Regulus has been spending too much time with his brother.
He loves him, but there is only so much of Sirius that Regulus can handle. He expresses this fact excessively, so why does he keep coming back?
He loves his brother, but that surely can't be the only reason he continually chooses to hang around the Gryffindors instead of Barty, Evan, and Pandora.
That also doesn't explain why he always comes back to the dorms with a slight blush and tiny smile, almost unrecognizable, but they've all been trained in reading Regulus' expressions since second year. They know each other remarkably well, so they all know something's off with Regulus.
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Regulus had left a while ago.
He mentioned wanting to read outside and neither Barty nor Evan wished to stop him, not that they could anyway.
Naturally, they both got worried after a while and decided to go check on Regulus. He could definitely hold his own, but a little support never hurt anyone.
What they had found, instead of Regulus' being attacked by a flurry of older students, was him actually being surrounded by Gryffindors. All known to be Sirius Black's friends.
They always traveled in packs, but there weren't as many as they normally carried with them these days.
Just the original four, James Potter, Peter Pettigrew, Remus Lupin, and, of course, Sirius Black. And sitting with them, willingly, was Regulus.
He looked calm, his body language not showing any signs of distress. His eyes lit up, unlike the rest of his neutral features. And then.
A laugh.
A small, barely noticeable, mostly concealed by his sleeve, but still there nonetheless, laugh. The Gryffindors might not have noticed it, but the pair of Slytherins definitely did.
Evan thought he might have a stroke and Barty fought the urge to pinch himself. He fought the urge to punch Evan more when he had the wise idea to pinch him.
Yes, something was definitely off with Regulus.
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Pandora always has this mysterious aura around her.
Like she knows everything and is keeping it all a secret from everybody. They can never tell what she's hiding, but they know she's hiding something.
This time, though, Evan has half the sense to believe it has something to do with Regulus. Pandora knows something about Regulus that Evan and Barty do not.
Barty is about as clueless to it as one could be, but he sees things that maybe they haven't thought of before, so Evan goes to Barty only to confirm his suspicions.
Evan's confused, to say the least, that there might be something Regulus does not wish to or feel comfortable sharing with him. It hurts a little, but Regulus always has his reasons.
On the other hand, Barty doesn't think too deeply about it, but rather just brings up the matter to Pandora, never one to shy away from bluntness. He's fearless really, true Gryffindor material. Pandora laughs briefly as if she's been told a ridiculous joke.
They really don't get it, what they could be missing.
And the vague, but wonderful Pandora is close to no help at all. All she does is tell them to watch Regulus more closely when he's with the Gryffindors.
Evan knows she could just tell them. It'd be pretty easy, frankly, to utter about a sentence to explain Regulus' sudden interest in red and gold and the ones who wear it.
He thinks she likes to see them suffer. No, he knows it. She's clever, too much for their own good, because believe me, they will drive themselves to insanity trying to stick their nose into Regulus' business.
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Barty never thought he'd be here.
Oh, who is he kidding?
He's best friends with Evan and Regulus, they both have a tendency to go to extreme lengths not to mind their business. Of course he saw himself here.
Pandora keeps to herself most of the time, but that's just because she already knows everyone's deepest, darkest secrets. She doesn't have to go sticking her nose in places it doesn't belong because it's already been there long enough to belong.
He knew one way or another he'd be subjected to spying on one of his best friends, but goggles? Evan is really starting to push it.
Regulus had already caught them spying on him once. He yelled at them in the angry non-yelling way he does. Voice calm, unwavering, tone harsh, prickly. They were thankful not to be questioned too harshly as to why they were spying and Evan knew that much at the very least.
To combat such a problem, his intelligent solution was to spy on Regulus from afar, using muggle binoculars Pandora had let them use, not magic.
The fact that Pandora had binoculars in the first place had alarmed Barty. Maybe Pandora did stick her nose in uncharted territory, but at least she hadn't taken Barty along for the ride, yet. Yet.
Barty found the whole ordeal ridiculously embarrassing, but if he had any pride before this, it was gone once he had subjected himself to getting excited when Evan had finally spotted Regulus with the Gryffindors.
