The Day the Music Died | Jegulus, Wolfstar

The Phoenix's Song

When you were here before,
Couldn't look you in the eye.
You're just like an angel,
Your skin makes me cry.
You float like a feather,
In a beautiful world.
I wish I was special,
You're so fuckin' special.
But I'm a creep,
I'm a weirdo.
What the hell am I doin' here?
I don't belong here.

"Dinner's ready!" Euphemia announced to no one in particular as she waved her wand and the table set itself.

James and Regulus were playing wizard's chess on the floor, in which the young Black was incredibly good at, quoting: 'it's the only game we have at home', so it was one of his accidental abilities, to give it a name. He won each and every time, he faced James, and then, when things got hard for the curly-haired boy, Regulus pretended to make a wrong move, so James briefly smiled. It wasn't a fair game anyway.

Fleamont's head, however, seemed to be in the clouds, he'd seen him many times before, in the station, and he seemed like a whole different person, dark circles under his eyes, heavy breathing, and overall, a chilling silence surrounded him instead of the usual Potter bubbly personality.

He knew something, something he and James oughtn't discover.

The both young wizards jumped off their seats, not caring about their half-started game, the results weren't going to be any different, anyway.

James sat in is usual chair, he tapped the seat next to his, motioning Regulus to join him, who, reluctantly, did as he was told to. He sat upright, hands in his lap, his position stuck to the back of his chair, as he was educated. James gave him a weird look, scrunching his nose.

  "Why are you sitting so poshly?" He snickered.

  "Why are you sitting so childishly?" Regulus snarled back, slightly loosening his shoulders.

Euphemia giggled, taking a seat next to her husband.

"You can relax here, dear. I know you're used to more elegant dinners, but ours is much different," she smiled warmly, Regulus unbent, although it felt strangely impolite to show such a nonchalant attitude in the table, it felt much freeing than his usual, silent repasts.

The food on the other hand, smelt mouth-watering, there was a small 'toad in a hole' for each one of them, and in the centre of the table, a delicious looking welsh lamb shank. Euphemia's meals were definitely warmer than Walburga's, not to mention the cosiness the aromas had.

—For the ones who don't know what these meals are, they are typical British meals. A toad in a hole is essentially some sausages cooked amongst Yorkshire Pudding batter, often accompanied by vegetables and gravy. And a Welsh lamb shank is a casserole, cooked in slow fire, specially known by the Welsh lab, which supposedly is luscious, I personally haven't tried it, but let me know how it tastes if you did—.

Once everyone begun eating, —Regulus made sure of it, it would be ill-mannered to eat before everyone else started doing so as well— he plunged his fork in the pie and took the mouthful to his mouth, where his tongue royally exploded with flavours, not to mention that it was burning hot, but it didn't matter, he couldn't remember eating something better in his entire life, not even in the marvellous Hogwarts, nothing could compare to it.

  "This is the best thing I've ever tried, Miss- I mean, er, Euphemia," he spoke once he finished chewing, he was sure he had a dumb, infantile smile imprinted in that pale face of is, but he didn't mind, embarrassingly enough, he thought, this might be like having a mother, a real one that actually loves you. It felt wonderful, if he had a mother this lovely when he was a kid, he'd probably've turned out as sweet and charming as James, he envied what a beautiful life he had.

  "You're too kind, Regulus," Euphemia beamed, but Regulus shock his head, making his dark curls hit his forehead, which oddly enough, made James grin too.

He widened his sea-blue eyes.

"You really do have a talent for cooking, I'd rather eat this every day than having a million galleons."

James bit his lip.

"Oh, but you already have them, don't you?"

Regulus gave him a dirty peek.

"I wish I didn't," he mumbled, everyone heard him, but no one said a word.

The rest of the dinner was delightful, Regulus felt more at home than ever, and the constant jokes James made gave light to the conversation, he was brilliant.

***

They were sitting together in the floor once again, Euphemia served them a piece of mince pie, —which recipe she invented—she didn't tell them the ingredients, as they were a 'secret', but James was sure there couldn't be something yummier than that. After that, she briefly explained she had important things to do and vanished, along with Fleamont, James was used to this, so he didn't mind.

Regulus was barely concentrating on their game any more, he was enjoying every bite of his pie, and even so, he managed to win, it drove James nuts.

The Gryffindor boy made his move, which he thought to be very clever.

"Your turn, star-boy."

Regulus raised a finger, indicating James to give him a second, as he licked the remaining cream out of his plate, the younger Black seemed to be loosening up at James' presence, and he was finally manifesting the personality his family never let him show.

"I thought you didn't like sweets," James teased, Regulus growled in response.

He raised his head and left the plate on his side, but James started chuckling.

  "What are you laughing of, tosser?" he frowned.

James pointed to his nose.

"You've got a little something over there, sweet-tooth," he snickered at the chunk of cream stuck to the tip of his nose, but Regulus kept trying to wipe off the wrong spots of his face, "here, let me help you," James reclined over the chess board to get closer to Regulus, he stayed still as James grabbed his jaw to not lose balance and rubbed his nose.

He licked his finger and beamed.

"There you are."

  "Cheers," Regulus pursed his lips and lowered his gaze to the chessboard, James was a few moves away of his king, but Regulus effortlessly said "bishop, to e-five," the piece did as it was told, and rested just in the opposite king's side menacingly. Regulus mumbled triumphantly, "checkmate."

  "Bollocks! I thought I had you there. Real talent you've got, er mate?" James yapped, Regulus simply nodded as he caressed James's jumper, it still smelled like coconut.

As he felt the Gryffindor's boy eyes on him, he finally answered.

"Useless as well."

  "You never know," James shrugged, and he got up, "m'gonna take a shower, you can go upstairs and wait for me in my room, y'know, look around and whatever you want to do, I'll be quick."

Regulus nodded as he watched the boy walk upstairs and disappear, how had he grown so fond of that idiot? He seemed like the best mate he ever had, he could be himself without having to care about anything else, he could keep secrets, and he loved the way he just rambled endlessly, blabbering about random facts, the conversation never ran out with him.

He loved his dark brown curls, and how they turned a dark orange when the sun bathed them, he loved his charming hazel puppy eyes and his mischievous smile, which was present each time of the day, he could brighten an entire room just with the sound of his laughter, which to him, sounded like the song of a phoenix...

Merlin, did he fancy James Potter?

***

—I was going to compare James' laugh with the song of a Fwooper, which has a beautiful sound, but apparently if you hear it for too long you end up going nuts. Uric the Eccentric once tried to prove that the Fwooper's song was actually beneficial for health, and listened to it for three months without interruption. Unfortunately, the council of magicians, to whom he reported his discoveries, was not convinced, since Uric came to the meeting dressed only in a toupee, which turned out to be a dead badger, quite crazy, innit?—