Truce

10

Regulus-

"He apologized to you." Gene confirmed, trailing after Regulus as they exited charms. A week after the secret meeting between Pandora and Sirius, Sirius came up to Regulus during potions and got on his knees, pleading for forgiveness. Everyone watched incredulously as Sirius put on his show, rubbing his hands together and grabbing onto Regulus' cloak. Pandora watched in dismay, cringing as she collapsed her head on the desk. This was not what she had in mind. Luckily, Slughorn was quick to stop the commotion by forcing Sirius off of the ground with a swipe of his wand. 

"Well, kind of. It's all confusing." Regulus stuttered, biting back the obvious blush that threatened to bleed throughout his face. Why did Sirius have to be so dramatic.

"But he said sorry, right?" Gene had unfortunately missed the sudden show of brotherly affection because he thought it would be a good idea to put food poison in Dumbledore's goblet. He had been forced to clean the dishes by hand during the same potions class where Sirius broke into theatrics. Oh how much he loathed Dumbledore.

"Well maybe. His words kind of meshed together. I'm sure he did at some point." Gene frowned, pushing his glasses further on his nose before sniffing.

"What did Slughorn say?"

"He blamed it on a love potion." Gene gasped, a laugh escaping his lips despite the situation. 

"No!" Gene exclaimed as the two sat down across from each other at the Ravenclaw table. A few onlookers passed by whispering as Gene buttered a piece of toast. "You've got to be fibbing!" Regulus shook his head.

"I'm not! Word for word, verbatim. 'Mr. Black must have consumed a love potion, ey?'" Gene gawked at Regulus, slowly sipping his Sprite. 

"Talking about big Black's incident are you?" Jacob asked while sitting next to Gene, making sure to steal a few potatoes. Gene was too shocked to hit him, it was the perfect opportunity. Pandora sat next to Regulus and smiled at Gene.

"God, Reggie, I think you broke him." Jacob poked Gene's cheek causing the boy's head to move slightly. Furrowing his eyebrows, Jacob secured his fingers under Gene's jaw and closed his mouth. It was closed for five seconds before unscrewing.

"A love potion? Of all things, Slughorn blames a love potion?" A few girls giggle while glancing at the four. The boys all look down the table and the girls all flush, looking away. Pandora smiles knowingly, taking a scoop of macaroni and cheese. Jacob, Regulus, and Gene all exchange looks before staring at Pandora who had started to giggle, covering her mouth with her hand. 

"What?" Jacob asked, glancing around to see if he missed anything. Pandora just giggled louder, her face turning red. Gene blinked.

"No seriously, what?" Pandora just sighed, pressing her palm to her cheek.

"You three are so oblivious." Gene scoffed, placing resting his cheek on his palm before gasping.

"Wait, were they-," Pandora nodded, her eyebrows raised in amusement. "Asking me-?" Jacob finally caught on, his cheeks flushed dark pink. "Sex?" Regulus scowled, elbowing Gene's stomach. Gene winced but stared at Pandora in shock. "They want to have sex with me?" Pandora scoffed.

"Well, not that, but maybe they wanted to take you on a date." 

"I don't see why you're so interested in them. Aren't you gay?" Gene swatted Jacob's arm, a frown creeping on his face.

"I am not gay." Jacob scrunched up his face.

"Didn't you say you wanted to date Christopher Connelly?" Jacob asked, prodding his food with his fork. His eyes suddenly lightened up as he smiled mischievously. "Also when you were drunk last summer you went into explicit detail about how you wanted to fuck Sirius." Regulus choked on his drink.

"You what?" Gene sheepishly smiled, biting back any blush. 

"Well you have to admit he is attractive." Regulus gagged.

"He's my brother!" 

"I'd be your brother-in-law."

"He broke your wrist." Gene merely smirked.

"Honey, I'm into pain." All of his friends groaned.

"Jesus Gene-," 

"Look I'm just saying that if the time came and Sirius and I were the last people on Earth and it were up to us to procreate I would gladly collapse my ego to allow him to.... you know..." Gene picked up his fork and pushed it through the circle he formed with his hands. Now Jacob gagged, burying his head in his arms. Pandora let out a shrill laugh which voiced her discomfort. "Look!" Gene exclaimed, exasperated. "He's handsome and I'm sure he-," Soon Gene was gagged with a forkful of green beans. He glanced at the culprit and glared. His words were muffled enough that no one could hear the strings of curses aimed at Jacob. The four sat quietly trying to get the image of a pregnant Gene out of their head. Regulus, who was plagued with a sudden loss in appetite, practiced silly charms on his cup. Pandora watched in amusement, allowing herself to get fooled into thinking that Regulus had actually turned water into milk and then into apple juice. Jacob had started to read, allowing his mind to wonder from the previous conversation. Gene continued to stuff his face, waiting for something, anything, to distract his friends from his previous confession of foolish fancies. His face was still burning in embarrassment when chaos ensued.

The first brush of chaos happened when Regulus accidentally set his drink on fire. It was a wand mishap but it still caused all of his friends to yell. The yells were accompanied by the shrieking of owls who flew overhead, dropping newspapers onto the plates of students. Then there was the accompaniment of sobs as students read the breaking news. 'Voldemort Strikes Again!' Then the letters came. Jacob and Regulus had gotten three howlers each. All from their mothers. Then Slughorn started coughing, foam fizzling out of his mouth. Soon the entire dining hall was in chaos. Every student ran towards the exit while the four friends all stared at the six unopened howlers in shock. Oh god, they were so fucked. They hadn't even processed what happened next. Maybe the Marauders had rescued them as the owls started their first attack, landing on anyone they could so they could dig their talons into the students' skin. Maybe Sirius had forced Regulus out of his seat. Did Sirius see the howlers? It didn't matter. Pandora knew that Xenophilius was helping her. She could recognize his hair anywhere. She glanced at Slughorn who was now being cared for by Dumbledore. The two made eye contact and Pandora stiffened. Before she could process what was happening she saw Remus and Peter forcing Gene out of his chair. The two had dodged around four owl attacks and were now dragging Gene to the exit. James was still trying to force Jacob away from the howlers. His worry was palpable as he tried to tear the howlers from Jacob's hand. This only caused the howlers to be torn open and the shrill voice of Euphemia to echo across the dining hall, accompanying the sobs and screams of the students.

"How dare you try and blame me for your failures!" Jacob was now forced out of his chair and James tried to cover Jacob's ears. Regulus was now trying to fight his way back to Jacob only for Sirius to stop him. "You disappointment! You Slytherin!" Before Sirius could do anything Regulus tore open his howlers in attempts to distract Jacob. 

"Regulus Arcturus Black! How dare you continue your affections towards that Ravenclaw!" Pandora felt faint as Xenophilius tugged on her arm. Worry and confusion blocked any sense of reason. Soon pain filled her body as talons dug into her arm. Someone screamed her name. 

"You are nothing but a lowbred, inbred disgrace. Disgrace to the Potter name, disgrace to the world!" James bit back his own cries as he forced Jacob under the table. It was the safest option until Jacob snapped out of his paralysis. 

"You are hereby disowned unless you come back home over the summer!" Regulus felt his blood run cold as he heard his mother's commands. Sirius gripped Regulus' hand tightly, finally being able to escort him out of the dining hall. 

"You are disowned!"

"Do you understand me, Regulus? Disowned."

"Forever! Past, present future-,"

"Disowned."