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In recent months, they became more of a regular thing. The parties. As a balance to the stress of the N.E.W.T.S ahead, the Seventh‘ Years‘ met up - usually in the Gryffindor Common Room - to have some fun, get drunk, play games - whatever comes to mind, really.
In the beginning it was a small meeting of Gryffindors, James had said, but it became more and more exclusive as Marlene often brought Dorcas along.
That‘s how Regulus Black found himself sitting on the carpeted floor in Gryffindor Tower, next to Remus, his brother's boyfriend, and Evan, who had begged Regulus to come along more often than not.
Regulus usually refused, not sure what to think about stepping into dangerous territory. Not the Gryffindor Tower, that is. He‘s been here a lot in the past months, spending nights next to James and sneaking out before dawn.
Spending time with James together with his friends was difficult. He knew Sirius could see right through him. He‘d know if he caught him so much as looking at James.
And at this point, he‘s not even sure why they’re hiding their relationship anymore. At first, Regulus was terrified. Terrified that his parents would find out somehow. But now he simply didn’t care anymore.
They didn’t speak about it. As far as he‘s concerned, James still thought Regulus was frightened about coming out or about his parents acting on it. He wasn’t sure what James‘ opinion was, but he guessed James was still unsure about Sirius‘ reaction.
Blinking a few times, he pulled himself out of his thoughts and reached for the cup in front of him.
He looked around, finding James’ eyes, who sat across from him. A small smile flashed on his face and, fuck, how he loved that smile. Regulus smiled back slightly, the voices of his classmates drowning out as his whole focus was on his boyfriend for this moment.
He heard someone clap and saw Mary speak up.
“Alright then! I’m glad you’re all here, today we,” she looked at Marlene and then at Lily, grinning slyly, “thought we’d do things a bit different, I hope you’re all up for Truth or Dare!”
Ever since Lily and Mary had explained it to the others, a lot of the students were obsessed with the Muggle game. Regulus didn’t understand why, but he did find some of the revelations pretty amusing.
Mary then reached in her pocket and pulled out a small potion vial.
“Veritaserum!” Lily announced, proudly.
“To spice things up a bit,” Mary added, grinning.
Oh no.
He shifted on the floor, not sure what to make of the idea. He wasn’t very keen on not being able to control his actions. Then again, he did trust Lily and Mary not to go overboard completely and make him or any of the others uncomfortable on purpose.
Well, here goes nothing, he thought and knocked back the small glass of Firewhiskey the girls mixed with the potion.
The Seventh‘ Years‘ sat in a circle, around a bottle - to decide who was next, and the game began.
The questions and dares were boring at first, some people simply asked their classmates if they like someone or not, when their first kiss was, or dared them to sing a specific song.
Some interesting secrets were spilled though, so he couldn’t say he didn’t enjoy himself.
It was revealed that Marlene had liked Dorcas for a much longer time than anyone was aware of, but she thought Dorcas hated her.
Remus apparently had a crush on a teacher at some point, though he didn’t have to say which one.
Others were dared to kiss the most attractive person in the room (Mary kissing Lily at that, to some people’s surprise).
After Sirius‘ turn - he talked about some rather intimate moments in the past to Regulus‘, and probably Remus‘, dismay as his Truth was something about his first crush - he shifted closer to Remus and gave him a comforting kiss on the cheek and spun the bottle.
It landed on him.
Well that‘s unfortunate.
Sirius knew basically everything about him, their relationship has finally been rebuilt.
Regulus chose truth, not wanting to be embarrassed by doing something stupid.
As his older brother thought about a good question, Regulus wasn’t sure what to expect at all.
“Do you fancy someone right now? You never tell me shit like that!” was not what he had in mind, though.
His eyes grew wide and he stared at James for a, hopefully unnoticeable, short time.
He tried to force the words coming out of his mouth back, but he couldn’t. He hated it.
“I- yes. I do,” He answered.
Sirius looked at him suspiciously and almost screamed, “What? Who!”
That question wasn’t even part of his turn but he couldn’t help but answer. The words tumbled out of his mouth, Regulus was helpless.
“It’s James.”
There was a moment of silence, but it didn’t last long.
“What the fuck!” Sirius screeched, completely shocked. That made Regulus laugh a bit. His brother looked between him and James and didn’t say anything for a few seconds.
Then, his expression grew to something angrier as he saw James’ fond look.
Remus took Sirius hand, trying to calm him down but it didn’t seem to work well this time.
“YOU- You’re-,” He tried to say something but was interrupted by James. They’d shared a quick look and Regulus nodded, understanding.
That was one of his favourite things about their relationship. He understood James like no one else, it made something in his chest seethe every time.
Regulus was suddenly aware of the fact that literally all eyes in the room are on the three of them right now. Wordlessly, he stood up and walked out of the room, pulling James up the stairs to the Dormitory with him.
Sirius stormed after them and looked at James, expectantly.
“Yes. We are,” James clarified softly after turning around to face his best friend.
“I’m sorry? And were you ever going to tell me? I’m his brother! I’m your best friend! Oh for Godric’s sake he was so innocent, my little brother!” Sirius rambled, trying to make sense of the situation.
“What is that supposed to mean,” Regulus tried, raising one eyebrow.
Sirius rolled his eyes, “Since when has this been going on? Are you actually together?”, He then basically shouted, “JAMES, what kind of prank is this!”
“Not a prank. We took Veritaserum, remember? I…,” James looked down, blushing, “I love him, alright? We started going out last year, please accept this as it is. I really really like him, Sirius.”
Sirius’ eyes narrowed, then looked at his brother and sighed defeatedly.
Regulus held on tight to James’ hand and stared at Sirius with such force, Sirius didn’t dare say anything again.
“You made your choice with Remus, let me have mine. Je l’aime et tu ne peux pas interférer avec ça.”
Sirius nodded then, seeming to understand this isn’t some weird agreement. He has his own boyfriend, he knows how much a relationship like that is worth. He wouldn’t trade it for the world.
“I’m sorry. I just- I didn’t expect it at all, you know? I’m happy for you. I am. Seriously though, that was out of nowhere!” He said, then tried to smile slightly at the both of them.
“It’s all good Padfoot, thanks. Just- don’t scream at me again over this please? And now if you don’t mind leaving us alone for a bit?” James looked at Regulus and smirked. His face flushed.
Sirius raised a finger but didn’t say anything. Sighing again, he went down the stairs, shaking his head and went back to the others.
James was the one pulling at Regulus’ hand this time and closed the door.
He brushed a strand of hair out of his boyfriend’s hair, intertwined their fingers and pressed his lips to Regulus’, soft and slow.
Regulus sighed contently into the kiss and brought his free hand up to cup James’ jaw.
They parted with dazed eyes and James said. “Have I ever told you how much I adore you speaking French, Reggie?”
“You have,” Regulus smiled. “I love you.”
“I love you too. And to be honest, I’m glad it’s out there now.”