Breakfast went better than he expected.
Only seven people came up to him to ask him about Snape's rumour, and they all seemed to believe him when he laughed it off as one of Snape's pathetic attempts at sabotage. Sirius and Remus stumbled into the Great Hall late, ties undone and hair messy. They'd sat down beside each other opposite James and Peter, Sirius shooting James a lovesick grin while Remus buried his face into his meal, obviously trying to will away his flushed cheeks.
Peter, as always, was too enamoured by his food to worry about what was going on around him, leaving James to tease the new couple (James hoped they were a couple; he'd sacrificed too much for them to fuck and forget) about the mornings' occurences.
No one brought up his absence from last night or asked about his whereabouts in the morning, so all in all, breakfast went well.
Lunch, however, is a different rodeo.
"So where were you last night, James," Marlene asks, faux innocence gracing her face. James is immediately on edge.
"Nowhere," He says stiffly, suddenly fascinated by his sandwich. The house elves seem to have used wholemeal bread today. Very healthy.
"Well you had to have been somewhere," Mary says. She leans forward on her elbows, smirking and lowering her voice. "A little birdie told me you were seen leaving the Slytherin dorms this morning."
Marlene gasps. "Why James," she clutches invisible pearls, a scandalised look poorly plastered to her face. "How naughty of you."
"Those are just rumours," James groans, dropping his head into his hands. "You know better than to believe them."
The look on Mary's face when he lifts his makes his stomach drop. Oh, he doesn't like this.
"You know, that's what Marlene and me were saying," Mary says, leaning even closer. She's practically on top of the table at this point, the way she's looming over James and Marlene. "But then we were thinking-"
"Regulus was also missing last night," Marlene finishes, whispering it into James' ear. Cold instantly spreads through James' veins, freezing him into place. His gaze darts to the side, where Sirius and Remus were huddled into each other only three metres away, laughing with Lily and Peter about something. He looks back to Mary, trying to mask the panic he can feel blooming on his face.
"I don't know what you're talking about," James says, relieved that his voice comes out steady. "I mean, what has me and Regulus being missing at the same time have anything to with each other?"
It has everything to do with each other. He can see the smugness in Mary's eyes, feel Marlene shaking with laughter next to him. This is awful.
"We only thought we should let you know," Mary smiles sweetly. "People might get ideas."
"Merlin knows what we'd do if people got ideas," Marlene adds, and James can hear how chuffed she feels. He slumps, letting the tension seep out of his shoulders. He knows that they know that they've cracked it, and in the end, they don't mean any harm.
"Just-" James huffs. "Don't let it get back to Sirius, okay? I don't even know what's going on between me and him, so I'd prefer not to try and have to explain all that to him."
"We won't," Marlene and Mary say together, beaming at him. He'll probably talk to them about all this later, part of him relieved that someone knows about the whole Regulus situation. But the plates are disappearing from the table, taking with them James' half-finished sandwich, and students are beginning to pick up their things and go.
James waves goodbye to the girls, and runs to catch up with the rest of his friends. They absent-mindedly make room for him in their ranks, preoccupied with listening to one of Sirius' many rants about the incredibly strict and totally unfair rulebook of Hogwarts.
"And the rule about tie-length! Why?" Sirius cries, raising a hand to strangle the sky. The other is being held firmly in Remus' grip. "Who is going to see an eight-inch tie and go 'oh no, that kid's tie isn't the required ten-inches, what a slut!'"
Peter and James nod sympathetically, Remus rolling his eyes. Ever since he let them look at his prefect-issued rulebook, the boys have taken turns tearing down each and every one of them, by either fiercely debating them with McGonagol or outright breaking them. Remus eventually had to take away the book, but Sirius and his photographic memory refused to let it go.
"It's to uphold the school's reputation, Sirius," Remus says tiredly. "So that visiting students don't think we're slags who don't know how to tie a tie."
Sirius is visibly offended by this, opening his mouth to defend his and his fellow students honour, when he's interrupted by someone clearing their throat. His light-hearted gaze turning poisonous.
"Little Reggie," Sirius sneers. From the corner of his eye, James watches Remus' grip on Sirius tightening in warning. The animosity between the Black brothers is well-known, and it's never fun when a quarrel breaks out. "Come out to play?"
"Sirius," Regulus says, nodding once at him, expression bored. "I need to talk to James."
Sirius' head whips around to stare at James, eyes narrowed. James fidgets under the gaze, trying not to look too suspicious.
"Why?" Sirius says, drawing out the vowel sound. Regulus doesn't crack.
"He knows why," Regulus' says easily, eyes sliding over his brother to James. "C'mon, James."
Regulus turns, walking away. James watches his back with wide-eyes, mildly terrified. He hesitates, looking over at his friends, where they're watching him in curiosity, though Sirius' stare seems a bit sharper then the other two's.
"James!" Regulus calls sharply and James starts backing away, aware of how the Marauders are tracking his every move. Sirius opens his mouth to say something; James turns around and sprints.
...
the side eye my snake just gave me as i published this 😭
