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Have you ever looked at the stars drunk
and sworn they were burning just for you?
It's hard not to believe in magic
it's hard not to believe in whiskey.
-Atticus
Barty had many bad ideas on a daily basis, and Regulus knew that, this one in specific was specially bad.
A party, an interhouse party, Barty talked about it as if it were the second coming of Myrddin, it wasn’t even close.
Everyone was already drunk when they got there and everyone was acting exactly how you would expect a bunch of drunk teenagers to act like when left unsupervised.
You'll love it Reg! Barty said You’ll even forget that stupid guy you call brother he said.
No, Regulus could not forget Sirius, not because his brother leaving had taken away the last sense of security he had in that house.
No, Regulus was really good at pretending Sirius didn’t exist, it was hard to forget Sirius because he was at the party.
In Regulus’ line of sight, all the fucking time. He almost thought he was doing it on purpose but no, the idiot was only looking at Remus Lupin and drinking his weight in alcohol as if they didn’t have exams in a week.
Regulus should have stayed in his room, with a sigh he resigned himself to his fate and drowned his drink in one large gulp.
He immediately regretted it when he felt the burning sensation of the alcohol going down his throat.
Barty had left ten minutes ago and he had been entertaining himself by trying all the different drinks at the table. Logically probably a terrible idea but Regulus was not a lightweight like Evan so as long as Barty returned soon it would be alright.
Probably.
He grabbed the closest drink, it was a pretty amber that reminded Regulus of the sun, and took a large sip.
Not bad, it was sweeter than other drinks but not too sweet.
He finished it with a sigh and looked at the next one, which was completely black with silver sparkles.
Well, he didn’t have anything better to do anyway.
When Barty finally returned, looking completely sloshed, Regulus felt a laugh trying to escape his lips.
“Oh man, you look drunk” Barty said and immediately laughed like a maniac, drawing in several stares in their direction.
But Regulus didn’t feel particularly annoyed by them, maybe the alcohol was finally getting to him because he laughed softly, more like a snort, before smirking at Barty.
“You should use a mirror before talking”
Barty gasped, dramatically, immediately after he seemed to remember something because he pulled out a bottle of something from his pocket.
Regulus wondered when he had gotten enchanted pockets.
“I bought some extra drinks just in case these ones aren’t strong enough, here try!” Without waiting for a response Barty grabbed the nearest glass and filled it with more alcohol before passing it to Regulus.
Regulus doubted, but then he caught his brother out of the corner of his eye, he swallowed down his own saliva before drowning it all in one large gulp.
“Bartholomew, this tastes like shit"
Barty simply grinned and poured him another one.
Slowly Regulus began to let himself loose, dancing a bit with Barty, and then with Evan.
He even danced with Pandora for a bit, he tried looking for Dorcas but he guessed she was somewhere shagging her Gryffindor girlfriend.
The one she firmly believed no one knew about, Regulus thought she was a bit silly to think that.
He found himself smiling dumbly at the most stupid things, like when a Ravenclaw in their year asked him for a dance.
Regulus simply laughed dumbly before accepting, the guy was really nervous but he was nice to look at, his eyes were a pretty brown that reminded him of Potter.
After a while he returned to Barty to ask for another drink but Barty was pouting in a chair and Evan was nowhere to be seen.
“Where 's Ev?” Regulus asked, tilting his head.
“Left with some rando cousin of his”
Regulus snorted, finding the situation so ridiculously funny for some reason.
“Ev would never shag one of his cousins ya know?” Regulus then went for the bottle “Come on lets have another one as we wait”
“No more drinks for you Reg! You’re drunk enough!” Barty said as he pulled the bottle away, Regulus frowned.
“You’re just mad Ev’s not here!”
But Barty crossed his arms and shook his head.
“No more drinks!”
Regulus pouted.
“Why?”
Unable to find an actual answer Barty simply looked at him and ran, and Regulus did something that sober him would probably come to regret.
He follows after, and he runs too.
There was something liberating about running with all your strength, Regulus thinks as he laughs out loud, feeling the wind hit his face.
It was similar to playing quidditch really, just instead of catching the snitch he had to catch Barty.
He takes another turn up the stairs and keeps running, but Barty was fast when he wanted to be and Regulus soon loses him.
Then he hears something behind one of the doors, with a smile he runs to it and opens it with a kick.
“Got you!” He says, his smile never leaving his face, his head felt as if filled with cotton.
But it was soft, it felt nice in a way.
