Chapter 5
Regulus~
It took several minutes to get Sirius to actually go to Remus, but eventually he did. Not before dropping Regulus off with Peter and telling him to ‘do not shag my best friend, you cunt.’ then hugging him? Because apparently they do that now? That’s something to think on later, right now the issue is sitting across from him. In other words; Peter Pettigrew is sitting across from him talking about if or if not a muggle could achieve our level of power purely through harnessing the magic of crystals. Normally, Regulus would love this conversation, it’s right up his alley. But, he has other things at hand right now.
“So back to the fact crystals do hold power and we frequently use them, a brave enough muggle who’s willing to try some weird shit could potenti-........ Could potentially go on a murderous spree, a crystal is the perfect size to stick up someone's nose, or ass. Are you even listening to me?” Peter’s question snapped him out of his half listening daze.
“Yes, yes of course.” Regulus perked up.
“Regulus, if your brother’s forcing you to talk to me, you don’t have to. If you don’t want to be here, you’re wasting both our time, especially mine. I’m not gonna sit here while you dissociate to my thoughts.” Peter sat up, getting ready to go.
“Wait! No- okay, yes, I’m not really listening… but normally I would really enjoy this conversation. So, I would like to have it with you… another time” Regulus winced at his own horrible wording.
“Then why are you here now?” Peter didn’t sound mad, just confused.
“It’s kind of a long story…”
“Clearly, I have time. Seeing as Sirius snatched away my company and dropped you here instead of them.” Peter was a much more cut throat than Regulus expected. Granted, Regulus did just waste a tonne of his time so, it’s understandable.
“Well… okay, I’ll shorten it. Basically one of my friends likes… this person. And my friend, well, he was talking to this person and this person was being a cunt and talking about how they were about to ask out this other person and- and my friend… well it hurt, so they lied. They told this person they were seeing someone already… one of your friends… thus I’m here to ask you to help me get your friend to go out with my friend. Just on one date, that’s all they really need.” Regulus’ explanation confused himself, yet Peter seemed to understand it with ease.
“So, Evan told Barty he’s dating one of my mates?” Peter raised his eyebrows. Regulus really, really, underestimated him.
“I didn’t say that.”
“But you did, it’s okay, don’t confirm it because loyalty, I already know anyway.” Peter smiled.
“Yeah, it’s them.” Regulus admitted.
“Loyalty? Do you guys not do that?” Peter questioned, honestly taken aback.
“Fuck loyalty, right now Evan’s put me under a shit load of stress. He’s put me in charge of this, I’ll go about it however I please. So, yes, it’s them.” Regulus waved his hand around for Peter to continue.
“Okay then… Anyways, I’m certain he didn’t say Remus, James or Sirius… So who is it?” Peter asked. Fuck he was quicker than he seems.
“The idiot told him he’s dating Amos.” Regulus said, rolling his eyes at Evan’s stupidity.
“Seriously? Amos fucking hates Evan. Despised Pandora when they were still in CFMC’s because they were Evan’s sibling.
“I know. So, wanna help me out?” Regulus questioned.
“Of course. Sirius would skin me if I didn’t.” Peter laughed.
“Oh… About Sirius… He thinks I have a crush on you…” Regulus laughed awkwardly.
“Oh, Regulus I’m flattered and you are lovely, truly but-”
“No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Peter, he thinks I do. I don’t actually. Godrick.” Regulus shook his head laughing.
“Why does he think that?”
“Oh, because I told him.” Regulus smiled at him.
“You got yourself in a bit of a situation, Regulus.” Peter laughed.
“You don’t know the half of it.”
“Tell me then.” Peter smiled. If Regulus wasn’t so pathetic for James, Peter would probably be next to his affections.
“It’s long.”
“Well, I better go get us a round of Butterbeer, we’re going to be here for a while”
“Tell me more about your muggle-crystal theory.” Regulus smiled. Peter reminded him of Pandora, just more extroverted, not as soft spoken. Maybe his brother’s friend choices weren’t horrible.
“Well, if you insist…” Peter went onto rant for 40 minutes. They got into a pretty heated argument at one point. Regulus decided Peter wasn’t the worst company.
—---------------------
Regulus got back to Hogwarts later than usual, his conversation with Peter got a little out of hand when Dorcas and her friend Emmeline jumped in. Very out of hand. So Regulus got back to Hogwarts around 5, now he was just walking around the grounds. Today had been a lot, he won’t deny that he had a good day but it was still a lot. From his conversation with Sirius, to coming out, to literally just having to socialise a lot more than he would prefer. Obviously he enjoyed himself but it was still tiring.
