An Unexpected Alliance
Third person
While Lily and James were busy figuring out their messes, an unlikely alliance had formed. Mary and Regulus had been meeting up in unused classrooms and were constructing a master plot. “I am just so confused Reg! Does she love me or him? She’s sending horribly mixed signals.” Mary complained, leaning her head against the cold stone wall. Regulus, who sat on the ground next to her, felt her troubles on a personal level. “I know what you mean. One minute he’s looking at me like I’m the only person in the world, and the next he’s staring at her.” Regulus confided. “I wish we weren’t both gay, then we could just say, ‘fuck them, let’s date.’ It’s not fair.” Mary chuckled. “The problem is, we would both very much like to fuck them.” Regulus snorted. “You know, I never expected you to be funny.” Mary told him, looking over at the pale skinned boy. “That’s fair.” Regulus confirmed.
They hadn’t planned to become friends, they had just seen each other struggling with the same problem and had decided to band together to solve it. It wasn’t exactly going well, they had only reached dead ends. Regulus had suggested they kill the other person that Lily and James loved, but Mary had quickly reminded him that they would have both ended up unhappy with that plan. After that, they had decided to run recon for each other. Regulus would gain information on Lily’s feelings toward Mary, and Mary would do the same with James. That plan had actually gotten them much farther than the first. Regulus discovered from listening to Remus and Lily that the redheaded girl loved Mary as well as James. Mary had simply asked James who he had a crush on and it turned out that James was more than happy for someone to listen to his predicament. This had led them to meeting today to figure out their next steps.
“So we know that they both love us, but they also love each other.” Mary stated plainly. “Pretty much.” Regulus confirmed. “How do we make them realize that they only want us?” Mary asked. “We could just convince them that we’re each the better fit for them, then make them think it was their idea all along.” She suggested. “That makes you sound manipulative as fuck.” The gray eyed boy notified her, twirling his wand around. “Do you have any plans that aren’t? This whole operation is pure manipulation.” She said with exasperation. “We could let them come to us? Ignore them until they figure themselves out. They say distance brings fondness.” Regulus offered, sounding surprisingly sane. “You know, that’s actually not a bad idea. Let them miss us instead of us trying to trick them.” Mary said thoughtfully. The duo had concluded that this would be the best course of action and left the empty classroom, saying they would meet there, same time, two weeks later and discuss any updates via owl.
A week had passed just as they always did, but a few noticed a disturbance in the normal pattern within the group of Gryffindors who were often found with the marauders. Mary Macdonald was missing from the usual group of girls. Leaving only Maralene and Lily. The last third of this trio had settled for sitting with her friend Dorcas at the Slytherin table. Dorcas had just so happened to be very close with Regulus so she had an excuse to see him as well. They did do much talking in public, Mary was a halfblood, it could have been dangerous for her to be in league with a Black, people may go after her for it, saying she was corrupting Regulus with her disgraceful blood. Of course they knew this was bullshit, but Regulus insisted on it to keep the girl safe, just until he could leave that bloody hell hole of a house. Mary still saw Lily when she came back to the dorm at night, but she said very few words to her. Even though this had all been part of the plan, Mary was really hurt about how Lily was indirectly playing with her feelings. Even if she knew that you couldn’t help who you fell in love with.
Regulus had a much easier time avoiding James. At first he hadn’t thought it possible, the messy haired Gryffindor alway had a way of finding Regulus when he didn’t want to be found. It had only taken two cold stares and three avoidant conversations for James to catch the hint. Regulus was growing to miss him, it had only been six days. It all made the black hair boy realize how deeply he felt for the silly, hazel eyed fool. He had really hoped this plan would work. He knew he would have been torn to pieces if it hadn’t. He didn’t really mean any of the cold glares that he had sent James, nor did he put any malice into the demands to be left alone. He loved James too much to let himself put any real force into this.
The plan had finally taken a turn on the night before the next classroom meetup. It was late, nearly two in the morning when Regulus sat on the astronomy tower, letting the cool wind brush through his hair. He was simply allowing himself to become lost in thought. He was staring at the canis major constellation when he picked up on muffled footsteps trailing up the stairs. He knew that he recognized the pattern of this particular person, but he wasn’t able to pinpoint. The steps were too quiet to be a teacher, so he knew that he wasn’t in danger of receiving detention. Suddenly, the owner of the footsteps revealed himself by shrugging off an invisibility cloak and speaking in a hushed voice. “Why are you avoiding him?” The person asked with desperate curiosity. “Sirius, what are you on about?” the younger Black sighed. His brother took a seat beside him.
