Chapter 3: And They Were Friends
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Regulus really wished his life was easier right now. He'd just had Arithmancy, and the teacher, after two years, still calls on him, he was still reeling from finding his soulmate, Wilkes had tripped him down the stairs which really fucking hurt his ankle, and now James was walking towards him and he couldn't run away because he hurt his ankle. Why couldn't his life be even slightly easier?
"Oi! Regulus, hey!" Regulus' least favourite person caught up with him and sounded way too fucking happy for the day Regulus was having. Regulus just continued walking, hoping the should've-been-blonde would think he was ignoring him.
"Uh, I just wanted you to know that Sirius told me about, Uhm, what happened when you were a baby, I wanted to see if you wanted to meet in the library after classes? Just so we can, uh, talk in private." Regulus was going to murder his brother in cold blood. He was going to strangle him and then throw him into the Black Lake. Regulus continued to ignore the bumbling man and make his way to lunch.
"Alright then, see you around Regulus." James finally left and Regulus felt like he should have been applauded for how calmly he acted through that whole very one-sided interaction.
~
James pulled out the map with a sigh, he didn't expect Regulus to show up, but he would have liked to be surprised.
"I solemnly swear I am up to no good." He whispered this as quiet as the map would accept, he didn't need anyone finding out the best-kept secret of the Marauders. He checked the map for Regulus, expecting him to be in the dungeons, but was pleasantly surprised to see that he was up in the Astronomy Tower. James put closed the map and put it into his bag. Standing up and making his way up to the Astronomy Tower.
James smiled when he saw Regulus was still up here. He was sitting next to a railing looking down at a parchment he was holding, probably reading it. James walked over to go sit by him, but before he could get halfway Regulus looked up at him and folded up the parchment he was holding, moving to get up.
"Hey, wait, don't pack up, I just want to talk to you." Regulus glared at him, put stopped packing up and sat back against the corner.
"Sirius said you sent him a letter, he called me a snitch, do you have any idea what that means?" James let himself drop to the floor, sitting opposite Regulus in another corner, they were close enough to bump their feet together. Regulus just stared at him for a second, before looking at his bag and back up at James.
"Do you need parchment? I have some." James began going through his bag and pulled out a piece of parchment, holding it out to Regulus, who had that same shocked look from Friday. Regulus took the parchment and pulled out the quill he'd put into his bag earlier.
'It's some muggle saying, he was saying you told someone a secret.' Regulus' handwriting was neat and slightly curly on the g 's and y 's, James read over the words quickly and huffed out a quiet laugh.
"Then he was the snitch, he told me your secret." Regulus nodded a little, staring at the parchment.
"So, what are you doing up here, it's bloody cold." James pulled his jumper tighter around himself. It was the middle of bloody November and almost curfew! James had no idea why Regulus would want to be up here in the cold. He hesitated before he started writing.
'My star is out tonight.' James looked up at the sky after he finished writing, looking for the star. Six years of Astronomy with Sirius Orion Black III had taught him more about the stars than James would have wanted.
"That one right? The heart of Leo?" James pointed up at the star he was talking about, looking at Regulus for confirmation, only to see an awestruck boy staring at him with his mouth hanging slightly open.
'You know where Regulus is?' This time his handwriting wasn't as neat, because he'd scribbled it as fast as he could, which was honestly quite fast.
"Of course I do, I take Astronomy the same as you." Regulus shook his head and huffed out what could have been a laugh. Surprisingly like Sirius whenever Moony says something weirdly romantic.
'Why are you up here Potter?' Regulus raised his eyebrow as James read.
"Please, call me James, and I just wanted to talk with you, when I first said hi you kind of bolted." Regulus looked at his face for a moment, just looking and then looked straight down and started writing.
'Ok, James . I ran because I didn't expect you to be there. And I'm pretty sure my Mother would lose it if she heard that I'd spoken to a Potter.' The underline under his name made James chuckle, and then he looked up at Regulus and raised his eyebrow.
"You didn't expect me, a Gryffindor, to be near the Gryffindor entrance?" James could feel his lips pull up into an amused smile. Regulus rolled his eyes.
"I'm glad you were just surprised, when you ran I thought you were afraid of me or something." James ran a hand through his hair, he could feel his cheeks heat up with embarrassment. Regulus shook his head.
They sat and talked for a little while longer until James couldn't feel his fingers and Regulus was running out of parchment when James looked up at a clock and saw that it was 15 minutes until curfew and cursed. He pulled Regulus up and they started running down the stairs. Regulus let out a laugh, it didn't sound like a usual laugh, but it was definitely a laugh, it lit Regulus' face up with joy. James almost tripped down the stairs and was delighted to hear the same sound again.
They parted ways once they left the Tower, Regulus still running and throwing a wide wave over his shoulder with a bright smile taking up his face. James ran into a wall and broke his glasses.
Notes:
I'm writing a timetable for their classes btw if anyone wants that comment and I'll post it