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Regulus was walking down the hall out of his charms class. Having a free period he tried to do his potions essay in that time so he can have time to read after all the classes are out and then head for Quidditch practice. But apparently whatever the hell is out there, thought that he needed to be pushed. So when Regulus had gotten to the library to do as planned when Remus Lupin came and sat down at the table that Regulus was sitting at. Regulus looked up from rummaging in his bag looking for the rubric that the Professor had given him and his classmates so others don’t have the excuse that they didn’t know what the standard was or what they would have to hit.
“Hello?” Regulus says more in a question than a greeting or even a statement. He wasn’t sure why Remus was sitting with him right now. Sure they have a book club-like thing together and are friends but they have never met. In fact, Remus has class right now. “Don’t you have class right now? Why are you here?” Regulus asks, looking at Remus with suspicion now. The look on Remus's face was weirdly. . .neutral? Like he looks like he is going to ask of him something he already knows he won’t like.
“Well, I had this idea, and I thought it was more important than class.” Remus said to Regulus, which clearly was going to be a longer statement but Regulus had cut him to the punch.
“Who died? You will miss DA which is your favorite subject and you hate missing out on being sick. Why couldn't you tell me later today? Did you and the rest of your dumbasses accidentally kill someone with one of your stupid fucking pranks? I told you that turning food into the sand was an awful idea. Goyal probably ate it all even if it is sand because he is that much of an idiot. I told you one day this was going to blow up into your faces one day!”
“Reg-”
“I am not helping y’all hide the body. Getting rid of being a free man is something I don't like. I will visit you and sneak you chocolate in prison depending on who it is.”
“Regulus,” Remus says exasperated, he had been trying to stop Regulus from talking but he didn’t pay any mind. “We didn’t kill someone.”
“Thank Merlin. I would kinda miss you if you went to Azkaban for life. Who else am I going to talk about the picture of Dorian Gray with? Then again Lily probably would. Do you know why we haven't added her to our little book club? Oh. Yeah. Because back when we started this we were hiding it from Sirius and the gang and we didn’t want to add anyone cause the more that know the easier it is to accidentally get out. But now that everyone knows, including her, we really need to add her.” Regulus rambled and Remus looked like he wanted to die with how many tangents Regulus was going to go on.
“Okay, I love the idea. I am positive Lily would love to join us. Anyway, what I am here to tell you is that I know that you have a big crush on James.” Remus says again in that tone that says he wasn’t done with what he is talking about, well, wherever the hell this is going on.
“I do not,” Regulus says in embarrassment riddled in his tone and body language. He could feel the heat of the blush going up and down his face and neck.
“Sure, your expression and tone totally do not show you are lying to me. Anyway, it is killing me watching you and him dance around the subject. So I came up with a plan that will show you I am not lying when I tell you he likes you too.” Remus smiles though Regulus could not figure out why he is looking at him like this. Regulus stares him down for a few minutes. Remus keeps the same expression like he expected this from him. While he probably did, Remus's favorite thing to do was dissect people and understand how they would react to things. Then again, being a werewolf it is not strange for him to do such things. Though in the end he relented and stopped the stare-down.
“Fine. What did you have in mind?” Regulus' burgling asks and Remus smiles wider. He got what he wanted.
“Well, what if you put yourself in a, how do I put this, in a potion where you would be close to James in ways you normally would not? Like draping yourself over his lap to look at something. Then see how he reacts. If I am wrong, then you at least would get a raise out of Sirius which I know you're wanting to get back at him for the prank he pulled on you. So either way, you will get something out of it.” Remus says like Regulus couldn’t say no to that because as Remus put it he would get something out of either way.
“Fine. But if something goes wrong, I am blaming you and you alone.”
“Perfect. Now I am bringing Sirius, James, and Peter to study in the library at 3 so you better be there.” Then Remus got up and left, probably going to the class he was missing and telling the professor that he had forgotten his book and forgotten where he had put his book.
Regulus sighed wondering how this was his life and where he went wrong to get to this place in life. But he stopped his thoughts right there because he very much wanted to finish this essay so he can have some downtime before whatever the hell he was about to do in a couple of hours.
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After classes had finally let out Regulus had finished his essay and got to read a chapter before he had to go to Quidditch practice. And he would be the first to admit that he was shit because all he could think and focus on was what he had promised to do later that day. Once he got out of the locker room and had gotten his bag and was making his way to the library knowing that he was a bit later when he saw Remus running towards him down the hall from the library.
“What the hell are you doing Lupin? Did you actually kill someone this time?” Regulus asks, looking at Remus like the madman that he was acting like.
“Fuck the plan,” Remus says a bit out of breath.
“Why? It is your plan if I remember correctly. ‘YoU wIlL GeT sOmEtHiNg OuT oF It.’” Regulus then mocks Remus telling him that this is a good idea because of this. “Why are you the one getting cold feet? I am the one who is actually doing something? To everyone else you are just a bystander.”
“Yeah, but you won’t get the consequences! Sirius would not bring it up to you in case it gives you ideas. And won’t get on James cause he was just there. So I am the one going to hear about it!” Remus almost shouts.
“You actually did not think about that? I know my brother and I would have thought about that before saying something like this.”
“Well, I am going, to be honest. I just thought about it like a thread away from being asleep and then that was all I could think about all day. More specifically, how can I get you on? It wasn’t until I went back to class after talking to you I am the one going to suffer in this situation.” Remus says extremely fast, there was probably more to it but all Regulus could make out was the gist of what Remus had said. But now knowing this information, Regulus wants to do this more. Remus should not have given him this power now.
“No, I am still going to do it. You should learn not to give a Black an idea to make people suffer when they are mad at them.” Regulus says and then walks into the library and to the table, he knew his brother, James, and Peter were waiting. Eventually, Remus came back to them and there was chatting and groaning from the homework. Regulus was having an especially hard time with his Arithmancy homework.
“Ugh. I hate graphs.” Regulus says, throwing his head over the back of the chair. Why again did he take Arithmancy, it was just the muggle thing they called math. Why did he think he could do this? It's too late to drop the class.
“Hey Regulus, I got some notes from last year for graphs. I still use them now. Do you want to copy them?” Remus asks to go to his bag to get said notes. Remus then gave his bag a look then looked like he remembered something. “How the hell did I forget I just gave them to James.”
“What?” James says only that someone was saying his name, to focus on copying the notes.
“Hey, James, is it okay that Regulus also copies those down with you?” Remus says, seeming to get a bit of a smile on his lips. Regulus, reading Remus’ mind, took the opportunity and ran with it.
“Oh yeah, no pro-” James couldn’t finish that sentence because Regulus had himself draped over James to look at the notes with a quill and scroll it tow. James could not speak and Sirius looked like he was going to kill someone. Maybe this could be fun. Regulus thinks to himself as he jots down the notes.