One
James woke up the next morning stuck to his bed.
He had dreamed he was climbing up the side of a building, crawling up it really. High above the city, he could see central park and the yellow taxi cabs like beetles on the street below him. Somehow, in that dream logic where you know things even if you can't see them, he knew that Sirius, Remus, and Peter were waiting at the top of the building for him and he had started climbing up the building again.
"James!" A voice yelled from below him and he whipped his head around. He just had the chance to glimpse a figure with dark hair before it all became blurry and he felt his glasses slipped off of his face and he reached out to grab them...
And he had snapped awake to the sound of his mother pounding on the door.
"James! Get up." She called. "You'll be late."
"I'm up mom." Jame yelled back, voice croaky. "I'm up..."
Out of habit, he immediately reached for his glasses on his nightstand and almost pulled his shoulder out of its socket. He tried to lift his hand again and it didn't budge. He tried the other hand, yanking and both of them. Fighting the covers back with his feet, he found that both his hand were stuck to the bed. He pulled himself up, scooting backwards so he was sitting up with his hands at his sides like a flat palmed Barbie doll.
And he panicked and who could really blame him, pulling at his hands so the fitted sheet came off the top corners of his bed and he realized they were really only stuck to the sheet. James stopped, breathing hard, and brought his hand, sheet and all closer to his face, squinting to try to see what could possibly be going on. He reached towards the nightstand and grabbed his glasses, feeling like a frog with webbed fingers and shoved them on his face.
Studying his hands, he couldn't see anything that could be sticking them to the sheet. Not even the residue of glue, not that he would know why there would be glue in his bed, but at least it would explain what was going on.
Taking a deep breath he decided to try one more time to get his hand unstuck. Instead of pulling away from the sheet, he closed his hand into a fist, balling the fabric up in his palm, and then opened it, picturing in a wishful way, that his hand would let go of the fabric this time.
And to his shock, it did.
He quickly tried his other hand, first pulling at the fabric again to see if his hand would come off (it didn't) and then trying his new "letting go" method.
Pausing for a second, he stared down at his hands, turned them over in front of him. No glue, no tape, nothing except the spiderbite from the night before which had turned red and almost blueish and looked infected.
James was a very straightforward person and always had been. He knew what he could and couldn't do and he always tried his best to do the best he could. He knew how to push himself to his limit and he knew when to give up. And he knew, for certain, when something was beyond his knowledge and comprehension. This, he decided, was one of those times. He didn't understand what was going on and there was no amount of thinking and wondering that would make him magically understand it. So he decided not to.
Just keep going he told himself.
Now with both his hands free, he untangled himself from the mess of sheets and blankets and quickly grabbed his phone to check the time. He was late, really late, like really really late. He scrambled to his dresser and pulled a wrinkled blue t-shirt from one of the drawers. He grabbed his discarded jeans from the floor and pulled them on. As he buttoned them, he saw the inflamed spider bite again. For some reason, James really didn't want anyone to ask about so he went back to the dresser and, from under some socks, found an old blue zip-up hoodie. It was August, probably too warm for any kind of jacket, but he didn't have time to care.
Grabbing his backpack he hurried down the hallway to the bathroom. Standing in front of the mirror, he looked like a mess. His hair was sticking up in every direction, his shirt was wrinkled and his glasses were sliding down his nose. Moving quickly, he grabbed the Sleekeazy's Hair gel off the counter. If James were a different type of person, he might have been a little bit embarrassed about using his father's product every day but he liked that his dad invented something. And it worked. He ran his fingers through his hair and, almost like magic, it flattened out.
Automatically, James grabbed his toothbrush and had already started to put the tooth paste on it when he remembered to check for robo spiders.
Just keep going.
So he brushed his teeth and straightened his glasses and when he looked in the mirror again, he looked like a person. And he ran out the door.
By the time he got to school, they had already started. Unfortunately for James, Hogwarts was not the type of school that someone can sneak into. A nice private school where he was practically guaranteed a good education that James would take advantage of is he wasn't so busy trying his very best to create the most harmless and extravagant pranks he and his friends could think of. It was an art really, not actually breaking any rules but still causing chaos.
"Mr. Potter, thank you for joining us." Professor McGonagall said, mouth pinched in annoyance, as James entered the classroom. "I'll be certain to mark it down on your attendance."
