Chapter Text
James doesn’t bother to get dressed, because why would he? It’s not like anyone is going to see him tonight. He pulls the invisibility cloak tightly around himself and then opens the door, hurrying out of the dorms until he catches up to Mary and Lily. He stays back a little so that they won’t be able to hear his heavy breathing.
Lily and Mary are walking hand in hand, but their cloaks disguise it unless you look closely. It makes James a little sad that anyone would need to hide their relationship.
‘Will she be there?’ Lily asks carefully.
Mary scoffs. ‘Emmeline? If you’re worried about me kissing Em again, maybe I should be worried about you and James.’
James gulps at that, and thankfully Lily seems just as shaken as he is. He speeds up, standing next to them to get a better look at her expression.
Lily pulls her hand away and crosses her arms, a thunderous look on her face. ‘Don’t say that,’ she snaps. ‘James literally thought I was him. It was awful. He was out of his mind, literally.’
James winces at that. The memory is still fuzzy, and he knows it was Lily, but at the time, everything had felt so muddled up.
‘Sorry,’ Mary says quickly. ‘Bad joke.’
Lily lets out a sigh and walks a few steps, finally leaving the warmth of the castle, before adding, ‘We should talk about it, though.’
‘Mm,’ Mary agrees. ‘Peter’s gonna be there tonight. I say we confront him.’
James wants to throw the cloak down and demand to know what she means, but he holds himself back. He’ll find out more this way. Since he’s been holed up in their dorm, Mary and Lily haven’t been very open with him about what happened that night. It’s like they’re afraid he’ll break if he finds out too much.
Lily exhales loudly and drops a hand to hold Mary’s again. There are some other students around walking in small groups now that it’s getting dark. They head towards the forest, where they know the others are meeting, although the large space looks empty from here. ‘Are you sure we shouldn’t just go to McGonagall about this?’
‘With what evidence?’ Mary asks. ‘Maybe if we had thought about that back at the hospital wing, but it’s too late now.’
‘Maybe Madame Pomfrey tested him,’ Lily says. ‘We only know if we check, and we could—’
‘No,’ Mary says sharply. She glances up, and now that they’re close enough to the forest, the enchantment lifts and she can see the groups of students chatting around the conjured campfires. ‘Look, he’s right there, surrounded by his new Slytherin cronies. His customers.’
James isn’t quite sure what she means, but he can see Peter talking to a group of Slytherins. Mulciber, Avery and Wilkes are standing close together, staring him down, while a few others hang around close by, including Snape. James gets a bad feeling from them, but if Pete is talking to them, maybe they’re not all bad.
A throaty sound leaves Lily’s mouth as she tries to take another step. ‘What—what’s that?’ she asks, confused.
Mary frowns, and when she tries to walk on, it’s the same thing. Like her foot is stuck, and won’t go any further.
There’s a chorus of ‘ooh’ sounds around those by the campfires, and Mulciber strolls over with an ugly smirk on his face. ‘What do we have here?’ he asks no one in particular.
A series of laughs spreads throughout the rapidly gathering crowd.
Lily’s cheeks burn and she tightens her grip on Mary’s hand. ‘Maybe we should just leave,’ she mutters under her breath. ‘I don’t want to hang around with them anyway.’
‘Wait,’ Mary says, and she takes out her wand to try to lift whatever spell Mulciber, or whoever, has put around the group.
‘Yeah, wait,’ Mulciber repeats, the smirk on his face only growing. ‘Let’s see what the mudbloods have up their sleeves.’
Low snickers spread around the space, as all eyes turn to the two girls.
A nasty feeling curls its way around James’s gut when he realises what the problem is. Lily’s and Mary’s blood status won’t allow them to cross the barrier. Someone must have cast a spell to prevent any muggleborn witch or wizard from entering.
Mary holds her wand up high, and then, murmuring a counter spell, moves it down, and then drags Lily along as she walks along the barrier, probably looking for a weak point.
