Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

September 14^th, 1978

The library was dark, with only a small lamp providing light.

Regulus Black sat alone at a table with a few books and parchment paper scattered around him, a few from the restricted section (thanks to Slughorn). The tiny lamp gave just enough light to work without attracting the attention of any prefects who might notice him staying up past curfew.

He thought he had to thank Slughorn for allowing him access to those books. Even though he didn't really like Slughorn that much, he is a good teacher; however, something about him seems off in a way he can’t really describe. He does appreciate Slughorn allowing him to access books from the restricted section, and also because Slughorn doesn’t ask why Regulus would need access to them.

He turned to look over at the clock, ticking away in the silence. Almost midnight, Regulus thought to himself, the prefect's round should be over by now, or they would be very soon, which was good. He should be going back to his dorm soon, or Barty and Evan would start to get worried about him. And then he will have to deal with Evan telling him off.

But they can wait; he needs to finish these notes. He has to. Right now, he is writing about different spells through the ages that had died down at some point. There were many other reasons why this spell had died down, but it was mostly because they were just too hard to perform, and not enough people knew how to do them.

The problem was that some of the spells were brilliant.

There is this one non-verbal spell that basically controls fire. The first time he read about it, he thought that it was fiendfyre. It is similar to Fiendfyre, yes, but the difference is that it can be done without a wand and basically allows you to control all fire, every single flame, cast by anyone, and the fire (that you control) also can’t hurt you at all, only the people you want it to hurt. But it was practically impossible to master from what he could find out that there had only been one person who had been able to master it before, and they had died over 200 years ago.

The reason it was so hard to master is that you need to let go of control over your emotions while at the same time keeping them under control, which doesn’t make sense.  

But he thinks he will learn to master it without fully letting go of his emotions, since he likes having them under control; sometimes, his emotions feel like the only thing he has control over.

But he will be able to figure it out after all, he is a Slytherin for a reason.

Then there was this other one that could let you enter people's dreams and communicate with them while they are sleeping. To the person who dreams you were interning, it seems like a normal dream, but it isn’t. It was kind of similar to Occlumency, but it isn’t the same. This one, again, is pretty hard to master, but he thinks he can figure it out.

Eventually.

He has multiple sheets of parchment filled with various items scattered around him, including different animals, their weaknesses, and methods for taming them.

He also has one for certain magical artifacts. He has the powers these artifacts possess and what can destroy them. He has figured out that basilisk venom and fiendfyre can destroy many things, especially artifacts made with dark magic. And of course, right now, he is working on one of his parchment papers, you know, the one with loads of dead spells that no one uses anymore.

Currently, he is copying text from one of the books in the restricted section, which is about different animals and how to tame them. He found this information really useful, as you never know which animals he may encounter. He had a sheet of parchment dedicated to each animal he had researched.

He turned the page, and as he read the title of that page, he froze. The title was ‘Can You Tame a Dragon?’ He was staring at the page for a while. Every Slytherin knows how the House of Black used to be called the House of the Dragon, many, many years ago, just like the Malfoys used to be called the House of the Serpents. And every Slytherin knows what the Blacks did when they were the House of the Dragon. How they used to burn Muggle villages down to the bone on the dragons they “tamed”.

He looked through the piece of parchment paper he had scattered around him to see if he had a page about dragons. He didn’t, so he found a blank page and drew a small sketch of a dragon. When he was done, he started writing down all that the book told about taming dragons.

🐍

His mind was beginning to grow tired; he caught himself almost drifting off several times. He should probably head back to his dorm soon, but he didn’t really want to listen to Evan scolding him for staying up too late, especially on a day where they had school, multiple lessons, and studying to do.

His eyes were starting to drift off slowly. He should start packing and head back to his dorms soon, or he will likely fall asleep in the library again. Miss Pince would probably get pissed off at him and tell him that, even though she likes students using the library to study and all that stuff, students also need at least eight hours of proper sleep. Maybe she will even end up taking points from Slytherin, and he didn’t really want every single Slytherin glaring at him for multiple weeks or even a month, maybe.

He stood up and suddenly felt a bit dizzy, so much that he had to sit down again. Shit, he thought he probably stood up too quickly.

He started packing up his things, stacking his books into two piles: one to take back to his dorm and one to return. He put the lid on the ink jar and placed his quill on top of his book quietly, making sure not to make a single sound. He went over to put his books back where they belonged, then he went back to turn off the light. In the darkness, he put his parchment paper, ink jar, and quill in a bag he had lying on his chair. Grabbed his books into his chest. He put his bag over his shoulder. He took out his wand from his pocket and whispered, “Lumos.” And with that, his wand lit up.

He started walking out of the library, then turned around to look over where he had been, to make sure it looked like no one had been there. He looked over at the clock ticking away; it's over midnight now, in less than half an hour it will be one. He walked out of the library now and started heading back to his dorm, walking through the corridor slowly.

Slowly, quietly, slowly, quietly, he feels like he is back at Grimmauld Place, walking around, trying not to be noticed or seen by his parents, hoping they wouldn’t notice him, praying that they wouldn’t notice him, but they do, well, at least they do right now after Sirius left. When he left (Sirius), his parents finally gave up on Sirius being the prefect heir, so they turned all their attention on him, and they put all their “hopes,” “dreams,” and expectations on him.

Even though everyone wants Sirius to be the heir of the most noble and ancient house of black, he was funny, charming, good-looking, charismatic, and could sweet-talk anyone, and Regulus meant anyone. But Sirius didn’t believe in the pure blood supremacy and was also known as the black sheep of the family, along with Andromeda. Regulus was just the backup, the spare that they had lying around to use when they didn’t have Sirius.

He was walking along Hogwarts. It was dark, different from when it was day; it was light, bright, and full of light, but when it was night, it was dark and really looked like a haunted castle. It gave him an uncomfortable feeling, as if he were back at Grimmauld Place; he would have felt better if he had one of his friends walking with him, perhaps Pandora. However, when he was alone walking around Hogwarts at night, he felt hollow and alone, like he was screaming underwater, but no one could hear him. Sometimes he does feel like he is drowning.

While he was walking, he looked up at the sky, looking for the Leo constellation, but he couldn't find it. It was September, and you couldn’t see Regulus in September or in August, as it is that one time of year when Regulus is the closest to the sun. And Regulus hated it mainly because, like, not being able to see yourself in the mirror. Even though he knows Regulus isn’t up there, he still looks up as if it might appear.

He stops for a second, just looking up at the sky, looking at all the stories and myths of everything in the sky, and looks up at them.

 He started walking again, going back to his dorm. He was walking alone, lost in thought, until he froze in his spot. He heard the sound of footsteps, and he immediately recognized who those footsteps belonged to. It was Filch. He didn’t know what to do, and the footsteps were getting louder and louder. He felt like his feet were frozen to the ground. Like he couldn’t feel his legs at all.

 Oh no, oh no, he thought. He was going to get caught by Filch and get detention; Slytherin would lose points, and every Slytherin would glare at him for weeks, months, and months. He tried to move, tried to hide, he tried to move, but his feet were glued to the ground. The footsteps were also getting louder and louder. He closed his eyes tightly, getting ready for Filch.

Suddenly, he felt like he was being dragged under a piece of cloth, and then he felt like he was being slammed against a wall. His eyes were shut tight.

He slowly opened his eyes and was surprised to see that James Potter was pinning him against a wall. James was looking him up and down with a faint smirk on his lips. He had one arm above Regulus's head, leaning a bit into him. He was about a head taller than him. Their bodies were close; there was only a small distance between James and Regulus' book that he clutched tighter to his chest. It was so small that Regulus could hear how James was breathing. He looked up at him. Their faces were also really close together that Regulus could feel his breath hitch somewhere deep in his throat.

Regulus was about to say something, but before he could, Potter put his hand over Regulus's mouth.

“Shhhhhhh, be quiet,” he whispered harshly at him.

It was only after Potter told him to be quiet that Regulus realized that they were under an invisibility cloak, probably Potter's, because, of course, he had an invisibility cloak like what didn’t that boy have. He looked over Potter's shoulder, and he saw Filch walk past, clearly not hearing or seeing anything, thank Merlin, Regulus thought. After Filch had left, Regulus looked back up at Potter.

This time, though, he really looked at him; the candles around them didn’t give much light, but just enough for Regulus to see the sprinkle of freckles Potter had on his face, the way his eyes were actually golden, not brown like everyone said they were, or at least that's how they looked in this light.

Why was he looking at Potter like that? Stop that, it's James bloody Potter of all people, snap out of it, Regulus, he thought to himself.

He felt the books pressed against his chest and how James had a firm hold on him, making sure he didn’t move or do anything that might draw Filch's attention back.

Filch was certainly not coming back. Regulus looked up at him and suddenly remembered who Potter was.

“Get your dirty, filthy hands off my mouth, Potter,” Regulus hissed. James immediately moved his hand away from his mouth.

“You could at least say please or thank you, especially for saving you from getting caught by Filch,” James snickered.

“I don’t need help from anyone, and especially not you,” Regulus looked him up and down with disgust. “And would you mind letting me go?”

“Fine, I will let you go if you tell me what you are doing out past midnight,” James asked—smirking that stupid smirk of his.

“And why would I tell you?” Regulus raises his eyebrow; he is getting more pissed off about this whole interaction. He just wanted to go to his dorm and sleep for a bit.

“The only reason you wouldn’t tell me is if you're doing something like I don’t helping You Know Who also, because I could turn you in, giving you detention and take as many points I want off Slytherin, can’t I? I am head boy, after all, aren’t I?” James said, leaning into Regulus's ear so now Regulus could feel his breath on him, sending a chill down his spine somehow again. His breath hitched for a second, but only for a second, one stupid second, and Regulus hated it. But Potter must have heard it because his smirk was even wider.

Regulus glared at him. Him helping Lord Voldemort, as if who does he thinks he is? Potter's audacity is shocking; someone has to study his brain.

“And also, we wouldn’t want your reputation being ruined, would we?” he said with an underlying flirtation in his voice.

“First of all, I know how to keep my reputation in tack. Second of all, there is no we never was never will be in any single universe, Pottah,” Regulus said to him, still glaring at him. “Also, if you are that desperate to know what I was doing, I was studying.” James studied him up and down, taking note of his books. “Something you clearly have never done, pottah,” Regulus said with a snarky tone while rolling his eyes, “Do you mind letting me go now? I answered all your questions.”

“Right,” James said, letting Regulus off the wall and taking the cloak off the both of them. Regulus put a leg on his wall and leaned against it. James was standing in front of him. There was about a meter between them. Smirking that shit eating grin of his.

“What are you doing here past midnight, head boy, huh?” Regulus said, raising his eyebrow with a snarl in his voice.

“It's none of your business, but I had to do a round around Hogwarts to make sure that there's no one.” James looks Regulus up and down, “is out of bed.”

“And you decide not to get me in trouble or take any points from Slytherin.” Regulus was getting confused now. “Why?”

“I have my reason,” James said with a smirk.

“Oh,” Regulus said sarcastically, “well, I have to go to my dorm now.”

“Well, go ahead, Reggie.”

“Don’t call me that,” Regulus said, getting more pissed off. He turned on his heels. He walked past James, bumping into him on purpose, and started walking back to his dorm, his head high like always.

“Oi, baby black,” James yelled at him.

“What!” Regulus snapped at him.

“Black if I see you out of bed after curfew, I will give you detention,” James said with a serious tone that he had used before he didn’t even know where he got it from.

“Like I ever would if I knew you're going to be on my heel potter,” Regulus snapped at him.

“Oh yeah, see you at breakfast,” James said, winked at him.

Regulus rolled his eyes at him and turned around. He started walking back to his dorm quickly, holding his books tight to his chest. Head high like always.

 He hates James Fleamont Potter with every cell in his body, always has, always will.

He started walking quickly, almost running, and wanted to get back to his dorm. He did not want another encounter with any of his brother friends tonight that he could not handle. He was practically running down to the dungeons now. He reaches the entrances and whispers the password, “Anguis.”

Opening the door to the common room, it was dark, as always, with colors of black, silver, and various shades of green. Somehow, it felt cozy or peaceful, like being on the grass on a grey, cloudy day, just staring up into the sky, wondering if it was going to rain or not; it felt like the closest thing to home he had ever felt.

 He walked into the common room. There was a big snake on the wall made from stained glass, which was a bit weird since the dungeons barely got any light at all, but Salazar probably just wanted it for the purpose of looking cool. It had a bunch of couches in forest green in front of it, and a few armchairs in emerald green. There was a black table in front of the couch. There was a bottle of fire whiskey on the table (probably one of the older kids). There was also a fireplace, which didn’t do much, but it looked good here.

On one of those couches lay a small boy, most likely in his fourth year, who probably fell asleep studying. Regulus recognized the boy; it was Mulciber's little brother, Xander Mulciber. He remembered the boy, who was shy and, in all honesty, readied regulus a bit of himself. Regulus believed he was the new keeper for the Slytherin team in Quidditch. Regulus could help but smile at the little boy. He went over to him and draped one of the many blankets they had lying around over him. The blanket featured a huge snake with the words "Slytherin" at the bottom.

Then he started heading up to his dorm, walking up the spiral black marble stairs. He walked past a dorm, and all of them had the name of who they belonged to on the front. He found his dorm on the black door, which said 'Regulus Black, Barty Crouch Jr., and Evan Rosier.' He quietly opened the door, trying as hard as he could not to make a sound, but when he walked in. He was immediately hit in the head with a pillow.

“What the actual fuck?” he said, alarmed.

“We’re the ones asking questions here,” Barty said, sitting on a chair facing Regulus, arms crossed, and Evan standing behind him, hands on both shoulders.

“Yeah, cause why are you up so late?” Evan looked over at the clock on the wall. “It’s one o'clock in the fucking night, what are you doing up so late? We have school tomorrow, well, today, but still.”

“I was going to be back before one, but I ran into someone, and he wasted my time getting back,” Regulus said. Putting his bag on the side of his nightstand, he put his books and wand on top of it. The nightstand was made of African blackwood. He flopped onto his bed. Fuck he was so tired that he just wanted to go to bed in his uniform, without brushing his teeth or combing his hair, but he knew he would hate himself in the morning for not doing so.

“Wait, who did you run into?” Evan asked worried

“Yeah, who the fuck did you run into that held you up for so long?” Barty asked irritably. He didn't like it when people held Regulus or any of their friends. Regulus liked this about Barty. Barty was always the first one to get into fights about anything, really, and somehow always dragged Regulus and Evan with him. In a way, Barty reminds Regulus of Sirius in some ways, though he would never tell Barty this.

“No one, don’t worry about it,” Regulus said. He really didn’t want them to be worried.

Evan walked over to Regulus's bed and sat down, sitting next to Regulus, making sure they weren’t touching in the slightest since it was known in their friend group that Regulus usually didn’t show physical affection or liked it in any way whatsoever.

“Come on, Reg, please tell us who it is,” Evan said, his voice calm, the same one Pandora used with him.

“I ran into Potter, or well, Potter ran into me,” he mumbled.

He thought they hadn’t heard him for a second until.

“Fucking Potter of all people,” Barty exclaimed. While getting up from his chair, he went over to Regulus's bed and flopped on it, his head lying on Evans's lap, but his eyes fixed on Regulus. Evan looked surprised; his cheeks turned a bit pinkish at this, and he leaned slightly into one of the four black posters, his hand in Barty's hair, playing with it.

“Well, Reg, tell us what happened with Potter?” Evan asked curiously, but a grin was already on his face.

“Well, what happened was” Regulus sat up immediately, feeling the need to look at Barty and Evan. He saw how Barty and Evan looked together and just smiled at this. “I was walking back to my dorm, and suddenly I heard Filch, and I froze up for some reason I don’t know why. And all of a sudden, Potter dragged me under his invisibility cloak, I believe it was his at least, and pinned me against a wall, putting his dirty ass hand on my mouth. Then he holds me in place there until Filch is gone, then he tells me I should thank him for saving me and not taking points from Slytherin or giving me detentions. The audacity he has is pathetic.” Regulus said, punctuated with an eye roll.

Regulus looked over at Barty and Evan. They had been quiet. It probably sounds stupid now that he thought about it.

Then Barty broke into laughter, and Evan shook his head, probably thinking they were idiots.

“The audacity he has, I mean, he fit, I will give him that, but still,” Barty said, still laughing.

“I mean, yeah, he's pretty fit,” Evan said

Potter was indeed pretty fit, and the worst part about that is that he knew he was fit to the point where he struts around Hogwarts like he owns the bloody place. Sometimes, he would smile or even wink at you if he caught you staring for too long, and every time he did this, the girls would go crazy fawning over him and start giggling like maniacs. It was bloody annoying.

He remembers how, when Potter had that crush on Lily Evans, the girl he had a crush on, between his first and fifth year (that everyone knew about because he made it very publicly), and how anytime Evans would walk down the halls, all the girls would glare at her. Honestly, he felt quite bad for her; he would have hated it if, because of one dude, half of the school glared at him all the time. But if he were Lily Evans, he would have just killed one simple spell, he wouldn’t be here, and Regulus didn’t have to deal with his “fan girls.” Though speaking about it, if he did die, they wouldn’t probably have a memorial of some sort, which he also didn't want to deal with.

 Then in his sixth year, he had dated a few girls, but only for a few weeks; they never lasted long. The longest any of them lasted was a month and a half, but still, he was not quite sure. He was fairly certain that the biggest thing those girls had going for them was that they dated James Potter.

The last girlfriend, some random Gryffindor by the name of Sophia Bell (he believed), they had broken up a week or two before the summer holiday. However, she was still going around telling the whole school that they were taking a “break” from each other and how he still loves her, but if he wants to be honest, he doesn’t think Potter cares about her at all, or any of his exes.

“Still the audacity he has,” Barty said. 

“But, Regulus, are you okay?” Evan asked him with a genuinely worried

“Yeah, I am Evan,” Regulus said, giving Evan a slight smile. “Thank you,” he whispered so quietly that he was not sure that Evan heard him at all.

But Evan smiled back at him.

“But I mean, he really is an idiot, Regulus. Don’t give him the time of day, he's a Klaphat (clapping hat basically means idiot).” Evan said with great confidence, the type that people inspired to have.

“And what does that mean, Rosier?” Barty asked. Regulus, remember how much Barty hates it when Evan and he call him insults in other languages.

Evan smirked, “Basically, it means he is an idiot, but it translates to clapping hat, which is kind of funny.”

“Isn’t that the thing you call me?” Barty gasped dramatically.

“Yeah,” Evan said, unfazed.

“What, how dare you, Evan? I can’t believe it, calling me the same thing as Potter of all people,” Barty said in dramatic shock.

“Come on, Barty, the only reason Evan calls you the same thing as Potter is because you’re both bloody idiots on the same level,” Regulus said with the most serious and snarky tone he could manage right now.

Barty gasped while Evan started laughing hysterically.

“Regulus black, how dare you? I thought we were best friends, maybe even brothers. I thought we had something special,” Barty said, standing up and walking over to his bed and dramatically falling on it.

“I mean, Reggie got a point,” Evan said, still laughing while shaking his head.

“Don’t call me that,” Regulus said, shooting him a glare.

Evan smirked at him.

“Anyways, as lovely as it was for you reg telling us about Potter, we really need to go to bed, or we will hate ourselves in the morning,” said, standing up and walking towards the bathroom. “I will get ready first, then reg, and last of all, you, Barty.”

“Why do I go last?” Barty whined

“Because I said so,” Evan replied

“Can’t I just go in the bathroom with you?” Barty said

Regulus looked over at Evan and saw Evan's face, which was normal, but pale, and had turned a bright pinkish-red color. WAS EVAN BLUSHING? Regulus thought that couldn’t possibly be it, right? He means Evan couldn’t have a crush on Barty, right?

Evan must have seen Regulus puzzled look because he started stammering, “Ah, well, no…you can’t, I… I'm just going to the bathroom, okay, bye.” Evan's face was bright red as he walked into the bathroom.

“What's up with him?” Barty asked, sounding genuinely confused.

Regulus shrugged, cause, honestly, he didn’t know.

🐍

Evan came out of the bathroom about twenty minutes later, looking like he had finally composed himself. He was a Rosier after all. Regulus knew how he felt; it was sometimes hard to compose oneself to be presentable. He had done it many times.

Evan, Pandora, and he had all had similar childhoods; they had all known each other since they were like two years old. So, he understood sometimes why the twins did certain things better than Dorcas or Barty. But one thing they all understood about each other was that they had either mommy or daddy issues, to be honest.

“Reg, it's your turn now,” Evan said, which had spanned Regulus out of his train of thought.

“Right, I am going,” he said, stood up, and walked over to get his pajamas, then walked over to the bathroom door.

“Let’s see if you take less time than Rosier over here,” Barty said as Evan sat down on his own bed.

Regulus just rolled his eyes and went into the bathroom, locking the door.

He looked at himself in the mirror, and somehow, he felt Potter’s breath still on him, sending that chill down his spine. He composed his self; he refused to let anyone mess with him, let alone Potter of all people.

He put on his pajamas, a black set with the black family logo scattered across the pants and one on the upper left side of his chest; it also had some gold accents. He picked up his comb and started slowly brushing his hair, applying a few products to ensure it looked amazing as always. Then he picks up his toothbrush, applies some toothpaste onto it, and begins brushing.

He spat out the toothpaste and looked at himself in the mirror. He looked at himself and saw his father and his mother looking at him. He tucked a hair behind his ear and still saw them. He wished he could unsee his parents in the mirror, but he couldn’t just stop looking in the mirror. Sometimes he wished he didn’t look like his parents; sometimes he wished he could change his appearance. He thinks it would be pretty nice to be metamorphmagus.

He let out a breath he didn’t even know he was holding. He walked over to the door and put his head against it, just sighing. Staying like this for a while, just standing there.

He fixes his posture, lets out another sigh, opens the door, and walks into his dorm.

“Barty, it's your turn,” he said with a neutral expression.

“Finally, you two take so long to get ready,” Barty said, whining.

“We just want to look nice, unlike you,” Evan snarked, looking at Barty up and down, tossing his hair back and forth.

“Ugh, excuse me,” Barty rolled his eyes, putting his hand on his heart and standing up, walking towards the door to the bathroom.

“I am going to go to bed now,” Regulus said.

“Good night, reg sleep well,” Evan said and gave him a small smile.

Regulus returned that small smile. He goes over to his bed. The curtains on his bed are a dark green that matches his blanket; however, his bedding was black, and the posters around his bed were silver-grey.

He got into his bed and lay down; he rolled over on his side to take his wand from the nightstand, and he flicked his wand with a single movement that closed the curtains. He put his wand under his pillow just in case anything happens, and he needs to get out his wand quickly.

He laid his head down on his pillow and put his blanket over him. He closed his eyes. He must have been exhausted, since in almost an instant, he fell asleep.

Chapter Text

September 15^th, 1978

Regulus woke up to the sound of Bary and Evan making all sorts of noise.

What time is it anyway, he thought.

He took his wand out from under his pillow and, with a flick of it, opened the curtains a bit to look over at the clock mounted on the wall. It was seven thirty. Breakfast started in thirty minutes, he thought.