"Sorry professor." He said, pulling out a classic James Potter wicked grin. Predictably, McGonagall was immune to the James Potter charm and he hurried to his seat. Which was right beside the other person immune to the James Potter Charm. Lily Evans.
Out of everyone at Hogwarts, she was one of the only ones who deserved to be there. She attended the school on a full scholarship and earned every dollar of it by being one of the smartest people in any class no matter what. The only person who gave her any competition was Remus Lupin, who was also a scholarship student. But Remus was often too busy with other important things, such as being the mastermind behind elaborate pranks, to spend time studying petty things like calculus.
The Marauders, a name stolen from their favorite comic book, consisted of James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew. James had known Sirius for as long as he could remember. Orion Black, Sirius's father, was a big retail investor and they often ended up at the same events as the Potter family. Even if Fleamont and Orion didn't see eye to eye on much, Sirius and James were practically inseparable. They had met Peter soon after when he moved to the city from Canada. His mom was a software engineer who developed... well Peter wasn't really sure but it made their family important enough to run in the same circles ad the Potters and Blacks.
Remus Lupin was the real wild card of the group. From rural upstate New York, he was smarter than the other three combined and funny too. Sirius had brought him into the group during their first year at Hogwarts and, now almost four years later, they were toothrottingly cute couple. Sirius Black, the punk rock soccer playing rebel and Remus Lupin, the carmel haired boy genius. Sirius had a way of knowing things he had no business knowing and Remus looked so harmless that no one ever suspected he could be up to something. Even if the four of them were best friends, Peter had more friends outside of the group because of his speech and debate team. He struggled in most classes but excelled in English and he could always be counted on to know someone who could help them with whatever they needed to do. James knew he was well-liked by almost everyone and he was the one to come up with most of the pranks. He was no Remus but he did well enough in school and he was co-captain of the soccer team with Sirius.
A note landed squarely on James's desk.
~Prank. Binns. Peter has key. Cheers.~
Even though it had been passed over to him by Remus, he knew from the severe lack of detail and oddly pretty handwriting, Sirius had written it. Glancing over his shoulder, James caught Sirius's eye. He grinned at James and shot finger guns at him. Remus snorted with laughter glancing between them.
"Mr. Potter, you had better not be passing notes in my class." McGonagall said and James's head snapped back around.
"Oh no, of course not Professor" James said, quickly shoving the note into his pocket. Next to him, Lily Evans pursed her lips and shook her head. It was too bad she was such a goody two shoes because she would be a good asset to their prank team. She was wicked smart and pretty enough to get whatever she wanted from almost any boy in the school.
Even though he was late, McGonagall's class seemed to drag on. When they were finally freed, the class spilled out into the hallway.
"Why were you late?" Sirius said, shoving his shoulder into James's. "Everything alright?"
"Yeah, just forgot to set my alarm." James said, turning away from his friends and spinning the padlock on his locker to the first number in his combination. As a byproduct of being a very straightforward person, James was also an notoriously bad liar and he was certain if he looked at his friends, they would see it in his eyes. There was some irony in that considering how often he broke, or almost broke, school rules but as Remus always said "they only had to lie if they got caught" and they rarely did. Or at least rarely got in trouble. And they always let Sirius and Peter do the talking when they got caught.
He pulled on the lock expecting it to open. It didn't. Remus laughed and pushed James out of the way. He opened the locker and stepped back to let James put his backpack inside.
"Thanks." He said, pulling out his history book.
"You want me to come over and set your alarm for you too?" Remus joked and James offered a pitiful excuse for a laugh.
"You sure you're okay?" Sirius asked.
"Yep." James slammed the door to his locker shut and pushed up the lock. "Just nervous about the test later."
"Ah yes, about that. I don't think you should worry." Peter said and reached into his pocket. He dangled a key on a springly purple bracelet keychain in front of James's face.
"How did you get that?" James asked, glad for the change in topic.
"Just had to work my magic with the secretary." Peter smirked. "She loved the idea of me researching the history of data collection so much, she let me borrow the key to the history classroom."
"Peter you're a hero." Sirius smacked him on the back.
"Alright then, what's the plan?" James asked and the group huddled closer together.
