Falling // Wolfstar

Forty

Frances doodles on her notes in DADA, bobbing her foot up and down absentmindedly. Regulus is beside her desperately bored in the middle of their lesson. His elbow brushes against Frances' and she frowns. He nudges her again and she finally looks at him.

"What?" she hisses.

"Can we talk?" he whispers, keeping a cautious eye on their Professor.

"No."

"Please."

"What could you possibly have to say to me?"

"I'm sorry."

Frances rolls her eyes. "You have nothing to be sorry for. I just hope that deep down somewhere you have a heart in there."

Regulus' eyes turn cold and he turns away from her. "You don't understand," he mutters.

"Understand what? That you had made a choice of choosing evil?" Frances crosses her arms defiantly. "I really thought you would get out..." Her voice softens to almost nothing.

Regulus fixes the sleeve of his robes, breaking his stare. His voice is lost, but the echo of the words crying to escape his lips ring loud in his head. Me too.

As the bell sounds, Frances packs up her things hastily. An extra spring in her step is noticeable as she rounds the corner towards the courtyard. Her heart skips a beat - a feeling she hadn't felt in a long time. Willa's figure appears in fragments through the archways until they come face to face.

"Hey you," Willa says cheerily. She flicks the pink ribbon dangling from Frances' ponytail. "You seem extra happy today."

Frances shrugs, but the smile on her face is radiant. "I was thinking, could I do your hair?"

Willa lets a giggle slip through her lips; her hand fluffs her curly afro. "Do you even know how to do my hair?" she questions.

"You can teach me."

Willa smiles, revealing the dimples pressed into her cheeks. "Only if I can get some of that ribbon. Though blue is really more my color."

The two girls dash off together in a fit of giggles, breaking into a race. Frances cheeks are sore from smiling too much. A problem she's never faced before. There's no worry of wondering if she's enough. No hurt from insincerity. The gossip doesn't bother her like it used to. Things are simple - a good simple. Simple like the joy of spring flowers, the beauty of changing autumnal leaves, the magic of winter's first snow fall, or the pure bliss of summer's warmth.

She pined after someone so different from herself - someone so caught up in his own world, one that she could never fit into. Regulus is good - she knows it deep in her heart. But that life tormented her. It shredded her to nothing but blood. That's all she would ever be in his world. Dirty blood.

Willa looks at her in a fleeting moment where they are neck and neck in their race. Her chocolate eyes are laden with nothing but admiration for Frances. Frances glances over to see Willa right beside her. Her heart beats faster and she's overcome with a feeling that can only be compared to the rush of diving head first on her broom.

*

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There is only one thing on Remus' mind. Scratch that. Two things, actually. But first and foremost is Sirius. He has to find Sirius.

The dorm. Remus bursts into the room only to see James changing.

"Oi!" James shouts, reaching his hands up to cover his nipples. "I feel so exposed."