Let It Go {Marauders&Reggie}

[James Potter]

The grounds. This was the place where anything of consequence had ever happened in James' life. Well, that wasn't entirely true...there was that one night in the Owlery after hours, but for the most part, the grounds were James' life. And so it made sense why he spent all of his free time there. Except when curfew hit, then he headed back to the common room, even if it was grudgingly. Today was a great Friday afternoon. He was lucky to get a free period after lunch this year. James probably should have been studying, it was O.W.L year, but he had better things to do right then.

James threw his messenger bag against the tree trunk of his usual tree and then proceeded to throw himself right besides, though less harshly. A group of Ravenclaw girls glanced over at him. In response of this attention James ran a hand through his short black hair making it messier than usual. Three of four girls giggled. The fourth girl rolled her eyes. James made the mistake of dating her the year before. Afterward he vowed never to have more than two dates with a Ravenclaw. They were too d**ned smart, not that that was a problem. The major problem was that they knew it.

The two stared at each other for a few seconds until James raised an eyebrow at her and she turned away. He absently wondered if she had told her friends about the two of them. Probably not. Girls liked to stick together; if she told them they’d have either said something to him or ignored him entirely. He basically got all of his knowledge about girls from one of his best friends, and it wasn’t Sirius though he liked to say he knew all about the female specie. No, he went straight to the source, Regina Halifax, better known as Reggie and more importantly, his only female friend.

Female friend that he secretly dated…or entertained himself with. Whichever way you wanted to put it. James hadn’t even told the rest of the Marauders about him and Reggie. Sure, they knew they were friends, but they didn’t know the rest. And James had always wanted to tell Sirius cause Sirius would have been impressed. Disgustingly impressed, but all the same. James flipped his wrist over and checked his watch: 12:45. Reggie would be there in five, the guys would be there whenever, though eventually. Maybe eventually. Remus might just stay in the library and Peter might…go rat around in the sewers. Who knew what that guy got up to on his own time.

[Reggie Halifax]

For Reggie the day might as well have been over. Being a seventh year with only three classes Reggie got really bored really fast. And she was skipping out on N.E.W.T.S if she could possibly manage it. It wasn’t like she needed grades at all since she had no intention of doing anything magical. Unless you counted being vastly famous in the magical world, which she didn’t. Reggie could have been famous in the muggle world had she tried, but she didn’t. Maybe because she wanted to stick to what she knew? Or it was an excuse to stay nearer to her friends. She was betting on the latter since she didn’t have a fear of new things.

Just because she was a Hufflepuff didn’t mean she found school important. Reggie used her hardworking personality for what she enjoyed, not for what the school system said she should enjoy. And what Reggie enjoyed was music. She had heard about a magical school in Greece that taught a musical class that coincided with magic. It sounded incredible to her, but her parents wanted her to go to Hogwarts. It was closer to home and that’s where they went as kids.

Reggie sighed thinking about it and strode across the last leg of the journey. Every single day at 12:50 Reggie met James under his tree. Sometimes the rest of the guys showed up and sometimes they didn’t. It didn’t matter to her either way. She could handle Sirius better than most; she loved Remus’ brains and calm demeanor. She even liked Peter some of the time, though when he was acting like some sap she began to hate him. Most of all, Reggie loved James Potter. Everyone loved James, but not like Reggie did. She knew James, knew him better than most. Probably not like the guys did, but more than the rest of the school. Actually, she might have known him better than the guys. Sometimes you could talk about things to a girl that you couldn’t to a guy friend.

For example Reggie knew how scared James was of his father’s heart condition. She was pretty sure he hadn’t talked like that to the guys. About how his mother might take it and so on. James was more than a spoiled little prince--that was certain. And Reggie hated Lily Evans for being such a heartless cow. It also helped that Reggie was older than the lot of them. It helped to distance herself from their bickering. But she still thought Lily should step off her pedestal and take the time to get to know James. Even if she feared the very same thing.

“James,” Reggie said with a light smile and sat down beside him. She caught the Ravenclaw girls glancing over and she rolled her eyes, “Well…a year has gone by…” She began. Today was the day for serious talk, apparently. “…And we’re still waiting for Lily to open her eyes. Will we be waiting in another two?” He knew what she was talking about; she didn’t have to say it. This was ‘safe’ conversation. All vague and non-assuming.