***
There was something deeply embarrassing for Regulus about being in the presence of high school students. Not for him, but for them. He supposed that it really wasn't their fault they all acting like idiots, they didn't know any better, but for Regulus Black, watching them was like watching an episode of a TV show where the character makes choices so stupid that you're so embarrassed you have to turn it off. But it wasn't a TV show and he couldn't just turn it off. In fact he couldn't even leave the cafeteria because he didn't know his way around the school just yet. And he didn't know anyone he could ask for instructions either.
All day he had resorted to following around a group of friends in the same grade as him to find his classes. So far it had worked remarkably well, he just hoped they wouldn't notice him trailing behind them. He had even started to learn their names. Barty, Avery, and Evan had been together all day and were so far in every class that Regulus was in. There was a girl who had joined them for their math class that was also sitting with the group at one of the long lunch tables stretched across the crowded cafeteria.
Regulus took a spot on the other end of the table, intent on keeping an eye on the group. His brother would have told him to go over and ask to sit with them, or maybe Sirius would have just sat with them without even asking. Sirius would also laugh at him for following them around instead of just asking for directions to get to his next class. But Regulus didn't think it was that simple and so far, his method had worked.
Against his better judgment, Regulus scanned the tables around him to see if he could spot Sirius or, more likely, the much taller Remus. When he saw no sign of them, he turned back to the table in front of him just in time to watch Bellatrix settle onto the bench across from him.
"Hey Regulus." She said.
"Hello." He replied, annoyed. "How can I help you?"
"Don't be like that." She sniffed. "Sirius isn't here so you don't have to pretend you don't like me."
"I don't like you." Regulus replied shortly.
"Listen I'm sorry that you would rather side with your disappointment of a big brother than be nice to your own family but I can't help but notice that he isn't here now." She smiled, which Regulus knew was a sure sign that what she was going to say next was not going to be nice. "While you go out of your way to get a glance from him, he's completely abandoned you on your first day of school. Poor, sickly, little Reggie all alone in the big world."
"I've been managing fine by myself thank you."
"Well I'm glad to hear it. Let me know if you need anything." Bellatrix stood up, stretching her neck from side to side. "Family sticks together."
She waiting a moment for him to respond and when he didn't, she shook her head, curls bouncing, and stalked away from him. It was true that Bellatrix had never been Regulus's favorite cousin. In fact, he would pick either of her sisters over her any day. She was mean and had the tendency to get what she wanted even if she had to hurt someone else to get it. But she did have a point. Sirius was nowhere to be found, even if he had promised that morning he would check on Regulus at lunch. Sure, Regulus had rebuffed the offer but Regulus's feelings on something had never stopped Sirius before.
He shrugged it off, he could get to his classes without Sirius's help and it was good if Sirius had finally started to listen to him. Rummaging through his backpack, he pulled out his lunchbox and his phone. He quickly glanced down at it.
Blood glucose of 92, which was pretty good for before a meal. With the carbs from his sandwich and apple, he would probably need around 6 units of insulin. He programmed it into the app on his phone, feeling very grateful that someone had finally made an app that connected to the insulin pump.
It had been odd growing up having to carry around insulin pens and having to prick himself to test in blood sugar. He had been lucky enough not only to be born with Type 1 diabetes but had also picked up a myriad of other issues along with it. Of course, he didn't remember it a whole lot and most of the time his mother had done it for him. In between the times spent in hospitals, for both diabetes and non diabetes related reasons, Regulus couldn't remember a lot of his childhood. He could however, remember getting his first dexcom and being told he wouldn't have to prick his finger just to eat breakfast. For the first time in his life things had been kind of under his control.
Yet even after that, his mother had been institant he stay at home, always within her reach. From the outside, it looked like a compassionate move, something a worried mother might do to protect her sick child. But as far as regulus was concerned Walburga Black had ulterior motives. Well respected and insanely wealthy, the Black family had become obsessed with image over the years and by the time Regulus was born, well no one had been quite sure what to do with him. Sickly looking and a constant liability because of his health, his parents rarely took him anywhere outside the house. It took him years to really understand that they were hiding him but once he did, Regulus's whole world had changed. He had always been so convinced that he needed to be at home, that he wasn't strong enough to make it out in the real world like everyone else. And he thought that because that's what he parents had always told him. Once he understood what was really going on, Regulus had started to beg them to let him go real school. He knew he was smart enough for it and he knew other kids with diabetes did it all the time. There was no reason he couldn't... except that Orion and Walburga didn't want him to.