“REGULUS! HEY, REG! WAIT UP!” James’ voice filled the area. He ran up to Regulus, falling in place next to him. “Hey.” He smiled at Regulus. It still stumped Regulus that someone like James could actually get pleasure from being near him.
“Hello.” Regulus didn’t want him to know he was happy to see him.
“What are you up to?” He was glowing. The setting sun was hitting James’ deep brown skin leaving it like gold.
“Just walking.” Regulus was going to be snarky but his brain stuttered. Stupid James and stupid sun, though the two seem to be interchangeable.
“So you’re not busy?” Regulus wanted to push him down a hill and just scream ‘Stop smiling! Stop smiling!’
“I didn’t say that.”
“So you aren’t. Cool, wanna practise?” James smiled, again.
“Why?”
“Because of your… that situation.” James explain with his hands.
“Yeah but why do you want to? That’s why I want to. But, why do you?” Regulus found this lie was just getting easier and easier to say. And that’s when it decided to hit him that he’d just come out to Sirius, sooner or later Sirius is going to connect two and two. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
“I want to help you. Plus it’s helpful to go over the basics, believe it or not.” James smiled.
“S'il te plaît, arrête de sourire. Tu fais honte au soleil. Pas étonnant que ça se couche.” Regulus sighed pathetically.
James’ eyes widened, he cocked his eyebrow at him, “What does that mean?”
“You’re annoying but I’ll practise with you, for my own personal gain. Even though spending time with you makes my brain rot.” Regulus lied through his teeth, smiling up at James.
“You’re lying, right?” James looked genuinely scared.
“Sure.”
“You’re being sarcastic.”
“Sure.”
“Okay, I’m not listening to you anymore. Let’s go.” James grabbed onto his arm and pulled him along.
“Harassment.”
“Stop.”
Regulus smirked.
James walked him to the room he’d set up for them, Regulus spent the whole walk saying small things to drive James crazy, it was hilarious making him so exasperated with him.
“The rooms already set up?” Regulus questioned.
“Yeah, I set it up when I got back from Hogsmeade. Just been waiting for you to get back.” James said matter of factly.
“How’d you know I was back?”
“Uh- Just guessed.” James lied.
“And how’d you know where I was?”
“Psychic abilities.”
Regulus couldn’t help but laugh at his horrible excuses. “Stalker.”
“I prefer the word; informed.” James smirked.
Regulus couldn’t stop the laugh that escaped him, James’ smile lit up (if that’s even fucking possible). “You’re an idiot.”
“Gladly.”
“That doesn’t make sense.” Regulus looked at him, still laughing.
“Yeah it does.” James’ smile softened, which brought Regulus back to himself.
“Okay, enough distracting me. Thought you were meant to be teaching me?” Regulus cocked his eyebrow at him.
“Oh, you wanna get right into it? Okay then, go ahead.” James put the board at Regulus’ feet, a challenge in his eyes.
“You’re so weird.”
“And your insults are lacking today, Reg. Kind of disappointing, I came here for humbling.” James joked.
“Too tired to humble you today. But, I’ll work overtime with the insults tomorrow.” Regulus promised.
“I look forward to it.” James smirked, leaning into his space. Regulus suddenly realised how close they were standing. If James weren’t James, Regulus would be certain this was flirting.
“So, what are we doing?”
“Picking up where we left off, obviously.”
“No.”
“No?”
“I’m not doing that, I almost died last time.”
“That’s a tad dramatic don’t you think?” James grinned.
“James, I’m not going to let you kill me.”
“Regulus, I won’t.” James mocked him.
“Fuck you.”
“Again, lacking with the insults today, Reggie. Should I be concerned?” James smiled, bumping his shoulder into Regulus’. “Come on, we’ll take a different angle at this.”
“Fine, what do you want me to do?”
“Get on the board.” Regulus did it with ease. “Hey! Look at that! See, the practice helped, you didn’t even wobble.” James smiled so widely, Regulus felt his own lips betraying him.
“What do I do now?” Regulus questioned, trying to avoid how fluttery James made him feel.
“Can I touch you?” James questioned, clear intention. Regulus’ mind filled the gaps with things his brother would murder him for.
“What?” Regulus’ voice hitched, stepping off the board..
James seemed to get the connotations, “No- not like that! I meant can I hold your waist. Wait! That sounds creepy as fuck. I just meant it in like a- fuck- I meant I’m gonna hold you stable while you try to peddle.” James’ cheeks reddened. “I wouldn’t mean the other thing.” He added, deflating Regulus’ heart. “Not that you’re not desirable! Wait- not that I’m trying to hit on you! There’s nothing wrong with you, of course! You’re cool and you’re really pretty, don’t get me wrong. But you’re not exactly my type, you know? Plus I’m kind of in love with someone already.” James smiled sheepishly, the red of his cheeks deepening at the mention of Lily Evans. How is this the second time in one day he’s been rejected by a Marauder?