But behind the door he didn’t find Barty, instead there were two girls in a state of semi undress and Regulus just frowns.
“Oh” He says simply as Dorcas tries to cover the other girl as best as she can.
Dorcas is glaring at him and Regulus feels like a child caught with his hands in the cookie jar, not that he ever did that, that was always Sirius.
“Regulus what- why?” Dorcas tries her best to look composed but her voice trembles and Regulus looks at his feet.
“Sorry Cas, I was looking for Barty I didn’t wanna interrupt you shagging your girlfriend" He says and feels tears begin to form in the corner of his eyes.
He feels so sad for bothering Dorcas’ date, if he ever made out with James and got interrupted he would be so angry, of course Dorcas is sad.
“My girlf- Reg, are you drunk?” Dorcas seems shocked as she gets this revelation and Regulus frowns.
“Am not” He complains “Just ‘cause I’m smiling doesn't mean ‘am drunk!”
He slurs with his words, watching as Dorcas and her girlfriend begin some silent conversation with their eyes.
Regulus suddenly wants to find his brother and do the same, Sirius and him could do the same since they were four.
And they were much more subtle about it.
Well, since Regulus was four but close enough.
“We’ll baby Black, sure you’re not drunk but maybe my ‘girlfriend’ as you perfectly said can accompany you to your dorm” The Gryffindor girl says and Regulus thinks she’s really nice.
He still frowns and squints his eyes at the nickname though.
“Don’t call me that” He says but the words come out like a whine “It sounds stupid”
The Gryffindor looks at him and rolls her eyes, Regulus no longer thinks she's that nice.
“Sure, whatever, lets get you to bed and all that”
Not really thrilled with the situation but seeing no escape, Regulus nods and follows Dorcas before turning around towards the Gryffindor.
“Wait, you're ‘Cas’ girlfriend so I need your name!” He yells at her and watches the disbelief in both girls’ faces.
“What for?”
“To be friends of course, ‘Cas ‘s cool so if she wants to date you you’re probably cool” Regulus says with a confidence only stupid people and drunks can have.
The girl sighs but then she laughs.
“The names Marlene baby Black, get back to bed safely”
Marlene then goes and kisses Dorcas in the mouth in front of him, making him stick his tongue out and make disgusted faces.
But Marlene looks satisfied by all this and simply leaves, Dorcas watches her go, completely bestowed.
“Thank you Reg” Dorcas says as they begin walking back.
“For what?” He asks, confused, he only accidentally destroyed her date, that was not a thing to thank someone for. Unless it was a bad date.
Was it a bad date?
“I don’t know, for not over reacting I guess” She then looks at him nervously “Are you going to tell anyone?”
“Tell what?”
Dorcas looks at him with a mix of disbelief and resignation.
“Tell wha- about me and Marlene Reg for Myrddins sake”
“Oh” Regulus looks at her and Dorcas can’t help but see how innocent they look when he’s not frowning “Why would I? We all knew, Ev and Barty even made bets about when you would admit to be shagging a Gryffindor”
“What-” Dorcas looks at Regulus as if her whole word had been turned upside down, but Regulus is not looking at her expression of shock.
No, he’s looking at his free hands now that Dorcas accidentally let him go and he’s sure he can hear Barty laughing somewhere.
Without thinking twice he runs behind Barty, laughing as Dorcas screams at him to stop running.
“Wait no- explain! Get your arse back here Black!”
He takes several stairs and laughs as the castle tries its best so he doesn't get hurt as he trips in several of them.
It’s fun, he almost contemplates using the stairs as a slide for a bit before remembering he's chasing Barty.
He finally manages to tackle Barty as the other boy makes a weird turn in one of the corridors.
Regulus jumps on top of him and snatches the bottle.
Barty laughs under him, utterly drunk and Regulus laughs too before opening the bottle and taking a sip.
Then he smiles innocently and jumps up to begin running again.
He takes the stairs again, runs through corridors and laughs like a maniac, he loses sight of Barty at some point but he doesn't stop.
It's when he takes a sharp turn that he bumps into someone.
Sirius looks at which idiot decided to run through the hallways at this hour when he completely freezes. He gets ready to say something, he gets ready for the discussion that is bound to happen.
Regulus rubs his head and pouts.
“Auch” He complains and looks up to glare at whoever he bumped into when his eyes completely light up.
Sirius takes a step back in shock, next to him James is looking between them in worry.
