arabesque
James Potter was going to be the death of Regulus.
He didn’t seem to understand the signs that Regulus clearly didn’t think of James as anything but his rival.
Regulus wasn’t sure where James had learned how to tell when someone hated him, but he had to assume that whoever taught him, had clearly failed.
Because if they had succeeded James Potter wouldn’t be following Regulus to the library right now, and he didn’t even want to get started on who taught James to sneak around, because twelve seconds into trying to sneakily follow Regulus, he had knocked over two vases, causing glass and water to splash all over the hallway.
Regulus felt terrible for whoever had to clean that up, but he certainly didn’t feel bad for James getting caught.
“You better not be following me.” Regulus said, not looking over his shoulder as he tried to move swiftly through the hallways. He heard the footsteps following him stop. “Who said anything about following anybody? I just happen to also be going to an empty studio.”
Regulus turned around, finally facing the other boy.
“I’m not going to the studios.” He said simply. “I meant that I was also heading to the cafeteria.” James said, scratching the back of his neck. Regulus shook his head, “Would you like to try one more time?”
James sighed loudly, “I was also heading back to the dorms?”
“You were wrong three times James. If you are going to follow people around, you should at least learn a little more about what they like to do.” Regulus said, turning and starting his route to the library again.
It only took James ten seconds to jog to Regulus’ side, “Jesus, has anyone told you that you walk incredibly fast?” He asked.
Regulus rolled his eyes, “Qualcuno ti ha detto che sei incredibilmente fastidioso?” He muttered to himself. James raised an eyebrow, “What was that?” He asked, Regulus put on his best fake smile, “I just said once or twice.” James frowned, “No you didn’t, that was a complete sentence!” He argued.
“I’m going to ask Sirius what you said.” James huffed, Regulus rolled his eyes. “Good luck remembering exactly how I said it, plus, we have an unspoken brotherly rule, he would never ever tell you what I said.” Regulus said, reaching for the library door handle.
He looked over his shoulder to watch James’ face, biting at his lip and trying to remember exactly what he had said. “Um, could you repeat what you said, but this time into my phone so I can record it?” James finally asked.
Regulus smirked, knowing exactly what he was going to do.
“Actually, I have a better idea, why don’t you call my brother so he can translate it in real time?” Regulus suggested, forgetting the library for a few moments.
James’ face lit up as he pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialed Sirius.
“Hey Sirius, I’m here with your brother and I’m going to put you one speaker so that you can translate what he’s saying.” He paused, “No I know that he speaks English, but he keeps muttering shit and I would really like there not to be a disconnect with what he is saying.”
James paused again, “Yes I speak Spanish, but Italian and Spanish are still too different for me to be able to pick up on what he is saying.”
Regulus had to stop himself from rolling his eyes again, keeping his face neutral as James put his phone on speaker.
“Ciao Siri, James è estremamente fastidioso e mi seguendo saresti in grado di dirgli di andare a farsi fottere per me?” Regulus said, keeping a sweet smile on his face as he spoke.
Sirius laughed loudly, “Yeah, James, I don’t think you want me to translate that for you.” His brother said. James sighed loudly, “Please just tell me what he said.” Regulus was sure that Sirius was rolling his eyes, “Alright, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
James looked proud of himself, “He said that you are annoying and to fuck off, in the simmpliest terms.” Sirius said, James’ face faltered, “Sorry I don’t think I heard you correctly.” He said, looking between the phone and Regulus’ smile. “I’m pretty sure I was speaking English there, my friend.” Sirius’ laugh crackled through the phone.
“Grazie caro fratello, ora vedremo se ascolta davvero.” Regulus spoke finally, cutting Sirius’ laugh by reaching over and hanging up the phone call. He looked up to make eye contact with James, “Well there you go, you asked my brother, did that help?” He asked, batting his eyelashes at him.
James furrowed his brow, “I will get you to like me, I know I will.” He said, pushing his glasses up his nose, “I won’t hold my breath.” Regulus said, pulling the library doors open and stepping in.
He was sure that James wouldn’t try to follow him after that fiasco.
