Chapter Text
“You do not smell my perfume Potter,”
Regulus glanced up at Lily Evans for a moment. She was sitting next to him glaring at Potter. Her red hair was pulled back into a plait but a few stands had fallen loose and framed her face.
Potter was grinning back at her, stirring the potion that sat in front of him. “I’m sure I do, and you had said you weren’t wearing perfume earlier right?”
Lily glared harder, “Amortentia does not smell explicitly like the individual, it merely produces smells that would remind you of them,”
James’ face scrunched up, “that's stupid, it would be easier if it just smelled like them,”
Regulus sighed, going back to his notes. When he had been presented with the opportunity to take potions, transfiguration, and divination at a higher level, he’d been quite excited. It wasn’t common for students to take classes not in their year and his mother and father had been very proud.
He doubted they’d be as proud if they knew he sat with a muggleborn, a werewolf, his blood traitor brother, his blood traitor brothers friend, and James Potter. Granted, his parents didn't know Remus Lupin was a werewolf, but still.
He didn’t know how he pulled such a short straw, but he was stuck with this group every class. What was worse was only Lily was any good at potions, and they didn’t really talk much. Difference in blood status and all that. He'd tried to put it aside to get things done but she wasn't interested. He didn't exactly blame her. Still that meant he spent his classes rather bored.
"Well if you know so much about the scent of Amortentia, why don't you tell me what you smell?"
Lily sighed, but leaned in anyway, "I smell... oil paints, broom polish, and...?" She scrunched up her nose.
"and?" Potter prompted
"fur," She said confused, "I can't tell what kind,"
James perked up at that and glanced at Sirius who leaned forward, a smirk across his face.
"maybe its dog fur?"
Lily shook her head, "I had a dog at home I know what dog fur smells like and this isn't it,"
"rat fur?"
Lily raised her eyebrow. "why would it be rat fur?"
Sirius grinned wickedly, "I'm not sure, maybe its a wolf?"
Regulus frowned at that. Did they think Lily's soulmate was Remus? Or were they just teasing?
Lily shook her head again, "wolves would just smell the same as dogs right? I've never smelt it before,"
Lily frowned "Hang on, I think it might be a deer? Like my Patronus,"
"maybe," Pettigrew agreed, "I have heard legends about patronus' being connected to who you love,"
Lily shook her head a bit and smiled at the rest of the table, "what does everyone else smell? We need to write it down it our notes,"
James sat forward, "I smell..." he sniffed the potion, "cigarettes, french wine, and something else"
Sirius scoffed, "how do you even know its french?"
"whats this something else?" Peter asked at the same time
"I just know!" James winked, "its my instincts," He sighed, and sniffed the potion again, "I can't place the third smell, its sweet, and I've smelt it before, but I'm not sure,"
Sirius laughed again and leaned towards the potions, "I'm sure your future partner will love that you can't think of what they smell like. Right, well, its my turn. I smell parchment, wool and-" he paused, a flush rising to his cheeks.
"what?" Pettigrew questioned.
Sirius mumbled something leaning back in his chair, avoiding looking at other people.
Pettigrew and Potter shared a glance.
"sorry we didn't hear you Padfoot," Potter leaned towards him.
"chocolate, the last thing I smell is chocolate," Sirius mumbled, barely audible.
Ah, that's why he was so shy about it.
He didn't really need to be. Remus Lupin wasn't even paying him attention, he was just jotting down notes.
"that wasn't so hard was it Sirius?" Remus smiled down at Sirius, still painfully oblivious.
Regulus suppressed the urge to roll his eyes.
"I smell cigarettes as well, also leather and vinyl," Remus spoke methodically, oblivious to the tense atmosphere around him.
Regulus really did roll his eyes this time. Of course they'd both miss the fact that they're in love with the other one. In Sirius' defense, no one else seemed to notice Remus' obvious confession.
"What do you smell, Peter?" Remus asked.
The small boy leaned forward, "um, mint I think? grass as well, freshly cut, and also rust. That's really clear,"
"maybe you'll have a rusty lover?" James teased, nudging Sirius in the side.
Sirius still hadn't fully recovered from the chocolate debacle, but he forced a weak smile.
Pettigrew blushed, "that is not what it means,"
James laughed and kept teasing Peter. Regulus ignored him. Potter really was the most annoying boy he'd ever had the misfortune of dealing with. He was barely tolerable on a good day, and today was not a good day.
Regulus had skipped breakfast and lunch, he had gotten a letter from his mother late last night, which meant he had slept horribly. Overall, he did not want to put up with Potter and his immaturity.