He should start getting ready, but he decided to look up at the ceiling for a few minutes, gathering the strength to sit up. He eventually did it, taking only about five minutes before he sat up, pulled his curtains away, and stood up from his bed to start making his way over to his closet.

“Good morning, sleeping beauty,” Barty said, almost singing it. He was sitting on Evan's bed holding a mirror with seashell and pearls on it (probably from Pandora), he had done his mascara and was now trying to get his eyeliner even on both sides. From what Regulus could see, he was really struggling.

Regulus just rolled his eyes while looking through his closet for the different piece of his uniform.

Regulus had finally found all his pieces of his uniform and started walking towards the bathroom. Right as he was about to open the bathroom door, Evan walked out, already in his uniform, looking ready for another day of this place they called school. They were just about to bump into each other.

“Oh, hey, Reg, did you sleep well?” Evan asked.

“I guess so, I wish I could have slept more, though,” Regulus replied.

“Well, that's your own fault, reg is it not?” Evan said with a fake sweet smile plastered on his face. Regulus couldn’t quite figure out if it was a question or a statement.

Regulus just rolled his eyes and walked past him into the bathroom, closing the door and locking it behind him. He started to take off his pyjamas and put on his school uniform. First, he put on the black pants, then the white top, followed by his forest green socks. Next, he put on his tie, and last of all, his Slytherin robe. He started by brushing his teeth, applying toothpaste to remove the foul breath he always had for some reason in the morning. Then he took up his comb and began to comb his hair. When he was done combing his hair, he began styling his curls so they wouldn’t look out of place. Since everything has to look perfect, he could hear his mom say.

He heard a faint knock on the door, followed by. “Hey, Reg,” it was Evans' voice, “you almost ready?” He asked.

“Yeah, I'll be there in a minute,” Regulus replied. He looked at himself in the mirror for just a quick second, just looking at himself. He could slightly hear Barty asking Evan if the “princess” was ready. He turned on his heel and walked out of the bathroom and into their dorms.

“Good, you are finally ready, let go. I am starving,” Barty said, opening the door with so much force that he was almost pulling the door off its hinges. He had finally fixed his eyeliner.

“Yeah, okay, Bee, let's go now,” Evan said, his arm on Barty’s shoulder. Evan was only a few centimetres taller than Barty, but Regulus knew how much Evan loved teasing Barty with it.

They started walking out of the dungeons and to the great hall. They walked down the stairs and into the Slytherin common room, where a bunch of Slytherins were rushing out the door to get to breakfast on time. Regulus noticed that Mulciber's little brother had packed up his things, so it looked like he hadn’t even been there before, kind of like what Regulus did at the library.

The people were crowded around the entrance/exit of the Slytherin common room to get out of the dungeon and to the halls to get to breakfast.

“It kind of sucks we can’t just apparating to breakfast,” Barty said while they were walking.

“You can’t even apparat yet, you're not seventeen, Barty,” Evan said with an eye roll.

“Yeah, but I am just saying it could be pretty nice to be able to.”

“It would not be fair to anyone who is not seventeen yet.”

“That is true, Rosier, but just hear me ou-.”

“No,” Evan interrupted.

“Excuse me,” Barty said, gasping.

“I wouldn’t hear you out, you always come up with some sort of crazy and stupid idea that could either get us killed or in Azkaban for life, so no.”

Evan and Barty kept arguing very animatedly all the way down to the great hall. Some students were staring at them. Regulus didn’t think much of it, especially with the fact that Barty and Evan were cussing each other out in multiple different languages, and Barty having bright green highlights in his hair was also another factor. But Regulus didn’t mind them taking the spotlight; he had always hated being in the spotlight back when he was little. Sirius took it. But after Sirius left, he was forced into it.

They finally walked into the great hall. Breakfast had just started, but he spotted Dorcas sitting in their usual spot, waiting for them. As she saw them, her face lit up like a kid on Christmas. Evan and Barty had finally stopped arguing. They walked over to and sat down on the benches on the Slytherin table.

“Morning, Cas,” Regulus said.

“Morning, Reg Barty and Evan,” Dorcas said. “So did you all sleep well?” Dorcas asked.

“I barely got any sleep, Cas,” Barty said, putting his hand on his forehead dramatically. “Regulus first came back at one in the fucking night so that I couldn’t get any sleep.”  

“I don’t ask you to wait for me, that's your problem, Barty,” Regulus said, while grabbing a piece of toast and putting marmalade on it.

“Oh, for Merlin's sake, Reg, I did because I am a good frie-.”

“Good morning, everyone,” Pandora said, sitting down next to Dorcas.

“Morning, Dora,” Dorcas and Barty said.

“Morning, sis,” Evan said.

“Morning, dear,” Regulus said, looking up to meet Dora's eyes.

“So, how did everyone sleep today?” Pandora asked, looking around at all her friends, smiling that sweet smile she had. “I slept very well.”

“I spelt fine,” Regulus mumbled, taking a bite of his toast

“Regulus, you didn’t stay up too late researching that thing, did you?” Pandora asked him, giving a look like she already knew the answer.

“He did, sis, you should get mad because Barty and I couldn’t sleep”, Evan said, nodding his head.

“I am not going to get mad at him, my darling brother. I think he should remember to get enough sleep”, Pandora said, shooting Evan a look and reaching for Regulus's hand from across the table.

Pandora let go of his hand. They all got weird quiet after waiting for someone to break the tension, like always, it was Barty.

“Do guys want to hear what happened to Regulus last night?” Barty said on a mouthful of toast. Dorcas and Pandora nodded excitedly while Evan let out a sigh, putting a hand to his forehead, and Regulus rolled his eyes and shook his head.

“I can tell them right,” Barty whispered next to Regulus.

“Go ahead,” Regulus said, sounding exhausted, which he was.

Barty looked around the table, seeing if anyone was paying attention to them, but no one was; everyone was too busy talking about other stuff. Barty leaned in to whisper the story to them.

“So basically, what happened was that Reg was late more than normal, and so apparently he was being held up by James Potter of all people, who also pinned him against the wall to save him from being caught by Filch,” Barty had said, telling them the whole story.

Pandora and Dorcas' mouths dropped open in shock.

“Why would he do that? I mean, doesn’t he hate you or something like that?” Dorcas asked, confused.

“Your guess is as good as mine, Cas,” Regulus replied.

“Maybe he has a crush on you,” Pandora said with a voice that sounded dreamy, like she wasn’t really there in the moment.

These whole sentences made Regulus almost spit out his apple juice, thankful he didn’t, could you imagine how embarrassing that would be?

“EXCUSE Me,” Regulus managed to say, almost shouting. A few people turned their heads, but quickly went back to their own stuff.

James Potter having a crush on him? What in Merlin bread? Where did Pandora get that idea from? I mean, he knew that she was a seer, and she was smart. But still, that was not possible, right? Did she hit her head or something, or hexed? That was the only explanation, right? He would never even fall in love with a Gryffindor, especially not a Potter of all families; that was just bizarre.

Barty and Evan looked equally as modified as Regulus, which they should.

“I mean, if anyone pinned me against the wall, I would be amused that they had a crush on me,” Pandora said, smiling. “But that's just me.”

“Honestly, I see,” Dorcas said, looking at Pandora and nodding at her.

“WHAT!?!?!” Barty and Evan said in unison.

“I mean, don’t you see it?” Dorcas said.

“NO,” Regulus exclaimed.

“Well, I see it,” Pandora said, smiling, while drinking her orange juice.

“Yeah, no, we are not talking about these anymore,” Regulus said. He could feel his cheek heating up.

“Aww, you're blushing, Reggie.” Dorcas, with a teasing smile.

“Don’t call me that,” Regulus said, glaring at her. But Dorcas just smiled at him. “And I am not.”

They kept talking about stuff, mostly school-related stuff, and didn’t touch on the Potter and Regulus situation anymore, or Regulus might kill them all, it probably Barty first.

🐍

James had been watching Regulus since he walked into the great hall. He hadn’t really been paying attention to what his friends were talking about at all. If he was being honest, Sirius was probably being dramatic as always; he was pretty sure of it.

“Prongs prongs earth to prongs.”

“Oh…a yeah, Sirius, what up?” he asked, a bit nervously. Had Sirius caught him watching his little brother?

“Prongs, I was asking why you came back so late last night.” Sirius raised an eyebrow while taking a sip of Moony's tea.

“Well, McGonigal asked Lils and me to do rounds after the prefects to make sure that there wasn’t anyone doing anything they shouldn’t or helping someone,” James said, gesturing to tell who he meant by “someone.”

Remus looked over at Lily, who nodded her head and put her toast down, putting a hand to her mouth, and didn’t start talking until she was done chewing.

“It's true she did say that, so James and I take turns. He does all the odd days, I do all the even ones,” she said and gave a light shrug.

“Mkay,” Sirius said, stealing a bite of his boyfriend's toast. Remus just rolled his eyes at Sirius.

Oh, my goodness, James, you will never believe what I heard yesterday,” Marlene exclaimed, almost standing up.

“What did you hear, McKinnon?” James said with a puzzled look, raising an eyebrow. You never knew if it was good or bad with Marlene.

“You remember Sophia Bell, right?” she asked.

James gave her a confused look, but then suddenly remembered she was his ex-girlfriend, the one he had been dating right before the summer holiday.

“Yeah, I remember her. Why?”

“Well, so apparently she has been going around the whole school telling everyone that you guys are just taking a break,” she said, putting air quotes at the just taking a break part, and rolling her eyes and crossing her arms.

He looked at her, shocked, because it had been Sophia who had broken up with him; he had been bumped by it if he was being honest, she was really sweet, and she had a confidence he adored, but she also loved creating drama.

“What?” he said, really confused.

“Wait, had she been the one to break up with you, Prongs?” Peter, who was sitting on his right, asked.

“Yeah, she had. I mean, she said that she didn’t want to have a relationship during the summer.”

“That Bal,” Remus said, his Welsh accent slipping in at the Bal word.

“I agree with Moony, like how are you going to break up with someone and then say that you're just taking a break?” Sirius said, crossing his arms and leaning into Remus.

“Haven’t you done that?” Mary said with the most serious face and tone she could master at that moment, which caused the whole group to erupt into laughter.

But Sirius also turned a bright red.

“No, I haven’t,” Sirius started stammering, but Mary just raised an eyebrow, which got another laugh out of the group.

“Don’t worry, Sirius, it's okay, we don’t judge,” Mary said, smiling.

Remus shook his head. He looked tired, but it was the full moon tomorrow, and he had a hard time dealing with people and noise, which the great hall was full of, but he was still there with his friends and boyfriend.

“SOOO what class do you guys have?” Marlene asked, looking around the group.

“Well, don’t most of us have transfiguration with Minnie?” James said while throwing an apple up and down and then taking a bite out of it.

“Potter, will you stop throwing that apple up and down? It isn't charming. Yes, I do believe all of us have transfiguration except Mary and me, we have Divination.” Lily said with an attitude.

“Damn, she called you Potter, she hasn’t done that all school year,” Sirius said, chuckling.

“Cariad, the year has barely even started yet. Also, I agree with Lily, stop throwing that apple up and down, James”, Remus said, giving James an annoyed look.

“That's the point, moonbeam”, Sirius said, leaning his head on Remus's shoulder and kissing his cheek.

“Wow, are you trying to make us all feel single?” Marlene said, covering her eyes with her hands

When Marlene said this, James' eyes wandered off to the Slytherin table. Regulus looked pissed off, like he didn’t want to be here, and kept rolling his eyes at whatever Crouch was saying, but he looked so beautiful while doing it, almost ethereal at that moment, like you couldn't help but want to stare at him all the time. Looking at Regulus seemed like time stood still; it felt like an eternity, but at the same time felt like barely any time had passed at all. He never wanted to look away from Regulus.

“Guys, look, the owls are coming in”, Peter said, pointing up at the window where the owls were flying in with the Daily Prophet in their mouths.

James' attention was drawn away from Regulus as his barn owl “ensolarado”. It landed on his shoulder and was a softer, wavering cry. It dropped the paper and a letter on James's lap and started snuggling into his neck. He picked up the newspaper and looked around the great hall, which had fallen silent since everyone had started reading, so he did too.

Dark Mark Over London: Are the Death Eaters Rising?

By Rita Skeeter

LONDON — The wizarding world woke to horror once again as another Muggle family was found murdered just outside Muggle London, their home marked with the unmistakable symbol of terror: the Dark Mark. The victims, a family of four including two young children aged 7 and 5, were reportedly killed in rapid succession. The image of the mark hovering above their home (see page 5) has reignited fears across magical communities: Will the Death Eaters truly taking control?

Since the resurgence of You-Know-Who, attacks on Muggles and Muggle-born have escalated. Yet, the Ministry of Magic remains conspicuously silent. Many are asking: Where is the help for our young Muggle-born wizards? And more disturbingly: Whose side is Minister Cornelius Fudge really on?

Despite repeated requests, Minister Fudge declined to comment. However, we were able to get an exclusive interview with Corban Yaxley, head of the department of magical artefacts.

“I don’t know where Fudge lies in this; no one really knows, as it is not something we speak about,” Yaxley stated, “but he is a pureblood and was in Slytherin when he was in school, so I think we can all maybe guess where he lies.”

This comment, though, has sent shockwaves through wizarding circles. If the Ministry is compromised, what hope remains?

The Order of the Phoenix, long considered the last line of defence, is reportedly stretched to its limit. Rumours suggest a shortage of Aurors might cause it to fail, but from what is being said, they are still putting up a fight. If the Order falls, who will stand against the rising tide?

The question remains: Is this the beginning of the end—or can the light still hold?

Sirius scoffed at the newspaper, “Rita Skeeter, who does she think she is? Cornelius Fudge on the Death Eater side, that's just barbaric.”

“I mean, Sirius, he hasn’t really been doing a lot against the Death Eaters, I mean, sure, he put up certain laws since they rose, but is that enough?” Lily said, being put off by the whole situation with the Muggle family.

“Lily got a point, Sirius”, Mary said, seeming just as put off by this situation as Lily.

The gang looked up from their newspaper and looked over at the Slytherin table. Everyone was practically looking over at the Slytherin table, wondering what they were all thinking. The whole great hall had fallen silent to watch the Slytherin table.

“I'm going to become a member of the Order of the Phoenix when I graduate”, Sirius declared

“Are you sure, Sirius?” Remus said, giving his boyfriend a puzzled look, “I mean, I don’t think the order takes any non Aurors”

“well, I think they take me”, Sirius said.

Peter gave Sirius a worried look.

“Come on, wormy. I grew up with those snakes. If anyone knows how they think, it would be me, and I know they have Andy, but still two is always better than one, right?”

“I agree with you, pads”, James said.

“Thanks, Prongs”, Sirius smiled.

Then suddenly they heard the cackle of Mulciber (the older one). he just started laughing right there in front of everyone. The worst part was that it sounded evil, like genuine evil, like he fought the death of an innocent family was funny. It could be heard throughout the entire great hall. Some of the first years looked a bit terrified, but his little brother looked ashamed, as if he didn't want them to be related at all in that moment.

The teacher also looked pretty surprised, as they had also just read the Daily Prophet, but they didn’t say anything.

But James wanted to see the reaction of one particular Slytherin. His eye trailed over to Regulus, but Regulus showed no emotions at all, like he just felt numb, which made James' eyes furrow. How could anyone feel numb about something like this? It was an innocent family being murdered for what!? Games.

After Mulciber had stopped laughing, there was a moment of silence until people started talking again.

“Can you believe he just started laughing like that, like it's funny that a family is being murdered?” Marlene said it with the same tone she used when cursing at Slytherins or cursing at them.

“He is a Slytherin. What did you expect, Marls?” Sirius said. “But when I become a member of the order, he is the first one I am hunting down” Sirius whispered

They started talking again about other stuff, of course, since the situation had bumped them down, and of course, Mulciber had just really pissed them off.

James started reading the letter he had been sent; he had a suspicion about who had sent it.

“Prongs, what are you reading?” Peter asked, looking at James.

“Oh, it's a letter from my avó (grandmother) and avô (grandfather),” James said, sounding a bit distant.

“Mm, who are those again, your mom, parents, or your dads?” Peter asked, curiosity slipping down his tongue.

“My mom's parents,” James answered, looking up from his letter

“Hey, I remember them,” Sirius enthusiastically said. “They’re amazing people, just like Effie, anyway. What do they say, James?”

“They're basically just worried about everything that's going on because of the war, so they keep sending me letters asking if I want to come to Brazil and live with them.” He looked at his friends, who all seemed worried.

“You're not leaving, are you?” Marlene asked nervously

“Of course not,” James said, waving them off. “I would never leave you guys beside what I would do without all of you.”

“Good,” Sirius said, “because you are never going to escape me,” he said, putting a hand on his heart.

🐍

Regulus looked at his friends, who all saw a bit of a put-down about how Mulciber just started laughing like that, like what in Salzar's name was that about? They didn’t say anything because they knew that it would not look good with the Slytherins if they did say what they all were thinking at that moment.

His raven “Tempête” was resting quickly on his shoulder, asleep.

“Hey, should we go to the guys' dorms after school?” Pandora said

“Sure, you guys can come to our dorm after your class”, Barty said.

“Sure, I will come to your guys' dorms after my class”, Dorcas said, looking at Barty and Evan.

Breakfast was almost over now.

“So, what class do you guys have now?” Dorcas had

“Well, Evan, Reg, and I have potions”, Barty said.

“I have Divination now with the 7 years”, Pandora said with a dreamy look. “What about you, Dorcas?”

“I got transfiguration with the Gryffindor,” she said, rolling her eyes.

“I wish you the best of luck, Cas”, Evan said.

“Me too,” Regulus said.

“I send you hopes and prayers”, Barty said.

“Barty, you’re not even religious, so shut up, but thank you,” Dorcas said, giving a little nod to them.

“Excuse me, crouch”, a girl said, sitting next to him, scooting Evan out of the way. Evan glared at her. Regulus believes that her name was Penelope.

“What is it, Parkinson?” Barty said, smirking at her.’

“Well, I was wondering”, she said, starting to play with his tie. “You see, I need help with something”, she said, leaning into him.

“Well, I think I can help you with whatever you need, Parkinson”, he said, leaning in and smirking at her. “Meet me at the back of the library at 5 pm then.”

“Will do”, she said, getting up, smirking, then she walked away back to her friends, but turned around and gave him a wink.

“Evan er du okay (Evan are you okay)?” Pandora said, raising an eyebrow at her brother, who had just stopped glaring at the girl.

“Jeg har det fint, Dora (I am fine, Dora),” Evan said.

“Er du sikker (are you sure)?” Dora asked.

“Ja (yes)”, Evan snapped at her. These took her by surprise, which was evident on her face. Suddenly, Evan felt really bad.  

“Excuse me, can you guys stop speaking the Viking LEGO language?” Barty said teasingly.

“It's called Danish din klaptorsk (another Danish insult that you can’t translate)”, Pandora said with that sassy tone that she often used with Barty.

“Again, with the Viking LEGO insult”, Barty said, rolling his eyes.

“We should start going to class now”, Dorcas said trying not for thing to escalate.

“Agreed”, Regulus said, annoyed.

🐍

“These classes are so boring”, Barty whined. They were sitting in potions class, and there had barely gone half an hour before Barty started with his complaining.

“Now then”, Slughorn said, “I have prepared a few potions for you to have a look at, just out of interest, you know. These are the kind of things you would have heard of, even if you haven’t made them, but you ought to know them if you want to complete your N.E.W.T.”

He picked up a potion in a small bottle. It was colourless and odourless. Regulus’s hand shot up before anyone else.

“Nerd”, Barty whispered, which caused Evan to let out a small laugh and an eye roll from Regulus.

“Yes, Mister Black”, Slughorn said, giving him a slight nod.

“It veritaserum, sir”, Regulus said, keeping his posture upright like always, not allowing himself to falter when answering.

“And how do we know this?” Slughorn said, raising an eyebrow.

“Well, it's colourless, odourless, and if you drink it, you will be forced to tell the truth”, Regulus said

“Excellent, Black, 10 points to Slytherin”, Slughorn said, smiling at him. Barty gave Regulus a high five.

“Good job, Reg”, Barty whispered in his ear.

“You just called me a nerd” Regulus said, which just made Barty smirk at him

“Now what potion is this?” Professor Slughorn said, pointing at a potion on the Hufflepuff. “It has been mentioned a few times in the ministry lately.”

“It's a Polyjuice potion, sir”, a Hufflepuff by the name Sebastian Jones

“Correct, Mr Jones, 10 points to Hufflepuff”, Slughorn said. “Now, last but not least, what is this potion?” he said, pointing at a potion on the Slytherin table. Evan shot up his hand.

“Yes, mister Rosier”, Slughorn said, pointing at him.

“It amortentia”, he said, “sir” he added.

“Well done, Mr Rosier. Another 10 to Slytherin,” Slughorn said, smiling, “now do you mind telling us what you smell, since what you smell is different from what someone else smells.”

“Well, I smell leather, smoke, but like the kind from a cigarette, firewhiskey… fresh-baked pizza, and um. and pistachio, and I think ink maybe and a hint of salt black liquorice.” Evan's voice seems to get quieter with every single word.

There was a weird tension in the room that Regulus couldn’t really pinpoint, but it was primarily from Evan and Barty. Evan was now writing notes on his parchment paper, not wanting to make eye contact with anyone in the room anymore. Somehow, even Professor Slughorn could sense the tension.

“Okay, so does everyone understand what those three potions are and how to identify them?” Slughorn said. There came a muffled " yes” from the students.

Barty was studying Evan's face with curiosity, like he was trying to work out an impossible puzzle and didn’t even know where to start. The other Slytherin at their table, by the name Lucia Bole, was also giving them weird looks.

What the fuck was going on? Did Evan really have a crush on Barty, or was it just a coincidence that all those smells were the perfect description of Barty? Was Evan queer? Like Sirius. if he was that good for him, but what if Mr Rosier and Miss Rosier found out, they wouldn’t want their son to be queer? “That would be disrespectful.” And Barty of all people, just why?

Slughorn started teaching again, talking about the significance of certain potions and ingredients, and each gave them a task to do, which was making a specific potion different for everyone, though, so you could copy anyone.

Luckily, the tension seemed to ease out a bit, and Barty started going on and complaining about how he didn’t want to do these things anymore.

“Bartemius, you could have dropped potion, but you chose to continue, so who is the idiot, hm?” Regulus said, rolling his eyes, trying to do his potion.

“Well, it's not my fault, it's because Evan chose to do these classes”, Barty said, staring at his potion, just staring at it like suddenly it would be correct.

“How is it my fault that you're in potions?” Evan said, raising an eyebrow at Barty while working on his potion.

“Because Evan, wherever you go, I go,” Barty said, smiling that smile of his, the one where you didn’t know if he was smiling or planning something.

“Right”, Evan, shaking his head.

“What about me?” Regulus said, deadpanned. This caused Evan to burst out laughing, which earned them a scowl from Slughorn.

They fell back into the silence of working for a bit.

Barty was looking at the potion recipe, but he seemed to be struggling a bit with whatever the instructions said for his potion. His breathing seemed to quicken, and he looked like he had almost started panicking. His hands began to shake, and his feet kept bouncing up and down. Evan looked over at him and slid over.

“Want me to read it out for you, Bee?”