But of course, he did, no matter how much Regulus prayed that he wouldn’t.
Regulus hadn’t gotten to spend as much time as he would have liked to in the library. It was stunning. If you took his uncle’s tiny, three-books shelf ‘library’ in their home and multiplied it by ten thousand, that would be the Hogwarts academy of dance’s main campus library.
And Regulus was obsessed.
Which is why he was incredibly irritated that James Potter had followed him inside and was currently laying upside down in a large armchair across from where Regulus had pulled out his book.
James’ glasses were dangerously close to completely falling off his face, “How is that even comfortable?” Regulus asked, peering over the top of his book, watching as James’ glasses clattered to the floor for what must have been the twentieth time in the past thirty minutes.
James shrugged, reaching for his glasses again, “Can I blame it on being a dancer?” He asked, shoving the glasses back on his face.
Regulus sighed loudly and closed his book. It was nice while it lasted.
“James, that isn’t..” He shook his head, “You know what, nevermind, I don’t have ti-” Regulus wasn’t able to finish his thought, because at that moment, gravity seemed to get its revenge on James and he toppled over, landing in a pile on the floor.
The already quiet library went deadly silent, and Regulus tried with all his strength to not laugh, but he failed as soon as James raised his head and the lenses of his glasses popped out.
Regulus snorted before he could help it, and was laughing by the time he realized everyone in the library was looking over at them.
James had somehow collected himself, but was unable to pop the lenses back into place, and was looking at Regulus with a helpless look on his face.
Regulus was finally able to suck in a few deep breaths, apologizing to those around him before looking at James, “What are you staring at me for?” He asked.
James held up the pieces of his glasses, “I can’t see and my spare is in the dorm.”
Regulus sighed, putting his book into his bag and zipping it up, ‘There goes reading in peace,’ He thought to himself as he pushed to his feet. He stood in front of James, looking down. The other boy seemed to be in his own world, staring down at his hands, holding the various pieces of broken glasses, his brow furrowed.
Gesù cristo
“I don’t have all day James.” Regulus said, breaking James out of his trance.
“Oh right, sorry.” He said pushing to his feet, he took a step and tripped over the edge of the carpet.
Regulus shook his head, “You really are blind.” He said, stepping forward and grabbing onto James’ arm, who looked startled at first but seemed eager for Regulus to even be touching him at all, he shoved the broken glasses into his pocket.
They walked through the hallways silently. Regulus realized that this was the longest amount of time that James hadn’t spoken. He thought that the day he didn’t have to hear James’ voice he would rejoice, but for some reason, it was causing him a spiral of unease.
“You know, this is the quietest I have ever heard you.” Regulus said, finally breaking the silence. James looked up, squinting as if he was trying to make out every single one of Regulus’ freckles.
“I was focusing on not falling on my ass in front of a pretty boy.” He said, a smile spreading across his face.
Regulus rolled his eyes, “James, you literally fell on your head in the library.” He pointed out, James’ smile faltered, “That doesn’t count!” He protested, biting at his bottom lip slightly. Regulus just shook his head, more silence falling between them.
Wait, did James just call him pretty?
Regulus pushed that thought out of his head the minute it turned up; he needed to focus on getting James to his room so he didn’t need to stand next to him for any longer than he was forced to.
After what felt like hours, they had arrived at James’ dorm.
James, at some point, had looped his arm fully through Regulus’ and was practically hanging off of him.
“Last time I checked, both of your legs work perfectly fine.” Regulus said, trying to push James off of him, but of course, James being James, seemed to hold on even tighter.
He hoped with everything in his being, that neither his brother nor Remus was behind that door.
But of course, as Regulus’ luck would have it, Sirius answered the door, an amused look playing across his face.
“Non osare dire nulla.” Regulus said, stepping through the door, dragging James along with him.
“Cosa ti fa pensare che stavo per dire qualcosa?” Sirius asked, closing the door behind them. Regulus tried to stretch his arms to cross over his chest, but James hanging on for dear life made it incredibly hard to do that.
"Perché sei tu, e sembra che tu abbia sempre qualcosa da dire.” He deadpanned.
