I'll Be Good | Jegulus

Eleven: detention

Regulus

Louise glared at the four of them, presumably hoping to kill them all with her mind. What scared Regulus more than Louise's death stare, was the fact that his parents would be notified of this detention.

Eliana leaned her back against the wall with her arms crossed, it struck Regulus that she didn't have a home for her letter to go to. He heard through the grapevine of his family and their friends that her mum was killed by her dad, their whole village was massacred actually. All but her. Regulus wondered where she stayed, and who she stayed with.

Pandora stood with Louise, smiling at Regulus whenever their eyes met. Barty seemed as unbothered as Eliana, he knew his dad would be angry with him, and so he wasn't too mad about the detention. He lived to torment his father.

"Happy birthday," whispered Pandora, which earned Louise everyone else's attention.

"It's your birthday?" asked Eliana, Louise nodded. "Shit. We should do something."

"We?" asked Louise, looking displeased with the idea of spending her birthday with anyone but Pandora.

"Happy birthday, Westbrook," said Barty with a wink, she rolled her eyes and turned her back on them. Regulus didn't say anything. He didn't like his own birthday never mind anyone else's.

Since there were five of them, they were all set different tasks to do by Professor McGonagall. Regulus was to clean out the cages of the animals in the Transfiguration classroom, he likes animals and so it wasn't the worst task in the world. Barty was to clean the cauldrons in the Potions class. Eliana was to polish the trophies and the silver in the Trophy Room. Louise was to sort out rotten Flobberworms from good ones, so they could be used for potion ingredients. And Pandora was to clean out the bedpans in the Hospital Wing, arguably the worst one. All without magic.

Regulus hadn't ever had a detention before, and so this was rather new. He moved a parrot from its cage, he felt quite sorry for it, that it was cooped up all the time and so he perched on the back of a chair and told it to stay there. He didn't know if it would listen but he was very at one with nature, animals seemed to listen to him. Maybe he was imagining it.

"Are you doing this for fun or are you getting paid?" asked James, Regulus didn't have to turn around to know it was him. His obnoxious voice was easily recognisable for all the wrong reasons.

"For the fun of it," replied Regulus sarcastically, keeping his back to James.

"Do my eyes deceive me or does Baby Black have a detention?" he said in a teasing tone. Regulus rolled his eyes, he heard James walked over to Professor McGonagall's desk and drop something onto it.

"Do my eyes deceive me or does the great James Potter have nothing to do on a Saturday except hang about classrooms?" Regulus asked, turning round with a satisfied grin on his face.

"So you think I'm great?" James replied, smirking like an idiot. Regulus' face dropped and he turned around quickly, getting on with this task. "Well, I'm flattered."

"Don't be."

"Would you like some help?" he asked, he was closer now, Regulus knew that, he just didn't know how close. If he had to guess, he was probably a desk away. It made Regulus' skin crawl and his heart beat faster, in anger, he presumed.

"No."

"Do you want company?"

"Absolutely not."

"Would you rather I just leave?"

"No—yes!" he stammered, the automatic no left his ears burning but he hoped James would just leave. Being in the same room as him was so aggravating, and suffocating, all he could think about was him.

"Yes or no, Baby Black?" asked James, and now he was close because his voice was right in Regulus' ears.

"That's not my name," said Regulus, childishly refusing to say yes or no.

"What would you prefer I call you? Darling, Reggie, Reg, Sweetheart, Black, Little Black, Scrawny Litt—"

"Regulus is my birth name, so maybe try that!" Regulus interrupted loudly, turning to look at James, who was leaning back against the desk, smiling amusedly.

"Okay, Regulus, yes or no?" asked James, saying every syllable of his name to perfection. It gave Regulus a shiver down his spine.

"You always get what you want anyway, so it doesn't matter what I say to you," said Regulus, he wanted to turn away and get back to his detention.

But for some reason he didn't, he wanted to look at James and see how he reacted to what he said. It wasn't necessarily a dig, but it was a test. He wanted to see if James would be self-aware and know he's a spoiled person, or if he was delusional.

"You're right, who can say no to this face?" asked James, smiling at Regulus who, yet again, got a shiver of discomfit.

Humour? Is that how he deals with someone being able to read him like a book? Interesting.

"I fear that's what's wrong with today's society," said Regulus forcing himself to turn away from the Gryffindor.

"I'll help," he declared, he grabbed a spare rag from the table and went to another cage.

"If you must," Regulus said, he figured he should use James' good nature to his advantage and get himself out of detention sooner.

The rest of the detention was silent. Regulus spent the silence thinking heavily about everything, all the people we he was trying to please, or antagonise. He wanted to please his parents, he didn't want to meet the same fate as his brother, he was trying to please Pandora by thinking of a plan about the betrothal. He wanted to antagonise Sirius, he wanted to show him that, despite the fact he was gone, Regulus could combat life on his own. Yes, when he was younger he looked to his big brother to lead him, but now he was going to be the leader of himself.

"Well, Reggie, I think we did a fine job," said James as he threw his rag into the bucket at the same time as Regulus. He looked around the classroom with his hands on his hips.

"I thought we agreed on Regulus," he said, not knowing what else to say to the surprise nickname.

"We did no such thing," responded James, grinning at Regulus when their eyes met. "You gave me the suggestion, but I took it upon myself to choose what one I liked best."

We sounded weird when he spoke of himself and James Potter. Categorising them as we didn't sit right with him.

"Are you not going to thank me for my help?" James asked, following Regulus out of the classroom like a lost dog when he grabbed the bucket and walked out. "I thought in your household you practiced manners?"

"You know nothing about my household," snapped Regulus, turning around just as sharply as his tone to glare at James. "And no, I'm not going to thank you for doing half my job for me."

Regulus walked away with a tight feeling in his chest.  Merlin, he hated the fact that James could talk of his family, as if he knew a damn thing about it. Sirius told him all the bad things, he surely missed out how Narcissa taught them both piano. That she taught them how to present themselves at a family functions so they wouldn't get in trouble.

Andromeda encouraged Sirius' rebellious behaviour and nature and where did that get him? Hurt badly and led astray. It wasn't Andromeda's fault but Regulus found himself leaning more to Narcissa due to her care of them, despite the fact she wasn't always kind, it was tough love. It worked, though.

Only if Sirius could have listened and gritted his teeth and pretended.