𝐩𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐨𝐛𝐢𝐚 || 𝘳.𝘢.𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬

013. skipping school with regulus black

Tension is thick in the evening air as a they stare into each other's eyes, looking for any real detail about the other without asking.

Regulus sees mischief in her now amber eyes, hints of loneliness and a lot of happiness. She reminds him of the sun, in any room; and with any number of people, Maria Potter shines the brightest, stands out the most. She's warm deep inside and Regulus knows this now.

Maria sees sadness in his storm filled eyes, a lot of loneliness and trauma. He reminds her of the moon. No one appreciates the moon enough, not even when it's whole. And when it is they're afraid of what may come with or after it. People never see the moon like they do the sun, it's mostly forgotten as they sleep soundly, or some yell in pain as they lose control of every inch of themselves. Either way, the moon is ignored.

The sun and the moon.

Maria averts her eyes first, clearing her throat quietly and his hands drop from where they'd fell on her waist, running it through his damp curls.

"We should—get—"

"Yep, yeah." Regulus coughs as they wordlessly swim to the grass and heave themselves into their backs. Neither of the pair — too busy figuring each other out — had noticed the stars become visible in the navy blue sky and the sun set behind the endless fields and mountains.

"So what's this thing Sirius talked about." Maria says as she takes off her robe to ring it out over the lake. "All those arranged marriage things."

"Oh. . .it's a weird pure blood supremacy thing." Regulus shrugs as he does the same with his Slytherin robe. "We have to marry someone who also has like—really pure blood."

"And. . .you're fine with that?"

"It's not like I have a choice." Regulus says, taking her robe and throwing them over the branch of the tree so they can air off. "I mean, they're mostly arranged before we leave school so. . .we don't get a say."

"That's bullshit." Maria deadpans and Regulus rolls his eyes. "Surely you could put a stop to it. . .your parents can't control you forever."

"Yeah well. . .look what running off got Sirius into." Regulus says, the wind blowing his hair around. "I'll probably. . .get married to a girl with none of her own brain, that always does as her parents say. Most likely someone I can never truly understand."

"I didn't realise it was that deep." Maria mumbles, looking engrossed in a thought.

"It's not really." Regulus shrugs it off. "I'll probably end up marrying Rebecca Barnes."

"Rebecca Barnes?" Maria snorts. "As in that girl that's always all over you?"

". . .yeah?"

"That sucks, for you obviously — I'm sure lovely Becky will be delighted." Maria smiles — fake — and Regulus huffs. "At least she's pretty."

"I'm not into blondes." Regulus rolls his eyes and Maria holds up her hands in defence. "Maybe if she was actually nice — but she's not."

Maria smiles slightly but purses her lips to stop it as she turns back to the water that's now reflecting the bright stars. After all of their talks on the astronomy tower, Maria is quite familiar with the Leo constellation, more specifically the position of a certain star the boy sat next to her was named after.

"Besides, my parents are—"

"Arseholes." Maria cuts in and Regulus raises his eyebrow before chuckling.
"Yeah, arseholes." Regulus nods. "So, it's hard to do what you want to."

Maria looks deep in thought as she looks at him momentarily. "I'm sorry."
"Ah it's all right." Regulus shrugs unconvincingly. "It's not your fault anyway, we should probably get back before Filch catches us. Again."

"Oh yeah, ungodly deeds." Maria says sarcastically and Regulus smirks as he stands up and holds out a hand, hoisting her off the grass. They get their robes on and stroll back to the castle.

Maria walks into the dormitory and the two girls head's shoot up from their homework and Danielle's eyebrows shoot up as Maria walks over to her own bed.

"What?" Maria asks nonchalantly.

"You've got uh—a Slytherin robe on."

"Shit."

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A few days after the embarrassing incident with her two best friends — which she had to explain in a lot of detail what happened earlier in the day or they'd 'strangle her' — she's in the common room with her brother's three best friends as Remus helps her with some charms homework.
Sirius is slouched in one of the red armchairs messing around with some parchment whilst Peter is on the sofa opposite the fire with his legs up on the coffee table and a book about DADA blocking his face from their view.

"I don't understand this bloody—"

"Calm down, Mar." Sirius smirks over the parchment, "if all else fails you could always become—"

"Don't say it."

"A prostitute."

"Thank you." Maria sings with an eye roll and Sirius winks before looking back at the parchment he seems so interested in.

"You'll get it." Remus smiles at her and she sighs but smiles with a nod, letting her forehead drop on Remus' arm.

They then hear yells and excited cheers coming from the portrait hole before a running James Potter barges past some first years.

"She said yes!" James yells and they frown but their eyebrows raise when James trips on some of the scarlet rug and falls flat on his stomach.

"What?" Maria calls as James scrambled to his feet and rushes over to them, practically sitting on Peter as he tumbles onto the sofa with him.

"Lily! She said yes—were going to Hogsmead together after the match tomorrow."
"You're joking!" Sirius says loudly and James shakes his head.

The two boys stand up and Sirius lunges into a brotherly hug as they bounce up and down together like two excited little girls when they see a puppy. Maria, Remus and Peter watch them, slightly amused but also looking disturbed, Sirius almost falls into the roaring fire and the three left sitting share an exasperated look.

"She said yes!" The duo chant over and over, earning strange looks from some people and others who know about the 'James and Lily' situation also clap and whistle along.

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