Chapter Text
Regulus Black is not stupid. He gives his brother five months max before giving in and fucking off. Regulus doesn't blame him, but it does mean he has to consider his own future a little more. The short time frame he's estimating before becoming the official heir to the House of Black means he's also on a timer for when he either fucks off himself, or is forced to take the Dark Mark.
It's hard to blame a 15 year old for finding a 16 year old fit, and two 16 year olds arguably makes even more sense, even if one of them is best mates with his brother, and the other is unreasonably clever. It's not his fault that he's young for a fifth year, anyway, it's just annoying. They're all the same length away from OWLs, he, and James and Lily.
It doesn't matter, anyway- nobody's ever told Regulus about people being out of his league and meant it, and he knows why.
If Regulus is going to be living on borrowed time he's going to make the most of it.
He starts with Evans.
Walking into the library, she's sat there. There's a couple other Gryffindors sat around the table, paying her rapt attention as she walks them through whatever she's teaching them in. If she's not tutoring them, she really ought to start, because they're clearly hopeless alone, and there's nothing wrong with making a little extra money here and there. Regulus watches her quietly from his own table, not that far across the library, and chosen on those grounds, and he sees the information dawn on Evans' listeners.
Honestly, they're quite annoying. Far be it from Regulus to fault those in the pursuit of knowledge, but really , they're taking up time Evans could use on more important things- say, being flirted with by (Regulus is no fan of modesty, so he doesn't claim to be anything of the kind) the fittest boy living in the Slytherin dungeons. Evans doesn't know what she's missing right now, but give it time, and she will.
He doesn't know quite how long he has to sit and pretend to be interested in a densely informational book that seems to be listing the negative side effects of mixing gillyweed into amortentia- honestly, it's so disappointing that a book like this even has to exist that he couldn't pay attention to it if he tried; not that he is, what with the way Evans' tie is clearly a little too tight around her neck, and the accompanying thoughts of loosening it himself- all he knows is that finally, finally , the younger years surrounding Evans seem to clear off.
Evans smiles at them all as they go and then falls back into her chair and rubs at her eyes. Regulus makes a quiet sound of sympathy to himself, remembering the days in which Professor Slughorn had tried to get him to tutor some first-year potions students because he's always excelled at it. Then he walks over to her.
Immediately he's met with an eyebrow raised, and he gets it, because yes , he does have some self-awareness, and yes , he does know how this looks. A Slytherin from a family known for its outspokenness on blood-supremacy (and all the similar things that purebloods made up to make themselves feel better than everyone else), approaching a muggle-born who's probably smarter than him. He's got to give Evans some credit for the way that she seems more ready to fight him than to run, but that's probably got something to do with her ex-best friend. Regulus can't blame her for learning that kind of habit, though he can be confused why someone like her would choose to be friends with someone like him in the first place. The toad.
"Relax," he says, voice smooth, hands raised so she can see he's not got his wand. For the sake of transparency, he moves his hands to it, and she tenses, before he puts it on the table and pushes it across to her. "I'm not here to do anything stupid." She gives him a suspicious look, so he nudges his wand closer to her and she picks it up. He smiles. "Even if I wanted to, which I don’t, by the way, I wouldn't do it in the library. I'm a Slytherin, not an idiot."
She looks at him quietly with the kind of expression that he can read as the two don't always come mutually exclusively , and he laughs. This seems to ease her up some, though she's still holding his wand. It's probably not a good idea to tell her he doesn't really need it to cast the kind of spells that Slytherins use on muggle-borns without getting expelled, so he keeps that information to himself. She might like to hear about it later, but now's not the time.
"I just want to talk to you, Evans, really."
His tone is bland, and he gives her an opening to enter the conversation if she's open to it. He runs a hand through his hair and watches her watch him do it, and knows he's closer than she'll ever know to getting what he wants, already .
"What do you want to talk about?"
Her nose is in the air, a display of the kind of confidence that shows him she’s no lesser than him and she knows it, and it's telling of his type (in women, anyway) that he's quite thrilled about it. He smiles easily and leans in close across the table, as though he’s about to tell her one of his deepest secrets, and she’s the only remaining conspirator he can trust. Like she’s his secret-keeper. She pulls back a little and holds his wand tighter. Regulus doesn't mind; he has practice- she's already interested.
