𝑴𝒊𝒏𝒖𝒕𝒆, regulus black

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟔𝟔: 𝐒𝐰𝐢𝐦𝐬𝐮𝐢𝐭

＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚

Rune was in a magical vehicle in Japan. 

She grinned excitedly as she looked out the window at the beautiful sights on the island of Minami Iwo Jima. Even with the distance, she could make out the exquisite white stone of the palace of Mahoutokoro Wizarding School. 

"Your leg is touching mine." 

Rune immediately squeezed her legs tightly together as she exhaled a sigh of annoyance. 

The only problem was the magical vehicle was tiny and squishing into the backseat with Regulus and Professor Slughorn was the furthest thing from comfortable. 

Her only source of comfort came from the fact that Regulus was the one sandwiched in the middle. 

She snuck a glance to the rearview mirror and saw the contorted expression on Regulus' face as he tried to hunch his shoulders to make himself as small as possible. 

As she let out a soft snicker, she felt his eyes meet hers in the mirror. 

It was only for a brief second before he looked away and stared straight ahead. 

It was probably the longest he'd looked at her since Valentine's Day.

Not her nicest move, but definitely her proudest. She had bagged a hot date with Nihal Patil. He was a complete heartthrob and was more than happy to be her pretend date for the day. 

Regulus had still been sitting there when she left Madam Puddifoot's after her three-hour long date, and she hadn't seen him at dinner either. She knew it wasn't likely, but she liked to imagine that he waited the whole night. 

Just as she was about to look away, his eyes met hers in the rearview mirror again. 

Her breath hitched. She immediately dropped her eyes into her lap and counted until 30 before she raised them again. 

He was still looking at her.

She looked away again and cleared her throat. 

Stop it, Rune.

Don't look.

 Don't look. 

Don't look.

Too late. 

She looked into the mirror again and he was still looking at her. 

She contemplated continuing to stare back through the rearview mirror, but it felt too much like flirting and she didn't want to do anything of the sort with him. 

So, she turned to face him and raised an eyebrow. "Do you want something?" 

He scoffed and smiled bitterly as he looked away from her and out of the window on Professor Slughorn's side. 

She cursed him under her breath as she rolled her eyes and turned back to look out of her window. 

For extra measure, she stuck her arm out until her elbow was jutting into his side. It wasn't hard enough to hurt him, but it certainly was enough to cause him discomfort. 

She expected him to knock it back at her, but he remained silent and still as he continued to look ahead. 

From the way he was acting, one would think that Rune had been the one in the wrong. 

~

They arrived at the hotel just after sunset and after a long dinner comprising of Slughorn intricately explaining what each dish was made of and its origins and boring both Rune and Regulus with his stories of travels to East Asia, all three of them retired to bed to hopefully sleep away their tiredness before the official start of the fair the next day.