Don't Fuss Over Me
"Are you sure Prongs? I feel like I-" Sirius said, the three boys standing by the doorway.
"You're stressed Pads, go out with your boyfriend, see Pete and the girls, I'm fine" he laughed pushing Sirius towards the door. "I could use a break from you ya know, you're a tad insufferable-"
"James shut it, you love me" Sirius laughed shoving him back slightly before stumbling out of the door. "I LOVE YOU JAMIE! YOU'RE THE BEST" the voice called.
"Love you too Pads" James mumbled shutting the door as the two walked away.
He went off to the kitchen, sitting on the counter facing his mum, as he'd done frequently as a child.
"Hey mum" He said with a small wave "cookies?" he asked with a hopeful glint in his eyes as he looked at the ingredients set out on the counter.
Effie nodded "desperately trying to get Regulus out of that bedroom" she joked with a slightly sad smile.
James returned the face, resting his elbows on his legs. "He's quite different from Sirius. It's, weird" he commented. "like, thinking that they were raised in the same house, but they're so different" he commented.
"That tends to happen with siblings dear" Euphemia said, a small laugh escaping her lips that could be easily recognized in James' voice as well as her own. A family laugh.
"Mum!" James whined slightly "I just mean, Sirius, is" James paused furrowing his brow. He'd wanted to say easier to help. It didn't sound right, not even in his head, easier to help. Easier to fix. Easier to save. That wasn't what he meant. It wasn't about being a saviour."I understand him more. I know him better" James settled on tapping his hands against his legs. Maybe that was just the problem. Maybe he just didn't know Regulus well enough. But the problem about not knowing someone, was you never knew how to get to know them. James hated getting to know people, he just liked knowing.
Euphemia nodded "I feel as though he's scared of me. And your father. The both of us." She sighed running a hand over her forehead "I know what you're trying to say Jamie, I understand" the woman hummed. Her protective instincts had kicked in the moment she'd seen the boy on the doorstep, but any time she tried to offer any sort of comfort, he'd freeze up. She was at a loss. "do you want to run up there? Ask if he'd like some tea?" Euphemia offered, beginning to put the ingredients in a mixing bowl. James nodded. Sliding off the counter, walking up the stairs.
He knocked on Regulus' door.
A soft voice called him in, Regulus wasn't near the door, his voice was faint, faded.
"Hey, what are you getting up to?" James asked walking through the door, leaning against it on the other side.
Regulus observed him with slightly confused eyes, James asked. "Oh, I'm reading" He said twisting the book in his hand.
James nodded "this one better or worse than the last?" James said with this small natural smile, it made everything seem softer, muted, but also somehow brighter and warmer.
"Oh, uh worse I'd say" Regulus said with a small nod. There was a brief silence. "Sirius and Remus? You're not with them?" Regulus said awkwardly. It clearly wasn't exactly how he meant to say it, but his message came through anyhow.
"They went out" James replied glancing towards the window.
Regulus rolled his eyes. It was a subtle motion, but James had been looking at him anyways. "Your parent's are here, I don't need a babysitter James"
"You've dropped calling me Potter?" James said with a small smirk, this warranted another eye roll. "Besides, I'm not babysitting. Maybe I want to hang out" James replied in a bit of a stubborn tone.
"Likely" Regulus hummed glancing back down at his book.
"Oi! You're not making it easy y'know." James protested in a light hearted way.
Regulus wondered if it was a trait James gained from Sirius, or maybe it was the other way around. But as long as Regulus could remember Sirius had used things like idiot, and Merlin I hate you, or you're SO annoying as endearing terms.
Regulus huffed shutting the book on it's ribbon, tossing it lightly to side. "Alright, here I'm attentive" He said trying to keep the snark from his tone.
James smiled slightly sometimes he wondered how they were even related, other times, it was all he could see.
"Well, what do you want to do?" James laughed. "We could play quidditch outback, I'm dying to beat you after you guys won that match last year-" James said his eyes alight.
Regulus huffed a sigh flitting his eyes down to his cast "great idea, absolutely wonderful" he huffed slightly "I can't do anything with this stupid plaster" he mumbled.