"You do muggle studies, right? I'm not allowed. Tell me about it?"
This is the key to getting what he wants. This, because he can see Evans think this over before she welcomes onto her face a suitably shocked expression.
"You want to know about muggle studies?"
He nods quietly, and she thinks it over.
"Why me?"
"Who else?"
"Your brother does muggle studies."
He feigns an effortless laugh that's founded more in reality than he's used to it being. It's a little surprising even to him how well he's doing- he'd expected a little more hostility, but now he can tell how she put up with Snape for so long, but also why he had to be forced to leave her alone; Evans has a gravity to her that he'd be a fool to deny. It reminds him of himself somewhat, which is always a bonus in terms of how much he likes people.
"Please," he says, "the only reason I haven't placed bets on my brother running away in the summer break after OWLs is because nobody I know cares enough. He'll be done with me as soon as he can be. Besides, he only took muggle studies to piss our parents off; probably doesn't know a thing. So, back to it- will you tell me about it?"
(Regulus chooses not to confront just how much it actually bothers him that Sirius doesn’t care. He thinks he’s pretty successful, because he always has been strong when it comes to diverting. His parents have never suspected a thing, which means it’s only really natural that he can convince anyone else of whatever he wants to. Even if “anyone” in this case is actually himself.)
Evans seems surprised, and he applauds himself for his ability to do that to her. Probably the smartest person in Gryffindor tower, for her age, anyway- there's one or two of the seventh years who could compete, but it's not nearly so impressive when she's two years younger. It's a wonder she's not a Ravenclaw.
She shifts in her chair.
"Just so you know, Sirius does care about you, I think."
Regulus arches an eyebrow, but says nothing. Not a conversation he wants to have. She seems to get it, because she sighs, and there it is - Regulus has done it.
She really does look beautiful as she walks him through the basics of muggle studies (a topic that, while not offensive to him or his beliefs, is something that maybe isn't so interesting as everyone seems to think it is, even when Lily Evans is the one explaining it to him), especially when the sun starts to set outside and casts a golden light over her. It makes her hair sparkle, and Merlin, if Regulus doesn't want to kiss her. He shouldn't, so he doesn't, but he can't be blamed for thinking it. He looks down at her lips because he can't help himself and thinks he catches her flushing lightly.
She wrinkles her nose when the sun eventually falls low enough to get in her eyes, but realises that through her explanation, she's put Regulus' wand down on the table- an accidental display of trust. He winks at her (so quickly that he likes to think she’ll wonder if she’d just imagined it) and thanks her for her time, but remarks that he really ought to get back to his dorm so he can shower before dinner, and he feels her gaze on him as he walks away, so he makes a show of putting his wand away.
A good start, he thinks. He always has known how to charm people, but he’s never used that talent so willingly before.
-
Lily Evans is a Gryffindor, not an idiot. Anybody who suggests the two aren't always mutually exclusive is quite right, a sentiment unfortunately confirmed as she watches Sirius Black climb onto a table just to have the entire common room's attention on him.
Sirius Black is the older brother of the boy Lily's thinking about, and she hates him as much as his brother right now, which, all things considered, is not even close to as much as it should be.
She sighs, because thinking about Sirius makes her think about Regulus, so she puts her bookmark into her book and puts it on the coffee table that Mary and Marlene both have their legs on top of. She pushes them out of the way because she can and falls back with her arms folded and a huff.
"Woah, woah! What's got you frustrated, Lils?"
That's the kind of statement that draws a crowd of fifth years, and Lily loves Mary, but she's cursing her right now, because it does so without fail. Sirius is scrambling down from his table before she can even think of a reply and his hands are in her hair gently massaging her head as soon as she has, which is kind of sweet.
"Sirius?"
"Yeah?"
He's smiling down at her, so she smiles back, because Sirius Black has the kind of contagious happiness that's undeniable to anybody who knows him (anybody who knows that he only really gets to have it away from home). It would be a really nice bonding moment if she weren't pissed off at him for having a really annoying brother.
"Do you hate Regulus?"
His eyes widen and he lets out a startled noise. His hands fall away from her head.
"Since when are you and my brother on first-name terms?"
