Chapter 5
Two days later
James
James woke up with a huge headache and the sudden urge to vomit… oh no. He shot up from the couch in the common room he was sleeping on and ran to the bathroom. After emptying his guts out, he finally remembered last night’s events, and that made him sick all over again.
The previous night
8:00 pm
“Oh come on Moons! Just a bit of firewhiskey, I wanna take the edge off tonight. I never usually drink.”
“Sorry mate, I know but I can’t. S’not good to drink right after getting the mark.” Remus was quick to reply, still knee deep in whatever fantastical story he was reading.
“Bloody hell. Fine.” James pulled out his invisibility cloak and stalked off to the kitchens. He had known they kept alcohol there for teacher parties for a while now, but he never really went to get it, but he really only wanted one drink… or two. He had been riddled with anxiety since he got the mark, and he wanted a break, alright. So he felt alcohol was the answer as of now. As soon as he reached the kitchen, he started scanning the room for a bottle. Aside from a few house elves cleaning up, presumably after dinner, there was little to no activity going on. So when he tiptoed over to the rack and whispered a quick “alohamora,” no one suspected anything. Once he had secured the bottle, he sneaked out and went off to the quidditch field, taking swigs along the way. The fiery liquid burnt his tongue and throat on the way down. When he reached the field he was already a little tipsy. The alcohol running through his veins warmed him, and he barely noticed the chilly wind whipping around his frame till his glasses were taken away by the fierce air. He suddenly turned around and found them in a nearby bush with a bit of struggle, and placed them back on his face. Hints of red streaked his tan cheeks as he started to hum. Continuing to sing and drink, he took a seat in the middle of the field. The words mushed into an unintelligible slur as the bottle depleted. Once he had drunk all of the burning liquid, he felt himself slowly get sleepier, he thumped back onto the ground, and fell asleep with the image of the starry sky in his mind.
Two A.M.
“Potter. Potter. Potter wake up! I swear if you’re dead. Potter! Fuck. For fucks sake! Please, James!”
“Wah- what. Where am I, who- what? Oh. oh.” Being frantically awoken, James went from being puzzled to suddenly being hyper aware of the grass poking through his thin shirt, the chattering of his teeth, and a flushed Regulus with his hands on James’ shoulders and his face less than five inches away from Regulus.
“Reggie.” He breathed out.
“You’re so pretty. I should’ve said that before. Oh gods, you are so beautiful, you really are the prettiest star.” James was wide eyed and still inebriated. If it was even possible, Regulus’ face got much redder and closer to James’, and he was not so quick to reply.
“Rest your space face close to mine, love.”
“Shut up. You’re drunk. I wouldn’t be helping you if I didn’t think you were dead. Now get up and go back before Ms. Norris finds you.” He spoke at the speed of light, and then started walking away.
“Wait!” James yelled a bit too loud as he sat up on his elbows.
“Is that- is that Sirius’ shirt?” Regulus was wearing a grey shirt that looked around three sizes too big, reaching his mid thigh and covering his shorts. The shirt also had a large graphic that read “DAVID BOWIE” in big white letters. He didn’t say a word, just opened his mouth for a second in shock, and then he walked just a bit faster than normal, disappearing into the shadows of the castle. And all James did was let out a long groan and got up to head back to his dorm. He knew he fucked up, enough to get sober again. And he had to fix it, after all, they would be spending plenty of time together very soon.
The Previous Day
“Potter! Potter! Look at this fucking letter.” Regulus hissed at him. Leaning over James’ frame at the Slytherin table in the great hall. At first, James could barely process what Regulus was trying to sya. Fuck, he was pressed so close to James. He could feel the younger boy’s warm breath on his neck, and his curls brushing against his ear. The front of Regulus’ body was pinned so close to his back that if you removed the two layers of clothing they’d be skin to skin. The way his arms brushed against James’, the way-
“Potter! Are you alive?” He clicked back into reality as Regulus snapped his finger in front of james’ eyes, and the rustling of paper. He looked down through his glasses and saw a piece of parchment.
Regulus and James. You two must complete a task. Since you are newly instated, we have made it relatively easy. But, it will take time. You need to get us a complete map of the Ministry of Magic. We will tell you what it is for later. This is a criminal world. You are part of it.
Toujours pur
“Fuck. How’re we gonna get that!”
“We’ll have to leave every weekend and get it piece by piece. You better not screw this up Potter.”
“Alright, alright. No need to get sassy on me.” A quick roll of the eyes he smirked, looking at Regulus. But that smirk was quickly wiped off his face when *smack!* A sharp smack across his right cheek. Cold rings and even colder hands. “What the fuck Reg!” It didn’t even hurt that bad, he was just playing him on. “Oh get over it. You needed it.” Now Regulus was rolling his eyes and smirking, and James was left, struck with awe, and a hand holding his cheek, feeling the lingering touch of the younger boy.
