Boys

“Reggie? You alright?” Barty asked from his spot lounged on Evan’s bed.

“Mm,” Regulus hummed in affirmation.

“You sure? Do I need to call Pandora over here?” He insisted, sitting upright.

“I’m fine.”

“Whatcha doing?” Barty attempted. Regulus rolled his eyes, and when his eyes landed on his best friend, he glared at him.

“Take a guess,” Regulus said, his quill still poised over a piece of parchment.

“Salazar, no need to be rude,” Regulus raised an unimpressed eyebrow, “I meant who are you writing it to?”

“You should’ve asked that, then,”

“Well, I’m asking now,” Barty stated impatiently.

Regulus was quiet. He avoided Barty’s gaze before answering, “Narcissa. My cousin”

“Okayy… why the doom and gloom?”

“Well, it’s just that I’m a blood traitor and going to be a runaway, and I don’t know that if I meet her if she’ll just kidnap me back to that family!” Regulus snapped. Barty stayed silent for a few seconds, thinking.

“You’re going to be at the Potter house, right? With your brother. Can’t you just meet her there? It’ll be way safer with the wards and the Potters themselves,” Barty answered.

“She can’t risk being seen going there. Even if she didn’t turn me in, she’d rather have no contact with me than also be banished from the family,”

“Bringing the Potters is still a good idea, I think. Even if you’re just in an abandoned alleyway, or something.”

“I wouldn’t want the Potters to hear any of it, and she wouldn’t want to see them.”

“You’re not thinking like a Slytherin at all. Why don’t you blackmail her, then? Got any dirt on her? Say ‘oh, Narcissy, come and see me! If you try and bring me back there, I’ll them about blah blah blah’, like that,” Barty suggested.

“Maybe,” Regulus thought for a second before he started writing with his quill, again. “Thanks.”

Dear Narcissa Black,

I will not be at the house this summer or for the holidays. I’m going to be with my brother at the Potter’s house, but I would still like to meet with you.

Meet me during the second day of winter break, 7:00 P.M., in the abandoned muggle field. If you plan to bring me back to our family, I would warn you. You’ve told me many things, many things that would ruin you if they happened to get out. I’ll only tell them if you try something. I trust you enough to send this letter to you. Please don’t disappoint me.

Your cousin,

R.A.B.

Regulus decided not to send it yet to have some time to think over the wording. He sighed, setting his elbows on the desk and his forehead in his hands. Barty strutted over, moving Regulus’ arms before sitting with his legs sideways on Regulus lap’ and his arm around the back of the chair.

“Reggie, dear,”

“Call me that again and I’ll get out my wand”

“Which wand?” Barty asked suggestively, winking sideways at the black haired boy.

“This one,” he said, grabbing his wand and wordlessly levitating (more like tossing, if he was being honest) Barty onto his own bed. Barty shrieked at a pitch he would definitely deny in the future, as he landed not-so-gracefully on his unmade bed.

“You bitch!”

“You deserved it,” Regulus defended uninterestedly.

“Ugh, I’m bored. Where’s Evan?”

“Why are you asking me?”

“No one else to ask,” Barty hummed, “I’m gonna go find find him”

“Hope you die,” Regulus called as Barty opened the entrance of their dorm. They heard a grunt as someone got pushed to the side by the door, and saw the Rosier twins standing outside.

“Oh! Speak of Sir Mordred!”

“Barty, I am going to kill you” Dorcas growled, getting up from where she had been shoved by the door and brandishing her wand. Barty chuckled (he giggled), taking out his own wand.

“Sorry Cas!”

“Rictusempra!” Dorcas cast. Barty exploded into laughter, falling to his knees. Dorcas kicked him lightly on her way into the dorm, Pandora following close behind.

“Finite incantatem,” Evan cast the counter charm on Barty, offering a hand to help him up. Barty took it and flung himself back to a standing position.

“You’re the worst,” Barty grumbled grumpily at Dorcas once he was back on his feet.

“Mm,” Dorcas hummed in vague agreement. “Regulus, hello” she said, brightening.

“Greetings, Dorcas”

“Greetings?” Barty mumbled quietly to Evan. He raised his voice and turned his head before saying “Say hi like a normal person, you smartarse!”

“Barty, don’t make me cast rictusempra again,” Dorcas warned.

