Chapter 7: Sirius Is The Worst Roommate Ever
Notes:
You guys are the best, Silence now has over 100 kudos!!! this is coming out early as a thank you 3
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Sirius finds out on the second weekend of December. James and Regulus had planned to meet up, a very normal thing for them to do by now, they'd been friends for over a month at this point, they only kept their friendship a secret because Regulus didn't feel safe at home, and James could understand that, he'd heard the horror stories from Sirius. But it was a Hogsmead weekend, and James always went out unless he had a detention, so Sirius grew suspicious and decided to track James with the map, following behind him at enough distance that he wouldn't be heard if he greeted someone. He'd walked into the Tower almost five minutes after James, and stopped in his tracks when he saw James sitting and talking with Regulus.
"What in the name of Merlin am I seeing?" Sirius had walked halfway across the room before he'd spoken, and he managed to make even Regulus jolt.
"Padfoot, what are you doing here?" James' face had gone pale, and Regulus was glaring at his brother, Sirius just crossed his arms and pointedly looked between them both. James was panicking and he knew Sirius could see he was panicking.
"I'm here because you never told us where you were going." Sirius continued staring James down, ignoring his brother. "So, are you gonna tell me why you're sneaking around with my baby brother?"
Before James could say anything, a balled-up piece of parchment hit Sirius in the face, finally bringing his attention to a still glaring Regulus. "Reg? Are you gonna explain this?" Sirius was un-crumpling the parchment, reading over what'd been written. James couldn't see what had been written, but Sirius' eyebrows climbed his forehead as he read, and then looked between the two of them.
"Right, well, you two have fun, Reg, we're talking about this, James, good luck mate." Sirius shook his head at his brother, a smile on his face. He left the tower, still smiling.
"You alright?" James asked, he knew Regulus didn't want Sirius to know about their friendship.
Yeah, I'm all good, I'll just have to keep an eye on him at home. James nodded, he'd told both the Blacks they were welcome at the Potter house, but they'd both declined, James wished they'd come and leave that terrible house.
"Alright, if you're sure, so what are you planning for the Christmas holidays?" James tried to redirect the conversation, and it worked, he and Regulus spent the next half hour talking, a comfortable flow of conversation between them.
~
Regulus was dreading the conversation with Sirius. He didn't want his brother to know, he'd end up telling everyone that would listen, and he couldn't deal with that, he couldn't deal with James finding out Regulus was his soulmate, couldn't deal with losing James.
Regulus stared down at the parchment in front of him, he was sitting in the library, in a corner near the restricted area, Regulus had tried to sneak into there, he'd gotten in, but none of the books interested him, he had better ones at Grimmauld. Sirius finally sat down across from him, throwing his head back to get his long hair out of his eyes.
"So, are you going to tell me why you were hiding up in the Astronomy Tower with James?" Sirius asked, eyeing his little brother with veiled amusement.
'Not that it's any of your business who I hang out with, James and I have been friends for a while, I asked him not to tell you.' Regulus watched his brother read what he'd written, a nervous fluttering in his stomach.
"Alright, but there's more, I can see it on your face, what aren't you telling me?" Sirius asked, always in tune with Regulus' moods. Regulus rolled his eyes before he started writing.
'Okay, but you can't freak out, alright?' Regulus waited for confirmation from his brother before he continued,' James said my words, that time outside the Gryffindor opening, he's my soulmate.' Sirius read over his words and nodded.
Paused.
And then he exploded.
"James! James is your soulmate! But how, he doesn't have any words– OH MY GOD! Reg, James is your soulmate!" Sirius spoke the words as fast as they came to mind, excitement and amusement sparkling in his eyes, Regulus sent him a glare.
'Tell all of Hogwarts why don't you? Or even better send a letter to Mother and see how she reacts.' Regulus knew he was being mean, but Sirius didn't need to go about yelling about how Regulus' soulmate was a Blood Traitor.
"Sorry Reg, but can you really blame me for being excited? You're my brother and he's my best friend, you're two of the most important people in my life." Sirius still had a goofy smile on his face, his eyes bright, Regulus was going to strangle him for being so sappy.
'Thank you for your blessing it means oh so much to me, besides, James doesn't know, so you've got to stop being so excited, nothing is going to come of it.' Regulus had an idea of how James would react, most likely with disgust or pity, and Regulus couldn't blame him, everyone and their mother knew James was in love with Lily Evans and had been for years.
"What do you mean he doesn't know, you haven't told him?" Sirius immediately looked concerned, it warmed Regulus' heart more than he would ever admit.
'No, I haven't told him, we have just been able to become friends in secret, and besides, he's in love with Evans.' Regulus knew that even if James did return his feelings, they wouldn't be able to do anything, not with Regulus still living under Walburga's roof and on the way to becoming a Death Eater, Regulus wouldn't be able to take the pain of it, so he wouldn't even try.
"Reg, Lily and James have been just friends for years, I'm pretty sure she's dating Mary." A spark of hope ignited in Regulus' chest at his brother's words, but he quickly tamped it down, they still couldn't be anything, even if James didn't fancy Evans.
'Thanks, Sirius, I'll think about it.' Sirius and Regulus both knew that meant he wouldn't change his mind on the matter, but Sirius let it drop, and they continued to talk about mundane things until they finally parted ways and went to dinner.
Notes:
this was so hard idk how to write Sirius from outside perspectives
Again, yall are the best, and you're all my favourite people ever 3