Egotistic // Marauders Era

Rachel

"What?" 

"You stopped wearing your crazy socks," Rachel told her friend. Olly, surprised, looked down at her feet and found her friend was right. There were no crazy striped socks pulled up over her pants to reach her knees. In fact, Olly wiggled her toes inside her shoes and decided she probably wasn't wearing any socks at all.

"Huh," Olly frowned. "Guess I was a bit preoccupied."

Rachel snorted through her nose in a way that didn't make her any less attractive. "I'd say," she snickered playfully, her gaze drifting across the room to land on a particular marauder. 

"Oh, bug off," Olly rolled her eyes, smacking Rachel on the shoulder. "You know what I meant."

"Yeah, I know," Rachel said. "I almost forgot to wear robes the other day. Luckily Slughorn favors me a bit and let me go back to the dormitories."

"You are lucky," Olly said, looking deep in thought all of a sudden. "I don't think Slughorn likes me very much."

Rachel scoffed. "Relax, he loves you. Dumbledore likes you, he obviously takes interest in the person. I even heard he wants you in the Slug Club next year."

Olly raised an eyebrow. "Well I don't want in the Club. Lily tells me it's the absolute worst. Boring!" she finished in a singsong voice, looking to the side just in time to see Regulus look at Dumbledore meaningfully before pulling Bridget out into the hall. The headmaster simply gave a sad look after the boy, and turned back to the group with a teary smile. 

* * * * *

"Bridget," Regulus coughed, out of breath from dodging her spells. "I- uh, I need to talk to you."

Bridget frowned. "We are talking," she pointed out, casting a disarming spell. 

"I mean in the hall, away from people," Regulus clarified.

"Oh. I guess, yeah."

Regulus lightly grabbed her upper arm and lead her out of the Room of Requirement, glancing sadly at Dumbledore. With pleading eyes, he asked a question with his expression. Dumbledore simply smiled back with the same sad expression, nodding grimly. Regulus sighed, defeated, and left the room with Bridget.

"Okay, what?" Bridget asked. 

Regulus pursed his lips. "I, uh... I'm-" flustered, he looked down at the girl who was barely two inches shorter than him, and saw she was looking at him expectantly. "Alright, I like you," he spat out, his face feeling like someone had thrown hot water on it. As Bridget moved to talk, he shook his head. "I'd never have the courage to tell you otherwise, so I thought I'd say it when I wouldn't have to face rejection after. I --er, I'm leaving."

Bridget took a small step backwards, shock sprayed across her face. "What?"

"I don't like it but... at the moment, Dumbledore has no idea what's happening with You-Know-Who, and since I sort of have a history with him-"

"No, you- you're not going," Bridget told him, shaking her head. "It's dangerous."

"I know, but-"

"If you're found out, they'll kill you."

Regulus smiled sadly. "And if I saved just one person doing it, my death will be worth it. Especially if I can save you and Sirius."

"Does he know?" Bridget asked shakily, looking at the boy in front of her. "Sirius, is he okay with this?"

Regulus shook his head. "I haven't told him."

"Do you plan to?"

"No." Regulus said firmly. "He'll hate me either way."

Bridget was just slightly appalled. "He's your brother!" she reminded him. "He deserves to know."

"His reaction would be far different than yours, trust me. This is practically agreeing with me compared to what he'd do if he found out."

"He'll know what you did eventually."

"No, he won't," Regulus said. "Because you're going to tell him that I left to join them. You're going to tell him no strings attached, I'm not a double agent. Tell him I'm a traitor."

"I can't tell him th-"

"Promise me," Regulus pleaded. He stared at Bridget, and she was surprised to see tears in his eyes. "Can't you see I'm I'm doing this for him? For you? All of them in there?" He gestured to the room they had come out of a few minutes ago. 

Bridget was about to argue, but one glance back at Regulus and she was gone. "Fine," she whispered softly, her eyes drifting back to the floor. "Fine, I'll tell him."

Regulus nodded. "Tell everyone else too. If you're sad, just go to Dumbledore. He'll listen. He knows."

Bridget let out something that was between a sob, a laugh, and a scoff. "How could he even let you do this? You're a student. Not even of age..."

"How old do you think most Death Eaters are when they join?" Regulus asked. "It's an art, you're raised into it... I have to catch up. Better start as soon as possible."

"What if you die?" Bridget worried. 

"I might," he shrugged. "Probably not, though."

"What if you actually become one of them? Forget about us, about what your life used to be?"

Regulus chuckled, shaking his head, almost as if she had said something stupid. "That, I could never do."

Then, he reached up slowly and pressed his hands against, Bridget's cheeks, tilting his head down as he pressed his lips against hers. It wasn't steamy, passion, it wasn't anything like that.

It was a goodbye. 

Both of them had their eyes closed, yet each of them could clearly see the other in front of them, tear tracks down their faces, eyes screwed shut, hands on each others cheeks. It only lasted for five seconds, but they both swore it felt like years they stood in that hallway. When the pulled apart, Regulus took a step back and wiped his sleeve against his face, smiling sadly at Bridget.

"If I die, just know who it's for, okay?" He asked. Bridget just stood there, too stricken to even nod. And then he spun slowly on his heel, turning to face the other way. Her heart broke as she watched the boy walk down the hall away from her. No- not a boy. 

He was a man.

A/N: HEY GUESS WHO'S EVIL???!?!?!? MEEEEEE!!!! OMG I LITERALLY WAS NOT PLANNING ON HAVING THIS HAPPEN UNTIL I WAS HALFWAY THROUGH THE CHAPTER BUT ugh then i was like but regulus needs to join the death eaters at some point and ugh i just made a ship i liked sink for the sake of a plot line WHAT IS MY PROBLEM EWWWW SNOT IS GOING EVERYWHERE OK BYE ALSO SORRY I HAVENT UPDATED HIGH SCHOOL IS KIND OF NASTY