"Oh, right, that sucks Reggie" James sighed, sliding down the door to sit with his back against it.
Regulus was slightly startled by the use of the nickname. He could feel his face heat up, it was embarrassing. "Reggie?" Was all he managed to say.
James made a small face, bringing his eyes back to Regulus "Oh, it's just what Sirius always refers to you I guess" he said with a soft smile.
Regulus nodded, a warmth in his stomach. "Oh" he commented.
There was a brief silence, the sound of James tapping his hand against the floor, and the noise of Regulus playing with the hem of his shirt, seemed awfully loud in the rare quiet.
"lets play truth or truth" James decided fumbling around for his wand.
"Oh Merlin" Regulus muttered with a small groan. "What do you need the wand for? If you're about to accio in veritaserum I will be leaving the property-" Regulus said speaking quietly with a hint of amusement in the back of voice.
"Veritaserum? Regulus that is illegal!" James protested as if the thought itself were incredulous.
"The Slytherins do it all the time" He shrugged.
"What?! Where on earth do they get that?"
"That kid in your year makes it" Regulus hummed "Severus, he does it for cash." he added.
"SNIVILLUS SELLS FUCKING ILLEGAL POTIONS FOR CASH? YOU GUYS HAVE DRUG DEALERS-" James said his voice getting very loud.
"Hush would you?" Regulus said in a quiet snap, although a laugh snuck through his harsh voice. "Snivillus?" Regulus suddenly said with a small snort.
"You two aren't friends right?" James suddenly said a strange look covering his face "I haven't always been proper nice to him, but some of the stuff he says is just-"
Regulus cut him off shaking his head "absolutely not" he glanced down at his hands, he too seemed to have an awkward sort of expression on his face. "The bloke hates me" he added biting the inside of his cheek. You're being dramatic. He doesn't hate you. You're reading way too far into it.
"What? Why? You're quiet, and like nice, and pureblood and a Slytherin-" James said, genuinely confused.
Regulus rolled his eyes slightly. He stiffened his back up and shook his head so his curls fell onto the sides of his face, tilting his chin down to imitate the stance of the boy. "You're not insufferable as a person, it's unfortunate your face is so similar to your disgusting prat excuse of a human older brother" he said in a bad randition of Severus' voice. The moment it was over he could feel his face heat up, and a knot of anxiety formed in his stomach. For fuck sake, why the hell would he do that?
"WHAT?" James grinned in-between bouts of laughter "He won't talk to you because you look like Sirius?"
"Oh no, it was rather my response to his comment that turned him off of me I suppose" Regulus hummed, feeling slightly lighter, and quite relieved at James' positive reaction.
James' eyes widened "What did you say? Oh please Reg you have to tell me"
Regulus tilted his head raising his brow "Save it for that game of truth or truth" he said, a tiny smile pulling at his lips.
James grin seemed to get even wider as he drew his wand back up. He cast some spell Regulus had never heard, it produced a small orb that floated inbetween the two of them. "This here is Pete and Remus' creation" James said proudly. His pride for his friends was more than Walburga had ever shown for her children, and it made Regulus feel warm. Even though he wasn't one of them. "It'll glow green if you're telling a truth, and red if you're lying. We figured this would be more ethical and easier than knicking veritaserum from Slughorn every time we had a party" James explained. "This way, you can avoid the truth, but if the orb glows green we let you off the hook anyways." James shrugged "That way people only share what they actually want to share, and the truth doesn't just spill out of their mouths" he hummed.
"I'll start, Regulus what did you respond to Severus when he said he didn't like you because you looked like Sirius"
"I said something along the lines of, it's embarrassing, how obsessed you are with them, it's rather like you fancy one of them. Sometimes I can't tell if you're in love with Evans or if you're jealous of her" he said quietly his face flushed. "I was annoyed with the bloke, he sat their for ten minutes telling me about how Sirius had tried to kill him." Regulus explained. "Although Snape did attempt Legilimency on him? I mean of course someone will freak out if you're digging through their head?" Regulus was getting slightly carried away, he bit his tongue to silence himself.
