invisible string

Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at http://archiveofourown.org/works/55291330.

Rating: General Audiences

Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Category: M/M
Fandom: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Relationships: Regulus Black/James Potter, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Characters: Regulus Black, James Potter, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, Peter
Pettigrew, Barty Crouch Jr., Pandora Lovegood, Evan Rosier, Dorcas
Meadowes
Additional Tags: Post-Hogwarts, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Marauders,
Miscommunication, one bed trope, Curses, Complicated Relationships,
Sirius is so protective of Regulus, Barty is a guard dog, I neglected
assignments to write this, Quidditch, Remus is a mastermind, Pandora
and Regulus' relationship is everything to me, miscommunication!,
Angst, Eventual Romance, Happy Ending, Panic Attacks, Pining, Mutual
Pining, Minor/background wolfstar, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Desi James
Potter, POV Regulus Black, Not Beta Read, Established Sirius
Black/Remus Lupin
Language: English
Series: Part 1 of invisible string: the anthology
Stats: Published: 2024-04-18 Words: 16,318 Chapters: 2/2
 invisible string
by moonysdustymarsbars

Summary

Regulus Black wakes up one morning to find himself in James Potter's bed in the Gryffindor
tower. It isn't until it happens again that he questions whether his bed is cursed or if fate is
pushing them together.

Notes

tws:
swearing, panic attacks, assumed homophobia (no actual homophobia)
 Chapter 1
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes

It wasn’t unlike Regulus to sleep in on the weekends. In fact, if he could sleep in every
morning he would. However, it was nearing the end of the Quidditch season and every
weekday the Slytherin captain had them up and out of bed at the crack of dawn for training in
preparation for their final match against Gryffindor. Slytherin had pulled the short end of the
stick and got to train for an hour from 5am. Then the pitch was stormed by the Gryffindor
team until 7am, after which the Great Hall opened for breakfast.

However, it wasn’t like Barty and Evan to leave Regulus to enjoy his sleep-ins. Every
weekend like clockwork his friends would attempt to wake him up just to annoy him—their
favourite pastime—often ending with Regulus hexing the both of them before locking his
curtains and using a spell to muffle out their protests.

That was how Regulus knew something was wrong before his conscious mind could even
comprehend the situation he was in.

The first thing he noticed was that his head was resting on something much harder and more
elevated than his pillow, and he knew his pillows well. He had been forced to get used to the
uncomfortable abominations Hogwarts called ‘pillows’ for the last six years. However, what
was unusual about his not-pillow was that it rose up and down slowly in rhythmic
movements, as if following a pattern.

Once he fully reached consciousness he made the logical decision to keep his eyes squeezed
shut. It was then that he focused enough to notice that there was an arm looped around his
waist with a hand lying on his back. Regulus found one of his legs was cradled between what
felt like two muscular thighs. What the fuck had happened last night? He remembered
passing out in his bed after gossiping with Pandora, Dorcas, Barty and Evan. He was still in
his bed, right? He didn’t want to open his eyes to check, scared of what he would find.

Merlin, had Barty crawled into his bed again? He hadn’t done that in about two years. No,
this chest felt too muscular to be Barty’s. Barty was lean, much like Regulus himself and
when he used to sneak into Regulus’ bed, they slept back to back, not on top of each other.
Definitely not Barty, then. But then who was Regulus lying on top of?
When he finally gathered the courage to open his eyes a shiver immediately ran down his
body. There was no fucking way. Those were maroon curtains that were drawn closed around
the bed he had somehow ended up in. How the fuck had he ended up here in a Gryffindor bed
in a Gryffindor dorm?

Without moving his head he tried to examine the situation now. It was a brown chest he was
currently using as a pillow and Regulus immediately wanted to scream. No. No. No. It
couldn’t be. But his fears were confirmed as he slowly—ensuring not to wake the Gryffindor
boy—turned his head to look at the owner of the chest.

James Potter’s glasses weren’t on his face, likely folded up and placed on the table beside the
bed (if Regulus was to assume the Gryffindor dorm was anything like his own). It was
obvious to him that his brother’s best friend was still fast asleep, his eyes shut and a small
furrow between his eyebrows. His lips were pressed together and Regulus just wanted to be
back in his dorm where he could scream into a pillow—a real pillow that he was suddenly
deprived of. Because how could it be fair that a boy—no less a Gryffindor and his brother’s
best friend—could have lips that soft and inviting.

The fates must be laughing at him right now, placing him in the bed of the boy he both hated
and fancied. James Potter was just so infuriating but also so attractive while he was driving
Regulus up the wall. It was stupid enough that Regulus had caught a liking to the boy
considering he had not had more than two interactions with him and they hadn’t even said a
word to each other during said interactions. Those were just times where Sirius had stopped
Regulus in the corridor with James at his side, all smiles and positivity like the ray of
sunshine Sirius had described him as.

It had been months since that interaction and since then Sirius had left the Black family to
live with the Potters, ultimately straining the relationship between the brothers. Yet, one look
at James Potter and the butterflies in his stomach returned even if his brain forced him to
place an expression of indifference on his face.

Regulus held his breath as James’ arm around his waist grew tighter in his sleep, forcing
Regulus impossibly closer to the muscular body. James’ other hand still remained thrown
over his forehead, hiding his messy curls from Regulus’ view but also making him look like a
lady who had passed out and collapsed onto the bed. He wanted to laugh at the sight but
decided to swallow his amusement for fear it would stir the sleeping beauty.
He needed to figure out how to get out of this situation quickly but still ensuring that he did
not disturb the sleeping beauty who was completely oblivious to Regulus’ fretting. His worry
was getting James’ hand off of his waist without stirring him, which was going to be hard
considering the position he was in. At this point he just wanted to get it over with, just pull
away fast and dart out the curtains and run as fast as he could back to the safety of his dorm.
Honestly, it wouldn’t be a bad idea considering sleeping beauty likely wouldn’t be able to
work out who he was between his sleepiness and lack of glasses. However, he was still in his
brother’s dorm and Regulus particularly didn’t want to run into him as he was fleeing the bed
of his brother’s best friend like a walk of shame after a one night stand. Which definitely had
not happened. Or at least, Regulus didn’t think that happened. He moved his hand to his
thigh, feeling around for the fabric of his pyjama pants. He sighed in relief. Nope, he was still
very much clothed and as much as he believed, James Potter was very much straight.

Regulus almost jumped out of his skin as he heard Sirius say, “Prongs? You up yet?”

His jumping had jostled James and the arm around his waist loosened slightly, enough that
Regulus could scramble up so that his knees were on either side of the boy's waist. It was the
only place he could be that wasn’t lying half on top of him. The Gryffindor was broader than
Barty and lying on his back, he took up almost all of the space on the bed. Regulus was
looking down at the boy's face with a desperate plea when James finally opened his eyes,
with Regulus hoping that without his glasses the boy could still figure out what he was
silently trying to tell him. Don’t give me away. The boy squinted his eyes at him, looking just
as confused as Regulus felt, likely trying to figure out who was on top of him at the moment.
If all he could see was blobs of colour, then it was likely that he thought it was Sirius and was
confused at hearing his best friend’s voice outside of the curtain. They had the same
colouring, after all, and obviously it wouldn’t be strange for the boy to find Sirius in his bed.
Sirius Black was a clingy person.

James Potter finally spoke after several seconds of silence, in a voice that was so deep that
Regulus wanted to curse the fates for letting him hear James Potter’s morning voice because
he would never forget it. “Yeah Pads, I’m up. Just give me a few more minutes. I still need to
wake up.”

Regulus wanted to applaud the Gryffindor for his thinking even in his still-sleepy state.
Merlin, if he had agreed and tried to climb out with Regulus still on top of him… Regulus
shivered at the thought.
“But it’s pancake breakfast! You might want to hurry before they are all gone,” Sirius
whined.

“You go on with Moony and Wormy, I’ll catch up. Save me a few, won’t you?”

“Fine. But if you take too long and they run out, you can’t blame me for eating them or
handing them off to Pete,” Sirius said rather petulantly.

When he heard the door to the dorm close, Regulus exhaled one of the biggest breaths of his
life. He had been scared at the thought that Sirius would hear him breathe and just know that
his little brother was hiding behind the curtains by that alone. They had grown up together
and learnt each other’s breathing under the parenting of Walburga and Orion Black.

Regulus went to climb off of the boy, hand already reaching for the curtain, planning to go
back to his plan of darting out quickly and running away before his identity could be
discovered. It wasn’t like Regulus was to blame for this situation; as far as he knew and
remembered he hadn’t intentionally climbed into James’ bed. He didn’t even know the
password to get into the Gryffindor common room!

But as he moved one of his legs a large hand had gripped his waist, pinning him down so he
couldn’t go anywhere. Shit. He watched as the Gryffindor had reached his free hand through
the gap between the wall and the curtain, pulling his glasses back through the gap and placing
them on his face.

He wanted to cover his own face with both of his hands to stop the boy from seeing his
flushed cheeks. Yet, the need to see the boy’s reaction to his identity somehow overpowered
his embarrassment. He saw the moment James recognised him, his face narrowed in
confusion for a second before turning into pure shock, like he couldn’t believe who was in his
bed.

Regulus, not wanting his cheeks to grow even more red from the guy he fancied staring at
him any longer, he cleared his throat. “Are you going to let me go or…?”
He would’ve threatened to hex him but he didn’t have his wand with him. Which further
proved that Regulus consciously would not have put himself in this situation because he
didn’t go anywhere without his wand, except for when he was playing Quidditch. It was too
much of a bother on the pitch.

“Sorry,” James winced, releasing Regulus’ waist and using the same hand to run it through
his hair, “just didn’t want you running off before I knew for sure who you were.”

“Right,” Regulus replied, “because you must have plenty of people straddling you this early
in the morning.”

James frowned but Regulus ignored him, clearing his throat to tell the Gryffindor, “Well if
that’s cleared up I’m going to go then.”

He had suddenly become very aware of the hard length underneath him that he definitely did
not want to think about in fear that it would provoke his own arousal. It wasn’t like this was a
reaction to Regulus specifically, it was just a typical morning erection for any teenage boy.

