Chapter Text
The Great Hall of Hogwarts was buzzing with activity, as was to be expected on the first day of a new term. September had arrived once again, bringing about a fresh set of first years, and a lot of new ideas for pranks.
James Potter arrived, in his typical style, late, and accompanied by Sirius Black who somehow was already violating numerous dress code violations with a too short tie and copious amounts of eye makeup across his face.
“Back for another year.” James said dreamily, his eyes ever drifting down the Gryffindor table as he watched Lily Evans and her group of friends compare timetables. Summer had treated her well, her usual pale skin tanned with freckles spotted generously across her nose.
“Hello? Prongs?” Sirius asked, waving his hand in front of his face and breaking his line of view.
“What?” He replied, ever so slightly bitter about the loss of Lily.
“Are you still fawning over Evans? You know she’s not interested mate.” Sirius said sympathetically before peering around sheepishly, reaching into his pocket to pluck out a cigarette- lighting it with the tip of his wand.
“You know it’s seven thirty in the morning, Padfoot.” He huffed, rolling his eyes.
Logically- there was sense in Sirius’ words. He knew that Lily didn’t want anything to do with him but it still hurt whenever someone bought it up.
Sirius had been going through a “speaking his truth” phase as of lately, ever since he had ran away from his parents house over the summer he had been free to say whatever he wanted and that included rather bluntly telling him over breakfast one day that he was done entertaining his fantasy when it came to Lily Evans.
James couldn’t help it. It wasn’t like he was actively trying to be in love with her- it was just something that happened one day and he couldn’t get rid of it. No matter how much he had tried to move on, going on random dates or taking the offers of hookups at parties it never seemed to shift the deep longing that he got anytime he saw her auburn hair swishing down the corridor. Anytime Lily shouted at him his heart skipped a beat and whenever she hexed him he almost couldn’t help the love-drunk nonsense that fell from his lips.
Groaning, he buried his head in his hands. He had come into the new year- his sixth year- with a new mindset.
His plan was to try and forget Lily and so far he was failing miserably.
After talking with Sirius, he decided that if even his best friend was telling him to give up on the relationship, then it probably wasn’t worth it. So his goal was to have moved on from Lily Evans by the end of the year. Yeah… it wasn’t going well.
“Here’s something that will take your mind off of her,” Sirius grinned, pointing over at the table next to them- adorned with students clad in emerald green.
Settled almost directly opposite the pair, staring daggers at them, was his nemesis- Severus (Snivellus) Snape.
Was having a nemesis at age sixteen a little childish… Yes.
Did he care? No.
If Snape was going to take the time to hex him at any opportunity he got- James didn’t see why he couldn’t defend himself. He knew that in the past he had been more of an instigator than a defender but even when he backed off from Snape and left him be the snake had still hunted him down to curse him.
Unlike Lily- the summer clearly had not treated Snape well. His lanky form had grown even more stretched out, so much so that his robes hardly fit, and his hair was as greasy as ever giving out the impression that he hadn’t showered since the last time they had seen him.
Wrinkling his nose, James turned away from him- not dignifying the glare with the usual middle finger and instead spooning cereal into his mouth at record speed. The quicker he finished his breakfast, the more time he had to catch up with all of his friends.
He had spent the entirety of the welcome feast the night before hanging out with Sirius, Remus and Peter and so he didn’t do much mingling. He had mainly been trying to help Sirius out for most of the night because he had caught a glimpse of his brother and so had spent the rest of the feast wailing about how he left him and could only be soothed by several bowls of ice cream. James didn’t know very much about the Black brother’s relationship. All he knew is that after Sirius was sorted into Gryffindor he was exiled by his parents, and then after his brother was sorted into Slytherin things pretty much just deteriorated.
It made James feel rather guilty but he really didn’t care all too much about Regulus Black.
From the limited intel he had from Sirius, he was a blood supremacist twat who cared more about what some snooty purebloods had to say over his own brother. He had turned Sirius away time and time again and that was enough for him to be dislikable in James’ book.