Regulus though doesn't care much, something is telling him he should be angry for some reason but he has forgotten.
And Sirius always told him that if he forgot it wasn’t that important to begin with, right.
“Siri!” So he smiled at his brother and jumped to hug his neck, letting himself take in all the scents his brother is always filled with “Missed you”
He complains and he knows it's true, he doesn't remember why though, but it's okay, Sirius is here now after all.
Sirius looks at him as if he had grown another head but Regulus is busy cozying up on his brother.
Then he hears something fall to the floor, oh, the bottle. He had forgotten he had it with him, it had fallen from his pocket as it was not enchanted like Barty's and had rolled over to where Potter was.
“Oops” He says sheepishly as Sirius turns around to look at him horrified.
“Regulus wha- What happened?” He asks and his voice is filled with worry, Regulus can only tilt his head in confusion.
“Uhh, nothing? You’re acting so silly Siri, if something happened I would tell you”
Immediately after Regulus began giggling at the absurdity of it all, his brother was making a funny face, something in the back of his head kept nagging at him, telling him he should not be here.
It was all so dumb.
Sirius looks at his brother's face, filled with so many emotions, something so rare he almost believed impossible.
He hadn’t seen Regulus have so many emotions on his face since they were kids, not even when he had left the house had Regulus shown that many emotions.
And now he was here, drunk, and hugging Sirius as if nothing had happened. As if he didn’t glare at him every time they crossed paths.
Sirius looked over to where James was, his friend was watching the situation with a concerned look, unsure if he should interrupt or not.
Sirius closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
“Don't say that- don't lie to me” He whispers, almost begs, but Regulus just looks at him with those innocent eyes that Sirius had forgotten he had.
Regulus tilts his head and frowns, his eyes immediately turning sharper, Sirius is almost grateful for it.
“Why would I lie?” Regulus looks confused and a bit offended, as if Sirius had told him he had cheated on an exam.
Sirius can't take it anymore and looks away, away from Regulus. He had been doing that for a while now.
A dry laugh escapes him, he ignores James’ concerned look.
“Because you hate me” He says simply and deep down he feels the truth settle on his bones. Regulus, his little brother, hates him as much as the rest of his family does.
Hah, it had never really hit him until now the meaning of that.
But Regulus now looks mad, he takes a step back and stumbles a bit, way too drunk to keep walking completely straight.
“Do not!” Regulus says petulantly before cupping Sirius’ cheeks with his hands “Never have!”
Sirius can’t help his hands from trembling but Regulus didn’t seem to want to let go of his cheeks, he was now pitching them as he smiled dumbly.
“You do” Sirius repeats, his voice feels dry.
“Do not” Regulus says and pitches one of his cheeks specially hard “You’re just dumb”
“You-” Sirius didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, Regulus clearly was too drunk to even remember he hated him and…
Before he could spiral James interrupts with a cough, taking all of Regulus' attention to him with that simple action.
Regulus looks at him as if he hadn’t even realised the other boy was there, which now that Sirius thought about it was probably what had happened.
“Padfoot, why don't we get your brother somewhere safe? He’s clearly drunk”
Sirius felt like he could kiss James then and there, really, James was a godsent when he wasn’t acting like an idiot.
Which wasn’t that often but Sirius’ standards had always been low.
Sirius looks at Regulus and just can’t help the sigh that escapes him at seeing his brother act so carefree. Yes, even if Regulus would go back to hating him in the morning the best he could do now was get him somewhere safe.
When he looks at Regulus’ eyes his will to put up a front as usual completely banishes.
“Okay Regulus, wanna come see the Gryffindor dorms?” He finally says and catches James smiling softly.
But Regulus is not looking at him, he isn’t even smiling anymore, he’s looking at James who has begun to sweat nervously-
“Regulus?” Sirius asks but Regulus isn’t listening, instead he walks towards James and looks at him before grabbing him by the cheeks.
James sends him a plea for help in how to act but Sirius is too confused to do something.
Regulus stops frowning suddenly and beams at James.
“You’re really pretty!” Regulus says and kisses James’ cheek before returning to Sirius with a proud look.
“Thank you?” He hears James say as his cheeks take in a red tint.
Sirius looks at them in complete horror, but Regulus doesn't seem to care because he’s still smiling as if nothing had happened.
Instead of saying anything more Sirius grabs Regulus’ hand, making sure his hold is not too tight as to hurt him, and doesn’t even look at James as he walks back to Gryffindor tower.
