Prefect Duties
"Why are you following me?" Regulus whispered, his voice echoing through the dark empty hallways of Hogwarts.
"Evans paired me up with Lockhart," Barty whined, jogging to catch up with Regulus. "I didn't want to spend two hours patrolling the corridors with him."
Regulus raised an eyebrow at his friend and then rolled his eyes. "You know we'll be in trouble if they find that we're slacking off?"
Barty sent him a look of confusion and then smirked. "What happened to your partner?"
"Well, put it this way," Regulus said slowly. "I was paired with Snape."
"And I thought that my partner was bad!" Barty said, his voice sympathetic. Regulus nodded and gave him a wry smile.
"So I guess it's just us now," he said.
"It'll be much better that way," Barty replied. "What did Evans and Potter send you to do anyway?"
"Astronomy Tower," Regulus said in a bored voice. "As if anybody's going to be up there at night anyway."
"Let's go," Barty said, leading the way up to the Astronomy Tower. When they emerged from the door leading to the Tower, they could hear voices above them. Barty grinned mischievously at Regulus, who grinned back.
They tip-toed quietly up the stairs, listening carefully to see if they could hear who the voices belonged to.
They heard a whisper of "I love you", and Regulus peered over the top of the railing of the stairs to see who it was.
He nearly fell backwards down the stairs when he saw who had spoken those words.
"Who is it?" Barty whispered excitedly.
Regulus was still recovering from the sight he'd seen. "It was... my brother," he said quietly. "My brother's gay!"
Barty jumped up immediately to have a look. He stared for a good minute at the two Gryffindors kissing. Regulus finally pulled Barty down to the stairs again.
"Pervert," he muttered, looking slightly amused. "We have to kick them out. It's after curfew."
"Didn't you get a good look at them?" Barty asked.
"No, actually," Regulus said. "I decided I didn't want to watch my brother having homosexual relations-"
"-Homosexual relations?" Barty snorted.
"Well, yes. That's what it is."
"I was going to say that we can't kick them out because the guy he's kissing is Remus Lupin," Barty said. "He's a prefect, too."
"Well let's kick Sirius out!" Regulus said, a little too loudly.
"Who's there?" came the familiar voice of Sirius Black.
"Nobody!" Barty yelled back, receiving a glare from Regulus. "What?" Barty added, quickly. "He might think we're ghosts or something."
Sirius's head suddenly appeared from over the top of the railing they were hiding behind, and the expression he wore was furious.
"Oh, if it isn't my nosy little brother," he commented.
"I'm not being nosy," Regulus said, feeling slightly annoyed. "I'm just doing my prefect duties."
"Well," Sirius replied, coughing in a slightly embarrassed way. "Remus is only doing his prefect duties."
"I don't remember reading 'kissing the most big-headed creep in Gryffindor' as a rule in the 'Prefect Duties Manual', Sirius."
"Was that an attempt to be funny?" Sirius asked.
Regulus huffed and folded his arms. "Wait till I tell Mum and Dad about this."
"Um, in case you haven't noticed, I'm 'no son of theirs' anymore, so why should they care who I'm kissing?"
"He's got a point there," Barty said unhelpfully. Regulus threw him an annoyed look.
"Well," Sirius said loudly. "As fun as this has been, I'm afraid Remus and I have to get going."
"Good," Regulus said.
"Come on, Rem," Sirius said, barging past Regulus and Barty hand-in-hand with Remus Lupin. When the door slammed at the bottom of the stairs, Barty burst out laughing.
"What's so funny?" Regulus asked.
"You're brother's gay," Barty said, falling back against the railing as he laughed.
"And why's that funny?"
"Nothing, don't worry," Barty said.
"Tell me!"
It took Barty a moment to stop laughing, and then he let out a deep breath. "I read somewhere that gayness runs in families."
"What?" Regulus said, looking amused. "Where the hell did you read that? That's complete nonsense!"
"Just because you're scared it'll happen to you too," Barty said, smirking.
"It'll never happen to me," Regulus said matter-of-factly. "I'm not that disgust-"
He was cut off as Barty pressed their lips together. Regulus's brain seemed unable to function for a second. What the hell is happening, he thought as he felt his best friend's mouth move against his. He kissed back, even though he didn't know why he was doing it.
It felt good.
Barty ran his fingers through Regulus's hair, while pulling them closer together at the same time. The kiss was getting more and more heated with every little touch.
Finally, Regulus opened his eyes and gently pushed Barty away from him. "W-what was that?"
Barty looked flushed, and a mixture of nervous and embarrassed. "I... just... I'm sorry."
"You kissed me!"
"Well done," Barty said sarcastically. "You're a genius, you are."
"Why did you kiss me?" Regulus demanded.
"Because I wanted to," Barty replied, looking down at the floor. "I... well, I've wanted to for quite some time now."
Regulus couldn't quite make sense of anything. His best friend had just kissed him. His male best friend had just kissed him, and Regulus had enjoyed it.
"Do you, er, have feelings for me or something?" Regulus asked awkwardly, feeling his cheeks heat up.
Barty gave a nervous laugh and then looked straight into Regulus's eyes. "I guess I do."
"Well that's just..." Regulus wasn't quite sure what he wanted to say – he was too shocked to register anything at the moment.
"Just what?"
"Just extremely unexpected," Regulus replied, not knowing how to react to this new revelation.
"Do you hate me?" Barty asked, looking slightly scared. "Will you tell everyone?"
Regulus stared at his best friend for a moment and then sighed. "No, of course not. I just... I don't know how I'm supposed to react."
"Well," Barty said carefully. "I kissed you... and if I'm not mistaken, you kissed me back..."
"I was just shocked, and I didn't want to be rude by not kissing you back," Regulus said lamely.
"Will you let me kiss you again?" Barty asked quietly.
"That's absurd!" Regulus said quickly, backing away. His head was going crazy with thoughts of how amazing it would feel to kiss Barty again, but yet he didn't want to. It would just complicate things further.
"Sorry, it was stupid of me to ask," Barty said, flushing.
"Yeah, it was," Regulus replied. He stared at Barty for a second and then he couldn't help himself – he stepped forwards and pulled his best friend in for a kiss.
It was different from the first one in that it wasn't so desperate or rushed or hungry. It was more of an exploration of feelings, and it was so sweet that Regulus didn't want it to ever end.
When they pulled apart, they stared at each other for a moment and then Barty smiled.
"So what was it that you were saying about never being gay?" he asked.
Regulus couldn't help but smile back, lean forwards, and kiss Barty once more. He could get used to this.
~THE END~