Marauders’ Usual Chaos
James mulled over this matter over the course of Sunday. The red and green that had looked so pretty on Regulus had faded. But as James watched Regulus from across the room, he decided that anything and everything could look nice on him. Regulus was looking down, reading as usual. A lock of hair was constantly falling in front of his eyes, which he had given up shoving out of the way. Regulus flipped the page. James’ gaze was dragged down to the rings adorning his hands. They were all silver, all beautiful. Regulus twisted one of the rings on his slender finger, and it was possibly the hottest thing James had seen someone do.
As if sensing his gaze, Regulus raised his head, and their gazes clashed. James immediately dropped his eyes to his goblet. Face hot, he picked it up and drank deeply from it.
“Prongs!” Sirius slapped his hand and James spit out the drink, choking slightly. He set down the goblet, glancing to the side at Sirius. Opposite him, Peter had sat down, blocking his view of Regulus.
“Pads,” James replied, picking up his utensils again, which had ‘slipped’ out of his hands. Peter didn’t bother to pay much attention, already heaping food onto his plate. Sirius scowled at James, but the scowl, while looking quite like Regulus’, didn’t really have the same effect.
“As I was saying, the moon is going to be up in three weeks,” Sirius said meaningfully. James nodded in response while looking around. Remus wasn’t here yet. “Do you think we should- Moony!” Sirius cut himself off, turning to call excitedly to Remus. James shared a look with Peter. Sirius was definitely acting strange then. He was way more excited around Remus.
“Sirius is acting weird,” a new voice said, startling James. It was Marlene, casually sipping from her goblet. Lily was next to Marlene, with Mary opposite them. They both nodded, agreeing with Marlene. James stared hard at Marlene, before following her line of sight, which wasn’t on any of them. It was on…Regulus? No, not really, but definitely Regulus’ group.
James: Maybe it’s on-
Brain: Hey, look, Regulus has on a pair of gold earrings. They look like stars.
James: Shut up. So Marlene is actually looking at-
Brain: I don’t think anyone has made the robes look so good on them. Regulus looks like an angel.
James: I think he’d prefer a devil but- wait no you’re distracting me!
Brain: Am I?
A hard shove and James snapped out of his internal argument. Marlene had pushed him. Hard. “Ow! What is it?” James complained, rubbing his ‘injured’ shoulder. Marlene still repeatedly continued to smack him. “Marlene!” James pulled away from her.
“It’s Dorcas. She’s coming over. What do I do?” Marlene hissed. Dorcas? James turned to stare in disbelief at Marlene, then his first obvious thought was: Why is Dorcas coming over? Then: Wait, does that mean Regulus is coming over? Then: Why is Marlene worrying over this?
Regulus. James’ brain registered this over his confusion about Marlene and Dorcas. He whipped around. Regulus was standing near Sirius and Remus. Regulus and Sirius were locked in silent communication again. Pandora was nearer to…Lily? And Dorcas was with Pandora. “What’s up with you Slytherins? Why are you three here?” Marlene asked, folding her arms. The Great Hall was quite empty, but there was whispering going on. Dorcas scowled at Marlene.
“Is it illegal for Regulus to talk to his brother?” Dorcas emphasized on ‘his brother’. Marlene held her two hands up in a way of backing down, but it didn’t really sell considering she was smirking at Dorcas. A strange flush came across Dorcas, who turned away hurriedly. Pandora stayed though, smiling sweetly. James didn’t miss the way Lily smiled softly back at Pandora, her cheeks a suspicious light red. Peter glanced between Lily and Pandora, then at Marlene and Dorcas. Sharing a look with James, he shrugged.
“N'ose pas les utiliser contre moi (Don't you dare use them against me)!” Sirius cried out loudly. James turned to his best friend sitting diagonally opposite him. And…Regulus was standing next to James. James froze, tensing up. His mind went blank, and he seemed to have lost control of his body. “James! Can you believe this?” Sirius shouted. James sighed inwardly, glancing at Sirius, momentarily distracted as he gained control of himself again.
“You were yelling in French,” James replied tiredly. Sirius could speak more than three languages, and it was tiring as he seemed to switch to any language at any time. Of course, French was spoken the most.
“Reggie! Arrête ça (Stop it)!” Sirius switched back, yelling at Regulus now. James sighed again, repeatedly calling Sirius’ name. He leaned over, about to reach out and tap Sirius, when he caught a whiff of something familiar. What was it? Eucalyptus? From…James tilted his head slightly nearer to Regulus. Yep, definitely from Regulus.
Eucalyptus. He had smelled it in the Amortentia. And sandalwood with Sirius’ cologne. It was definitely Regulus, James decided. Wait, if Pandora had the Amortentia, then who did Regulus smell in it? James glanced at the Slytherin.
“Prongs!” Sirius dragged out the word. James whipped back around quickly. But Sirius was off arguing with Regulus again. James sighed, in agony. He had sighed a lot over the course of lunch.
“Sirius!” Mary yelled over the Black brothers. Both paused, turning to look at her. “If you won’t stop speaking in French, how the fuck would we know what you’re talking about? We don’t even UNDERSTAND!” The Gryffindor flung a fork at Sirius, frustrated. Sirius yelped as the flying weapon grazed through his hair, ‘messing it up’.
Everything went south quickly as Sirius grabbed at his hair, Remus trying to comfort him, Mary yelling at Sirius, Pandora panicking at the chaos, Marlene throwing a spoon at Sirius, Dorcas yelling at Marlene to stop, Lily trying to calm Pandora down, Peter trying to avoid the flying utensils, and James trying to stop everything.
Turning, he saw Regulus leaning against the wall away from the chaos, looking effortlessly good. Forcing his eyes to turn away, James ushered Pandora and Lily off to the side for a little bit of quiet. He shut Marlene up by handing her a goblet to drink from, which effectively shut Dorcas up as well when Marlene winked at her. Mary…James turned to the yelling girl. Off to the side, Emmeline Vance was running over, quickly reaching and shushing Mary.
Within minutes, there was silence. Sirius was glaring at Mary, who scowled back. James realized Regulus had been watching him, if the prickling on his skin was a hint. Glancing back, he locked eyes with the Slytherin. Regulus turned away, striding out of the Great Hall quickly, making something as simple as that look like an art.
James stared up at the ceiling that night, he got up, quickly whispering the needed words to the Marauders’ Map. The writing appeared and James tracked down Regulus. One thing hit him as he wrapped his invisibility cloack around him.
I like Regulus.