“Yes, please”, he said, whispering like he didn’t want others to hear him.

Evan began reading the instructions aloud to Barty, neither too slowly nor too quickly, at a pace that allowed Barty to follow along. Barty was looking at Evan with a certain fondness but was still listening closely to what Evan was saying.

Regulus looked over at them. They were sitting close together.

“Oh, so what we have to do is add five peppermints, then stir it three times, then wait five minutes, then add the Aquamarine stones, right?” Barty said, sounding a bit nervous.

“Yeah, that's correct, Bee,” Evan said, sounding calm while looking at Barty.

“Thank you, Evan.” Barty let out a sigh of relief.

“You're welcome, Barty.”

Evan returned to his own cauldron and resumed working on his potion. They fell back into silence as they continued to work. Lucia Bole was still giving them strange looks, but she continued working on her potion.

Slughorn came looking around at their potions to see how they were all doing. He paused over at the Slytherin table and looked over at Regulus' potion.

“That looks amazing, mister black,” he said, smiling at Regulus, “20 points to Slytherin,” he declared.

“Thank you, professor,” he said, giving him a nod.

As Slughorn walked away, Barty and Evan gave him a high five, and both whispered, “Well done, reg.”

“Thank you,” Regulus said to both of them.

🐍

Classes were finally over for today, which Evan was thrilled about. He and Regulus walked down to the dungeons. In silence, neither of them really wants to talk, but they still enjoy each other's company, even in silence.

 Barty was in the library kissing that girl, whatever her name was. He wasn’t jealous at all. Barty could do as he pleased. If that meant kissing every girl at this school, so be it. He didn’t care at all.

Regulus opened the door to their dorm. Evan walked inside, walked over to his bed, and just fell on it. He had some homework he had to do, but he really didn’t want to at all.

“Let me guess, you got a lot of homework?” Regulus said as he walked over to his own bed, sitting down on it and just resting his head against the headboard.

“Oui (yes),” Evan said, though you could barely hear it as his face was squashed into his pillow.

“You,” Evan muffled.

“Yes,” Regulus replied.

“They should make homework illegal,” Evan said.

“Yeah, sure, whatever.” Regulus said, “We should get started on it anyway,” stood up, retrieved his homework, and sat on the floor to begin working on it.

Evan got up from his bed; he really didn’t want to, but he had to do it and started working on the floor alongside Regulus. They worked in silence for thirty minutes until the door was thrown open, leaving both of them startled, and in walked Dorcas Meadows and Pandora Rosier.

“Merlin balls, you scared us,” Evan said, looking directly at his sister, who just rolled her eyes at him.

“Sorry, Ev,” Pandora said, rolling her eyes and going over to lie on Evan's bed, kicking her feet up.

“So, how was your class, Dora?” Regulus said, looking up at her.

“You will never guess what happened in Divination,” Pandora said, sitting up on his bed.

“Yeah, tell them, Dora,” Dorcas said, going to sit next to Regulus.

“What happened, panda?” Evan said, looking up at his sister, as he discarded his essay, Regulus did the same. They were both interested in what Pandora had to say since she rarely ever complained about anything.

“So, I have Divination with some Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, right?” Pandora paused, “and the teacher, Professor Edwards, wanted us to work in pairs. I got Lily Evans, but then Gilderoy Lockhart started trying to convince some of the girls in that class that he was a seer, and he was being really loud and abusive, and started to stand up and his chair, and was just blabbering on and on, before Professor Edwards kindly told him to sit and shut up.”

“Wait your working with that mudblood?” Evan asked, looking around the group.

“Evan, don’t call her that. What are we in the 1800s?” Pandora said, causing a little chuckle from Dorcas and Regulus.

“Yeah, whatever,” Evan said, waving his hand at her.

“Honestly, I would have loved to see that with what happened with Gilderoy,” Dorcas said

“Yeah, me too,” Regulus said in agreement.

There was a moment of silence before Dorcas asked, “Anyway… when is Barty coming back?” Dorcas said, trying to change the subject

“Mm, don’t know,” Evan said.

“Neither me,” Regulus said, “he could take forever.”

“Yeah, he could, it wouldn’t be the first time he did,” Pandora said, smiling to herself, “I am so happy it's the weekend tomorrow.”

“Me too, Dora,” Dorcas said, nodding at her.

“Hey, Cas,” Evan said, drawing the attention of Dorcas onto him, “don’t we have Quidditch practices on Monday?”

“Yeah, we do, Evan,” Dorcas said. She looked like she suddenly remembered something, “Also, please remind Barty about it, you know how he is.”

All of them nodded in agreement. Barty was a beater along with Evan since their fifth, but he somehow always forgot when they had practice, even though all of them except Pandora were on the team.

“Of course, we will, Dorcas,” Regulus said, still writing his essay.

“Thank you. You guys don’t know how I had to argue with Potter just to let us use the pitch on Monday,” Dorcas started talking. She had been picked as Slytherin team captain in her sixth year alongside Potter, and let's say the rivalry between Slytherin and Gryffindor grew a lot that year, since both teams were really good. “Because he wanted to, so Professor McGonagall and Slughorn had to come up with an agreement where he has Wednesday and Friday, and we have Monday and Thursday. Ravenclaw has tomorrow and Tuesday, and Hufflepuff has Sunday.”

“Yeah, like does he think we don’t want to beat?” Evan said, rolling his eyes at Potter. The Slytherins were all a bit salty after Gryffindor beat them last year; it was only by a margin, though.

“Exactly,” Dorcas said.

“Can’t believe this is your last year as Quidditch captain,” Regulus said, looking at her.

“Yeah, me neither,” Dorcas said.

Chapter Text

18^th September 1978

“BLACK, have you caught the snitch yet?” Dorcas yelled over at Regulus.

They were on the pitch for Quidditch practices that stretched out longer than they should have.

“I have caught it about fifteen times already, don’t worry”, Regulus yelled back at her as his eyes caught sight of the snitch again, and he dove down to get it.

It was late on Monday. It was drizzling a bit, but not enough to cause any serious problem.  They had been practicing for about 3 hours on Dorcas' orders. It was their first practice of the year, and it was a longer practice than any in the history of Quidditch to have ever happened. But it was so that Dorcas could see where they needed improvement. Of course, she knew they were good; they were the best out of anyone who had tried out, but there is always room for improvement. Luckily, she already knew a lot about where her teammates were regarding skills.

“CROUCH, ROSIER, I need you two to focus so we can destroy the Gryffindor in the next match. We have less than a month!” Dorcas was yelling at them while throwing a Quaffle at the goal.

Mulciber caught it with one hand and threw it at her, which made Dorcas nod in approval.

“We are captain, but we have been practicing for almost 3 hours, it's almost past curfew,” Barty yelled back at her.

“He got a point, Meadows,” Wilkes said to her.

“Yeah, I for once agree with Crouch,” Avery said.

Dorcas' face was neutral, but Regulus could see on her face that even she agreed that it was maybe for the best that they started heading to their dorms.

“Ugh, fine, practice is over now, but Black, Crouch, and Rosier, I want you to stay after practice,” Dorcas said. They all flew down and landed on the grass. It was nice to finally touch the ground after hours of being up in the sky.

Regulus Evan and Barty landed on the ground, watching as the rest of their teammates walked in the direction of the changing rooms so they could get dressed and go to the common room.

“So, what did you need, captain?” Barty said, resting his chin on the end of his broom with a smirk plastered on his face. Dorcas was standing in front of them, her broom to the side of her, leaning on it a bit.

“Listen, I want to try a new strategy at the next game,” Dorcas said

“What is it, Cas?” Evan asked, raising an eyebrow.

“So, I have noticed in the games from last year and the year before that is when the Gryffindor noticed that Regulus has seen the snitch, Black and McKinnon always throw as many blugers as they can get their hands on in some way to slow Reg down, so he doesn’t get hit by them.”

 Dorcas took a breath. She had been rambling for a long time and couldn’t remember if she had taken a breath or not.

“So, the plan was that when Reg sees the snitch, it's your two jobs, Evan and Barty, to in some way protect Reg from being hit with a bluger,” Dorcas said, looking between the three of them.

“That's actually a really good idea, captain,” Barty said, grinning at her like a madman.

“I think we should try it for a game and see how it goes,” Regulus said, his tone being a bit softer, “and then decide if we should stick with it or not.”

“We should start heading back before it passes curfew,” Barty said, already starting to walk.

“Since when have you ever cared about missing curfew, Crouch?” Regulus snarled at him, already running up to him to try and catch up.

Evan and Dorcas exchanged a look and started walking towards the changing room.

🐍

“Hey, Cas”

They had all just got changed into their school robes and were heading down to the dungeons. The other on the team was almost done by the time they got to the changing rooms.

Regulus and Barty were walking a bit ahead of them in some debt about something or another.

“Yeah, Evan.”

“Are you okay? You seem a bit off today,” Evan said, giving her a curious look.

“Yeah, I have just been a bit stressed about everything, you know, it being my last year, and you know everything that's going on right now outside Hogwarts,” Dorcas said, looking up at the torches on the stone walls going down to the dungeons.

“I get that,” Evan said, smiling up at her. “I've been worried about Felix lately.”

“Why,” Dorcas said, looking at him

“I don’t know, I just have, and Dora also,” Evan said, his voice got a bit quieter.

“You're worried about Pandora,” Dorcas said, sounding appalled.

“Yeah, I am. I don’t know why, if I am honest, I keep hearing these things in my dreams.”

“What do you hear?”

“Water, screaming a lot, something sounding like someone's eye being clawed out, sobbing, fire pandora voice, though I can never figure out what she is saying, Felix calling someone a blood traitor,” Evan says as they enter the entrance to the dungeons. He mumbles, “Anguis,” And they walk in.

“Wow…  that sounds like a lot,” Dorcas replied. She didn’t really know how to react.

“Yeah, just… just don’t tell Dora, okay… I don’t want her worrying about me,” he says as he starts picking at the skin around his nails.

“Yeah, okay, I wouldn’t,” Dorcas said. They said their goodbyes and headed in opposite directions to their dorms. Evan went up the stairs to his dorm, opened the door, and saw Regulus on his bed reading a book. He wasn’t sure which one. He went to his bed and lay down.

“Hey Evan, what's up?” Barty said. Regulus looked up at him.

“Nothing much,” Evan said.

“You sure?” Barty said he seemed worried.

 “Hey, I am going to go and get ready for bed, okay?” Regulus said, looking over at them.

“Yeah, sure, reg you do that,” Barty said dismissively.

Regulus just rolled his eyes at him and got up from his bed, put his book on his nightstand, went over and got his pyjamas, and started heading over to the bathroom. Open the door and head inside.

Barty walked over to Evan's bed and sat down on it. Evan tried to move a bit away from him. And Barty gave him a worried look.

“Are you sure, okay, Rosie?” said Barty

“Yeah, I am Barty,” Evan said, snapping at him.

“You've been seeming off lately,” Barty said, his voice becoming softer, “and I am worried about you.”

“Well, don’t be,” Evan snapped at him.

“Don’t do that, Evan,” Barty said, his voice becoming more serious.

“Do what?”

“You and Reg do this thing every time something bothers you guys. You shut people out.” Barty said, “You shut me out.” He looked sad about this. “Also, you snap at everyone, Evan; heck, you snapped at Pandora a few days ago.”

Evan looked away. He knew Barty was right; he and Reg did do that, and he had been snapping at everyone. Guess it was probably something growing up in the “royalty of Slytherin.”

“Just tell me what's going on, Rosie.”

“I am just worried about everything that has been going on lately, and I am worried about Dora and Felix.”

“Why are you worried?” Barty said, putting one hand under Evan's chin so he could make him look up at him.

“Well, you know, with the war rising up and my parents want me when I come of age to become a Death Eater, but I just don’t think I can do it”, Evan said, pulling his knee against his chest. “And when we were home over the summer”, his voice cracked “, sometimes I would wake up and hear Pandora screaming, and it scared me, Bee.” he felt a tear run down his cheek. “And sometimes I wake up in cold sweats, and I hate it. Why can’t I just be normal?”

He felt Barty's arm wrap tightly around him, and he couldn't help the tears spilling down his cheek.

“Hey, it's okay, Rosie”, Barty said, rubbing his hand on his back. “Everything is going to be okay; we’re going to be okay.”

“You sure?” Evan whispered.

“Yeah, I mean, sure, this war is going to be hell, but we will make it out alive, I promise you,” Barty said, hugging him tighter.

“I know, but it's my mom, she was friends with Voldemort when they were back at school”, Evan said, “and my dad doesn’t do anything, and then when Felix gets to age, she wants him to become a Death Eater too.”

Barty placed their foreheads together, whispering, “We're going to be okay, Rosie. I promise I will protect you.”

Evan felt his cheek heat up. Fuck what was he doing? This wasn’t supposed to happen. Barty was just a friend. So why did his cheeks heat up like this? He didn’t know what he should do, so he quickly pulled back, looking at Barty, shocked, “Ah, sorry, too close.”

Barty gave him a suspicious look, but he moved a bit back to give him some space.

“You sure that you’re okay?” Barty said, still giving him a suspicious look.

“Yeah, I am fine now”, he said, wiping his tears away and putting on a smile “, don’t worry.”

“You sure ev” Barty said, looking him up and down.

“Yeah, I am”, Evan said, “I am going to go to bed.”

“You haven’t even brushed your teeth or gotten ready from bed”, Barty said.

“Yeah, but I am exhausted, and I am not bothered to,” Evan said, looking up at him.

“Okay, Evan, " Barty said.

 Fuck they were so close. WHY WERE THEY SO CLOSE? He had pushed himself away so they wouldn’t be so close, but somehow, they got closer to each other.  Barty was supposed to get up from his bed so he could go to sleep, but fuck he could feel Barty's breath on him. They were so close he could see his lips fuck; they looked so kissable. They leaned in closer to each other.

Suddenly, Regulus walked into the dorm from the bathroom. He looked at them and froze like he had just walked in on something he should have walked in on, which was partially true. Barty and Evan scrambled away from each other.

“What are you guys doing?” Regulus asked.

“Nothing,” they both said. Barty stood up, headed over to the bathroom, and said, “I am going to get ready for bed,” and slammed the door.

“What the fuck happened?” Regulus said, looking over at Evan.

“Nothing”, Evan said, “I am going to go to bed”, he said, closing the curtains and lying in his bed staring at the ceiling.

🐍

Regulus stood in front of the bathroom after Barty had pushed past him to get in, and he was genuinely confused about what was going on with his friends —what was going on with them.  Like, he walked into their dorm, and they were really close, which wasn’t a problem because they were very “touchy” with each other, but they were really close, like if he just pushed Barty a bit, their lips would connect.

There was some tension between them that he could quiet place. And, they hadn’t even been at school for a MONTH, and there was already tension between their group, and the year wasn’t even over yet.

Anyway, he should go to bed before he collapses from not getting enough sleep for the last few days, because he has been researching almost every single night since they got back to Hogwarts. He could hear Pandora telling him to go to sleep before she hexes him into falling asleep.

He heard Barty come out of the bathroom, head over to his own bed, and close the curtains. He heard the sound, faint snoring (probably from Evan) on his left.

So yeah, he should really go to bed, but still, he ends up going to his bed, closing the curtains, and reading Little Women. It was a Muggle book that Pandora had bought for him. It's actually been surprisingly really good so far. He could relate to all the characters a bit, but his favorite so far was definitely Amy.

He ends up dozing off in the middle of reading.

🐍

Regulus woke up he didn’t know what time it was, and he really didn’t care, but he had to check to make sure they wouldn’t sleep over and be late for breakfast or the first lesson.

It was seven o’clock fuck he had to get up if he didn’t want to rush like on Friday.

Ugh, he thought as he forced himself out of bed.

“Barty Evan, time to get the fuck up”, he said as he got his uniform out of his trunk. He heard a bunch of growls from Barty and Evan.

“I don’t want to get up,” Barty mumbled.

“Well, we have to. I will get ready first”, Regulus said, heading over to the bathroom to change out of his pyjamas into his Slytherin uniform.

He went into the bathroom, locked the door behind him, and looked at himself in the mirror. He saw his mother and father in his reflection. God, he had his father's eyes —sharp, light grey ones he had seen before; they would hit him with a curse of any sort. He had his mother's scowl, the one she made every time she was disappointed in him or Sirius or when anyone who was beneath her dared to approach her.

He took his shirt off and finally really looked at himself. Every little feature of his belonged also to his parents: his eyes, his mouth, the way he cared for himself, heck, even his bloody face space; he could see his parents looking at him. Disappointed, like always wishing he was more like Sirius but not like Sirius. They wanted him to be charming socially, good at making impressions, smart (which he was, but they didn’t care), and the centre of attention (which he hated).

“Hey, Reg, could you please hurry a bit?” Evan shouted as he knocked on the door.

Regulus flinched a bit at Evan shouting, but said, “Sure, give me 10 more minutes.”

“Yeah, that's fine”, Evan said, his tone sounding a bit warmer than before.

He quickly hurried to put on his uniform, but took the time to make sure he still looked put together —he was a Black after all. He started brushing his hair, thankfully, that didn’t take that much time as he would have thought. He found his toothbrush, put toothpaste on it, and started brushing. When he was done, he spit out the toothpaste, washed his mouth, put on his watch that he got from Uncle Alphard, and a few rings, one of them having the black family crest on it.

When he was done, he quickly looked in the mirror one last time before opening the door.

“Finally, what took you so long?” Barty whined

“It's 7:20, Barty breakfast starts at 8”, Regulus replied

“Well, I am using the bathroom now, so bye”, Evan said, waving him off and going into the bathroom and locking the door.

“The fuck, Rosier? I thought we had a deal!” Barty exclaimed.

Regulus let out a small chuckle and headed over to his bed, looked on the nightstand to find the homework he hadn’t completed yesterday. He really blamed Dorcas for letting Quidditch practise go on for so long, but she was under a lot of stress since this is her last year here, and the Slytherins need to win the Quidditch Cup this year.

He started working on his essay for Professor McGonagall.

Barty was sitting on his bed, tapping his fingers on one of his posters.

“You know you can start doing your makeup”, Regulus stated

Barty faced almost lit up “Merlin, you're right, Regulus.” Barty smirked at him.

Barty stood up and walked over to where he kept all his makeup and stuff. Honestly, Regulus has no idea where he got all of it from. He's pretty sure he has more than Pandora, which isn’t saying too much, as Pandora doesn’t wear a lot of makeup, but Regulus knows she has a lot of eyeshadows.

Barty started working on his eyeliner, trying to get it straight. Honestly, Regulus didn’t understand why Barty wouldn’t just use magic to do it, because it seems very hard to do without magic.

Regulus just rolled his eyes. A few moments later, Evan came out of the bathroom. Barty practically jumped up, started running, and pushed Evan a bit to the side to get to the bathroom.

“Fucking finally”, Barty said before closing the door to the bathroom.

Both Evan and Regulus just rolled their eyes at him.

“Hey, reg, we are going to the library when our class is over today with Pandora and Dorcas. right?” Evan said, sitting on the edge of his bed, slowly starting to zone out a bit.

“Yeah, we should be,” Regulus replied. Evan just nodded. Regulus could see that Evan was entirely gone right now, in another world. He and Pandora did that a lot. He realised over the years that they would both sometimes zone out; it usually took a while to get them back.

It had been about 10 minutes when Barty came back into the room in his uniform, though his tie wasn’t done and was hanging there, and his shirt wasn't buttoned properly.

Barty took one look at Evan and said, “Let me guess, he is fully gone.”

“Oui (yes),” Regulus replied.

“Of course, he did”, Barty said, walking over to Evan, standing right in front of him, placing his fingers under his jaw, making Evan look up at him.  

“Hey, Rosie, where are you?” he sang as he.

Evan jerked away from Barty, his neck and cheeks growing slightly red, “WHAT THE BLOODY HELL, BARTY?”

“Sorry, Rosie, but you were just somewhere else. I need to make sure you would come back to us,” Barty said

“Well, thanks, but you could have just poked my shoulder or something like that,” Evan said, standing up abruptly and starting to collect his homework that he had to deliver today.

“Like you would come back from just that”, Barty sighed. “Anyway, we should be heading to breakfast since it starts in five minutes.”

“Agreed”, Regulus said, standing up. He had just finished his essay for Professor McGonagall. “I promised Dora I would be at breakfast on time today.”

“Yeah, that's probably a good idea. I don’t want to keep Dora wanting,” Evan said, heading over to their door, opening it for them.

Regulus and Barty walked out of the door, closely followed by Evan, who closed it behind them.

“We are meeting with Dorcas and Pandora after our class today, right?” Barty said, looking between Evan and Regulus.

“Yes, we are”, Regulus, not even looking at Barty and only straight ahead.

🐍

They were in the library, sitting around a table in the far back, where, rarely, there was anyone, which meant it was perfect for talking about things that they didn’t want anyone else to hear.

“I still think it's too dangerous”, Dorcas blurted out.

“Well, yeah, but isn’t that the fun of it if it is too dangerous?” Barty replied without a care in the world for his safety.

“Bee it is fun if it's dangerous, but it shouldn’t be to the point where our lives are in literal danger”, Evan said, giving Barty an exhausted look.

“I still think we should do it,” Regulus mumbled.

“We know, darling, but we also need to think of the dangers there are in doing so,” Pandora said sweetly, putting her hand on his shoulder, smiling at him, and he smiled back at her. She was one of the few people who could get him to smile just by existing.

“But Dora, we don’t have to worry about danger, we've got you,” Barty teased.

“That's not how things work, Barty. Yes, I am a seer, but I can’t predict everything that happens ever.” She paused for special effect. “For example, I didn’t predict I would have been friends with you, but if I had, I would have made sure to stop it before it happened,” Pandora said, her voice dropping with fake sweetness.

This made the entire group to burst out laughing, except Barty, who just started sulking.

“HEY, that mean Dora,” he said, but even he couldn’t suppress the laughter that just bubbled out of him.

Pandora had that effect, she couldn’t make anyone like in very short period of time sometimes, people forgot that her and Evan were related cause everyone treated her like she was a ray of sunshine that could do any wrong and Evan like he was just a “evil” Slytherin but Evan never got made at her for that they one of the strongest bonds out of anyone in the group.  Regulus was kind of jealous of their sibling dynamic because sometimes it reminded him of how he and Sirius used to be before everything happened.

But even if Pandora was a ray of sunshine, she could still be a proper bitch sometimes.

“Hey, Reggie, how has the project been going?” Pandora whispered, leaning in over the table after the laughter had died down.

“I can’t find anything, Dora. I mean, sure, I have a theory, but every time I seem to get close to anything, I end up reaching a dead end.” Regulus whispered back, exhausted, and she reached over the table to grab his hand. “Right now, I have decided to go back to just finding powerful ancient spells and seeing if I could master them.” It was true he had been researching since they got back to Hogwarts, and sure, he had gotten able to access some books from the restricted section, but even they hadn't really helped him, yet he wasn’t even sure how lord Voldemort-

“WAIT, how can she call you Reggie, and we can’t?” Evan exclaimed, gesturing to him and Barty, which caused Regulus to lose his train of thought

“Because I like Panda more than I like all of you,” Regulus said, irritated.

“That's unfair, you knew her and me for the same amount of time,” Evan protested.