James was a little bit confused, Snape had used Legilimency. Of course Sirius had flipped out. Not that the way he'd done it was remotely okay, but it was slightly more understandable. Orion Black had gone through Sirius' head once before. Sirius had continuous nightmares that he was there, just a set of eyes, watching every thought that passed by.
"Oh" James commented awkwardly. "Well, your turn" he said with an awkward smile that only James Potter could pull off.
"Right" Regulus hummed, his hand still playing with his shirt, but he was becoming more comfortable. "Would you rather be out right now?" he asked, it didn't sound as though he'd be insulted by the answer, once again, it seemed to simply be genuine curiosity.
"I don't think so" James replied, the orb glowing green "I'm rather tired today" he explained leaning farther back into the door. "D'you believe the blood stuff?"
That took Regulus by surprise. His heart rate fastened slightly, swallowing a lump in the back of his throat. "Well, 'm supposed to" He mumbled staring at James' face attempting to read whatever expression was etched across it. He wasn't able to decipher it.
"But do you?"
"It's not logical, so, I don't think I can" Regulus mumbled, wincing slightly at the green light, a sudden sick thought relaying the green colour to the killing curse.
James let his smile be more visible than Regulus wished it were.
"What's your boggart?" Regulus decided leaning his head farther into the foot of his the guest room bed.
"Trying to kill me are we baby black?" James teased, smirking at the slightly embarrassed look on Regulus' face. He mumbled something about hating the nickname, and James snorted as the orb glowed green.
"To be honest, I reckon it's changed since I was thirteen." James hummed "We accidentally found one in the cellar at honeydukes-" James cleared his throat in a shoddy attempt to take back what he'd said "Sorry, I mean, it's people I care about but like, dead, shifts between all of them" he shrugged "and it's my fault" he added waiting for the green to glow in accordance.
"What form does your patronus take?" James asked, curiosity glowing in his eyes.
Regulus glanced down awkwardly, a knot of dread twisting it's way from his throat to his stomach as he swallowed the lack of saliva "I've, I can't. I haven't casted one" he said blankly.
"What?" James asked in disbelief "Why?" He tacked on his brow furrowed slightly.
"Some people don't have memories happy enough" he snapped leaning his head backwards, berating himself for saying that.
Why. Why. WHY? WHY FOR FUCK SAKE.
Every single negative emotion seemed to enter his brain, and sit there until it became pure fury. Why, why why why why would you say that Regulus? Want more fucking attention then already? What are you playing at Regulus? You're the heir now. You can't wallow in your self-built pity. What fucking pity. You have no right to feel self-pity. For fuck sake, think about your house, your fucking houses (that is if your not disowned yet). Think about all the clothes your parents bought, and the food on the table, think of the way they treated Sirius compared to you. How the hell can you even sit and feel bad for yourself. Do not feel bad for yourself. Look towards the-
Mother was in his head again. Why was she always in his head? Why. Why. Because you're fucking weak.
"How about you?" He choked awkwardly, averting his eyes away from James, who looked heartbroken. Regulus figured he must've really irked the boy, because James was staring at him as if he'd just witnessed the slaughter of a tail-wagging puppy.
James glanced towards his hands "It's a stag" he said with a strained smile.
Pity. It was pity. James Potter pitied him. Everyone fucking pitied him. Not the other Slytherins. They didn't pity him. But Regulus was starting to wonder if it was because maybe they hadn't realized he really was pitiful yet. No, not pitiful, he'd been through that already. Pathetic. Fucking pathetic.
"I'll teach you" James offered. "C'mon let's try right now" he urged. "You'll get it, I'm sure. Sirius wouldn't stop whining about how you always have perfect grades back in fourth year, surely you can do it"
James spoke with such conviction.
Such, hope.
Hope wasn't a tone that was used when it came to Regulus frequently.
His mother had lost hope in him first. Regulus could remember it vividly. He'd been eight at the time. He'd found a stray cat in the garden of their summer house. It seemed to have an injured leg, and stupidly, the child had thought to bring it into his house. His mother's face of horror, would be ingrained into his brain from that moment on. His father hadn't been there. But Sirius' face, was of course a mix of excitement and fear, as Sirius had always looked when he was really pushing his mothers buttons, and that was how Regulus knew he'd fucked up. The bright green of the killing curse had blinded him briefly 'I'm putting it out of it's misery, be grateful. Weak things must be put out of their misery' she'd explained. And as the tears continued to roll down his cheeks, and his hands had reached forwards to grab onto Sirius, the faint light of hope that had been dimming since his birth, had entirely flickered to nothing. Cold, hard, dark eyes.
