Redamancy | R.A.B

Four

He snapped out of them however when he felt a pair of eyes burning into the side of his head. He lifted his gaze up to make eye contact with a blonde-headed girl with honey-brown eyes.

"Are you alright?" She mouthed at him. Unlike Snape, there was, once again, genuine concern in her eyes. 

He simply nodded back to her. She gave him a look that showed she clearly didn't believe him. He gave her a falsely bright smile that caused her to roll her eyes and laugh silently as she averted her attention back to her brother and Lily at the front. 

The meeting went on for another twenty minutes till eventually they were dismissed. He waited till most people had left, allowing the crowd at the door to go down a bit. As he was leaving a hand gripped his wrist, pulling him back into the compartment. Betsy pulled him until they came to the table that he was sat at before. She leaned against the table, folding her arms.

"Are you okay?"

"I told you, I'm fine."

"I don't believe you."

"That sounds like a you problem."

"Ha ha." she deadpanned. She looked at him like she expected him to keep talking.

"Just drop it, alright? I promise you i'm fine."

She gave him a sceptical look but sighed and stood properly. "Fine." She threw her hands into the air but gave him a small smile afterwards. He noticed that James was stood by the door watching them.

"Looks like your brothers waiting on you." He told her, pointing at the door. She turned and he felt the anger radiate off of her.

"James!" She called over to him. "You can go, I'll find you later!"

"Are you not coming to sit with us?!" He called back.

"I'll be a second i'm just speaking to Regulus." Had she not been so annoyed she might have noticed that she had used his first name for the first time in as long as he could remember knowing her. It might have passed over her head but not his. No one really called him by his full name. He was 'Reg' to Evan and Theo. 'Reggie' to Sirius and his cousins. 'Black' to everyone else. Only his parents called him Regulus. It was a small thing, but the way she said it was a lot softer than the way his parents spoke. He liked it. 

"I can wait." James answered, shrugging his shoulders. 

"James, I can walk down a train by myself."

"I just want to make sure you're safe." 

"I get that, but no ones going to kidnap me off of the train and if this is the way we're going, then we're going to have a big issue when it comes to actually going to classes, alright? I'll be fine, I'll come find you lot after."

James thought it over for a minute before nodding. Leaving the two in the compartment.

"What was that about?" Regulus asked the blonde, who sighed.

"Noth-" He raised his eyebrows at her. "Fine! You got me on that one." She laughed. 

"So?..."

She sighed again, making her way back over to the table and sitting upon it. She patted the spot next to her, signalling for him to sit. He leaned against the table in the same way as she had before causing her to giggle once more. He gestured for her to proceed.

"I got a letter from my brother on my birthday."

"Brother?" 

"Raphaël Selwyn."

"The death eater?"

She nodded. "That's the one. Anyways he sent me a letter basically saying that he wanted to meet me soon. That's caused James to be a bit..." She paused, obviously thinking of the right word to describe it. 

"Overprotective?" He suggested.

"I was going to say mental but yours works too. So for basically the past week I've not been allowed out of the house without him or Sirius with me. I mean don't get me wrong I love them both, but there's only so much of them you can take, you know? And I think I've reached my limit for the next few months. When Moony and Pete came round it wasn't as bad, Rem managed to convince them that I wouldn't be taken if they left me alone in a room for two minutes. I tried to tell them that I wasn't going to be taken and even if I was, he's not going to hurt me, if he wanted me dead then i'd already be. That didn't help."

"Wait if your brothers alive then why did you go to the Potters?" 

"My dad died when I was two." Regulus opened his mouth to say he was sorry. "Don't apologise. It's not your fault and from what I've heard he was a horrible person. After he died my mum and I moved to France where she grew up, my brother decided to stay in England since he was of age. My mother passed away when I was five, both sets of my grandparents had passed away and my brother was involved with the death eaters at that point so wasn't really in the best place to be caring for me. So with all immediate family off the table and my extended family were all slightly mad, I was put into an orphanage in London until I was six. At which point I was then adopted by the Potters, they weren't able to have another kid and I think they needed someone else for James to show off to."

"So your brother told you he wants to meet you?" She nodded. "I take it he didn't give a date?"

"That would be too easy." She joked. "Anyways. I better go before James sends out a search party. I'll see you later Black. Thanks for listening. I expect to return the favour." With that she jumped down from the table and smiled at him before leaving. 

He sat on the table for a few more minutes thinking everything over. He had never really spoken properly with Betsy before, as she was Theo's friend not his. Theo and Betsy had been sat next to each other in potions in first year, second year and then again last year so the two had become quite close. To an extent that meant that Betsy was civil with him and Evan but he they were not 'friends'. He had always labelled her as a typical Gryffindor, though maybe slightly less arrogant, but he was starting to question whether there was more to the girl than he first thought.