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James adjusted his shirt’s collar and looked in the mirror. He did not grow up that much since last year so his uniform still fitted nicely. Putting it on once again, he was feeling kind of nostalgic.
“And where do you project to go like that?”
James turned around, noticing Sirius at the door.
“Why are you already up?” Answered James, a bit surprised to see his best friend wake up so early in the morning.
“You decide to go back to Hogwarts without me? Plus this is such a good idea, I wish I had thought about it earlier.”
“Sirius, for real, don’t come with me. Another time?”
Sirius frowned. “James, why are you going back?”
James only smiled before tightening his necktie.
“James, if you are going for the reason I think about I…”
“You what? It’s fine Sirius, I haven’t seen him for a whole month, he doesn’t want to hang out the weekend because of his work.” He said, rolling his eyes. “If he doesn’t come to me, I’ll go to him.”
“So you are telling me that you elaborated a plan to go back to our dear dorms, see Minnie again, who’s the love of my life by the way, without me, without Moony or even Pete, only to… Sleep with my brother.”
“Exactly.”
“You stay there tonight?”
“Exactly.”
“And what did you tell your parents to cover you up?”
“That I am with Lily, obviously.”
“Obviously…”
James smiles; Lily had been covering him up for months since James and Regulus secretly started dating. He said good bye to Sirius who was going back to sleep and discretely left his house.
James had plan to wake up early for two reasons: he had to take the train to go back to his old school, and he had to mix in with the few students who came back home on the weekend.
Once arrived, he spotted a small group of students heading to the school, carrying their suitcases. Well, he did not bring a suitcase, only a small backpack packed with enough stuff for a night out.
He went through the castle’s door without any problem; he had missed this. He climbed the stairs smiling like an idiot, he knew that Regulus would be in the great hall at this hour, like the whole school was. He spotted the table of the youngest and drew closer to try and find his boyfriend. He saw him sitting with some of his friends, black curls falling around his face, his eyes on his phone. He smiled and discretely approached him.
“He did not send me any messages this morning.” Said the dull voice of Regulus while still staring at his phone.
“Maybe you should send him a message for once, instead of waiting for him to do so.” Said one of his friend.
“No, because then he would know that I miss him and end up doing something stupid like coming here nighttime or kidnapping me.”
“Oh, you miss me Reggie? Don’t worry, I’ll never do such a stupid thing.” Said James, smiling.
Regulus’s face turned blame as he turned around to see James standing behind him.
“Why the hell are you here?!” He cried.
James gently pushed Regulus to sit on the bench next to him, then took a piece of bread on the table and smiled at his boyfriend.
“I’m coming to take my breakfast, with you of course.”
“James, you cannot be here, what if someone saw you… They—” James interrupted him before he could finish.
“They what? They’ll give me a punishment? I’m not part of the establishment anymore, they can’t do anything.” James smiled.
Regulus kept staring at him with his eyes wide open, as if he couldn’t believe this was real.
“But James… I… You… I mean, James! You cannot be here.”
The smile of the oldest faded out. What if Regulus had a reason why he did not come to see him on the weekend, what if he did not want to see him anymore. In fact, it had been a month that Regulus declined any opportunity to go out that James offered to him, that he barely answered his messages while still speaking on the phone for hours with his brother. Of course he had the right to call his brother, but James was a little jealous. He did not look delighted to see him now, at any rate.
“You didn’t want to see me?” He said softly.
A very dense silence fell over the table, Regulus’s friends all trying to look away.
“No, not at all, it’s just that… Wait, come here.” Regulus stood up, took James’s hand and led him to the outside of the great hall.
“I’m sorry Reggie, I should have told you beforehand, if you don’t want to see me anymore I…”
“Stop, James.” Interrupted Regulus. “Of course I wanted to see you, I want to see you since the moment I came back here.”
“Then why didn’t you?”
Regulus looked down, to where his hand still grasped James’s.
“Because I was afraid you wouldn’t want to.” He said gently.
James smiled tenderly while holding Regulus’s hand.
“You go to college and I thought you wouldn’t want to keep hanging out with me, I thought you would’ve met someone else soon enough.”
James put his free hand on the cheek of Regulus and slowly raised his head until their eyes met. Regulus was about to say something but James interrupted him with his lips. Regulus literally melted in his arms.
“Reggie, I’ll always, always want to hang out with you. What I dislike though is my boyfriend ignoring me for a month.”
“Mmmh I’m soidjsy.” Incomprehensibly mumbled Regulus.
