all these people think love's for show (but i would die for you in secret)

It had been days since the Hogsmeade date weekend, and things hadn't changed much. Regulus and James were still in on the prank, so for the most part, everyone at Hogwarts thought they were dating. Everyone except those involved in the prank. Sirius hadn't caught on at all, though he didn't have many chances to even think about it, considering Regulus didn't have any classes with him or his friends. They only saw each other during meals and sometimes at night.

Breakfast time rolled around, and Regulus was sitting at his house table, as usual. Severus was on one side of him, Barty Crouch Jr. on the other, and the rest of the table was filled with other Slytherins.

From across the Great Hall, he could see James trying to get his attention, and when he finally did, he waved Regulus over.

"You're not actually going to sit with the Gryffindors, are you?" Severus questioned.

"They're my friends," Regulus explained, already starting to get up. "And James is my boyfriend."

"So? Don't do it. They're a bunch of idiots, and you shouldn't want to be seen with them any more than you already have to," Severus added, a scowl spread across his features.

"If you weren't so blinded by your stupid rivalry with James and Sirius, then you'd see that they actually aren't bad people. Besides, Dorcas eats there every day and no one says a word to her," Regulus pointed out.

"That's because she'd curse us into oblivion if we tried," Barty butted in.

Regulus rolled his eyes and grabbed the rest of his things. "Maybe I will too then."

He said nothing more and walked off towards the Gryffindor table, pulling a smile onto his face.

"Escaped the losers?" James asked as Regulus sat beside him, and he leaned over to press a kiss to his cheek.

"Hey, don’t call them that. They're still my friends," Regulus defended. Despite their feelings towards his new friends, Severus and Barty had always been there for him, and he wouldn't throw that away for a prank.

"Whatever you say, Reg."

“So, why’d you call me over here?” he asked.

“Just wanted to spend time with you. I feel like I don’t get to see you enough since you're in a different year,” James explained and smiled.

“You two make me sick,” Dorcas groaned, setting her fork down. She then looked at Marlene. “We’re not gross like that, right?”

“No, we’re perfect. They, on the other hand, are exactly like that,” Marlene replied, then pointed to Remus, whose head was resting on Sirius’ shoulder, his eyes closed as if he were half-asleep.

“Don’t talk about Moony. He’s in a very fragile state,” Sirius said, running his fingers through Remus’ hair.

“Why? What happened?” Regulus asked, immediately concerned.

“It’s early. Remus doesn't do early,” Lily then chimed in to explain.

Regulus laughed a little bit. “Good to know then.”

“What’s your schedule today?” James asked him, his hand resting on Regulus’ knee.

Normally, Regulus was very opposed to physical touch. It wasn't something that he enjoyed, and he tried to avoid it as much as possible. Hugs from friends or anything of that nature never appealed to him. But with James, despite the fake dating situation, it felt okay. Regulus knew that public affection was a package deal when it came to relationships, and he wasn't going to fight it, but at this point, he didn't feel like he had to.

“I have Charms soon, and then Divination later,” he explained.

“You still take Divination?” James asked, amused.

“It’s interesting!” Regulus defended.

“Padfoot, remember when we used to make up things in our essays to make the professor think we were going to die?” James said and laughed.

Sirius laughed too. “Like that one time I said the Giant Squid was going to drown me in the lake?” he remembered.

“You two are the biggest pair of idiots I have ever met,” Dorcas said. “I say that, like, every day, but it's true.”

“I think divination is fun. You lack the brain cells to even see just five minutes into the future,” Mary added.

Regulus hid his mouth behind his hand to laugh. Never in his life did he laugh so much with a group of people. Though it might be fake, the connections he was making felt real. And he didn't want to give it up.

“Are you laughing at me?!” James exclaimed, faking a shocked but hurt expression.

“I am actually,” Regulus said and moved his hand away from his face, a smile still present.

James pouted and turned his body away from Regulus just slightly.

“Oh, the silent treatment now? Real mature,” Regulus said and playfully rolled his eyes. James didn't budge, his arms crossed. “Fine. I guess I’ll go back to Sev and Barty?”

James immediately turned back to his boyfriend in a frenzy. “No, no. Never that. I’m sorry,” he said, causing the entire group to laugh.

“That’s what I thought.”

