I Will Follow You Into The Dark || Jegulus

34. People Watching

Remus started paying attention to his friends in more detail - not that he didn't already, but in reading between the lines, he noticed a lot more.

Peter would flinch anytime Sirius's family was brought up, or even the Slytherin house. He was way more jumpy than he was before, and made far less jokes than he used to. Remus didn't know what he was up to before, but it didn't seem like anything good.

James looked up at the night sky a lot more than he used to, and he kept a journal now. He snuck out till late nearly every night, Remus actually wasn't sure if he saw Regulus every night, some nights he saw James sitting in the corridors with Barty's name next to him on the map, and sometimes he actually was just taking a walk around the palace or grounds. Strange enough, he hasn't seen James with Regulus since that night he was eavesdropping. The night after the party.

Sirius still kept up with writing letters to Regulus like he used to, but he kept them unsent in a box under his bed. He never let anyone know what he wrote. Sometimes he would wake up crying from nightmares, and would refuse to talk about it. 

Lily looked most alive around one of her roommates, Mary, and rolled her eyes a lot when James was brought up, but when she was with him she seemed completely enamored. When she wasn't ignoring him, she seemed to reciprocate James's heart eyes.

Barty and Evan were definitely dating, even though it was just a rumor, he could see their longing looks as they forced themselves to not sit next to each other in the great hall during meals, instead they sat on either side of Regulus, or even Evan would eat meals at the other end of the table next to his sister and Dorcas. Barty was far closer with Pandora than Remus would have expected, those two are complete opposite, and he thought they would find it strange for Barty to befriend his best friend's (or boyfriend's) sister.

Regulus... he was hard to read. Remus knew almost nothing about him other than what he had been told. He knew Regulus was forced to get the dark mark, but he was remarkably good at hiding it. Was he used to hiding things? He had no nervous mannerisms - or showed them almost never in public at least. He sat perfectly still at all times except those nights in the library where he was clearly distraught. Based on context clues (and the information he knew from Sirius, albeit opinionated), Regulus wasn't as much of a parent pleaser as Sirius thought he was. I mean clearly - he was planning to oppose Voldemort alongside Remus and Pandora. Speaking of that topic, Remus needed to tell Regulus what he knew. They could take down Voldemort, and Remus wad really hoping they knew enough.

It was nearly impossible to track down Regulus, but one night as Remus sat in the library after-hours, the invisibility cloak by his side, Regulus and Pandora showed up out of the blue.

"Any luck with Slughorn?" Pandora asked

"Yes actually, I learned a lot and I think we know enough to make a move." Remus said, and they got to work.

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It was finally time for Remus to get his bandages removed. He sat with Madame Pomfrey and sirius in the hospital wing. She didn't much like Sirius being there disturbing her, but Remus insisted, and she quite liked Remus, and pitied him.

She carefully removed all the layers, revealing a scar that went directly through his eye. His left eye - the injured one was a shocking shade of clouded over white, contrasting the previous golden color it used to be.

"I-" Remus trembled, "I can barely see. I've barely survived recently. Is this permanent?" Remus asked.

"I'm afraid so, Mr. Lupin" Madame Pomfrey said solemnly. Great, so now he was crippled, and cant see at all. How great.

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James didn't know what to do. Lily was ignoring him over petty things, and no matter what he did, she wouldn't let him approach her. He also hadn't talked to Regulus since that night the day after his party when Regulus said James kissed him. James had gone to the astronomy tower, only for it to be empty. All he could do was wait till the date of their next tutoring session.

Ever since that night, he started to doubt Lily's feelings more and more, and every day she ignored him only worsened the doubts. And James hated himself for kissing Regulus. Did that ruin things with both Regulus and Lily? Regulus had comforted James after he admitted his doubts to Regulus, but then he didn't see him after, and he needed to talk to him.

When the tutoring session finally came, James showed up early. Regulus was always exactly on time. He was just as neat as always, hair combed perfectly, his pale skin nearly glowing in the dim classroom. He was a star. James could not reiterate his thoughts anymore.

"Hi" He said awkwardly as Regulus sat down beside him. He got no response, only Regulus opening a potions book and prepping the cauldron. This was going to be a long night. "Reg-"

"Dont, Potter. Let's just get through this lesson." Regulus said. James frowned. He was back on last name basis? It almost hurt, especially after everything with Lily.

"Please Reg I cant-" Regulus shushed him again.

"I can not deal with your rambling right now Potter. I wouldn't be here if I didn't have to be. Can we please just get this over with?" He huffed.

"What did I do wrong?" James almost whimpered, but he tried not to show that much weakness. But underneath all his goofiness, he was just a weak, scared little deer.

"What didn't you do wrong?" Regulus sneered. "I'm not doing this right now"

James had to hold back tears the entire night as they did potions in tense silence. The second they were finished, James sprinted out of the potions classroom, he didn't know where he was going, he just was. Eventually he came upon a door he didn't recognize, and in his emotional stupor, he walked inside.

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Guys this chapter makes me sad. Poor little babies can't communicate, anyway I'm feeling generous so I think this'll be another double upload since I have so many drafts. Thank you all for all the support and comments omg

On another note, I think I am accidentally becoming the designated driver of band kids and their big instruments (i drive a truck so ive had to help out some tuba players from time to time) and this other guy asked if i could start driving him home sometimes too, which I dont mind but its still strange that people want my company.

Anyway im gonna spoil y'all with a double upload today since I have so many drafts. I have almost the entire next hogwarts school year planned out too, plus some stuff after, so be ready bc im fully committed to breaking your little hearts