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James was bad at keeping secrets, everyone knew it. He was terrible at lying, and if you pushed him hard enough, he could tell you almost anything. Almost, since there were two secrets that would not escape him for anything in the world. One, the reason Remus Lupin disappeared every full moon, and two, who he had started dating at the end of his fifth year.
It had been quick, something he never imagined would happen, but everything seemed to fall into place when he stopped chasing Lily and a certain person began to shine under his vision. It's uncertain to try to put an exact date on when he realized he had fallen madly in love with Regulus Black, but he had. Merlin, if it were up to him, he'd stand on the Gryffindor’s Great Hall table to scream it.
Regulus wasn't like that, he didn't want that attention on them, he didn't want the pressure from his parents and he especially didn't want Sirius breathing down their necks. It was a long and vulnerable conversation, but they both came to the same conclusion: they would keep each other safe. They were going to love each other in secret, not because their love had to be hidden, but because it was something too precious to be lost.
They kept the meetings, the secret dates, the conversations under the stars. James loved Regulus in a way he couldn't put into words, and Regulus loved James in a way that made him talk too much, something he would never do on his own.
Then the Triwizard Tournament arrived and everything seemed to tremble.
There were arguments, too many of them, and even when things calmed down to a point, Regulus was still upset with him. Remus and Lily helped him with the first task, dragons were not his strong suit, but he managed to win. The prize, however, was so unpleasant to hear he considered throwing it away. It sounded like something brought straight from hell.
Fortunately for him, it only took his boyfriend one successful task to decide that he wasn't that angry. Unfortunately for both of them, the simple concept of a Yule Ball started another extensive argument.
James had to walk into the ball holding a random girl’s arm, pretending that he wouldn't have given everything to dance with Regulus all night. Sirius teased him for weeks.
Peter was the one who helped him figure out the second task, or well, the first step of it. Submerge the egg and discover that the sound straight from hell were really just a siren song.
“Can you read it again?” Remus questioned, flipping through the pages of a book of magical creatures he had found in the library. Sirius was fast asleep next to him, oblivious to the panic between his two friends.
James sighed, lying on his back on his own bed, and held the notes he had made for himself in front of his face.
“Come seek us where our voices sound, we cannot sing above the ground.”
“Okay…”
“And while you're searching, ponder this: We've taken what you'll sorely miss.”
“What you’ll sorely miss… Okay.”
“An hour long you'll have to look, and to recover what we took. But past an hour—the prospect's black. Too late, it's gone, it won't come back,” he finished and pressed the notes to his chest with a heavy sigh. “One hour, how am I supposed to survive an hour underwater?”
Remus muttered under his breath, repeating what James had just read. The boy decided not to say anything, afraid that doing so would break his train of thought, and they would both end up lost.
“We learned about the bubble-head charm in class, that's covered. But the rest…”
James turned his head to look at him. Remus had been worried about all of this from the start, although he never stopped James from joining the tournament. Every time they talked about the possibility of him winning, or whenever they discussed the adrenaline of the next task, everything was calm. It was until the duty of stopping James from dying in one of them arrived, that Remus would stop being calm and start using all his resources to help him survive.
Remus was doing a great job, he had won the first task thanks to him and Lily, but he also felt a little bad about pushing him into that state of stress.
Sirius groaned in his sleep and Remus began to unconsciously pet his hair. James smiled.
“We've taken what you'll sorely miss,” he repeated. “Something that matters to you. I guess you will have to recover something you value from the Black Lake.”
James frowned for a few seconds.
“What if they take my broom?”
Remus' incredulous look made him look away. Well, maybe it wasn't that.
“Maybe a gift from my mum,” he decided to go that way, although nothing came to mind. He didn't consider himself someone who was attached to material things; would the mermaids know what he valued most when he couldn’t even know what it was? He whined. “I don't know, Remus.”
His friend sighed, closing the book in his lap.
“I think we are too stressed right now. I'll go leave this in the library, and we'll think more in the morning. At least the spell thing is covered.”
James really needed to rest. He closed his eyes about to allow himself to fall asleep when an idea crossed his mind. Regulus. His boyfriend was brilliant, why not ask him and see what he would say?
He got out of bed in a hurry, almost tripping in the process. Remus looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
“I'll take it. You've already helped me too much, Moony. Don’t leave Sirius alone.”
The mention of the Black was enough for Remus to relent, giving him the book. James grabbed it quickly and smiled at him, darting out of the room towards the library. He ran until he got there, gasping for air.
The library was almost empty, it was already late and most preferred to leave before curfew. He looked through the tables, his boyfriend wasn't at any of them, but his friends were.
Still with the book in hand, he walked between the tables to reach the Slytherin's. No one paid him any attention until he leaned against the table and cleared his throat.
“Hey, Crouch,” he spoke, making the aforementioned look up. “Where is Regulus?”
Barty smiled teasingly. Regulus' group knew something, at least that they had a close relationship, and James was confident enough that they hadn't talked to anyone about it.
"He was just called into McGonagall's office."
James grimaced and drummed his fingers on the book impatiently. He could wait for him, but this was supposed to be a quick trip, and he wouldn't know what to say if Remus started asking him questions.
He nodded, not finding what else to do.
“When you see him, can you ask him to send me an owl?” He smiled, clearly disappointed at his lack of success. The Slytherin agreed and James sighed, “thank you.”
James put the book down, not in its place, but nearby, and left the library almost as quickly as he arrived. He would try not to fall asleep before Regulus answered, he wasn't that prone to getting into trouble, and he doubted his visit to McGonagall would take long. He had no problem with waiting just a little bit.