“Potter, relax.” Regulus rolled his eyes ignoring the way his heart thumped.
“Did I upset you?” James looked concerned.
“No, why do you think that?” Regulus questioned.
“You called me ‘Potter’.”
“I always call you that.” Regulus scoffed.
“Not really, you kinda stopped.” James fiddled with his shirt sleeve, he was wearing a red flannel over his uniform.
“I’ll make sure to correct that.” James winced at Regulus’ tone.
“You don’t have to. You’re allowed to like me.” Regulus’ mind altered the meaning of all of James’ words. He cursed his mind for its hopefulness. Though, a better word would be hopelessness.
“I know that, Potter.” Regulus looked over at the clock above the black board, 6:24pm, late enough for a reasonable excuse.
“Then why won’t you, I know you liked hanging out with me yesterday.” James looked hurt.
“It’s almost 6:30, I should get going.”
“Curfews not for another few hours, I’ll drop the conversation. Stay.” James looked like a wounded animal.
“Comment puis-je dire non au soleil. Fine. And yes, you can touch me.” Regulus rolled his eyes.
“What’d you say?” James looked a little less depleted.
“Hurry up and teach me something before I drown you in the black lake.”
“You’re an ass.” James laughed, ushering Regulus back onto the board. “Okay, I’m gonna keep my hands near your waist, so if you fall and get unstable, I can keep you stable.” James smiled at him again, did he not realise what he was doing to him. “Do you remember how to peddle from what I showed you?”
“Of course I do, I’m not an idiot.” Regulus got back onto the board, James’ hands grazed his sides, making him stiffen.
“Okay so, turn your front foot to be facing the nose of the board. Then take your back foot and push off the ground. Once you’ve pushed, put your back foot back down and swivel your front foot back to the position it was at the start. Try to do it as smoothly as possible.” James explained as if Regulus heard a single thing he’d said. How could he? His hands are quite literally holding his waist.
Regulus did exactly as James said, surprising himself when he got it right. James’ face broke out into a grin, “Reg! You did it! Told you it wasn’t too difficult.” He laughed softly, right next to Regulus’ ear.
“Yeah, with you holding me.” Regulus reddened at his wording. “I doubt she’d find it very manly to see me getting pushed around via another man's hands on my waist.” James' cheeks turned a deep shade of maroon.
“I think it’s quite manly.” James joked, his breath tracing Regulus’ neck.
“Oh yeah, super.” Regulus rolled his eyes. “But I think from her perspective,” James’ grip tightened on his waist. “It’s not as manly as I’m trying to appear.”
“I’ll make myself unseeable, blend in with the background.” James swore.
“You mean; invisible.”
“Yeah, exactly.”
“I wasn’t agreeing with you.”
“You should be.”
“You’re an idiot.”
“We’d look awesome.”
“Thought we couldn’t see you.”
“It’d be cooler if they could see me.”
“Oh yeah, so cool.”
“Yeah, I’ll show you.” James laughed softly next to his ear.
“Don’t you dare. Potter, don’t you dare.” Regulus threatened.
“Hold on.” James whispered into Regulus’ ear.
“JAMES! I SWEAR TO FUCKING MERLIN, MORGANA AND MORDRED IF YOU FUCKING DAR-” James tightened his grip on Regulus’ waist and ran forward, the board moving with them, Regulus’ scream filled the room right next to James’ laugh. “TROU DE CUL STUPIDE ! QU'EST-CE QUE LE FUCK EST MAL AVEC VOUS ! JE VAIS VOUS SACRIFIER À ARTEMIS EN TANT QU'APOLOGIE POUR L'HOMME ! JE POURRAIS VOUS TUER ! JE VAIS TE TUER PUTAIN !” Regulus screamed. James pulled them to a stop, now standing in front of Regulus, his hands still on his waist.
“Told you we looked cool, if you were screaming less you would’ve seen.” James laughed, his smile so wide. He was smiling at Regulus, because of Regulus. Godrick, how can he be mad at that.
“Tu as de la chance d'être si belle, que ça serait un péché de te blesser.” Regulus sighed, stepping off the board.
“What are you saying? Tell meee.” James sang.
“I’m putting a French curse on you.” Regulus grumbled.
“Oh yeah? What’s the curse?” James’ smile widened.
“Tu es trop jolie, trop bonne pour me regarder et trouver de la joie à travers moi. Je ne suis pas digne de votre joie. Je ne devrais pas être capable de le créer, mais d'une manière ou d'une autre, je le fais. I won’t explain it word for word but it has something to do with frogs, so look out.” James’ eyes softened.