[James Potter]

James grinned up at Reggie for the third time that day. He liked to detour from his normal route to spot her after classes, though she didn’t know it. James didn’t like to look into that, either. He didn’t want to know what he felt for this girl. He did know that he felt more than the guys around here did. Reggie was kind of the female version of himself…minus the arrogance and plus the actual fame. Reggie had been a well-known singer when she was fifteen years old, though after a year of traveling and recording her parents made her quit until she made it through school. James knew how much that pissed Reg off. She was a good singer, and guitar player…and songwriter and person. Obviously, Regina was just plain good. He told her it all the time, but she never believed him. James wished she would have.

Of course, he wouldn’t ever realize that was because of the way he treated her. James thought he treated Reggie really well, but he had no idea how keeping her a secret effected her. He had never asked and she only rarely mentioned it. Just like she was doing now…

“Reg, Lily will come around. She has to.” James looked away from her and fiddled with his cuff, “But…if she doesn’t by the time I leave Hogwarts…” He was going to make a promise that he might not be able to keep. Two years was a long, long time. Especially for a fifteen year old boy. “Then I’ll stop waiting. I’ll…give up.” James frowned at the last bit, but quickly covered it up by poking her in the ribs and rubbing the top of her head with his hand.

“Not that it matters, because you’re fantastic anyway.” James slipped his left hand to her back and wrapped it in her shirt. Reggie was already out of her school uniform. She only had Astronomy and that was until midnight so there was no need to keep it on in between. And James was glad because he liked her in jeans and a tank top. Especially since she seemed very unaware that her black bra was pretty visible in the proper light. Apparently no one else was looking at it that hard, or no one of importance, because Sprout would have told her about it by now.

James never thought about what it would be like to date Reggie publicly. He saw her as a friend, sometimes more, and everyone else saw her that way too. As long as no one pointed it out James was going to continue to be blissfully unaware…until he left school and Lily still thought he was a jackass. Then he might actually think of her differently.

[Reggie Halifax]

Reggie grinned half-heartedly and nodded along. He said that he would give up, not that he would give up and take their relationship more seriously. She was getting pretty damn sick of being a side dish. Reggie was good enough to be a main course, she knew her own worth. She saw how all the boys looked at her, though she knew that they might only be looking at how much she was worth in galleons. And she was worth quite a bit in galleons; her two records had sold incredibly well for being so close together. Her parents had enjoyed that part of her fame.

There was a huge chance that James wouldn’t take her seriously, but she wasn’t willing to accept that just yet. She still had a year at school, a year to be near him. And when she left things would change. Maybe she’d take Sirius up on one of his offers, even if he offered everything in a skirt. Couldn’t be worse than what she had with James. You know, except for the whole love factor. Reggie placated herself by writing songs. Lots and lots of cheesy ‘why won’t you notice me’ love songs. Most the time she wanted to just throw herself off the Astronomy Tower to avoid her own lameness.

“Hey!” She shouted when he poked her and jumped. Reggie grimaced and tried to fix her hair, though she was smiling on the inside. Absently Reggie scooted closer to James and leaned her head on his shoulder. To everyone else this would seem horribly innocent, but to Reggie it was much more than that. His hand twisting in her shirt was more than a friendly gesture. But to James it was nothing…

“You’re an ass.” Reggie stated now grinning, her eyes shut. The sun was bright and made little dots under her red eyelids. It always looked red with you closed your eyes in the light and it amused her. Off to the right she heard footsteps coming their way. A second later she heard someone flopping down at the tree where they sat. It could only be one of three people and she was vastly disappointed by the interruption.

“Well, there goes the moment,” She whispered near James ear and sat up. Reggie cracked on of her eyes open slowly, “Hmm, hey.” She said to the new body, though she couldn’t see who it was around James huge head. Reggie wasn’t that interested anyway, unless it was Sirius. Things were always more interesting when it was Sirius.

[Sirius Black]

Sirius was on his way to talk to James about there detention they had gotten from being in the kitchens earlier that week. He knew that James, along with Reggie, would be at the hang out tree in the grounds like usual. He didn't know what James was thinking. Reggie and James might have thought they had everyone fooled but Sirius knew all about there secret relationship and he thought it was wrong. Reggie really liked James and he was so ignorant with Lily. Reggie should step up and tell James what she thinks or go a step better and come to the 'Sirius.' he thought.

Sirius reached the tree and there they where. Kicking James in the leg he said, "Hey James! Oh excuse me my lady Reggie and how are we?" he asked laying down next to her.