under the mistletoe || jegulus

thirteen

James sighed in relief; they managed to get back in perfect shape and now James had to look for Regulus. He turned to Sirius, who looked rather disoriented, and told him that he needed to go find someone. And he started off as soon as Sirius said okay and looked around for the boy.

Suddenly he realized where Regulus would obviously be; he was usually hidden in the library or hanging out with his friends somewhere. James took a turn to the library, but only ran into Lily instead. She looked up and waved him over. He sighed but went up to her. "Hiya, Lils,"

She hugged him and pulled away with a grin, "Hi. Where've you been? When Remus and Peter woke up they told me they didn't see you nor Sirius—" she paused and turned to him with a firm look, "and I hope you two didn't get up to any mischief, did you?"

James smirked. "Maybe, and maybe not." There was a pause and they were right about to fall into silence before James continued, "But anyway, have you seen Black? I need to talk to him for a moment."

Lily shrugged, clearly not caring. She then flicked her eyes to him suspiciously before busying herself with her homework again. "Why do you keep asking about him lately? He's a Slytherin and I know you don't like them,"

James was going to retort before he stopped himself and also asked himself; why was he so interested in the keep-to-himself annoying Regulus Black? Well, this was only because he had to say yes. Future James told him to, at least—

"I just need to have a word with him," literally.

Lily nodded softly but didn't have an answer to where he was, "I don't know where he's at. Sorry,"

James got up and ruffled Lily's hair, "It's fine. I'll be back, just a minute," he waited for Lily to say something, but she just nodded once again in acknowledgment, so he hurried off without another word.

He aimlessly wandered throughout the corridors, having absolutely no idea where to go or which way to turn. James started to doubt the fact Regulus was even out anymore, since he noticed the Slytherin team marching out onto the Quidditch fields. And just then he felt himself bump shoulders with someone.

James paused in his tracks and turned to Regulus, who looked bored in his Quidditch robes. Suddenly he remembered that Future James told him to say yes; he'd forgotten why he was walking around in the first place, actually. And so with confidence, he told him, "Yes."

Regulus raised an eyebrow, looking even more puzzled, "What're you saying yes to? I didn't ask you anything,"

He felt his face heating up as he quickly rushed out, "No—never mind, I thought you said something,"

Regulus felt himself start to laugh, but he hurriedly composed himself and with once last weird look at James, left him alone in the deserted corridor. James cursed Future James and also left, embarrassed. He decided to check if Lily was still there, and if she wasn't, head back up to Gryffindor common room.

And then he ran into a seething Professor McGonagall, a stiff Sirius trailing after her awkwardly. James smiled at the professor and half glanced at Sirius, who looked back with that look that he always had when they were caught. James had an intake of sharp breath and turned back to Professor McGonagall, who seemed to be absolutely fuming but hiding it well.

"Mr. Potter. We need to talk in my office, please." Even if she added please, everyone knew it was a command. James nodded silently and hurried to walk with Sirius. They were doomed.

He whispered to him in the lowest voice he could muster, "What happened?"

Sirius muttered back—a trace of fear which was mostly covered by dread in his voice, "Someone saw us and reported us to Professor McGonagall. We're so dead, aren't we?"

James scrubbed the floor quickly but precisely, wanting to get detention over with. He looked up at Sirius, who was supposed to be organizing the bookshelf. Instead, he was picking out random books and flicking through them. "Can't I do that instead? It's been an hour,"

Sirius rolled his eyes with a smirk and shoved the ancient book he was holding back into the bookshelf, "It's only been twenty minutes—and you've been cleaning that same spot since you started!"

James looked down and realized he was right. He sighed and moved to a different place on the floor as Sirius pulled out a leather book, looking both shocked and mischievous. He lazily scrubbed at the floor—but looked up when Sirius gasped and the book fell to the floor with a clatter. "What?"

Sirius bent down and hurriedly grabbed the book again, looking horrified. He flipped through the pages and then found the original one. Without speaking, he rushed to James' side and showed him the page. James stared at the words and then his eyes went wide. "Who wrote that?"

Sirius snapped the book closed and showed him the cover. 'Regulus A. Black's Property', it read in a fancy written cursive.

a really small chapter, sorry for the short chapters lately 😭😭 over 8OO words!