𝓟𝓱𝓲𝓵𝓸𝓹𝓱𝓸𝓫𝓲𝓪 || Regulus Black

3.6 - Bed Checks

As much as Ophelia disliked all of the mischief that Barty and Regulus got up to, she sometimes went along with it. Sometimes out of boredom, or curiosity, and sometimes she just felt the need to supervise the boys.

One night, Barty and Regulus insisted on staying up late and running around to prank other students. Simple harmless pranks, at Ophelia's request. The three Slytherin students stayed up until midnight, pranking all around the school. They ended up at the Slytherin common room, and Ophelia stopped in her tracks in front of the girls' bedroom door. 

"What's wrong?" Regulus asked her.

"Dolores. That girl is ridiculous when it comes to rules. She'll rat me out as soon as I step inside." Ophelia said.

"So?" Barty asked. 

"So? So, I'll get in trouble!" Ophelia responded, sounding like the idea of getting in trouble shook her to the core.

"So stay in our room." Regulus offered. "Then in class in the morning, you can just act like she's crazy and that you were there all night." 

"Are you sure?" Ophelia asked. 

"No." Barty muttered, and Regulus gave him a quick elbow nudge to urge Barty not to be rude. 

"Yeah, of course. We'll even back you up in class tomorrow. Don't worry."

Ophelia hesitantly agreed to stay in the boys' room overnight. She walked inside, then quickly felt all the stress bubble up in her stomach. 

"Are you sure I can stay?" She asked. 

"Yeah." Regulus said, making it sound like it was obvious. "You can sleep in my bed, I'll stay with Barty."

"No, you will not." Barty interrupted. "I sleep in my own bed, by myself. You two have to figure out what you're going to do by yourselves."

"Okay, fine." Regulus said, annoyed at Barty. "Ophelia and I can share. As long as you're okay with that, Lia."

"Uh, no, yeah, that's fine." Ophelia stuttered. 

"Great." Regulus smiled. 

"Oh, wait. I don't have any pyjamas. And I don't want my clothes to be wrinkled and gross tomorrow." She pointed out. 

Barty started laughing, being able to make fun of anything people say, especially Ophelia. "Nerd!" He exclaimed. 

Regulus didn't say anything to acknowledge him, and instead just rolled his eyes and smiled reassuringly at Ophelia. 

"You can wear some of my things. Or you could just wear your robe as pyjamas, and then take mine tomorrow."

"Alright." She said. 

Ophelia turned around to face away from the boys, taking off her clothes and using her robe as a privacy screen. 

Once she finished removing her uniform, leaving her in nothing but her pretties and a robe, she turned around again and placed her clothes in a folded pile on Regulus' trunk.  

"Alright." Regulus said, looking at Ophelia. "You good?"

"Yup." Ophelia confirmed, waiting for instruction on what to do. 

She felt comfortable, yet tense in the boys' room. She never liked to be a guest in anyone else's space, and breaking rules in order to be a guest was enough to send her over the edge. 

"You can just get in the bed." Regulus said, letting out an awkward laugh after he finished speaking. 

She crawled into Regulus' bed. He laid down after her, and the two immediately felt the bed become cramped, as it was a single bed being filled by two teenagers. 

Regulus opened his mouth to say something to Ophelia, but clearly Barty sensed it and stopped Regulus before he could say anything. 

"Don't." Barty said firmly. "It's bad enough that she's here at all, I don't want to hear your pillowtalk." 

Ophelia and Regulus both laughed softly at Barty and then turned around to sleep in silence. 

----------

Ophelia woke up curled up against Regulus. Her head on his chest and their legs tangled together. 

A few seconds after Ophelia gained consciousness and moved away from Regulus, she heard a voice coming from the hallway. 

"Bed checks." Professor Slughorn said with a knock on the door a floor or two away from them. 

"Oh, Merlin's Beard!" Ophelia exclaimed, startling Regulus awake.

He took a moment to catch his breath, and then he realised what was going on outside. 

"Oh my—" Regulus said, gasping in shock. "I forgot all about that."

"Since when have they been knocking on doors in the morning?" Ophelia asked, scrambling to get up. 

She grabbed her clothes from on top of the trunk and quickly started getting dressed. 

"Only in the boys' dorms." Barty responded. "And it's since a particular group of Gryffindor students snuck out of their rooms one morning to paint the entire astronomy tower red and yellow."  

"Oh my Merlin, they're annoying sometimes." Ophelia groaned. "How do I get out of here?"

Regulus paused to think of an escape plan for Ophelia. A distraction, a charm to use, a spell to cast, anything. 

Barty was sitting in his bed, not helping at all, then he spoke up and interrupted the two of them.

"They're doing bed checks. You better get out of here." Barty pointed out.

"We know!" Ophelia responded in what was a mixture of a whisper and a shout. 

"You'll be in so much trouble if they find you here."

"So help me!"

"Not my problem." Barty muttered, lying back down under his blanket.

Ophelia groaned in frustration, then turned back to look at Regulus with a panicked look on her face. 

"Alright, I got it." Regulus said, opening the door and peeking out. "Pass me my wand." He instructed.

Ophelia grabbed his wand off of his night table and tossed it to Regulus. 

"Okay. I'll give you a signal, then you run off out of here, got it?"

Ophelia nodded, and quickly put on one of Regulus' robes, even though it was much too large for her. 

Regulus crept into the hallway, and waited for Slughorn to enter one of the bedrooms. Once the professor was facing the opposite way from their room. 

"Arresto Momentum!" Regulus shouted when the timing was right. "Go now!"

"Where did you learn that?" Ophelia asked him. 

"Does it matter?" He said. "Hurry, go now!"

"Thank you." Ophelia told Regulus as she ran down the staircase to get out of sight from everyone.