Mulciber turns around for a moment to murmur something to Avery, who then grabs Pete’s wrist and takes something from the inside pocket of his cloak. Then Avery slots it into Mulciber’s pocket. When Mulciber turns back, his face scrunches up at the sight of Mary holding Lily’s hand.
Lily lets go immediately, and her face goes pale. ‘Mary, let’s go,’ she says, more insistently this time. It’s clear that everyone is watching them now, and Lily has never been one who likes to stand out of the crowd.
Mulciber takes a moment, like he’s trying to decide on a proper insult, and then settles on, ‘No, stay. Go on, give her a kiss. And if we see tongue, maybe we’ll let you in after all.’
‘Ugh, you’re fucking disgusting,’ a familiar voice calls from the back of the crowd.
James breathes a sigh of relief when he sees Sirius making his way out of the dark expanse of trees, closely followed by Remus.
Sirius’s hair is mussed up, and he looks… different. When he comes closer, James realises his lips are red, his eyes are black-rimmed.
Remus has a soppy smile on his face, like he hasn’t noticed what’s happening here at all, and he’s only looking at Sirius.
‘Me?’ Mulciber snorts. He glances around, evidently expecting more laughs from those around him. He does get some laughs, but everyone seems a bit more cautious now. ‘If you think we don’t know what you were doing in there with your—your—’ he glares at Remus and retches, like he’s going to be sick. ‘Your boytoy, you’ve got another thing coming.’
To James’s surprise, Sirius doesn’t argue that point. Remus’s face lights up when Sirius simply responds with a wink.
The other students chuckle at that, which seems to anger Mulciber further.
‘Don’t fucking wink at me, you—you—’ Mulciber stumbles over his words as he tries to think of the perfect insult, and his face turns redder as he struggles.
Sirius pushes past Mulciber and Wilkes, who are standing right in front of where Mary and Lily are being denied access. He doesn’t seem to care about shoving them, but Mulciber’s eyes burn with rage.
‘Don’t fucking touch me, you fucking fag,’ Mulciber spits.
Sirius glares at him, and for a moment, James thinks he might punch him, but he’s interrupted.
A group of students clear out as Regulus Black, flanked on either side by Barty and Evan, walks up to Mulciber. There is silence as Regulus commands all their attention, and even without his wand in his hand, there seems to be a chill in the air. Barty and Evan each hold their wands high, and Avery, Wilkes and Mulciber raise their wands when they see them coming.
‘Care to say that again?’ Regulus asks, his lips pursed.
Sirius throws his arms around Mary and Lily, and they make their way back up to the castle. Remus walks up next to Lily, talking quietly as they leave. Peter doesn’t follow them. He stays right where he is, not moving a muscle.
James decides not to leave just yet. He can’t. Not when Regulus is right there. His heart aches just at the sight of him, and again, he wants to throw his stupid cloak to the ground. It wouldn’t do him any good, though. So he just watches.
Mulciber opens his mouth to speak, and shuts it quickly. He looks around the space at everyone staring at them, and takes a moment to compose himself. ‘You too, Black?’ he says eventually, doing his best to extol confidence, though his voice shakes slightly when he speaks. ‘Is the House of Black unable to raise anyone fucking normal these days?’
A series of ‘ooh’s sound around them, but it’s quieter this time, as everyone watches Regulus.
Without a response, Mulciber goes on, walking closer to Regulus this time. ‘I bet Walburga can’t stand the sight of either one of you,’ he taunts.
Regulus sighs, like he’s bored, and flicks his eyes up and down Mulciber’s body. ‘Are you done?’ He murmurs something James doesn’t quite catch, and Mulciber is thrown backwards, landing on the forest floor.
It’s dark now, but the campfires light up the area enough that everyone can see what’s happening.
‘I’ll get him,’ Wilkes says, raising his wand.
But Barty throws a stinging curse his way before he can cast, and Wilkes ends up leaning forward, clutching his chest. Barty smirks. ‘Sure, come get me,’ he says easily.
Evan lets out a chuckle, but that means he misses the spell Avery shoots his way. Evan lets out a pained sound as he falls sideways, grabbing onto Regulus’s side as he grunts out loud.