She sighs and moves his hands back. He's a sweet boy so he starts up again immediately, eyes still wide, like he hasn't even realised he's doing it till a few moments later when he looks down and smiles to himself before he looks back at her. He moves his chin up a little, re-asking his question. Lily decides it's not the right time to remind him he's on a first-name basis with their head of house (whether or not she doubts that he was granted that privilege instead of just deciding he had).
"Since he asked me about muggle studies today in the library."
By now, there's way more people on the two sofas by the coffee table than fit on them. Lily, Mary, Remus and James are squished together on one of them, while Marlene, Peter and a couple other kids Lily recognises from being dragged into conversations by the so-called Marauders are pressed together on the other one. There’s a couple of people from the quidditch team sitting on the floor around the conversation. Lily has no doubt that Sirius will fall on top of Remus when he's done being surprised and giving her a massage, cramping them all even closer together.
"He what?"
"Yeah," she says, and hates the way that her voice makes it sound like it was kind of dreamy.
"Why was he asking you that?"
Lily thinks about catching Regulus' eyes on her lips. Lily thinks about feeling Regulus watch her intently while she walked him through telephones and emails, full attention dedicated to her the entire time. Lily thinks about the wink he left her with, and the flashy return of his wand to his sleeve. Lily thinks about the way she can feel her cheeks heating up while she thinks about all of these things, and she also thinks she hates Regulus Black.
"I don't know," she says, like a liar, because Lily is a Gryffindor, not an idiot, and it is relentlessly obvious what he wanted. Sirius lets out a frustrated noise.
"I'm sorry about him," he says, and Lily thinks she disagrees, because she is definitely not sorry, even if he was at first an unwelcome disturbance. It would be very difficult to be sorry about being in Regulus Black’s company if you’d had the kind of interaction with him that Lily did. "If you want, me and the boys will come to the library with you next time. Tell him to fuck off if he comes near you."
There's a sadness to his tone and Lily registers briefly that he probably thinks Regulus approached her in the way most Slytherins approach muggle-borns- with the kind of hatred that's taught to you, not realised, and intentions to hurt. She shakes her head lightly.
"It's okay, but thanks. He listened to me the whole time, and it was good revision, anyway."
"Ew," James says, loud from across the sofa, and looking like he wishes beyond everything on earth that he could be laying down on it instead of squished into Remus' side. "Don't start on revision , you'll give me a headache."
Lily laughs and James smiles, even though from the looks of him, he probably wasn't joking. The conversation veers away from Regulus, and Lily discovers she was rather predictably exactly right about Sirius falling onto Remus after (and only after) determining she was okay, and giving her a small smile from where he does so, though it's obvious that he's thinking about his brother.
She's doing the same, though in quite a different way. This could be a problem.
(Later in the evening, he approaches her, deeper in thought than Lily's ever seen him, really, and all he says is "No, I don't think so." It takes Lily a while to realise the context of it, but he's long gone before she can talk to him about it, and they're surrounded by people every time they meet that she remembers she wants to ask him anything. Stupid fucking family is intolerable. Lily's got experience with all the ones she can handle.)
-
James Potter will be the first to raise his hand and say he is not okay with Regulus' sudden orbit around Lily.
It's not that he likes her (in a crush type of way. He likes her as a friend; Lily’s a blast. She’s also the reason he’s passing potions, making sure they’re not a blast, by which he definitely means an explosion. That works in her favour for sure). That had passed when he saw Sirius and Remus look at one another and found he'd been rather put out by the idea of looking at Lily like that, and moved on, and then gone back to it when he remembered that oh, yeah, Sirius and Remus are literally in love with each other, they just don't know it yet, and then he realised he didn't actually like Lily, just the idea, and well- anyway, it's not because he likes Lily that he's uncomfortable with Regulus' proximity to her.
It doesn't matter where they are- the library, the great hall, the gardens by herbology, or fucking Hogsmeade- Regulus always seems to be there when Lily is. If James wasn't aware of how long it took four people to make the Marauder's Map, he'd be halfway to convinced that Regulus has one of his own. That's how often he's around Lily.
What's worse is that Lily seems to like it- and James will reiterate, here, that he isn't particularly into Lily. She's pretty, but he's always been more of a blokes bloke, if you catch his drift, and, well, his almost-crush on her was the straw that broke the camel's back on that one. He hasn't told her, because that's awkward as hell to say to one of your friends, but he thinks she wouldn't hold it against him.