“You what?” Asked James, smiling.
“Kiss me again and I might repeat my words.”
And so did James, and again, again… Until an acute voice interrupted them.
“Mister Potter and mister Black, instead of kissing in the hallways, you are to go to your respective classes and immediately.” Said the professor MacGonagall.
The two boys separated and Regulus fled surprisingly quickly, whispering in a haste “I’ll see you after class” to James.
“Potter, to class, quick.”
James kept smiling.
“Potter don’t make me repeat-” She realized. “Potter. No.”
“Potter yes?” He said with a smirk.
“Potter, you are not part of this facility, please leave at once.”
“Ma’am, let me explain to you please, Regulus is alone, lost without his big brother, no one is here to stand for him like we did before, so I came to check if he was doing well, I’m a hero of a sort.”
“A hero of course, so now that you saw for yourself that he was in no danger you can go back home, and go to college while you’re at it.”
“Ma’am, please, just one day, one, and I will not stand out, no one will even know I came here.”
“Here is the problem sir Potter, we always hear about you.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
Minerva sighed and placed her hands on her hips.
“Potter, you know that you cannot stay here.”
“If I don’t get to stay today I’ll come back tomorrow, and the day after, and again, then I’ll miss all of my classes and I will not get my degree and the person to blame will be you, because you forbid me to come see the love of my life one little day and so I had to try again, again, and again.”
There has been a silence in which the professor seemed to be thinking for a long time. James was about to let go of his last hopes, when finally she spoke up.
“It’s okay, you can stay, but you don’t go to class with mister Black, you have to remain silent in the hallways waiting for him to finish, and you don’t sleep here tonight. Is that right sir Potter?”
“Everything is good, thank you ma’am.”
Then she turned around to go back to her class, and before she was too far away, James added something.
“You miss us right? The school isn’t the same without us, no?”
She did not answer but James knew that their professor was more than happy to see him here again.
/-----------/
When Regulus finally finished his class James was still here, waiting in the hallway. He immediately started smiling when he saw his boyfriend leaving the classroom.
“You’re still there.” Said Regulus, rolling his eyes.
“Obviously.”
“How did you even convinced MacGonagall to stay here.”
“My astonishing charisma.”
Regulus mumbles a “yeah that’s it…” while taking James’s hand and leading him to a calmer area.
James was happy, so happy. In part because he was back in his beloved school, but mainly because he was with his beloved man.
He understood that Regulus was scared, James had felt this way too, but he swore that nothing, absolutely nothing could separate him from Regulus, except of course if it was Regulus’s will. He had no intention of starting a relationship with any other person, Regulus was just… Perfect. At least, perfect to James’s enamored eyes; ask anyone else and they will give you a whole list of Regulus Black’s flaws.
“How was your class?” Asked James.
“Do you really want to discuss my classes?”
“No.” Then he drew closer and kissed Regulus.
The youngest smiled softly and stepped back a little.
“I am sorry James, having kept you away for a month.”
“It’s okay, I’m here now. And from now on, we’ll meet every weekend, no more excuses.”
“I’ll really need to study at some point you know.” He smiled at his boyfriend. “I have a match on Saturday, will you come to see me?”
“Only if you come to my place after.”
“Seems appropriate.”
The both of them spent the remaining of the break together, James had the great idea to bring with him a delicious lunch her mother had made. When Regulus had to go back to classes, James took some time to wander the hallways like he used to, remembering every foolish thing he had done with his friends. He sure will miss it. He even encountered another teacher that did not notice he was not supposed to be here and reprimanded him for not being in class.
At the end of the day James was waiting in front of his boyfriend’s classroom with a large smile.
“What should we do now?” Asked Regulus.
“Oh, I was thinking saying goodbye, McGonagall ma’am doesn’t want me to stay overnight.”
There was a silence. Then Regulus laughed.
“And you are going to respect this after breaking in to the castle?”
“She already granted me a day, I wouldn’t want to abuse of her kindness.”
“James.” Coldly said Regulus. “You stay here for the night.”
James laughed a little, taking Regulus’s hand. “Alright, alright, I’ll stay! But what should we do, there is no other way for me than to sneak into your bed, there isn’t any place elsewhere.” He blinked.
“You’ll sleep on the floor, I’m sure it’ll be enough comfort for you.”
James only laughed louder.
When James woke up the next day, Regulus in his arm, he thought that maybe he should do this more often. But then he saw the furious eyes of McGonagall on the morning and thought no, he should not, and will patiently wait until Regulus graduates from Hogwarts.