“I also like Dorcas more than I like Barty, and I have known them for almost the same amount of time,” Regulus unfaced, trying to go back to his essay from Professor Binns.

Barty gasped while Dorcas put both hands to her heart and faked sobbing, “Really.”

“Yes, Dorcas,” Regulus said, rolling his eyes, but he couldn’t stop the smile from spreading across his face.

“This is treason, Regulus. Ev and I are your roommates. We thought you at least liked us a bit,” Barty said, sulking.

“I tolerate you both, or else you would be here,” he said, finally looking at both of them.

“Wow, like that makes it any better, reg,” Barty said, giving him a flirtatious smile. Regulus just rolled his eyes at him again.

He looked over and saw Evan's face. He seemed slightly upset, or maybe it was jealousy. Regulus couldn’t quite see what he also looked kind, Betrayal of deep down, like he wished that Barty would be like that towards him and not to other people, and Regulus felt sorry for him. If he had a crush on Barty, that could not just make their friendship awkward, but also, even though Regulus hated to admit it, Barty was also a huge player, not quite the one Sirius was before he started dating that Lupin boy, but it is pretty close.

He's pretty sure Pandora also noticed how Evan looked every time Barty was flirting with someone who wasn’t him, or when Barty was getting a bit too close to him. He had noticed the puzzled looks she sometimes gave Evan.

“Well enough of you being more dramatic than the black family. I agree with Regulus, we only have theories right now. We don’t have any facts, so has anyone figured something out?” Dorcas said, gathering everyone’s attention.

“Well, I keep having these dreams, they're not quite dreams, but I keep seeing the locket of Salazar Slytherin, but it's always surrounded by water and these hands and a boy being pulled down by the water,” Pandora said, her voice almost sounding dream-like. Still, there was an unusual sadness to her voice that Regulus didn’t recognize.

“You said water, Dora, right?” Evan asked carefully.

“Yeah, that's what I said, Evan,” Pandora said, tilting her head to the side.

“You didn’t see fire, did you?” Evan's voice dropped really low, like you weren’t even sure that he was actually talking or if it was just something you imagined.

“No,” Pandora blinked at him, face full of curiosity, “why?”

“Eh, no reason, don’t worry about it,” Evan said.

Regulus saw how Dorcas was giving him a suspicious look. She knew something was up; he could see it on her face. The problem was that he had no idea what was up with her or Evan.

“Okay, but seriously, we need to get back on topic. Reg, could you do me a favour and write down the locket of Salazar Slytherin and water, as those are our only two leads now,” Dorcas announced to the whole table using her Quidditch voice.

Regulus wrote down the water and the locket of Salazar Slytherin in the journal they were keeping for this. They had taken turns keeping it every week, so someone else would have it this week it was regulus. Still, if you found something important, you could bring it up at the next meeting, and they would decide whether it was a lead worth pursuing. Everyone else had their own journal where they could write things. It didn’t have to be related to all this, but it could be.

Suddenly, without warning, a group of Hufflepuffs came walking past them. Regulus quickly hit the book to make sure they didn’t see it, but that only made it look even more suspicious. But four Slytherins and one Ravenclaw from all pureblood families also looked in general really suspicious, especially right now, but it had always gotten them dirty looks from everyone else.

The group walked past, heading to one of the neighbouring bookshelves, laughing and giggling all the way. They gave each other a knowing look.

Evan leaned in and whispered, “We really need to find a better place to meet up.”

Dorcas leaned in her chair, arms crossed, and said, “Agreed.”

“Can we try to find a better place for the next meeting?” Regulus announced, drawing his friend's attention.

“But like, let's be honest, can’t we just use our room reg?” Evan responded, giving Regulus a look.

“We could, but the library has more resources for us to look through, and we have the whole restricted section we need to look through, and there is no other place with as many resources as here,” Regulus told the group.

“I agree with Reggie, the library has the most resources. Of course, there might be other places with as many resources, but also, we need an open space for practicing the spell reg has found, so I think we should start looking for a place that fits all those criteria,” Pandora said.

“Let's make a deal next meeting we have and might be in a while because the Quidditch games are soon starting, but by the time of the next meeting, we'll have found a new place to hold the meetings.” Barty butted in with his idea.

“I agree with Barty, see, should do that. So do we agree that this meeting is over?” Dorcas asked the group, who all nodded in agreement. They all got up, Regulus took the journal, they packed up their things, and they slowly started walking out of the library.

🐍

From behind one of the bookshelves close to where the group had sat only a few minutes prior. James Potter had been listening, or at least he tried to. He didn’t catch everything, but he had one question: was this “plan” something to do with the you know who, and was that why Regulus had been up researching so late past curfew a few days ago?

Chapter Text

20^th of September 1978

Okay, James wasn’t the person who wouldn’t just let something go. Honestly, he would probably forget about it after a few days, depending on what it was. He was usually quite understanding to everyone, okay, maybe not Snivellus and his gang of annoying friends, but otherwise, he was understanding. But what he heard in the library a few days ago, he couldn’t shake it at all. Was baby black really trying to help you know who, because like that day, Regulus was studying in the library, and he caught him past curfew.  And okay, maybe he was researching for a project, but then he had a “meeting” with his friends. There was no reason or excuse for it other than they were helping you know who.

But then again, why was he trying to defend Regulus in the first place? He was Sirius's little git of a brother. Why did he even care?

Anyway, he had more important things to worry about, like, for example, Quidditch, and by Quidditch, he means beating Slytherin so that they can win the cup, or planning the next prank they were going to have, and who it should be on, not what Sirius' evil little brother was doing and if he was helping, you know who.

He was sitting on his bed in his dorm right now; Sirius and Remus were cuddling on their combined beds. He didn’t know where Peter was; he was probably out hanging with the girls.

“You guys know what I think we should do,” James said, staring up at the ceiling.

“What,” Sirius muffled, he was cuddling Remus and had his face in the crook of Remus' neck while Remus had his arms wrapped around him.

“I think we should plan a prank soon on the Slytherin, preferably,” James stated

“YES, if we are going to plan a prank, we need Wormy to be here before we start planning,” Sirius said, leaning his head out of the crook of Remus's neck.

“Mm, that is true,” James mumbled

“Where is Peter anyway?” Remus asked.

“I think he is hanging out with the girls. I believe they had some gossip they needed to tell him or he needed to tell them something, I don’t know,” James answered.

“He'd better tell us what they told him,” Sirius stated

“He will padfoot, he always comes in giggling afterwards to tell us, and then we can talk about how you guys want to plan a prank soon on Slytherin's.”

“I also need to ask him about something I need him to do me a favour, but of course only if he wants to,” James told them.

“What are you going to ask him, Prongs?” Sirius questioned.

“You’ll see,” James said, smirking as he had just won the Quidditch Cup.

Suddenly, the door was being thrown open by one very enthusiastic Peter Pettigrew. He was being followed by three girls who couldn’t stop giggling those girls being Lily, Mary, and Marlene.

“Merlin's Pete, you have to tell them what you heard,” Mary said as she got into the dorm. Sirius and Remus both lifted their heads from their cuddle session that had been interrupted to see what was going on.

“I will, I will, don’t worry, Mary,” he said, turning over to look at Mary before turning to the three boys and saying, “Okay, everyone on the floor now in a circle.”

James Remus and Sirius all scrambled out of their beds and formed a circle, and Peter sat at the centre. Remus had an arm around Sirius's waist. James was sitting next to Remus and Lily. Peter was sitting across from them with the biggest shit eating grin he had ever seen.

“Okay, so I was walking around Hogwarts in my Animagus form because I want to see if anything interesting is happening,” he wiggled his eyebrow at the interesting part. “So, I did that, heard a lot of rumours, but I also saw something.”

“What did you see, Wormy? Come on, we are getting impatient,” Sirius said, kicking his legs up into Sirius's lap.

“Okay, so you all remember Rabastan sister Raquelle?” Peter asked.

“Of course, we remember her; she broke my nose once,” James said. He heard Lily say nobody cares about Potter.

“Okay, so she was caught smoking in the bathroom during class time by McGonagall, and let's just say she was not happy at all; she was PISSED. I don’t think I have ever seen her that mad, and that's saying something. I think McGonagall took 75 points of Slytherin and got a month's detention.” Peter said, leaning back against the wall with a grin plastered on his face.

“Damn,” James mumbled.

“Okay, but like on the scale of that time we actually ate all the sweets she had bought for herself, or that time I got detention every week for the three months straight, how mad was she?” Sirius asked, raising an eyebrow.

“She was probably as angry as she would be if she came face to face with your parents and was allowed to yell and curse them,” Peter explained, looking over at Sirius, to indicate that they were talking about his parent.

“Well damn, Lestrange is fucked cause McGonagall will most definitely write to her parents,” Remus said, with a bit of an impressed look on his face.

“Yeah, she most definitely will, and if I know the Lestrange, her parent will not take it very well because in that family, smoking and doing drugs is the worst thing you can” Sirius rolling his eyes.

“Wait, smoking is not okay, but joining you know who is. Makes it make sense, Black,” Mary said, appalled.

“Sorry, Mar, I wouldn’t be able to explain it to you if my life depended on it. It doesn’t make sense at all,” Sirius said, giving an I don’t care expression afterward.

“I guess that's just what it's like being a part of the royalty of the house of Slytherin,” Marlene said, rolling her eyes.

“Okay, I will tell you that's how it is, and I say that with confidence. I sadly grew up with those people,” Sirius said, leaning into Remus' side.

“You say everything with confidence, even when you don’t know bloody shit, Sirius,” Lily said, plastering a fake sweet smile on her face.

The group burst into laughter, which caused Sirius to laugh a very dry “ha-ha, very fun, Evans.”

“Come on, guys, Sirius does know shit,” Remus said, rolling his eyes with a slight smile only ever meant for Sirius on his face.

“Heck yeah, I do,” Sirius said, eyeing James. “I can’t believe you, James. Why didn’t you say something to Lily? I thought we were friends,” Sirius said dramatically, putting a hand on his forehead, causing a giggle to come out of Peter.

James had been busy thinking about Regulus and what his pathetic friends were doing, and why they needed to find a better place to have their meeting. Why would they even need to have meetings in the first place? What was so important that they had to find a new place to meet, since the library was too obvious? The only reasonable explanation was that they were helping you know who

Okay, if he were being honest with himself, he wouldn’t have expected Pandora Rosier to be there; she was just too nice, like everyone knew that about her, she wouldn’t hurt a fly ever. Okay, maybe he wouldn’t have expected Meadows to be there either, but then again, they were all friends with, or the sister of, Crouch and Rosier, who were the biggest anti-Muggle-born he had ever met. Honestly, he wondered why they didn’t hang out with Snivellus.

“Hey, James, you, okay?” Sirius said he sounded a bit worried.

“Yeah, don’t worry, just thinking about Quidditch and how we can crush the Slytherins in the next game,” James replied, almost automatically looking up at Sirius.

“Don’t worry, Prongs, I understand that. We are definitely going to crush them in the next game, but I still can’t believe Madam Hooch scheduled the first games for the 14^th of October, which gives us less than a month to practice and train the new ones on the Quidditch team. What do you think, Marls?” Sirius started to ramble.

“I understand why you're stressed, also because from what I heard, Meadows collected herself a pretty good team this year, not to mention baby black, who almost always caught the bloody snitch,” Marlene announced to the group.

“Yeah, sorry, Marls, but that doesn’t help me a bit.” James huffed out a laugh after.

“Don’t worry, Prongsie, you're the best Quidditch captain we could have ever wished for.” Sirius smiled, the biggest smile ever, which somehow did help James, as he had been worried about Quidditch. This was his last year with a chance to win the house cup; not only that, but he was also captain, which was even more reason for him to win this year.

“Thanks, Padfoot. Also, I have an idea for how we might win, though it is technically cheating. No one is going to find out about it,” James said, eyeing the group to see their reactions.

Remus gave James a look like he knew this was going to end badly, which James didn’t understand. All his ideas were good; some of them just sometimes end badly, and that was okay.

“Let's hear it, James, what's the way we are going to beat these snakes?” Marlene said, resting her chin on her hand.

“Okay, so my idea was that to know what the Slytherins are planning to do in the next game, we get Peter to transform into his Animagus form and spy on them, and then after their practice, he will come to me and tell me what they were doing and then we can practise according to what we known the will be doing.” James grinned. This was the best he had ever had; nothing could go wrong.

“Merlin, that's a good idea, Prongs, and since Peter is a rat, they would never see him, which means Madam Hooch wouldn’t know, so that we wouldn’t get kicked off the team.” Sirius beamed shining as bright as his star.

“And you know the saying, it is not cheating if you don’t get caught,” Marlene said with a wink and a smirk.

“This is going to end badly,” Remus mumbled.

Sirius turned his head to look at his boyfriend. “Why do you think this will? End badly, Remus.”

“Honestly, I agree with Remus,” Lily said, giving James a disapproving look. “Also, James, you need to remember you are also head boy, so you can’t go around doing stupid stuff like that anymore. You have some responsibility, and you have to be a good example for the first years, and if you get caught, you will lose not only your role as captain but also your role as head boy, and you will get points taken off Gryffindors, which means that there will be less chance of winning the house cup.”

“I won’t get caught, lils, don’t worry about it. Also, there is fun in trying not to get caught in these things,” James said, smirking while Lily just dropped her head in her hands, shaking her head.

“still James I think that this is a bad idea and you could in some serious trouble if your caught spy on a different team that would be enough to get you permanently banned from quidditch as a whole” lily said she gave James a worried look she knew how much quidditch meant to him and he admired that about her it was one of those moments where he remind himself of why he had liked her form so long but if he was being honest he preferred them being just friends as he didn’t think that they would have been the best couple ever but even though they both thought this that didn’t stop half the school and teacher to ship them together which was honestly quick annoying.

“Come on, lils, you know we wouldn’t get caught,” Marlene said, waving her dismally. “So, what do you say, Peter, you in?” Marlene looked over at them, Sirius James, and Marlene. Who were smiling at him but, at the same time, begging him to say yes.

Peter looked at them and smirked, “Sure, I will do it, but if we get caught, I am going to say that you forced me against my own will and that I had no choice and no say in this.”

James Sirius and Marlene stared laughing, and all said in unison, “Sure, Pete.”

“Okay, you got yourself a deal then,” Peter said. “When is their next practice?”

“Tomorrow, just remember we have practice today in an hour and thirty minutes, so that before dinner,” James announced to the group.

“Aye, aye, captain,” Sirius said, giving James a wink. James just rolled his eyes at his best friend.

“Don’t worry, I will be there,” Marlene stated. “Besides, I haven’t been on a broom in so long I can’t wait to finally feel that wind in my hair and feel alive again.” Marlene flopped onto the hard ground, staring up at the ceiling.

It was quiet for a second. James didn’t like it when it got quiet. He couldn’t explain why he didn’t like it, but then again, he never liked the quiet. His mom had told a story about how much noise he made as a child and how they never got a second of peace, except when he was sleeping. So, he decided to say something so it wouldn’t be too quiet.

“Don’t worry, Marls, I get that I don’t know what it is, but you just feel so alive while on the broom.”

“I don’t understand that,” Remus butted in.

“Come on, moonbeam, have you never thought about feeling the wind in your hair?” Sirius said, running his finger through his hair, “Or being able to see everything from high up, watch as people walk around, but they are so tiny. Have you never wanted to try that?”

“Sirius, the day I am on a broom is when I am desperate for a way to get me out of wherever I am,” Remus said with the most monotone voice James had ever heard, but somehow it caused the group to erupt into laughter.

“We will keep that in mind, Remus,” Lily said, still giggling, “but I agree with Remus, I personally don’t understand how you can like riding a broom in the air. It's dangerous; you could easily fall off and hurt yourself. "

“Thank you,” Remus gasped, “see, Sirius, I am not crazy,” he said, turning to his boyfriend

Sirius barked out a laugh. He smiled at Remus, let out a small sigh, and kissed Remus's temple.

“Can you stop that? You're making us feel single,” Mary sighed.

“Don’t worry, Mary, you will find the perfect guy someday,” Sirius joked with a wink.

“Oh, please, all the guys I have ever dated are all douchebag,” Mary stated, rolling her eyes enthusiastically.

Sirius gasped very dramatically and said, “EXUSE ME, I was an amazing boyfriend, Mary.” Sirius turned to Remus, “Don’t you agree, Remus?”

“Sirius, half the time we were dating, you were sitting there and drooling all over Remus, so I can’t say that, but you do know how to give head, I will give you that” Mary said looking over at Sirius and giving him the judgemental eyes you know the one Mary gives you when she is wants you to either shut up or stop whatever you are doing. “don’t you agree Remus”

Sirius gave the biggest smirk, even though he tried to hide how pink his ears were getting. Remus, on the other hand, just looked exhausted by the whole situation, though his cheeks were a little bit pink.

James looked over at the clock and remembered he should probably inform the rest of his teammates that practice was starting soon.

“Well, guys,” James said, drawing attention to himself, “I am going to go and tell the rest of our teammates that Quidditch practice is soon and remind them not to be late.” He said, standing up and walking towards the door.

“Okay, prongs, see you at dinner,” Peter said, waving him off.

“McKinnon, Black, I expect you both to be there on time, or I will make you run extra laps,” James said, using his captain's voice.

Sirius started to laugh while Marlene saluted him and said, “Of course, captain.”

James walked out the door and closed it behind him. He could still hear Sirius trying to muffle his laughter. He walked down the stairs and into the common room. It was time to find the rest of his teammates.

🐍

Look, James didn’t often go to the library; honestly, he couldn't even remember if he had been banned from it. Still, he probably hadn’t been banned because if he had, he would have probably been in loads of trouble with his parents since they both believe that a library was a wonderful and important place some much so that they had their own giant library at home with bunch of books that had been pass down to them for generation he does think that some of the book were quite interesting. Still, I would not admit this to anyone.

But that wasn’t the reason he was heading there after dinner and after Quidditch practice. No, he was trying to find a particular snake that he had to talk to and hoped to interrogate to see if he was actually working for you know who.

He didn’t tell Sirius about what he had heard the other day, mainly because he knew his best friend. He also knew that if Sirius heard even the slightest bit about Regulus working for you know who, he would go crazy. There would be a crazy fight in the hallway between the black brother and, of course, James would be on Sirius's side, no matter what.

The only problem was that Regulus was one powerful wizard; everyone at Hogwarts knew that if you challenged Regulus to a duel, your friends could start planning your funeral at this point, since you were already long gone. And had fought both James and Sirius at the same time and won, leaving both of them to be in the infirmary for days, unable to play Quidditch, which had caused Ravenclaw to win the match. Of course, if Remus and Peter had joined in and not just sat there shaking their heads, maybe they would have won. Last time the black brother fought James, he got a broken nose, a broken rib, and cuts on his arms that has healed, but he still has the scar on his arm.

So yes, going to the library to interrogate Regulus, which was also stupid, he would admit to himself, as Regulus could choose to hex him. Still, then again, the library was the only place where you were not allowed to pick a fight, or you would be banned permanently. He doesn’t think Regulus would want to be banned. How does James know this? If you look at the map, you would see that Regulus spends as much time in the library as Remus and Lily, who spend more time in the library than in their dorms. They’re all a bunch of nerds.

Luckily, there was no one in the library at this time, as it was after dinner, so no one would want to be in the library right now anyway, except baby black, apart from what he was even doing there?

He was walking through the bookshelf looking for Regulus. He was looking down at the map; he didn’t have his cloak with him, as there was an hour till curfew, but anyhow, he still tried not to bump into the bookshelf, so he would not make any noise. He could see on the map that Regulus was all the way in the back. Luckily, James was getting closer, so much so that he could see a tiny bit of light from a lamp in the distance, which was where he was guessing that Regulus was.

Finally, he saw him. He is sitting at the same round table that his friends were at a few days ago. He is sitting perfectly straight, reading a book, and then writes something down on a piece of parchment. His curls were perfect intact like always. His tongue was slightly sticking out; he looked a lot like a cat. But mostly, he didn’t look like himself, especially with his robes on one of the chair next to him and how he was only wearing his button up and his tie was hang loosely around his neck he didn’t look like the rich snob who could kill you with one look he looked normal like was just a regular teenage and not trying to help the you know who take over. But at the same time, he also looked like he came straight out of a painting, especially with the warm, dim light that came from the lamp, giving him that warm glow not his normal sickly pale skin.

James, for some reason, was hiding behind a bookshelf, admiring the beautiful, sculpted boy he was supposed to interrogate. Pull yourself together, he thought, he is just an evil Slytherin, that's it.

“Potter, if you don’t stop staring at me, I will start to think you have an obsession with me, which would be bad for the both of us,” Regulus stated, not looking up from his book.

Well, shit, James’s thought, how did he even know that he was here? He didn’t look up from his book a single time. James stepped out into the light of the lamp. He walked towards the table where Regulus was, pulled up a chair on the opposite side of him, and sat down.

“What do you want?” Regulus said, finally looking up at him, his grey eyes looking him up and down before returning to his books.

“What do you mean?” James was caught off guard. I mean, sure, he did want to know something, but how did Regulus even know that he hadn’t even said anything yet?

“Potter, it has not passed curfew, so you wouldn’t be here to give me detention. Also, you are never in the library out of all the years we've both been here. I have seen you here maybe 10 times,” Regulus said, closing his books. “So, What. Do. You. Want.” Regulus said, leaning in.

“I need to ask you something,” he said, his voice came out sterner than he expected, “and I need you to tell the truth.”

Regulus sighed, giving him an exhausted look. “Go ahead,” he said, rolling his eyes.

James' hands were shaking fuck he hadn’t even planned out what he would say to Regulus, like, would he just ask Are you working for you know who or what. You know, let's ask him, that is plain simple and regulus, couldn’t misunderstand the question.

“Are you working for you know who?” he just blurted out. Regulus immediately stiffened; somehow, his posture became even more upright.

“Excuse me,” Regulus said, looking genuinely baffled.

“You know, like, are you a spy, cause with all the research you've been doing, and you and your friends meeting up in the library to discuss something that secretive. Hate to break it to you, love, but it is kind of obvious that you and your friends are working for him, and if not him, then someone else equally as evil.” James, at this point, was just babbling. Okay, he didn’t even realise half the things he was saying until Regulus started laughing, a very sharp, cold laughter.

“Let me get this straight, you think I,” he points to himself, “am working for lord Voldemort.”

James flinches a bit at hearing someone call him by his actual name, but he mumbles a quiet “yeah.”

Regulus laughs, the sharp, cold laugh. “Listen to me, Potter,” his voice getting sacredly quiet while he leans in just a few centimetres away from his face, “I don’t work for anyone, so no, I am not working for you know who. If I am working for someone, it's me, myself, and I. That's how it would always be now if you don’t mind leaving so I can finish my work in peace.” He said, going back to his notes

James was stunned and slightly terrified. Why had he not remembered that Regulus was so bloody terrifying, and if he was being honest, mostly because he was so terrifyingly gorgeous when he was so close. Okay, so Regulus was not working for you, you know who that is good, right?

“So, what are the notes for then?” James asked, now he started to get a bit curious.

“Why do you want to know?” Regulus asked. He sounded exhausted and wanted James to leave, which okay, he probably did.