James finally let go of Regulus, and moved across the room to root through his bedside drawer.
“James broke his glasses, and it turns out, he really is blind.” Regulus explained, switching to English so that James would be able to hear what he was saying. Sirius turned to look at James, “And should I dare to ask how he broke his glasses?” He asked Regulus.
“I think that James would explain it better than I ever could.” Regulus said, leaning against the wall and watching his brother and James. Sirius and James looked as though they were having a standoff, both of them staring at each other, daring the other to speak.
“You were trying to annoy Reg weren’t you?” Sirius finally asked.
James looked at Sirius sheepishly, “I wouldn’t say trying…” He trailed off, looking to Regulus for help, “You don’t even have to try.” Regulus said, rolling his eyes, “He was laying upside down on an armchair and gravity seemed to finally want revenge.” Regulus explained.
Sirius burst into laughter, “Yeah, don’t sound too concerned for my well being.” James grumbled, pushing his new glasses onto his face.
“Oh you’re fine, I’m sure you’ve fallen harder when dancing.” Regulus said, Sirius was still doubled over in laughter.
“I could have been concussed!” James protested.
“Well, are you concussed?” Regulus asked, raising an eyebrow.
James’ shoulders fell, “Uh.. no?”
Regulus shrugged, “Well, that settles that argument.” He said turning to Sirius, “Me ne vado ora, mandami un messaggio più tardi.” And with that, he turned on his heel and strode out of the dorm, allowing the door to close loudly behind him.
He puffed out a breath and began the short walk back to his dorm. He hated that he had spent so much of his day with James Potter, and worse,
He had fun.
It wasn’t the type of fun that he had when he was hanging out with Pandora or Sirius, but it was still a frustratingly good time.
And oh how he hated admitting that.
Regulus hated this.
He just wanted to hate James Potter and get this over with.
But somehow, James had wormed his way deep into Regulus’ brain and wouldn’t leave.
And now his brain was betraying him, because he was starting to admit that James wasn’t as bad as he had previously thought.
He shook his head, trying to clear those thoughts.
Pandora was standing outside of their dorm; the bun that he had watched her do carefully this morning had migrated and was now at the nape of her neck. “Panda, honestly, your hair has a mind of its own.” He said, speeding up so that he was standing right next to her.
She was grinning, trying to unlock the door, “It’s my hidden talent, petite étoile.” She said, finally pushing the door open. Regulus felt his face grow hot at the nickname that Pandora used.
The only two people that used that nickname were Sirius and Pandora.
They had given him the nickname when Regulus had first come out. He hadn’t decided on a name yet, but he knew he wanted to match Sirius’ name, so they decided to call him petite étoile or little star, since he looked like a smaller version of Sirius.
“You will not believe the day that I’ve had.” Regulus said, as they walked into the room, Pandora kicked her shoes at the wall as soon as they entered; they bounced off the wall making a loud bang.
The blankets shifted on the bed closest to the wall, “Jesus fucking christ, you know this is my midafternoon nap time, why must you always come in here like a bat out of hell?” Barty asked, sitting up.
Barty’s hair was sticking straight up and it took everything Regulus had not to laugh at him. Pandora shrugged, “I’m surprised that you are able to sleep at night with the amount of naps that you take.” She said, sitting on her bed and trying to take her hair down.
After a few failed attempts, she looked at Regulus.
Regulus nodded, dropping his bag to the floor and climbing to sit behind Pandora, beginning the long process of untangling her hair.
“Well, let’s hear about the long ass day that you had.” Pandora said, a hum in her voice. Regulus sighed and pulled the last bobby pin out of her curls. “Well, James Potter is going to be the death of me.” He said, reaching for Pandora’s brush.
“Oh lord, here we go again.” Barty muttered, falling back onto his bed. Regulus flipped him off, “He literally called my brother to ask what I was saying in Italian!” He said, dropping the brush and beginning to braid Pandora’s golden curls.
“Oh the audacity!” Pandora said, sarcasm dripping off her voice.
