Motion Sickness

Library

Halloween was the best time to visit the library, there were no interruptions. Ghosts were too busy roaming the castle, popping in and out of portraits or throwing some party in the lower parts of the dungeons. Peeves enjoyed scaring first years just a little more and older years were out on their trip to Hogsmead. Regulus would have gone with but he didn't really need anything particular from the village so he opted for studying instead. He was working on a potion that he had read about in one of Slughorn's many potions books, and needed to know more about it before he could complete it. The potion was known as the Emerald Potion, or more specifically the drink of despair. Once you drink too much it is said that it could lead to extreme thirst, despair and nightmarish hallucinations meant to attack your enemies soul until they eventually go insane. If not brewed properly it could result in the drinker to die from insanity mere seconds after consuming the potion, or the potion would simply remain useless.

The library had always been a place where he could just kick back and relax without anyone bothering him. Well that was usually his case. Today, unlike he had hoped, wasn't one of those days. He was painfully aware of the pair of eyes that glanced his way ever so slightly every five minutes. And everytime he looked up they darted to the book infront of them. After an hour of going back and forth Regulus was growing tired and decided to confront his stalker.

"It's rude to stare." He whispered falling into the chair opposite him.

"Who says I was staring?" He asked, Regulus looked up, their eyes connecting, a familiar flame igniting inside of Regulus.

"Your eyes give you away Potter." He managed to say. James smirked. "What are you doing here anyway, shouldn't you be off doing something stupid with my brother?" He asked after a while of just sitting in silence.

"We aren't talking right now." James shrugged. That still didn't answer why James was in the library. Regulus has never seen him there once in his five years of attending Hogwarts.

"Right." Regulus nodded, "I'll catch you later then Potter." He said getting up, James didn't say anything so Regulus just went back to his corner, as he did, he noticed a familiar blonde weaving through the shelves. He knew better than to interrupt Pandora's daydreaming so he went back to his research.

*****

"Would you be up for a friendly quidditch game." He nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of James's voice so close to him. An hour has passed. He looked up at James with an expression that could be passed off as shock or confusion, both would be accurate for this situation

"What?" He questioned.

"Y'know, a quidditch friendly. Just the two of us?" Surely this was some kind of sick joke. Or a dream. Either way Regulus was convinced this wasn't happening.

"How would that work?" He asked, "We'd be down six players each, and we play different positions." He pointed out. James pursed his lips.

"Wizard chess?" He tried again. Regulus raised an eyebrow.

"What makes you think I want anything to do with you Potter?" He didn't know why he said that. A small part of him has always wanted to get to know James Potter. Clearly the bigger, more logical part was winning.

"The fact that you haven't jinxed me by now is pretty promising. C'mon I know a place no one will see us. If that's what you're worried about? Being seen with me." Despite fighting it, a lot, Regulus followed James to the seventh floor. There was a growing pit inside of his stomach, but something about being around James felt different, and he couldn't tell whether or not he liked it.

"It's a wall." Regulus pointed out as James started pacing along the corridor. If anyone were to see them now they'd think James was bursting to use a toilet.

"Give it a second." As he passed the wall a third time a door started to form. Regulus nearly fell over his own feet at the suddenness. "Well come on then." He waved. Regulus hesitated for a good while before pushing open the door. He was met with a rather large room that had miss-matched furniture spread around. In between two couches sat a wizard's chessboard.

"How?" Regulus was speechless. Had this room been here this entire time and he was just now told? How did James Potter out of all people discover it before he did.

"I was looking for the loo one day in my second year and it just appeared." He shrugged. That's when Regulus realised what room he was standing in.

"The room of requirement." He was in awe.

"So you've heard of it." James chuckled motioning for Regulus to take a seat. The pair soon fell into a wordless game of chess, well as wordless as you can get with wizards chess. There were some well thought out insults thrown every now and again, mainly by Regulus, some claimed he was a sore loser, he always told them to shove it.

*****

"You aren't nearly as bad as I thought you'd be, Potter." Regulus confessed as he leaned against the couch behind him. A couple of hours had passed since the two came to the room of requirement, "At wizarding chest that is." He corrected, clearing his throat. James looked at him amused.

"What about other things?" He asked. Regulus shrugged, "So you just automatically assumed I was bad at anything before giving me a chance to prove myself." He laughed.

"Well yeah, assuming someone is bad at everything basically means there's no expectations for them to be good, therefore there is no way for you to be disappointed." Regulus explained, James looked amused. "That way if someone is a terrible kisser, it was already expected and neither party is embarrassed." James laughed at the explanation, subconsciously leaning closer to Regulus.

"So you've thought about kissing me before?" James asked, Regulus's face grew red, he was practically frozen to the floor. He couldn't kiss James, he was Sirius' best friend. But he couldn't pretend that he hasn't thought about this moment before, how soft the lips of Gryffindor's golden boy really was, so he closed the gap in between them.