DANICA || REGULUS BLACK

VI - elite

The hard leather soles of her shoes clicked on the cobblestone floor of the dungeon corridor. 

Danica gave a quick nod to the portrait of a lady who never seemed to finish her book and walked past the staircase that led further toward the Hufflepuff dorms.

She truly loved where she lived, but sometimes she wished that the Slytherin common room was a bit closer to the rest of the school. Perhaps, it was yet another attempt at alienating them from the other houses. 

At last, she reached the thick ebony wood door. Salazar must've had an expensive taste. There were various designs of seaweed and aquatic plants carved onto the surface with selkies and grindylows lurking in between them, watching the main predator. In the center, following the creatures' peering was a large mythical snake-like beast. The basilisk.

Each of its scales was made of silver, glistening sleekly under the candle lights. Two bright yellow topaz gemstones were in its eye sockets, almost blinding anyone who looked at them.

But the largest, most prominent piece of the design was an obsidian-like stone that was placed right at the center of the basilisk's chest.

They all called it 'The Serpent's Heart'.

In its placid state, it remained pitch-black, but when Danica approached it, it emitted a bloody red glow.

She wasn't the only one who was familiar with such phenomena. While it did not glow for everyone, for the most part, whenever a member of an ancient pureblood family stood in front of it, the gem flared up.

Some say the stone indicates the level of blood purity of the person who enters the common room. Others believe it glows for anyone with strong Slytherin devotion or power.

Danica didn't try to think of it at all. Something about it was always putrid.

"Pureblood"

The door released the sound of dozens of locks clicking, pulling itself apart to show the interior of the common room.

The room was far from being empty. Students were running around, trying to find their timetable or panicking about forgetting to buy one of the supplies on their list. The right side was full and bustling, not a single space left empty. To the left, however, in front of the fireplace, on the various leather sofas, sat a single figure.

Nobody dared to occupy a spot. Those were left to the elites.

Danica approached the person and sat right next to him, knowing well that she deserved to be there.

"Evan."

She was about to interrogate him about the look he gave her, but when he raised his head with bloodshot eyes, her plans were immediately wiped away.

"You don't look too well. Did something happen?" She placed were hand on his and gave him a reassuring squeeze.

He looked at her with his baby blue eyes for a few moments more, then weakly shook his head, smiling, and squeezed her hand back before pulling his away.

"No, nothing. I was just a bit worried about Regulus's letter."

Danica scoffed loudly in disbelief, looking up at the ceiling.

"He had it coming for being a proper grass."

Evan turned to her, looking very confused, both at the strange muggle slang, and her statement itself. "What?"

She mirrored a similar face of confusion for asking something so obvious. "Well, what did he even think? That he could run off and blubber about our fight, thinking he caught me for foul behaviour, and not expect the same consequences for himself?"