Apricity

James had just been minding his business as usual, when Evan had approached him. James had been reading, but the book was now closed, seeing as it looked like Evan had very interesting news.

“Potter” Evan was slightly out of breath, which made James smile “yes?”

“Do you recall asking me whether or not Regulus and Barty were dating?” James was suddenly very aware of his heartbeat.

“I do” he said, an Evan smiled pleased “Well, even though i have no clue why you asked me. I just wanted to inform you that they no longer are. They broke up just last night, pretty brutal i heard”

James resented himself for the fact that he was fighting a smile “Oh, any particular reason?” he asked, to try and sound discreet.

Evan laughed at that “My dear oblivious Potter, I'm gonna let you figure that one out for yourself. See ya”

And then Evan was gone, and James was left dumbfounded. It's not like this was the first time he had been called out on his tendencies to miss things. But he was genuinely confused.

Had it been something absolutely terrible, that had just gone over his head? Or something so simple that it would probably be more embarrassing that he hadn't figured it out?

James didn't tell Sirius, in fear of his recent revelations coming to light. He kept it to himself, which he would come to realise, was a horrible decision.

James was heading towards the infirmary. This full moon had been hard on Remus, so he was going to ask madam Pomfrey for some more pain relievers.

“Mr. Black please allow me to tell the headmaster, we cannot have this behaviour from our students” James had never turned a corner so fast in his life.

“Mr. Potter? Mr. Lupin was released this morning, so what can I help you with?” Madam Pomfrey sounded tired, placing a clearly annoyed hand on her hip as she spoke.

But James did not respond. His eyes were locked on Regulus, sitting with his feet hanging off the bed, and blood dripping from his nose.

He had a bruised jaw, his lip bleeding as well, and James felt his own blood boiling “Was it those Hufflepuffs again?” He tried to mask his anger.

“Hufflepuffs? Mr. Black you said you didn't see a face?” Madam Pomfrey looked pissed now “I did not, it wasn't the same people Potter. Please just leave it”

James noticed Regulus hand shaking, as he went to wipe off some blood.

“Pain relievers. Remus is in so much pain, so could I maybe bring him some extra?” James had turned his attention back on madam Pomfrey.

“Sure, i'll be back” she sighed, and disappeared behind a door.

“Give me a name. Now” James had walked over to stand directly in front of Regulus.

“No”

He looked at him with a cold glare, but James saw right through it.

Regulus went to wipe his lip, but James took the cloth beside them, taking over.

He had expected to be pushed away, yelled at even. But Regulus had simply placed his hands in his lap, letting James clean off the blood, though keeping his eyes on the ground.

“Please Regulus…I need to know who did this” Regulus ' eyes flickered up, his gaze landing directly on James, making him feel dizzy.

“Even if I did tell you, it wouldn't change anything..” Regulus said that, with such hopelessness in his voice.

James put down the cloth, allowing himself to just study Regulus' face. Usually by now, he would've been pushed away, knowing Regulus has some serious issues with physical touch.

So he let himself drown in it. The slightest feeling, that in this moment, Regulus trusted him.

James closed his eyes, knowing his next sentence would ruin his fantasy.

“It wouldn't have anything to do with Crouch, would it?” James watched Regulus eyes darken “No”

Heels clicking on the floor, let James know that his time was up “Here you go Potter, now i really need to finish examining Mr. Black” Madam Pomfrey handed him the bottle, whooshing him away.

“But-”
“No. I'm sure you have plenty of homework, just waiting to be done”

James started to walk out, feeling incredibly defeated. He chose to turn and look back at Regulus, who surprisingly was already looking at him.

“Snivellus”

This was just enough information, for James to know who to absolutely ruin, and for Madam Pomfrey to be clueless.

James ordered an official Marauders meeting that night. They hadn't actually held one of those since fourth year, but it felt like the only solution.

“It's honestly quite scary when James is angry” Peter said, having joined them in their little circle on the floor.

“It's bloody brilliant, that's what it is. Now tell us what's going on, Moony has been dying to know all day” Sirius said, earning an eyeroll from Remus.

“Right because I've always been the most excited to do pranks” Remus said, making James smile.

“It has come to my attention, that we have another reason to absolutely despise Snivellus” James said, and Sirius lit up like a child on Christmas morning.

“Pads, I'm gonna need you to remain calm as I let you know this information okay?” Sirius nodded suspiciously.

“A couple weeks ago, I found out that a couple of older hufflepuffs had beat up Regulus. And today it happened again, only it wasn't the hufflepuffs. It was-”

“Snivellus beat up my little brother?!” Sirius had stood up, but Remus had quickly gotten him to sit back down.

“Correct, and I am angry too. But for this one, we have to be more careful. But that doesn't mean we go any less hard” James then pulled out a long list of spells and hexes, that they had yet to use.

The next morning in charms, conveniently enough, Snape and his friends were doing a presentation.

Snape held up his stupid little note cards to speak, but funny enough, no words came out. The look on his face was priceless.

As he tried even harder to get a word out, a monkey noise escaped his lips. He instantly covered his mouth and the entire class started laughing.

James looked over at Sirius, to give him the green light. Sirius flicked his wand under the table, muttering a few words.

James was starting to doubt that the spell would work. but Merlin was he wrong. A wet patch started to appear down Snapes leg. He looked down horrified, accidentally letting out another monkey noise.

He then ran out of the classroom, followed by his slimy little friends.

James couldn't remember the last time he had laughed that hard. It took their teacher almost ten minutes to calm the entire class down.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?”

Lily had hit him repeatedly with a book, the second they had arrived back at the common room.

“Lil, Lily. stop. We had a very valid reason” Remus grabbed the book from her hands. “We?! You were in on this?” she asked.

“Lily, Snape and his friends beat up Regulus” Sirius said, making her freeze in place.

“Oh, but why would he even-”

“For being gay” Remus told her, and she went pale. She gulped, but then a smile appeared on her lips “You could've gone harder on him” she said making Sirius audibly gasp.

“Lily Evans, are you saying that you actually agree with this prank?” James asked her in all seriousness, making her giggle “Yes James, for once i actually do”