Astronomy Tower and Cozy Jumpers
Regulus stared skywards, eyes darting around to find the constellations. It was a cloudy night, so not much could be seen. Still he stayed at the top of the astronomy tower, enjoying the cool wind as he leaned against the cold metal of the railing. It wasn’t often that he could escape here from reality. And the number of problems he had at hand were quite a lot. One thing was that he wasn’t sure what Barty was going to do with the Amortentia. Another was James. Regulus could almost confirm that it was James that he had smelled in the Amortentia. Sighing, Regulus looked down. The high drop from the top of the tower to the ground was almost inviting.
A sudden rustle drew Regulus out of his thoughts. He tensed up, glancing discreetly around the astronomy tower. Nothing. No one. Rien du tout (Nothing at all). Maybe he could ignore the sliver of red converses attached to seemingly nothing. But he knew he couldn’t. The peace had been very nice while it lasted. “Show yourself. I know you’re there,” Regulus said with a sigh, hand already on his wand. More rustling. Finally, James Potter appeared from under a strange piece of fabric. Regulus froze, his hand going slack, staring at him. He successfully willed his blush down, choosing to focus on the fabric instead. It shifted in a strange way that Regulus refused to lift his eyes from it. Well, that was only partially the reason, but really, who needed to know?
“What? No hello for me?” James asked, grinning far too much and widely at 1 a.m. Regulus unconsciously glanced at the Gryffindor. That morning’s events hadn’t been forgotten, as much as he wanted it to.
First off was catching James watching him. Then Dorcas had dragged him to talk to Sirius, who had brought up the blackmail Regulus had of him, and well, things got messy, clearly. Then Macdonald yelled at them, right before everything went south. Of course, Regulus had to escape the mess, which left James to clean it up.
The memory still burned in Regulus’ mind, as he stared blankly at the fabric next to James, who tracked his gaze. “Oh! It’s an invisibility cloak,” James held it up, offering it to Regulus. Regulus said nothing, but flicked his wand, seemingly careless. A body-bind hex hit James, who fell to the floor with a yelp.
Regulus took the cloak from him, as James complained about the hex. Ignoring him, Regulus studied the cloak curiously. It was fascinating, but how in the bloody Merlin did James get his hands on one? Thinking back, the invisibility cloak was probably how the marauders set up and get away with their pranks.
“A bit of help, Regulus?” James asked, watching him. Regulus dropped the cloak, lifting the hex as he did so. James sat up. His hand shot out, dragging Regulus down to sit next to him. “So? Why the sudden hex?” He questioned again. Usually, constant questions annoyed Regulus, but from James he couldn’t find it in himself to be very annoyed.
“Stalking me, maybe,” Regulus replied coolly, just as a blast of cold wind hit. Regulus drew his knees up to his chest, wrapping his hands around them.
“You’re cold. Why on earth don’t you have a jacket? You never do actually,” James sighed. He proceeded to slip off his earth-green jumper, revealing a short sleeved white shirt under, which defined his fit body extremely well. Too well even. Regulus dragged his gaze quickly across it, then yanked it away. The jumper dangled in front of him.
“I don’t need it,” Regulus, stubborn as ever, refused James. He still insistently held it to him. Neither caved, and James sighed again. Regulus gave a soft cry of surprise as James slipped it over his head. Resigning himself to it, Regulus wore the jumper. It was very soft, and much too big on him. The sleeves went a long way past his fingers, and the hem pooled around him on the ground. But the heat from James was in the jumper, wrapping Regulus in it. James burst out into laughter next to him. “Shut up or I’ll hex you,” Regulus hissed, cheeks starting to heat up.
“It’s Remus’ jumper. Keep it. We steal his jumpers all the time, so it doesn’t really matter. I actually stole this a while back,” James said. Regulus hummed in acknowledgement. That made more sense. That bloody Gryffindor was tall, much taller than Regulus. And no wonder he had been seeing Sirius wearing jumpers after classes or on weekends, even though the jumpers swamped him in fabric. Damn their Black blood for making them so short.
Regulus stared at the sky again, just as something occured him. “How the bloody fuck did you find me anyway?” He asked James. James paused, which was quite a feat for him. Silence fell over them, before James spoke again.
“That’s for another time,” James answered. Regulus narrowed his eyes, glaring at him suspiciously.
“If there’s another time,” Regulus couldn’t help but add. James whirled on him, seeming surprised.
“What, want to get rid of me already, baby Black?” He asked teasingly, smiling way too much. Regulus shot daggers at him at the nickname. But his mind pondered on the question, a fact that he would take to his grave. No, he decided. He didn’t want to be rid of James so quickly. But It would happen eventually anyway. Regulus reached this conclusion with a slight pang in his heart.
“Oh, I forgot to ask,” James interrupted his train of thought. “Quoting you, how the bloody fuck did Pandora get Amortentia?” Regulus stiffened. He had forgotten about that. What was Pandora thinking, showing it to them anyway? Regulus stayed silent.
“Got it from Slughorn,” Regulus finally replied. “When I went to the potions classroom and Sirius ‘kidnapped’ me.” James nodded, as if he had remembered.
They stayed like that, tension in the air, for maybe a few minutes more, before Regulus stood up. “Need to head back to the dorms,” he mumbled. He did plan on returning the jumper, but it was too comfortable. Standing, the jumper fell to only slightly above his knee. Damn the bloody tall werewolf. Glancing up, James was nowhere to be seen. Regulus spun around, but there wasn’t a trace of him. Suspicious, Regulus still went back to the Slytherin common room. Muttering the password, the grumbling portrait swung open the littlest bit, and Regulus, with his small frame, slipped in easily.
It was dark, as it was 2 a.m. after all. It was lit by a few candles floating in the air. Regulus slipped up the stairs, and into the dorm, where Evan had his bed curtains drawn all the way close. Strange. Evan usually only half-closed his curtains. Glancing towards Barty’s bed, the curtains were drawn fully shut as well. Barty usually didn’t close his curtains. Did something seriously happen in the two hours past midnight that he had been gone? The tension was obvious enough as well. Regulus paused, ultimately deciding to leave it till morning.
Slipping under his covers, he spelled his curtains shut. The exhaustion was quickly catching up to him, and paired with the soft, cozy jumper, Regulus fell asleep quickly.