“I won’t cast the counter spell this time,” Evan chuckled.

“Yadda yadda yadda” Barty mocked lightly. “Anyway, what brings you three here to our humble abode?”

“I live here,” Evan said, raising an eyebrow at the boy who’s arm was thrown over his shoulder. Barty shrugged.

“What brought you away, then?”

“We went out to see the Nargles. It’s the best season for watching them, in my opinion” Pandora answered, smiling.

“No, you did that. Me and Evan got tea” Dorcas corrected.

“For drinking while watching the Nargles” Pandora stated happily, collapsing onto Evan’s bed. Dorcas sat on the edge of it and Barty laid with his head on Evan’s chest on his own bed.

“Did you bring me a cuppa?” Regulus asked from his place on his chair.

“Of course I did,” Dorcas smiled, levitating Regulus his tea. Regulus nodded his head in thanks before taking a sip.

“Barty,” Evan scolded, smiling.

“What? We can share!” Barty exclaimed, sipping more of Evan’s tea.

“I got you your own cup,” Evan narrowed his eyes.

“No, you got us 2 cups!” Evan looked at Barty like he held the key to the secrets of the universe. Barty looked back like he would give it to him. Pandora giggled happily and Dorcas looked at Regulus like ‘are you seeing this?’ with an eyebrow raised. Dorcas heaved a deep sigh,

“Enough flirting, you’re disgusting,” she chided. The group of friends in that room were quite touchy with each other, but it clearly meant something to Rosier and Crouch with each other that it didn’t with the others. She had no clue how they weren’t already together.

“Reggie dear-“

“Why does she get to call you that and I don’t?” Barty interrupted Pandora, complaining- he did a lot of that.

“Because she’s better than you. Carry on, Pandora,” Regulus deadpanned

“When will we get to meet your new friends? The Marauders and Valkyries, I think they call their silly groups,” Pandora continued.

“None of them are my friends. You may meet my brother and his friends whenever you may wish. If you’re asking when the next time we’ve formally planned to hang out is, I’ve not a clue. I’ll invite you 4 when they next invite me,”

“Delightful!” Pandora gushed, clapping her hands.

“Who’s your favorite of them?” Evan inquired, his hands playing with Barty’s hair.

“Remus. I think he was the only one who didn’t offer a handshake. He partially leads the study sessions, too,” Regulus answered.

“Ah, Lupin, just your type of man” Barty said.

“Who do you think would be our favorites?” Evan asked. Regulus bit his lip, mulling it over in his head.

“Evan, Barty, I think you’ll most likely like Pettigrew. Dorcas… possibly Evans. Um, Pandora I suspect you’ll like James,” Regulus decided.

“Pettigrew is the best at parties,” Barty stated dreamily.

“First name basis with Potter?” Dorcas questioned, raising an eyebrow.

“Isn’t McKinnon in their group?” Pandora asked politely.

“Yes, why?” Regulus answered, ignoring Dorcas.

“She’s quite fit,” Pandora swooned.

“Pandora! She’s on the Gryffindor quidditch team!” Dorcas chided while looking Pandora’s direction, betrayed.

“She’s still fit,”

Dorcas glared, but responded “I suppose so.”

-

“Regulus. Regulus?” Regulus groaned sleepily, hearing a voice calling his name. His eyes suddenly shot open, and his hand suddenly flew forwards.

“Ow!” Regulus realized he saw James Potter, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, and his own brother, Sirius Black, hovering on the edges of his bed. He also realized his hand hurt and he just punched James Potter square in the face.

“Fuck, ow ow ow ow, Moony, ow, healing magic, please” James whined, in pain. The other 3 were poorly holding back laughter. Regulus sighed, drearily wiping a hand down his face.

“Oh my stars,” Regulus mumbled, annoyance clear in his tone, “How in the world have you made it into my dorm at such an unreasonable time?” He grumbled. Remus was whispering incantations with his wand pointed at James.

“It’s only 3 o’ clock,” Peter said.

“And you are only proving my point, what has made you believe 3 A.M. is a reasonable time to break into my dorm?”

“Shut the fuck up!” Barty groaned, turning his face into his pillow. Regulus glared at Barty’s closed curtains.

“I second that” Evan murmured sleepily.