It was at times like these that Sirius is really glad no one is in the common room, he doesn't have to explain to anyone why he’s dragging his very drunk brother to his room instead of leaving him at the Slytherin dorms.
Next to him Regulus keeps looking around the common room and frowning, as if offended by the choice of wallpaper or something.
James opens the door to their dorm for them, something Sirius would find amusing in another context but right now he doesn’t care.
“Why is everything so red?” Regulus asks behind him, he feels as if all the red is giving him a headache. This sucks and not for the first time he thinks Sirius has terrible taste.
Sirius snorts, of course Regulus would prefer the dark moisty dungeons over the Gryffindor rooms even while drunk.
Inside the room Remus is sitting on his bed, waiting for them as he has taken to doing this year. It was probably his fault, Sirius admits, after all it was him who came drunk and crying one day and woke Remus up.
So Remus now waits reading a book or studying even if he returns before them.
“Hi” Remus doesn’t even look up as he greets them, only after he doesn't hear Sirius reply does he look up. Once he does he can't help but do a double take “Is that-?”
Before Sirius can answer Regulus suddenly makes a surprised sound behind him and his face brightens up.
“Oh I know you!” Regulus’ smile makes Sirius nervous, a sense of foreboding fills him “Hi brother in law!”
There are two seconds of silence as all of them try to make sense of what just came out of Regulus’ mouth.
Next to him Regulus just looks proud, Sirius can feel his whole face heating up as James loses it.
He doesn't know if he should be mad at James for laughing like a hyena or if he should shake his brother until he sobers up.
“Uh, hi Regulus?” Remus finally manages to get out and Sirius can’t help but melt a bit at his raspy voice.
Fucking Regulus, making him daydream. He has to remind himself that Remus does not like him like that.
“Hullo! The room is really red, do you think nargles had something to do with it?”
The three of them look at Regulus with different expressions of confusion, Sirius for one wants to ask what the fuck are nargles?
“It is…” Remus finally says, unsure of what to do “What are nargles?”
“Don’t know” Regulus admits with a shrug “Dora is the one who sees them not me”
“Pandora Rosier?” James asks immediately, as if he knows just who Regulus is talking about “Your girlfriend right?”
If Sirius didn’t know better he would think James sounded sour about it.
“Dora? No ew” Regulus crosses his arms around his chest and sticks his tongue out to empathise his point “Dora likes redheads”
Sirius doesn't know what those things have to do with each other but he's too tired to ask, before anyone else can strike another conversation with his very drunk brother he takes a deep breath.
“Regulus” Sirius takes his hands and guides him to his bed “Why don't you rest for a bit?”
Regulus complies without much trouble but once he’s on the bed he simply refuses to sleep.
“Regulus?” Sirius asks and tries to ignore Remus’ and James’ gazes.
“Don’t wanna” Regulus whispers, only now can Sirius tell he looks close to bursting into tears.
His brother wasn’t one to cry easily, not after seeing what crying brought him in that house.
Maybe that's why instead of simply letting him in bed until his body feels too tired to stay awake Sirius sits next to him.
“Why?” He asks, softly, more softly than he intended but he can’t find it in himself to regret it.
“Cause you’re gonna leave!” Regulus admits and small tears begin to form in the corner of his eyes. He feels so stupid but for some reason he just fears that Sirius is going to leave.
And Regulus feels so stupid, Sirius would never leave, right?
But the words make Sirius recoil, they remind him Regulus is just sixteen, they remind him that he did in fact leave his sixteen year old in that house.
His, of course, Regulus had never been his parents’, he was Sirius’.
“I-” He begins but he can’t find the words to continue, to explain.
He wants to scream at Regulus how he wanted to leave with him, how that house was killing him from the inside, how he couldn’t stay.
“You always leave!” Regulus finally says between sobs and it hits him then, that Sirius did leave. He doesn’t know when, he doesn’t know why. His mind feels like mush and he just wants to sleep it out.
Regulus hates crying, he has always been an ugly crier. But the tears just won't stop even as he tries to rub them off.
Sirius stops him from rubbing his eyes more, taking his hands and rubbing his index in them in circular motions.
It was soothing in a way.
“I won’t, not this time, I swear” Sirius finally says and it feels like a truth on his tongue.
He can see Regulus relaxing next to him, he can see his brother's eyes lighting up in hope.
“Really?” Regulus asks hopefully and Sirius can’t help tucking a strand of hair that has gotten on Regulus’ face behind his ear.