Anyway, Lily, for whatever reason, seems to like Regulus. James can see it, on a surface level, because- and Merlin save him if Sirius ever finds out he thinks this, but- Regulus is fit. It's not really anything he does in particular, probably just Black genetics, but the full lips and the pale skin up against curls that are practically Stygian in colour- James thinks there's a muggle fairytale for the way that Regulus looks, but he can't remember the title. The point is, yes, James can see , and he gets it .
But for whatever reason, Lily seems to be warming to Regulus outside of just physical attraction. It grates on his nerves, because James doesn't know Regulus, but he knows Slytherins, and he knows the Black family, and he gets a feeling in his gut whenever he looks at Regulus that he's choosing to interpret to mean he's bad news.
He doesn't want Lily to get hurt. It's not fair for either of them, though James could care more about Regulus' stake in the whole thing.
When he tries to confront Regulus in the hallway, he isn't on his own, which is so unfair. Regulus has spent literally an entire week sneaking around to meet Lily on his own, and now when James wants to talk to him about whatever he's up to, suddenly it's him, and Crouch, and Rosier?
He stands in front of them, blocking their paths, and Regulus is still in conversation when he stops walking, without even looking at James. He just finishes his train of thought and seems perfectly content to wait for James to get out of his way, which is so fucking fitting for the family that James almost scoffs. Regulus continues to not pay him any mind, and their conversation continues, Crouch and Rosier clearly following Regulus' lead, but also clearly not caring themselves.
It's getting on James' nerves, so he clears his throat. Regulus finishes saying whatever he's on about and turns to look at James- look up , because James is slightly taller than him, and Regulus takes a step back, still looking up, and James can see his throat (perfect and unblemished, of course, as best befits) and Merlin, think of what Sirius would say about thinking like this. Stop it.
"Can I help you, Potter?"
James thinks he might die, because he can't get why Lily seems to like Regulus except for physically, but Godric fucking Gryffindor, he gets the physical side to it. Regulus doesn't care at all, but holds James' stare, and James thinks his soul is vacating his body. Of course it is.
"Can we talk?"
Crouch sniggers. "Jilted ex, Reg?"
Regulus rolls his eyes.
"Salazar, please don't say yes, Reg, we see enough of Barty's around the school. He kisses me in front of them every time , and it’s starting to make me very unpopular.”
James is struck dumb as Rosier enters the conversation and they talk around him again, seeming to completely forget he's there. He doesn't know how he feels about this, especially not when Regulus is still waiting for him to say something. He raises an eyebrow and shushes Crouch and Rosier.
"Well, Potter? Anything you can say in front of me, Barty and Evan can hear. I know they act like they’re twelve, but really, they've heard and said worse than whatever's on the mind of the poster boy of Gryffindor tower,"
Crouch scowls and punches Regulus in the shoulder. He doesn't even flinch, and James is so caught by the casual nature of it that he almost feels the need to reprimand Crouch for it, because he surely knows what Regulus' home life is like, and he just hits him? And Regulus lets him? It speaks a lot to their friendship, which James thinks he doesn't like the look of, but Rosier drags Crouch into a headlock and starts telling him off, so there's that sorted, he supposes.
He comes back to himself to find Regulus' lip curling up on the right and Merlin, he should not be allowed to look that good, especially when he’s being fucking snide . This is at James’ expense and he’s still fit. Anyone who looks that good should not be off-limits to James. As the younger brother of a dearly beloved best mate, Regulus is probably one of the few people in the entire castle who is completely off-limits. Fuck's sake.
"Right, well, what do you want with Lily?"
It comes across a lot less demanding than he'd planned it doing, when he thought this conversation through. He'd wanted to frighten Regulus, maybe a little; scare him off for sure. Get him to leave Lily alone, with no hope of him ever coming back. Slytherins with bad intentions always seem to gravitate to her, and he couldn't stop the first one, but he can nip this one in the bud if he stands his ground, he's sure of it.
"What's mine and Evans' friendship got to do with you?"
Crouch crows with laughter behind him and Rosier stifles a laugh that James assumes is equally as potent into the shoulder of Crouch's robes.
"Friendship?" Crouch is practically on the floor, by now.
