From Eden - Regulus Black (Complete)

Chapter Thirty-Two

JULY 28, 1976

Anne truly thought that she would never step a foot inside of Grimmauld Place ever again in her life. Yet, there she was, holding tight to the small and cheap gift she had bought Regulus, nervous he wouldn't like it at all.

The 28th of July was Regulus Black's birthday, which brought Anne to wear another one of the dresses Euphemia insisted on her to buy and stand in front of Orion Black, who had insisted on inviting her, clearly against the wish of Walburga Black, if the way she was glaring at the girl and at her husband was anything to go by.

"Lord Black," she greeted, bowing. "Lady Black."

"Yes, yes," grumbled Walburga, walking away and towards Bellatrix, who was talking to her mother and laughing, though the laughing stopped as soon as she saw Anne standing in front of Orion.

Orion watched his wife walking away in clear distaste, but then turned to Anne with an interested look, eyes narrowing at the small package.

"Oh, Miss Sage, you didn't need to buy Regulus a present," he said.

She looked at the black package in her hands and smiled sheepishly, but didn't say anything, just tried to look as modest as she could. She had bought something that would appear so silly to most people and it was so cheap monetarily, but Regulus would understand – a book for a book; or at least she hoped he would understand.

"Lord, do you know where he is?" she asked. "I wanted to give him the gift face-to-face."

"Oh," Orion seemed more interested than before, but looked around. "He's right over there with Narcissa and Mister Singh."

Regulus was indeed near the window, standing beside Narcissa and talking to a brown man, who was more than happy to answer all questions Narcissa seemed to be making. Anne recognized him as one of the best ring-makers in the wizarding world; he must have travelled all the way from India to England just for the Black Heir's birthday.

"Excuse me, sir," she said, bowing once more.

"Make yourself at home, Miss Sage," Orion said.

She made her way through the crowd with a small smile, polite, but clearly not all that real until she could find a way to stop a few feet away from the small group having a conversation about the best tone of gold for skin-tones. Anne didn't clean her throat or tried to call for attention, she just waited until Regulus was free to make polite conversation with her before she could find someone else to talk to, disappearing from view before leaving the party in a polite hour.

But she didn't need to wait long, because Regulus' eyes stopped at her a second before she stopped looking around to look back at him.

"Oh, Mister Singh, excuse me," Regulus said. "I'd like you to meet Anne Sage, a friend of mine from Hogwarts."

The man turned to Anne with curious eyes as she was brought into the conversation, though she just gotten there. He had such dark eyes that she couldn't see the difference between his pupils and the rest, his black hair was straight and pushed back in a way that made Anne remember of young Draco Malfoy, which almost made her laugh, but she just smiled at him. He was wearing traditional Indian kurta in salmon-pink and gold.

She offered her hand politely and he shook it.

"A pleasure, sir," she said.

"A pleasure, indeed, Miss Sage," he said. "You look a lot prettier than I was made to believe," he smiled when she blinked, confused, but keeping her smile on her lips. "Your words didn't do her justice, Mister Black."