Owls started to fly into the Great Hall at lunchtime. Each one held either a letter or package clasped in its beak or feet. They flew overhead, circling the room until they spotted the recipient of the mail, swooping down quickly and dropping it off while some stayed longer to see if they would be granted a snack.
Regulus wasn’t expecting any mail today so when a large owl quickly dropped a piece of parchment in front of him before flying away, it left him only slightly surprised. As he unfolded the parchment and took in the familiar messy handwriting, his head snapped up to look across the hall, looking for a head of messy brown hair which he quickly found. James Potter was staring back at him, the same owl that had delivered the note perched on his shoulder as it nibbled at something from his hand.
James sent a quick wink Regulus’ way before breaking eye contact and focusing on the conversation he was having with his friends. Glancing back down at the parchment, he saw what James would normally whisper into his ear when they would pass each other in an empty hall.
After that Regulus carried on with lunch normally, conversing with his friends and a few of the boys from his dorm. But he mainly just listened in to what Barty or Pandora had to say. Lunch moved on shortly, every few minutes he would spare a glance at the Gryffindor table on the other side of the hall, sometimes catching James staring as well. But when it did start to near its end, he caught James taking his leave from the group. It was smart to get away now since as soon as lunch was over everyone would be herded up and start the journey down to Hogsmeade.
“I think I’m going to sit this trip out,” Regulus said, eyes quickly snapping away from James as he spoke up.
Pandora sent him a disapproving glance his way but made no further comment, unlike Barty. “This is the second time in a row you’ve missed it now.” He stated as he finished off his plate of food.
“Just haven’t been in the mood to go down there recently.” He reasoned. It’s the same excuse he used last time, but no one seemed to care as the topic changed quickly. “I’m going to head up now.” He mumbled mainly to himself.
“Bye Reg.”
“Bye Pan,” Regulus said with half a mind as he started walking to the exit.
He tried to quickly walk out of the hall, but it seemed that everyone wanted to talk to him all of a sudden. “We’re going to start practice an hour earlier tomorrow morning, Regulus.” Evan said to him as he saw him pass by. “Don’t be late again.” It was an off-handed comment, but Regulus knew he was referring to the time he had spent the morning with James and ended up being late.
“I’ll make sure of it.” Regulus quickly said as he saw Snape cast him a look, he tried his best to ignore it as he made his way out of the Great Hall but could tell he didn’t do a good enough job as he hoped since he started calling out for him when he exited the hall.
“Where are you off to?” Snape said once Regulus turned around and finally acknowledged the boy.
Regulus racked his brain for a response that would sound at least half decent when his thoughts were cut off by James slinging an arm around him. “There you are. Sirius wanted me to ask- oh Sniviellus. Was I interrupting something?” He questioned, a cocky smirk present on his face as he looked over at the other Slytherin.
“Yes actually-“
“That’s a shame. You see I really need to talk to Regulus here and I can’t really have people like you overhearing.” James said as he started to turn, Regulus still securely wrapped under his arm. “It wasn’t that great seeing you. Bye Sniviellus.” He said the last bit with an upbeat tone as he called after him over his shoulder. “I don’t know how you're able to put up with him every day. I would have gone mad by now.” James said with a glower on his face.
“Don’t worry. I question my sanity every day.” Regulus remarked as James led them to the Gryffindor common room, not a single soul in sight.
“Oh, don’t be like that Reggie. You have me after all.”
“Exactly why I question it.”
James let out an overexaggerated gasp, “After everything I’ve done for you?” He questioned, quickly giving the Fat Lady the passcode to his common room. He led the both of them in and up to his dorm, quickly placing a locking charm on the door.
“Wasn’t to hard ditching your friends to come and see me?” James finally spoke up, grabbing onto one of Regulus’ hands and leading him over to the bed. He laid down on his back first before dragging Regulus on top of him.
“Oh, it was heart breaking having to say goodbye to them once again. I will forever cherish our last moments together.” Regulus said as he manoeuvred his arms up so his hands rested at the nape of James’ neck where he could play with some of his longer strands of hair.
“I hope that one day you will be able to forgive me for this tragic loss that I have forced you to partake in.”
“I don’t know if that day shall ever come.” Regulus said with a soft laugh as he buried his head into the side of James’ neck, slowly nuzzling him with his nose for a second before he stopped and let his breaths hit the skin.
“Not to dampen your mood any further but I have a declaration to make.” James stated as he wrapped his arms around the shorter boy. Regulus didn’t say anything but tilted his head slightly, so he was looking up at him. “I like you.” James whispered.
“No!” Regulus said with a dramatic exhale of air.
“I’m afraid so darling.”
“And if I too was too come forward and say I liked you too?” Regulus questioned, keeping up with the act that James had set up.
“I’m afraid it would never be on the same level as mine.”
“What if. . . I liked you more? ” Regulus asked, absently playing with James’ hair.
A shocked gasp exits James at what Regulus said finally rendered in his head. “Impossible!” James exclaimed quickly, breaking character. Tilting his head down so he could stare at Regulus laying on his chest. “Colour me not impressed! To think I would ever hear those words leave your mouth in such a way?”
A startled laugh burst out of Regulus, making his whole body shake slightly. “Do you even hear yourself right now?” He questioned when he was able to compose himself again, a bright smile staying plastered on his face.