“Because I want to know why else are you writing this crazy amount of notes, like what other reason would you have?” James said, raising an eyebrow.

“It's a research project,” Regulus answered.

“Well, that doesn’t make any sense because when I was in my sixth year, we didn’t have any research projects that were that big, at least not in the beginning-“

“It's my own research project,” Regulus interrupted. “I was interested in this, so I did some research about it, not for any of my classes.”

“Oh,” James said, he hadn’t expected that, mostly because he doesn’t understand people who research random topics for “fun.”

“Well, what are you researching?” James knew he was starting to get annoying, but he had to make sure that Regulus wasn’t doing anything he shouldn’t be doing. he was a Slytherin after all.

“I am not going to tell you you're not entitled to know everything I do, even though you seem to believe that you do. Now would you please shut up so I can focus on this?” Regulus snapped at him. His eyes looked dark. It might just be the light from the lamp, but it looked like they had changed from their normal light grey to a much darker grey, kind of like Sirius.

“Well, as head boy-”

“Oh, please, like it matters if you're head boy or not?” Regulus interrupts, pointing a finger at James, “You just want a reason to get me in trouble, even if I didn’t do anything. You think that just because I am Slytherin, that makes me automatically evil, but you know.” Regulus said, moving his hand away. James hesitated for a second. He didn’t really know what to say. He did believe Regulus was evil, not just because he was a Slytherin, but also because of all the things that Sirius had told him about Regulus how regulus was the prefect son who never did anything wrong how every time Sirius was under the Cruciatus Curse regulus would just stand and watch him as he was being tortured so off course James thought he was evil what else could he have been.

“You’re the one right now who is trying to exploit the power as head boy to get an answer out of me.” Regulus leaned in, whispering in his ear. “That very Slytherin you know.”

James felt his breath being caught in his throat as Regulus pulled back, trying to go back to his notes. He was not acting like a Slytherin; he was trying to do something good for everyone, and he was trying to keep everyone safe by making sure that Regulus wasn’t doing anything evil.

“That's not true.” James said, stumbling over his own words, trying to come up with something, “I am better than you all of you snakes.” James stuttered.

Regulus got this pissed off look, but then it turned to something darker, a smirk appeared on his lips, and he could feel like he was starting to sweat a little bit. He started packing his things up before standing up.

“Better than me, you say?” started laughing that cold, sharp, calculating laugh, “you think you're better than. You know what I find fun.”

“What,” James hesitated.

“You think you're so much better than us, you and your entire family, but as you know, the wizard pureblood names started becoming a thing around the sixteenth century. Everyone knows that is when the first of each sacred family was recorded. Now, the Potter first became blood traitor’s official around the early eighteen century, meaning for two hundred years your family was just like mine now if you do even more digging even deeper you will realised that the potter weren’t always known as the potter but as the house of the lion just like how the blacks were known as the house of the dragon and guess what those two house used to do. They would help each other burn down Muggle villages,” Regulus whispered that last part before he grabbed his bag and walked away.

But before he was truly out of eyes' view, he turned around and said, “It's almost past curfew, you don’t want to get detention, do you?”

James watched him walk away until he could no longer see him. Now he was left with his thoughts alone. Was all of that true, or was Regulus bluffing, trying to make him nervous? But suddenly, all the small lions painted or sculpted around his house that had been hiding in plain sight, those memories came flooding towards him.

He remembered that when he was younger, he asked his mom and dad why there were so many small lions around the house, and that his parents got uncomfortable and tried to change the subject it had worked as James didn’t care he was just curious about it but now that he thought about it why did his parents change the subject they always told him the truth even if they didn’t want to but why didn’t they were they scared of him finding out the truth.

Chapter Text

27^th of September 1978

Regulus was still pissed off. He knew it had been a week since their last encounter in the library, but still, he had every right to be upset. First, Potter assumed that he was some spy for Lord Voldemort, like, excuse me. How dare he think that Regulus would ever work for someone? He doesn’t do that; he doesn’t work for anyone except himself, not even someone as powerful as Voldemort. Then, Potter thinks that he will just tell him what he is busy researching, like what the fuck is wrong with him. That stuff is private, and he is not going to tell someone like Potter, heck, his friends don’t even know the whole truth. The only thing they know is that Regulus doesn’t like Voldemort, and he wants to end this war.

He is in the library right now looking for a book about the locket of Salazar Slytherin. He remembers that Dora had mentioned it at their last meeting, and it had spiked his curiosity a bit because the locket of Salazar Slytherin hadn’t been seen since the end of the Grant family line. Of course, there were articles theorizing about its whereabouts, but that it there is no real answer. But since Dora had seen it in a vision, it could only mean that Dora would see it at some point, or it suggests it has some significance for the future in some way.

He had found a few books about its origins, its legend, the theories about where it might be, and all the people who had owned it in the past. He was planning on finding an empty classroom to do the research; he didn’t really want to do it in the library, as people might find that suspicious and start asking him questions, as Potter did, but it shouldn’t be hard to find an empty classroom, as all classes should be done by now. It was also Friday, so a lot of people were usually in their common rooms or their dorms, depending on the house. The Gryffindor also had practice later that day, so it would hopefully be a very peaceful and quiet day. Of course, if he ran into Potter, that wouldn’t be true, and Potter would probably interrogate him even more, and He really didn’t want to deal with that at all today.

He walked out of the library with his book, a quill, some ink, and an emerald-green leather-covered journal in his brown leather bag. It was one of those bags that could carry anything in them. As he walked out of the library, he held his head up high, walked along the hallway, and looked like he was on a mission, one that required finding an empty classroom. He walked past a group of Hufflepuffs who all seemed to hold their breaths as he walked past them, probably wondering if he was going to do anything to them, but honestly, he couldn’t care less about them; all he wanted was to find somewhere he could do research. And where Potter wasn’t.

He wandered the hallways, looking for a nearby classroom he could use. Luckily, he saw that the charms classroom looked empty, but if Professor Flitwick were in there, what would he say? He would probably say something along the lines of that he had forgotten something in his classroom. He pushed the door open; luckily, Professor Flitwick was not inside. He let out a sigh of relief, thank Salazar that he didn’t have to come up with a stupid excuse.

Professor Flitwick's classroom was pretty big. The table formed together a circle were professor Flitwick usually stood during class so everyone could see him since he wasn’t that tall to beginning since he is part goblin and needs to stand on pile of books just to see over his own desk which Regulus didn’t think was fair because surely Dumbledore could have used magic to make changes to the classroom to make thing easier for Professor Flitwick's. The desk got progressively higher up, so he had to walk up a few stairs to get to his usual spot, sat down, pulled out all the books from the library, and set them all on his desk.

Then he grabbed the second journal and started reading the books, and jotting down notes or anything that seemed somewhat important. That includes the date when a person owned the locket, quotes that seemed important, and what he noticed that all the people who have had the locket share. He wrote all this down because he didn’t have a clue what he was looking for; he just knew that the locket was somehow related to Voldemort or at least was going to be important in the future.

From what he could see, the Grants and Slytherin had owned it for most of the lockets' known history, which made sense though at some point it had belonged to another person from what he could tell her name Dorea Black. It had probably been a marriage proposal to join the Black and the Grants together to ensure that their blood remained pure as always, but everyone who knew anything about the Black family tree would know that she was disowned by her family in 1804 for marrying a Potter who, by this time, had been considered a blood traitor.

But that was it; she was the only other person who had owned it. Of course, it belonged to the Slytherin family, but when that family line died out, it was passed to their close relative, the Grants, and they have had it until their family died out back in 1926, at least that was the last time anyone had seen it at all. It was like it never existed.

This led to some people writing news articles about where it might be now, but none of them were true, as far as he knew, mainly because a priceless artifact didn’t just go missing. However, the locket might end up being in the same situation as the lost diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw, which hadn’t been seen since the death of Rowena Ravenclaw.

He already knew a lot of this because when he and Sirius were younger, their mother used to teach them about all the pureblood families, which ones got disowned from pureblood society and when, important pureblood families that had ended up dying out, and which families are above them, which are none. There are no families that are above them in any way, as the Blacks are the most superior family in all of pureblood society, he can hear his mom telling him. And if they got something wrong, she would do a spell that would cause a small cut, almost not even visible, to appear on their hands, even though it was so small it was very painful, and if they started crying or even whimpering, she would make sure the cut got deeper, causing even more pain.

Then suddenly, the door flew open, and Regulus looked like a deer in headlights until he realised who had just thrown up the door.

“Oi, he is in here,” Barty yelled, probably to his friends, as just a few seconds later they came rushing into the room, crowding around Regulus.

“Regulus Arcturus Black, you can’t just go and disappear like that without telling us. We thought that the Gryffindors were pestering you,” Dorcas said, using a motherly tone. Even though he didn’t fully know what that sounded like, he would guess that’s what it would sound like. She sat on the bench beside him.

“Sorry,” he said, rolling his eyes.

“Oh, Regulus, don’t do that again. We got so worried about you,” Pandora told him.

“I won’t, Dora. Next time, I will tell you where I am going so you can find me,” he said, smiling at her as she returned the smile.

Evan looked down at what he had been writing and the piece of parchment before he could say anything or cover it up. Evan asked, “Why are you researching the locket of Salazar Slytherin?”

His friend looked at him with a puzzled expression as their attention was drawn to the books and the piece of parchment. Pandora didn’t look puzzled; she seemed almost scared.

“Reg, why are you researching the locket of Salazar Slytherin?” Pandora asked, repeating Evan's question, but she sounded so scared, as if she wished it weren’t true.

“Oh, I’ve just been really curious about, and I remembered how you mentioned it, Pandora, and how it had been a part of your vision, so I thought I might look it up if there was anything important about it,” he said. It wasn’t the whole truth, but it was pretty close, and they wouldn’t notice.

“But Reg the locket, it hasn’t been seen since the 1920s,” Dorcas said, “Why would it be anything important?”

“I know that, Cas, I just feel like it's really important somehow and that it will soon be found,” he said. He knew he didn’t make any sense; probably, he had just been drawn to the locket.

He looked down at the book, which was open to a page with a picture of the locket; though there were no labels on any part of the picture, but it was as if the locket were on the paper. He stared at it until he could feel a sharp pain in his right eye that made him look away while pressing both eyes closed, and put his left hand on his eye as he started to whimper from the pain.

He recognized the pain it felt like when his mother would use the Cruciatus Curse, but this was way worse, because the pain was concentrated in his eye, not his whole body like normal. He tried to scream, but no sound came out of his mouth. He started to feel dizzy. He felt like he was going to throw up and that he was going to pass out. He felt cold sweat running down his body as he tried opening his eye just a bit, but then he realized he couldn’t see anything. It was like he had gone blind in his right eye. 

Dorcas almost flew to him as she cupped his face, and Pandora put a hand on his shoulder, making small circles with her thumb.

“Hey,” Dorcas said, her voice worried, “stay with us, please, just stay with us.” But he felt himself getting paler, and judging by the way Dorcas sounded, he was probably getting paler

“Yeah,” he said, dizzily trying to keep focus on her voice and the way Pandora was rubbing his shoulder, but the pain was so sharp that it was almost impossible to do so.

He heard Evan say he should be taken to the hospital wing, and Barty agreed, saying he could carry him.

“Hey, Regulus, can you look at me?” Pandora asked. Her voice was soft, but there was a worried undertone to it.

Regulus felt Dorcas's hands drop to her sides, and Pandora gently grabbed his face. He tried to open his eyes and fight through the pain, but the second he opened them, he closed them immediately. He could feel Pandora staring into his eyes, searching for something. Pandora looked over at Evan and said something to him. He could hear what she was saying to him, though, but she must have asked him to do something, as the pain started to go away slowly. He tried opening his eye; his vision was blurred at first. He was still dizzy, holding on to Pandora as if she were his lifeline, but it gradually returned to normal.

He didn’t understand how the pain had just disappeared cause his eye felt like it was on fire a second ago, and now it's just completely fine, like it doesn’t make any sense. He looked over at it and saw that it had been closed. He thought that Pandora had probably asked Evan to close the book, but that didn’t make any sense because how could a book, let alone a drawing, hurt so much?

“Hey, is your eye better now?” Pandora whispered.

“Yeah, it's okay now I can see again with it,” he muttered, his head was pounding, but his eyes were fine; he could see, but the edges were a bit blurry.

She smiled at him, dropping her hands from his face, letting one of them rest on his shoulder, giving him a tight squeeze before letting go.

He could hear Barty mumble What the fuck was that, but he didn’t really hear him. He was trying to refocus on Pandora without passing out.

“We should tell Miss Pince about what has happened, maybe she could get the book checked out, and we should get Madam Pomfrey to check Regulus out, making sure he is okay and stuff,” Evan insisted, holding the book, looking at the cover.

“Or we could keep the book and give it to someone we hate, like my dad, and see the pain in the eye thing works on them to” Barty smirked.

“No, Barty, we are not doing that,” Evan said, sounding fed up with Barty and his constant need for chaos and hurting people. “Even if your dad is a shitty person, we are not doing that.”

“Why not, Evie?” Barty whined.

“Because I said so, and you are not getting kicked out of school, yet we need to finish this year at least, and you are not being sent to Azkaban before you are twenty,” Evan snapped at him. “Now, Dorcas and Barty, could you take the book to Miss Pince, tell her what happened, and Dora and I will get Regulus to Madam Pomfrey so she can check on him.”

“I don’t need to go to the hospital wing,” he protested, which was probably a lie as he felt like shit, but he had felt a hundred times worse, so he thinks he needs to sleep for the rest of the day, and he will be fine.

“Why do I have to go with Dorcas?” Barty said, trying to argue with Evan.

“Because Dorcas is the only person I trust to keep an eye on you, Barty,” Evan said. “I am so sorry, Dorcas. Please forgive me,” he whispered, handing her the book, “I am entrusting you with this book.” Then he turned his attention to Regulus and said, “Regulus, you are going to the hospital wing; that is not up for discussion whatsoever.”

“Don’t worry, Evan, I will be fine,” Dorcas said, waving her hand dismally. “Come on, Crouch, we are going now.”

“I am coming,” Barty whined.

Regulus watches them walk out of Professor Flitwick's classroom, Dorcas having the book under her arm. 

“Okay, Regulus, can you stand up, or do you need some support?” Evan asked, looking worried and a bit stressed.

“I think I will be fine,” Regulus said, his voice getting low, “but thank you.”

He stood up a bit too fast, and he had to hold on to the chair to help him stay up. He felt himself getting dizzy again, but he was fighting to stand up because he didn’t need support.

“Yeah, no, Reg, you're not walking without any support. Evan, can you carry him then I will pack up his things and make sure they get back down to your dorms, and you make sure he gets to the hospital wing,” Pandora commanded.

“Are you sure that's a good idea, Dora?” Evan asked as he picked up Regulus in a Bridal style.

“Yes, I am Evan,” Pandora answered calmly.

“I am not,” Regulus shouted, “Evan put me the fuck, or I swear to Salazar I will kill you in your sleep,” he shouted while kicking his feet trying to get out of Evan's grip.

“Regulus, if you don’t stop shouting, I will drop you on purpose and make sure you don’t get checked out. Got. It,” Evan said with a stern voice. He glared down at Regulus, and for some reason, he immediately shut up, and his cheeks started to heat up. It was probably just because his brain wasn’t fully working right now, because if it were, Evan would not be standing right now.

Evan started to walk out the door. Regulus didn’t fully hear what was going on, but he did think he heard Pandora asking if he was sure he could handle it. He didn’t hear Evan's response as he started to fade in and out of consciousness. His eye still hurts, but he thinks it's because he irritated it by rubbing it when it was really bad. Things began to turn black around the edges. He felt himself start to sweat, but not like how it was when he was playing Quidditch; this sweat was cold.

🐍

He woke up in a bed, and there were bright lights. Curtains around his bed, he guessed that he was in the hospital wing. He felt fine, but he was definitely hungry as his stomach was hurting him, which was fair; he hadn’t eaten since breakfast, and it was almost dinner, he guessed from how it looked out of the window. But he was fine; he didn’t need to be here and didn’t understand why his friends had made such a fuss about it. The curtains around his bed were pulled apart as Madam Pomfrey walked in.

“Oh, good, you're awake, Mr. Black,” she said. “Now I am going to check your eye, Mr. Rosier said that it was your right eye is that correct?” Her voice was kind, but she still sounded stern.

“Yes,” he mumbled as he sat up in bed.

“Okay,” she said, sitting on the edge of the bed and studying his face closely. “I don’t see anything, but I would like you to stay the night just to make sure that nothing happens and that your eye is good, also to see if it happens again, as you were unconscious when you came in here.”

“Okay,” he said, fidgeting with the bedding. “Are you going to tell my parents about how I am here?” He started to worry about what his mother would say if she found out he was here, and what might be waiting for him at Grimmauld Place.

“I am not going to tell your parents if you don’t want me to, but if it gets worse, I will have to tell them.” She insisted.

“Okay, that's fine,” he muttered. “Where is Evan?” he asked as she was about to leave.

“I asked Mr. Rosier to leave so you could rest, but I am expecting that he and the rest of the gang will be coming soon to make sure that you're okay. Is there anything you need before I leave?” she asked.

“Could you maybe get something to eat?” he replied.

“Of course, I will ask the house elves to send something up here for you. Is there anything else?” she asked.

“No,” he answered, maybe a bit too quickly.

“Very well,” she said, smiling at him before walking out and closing the curtain behind her.

He lay his head back on the pillow, just staring up at the ceiling. There were so many things running through his head now that he actually felt a lot better. Still, his many questions were why it even happened, because how could a drawing of that locket cause so much pain in him, and why had Pandora sounded so worried when he mentioned that he was researching?

The house elves arrived with some food. He ate a bit of the food, but he didn’t feel like eating all of it, not because the house elves gave him too much, but because he felt like he was going to throw up if he ate anymore

He started to slowly drift off, even though he had barely eaten anything today, which he knew was bad. He knew Pandora would be upset about it because she worries so much. He likes having a friend like her. She cares so much for him and always makes sure he is okay. He honestly doesn’t know where he would be without her. He fears he would probably forget to take care of himself. That’s not to say the rest of his friends don’t care about him, because they do. He knows they do. It's just easier with Pandora; she feels safer, like he can tell her anything, and she would never leave him or betray him. He is thankful that he has her in his life.

🐍

He had been discharged from the hospital wing a few days ago, as Madam Pomfrey couldn’t see anything wrong with him, but she had told him that if his eye started hurting again, then he had to come in immediately. It was early October, and now he had his first Quidditch game of this year in less than two weeks, so Dorcas had been going hard during practice, telling them to quit goofing around. If they started, but he didn’t goof around, as he wanted to win over the Gryffindor just as much as she did.

But right now, he is in the library working on homework and studying with Pandora. They are sitting across from each other; books and pieces of parchment are scattered around them.

“Reg, can I talk to you about something?” she said, looking up at him from her essay that she was writing for transfiguration.

“Sure, Dora, what's going on?” he said, placing his quill down.

She reached across the table and took his hand in hers and said, “Listen, Reg, I know you've been doing a bit of research about the locket and other stuff, but I think you should stop.”

“Why?” he asked. He didn’t understand why he should do this, which was important to the war that had already begun.

“I just don’t want you getting hurt.” Regulus gave her a puzzled look before she continued, “It's the locket, it's a dangerous object. Regulus, every person who has worn it something, always happens to them, and it is never ever good. I mean, look at the entire Grant family before they died, something was wrong with all of them; they are the family with the most people who have been in Azkaban at some point.”

“What about Dorea Black?” he asked, even though he already knew the answer.

“Reg the same year she got the locket was the same year she got disowned from the house of black, and not to mention that also the same year that the Potters became official blood traitor and not to mention that just before she got disowned, her father cut off her ring finger on her left hand” she said her voice started to shake “I just want to make sure you are okay this wars going to be hell and I am scared I will lose you” she said before squeezing his hand and then letting go.

“I know, Dora, I don’t want to lose you either, but this is important. This might or might not determine which side of the war wins,” he replied.

“I know that, darling, but I also care about you, and not to mention that you are 16, you shouldn’t start planning how to win this war, you're not even of age yet.” he could see that she was holding back tears before letting out a sigh. “But I also know you, and I know you're going to keep doing your research even if I beg you not to.”

“I am,” he whispered, looking down, suddenly feeling ashamed.

“Reg promise you will be safe,” she whispered.

“You know I can’t promise that, Dora.”

“I know, but I want you to at least try.”

He looked up through his lashes and gave her a shaky smile. “I will, I’ll try Dora.”

“Thank you,” she whispered so quietly that he almost couldn’t hear her at all. He was going to try to stay safe. Still, the chances of that panning out were not high. He knew he was going to fight in this war; his parents had been talking nonstop about how, when he finished Hogwarts, he was going to become a Death Eater. How Bellatrix would help him get into Lord Voldemort's inner circle it was already planned out, and he didn’t have any say in it.

He hated it, he hated not having a say in his own fucking life, but what was he supposed to do? Sirius had made a very clear demonstration about what would happen if he didn’t follow what his parents wanted him to do.

He turned back to the essay before he heard some familiar footsteps.

“Reg, Dora, you need to come now,” Barty panted. It seemed like he had been running. He seemed to have been running with Dorcas and Evan as they came running to where he and Pandora were sitting shortly after.

“What's going on?” Pandora asked.

“Potter and the other Black are fitting Snape in the hallway,” Evan said with a bit of excitement.

“Evan, why do we care?” he asked.

“Regulus, you don’t understand it, not just what normally happens between them, it's a full-on fight in the hallway before we left. Some of Snape's friends were planning on joining in, and we think Lupin is going to” Dorcas explained.

If Lupin is going to join the fight, then you know it's serious, he thought to himself, as Lupin never joined the fights that they had with Snape, as he was the voice of reason in that group, from what he had been able to make out about them.

“Why are they fighting?” Pandora asked, which was, honestly, a good question.

“Don’t know Dora, but are we going to see it because I am not missing this?” Evan said, already starting to walk back out of the library the same way he came.

Barty followed behind him quickly, catching up to him. Dorcas yelled, “Don’t get into the fight.” Barty just flipped her off at him, and Evan started to run out of the library.

“So, are you guys going to go watch the fight?” Dorcas turned to them to ask, “You know, just to make sure that Evan and Barty don’t get involved.”

Regulus sighed, “Sure, why not?” he said as he stood up. He quickly packed up his things, putting them in his bag, and started to walk out, along with Dorcas, before turning around to look at Pandora. “Are you coming?” he asked.

“No thanks, I want to finish the rest of my homework,” she said, shaking her head.

“Okay, see you later, Dora,” Dorcas said, pulling on Regulus to insinuate that they should walk faster so they don’t miss Potter getting his ass beaten.

As he left the library, he passed Lily Evans, who was walking in the opposite direction. To where they had just been. When they reached the exit/entrance of the library, he saw to his left that there was a group of students all standing in a circle. He guessed there was a fight, as he could hear curses and spells coming from that direction, and the cheering and someone yelling, "Beat their ass, Potter," which he could only guess was McKinnon.

He could hear someone yelling for Salazar's sake in a voice that sounded a lot like Evan’s. He and Dorcas looked at each other. He knew what she was thinking, and he wished that it wasn’t Barty or Evan. Then they both started running toward the crowd. He was praying to Salazar that Evan and Barty weren’t in the fight, because Merlin, so help them, if they were.