‘Fuck you,’ Barty spits. He’s about to curse Avery when Regulus beats him to it.
Regulus still doesn’t even retrieve his wand. James knows he has already mastered wandless magic, but it’s still a surprise whenever he sees it. He murmurs something, and it must be the same spell Barty used on Wilkes, because he’s bending over clutching at his chest, too. He murmurs something and then Mulciber’s cloak catches fire.
Mulciber laughs, low in his throat. ‘Think I’m scared of a little fire, Black?’ He sneers at him. ‘Gonna have to try harder than that.’ He waves his wand to cast a circle of fire around them, lighting up everything around them, but it actually gets harder to see what’s happening, given all the smoke.
James coughs, but he’s far from the only one, so nobody seems to notice he’s there, making a noise. He squints and realises that the smoke is mostly coming from Mulciber’s cloak. It must have some kind of coating on it that’s making the whole area more smokey.
Regulus rolls his eyes, still looking a little glassy for some reason. ‘I’m not afraid of you, Mulciber,’ he says easily. Barty and Evan still stand by his side, but they don’t do anything, like they’re waiting for Regulus to decide what he wants to do first.
‘You know what,’ Mulciber says, his tone changing now. He raises his voice, like he’s trying to make sure everyone can hear him. ‘I actually heard something interesting recently. It turns out the great Walburga Black doesn’t actually care that her favourite son takes it up the arse.’
Something in his tone makes Regulus shrink back a little. It’s not much, but James notices it.
‘Shut the fuck up, Mulciber,’ Barty snaps, stepping forward, like he’s being protective of Regulus all of a sudden.
Evan’s hand reaches out to hold Regulus’s lower back, as if to steady him.
This only makes Mulciber laugh again. ‘Touched a nerve, did I?’ he asks. ‘Which one of you is it, then?’ He pauses and then laughs. ‘Or is it both of you?’
James rolls his eyes. Obviously Regulus isn’t sleeping with Barty and Evan. He looks at Regulus closely and can see one hand has gone to his chest. He’s holding something there, and James realises it’s his necklace. A lump forms in the back of his throat at that.
‘So what if it is?’ Regulus snaps. ‘I don’t have to answer to the likes of you.’
Murmurs spread around the crowd again as people loudly wonder if Regulus really is sleeping with them both. James tries not to listen to just how many people are claiming to have seen the three of them all together, doing things with each other.
Mulciber raises an eyebrow. ‘Fine, fine. The more interesting part is that she actually insists on you one day marrying a man.’
This time, the murmurs turn confused. Like nobody quite believes Mulciber is telling the truth.
‘You wanna tell them why, or shall I?’ Mulciber asks, his ugly grin spreading across his whole face.
Regulus’s expression has gone even paler, and he looks like he might faint.
Out of instinct, James goes over to stand near him. He wants to take him in his arms, to reassure him that it’s all going to be okay. He opens his mouth, leans in and whispers, ‘Want me to curse him for you?’
The hairs on the back of Regulus’s neck stand up, and he gives an almost imperceptible shake of his head.
James wonders if he’s fucked up, but then Regulus reaches out. His arm touches James’s stomach, like he’s feeling around for him. So James holds out his left arm. The scarred one, and Regulus grips it tightly, moving his hand up and down as he does. Part of James thinks Regulus is feeling the skin there, to see if any of it is broken. But it’s not. As much as James wanted to do it, he kept going back to Regulus’s words. He had told him that if he wanted to cut himself again, he should go to him. And although he hadn’t actually gone to him, he had thought of him whenever he was lying there in bed, the nails of his right hand digging into his left forearm, desperately wishing he could cut into the skin there. He thought of how Regulus would look at him, of what he might say, and he couldn’t bring himself to do it. But maybe he’s being silly. Regulus probably isn’t thinking of any of that right now.
Mulciber smirks and goes on, his confidence growing with the excitement of those gathered around them. ‘That’s not all Walburga told me.’
