The Stages Before a Lovers Quarrel ~ A Jegulily and Wolfstar Fanfiction

#12

"Regulus? Are you okay?"

The poor boy looked like he'd been crying for the first 15 minutes that the train had travelled. Sirius invited him over and started stroking his hair, like Narcissa did when the two of them were young.

"Was it..," Sirius glanced around at his friends, "her?"

Regulus nodded. His tears had stopped streaming down his face and he suddenly realised the situation he was in. Five unfamiliar pairs of eyes were watching him, the looks varying from boredom to worry.

"Sorry." He paused to take a breath. "I'm sorry I interrupted you with your friends." He looked at the ground glumly with guilt.

"Reggie. You're my friend too. My best friend! You're welcome to hang around us anytime."

The room went silent until a perky voice chirped. "Nice to meet you Regulus!"

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(James pov specifically)
It was nice to meet Sirius brother, despite the circumstances being that he was crying. Regulus seems nice so why wouldn't I say it was good to meet him.

"I'm James! And this is Remus, Peter, Lily and Severus. You obviously know Sirius." He pointed to everyone in turn.

"Uhh, I'm Regulus..."

He was visibly nervous. He was tapping his leg, biting his nails and if you listened closely you could hear his quickened breath; not quite hyperventilating. Lily joined my attempt in trying to start a conversation until eventually he and Remus swapped places which I think meant he was getting more comfortable. Me, Lily, Reg and Severus were talking about classes. Telling Regulus the ups and downs of every class, what our favourites were and what the teachers were like. Sniv told us a bit about the Slytherin common room and dorms and then I told everyone the best places you could go to skip class for a bit of peace and quiet.

Sirius, Remus and Peter eventually joined our conversation and then the trolly lady came by and Sirius and I bought a bunch of stuff for everyone, especially when a lot of them couldn't afford their own lollies. Regulus pulled a book out of a small bag as the conversations died down it look 10,000 pages long and it was thicker than when I pressed all of my fingers together.

"Watcha reading?" I asked him.

"Not sure. It doesn't have a title since its been around since like Ancient Greece or Rome. Something like that. The Romans start sewing together papyrus, parchment, together and now its called a codex."

"That's cool, what's it about?" I inquired.

Regulus went silent and his cheeks dusted themselves lightly in pink. Years later I learnt what the book was about and I deeply regretted it. I told him that it was okay if he didn't want to tell me and I kept quiet to let him read his book. I tried reading over his shoulder but it was in Latin, I think, so I couldn't. I was filled with the insanity of boredom for a while as everyones conversations faded to silence. I pushed my head against the window and propped my chin up with my elbow. Might as well try to get some sleep now. The older kids are having an all house party, 4th years and up. Last year I heard some 3rd year Gryffindors talk about how exciting it was that it was their first year going and they got to host it. So it was unlikely that anyone in the Gryffindor towers was going to sleep until 3 or 4am. I don't remember when I fell asleep. Just that the whole group had been screaming at me apart from Remus and Regulus, who had just tried to lightly shake my shoulders apparently. We were almost late and I felt horrible when. I realised that Regulus nearly got left behind on the boats to Hogwarts, it's one of the best parts of 1st year.

I pushed the sleepy part of my brain away as the remaining 6 of us made our way to a carriage.

"I still don't understand how magic can pull a carriage!?" Lily queried, grumbling about how nothing makes sense here.

The school came into our view and we could also see all the first years on the lake. I looked for Regulus but my glasses failed me. My friends were having a conversation around me about whatever and my brain was all over the place with excitement. I couldn't wait to see what house Regulus would get sorted into: Gryffindor; like Sirius wanted, Slytherin; like Sev and the rest of the Black family. Maybe Ravenclaw cause his giant book definitely check off the smart kid box. Or Hufflepuff. I thought about breaking him into our common room or breaking into his if we weren't in the same house. Then again he might get Gryffindor, taking the element of risk away. Before I knew it we were all dragging ourselves off of the carriages and we filed into the Great Hall. The noise of chattering students was overwhelming and the first years were still at least fifteen minutes away. Dumbledore stood up to his podium and gave a small speech about being nice to the first years, respecting everyone, a bit of info on OWLs and NEWTs that wasn't important right now but hardly anyone was paying attention. I started thinking that I might try out for the quidditch team. I did last year too but they weren't looking for anyone my age. There were two open spots on the team. Seeker and one Beater. There were so many strategies you could use during quidditch. On a team you needed: teamwork (obviously), hard working players, strategy and planning and sometimes you had to go rogue and wing it. And just like that, the first years shuffled towards the front of the room in unorderly fashion. I could swear I saw a kid nearly tripping. The sorting began minutes later and I even recognised a few last names. Regulus had the first 'B' name and suspense filled the room as the Sorting Hat waited longer and longer to tell us his house. Everyone was questioning what house he'd be in after his brother got sorted elsewhere than Slytherin Last year. I saw the look on Sirius' face. The hope that Reg would be in Gryffindor, or just not in Slytherin. His face fell as Regulus' robes turned green and his feet dragged over to the Slytherin table. At least he got to sit with Severus. I saw a couple pure bloods passing around coins. It was just like them to make bets on someones house.

Finally, Dumbledore finished his word length award winning speech and our Prefects started leading us to the houses. The password this year was virtute et Animo I knew I'd have to ask what it was later, mentally noting to write it down somewhere until I remember it.

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A/n That was HARD to write. But hey, over 1100 words. Writing makes me so happy and I'm so sorry it takes so long for me to get chapter out. Life is just in the way. I get to go to a dance festival soon which is cool. I'm choosing to do mostly contemporary and hip-hop workshops. I'll work on the next chapter asap, it'll mostly just be sleep deprived marauders and Sirius worrying about Reg.  Thinking of putting a little Sirius in distress and Remus calms him and then Sirius hugs him really right and then Remus gets "embarrassed". So if you want that on there lmk. .this is somewhat in unedited so sorry if there's mistakes.

Cya in da next chapter beauties

-alex