The group was lost in conversation, eating breakfast as they spoke. Distracted by each other, nobody noticed as a student in black and green robes approached them.

From behind them, Regulus heard the sound of a student clearing her throat. “Ahem,” she said. A student in Regulus’ year, Dolores Umbridge, was standing directly behind him.

A few members of the group groaned when they noticed who it was. They did not have a good track record with her.

“Can we help you?” Sirius asked, with a raised eyebrow.

“Regulus, shouldn’t you be sitting over there?” Umbridge asked, glancing towards the Slytherin table. She phrased her statement as a question, but it was clear that she was not thrilled by Regulus’ choice of seating.

“What’s it to you?” Dorcas questioned, immediately getting defensive.

“I just don’t understand why you would choose to surround yourself with—“ Umbridge began, glancing between Remus, Mary, and Lily, “people like this.”

“What do you mean, ’people like this’?” Marlene asked, standing from her spot at the table, already pulling her wand out.

“You know what I mean,” Umbridge said and crossed her arms over her chest.

Peter, still in his seat, reached for his own wand. He wouldn’t use it, they all knew that— but the action showed a sense of support.

James stood up as well, his own hand reaching for his wand. “I’m not sure I do.”

“Half-bloods and mudbloods,” she spat back. “You’d think the Black heir would have more sense than this,” she said. “But we all see where that’s gotten us in the past,” she added, glowering at where Remus had placed a hand on Sirius’ forearm.

“Oh, that’s it,” Sirius said and whipped out his own wand, shooting up from his seat. At this point, the group had gathered an audience in the Great Hall.

“Sirius,” Remus began, “sit down,” he said. “Put your fucking wands away, all of you. She’s not worth it,” he said.

“Remus is right,” Lily spoke up, shaking her head. “You’re going to get us all in trouble.”

“No. She doesn’t get to say those things and get away with it!” James exclaimed, pointing his wand right at the girl. “Say it again. I’ll do it, I swear.”

“You stupid Gryffindors are a ragtag group of mudbloods, half-bloods, and blood traitors, and you’ll never-” Umbridge started, enraged, but she could barely finish the sentence before Dorcas sent a leg-locker curse her way, and she tumbled to the ground. The entire Great Hall laughed.

“What is going on over here?” McGonagall called, quickly walking between the tables, attempting to get to the group as quickly as possible. Professor Slughorn was hot on her heels, already speaking the countercurse for the hex Dorcas had placed on Umbridge.

“Professor, she called them— She used—“ Peter tried to speak, but Dorcas spoke over him.

“She called me and Lily mudbloods,” she said, looking McGonagall directly in the eye. “I don’t take kindly to blood supremacy, I won’t apologize for that.”

Professor McGonagall looked between the group of students, noticing how half of them had their wands raised still, clearly not backing down from the fight.

“I will let Professor Slughorn deal with your punishment, Miss Meadowes, and as for the rest of you, put those wands away this instant,” she said to the Gryffindors.

“It’s not our fault that the Umbitch decided to ruin our perfectly good breakfast,” Marlene huffed, and they all shoved their wands back into the pockets of their robes.

McGonagall let out a heavy sigh. “Miss McKinnon, five points from Gryffindor,” she said. “Do any of you have anything else to say about this?”

While McGonagall thought that would have put them in their places, the group immediately started shouting their disagreements.

“Enough. All of you, to your classes, now,” Professor McGonagall said. “Professor Slughorn, will you please accompany Miss Umbridge to the hospital wing?”

Although a professor himself, he didn’t dare say anything in response to McGonagall’s request. He quickly helped the shaken student up and began to help her towards the hospital wing so she could be treated by Madame Pomfrey.

Despite their feelings towards the situation, the group thought it was better at this point to listen to their professor, so they reluctantly grabbed their belongings and left the Great Hall together. Regulus said his goodbyes, as he did not share any classes with the sixth years.

As the eight of them walked through the corridors, Sirius and Marlene were at the front of the group, ranting about what had happened just minutes ago, still visibly angry. Mary, Lily, and Dorcas were trailing behind, in their own conversation, which was much less hostile. And at the back of the group, Remus was walking with Peter and James on either side of him.

“So,” Remus started out, glancing at James, his voice quiet. “You know, people are a little skeptical of you and Regulus.”

