Peace - miamourstarchaser - Harry Potter (2024)

Chapter Text

1 September 1975
Somewhere in Northern Scotland
6:53 A.M.

When James woke up, it was far too early. He tended to do this when he was excited, on Christmas especially, but today was even better than Christmas. No. Scratch that. Nothing was better than Christmas, but today was… good. It was really good.

His room was still slightly dark, though a small amount of dim light creeped in from behind his curtains. The sun must be just rising. James sat up groggily, feeling around on his nightstand for his glasses, finally grabbing them and putting them on. James glanced around his room that was only slightly lit from the sun that slowly peered out from below the horizon.

Different articles of clothing lay scattered across James’ bedroom; on the floor and hanging off the back of his desk chair, carelessly thrown into the trunk that lay open in the very middle of the room. There were books and random pieces of parchment and, of course, the map that lay opened on James’ desk. He had been seeing which professors were already at Hogwarts the night before. In case you were curious too, Dumbledore was pacing his office (he does that a lot), and Filch was slowly moving across the Great Hall.

James stretched his arms up above his head, yawning loudly and obnoxiously before slowly swinging his legs over the side of his bed and standing up, giving a small shiver at the chill that ran through his body from the cold hardwood beneath his bare feet. Moving around his room, James could hear every step he took, every breath he breathed, and every shuffle as he moved something around. His parents, he knew, were fast asleep in their bedroom, all the way down the hall from James’. James also knew that they wouldn’t be up for another hour or so.

He grabbed a pair of light gray joggers from their crumbled up spot on his desk and pulled them on, over his boxers and then started across the room to his washroom.

The small window that sat just above his toilet gave James an almost perfect view of the sun rising over the horizon. Sun rises were something very important to James, he figured they were much more beautiful than the sunset, and not just because of the hazy, golden glow that was cast over the Earth as the sun came up, but simply because the sun was coming up, as opposed to it going down, leaving the Earth with a cold, night leaving anything open. The night was dark and scary, day time was bright and warm and full of singing birds and laughter. A sunset felt sort of like the sun was dying, in a way. Sure, it would only be temporary, but still; What's a world without the sun? Exactly. There isn’t one. So yes, James preferred watching the sunrise much more than watching the sunset.

His plan for this morning was to make sure the time went by fast. By 11:00 this morning, he’d be on the train back to Hogwarts, ready to start his fifth term, by 11:00 this morning, he’d be seeing all his friends again. Of course, they’d all been writing letters back and forth, and, of course, he lives right by Marlene and Frank and he does see them every day. And, yes, he spent his entire first half of summer holiday with Peter, too, but he really missed the rest of them. He especially missed Sirius.

Crossing out of the washroom and again through his room, out onto the second floor landing, James made his way downstairs, hearing every creak in the floorboards of the stairs as he did. Hours like this, so early in the day, it was almost as if the house itself was asleep, along with the people residing inside. No fuss from Euphemia, trying to get James’ hair to lay flat on his head; No laughs from Fleamont, trying to assure his wife that there was no way James’ hair would lay flat unless thoroughly slicked down with Sleekeasy’s, and there was no chance James was doing all that. He loved his messy hair. No, at hours like this, the house is completely still, deadly silent. James crossed through the sitting room and stepped out through the front door, feeling the cool morning’s breeze on his face as he did.

Another reason James loved morning so much was the sounds. The birds would sing, the water from the fountain in the Potter’s front garden rippled with the breeze and splashed with the birds bathing in it. There were no muggles driving on the main road just a few streets over from Potter Manor. He could hear the leaves rustling with the wind and the wind chimes from the Longbottom’s front porch dinging with a beautiful song. He could practically hear the fish swimming through the lake towards the edge of the Potter’s back property as he crossed over to the McKinnons next door. He picked up a stone and promptly tossed it up, watching it clang against the glass of Marlene’s window. He repeated this action five times before watching the curtains get shoved open before the glass slid open and Marlene stuck her head outside, strands of her messy brown hair falling in front of her tired eyes.

“What is wrong with you?” She asked just as she had every other morning of their summer holiday, voice raspy with sleep.

“Rise and shine,” James smiled up at her.

“The sun hasn’t done it yet, why should I?” Marlene asked, crossing her arms in front of her chest as she yawned.

“The sun has too risen, and it’s shining,” James pointed out, motioning back at the golden haze from the sun.

“Barely,” Marlene said and James couldn’t quite see it because of how high up she was compared to him, but he was almost positive she rolled her eyes.

“C’mon McKinnon, do you plan on making the Quidditch team again this year or what?” James asked

“I made it last year, didn’t I?” Marlene returned and James rolled his eyes rather dramatically.

“And wasn’t I out here every morning last year too?” He asked. “And the year before that, and the year before that?”

“That has nothing to do with the talent I was born with,” Marlene said and, again, James was sure she had rolled her eyes.

“Sure it doesn’t,” James said sarcastically and then grinned that goofy James Potter grin up at her. “Get dressed and get out here, McKinnon.”

“Coming,” Marlene sighed and she disappeared from the window, but only for a moment. “This doesn’t mean I was born without talent! I’d just fancy exercising that talent!”

“Mhm,” James hummed, loud enough for her to hear. Marlene disappeared from the window once again and James made his way to the shed at the edge of the Potter’s property.

He swung the creaky wooden door of the shed open and walked slowly inside, carefully grasping his broomstick on the body of it and pulling it out.

“Hey there, darling,” he whispered to the broom before turning and grabbing the quaffle and box of golf balls right behind him. With it all, James left the shed, closing the door behind him and heading toward the large opening of a field just behind the lake that spanned from the Potter’s property, to the McKinnon’s, and over to the Pettigrew’s. He waited there for Marlene, polishing his broom as he did. It took all of twenty minutes (James counted) before Marlene was joining him, loose gray tank top and white shorts, hair tied up in a long ponytail, and broom in her hand.

“Where’s Frank?” She asked, sitting down to join James with the broom polish.

“Sleeping,” James shrugged.

“Oh so you let him sleep,” Marlene said, and now James can see that she did roll her eyes.

“He needs it,” James shrugged. “Today’s his last first day as Gryffindor captain.”

“Whatever,” Marlene shook her head.

“Ready?” James asked, taking one last look at his freshly polished broom and then standing up from the dewey grass.

“The real question is are you ready, Potter?” Marlene asked, arching an eyebrow as she stood as well. James, as it turns out, was very much ready, proving it as he swept himself into the air on his broom, grabbing the quaffle as he went. And so, let the games begin.

Every day this summer, and the past two summers, James had taken it upon himself to ready himself and Marlene for quidditch. He would wake early each morning. Given, it typically was a little later than it was now, but can you blame him? He’s excited! So, they’d wake up early and come over to this side of the lake, and practice. Most days, Frank would join them as well, and sometimes Peter would come over to watch and keep score, but as Peter was finishing up his trip in the States before just apperating straight from Connecticut to King’s Cross Station with his parents, and as Frank needed his rest if he was going to be the captain of the greatest quidditch team Hogwarts will likely ever see, it was just James and Marlene today.

“Asshole!” Marlene called, ten minutes into their 1v1, as a golf ball that James had thrown bounced off the top of her head.

“You love me!” James called back with a grin, getting ready to throw another one. “You need to get better at catching!”

“You didn’t even give me time after-” she broke off at the end of her sentence, diving to catch the next ball James threw. “You suck!”

James just shrugged, “Blame it on the snitch, babes.”

Marlene shook her head.

Marlene let out a choked breath, catching the quaffle James had chucked right at her, screaming ‘Bludger!’ as it went.

“What if Sirius goes mental and knocks one right at you?” James asked. “Have to be prepared.”

“Not for Sirius to knock a bludger at me,” Marlene rolled her eyes.

“Just because you’re his girlfriend-”

“What’s that about being prepared?” Marlene asked, cutting James off, as her broom began to soar forwards. “Come and get it, Mr. Greatest-Chaser-Hogwarts-Will-Ever-See!”

James let out an airy chuckle before moving towards her to get the quaffle back.

Honestly, Marlene being Sirius’ girlfriend has nothing to do with the fact that he won’t be knocking the bludger at her. Team first, relationships second, always. The fact that Marlene was Sirius’ girlfriend did, however, leave James feeling very happy. He loved the idea of his two closest friends being together. They had been going out since the beginning of fourth year, so almost a year now, and James is just giddy at the fact. He had grown up with Marlene, they’d been best friends before they even knew what that meant, practically siblings, and meeting Sirius was, as Sirius likes to describe it, love at first sight. From the moment they met on the Hogwarts express and bullied Severus Snape right out of their compartment, they knew it was meant to be and had been best friends ever since. So, with all this in mind, of course James is practically in love with the idea of Marlene and Sirius being together, the idea of them breaking up, however, is something James finds equivalent with all of his friends dying. Would he have to take sides? He couldn’t do that! And, in the awful, horrible, nightmare situation where Marlene and Sirius do break up, could you imagine how awkward it would be? James would rather not even think of it. So, he doesn’t. He lives in the moment, and in this exact moment, Marlene and Sirius are not broken up and everything is perfectly fine.

“Lovely pass!” James heard Frank call from below them. He looks down to see Frank standing with his broom. “You didn’t wake me?”

“Not like you need practice,” James called down to him with a small shrug. “You’re already captain.”

“James is very concerned about your well being, Frank,” Marlene called, flying over to take the spot next to James. “Says you need your beauty rest to be nice and strong for us this season.

“Ah,” Frank nodded. “So this would have nothing to do with me beating your arse last night during our one-on-one?”

“No,” James shakes his head. “I actually forgot about that, to be quite honest.”

James actually hadn’t forgotten about the fact that Frank did, utterly, beat his arse last night during their one-on-one, and he hadn’t woken Frank for that exact reason. James hates losing. Absolutely despises it, actually. The concept of him losing something, especially a quidditch match, is the worst thought he could conjure up.

“Well?” Marlene asked. “You joining us?”

“From what I hear, you need to work on your catching skills, McKinnon,” Frank said, mounting his broom. Marlene let out a huff of air before tossing the quaffle she still held at her chest at James. He caught it because of course he caught it, after all he is the greatest chaser Hogwarts will ever see.

The sun was now up, high in the sky, reflecting off of the water in the lake. James thought it was a terribly beautiful sight. There were also more sounds than just the wind and the birds, James could now hear the muggle cars passing along the main road just a few streets up. If he had to guess, he’d say it was around 7:30 in the morning by now. Frank was now joining them, up in the air, and James saw that he had a pocketful of golf balls with him, he glanced over at Marlene and gave her a warning look as Frank flew further away from Marlene, finally turning and chucking a ball straight at her. She extended her hand and caught it.

“Beautifully done,” Frank praised. “James, you should work on speed. Fly a few laps.”

“Ay ay, Captain,” James mused, tossing the quaffle down on the grass below them and leaning forward to fly. He started off fast, really fast, but slowed down within the next three laps he flew. Marlene was flying around too, trying a couple new diving techniques, it looked like, all while Frank continued tossing golf balls at her. She caught almost every one.

“Breakfast is done!” Effie called in what James assumed was fifteen, maybe twenty minutes, later. James looked down to see her standing just by the back door; a night robe wrapped tight around her body, hair up in multiple, different colored, hair rollers. “Marlene, Frank, would you like to join us? There’s plenty!”

James watched Marlene glance over at her house before turning back to Effie, “No thanks, Effie, I can see my mum in the kitchen.”

Effie nodded, “Frank?”

“Nibu is setting up at the garden table already,” Frank answered with a small shake of his head. “I’d love to, but I think Mum’d be upset if I ditched her.”

“Smart choice,” Effie called back. “Tell your mums I say hello!”

“Will do,” Marlene smiled down at her as the three of them made their way down to ground level again.

“Oh, don’t worry about cleaning up. Just take your brooms in, I expect you’re all taking them with you?” Effie asked, pulling her wand from the lace tied around her waist, keeping her robe tied.

“You’d be expecting right,” Marlene grinned, and then faltered. “Or- did that make sense? That didn’t make sense, I- I mean, you’re right.”

Effie chuckled with a small nod of her head to Marlene, “Go on then, get breakfast. I’ll see the two of you at the station?”

“You’ll be seeing right,” Frank mocked and Marlene poked her tongue out at him. “See you, Effie!”

“Bye, Effie,” Marlene called.

“Bye you two,” Effie called in return as Marlene and Frank went separate ways, back to their own homes. James made his way over to Effie as she flicked her wand at the mess they had made from practicing, it all magically swooped back into the shed.

“I love magic,” James sighed with a smile. Effie reached out and ruffled up his hair. At fifteen years old, James was already almost a head taller than her, he ducked his head down with a cheeky grin etched on his face. He set his broom down on the pavement of the porch before pulling the door open for his mum.

“Can’t believe you’ll be off again in just a few hours,” Effie said with a small frown and James just grinned at her. “I miss you already.”

“I’ll miss you too, Mum,” James sighed as they crossed into the dining room where Monty was sitting with an opened copy of the Daily Prophet held up in front of him. Set up on the table in front of the three chairs were three separate plates of french toast and bacon, all with a cup of tea. “Mm,” James hummed.

