betrothed | sirius black & regulus black

3 ; arguments in an abandoned corridor

The words came out harsher than he'd meant them to, but he reminded himself that it hadn't mattered. She's not going to filter her harshness and neither would he.

Elara continued to watch him carefully, eyebrows knit as she studied him.

Silence engulfed them again, thick but not entirely uncomfortable. Neither of them moved, both lost in thought.

"Northcott?" Sirius continued to watch her, the resentment mostly gone now, replaced with curiosity. In all his years of knowing her, she was always a careful individual. Always watched what she said, made sure not to step out of line. But there was always an impulsivity in her words spoken to him, which sparked many of their quick back-and-forth arguments over the years.

She was always careful around her family, his family. But when it came to arguments between them, there wasn't usually any holding back. That's why the silence confused him. He searched her face for any giveaways, but came up empty seeing as she refused to make eye contact with him, instead focusing on the wall behind him.

He tried again. "Northco—"

"What did I say?" She cut him off. Her voice was piqued with interest—the only tell that she was genuinely curious as her face remained blank. She made eye contact with him now, her blue eyes staring intently at him.

He stared at her. He expected something different to come out of her mouth. An insult, a diversion of topic, ignoring him completely and starting a new conversation. Never would he have thought that she would try to understand him.

Boundaries were never a thing in their arguments. All hell be loose once they started arguing. There was no apologizing, no civility, it hadn't mattered. They would argue, part ways, and see the other the next time with the same distaste for the other as they did before.

And it wasn't like their families paid any attention to the matter. Elara was careful enough not to argue with him around her family. Walburga had long since stopped caring about whether or not Sirius picked a fight with her, as long as it was out of the sight and hearing of any Northcott family members. After all, all that mattered to her was that Elara and Regulus were bonded in marriage, she could hardly care less about what occurred between her and Sirius.

Elara was still staring at him, awaiting an answer. Sirius cleared his throat, trying to regain control of his thoughts. "Since when have you cared?"

Her face continued to betray none of her thoughts, her voice remaining steady. "Since when have you gotten hurt over something that I've said?"

He just stood there, frozen to the spot. In all reality, he didn't know. He refused to believe that he was actually hurt by a comment that he'd most definitely heard from her before. But he knew it bothered him, knew that the comment no longer passed by him hollowly like all the others had before.

But he didn't know what had changed.

His mind gave him an answer before he could think any further. That night in the dimly lit hallway, the screaming voices of his brother and his fiancée, a side to Elara Northcott that he never knew even existed.

He shook his head slightly, reeling himself in. He'd hated her for a large portion of his life. One night wasn't going to change that.

"It's not important. But we did come here to do something. We should get going with that."

She knew that he was averting the topic, but in all seriousness, she hadn't wanted an answer. There were grey areas in her life that she never wanted to explore. And a friendly relationship with Sirius Balck was one of them.

It wasn't that she despised him so much to the point where she couldn't see a friendship with him. It was that a future where they were friends was an uncertain one. And uncertainty in her already strategically planned life wasn't welcome to her.