drowning! → regulus black

harmony.

LAURA'S SKIN PRICKLES with lingering rage as she steps into the common room the next morning, immediately met with a smug smirk and penetrating grey eyes.

After all he said last night, he still has the gall to be his usual self? All while knowing things about Laura that he could easily go on and gossip about, to ruin her with?

Laura has never, ever felt more exposed than she does right now.

"Good morning!" Andromeda chirps, throwing an arm around Laura's shoulder and steering her away from what has begun to become an awkward amount of glaring between her and Regulus.

Even more irritable than she was before, Laura slumps down onto the couch in between Andromeda and Dorcas, who has managed to tie a large green bow around her owl's neck. It shrieks and flies off just as Andromeda hands Laura a mug of coffee and leans back contently.

Alecto lifts her head from behind her magazine and shoots Laura a shit-eating grin. "I know something that is just so delightfully abhorrent!" She sings antagonistically. "I noticed you snuck out last night and returned back awfully flushed."

Laura chokes on her coffee. "I — What?!"

Alecto neatly folds her magazine and sets it down on the mahogany table that separates her from Laura and crosses her arms. "You left to go do Salazar-knows-what in the middle of the night and didn't even bother to blow out the candle you lit," She huffs. "If you weren't keen on letting us know, you could at least have some ounce of decency — especially when you're going to go out and fuck somebody."

Laura's attention immediately snaps away from Alecto at the sound of someone breaking into a loud coughing fit in the corner of the room. Regulus swats Evan away as he goes to clap him on the back while Crouch and Avery cackle at him.

Laura looks back just in time to see Alecto's eyes glimmer mischievously. "I see, then."

"No," Laura responds quickly, her face tinging with a revolting light shade of pink. "That is not what happened."

Andromeda pops a breakfast scone into her mouth and chimes in, "Regulus didn't come in until this morning."

"I didn't fuck him!" Laura cries out. She shrinks back into her seat as multiple students turn to look at her and ignores the entirely obvious stare burning into the side of her head.

Don't you wish you did? A familiar voice croons in her head.

Godrick, what a dick. Laura stands to her feet and storms back up the stairs to the dormitories, slamming the door behind her. He just invades her head, in public, all while he knows she's being drilled with accusations that he could easily diffuse if he would just say so? 

She flops onto her bed, burying her face into her pillow as the dorm door opens and closes shut.

"I'm not in the mood, Alecto," Laura groans. "Go fuck with someone else."

It isn't until the smell of hazelnut and expensive cologne eventually begins to settle in the room that Laura jumps from her bed in mortification. "Get out!"

Regulus rolls his eyes and vies to ignore Laura as he goes through her nightstand. "Nobody saw me, if that's what you're concerned about. I went into the hallway and then apparated," He sighs. "You're a very problematic witch, Lovegood."

"Problematic?" Laura repeats appallingly. "I'm problematic? You're the one who snuck into my room!"

"I have the password." Regulus shrugs, shutting the drawer and finally looking up at Laura with that same penetrating gaze. "And I also wanted to apologize."

"Yeah, right," Laura huffs, tossing her pillow back onto her bed in frustration. As if he'd apologize, when he was such an arsehole moments prior — she knows he knows what he did to her last night and she has no doubt in her mind that he just wants to gloat now.

Regulus steps closer. "I'm being serious, Lovegood. I am sorry."

Laura almost wants to laugh at him. "No, you aren't. You don't fucking do sorry."

Regulus exhales through his nose in aggravation. "You're being unnecessarily difficult right now."

""What did you think was going to happen?" Laura hedges spitefully. "You expected to just come into my room after prying into my head again to apologize about what? Being crude last night? That's bullshite."

Regulus lets out a groan, running a ringed hand through his hair. "Can't you just be cooperative for once? I said sorry, so fucking take it and quit acting like I've been committing great acts of violence against you."

Laura glares at Regulus. "You can't just say the things you did last night, then expect me to automatically forgive you the next day."

"Well," Regulus drawls, leaning forward. "Apparently you didn't take them all too horribly, Lovegood. What was it that Carrow said? That you came back flushed?"

Laura's mouth drops. "That's not — "

"Not what, hm?" Regulus interrupts. "True? I highly doubt Carrow would lie."

Laura can practically feel the heat from his body now. She knows he's just trying to change the blame to her, so that he ends up unscathed. "Well, she did," Laura grits. "I wasn't flustered."

"Here's what I think." Regulus hums. "I think that you don't want to admit that the renowned Gryffindor clique's favorite little conduit of innocence is a liar, and you're afraid of what they'd think if they found out about those thoughts you've been withholding from them."

"I'm not a liar." Laura persists.

"Oh, but darling, you are." Regulus leans in, his breath ghosting Laura's lips. "Would you like me to prove it?"

Despite everything in Laura's body that screams at her to move her body away from Regulus, she can't. She's frozen as she stares into his eyes, which have taken on a darkness that she can't bring herself to break away from.

Regulus cocks a brow. "Tell me not to, Lovegood, and I won't."

Laura's silence is all that it takes for Regulus to leave her breathless. His mouth connects with hers with a harmony that she would have never thought him capable of, making all of her resistance disappear in an instant. 

Cool rings scrape Laura's jaw as Regulus grips her with both hands, pulling her deeper into the kiss as he tilts his head further down to meet her closer. He presses for entrance, and she grants it, allowing him to explore her mouth and steal whatever dignity she had been holding onto.

Laura's knees feel weak and Regulus seems to notice as he gently pushes her backward onto the bed, never breaking contact with her lips. Hands run up and down the side of her body before one creeps up to her neck and pulls her even more toward Regulus than she already was. 

It isn't until they both hear footsteps trudging down the corridor that Regulus and Laura jerk apart and Regulus is gone by the time the door to Laura's dormitory opens and Dorcas walks through.

Laura sits up nonchalantly and combs through her hair with her fingers as Dorcas flops onto her own bed and sighs. "Rosier stole our scones, and now I'm hungry again." She peeks up at Laura. "Will you go with me to the dining hall to grab more?"

Laura steels herself with a calming breath, rubbing away the feeling on her lips when Dorcas isn't looking. "Sure."

author's note:

it happened 🤭 also i refuse to read any of this because i know imma cringe and delete it all so if there's typos or if it sucks then tough shit y'all T-T . i will never read this chapter ever ever ever everrrrr again

^ this is also the reason this chapter is so short — sorry baes </3 ^