study group. Remus here aced Latin and I didn’t quite flunk trig, so it all works out,” Sirius said joining the conversation as Remus put out their cigarette. Regulus made to stand to put his desk set on his desk and awkwardly brushed against Remus as he found his feet. He tried to turn but Remus spoke before he can. “My bad mate, sorry. The names Remus, Remus Lupin,” a small smile emerging as he continued, pointing to Peter, the blonde one, “That there is Peter Pettigrew and I’m assuming you’ve already met James here.” He stopped awkwardly not sure how to continue his sentence. An uncomfortable air settled in the dorm. Unexpectedly Sirius was the one to break it. He draped an arm across Regulus’s shoulders as he said, “And obviously he knows me, I’m his favourite brother after all.” The confidence in his voice was forced and burned almost as much as his arm across Regulus shoulder did. “Only brother you mean,” Regulus grumbled as his shrugged his arm off and nodded at Remus as he turned to finish his task. “Yeah so? Makes me favourite by default,” Sirius countered, but Regulus was already tuning the four boys out as the chatter started up again despite the fact, he could feel someone’s gaze still upon him, but he refused to turn and see whose it was.
Eventually all other boys left, needing to unpack themselves, and Sirius’s final contribution to the conversation was some crude joke about getting to share a room with Remus which further cemented the idea of Remus and Sirius dating in Regulus’s mind, leaving him only slightly hurt that Sirius never confided in him about. While he was grateful for some amount of peace, Regulus was not thrilled about the idea of being left alone with James, the nagging voice in his head reminding him just HOW attractive James was. To say Regulus didn’t appreciate said voice would be an understatement, though he didn’t mean he didn’t agree with it, after all you shouldn’t be able to disagree with yourself. The dorm was silent for a little while, as James finished his unpacking as well. His side of the dorm was decorated with sports posters and film photos of him and the other boys. Regulus’s side had books strewn everywhere, the dust covers sneakily swapped out, so no one would be able to tell that they were actually poetry books not history books that covered such topics as the French Revolution. That silence though is broken once again by none other than James Potter. “So…” he ventures carefully, “Do you know which classes you have this year?” For a moment, Regulus considers just not answering but unfortunately some part of Regulus was desperate for James to like him so after a beat he answers. “Pretty sure it’s the just the standard classes, though I’m taking French as well as Latin, and I’ve skipped a year in English.” James was silent for a second. “Shit,” was all he answered with before continuing, “That’s a lot of work…. Why did you skip a year?” Regulus turned to face James, “Um, I was the best at my old school, and my parents are…. Consistent with their donations to the school so Dumbledore thought it best I just join the second-year students I guess,” was all the response he offered. He expected silence after his reply, what he did not expect was James breaking into a massive grin. Confusion flooded his brain as he tried to decipher what it meant. With a sigh, Regulus caved as he realised James wasn’t going to clarify, “What?” This just made James’s grin grow even more. “Second-year English you said?” was all he offered. Regulus just nodded, as he slowly pieced the puzzle together. James answered first “Guess I’ll see you in class then Reggie,” he said with a smirk. Regulus nearly groaned outwardly but caught himself just in time and pulled his features into a tight-lipped smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes before he glanced at the time. Curfew had begun, and the boys were expected to be asleep before it reached 9. Thankful for the escape, Regulus offered to turn the lights off so they could head to bed. The grin on James’s face had yet to fade as he thanked him, and part of Regulus mind drifted off and wondered if maybe just maybe, James was actually pleased to have Regulus in his class. Regulus shed the thought as he mumbled a goodnight and crawled into his sheets.
Only once James’s breathing steadied did Regulus reach under his bed and pull out his notebook. He opened it, and by the light of the moon, used his pen to fill its pages about the boy he met today, that seemed to sunlight incarnate.