The Brothers Black

Chapter 38

"Addy!"

I heard my name from down the hallway when I was walking out of Defense Agains the Dark Arts.

"I'm in a bit of a pinch," grumbled a flustered looking Frank Longbottom. "Rosemary's out sick, and I know Tuesday's your usual patrol day, but I really need some help today. Could you fill in for her?"

Rosemary Nott was the other Slytherin Prefect – a small, bright girl that was known to be the strictest Prefect. I had plans with Shirley and Mandy to have a self-care night while studying for Charms, but I could skip. "Yeah, I guess so."

"Great," he said, thanking me again before running off. "I owe you one!"

I wasn't too happy about my Friday night getting scrapped, but I realized I would be patrolling with Regulus. I never really got to see him on Friday nights anyway because of his shift, and he had been sick all of last week, so I was excited to hang out with him. Besides, there were a lot more people sneaking around on the weekends than on Tuesdays, so patrol would be more fun. 

"Why would you go left here?" I asked, following Regulus through the hallway he had turned on. We were about an hour into our patrol, and I was nothing but bored and tired. "It's much faster to go right, and you have easier access to the third floor."

"I just follow Rosemary," he shrugged. "I don't spend much time analyzing the effectiveness of my patrol route."

"Well, Davey and I–"

"Oh, I'm dying to know what you and Davey do," he spat.

I stopped, frowning. He had been testy today, and I didn't know why.

Regulus sighed and turned around. "Sorry, Ads, it's been a long day. I shouldn't be taking it out on you."

"It's fine," I said, catching up to his pace. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," he sighed. "Just been a bad week."

"Let's make this fun," I said. "A competition. Whoever can catch more students out of curfew wins. Meet back here in 20 minutes."

The corner of his mouth turned up. "Alright."

"There you are," I said, rounding the corner back to the witch statue where we started. "I only got one. Beaney on his way to the kitchens, so I'm not sure if that even counts."

"Three," Regulus smiled, spinning his wand through his hand. "Ravenclaw second-years. Not too wise yet."

"You win," I yielded. "So, what do you get?"

"I get to pick?" he smirked.

I groaned. "I should've set some limits to this bet."

"Quidditch," he said.

"What? Quidditch, right now?"

"It's not like we haven't done it before. And it's not even a full moon today."

"What happened to being Mr. Important?"

His eyes dropped. "As if." 

Something was wrong. "It's snowing, Reg." I stared out the great window at the icy lake in front of us. I sighed, knowing I was going to give in. "Can I at least get a coat?"

Regulus seemed to have downed about 14 espresso shots, completely reversing his somber mood from earlier. We sprinted up the stairs, laughing as hard as we could without caring who heard us.