my almost lover

The entirety of Hogwarts

7 - The entirety of Hogwarts

"You're going to have to leave the bed eventually,"

"I don't have to do anything."

"You've missed five days worth of lessons,"

"Irrelevant."

"I've been bringing your meals to the bedroom!"

"Also irrelevant!"

Barty yanks the covers off from over his head and Regulus glares at him from his curled up state, book to his side. Evan and Emmeline are slightly behind him, looking rather pitying – he hates that – but Barty is looking downright irritated.

Good. Regulus will take annoyance over pity any time.

Barty pulls at his arms and forces him into a sitting position, hissing when Regulus makes it incredibly hard for him. He looks over to Emmeline and Evan for assistance, but they both hold their hands up in joint surrender.

"Regulus Arcturus Black, you are meant to be a member of the most noble and prestigious House of-"

"I've been disowned for six months," Regulus huffs back, "You're taking the loss of my inheritance harder than I am!"

Barty tugs on his hands even harder and Regulus eventually relents, sitting up and folding his arms across his chest. He scowls at him.

The other boy just shakes his head, "You've been wallowing for a week now. It's pathetic. What happened to the 'bury my feelings and pretend nothing can affect me' attitude you've been preaching since age eleven?"

Regulus would like to know that too.

He's never let anything impact him enough to disrupt his daily routine, not really. A couple of trips to the Hospital Wing, a requested break in the middle of a lesson so he could sob in the bathroom from how absolutely overwhelmed he felt. But he's never been this bad, never dreaded the idea of leaving the dormitory. It's all James Potter's fault.

Oh, and even the name makes his heart ache.

The thing is, Regulus can deal with sadness. He can deal with fear and anxiety, keep it all hidden behind a mask of indifference. What he absolutely cannot handle is embarrassment. And what is more embarrassing than having a one-sided relationship with the boy he's been in love with since he was thirteen? He's completely broken up, that's for sure. But he can ignore that.

What he cannot ignore is the pitying stares he's certain he'll get. Gossip somehow spreads through Hogwarts like wildfire and, he knew from an overheard conversation between Evan and Rabastan, that some of the more irritating and nosey students had already picked up on something. He didn't stick around to hear exactly what, but it doesn't matter.

It stings that James was oblivious enough to let it go on for so long.

It's worse that Regulus let himself believe that they were real.

He doesn't want to face a world where it's not.

So he's been doing the very brave and noble thing... hiding under his covers and avoiding everyone outside of Slytherin house.

Barty sighs heavily at Regulus' lack of response and sits down on the bed next to him, "Reg. You can't keep yourself locked up like this. It's not like you were completely off base with what you thought you and James were. We all thought it."

"Seriously," Evan says, stepping forward, "There isn't a person alive that wouldn't look at you both and go 'yup, that's a couple',"

"Except for James himself, apparently," Regulus argues bitterly, ignoring the burning sensation in his eyes.