Chapter 2
James wakes up in a sweat, his breath caught in his throat as he jolts up from the bed. He felt as if he was encased in fire, a pool of heat still puddling in his stomach as he kicks off the blankets with a harsh inhale.
“Alright there, prongs? Have a nightmare, did you? You were twisting all about and we were trying to decide if we should wake you or not, but we knew you were tired after last night so Pads and Moony went down to breakfast and I stayed to keep you company,” he hears someone state, and he glances up at Peter, who was laying on his own bed flipping through a herbology book.
He flushes as he thinks of the dreams he’d awoken from, shaking his head as he jumps off his bed and darts towards the bathroom.
“Yeah, a nightmare. One sec, gotta take a piss,” he mumbles, still groggy from his sleep and warm from his dream.
He shuts the door with a snap and turns the lock, leaning against the door for a moment as he tries and steadies his breathing. After a moment, he steps away from the door and leans against the sink, turning on the faucet.
He glances up towards the mirror, taking in the flush of pink on his dark skin, and he rubs at his eyes. When he closed them, all he could see was him, his mop of dark curls and parted lips, the way his eyes fluttered shut, or how he called out James's name.
He groans, dropping his head down onto the sink as he opens his eyes, scrubbing a hand down his face.
He could not believe he had just had that sort of dream, especially not about Regulus Black of all people.
He turns the faucet on, splashing it on his face as he continues to try his hardest to not think of the dreams he had the night before (he was failing) and instead focused on everything he had to do today. Quidditch tryouts would be starting soon, and of course that meant he’d have to be picking who was on the team (that always stressed him out, he hated the disappointed and sad looks he got when he informed people they wouldn’t be making the team.) He also had his first prefect rounds tonight, which they had yet to inform him who he’d be doing it with, so of course that meant he would be out late tonight. Finally, he had the tutoring session with Regulus.
Regulus Black.
He rubs his forehead, turning off the water as he lets out a sigh and heads towards his room. He needed to get ready for his classes.
“God, I don’t want to do it today,” Barty groans, flopping onto Regulus’ bed.
“Do what?” Regulus murmurs back, pulling on his robe and grabbing his tie.
“Anything! Evannnn,” he whines, and Evan rolls his eyes, raising his eyebrows.
“What am I supposed to do about that?” He snaps, and Barty pouts, pulling a pillow over his head. Sighing, Evan flops onto the bed next to him, smacking an arm over Barty’s face.
Regulus tunes out their bickering, tying his tie and glancing up at himself in the mirror.
His eyes dart down to his lips, flushing as he grits his teeth together and blocks out the memories rushing back into his head.
James.
James fucking potter.
Why would he dream about him, of everyone?
Why that kind of dream? Why couldn’t it have been anyone else? Or, better yet, why couldn’t he have had a dream where he was, like, stabbing him or something. That would have been a good dream.
Really, the dream he had last night was more of a nightmare. It wasn’t good at all.
That’s what he told himself while he scrubbed a hand over his lips, pursing them in aggravation.
The worst part? Last night was one of the best nights of sleep he’s gotten in a while, even after waking up in a start, covered in sweat.
He groans, rubbing his face, and Evan and Barty stop arguing for a moment to glance at him. Barty grins, wriggling his eyebrows after a moment of studying Regulus.
“Excited for your tutoring session, it seems,” He teases, and Regulus snaps him a glare, sneering.
“Shut it, crouch.” He snarks, and Barty laughs, his shoulders shaking.
“Grumpy,” he mocks.
Regulus puts a hand on his forehead, and then covers his face, groaning again.
“I have so much to do today. I have tryouts for quidditch, which I always have to be excessive about because Mulciber hates me, and then I have the prefect duties, still haven’t gotten who I’m doing my rounds with, might I remind you, and finally I also have that stupid tutoring thing, with potter,” he spits, and Evan gives him a sympathetic smile.
“You also got bumped up into seventh year potions! That’s exciting. Merlin, my little boy’s growing up,” Barty leaps up, wrapping his arms around Regulus, who grumbles under his breath as he smiles lightly.
He was quite pleased with being bumped up. He may be failing in everything else (that did not just include his classes) but at least he always had potions. He’s excelled in that ever since first year, because to entertain himself at home he’d sneak into his fathers study to read his books, and the ones he could reach were mostly potion books.
“Yeah, that’s one good thing, I guess,” he mutters, and Barty grins, pressing a dramatic kiss to his cheek as Regulus groans.
“Hey, I want in on this!” Evan bounds towards them, tackling them both to the ground.
James watches as the people trying out for keepers tossed the ball between each of the teams they had. The Beaters were currently trying their hardest to stop them from getting to the goals, and they seemed to be forgetting which teams they were on (even while wearing jerseys.)
He holds back a grimace as two of the people trying out for seeker smack directly into each other, steadying themselves on one another as the snitch hovers by them for a moment before zooming off again.
