A Poem
Hogwarts was like his second home.
After all, James was surrounded by the people he loves. Sirius and Peter were having an argument over Sirius’ girlfriend, Lindsey. James was fairly certain he had gotten Sirius’ girlfriend’s name wrong but honestly he didn’t care.
“You shouldn’t date someone who only wants to show you off, Sirius. You should date someone romantic. Someone who would drag you outside at 3 am to look at the stars,” exclaimed Peter as the four Marauders walked side by side through the halls of Hogwarts.
“Pete, if anyone, and I mean anyone, drags me outside at 3 am just to look at the damn stars, I will remove them from my life. Besides why would they want to look at the stars in the sky when the most brilliant star is right here?” Sirius winked, referring to himself. Peter rolled his eyes and buried his face in his hands, muttering something that sounded like ‘he’s hopeless’.
James leaned towards Remus and whispered, “That’s your future boyfriend right there.”
“Oh shut up,” Remus muttered back, his cheeks turning pink. “It’s not like he’s ever going to look my way. He’s Sirius. He’s probably going to be dating girls for the rest of his life,” Remus said in a hushed whisper. “And I can see what you and Pete are trying to do.”
“Glad that our efforts are being recognised,” Peter said as he joined James and Remus. The three Marauders watched as Sirius strutted in front of them, winking at girls who passed by and causing them to giggle and blush. “He’s blind. Stupid and blind,” Peter commented. “Look, Remus, either you kiss him or I make you two kiss, because I cannot watch you pine for him while he goes around changing girlfriends like he’s changing clothes.”
“Pete, as much as I want to, we don’t even know if Sirius is into boys. As far as we can tell, he’s very into women,” said Remus.
“Maybe it’s time you wake him up,” said James. “Flirt with him or something. I don’t know. Just get him to realise his feelings. And he is definitely into men and into you. Have you seen the way he flirts with you? It’s nothing like how he flirts with girls.”
“Whatcha talking about?” Sirius turned around and exclaimed. Remus, Peter and James pretended like they weren’t at all talking about their best friend.
“Nothing important,” said Remus. James wondered how Remus could lie so effortlessly. It was a good thing Moony was a truthful person because James knew if he were to lie, the Marauders could never tell. “Can we go to the library? There’s something I want to research on,” Remus said.
Peter’s face fell slightly. “But I thought we were going to the greenhouse? I told you guys that I wanted to show you some plants I grew.”
“Oh right. Sorry, Pete. It slipped my mind,” Remus apologised.
“We can go to the greenhouse after the library,” said Sirius. “Oh we should stop by the Gryfinndor common room too! The Valkyries are there, we should ask them to join-” But Sirius never got to finish his sentence for he bumped into someone none of the Marauders expected to see.
Regulus Black scowled at Sirius as his books and notes all fell to the floor. Remus and Peter both looked stunned. Sirius was dumbstruck and his mouth hung agape whilst James’ heart raced as he stared at his best friend’s brother. Regulus’ dark curls fell so perfectly and even when he frowned, he still looked so beautiful. “R-reg?” Sirius stammered when he realised his little brother was the one whom he had bumped into.
“Watch where you’re walking,” Regulus growled. He bent down to pick up his books and papers. Sirius didn’t help his brother, instead he stood there like a fool, gawking at his brother whom he hadn’t spoke to for a while. When he had gotten all his items, Regulus tried to walk past his brother and his friends. But Sirius did something James had not expected him to. Sirius grabbed his brother’s arm. “Regulus wait-” Sirius tried to say.
Regulus pulled his arm away and out of Sirius’ grip. “Leave me alone, Sirius,” he said, not bothering to look at his brother. “After all, you’ve gotten pretty good at it.”
Sirius shut his mouth and his cheek started to turn red with embarrassment mixed with guilt. Remus frowned and stepped forward, opening his mouth to talk to his crush’s brother but James held him back and shook his head to tell Remus he shouldn’t.
Regulus made his way past the Marauders but as he did so, a piece of paper fell from his books and he did not notice. James caught the paper and called out Regulus’ name but his words fell on deaf ears. The Slytherin boy clearly wanted nothing to do with his brother or his friends. James watched as the figure that was Regulus disappear into the distance, still holding on to the piece of paper that belonged to his crush.
James looked down at the paper and read the words written on it. He has lovely handwriting, James thought as his eyes wandered over every cursive letter written by Regulus.
The paper read:
In shadows cast,
My heart hides
A hidden love
Like the ebbing tide
There is a sun
beyond my reach
A love untold
A secret to keep
In moonlight’s cloak
May we steal a glance
A stolen moment
Or a fleeting chance
In my mind
I hold you close and near
But reality whispers in my ear
We can never be
More than what we hope to see
James’ heart skipped a beat. Who knew Regulus was a poet? This is beautiful, James thought. He traced his finger over the words, ‘My heart hides a hidden love’ and jealousy whirled in his chest. Who the hell is Regulus writing about?
“James, come on,” Remus’ muffled voice called out and James blinked and everything came back into focus. The sounds of Sirius’ necklaces hitting his rings as he fiddled with them resounded through the hall and Remus’ voice became clear. James folded the paper nicely and placed it into his pocket, making sure he didn’t damage Regulus’ property in any way.
If Sirius was affected in any way by his brother’s harsh words, he didn’t show it. He started ranting about some prank he was thinking of. James knew this was one of Sirius’ many ways to cope and he knew the more Sirius tried to avoid facing hurtful things, the more painful the hurt becomes.
James knew he would have to talk to Sirius about his coping skills but for now, the Gryfinndor thought about Sirius’ younger brother. James had been searching for ways to talk to Regulus and now the piece of paper he kept in his pocket presented the perfect opportunity.
James was going to talk to Regulus.
And even Regulus himself can’t stop what was about to happen.