The Brothers Black

Chapter 33

"Ow!" a deep voice groaned, waking me up from the deepest sleep I'd had in months. 

Was that a boy in my room? It couldn't be, I must be hearing things. I reached for my pillow to cover my ears, but I felt something wet instead. I jumped up, off the dewey grass, out of a sleeping Regulus's grasp.

My heart dropped. This wasn't my room, or Gryffindor Tower, or even the castle at all. We were outside. On the floor.

Did I actually sleep here? On the Quidditch pitch?

"Regulus!" I shook him.

"What?" he sighed, still half asleep.

"We just slept here!" I screamed, covering my face with my hands. "We're going to be in so much trouble. Imagine how much worse it will be than getting caught out after curf–OW!"

Something small hit the back of my head.

"Huh?" a drowsy Regulus grumbled.

"Regulus, we slept here!" I repeated, and another stone hit my shoulder. 

My eyes jerked up to find wherever these pebbles were coming from, but all I could see were two silhouettes making their way across the dewy grass in the early morning light. The two figures had their Quidditch robes on, brooms in hand, all before, what, 6 AM? What stupid blokes...

James.

He was here for his early morning practice, but if he found me here, with Regulus, after sleeping on the field, I'd probably never see the light of day again. 

As I watched following him down the stepslike a happy puppy, I honestly didn't know which one I would least rather have find me.

"Bloody hell," Regulus cursed from behind me, and I knew he was awake.

By the time we had sprinted through the trees, grabbed our cloaks, and made it halfway to Potions, he had spiraled. "I'm Quidditch Captain and Prefect. They could take away my badges for this."

"Okay, Mr. Important, that's enough complaining," I rolled my eyes. "You're not the only Prefect here. And besides, no one saw us."

He grumbled, taking his seat for another year with Slughorn, which was somehow a Slytherin and Gryffindor class again. 

My seat was next to Audree, whom I haven't spoken to all year. Regulus sat across from us, so I tried to orient my body as far away from her as I could. Today, however, she was lowering herself down to the level of actually making eye contact with me. 

"Rough night sleep?" she said, with an edge to her voice.

I blinked. Was that her usual arrogance, making a dig about my eye bags, or was it something else. Did she know?

Before I had a chance to respond, heavy footsteps entered the room.

"Mr. Black, how was your weekend?" the plump professor asked, patting his favorite student on the shoulder.

"Weekend? Um, great sir, thanks. You too!" Regulus chipped quickly, tapping his foot anxiously as if he feared discovery at any moment.

Professor Slughorn furried his brows, stepping away with a strange look toward his star pupil.

I stifled a laugh. For an infamous bad boy, Regulus Black was not very good at being bad.

"Who have you told?" I snapped, catching up to Regulus on the way back from supper that evening."

"No one!" he chimed, seeming much calmer about the situation than he was this morning. "Evan thinks I slept at yours in those bloody snogging sneakers."

"Regulus!" I gasped, shoving him away.

"What was I supposed to say?" he grinned. "But no, of course I haven't told anyone. I could get kicked off the team."

"Look!" I pulled out a crumpled wad of paper. The note, at one point in the shape of a bird, had landed on my plate during my meal. "I don't know where it came from."

The words 'was the grass comfy?' were scribbled along the paper.

Regulus frowned. "Well, that means someone must have seen us. But it would've been too dark for anyone to know it was us."

He unfolded the bird once more, his finger pointing to a crescent moon on the back of the note.

I stopped. "Oh, no. That's how Remus signs his art."

He sighed. "That bloody map."

"Addy."

 I heard my name on the way back to my dorm. It was a bit troublesome to avoid someone if they always know your location.

"Remus." I smiled, but the disappointment in his eyes made me look at my feet.

"You're smarter than that, you know. If anyone found out... Prefect, Quidditch."

"I know," I said, looking down, disappointed in my stupidity. "Did you tell James?"

"I didn't tell James." He spoke quickly.

"Remus! Telling Sirius is the practically the same thing."

His cheeks turned pink. "I'm sorry! But I wasn't the one that slept on the Quidditch Pitch."

"Shhh!" The Common Room was silent except for us. "Do you want the whole school to know?"

He rolled his eyes. "I have patrol. Go to bed so you won't break curfew again."

The Slytherin team was leaving the pitch as we arrived for morning training. 

"Sirius and James know," I whispered to Regulus, rolling my eyes. I didn't have time to wait for a response as James called me to the field.

Practice was a disaster. James barely looked my way, and Sirius was stern and quiet. Even Marlene, my usual Quidditch partner, seemed disappointed in me. 

James called for me after a long practice of drills that left us all gasping for air. His posture was cordial enough, but beneath his large-frame black glasses, he shot a cold laser glare out of his eyes.

"We're going in here," he demanded, stomping into the nearby the arch of the clocktower. Sirius and Marlene followed.

"I'm sorry, James," I cried. "I know I could've gotten in trouble. It was totally my fault. I wouldn't be able to play next weekend, or they would kick me off the team. I promise I won't do it again."

James looked from me to Marlene and shrugged. She shrugged back. "Okay," he said, and started walking out.

"Hold on. What was that?" I asked.

"We thought we needed to stage an intervention," explained Marlene. "If you weren't putting the team first. All James wanted was an apology."

"I thought you were going to give me your defensive crap again," James said. "As long as you're more careful, it's fine."

I turned toward Sirius, who just smirked. "I'm here for the drama," he said. However, his jovial smile wasn't as genuine as usual.

I rolled my eyes, looking back to James and Marls. "I know it was dumb. I just don't like how you know where I am all the time. It's creepy."

"You should let her off the map," suggested Marlene. James promptly elbowed her in the ribs.

"Off the map?" I asked, intrigued.

"That's for people who don't sleep on the Quidditch pitch," James said.

"Well, would you like it if I knew where you and Lily were all the time?" I asked.

His nose wrinkled. "Do the magic to make a map like ours and you can."

"Oh, don't act so high and mighty. You know it was all Remus."

"Enough!" shouted Marlene. "I'm sick of you two squabbling. I have two more chances to win the Quidditch Cup and I'm not letting you blow them. So shut up and shake hands."

We did.