eventual lovers

Lily found herself walking to breakfast as she does everyday, like clockwork. She placed some food onto her plate, wished for a certain drink to appear in her goblet, and started to take some bites. She had noticed that Regulus was already there, a light flutter in her chest at knowing, she continued her routine as usual.

She has not forgotten about the fact that Remus will most likely be approaching her today, seeing as the girls' attempt the previous day did not work. Having much more serious things to think about, she put that thought of Remus to the back of her mind. People arrive to eat, her friends entering either alone or with someone else, she notes how James entered with Sirius. Noticing the time, she is slightly intrigued by it but it is not anything new to her, she does see James keeps whispering into a slightly dejected Sirius' ear. No one appears to be acting as if they hadn't schemed the previous day.

Choosing to ignore such a thing as everyone else, she glanced over at Regulus, just out of curiosity and was a bit surprised to find that Regulus was already looking over at the Gryffindor table. She followed his gaze with her own to find him watching Sirius and James, an odd look in his eyes before he looked away to Pandora Rosier and continued to eat bites of his breakfast.

As breakfast comes to an end, Lily looks up to find James next to her, he tells her that he will be accompanying her to class right now, if she'll let him. She notices how Mary, Marlene, and Dorcas see this and giggle amongst themselves as they walk away, leaving her. She shrugs and tells James she doesn't mind, James carries her satchel for her as he tries to take the few books she's holding, but she doesn't let him.

She decides to ask James a bit about Sirius, since he didn't seem to be doing the best so she isn't fazed when James starts to reply to her in Spanish. James doesn't ask her anything about what happened yesterday, so she knows he's just doing that to be polite and because he's just a polite person in general.

After her class ends, she glimpses Regulus in the hall, a smile threatening to break past her lips. She doesn't allow it as it would look odd to anyone else. She goes to another class, after dealing with that, she makes her way to lunch with her three friends. Having one more class after lunch, James joined her as he had that class with her. Throughout class, she would try her best to not let James distract her as that was what he kept trying to do. She knew that she could tell him to stop and he would but she didn't really want to. James, even if he didn't know it, was always a good distraction for her overwhelming thoughts. After class she went on her way seeing as James had a class on the opposite side of the school, they said their goodbyes. Not having any more for the day, Lily thought it best to just go to the library for some light studying. She did need a potions book after all.

She placed her things on her usual table. Grabbing one of her books to try to study and search, she's mentally reviewing things for History of Magic, as the book was being held by her left hand. Her feet had already been taking her where she needed to go, she was in the potions aisle of books.

She didn't bother glancing up and just started to reach for where she knew the book was, but what she hadn't realized was that there was someone already there. The only reason she does is because she felt the cool hand of another as her own was on top of theirs, as they reached for the same book.

Startled out of her mental revisions, she turns to look at who it is, she's more shocked to find that it's Regulus.

A gasp came out of her without her permission when she realized, immediately pulling her hand away as her other book gets closed and held against her chest. As if she needs some sort of protection against something, most definitely her feelings was her subconscious thought.

She started to apologize to him, not realizing that he had started to speak before she interrupted him to tell him, he can have the book. Immediately turning to bolt out of there back to her table. Shame started to spread through her body because of her actions, a flush started to cover her freckled face. There was a stream of thoughts she couldn't quite control start to overlap in her mind: how had she not noticed him, how did she not even realize he was there, why did she decide to think that there wouldn't be anyone else there, potions is not an easy subject after all, even if she herself finds it easy.

To convince herself about the loss of a book, she rationalizes that she didn't really need the book yet anyway. It was just for extra notes since she likes to be prepared. If anything she could ask someone else to help her out, maybe Severus Snape from Slytherin, he's one of the only Slytherins that seems to care about potions in any way, and is always civil with her.

She decides to continue studying just for history, a slight smile forming on her face when she thinks about how beautiful Regulus looked, even if she hadn't expected to see him. It was still a pleasant surprise, she's trying to erase how she reacted out of her mind. Once she leaves the library to make her way to the common room, she almost has a heart attack when Remus appears out of nowhere, she does not know how him and his friends do that. Remus tells her that they need to talk and she complies knowing why. He tells her to give him a second as he turns around hiding something, she hears a rustle of paper before he turns back to her as if he wasn't doing anything suspicious.