When it came to the night Sirius ran away, Regulus did not- choosing to stay with the monsters that he called his parents instead of sticking with his brother. Despite that being his decision- Sirius had been wracked with guilt from the whole ordeal, spending his first three nights at the Potter’s in hysterical tears, just murmuring his brother’s name over and over again.
While he had recovered pretty quickly, his face now turned harsh at the mention of his brother and he frequently went off on tangents about how much he hated him although he still wouldn’t hear a word against him. It was all very confusing and so James tended to just steer the conversation away from Regulus entirely, which is how Sirius had made it through the previous night in one piece.
But of course that meant that they hadn’t gotten to catch up with anyone else- which is why they both lifted up from their seats and made their way down the table to sit with the other Gryffindors of their year.
Remus had already made his way down, somehow excited to start his lessons, and was engaged in a rather vigorous debate with Lily- although knowing both of them they could just be agreeing passionately about the same subject.
Marlene Mckinnon was practically asleep in her porridge, her spoon clutched in her fist and her head drooping dangerously close to the bowl.
Mary Macdonald was supporting her best friend's head and was the first to welcome the pair to the table, gesturing to the seat opposite them which settled them beside Alice Fortescue, who smiled and waved warmly before turning instantly to talk to Frank Longbottom again- the two of them sickeningly sweet in their relationship.
“Morning.” Mary said, raising her cup and eyebrow simultaneously. “Where’s your third musketeer?”
“Peter was still asleep when we left and when I tried to wake him up he told me to just move on and find a new best friend.” Sirius replied, rolling his eyes as if he wasn’t just as dramatic.
“Well at this rate he’s going to miss the timetables.” Lily chimed in, turning into the conversation, looking rather anxious at Peter’s fate.
“Trust me, he doesn’t mind.” Remus muttered dryly, nodding at his two best friends, his eye bags prominent on his pale face.
The full moon had been during the holidays- and his father being the arsehole that he was- Remus wasn’t allowed to spend the time with anyone else, meaning he was walking with a limp and had a couple of vicious cuts up and down his torso from the wolf. Sirius was particularly upset by this development, marching him straight to the nurse which made James chuckle.
See, he was one of the only people who knew about Sirius’ massive crush on Remus (meaning that everyone who had had a single conversation with him knew about it) but he was also one of the only people who knew that Remus had a matching crush that in fairness was also ridiculously obvious to almost everyone.
It was a painful situation for practically everyone because they couldn’t just tell them that they both liked each other because neither one of them would believe them- but equally it was straight torture to watch the two of them make heart eyes and act like a domestic couple but never actually act on their feelings.
They continued to glance longingly at one another, just missing the others eyes by a millisecond every time.
“Have you got your timetables yet?” Marlene demanded, thrusting out her own sheet of parchment with minor disgust. “I’m alone for literally everything.”
“They only just got here Marls, give them a second. Besides, Lils just said that they haven’t.” Mary replied for them, rolling her eyes and drizzling more honey over her cereal.
Marlene looked very offended by the action, but let it go in favour of badgering Sirius about something or other that had happened over summer.
James had never really understood why Marlene and Sirius were so close, but they had been practically attached at the hip since their third year and as someone who was entirely co-dependent with Sirius (Lily’s words) he wasn’t one to judge them.
“Timetables.” A sharp voice rang out, jolting James out of his thoughts and making him drop his toast. The voice of Minerva Mcgonagall was always enough to cut away his daydreams.
“Minnie! My dearest, how are you?” Sirius instantly exclaimed, leaning his elbows on the table and flashing a cheesy grin to the professor standing opposite him.
“Sirius.” She replied, her mouth quirking slightly before it fell back into its neutral position. “I have your timetable here, yours as well Mr Potter.” The parchment was slapped down onto the table in front of him, and he blinked at it, a frown on his face. He knew for a fact that Sirius wouldn’t be in any of his classes, a promise from the head of Gryffindor herself. Apparently he couldn’t be trusted with Sirius and so they had been separated.