His father had taken a little longer, it was the first time he'd entered Regulus' mind. It's so easy to navigate Regulus, you simply opened the gates for me didn't you? Pathetic. You have no backbone. It's a shock you're a son of mine.
Sirius had been the one that hurt. At first, he'd foolishly asked the hat for Gryffindor, and although the hat 'recognized his bravery' it felt as though it wasn't quite as suitable as Hufflepuff. And in a moment of panic he'd begged for Slytherin over Hufflepuff, and the hat had decided to listen to that plea. Regulus couldn't seem to tear his eyes away from Sirius, the applause from the Slytherin table echoing around his head. And the light disappeared from his eyes, so similar to his mother in every way Sirius would despise.
But there was James Potter. With hope in his voice. And it was contagious. Regulus could feel his warmth.
"I don't think that's the problem" Regulus replied. "We can try another time" Regulus offered "lets just finish the game Im' invested" he said with an awkward smile. Both boys ignored it when the orb flickered red. "It's your turn by the way"
"Did Slytherin cheat in the slytherin-ravenclaw match June of 1974?" James asked, trying to move past the patronus thing.
Regulus sighed with a small eye-roll "surprisingly, no" he smiled slightly as James narrowed his eyes, clearly focusing on the 'surprisingly'.
There was a brief pause as Regulus glanced around the room, he was looking for a question. "Er, what's your favourite spell?" he finally asked, it was slightly awkward delivery wise, Regulus felt as though it were a subpar question.
James grinned "Oooh! That's a good one. Probably just, well, it's more of a little trick, but uh-" James snapped his fingers, a small fire glowing in his hand, his eyes lighting up from both the fire and the glee. "what spell do you use the most?" James asked sticking to the theme of question Regulus had chosen.
The boy huffed slightly, craning his head up as if trying to look for a loophole in his question. "It's a glamour charm" he finally said.
James laughed slightly "You use glamours frequently?" he snickered slightly "why on earth do you use glamours. You're a fine looking bloke- unless of course it's all a glamour-"
"It's not all a glamour" Regulus groaned slightly. "It's- well, as a member of the Noble and Most Ancient house of Black, there are certain traits that you know, Black's just aren't supposed to have. My cousin- well- no- but anyway's Andromeda has gold-ish eyes, she used to have to charm them grey every morning. It's stuff like that" He shrugged.
"Why the fuck do you have to do that?" James snorted "No offence Regulus, but whoever the hell let your ancestors out of the nut-house has a lot to answer for"
Regulus laughed slightly at this comment. "Well, my disowned Great Aunt Iola, had dark brown eyes, and her hair was brown, but her parents were cousins, and they both had black hair and blue eyes, so there was a lot of conspiracy surrounding who her real father could be. And it brought 'dishonour' upon the family name right, so essentially when theres anything even slightly different about anyone, you just glamour it away. And it would be weird you know after a certain point to just stop. Like if one day Bellatrix stopped charming her left eye blue to match the right, well there sure as hell would be some questions wouldn't there? I'm rambling far too much sorry" he said his voice trailing off. Regulus had been speaking quite quickly.
"Not at all, I love hearing stories like that" James hummed "It is your turn to ask a question though, if you'd like" James added glancing towards the window "also Mum's making cookies, they're probably ready if you wanna grab tea anytime"
"Oh, whatever you want" Regulus replied quickly, his hand's still fiddling with the hem of his shirt.
"Okay" James said, slightly confused. Sirius was always very firm in what he wanted. He always leapt at an opportunity to make a decision, or at least offer an opinion. James did find it difficult to wrap his head around the whole sibling thing. It never made sense to him. To have someone grow up in the same house, with the same parents, and have the same amount of money, and turn out so so different.
"I think it'll be fine. He can stay in his room if it's really any sort of problem." Sirius shrugged his hands stuck in his pockets. "Besides, Monty loves cooking for guests, right?" Sirius added.
