Harry Potter One Shots (Vol. I)

Slytherin Sensibilities (Regulus Black)

"The Slug Club?" I rolled my eyes as I said dryly, "I've managed to avoid having to go to those ridiculous meals and parties since the beginning of the year. Although, rumour has it that you're one of his favourites."

"So are you," he said back just as smoothly. "Old Sluggy's rather disappointed that you've never been to any of his dinner's. They're really not that bad."

"Spending an evening with Slughorn isn't my idea of fun, Black."

"You should come along to the next one. It's good to try new things, Malfoy." He reached out to twirl the hair at the end of my braid and I watched him cautiously, drawing away from him. His eyes flickered up at the action, a smirk flittering around the corner of his mouth. "I'll even keep you company at the next one if you want?"

There was no way that he was asking me what I thought he was asking me. Not when he'd shown no signs of being liking or even being attracted to me. What was he up to?

I gave no answer to his question. Instead, I watched him in silence to see how he'd recover from the subtle rejection. He played it off completely, acting as if he hadn't asked me in the first place.

"For you," he said after I made no move to accept it.

"I'm not even going to ask how you managed to get that," I said finally, glancing away from him. "But you should keep it Black. You were the one to catch it and if you're so keen to give it away, hand it over to one of your fangirls."

He chuckled quietly, appearing unaffected by my words and stuffed the snitch back into his pocket. "I don't have fangirls, Malfoy."

He did have fangirls. The fangirls that he had, had mostly been his brothers. But, when the older Black had left school last year the heartbroken fangirls had instead turned their sights onto the younger Black. To prove my point, I gestured to the group of third years in the corner of the room who were watching him and giggling between themselves. Black, not believing me, turned to glance at the third years who turned red at his gaze.

Taking the chance to slip past him, I hurried away from him and towards my friends. I found them in the middle of the common room and when she spotted me, Mary handed me a glass.

"It looked like you needed it," she explained.

"Thanks Urquhart," I said with a thankful smile before taking a sip.

"Anytime Malfoy," she responded with a grin. She glanced over my shoulder in the direction I had appeared from. "So - what did Black want?"

"I think he asked me out?"

**********

The day following the after party saw me sat in potions besides a very hungover Bletchley. From the moment I'd walked into the common room and found him sat on the sofa, he had begun pestering me about getting him a dosage of my pain potion for his headache. Why he didn't just ask one of the other girls I had no idea. But I was definitely not going to give him mine. It was time that he learnt not to touch any of Black's concoctions.

Even now, as we sat in potions, he would let out a groan whenever someone talked too loudly. So naturally I made the best of it by settling my cauldron down on the table with a thud. Bletchley had been too busy recoiling to glare at me.

My potion was bubbling away, looking the way the potion's textbook said it would, when Black turned to face me. I should have noticed that something was odd when he didn't settle into his usual seat at the back of the classroom and instead settled into the seat in front of my own. But I'd dismissed it without a second thought. And now, as he turned towards me, I knew that he'd done it with an ulterior motive.