“They are?” James asked.

“I haven’t heard anybody say that!” Peter butted in, to which Remus scowled and gave him a hard shove.

“Shut up, Wormy,” he said and looked at James again. “Anyway, I think you two should practice kissing.” Just as he suggested to Regulus only days prior.

“For what? I’m a great kisser,” James said proudly and grinned. “We’ve kissed before, you should know!”

“Sure you are, buddy,” Remus replied, rolling his eyes. “I mean that you need to practice kissing each other. If you’re more comfortable doing it, then people won’t be so skeptical.”

Remus was clearly enjoying this fake-dating scenario, and he was doing everything in his power to continue to make it the butt of the joke. He loved being an instigator.

James didn’t reply to Remus’ words, but he did make a mental note— maybe it was something he should discuss with Regulus. The thought was pushed to the back of his mind, though, as the group of sixth years made their way towards class.

The thought didn’t come to the forefront of James’ mind until later that evening. Sirius and Peter were in detention, and Remus on his prefect duties. Regulus had the night off from patrolling the corridors, so James had suggested that he come back to the Gryffindor common room after dinner.

Regulus had agreed, and so he found himself sitting on a cozy couch directly in front of the fireplace. The students in Gryffindor tower didn’t bat an eye at the out of place Slytherin, used to Dorcas constantly being snuck in.

It was a quiet night in the common room. There were small groups of Gryffindor here and there, some talking amongst themselves, others working on homework. A group in the corner was focused on a game of Wizards Chess. Nobody was paying any attention to Regulus and James.

“Do you think we should practice kissing?” James asked, his voice quiet. Even if nobody was listening, the last thing he wanted was for someone to overhear them.

Regulus sputtered, shocked by the question. Of course, Remus had made his comment about it the other day— But practicing kissing felt much different in theory than when it was actually being suggested.

“We don’t have to— If you aren’t comfortable with it, I mean,” James said, grabbing ahold of Regulus’ hand and pulling the younger boy closer on the couch. James had become used to some kind of touch between him and Regulus. It felt natural. “I just thought it might help. Maybe convince people we’re together a bit more, I ‘spose.”

“Sirius, you mean,” Regulus corrected. “We’re only really trying to convince my brother.”

“Is the prank any good if you don’t go above and beyond?” James asked, a sideways grin on his face.

Regulus stayed silent for a moment, his body leaning into James’. The silence was comfortable, James humming as he drew circles on the back of Regulus’ hand with his thumb. “Okay,” Regulus finally said.

“Hm?” James replied.

“Okay, we should practice,” Regulus elaborated. “You’re right— If we’re going to do this, we should do it the right way.”

“We could go up to the dorm?” James suggested. “None of the boys will be back for a little while at least.”

Regulus nodded and gave him a nervous smile, and the two of them got up from the couch to go to James’ dorm room.

They walked through the door into the messy dorm room, James closing the door behind him. The two sat on James’ bed, falling into an uncomfortable silence. It was quiet and awkward for more than a few moments, until James, too uncomfortable, spoke up.

“I’m gonna kiss you now,” he said to Regulus, who let out a relieved breath and just nodded.

With the words out of his mouth, James leaned in. Like before, Regulus flinched a little bit, and it reminded him of the reason they were even doing this in the first place.

James pulled back a little bit before their lips met, meeting Regulus’ eyes. “Is this okay?” he asked. It was practice— they both knew what was happening, but James still felt the need to check. He needed to ensure that Regulus was comfortable.

“Yeah, yeah, all good,” Regulus replied. It was clear that James cared, so he no longer felt as intimidated as he would have before. He was starting to think that maybe Remus was right.

Both of them took the initiative to lean in, and rather than their lips connecting, it was their foreheads. Immediately both of them jumped back, their hands rubbing the spots on their heads that had been bumped.

Regulus let out an awkward laugh and looked to James. “Now I can see why we need the practice.”

“Maybe we should try that again?” James asked, still rubbing his forehead. James leaned in again after lifting his hand to cup Regulus’ cheek, this time their lips connecting in the middle.

“I think that one was better,” James said after a couple seconds, letting out a laugh against Regulus’ lips. He was trying to make light of the awkwardness, and it was working.