Remus nodded "You're their second son, I'm sure having some friends over is fine"
"some" Sirius snickered glancing back at the group.
The six of them looked straight out of a film.
Elegant punk boy, with his lanky sweater-clad boyfriend, followed by the red-lipped touch-me-you-die blonde with her peace-love-and-mother-nature sidepiece, to their right of course was the human manifestation of summer, with glowing orange hair, and over-saturated clothes, and of course Peter.
Godrics Hollow was not an over-populated area, and well, James live on the very far end, edging into muggle territory, everyone on that end of the district knew the Potters. James had grown up as one of the only boys of his age. Charmed all the locals, and then made his exit at age eleven to go to some prestigious boarding school. So of course, when his fancy friends all came to visit, head's were turned.
They were returning from an eventful day. Remus and Sirius had gone on a date of sorts, grabbing coffee and entering a record store with absolutely no intentions to buy anything (they left with four records total).
After, they'd headed to Peter's for lunch, and gathered with the entire gang, who seemed to surprisingly miss James' obnoxious enthusiasm, which was why they decided to instead of drag James out, arrive at his door.
Sirius took his key out.
"Monty, they followed me home" he said shaking his head as he walked through the door, the boy folded his arms in a way a disappointed Minerva McGonagall would've done.
Fleamont rolled his eyes "Of course they did my boy, James and Regulus are in the living room" he added, "Euphemia and I are off to grab dinner, you kids are on your own" he added with a tip of a fake hat "and if there isn't at least one cookie for me when I get home, none of you are leaving until there is a perfectly made fresh batch." he added pointing at Sirius with a feign warning "don't burn the house down, and if you do, make sure it looks like an accident" He said with a very James Potter-esque wink, as he slid out the door, presumably to wait for his wife, or perhaps Euphemia was already in the garden.
"To the living room I suppose" Marlene said quirking her brows up with her shoulders as she slid her shoes off.
"I suppose" Lily mimicked, earning a light smack.
The door flung open, the now empty frame, a window into the warm toned room. With calming blue couches, and spring green and pink accents, the room seemed very lively. Regulus was sat on the floor in front of the coffee table, a cookie in his hand, James was sprawled on the couch behind him, the cookie tray spread across his chest. A familiar orb was floating above them, although it seemed to have been forgotten, as neither boys were looking at it. Regulus' shoulders were raised slightly as he laughed, it wasn't a loud sound, in fact the only audible part of his surpressed laugh, was the exit of air through his nose, James however, had his hand fully across his face, the cookies teetering dangerously as his diaphragm moved with the oh-so familiar wheezes.
"so he went up, and-" Regulus' voice trailed off as his eyes locked with a familiar looking redhead.
Lily Evans. Of course after years of observing his brother and his brother's friends, he knew who she was. Of course, later, by Regulus' second year, he'd met her again in Slug Club, which was hosted by, yours truly, Professor Slughorn. While many of the Pureblood members of Slug Club tended to avoid the redhead, there was one particular Yule party that had brought the two of them in closer contact then most probable blood-supremacist and a muggleborn would usually come.
Lily had been avoiding Severus, he'd come as her plus one, but had quickly latched onto Mulciber's side. Lily who'd recently witnessed one of the boys many attacks on Mary MacDonald, wanted nothing more to either A) never see him again, B) punch him square in the piggy-nose, or C) turn his own stupid hexes against him to see how much he fucking liked that.
Regulus had been avoiding Rita Skeeter, who seemed to be overly interested in his home situation. She'd caught wind that Sirius was staying at James' for the entirety of the Winter Hols, and somehow decided it was completely and utterly her business. So when his spot in the corner of the room behind the tacky indigo snow-flaked curtain was barged in upon, he was simply grateful it wasn't a head of badly-bleached curls and an acid-green quill tickling his face.
"Oh, sorry I didn't see you there" Lily had said awkwardly taking a step back.