They were walking, making it harder for Evan to follow them with the binoculars that he had just learned to use, so Barty ended up using magic.
He tried to narrow in on Regulus' features, the way he interacted with the others, any sign pointing to why he enjoyed spending so much time with these lions. Regulus always seemed to have a small, barely there smile around them. Always content where he was.
Barty zoomed out trying to fit Regulus' gestures to whatever story he was spinning in his head. He lost focus quickly though, having developed the attention span of an infant.
The way the group interacted was fascinating to him. They all talked rather animatedly except for Remus and of course Regulus, but he hardly added much anyways unless specifically asked.
James definitely was the showiest of them all, Sirius was definitely second, but he couldn't pass James. He was all light, a golden retriever. It was kind of sickening, like candy. James turned around, walking backward to face Sirius, he smiled widely even while talking. Also very interesting, does his mouth ever hurt from smiling so much?
He turned and winked at Regulus with the biggest most disgustingly sweet smile Barty had ever seen. He wanted to throw up. But then.
Oh, wow.
Regulus blushed.
It might not look like it to most, but Barty could spot it every single time. Merlin. Wait until Evan sees this.
Barty looked up and turned to see Evan, with an equally mischievous look in his eyes and a smile on his face.
Oh, Reggie, looks like someone has a crush on Mr. Golden Boy.
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Evan is not subtle in the slightest when he hints at the fact that Regulus has a crush.
He's never been subtle, always giving obvious clues and beating around the bush quite horribly. Barty sometimes hates how badly Evan tries to get himself out of things, sobad, that he'll take it upon himself to be completely straightforward. Evan is the farthest from subtle. Barty knows this, but this time, he finds it to be particularly irritating.
Evan and Barty took it upon themselves to find Regulus when he was with James.
Spying was an understatement really. They were in the astronomy tower and Barty and Evan were watching them from below. Evan would boast about how they were able to spy on Regulus from such distances and go utterly unnoticed.
Barty, on the other hand, would take this to his deathbed. Too embarrassed about the fact to ever admit it to a single soul.
Evan was over-eager to bring this all up to Regulus, practically bursting with joy.
Then.
A gasp.
Barty was confused and shocked, seeing as Evan had earlier warned him about making any noise, so it is quite surprising that he was the one making noise in the first place.
Barty looks over at Evan only to find him pointing up to something on the floorboards.
James and Regulus.
James and Regulus kissing.
Oh.
That's new.
Barty turns to look back at Evan to see the biggest shit-eating grin on his face.
Oh, no.
Barty looks back when he hears stomping down the stairs.
Oh, no.
Why is Regulus running down the stairs without James?
There in a moment, gone in the next.
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Regulus is fast. But Evan is determined and persistent and goddamn annoying.
So, he pushes, in his very "not obvious" way and Barty cringes every time.
"Reg, you were like a fucking puppy clinging to the Gryffindors, and now you won't fucking talk to them or tell us what's wrong?"
"What the fuck do you want me to tell you?"
"Anything," Evan yells, stressing the fact. Regulus tends to keep things bottled up when it hurts him. He's gotten better at telling them, so when he won't, something must really be affecting him.
"What, you want me to tell you that I'm a dumbass?" Hot, angry tears stream down Regulus' face.
"That if they're was a prize for rotten judgment," Regulus wipes angrily at his face and shrugs. "I guess I've already won that."
Evan's face softens and he goes to comfort Regulus, but he pushes him away. Regulus takes a deep breath to gather himself.
"No man is worth the aggravation."
Evan and Barty exchange a look before turning their attention back to Regulus. Barty wouldn't want to interrupt Regulus and stop him from explaining everything they had seen at the Astronomy tower. Evan, however, is quite unlike Barty.
"Is this about James?" Evan asks. Barty nearly flinches at how casually Evan brought up such a sensitive topic.
"What?" Regulus looks stunned and in disbelief. Which, to be fair is warranted because he probably hadn't caught on to the fact that Barty and Evan have been spying on him.
