Chapter Text
Regulus knew something was off the moment he and Pandora entered the great hall for lunch.
Barty was there already. He'd just had care of magical creatures and barty would do anything to get away from professor Kettleburn (what's left of him anyway.) So it was no surprise to see him there early. Evan often skipped lunch in favour of attending extra charms classes. For fun.
None of this, however, accounted for the unnaturalness of the meal until Regulus happened to glance at the teachers table.
Evan popped up by Dora's right elbow just as they were taking a seat. Reg immediately let his hand drop to barty's under the table and he threaded their fingers together.
"Extra charms ain't on" Evan said with a shrug.
"Yeah, all the teachers are here" Pandora spoke, the usual soft lilt in her voice marred by confusion.
But barty had never been one for focusing on something so unimportant for so long and swiftly directed the conversation elsewhere.
"Sitting with us today? What happened to Xeno-dude?" He then preceeded to take a huge bite out of a piece of toast (spraying crumbs everywhere) proving how bored barty got with idle chatter.
"Xenophilius" Pandora corrected, straightening her blue tie.
"And, unlike you two love birds," She nodded at regulus and barty's entwined hands, "we don't need to be on top off eachother 24/7."
Evan barely concealed his snort of laughter. Regulus would have been mad, but Ev had been sort of third-wheeling a lot lately, so maybe it was deserved.
To barty's delight, an interruption came in the shape of the marauders loudly entering the hall and announcing their presence to the whole goddamn world. The gryffindor 6th years had been rowdier than ever since Christmas break and everyone else was paying for it.
Out of the corner of his eye, Regulus saw Mcgonogal shaking her head exasperatedly before he was distracted once more by the marauders.
Evan turned his nose up in distaste at their rambunctious manner but Regulus just took the opportunity to look at sirius. Really look at him. He wasn't sure what he was looking for, but his grey eyes still bore into his brother, drinking all the merriment in.
Dumbledore cleared his throat and the hall was silent immediately.
"Before I mention something, could all students please return to their house tables." He asked, a knowing eye surveying the room and finishing on Pandora. It was just now that Regulus noticed the stack of books next to the headmaster. Regulus used the general grumbles around the hall and shuffles of about seven students (including Pandora) to point them out to barty.
"Perhaps someone stole them from his office!" The older whispered excitedly. He was unable to stop the look of pure glee from crossing his face.
Regulus rolled his eyes at his boyfriend yet an amused smile graced his features anyway.
Evan, quiet and thoughtful, wondered "why hasn't dumbles made a formal announcement. Or done it at dinner when everyone's here? If this is even about those books, I mean..."
The headmaster spoke again, successfully stopping Evan from entering rambling mode, something he did far too often for the other boys to handle. They had to share a room with this curious idiot.
"Thank you. Now I'm sure many of you have questions that may or may not get an answer, but I am sure this cannot wait another minute."
He was forced to pause as the door opened and in came a gaggle of first years looking even more lost then usual. Regulus found himself looking for his brother once more and couldn't stop the small bubble of relief when sirius looked just as confused as he felt.
The first years found their way to the hufflepuff table and Regulus met Pandora's eyes. She was sat next to Xeno-dude (regulus knows his name really but it was unnatural to call him anything but Xeno-dude at this point) and her quick brain was likely racing through all the possible explanations. When he sent her a questioning look though, Regulus got nothing but a shrug in response.
"There will be a war soon," this short statement caused mutters to erupt around the room. Nevertheless, dumbledore ploughed on.
"And we will all make it to the other side having lost something. I have, today, received a gift which will help us all in our pursuit of a better future."
The mutterings increased in volume. Regulus shared a glance with barty whose interest was now piqued.
"A message and seven books have been delivered to me." He paused (presumably for dramatic effect) "from the future."
If there was any uncertainty before on Dumbledore's mental stability, it wasn't there now. There was no doubt about it: their headmaster was completely crazy.