Regulus dropped a strand of Pandora’s hair, “I hope you realize that I could leave you hair half braided right?” He asked. Pandora shut her mouth instantly, “As I was saying, I was heading to go read in the library, and James was fucking stalking me!” He said, passing another strand of hair into the braid.
“So he was following you?” Barty asked, rustling around on the other side of the room. “Yeah so I told him to stop following me, and then the Italian fiasco happened.” Regulus said, his eyes focusing on the hair in his hands, “So I get to the library, and I was thinking he might leave me be, but of course-”
“You were wrong.” Pandora interrupted.
“Exactement.” Regulus said, lopping a hair tie onto the end of the braid.
“Anyways, he was laying upside down on an armchair, probably trying to get my attention.” He said leaning back on his hands. Pandora turned and watched him with wide eyes, “You really think that James does the things that he does to get your attention?” She asked, Regulus shrugged, “Maybe? I don’t know, I just met the guy.”
“That sounds very James Potter to me.” Barty said, standing up and crossing the room, “He’s always in someone’s business, more so when he wants to get to know someone.” He explained.
Regulus thought for a moment, “That’s exactly what Remus said.” Barty nodded, “See? I may not know him personally, but I know him pretty well, just from observing him.”
Pandora rolled her eyes, “Yes Barty, you are so observant, to the point that I’m sure you noticed Evan flirting with you right away.” Regulus turned to watch Barty’s face go a deep shade of red, “I uh.. of course I knew that he was flirting.” He said, although the tone of his voice was heavily coated in disbelief.
Regulus laughed lightly, “Jesus Pandora, don’t hold anything back.” He said, subtlety was not one of Pandora’s strong suits. She just shrugged, “I’m just telling the truth.”
Regulus shook his head, before he could speak again, Barty spoke up, “Alright, enough about me, let’s hear about how James fucked up the rest of the day.”
“Right anyway, he was leaning upside down, and then he fucking fell, onto his face. I’m not saying that he deserved it, but I will say god’s timing is always right.” He said, waving his hand. Pandora laughed lightly, her blue eyes glittering, “You are actually ridiculous.”
Regulus shrugged, “Oh! I didn’t even tell you the best part, the lenses of his glasses popped out after he landed on his head.” This caused Barty to start giggling, and Pandora’s mouth to drop open, “Oh Evan would love that.” Barty said.
“Speaking of, where is Evan?” He asked, looking around the room.
Barty shrugged, “Somewhere.” He said, Regulus raised an eyebrow, “Ah yes, Barty, the king of words.” Barty flipped him off, “Fuck off, he’s in class.”
Regulus and Pandora exchanged a knowing glance. They both knew that Barty kept the best track of Evan’s schedule - he wasn’t even as organized with his own schedule.
“How- you know what, nevermind.” Pandora started, but waved her hand, cutting herself off. She didn’t seem to have the energy to reopen the case of Barty and Evan clearly being in love with each other, and never saying anything to the other about it.
Barty looked between the two, “Why do I feel like you both know something that I don’t?” He asked. The two exchanged another look, “It’s probably because we do.” Regulus shrugged. Barty made a face, clearly not satisfied with that answer, “Okay well, will someone tell me? I feel like I’m going fucking crazy.”
“Sorry B, it’s not mine to tell.” Pandora said holding up her hands, Barty turned his gaze to Regulus, who made the same motion and shook his head.
He was not interested in getting in the middle of whatever Barty and Evan had going on.
“You two are no help.” Barty said, pushing to his feet and heading into the bathroom, the door swinging closed after him.
“Did we say something wrong?” Regulus asked, Pandora shook her head, “I think that he’s in denial about his feelings for Evan. They are definitely more than platonic and I think that scares him.”
Regulus nodded, “I can understand that.” He said, staring at a portion of the wall that had a tiny piece of chipped paint.
When Pandora didn’t respond to him, he turned his head to look at her. She had her ‘I know something that you haven’t realized’ face on.
“Why the fuck are you looking at me like that?” He asked. Pandora shrugged, still not saying anything, Regulus flipped her off and frowned.
Maybe if James Potter didn’t kill him, Pandora Lovegood would.