Raven | 𝘙𝘦𝘨𝘶𝘭𝘶𝘴 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬

Chapter 69

The moment didn't last long and the kiss was a mere peck. But as she had her lips against his, her heart throbbing in her chest, and her mind and soul flying off high, it felt as if the moment had stopped, frozen in time and space. It felt as though they were the only two people on this earth, and this moment belonged to them, and them only.

     But the next split second, Alexandra pulled away, her cheeks flushed as she stared up at regulus unblinkingly, holding her breath. Out of the shock he had received from her sudden action, Regulus stood there frozen on his spot with his eyes still widened, looking as if he had turned into stone.

     With each passing moment that he wouldn't show any reaction and would only stare down at her in disbelief with his lips hanging apart, Alexandra grew more and more worried.

     "Reggie... it would be really good if you said something right about now," Alexandra muttered, her eyes fixed on his face with concern.

     But Regulus kept staring at her with wide eyes, his expression unreadable as he mumbled incomprehensibly to himself, "I — you — you just"

      Horrible thoughts gushed into Alexandra's mind as they stood there facing each other, the eerie silence reigning the walls of the empty corridor they were in.

      What if he actually didn't like her? What if he only saw her a friend and his feelings for her were fully gone? If that were the case, Alexandra knew that she had made a complete fool of herself. And now, what she feared the most was to hear the words of rejection leaving his mouth. She couldn't bear it. And she certainly could never look him in the eyes again.

     "I — I — shouldn't have..." Alexandra stammered nervously, throwing her gaze down and taking a step away from him. "I'm sorry."

      This could easily be the most embarrassing moment of her life. Even though all those years she had been made fun of by her school friends for being weird, this was probably the most humiliated she had felt.

      Regulus still seemed dazed. But he suddenly came back to himself and shook his head when Alexandra turned back and made a starting run out of the corridor, disappearing out of sight.

      "ALEX! WAIT!" He yelled after her, but she was already gone and had run out of the corridor, back toward the common room.

     Panting, Alexandra reached the entrance door to the Ravenclaw common room, glancing behind her shoulder. She could hear rushed footsteps approaching her briskly.

     So she quickly turned toward the eagle at the entrance door and said hurriedly, "What's the riddle!? Come on! What's the riddle!?"

      The bronze eagle knocker came to life and repeated himself calmly, "What gets wetter and wetter the more it dries?"

      "What!?" Alexandra said in horror.

      Out of the stress she was under and due to her racked up nerves, she couldn't possibly think of any answer at the moment.

     "An umbrella!?" She nearly shouted the first thing that came into her mind.

     "No, unfortunately not," the eagle spoke firmly.

     "Come on, let me in! I've been coming here for seven years!" Alexandra tried desperately, even though she knew this was not how it worked.

      Usually it was normal for someone not to be able to answer these riddles at least once or twice a year. And the policy was that they would have to wait for someone else to come and solve it. That way, they would learn something new.

     But at that moment, Alexandra really didn't have time for learning something new. All she wanted to do was to run up to the common room and shut herself up in her dorm. She wanted to go to sleep and find out that this was all just a bad dream. She wished to forget the foolish thing she had done.

      But it was too late.

     "Alex!" Regulus called after her, finally coming into sight and running toward where she was standing at the entrance.

     Alexandra turned her back to him and faced the door, closing her eyes shut. "Just a dream... just a bad dream..." she kept saying under her breath, hoping that if she said it enough times, it would become true.

     But she winced when she felt Regulus's hand softly on her shoulder, as if silently begging her to turn around.

     Gulping, Alexandra fearfully opened her eyes and turned to face him, practically feeling her loud heartbeat pulse through her whole body as she looked up at him. His complexion was pale and his expression was still unreadable to her.

     "Look, I know I shouldn't have done that," she said the moment he opened his mouth to speak, cutting him off. "I don't know what I was thinking. I think I was just caught up in the moment, and overwhelmed with this — this false sense of bravery! But who am I kidding? There was a reason I wasn't put into Gryffindor."

     "Are you done?" Regulus asked calmly after a short pause.

     Alexandra blinked a few times. "Yes, I think so."

     With that, the smallest hint of a smile appeared across his face as he whispered, "Good."

     And then, before Alexandra could get a grasp of what was happening, Regulus placed his hand gently across her rosy cheek and leaned in, pressing his lip against her.

      Alexandra's eyes widened at first, but soon she melted into it and finally closed her eyes, kissing him back as her heartbeat speeded up more, if that was even possible.

      She didn't know what she was supposed to do with her hands, so she awkwardly kept them at her sides at first. But then she slowly wrapped her arms around him as he now had both hands placed on either side of her face, ever so gently.

     The kiss lasted longer than the first peck that they shared in that corridor. But the moment she felt his tongue grazing against her lips, Alexandra pulled away with a small gasp of surprise.

     Regulus chuckled. "Sorry."

    "N-no," she shook a hand at him reassuringly. "It's just that — this is all new to me."

     There came an awkward silence between the two as they stood there, facing each other, not knowing what they were supposed to say.

     "I thought — for a minute there I thought you didn't like me," Alexandra said quietly. "That's why I ran."

     "I was just caught off guard," Regulus reasoned, unable to take his grey eyes off her.

     "Why?" The edges of her lips twitched up into a nervous smile.

     "Because I always thought you didn't like me back."

      They both chuckled lightly at that, before falling silent again and looking away awkwardly.

     "I'm glad you did that," Regulus said quietly, taking a step closer to her and then taking both her hands in his. "You have no idea how long I wanted to kiss you."

     Alexandra giggled, throwing her gaze down. She felt so shy at that moment that she could melt into the ground, and couldn't even bring herself to look back up at him. This had to be a dream.

     "So..." Regulus started after a short pause, clearing his throat, "there's a Hogsmeade visit coming up shortly... would you like to — you know — go on a date with me?"

    Alexandra's eyes darted up, her smile broadening as she nodded shyly. "Yes... I would love to."