Fearless (Taylors Version)

Three

20th November 1976

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James woke up the next morning, and instantly realized he fucked up. In his arms laid Regulus Black.

His first instinct was to move away as fast as possible, but he stopped himself from doing that when he realized the black heir was still sleeping, and damn, he was looking pretty.

In his face hung a few strands of his black hair. Now that James was so close, he saw the subtle eyeliner around his eyes and his long eyelashes. Regulus' shirt slipped over his shoulder a bit, showing his neck and collarbone. James eyes widened when he saw the number of hickeys on Regulus' pale skin.

Oh shit, I really fucked up.

Before James had any idea on how to hide this, Regulus woke up. James watched the boy in his arms carefully when his eyelids flattered open, and James got to see the beautiful blue-grey eyes looking into his own.

Unlike James, Regulus had no problem with jumping up and moving away from the other one. "What the fuck are you doing in my bed?", asked Regulus, sitting up. "Ehm...technically, it isn't your bed, so I should be the one to ask this question.", answered James.

Regulus spun confused around. "Oh.", he said, realizing where he was. "What am I doing here?" James looked a bit guilty. "Look into a mirror, then youll see.", he suggested.

For a second Regulus didn't seem to know what James meant, but after a few moments he got a suspicion. His eyes widened, and he ran into the bathroom, panicking. Once he saw the hickeys all over his neck and collarbone, he spun around to James. "Fuck! Why am I here? Potter, what did you do? What did we do? Oh god, Sirius is going to kill me!", he asked while running back to James, trying to make sense of it.

James's bit his lip. "I don't really know...My memories are a bit faded. I suppose we drank a lot and then...eh...well, I think it is obvious.", he said, blushing a bit.

Regulus looked at him as if he bit in a lemon. "Fantastic. Now everyone thinks we're having an affair or something!" To his surprise, James simply shook his head. "It's still early, 6am and it's a weekend. If you would go now no one would know we shook each other, they would only know we were seeing someone.", he said.

Regulus took a deep breath. "It's your luck that it is so early. If not, I would've killed you and myself right after.", dared he. James simply grinned at the younger boy. He never took any of Regulus's insults seriously. "Sure, Reggie, sure."

"Don't call me Reggie! You're not nearly in the right position for it. I'm leaving now. Bye.", Regulus said goodbye. Before James had a chance to answer he already stormed off.

For a moment, James just sat on his bed. Apparently, he really shook Regulus Black. The hottest boy in whole Hogwarts. The guy he liked since his third year at Hogwarts. Sirius's little brother. While he was drunk as fuck. He really messed this up.

James decided to get up, take a shower and put on some fresh clothes. Even though he usually slept in a dorm with the marauders and rarely used his own, he had dumped some clothes here, because, well, when he had a dorm for himself, it would be a shame not to use if. He usually stayed here whenever he had one of his episodes, successfully avoiding human contact as good as possible.

After he changed and brushed his teeth, James went downstairs to the great hall, because he was starving. To his own luck, breakfast was already served, but not many students were already awake, especially not after the party last night.

Sitting down, James searched the great hall for Regulus and after a few seconds, he spotted the Slytherin sitting at his table with Pandora. It seemed as if they were having an energetic chat about something both enjoyed.

James thought it was rather fascinating to watch Regulus getting excited about something, he talked with a lot of hand movements and facial expression. From time to time one of the two began to laugh about a joke the other seemed to make.

To be honest, Pandora was one of the many reasons James never asked Regulus on a date. It was obvious that they had a crush on each other, so obviously Regulus would never be interested in him.

But that was fine, thought James. He just needed to move on. Next year they would never see each other again, and they would forget about each other. James was sure about that.

"Good morning!", greeted Lily him with a smile as she sat down next to him. "Morning.", mumbled James, "How can you already have so much energy?"

Lily shrugged. "I am a morning person, I suppose."

"Yeah, I'm too, but we had a giant party yesterday! Aren't you hungover?", James asked. At his words, it seemed to click in Lily's brain. "Oh, that is easy. I didn't drink much. I'm not really a person for drinking, I prefer to know what I'm doing. Unlike you, I suppose."

James frowned. "What do you mean, "unlike me"?", he asked. "The hickeys,", pointed Lily out, "As far as I know you don't have a girlfriend and you don't really seem the type for one-night stands." James chuckled. "No, you're right. I don't know how it happened, but I shook the hottest boy in whole Hogwarts.", he confessed. Lily looked at him, with a mix of confusion and impression.

"You shook Remus? Sirius will kill you!"

Now James was confused. "What? No! I didn't shake Remus." Lily breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank god. Who is it, then?", she asked. For a second, James was unsure if he should tell her, but if there was one person on this planet he could trust, then it was Lily. "Regulus."

Lily took a sharp breath. "Sirius's brother?" James nodded. Lily looked towards the Slytherin table, where Regulus was still chatting with Pandora, now joined by Evan and a half-asleep Barty. "You got a good one, he's very handsome, I have to admit.", she commented impressed.

"It's not like we are together.", James made clear. Lily looked almost disappointed. "Why not? Are you not good enough in the bedroom?", she teased him. "No! That's not it. He obviously has a crush on this girl, Pandora. Also, he was very drunk and probably only used me for a bit of fun to distract himself.", James explained.

Lily seemed not be satisfied with this answer. "That would be very rude of him. I know he is an asshole but this..."

"You can't change it.", sighted James. For a second, Lily watched him while making his toast, until he decided to ask was her reason for it.

"Can I ask why you are staring at me?" That seemed to get Lily out of her trance. "Oh, I was just thinking...you like him, don't you?"

Straight to the point. 100 percent correct guess. Wow. Sometimes Lily's logical sense was scary. "Yeah, for a while now. But...", James paused, not sure if he should continue, "In the past months I've been thinking about someone else. Not that I am less interested in Regulus, sadly, but I think if I manage to concentrate on another person, I'll maybe forget about him."

Lily thought about this information for a bit. "That sounds...interesting. And complicated. You're having a crush on two people?", she asked. James slowly nodded. I think? I dont know if what I feel towards the other person is a crush. I hope it, because the sooner I move on from Regulus, the better.

"Well, do what feels right, then. Get with the other person, if you think that is better for you, or stay with the black boy. I'm always supporting you.", she made sure go tell him. James gave her a friendly smile. "Thank you."

"No problem.", she answered with a warming smile. The two of them ate their breakfast in comforting silence, until James excused himself, getting up to do his homework.

While walking through the halls of Hogwarts, he realized that Lily was right. He should do that felt the best, and even though it hurt to admit, currently Regulus felt the best. Maybe his hopes to devolve a new crush have been too high, but maybe he just needed to give it more time. Yes, that must it be. He just needed more time. The only issue was: He was in his last year at Hogwarts. He was running out of time.

When James arrived at the fat lady, he decided to think about that later - first he needed to concentrate on finishing his transformation and DADA essays.