“Minnie-” He began, instantly spinning around to try and bargain with her.
“Do not even try Mr Potter- you will not succeed.” Mcgonagall warned- raising her eyebrows firmly before passing Remus a timetable much more gently than she had to either James or Sirius. “Get this to Pettigrew please Mr Lupin.”
And with that she was off, waving her wand casually to break up a fight between three third years before helping one fifth year with their timetable.
“Sirius, we’re split up.” James pouted, turning his focus back to his best friend who had wilted significantly at the departure of his favourite teacher but also by the comparison of his timetable and Remus’.
“I know Prongs, whatever shall we do.” He wailed desperately- before perking up significantly. “Hey look! I’ve got a free period now. I fucking love sixth year.”
Remus rolled his eyes.
“You know that you’re supposed to study in free periods right?”
“Yeah, no. Not happening. I’m going to catch up on my beauty sleep- I’ll take Wormy’s timetable with me.”
“Yeah- you look like you could use beauty sleep Black.” Marlene called out, howling with laughter at his scowl and his middle finger.
“What have you got now James?” Mary asked, turning away from the sickeningly sweet actions of Frank and Alice to speak to him.
“Fucking potions. Oh joy.” He replied glumly.
To say that James enjoyed potions would be a straight up lie.
Was he good at it? No. Not really.
He did averagely, especially considering that his father had made his fortune through developing and creating potions for hair care, but he was absolutely abysmal at following the instructions written in his textbook, usually too engrossed in conversation with Sirius, or else staring at the back of Lily’s head, praying that she might just turn around and offer him one of her brilliant smiles.
“We all have potions next too.” She spoke as if it was some consolation and in many ways it was.
He was assuming that she was referring to herself, Remus and Lily who all reacted as she spoke, but seeing the way Lily’s face twitched when she realised that he was in the same class as her was enough to make his hopeful smile drop again.
Perhaps he was merely reading into it, Lily could have simply been itchy, or adjusting herself, but after years and years of constant rejection he wasn’t expecting anything else.
Lily and Mary excused themselves from breakfast early, hoping to run backup to Gryffindor tower to grab some more potion ingredients just in case.
James, who had come prepared with his bag stuffed with all of his books- a feather light charm casted on it to ensure that he didn’t break his back in the process of carrying it- did not join them and Remus, whether out of sympathy or not decided to stay beside him, walking with him down into the dungeons.
“It’s not going to be the same without Sirius there.” James filled the silence with his complaints, shivering slightly as the temperature dropped.
The dungeon was always frigid and miserable- how the Slytherin’s survived down there he would never understand- and it was definitely his least favourite part of the castle. Some of the stone walls had become slimy after constant contact with the lake beside it, and while it was contained to certain patches of wall it still made him uncomfortable whenever he walked near it. The dungeon was also always dusty, filled with moths and spiders and other assorted creepy crawlies. The poor house elves were not tall enough to even see the towering ceilings of most of the corridors and so they were often left undusted, and grimy- making James grimace anytime he saw it.
Still at least Remus was with him, so his mood could have been worse, although he was still taking the loss of Sirius pretty hard.
He had been with Sirius since September first of their first year, effectively gluing themselves to each other so strolling through the dungeons was even more daunting without him by his side.
“At least none of the cauldrons will explode today.” Remus offered, the joke making the corners of his lips turn up.
Sirius was infamous for being one of the worst potioneers the year had ever seen. In every other subject he excelled, getting top marks despite putting in minimum effort but for some reason, even after copious amounts of tutoring from Remus and Lily (who had offered her help because she was the best in the year) he still had never been able to grasp how the subject worked and was only too keen to drop the subject immediately after OWLs.
-
When the pair arrived at their classroom, sliding into a desk at the back together- James was faced with three things.
