I Will Follow You Into The Dark || Jegulus

25. Ballad of a homeschooled girl

Regulus groaned, leaning against the door, burying his face in his hands.

"So... what's with Potter if I may ask?" Evan sat on the corner of his bed.

"Well he found me in the Astronomy tower, and he was fucking crying, and drops the massive bomb that apparently he is best mates with Barty, then somehow he ends up walking me back to the common room, then when snape told me everything, I ran to find you, and I somehow ran into him again and him and his stupidly convenient invisibility cloak... Why the hell is he so... touchy?" Regulus grimaced.

He could still feel the shadows of his touch. Potter's hands around his waist, his face practically touching Regulus's neck. Regulus hated Potter, and hated himself more for thinking these things about him.

Lily Evans Lily Evans Lily Evans.

Potter loved Lily Evans, he worshiped that woman. 

"Since when did Barty even know he existed?" Evan asked.

"I guess they bumped into each other in the corridors and just..." Regulus trailed of, not sure what to say. All James said was 'problems'. Barty hated talking about his own mental health. So Regulus never pried. Of course he had issues, who in the Slytherin house didn't? But Potter? Regulus didn't know what it could be.

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"James are you okay? It's been hours!" Sirius ran up to him when he reappeared in their shared dorm.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at Remus." He mumbled, noticing Remus was already asleep, same with Peter. "Why are you up?" James asked.

Sirius, who had just finished talking to Lily shrugged. He wasn't sure whether he wanted to talk about that yet. His late night conversations had continued all year, Lily got more comfortable sharing things with Sirius and vice versa. That night they had talked about James,

"I'm worried about him." Sirius said. "Has he seemed off to you recently? Especially this year."

"Sometimes, I mean I think he is overcompensating, trying to be upbeat all the time which could be affecting his well-being. I haven't talked to him about it yet. We were going to visit Hogsmeade tomorrow so maybe I could talk to him about it if you're worried." Lily said.

"He just isn't himself. He snapped at Remus today out of nowhere. He just disappears at random to walk the corridors at night. One night I looked at the map and he was with Crouch." Sirius said.

"The... map?" Lily asked, making Sirius freeze.

"Fuck uh, nothing." He stammered.

"No, tell me Sirius." She frowned, "I'm tired of all the lying and hiding things."

Sirius sighed. "We may have enchanted a map that shows us everyone in the castle and where they are..." He smiled sheepishly. "I'll show you later, but my point was... what if crouch is corrupting him? Trying to make him a death eater or something? I'm worried." Sirius muttered.

"James wouldn't. You know as well as I do that he would never. Tomorrow I'll talk to him, I promise." She smiled, then ruffled his hair, "Get some sleep, black." She said before heading up to the girls dorms.

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Peter had been isolating himself again. It happened First year before he was close to his friends, and sometimes he still felt left out. They were all so close, it was hard not to.

Peter found himself hanging out with anyone who would give him the time of day, whether they were good or bad people, not caring if his friends hates them or not. He started with other Gryffindors, some Ravenclaws or Hufflepuffs but they never seemed to want to spent time with him afterwards, so he seeked the attention of Slytherins. Some mutual friends at first, some of Marlene's friends, which eventually evolved into him hanging out with the wrong crowd.

"Pettigrew what are you doing here?" A familiar voice sneered. Peter was waiting outside the Slytherin common room for Evan, who he has befriended a while ago.

"Snape... just waiting for Evan." Peter mumbled, looking down at his shoes.

"He's not coming. Get lost before someone less gracious finds you here" he said before heading off in the opposite direction.

Peter didn't listen though, and minutes later, another boy came out. "Well well, what do we have here? A lost little Gryffindor? Feel left out from your obnoxious Gryffindor so called friends?" He asked.

"Well uh..." Peter mumbled.

"If you do me some favors, you can be one of us." He offered, and how could he possibly pass that opportunity up? Of course he agreed unconditionally and found himself spilling secrets about his friends he thought would never leave his mouth. They weren't his friends. They didn't care about him, none of them. Not the marauders, not the other Slytherins, not Marlene. They were all fake, and he had finally found his real friends.

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Well, peter's being a little idiot, isnt that fun! Publishing 2 chapters in one day again?? I kinda wanna publish the next one too, so I'll consider it, I just have so much written that I feel bad having 10+ drafts. This is where things start getting rough. I hope y'all are having fun bc you're going to go through emotion turmoil, but i do have some cute scenes sprinkled around to keep y'all somewhat alive.