“You’ve got a mean right hook,” James whispered, holding his face with his hand.

“Why and how are you here?” Regulus quipped quietly, directing his question at Sirius.

“Here to invite you to plan pranks with us!” Sirius declared less quietly, smiling brightly at his brother.

“And how did you get into the Slytherin dorms?” He asked, glaring with all his might.

“Don’t worry about it” Sirius deflected.

“I hate all of you,” Regulus grumbled, swinging his legs off of the bed.

The 5 boys made their way over to the marauders dorm. Remus was holding a piece of paper in front of him the whole time until they got there. Regulus really didn’t care enough to ask. The younger black brother took his place on one of the beds. James sat on the floor and the other 3 sat on Sirius’ bed.

“May I ask why you must do brainstorming sessions at the damn dead of night?”

“Becau-“

“At the wee small hours? Very much past bedtime? Far past curfew? Asscrack of darkness? Please inform me, Sirius, why?”

“It’s when we do our best thinking,” Sirius replied while the others were cracking up.

“Wee small hours?” James echoed between his laughs.

“Apologies for punching you earlier, James,” Regulus said, directing his gaze to the Potter boy with his arms crossed.

“Oh, no, it’s fine-“ he inhaled, clearing the laughter from his voice “-should’ve expected it”

“Correct,” Regulus replied. He looked back towards his brother, “Now, give me a warning next time you’re to do this, yeah?”

“You’d want to do this again?” Sirius marveled.

“Calm down, we haven’t even started. You’d drag me along even if I did say no,” Regulus rolled his eyes.

“True,” Remus agreed, his voice hoarse.

“Who’s the target?” Regulus asked.

“Mulciber and his lot,” Sirius informed him. “We saw them bullying a group of 4th year Ravenclaws, especially the muggleborn, because they were ‘being too loud’.”

“Most of the Ravenclaws were crying by the end of it,” Peter added.

“Hm. Do you know the Ravenclaws’ names?” Regulus asked, raising an eyebrow. A plan was already forming in his mind.

“Helena Runes, I believe, was the muggleborn’s name,” Remus answered quickly.

“How did you remember that?” Sirius asked, turning towards the boy. Remus shrugged.

“Good memory,” he answered.

“And you said he started it because they were being too loud?” Regulus asked.

“That’s the excuse he gave, yeah,” Sirius confirmed.

“I think he just wanted to bully 4th years,” James guessed.

“Well, if he has such a problem with loud, we’ll make it louder,” Regulus decided. “We make everything louder to only Mulciber gradually for about a week, I say.”

“I like that, but why just Mulciber? Why not other members of his group, too?” Peter inquired. His nose twitched like a mouse’s would and his face screwed up in confusion.

“Having the reassurance of others agreeing would make him feel too sane. I’d prefer it if he has himself transferred to St. Mungos by the end of the week.”

“Woah,” James smiled, looking at Regulus “we should’ve gotten a Slytherin in our prank-planning way earlier,”

“How would we make things louder only to his ears?” Remus asked politely, resting his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands.

“Sonorus makes the thing casted upon loud to everyone. It just means loud in Latin, I’m sure it’ll be easy to tweak it,” Regulus mentioned. “Maybe if we add umbratile after it. Umbratile means shadowy, private, or carried on in seclusion. If we want the sonorus to make the test subject’s hearing louder, rather than their own voice, I say we add ‘externi’ after it,” Regulus finished. The marauders were quiet for a moment before Sirius started pushing Peter off of his bed.

“Pete’s our loyal test subject!” Sirius said, seeing Regulus’ confused glance.

“I hate all of you,” Peter whimpered.

“Alright then,” Regulus grabbed his wand out of his pocket. “First, increasing your magical permeability. Magicis incremento accessum,” Regulus cast, “Sonorus externi umbratile,” Regulus and the other boys waited to see what would happen. “Anythin-“

“AH!” Peter exclaimed, quickly covering his ears.

“Is-“

“Mm!!” Peter looked desperately at Regulus, pointing at his ears.

“Finite incantatem” Regulus cast, pointing his wand at the short boy in front of him. Peter heaved a sigh.

“It definitely works, but I think you said you want to do it gradually? We’ll have to tweak it more for that to happen,” Peter said.