When they finally reached the crowd, he started pushing through them, losing Dorcas in the process. It was also hard just walking through the crowd as everyone was pushing and yelling he should have come here, it was far too loud for his liking. He was surprised that none of the teachers had shown up, but then again, he couldn’t hear the fight from the library. He managed to push himself so far that he had a pretty good view of who was in the fight; he scanned all the faces, making sure that one of them wasn’t Barty or Evan. He let out a sigh of relief when he saw that the two of them weren’t fighting right now.

After he made sure that Barty and Evan weren’t fighting, he started paying attention to who was in the fight, obviously Potter, who was dueling Snape, along with his brother, who had a few cuts on his arm, then McKinnon, who was dueling the older Mulciber, and Lupin, who was dueling Avery. It was weird that Pettigrew was not fighting anyone, but then again, he doesn’t think he has ever seen Pettigrew fight someone in all his years at Hogwarts.

He was watching it, laughing a bit every time a spell almost hit any of them. He thinks that if he were in the fight, he would make sure that all the spells would hit their target.

 While watching the fight, he did lock eyes with Potter. He made sure that he was glaring at him as he had not forgotten the last time they had talked. But Potter seemed just to be staring at him for what felt like forever, but it was probably just a few seconds.

That was until he was hit with a spell that made him hit his head very hard on the stone wall with a loud thump. He saw Sirius and Lupin abandoning their fight as they ran over to make sure that Potter was okay. Everyone started talking over each other as Snape, Mulciber, and Avery all huddled together and started to laugh.

Things were getting too loud now from Regulus's head, not to mention that he exploded, he tried walking away from the crowd. Until he heard Professor McGonagall's yell, “Mr. Snape, Mr. Avery, Mr. Mulciber, Mr. Lupin, and Sirius, come to my office right this instant, and Madam Pomfrey, go check on Mr. Potter, make sure he is all right, and when he been healed, bring him to my office.” This causes everyone around to fall silent in an instant.

Chapter Text

4^th of October 1978

Pandora woke up earlier than usual today, before the rest of her dormmates did. She had that dream again, where first she sees the locket of Salazar Slytherin surrounded by water, then from that water a bunch of dead-looking hands came out of water, then fire came to surround her, then it went all black, and lastly, there was blood, so much blood, there's always blood. This isn’t the first time she has had this dream; it will most certainly not be the last time. But she has had this dream since she was a kid, and it has been getting more frequent lately.

She worried because usually what happens is the more frequently a dream happens the closer she is to seeing, and she is not excited for that to happen but she doesn’t know how see can change because she can change but she doesn’t even know whole will being seeing this and if she will be even there to stop it from happening to whoever.

 She got out of her bed, not wanting to wake her roommates, as she started to find her uniform. When she found all the pieces, she quickly went to the bathroom and closed the door. She is hoping that she doesn’t have to deal with them, not because they were bad people or anything like that. The reason was that they didn’t like her, or at least they didn’t trust her. Now, if she told this to anyone, they wouldn’t believe her, because she is kind to everyone except when they give her a reason not to be. She knew they didn’t trust her; she had felt it on her first day here at Hogwarts. Of course, they are polite, but they don’t ever try to talk to her or include her in anything.

Well, except Emmeline Vance, who had always been kind to her and usually talked to her during class or volunteered to be her partner if her other friends weren’t in that class.

But she had an idea of why the rest of them didn’t trust her. They didn’t like her because she was a Rosier; they didn’t like that most of her family, including her two brothers, were in Slytherin. And like most wizards believe that if your family has a lot of people who were in the House of Slytherin, then even if you aren’t sorted into Slytherin, you still can’t be trusted at all because you are just like them after blood is thicker than water. And another reason is that she was a seer, which often has been looked down upon in wizard society and is often seen as weird. Often making people deeply uncomfortable if you tell them you’re a seer. She tried not to bring it up in conversation, but it didn’t really matter, as everyone in Hogwarts knew, and if they didn’t, they would learn quickly.

So, in the past couple of years, she has learnt to pretty much ignore most of her dormmates except for the occasional polite small talk. So she got up early, usually around 6:30, and went into their bathroom, putting on her uniform, doing her hair and brushing her teeth, and doing her makeup that she had sneaked in from a muggle store she once went two years ago, which was also where she bought Barty’s eyeliner that she had gifted him for his birthday last year.

By the time she was completely ready and walked out of the bathroom, her four dorm mates were already awake and searching for the piece of their uniform.

“Morning, Rosier,” Emma Eastchurch said coldly, not making eye contact

“Oh, good morning, Pandora,” Hazel Desford said with a bit more warmth in her voice as she looked up at her. In contrast, Evelyn Davies only looked up at her, giving her a quick nod like she acknowledged her existence before going back to trying to find her tie even though it was on the top of the dresser.

“Hey Dora, did you spell well?” Emmeline Vance asked. Smiling at her as she started to walk towards the bathroom

“Yeah, I did, and good morning to all of you,” she said in her usual, sweet tone. Before grabbing all her stuff and putting it in a blue bag with flowers painted on that Regulus had painted for her, she walked out the door and started walking towards the Ravenclaw common room, where she sat down on one of the many blue couches that changed colour depending on how you felt. If you were very happy, it would turn into a baby blue colour. If you just want to be left alone, it would turn a midnight shade of blue and so on.

She sat down in one of the armchairs and began reading a book she had checked out from the library last time she was there with her reg before he had run away to see the fight between some Gryffindor and Slytherin.

She read until she heard some familiar voices yell, “Hey Dora!” She turned around to see Xenophilius Lovegood, Sybil Trelawney, and Aurora Sinistra walking into the common room and sitting in the armchair and couch next to her.

She smiled at them and put her book down on the coffee table that was in front of her. “Good morning to all of you. Did you all sleep?”

“Yeah, I did,” Xenophilius replied.

“No, I was up all last night studying. I only got like four hours of sleep,” Aurora complained.

“Aurora, I already told you that it was a bad idea, but you didn’t listen to me, did you?” Sybil said, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms.

“You should have listened to her, Aurora,” Pandora said, smiling at them. They were pretty much her only friends in Ravenclaw, along with Emmeline Vance, though she would miss the three of them next year, as this was their last year here. It was sad, she thought, as next year it would only be her, Evan, Regulus, and Barty, as Dorcas was also graduating this year.

“I will next time, but the professor gives us so much homework, and with Quidditch practice, I barely have any time at all to do anything,” Aurora said, staring up at the ceiling

The student started walking into the common room, doing the last bit of work before heading down for breakfast in the great hall. Aurora was still complaining, and Xeno was trying to comfort her to the best of his ability.

“Oi Dora,” Sybil said

“Yeah, what up?” she said as she turned her head to look at her.

“Have you been having some weird dreams lately, like not prophecy kind of dream, but like dreams that feel so real, that you know they are going to happen, but it doesn’t feel really real, do you understand what I mean, or am I just talking nonsense?” she said.  Sybil was a seer, just like her. It was the sole reason that she was friends with any of them, because when Sybil found out, she decided to, in a way, take Dora under her wing and help her understand her powers and use them as the Divination teacher here wasn’t a seer also because sybils great-great-grandmother had written down, some stuff to help the next seer in their family understand their powers better.

But she knew what Sybil meant, she had been having the same dreams all over the summer holiday. “Yeah, I know what you mean, Sybil.”

“Thank Merlin, I thought that it was only be also, how are you doing on the project for Divination?” Sybil asked her.

“I think I did pretty well, I mean, I would have preferred to work alone, but Lily Evans has a good understanding of what we're doing, so I would say we are doing pretty well. I have agreed to meet her in the library after all classes today.” She said, and she couldn’t even hide the smile on her face. I mean, she was going to hang out with Lily Evans after their class, sure, it was for homework, but still, she was hanging out with Lily Evans; it doesn’t get much better than that, at least in her opinion.

“Yeah, she's not that bad. I have worked with her a few times. She has a good understanding of everything, even though she isn’t a seer,” Sybil said. turning to start reading the book she had brought down with her. After a few moments of silence, Pandora spoke again.

“Hey, Syb.”

“Yeah, Dora.”

“I don’t understand why they have Divination at Hogwarts,” she admitted

“What do you mean?” Sybil asked her.

“Well, what I mean is that you can only fully pass Divination if you are a seer, and to be a seer, you have to have pureblood ancestors, so every Muggle-born in that class can only get an understanding of it, but never the actual experience,” she admitted. It felt wrong to say it out loud, but she needed to say it out loud and get someone else's opinion.

“I think the reason we have Divination is that they want to give Muggle-born an understanding of the different branches of magic, but then again, boys can’t be full seers. They can have certain instincts that tell them they need to move if that's what they need to do, but they can’t have prophecy the same way we can,” Sybil replied. “But I do agree that having a subject that only half the class can fully participate in is stupid,” she added.

“Yeah, I guess that's true,” Pandora said.

She could hear Gilderoy Lockhart in the background telling a story to the first-year and some older kids. She was almost a hundred percent sure that the story wasn’t true, but she knew that in the next few years, most of those first years, they would learn that the stories he told were not true unless they were blown away by his charm, so they believed everything he said. That was how it was for the other house.

 She turned to look at Aurora just to hear Scoff and say, “Who does he think he is?”

“Who Lockhart?” Xenophilius asked.

“Yes, Lockhart, who else?” Aurora replied. Gilderoy Lockhart had started a rumour in their fifth year, Pandora's fourth, that Aurora was obsessed with him and was constantly sending him love notes and poems. It had basically caused her to get kicked out of her friend group at that time. From what Pandora could tell, she was happy about being kicked, as they weren’t the nice people. But at that time, she had been really upset, and it had killed her social life. For the most part, she had loads of friends, but a lot of those girls she was friends with were obsessed with Gilderoy, so they had been sending her death threats, and the school didn’t do anything. So now every time she sees him, they usually have to try to make sure she doesn’t try to kill.

“Aurora, whatever you do, don’t kill him,” Sybil said, not even paying attention.

“Yeah, please don’t murder him, it wouldn’t look good on your resume,” Xenophilius added.

“That's true, but what if I-”

“You know what?” Sybil said, loudly closing her book, “Breakfast is in ten minutes, so we should be going down to the great hall,” standing up and sounding a bit annoyed.

“Yeah, that's probably a good idea, Syb,” Xenophilius said, standing. “Come on, Aurora,” he said, giving her his hand so he could pull her up.

“Yeah, yeah, alright,” she mumbled when she got to her feet before turning around to look at Pandora and ask, “Are you coming, Dora?”

“Yeah, I am coming,” she said, putting her book in her bag and standing up.

“Okay, let's go,” Sybil said as they started to walk out of the Ravenclaw common room and started walking to the great hall. They probably should have started walking five minutes before, as the Ravenclaw common room is the common room further away from the great hall.

“Hey, Pandora, are you going to be eating with your brother's friends today, or are you finally going to be eating with us?” Aurora turned and asked.

“First of all, Aurora, they are my friends too, not just Evan, and second of all, I always eat with them just like you three always eat with Charity Burbage and Amos Diggory when he was still here, and Aurora, I really don’t want to discuss this anymore than I already have to.” She said she was already getting annoyed. She didn’t need to give anyone an explanation on why she hung out with them. Even though the answers were quite simple, she liked hanging out with them.

“I know, but I still don’t get it like Evan and Dorcas. I understand with Evan being your brother, and Dorcas is nice, but Black and Crouch, why in Merlin's name would you hang out with them?”  Aurora hissed at her.

“Aurora, that's enough. Pandora can be friends with whoever she wants to be with; it's not our decision, it's hers, and please stop arguing.” Sybil asked.

“Also, Aurora, you seem to forget that you used to be friends with Snape and his gang,” Xenophilius added.

“I know, but-” she was about to say something until she looked over at Sybil and Xenophilius, who were both giving her the death stare. “Fine, I will stop talking.”

Pandora looked over at Sybil and Xenophilius, mouthing a quiet “thank you.” Sybil gave her a smile, and Xenophilius gave her a quick nod.

They entered the great hall, and Pandora looked over at them and said, “Well, bye.”

“Bye, Dora, see you later,” Xenophilius said.

“Bye, Dora,” Sybil said, smiling at her as she started walking over to the Ravenclaw table, while Aurora just gave her a nod as she quickly followed behind Sybil and Xenophilius, as she started making her way to the Slytherin table.

She could already see Evan, Dorcas, Barty, and Regulus sitting and talking about something. Barty was making wild gestures with his hands; she could guess he was probably telling a story of some sort. While Regulus was looking down at his plate, eating a piece of toast, he looked as if something was bothering him, but it looked like he was trying his best to hide it.

She had been getting worried about Regulus lately; he had just been seeming off more than he normally was. He probably thinks he is doing a good job of hiding but she can see right through him and not to much all the research he been doing and what happened with his eyes a few days ago when he was researching the locket of Salazar Slytherin which she has been seeing a lot and she has this horrible feeling that regulus has something to do with that locket and from what happens in those dreams she has a feeling that it doesn’t end well.

But she made her way over there, putting on her usual smile, and trying not to think of the knot that was tying in her stomach

“Good morning, everyone,” she said as she sat down next to Dorcas and across from Regulus.

“Morning, Dora,” they all said almost at the same exact time.

“Did you all sleep well?” she asked.

“No, Dora, I did not. Barty was snoring all night long, so I barely got any sleep,” Evan whined while Regulus nodded silently in agreement. Barty, on the other hand, looked mortified.

“Excuse me, Rosier, but I don’t snore at all,” Barty said, sounding offended.

“Yes, you do, Barty, you snore and sometimes mumble in Italian,” Regulus muttered, eating a piece of toast with jam on it.

Dorcas, on the other hand, was trying so hard not to burst out laughing. She got away with it by trying to make her laugh into a cough instead, but you can see her shoulders shake slightly. Pandora was also silently laughing, trying so hard to hide it.

“Dora,” Barty said, turning to her, “Do you think I snore or mumble in my sleep?”

“Barty,” she said, still trying to hold her laugh, “we never shared a room, so I wouldn’t know, but I am going to take Evan and Regulus ' word for it, so yes, I think you snore.”

“That's unfair, of course, you're going to take Evan's side, he's your twin, and you and Regulus practically grew up together,” he blurted.

“Barty, you literally asked her, and she gave you an answer you can’t be mad at her for that,” Dorcas said.

“Yeah, Barty, if you don’t want my opinion, you shouldn’t ask for it,” Pandora teased.

“You guys are all so mean to me, I am going to find myself a new group of friends who actually appreciate me,” Barty said dramatically, putting the back of his hand on his forehead.

“Don’t worry, Barty, we still appreciate you,” Dorcas said, still trying to suppress her laughter. This caused Barty to start laughing, which made Dorcas and Pandora also start laughing.

“Thanks, Dorcas,” Barty said, laughing.

“Oi Reg, when was the potion essay due again?” Evan turned to him to ask.

“It's due tomorrow,” Regulus replied, not looking up at them.

“Ça va, Regulus (You okay regulus)?” Pandora asked him.

“Oui, je viens de recevoir une lettre de ma mère hier (Yes, I just received a letter from my mother yesterday.),” Regulus answered, still looking down at his plate.

“Oh, qu'avait-elle à dire? (Oh, what did she have to say?).” Evan said.

“Le quotidien, rien de spécial mais- (the usual nothing special-),” he said, looking up at them

“Oi, stop speaking croissant to me, and Dorcas doesn’t understand what you three are saying.” Barty interrupted Regulus.

“Don’t interrupt people, Barty,” Pandora told him While Barty just rolled his eyes at her.  turning her gaze back to Regulus, “What were you about to say, darling?”

“Nothing, don’t worry about it, Dora,” he said, looking down at his plate.

“If you say so,” Pandora said. She wasn’t going to push him if he wanted to talk about it; he would, and if he didn’t, she would force him to

They kept talking about random stuff, mostly, and the homework that their teacher had given them. She decided not to tell them about the dream she had last night; she didn’t want to ruin the mood, as they all seemed happy. And she wants to keep it like that for as long as possible because she feels like that it won’t last for a very long time.

🐍

Pandora walked into the library, looking for an empty spot to sit.  But she couldn’t find one as all the sets were taken up by people. She ended up walking past Emma Varity, Emmeline Vance, Hestia Jones, Amelia Bones, and her twin brother Edgar Bones.

“Hey, Pandora,” Emmeline said, waving at her. Emmeline was in her house, and Emma was in Slytherin, while the rest of them were in Hufflepuff.

 She stopped walking to say hello to them. “Hello, Emmeline,” she replied.

“Want to sit with us?” she asked smile.

“No, thank I have to work on something with Lily,” she said, trying not to sound too happy

“Lily Evans?!” Hestia Jones exclaimed.

“Yeah, do you know any other Lilys at this school?” she said teasingly, “but yeah, we have to work on a project for Divination.” She said, smiling.

Hestia gave Amelia a look while they were smirking. Pandora could quite figure out what that look meant.

“So, there is an empty table all the way in the back that the two of you could use.”  Amelia Bones said, smirking at her, pointing in the direction of the empty desk.

“Thank you,” she said. She didn’t know why they looked at her like that, but she didn’t mind it. She started walking in the same direction that Amelia had pointed her in.

Pandora found the set that Amelia had pointed out in the back of the library. She sat down and started doing some of her charms’ homework, waiting for Lily to show up. They had decided to meet at 4 pm to work on Divination. She did decide to just go to the library after class was over, as she didn’t see a point in going back to her dorm.

 And she was pretty sure Regulus. Barty, Evan, and Dorcas were discussing Quidditch strategy, on how they could beat Gryffindor without cheating. And she didn’t want to hear them talk about it for hours; also, she didn’t understand why it was such a big deal. But she knows that when Quidditch season starts, she will be cheering the loudest for them as she wants them to win so bad because she knows what it means to them, especially Dorcas, as this is her last year here and her last year of being team captain.

While lost in thought, she heard some footsteps coming in her direction. When she looked up, she saw a girl with beautiful long red hair find a chair so she could sit in front of her.

“Hello, Pandora,” she said with a calm voice that Pandora could probably get lost in.

“Lily, hi, I didn’t hear you coming,” she managed to say without sounding pathetic.

Lily smiled at her as she tucked some of her hair behind her ear. “So, should we start on the Divination project?” Pandora asked.

“Yeah, let’s start,” Lily said. “Did you bring the mirror that we were supposed to look in?”

“Yeah, it's in my bag,” Pandora said, looking through her bag, trying to find the box that Professor Edwards had given them to keep the mirror in so they wouldn’t break the mirror. She found it and brought it up to the desk between her and Lily. “Here it is.”

They both reach for it at the same time, their hands accidentally touching. Pandora quickly pulled mumbling sorry under her breath. Lily smiled at her before turning back to open the box and carefully take the mirror out of it, putting it between them as Lily looked through her bag, trying to find her Divination textbook, a quill, and a piece of parchment paper to write the essay they had to write on.

They had been staring at the mirror for a few minutes, and nothing. She hadn’t seen anything at all, so she asked, “So, what does it say about mirrors?” glancing over at Lily.

Lily opened her textbook to look for the sections about mirrors. When she found it, she quickly read through it see what it said. “Well, it said that you're supposed look into the mirror and at some point, you will see some images, and the image represents something that happens in the future, sometimes between you and the person you're with,” she explained.

Pandora already knew this; she had read through the textbook about five times. Now, the only reason she asked was that she wanted to be sure that she wasn’t missing something, as when it comes to “vision,” it comes easily to her.

“You see anything?” Lily asked, glancing up from the book as she continued to read it.

“Nope,” Pandora replied.

“Can I try having a look at it?” Lily asked, putting the book down.

“Yeah, sure,” Pandora replied as she picked it up and handed it over to her.

Lily took it out of her hands, being careful not to drop it, as she held it in her hand, looking into it as Pandora looked at her. Lily began to squint her eye like she wasn’t sure she was seeing whatever it was correctly.

“can’t see anything,” Lily said sound disappointed.

“Maybe we just have to wait a bit,” Pandora said.

“Yeah, that's a good idea,” she said, putting the mirror down on the table. “Could I ask you a question, the kind of personal?” she said, looking up at Pandora.

“Yeah, sure, what is it?” Pandora asked.

“What is it like being a seer?” Lily asked

No one had ever asked her that; people just assume they know what it's like, but they bother doing just a bit of research or asking a seer.

“Well, it's different for every seer,” she paused before continuing, “but for me, I get the dreams where I see images of different things that all have some relation to something that is going to happen in the future, the more those dreams happen, the closer I am to experiencing what the dream were trying to tell me or warn me about. I also have these instincts that tell me if I should move out of the way if, let’s say, a bookshelf is about to fall over.”

“That's actually pretty cool,” Lily said, sounding genially intrigued.

“Thank you.” Pandora blushed.

“So, where is your group of friends? I mean, you guys are always together,” Lily asked.

“They are in the boys' dorm discussing Quidditch strategy,” she paused, “I think,” she started laughing, thinking about them with a chalkboard, discussing how to beat the Gryffindors.

“Merlin, Sirius James, and Marlens do the same thing all the time. It's so annoying. It's all about Quidditch, this Quidditch that's driving me insane,” Lily said, putting her hands to her head.

“I know, especially right before Quidditch season, that what they constantly talk about like I don’t care,” Pandora said, shaking her head.

There was a pause before Lily's eye shifted to the mirror, and she sat up straight before whispering, “Is that a lily flower?” She paused, “A lily flower?” she said.

Pandora quickly looked over at the mirror before saying, “Let me see.” Lily gave her the mirror, and as Pandora looked in it, there was most definitely a lily, more specifically a tiger lily. It was clear as day in the mirror.

Do you know what type of lily it is, as he often has different meanings depending on which one it is?” asked Lily as she grabbed her textbook and started to look through it, as she was trying to find the page where it described what different flowers mean.

“I think it's a tiger lily,” Pandora said. She could help the blush that was creeping up her neck because even if Lily didn’t know what a tiger lily meant yet, she most certainly did. And she didn’t want it to mean that, because then it probably wouldn’t really mean anything to Lily, at least not in the way it meant something to her.

She looked over at Lily to see if she had realized it yet. Lily was reading the textbook, her hair falling a bit in her face as she tried to read. She tucked her hair behind her ear, but a small lock of hair fell out of place again. This time, she just let it be. She kept reading until her eyes suddenly widened as she realized what it meant.

“Are you sure it's a tiger lily?” she asked, sounding a bit nervous. Which wasn’t normally from what Pandora knew, as she had never seen her get nervous, but then again, they weren’t that good of friends.

“You can check,” Pandora said, trying to sound normal, like nothing was wrong. She handed the mirror to Lily, who took it from her and held it next to the book, looking between the book and the mirror.

She put the mirror down on the table and looked down as she folded her hands in her lap. “Looks like it is a tiger lily,” she paused before looking up at her. “Do you know what it means?”

“I am aware,” Pandora said, looking at Lily.

“So does it mean that we have to like with mistletoe or what?” Lily asked.  

“It doesn’t mean that we have to, but it means that it will happen at some point soon or later, but it doesn’t mean that it's about us,” she said that last part a bit quieter than the rest. They turned to face each other, their knees touching. Now, there was an awards silence that Pandora didn’t know how to break; she didn’t need to.

