Sweet innocence ~ Jegulus

04.

"What d'you think about this one, love?" Pandora asked as she slid the magazine across the table for Regulus to take a look. Regulus glanced down briefly at the picture of a girl wearing a red dress before turning back to his book. "It's pretty. It would suit you." Regulus shrugged.

"No. I don't think it will." Pandora frowned and flipped through the magazine some more looking for something she liked. "Why do you ask for my opinion only to disagree with me?" Regulus groaned and snatched the magazine from her hands. "Get the red one, it's a stupid school party not a bloody royal ball."

"Oh no, incoming." Pandora looked over Regulus's shoulder and nodded at James who was coming up behind the boy. "Hey." He said, taking the seat next to Pandora. "What do you want?" Regulus mumbled, looking over the edge of his book.

"Start of year party this Saturday, you have to come." James said bluntly while lowering Regulus's book so that he could see the boy's face. "Oh really? Do I have to come?" Regulus replied sarcastically while swatting away James's hand. "Yes, Sirius is helping the seventh years organize it." James stated as if that would change anything. "What's that have to do with Regulus?" Pandora asked, butting into the conversation.

James glanced at her briefly and shrugged. "He wants you to come." James said, turning back to Regulus. "Okay? And?" Regulus raised a brow in annoyance. "And you should go. To talk to him and fix things..." James leaned across the table to look Regulus in the eye. "Just think about it."

"Bye bye now." Pandora waved James off with a fake smile. The older boy rolled his eyes and walked away sending Regulus one last pleading look.

"We're going-" Pandora stated earning a groan from Regulus. "-but we can make it seem like I forced you so that your brother doesn't think that you went just for him." Pandora added which made Regulus feel a little better since he didn't want Sirius to think that he'd been forgiven.

"Fine." Regulus nodded with a mischievous grin. "But you have to wear that red dress." He added quickly. "Only because I want you to stop fighting your brother. It's not good for your mental health." Pandora sighed.

***

James rubbed his teary eyes furiously as he sat on the ground with his back against the wall in the back of the library.

"I just don't understand what went wrong!" James exclaimed as he turned Lily around to look at him. "Nothing was wrong, I just don't think that we were meant to be together." Lily sighed and walked away.

James had spent his first week of sixth year chasing Lily Evans around trying to get her to talk to him, much like he had done back in first year. He guessed that some things never change.

There was a creak in the floorboards near him and James snapped his head up at the sound. He looked through a crack in the books on the bookshelf in front of him and made out two sets of feet standing close to each other.

"I've missed you." The first voice spoke, it was deep and breathy. James didn't recognize it. "Someone will see!" The second voice was high and silky. James recognized it immediately. There was a brief moment where he didn't hear anything and he presumed that Lily was kissing whoever she was with. He forced himself not to jump up and storm over to the next isle to see who Lily was with. If he did, it would only break his heart even more. So instead he sat quietly and waited until they left to peel himself off of the floor and dragged himself back to the Gryffindor common room.

***
"Ew you look terrible." Regulus grimaced as he looked down at James who was sitting alone looking out one of the windows in the hallway. His hair was more disheveled than usual and his blue eyes were teary and lined with dark purple eye bags.

James snorted a laugh but it wasn't as humorous as his usual laughs were. "Evans still giving you trouble?" Regulus asked, forcing a genuine tone. "If snogging other blokes means giving me trouble then yeah." James muttered sadly. Regulus couldn't help the gasp he let out. "Shit." He whispered, not knowing what else to say. "Yeah, shit." James repeated.

They were quiet for a moment and Regulus looked down the hall were he could see other students leaving their classes. He panicked realizing that soon the halls would be flooded with people which caused him to feel the urge to walk away from James so that no one saw them talking to each other. His eyes darted around quickly and he could tell that James was watching him silently freak out.

"Pandora is forcing me to go to the party. You can tell Sirius that I'll be there but he shouldn't hold his breath if he thinks that I'll approach him." Regulus spoke quickly but clearly, not looking at James as he spoke. He then gave James a short nod before practically running down the hall towards Barty who was looking at them in confusion.

James stared after the boy as he walked away, a small smile creeping up into his face.

~

Notes:
Me 🤝 poorly writing rushed chapters