“Better, yeah,” Regulus agreed, a small smile on his face.

“I think we could use more practice though,” James suggested and moved his hands down to Regulus’ waist. The reality of the situation was that James didn’t want to stop. Maybe it was just practice, but it made his insides turn. “Just to make sure we get the hang of it?”

“Uh, sure. Okay,” Regulus whispered, and both of them leaned in again.

Regulus and James were interrupted, though, when the door to the dormitory burst open. Peter, Remus, and Sirius stood in the doorway, coming face to face with the sight of James and Regulus on the bed.

“My eyes!” Sirius shrieked, causing Regulus and James to jump apart to opposite sides of the bed. “Moony, you said James was alone tonight. How dare you!”

Remus, who was cracking up at the scene in front of him, had to calm down before he spoke. “I had no idea he’d be up to this,” he said through his laughter.

“We were just- we were-” James started, but he couldn’t get the words out. His cheeks were on fire.

“You were what?!” Peter exclaimed. It looked as if his eyes were about to burst out of his head. “Because it seems to me if we walked in any later it would’ve been a lot worse than this!”

“Oh calm down, Pettigrew. Ever seen anyone kiss before?” Regulus asked, and he stood up, brushing out his shirt.

“Never seen my baby brother kiss anyone,” Sirius mumbled, crossing the room with his arms crossed over his chest. “We were coming to see if you wanted to come out to the Quidditch pitch, Prongs, but you’re not invited anymore. You were snogging my baby brother!”

“I’m not a child, Sirius,” Regulus muttered back.

James, ignoring a now grumpy Regulus, shot up from where he was seated on the bed. “You can’t kick me out of Quidditch practice!” he shouted.

“If you can even call it practice,” Remus joked. “Half the time it’s just you two and Marls actually taking it seriously.”

“Practice is practice, Moony. And I’m going!” James asserted, crossing his own arms over his chest as he glanced at Regulus. “Do you wanna join us?”

“It’s, like, the middle of the night,” Regulus said.

“And? That’s the fun of it! Even Evans comes and you know she’s a stickler about rules,” James said. “Please come? For me?”

Regulus let out a sigh. For him. “Okay, I’ll come.”

“Perfect,” James said, a grin on his face. “Finally, we’ve got a decent seeker. I call Reg on our side!” he said.

“Decent? I’m the best seeker in the school,” Regulus said, confidently.

“I’m not allowed to say that about a Slytherin,” James replied.

“You are quite literally my boyfriend.”

James let out a playful groan. “Fine, fine. You’re right. You’re the best seeker at Hogwarts.”

“That’s what I like to hear,” Regulus grinned. “I’ll come then.”

“Enough of this. I’m impatient, let's go,” Sirius interrupted and started for the door.

The five boys exited the dormitory, only to find the girls waiting for them in the common room. “What is Reg doing here?” Marlene asked, a smirk on her face.

“Snogging my brother, apparently,” Sirius said, crossing his arms again.

“Oh, come on, Sirius. Let’s just get down to the pitch,” Mary said.

The group waited patiently as James ran back up to the dormitory, explaining that he had something to grab before they went down. Moments later he reappeared, shoving an old piece of parchment in his pocket. “We’re good to go, no way we’ll be caught,” he said, a grin on his face. James had checked the Marauder’s Map up in the dorm, and nobody was in the vicinity, even Filch and Mrs. Norris were on the other end of the castle.

Regulus sent him a look of confusion before shaking his thoughts away, and the group of nine left the common room through the portrait hole. On the way out of the castle, Sirius stepped on the back of Mary’s shoe by accident, and she shoved him, causing Lily to shush the two of them as they began to banter. They finally shut up and walked in silence across the grounds to the Quidditch pitch.

The Quidditch pitch looked different at night, especially when no students filled the stands. The large hoops on either side of the field seemed to be illuminated by the bright, shining moon. The grass was covered with a layer of dew, and a still silence filled the air around them. Regulus had never heard the Quidditch pitch so silent. He had never experienced something so peaceful.

The peace, however, was soon disrupted.

Those that actually played on their house teams, James, Sirius, Marlene, and Regulus, went to go get the school’s broomsticks and other Quidditch supplies together, while the rest of the group hung back to wait. On the way back, they could hear James’ voice over the silence.

