Prompt 4 - Cease
@jegulus-microfic May 4, Word count 852
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“He was standing there half a minute.” The fat lady huffed at James. He grinned at her.
“Dramatics run in his family.” He told her as he hurried after Regulus.
He was waiting in the Common room, looking around the room. James had never been into the Slytherin Common room, but from what he’d heard it was quite dark and gloomy. Well, it would be down in the dungeons, a stark difference to the cosy warmth of the Gryffindor Common room.
“Come on. Remus and Sirius are waiting,” He said gently. Regulus didn’t move, seemly transfixed by the room. James tapped him on the shoulder and Regulus leapt into the air as though he’d forgotten James was there. James caught him before he could trip over the footstool and somehow ended up with his arms wrapped around Regulus Black in front of the fireplace. If it hadn’t been so absurd, it would have looked quite romantic. James quickly released him and strode towards the spiral staircase. Regulus followed.
Sirius was now sprawled across his own bed instead of Remus’s, but had angled himself, so Remus was in his eye line. His eyes narrowed when his brother entered the dorm. Regulus ignored him, again taking in the vaulted ceilings and circular room. He wandered over to one of the windows and stared out at the view. He reached out and opened the latch, letting the wind rush in. He closed his eyes as it ruffled his hair. James’s mouth went dry. He’d never seen Regulus look like he enjoyed anything. Except quidditch, but his enjoyment was usually covered by pure determination. And Godric was he pretty when his face wasn’t scrunched up in a scowl.
Said scowl reappeared once he re-latched the window and turned to the inhabitants of the room.
“So you’re the wolf then?” He asked Remus, when no one started talking. Remus lifted his chin up high from where he was propped up by his pillows.
“Yes,” He said evenly. Regulus nodded.
“How long?”
“Since I was five,” Remus replied. Regulus nodded again.
“Fenrir?” He questioned. Remus’s eyes narrowed and he snarled. This early after a transformation, Remus was usually a bit testier than normal and it had been a hard moon. James could tell his friend was still in a lot of pain, though he tried his best to hide it.
“Yes.” He spat out at the name. Regulus’s attention turned to Sirius.
“Are you the dog or the rat?” His voice had zero emotion. Sirius let out a growl. “That doesn’t answer my question, Sirius.” Regulus drawled. He knew exactly how to push his brother's buttons. Sirius rose sinuously from his bed and stalked across the room towards his brother and just before they met he transformed into that great shaggy dog.
Padfoot let out a small warning growl from his throat before turning to Remus’s bed and carefully hopping up to lie across his feet. He made sure to whack Regulus with his heavy tail as he did.
Regulus took half a step back to regain his balance, scowling at his brother. Remus learned forward and stroked Padfoot's fur while muttering something in such a low voice that James couldn’t pick out a single word. But whatever he said made Padfoot cease his growling. “Well, that answers that,” Regulus rolled his eyes and turned his back on his brother. “And you’re the deer?”
“Stag,” James puffed up his chest.
“It’s still a deer.”
“Yeah but stag sounds more impressive.” James stuck his tongue out, but quickly closed his mouth when he realised who he was taunting. Regulus just watched him warily.
“Is there anything else you wanted to know or are you still here because you want to flirt with Prongs?” Remus’s words sliced between them. James watched as Regulus rolled his eyes again. What was Remus on about flirting?
“How did you do it?” Regulus’s full attention was on James as he scrutinised him.
“Well, we sort of just herd him until he goes where we want him to. Last night, Sirius dragged him most of the way back down the tunnel.” James rubbed the back of his neck. It was weird describing how you wrangled your werewolf best friend each month. Regulus shook his head.
“No. Not that. I want to know how you became animagi. That’s some seriously advanced magic.”
“Oh, that,” James said, as though it was nothing. He glanced at Sirius, still in his animal form, and Remus, who’d picked up his textbook and seemed to be ignoring the rest of the conversation. “It was Sirius’s idea, and he did most of the leg work. It took us a while to figure it out, but once we did, it wasn’t that hard.” Total lie. It had been the most gruelling piece of magic any of them had ever tried and Peter took so long to transform, they were scared he was going to get stuck as a half-rat mutant. Regulus’s expression changed to what James thought looked very much like awe.
“Will you teach me?” He asked and James blinked in shock.
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