“Just for you,” Effie cooed as James took his seat next to Monty, who was now folding up the Prophet. “Last day home ‘til Christmas and all.”

“Thanks, Mum,” James smiled. “Morning Dad.”

“Good morning, James,” Monty greeted, smiling over at his son. “Good practice, then?”

James nodded, “The Quidditch Cup pretty much already has our name on it.”

“That’s what I like to hear,” Monty smiled, reaching across the table for the syrup.

There was a loud Crack! as the Potter’s house elf, Zester, appeared in the doorway, bowing almost as soon as he did, before continuing into the dining room, a silver tray in his hand.

“Morning, Zesty,” James greeted with a huge smile. Zesty was the nickname James had made for their house elf nearly fourteen years ago; as a small child, James could hardly pronounce his R’s. Zester had been with the Potters ever since the Potters were the Potters. His ancestors had worked for the Greengrasses (Euphemia’s family), and when Effie moved out to marry Monty, Zester was ordered to follow, and so he did. Now, the Potters were very kind to their house elf, he was never doing the chores alone, he was never yelled at or hit or anything like that, and he always had a seat to join them at any meal; Though, he never did. For house elves, it’s in their nature to act like servants, do all the cooking, all the cleaning, and never get treated like anything remotely close to humane, the Potters just simply didn’t believe in all that, they treated Zester with the respect he deserved.

“Good morning, Master James,” Zester greeted with a small bow of his head, he then turned his attention to Monty. “Master Fleamont has requested lemons and sugar for his tea.” Zester held out the tray to Monty, and on it, held a small plate of sliced lemons, and a small bowl of sugar.

“Indeed I did,” Money nodded, taking the articles from the tray. “Thank you very much, Zester.”

“Master Fleamont is welcomed,” Zester nodded. “Wills you be needing anything else?”

“That’ll be all, thank you,” Monty shook his head, and there was another loud Crack! as Zester disapperated from the room.

“Zester will miss you too,” Effie pointed out, cutting into her French toast.

“I know,” James mumbled, mouth full. Effie gave him a look and he promptly shut his mouth, swallowing his food, and then continuing. “I’ll miss him too. I’ll miss all of you, always do.”

“Oh you know how time works,” Monty said. He was never one for melancholy subjects, goodbyes, talks of missing others. He was very about living in the moment, looking to the brightside, and staying positive about everything. This was a key reason for James’ idolization of him. “It truly is a funny little thing. Pretty soon we’ll be getting owls about you and Sirius blowing something up–”

“-We’ve never–!”

“-and then we’ll get invited to the first Quidditch game of the season and we’ll, of course, see you then. Then we’ll get some more owls about you and Sirius pushing some poor boy into the Great Lake–”

“-You make it seem like that’s happened before!”

“But, before you know it, you’ll be home for Christmas,” Monty finished. “And after that you’ll start studying hard for exams and O.W.Ls, and you’ll get an absurd amount of detentions and we’ll get an absurd amount of owls, and then you’ll be home for summer once more.”

“Sirius and I have never blown anything up,” James grumbled and then added, “Not on purpose, anyways.”

“Yes, well,” Monty made some sort of gesture with his hands and Effie giggled.

“And you made it seem like pushing Snivilus into the Great Lake is some sort of annual thing,” James pointed out. “Really it only happened once, and Remus was the one who did it.”

“Nonsense,” Effie shook her head.

“See, that’s the thing with you adults, you all think Remus is some sort of saint when really he’s not–”

“-Well he’s at least a saint of not getting caught,” Monty said. “The rest of you four should take some lessons from him.”

“Remus wouldn’t push a boy into the lake for no apparent reason,” Effie shook her head.

“Mum, you’ve obviously never seen this boy’s hair. The reason was very apparent,” James said, raising his eyebrows.

“Mm, I’m sure,” Effie said very sarcastically, taking a bite of her bacon. James and Monty both looked at each other with matching expressions and James cracked a grin before turning his attention to his breakfast. The three of them ate, and the conversation scattered on and off, sometimes talking about James’ upcoming term at Hogwarts, a little bit more about quidditch, and some about the errands Effie needed to run after King’s Cross. When they had all finished eating, James helped clear off the table, but retreated to his room when Effie tried to get him to wash the dishes.

In his room, James gathered a towel and outfit for the train ride to Hogwarts, then went to shower. The water was practically ice cold and it did take James a while to get used to it, he considered turning it to the left, just a little bit, to warm it up some, but ultimately decided against it. He’d take a hot shower tonight. That’s how he liked to do it, and James was very about routines when it came to things like this, in the morning he’d practice quidditch and then take a cold shower– cold water tightens muscles– and then, at night, after he’d worn himself out from the day and all he wanted to do was sleep, he’d take a hot shower, feeling warm and cozy under the water. And so, right now, he took a very cold shower. When he got out, his skin was slightly paler with a light pink flush to it. He dried off and got changed.

Exiting the bathroom and making his way back through his bedroom, James went to his closest to grab another outfit, this one for Sirius. Ever since second year, James has been bringing Sirius a change of muggle clothes for the train ride to Hogwarts. Sirius’ parents only provided collared shirts, perfectly tailored pants, and sweater vests. Sweater vests. Very naturally, Sirius hated this, and of course they were much too uncomfortable to wear for the entire train ride, but Orion and Walburga simply wouldn’t allow Sirius to leave the house dressed in anything less. James remembers that when he had met Sirius for the first time, on the Hogwarts Express, in their first year, Sirius had been dressed in a white button up shirt with puffy sleeves with some sort of corset-like black vest over it. James had told him he looked like a pirate, and later in the year he even suggested Sirius come live with him at his house where they really could be pirates. James has a strong belief that if you’re at Potter Manor, anything is possible.

Crossing back out of the closet, James tossed the outfit he had grabbed for Sirius on his bed and then left his room, taking the stairs two at a time on his way to go find his mum.

“Mum!” He called, crossing through the sitting room.

“In here!” Effie's voice called from the kitchen. James went. “What’s up, meu amor?”

“Can you dry it?” James asked, holding out his left arm where, on his wrist, sat a string made bracelet with lots of different beads decorating it. On it was the name Marlene and it was decorated in purple beads. Marlene had one very similar to this, though it read James and was decorated in red beads. They had made them when they were ten years old and practically begged Marlene’s mum to bewitch them so that, no matter what, they wouldn’t ever come off. James’ idea, of course, he was very scared that he’d lose it. So, Marlene’s mum did bewitch them, and the only way these bracelets would ever come off was if Marlene and James stopped being friends. With this in mind, James knew they’d both be taking their bracelets to their graves. Now, when you have a bracelet bewitched to stay on your arm literally forever, it’s going to get wet. James hates the way the string feels when it’s wet and since he can’t just take it off and wait for it to dry, he has Effie charm it dry for him. She does it every time he asks.

So right now when he asks her, Effie gives a small hum and smile, pulling out her wand and pointing it at the bracelet, with one small flick, James feels the bracelet immediately dry up. He grinned down at her.

“Thanks, Mum.”

“Of course, querido,” she smiled, giving him a light pat on his cheek. “How about you go tidy up your room and make sure you have everything, please? We’ll send an owl if you’ve forgotten anything, of course, but please just make sure.”

“Okay,” James nodded, turning to leave, calling back to her as he swept out of the kitchen, “Love you!”

“Love you too, querido,” he heard her call from behind him as he started back upstairs.

Back in his room, James began tidying everything up. Or, more like shoving everything everywhere. His parchment went carelessly into the top drawer of his desk, the articles of clothing were shoved right into the closet, and the books were tossed into his trunk. He also folded up the map, placing it neatly on top. He glanced briefly around, looking for anything he’d left laying out.

“Hm,” he hummed to no one but himself. “Maybe I should just–”

Not finishing his thought, James began to unpack his trunk, slowly taking everything out and then even more slowly putting it back in. He did this twice, until,

“Oh!”

He stood from his kneeled down spot on the floor and moved over to his bed, grabbing the small stuffed lion from its spot on his pillow and tossing it into his trunk along with everything else. Star was the stuffed lion James had had since he was a baby. When he was really little, he brought Star with him literally everywhere he went. Now though, he just kept it with him to sleep. Quite honestly, James couldn’t sleep without Star. When he was getting ready to go to Hogwarts for his first year, James had decided to leave Star behind, scared of what his dorm mates would think, embarrassed really. That night, his first night at Hogwarts, he found Star in the bottom of his trunk and he knew Monty had put it there for him. He felt very relieved honestly, and even more relieved by learning that each of his dorm mates had something just like Star as well. Peter, of course, has the small, torn up pillow James had seen him with for as long as he can remember. Remus has a blanket that his mum knitted for him, and even Sirius has a lion stuffed animal, it’s designed more traditional than Star is, though. He supposed Sirius’ was different from his, though, because it was matching with his brother, Regulus’, or something like that. James remembers Sirius telling him something about Sirius’ originally being a dog and Regulus’ being the lion, something about the constellations they were named for, but he said they had switched when they were four and six so that they’d be with each other no matter what.

James continued around his room, checking every spot thoroughly, just in case he saw something he wanted to bring.

“James? James!”

He turned to face the direction of Sirius’ voice, walking over to his bedside table and picking up the mirror from on top. Sometimes, James thought he and Sirius shared the same brain waves; Of course Sirius would be calling for him through their two-way mirrors right after James was thinking about him.

“Hey,” James grinned at Sirius, whose face was in the mirror where James’ reflection would typically be. His hair was combed back in a way James knew Sirius would never willingly do it, he was also pulling at the collar of his shirt.

“Merlin, I missed your face,” Sirius sighed.

“I missed yours too,” James grinned, wiggling his eyebrows up and down. “Oh, I’m bringing you my Rolling Stones shirt that you love.”

“I love you,” Sirius said, sounding rather relieved. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome,” James nodded. “Love you too.”

“Can’t wait to see you,” Sirius sighed. “Can’t wait to get out of this bloody house.”

“I can’t wait to see you either,” James smiled. “Are you all packed up?”

“Yep,” Sirius nodded. “Oh, wait. I need my comb!”

James watched him shuffle around, and then he was walking, crossing what James assumed was his bedroom, opening the door, stepping out, and then opening another door.

“Do you not know how to knock or something?” James heard Regulus ask.

“Well hello to you too,” Sirius rolled his eyes.

“What if I was naked?” Regulus asked.

“You weren’t,” Sirius shrugged, moving around Regulus’ bedroom.

“But what if I was?”

“Then gross,” James watched Sirius scrunch up his nose.

“Hi, Reg!” James called. Regulus did not respond.

“Be nice, Reggie,” Sirius said, and then the mirror was moving and James could no longer see Sirius’ face, but then there was Regulus’ face as he picked up the mirror from his lap.

“Hi, Potter,” he greeted in return and James smiled.

“Where’s my lucky comb?” Sirius asked.

“Not in here,” Regulus shrugged, he was still holding the mirror up.

“I thought I left it in here, though?”

“No, you packed it away last night.”

“Oh,” Sirius mumbled. “Did I?”

“Yes, now get out,” Regulus said, standing up and shoving the mirror back at Sirius.

“I’m only going to check my trunk,” Sirius said, he was crossing back through Regulus’ room. “I’ll be back if it’s not in there.”

“Goodbye,” Regulus said and James watched Sirius open his mouth to respond, but he was promptly cut off by the door getting shut right in his face.

“Well someone’s in a mood,” Sirius rolled his eyes, returning to his own bedroom.

“He’s always in a mood,” James replied. “Hey, are you excited for quidditch this term?”

“Is that all you ever think about?” Sirius asked, crossing through his bedroom and setting the mirror down. It was an awkward angle, but James watched Sirius open his trunk.

“I think of you sometimes,” James shook his head.

“Aw, I’m flattered, James!” Sirius cooed, and then, “Oh! I found it!”

“Good,” James smiled as Sirius picked the mirror back up and made his way back to Regulus’ room, again opening the door without knocking,

“Again,” Sirius said. “Not naked.”

“What do you want?” Regulus asked.

“I found my comb,” Sirius smiled.

“Okay.”

“Just thought I’d let you know.”

“Thank you?”

“You’re welcome!” With that, Sirius turned and left again. He walked back into his bedroom and closed the door behind him. “So, how’s the plan going?”

“Good,” James answered. “Brilliant, actually. Pete and I worked on it loads before he left for the States.”

“Lovely,” Sirius said, falling back onto his bed. “I hope Moony likes it.”

“I'm sure he will,” James assured him. “I mean, it might take a little warming up to, but I don’t see why he wouldn’t like it.”

“Yeah, I just-”

Crack!

“Merlin, Kreature! Don’t do that!” Sirius called, slapping his hand dramatically over his chest.

“Kreature apologizes for startling Master Sirius,” came the croak from Kreature, the Black’s house elf. “Kreature’s mistress has ordered Masters Sirius and Regulus to the family room.”

“Alright,” Sirius sighed. “I’ll be there.”