Nonetheless, she still narrows her eyes suspiciously at him as he gives her a sheepish smile and starts to walk with her through the halls. He takes her to a secluded corner, a hall students barely use. They start with casual questions, asking each other about their classes so far and how their days have been. Eventually Remus asks her about her feelings, if there's been any developments there, with a knowing look in his eyes. She waits a few seconds before sighing and telling him that, well, there has been some developments there. He waits for her to continue, so with limited answers Lily reveals how she likes someone, how there's a guy that's caught her eye. That it's just a small crush and she doesn't think it'll go anywhere anyway.

At that she sees the questioning behind Remus' eyes, he doesn't ask her to elaborate, just lets her tell him what she wants to give away. However, he does ask her about James, if she is wasting his time or if she does like him. To that she tells him the full truth, what she thinks and what she'll do, she will have to talk to James soon since he most certainly knows something about her new feelings, at that Remus is pleased and they make their way to the common room. They're only there for a few minutes before the girls tell them they are all going to dinner, so naturally they join them in doing so.

********************

He woke up feeling slightly numb, he could tell immediately that it would be a sort of neutral day for him. Getting to breakfast, to see if it helps him a bit, and it does. He notes when his brother and James enter as a couple heads seem to instinctually turn to them. Always attracting attention without even meaning to seeing as they don't spare anyone a glance, as James talks something into Sirius' ear as they make way to their seats. Regulus finds himself a bit concerned by their behavior, it's not often that James Potter, one of the nicest people at Hogwarts chooses to not say hi to everyone he sees. It is a weird energy, he doesn't quite like, sneaking glances over at them as he eats, his head just turns to Pandora. Finding her looking over at where he was just looking, now he knows that he is not the only one to pick up in the odd mood, so he makes a mental note to ask her about that later.

Glancing once more over at Gryffindor table he sees James smile at Sirius, his heart seemed to jolt at that. Reminding him about his feelings on James, a boy that is so extremely bright and warm, always happy but he knows that it's never as simple as that. There is more to James Potter and he wants to know every piece of him intimately as if it's the last thing he will ever do. A boy that happy must be hiding away all negative thoughts, most likely accumulating inside of him, and Regulus will worship the moment he gets to find those parts as he's the only person that can ever truly care for them. That he feels is an unshakable fact.

He heads to his first lesson, something catches his eye so he turns his head to look over to find that it's James as he's saying bye to his friends. Regulus doesn't see any Lily Evans that he clearly recalls James seemingly leaving the Great Hall with, which he doesn't quite know why his mind is pointing this out. A glance over at Sirius who is in the middle of Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew, Sirius seems to look a bit funny as in he looks like he didn't sleep at all the prior night. Having to turn away to enter class and not bump into something, Regulus ignores the slight feeling of concern for his brother. After class he goes to his next one before he will be able to head to eat for lunch.

At lunch, he's eating what appeals to him as Barty and Evan start to catch his attention. It starts with a simple comment Barty tells Evan from beside him.

Seeing as they both sit in front of Regulus while Pandora who is not there yet, sits beside him. She tends to sit with them during breakfast and lunch but not dinner most days as she prefers to socialize with the people in her house or so she says, seeing as Pandora is a Ravenclaw and not a Slytherin. All the Slytherins by now don't question her presence with them seeing as it would not end well for them as the last time someone tried to say something, Barty had decided to punch them which surprised the Rosier cousins and him a little bit. That small stunt had resulted Barty in a two day detention but Barty took that with a proud smile on his face.

The comment Barty made was as follows, “Ev? Why does your hair look prettier today than usual?”

Regulus who had heard that, felt like a vinyl scratch happened in his mind because that was very unusual. He had looked over at Evan, who looked over at Regulus, both of them having the same expression as Barty was just staring at the blonde curls on Evans head.

“What are you on about Barty?” is Evans reply as Regulus looks away from them to find Pandora sitting beside him, a knowing smile on her face as she has clearly overheard the conversation. He sends a questioning look at her, one that she ignores, so he adds another mental note to ask about that as well. Glancing back over at Evan and Barty after thinking to himself, hes amused to find a slight pink color creeping up Evans cheeks. As he appears unable to hold Barty's gaze, one that seems to be intensely focused on him. A side glance to Pandora who acts like nothing odd is going on with her cousin and their best friend. Regulus shakes his head to himself eating his lunch.