He does grimace when one of the beaters hits the bludger directly at his teammate, making him go crashing to the ground (which he had been close to anyways, poor dude seemed to have a fear of heights with how green he was.)
He waves his hands, calling everyone down as he walks to the middle of the field. Everyone joins him after a moment, and the dude who had gotten hit with a bludger stumbles towards him, clutching his stomach.
“Alright, everyone. I think I’ve mainly got my people, if you two could go back up, and you, so I could see how you work together, and you for seeker-”
“I don’t think so, Potter, it’s time for our tryouts now. You’ve already gotten your turn on the field,” comes a snotty voice, and he whirls around to face Mulciber, who was sneering at him with a smug face.
He glances at his watch, noticing that their time was, in fact, up, and lets out a small sigh, rubbing a hand down his face. It didn’t usually take this long, not for the old captains. He was already messing up, and it’s barely been a month.
“Alright guys, change of plans, I’ll make my decision tonight and tell you guys in the morning. For now, head back and get ready for your next classes,” he announces, and everyone nods, heading off.
James heads to the stands, where his friends were waiting, smiling at him.
“You did good, Prongs!” Peter cheers, clapping him on the back, and James’ shoulders sag lightly.
“I wasn’t finished, I wanted them to do one more game, I didn’t realize how much time had passed- god I’m such a-”
“Calm down, James, it’s not that big of a deal. You were great out there, everyone was listening, there were hardly any mistakes. It’s not your fault all the rookie flyers decided to come out of hiding the year you become captain, you can hardly blame yourself for their skills,” Remus says sympathetically, and he plops onto the bleachers, glancing down at the people trying out for slytherin.
It was mostly boys who were trying out, and he noticed (quite quickly though he would deny it with his life) that Regulus was among the crowd, leaning on his broom and looking bored. He looked- well, he looked good. Even from afar he noticed he looked much more lively than the night before, the eye bags under his eyes not as prominent.
He can feel his face flush as pictures of his dream flash in his head, and he sinks lower in the seat as his friends gather their stuff around him.
“Coming, Prongs?” Sirius asks, and he shakes his head, grinning up at him.
“Thought I’d get a look at the competition, you know, see what we’re up against? I’ll meet you in divination.”
Sirius grins, giving him a thumbs up as he follows behind Peter and Remus. James gets into a more comfortable position, eyes following the (neat) black mop of curls for a moment before he blinks and settles his gaze on Mulciber, who was yelling at everyone and pointing to positions.
Regulus goes to stand by two other boys, who sink into themselves when he settles them with a glare, and James lets out a snort.
Only a few more minutes go by, with Mulciber throwing jerseys at everyone, and then they’re mounting brooms and taking off.
Everyone speeds off to do something, the seekers zooming around the field as they look for the snitch.
Except Regulus, who lazily runs circles along the field looking bored. He passes James, raising his eyebrows and narrowing his eyes as he pauses for a moment.
“Spying on us, Potter?”
“Admiring the view, more like it.” He didn’t know why he said it, he really didn’t, but he relinquishes in the color that fills Regulus’ neck, biting back a smile.
“Don’t get too comfortable,” he replies, and James tilts his head to the side, the smile finding its way onto his face anyways as he raises his eyebrows.
Regulus zooms off, muttering under his breath, and he continues circling around the field, purposely avoiding James now.
After about twenty minutes, he’s starting to get bored with watching the keepers pass the ball back and forth, and the beaters hit unreasonably hard at the bludger, and is close to getting up and leaving when Regulus takes off, so quick he’s almost a blur.
The other seekers trying out obviously notice this, and they take off after him, gaining close behind him. From here, it almost looked like he let them catch up, and he knits his eyebrows together, leaning forward as he watches.
Regulus makes a sudden nose dive, and the other seekers hesitantly follow after him, on either side.
They look around, obviously looking for the snitch, which James had yet to catch sight of either. He wonders if Regulus is really that much better that he can see it before anyone else.
He watches as they slowly gain speed, getting closer and closer to the ground, and his fingers clench on the bench as he leans farther forward, his breath catching in his throat.
At the last moment, Regulus pulls up, and James eyes widen as he lets out an amazed laugh, realizing that Regulus had feinted them. It had been a ploy the entire time, and both other seekers slam into the ground, though one takes much worse damage as the other had tried to pull up at the last second while he took the ground head on.
Regulus grins, an actual grin, his hair tousled, and his eyes are wide and excited. He glances at James, almost as if to check if he's watching, and James can see the flush from air and adrenaline on his cheeks.
James feels himself grin along with him, holding back the urge to cheer him on.
Regulus eyes dart away from James, and once again he takes off. This time, James can see the flutter of gold, which was heading straight for him.
