Motion Sickness

The stag in the forest.

The full moon had always been one of Regulus's favourite lunar phases, something about it just seemed so alluring. He loved it almost as much as he loved the sun. Both created a light in his life that he often took for granted. Like many other things in his life. Tonight, like every other full moon, Regulus had planned to sneak out to the forbidden forest, he enjoyed watching the creatures running around while he was perched up on a tree branch. One night he could've sworn he saw a deer and a dog strutting through the forest with a werewolf following closely behind, and when he looked closer it seemed there was a rat perched on the werewolf's shoulder. It was a strange combination but it seemed like they were all best friends.

"Sorry can't let you go out tonight Black." Mulciber spoke up as he leant against the banister of the staircase. Regulus stopped in his tracks and turned to look at the prefect. He was twice the size of Regulus and seem too intimidate every first year that passed him, everyone else knew he was all bark and no bite.

"I was just going to the library." He lied, Mulciber rose an eyebrow.

"You take me for a fool? I know you sneak into the forest every full moon. It's for your own safety that you stay in, there's been a werewolf sighting." He explained, Regulus's eyes grew wide. This confirmed his suspicions of a werewolf lurking in the forest. That only left one question, What were they doing with a stag and a dog? Regulus didn't dare fight and returned to his dorm. Now that the werewolf was revealed, security around the forest would've been doubled.

"Back so soon?" Barty asked sitting upright in his bed as Regulus shut the door behind him. Evan had already been asleep, no one knew how he did it but once his head touched the pillow he was out. Regulus remembered their first night in the dorm. Seeing as Evan had two spare beds in his dorm he was assigned two first years. Barty and Regulus were both prepared to ask their roommate about Hogwarts but when they returned to their dorm he was already asleep.

"Mulciber stopped me." Regulus told him falling onto his bed, unlacing his shoes before throwing them underneath his bed and leaning against his headboard. "Said something about a werewolf sighing."

"Didn't you mention something similar a while back?" Barty asked, Regulus shrugged. Back then he hadn't thought it was such a big deal. The werewolf seemed calm, like he had no intention of hurting anyone. Clearly something must've happened for prefects to be told, usually they only get told things when there's an imminent danger.

"I honestly don't know what it was, I could've mistaken it for Hagrid." Regulus joked, Barty rolled his eyes and laid back down.

"Whatever, g'night Reg." He laughed.

"Night Barty."

*****

First Quidditch practice of the year was usually also tryouts for any second years or older students who wanted to try their luck at the sport. You had to book the pitch weeks in advance. Dorcas always made sure to book at the end of the previous year to ensure having the pitch. Although there must've been some miscommunication seeing as the Gryffindor's had the same idea. Dorcas wasn't particularly happy, as she led her team onto the pitch she made eye contact with Marlene McKinnon. Everyone with two eyes could see how mad the two were over each other but neither ever did anything about it, instead they would pointlessly stare at each other whatever chance they got. It was extremely amusing at times, sometimes it was hard to make out whether or not they were mentally undressing the other or throwing mental daggers, the latter was usually the case after the one lost a quidditch match.

"Meadowes?" James Potter was the first to speak, only then did Regulus fully register the other team, he noticed his brother talking to one of his teammates and instead focused his attention back to Dorcas and James's concerns.

"I booked the pitch months ago." Dorcas exclaimed taking a note out of her pocket.

"McGonagall gave me permission to have tryouts today." James said taking a similar note out of his pocket.

"So what do we do? Surely we can't have tryouts together." Regulus looked around at both teams. Neither looked interested in spending the day with the other. He looked back at Dorcas to find some answer but she seemed just as stuck as he was.

"It's fine. James. There's always tomorrow." Marlene spoke up placing her hand on James's shoulder. The simple gesture ignited something within both Regulus and Dorcas. But for different reasons. James shrugged off her hand and turned back to his teammates.

"Alright you lot. Back to the dressing rooms. Today will be a tactical practice, some of you need some pointers." He yelled out, Regulus could have sworn he saw James giving Sirius a pointed look. All the Gryffindor's groaned in protest but followed their captain nonetheless. Regulus's eyes met with Sirius's for a split second but the brothers broke it immediately.

"Now that that's been sorted. Reg, I need you to pick the best reserve for you. If this year is anything like last year you're gonna need one." Dorcas said. Regulus knew she was only looking out for him but he didn't need a reserve, he's told her that many times before, but she kept insisting so he just let it go and led the students trying out for seeker to a more secluded area on the pitch, away from all the other players.

*****

By the time tryouts were over Regulus was ready to fall into a year long coma. It was like quidditch wasn't taken seriously anymore. Half of the blokes trying out for seeker didn't even know what the snitch looked like and thought being seeker was the easiest spot on the team. Regulus nearly jinxed them all when they said 'It's not that hard to catch a ball.' But he composed himself and calmly told them all not to expect any news of making the team in the near future.

"Did you even give them a chance or just judge them the second they said three words. If even three words were spoken." Dorcas asked as the two joined their group at the Slytherin table, bar Pandora, who decided to have dinner with her friends in Ravenclaw.

"They were all mouth breathers, I don't see how any of them could reserve for me. Some of them didn't even know what a snitch was." Regulus said throwing a cherry tomato into his mouth. Dorcas rolled her eyes and tried her best to look dissapointed but couldn't contain her laughter very long. "What's so funny?" He asked, she shrugged.

"Nothing." She protested.