There was another Crack! and Sirius sighed again.

“Well, I gotta go,” he said. “I’ll see you soon, though.”

“Yeah, see you,” James grinned, and with that, Sirius was gone.

James tossed the mirror back down on his mattress, standing up from his bed and crossing to his window that faced directly at Marlene’s. Picking up a small pebble from his collection on the window seal, he opened his window and stuck his head out and threw the pebbles over, it ricocheted off the glass and landed in the small pile of pebbles that had gathered underneath the window. James watched her walk over and open the window, sticking her head out as well. For almost as long as James can remember, they’ve been doing this. Either one of them would throw something at the other’s window and the other would pop their head out so that they could shout back and forth with each other. This, honestly, was most of the only time James got in trouble as a kid; For yelling back and forth with Marlene when it was way past their bedtimes.

“What’s up?” She called over, her arms resting on her window seal as she leaned out.

“Are you leaving soon?” James called in return. Marlene shrugged,

“Not sure. Probably,” she said. “I have to finish packing still.”

“Oh,” James nodded. “Okay, you do that. See you on the train!”

“C’ya!”

He leaned back inside and pulled his window shut. He was making his way back to his bed when there was a light knock at his already slightly ajar bedroom door. Monty popped his head in before pushing the door fully opened and coming in. James gave him a smile as Monty crossed through the room and took a seat on the edge of James’ bed,

“Talking to Marlene just then?”

“Mhm,” James hummed with a small nod.

“She’s about ready to go then?” Monty asked and James, again, nodded as he sat down next to his dad. “And you?”

“All packed up,” James grinned.

“And Sirius?” Monty asked, tapping the glass of the mirror that lay on James’ mattress lightly.

“He’s ready too,” James nodded. “Was getting ready to leave when we were talking.”

“Good,” Monty smiled. “Excited then? Of course I know you are, but–”

“-Very much,” James said with a breathy chuckle. “I’ll miss you and Mum, though.”

“I know,” Monty nodded and then leaned in to pull James into an embrace. “And we’ll miss you too.”

“Riss is still gonna write here, I think. You and Mum will owl them to me?” James asked. For the first month of summer holiday, the Potter’s stayed at their home in Brazil, which has always and probably will always be James’ favorite of their homes. That month, James met a girl just a year older than him on the beach. She was a muggle girl, of course, and spoke very little English, but she and James spent almost all of that month together, laughing at her broken English and James’ absolutely rubbish Portuguese. James kissed her on his final night in Brazil and they’ve been writing back and forth since, James had to learn from Mrs. McKinnon how to send muggle post but when he finally figured it out, he grew rather accustomed to it.

“We will,” Monty nodded, pulling back from the hug. “And we’ll mail your letters to her. Just owl them to us.”

“Thanks,” James nodded.

“You like her, then?” Monty asked. “Very much, I think.”

“I don’t know,” James shrugged. “She’s… fun, you know? Like, I’ve only gone out with a few other girls but they’re all at Hogwarts and Riss is… Well, she’s a muggle, you know? Muggle things are fun.”

“I know,” Monty nodded with a grin. “Young love is a rather fun thing.”

“It’s not–”

“-I know,” Monty repeated, and then after a moment he clapped his hands down on his thighs, “Well, I suppose we should get going then; Don’t want you to miss the train.”

“It would be rather ideal not to,” James nodded and Monty reached into his pocket to pull out his wand. He extended it out for James to take,

“Want to levitate your things down, then?”

“Oh, I’d love nothing more,” James grinned excitedly, taking the wand. He pointed it down at his trunk and did a rather exaggerated swish and flick. “Wingardium Leviosa!”

With just that, his trunk slowly rose off the ground and James grinned. Monty held the door open for him as he slowly dragged his trunk through the air and out of his bedroom. James was careful going out onto the second floor landing, and even more careful as he went down the stairs, Monty following closely behind him.

“You’ve been practicing, I see,” Monty pointed out.

“Well, that’s what I go to school for,” James shrugged and Monty chuckled.

“Oh!” Effie practically shrieked as James came into view, levitating his trunk down the stairs. “Be careful!”

“I’m being careful,” James said, stepping off the final stair and lowering the trunk down. “Can we go now?”

“Just about time to,” Effie nodded, ruffling up his already very messy hair. “Zester’s getting your owl from Dad’s study.”

“Okay,” James nodded, sitting down on the sofa.

“Did you clean your room?” Effie asked, crossing her arms across her chest.

“Yes,” James sighed. “And washroom. And I made sure, twice, that I had everything.”

“Good,” Effie nodded and then she took a seat next to James, wrapping her arm around his shoulders and tugging him in. “Oh, I miss you.”

“Mum,” James groaned. “You do this every year. We haven’t even left the house yet!”

“Still feels emptier,” Effie sighed. “And you’ll be taking your O.W.Ls at the end of this year! How is that possible, Flea? He was just born.”

“Time is a funny little thing,” Monty said.

“I was not just born. You're fifteen years late, Mum.” James pointed out.

“You’re still my baby,” Effie shook her head. “Always my baby.”

“I’m not a baby anymore,” James said, but he still allowed himself to be coddled by Effie, ducking his head to bury it on her shoulder.

“Maybe not a baby,” Effie agreed, stroking her hands through James’ hair. “But you’ll always be mine.”

James opened his mouth to say something but was cut off by the loud Crack! that signaled Zester’s return.

“Master James’ owl,” he presented, holding out the large cage holding James’ big, brown barn owl, Dallie.

“Thank you, Zester,” Monty said, taking the cage from Zester’s hands, and then he looked over at his wife and son. “Ready, then?”

“Yes!” James said immediately, springing up from his spot with Effie.

“Alright then,” Effie said with a small chuckle, standing up. “Do you want to go with your things, James?”

“Not with Dallie,” James shook his head. “She makes the process worse, I think. All her terrified hooting.”

“I’ll take Dallie,” Monty nodded. “Mia, you can go first and then James will follow with his trunk.”

Effie nodded in agreement, making her way over to the fireplace at the very front of the sitting room. She took the vase of floo powder from its spot on the mantle and handed it down to James.

“Remember–” she started.

“-To count to ten after you're gone,” James finished for her. “Got it.”

She gave him a smile, taking a handful of the floo powder as she stepped into the fireplace, calling out, “The Leaky Cauldron!” as she threw the powder down. James watched the bright green flames that erupted as quickly as they disappeared, along with Effie. He counted slowly in his head as Monty took the vase from him. James pushed his trunk into the fireplace and stepped in.

“See you in a minute,” he smiled at Monty as he took a handful of the floo powder. “The Leaky Cauldron!”

James was sure he’d hate apparition almost as much as he hated traveling by the floo network. He honestly couldn’t think of a worse way to travel. It was very fast and it honestly just felt like James was falling from very high up. He’s never fallen from his broom, but if he had to guess, this is what it would feel like. Honestly, he hates it. But, as quickly as he feels like he’s been thrown up in the air and then dropped thousands of feet back down, he feels his feet hit the solid ground of the Leaky Cauldron’s fireplace right beneath him. He let out the breath he was holding and fixed his glasses before stepping out to join Effie who was already pulling his trunk out.

“Not too bad?” Effie asked.

“Pretty bad,” James nodded and Effie laughed. Monty arrived only moments later.

“Her hooting does make it worse,” Monty agreed with James, handing the cage down to him.

“Right,” James nodded, taking Dallie and then setting her cage on top of his trunk.

“What’s the time then, Flea?” Effie asked, not waiting for an answer as she pulled Monty’s wrist up so that she could get a view of the watch he wore. “We’ve got a bit of time before we’ve got to start off to King’s Cross. Unless you need a driving refresher?”

“You underestimate me, Mia,” Monty shook his head. “I’m a wonderful driver.”

“Oh, quidero,” Effie sighed, patting Monty on the shoulder. Monty just shook his head before starting off to the bar room of the Leaky Cauldron,

“I’m off to have a chat with Tom,” he said. “Coming?”

Effie shook her head, but she did grab hold of Dallie’s cage before asking James if he was able to manage his trunk on his own. He nodded and took it as the two of them followed after Monty.

This early in the day, especially on the first day of term, the Leaky Cauldron wasn’t too crowded, though there was still its crowd of who James assumed to be regulars. Monty made his way over to the bar, taking a seat as he called out a greeting to the manager, Tom. He stayed over there and talked to Tom about something about the Minister for Magic, Harold Mitchum. James didn’t pay too much mind to it, rather blocking them out as he focused more on Effie, who was fussing with his head, trying to make his hair lay flat.

“Mum,” he whined, trying to shoo her away. “Stop.”

“Just let me–” Effie tried. “James!”

“It’s fine,” James insisted. “Leave it.”

“It’s not,” Effie argued. “It’s a mess!”

“I like it like that,” James pouted.

“How could you like it like this?” Effie asked, sounding exasperated.

“It makes me look cool!”

“Oh- Okay, you win,” Effie sighed, defeated as James pushed her hand away from his head. She crossed her arms and frowned. “You look as if you’ve never combed your hair a day in your life.”

“Well now I’m just offended,” James said, placing his hand over his heart in a very theatrical manner. Effie gave him a small smile, though her eyes had more of a ‘listen-to-your-mother’ type look in them. James watched her gaze move over his shoulder, seemingly spotting someone before shouting,

“Oh! Kimberly Green, is that you?”

“Ah-ha! I knew I heard the Potters!” Came the rather squeaky response. James turned around to see a short, older woman hurrying over. Kimberly, he supposed. She caught Effie in a short embrace. “How have you been, doll?”

“We’ve been well, thank you. Just off to King’s Cross,” Effie smiled. The Kimberly woman looked rather taken aback.

“King’s Cross?” She asked. “Is it already time for little Jamsie to start Hogwarts?”

Little Jamsie? James was innerly sick.

“Starting his fifth year, actually,” Effie shook her head, grabbing James by the arm without even looking at him and pulling him over. “Time is a funny little thing. That’s what Flea always says.”

“My, it is!” Kimberly agreed. “This is James then? My, my, I remember when you were this big!”

She made a cradling motion with her arms before reaching up and pinching James’ cheek. “You’re practically a man now!”

“Yeah,” James chuckled, trying to really exaggerate how absolutely uncomfortable this exact moment was.

“I used to visit all the time, and you would always be so excited to chase the garden gnomes with me! Do you remember?” She asked, finally bringing her arms back down to her sides.

“‘Course I do,” James said, glancing at Effie. James, in fact, did not remember this woman at all.

“Lovely memory, this one,” Kimberly smiled, now turning her attention back to Effie. As they spoke, James made a quick and subtle escape over to the bar where Monty sat, talking with the tender, Tom.

“Dad,” James breathed, sitting right next to Monty.

“Can’t ‘ave you sitting at the bar, James,” Tom spoke, not even glancing at James. He stood again, repeating,

“Dad.”

“What’s up, son?” Monty asked, turning slightly in his seat to face James.

“Can we go now?” James asked. “Mum made me talk to some loony woman who pinched my cheek, Dad. She pinched my cheek!”

Monty chuckled, glancing down at his watch, “Alright, alright.” To James’ pleasure, he stood up, extending his hand to shake Tom’s. “Lovely seeing you again, Tom.”

“And you,” Tom nodded, getting back to his work as James and Monty left him, going back over to where Effie stood, still talking to Kimberly.

“Mia, I do think it’s about time to go,” Monty cut in, talking right to his wife before turning to Kimberly. “Ah, Kimberly, lovely to see you again.”

“And you, Fleamont,” Kimberly smiled. “I was just telling James how much he’s grown! He is starting to look quite like you.”

“Yes, he is turning out to be a strapping young man,” Monty said with a light chuckle. “But I am afraid we have to go– Have to get him off to Hogwarts, you know.”

“Ah, yes, yes,” Kimberly nodded. “Don’t let me keep you. I’ll see you, Effie!”

“Just as long as I don’t see you first,” Effie replied with a laugh as she allowed James and Monty to sweep her away. Monty called one final goodbye to Tom over his shoulder as they stepped out.

“Now,” Monty said, stopping on the middle of the sidewalk, placing his hands on his hips. “Where did they say the car would be, love?”

“I knew you wouldn’t remember,” Effie sighed, shaking her head as she reached into her handbag. James knew she had an extendable charm on the bag, but he still felt a bit of surprise every time his mum tried to find something in it, knocking things over as she did. Finally though, she pulled out a piece of parchment. She scanned it over before reciting, “The bright yellow, 1970 Bentley right off the corner of the Leaky Cauldron.”

“Yellow?” James asked, picking up Dallie’s cage. “I mean, yellows alright, but for a car?”

“Right, well let’s go then,” Monty said, grabbing onto James’ trunk and completely ignoring James as he started off to round the corner. James and Effie followed. Every year for the start of term, Christmas holiday, Easter holiday, and end of term, the Potters have rented a car from the ministry and every year it had been a different car parked in a different place– James doesn’t see why they don’t just buy a car of their own at this point, it’s not like wizards owning muggle cars was unheard of! Still though, the Potters went on their car hunt, this year, James supposed, would be much easier seeing as the car was, apparently, bright yellow. Honestly, who drives a yellow car, anyways?

