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“So,” Isaac said softly as he and Max boarded the carriage to Hogsmeade. From there, they'd Floo to their individual synagogues to meet with their rabbis. It was early November, and Isaac had noticed, over the past few days, that things between Max and Regulus had gotten strange. “Are you going to tell me why you and Reg are fighting?”
Max shrugged. “We’re not.”
“Max,” Isaac said. “I know you. You haven't been all over him in a whole week. You're pissed at him.”
“You heard what he said.”
Isaac rolled his eyes. “I also heard you defending him when he told us what his parents taught him about Muggleborns. That's not it. This started at the feast.”
Isaac didn't take pleasure in Max’s obvious discomfort, not really, but it did mean he was close, so he didn't think he could be blamed for feeling a bit triumphant. Just a bit. “What did you two talk about that has you so upset?”
“It's stupid,” Max said.
“Oh, so if it's stupid, you should forgive him and move on.”
Max crossed his arms. “I suggested Sirius might fancy Lupin rather than Evans, and Reg insisted it was impossible.”
And that made sense. Max and Regulus had never said as much, of course, but Isaac would eat his hat if either of them turned out to be straight. Regulus especially. Isaac considered how to broach the topic without forcing Max to out himself… or implying that he suspected Regulus was as straight as Max was (read: not at all).
“You know,” he tried, “with his family, I'm sure he's never considered the possibility.”
“That doesn't make it okay,” Max said. “Besides, you've heard about his uncle.”
“Max,” Isaac said. “You know how racist his parents are - why are you surprised they're homophobic, too?”
“I'm not surprised his parents are homophobic.”
Honestly, Isaac should be getting paid for this. He sincerely doubted that Regulus was interested in girls at all, and Isaac couldn't really fathom how that had to feel coming from a family that was virtually the polar opposite of the Scamanders. Isaac wouldn't be surprised if Max’s parents knew about him, but with Regulus…
“He's our friend,” Isaac said, “and if he's homophobic, then shouldn't we try to help him not be that way?”
“You're just the bloody ally of the year, aren't you? Do you even know any gay people?”
Yes, Isaac thought, I live with two of them. “Do you?”
Max shifted uncomfortably. “A few.”
“My cousin Ruthie, on my Mum’s side,” Isaac said, “she's a lesbian.”
“Oh,” Max said.
“Not everyone has had the privilege to be raised by people as open-minded and loving as your parents. I don't think we can fault Reg for that.”
“But you fault him for the racist bollocks.”
“I didn't fault him for telling us how his parents think. It was upsetting, but he's trying to work through it, isn't he?”
“That's the difference! He's not trying to work through this!”
“I don't think he knows how , Max,” Isaac said. “Which is why I said we should try to help him.”
“That doesn't mean…”
“It can still hurt,” Isaac said. But, he thought, it probably hurt at least as much to be in Regulus’s position: an obviously gay boy living in an extremely homophobic household. “Reg’s a good person… and you know as well as I do that we're his only friends.”
“We're all each other’s only friends,” Max said.
“And friends help friends.”
Max looked as though he wanted to say something, and Isaac wondered if he was going to tell him he was gay, but then Max crossed his arms and looked out the window. “That doesn’t mean I need to like how he’s acting”
“Of course not,” Isaac agreed. “But he is our friend.”
Max was still clearly trying to avoid Regulus a month later, so Isaac caught him alone while Regulus was at Quidditch practise.
“Max, seriously.”
“What?”
“You’re still avoiding him.”
“I’m not avoiding anyone,” Max said, not making eye contact, “besides Sirius, because he keeps insisting I fancy Evans, too – and I don’t.”
Isaac sighed. “Max, you’re a really terrible liar, you know that?”
“You didn’t hear what he said,” Max said.
“Then tell me.”
Max worried at his lower lip. “He said – gay purebloods don’t exist, that there’s no difference between gay purebloods and straight ones because they’ve all got to carry on their family lines.”
Isaac couldn’t understand how that hadn’t been a giant flashing signal to Max that Regulus wasn’t straight. Surely an actually straight pureblood wouldn’t say anything like that. “Max, look, clearly this is – impacting you more than it is me,” Isaac said instead. “And I’m not going to ask you to – do or say anything you’re not comfortable with. But can’t you consider why he might’ve said that?”
“So if he’d said he couldn’t possibly marry a Muggleborn or a Half-Blood or a Jew you’d – say the same thing?”
“I mean, yeah,” Isaac said. “His family’s shit, mate, and he’s got loads to work through. And I’m sure, right now, he thinks he couldn’t possibly marry a Muggleborn, or a Half-Blood, or a Jew.”
