Chapter Text
A year ago, James Potter was crowned king of Auradon. Normally, this would make his girlfriend a lady in waiting, but he didn't have a girlfriend, he had a boyfriend. For lack of a better title, Regulus was just refered to as his name or James' partner.
Throughout this past year, James and Regulus have traveled through the many kingdoms of Auradon, meeting with the rulers of each. They had to do this while also balancing school, but they managed that pretty well– they weren't falling behind in any classes, at least.
For the most part, Regulus liked Auradon. He and his friends had given up being bad, and had not returned to the Isle of the Lost. He'd cut the purple streak out of his hair– because it reminded him of his life of being evil– and let the rest grow to his shoulders– which was odd for him, and he didn't really like it, so he planned on getting a haircut soon.
What he didn't like was the fact that everytime he went anywhere, there were news reporters bombarding him with questions.
"Regulus, please, over here!" Shouted one reporter.
"Regulus! Look at the camera!" Shouted another.
"Regulus, only three days to the royal cotillion! What are you going to wear?"
"Did you ever think a boy like you would be a man of the court?"
'A boy like you', meaning a boy from the Isle of the Lost; the island where all the villians were banished to many years ago.
All of these reporters were stressing Regulus out so much. You can't have a panic attack on live TV, you can't have a panic attack on live TV, he kept telling himself, knowing that it wouldn't work. He just wanted to get to class for Christ's sake!
The only thing he could do was smile as photographers kept taking pictures of him without permission.
Then, finally, James saw him and walked over, putting an arm around Regulus' shoulders. He cleared his throat and looked up at the reporters, "Excuse me. We will let you know if and when that particular situation changes."
"Did you ever think you would be with a villain kid?" One of the reporters asked.
James laughed politely as the microphone was held up to him. "We're done here." He said, dragging Regulus away from the situation.
"Shush, shush." Mrs. McGonagall said to the reporters, appearing in front of James and Regulus. "This is still a school, so if you're here, you're either skipping class or trespassing."
Seeing that Minerva had the situation handled, James finally asked Regulus, "You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," Regulus nodded. He was lying. "Now that my knight in shining armor has saved me." He added, teasing.
James laughed. "Your king." He corrected.
"Oh, even better." Regulus smiled, convincing himself that he was okay.
James squeezed Regulus' shoulder. "Look, don't pay attention to them, okay?"
Regulus sighed. "That's a lot easier said than done."
"I know, I know." James said, looking off in the distance as he smiled, possibly trying to hide it. "You know, maybe we should do something." He suggested, "We should go somewhere. Get away."
"Yeah," Regulus agreed. That sounded really nice.
James looked back over at Regulus, not even attempting to hide his smile this time. "Yeah? Well, how about–" He cut himself off, looking down at his watch. "I have a council meeting," He realized, "I'm so late."
"That's okay!" Regulus assured him, although he was a little hurt.
"We'll do it sometime." James promised, "Uh..."
Just then, someone was grabbing Regulus' arm, pulling him away. He was ready to punch them, he didn't even care if it was a news reporter.
"If we don't do your fitting for your suit right this minute, you'll be dancing in your bathrobe." Sirius said, turning Regulus around. Oh, thank God, it's just him. "Hi," Sirius looked up at James for a split second, then looked back at Regulus. "Let's go."
Regulus followed his older brother, quickly waving goodbye to James. "Bye, James."
"Bye." James replied, then turned to walk the other way.
In their dorm, Regulus stood on a pedestal placed in the middle of the room. Sirius had decided to pick up sewing and fashion as a class, since it was something he'd always wanted to do on the Isle. Because of this, his section of the room had turned into a mini boutique.
Sirius was busy with a tape measure, measuring Regulus' arms, neck, shoulders, chest, waist, and legs. Regulus normally would not be comfortable with someone being so close to him, but his brother was an exception.
Regulus tied his hair into a ponytail, it was nearly summer, so it was getting really hot.
Sirius made a face. "Is that how you plan on styling your hair for Cotillion?"
"No, but I don't know how to style it!" Regulus told him, getting frustrated with this whole Cotillion thing. "I'm probably going to get my hair cut again, but if it's bad then everyone will know because of those stupid news reporters that are so fucking annoying by getting in my business all of the time, just... ugh!" He rambled, and Sirius let him, listening the entire time. "There's a news story if I just breath wrong! Which, by the way, I can't even do right now because this shirt is so tight."
"You can breathe after Cotillion." Sirius said.
Regulus rolled his eyes, unbuttoning the shirt a bit so that he could breathe– it didn't really help since he had his binder on for way too long and still hadn't taken it off. "I sincerely doubt that." He said, "I have, like, twenty events directly behind it and I can't even remember what a single one of them is."
"Okay, look," Sirius said, "To get a little weight off your chest, I'll adjust your suit. I wish I could do more, because that sounds really stressful, but I can't."
"Thank you." Regulus sighed. He felt a bit better, but still very down in the dumps. "Sirius?"
"Hm?"
"Do you ever think of what we'd be doing if we were back on the Isle?"
Sirius laughed. "That's funny."
Regulus wasn't joking.
Then, music started playing on the TV, distracting Sirius. "Ah! Look who's on TV!" He turned Regulus so that he could see as well.
The TV was playing a clip of him and James from their most recent trip– where they had gone to visit Jasmine and Aladdin.
Regulus went to go sit on his bed, watching himself on TV– he even laughed at himself a few times. He laughed at the way that he accidentally dropped a piece of food from his fork. He laughed at his lack of manners, even though he was trying so hard.
"Oh!" He exclaimed, suddenly realizing something and grabbing a couple of books out of his nightstand. One book was his spellbook, and the other was a book of manners and how to fit it with royalty.
Regulus flipped through the pages of his spellbook until he found the spell he needed. "Read it fast at lightning speed. Remember everything I need." He picked up the other book from his lap and flicked his hand over it, magic sparkles swirling around the book. He opened it and flipped through the pages, reading at lightning speed.
Sirius scoffed somewhere behind him. "I know Reg's secrets of fitting in and James wouldn't like it one bit." He said, walking over to Regulus' bed and sitting down next to him. "Haven't you guys had enough secrets between the two of you already?"
"Sirius, you remember what I was like before I started using my spell book. I mean, I was a complete disaster." Regulus argued, looking up at his brother.
Sirius rolled his eyes. "Well, personally, as your brother, I strongly believe that this spellbook..." He reached over and took it out of Regulus' lap, holding it up in the air where Regulus couldn't reach, "Belongs in the museum, along with my magic mirror."
Regulus pouted, leaning over his brother to reach the spellbook as Sirius kept holding it higher. "Don't give me that face–" Sirius laughed, then got all serious. "Put the pout away." Regulus gave up trying to get the book back and sat on the edge of his bed like he had been before. "Mmm-hmm. You know I'm right."
Sirius got up and walked to the other side of the room, putting the spellbook in his bag, planning to return it to the museum.
Regulus sighed. "You don't ever miss running wild and just breaking all the rules?" He asked his brother.
"Like stealing and lying and fighting?" Sirius questioned.
"Yeah."
"No." Sirius said simply.
"What?!" Regulus asked, surprised.
Sirius chuckled. "Why would we?" He asked. "I mean, look at where we are! We're in Auradon. We're Auradon guys now, we're basically princes."
"I know." Regulus muttered.
"This is the land of opportunity." Sirius continued, "We can be whatever we want to be here. So, please, let's just leave the past in the past, okay? Besides... Cotillion is going to be so awesome."