James’ theory of no one in their right mind owning a yellow car was proved correct almost as soon as they rounded the corner and, parked right there, was the ugliest yellow car he had ever seen.

“Yellow?” James asked again, pausing as his mum and dad continued to the car. He made a quiet noise of disgust as he followed, putting Dallie’s cage in one side of the car and going to get in on the other as Monty put his trunk in the trunk of the car and Effie got into the passenger’s side. “I cannot wait to tell Sirius about this.”

“Oh, it’s not so bad, quidero, I quite like yellow,” Effie said, smiling over her shoulder as she got buckled. James heard the trunk slam shut right before Monty got in, he watched his mum make a face as if she was innerly preparing herself for some sort of mass crisis. “Do you remember how to work it, quidero?”

“Do I- Mia, of course I remember how,” Monty responded, giving his wife a somewhat flabbergasted look as he reached forward to turn the keys that the ministry had left in the ignition. The car started with a low grumble and a sort of jolt. Effie turned to look at James,

“Buckle up, querido, and hold on,” she said and James grinned, amused, as he got buckled. Monty reached forward to turn the radio on right before he started to pull out of the car’s parked space. Effie braced herself by reaching up to hold onto the small handlebar on the ceiling of the car. James grinned.

.
Shining bright to see

What you could truly be (what you could truly be)

Shining star come into view

To shine its watchful light on you, yeah
.

As James listened to the lyrics of the song, he couldn’t help but think of Sirius, who is constantly reminding everyone that he is, in fact, the brightest star in the night sky. James thought he’d like this song.

“Does that little screen thingy say what song this is?” James asked, leaning over to get a look at the radio.

Effie shook her head, “Sorry, amor,” she said.

“That’s alright,” James shrugged as Monty’s hand reached up to the radio again, this time lowering the volume. He returned his hand to the steering wheel as Effie gave him a look.

“Excited for quidditch this season?” He asked, peering into the rear-view-mirror to see James. “Well, of course you are.”

“Yeah,” James nodded, suddenly very excited to be talking.

“Watch the road, Flea,” Effie cut in sharply. Monty looked over at her,

“I know what I’m doing, love,” he informed her before looking back out onto the road.

“I think Frank’s gonna make Mary beater this year,” James continued. “I mean, she’s a brilliant chaser, but she’d be a much better beater. Also, her and Sirius make one bloody pair.”

“Yeah?” Monty asked with a slight nod.

“Mhm,” James hummed. “With her stats from last year, she’s well able to get moved up a bit too. Can’t have her in my shadow as chaser, y’know.”

“Ego, quidero,” Effie cut in. “Don’t be too co*cky.”

“Well, he is right, Mia,” Monty noted and James grinned. He was right. He knows it. Effie just made an exasperated sound and Monty chuckled, peering back up at James’ reflection.

“What about Sirius’ shadow as beater?” He asked.

“Well, you can’t have just one beater,” James said.

“No, but you can’t have just one chaser either,” Monty returned.

“Well… no, but, I’m just saying. Mary would be a bloody brilliant beater, this is just what I would do if I was captain,” James said. “What Frank would do if he were smart, and he is, so.”

Monty nodded. “How about plays? Any teams you aren’t particularly excited to play?”

“Well, there’s always Slytherin,” James sighed. “Ravenclaw, too. It’s their seekers, really.”

“Who are the seekers?” Effie asked. “Slytherin is the Black girl, right? Sirius’ cousin?”

“Nah, she graduated like two years ago,” James shook his head. “Slytherin’s Regulus– Sirius’ brother, Ravenclaw is Amelia Bones. Marlene’s really good though, so we’ll be fine. Just can never rule out the threats, y’know?’

James watched as Monty nodded.

“You and Marlene have been practicing a lot, I mean, you always practice, but I feel like there was a lot more this summer,” Effie pointed out.

“Yeah,” James agreed. “For Frank, really. It’s his last year and he’s captain, figured it’d be nice if we made sure he got the cup.”

“Well, that’s kind,” Effie turned to smile at James, he returned it. The rest of the drive remained like that, topics altering from quidditch to gardening to school work to quidditch again. A lot of the quidditch talk made time, for James, go by a lot faster, which he was glad for. King’s Cross was about a half hour away from the Leaky Cauldron, an hour if traffic was bad and, unfortunately, around this time, traffic was bad. When they parked, James was practically already out of the car, bursting with excitement.

“Slow down, James,” Effie called, getting out of the car as well, though a lot slower than James who was already on the other side of the car, grabbing Dallie.

“No, you hurry up!” James grinned, basically vibrating.

“You have time,” Effie laughed. “Train doesn’t leave for another twenty minutes.”

“But I need to find Pete and Sirius!” James exclaimed. “And I want to see Moo- Remus before he has to go to his prefect meeting!”

“Alright, alright,” Effie said, walking around the car to join her husband at the trunk. “You’ll get there, quidero.”

“Yeah, if you two hurry,” James said impatiently, and then frowned as Monty grunted. “You sure you got it, old man?”

“Oh, just get me a trolley,” Monty rolled his eyes, lugging the trunk out and setting it on the ground by his feet. James chuckled as he rushed off to get a trolley, there was an older woman nearing the entrance of the station with an empty trolley rolling infront of her, James prayed she was returning it.

“Excuse me?!” He called, rushing over to her. “Are you still using this?”

“No, dear,” she shook her head with a kind smile, offering the trolley over to James who gave her that goofy James Potter grin in return.

“Cheers,” he said.

“Off somewhere special?” She asked and James just hoped she didn’t have too much conversation in her. Normally he would love to stop and talk to her, but he was really eager to see Sirius!

“Just to school,” he answered. “Don’t want to miss the train, you know.”

“Ah,” she nodded. “Well have fun, dear, study hard.”

“I will,” he grinned, already going to leave as he called another, “Cheers!” over his shoulder. He quickly returned to his parents, helping Monty get his trunk and Dallie’s cage onto the trolley.

“Okay!” James exclaimed, clapping his hands together. “Can we go now?”

“Yes, but you need to calm down, quidero,” Effie said. “You’ll draw attention.”

“I know,” James pouted. “I’m just really excited, I miss Sirius!”

“I know, I know,” Effie said, patting James on the back as the three of them started into the station. It was rather packed as a lot of other schools– muggle schools– start their terms today as well. James swerved the trolley around large groups of people, pushing past lone people, and always walking at least ten steps ahead of his parents. Still, he did everything in his power to remain calm, he knew he was already calling attention to himself with his bloody owl, which he honestly didn’t understand. If muggles don’t have owls then how do they send letters?

His entire way to platforms nine and ten, James kept his look out for the McKinnons, who honestly shouldn’t be hard to miss seeing as there’s so many of them.

“Think they’re through already?” James asked, as he and his parents stopped in front of the wall separating platforms nine and ten.

“Might be,” Effie shrugged. “Do you know what time they left?”

“Not sure,” James shook his head. “Oh well, she’ll find us.”

Effie smiled at him, giving him a light pat on the back and James stepped forward, walking at first, and then running, and then feeling the warm magic of the barrier spread all throughout his body as he crossed through the barrier to Platform 9¾. James felt immensely happy at the feeling. Getting onto the packed platform, James took in the sight of the many groups of families, the station workers helping with trunks and owls and cats, and the huge train that sat on the tracks, spilling smoke out. He moved out of the way just in time for his parents to come through the barrier, hand in hand.

James looked around for any sign of Peter, Remus, Sirius, or Marlene– secretly hoping to spot Sirius first. Thank Merlin for the fact that it really wasn’t too hard to spot the Ancient and Most Noble House of Black in any public setting. They were way too pale and normally looked just… dead, and they were always dressed in all black, that was especially easy to spot in spaces like these where everyone wore loudly colored robes, so when James spotted his first glimpse of all black, his eyes stuck there.

Walburga Black was a short but rather slender woman who always wore her dark hair pinned up tightly at the top of her head; she wore jet black robes that had the slightest bit of very dark green design on them. Next to her stood her husband, Orion Black, who was around the same height as his wife (the Black family really weren’t tall) and was also dressed in all black, though James could tell that his clothes were for the ministry. In front of Walburga was the shortest of the group, Regulus, who looked the same as he did earlier in the mirror, though now James could see him at full length and he really just looked the same as he did every year. Sirius stood next to him and James felt his heart jolt at the sight of him.

Normally, James would just abandon his parents and sprint right over to Sirius, but he knew better than to do that with Walburga and Orion present, so he settled for the next best thing, volume.

“CAN YOU SEE PETER OR MARLENE ANYWHERE?!” James asked his parents very loudly, keeping his eyes on Sirius who glanced over and grinned. James returned the grin.

“I have not,” Monty said as James turned over to look at him. Monty and Effie were very used to James being loud, this translates to: Monty and Effie were very used to James. This makes sense, of course, considering they are his parents. Anyways, every year when he spotted Sirius, James was a lot louder than typical and Monty and Effie knew why. James brought Sirius a sense of comfort, everyone who knew anything knew this, and being in that house, with those people, a part of that family, Sirius needed comfort and so, James was always more than willing to provide.

“Hm,” James hummed, continuing to look around, and then, “Oh! There’s Pete. PETE!”

A few groups away, Peter looked over and James gained his attention. James watched him say something to his parents who nodded and then the three of them moved over to join the Potters.

“Pete!” James exclaimed happily as he jumped forward and grabbed onto Peter’s shoulders, pulling him into the typical James Potter hug: the tightest but most comforting hug you will likely ever receive. Peter grinned as they pulled back. “How’s your sister? How was summer? Did you have lots of fun?”

“Good, yes, and yes,” Peter chuckled. “And you? How was your summer?”

“Lonely without the rest of you,” James sighed. “But Marlene, Frank, and I practiced a bunch while you were gone.”

“I’ll be seeing a good season then?” Peter asked.

“Aren’t you always?” James asked in response and Peter smiled.

“Find Remus or Sirius yet?” Peter asked and James motioned back to where the Blacks still stood.

“Sirius but not Remus yet,” James answered. “Or Marlene or Frank.”

“I saw Frank when I first got here,” Peter said. “He was with Alice. Not sure about Marlene though.”

“Oh well, she’ll find us,” James shrugged. “She always does.”

“Right,” Peter agreed with a nod just as the train let out a high pitched whistle.

“Okay,” Effie sighed from behind James, pulling him into the typical Euphemia Potter hug: the warmest and kindest ever. “I’ll miss you.”

“You too, Mum,” James smiled, holding onto her. One thing about Effie is that she never breaks a hug first. Never. Sometimes, James just thinks he’ll hold on forever. Maybe now would’ve been one of those moments if he wasn’t desperate to see Sirius, so he just holds on for a few moments before pulling back. Effie keeps a hold on his shoulders as she smiles up at him.

“Don’t get into too much trouble,” she said. “And stay on top of your assignments, and try as hard as you can on your OWLs, and have fun.”

“I will,” James smiled back, not specifying what he will do. All of it, probably.

“We’ll see you at Christmas, then,” she smiled, leaning up to place a kiss on James’ cheek before finally letting go of him. James side-stepped over to Monty and hugged him right around the middle, he felt Monty return the gesture, pulling him in tightly.

“Bye, Dad,” James mumbled into Monty’s robes.

“See you at Christmas,” Monty said and James could hear the smile on his face. One thing about Fleamont Potter was that he never said goodbye unless he was certain he would never see the person again.

James and Monty both pulled back from the embrace and James smiled at his parents before turning to board the train with Peter. He waved over his shoulder all the way until he was on the train, lugging his trunk and owl cage with him. James and Peter started down the crowded train corridor, on their way to their usual compartment, James wondered if Sirius was there already.

“Think we’ll see Remus before his meeting?” Peter asked, a few steps behind James.

“Dunno,” James shrugged. “Probably not, I’d bet he’s already in the Prefects compartment.”

James didn’t hear Peter respond, but he figured there was an unseen nod.

“James! Pete!”

And there it was. James’ heart jumped at the voice and he stopped dead in his tracks, turning quickly to see Sirius just a few feet down the corridor behind them, lugging his trunk with him as Regulus followed. James smiled hugely as he and Peter waited for them to catch up.

“Hey, Sirius,” Peter grinned as Sirius moved past him to catch James in a hug. James wrapped his arms around Sirius as tight as he possibly could and completely ignored the scoff from Regulus who, though he looked like he wanted to be anywhere but here right now and could leave anytime he wanted, stayed.

“I missed you,” James sighed.

“I missed you more,” Sirius said, removing himself from James’ arms before the four of them began moving again, James and Sirius perfectly in step with each other as Peter and Regulus trailed behind them. James thought he heard Regulus mumble something about him and Sirius acting like a pair of love-sick hom*osexuals.

“How was your summer?” James asked, hoping for Sirius’ answer to be anything but dreadful.

“Keen,” Sirius smirked. “No, it wasn’t. Wasn’t too bad, though.”

