From Eden - Regulus Black (Complete)

Chapter Sixty-Seven

Musical chapter, I guess? but not really at the same time. I hope you all like Hozier. Regulus would've loved him, but in this universe Regulus is bloody Hozier, just... less Irish or something.

CHERRY WINE

"You know, your brother is a fucking bitch, really," Anne announced as soon as she walked into the Room to find Regulus doing his homework there, sitting on the rug, using the coffee table to put his books and notes. He looked up in alarm with her loud voice, but smiled at her nonetheless. "He destroyed me yesterday night!"

"That sounds so wrong. Must I be worried, Princess?" he asked, putting his quill down and making space of her. "I am known to be jealous."

The coffee table wasn't big, but they made their legs fit under it side by side, using the sofa to lean against and she shoved her body against his, a bit too violently as if she was a tired rag-doll. He had to hold her sitting so she wouldn't fall on his lap.

"Worried about my self-esteem, you mean, then maybe," she said. "Sirius will never see me like that and I can assure I won't see him like that, either."

"What did that boy do now?" he asked.

"Brought to my attention that I'd never be able to marry him," she said against his chest.

"Believe me when I say, Anne, that's for the best," he answered. "I'm sorry he broke your heart, darling, but nobody should marry him, like, ever."

She chuckled.

"As if I'd ever want to marry him," she seemed to shiver against him. "Can you imagine? Ew! Is just that, if I wanted, I wouldn't be able to."

He blinked several times. He was feeling very confused.

Had he studied too much and now his brain wasn't completely functional? It had happened a few times when he was on his fourth year, but still it was a bit surprising that it had happened again when he was so relaxed about his grades and all that.

"I'm sorry. I don't think I'm following, Anne," he said.

She pulled back, sitting right on the floor and looking him in the eye.

"If I wanted to marry him, I'd need to talk to idioms and play two instruments and have an actual artistic hobby that most certainly could be an acceptable job for a woman in his family, like dancing or painting," she said. "Then, he brought to my attention that, if for some miracle I was married to him, our children would need to be able to do the same," she sighed. "I get that he was all sentimental and nostalgic after the detention he had with you – which, by the way, we still need to talk about, mister – but did he need to just show off how useless I am to traditional wizarding standards?"

Anne didn't understand why Regulus looked so pale and then started blushing so deeply in so little time, until he started coughing, choking on his own saliva in his panic to swallow down his shame.

"That awkward conversation might have been my fault, actually," he said, his blush even colouring his forehead at that point. He blushed in the same way Sirius did; the whole face.

She raised her eyebrows at him.

"Want to elaborate on that?"

"Not really," he grumbled.

"What did you say to him that made him say those things to our group of friends?" she insisted.

"Well, I might have said I was very genuine about how I feel about you," he admitted, scratching the back of his neck, trying to look as relaxed as possible, though he was very nervous. "Sirius might have taken it as a sign that I want to marry you and, therefore, was telling you some of the usual rules about the family, though he did forget the whole blood status thing."