Regulus' head whipped up, his face at the time far rounder, so the angular chin came as quite the surprise when his neck craned in such and absurd way. "Well that's kind of the point isn't it?" he'd said raising a brow up, never the less he pushed himself over to make room for the girl if she wanted it. "It's a pity your hair is red, maybe you'd have been able to pull a Houdini and escape"
"Houdini" Lily said narrowing her eyes slightly, her hand which had been rested against the tacky curtain, let it drop, shielding them from the party goers once again. "Isn't he a muggle?" she asked, she hated how stupid she sounded, how growing up with muggle parents while never hindering her magic ability, decided what common knowledge she would and would not know.
Regulus had nodded slowly "think so" he'd said "Regulus Black" he added sticking his hand forwards.
Lily, who was still towering above him as she stood grabbed his hand, giving it a curt shake "Lily Evans, pleasure to meet you" she'd said inadvertently mimicking his posh accent. She'd already gone to sit when she finally realized it and a knot of dread formed in her stomach, because she had not just mocked a fucking pureblood Slytherin at a predominantly pureblood Slytherin party. Fuck.
To her surprise, Regulus had a hint of an amused smile on his face, but it was replaced with a straight face shortly after. "Evans" he repeated.
Lily nodded, she felt as though she was in dangerous waters.
"Well then Lily Evans, what brings you back here" The boy said with a slightly loopy gesture. His voice sounding a bit more all over the place than she'd ever heard him before. At the meetings, he tended to say few words, and when he did speak the tone was quiet and low. She also realized he was sat in a far different position than usual, his shoulders weren't pushed down to elongate his neck, his back was rounded rather than in a straight line. And of course, at his side, was a practically empty bottle of Valkyrie Vodka. Lily had tried it once or twice, it was far harder of a liquor than Firewhiskey, and had strange floral undertones, which she never quite got behind. But this solidified one thing for certain Regulus Black was drunk.
"I'm avoiding Severus" she hummed "not because of him though, because of the shitty company he's choosing" she muttered leaning her head back against the wall.
Regulus nodded. "Mulciber" he said waiting for Lily to make some sort of movement of affirmation. He either missed it, or it never came, but the boy continued anyways. "Those two are always together, Mulciber and Snape, I've got nothing personal against the latter, but he really is not fond of me" Regulus said frowning slightly.
"That doesn't sound like him" Lily sighed fiddling with the flower ring on her middle finger "then again spending time with Mulciber doesn't sound like him."
There was a moment of silence, Regulus going in for another sip of his drink.
"What do you mean he's got something against you?" Lily asked, she was watching Regulus' shoes, as the polished toes were tapping against one another rhythmically, slowly scuffing the tip of the shoes.
Regulus shrugged "said he 'can't stand to see my face'"
Lily's face morphed into a disappointment and anger, "What is the context of this conversation? Nobody walks up to a kid and-"
"I'm in the year below you" Regulus countered.
"How do you know what year I'm in?" Lily replied.
"Your Sirius' friend" he explained "you know, as his brother, I tend to know that stuff" Regulus said, and it felt like a lie as it rolled of his tongue.
"Right. Of course. Regulus Black. I should've put that together, your both stars" she laughed awkwardly. Of course she'd heard about 'Reggie' before. The nickname seemed to double up as affectionate and patronizing. She didn't really know him, aside from things she'd heard in passing from his brother, which varied between cute and nostalgic, to harsh and cruel. "I wouldn't quite consider myself a friend of Sirius' though" she'd replied.
Regulus nodded "I'm sure Severus would be glad to hear that. That's the reason he hates my face. Says I look like Sirius. Which, is just, oh so creative" Regulus had rolled his eyes raising the bottle up slightly before knocking back another gulp.
"I never get that with my sister, she's blonde, and brown eyed, always complains about losing the gene lottery" Lily laughed, but it wasn't funny anymore, it hurt a little bit.
"You have a sister?" Regulus said turning to her "she doesn't go here does she" he added after studying Lily's face.
The redhead nodded. "Petunia, she's a couple years older than me." she added "and I swear the authority goes straight to her head" Lily sighed shaking her head slightly.
Regulus glanced down at the floor "they'll remind you their older then you until it's not convenient to them anymore" he'd said quietly.
Lily nodded "Yeah they do that don't they" she said, once again twisting the ring with her left hand. "But alas, Nia hates me now, so"
"I'll drink to that" Regulus said raising the glass again.
