Chapter 2
Year 3 (Regulus)
“Another day at this godforsaken excuse of a school. I might just kill myself if I have to stay here another day Pandora.” He says,
Lying on his bed tossing an apple up and down lazily.
“Don’t say that Regulus you know it’s not that bad, now hurry up, we have to get going to potions.” She hastily says she packs up her bag and snatches Regulus’ apple away mid-air.
“Fine but don’t expect me to pay attention in class and when Slughorn gives us a detention it’ll be your fault for working with me.” He gets up does a spell on his hair and proceeds to grab his things, probably missing half of what he needs and rushes out of the dorm with Pandora.
“I can’t believe they’re still making me stay in the girls dorms, I’m going to talk to Dumbledore about this. Mother will be enraged.”
Walburga Black was not the most supportive of Regulus’ transition but when Sirius ran away from home to stay with the Potters, she had no choice but to support Regulus as he was now the only heir to the noble house of Black. To Regulus, all of this was a bunch of hogwash but he had no choice but to comply. So he did, he got the good grades, he kept their reputation intact, he hung around the right people, and he submitted to the Dark Lord. Soon, he was going to get the dark mark. His mother did not like Sirius’ friends but they were a necessity for the death eaters, their strengths unmatched, but none of them really wanted to be there. Regulus knew that. Not like he cared, though, that would be stupid. And why would he care about James either way? Or Remus and Peter too.
He was pulled away from his thoughts when Slughorn entered the class.
“Good morning sir.” The class chorused as they stood.
“Yes yes, good morning to you all, now sit back down we have a lot to do today.”
As he kept droning on about some love potion, Regulus’ eyes kept shifting back to James Potter. He sat there in his green robes, laughing at something Remus just said, even though it was probably not a joke. He looked so…pretty? No, no. James Potter is definitely not pretty. He is an arrogant and childish boy that has never once given the time or day to Regulus, or so he thought.
“Regulus! He is calling you up!”
“What?” He said, annoyed, until he heard Slughorn’s booming voice.
“Come here boy. Take a whiff of this amortentia and tell me what you smell.”
Regulus walked up to the front of the room and picked up the small pink bottle.
“Fireplaces, quidditch equipment, pine trees, and… fireworks?” He said, not realizing who that could point to, until he halted to a stop in the mid walk back to his desk. His eyes widened, and he coughed a few times.
“Are you alright m’boy?” Slughorn asked.
“Don’t you mean girl!” A voice came from across the classroom.
Forgetting the Amortentia, and Slughorn’s question, he whipped his head around and looked at the person responsible for the foul remark.
Severus Snape.
Regulus was enraged. His vision went black as he charged towards Snape, blood rushing in his ears and the sounds of gasps muffled by the rage, Snape’s smirk had long faltered. “The fuck did you just say!” Regulus grabbed his collar and shoved him against the wall and proceeded to punch him in the face a few times until a pair of strong hands pulled him back. Through blurred vision he looked up to see James Potter behind him. He practically towered over Regulus, which just made him even more mad. Unfortunately, being five foot four wasn’t something a spell or surgery could fix. Regulus kept crying as Snape crawled back to his desk, where Mulciber stood.
“Alright Reg. That’s enough.” He heard James whisper as he bent down to his level. Slughorn suggested they took a step outside, so the pair started walking out until Snape spoke once more.
“Wow you really are a freak show, didn’t realize you were gay too!!” At that, Regulus stood a bit shocked. He hadn’t been deadnamed in a while, and no one had called him that ever. His mother had made sure everyone knew of him being a boy, another heir, and she took no opposition to this. At this, James turned and spoke.
“You better shut your fucking mouth before I take a crack at you. Bugger off.” James grabbed Regulus’ things and walked out
with him. Once they were outside, Regulus wiped his tears away and stood as tall as he could, broadening his shoulders. “You can leave now.” He said. But something in the strain of his voice was telling him to stay. So he did. They both sat against the cold brick wall in total silence. Every brush of their shoulders, every touch of their pinkies felt like fire. A small spark burning their skin through layers of cloth and leaving scars on their skin. Later, when Regulus returned to his dorm, he still felt the tinge of James’ touch as the hot water flowed over his body.
Regulus walked out of the shower, towel wrapped around his waist. His head was dropped down, and he was drying his wet hair with a black flannel. After approximately ten seconds of this, he looked up and saw James Fucking Potter sitting on Pandora’s bed, wide eyed and open mouthed. “What the fuck James! How’d you get in?! Where’s Pandora?”
“Oh um yea- I- your- Pandora let me in um you forgot your stuff at class I was just-“
“Give me that.” Regulus snidely replied, snatching his satchel from a stunned James.
“Yea. Sorry.” James then walked out of the dorm (presumably going to his own), head hung low. After a minute, Pandora popped her head in, long blonde hair flowing behind her. “How’d it go Reg!”
“Why did you let him in. I could’ve literally been bare ass naked.”
“Oh shut it. I’m sure he would’ve liked that possibility.” She said with a sly smirk.
“Stop. I do not like him and he doesn’t like me.”
“Oh really? Well then, we’d better get to bed.” She spoke in the midst of getting into her comforters and shutting the lamp.
“Goodnight Pandora.” Regulus sighed, glad she dropped the topic, and drifted off to sleep not too long after.