***
When he woke up, he expected to find a letter on his window. It wasn't like that, there was nothing, Regulus hadn't written and that wasn't the best way to start his day. He changed into his swimming clothes, Remus made sure the bubble spell was engraved into his brain, and ate a light breakfast. His stomach was in knots, and he was definitely going to throw up if he ate too much.
Most of Hogwarts, Durmstrang, and Beauxbatons left for the Black Lake. James spent the entire time looking around, searching for Regulus everywhere he could. He found his boyfriend’s group, with no sign of him nearby. Was he mad at him? Or, what if something had happened to him, and he didn't know?
Thinking did not help him at all, because being on the edge of the structure in the middle of the Black Lake, he did not pay attention again until the instructions began. One hour to recover your valuable item, whoever came out first would get the most points.
He'd never felt intimidated by his competition before, but now that his head was everywhere, he was starting to worry.
James jumped into the lake with the sound of the cannon and the frozen water finally revived him. He pulled out his wand, muttered the spell, and directed it at his face. By the time he could breathe and open his eyes, his competition had already left, so he began swimming.
Everything looked slightly blurry, even though he was still wearing his glasses. He used his hands to move the tall plants out of his way and from time to time he could glimpse fish passing by him. He was trying very hard to swim as fast as possible, feeling grateful to be an athlete.
Still, if his Nimbus were to be ruined by that stupid task, he would be furious.
“Come seek us where our voices sound…”
The chanting began and James became alert. He paid attention to identify where the sound was coming from and began swimming in that direction, suspecting that the merpeople would take him exactly where he needed to go.
They were horrifying creatures, far from the beauty described by Muggle fairy tales. They looked closer to that of a terrifying gigantic fish, James almost got chills when he saw them. Luckily it seemed that none of them had intentions of harming him, he doubted they could.
Following them was easier than going blindly, and soon he began to approach a point where the algae was scarce, and the path became clearer. The columns, the arches, what looked like a sunken city full of merpeople looking at him from afar. He tried not to focus on them, and when he turned his attention forward, his heart almost stopped for a moment.
There were three figures floating, three people. The nausea returned to him stronger than ever, he didn't know where he got the speed from, but he swam so fast that he was in front of them in seconds. There was a girl and two boys, he could recognize the ash blonde hair on one of the men, similar to his Beauxbatons peer. Beside him, a beautiful woman's box braids floated with the water, and when James reached the last person, he didn't want to look.
Regulus.
His legs moved before his mind reacted, and he was able to let out a gigantic sigh as he looked at the stream of bubbles that came out of the Black's nose every time he breathed. He seemed asleep, probably under a spell. James brought his hands to his face, his skin was cold and, with his hair floating around his head, he looked like an angel.
What he valued most, he didn't have a single doubt.
James looked around, one of the competitors seemed close judging by the agitation of the merpeople that were still watching him. He took his wand and cast a spell to break what was binding Regulus's foot and held him down. Sliding one arm around his chest, he began to force them up. He didn't know how much time was left, he had swum for way too long, and now wouldn’t risk it.
He kicked and pushed his way up, holding Regulus tightly, as if one of the mermaids was going to snatch him from his hands. The bubble burst when his head was above the water, and he immediately heard Regulus take a deep breath.
His boyfriend's hands gripped his shoulders, James held him up to help him float and scanned his face, making sure he wasn't hurt.
“I hate this lake,” Regulus gasped.
“I know, starlight.”
The man hid his face in James' neck, and he led them to the platforms as fast as he could. Several hands helped them up, gave each of them a towel, and with brief congratulations to James, they walked away and turned their talk into whispers. James couldn't have cared less.
"Are you okay?"
Regulus nodded and adjusted the towel over his shoulders.
"I'm sorry. If I had known that the stupid task would be like this, I would have refused. It's irresponsible, how did they give us only one hour? I understand if you're mad at me, I don't think-”
He was interrupted mid-speech when Regulus held his cheek and silenced him with a kiss. James melted against his lips, relaxing instantly. When they separated, he looked at Regulus with a helpless expression.
"It’s alright. You got me out of there,” he whispered before smiling just a little. “Plus, I heard what they were singing. I can’t be mad at you for that.”
James smiled widely and leaned in to kiss him again, as if there was no one around him. Nobody else mattered.
And now, everyone knew their secret.
***
James and Regulus seemed to be whispering to each other, so close that their arms were brushing, and they seemed wrapped in their own personal bubble. Regulus rested his head on his lover’s shoulder, he kissed his hair.
James was the first victor to surface, and perhaps the fact that the valuable thing was about people and not objects would have caused more noise if it weren't for who emerged in the Gryffindor's arms.
One particular person was looking at them from just a few meters away, with his jaw almost on the ground—Sirius. Remus sighed next to him.
“Moony,” he complained.
“Yes, Padfoot.”
“Did you know?”
Remus shook his head. He had had a suspicion that James was up to something, he just didn't know what. Now everything made a lot more sense.
“No, if James had told me, he would have also told you.”
Sirius frowned.
“That bloody bastard.”
“Sirius.”
Remus watched as surprise turned to rage. Sirius pulled his wand out of his pocket and, before Remus could stop him, began striding towards the couple.
“James Fleamont Potter! Let go of my little brother!”
James almost stumbles when he gets up, leaving the towel on the ground before running off with Sirius chasing him, with a clear intention of taking one of the rafts if necessary. Regulus watched them go and smiled, barely noticeable, but a smile nonetheless.
Remus knew. The task had not been wrong, and neither had his friends.