Regulus pressed his hands on James’ lower stomach to steady himself as he swiftly swung
his leg over James’ waist and immediately regretted where he placed his hands because
James’ stomach housed muscles no boy his age should have. He pushed the curtains open
enough to slip through and immediately started towards the door. He had to get as far away
from the boy as possible, fearing that if he let the boy look too closely, he’d see all the secrets
he had bottled up within.

“Wait!” Regulus heard the Gryffindor call from behind him. He didn’t plan on stopping,
deciding to pretend he didn’t hear him until he heard James call out, “Regulus?”

Regulus stopped abruptly and he felt a chest slam into his back, sending him stumbling
forward. A strong hand gripped his arm, steadying him, and suddenly Regulus was facing
James again.

“What, Potter?” He said, forcing his face to remain indifferent. He pulled his arm out of
James’ hold and took a step back, putting some distance between them.
“Don’t you want to talk about this?” The Gryffindor asked.

“I would honestly prefer to forget this ever happened. I’m sure it was just a stupid prank and
as civil individuals, I’m sure we can part ways and never bring this up again.” Regulus
prayed that James couldn’t see through the mask he had carefully constructed.

The boy just looked into his face as if he could see Regulus’ mask crumbling. Please,
Regulus silently begged, just let me go.

Once James seemed to find whatever he was looking for in Regulus’ face he replied, “If that
is what you want.”

Regulus nodded and turned towards the door, feeling the hairs on the back of his neck stand
up from James’ stare as he left.

It was way easier than he thought, finding his way out of the Gryffindor common room even
with his green and black chequered pyjama pants. In any other circumstance where he had his
wand, he would have cast a disillusionment charm but he really didn’t need it, the common
room was completely deserted. It seemed Gryffindors all shared a mutual love for pancakes.
Much like Regulus’ friends.

Shit. What was he going to tell his friends? Surely by now, as they did every weekend, they
would have discovered Regulus’ empty bed. Hopefully they had forgotten to annoy him this
once and succumbed to their hunger for pancakes, meaning he was free to enter their dorm
without being questioned.

Of course that wasn’t the case, and he initially entered his dorm to what appeared to be an
empty room. The curtains were back on Evan’s and Barty’s beds and the bathroom door was
open, indicating that no one was in there. The curtains around Regulus’ were still closed, just
like he remembered doing the night before. The events of last night were still a total
mindfuck.
He decided to approach his bed as if it was the scene of a crime, afraid that if he touched it he
would be sent back to James’ bed. When he finally reached out to draw the curtains back, a
small shriek escaped him. Piled together on his bed was Barty, Evan, Pandora and Dorcas,
grinning at him with varying suspicious smiles.

“Look who finally decided to grace us with their presence,” Dorcas smirked.

“How was the walk of shame back from your mysterious lover?” Barty joined in.

“Oh bugger off, you lot,” Regulus said, annoyed with them. He was almost sure that they
were the culprits for the assumed prank. “So how’d you do it?”

Evan’s face dropped, no longer smiling at him. “What do you mean?”

“I mean,” Regulus emphasised, “which of you thought it would be funny to teleport me into
someone’s bed in the middle of the night?”

“WHAT?” They all shrieked collectively.

He frowned, looking around at all the amused and intrigued faces staring at him. He knew his
friends and it seemed like they genuinely had no idea what he was talking about. He didn’t
know whether to be pleased or annoyed by that. After all, if they didn’t do it then who did?

“You guys promise you had nothing to do with it?” He asked them.

Dorcas was the one to answer. “I know I didn’t but hats off to whoever did that’s a bloody
good prank. Better than anything those Marauders have ever done. Tell me, did you at least
sleep well?”

Pandora, ever the gossip, leaned forward. “Was he fit?”

“Yeah, does he rival James Potter’s beauty?” Dorcas snickered.

Regulus’ blood ran cold and it must have shown briefly on his face because Dorcas let up a
massive gasp. “NO FUCKING WAY!”

“Oh Merlin,” Pandora said, her hand flying up to cover your mouth.

“What? WHAT?” Barty asked frantically. “Someone fill me in!”

“Oh Barty,” Evan shook his head. “For someone so smart in school you can be so daft.
Whose bed do you think Regulus woke up in for his face to look like a tomato?”

Barty furrowed his nose like he did when he was concentrating on his thoughts. The others
sat for several seconds waiting for Barty to catch up. Eventually, it clicked in his head and he
shouted, “JAMES POTTER? NO WAY!”

Regulus scowled. “Why don’t you let the whole of bloody Slytherin know?”

“Pshhh,” Barty said, smacking his hand through the air to show that he isn’t worried,
“everyone’s gone to get breakfast.”

“That’s a good idea,” Regulus told them, desperate to change the subject, “let’s go before
they’re all gone.”

“No way,” Evan shook his head. “We are all staying here until you fill us all in on you
waking up in the bed of the guy you fancy.”

Regulus groaned, “It’s not fair you guys know I fancy him. I was coerced into telling you
about him in a game of Veritaserum or dare.”
“A consensual game of Veritaserum or dare,” Dorcas corrected, “and we would have figured
it out eventually, you are so bloody obvious about it.”

“I am not!”

“You are,” Barty and Evan said together before snapping their heads towards each other and
saying in unison, “jinx!”

“Enough,” Pandora said. “Spill Regulus before I die from anticipation.”

He sighed, “There isn’t anything to tell. I woke up in Potter’s bed and at the first opportunity
I ran back here.”

“So you guys didn’t even speak?” Pandora said, sounding unconvinced.

“I told him I wanted to forget it happened and he agreed.”

Everyone in the room aside from Regulus groaned.

“You bloody idiot,” Dorcas reprimanded. “That was your in!”

“There is no ‘in’ with a straight guy who woke up and looked at me with confusion.”

“As if you wouldn’t be confused if Potter landed in your bed.”

“That’s different.”
“It’s not.”

“It doesn’t matter. All I care about is finding out how this happened and ensuring it won’t
happen again.”

“Sounds like your bed’s cursed,” Evan said. “Wonder how that happened.”

Dorcas hummed in agreement, “Sounds like something Mulciber or Snape would do but it
seems like whoever did it wanted to play matchmaker. Honestly Reg, it sounds like they were
doing you a favour.”

“I don’t even care about who did it until after my bed is fixed. Then I’ll worry about getting
my revenge.”

“If you want I’ll trade beds with you for tonight,” Barty said, smirking, “I would love to
wake up in the bed of a fit bloke.”

Regulus scowled at him, considering hexing his friend for opening his mouth.

“Not a chance of that happening,” Evan chuckled. “Regulus wouldn’t risk you landing in
Potter’s bed and managing to steal him.”

“Then can I climb into your bed tonight?” Barty attempted to give Evan puppy dog eyes.
“Then you can experience waking up with a fit bloke.”

Evan shoved at Barty and turned his face away, but Regulus could still see the blush on his
friend’s face as he told Barty. “You’re the one who’d be waking up with a fit bloke.”

“Is that a yes then Ev?”

“Yes.”

“Really?”

“No.”

“Ouch,” Barty said, clutching his chest. “You wound me.”

Once his friend’s had heard every detail—or at least believed they had—they had all gathered
their wands and were casting various spells at Regulus’ bed, trying to figure out how it had
been tampered with. It didn’t matter what revealing charm they cast on or how many spells
they directed at the bed, nothing revealed itself.

“It’s no use,” Evan said, dropping his hand that was holding his wand to his side.

Pandora turned towards Regulus, “It might have worn off already, meant for a singular
occurrence. Unless it is something so strong we can’t pick up on it with a simple revealing
charm. But I don’t think any Slytherin students who have access to this dorm are smart
enough for that.”

“Whoever did this is smart. It must be similar to apparating but we can’t do that inside the
castle so I’m just so confused and now I’m worried that it will happen again,” Regulus told
her, biting at his lower lip.

“I wouldn’t worry,” Dorcas told him. “You shouldn’t let ‘maybes’ stop you from sleeping. If
it happens again then it happens again. Just think of it as fate pushing you and Potter
together.”

“I hope it doesn’t. I have Quidditch training every morning next week in the lead up to our
final game on Saturday.”
Barty was now trying to balance his wand on his head. “You don’t think Gryffindors
managed to sneak in and do this? They could be trying to sabotage Hogwarts’ best seeker
before the game.”

Evan shook his head. “Unless they unintentionally linked it to James’ bed. This is as much of
a prank on Reg as it is on Potter, there’s no way they would sabotage their captain and star
chaser.”

“Ugh,” Regulus cried, arms flying up in the air. “I need a distraction. I don’t want to think
about this anymore.”

Pandora climbed to her feet, “Should we go see what’s left at breakfast?”

_____________________

“Oh for fucks sake,” Regulus whispered in exasperation as he awoke on Sunday morning to
the sight of maroon curtains.

However, this time he wasn’t sprawled across James’ chest. No, it seemed that in his sleep,
James had moved so that he was the one half on top of Regulus. James had his left leg thrown
over his waist, pressing the front of his body against Regulus’ left side. The Gryffindor’s left
arm was thrown over his collarbone with his hand resting on the pillow beside Regulus’ head,
caging him in. He could feel James’ breath against his jaw as he breathed in and out in his
sleep, his head pressed close to Regulus’ neck.

Where James’ breath hit his neck Regulus could feel goosebumps that then spread all down
his body. He squirmed at the sensation, praying that James would roll off him in his sleep so
that he could make a silent exit without conversation, unlike what had happened yesterday
morning.

He eventually heard stirring and the sound of voices coming from outside of the curtain and
grew anxious at the thought of one of James’ friends—especially Sirius—ripping open the
curtains to find James wrapped tightly around Regulus like he was a baby koala. He didn’t
know whether James had used a locking charm on his curtains or a silencing charm on his
bed after what happened the day before, but it wasn’t like Regulus had his wand so he could
do it himself.

He heard Peter telling the other two Gryffindors that he was meeting a girl down for
breakfast before the door opened and closed. Now all that stood between him and his
freedom was Sirius and Remus—as well as the sleeping figure who had him pressed into the
mattress unable to move.

He heard Remus’ voice talking to Sirius, “Maybe we should let him sleep in without
disturbing him. He was acting off yesterday which could be a sign that he’s getting sick.”

“I just think we should at least tell him so he doesn’t get pissed when he wakes up and we
aren’t here.”