5:00 pm
Slytherin dorms.
No particular person
Sirius and Remus very obviously we’re infatuated with each other. They both knew it, and Sirius had been flirting with Remus for far too long. But they never really made it official. Fleeting touches, a few kisses during spin the bottle. That was all, but today. Today, Remus had seen something a bit… interesting. He was scrolling through twitter when he saw a tweet that might’ve made him spit out his tea.
“You alright moons?” Sirius patted his back a few times.
With flushed cheeks, Remus looked up from his spot on the bed. “Sirius.”
“What! Why are you being weird.”
“You have a phone?”
“Well yea, but I’ve never told anyone or I’d be dead if my mum finds out. Not like any of the pureblood society knows what a phone is, ancient lot.” Sirius was nonchalant as ever.
“Well. Erm.” He coughed a bit and started to speak again.
“I want Remus Lupin to break my back like my mum broke my bones. The account says Siriuslysirius.” Remus was having a hard time hiding his smirk as he watched Sirius’ eyes go wide.
“ I- No- that- no- I-” He was barely able to form sentences and his cheeks were positively red from embarrassment. At this point Remus was full on cackling and he had taken his jumper off due to the heat blooming in his body from the loud laughter. Sirius was frozen to his spot beside Remus’ bed. Once Remus had calmed down a bit he saw Sirius and noticed that he had gotten even redder, the blush spreading from the tips of his ears to his shoulders. Sirius gulped quickly, his eyes fixated to Remus’ torso. At first he was confused as to what Remus was looking at until he looked down at himself. Oh shit. Remus was not wearing a shirt. Almost no one had seen him shirtless since Remus was highly insecure of his scars, but he did have some impressive muscle. He looked back up at Sirius, mouth slightly agape.
“Shit, Sirius, I’m sorry, did I make you uncomfor-”
Remus was quickly silenced when Sirius whimpered. He fucking whimpered. At this point, Remus had stood up and was around a meter away from Sirius. Hesitantly, he took a step toward the dark haired boy. They stood there for a minute, eyes flitting from lips to eyes and hands itching to touch. Time seemed to slow down as Remus took another step forward, and crashed his lips into Sirius’. At first, Sirius was still, but then he let out a groan against Remus’ lips and was quick to place his hands on Remus hips and pushed him onto the bed, following suit and kissing him fervently. Remus quickly rolled them both over and balanced on one arm, using the other to tuck Sirius’ hair behind his ear. They snogged for around a minute longer and then Remus let out a sigh and fell on his back beside Sirius. They both turned to look at each other, stupid grins plastered on their faces.
“You’ve zero idea how long I’ve been wanting to do that sober.” Remus breathed out.
“Oh really?” Sirius had that signature Sirius Black smirk as he looked at Remus with fondness in his eyes.
“Well. We should probably go to dinner. They’ll be waiting for us.” He drew out the s and spoke in an airy voice. Sirius was so in love.
At dinner
“Well well well. Guess who decided to join us, Marls?”
“Oh I dunno James? Could it be that girl over there?”
“Oh yea I definitely think so, what’s her name? Janet maybe? I bet it could never be the two dimwits of the dungeon though.”
“Oh no never.” Marlene drawled.
“Alright, that’s enough James. Utter fucing twat. Sit down Remus I just have to ask Reggie something.”
He whispered the last part into Remus’ ear, brushing his lips against his skin as goosebumps bloomed across Remus’ neck.
Sirius walked over to the other end of the table, where Regulus was sitting having a casual conversation with Barty and pushing around food on his plate with a silver fork. He never did like eating in front of others. He took a seat beside Regulus, put a piece of turkey on his plate, and started eating. He could feel Regulus’ gaze boring into the back of his neck, but he kept going with vigor.
“What do you want, Sirius.” Regulus spoke through his teeth.
“Oh just wanted to ask when you were going to tell me about the secret fucking mission you were going on with my best friend.” His speech was rushed and angry, laced with annoyance.
“Why is it any of your business? It seems like you don’t want anything to do with me these days.” That last part stung for Sirius. He cared for his brother, he just couldn't be part of that household anymore.
“Regulus, you know I care and want to know about what goes on in your life.” Now he was turned, fully facing Regulus, the food forgotten about for both brothers.
“I want to be your brother Reg. Just because I left our parents doesn’t mean that I left you. Please. We’ll be working together soon anyway.” Sirius was desperate for a relationship with the younger boy, but this was a two way street.
“I said no. Mother doesn’t care that you’re part of the death eaters. I am not permitted to talk to you. Now go.”
“Fuck that old hag! Come on Reg, please. Meet me at the astronomy tower today at 9:00. I’ll know your final decision then.” He waited for a response, but when he didn’t get one, he simply sighed and walked back to his spot beside Remus.
“You alright, love?” Remus whispered
“M’okay. And I could get used to that, love.”