𝑴𝒊𝒏𝒖𝒕𝒆, regulus black

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟓: 𝐕𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞-𝐕𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐥𝐲-𝐕𝐢𝐚𝐥

She mentally flipped him off again before asking, "Are you reading?" 

She caught the slight pause of his eyes- probably on a page- before he looked up at her, "No." 

She scoffed and reached to his lap. Her hand instantly made contact with the cool touch of book paper. She turned to the cabinet and stood up to reach the trophies since they were too heavy for her to carry. 

A few minutes passed before she asked, "What are you reading?" 

"230 minutes." 

"Has anyone ever told you that you're annoying." 

"235." 

"You must love spending all this time with me, Reg." 

He muttered something under his breath that sounded like an "as if". 

More minutes passed before he relented, "The Picture of Dorian Gray." 

She had to hold in a squeal. Had it been anyone else reading that book, she would have fallen into a tangent about how Oscar Wilde was one of the greatest writers to ever step foot on the earth and about how his words would be remembered in centuries to come. Instead, she settled with, "Oh, do you like it?" 

"It's okay." He paused before adding, "If you ever tell anyone that I'm reading a book, I'll have you in detention for 3 months straight cleaning up the trophies in this room." 

Rune clicked her tongue. "It will only take me 3 hours, doofus. I'm on the last cabinet now." 

From the corner of her eyes, she saw him lift his sleeve to get a look at his watch and she must have imagined the look of guilt that entered his eyes. 

"Shit. Why didn't you say anything?" 

She turned to face him and frowned, "About what?" 

He ran his eyes over her dusty robes and blackened hands and opened his mouth to say something, but he must have decided against it because he waved his hand towards the door. "Leave, I'm tired of you." 

"All of a sudden?" she asked, already halfway across the room. "Did you finish the book?" 

"None of your..." he paused midsentence and then gasped as he pointed at her with his index finger. 

"You touched my lap!" 

"What?" she asked in confusion. 

"Before when you asked what I was doing- you- you touched my lap!" he uttered incredulously. 

"Don't be ridiculous. I touched your book." 

"Which was on my lap." 

"Exactly," she said matter of factly. 

"You didn't know it was there," he said accusingly. 

"What?" 

Regulus took a few steps closer to her. "You didn't know it was there. You took a chance." 

Rune scoffed at him. "Well then lucky it was there." 

"What if it wasn't?" 

She lifted a hand to her head and sighed. "I'm sick." 

"In your head, yes. You knew there was a 50/50 chance of there being a book vs there being no book and you still took it," he whisper shouted.

"Pfft. It wasn't 50/50. It was like... 95/5." 

Regulus gasped even louder this time. "You knew there was a 5 percent chance that your hand might have made contact with no book, and you still took it?!" 

"You're being ridiculous." 

"Do you like me, Rune?" 

Rune looked up at the ceiling and shook her head before placing her hands over her chest and sarcastically cooing, "Oh, Reggie! I'm absolutely floored by you. You're so handsome and smart and sweet and lovable! I'm so in love with you!" 

Regulus chuckled before clearing his throat, "You heard that Peeves?" 

"Every word," answered Peeves' taunting voice. "I borrowed the Voice-Vividly-Vial from Professor Sluggy so I have it on record too. Ickle fickle, Regulus cures Rune's heart's tickles." 

A sharp screech escaped Peeves' mouth as Rune went hollering after him to retrieve the vial.

Regulus grabbed his book and bag from the chair and held in his laughter all the way down to the Slytherin dorms. 

He waited patiently on the couch until 20 minutes later, Rune hobbled in, robes in tatters but vial securely in her hands. 

Regulus stood up and yawned, "Two, Black. One, Westwood. You're up, Rune." 

"I hate you!" she seethed as she stomped off to the girl's dorms.