Silly Boy Blue
Sirius was first in line to get off of the train at the end of June.
James laughed melodically and dragged his own trunk down the hallway with the other two boys trailing behind him. “Here I was thinking you'd be sad to leave us for the next two months. I can almost see a tail wagging behind you.”
The raven bounced on the balls of his feet and glanced back at his friends. “Reggie said Alphard was letting him tag along to pick me up since we're going to his house for a couple of weeks while our parents are in France. Mother wanted Reg to go to Aunt Druella's, but I got Alphie to help me convince her it would be more beneficial to spend some time in the countryside where he could study quietly with someone who just went through all of his upcoming classes. She's not happy about it, but who cares!”
Remus gave him a fond smile and rolled his eyes. “Don't bother trying to make him feel bad, James. He's been waiting for this day for months, nothing can bring him down now that it's here.”
Sirius gave them an apologetic grin. “Of course I'll miss you guys, but it's only two months! It's been ten since I've seen Reg - fuck what if he grew taller? I don't know if I can cope with a tall Reggie-”
“Actually, I'm excited, too.” James shifted to let Peter get closer to them and take part in the conversation. “We finally get to meet the infamous Regulus Black. Personally, I'm just picturing a miniature Sirius.”
“With curly hair,” Peter added. Sirius gave the blonde a once over and turned back to the others. He and Peter had talked after their fight and worked things out - turns out James was right and he was just jealous - but the whole thing still didn't sit right with him. The shorter boy was part of their group and Sirius still considered him to be a friend, but there was a lot of lost trust between them that took time to earn back. He had faith that Peter could grow into someone wonderful, but right now he had a lot of work to do to get there. He had a kind soul that was rotted by years of mistreatment, the kind that was easy to perpetuate onto others if you weren't careful. Peter still needed to learn what it meant to love himself, and until he did, there's no telling what path he would go down.
The train whistle blew and the car doors all rattled open simultaneously. Peter forgotten, Sirius grabbed his luggage and all but threw himself onto platform 9 ¾, keeping an eye out for Alphard's wild black mane. He pushed through the crowd and offhandedly noted the sounds of his roommates following behind and apologizing to people they bumped into.
“Mum!” James cried out and darted past him into the arms of a middle-aged woman with tanned skin and kind, crinkled eyes. She swept James up in a hug and laughed joyously when he clung onto her like a koala. A similarly aged man with salt and pepper hair wrapped his arms around the both of them and planted kisses on top of their heads. After a moment, James pulled back and reached for Sirius with a blinding smile.
“Mum, Dad, this is my friend Sirius. Remus is over there by that super tall guy and you already know Pete.” Sirius glanced back to see Remus smiling at a beautiful woman with a burly man at her side, probably his parents. He turned back to the couple in front of him and gave an awkward wave.
“Hi, it's nice to meet you.”
James's mother looked at him with what was potentially the most comforting smile in the world. “It's nice to meet you too, Sirius. Jamie has told us all about you in his letters, and I have to say, you've made quite the impression. I'm glad I know who to picture when imagining the person responsible for all of Slytherin's tableware turning neon yellow.” Her eyes held a twinkle to let him know she wasn't upset about the prank, just amused. He smiled back at her and opened his mouth to respond when-
“Siri!”
Sirius had never turned around so fast in his life. There, ducking under arms to run at him was none other than his little brother. Before he knew it, he had bolted away from the Potters to meet Regulus head on. They collided with very little grace and grasped at each other tightly as they spun around. Reg hadn't grown much at all in the last year, but his hair certainly had. What was once a head of goldilocks-esque curls was now a looser pattern that fell past his ears and bounced with every movement. His fair skin looked paler than normal and his freckles had faded a bit. He looked even more like Sirius than he ever had before, and it was awful.
The Gryffindor pulled back just enough to grasp Regulus's face between his hands and chatter at him nonstop.
“Tu te sens bien? Tu as l'air malade, es-tu malade? Mon Dieu, cela fait si longtemps que je ne t'ai pas vue, tes cheveux sont si longs. Comment vas-tu?”
Regulus gave a delighted laugh in response. “Je vais bien, Siri. Je ne suis pas malade. Tu as grandi?”
“Soit cela, soit vous êtes devenu plus petit. Manges-tu suffisamment?”
An eye roll. “Oui, Maman.”
Sirius scoffed and pulled him in for another hug. He closed his eyes and buried his face in Regulus's hair to take a deep breath. He still smelled the same; the knowledge that Reg was here in his arms settled the anxious tendrils that had been twisting around his guts since the fall.
“I hate to break up the moment, but I'd love to meet the infamous little brother that I've heard so much about.”
Sirius glanced up to see James smiling at him with bright eyes that spoke to how happy he was for his friend. His parents hovered over his shoulders and watched the display with curious expressions.
Regulus twisted in his arms to try and look at the speaker without letting go of the older boy's torso. Sirius was reluctant to release him, but he was excited to introduce him to his friends. He pried Regulus's arms off of him gently and soothed the immediate frown that got by grabbing his hand and leading him over to the Potters.
“James, this is Reggie. Reg, this is my friend James. I mentioned him in a few of my letters?” He prodded gently.
Regulus's first thought about James Potter was that no boy had the right to be that good-looking. He was all long legs and tan skin and blinding smiles, even his glasses and messy hair seemed to add to his image rather than detract from it.
“Hi,” he greeted cautiously. Sirius had indeed mentioned James over letters, but he had described him as a goofy, fun-loving prankster, not the Sun taking human form. He almost felt the need to squint.