“But what if it is about us?” Lily asked.

“Could be, but we don’t know that for sure,” she answered

“But how can, we be sure?”

“We can’t,” Pandora said. They were close, now their face practically inches apart. “But we can try,” she said, leaning a bit closer.

“Is it okay if it's not on the lips?” Lily asked, sounding hesitant.

“Yeah, that's fine,” she said quickly before adding, “You can just kiss me on the cheek if you want.”

“Okay,” she said before leaning in and giving her a quick peck on the cheek, before pulling back and turning around to face her book, while Pandora did the same.

“So, what did we have to write the essay about again?” Lily asked.

“Basically, we had to write about what that imagery meant and how it could affect the future depending on what the image was,” she answered. Not looking up, but grabbing her quill and the parchment paper, she started to write the essay.

“Okay, thanks,” Lily mumbled as she grabbed her quill and a piece of parchment paper and started to write her essay. They kept the mirror in between them along with Lily's textbook. The imagery had now changed from a tiger lily to two swords crossing each other.

Chapter Text

October 5^th, 1978.

Peter was spying on Slytherin, and he was freezing while doing it. He didn’t know what part of his conscience had agreed to this, but he hated that part truly. Especially as a rat in October. Where it was like 10 degrees. Luckily, he had remembered to cast a bit of a heating charm over himself so he wouldn’t freeze to death. It wasn’t that good, but it did help.

He was watching the Slytherin practise, but mainly the younger black, as he was the one James had asked him to keep an eye on. And he understood now why that was a good idea because Sirius's little brother was a good seeker; no, he is an amazing seeker; he was probably better than their own seeker, which was kind of a problem for them. As baby Black kept catching the snitch over and over again in the last hour and a half, he had caught it 5 times, which is once every 18 minutes. If it were just like that during the game, he could end it in less than twenty minutes, which would be a new record for him, the one he has right now being 22 minutes.

He had to remember to tell Prongs that they need to keep an eye on the baby black. He also needs to tell him that Slytherin's new keeper was also pretty good; he let the ball go in a few times, but that's normal for someone who is just learning the sport. With more practice, he could end up giving Prongs and the rest of their chasers some real problems. Of course, Rosier and Crouch are still menaces, and Meadows and the rest of the chasers are pretty good. Though it looks like Wilkes was finally getting his shit together.

Even Peter would never admit this, it looks like the Slytherins actually have a solid team this year, which made him worried, not because he carried that much for school quidditch but if they did win he would have to deal with two very upset James and Sirius and a pissed off Marlene and frankly he wanted to end this year nice and calmly before heading on out in to the war that was going on.

He kept watching them for another 30 minutes before he was them start to fly down towards the grounds heading for the changing rooms. That, was when he started his way down from the bleachers as a rat running down them and running back into the castle, taking one of the small passageways that he had found that would take him up to the Gryffindor tower without having to walk up all of those stair and not run into Mrs. Norris who might just try and eat him. the passageway took him to right in front of the portrait hall where the fat lady was. When he was sure no one was watching, he transformed out of Wormtail and back into Peter.

He stood before her portrait and said, “fortitudo.”

“Pettigrew,” she screamed, startled, “how many times have I told you not to sneak up on me?”

“Sorry, I promise it won’t happen again,” he apologizes, “are you going to let me back in?”

“Fine,” she said reluctantly before swinging the door open so I could go in.

He walked into the Gryffindor common room. No one was really there, as most people had gone to bed by now. The Gryffindor common room was probably the nicest of all the common rooms he had been in, as it was just so cozy; that was really the only way to describe it. It had a large fireplace, loads of red sofas and armchairs in different shades scattered around, and tables made of light wood. He had been in the other common rooms before, mostly for pranks, but out of all of the ones at Hogwarts, the Gryffindor was his favourite one, though he might just be saying that because he is biased.

He started walking up the spiral staircase to get to his dorm. The closer he got to it, the more he could hear voices from his dorm. He could not quite make out who it was, but he guessed it was James or Sirius.

When he got to the front of his dorm, he opened the door and saw Remus sitting on the floor where one of his many sweaters above his white button up his tie just peeking out so you could see it, he looked like he was doing some homework, while Sirius's head was in his lap, his dark curls framing his pale face like a halo he was wearing one of his queen band t-shirt that Remus had gotten him for Christmas two years ago his tie just hanging loosely around his neck, while James was sitting on his bed tossing a ball in the air. His tie hung loosely, and the first two buttons of his white shirt were undone.

James looked up, and his face lit up as soon as he noticed Peter. “Wormy, you're back, sit down,” he says, patting the spot next to him. “Tell me everything you saw.”

Peter walked in and sat down on James ' bed next to him. He was just about to say something.

“Wait for me, I need to know to” Sirius said as he quickly got up from Remus's lap, his tie falling off him in the process, and sat cross-legged on James's bed across from them, leaning on one of the poles.

“Okay, so Peter, tell us what to do, who to look out for?” Sirius said, practically bouncing up and down, if he had been Padfoot right now, his tail would have wagging.

“Fine, I will tell you,” Peter said, having a small pause for anticipation. “Okay, their new keeper, little Mulciber, is actually pretty good for someone who has never played Quidditch before. If he gets enough practice, he could really give you some problems, James. Also, then there's your brother Sirius, who is still a very good seeker, like during the practise in the last hour and a half, of their practice, he caught the snitch 5 times, that one every eighteen minutes. Wilkes finally got his shit together, thought he was going to get kicked off the time soon or later, but it looks like he has been practicing during the summer. Crouch and Rosier are still menaces; they almost hit your brother with one of the bludgers. Meadows is doing pretty good she hasn’t really changed. That's really it. I would say they have a good team this year.”

“So, what is the chance that we win this match?” James said

“Yeah, wormy, do you think we have a standing chance against those snakes?” Sirius said

Peter was about to say that he didn’t really have a chance, but before he could, Remus said, “You are losing this match.”

“Excuse me, “James turned to look at Remus in disbelief.

“Explain, Moony,” Sirius said, pouting, looking at Remus, his arms crossed.

Remus set his homework down and looked up at the three boys who were staring at him. “Well, their keeper, from what we heard from Peter, is actually really good compared to last year, which was one the reasons that you were actually able to have a fair. Regulus has always been an amazing seeker ever since he started in his second year. Slytherin has won almost every game except the final last year and the second-year final. Crouch and Rosier are manic and have sent more people to the hospital wing than any other Quidditch player ever at this school. Dorcas is, as much as you hate to admit it Prongs, a very good team captain and chaser, and Wilkes is finally stepping his game up, and Avery is also pretty good, so it looks like you guys don’t have a chance.”

They looked at him in complete shock. Before Remus went back to his homework, he said, “You three seem to have forgotten that I do the commentary for every game and I have been doing it since our third.”

“Yeah, sorry, moons,” James mumbled.

“It's fine, I still think it is wrong to be spying on the Slytherin. First and foremost if you get caught the both of you will be forbidden from playing Quidditch this year, which would just be sad, as this is our last year at Hogwarts” he paused before adding “but I have also lived with and know you three of you for almost seven and I know that you won’t stop until it literal smacks you in the face so I won’t tell Madam Hooch”

James, Sirius, and Peter grinned and jumped down from James's bed to give Remus the biggest hug ever. Remus is not prepared to be attacked by hugs; he ends up losing his balance and falling onto the floor, taking Sirius, James, and Peter with him. Which left them all on the floor, laughing hysterically.

“Just so you know,” Remus said, still laughing, “if you guys get caught, I was never a part of this.”

“Don’t worry, moons,” Sirius said, then giving him a giant kiss on the cheek, “I won’t let you fall because of my bad decisions,” he ended that with a wink.

“Thanks, Padfoot,” Remus said sarcastically, but even he could hide the blush that was creeping in.

“Oi,” Peter yelled, “get a bloody room, you two.”

James said teasingly while still laughing, “yeah get a room moony and padfoot”

“You two are so mean, you know what, as I can see that I am allowed to show my lovely boyfriend that I care about him and not appreciated here,” Sirius said dramatically as he sat up, “I am going to go to bed now.” He said as he stood up and started walking towards the bathroom. Right before he was about to close the door, he gave them all dirty looks.

There was a moment of silence before James and Peter burst out laughing, and Remus just rolled his eyes.

“Aren’t you going to follow him moony” James said, still laughing.

“Yeah, I will just give me a minute,” Remus said.

“Back problems,” Peter asked. The tone in the room had shifted to a much more serious one.

“No, not really, I mean the next full moon is in elven days, so it's not that bad as it is when we get closer to, but it still hurts a bit more than normal,” Remus replied.

There was a moment of silence before James asked, “Are you still going to be doing commentary on the game on Sunday?”

“I am planning on it, but I talked to Professor McGonagall about it, and she said that if I suddenly felt like I couldn’t do it, when we get closer to the game or during it, she will find someone else who is willing to,” Remus told them

“I could do it,” Peter said, sounding a bit nervous.

Both James and Remus turned to look at him in surprise.

“I mean, only if you can’t do it, moony… it's not because I want you to start to feel bad, I just think… that it would be fun to try and stuff like… that,” Peter said, stuttering and stammering.

James and Remus looked at each other for a moment before James broke into a grin that could power a whole Muggle city, while Remus just smiled softly at Peter.

“I think it's a good idea, and you know what, we should get you to be my co-host so we could both do commentary on the Quidditch games,” Remus said, giving him a reassuring smile.

“Thanks, Moony,” Peter said.

“I will talk to Professor McGonagall about it tomorrow,” Remus said as he sat up and started getting up again to the bathroom. “I think that's enough time for the drama queen to cool down,” he said coldly. James had to practically fight his laughter while Peter just looked to the side, trying to hide his laughter until they heard from the bathroom, “I heard that moony.” Which caused James to cackle. Remus just rolled his eyes before opening the bathroom door just enough for him to slither in.

James and Peter were still lying on the floor, just staring at each other, before James said, “Right, let's get off the floor.” Getting up and going to his side of the closet, taking his clothes off, throwing his uniform on the floor, and putting on his pyjama pants. Then went to his bed and sat looking at the marauders' maps.

Peter also got, took off his uniform, put on his pyjama set, and folded his uniform into a pile so it would be easier to find tomorrow. Then walked over to the bathroom and waited for Remus and Sirius to get out.

He probably waited for 10 minutes before James said, “mate, you know they are probably making out and wouldn’t be out for the next 30 minutes.”

“I know, but I really need to go,” Peter whined.

James rolled his eyes and got up from his bed and went to the bathroom door and knocked on it hard. “oi you two, if you're making out, could you please do it on your bed with a silent charm on and the curtains closed? Wormy and I need to use the bathroom,” he yelled at the door.

He took a few steps back and waited about a minute before he heard the door handle being turned and Remus and Sirius walking out to, both their being lips kissed swollen which means that they probably were making out, their hair all messed up.

“Oh, Sirius, I thought you brushed your hair while getting ready,” James said teasingly.

“Shut up, James,” Sirius mumbled, walking toward his and Remus ' bed and lying on it a few seconds later. Remus joined him.

James grinned while Peter quickly ran to the bathroom, closed the door, and locking it. James went back to his bed and found a piece of parchment that was lying on his nightstand, his quill, and started writing down a Quidditch strategy on how to beat the Slytherins.

Remus and Sirius had started their nightly cuddle session. James sat there trying to figure out a good strategy. He tried to remember everything Peter had said about the about how their new keeper is decent, so he should probably get him and his two other chasers together so they could figure out the best way to score, as they can’t win by catching the snitch because Regulus is just the best seeker James has ever seen tough he would never tell Sirius or regulus that. But he also always wins because he is so bloody fit that something the whole thinks not just him also the way regulus keeps his hair half up half down during quidditch games should be illegal especially when some of his hair sticks to his forehead because he sweating which just looks so bloody good on him, like it was hard not to get distracted, but he was certainly he was not the only one.

“Oi, James, what are you doing?” Sirius said, sitting up in his bed, leaning into Remus with Remus's arm wrapping around his hip.

“Just planning a new Quidditch strategy on how we can beat them,” James said. He could hear Sirius hum out a response. “Hey, Sirius, quick question, how do you think we can beat your brother?” James asked him; he knew bringing up a Regulus was a sensitive area, and he had to choose his words carefully.

He could almost hear the way Sirius stiffened up, “Reggie a little shit,” he said, “he will be watching you during the beginning of the game studying the way you play how you react to certain things especially if you are the opposing teams seeker but then when he see that everyone is distracted that when he goes for the snitch cause not only when he watches people during the game he also looks for the snitch he always know where it is. But he is also very fast and good at dogging the bludgers we throw at him.”

“Oh, thanks, Sirius,” James replied, going back to his sheet of parchment paper. Sirius just gave him a nod before he turned back to cuddling with Remus.

A few seconds later, Peter opened the door, and James got out of his bed, putting his quill, parchment, and his nightstand as he walked to the bathroom, closing the door behind him and started to brush his teeth, making sure to get all of his teeth, so his prefect award winning looked amazing it was the main reason girls absolutely crumbled when he smiled. Then, when he was done, he debated on brushing his hair. He decided that it was probably a good idea to try and clam his mess of hair.

When he was finally done, he went out and got into bed. Peter was already in bed, the same as Sirius and Remus, so he decided that he would close all the blinds and turn off the light after he had done that and crawled into his bed. He took his glasses off and put them on the nightstand.

“Good night, everybody. See you tomorrow for another amazing.” He said into the dark of nothing that was his dorm

“It's not going to be amazing, we have detention,” Remus mumbled to James, remember fuck the had detention.

“You guys do not me, I didn’t start a fight with Slytherin,” Peter said, half awake and still teasing them about it.

“Fuck you peter” Sirius said before the rest of them fell asleep.

🐍

James woke up pretty early (not that early, the sun was already up, so he was too). He opened the curtains just enough to get his glass and see what the time was on the clock on his nightstand. It was 7:00. Breakfast wasn’t until eight. He took the piece of paper on which he had been planning how to beat Slytherin. They had quidditch practise today from 16:30 to 18:00, so he should probably work out a strategy by then so they could start practising and get better. Then, after dinner, he had detention with Snape, Avery, and the older Mulciber, and it wasn’t even his fault; it was Mulciber 's, and he got hit. He shouldn’t be having to go to detention.

With everything that Peter and Sirius had told him they goal should be to make sure that Regulus doesn’t catch the snitch if that means throwing as many blugders at him as they can, but they also need to make sure that it doesn’t hit him because if it does, they could be disqualified from that game. Some probably threw as many just to be distracted, so he wasn’t paying attention to them, but not getting hit in the head. And making sure that little Mulciber doesn’t block their quaffles, so they probably need to confuse him. Now that was something James was good at.

All of a sudden, he heard movement. He peeked out to see that it was just Peter going to the bathroom. Remus and Sirius were either still cuddling or sleeping. James looked at the clock: 7:15. He should probably wake them up, as Sirius spent like thirty minutes getting ready. He got out of bed and started to look for his uniform. He found his button-up and his trousers, but he couldn’t find his tie. He will find it later. He took his trousers on and buttoned up, then he walked up to Sirius and Remus.

He opened the curtains and yelled, “Sirius, Remus, wake up.”

He heard a loud groan from both of them, and Sirius said, “Five more minutes.”

“Sirius, if you don’t make up, you won’t have time to do your hair.”

“Bloody hell your right,” he mumbled as he got out of bed and started to find the piece of his uniform before he went to stand in front of the door to the bathroom to wait for peter

“I bloody hate you,” Remus muttered.

“Sorry, Moony, but you know how he gets when his hair isn’t perfect,” James said apologetically. “But don’t worry, you can still sleep until 7:40, just make sure you're ready to go down to breakfast at 7:55,” he said

Remus just hummed in response. He might have fallen asleep again, who knows. James, on the other hand, kept searching for his tie. he had no idea where he had thrown it, but it had to be here somewhere.

🐍

The day was finally over; he been waiting during the last class for it to be 14:30 so he could go back to his dorm and plan how to kick Slytherin's ass. Until Quidditch practice started at 16:00. He was in his dorm now, sitting on his bed with Sirius lying across it, throwing something in the air with Marlene also sitting on his bed, though she was pretty close to falling off, while Remus, Lily, Peter, and Mary were in a corner, probably studying.

“Okay, you know what we need,” Sirius said, interrupting the silence.

“What padfoot?” Peter said, looking up.

“For Halloween, we need to throw a party in the Gryffindor common room, where we can all dress up in our costumes and drink fire whiskey, get drunk, play drinking games, and stay up, Merlin knows how long,” Sirius exclaimed, sitting up and getting more excited.

“Merlin, yes, we haven’t had a party in so long,” Marlene said, also getting excited

“Marlene, last time there was a party you threw up in Professor McGonagall's office, do you really think it is a good idea?” Mary said, not looking up from her essay.

“Shhhhh, Mary, and besides, Professor McGonagall never found out it was me,” Marlene said, shushing her.

“Yeah, she probably thinks it's either James, Sirius, or Peter who did it,” Lily blurted out, probably surprising herself with the leave of sass that came out. James and Peter, however, were left stunned. Sirius, on the other hand, looked like he agreed with her.

“First of all, how dare you, Lily? I would never do something like that. Second of all, who are we going to be inviting?” James asked.

“Well, definitely all the Gryffindors in fifth year and above, and probably also the Hufflepuffs, they're always so much fun, and I guess some of the Ravenclaws, but no Slytherin,” Sirius stated firmly.

“Why not all the Slytherins like I get that some of them are purest and we hate them, but they aren’t all bad like Dorcas, for example, she's pretty cool, when she's not the Quidditch captain that keeps beating us in almost every single bloody game,” Marlene asked. James saw her cheeks starting to turn just a little bit red when talking about Meadows.

“I didn’t know you two were friends,” Lily said, turning to look at her friend.

“Where not, I mean, we are, I think so… it's complicated,” Marlene muttered as she lay down on the bed to stare up at the ceiling.

“Don’t worry, Marlene, we all have someone who makes things complicated, so don’t worry about it, but if you really want, we could invite her, what do you think, Sirius?” James asked.

“Prongs who iis making your life complicated?” Sirius teased. Don’t ask him why (he doesn’t know), but his mind went to Regulus when Sirius asked him, which didn’t make any sense at all. Regulus didn’t make his life complicated; he was just there.

“But back to Meadows.” Sirius said, causing James to snap back to reality, “She seems fine, but then again, she's friends with not only my brother but also Crouch and the older boy Rosier, which isn’t good, as they are all blood purest, and you know birds of a feather flock together, or however the saying goes.”

“Pandora is not a blood purest,” both Lily and Mary said at almost the same time.

“Yeah, but she's also always been so… different,” Sirius replied.

“Oi, don’t talk about her like that. She is actually really sweet, and you of all people should know what it's like to be “different” from the rest of your family, and just because she has a good relationship with her brothers doesn’t mean she likes them at all,” Lily said, air-quoting the word different and getting pretty upset.

“I didn’t know you two were friends,” Marlene said.

“Yeah, they’re somewhat friends. She sometimes sits with us during Divination when she is not sitting with Sybil, but I would agree she’s really nice,” Mary explains.

“Okay, whatever? Back to the party, so who are we going to invite? Them or not, cause if we do, they're going to bring the rest of their friends, which includes” Sirius using his hands to jest to whom he was talking about.

James knew that he was talking about Regulus, as Sirius wouldn’t be that against inviting them if they weren’t friends with his brother, and with the fact that Pandora and Regulus were practically inseparable, which means she would probably bring him with her, which means that Crouch and the other twin Rosier would also come with.

“Sirius,” James said. Sirius looked up at him, “You know you don’t have to talk to him if that what you're worried about. Besides, I don’t think he would want to be there, I mean, doesn’t he hate parties or something like that? But if you're worried that some prejudiced Slytherin comes in, we will be sure to kick them out, but we are also going to be blasting Muggle music all night long, so I doubt any will end up being there,” James said, trying to reassure his best friend, even though he knew that their relationship was complicated.

“Yeah, that is true… fine, we can invite Meadows and Rosier and their little group of friends, but I am not talking to any of them,” Sirius said.

“Don’t worry, Cariad, no one is forcing you,” Remus said, probably speaking for the first time in a while.

“I know, but for my birthday, only Gryffindor from year five and above, no one else,” Sirius said.

“Of course, Padfoot, it's your birthday.” James chuckled.

“Yes, it is going to be an entire day all about me,” Sirius said as he sat up and tossed his hair.

“Sirius, you make every day about you,” Remus said, looking up at his boyfriend with tired eyes.

“I guess I do, moonbean,” Sirius said, winking at him, which made Remus blush.

There was a moment of silence before anyone said anything again.

“Oh yeah, Peter, I spoke to Professor McGonagall, and she thinks it would be a great idea to have you as my co-host during the Quidditch games, and that if I wasn’t feeling too well, you could take over,” Remus said.

“Really,” Peter said, sounding very happy.

"But she said she wanted you to try it for this game, see how it is, but also to see how good you are at the commentary part and all that,” Remus said.

“That makes sense,” Peter said.

“Wait, is Pete going to be co-hosting with you during the Quidditch games?” Marlene said, sounding enthusiastic.

 “Yeah, he is,” James said, grinning.

“Congrats, Pete,” Mary said, giving him a high five. Lily gave him an approving smile while Marlene was beaming from ear to ear.

“Oh, this is going to be so much fun. I can’t wait to see what you guys are going to be saying,” Marlene said, “anyway, speaking of Quidditch, Jamesy-boy, you come up with a plan to defeat those Slytherins during the next game?” Marlene asked.

“Yeah, I have, and it's all thanks to my beloved wormy over there,” James said, pointing at Peter.  Peter looked up at him and flipped him off, which made James put a hand on his heart very dramatically.

“I still can’t believe you're actually doing this, Peter. I expected better from you,” Lily said, shaking her head.

“Believe me, I can’t either. This is the stupid thing you three have come up with, and that says a lot. Just come up with a better strategy than having to spy on them,” Remus said, sounding exhausted.

“Seriously, you guys could get kicked off the team, which would just be a shame, as this is our last year,” Mary said, giving them the look she gives them when she is fed up with their crap.

“Oh, we won’t get caught,” Marlene says, waving her hand dismissively. “We will be as quiet as a rat.” She said, causing a small chuckle to come out of the group while Peter was sitting grinning ear to ear

“Isn’t the saying as quiet as a mouse?” Lily said before receiving a pillow to the face by one James Potter.

“Lily, in this household, we say rats as they are obviously the superior animal,” James said, grinning over at Peter.

Lily just rolled her eyes, though even she couldn’t hide the smile that was plastered on her face. While everyone was still laughing, James glanced over at the clock fuck it was quarter till four, they should probably get going like now.

“Sirius, Marlene Quidditch starts in fifteen minutes. We need to start heading down so we can be ready by four, so we can practice,” James told them.

“Fine……” Marlens whined as she got herself out of bed, even though she clearly didn’t want to. Sirius also got out of bed. He didn’t whine as much as Marlene, but he also clearly would have preferred to stay on.

They started heading out the door as the people who were still in the doors said their goodbye, and Mary told Marlene, “Good luck,” Marlene replied with, “I will need it.” James just rolled his eyes. He wasn’t that hard on them, even with how much they complained that he was.