“Go anywhere?” James asked, slightly relieved.

“No,” Sirius shook his head. “Well, I mean, I snuck out to see Andy down in the little muggle village by the house, but that was it.”

“Well, that's good at least,” James shrugged.

“What about you?” Sirius asked. “How was your summer?”

“It was good,” James nodded. “Spent half of it in Brazil and the other half practicing Quidditch.”

“Good, good,” Sirius nodded along to James’ words as they made it to their compartment. Regulus walked a little ahead of them before turning to Sirius.

“I’ll, uh, see you later, I suppose,” he said, sounding slightly unsure and slightly uncomfortable.

“Sure,” Sirius nodded at him before turning to James. “Reggie’s a prefect this year.”

“Traitor,” James gasped dramatically. Regulus didn’t look at him.

“Okay, well, bye Reggie,” Sirius said and Regulus turned again, starting back down the corridor to the prefect’s compartment. “Give Remus my love!”

James moved into the compartment that Peter was already in and started putting his trunk up into the overhead racks. Sirius did the same.

“How was your summer, Pete?” Sirius asked. “Sorry I didn’t write too much, you know how it is.”

“Yeah,” Peter nodded as James took a seat across from him. “It was fine.”

“Fine,” Sirius repeated, running his fingers through his hair as he sat next to James, resting his back on the wall closest to the door and slinging his legs right into James’ lap. “States again?”

“Yep,” Peter confirmed, popping the p. “Lovely seeing Piper, but Connecticut is honestly really boring.”

“Mm,” Sirius hummed in an understanding tone as he nodded.

“Oh, but did James tell you about his girlfriend yet?” Peter asked and Sirius gasped very dramatically,

“No! James, what’s this he’s on about? A girlfriend? Have you replaced me?”

“She’s not my girlfriend,” James said, shaking his head, but he was smiling and he could feel his ears turning pink.

“Sure she isn’t,” Peter scoffed. “You only wrote me six paragraphs a week about her.”

“What?!” Sirius exclaimed, sounding utterly betrayed. “Okay, tell me everything about her.”

James thought about denying the fact that Rissa was his girlfriend again, but didn’t as he started talking, looking at the ground with a smile, “Well, her name's Larissa, but pretty much everyone just calls her Rissa, and she’s a year older than us.”

“Don’t forget to tell him about her hair,” Peter said, causing Sirius to let out another dramatic gasp.

“Her hair? What about her hair?”

“Well, she’s got dark curly hair,” James shrugged. “Only goes to her shoulders and it’s really soft.”

“You touched her hair?” Sirius asked. “This is- Merlin’s balls, what does this mean for Evans?”

“I dunno,” James shrugged. “I still- I mean, Lily’s still gonna marry me and all that, I just- Rissa isn’t my girlfriend.”

“He kissed her,” Peter noted.

“I did kiss her,” James confirmed at the look of pure shock on Sirius’ face.

“Was it good?” Sirius asked. “Better than the time you kissed Lacey from Hufflepuff?” James nodded. “Better than the time you kissed Circi from Slytherin?” James nodded. “Better the time you kissed me in third year?” James nodded. “Lies!”

“It was a good kiss,” James shrugged.

“Not better than mine!” Sirius argued, sounding very betrayed but still having a huge grin on his face. “No one kisses better than me! Where’s Remus? He wouldn’t stand for this!”

“Oh, I’m sure he wouldn’t,” James laughed.

“Okay, well what made it so much better?” Sirius asked, crossing his arms.

James shrugged again, “You and I had zero experience when we kissed each other, for starters, also there was no tongue, and-”

“Tongue?!” Sirius cried. “And she’s not your girlfriend?” James shook his head. “James Potter, you slu*t!”

“You shouldn’t-” Peter started saying just as the compartment door slid back open and Marlene and Mary MacDonald stepped in.

“Did you know about James’ girlfriend?” Sirius asked, snapping his gaze up to Marlene who ducked her head down to kiss Sirius.

“Rissa?” She asked, pulling away from him and sitting down next to Peter, Mary sat next to her. “Yeah, he wouldn’t shut up about her.”

“So am I just the only one who didn’t know about this?” Sirius asked.

“I only told Marlene, Peter, and Frank,” James sighed. “They were there.”

“Right, so I get punished for not being there?” Sirius asked, and though it may have seemed like a very argumentative and serious conversation, Sirius was laughing, looking very amused.

“No,” James shook his head. “I just had too much to say to write it all.”

“We have a two way mirror!” Sirius cried.

“Oh, well you know now,” James chuckled, shaking his head and then looking over at Marlene and Mary. “Will- uh, will Lily be joining you two then?”

“You already know the answer to that one, mate,” Marlene laughed. “Besides, she’s at the prefect's meeting.”

“Worth a shot,” James shrugged.

“Wait, what about the girlfriend?” Mary asked.

“She’s not my girlfriend.”

“No, they only kissed,” Sirius said. “With tongue!”

“Oh calm down,” James rolled his eyes. “I’ll kiss you with tongue if you truly feel so betrayed.”

“I think you might need to,” Sirius nodded with a mock frown.

“And that’s our cue,” Mary said, clapping her hands to her thighs before she stood up.

“It is,” Marlene agreed, joining her. “Just wanted to say hi.”

She leaned down and kissed Sirius again.

“Hi,” he grinned, after pulling only an inch or so away from her.

“Bye,” she returned, standing up straight and leaving with Mary.

“That was pleasantly uncomfortable,’’ Peter noted.

“Did you see that James?” Sirius asked. “I just kissed Marlene. I do that. I tell you.”

“I just told you,” James returned.

“You just hate me, don’t you?” Sirius asked, popping out his bottom lip.

James rolled his eyes before pushing to his feet and reaching up for his trunk. He brought it down to the seat, pushing Sirius’ legs out of the way which gained him a gasp followed by Sirius shouting, “You do hate me!” Packed at the top of his trunk was a folded up shirt and pair of jeans, James pulled them out and tossed them at Sirius.

“Oh, you love me,” Sirius smiled, catching the outfit as James put his trunk back and returned to his seat. “So,” Sirius continued as he unbuttoned his shirt. “What have we come up with for the plan?”

“Oh, I’m so glad you asked,” James grinned. “Pete and I did so much reading. Got Mum to take us to Diagon Alley with her when she had to run some errands and stayed in Blorrish and Botts the entire time looking at all sorts of different transfiguration books.”

“And we’re so lucky James is bloody brilliant with Transfiguration because he already figured out exactly what we have to do!” Peter added excitedly.

“And what’s that?” Sirius asked, pulling his trousers off.

“Well, we’ll need a book called–” James promptly snapped his mouth shut as the compartment door slid open once again and Remus Lupin stepped in. Sirius, who was only in his underwear, paused, mid-reach for the shirt James had brought for him.

“Oh, hi Moony,” Sirius smiled and James couldn’t help but notice the slight flush to Remus’ cheeks as he looked quickly away from Sirius.

“Get dressed,” Remus rolled his eyes, sitting down next to Peter.

“Oh, thank you, Moony. What would I do without you?” Sirius asked, pulling on his shirt as the train started with a jolt.

“Die,” Remus shrugged.

“I do think so,” Sirius agreed with a nod.

“So,” Remus started, turning his attention away from Sirius who was now pulling on his jeans. “What did I miss? What were you guys talking about?”

“Just my summer,” Peter lied with ease. “My sister brought me to go see a muggle concert.”

“Oh, that's cool,” Remus said, intrigued. “Who was it?”

James, who had already heard all about Peter’s sister having an extra concert to some “girly muggle band” and bringing him, turned his gaze over to Sirius who was sitting next to him again, leaning down as he tied his sneakers. Sirius sat up again, running his fingers through his hair as he went back to his previous position with his back against the wall and his legs across James’ lap.

“When are tryouts?” He asked, raising his eyebrows slightly.

“Not sure,” James shrugged, putting his hands on Sirius’ legs, just above his ankles. “I have to talk to Frank, though I’m not sure if he knows yet. Normally he tells me right away, but I guess he has to talk to Hooch.”

“Ah,” Sirius nodded, glancing over at Remus.

“Ready for lessons, though?” James asked. “I think I’ll do pretty well with O.W.Ls. Though, maybe not with potions, but I don’t expect anything less than an E. Oh, but I’m so glad this is our last year of potions, I mean I honestly don’t even know why we have to take potions, it should be an elective, because I really don’t think I’ll need to–”

“-Remus, what’s that on your neck?” Sirius asked, cutting James off.

“Hm?” Remus hummed, sounding confused as his eyebrows tugged together. James looked down at his neck, but more specifically the colored spot peeking out of the collar of his shirt, James’ eyes widened, because–

“Merlin’s beard, Moony, is that a hickey?!” James exclaimed, sitting up straight. He watched as Remus’ eyes got slightly wider and his hand flew up to cover his neck.

“It’s– No, just– Oh, shut up,” Remus tumbled over his words, very obviously flustered.

“No!” James shook his head quickly. “Who is she?”

“Do we know her?” Peter asked.

“No, you don’t– I’m not talking about this,” Remus shook his head, looking at his feet.

“You have to talk about it,” Sirius complained. “C’mon, who is she? What’s her name?”

“There’s no– She isn’t–” Remus started but never finished.

“C’mon Moony!” Sirius whined. “You know I’m shagging Marlene, you have to tell me who you’re shagging!”

“Wait, I didn’t know you were shagging Marlene!” James shouted, feeling slightly disgusted. “Nor did I need to! Marlene is basically my sister, Merlin, why would you say that!”

“Oh calm down,” Sirius rolled his eyes. “You knew.”

“I didn’t!” James argued. “And don’t tell me to calm down, Marlene is like my sister! How would you feel if you had a sister I was shagging?”

“I don’t have a sister so that doesn’t matter,” Sirius shrugged. “Unless you want to start shagging Regulus, I don’t have to worry about that.”

“Okay, but–”

“Both of you just shut up,” Remus cut in. “None of it matters. I’m not shagging anyone. Just lay off.”

Sirius gave Remus an unbelieving look that James understood completely because Remus was obviously shagging someone.

“Were you just bitten by a vampire then?” Sirius asked with a goofy smile.

“Good guess seeing as my bedroom window is so fit for blood sucking monsters to climb through,” Remus nodded.

“Wait, so you’re a werewolf and a vampire?” James asked with a mock tone of amusem*nt.

“Just shut up,” Remus shook his head at both James and Sirius. “Whatever. Sirius, how was your summer? You didn’t write.”

“I wrote, you just didn’t reply enough so I stopped,” Sirius said very matter-of-factly. “Obviously you were just preoccupied with your new secret girlfriend.”

“I don’t have a–” Remus started, before closing his eyes, breathing, and then looking back at Sirius. “Tell me about your summer.”

“Oh, you know, same old, same old,” Sirius shrugged. “Honestly surprised I’m not married yet, but hey, maybe they’re being nice cause they’re scared I’ll leave and then they won’t have an heir.”

“They’ll have Regulus,” Peter noted.

“So they’re being nice?” Remus asked.

“Well, I haven’t been hexed in a while,” Sirius shrugged.

“Always good to hear,” Remus nodded and James sighed loudly.

“Maybe you should just leave,” James said, looking over at Sirius.

“We’ve been over this, James,” Sirius sighed. “I can’t leave Reggie, besides, they aren’t trying to kill me so I’m fine.”

“I know,” James sighed, because he does know, he and Sirius talk about this a lot.

“Anything from the trolly,” James turned his head towards the compartment door at the sound of the trolly witch’s voice, drawing out the A as she called out her usual question.

“You guys go ‘head,” Remus shook his head as the other three boys looked around at each other to see if they were going to get anything off of the trolley.

“No, c’mon Moony,” James argued, pulling out a handful of galleons from his pocket.

“I’m fine, James, really,” Remus shook his head again.

“Alright,” James said in a rather sarcastic and sing-song tone, standing up.

“James, I’m serious, I’m–”

“Terrible impression of me, really,” Sirius said, sliding the compartment door open. “I’d absolutely let James buy me something.”

“Do not buy me anything!” Remus called after James who was already stopping at the trolley, getting ready to buy Remus a couple chocolate frogs.

1 September 1975
Somewhere in Eastern Scotland
5:45 P.M.

Just down the corridor from the Marauders, a few compartments away, sat a group of five fourth years. Pandora and Evan Rosier sat on the same cushioned bench, Evan facing the door with Pandora behind him, pulling on strands of his slightly long hair as she did her best to braid it. Dorcas Meadowes sat on the bench across from them, directly across from Evan as they talked about Jarvis co*cker of The Weird Sisters and how he was recently photographed in the Daily Prophet snogging a mystery woman in Knockturn Alley a few weeks ago. Next to Dorcas was Barty Crouch Junior who was laying flat on his back with his legs in Dorcas’ lap and his head in Regulus Black’s lap– Regulus Black who just sat there, not seeming to mind the boy being there as he looked down at him, talking about their upcoming school year at Hogwarts: School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, or more specifically the gossip he had already heard on the platform and on his way back from the prefect’s meeting with Pandora.

