Jegulus: OBLIVIATE

9 - Reg POV

There's a little silence before James squeezes his eyes together, and I'm surprised to see tears falling down his face, slowly, only a few drops.

"James?" I ask. He lets out a muffled sob in response. "You're alright."

"I only just got you as a friend-"

"Hey. Hey, I'm not leaving. You can like whoever you want."

He looks up, eyes puffy. "Then why do I feel so guilty about it?"

I sigh. "Some people just aren't confident with themselves, so then they try going around, making others feel unconfident. It's fine to have feelings for everybody or for nobody."

"It's just... y'know I've never thought about it. Like, I always thought it'd just be me and Lily, right? And even when that didn't work out, it'd be fine. And I know- I mean it's perfectly fine to like whoever you like. Live your life, y'know? Nobody should live it for you because you're afraid. But, Reg, the truth is that I am afraid. And I don't know why- I've got perfectly nice friends, and I know my parents love me. It's just so scary to think about."

"I know. Hey, wanna hear a secret?" I ask, making him look up.

"Is it why you know how long it takes to decompose a body in chlorine?"

I chuckle. "Nope, figure that out yourself."

He laughs too, softly.

"My secret is that I'm gay. There's really never been any females in the equation I guess."

"When'd you figure that out?"

"Uhhh..." I cock my head to the side as I think. "Probably 1st year?"

He chokes. "No way."

"Yes! It's been like 4 years since then."

"What happened?"

We make a little circle on the ground, him quickly getting up and telling me to wait. James comes back a second later with 2 caprisons and a bag of Doritos. I chuckle at him.

"No, trust me."

He hands me a caprison with a straw already in it.

"Alright, so it was in the dorm, I was with Evan and Adam, and there were a few girls. Uh, Pandora, Dorcas, and Marlene. We were playing spin the bottle. I got Marlene, so we kissed each other."

I pause and take a sip. "Oh my merlins left ball sack this is so good."

"Yeah yeah, deal with your love later, I wanna hear the details."

I shoot him a look but he just raises his eyebrows.

"Alright so we turn to each other and go, 'I don't think I like you.' Like it was an instinctive thing. So she turns and kisses Dorcas, and I ask Evan if I can test something on him, and we're mates so he said sure, and anyways now I'm gay. Marlene and I had a joke for a little while, secretly, obviously, that we turned each other gay."

"Okay, I was hoping for a bit more drama, but your friends were fine with it?"

"Yeah, actually I think Evan likes Evans. Oh no, I just realized how that sounds."

James chuckles. "Evan and S: The Dream Duo."

"You think you're hilarious, don't you."

"Oh, 100 percent."

I shake my head. "I liked it better when you ignored me."

"Hey I never ignored you! You ignored me!"

That's true. He used to chase me down the hallways, yelling that Sirius sent him so I'd forgive him. It never worked, obviously.

"Okay so... you heard about the Dumbledore thing? Well, I don't know if I can go home this year. I already know Evan and Adam aren't, and their parents are the only ones who interact with my parents. So hopefully my parents won't even know school is out."

"Where are they going?"

"Oh, they're going skiing with... Frank Longbottom? And his girlfriend, Alice, and one of her friends, Sophie."

"Huh, fun. So you're coming to my place."

"What? No! I don't want to be a burden- I can just-"

"Merlin you Blacks are annoying. Listen: You, me, train, my house. That break it up for you?"

"Are you sure?"

"My parents'll love you! I'll owl mum right now."

He jumps up and runs out of the room. I shake my head. I start to pack my things up, putting it into a trunk. James comes back in a second later.

"Alright, I told her you were coming. Hey, I feel really bad, but I was invited to a hangout with a few people..."

I look up. "Oh okay. I was gonna ask you if I could hang out with Evan and Adam so this works out great!"

"Oh, good, okay!" He packs up too, throwing a spare change of clothes into a different bag. "But I'm coming by the room in the morning."

"Oh yeah me too. To grab my bag and stuff. Alright, I'm heading over. Goodnight Pots," I tell him.

"Night Reg." He walks out the door first, only stopping to grab Dora, who says Sam was hanging out with Sirius, in a friendly way.

We split up, me making my way down to the dungeons, him making his way up to Remus' dorm.

Hiya everyone. Don't worry, I know this is hella short, but it's just a filler for the next chapter (which I'm already half done with)

Also, I wanted to add, he's not trying to say that being bi is bad or anything like that- this story fully supports everyone in the LGBTQ+ community

It's more like he's scared to admit it cause he doesn't want things to change, and he's scared of people's reactions

Anyways, the next chapter we get some sassy Remus, which we all totally love so stay tuned!

~E   <3