"What about you Regulus?" James asked, a smirk dancing across his lips. Beside him, Sirius perked up. Not even the realization that he was in love with Remus was enough to keep him from teasing his little brother.
"Yeah, what do you smell Reggiekins?" Sirius sneered.
Regulus stared at them passively, he wouldn't give the idiots the satisfaction of an answer.
"I bet he smells blood and the torture screams of muggles," Sirius said cruelly, "the only thing Regulus loves is making other people feel like shit,"
I love you, Regulus thought bitterly. For some awful reason, I still love you
Sirius' words had hurt, but not enough to crack his exterior.
Pettigrew frowned, "how would someone smell screaming?"
"its more of an abstract concept," James said, not taking his eyes off of Regulus. His gaze was strange, he looked Regulus right in the eyes, without judgment or anger, just a strange neutrality.
"its not a joke," Lily interrupted sharply, glaring at Sirius. "just tell us what you smell Regulus,"
Regulus considered lying for a moment, but decided against it, "ash, violin music, and lilies," he sat back in his seat.
They were all looking at him. This would be a pain, he should have just lied.
"what?" he said dryly.
"lilies? really Reg? You're stooping that low to be an arse?"
"don't call me Reg, Sirius, and, for the record, me smelling lilies has nothing to do with Evans. By that logic I would love every single person whose name was Lily,"
"he's right," Lily's voice squeaked out "It doesn't have anything to do with me,"
Regulus looked over at her. She had turned as red as her hair and she wasn't meeting Regulus' eye.
Regulus sighed, he really should have just lied.
"how do you smell violin music?" Pettigrew mused, smoothing over the tension in the air with his pointless blubbering.
The pointless blubbering did, however, give Regulus an exit to this conversation, "its more of an abstract scent, you just instinctively know that's what it is. I don't know what lilies smell like either, I just knew that that's what I was smelling,"
Remus leaned forward in his seat, frowning, "smelling abstract scents is rare isn't it? And if its instinctive, shouldn't James be able to place his?"
Regulus shrugged, "I'm not sure. The instinct comes with the strength of the emotion towards the person. If its not clear to you, maybe you don't love them that much,"
James scoffed, "that's preposterous, I love my future spouse tons,"
Regulus sighed, and rested his head back down on the desk. He very much wanted this class to be over. He was very, very aware of Lily next to him.
The rest of the class passed as usual. Slughorn droned on for a bit about the uses of Amortentia, Sirius and his useless friends made a few dumb jokes. Regulus tuned them out. Really if this was what advanced potions was like, Regulus should have just stayed in his year, the only person in this class who was any good at potions was Snape and Regulus did not want to talk to him.
At least in his other class he had, Barty and Pandora. He smiled slightly at the thought of his friends.
"Whats on your mind Reggiekins?" Regulus glanced up at Sirius.
His brother was prodding him in shoulder, a sneer across his face. Potter was standing next to him, he was smirking as well.
"Nothing, and don't call me that,"
Sirius rolled his eyes, "Somethings got to be in that mind of yours. Mother dearest was always going on about how brilliant you were,"
Regulus frowned and started putting his books away. Ever since arriving at Hogwarts, Sirius had adopted a much more improper accent. It was infuriating. Regulus didn't mind it when Evan spoke like that, but when Sirius did it, Sirius who had always been cruel to Kreacher about his improper grammar, it bothered Regulus.
"Come on Reggiekins, tell your big brother whats goin' on with you,"
He didn't pronounce the "G" in "going", merlin, Regulus hated him.
"Why don't I guess? Prongs do you think Reggie is thinking about the torture of muggles? I think that's the only thing that'll make em smile like he was,"
Potter put his hand on Sirius' shoulder, "don't joke about that Padfoot, remember what Evans was saying" He spoke softly and Sirius face flushed a bit.
Regulus smirked,
See, he thought cruelly, you're just like me, you just like to pretend you aren't
Sirius swallowed harshly and glared at Regulus. Regulus sighed, he had finished packing up his things, now he was just waiting for an out.
"Lucy?"
An airy voice floated into the classroom. Regulus' out had arrived in the form of Pandora Lovegood.
She was standing at the door to the potions classroom, and she looked an absolute mess. She had splatters of paint all over her overalls, her curly blond hair was tied up in a messy bun, and she had a paintbrush in it. Her over-sized round glasses were tilted on her nose, they were far too big for her and looked like they were going to fall off her face. Her eyes brightened when they landed on Regulus.