“Bye, guys, see you at dinner,” Peter said. “Hope the spying helped.”

“Don’t worry peter I am sure it will,” James said.

Marlene rushed out of their dorm, probably to get her uniform from her dorm, while Sirius grabbed both his and James’s uniforms. He walked out, but before that, he gave James his uniform as James followed behind, before closing the door.

“You think they are going to get caught spying on the Slytherins?” Remus asked.

“Probably,” Lily said, looking at them.

“Oh yeah, without a doubt, they are going to find out about the spying,” Mary said.

“Oi I am a great spy,” Peter said.

“We know Peter, but still it's going to be figured out, and cheating is not okay,” Mary said.

“That's true,” Peters said.

Chapter Text

14^th October 1978

“Welcome to this year’s first Quidditch games, Gryffindor vs Slytherin,” Remus and Peter said in unison as they sat in their own booths, having put a charm on their voice to make them loud as they heard the roar of cheers from the stands.

“Now, some of you may have forgotten who is on our team, so let's recap that, starting with Gryffindor,” Peter said. He was wearing a Gryffindor scarf to show James his support, while Remus was wearing his favourite sweater with his tie peeking out, plus a leather jacket (probably Sirius).

“So, on our Gryffindor team, we have our lovely, amazing team captain and star chaser, James Potter,” Peter said as James walked out into the field, and the crowd went wild. Remus is pretty sure that in the corner of his eye, he saw someone faint. “Next up, we have our two beaters, Marlene McKionnon and Sirius black” Sirius and Marlene walked up next to James and struck a pose. “Next up, we have our two other chasers, Frank Longbottom and Alice Fortescue.” Frank Longbottom and Alice Fortescue were THE Quidditch couple. They had been dating since their 4th year, and they were an amazing duo when it came to Quidditch. “Then we have our keeper, Caspian Anthony, and last but not least, we have our seeker, Faye Shacklebolt.” Faye was Kingsley's younger sister in her 6th year, while Kingsley had already graduated the year before. Remus thinks he saw him somewhere in the bleachers for family, along with the rest of the Gryffindor team's families, because he definitely saw both Effie and Monty.

They had all walked out on the field, striking poses and basking in the cheer of Gryffindor house, but now it was time for the Slytherins' turn to be introduced.

“Now it's for the Slytherins, starting with their team captain, and chaser Dorcas Meadows,” Remus said as Meadows walked on to the field, and the cheer of the Slytherins could be heard from far away, while you could hear the booing of all the Gryffindors. “Now we have their two beaters, Evan Rosier and Barty Crouch Jr,” walked out and stopped right behind Dorcas. Barty wrapped his hand around Evan's neck while sticking his tongue out to the Gryffindor as Evan just stood there and grinned like an idiot. “Now we have the two other chasers, Wilhem Wilkes and Edmund Avery, then their new keeper, Sebastian Mulciber.” Sebastian walked out, and you could tell from the way he carried himself that he was shy and probably very nervous. “And last but not least, their seeker Regulus Black.” The second Regulus set foot onto the field, every Slytherin started cheering and applauding, and even a few of the Ravenclaws also did.

When all the members of the team were on the field, Madam Hooch came down from the teacher’s booth on her broom, carrying the box with the snitch, quaffle, and blugders the entire stands went silent. She used a charm to make the volume of her voice bigger before she spoke

“Welcome, everyone, to the first game of the season, and let's see who will be starting this year with a win.” Both Gryffindor and Slytherin applauded. She waited until the stances had settled down, “Now, captain, shake hands.”

Dorcas and James walked up to each other and stood across. James took out his hand; Dorcas took it and shook.

“May the best team win, Meadows,” James said with his usual cocky tone

Dorcas replied with “I plan on it, Potter.” As she let go of his hand and took a few steps back to stand in front of her team.

Madam Hooch grabbed the golden snitch for the box and held it in her hands. “On your marks,” she said as everyone put their brooms between their legs. “Get set,” she waited, just to add to the suspense. “Go,” she said as she threw the snitch up in the air, then the quaffle, then the bludgers. Everyone soared into the sky. You could hear the cheer of the stances as the first Quidditch games had officially started.

“Well, looks like the first game of the season has officially started, and I would say that both teams have a good team this year. It's going to be exciting, what do you think, Peter?” Remus said.

“I agree with you, Remus, it's going to be very exciting,” Peter said.

Regulus flew up higher than everyone, along with Shacklebolt; they needed an overview of the field to get a better view for catching the snitch. Beneath him, Barty and Evan were beating the blugders at the Gryffindor chasers as it looked like Potter got the quaffle.

“Looks like James got the Quaffle and is heading for Slytherin's goal. He throws and… Mulciber catches and throws it to Wilkes, who is now heading for the Gryffindor goal. He throws the quaffle, and it goes in, which means the first 10 points of this game go to Slytherin,” he heard Pettigrew say.

Regulus could help but smile as he could see the pure anger in Potter's face, which gave Regulus a sense of sacrifice. He could also see how happy Sebastian looked, which made him pleased as he remembered his first game and how happy he was when he caught the snitch for the first time.

He saw his brother and McKinnon go to block the blugder that Evan and Barty were beating towards them; however, now his brother was beating the blugders toward Avery as he was flying towards the Gryffindor goal with the quaffle but right before he could throw it. Frank Longbottom bumped into him, making him drop the quaffle and Alice Fortescue to catch it, and started heading towards the Slytherin goal.

Regulus let his eyes scan the field to see if he could catch a glimpse of the golden snitch, but he couldn’t. He heard the cheer from one of the houses. He looked up at the scoreboard to see what he had missed. 10:10 fuck, Gryffindor had scored a goal. However, while the Gryffindor team and house were cheering, Dorcas flew under the goal, catching the quaffle and started flying towards the Gryffindor goal. Potter sadly caught this and started flying toward her, while McKinnon tried to get the blugders to go toward him. Dorcas was dodging them and threw the quaffle into the goal, scoring for the Slytherins in the stands, who erupted into a cheer.

“Oi, McKinnon, maybe you should work on your aim,” Dorcas yelled at her. “It's getting kind of sloppy,” she said with a wink.

Regulus couldn’t help but snort out a laugh before going back to looking for a snitch that was until a blugder almost hit him. He looked down to see who had hit him, and it had been Sirius, which didn’t surprise him at all. Ever since Regulus joined the team, Sirius had tried to throw as many blugders at him before Madam Hooch would call it targeting.

He looked back down at the games and saw Potter with the Quaffle again, throwing it into Slytherin's goal, but he missed by just a few centimetres. Honestly, it was quite sad that the game wasn’t going that well for him, but it was also quite funny, and Regulus could help but yell.

“Oi potter,” he yells at him, “maybe you should focus on actually trying to score a goal during your next practice.” Even from up here, he can see that Potter was sending him an absolutely death-glaring look, and Regulus can’t help but smirk. As he looks back to see Avery scoring another goal for Slytherin

“Looks like it isn’t going that well for our Gryffindors,” Peter said, sounding worried.

“Yeah, not, only are we ten minutes into the game, and Slytherin already has thirty points, while Gryffindor only has ten. Not to mention all the miss shouts that have been thrown by Gryffindor. I would say that if the Gryffindors are planning on winning this game, they need to step up before Black sees the snitch,” Remus said with absolutely no emotion in his voice.

Right as Lupin had said, this Fortescue had gotten the quaffle and started heading for Slytherin's goal. She threw it and scored. Regulus could hear the way the Gryffindors roared, and he was pretty sure he might be going deaf because of it.

“Nice one, Fortescue,” James said as he flew past her

“Thanks, captain,” she yelled back at him.

Regulus looked over at Dorcas how had gotten the quaffle back and was trying to get to the Gryffindor goal, but Sirius and McKinnon were beating them towards her so much that it was impossible for her to get a good throw, so she threw it over to Avery, who headed towards the goal it but Anthony caught it and tried to throw it back to one of his teammates but it had ended up being caught by Wilkes and he ended up scoring for Slytherin.

Regulus looked over to see Potter faces for no particular reason, but he could see that Potter was shocked and fuming, which made Regulus smirk, as there was nothing he loved more than seeing Potter slowly starting to lose a Quidditch match. It was the best kind of entertainment.

Though maybe Potter had learned to use that anger because suddenly he had the Quaffle and was a speed that Regulus didn’t even know if it was legal for Quidditch. And throwing it into the goal, almost crashing into little Mulciber.

“Well, done, prongs show them how it’s done,” Pettigrew yelled while in the background, you could hear the Slytherins booing, which Regulus didn’t blame them for, as the Gryffindor had booed at them, so of course, they booed at Gryffindor.

James was going to beat them; it was 40:30 to Slytherin. They could beat them all; they had to make sure that Regulus didn’t spot the snitch. If they did that, then they would win. He could feel it.

He kept flying, trying to get the quaffle while Crouch and Rosier were beating them towards them. Right now, Avery had it and was flying their goal. He tried to get to the right side of Avery. Frank seemed to have the same idea and flew on the left side. But they were getting closer, and before he could even try to grab it, Avery threw it and scored. James could feel the anger rising and the sweat building up on his forehead.

“Oi, Anthony, try actually blocking the quaffle for once,” he yelled at him. Anthony nodded at him.

He looked down to try and find the Quaffle, only to see that Alice had grabbed it and was heading straight for the Slytherin goal. He turned his broom around and started heading over to her, but he saw Frank doing the same thing, so he stayed behind and looked for Faye to figure out if she had spotted the snitch yet.

“Oi, Faye,” he yelled. She turned to look at him. “See anything yet?” he asked.

She shook her head and kept searching. James let his eyes wander over to regulus who was also searching for the snitch. Regulus had gotten out a hair tie that was on his wrists (James thinks) as he tried to tie his hair back into somewhat of a half-up, half-down situation, but James couldn’t help but stare because the sun was angled behind him in a way that made it look like he had a halo of light that came behind that he looked ethereal he looked like an angle like something that was meant to be worshipped by those who saw him.

Regulus looked down; he probably saw that he was staring at him because he fucking winked at him for a few seconds. They just stared at each other as time seemed to slow down. Regulus smirking down at him while James just admired his beauty. Then out of nowhere he felt blugders hit his broomstick hard. He lost control for a second, he managed to get control over his broom again, he turned around to see who it was, only to see Rosier absolutely cackling.

“ROSIER,” Madam Hooch yelled, “the point is to distract the players, not hit them. If you do that again, you can’t play for the rest of the game!”

James looked back to see a rosier face, only to see him rolling his eyes and smirking at Crouch. He looked over to see the scoreboard; it was 50:40. He looked over at Frank, who threw him the Quaffle. He caught it and flew towards the Slytherin goal and threw it, scoring another ten points for Gryffindor. Meaning they were now tied

“Well done, James,” he hears Peter yell from his booth.

“Yes, well done indeed. It looks like Gryffindor and Slytherin are now tied, so who will end up pulling forward and who will end up catching the snitch? Rumour has it that you can place bets on who you think it's going to be.” Remus said

He heard McGonagall yell at Remus to focus on the games. He couldn't help but laugh. He loved his friends so fucking much.

Then something flew past him with ridiculous speed. James turned to look at Wilkes, who had just flown past him with the quaffle under his arm. James turned his broom around and started going after Wilkes and heading straight for their goal. James could see that the goal was getting closer to them, but he still kept going, trying to get closer.  James turned to see Wilkes throw the quaffle, and it went in. James quickly got his broom to go down so he could catch it. Which he did.

He started heading straight for Slytherin's goal dogged all the blugders that are being thrown his way by Rosier and Crouch. And hurled the quaffle at a strength that he didn’t know that he had, and he barely missed little Mulciber's head by a few inches, not that he was trying to hit him, but it also wasn’t like he cared if he had ended up hitting him. It went in; that was all that mattered.

Avery came flying and grabbed the quaffle and flew towards their goal. James quickly turned to follow Alice, and Frank followed him. Avery turned to look at all of them before tossing the quaffle to the ground just for it to be caught by the dorcas as she flew back up just to throw it in the goal and fly over to give Avery a high five.

What the fuck were they doing? Peter hadn’t told him this.

“Wow, a lot just happened in a few minutes. If anyone is confused, because I would be the score is 70:60 to Slytherin,” Remus stated, which somehow made it worse.

Regulus was sitting, watching what had just happened, and he was impressed with Avery and Dorcas's teamwork; and people say that if you're from Slytherin, you can’t work together. His eyes scanned the field until they caught a little golden ball flying close to the Gryffindor stands. It was the snitch

Before he started flying towards it, he remembered what Dorcas had told him, so he turned to find where she was before yelling, “Captain!” She turned to look at him. He gave her a look, trying to silently communicate with her that he had found the snitch.

She seemed to understand what he was trying to say as she yelled, “Rosier Crouch.” They turned to look at but then turned to look at regulus who gave them the same look. He turned to look at where the snitch had been. It was now it was close to the bottom of the stance, dangerously close, but he knew he could make it.

So, without warning, he dove straight down to where the snitch was. Evan and Barty followed him, circling him at a distance that would make sure that they wouldn’t hit him with the bat, but also so they could make sure that no blugders hit him.

He could sense that Gryffindor Seeker was following him, but he didn’t care; all his focus was on the snitch, which was going back up again, but he had too much speed, and the ground was getting closer. So, he abruptly turned upward, merely inches above the ground. He also heard a crash. He looked behind to see that both Barty and Gryffindor Seekers had crashed onto the ground. Evan, however, was still following him, blocking the blugders that were being sent his way.

He could see the snitch getting closer and closer. He stuck out his hand before clashing his hands around the snitch and stopping. He held it up high just to hear the roar and applause from the Slytherin stance.

“And with that, the first Quidditch game of this season is over, 220 points to Slytherin and 70 points to Gryffindor,” Remus said

James doesn’t know what just happened. The plan was good, and they were doing great. James had just scored while Regulus yelled at Meadows, and suddenly, baby Black was diving face-first into the ground and abruptly going back up again as if  it was nothing, causing their seeker to crash, giving her not enough time to get back up in the air so she could catch. Also, not to mention that both Rosier and Crouch were hovering over him to make sure he didn’t have to worry about getting hit. Not to metion them knowing what to do when Meadow called on them. they had to have cheated; that was the only way of explaining it.

They cheated.

🐍

The Slytherin dorm was on fire (metaphorically, not literally). There was fire whiskey and other alcoholic beverages that Regulus had no Idea where they came from. There were also cigarettes, which he also had NO idea where they came from, as that was a muggle thing that you usually couldn’t get into the wizarding world, not to mention that almost everyone in the dorms hated muggles. There was also loud music blasting, with a combination of people singing and yelling at the same time.

Now, Regulus didn’t mind parties at all; he quite enjoyed them, but what he did hate was the alcohol and what it did to people, and how people let go and lost control. He didn’t remember how many couples he had seen practically eating each other alive. And of course, his friends had left him, Barty, to probably snog someone, as for Evan and Dorcas, he had no clue, though Dorcas was probably somewhere basting in the glory of her win.

He started to head out mainly as he just needed some fresh air and to find somewhere with some peace and quiet. He started walking to the entrances, or in this case, the exit. He looked to his right and saw Snape's group with Bruce Mulciber, Caradoc Dearborn, Edmund Avery, and Wilhelm Wilkes. They were huddled together talking about something, and he couldn’t quite figure out what exactly.

He had almost gotten to the exit of the common room before he accidentally bumped into someone.

“Sorry, I didn’t see you there,” he apologized. He looked up to see Sebastian Mulciber.

“It's okay, I should have been standing in the middle of the entrance,” he said quietly, almost a little too quiet.

“It's fine… good job out there on the field today,” Regulus said, trying to sound sincere

“Thank you, you did well too,” he says, his face almost lighting up.

“Thank you. Did your brother come up and congratulate you?” Regulus asked.

“He did, but I don’t know if he meant after what happened last year,” he said, looking down. And Salazar, how could he be so insensitive? Bruce had been the keeper before Sebastian last year. He had been in an accident during one of their matches involving a blugder, a Sirius black, and a James Potter, which had caused him to never be able to play Quidditch again.

“How is he doing with the fact that this is his first year not playing since his second year?” Regulus asked, trying not to push too much.

“I don’t know, I think he's happy that I'm taking over the role, you know, keep it in the family or whatever… but he's still pretty upset over the whole factor.” Sebastian said, trying not to let his voice crack, “But it was him who wanted me to be a keeper.”

“What would you have wanted?” Regulus asked.

“To be a seeker, but I don’t think that will be possible,” Sebastian mumbled

“Why not? You can always join in your seventh year when I am not here if that's what you're worried about,” he said, trying to sound reassuring, though that wasn’t his strongest suit.

“Yeah, but there's been talk,” he said as he started to whisper, making Regulus lean in a bit closer to hear what he was saying, “that if the war starts going south for the death eater and you know who, then my parents want me to skip my seventh year to join them.”

“Oh,” Regulus says, stunned. He didn’t expect that. Of course, what else would you expect from Mr. and Mrs. Mulciber, but still putting that kind of pressure on a barely fifteen-year-old kid is not fair.

“Anyways, I should probably see if I can find Felix, make sure he doesn’t get blacked out drunk and does something that Evan and Pandora would disapprove of,” Sebastian said, trying to give him a small smile.

“Good idea,” Regulus said, “it was nice talking to you.”

“You too,” Sebastian said as he started walking back into the crowd of people, and Regulus started heading towards the door again.

He pushed the door open and was hit with the colder air of the evening, which he had never been more thankful for. He started heading up the stairs. Praying that he wouldn’t get caught by Miss Norris or Filch because even if he did, he couldn’t say ‘yeah, Slytherins having a party in the common room and it was too loud and stuffy, so I went out past curfew’ as then everyone attending that party would be in trouble.

He was planning on going to the astronomy tower, probably just to sit there and relax, maybe to do a bit of stargazing. It was always calm up at the astronomy tower; it was probably his favourite place at Hogwarts.

He could shake what Sebastian had said and raised at least one question for him. How young was you-know-who was planning on recruiting these children? And why was no adult doing anything to stop it from happening? And he hated that he hated how adult people who were supposed to protect them from things like this could even do their damn job.

He pushed open the door to the astronomy tower, walked over to the ledge, and sat down, leaning his head against the balcony that surrounded the tower. He sat like that for a while, his eyes closed, listening to the sound of the wind, to the animals that had awoken during the night, to the water that surrounded the castle grounds, and he felt at peace, like he was safe, like nothing could ever hurt him the way that things had before like there wasn’t a war going on just a few kilometres away from the castle.

Of course, all good things came to an end, and suddenly he heard the doors to the tower being opened.

“Well, well, well, look who we have here breaking the rule again, are we Black?” Regulus almost immediately recognized that annoying voice, the one that belonged to the most annoying of all his brother's friends.

He turned around to see James Potter standing in front of the door, working his way to him. “What do. You. Want,” Regulus sneered.

“I know what you did, Black, or should I say what your teammates did,” Potter said with this sort of devilish-looking smile.

But here the thing, Regulus didn’t know what the man in front of him was saying, he was confused cause neither he nor his teammate did anything last he checked.

“What are you talking about?” Regulus said, confused as he stood up to face him.

“You know what I am talking about,” Potter said as he got closer. He leaned in and said, “I know that you guys cheated.”

Regulus gave him a puzzled look because what was he talking about? They didn’t cheat this time. Sure, they might have done it before, but not this time.

“Potter.” He said, trying to keep himself from screaming at this idiot, “We. didn’t. cheat.”

“Yes, you did. I know you did during your practice, you didn’t do the dive thing that you did during the game, or the thing with Crouch and Rosier being your bodyguards.” Potter sputtered out. See how would he know what they are doing during their practise… unless he had been spying on them.

“How would you know what we were doing during our practice?” he asked as he took a step forward, and Potter took a step back. See, Potter looked stunned, like he hadn’t thought Regulus would find out. “Unless you were spying on our Quidditch practice, weren’t you?” he said as he took another step forward.

“Eh… no… we… weren’t,” Potter said, stuttering. Know if Regulus learnt anything from going to the same school as Potter for six years: that when Potter lies, he starts stuttering a lot and gets nervous.

“Oh, but you were, weren’t you?” Regulus said in a low tone as he grabbed the collar of Potter's shirt, so they were at eye level, not that Potter was that much taller than him.

“Oh, I never thought I’d get this power, especially from someone like you,” Regulus said, and he couldn’t help but smirk. This day couldn’t get any better.

“You don’t have any power over,” Potter fumed.

“Oh, but I do,” he said, playing with his tie before letting go. “ who was it then was it Pettigrew sending him to your dirty work that not very Gryffindor of you know is it also don’t forget I could go and tell Madam Hooch what you and your little friends are doing, and with your history, she will most definitely look into it, which could cause you to not be able to play this season.”

“You’re bluffing,” he said as he straightened his back.

“How much would you bet I am?” Regulus asked, raising an eyebrow because he was not. He would gladly go to Madam Hooch, of course, if Potter could give him a good enough reason why not, then he wouldn’t.

“What do you want then? Because it's not money, you already have enough of that,” Potter said, his tone getting more serious.

Regulus couldn’t help but smirk. He knew exactly what he wanted: “first I want you,” pointing at his chest, “and your friends to stop harassing the people in my house.”

He scoffed, “We do no such thing.”

“Yes, you do, just take the start of October, that little fight you had with Snape and his group.” Regulus taunted

“First of all, Avery started it,” he replied.

“I don’t care who started it, but if you want a better example, all those pranks you pulled on Slytherin-”

“Those are funny.”

“No, they are not.” Regulus yelled, “They are just an excuse to harass people without consequences. You think you can get away with all this stuff because you’re the golden boy of Gryffindor, the head boy that everyone loves and adores?” he said, putting air quotes around golden boy. “If anyone from Slytherin did half of what you guys do, they would probably be expelled right now. But no, since you are in Gryffindor, it's fine.”

“But-” he started off before Regulus cut him off.

“There is no, but you and my brother are the reason that Bruce Mulciber will never be able to play Quidditch again. You and your friend are the reason that first year, every year, travel together because of how scared they are that you do something to them if they are alone, as you do to Snape, everyone knows that you humlieated him in your five year pulling his pants down in front of everyone why because you though it was funny some practical joke not to mention that every single year without fail, you boo every single time anyone is sorted into Slytherin. You talk about how everyone should be treated with the same rights and how no one should look down upon because of their background and where they came from, but you seem to forget about that the second it about someone from Slytherin.” He could feel the anger of six years being treated like shit, not only by his parents but by almost every Gryffindor and help,  his needs being neglected by the headmaster.

He took a deep breath, trying to compose himself before looking up at Potter without punching his face. Potter, on the other hand, looked stud.

“What, you got nothing to say, or is it because you know I am right?” Regulus said, turning back to his sarky tone.

“I hope you're happy because you have ruined a very good day for me,” he said as he started walking towards the door, making sure to bump his shoulder hard into him. “I'll be heading to my dorm, wouldn’t want to cause any trouble.”

“Do you really think I am that bad?” Potter said his voice was low, a whisper; there wasn’t any of his usual cockiness.

“Not just you, mostly your house as a whole, also the grown-ups that let this stuff happen, but yeah, you too.”

“Do you think I could change?”

“I will believe it when I see it,” Regulus said before opening the door and heading towards his dorms

Leaving James to stand there alone with his thoughts.