It was Sirius, really, who had finally changed their mind. Always a bit of a rebel, he was constantly pushing the boundaries that their parents set for them. A detention or a bad grade in algebra could be forgiven or fixed or if he really overstepped, he would get locked away for a few weeks. He had bad taste in friends. Orion didn't like Fleamont Potter, and that feeling extended to his son, James. So of course Sirius had become best friends with him. And the pair started their little group, collecting Peter Pettigrew along the way. But it really wasn't until Remus Lupin came into the picture that things started to go drastically downhill for Sirius Black's relationship with his parents.
Rebellion was one thing, being friends with the Potter boy was one thing, but to be gay was completely another. To add to the whole issue, Remus did not come from the type of family that the Black family normally associated with. Walburga and Orion had always assumed that Sirius would take over the family business and fortune but once the news that about Sirius and Remus had reached them, they seemed to refocus all their attention on Regulus and shun Sirius almost entirely. Which Sirius didn't mind at all and meant that Regulus needed to get a "proper education" and meet "good" people. So off Regulus went the Hogwarts Private School with instructions to be careful of the friends he made and to keep an eye of Sirius to make sure he didn't do anything to bring shame to the family name.
Being able to go to school didn't totally mean things were any easier now. Regulus still had to monitor his blood sugar consistently and he was acutely aware he was always on the edge of being feeling awful. And Sirius wasn't helping by driving this rift in his family that Regulus didn't know how to pick a side in. He certainly didn't care that Sirius was gay or what kind of boy he decided to date but he did care what his parents thought and he was all too pleased to be able to soak up a bit of attention and freedom. Plus, Sirius was always causing more problems that necessary and always had and there was no reason to assume he was going to stop anytime soon. He had had his chance to have everything in life and he continued to squander it, while Regulus had rotted away in the confines of his room and there was a spark of jealousy there that Regulus couldn't' seem to shake. So brotherly love aside, maybe this was all for the better.
So Regulus came to an internal compromise, with Walburga and Orion, he agreed to everything they asked of him, to anyone else he was pretty much had no opinion. Except with Narcissa and Bellatrix, who had managed to pick a fight with him and get him to admit that he didn't care that Sirius was gay. Which would probably be some kind of issue later.
But that was a later Regulus problem. For now, he just wanted to figure out how to get to his next class on time. Taking a bite of his sandwich, he pulled a folded paper from his pocket and smoothed it out. His first elective class, drawing and painting, was right after lunch period. Something in his gut told him that the group he'd been following around weren't the artsy type, which meant he'd have to figure out how to get there on his own.
The doors to the cafeteria banged open and Sirius ran full speed into the room. He was followed by a blonde haired boy Regulus recognized from pictures as Peter Pettigrew and Remus was following closely behind Peter.
The three boys ran into the room, every eye on them, and came to a sudden stop. Glancing around, Sirius caught Regulus's eyes and grinned at him before turning and dashing towards his brother.
"Reglus! Hide us." He said, panting, falling dramatically against the table. In return Regulus just stared at him.
"Wait!" Peter said, turning around. "Where's James?"
"Oh shit." Sirius muttered. "Remus?"
"I thought he was right behind me." The carmel hair boy shrugged. Regulus took this opportunity to study his face and he could see why Sirius liked him. He was a good looking guy, not that Regulus would tell Sirius so, and he had this glint in his eye that made Regulus curious about him.
"Under the table." Regulus sighed, pointing.
"You're a saint." Sirius grinned, if possible, even wider.
"Mom would kill me for this." Regulus grumbed.
"So don't tell her."
Sirius wedged himself easily under the table, Peter behind him.
"You couldn't have found somewhere a little bit bigger to hide?" Remus groaned, scrunching himself down in an awkward position to try to get under the table. "Ow." He smacked his head on one of the metal bars before managing to sit beside Sirius.
"Sorry not all of us are height challenged." Sirius said giving Remus a pat on the arm.
"You're mentally challenged." Remus replied.
"How has your day been, Reg?" Sirius asked, peering up at his brother from under the table like a sad puppy.
"Fine, thanks." Regulus was not in the mood to try to make small talk.
"Been finding all your classes okay?"
