Chapter Text
When James Potter was 6 years old he had a sleepover with his best friend and his best friend’s little brother.
It was a Tuesday night and James wasn’t usually allowed to have sleepovers on a school night, but his mom told him that this was an exception. James knew what this meant. He knew that it meant that Sirius and Regulus’ parents were mean to them again. He saw the red mark on Sirus’ face and the tear stains on Regulus’ cheeks. The Black brothers were always welcome at the Potter's apartment. James’ mother made sure that Sirius had a key to their apartment hidden somewhere in his room so they could get in if they needed. He had come barreling through the front door with Regulus in tow just after 9.
They built a fort in the living room out of the sofa cushions so they could stay together. It was the middle of the night and James’ mind was going a hundred miles an hour.
“Pssst. Are you awake?” James asked the boy lying next to him.
“Go to sleep, James.” He whispered back.
“I’m not sleepy,” James whined.
James scooted closer to the little boy. “Wanna go look at the stars?” James asked.
Regulus Black rolled over and looked at James with those big green eyes. “We’ll get caught.”
Regulus was always worried about getting in trouble. “We won’t,” James promised. “We’ll be extra quiet. My parents won’t wake up. I sneak down to the kitchen to eat Pop-Tarts all the time and they never hear me!”
Regulus chewed on his bottom lip while he thought for a moment. “Okay, let’s go look at the stars.”
James grabbed Regulus’ hand and pulled him up. Sirius let out a snore that caused both boys to stifle a giggle.
James and Regulus ran hand in hand out of James’ apartment and up the stairs to the roof of his building. They took a seat on the floor and James wrapped a blanket around both of them.
James asked the same question that he always asked. “Where are you, Reggie?”
The little boy pointed up to the night sky. “I’m right there.”
James squinted. “I forgot my glasses inside. I can’t see you!” James sounded heartbroken.
Regulus grabbed James’ hand and helped him point his finger up toward the sky. “I’ll show you.” Regulus started to move James’ finger around and pointed at all the stars in the Leo constellation. He ended on Regulus. “There I am.”
James smiled. It was very blurry, but if he squinted he could still see it. “There you are,” he whispered.
“Jamie?” The younger boy asked. “What if one day you actually can’t see me? What if you can’t find me?”
Something about the tone of his voice made James think that they weren’t talking about the star version of him. His green eyes were filled with fear and he had instinctively scooted closer to James.
James wrapped a protective arm around him. “I’ll always find you, Reggie. I pinky promise!”
James held his pinky out to Regulus. He stared at it for a moment before a smile began to spread across his face. Then he linked his pinky finger with James’.