"Your fourteen put that bottle down for Christ sake" Lily muttered grabbing the bottle from his hand "I'd compare you to Sirius right now but I reckon that wouldn't be tasteful.
"It wouldn't be. Especially seeing as you just took my lifeline right out of my hands" He muttered. "Why does your sister hate you?"
Lily raised her brow "Your likely too drunk to remember any of this, so, who cares?" She huffed. "She's under the impression that my parents like me better since I'm a witch and all. You know, I have magic, she doesn't. She used to see the magic in the muggle world, until well, I got introduced to the wizarding world." she hummed "She thinks I don't deserve the attention my parent's give me because I'm away from home most of the year anyways, and says that they waste their time sending me letters through the muggle-post, seeing as I hardly ever reply. I've tried so many times to tell her that muggle post takes ages to get here" Lily huffed "and she doesn't listen when I tell her that the letters are all practically updates surrounding her. I always ask about her, in every letter home. And every time I go to hogsmeade I call the home phone, and I hope she'll pick up, and I hope that we'll talk, and when I go back for summer I always hope she'll be ready to make ammends. She never is"
Regulus nodded "I don't know how to respond to that"
"You tell me your life story Black, that's the deal"
"Can't do that, your friends with Sirius." Regulus had replied.
"But I also know what it's like, don't I?"
Regulus shrugged "Kind of"
Lily nodded "I don't really care to be frank. I just think, if your sitting behind a curtain, hiding from who knows what, and begging me to tell you about my shoddy sibling relationship, maybe you want to get something off your chest"
"Yeah, this fucking tie" he muttered loosening his tie and unbuttoning the obnoxiously high top button of his collar.
Lily gave him a glare.
"I just, I miss him. I didn't choose to be in Slytherin, I didn't ask to be mum's favourite, I didn't even fucking ask to be born, but here we are."
Lily nodded "Yeah, that makes sense, I think maybe-"
The two of them were quickly cut off by Barty Crouch Junior.
"Regulus for fuck sake we're at a party and your hiding in a corner" the boy groaned grabbing at the smaller of the two's collar. "And talking to a mudblood no less. Merlins Beard you need to chug some water and get the hell out of here before a snitch see's you talking to red riding hood over here-" he was speaking incredibly fast, Lily wasn't quite sure what was happening "no offence love, I'm sure you're wonderful company" he added, letting the curtain drop back behind him.
***
"Hello" Lily said with a polite wave, filing over.
James sat up quickly, knocking cookies onto the couch, which he quickly gathered back onto the tray before setting the tray on the coffee table, almost bumping Regulus' head in the process. He pulled up his knees as the girls settled on the loveseat, and armchairs, the extra space on the couch an invite to Remus, Peter, and Sirius. Peter opted to sit next to Lily on the loveseat, he'd never been fond of cramping up with the love-birds.
"Reg" Sirius said, his head tilting to the side as he made his way down to the couch "your freckles" he commented, a small smile spreading across his face.
Regulus could feel his face heat up slightly "We were playing truth or truth" he said as if that were some sort of explanation as to how the bridge of his nose had manifested freckles, and his ice-grey eyes had grown a slight turquoise tint. They were more of a greenblue-grey then a bluegreen-grey, such a subtle difference only the Black family would care.
"Well Regulus this is everyone-"
"He's going to need names" Dorcas rolled her eyes slightly.
"Right." Sirius groaned "This is Cas, Marls, Petey-pie, Moonbeam, Evans, your truly, and of course, James" he said vaguely throwing his hand out, not pointing out anyone whatsoever.
"and everybody, this is Reggie"
"Regulus" Regulus murmured in correction.
"Oh right, sorry, my bad, this is Regulus Arcturus Black the second, heir of the noble and most ancient house of Black, son of Walburga Black and Orion Black the fourth, and never forget my good men, toujours pur"
Regulus rolled his eyes "I hate you" he muttered standing up.
"Bye Reggie!" James called as he walked towards the door.
"Don't mind him he's very socially anxious and despises meeting new people-"
"Sirius!" Regulus hissed in desperation from the doorway "do you have nothing better to talk about?"