“Believe me,” Remus replied. “I don’t particularly think that will be on his mind when he
wakes up.”

Regulus frowned. What was that supposed to mean?

“What does that mean?” Sirius asked, voicing Regulus’ thoughts.

Remus sighed. “You know, he’s got Quidditch this Saturday to worry about. I’m sure he
won’t mind if we go to breakfast without telling him this once. He honestly should be
thankful we are letting him sleep in undisturbed.”

“I guess you’re right.”

“I’m always right, Pads.”

Sirius sighed dramatically, “What would I do without my perfect boyfriend?”

“Incur the wrath of James by waking him up?”

The sound of their voices disappeared with the click of the door and Regulus wasted no time
to wriggle one of his arms free to attempt to remove the arm across his collarbone. However,
once the arm was moved off his body and Regulus had begun to consider how he was going
to get James’ leg off his waist, James’ hand had made a reappearance on Regulus’ chest. The
chest that was now beating way too many times a minute. It was like his heart wanted to claw
its way out of his chest and personally feel the heat of James’ hand. All he could hope was
that his heartbeat could not be felt by James’ hand.

Fed up with this situation and the fact that his stomach was now growling with hunger,
Regulus prodded at James’ arm. “James,” he hissed.

“Reg’lus?” James slurred in his sleep, rubbing his nose into the crook of Regulus’ neck.

“You expecting someone else to have magically popped into your bed in the middle of the
night?”

James sighed as he woke up, “Back again?” His morning voice was just as deep as it was
yesterday morning and still evoked the same response in Regulus’ body.

“Not willingly,” Regulus replied, attempting to wriggle away so James’ breath was no longer
on his neck. He was not successful.

James sighed, “Shame.”

Shame? Shame? Was it a shame that Regulus was back in his bed again or was it a shame that
Regulus wasn’t willingly back? Regulus so desperately wanted to know even though his head
screamed at him what the obvious answer was.
“Do you mind getting off?” Regulus said, bucking his hips as if to emphasise his point. “I
have places to be.”

James sighed contently, still stuck between sleep and awake. “Can I have five more minutes?
I’m so tired and once I get up I won’t be able to go back to sleep.” He wiggled closer to
Regulus, as if he was trying to soak up more of the boy’s warmth. Regulus didn’t understand,
the Gryffindor was a bloody furnace that radiated heat. How could he want more?

Maybe if Regulus wasn’t so flustered from how intimate his and James’ positions were
throughout this conversation he would’ve said yes but he ultimately told the boy “no,” trying
to convince himself that it was for his own good.

James sighed and rolled away from Regulus, unhooking his leg from around his waist and
manoeuvring into a seated position on the edge of the bed. Regulus’ heart cried at the sudden
loss of warmth and feeling of security. The Gryffindor turned his head to look at Regulus,
raising an eyebrow as he made no move to get up. “I thought you had places to be?”

Regulus scowled and sat up, “I had to give my body time to adjust after I spent the night as
your personal pillow.”

“You didn’t see me complaining yesterday.”

“Maybe because I’m not built like a bloody Greek god!” Regulus snapped before his cheeks
flushed as he realised what he had just said. James’ mouth had warped into a small grin,
raising his eyebrow once again. “Oh, don’t look at me like that,” he told the smug Gryffindor,
“forget I said that.”

He climbed through the other side of the curtain, wincing as his feet hit the cool floorboards.
He suddenly wished he had his wand on him so he could cast a warming charm on his body.
The mornings were only getting colder and he was suddenly wishing he was still in James’
bed with the warmth of the boy pressed against his side.
James joined him on the other side of the curtain, standing in front of him and blocking his
pathway to the door.

Regulus scowled at him, “Do you mind?”

“Is this going to be a regular thing?” James asked, “or are we finally going to talk about this
so it doesn’t happen again?”

A selfish part of him wanted to tell the boy no so that he could enjoy these fleeting moments
with James and satisfy the part inside of him that longed for the closeness he got while he
was asleep, even if wasn’t conscious of it. But he knew that this couldn’t go on and so he told
James, “I assume this isn’t some prank on your end?”

“My end?” James asked, frowning before his face turned into a wide smile, “so you haven’t
been sneaking into the Gryffindor common room in the middle of the night to cuddle up to
me?”

Regulus’ mouth dropped open in outrage, “Y-you,” he sputted, “you think I would want to
sneak into my brother’s dorm into my brother’s best friend’s bed on purpose? Have you taken
a bludger to the head?”

James grinned, amused. How was this man always happy and smiling? “I just assumed you
were playing a prank on your brother, using me to get back at him while also benefiting from
cuddling me.”

Regulus scoffed, “Has anyone ever told you your ego is as big as the Black Lake. Seriously,
how do you walk when your head is that big from thinking everything revolves around you?
Not everyone is obsessed with you.”

James pouted in a clear attempt to rile Regulus up, “So you aren’t obsessed with me,
Reggie?”
“Don’t call me that,” Regulus told him, ignoring the butterflies that had started flitting around
in his stomach.

“But I like it,” James told him, grinning smugly.

Regulus took a deep breath in and clenched his teeth, “If you don’t want to talk about this
seriously, then I am going to go.” He pushed past James and started to walk towards the door
when a hand clutched his wrist and pulled him back, just as James had done the day before.

Did this boy know no personal space? He was like a golden retriever, needing to thrive on
physical contact no matter who the person was.

“Wait,” James said, his face no longer filled with a smile, “I’ll be serious, I really do want to
talk about this. Can we meet later today in the library to research?”

“I have plans today, as I have mentioned,” Regulus reminded him. “But I can do tomorrow
after classes?”

James nodded eagerly, “Yes. Yes. That sounds perfect.”

Regulus looked down at his wrist which was still engulfed by James’ larger hand, “Can you
release me? I need to go and try to sneak out of here without anybody seeing me.”

James let go and then ran a hand through his hair, “Oh, well the common room is quite busy
this time on Sundays…”

Regulus sighed, “Well that’s great. I don’t have my wand for a disillusionment charm and I
definitely don’t want to stay here for another second.”

James was suddenly quiet for a few seconds before turning around and reaching into his
trunk for a bundled piece of fabric. He hesitantly unfolded it before taking a step closer to
Regulus. “I can help with that.”

Regulus stared at the fabric curiously, “What is that?”

James pulled it around himself and promptly disappeared from view. Regulus gasped as the
boy turned invisible, his eyes darting around as if he would reveal himself at any moment.

“An invisibility cloak? Merlin, how did you get your hands on it?” He asked, still glancing
around the room with both caution and wonder. How long had James had that? How many
times had he used it around Regulus? Oh Salazar. What if he had heard some of the
embarrassing things his friends had said about his embarrassing crush on James?

“It’s a secret,” James whispered into his ear from behind him with a voice that sounded
almost seductive. Regulus jumped away with a yelp, swatting at the place the voice had come
from.

Regulus could hear James chuckling as he pulled the cloak off and was suddenly standing in
front of him again.

James cleared his throat. “The condition for using the cloak is that we are under it together. I
can’t exactly leave it in your hands not knowing whether you’ll return it or not.” The
Gryffindor sighed, likely a reaction to the appalled look on Regulus’ face. “We will fit and
it’s better than you being caught sneaking out of here in your chequered pyjamas.”

Regulus looked down at his pyjama pants and back up at James, scowling. He crossed his
arms in front of his chest, “Fine.”

James stepped in front of Regulus so that he could lead them out of here, he was the
Gryffindor here after all. The cloak was then thrown over the top of them and Regulus had to
squeeze close to James so that it covered them both. The realisation came to him that they
were going to struggle walking without completely tripping over and exposing themselves as
they fell down the staircase.
It seemed that James was already on top of it. “It’s easier if you wrap your arms around my
waist. You can match my footsteps better and we are less likely to fall.”

Regulus didn’t respond verbally or physically for several seconds, his body had decided to
completely shut down. He was going to be pressed up against James with his arms around his
waist. This was so similar to how they had woken up but yet so different. They would both be
awake during this.

James cleared his throat, “Or if you would rather not we can just walk really slowly. It might
take a while but it still works.”

Regulus slipped his arms around James’ waist, pressing his chest against the boy’s back.
James seemed to exhale shakily at the contact which caused something to sink in Regulus’
stomach. It probably disgusted him to have Regulus put his arms around him considering he
was a boy, a Slytherin, and his best friend’s brother.

“I’m going to start walking now,” James told him and then they were both walking towards
the door with synchronised footsteps. He had to give it to him, the Gryffindor wasn’t wrong
about the position they were in making it easier for them to walk, they were able to match
both the pace and the length of their footsteps.

The stairs were the trickiest bit as one false slip could send them tumbling down the bottom,
entangled together. That would definitely be a sight for the Gryffindors in the common room.
James talked him through it and they managed it step by step until they reached the bottom.
There was a mixture of students from different year groups in the common room, Regulus
recognised some of the students from his own year as well as the red hair of Lily Evans and
the blonde head of the girl Dorcas fancied.

Before they left James’ dorm the Gryffindor had explained to him that it was best to wait for
the portrait to open for students either exiting or entering the common room, so that the door
wasn’t opening and closing on its own. So when they reached the door they both stopped and
waited to the side. Luckily, they didn’t have to wait long until it was opening and three
familiar figures were spilling back into the room. Sirius was first through, followed by Peter
who was wincing and rubbing his behind. Finally, Remus entered with an amused smile on
his face.
“How’d you forget your wand, Petey?” Sirius asked, trying and failing to hold back a laugh.

“How was I supposed to know those nasty Slytherin gits were waiting around the corner to
hex my arse?” Peter complained, rubbing his behind with a scowl.

However, Remus had stopped in his tracks and was now looking to the side directly at where
James and Regulus were hidden under the invisibility cloak. He narrowed his eyes
suspiciously and Regulus’ blood ran cold. Surely Remus didn’t know they were there?
Regulus had seen the cloak at work and he wasn’t able to tell that James had snuck up on
him.

“You coming, Moony?” Sirius called out before whining, “Moooony!”

After a few more seconds of looking in their direction, Remus turned away with a small
smile on his face. “Yeah. I’m coming,” he told his boyfriend, “but no disturbing Prongs! Let
him sleep!”

“Fine!” Sirius replied, stubbornly, disappearing up the stairs towards his dorm.

