I Will Follow You Into The Dark || Jegulus

36. Jigsaw

James was in what looked like an art museum. Inside of Hogwarts. How did  he not know this room existed? It was beautiful. Absolutely mesmerizing.

He could hear faint voices getting closer, but there was no place to hide. He had half a mind to run out and head back to his dorm, or to beg Regulus for forgiveness for whatever he might have done wrong, but he saw one painting that completely stole his attention.

It was a painting of Achilles and Patroclus. He didn't know how he knew, but he knew it was them. Achilles was draped over Patroclus's body, wiping his own tears as he mourned his dead lover. A look of longing was left on his face as he gazed at the man he would never laugh with again. The man who was brave and caring enough to die in his name. Achilles looked broken, much like James was, but to a worse degree. James knew he shouldn't feel like he related to this painting, because he didn't. He wasn't gay, and Lily wasn't dead, and she didn't love him enough to die for him. Maybe in this case he was Patroclus, he would definitely die for Lily. But he really would die for anyone, even Regulus.

Regulus. The boy that James could never wrap his head around. What was with him and what interested James so much? Whatever it is James needed to get over because it did not seem like Regulus wanted to keep talking to James.

At this point he had completely forgot he was crying. The tears were just freely flowing down his face and it wasn't long until he let out a sob.

"Potter?" He heard a voice. He froze. Someone else was here. He knew that voice.

"How did you find this room?" The voice was Barty Crouch.

"Oh Barty, thank merlin it's you." He turned around to be face to face with Barty holding hands with Evan Rosier. "Did I interrupt your museum date?" He asked.

"No not at all, are you alright?" Evan asked.

"Not at all." James admitted

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The room had changed. It transformed from the bright museum into a dimly lit room with bean bags on the floor, and plenty of Butterbeer, chocolate, and ice cream.

The three pulled some bean bags into a small circle and began to talk. "Where are we? What is this place?" James asked. The room changed in the blink of an eye, and he never even knew it existed.

"I think it's called the room of requirements. I found out about it from Pandora and Dorcas." Evan said.

"Interesting," James sniffed, tears still in his eyes. 

"Tell us what happened James, It's okay." Barty said

James nodded, "They wont talk to me. Lily or Regulus, the two people I really care about, I mean I just started to finally be able to talk to Regulus, I - I thought he liked me, then Lily, my girlfriend - She thought Regulus was a death eater, and we fought. She didn't want him or you guys coming to my party, then at the party we had another fight, so I left to go get fresh air." he paused, and took a deep breath, and blew his nose with some tissues that were nearby. "I found Regulus, who had a fight with Sirius - it was stupid to invite him knowing his relationship with Sirius, I thought they could get over it for one night. I was wrong." 

"Oh James I'm sorry." Barty said, reaching over to rub a hand on his shoulder, James leaned into it.

"I - well I found Regulus and decided to go on a walk through the grounds, and I was drunk, I was really drunk and I started rambling about how I thought Lily didn't love me, and I kissed him, I called him a star and I kissed him and now I think he hates me." James started hyperventilating, his breaths getting shallow. 

Barty pulled James down to the floor and sat next to him, Laying James down, "Hey, It's okay. It's okay he doesn't hate you. He just gets flaky sometimes, you know Regulus's past and what he's like, he is scared of commitment, even with me and Evan, sometimes he just cant handle it, and he needs a break. He doesn't trust easily." 

"He doesn't hate you, I promise." Evan said. 

"He doesn't?" James asked.

"No, and I'm going to bet you'll find him in the astronomy tower as normal in a few days." Barty said, "Do you want to continue?" he asked

James nodded. "Regulus told me everything that happened when I was drunk, I don't remember anything, but Lily hasn't talked to me since that night, and I don't know what to do. What do I do? She refuses to go near me." He sobbed, and hugged Barty like he would disappear at any moment. 

"It's okay I'm not going anywhere" Barty ran a hand through his hair, "I have you." He whispered.

"Thank you." 

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Remus was still getting used to his newfound lack of depth perception. It was strange, he was constantly bumping into walls or corners, or his friends as they walked through the hallways. Remus was weak, he could barely walk. He was told he would get slightly better as he healed, but he would never be able to fully walk again.

He sat in the library, though he didn't read anything, It hurt his head to read books, though he kept trying. At the moment he just needed some alone time, and the Library was the perfect place to go to escape the marauders when he had a migraine. 

He heard a knock on the bookshelf near him and looked over to see Regulus, "Can I sit?" He asked. 

Remus nodded, "I haven't seen James since your study session. What happened?" Remus asked. 

Regulus couldn't look Remus in the eye, "I - well I dunno. I couldn't bring myself to talk to him last night, and I know I upset him, he was on the verge of tears the whole time, and I shouldn't have done that to him knowing everything that's been going on with Lily recently. I hurt him over my selfish emotions. I just - I can't let myself get attached to him." He said. 

"Y'know Lily came up to us this morning looking for James, I think she's finally done being petty and ignoring him." Remus mentioned, "But you know how James is, he gets really attached to everyone, and I know that can be scary, but you cant just flake on him. He needs some sort of communication about that in order to keep himself stable, and both you and Lily just dropping him without a warning really hurt him." Remus said.

"I'm so sorry Remus, I just - I don't know what's going on anymore, he kissed me and I can't have him just doing that. I - you can't tell anyone, please Remus, but I've liked him, probably since the first time I saw him, he never even spoke to me but he was just so - and Sirius talked about him so much, he's like the sun, how could I not fall for him? and then he just - he kissed me and I shut down." Remus stood up shakily, not bothering to grab his crutches and pulled Regulus into a much needed hug, Regulus shook as he cried into Remus's stomach.

"I'm Sorry Reg, I really am. I know how much that must hurt you." Remus ran a hand through Regulus's hair, "I'm here for you."

"Thank you so much." Regulus sniffed, "Never thought I'd cry in front of a Gryffindor." he chuckled. 

"isn't it about time you head to class?" Remus asked.

Regulus sighed, "Yeah, guess so. You still out for a few days?" 

Remus nodded, "Still struggling to get around, McGonagall is having Sirius and the others bring me all my homework, and having them all help me write it, honestly it's a little embarrassing." He chuckled, "Well don't be late, I'll see you around." Remus went back to his seat. 

"Bye Remus." Regulus said, and headed off to class. 

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Im doing another double upload bc omg I just want real things to happen already. ALSO there's a lot of trauma dumping and paragraphs omg. I love all of James' rants bc theyre just all over the place, hes so me fr.