The first one being the sight of Lily and Mary who had somehow managed to beat them down to the dungeons. Lily was pulling her hair out of her face, looking practically ethereal, and Mary was unpacking her potions ingredients, clearly ready for the lesson.
The second sight was the unsavoury view of Severus Snape, slumped next to Mulciber who was eyeing Mary nastily. His hatred for Mary was very well known throughout the castle, and it was no shock to anyone when he ended up in the hospital wing each and every term after attempting to attack her. Snape was also staring over at Mary’s table, but his eyes held a deep longing to them and he gazed past Mary to watch Lily carefully. Everyone at school knew about the disintegration of their friendship. Lily had always been quick to defend Snape, claiming that they all (James mainly) knew nothing about his life outside of school and demanding that they leave him be.
That all changed the previous year when he proceeded to call her a slur, and then effectively confessed that the only reason they were friends in the first place was because he was madly in love with her. Safe to say Lily was very public about their friendship break up, and it was probably one of the best days of James’ life.
Of course, she had made it very clear that she still did not forgive him for the way he had behaved, nor the way that he had spoken- but at least (in his view) it was a step in the right direction.
The third thing was a boy he didn’t recognise right away, hunched over his cauldron as he prepared his ingredients. He was sitting alone- which was a little unusual and so James kept his eyes focused on him, as inquisitive as always although the most he could make out was the colour of his tie- green.
The boy then raised his head, watching the blackboard carefully with wide eyes, but even the simple action was enough to make James gasp.
Because settled quite comfortably in a sixth year potions class, was Sirius’ little brother.
He had similar hair, black and curled just above his ear- not a single hair out of place. While still pale, his skin had a caramel hue to it (which James had to assume originated from the Black families previous home in the south of France, where Sirius complained about being trapped indoors with tutors while his brother was free to roam outside). His nose was upturned, his cheekbones high and he had freckles dotted across the majority of his cheeks, moving when he scrunched his nose delicately. His face was free from the usual blemishes, cuts and cigarette burns that Sirius’ was usually filled with and his eyes flashed a steely grey- far more intense than Sirius’ own which were lighter and free.
But it didn’t make any sense.
James knew Regulus Black.
He knew him from Sirius’s stories, he knew him from the quidditch pitch, and he knew him from his sorting.
Regulus was in his fifth year, too young to be in a NEWT potions class and yet here he was- sitting proudly, chin jutted out just how the new Black heir would be expected to sit.
Before he could further question his best friend’s brother’s reason for being in the same classroom as him, the door burst open once more and Professor Slughorn waddled in, a jovial smile on his face.
“Welcome, welcome. I am so pleased that you have all chosen to continue with potions this year, it truly is an invaluable skill. A special welcome of course as well, to young Regulus over there who took his potions OWL last year and successfully moved up a class- it’s very impressive my boy.”
Regulus- to put it bluntly- looked like he wanted to curl up in a ball underneath his desk and die when all of the heads in the room swivelled to look at him. Instead he simply flushed furiously and nodded. Of course James knew from Sirius that his brother hated attention and would much rather fade into the shadows- or as Sirius liked to call him on a good day his little shadow.
“Now this course is not easy and there are many lessons which will be related to each other, both in content lessons and practical lessons. If any of you are struggling with either of these, I will personally assign you a tutor to ensure that you are able to complete the topic. Hopefully, that won’t be necessary because I know that you are all excellent potion makers!” At this Slughorn quite literally turned around so he could face Lily and beam at her, which she returned politely.
James felt rather lost after Slughorn's speech given that his notes for potions were abysmal, he couldn’t always crack the practical work and he relied so heavily on Remus’ help in lessons that it was a miracle that he managed to get an E on his exam.
He really didn’t want to become the one and only student in the class who got a tutor, but when Slughorn began to write out the practical lesson, showing quite possibly the most complex potion he had ever seen, he didn’t have high hopes.
The only good thing that might come from having a potions tutor would be that it would be Lily.