Regulus and James slipped through the door, pulling the cloak off and heading down the
staircase before pushing open the portrait. They landed in the corridor and James pulled the
cloak around himself, leaving his head out so it looked like it was floating. Regulus was
immediately storming down the hallway, wanting to get far away before he was caught near
the Gryffindor tower.

“See you tomorrow, Reggie!” James called out from behind him.

Regulus didn’t give the Gryffindor the satisfaction of a response. And even if he did, his
voice was likely to come out as a stutter due to the response the nickname had evoked within
him. He didn’t let anyone call him ‘Reggie’ but somehow the name sounded so nice coming
from James’ mouth; his heart and his stomach surely agreed.
When Regulus finally returned to his dorm room, he pulled the curtains open around his bed
only to be met by four smiling faces.

“You guys have to stop doing that,” Regulus told his friends.

“Shhhh,” Pandora told him, patting the bed beside her, “sit and spill.”

_____________________

So far they hadn’t had any luck with finding any curse that directly linked to the nature of the
spell on his bed. They had been in the library for over an hour now, piles of books on the
desk between them as they scanned the pages for any clue on how to stop what was
happening to them.

He had woken once again in James’ bed, his body waking him up for Quidditch at its usual
time; 4:30am. They had been facing each other with their mouths inches apart as they lay
with both of their heads on the pillow. His arm was trapped underneath James’ body which he
had yanked out, stirring the Gryffindor from his state of rest. They hadn’t said anything that
morning before Regulus slipped out the curtains and disappeared, worried that if James
initiated a conversation then he would be late to Quidditch practice.

Regulus had learnt that James had the annoying habit of mumbling what he was reading
under his breath and even asking questions quietly to himself. Dorcas shared the same awful
habit but with James it just distracted him even more. He really didn’t need to hear James’
voice muttering constantly under his breath and drawing his attention away from the book in
front of him, causing his thoughts to slip away from him. In any normal circumstance he
would have been through double the amount of books than he had already but with James
sitting across from him, it was taking him so much longer. At least Regulus now knew to
avoid sitting near James when he was studying for his end of year exams.

To Regulus it was beginning to look like it was a layered curse, which meant it was going to
be harder to crack. It wasn’t just one singular thread of magic, it was likely a complex web of
different spells that were going to be harder to unravel. It explained why—like Pandora’s had
suggested—a simple revealing charm had not revealed any magical tampering of his bed to
him and his friends. However, there was still the possibility—and what Regulus hoped was
the case—that the curse was exclusive to one book that the perpetrator might still have in
their possession. But not knowing what book meant that they couldn’t go up to the librarian
and simply ask who had the book and when it was due back. Regulus didn’t have any
suspects but he knew to go to this much effort meant that the person either really hated him
or was desperate for a good laugh.

He and James had agreed to stop every twenty minutes to discuss their findings so far, but
they had yet to find any substantial lead. When Regulus was explaining the uselessness of the
book he was currently reading he took note of the thoughtless look behind James’ eyes as he
stared at Regulus’ face. “Potter!” he snapped, “are you even paying attention?”

James shook his head and his brown cheeks flushed with embarrassment. “Uh… yes. Sorry.
You said something about portations?”

“Portkeys!” Regulus sighed. “Which likely isn’t an option because they require Ministry
approval and no idiot will approve such a stupid portkey. And then there’s the fact that it
would have to have a specific time alteration on it because I can touch my bed just fine in the
middle of the day.”

“So, no luck again?” James asked, his gaze now fixed on the book in front of him instead of
on Regulus.

“Obviously,” Regulus slumped back in his chair. “Please tell me you found something
interesting?”

“Not in this book,” James shook his head, “But I was thinking, what about a Curse-breaker?”

Regulus immediately disagreed. “That would mean our parents would need to be informed of
the situation,” he gave James a pointed look.

“Oh, yeah,” James said, sitting back in his chair to mirror Regulus’ posture, “well that’s off
the table.”
Regulus pushed his chair back and stood up, James finally withdrew his eyes away from the
book in front of him to look up at Regulus. “Are you leaving?” he asked, his eyes wide with
fear which Regulus assumed was due to the fact that James believed he was giving up and
leaving. Because Merlin forbid this ordeal went on any longer.

“I’m just going to go check the enchantment section again to see if we missed anything.”

“Oh, okay,” James replied. “You’ll let me know when you are leaving, right?”

“Scared I’ll run off without telling you?” Regulus asked, his voice flat.

“Isn’t that what you’ve been trying to do for the past three mornings?” Regulus frowned at
the tone of James’ voice. Why did he sound angry when he said that? Did James suspect that
Regulus had something to with this?

Regulus decided that it was best he didn’t reply to James’ comment as it would likely end in
an altercation that would not help them in breaking the curse. Instead, he walked further
towards the back of the library where the enchantment sections were, scanning the shelves for
any book that looked useful. James stayed back at the table they had claimed in one of the
hidden corners of the library, safe from the prying eyes and curious students. The last thing
he needed was to be spotted with James and have Sirius or any of the bigoted Slytherin
students on his back.

He had grabbed a green book off the shelf which had ‘Complex Charms and How to Break
Them’ down the spine. It was an older book that had that worn edges and a distinct musty
smell that tickled his nose, threatening a sneeze. He tucked it into the crook of his arm and
continued walking along the length of the shelves, pulling out books and returning them to
the shelves when they didn’t seem to contain anything of use.

“You find anything?” James called out, his voice sounding like it was getting closer.

Several seconds later he felt a hand on his shoulder and Regulus spun around, pulling his
wand out of his pocket and aiming it at the offender’s throat. He sighed when he was met
with the shocked face of James, who raised both his hands in the air beside his head in
surrender. Regulus pocketed his wand again and turned back towards the shelf.

He extended the book behind him towards James, “This one has the potential to be of use.”

“Ah, Cornelius Agrippa,” James said and Regulus heard him flip through the pages of the
book. “He’s quite a smart and well-known author. Surely there’s something useful in here.”

Regulus once again pulled another book out, flipping to the contents page and then returning
it to the shelf with an exasperated noise. He turned around to face James again, hand reaching
out for the book he had given the boy which the Gryffindor wasted no time in handing over.

“I think this one’s it,” he told James.

“What about this one?” James stepped closer and reached up to pull out a book somewhere
above Regulus’ head. Of course this meant that their bodies were inches apart and James’
head was hovering above his own as his arm stretched out to reach a book two shelves above
them. Regulus tilted his head up to admire the boy’s face without being caught. From this
angle, Regulus could see James’ eyelashes, long and dark like he had some of that muggle
makeup Dorcas and Pandora used on them. He could also see the small beauty mark on his
cheek, and he already knew there was a second one just above James’ eyebrow. This boy was
like a work of art that Regulus, as an artist, wanted to paint. He wanted to draw every little
detail of James’ perfection, just as the fates had surely intended.

When James rocked back from his toes flat onto his feet with a satisfied noise he didn’t
immediately step back like Regulus expected him to. Regulus had already looked away from
James’ face to stop being caught openly ogling the boy. He reached out to take the book, his
hand brushing James’ by accident in the process.

He flicked open the front page to scan the contents. “There’s a section on cursing furniture. If
it’s not repeating what we found in the other book, then we might find something telling. Did
you find anything in the section on curses about the specific nature of cursing objects?”
When didn’t get a response, he looked up at the Gryffindor, startled at how intently James
was staring at him. “James? Are you okay?”
James’ eyes scanned Regulus’ face in a way that somehow felt sensual even though it
obviously wasn’t. This was James Potter after all. He didn’t have a queer bone in his body.
But once James’ eyes seemed to hover on his lips for a lingering moment, all Regulus could
think about was kissing James. He could just imagine reaching out to grab the boy’s red tie
and pulling him in for a snog.

James leaned the tiniest, most miniscule movement closer and Regulus’ body just went on
autopilot. He dropped the books out of his hands, not even caring as they landed with a thud.
All he could think as he surged forward was a chant of James James James James in his
head. Because the boy was standing there, glancing at his face and looking so kissable that
Regulus couldn’t stop himself. James was a forbidden fruit, and Regulus was a starved man.
James was a prized jewel, and Regulus the thief. James was the sun, and Regulus was a star
only able to see him at sunset and sunrise. But even in their fleeting moments together he
wanted to bathe in his sunlight.

Regulus’ mind acknowledged that James had let out a gasp as he collided with him, hands
clutching Regulus’ waist to stop himself from stumbling backward and falling over. Regulus
didn’t care how stupid he was as he pressed his mouth against James’, closing his eyes tightly
and trying to enjoy the first—and last time—he would be kissing James Potter. Hey! He
might as well be greedy. When James opened his mouth to gasp, Regulus took the
opportunity to slip his tongue inside and tease the other boy’s mouth. The kiss was heat, it
was fire, it was lust. It was Regulus giving into what his heart had been screaming at him for
the last few years of his life, reigniting in his chest for the first time on Saturday morning
after his brother left and he blamed James for it.

It wasn’t until he felt James tense that it sunk in that James was not straight and he did not
fancy Regulus. Merlin, Regulus had just assaulted the boy he fancied! He pulled back
abruptly, walking backwards until his feet hit the books and he had fallen into the shelf. He
caught himself with one hand, using the other to halt James, who had moved forward to help
him. His hand was trembling and he lifted it to his mouth in pure horror. What had he done?

“Don’t,” he told the Gryffindor, too ashamed to look at his face as James tried to take another
step towards him.

“What was that, Regulus?” James asked, his voice sounded confused, too high pitched.
“What does this mean?”
“Don’t,” Regulus reiterated, his voice shrinking into more of a whisper.

“What was that?” James said again, forcefully. “What was that?”

“Don’t,” Regulus repeated, his voice sounding so much smaller. “Please.”

“I don’t understand,” James said. “What was that? Do you—”

A loud sob escaped Regulus unwillingly. “I’m sorry,” he said brokenly. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,
I’m sorry.”

He sunk against the shelf and brought both hands to hide his face, wishing the books would
swallow him up. He could feel tears escape his eyes and another sob emerged from beneath
his hands.

“Are you crying?” James said, his voice suddenly softer. “I didn’t mean to make you cry.
Please stop. I’m sorry.”

