Chapter 5
Sirius was forced to have tea with Walburga and two other ladies. Well Sirius could have said 'no' but he needed to distract his mother.
She wasn't supposed to know that Regulus was talking to James at that moment.
"But the purpose of the university is to find a suitable partner," said Walburga. "Regulus has already done that."
The three women chatted, and Sirius hoped that would be over soon and decided to tend to the cookies that were in a bowl on the table.
"And what about you?" one of the ladies asked Sirius. "Surely some young lady or gentleman has gotten your interest."
The young man finished chewing one of the cookies and swallowed it. Then he wanted to say something, but the words got stuck in his throat.
Remus Lupin entered the room.
The brown-haired young man noticed Sirius and smiled at him before Remus looked away again.
Remus went straight to the captain, who was sitting at a table next to the group, talking to Mr. Ismay.
Remus handed the captain a note. Captain Smith read the message and nodded to the young officer, before he said something Sirius could not understand.
Sirius watched as Remus walked away from the table and headed back towards the door. The older Black brother excused himself and stood up.
"Remus, please wait!"
Much to Sirius surprise, Remus stopped and turned around.
"Mr. Black," he greeted him. "What a pleasant surprise."
"Please call me Sirius."
"Why do you want to speak to me?" Remus asked. "I sadly have somewhere to be right now."
That was a lie. Remus just wanted to make himself more interesting– not that that was nesseary.
The black-haired young man did not notice, however. He searched for an answer as to why he wanted to speak to Remus.
"I– I thought we could continue our conversation from the other day."
Remus raised an eyebrow and for a moment Sirius thought he had done something wrong. But then the young officer leaned against the railing and smiled at him.
"What did we talk about again?"
The two young men talked for a while and found out that they were both in their 20s.
To be honest, Remus talked most of the time. Sirius just listened to him, and he noticed that the other man had a beautiful voice and he liked hearing it.
Remus said that since Marlene's parents died, he took care of her.
Sirius found this admirable. Not every man at their age would agree to take care of a child. Unfortunately, most of the time it was the opposite.
He learned that Remus always wanted to be an officer, like his father. Remus only spoke good things about his father, apparently, they were very close.
Sirius couldn't understand that. He never wanted to be like his father. Orion was a bad man, like Walburga was a bad woman. In fact, they were bad people as much as they were bad parents.
The older Black brother had always wished for loving parents. As he and Regulus grew older over time, he realized that wasn't going to happen.
"Sirius."
The young man turned and saw his mother, the two ladies from tea and Molly.
"I hope I was of some help, Mr. Black," Remus addressed him.
"Er– Yes, of course. Thank you, Mr. Lupin."
Remus excused himself and made his way to the ship's bridge.
"What were you talking about?" Walburga inquired when Remus was out of earshot.
"I had a question about the ship and Mr. Lupin was kind enough to answer it. It had something to do with technology."
Walburga knew her son well enough to know that it wasn't about technology.
"Son, I didn't know you were interested in this," she said, raising an eyebrow.
"Neither do I," Sirius murmured. "But perhaps you should speak to Regulus. He found the Propellers very interesting."
"What?"
"Nothing mother."
Walburga left it at that, and the women plus Sirius continued their way across the deck.
"He's a handsome young man, isn't he? Lupin?" Molly said to Sirius as the other three ladies resumed their conversation.
"Really? Do you think so?"
"Oh dear. Not just me."
~~~~
"After that, I worked on a squid boat in Monterey then Lily and I went to Los Angeles to the Santa Monica pier, and I did portraits for 10 cents each."
Regulus and James were still talking to each other. In the meantime, hours had passed, and the evening sun bathed everything in a golden light.
"Why can't I be like you, James?" Regulus wanted to know. "Just head out for the horizon whenever I feel like it."
Regulus signed and looked into the horizon. James did not know how to answer this rhetorical question. Regulus could do whatever he wanted, but something was stopping him from doing it.
"Say we'll go there sometime, to that pier only if we just talk about it", Regulus continued.
"No, we'll do it," James said. "We'll drink cheap beer. Ride on the roller coaster till we throw up. We'll ride horses on the beach, in the surf."
Regulus liked the thought. Spending the day with James and having fun. Forget everything else for a little while until reality caught up with them again.
"And I can show you my favorite places. There's this guy, he cooks the best food you've ever eaten."
"You would show me your favorite places?"
Regulus turned his head to James who had been looking at the young man the whole time. The sun reflected off James' glasses and his eyes were brighter than usual from the light.
"Mother," Regulus said, suddenly looking intimidated.
"May I introduce James Potter?"
Walburga kept a straight face and gave James a cold look.
"Charmed, I'm sure."
The young man tried not to let his discomfort show and smiled at the ladies and Regulus' brother.
"Mr. Potter, nice to see you again," Sirius said, offering James his hand.
The others were gracious and curious about the man who'd saved Regulus life. But his mother looked at him like an insect. A dangerous insect which must be squashed quickly.
"Sounds like you're a good man to have around in a sticky spot," said Molly.
The conversation was cut off when someone played a fanfare. The sign to get ready for dinner.
"Why do they always insist on announcing dinner like a damn cavalry charge?"
Sirius laughed.
"They probably think the dinner is something special."
Then he turned to his mother and gave her his arm.
"We should go dress, Mother."
The older Black brother nodded to the others and led his mother away.
"See you at dinner, James," Regulus murmured, following the two.
"Uh, son?" Molly addressed the young man.
James, in turn, didn't respond. He watched Regulus, Sirius and their Mother disappear.
"Son!" Molly tried again, a little louder.
James finally took his eyes off Regulus and looked at Molly.
"Do you have any idea what you're doing?" the older lady asked.
"Not really," James replied with a smile on his face.
"Well, you're about to go into the snake pit."
James raised an eyebrow. It’s not like he hated snakes, but he wasn't particularly fond of them either.
"What are you going to wear?"
This question really surprised the young man. He hadn't even thought about that.
He looked down at himself and pointed to his clothes. That would be enough, right?
"I figured. Come on."
Molly took James with to her rooms and handed him a suit.
"I was right," Molly said happily once James had put the suit on. "You and my son are just about the same size."
"Pretty close."
James looked at himself in the mirror. It felt strange to see yourself in a suit. It was James, but not the James everyone knew. It was a different James.
He had never worn a suit and the young man hoped he never had to wear a suit again.
It just didn't feel right.
Molly, on the other hand, seemed to think otherwise and faced James with a big grin.
"You shine up like a new penny."