“Well obviously I’m hearing myself. I’m the one saying it. Or is my literature too complex for you?” James absently started to draw small shapes on Regulus’ hips.
Regulus let out his own gasp now. “I’m sure the results from your last test would beg to differ!”
“We are not bringing grades into this Reggie! I can’t believe you would stoop to such a thing.” He gasped out, sitting up abruptly, pulling Regulus up with him. He kept his arms tightly wrapped around Regulus and rocked him slightly. Regulus barely looked affected by the sudden change but tried playing it up so they would carry on their ‘argument.’
“Oh, bite me.” Regulus said with an eye roll before propping his head on James’ chest. Bringing one of his hands down to trace his collarbone.
Of course, that would backfire on Regulus, not expecting for James to hook his thumb and forefinger under his chin, moving his head up so he was forced to make eye contact with him. “Where?” He asked in a low tone and with a smirk forming on his face.
Surprised, Regulus quickly pushes himself up and off of James, breaking eye contact as a blush spread high on his cheeks. This only caused James to laugh as he took in the flustered state of his lover. “You can’t just say things like that!” Regulus exclaimed as he finally looked back over, a glare placed on his features that did little to nothing to help his case.
“You told me to!” James said with a smile, pulling Regulus back into his embrace. “It’s not my fault you didn’t want to follow through.” He said into the side of his neck, giving it a quick kiss before pulling them down so they were laying once again.
Regulus grumbled quietly to himself at being hauled around but relaxed once they were properly placed and James made no move to try and change their positions again. “Well I-“
He was cut off from a banging coming from the door leading into James' dorm room. “Is the door stuck again?” Sirius called out from the other end. “Were you talking to someone James? I heard voices!” He continued as he tried to force the door open to no avail.
“Shit.” Regulus whispered as he sat straight up, James following quickly behind as he looked through his draws, searching for his invisibility cloak.
James quickly pulled it out and held it above his head before rushing over to Regulus and wrapping it around him. “Yeah, uh just give me a second! I'll come open it.”
“Well hurry up, Pads. We don’t have all day.” A new voice yelled from behind the door.
“I thought we still had another hour?” Regulus whispered as he was pushed so he was hidden behind the bed, only his head peeking out, the rest of his body covered by the cloak.
James was grabbing onto the bunched-up fabric surrounding his head and started to pull it up. “I know my love. We can catch up on this later but at the moment you need to hide.” James said, kissing Regulus after each sentence. “There shouldn’t be any one in the common rooms so if you wait down there, I’ll be out in a second.”
Pulling the rest of the cloak over Regulus’ head, he started to make his way to the door with the hopes no one would catch on. “Because your plans have worked so well so far.” Regulus snarked as they reached the door, waiting for James to open it so he could slip out once his dorm mates got inside.
With one last glare sent in the direction James thought Regulus was standing, he lifted the locking charm he placed on the door and swung it wide open. “You lot are back early.” He said as the three boys started to file in. He left the door open for a few more seconds so he could give Regulus a proper chance at getting out.
“Yeah, well if you haven’t noticed, it's spitting cats and dogs out there. Everyone’s run off to keep dry or something. Basically, abandoning on the trip down there Hogsmeade. We didn’t even make it bloody halfway.” Sirius mumbled as he fell backwards onto his bed, not caring about soaking the sheets with his drenched robes.
Peter was quickly pointing an accusing finger at Sirius. “We would have ran off if it wasn’t for you trying to get a romantic moment in the rain with Moony. We all could have been dry by now as well.”
Sirius sat up then, a horrified expression on his face as he got called out. “At least it worked!” He exclaimed, trying to justify himself.
“It was mainly out of pity.” Remus said which seemed to go unheard by the lot.
The two began to bicker about what is and what isn’t romantic, giving James the chance to slip out of the room and head down to the empty common room.
He looked around for a second before he heard some rustling coming from near the portrait. “We need to think of better ways to sneak out of places.” Regulus grumbled as he finally pulled the cloak off his head, his curls getting messed up from being under the fabric.
James beamed over at Regulus as he quickly made his way over to him, taking the cloak off of him properly before pulling him in for a quick kiss before lacing their fingers and pulling him out of the Gryffindor common room and out into the halls.
“Didn’t keep you waiting too long, did I?” James asked as the portrait closed behind them and as they started making the journey down to the dungeons.
Regulus looked down as he shook his head, hiding the smile on his face as James started to swing their intertwined hands back and forth.
The walk back was peaceful. They were able to avoid any prefects and teachers as James dropped Regulus off out front of his common room. “I’ll see you tomorrow?” James questioned even though he knew he would see him at breakfast.
“Try not to stare too much. It’s annoying having to make up a lie every day because you can’t seem to stop yourself from constantly looking over at the Slytherin table.”
“Why? Is it embarrassing?”
“I just told you why!” Regulus exclaimed as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. “I’ll see you in the morning.” Regulus said as he pressed a quick kiss to James’ cheek. “Don’t do anything stupid until then.”
“No promises.” James said as he watched Regulus give the password to the gargoyle out front before he disappeared into his common room. A smile was permanently plastered on James’ face as he made the walk back to his own dorm.