𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐤𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧 || 𝐫.𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤

II. THE BEGINNING OF SOMETHING

She rolled her eyes as they pulled the cauldrons closer to theirselves.

"I like them because I see the good in people," she said, smirking at him. "Which is why we're friends."

He grunted something that she could not hear over the sudden noise of a stool being dragged along the floor. James was standing up and pushed his seat back.

"Hello, Jasmine!" James neared himself to our table. "Regulus."

Regulus rolled his eyes at him and turned away.

"What do you want?" she asked James.

"Er — did you study? For this test, I mean ..." he said in an overly sweet voice which made Regulus groan from next to me.

"The test tomorrow," James said. "Did you study?"

"Yes." Jasmine answered blatantly. "Why?"

"I — I didn't. And Remus won't let me copy off his. Me and Sirius need to have some kind of notes, Slughorn'll be checking."

"James, your sixteen years old. Study on your own," she scoffed, "your loss, isn't it? You were the one who decided not to study."

"Merlin, you're such a fun-sponge, Jas!" he groaned.

"Oh, fuck off."

James rolled his eyes and walked off, head rolling back in annoyance. Regulus turned back to face Jasmine with a smirk on his face.

"You didn't study, did you?" he asked.

"No," she sniggered. "Nor did you, I bet."

"Nah, I'm naturally good at Potions," he winked at her, just as Slughorn instructed them to get their books out.

Jasmine looked over at James, who turned around to face Lily and Snape. He was asking Lily out. Again. Of course, she denied.

How he was so confident with the person he liked was beyond her. Even when Lily declined, he carried on. Yet, she couldn't even hint that she liked Regulus.

"Jas. Jasmine, are you okay?"

She was snapped out of her thoughts by Regulus.

"I'm fine," she mumbled back, "totally fine."

He smiled at her and opened up his book to start the potion.

***

Later that night in the common rooms, she actually decided to start studying for the Potions test tomorrow instead of failing. She was sitting on the red sofa by the fireplace.

"Hello, Potter," Sirius says, sitting next to her. "How's — er — things?"

"Sirius, just tell me what you want," Jasmine laughed. "Not promising I'll give it to you, though."

"I don't want anything," he said, "other than an answer from you. Why are you actually friends with an asshole like my brother?"

"I like him," she shrugged, "he's lovely. Best sense of humour, mind you. I guess I just see the good in people, Sirius. That's why."

"You like him or you like him?"

"Oh, Merlin, fuck off!" she rolled her eyes. "Do you like Remus or like Remus?"

"I'll admit it, I like him. I just don't think he likes me back," he smiled. "Anyways, that's not what I'm asking, is it? Do you like Regulus in that way? Because if you do, I need to warn you."

She shifted her focus onto him instead of her parchment and quill. "Warn me?"

"Jasmine ... he's not a nice person. At all. He likes to mess with girls' hearts and mess them up. Break hearts and shit. And that's not all."

"What? There's worse?" she laughed.

"I'm being serious, Jas. Would you ever consider dating a Death Eater?"

"Never."

"Well, look out for Regulus because my parents want him to turn into one. And unlike me, he wants to impress them. And impressing them means turning into a Death Eater for them. Like literally every other Black."

She looked up at him, his eyes seemed to soften when seeing her hurt face.

"I don't think so, Pads. I don't think he'll actually do it. He wouldn't go that far to impress them. He's a good person," she said firmly.

"I'm just warning you," Sirius said seriously. "There is that small chance of him turning into one. And you're like my sister. I don't want to see you get hurt."

"Lucky for you then, I won't. I don't like him in that way. At all."

Oh, what a lie that was.

"Promise me?"

"I promise, Sirius. Now go away, I need to finish this piece of work."

He ruffled her hair and stood up, running over to Remus.

She didn't believe him. She didn't actually think Regulus would turn to the dark side. He's got too much to lose.

He's a good person, she said in her head. A good person who would resist his parents like Sirius did. He wouldn't actually become a Death Eater, Jasmine, you're overreacting.