After lunch he goes to the library in order to study for a bit. Going to the back of the library where theres some tables hidden behind shelves and not in open space where there's multiple tables. He prefers his space altered to one person and most importantly secluded. Once some time passes he gets up to find a book for astronomy and another one for potions. Getting the book he needs for astronomy, he goes to find the potion book that's a bit advanced seeing as it's meant for sixth years and not fifth years as himself.

He is reaching over with his left hand, just as it starts to graze the spine of the book, there's a warm hand placed on top of his own a few seconds later. The book is not that high but it did make him realize how this year he is taller than he was the previous year, as he seems to be taller than girls now instead of just being their height, hes even an inch or two taller than Evan. Evan who has been taller than him since first year but is still shorter than Barty as he's taller than them both.

When his mind processes the other hand on his a beat later that same hand pulls away fast enough to have almost given him whiplash and make him believe that it was never actually there. But as a gasp is heard he knows that there is someone there so he turns to see who it is and is a bit surprised to find that it's Lily Evans. His mind providing an unhelpful “oh” at the sight of her.

Just as he was going to ask her if she needs the book, she starts to speak in a rush telling him that she is sorry and didn't see him and ending her sentence with saying he could keep the book. Turning and leaving so fast that Regulus thinks he might've done something wrong for her to act in such a way. He stands there overturning the conversation in his mind, not understanding why she reacted so panicky and was in such a rush to leave. His mind tells him a detail of a slight redness that had started to blossom from her neck to her face as she spoke really fast and left.

He's still confused as he grabs the potions book and takes it with him to his own table, in the opposite direction of where the redhead went. He only really needed the book for some extra studying, he would've just let her have it if she had let him tell her as much. Shrugging and deciding to not think about Lily Evans anymore he goes back to studying.

During dinner he's just doing a light scan around the room, to get a feel on what is going on a around the room and feels a slight panic that he thinks wasn't seen on his face as he locks eyes with James Potter. That catches him much more off guard than he'd like, James was staring at him between the space of Barty and Evans head before Regulus looks away and pretends to be completely unaffected by such an interaction.

Instead, focusing on what Evan and Barty are saying before starting a conversation with Pandora about her classes. During astronomy after lunch, a class he has with Pandora while Evan and Barty go to the common room, he chooses that time to ask her about her thoughts on Evan and Barty. Instead of answering about what happened earlier in the day, she gives him a knowing smile as her eyes light up with amusement.

When she doesn't answer, he decides to stop walking and as she starts to keep walking, she notices after a few seconds, turning around to look at him in exasperation. He starts to walk to her and they continue to walk as he stares at her with an “Are you going to tell me now?” look on his face. Which she sees because she turns to glance at him as he is very blatantly just staring at her, now bothering to look where he's going because he knows she'll make sure he doesn't bump into anyone or anything.

With a sigh that symbolizes that she's so very exhausted with him, but the slight smirk at the corner of her mouth giving her away. She starts to tell him in a conspiratorial whisper that she believes Evan and Barty might be gaining feelings for one another, Regulus lets her words spin in his head, before looking back at her knowing gaze fixed on him. He doesn't find the claim to be wrong, it could be that, so with a nod her way, they walk the last few steps before entering the astronomy tower.

After charting constellations and learning more about the stars and planets in the sky, they both make their way back to their own common room, but what type of gentleman would Regulus be if he didn't walk Pandora to her own. He does just that, remembering midway about his other mental note of asking if she saw the weird behavior James and Sirius had that morning, asking her about it. She confirms his suspicion, saying that it did seem like Sirius was not having a good morning but it shouldn't be something for him to worry about it since he can't do anything about it, that perhaps tomorrow Sirius will be back to his normal self, at that he agrees with her. Saying their byes, he heads to his dorm that Evan and Barty are already sleeping in their own beds in, before doing his nightly routine and going to sleep as well.

