FAVORITE CRIME | regulus black

1. third year

"Evans!"

And just when she thought it couldn't get any worse.

Lily immediately ripped her hand from Athena's, and both girls turned to look at James Potter, who stood behind them in line with his eccentrically messy hair and circular glasses.

"Potter," Lily sighed tiredly. She turned back around, grabbed Athena's hand once more, and dragged her onto the train, along with both of their luggage.

"Evans! Will you go out with me?" James called, still in line to board the train, and completely embarrassing himself and Lily.

"Absolutely not!" Lily called back, and Athena snickered quietly at her side. She would never grow bored of hearing Lily reject James.

"Just one date!" James continued, trying to shove the people in line aside and receiving a few hateful glares—two being from the redheads looking at him through one of the train windows.

This time it was Athena who answered, "Give up already, you ignorant twat!"

Lily gave Athena an appreciative grin, but then as if remembering that she was free from the burden of keeping up an act, she quickly let go of Athena's hand once more and stalked off to find her friends.

Athena could only roll her eyes for what seemed like the hundredth time that day.

Throughout her first two years at Hogwarts, Athena had been bullied ceaselessly by the other Slytherins, and feared by all the other houses, making it impossible to make friends. But somehow, she managed to find two people who didn't share the same feelings as the rest of the student body, and they became her lifeboat, rescuing her from her foes and guiding her through the tough two years.

Athena continued her trek down the aisle, looking for those two familiar faces in each compartment.

"'Thena!" someone suddenly called from behind her, and Athena whipped around, only for the possessor of the voice to crash into her.

"Merlin! Isabelle, you scared me!" Athena said, stunned, once she could more easily tell who hurtled into her. "Get off of me, you brown-haired idiot!"

Isabelle slowly released Athena from her grasp and smiled at her cheekily. "Nice to see you, hun."

"Yeah, yeah, nice to see you too, Belle," Athena sighed dramatically.

"Sorry for body checking you. I'm just so excited for this year! And guess what I got?"

"A warrant for your arrest?"

"Not yet—I got the new Nimbus 1001! It has a built-in aguamenti charm that shoots water at people! Cool, right?" Isabelle smiled happily, and Athena just couldn't help but reciprocate it.

"Very cool, Belle. Make sure to show me after classes tomorrow," Athena replied while hoisting her luggage into an empty compartment and beckoning Isabelle inside. "Now, where is your white-haired other half?"

Isabelle knew who Athena was talking about immediately, and grinned sheepishly. "I might have stupified her and left her in the bathroom," Isabelle responded, and Athena waited patiently for her friend to explain. "She was pissing me off!" was Isabelle's pitiful excuse. "I made sure she was nice and cozy on the floor, don't you worry. I'm not that discourteous."

Isabelle Storm was a chaotic person, to say the least. She had told Athena that she almost got into Gryffindor due to her spirited personality, but the Sorting Hat decided last minute that Ravenclaw suited her best. And the house of learning, wisdom, wit, and intellect was where she met a light blonde-haired girl named Leila Lovegood, the younger sister to Xenophilius "Xeno" Lovegood.

Athena just stared at her friend blankly, before saying with a smirk, "I'll go fetch her, then. You stay here, B. Make sure our stuff doesn't get stolen."

Isabelle nodded with another sheepish grin, and saluted Athena with one hand. Athena just chuckled in response and stepped back into the aisle of the train, heading towards the bathrooms.

She ducked and jumped over loose luggage and almost crashed into every single person walking towards her, but she made it to the lavatory and opened the door, wondering just what lay behind it.

Athena couldn't help but burst out in laughter when she saw Leila Lovegood splayed out on the floor, with only a pillow under her head and a newspaper as a blanket.

"Absolute wacko," Athena muttered under her breath, before whipping her wand out from where it was stashed in her black Doc Marten and pointing it at the unconscious blonde. "Enervate."

Leila sat up swiftly and groaned, one hand flying up to her head and rubbing it soothingly. She then spotted Athena standing above her and practically screamed, "Holy mother of Merlin, 'Thena, you scared me!"

Athena giggled teasingly and replied, "Oops sorry" with an innocent tilt of her head, her flaming red strands falling in front of her face.

Leila then attempted to stand, only to completely fall right into Athena, who caught her just in time before she had a chat with the floor.

"Wow, 'Thena, you're really skinny! How much did you eat over the summer?" Leila gasped, looking concernedly at her red-haired friend, who grimaced uncomfortably.

"Enough—it's fine, really. It's probably because I exercised a lot, you know," Athena responded, escaping the blonde's loosening grasp. "Well anyway, how was your summer? Better than mine, I'd expect," Athena changed the conversation with a short laugh.

Sensing Athena's unwillingness to continue with the former topic, Leila went along, saying, "Oh it was fantastic! I went to Paris, and—"

Suddenly what could have become a dangerously long rant from Leila was cut off by someone entering the bathroom. Both Leila and Athena looked over to see Lily standing there awkwardly, before turning around and leaving without a word.

Athena sighed.

Leila put a hand on Athena's shoulder, and the red-haired girl smiled appreciatively at her friend. Deciding it was best to get back to Isabelle before she blew up their compartment, Leila and Athena opened the door and walked out back into the aisle.

Making small talk down the train, Athena didn't realize there was a presence behind her until she was forcefully slammed into the wall, effectively hitting her head on the window of another compartment—and she immediately blushed afterwards, seeing a mixture of expressions on faces inside.

"Athena!" Leila gasped, just grasping that Athena was pushed, and turning to face the culprit.

There he stood, a familiar smirk adorning his pale face and bright greyish blue eyes tinted with pride, and a bit of something unrecognizable. "You should watch where you're going, mudblood. Trailing filth everywhere you go so much that you caused yourself to slip? How pathetic," he spit at Athena, whose lips were parted in a mixture of fury and fear.

"You have no right to talk to her like that!" Leila snapped back, her long, curly blonde hair bouncing as she shook her head at him.

Regulus turned to her. "And how's that loony brother of yours? Still hung up over Pandora's rejection? Well maybe one day he'll be thankful for that, as that lunatic is going to blow herself up one day with all her stupid experiments—"

"Shut up, Black!" Athena growled, her emerald eyes glinting with absolute rage. "I hate you so much, and you should too," she said seriously, but Regulus wasn't fazed.

"Already do," he snarked sarcastically.

"Good."