The Strangest Party
Regulus hated parties.
There were always parties after a quidditch match. The winning house would host a party and anyone could come. This is what led to Pandora and his other friends forcing him to go to the Gryffindor common room. He tried to argue with them, but they wouldn’t take no for an answer.
Now he was in the corner, awkwardly waiting for his friends to return. They had quickly left him, going to look for other friends.
“Try to talk to the other people, Regulus,” Pandora smiled at him after Barty and Evan left. “Maybe you’ll even make a new friend!” Pandora said quickly as she disappeared in the crowd.
Regulus sighed. Traitors. He didn’t plan on making any new friends. Especially with anyone from Sirius' house. He was just going to wait for his friends to come back. He didn’t feel like being lectured by his friends for leaving early. Plus, they might end up getting drunk. Everyone knows that the Gryffindors had alcohol at every party.
He looked down at his punch. Maybe he shouldn’t drink this.
“What’s a handsome boy like you doing alone over here?”
Fuck.
Regulus looked up and frowned. Standing in front of him was James Potter. Sirius’ best friend. Sirius’ new brother.
He sighed again. “What do you want?”
James lifted an eyebrow, urging him to guess. Regulus scanned the room again quickly and saw that his friends were all occupied.
“Your friends are all busy so you chose to come annoy me?” Regulus set down his drink on the shelf next to him and crossed his arms.
“Yep! Who knew you were so smart?” James winked.
Regulus looked away quickly, attempting to hide the sudden heat in his face.
Wait, what?
James, thankfully, didn’t notice this. He took a drink from the cup in his hands. Regulus took his drink off the shelf and also drank, attempting to hide his face in case there was a blush. However when the drink reached his lips, it was definitely alcohol.
Regulus quickly took the drink from his lips with a disgusted look on his face. The taste still burned his mouth and throat after swallowing it.
“You alright?” James stepped closer. His signature smile was still plastered on his face, but it was softer. More comforting.
“I didn’t expect there to be alcohol in the punch, is all,” Regulus set his cup back down. He didn’t plan to drink from it again.
“Right. You’re Mr. Goody Two Shoes, huh? You didn’t seem like the type to like alcohol,” James teased, poking the other’s chest.
Regulus scoffed. “You really are annoying,” he said under his breath.
Apparently, James heard that. He set his cup down quickly and grabbed his chest dramatically. “Regulus, dear, you wound me!” he said in a sad voice with a smile.
Dear? The pet name James gave him sounded normal when he said it. If anyone else called him ‘dear’ they would definitely be getting an eyeroll or a lecture. However, Regulus didn’t feel the need to do either of those things. It sounded natural coming from James’ mouth. Regulus smiled slightly at James’ performance (and pet name). James’ smile grew.
“I have successfully made Regulus Black, one of the most serious boys here, smile! What an achievement that is,” James rested his hands on his hips proudly.
Regulus tried to force his smile down but couldn’t help it. James seemed to be able to make everyone smile.
“I never thought I’d see my baby brother with my best friend, what a strange sight,” Regulus heard a familiar voice say. A familiar voice he didn’t want to hear.
What an easy way to wipe the smile off of his face.
Sirius was standing behind James and Regulus tensed up slightly.
“Regulus is nice to talk to,” James shrugged with a smile still on his face. Regulus felt warm.
Seriously, what is wrong with him?
“I didn’t think you would come, Regulus,” Sirius said flatly, ignoring James.
“I wasn’t,” Regulus spat, still avoiding eye contact with Sirius, “my friends dragged me here.”
“Alright then. Just wanted to make sure James wasn’t doing anything reckless,” Sirius shrugged.
James crossed his arms and pouted a bit. “Me? Reckless? Never!”
Sirius waved his hand as if he was dismissing James. “Sure, sure. I’ll see you after the party,” Sirius laughed as he walked towards Remus again.
He hadn't even bothered to say ‘hello’ to Regulus, much less ‘goodbye.’
Regulus pushed those thoughts and feelings away.
James’ attention was on Regulus again.
“Hey, you okay, Reg?” James asked suddenly. Regulus finally looked at James again. He wasn’t smiling. He looked concerned.
“What? Yes, I’m fine,” Regulus said quickly. Everyone called him Reg so he didn’t think anything of the nickname.
James stepped closer and grabbed Regulus’ hand. Regulus tensed up slightly, not really used to this sort of attention. James frowned. “You’re shaking.”
Regulus looked down and was surprised. Was he really that upset to see Sirius? “So I am,” Regulus whispered, mostly to himself.
James shook his head and covered Regulus’ hands with his own. “Look, I may not understand or know exactly what is going on between you two, but you’re both my friends so-”
Regulus lifted an eyebrow. “Friends? We’ve barely talked to each other and now you’re acting like we’ve known each other our whole lives?” he said more sternly than he meant.
James blinked. He was clearly surprised with what Regulus said. “Okay, maybe friends is a weird label, but regardless I’ll still consider you one,” James smiled.
Regulus smiled, but only very slightly. Strange that he wanted to be considered friends with the person who stole his brother away from him.
“Oh, good, you’ve stopped shaking,” James uncovered Regulus’ hands. Regulus nodded. Seeing his hands in James’ was, again, strange. Regulus had smaller, slender hands. They were also much paler than James’. James had bigger, tanner hands. James’ hands were also a bit slender.
Neither of the boys made a move to remove their hands from the others for a while. Regulus found his hands to be comforting in a way. James only removed his hands to pick his drink back up.
The two of them talked for the rest of the night. Mostly James did, but Regulus didn’t mind. Yes, they had barely talked and yes, Regulus was slightly jealous, but he found it comforting to be in James’ presence. Pandora would say that his aura is what’s so calming, and while Regulus usually didn’t agree with that, he did now. It was calming even if they were both in silence and just standing there.
That was also strange.
Their talking was only interrupted by Regulus’ friends.
“Reg, are you ready to go?” Evan slurred as he approached him and James.
“Are you both drunk?” Regulus quickly asked, moving away slightly from the corner where he had been all night.
Pandora, who was now next to Evan, shrugged. “Probably,” Pandora giggled as she wrapped her arms around Regulus’ arm and closed her eyes. Pandora was a clingy drunk who would cling onto basically any of her friends. Mostly Regulus.
“I forgot how clingy you were when drunk, Panda,” Regulus sighed. “Where’s Barty?”
“He left a while ago,” Evan crossed his arms, “probably with some girl,” he scoffed.
Regulus rolled his eyes. “Alright then, we should probably go before they mess up the dormitory.”
“It is getting late,” James thought out loud, probably to get Regulus’ attention back on him. James smiled at Regulus again. “Hopefully we’ll speak again.”
Regulus nodded. “Well, goodnight,” he added to be polite.
Regulus dragged his friends out of Gryffindor's common room. He knew one of his friends was either going to ask tonight or tomorrow. Hopefully not at all, but he doubted that.
Pandora was still clinging to Regulus’ arm and Regulus was dragging Evan by the wrist, otherwise Evan would’ve dragged them down.
“So,” Evan started, “why were you talking to Potter?”
“He talked to me first,” Regulus said quickly. “I was just bored because you left me.”
“I think you made a new friend,” Pandora teased quietly. Regulus’ face heated up slightly
What was wrong with him?