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James slowly pulled the Invisibility Cloak over his head, clutching the Marauder’s Map in his hand. He tumbled out of his bed and, quietly, careful for the floor not to creak, slipped out of the dormitory.
Then, he made his way out of the Common Room, and down the halls, into the dungeon. There, leaning on the wall, next to the entrance, was Regulus Black.
James pulled the Cloak off of himself and grinned. Regulus blinked in surprise but then, a soft smile made its way up his cheeks.
“Hi,” he said.
“Hey,” James said, still grinning. Then, he gestured to Regulus. “I’ll never understand how you manage to get out of there unseen.”
Regulus’ smile turned into a smug one. He took a step closer to James, his fingers meeting with the latter’s chest.
“I have my tricks,” he said. “Ones that aren’t as obvious as an Invisibility Cloak and a magic map.”
James’ cheeks burned as he stared down at Regulus.
“Come on,” Regulus said, his hand dropping down and finding James’. “It’s still warm tonight, we can hang out outside.”
Both tucked under the Invisibility Cloak, they made their way out onto the Hogwarts’ grounds, onto the lawn and eventually under a tree, James’ head in Regulus’ lap. Regulus pulled a book out of his bag and started reading as James stared up at him with a fond smile.
It was perfect.
And then, Regulus’ eyes shifted from the pages to James’ face. James grinned and Regulus felt his cheeks grow hot.
“Why do you always just stare at me?” he asked sheepishly. “Don’t you have anything to do?”
James shrugged. “Maybe. But I like staring at you. You’re so focused when you’re reading. Makes you very pretty.”
Regulus’ face burned even hotter. He huffed. “Stop that.”
“It’s true!” James exclaimed, a chuckle escaping his throat.
“Why don’t you ever read?” Regulus grumbled. “It wouldn’t hurt you.”
James’ smile turned into somewhat of a grimace, his eyes drifting away from Regulus’, and he shrugged again, this time not so confidently. “Dunno. I can’t really… understand it. If it’s long paragraphs with long sentences my brain just can’t process it unless I focus really hard . And that’s exhausting.”
Regulus blinked. Merlin . Why had he said that, it was so rude—
James laughed nervously. “I guess I’m just dumb.”
“No,” Regulus said immediately. James snapped his eyes back to him, his brows furrowing. “I didn’t mean it like that,” Regulus continued. “It was— It was stupid. You’re not dumb because you can’t focus, that’s not your fault.”
James’ gaze dropped somewhere behind Regulus’ head and he mumbled something inaudible.
“Hey.” Regulus lifted James’ chin, forcing him to look at him. “What if I read to you aloud? Would that be nice?”
James’ eyes lit up. “Ye—Yes. That would be very nice.”
Regulus smiled softly and flipped the pages of the book to the beginning. He cleared his throat.
“The studio was filled with the rich odour of roses, and when the light summer wind stirred amidst the trees of the garden, there came through the open door the heavy scent of the lilac, or the more delicate perfume of the pink-flowering thorn…”
And James went back to staring at Regulus, this time with something to listen to as well. Regulus’ voice was soft and confident. He didn’t stammer or trip on his words. His eyes were fixed on the book. James couldn’t contain the smile that made its way up his lips.
An hour passed and James began drifting off in Regulus’ lap. Regulus’ voice had become quieter too, less sure and more tired. Finally, they packed up and made their way back into the castle.
But then, as they walked through the corridors, Regulus realized that James wasn’t leading him to the Slytherin Common Room.
“Love, you still have to walk me back to the dungeons,” he spoke up, gently tapping James on his shoulder as they walked.
“Mmm,” James murmured, grimacing. “You can stay with me, can’t you? I’ll lend you the Cloak and you’ll sneak out before we fall asleep.”
A chuckle escaped Regulus’ throat. The idea of sneaking out felt so absurdly teenage. So blissfully teenage.
“Won’t the others notice the Cloak is gone?” he asked.
“You’ll give it to me at breakfast.” James shrugged. “They’ll be too tired to even think about it before that.”
Regulus chuckled again. “Fine. But I won’t stay for too long.”
A few minutes later, they were already in the Gryffindor dorm room. Regulus was looking around it curiously as James changed into his pyjamas.
“I thought it would look different from mine,” Regulus said. “But it’s just red instead of green.”
Then, suddenly a piece of cloth came flying at him.
“Hey!” he exclaimed, catching it in his hands, and turned back to James who was grinning.
“Put it on,” he said, nodding to the T-shirt he’d thrown at Regulus. “You’re gonna boil in that jumper.”
Regulus remembered saying that he wouldn’t stay too long and definitely knew that putting on James’ T-shirt was the last step he’d take to achieve that, but it was James’ T-shirt . So, of course, he put it on.
And after he did, James pulled him into his tiny dormitory bed. And cast silencing spells around it. And covered them with the duvet, and wrapped his arms around Regulus.
How could he leave then?
So he stayed, cuddled close to James’ bare chest until he felt himself on the edge of falling asleep and forced himself back to reality.
“James,” he whispered, opening his eyes. James was laying next to him, clearly asleep. Regulus knocked his fist against his chest. “Wake up.”
James’ face twisted into a half-asleep grimace and his eyelids fluttered open. “Ow.”
Regulus rolled his eyes, ignoring the smile that was pulling on his lips.
“I have to go,” he said.
“Mhm,” James murmured, tightening his embrace around Regulus. “But maybe you don’t.”
Regulus knew he did have to. But he didn’t want to so badly .
He tried to think about the fact that Sirius would find them and make a scene. About the fact that people at school knowing about their relationship increased the chances of his parents finding out. But he really couldn’t. At that moment he didn’t care because being with James was so perfect.
James nuzzled into his neck. “You don’t.”
So perfect.