"Lucy!" She darted towards him, grabbing his hand, "You promised me you'd come to the kitchens after class remember? Also we were going to paint together but I already got started," She smiled sheepishly up at him, "if you couldn't already tell,"
Regulus smiled. Pandora was adorable. Regulus was rather short, only 165 centimetres, but Pandora was smaller, and she couldn't blame inbreeding like he could.
"I did assume that was what you were doing, and no I didn't forget," He grabbed his bag, "Class only just ended, how did you get here so fast?"
"Magic," Pandora winked and Regulus smiled fondly at her.
"Sorry, 'scuse me, who is this? And who is Lucy?" Sirius interrupted accusingly. He was staring at Pandora like she was covered in paint, which to be fair, she was.
"ah sorry!" Pandora rubbed the back of her head shyly then extended her hand towards Sirius, "Pandora Lovegood, I'm a friend of Regulus'. Lucy is just my nickname for him. Were you talking? I don't mean to steal him away,"
"I was just about to leave," Regulus grabbed Pandora's hand and started towards the door, leaving behind a shocked Sirius. He felt a bit of pride at surprising his brother like that.
"Bye! Lovely to meet you!" Pandora called out behind her as she laughed, struggling to keep up with Regulus.
He didn't slow down until he turned the corner to the stairway to the kitchens.
They ran into a few hufflepuffs as they made their way towards the kitchens and made idle conversation. Pandora did most of the talking as per usual.
"You excited to see Kinsy again? She said last time that she had her gift ready for you,"
Regulus hummed, "yeah, i brought her something as well,"
Pandora smiled at him, she had a lopsided smile, like the left side of her lips were happier than the right side. "You're too sweet Reg, you deny it, but you're soft on her,"
Regulus scoffed, "I am not 'soft on her', I'm just nice to her,"
Pandora laughed at that. They rounded a corner reaching the fruit bowl portrait. "Yes but I can count on one hand the amount of people that you're nice to and all of them had to work for it. Kinsy just got to be your friend,"
Regulus rolled his eyes as Pandora reached up to tickle the pear on the portrait. People did not have to work to be his friend. He was very approachable. He just preferred to have a small group of friends. Evan, Barty, Pandora, Kreacher, Kinsy. Why would he need anyone else?
"Master Regulus! Mistress Pandora! Its lovely to see you again! Jiffy will get Kinsy for you,"
Regulus smiled at the elf, "thank you Jiffy, and you don't need to call us that, just our names will do,"
Jiffy blushed, "of course, Jiffy just forgets sometimes, that's all,"
"Don't worry about it," Pandora reassured.
Jiffy went to the back of the kitchens and Regulus led Pandora to a corner with a few chairs where they could sit down.
"How was your advanced potions class by the way?"
"same as always," Regulus fiddled with a piece of wood that was coming off the chair. He used to pick at the skin around his nails when he was bored or anxious but his mother placed a curse on him when he was younger to stop him from doing it. Whenever he tried to bite or pick at his nails, he'd start to choke. His lungs would feel like they were filling with water. He'd had to find different ways to fix the uncontrollable urge to pick.
"we brewed Amortentia, my brother was a prat, Slughorn was boring, nothing new. I honestly just wish I'd stayed in our class. At least I had you and Barty there,"
Evan had dropped potions as soon as possible. He was much better at subjects that required less patience.
Pandora scrunched her face up, "don't you think its strange they teach us such a horrible potion? I mean they refused to teach us the Imperius curse because its immoral, but teach us potions that can force people to do all sorts of things,"
Regulus hummed. He never thought about it much.
"You know children conceived under the effects of love potions can't feel love? And the act of coupling with someone while they're under a love potion is classified as assault?"
Regulus raised his eyebrow at her, "yeah? maybe they shouldn't be teaching us then,"
Pandora nodded firmly, "the magic system that we exist in is severely immoral,"
She stared at him, her eyes wide. Barty liked to say that Pandora's stare was unnerving but Regulus had never minded. He liked it when she looked right at him. She only did it rarely, usually preferring to avoid eye contact, so when she did, Regulus liked to appreciate it.
They kept staring at each other
"hmm," She turned away from him, her eyes unfocusing, "oh look there's Kinsy,"
Regulus glanced behind him and saw the little elf bounding up to them.
"Hello Pandora! And Regulus! Kinsy had brought you a gift!"