“Really” He says and he means it with every last bone in his body “Je te jure”
It takes Sirius by surprise when Regulus hugs him, how happy Regulus looks as he kisses Sirius’ cheek.
“Love toi, Siri” Regulus says and before Sirius can assimilate what he just heard, Regulus promptly passes out.
“Love you too Reggie” He whispers anyway.
Regulus wakes up with a pounding headache and a weight next to him.
For some miserable seconds he wonders if he somehow shagged the Ravenclaw boy that had James’ eyes and cringes.
Yeah, no, there is a much more simple explanation to all of this, like Barty once more deciding to sneak into his bed after a bad fight with Evan.
Which was bound to happen because Evan left at some point yesterday right?
His head hurt too much to even remember exactly the order of events but he’s sure he found Barty pouting next to the drink table.
And he was pretty sure he wouldn’t go to bed with the first cute boy he found.
“Barty I swear to Myrddin if you somehow got kicked of Evan’s bed and decided to cuddle with me instead I'm selling you in pieces to the first Gryffindor I find”
He waits for Barty to grumble something in his sleep that Regulus could take as an excuse to kick him to the floor and out of his bed.
But instead he hears a voice he would recognise anywhere, not too far away from them
“Uh” James says, not feeling really smart “Not Barty there mate”
He immediately opens his eyes and takes in the view.
Red, it's all red.
And there is James Potter shirtless in front of him, slowly he turns towards who’s sleeping next to him. Fearing the worst.
It's Sirius, of course it was.
Fuck.
“Oh Myrddin” He manages to mutter as all the memories from last night begin to return, he can’t move as the terror of the repercussions of his actions begin to come to him “What did I do?”
He’s cuddling with Sirius, he cried on Sirius, he kissed James and he called Remus Lupin brother in law.
That was a list that on a normal occasion consisted of things he wouldn’t do even if paid.
“Uh” James says, not really knowing what to do as he sees Regulus’ face morph in horror.
“Reggie?” Sirius mumbles as he slowly gets up, when he catches Regulus’ look of pure terror he can’t help but freeze.
Regulus’ first instinct is to run.
Maybe if he runs fast enough they’ll assume he was a collective hallucination.
He wants to tell them nothing happened, tell them to forget, that he was just messing with them.
A small part of him though wants to scream, cry, beg.
With controlled movements he gets out of the bed and tries to unwrinkle his clothes, trying to gather his thoughts in the process.
Sirius simply lets out a dry laugh.
“You're leaving, just like that? After all you said and did?” The words came out harsh, raw but Sirius just couldn’t do it, not after seeing Regulus cry yesterday.
Not after everything.
He doesn’t want to, he just-
Regulus freezes as he’s reaching for the door.
“Sure, go laugh about it if you want” He says and tries his best not to grimace, his head hurts, his muscles feel tired.
Oh, he had ran around yesterday, of course his body was sore.
“Laugh?” Sirius asks but it seems as if something in his brain clicks.
“Isn’t that what you always do? After all, you said it yourself, we are no longer brothers, didn’t you find a better one?”
Those words hit Sirius like a punch to the guts, because he did say that, it was him who told Regulus…
When he left the house, when Regulus had just watched as mother dearest used an unforgivable on him.
He had wanted to hurt Regulus that day as much as he himself was hurting, remembering his words a feeling of disgust invaded him.
“I-” He begins, trying to find the words to explain but all he can see is Regulus’ hurt expression, the one he always hid so well under a stoic face “Regulus I didn’t mean that, you- you know that right?”
Regulus’ body shakes, Sirius can see him clench his fists, but soon all emotion is erased from his face, all emotions other than hatred.
“You liar” Regulus whispers and Sirius just doesn’t want to keep fighting.
James is looking between them in concern but Sirius sends him a look that is easily understood.
Don’t fucking intervene.
“Regu- Reggie” He says as grabs his hand with as much softness as he can “Look at me étoile, I'm so sorry, I was angry and you- you didn’t want to leave”
He can see Regulus’ face contort in horror before something close to hope settled on his eyes.
“Is not- is not that I didn’t want to” Regulus admits softly, trying his best to stop his voice from shaking “I can’t “
And Sirius suddenly remembers those same words being said to him that night, can’t, he hadn’t really thought much of it, now he could only regret he hadn’t.
A voice that sounded much like Remus whispered in the back of his ear how he had just been tortured, how he was probably in a delirious state. That it was impossible for him to catch on these things as easily.
