xii. back to school blues
- silks of heaven, chapter twelve -
THE HOUSE WAS NOISY when Jasmine woke up. They were going back to Hogwarts that day.
She was quite disappointed, knowing that she'd be seeing Regulus less and they'd have to hide their relationship.
James knocked on her door, Regulus standing next to him. She sat up in bed.
Something on Regulus' arm caught her eye, but he hid it behind his back. Again.
Why did he always do that?
"Mum needs you downstairs for breakfast," James said. "Is all your stuff packed?"
"Yeah," she muttered, rubbing her eyes. "Could you get out of my room? I need to get changed."
James glared at her and left. Regulus still stood by her doorway.
"You too," she laughed.
"It's nothing I haven't seen before," he said. Jasmine stared at him with her mouth hanging open.
"You're a twat," she mumbled. He shut her bedroom door and sat on her bed as she looked through her wardrobe.
She slipped on winter appropriate clothes and sat down next to Regulus.
"You're making it obvious," she said. "Coming into my room when I'm changing? He'll know."
"Oh, it's fine, he's downstairs," Regulus replied quietly, "he didn't see me come in."
She nodded and said, "We should go down for breakfast."
"I'll go first and tell them you're still getting changed. Since you don't want James to know," he suggested. "Stay here for a while and come down in, like, five minutes?"
"Yeah, makes sense."
He left the room quickly. She was shutting her wardrobe door when one of the shirts fell out. She sighed and picked it up, quite annoyed. When she held it up, she got a better look at which shirt it was.
Her hands started trembling. All colour in her face was drained and she got chills all over her body. That was the shirt that she was wearing on the same night —
"Jasmine!"
She tucked the shirt under her wardrobe and gently shut the wardrobe door.
"Coming, Mum."
Her voice cracked and trembled as she shouted back. Her hands were still shaky as she walked down the stairs. Everyone was waiting for her downstairs. She took a deep breath in when coming off the last step.
"Are you ready to leave, dear?" Euphemia asked her. She nodded but Regulus noticed something in her face.
When James, Euphemia and Fleamont went over to the other side of the room, Regulus stared at her, trying to piece together what she's feeling at that moment.
"Jasmine. You look — are you okay?"
She let out a shaky breath and nodded again. She couldn't say anything. Her head was clouded with memories from the event.
"Jas, you're not saying anything. Why aren't you saying anything? Jas?" he repeated, panic in his voice.
"I'm fine," she managed. "Don't worry about me. We need to leave for the train."
He took her hand, still worried for her, and went over to the others.
"What's wrong, Jas?" James asked as soon as he spotted them. He must've noticed her face.
"Nothing, I'm fine," her voice was small and squeaky. "Can we go?"
"We were just about to leave. Weren't we, Effie?" Fleamont said.
Euphemia nodded. "Come on, you three."
***
For the first time in six years, Jasmine did not sit with the Marauders. She wanted to sit with Regulus. They found an empty compartment on the train quickly and sat in there before anyone else could enter.
She had calmed down a little bit, she was starting to forget about the earlier memories.
Regulus sat beside her and put his arm around her. She dug her head into his chest and tried to forget as much as she could about it.
"You don't need to tell me about it, Jas. I don't need to know, if you're not comfortable with telling me," Regulus stated. "But I will be there for you, no matter what. Okay? We can get through it."
She felt safe with him, but she didn't want to tell him anything. She wasn't ready. Not yet.
"Thank you, Reg."
He kissed the top of her head and hugged her tighter.
"Can we change the subject?" she asked. He nodded.
"Did you see the others yet?" he asked her.
"Er, just Pete. He said hi to me and then went to James," she said. "I saw Mary, too, but she didn't see me."
"Yeah, I saw Pettigrew as well," Regulus said. "You know, I don't think I've ever met the girls in your house. Other than you, of course."
"Marlene would like you, Reg. If she knew you properly," Jasmine said. "You'd be pretty good friends."
He ran his fingers through her hair over and over. She loved the way he treated her, it made her feel special.
"Are you sure? Do you actually think she'd —"
"Yeah. If you stop making everyone think you're an asshole," she said. "You're actually a better person than everyone thinks you are. You just pretend to be mean."
He laughed and stopped running his hands through her hair.
"What does everyone think I am?" he chuckled.
"The mean asshole with daddy issues," she replied. He laughed even more.
"Oh, wow, Jas. Thanks," he said sarcastically. She started laughing, too.
"I don't mean it, I think you're a great person," she said.
She moved her legs up to the empty space in the seat and tucked her legs closer to herself. She snuggled her head in his chest and started to feel tired.
"Are you falling asleep?" he asked her.
"I think," she answered.
He started running his fingers through her hair again.
"Go on, then. You need some rest."
The way his fingers ran through her hair made her feel relaxed. The warmth she felt in his arms tempted her to fall asleep.
Just going to shut my eyes for a few moments, she thought to herself. Only for a little while.
WHEN SHE WOKE UP, SHE was still in Regulus' arms and there was food around them.
She sat up and stared around for a few moments before realising where she was.
"Morning," he said softly. "I got you food from the trolley, darling."
"Thank you," she said, smiling, and grabbing a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans.
He nodded and moved his arm off her. Someone was standing by the compartment door. They knocked.
Regulus and Jasmine looked up. By the door stood Caspian.
"Shit," Jasmine muttered. "Shit, shit, shit."
She stood up and slid open the door. He just stared at her for a few seconds. He looked at Regulus and his face scrunched up in confusion.
"Jasmine, I thought you weren't friends with him," he whispered.
"Yeah, well, we made up," she hissed. Her tone was harsh and snappy. She didn't realise until she spoke up.
His face looked hurt, "Oh. Sorry, I — I didn't know you were friends again."
"Er, what did you want, anyway?" she asked, making sure her tone was kind this time.
"I just wanted to say hello to you," he smiled. Her throat closed up and she shifted uncomfortably.
"Oh, yeah, sorry," she laughed. "How was — how was your Christmas?"
"Alright," he replied. "Yours?"
She turned around and looked at Regulus. He didn't look up at her, he was hiding his face.
"It was great, thank you," she said, "I'm glad to be back. Get to see the others again. I definitely missed them."
Caspian nodded. "I should probably go and put my robes on. I'll see you at the common rooms."
"Yeah, I'll see you then."
He walked away and she slid the door shut again. She turned back to face Regulus and sat down in her seat again.
"I — I haven't told you about him," she said. "No secrets ... we hooked up before Christmas and that was our first time talking to each other since."
"Oh, I know, I was there when you did. I mean — God, that sounds wrong — I was walking down and spotted you," he said.
"I'm sorry. I should've told you earlier," she said. "But I don't like him or anything. It was just a one-time thing."
"I believe you, Jas. I'm not mad about you not telling me," he said. She smiled.
"Just wanted to make sure. Didn't want to break any rules," she said.
"We already broke rule number six," Regulus laughed. Jasmine shrugged.
"That one doesn't count."
He nodded in agreement.
***
author's note:
200 reads? crazy!
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