"Hello Kinsy, its good to see you," Regulus smiled at the elf as she sat down next to them. She had a poorly wrapped thing in her hands, it looked a bit like a bowl. "I brought you a gift as well, I thought it was the least I could do with all you've helped us,"
Kinsy shook her head harshly at Regulus, "nonsense! Kinsy is happy to help Regulus and Pandora with their escapades. Kinsy would have gotten something for Pandora if she had not insisted to only give a gift to Regulus" She pushed the package into Regulus' hands, and Regulus shot a glare at Pandora after muttering a thank you.
Pandora knew how much he hated receiving gifts. He just never knew how to react. When receiving things at home, especially gifts, he was supposed to be muted, but apparently that was in poor taste.
Pandora stuck her tongue out at him and he fought down a smile. No matter what, he couldn't stay angry at Pandora.
When she'd forced herself into his life during their third year because he looked sad and lonely in their shared Divination and Care of Magical Creatures classes. When she'd started calling him Lucy because everyone called him Reg and she didn't want the second part of his name to feel left out. When she'd started sitting with him at meals and subtly putting more food on his plate so that he'd eat enough. When she'd started joining his visits to the kitchens, which he never let people join.
Really, he should hate her. She wasn't in Slytherin, she was a half blood, she was a blood traitor, she was strange. But he didn't. In fact, he loved her.
"go on Lucy, open your present," Pandora nudged his arm lightly, smiling up at him.
Regulus began to delicately unwrap the brown paper. He tried to do it gently for fear of breaking whatever it was Kinsy had given him but his hands were shaking a bit. He should really lay off the coffee.
The layers of brown peeled away to reveal exactly what Regulus had thought it would.
It was a bowl.
A lumpy, misshapen blue bowl with R, K, and P carved into the bottom of it. It was clearly handmade- he saw a few distinctly finger shaped indents.
Regulus looked up at Kinsy. She was staring at him hesitantly, her eyes wide.
Regulus smiled at her, just a small one, "Thank you Kinsy, its lovely. Am I able to put things in it or is it just decorative?"
"You can put things in it if you'd like! Kinsy would love to see Regulus use her gift,"
"I'll use it all the time," He meant it. As ugly and inconvenient it was, she'd made it herself. She'd put time and effort into it. That meant a lot to Regulus.
"let me get you your gift," He rummaged through his bag, he hadn't wrapped his gift, but he didn't think Kinsy would mind.
It was three small books, one was on grammar. Kinsy had confessed to Regulus she felt rather insecure about her improper use of the first/third person and was working on correcting the habit so he thought she might appreciate a book to help her. It was rather simple, but complex enough to actually be of help.
The second book was on the history of house elves from the wizards perspective and the third was about wizarding law. Kinsy and Regulus had been working together since last year to discover way to better improve the working conditions of house elves. He had a copy of both books in his room, but Kinsy could make use of these ones.
"I thought these could help with our projects, I didn't wrap them or anything, sorry," Regulus handed the books over and Kinsy took them gingerly. Her eyes widened, and she looked back up at Regulus. Her eyes had started to fill with tears.
Regulus felt panic begin to rush through him. This was why he hated gift giving, he was truly horrible at it. He'd never been good at it, his parents just told him what they wanted, and Sirius was never easy to buy for. He only ever wanted muggle things and when Regulus tried to get him those things, his parents would just hit him.
"I'm sorry Kinsy! I didn't mean to upset you," Regulus reach out to her, trying for a comforting pat on the back.
Kinsy gave a hiccup, she was rubbing her eyes roughly, "No! Regulus, Kinsy is just very grateful, she did not think Regulus would remember her interest in grammar or law!"
Regulus exhaled, relieved. He really hadn't meant to upset Kinsy.
They stayed and chatted with the elf for a bit longer before Pandora began to look periodically at the clock on the wall and nudge Regulus. It was 4:23, which meant Pandora and Regulus needed to get going if they were going to be able to paint before supper.
"We should get going Kinsy, it was lovely catching up with you,"
Kinsy smiled at Regulus, "Of course! Kinsy is always happy to be spending time with her friends!"
Pandora and Regulus left the kitchens, throwing a wave over their shoulders.
"I can't believe you said you were bad at gift giving, Kinsy was in tears with how grateful she was,"
Regulus felt himself flush at her words and internally cursed his pale skin. "I'm not good at it, I doubt Kinsy gets many gifts,"
Pandora hummed haphazardly, "well at least now I know that you're actually an amazing gift giver and I need to step it up for Christmas,"
Regulus rolled his eyes at her. The gift giving today had been in preparation for Christmas. Regulus had confessed his worry about presents to Pandora and Kinsy and they had suggested that they have a practice round where Regulus and Kinsy gave each other presents. He found it silly.