“Can’t?” He asks again just to make sure, he can see the relief in Regulus’ eyes when he does,
“Can’t” Regulus nods and Sirius finally understands.
Yet he wishes he didn’t.
“They made you swear” It’s a statement but they both know what Sirius wants to know.
“Before Hogwarts, after you got sorted” Regulus says as he plays with the hem of his robes “Mother was angry”
And Sirius hates, hates his parents and hates himself for not seeing it before.
Because he should have known his parents wouldn’t just take Sirius’ sorting as terrible news, of course they would make sure that mistake wasn’t repeated.
“We are gonna fix this” He says and he’s trying to convince himself of it too.
He can see James nodding at him, ready to help if needed and Sirius knows he’ll too do everything he can to help Regulus.
But Regulus just laughs, a dry choked laugh as he looks at Sirius in the eyes.
“How? What can you do!?” He says, trying to sound spiteful but his voice is filled with hopelessness.
And Sirius can tell, for the first time in years his brother's mask is no longer as perfect as he liked to believe.
He smiles, softly, and he can see Regulus recoil.
“The least I can do is try” He looks at James who nods, yes, they are going to get Regulus out of that house whatever it takes.
“Yeah, let's get you out of there Reggie” James says and Sirius can only glare at him when his cheeks turn red.
Even worse, Regulus’ cheeks take in a soft pink tint.
“Sure Jamie" He replies mockingly but Regulus can feel his cheeks burn, he tries his best not to look at Sirius whose face looks between a mix of pure terror and fear.
James tries his best to not hide once he sees Sirius’ glare.
“Only I get to call him Reggie Prongs, back off, this is my brother” Sirius spits and James nods a bit too fast.
“Hear hear captain” James says as he puts his hands on his pockets and nervously looks at Remus, still sleeping.
Regulus looks between them and sighs, this already felt embarrassing enough.
“Alright” Regulus finally says “But don’t blame me if you don't succeed”
Sirius’ face immediately lights up and for a moment it's all worth it for Regulus.
He’s going to say something, when the door is suddenly kicked open by someone.
“Dorcas control you Slytherins!” A voice yells from downstairs.
“I’m trying!” Dorcas yells back and Regulus can tell she’s pissed off because of something other than this “I just can’t not support what they’re doing”
At the door there is a really pissed Barty, his clothes are completely wrinkled and he looks as if he had slept on the floor.
Regulus is suddenly very aware that he is at the Gryffindor tower and that he’s supposed to be angry at his brother.
“Barty I can explain” He begins but Barty doesn’t let him finish, he just hugs him with all his strength.
When he lets go he immediately glares at Sirius.
“Did they do something?” Barty asks as he checks Regulus for injuries “I’ll kill them I swear-”
“Barty!” Regulus raises his voice and sighs “I’m alright, really I- we talked, kinda”
Barty looks dubious but knows when not to push him for answers.
“Let him be Barty” Evan says from the door “He seems alright and unharmed, lets just wait for him by the door before a Gryffindor tries to murder us”
Barty reluctantly lets go of him and walks back with Evan, Regulus is glad that at least Barty is no longer mad at Evan for suddenly disappearing in the middle of the party.
“God that was terrible, they’re like very persistent cockroaches” Marlene says as she leans in the doorframe “You’ve got some wild dogs baby Black”
“Hello…Marlene” He says and tries his best to forget how he acted last night.
This really was his own actions coming to bite him in the arse.
“Well, I’ll see you around, as we are as you so well said friends” She smirks once she hears Regulus groan “Now I’ll go shag my girlfriend without interruptions this time”
James and Sirius share a look before finally James dares to ask.
“So… you know Marlene?”
Regulus can only sigh before looking at James in a mix of exasperation and fondness.
“Don’t ask, this was enough for a lifetime” And James, fortunately, shuts up.
He smiles at James in thanks, too tired to deal with anything else, while he isn’t looking Sirius once again is watching over James with a scary expression.
But all that Regulus can think of is how he’s definitely going to punch Barty for making him go to that party.
And after that he’s going to buy him his favourite lemon caramels, because maybe, just maybe this terrible headache he was feeling was worth it.
“So, need a hangover potion?” Remus asks from his bed and Regulus has the feeling he has been awake for longer than what he made them believe.
But at this point he didn’t have the energy to care.
“Fuck yes, gimme brother in law”
He smirks as he hears Sirius’ confused muttering.