Chapter 3
Surprisingly enough Regulus slept through the entire night, only waking up when the warm weight beside him moved rather quickly sometime earlier than the alarm but late enough for the sun to light the room. Absently Regulus reached out a hand, putting just enough pressure on the sweater clad man's chest to get him to lay back down. "You okay?"
"Yeah..." the word was whispered and Regulus could feel Jem's heart racing under his hand, he could also feel as it slowed. "Yeah just...forgot where I was for a second."
"What time is it?"
"7:56."
Regulus hummed, "Wanna go get tea?" The great hall would be open in 4 minutes, swarmed by students within 20.
There was a pause like the younger Potter brother was considering it, "Yeah...yeah okay." Neither got up for a few minutes before Jem asked a fairly odd question, "How do you feel about dogs?"
"Seem cuddly." The half asleep wizard replied.
"I don't..." Regulus opened his eyes, attention now on the green eyed man struggling to find the words he wanted, "Would you mind if I just hung around you today?"
"Be my guest. No promises I'll be doing anything interesting." Jem huffed out a laugh. "What's with the dog question?"
"Later." He answered, then turned on his side to look at Regulus, "Tea?" A nod and some fumbling later they were heading towards the great hall. Good news about breakfast as long as you were wearing clothes it didn't matter what they were.
They got their cups of tea and walked towards Evan and Barty when they waved for them to. And Regulus more curious then anything sat his hand on the small of Jem's back not something anyone would notice but he grinned at the way Jem inhaled sharply when he increased the pressure, the inhale that turned into a low rumble of contentment before he purposely got out of rang of Regulus and his hands. "Dog huh?"
"You're an ass." He growled out darting out of reach when Regulus went to do it again, promptly hiding behind Barty who made a show of grabbing his wand as if ready to protect the Gryffindor behind him. "He's being mean," Jem mumbled somehow managing to keep Barty in between them.
"Oh no," Barty said playful. "And what is the Slytherin Prefect doing?"
Jem didn't answer at first and seemed to settle with just throwing the cubes of sugar at Regulus from afar. "He's being an ass," he grumbled.
"How?" Regulus grinned somehow knowing Jem wouldn't say.
"So..." Jem glanced up from where Evan and him were sharing yet another bar of chocolate, "does the dog also have a tongue piercing?" Jem's lips curled up in a mock snarl showing off sharp canines before his attention was once again drawn away. "I'm not sure how I should take that."
"How about keep talking and I'll let you personally find out."
"Is that a threat or a fact?"
"A promise." The word rolled off his tongue with a lethal kind of venom and the two boys smiled slightly at the display between their Prefect and hopefully soon to be friend.
Jem jumped slightly as loud laughter filled the hall before there was no Jem at the table, Evan and Barty looked around as if they'd find him but Regulus glanced under the table at the golden retriever who sat between his unlaced boots. He raised a curious eyebrow, Can't deal with Sirius today. Was the familiar voice in his head before the dog jumped up onto the bench and laid down. Regulus raised his arm and without much more thought he felt the steady weight of its head settle on his thigh.
He was still fairly small, maybe purposely puppy sized, ears just slightly too big for his face, paws too big for his body, small enough to lay comfortably on the bench tail hanging off. Hesitantly he lowered his hand, saw those green eyes flash with a few emotions before Regulus caught sight of his tail wagging a few times as a silent go ahead.
The fur was soft and long under his fingers, white and soft tones of gold making his fingers disappear as he ran his fingers down the dog's back, stopping just about midway and adding more pressure, the same rumbling sound, just a different pitch before the dog shoved his nose into Regulus's thigh and settled back down, a nonverbal knock it off. Those green eyes remained the same but they watched the room with a careful kind of alertness.
The room filled in and Regulus half expected Jem to find a way out but he just stayed put, content to let Regulus play with his fur, Sirius and his group of friends failed to have even a slightly quiet conversation. Though Lupin did pass the Slytherin table and ran his fingertips over one of Jem's ears a look of knowing in his eyes as he shook his head with a smile.
When breakfast was over it happened between steps, the puppy became a full grown dog shaking out his fur and padding along beside Regulus, uniforms then class.