Slughorn knew better than to place him with Remus because he knew that no work would get done, and James wasn’t aware of any other incredible potions students other than Lily, so she would be his first choice.
At least that thought was enough to lighten his spirit and he found it difficult to gather his ingredients while hiding his grin.
He zoned out a tad when Slughorn began explaining, a little distracted by whatever riveting conversation Lily was having with Mary, and by the time he had shaken out of his trance most of the class had already begun with their potion. Exhaling briefly, he flipped to the correct page of the textbook and began.
-
“You’ll want to be careful with your turns. A single wrong speed or direction may alter the potion entirely.” Slughorn advised forty five minutes later, lounging on a plush chair behind his desk as he gorged himself on crystallised pineapple, looking the most laid back in the room. “Be very careful or it will all go wrong.”
It had already gone very, very wrong for James, stirring be damned.
When his potion was supposed to flash orange, it was green and when it was supposed to boil, it oozed and when it was supposed to release lilac vapours, his turned thick and gooey and sat like a dumpling in the bottom of his cauldron. To say he was disappointed would be an understatement.
He had tried to turn to Remus for help multiple times, but with it being such a complicated potion, his friend didn’t want to be disturbed- losing focus could ruin his potion. While James understood, it didn’t make him any less upset- staring at the sad, now-burning lump.
“Okay everyone- your potions should be done simmering so please phial them and I’ll come and inspect them.” Slughorn called out- making James’ eyes sink shut.
He was doomed.
Annoyingly, Snape was praised heavily for his almost lavender potion which was very close to perfection. While it wasn’t anywhere near as good as Lily’s (he had thought Slughorn might explode from happiness when he saw hers) it still made James feel just a little bit sick to his stomach to here the praise- especially when he knew for a fact that Snape had spent half his time staring longingly at Lily.
Mary was passable, not a favourite of Slughorn so moved past quickly.
What was really surprising was Slughorn's reaction to Regulus’ potion, which was on a similar level to Lily’s and made Slughorn overjoyed. If it wasn’t against the school’s rules, James was positive that the professor would have swept a non-compliant Regulus into his arms as he praised him, which also made him feel a little ill- although not in the same way as Snape. Instead of low level anger bubbling in his gut, he got this ridiculous swooping feeling in his stomach whenever he even looked at Regulus which was definitely new.
Remus was also praised, but when Slughorn got to James, his face fell and his jovial attitude disappeared.
“Okay everyone- pack away please.” He commanded loudly before turning back to James. “What happened here then?”
He evidently was not pleased by his nonchalant shrug because he frowned and proceeded to raise his voice an increment.
“Next lesson will require a fully matured potion so I’m afraid that I’m going to have to assign you a buddy who can help you tonight.”
“But Sir-” James began to protest.
He had really needed to practise quidditch that evening. He had been granted the honour of Gryffindor captain over the summer, but with the whole fiasco of Sirius running away, he really hadn’t had much time to practise and so he would need to put in a lot more hours if he wanted to make it up.
“No buts I’m afraid James. Let's see who might be good. Ah- Ms Evans please- come join us.”
Okay scrap any of his previous complaints, he was absolutely fine with how this was playing out.
Lily raised her eyebrows as she strolled over, slinging her bag over her shoulder as she went. James flashed her a grin which she ignored, smiling at Remus briefly before turning to her professor.
“Lily Evans- the best in my class, don’t tell the others I said that.” Slughorn beamed and Lily plastered a clearly fake smile onto her features.
“What is it that you needed sir?”
“Ah yes, straight to the point. Would you be willing to tutor Mr Potter over here for the next few weeks? It would only-” But before he could finish his point Lily’s voice cut him off.
“I’m so sorry professor but my schedule is so hectic right now. I’ve got prefect duties and I’m taking six NEWTs, there isn’t enough time.”
Although both James and Slughorn visibly drooped at her statement, Lily didn’t look apologetic in the slightest, showing a second fake smile before leaving the classroom with Remus trailing behind her- an apologetic look in his eyes. Slughorn furrowed his brows, looking at the remaining students in the class.