"Who do you think you're kidding?"
Regulus has a mildly horrified look on his face.
"Try to keep it hidden, but honey, we can see right through you."
Barty's expression now match's something similar to Regulus'. Of course, Evan would have to get Barty involved.
"You too?!" Regulus looks accusingly at Barty, who puts his hands up in defense.
"What does it matter? You can't conceal it. We know how you're feeling, who you're thinking of."
"Oh really," Regulus looks mad now. Well, Regulus always looks mad, but not around James. That's what makes Potter so special to this conversation.
"Yes," Evan exaggerates. "We know you like Potter."
"What? No chance, no way, I won't say it."
"My merlin, Regulus, we've seen you swoon, you sigh, why deny it?" Barty groans, throwing his head back at his friend's stubbornness.
"It's too cliche."
"What does it matter, Reg? Aren't you happy?"
Regulus made a noise similar to someone being strangled.
"You don't get it," Regulus muttered through gritted teeth. "It feels so good when you start out. My head is screaming "Get a Grip, unless you're dying to cry your heart out."
Ah. It made sense now. Or at least somewhat. Why Regulus was so reluctant? He was scared. Scared of getting hurt, made a fool of. He knew Regulus well, well enough to know Regulus Black never wanted to be made anybody's fool.
Barty slowly walks over to Regulus, making sure not to spook him. He places his hand on his shoulder comfortingly. They don't do this normally, that's why the act is so special.
That's also why it works, Regulus now has his full attention on Barty. Evan is standing next to Regulus' bedpost, leaning on it. Barty looks over his way briefly before continuing, as a way of reassuring himself. Evan always, without fail, calms and amps Barty up in the best way possible.
"You can't deny it, who you are is how your feeling."
Regulus looks at him for a while, like he's trying really hard to process the words.
"But-"
"Baby we're not buying," Evan says, shutting Regulus up from using any bullshit excuse he was about to.
"Hon, we saw you hit the ceiling," Barty adds. Evan sighs, looking at a crest-fallen Regulus.
"Just," he pauses momentarily to gather his thoughts and form them into words. "Face it like a grown-up." Regulus furrows his eyebrows as if that is the most repulsive thing he's ever heard.
"When you gonna own up that you got it bad," Severus says, exasperated from where he's apparently been sitting this whole time.
The three all jump up slightly at the unexpected voice. Regulus goes red immediately as if this whole conversation wasn't bad enough.
"No chance, no way, I won't say it," Regulus says, disgusted.
"Oh Merlin help me," Severus says, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "What's so bad about Potter anyways?"
Regulus looks absolutely at a loss for words.
When did Snape stop hating Potter? And why is he actually being helpful?
Regulus splutters, face going an even darker shade of red.
"He's quite chivalrous, is he not?" Severus says matter-of-factly, rolling his eyes.
A small smile makes its way across Regulus' face before it melts back into his usual expression. But not before they see it.
"Give up," Evan groans.
"Give in," Barty whispers for Regulus to hear.
"Check the grin, you're in love."
Regulus pushes Barty off of him and walks away.
"This scene won't play, I won't say it."
"We'll do it until you admit it," Evan shrugs, unbothered.
Regulus turns to look at Evan. He's tired of putting up a fight to hide his emotions, he can see it.
"Your way off base, I won't say it." Regulus turns away from Barty and Evan only to be met with Severus. He begins to speak, but Regulus cuts him off, "Get off my case, I won't say it."
Severus scoffs, "Don't be proud, it's okay you're in love."
Regulus rolls his eyes and exits the dormitory.
He fumes all the way down the stairs and out the portrait. He sulks all the way up from the dungeons to the courtyard. He sits down on one of the ledges, exhausted. He's expressed more emotions than he usually does, and it's taking its toll on him.
He looks out over the grounds to the familiar faces. One, in particular, catches his eye. And hazel brown eyes somehow find him, too. Regulus looks for a moment, probably longer than he should, and sighs, before looking down at his hands.
"At least out loud, I won't say I'm in love."