“Guys!” A new voice called out. This one was familiar, and not necessarily in a good way. Regulus looked at the newcomer and startled when he recognized him as the tawny-haired boy from his visions. The one that always seemed to be near his brother.
“And this is Remus,” Sirius took his arrival as an opportunity to continue introductions. “He's our other roommate, the fourth is around here somewhere. Rem, this is my brother.”
“Ah,” Tawny-haired boy nodded in understanding. “It's good to meet you, Regulus.” He turned back to Sirius. “Was that you speaking French earlier?”
Siri tilted his head and nodded.
“Blimey, I didn't know you spoke another language.” A light pink dusted over Remus's ears. “‘’S cool.”
Regulus's eyes widened in understanding and he turned to his brother accusingly. “Vraiment? Lui? Père et Mère vont te tuer.”
Sirius gave him an affronted look and blushed furiously. “Je ne sais pas de quoi vous parlez! C'est juste un ami.”
“Bien sûr.”
“Um,” Remus's pink ears had grown red and he was looking at Sirius like he had just ended all world wars.
Regulus made a disgusted noise and turned back to James. “Is this what you've been putting up with all year?”
James barked out a laugh and turned to bury his face in his mom's arm. “Yeah, pretty much.” He snorted and wiped his eyes.
“I'm terribly sorry.”
“Quit it, you menace!” Sirius pulled Regulus's face into his chest to stifle his words as James devolved into another fit of giggles. Remus pointedly avoided making eye contact with anyone and stared red-faced at a nearby pillar.
“Oh, I'm excited for you to join us in the fall, Reg.” James wiped a stray tear off of his cheek and grinned at the boy who was trying valiantly to escape his brother's grasp.
“I'm not,” Sirius lied. “You're going to be trouble and I don't need to go gray before I even graduate.”
“I'm no more trouble than you!’’ Regulus protested.
Sirius gave him an unimpressed look. “Uh huh, sure. If that's what you have to tell yourself.”
James's mother chuckled, reminding the brothers that they had an audience. They blushed and pulled away from each other sheepishly, although Sirius still kept Regulus tucked under one of his arms.
“Are your parents nearby?” She glanced around curiously. “We'd love to meet them.” Her gaze locked on to the minute tensing of the boys' posture and made a mental note of it.
“Actually, our uncle is with us today. Mother and Father are in France for business at the moment.” Sirius answered the question diplomatically and pointedly did not mention that if their parents were there, they'd turn their noses up at the mere idea of socializing with blood traitors.
“Oh, speaking of,” Regulus pointed in the direction he had come from and they all turned to see a rather handsome man with sweeping black hair making his way towards them.
He finally managed to push through the last few people to get to his nephews and ran a frustrated hand over his face. “Regulus, you can't just run off like that. This crowd is far too easy to get lost in.”
“Sorry, Uncle.” The youngest Black looked cowed as he ducked his head in apology.
Alphard sighed and gave his hair a ruffle as he pulled Sirius into a one-armed hug. “It's alright, just try to be more careful in the future. And hello to you, nephew. You've grown since I last saw you, I take it the lions are treating you well?”
“Yeah, they're great.” Sirius beamed up at his uncle and returned the hug enthusiastically. The adults quickly made their introductions and exchanged a bit of small talk before the Lupins excused themselves and Remus gave his roommates a final goodbye, promising to see them on the train in September. Regulus was surprised when he was included in that, but he still held caution toward the boy who had convinced his brother not to come home for Yule.
“We'd better get going, too.”
James pouted at his father's words and dragged Sirius into a bone-crushing hug. “Promise you'll write?”
Sirius returned his affection and squeezed back just as tight. “Promise. Next year will come before you know it.”
“It better.” They clung on to each other for a few more seconds before letting go reluctantly. Regulus squeaked when he was immediately grabbed and wrapped up in the arms of this boy he had met not fifteen minutes ago.
“Take care of him for me, yeah?”
He patted James's back awkwardly. “Of course.”
The Gryffindor gave him a final squeeze before releasing him with a sunny smile. “See you soon, Reg.”
“Bye.” Regulus was dumbfounded at how much sentiment this boy had shown him despite having never met before. Just how often did Sirius talk about him?
“Seems like that's our cue, boys.” Alphard placed a hand on each of their shoulders and began guiding them back to where Sirius dropped his luggage.
“Bye, Jamie!” Sirius called back with a wave. The shit eating grin at using Mrs. Potter's nickname for the taller boy said that he wouldn't be letting that go anytime soon. “Don't have too much fun without me!”
“Wouldn't dream of it, Siri!” Apparently, two could play at that game. Regulus blushed at the teasing way it was said and hunched his shoulders in embarrassment. He was probably getting a bit too old for cutesy nicknames, but Siri wasn't that bad, right? I mean, his brother still called him baby sometimes, that was much worse. Regulus briefly entertained asking Sirius to stop calling him that, but quickly shut the thought down when he imagined the look of heartbreak he would receive in response. They'd just have to be careful about it in front of other people.
A long arm wrapping around his shoulders pulled him out of his thoughts and he felt a kiss planted on the side of his head as he was dragged into his brother's side.
“Missed you,” Sirius mumbled softly.
Regulus sighed contently and leaned a little more against him. “Missed you, too.” He felt something in his chest ease knowing that they were finally back together again. And come autumn, he'd be able to accompany Sirius back to Hogwarts instead of having to stay in that miserable house.
“Let's go home,” Alphard mumbled to them. As the pull of apparition started to tug at him,
Regulus knew that he wasn't going to be left behind ever again.