When Lemon Meets Smoke

the promise of a friend

January 27th, 1977

-Regulus-

The sound of Regulus's polished oxfords hitting the stone floors echoed through the hallways as he stormed toward the dungeons. His mind was only set on one repetitive sentence that seems to consume him.

I'm going to murder Evan Rosier.

Evan Felix Rosier; an idiotic pureblood that up until this moment, Regulus considered to be his closest friend, that is besides Adelaide.

The very girl Evan was now engaged to.

How his confidant could keep such life-altering news from him was mind hazing.

How could he agree to this? How could he do this to her? To me?

Regulus suddenly found himself outside the common room, the large stone door staring back at him, almost mocking him as he clenched his jaw and spat out the password."Pure-blood."

The door opened and he descended the marble stairs, his shoes being the only thing to disrupt the silence. The common room was empty but Regulus took no notice, making a beeline for his dorm, the dorm he shared with a certain blond boy he was sure had probably been expecting him. Upon entering his room, Regulus's grey-blue eyes immediately found his friend sitting on his favorite crushed velvet armchair by the window, staring out at the Black Lake.

Evan turned at the sound of the door opening and looked at his friend, eye wide with fear, "Reg-"

The Slytherin's words died in his throat at the force of Regulus's fist colliding with his jaw. "You son-of-a-bitch."

"I understand you are mad but-"

Regulus was seething, his hand clutching Evan's collar. "You understand that I am mad, do you? No Rosier. I am furious. How dare you keep this from me? Do you realize what this means for her? How many people this affects?"

Evan audibly gulped, "I just found out, I had nothing to do with this, I swear. Reg, I would never do this to you on purpose, I know you love her. I- I couldn't do that to you. Please listen to me." The blonde's voice dripped with pain and sincerity, his green eyes dashing back and forth between Regulus's face and the fist that still held his shirt in a tight grip.

The Black heir released his dormmate and took a step back, trying to calm his rage in order to hear what the boy he had known since he was a small child had to say, "Fine, speak."

Evan released a shaky breath, "I just found out this morning, my father's owl arrived just minutes after you left with Lupin for your prefect duties. While yes, I had known I was to be engaged soon as I am sixteen now." Regulus nodded his head, remembering the night of celebratory drinks that resulted in a blackout over the winter holiday. "I had no idea it would be her, I would have never thought Tanetler-"

"Potter."

Evan looked at his friend in confusion, "Pardon?"

Regulus didn't falter, "She is going by Potter now."

The blonde nodded his head slightly, a weak smile at the notion, "Right sorry, I would have never thought Potter to even be an option seeing as I was under the impression she had been disowned..."

Regulus felt a bit of tension in his shoulders leave, "She had received a letter informing her of the disownment in our second year, her third, but I see now her parents never officialized it."

Evan nodded his head in understanding, "I swear to you Reg, I would never hurt you like this."

Regulus took a moment to take in the sight of his friend, searching his face for any sign of dishonesty but he found none. He knew Evan had no desire to marry, he had stated it for years. Always adamant that the idea of being tied to a pureblood woman of his father's picking would be the worse death sentence he could ever receive... that he would ever receive.