Out of the corner of his eye he saw James reach toward him and Regulus shrunk even further
away from him, curling inwards toward himself and swatting at the boy’s hand. He finally
looked up at James’ face, wiping furiously at his traitorous tears. The Gryffindor looked a
mix between shock and guilt, which only cracked Regulus’ heart further.

Oh Merlin, Regulus thought to himself, Sirius. James was undoubtedly going to tell his best
friend that his little brother kissed him and shatter whatever remaining relationship stood
between Sirius and Regulus. He hadn’t thought of that in the moments leading up to his
idiotic decision to kiss James. He was going to lose his brother over this and likely out
himself to the whole school. It hurt enough knowing that James was going to look at him
with disgust but the consequences of his actions hit him at full force. He just wanted to curl
up into a ball and cry. He wanted—needed—Pandora here to comfort him.
“I’m sorry,” he said once more, weakly, before turning and running out of the library not
responding to James calling out his name as he left. He ignored the shouts of the librarian for
him running in the library, it wasn’t likely he would be returning soon anyway. He didn’t
think he had ever run so fast in his life as he sprinted towards the Dungeons, to the only safe
space in a time like this. He didn’t care that he left the books behind, or his notes on his
findings, all that mattered was that he was in a place where he was unreachable to James and
Sirius.

He burst through the door to the Slytherin common room, ignoring the shouts of Dorcas,
Barty and Evan as he ran towards his dorm room, slamming the door behind him and sinking
down the back of the door, knees against his chest. The door handle wiggled and the wood
pressed behind him as they tried to get in.

“Reg, what happened?” Evan asked, worry soaking his voice.

“Please open the door,” Dorcas begged.

“Who do I need to kill?” Barty asked, his voice murderous.

“Not the time Barty,” Evan sighed.

“I’m not joking,” Barty replied.

Regulus managed out one broken word in his panicked state, “Dora.” It was a request.

“I’ll go,” he heard Evan say, it was his sister after all, “I don’t want Barty loose in the
corridors.”

Regulus didn’t comprehend any of the words or the questions Dorcas and Barty said to him
following that. His brain seemed to have shut down once his panic attack ended. It was like
he was underwater and hands were pulling him deeper. He was drowning inside his own
head.
He didn’t keep track of how long it took for a soft knock to sound on the door behind his
head and snap him out of it. “Reg?” Pandora’s soft voice asked through the door, “do you
want me to come in or stay out here? If you can’t talk, just knock twice for me to come in and
once for me to stay out.”

Regulus knocked twice and scooted away from the door so that he wasn’t blocking the door
for Pandora. He heard her hushed voice likely talking to their other friends before the door
opened slowly and she slipped through, shutting the door behind her with a soft click. He was
now sitting with his head resting against Evan’s bed, obviously not wanting to go anywhere
near his own.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Pandora asked softly, reaching out to pull his hand away from
his face, interlacing their fingers together in her lap.

“I fucked up,” Regulus told her, voice shaky from crying, “I’ve now lost him and Sirius.”

“Deep breaths,” she reminded him. “What happened?”

“I kissed him,” Regulus said with a whimper, “and his face,” he hiccupped another sob, “he
was disgusted with me.”

“Oh, Reg,” Pandora said, squeezing his hand, “you are such a lovely person who deserves the
world. You are not disgusting and he should be over the moon that he was the object of your
affection.”

“What am I going to do?” Regulus asked with his trembling voice.

“You are going to be strong like I know you are,” Pandora told him firmly. “If he can’t
cherish you like the treasure you are then it is entirely his loss.”
 Regulus cried softly into Pandora’s lap, her hand running through his hair and giving him
words of affection and comfort. They lay there for what felt like an hour, although Regulus
didn’t think he could trust his sense of time in the state he was in. He heard his fellow
students walking down the corridor outside his dorm to head off to dinner and he also heard
them return. Pandora didn’t ask him whether they wanted to go get dinner, they just sat there
in a bubble where the only sounds were Regulus’ broken sobs and Pandora’s whispers of how
much she loved him.

His friends eventually returned and knocked on the door with Dorcas’ voice being the one to
call out, “Reg?”

“Can they come in?” Pandora asked him.

Regulus merely nodded in response and Pandora called out to them.

His friends entered and sat down opposite them, Evan holding a stack of parchment and a
quill which he placed in the space between them. Regulus immediately recognised them as
his notes and quill that he had left on the table in the library. Surely James hadn’t handed
them over? They didn’t have Regulus’ name on them.

“A first year Slytherin gave them to us,” Dorcas said, noticing the bewildered expression on
his face. Regulus’ shoulders slumped.

The thought then crossed his mind: what was he going to do tonight?

Chapter End Notes

This was meant to be a short one shot but I kind of got carried away which is why I split
it into two chapters because it is my personal preference when reading to not have to
scroll for ages :)
 Chapter 2
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes

That night, Regulus was lying in his bed and refusing to let himself fall asleep. He was
planning to stay up all night, eyes fixed on a clock until he inevitably teleported into James’
bed. Screw Quidditch practice, it wasn’t like his captain could bench him for the game on
Saturday, their team couldn’t win without Regulus as their seeker.

It was exactly midnight when he blinked and appeared in James’ bed, laying on his side as he
had been in his own bed. He immediately sat up and reached for the wand that he had stuffed
in his sock so he had access to it when he teleported here. James had begun to stir and
Regulus didn’t need to be confronted by James in the middle of the night so he pointed his
wand and uttered a sleeping charm, sending the Gryffindor back to unconsciousness.

He then scrambled out of the bed and through the curtains, praying that none of James’ dorm
mates were still awake or out of their beds. Once he was sure it was clear, he walked briskly
towards the door and ran down the stairs once the door was clicked shut behind him.

He avoided all Gryffindors on Tuesday during the day, flanked on either side by Pandora and
Evan. Barty talked ahead with a scowl on his mouth and his wand in his head, making sure
the coast was clear with the assurance that he would cast hexes first and ask questions later.
Dorcas trailed behind them when her classes were in the same place, making sure no one
snuck up on them from behind. Regulus had an immense fear that James had told his friends
and the whole Gryffindor house, and had thus prepared himself to be hexed left and right and
spat at for his actions.

Dorcas had admitted that James had attempted to approach her after one of their classes
together, chasing her down the hallway but she had shut him down quickly with a wave of
her wand, uttering a jelly-legs jinx that made him collapse.

It was late in the afternoon on Tuesday and he had hidden himself in an alcove with a book,
tucked into the corner out of sight to anyone passing by when he heard two familiar voices in
the corridor. He held his breath as Pete and Remus conversed with each other, waiting to hear
whether two other voices joined them. However, it seemed that it was only the two of them.
They seemed to have stopped just outside the alcove where Regulus was hidden and he could
now make out their conversation.

“I agree, James has been acting quite strange,” Regulus picked up on Peter telling Remus.

“Did you see him try talking to the Slytherin girl that Marlene likes?” Remus asked.

“That was strange. What do you think that was about?”

“Hmm, not quite sure. I think James had a question to ask her.”

“What about?” Peter asked.

“I think he was looking for someone.”

“A Slytherin?”

“Possibly, that is her house after all.”

“Whatever for?”

“I think something happened on Monday, he’s been out of sorts since then,” Remus told his
friend.

“He get hexed by a Slytherin or something?”

“James seemed guilty. I think he wanted to talk about something. Don’t think it was
something about a spell.”

“Well I hope he gets it sorted out, I want James back to his normal self.”

“What, pining and sappy about the person he likes?” Remus asked.

Regulus recoiled at that. James liked someone? No wonder he got so upset and disgusted that
Regulus kissed him. James was already chasing someone else. Was it that Lily girl he had
liked a couple of years ago? Regulus wanted to cry all over again.

Peter groaned, “He needs to make a move before I lose my mind. It’s always ‘they have such
pretty hair’ and ‘have you seen their eyes?’ Makes my stomach churn.”

Remus joined in, “‘They looked at me today’ and ‘do you think they will like my haircut?’
Merlin that boy is a lost puppy.”

Their voices disappeared further down the hallway and Regulus was left with a new sense of
dread.

He stayed up again on Tuesday night, sneaking out again once his head hit James’ pillow.

______________________

It did not go as Regulus planned on Wednesday. He had stayed up as he had Monday and
Tuesday night, planning to dart out before James woke up, using a charm or hex if necessary.
However as the clock struck midnight, signalling it was now considered early Thursday
morning, he popped into James’ bed.

What he was not expecting was that James would be waiting for him to appear as well. The
second Regulus appeared in James’ bed, the Gryffindor boy had flipped them so that Regulus
was caged in with James looming above him. James’ hips were pressed against Regulus’
waist pinning him to the mattress with both of his hands on Regulus’ shoulders.

James leaned his face close to his, a deep bite to his voice when he told Regulus, “We need to
talk.”

Regulus bucked his hips up in an attempt to push the boy off. “I don’t want to talk to you,” he
hissed at the boy. “Let me go!”

“Regulus. Regulus,” James said with a desperate plea, digging his hips further into Regulus’
waist in an attempt to keep him still. “I need to talk to you.”

Regulus still writhed and squirmed under James as he told him, “Potter, I’m tired and I need
to go back to my bed.”

“Stay,” James asked him, almost sounding like he was begging. “Stay. Please. I just want to
talk.”

Merlin James could be so cruel. Regulus really didn’t want to stick around to hear James tell
him that he wasn’t queer and he was disgusted that Regulus kissed him.

“I don’t want to, James. Why can’t you understand that?”

“I just want to tell you that—”

Regulus did not want to hear James finish his sentence, suddenly remembering that he had
moved his wand to someone more accessible than his sock. It wasn’t comfortable but he
would rather be safe when something like this happened. He pulled his wand from where he
shoved it up his sleeve, pointing it at James and uttering a stinging hex. It startled James and
gave Regulus enough adrenaline to gather the strength and flip them so that James was now
the one pinned to the mattress. Returning his wand to James’ chest, he cast a body-bind.
Knowing that it would hold long enough for Regulus to escape, he darted through the
curtains, the silencing charm James’ had cast on his bed blocking out any sounds or words
that James might have directed at him.

His heart was racing as he ran back to his dorm, continuously casting glances over his
shoulder worried he would see James’ figure chasing him. He narrowly avoided Mrs Norris,
who was patrolling the hallways for students who were out of bounds—like him.