"Shut up Panda, we're almost there,"
She brightened at the nickname and Regulus felt a rush of pride. He'd originally started calling her Panda as a way of getting back at her for calling him Lucy, but she'd liked it, so it stuck.
They rounded the corner on the seventh floor that led to their painting room.
Elves called it "the Come and Go Room". Regulus didn't care what it was called, he just liked it there.
We need a place to paint
He repeated the thought like a mantra in his head and a door began to appear in front of him.
Pandora stepped forward and twisted the knob, revealing their painting studio.
It was a small room, with natural lighting that came from nowhere as there were no windows or doors. The walls were covered in paint splotches from Pandora's unusual methods of artistry and there were unfinished and finished canvases hung up on the walls.
All of Regulus' painting were covered in a tarp, he assumed Pandora had done it earlier that day so she didn't get any paint on them. She could have just done a charm, but she said it interfered with her process.
"alright Lucy, ready to go?"
Regulus nodded, he never liked painting with other people around but, as per usual, Pandora was the exception.
They both went to their easels. Regulus sat in front of his and continued on his sketch- he preferred a much more controlled method compared to Pandora- and Pandora stood in front of her canvas. She walked around it, not even picking up her brush for a good few minutes. When she finally did, it was to move it out of the way. She just grabbed the paint, cut open the bottom and threw it on her canvas.
Regulus kept working peacefully for a few minutes before Pandora sighed heavily behind him.
"I'm not feeling inspired Lucy,"
"pity,"
Pandora huffed, making her way into Regulus' line of vision. She leaned on his canvas, it didn't have any lasting effects, as he didn't have any paint on it, but still it earned her a glare.
"Off my portrait Panda, you may not be inspired but I am,"
She scrunched up her nose, but got off it. "What are you drawing?"
"Athena and Medusa,"
"Like the Greek ones?"
Regulus glared at her, "no," he said dryly, "they're Persian,"
"Really?" Pandora blinked, "I could've sworn they were greek,"
"they were, I was being sarcastic,"
"ah,"
Pandora stayed silent for a few more minutes but Regulus was acutely aware of her looking at him working. He didn't mind having her there when she was painting as well, but he absolutely despised having her there when she wasn't.
"Alright, what do you want?" He turned to her sharply and she brightened at the attention.
"Tell me about your potions class,"
Regulus sighed, "again? I already said, we brewed Amortentia and my brother was a prat,"
Pandora thought for a moment before her expression brightened, "I've got it! What did you smell in your Amortentia?" She leaned towards him, her glasses were tilted on her face again. She really needed to get them fitted properly to her face.
"Why do you want to know that?" He asked.
"cause its interesting," She shrugged, "you know I've read studies that argue that Amortentia is a scam and the scents it picks are completely random,"
Regulus hummed absentmindedly and tried to avoid the question. It wasn't that he thought anything of what he had smelt, but he was sure Pandora would. She was oddly perceptive and very good at predicting things.
"come on Lucy! I'll stop bothering you if you do,"
Regulus perked up at that. He could deal with being psychoanalyzed if it meant he could paint in peace.
"my notes are in my bag, you can look through them to find what I smelt,"
Pandora smiled and began to dig through Regulus' bag. She produced his potions notebook and began to flip through it.
"ash, violin music, and lilies?"
Regulus nodded looking at his painting. He didn't quite like the positioning of Athena. He brought his pencil to the canvas again, he'd finish Medusa first, she was more work anyway.
"interesting, can I paint it?"
Regulus snapped his pencil at her words and stared at her.
Pandora wasn't looking at him, her face was still buried in the notebook. "actually can I paint all of these? I think they'd make good paintings,"
Regulus sent a quick apology to the tolerable members of his table, like Lily Evans and Peter Pettigrew, sometimes Remus Lupin.
"Sure Panda, but you can't keep the notebook"
"oh I know, hey, why are you so snarky in your notes?"
Regulus ran his hand over where his pencil had snapped on the canvas. An idea began to form in the back of his mind. "I am not snarky,"
"you wrote 'potter doesn't know basic scents because he is an idiot' next to where James said he smelt something sweet,"
Regulus sent her a quick glance, he'd forgotten he wrote that. "He doesn't,"
Pandora smiled at him then glanced at his canvas. "I like the smudge, you working with it?"
He hummed. "I think I'm going to work with charcoal, which I hate, but it'll look better,"
Pandora made a small sound but she was already walking back to her own canvas. She was rather focused now, taking the old canvas off the easel and replacing it with a blank one.
Regulus smiled softly at her and went back to his work.