“I just don't see why we have to use the school’s broomsticks. Ours are so much better,” he said dramatically, flailing the school broomstick in the air. “These suck and they're not fast.”

“You are so pretentious,” Lily grumbled and snatched one of the broomsticks from his hands.

“It’s not pretentious to want the best, Evans,” James said, a pout on his face.

“That’s quite literally the definition of pretentious,” Lily replied. “Now come on. You dragged us out here after hours, so I’m not going to just sit around and wait to be caught.”

With the words out of her mouth, Lily shot up in the sky. She was a decent flyer, but nowhere near the skill level of James— who followed her into the sky. Sirius went next, then Regulus, Marlene, Dorcas, and Peter, whereas Mary and Remus were hovering barely five feet off the ground. Those two hated flying.

The group of nine flew around in the dark sky, passing the Quaffle from player to player. Peter, playing the position of Keeper, had let another Quaffle past him into the hoop.

“Pete! Can you at least try to block them?” James asked, raising his hands from his broomstick in an exasperated motion.

“I am trying!” Peter replied. “It’s hard!”

“It’s not that hard! Just block it!” James yelled back. He was very competitive, clearly.

“Says you! Not all of us have been playing Quidditch since we could walk, Prongs,” Peter said and rolled his eyes.

“Oh, come on! Leave him alone, Prongs!” Sirius called, flying past James, his beater bat in his hand.

“He’s not even trying, Pads,” James whined, flying after him.

They continued to play for a while longer, Marlene and Sirius aiming every Bludger towards James.

“You’re targeting me!” James complained.

“That’s what you get for yelling at Peter!” Marlene called back as another Bludger came her way. As expected, she hurtled the ball towards James.

“Not fair,” James whined as he dodged the bludger and flew in the other direction.

“Gryffindors,” Dorcas muttered sarcastically to Regulus as they hovered over the pitch, Regulus searching for the practice golden Snitch. It didn’t take long to spot it, even in the dark. He dove quickly, and caught the golden ball with ease, effectively ending the game.

James, watching Regulus as he caught the Snitch, smiled wide and cheered, despite himself. Though it was barely even practice, he was almost proud. The group then landed on the ground of the pitch to gather the equipment up and put it back where it came from. After lining the brooms up nicely, James snuck off to the side to check the map that had been shoved into his pocket, just to be sure that they wouldn’t be caught on their way back inside.

“What are you looking at?” Regulus asked from behind him, causing James to jump and shove the parchment back into his pocket quickly.

“Oh, it’s nothing,” he replied and gave a grin, then reaching his hand out for Regulus to hold.

“You know, I knew you were a good Seeker, but you caught that Snitch so fast, I’m actually sort of surprised,” James admitted as they started to walk back towards the group of friends.

“Surprised? I catch the Snitch in almost every game I play in,” Regulus said and laughed.

“Not next week! It’s Gryffindor versus Slytherin and we’re going to win,” James said confidently.

“In your dreams, Potter.”

Upon sneaking back into the castle, Regulus and Dorcas parted ways with the Gryffindor students. They walked slowly around corners, hoping that no professors or prefects would be on the other side.

“So,” Dorcas said, speaking quietly with a grin on her face. “You’re smiling again,” she said.

“Oh, shut up, Meadowes,” Regulus replied, although he still had a smile on his face.

“I’m not saying it’s a bad thing!” Dorcas said, a small laugh accompanying her words. “I just think I’ve seen you smile more since you’ve been with Potter than I have in the last five years I’ve known you.”

As they approached the Slytherin common room entrance, Regulus didn’t reply.

However, he realized how true her words were.

Happiness was something that, of course, Regulus had experienced before— He had been happy when he had started at Hogwarts. He had been happy when his parents had bought him his first owl. He had been happy when he scored top marks on his Potions exam during his first year, leading to him being accepted into the Slug Club. He had been happy when he made his house Quidditch team.

Regulus knew what it meant to be happy.

He just never expected that his main source of the emotion would one day come in the form of James Potter.

Regulus knew that this would all end, and he needed to remind himself that this wouldn’t last forever. As soon as the prank ended, everything would go back to normal.

But in the meantime, Regulus would bask in the happiness that was James Potter.