“There’s always Severus?” He asked tentatively but from the look of outrage on James’ face, he sighed and moved on swiftly.
“The next best person for the job would be Black I suppose. Mr Black- over here please.”
The flush that covered James’ face was one of pure embarrassment and one that spread down to his neck. It was bad enough that he was in the same class as Sirius’ little brother but now he was being tutored by him? He was younger than him for Merlin’s sake- it was beyond embarrassing.
Regulus approached the pair tentatively, as though it was all a trap and he was about to get jumped.
“Sir?” He asked quietly, his eyes calculating and ignoring James entirely.
Regulus’ voice was deeper than he had expected, the last and only time he had ever spoken to him was in his first year and for some reason he never really thought he would have matured past that point. But clearly he had because his voice was deeper and smooth, and he was coming close to beating Slughorn in height- probably a couple of inches shy of Sirius, who in fairness wasn’t the tallest of people.
“Ah, Regulus. Here you are- how was your first NEWT lesson?” Slughorn started joyfully, painfully unaware of the silent tension.
“Good thank you.” Regulus replied carefully, narrowing his eyes slightly and peering towards James for the first time.
His stare was swift but swept across his entire body and his cauldron contents, turning away with a furrow in his brow.
“To business! Mr Potter here needs a potions tutor, we need a fully matured potion by Thursday so it needs to be brewed tonight.”
Regulus blinked. Then his nose scrunched slightly.
James tried to hide himself behind his potion, curling his hands into fists.
Eventually he heard a heavy sigh coming from across the other side of the table, and then Slughorn began to trot away, a smile on his face. Raising his head in confusion, James was met with a very clearly pissed off Regulus Black, one hand on his hip and the other checking through his potions ingredients.
“Can you do seven thirty tonight?” He asked bluntly, a complete lack of energy in his tone.
“Don’t bother.” James muttered in response, clearing away the mess from his cauldron before shoving the rest of his equipment into his bag rather carelessly. From the look on the Slytherin’s face he was not impressed. “I’ll do it myself.”
“No.” Regulus replied sharply, and when James ignored him and began to walk away he grabbed a hold of his arm, although clearly he didn’t want to, scrunching his nose once again. “Slughorn asked me to supervise- and clearly you’re incapable of doing it on your own. I’m not getting into trouble and being moved back down a class just because you can’t get your act together and fuck up your potion again. Shut up and be here at seven thirty or I swear to Merlin Potter you don’t want to know what I’ll do.”
Releasing him with a sneer, he stepped away and swept from the dungeons, leaving James with his mouth hanging open- a gobsmacked expression on his face.
He certainly had not expected that in the slightest.
Regulus was the new heir to the Black family. He had expected some poorly disguised disgust and relief at the offer of James doing it himself.
He did not expect himself to be threatened by said boy who had always looked so shy, within the first hours of the new term.
Scoffing to himself, he slung his bag up from where it was dropping slightly and left the classroom- his destination clear.
On the walk up to the Gryffindor tower- alone for the first time- he mulled over his choice. He could either ignore Regulus, work by himself later on at night when he’d already gone to sleep so he could avoid the interaction. Yes that would leave a very angry Regulus, but he didn’t talk to him anyway so it wouldn’t matter all that much. On the other hand, while he had been rude, he hadn’t been wrong. James clearly couldn’t make the potion by himself and he really didn’t want to start the year off failing. He had already made his promise to himself- forget Lily Evans- but he had also promised his parents that he’d make more of an effort in his classes. While his OWL results had been good, he knew he could do better and so his parents had asked him to be a little more attentive in class. He didn’t want to let them down.
That was really what sealed the deal for him. He would deal with Regulus for one night so he could make sure his parents were proud, and then he could forget everything about him.
That would work, he was sure of it.
One night and then he was free from Regulus Black forever.