“If we already know the base incantation works, we just need to cast a spell to make it gradual,” Regulus said, looking back at the other boys.

James shook his head with wonder, “where have you been all our lives?” He questioned, smiling.

“How do we make it so they can’t just finite incantatem it away, like you did?” Sirius asked.

“Easy. We close his magical gateways. Magicis cincinno accessum, that’s the incantation,” Peter walked back to the other boys and collapsed next to James on the floor.

“And you’ve got a spell for gradually increasing it?” Sirius questioned.

“Indeed. Someone will have to do it without anyone noticing,” Regulus confirmed.

“That reminds me, I should show you something,” James said from his spot on the floor. He shuffled around and stood up. He first walked to Remus, who handed him that piece of paper, and then went over to his own bed and grabbed a Gryffindor-red cloak of some sort.

James mumbled something, wand to the paper, and handed the piece of parchment to the short black-haired boy. Regulus looked down at the map, up at James, and raised an eyebrow.

“Read it. It won’t bite,” James smiled.

“Read what, exactly?” Regulus looked back down at the folded paper, expecting it to be as empty as it was just a moment ago. “Wha-“ Regulus read the parchment.

“Messrs

Moony, Wormtail,

Padfoot, and Prongs

Present to you,

THE MARAUDERS MAP”

“Open it,” Remus said with a raspy voice. Regulus opened the paper curiously, and saw the name tag ALBUS DUMBLEDOREwith a set of foot prints staying near the left of the outlines.

“What is this?”

“The Marauders Map!” Sirius exclaimed joyfully.

“I read that, dipshit,” Regulus looked up at his brother with an annoyed glance, “I meant, what does it do?”

“It’s got secret passageways, it tracks which stairs are where when, and, most importantly, tracks everyone on campus!” Peter declared from his position lounged on the floor. For whatever reason, he had put sunglasses on since the last time Regulus looked at him, despite them being in full darkness other than the the waning moon and bright starlight from the windows. Regulus thought it was useless, and said as much.

“Why have you got sunglasses on?”

“Really, Reg? You’re questioning Pete wearing sunglasses and not marveling at the extremely impressive object of magic we made in third year?” Sirius lectured.

“Hey, wedid no such thing-“ Remus ruffled Sirius’ hair, “me and Lily did, you get no such credit,” he corrected, his voice gravelly. Sirius sputtered and pushed Remus’ hand off his head.

“Oi, lay off the hair, Moony!” He whined, patting down his head and brushing through his hair with his fingers.

“You didn’t seem to mind three nights ago,” Remus reminded Sirius. Regulus gagged.

“Please don’t speak of such things about my brother in my vicinity,” Regulus pleaded. Sirius, again, sputtered.

“Not like that! We-“

“Padfoot, I think you’d do better without trying to explain it,” Remus chuckled, raising an eyebrow.

“Wh- but- ugh,” Sirius deflated, collapsing to lay down proper instead of sitting on the side of the bed like he was before. “Was not like that, Reg,” he mumbled, petulantly.

“Prongs, I think you’d do good showing him the cloak now,” Remus snickered.

“Oh, yeah! Regulus, look at me,” James commanded. Regulus did so, until James suddenly disappeared.

“Sorry?” Regulus questioned, squinting at the air where he swore he saw the moonlight shining off James just a moment ago.

“Right here!” James exclaimed, reappearing while a cloak materialized at his feet. “It’s an invisible cloak, a Potter family heirloom!”

“So this is how you do your pranks? And only get caught when my brother is idiotic enough to brag about them?”

“Quite,” Remus said, nodding.

“I am not idiotic!”

“You are, mate,” Peter said, his sunglasses still on.

“You’re all the worst,” Sirius grunted.

“Regulus, do you want to sneak under the invisibility cloak and cast the spells on Mulciber tomorrow?” James suggested.

“Sure. Now, let me get my beauty sleep, would you?” Regulus asked, getting off the bed he was on.

“Bonne nuit, Reg,” Sirius said, lifting himself onto his elbows.

“Bonne nuit, Sirius,” Regulus responded before he stopped, freezing his tracks. “Actually, Sirius, can we meet outside?” Regulus suggested.

Sirius looked at his younger brother curiously. “Okay,” he got off his bed and the two brothers walked out the dorm together.