i really loved him

chapter 50

James POV

For once, Regulus actually came to find James after his lesson. Remus and Sirius had disappeared to back to the dorm, probably, and Peter had wandered off to find Arabella. So when James turned the corner from the Charms corridor onto the spiral staircase and spotted Regulus walking up towards him, there was no need to badly conceal the idiotic grin that spread across his face.

Their paces slowed, waiting for a stream of students to pass as they reached each other. Then without a word or so much as a glance, Regulus closed a hand around his wrist and dragged him behind the nearest tapestry. It, like many others that the Marauders had discovered over the years, concealed yet another staircase. Regulus pulled him to the second stair, then turned to face him and took both of his hands. There was a brightness to his smile that made James' heart dance.

"You were right," he said earnestly.

"Obviously," James smirked, having no idea what he was talking about. "I'm always right."

Shaking his head, Regulus came up onto his toes and kissed him, long on the lips.

"You said we were going to be fine," he breathed, taking the smallest step back. "We are. Pandora is going to run away."

"Shit!" James exclaimed, only for Regulus to put a hand over his mouth with a pointed glance down at the tapestry. With a sheepish nod, he spoke much more quietly against the other boy's palm. "Shit. She— Are you serious?"

"No," he replied briskly, letting his hand drop. "I'm Regulus. And yes, she is."

After sighing heavily and giving him a gentle shove on the arm, James was all beaming smiles again.

"Where?" he asked quickly. "When? Why? Nevermind, we know why. But... how? Shit, won't they just find someone else for you to marry, though? If she's gone? What if—"

The hand came back to shut him up, and Regulus explained the plan. It seemed a bit obvious now, actually. But then, it wouldn't really have been fair to ask that of Pandora and Xenophilius in the first place. This way, they were all happy. Fucking ridiculously happy.

Before Regulus had even finished talking, James had thrown his arms around him. They very nearly overbalanced on the narrow step. Burying his head in James' shoulder, Regulus held onto him so tightly it got hard to breathe. He didn't really mind that. Breathing seemed sort of optional right now; especially as the younger boy turned his head, lips brushing against his skin. Regulus pressed a neat line of kisses up the side of his neck, making his way back to his mouth, and James thought his heart might burst.

"We're going to be fine," he repeated softly, nudging his head forwards so that their noses just bumped together. "Told you."

"Yes, we've already established that you were right," Regulus said exasperatedly.

"What if they still engage you to someone else?" James murmured. "Once Pandora's left."

"I don't know," Regulus admitted. His fingers interlaced around the back of James' neck, and they kissed again. "But now we have time."

"Yeah." He felt a bit like he was floating. "Loads of it."

Then something occurred to him.

"Oi," he said. "That wasn't the only thing I was right about, y'know."

"Oh?"

James nodded smugly.

"I said you should pretend to lose the bride, remember?" he said.

"...That hardly counts."

"Yes it bloody does! She's running away, and you have to pretend you don't know where! Pretend to lose the bride."