Meeting James Potter
Regulus wakes up in his empty apartment, as always. He would always say he didn’t mind the loneliness, but it sometimes would get to him if he were being honest. He shut off his alarm three times that morning before finally getting up and heading toward his shower.
The scalding water helped him relax, even when everything was overwhelming, and right now it felt like his entire life was heading downhill. Once he finally got out of the shower, he got ready and checked his phone. He saw three calls and one frustrated text message from Pandora. She was yelling at him to get up and get ready for a meeting he had later for his new movie. They hadn’t started filming, so he was supposed to meet with the directors, crew members, and other actors today. He rolled his eyes and shut off his phone, leaving his bathroom and walking a few steps into his small kitchen to make something to eat. His appetite wasn’t much recently, but he could picture Pandora and Dorcas yelling at him if he ate nothing. The car was scheduled to pick him up in a half hour, so he sat texting in a group chat consisting of Pandora, Dorcas, Barty, Evan, and himself while he ate.
The car driver didn’t bother to make conversation, and Regulus was glad about this. He was excited about the movie, but the idea of having to go to dozens of meetings before filming ruined his little bit of positivity.
Regulus entered the meeting room, not even glancing up to see who was inside before sitting in the closest seat. He heard, “Well, hello, Regulus. Glad you could join us this morning.” The voice he recognized as Minerva McGonagall’s. He mutters “Hello, Minerva. Lovely to see you again.” in response to the director before sitting down.
After a few minutes, the meeting started, and Regulus stayed silent, just listening as Minerva spoke.
“I’m thrilled to see we could all make it today. This is going to be one of our final meetings before filming starts. Since we’ve last spoken, I have some new faces to introduce to you all.”
At this, Regulus finally looks up, scanning the room, only to see someone already looking at him. The boy sat on the opposite side of the table and diagonal from Regulus. He was smiling, and Regulus found himself holding a smile back. The boy had dark skin and dark curly hair that Regulus couldn’t help but think was beautiful. He wore circular gold-framed glasses and had on a red sweater that Regulus loved. His eyes were a deep brown that Regulus wanted to look away from but couldn’t manage, even if that was humiliating to admit. The boy gave him one glance and then looked away back towards Minerva. Regulus looked down at what he was wearing. This boy was what Regulus could only describe as drop-dead gorgeous. Meanwhile, he was wearing a hoodie with a few very noticeable stains on it. The boy was clearly distracted, listening to the conversation, so Regulus used this as his opportunity to continue to stare.
He only started to listen to the conversation as Minerva gestured to the boy, saying, “And this is Mr. Potter.”
“Hey everyone, I’m James. I’m a photographer, so I’ll be taking behind-the-scenes photos and working on a lot of promotion and stuff like that. It’s great to meet you all.” He again briefly made eye contact with Regulus before looking away towards Minerva and then at the girl sitting in the seat next to him.
Regulus knew that name. James Potter. The boy who had taken in his brother during their years at school. They had never met, but Regulus knew who he was. And he was positive that James knew who Regulus was. Regulus didn’t have anything against James. In fact, he was grateful there was someone who had been able to support Sirius when he had run away. The worst part of this revelation was that Regulus had been referring to him as gorgeous for the last ten minutes only to discover he’s best friends with the brother Regulus hadn’t seen in 8 years.
“This here, sitting across from me, is Ms. Evans. She’ll be the head hair and makeup artist for the film.” Minerva continued.
“Hi, everyone. I’m Lily. It’s great to be here, and I can’t wait to work with all of you.” Lily smiled around the table as she spoke.
Regulus noticed how the boy, who he now knew was James, stared at her as she spoke. He couldn’t deny that Lily was pretty, and she seemed so effortlessly perfect that Regulus couldn’t even blame James for falling for a girl like her. As Regulus had taken note of, he was gorgeous, and it made sense that he would want to date her. Regulus cursed at himself, knowing the film would be so much more complicated if he didn’t stop thinking about how attractive the guy was.