He should probably duck, or move out the way, but he’s almost frozen as he watches Regulus close in on him, a strange flutter as fast as the wings of the snitch in his chest.
“Move!” he snaps, and James snaps out of it, ducking down into the bench. Regulus zooms over him, and there's a slight thud and a curse as James straightens up, head swiveling towards where Regulus went.
“Reg? You good?” He asks nervously, and Regulus pops up, another grin on his face, this time directed straight towards James, and he holds up his closed fist, two gold wings fluttering from between his knuckles.
“Never better, potter.” He replies, raising an eyebrow as he grabs his broom and mounts again. He spares him one more glance, and James’ stomach twists (but somehow in a nice way) as Regulus looks him up and down before taking off back to the field, where people had gathered to meet him.
James slowly collects his things, heading down the bleachers as the slytherins make their way inside.
He hoped whatever was going on inside his stomach would not be a recurring thing whenever he was around the young black brother.
Regulus taps his foot on the ground, hands nervously fiddling with his transfiguration book. Did he get stood up? With potter of all people?
He grits his teeth, standing up and collecting his stuff. He makes his way to the door, ignoring the ball of hurt in his chest because he was not hurt by potter standing him up. It’s not like this was a date, or something, it was just tutoring, and he really didn’t care at all.
That’s what he told himself, at least.
When he opens the door, he slams into a solid form, all his supplies that he didn’t bother putting into his backpack tumbling onto the floor. Two warm hands steady him on his waist, and his face snaps up, meeting James’, who was looking back at him with wide eyes.
“Going somewhere?” He asks, hands not leaving his waist. Regulus blinks, hoping his face wasn’t as red as it felt, and shoves him away, clearing his throat.
“Not my fault you’re,” he turns towards the clock, narrowing his eyes, “twelve minutes late.” He snaps back, and James gives him a sheepish smile, straightening the stuff he was holding so that he could bend down and pick up Regulus’ things as well. Once he’s collected everything, he shuffles to the desk, and Regulus trails behind, keeping his eyes on the ground.
“Sorry, I’ve had a lot to do today, with the quidditch tryouts, and a essay due that I completely forgot about, plus my prefect rounds later, I lost track of time doing Astronomy homework by the way, so sorry-”
“I don't care about your excuses, Potter.” Regulus snarks back, interrupting his sentence, and James slumps down slightly, letting out a sad sigh that almost makes Regulus feel bad.
Almost.
Instead, he clears his throat, pulling back his transfiguration book. “Might as well get started.” James nods, looking nervous again as he pulls out his own book, flipping to a certain page.
It’s mostly quiet, other for when James speaks up to help Regulus with his stance or incantations. During the silence, James would tap his foot, or fingers, or make noises under his breath, and Regulus lets out an annoyed huff, glaring at James over the book.
“How am I supposed to learn if you won’t shut up?” He snaps, and James sinks into his chair.
“Sorry, sorry, I don’t do good with silence. And sitting still.”
“Yes, I can tell,” Regulus replies dryly, giving him a deadpanned look, and James gives him a sheepish look as they sink back into their routine.
After a few more minutes, James can’t help it. “So, what’s your soulmark about?” He didn’t know why he asked that, of all things, but he can’t help but wonder. It’s not usually a topic he enjoys talking about, but he couldn’t help but be curious with Regulus. He wondered what type of soulmate Regulus would have, and what type of soulmark.
Usually soulmarks showed a part of your soulmate, like Sirius soul was a crescent moon, so his soulmate most likely enjoyed Astronomy. Same with Remus’, whos was just a single star. Peters was a feather, and it crossed between his shoulder blades.
Regulus’ face goes passively blank, and James blink, wondering if he said something wrong. He supposed it may be a personal thing, and Regulus hardly told James things that weren’t personal (like one time James asked what his favorite color was, and Regulus sweetly replied with a ‘fuck off and help me with this spell, Potter.’)
“What kind of question is that?” He snaps, and James’ eyes widen slightly, a flush coating his dark skin.
“Sorry, I was just trying to make conversation,” he mutters back, fiddling with his wand as he sighs.
Silence encases them once again, before Regulus lets out a dramatic sigh and rubs his head.
“I don’t have one.”
“What?” Regulus gives him a look, and it hits James as he sits up straight in his chair, an astounded look on his face.
“What?! You don’t have a soulmark?” Regulus’ face flushes, and he glares at James, looking embarrassed.
“Shut up,” James blinks, and then quickly shakes his head as he realizes Regulus probably took it the wrong way.
“No, no, I didn’t mean it like that at all! I mean- I don’t have a soulmark either, that’s why I was surprised. That’s all,” he laughs nervously, and Regulus looks up at him through his eyelashes.
“Whatever, I don’t care,” he says after a pause, but his face flushes slightly darker, and James grins slightly.
They work the rest of the time in silence, but it’s no longer a bad silence.