“Dedalus Didley and Amelia Bones broke up,” Regulus said before adding, “again.”

“Yeah,” Barty half nodded. “I heard he cheated on her with Kamryn Brown.”

“But isn’t Kamryn dating Gareth Jordan?” Regulus asked, his eyebrows tugging together.

“Not anymore,” Barty shrugged.

“Gareth broke up with her because his mum didn’t like her,” Pandora said, inserting herself into their conversation, not that they minded. Regulus looked up at her,

“Where’d you hear that?” He asked.

“Xenophilius Lovegood,” Pandora said, returning her attention to Evan’s hair. “He dorms with Gareth.”

“Hm,” Barty hummed silently. “I genuinely thought Gareth was on the more colorful side of things.”

“I still think so,” Evan agreed.

“And you two would know all about that, I’m sure?” Dorcas asked, rather off-handedly.

“I’m just saying,” Barty said. “He paints his nails.”

“Evan’s getting his hair braided right now,” Dorcas scoffed. “And you have your head in a man’s lap.”

“Eh, this is different, though,” Evan shrugged. “I mean, Barty’s just trying to be comfortable considering how long the train ride is, and Panda wouldn’t stop bugging me about this. Besides, it’s not like anyone’s gonna see.”

“That’s just like saying ‘Yeah, I gave you head, but it was under the blankets so it wasn’t gay’,” Dorcas rolled her eyes.

Barty opened his mouth to say something, but Regulus cut him off, “Just shut up about it all.”

“We’ve offended His Nobel Highness,” Barty sighed, and Regulus tugged hard at a handful of Barty’s hair, rolling his eyes at the nickname.

“Ow!”

Barty’s cry of pain was utterly ignored as Dorcas carried on about the Weird Sisters with Evan, and Pandora sighed, finishing up the second braid in Evan’s hair.

“Alright,” she said. “It’s about time for our prefect rounds, I suppose.”

“No,” Barty whined, pressing his head down harder on Regulus’ lap. “I need my pillow.”

Regulus just rolled his eyes, shoving Barty’s head up as he stood.

“Rosier, come sit over here.” Barty groaned before adding, “Boy Rosier.”

“Bye, Barty,” Pandora smiled, walking out of the compartment, right behind Regulus.

From the corridor outside of the compartment, Regulus watched as Evan got up, moving right over to the spot next to Barty that Regulus had previously sat in. Evan sat down and Barty laid back again, putting his head right in Evan’s lap. Maybe last year Regulus would feel a little angry about this, you could argue that he was jealous, and maybe he was, but Regulus would deny that forever. The thing is, Regulus has always known he was… different. While he spent days on end in his early childhood listening to his older brother ramble on and on about girls, he simply had no interest at all. To be fair, he didn’t really have much interest in boys either, but he was only young. Still though, as time went on and he got a little older, it seemed that he should find at least one girl attractive, right? He never did. Regulus remembers very clearly that on the night before his very first day at Hogwarts, his father had said to him, “Be kind to the girls, but not too kind, you don’t want them to think you’re a pansy, but who knows? One of the girls you meet tomorrow could end up as your wife.” The word ‘wife’ had stuck with Regulus maybe a little more than his father telling him he didn’t want people to think Regulus was a pansy because, that was just it, wasn’t it? Regulus didn’t want a wife. His theories on himself being different from other boys were confirmed by his third year at Hogwarts when he started to catch himself looking at Barty Crouch maybe a little more than he should.

“Well,” Regulus realized Pandora was saying, next to him as they started down the corridor together. “At least we have the shortest rounds. Last ones until we get to the castle.”

“We only have the shortest because the Head Boy’s a prick,” Regulus rolled his eyes.

“That’s not true,” Pandora shook her head. “I happen to think Frank is lovely.”

“Of course you do,” Regulus scoffed and Pandora frowned at him. “Sorry. I just– I mean, all of the Gryffindors are the same, they don’t trust any of the Slytherins.”

“Hey, your brother is in Gryffindor,” Pandora argued.

“All of the Gryffindors are the same,” Regulus repeated himself. Pandora gave him a look as if to say ‘you don’t mean that’, and maybe Regulus didn’t mean it. Or maybe he just wanted to believe that he didn’t mean it. Pandora just sighed as she and Regulus made their way slowly down the corridors of the train.

“How was your summer?” Pandora asked after a minute or so of silence. Regulus glanced over at her.

“Fine,” he shrugged. “We didn’t really do anything, I think my parents are up to some sort of planning of something. Maybe they’re finally marrying Sirius off. I do miss our vacation home in Italy though. How was yours?”

“Better than yours it seems,” Pandora smiled. “We went to Germany. Mother says it’s important to know our roots– Where we came from and all that.”

“Anything interesting?” Regulus asked.

“Apparently Evan looks very similar to the 1347 duke of Hamburg,” Pandora giggled.

“Ah, so I’m speaking to royalty then?”

“Indeed you are,” Pandora nodded, putting on an overly posh accent. “Though if you were to bow to me, I expect I’d have to bow to you, oh so Noble Sir of the Ancient House of Black.”

“Piss off,” Regulus rolled his eyes, still grinning.

They fell into a comfortable silence as they walked, though turning a corner and entering a new corridor, still strolling very slowly, Pandora asked,

“Have you heard anything about the war?” Her voice was far more serious than it had been and Regulus frowned.

“I haven't,” he shook his head slowly. “Have you?”

“No,” Pandora answered quietly. “You don’t think…– I mean, everything going quiet all of a sudden, they could be planning something rather big, don’t you think?”

“I’m not sure,” Regulus sighed, looking over at Pandora. She was gnawing on the inside of her bottom lip and her eyebrows were pulled together. She looked rather scared. “I’m sure it’ll be fine though… Whatever it is, we’ll be fine.”

“I hope so,” Pandora sighed. “It just… I’m scared. Father says that last time something like this happened.. Something so big about blood status, a lot of people were killed and I just– It scares me.”

“It’s war,” Regulus frowned. “People die in wars, but we’ll– We’re going to be okay, Panda. Me, you, Barty, Evan, and Cas, we’ll all be okay.”

Pandora stopped walking suddenly and threw her arms around Regulus, pulling him into a very tight hug as she whispered, “I don’t know what I’d do without you all.”

Regulus didn’t know how to respond so he just held onto her, tracing small circles on her shoulder blades. After a minute, she pulled away and rubbed her eyes, her pale face was flushed with a light amount of red as she mumbled thanks to Regulus. They started walking again, slowly in complete silence, and Regulus wished he was better trained for moments like this. He wanted to know what to say, he wanted to be able to say it, and he wanted to make Pandora feel better. Eventually, the air felt a little lighter and Pandora started speaking again,

“Barty and Evan were being pricks earlier,” she said. “I’m sorry.”

“What d’you mean?” Regulus asked, eyebrows tugging together as he glanced over at her.

“When they were talking about Gareth Jordan,” Pandora went on. “They shouldn’t have said that sh*t, and I mean, they didn’t mean it. That doesn’t excuse it, but–”

“Pandora, it’s fine,” Regulus shut her down quickly.

“It’s not, though,” Pandora shook her head. “Even if Gareth doesn’t fancy girls, that shouldn’t matter, it’s just–”

“Pandora, seriously, it’s fine. Besides, you weren’t the one talking,” Regulus cut in again and Pandora huffed.

“No, but Evan was, and–”

“-And you’re not Evan. You’re not responsible for his actions either,” he sounded meaner than he wanted to.

Pandora opened her mouth to say something else, but was thankfully stopped by a pair of first years who rounded the corner at the end of the corridor, running and shouting about something. They seemed to be having a great amount of fun, smiles etched on their faces and laughter in their voices.

“Hey!” Regulus yelled, causing the two first years to come to a halt. “There’s no running in the corridors! Honestly, how stupid could you be?”

“Sorry,” the two of them mumbled, smiles completely faded as they walked very slowly past Regulus and Pandora. Pandora was covering her mouth as she giggled.

“You better stay at that pace, I have no issue removing points you don’t even have yet,” Regulus added as he and Pandora continued on, away from the first years.

“You’re mean,” Pandora laughed.

“They weren’t following basic rules,” Regulus shrugged.

“First duty as prefect and you’re already causing little firsties to nearly wet themselves,” she giggled. “Ease up a bit.”

Regulus rolled his eyes, but that didn’t stop him from grinning at her. He was very glad Pandora was his prefect partner rather than some other fourth year girl that was just as annoying as the rest. Dorcas would be his second choice, of course, if not Pandora, but honestly he has always preferred Pandora over Dorcas. Maybe it was because Pandora always knew what was going on even when you hadn’t told anyone, maybe it was her genuinely cheery attitude or the way she could make you laugh without even trying to. Whatever it was, Regulus was glad for it.

They continued on their rounds just slowly walking through the corridors, peaking into the compartment where Dorcas, Barty, and Evan remained each time they passed it. Regulus desperately tried to avoid the compartment that held his brother and Sirius’ friends, but of course that’s not how the mapping of a train works and it was inevitable to pass it. Pandora made him poke in the first time they passed and it was just as awkward as you can imagine.

“Ah, the traitor himself,” Sirius had said as the compartment door slid open. “Here to take away some points?”

“You don’t even have any points yet,” Regulus deadpanned at the exact same time Remus Lupin had pointed out that seeing as they had no points yet, prefects weren’t able to take any.

“Hi, Reg,” James had grinned and Regulus had ignored him and that was that. Pandora shoved him in to say hi, she said hi, Remus said hi, Sirius said hi, James said hi again, and Regulus left.

It was dark outside, though Regulus wouldn’t have really been able to see anything anyways due to the speed of the train, but when it finally stopped, he couldn’t even see the castle over the lake. Pandora had grabbed Regulus’ arm to steady herself from the jolt of the train as it came to a stop and then other prefects began filing out into the corridors as Frank Longbottom yelled,

“First years only! Leave your things and come on out! First years only!”

They stood by the doors of the train that were being held open by older prefects and when needed, they helped a few first years hop off the train and onto the dock below them. When that was finished, Regulus poked his head into a few compartments with Pandora behind him and told them to settle down as the train would be starting again. They made sure other students were ready and in their uniforms and to make sure they had everything and weren’t leaving too much of a mess in their compartments.

“Oh, I can feel Barty’s magic already,” Pandora said as they made their way back to their own compartment, still waiting on the train to start up again.

“Can you?” Regulus asked. “Think he hexed Evan the second we crossed the barrier?”

“I’d put money on it,” Pandora confirmed. “You feel it too, even if you don’t know it.” Regulus just shrugged, but Pandora went on, “It feels a little tingly, kind of like when your foots asleep but only it’s a lot more faint and all over your body.”

“Charming,” Regulus nodded. He wondered what his magic felt like.

There was a loud whistling from the train and Regulus reached out for Pandora, to steady the two of them as the train started again with a sudden jolt.

“Thanks,” she smiled as they continued walking again, finally making it to their compartment.

“Change it back,” Evan was saying as they entered the compartment.

“Aw, but you look so pretty. Pandora, doesn’t he look so pretty?” Barty cooed, a very amused looking expression on his face as he stared at Evan whose hair was now charmed a very vibrant shade of bubblegum pink– Still in its braids. Regulus chuckled.

“Oh, you do look very pretty,” Pandora smiled, clasping her hands together as she sat down. Regulus sat next to her as Evan remained in the spot Regulus had been in, previously to leaving for rounds.

“I look pathetic,” Evan argued. “Barty, change it back.”

“Oh fine,” Barty rolled his eyes, pulling his wand out from his back pocket. He muttered a counter charm and Evan’s pink hair slowly faded back to its original blonde. “Here, I’ll take out the braids too.”

Evan didn’t respond, just turned around and allowed Barty to slowly begin messing his fingers through his hair to remove the braids. Regulus looked down at the ground.

“How were rounds then?” Dorcas asked, fixing her long black hair.

“Certainly not as eventful as it’s been in here,” Pandora smiled. “Regulus scared the piss out of some first years though.”

“They were running,” Regulus shrugged.

“I wish I was a prefect, I bet it’d be so fun to just yell at everyone and take away points,” Barty sighed. “Oh, and you can be out of bed after hours.”

“Only for rounds,” Pandora pointed out and Barty shrugged, his fingers combing through Evan’s hair.

“Who’s gonna know if you aren’t on rounds though?”

“There are schedules.”

“Whatever.”

“Barty, fix your tie,” Regulus said as he fixed his own tie. “It’s all crooked.”

“Oh, thanks Dad,” Barty rolled his eyes, but still pulled his hands away from Evan’s hair and began to mess around with his tie, getting it to stay on straight and even.

“Yes, I’m sure that’s the only time your father speaks to you,” Regulus said, and he meant it. “To make sure you’re presentable.”

“You know me so well,” Barty grinned as the train came to a stop again.

“Shared experience,” Evan added, running his hand through his hair as the group of them began to move around, getting ready to leave.

“Oh, father isn’t that bad,” Pandora frowned.

“But is he that good?” Evan asked and Pandora remained silent.