The meeting lasted a few more minutes before everyone began to stand, some leaving immediately and others chatting together. He made his way towards the door but felt a tap on his shoulder before he made it. When he turned around, James stood behind him, smiling once again. Regulus was surprised, especially considering he couldn’t imagine what Sirius had told James about him.
“Hi, I’m James. You’re Regulus, right?” He said, looking slightly nervous as he spoke. “I mean, you are Regulus. I know that. Obviously. I just meant that— Uh, it’s nice to meet you.”
Regulus thought it was funny how James seemed nervous to speak to him and laughed softly before responding. “Yeah, I’m Regulus.”
“I was worried you wouldn’t wanna talk since you seemed quiet during the meeting but I wanted to introduce myself. Hopefully I'm not bothering you—you would let me know if I am, right?"
“No, I'm not annoyed. It's okay. I get that a lot. I kind of have that impression on people.”
“Oh, I didn’t mean it in a bad way, just—. The interviews you’re in always show you to be super closed off and quiet. Not that I’ve been watching all your interviews! Just— I’m not creepy, I promise. I just meant I’m glad we’ll be friends on set and everything.”
Regulus smiled at him, happy that James wasn’t completely perfect. He was just as anxious as Regulus yet much worse at hiding it. “I mean, I could be your friend if you really wanted. You’ll just have to repay me by getting all my good angles in the photos,” Regulus replied sarcastically.
“I can’t imagine a guy like you would have bad angles, but I’ll do my best.” Regulus tried not to react to this comment. Did James basically just admit he thought Regulus was pretty? He hoped his face was less red than he imagined it to be. He couldn’t help but feel stupid, James looked incredible and was so friendly and likable, and here he was, in unwashed sweats and a hoodie with hair that he had barely brushed that morning. Yet, James basically just told him he was attractive.
Luckily, before Regulus was forced to come up with a non-embarrassing response, the girl he thought he remembered to be named Lily walked over.
“Hi Regulus, I’m Lily!” She reached out her hand to shake his, and he tried not to make everything awkward as he reached his hand out to shake.
Once Regulus enters his car, he directs the driver toward Barty and Evan’s apartment. He takes a deep breath. He was trying to ignore the thoughts in his head for as long as he could. He texts them and says he’ll be there in ten.
When he reaches the door to their apartment, he knocks loudly. “You two better be presentable when I open this door,” Regulus says through the door, not thrilled that he has to make the same warning every time he visits their apartment. “I’ll give you two minutes.”
A second later, the door swings open, Barty on the other side. “You have no faith in us, little Reggie. So dirty-minded all the time.”
Regulus just rolls his eyes at him and walks inside.
“Hey, Reg,” Evan calls from his spot on the couch. Regulus walks over and sits on the opposite end. “How was your meeting today?”
“It was fine, nothing special, really. Just meeting some new crew and such.”
Barty looks amused and says, “So you just visited because you missed us too much? Yeah, right.”
Regulus throws a pillow at him, “I’m inviting Pandora and Dorcas.”
“What, we aren’t good enough for you?” Evan pitches in, both he and Barty with dramatic expressions.
“Yeah, geniuses, because I’ve already gotten sick of you two.”
---
James had told Lily how excited he was to work with Regulus Black, but meeting him in person completely blew him away.
“He was so effortlessly perfect, Marls.” James excluded the part about how pretty he thought Regulus was. He had somehow made his messy hair and pajamas look incredible without even trying. His skin was so clear, and he had a few freckles covering his face that were hard to see if you didn’t look closely. He was shorter than James, but not by too much that it was awkward. In James’ mind, they fit perfectly. “He didn’t seem to care what anyone else thought of him. And he was funny, and he was smiling and laughing at my jokes. He was talking with me and actually looked like he was enjoying himself.” James tried to ignore how stupid he probably sounded to Marlene. “He was so perfect.”
Marlene laughed softly, “Alright, James, I think you need some sleep. You’re going a little bit insane over the guy.” They said, leading him over to the door to his room. “Night, James.”
“Goodnight, Marls.”