“मुझे कोसते रहो, यह सुंदर है।” James spoke in a language Regulus wasn’t familiar with, it left him stunned.
“What language is that? Since when are you bilingual? What’d you say?” Regulus questioned at lighting speed.
“So many questions, I don’t think I can answer them.” James shrugged.
“Answer them or I’ll quicken up your curse.”
“It’s Hindi and I’m not bilingual, I speak four languages. So, whatever word you add to that, I’m that.” James smiled normally as if that wasn’t impressive as fuck.
“Four? What? Which languages? Talk to me in them.” Regulus demanded.
“Well, the obvious; English and you heard me speak Hindi. But, I also speak fluent Latin, Dad said it was important incase I wanted to make my own spells, I can just translate on the top of my head. But, I also speak Bengali, purely because a big side of my Dad’s family - mainly extended - live in West Bengal. When we visit I need to be able to talk to them. So yeah, four languages.” James shrugged as if he wasn’t the most impressive thing Regulus has ever seen. “Though I only ever really use English, Hindi and Latin. Hindi, only ever with Dad and occasionally Mum because she’s learning. Latin when I’m…. don’t worry about that actually.” James laughed softly.
“That’s actually impressive.”
“Why are you so shocked that I’m competent?” James laughed.
“Why did you never tell me you were competent? Tell me something in Bengali.”
“আপনি আগ্রহী যখন আমি পছন্দ. যদিও আপনি কম হতবাক হন তবে এটি শীতল হবে।” James laughed at a joke Regulus will never know.
“What’d you call me?” Regulus interrogated.
“Why do you assume I called you something bad, I could be being nice.” James rolled his eyes.
“Fine, what did you say?” Regulus raised his eyebrow at him.
“I said, ‘You scream like a little kid on ten cups of butterbeer.’” James cackled at his own joke.
“You’re an idiot.” Regulus rolled his eyes, though laughing with James.
“Wanna keep skating or want me to walk you back to your dorm?” James questioned.
“I don’t think I ever want to skate again.” Regulus dead panned.
“Come on, keep trying.”
“Fine, but you’re never touching my waist again.” James’ cheeks reddened.
“I still think we looked cool.”
“Not cool enough for her.” Bringing this ‘her’ up was the only way Regulus could stop himself from thinking James’ smiles meant anything more than they actually did.
“We’ve talked about her a lot today, let’s not anymore.” James shuffled awkwardly.
Regulus’ thumping heart clearly needed another reminder about what this was, “Okay, fine, tell me about Lily then.”
“What? Why would we talk about Lily?” James looked genuinely confused.
“She’s your girl, isn’t she?” Regulus hated his own words.
“Well, I love her but she’s not my girl. One day.” James' smile lit up at the thought. Regulus wanted to burn Hogwarts to the ground.
“Okay, well, I genuinely do have to get back to my dorm now.” Regulus said, turning on his heels.
“I’ll walk you.” James stepped up next to Regulus
“I assure you, I can make the walk alone without being murdered.” James' smile wavered.
“I wasn’t thinking about that but now that you’ve bought it up, I have to come with you.” James insisted.
“James, I’d rather walk alone.”
“And I’d rather know you’re safe.”
“You’re being ridiculous, it’s right down the hall.”
“Then you can walk with me, right down the hall.”
“Fine.”
James fell in line next to Regulus, they didn’t talk through their walk, just a comfortable silence. James tapped his arm against Regulus’ sometimes, Regulus isn’t sure if it was on purpose or not. Incidental or not, it still made him feel all fluttery on the inside. So fluttery he had to stop himself from bringing up Lily just to torture himself. Or maybe that was self defence, either way it hurt.
When they got to the common room door James tapped his foot against Regulus’.
“Do you wanna try again tomorrow?” James smiled at him softly.
“Maybe not, I’m busy tomorrow.” Regulus lied.
“Day after tomorrow?”
“Busy.”
“After that?”
“Probably busy.”
“What day aren’t you busy?” James asked with a pleading tone.
“I’m always busy.”
“Reggie.”
“Why?”
“Because- your gi- that girl.” James rolled his eyes.
“She’s not as important as the things I have to do.” Seeing as ‘she’ kind of meant James, Regulus felt like throwing himself out the window just for saying anything like that.
“Well I think she is. We should practise again soon.” James insisted.
“Fine, I’ll tell you when I’m free.” Regulus was grossed out with how easily he bent. Regulus turned on his heels to walk into his common room, James grabbed his arm.
“Thought we’d established nice goodbyes by now.” James smiled at him softly.
“Fine, goodbye, James. I will see you later unfortunately.” Regulus walked through the door before he could hear James’ response. Though no amount of distance could block him from hearing James’ laugh.