“I love my dad,” Dorcas shrugged as the group began to file out into the corridor.

“How’s that mum, though?” Barty asked with a grin and Dorcas gave him the finger.

“Alright, just shut up,” Regulus sighed, pushing past Barty as they walked down the corridor. Finally getting to one of the doors, the group hopped off the train together.

This year is only Regulus’ second year being able to take the carriages up to the castle, but just as last year, the carriage field was a mess of students. Some people were still finding their friends, others were just chatting and catching up. There were a few people who were stretching, no doubt sore from the long train ride here, and an even fewer number of people getting into carriages. This year, just like last, Regulus found his eyes slowly trailing along each and every face of every student, trying to find Sirius. Not that he was going to go up to him or ride the carriage up with him and his friends, no, Regulus just wanted to see him.

Sirius typically wasn’t hard to find, not because of himself, but because of the group of people he was with– more specifically that he was with Remus Lupin who Regulus wasn’t entirely convinced wasn’t half giant. Sirius himself was rather short, only standing a few inches above Regulus at 5 '5, though he supposed they both had a little more growing to do. Still, they'd both end up a lot shorter than any of their friends– Maybe it had something to do with the generations of inbreeding.

So, upon finding Remus Lupin, Regulus’ eyes moved right over to his brother who was standing with his back facing Regulus. He was in his Hogwarts robes and his hair was a complete wreck; His arm was draped along the shoulders of a brunette girl who was standing next to him, also dressed in her Hogwarts robes. Standing on the other side of Sirius was James, Regulus was sure of it. James had disgustingly messy hair that literally never sat right on his head and it didn’t help that James was almost always brushing his fingers through his hair to make it worse. Regulus suspects that if it was any other person he would judge the ever living sh*t out of them for their messy hair, but it wasn’t any other person, was it? No. It was James Potter.

So yes, Regulus has always known he was different. In his third year he had an embarrassingly large crush on Barty Crouch that just proved to him that he was different, but it was even before that that he knew. When Regulus was nine years old, his brother left him and went to Hogwarts, at first it was alright because Sirius wrote all the time, but as time went on, the letters became more rare and almost every single one was filled with stories about Sirius’ new best friend James Potter. That summer was much the same, Sirius talking about how much he missed James, Sirius talking about how much fun James was, Sirius talking about how excited he was for school to start again so that he could see James, Sirius talking about how he was sure James and Regulus would get on because who didn’t get on with James? James, James, James. It seemed that James was the only person Sirius cared about anymore and Regulus had been replaced. Regulus didn’t want Sirius to have another best friend, he wanted to be Sirius’ only best friend. So, when 1 September 1972 finally came, Regulus swore that no matter what happened, he would never be friends with James Potter. No matter what, he would continue to hate James Potter, and he has. It’s only that when Sirius dragged Regulus along with him to the compartment and introduced Regulus to James and James grinned a very goofy, crooked grin as he shook Regulus’ hand, Regulus just didn’t want to look away from him. Him and his messy black hair and his muggle clothing and his crooked glasses and his goofy grin, Regulus never wanted to look away from it. Regulus hated James, who was the most beautiful person Regulus thinks he’s ever seen, probably ever will see. Even then at twelve, James was utterly gorgeous, and now at fifteen, it was so much more. He had finally grown into his big head and he looked much more proportional, he had a perfect jawline, and his glasses sat a little less crooked on his face. James Potter was perfect and Regulus hated him.

“Hey, that one's empty!” Barty’s voice pulled Regulus out of his thoughts, and slowly he turned his gaze away from James and onto his own group of friends.

“Well, let’s go then,” Regulus nodded as he started walking to the carriage Barty had pointed out.

“Hey, how do you think the carriages work?” Barty asked, falling into step with Regulus.

“What d’you mean?” Regulus asked, briefly glancing over at Barty who continued,

“Like, how do they stay up? And how do they move? There’s no sort of animal attached to them, so–”

“Magic, Barty,” Regulus rolled his eyes. Barty blinked. Regulus wondered how Barty could be so lacking in common knowledge when he was, by far, the smartest among the five of them– among their entire year, maybe.

“Oh,” Barty said and then grinned. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

“Could be ghosts,” Evan shrugged, climbing up into the carriage.

“No it couldn’t,” Barty argued, also climbing up into the carriage and taking a seat next to Evan. Regulus sat across from Barty. “Ghosts can’t hold things. We’d fall right through.”

“Maybe poltergeists,” Evan went on.

“Oh! Or nargles,” Pandora added. Regulus blinked at her.

“What?” Barty asked. “I don’t know what a nargle is.”

“Well, they typically inhabit mistletoes, but–”

“Panda, I love you, please stop,” Evan laughed and Pandora frowned at him,

“Just wait until all your things go missing because you insulted them,” she shot.

“How have I insulted them?” Evan asked. “They don’t even exist!”

“Just like that,” Pandora crossed her arms. “You questioned their existence. Nargles are very sensitive creatures.”

“Sure they are,” Evan nodded sarcastically. Dorcas smacked him.

“They’re magical,” Regulus said. “They stay up because of magic, they get pulled by magic. It’s not that complicated.”

As he spoke, the carriages began to move, bringing the students up to the castle.

“Hm,” Pandora hummed after a minute or so of Dorcas and Evan arguing and Barty trying to involve himself, looking rather amused. Pandora and Regulus had blocked them out completely, watching the scenery that they passed. “I’m quite hungry. I wonder what there’ll be for pudding.”

“You know what I want for pudding?” Barty said, peeling his attention for Evan and Dorcas. “I’m gonna have to go spend some time over with the Hufflepuffs while we wait for the sorting ceremony.”

“I doubt they’ll be selling today,” Regulus shook his head.

“Yeah, I’d give it a week,” Evan agreed and Barty frowned.

“A week? I’ve already gone a whole summer,” he complained.

“Lies,” Dorcas shook her head.

“Most of the summer,” Barty rolled his eyes. Dorcas gave him a pointed look. “Okay, some of the summer.”

“You’ll live,” Evan said, patting Barty’s back.

“Oh, look!” Pandora whisper shouted, pointing behind Barty’s head. Everyone looked. “Fairies!”

“Oh, they’re so colorful,” Dorcas pointed out, staring at the group of very bright colored and sparkling fairies that were looming along the treeline of the forest. “How pretty.”

“They kinda look evil,” Barty shook his head. “Like they’re plotting something.”

“They probably are,” Evan shrugged. “Everyone thinks fairies are this, like, beautiful and majestic thing and like, they are, but, they’re kinda evil too. Always planning things, always attacking. Like mermaids.”

“Oh, I hope the mermaids are over by the common room tonight,” Pandora sighed. “I love that it’s designed to go along with the lake.”

The Slytherin common room and dorms were in the dungeons of Hogwarts, built below the Great Lake. The common room walls were largely decorated with windows pointing out into the Great Lake which gave off an eerie green glow. Regulus supposed it was very pretty, only he hated the water. Any kind, oceans, rivers, lakes, creeks, swimming pools… he couldn’t do it. Even the idea of a body of water freaked him out. The Great Lake was a type that surpassed any sort of fear Regulus had, because not only was it immensely deep, but it was full of all sorts of dangerous magical creatures that could literally eat you at any given moment. That being said, he hated the common room.

“I don’t,” he said, frowning. Barty laughed loudly.

“Don’t be a bully, Bartemius,” Dorcas chided, though she was smiling along with him. Barty poked his tongue out at Dorcas.

“Okay, whatever,” he said. “How do you guys think lessons will be this year?”

“Stressful,” Dorcas sighed, slouching down on the carriage bench. “OWLs are next year so I’d assume it’ll be a lot of prep work.”

“I hope transfiguration isn’t too much,” Evan sighed. He had always been rubbish at Transfiguration, and it didn’t help that Professor McGonogall wasn’t his biggest fan.

“I’ll help you if it is,” Barty grinned. “Well, I’ll probably help you no matter what.”

“Thanks, B,” Evan nodded, still looking upset just at the mere thought of the class.

“I- yeah- You’re welcome,” Barty nodded and Regulus noticed a slight panic to his eyes that he chose not to bring up,

“I just hope potions are more challenging this year,” he said instead. “Last year was baby stuff. I can’t wait until next year so that I can join the Slug Club.”

“Cult,” Barty coughed.

“You’re gonna get an invitation to join too,” Regulus rolled his eyes.

“Which I will decline,” Barty nodded. “I’m very good without dinner in Slughorn’s office and his little Christmas balls.”

“Barty isn’t into little balls,” Dorcas grinned and Barty yawned.

“No,” he said. “Not the little ones.”

He winked at Regulus and Regulus gave him the finger with a grin.

The grounds of Hogwarts were actually quite beautiful, especially when it was dark out, like now. Last year being Regulus’ first year able to ride the carriages up to the school, he was very excited to not only get away from the water, but to see the scenery. Sure, the lake was quite beautiful as well with the lights from lamps reflecting off the water and the slight fog that misted the water's edge, but it was nothing compared to moving slowly through the many forests of Hogwarts. He loved seeing the plants and the creatures and the stars. The carriage rides were also a lot quicker than the boat rides, and Regulus really enjoyed the many different looks on each first year's faces as the lake came into view and they were just getting their boats to move.

When the carriages all came to a stop, Regulus, Barty, Evan, Dorcas, and Pandora all climbed out of theirs and slowly began making their way into the castle along with all of the other students. Crossing into the front entrance of Hogwarts, Regulus’ body was overcome with the insane amount of magic that floated throughout the air of the school, but the one sense of magic that powered over everything else, Regulus knew as the magic of Albus Dumbledore. He felt warm and pinchy all over.

“I can’t wait for summer holidays,” Barty sighed as they pushed into the Great Hall.

“Of course you can’t,” Evan grinned. Regulus rolled his eyes. “I’m not gonna be surprised when those fall right out of your head.”

“I don’t understand how you can hate Hogwarts so much, you hate being at your house,” Regulus said, crossing through the Great Hall as they made their way to the Slytherin table. His eyes wandered around for Sirius.

“Hate it here too,” Barty shrugged. “Can’t wait until I’m old enough to be on my own. Me ‘n Evan are gonna live together.”

“Are we?” Evan asked. “I wasn’t aware.”

“We are,” Barty confirmed. “You’re in charge of buying everything. I’m very sure you’ll be getting an inheritance and I will not.”

“I’m also very sure of that,” Evan agreed, nodding as the five of them sat down. Regulus’ gaze landed on Sirius.

“Hey, how much do you want to bet on Nargles taking all of Evan’s things?” Barty was asking, Regulus guessed to Dorcas.

“Double the inheritance Regulus is gonna get,” he heard Evan answer instead. “Nargles don’t exist.”

“I agree with Evan but only for the fact that they do exist and they will steal all of his things,” Pandora responded.

“Not me,” Dorcas said. “I’m done betting with you, Crouch.”

Regulus watched as James’ gaze met his own, realized Regulus’ attention was on him, smiled that stupid grin, and waved. Regulus turned away.

“I’ll be more than thrilled to see all of Evan’s things missing,” Regulus added.

Barty and Evan continued on the subject while Pandora turned to Regulus.

“What time are our rounds tonight?” She asked.

Regulus shook his head. “We have tomorrow, Thursday, and Saturday at ten.”

“Oh,” Pandora nodded. “That’s good, I’m exhausted.”

Regulus nodded as the Great Hall doors banged open and Professor McGonogall entered, followed by a group of first years.

“Oo, I wonder what the song’ll be this year,” Barty said and Regulus could literally feel himself cringe, just remembering what was going to happen.

“Nothing,” Regulus said. Affirmations, affirmations, affirmation. “I hope the hat fell into the fire in Dumbledore’s office, burned, and can never sing again.”

“You’re so lame, Lucy,” Barty rolled his eyes.

At the front of the Great Hall, McGonogall spoke to the first years, though her voice projected through the entire hall. When she was finished, she pulled out the very raggedy hat that Hogwarts has been using since its very first class of students ever. The hat seemed to come to life as it opened its mouth and began,

“Oh you may not think me pretty,

But don’t judge on what you see,

I’ll eat myself if you can find

A smarter hat than me.”

Regulus felt an ounce of his dignity die as Barty began singing along.

“You can keep your bowlers black,

Your top hats sleek and tall,

For I’m the Hogwarts Sorting Hat

And I can cap them all.

There’s nothing hidden in your head

The Sorting Hat can’t see,

So try me on and I will tell you

Where you ought to be.

You might belong in Gryffindor,

Where dwell the brave at heart,

Their daring, nerve, and chivalry

Set Gryffindors apart;

You might belong in Hufflepuff,

Where they are just and loyal,

Those patient Hufflepuffs are true

And unafraid of toil;

Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,

if you’ve a ready mind,

Where those of wit and learning,

Will always find their kind;

Or perhaps in Slytherin

You’ll make your real friends,

Those cunning folks use any means

To achieve their ends.

So put me on! Don’t be afraid!

And don’t get in a flap!

You’re in safe hands (though I have none)

For I’m a Thinking Cap! O’Hair, Sebrina!”

