Pottery Pieces (Harry Potter)

Pottery Pieces

"Why are we doing this again?" There was a tightness to Sirius's throat, the corner of his mouth twisting slightly as he looked at the pottery wheel, wondering why he'd agreed to this of all things.

"We're doing this because you promised to give it a try," said his companion, making Sirius look up to see a pair of rosy pink lips twisting into a smile. Usually, he'd want to be kissing those rosy pink lips, but as of late—

"And why did I do that?" Sirius asked, a feeling of melancholy not going away at the thoughts of making out with his companion.

"Because you did." Her eyes twinkled as her mouth twisted into a smirk at his expense. Yet, there he was with Marlene McKinnon taking a couples pottery class because it was a thing Muggle couples did to relieve stress, not that he and Marlene were a couple. However, he'd come the closest out of all the girls he'd been with, and perhaps she knew him better than some, attempting to distract him from his thoughts as she was.

And now he found himself staring at a mound of clay and the wheel, unsure of what to do even though the instructor explained. He was lost in himself, trying not to think about that, when he looked up and saw him. "Reg?"

At a pottery wheel, there was a young man with black hair and—although that young man wasn't looking at him and instead at the young woman with brown hair who was smiling at him, gray eyes. Sirius was sure of it and—

A hand reached out and grabbed onto his sleeve. "Sirius."

He stared, wishing Regulus to turn and look at him.

"Sirius, it's not him."

"Please turn and look at me, Reg. Please."

"Sirius, it's not him. Regulus is dead." He responded to Marlene by standing up, her hand still latching onto his. "Please don't do this!"

Yet he didn't listen. Sirius stubbornly walked over, looking down at the young man who refused to turn and look at him as he used his right hand to shape a pot on the wheel while the person with him used their hands to steady the pot they were making, like a real couple, but the use of the right hand instead of the left didn't phase him.

"Reg?"

The young man with black hair didn't respond, didn't acknowledge him, though there was a slight movement from the girl.

"Regulus." Sirius felt Marlene's arms wrap around his, through his, the girl reacting more than the young man.

"Don't. Don't do..."

And he did. His hand came down on the pot the other couple was working on, making the young man look up with those gray eyes.

"It's not him," Marlene muttered as Sirius looked down and the girl glared up at him, while the young man remained completely unfazed by what he'd done, as Regulus always had—the one person who'd never been fazed, giving him those blank looks. And it—

"What's going on here?"

The art teacher came over and had to come over, so now Sirius was glaring at her. And the girl with brown hair that Sirius didn 't know, who even looked pregnant now that he was closer. The date was ruined, and from the look on the art teacher's face, he and Marlene wouldn't be allowed back for interfering—

"Hand slipped," said Regulus, smiling as if nothing happened. Which frustrated Sirius the way Regulus could be. Too complacent, too nice for his own good. Too forgiving even.

"Yeah. I think Sebastian and I've had enough for tonight," the girl said.

"Shall I toss the pot, Olivia?"