"Regulus, I need to talk to you." It wasn't worded as a request, not like the last couple times James had tried. Regulus had deflected him as long as he possibly could, and it had made his anxiety swell as he anticipated The Talk. When James Potter wanted something, it was inevitable. But when Regulus Black disliked something, he was going to avoid it as long as he bloody could.

Better to get rid of him quickly, Regulus thought. The plan, as usual, was to bite out a minimal amount of words and then find an excuse to leave his vicinity.

"Then talk." It came out colder than he'd meant, and the flinch in James' determined expression made Regulus want to turn around and sprint before he ruined everything more than he already had.

"Well, are you going to have a conversation with me when I make an effort or are you just going to sit there silently, as usual."

"I have nothing to say to you, but I'll listen to you if that's what you want."

"I don't want you to listen! I want you to talk to me, I want you to fucking try."

"James. I don't have anything to say to you about this."

"That's bloody fantastic. Then let's just forget all this! It's what you're best at anyways."

"Stop it."

"Let's just move on like nothing happened, I'll sit with you in the Great Hall and it'll be bloody horrible but we can pretend everything is normal. You really don't care about anything, huh? It's pretty incredible."

"That's not true, James I..."

"You what? You what, Regulus?"

"..."

"Yeah that's what I thought. I'm not planning on spending any more energy on someone who doesn't actually care about me. So let's just forget it!"

"..."

James knows his words shoot to kill when he's mad, but he can't stop himself. "One day, Regulus, you're going to push away all the people around you because you never make any effort to communicate or actually have a conversation with them when times get hard. You're going to end up all alone and it won't be anyone's fault but your own."

The truth hurts, and currently Regulus would rather be at the bottom of the black lake with the selkies than to be hearing those words from James' mouth.