Thursday afternoon, after History of Magic.
Regulus walked alone down a quiet corridor leading toward the library, books tucked under his arm.
Professor Binns's hypnotic droning still echoed faintly in his mind.
Suddenly, three figures stepped out from around the corner ahead, blocking his path.
James stood in the center, wearing that familiar, prank-laced grin that never quite reached his eyes.
Remus lingered slightly behind him, brow faintly furrowed. Peter shrank at the back, eyes darting nervously.
"Well, well, look who it is," James drawled, deliberately stretching his words. "Slytherin's little Chief. All by yourself? Where's your entourage?"
Regulus stopped. His gaze passed calmly over the three of them, lingering on Lupin for a brief moment longer.
The brown-haired boy stood stiffly, the tension in his posture subtle but unmistakable. He was not openly aggressive like James, nor did he cower like Peter. He looked more like an unwilling bystander.
Or rather, like a container straining to hold something down.
Regulus let his magical perception brush lightly over Lupin.
Within him, he sensed a tightly restrained force, instinctive and restless. Something nonhuman, primal, steeped in blood and the chill of moonlight, held in check by force rather than harmony.
A werewolf.
An oddly absurd thought flickered through Regulus's mind. Why did it have to be a wolf? Why not a pig-man, or a dog-man, or even a sheep-man?
Perhaps on full moons he could just transform, root around in the forbidden forest, chase his tail, or graze quietly. That might even be entertaining.
The thought passed as quickly as it came.
He knew Lupin's secret now, but to him, a werewolf was just that. Not worth dwelling on.
He had no intention of exposing it. Let them keep playing their little game called friendship.
Sirius was not here. Regulus understood at once, finding it faintly amusing, and faintly irritating.
"Potter," Regulus said evenly, no emotion in his voice. "If your intellect is as barren as your magic, I suggest you report to the hospital wing instead of wasting what little brainpower you have left on this painfully unoriginal provocation."
James's face flushed red. "You—!"
"You what?" Regulus cut in, a trace of almost pitying mockery slipping through. "What do you think this is? Some sort of brave little game?
Picking fights, proving who's stronger? Is your world really that small? Quidditch, pranks, and stunts like this?"
He looked at James, as though seeing past the furious teenager to the man he would one day become. A man who would charge just as directly at Voldemort and the Death Eaters.
Courageous, perhaps, but crude. Idealistic to the point of recklessness.
As if the entire world could be reduced to a simple rule. Good people hit bad people.
That kind of optimism, raised in love and sunlight and never truly tempered by cruelty, could be breathtakingly naive.
James snapped, yanking out his wand.
"Rictusempra! Locomotor Mortis!"
Two spells shot toward Regulus, one high, one low. They were clearly practiced, faster than what most younger students could manage.
In Regulus's eyes, they were still painfully slow.
He did not even move his feet. His wand traced a casual half-circle in front of him.
"Protego."
A solid barrier snapped into place.
Both spells struck it and burst into scattered sparks. The shield did not waver.
"What?!" James froze.
In that heartbeat of hesitation, Regulus pointed his wand forward.
"Expelliarmus."
James reacted quickly, true to his reputation as an athlete. He tried to roll aside.
It did not matter.
A thick, tightly condensed red beam slammed into his chest.
"Ah!" James cried out as he was blasted backward. His wand flew from his hand, only to be caught midair by Regulus with a smooth Levitation Charm.
"Petrificus Totalus."
The third spell followed almost seamlessly, striking Lupin in the shoulder just as he started to move.
Lupin froze mid-step, body locked in place, shock flickering in his eyes.
Peter had already panicked. Seeing both friends taken down in an instant, he shrieked and turned to run without even drawing his wand.
"Incarcerous."
Regulus did not look at him. He flicked his wand casually, and invisible bindings snapped into place in front of Peter, pinning him where he stood. All he could manage was a muffled whimper.
The entire exchange took less than ten seconds.
The corridor fell silent, leaving only James clutching his chest and gasping, Lupin rigid as stone, and Peter struggling soundlessly.
Regulus picked up James's wand and stepped closer, looking down at his twisted face, contorted by pain and disbelief.
"This is what your confidence rests on?" He tossed the wand back into James's arms, his tone like that of an adult scolding a disobedient child. "Go read a few more books, Potter.
Or try watching the people around you. Ask yourself why you don't learn from those who are actually capable."
He turned to leave.
Footsteps sounded hurriedly from the far end of the corridor.
Regulus paused, then lifted the spells on Lupin and Peter. Lupin staggered, bracing himself against the wall. Peter collapsed onto the floor, gulping air.
"James Potter! What have you done now—!" Lily Evans came running up, breathless, red hair flying, green eyes blazing with anger.
She had rushed over to stop whatever trouble was brewing.
But when she took in the scene, Regulus standing untouched and calm, and James's trio looking thoroughly wrecked with wands on the floor, she froze.
"Looks like you're a bit late, Miss Evans," Regulus said, inclining his head politely. His tone was neutral, not cold.
He looked down at James again. His gray eyes were empty of emotion.
"This is the last time, Potter," he said quietly. "I don't care about your childish games, and I have no interest in indulging your fragile pride.
This is the second time you've come after me on your own initiative, and it will be the last. There will not be a third."
James jerked his head up, fury burning in his eyes. He wanted to shout back, to curse him out.
The pain in his chest, and the memory of being utterly crushed without the slightest chance to fight back, slammed shut his throat.
He understood the warning.
If he tried again, it would not end as lightly as this.
Regulus said nothing more. He turned to Lily, whose expression had grown complicated.
"I was heading to the library to look up some potion materials. Care to join me?"
Lily glanced at James, who was clearly shaken despite his stubborn silence, then at Regulus, composed and unruffled.
After a moment's hesitation, she nodded.
"All right. I've got a potions essay to work on anyway."
They walked off together toward the library.
James stood there watching their backs, his face pale and flushed by turns, feeling a complete, crushing sense of defeat for the first time.
Remus leaned against the wall, staring after Regulus, a tangle of emotions churning inside him. There was even a thread of guilt.
Twice now, they had been the ones to provoke him.
And Regulus Black, a thoroughbred Slytherin, had never been known for bullying the weak or using underhanded tactics.
Compared to that, they, especially James, relied on numbers and superior spellwork to torment people they disliked, laughing it off afterward as a joke.
Remus stepped forward and hauled James to his feet.
Peter scrambled up on his own, eyes still wide with fear, clearly shaken by how decisively it had all ended.
James looked awful, as if he had lost something precious. He gripped his recovered wand so tightly his knuckles turned white.
His mind replayed those few seconds over and over. His spells stopped cold. His wand ripped away. Remus petrified. Peter bound.
He had heard the warning.
Even so, he had to reclaim his pride. He had to wash away today's humiliation.
But that would require better planning, greater power, or a more favorable moment.
At the very least, he could not charge in head-on like today again.
The thought made his chest feel tight with frustration, his expression dark enough to sour the air.
"Let's go," James finally ground out through clenched teeth. He shrugged off Remus's hand and stormed toward Gryffindor Tower, steps heavy and fast.
Remus and Peter exchanged a glance and hurried after him.