The amount of second hand embarrassment Regulus gained each year as the hat began singing was an ungodly amount and he hated it. Still, he watched as the short blonde girl, Sebrina O’Hair, went up to the stool to get sorted into Ravenclaw.

“She looks like a Ravenclaw,” Barty nodded.

Augustus Lookout was next and he was put into Hufflepuff. Regulus laid his head on the table and closed his eyes for the remainder of the sorting ceremony.

“Welcome, welcome,” the voice of Albus Dumbledore pulled Regulus’ head back up, nearly five minutes later, “to another year at Hogwarts! That truly was a beautiful ceremony with a very beautiful song. May we get a round of applause for our lovely Sorting Hat?”

The Great Hall cheered, mainly coming from the Gryffindor table.

“Excellent, excellent,” Dumbledore smiled as the cheering faded out. “Now, I am reminded by Mr. Filch that no students shall be entering the newly named Forbidden Forest unless they wish to die a very slow, very agonizing and painful death. Also as a reminder, there are to be no fireworks produced inside the castle.”

There was a loud booing from the Gryffindor table.

“And finally, a very special round of applause to this year's Head Boy and Girl: Frank Longbottom and Georgina Silverwood.”

There was another booming applause, especially from the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws, cheering on their classmates. Regulus clapped lightly.

“With that, let the feast begin!” Dumbledore called as the applause died down. He clapped his hands together once before turning and returning to his spot at the teachers’ table as the tables in the Great Hall filled with food. Barty was the first to move, instantly reaching forward and grabbing hold of the serving spoon to the Shepherd's Pie.

“He needs to be replaced,” Evan was saying, shaking his head while generously filling his plate.

“He’s not so bad,” Pandora shrugged.

“No, he is,” Evan countered. “Everyone can see his favoritism towards the Gryffindors, and don’t you remember what Father said about Gellert Grindelwald?”

“I highly doubt Dumbledore was ever friends with Grindelwald. Father doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”

“Father isn’t the only one who speaks about it. They were friends until Grindelwald got the Elder Wand. That’s when Dumbledore defeated him– for nothing but power. Dumbledore isn’t a good guy and he needs to be replaced,” Evan explained. Pandora just shrugged again.

“Hey, what big event are we doing to start up the term?” Barty asked, mouth full.

“Party in the common room, I think,” Dorcas answered. “That’s what Mulciber was saying.”

“Brilliant,” Barty grinned. “I’ll talk to him tomorrow about invitees.”

“No Gryffindors,” Dorcas grinned.

“Absolutely not,” Barty agreed. “Regulus ‘nd Pandora will have to help get the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws in with their new powers.”

“We won’t be abusing our prefect powers to help you, Barty,” Regulus rolled his eyes.

“Yes you will,” Barty countered. “You love a good party, Lucy, don’t act like you don’t. I miss drunk Regulus.”

“I’m sure you do,” Regulus nodded.

“He’s so much more fun than you.”

Regulus just turned to Dorcas,

“So, what’s up with Mulciber?” He asked. “Why were you talking to him?”

“Oh, I just overheard,” Dorcas shrugged. “I was over by his compartment when I was changing into my robes.”

“Ah,” Regulus nodded. “I didn’t think you cared for him.”

“I do not,” Dorcas confirmed. “Bartholomew on the other hand loves him though,” she teased, poking her tongue out at Barty.

“Praises the ground he walks on,” Regulus added with a laugh.

“I don’t,” Barty rolled his eyes.

“Sure,” Dorcas nodded sarcastically. “All the ways to piss off your father, right?”

Now it was Barty’s turn to poke his tongue out.

“Hey, why do you guys reckon there were so little firsties?” Evan asked, changing the subject.

“No idea,” Barty shook his head. “I thought there’d be more too.”

“A lot of people aren’t sending their kids,” Regulus explained.

“Oh,” Evan nodded slowly. The conversation seemed to get a lot more quiet and when Pandora spoke next it came out as almost a whisper,

“I’ve been having nightmares,” she said. “Of the war. Of each of us dying. It’s awful.”

“It’ll be okay, Panda,” Dorcas frowned, putting her arm around Pandora.

“Like I said earlier,” Regulus started. “No matter what happens, all of us will be okay.”

“I really hope so,” Pandora sniffed.

“Hey, let’s… talk about something a little less… grim,” Barty suggested. “Rosiers went to Germany, right? How was that?”

So, Pandora and Evan took turns telling stories from their summer holiday. Dorcas talking about all the quidditch training she did with her father and Barty told numerous stories of the internship his own father got him at the Ministry of Magic for the summer. He hated it. Regulus told them about his summer as well, though he didn’t really do much. Mostly just read and played quidditch with Sirius. By the time they had all shared, all through dinner and pudding, the head prefects of each house (Crabbe and Bulstrode for Slytherin) began calling orders and leading everyone to their common rooms. Barty slung his arms around Regulus and Evan’s shoulders as they walked, leaning a majority of his body weight on them.

“I don’t care where they put my things, I get the bed right in between you two,” Barty said.

“Alright,” Evan agreed. “I’m sure Regulus wants the one closest to the common room anyways. Be right there for when the glass breaks.”

“Do you truly understand how unfunny you are?” Regulus asked with a frown.

“Yeah, yeah,” Evan rolled his eyes. “That is the bed you want, though. So you can sneak out as always.”

Regulus rolled his eyes though he didn’t deny anything.

The huge group of Slytherins stopped right in front of the wooden door guarded by a large, stone serpent. Eloise Bulstrode turned to address the group of students,

“This year’s password is Pura Sanguine. You need it to enter the common room, don’t forget it and don’t share it,” she explained before turning back to face the door. She repeated the password and the stone serpent came to life, hissing and slithering away from the door which swung open. Bulstrode started in, followed by Crabbe, and followed by the rest of the students. “Girls' dorms are upstairs to the left, boys are downstairs towards the right. No boys are permitted in the girls dorms, same goes for girls in the boys’ dorms.”

The students moved around, going to find their dorms and Regulus looked as far away from the water as he could. Barty mocked him.

“Barty, do you think you could carry this up to my dorm for me?” Dorcas asked, handing Barty a large green book.

“Haha, you’re so funny,” Barty deadpanned, shoving the book back into Dorcas’ hands. He nodded behind Dorcas at a first year. “Get him.”

Dorcas gave an amused grin before turning around, “Hey, could you carry this up to the dorms for me? My arm is just so sore. I promise it’ll be worth your while.”

“Oh, er, yeah, sure,” the first year responded, turning a dark shade of red. He took the book from Dorcas and she nodded at the stairs.

“Thank you so much, I’ll just be right behind you,” she said and the boy nodded, starting forward. He got about five steps up before the staircase turned to a slide and dropped him back down, earning a small shriek out of him. Barty erupted in laughter.

“Thanks,” Dorcas grinned, stepping over the first year boy and onto the stairs. Pandora followed with an amused grin.

“Night guys,” Pandora smiled and Regulus waved. Barty was still cackling.

“Alright,” Evan clapped Barty’s back. “Let’s go.”

They made their way down the crowded corridor of doors and walked right into the dorm they’ve been in since first year. It was very decorated with green and silver, there were a few quidditch posters, and a board of family crests– Rosier and Black stuck out. Three four-poster beds stood in the center of the dorm, making a sort of arch. Barty grabbed his trunk that was placed near the bed on the edge, closest to the washroom, and dragged it to the bed in the middle.

“Evan,” he said, nodding towards the trunk.

“Ah, a perfect swap,” Evan was saying as he lugged his trunk over to his claimed bed. Regulus was digging through his own trunk and pulling out pajamas.

“I’m going for a shower,” he said, straightening up. Barty was standing next to his bed, getting unchanged.

“Alright,” Barty nodded, pulling his school shirt off and tossing it onto his mattress.

Regulus crossed through the dorm and to the ensuite washroom. He closed and locked the door behind him, placed his folded pajamas onto the sink vanity, and started the shower; turning on the water and switching the flow from the tub tap to the shower head. There was a towel already hanging up, courtesy of the house elves that tend to the dorms. Regulus pulled out of his robes, leaving them in a messy pile on the floor, and stepped into the tub, feeling the warm water hitting his skin and dripping down his body immediately. After the long train ride to Hogwarts, a nice warm shower was very needed, he used a generous amount of the shampoo and conditioner that was supplied by the school (though Regulus guessed it was a family biased thing seeing as the soaps were expensive and imported from France) and washed his hair, he scrubbed his body clean, and then, for a long while, just stood under the downpour of water, feeling it rush through his hair and drip down his face and body with his eyes closed just… being there. He didn’t even think.

When he was finished showering, Regulus turned the water off, dried himself, got changed, and brushed a comb through his damp hair. He briefly thought about leaving the washroom and giving Barty or Evan the chance to shower, but dismissed the idea as he picked up his toothbrush and began to scrub his mouth clean. Then, when he was finished with that, he scooped up his clothes and placed them in the bin next to the door. He left the washroom and made his way back into the dorm where Barty and Evan were already dressed in their own pajamas, both laying in Evan’s bed as they talked about what Regulus assumed was quidditch.

“Are neither of you showering?” Regulus asked, pulling the covers from his bed.

“Too sleepy,” Barty shook his head. Evan nodded in agreement.

“Gross,” Regulus scrunched up his nose. “Not even after the extremely long train ride? Are you waking up early to shower?”

“We’ll just do it tomorrow,” Evan shrugged.

Regulus shook his head, “You two are filthy.”

“Aww, thanks Reggie,” Barty cooed. Regulus rolled his eyes as he began unpacking some things from his trunk. Mainly just pillow cases and linens his mother insisted on bringing. He made his bed with them in the way Kreatcher taught him to when he was ten, and then started to get his school things ready for tomorrow. Books and parchment, his quill and a vile of ink, his wand, and a muggle novel he had gotten in secret from Andromeda that he’d read during lunch and his free period.

“You almost done with that?” Barty asked as Regulus neatly placed everything into his school bag. “ ‘M ready for bed.”

“Yeah,” Regulus nodded, moving his bag and trunk off of his bed. Barty flicked the lights off and Regulus heard him climb into his own bed. Regulus did the same.

He was honestly glad for his mother’s persistence in him bringing linens from home, they were much more comfortable than the ones provided by Hogwarts, as Barty constantly reminded him. He knew from being in Barty’s and Evan’s beds that the Hogwarts provided sheets were very scratchy and often smelled of dust. These were silk and smelled of spices from home.

Regulus heard Barty fall asleep almost immediately. Barty was a very obnoxious person both awake and asleep and after only ten minutes of laying down, Regulus could hear him snoring. Evan followed not soon after and then it was just Regulus left awake. For a while, he just stared up at the dark ceiling, thinking about how excited he was to start his new book from Andromeda. It was written by a muggle author in the late 1800s and Regulus would honestly start it now if he knew he’d actually go to sleep after one chapter and not stay up reading the entire thing, so instead, he just thought about how excited he was.

After ten minutes of just thinking, Regulus turned over. He reached his hand down into the open trunk that sat on the floor next to his bed and felt around a little until finding the soft material of his stuffed dog. When he was born, he had a lion, this was due to the constellation that held the star he was named for. Sirius had a dog stuffed animal for that same reason. When they were young, maybe four and six, they had traded so that no matter what, they’d always have each other. It was one night after Walburga had caught Regulus going over to Sirius’ room to sleep with him– She had told Regulus that grown up boys weren’t meant to go crying to their brothers after one bad dream. She sent him back to his room, but a few minutes later, Sirius came to him.

Regulus pulled the dog up from his trunk and tucked it under his arm, closing his eyes and trying to fall asleep. When that didn’t work, he sat up and dug through his trunk again, this time until he found a pair of sneakers. He pulled them on and quietly left the dorm.

In the day, Regulus walked through Hogwarts without being seen, at night it was just as easy. He crossed through the common room and out into the corridor. He walked up the stairs, avoiding portraits and ghosts that would alert Filch, and then he walked right out into the courtyard. In early September, it was still quite warm from summer, but the lack of the sun in the night sky made it colder. Regulus crossed his arms over his chest as he walked down to the quidditch field. He climbed up the risers and sat down in the same spot he’s been sitting in every night since second year.

The thing about night time Regulus likes most is the loneliness. While some people prefer the brightness and joys of daytime and being surrounded by people, Regulus does not. Daytime was too bright and too hot, you had to squint to see through the bright sunlight and you were constantly wiping sticky sweat from yourself. It was gross, really. Night was cool and calm, very quiet and easy to see through once your eyes have adjusted enough. Regulus liked the night, especially when those nights were full of clear skies, allowing the stars to illuminate the ground below. Tonight was a night like those, and so Regulus sat atop the Quidditch Pitch, staring at the stars. One star in particular was the reason Regulus chose the same spot to sit in every night. It was an easy star to spot, being the brightest in the sky, but from right here, Regulus had a perfect view of it.

“Hi, Sirius,” he mumbled up to the star, tugging his legs up to his chest as he sat staring up at the sky.