______________________

On Thursday night he got in position on his bed before he teleported, preparing himself to
drop directly on James’ lap, straddling him as they had done the night before. His wand was
in his hand, pointing to where James’ neck would be when he appeared above him.

Midnight came and as expected, he landed on James. However, he had miscalculated where
he would land. Instead of landing on his stomach, across those Greek God-like muscles
James had, he landed directly on James’ lap. James was awake again, his eyes staring down
Regulus with an intense determination.

Regulus, skittish at the contact between his and James’ lower halves, wiggled up onto the
Gryffindor's stomach shuddering at the sensation he felt as he brushed James' substantial
bulge in his pyjama pants. James let out a low groan at the contact and Regulus paused at the
noise, frozen in shock. James too froze like a deer in the headlights, his cheeks flushing in
embarrassment.

Regulus used a body-bind spell again, not seeing the need to knock James out with a sleeping
spell. If the Gryffindor opened his mouth, he would just bind it shut with another spell.
Maybe James would finally get the hint and leave Regulus alone. He already had plans to
resume his research on his own in the library under the careful watch of his friends. He didn’t
need the help of the Gryffindor anyway, if anything Regulus was guaranteed to work faster
and more efficiently without the mumbling Gryffindor and the sneaking around the library to
not get caught together.

Really, it was all for the best.

Even if deep down inside Regulus wanted an excuse to see James stare intently at his face as
he explained his findings in the book he was reading.

______________________

On Friday night Regulus landed in James’ bed to find the boy was fast asleep, seemingly
having given up on trying to stay awake to talk to Regulus, or perhaps James wanted his
sleep before the Quidditch game. Regulus still cast a body bind, anxious that James could stir
and continue attempting to press him for answers. As much as he wished to never see James’
face again due to his own fear and embarrassment, it was impossibly hard to avoid someone
when a magic curse-charm-thing dropped him in the person’s bed at midnight every night.

Before he snuck out, he took the time to study James’ face as he was sleeping. He noticed the
remnants of dark circles under James’ eyes. Good, Regulus thought, at least I’m not the only
one suffering from tiredness. But even with the circles under his eyes James had an angelic
glow to him. It wasn’t fair really. Between the crying and the lack of sleep Regulus knew he
looked terrible.

Regulus shook his head and tore his eyes away from the sleeping figure, climbing out the
curtain to his feet and promptly freezing as he met the eyes of someone exiting the bathroom.
How could he have been so careless? Remus froze—his face not revealing his reaction to the
situation—and placed a finger to his lips before pointing at the dorm door. Understanding
what he meant, Regulus walked towards it and started down the stairs towards the Gryffindor
common room, Remus following closely behind him.

Remus cleared his throat as Regulus continued walking towards the door in the common
room that would take him out of Gryffindor territory. Regulus paused and reluctantly turned
towards Remus, not daring to meet the eyes of his brother’s boyfriend. Was this where he was
finally cornered by a Gryffindor and made accountable for his actions on Monday? But hey,
at least it was Remus and not Regulus’ brother.

Remus raised an eyebrow. “You want to explain to me why I just found you sneaking out of
James’ bed just past midnight?”

“It’s nothing like that,” Regulus said quickly.

“Sure it is,” Remus said amused.

What did that mean? Did Remus not know? Regulus frowned, “I’m being serious.”

“I would hope not. That’s your brother.”

He scoffed, “Very funny. I thought you would be above those stupid jokes.”

Remus folded his arms across his chest. “Keep talking.”

Regulus bit his bottom lip, debating coming clean. He then landed on the realisation that
telling Remus the truth would be better than leaving him to make his own assumptions.
“There is some magical curse on my bed that teleports me in Potter’s bed at midnight every
night.”

“And how long has this been happening?”

“Exactly a week. I woke up for the first time in James’ bed last Saturday.”

“And you’ve snuck out like this every morning?”

“Well… no.” Regulus hesitated, “Only the past few.”

“Why’s that?” Remus asked, sounding genuinely curious.

“Something happened. Something that I will not talk about.” He said firmly.
The boys stood in silence, a calculated look on Remus’ face. The sick feeling in Regulus’
stomach had begun back in the Gryffindor room when Remus emerged from the bathroom

Eventually Remus said, “Can I ask you something?”

“Depends what it is.”

“If you really don’t enjoy waking up in James’ bed why don’t you just not?”

“‘Not?’” Regulus asked, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

“You could sleep in another bed or get a new bed that isn’t cursed?” Remus offered.

“I suppose. But I like my bed,” Regulus said. “Or I used to like my bed. Haven’t exactly got
to use it the past week.” Did Regulus want to admit that he was selfish and wanted an excuse
to see James’ face? No. So he settled on a reason that wasn’t entirely false.

Remus looked at him with suspicion, “Did something bad happen between you two? He
didn’t hurt you, did he?”

“Salazar, no!” He exclaimed before adding, “More… awkward?”

“What? You guys kiss or something?” Remus laughed before watching Regulus’ face grow
uncomfortable. “Oh. Oh.”

“Please, don’t tell Sirius.” Regulus asked him, even though it was likely Sirius already knew
and was plotting his downfall at any second.
“I won’t,” Remus promised. “So what, he kissed you and you didn’t want it?”

Regulus buried his face in his hands, mumbling.

“What was that?” Remus asked.

Regulus sighed and removed his hands from his face, “I kissed him. And Merlin,” Regulus
whimpered, “his face! I just wanted to crawl into a hole and die”

“So he told you he didn’t like it?” Remus said. Was that confusion in his voice?

“Well… no. But his face was just so confused I ran away.”

“You ran away?” Remus barked out a laugh, before muttering something under his breath
that sounded suspiciously like, “poor James.”

“What else was I supposed to do? He probably thinks I’m some obsessed freak who is the
reason behind this crazy situation. He was so confused when he woke up last Saturday and
found me in his bed.”

“Was he?” Remus cocked an eyebrow.

Regulus frowned, “What do you mean?”

“James and I ran into each other early on Saturday morning”

“After I left?”
“Early Saturday morning.” Remus emphasised, “Everyone else was sleeping. In fact, it was
very similar to how you and I just ran into each other.”

“I don’t understand.” Regulus shook his head slowly, unable to believe what Remus was
telling him. “Wouldn’t that mean…?” he trailed off.

“He came out from behind his curtains looking quite bewildered but he was smiling, I
thought he had a spell on him or something. I asked him if he was okay and he told me that
the ‘fates had answered his prayers.’”

Regulus gave Remus a confused look to which Remus sighed in frustration. “Regulus. He
came out and instead of going to sleep in mine, Sirius’ or even Pete’s bed, he went back to
the bed with you in it.”

“Maybe he thought I was Sirius?” Regulus protested.

Remus had an exasperated expression on his face as if he wanted to reach out and slap him.
“Believe me, he knew it was you.”

“How can you be so sure?”

Remus smiled knowingly, “I think the fact his glasses were on his face gave it away.”

______________________

Regulus wanted to hex Remus for planting these thoughts in his head. He didn’t know what
to believe anymore. Before he finally succumbed to sleep back in his own bed, he had come
to the conclusion that right now it was best to focus on the Quidditch game tomorrow.
Especially since there was a voice in Regulus’ head that told him that there was the
possibility that his conversation with Remus was part of a ploy to throw him off his
Quidditch game. Remus didn’t seem like the type who cared enough about Quidditch to do
that but he always could have been put up to it by Sirius or James.
His Quidditch game was scheduled for 10am, meaning that he was expected to meet his team
at the pitch for warm up at 9am. Regulus slept right up until the last possible minute,
desperately needing the energy that sleep could give him. As he left the dungeons with Barty
—one of the beaters for their team—his friend passed him an apple and a buttered croissant
which Regulus took with muttered appreciation. He had pushed any thoughts of James and
Remus aside, becoming a weapon for the Slytherin team fueled by his determination and will
to bring down the Gryffindors.

He was standing off to the side, watching his team try their different flying formations.
Regulus obviously wasn’t needed for this part and usually he had the Slytherin keeper beside
him, but today Francis was darting between the three hoops, warming up his agility.

He didn’t hear the footsteps of someone approaching him until the hairs of the back of his
neck stood up. He turned around and there James Potter stood two metres away, hair
windswept from flying and cheeks flushed from the bite of the cold weather. His broom was
abandoned behind him, lying on the ground as if he had rushed to land and dropped it
immediately to walk over to Regulus.

“Reggie,” James said softly, almost breathlessly, and Regulus cursed himself for not keeping
his wand on him during and before Quidditch matches.

Regulus took a step back and raised his hands in front of his body in defence.

James didn’t say anything else and so the two boys just stood there facing each other. The
Gryffindor looked at him with a kind of intense desperation that Regulus couldn’t figure out.
His brain was muddled and he could no longer tell what was real and what was a farce.

James finally opened his mouth before noticing something over Regulus’ shoulder that
caused his beautiful face to morph into—what appeared to be—a scowl.

“Potter,” Barty came up behind Regulus and looped an arm around his neck. “Are you trying
to fuck with our seeker?”
“What? No!” James said. “I just wanted to talk…”

The hand resting on Regulus’ shoulder started brushing the hair at the base of his neck.
Regulus leaned further into Barty, appreciating the gesture. “Shouldn’t you be talking to your
team?” He pointed at where the Gryffindors were huddled, “they are over there in case you
forgot.”

James' eyes were now furiously locked on the arm around Regulus’ neck, fixated on Barty’s
hand in his hair. Regulus forced himself to look at the ground when James’ eyes—dark and
angry—moved to his face.

“One more thing Potter,” Barty hissed, bringing James’ attention back to his friend, “don’t
look at Regulus, don’t talk to Reg, and don’t touch Reggie. Capiche?” He emphasised this by
pointing the bat in his hand at the Gryffindor’s chest.

“Oi Crouch!” Regulus’ blood ran cold at the sound of the menace in his older brother’s voice.
Glancing up, he found his brother storming towards them with his own bat in his hand. “Get
the fuck away from my brother.”