“Why are you avoiding James?” Sirius asked again, making his point more clear this time. “I’m not avoiding anyone, not that it should be any of your concern.” Regulus replied harshly. The brothers had a rather hard relationship the past few years, though it had lightened up the past few months. “It is my concern because my best friend is crying to me about how he thinks he did something to make you hate him.” Sirius replied shortly. “I couldn’t hate him, not if I tried.” Regulus murmured thoughtfully. The point of his plan had not been to make James upset, he had just wanted to allow him some space to figure himself out. “Then why won’t you talk to him? Reggie, he’s a mess. I don’t know what happened between the two of you but sort it the fuck out before I do it myself.” Sirius demanded, sounding a bit like a frustrated parent. “We can’t sort what isn’t there! There is no issue to fix. We’re fine.” Regulus said defensively. “You like him.” Sirius said incredulously. He knew that his brother rarely became defensive unless he was dealing with something he didn’t fully understand. Knowing all of his little brother’s quirks and coping mechanisms came with the territory of raising him almost fully on his own.
“I don’t know where you came up with that delusion, but come off it. I don’t love James.” Regulus said, convincing no one. “I never said anything about love Reggie.” Sirius said softly. “Fuck off Sirius.” said the younger brother, who had rose to his feet and began to walk away from the long haired boy. “You can’t just run from your problems, Regulus.” Sirius called as his brother began to descend the stairs. He turned on a heel before saying, “Why not? You did.” He knew it was a low hit, but he didn’t care. He wasn’t just going to sit there while he was lectured about running away by the very person who ran away from his issues at home. He didn’t blame his brother one bit, but that didn’t give Sirius the right to say what he had said to Regulus. So, he walked away as conflicted tears began to well in his brother’s eyes.
The next day, the meeting took place just as it had been, seven o'clock, in an old charms classroom on the third floor. Regulus sat and waited for only five minutes when Mary strolled into the room, closing and locking the door behind her. “What are the updates?” Mary asked, as she took a seat in the chair across from him. “Is James okay?” Regulus asked, ignoring the first question. Mary winced slightly. “Not really, he’s been a bit of a mess recently, after classes he retreats straight to his dorm, only coming out during meal times. The guys seem to know what’s happening, at least a little.” She confided hesitantly. Regulus allowed his head to bang against the table. “I’m a horrible person.” He groaned. Mary only patted his shoulder, not knowing what else to do. “Sirius confronted me and now he knows that I love him.” Regulus mumbled, his head still stuck to the table. “Oh fuck. What did he say? Was he decent about it?” Mary asked nervously. “He actually didn’t give much of a reaction.” Regulus replied, not wanting to tell her too much about the interaction. “New plan, we go up to them, and ask them out.” Mary declared. Regulus lifted his head up in shock. “Where the fuck did that come from?” He asked, raising a brow.
“Who are we?” She asked, oddly. “Regulus Black and Mary Macdonald?” Regulus answered, sounding lost. “Exactly, you’re the Regulus Black. The cunning, overly intelligent, hot bastard who doesn't do anything that he doesn’t want to do. I am Mary Macdonald, the infamous man killer, who goes for what she wants, not giving a fuck about anything or anyone. We shouldn’t be mopping in an empty classroom about two confused ass mother fuckers who can’t figure out who they want to end up with. They could spend all their lives tossing back and forth who they want or who wants them and never know that we love them back. So we have to make the first move. Let them know that we are a viable option for them. When we’re done with them, there will be no other option because we are fucking amazing.” Mary declared. “How long did it take you to write and practice that little monologue?” Regulus asked, sounding impressed. “Almost all of yesterday.” She replied proudly. “Let’s do it.” He replied with a cool shrug. Mary looked as though she had to do a double take. “What?” She asked, needing clarification. “I said, we should do it. It’s not like we have much to lose, we just ignored them for two weeks. If they say no then at least we’re prepared for what it will be like.” Regulus explained. “I didn’t expect you to actually agree to this.” She said, shocked. “Well, let’s go then. They’re probably both in Gryffindor Tower right now.” Regulus said, dragging Mary by her jumper clad arm. Off to Gryffindor Tower they went.