"Yep." Which wasn't totally a lie. He had... up until now, but Sirius didn't need to know that and Regulus had no intention of asking him for help.
"Sorry, Sirius who is this?" Peter asked as Regulus returned to his lunch. He didn't really want to eat it anymore but it didn't matter. He'd already dosed for it so unless he wanted problem later, he kind of had to.
"Right, Peter, Remus this is my brother, Regulus." Sirius said. "Reg, this is Peter and Remus."
"Yeah hi." Regulus tipped his head towards them.
"You have a brother?" Peter asked, surprised.
"Sometimes I swear you never listen to a thing I say." Sirius shook his head in mock disappointment.
"Sorry!" Peter didn't seem to catch in to the teasing.
"Sorry we had to meet this way." Remus said, ignoring the other two like it was something he was used to. "I'm Remus."
Not unlike an octopus reaching out from inside a cave,Remus offered a hang up for Regulus to shake.
"Good to meet you." Regulus said, finding that he meant it.
The cafeteria door slammed open again and Jame Potter came through the door. Like the other three he was running too but unlike them, he didn't seem to take in his surroundings and Regulus watched as James ran into the room and, almost comically, ran directly into a girl with a full lunch tray.
The pair crashed to the ground along with the lunch tray. Tater tots, chicken nuggets, ketchup, and peas soared through the air and landed all around them, including a big splat of ketchup right onto James's face.
The entire room had fallen silent and the door opened once again. A professor that Regulus had yet to meet stepped in and stomped towards James who was still sprawled out on the floor.
"Is that Binns?" Sirius asked in a whisper. "I can't see."
"Uhh, yes." Remus said, craning his neck. "Those are his shoes."
"Shit." Sirius said.
"Poor James." Peter mumbled.
"Quiet." Regulus said out of the corner of his mouth.
Across the tables, James was being marching out of the room by a very angry Professor Binns. The second the door clicked shut behind him, the cafeteria erupted into loud chatter and laughter.
"Get me out of here." Remus said, and climbed awkwardly out from under the table, Peter and Sirius right behind him. They pulled themselves into seats around Regulus.
Regulus started on his apple, biting into it and trying not to be too aware that he was being stared at by Peter and Remus.
"You know, I think I see the resemblance." Peter said, looking between Sirius and Regulus.
"Hopefully they don't give James detention." Sirius said, ignoring Peter.
"No I think you're right." Remus said to Peter. "It's in the nose."
"And the hair." Peter added.
"Maybe even the eyes a bit." Remus nodded.
"Looking into my brother's eyes, are you?" Sirius smiled at Remus, raising an eyebrow.
"Oh never." Remus replied, playing along.
"Good." Sirius folded Remus's hand into his own and Regulus was surprised. Sirius was always a little bit too brash fro his own good but it was kind of nice, in this way, to see him be so openly affectionate to Remus.
To his relief, the bell signaling the end of the lunch period saved Regulus from any more conversation. He took the last bite of his apple and started to shove his lunchbox back into his bag. The three other boys got up around him as every started to leave the cafeteria.
"Hey." Sirius grabbed Regulus's arm. "Don't tell mom and dad."
"Fine." Regulus had more important things to worry about than this. "But Sirius."
"Hmm?"
"Where's the art room?"
"How should I know? Do I look like someone who does art to you?" Sirius smirked at Regulus. "Good luck though!"
And then they were gone, leaving Regulus in the chaos of the slowly emptying lunchroom. He crumpled his schedule in his fist, annoyed. There was a small tap on his shoulder.
"Hey um, are you looking for the art room?" It was the girl, the one who had been with Evan and Avery and Barty earlier in their geometry class. Her face was framed with white blonde hair and her eyes were wide, like someone had just told her something surprising.
"Uh yeah." Regulus answered dumbly.
"Cool, I'm headed there also. Want to walk together?" And Regulus was flooded with gratitude.
"Yeah that would be great." Regulus pulled on his backpack. "Thanks."
"I'm Pandora." The girl said as Regulus fell into step beside her.
"I'm Regulus Black."
"I know." She smiled at him and he was taken aback. What did that mean? No one knew who he was. Pandora surged forward down the hallway, seemingly unaware of how weirded out he was "Come on." She called back to him. "Or we'll be late."
And Regulus, having nothing else to do, followed.