Regulus’ heart sunk. Of course. Sirius’ newly claimed brother, James Potter. He hardened his
features, suddenly reminded of why he spent months hating James Potter after Sirius left. He
clamped his hand down on Barty’s arm, still outstretched and holding his bat towards James’
chest, pulling him so they spun away with their backs to the Gryffindors. Regulus then
released Barty’s arm and started walking towards their team, who had landed on the ground
and were in their own huddle. Barty dropped his arm from Regulus’ neck and the two of
them walked side by side to join their team.

The game had a whole new intensity to it unlike anything Regulus had experienced at
Hogwarts with his time as a player. Barty and Sirius were fixated on slamming bludgers at
each other, attempting to catch the other off-guard which had both the Slytherin captain and
James frustrated with the behaviour of both players. Hooch was constantly shouting at the
two beaters to keep it a ‘clean game’, which was ignored by the boys as they kept swinging
each bat with more force than the last.

Even with two of the four players on the pitch behaving like neanderthals, Gryffindor was
still leading the game with a massive gap of 310-160. Without the concentration of Barty on
hitting bludgers at the chasers, the Slytherin team was struggling to stop the flight paths and
tight flight formations of the Gryffindor team.

Watching one of his best friends and his brother hit bludgers at each other was becoming both
nauseating and distracting for Regulus, who had spent more time watching them then
searching for the snitch. He heard the voice of the commentator over the loudspeaker,
snapping him out of his haze.

“Seems like Gryffindor seeker Aubrey Stone has spotted something! Could it be the snitch?”

Regulus snapped his eyes over to where he last saw Stone and sure enough she was flying
after the small gold object. He looked over to the rest of his team and saw that the quaffle
was in possession of his captain, meaning that if he caught the snitch after they scored, his
team would win the match. It might very well then be enough points for them to secure the
cup.

He flew towards the snitch, flying and dodging his way through the air. He was the fastest
Quidditch player at Hogwarts and it didn’t take long for him to catch up to the Gryffindor
seeker and overtake her. The snitch suddenly darted left and Regulus forced his broom in that
direction, hearing the cursing of Stone as she missed the turn, losing valuable time to catch
up with Regulus.

He reached a hand out, tracking the fluttering movement of the snitch with his eyes. He just
wanted the game to be over, he wanted to stop Barty and Sirius from almost maiming each
other and he wanted to return to the safety of his dorm away from the eyes of anyone but his
friends.

As soon as the commentator shouted “GOAL!” Regulus’ hand crossed that final distance to
clasp the small golden object, tucking it into his hand.

“REGULUS BLACK CATCHES THE SNITCH!” The speaker crackled out.

“GRYFFINDOR WINS THE FINAL MATCH! SCORE OF 320 TO 310! WHAT A CLOSE
AND THRILLING GAME!”
Regulus looked over to see that the Gryffindor team had landed and were piled around James,
cheering, hugging and patting the boy on the back. James was smiling widely and then
looked up towards Regulus, his smile faltering slightly.

Regulus then realised that it was James that had scored that last goal. It was James that had
secured the victory of his own team. Gryffindor had won the match by only 10 points.
Regulus hoped that Slytherin still had enough points to win the Inter-House cup, that those
points didn’t cause the difference between a win and a loss.

Regulus was furious. Furious with James. Furious with Sirius. Furious with Barty. Furious
with himself.

He looked around at the defeated postures of his fellow team, some still in the air and others
having landed on the ground. This game had meant everything to all of them, a way to prove
themselves against the favoured House in the school.

Barty flew up beside him, “Nice catch.”

“Doesn’t feel like a nice catch,” Regulus replied, disheartened.

“You didn’t know James had intercepted the quaffle. No one blames you for that and if they
do they can answer to me. It was either you caught the snitch or Stone did, and the team
would rather lose by ten points then another 150.”

As they landed Regulus received a variety of differing looks from his team mates. Some
scowled at him while others offered small, defeated smiles. Barty quickly sorted out the
former reactions.

“I’ll go put our brooms away,” Barty told him, taking his broom from him. “I’ll meet you in
the change rooms.”
Regulus nodded as Barty ran off to follow the rest of their team to the broom shed. He turned
around and was yet again faced with James Potter, soaked with sweat and still panting from
the exercise.

Regulus threw his hands up, still filled with pent up rage from the match, “Again? Really?”

“Can we just have one conversation? Please?” James asked. “I’ll leave you alone after that.”

It was abundantly clear that James was not the type of person to give up. Even when told
explicitly no multiple times did the boy just keep coming back.

“Fine,” Regulus sighed. “One conversation.” The only reason he agreed to this was so that he
could get it over with and finally be left alone by James. He would then be free to work on
his cursed bed alone and could sneak out of James’ bed peacefully until this curse was
broken.

“Okay,” James nodded, “So—”

Regulus cut him off by raising his hand, “Not now. Barty will be back any minute.”

“Then when?”

“I’ll find you,” he told him and then added upon seeing the disapproval on James’ face, “I’m
not just saying that. I will find you when I am ready.”

“I’ll be waiting,” James told him, before turning around to walk into the change room.

______________________
The night following the Quidditch game Regulus climbed into bed with Barty that night,
deciding that he was that tired he wanted a full night of sleep. It was between Barty’s bed,
Evan’s bed and the couch in the common room. Since he was still angry with Barty for his
foolish behaviour on the Quidditch pitch, he settled on Barty’s bed. Unfortunately, Barty
seemed more than happy with the situation, finally getting his wish to have a ‘fit bloke’ in his
bed.

They were currently lying side by side on their backs, both lean enough to fit in the bed. The
curtains were closed around the bed and they had spent the last few hours with him breaking
down his findings and theories of the curse to Barty, who was more than eager to replace
James as Regulus’ help.

“So you ruled portkeys out?” Barty asked. “And came to the conclusion that it’s likely a
complex curse.”

“Correct.”

“But shouldn’t we have picked up on at least a hint of magic when we cast those revealing
charms, even if it was complex?” Barty asked.

“I suppose,” Regulus surmised. “But then we are left with no explanations on what has
happened.”

A few seconds of silence before Barty gasped dramatically.

“What? What is it?” Regulus asked desperately.

“We have been fixed on your bed but what if it isn’t your bed that is cursed?”

Regulus sat up quickly in the bed. “What? Potter’s bed? But there would need to be some
magical link to my bed. I’m the one that teleports into his bed.”
“But what if the link wasn’t to your bed but to—”

Regulus didn’t get to hear the rest of what Barty was saying as he got the familiar tingling in
his body as he disappeared from Barty’s bed with a pop. He froze as he reappeared in a
crowded room on one of the couches, his eyes darting nervously around the room. The
Gryffindor common room was filled with a variety of older Gryffindor students who were
obviously celebrating their Quidditch win with a party. Music was playing from a record
player, ironically Regulus recognised the song as We Are the Champions by a Muggle band
called Queen. Many students were stumbling around with cups in their hand, firewhiskey
bottles with varying levels of emptiness lying on tables.

A voice shrieked across him, “What the fuck!”

Regulus met the horrified face of his brother who was sprawled across his boyfriend’s lap, his
mouth open and a cup in his hand. Remus, however, had a sly smile on his face as he winked
in Regulus’ direction. Regulus leant back further into the couch only to press his back against
something too hard to be the soft pillows of the couch.

He started to scramble forward when a hand looped around his waist, pulling him until he
was pressed against the person’s front.

He felt soft lips brush against his ear, “Shouldn’t you have appeared in my bed?”

Regulus gasped at the sensation and the low seductiveness of James’ voice. “Seems like the
curse isn’t on the beds.”

Regulus swore he felt James brush an open mouthed kiss behind his ear, which made a
shudder rock his body. “I noticed,” the Gryffindor whispered against his neck.

“What the fuck is this?” Sirius shouted. “Moony, let me go!”

“James, I can’t hold him for long,” Remus warned his friend.

James reached under the pillow on the couch next to him and pulled out the invisibility cloak,
draping it over the both of them with one swift movement. The Gryffindor then stood up,
almost sending him to the floor if it wasn’t for the arm supporting him around the waist.
James kept the arm around him as he led Regulus over to one of the edges of the room.

Sirius was no longer held back by his boyfriend and had leapt at the couch James and
Regulus had occupied a few seconds ago. “He just disappeared with my little brother! Prongs
you give him back right now or I swear to Merlin I will hex your bollocks off.”

Regulus’ eyes widened at the fact Sirius referred to him as his ‘little brother’ and was yelling
at James and not him.

“Moony,” Sirius turned to Remus, “help me please! Where are they?”

Remus who hadn’t moved from his spot on the couch shrugged. “Sorry Pads but I have no
clue where they went.”

“Ugh,” Sirius groaned, feeling around the couches for where he and James had disappeared
to.

Regulus was in a state of shock and didn’t protest as James pulled him towards the exit of the
common room, opening the door and leading them through.

“The door!” Peter called out. “Sirius, the door!”

Once they exited through the portrait, James continued to lead him down the corridor until
they reached an alcove, pulling Regulus into a hidden corner. He heard the faint voice of
Sirius calling out more threats and demands but didn’t focus on exactly what Sirius said, too
caught up in James.
James had pinned him against a wall in the alcove, one hand on his hip and another cradling
his face.

“What are you doing?” Regulus asked him breathlessly, eyes wide as he took in the lust in
James’ face.

James leaned closer until his lips were brushing Regulus’. The Gryffindor murmured against
his mouth, “Kissing you back while you can’t run away.”

“Oh–” Regulus broke off as James’ lips crashed against his own, devouring his mouth with
an eager ferocity that had him gasping against the boy's mouth.

Regulus lifted his hands from his sides to loop around James’ neck, pulling him closer as
they consumed each other. The hand on Regulus’ face joined the other on his waist, picking
him up. Regulus wrapped his legs around James, one of his hands moving up to delve into
James’ curls. He pulled softly at the roots and was met with a groan of pleasure from James.

Their mouths moved in synchronisation, a clashing mix of tongue and teeth as the two boys
entangled themselves in one another, caught up in the moment without a care for the outside
world. James pulled his mouth from Regulus’, attaching it to his jaw and kissing his way
down his neck. Regulus’ head fell back against the wall, biting his lip to suppress a moan.
James’ mouth sucked on the side of Regulus’ neck before biting down lightly. Regulus
couldn’t help the mewl that escaped his mouth and buried both of his hands into James’ hair,
pulling at the soft curls there until James’ mouth detached from his neck.