"Maybe it's a jealousy thing, Reg," Rosier says, thoroughly unhelpfully, and Regulus tilts his head as if to muse over this. James feels like he's being comprehensively humiliated on all fronts and he can't tell quite why or how.
"I'm not jealous of Regulus," says James, earnest, and Crouch only laughs the harder for it.
"We know, mate," he says, and Rosier looks up at James, and shrugs his shoulders rather resignedly with the kind of look that reads as yeah, we kind of do.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Regulus sighs and James' eyes snap right back to him.
"James," he says, and James' eyes blow wide as he watches Regulus' lips form his name. Fuck, that's definitely not good. Crouch and Rosier are laughing so hard that they're exempt from whatever conversation is almost taking place here, between a completely lost James and a seemingly bored Regulus. Speaking of all three of those people (James excludes himself, obviously), Regulus seems to give up on the two of them who aren't him, and grabs James' arm, dragging him into an alcove.
It's an alcove James is familiar with, but all of them are, because they had to explore the entire school to make the map, after all, but he's too caught on the utter pliancy of how he went with Regulus to properly acknowledge that. All he knows is that he and Regulus are now in close proximity, in a small space, and fuck if he doesn't want to kiss him.
He goes weak in the knees when he swears he sees Regulus flutter his eyelashes as James' breath is fanning out onto his face, but no, no, because this is Sirius' brother, and his younger brother at that. If anything happened (not that it would; James can't imagine why it would, he's completely neutral on Regulus outside of his curiosity about his supposed friendship with Lily, obviously) he would quite literally not survive past telling Sirius about it. And he would have to, because Sirius can recognise it when something has happened. It honestly seems like the most entertaining part of his life, from how much joy he seems to take in getting James to recount every detail.
(The point is that even through all this overthinking, he’s beginning to understand what Crouch and Rosier meant when they said he wasn’t jealous of Regulus.)
"Evans and I are friends," says Regulus, breaking the silence, and now James gets why Regulus closed his eyes at the breath, because it's warm on his face and not doing anything good for the 'not getting murdered by Sirius' idea.
"Why?"
His voice sounds breathless, and this close, he can see the way Regulus' eyes seem to blow wider for it, and- he is trying not to get killed, so he forgets about it.
"What do you mean, why? I can't have friends?"
"That's not what I-" but then, oh, because Regulus' eyes are shining, and he's fucking teasing him. Merlin. James is inching ever closer to understanding what Lily likes about him.
The illusion is beautifully shattered by a recovered Crouch, who peers into the alcove and grins at their close proximity.
"If anybody could pull him, of course it would be you." He rolls his eyes. "Aren't you trying to fuck the redhead first?"
James' eyes blow wide. First? Implying he is also on the list?
Not the important part, actually; that means his friendship with Lily is purely to-
Regulus exhales harshly, clearly annoyed at Crouch's intrusion, and it hits James again, which he's learning is a pretty effective method of completely derailing his entire train of thought. That's probably not so good.
"Barty," he starts, annoyance riding high in his voice (James recognises the tone from Sirius, but not the way Regulus is pinching the top of his nose in exasperation he’s not trying to hide), "when you and Evan kick me out of the dorm to fuck, I don't say a word, do I?"
Crouch shuts his mouth and Rosier pops up behind him. He gives Regulus a thumbs-up. "And we love you for it, Reg! We'll see you at dinner, don't come back to the room, bye bye!"
Regulus slams his head backwards against the wall as Rosier drags Crouch away and James is out of words. The scathing look Regulus gives him when his lips part and he takes a breath in, about to try to talk anyway, is enough to put him off the idea.
He's clearly in thought, and eventually, it all culminates in this: he grabs James by the collar and pushes him to the wall. James is disastrously close to making the first move.
"Say a word to anybody," Merlin, his breath is on James' lips, now. "Eyes up here, Potter. Say a word to anybody, and I will not just come to you second, it will be not at all. Clear?"
James tries to be defiant- "Who said I want you to come to me at all?"- but it doesn't work; was doomed to fail from the start, and Regulus leans back, raising a single eyebrow.
He leaves the alcove and the fact that James almost pulls him back is sign enough.
This (this whole thing with Regulus, and thinking he’s fit, and not hating the idea of doing- things that don’t need to be addressed, James decides), admittedly, is one of his worse moves at Hogwarts.
(And James is an illegal animagus.)