James notices that quite a lot of people seem to be leaving, evidently not wanting to get caught up in whatever this is. But there’s still a good few people here. Mostly Slytherins.
Barty tries to throw a curse at Mulciber, but Avery blocks it. Wilkes tries to cast some sort of spell on Evan, but Barty blocks that.
Mulciber ignores it and continues, getting right up close to Regulus but not lowering his voice. Like he’s insistent that everyone should hear this. ‘In fact, your mother made me an offer. She said she’d give me all sorts if I could convince you to marry me. To live as a—’
The penny drops as James finally realises what Mulciber is getting at. He knows Regulus doesn’t want people at school knowing about this. It was hard enough for him to tell James about it, so he’s not going to want everyone knowing. Especially not from Mulciber. Regulus doesn’t even move though, and someone’s got to stop Mulciber from revealing his secret.
James throws the cloak to the floor and throws a spell at Mulciber. It was a conjuring spell. A spell to conjure flammable liquid. Whatever was stopping the flames on Mulciber’s cloak from spreading before, it’s not now. Flames start to engulf him and he swears under his breath.
‘Fucking hell, Potter,’ Mulciber spits out. ‘Where the fuck did you come from?’ He tears off his cloak, but the rest of his clothes have caught fire as well now. He winces in pain. ‘Avery, Wilkes, fix this,’ he orders them.
They start desperately trying spells to put out the fire, but for some reason the combination of Regulus’s and James’s magic is more difficult to undo than they think. James can’t help but smile, but still, Regulus won’t move.
Mulciber’s face grows redder in anger, and he points his wand right at Regulus. ‘She told me the best way to make you do what I say, too. Apparently, fear is a great motivator.’ Before James has a chance to do anything, he shouts out, ‘Immergo!’
Regulus falls to the floor, his eyes widening in fear. He stares up at James in horror.
James would swear his heart is about to split into a million pieces at that look in Regulus’s eyes.
Regulus coughs out a big chunk of water, and then his body starts to shake. He swallows down more water that seems to come from nowhere, and then coughs some up.
Barty and Evan are arguing over what spells might undo this, and both try a few, but nothing seems to work.
The students around them have mostly disappeared, not wanting to get mixed up in this when the teachers eventually dig into how they got here.
Mulciber still holds his wand at Regulus, squinting in concentration as he tries not to break the spell. His clothes are burning and it must be painful, but he doesn’t seem to care about that. All he cares about is hurting Regulus.
James throws hex after hex his way, but Avery and Wilkes are both putting everything they have into blocking his spells.
Regulus’s coughs and sputters are getting worse and James is sure he isn’t breathing anymore. He can’t have taken a breath for almost a couple of minutes now. How long is it until someone dies from lack of air? He’s not sure.
Regulus’s face is going purple. Dimly lit by the campfires, it’s eerie. James cannot stand it. Tears stream down his face as his own uselessness washes over him.
He refuses to let it overcome him.
‘Barty, Evan,’ he shouts. They look up, as if only just realising James is even there. They look terrified they’re about to lose Regulus, eyes wide and faces red.
Under his breath, James mutters, ‘When I say, Barty, take Avery down. Evan, take Wilkes. I’ve got Mulciber.’
They nod, leaving Regulus where he is and walking over to the others.
Mulciber smirks, and James doesn’t think he’s actually trying to kill Regulus, but he’s sure he’s going to if no one stops him. He won’t let it happen. And there’s only one way to definitively stop a wizard’s spell when he’s in the middle of casting it.
‘Now!’ James shouts.
Barty and Evan go into action immediately.
Avery and Wilkes are on the floor in seconds, Barty with his foot on Avery’s chest, casting a spell that is making Avery scream out in pain.
Evan has his wand pointed at Wilkes, who is letting out a low groan of pain as his eyes are fixed on the ground.
Still, Mulciber is concentrating on Regulus, whose eyes look like they’re about to pop out of his face.
James takes a deep breath, holds out his wand at Mulciber, summons up all the hatred he can muster at that moment, and spits out, ‘Avada Kedavra.’