He noticed how Max seemed to withdraw at that. Oh, for fuck’s sake.
“But that doesn’t mean he’s right, you know,” Isaac said. “We’re twelve, Max, how many of us – how many people know how the rest of their lives are going to work out when they’re our age? Regulus could – very well end up marrying a Half-Blood Jew, for all we know.”
Max scoffed. “I doubt that.”
“He’s clearly afraid of being disowned,” Isaac said. “In his position, he’s probably not – letting himself even consider that he might end up married to anyone other than some Pureblood Slytherin witch his parents choose for him. I know – when my dad told me that when he was our age, he was mad for some goyische Gryffindor Pureblood.”
“That’s different,” Max said.
“You and I have good parents who love us. Reg doesn’t – he doesn’t have that, and you know that. You think Sirius would be – acting like he is if there was anyone else in that family who cared about him besides his younger brother? If he’d ever been taught how to process his feelings instead of bottling them up?”
“No,” Max said, which was something, at least.
“Neither do I,” Isaac said. “And I think if we want – Reg to turn out like a normal functioning adult, we can probably help him. He’ll probably always have issues, but – he won’t end up like his brother.”
“I don’t like hearing him talk like that,” Max said.
Isaac sighed. “Neither do I, but if no one ever tells him why it’s wrong, how is he actually going to learn? And – honestly, my bar mitzvah is coming up, and if the two of you are still fighting then, I’m going to have to take drastic measures. Reg loves you, you know, and it’s clearly hurting him that you’re avoiding him.”
Max frowned. “I know. But – I really can’t stand to hear him say things like that.”
“Then talk to him about it and ask him not to say things like that. And if he says anything like that that bothers you, tell him that it bothers you.”
“Yeah, maybe,” Max said.
To say it was frustrating to have to lay all of this out for Max would be the understatement of the year. He typically thought that Max was better with people than he was, but for all of his own faults, Isaac was never so avoidant of conflict. To make matters worse, Regulus clearly wasn't going out of his way to talk to Max about it, either (and, well, given what Isaac knew about Regulus's home life, he couldn't blame him). How best, then, to put it in perspective for Max?
“How’d you feel if you said something stupid about Muggles and I stopped talking to you for a month and a half without telling you why I wasn’t talking to you?”
“I haven’t stopped talking to him,” Max said.
“Max.”
“I’d feel awful,” Max said.
“So…?”
“I’ll – try to talk to him, Isaac, but I really can’t – I really can’t stand to hear him say things like that.”
Isaac hesitated, thought that this was probably a major breach of privacy, but then Regulus hadn't said anything, not outright, and then said, “Max, I’m only telling you this because – because I am seriously concerned that you might be ruining one of your closest friendships. You can’t tell anyone, okay?”
“Okay?”
“I mean it – no one. This stays between you and I. Don’t tell your parents, or Jacob, or Emmeline, or anyone.”
“Okay, okay, I won’t tell anyone,” Max said.
“I really – I don’t think Regulus is doing this, acting this way, because he’s homophobic.”
Max rolled his eyes. “Isaac.”
“Let me finish,” Isaac said. “I think – and I’ve thought for ages, really – that Regulus isn’t quite – as straight as he lets on. And I don’t know, or anything, and he hasn’t said anything outright, like that, but it’s been loads of little things that have been adding up. Like, you notice, he never talks about girls at all.”
“Maybe he’s a late bloomer,” Max said.
“Just consider it. You and I – we know our families would accept us if we were – not straight,” Isaac said. “But everyone knows Reg’s family wouldn’t, except maybe his brother.”
“You really think he’s gay?”
“Yeah,” Isaac said. “I really do. I don’t think he’s realised it yet, but – we both know it’s – how you’re born. It doesn’t change. If you’re gay, you were born that way, and if you’re straight, you were born that way.”
“Or if you’re bisexual,” Max said.
“What?” Isaac asked. Where had that come from? Neither Regulus nor Max seemed remotely interested in girls beyond basic friendship.
“If you like both. Jacob says he is.”
“Okay,” Isaac said, “but he was still – born that way. And we know Reg’s uncle is gay.”
“Look, Isaac,” Max said, “I’ll talk to him when I get a second alone with him, but I don’t think – we shouldn’t be speculating about his sexuality. It feels – wrong, somehow.”
“I’m just saying,” Isaac said, “I don’t think the issue is him being homophobic.”
“I’ll talk to him,” Max said.
"You'd better," Isaac said as firmly as he could manage. "Or else I'll have to take drastic measures."
"Yes, Mum," Max said, rolling his eyes. "Now, to completely change the subject – what colour yarmulkes are you getting for your bar mitzvah?"