“James,” he muttered as the boy tried to lean in again for another kiss.

James finally met Regulus’ gaze, looking thoroughly snogged with swollen lips and flushed
cheeks. “What is it, love?”

Regulus melted at the use of the term, stammering as he tried to ask, “Wh-What? Y-You
kissed me? You kissed me?”
James smiled at him, pure affection in his eyes. “Why do you think I’ve been so desperate to
talk to you?”

“To yell at me? To tell me how disgusted you are?” Regulus told him.

“Oh, Reggie,” James replied. “You don’t disgust me.”

“But your face, you looked so disgusted.”

“That wasn’t disgust, that was me purely confused at how the boy I’ve spent the last year
pining over was kissing me.”

“You were pining over me?” Regulus said with disbelief.

“Quite pathetically, honestly. I was driving Pete and Remus crazy.”

Regulus gasped. That day in the corridor when he overheard Remus and Pete talking about
the person James fancied, they were really talking about him?

“Really?” Regulus asked, still in disbelief.

“Really.” James replied, pressing a gentle kiss against Regulus’ lips.

Regulus failed to hide his small smile and leaned forward to press his own gentle kiss against
James’ lips.

James pulled back with a grin of his own. “Do that again,” he asked.
“Do what?” Regulus asked.

“Smile at me.”

And so Regulus did.

They then spent more time wrapped in each other’s arms, hands exploring and their lips,
tongues and teeth laying claim to each other.

It didn’t take much for James to convince Regulus to return to the Gryffindor dorm to sleep
with James in his bed. They entered the dorm to find Remus waiting for them, leaning against
the door to the bathroom with an eyebrow raised.

Regulus’ eyes darted around for his brother, scared that an angry Sirius would suddenly fly
towards them.

“He passed out in my bed,” Remus told them. “But I’d lock the curtains in case he goes on a
murderous rage when he wakes up.”

Remus then walked towards his bed—given away by the knitted sweaters folded on top of
the trunk at the end—and pulled open the curtains enough to slip inside.

James led Regulus towards his bed, and once inside, Regulus curled up on James’ chest.
James raked a hand through Regulus’ hair, lulling him into sleep.

______________________

Regulus woke up to find James awake before him for once. He looked down at Regulus with
pure love and adoration in his eyes, running a hand through Regulus’ hair. He smiled up at
the Gryffindor boy, who leant down to press a kiss to the end of his nose.

Regulus smiled, “We really need to find a way to fix this teleporting thing.”

James pouted, “Do we have to? I quite enjoy you appearing in my arms.”

“I have another year of school.” He reminded the boy, “I can’t exactly be popping into your
arms outside of Hogwarts. Unless, you have an interest in repeating your seventh year or
making Hogwarts your permanent home for the next year.”

James sighed contently, moving a hand up Regulus’ spine, “We have months until you return
to school. Let’s enjoy this.”

“I could always just fall asleep in your bed,” Regulus proposed.

“It’s more fun when you appear,” James told him.

“I’d be here longer.”

“Deal,” James agreed, pressing a kiss to Regulus’ mouth.

“JAMES FLEAMONT POTTER!” Sirius’ voice echoed from outside the bed, where he
failed to pull open the curtains due to the locking charm James had cast. “YOU BETTER
NOT HAVE MY LITTLE BROTHER IN YOUR BED RIGHT NOW!”

James sighed, “I better go deal with him.”

“I’m coming with you,” Regulus told him with determination.

James climbed out first with Regulus following close behind.

“What happened to wanting to protect me?” James asked, holding his hands up as Sirius
pointed his wand at him.

“That’s until you had your hands all over my little brother!” Sirius hissed at him. Sirius then
turned to Regulus, “You get behind me.”

“Sirius,” Regulus said hesitantly, not moving away from James. “I can make my own
decisions.”

“James knew you were off limits!”

“I kissed him first.” Regulus retorted, “And it wasn’t our fault we got cursed!”

“You WHAT?” Sirius shrieked. “You got cursed?”

“Doesn’t matter,” James dismissed him, “me and Reggie are allowed to have a relationship.”

“Padfoot,” Remus said, looping an arm around his boyfriend’s waist. “James will treat
Regulus like he deserves. Wouldn’t you rather it be James than anyone else.”

Sirius glared at James, “I don’t like this but I suppose Moony is right.”

Remus chuckled, “I’m always right, sweetheart.” He pressed a kiss to his boyfriend’s cheek,
whose face melted a little at the gesture.
Sirius pointed a finger between the two of them, “I still don’t like this but I have a hangover
and I’m hungry so I will return to this later.”

Regulus turned his head towards James, giving him a small smile.

Sirius let out a loud gasp, causing Regulus to whip his head back towards his brother, whose
eyes were fixed on his neck. “YOU MARKED HIM?”

Regulus raised a hand to his neck and turned to look at a guilty James.

Remus was once again holding back a furious Sirius, “It’s time for you to eat. Come on,
sweetheart.”

______________________

Regulus was sitting next to James at the Gryffindor table across from Sirius, who kept
shooting death glares at James. Remus was opposite James with Peter on his other side.

James had interlaced their fingers underneath the table out of sight from Sirius’ eyes. A few
students had looked curiously in their direction, wondering why a Slytherin was at the
Gryffindor table, but none of the looks appeared to be filled with disgust or hatred.

Someone cleared their throat behind Regulus and he turned his head to see Barty, his eyes
narrowed and arms crossed over his chest. Regulus was then hit with the reminder that he had
disappeared from Barty’s bed in the middle of their conversation.

Barty pointed a finger in James’ face, “I warned you, Potter.”

James turned back around to look at Sirius, “What, you're not going to defend me?”
“I’m still mad at you,” Sirius said stubbornly. “And you know I wasn’t defending you from
Barty on the pitch yesterday. I was defending Reg.”

Regulus’ eyes widened at that, realising that Sirius had called him his brother yesterday and
not James. He turned to his friend. “Barty, it’s okay,” Regulus told his friend, trying to get
him to move his finger away from James’ face. “It was a misunderstanding and we figured
things out.”

“So what? You were snogging your new boyfriend while I was being yelled at by Filch?”
Barty scoffed.

“You were yelled at by Filch?” Regulus asked.

“I was caught trying to make my way to the Gryffindor Tower by Mrs Norris.”

“Oh Barty,” Regulus said, trying not to laugh. “Thank you for trying.”

Barty huffed before walking off in the direction of the Slytherin table, where the rest of their
friends were looking over Regulus with curious smiles.

Regulus turned back around and his eyes drifted to Remus, who suddenly had a stack of
galleons in front of him. Peter sat next to him looking positively miserable.

“What’s this about?” James asked his friends.

“Pete lost a bet,” Remus said smugly.

“Remus cheated,” Pete said.

“Why haven’t I heard about a bet?” James asked, his face pulling into a frown.

“I haven’t heard about a bet either,” Sirius said.

Remus looked towards Regulus, his eyes sparkling with mischief.

James gasped and pointed an accusatory finger at Remus, “You bet on my love life?”

Sirius gagged, “Don’t use the ‘L-word’ around me when you are referencing my brother.”

“Remus bet that Regulus and James would get together before the end of the school year. I
logically disagreed after seeing how long you two were pining for each other,” Peter
informed them.

James turned towards Regulus, “You were pining for me?”

Regulus could hear his cheeks heat with embarrassment and tried to shrink into his chair.

“It was pretty fucking obvious!” Peter told them. “I just didn’t think we were allowed to
interfere.”

“What do you mean by ‘interfere’?” Sirius asked.

“Firstly, Remus tricked me into talking about who James fancied in a corridor where he knew
Regulus was hiding.”

“That was intentional?” Regulus asked in disbelief before looking at Remus. “Didn’t work by
the way, just confused me honestly.”
“Secondly,” Peter ignored the look of warning that Remus gave him, “Who do you think put
the curse on you two?”

“Remus?” Regulus and James turned to the boy as Sirius cried out “Moony?”

Remus sighed, “Yes, it was me.”

“But, how?” Regulus asked.

“Well I had to find something that Regulus never takes off,” Remus began.

Regulus frowned, glancing down at himself before gasping, “My necklace? You cursed my
necklace?” He clutched at the small star necklace that usually sat underneath the collar of his
shirt.

“Well, no. I managed to get Pandora to duplicate the necklace and give it to me before the
charm. It isn’t a complex spell, I just linked the duplicate to James’ necklace—which I
duplicated as well—and added a time spell to teleport Regulus to James at the same time
every night.” Remus reached into his pocket and withdrew a silver and gold chain. “Here are
the original, uncursed necklaces.”

Regulus and James both reached towards the cursed necklaces around their necks and
unclasped them, placing them on the table in front of them. James then reached for his gold
necklace with a small sun charm and instead of clasping it around his own neck, moved to
put it around Regulus’ neck. Regulus smiled and reached out to touch the charm. He then
took his own silver necklace and put it around James’ neck, appreciating having something of
his around James like a personal claim to the Gryffindor.

“I can’t believe you did this,” James told his friend.

 “It worked didn’t it? You should be thanking me.”

James slid a hand around Regulus’ neck and used it to pull him towards his chest, capturing
his mouth in a tender kiss, ignoring the gags of Sirius across the table.

James pulled back with a smile, telling Remus without breaking eye contact with Regulus “I
am extremely thankful,” before leaning forward for another kiss.

Chapter End Notes

I hope you enjoyed this cute but angsty one shot (don't even think I can call it that lmao)
that i decided to write in the spur of the moment. I personally love how Remus was the
mastermind behind it all and that Reg gets to see that his brother still cares for him even
though he had his doubts.

I wanted to mention that I do have plans to eventually write a James POV to this. I have
assignments that I need to catch up on but when I have the time I will be writing James'
POV alongside my WIP

UPDATE: i can inform you all that i have begun writing james' POV as well as posting a
wolfstar/jegulus fic inspired by ttpd (honestly trying to see how many references i can
get in). the black dog has been posted!

In the meantime, if you are looking for a fic to read may i suggest my writer bestie
@therealrosier (tiktok @evantowrite)'s fic internationally a disaster

if you want come say hi on tiktok to me you can find me @peterlosingwendy01

have a great day guys!

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