********************

Sirius couldn't sleep the night before, having nightmare sabot himself and Regulus again. He woke up in the middle of the night to a sobbing Sirius next to him, they fell asleep hugging each other. James decided to not go early for some extra quidditch practice that morning, as he'd rather check in with Sirius during breakfast. He had practice after breakfast any way so it wouldn't really affect anything. He decided to take Lily to class as he had promised himself to try. She asks him about Sirius, “Is Sirius okay James?”

Hes unaware of the fact that he replies in Spanish until he notes the amused smile at the corner of her mouth as she tells him back in Spanish “Estas hablando en español ahorita” (You are speaking in Spanish right now) He stares at her with a blank expression before his brain catches up with everything switching back to English and tells her not to worry about Sirius as he will be okay like always, and that Peter and Remus wouldn't let him out of their sight any way. Once he leaves Lily, he says bye to the rest of his friends and goes to the quidditch pitch for practice. He doesn't have any classes that morning, so he had nothing else to really worry about.

Sweaty and a bit tired, James goes to change and shower when him and his team finish practicing. Going to the shower stalls by their equipment room, closing the door and letting the spray wash all the grime he feels away. Once he is done, he wraps his towel around his waist to go back to the locker room where he stashed away his clothes from earlier, before he had changed into his gryffindor practice uniform, he is one of the last people there by the time he is done.

Heading to lunch as he is hungry, he sees his friends already there as Remus and Sirius seem to be talking. He starts a conversation with Peter as he was just placing food on his own plate, letting James know they arrived not that long ago.

“How's your day been Pete?” he asks as he places his own food on his own plate.

Peter side eyes him before replying back, going on a small rant about one of his classes and how he doesn't understand why it's being taught in such a difficult manner because when he asks Remus, it had been way easier to understand. He laughs at the way Peter tells him the situation, giving him a pat on the shoulder that everything will be okay since Moony will always be there to help him, probably.

At his probably, Peter turned his head to stare at him a bit worried but slightly mad, like a bunny, James laughed again and told him he was joking. Glancing over at Sirius and Remus, he saw the way Remus tucked a stray hair behind Sirius ear, as there was a sort of tenderness to the touch. Both their heads ducked down toward each other, it felt like James was intruding in such an intimate moment that he went back to his food and looked around for the girls instead.

He saw the four girls chatting amongst themselves and decided to just have a quiet lunch as Peter clearly needed to destress with the way he was relaxing as he ate. Remus and Sirius seemed to only notice each other anyway, as Remus whispered in her ear, a fond look in Remus' eyes as Sirius smiled to himself.

James took Lily to class as they shared it, history of magic, a rather boring class that James always sees half the kids fall asleep in. Lily always takes notes, so James always tries to distract her and when he succeeds always writes down the notes she missed on his own paper. Knowing that she would stress about it otherwise, they do this every Thursday, a routine by now. Always giving his paper to Lily after class so she can give him the full notes the next day. A win-win situation James believes. He joins the other marauders in order to go with them to care of magical creatures. A class all four of them actually share.

After a class of that, he goes to his last one before heading to the common room to relish in the comfort it provides him. Greeting other people before he quickly goes to his dorm to leave his things before heading to dinner with the others. Pleasantly surprised to find Remus and Lily have arrived just as him and the others that were there were about to go. Everyone leaves together to dinner. One moment he was listening to what Remus was saying and the next, he was staring at Regulus Black. He does not know how he ended up looking at Regulus, seeing as that hasn't quite happened to him before, sure he's glanced around before and seen Regulus but he's never actually quite just stayed staring at him like this,but what gave him a slight jolt was when Regulus looked back. However, the younger black only stared at him for a moment in disinterest before looking back at his friends. James took that as his cue to look away and try to pretend that never happened.

When he's in bed that night, trying to fall asleep as his thoughts start to tell him all the ways in which he acted off that day. It rather unhelpfully tells him how he stared at Regulus Black, at this he pauses his thoughts to think about Regulus. Other than knowing that he still lives in that awful house and Sirius misses him a whole lot, he doesn't really know much else and for some reason, a reason James doesn't quite know. That bothers him, the fact that he doesn't really know Regulus, someone very important to Sirius, so in turn is important to him. He has the thought to try and talk to Regulus one of these days before his mind tries to torment him with negative thoughts. Instead, of letting his mind do such a thing he quiets it down before falling asleep.